Queen City Loop: Streaming news for Dec. 24, 2023

We’re coming up on 5:39 this morning and we’re asking where’s the money this holiday shopping season good morning and happy Monday online sales are bringing in historic sales right now but there’s been a misconception that most people prefer filling their cart on their cell phones compared to in the store it’s a

Myth that Pew research is here to bust so starting with this Trends have almost always shown that people buy more in that last quarter of the year now the data for this year’s shopping habits is still being pulled so we’re going to take a look at 2022 that’s when online

Sales saw a 23% jump between October and December now Across the Nation that dollar amount comes in at about 303 billion bucks still in that same fourth quarter of 2022 retail stores only saw about 16% of their sales coming from computers now there’s another clue that

I want to clue you in on here an important factor to keep in mind when this information in this research is being gathered it’s actually including places that have both a storefront and stores that are strictly on online so among retailers that do have physical stores online sales rolls as well but

The jump just looks different depending on what stores we’re talking about that’s nearly 9% at general merchandise stores like your Walmart your target about 5% at food and beverage stores and then about 4 and a half% at those health and personal care stores so it’s why we’re asking this morning when it comes

To your gift shopping did you shop for gifts online or in person this year make sure you text us at 704 329 3600 well did you have any aches or pains that resurface with all the rain and cold temperatures well there might actually be a scientific reason for that

Here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check have you ever heard of weather related joint pain our chief meteorologist posted this on his Facebook page and it’s gotten over 200 comments and shares it’s believed that changes in barometric pressure can trigger certain Sensations in your joints so let’s get the facts our

Sources are WCNC chief meteorologist Brad panovich and the Cleveland Clinic last weekend the Carolinas were hit by a massive area of low pressure and an accompanying storm called a nor Easter panovich says it’s that low atmospheric pressure that can really bring the pain when there’s high pressure it’s like

Having a mountain of air above your head when there’s low pressure the atmosphere is actually thinner so there’s less air pushing on your body a Cleveland Clinic study on people who live with arthritis found that their aches increased on days with higher humidity lower barometric pressure and strong stronger winds but

Why is this people that have injuries or arthritis they have fluid or voids in their joints and what happens is when the pressure goes down those voids or fluids expands so it puts a little pressure on your joint and causes discomfort or pain and in the winter

Time panovic says that’s when you feel it the most get throwing the fact that it’s cold outside and people tend to feel things a little more when it’s chilly so next time your body is aching check the WCNC weather app you might be able to blame it on the weather with

Your verify fact check I’m Megan Bragg if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com with your help WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community a beautiful day so many people helping this is incredible let’s spread that love tonight here is a $5,000 check that

You guys can use to further the mission there is nothing on earth like the feeling of giving back with your hands five ,000 to you and uh block love Charlotte for what you guys do if you’d like to make a difference go to wcnc.com slake a difference

Now when you think of snow you may be thinking of a scene like this a winter wonderland but when you zoom into these falling snowflakes their intricate beauty is one of the coolest things in nature let’s learn how they form and another weather IQ you may heard of the

Saying no two snowflakes are alike because they have different branches and designs that make each one unique the process is complicated so let’s start with square one or in this case hexagon one a snowflake starts as a small particle such as a speck of dust where

Water vapor condenses onto it as we know a water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom these hydrogen atoms link together crystallize and then form a hexagon or a hexagonal prism so this is why snowflakes most commonly have six sides from here branches can form on the

Corners bonding to the second hydrogen atom but the process isn’t done this snowflake will continue to rise into colder air in the cloud gaining more branches and dendrites as more tiny water particles bond to the flake once the plate becomes too heavy it then Falls the two main atmospheric factors

Are temperature and level of humidity however it’s the temperature that mainly shapes a snowflake when temperatures are warmer say 28° to freezing snowflakes tend to fall as thin hexagon plates but a higher humidity level can create larger flakes or even create the basic classic snowflake there are 30

Different shapes of snowflakes such as needles and columns they fall in colder temps from 14 to 27° but colder temperatures there 10° or less produce the most common and intricate snowflakes these are known as Stellar dendrites but in this range another snowflake that’s equally as spectacular forms called the

Stellar plate I’m meteorologist Chris M what’s up ucnc Charlotte these are indicators of a violent nature um that can be taken out on human beings and yet the sentencing doesn’t reflect that mecklinburg County’s top prosecutor on the seriousness of animal abuse offenses like animal cruelty and dog

Fighting but as you heard there district attorney Spencer Maryweather says North Carolina’s laws do not provide teeth to the punishment for these crimes the da responding to questions over recent case in Charlotte where the dog fighter pleaded guilty to a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges his punishment he

Surrenders dozens of dogs in his care and faces a five-year ban on owning animals no fine no jail time related to the animal offenses Animal Advocates say this is just the latest example of North Carolina lagging behind most of the country in its animal protections if

Someone is willing to harm uh an animate being that we know that it’s not that much of a leap and a jump before they commit that same sort of uh violence before a human being and yet meinberg district attorney Spencer Maryweather says North Carolina’s laws don’t punish animal abusers accordingly even the most

Serious uh offenses for animal cruelty and dog fighting uh sort of top out at what is commonly referred to as a low-level felony a class H felony uh so for each of those a judge could sentence someone to a uh a prison sentence but it’s more likely that they would serve a

Probationary sentence such was the case in October when Earl Hamilton pleaded guilty to 32 charges related to dog fighting and animal cruelty and walked away with what some Animal Advocates called absolutely a slap on the risk looking at uh first offenses for dog fighting and North Carolina is in the

Bottom 10% of all states John McHugh is with the American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and leads efforts to strengthen animal legislation in the Carolinas he says North Carolina has quite a bit of work to do with no major changes to animal policy in decades we introduced a bill

Uh this past session to increase the penalty from a class H to a class F felony which would put us in the big middle third of all states in terms of a first offense he says that measure Senate Bill 457 would have offered the likelihood of prison time for even

Firsttime dog fighters the legislation however did not pass failing to make it out of committee none of these issues get any traction if we don’t have advocates in that are elected officials that push for them Maryweather says sometimes that takes citizens making the push to elected officials to let them

Know that it’s important to them and maybe should be more than just a class age felony um that they should be taken um seriously as an indicator of violence not just to animals but to human beings as well now after the holidays we are taking these concerns to Raleigh and we

Will hear from those who we chose to make the laws we’re going to bring you what they have to say in January in the meantime if you want to reach out to the folks who represent you directly we have the links to do so right now inside the

WCNC Charlotte mobile app just look for the story verify WCNC Charlotte verify is all about trying to make a difference in the community by making sure that the community has the correct information this is what we know and hey this is what we don’t know sometimes you’re actually surprised by the

Answer verify the difference verify is a great way to combat that misinformation making sure that people know the process of the reporting well trending this morning former Panther Superstar Cam Newton calling on the team’s owner David terer to make him president during an appearance on an NFL podcast Cam Newton

Made an elevator pitch on why it would uh be best he should be in the front office he claims if he were made the team president he could help fellow first overall pick Bryce young develop into an elite quarterback like he was he also added he has a better understanding

Of what fans expect and has the leverage to hold teer and the team’s front office accountable if uh Newton May was made president he would be only the fourth former NFL player currently in a prominent front office role Panthers fans took to social media very quickly following this pitch uh the consensus

Was they want him in the front office a lot of people saying they believe he would bring a winning culture back to the Carolinas so this morning we want to know what do you think about all this sh Cam Newton uh be made the team president of the Panthers let us know text

74329 3600 I think you know having him as part of the team uh not a player role but would be great I think his role as quarterback’s coach would be much more effective yeah the being president has so many more managerial responsibilties you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on

What you’re doing quarterback but if he if he could be the quarterback coach he would be one of the best because he was one of the best maybe we’ll see him here who knows anytime you bring a big name back to a program whether it’s NFL or college that’s struggling I think

Sometimes it can bring life back into the team um that’s what happened I feel like with Steve sper and the Gators uh when spur came back to the gator the old quarterback he was yeah remember the days when Mr spur but you know when he

Came back he I mean he works with alumni he doesn’t even really work with the team itself but being a former player he he understands I think you know uh Cam Newton his relatability one thing about him in the locker room they loved him so having that positive presence be great

For them it’s needed a car in North Carolina then you know you have to get your car inspected every year and that inspection may include an emissions test but could this soon change here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check we got a text message sent to us

From someone who heard the emissions test for vehicles is being eliminated in North Carolina counties but what does this really mean for drivers Let’s Get the facts our sources are the EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality the EPA says the yearly emissions test program helps maintain Federal air quality standards

In the state however the 2023 state budget bill that passed back in October could eliminate emissions testing in 18 of the 19 North Carolina counties that currently require them the only County that would continue to require emissions test would be mecklinburg County despite the fact that the bill passed the

Emissions provision is still not in effect the Department of Environmental Quality must first submit its 2023 State implementation plan Amendment to the EPA the EPA would then have to approve the amendment before it could take effect so we’re talking a few years from now and plenty of vehicles in North Carolina are

Already exempt from emissions testing it’s only required as we said in 19 out of the 100 counties in the state and even in those counties there are vehicles that don’t have to pass emissions test any vehicle that is 20 years or older exempt diesel operated or registered as a farm vehicle also exempt

If you want to know if your car must pass an emmissions test in order to pass inspection reach out to the end cdmv with your verifi fact check I’m Megan brag if you have something you would like verifi just email us at verify wcnc.com thank you we start with a check

Of our weather meteorologist Britney van bhe joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10° or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here

But you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into

The day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway

Certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high

Pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door

Early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the

Freezing mark up toward the mountains if you are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make

Sure you were checking those tickets before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly

Sunny and nice as we’re in the mid 60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas as we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 4S only so not dropping too much remember clouds

Act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61° mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar

Question is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00 and later I would either try to move them earlier in the day or move them

Inside here’s Monday at 7:00 so this is Christmas day you can see clouds starting to build in but we’re not seeing rain just yet notice the timing here 2:00 most of the day is actually not going to be rainy it’s mostly closer to 2 3:00 that we start to see that rain

Moving in and then from here and on we’re going to see rain off and on through Monday and pretty much all day on Tuesday now Tuesday is the day that we’re going to start to see that thunderstorm potential and winds start to pick up Monday night but really turn

Windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually start to drop as

We look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023 and into the first few days of a new year hard to believe 2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10-day forecast

Here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the Year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to

Average but uh definitely a pattern flip as we look ahead Nick so something to maybe look forward to if you like some Colder Weather but if you’re a fan of the nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah britty

I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of science that you get to see and experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact on how it

Threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I think it really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really

Important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors giving back to his community Charlotte rapper the baby gave out toys to thousands of people for its annual Christmas giveaway event family started lining up as early as 6 o’clock this morning WCNC Charlotte Miles Harris was

There and saw firsthand the impact it’s making helping families one gift at a time Charlotte native de baby held his annual Christmas giveaway just a few days before Christmas from Toys to bikes to TVs each item aimed to brighten the Christmas spirit and I like to to grow

Up and you know put on a positive example on how to do what I saw my mama doing growing up man and just give back to people you know what I mean spread blessings around make sure everybody enjoy their holidays the Charlotte native chose the

East Way Drive Church of God a church he grew up in to hold the giveaway there families wasted no time lining up for hours according to the organizers over 6,000 people participated therey you go that’s better including ebony Graham and her 9-year-old son he didn’t forget

About us for sure you know what I’m saying so that makes us feel good you know that we have somebody in our own City that represents and makes sure the kids good and you know give back to the community he credits his mother for stressing the importance of giving and

Now she hopes to spread that to others everyone Reach Out reach someone and just love and just enjoy the SE his mission behind the event to spread the holiday cheer amongst the community he’s grown with and loves the message is just spread your blessings man give back give back give back give

Back when you blessed if you able to bless others you know what I’m saying bless others with the hope of making a difference for families this holiday season in North Charlotte I’m Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte thanks for coming back now for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and

I’m manessa Rufus we start this half hour here as travel season ramps up for the winter holidays TSA agents say they are spotting more and more Firearms at airport checkpoints yeah and that issue it hitting home as Charlotte Douglas Airport has already seen more firearms come through compared to last year WCNC

Charlotte’s Miles Harris tells us how authorities plan to put a dent in this disturbing Trend TSA agents at Charlotte Douglas they’re going up to see a lot more Travelers go through these checkpoints as this holiday traveling season is officially underway and an important part of their job is making sure that

Firearms don’t go through we’re asking people to really pay attention to what they’re bringing with them uh to to the security checkpoint to the airport in general Mark Hal with TSA says there’s a right way to travel with the firearm but not enough people are doing it it’s an

Issue airports throughout the country are seeing Firearms being detected at security checkpoints and right here at Charlotte Douglas International 118 Firearms have been stopped at checkpoints surpassing last year number of 117 Mark how breaking down what happens when TSA agents spot a firearm in someone’s luggage it’s going to slow

Things down for everybody what what happens when we have a firearm is we’re going to call law enforcement in to remove it uh because 90% of the time it’s loaded um so for everybody’s safety we’re going to let law enforcement remove that firearm and the passenger

From the area here’s the safe way to travel with the firearm it should be in a hard sided case with padding and completely unloaded the firearm also has to be declared at the ticket counter prior to Flying Larry Hyatt with Hyatt guns says they have products to help

Travelers avoid any issues but if you want to take your gun with you on a trip we’ve got these special boxes they have special locks for TSA approved and you they’re not even that expensive and you can take it on the plane you have to do it as check luggage disregard the rules

At your own Peril so the consequences can be steep including finds citations and enhanced screenings what we’re we’re trying to do is is is teach people the right way to travel with firearms and and really let them know the consequences of bringing it to the checkpoint the goal is to ensure the

Safety of all Air Travelers as people head home for the holidays at Charlotte Douglas Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte WCNC Charlotte good morning Carolina tune in to the team that’s preparing you for your day the one and only Larry Sprinkle see the difference in your morning this is bitter cold just

About anywhere you look here’s a look right here at I 77 Northbound trying to make your dollar stretch a little bit further responsible reporting Community focused unique content it’s so good to see you yall are having too much fun see the difference weekday mornings on WCNC Charlotte Gaston County Schools will

Continue to defy North Carolina law District leaders unanimously voted on the new calendar year to start sooner than state law allows yeah WCNC Charlotte Lexi Wilson shows us how this keeps happening during this year’s legislative session the North Carolina General Assembly did not take action to double down on the

School start date law or relax it now Gaston County Schools is going with what the community wanted instead of North Carolina law it’s something that other school districts have done too for over a decade North Carolina law has required school districts to start school on the Monday closest to August

26th it’s legislation that’s been pushed by the state’s tourism industry a later start date to the school year allows more tourism throughout the month of August but school boards across North Carolina have said let local school districts decide their calendar year for themselves local control of education

Has been a Hallmark of American culture since the beginning of Public School Systems several school districts across our area started school before the start date set by state law including Gaston CIS Stanley Cleveland iale Statesville in Lincoln County it’s something North Carolina House speaker Tim Moore encourages districts to do earlier this

Year I favor more flexibility for the local districts and for the parents to have input in that so uh I think there ought to be greater flexibility the Department of Public Instruction says it doesn’t have a written policy or procedure in place for taking action against districts that start school

Early next item on the agenda is our Gaston County school calendar of 2024 25 Gaston County Education leaders breaking North Carolina law again Monday night they unanimously approved early start options opening August 14th in 2024 and August 13th in 2025 both early start options received overwhelming approval with everyone who

Participated in a survey which included employees parents students and community members and again there is no penalty for the school districts that vote to open early reporting for WCNC Charlotte I’m Lexi Wilson well we are thanks for coming back for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and I’m Vanessa Rufus a

Charlotte artist had suspected for months that her art had been stolen she eventually learned it was indeed stolen and artificial intelligence did it yeah what do you do at that point WCNC charot Jane monreal shows us with AI scrapping work that creators rely on selling to make a living many artists are asking

Where’s the money you know I’ve tried to get it taken down and everything but it doesn’t really matter because it’ll just get scraped again and it’ll end up back on the website so um yeah uh it’s kind of a a dystopian thing to be dealing with now

Eliana esal has been making art since she was 16 sometimes even when she was living in her car art was her way out back then and is her full-time job now when she figured out her work was scraped from for AI she was in the beginning of a residency at Goodyear

Arts at Camp North End to see that it was scraped and that people are just reproducing it for free um with no context as to how it was made or like why it was made they like I don’t know that was a really uh kind of like sobering moment of like

Artists need to protect their work a little bit more because of this she decided to explore medium safer from AI sculptural work there’s something so honest about it and it’s so refreshing it’s it’s like taken a lot of weight off of me just to get to explore that side

Of art that I never really cared that much about until this happened still she’s worried it’s getting harder to tell what role AI plays in any form of art art will never be the same you can’t really put it back in the Box Helen King the pre-law adviser at Johnson C Smith

University says Society is in a gray area when it comes to AI we’re in many ways in in the Wild Wild West trying to figure out where the parameters are um so right now I think until the law and and Industry standards and even academic practices begin to standardize and catch

Up we’re going to see a lot of issues pop up like this where we don’t really know where to go from here escal said she believes for real change to happen more people need to speak up in support of artists it’s taking over everything and you know if you if you tell the

Artists to stop whining when they’re bringing this up then when they come for your job you have to starve in silence Jane monreal WCNC Charlotte and well to Colin’s point right what do you do there’s a system researchers at the University of Chicago have been working on it allows artists to protect their

Work from Ai and if you’d like to learn more about that you can look for Jane’s story inside the WCNC Charlotte app Wake up to the news that matters most with meteorologist and traffic reporter Chris Mahi and we’re all clear we’re keeping you smarter safer and on time start your day the Mahi way see the difference 4:30 to 7 on WCNC Charlotte now it is time to connect the dots when

We make the news makes sense Christmas now just 4 days away and many of us will probably be part of it secret Santa gift exchange it history is actually tied to a tradition right here in North Carolina turns out there’s a secret behind secret santa let’s connect the

Dots the idea first started in 1925 at a Nebraska sorority members would receive Christmas gifts from a mystery sister by the 1980s the anonymous gift swaps were popular on most college campuses that included UNCC Chapel Hill sororities and fraternities would go around campus secretly leaving gifts at each other’s

Dorms on the last day before winter break there would be a party where each secret Santa got revealed the trend quickly spread to grade schools churches and even on TV shows like the office today many families have adopted it into their annual holiday traditions and that is connecting the dots welcome back the

City of Charlotte is growing at a rapid Pace with that growth though local farmers they are worried their Farms could be put at risk farming Advocates say the city is on track to lose more than 19,000 Acres of Farmland by 2040 and now there’s a push to conserve that

Land WCNC Charlotte’s Kalin hagwood is giving us a closer look at that effort tonight well Farmers say preserving their land is one of their biggest concerns as a city continues to grow but one group says they’re doing what they can to ensure that Farmland stays that way forever wisdom jazar and his family

Have spent the last 5 to six years farming in Charlotte as part of their business deep root CPS Farm as the city grows he worries if local farms like his is will have a place that’s the million dollar question right there is you know how is the city working to make sure

That there’s a productive and a local food system while the city says it does have policies to encourage farming it doesn’t classify Farms specifically as farm land which can make it easier to turn Farms into neighborhoods as the area grows and we haven’t had that in 20

Years but that does not mean we cannot have a designation now at large councilwoman dimple azmir says a farm designation is something she’s been advocating for especially in areas where healthy food is harder to come by I will be talking to our planning director in fact I’ve already talked to her about it

To see how we can continue uh or how we can actually improve our efforts to preserve our Farmland the discussions come as one organization is hoping to take Farmland preservation to the next level the Carolina Farms fund is working to ensure local farms will never become anything else through easement a legally binding

Process we’re looking at at properties in mecklinburg and and throughout that 15 count region but those areas that have heavy development pressure um and where that pressure is buting up against agricultural production that’s really where we’re looking to step in and try and conserve that acreage so that

Farmland stays in agriculture the group hopes to preserve at least 5,000 acres of land in the Charlotte region by purchasing existing farmland and ensuring it stays designated for Farmers he says they’ll then sell that land to Farmers who want to expand which makes us safer and more secure in our food

System multiple efforts towards supporting A system that works to support us oh the farmers provide for the restaurants for the schools for the uh businesses Etc councilwoman azir says the city will continue its community area planning into the new year if anyone wants to make a comment kayln

Hagwood WCNC Charlotte when it comes to W cnc’s chief meteorologist Brad panovich our viewers tell the whole story hey if you’re if you’re new to the area this meteorologist is awesome I always stick with Brad panovic when it comes to severe weather he’s rarely wrong you should follow Brad if you

Don’t already he’s usually right on the money with his forecast I don’t look at anything else besides what Brad says we are fortunate to have him here Brad panovich experience the difference with WCNC Charlotte weather well the Food and Drug Administration recently concluded that a popular over-the-counter

Decongestant is not effective it has to do with an active ingredient in many cold medications including those sold under the CVS brand so if you bought these products could you be eligible for a legal settlement Megan brag verifies so these are just some of the posts that we’re seeing on social media

They claim there are several class action lawsuits against CVS for manufacturing cold medicine that they knew or should have known was ineffective so let’s verify our sources the FDA CVS and several law firms when we looked online we saw several law firms posting class action lawsuits against CVS one was filed in federal

Court in South Carolina the plaintiff claims the fenine drug sold at CVS stores under the CVS Health label was no more effective than a sugar pill another class action lawsuit filed in Illinois seeks to establish a national and multi-state consumer protection class action on behalf of consumers who

Purchased these five CVS Health Products with phenylephrine in them in September the FDA panel refused to back the effectiveness of oral over-the-counter medicines made with phenylephrine and they said no more trials were required to prove otherwise when we reached out to CVS they told us they do not comment

On pending litigation however the drugstore chain told NBC news they are pulling the most common decongestants that have phenylephrine as the only active ingredient from their shelves we went to a local CVS store and found there are still decongestants with phenylephrine as an ingredient but not the only active ingredient so we can

Verify that yes there are several class action lawsuits against CVS claiming the drugstore chain manufactured and sold cold medicine in a false misleading and deceptive manner with your verify I’m Megan Brat when did you know what you wanted to be hey Mom the weather’s on WCNC charlot chief meteorologist Brad panovic always knew what he was meant to do all right don’t forget your umbrella in fact he joined the American Meteorological Society when he was 13 now Brad is all

Grown up you can see him right here on WCNC charlot making sure you’re informed and safe hey where did all my hair go experience the difference we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he’s joins us now and Britney it was a warm day hey a couple

Of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10° or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record

Cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are

Going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at

57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more

Clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by- hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early

Church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30 so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the

Mountains if you are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you were checking those

Tickets before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know

Partly sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds

We look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023 three and into the first few days of a new year hard to believe 2024 is almost here

Check out your exclusive 10-day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to

Average but uh definitely a pattern flip as we look ahead Nick so something to maybe look forward to if you like some Colder Weather but if you’re you’re a fan of the nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve

Yeah britty I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks CNC Charlotte this is flasho where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson today a one-on-one interview with the chief executive of North

Carolina Roy Cooper entering his final year in office but it comes after several big and very public battles with a republican super majority in the general assembly the governor weighs in on this past year and his plans for the future joining us now the 75th governor of the state of North Carolina Roy

Cooper Governor thanks for coming on and joining us we appreciate it glad to be with you today Ben all right so let’s begin with Medicaid expansion it launched a few weeks ago you’ve said it was one of the most important things to happen this year 600,000 people now with

Healthcare coverage but we also know that Republicans tied it to the budget and you’ve called that a bad budget that quote short changes Schools prioritizes power grabs keep Shady backro deals secret so it begs the question governor was Medicaid expansion worth it absolutely was you know when you’re

In government and trying to do good for the people sometimes you have to forge compromises to find the best way forward and I think one of the best days I’ve had as Governor is being in an enrollment center in Charlotte and seeing everyday working people finally being able to get health care coverage

For themselves uh one person I talked to had health insurance for the first time in their adult life and we’re talking about health insurance for our child care workers people who stock our grocery stores people who look after seniors people who had been making a little too much money to qualify for

Medicaid coverage but not enough money to qualify for enough subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to make them be able to have affordable health insurance so this will mean so much to those families it will help to make sure that we keep our rural hospitals open it will

Help our law enforcement there’s a reason that we had tough on crime sheriffs coming down to the legislature and saying hey we need medic expansion because a lot of the people we deal with have mental health issues and substance use disorder and they need health care and not handcuffs this is was an

Exciting day for North Carolina it’s going to create good paying jobs and it’s the right thing to do for our state it allows us to bring in that $521 million a month from the federal government and tax money that you and I have already paid to Washington to come

Back to North Carolina to keep people healthier to create good paying jobs to keep rural hospitals open and I am so excited uh that North Carolina finally has gotten there we’ve also created a road map for the other 10 states that have yet to do it a bipartisan Coalition

Of people who finally agreed that Medicaid expansion was the right thing for North Carolina and I’m excited about it yeah I mean it was 10 years in the making um when local lawmaker Trish toam switched parties in the spring it gave Republicans a super majority as you know

And it really tied your hands you suffered a number of legislative defeats this year curious do you blame her or do you blame Democrats including yourself for allowing that to happen well I look at this year as a very positive one because we have record-breaking numbers of jobs being

Brought into North Carolina uh we are becoming a clean energy epicenter and I’ve done that by working in a bipartisan way with the general assembly uh we’re going to be able to roll off electric vehicles we’re going to be able to bring those great paying jobs to to people’s families yes it was

Disappointing to see the Republicans get a super majority when that’s not what the people voted for but what we’re going to continue to do is in this 2024 election to let people know that women’s reproductive freedom is at stake public education is at stake our public school

Students now are going to suffer because the general assembly has passed a private school voucher bill on steroids that’s going to allow the very rich to collect taxpayer money to keep their children in private acmis and we’re going to let them know that it’s time to make sure we break that super majority

In the general assembly and continue the balance that has been so important to our state growing it’s been so important to making us the third fastest growing state in the country it’s been so important to make sure that we are for the second year in a row the number one

State in the country to do business there are a lot of positive things that are happening in our state despite the fact that we have a super majority in the general assembly but I hope the people of North Carolina are going to correct that next year in the 2024

Elections what does your relationship look like with timm more and Phil burger right now do you see anything changing that Dynamic changing in any way uh next year well it’s important to note that we have worked together to pass clean energy legislation in North Carolina that requires our power sector to reduce

Carbon emissions to Zero by 2050 we’ve come together to work to invest the billions of dollars in Federal Federal money that we’re going to have to fix water systems pave roads provide more public transportation uh to fix our ports and airports to connect every household to high-speed internet access uh they have

Given me the authority to go out and recruit businesses with performance-based incentives that have helped to draw great paying jobs to North Carolina and they only get the tax credits if they create the jobs at the galleries that they’ve said they’ve created so we’ve worked together to do all of those

Things obviously we’ve had disagreements and uh for the last four years before they broke the super majority we were able to stop a lot of their bad legislation that attacked women’s reproductive Freedom that got cultur Wars back into our schools but of course during the first couple of months

Of this year they passed those things they passed an abortion ban uh they passed a don’t say gay Bill those pieces of legislation are wrong for our state they’re wrong in and of themselves but it has the potential to hurt us economically down the road and we’re looking forward to the elections next

Year to try and fix some of that people need to be aware that Republicans are working to take away completely women’s reproductive freedom and they need to think about that when they go to the polls up next on flash way our interview with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper

Continues next the governor’s plans for the future and what he’s considering after leaving office thank you for making WCNC Charlotte’s magical toy drive a huge success this year along with our sponsors Belk CR legal team and Tropical Smoothie Cafe you’ve proven we can make a big difference for our

Community WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community seeking Solutions we’re sharing stories that matter to you verify it’s a transparent formula that separates fact from fiction where’s the money solving big dollar problems and putting money back in your pocket weather it’s important for me to

Keep you safe and weather aware see the difference week nights only on WCNC Charlotte Jack the data shows that people love our more flavorful ultimate cheeseburgers show me the data so the is good the data is real good honestly it’s the best data I’ve ever had my bestselling ultimate

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A confession too one time I I’ve been advised to stop talking tiny tacos get them regular or loaded we are back with more of our interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper He’s getting ready to start his last year in office and he already has big plans for what he wants to

Achieve with a republican dominated General Assembly what would you say is your top priority heading into the new year well first we need to make sure that we invest this Federal money that’s coming down to make sure we do it in the most effective and efficient way and

That means getting on the ground and actually connecting households to high-speed internet and businesses making sure that we’re getting these roads fixed and that we are enhancing our public transportation to get people from one place to the next in a faster and cleaner way I’m also going to work

To uplift public education and our Public School students uh you know I’ve talked a lot with Republicans about the best way uh to make sure that our schools are the best they can be and we have a lot of differences but two things we agree on is a great teacher in every classroom

And a great principal in every school and you do that by investing to make sure that we pay them well that we respect them and lift them up and we don’t waste money billions of dollars on private school vouchers that really don’t help people get a better education

And only take money away from our Public Schools uh I’m going to work to create a lot of energy in the business Community one of the main reasons why we are the number one state for business is our amazing well-trained dedicated diverse Workforce the people of North

Carolina and we’re not going to continue to have a great Workforce if we don’t invest in education from cradle to Career early childhood education making sure we have quality Child Care making sure we have great principles and teachers in our Public Schools we already have the best community college

System in the country and the best array of public and private universities in the country we need to keep improving our public schools to make sure we have that Workforce for these businesses who are coming to North Carolina and expanding in North Carolina and I know

Why because this is the best state in the country and the best place to live work and raise a family right here well I don’t know too many people who would disagree with that um Governor if you could run again would you yeah I sure would uh this has been

An amazing opportunity it’s been the honor of my life to serve this state where I grew up uh where where I was born uh that I love so deeply we’ve been able to work together to have a real positive impact on North Carolina uh every day I wake up I think about things

That we can do to make things better for everyday North Carolinians uh helping them have better education for their children a better paying job uh those are the kinds of things that I think about every day the fact that we’re going to have 600,000 more people have

Health care so yeah I do it again but the Constitution as I can’t so what I’m going to do is to work hard in the next election as if I were on the ballot because I want us to continue this progress I want us to continue this

Balance that we have in North Carolina that I think is made us so prosperous and I and I’m deeply grateful for the people for giving me this job and this honor and I’m working every day to meet the challenges and we should say you have a full year to sort of get your

Ducks in a row and decide what you want to do but I’m assuming that you don’t want to just go off into the sunset and and fully retire that you still have a calling for public service and you want to be involved in your mind what does

That look like does that mean running for elected offices again or does that mean working in the nonprofit world where do you see yourself come say 2025 yeah all of those are potentials I really don’t know at this point I have a little more than a year to serve as

Governor I’m going to work hard every single day uh meet every challenge uh continue to work to make North Carolina a better place to work live and raise a family and after I get finished I’ll make that decision I do love Public Service um a few more items in the last

Few weeks you filed several challenges to the newly drawn Congressional and Senate Maps here in North Carolina it’s something we talk about every single year um one way or the other we talk about it in your mind we talked to Jeff Jackson about this uh last week what do

You think is a fair path forward in drawing these maps in a fair way no matter who’s in power we should have a process in place where there is an independent redistricting commission that is in charge of drawing Maps we saw what happened in North Carolina when Fair Maps were drawn the

Number of members of Congress was seven Democrats and seven Republicans that really reflects the political makeup of North Carolina yet when you have uh Ultra partisan Jerry Mander districts where uh Representatives choose their constituents instead of the other way around you end up with 10 Republicans and four Democrats maybe even 11 to

Three uh that’s wrong under any scenario and whether we have blue Waves or red waves the process should be as Fair is possible districts should not be drawn in a racial or partisan way uh independent redistricting commissions have worked pretty well in other states and it’s it’s time for North Carolina to

Do that and instead of us continuing to be the epicenter Center of redistricting litigation like we have been for so long in the last few weeks federal government amount announcing a billion dollars in spending when it comes to rail here in North Carolina between Raleigh and

Richmond um and a number of Grants as well you appeared with the Secretary of Transportation Pete Buddha judge uh what kind of impact could this have on the state what a great investment this would be to have highspeed rail uh from North Carolina all the way up the East Coast

Uh when we think about that we’re we’re talking about less congestion on our highways because even if you don’t take the train the people that are deciding to who take the train are not going to be on our highways it is a clean fast efficient way to get from one place to

The next I took the train from Raleigh to Greensboro and talked with people walked from car to car and talk with people about why they were on the train uh I talked to grandparents who really didn’t want to drive anymore but we’re headed down from Raleigh to Charlotte to

Visit grandchildren they love the train experience erience talked to a family going on vacation I talked to students who were returning to school in Greensboro and down in Charlotte uh getting uh back and forth to school in a fast and efficient way talk to commuters going to work talk to business people

Who were getting somewhere fast from one place to the next it was amazing seeing all the different people who loved their experience on the train saying that it was cheaper faster uh for them to get there in this way and if we continue to make these Investments

It will allow us to get people from one place to the next in a cleaner faster more efficient way and will help relieve congestion on our highways final question we’re in the middle of the holidays I feel Duty bound to ask you do you the governor have a New Year’s

Resolution ah you know just to work as hard as ever I hadn’t really thought about that yet but uh work as hard as other ever and uh ready for better Panther football and better Hornets basketball how about that there you go nobody can argue with that one either all right Governor Royer

Governor happy holidays thanks for coming on we appreciate it thanks a lot Ben all right take care at 11 a corporate landlord is eyeing a big plot of land on Independence Boulevard as the site of a new Rental Community Charlotte city leaders held a hearing tonight to

Let folks weigh in on the proposal and as WCNC Charlotte’s Julia Kaufman reports the development and future Road improvements could drastically change the area the proposed Community would be on East Independence Boulevard right on the border of Matthews NC doot is also using the land to extend multiple roads off

Independence behind this intersection of East Independence and Sardis Road north is 80 acres of woods we have old sycamores and old black cherry trees that you don’t see commonly through North um residential areas anymore nearby homeowners worry plans to replace most of the woods with a rental Community will hinder their quality of

Life we will have a separation of 40 ft hopefully you can understand our concerns about privacy sound and safety corporate landlord Northwood Raven doesn’t have a site plan yet but hopes to build houses Town Homes apartments and commercial space across from Crownpoint Plaza NC doot is also using

The land to eventually extend Sardis Road north and aripa drive to Sam Newell Road there’s an interchange being built that will come through our site and there’s going to also be a bridge across if the rezoning petition is approved construction on the community would start in September 2024 with a new

Interchange and two New Roads coming through it it might not be the best site for low density residential but the road projects aren’t expected to start until 2028 so neighbors are still worried about backups and it would be a traffic nightmare now that a public hearing has been held the Charlotte zoning committee

Will consider the rezoning petition and then city council can vote on it Julia Kaufman WCNC Charlotte the new and improved WCNC plus now on Roku and Fire TV watch local live newscast get extended breaking news coverage and see local programs and specials the new and improved WCNC plus

Now on Roku and fire tvome back here’s some good news mortgage rates have fallen from their October highs of around 8% however if you are a first-time home buyer this might not be the news you’re looking for WCNC charlott’s Jane Montreal is joining us now to explain what we should be doing

When looking to buy a home right now so we’re not left asking where’s the money that’s right Vanessa and Colin well as consumer affairs reports falling rates may have excited buyers but they haven’t moved sellers so to break it down many current homeowners are not really

Motivated to sell right now if they have a mortgage rate of around 3% they might not be ready to list their homes for sale and buy another one until rates are a lot lower and this brings in supply and demand people who are looking to buy a home are competing with one another

For available homes in the past this has resulted in bidding wars and higher home prices so what can you do consumer affairs suggest relocating they say House Hunters who are willing to move to a lower cost City when avail homes are more plentiful may find the best opportunities but you know that means

Maybe a longer commute guys something that people do not want to pay for picking up and moving up or moving out as well yeah it’s tough but man the the market it’s been fluctuating and it it sounds like it’s going to continue to do so yeah still a tough call so uh still

Kind of a wait and see for a lot of folks all right Jane thank you conquer is one of the top places in North Carolina for small business growth so it was the perfect place for business owner Bria Smith to set up shop now since and her store has continued to grow here’s

Her story for Bria Smith it was a no-brainer we could pour back into the community that we’re in every single day to setup shop right along downtown concord’s busy cabis Avenue East her candlebar comes to Concord As Cities across North Carolina top rankings as some of the best to start a business

Durham Charlotte Raleigh and Winston Salem could all be found in the top 15 alone numbers like those are attracting entrepreneurs to areas just like this one and I could see all the economic investment going into with the streetcape and the apartment buildings and how a community was really being

Created here and Smith has witnessed that economic investment for some time it’s part of the reason why her candle bar was an idea years in the making starting during the pandemic we had to come up with ways in the home to uh have fun and also uh create the ability to

Relax and provide yourself some selfcare was a very stressful time now she sells candles classes and other self-care items back on business though Concord is missing from that list of top cities for starting a business yet Smith invested here anyway so when we asked her why Charlotte we’re familiar with Charlotte

I went to school there but it’s a it’s oversaturated to some degree from a a a business perspective and there’s nice things and and experiences that are needed right here in Cab’s County right here where that economic investment continues to grow yeah Concord really growing very quickly especially I feel like we’re always

Talking about Charlotte the Queen City this Queen City that but the reality is that a lot of this development is stretching into our smaller townships and depending on who you ask it’s not always a good thing so nice downtown here live in downtown yeah rightful nice shops here and restaurants things like

That and another new one to check out there you go when I think about the community I think about the time that I’ve been here I’ve been in this community almost my entire adult life so I you you get to know the people when you know what they care about then

That’s what you care about this community looks at all of us who do weather here at WCNC Charlotte as part of their family and when you’re part of their family you want to make sure you do it just for Them people will eat drink and be married this weekend there is one danger that actually rears its ugly head more during the holidays than the rest of the Year Megan brag explains in today’s verify it’s so important to stay on top of your health especially your heart health new information from the American

Heart Association shows a spike in heart related deaths during the winter holidays so let’s verify our source is cardiologist Dr pile kohley A study in the British medical journal and the American Heart Association there are more heart attack related deaths on Christmas Day followed by December 26

And then New Year’s Day than any other day in the rest of the year a British medical journal study reviewed more than 16 years of data on heart attack among people in Sweden and found there was a 15% increase in heart attacks during the winter holidays heart attacks actually

Increased 37% on Christmas Eve the cold weather has something to do with it because cold weather can actually trigger inflammation the American Heart Association also points to stress and diet as contributing factors to the increase we radic change our lifestyle over the holidays we drink a lot more

Alcohol we eat a lot more sodium the portions of what we’re consuming are a lot more another main reason for the rise in heart attack deaths people are not getting help quickly enough routines are disrupted so we think maybe it’s something else or maybe that heartburn is actually something that we ate too

Much last night or what have you the American Heart Association wants you to know these five warning signs of a heart attack Coy says if you feel something is not right don’t wait call a doctor so we can verify that yes deaths from heart attacks do indeed Spike during the

Winter holidays with your verify I’m Megan Brad have something you would like verify just email us at verify at wcnc.com come now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense the holidays can be stressful that’s why it’s important to let guests know your expectations when it comes to their behavior in your house

Try and keep your thoughts on your gifts to yourself This Christmas let’s connect the dots this season you’re likely going to get at least one Christmas present you don’t really want but there is a difference between feeling annoyed and showing it experts say there is correct etiquette when receiving a gift and it

All begins with your initial reaction researchers say you shouldn’t show negative emotion and try and only show gratitude and it is a just true of your words but your body language too as for returns don’t think about it unless something doesn’t fit or you have a real

Reason to give it back to the store you shouldn’t ask for a gift receipt however the good news is if you really want to get rid of something many retailers nowadays don’t require a receipt and no matter what you get this Christmas riding a nice thank you note never

Hurts and that’s connecting the dots hey YouTube this is chief meteorologist Brad panovic here at WCNC Charlotte we want you to head over to our weather IQ YouTube page where we’re making you smarter and safer we have a passion for weather science and we want you to understand what’s happening when the

Weather changes because in the end that’s what keeps you safe it’s not about being scared it’s about being informed browse our collection of fun and informative clips and look for new segments every week we’re here to raise your weather IQ experience the difference on WCNC Charlotte we start

With a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year

But Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heed so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast

Looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a

Little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad

Out there we we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right

Around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30 so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about

Multiple Mornings in the 20 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if you are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward

The Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you were checking those tickets before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to

The airport now let’s look at that full Christmas for forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is

We’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the

Afternoon 61° mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain of eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar question is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00

And later I would either try to move them earlier in the day or move them inside here’s Monday at 7:00 so this is Christmas day you can see clouds starting to build in but we’re not seeing rain just yet notice the timing here 2:00 most of the day is actually

Not going to be rainy it’s mostly closer to 2 3:00 that we start to see that rain moving in and then from here and on we’re going to see rain off and on through Monday and pretty much all day on Tuesday now Tuesday is a day that

We’re going to start to see that thunderstorm potential and winds start to pick up Monday night but really turn windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly

Don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually start to drop as we look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023 and

Into the first few days of a new year hard to believe 2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the

Upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to average but uh definitely a pattern flip as we look ahead Nick so something to maybe look forward to if you like some Colder Weather but if you’re a fan of

The nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah britty I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right Thanks new at 6 a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Health or Nami finds that for some people living with mental illness their conditions worsen around the holidays doctors in Charlotte saying this time of year can have a negative impact WCNC Charlotte’s Austin Walker

Speaks to experts on how you can be a helping hand what’s supposed to be one of the most wonderful times of the year there’s such an expectation um for the holiday season might be the opposite for some what what happens during this holiday season is a culmination of what’s been

Happening through um entire year Dr Russell Hancock a psychologist with Atrium Health says mental health and depression can be big talking points this time of year pointing towards large Gatherings and constant moving around it could contribute to anxiety and there’s an expectation that people are supposed to in quotations feel certain way

According to Nami a report shows that around 24% of people with mental illnesses find the holidays make their condition quote a lot worse and 40% quote somewhat worse Hancock says there are things you can do to check in on someone’s mental state this holiday season there’s this tendency to believe

That if I ask someone if they’re depressed or if I ask someone if there’s something going on that then that means that that you’re going to be making something going on being realistic with people and being real with people about how are they feeling what what is it

That they need if they need anything during this period um can be critical he also mentions there are signs to look for as if someone one is withdrawing more a few things to consider so this holiday season is good for everyone in Charlotte Austin Walker WCNC Charlotte

And we have a full list of Mental Health Resources right now on our website wcnc.com we all know flashing yellow lights in a school zone means you need to slow down but what if the lights are flashing at night at a time when schools aren’t in session Megan Brad gets us the

Answer in this morning’s verify CNC Charlotte viewer James B took this video you can see on your screen on his cell phone near Providence Day School it shows lights flashing in a school zone at around 6:30 at night he wants to know if the flashing lights still apply even though it’s technically

After school hours so let’s verify our sources are Matthews Police Department Pio Tim acok Providence Day School the city of charlet and North Carolina law the flashing lights on a school’s own speed limit sign are there to let drivers know know when the lower speed is enforced according to North Carolina

Law the authorized lower speed limit is in effect when lights are flashing but we don’t know what other activities are at that school and they may have it set for that for a reason we reached out to the city of Charlotte since they are the ones in charge of the lights they told

