The robbery and assault of an 81yearold store owner in manchester. Police say this happened yesterday afternoon at hans food market on lake avenue. Andy is there now. Reporter the owner of this store is still recovering from his injuries tonight, while the man who allegedly beat and robbed him is in police custody. 20yearold thomas ford jr. Faces two charges, one count of Armed Robbery andne degree assault, after a holdup at a food mart in manchester. Police say around 1 00 wednesday afternoon, ford walked into the store armed with a handgun and demanded cash. 81yearold man was behind the counter. What appeared to be a semiautomatic hand gup was displayed. It did not, based on our evidence, appear that a weapon had been discharged. Pistol whipped and cash was stolen. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Multiple lacerations, again, nonlife threatening injuries, hes expected to recover. Reporter police say they were able to identify ford as a suspect and learned he may be heading to work thursday morning in hooksett. We understood that mr. Ford was armed and dangerous, we considered him armed and dangerous and when the officer as purchased him they had allth without incident and the officers were able to make the arrest, placing him into custody. Reporter ford is currently in the custody of the Manchester Police department and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow on the assault and robbery charges. Andy hershberger, wmur news 9. Tom now onto New Hampshires drought. Tonight the areas under extreme conditions is apparently growing. Mike haddad begins our team mike it continues to expand farther north and west, right now in parts of merrimack county. Take a look at the map, youll notice that extreme drought, the area shaded in red, has taken over parts of eastern his where county, southeastern merrimack and southern stratford county. It tapers off farther to the north and west. In terms of the drought, onethird below average in terms of rainfall since the first of the year. Thats right. The average rain in concord, 27 notice the front moving the from the west, giving us a chance of a couple of widely scattered showers, maybe a popup thunderstorm later on this evening and overnight tonight. Thats it in terms of rain chances between now and tomorrow. What about more possibilities over the weekend. Thats straight ahead. Jennifer the drought in New Hampshire not letting up is having a big effect on farmers. Suzanne roantree in hooksett tonight, where she spoke to owners of a farm who say they stand. Reporter they say in the 10 years that theyve owned the farm and farm stand theyve never had to work so hard to get so little produce. Rows of cucumbers, beans, onions and corn never grew to the likes of what they had intended. While theyre able to fill their farm stand with high quality produce, a lack of it means they cant wholesale their goods to the big stores. In addition the the soil means purchasing additional irrigation equipment and the fuel to run it. Picking corn used to take two to three hours a day, with fewer ears of corn in the fields it taking them double that amount of time, doubling the payroll. Chris says not only has the the drought hit them financially, but its also taken a toll on him and his crew physically and mentally. Youre walking 10 or constantly trying to make the decision, is this a sellable ear or not. Its mentally draining. Every ear, um yes, um, no. Reporter chris says he realizes that hes a farmer here in New Hampshire, but he hopes that folks who were out shopping for produce think about the local farmers, because theyre depending on you to help them survive. Live in hooksett, suzanne roantree, wmur news 9. Restrictions are in effect in portsmouth. The City Council Approved a measure to shift from watering lawns on odd days to banning it altogether. Hand watering of vegetables and perennials is allowed. Two golf courses cannot use irrigation systems. Nothing the parks, golf courses can do, tees and greens so they dont lose those, but tom its expected that the restrictions will remain in place for the rest of the season. Jennifer commitment 2016 now, in less than an hour the republican candidates for the second Congressional District will go head to head right here in our wmur studios. Jack flanagan facing off against jim lawrence in this race. Josh mcelveen and john distaso live now in the debate studio with a preview. Josh night three of the Granite State debates, second c. D. , republican lawrence. Theyre not very wellknown, but this is going to be a tight race. Absolutely, its too close to call. Some of the others are not that way. These are two gentlemen who have, one serves in the state house, the other one used to serve in the state house, they are not known. But according to our polling they are both within striking distance of the democratic incumbent kuster. Because theyll be introducing themselves to a large degree. Right. They are very high in the unknown factor. The turnout is not going to be huge and the point is to get out their vote and to talk to people about what theyre going to do. They both have very staunch republican credentials, and points of view. Perhaps lawrence a little further to the right than jack flanagan. Josh issues economy, opioid crisis, northern path. Donald trump. Right. Absolutely donald trump, especially after his very controversial comments last night. But thats daily. Josh all right, thanks very much. You brought up turnout. Secretary of state bill gardner is out with with his voter turnout projections for this tuesday, actually higher than expected. He expects 126,000 republicans to vote, democrats will have 86,000 