State trying to pass the same type of nonDiscrimination Ordinance and lawmakers are working to reverse it in charlotte and stop it from happening any where else. All those in favor raise your hand. With that vote, Charlotte City leaders made it against the law for businesses and taxis to discriminate against members of the Lgbt Community and use the bathrooms of their choice. They also went against the governor. What are you going to do now. As i warned and as i expected, we all ready have state legislators working on legislation for april to reverse what the city council did. In a one on one interview, governor pat mccrory said he believes allowing trans gender people to use the bathroom of their choice is a violation of privacy and over reach so hes stepping in. I think they cross the common sense threshold of sense of privacy and security. That we all expect. We learned the state could take four routes. Strike the entire ordinance, strike part of it. Pass a conflicting law or put it before voters in a referendum. Political experts say a referendum would draw more voters. But the governor argues that would take too much time. I think we need to correct this very misguided ordinance as quick as possible and move on to the higher priorities that we are working on in north carolina. Opponents of this ordinance expect to meet in the coming days to discuss whether to take legal action or wait for lawmakers to act. In law goes into effect april 1st. The governor expects lawmakers will likely file a bill later that month. Live in raleigh, brittney johnson, channel 9 Eyewitness News. Today charlotte mayor the city looks more welcoming after passing the non Discrimination Ordinance last night. She says the measure is all about equal rights. I think anything that makes charlotte a more welcoming city is a great thick for our future. We have extensive coverage of the nonDiscrimination Ordinance online. Look for the story on the home page. Charlotte based bank of america is getting back in the business of offering mortgages for as little as 3 down. B of a saying the new low program is designed to help low income families get mortgages of up to 417,000. Borrowers will need a credit score of at least 660. And they cant make more than the Median Income for the area. The program doesnt require the borrower to pay for mortgage insurance. Bank of america says there will be checks and balances in place to protect the bank. Turning to a case that prosecutors say involves lies this local man is accused of trying to ship dozens of guns to africa. Today a judge sent him back to jail. Anchor liz foster sat down for an exclusive interview with a u. S. Attorney for a closer look at this investigation that stretches from charlotte all the way to the country of ghana. Scott, the scope of this investigation is huge. It includes authorities from federal agencies, ghana, and four states in the u. S. Earlier today here at the federal courthouse, the judge called the allegations quote, alarming, and ordered richmond held in jail without bond. New information tonight about an International Gun smuggling investigation that federal prosecutors say revolves around a theme of lies. Prosecutors claim richmond told all of them. Prosecutors say he bought 63 guns, lied on the federal applications and came back from a trip to ghana with 30,000 hidden in his shoe. Atf agents started they claim he went to a shipping company in this office to ship a washer and dryer to ghana. But investigators say inside the washing machine, 27 firearms were hidden. Investigators confiscated the guns as well as 3,500 rounds of ammunition. Once theyre outside the country, we have no control over in whose hands they eventually end up. They could be criminals. They could be terrorists. U. S. Attorney jill rose sat down exclusively with channel 9 today. His attorney countered the allegations saying the lies remain to be seen and the prosecution cant dispute with unknown factors. His father was too upset to talk today but last week we spoke only with channel 9. Hes a good guy. Prosecutors admit they dont know who the guns were going to. But Westmoreland Rose says they dont have to proof that. The fact remains he was not prosecutors said when atf agents questioned him, he said his uncle was shipping guns. If hes convicted on all charges, he faces 85 years in prison. Prosecutors say they dont know where 36 of the guns he bought are right now. Reporting live from the federal courthouse, liz foster, channel 9 Eyewitness News. Tonight were asking police how long this murder suspect from Halifax County was living in the area. Officers in northwest Mecklenburg County arrested Tyquan Powell over night. They say he barricaded himself in a home. Police blocked off the neighborhood until he gave himself up at 3 30 this morning. Hes accused of killing a man in january. Authorities arrested and charged this statesville man with attempted murder. He shot sam nickels in the chest and lug sunday on green briar road. Nickels is still being treated at cmc main. Today president obama shared his plan to close down guantanamo bay. He wants congress to sign off detainees there to a facility on u. S. Soil. The president says gitmo is being used a a recruiting tool by terrorists and its too costly to maintain. Congress has opposed previous plans to shut the prison down. Many local critics are worried dangerous terrorists could end up at the navel brig in charleston south carolina. We sent Eyewitness News reporter greg suskin to columbia today to ask lawmakers about the president s plan. Hes live now in rock hill. Reporter you might expect that state lawmakers would be divided on this controversy along party lines. Thats not what we found when we went to