Us the flashing lights are on a fixed schedule that the school provides at the beginning of the school year according to the schedule the school requested flashing lights from 2:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Providence day school has an extended day program that ends at 6:00 p.m. and if the school zone lights are

Flashing at let’s say 11: at night acock says it’s reasonable to assume school is not in session and the lights might be malfunctioning but if you ever have any doubts ACO says it’s best to just play it safe the easiest thing to do is just abide by that cuz it’s a slower speed

Limit and that’s good for everybody so we can verify that yes the lights flashing at 6:30 p.m. near Providence Day School are working as they should because kids are getting out of its extended day program and motorists could be ticketed if they don’t observe the school speed limit at that time with

Your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com at WCNC Charlotte we believe it is crucial to make a difference in our communities that’s why we go beyond just reporting the news we ask where’s the money to hold the powerful accountable and get money back

Into your pockets our verified team takes claims finds sources and gets you answers and we’re keeping you weather aware making you safer and smarter I’m Vanessa Rufus and I’m Colin Mayfield join us week nights at 5 6 and 11 and see the difference for yourself only on WCNC Charlotte madville also known as

Christmas Town USA draws in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and one social social media post is suggesting a technique that can help people see the lights better the only issue it may not be legal WCNC Charlotte’s Megan brag verifies this Facebook post which is sparking a lot of debate is asking

Drivers to cut off their headlights at night to better view the lights at McAdenville but is that legal let’s verify our sources are North Carolina law criminal law attorney Ryan Ames and the official website for McAdenville according to m ville’s website last year alone the spectacular light display Drew

In more than 600,000 visitors many of those driving through the neighborhood display but before you turn off your headlights at night criminal law attorney Ryan Ames says not so fast generally would invit anyone to do it for a couple of reasons the first is the safety reason and the second is the fact

You may get a ticket for it North Carolina law states all vehicles must have their headlights on from Sunset to Sunrise and so the whole purpose of having headlights and having a law that enforces it is the safety of everybody along with vehicle traffic McAdenville

Also brings a lot of foot traffic so am says a car’s headlights are not only for your safety but the pedestrians as well safety of everybody that’s going to be both driving and walking when there’s a lot of distractions with all these Christmas lights everywhere in particular you could face serious felony

Charges if you seriously injured somebody so we can verify that no it is not legal to off your headlights at night to better view the lights at McAdenville with your verified I’m Megan Brown time now to connect the dots when we make the news makes sense folks hitting the mountains to ski or

Snowboard for the holidays will notice those massive machines blowing snow on the slopes you just saw a few of them right there but those machines are relatively new occurrence in a lot of places scientists say climate change means more fake snow on slopes than ever before let’s connect the dots data shows

The Earth is getting warmer 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record by a significant margin and warmer temperatures mean less real snow experts predict more than half the world ski resorts could be at risk for snow scarcity by 2100 and some believe it

Could be a lot sooner to fight this lots of ski resorts around the world are now relying on artificial snow in Austria and Switzerland two places known worldwide for their snowy slopes more than half the resorts now use the fake stuff those snowmaking machines work by

Shooting a stream of water into the air about 35 ft when the water is released the cold air around it freezes the actual water droplets creating the artificial snow and that is connecting the dots WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of science that you get to see and

Experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I think it really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody in

Our community see the difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors a chartin is spreading some holiday cheer with his festive light

Show and you can see and hear it absolutely we just heard it too this is the second year he’s putting on the show making it even bigger and brighter why not right this year he’s also using his show to raise money for a good cause WCNC charlott Jesse Pierre is live in

South Charlotte Jesse what inspired him to put all this together well Matthew the roers picked up this tradition after a neighbor who had a musical light show moved away now the idea is simple while you’re in your car you tune in to 88.5 and then you’ll hear

This the music and then you’ll see it dancing to the holiday lights Classic holiday Tunes synchronized to more than 6,000 festive lights and decorations a holiday tradition 15-year-old Matthew the roers is keeping going in his South Charlotte Community picking up the torch after his neighbor moved away we have lights around the garages the windows we have little candy canes that’ll Dance The

Arches from last year that bounce around little mini trees using technology and lighting software to mesh together this spectacular light show all of it synced at the click of a button really just comes to being creative like how do you want the archers to look how do you want

The make sheet to look and do you want to go to the beach this year’s festivities have a special meaning to Matthew because he is raising money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation to help find a cure for Crohn’s disease a condition he knows too well it became

Very obvious that I was super sick I was very tired my skin was very pale I just was just feeling terrible I couldn’t eat anything I was losing weight Matthew was diagnosed with crohn’s disease in May and it’s a lifelong condition that we can manage but we do need medicine for

It with treatment Matthew is feeling more like his old self again and back to keeping the Christmas spirit alive and making a difference in the fight against Crohn’s disease I really just want to get them in the holiday spirit I think it’s something that’ll cheer everybody

Up as we get closer to the holidays and I think adding a charity is just something extra that can help millions of other people now there’s a QR code right here while you’re here to connect to his fundraiser page you can check out the display at 15333 Prescott Hill Avenue the display

Will be up from 7 to 10 every day until January 1 and we have Matt here the magician behind all of this and what a special message happy holidays I hope you all can come check it out Merry Christmas yay Merry Christmas and sending it back to you Merry Christmas Merry Christmas man

Was a shirt again I love the shirt it’s like expert yeah exterior illumination expert we love your shirt man man happy Holidays and Merry Christmas that is so good to see if you want to keep the holiday spirit going watch WCNC plus tonight at 11:30 we’ll share heartwarming stories of people spreading

Joy just like that young man and the holiday cheer going around you can catch our heart threads special 11:30 p.m. on your favorite streaming device I feel like the only thing but right now they spent months at LaVine children’s hospital they almost lost their newborn daughter to a rare heart defect but now

They say she’s thriving and they want to thank those who saved her life yeah along the way they’re also looking to give back to folks who are walking a mile in their own shoes Michelle Bowden shows up us how this little girl’s parents are now making a difference for other

Families their daughter was here from the time she was just 2 weeks old getting lifesaving treatment and now that she’s out and the family’s on the other side they are back here at the hospital this time they’re the ones helping others I took a picture of that

Girl uh justice is our U our heart baby James and Jessica Leed better new before their little girl was born that she had a rare heart defect it was um long journey thinking about it now is sort of like a blur coming in here day after day they

Are back at LaVine Children’s Hospital this time here to help other families facing a similar fight we are here to give back to our Fellow Heart parents and heart families some soap they’ve put together special goodie bags we have some mouthwash you got to stay fresh bedroom shoes just some different

Toiletry some things that my wife and I needed while we were here here that we didn’t have I told my husband as we were walking in like here we are back at the hospital and this time I’m excited about being here hand sanitizer it’s good it

Feels real good it feels real good to be you know God put you in a position where you can help others that that need help because he says it wasn’t that long ago when they felt helpless we’re supposed to be our daughter’s hero you know um

Whenever that bat signal goes off I show up but you know um with this particular situation it was nothing that I could do there you go now 2 years old justice has a slight heart murmur but is doing really well and is now a different kind

Of challenge for her parents oh my girl big problem at the house now a good problem she’s got a lot of spunk and that’s how they like it justice is awesome she is our heart warrier she is the face of what joy and grace looks like this was their first trip they say

It is the first though of many they have lots of deliveries planned in the coming weeks reporting in Charlotte Michelle bden WCNC Charlotte connect the dots and let us clear up the confusion we’re here to make sure the news makes sense and with connect the dots you’ll understand how

The headlines impact your family see the difference on WCNC Charlotte and while many of us will get to be home with loved ones for the holidays that isn’t case for everyone some are having to spend it at the hospital but as WCNC Charlotte’s J mreal shows us one cancer survivor is making a

Difference bringing a touch of joy into those Hospital hallways a breast cancer patient diagnosed in 2020 she says she never gave into cancer using it instead to start a foundation and let others going through cancer treatment know that they don’t have to do it alone as the big red trucks pull up to

Novon St judee’s affiliate clinic on Hawthorne Lane it’s not to put out a fire but to help bring some memorable joy to some of the young patients during the Christmas holiday I need 25 blue and 25 pink leading the charge is Myra Harris president and founder of cancer gave me

Life Foundation she is a cancer survivor I’ve had chemotherapy 30 rounds of radiation I had both breasts removed I had 14 limp nose removed and I’m still on the journey I was just diagnosed about 6 weeks ago with osteopenia which is one of the side effects from the

Cancer medicine that I take pushing her list of obstacles to the side she was on a mission to help others on similar Journeys check off their list with little bags filled with love as she went through the life-changing experiences she didn’t want anyone to feel like they were alone she started this Foundation

To encourage people on their own Journeys I said Lord if you allow me to get to the other side of my journey I was going to start an organization to bless people and let them know that people genuinely care about their wellbeing and 5-year-old cie is all

Smiles as she was able able to pick up her pink gift bag I’m Miss Myra Merry Christmas to you cie is the big sister to London and two more that are on the way the mother of all four Rashana smokes knows this is just a huge burden

Lifted off her back it means a lot especially because we have a lot going on right now so I appreciate everything you guys are doing for the kids every time 11-month-old London gets sick with sickle cell they’re spending lots of time at the hospital we have to come

Here especially when she’s sick or has a fever we have to make sure she doesn’t have a crisis little gifts to land more smiles from baby London who just may be trying for a career in television it’s a blessing I mean because to know that I’m still on my

Journey and to know that it’s being well received and having partners that really appreciate what I’m doing that to me is my Christmas gift Hara says she is looking to expand her efforts in 2024 by granting wishes to turn Ally ill breast cancer patients now back to

You WCNC Charlotte this is flash point where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson a Merry Christmas weekend to you and yours it is the season of giving our recent report out shows folks in North Carolina are

Donating more to charity $58 million to be exact but as cost rise Charities aren’t able to stretch their dollars as far over the next 30 minutes we’ll share with you some of the Charities and organizations really making a difference this holiday season but first joining us now is the North

Carolina Secretary of State elain Marshall her office promotes economic development and helps oversee the business Community secretary welcome back we appreciate it thank you very much it’s delightful to be here so your office tracks charitable giving and and I know uh North Carolinians donated 50 $8 million

Over a year that was an 18% increase um I know you have told people that that it’s important to give generously but also give wisely explain that is correct um we regulate the Charities that have fundraisers the profession of fundraising uh the law do exempt schools and um religious organizations but

Otherwise if they hire a professional fundraiser or their staff at over a certain dollar amount they have to register with us so there are thousands and thousands of registered uh nonprofit entities with us and the law requires them to um either get an exemption or um

File reports with us uh that shows how much they took in how much went to overhead and how much actually went to the charity when I say give wisely there are a lot of new organizations that pop up that don’t have the the track record they may have the best of heart but

Don’t have the efficiency uh ability to um handle whatever the the need is and unfortunately we see scammers uh out there um this time of year we do this report because people get a lot of communications if you ever gave a contribution you’re now on that organization’s list for repeat

Contribution and that’s fine and dandy uh but when you get ones out of the blue for organization that that you’ve never heard of perhaps a telephone call or perhaps an internet something uh we wish we would advise you to be very very very cautious the federal government tells us

That upwards of 80 90% of those that appear online are fake uh they um whenever there’s a disaster around the world these uh organizations sometimes their state supported organizations in various parts of the world have wonderful but horrible pictures of disasters and they play upon the heartstrings of people uh if there’s

Something like that that you want to contribute to here’s my standard advice deal with a local branch of whomever is supplying that Relief by that it could be the Red Cross it could be the Baptist men it could be the menonite church it could be the Methodist men they have a

Track record of being able to do the services uh Samaritan’s Purse North Carol based is another one that has a track record of the ability to get into a disaster area with the proper equipment the proper people the proper knowhow to do what needs to be done so

Um there we have over 20 years worth of information up about how much has gone to the actual charity and how much has gone to um um the the pocketbook of the fundraisers and all and you can go to sosnc.gov look up Charities and then you will find tons tons of information uh

And you will unfortunately see that some only 10% goes to the charity or 20% goes to the charity I haven’t conducted a survey but I truly believe in my heart that most North Carolinians believe that a higher percentage of that needs to go to the actual good work you know when

Someone makes a donation it’s a matter of trust it’s a matter of an investment of their trust that that sort of transparency is really helpful so people can see for themselves and that’s whether it’s now in the holiday season or in the middle of of Summer anytime

That’s helpful um do you have a good sense for even though I know uh do donations are up um and charitable giving is up um how inflation has impacted some of these Charities well yes we do uh the amount donated went up about $10 million um you mentioned the

Figure 58 million it was about 48 million last year so the North Carolinians are very generous it went up about 10 million uh the amount going to Charities went up 5 million but we do find that the cost of running these fundraising campaigns have gone up uh with inflation everybody’s felt it in

Their own pocketbook and their own lives uh so but that was not unreasonable the amount was not exorbitant that um um we we glean from the reports so Charities are trying to be very smart the the really ethical ones the good ones uh are really trying to be very smart and

Squeezes much service out of each and every dollar they get um all of this data you all accumulate um and have oversight over how rigorous is that process um that that your office goes through to to sort of get this information and get it right well they Charities have to be

Registered and sometimes we find some that aren’t we also find scam Charities and we have here in North Carolina and we have criminal authority over them so if you feel feel like uh you’ve been engaged with one of those take a screenshot gather all the information

You can and let us know and we will investigate it as I say some are inefficient and some are straight out Cooks uh just trying to steal your money but our oversight um we we don’t audit the reports per se but we do believe that by having public transparency where

People can see they can see the folks who are not efficient or even Bad actors out there if they’re registered with with us so the registration process requires a lot of information about the organization then it requires a copy of their uh federal tax return uh so you

Can see exactly about expenses in their General categories so there um we wait well we respond to complaints uh more so than we do from any type of internal auditing because we just don’t have the internal auditing capacity if somebody brings something outrageous to our attention then we do get into

Looking at it further you talk about $58 million donated over a year time span um what impact I want to go Broad View what impact do those donations have not only on the Charities but on the state as a whole there is such a need for the nonprofit Community to step up um

Government and even religion can’t meet all of the needs that are out there you don’t have to go very far whether it’s a large city like Raley or Charlotte or out in the country to see that there is poverty out there to see that people are probably freezing on a day like today

Where it’s very cold uh just all sorts of need is evident as you drive around uh even the the wealthier cities like Raleigh and Charlotte so um the need is out there um government can’t fill all the gaps and we just have to rely upon the good hearts and gracious and

Graciousness of of people to help make the flight of others a little bit more comfortable and some of the information that that your office has helps people make a educated decision about where they aim that charitable giving all right Secretary of State Elaine Marshall secretary thanks for coming on we

Appreciate it Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas thank you happy holidays to you and happy giving to everybody else take care more flash for this we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick

That’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we

Were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks looks fantastic now we are going to track some

Rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at 57 as the sun

Has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in

Throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by- hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on

Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about mulle Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if

You are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you were checking those tickets

Before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly

Sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents theight before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act

Like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61 degrees mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar

Question is when will the rain start to to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00 and later I would either try to move them earlier in the day or move them

Here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50 Dees for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to

I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right Thanks Americans on average save about $121 a month on their power bill when they switch to solar panels but could those savings put you at risk if there’s a fire in your house here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify more homes in the US have solar

Panels on the roofs now in fact data from the US Energy Information Administration shows residential power installation Rose by 34% in 2020 so one WCNC viewer wanted to know if a resident had a fire emergency at home would solar panels keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire let’s verify

Our sources are the NC Department of Insurance the US Energy Information Administration and the Huntersville Fire Department to bring a house fire under control firefighters will often poke holes in the roof to vent the smoke this improves visibility inside the home and improves the odds of survival for anyone

Trapped inside the North Carolina Department of Insurance says firefighters do face additional hazards from solar panels on roofs some of these hazards include the potential of electrical shock from the solar panel system a greater risk of the roof collapsing during the fire conditions because of the added weight fire risk

From battery storage systems and the potential for slips and Falls while working on a roof with solar panels because of this a fire scene Incident Commander has to be cautious about letting firefighters on the roof to fight the house fire with solar panels when responding to a fire firefighters

Are trained to disconnect the power from The Home hunterville Fire Department says they take into account all of these variable when fighting a fire and while solar panels can present a challenge and some additional difficulty they say it’s not something they can’t navigate the department of energy says you should let

Your local firefighters know that your home has solar panels installed so they are aware in case there’s an emergency so we can verify that no if your home has solar panels it would not keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire but it could make fighting a

Fire a little more difficult with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verify to email us at verify wcnc.com how to connect the dots when we make the news make sense automakers are looking to revamp the future of cars and the advancements May personalize your

Vehicle more than ever before technology is helping us do some pretty incredible things to the outside of our cars let’s connect the dots BMW is currently working on an experimental coding that acts as what they call digital ink meaning someday your car could have more than 30 colors to choose

From and even change color with the weather the same Tech that already allows your car to pay for Highway tools could soon help you pay for a lot more the emerging category of incar payments would help you pay at a drive-thru and even automatically apply discounts to

Your car orders and his cars become more advanced many of the issues that may have dragged you to the service center could one day be handsfree think of it like a smartphone update your car would download updates overnight and be ready to roll by your daily commute saving you time and money

And that is connecting the Dots 5:37 now and we’re asking where’s the money for student loan payers good Tuesday morning it’s been about two months since student loan payments ramped back up and now those paying the bill are getting a better idea of exactly how they have to adjust to the payments so let’s get into this

Article from money.com writers there dug into a report from Mass Mutual the find finding say among Americans with student loan debt 80% say they have to reduce their spending due to that debt as for where folks are cutting Corners well luxuries are the first to go at 44% of

Respondents but here’s the alarming piece some about 37% are having to cut back on their essential purchases now Mass Mutual adds about 3ars of us with student loans payments say that the restart has had a negative impact on our day-to-day Financial Health numbers like those have some considering skipping out

On payments altogether which is why we’re reminding people what happens if you do there is a misconception here President Biden’s on-ramp gives people an entire year before they can be considered delinquent on their loans usually you’ve only got 90 days to miss that payment but just because you have

12 months before student student loan servicers go to credit bureaus doesn’t mean that your credit is saved money.com broke it down like this even if delinquencies aren’t reported well credit scoring companies may still be able to see those Mis payments and they may still be able to count them against

You hurting your credit score it’s why we want your help this morning what is your your best money-saving tip make sure you text us 74329 3600 Ben also new tonight a local college student says she’s found the inspiration for her studies at the hospital she was taken

Care of yeah she was a child when doctors told her she has a chronic and difficult disease and now she’s studying so she could work at the very place that helped her LaVine Children’s Hospital WCNC Charlottes Michelle Bowden shows us how this young woman is making a

Difference Isabella was just 11 when she was diagnosed with lupus and and she says the doctors and nurses at the hospital took such good care of her she wants to do the same for other kids that’s why she’s now in college studying to be a nurse for Isabella McCrae

Putting on her lab Cod and stethoscope means everything what does it feel like to you when you put that cat on and the stethoscope it’s an honor it’s an honor um it makes me feel like I’m part of not only the chronic illness Community but also someone who cares for the chronic

Illness Community the 20-year-old has been a patient since she was just a kid I was diagnosed with lupus um at age 11 she says she’s forever indebted to those who cared for her when I was diagnosed with lupus and everything that I went through and everything I experienced um

I took a very long time in the hospital with a lot of nurses and doctors and just the care and the compassion that they showed me I’ve never felt that before only in a parent um and so that inspired me to become a nurse and work out veins she’s currently a junior at

Wind studying to be a nurse hoping to be doing rounds here at lavine’s Children’s Hospital in the near future so you want to work here I do I do yes because lupus is a chronic illness she’s still struggles with it currently I’m having a flare up so that just goes to show that

Although you have bad days you don’t let it defeat you I am taking it one day at a time with one very big goal in sight one she says we’ll make it all worthwhile it means that I’m not just the sick girl that I am someone and that

I am someone who although is a lupus Warrior I’m also a nursing student I’m also a daughter if all goes as planned she hopes to be working here at LaVine Children’s Hospital as early as next year reporting in Charlotte Michelle Bowden WCNC Charlotte time now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense if you’re hopping on that holiday flight this week the entertainment could be impacting you more than you realize inlight entertainment is more than just killing time it may be an airline’s answer to getting more

Passengers let’s connect the do popular movies like Barbie and elf aren’t just eye candy to distract you from a long flight airlines are using them to fill up seats no most passengers won’t book with a certain Airline just for their movie selection but with the option to

Watch the latest box office hit people think they’re getting a better deal Airlines around the world spend nearly half a billion dollars on inflight entertainment today most Airlines have staff designated to Cura exactly which movies make the cut United Airlines has taking it a step further and giving all

Their planes seat back screens the airlines chief executive says the screens make passengers choose United more often plus indie films and TV shows are popular in inflight movie watching right now it’s one of the only times consumers have access and the time to check those titles out and that is connecting the

Dots new tonight $78,750 the city of Concord says that is the average income for most families in that area however the average cost of a home is more than four times the amount she just read that’s why a nonprofit is seeking solutions by building affordable housing yeah WCNC Charlottes Nick stent

Shows us what is on the horizon for Concord families in need this is only within 3 minutes 2 three minutes of downtown Concord where you have major development going on there Patrick Graham says his work is personal my mother worked all her life 50 plus years before she retired she

Passed away this past year and was never able to own and as a young man I thought that I would be able to provide her that opportunity and it’s one of the things that I sort of failed at it didn’t happen so I carry that chip on my

Shoulder that chip that Graham carries leading him to start we build Concord they’re some of the best looking homes on the Block the affordable housing developer started in 2019 with the help of public and private funds Graham says the agency helps those making between 30

To 80% of the area median income we have sort of this hidden Mantra uh we build affordable housing by any legal means necessary he says a big goal is to increase home ownership in areas like this one the historic Logan Community this is a traditionally African-American Community it’s one that has an ownership

Rate that’s below 40% right now we build Concord is in the process of building the Lincoln Street Town Homes here you talking about 26 Town Homes for affordable and Workforce housing ownership Graham says the first eight are set to open in a few months just down the street he says they are turning

This abandoned church on kurer Street into Loft departments and a space for entrepreneurs and just a couple of blocks away from here we’ve taken lots that usually usually would be reserved for single homes and created um these Town Homes more homes including this one a new home for a

Local educator and her daughter and so with affordable housing you’re thinking about all those companies moving here you’re thinking about their population growth and you’re looking at a place where they’re about 5,000 units short of affordable housing uh in a city that’s just over 100,000 and Graham says all of the

Lincoln Street town home should be complete by the middle of next year also the K Street Lo Apartments the site of that former church as you just saw will be done within a year now if you’re interested in applying for a home or learning more about we build Concord you

Can find my story on wcnc.com or on the WCNC Charlotte mobile app and the cool thing about it was we got a chance to check out several locations one of the locations a new home that a local educator and a daughter moved in today that’s fantastic right place right time

For you then with the story right right right right I think it’s interesting you bring up a good point we talked so much about mecklinburg County and affordable housing right so many folks are pouring into this community but those that can’t find a home have to go elsewhere so it’s

Great to see that other communities are thinking about that ahead of time being proactive about it no days off for Patrick Graham so yeah looks like it looks like he’s working every day even through the holidays too great story we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he joins us

Now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember

Last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks

Fantastic now we are going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a

Temperature right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice

Eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid 40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door

Early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30 so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing

Mark up toward the mountains if you are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching

Storm system so make sure you were checking those tickets before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at

Tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice as we’re in the mid 60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too

Much remember clouds act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61 degrees mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of

Course I know the million-dollar question is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00 and later I would either try to move them earlier in the day or move them

Moving in and then from here and on we’re going to see rain off and on through Monday and pretty much all day on Tuesday now Tuesday is a day that we’re going to start to see that thunderstorm potential and winds start to pick up Monday night but really turn

Wind windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Wednesday morning just a

Bit but then eventually start to drop as we look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023 and into the first few days of a new year

Hard to believe 2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10day forecast year Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then

Again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to average but uh definitely a pattern flip as we look ahead Nick so something to maybe look forward to if you like some Colder Weather but if you’re a fan of the nicer weather like we had today I

Think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah Bry I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks at WCNC Charlotte we really want to make a difference we have tools like verify and where’s the money to really listen to viewers and see what they’re struggling

With whether that’s trying to get money that you deserve or answering a question that’s confusing you we’re not the experts we’re interviewing the experts and that’s why we want to bring it to you so you can see the facts how we check them and how we get the answer

And if you were hoping for a white Christmas well Charlotte’s weather won’t deliver this year but you can still enjoy the next best thing the annual winter festival known as light the nights at truest field in Uptown Charlotte so we sent Larry Sprinkle to sample the snow tubing among other

Things there’s literally a winter wonderland in uptown Charlotte all at the light the nights festival at truest field it’s a great family experience daytime or nighttime you guys ready to light the night more like okay what you what are you excited about seeing here I’m excited about the tubing the tubing what

About you uh the tubing from the what about you skating come on follow me let’s have a good time come on Good Times one of the big attractions is a full-size ice skating rink experienced or not kids are loving it and adults too this is Brady and this is llan is that

Right and you guys are from Canada originally yes he isn’t but I’m I’m half and half half and a half in you’re so you love the skating out here I I guess yeah everybody ready to skate yeah all right go skate and they are off back this year is the very popular Tubing

Hill now with 10 action-packed lanes it’s the perfect spot for a fun race with the one and only Homer the dragon Homer what about it I I challenge you you challenge me up on top all right here we go yeah I’m ready you ready Homer and here we go amazing 150 M hour

Yeah woo un unbelievable hey Homer thank you man un what a team what a duo we are thank you very much if you’re interested in some Christmas shopping that’s part of the light the night’s Festival there are 22 vendors with a gift for anyone on the

List oh it’s awesome to have a popup um it’s great for small businesses gets us gets our name out there um it’s awesome just to be here and spread Christmas joy and don’t miss the chance to visit Santa hi Larry how are you I’m okay I was just

Wondering have I been a good boy this year he tells it like it is it’s a good thing there’s a few more days till Christmas for you to work on it it’s the most snow I have seen in years it’s the most snow you will see in years it’s all

During light tonights at truest Phi Larry Sprinkle WCNC Charlotte we’re coming up on 5:39 this morning and we’re asking where’s the money this holiday shopping season good morning and happy Monday online sales are bringing in historic sales right now but there’s been a misconception that most people prefer filling their cart on their cell phones compared to in the

Store it’s a myth that Pew research is here to bust so starting with this Trends have almost always shown that people buy more in that last quarter of the year now the data for this year’s shopping habits is still being pulled so we’re going to take a look at 2022

That’s an online sales saw a 23% jump between October and December now Across the Nation that dollar amount comes in at about 303 billion bucks still in that same fourth quarter of 2022 retail stores only saw about 16% of their sales coming from computers now there’s

Another clue that I want to clue you in on here an important factor to keep in mind when this information in this research is being gathered it’s actually including places that have both a storefront and stores that are strictly online so among retailers that do have physical stores online sales RS as well

But the jump just looks different depending on what stores we’re talking about that’s nearly 9% at general merchandise stores like your Walmart your target about 5% at food and beverage stores and then about 4 and a half% at those health and personal care stores so it’s why we’re asking this

Morning when it comes to your gift shopping did you shop for gifts online or in person this year make sure you text us at 74329 3600 well did you have any aches or pains that resurfaced with all the rain and cold temperatures well there might actually be a scientific reason for that

Here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check have you ever heard of weather related joint pain our chief meteorologist posted this on his Facebook page and it’s got over 200 comments and shares it’s believed that changes in barometric pressure can trigger certain Sensations in your joints so let’s get the facts our

This people that have injuries or arthritis they have fluid or voids in their joints and what happens is when the pressure goes down those voids or fluids expands so it puts a little pressure on your joint and causes discomfort or pain and in the winter time panovich says that’s when you feel

It the most get throwing the f that it’s cold outside and people tend to feel things a little more when it’s chilly so next time your body is aching check the WCNC weather app you might be able to blame it on the weather with your verify fact check I’m Megan

Bragg if you have something you would like verified just email us at verify wcnc.com with your help WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community beautiful day so many people helping this is incredible let’s sprad spread that love tonight here is a $5,000 check that you

Guys can use to further the mission there is nothing on earth like the feeling of giving back with your hands $5,000 to you and uh block love Charlotte for what you guys do if you’d like to make a difference go to wcnc.com slake a difference

Shapes of snowflakes such as needles and columns they fall in colder temps from 14 to 27° but colder temperatures that are 10° or less produce the most common and intricate snowflakes these are known as Stellar dend Dres but in this range another snowflake that’s equally a spectacular forms called the Stellar

Plate I’m meteorologist Chris M what UPNC Charlotte these are indicators of a violent nature um that can be taken out on human beings and yet the sentencing doesn’t reflect that meinberg County’s top prosecutor on the seriousness of animal abuse offenses like animal cruelty and dog fighting but as you heard there district attorney

Spencer Maryweather says North Carolina’s laws do not provide teeth to the punishment for these crimes the da responding to questions over a recent case in Charlotte where the dog fighter pleaded guilty to a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges his punishment he surrenders dozens of dogs in his care

And faces a 5-year ban on owning animals no fine no jail time related to the animal offenses Animal Advocates say this is just the latest example of North Carolina lagging behind most of the country in its animal protections if someone is willing to harm uh an animate

Being that we know that it’s not that much of a leap and a jump before they commit that same sort of uh violence before a human being and yet mecklinburg district attorney Spencer Merryweather says North Carolina’s laws don’t punish animal abusers accordingly even the most serious uh offenses for animal cruelty

And dog fighting uh sort of top out at what is commonly referred to as a low-level felon a class H felony uh so for each of those a judge could sentence someone to a uh a prison sentence but it’s more likely that they would serve a probationary sentence such was the case

In October when Earl Hamilton pleaded guilty to 32 charges related to dog fighting and animal cruelty and walked away with what some Animal Advocates called absolutely a slap on the risk looking at first defenses for dog fighting and North Carolina is in the bottom 10 % of all states John McHugh is

With the American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and leads efforts to strengthen animal legislation in the Carolinas he says North Carolina has quite a bit of work to do with no major changes to animal policy in decades we introduced a bill uh this past session to increase the

Penalty from a class H to a class F felony which would put us in the big middle third of all states in terms of a first offense he says that measure Senate Bill 457 would have offered the likelihood of prison time for even firsttime dog fighters the legislation

However did not pass failing to make it out of committee none of these issues get any traction if we don’t have advocates in that are elected officials that push for them Maryweather says sometimes that takes citizens making the push to elected officials to let them know that it’s important to them and

Maybe should be more than just a class age felony um that they should be taken um seriously ly as an indicator of violence not just to animals but to human beings as well now after the holidays we are taking these concerns to Raleigh and we will hear from those who we chose to

Make the laws we’re going to bring you what they have to say in January in the meantime if you want to reach out to the folks who represent you directly we have the links to do so right now inside the WCNC Charlotte mobile app just look for the

Story verify WCNC Charlotte verify is all about trying to make a difference in the community by making sure that the community has the correct information this is what we know and hey this is what we don’t know sometimes you’re actually surprised by the answer verify the difference verify is a

Great way to combat that misinformation making sure that people know the process of the reporting well trending this morning former Panther Superstar Are Cam Newton calling on the team’s owner David terer to make him president during an appearance on an NFL podcast Cam Newton made an elevator pitch on why it would

Uh be best he should be in the front office he claims if he were made the team president he could help fellow first overall pick Bryce young develop into an elite quarterback like he was he also added he has a better understanding of what fans expect and has the leverage

To hold teer and and the team’s front office accountable if uh Newton made was made president he would be only the fourth former NFL player currently in a prominent front office role Panthers fans took to social media very quickly following this pitch uh the consensus

Was they want him in the front office a lot of people saying they believe he would bring a winning culture back to the Carolinas so this morning we want to know what do you think about all this sh cim Newton uh be May the team president of the Panthers let us know text

74329 3600 I think you know having him as part of the team uh not not a player role but would be great I think his role as quarterback’s coach would be much more effective the being president has so many more managerial responsibilities you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on

What you’re doing quarterback but if he could be the quarterback coach he would be one of the best because he was one of the best maybe we’ll see here who knows yeah anytime you bring a big name back to a program whether it’s NFL or college that’s struggling I think sometimes it

Can bring life back into the team that’s what happened I feel like with Steve spur and the gator when spur came back to the gator the old quarterback he was yeah remember the days Mr SP but you know when he came back he I mean he works with alumni he doesn’t even really

Work with the team itself but being a former player he he understands I think you know uh Cam Newton his relatability one thing about him in the locker room they loved him so having that that positive presence that would be great for the it’s needed own a car in North

Carolina then you know you have to get your car inspected every year and that inspection may include an emissions test but could this soon change here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check we got a text message sent to us from someone who heard the emissions

Test for vehicles is being eliminated in North Carolina counties but what does this really mean for drivers Let’s Get the facts our sources are the EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality the EPA says the yearly emissions test program helps maintain Federal air quality standards

Emissions provision is still not in effect the Department of Environmental quality must first submit its 2023 State implementation plan Amendment to the EPA the EPA would then have to approve the amendment before it could take effect so we’re talking a few years from now and plenty of vehicles in North Carolina are

Already exempt from emissions testing it’s only required as we said in 19 out of the 100 counties in the state and even in those counties there are vehicles that don’t have to pass emissions tests any vehicle that is 20 years or older exact diesel operated or registered as a farm vehicle also exempt

If you want to know if your car must pass an admissions test in order to pass inspection reach out to the ncdmv with your verified fact check I’m Megan Bragg if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com thank you we start with a check

Of our weather meteorologist Britney vanv he’s joins us now and Britney it was a warm warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10° or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know

You weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we

Are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going attract some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right

Now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still

Stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day today as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around

The mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30 so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple

Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if you are traveling by the sky on CHR chrm Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward

The airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is we’re going to be very very

Nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61 degrees mostly cloudy

For Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar question is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00

Of the nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah Britney I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of science that you get to see and experience every

Day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact on how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I think it really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody our community see the

Difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors giving back to his community Charlotte rapper the baby gave out toys

To thousands of people for its annual Christmas giveaway event family started lining up as early as 6 o’ this morning WCNC charlot Miles Harris was there and saw firsthand the impact it’s making helping families one gift at a time Charlotte native de baby held his annual Christmas giveaway just a few days

Before Christmas from Toys to bikes to TVs each item aimed to brighten the Christmas spirit I like to to grow up and you know put on a positive example on how to do what I saw my mama doing growing up man and just give back to people you know I mean spread blessings

Around make sure everybody enjoy their holidays the Charlotte native chose the East Way Drive Church of God a church he grew up in to hold the giveaway there families wasted no time lining up for hours according to the organizers over 6,000 people participated there you go better including ebony Graham and her

9-year-old son he didn’t forget about us for sure you know what I’m saying so that makes us feel good you know that we have somebody in our own City that represents and make sure the kids good and you know get back to the community he credits his mother for

Stressing the importance of giving and now she hopes to spread that to others everyone Reach Out reach someone and just love and just enjoy the season Mission behind the event to spread the holiday cheer amongst the community he’s grown with and loves the message is it spreads your blessings man

Give back give back give back give back when you’re blessed if you’re able to bless others you know what I’m saying bless others with the hope of making a difference for families this holiday season in North Charlotte I’m Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte you’re coming back now for the

News at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and I’m Vanessa Rufus we start this half hour here as travel season ramps up for the winter holidays TSA agents say they are spotting more and more Firearms at airport checkpoints yeah and that issue it hitting home as Charlotte Douglas Airport has already seen more firearms

Come through compared to last year WCNC charlott’s Miles Harris tells us how authorities plan to put a dent in this disturbing Trend TSA agents at Charlotte Douglas they’re going up to see a lot more Travelers go through these checkpoints as this holiday traveling season is officially underway and an important

Part of their job is making sure that Firearms don’t go through we’re asking people to really pay attention to what they’re bringing with them uh to to the security checkpoint to the airport in general Mark how with TSA says there’s a right way to travel with the firearm but

Not enough people are doing it it’s an issue airports through throughout the country are seeing Firearms being detected at security checkpoints and right here at Charlotte Douglas International 118 Firearms have been stopped at checkpoints surpassing last year’s number of 117 Mark how breaking down what happens when TSA agents spot a

Firearm in someone’s luggage that’s going to slow things down for everybody what what happens when we have a firearm is we’re going to call law enforcement in to remove it uh because 90% of the time it’s loaded um so for everybody’s safety we’re going to let law enforcement remove that firearm and the

Passenger from the area here’s the safe way to travel with the firearm it should be in a hard sided case with padding and completely unloaded the firearm also has to be declared at the ticket counter prior to Flying Larry Hyatt with Hiatt guns says they have products to help

At your own Peril some of the consequences can be steep including fines citations and enhanced screenings what we’re we’re trying to do is is teach people the right way to travel with firearms and and really let them know the consequences of bringing it to the checkpoint the goal is to ensure the

Safety of all Air Travelers as people head home for the holidays at Charlotte Douglas Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte WCNC Charlotte good morning Carolinas tune in to the team that’s preparing you for your day the one and only Larry Sprinkle see the difference in your morning this bitter cold just

About anywhere you look here’s a look right here at I77 Northbound trying to make your dollar stretch a little bit further responsible reporting Community focused unique content it’s so good to see you yall are having too much fun see the difference weekday mornings on WCNC Charlotte Gaston County Schools will

Down on the school start date law or relax it now Gaston County Schools is going with what the community wanted instead of North Carolina law it’s something that other school districts have done too for over a decade North Carolina law has required school districts to start school on the Monday

Closest to August 26th it’s legislation that’s been pushed by the state’s tourism industry a later start date to the school year allows more tourism throughout the month of August but School boards across North Carolina have said let local school districts decide their calendar year for themselves local

Control of education has been a Hallmark of American culture since the gning of Public School Systems several school districts across our area started school before the start date set by state law including Gaston cabis Stanley Cleveland iale Statesville and Lincoln County it’s something North Carolina House speaker Tim Moore encourag districts to do

Earlier this year I favor more flexibility for the local districts and for the parents to have input in that so uh I think there ought to be greater flexibility the Department of Public Instruction says it doesn’t have a written policy or procedure in place for taking action against districts that

Start school early next time on the agenda is our Gaston County school calendar of 2024 2025 G County Education leaders breaking North Carolina law again Monday night they unanimously approved early start options opening August 14th in 2024 and August 13th in 2025 both early start options received overwhelming approval with everyone who

Part participated in a survey which included employees parents students and community members and again there is no penalty for the school districts that vote to open early reporting for WCNC Charlotte I’m Lexi Wilson well we are thanks for coming back for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and I’m Vanessa Rufus a

Charlotte artist had suspected for months that her art had been stolen she eventually learned it was indeed stolen and artificial intelligence did it yeah what are you do at that point WCNC charot Jane monreal shows us with AI scrapping work that creators rely on selling to make a living many artists

Are asking where’s the money you know I’ve tried to get it taken down and everything but it doesn’t really matter because it’ll just get scraped again and it’ll end up back on the website so um yeah uh it’s kind of a a dystopian thing to be dealing with now

Eliana esal has been making art since she was 16 sometimes even when she was living in her car art was her way out back then and is her full-time job now when she figured out her work was scraped for AI she was in the beginning of a residency at Goodyear Arts at Camp

North End to see that it was scraped and that people are just reproducing it for free um with no context as to how it was made or like why it was made they like I don’t know that was a really kind of like sobering moment of like artists

Need to protect their work a little bit more because of this she decided to explore a medium safer from AI sculptural work there’s something so honest about it and it’s so refreshing it’s it’s like taken a lot of weight off of me just to get to explore that side

University says Society is in a great area when it comes to AI we’re in many ways in the Wild Wild West trying to figure out where the parameters are um so right now I think until the law and and Industry standards and even academic practices begin to standardize and catch

Up we’re going to see a lot of issues pop up like this where we don’t really know where to go from here esel said she believes for real change to happen more people need to speak up in support of artists it’s Tak can go over everything

And you know if you if you tell the artists to stop whining when they’re bringing this up then when they come for your job you have to starve in silence Jane monreal WCNC Charlotte and well to Colin’s point right what do you do there’s a system researchers at the

University of Chicago have been working on it allows artists to protect their work from AI and if you’d like to learn more about that you can look for Jane’s story inside the WCNC Charlotte App wake up to the news that matters most with meteorologist and traffic reporter Chris M and we’re all clear we’re keeping you smarter safer and on time start your day the Mahi way see the difference 4:30 to7 on WCNC Charlotte now it is time to connect the dots when

We make the news makes sense Christmas now just four days away and many of us will probably be part of a secret Santa gift exchange its history is actually tied to a tradition right here in North Carolina turns out there’s a secret behind secret santa let’s connect the

Dots welcome back the city of Charlotte is growing at a rapid Pace with that growth though local farmers they are worried their Farms could be put at risk a farming Advocate say the city is on track to lose more than 19,000 Acres of Farmland by 2040 and now there’s a push

To conserve that land WCC Charlotte’s kayin hagwood is giving us a closer look at that effort tonight well Farmers say preserving their land is one of their biggest concerns as a city continues to grow but one group says they’re doing what they can to ensure that Farmland stays that

Way forever wisdom jazar and his family have spent the last 5 to six years farming in Charlotte as part of their business steep root CPS Farm as the city grows he worries if local farms like his will have a place that’s the million– dollar question right there is you know

How is the city working to make sure that there’s a productive and a local food system while the city says it does have policies to encourage farming it doesn’t classify Farms specifically as farm land which can make it easier to turn Farm Farms into neighborhoods as

The area grows and we haven’t had that in 20 years but that does not mean we cannot have a designation now at large councilwoman dimple azmir says a Farmland designation is something she’s been advocating for especially in areas where healthy food is harder to come by I will be talking to our planning

Director in fact I’ve already talked to her about it to see how we can continue uh or how we can actually improve our efforts to preserve our Farmland the discs come as one organization is hoping to take Farmland preservation to the next level the Carolina Farms fund is working to ensure

Local farms will never become anything else through easement a legally binding process we’re looking at at properties in mecklinburg and and throughout that 15 County region but those areas that have heavy development pressure um and so that Farmland stays in agriculture the group hopes to preserve at least

Existing farmland and ensuring it stays designated for Farmers he says they’ll then sell that land to Farmers who want to expand which makes us safer and more secure in our food system multiple efforts towards supporting A system that works to support us oh the farmers provide for the restaurants into the new

Year if anyone wants to make a comment kin hagwood WCNC Charlotte when it comes to W cnc’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic our viewers tell the whole story hey if you’re new to the area this meteorologist is awesome I always stick with Brad panovic when it comes to severe weather he’s rarely wrong you

Should follow Brad if you don’t already he’s usually right on the money with his forecast I don’t look at anything else besides what Brad says we are fortunate to have him here Brad panovich experience the difference with WCNC Charlotte weather well the Food and Drug Administration recently concluded that a

Popular over-the-counter decongestion is not effective it has to do with an active ingredient in many cold medications including those sold under the CVS brand so if you bought these products could you be eligible for a legal settlement Megan brag verifies so these are just some of the

Posts that we’re seeing on social media they claim there are several class action lawsuits against CVS for manufacturing cold medicine that they knew or should have known was ineffective so let’s verify our sources the FDA CVS and several law firms when we looked online we saw several law firms posting class action lawsuits

