good morning. it's thursday, february 18th. i'm amanda sanchez and i'm dave lawrence. it's a first alert day... the winter storm dropping snow down to the valley floor but fortunately....most of the problems seem to be in the mountains. kolo 8 news now's rebecca kitchen is live from gold ranch where traffic has been stopped since early this morning. officials with caltrans say interstate 80 at stateline is closed due to severe weather. all vehicles are being turned around at the gold ranch casino exit on i-80. they say semi trucks and four wheel drive vehicles are getting stuck in the snow, causing multiple clusters of cars to block sections of the interstate. it's not clear when i-80 will be back open. stay with kolo 8 news now for any updates. a fast-moving, but intense storm system will bring wind, rain, and snow to the area through thursday. wind will be gusty, especially east of the sierra crest through the evening

in the sierra and change over to snow below 7000' after sunset, and around the tahoe basin before midnight. snow levels will drop to valley floors before sunrise, bringing the possibility of a few slushy inches for the morning commute. snow let's go to dick stoddard with a look at the forecast. accumulating snow is now likely on the valley floor with the intense precip along and just behind the front. due to the intensity, it will initially stick to the roads then become slush with better accumulation above 5000 feet. roads will be slick. up to 2 inches are now expected on the valley floors with carson/minden being closer to 2 inches while reno/sparks more likely accumulates to

5000 feet, 2-4 inches are likely. the main precip band will move through by 4 am with showers after. at this point, with it just periodic showers and warm ground temps, expect much of the snow on roads to melt after the snow ends. therefore decided to hold off on issuing an advisory for the sierra with the nevada caucuses just two days away, democratic presidential hopeful bernie sanders is rallying in the silver state. kolo 8 news now spoke with sanders on issues in nevada -- including the fair use of public land, immigration and the gap between the middle class and the one percent. he says he plans creating equal use of fedeal lands by all americans, a comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for undocumented immigrants and he's hoping to shift the value of wall street during his presidency.

working families in the middle class in a time when the middle class is disappearing and the wealthiest people in this country are becoming wealthier. nothing i am talking about is unrealistic sanders says he plans on creating jobs with renewable energy. but with the recent decision the p-u-c made, he says nevada needs some improvements. sanders will be in las vegas today, before heading to northern elko tomorrow for a public rally. the battle continues in south carolina as several of the republican g-o-p candidates took part in townhalls. with the primary just days away, presidential hopefulls keep swinging at one another. here's abc's ray raimundi. republican front- runner donald trump....all alone on m- s-n-b-c ... where he attacked his fellow counterparts...and defended his fiery temperment sot-trump "in a year from now, people will respect what i did // you're so worried about being nice and being politically correct. so what would you rather have me do? be nice to everybody" over on c-n-n...senators ted cruz and marco

out the hammer on trump...after receiving a cease and desist letter. sot-sen cruz cooper: what did you think when you actually got the letter? cruz :i'll confess, i laughed out loud.//and i don't think anyone is surprised that donald is threatening to sue people. rubio...with a more personal message... ...smiling from ear-to- ear on govenor nikki haley's endorsement sot-sen rubio in my campaign for president i got the endorsement of a candidate of indian descent and tomorrow we'll be campaigning along an african-american member. ray tag: on the democratic side? hillary clinton and bernie sanders are battling it out in nevada.. ahead of that state's caucuses this weekend. new polls show the race in nevada at a virtual dead heat. a few of the g-o-p candidates will be in nevada next week. ted cruz is planning at least eight campaign events in the silver state. he'll rally in elko on monday before heading to reno where he'll speak at the boys and girls club of truckee meadows at 7 p-m. he then heads to carson

