Eyewitness news. A Wake County School board member dies suddenly. how educators are remembering their colleague. Plusthe Harnett CountySheriffs Office hit with a federal lawsuit. Why some are claiming deputies violated civil rights. And how the fires burning in the North Carolina mountains could affect you here in the triangle this weekend. Eyewitness news starts right now. right now on Eyewitness News. right now on Eyewitness News. Educators mourning a Wake County School board member who died unexpectedly today. Good evening im steve daniels. And im tisha powell. Zora felton passed away at the age of 65 today. She was absent from last nights School Board Meeting after falling ill. Angelica alvarez is live outside Sanderson High School in raleighwith more on the sudden passing. This is where it she graduated from sanderson high. Started teaching here in 1973. Shes a mother. Shes a grandmother. And for so many. Her death comes as a shock. Missing from last nights Wake County School board meeting. Board member zora felton had said she wasnt feeling well. She had a bad headache is what she had told us. But she told us she would be ready to go to the conference in the morning. When the folks who were going to carpool got to her apartment that conference is the annual School Board Association conference in greensboro. Whe re fellow board member. Jim martin. Was leaving when we spoke to him by phone. No word yet on what caused the 65 year old to pass away. But those who knew her are focusing her on her passion for education. On the board i think shes best known as an advocate for teachers. Felton taught at sanderson high for 10 years before taking time to raise her children. She returned to teaching in 1998 at leesville road high. 2013. The same year she was elected to the school board. So do go out there and vote. In a recent meeting. She spoke about the importance of voting. Before being reelected last week. And once again standing up for teachers. She said ive just been reelected and youre going to hear me for the next two years arguing for providing more time for teachers to do the work that they need to do. I think thats the legacy well all remember from zora. Been sworn in for her new term next month. For now. Board members believe theyll fill her seat like they would any other outside of an election cycle. Which is interviewing applicants then appointing someone. new tonight a federal lawsuit filed against the harnett a federal lawsuit filed against the Harnett County sheriffs civil rights and engaged in patterns of abuse. The plaintiffs include the family of john livingston. He was shot and killed by Deputy Nicholas kehagias last november. Kehagias is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. greg barnes live at the Harnett CountySheriffs Office to break it all down for us. 4 Law Enforcement officers, a former sheriff and the current sheriff are named in this federal lawsuit. It was never a question of if a lawsuit was going to be filed, just when, and that became a reality today. The 100 plus page lawsuit names former sheriff larry rollins, and current sheriff wayne coats among defendants, and was filed on behalf of the family of john david livingston. , the 33 year old was shot and killed by Deputy Nicholas kehagias, last november. Earlier this year the state medical examiner classified the shooting as a claim pain and suffering, bodily injuries and wrongful arrests. The plaintiffs alledge that defendants deputies from the Harnett CountySheriffs Office used Excessive Force upon them and executed their duties in a grossly negligent manner. The plaintiffs also allede, the the Sheriffs Office under the leadership of defendents rollins and coats, has a long history of misconduct, Excessive Force and other civil rights violations. All the specific complaints, and demands a trial by jury. We reached out to spokespersons for the Sheriffs Office but so far now one has responded. Robert zatoun one of livingston familys attorney, called the lawsuit the result of a comprehensive year long investigation that culminated on the anniversary of john david livingstons death. But said a trial could be many months down the road. In Harnett County greg barnes abc 11 now to the massive wildfires burning in the North Carolina mountains. new evacuation orders are in effect for People Living along highway 9 in henderson county. The Party Rock Fire is threatening homes in the area. This is video of helicopter crews dropping retardant on the flames. That fire has grown to more than five thousand acres and its only 19 percent contained. It now covers parts of rutherford counties. This is new video showing a first hand view of greensboro firefighters battling the flames in the woods. This is just one of 15 wildfires in North Carolina thatve burned 47thousand acres. Tonight. forestry officials are concerned the conditions will get worse in the coming days when gusty wind. And low humidity arrives. We just learned eight members of the durham fire the Durham Fire Department will head out to lake lure in the morning to help on the Party Rock Fire. Theyre expected to be gone for at least three days. The massive wildfires sending smoke all over the