Transcripts For WFXR WFXR News First At Ten 20160206

And neighbors want answers about the violence in danville. Thanks for joining us first at ten im bill wadell. Dozens gathered rallying against violence after that doctor and another man were shot near danville Regional Medical center. Wfxrs Kristen Eskow is there with our update. Bill dozens gathered this evening outside danville Regional Medical center after dr. Randolph neal was shot monday night while walking home from the hospital. Vo organized the event tonight which he said is not a vigil or march but is meant to encourage Community Ideas on how to make communities safer both here and danville and outside the city. Several leaders from Law Enforcement organizations spoke this evening and just before a prayer dr. Neals daughter lilly addressed the crowd saying her dad is doing well and thanking the comminity for their support. Then the crowd walked a few blocks down the street and back to the hospital. We saw people walking who knew dr. Neal sots this is a problem thats nationwide, worldwide. This is a Good Opportunity to get out and do your part in taking back the streets. In less than a week, thanks to the kindness so i have gone from terrified to even be in danville to feeling completely safe here and not wanting to be anywhere else. Cont vo and alan larson encouraged people to share ideas on how to make communities safer on a website set up by the hospital. Live if you would like to submit an idea well have that link up on our website virginia first dot com. In danville, Kristen Eskow, wfxr news. New at ten lights in the sky over the Roanoke Valley causing quite a stir. Weve received reports of planes flying in formation. Officials in the control tower at roanoke blacksburg Regional Airport tell us everything is fine. , there were 7 military aircraft on a Training Mission around in blacksburg friends and family are planning several events to honor nicole lovell. The 13yearold was laid to rest earlier this week. Boys and Girls Basketball games at Christiansburg High School will be played in nicoles memory tomorrow night. Help save the next girl will be there sharing information about awareness and safety. A candlelight vigil is also being organized for next week. In salem one man is locked up after sparking a police chase this morning. Officers say they received a call about shoplifting near west main street in salem. Police were able to track down the suspect but he refused to stop for officers. Authorities say the pursuit ended when the suspect abandoned his car on westside boulevard in roanoke. There was a short chase on foot. 27yearold israel cunningham of roanoke is now charged with grand larceny and felony alluding. Hes currently locked up without bond. In lynchburg nearly 200 financial is suspending Life Insurance and fixes annuity sales. Company Officials Say most workers will get at least 60 days paid notice of layoff and transition benefits. After the layoffs genworth will still have about 1 thousand people working in lynchburg. New at ten police in lynchburg are trying to track down a woman wanted on gang charges. Authorities say skylar lewis has been indicted on charges of gang recruitment in a gang zone, assault and robbery. The indictment is connected to three other gang arrets back in august. If you know where skylar lewis is call police. Today was a day to paint the town red or at least wear red to show support for womens heart health. At carilion roanoke memorial hospital, members of the staff held a health fair to remind their employees about the importance of heart health. Many employees wore red to support National Wear red day. Since the day started in 2004, just by raising awareness, the number of deaths related to 30 percent. Melanie johnson carilion, rn we still have a lot of work to do, theres still like 43 million american women that suffer from cardiovascular disease, as well as men, so we want to get the message out, its not just for women, its for men too. Activities at the fair for the employees included massages and a photo booth as well as informational booths. Were counting down to the big game. A lot of panthers fans are now on their way to the west coast. Our friend john kucko is there live tonight with a look at the crowd and the trophy Everyone Wants to take home. One of my favorite days of super bowl week. Friday is when the nfl parades out the Vince Lombardi trophy, the hardware given each year to its made entirely of silver, stands 22 inches tall, weighs 7 pounds. The steelers have won the most lombardi trophies6 of them. A new trophy is made every year and presented to the winning team. Originally designed on a cocktail napkin by former nfl commissioner pete rozelle while at dinner with a vp from tiffanys. Either the broncos or panthers will raise this trophy sunday night. In San Francisco , im with you in our next half hour. In Christiansburg Police are now equipped with new life saving technology. Officers have been trained to use automatic external defibrillators which are now in many police cruisers. 