Against CVS one was filed in federal court in South Carolina the plaintiff claims the fenine drug sold at CVS stores under the CVS Health label was no more effective than a sugar pill another class action lawsuit filed in Illinois seeks to establish a national and multi-state consumer protection class

Action on behalf of consumers who purchase these five CVS Health Products with phenylephrine in them in September the FDA panel refused to back the effectiveness of oral over-the-counter medicines made with phenylephrine and they said no more trials were required to prove otherwise when we reached out

To CVS they told us they do not comment on pending litigation however the drugstore chain told NBC news they are pulling the most common decongestants that have phenylephrine as the only active ingredient from their shelves we went to a local CVS store and found there are still decongestants with

Phenylephrine as an ingredient but not the only active ingredient in so we can verify that yes there are several lawsuits against CVS with your verify I’m Megan Brat when did you know what you wanted to be hey Mom the weather’s on W CNC Charlotte’s chief meteorologist Brad panovich always knew what he was meant to do all right don’t forget your umbrella in fact he joined the American Meteorological Society when he was 13

Now Brad is all grown up you can see him right here on WCNC Charlotte making sure you’re in where did all my hair go experience the difference we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanv he’s joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of

Days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking

Record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are

Going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26th could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there at temperature

Right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a

Few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for

Some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking in the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing

Tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not droing too much

Remember clouds act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61° mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of

Windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those infl of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Wednesday morning just a bit but then

Event three and last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit and the tough questions get asked and answered

Thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson today a one-on-one interview with the chief executive of North Carolina Roy Cooper entering his ‘s final year in office but it comes after several big and very public battles with a republican super majority in the general assembly the governor

Weighs in on this past year and his plans for the future joining us now the 75th governor of the state of North Carolina Roy Cooper Governor thanks for coming on and joining us we appreciate it glad to be with you today Ben all right so let’s begin with Medicaid expansion it

Launched a few weeks ago you’ve said it was one of the most important things to happen this year 600 thousand people now with HealthCare coverage but we also know that Republicans tied it to the budget and you’ve called that a bad budget that quote short changes Schools prioritizes power grabs keeps Shady

Backro deals secret so it begs the question governor was Medicaid expansion worth it absolutely was you know when you’re in government and trying to do good for the people sometimes you have to forge compromises to find the best way forward and and I think one of the best days

I’ve had as Governor is being in an enrollment center in Charlotte and seeing everyday working people finally being able to get health care coverage for themselves uh one person I talked to had health insurance for the first time in their adult life and we’re talking about health insurance for our child

Care workers people who stock our grocery stores people who look after seniors people who had been making a little too much money to qualify for Medicaid coverage but not enough money to qualify for enough subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to make them be able to have affordable health insurance

So this will mean so much to those families it will help to make sure that we keep our rural hospitals open it will help our law enforcement there’s a reason that we had tough on crime sheriffs coming down to the legislature and saying hey we need Medicaid

Expansion because a lot of the people we deal with have mental health issues and substance use disorder and they need health care and not handcuffs this is was an exciting day for North Carolina it’s going to create good paying jobs and it’s the right thing to do for our

State it allows us to bring in that $521 million a month from the federal government in tax money that you and I have already paid to Washington to come back to North Carolina to keep people healthier to create good paying jobs to keep rural hospitals open and I am so

Excited uh that North Carolina finally has gotten there we’ve also created a road map for the other 10 states that have yet to do it a bipartisan Coalition of people who finally agreed that Medicaid expansion was the right thing from North Carolina and I’m excited

About it yeah I mean it was 10 years in the making um when local lawmaker Trisha cam switched parties in the spring it gave Republicans a super majority as you know and it really tied your hands you suffered a number of legislative defeats this year curious do you blame her or do

You blame Democrats including yourself for allowing that to happen well I look at this year as a very positive one because we have record-breaking numbers of jobs being brought into North Carolina uh we are becoming a clean energy epicenter and I’ve done that by working in a bipartisan way with the general assembly

Uh we’re going to be able to roll off electric vehicles we’re going to be able to bring those great paying jobs to to people’s families yes it was disappointing to see the Republicans get a super majority when that’s not what the people voted for but what we’re

Going to continue to do is in this 2024 election to let people know that women’s reproductive freedom is at stake public education is at stake our public school students now are going to suffer because the general assembly has passed a private school voucher bill on steroids

That’s going to allow the very rich to collect taxpayer money to keep their children in private and we’re going to let them know that it’s time to make sure we break that super majority in the general assembly and continue the balance that has been so important to our state

Growing it’s been so important to making us the third fastest growing state in the country it’s been so important to make sure that we are for the second year in a row the number one state in the country to do business there are a lot of positive things that are

Happening in our state despite the fact that we have a super majority in the general assembly but I hope the people of North Carolina are going to correct that next year in the 2024 elections what does your relationship look like with Tim Moore and Phil burger right now

Do you see anything changing that Dynamic changing in any way uh next year well it’s important to note that we have worked together to pass clean energy legislation in North Carolina that requires our power sector to reduce carbon emissions to Zero by 2050 we’ve come together to work to invest the

Billions of Dollar in federal money that we’re going to have to fix water systems pave roads provide more public transportation uh to fix our ports and airports to connect every household to high-speed internet access uh they have given me the authority to go out and recruit businesses with performance-based

Incentives that have help to draw great paying jobs to North Carolina and they only get the tax credits if they create the jobs at the salaries that they’ve said they’ve created so we’ve worked together to do all of those things obviously we’ve had disagreements and uh for the last four

Years before they broke the super majority we were able to stop a lot of their bad legislation that attacked women’s reproductive Freedom that got Cal Wars back into our schools but of course during the first couple of months of this year they passed those things they passed an abortion ban uh they

Passed a don’t say gay Bill those pieces of legislation are wrong for our state they’re wrong in and of themselves but it has the potential to hurt us economically down the road and we’re looking forward to the elections next year to try and fix some of that people

Need to be aware that Republicans are working to take away completely women’s reproductive freedom and they need to think about that when they go to the polls up next on flash our interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper continues next the governor’s plans for the future and what he’s considering

After leaving office thank you for making WCNC Charlotte’s magical toy drive a huge success this year along with our sponsors Belk CR legal team and Tropical Smoothie Cafe you’ve proven we can make a big difference for our community WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community seeking Solutions

We’re sharing stories that matter to you verify it’s a transparent formula that separates fact from fiction where’s the money solving big dollar problems and putting money back in your pocket weather it’s important for me to keep you safe and weather aware see the difference week nights only on WCNC

Charlotte Jack the data shows that people love our more flavorful ultimate cheeseburgers show me the data so the data is good the data is real good hly the best data I’ve ever had my bestselling ultimate cheeseburgers seasoned as they Grill you know there’s millions of people without the health

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Inventory through this weekend you can drive a 2023 Tacoma double C only $1.99 a month don’t miss our year on closeout shop online now at Toyota charlotte.com it just keeps getting worse the crack keeps growing the doors and windows stick this must be very frustrating almost no one connects that these are

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Loaded we are back with more of our interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper He’s getting ready to start his last year in office and he already has big plans for what he wants to achieve with a republican dominated General Assembly what would you say is your top priority heading into the new

Year well first we need to make sure that we invest invest this Federal money that’s coming down to make sure we do it in the most effective and efficient way and that means getting on the ground and actually connecting households to high-speed internet and businesses making sure that we’re getting these

Roads fixed and that we are enhancing our public transportation to get people from one place to the next in a faster and cleaner way I’m also going to work to uplift public educ ation in our public school students uh you know I’ve talked a lot with Republicans about the

Best way uh to make sure that our schools are the best they can be and we have a lot of differences but two things we agree on is a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school and you do that by investing to

Make sure that we pay them well that we respect them and lift them up and we don’t waste money billions of dollars on private school vouchers that really don’t help people get a better education and only take money away from our Public Schools uh I’m going to work to create a

Lot of energy in the business Community one of the main reasons why we are the number one state for business is our amazing well-trained dedicated diverse Workforce the people of North Carolina and we’re not going to continue to have a great Workforce if we don’t invest in education from cradle to

Career early childhood education making sure we have quality Child Care making sure we have great principles and teachers in our Public Schools we already have the best community college system in the country and the best array of public and private universities in the country we need to keep improving

Our public schools to make sure we have that Workforce for these businesses who are coming to North Carolina and expanding in North Carolina and I know why because this is the best state in the country and the best place to live work and raise a family right here well

I don’t know too many people who would disagree with that um Governor if you could run again would you yeah I sure would uh this has been an amazing opportunity it’s been the honor of my life to serve this state where I grew up uh where where I was born

Uh that I love so deeply we’ve been able to work together to have a real positive impact on North Carolina uh every day I wake up I think about things that we can do to make things better for every day nor Carolinians uh helping them have better education for their children a

Better paying job uh those are the kinds of things that I think about every day the fact that we’re going to have 600,000 more people have health care so yeah do it again but the Constitution says I can’t so what I’m going to do is

To work hard in the next election as if I were on the ballot because I want us to continue this progress I want us to continue this balance that we have in North Carolina that I think has made us so prosperous and I and I’m deeply grateful for the people for giving me

This job and this honor and I’m working every day to meet the challenges and we you should say you have a full year to sort of get your ducks in a row and decide what you want to do but I’m assuming that you don’t want to just go

Off into the sunset and fully retired that you still have a calling for public service and you want to be involved in your mind what does that look like does that mean running for elected offices again does that mean working in the nonprofit world where do you see yourself come say

2025 yeah all of those are potentials I really don’t know at this point I have a little more than a year to serve as governor I’m going to work hard every single day uh meet every challenge uh continue to work to make North Carolina a better place to work live and raise a

Family and after I get finished I’ll make that decision I do love Public Service um a few more items in the last few weeks you filed several challenges to the newly drawn Congressional and Senate Maps here in North Carolina it’s something we talk about every single

Year um one way or the other we talked about it in your mind we talked to Jeff Jackson about this this uh last week what do you think is a fair path forward in drawing these maps in a fair way no matter who’s in power we should have a process in place

Where there is an independent redistricting commission that is in charge of drawing Maps we saw what happened in North Carolina when Fair Maps were drawn the number of members of Congress was seven Democrats and seven Republicans that really reflects the political makeup of North Carolina yet when you

Have uh Ultra partisan Jerry Mander districts where uh Representatives choose their constituents instead of the other way around you end up with 10 Republicans and four Democrats maybe even 11 to three uh that’s wrong under any scenario and whether we have blue Waves or red waves the process should be

Be as Fair as possible districts should not be drawn in a racial or partisan way uh independent redistricting commissions have worked pretty well in other states and it’s it’s time for North Carolina to do that and instead of us continuing to be the epicenter Center of redistricting

Litigation like we have been for so long in the last few weeks federal government amount announcing a billion dollars spinning when it comes to rail here in North Carolina between Raleigh and Richmond um and a number of Grants as well you appeared with the Secretary of Transportation Pete Buddha judge uh what

Kind of impact could this have on the state what a great investment this would be to have high speed rail uh from North Carolina all the way up the East Coast uh when we think about that we’re we’re talking about less congestion on our highways because even if you don’t take

The train the people that are deciding to take the train are not going to be on our highways it is a clean fast efficient way to get from one place to the next I took the train from Raleigh to Greensboro and talked with people walk from car to car and talk with

People about why they were on the train uh I talked to grandparents who really didn’t want to drive anymore but were headed down from Raleigh to Charlotte to visit grandchildren they love the train experience talked to a family going on vacation I talked to students who were returning to school in Greensboro and

Down in Charlotte uh getting uh back and forth to school in a fast and efficient way talked to commuters going to work talk to business people who were getting somewhere fast from one place to the next it was amazing seeing all the different people who loved their

Experience on the train saying that it was cheaper faster uh for them to get there in this way and if we continue to make these Investments it will allow us to get people from one place to the next in a cleaner faster more efficient way and will help relieve congestion on our

Highways final question we’re in the middle of the holidays I feel Duty bound to ask you do you the governor have a New Year’s resolution ah you know just to work as hard as ever I hadn’t really thought about that yet but uh work as hard as

Other ever and uh ready for better Panther football and better Hornets basketball how about that there you go nobody can argue with that one either all right Governor Roy coer Governor happy holidays thanks for coming on we appreciate it thanks a lot Ben all right take care at 11 a corporate landlord is

Eyeing a big plot of land on Independence Boulevard as the site of a new Rental Community Charlotte city leaders held a hearing tonight to let folks weigh in on the proposal and as WCNC charlott’s Julia Kaufman reports the devel velopment and future Road improvements could drastically change the

Area the proposed Community would be on East Independence Bard right on the border of Matthews ncdot is also using the land to extend multiple roads off Independence behind this intersection of East Independence and Sardis Road north is 80 acres of woods we have old sycamores and old black cherry trees

That you don’t see commonly through North um residential areas anymore nearby homeowners worry plans to replace most of the woods with a rental Community will hinder their quality of life we will have a separation of 40 ft hopefully you can understand our concerns about privacy sound and safety corporate landlord Northwood Raven

Doesn’t have a site plan yet but hopes to build houses Town Homes apartments and commercial space across from Crownpoint Plaza NC doot is also using the land to eventually extend Sardis Road north and aripa drive to Sam New Road there’s an interchange being built that will come through our site and

There’s going to also be a bridge across if the rezoning petition is approved construction on the community would start in September 2024 with a new interchange and two New Roads coming through it it might not be the best site for low density residential but the road projects aren’t expected to start until

202 eight so neighbors are still worried about backups and it would be a traffic nightmare now that a public hearing has been held the Charlotte zoning committee will consider the rezoning petition and then city council can vote on it Julia Kaufman WCNC Charlotte the new and improved WCNC plus

Now on Roku and Fire TV watch local live newscast get extended breaking news coverage and see local programs and specials the new and improved w CNC plus now on Roku and Fire TV back here’s some good news mortgage rates have fallen from their October highs of around 8% however if you are a

First-time home buyer this might not be the news you’re looking for on WCNC charlott’s Jane Montreal is joining us now to explain what we should be doing when looking to buy a home right now so we’re not left asking where’s money that’s right Vanessa and Colin well as consumer affairs reports falling rates

May have excited buyers but they haven’t moved sellers so to break it down many current homeowners are not really motivated to sell right now if they have a mortgage rate of around 3% they might not be ready to list their homes for sale and buy another one until rates are

A lot lower and this brings in supply and demand people who are looking to buy home are competing with one another for available homes in the past this has resulted in bidding wars and higher home prices so what can you do consumer affairs suggests relocating they say

House Hunters who are willing to move to a lower cost City when available homes are more plentiful may find the best opportunities but you know that means maybe a longer commute guys something that people do not want to pay for picking up and moving up or moving out

As well yeah it’s tough but man the the market it’s been fluctuating and it sounds like it’s going to continue to do so yeah still a tough call so uh still kind of a wait and see for a lot of folks all right Jane thank you conquer

Is one of the top places in North Carolina for small business growth so it was the perfect place for business owner Bria Smith to set up shop now since then her store has continued to grow here’s her story for Bria Smith it was a no-brainer we could pour back into the

Community that we’re in every single day to setup shop right along downtown concord’s busy cabis Avenue East her candle bar comes to Concord As Cities across North Carolina top rankings as some of the best to start a business Durham Charlotte Raleigh and Winston Salem could all be found in the top 15

Alone numbers like those are attracting Entre R preneurs to areas just like this one and I could see all the economic investment going into with the streetcape and the apartment buildings and how a community was really being created here and Smith has witnessed that economic investment for some time

It’s part of the reason why her candle bar was an idea years in the making starting during the pandemic we had to come up with ways in the home to uh have fun and also uh create the ability to relax and provide yourself some selfcare was a very stressful time now she sells

Candles classes and other self-care items back on business though conquor is missing from that list of top cities for starting a business yet Smith invested here anyway so when we asked her why Charlotte we’re familiar with Charlotte I went to school there but it’s it’s oversaturated to some degree from a a a

Business perspective and there’s nice things and and experiences that are needed right here in Cab’s County right here where that economic investment continues to grow yeah Concord really growing very quickly especially I feel like we’re always talking about Charlotte the Queen City this Queen City that but the

Reality is that a lot of this development is stretching into our smaller townships and depending on who you ask it’s not always a good thing so nice downtown here love in downtown rightful nice shops here and restaurants things like that and another new one to check out there you go when I think

About the community I think about the time that I’ve been here I’ve been in this community almost my entire adult life so I you know you get to know the people when you know what they care about then that’s what you care about this community looks at all of us

Who do weather here at WC and C Charlotte as part of their family and when you’re part of their family you want to make sure you do it just for Them people will eat drink and be merry this weekend there is one danger that actually rears its ugly had more during the holidays than the rest of the year Megan Bragg explains in today’s verify it’s so important to stay on top of your health especially your heart health new information from the American

Increased 37% on Christmas Eve the cold weather has something to do with it because cold weather can actually trigger inflammation the American Heart Association also points to stress and diet as contributing factors to the increase we radically change our lifestyle over the holidays we drink a

Lot more alcohol we eat a lot more sodium the portions of what we’re consuming are a lot more another main reason for the rise in heart attack deaths people are not getting help quickly enough routines are disrupted so we think maybe it’s something else or maybe that heartburn is actually

Something that we ate too much last night or what have you the American Heart Association wants you to know these five warning signs of a heart attack Coley says if you feel feel something is not right don’t wait call a doctor so we can verify that yes deaths

From heart attacks do indeed Spike during the winter holidays with your verify I’m Megan Brad of something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com come now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense the holidays can be stressful that’s why it’s important to let guests know your expectations when it comes to their beh behavior in your

House try and keep your thoughts on your gifts to yourself This Christmas let’s connect the dots this season you’re likely going to get at least one Christmas present you don’t really want but there is a difference between feeling annoyed and showing it experts say there is correct etiquette when

Receiving a gift and it all begins with your initial reaction researchers say you shouldn’t show negative emotion and try and only show gratitude and it isn’t just true of your words but your body language too as for returns don’t think about it unless something doesn’t fit or

You have a real reason to give it back to the store you shouldn’t ask for a gift receipt however the good news is if you really want to get rid of something many retailers nowadays don’t require a receipt and no matter what you get this Christmas writing a nice thank you note never

But Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast

Little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte motter Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad

Out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by- hour forecast showing the 40s right

Around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking

About multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if you are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest

There will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you were checking those tickets before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s

Look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents theight before Christmas is we’re going to be very very

Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar question is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00

Don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Wednesday morning just just a bit but then eventually start to drop as we look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023

And into the first few days of a new year hard to believe 2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the

The nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah Bry I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right Thanks new at 6 a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Health or Nami finds that for some people living with mental illness their conditions worsen around the holidays doctors in Charlotte saying this time of year can have a negative impact WCNC Charlotte’s Austin Walker

Speaks to experts on how you can be a helping hand what’s supposed to be one of the most wonderful times of the year there’s such an expectation um for the holiday season might be the opposite for some what happens during this holiday season is a culmination of what’s been

Happening through an um entire year Dr Russell Hancock a psychologist with Atrium Health says mental health and depression can be big talking points this time of year pointing towards large Gatherings and constant moving around it could contribute to anxiety and there’s an expectation that people are supposed

To in quotations feel a certain way according to Nami a report shows that around 24% of people with mental illnesses find the holidays make their condition quote a lot worse and 40% quote somewhat worse Hancock says there are things you can do to check in on someone’s mental state this holiday

Season there’s this tendency to believe that if I ask someone if they’re depressed or if I ask someone if there’s something going on that then that means that that you’re going to be making something going on being realistic with people and being real with people about

How are they feeling what what is it that they need if they need anything during this period um can be critical he also mention there are signs to look for is if someone is withdrawing more a few things to consider so this holiday season is good for everyone in Charlotte

Austin Walker WCNC Charlotte and we have a full list of Mental Health Resources right now on our website wcnc.com we all know flashing yellow lights in a school zone means you need to slow down but what if the lights are flashing at night at a time when schools aren’t in session

Megan Bragg gets us the answer in this morning’s verified CNC Charlotte viewer James B took this video you can see on your screen on his cell phone near Providence Day School it shows lights flashing in a school zone at around 6:30 at night he wants to know

If the flashing lights still apply even though it’s technically after school hours so let’s verify our sources are Matthews Police Department Pio Tim acock Providence Day School the city of Charlotte and North Carolina law the flashing lights on a school’s own speed limit sign are there to let drivers know

When the lower speed is enforced according to North Carolina law the authorized lower speed limit is in effect when lights are flashing but we don’t know what other activities are at that school and they may have it set for that for a reason we reached out to the

City of Charlotte since they are the ones in charge of the lights they told us the flashing lights are on a fixed schedule that the school provides at the beginning of the school year according to the schedule the school requested Flash flashing lights from 2:30 p.m. to

6:45 p.m. Providence day school has an extended day program that ends at 6:00 p.m. and if the school zone lights are flashing at let’s say 11: at night ACO says it’s reasonable to assume school is not in session and the lights might be malfunctioning but if you ever have any

Doubts ACO says it’s best to just play it safe the easiest thing to do is just abide by that cuz it’s a slower speed limit and that’s good for everybody so we can verify that yes the lights flashing at 6:30 p.m. near Providence Day School are working as they should

Because kids are getting out of its extended day program and motorists could be ticketed if they don’t observe the school speed limit at that time with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com at WCNC Charlotte we believe it is crucial to make a difference in our communities that’s why we go Beyond just reporting the news we ask where’s the money to hold the powerful accountable

And get money back into your pockets our verified team takes claims finds sources and gets you answers and we’re keeping you weather aware making you safer and smarter I’m Vanessa Rufus and I’m Colin Mayfield join us week nights at 5 6 and 11 and see the difference for yourself only on WCNC

Charlotte McAdenville also known as Christmas Town USA draws in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and one social media post is suggesting a technique that can help people see the lights better the only issue it may not be legal WCNC Charlotte’s Megan Bragg verifies this Facebook post which is

Sparking a lot of debate is asking drivers to cut off their headlights at night to better view the lights at McAdenville but is that legal let’s verify our sources are North Carolina law criminal law attorney Ryan Ames and the official website for McAdenville according to McAdenville website last

Year alone the spectacular light display Drew in more than 600,000 visitors many of those driving through the neighborhood display but before you turn off your headlights at night criminal law attorney Ryan Ames says not so fast generally wouldn’t invise anyone to do it for a couple of reasons the first is

The safety reason and the second is the fact you may get a ticket for it North Carolina law states all vehicles must have their headlights on from Sunset to sunr rise and so the whole purpose of having headlights and having a law that enforces it is the safety of everybody

Along with vehicle traffic McAdenville also brings a lot of foot traffic so am says a car’s headlights are not only for your safety but the pedestrians as well safety of everybody that’s going to be both driving and walking when there’s a lot of distractions with all these Christmas lights everywhere in

Particular you could face serious felony charges if you seriously injured somebody so so we can verify that no it is not legal to cut off your headlights at night to better view the lights at McAdenville with your verified I’m Megan Brown time not to connect the dots when

We make the news make sense folks hitting the mountains to ski or snowboard for the holidays will notice those massive machines blowing snow on the slopes you just saw a few of them right there but those machines are relatively new occurrence in a lot of places scientist say climate change

Means more fake snow on slopes than ever before let’s connect the dots data shows the Earth is getting warmer 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record by a significant margin and warmer temperatures mean less real snow experts predict more than half the world ski

Resorts could be at risk for snow scarcity by 2100 and some believe it could be a lot sooner to fight this lots of ski resorts around the world are now relying on artificial snow in Austria and Switzerland two places known worldwide for their snowy slopes more

Than half the resorts now use the fake stuff those snow making machines work by shooting a stream of water into the air about 35 ft when the water is released the cold air around it freezes the actual water droplets creating the artificial snow and that is connecting the

Dots WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of science that you get to see and experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact on how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I I

Think it really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my

Family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors a chartin is spreading some holiday cheer with his festive light show and you can see and hear it absolutely we just heard it too this is the second year he’s putting on the show making it even bigger and brighter why

Not right this year he’s is also using his show to raise money for a good cause WCNC charlott Jesse Pierre is live in South Charlotte Jesse what inspired him to put all this together well Matthew the roers picked up this tradition after a neighbor who had a musical light show moved away now

The idea is simple while you’re in your car you tune in to 88.5 and then you’ll hear this the music and then you’ll see it dancing to the holiday lights Classic holiday Tunes synchronized to more than 6,000 festive lights and decorations a holiday tradition 15-year-old Matthew D Ro is keeping going in his South Charlotte Community picking up the torch after his neighbor moved away we have lights around the garages the windows we have little candy canes that’ll Dance The

The make Treet to look and do you want to go to the beach this year’s festivities have a special meaning to Matthew because he is raising money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation to help find a cure for Crohn’s disease a condition he knows too well it became

It with treatment Matthew is feeling more like his old self again again and back to keeping the Christmas spirit alive and making a difference in the fight against Crohn’s disease I really just want to get them in the holiday spirit I think it’s something that’ll cheer everybody up as we get closer to

The holidays and I think adding a charity is just something extra that can help millions of other people now there’s a QR code right here while you’re here to connect to his fundraiser page you can check out the display at 15333 Prescott Hill Avenue the display

Will be up from 7 to 10 every day until January 1st and we have Matt here the magician behind all of this and what a special message happy holidays I hope you all can come check it out Merry Christmas yay Merry Christmas and sending it back to you Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Matt

What was his shirt again I love his shirt it’s like expert yeah exterior illumination expert we love your shirt man happy Holidays and Merry Christmas that is so good to see if you want to keep theid holiday spirit going watch WCNC plus tonight at 11:30 we’ll share heartwarming stories of people spreading

They say she’s thriving and they want to thank those who saved her life yeah along the way they’re also looking to give back to folks who are walking a mile in their own shoes Michelle Bowden shows us how this little girl’s parents are now making a difference for other

Families their daughter was here from the time she was just 2 weeks old getting life-saving treatment and now that she’s out and the family’s on the other side they are back here at the hospital this time they’re the ones helping others I took a picture of that

Girl uh justice is our U our heart baby James and Jessica Leed better knew before their little girl was born that she had a rare heart defect it was um a long journey thinking about it now is sort of like a blur coming in here day after day they

Are back at LaVine Children’s Hospital this time here to help other families facing a similar fight we are here to give back to our Fellow Heart parents and heart families some soap they’ve put together special goody bags we have some mouthwash you got to stay fresh bedroom shoes just some different toiletry some

Things that my wife and I needed while we were here that we didn’t have I told my husband as we were walking in like here we are back at the hospital and this time I’m excited about being here hand sanitizer is good it feels real

Good it feels real good to be you know God put you in a position where you can help others that that need help because he says it wasn’t that long ago when they felt helpless we’re supposed to be our daughter’s hero you know um whenever

That bat signal goes off I show up but you know um with this particular situation it was nothing that I could do there you go now 2 years old justice has a slight heart murmur but is doing really well and is now a different kind of challenge for her parents oh my girl

A big problem at the house now a good problem she’s got a lot of spunk and that’s how they like it justice is awesome she is our heart Warrior she is the face of what joy and Grace looks like this was their first trip they say

The headlines impact your family see the difference on WCNC Charlotte and while many of us will get to be home with loved ones for the holidays that isn’t the case for everyone some are having to spend it at the hospital but as WCNC Charlotte’s J M

Shows us one cancer survivor is making a difference bringing a touch of joy into those Hospital hallways a breast cancer patient diagnosed in 2020 she says she never gave into cancer using it instead to start a foundation and let others going through cancer treatment know that

They don’t have to do it alone as the big red trucks pull up to novon St dude’s affiliate clinic on Hawthorne Lane it’s not to put out a fire but to help bring some memorable joy to some of the young patients during the Christmas holiday I need 25 blue and 25 pink

Leading the charge is Myra Harris president and founder of cancer gave me life Foundation she’s a cancer survivor I’ve had chemotherapy 30 rounds of radiation I had both breasts removed I had 14 limp nose removed and I’m still on a journey I was just diagnosed about

6 weeks ago with osteopenia which is one of the side effects from the cancer medicine that I take pushing her list of obstacles to the side she was on a mission to help others on similar Journeys check off their list with little bags filled with love as she went through the life-changing experiences

She didn’t want anyone to feel like they were alone she started this Foundation to encourage people on their own Journeys I said Lord if you allow me to get to the other side of my journey I was going to start an organization to bless people and let them know that

People genuinely care about their well-being and 5-year-old cie is all smiles as she was able to pick up her pink gift bag I’m Miss Myra Merry Christmas to you Callie is the big sister to London and two more that are on the way the mother of all four

Rashana smokes knows this is just a huge burden lifted off her back it means a lot especially because we have a lot going on right now so I appreciate everything you guys are doing for the kids every time 11-month-old London gets sick with sickle cell they’re spending

Lots of time at the hospital we have to come here especially when she’s sick or has a fever we have to make sure she doesn’t have a crisis little gifts to land more smiles from baby London who just may be trying for a career in television it’s a blessing I mean

Because to know that I’m still on my journey and to know that it’s being well received and having partners that really appreciate what I’m doing that to me is my Christmas gift haris says she is looking to expand her efforts into 2024 by granting wishes to terminally ill breast cancer patients

Now back to you WCNC Charlotte this is flasho where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson a Merry Christmas weekend to you and yours it is the season of giving our recent report

Out shows folks in North Carolina are donating more to charity 58 million ion dollar to be exact but as costs rise Charities aren’t able to stretch their dollars as far over the next 30 minutes we’ll share with you some of the Charities and organizations really making a difference this holiday season but

First joining us now is the North Carolina Secretary estate Elaine Marshall her office promotes economic development and helps oversee the business Community secretary welcome back we appreciate it thank you very much it’s delightful to be here so your office tracks charitable giving and and I know uh North Carolinians donated $58 million

But otherwise if they hire a professional fundraiser or pay their staff at over a certain dollar amount they have to register with us so there are thousands and thousands of registered uh nonprofit entities with us and the law requires them to um either get an exemption or um file reports with

Us uh that shows how much they took in how much went to overhead and how much actually went to the charity when I say give wisely there are a lot of new organizations that pop up that don’t have the track record they may have the best of heart but don’t have the

Efficiency uh ability to um handle whatever the the need is and unfortunately we see scammers uh out there um this time of year we do this report because people get a lot of communications if you ever gave a contribution you’re now on that organization’s list for repeat contribution and that’s fine and dandy

Uh but when you get ones out of the blue for organization that that you’ve never heard of perhaps a telephone call or perhaps an internet something uh we wish we would advise you to be very very very cautious the federal government tells us that upwards of 80 90% of those that

Appear online are fake uh they um whenever there’s a disaster around the world these uh organizations sometimes their state supported organizations in various parts of the world have wonderful but horrible pictures of disasters and uh they play upon the heartstrings of people uh if there’s something like that that you want to

Contribute to here’s my standard advice deal with a local branch of whomever is supplying that Relief by that it could be the Red Cross it could be the Baptist men it could be the menite church it could be the Methodist men they have a track record of being able to do the

Services uh Samaritans purse North Carolina based is another one that has a track record of the ability to get into a disaster area with the proper equipment the proper people the proper knowhow to do what needs to be done so um there we have over 20 years worth of

Information up about how much has gone to the actual charity and how much has gone to um um the the pocketbook of the fundraisers and all and you can go to SOS and c.gov look up Charities and then you will find tons tons of information uh and you will unfortunately see that some

Only 10% goes to the charity or 20% goes to the charity I haven’t conducted a survey but I truly believe in my heart that most North Carolinians believe that a higher percentage of that needs to go to the actual good work you know when someone makes a donation it’s a matter

Of trust it’s a matter of an investment of their trust that that sort of transparency is really helpful so people can see for themselves and that’s whether it’s now in the holiday season or in the middle of of Summer anytime that’s helpful um do you have a good

Sense for even though I know uh do donations are up um and charitable giving is up um how inflation has impacted some of these Charities well yes we do uh the amount donated went up about $10 million um you mentioned the figure 58 million it was about 48

Million last year so North Carolinians are very generous it went up about 10 million uh the amount going to Charities went up 5 million but we do find that the cost of running these fundraising campaigns have gone up uh with inflation everybody’s felt it in their own

Pocketbook and their own lives uh so but that was not unreasonable the amount was not exorbitant that um um we we gleaned from the reports so Charities are trying to be very smart the the really ethical ones the good ones uh are really trying to be very smart and squeeze as much

Service out of each and every dollar they get um all of this data you all accumulate um and have oversight over how rigorous is that process um that that your office goes through to to sort of get this information and get it right well they Charities have to be

Registered and sometimes we find some that aren’t we also find scam Charities and we have here in North Carolina and we have criminal authority over them so if you feel like uh you’ve been engaged with one of those take a screenshot gather all the information you can and

Let us know and we will investigate it as I say some are inefficient and some are straight out Cooks uh just trying to steal your money but our oversight um we we don’t audit the reports per se but we do believe that by having public transparency where people can see they

Can see the folks who are not efficient or even even Bad actors out there if they’re registered with us so the registration process requires a lot of information about the organization then it requires a copy of their uh federal tax return uh so you can see exactly about expenses in their General

Categories so there um we wait well we respond to complaints uh more so than we do from any type of internal auditing because we just don’t have the internal auditing capacity if somebody brings something outrageous to our attention then we do get into looking at it further you talk about $58

Million donated over a year time span um what impact I want to go Broad View what impact do those donations have not only on the Charities but on the state as a whole there is such a need for the nonprofit Community to step up um government and even religion can’t meet

All of the needs that are out there you don’t have to go very far far whether it’s a large city like Braley or Charlotte or out in the country to see that there is poverty out there to see that people are probably freezing on a day like today where it’s very cold uh

Just all sorts of need is evident as you drive around uh even the the wealthier cities like Raleigh and Charlotte so um the need is out there um government can’t fill all the gaps and we just have to rely upon the good heart s and gracious and graciousness of of people

To help make the plight of others a little bit more comfortable and some of the information that that your office has helps people make a educated decision about where they aim that charitable giving all right Secretary of State Elaine Marshall secretary thanks for coming on we appreciate it Happy

Holidays and Merry Christmas thank you happy holidays to you and happy giving to everybody else take care more flash one after this we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he’s joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from

Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about

Record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s is heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going to track some rain arriving later

On Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at

57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit dup Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout

The day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas

Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if you are

Traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you are checking those tickets before you head

To the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly sunay and nice

As we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents tonight before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act like a blanket

Keeping it as nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61 degrees mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million question is

When will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00 and later I would either try to move them earlier in the day or move them inside here’s

Monday at 7:00 so this is Christmas day you can see clouds starting to build in but we’re not seeing rain just yet notice the timing here 2:00 most of the day is actually not going to be rainy it’s mostly closer to 2 3:00 that we start to see that rain moving in and

Then from here and on we’re going to see rain off and on through Monday and pretty much all day on Tuesday now Tuesday is the day that we’re going to start to see that thunderstorm potential and winds start to pick up Monday night but really turn windy on Tuesday too so

We’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into M Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually

Start to drop as we look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023 and into the first few days of a new year hard to believe

2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10-day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to

Start the new year a little bit colder comparative to average but uh definitely a pattern flip as we look ahead Nick so something to maybe look forward to if you like some Colder Weather but if you’re a fan of the nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is

Certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah britty I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right Thanks Americans on average save about $121 a month on their power bill when they switch to solar panels but could those savings put you at risk if there’s a fire in your house here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify more homes in the US have solar

Are trained to disconnect the power from The Home hunterville Fire Department says they take into account all of these variables when fighting a fire and while solar panels can present a challenge in some additional difficulty they say it’s not something they can’t navigate the department of energy says you should let

Fire a little more difficult with your verify I’m Brown if you have something you would like verified email us at verify at wcnc.com how to connect the dots when we make the news make sense automakers are looking to revamp the future of cars and the advancements May personalize your vehicle more than ever before technology is helping us do some

Pretty incredible things to the outside of our cars let’s connect the dots BMW is currently working on an experimental cating that acts as what they call digital ink meaning someday your car could have more than 30 colors to choose from and even change color with the weather the same Tech that already

Allows your car to pay for Highway tools could soon help you pay for a lot more the emerging category of incar payments would help you pay at a drive-thru and even automatically apply discounts to your car orders and as cars become more advanced many of the issues that may

Have dragged you to the service center could one day be handsfree think of it like a smartphone update your car would download updates overnight and be ready to roll by your daily commute saving you time and money and that is connecting the Dots 537 now and we’re asking where’s the money for student loan payers good Tuesday morning it’s been about two months since student loan payments ramped back up and now those paying the bill are getting a better idea of exactly how they have to adjust to the payments so let’s get into this

Article from money.com writers there dug into a report from Mass Mutual the findings say among Americans with student loan debt 80% say they have to reduce their spending due to that debt as for where folks are cutting Corners well luxuries are the first to go at 44% of respondents but here’s the alarming

Piece some about 37% are having to cut back on their essential purchases n Mass Mutual adds about 3ar of us with student loans payments say that the restart has had a negative impact on our day-to-day Financial Health numbers like those have some considering skipping out on payments all together which is why we’re

Reminding people what happens if you do there is a misconception here President Biden’s on-ramp gives people an entire year before they can be considered delinquent on their loans usually you’ve only got 90 days to miss that payment but just because you have 12 months before student student loan services go

To credit bureaus doesn’t mean that your credit is saved money.com broke it down like this even if delinquencies aren’t reported well credit scoring companies may still be able to see those Mis payments and they may still be able to count them against you hurting your credit score it’s why we want your help

This morning what is your best money-saving tip make sure you text us 74329 3600 Ben also new tonight a local college student says she’s found the inspiration for her studies at the hospital she was taken care of yeah she was a child when doctors told her she

Has a chronic and difficult disease and now she’s studying so she could work at the very place that helped her LaVine Children’s Hospital WCNC charlott Michelle Bowden shows us how this young woman is making a difference Isabella was just 11 when she was diagnosed with lupus and she says

The doctors and nurses at the hospital took such good care of her she wants to do the same for other kids that’s why she’s now in college studying to be a nurse for Isabella McCrae putting on her lab code and stethoscope means everything what does it feel like to you

When you put that coat on in the stethoscope it’s an honor it’s an honor um it makes me feel like I’m part of not only the chronic illness Community but also someone who cares for the chronic illness Community the 20-year-old has been a patient since she was just a kid

I was diagnosed with lupus um at age 11 she says she’s forever indebted to those who cared for her when I was diagnosed with lupus and everything that I went through and everything I experienced um I took a very long time in the hospital with a lot of nurses and doctors and

Just the care and the compassion that they showed me I’ve never felt that before only in a parent um and so that inspired me to become a nurse and work at L vein she’s currently a junior at wind studying to be a nurse hoping to be doing rounds here at lavine’s Children’s

Hospital in the near future so you want to work here I do I do yes because lubus is a chronic illness she still struggles with it currently I’m having a flare up so that just goes to show that although you have bad days you don’t let it

Defeat you I am taking it one day at a time with one very big goal in sight one she says we’ll make it all worthwhile it means that I’m not just the sick girl that I am someone and that I am someone who although is a lupus Warrior I’m also

A nursing student I’m also a daughter if all goes as planned she hopes to be working here at LaVine Children’s Hospital as early as next year reporting in Charlotte Michelle Bowden WCNC Charlotte time now to connect the dots when we make the news makes sense if you’re hopping on that holiday flight this week the entertainment could be impacting you more than you realize inlight entertainment is more than just killing time it may be an airline’s answer to getting more

Watch the latest box office hit people think they’re getting a better deal Airlines around the world spend nearly half a billion dollars on inflight entertainment today most Airlines have staff designated to curating exactly which movies make the cut United Airlines has taken it a step further further and giving all their planes

Seatback screens the airlines chief executive says the screens make passengers choose United more often plus indie films and TV shows are popular in inflight movie watching right now it’s one of the only times consumers have access and the time to check those titles out and that is connecting the dots new tonight

$78,750 the city of Concord says that is the average income for most families in that area however the average cost of a home is more than four times the amount she just read that’s why a nonprofit is seeking solutions by building affordable housing yeah WCNC Charlotte’s Nick stent

Shows us what is on the horizon for Concord families in need this is only within 3 minutes 2 3 minutes of downtown Concord where you have major development going on there Patrick Graham says his work is personal my mother worked all Life 50 plus years before she retired she passed away this

Past year and was never able to own and as a young man I thought that I would be able to provide her that opportunity and it’s one of the things that I sort of failed at it didn’t happen so I carry that chip on my shoulder that chip that Graham carries

Leading him to start we buil Concord they’re some of the best looking homes on the Block the affordable housing developer started in 2019 with the help of public and private funds Graham says the agency helps those making between 30 to 80% of the area median income we have sort of this

Hidden Mantra uh we build affordable housing by any legal means necessary he says a big goal is to increase home ownership in areas like this one the historic Logan Community this is traditionally African-American Community it’s one that has an ownership rate that’s below 40% right now we build

Concord is in the process of building the Lincoln Street Town Homes here you talking about 26 Town Homes for affordable and Workforce housing ownership Graham says the first eight are set to open in a few months just down the street he says they are turning this abandoned church on ker Street into

Loft apartments and a space for entrepreneurs and just a couple of blocks away from here we’ve taken lots that usually usually would be reserved for single homes and created uh these Town Homes more homes including this one a new home for a local educator and her daughter and so with affordable

Housing you’re thinking about all those companies moving here you’re thinking about that population growth and you’re looking at a place where they’re about 5,000 units short of affordable housing uh in a city that’s just over 100,000 and Graham says all of the Lincoln Street Town Homes should be

Complete by the middle of next year also the ker Street La departments to site of that former church that you just saw will be done within a year now if you’re interested in applying for a home or learning more about webuild Concord you can find my story on wcnc.com or on the

WCNC Charlotte mobile app and the cool thing about it was we got a chance to check out several locations one of the locations a new home that a local educator and a daughter moved in today that’s fantastic right place right time for you then the story right right right

Right I think it’s interesting you bring up a good point we talked so much about meinberg County affordable housing right so many folks are pouring into this community but those that can’t find a home have to go elsewhere so it’s great to see that other communities are

Thinking about that ahead of time being proactive about it no days off for Patrick Graham so yeah looks like it looks like he’s working every day even through the holidays too great story we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanore he’s joins

Us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember

Eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up

For some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if

Sunny and nice as we’re in the mid 60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas as we’re going to be be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds

Act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61 degrees mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of

Windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Mon Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually start to drop

As we look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023 and into the first few days of a new year hard to believe 2024 is almost here

Check out your exclusive 10day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50 degrees for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year

A little bit colder comparative to average but uh definitely a pattern flip as we look ahead Nick so something to maybe look forward to if you like some Colder Weather but if you’re a fan of the nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is certainly going to be

Enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah britty I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks at WCNC Charlotte we really want to make a difference we have tools like verify and where’s the money to really listen to viewers and see what they’re struggling with whether that’s trying to get money

That you deserve or answering a question that’s confusing you we’re not the experts we’re interviewing the experts and that’s why we want to bring it to you so you can see the facts how we check them and how we get the Answer and if you were hoping for a white Christmas well Charlotte’s weather won’t deliver this year but you can still enjoy the next best thing the annual winter festival known as light the nights at truest field in Uptown Charlotte so we sent Larry Sprinkle to sample the snow tubing among other

Things there’s literally a winter wonderland in uptown Charlotte all at the light the nights festival at truest field it’s a great family experience daytime or nighttime you guys ready to light theight yeah more like okay what what are you excited about seeing here I’m excited about the tubing the tubing

