Phonepotential for Severe Weather exists. Ill let you know what is going to happen and weekend and snow in the mountains tonight, the ahead. John back to that breaking news, weve been following for you, one lane closed on i85 north closed for some time after a semi truck jack knifed. Happened before 1 00 a. M. Near exit 29, sam wilson road. Wbtvs Kristen Hampton has been there at the scene, she joins us now live with more details. So kristen, any word weather played a role in the wreck . Reporter john, it doesnt look like it. It wasnt raining too hard at the time the wreck happened. You can see behind me 85 about 15 minutes ago just opened back up, all lanes are free and clear, northbound and southbound northbound this area on sam wilson just off sam wilson, actually. I talked to state troopers a what they believe caused the accident this morning. They say a Passenger Car pulled off on the right shoulder of the interstate, they say the driver was a little tired, wanted to take a quick rest on the side of the interstate, that ises when a tractortrailerthat is when atractortrailer came along, looking at his gps while driving, swerved in the right lane, he hit the Passenger Car and knocked it off further in the side of the road. That also caused the tractortrailer to jack knife on the bank there. Took crews several hours to get that cleared out of here and get it loaded on a wrecker. Troopers tell me the driver of the Passenger Car was taken to the hospital with some not very serious injuries. Hes expected to be okay. Meanwhile the driver of the tractortrailer is being charged, hes okay, too, but is being charged with failure to maintain his lane control. So that is the scene here right clear, open for right now, the weather is going to a play a huge role in the mornings commute. Right now live in charlotte, Kristen Hampton, wbtv on your side. John a severe storm system caused seven tornadoes across the southeast. Now three deaths are being blamed on the storm in louisiana and mississippi. One of the tornadoes tore through this rv park flipping trucks and destroying buildings on the ground debris is scattered everywhere. I could see the top of the tornado coming down going across the looked like crossing the road there and the doors started sucking in where we were at. The storm spawned waterspouts. Weather teams will document the damage and determine the strength of the tornadoes. North Carolina Governor Pat Mccrory is urging local School Leaders to review Severe Weather plans. Those are designed to protect student and teacher in case of cms super superintendent ann clark said the district is keeping an eye on the forecast. We practice tornado drills in schools, our schools are prepared should those circumstances happen once we get to school. Also encouraging parents to watch the weather keep kids indoors until the last moment before they get otobius there areon the bus ifthere are downpours. Charlottemecklenburg police are looking for two men who kidnapped a pizza delivery driver. A man and woman are responsible for the crimes, as alex giles tells us, officers have at least one clue. Reporter officers now have a photo of one of the suspects in the case. They say the incident started here in the 200 block of baldwin avenue, just minutes away from the papa johns restaurant. Officers responded to restaurant after the driver had been missing for hours. They then found his car on baldwin, turns out the suspects him to an atm where he was forced to withdraw money. His journey ended an hour away near archdale where the suspects let him go and fled. One neighbor in the Cherry Community where it all started tells me she is surprised this kidnapping happened in her neighborhood and feels sorry for the victim. Times are are tough and some people dont have a way to make a living and dont have much hope. So im sorry it is like that. Im glad the guy didnt get hurt. Officers are asking for your help catching the suspects. If you recognize the man in the hooded sweatshirt or know anything, contact police. Alex giles, wbtv on your side. Rock hill Police Arrested two teens they say shot this six week old puppy with a bb gun. Demonte douglas and 14yearold are charged r with cruelty to animals. The two shot the six week old knife at it on sunday at the Wildwood Spring apartment complex. Douglas is due in court today. Wbtv talked to his mother who says she believes her son is innocent and doesnt understand why he is in jail. He said mama ricottas, i did not do this. I promise you i did not do this. Im still stuck on the report seeing 17 to 20 juveniles but you only have two, one child release to their parent, my son sitting in jail right now. Stover doesnt believe her son has is it in him to hurt a puppy. He has medical problems, born with one kidney and a hole in his heart. Workers at the Animal Hospital named the puppy brody. Governor pat mccrory is blasting the new nondiscrimination ordinance calling it flat out wrong. Everyones privacy is at risk. Using a rest room facility or and i think everyone is at risk. The governor told steve crump the ordinance is an overreach by local government. Mccrory says the General Assembly will take the ordinance up in april. Possibly banning towns from passing other ordinances like it. The North Carolina legislature is allowed to vote to cancel local government policies. Another bump in the road in the search for new superintendent for charlottemecklenburg schools. Two weeks ago the school board agreed it would decide on a Superintendent Search time line. That was supposed to happen at last nights meeting. But that didnt