jeb bush will start his silver-state tour in las then he'll be in reno on monday where he'll hold a town hall event at huff-acre huffaker elementary school at 6 p-m. donald trump will be at the nugget casino resort at noon on tuesday. doors open at 10 a.m. the event is free and open to the public, but registration is encouraged. has indicted nevada rancher cliven bundy. connected to the standoff with ranch in 20-14. bundy was arrested in oregon, where his sons ryan and ammon bundy were involved in the occupation of an oregon wildlife refuge. both sons -- along with two other men -- were indicted with bundy yesterday. the sixteen counts carry prison terms fines. most serious among them are assault on a federal law enforcement officer, and extortion. cliven bundy could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. michigan's governor and the mayor of flint say they have plans to deal

are different. flint mayor karen weaver wants the pipes removed right away. she announced training on removing them would begin next week. snyder wants to coat the pipes with a of removing them, but hasn't given a time frame weaver says she is moving forward with her plan to remove the lead pipes. federal regulators say a corroded pipe is what caused the oil spill on the santa barbara coast in cailfornia last may. the pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration says the spill occured in a 2-foot section of the pipe after pressure increased in the pipe when a pump was restarted. more than 140-thousand gallons of crude oil spilled into the ocean. a medical hospital in los angeles paid a 17- thousand dollar ransom after hackers disabled their computer network. hollywood presbyterian medical center says the hackers demanded the ransom of 40-bitcoins -- a nearly untraceable form of digital payment. the hospital first noticed something was wrong on february 4th.

employees not to use the computers. now the question is -- did the hospital do the right thing in paying off the hackers? i am sure the law-enforcement agencies are not happy with the fact that the hospital paid the ransom. the ceo of the hospital released a statement that read in part-- 'the quickest and most efficient way to restore our system and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key. in the best interest of restoring normal operations, we did this.' it's a family affair in this week's keeping it local. matt vaughan introduces us to a father and son serving up barbecue in a unique way. "you're watching kolo 8 news now good morning reno with dave lawrence, amanda

cheat grass is a big problem in nevada. the non-native species chokes out natives

accumulating snow is now likely on the valley floor with the intense precip along and just behind the front. due to the intensity, it will initially stick to the roads then become slush with better accumulation above 5000 feet. roads will be slick.

expected on the valley floors with carson/minden being closer to 2 inches while reno/sparks more likely accumulates to around an inch. above 5000 feet, 2-4 inches are likely. the main precip band will move through by 4 am with showers after. at this point, with it just periodic showers and warm ground temps, expect much of the snow on roads to melt after the snow ends. therefore decided to hold off on issuing an advisory for the sierra front as the warm road temps will likely result in more wet pavement than slushy roads. still expect localized issues above 5000 feet however, especially around virginia city. wallmann && .synopsis... a significant change is expected through

storm moves into the region. this will bring continued gusty winds this evening followed by snow and rain tonight and thursday. another weak system is possible friday night, before the ridge rebuilds over the west with warming temperatures into early next week. && .rev watches/warnings/advis ories... floor with the intense precip along and just behind the front. due to the intensity, it will initially stick to the roads then become slush with better accumulation above 5000 feet. roads will be slick. up to 2 inches are now expected on the valley floors with carson/minden being

likely accumulates to around an inch. above 5000 feet, 2-4 inches are likely. the main precip band will move through by 4 am with showers after. at this a father-son duo are bringing their own flavor of barbeque to the biggest little city. and as kolo 8 news now's matt vaughan shows us in this week's keeping it local ... they're sharing the roles of both teacher and student. ed ferencik and his father ... ed senior ... each bring their own set of skills to the table with their new restaurant. and when i met with this dynamic duo ... what i discovered is that this business venture has making. ... one's a master of meats craftsman. and together ... they're putting a creative spin on barbeque with some non-conventional creations along with the familiar favorites. whether you like your

on a wood fire rotisserie ... or on a char pit grill ... they do it all. "i think we're putting out, not of creativity." more than 30 years of experience in the meat industry. his son developed his culinary skills at u-n-l-v. while the younger ferencik was working at fine dining restaurants in las vegas ... his dad was creating a line of meat tenderizers under the name butcher's kitchen ... which would eventually roll over to their joint business venture. "i'm learning something, and he's learning something, and together it seems to be working." when ed decided to move back to reno and go into business with his dad ... his goal was to bring the same caliber of food he was used to ... but in a more casual setting. "i think there's a culinary revolution saying 'why can't we eat high quality from scratch food without that stuffiness, that white table cloth?'"