What about you uh the tubing from the what about you skating come on follow me let’s have a good time come on Good Times one of the big attractions is a full-size ice skating rink experienced or not kids are loving it and adults too this is Brady and this is llan is that

Right and you guys are from Canada originally yes he isn’t but I’m I’m half and half half and half and you’re so you love the skating out here I I guess yeah everybody ready to skate yeah all right ghost gate and they are off back this

Year is the very popular Tubing Hill now with 10 action packed Lanes it’s the perfect spot for a fun race with one and only Homer the dragon Homer what about it I challenge you you challenge me up on top all right here we go yeah I’m ready okay you ready Homer

And here we go amazing 150 M hour yeah woo un unbelievable hey Homer thank you man on what a team what a duo we are thank you very much if you’re interested in some Christmas shopping that’s part of the light the night’s Festival there are 22

Vendors with a gift for anyone on the list oh it’s awesome to have a popup um it’s great for small businesses gets us gets our name out there um it’s awesome just to be here and spread Christmas joy and don’t miss the chance to visit Santa

Hi Larry how are you I’m okay I was just wondering have I been a good boy this year he tells it like it is it’s a good thing there’s a few more days till Christmas for you to work on it it’s the most snow I have seen in years it’s the

Most snow you will see in years it’s all during light tonight’s at truest Phi Larry Sprinkle WCNC Charlotte we’re coming up on 5:39 this morning and we’re asking where’s the money this holiday shopping season good morning and happy Monday online sales are bringing in historic sales right now but there’s been a misconception that most people prefer filling their cart on their cell phones compared to in the

That’s an online salale saw a 23% jump between October and December now Across the Nation that dollar amount comes in at about 303 billion bucks still in that same fourth quarter of 2022 retail stores only saw about 16% of their sales coming from computers now there’s

Well but the jump just looks different depending on what stores we’re talking about that’s nearly 9% at general merchandise stores like your Walmart your target about 5% at food and beverage stores and then about 4 and a half% at those health and Personal Care stores so it’s why we’re asking this

Morning when it comes to your gift shopping did you shop for gifts online or in person this year make sure you text us at 74329 3600 well did you have any aches or pains that resurface with all the rain and cold temperatures well there might actually be a scientific reason for that

It the most get throwing the fact that it’s cold outside and people tend to feel things a little more when it’s chilly so next time your body is aching check the WCNC weather app you might be able to blame it on the weather with your verify fact check I’m Megan

Brag if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com with your help WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community beautiful day so many people helping this is incredible let’s spread that love tonight here is a $5,000 check that you guys can use to further the mission

There is nothing on earth like the feeling of giving back with your hands $55,000 to you and uh BL love Charlotte for what you guys do if you’d like to make a difference go to wcnc.com slake a difference now when you think of snow you may be

Thinking of a scene like like this a winter wonderland but when you zoom into these falling snowflakes their intricate beauty is one of the coolest things in nature let’s learn how they form in another weather IQ you may heard of the saying no two snowflakes are alike because they have different branches and

Designs that make each one unique the process is complicated so let’s start with square one or in this case hexagon one a snowflake starts as a small particle such as a speck of dust where water vapor condenses onto it as we know a water molecule has two hydrogen atoms

And one oxygen atom these hydrogen atoms link together crystallize and then form a hexagon or a hexagonal prism so this is why snowflakes most commonly have six sides from here branches can form on the corners bonding to the second hydrogen atom but the process isn’t done this snowflake will continue to rise into

Colder air in the cloud gaining more branches and dendrites as more tiny water particles bond to the flake once the plate becomes too heavy it then Falls the two main atmospheric factors are temperature and level of humidity however it’s the temperature that mainly shapes a snowflake when temperatures are

Warmer say 28° to freezing snowflakes tend to fall as thin hexagon plates but a higher humidity level can create larger flakes or even create the basic classic snowflake there are 35 different shapes of snowflakes such as needles and columns that fall in colder temps from 14 to 27° but colder temperatures that

Are 10° or less produce the most common and intricate snowflakes these are known as Stellar dendrites but in this range another snowflake that’s equally a spectacular form called the Stellar plate I’m meteorologist Chris M what’s up UC andc Charlotte these are indicators of a violent nature um that can be taken out

On human beings and yet the sentencing doesn’t reflect that mecklinburg County’s top prosecutor on the seriousness of animal abuse offenses like animal cruelty and dog fighting but as you heard there district attorney Spencer Maryweather says North Carolina’s laws do not provide teeth to the punishment for these crimes the da

Responding to questions over a recent case in Charlotte where the dog fighter pleaded guilty to a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges his punishment he surrenders dozens of dogs in his care and faces a five-year ban on owning animals no fine no jail time related to the animal offenses Animal Advocates say

This is just the latest example of North Carolina lagging behind most of the country and its animal protections if someone is willing to harm uh an animate being that we know that it’s not that much of a leap and a jump before they commit that same sort of uh violence

Before a human being and yet mecklinburg district attorney Spencer Maryweather says North Carolina’s laws don’t punish animal abusers accordingly even the most serious uh offenses for animal cruelty and dog fighting uh sort of top out at what is commonly referred to as a low-level felony a class H felony uh so

For each of those a judge could sentence someone to a uh a prison sentence but it’s more likely that they would serve a probationary sentence such was the case in October when Earl Hamilton pleaded guilty to 32 charges related to dog fighting and animal cruelty and walked away with what some Animal Advocates

Called absolutely a slap on the risk looking at first offenses for dog fighting and North Carolina is the bottom 10% of all states John McHugh is with the American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and leads efforts to strengthen animal legislation in the Carolinas he says

North Carolina has quite a bit of work to do with no major changes to animal policy in decades we introduced a bill uh this past session to increase the penalty from a class H to a class F felony which would put us in the big

Middle third of all states in terms of a first offense he says that measure Senate Bill 457 would have offered the likelihood of prison time for even firsttime dog fighters the legislation however did not pass failing to make it out of committee none of these issues get any traction if

We don’t have advocates in that are elected officials that push for them Maryweather says sometimes that takes citizens making the push to elected officials to let them know that it’s important to them and maybe should be more than just a class age felony um that they should be taken um seriously

As an indicator of violence not just to animals but to human beings as well I mean now after the holidays we are taking these concerns to Raleigh and we will hear from those who we chose to make the laws we’re going to bring you what they have to say in January in the

Meantime if you want to reach out to the folks who represent you directly we have the links to do so right now inside the WCNC Charlotte mobile app just look for the story verify WCNC Charlotte verify is all about trying to make a difference in the community by making sure that the

Community has the correct information this is what we know and hey this is what we don’t know sometimes you’re actually surprised by the answer verify the difference verify is a great way to combat that misinformation making sure that people know the process of the reporting well trending this morning

Former Panther Superstar Cam Newton calling on the team’s owner David terer to make him president during an appearance on an NFL podcast Cam Newton made an elevator pitch on why it would uh be best he should be in the front office he claims if he were made the

Team president he could help fellow first overall pick Bryce young develop into an elite quarterback like he was he also added he has a better understanding of what fans expect and has has the leverage to hold teer and the team’s front office accountable if uh Newton

Made was made president he would be only the fourth former NFL player currently in a prominent front office role Panthers fans took to social media very quickly following this pitch uh the consensus was they want him in the front office a lot of people saying they believe he would bring a winning culture

Back to the Carolinas so this morning we want to know what do you think think about all this should Cam Newton uh be May the team president of the Panthers let us know text 74329 3600 I think you know having him as part of the team uh not not a player

Role but would be great I think his role as quarterbacks coach would be much more effective yeah the being president has so many more managerial responsibilities you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on what quarterback but if he if he could be the quarterback coach he would be one

Of the best because was one of the best maybe we’ll see him here who knows yeah anytime you bring a big name back to a program whether it’s NFL or college that’s struggling I think sometimes it can bring life back into the team that’s what happened I feel like with Steve

Spurger and the gator uh when spur came back to the gator quarterback he was yeah remember the days when Mr spur but you know when he came back he I mean he works with alumni he doesn’t even really work with the team itself but former player he understands I think you know

Cam Newton his relatability one thing about him in the room they loved it so having that positive presence would be great for them it’s needed a car in North Carolina then you know you have to get your car inspected every year and that inspection may include an emissions

Test but could this soon change here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check we got a text message sent to us from someone who heard the emissions test for vehicles is being eliminated in North Carolina counties but what does this really mean for drivers Let’s Get

The facts our sources are the EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality the EPA says the yearly emissions test program helps maintain Federal air quality standards in the state however the 2023 state budget bill that passed back in October could eliminate emissions testing in 18

Of the 19 North Carolina counties that currently require them the only County that would continue to require emissions test would be mecklinburg County despite the fact that the bill passed the emissions provision is still not in effect fact the Department of Environmental Quality must first submit its 2023 State implementation plan

Amendment to the EPA the EPA would then have to approve the amendment before it could take effect so we’re talking a few years from now and plenty of vehicles in North Carolina are already exempt from emissions testing it’s only required as we said in 19 out of the 100 counties in

The state and even in those counties there are vehicles that don’t have to pass emissions tests any vehicle that is is 20 years or older exempt diesel operated or registered as a farm vehicle also exempt if you want to know if your car must pass an emmissions test in

Order to pass inspection reach out to the ncdmv with your verified fact check I’m Megan Bragg if you have something you would like verifi just email us at verify wcnc.com thank you we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanvoorhees joins us now and Britney it

Was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around

Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic fantastic

Now we are going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a

Eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by- hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up

You are are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you were checking those tickets

Sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents theight before Christmas as we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act

Turned windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually

2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10-day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50 Dees for next weekends high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to

Certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah Brittney I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of science that you get to see and experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much

It affects them that weather has a huge impact and how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I think it really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the difference that process of giving you a

Warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors giving back to his community Charlotte rapper the baby gave out toys to thousands of people for its annual Christmas giveaway event family started

Lining up as early as 6:00 this morning WCNC charlot Miles Harris was there and saw firsthand the impact it’s making helping families one gift at a time Charlotte native de baby held his annual Christmas giveaway just a few days before Christmas from Toys to bikes to TVs each item aimed to brighten the

Christmas spirit I like to to grow up and you know put on a positive example on how to do what I saw my mama doing growing up man and just give back to people you know I mean spread blessings around make sure everybody enjoy their holidays the Charlotte native chose the

East way Drive Church of God a church he grew up in to hold the giveaway there families wasted no time lining up for hours according to the organizers over 6,000 people participated there you go better including ebony Graham and her 9-year-old son he didn’t forget about us

For sure you know what I’m saying so that makes us feel good you know that we have somebody in our own City that represents and make sure the kids good and you know get back to the community he credits his mother for stressing the importance of giving and now she hopes

To spread that to others everyone Reach Out reach someone and just love and just enjoy the season his mission behind the event to spread the holiday cheer amongst the community he’s grown with and loves the message is it spreads your blessings man give back give back give back give back

When you’re blessed if you’re able to bless others you know what I’m saying bless others with the hope of making a difference for families this holiday season in North Charlotte I’m Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte thanks for coming back now for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and

I’m Vanessa Rufus we start this half hour here as travel season ramps up for the winter holidays TSA agents say they are spotting more and more Firearms at airport checkpoints yeah and that issue it hitting home as Charlotte Douglas Airport has already seen more firearms come through compared to last year WCNC

Charlott Miles Harris tells us how authorities plan to put a dent in this disturbing Trend TSA agents at Charlotte Douglas they’re going up to see a lot more Travelers go through these checkpoints as this holiday traveling season is officially underway and an important part of their job is making sure that

Firearms don’t go through we’re asking people to really pay attention to what they’re bringing with them uh to to the security checkpoint to the airport in general Mark Hal with TSA says there’s a right way to travel with a firearm but not enough people are doing it it’s an

Issue airports throughout the country are seeing Firearms being detected at security checkpoints and right here at Charlotte Douglas International 118 Firearms have been stopped at checkpoints surpassing last year’s number of 117 Mark how breaking down what happens when TSA agents spot a firearm in someone’s luggage that’s

Going to slow things down for everybody what what happens when we have a firearm is we’re going to call law enforcement in to remove it uh because 90% of the time it’s loaded um so for everybody’s safety we’re going to let law enforcement remove that firearm and the

Safety of all Air Travelers as people head home for the holidays at charlot Douglas Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte WCNC Charlotte good morning Carolinas tune in to the team that’s preparing you for your day the one and only Larry Sprinkle see the difference in your morning this is bitter cold just

About anywhere you look here’s a look right here at I77 Northbound trying to make your dollar stretch a little bit further responsible reporting Community focused unique content it’s so good to see you yall are having too much fun see the difference weekday mornings on WCNC Charlotte Gaston County Schools will

26th it’s legislation that’s been pushed by the state’s tourism industry a later start date to the school year allows more tourism throughout the month of August but School boards across North Carolina have said let local school districts decide their calendar year for themselves local control of education

Has been a Hallmark of American culture since the beginning of Public School Systems several school districts across our area started school before the start date set by state law including Gaston cabis Stanley Cleveland iale Statesville and Lincoln County it’s something North Carolina House speaker Tim Moore encouraged districts to do earlier this

Year I favor more flexibility for the local districts and for the parents to have input in that so uh I think there ought to be greater flexibility the Department of Public instructions says it doesn’t have a written policy or procedure in place for taking action against districts that start school

Early next time on the agenda is our Gaston County school calendar of 2024 and 2025 Gaston County Education leaders breaking North Carolina law again Monday night they unanimously approved early start options opening August 14th in 2024 in August 13th in 2025 both early start options received overwhelming approval with everyone who

Charlotte artist had suspected for months that her art had been stolen she eventually learned it was indeed stolen an artificial intelligence did it yeah what do you do at that point WCNC charotte Jane monreal shows us with AI scrapping work that creators rely on selling to make a living many artists

Ell esal has been making art since she was 16 sometimes even when she was living in her car art was her way out back then and is her full-time job now when she figured out her work was scraped for AI she was in the beginning of a residency at Goodyear Arts at Camp

Of art that I never really cared that much about until this happened still she’s worried it’s getting harder to tell what role AI plays in any form of art art will never be the same you can’t really put put it back in the Box Helen King the pre-law adviser at Johnson C

Smith University says Society is in a great area when it comes to AI we’re in many ways in the Wild Wild West trying to figure out where the parameters are um so right now I think until the law and and Industry standards and even academic practices begin to standardize and catch

Up we’re going to see a lot of issues pop up like this where we don’t really know where to go from here esal said she believes for real change to happen more people need to speak up in support of artists it’s Tak can go over everything

University of Chicago have been working on it allows artists to protect their work work from Ai and if you’d like to learn more about that you can look for Jane’s story inside the WCNC Charlotte App wake up to the news that matters most with meteorologist and traffic reporter Chris M and we’re all clear we’re keeping you smarter safer and on time start your day the Mahi way see the difference 4:30 to7 on WC and Charlotte now it is time to connect the dots when

We make the news makes sense Christmas now just 4 days away and many of us will probably be part of a secret Santa gift exchange its history is actually tied to a tradition right here in North Carolina turns out there’s a secret behind secret santa let’s connect the

Dots the idea first started in 1925 at a Nebraska sorority members would receive Christmas gifts from a mystery sister by the 198 80s the anonymous gift swaps were popular on most college campuses that included UNCC Chapel Hill sororities and fraternities would go around campus secretly leaving gifts at

Each other’s dorms on the last day before winter break there would be a party where each secret Santa got revealed the trend quickly spread to grade schools churches and even on TV shows like the office today many families have adopted it into their annual holiday traditions and that is connecting the

Dots welcome back the city of Charlotte is growing at a rapid Pace with that growth though local farmers they are worried their Farms could be put at risk farming Advocates say the city is on track to lose more than 19,000 Acres of Farmland by 2040 and now there’s a push

To conserve that land WCNC charlott’s kayin hagwood is giving us a closer look at that effort tonight well Farmers say preserving their land is one of their biggest concerns as a city continues to grow but one group says they’re doing what they can to ensure that farmland stays that

Area grows and we haven’t had that in 20 years but that does not mean we cannot have a designation now at large councilwoman dimple azira says a Farmland designation is something she’s been advocating for especially in areas where healthy food is harder to come by I will be talking to our planning

Director in fact I’ve already talked to her about it to see how we can continue uh or how we can actually improve our efforts to preserve our f Farmland the discussions come as one organization is hoping to take Farmland preservation to the next level the Carolina Farms fund

Is working to ensure local farms will never become anything else through easement a legally binding process we’re looking at at properties in mecklinburg and and throughout that 15 County region but those areas that have heavy development pressure um and where that pressure is butting up against agricultural production that’s really

Where we’re looking to step in and try and conserve that acreage so that Farmland stays in agriculture the group hopes to preserve at least 5,000 acres of land in the Charlotte region by purchasing existing farmland and ensuring it stays designated for Farmers he says they’ll then sell that land to

Farmers who want to expand which makes us safer and more secure in our food system multiple efforts towards supporting A system that works to support us oh the farmers provide for the restaurants for the schools for the uh businesses Etc councilwoman azir says the city will continue its community

Area planning into the new year if anyone wants to make a comment kayln hagwood WCNC Charlotte when it comes to W cnc’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic our viewers tell the whole story hey if you’re new to the area this meteorologist is awesome I always stick with Brad panovic when it comes to

Severe weather he’s rarely wrong you should follow Brad if you don’t already he’s usually right on the money with his forecast I don’t look at anything else besides what Brad says we are fortunate to have him here Brad panovich experience the difference with WCNC Charlotte weather well the Food and Drug

Administration recently concluded that a popular over-the-counter decongestant is not effective it has to do with an active ingredient in many cold medications including those sold under the CVS brand so if you bought these products could you be eligible for a legal settlement Megan brag verifies so the these are just some of

The posts that we’re seeing on social media they claim there are several class action lawsuits against CVS for manufacturing cold medicine that they knew or should have known was ineffective so let’s verify our sources the FDA CVS and several law firms when we looked online we saw several law

Firms posting class action lawsuits against CVS one was filed in federal court in South Carolina the plaintiff claims the fenine drug sold at CVS stores under the CVS health label was no more effective than a sugar pill another class action lawsuit filed in Illinois seeks to establish a national and

Multi-state consumer protection class action on behalf of consumers who purchased these five CVS Health Products with phenylephrine in them in September the FDA panel refused to back the effectiveness of oral over-the-counter medicines made with fenine and they said no more trials were required to prove otherwise when we reached out to CVS

They told us they do not comment on pending litigation however the drugstore chain told NBC news they are pulling the most common decongestants that have phenylephrine as the only active ingredient from their shelves we went to a local CVS store and found there are still decongestants with phenylephrine

As an ingredient but not the only active ingredient so we can verify that yes there are several class action lawsuits against CVS claiming the drugstore chain manufactured and sold cold medicine in a false misleading and deceptive manner with your verif five I’m Megan Brat when did you know what you wanted to be hey Mom the weather’s on WCNC Charlotte’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic always knew what he was meant to do all right don’t forget your umbrella in fact he joined the American Meteorological Society when he was 13

Now Brad is all grown up you can see him right here on WCNC Charlotte making sure you’re informed and and safe hey where did all my hair go experience the difference we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he joins us now and Britney it was a warm

Day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true it’s 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around

Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record Heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are

Clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early

Church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30 so still a chillier start but not too sh especially for where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the

Tickets before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice

As we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act like a blanket

Keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the after afternoon 61° mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million dooll question

Is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00 and later I would either try to move them earlier in the day or move them inside here’s Monday at 7:00 so this is

Christmas day you can see clouds starting to build in but we’re not seeing rain just yet notice the timing here 2:00 most of the day today is actually not going to be rainy it’s mostly closer to 2 3:00 that we start to see that rain moving in and then from

Here and on we’re going to see rain off and on through Monday and pretty much all day on Tuesday now Tuesday is the day that we’re going to start to see that thunderstorm potential and winds start to pick up Monday night but really turn windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch

Those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually start to drop as

Here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we struggle to reach the upper 40s on new New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to

I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks you see Inc Charlotte this is flasho where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson today a one-on-one interview with the chief executive of North

Carolina Roy Cooper entering his final year in office but it comes after several big and very public battles with the Republican super majority in the general assembly the governor weighs in on this past year and his plans for the future joining us now the 75th governor of the state of North Carolina Roy

With healthc care coverage but we also know that Republicans tied it to the budget and you’ve called that a bad budget that quote short changes Schools prioritizes power grabs keeps Shady backro deals secret so it begs the question governor was Medicaid expansion worth it absolutely was you know when you’re

Help our law enforcement there’s a reason that we had tough on crime sheriffs coming down to the legislature and saying hey we need Medicaid expansion because a lot of the people we deal with have mental health issues and substance use disorder and they need health care and not handcuffs this is

Was an exciting day for North Carolina is going to create good paying jobs and it’s the right thing to do for our state it allows us to bring in that $521 million a month from the federal government in tax money that you and I have already paid to Washington to come

Of people who finally agreed that Medicaid expansion was the right thing for North Carolina and I’m excited about it yeah I mean it was 10 years in in the making um when local lawmaker Trisha cam switched parties in the spring it gave Republicans a super majority as you know

And it really tied your hands you suffered a number of legislative defeats this year curious do you blame her or do you blame Democrats including yourself for allowing that to happen well I look at this year is a very positive one because we have record-breaking numbers of jobs being

Students now are going to suffer because the general assembly has passed a private school voucher bill on steroids that’s going to allow the very rich to collect tax taxpayer money to keep their children in private and we’re going to let them know that it’s time to make sure we break

That super majority in the general assembly and continue the balance that has been so important to our state growing it’s been so important to making us the third fastest growing state in the country it’s been so important to make sure that we are for the second

Year in a row the number one state in the country to do business there a lot of positive things that are happening in our state despite the fact that we have a super majority in the general assembly but I hope the people of North Carolina are going to correct that next year in

The 2024 elections what does your relationship look like with timm more and Phil burger right now do you see anything changing that Dynamic changing in any way uh next year well it’s important to note that we have worked together to pass clean energy legislation in North Carolina

That requir Ires our power sector to reduce carbon emissions to Zero by 2050 we’ve come together to work to invest the billions of dollars in federal money that we’re going to have to fix water systems pave roads provide more public transportation uh to fix our ports and airports to connect every household to

Highspeed internet access uh they have given me the authority to go out and recruit business business with performance-based incentives that have helped to draw great paying jobs to North Carolina and they only get the tax credits if they create the jobs at the salaries that they’ve said they’ve created so we’ve

Worked together to do all of those things obviously we’ve had disagreements and uh for the last four years before they broke the super majority we were able to stop a lot of their bad legislation that attacked women reproductive Freedom that got cultur Wars back into our schools but of

Course during the first couple of months of this year they passed those things they passed an abortion ban uh they passed a don’t say gay Bill those pieces of legislation are wrong for our state they’re wrong in and of themselves but it has the potential to hurt us

Economically down the road and we’re looking forward to the elections next year to try and fix some of that people need to be aware that Republicans are working to take away completely women’s reproductive freedom and they need to think about that when they go to the

Polls up next on flash Bo our interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper continues next the governor’s plans for the future and what he’s considering after leaving office thank you for making WCNC Charlotte’s magical toy drive a huge success this year along with our sponsors Bel CR legal team and

Tropical Smoothie Cafe you’ve proven we can make a big difference for our community WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community seeking Solutions we’re sharing stories that matter to you verify it’s a transparent formula that separates fact from fiction where’s the money solving big dollar problems and putting money back in your

Pocket whether it’s important for me to keep you safe and weather aware see the difference week nights only on WCNC Charlotte Jack the data shows that people love our more flavorful ultimate cheeseburgers show me the data so the data is good the data is real good hly it’s the best data I’ve

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Huntersville our year end closeout is going on now shop all of our new inventory through this weekend you can drive a 2023 Tacoma double C only $199 a month don’t miss our year on closeout shop online now at toyot charlotte.com it just keeps getting worse the crack keeps growing the doors and windows

Stick this must be very frustrating almost no one connects that these are telltale signs that water is Shifting your foundation but it’s okay we got it oh this is done growing in this house okay the effects of water can be surprising but at dry Pro we’ll do a

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Achieve with a Republican dominated General Assembly what would you say is your top priority heading into the new year well first we need to make sure that we invest this Federal money that’s coming down to make sure we do it in the most effective and efficient way and

To uplift public education and our public school students uh you know I’ve talked a lot with Republicans about the best way uh to make sure that our schools are the best they can be and we have a lot of differences but two things we agree on is a great teacher in every

Classroom and a great principal in every school and you do that by investing to make sure that we pay them well that we respect them and lift them up and we don’t waste money billions of dollars on private school vouchers that really don’t help people get a better education

Carolina and we’re not going to continue to have a great Workforce if we don’t invest in education from Cradle to Career early childhood education making sure we have quality Child Care making sure we have great principles and teachers in our Public Schools we already have the best community college

System in the country and the the best array of public and private universities in the country we need to keep improving our public schools to make sure we have that Workforce for these businesses who are coming to North Carolina and expanding in North Carolina and I know

Health care so yeah I do it again but the Constitution says I can’t so what I’m going to do is to work hard in the next election as if I were on the ballot because I want us to continue this progress I want us to continue this

Balance that we have in North Carolina that I think has made us so prosperous and I and I’m deeply grateful for the people for giving me this job and this honor and I’m working every day to meet the challenges and we should say you have a full year to sort of get your

When Fair Maps were drawn the number of members of congress with seven Democrats and seven Republicans that really reflects the political makeup of North Carolina yet when you have uh Ultra partisan Jerry Mander districts where uh Representatives choose their constituents instead of the other way around you end up with 10 Republicans

And four Dem rats maybe even 11 to3 uh that’s wrong under any scenario and whether we have blue Waves or red waves the process should be as Fair as possible District should not be drawn in a racial or partisan way uh independent redistricting commissions have worked pretty well in other states and it’s

It’s time for North Carolina to do that and instead of us continuing to be the Epic Center of redistricting litigation like we have been for so long in the last few weeks federal government amount announcing a billion dollars in spending when it comes to rail here in North

Carolina between Raleigh and Richmond um and a number of Grants as well you appeared with the Secretary of Transportation Pete Buddha judge uh what kind of impact could this have on the state what a great investment this would be to have highspeed rail uh from North

Carolina all the way up the East Coast uh when we think about that we’re we’re talking about less congestion on our highways because even if you don’t take the train the people that are deciding to take the train are not going to be on our highways it is a clean fast

Efficient way to get from one place to the next I took the train from Raleigh to Greensboro and talked with people walked from car to car and talk with people about why they were on the train uh I talked to grandparents who really didn’t want to drive anymore but were

Headed down from Raleigh to Charlotte to visit grandchildren they love the train experience talk to a family going on vacation I talked to students who were returning to school in Greensboro and down in Charlotte uh getting uh back and forth to school in a fast and efficient

Way talk to commuters going to work talk to business people people who were getting somewhere fast from one place to the next it was amazing seeing all the different people who loved their experience on the train saying that it was cheaper faster uh for them to get

There in this way and if we continue to make these Investments it will allow us to get people from one place to the next in a cleaner faster more efficient way and will help relieve congestion on our highways final question we’re in the middle of the holidays I feel Duty bound

To ask you do you the governor have a New Year’s resolution ah you know just to work as hard as ever I hadn’t really thought about that yet but uh work as hard as other ever and uh ready for better Panther football and better Hornets basketball how about that there you go

Nobody can argue with that one either all right Governor Royer Governor happy holidays thanks for coming on we appreciate it thanks a lot Ben all right take care at 11 a corporate landlord is eyeing a big plot of land on dependence Boulevard as the site of a new Rental

Community Charlotte city leaders held a hearing tonight to let folks weigh in on the proposal and as WCNC Charlotte’s Julia Kaufman reports the development and future Road improvements could drastically change the area the proposed Community would be on East Independence Boulevard right on the border of Matthews NC doot is also using

The land to extend multiple roads off Independence behind this inter intersection of East Independence and Sardis Road north is 80 acres of woods we have old sycamores and old black cherry trees that you don’t see commonly through North um residential areas anymore nearby homeowners worry plans to

Replace most of the woods with a rental Community will hinder their quality of life we will have a separation of 40 ft hopefully you can understand our concerns about privacy sound and safety corporate landlord Northwood Raven doesn’t have a site plan yet but hopes to build houses Town Homes apartments

And commercial space across from Crownpoint Plaza NC doot is also using the land to eventually extend Sardis Road north and aripa drive to Sam Newell Road there’s an interchange being built that will come through our site and there’s going to also be a bridge across if the rezoning petition is approved

Construction on the community would start in September 2024 with a new interchange and two New Roads coming through it it might not be the best site for low density residential but the road projects aren’t expected to start until 2028 so neighbors are still worried about backups and it would be a traffic

Nightmare now that a public hearing has been held the Charlotte zoning committee will consider the rezoning petition and then city council can vote on it Julia Kaufman WCNC Charlotte the new and improv WCNC plus now on Roku and Fire TV watch local live newscast get extended breaking news

Coverage and see local programs and specials the new and improved WCNC plus now on Roku and Fire TV come back here’s some good news mortgage rates have fallen from their October highs of around 8% however if you are a first-time home buyer this might not be the news you’re looking for on WCNC

Charlot Jane Montreal is joining us now to explain what we should be doing when looking to buy a home right now we’re not left asking where’s the money that’s right Vanessa and Colin well as consumer affairs reports falling rates may have excited buyers but they haven’t moved

Sellers so to break it down many current homeowners are not really motivated to sell right now if they have a mortgage rate of around 3% they might not be ready to list their homes for sale and buy another one until rates are a lot lower and this brings in supply and

Demand people who are looking to buy a home are competing with one another for available homes in the past has resulted in bidding wars and higher home prices so what can you do consumer affairs suggests relocating they say House Hunters who are willing to move to a

Lower cost City when available homes are more plentiful may find the best opportunities but you know that means maybe a longer commute guys something that people do not want to pay for picking up and moving up or moving out as well yeah it’s tough but man the the

Market it’s been fluctuating and it sounds like it’s going to continue to do so yeah still a tough call so uh still kind of a wait and see for a lot of folks all right Jane thank you conquer is one of the top places in North Carolina for small business growth so it

Was the perfect place for business owner Bria Smith to set up shop now since then her store has continued to grow here’s her story for Bria Smith it was a no-brainer we could pour back into the community that we’re in every single day to set up shop right along downtown

Concord’s busy cabis Avenue East her candle bar comes to Concord at cities across North Carolina top rankings as some of the best to start a business Durham Charlotte Raleigh and Winston Salem could all be found in the top 15 alone numbers like those are attracting entrepreneurs to areas just like this

One and I could see all the economic investment going into with the streetcape and the apartment buildings and how a community was really being created here and Smith has witnessed that economic investment for some time it’s part of the reason why her candle bar was an idea years in the making

Starting during the p pmic we had to come up with ways in the home to uh have fun and also uh create the ability to relax and provide yourself some selfcare was a very stressful time now she sells candles classes and other self-care items back on business though Concord is

Missing from that list of top cities for starting a business yet Smith invested here anyway so when we asked her why Charlotte we’re familiar with Charlotte I went to school there but it’s it’s oversaturated to some degree from a a business perspective and there’s nice things and and experiences that are

Needed right here in Cab’s County right here where that economic investment continues to grow yeah Concord really growing very quickly especially I feel like we’re always talking about Charlotte the Queen City this Queen City that but the reality is that a lot of this development is stretching into our

Smaller townships and depending on who you ask it’s not always a good thing so nice downtown here live downtown right nice shops here and restaurants things like that and another new one to check out there you go when I think about the community I think about the time that

I’ve been here I’ve been in this community almost my entire adult life so I you you get to know the people when you know what they care about then that’s what you care about this community looks at all of us who do weather here at WCNC Charlotte as

Part of their family and when you’re part of their family you want to make sure you do it just for them people will eat drink and be merried this weekend there is one danger that actually rears its ugly head more during the holidays than the rest of the year

Megan Bragg explains in today’s verify it’s so important to stay on top of your health especially your heart health new information from the American Heart Association shows a spike in heart related deaths during the winter holidays so it’s fair verify our source is cardiologist Dr pile kohley A study

In the British medical journal and the American Heart Association there are more heart attack related debts on Christmas Day followed by December 26th and then New Year’s Day than any other day in the rest of the year a British medical journal study reviewed more than 16 years of data on heart attack among

People in Sweden and found there was a 15% increase in heart attacks during the winter holidays heart attacks actually increased 37% on Christmas Eve the cold weather has something to do with it because cold weather can actually trigger inflammation the American Heart Association also points to stress and

Diet as contributing factors to the increase we radically change our lifestyle over the holidays we drink a lot more alcohol we eat a lot more sodium the portions of what we’re consuming are a lot more another main reason for the rise in heart attack deaths people are not getting help

Quickly enough routines are disrupted so we think maybe it’s something else or maybe that heartburn is actually something that we ate too much last night or what have you the American Heart Association wants you to know these five warning signs of a heart attack Coy says if you feel something is

Not right don’t wait call a doctor so we can verify that yes deaths from heart attacks do indeed Spike during the winter holidays with your verify I’m Megan Brad you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com come not to connect the dots when we

Make the news make sense the holidays can be stressful that’s why it’s important to let guests know your expectations when it comes to their behavior in your house try and keep your thoughts on your gifts to yourself This Christmas let’s connect the dots this season you’re likely going to get at least one

Christmas present you don’t really want but there is a difference between feeling annoyed and showing it experts say there is correct e when receiving a gift and it all begins with your initial reaction researchers say you shouldn’t show negative emotion and try and only show gratitude and it isn’t just true of

Your words but your body language too as for returns don’t think about it unless something doesn’t fit or you have a real reason to give it back to the store you shouldn’t ask for a gift receipt however the good news is if you really want to get rid of something many retailers

Nowadays don’t require a receipt and no matter what you get this Christmas writing a nice thank you note never hurts and that’s connecting the dots hey YouTube this is chief meteorologist Brad panovic here at WCNC Charlotte we want you to head over to our weather IQ YouTube page where we’re

Making you smarter and safer we have a passion for weather science and we want you to understand what’s happening when the weather changes because in the end that’s what keeps you safe it’s it’s not about being scared it’s about being informed browse our collection of fun and informative clips and look for new

Segments every week we’re here to raise your weather IQ experience the difference on WCNC Charlotte we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanore he’s joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high

Temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s

Nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a

Little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic ftic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature

Is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your

Evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid 440s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper

30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if you are traveling by the sky on

Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you are check checking those tickets before you head to the airport

And giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very messy before you head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice as we’re in the

Mid 60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act like a blanket keeping it us nice

And cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61 degrees mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar

Hard to believe 2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10-day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year Year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then

Think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah britty I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right Thanks new at 6 a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Health or Nami finds that for some people living with mental illness their conditions worsen around the holidays doctors in Charlotte saying this time of year can have a negative impact WCNC Charlotte’s Austin Walker

Speaks to experts on how you can be a helping hand what’s supposed to be one of the most wonderful times of the year there’s such an expectation um for the holiday season might be the opposite for some what happens during this holiday season is a culmination of what’s been

How are they feeling what what is it that they need if they need anything during this period um can be critical he also mentions there are signs to look for is if someone is withdrawing more a few things to consider so this holiday season is good for everyone in Charlotte

Megan brag gets us the answer in this morning’s verify CNC Charlotte viewer James B took this video you can see on your screen on his cell phone near Providence Day School it shows lights flashing in a school zone at around 6:30 at night he wants to know if the flashing lights

Still apply even though it’s technically after school hours so let’s verify our sources are Matthews Police Department Pio Tim acok Providence Day School the city of Charlotte and North Carolina law the flashing lights on a school’s own speed limit sign are there to let drivers know when the lower speed is

Enforced according to North Carolina law the authorized lower speed limit is in effect when lights are flashing but we don’t know what other activities are at that school and they may have it set for that for a reason we reached out to the city of Charlotte since they are the

Ones in charge of the lights they told us the flashing lights are on a fixed schedule that the school provides at the beginning of the school year according to the schedule the school requested flashing lights from 2:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Providence day school has an extended day program that ends at 6:00

P.m. and if the school zone lights are flashing at let’s say 11: at night acock says it’s reasonable to assume school is not in session and the lights might be malfunctioning but if you ever have any doubts a Co says it’s best to just play

It safe the easiest thing to do is just abide by that cuz it’s a slower speed limit and that’s good for everybody so we can verify that yes the lights flashing at 6:30 p.m. near Providence Day School are working as they should because kids are getting out of its

Extended day program and motorists could be ticketed if they don’t observe the school speed limit at that time with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com at WCNC Charlotte we believe it is crucial to make a difference in our communities that’s why we go beyond just reporting the news we ask where’s the money to hold the powerful accountable

Sparking a lot of debate is asking drivers to cut off their headlights at night to better rview the lights at McAdenville but is that legal let’s verify our sources are North Carolina law criminal law attorney Ryan Ames and the official website for McAdenville according to McAdenville website last

The safety reason and the second is the fact you may get a ticket for it North Carolina law states all vehicles must have their headlights on from Sunset to Sunrise and so the whole purpose of having headlights and having a law that enforces it is to safety of everybody

Particular you could face serious felony charges if you seriously injured somebody so we can verify that no it is not legal to cut off your headlights at night to better view the lights at McAdenville with your verified I’m Megan time now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense folks

Hitting the mountains to ski or snowboard for the holidays will notice those massive machines blowing snow on the slopes you just saw a few of them right there but those machines are relatively new occurrence in a lot of places scientists say climate change means more fake snow on slopes than ever

Before let’s connect the dots data shows the Earth is getting warmer 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record by a significant margin and warmer temperatures mean less real snow experts predict more than half the world skew Resorts could be at risk for snow scarcity by 2100 and some believe it

Experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact on how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I think it really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the

Difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors a chartin is spreading some holiday cheer with his festive light show and

And you can see and hear it absolutely we just heard it too this is the second year he’s putting on the show making it even bigger and brighter why not right this year he’s also using his show to raise money for a good cause WCNC charlott Jesse Pierre is live in South

Charlotte Jesse what inspired him to put all this together well Matthew the roers picked up this tradition after a neighbor who had a musical light show moved away now the idea is simple while you’re in your car you tune in to 88.5 live and then you’ll hear

This the music and then you’ll see it dancing to the holiday Lights classic holiday Tunes synchronized to more than 6,000 festive lights and decorations a holiday tradition 15y old Matthew D roers is keeping going in his South Charlotte Community picking up the torch after his neighbor moved away we have lights around the garages the windows we have little candy canes that’ll dance the

Archers from last year that bounce around little mini trees using technology and lighting software to mesh together this spectacular light show all of it synced at the click of a button really just comes to being creative like how do you want the archers to look how do you want

The make to look and do you want to go to the beat this year’s festivities have a special meaning to Matthew because he is raising money for the Crohn’s and kitis Foundation to help find a cure for Crohn’s disease a condition he knows too well it became very obvious that I was

Super sick I was very tired my skin was very pale I just was just feeling terrible I couldn’t eat anything I was losing weight Matthew was diagnosed with crohn’s disease in May and it’s a lifelong condition that we can manage but we do need medicine for it with

Treatment Matthew is feeling more like his old self again and back to keeping the Christmas spirit alive and making a difference in the fight against Crohn’s disease I really just want to get them in the holiday spirit I think it’s something that’ll cheer everybody up as

We get closer to the holidays and I think adding a charity is just something extra that can help millions of other people now there’s a QR code right here while you’re here to connect to his fundraiser page you can check out the display at 15333 Prescott Hill Avenue the display

Will be up from 7 to 10: every day until January 1st and we have Matt here the magician behind all of this and what a special message happy holidays I hope you all can come check it out Merry Christmas yay Merry Christmas and sending it back to you Merry Christmas Merry Christmas man

What was his shirt again I love his shirt it’s like expert yeah exterior illumination expert we love your shirt man man happy Holidays and Merry Christmas that is so good to see if you want to keep the holiday spirit going watch WCNC plus tonight at 11:30 we’ll share heartwarming stories of people

Spreading Joy just like that young man and the holiday cheer going around you can catch our heart threads special 11:30 p.m. on your favorite streaming device I feel like the only thing but right now they spent months at LaVine children’s hospital they almost lost their newborn daughter to rare heart

Defect but now they say she’s thriving and they want to thank those who saved her life yeah along the way they’re also looking to give back to folks who are walking a mile in their own shoes Michelle Bowden shows us how this little girl’s parents are now making a difference for other

Girl uh justice is I will um our heart baby James and Jessica lead better knew before their little girl was born that she had a rare heart def fact it was um a long journey thinking about it now is sort of like a blur coming in here day after day they

Toiletry some things that my wife and I needed while we were here that we didn’t have I told my husband as we were walking in like here we are back at the hospital and this time I’m excited about being here hand sanitizer is good it

Whenever that bat signal goes off I show up but you know um with this particular situation it was nothing that I could do there you go now two years old justice has a slight heart murmur but is doing really well and is now a different kind

Of challenge for her parents oh oh my girl a big problem at the house now a good problem she’s got a a lot of spunk and that’s how they like it justice is awesome she is our heart Warrior she is the face of what joy and grace looks

Like this was their first trip they say it is the first though of many they have lots of deliveries planned in the coming weeks reporting in Charlotte Michelle bden WCNC Charlotte connect the dots and let us clear up the confusion we’re here to make sure the news makes sense and with

Connect the dots you’ll understand how the headlines impact your family see the difference on WCNC Charlotte and while many of us will get to be home with loved ones for the holidays that isn’t the case for everyone some are having to spend it at the hospital but as WCNC Charlotte J

Mreal shows us one cancer survivor is making a difference bringing a touch of joy into those Hospital hallways a breast cancer patient diagnosed in 2020 she says she never gave into cancer using it in instead to start a foundation and let others going through cancer treatment know that they don’t

Have to do it alone as the big red trucks pull up to novon St Jude’s affiliate clinic on Hawthorne Lane it’s not to put out a fire but to help bring some memorable joy to some of the young patients during the Christmas holiday I need 25 blue and 25 pink

Leading the charge is Myra Harris president and founder of cancer gave me life Foundation she’s a cancer survivor I’ve had chemo therapy 30 rounds of radiation I had both breasts removed I had 14 limp nose removed and I’m still on a journey I was just diagnosed about

People genuinely care about their wellbeing and 5-year-old cie is all smiles as she was able to pick up her pink gift bag I’m Miss Myra Merry Christmas to you cie is the big sister to London and two more that are on the way the mother of all four Rashana

Smokes knows this is just a huge burden lifted off her back it means a lot especially because we have a lot going on right now now so I appreciate everything you guys are doing for the kids every time 11-month-old London gets sick with sickle cell they’re spending

Because to know that I’m still on my journey and to know that it’s being well received and having partners that really appreciate what I’m doing that to me is my Christmas gift haris says she is looking to expand her efforts in 2024 by granting wishes to terminally ill breast cancer patients

Now back to you WCNC Charlotte this is flasho where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson AER Christmas weekend to you and yours it is the season of giving our recent report out shows folks in North Carolina are

Donating more to charity $58 million to be exact but as costs rise Charities aren’t able to stretch their dollars as far over the next 30 minutes we’ll share with you some of the Charities and organizations really making a difference this holiday season but first joining us now as the North