columbia to ask them about it. President obama has long promised to close gitmo but the controversy is over where some detainees will be sent. A plan calls for possibly transferring some to a navy brig in charleston. Reaction was quick. To weigh in on this. I think it has no place in south carolina. Even some democratics dont back the president on this issue. Jerry thinks bringing maximum security prisoners here is a bad idea. He says the federal government is always dumping on south carolina. Its like with the Nuclear Waste issue. I think south carolinians are tired of being targeted. Representative Todd Rutherford says prisoners have Constitutional Rights and he says the threat they pose is no different than they face all ready. He supports the plan. Security plans are everywhere. It doesnt mean we get to do things and act like we dont have a constitution. Lawmakers say the state is powerless to stop prisoners from moving here but Public Opinion could be the best weapon. Politicians have made their opinions clear on this issue including pat mccrory and nikki haley who came out against the president s plan. Ignoring the danger these inmates represent. Live in rock hill, greg suskin, channel 9 Eyewitness News. The burke count town of hildebrand has set up a temporary town hall after a massive fire happened near its offices. Flames swept through the old Hildebrand High School this morning. In the last two hours, investigators began tearing down the walls in hopes of uncovering what started the fire. They used a ladder truck to photograph some of the damage today. The town offices have been moved to the western Piedmont Council of government building in hickory. Local, small, and minority Business Owners are using this week to network. At the extravaganza depot in charlotte, roberts calls them the key to charlotte being a world class city. We want to help support the growth of our Small Businesses and our minority businesses through these efforts. Corporations to out source more services to local small business. With powerful thunderstorms battering the gulf coast, Christine Rapp will join me to look at the damage all ready in. And ill show you parameters im looking at to measure the carolinas. E a live look at the radar. Live Early Warning doppler 1 showing 9 showing a huge amount of rain headed this way. Action 9 confronted this mooresville flooring contractor about the criminal charges and new lawsuit hes facing. Customers say he took their money and took measurements but never started the job. Jason stoogenke followed the criminal and civil cases and hes live in uptown charlotte with more. Reporter well scott, right here is the lawsuit. And here are the arrest warrants. I spoke with both of those alleged victims. They have similar stories. They say theyve waited months for the work. Whats the process been like . Its been extremely exasperating. Mike jackson wanted hardwood floors. In august he paid melvin madrid who owns mooresville carpet and flooring, 8,000. Half the total price. He didnt do anything. Not one thing. He showed up. He looked at the house and took measurements but he says that was all. Ill take care of you. Dont worry. Everything will be okay. And well get it done. And he wouldnt show up. Jackson gave it five months and now hes suing. Meanwhile prosecutors are going have madrid in criminal court on charges involving jackson and another customer, felony charges. Im jason with channel 9. When i went to madrids story i found him in the parking lot and asked him about the allegations, he denied doing anything wrong and seemed confident theyll win the criminal and civil cases. Youre being honest with money and giving them the run around because it seems that way. No, sir. He offered to return jacksons money but jackson never picked up the check. Jackson says thats a lie and emailed me quote, unbelievable. Now advice we always give viewers, make sure you always Research Contractors before you hire them. That means not just checking out their business names but also checking out their personal names. Something jackson tells me he wishes he had done. Live in uptown, jason stoogenke, channel 9 Eyewitness News. For past action 9 investigations and how to contact jason, go to wsoctv. Com and scroll over 9 investigates. Then click on action 9. A man in Alexander County is locked up with a 1 Million Dollar bond tonight after being accused of raping an 11year old girl. Ronnie bird is charged with statutory rape and sex offense along with indecent liberties with a child. Deputies say they plan to looking for more evidence in this case. New tonight, Matthews Police starting to train with body cameras. They bought those cameras at the beginning of the year. Some of the money for the units came from community groups. Were told that every officer will be trained and equipped. And there will also be extra units for other operations. The deadline passed to register a drone. 