happen. As Dedrick Russell reports, while the community wait, Board Members are casting blame on why they are back to the drawing board. Had we actually gotten a time line together a year ago. Reporter Rhonda Lennon speaking out, blamed Board Leadership for waiting so long to start a Superintendent Search. Better late than never. Mary mccray then fired back. I will take it upon my back to say that i will accept that, this also lies with the rest of this board. So not just on the leadership. At times the board sounded clueless. We dont know what we want. The conversation went back and forth among members. To speak. Eric davis then said what some in the audience were thinking. Tonight has been more than a little confusing. Voters left upset they thought at this meeting the board would have agreed on a time line, like they promised. If they have a year to deal with this, it seems like what they have done tonight is kicked the can down the road a little bit further. Now, theres the fear of what could happen if there are more meetings like this one. One week becomes one month, one month becomes six months and then six months becomes another year and we are right back with no superintendent. That was Dedrick Russell reporting. The board is now leaning on former School Board Member trent merchant to help him with the superintendent process. No word when the board will meet lancaster, South Carolina has a new mayor. Voters elected john howard in a special election last night replaces the previous mayor, joe shaw, who died back in november. Shaw was lancasters longest serving mayor, having been in office for 26 years. Three wins in a row for donald trump, his reaction after 20 minutes before 5 00. phone ringing you cant deal with something, by ignoring it. But thats how some president ial candidates seem to be dealing with social security. Americans work hard, and pay into it. So our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. elephant noise donkey noise john now 18 minutes before 5 00. And wbtv always on your side, bringing you the latest headlines from around the world. Our Kristen Miranda live in the alert center right now following stories youll want to know before you head out the door. Well check in with her in a little bit. In campaign 2016, another victory for the republican president ial front runner. Cbs news projected donald trump is the winner of nevada caucuses. Second place is too close to call, danielle knottingham has more from trumps celebration in las vegas. Reporter cbs news projects donald trump won the Nevada Republican caucuses collecting his third victory. You will be proud of your present and prouder of your country, okay . Trump did well among those who prefer political outsider. Republicans who selected immigration and economy as the top issues. A lot of politicians that say things but havent had the ability to go in the real world and make things happen, hes done that. He expected to win big but the closest rivals are bat battling it out for second place. Ted cruz greeted caucus goers. He did well with values voters. Marco rubio was the choice of late deciders and those who said electability was most important. Hopefully enough rubio supporters to sway trump voters. Still ahead, the round of storms headed for the carolinas has some schools preparing for the worst. The decision by some districts to cancel classes today. John 13 minutes before 5 00. New video of the heavy Weather Damage in louisiana. This is in prairieville near lake poncatrain. People were working at a gym when the wall was ripped off. Seven confirmed tornadoes in threemississippi. Horry and georgetown schools near myrtle beach are are shut down expecting heavy rain and hail. You can stay on top of the threat for Severe Weather by downloading the wbtv mobile news app. The interactive radar can then hep you track storms in real time. 12 minutes before 5 00. A live look at charlotte skyline from our Scott Clark Nissan honda hd tower cam, this is i77 at west boulevard, in fact, we have had heavy rain out there this morning but right now it appears to have slacked off a bit. So lets find out more about what to expect today from meteorologist al conklin. Al john, these are very quickmoving cells that are blowing through right now. They are on the move from about 40 to 50milesperhour, so you may have a big downpour and it will be gone in moments. You can see how over the last several hours the elements have come up from the south. Well widen it out, one of the rain is because what happened to the south. First off we still have a Flash Flood Watch in effect until 6 00 this evening. Rain will come during the daylight for the most part today. Outside of Severe Weather, we also have a wind advisory in effect that runs through midnight tonight for just about the entire viewing area. What were concerned about is combination of heavy rain and wind, outside of Severe Weather that could bring down trees, frankly, because again the ground is so saturated and so wet. If we can get 30, 40 mile per hour winds that could be a problem. On the backside we have an issue in the mountains, that will be snow that starts late tonight, will be a couple inches up there in the highest elevationses, that runs until friday morning. Lets look at futurecast here you can see the storms, this is 8 00 this morning and any one of these could have quite a bit of wind, potential for damage. Then heading toward noon, this is the line that i am most concerned about right on top of i77, give or take an hour or so the potential as we warm to near 70 to become quite a prolific Severe Weather