Carolina Secretary of State elain Marshall her office promotes economic development and helps oversee the business community Comm secretary welcome back we appreciate it thank you very much it’s delightful to be here so your office tracks charitable giving and and I know uh North Carolinians donated $58 million

Over a year that was an 18% increase um I know you have told people that that it’s important to give generously but also give wisely explain that is correct um we regulate the Charities that have fun fundraisers the profession of fundraising uh the law exempts schools and um religious organizations but

Otherwise if they hire a professional fundraiser or pay their staff at over a certain dollar amount they have to register with us so there are thousands and thousands of registered uh nonprofit entities with us and the law requires them to um either get an exemption or um

File reports with us uh that shows how much they took in how much went to overhead and how much actually went to the charity when I say give wisely there are a lot of new organizations that pop up that don’t have the track record they may have the best of heart but don’t

Have the efficiency ability to um handle whatever the the need is and unfortunately we see scammers uh out there um this time of year we do this report because people get a lot of communication if you ever gave a contribution you’re now on that organization’s list for repeat contribution and that’s fine and

Dandy uh but when you get ones out of the blue for organization that that you’ve never heard of perhaps a telephone call or perhaps an internet something uh we wish we would advise you to be very very very cautious the federal government tells us that upwards

Of 80 90% of those that appear online are fake um they um whenever there’s a disaster around the world these organizations sometimes they’re State supported organizations in various parts of the world have wonderful but horrible pictures of disasters and uh they play upon the heartstrings of people uh if

There’s something like that that you want to contribute to here’s my St deal with a local branch of whomever is supplying that Relief by that it could be the Red Cross it could be the Baptist men it could be the menite church it could be the Methodist men they have a

Track record of being able to do the services uh Samaritans purse North Carolina based is another one that has a track record of the ability to get into a disaster area with the proper equipment the proper people the proper knowhow to do what needs to be done so

Um there we have over 20 years worth of information up about how much has gone to the actual charity and how much has gone to um um the the pocketbook of the fundraisers and all and you can go to SOS nc.gov look up Charities and then you will find tons tons of information

Uh and you will unfortunately see that some only 10% goes to the charity or 20% goes to the charity I haven’t conducted a survey but I truly believe in my heart that most North Carolinians believe that a higher percentage of that needs to go to the actual good work you know when

Figure 58 million it was about 48 million last year so North Carolinians are very generous it went up about 10 million uh the amount going to Charities went up five million but we do find that the cost of running these fundraising campaigns have gone up uh with inflation

Everybody’s felt it in their own pocketbook and their own lives uh so but that was not unreasonable the amount was not exorbitant that um um we we glean from the reports so Charities are trying to be very smart the the really ethical ones the good ones uh are really trying

To be very smart and squeeze as much service out of each and every dollar they get um all of this data you all accumulate um and have oversight over how rigorous is that process um that that your office goes through to to sort of get this information and get it

Right well they Charities have to be registered and sometimes we find some that aren’t we also find scam Charities and we have here in North Carolina and we have criminal authority over them so if you feel like uh you’ve been engaged with one of those take a screenshot

Gather all the information you can and let us know and we will investigate it as I say some are inefficient and some are straight out Cooks uh just trying to steal your money but our oversight um we we don’t audit the reports per say but we do believe that by having public

Transparency where people can see they can see the folks who are not efficient or even Bad actors out there if they’re registered with us so the registration process requires a lot of information about the organization then it requires a copy of their uh federal tax return uh

So you can see exactly about expenses in their General categories so there um we wait well we respond to complaints uh more so than we do from any type of internal auditing because we just don’t have the internal auditing capacity if somebody brings something outrageous to our attention then we do get into

Government and even religion can’t meet all of the needs that are out there you don’t have to go very far whether it’s a large city like Braley or Charlotte or out in the country to see that there is poverty out there to see that people are probably freezing on a day like today

Graciousness of of people to help make the plight of others a little bit more comfortable and some of the information that that your office has helps people make a educated decision about where they aim that charitable giving all right Secretary of State Elaine Marshall secretary thanks for coming on we

Appreciate it Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas thank you happy holidays to you and happy giving to everybody else take care more flash after this we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he’s joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick

Were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid 660s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going to track some

Throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on

Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if

Like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas Day in the afternoon 61° mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar

Inside here’s Monday at 7:00 so this is Christmas day you can see clouds starting to build in but we’re not seeing rain just yet notice the timing here at 2: most of the day is actually not going to be rainy it’s mostly closer to 2 3:00 that we start to see that rain

Windy on Tuesday too so we’ll watch those winds as well keep that in mind for those Inflatables things of that nature as they’re really exciting during the holiday season but we certainly don’t want them to blow away way rain will continue into Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually start to

Drop as we look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023 and into the first few days of a new year hard to believe 2024 is almost here

Check out your exclusive 10-day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 4 4S on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year

Enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah Brittney I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks Americans on average save about $121 a month on their power bill when they switch to solar panels but could those savings put you at risk if there’s a fire in your house here’s Megan brag with this morning’s verify more homes in the US have solar panels on the roofs now in fact data

From the US Energy Information Administration shows residential power installation rows by 34% in 2020 so one WCNC viewer wanted to know if a resident had a fire emergency at home would solar panels keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire let’s verify our sources are the NC Department of

Insurance the US Energy Information Administration and the Huntersville Fire Department to bring a house fire under control firefighters will often poke holes in the roof to vent the smoke this improves visibility inside the home and improves the odds of survival for anyone trapped inside the North Carolina Department of Insurance says

Firefighters do face additional hazards from solar panels on roofs some of these hazards include the potential of electrical shock from the solar panel system a greater risk of the roof collapsing during the fire conditions because of the added weight fire risk from battery storage systems and the potential for slips and Falls while

Working on a roof with solar panels because of this a fire scene Incident Commander has to be cautious about letting firefighters on the roof to fight the house fire with solar panels when responding to a fire firefighters are trained to disconnect the power from The Home hunterville Fire Department

Says they take into account all of these variables when fighting a fire and while solar panels can present a challenge in some additional difficulty they say it’s not something they can’t navigate the department of energy says you should let your local firefighters know that your home has solar panels installed so they

Are aware in case there’s an emergency so we can verify that no if your home has solar panels it would not keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire but it could make fighting a fire a little more difficult with your verifi I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verified to email us at verify at wcnc.com how to connect the dots when we make the news make sense automakers are looking to revamp the future of cars and the advancements May personalize your vehicle more than ever before technology is helping us do some

Pretty incredible things to the outside of our cars let’s connect the dots BMW is currently working on an experimental coding that acts as what they call digital ink meaning someday your car could have more than 30 colors to choose from and even change color with the weather the same Tech that already

Allows your car to pay for Highway tools could soon help you pay for a lot more the emerging category of incar payments would help you pay at a drive-thru and and even automatically apply discounts to your car orders and as cars become more advanced many of the issues that

May have dragged you to the service center could one day be handsfree think of it like a smartphone update your car would download updates overnight and be ready to roll by your daily commute saving you time and money and that is connecting the Dots 537 now and we’re asking where’s the money for student loan payers good Tuesday morning it’s been about 2 months since student loan payments ramped back up up and now those paying the bill are getting a better idea of exactly how they have to adjust to the payments so let’s get into this

Piece some about 37% are having to cut back on their essential purchases now Mass Mutual adds about 3/4 of us with student loans payments say that the restart has had a negative impact on our day-to-day Financial Health numbers like those have some considering skipping out on payments altogether which is why

We’re reminding people what happens if you do there is a misconception here President Biden’s on-ramp gives people an entire year before they can be considered delinquent on their loans usually you’ve only got 90 days to miss that payment but just because you have 12 months for student student loan

Services go to credit bureaus doesn’t mean that your credit is saved money.com broke it down like this even if delinquencies aren’t reported well credit scoring companies may still be able to see those Mis payments and they may still be able to count them against you hurting your credit score it’s why

We want your help this morning what is your best money-saving tip make sure you text us 704 329 3600 Ben also new tonight a local college student says she’s found the inspiration for her studies at the hospital she was taken care of yeah she was a child when

Doctors told her she has a chronic and difficult disease and now she’s studying so she could work at the very place that helped her Children’s Hospital WCNC charlott’s Michelle Bowden shows us how this young woman is making a difference Isabella was just 11 when she was diagnosed with lupus and she says

Just the care and the compassion that they showed me I’ve never never felt that before only in a parent um and so that inspired me to become a nurse and work out of vein she’s currently a junior at wind studying to be a nurse hoping to be doing rounds here at

Lavine’s Children’s Hospital in the near future so you want to work here I do I do yes because lupus is a chronic illness she still struggles with it currently I’m having a flare up so that just goes to show that although you have bad days you don’t let it defeat you I

Am taking it one day at a time with one very big goal in sight one she says we’ll make it all worthwhile it means that I’m not just the sick girl that I am someone and that I am someone who although is a lupus Warrior I’m also a

Nursing student I’m also a daughter if all goes as planned she hopes to be working here at LaVine Children’s Hospital as early as next year reporting in Charlotte Michelle Bowden WCNC Charlotte Time now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense if you’re hopping on that holiday flight this week the entertainment could be impacting you more than you realize lies inlight entertainment is more than just killing time it may be an airline’s answer to getting more passengers let’s

Connect the do popular movies like Barbie and elf aren’t just eye candy to distract you from a long flight airlines are using them to fill up seats no most passengers won’t book with a certain Airline just for their movie selection but with the option to watch the latest

Box office hit people think they’re getting a better deal Airlines around the world spend nearly half a billion dollars on in flight entertainment today most Airlines have staff designated to curating exactly which movies make the cut United Airlines has taken it a step further and giving all their planes

Seatback screens the airline’s chief executive says the screens make passengers choose United more often plus indie films and TV shows are popular in inflight movie watching right now it’s one of the only times consumers have access and the time to check those titles out and that is connecting the dots new tonight

Shows us what is on the horizon for Concord families in need this is only within 3 minutes 2 3 minutes of downtown Concord where you have major development going on there Patrick Graham says his work is personal my mother worked all her life 50 plus years before she retired she passed away

This past year and was never able to own and as a young man I thought that I would be able to provide her that opportunity and it’s one of the things that I sort of failed at it didn’t happen so I carry that chip on my shoulder that chip that Gra carries

Leading him to start web build Concord that they’re some of the best looking homes on the Block the affordable housing developer started in 2019 with the help of public and private funds Graham says the agency helps those making between 30 to 80% of the area median income we have sort of this

Hidden Mantra uh we build affordable housing by any legal means necessary he says a big goal is to increase home ownership in areas like this one the historic Logan Community this is a traditionally African-American Community it’s one that has an ownership rate that’s below 40% right now we build

Loft departments and a space for entrepreneurs and and just a couple of blocks away from here we’ve taken lots that usually usually would be reserved for single homes and created um these Town Homes more homes including this one a new home for a local educator and her daughter and so

With affordable housing you’re thinking about all those companies moving here you’re thinking about that population growth and you’re looking at a place where they’re about 5,000 units short of affordable housing uh in a city that’s just over 100,000 and Graham says all of the Lincoln Street Town Homes should be complete by

The middle of next year also the K Street Lo Apartments the site of that former church as you just saw will be done within a year now if you’re interested in applying for a home or learning more about weu Concord you can find my story on wcnc.com or on the WCNC

Charlotte mobile app and the cool thing about it was we got a chance to check out several locations one of the locations a new home that a local educator and a daughter moved in today that’s fantastic right place right time for you then for the story right right

Right right I think it’s interesting you bring up a good point we talked so much about meinberg County and affordable housing right so many folks are pouring into this community but those that can’t find a home have to go elsewhere so it’s great to see that other communities are

Thinking about that ahead of time being proactive about it no days off for Patrick Graham so looks like it looks like he’s working every day even through the holidays too great story we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney van he’s joins us

Eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby our by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up

If you are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you were checking those tickets

Sunny and nice as we’re in the mid 60 again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas as we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds

Act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61 Dees mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of

Course I know the million-dollar question is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00 in later I would either try to move them earlier in the day or move them inside

Here’s Monday at 7:00 so this is Christmas day you can see clouds starting to build in but we’re not seeing rain just yet notice the timing here 2:00 most of the day is actually not going to be rainy it’s mostly closer to 2 3:00 that we start to see that rain

Here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50 degrees for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to

I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks at WCNC Charlotte we really want to make a difference we have tools like verify and where’s the money to really listen to viewers and see what they’re struggling with whether that’s trying to get money

That you deserve or answering a question that’s conf confusing you we’re not the experts we’re interviewing the experts and that’s why we want to bring it to you so you can see the facts how we check them and how we get the Answer and if you were hoping for a white Christmas well Charlotte’s weather won’t deliver this year but you could still enjoy the next best thing the annual winter festival known as light the nights at truest field in Uptown Charlotte so we sent Larry sprinkled the sample the snow tubing among other

Things there’s literally a winter wonderland in uptown charlot all at the light the nights festival at truest field it’s a great family experience daytime or nighttime you guys ready to light theight more like okay what you what are you excited about seeing here I’m excited about the tubing the tubing what

About you uh the tubing from the what about you skating come on F let’s have a good time come on Good Times one of the big attractions is a full-size ice skating rink experienced or not kids are loving it and adults too this is Brady

And this is llan is that right and you guys are from Canada originally yes he isn’t but I’m I’m half and half half and half and you’re so you love the skating out here I I guess yeah everybody ready to skate yes all right ghost skate and

They are off back this year is the very popular Tubing Hill now with 10 action-packed lanes it’s the perfect spot for a fun race with one and only Homer the dragon Homer what about it I challenge you you challenge me up on top all right here we go yeah I’m ready okay

You ready Homer and here we go amazing 150 mph yeah woo un unbelievable hey Homer thank you man um what a team what a duo we are thank you very much if you’re interested in some Christmas shopping that’s part of the light the night’s Festival there are 22

Most snow you will see in years it’s all during light tonights at truest Phil Larry Sprinkle WCNC Charlet we’re coming up on 539 this morning and we’re asking where where’s the money this holiday shopping season good morning and happy Monday online sales are bringing in historic sales right now but there’s been a misconception that most people prefer filling their cart on their cell phones

Compared to in the store it’s a myth that Pew research is here to bust so starting with this Trends have almost always shown that people buy more in that last quarter of the year now the data for this year’s shopping habits is still being pulled so we’re going to

Take a look at 2022 that’s an online Sal saw a 23% jump between October and December now Across the Nation that dollar amount comes in at about 303 billion bucks still in that same fourth quarter of 2022 retail stores only saw about 16% of their sales coming from

Computers now there’s another clue that I want to clue you in on here an important factor to keep in mind when this information in this research is being gathered it’s actually including places that have both a storefront and stores that are strictly online so among retailers that do have physical stores

Online sales RS as well but the jump just looks different depending on what stores we’re talking about that’s nearly 9% at general merchandise stores like your Walmart your target about 5% at food and beverage stores and then about 4 and a half% at those health and personal care stores so it’s why we’re

Asking this morning when it comes to your gift shopping did you shop for gifts online or in person this year make sure you text us at 704 329 3600 well did you have any aches or pains that resurface with all the rain and cold temperatures well there might

Actually be a scientific reason for that here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check have you ever heard of weather related joint pain our chief meteorologist posted this on his Facebook page and it’s gotten over 200 comments and shares it’s believed that changes in barometric pressure can trigger certain Sensations in your

Joints so let’s get the facts our sources are WCNC chief meteorologist Brad panovich and the Cleveland Clinic last weekend the Carolinas were hit by a massive area of low pressure and an accompanying storm called a Easter panovich says it’s that low atmospheric pressure that can really bring the pain

When there’s high pressure it’s like having a mountain of air above your head when there’s low pressure the atmosphere is actually thinner so there’s less air pushing on your body a Cleveland Clinic study on people who live with arthritis found that their aches increased on days with higher humidity lower barometric

Pressure and stronger winds but why is this people that have injuries or arthritis they have fluid or voids in their joints and what happens is when the pressure goes down those voids or fluids expands so it puts a little pressure on your joint and causes discomfort or pain and in the

Winter time panovich says that’s when you feel it the most get throwing in the fact that it’s cold outside and people tend to feel things a little more when it’s chilly so next time your body is aching check the WCNC weather app you might be able to blame it on the weather

With your verify fact check I’m Megan Bragg if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com with your help WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community beautiful day so many people helping this is incredible let’s spread that love tonight here is a $5,000 check that you

Guys can use to further the mission there is nothing on earth like the feeling of giving back with your hands $5,000 to you and uh BL love charot for what you guys do if you’d like to make a difference go to wcnc.com a difference now when you think of snow you may be

Thinking of a scene like this a winter wonderland but when you zoom into these falling snowflakes their intricate beauty is one of the coolest things in nature let’s learn how they form in another weather IQ you may heard of the saying no two snowflakes are alike because they have different branches and

Designs that make each one unique the process is complicated so let’s start with square one or in this case hexagon one a snowflake starts as a small part particles such as a speck of dust where water vapor condenses onto it as we know a water molecule has two hydrogen atoms

Colder air in the cloud gaining more branches and dendrites as more tiny water particles bond to the flake once the becomes too heavy it then Falls the two main atmospheric factors are temperature and level of humidity however it’s the temperature that mainly shapes a snowflake when temperatures are

Warmer say 28° to freezing snowflakes tend to fall as thin hexagon plates but a higher humidity level can create larger flakes or even create the basic classic snowflake there are 35 different shapes of snowflakes such as needles and columns they fall in colder temps from 14 to 27° but colder temperatures that

Are 10° or less produce the most common and intricate snowflakes these are known as Stellar dendrites but in this range another snowflake that’s equally a spectacular forms called the Stellar plate I’m meteorologist Chris M what’s up CNC Charlotte these are indicators of a violent nature um that can be taken out

Responding to questions over a recent case in Charlotte where the dog fighter pleaded guilty to a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges his punishment he surrenders dozens of dogs in his care and faces a 5-year ban on owning animals no fine no jail time related to the animal offenses Animal Advocates say

This is just the latest example of North Carolina lagging behind most of the country in its animal protections if someone is willing to harm uh an animate being that we know that it’s not that much of a leap and a jump before they commit that same sort of uh violence

Before a human being and yet mecklinburg district attorney Spencer Merryweather says North Carolina’s laws don’t punish animal abusers accordingly even the most serious uh offenses for animal cruelty and dog fighting uh sort of top out at what is commonly referred to as a low-level felony a class H felony uh so

Called absolutely a slap on the risk looking at uh first offenses for dog fighting and North Carolina is in the bottom 10% of all states John McHugh is with the American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and leads efforts to strengthen animal legislation in the Carolinas he says

Middle third of all states in terms of a first offense he says that measure Senate Bill 457 would have offered the likelihood of prison time for even first time dog fighters the legislation however did not pass failing to make it out of committee none of these issues

Get any traction if we don’t have advocates in that are elected officials that push for them Maryweather says sometimes that takes citizens making the push to elected officials to let them know that it’s important to them and maybe should be more than just a class age felony um that they should

Be taken um seriously as an indicator of violence not just to animals but to human beings as well I mean now after the holidays we are taking these concerns to Raleigh and we will hear from those who we chose to make the laws we’re going to bring you what they have

To say in January in the meantime if you want to reach out to the folks who represent you directly we have the links to do so right now inside the WCNC Charlotte mobile app just look for the story verify WCNC charlet verify is all about trying to make a difference in the

Community by making sure that the community has the correct information this is what we know and hey this is what we don’t know sometimes you’re actually surprised by the answer verify the difference verify is a great way to combat that misinformation making Mak sure that people know the process of the

Reporting well trending this morning former Panther Superstar Cam Newton calling on the team’s owner David terer to make him president during an appearance on an NFL podcast Cam Newton made an elevator pitch on why it would uh be best he should be in the front office he claims if he were made the

Team president he could help fellow first overall pick Bry young develop into an elite quarterback like he was he also added he has a better understanding of what fans expect and has the leverage to hold teer and the team’s front office accountable if uh Newton May was made

President he would be only the fourth former NFL player currently in a prominent front office role Panthers fans took to social media very quickly following this pitch uh the consensus was they want him in the front office a lot of people saying they believe he would bring a winning culture back to

The Carolinas so this morning we want to know what do you think about all this should Cam Newton uh be May the team president of the Panthers let us know text 74329 3600 I think you know having him as part of the team uh not not a player role but

Would be great I think his role as quarterback’s coach would be much more effective yeah the being president has so many more manager responsibilties you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on what you’re doing quarterback but if he if he could be the quarterback coach he would

Be one of the best because he was one of the best maybe we’ll see him here who knows anytime you bring a big name back to a program whether it’s NFL or college that struggling I think sometimes it can bring life back into the team um that’s

What happened I feel like with Steve spur and the gator when sper came back to the gator the old quarterback he was yeah remember the days Mr spur but you know when he came back he I mean he works with alumni he does even really work with the team itself but being a

Former player he understands I think you know Cam Newton his relatability one thing about him in the locker room they loved it so having that positive presence that would be great for them it’s needed want a car in North Carolina then you know you have to get your car

Inspected every year and that inspection may include an emissions test but could this soon change here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check we got a text message sent to us from someone who heard the emissions Tas for vehicles is being eliminated in North Carolina counties but what does

This really mean for drivers Let’s Get the facts our sources are the EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality the EPA says the yearly emissions test program helps maintain Federal air quality standards in the state however the 2023 state budget bill that passed back in October

Could eliminate emissions testing in 18 of the 19 North Carolina counties that currently require them the only County that would continue to require emissions test would be mecklinburg County despite the fact that the bill passed the emissions provision is still not in effect the Department of Environmental

Quality must first submit its 2023 State implementation plan Amendment to the EPA the EPA would then have to approve the amendment before it could take effect so we’re talking a few years from now and plenty of vehicles in North Carolina are already exempt from emissions testing

It’s only required as we said in 19 out of the 100 counties in the state and even in those counties there are vehicles that don’t have to pass emissions tests any vehicle that is 20 years or older exempt diesel operated or registered as a farm vehicle also exempt

If you want to know if your car must pass an emmissions test in order to pass inspection reach out to the ncdmv with your verified fact check I’m Megan brag if you have something you would like verified just email us at verify at wcnc.com thank you we start with a check

Of our weather meteorologist Britney vanor he’s joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you

Weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relative ly mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we

Are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going to track some rain arriving later on Christmas day but then rain and storms turning even a little bit windy looking ahead to Tuesday so the 26 could

Get even a little bit Messier but right now looking fantastic from Charlotte Motor Speedway certainly in the holiday spirit there a temperature right now at 57 as the sun has gone down so the temperature is starting to drop a little bit due Point currently at 40 so not

Feeling too bad out there we will still stay dry through your Sunday forecast because of high pressure overhead but we’ll notice eventually a few more clouds heading in throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by- hour forecast

Showing the 40s right around the mid-40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services on Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where happen last week

We were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if you are traveling by the sky on Christmas Eve to see your friends and family members for the holiday season from the deep south from Atlanta

Really all the way toward the Upper Midwest there will be some travel issues ahead of an approaching storm system so make sure you were checking those tickets before you head to the airport and giving yourself plenty of time because just the traffic across the Charlotte area is going to get very very

Messy before you we head to the airport now let’s look at that full Christmas forecast as you look at tomorrow we know partly sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents theight before Christmas as we’re going

To be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds act like a blanket keeping it us nice and cozy like we are when we’re in our beds at night and that’ll be of course the forecast heading into Christmas day in the afternoon 61°

Mostly cloudy for Christmas day before that rain eventually starts to move in and of course I know the million-dollar question is when will the rain start to move in will it ruin my outdoor plans for Christmas day well if you do have them in the afternoon I would say 3:00

Don’t want them to blow away rain will continue into Mon Wednesday morning just a bit but then eventually start to drop as we look at our long range models we do start to see a pattern flip from pretty mild weather now to much colder as we enter those last few days of 2023

And into the first few days of a new year hard to believe 2024 is almost here check out your exclusive 10-day forecast here Saturday and Sunday of course those last few days of the year we’re talking near 50 Dees for next weekend’s high temperature we struggle to reach the

Upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to average but uh definitely a pattern flip as we look ahead Nick so something to maybe look forward to if you like some Colder Weather but if you’re a fan of

The nicer weather like we had today I think tomorrow is certainly going to be enjoyable for Christmas Eve yeah Britney I’m looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of science that you get to see and experience every

The difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors giving back to his community Charlotte rapper the baby gave out toys

To thousands of people for its annual Christmas giveaway event family started lining up as early as 6:00 this morning WCNC charlott Miles Harris was there and saw firsthand the impact it’s making helping families one gift at a time Charlotte native de baby held his annual Christmas giveaway just a few

Days before Christmas from Toys to bikes to TVs each item aimed to brighten the Christmas spirit I like to to grow up and you know put on a positive example on how to do what I saw my mama doing growing up man and just give back to

People you know what I mean spread blessings around make sure everybody enjoy their holidays the Charlotte native chose the East Way Drive Church of God a church he grew up in to hold the giveaway there families wasted no time lining up for hours according to the organizers over 6,000 people participated There You

Go including ebony Graham and her 9-year-old son he didn’t forget about us for sure you know what I’m saying so that makes us feel feel good you know that we have somebody in our own City that represents and makes sure the kids good and you know give back to the

Community he credits his mother for stressing the importance of giving and now she hopes to spread that to others everyone Reach Out reach someone and just love and just enjoy the season his mission behind the event to spread the holiday cheer amongst the community he’s grown with and love

The message is just spreads your blessings man give back give back give back give back when you blessed if you’re able to bless others you know what I’m saying bless others with the hope of making a difference for families this holiday season in North Charlotte I’m Miles Harris WCNC

Charlotte thanks for coming back now for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and I’m Vanessa Rufus we start this half hour here as travel season ramps up for the winter holidays TSA agents say they are spotting more and more Firearms at airport checkpoint yeah and that issue

It hitting home as Charlotte Douglas Airport has already seen more firearms come through compared to last year WCNC charlott’s Miles Harris tells us how authorities plan to put a dent in this disturbing Trend TSA agents at Charlotte Douglas they’re going up to see a lot more Travelers go through these checkpoints

As this holiday traveling season is officially underway and an important part of their job is making sure that Firearms don’t go through we’re asking people to really pay attention to what they’re bringing with them uh to to the security checkpoint to the airport in general Mark Hal with TSA says there’s a

Right way to travel with a firearm but not enough people are doing it it’s an issue airports throughout the country are seeing Firearms being detected at security checkpoints and right here at Charlotte Douglas International 118 Firearms have been stopped at checkpoints surpassing last year’s number of 117 Mark how breaking down

What happens when TSA agents spot a firearm in someone’s luggage that’s going to slow things down forever everybody what what happens when we have a firearm is we’re going to call law enforcement in to remove it uh because 90% of the time it’s loaded um so for everybody’s safety we’re going to let

Law enforcement remove that firearm and the passenger from the area here’s the safe way to travel with the firearm it should be in a hard sided case with padding and completely unloaded the firearm also has to be declared at the ticket counter prior to Flying Larry Hyatt with Hyatt guns says they have

Products to help Travelers avoid any issues but if you want to take your gun with you on a trip we’ve got these special boxes they have special locks for TSA approved and you they’re not even that expensive and you can take it on the plane you have to do it as check

Luggage disregard the rules at your own Peril some of the consequences can be steep including fines citations and enhanced screenings what we’re we’re trying to do is is teach people the right way to travel with firearms and and really let them know the consequences of bringing it to the

Checkpoint the goal is to ensure the safety of all Air Travelers as people head home for the holidays at Charlotte Douglas Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte WCNC Charlotte good morning Carolina tune in to the team that’s preparing you for your day the one and only Larry Sprinkle see the difference

In your morning it is bitter cold just about anywhere you look here’s a look right here at I77 Northbound trying to make your dollar stretch a little bit further resp responsible reporting Community focused unique content it’s so good to see you having too much fun see the difference weekday mornings on WCNC

Charlotte Gaston County Schools will continue to defy North Carolina law District leaders unanimously voted on the new calendar year to start sooner than state law allows at WCNC Charlotte Lexi Wilson shows us how this keeps happening during this year’s legislative session the North Carolina General Assembly did not take action to double

Down on the school start date law or relax it now now Gaston County Schools is going with what the community wanted instead of North Carolina law it’s something that other school districts have done to for over a decade North Carolina law has required school districts to start

School on the Monday closest to August 26th it’s legislation that’s been pushed by the state’s tourism industry a later start date to the school year allows more tourism throughout the month of August but school boards across North Carolina have said let local school districts decide their calendar year for

Themselves local control of education has been a Hallmark of American culture since the beginning of Public School Systems several school districts across our area started school before the start date set by state law including Gaston cabis Stanley Cleveland iale Statesville and Lincoln County it’s something North Carolina House speaker Tim Moore

Encouraged districts to do earlier this year I favor more flexibility for the local districts and for the parents to have input in that so uh I think there ought to be greater flexibility the Department of Public Instruction says it doesn’t have a written policy or procedure in place for taking action

Against districts that start school early next time on the agenda is our Gaston County school calendar of 2024 and 2025 Gaston County Education leaders breaking North Carolina law again Monday night they unanimously approved early start options opening August 14th in 2024 and August 13th in 2025 both early start options received

Overwhelming approval with everyone who participated in a survey which included employees parents students and community members and again there is no penalty for the school districts that vote to open early reporting for WCNC Charlotte I’m Lexi Wilson well we are thanks for coming back for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin

Mayfield and I’m Vanessa Rufus Charlotte artist had suspected for months that her art had been stolen she eventually learned it was indeed stolen and artificial intelligence did it yeah what do you do at that point WCNC Charlotte Jane monreal shows us with AI scrapping work that creators rely on selling to

Make a living many artists are asking where’s the money you know I’ve tried to get it taken down and everything but it doesn’t really matter because it’ll just get scraped again and it’ll end up back on the website so um yeah uh it’s kind of a a dystopian thing

To be dealing with now Eliana esal has been making art since she was 16 sometimes even when she was living in her car art was her way out back then and is her full-time job now when she figured out her work was scraped for AI she was in the beginning of a residency

At Goodyear Arts at Camp North End to see that it was scraped and that people are just reproducing it for free um with no context as to how it was made or like why it was made they like I don’t know that was a really a kind of like sobering moment of like

University says Society is in a gray area when it comes to AI we’re in many ways in the Wild Wild West trying to figure out where the parameters are um so right now I think until the law and and Industry standards and even academic practices begin to standardize and catch

And you know if you if you tell the artists to stop whining when they’re bringing this up then when they come for your job you have to starve in silence Jane monreal WCNC Sharp and well to Colin’s point right what do you do there’s a system researchers at

The University of Chicago have been working on it allows artists to protect their work from Ai and if you’d like to learn more about that you can look for Jane’s story inside the WCNC Charlotte App wake up to the news that matters most with meteorologist and traffic reporter Chris M and we’re all clear we’re keeping you smarter safer and on time start your day the Mahi way see the difference 4:30 to7 on WCNC Charlotte now it is time to connect the dots when

Land WCNC Charlotte’s kayin hagwood is giving us a closer look at that effort tonight well Farmers say preserving their land is one of their biggest concerns as a city continues to grow but one group says they’re doing what they can to ensure that Farmland stays that way

Forever wisdom jazar and his family have spent the last 5 to six years farming in Charlotte as part of their business deep root CPS Farm as the city grows he worries if local farms like his will have a place that’s the million dollar question right there is you know how is

The city working to make sure that there’s a productive and a local food system while the city says it does have policies to encourage farming it doesn’t classify Farms specifically as farm land which can make it easier to turn Farms into neighborhoods as the area grows and

We haven’t had that in 20 years but that does not mean we cannot have a designation now at large councilwoman dimple azmira says a Farmland designation is something she’s been advocating for especially in areas where healthy food is harder to come by I will be talking to our planning director in

Fact I’ve already talked to her about it to see how we can continue uh or how we can actually improve our efforts to preserve our Farmland the discussions come as one organization is hoping to take Farmland preservation to the next level the Carolina Farms fund is working to ensure

Local farms will never become anything else through easement a legally binding process we’re looking at at properties in mecklinburg and and throughout that 15 County region but those areas that have heavy development pressure um and and where that pressure is butting up against agricultural production that’s really where we’re looking to step in

And try and conserve that acreage so that Farmland stays in agriculture the group hopes to preserve at least 5,000 acres of land in the Charlotte region by purchasing existing farmland and ensuring it stays designated for Farmers he says they’ll then sell that land to Farmers who want to expand which makes

Us safer and more secure in our food system multiple efforts towards supporting A system that works to support us oh the farmers provide for the restaurant for the schools for the uh businesses Etc councilwoman azir says the city will continue its community area planning into the new year if

Anyone wants to make a comment Kaylin hagwood WCNC Charlotte when it comes to W cnc’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic our viewers tell the whole story hey if you’re new to the area this meteorologist is awesome I always stick with Brad panovic when it comes to severe weather he’s rarely wrong you

Popular over-the-counter decongestant is not effective it has to do with an active ingredient in many cold medications including those sold under the CVS brand so if you bought these products could you be eligible for a legal settlement Megan Bragg verifies so these are just some of the

Action on behalf of consumers who purchased these five CVS Health Products with phenylephrine in them in September the FDA panel refused to back the effectiveness of oral over-the-counter medicines made with fenine and they said no more trials were required to prove otherwise when we reached out to CVS

As an ingredient but not the only active ingredient so we can verify that yes there are several class action lawsuits against CVS claiming the drugstore chain manufactured and sold cold medicine in a false misleading and deceptive manner with your verifi I’m Megan Brat when did you know what you wanted to be hey Mom the weather’s on WCNC Charlotte’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic always knew what he was meant to do all right don’t forget your umbrella in fact he joined the American Meteorological Society when he was 1 now

Brad is all grown up you can see him right here on WCNC Charlotte making sure you’re informed and safe hey where did all my hair go experience the difference we start with a check of our weather meteorologist Britney vanv he joins us now and Britney it was a warm day a

Couple of days away from Christmas Nick that’s absolutely true it’s 63 the high temperature today uh about 10 degrees or so above average for this time of year but Nick I know you weren’t here but you were in Raleigh so you probably remember last year around Christmas we were

Talking record cold the year before we were talking about record heat so it’s nice to have a relatively mild Christmas to talk about uh for the forecast looking ahead now we are still talking about the mid-60s heading into the day tomorrow so Christmas Eve looks fantastic now we are going to track some

Throughout the day as we check out your evening forecast you’ll notice a few clouds but overall not too shabby hour by hour forecast showing the 40s right around the mid 40s there by midnight and then as you’re heading out the door early early tomorrow morning maybe waking up for some early church services

On Christmas Eve we’re talking the upper 30s so still a chillier start but not too shabby especially for uh where we have been last week we were talking about multiple Mornings in the 20s 37 across the Charlotte area close to the freezing mark up toward the mountains if

Sunny and nice as we’re in the mid-60s again for Christmas Eve cloudy and comfy for Santa won’t have any problem delivering those presents the Night Before Christmas is we’re going to be very very nice into the mid 40s only so not dropping too much remember clouds

Here Saturday and Sunday of course it was last last few days of the year we’re talking near 50° for next weekend’s high temperature we’ll struggle to reach the upper 40s on New Year’s Eve and then again we’re going to start the new year a little bit colder comparative to

Looking forward to that 66 on Christmas Eve man all right thanks CNC Charlotte this is flasho where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson today a one-on-one interview with the chief executive of North Carolina Roy Cooper

Entering his final year in office but it comes after several big and very public battles with the Republican super majority in the general assembly the governor weighs in on this past year and his plans for the future joining us now the 75th governor of the state of North Carolina Roy

Cooper Governor thanks for coming on and joining us we appreciate it glad to be with today Ben all right so let’s begin with Medicaid expansion it launched a few weeks ago you’ve said it was one of the most important things to happen this year 600,000 people now with HealthCare

Coverage but we also know that Republicans tied it to the budget and you’ve called that a bad budget that quote short changes Schools prioritizes power grabs keeps Shady back room deal secret so it begs the question governor was Medicaid expansion worth it absolutely was you know when you’re

Coverage for themselves uh one person I talked to had health insurance for the first time in their adult life and we’re talking about health insurance for our child care workers people who stock our grocery stores people who look after seniors people who had been making a little too much money to qualify for

Was an exciting day for North Carolina it’s going to create good paying jobs and it’s the right thing to do for our state it allows us to bring in that $521 million a month from the federal government in tax money that you and I have already paid to Washington to come

And it really tied your hands you suffered a number of legislative defeats this year curious do you blame her or do you blame Democrats including yourself for allowing that to happen well I look at this year is a very positive one because we have record-breaking numbers of jobs being

Brought into North Carolina uh we are becoming a clean energy epicenter and I’ve done that by working in a bipartisan way with the general assembly uh we’re going to be able to roll off electric vehicles were going to be able to bring those great paying jobs to to people’s families yes it was

Students now are going to suffer because the general assembly has passed a private school voucher bill on steroids that’s going to allow the very rich to collect taxpayer money to keep their children in private and we’re going to let them know that it’s time to make sure we break

Year in a row the number one state in the country to do business there are a lot of positive things that are happening in our state despite the fact that we have a super majority in the general assembly but I hope the people of North Carolina are going to correct

That next year in the 2024 elections what does your relationship look like with Tim Moore and phili burger right now do you see anything changing that Dynamic changing in any way uh next year well it’s important to note that we have worked together to pass clean energy legislation in North Carolina that

Requires our power sector to reduce carbon emissions to Zero by 2050 we’ve come together to work to invest the billions of dollars in federal money that we’re going to have to fix water systems pave roads provide more public transportation uh to fix our ports and airports to connect every household to high-speed

Internet access uh they have given me the authority to go out and recruit businesses with performance-based incentives that have helped to draw great paying jobs to North Carolina and they only get the tax credits if they create the jobs at the salaries that they’ve said they’ve created so we’ve

Worked together to do all of those things obviously we’ve had disagreements and uh for the last four years before they broke the super majority we were able to stop a lot of their bad legislation that attacked women’s reproductive Freedom that got Coral Wars back into our schools but of

Interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper continues next the governor’s plans for the future and what he’s considering after leaving office thank you for making WCNC Charlotte’s magical toy drive a huge success this year along with our sponsors Bel CR legal team and Tropical Smoothie Cafe you’ve proven we

Can make a big difference for our community WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community seeking Solutions we’re sharing stories that matter to you verify it’s a transparent formula that separates fact from fiction where’s the money solving big dollar problems and putting putting money back in your pocket weather it’s important

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Huntersville our year close out is going on now shop all of our new inventory through this weekend you can drive a 2023 Tacoma double cab only $1.99 a month don’t miss our year on close out shop online now at toyot charlotte.com it just keeps getting worse the crack

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Lime sauce there’s a lot to like I have a confession too one time I I’ve been advised to stop talking tiny tacos get them regular or loaded we are back with more of our interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper He’s getting ready to start his last year in office and he already

Has big plans for what he wants to achieve with a republican dominated General Assembly what would you say is your top priority heading into the new year well first we need to make sure that we invest this Federal money that’s coming down to make sure we do it in the

Most effective and efficient way and that means getting on the ground and actually connecting house holds to highspeed internet and businesses making sure that we’re getting these roads fixed and that we are enhancing our public transportation to get people from one place to the next in a faster and

Cleaner way I’m also going to work to uplift public education and our public school students uh you know I’ve talked a lot with Republicans about the best way uh to make sure that our schools are the best they can be and we have a lot of differences but two things we agree on

Is a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school and you do that by investing to make sure that we pay them well that we respect them and lift them up and we don’t waste money billions of dollars on private school vouchers that really

Don’t help people get a better education and only take money away from our public Public Schools uh I’m going to work to create a lot of energy in the business Community one of the main reasons why we are the number one state for business is our amazing well-trained dedicated

Diverse Workforce the people of North Carolina and we’re not going to continue to have a great Workforce if we don’t invest in education from Cradle to Career early childhood education making sure we have quality Child Care making sure we have great principls and teachers in our Public Schools we already have the best

Community college system in the country and the best array of public and private universities in the country we need to keep improving our public schools to make sure we have that Workforce for these businesses who are coming to North Carolina and expanding in North Carolina

And I know why because this is the best state in the country and the best place to live work and raise a family right here well I don’t know too many people who would disagree with that um Governor if you could run again would you yeah I sure would uh this has been

You think is a fair path forward in drawing these maps in a fair way no matter who’s in power we should have a proc in place where there is an independent redistricting commission that is in charge of drawing Maps we saw what happened in North Carolina when Fair Maps were drawn the

Number of members of congress with seven Democrats and seven Republicans that really reflects the political makeup of North Carolina yet when you have uh Ultra partisan Jerry Mander districts where uh Representatives choose their constituents instead of the other way around you end up with 10 Republicans and four Democrats maybe even 11

To3 uh that’s wrong under any scenario and whether we have blue Waves or red waves the process should be as Fair as possible District should not be drawn in a racial or partisan way uh independent redistricting commissions have worked pretty well well in other states and

It’s it’s time for North Carolina to do that and instead of us continuing to be the epicenter Center of redistricting litigation like we have been for so long in the last few weeks federal government amount announcing a billion dollars in spending when it comes to rail here in North Carolina between Raleigh and

Richmond um and a number of Grants as well you appeared with the Secretary of Transportation Pete Buddha judge uh what kind of impact could this have on the state what a great investment this would be to have High-Speed Rail uh from North Carolina all the way up the East Coast

Uh when we think about that we’re we’re talking about less congestion on our highways because even if you don’t take the train the people that are deciding to take the train are not going to be on our highways it is a clean fast efficient way to get from one place to

The next I took the train from Raleigh to Greensboro and talked with people walked from car to car and talked with people about why they were on the train uh I talked to grandparents who really didn’t want to drive anymore but were headed down from Raleigh to Charlotte to

Visit grandchildren they love the train experience talk to a family going on vacation I talked to students who were returning to school in Greensboro and down in Charlotte uh getting uh back and forth to school in a fast and efficient way talk to commuters going to work talk

To business people who were getting somewhere fast from one place to the next it was amazing seeing all the different people who loved their experience on the train saying that it was cheaper faster uh for them to get there in this way and if we continue to

Make these Investments it will allow us to get people from one place to the next and cleaner faster more efficient way and will help relieve congestion on our highways final question we’re in the middle of the holidays I feel Duty bound to ask you do you the governor have a New Year’s

All right Governor Roy paper Governor happy holidays thanks for coming on we appreciate it thanks a lot Ben all right take care at 11 a corporate landlord is eyeing a big plot of land on Independence Boulevard as the site of a new Rental Community Charlotte city leaders held a hearing tonight to let

Folks weigh in on the proposal and as WCNC Charlotte’s Julia Kaufman reports the development and future Road improvements could drastically change the area the proposed Community would be on East Independence Boulevard right on the border of Matthews NCD is also using the land to extend multiple roads off Independence behind this intersection of

East Independence and Sardis Road north is 80 acres of woods we have old sycamores and old black cherry trees that you don’t see commonly through North um residential areas anymore nearby homeowners worry plans to replace most of the woods with a rental Community will hinder their quality of

Life we will have a SE separation of 40 ft hopefully you can understand our concerns about privacy sound and safety corporate landlord Northwood Raven doesn’t have a site plan yet but hopes to build houses Town Homes apartments and commercial space across from Crownpoint Plaza NC doot is also using