47 thousand dollars from ems revenue recovery funds were used to buy nearly 3 dozen of the machines which are used to help heart attack victims. The last standing theatre in downtown lynchburg is under renovation and a generous donor wants to team up with the community in order to finish the task. The Academy Historic Theatre on main street is being restored by the Academy Center of the arts. And recently a donor pledged to match dollar for dollar any donation they receive up to 350 thousand dollars plus an extra 100 dollars for every new donor they attract. All the proceeds will go to fixing up the 111year old theatre. According to the academys 750seat bozart style venue is expected to have a huge impact on the area. We know that arts and culture are a Huge Community builder. So on a basic level its going to have a huge because were going to be Running Events out of there 200 nights a year. Thats people coming downtown. When they come downtown they are likely to engage in retail and restaurants. Befo re it closed its doors in 1958 the Academy Theatre saw acts such as will rogers and the barrymore family. Across the commonwealth more than 3 thousand borrowers in virginia are expected to recieve up to 2 point 4 Million Dollars in direct payments from hsbc. The Attorney Generals Office says its part of a 470 Million Dollar federal settlement. The british bank must make major changes to how it services mortgages and handles foreclosures in the us. The customers who lost their homes or had their loans modified. Coming up countdown to primaries. We take a closer look at why they matter and if they should be open or closed. Plus cleaning up. Who farmers should call if their buildings were damaged by the winter storm. And heres a look outside from our wfxr roof cam. Taylors here with a look for the first time in a week, temperatures in roanoke were back to the warm trend this weekend after the break. For the first time in a week, temperatures were below average across the bulk of the commonwealth, and gusty winds high essure moving, winds will calm night. There will be some high level clouds from time night, but still expected to fall to the 20s and upper teens. Some of those thin, receive some filtered sunshine which should help warm us up a bit more than friday. Highs will range from the low 40s mid to upper 40s further east. A strong low pressure system will skirt up the coast on sunday, but it looks like our region will any impacts other than some cloud cover around the piedmont. Sunday highs will be in the mid 40s to advantage of this quiet weather over the weekend because much cooler conditions will dominate the weather pattern next week. A big dip in jet stream will usher in both colder air and some snowfall beginning on monday. At this point, it looks likely that the mountains and the new river valley will pick up some accumulating snow on monday. Areas further east like roanoke will pick up a mix of afternoon, but probably wont see much accumulation until monday evening. From monday evening onwards, temperatures will be cold enough for any snowfall to stick to the ground. Showers are expected to continue as we head into monday night and tuesday, but the exact amount is still up in the air. For now, most areas can probably count on at least a dusting with greater totals out west in the mountains. This will cause some travel issues, but will not be nearly as strong as the virginia is one of 22 states with an open primary that allows members of one party to cross over and vote in another parties election. Yesterday election board officials said they will not require voters in the republican primary to pledge loyalty. Tonight wfxrs Travell Eiland explains the open primary process and why critics say it makes primary elections vulnerable to sabotage. Most states have closed primaries which means if you are a republican you can only vote for republicans. Closed primaries also prohibit independent voters from casting ballots. In virginias open primarynot only can independent voters cast ballots but it also allows cross over voting. For examplea registered democrat can cast a ballot for a republicanverse. One pitfall the open primary system enables Party Crashing political sabotage that happens when members of one party vote in the primary of the opposing party trying to support the candidate they defeat in the general election. Judy stokes is roanoke countys register of elections. She saysthis year Virginia Republicans wanted to put an end to Party Crashingby requiring voters to sign a statement. Stokes 122 they wanted to make sure republicans were voting in a republican primary. The statement just said by signing these statement i am saying that i am a republican131the plan received resistance. Critics claim it would have led to massive delays at polling sites. Stokes 320 we could have people leave anger leave without voting and we dont want that 328even donald trump weighed in tweeting that it will dissuade independent and new voters from participating in Travell Eiland, wfxr news stokes says every year republicans try to change from an open to a closed primary process. But it never passes the state legislature. If you plan to vote in virginias president ial primary you only have 2 days is this coming monday. The primary will be march 1st. You can apply at local voter registrars office, or sign up online. Applications sent by mail must be post marked by monday to meet the deadline. In roanoke many voters will be going to a new polling place this year. 32 precints have recently been realigned to 21. Notices with new polling places are being mailed out to all registered voters. How low will they go . Up next how the drop in gas prices is hurting a lot of farmers. But first the winter storm took quite a toll on some local farmers. How they can get announced today, farmers in virginias southside are getting some relief from the federal government for the potential loss of products from winter weather. Wfxrs sophia borelli. Found out how farmers can get that help. 0 11 0 160 51 0 59farmers really depend on the weather to make money, but sometimes Mother Nature isnt so nice to them. In those cases, farmers can be eligible for emergency loans. W. P. Johnson director, Pittsylvania County Farm Service Agency when these basically open the door to use that opportunity. W. P. Johnson works with farmers and says because the designations for pittsylvania, halifax and heny counties just opened up, he says he may see some farmers come to his office. W. P. Johnson director, Pittsylvania County Farm Service Agency it has a potential possibility for it, we wont know for quite a few weeks yet. Emergency loans