maker. We have to see what happens. There will be additional showers that come through but thatt main line i think by lunch time is going to be the one we have to watch most closely. Thereafter, maybe an isolated shower but things will start to dry on out. Out there this morning, damp conditions in charlotte, we had rain overnight but not raining right now in and around the queen city. This is our current can can current conditions. Six mile visibility, east to southeast breeze. That breeze will warm us up. Closer to the 50s down here to the south of charlotte, that warm air will get pushed very quickly northward this morning. So our temperatures will be going up. By 8 00 i believe we will be in the 50s and then well in the 60s to near 70 with a 90 chance of thunderstorms here and as we go deeper through the afternoon we should get things to quiet down. So again, right now, one of the reasons were not seeing quite were getting little rob job, a lot of moisture, a lot of storms in georgia and that is disrupting the f fw coming in our part of the carolinas, but going through time, that is definitely going to happen. As we see it, this morning, this is where the worst of the weather is probably going to be in the carolinas today in terms of Severe Weather potential. There is at least a slight chance for pretty strong thunderstorms, well be watching the threat for tornadoes is not super. Not off the charts but also not zero. Wind and flood more likely to be the bigger issues for us. Once the storm system moves through, there you go, we will dry out. There will be snow in the mountains tonight and tomorrow, High Pressure builds in and that will provide plenty of sunshine for the rest of us Going Forward through the weekend. Eventually a warming trend. Today, 70 degrees, showers, thunderstorms, highs in the 50s to start, 60s by sunday. John new concerns this morning about the zika virus. The possible new cases Health Officials are now investigating. Wbtv always on your side, in your community, nine minutes before 5 00. Speak out is an expression of opinion from the Editorial Board of wbtv, and is presented by general manager, scott dempsey. Its a short six months until the next school year begins. By now, we thought wed be closer to finding charlottes next top educator. But because of a divided school board, loaded with personal agendas, we have to wait another year. As a result of their 15month procrastination, the Board Members failed their initial assignment. After signing interim superintendent ann clark to a controversial extension, they now have another chance to get it right. We hope this doover will yield a more unified board and better results. During a recent meeting, Board Members put their we appreciate their open dialogue about the Superintendent Search. We think thats healthy after all, they do represent different constituents. But whats concerning is when the board presented an unorganized front. Demonstrating a lack of communication skills. Cms is the Second Largest School District in the state. When it comes to the peoples business, Board Members should handle it in a way the community can be proud of. A way that can be emulated by other districts. If you cant get the job done, then get off the board. Who can take this district to the next level. Every day the board waits to find a new leader, students, are stuck with no clear speakout wbtv. Com john the cdc is investigating 14 new reports of zika virus being transmitted sexually. Several involve pregnant women. It has been confirmed in 23 states including North Carolina. The World Health Organization estimates four Million People would be infected in the next year. President obamas plan to close Guantanamo BayDetention Center getting pushback this morning. There are 91 prisoners being held at gitmo. The plan to transfer 35 to other countries and move the rest to facility here in the united states. Administration is looking at 13 the u. S. Naval brig in charleston, South Carolina. Coming up at the top of the hour. Breaking news after a wreck closed a lane of i85 in Mecklenburg County for some time this morning, the investigation in what caused that wreck. Al . Al john, tracking that big storm system back to the west of us. A lot of rain coming in the southeast, were watching lines of Severe Weather across georgia, they are heading in our direction, ill have first alert forecast today and through the weekend straight ahead. Chris . Chris wet roads for your wednesday morning commute and we will give you the latest on conditions here around the charlotte area, kristen . Kristen chris, pulling together the latest video were getting in of storm damage across the gulf state, ill wbtv news this morning starts in this broadcast sponsored by subaru south boulevard and subaru concord. Wbtv on your side. Breaking this morning, a busy morning for troopers after this wreck involving a semi truck temporarily closed part of 85. Were on your side with a look how the rain is affecting the morning commute. John welcome to wbtv news this morning, it is wednesday, february 24th, im john carter. Christine im christine sperow. Those stories plus Kristen Miranda in the alert center on Severe Weather watch for us this morning in other parts of the southeast. Kristen getting some of the first picture in of the late night storm damage in florida, alabama, mississippi, mississippi and ill bring you those. John lets get started with charlottes most experienced morning meteorologist, al conklin. Al thanks a lot, john. What were looking at is five sweeps of power doppler radar, weve got rain were dealing with this