Will consider the rezoning petition ition and then city council can vote on it Julia Kaufman WCNC Charlotte the new and improved WCNC plus now on Roku and Fire TV watch local live newscast get extended breaking news coverage and see local programs and specials the new and improved WCNC plus

Now on Roku and Fire TV back here’s some good news mortgage rates have fallen from their October highs of around 8% however if you are a first-time home buyer this might not be the news you’re looking for WCNC charlott’s Jane Montreal is joining us now to explain

What we should be doing when looking to buy a home right now so we’re not left asking where’s money that’s right Vanessa and Colin well as consumer affairs reports falling rates may have excited buyers but they haven’t moved sellers so to break it down many current homeowners are not really motivated to

Sell right now if they have a mortgage rate of around 3% they might not be ready to list their homes for sale and buy another one until rates are a lot lower lower and this brings in supply and demand people who are looking to buy a home are competing with one another

For available homes in the past this has resulted in bidding wars and higher home prices so what can you do consumer affairs suggest relocating they say House Hunters who are willing to move to a lower cost City when available homes are more plentiful may find the best opportunities but you know that means

Maybe a longer commute guys something that people do not want to pay for picking up and moving up our mov out as well yeah it’s tough but man the the market it’s been fluctuating and it it sounds like it’s going to continue to do so yeah still a tough call so uh still

Her story for Bria Smith it was a no-brainer we could pour back into the community that we’re in every single day to set up shop right along Ong downtown concord’s busy cabis Avenue East her candlebar comes to Concord As Cities across North Carolina top rankings as

Some of the best to start a business Durham Charlotte Raleigh and Winston Salem could all be found in the top 15 alone numbers like those are attracting entrepreneurs to areas just like this one and I could see all the economic investment going into with the streetcape and the apartment buildings

And how a community was really being created here and Smith has witnessed that economic investment for some time it’s part of the reason why her candle bar was an idea years in the making starting during the pandemic we had to come up with ways in the home to uh have

Fun and also uh create the ability to relax and provide yourself some self-care was a very stressful time now she sells candles classes and other self-care items back on business though Concord is missing from that list of top cities for starting a business yet Smith invested here anyway conect so when we

Asked her why Charlotte we’re familiar with Charlotte I went to school there but it’s it’s oversaturated to some degree from a a a business perspective and there’s nice things and and experiences that are needed right here in cabis County right here where that economic investment continues to grow yeah Concord really growing very

Quickly especially I feel like we’re always talking about Charlotte the Queen City this Queen City that but the reality is that a lot of this develop is stretching into our smaller townships and depending on who you ask it’s not always a good thing so nice downtown here live downtown right shops here and

Restaurants things like that and another new one to check out there you go when I think about the community I think about the time that I’ve been here I’ve been in this community almost my entire adult life so I you you get to know the people

When you know what they care about then that’s what you care about this community looks at all of us who do weather here at WC andc char as part of their family and when you’re part of their family you want to make sure you do it just for Them people will eat drink and be merry this weekend there is one danger that actually rears its ugly head more during the holidays than the rest of the year Megan Bragg explains in today’s verify it’s so important to stay on top of your health especially your heart health new information from the American

Increased 37% on Christmas Eve the cold weather has something to do with it because cold weather can actually trigger inflammation the American Heart Association also points to stress and diet as contributing factors to the increase we radically change our lifestyle over the holidays we drink a

Lot more alcohol we eat a lot more sodium the portions of what we’re consuming are a lot more another main reason for the rise in hard ATT deaths people are not getting help quickly enough routines are disrupted so we think maybe it’s something else or maybe that heartburn is actually something

That we ate too much last night or what have you the American Heart Association wants you to know these five warning signs of a heart attack colie says if you feel something is not right don’t wait call a doctor so we can verify that yes deaths from heart attacks do indeed

Spike during the winter holidays with your verify I’m Megan Brad you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com come now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense the holidays can be stressful that’s why it’s important to let guests know your expectations when

It comes to their behavior in your house try and keep your thoughts on your gifts to yourself This Christmas let’s connect the dots this season you’re likely going to get at least one Christmas present you don’t really want but there is a difference between feeling annoyed and showing it experts

Say there is correct eate when receiving a gift and it all begins with your initial reaction researchers say you shouldn’t show negative emotion and try and only show gratitude and it isn’t just true of your words but your body language too as for returns don’t think about it unless something doesn’t fit or

The weather changes because in the end that’s what keeps you safe it’s not about being scared it’s about being informed browse our collection of fun and informative clips and look for new segments every week we’re here to raise your weather IQ experience the difference on WCNC Charlotte welcome back turning now to your Sunday forecast but first some live pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve and you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of the house for a few days with sitting

Next to meteorologist Britney van vhe tomorrow is not going to be as perfect for the second half of the day correct we are going to see The Return of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will see more clouds compared to now but still I

Actually like a cloudy Sunrise the more clouds if you can get a little bit of sun the actual prettier it is because clouds the light bounces off of them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things every single day yeah you something new you

Know uh of course it’s kind of like a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year we talked about

The coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11 o’ we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10° warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year the year before we were

Talking about record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so

Here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know the clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures

Try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues getting around and about the Carol delivering all those gufts and

Then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the forecast for the rest of Christmas day

So let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patch you drizzel possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see

Some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and usually you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the afternoon

So it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain but

Develops after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 mph from Monday night they

Could be peek even closer to 30 mph on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or they’re family Heir lims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert of just the not only the Inflatables but

Of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and

You’ll see this reflected in my hour by hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then a

Much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so much

New at 6 a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Health or Nami finds that for some people living with mental illness their conditions worsen around the holidays doctors in Charlotte saying this time of year can have a negative impact WCC Charlotte’s Austin Walker speaks to experts on how you can be a

Helping hand what’s supposed to be one of the most wonderful times of the year there’s such an expectation um for the holiday season might be the opposite for some what happens during this holiday season is a culmination of what’s been happening through an um entire year Dr Russell Hancock a psychologist with

Atrium Health says mental health and depression can be big talking points this time of year pointing towards large Gatherings and constant moving around it could contribute to anxiety and there’s an expectation that people are supposed to in quotations feel a certain way according to Nami a report shows that

Around 24% of people with mental illnesses find the holidays make their condition quote a lot worse and 40% quote somewhat worse Hancock says there are things you can do to check in on someone’s mental state this holiday season there’s this tendency to believe that if I ask someone if they’re

Depressed or if I ask someone if there’s something going on that then that means that that you’re going to be making something going on being realistic with people and being real with people about how are they feeling what what is it that they need if they need anything

During this period um can be critical he also mentions there are signs to look for is if someone is withdrawing more a few things to consider so this holiday season is good for everyone in Charlotte Austin Walker WCNC Charlotte and we have a full list of Mental Health Resources

Right now on our website wcnc.com we all know flashing yellow lights in a school zone means you need to slow down but what if the lights are flashing at night at a time when schools aren’t in session Megan brag gets us the answer in this morning’s verify WCNC Charlotte viewer James B

Took this video you can see on your screen on his cell phone near Providence Day School it shows lights flashing in a school zone at around 6:30 at night he wants to know if the flashing lights still apply even though it’s technically after school hours so let’s verify our

Sources are Matthew’s Police Department Pio Tim acok Providence Day School the city of Charlotte and North Carolina law the flashing lights on a school’s own speed limit sign are there to let drivers know when the lower speed is enforced according to North Carolina law the authorized lower speed limit is in

Effect when lights are flashing but we don’t know what other activities are at that school and they may have it set for that for a reason we reached out to the city of Charlotte since they are the ones in charge of the lights they told us the flashing lights are on a fixed

Schedule that the school provides at the beginning of the school year according to the schedule the school requested flashing lights from 2:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Providence day school has an extended day program that ends at 6:00 p.m. and if the school zone lights are flashing at let’s say 11: at night AO

Says it’s reasonable to assume school is not in session and the lights might be malfunctioning but if you ever have any doubts ACO says it’s best to just play it safe the easiest thing to do is just abide by that cuz it’s a slower speed limit and that’s good for everybody so

We can verify that yes the lights flashing at 6:30 p.m. near Providence Day School are working as they should because kids are getting out of its extended day program and motorists could be ticketed if they don’t observe the school speed limit at that time with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify atwc cnc.com at WCNC Charlotte we believe it is crucial to make a difference in our communities that’s why we go beyond just reporting the news we ask where’s the money to hold the powerful accountable

Particular you could face serious felony charges if you seriously injured somebody so we can verify that know it is not legal to cut off your headlights at night to better view the lights at McAdenville with your verifi I’m Megan Brown time now to conect the dots when

Fake snow on slopes than ever before let’s connect the dots data shows the Earth is getting warmer 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record by a significant margin and warmer temperatures mean less real snow experts predict more than half the world skew Resorts could be at risk for snow

Scarcity by 2100 and some believe it could be a lot sooner despite this lots of ski resorts around the world are now relying on artificial snow in Austria and Switzerland two places known worldwide for their snowy slopes more than half the resorts now use the fake stuff those snow making machines work by

Difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors a chartin is spreading some holiday cheer with his festive light

Show and you can see and hear it AB absolutely we just heard it too this is the second year he’s putting on the show making it even bigger and brighter why not right this year he’s also using his show to raise money for a good cause WCNC charlott Jesse Pierre is live in

The music and then you’ll see it dancing to the holiday Lights classic holiday Tunes synchron IED to more than 6,000 festive lights and decorations a holiday tradition 15-year-old Matthew the roers is keeping going in his South Charlotte Community picking up the torch after his neighbor moved away we have lights around the garages the windows we have little candy canes that’ll Dance The

The makee to look and do you want to go to the beach this year’s festivities have a special meaning to Matthew because he is raising money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation to help find a cure for Crohn’s disease a condition he knows too well it became

Up as we get closer to the holidays and I think adding a charity is just something extra that can help millions of other people now there’s a QR code right here while you’re here to connect to his fundraiser page P you can check out the display at 15333 Prescott Hill Avenue the display

What was his shirt again I love his shirt it’s like expert yeah exterior illumination expert we love love your shirt man man happy Holidays and Merry Christmas that is so good to see if you want to keep the holiday spirit going watch WCNC plus tonight at 11:30 we’ll share heartwarming stories of people

Girl uh justice is our um our heart baby r love one James and Jessica lead better knew before their little girl was born that she had a rare heart defect it was um a long journey thinking about it now is sort of like a blur coming in here day after day they

Of challenge for her parents oh my girl big problem at the house now a good problem she’s got a lot of spunk and that’s how they like it Justice is awesome she is our heart Warrior she is the face of what joy and grace looks like this was their first trip they say

It is the first though of many they have lots of deliveries planned in the coming weeks reporting in Charlotte Michelle bodden WCNC Charlotte connect the dots and let us clear up the confusion we’re here to make sure the news makes sense and with connect the dots you’ll understand how

Making a difference bringing a touch of joy into those Hospital hallways a breast cancer patient diagnosed in 2020 she says she never gave into cancer using it instead to start a foundation and let others going through cancer treatment know that they don’t have to do it alone as the big red trucks pull

Up to novon St judee’s affiliate clinic on Hawthorne Lane it’s not to put out a fire but to help bring some memorable joy to some of the young patients during the Christmas holiday I need 25 blue and 25 pink leading the charge is Myra Harris president and founder of cancer gave me

As she was able to pick up her pink gift bag I’m Miss Myra Merry Christmas to you cie is the big sister to London and two more that are on the way the mother of all four Rashana smokes knows this is just a huge burden lifted off her back

It means a lot especially because we have a lot going on right now so I appreciate everything you guys are doing for the kids every time 11-month-old London gets sick with sickle cell they’re spending lots of time at the hospital we have to come here especially

When she’s sick or has a fever we have to make sure she doesn’t have a crisis little gifts to land more smiles from baby London who just may be trying for a career in television it’s a blessing I mean because to know that I’m still on my

Journey and to know that it’s being well received and having partners that really appreciate what I’m doing that to me is my Christmas gift haris says she is looking to expand her efforts in 2024 by granting wishes to terminally ill breast cancer patients now back to you WCNC Charlotte this is flasho where

Power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson a Merry Christmas weekend to you and yours it is the season of giving our recent report out shows folks in North Carolina are donating more to charity $58 million to

Be exact but as cost rise Charities aren’t able to stretch their dollars as far over the next 30 minutes we’ll share with you some of the Charities and organizations really making a difference this holiday season but first joining us now is the North Carolina Secretary of State Alaine Marshall her office promotes economic

Development and helps oversee the business Community secretary welcome back we appreciate it thank you very much it’s delightful to be here so your office tracks charitable giving and and I know uh North Carolinians donated $58 million over a year that was an 18% increase um I know you have told people that that

It’s important to give generously but also give wisely explain that is correct um we regulate the Charities that have fundraisers the profession of fundraising uh the law exempt schools and um religious organizations but otherwise if they hire professional fundraiser or pay their staff at over a certain dollar

Amount they have to register with us so there are thousands and thousands of registered uh nonprofit entities with us and the law requires them to um either get an exemption or um file reports with us uh that shows how much they took in how much went to overhead and how much

Actually went to the charity when I say give wisely there are a lot of new organizations that pop up that don’t have the track record they may have the best of heart but don’t have the efficiency uh ability to um handle whatever the the need is and unfortunately we see scammers uh out

There um this time of year we do this report because people get a lot of communications if you ever gave a contri contribution you’re now on that organization’s list for repeat contribution and that’s fine and dandy uh but when you get ones out of the blue for organization that that you’ve never

Heard of perhaps a telephone call or perhaps an internet something uh we wish we would advise you to be very very very cautious the federal government tells us that upwards of 80 90% of those that appear online are fake uh they um whenever there’s a dis around the world

These uh organizations sometimes their state supported organizations in various parts of the world have wonderful but horrible pictures of disasters and uh they play upon the heartstrings of people uh if there’s something like that that you want to contribute to here’s my standard advice deal with a local branch

Of whomever is supplying that Relief by that it could be the Red Cross it could be the Baptist men it could be the men night church it could be the Methodist men they have a track record of being able to do the services uh Samaritans purse North Carolina based is another

One that has a track record of the ability to get into a disaster area with the proper equipment the proper people the proper knowhow to do what needs to be done so um there we have over 20 years worth of information up about how much has gone

To the actual charity and how much has gone to um um the the pocketbook of the fundraisers and all and you can go to sosnc.gov look up Charities and then you will find tons tons of information uh and you will unfortunately see that some only 10% goes to the charity or 20% goes

To the charity I haven’t conducted a survey but I truly believe in my heart that most North Carolinians believe that a higher percentage of that needs to go to the actual good work you when someone makes a donation it’s a matter of trust it’s a matter of an investment of their

Trust that sort of transparency is really helpful so people can see for themselves and that’s whether it’s now in the holiday season or in the middle of of Summer anytime that’s helpful um do you have a good sense for even though I know uh do donations are up um and

Charitable giving is up um how inflation has impacted some of these Charities well yes we do uh the amount donated went up about1 million um you mentioned the figure 58 million it was about 48 million last year so North Caroline are very generous it went up about 10 million uh the amount going

To Charities went up five million but we do find that the cost of running these fundraising campaigns have gone up uh with inflation everybody’s felt it in their own pocketbook and their own lives uh so but that was not unreasonable the amount was not exorbitant that um um we we

Gleaned from the reports so Charities are trying to be very smart the the really ethical ones the good ones uh are really trying to be very smart and squeeze as much service out of each and every dollar they get um all of this data you all accumulate um and have

Oversight over how rigorous is that process um that that your office goes through to to sort of get this information and get it right well they Charities have to be registered and sometimes we find some that aren’t we also find scam Charities and we have here in North Carolina and

We have criminal authority over them so if you feel like uh you’ve been engaged with one of those take a screenshot gather all the information you can and let us know and we will investigate it as I say some are inefficient and some are straight out Cooks uh just trying to

Steal your money but our oversight um we we don’t audit the reports per se but we do believe that by having public transparency where people can see they can see the folks who are not efficient or even Bad actors out there if they’re registered with us so the registration

Process requires a lot of information about the organization then it requires a copy of their uh federal tax return uh so you can see exactly about expenses in their General categories so there um we wait well we respond to complaints uh more so than we do from any type of

Internal auditing because we just don’t have the internal auditing capacity if somebody brings something outrageous to our attention then we do get into looking at it further you talk about $58 million donated over a year time span um what impact I want to go Broad View what

Impact do those donations have not only on the Charities but on the state as a whole there is such a need for the nonprofit Community to step up uh government and even religion can’t meet all of the needs that are out there you don’t have to go very far whether it’s a

Large city like Raleigh or Charlotte or out in the country to see that there is poverty out there to see that people are probably freezing on a day like today where it’s very cold uh just all sorts of need is evident as you drive around uh even the the wealthier cities like

Raleigh and Charlotte so um the need is out there um government can’t fill all the gaps and we just have to rely upon the good hearts and gracious and graciousness of of people to help make the plight of others a little bit more comfortable and some of the information

That that your office has helps people make a educated decision about where they aim that charitable giving all right Secretary of State Elaine Marshall secretary thanks for coming on we appreciate it Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas thank you happy holidays to you and and happy giving to everybody

Else take care more flash after this welcome back turning now to your Sunday forecast but first some live pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve and you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of

The house for a few days with sitting next to meteorologist Britney van Vorhees tomorrow is not going to be as perfect for the second half of the day correct we are going to see The Return of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will

See more more clouds compared to now but still I actually like a cloudy Sunrise the more clouds if you can get a little bit of sun the actual prettier it is because clouds the light bounces off of them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things

Every single day yeah you learn something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much

Better than last year how we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10° warmer than average for this time of year but after

The record cold last year the year before we were talking about record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain storms eventually returns

You can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know the clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them

Overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues

Getting around and about the Carolina delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and

They will dominate the forecast for the rest of Christmas day so let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry

It’s most spots west of I77 are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and you you look at the hour by hour

Forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete planed Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have

A few extra hours but heavier rain but develop after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust

About 25 miles hour from Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 miles per hour on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or they’re family Heir liims you don’t want them to blow away

So be alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up

These rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few

Thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then in a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of

The New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so Much Americans on average save about $121 a month on their power bill when they switch to solar panels but could those savings put you at risk if there’s a fire in your house here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify more homes in the US have solar

Are trained to disconnect the power from The Home hunterville Fire Department says they take into account all of these variables when fighting a fire and while solar panels can present a challenge and some additional difficulty they say it’s not something they can’t navigate the department of energy says you should let

Fire a little more difficult with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verified email us at verify wcnc.com how to connect the dots when we make the news make sense automakers are looking to revamp the future of cars and the advancements May personalize your vehicle more than ever

Before technology is helping us do some pretty incredible things to the outside of our cars let’s connect the dots BMW is currently working on an experimental coding that access what they call digital ink meaning someday your car could have more than 30 colors to choose from and even change color with the

Weather the same Tech that already allows your car to pay for Highway tools could soon help you pay for a lot more the emerging category of incar payments would help you pay at a drive-thru and even automatically apply discounts to your car orders and as cars become more

Advanced many of the issues that may have dragged you to the service center could one day be handsfree think of it like a smartphone update your car would download updates overnight and be ready to roll by your daily commute saving you time and money and that is connecting the Dots 537 now and we’re asking where’s the money for student loan payers good Tuesday morning it’s been about two months since student loan payments ramped back up and now those paying the bill are getting a better idea of exactly how they have to adjust to the payments so let’s get into this

Article from money.com writers there dug into a report from Mass Mutual the finding say among Americans with student loan debt 80% say they have to reduce their spending due to that debt as for where folks are cutting Corners well luxuries are the first to go at 44% of respondents but here’s the alarming

Piece some about 37% are having to cut back on their essential purchases now Mass Mutual adds about 3ars of us with student loans payments say that the restart has had a negative impact on our day-to-day Financial Health numbers like those have some considering skipping out on payments altogether which is why

We’re reminding people what happened happens if you do there is a misconception here President Biden’s on-ramp gives people an entire year before they can be considered delinquent on their loans usually you’ve only got 90 days to miss that payment but just because you have 12 months for student

Student loan services go to credit bureaus doesn’t mean that your credit is saved money.com broke it down like this even if delinquencies aren’t reported well credit scoring companies may still be able to see those Mis payments and they may still be able to count them against you hurting your credit score

It’s why we want your help this morning what is your best money-saving tip make sure you text us 704 329 3600 Ben also new tonight a local college student says she’s found the inspiration for her studies at the hospital she was taken care of yeah she was a child when

Doctors told her she has a chronic and difficult disease and now she’s studying so she could work at the very place that helped her LaVine Children’s Hospital WCNC Charlottes Michelle Bowden shows us how this young woman is making a difference Isabella was just 11 when she was diagnosed with lupus and she said

Says the doctors and nurses at the hospital took such good care of her she wants to do the same for other kids that’s why she’s now in college studying to be a nurse for Isabella McCrae putting on her lab coat and stethoscope means everything what does it feel like

To you when you put that cat on and the stethoscope it’s an honor it’s an honor um it makes me feel like I’m part of not only the chronic illness Community but also someone who cares for the chronic illness Community the 20-year-old has been a patient since she was just a kid

Just the care and the compassion that they showed me I’ve never felt that before only in a parent um and so that inspired me to become a nurse and work El veins she’s currently a junior at wind studying to be a nurse hoping to be doing rounds here at lavine’s Children’s

Hospital in the near future so you want to work here I do I do yes because lupus is a chronic illness she still struggles with it currently I’m having a flare up so that just goes to show that although you have bad days you don’t let it

A nursing student I’m also a daughter if all goes as planned she hopes to be working here at LaVine Children’s Hospital as early as next year reporting in Charlotte Michelle Bowden WCNC Charlotte time now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense if you’re hopping on that holiday flight this week the entertainment could be impacting you more than you realize inlight entertainment is more than just killing time it may be an airline’s answer to getting more

Watch the latest box office hit people think they’re getting a better deal Airlines around the world spend nearly half a billion dollars on inflight entertainment today most Airlines have staff designated to curating exactly which movies make the cut United Airlines has taken it a step further and giving all their planes seat back

Screens the airline’s chief executive says the screens make passengers choose United more often plus indie films and TV shows are popular in inflight movie watching right now it’s one of the only times consumers have access and the time to check those titles out and that is connecting the dots new tonight

Nick stent shows us what is on the horizon for Concord families in need this is only within 3 minutes 2 three minutes of downtown Concord where you have major development going on there Patrick Graham says his work is personal my mother worked all her life 50 plus years before before she retired

She passed away this past year and was never able to own and as a young man I thought that I would be able to provide her that opportunity and it’s one of the things that I sort of failed at it didn’t happen so I carry that chip on my

Shoulder that chip that Graham carries leading him to start web build Concord they’re some of the best looking homes on the Block the affordable housing developer started in 2019 with the help of public and private funds Graham says the agency helps those making between 30 to 80% of the area

Median income we have sort of this hidden Mantra uh we build affordable housing by any legal means necessary he says a big goal is to increase home ownership in areas like this one the historic Logan Community this is a traditionally African-American Community it’s one that has an ownership rate

That’s below 40% right now we build Concord is in the process of building the Lincoln Street Town Homes here you talking about 26 Town Homes for affordable and Workforce housing ownership Graham says the first eight are set to open in a few months just down the street he says they are turning

This abandoned church on ker Street into Loft departments and a space for entrepreneurs and just a couple of blocks away from here we’ve taken lots that usually usually would be reserved for single homes and created um these Town Homes more homes including this one a new home for a

Lincoln Street town home should be complete by the middle of next year also the Cur Street Lo Apartments the site of that former church as you just saw will be done within a year now if you’re interested in applying for a home or learning more about we build Concord you

For you then with the story right right right right I think it’s interesting you bring up a good point we talked so much about meinberg County and affordable housing right so many fol are pouring into this community but those that can’t find a home have to go elsewhere so it’s

Great to see that other communities are thinking about that ahead of time being proactive about it no days off for Patrick Graham so looks like it looks like he’s working every day even through the holidays too great story welcome back turning now to your Sunday forecast but first some live

Pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve and you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of the house for a few days was sitting next to meteorologist Britney van Vorhees tomorrow is not going to be as

Perfect for the second half of the day correct we are going to see The Return of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will see more clouds compared to now but still I actually like a cloudy Sunrise the more clouds if you can get a little

Bit of sun the actual prettier it is because clouds the light bounces off of them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things every single day yeah you learn something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like a little mini weather IQ

You in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much

11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10 degrees warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year the year before we were talking about record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we

Enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know

Today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know the clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation

From leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues getting around and about the Carolinas delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually

Reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the forecast for the rest of Christmas day so let’s time out the forecast here here

Here we are at noon time notice at a brief chance Force some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will progress

Closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and usually you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but

If you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain develops after 6:00 and then that’s

Pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 miles hour for Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 mph on

Tuesday so don’t forget those inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or they family Heir lims you don’t want them to blow away so be alerted of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all

That Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by-

Hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 a day partly sunny those afternoon show hour and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then a much cooler and drier pattern moves in

For the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 20123 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so much at WCNC Charlotte we really want to

Make a difference we have tools like ver ify and where’s the money to really listen to viewers and see what they’re struggling with whether that’s trying to get money that you deserve or answering a question that’s confusing you we’re not the experts we’re interviewing the experts and that’s why we want to bring

It to you so you can see the facts how we check them and how we get the Answer and if you were hoping for a white Christmas well Charlotte’s weather won’t deliver this year but you can still enjoy the next best thing the annual winter festival known as light the nights at truest field in Uptown Charlotte so we sent Larry Sprinkle to sample the snow tubing among other

Things there’s literally a winter wonderland in uptown Charlotte all at the light the nights festival at truest field it’s a great family experience daytime or nighttime you guys ready to light theight yeah more like okay what do what do you you excited about seeing here I’m excited about the tubing the

Tubing what about you uh the tubing from the TU what about you skating come on follow me let’s have a good time come on Good Times one of the big attractions is a full-size ice skating rink experienced or not kids are loving it and adults too

This is Brady and this is llan is that right and you guys are from Canada originally yes he isn’t but I’m I’m half and half half and half and you’re so you love the skating out here I I guess yeah everybody ready to skate yeah all right

Go skate and they are off back this year is the very popular Tubing Hill now with 10 action-packed lanes it’s the perfect spot for a fun race with one and only Homer the dragon Homer what about it I challenge you you challenge me up on top

All right here we go yeah I’m ready you ready Homer and here we go a amazing 150 mph yeah woo un unbelievable hey Homer thank you man un what a team what a duo we are thank you very much if you’re interested in some Christmas shopping that’s part of the

Light the night’s Festival there are 22 vendors with a gift for anyone on the list oh it’s awesome to have a popup um it’s great for small businesses gets us gets our name out there um it’s awesome just to be here and spread Christmas joy and don’t miss the chance to visit Santa

Most snow you will see in years it’s all during light tonights at truest phille Larry Sprinkle WCNC Charlotte we’re coming up on 539 this morning and we’re asking where’s the money this holiday shopping season good morning and happy Monday online sales are bringing in historic sales right now but there’s

Been a misconception that most people prefer filling their cart on their cell phones compared to in the store it’s a myth that Pew research is here to bust so starting with this Trends have almost always shown that people buy more in that last quarter of the year now the

Data for this year’s shopping habits is still being pulled so we’re going to take a look at 2022 that’s when online sales saw a 23% jump between October in December now Across the Nation that dollar amount comes in at about 303 billion bucks still in that same fourth

Quarter of 2022 retail stores only saw about 16% of their sales coming from computers now there’s another clue that I want to clue you in on here an important factor to keep in mind when this information in this research is being gathered it’s actually including places that have both a storefront and

Store stores that are strictly online so among retailers that do have physical stores online sales RS as well but the jump just looks different depending on what stores we’re talking about that’s nearly 9% at general merchandise stores like your Walmart your target about 5% at food and beverage stores and then

About 4 and a half% at those health and personal care stores so it’s why we’re asking this morning when it comes to your gift shopping did you shop for gifts online or in person this year make sure you text us at 704 329 3600 well did you have any aches or

Pains that resurfaced with all the rain and cold temperatures well there might actually be a scientific reason for that here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check have you ever heard of weather related joint pain our chief meteorologist posted this on his Facebook page and it’s gotten over 200

Comments and shares it’s believed that changes in barometric pressure can trigger certain Sensations in your joints so let’s get the facts our source R WCNC chief meteorologist Brad panovich and the Cleveland Clinic last weekend the Carolinas were hit by a massive area of low pressure and an accompanying

Storm called a nor Easter panovich says it’s that low atmospheric pressure that can really bring the pain when there’s high pressure it’s like having a mountain of air above your head when there’s low pressure the atmosphere is actually thinner so there’s less air pushing on your body a Cleveland Clinic

Study on people who live with arthritis found that their aches increased on days with higher humidity lower barometric pressure pressure and stronger winds but why is this people that have injuries or arthritis they have fluid or voids in their joints and what happens is when the pressure goes down those voids or

Fluids expands so it puts a little pressure on your joint and causes discomfort or pain and in the winter time panovich says that’s when you feel it the most get throwing the fact that it’s cold outside and people tend to feel things a little more when it’s

Chilly so next time your body is aching check the WCNC weather app you might be able to blame it on the WEA weather with your verify fact check I’m Megan brag if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com with your help WCNC Charlotte is making

A difference in our community beautiful day so many people helping this is incredible let’s spread that love tonight here is a $5,000 check that you guys can use to further the mission there is nothing on earth like the feeling of giving back with your hand $5,000 to you and bl love Charlotte for

What you guys do if you’d like to make a difference go to wcnc.com slake a difference now when you think of snow you may be thinking of a scene like this a winter wonderland but when you zoom into these falling snowflakes their intricate beauty is one of the coolest things in

Nature let’s learn how they form in another weather IQ you may heard of the saying no two snowflakes are alike because they have different branches and designs that make each one unique the process is complicated so let’s start with square one or in this case hexagon one a snowflake starts as a small

Particle such as a speck of dust where water vapor condenses onto it as we know a water molecule has two hydrogen atoms in one oxygen atom these hydrogen atoms link together crystallize and then form a hexagon or a hexagonal prism so this is why snowflakes most commonly have six

Sides from here branches can form on the corners bonding to the second hydrogen atom but the process isn’t done this snowflake will continue to rise into colder air in the cloud gaining more branches and dendroides as more tiny water particles bond to the flake once the plate becomes too heavy it then

Falls the two main atmospheric factors are temperature and level of humidity however it’s the temperature that mainly shapes a snowflake when temperatures are warmer say 28° to freezing snowflakes tend to fall as thin hexagon plates but a higher humidity level can create larger flakes or even create the basic

Classic snowflake there are 35 different shapes of snowflakes such as needles and columns that fall in colder temps from 14 to 27° but colder temperatures that are 10° or less produce the most common and intricate snowflakes these are known as Stellar dendrites but in this range another snowflake that’s equally a

Spectacular forms called the Stellar plate I’m meteorologist Chris M wnc Charlotte these are indicators of a violent nature um that can be taken out on human beings and yet the sentencing doesn’t reflect that meinberg County’s top prosecutor on the seriousness of animal abuse offenses like animal cruelty and dog fighting but

As you heard there district attorney Spencer Maryweather says North Carolina’s laws do not provide teeth to the punishment for these crimes the da responding to questions over a recent case in Charlotte where the dog fighter pleaded guilty to a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges his punishment he

Surrenders dozens of dogs in his care and faces a 5-year ban on owning animals no fine no jail time related to the animal offenses Animal Advocates say this is just the latest example of North Carolina lagging behind most of the country in its animal protections if

Someone is willing to harm uh an animate being that we know that it’s not that much of a leap and a jump before they commit that same sort of violence before a human being and yet mecklinburg district attorney Spencer Merryweather says North Carolina’s laws don’t punish animal abusers accordingly even the most

Bottom 10% of all states John McHugh is with the American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and leads efforts to strengthen animal legislation in the Carol in he says North Carolina has quite a bit of work to do with no major changes to animal policy in decades we introduced the bill

Firsttime dog fighters the legislation however did not pass failing to make it out of committee none of these issues get any traction if we don’t have advocates in that are elected officials that push for them Mary weather says sometimes that takes citizens making the push to elected officials to let them

Of what fans expect and has the leverage to hold teer and the team’s front office accountable if a Newton made was made president he would be only the fourth former NFL player currently ly in a prominent front office role Panthers fans took to social media very quickly following this pitch uh the consensus

Was they want him in the front office a lot of people saying they believe he would bring a winning culture back to the Carolinas so this morning we want to know what do you think about all this should Cam Newton uh be made the team president of the Panthers let us know text

Sometimes it can bring life back into the team that’s happened I felt like with Steve spur and the gator when spur came back to the gator the old quarterback he was yeah we remember the days when Mr spur but you know when he came back he I mean he works with alumni

He doesn’t even really work with the team itself but being a former player he he understands I think you know uh Cam Newton his relatability one thing about him in the locker room they loved him so having that positive presence I be great for the it’s needed a car North Carolina

Then you know you have to get your car inspected every year and that inspection may include an emissions test but could this soon change here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify fact check we got a text message sent to us from someone who heard the emissions test for vehicles is being eliminated in

North Carolina counties but what does this really mean for drivers Let’s Get the facts our sources are the EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality the EPA says the yearly emissions test program helps maintain Federal air quality standards in the state however the 2023 state

Budget bill that passed back in October could eliminate emissions testing in 18 of the 19 North Carolina counties that currently require them the only County that would continue to require emissions test would be mecklinburg County despite the fact that the bill passed the emissions provision is still not in

Effect the Department of Environmental Quality must first submit its 2023 State implementation plan Amendment to the EPA the EPA would then have to approve the amendment before it could take effect so we’re talking a few years from now and plenty of vehicles in North Carolina are already exempt from emissions testing

It’s only required as we said in 19 out of the 100 counties in the state and even in those counties there are vehicles that don’t have to pass emissions test any vehicle that is 20 years or older exempt diesel operated or registered as a farm vehicle also exempt

If you want to know if your car must pass an emmissions test in order to pass inspection reach out to the ncdmv with your verifi fact check I’m Megan Bragg if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com thank you welcome back turning now to your

Sunday forecast but first some live pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve and you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of the house for a few days with sitting next to meteorologist Britney van

Tomorrow is not going to be as perfect for the second half of the day correct we are going to see The Return of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will see more clouds compared to now but still I actually like a cloudy Sunrise the more

Clouds if you can get a little bit of sun the actual prettier it is because clouds the light bounces off of them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things every single day yeah you learn something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like

A little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record

Which was last year today not so much 11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10 degrees warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year the year before we were talking about record

Warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full

Look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know that clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures try to cool

Off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues getting around in about the Carolinas delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course

We’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the forast for the rest of Christmas day so

Let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77

That are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and us you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the

Afternoon so it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but

Heavier rain but develops after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 miles hour from Monday

Night they could Peak even closer to 30 mph on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or their family Heir lims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of

Course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and

You’ll see this reflected in my hour by- hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then in

A much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so much WCNC charot

Weather is a kind of science that you get to see and experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact on how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I think it really is one of those

Defining things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors giving back to his community

Charlotte rapper the baby gave out toys to thousands of people for its annual Christmas giveaway event family started lining up as early as 6:00 this morning WCNC Charlotte Miles Harris was there and saw firsthand the impact it’s making helping families one gift at a time Charlotte native de baby held his

Annual Christmas giveaway just a few days before Christmas from Toys to bikes to TVs each item aimed to brighten the Christmas spirit I like to to grow up and you know put on a positive example on how to do what I saw my mama doing growing up man and just give back to

People you know I mean spread blessings around make sure everybody enjoy their holidays the Charlotte native chose the Eastway Drive Church of God a church he grew up in to hold the giveaway there families wasted no time lining up for hours according to the organizers over 6,000 people participated There You

Go including ebony gram and her 9-year-old son he didn’t forget about us for sure you know what I’m saying so that makes us feel good you know that we have somebody in our own City that represents and makes sure the kids good and you know get back to the

Message is just spreads your blessings man give back give back give back give back when you blessed if you able to bless others you know what I’m saying bless others with the hope of making a difference for families this holiday season in North Charlotte I’m Miles Harris WCNC

It hitting home as Charlotte Douglas Airport has already seen more firearms come through compared to last year WCNC Charlotte’s Miles Harris tells us how authorities plan to put a dent in this disturbing Trend TSA agents at Charlotte Douglas they’re geing up to see a lot more Travelers go through these checkpoints

As this holiday traveling season is officially underway and an important part of their job is making sure that Firearms don’t go through we’re asking people to really pay attention to what they’re bringing with them to to the security checkpoint to the airport in general Mark Hal with TSA says there’s a

Right way to travel with the firearm but not enough people are doing it it’s an issue airports throughout the country are seeing Firearms being detected at security checkpoints and right here at Charlotte Douglas International 118 Firearms have been stopped at checkpoints surpassing last year’s number of 117 Mark how breaking down what happens

When TSA agents spot a firearm in someone’s luggage that’s going to slow slow things down for everybody what what happens when we have a firearm is we’re going to call law enforcement in to remove it because 90% of the time it’s loaded um so for everybody’s safety we’re going to let law enforcement

Remove that firearm and the passenger from the area here’s the safe way to travel with the firearm it should be in a hard sided case with padding and completely unloaded the firearm also has to be declared at the ticket counter prior to Flying Larry Hyatt with Hyatt

Guns says they had products to help Travelers avoid any issues but if you want to take your gun with you on a trip we’ve got these special boxes they have special locks for TSA approved and you they’re not even that expensive and you can take it on the

Plane you have to do it as check luggage disregard the rules at your own Peril so the consequences can be steep including findes citations and enhanced screenings what we’re we’re trying to do is is teach people the right way to travel with firearms and and really let them

Know the consequences of bringing it to the checkpoint the goal is to ensure the safety of all air travel wor as people head home for the holidays at Charlotte Douglas Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte WCNC Charlotte good morning Carolinas tune in to the team that’s preparing you for your day the one and

Only Larry Sprinkle see the difference in your morning it is bitter cold just about anywhere you look here’s a look right here at I77 Northbound trying to make your dollar stretch a little bit further responsible reporting Community focused unique content it’s so good to see y’all are having too much fun see the

Difference weekday mornings on WCNC Charlotte Gaston County Schools will continue to defy North Carolina law District leaders unanimously voted on the new calendar year to start sooner than state law allows yeah WCNC Charlotte Lexi Wilson shows us how this keeps happening during this year’s legislative session the North Carolina General

Assembly did not take action to double down on the school start date law or relax it now Gaston County Schools is going with what the community wanted instead of North Carolina law it’s something that other school districts have done too for over a decade North Carolina law has required school districts to start

School on the Monday closest to August 26th it’s legislation that’s been pushed by the state’s tourism industry a later start date to the school year allows more tourism throughout the month of August but school boards across North Carolina Ina have said let local school districts decide their calendar year for

Encouraged districts to do earlier this year I more flexibility for the local districts and for the parents to have input in that so uh I think there ought to be greater flexibility the Department of Public Instruction says it doesn’t have a written policy or procedure in place for taking action against

Districts that start school early next item on the agenda is our Gaston County school calendar of 2024 and 2025 Gaston County Education leaders breaking North Carolina law again Monday night they unanimously approved early start options opening August 14th in 2024 and August 13th in 2025 both early start options received

Overwhelming approval with everyone who participated in a survey which included employees parents students and community members and again there is no penalty for the school districts that vote to open early reporting for WCNC Charlotte I’m Lexie Wilson well we thanks for coming back for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield

I’m Vanessa Rufus a Charlotte artist had suspected for months that her art had been stolen she eventually learned it was indeed stolen and artificial intelligence did it yeah what do you do at that point WCNC Charlotte Jane monreal shows us with AI scrapping work that creators rely on selling to make a

Living many artists are asking where’s the money you know I’ve tried to get it taken down and everything but it doesn’t really matter because it’ll just get scraped again and it’ll end up back on the website so um yeah uh it’s kind of a a dystopian

Thing to be dealing with now Eliana esal has been making art since she was 16 sometimes even when she was living in her car art was her way out back then and is her full-time job now when she figured out her work was scraped for AI

She was in the beginning of a residency at Goodyear Arts at Camp North End to see that it was scraped and that people are just reproducing it for for free um with no context as to how it was made or like why it was made they

Like I don’t know that was a really a kind of like sobering moment of like artists need to protect their work a little bit more because of this she decided to explore medium safer from AI sculptural work there’s something so honest about it and it’s so refreshing

It’s it’s like taken a lot of weight off of me just to get to explore that side of art that I never really cared that much about until this happened still she’s worried it’s getting harder to tell what role AI plays in any form of

Art art will never be the same you can’t really put it back in the Box Helen King the pre-law adviser at Johnson C Smith University says society’s in a gray area when it comes to AI we’re in many ways in the Wild Wild West trying to figure out where the parameters are um

So right now I think think until the law and and Industry standards and even academic practices begin to standardize and catch up we’re going to see a lot of issues pop up like this where we don’t really know where to go from here esel said she believes for real change to

Happen more people need to speak up in support of artists it’s taking over everything and you know if you if you tell the artist to stop whining when they’re bringing this up then when they come for your job you have to starve in silence Jane monreal WCNC Charlotte and

Well to Colin’s point right what do you do there’s a system researchers at the University of Chicago have been working on it allows artists to protect their work from Ai and if you’d like to learn more about that you can look for Jane’s story inside the WCNC Charlotte App wake up to the news that matters most with meteorologist and traffic reporter Chris M M and we’re all clear we’re keeping you smarter safer and on time start your day the Mahi way see the difference 4:30 to7 on WCNC Charlotte now it is time to connect the dots when

To conserve that land WCNC Charlotte’s kayin hagwood is giving us a closer look at that effort tonight L well Farmers say preserving their land is one of their biggest concerns as a city continues to grow but one group says they’re doing what they can to ensure that Farmland stays that way

The city working to make sure that there’s a produ in a local food system while the city says it does have policies to encourage farming it doesn’t classify Farms specifically as farm land which can make it easier to turn Farms into neighborhoods as the area grows and

To ensure local farms will never become anything else through easement a legally binding process we’re looking at properties in mecklinburg and and throughout that 15 County region but those areas that have heavy development pressure um and where that pressure is butting up against agricultural production that’s really where we’re looking to step in

Us safer and more secure in our food system multiple efforts towards supporting A system that works to support us oh the farmers provide for the restaurants for the schools for the uh businesses Etc councilwoman azir says the city will continue its community area planning into the new year if

Anyone wants to make a comment kayln hagwood WCNC Charlotte when it comes to W cnc’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic our viewers tell the whole story hey if you’re new to the area this meteorologist is awesome I always stick with Brad panovic when it comes to severe weather he’s rarely wrong you

Should follow follow Brad if you don’t already he’s usually right on the money with his forecast I don’t look at anything else besides what Brad says we are fortunate to have him here Brad panovich experience the difference with WCNC Charlotte weather well the Food and Drug Administration recently concluded that a popular over-the-counter

Decongestant is not effective it has to do with an active ingredient in many cold medications including those sold under the CVS brand so if you bought these produ prodcts could you be eligible for a legal settlement Megan brag verifies so these are just some of the posts that we’re seeing on social media