368,000 drones were on that list as of february 19th. The faa deadline was midnight friday. Thats a lot of drones. Anybody flying an unregistered drone can get a ticket and face a fine from here on out. Outside tonight, its chilly, and Steve Udelson our chief meteorologist is checking rain moving into is it area. Its light but were seeing spotty showers break out toward lake norman. Light rain on top of the lake about to move toward cornelius, davidson, and mooresville. Mountain, were seeing light rain, sliding on to northeast, highway 9 corridor, chester toward grape falls. Light rain approaching lancaster, but the main batch of rain is well to the west. And its going to be a while before it gets here. But storms are beginning to get close to the Atlanta Metro and thats the first sign of things to come as this storm, which is really a strong one, gets its act together and pushes toward the carolinas. Its all ready caused a lot of damage. For more on some of the latest pictures, Christine Rapp is here to take you through it. This is our first look at a tornado that caused extensive damage in areas of living stockton louisiana, 30 miles east of baton rouge. This tornado alone damaged 30 homes in the small town of living stockton. Heres prairieville, you can see extensive damage to a gym. People were in the gym at the time. You can see the wall blown over parts of the roof were destroyed. So far theres been 11 reports of tornadoes in areas of mississippi here this evening. Thats three more added in the past hour. Still going to be a long night for folks in the deep south. Well continue to bring you the latest reports and images this evening at 10 00 and 11 00. Well take a look at the parameters im looking at. Check out the Severe Weather threat in the carolinas. All the wind is to the southwest. As we work our way through over night and tomorrow morning the wind pushes into the mountains. By late morning and lunch time, look where its focused. Right on the charlotte metro. Were talking about the shades of white. Up to 70 Miles Per Hour winds a couple thousand feet up. Any heavy showers will try to drag the winds down to the ground. And thats when the greatest Severe Weather threat for winds will be. Watch the humidity increase. Its relatively dry. I know its moist. Its humid outside. That will change. The air mass goes from cool to very wet and then it all slides as i said, this is a very fast moving storm. It comes and it goes. Heres a look at the hourly rain chance for the charlotte area. Peeking from toward the end of the rush hour through lunch time. And then dropping rapidly as we head through tomorrow afternoon. Theres the future cast itself. The showers and storms in the mountains about 8 00 a. M. Scattered showers in the charlotte area for the morning drive. Keith will keep you on top of that. As we head through lunch time. Everything slides east. Its along the highway 52 corridor as quickly as lunch time. By tomorrow night, its a okay. A couple sprinkles left over. A mix of clouds and sun, your neighborhood forecast, kings mountain, gust y showers and storms. Temperatures climb in the mid 60s before cooling late in the day. Fort mill, were talking about temperatures rising close to 70 degrees before we cool off. Watch out for gusty storms late morning and up in blowing rock, well see a lot of changes, Thunder Showers in the morning. The future cast suggesting snow showers by the tennessee line tomorrow night into the day on thursday. Charlotte areas fine. We get the sunshine. As far as snow totals in the mountains, an inch in the lower elevations to maybe two inches way up high. Not a big one as far as ski country goes. But still some natural snow. Fiveday forecast keeps us in the 50s as we head through late week and into the weekend. And well get the sunshine back. So thats certainly good news. Were going to make its through the next couple days and well be back on the upswing. Thank you steve. Illegal liquor houses, this is a problem that channel 9 has investigated for months after cmpd linked these houses to several Violent Crimes now at 10 00 and 11 00, Allison Latos road along with Police Working to shut down the houses the tactic theyre using now. A quick look at the day on down 188. Steve today is your lucky day. Woman surprised oh, my goodness mark youve just won a thousand dollars woman thatamazing that amazing shrieks woman ok, nice job. Mark, way better than yesterday. Maria, that delivery felt alittle forced. And steve, steve yeah . Woman i am still missing that raw emotion. Woman pretty awesome for atuesday, but tomorrow is hump day, so lets really bring it lucky for life. Win a thousand dollars a day, every day, for life. The Charlotte Hornets recent run. Seven wins in the last nine games moved the team back into playoff contention. Theyre 2. 5 games out of the four seed in hosting a playoff series. Last night against brooklyn the team was as complete as theyve been in months. A determined kemba walker and nick all shinning in a win over the nets. They continued to improve each gamement for steve clippard, theres only so much he can do to inspire the guys. At some point they need to take ownership. Theres no fiery speeches. You either have guys that believe or understand you have to have the right approach to keep improving or you dont. As the charlotte 49ers prepare for the final home stand of the season, the message is simple, get momentum well see what happens. Backtoback road losses. Four games remaining in the regular season. They wont be an easy out in the post season. We pretty much have been in every single game that weve played. So the teams know that were capable of beating them if they dont bring their a game and they know were a team that can put a lot of points on the board when things are clicking for us. They sit in first place for the acc. A visit to virginia. A game and a half back of first. Life was never easy in the acc head coach roy williams is fine with that. If its the other way around and youre playing four teams that are really bad then youre scared to death. And right now youre excited about the opportunities. Thats the way i look at it. Your heels are rolling. You think this holds off until after the morning drive. We will dry out quickly. Thanks for making us your choice for news at 6 00. Join us tonight at 11 00. Well see you then. Vo know you have a dedicatedadvisor and team who understand where you come from. We didnt really have anything, you know. But, we made do. 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