voters and they only have these are on the higher en for a state primary compared to the last two to three decades. But again this is a cycle unlike most. Back to you. Jennifer dont forget you can always head over to wmur. Com for full political coverage. There you can learn more about the candidates and all of the races. Watch clips from previous debates and see where they stand on the issues. Tom still to come tonight at 6 00. Its a sad thing that they take Something Like that from the veterans. Tom v. F. W. In salem. It does really hit me that this is like our home now. Jennifer plus a new look for the wildcats, well take you inside their brandnew stadium at u. N. H. Theyre about to welcome football fans this weekend. Mike temperatures take off tomorrow, bright skies saturday and sunday. He says he is still injured, jennifer a statue has within stolen from the v. F. Tbhvment salem. Tom it looks like this, weighs roughly 7 70 pounds and is two feet the building has surveillance cameras, but the walkway is in a blind spot. So theres no way of knowing who did it. I think its pretty despicable that somebody would come to the v. F. W. To take one of their statues that is there in honor of our veterans. We have our memories and mementos, and Something Like that being the sim bow that it was is important to these guys. Tom the veterans say the statue could be replaced, but they want to give the thief a chance to 20 years the New Hampshire state house will be open for tours on weekends. The idea is being tested out on three saturdays starting september 24. On that day the state house will open after a ceremony celebrating the buildings history. Tours will also be offered october 1 and then again on the 8th, if they prove to be popular. The building could be open to the public on even more weekends. Tom a chance of rain tonight. Mike yes, a chance, thats all we can get seems like this narrator fewer New Hampshire students are graduating debt free, while wall street and Oil Companies get billions in tax breaks. And whose side is kelly ayotte on . She voted to cut funding for pell grants and at lower rates. All while voting for tax breaks for the special interests like Oil Companies that give millions to help her campaign. Kelly ayotte working for the special interests, not on our side. Senate majority pac is responsible for the content of this advertising. Narrator New Hampshire, think a minute about kelly ayotte theolitician. Ayotte claims shes independent, then goes to washington and votes with the Koch Brothers she takes millions from wall street and big drug companies, and then votes to put their agenda before everyday families. Higher drug prices and cutbacks to our medicare. So, think about it New Hampshire can choose the special interests senator with kelly ayotte. Or a peoples senator, for a change. Im Maggie Hassan tom tonight the final touches are being added to the new Wildcat Stadium at u. N. H. Ahead of saturdays big debut. The Playing Field for the Football Team will be the same, but the stadium itself is all brand new. Jennifer wmurs Jennifer Crompton takes us inside on a reporter its kickoff time for the new wild cat stadium at u. N. H. , fans can expect the same great football, but from a state of the art facility that has literally turned the place around, the former homeite is now for visitors. Weve got much more comfortable seating, weve got seats with arm rests and seat backs and cup holders. Reporter the box seats on the run 250 for the season. And theyre almost sold out, as are these, the premium seats on the second level. They run 1,000 for the season. And come with lots of amenities, like the Service CreditUnion Victory club. Its climate controlled, its all you can eat buffets, balcony seating, patios, grills. Reporter theres even a bank opening on the lower level. State and private donors are getting behind u. N. H. Sports. Were appealing to not just hard core u. N. H. Football fans but casual fans, families who are looking for good leisurely affordable things to do. Report over 20 food vendors are the the stadium and lots of restrooms. Students have beefed up stands in the end zone and in the other end zone the new main entrance, under a 30 by 50foot video board. Video of whats going on in the field, but also trivia questions, pumpup videos. Reporter the team itself feel pumped. It does really hit me that this is like our home now. Mike started off overcast and ran into partial sun, now the clouds are filling back in as you can see in conway from our live web cam its that low cloudiness and dense fog right at the beaches, look through the fog if you can see the water there. Rye beach right now, visibility cut down to under a quarter mile. Almanac data today for concord, 84 the official high, 76 the average, 96 the record set back in 1872. Not going to hit 96 tomorrow, put weve got a good shot in some parts of southern new and the chance of rain, give it 30 as we go through the night and this will not really help matters too much as the rain that does move in will be fairly scattered and on average fairly light. Having said that, could be a couple downpours up north, also weakening thunderstorms in southern parts of new york state may survive the trip in to the monadnock region near 8 00 this evening and after that its just a slight chance of a passing shower or thundershower in any one given spot for the rest of clouds beginning to fill in, a couple of scattered showers approach by 8 00 or 9 00 this evening and move on through during the overnight so that by early tomorrow morning were left with the cloud cover, couple of sprinkles, a littl drizzle and then by 8 00, 9 00, 10 00 in the morning