southeast. This is a view from nasa and as you can see the smoke extends down into southern georgia. Scientists warning the giant smoke could come east this weekend. This is a look at the air quality map. The areas in turn red over the next few days. Charlotte is already covered in a thick cloud of smoke. Officials warn those with asthma emphezema or heart conditions to limit strenuous work or exercise outside. A wake county mom is behind bars tonight after police say she abandoned her kids outside an apartment building. An eyewitness says the kids were left to fend for themselves. Sonya weldon says she saw sonya weldon says she saw the two toddlers the Heritage Park apartments yesterday afternoon. weldon tracked down the mother. And called 911. Her name is secret mcclain. And she faces two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. Police say the kids are now staying with family members. A crime alert tonight for drivers in Durham County. A fake officer pulled over and robbed a woman. The woman was pulled over last night. Near the intersection of guess and mason roads. The woman told investigators the man got out of the what appeared to be a rifle. She wasnt hurt but the thief stole her purse. A mail controversy boiling over tonight in a raleigh neighborhood. People in Waverly Point say theyre having issues with the Postal Service. They say on many occasions their mail is delivered to the wrong address and in one case it was delivered at 3am on the weekend. In an email the Postal Service told us the problems stem from larger mail volume due to the holidays. Tonight raleigh city Leaders Conversation sparked by protests held in the wake of the Police Shooting death of akiel denkins. Joel brown joins us from raleigh with more on how effective the meetings are. It was a full house, tonight. A diverse crowd of raleighites. And everyone was handed one of these flyers at the door. That laid out the rules of engagement. The purpose, the context. And how the plan to talk about these feelings that have been simmering for years. And tonight, the conversation moved here to there are a lot of national conversations, but this is about us and who we are and how we see ourselves and who we want to be. And so in this jam packed activity room in north raleigh. The citywide discussion began on how to move forward past the visisirst laid re lasfebruary. Aenats en akiel denkins was shot and lled by a raleigh lice ofc. Le dominant story you are telling yourself about relations . Placing its police force literally at the table with citizens. Raleigh city leaders believe this is a big first step toward healing the divide between cops and community. We listened as residents highlighted the economic and social inequities they feel here. It doesnt start with the officer. It began long before the officer ever came on the scene. And thats the part that racially divides us. There were questions. Like, whats Community Policing . Is it helping ease tes that community so i dont know if its really working or whether its making us all feel better. While the conversation flowed freely here. Weve spoken to activists in the run up to tonight. Who believe the time for talk has passed. Who say its time for action. Theres a fear that we will go through these meetings and that there will be a fancy report and it will go in a book, onto a shelf and well never hear about it again. Well thats why people come in and sit down and the active part of this conversation. We want people in the community to take ownership. Its their community what happens next . Well, there were city staffers at each table tonight taking detailed notes. They will now compile the data. And come back in january with 5 more community meetings. One in each city council district. To address the geographic specific concerns. Governor mccrorys Campaign Filing a formal protest in eleven more counties. challenging what it calls potentially fraudulent absentee ballots cast for roy cooper. As it stands tonight roy cooper is leading the race for governor by about 48 hundred votes. The Mccrory Campaign is now protesting ballots in a total of 12 counties durham, edgecombe, franklin, guilford, halifax, robeson, vance, wake and warren. It wants each county board of elections to conduct a full investigation of absentee ballots. At the same time. The Durham County board of elections has voted to hold a special hearing on friday focused on the results of last weeks election. The move came after tom stark a Republican Party lawyer filed a formal protest alleging misconduct in counting the ballots. He lives in durham. And says he represents himself. not the mccrory re election campaign. But republicans have also raised questions after there were problems uploadin five early Voting Machines on election night. Fridays hearing will determine if theres probable cause to hold a recount. Staying with politics president elect donald trump huddled up in trump tower tonight working to fill key positions in his administration. Former House SpeakerNewt Gingrich met with the Trump Transition Team today. Gingrich is rumored to be a candidate for secretary of state. This all comes as governor Chris Christie was ousted from the team