Ingredient but not the only active ingredient so we can verify that yes there are several class action lawsuits against CVS claiming the drugstore chain manufactured and sold cold medicine in a false misleading and deceptive manner with your verify I’m Megan Brat when did you know what you wanted to be hey Mom the weather’s on WCNC Charlotte’s chief meteorologist Brad panovich always knew what he was meant to do all right don’t forget your umbrella in fact he joined the American Meteorological societ when he was 13 now Brad is all grown up

You can see him right here on WCNC Charlotte making sure you’re informed and safe hey where did all my hair go experience the difference welcome back turning now to your Sunday forecast but first some live pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve

And you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of the house for a few days with sitting next to meteorologist Burney V Vorhees tomorrow is not going to be as perfect for the second half of the day correct

We are going to see The Return of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will see more clouds compared to now but still I actually like a cloudy Sunrise the more clouds if you can get a little bit of sun the actual prettier it is because

Clouds the light bounces off of them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things every single day yeah you learn something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville

Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny

Partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10 degrees warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year the year before we were talking about record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild for forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend

As yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but

Tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know the clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does

So that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues getting around and about the Carolinas delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain

Chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the forecast for the rest of Christmas day so let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time no notice at a brief

Chance for some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the

Heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and you you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan

Those before to if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain but develops after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but

Something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 miles hour from Monday night they could peek even closer to 30 mph on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas

Decoration ations whether you got them this year or their family air lims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and

Bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by- hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow

Tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the

Last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so much andc charot this is flasho where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get get asked and answered thanks for joining us

Here on flasho I’m Ben Thompson today a one-on-one interview with the chief executive of North Carolina Roy Cooper entering his final year in office but it comes after several big and very public battles with the Republican super majority in the general assembly the governor weighs in on this past year and

His plans for the future joining us now the 75th governor of the state of North Carolina Roy Cooper Governor thanks for coming on and joining us we appreciate it glad to be with you today Ben all right so let’s begin with Medicaid expansion it launched a few weeks ago you’ve said

It was one of the most important things to happen this year 600,000 people now with HealthCare coverage but we also know that Republicans tied it to the budget and you’ve called that a bad budget that quote short changes Schools prioritizes power grabs keeps Shady back room deals secret so it begs the

Question governor was Medicaid expansion worth it absolutely was you know when you’re in government and trying to do good for the people sometimes you have to forge compromises to find the best way forward and I think one of the best days I’ve had as Governor is being in an

Enrollment center in Charlotte and seeing everyday working people finally being able to get health care coverage for themselves uh one person I talked to had health insurance for the first time in their adult life and we’re talking about health insurance for our child care workers people who stock our

Grocery stores people who look after seniors people who had been making a little too much money to qualify for Medicaid coverage but not enough money to qualify for enough subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to make them be able to have affordable health insurance so this will mean so much to those

Families it will help to make sure that we keep our rural hospitals open it will help our law enforcement there’s a reason that we had tough on crime sheriffs coming down to the legislature and saying hey we need Medicaid expansion because a lot of the people we

Deal with have mental health issues and substance use disorder and they need health care and not handcuffs this is was an exciting day for North Carolina is going to create good paying jobs and it’s the right thing to do for our state it allows us to bring in that

$521 million a month from the federal government in tax money that you and I have already paid to Washington to come back to North Carolina to keep people healthier to create good paying jobs to keep rural hospitals open and I am so excited uh that North Carolina finally

Has gotten there we’ve also created a road map for the other 10 states that have yet to do it a bipartisan coalition of people who finally agreed that Medicaid expansion was the right thing for North Carolina and I’m excited about it yeah I mean it 10 years been in the

Making um when local lawmaker Trisha cam switched parties in the spring it gave Republicans a super majority as you know and it really tied your hands you suffered a number of legislative defeats this year curious do you blame her or do you blame Democrats including yourself for allowing that to

Happen well I look at this year is a very positive one because we have record-breaking numbers of jobs being brought into North Carolina uh we are becoming a clean energy epicenter and I’ve done that by working in a bipartisan way with the general assembly uh we’re going to be able to roll off

Electric vehicles we’re going to be able to bring those great paying jobs to to people’s families yes it was disappointing to see the Republicans get a super majority when that’s not what the people voted for but what we’re going to continue to do is in this 2024

Election to let people know that women’s reproductive freedom is at stake public education is at stake our public school students now are going to suffer because the general assembly has passed a private school voucher bill on steroids that’s going to allow the very rich to collect taxpayer money to keep their children in

Private and we’re going to let them know that it’s time to make sure we break that super majority in the general assembly and continue the balance that has been so important to our state growing it’s been so important to making us the third fastest growing state in

The country it’s been so important to make sure that we are for the second year in a row the number one state in the country to do business there are a lot of positive things that are happening in our state despite the fact that we have a super majority in the

General assembly but I the people of North Carolina are going to correct that next year in the 2024 elections what does your relationship look like with Tim Moore and fili Berger right now do you see anything changing that Dynamic changing in any way uh next year well it’s important to note that we

Have worked together to pass clean energy legislation in North Carolina that requires our power sector to reduce carbon emissions to Zero by 2050 we’ve come together to work to invest the billions of dollars in federal money that we’re going to have to fix water systems pave roads provide more public

Transportation uh to fix our ports and airports to connect every household to high-speed internet access uh they have given me the authority to go out and recruit businesses with performance-based incentives that have helped to draw great paying jobs to North Carolina and they only get the tax credits if they

Create the jobs at the salaries that they’ve said they’ve created so we’ve worked together to do all of those things obviously we’ve had disagreements and uh for the last four years before they broke the super majority we were able to stop a lot of their bad legislation that attacked

Women’s reprodu Ive Freedom that got Coral Wars back into our schools but of course during the first couple of months of this year they passed those things they passed an abortion ban uh they passed a don’t say gay Bill those pieces of legislation are wrong for our state

They’re wrong in and of themselves but it has the potential to hurt us economically down the road and we’re looking forward to the elections next year to try and fix some of that people need to be aware that Republicans are working to take away completely women’s reproductive freedom and they need to

Think about that when they go to the polls up next on flash point our interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper continues next the governor’s plans for the future and what he’s considering after leaving office thank you for making WCNC Charlotte’s magical toy drive a huge success this year along

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Like Jack in the Box tiny tacos my crunchy tiny tacos with creamy avocado lime sauce there’s a lot to like I have a confession too one time I I’ve been advised to stop talking tiny tacos get them regular or loaded we are back with more of our interview with North Carolina governor

Roy Cooper He’s getting ready to start his last year in office and he already has big plans for what he wants to achieve with a Republican dominated General Assembly what would you say is your top priority heading into the new year well first we need to make sure

That we invest this Federal money that’s coming down to make sure we do it in the most effective and efficient way and that means getting on the ground and actually connecting households to highspeed internet and businesses making sure that we’re getting these roads fixed and that we are in enhancing our

Public transportation to get people from one place to the next in a faster and cleaner way I’m also going to work to uplift public education and our public school students uh you know I’ve talked a lot with Republicans about the best way uh to make sure that our schools are

The best they can be and we have a lot of differences but two things we agree on is a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school and you do that by investing to make sure that we pay them well that we

Respect them and lift them up and we don’t waste money billions of dollars on private school vouchers that really don’t help people get a better education and only take money away from our Public Schools uh I’m going to work to create a lot of energy in the business

Community one of the main reasons why why we are the number one state for business is our amazing well-trained dedicated diverse Workforce the people of North Carolina and we’re not going to continue to have a great Workforce if we don’t invest in education from Cradle to Career early childhood education making

Sure we have quality Child Care making sure we have great principles and teachers in our Public Schools we already have the best community college system in the country and the best array of public and private universities in the country we need to keep improving our public schools to make sure we have

That Workforce for these businesses who are coming to North Carolina and expanding in North Carolina and I know why because this is the best state in the country and the best place to live work and raise a family right here well I don’t know too many people who would

Disagree with that um Governor if you could run again would you yeah I sure would uh this this has been an amazing opportunity it’s been the honor of my life to serve this state where I grew up uh where where I was born uh that I love so deeply we’ve been

Able to work together to have a real positive impact on North Carolina uh every day I wake up I think about things that we can do to make things better for everyday North Carolinians uh helping them have better education for their children a better paying job uh those

Are the kinds of things that I think about every day the fact that we’re going to have 600,000 more people have health care so yeah I do it again but the Constitution says I can’t so what I’m going to do is to work hard in the

Next election as if I were on the ballot because I want us to continue this progress I want us to continue this balance that we have in North Carolina that I think has made us so prosperous and I and I’m deeply grateful for the people for giving me this job and this

Honor and I’m working every day to meet the challenges and we should say you have a full year to sort of get your ducks in a row and decide what you want to do but I’m assuming that you don’t want to just go off into the sunset and

And fully retire that you still have a calling for public service and you want to be involved in your mind what does that look like does that mean running for elected offices again or does that mean working in the nonprofit world where do you see yourself come say

Family and after I get finished I’ll make that decision I do love Public Service um a few more items in the last few weeks you filed several challenges to the newly drawn Congressional Senate Maps here in North Carolina it’s something we talk about every single

Year um one way or the other we talk about it in your mind we talked to Jeff Jackson about this uh last week what do you think is a fair path forward in drawing these maps in a fair way no matter who’s in power we should have a process in place

Mander districts where uh Representatives choose their constituents instead of the other way around you end up with 10 Republicans and four Democrats maybe even 11 to3 uh that’s wrong under any scenario and whether we have blue Waves or red waves the process should be as Fair as possible districts should not be drawn

In a racial or Portis way uh independent redistricting commissions have worked pretty well in other states and it’s it’s time for North Carolina to do that and instead of us continuing to be the Epic Center of redistricting litigation like we have been for so long in the last few weeks federal government

Am announcing a billion dollars in spending when it comes to rail here in North Carolina between Raleigh and Richmond um and a number of Grants as well you appeared with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buddha judge uh what kind of impact could this have on the state what a great investment this would

Be to have High-Speed Rail uh from North Carolina all the way up the East Coast uh when we think about that we’re we’re talking about less congestion on our highways because even if you don’t take the train the people that are deciding to take the train are not going to be on

Our highways it is a clean fast efficient way to get from one place to the next I took the train from Raleigh to Greensboro and talked with people walked from car to car and talk with people about why they were on the train uh I talked to grandparents who really

Didn’t want to drive anymore but were headed down from Raleigh to Charlotte to visit grandchildren they love the train experience talked to a family going on vacation I talked to students who were returning to school in Greensboro and down in Charlotte uh getting uh back and

Forth to school in a fast and efficient way talk to commuters going to work talk to business people who were getting somewhere fast from one place to the next it was amazing seeing all the different people who loved their experience on the train saying that it

Was cheaper faster uh for them to get there in this way and if we continue to make these Investments it will allow us to get people from one place to the next in a cleaner faster more efficient way and will help relieve congestion on our highways final question we’re in the

Middle of the holidays I feel Duty bound to ask you do you the governor have a New Year’s resolution ah you know just to work as hard as ever I hadn’t really thought about that yet but uh work as hard as other ever and uh ready for better Panther football and better Hornets

Basketball how about that there you go nobody can argue with that one either all right Governor Roy paper Governor happy holidays thanks for coming on we appreciate it thanks a lot Ben all right take care at 11 a corporate landlord is eyeing a big plot of land on

Independence Boulevard as the site of a new Rental Community Charlotte city leaders held a hearing tonight to let folks weigh in on the proposal and as WCNC charlott Julia Kaufman reports the development and future Road improvements could drastically change the area the proposed Community would be on East Independence Boulevard right on the

Border of Matthews ncdot is also using the land to extend multiple roads off Independence behind this intersection of East Independence and Sardis Road north is 80 acres of woods we have old sycamores and old black cherry trees that you don’t see commonly through North um residential areas anymore

Nearby homeowners worry plans to replace most of the woods with a rental Community will hinder their quality of life we will have a separation of 40 ft hopefully you can understand our concerns about privacy sound and safety corporate land Lord Northwood Raven doesn’t have a site plan yet but hopes

To build houses Town Homes apartments and commercial space across from Crownpoint Plaza NC doot is also using the land to eventually extend Sardis Road north and aripa drive to Sam Newell Road there’s an interchange being built that will come through our site and there’s going to also be a bridge across

If the rezoning petition is approved construction on the community would start in September 2024 four with a new interchange and two New Roads coming through it it might not be the best site for low density residential but the road projects aren’t expected to start until 2028 so neighbors are still worried

About backups and it would be a traffic nightmare now that a public hearing has been held the Charlotte zoning committee will consider the rezoning petition and then city council can vote on it Julia Kaufman WCNC Charlotte the new and improved WCNC plus now on Roku and Fire TV watch local live

Newscast get extended breaking news coverage and see local programs and specials the new and improved WCNC plus now on Roku and fire tvome back here’s some good news mortgage rates have fallen from their October highs of around 8% however if you are a first-time home buyer this might not be

The news you’re looking for I’m WCNC Charlottes Jane monreal is joining us now to explain what we should be doing when looking to buy a home right now so we’re not to ask where’s money that’s right Vanessa and Colin well as consumer affairs reports falling rates may have

Excited buyers but they haven’t moved sellers so to break it down many current homeowners are not really motivated to sell right now if they have a mortgage rate of around 3% they might not be ready to list their homes for sale and buy another one until rates are a lot

Lower and this brings in supply and demand people who are looking to buy a home are competing with one another for available homes in the past this has resulted in bidding wars and higher home prices so what can you do consumer affairs suggests relocating they say

As well yeah it’s tough but man the the market it’s been fluctuating and it it sounds like it’s going to continue to do so yeah still a tough call so uh still kind of we wait and see for a lot of folks all right Jane thank you conquer

Community that we’re in every single day to setup shop right along downtown concord’s busy cabis Avenue East her candlebar comes to Concord As Cities across North Carolina top rankings as some of the best to start a business Durham Charlotte Raleigh and Winston Salem could all be found in the top 15

Alone numbers like those are attracting entrepreneurs to areas just like this one and I could see all the economic investment going into with the streetcape and the apartment buildings and how a community was really being created here and Smith has witnessed that economic investment for some time

It’s part of the reason why her candlebar was an idea years in the making starting during the pandemic we had to come up with ways in the home to uh have fun and also uh create the ability to relax and provide yourself some selfcare was a very stressful time

Now she sells candles classes and other self-care items back on business though conquer is missing from that list of top cities for starting a business yet Smith invested here anyway so when we asked her why Charlotte were’re familiar with Charlotte I went to school there but it’s it’s oversaturated to some degree

From a a a business perspective and there’s nice things and and experiences that are needed right here in Cab’s County right here where that economic investment continues to grow yeah Concord really growing very quickly especially I feel like we’re always talking about Charlotte the Queen City this Queen City that but the

Reality is that a lot of this development is stretching into our smaller townships and depending on who you ask it’s not always a good thing so nice downtown here love downtown yeah right beautiful shops here and restaurants things like that and another new one to check out there you go when I

Think about the community I think about the time that I’ve been here I’ve been in this community almost my entire adult life so I you you get to know the people when you know what they care about then that’s what you care about this community looks at all of us

Who do weather here at WCNC Charlotte as part of their family and when you’re part of their family you want to make sure you do it just for them people will eat drink and be merry this weekend there is one danger that actually rears its ugly head more during

The holidays than the rest of the year Megan Bragg explains in today’s verify it’s so important to stay on top of your health especially your heart health new information from the American Heart Association shows a spike in heart rated deaths during the winter holidays so let’s verify our source is

Cardiologist Dr pile kohley A study in the British medical journal and the American Heart Association there are more heart attack related debts on Christmas Day followed by December 26th and then New Year’s Day than any other day in the rest of the year a British medical journal study reviewed more than

16 years of data on heart attack among people in Sweden and found there was a 15% increase in heart attacks during the winter holidays heart attacks actually increased 37% on Christmas Eve the cold weather has something to do with it because cold weather can actually trigger inflammation the American Heart

Association also points to stress and diet as contributing factors to the increase we radically change our lifestyle over the holidays we drink a lot more alcohol we eat a lot more sodium the portions of what we’re consuming are a lot more another main reason for the rise in heart attack

Deaths people are not getting help quickly enough routines are disrupted so we think maybe it’s something else or maybe that heartburn is actually something we ate too much last night or what have you the American Heart Association wants you to know these five warning signs of a heart attack Coley

Says if you feel something is not right don’t wait call a doctor so we can verify that yes deaths from heart attacks do indeed Spike during the winter holidays with your verify I’m Megan Brad you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com come now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense the holidays can be stressful that’s why it’s important to let guests know your expectations when it comes to their behavior in your

Hurts and that’s connecting the dots hey YouTube this is chief meteorologist Brad panovic here at WCNC charet we want you to head over to our weather IQ YouTube page where we’re making you smarter and safer we have a passion for weather science and we want you to understand what’s happening when

Next to meteorologist Britney van Vorhees tomorrow is not going to be as perfect for the second half of the day correct we are going to see The Return of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will see more clouds compared to now but

Still I actually like a cloudy Sunrise the more clouds if you can get a little bit of sun the actual prettier it is because clouds the light bounces off of them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things every single day yeah you learn

Something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year

We talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10° warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year

The year before we were talking that record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday a full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that

Storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know the clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of

Sit above us and so as the temperatures try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues getting around and about the

Carolinas delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the

Forecast for the rest of Christmas day so let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area

Is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and you you look at the hour by

Hour forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77

You’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain develops after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to

See gust about 25 miles per hour from Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 m per hour on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or their family air limbs you don’t want them to blow away so be

Alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up

These rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by- hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Dusty winds on Tuesday even a few

Thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of

The New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so Much new at 6 a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Health or Nami finds that for some people living with mental illness their conditions worsen around the holidays doctors and Charlotte saying this time of year can have a negative impact WCNC charlott Austin Walker speaks to experts on how you can

Be a helping hand what’s supposed to be one of the most wonderful times of the year there’s such an expectation um for the holiday season might be the opposite for some what happens during this holiday season is a culmination of what’s been happening through an um entire year Dr

Russell Hancock a psychologist with Atrium Health says mental health and depression can be big talking points this time of year pointing towards large Gatherings and constant moving around it could contribute to anxiety and there’s an expectation that people are supposed to in quotations feel a certain way

That they need if they need anything during this period um can be critical he also mentions there are signs to look for is if someone is withdrawing more a few things to consider so this holiday season is good for everyone in Charlotte Austin Walker WCNC Charlotte and we have

A full list of Mental Health Resources right now on our website wcnc.com we all know flashing yellow lights in a school zone means you need to slow down but what if the lights are flashing at night at a time when schools aren’t in session Megan brag gets us the answer in this morning’s

Verify WCNC Charlotte viewer James B took this video you can see on your screen on his cell phone near Providence Day School it shows lights flashing in a school zone at around 6:30 at night he wants to know if the flashing lights still apply even though it’s technically

After school hours so let’s verify our sources are Matthews Police Department Pio Tim acok Providence Day School the city of Charlotte and North Carolina law the flashing lights on a school’s own speed limit sign are there to let drivers know when the lower speed is enforced according to North Carolina law

The authorized lower speed limit is in effect when lights are flashing but we don’t know what other activities are at that school and they may have it set for that for a reason we reached out to the city of Charlotte since they are the ones in charge of the lights they told

Us the flashing lights are on a fixed schedule that the school provides at the beginning of the school year according to the schedule the school requested flashing lights from 2 2:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Providence day school has an extended day program that ends at 6:00

P.m. and if the school zone lights are flashing at let’s say 11: at night ACO says it’s reasonable to assume school is not in session and the lights might be malfunctioning but if you ever have any doubts ACO says it’s best to just play it safe the easiest thing to do is just

Abide by that cuz it’s a slower speed limit and that’s good for everybody so we can verify that yes the lights flashing at 6:30 p.m. near Providence Day School are working as they should because kids are getting out of its extended day program and motorists could be ticketed if they don’t observe the

School speed limit at that time with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com at WCNC Charlotte we believe it is crucial to make a difference in our communities that’s why we go beyond just report reporting the news we ask where’s the money to hold the powerful

Accountable and get money back into your pockets our verified team takes claims finds sources and gets you answers and we’re keeping you weather aware making you safer and smarter I’m Vanessa Rufus and I’m Colin Mayfield join us week nights at 5 6 and 11 and see the difference for yourself only on WCNC

Charlotte mville also known as Christmas Town USA draws in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and one social media post is suggesting a technique that can help people see the lights better the only issue it may not be legal WCNC Charlotte’s Megan brag verifies this Facebook post which is

It really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my

Neighbors a chartin is spreading some holiday cheer with his festive light show and you can see and hear it absolutely we just heard it too this is the second year he’s putting on the show making it even bigger and brighter why not right this year he’s also using his

Show to raise money for a good cost WCNC charlott Jesse Pierre is live in South Charlotte Jesse what inspired him to put all this together well Matthew the roers picked up this tradition after a neighbor who had a musical light show moved away now the idea is simple while you’re in your

Car you tune in to 88.5 and then you’ll hear this the music and then you’ll see it dancing to the holiday lights Classic holiday Tunes synchronized to more than 6,000 festive lights and decorations a holiday tradition 15-year-old Matthew D roers is keeping going in his South Charlotte Community picking up the torch after his neighbor moved away we have lights around the garages the windows we have little candy canes that’ll Dance The

Families their daughter was here from the time she was just two weeks old getting life-saving treatment and now that she’s out and the family’s on the other side they are back here at the hospital this time they’re the ones helping others I took a picture of that

Girl uh Jess is is our U our heart baby one James and Jess Leed better knew before their little girl was born that she had a rare heart defect it was um um a long journey thinking about it now is sort of like a blur coming in here day after day they

Whenever that bat signal goes off I show up but you know um with this particular situation it was nothing that I could do there you go now 2 years old justice has a slight heart mmer but is doing really well and is now a different kind of

Challenge for her parents oh my girl big problem at the house now a good problem she’s got a lot of spunk and that’s how they like it justice is awesome she is our heart Warrior she is the face of what joy and grace looks like

This was their first trip they say it is the first though of many they have lots of deliveries planned in the coming weeks reporting in Charlotte Michelle bden WCNC Charlotte connect the dots and let us clear up the confusion we’re here to make sure the news makes sense and with

Mreal shows us one cancer survivor is making a difference bringing a touch of joy into those Hospital hallways a breast cancer patient diagnosed in 2020 she says she never gave into cancer using it instead to start a foundation and let others going through cancer treatment know that they don’t have to

Do it alone as the big red trucks pull up to novon St Jude’s affiliate clinic on author Lane it’s not to put out a fire but to help bring some memorable joy to some of the young patients during the Christmas holiday I need 25 blue and 25 pink

Leading the charge is Myra Harris president and founder of cancer gave me life Foundation she is a cancer survivor I’ve had chemotherapy 30 rounds of radiation I have both breasts removed I had 14 limp nose removed and I’m still on a journey I was just diagnosed about

People genuinely care about their well-being and 5-year-old C is also Smiles as she was able to pick up her pink gift bag I’m Miss Myra Merry Christmas to you cie is the big sister to London and two more that are on the way the mother of all four Rashana

Smokes knows this is just a huge burden lifted off her back it means a lot especially because we have a lot going on right now so I appreciate everything you guys are doing for the kids every time 11-month-old London gets sick with sickle cell they’re spending lots of

Time at the hospital we have to come here especially when she’s sick or has a fever we have to make sure she doesn’t have a crisis little gifts to land more smiles from baby London who just may be trying for a career in television it’s a blessing I mean

Because to know that I’m still on my journey and to know that it’s being well received and having partners that really appreciate what I’m doing that to me is my Christmas gift haris says she is looking to expand her efforts in 2024 by Grand in wishes to terminally ill breast cancer patients

Out shows folks in North Carolina are donating more to charity $58 million to be exact but as cost rise Charities aren’t able to stretch their dollars as far over the next 30 minutes we’ll share with you some of the Charities and organizations really making a difference this holiday season but

First joining us now is the North Carolina Secretary of State Alain Marshall her office promotes economic development and helps oversee the business Community secretary welcome back we appreciate it thank you very much it’s delightful to be here so your office tracks charitable giving and and I know uh

North Caroline donated $58 million over a year that was an 18% increase um I know you have told people that that it’s important to give generously but also give wisely explain that is correct um we regulate the Charities that have fundraisers the profession of fundraising uh the law does exempts

Schools and um religious organizations but otherwise if they hire professional fundraiser or pay their staff at over a certain dollar amount they have to register with us so there are thousands and thousands of registered uh nonprofit entities with us and the law requires them to um either get an exemption or um

File reports with us uh that shows how much they took in how much went to overhead and how much actually went to the charity when I say give wisely there are a lot of new organizations that pop up that don’t have the track record they may have the best of heart but don’t

Have the efficiency uh ability to um handle whatever the the need is and unfortunately we see scammers uh out there um this time of year we do this report because people get a lot of communications if you ever gave a contribution you’re now on that organization’s list for repeat

Contribution and that’s fine and dandy uh but when you get ones out of of the blue for organization that that you’ve never heard of perhaps a telephone call or perhaps an internet something uh we wish we would advise you to be very very very cautious the federal government

Tells us that upwards of 89% of those that appear online are fake uh they um whenever there’s a disaster around the world these uh organizations sometimes their state supported organizations in various parts of the world have wonderful but horrible pictures of disasters and they play upon the heartstrings of people uh if there’s

Tons tons of information uh and you will unfortunately see that some only 10% goes to the charity or 20% goes to the charity I haven’t conducted a survey but I truly believe in my heart that most North Carolinians believe that a higher percentage of that needs to go to the

Actual good work you know when someone makes a donation it’s a matter of trust it’s a matter of an investment of their trust that sort of transparency is really helpful so if people can see for themselves and that’s whether it’s now in the holiday season or in the middle

Of of Summer anytime that’s helpful um do you have a good sense for even though I know uh do donations are up um and charitable giving is up um how inflation has impacted some of these Charities well yes we do uh the amount donated went up about $10 million um you

Mentioned the figure 58 million it was about 48 million last year so North Carolinians are very generous it went up about 10 million uh the amount going to Charities went up 5 million but we do find that the cost of running these fundraising campaigns have gone up uh

With inflation everybody’s felt it in their own pocketbook and their own lives uh so but that was not unreasonable the amount was not exorbitant that um um we we gleaned from the reports so Charities are trying to be very smart the the really ethical ones the good ones uh are

Reallying trying to be very smart and squeeze as much service out of each and every dollar they get um all of this data you all accumulate um and have oversight over how rigorous is that process um that that your office goes through to to sort of get this information and get it

Right well they Charities have to be registered and sometimes we find some that aren’t we also find scam Charities and we have here in North Carolina and we have criminal Authority over them so if you feel like uh you’ve been engaged with one of those take a screenshot

At it further you talk about $58 million donated over a year time span um what impact I want to go Broad View what impact do those donations have not only on the Charities but on the state as a whole there is such a need for the nonprofit Community to step up um

Government and even religion can’t meet all of the needs that are out there you don’t have to go very far whether it’s a large City like Raleigh or Charlotte or out in the country to see that there is poverty out there to see that people are probably freezing on a day like today

Appreciate it Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas thank you happy holidays to you and happy giving to everybody else take care more flash one after this welcome welcome back turning now to your Sunday forecast but first some live pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve

And you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of the house for a few days with sitting next to meteorologist Britney van Vorhees tomorrow is not going to be as perfect for the second half the day correct we are going to see The Return

Of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will see more clouds compared to now but still I actually like a cloudy Sunrise the more clouds if you can get a little bit of sun the actual prettier it is because clouds the light bounces off of

Them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things every single day yeah you learn something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning

Everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off here Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny part ly Sunny by the afternoon as we’re

At 66 about 10° warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year the year before we were talking about record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63

Today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and night but tonight comfortable and

Actually a little bit cloudier we know that clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a

Little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues getting around and about the Carolinas delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a

Few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the forecast for the rest of Christmas day so let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patchy drizzle possible

In the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2 o’clock but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until

After 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and you you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would

Plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain but develops after 6 o’ and then that’s pretty much often on or most of the day on Tuesday but something else

That comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 mph from Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 m per hour on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this

Year or they’re family Heir liims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s h very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the

Neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better

Chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to

Believe but even the first few days Days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so Much Americans on average save about $121 a month on their power bill when they switch to solar panels but could those savings put you at risk if there’s a fire in your house here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify more homes in the US have solar panels

On the roofs now in fact data from the US Energy Information Administration shows residential power installation Rose by 34% in 2020 so one WCNC viewer wanted to know if a resident had a fire emergency at home would solar panels keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire let’s verify our

Sources are the NC Department of Insurance the US Energy Information Administration and the Huntersville Fire Department to bring a house fire under control firefighters will often poke holes in the roof to vent the smoke this improves visibility inside the home and improves the odds of survival for anyone trapped inside the North Carolina

Department of Insurance says firefighters do face additional hazards from solar panels on roofs some of these hazards include the potential of electrical shock from the solar panel system a greater risk of the roof collapsing during the fire conditions because of the added weight fire risk from battery storage systems and the

Potential for slips and Falls while working on a roof with solar panels because of this a fire scene Incident Commander has to be cautious about letting firefighters on the roof to fight the house fire with solar panels when responding to a fire firefighters are trained to disconnect the power from

The Home hunterville Fire Department says they take into account all of these variables when fighting a fire and while solar panels can present a challenge and some additional difficulty they say it’s not something they can’t navigate the department of energy says you should let your local firefighters know that your

Home has solar panels installed so they are aware in case there’s an emergency so we can verify that no if your home has solar panels it would not keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire but it could make fighting a fire a little more difficult with your verifi I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verifi to email us at verify wcnc.com how to connect the dots when we make the news make sense automakers are looking to revamp the future of cars and the advancements May personalize your vehicle more than ever before technology is helping us do some

Have dragged you to the service center could one day be handsfree think of it like a smartphone update your car would download updates overnight and be ready to roll by your daily commute saving you time and and money and that is connecting the Dots 537 now and we’re asking where’s the money for student loan payers good Tuesday morning it’s been about 2 months since student loan payments ramped back up and now those paying the bill are getting a better idea of exactly how they have to adjust to the payments so let’s get into this

Article from money.com writers there dug into a report from Mass Mutual the findings say among Americans with student loan debt 80% say they have to reduce their spending due to that debt ask for where folks are cutting Corners well luxuries are the first to go at 44% of respondents but here’s the alarming

Piece some about 37% are having to cut back on their essential purchases n Mass Mutual adds about 3ars of us with student loans payments say that the restart has had a negative impact on our day-to-day Financial Health numbers like those have some considering skipping out on payments altogether which is why

We want your help this morning what is your best money saving tip make sure you text us 704 329 3600 Ben also new tonight a local college student says she’s founded the inspiration for her studies at the hospital she was taken care of yeah she was a child when

Doctors told her she has a chronic and difficult disease and now she’s studying so she could work at the very place that helped her LaVine Children’s Hospital WCNC charlott’s Michelle Bowden shows us how this young woman is making a difference Isabella was just 11 when she was diagnosed with lupus and she says

The doctors and nurses at the hospital took such good care of her she wants to do the same for other kids that’s why she’s now in college studying to be a nurse for Isabella McCrae putting on her lab coat and stethoscope means everything what does it feel like to you

Just the care and the compassion that they showed me I’ve never felt that before only in a parent um and so that inspired me to become a nurse and work at LaVine she’s currently a junior at wigit studying to be a nurse hoping to be doing rounds here at lavine’s

Children’s Hospital in the near future so you want to work here I do I do yes because lupus is a chronic illness she still struggles with it currently I’m having a flare up so that just goes to show that although you have bad days you

Don’t let it defeat you I am taking it one day at a time with one very big goal in sight one she says we make it all worthwhile it means that I’m not just the sick girl that I am someone and that I am someone who although is a lupus

Warrior I’m also a nursing student I’m also a daughter if all goes as planned she hopes to be working here at LaVine Children’s Hospital as early as next year reporting in Charlotte Michelle ven WCNC Charlotte time now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense if you’re hopping on that holiday flight this week the entertainment could be impacting you more than you realize inlight entertainment is more than just killing time it may be an airline’s answer to getting more

Passengers let’s connect the do popular movies like Barbie and elf aren’t just eye candy to distract you from a long flight airlines are using them to fill up seats no most passengers won’t book with certain Airline just for their movie selection but with the option to watch the latest box office hit people

Think they’re getting a better deal Airlines around the world spend nearly half a billion dollars on inflight entertainment today most Airlines have staff designated to curating exactly which movies make the cut United Airlines has taken it a step further and giving all their planes seat back screens the airlines chief executive

Says the screens make passengers choose United more often plus indie films and TV shows are are popular in inflight movie watching right now it’s one of the only times consumers have access and the time to check those titles out and that is connecting the dots new tonight

What is on the horizon for Concord families in need this is only within 3 minutes 2 three minutes of downtown Concord where you have major development going on there Patrick Graham says his work is personal my mother worked all her life 50 plus years before she retired she

Passed away past year and was never able to own and as a young man I thought that I would be able to to provide her that opportunity and it’s one of the things that I sort of failed at it didn’t happen so I carry that chip on my

Rate that’s below 40% right now we build Concord is in the process of building the Lincoln Street Town Homes here you talking about 26 Town Homes for affordable and Workforce housing ownership Graham says the first first eight are set to open in a few months just down the street he says they are

Turning this abandoned church on ker Street into Loft departments and a space for entrepreneurs and just a couple of blocks away from here we’ve taken lots that usually usually would be reserved for single homes and created um these Town Homes more homes including this one a new home for a

Local educator and her daughter and so with affordable housing you’re thinking about all those companies is moving here you’re thinking about that population growth and you’re looking at a place where they’re about 5,000 units short of affordable housing uh in a city that’s just over 100,000 and Graham says all of the

Lincoln Street Town Homes should be complete by the middle of next year also the kurur street Loth Apartments the site of that former church that you just saw will be done within a year now if you’re interested in applying for a home or learning more about webuild Concord

You can find my story on wcnc.com or on the WCNC Charlotte mobile app and the cool thing about it was we got a chance to check out several locations one of the Locas a new home that a local educator and a daughter moved in today that’s fantastic right place right time

For you then for the story right right right right I think it’s interesting you bring up a good point we talked so much about meinberg County and affordable housing right so many folks are pouring into this community but those that can’t find a home have to go elsewhere so it’s

Pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve and you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of the house for a few days with sitting next to meteorologist Britney van Vorhees tomorrow is not going to be as

You know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much

We are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the

Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and us you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but if you really wanted to get

Those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain but develops after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on

Through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 miles hour from Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 mph on Tuesday so don’t forget those

Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or their family air lims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to

You make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day

66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that

Continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so much at WCNC Charlotte we really want to make a difference we have tools like

Verify and where’s the money to really listen to viewers and see what they’re struggling with whether that’s trying to get money that you deserve or answering a question that’s confusing you we’re not the experts we’re interviewing the experts and that’s why we want to bring

It to you so you can see the facts how we check them and how we get the Answer and if you were hoping for a white Christmas well Charlotte’s weather won’t deliver this year but you could still enjoy the next best thing the annual winter festival known as light the nights at truest field in Uptown Charlotte so we sent Larry Sprinkle to sample the snow tubing among other

Things there’s literally a winter wonderland in uptown Charlotte all at the light the nights festival at truest field it’s a great family experience daytime or nighttime you guys ready to light theight yeah more like okay what you what are you excited about seeing here I’m excited about the tubing the

Is llan is that right and you guys are from Canada originally yes he isn’t but I’m I’m half and half half and half and you’re so you love the skating out here I I guess yeah everybody ready to skate yeah all right go skate and they are off

Back this year is the very popular Tubing Hill now with 10 action-packed lanes it’s the perfect spot for a fun race with one and only Homer the dragon Homer what about it I challenge you you challenge me up on top all right here we go yeah I’m ready you ready Homer and

Here we go amazing 150 M an hour yeah woo un un believable hey Homer thank you man I’m what a team what a duo we are thank you very much if you’re interested in some Christmas shopping that’s part of the light the night’s Festival there are 22

Vendors with a gift for anyone on the lives oh it’s awesome to have a popup um it’s great for small businesses gets us gets our name out there um it’s awesome just to be here and spread Christmas joy and don’t miss the chance to visit Santa

Hi Larry how are you I’m okay I was just have I been a good boy this year he tells it like it is it’s a good thing there’s a few more days till Christmas for you to work on it it’s the most snow I have seen in years it’s the most snow

You will see in years it’s all during light tonights at truest phille Larry Sprinkle WCNC Charlotte we’re coming up on 5:39 this morning and we’re asking where’s the money this holiday shopping season good morning and happy Monday online sales are bringing in historic sales right now but there’s been a misconception that most people prefer filling their cart on their cell phones compared to in the

Well but the jump just looks different depending on what stores we’re talking talking about that’s nearly 9% at general merchandise stores like your Walmart your target about 5% at food and beverage stores and then about 4 and a 12% at those health and personal care stores so it’s why we’re asking this

Morning when it comes to your gift shopping did you shop for gifts online or in person this year make sure you text us at 704 329 3600 well did you have any aches or pains that resurface with all the rain and cold temperatures well there might actually be a scientific reason for that

Here’s Megan with this morning’s verify fact check have you ever heard of weather related joint pain our chief meteorologist posted this on his Facebook page and it’s gotten over 200 comments and shares it’s believed that changes in barometric pressure can trigger certain Sensations in your joints so let’s get the facts our

Brag if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify atw cnc.com with your help WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community beautiful day so many people helping this is incredible let’s spread that love tonight here is a $55,000 check that you

Saying no two snowflakes are alike because they have different branches and designs that make each one unique the process is complicated so let’s start with square one or in this case hexagon one a snowflake start starts as a small particle such as a speck of dust where

Corners bonding to the second hydrogen atom but the process isn’t done this snowflake will continue to rise into colder air in the cloud gaining more branches and dendrites as more tiny water particles bond to the Lake once the plate becomes too heavy it then Falls the two main atmospheric factors

Shapes of snowflakes such as needles and columns that fall in colder temps from 14 to 27° but colder temperatures that are 10° or less produce the most common and intricate snowflakes these are known as Stellar dendrites but in this range another snowflake that’s equally a spectacular forms called the Stellar

Plate I’m meteorologist Chris M what’s UPNC Charlotte these are indicators of a violent nature um that can be taken out on human beings and yet the sentencing doesn’t reflect that meinberg County’s top prosecutor on the seriousness of animal abuse offenses like animal cruelty and dog fighting but as you heard there district attorney

And dog fighting uh sort of top out at what is commonly referred to as a low-level felony a class H felony uh so for each of those a judge could sentence someone to a uh a prison sentence but it’s more likely that they would serve a probationary sentence such was the case

In October when Earl Hamilton pleaded guilty to 32 charges related to dog fighting and animal cruelty and and walked away with what some Animal Advocates called absolutely a slap on the risk looking at uh first offenses for dog fighting and North Carolina is in the bottom 10% of all states John

McHugh is with the American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and leads efforts to strengthen animal legislation in the Carolinas he says North Carolina has quite a bit of work to do with no major changes to animal policy in decades we introduced a bill uh this past session to increase the

However did not pass failing to make it out of committee none of these issues get any traction if we don’t have advocates in that are elected officials that push for them Mary weather says sometimes that takes citizens making the push to elected officials to let them know that it’s important to them and

Maybe should be more than just a class age felony um that they should be taken um seriously as an indicator of violence not just to animals but to human beings as well I now after the holidays we are taking these concerns to Raleigh and we will hear from those who we chose to

Great way to combat that misin information making sure that people know the process of the reporting well trending this morning former Panther Superstar Cam Newton calling on the team’s owner David terer to make him president during an appearance on an NFL podcast Cam Newton made an elevator pitch on why it would

To hold teer and the team’s front office accountable if uh Newton May was made president he would be only the fourth former NFL player currently in a prominent front office role Panthers fans took to social media very quickly following this pitch uh the consensus was they want him in the front office a

Lot of people saying they believe he would bring a winning culture back to the Carolinas so this morning we want to know what do you think about all this should Cam Newton uh be made the team president of the Panthers let us know text 74329

3600 I think you know having him as part of the team uh not not a player role but would be great I think his role as quarterback’s coach would be much more effective yeah the being president has so many more managerial responsibilities you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on

Sometimes it can bring life back into the team um that’s what happened I feel like with Steve spur and the gator when spurger came back to the game the old quarterback he was yeah we remember the days Mr spur but you know when he came back he I mean he worked works with

Alumni he doesn’t even really work with the team itself but being a former player he he understands I think you know uh Cam Newton his relatability one thing about him in the locker room they loved him so having that positive presence I be great for it’s needed a

Car in North Carolina then you know you have to get your car inspected every year and that inspection may include an emissions test but could this soon change here’s Megan brag with this morning’s verify fact check we got a text message sent to us from someone who heard the emissions Tas

For vehicles is being eliminated in North Carolina counties but what does this really mean for drivers Let’s Get the facts our sources are the EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality the EPA says the yearly emissions test program helps maintain Federal air quality standards in the state however the 2023 state

If you want to know if your car must pass an emmissions test in order to pass inspection reach out to the ncdmv with your verifi fact check I’m Megan brag if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com thank you welcome back turning now to your

Vorhees tomorrow is not going to be as perfect for the second half of the day correct we are going to see The Return of rain in the afternoon but at least the first half won’t be terrible we will see more clouds compared to now but still I actually like a cloudy Sunrise

The more clouds if you can get a little bit of sun the actual prettier it is because clouds the light bounces off of them more ice crystals out you get more color wow good to know you learn things every single day yeah you learn something new you know uh of course it’s

Kind of like a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year how we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on

Record which was last year today not so much 11 o’clock we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10° warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year the year before we were talking about

Record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain is storms eventually returns you can see that storm system Brewing

Off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know that clouds act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of sit above us and

So as the temperatures try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues getting around and about the Carolina is

Delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the forecast for the

Rest of Christmas day so let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains but here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are

Starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and you you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the

Afternoon so it’s not a complete planed Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but

Heavier rain but develop after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 miles hour from Monday

Night they could Peak even closer to 30 mil per hour on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or their family Heir lims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert of just the not only the

Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those

Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by- hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely

Drying out Wednesday and then in a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it

Britney thank you so much WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of science that you get to see and experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact on how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home

So I think it really is one of those defining things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too

It’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors giving back to his community Charlotte rapper the baby gave out toys to thousands of people for its annual Christmas giveaway event family started lining up as early as 6 o’ this morning WCNC charlot Miles Harris was there and saw firsthand the impact it’s making

Helping families one gift at a time Charlotte native de baby held his annual Christmas giveaway just a few days before Christmas from Toys to bikes to TVs each item aimed to brighten the Christmas spirit I like to to grow up and you know put on a positive example

On how to do what I saw my mama doing growing up man and just give back to people you know what I mean spread blessings around make sure everybody enjoy their holidays the Charlotte native chose the East Way Drive Church of God a church he grew up in to hold the

Giveaway there families wasted no time lining up for hours according to the organizers over 6,000 people participated there you go better including ebony Graham and her 9-year-old son he didn’t forget about us for sure you know what I’m saying so that makes us feel good you know that we

Have somebody in our own City that represents and makees sure the kids good and you know get back to the community he credits his mother for stressing the importance of giving and now she hopes to spread that to others everyone Reach Out reach someone and just love and just enjoy the

Season his mission behind the event to spread the holiday cheer amongst the community he’s grown with and loves the message is it spreads your blessings man give back give back give back give back when you blessed if you able to bless others you know what I’m saying bless