winds begin to shift to the west northwest and that will dry us out for late morning and especially during the afternoon. Temperatures right now 70s and lower 80s, really not that bad in terms of the temperatures. But the feel, yeah, its points in the mid 60s over a good part of New Hampshire, but they rise up to 70 plus in the ohio valley and thats moving in our direction. So tropically humid overnight tonight into early friday. Then it will dry out a little bit with that northwesterly wind tomorrow afternoon. As for tonight with the humidity locked in, a lot of clouds, a little drizzle and that passing ower or thunderstorm will not cool off much at all. 60s and lower 70s between 5 and 6 00 a. M. Early for friday, near 90 in southern New Hampshire. Then well cool off a bit but stay warm for the weekend, also on the humid side right through sunday morning before we finally begin to dry out. So again clouds, showers move in for tonight, all the clearing back in the great lakes, this is ours for tomorrow afternoon, into tomorrow night early on and here is the next front back to the west that will approach on saturday, giving us a chance of another shower or thundershower, but a good part on sunday we start with a chance of a shower or thunderstorm and then clear by the afternoon. Monday and tuesday look fantastic, much dryer, and again more refreshing by night, were into the 40s to near 50 in southerNew Hampshire, cooler to the north. A shower or thunderstorm on wednesday, still warm and humid. Then we really cool off by thursday and friday of next week. A classic fall feel by then. Tom an exciting sports weekend coming up. Well hear from Rob Gronkowski about his david was proud to be an american soldier. And i know im prejudiced because he was my son, other gold star mother, i felt such a sense of outrage. She was standing there, she had nothing to say. If donald trump cannot respect a gold star family, then why would anyone in america think he would respect them. Im hillary clinton, and i approve this message. Michael hayden if he governs consistent with some of the things he said as a candidate, i would be very frightened. About the option of using a Nuclear Weapon against our western european allies. Max boot this is not somebody who should be handed the Nuclear Codes. Charles krauthammer you have to ask yourself, do i want a person of that temperament controlling the Nuclear Codes . And as of now, id have to say no. No baseball for the red sox today, they play at toronto tomorrow. Patriots getting ready to play at the cardinals sunday night. The big news today, Rob Gronkowski says hes still injured with the hamstring. To week with, day by day but im feel good. It boils down to the coachs decision and the medical team and myself, well all get together, collaborate and see where im at. Jennifer crompton showed us the new u. N. H. Football stadium, it opens saturday when they play holy cross. We asked the players about their new home. Definitely a great thing, a great thing for the community, for the fans and the players are all excited about it. Its definitely a big thing to come back and open up the stadium and means a lot to get a big w and just come out firing. Let hope they get it. Time for this weeks home town hero, she provides constant inspiration to the black bird. Jason king has her story. If members of the Keene High School community are looking for inspiration they needk further than mckinley, shes one of two seniors on the field hockey team, shes the goalie. Its just really great making saves and having a good save and knowing that i prevent i a goal from being scored and helped my team win in a way. Reporter her you influence extends far beyond the feel. When she was 3 she was diagnosed with an auto immune condition which essentially just makes her hair fall out, something that it in stride. Theres no cure for it now, theres not much i can do. I can buy wigs, but ive never found them comfortable, so i just wear hats. Reporter she doesnt hide from her condition, instead she puts herself out there, she also playing tennis and unified basketball. And will even try ice hockey this winter. Aside from sports, she launched several School Organizations including the Student Athlete Leadership Council and the frozen section, which is a division of the speal olympics. Whether its elderly people or helping special olympians, its just great seeing the impact that i have on their life. Reporter mckinley hopes to continue her feel hockey career in college, her first choice would be Simmons College where she plans to study biology and hopes to continue onto med school. Mckinley croteau, this weeks oil wells in New Hampshire . Youd think so the way kelly ayotte voted. Ninety percent with the big oil Koch Brothers. She voted to give big oil more than 20 billion in tax breaks. Interests are spending millions supporting her campaign. Like the Koch Brothers. Kelly ayotte paid for by big oil; voting for big oil. Not working for us. Dscc is responsible for tonight, breaking news. The fallout. Donald trump under fire after saying american generals have been reduced to rubble. And trump talking about whats supposed to be his top secret security briefings. Hillary clinton taking heat, saying no more Ground Troops in iraq and syria. But tonight, she is now believes was an unfair forum. The Deadly School shooting. A 14yearold opening fire. The race to get students out, just days into the new school year. The warning tonight. The battery in a new smartphone igniting. The entire suv up in flames. The stunning escape. This murder suspect breaking free from inside this interrogation room. And youll see it. And america strong tonight