and ben carson said he does not want to be considered for a cabinet slot. Meanwhilethe trump team reminding people administrations. Vice president bidengave vice Vice President bidengave Vice President elect mike pence a washington welcome this afternoon. Joe biden and his wife jill welcomed the pences to their residence. The two sides held talks in an effort to support a smooth transition. The Vice President said no administration is ready on day one and expressed confidence that by trumps inauguration on january will be in good hands. Were just Getting Started tonight on Eyewitness News. Mangled mess. The aftermath when two trains collide head on in florida. Plus best states for business. where North Carolina ranks on the new list. And why. And naked burglar. A guy loses his pants during a breakin at a pizza shop. And then proceeds to wreck the place. Its our must see video of the look outside of the Raleigh Eyewitness News Center amazingly no one was hurt. It happened this morning when one tai hit another train hauling fertilizer. At least twenty cars went off the track. A fire official describes the cars as mangled. 4thousand gallons of fuel leaked from one of the trains. crews are now working to clean it all up. A Minnesota Police officer now facing charges in the shooting death of philando castille. today prosecutors charged officer Jeronimo Yanez with Second Degree manslaughter. Castiles girlfriend streamed the aftermath of the shooting on facebook back in july. She says castile was shot while reaching for his id. After telling a gun permit and was armed. The criminal report released today shows 7 shots were fired into the car. Theres new details tonight in the deadly shooting of an Airline Employee outside the Oklahoma City airport. Police saying tonight lloyd buie killed Michael Winchester in retaliation for having lost his own job with Southwest Airlines last year. Investigators say buie killed the 52 year old in a parking garage before killing himself inside his pickup truck. Buie quit his job as a ramp agent last year after he alcohol screening. New tonight high praise for North Carolina. Today. Forbes named the tar heel state the nations second best for business. It says we have low labor costs. And an increasing population. utah has the top spot as the best place to do business. West Virginia was named the worst state for business. Now to the big board and the mustsee video of the night. We start in maryland with a burglar caught with his pants caught on surveillance video. The guy breaks through the roof of a pizza place. And loses his pants on the way down. The man then walks through the restaurant nude trying to break into the cash registers. And becomes irate when he cant get any money and decides to wreck the place causing thousands of dollars in damage. The owners are mad about it but, they say they got a good laugh out of it. That whale will swallow you whole this diver was swimming in the barents sea when out of nowhere this humpback whale surfaced nearly scooping him up. Exactly what he was doing and moved to avoid the diver. A heros sendoff in western North Carolina. This morning. Nearly six hundred Elementary School students cheered in hayesville as firefighters headed out to fight the wildfires. Those crews in clay county are battling the boteler fire thats scorched nearly nine more sunshine and mild temperatures are on the way for the rest of the week, as High Pressure settles over the region. This high will help bring more dry and unseasonably warm weather over central North Carolina through friday readings will warm into the upper 60s and lower 70s tomorrow and low to mid 70s on friday. Record high temperatures on friday are in the upper 70s. It would not be impossible for readings to top out in the upper 70s over parts of central North Carolina especially over areas just south of the triangle. The large storm system moving into the Northern Rockies tonight will force the development of a surface storm over the central u. S. Tomorrow. This storm will move colder air pours into the Northern Rockies and unseasonably warm air flows northward over the Eastern Plains and western great lakes. This large contrast in temperatures over a large area will bring the first major snowstorm of the season to parts of the Northern Rockies and over parts of the dakotas into minnesota tomorrow and tomorrow night into friday. The strengthening surface storm will track into the great lakes on friday forcing a strong cold front east and Tennessee Valley by late friday. This front will sweep through the carolinas saturday afternoon with showers across central North Carolina. Temperatures will rise to near 70 in most places early saturday afternoon then once the front moves through, much cooler air will pour into the region and temperatures will plunge from the 60s into the 40s by late saturday evening. Real november cold will move into central North Carolina sunday and monday. This will fall season thus far. High pressure building eastward from the plains states will bring dry and unseasonably cold weather for sunday followed by a day to day warm up early next week. Highs will struggle to reach 50 sunday and monday with night t