Others the hope of making a difference for families this holiday season in North Charlotte I’m Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte thanks for coming back now for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and I’m Vanessa Rufus we start this half hour here as travel season ramps up for

The winter holidays TSA agents say they are spotting more and more Firearms at airport checkpoints yeah and that issue it hitting home as Charlotte Douglas Airport has already seen more firearms come through compared to last year WCNC charlott miles tells us how authorities plan to put a dent in this disturbing

Trend TSA agents at Charlotte Douglas they’re going up to see a lot more Travelers go through these checkpoints as this holiday traveling season is officially underway and an important part of their job is making sure that Firearms don’t go through we’re asking people to really pay attention to what

They’re bringing with them uh to to the security checkpoint to the airport in general Mark Hal with TSA says there’s a right way to travel with a fire on but not enough people are doing it it’s an issue airports throughout the country are seeing Firearms being detected at

Security checkpoints and right here at Charlotte Douglas international8 Firearms have been stopped at checkpoints surpassing last year’s number of 117 Mark how breaking down what happens when TSA agents spot a firearm in someone’s luggage it’s going to slow things down for everybody what what happens when we have a firearm is we’re

Going to call law enforcement in to remove it uh because 90% of the time it’s loaded um so for everybody’s safety we’re going to let law enforcement remove that firearm and the passenger from the area here’s the safe way to travel with the firearm it should be in

A hard sided case with padding and completely unloaded the firearm also has to be declared at the ticket counter prior to Flying Larry Hyatt with h hayatt guns says they have products to help Travelers avoid any issues but if you want to take your gun with you on a

Trip we’ve got these special boxes they have special locks for TSA approved and you they’re not even that expensive and you can take it own the plane you have to do it is check luggage disregard the rules at your own Peril some of the consequences can be steep including

Fines citations and enhanced screenings what we’re we’re trying to do is is teach people the right way to travel with firearms and and really let them know the consequences of bringing it to the checkpoint the goal is to ensure the safety of all Air Travelers as people

Head home for the holidays at Charlotte Douglas Miles Harris WCNC Charlotte WCNC Charlotte good morning spting Carolinas tune in to the team that’s preparing you for your day the one and only Larry Sprinkle see the difference in your morning it is bitter cold just about anywhere you look here’s

A look right here at I77 Northbound trying to make your dollar stretch a little bit further responsible reporting Community focused unique content it’s so good to see you yall are having too much fun see the difference weekday mornings on WCNC Charlotte Gaston County Schools will continue to defy North Carolina law

District leaders unanimously voted on the new calendar year to start sooner than state law allows yeah WCNC Charlotte Lexi Wilson shows us how this keeps happening during this year’s legislative session the North Carolina General Assembly did not take action to double down on the school start date law or

Relax it now Gaston County Schools is going with what the community wanted instead of North Carolina law it’s something that other school districts have done too for over a decade North Carolina law has required school districts to start school on the Monday closest to August 26th it’s legislation that’s been pushed

By the state’s tourism industry a later start date to the school year allows more tourism throughout the month of August but School boards across North Carolina have said let local school districts decide their calendar year for themselves local control of education has been a Hallmark of American culture

Since the beginning of Public School Systems several school districts across our area started school before the start date set by state law including Gaston cabis Stanley Cleveland iale Statesville and Lincoln County it’s something North Carolina House speaker Tim Moore encouraged districts to do earlier this year I favor more flexibility for the

Local districts and for the parents to have input in that so uh I think there ought to be greater flexibility the Department of Public Instruction says it doesn’t have a written policy or procedure in place for taking action against districts that start school early next time on the agenda is our

Gaston County school calendar of 2024 and 2025 Gaston County Education leaders breaking North Carolina law again Monday night they unanimously approved early start options opening August 14th in 2024 in August 13th in 2025 both early start options received overwhelming approval with with everyone who participated in a survey which

Included employees parents students and community members and again there is no penalty for the school districts that vote to open early reporting for WCNC Charlotte I’m Lexi Wilson well we are thanks for coming back for the news at 5:30 I’m Colin Mayfield and I’m Vanessa Rufus a Charlotte artist had suspected for

Months that her art had been stolen she eventually learned it was indeed stolen and artificial intelligence did it yeah what do you do at that point WCNC charotte Jane monreal shows us with AI scrapping work that creators rely on selling to make a living many artists are asking where’s the

Money you know I’ve tried to get it taken down and everything but it doesn’t really matter because it’ll just get scraped again and it’ll end up back on the website so um yeah uh it’s kind of a a dystopian thing to be dealing with now Elana esal has been making art since she

Was 16 sometimes even when she was living in her car art was her way out back then and is her full-time job now when she figured out her work was scraped for AI she was in the beginning of a residency at Goodyear Arts at Camp

North End and to see that it was scraped and that people are just reproducing it for free um with no context as to how it was made or like why it was made they like I don’t know that was a really uh kind of like sober in moment of like

Artists need to protect their work a little bit more because of this she decided to explore a medium safer from AI sculptural work there’s something so honest about it and it’s so refreshing it’s it’s like taken a lot of weight off of me just to get to explore that side

Of art that I never really cared that much about until this happened still she’s worried it’s getting harder to tell what role AI plays in any form of art art will never be the same you can’t really put it back back in the Box Helen King the pre-law adviser at Johnson C

Smith University says Society is in a gray area when it comes to AI we’re in many ways in the Wild Wild West trying to figure out where the parameters are um so right now I think until the law and and Industry standards and even academic practices begin to standardize and catch

You know if you if you tell the artists to stop whining when they’re bringing this up then when they come for your job you have to starve in silence Jane monreal WCNC Charlotte and well to Colin’s point right what do you do there’s a system researchers at the

University of Chicago have been working on it allows artists to protect their work from Ai and if you’d like to learn more about that you can look for Jane’s story inside the WCNC Charlotte App wake up to the news that matters most with meteorologist and traffic reporter Chris M and we’re all clear we’re keeping you smarter safer and on time start your day the M way see the difference 4:30 to 7 on WCNC show Charlotte now it is time to connect the

Dots when we make the news makes sense Christmas now just 4 days away and many of us will probably be part of a secret Santa gift exchange it history is actually tied to a tradition right here in North Carolina turns out there’s a secret behind secret santa let’s connect the

Dots welcome back this the city of Charlotte is growing at a rapid Pace with that growth though local farmers they are worried their Farms could be put at risk a farming Advocates say the city is on track to lose more than 19,000 Acres of Farmland by 2040 and now

There’s a push to conserve that land WCNC Charlotte’s kayin hagwood is giving us a closer look at that effort tonight well Farmers say preserving their land is one of their biggest concerns as a city continues to grow but one group says they’re doing what they can to ensure that Farmland stays that

Way forever wisdom jazar and his family have spent the last 5 to six years farming in Charlotte as part of their business deep root CPS Farm as the city grows he worries if local farms like his will have a place that’s the million– dollar question right there is you know

How is the city working to make sure that there’s a productive and a local food system well the city says it does have policies to encourage farming it doesn’t classify Farms specifically as farm land which can make it easier to turn Farms into neighborhoods as the

Director in fact I’ve already talked to her about it to see how we can continue uh or how we can actually improve our efforts to preserve our farm the discussions come as one organization is hoping to take Farmland preservation to the next level the Carolina Farms fund

Is working to ensure local farms will never become anything else through easement a legally binding process we’re looking at at properties in mecklinburg and and throughout that 15 County region but those areas that have heavy development pressure um and where that pressure is buding up against agricultural production that’s really

Where we’re looking to step in and try and conserve that acreage so that Farmland stays in agriculture the group group hopes to preserve at least 5,000 acres of land in the Charlotte region by purchasing existing farmland and ensuring it stays designated for Farmers he says they’ll then sell that land to

Area planning into the new year if anyone wants to make a comment Kaylin hagwood WCNC Charlotte when it comes to W cnc’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic our viewers tell the whole story hey if you’re new to the area this meteorologist is awesome I always stick with Brad panovic when it comes to

Against CVS one was filed in federal court in South Carolina the plaintiff claims the fenfen drug sold at CVS stores under the CVS Health label was no more effective than a sugar pill another class action lawsuit filed in Illinois seeks to establish a national and multi-state consumer protection class

The only active ingredient so we can verify that yes there are several class action lawsuits against CVS claiming the drugstore chain manufactured and sold cold medicine in a false misleading and deceptive manner with your verify I’m Megan Brad when did you know what you wanted to be hey Mom the weather’s on WCNC Charlotte’s chief meteorologist Brad panovic always knew what he was meant to do don’t forget your umbrella in fact he joined the American Meteorological Society when he was 13 now Brad is all

Grown up you can see him right here on WCNC Charlotte making sure you’re informed and safe hey where did all my hair go experience the difference welcome back turning now to your Sunday forecast but first some live pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve

Everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11 o’clock we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as

We’re at 66 about 10° warmer than average for this time of year but after the record cold last year the year before we were talking about record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and

We’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know that clouds

Act like a blanket when you have more of them overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures try to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so

Santa not having any weather related issues getting around and about the Carolina is delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow

Morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the forecast for the rest of Christmas day so let’s time out the forecast here here we are at noon time notice that a brief chance for some patchy drizzle possible in the morning up toward the mountains

But here we are at noon most of the area is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after

6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and you you look at the hour by hour forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete planed Ruiner but if you really wanted to get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the

Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77 you’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain but develop after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much off and on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the

Rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see gust about 25 miles per hour from Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 m per hour on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got

Them this year or they family Heir liims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside

Could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by- hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 today partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually

Do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re largely drying out Wednesday and then in a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last

Few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so much andc Charlotte this is flasho where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us

Here on Flashpoint I’m Ben Thompson today a one-on-one interview with the chief executive of North Carolina Roy Cooper entering his final year in office but it comes after several big and very public battles with the Republican super majority in the general assembly the governor weighs in on this past year and

His plans for the future joining us now the 75th governor of the state of North Carolina Roy Cooper Governor thanks for coming on and joining us we appreciate it glad to be with you today Ben all right so let’s begin with medicate expansion it launched a few weeks ago you’ve said it

Was one of the most important things to happen this year 600,000 people now with HealthCare coverage but we also know that Republicans tied it to the budget and you’ve called that a bad budget that quote short changes Schools prioritizes power grabs keeps Shady backro deals secret so it begs the question governor

Was Medicaid expansion worth it absolutely was you know when you’re in government and trying to do good for the people sometimes you have to forge compromises to find the best way forward and I think one of the best days I’ve had as Governor is being in an enrollment center in Charlotte and

Seeing everyday working people finally being able to get health care coverage for themselves uh one person I talked to had health insurance for the first time in their adult life and we’re talking about health insurance for our child care workers people who stock our grocery stores people who look after

Seniors people who had been making a little too much money to qualify for Medicaid coverage but not enough money to qualify for enough subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to make them be able to have affordable health insurance so this will mean so much to those

Deal with have mental health issues and substance use disorder and they need healthc care and not handcuffs this is was an exciting day for North Carolina it’s going to create good paying jobs and it’s the right thing to do for our state it allows us to bring in that

521 million doll a month from the federal government in tax money that you and I have already paid made to Washington to come back to North Carolina to keep people healthier to create good paying jobs to keep rural hospitals open and I am so excited uh that North Carolina finally has gotten

There we’ve also created a road map for the other 10 states that have yet to do it a bipartisan Coalition of people who finally agreed that Medicaid expansion was the right thing for North Carolina and I’m excited about it yeah I mean it was 10 years in the making um when local

Lawmaker Trisha cam switched parties in the spring it gave Republicans a super majority as you know and it really tied your hands you suffered a number of legislative defeats this year curious do you blame her or do you blame Democrats including yourself for allowing that to

Happen well I look at this year as a very positive one because we have record-breaking numbers of jobs being brought into North Carolina uh we are becoming a clean energy epicenter and I’ve done that by working in a bipartisan way with the general assembly uh we’re going to be able to roll off

General assembly but I hope the people of North Carolina are going to correct that next year in the 2024 elections what does your relationship look like with timm more and Phil burger right now and do you see anything changing that Dynamic changing in any way uh next

Year well it’s important to note that we have worked together to pass clean energy legislation in North Carolina that requires our power sector to reduce carbon emissions to Zero by 2050 we’ve come together to work to invest the bill millions of dollars in federal money that we’re going to have to fix water

Systems pave roads provide more public transportation uh to fix our ports and airports to connect every household to high-speed internet access uh they have given me the authority to go out and recruit businesses with performance-based incentives that have helped to draw great paying jobs to North Carolina and

They only get the tax credits if they create the jobs at the salaries that they’ve said they’ve created so we’ve worked together to do all of those things obviously we’ve had disagreements and uh for the last four years before they broke the super majority we were able to stop a lot of

Their bad legislation that attacked women’s reproductive Freedom that got Coral Wars back into our schools but of course during the first couple of months of this year they passed those things they passed abortion ban uh they passed a don’t say gay Bill those pieces of legislation are wrong for our state

Think about that when they go to the polls up next flash way our interview with North Carolina governor Roy Cooper continues next the governor’s plans for the future and what he’s considering after leaving office thank you for making WCNC Charlotte’s magical toy drive a huge success this year along

With our sponsors Belk CR legal team and Tropical Smoothie Cafe you’ve proven we can make a big difference for our community WCNC Charlotte is making a difference in our community seeking solution ions we’re sharing stories that matter to you verify it’s a transparent formula that separates fact from fiction

So the data is good the data is real good honestly it’s the best data I’ve ever had my bestselling ultimate cheeseburgers seasoned as they Grill you know there’s millions of people without the health insurance they need I get it you feel like it’s too pricey a headache

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Like Jack in the Box tiny tacos my crunchy tiny tacos with creamy avocado L sauce there’s a lot to like I have a confession too one time I I’ve been advised to stop talking tiny tacos get them regular or loaded we are back with more of our interview with North Carolina governor

Roy Cooper He’s getting ready to start his last year in office and he already has big plans for what he wants to achieve with a republican dominated General Assembly what would you say is your top priority heading into the new year well first we need to make sure

That we invest this Federal money that’s coming down to make sure we do it in the most effective and efficient way and that means getting on the ground and actually connecting households to high-speed internet and businesses making sure that we’re getting these roads fixed and that we are enhancing

Our public transportation to get people from one place to the next in a faster and cleaner way I’m also going to work to uplift public public education and our public school students uh you know I’ve talked a lot with Republicans about the best way uh to make sure that our

Schools are the best they can be and we have a lot of differences but two things we agree on is a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school and you do that by investing to make sure that we pay them well that we

Community one of the main reasons why we are the number one state for business is our amazing well-trained dedicated diverse Workforce the people of North Carolina and we’re not going to continue to have a great Workforce if we don’t invest in education from Cradle to Career early childhood education making

Disagree with that um Governor if you could run again would you yeah I sure would uh this has been an amazing opportunity it’s been the honor of my life to serve this state where I grew up uh where where I was born uh that I love so deeply we’ve been

Able to work together to have a real positive impact on North Carolina uh every day I wake up I think about things that we can do to make things better for every day North Carolinians uh helping them have better education for their children a better paying job uh those

Honor and I’m working every day to meet the challenges and and we should say you have a full year to sort of get your ducks in a row and decide what you want to do but I’m assuming that you don’t want to just go off into the sunset and

And fully retired that you still have a calling for public service and you want to be involved in your mind what does that look like does that mean running for elected offices again does that mean working in the nonprofit world where do you see yourself come say

2025 yeah all all of those are potentials I really don’t know at this point I have a little more than a year to serve as governor I’m going to work hard every single day uh meet every challenge uh continue to work to make North Carolina a better place to work

Live and raise a family and after I get finished I’ll make that decision I do love Public Service um a few more items in the last few weeks you filed several challenges to the newly drawn Congressional and Senate Maps here in North Carolina it’s something we talk

About every single year um one way or the other we talk about it in your mind we talked to Jeff Jackson about this uh last week what do you think is a fair path forward in drawing these maps in a fair way no matter who’s in

Power we should have a process in place where there is an independent redistricting commission that is in charge of drawing Maps we saw what happened in North Carolina when Fair Maps were drawn the number of members of Congress was seven Democrats and seven republ Republicans that really reflects the political

Makeup of North Carolina yet when you have uh Ultra partisan Jerry Mander districts where uh Representatives choose their constituents instead of the other way around you end up with 10 Republicans and four Democrats maybe even 11 to three uh that’s wrong under any scenario and whether we have blue

Waves or red waves the process should be as Fair as possible districts should not be drawn in a racial or partisan way uh independent redistricting commissions have worked pretty well in other states and it’s it’s time for North Carolina to do that and instead of us continuing to

Be the epicenter Center of redistricting litigation like we have been for so long in the last few weeks federal government am announcing a billion in spending when it comes to rail here in North Carolina between Raleigh and Richmond um and a number of Grants as well you appeared with the Secretary of Transportation

Pete Buddha judge uh what kind of impact could this have on the state what a great investment this would be to have highspeed rail uh from North Carolina all the way up the East Coast uh when we think about that we’re we’re talking about less congestion on our

Highways because even if you don’t take the train the people people that are deciding to take the train are not going to be on our highways it is a clean fast efficient way to get from one place to the next I took the train from Raleigh to Greensboro and talked with people

Walk from car to car and talk with people about why they were on the train uh I talked to grandparents who really didn’t want to drive anymore but were headed down from Raleigh to Charlotte to visit grandchildren they love the train experience talked to a family going on

Vacation I talked to students who were returning to school in Greensboro and down in Charlotte uh getting uh back and forth to school in a fast and efficient way talk to commuters going to work talk to business people who were getting somewhere fast from one place to the

Next it was amazing seeing all the different people who loved their experience on the train saying that it was cheaper faster uh for them to get there in this way and if we continue to make these Investments it will allow us to get people from one place to the next

In a cleaner faster more efficient way and will help relieve congestion on our highways final question we’re in the middle of the holidays I feel Duty bound to ask you do you the governor have a New Year’s resolution ah you know just to work as hard as ever I hadn’t really thought

About that yet but uh work as hard as ever and uh ready for better Panther football and better Hornets basketball how about that there you go nobody can argue with that one either all right Governor Royer Governor happy holidays thanks for coming on we appreciate it

Thanks a lot Ben all right take care at 11 a corporate landlord is eyeing a big plot of land on Independence Boulevard as the site of a new Rental Community Charlotte city leaders held a hearing tonight to let folks weigh in on the proposal and as WCNC charlott’s Julia

Kaufman reports the development and future Road improvements could drastically change the area the proposed Community would be on East Independence Boulevard right on the border of Matthews NC doot is also using the land to extend multiple roads off Independence behind this intersection of East Independence and Sardis Road north

Is 80 acres of woods we have old sycamores and old black cherry trees that you don’t see commonly through north um residential areas anymore nearby homeowners worry plans to replace most of the woods with a rental Community will hinder their quality of life we will have a separation of 40 ft

Hopefully you can understand our concerns about privacy sound and safety corporate landlord Northwood Raven doesn’t have a site plan yet but hopes to build houses Town Homes apartments and commercial space across from Crownpoint plot ncdot is also using the land to eventually extend Sardis Road north and

Aripa drive to Sam Newell Road there’s an interchange being built that will come through our site and there’s going to also be a bridge across if the rezoning petition is approved construction on the community would start in September 2024 with a new interchange and two New Roads coming

Through it it might not be the best site for low density residential but the road projects aren’t expected to start until 20 28 so neighbors are still worried about backups and it would be a traffic nightmare now that a public hearing has been held the Charlotte zoning committee

On Roku and fire tvome back here’s some good news mortgage rates have fallen from their October highs of around 8% however if you are a first-time home buyer this might not be the news you’re looking for WCNC charlott’s Jane Montreal is joining us now to explain

What we should be doing when looking to buy a home right now so we’re not left asking where’s the money that’s right Vanessa and Colin well as consumer affairs reports falling rates may have excited buyers but they haven’t moved sellers so to break it down down many current homeowners are not really

For available homes in the past this has resulted in bidding wars and higher home prices so what can you do consumer affairs suggests relocating they say House Hunters who are willing to move to a lower cost City when available homes are more plentiful may find the best opportunities but you know that means

Her story for Bria Smith it was a no-brainer we could pour back into the community that we’re in every single day to setup shop right along downtown concord’s busy cabis Avenue East her candle bar comes to Concord As Cities across North Carolina top rankings as some of the best to start a business

Durham Charlotte Raley and Winston Salem could all be found in the top 15 alone numbers like those are attracting entrepreneurs to areas just like this one and I could see all the economic investment going into with the streetscape and the apartment buildings and how a community was really being

Relax and provide yourself some selfcare it’s a very very stressful time now she sells candles classes and other self-care items back on business though conquor is missing from that list of top cities for starting a business yet Smith invested here anyway so when we asked her why Charlotte we’re familiar with

Charlotte I went to school there but it’s it’s oversaturated to some degree from a a business perspective and there’s nice things and and experiences that are needed right here in cabis County right here where that econ iic investment continues to grow yeah Concord really growing very quickly especially I feel like we’re

Always talking about Charlotte the Queen City this Queen City that but the reality is that a lot of this development is stretching into our smaller townships and depending on who you ask it’s not always a good thing so nice downtown here love in downtown yeah right beauti nice shops here and

About then that’s what you care about this community looks at all of us who do weather here at WCNC Charlotte as part of their family and when you’re part of their family you want to make sure you do it just for Them people will eat drink and be married this weekend there is one danger that actually rears its ugly head more during the holidays than the rest of the year Megan Bragg explains in today’s verify it’s so important to stay on top of your health especially your heart health new information from the American

Heart Association shows a spike and heart related deaths during the winter holidays so let’s verify our source is cardiologist Dr pile kohley A study in the British medical journal and the American Heart Association there are more heart attack related deaths on Chris day followed by December 26th and

Then New Year’s Day than any other day in the rest of the year a British medical journal study reviewed more than 16 years of data on heart attack among people in Sweden and found there was a 15% increase in heart attacks during the winter holidays heart attacks actually

Increased 37% on Christmas Eve the cold weather has something to do with it because cold weather can actually trigger inflammation the American Heart Association also points to stress and diet as contributing factor to the increase we radically change our lifestyle over the holidays we drink a

Lot more alcohol we eat a lot more sodium the portions of what we’re consuming are a lot more another main reason for the rise in heart attack deaths people are not getting help quickly enough our routines are disrupted so we think maybe it’s something else or maybe that heartburn

Is actually something that we ate too much last night or what have you the American Heart Association wants you to know these five warning signs of a heart attack Coley says if you feel something is not right don’t wait call a doctor so we can verify that yes deaths from heart

Attacks do indeed Spike during the winter holidays with your verify I’m Megan Brad have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com come now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense the holidays can be stressful that’s why it’s important to let guests know your expectations when it comes to their behavior in your

Something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much

Better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10° warmer than average for this time of year but after the record

Cold last year the year before we were talking about record warmth it’s nice to have just a relatively mild forecast here as we enter the Christmas holiday full weekend as yesterday was at 63 today 66 and we’ll actually be in the 60s tomorrow before rain and storms eventually returns you can see that

Carol delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course we’ll start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and they will dominate the

Is still dry it’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will press closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and you you look at the hour by

You’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain develops after 6:00 and then that’s pretty much often on through most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see

Gusts about 25 miles hour from Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 mil hour on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or their family Heir lims you don’t want them to blow away so be

Alert of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s a very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up

These rain chances and of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 a day partly sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few

The New Year wow 2024 can you believe it Britney thank you so Much new at 6 a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Health or Nami finds that for some people living with mental illness their condition worsen around the holidays doctors in Charlotte saying this time of year can have a negative impact WCNC Charlotte’s Austin Walker

Speaks to experts on how you can be a helping hand what’s supposed to be one of the most wonderful times of the year there’s such an expectation um for the holiday season might be the opposite for some what happens during this holiday season is a culmination of what’s been

Happening through an um entire year Dr Russell Hancock a psychologist with Atrium health says mental health and depression can be big talking points this time of year pointing towards large Gatherings and constant moving around it could contribute to anxiety and there’s an expectation that people are supposed to in quotations feel certain way

That they need if they need anything during this period um can be critical he also mentions there are signs to look for as if someone is withdrawing more a few things to consider so this holiday season is good for everyone in Charlotte Austin Walker WCNC shte

Answer in this morning’s verify CNC Charlotte viewer James B took this video you can see on your screen on his cell phone near Providence Day School it shows lights flashing in a school schol Zone at around 6:30 at night he wants to know if the flashing lights still apply even though it’s

Technically after school hours so let’s verify our sources are Matthews Police Department Pio Tim acok Providence Day School the city of Charlotte and North Carolina law the flashing lights on a school’s own speed limit sign are there to let drivers know when the lower speed is enforced according to North Carolina

Law the authorized lower speed limit is in effect when lights are are flashing but we don’t know what other activities are at that school and they may have it set for that for a reason we reached out to the city of Charlotte since they are the ones in charge of the lights they

Told us the flashing lights are on a fixed schedule that the school provides at the beginning of the school year according to the schedule the school requested flashing lights from 2:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Providence day school has an extended day program that ends at 6:00 p.m. and if the school zone lights

Are flashing at let’s say 11: at night AO says it’s reasonable to assume school is not in session and the lights might be malfunctioning but if you ever have any doubts ACO says it’s best to just play it safe the easiest thing to do is just abide by that cuz it’s a slower

Speed limit and that’s good for everybody so we can verify that yes the lights flashing at 6:30 p.m. near Providence Day School are working as they should because kids are getting out of its extended day program and motorists could be ticketed if they don’t obser erve the school speed limit

At that time with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verify just email us at verify wcnc.com at WCNC Charlotte we believe it is crucial to make a difference in our communities that’s why we go beyond just reporting the news we ask where’s the money to hold the powerful accountable

Charlotte McAdenville also known as Christmas Town USA draws in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and one social media post is suggesting a technique that can help people see the lights better the only issue it may not be legal WCN Charlotte’s Megan brag verifies this Facebook post which is

Year alone the spectacular light display Drew in more than 600,000 visitors many of those driving through the the neighborhood display but before you turn off your headlights at night criminal law attorney Ryan Ames says not so fast generally wouldn’t invise anyone to do it for a couple of reasons the first is

We make the news makes sense folks hitting the mountains to ski or snowboard for the holidays will notice those massive machines blowing snow on the slopes you just saw a few of them right there but those machines are relatively new occurrence in a lot of places scientists say climate change

Resorts could be at risk for snow scarcity by 2100 and some believe it could be a lot sooner despite this lots of ski resorts around the world are now relying on artificial snow in Austria and Switzerland two places known worldwide for their snowy slopes more than half the resorts now use the fake

Stuff those snowmaking machines work by shooting a stream of water into the air about 35 ft when the water is released the cold air around it freezes the actual water droplets creating the artificial snow and that is connecting the dots WCNC Charlotte weather is a kind of

Science that you get to see and experience every day and I think some people don’t even realize how much it affects them that weather has a huge impact on how it threatens your family your livelihood or your home so I think it really is one of those defining

Things we do that really affects everybody in our community see the difference that process of giving you a warning ahead of time and keeping you and your family safe is really important to me because I live here too it’s my family it’s my friends it’s my neighbors a chartin is spreading some holiday

Cheer with his festive light show and you can see and hear it absolutely we just heard it too this is the second year he’s putting on the show making it even bigger and brighter why not right this year he’s also using his show to raise money for a good cause WCNC

Charlotte Jesse Pierre is live in South Charlotte Jesse what inspired him to put all this together well mat Matthew the roers picked up this tradition after a neighbor who had a musical light show moved away now the idea is simple while you’re in your car you tune in to

88.5 and then you’ll hear this the music and then you’ll see it dancing to the holiday lights Classic holiday Tunes synchronized to more than 6,000 festive lights and decorations a holiday tradition 15-year-old Matthew the roers is keeping going in his South Charlotte Community picking up the torch after his neighbor moved away we have lights around the garages the windows we have little candy canes that’ll Dance The

It became very obvious that I was super sick I was very tired my skin was very pale I just was just feeling terrible I couldn’t eat anything I was losing weight Matthew was diagnosed with crohn’s disease in May and it’s a lifelong condition that we can manage

But we do need medicine for it with treatment Matthew is feeling more like his old self again and back to keeping the Christmas spirit alive and making a difference in the fight against Crohn’s disease I really just want to get them in the holiday spirit I think it’s

Something that’ll cheer everybody up as we get closer to the holidays and I think adding a charity is just something extra that can help millions of other people now there’s a QR code right here while you’re here to connect to his fundraiser page you can check out the display at

15333 Prescott Hill Avenue the display will be up from 7 to 10: every day until January 1st and we have Matt here the magician behind all of this and what a special message happy holidays I hope you all can come check it out Merry Christmas yay Merry Christmas and sending it back to

You Merry Christmas Merry Christmas man what was his shirt again I love this shirt it’s like expert yeah exterior illumination expert we love your shirt man man happy Holidays and Merry Christmas that is so good to see if you want to keep the holiday spirit going watch WCNC plus tonight at 11:30 we’ll

Share heartwarming stories of people spreading Joy just like that young man and the holiday cheer going around you can catch our heart threads special 11:30 p.m. on your favorite streaming device I feel like the only thing but right now they spent months at LaVine children’s hospital they almost lost

Their newborn daughter to a rare heart defect but now they say she’s thriving and they want to thank those who saved her life yeah along the away they’re also looking to give back to folks who are walking a mile in their own shoes Michelle Bowden shows us how this little

Girl’s parents are now making a difference for other families their daughter was here from the time she was just 2 weeks old getting life-saving treatment and now that she’s out and the family’s on the other side they are back here at the hospital this time they’re the ones

Helping others I took a picture of that girl uh Jess is is our um our heart baby James and Jessica Leed better knew before their little girl was born that she had a rare heart defect it was um a long journey thinking about it now is sort of like a

Blur coming in here day after day they are back at LaVine Children’s Hospital this time here to help other families facing a similar fight we are here to give back to our Fellow Heart parents and heart families some soap they’ve put together special goodie bags we have some mouthwash you got to stay

Fresh bedroom shoes just some different toiletry some things that my wife and I needed while we were here that we didn’t have I told my husband as we were walking in like here we are back at the hospital and this time I’m excited about being here hand sanitizer it’s good it

Of challenge for her parents oh my girl big problem at the house now a good problem she’s got a lot of spunk and that’s how they like it justice is awesome she is our heart Warrior she is the face of what joy and grace looks like this was their first trip they say

It is the first though of many they have lots of deliveries planned in the coming weeks reporting in Charlotte Michelle bden WCNC Charlotte Connect the dots and let us clear up the confusion we’re here to make sure the news makes sense and with connect the dots you’ll understand how the headlines impact your family see the difference on WCNC Charlotte and while many of us will get to be home with loved ones for the

Holidays that isn’t the case for everyone some are having to spend it at the hospital but as WCNC Charlotte J monal shows us one cancer survivor is making a difference bringing a touch of joy into those Hospital hallways a breast cancer patient diagnosed in 2020 she says she never gave into cancer

Using it instead to start a foundation and let others going through cancer treatment know that they don’t have to do it alone as the big red trucks pull up to novon St Jude’s affiliate clinic on hawthorn Lane it’s not to put out a fire but to

Help bring some memorable joy to some of the young patients during the Christmas holiday I need 25 blue and 25 pink leading the charge is Myra Harris president and founder of cancer gave me life Foundation she is a cancer survivor I’ve had chemotherapy 30 rounds of radiation I had both breasts removed I

Had 14 limp nose removed and I’m still on a journey I was just diagnosed about 6 weeks ago with osteopenia which is one of the side effects from the cancer medicine that I take pushing her list of obstacles to the side she was on a mission to help others on similar

Journeys check off their list with little bags filled with love as she went through the life-changing experiences she didn’t want anyone to feel like they were alone she started this Foundation to encourage people on their own Journeys I said Lord if you allow me to

Get to the other side of my journey I was going to start an organization to bless people and let them know that people genuinely care about their well-being and 5-year-old cie is all smiles as she was able to pick up her pink gift bag I’m Miss Myra Merry

Christmas to you cie is the big sister to London and to more that are on the way the mother of all four rash smokes knows this is just a huge burden lifted off her back it means a lot especially because we have a lot going on right now

So I appreciate everything you guys are doing for the kids every time 11-month-old London gets sick with CLE cell they’re spending lots of time at the hospital we have to come here especially when she’s sick or has a fever we have to make sure she doesn’t

Have a crisis little gifts to land more smiles from baby London who just may trying for a career in television it’s a blessing I mean because to know that I’m still on my journey and to know that it’s being well-received and having partners that really appreciate what I’m doing that to

Me is my Christmas gift haris says she is looking to expand her efforts in 2024 by granting wishes to terminally ill breast cancer patients now back to you WCNC Charlotte this is Flash point where power and politics Collide and the tough questions get asked and answered thanks for joining us here on

Flasho I’m Ben Thompson a Merry Christmas weekend to you and yours it is the season of giving our recent report out shows folks in North Carolina are donating more to charity $58 million to be exact but as costs rise Charities aren’t able to stretch their dollars as

Far over the next 30 minutes we’ll share with you some of the Charities and organizations really making a difference this holiday season but first joining us now is the North Carolina Secretary of State elain Marshall her office promotes economic development helps oversee the business Community secretary welcome back we appreciate

It thank you very much it’s delightful to be here so your office tracks charitable giving and and I know uh North Carolinians donated $58 million over a year that was an 18% increase um I know you have told people that that it’s important to give generously but

Also give wisely explain that is correct um we regulate the Charities that have fundraisers the profession of fundraising uh the law do exempts schools and um religious organizations but otherwise if they hire a professional fundraiser or pay their staff at over a certain dollar amount they have to register with us so there

Are thousands and thousands of registered uh nonprofit entities with us and the law requires them to um either get an exemption or um file reports with us uh that shows how much they took in how much went to overhead and how much actually went to the charity when I say

Give wisely there are a lot of new organizations that pop up that don’t have the track record they may have the best of heart but don’t have the efficiency uh ability to um handle whatever the the the need is and unfortunately we see scammers uh out

There um this time of year we do this report because people get a lot of communications if you ever gave a contribution you’re now on that organization’s list for repeat contribution and that’s fine and dandy uh but when you get ones out of the blue for organization that that you’ve never

Their state supported organizations in various parts of the world have wonderful but horrible pictures of disasters and uh they play upon the heartstrings of people uh if there’s something like that that you want to contribute to here’s my standard advice deal with a local branch of whomever is

Supplying that Relief by that it could be the Red Cross it could be the Baptist men it could be the menonite church it could be the Methodist men they have a track record of being able to do the services uh Samaritans purse North Carolina based is another one that has a

Track record of the ability to get into a disaster area with the proper equipment the proper people the proper knowhow to do what needs to be done so um there we have over 20 years worth of information up about how much has gone to the actual charity and how much has

Gone to um um the the pocketbook of the fundraisers and all and you can go to sosnc.gov look up Charities and then you will find tons tons of information uh and you will unfortunately see that some only 10% go goes to the charity or 20% goes to the charity I haven’t conducted

A survey but I truly believe in my heart that most North Carolinians believe that a higher percentage of that needs to go to the actual good work you know when someone makes a donation it’s a matter of trust it’s a matter of an investment of their trust that sort of transparency

Is really helpful so people can see for themselves and that’s whether it’s now in the holiday season or in the middle of of Summer anytime that’s helpful um do you have a good sense for even though I know uh donations are up um and charitable giving is up um how inflation

Has impacted some of these Charities well yes we do uh the amount donated went up about $10 million um you mentioned the figure 58 million it was about 48 million last year so the North Carolinians are very generous it went up about 10 million uh the amount going to

Charities went up five million but we do find that the cost of running these fundraising campaigns have gone up uh with inflation everybody’s felt it in their own pocketbook and their own lives uh so but that was not unreasonable the amount was not exorbitant that um um we

We gleaned from the reports so Charities are trying to be very smart the the really ethical ones the good ones uh are really trying to be very smart and squeeze as much service out of each and every dollar they get um all of this data you all accumulate um

And have oversight over how rigorous is that process um that that your office goes through to to sort of get this information and get it right well they Charities have to be registered and sometimes we find some that aren’t we also find scam Charities and we have here in North Carolina and

We have criminal authority over them so if you feel like uh you’ve been engaged with one of those take a screenshot gather all the information you can and let us know and we will investigate ated as I say some are inefficient and some are straight out Cooks uh just trying to

Process requires a lot of information about the organization then it requires a copy of their uh federal tax tax return uh so you can see exactly about expenses in their General categories so there um we wait well we respond to complaints uh more so than we do from any type of

Impact do those donations have not only on the Charities but on the state as a whole there is such a need for the nonprofit Community to step up um government and even religion can’t meet all of the needs that are out there you don’t have to go very far whether it’s a

Large city like Raley or Charlotte or out in the country to see that there is poverty out there to see that people are probably freezing on a day like today where it’s very cold uh just all sorts of need is evident as you drive around uh even the the wealthier cities like

Raleigh and Charlotte so um the need is out there um government can’t fill all the gaps and we just have to rely upon the good hearts and gracious and graciousness of of people to help make the flight of others a little bit more comfortable and some of the information

This welcome back turning now to your Sunday forecast but first some live pictures over Lake Norman an absolutely beautiful way to start our Christmas Eve and you got some family in town might be a good way to have them you know out of the house for a few days with sitting

Something new you know uh of course it’s kind of like what a little mini weather IQ you know in your regular weather forecast uh laville Valentine and Concord and Monroe this morning everything looks fabulous as we’re kicking off your Christmas Eve and really the forecast today looks much

Better than last year we talked about the coldest Panthers home game on record which was last year today not so much 11:00 we’re talking mid-50s mostly sunny partly sunny by the afternoon as we’re at 66 about 10 degrees warmer than average for this time of year but after

Returns you can see that storm system Brewing off to our West so here’s a full look at your forecast here so we know today is partly sunny and nice but tonight comfortable and actually a little bit cloudier we know the clouds act like a blanket when you have more of

Them overnight they kind of sit above us and so as the temperatures to cool off it kind of prevents that radiation from leaving the ground and as it does so that’s why temperatures are a little bit warmer tonight so 45 tonight so Santa not having any weather related issues

Getting around and about the Carolinas delivering all those gifts and then tomorrow morning of our course will start off in the 40s eventually reaching the 60s before those rain chances do return I think we’ll see a few peaks of sunshine again tomorrow morning but very quickly those clouds will build in and

It’s most spots west of I77 that are starting to see some light rain this will progress closer to the Charlotte Metro by 2:00 but really the heaviest rain doesn’t arrive until after 6 so that’s why I have most of the rain chances and usually you look at the hour

By hour forecast much later on in the afternoon so it’s not a complete plan Ruiner but if you really wanted to get get those outdoor plans done I would plan those before 2:00 if you’re in the Charlotte Metro for areas west of 77 a little bit earlier for areas east of 77

You’ll have a few extra hours but heavier rain develops after 6 o’ and then that’s pretty much off and on they most of the day on Tuesday but something else that comes along with the rain chances returning Monday night the Gusty winds too in fact we’re going to see

Gust about 25 milph from Monday night they could Peak even closer to 30 mph on Tuesday so don’t forget those Inflatables we all love our Christmas decorations whether you got them this year or they’re family Heir liims you don’t want them to blow away so be alert

Of just the not only the Inflatables but of course your Christmas lights even all that Decor if it’s uh very special to you make sure you’re tying it down and bringing it inside could be in the neighbor’s yard as Tuesday is over as we’re wrapping up these rain chances and

Of course those Gusty winds too and you’ll see this reflected in my hour by hour forecast here from Guy Roofing 7day 66 a day partly Sunny those afternoon showers and Breezy conditions tomorrow we eventually do bring in a better chance for Gusty winds on Tuesday even a few thunderstorms possible but we’re

Largely drying out Wednesday and then a much cooler and drier pattern moves in for the second half of the week that continues all the way through the last few days of 2023 and Austin hard to believe but even the first few days of the New Year wow 2024 can you believe it

Britney thank you so much Americans on average save about $121 a month on their power bill when they switch to solar panels but could those savings put you at risk if there’s a fire in your house here’s Megan Bragg with this morning’s verify more homes in the US have solar panels on the roofs now in fact data

From the US Energy Information Administration shows residential power installation Rose by 34% in 2020 so one WCNC viewer wanted to know if a resident had a fire emergency at home would solar panels keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire let’s verify our sources are the NC Department of

Are aware in case there’s an emergency so we can verify that no if your home has solar panels it would not keep the fire department from Gaining access to the fire but it could make fighting a fire a little more difficult with your verify I’m Megan Brown if you have something you would like verified email us at verify at wcnc.com how to connect the dots when we make the news make sense automakers are looking to revamp the future of cars and the advancements May personalize your vehicle more than ever before technology is helping us do some pretty

Incredible things to the outside of our cars let’s connect the dots BMW is currently working on an experimental coding that acts as what they call digital ink meaning someday your car could have more than 30 colors to choose from and even change color with the weather the same Tech that already

Have dragged you to the service center could one day be handsfree think of it like a smartphone update your car would download updates overnight and be ready to roll by your daily commute saving you time and money and that is connecting the Dots 5:37 now and we’re asking where’s the money for student loan payers good Tuesday morning it’s been about two months since student loan payments ramped back up and now those paying the bill are getting a better idea of exactly how they have to adjust to the payments so let’s get into this

Piece some about 37% are having to cut back on their essential purchases n Mass Mutual ad about 3ar of us with student loans payments say that the restart has had a negative impact on our day-to-day Financial Health numbers like those have some considering skipping out on payments altogether which is why we’re

This morning what is your best moneysaving tip make sure you text us 704 329 3600 Ben also new tonight a local college student says she’s found the inspiration for her studies at the hospital she was taken care of yeah she was a child when doctors told her she

Has a chronic and difficult disease and now she’s studying so she could work at the very place that helped her LaVine Children’s Hospital WCNC charlott’s Michelle Bowden shows us how this young woman is making a difference Isabella was just 11 when she was diagnosed with lupus and she says

Just the care and the compassion they showed me I’ve never felt that before only in a parent um and so that inspired me to become a nurse and work out of veines she’s currently a junior at wind studying to be a nurse hoping to be doing rounds here at lavine’s Children’s

Defeat you I am taking it one day at a time with one very big goal in sight one she says we make it all worthwhile it means that I’m not just the sick girl that I am someone and that I am someone who although is a lupus Warrior I’m also

A nursing student I’m also a daughter if all goes as planned she hopes to be working here at LaVine Children’s Hospital as early as next year reporting in Charlotte Michelle Bowden WCNC Charlotte Time now to connect the dots when we make the news make sense if you’re hopping on that holiday flight this week the entertainment could be impacting you more than you realize inlight entertainment is more than just killing time it may be an airline’s answer to getting more passengers let’s connect the that

Popular movies like Barbie and elf aren’t just eye candy to distract you from a long flight airlines are using them to fill up seats no most passengers won’t book with a certain Airline just for their movie selection but with the option to watch the latest box office hit people think they’re getting a

Better deal Airlines around the world spend nearly half a billion dollars on inflight entertainment today most Airlines have staff designated to curating exactly which movies make the cut United Airlines has taking it a step further and giving all their planes seatback screens the airlines chief executive says the screens make

Passengers choose United more often plus indie films and TV shows are popular in inflight movie watching right now it’s one of the only times consumers have access and the time to check those titles out and that he is connecting the dots

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