are given to farmers if it is determined they have suffered at least a 30 percent of loss either from product damage or structural damages. Elaine lidholm director of communications for Va Department of agriculture and Consumer Services it can happen any time there is an affects Agricultural Production which a weather emergency. Standup if a farmer does need to apply for an emergency loan because of losses, they can come to the Farm Service Agency here in chatham. W. P. Johnson director, Pittsylvania County Farm Service Agency they would provide them a packet, calculate their losses, determine their eligibility as a producer, and the amount of actual loss that they had and then they would set up the loan amount. These times when a farmer can apply for an emergency loan can happen at any time through county Farm Service Agency and it works out great, but as care of the weather, so we just do the rest. The rest of the work as wp says to help those it most. Reporting in Pittsylvania County. Sophia borrelli wfxr news. Qualifying farmers have 8 months to apply for an emergency loan. Those in the oil and gas industry arent the only ones getting nailed by low barrel prices. Farmers in virginia and across the country are also being affected. Prices for the petroliumbased fertilizers used on crops arent necessarily dropping like many would have expected. But according to one farmer. The biggest blow is the commodity prices. Wayne conrady rancher now, with the price of oil down, the price dragged the cattle prices down and the wheat prices. All of the commodities kind of followed oil down. While farmers are taking advantage of low fuel prices to fill up their trucks and tractors its not enough to cover their losses. Up next how a winter storm helped spark a renewed mission to help others. And forget the traditional race course. Well show you where the urban race will take in sports the last several days in our area. Between National Signing day, College Basketball games and a hokies coach leaving for florida it has been nonstop. Sports director jeff archer joins us now with some perspective on the past week and previews what you can expect to see tonight at 11 on virginia sports live. Normally were talking basketball but this week were also talking football with National Signing day. We break down what the hokies have done. Mike barber with the Richmond Times dispatch joins us as always on a friday. Mike, how do you grade this class . Its tricky. You have to grade them almost on two seperate lines. You have to grade them with what they got versus what you can expect them to get with Justin Fuente having limited time. Mike barber i think you have to be realistic because of when he came in and when he was hired. I think the job Justin Fuente did was pretty good. I give him a b or a b . He was able to get a lot of the needs they had. But at the same time you have to be realistic. You have to look at this class and look at the stars, or lack its probably a c class. Most people are rating it the the giving the circumstances i think Justin Fuente and his staff did all they could. Jeff archer there are a couple of individual like in this class. It may not be deep, but there are a like at the top that may make an impact next year. Mike barber i think you start with the Junior College quarterback. Opening at quarterback, they need a starter. Heres a kid who has played some ball. I think jerod evans is a in and have an immediate impact. Jeff archer well see. Thats going to be the next storyline coming up in spring quarterback derby. But lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. Well have much more about this and College Basketball little later on virginia sports live. Make sure to join us tonight at 11 00. For now well go ahead and give it back to you guys. The snow from last months winter storm is all but gone but the memories are not. Two groups united to get the homeless off the streets and into a warm and welcome space. Wfxrs Charlie Cooper shows us how theyre continuing this joint mission. Track 1warm meals, clothing, a safe space. Its paradise for those who dont cathedralparadise is a everyone is welcome and we dont look at people in their lowest points in their life. Track 2paradise cathedral and roanokes hope initially came together to help the homeless out of the cold months snow storm but now theyre keeping up the efforts. Grover price hope centeri saw like 20 people sleeping outside under plastic tarps and blankets. What i did was i just opened up my center through the night time, taking people, going down by myself driving, taking them food. Track 3and eventually the hope center to the cathedral. A space they consider to be a community rather than a homeless shelter. Grover price were trying to create a more of a village where we want to teach them to be self sufficient. We help them file for their Social Security card, try to get them ids, help them find jobs. Track 4shawn nichols used to be homeless, which is why hes giving his time to build relationships with those who need a safe place to lay their heads. Shawn, nichols martinsville, vathe one on one with each individual and finding out their case and their story instead of singling them out as Homeless People has been the biggest thing. Track 5and while this all started as a temporary arrangement, its these that are keeping it going. In roanoke, Charlie Cooper w fxr news. Paradise cathedral and the hope center are asking the public for donations. Right now theyre paying for everything out of pocket. Roanokes most breathtaking tomorrow. The wazupwidis urban race and stair climb, yes thats really the name, starts near the glass walkway that connects Hotel Roanoke to the downtown area. Runners will cross a train yard, run through 3 parking garages, and end by climbing 20 floors of the wells fargo tower. The parks and recreation and the programs. For example we have afterchool programs. We try to keep those cost low. By keeping those cost low sometimes we dont recoup all of cost. So by doing the wazupwidis race will take some of this money and help supplement those in the long run. Registration is 45 dollars on race day. You can go to virginiafirst. Com for more details on the event. Ever since uber began operations in roanoke back in 2014, the company has used trial and error to determine what price range best suits the region to maximize business. Back on new surprised to find rates had skyrocketed for the holiday, but now that business has slowed down, prices are much more reasonable. When demand for drivers is high like it was on new years eve, the Company Increases prices to encourage drivers to be available. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the company has found that in some cities, decreasing prices when demand is low can often lead to more business, and thats what the Company Plans to do for the forseeable future in roanoke. Seasonality affects every business, and exception. When people hunker down at home, demand for rides drops and this is tough for our driver partners. This is the first time uber has cut prices in roanoke. If it turns out this method does not work then the company says they will plan on raising prices back up to their standard rate to provide enough incentitve for their drivers to hit the roads. For those who can afford it the pregame parties are heating up in San Francisco. Another live report from plus a mild weekend on tap. Heres a live look from ourside our studios. Taylor expects some snow in our future. Take advantage of the nice weather this weekend because winter is going to for the first time in a week, temperatures were below average across the bulk of the commonwealth, and gusty winds made it feel even cooler. With High Pressure moving, winds will calm down friday night. There will be some high level clouds from time to time friday night, but temperatures are still expected to fall to the 20s and upper teens. Some of those thin, high level clouds will hang around on saturday, but well still receive some more than friday. Highs will range from the low 40s out west to the mid to upper 40s further east. A strong low pressure system will skirt up the coast on sunday, but it looks like our region will narrowly avoid other than some cloud cover around the piedmont. Sunday highs will be in the mid 40s to low 50s. Take advantage of weather over the weekend because much cooler conditions will dominate the weather pattern next week. A usher in both colder air and some snowfall beginning on monday. At this point, it looks likely that the mountains and the new river valley will pick up some accumulating snow on monday. Areas further east like pick up a mix of snow and rain through monday afternoon, but probably wont see much accumulation until monday evening. From monday evening onwards, temperatures will be cold enough for any snowfall to stick to the ground. Showers are expected to continue as we head into monday night and tuesday, but the exact amount is still up in the air. For now, most areas can probably count on at least a dusting with greater totals out west in the mountains. This will cause last snow storm. Sports director jeff archer is here more live coverage on the big game this weekend. Thanks bill. Fans waiting for the panthers to face the broncos. But before kickoff, there was business to attend to. Our guy john cucko has been out in San Francisco all week. John, the nfl announcing today that league will have a new International Game next year. Nfl commissioner Roger Goodell held his state of the league address today. The big news maker . The nfl will return to mexico and play next season. November 21st between the raiders and the texans. We are very excited about being back, as you know we have a tremendous Fan Following in mexico. We believe it will be a tremendous success and were excited about being there. To all our fans down there, were happy to be able to give you the right answer this year. Nfl has had big presence in london. I saw it firsthand in october john thanks loyal panthers fans can get supersticious. Lets check in with bill for that story. Thanks jeff. Many fans are already making their final score predictions. Deshawn brown shows us why some highways signs in North Carolina are suddenly getting a lot of attention. In lincoln county, there stands a sign. Thats a prediction of the future right there. We about to win the super bowl the sign reads denver 12 newton 25. So i had to stop and take a picture of that, friends know carolinas about to win. Keep pounding, go panthers charlotte dad jason smith saw it too, but thought something felt a he kept driving. And my route runs right up through denver. Until he saw this denver 7 newton 20. I put it on my facebook, i just thought it was kind of a coincidence, kind of a quirky thing. In 24 hours that Facebook Post swelled from 50 shares to more than thirty thousand. Today other fans on North Carolina highway 16 stopped to snap a picture too. For smith its his own snapshot of fame. I didnt know itd go this far. And while its not what he nor his sons could have ever predicted. No, never. Its hold. Exactly, exactly. A huge crane collapses in the big apple. Up next what happened to a bride caught in the chaos. Plus the candidates are focused on winning hearts in New Hampshire. How front runners and under dogs are news a crane collapse killed one person and frightened many others in new york city. Firefighters helped escort a bride caught in the middle of the chaos. The 25yearold was on her way to city hall when the crane toppled down. She was at a nail aslon with her family and was still able to make it to her wedding. A 38 year old man was killed. Two others were seriously injured. Investigators are now working to figure out what caused that huge crane to collapse. Tight polls giving way to loose lips on the campaign trail. As candidates continue to rip into each other, just four days before the New Hampshire primary. Washington. 