lot of what he knows from his dad growing up ... there was also other forms of motivation around the house. "we always cooked at home, but he who didn't cook had to do the dishes. i'm like, i wanna learn to cook, i hate doing dishes." but it's not just ed and his father doing all the work. the whole ferencik clan pitches in at butcher's kitchen char-b-que... including ed's two brothers and their mother. "it's really a full family operation, and what families don't fighta little bit? but in the end it's really rewarding to be working with them." butcher's kitchen char- b-que is located near the corner of south and is open monday through saturday from 11 to 9. can your car skip potholes?? actually can! a look at the car's snazzy suspension. it's a prickly ugly site... as these tumbleweeds take over a small town. where they are piling up and why.

tumbleweeds! they've swamped the town of wangaratta in australia. truckloads of the stuff are filling the streets and yards. dry conditions have led to a bumper of the crop. in some places, fluffy

ford is touting the pot-hole protection technology on the 20-17 fusion v-six sport sedan. the company says the shock absorber system automatically stiffens when sensors detect a pothole. that allows the system to keep the wheel elevated instead of dropping into the hole. some luxury cars, including ford's lincoln m-k-z, have similar technology. ford says the fusion is first mid-sized car in its price range that has offered the feature. do you own a toyota rav-4? if you do, you'll want to stick around. why they're being recalled. and google has a new e-mail feature. we'll tell you all about

news now. accumulating snow is

accumulating snow is now likely on the valley floor with the intense precip along and just behind the front. due to the intensity, it will initially stick to the roads then become slush with better accumulation above 5000

up to 2 inches are now expected on the valley floors with carson/minden being closer to 2 inches while reno/sparks more likely accumulates to around an inch. above 5000 feet, 2-4 inches are likely. the main precip band will move through by 4 am with showers after. at this point, with it just periodic showers and warm ground temps, expect much of the snow on roads to melt after the snow ends. therefore decided to hold off on issuing an advisory for the sierra front as the warm road temps will likely result in more wet pavement than slushy "you're watching kolo 8 news now g in today's "techbytes," a matter of principle not ability.

with a court order to break the encryption on an iphone used by the san bernardino shooters. >> but how difficult would it be for them to write the code to unlock one phone? computer security experts say not difficult at all. it would take apple one afternoon. google is expanding its gmailify feature to access all their messages from a single screen. >> but soon those nongoogle accounts will look at and filter just like gmail except they won't say at g-mail.com. the world's first full-color high-resolution flexible smartphone. >> look at this, it's called reflex. the phone allows users to flip through pages by bending it. it's just a prototype as well. those are your "techbytes." >> h the flu virus. it's a really big deal. and with fever, aches, and chills,

s within the first 48 hours of symptoms and ask about prescription tamiflu. attack the flu virus at its source with h miflu, an antiviral that helps stop it from spreading in the body. tamiflu in liquid form is fda approved to treat the flu in people two weeks of age and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing, have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion, or abnormal behavior. the most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. anti-flu? go antiviral

the snow is coming down this morning. and it's been causing some trouble for drivers heading over the pass. we've got a live report ahead. and a deadly shooting at a reno trailer park forces people out of their homes for hours. what we know so far about the incident. and countdown to the caucuses. democratic candidates hillary clinton and bernie sanders-- in a dead heat. so who will come out on top? thanks for joining us on good morning reno. i'm amanda sanchez and i'm dave lawrence. the snow moved in fast some problems for people heading over the mountains. kolo 8 news now's rebecca kitchen is live on the traffic nightmare. officials with caltrans say interstate 80 at stateline is closed due to severe weather. all vehicles are being turned around at the gold ranch casino exit on i-80. they say semi trucks and vehicles are getting stuck in the snow, causing multiple