25 34 45 511 181 25 1 261 38 heading into the final stretch before the New Hampshire primary, gop candidates jockey for position. A new Granite State poll shows donald trump still leading marco rubio replacing ted cruz in second senator slipping to third. But, with roughly half the voters in New Hampshire still christie worked to pick up votes by putting down Hillary Christie says not only that we need to have someone who is competent and qualified and ready to handle the difficulties of the presidency, but we need someone hillary clinton. Bernie sanders, clintons only remaining opponent on the democratic side, dropped some haymakers of his own. Calling clinton out for cozying up to wall street. Promising to reign in big banks if elected president. Sanders says they got bailed out under the argument that banks were too big to fail. Today, it turns out that 3 of the 4 largest banks are bigger now than when we bailed them out. Taking incoming fire from a cavalcade of candidates is not clintons only problem. During an msnbc debate last night, the former secretary of state insists state department her emails contained information too top secret to release. Clinton says i am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. Waldman says a new Quinnipiac University National Poll shows clinton with just a 2point lead over sanders. Giving up a 31point lead back in december. In washington, joel waldman, fox news. Most people dont start worrying about checking their cholesterol until their 40s or 50s. But new studies show that young adults should get checked out too. Adam mccoy reports. As a young woman Nicole Diaz Nelson was very surprised when her doctor gave her some unwanted and very unexpected news. I found out i had high cholesterol about two years ago i was completely shocked because i was in my mid twenties and i had been vegetarian for a and shes lucky she found out as early as she did because recent studies are showing that having high cholesterol early on can put you at a much greater risk for having heart problems when youre older. So specifically has high cholesterol by the time they are 55 their future risk of Heart Disease was increased about a third. The American Heart Association the American College of cardiology do recommend screening early adults screening young adults for high cholesterol and then repeat screenings every five years if risk factors change. Diet and exercise are the main Lifestyle Changes that can be made at any age, but for those with very high levels of cholesterol medicine might be needed to keep it in check. For health minute, im adam mccoy a new ruling in the case with Sexual Assault. Information in the criminal sex assault case against bill cosby. With a judge nowruling the case can move forward. Despite a former district attorneys claim that he granted cosby immunity from prosecution a decade ago. Rick leventhal has more. Dr. Huxtable from the cosby show. Hes still getting but the crowd of small at the montgomery courthouse outside philadelphia. Where Comedian Bill Cosby is a criminal Sexual Assault case. The 78yearold struggles to his eyesight is and his star is allegations from more than 50 took advantage of them with a mixture of pills. Quick nat most of the claims against too old to prosecute. Headed for trial. Week, cosbys defense team throw out the case brought by a former Temple University basketball cosby gave her wine and pills to his home in 2004, then assaulted her when she was incapacitated. The da at the castor, says he believed declined to bring charges. Inconsistencies in her story and waited nearly a year to report but he immunity from future compel him to give a the civil case constand was i iin that deposition, giving quaaludes to women and with constand was soon after, she negotiated a large settlement. The new county da kevin steele made prosecuting cosby a Campaign Promise last used cosbys deposition as part of the evidence to bring charges, judge a secret permits a wealthy his way out of a criminal case cosbys defense team asked for dismissal, citing the so called nonprosecution the judge ruled there was no proof of a deal, stand. In a statement, cosbys defense team said . The decision reached wrong. We will appeal. Hearing in the cosby case is scheduled march in norristown, pa, rl, fn. In norristown, pa, rl, fn. Its two days until the big game coming uphow one team support in a big way charlotte is bringing panthers pride to a whole new level. Moses halterman completely redecorated his house with homemade panthers gear. He made giant jerseys of his favorite players and made a tapestry to cover his home. Halterman makes his living working with upholstery and with his team in the super bowl he saw a perfect opportunity to be creative. I enjoy doing stuff like this because it gets a good response out of everybody. Cut to its really been great this year. Im so happy that the team has done so well, people are really behind him and supporting them. Halterman will learn if he needs to add to that banner this sunday when the teams meet in santa clara, thanks for joining us. Virginia sports live is next. Coming up. We discuss virginia techs signing day class. Mike barber giving the time, giving the cotrstrains, giving what they needed, how did they do . I think they did well. Golden footballs have popped up at several high schools around the area. Tim fulton for a high school to have players playing in the nfl, then malking it to the super bowl, thats a big honor. And of course there is plenty of High School Basketball as teams prepare for the postseason. We have all this and more. Virginia you only get the chance to play high school