7pm-2021-03-16

7pm-2021-03-16

Tonight on prime news at 7.... we'll tell you why debt collectors can now access your stimulus check.

And, could children soon be eligible to get the covid-19 vaccine?

The makers of the moderna shot are working on it.

We'll explain, in tonight's health watch.

"prime news at 7.

Your news starts now."

Good evening, i'm andrew harrison.

Welcome to prime news at 7.

Emily has the night off.

The polls are closing right now in north georgia.

News 12's dorothy sherman joins us now live to explain some of the issues folks in multiple counties just voted on.

The freedom center in ringgold is just one of the 11 polling locations open today.

On the ballot in catoosa county, like some others, is the esplost.

The education special purpose local option sales tax is a one cent sales tax that goes to county schools.

This is not a vote on a tax increase, but a vote to continue what's been in place since 1997.

Around 1200 people voted early.

That's more than 2011 when voters voted for the esplost in a march election.

"well you're right the population has certainly grown in catoosa county.

So we have more people here, but also i think there is more interest in this last years, general election, runoffs, there was a lot of interest statewide and voting and some of that has probably carried over into this splost year."

Polls close here at 7.

Live in catoosa county, dorothy sherman, news 12 now distribution of the latest round of stimulus checks begins this week, but some people might have to give their payment to debt collectors.

News 12's joeli poole explains who's protected and who's at risk.

Poole "there's a new protective shield over the round 3 stimulus checks, but if you have unpaid debt, you might not see the $1,400.

Unlike the previous economist payments, debt collectors will be able to garnish more from this third round of stimulus payments.

Joe lautigar "the first 2 were shielded from debt collectors but this third one because it is part of a budgetary agreement instead of a stand alone bill , third party debt collectors do have access to the funds if they happen to get to them before you do."

Since some debts are protected , not everyone who owes money is at risk of losing their check.

Lautigar "is shielded from federal debts altogether.

So student loans, bad taxes and child support is protected.

This one is supposed to come to the people.

But we are talking about overdraft fees, court orders or garnishments.

Those types of things.

If you have a garnishment for any kind of debts such as credit cards , court orders , any kind of local debts.

It's everything else besides child support , bad taxes, and student loans."

Officials say stimulus checks are supposed to be hitting residents' bank accounts this week.

Lautigar "they are starting to send them out in waves.

The first people who are supposed to receive stimulus money are the ones who have bank account information already on file.

If you do not get it and you haven't received the previous stimulus checks you can claim them as a tax refund when you file your tax returns."

Poole "for more information about tracking your stimulus check, go to our website wdef dot com.

In east ridge joeli poole news 12 now."

Hamilton county schools are receiving more than 40 and a half million dollars from the latest covid relief package.

In the first wave, the district got nearly 11 million.

This latest payout will help elementary and secondary school emergency relief, also called esser.

School board members say nearly two million will be going to the county's charter schools, and an additional two million will go to indirect costs.

About 70 percent of the rest of the money will be split between learning loss, education technology, and learning acceleration.

No amount of money that we get will ever be able to make up for the lost education of the students.

We just can't do it.

They lost a year.

There's really not anything we're gonna be able to do about it we're going to just have to do the best that we can.

The proposal has been submitted to the state for approval.

More people in hamilton county continue to get the covid-19 vaccine, with more than 130- thousand shots administered, as of yesterday.

The covid task force says the newest johnson and johnson vaccine will help boost that number even more.

"we're very excited about the increase cadence in vaccination in our community with the new johnson & johnson vaccine coming online in to our community we expect more availability overall in the days ahead."

Bond says healthcare workers who want to help with giving the shots can call the health department to sign up.

Moderna has expanded its vaccine trials to include kids from 6 months to 12-years-old.

The trial for 12 to 17-year-olds is also underway.

The studies are designed to show how the children tolerate the vaccine, and to make sure it's safe and effective for them.

David "beg-know" begnaud spoke to one family involved, in tonight's health watch.

It's blair davis's fifteenth birthday... and to celebrate... she and her younger sister dylan climb into the car.... head to a clinic.

Happy birthday!

What a way to celebrate... ...and get a covid swab.

That's because the davis sisters are part of the moderna adolescent vaccine trials... and today they get their second shots.

No way to know if its a placebo or if its the real thing i think it was the placebo we're like, pushing for a fever, pushing for body aches.

Yes, exactly.

Laughs.

Because as doctors you know that if that happens the body is reacting to something.

That's right.

That's right.

They're getting a response.

We're looking for a response.

Doctors garvin davis and mendy jeter are the girls' parents.

They say they applied to at least three different adolescent trials.

"to get them protected was really important to us."

So you felt like getting them protected as early as possible would protect you?

Would protect us, would protect their grandparents, would protect anyone else.

But for this family, it's not just about protecting themselves from covid.

"i wanted them to be an example and set an example to say, hey, this vaccine is safe.

This -- we actually have doctors trust our children getting this shot."

And getting kids vaccinated will be critical to ending the pandemic, says c-b-s news medical contributor doctor david agus.

"we have to do everything we can to get to herd immunity.

And given that 25% of the united states is under the age of 21, this is going to have to include children."

And now that we know the vaccines work, children's trials only need to answer the important questions: "is it safe, period.

And do they mount an effective immune response.

Period.

Those are easy to do with smaller numbers of children."

A few thousand children, actually.

Starting with kids like dylan and blair, who spent her special day in a houston clinic.

It's sort of sort of my duty as a houstonian to help out other houstonians.

And this is one way i can do that.

"dr. anthony fauci is saying that the older kids, blair and dylan's age could get the covid vaccine as early as this fall, and the babies, the really young ones, could start getting it as early as next year.

David begnaud, cbs news, houston, tx.

With the closing of a wal-mart neighborhood market in brainerd, people in community fear it's become a food desert.

Now, the chattanooga sustainable food center's non- profit grocery store is stepping up to address food insecurity.

Executive director holly martin now partners with more than 20 local producers to provide nutritious food to those in need.

"our five hundred square foot grocery store won't solve food insecurity in chattanooga, but i think it's definitely a start and we're doing a lot of analytics on how our operations work and if it's something that can be replicated i think it could start to chip away at some of those issues and we're just trying to talk to a lot of people and make good partnerships and be good listeners."

Gaining grounds is hoping to extend its store hours, and expand food inventory each week.

March madness is here, and the humane educational society has joined in on the fun by helping their animals get adopted.

The non profit has created a march madness themed profile for several of their pets.

They feature the animal's weight, age, personality and basketball team.

"especially during this difficult time that everybody is going through.

I wanted to make sure that our shelter and our animals can stay in the forefront of people's minds by doing something fun, cute and engaging.

The humane society is also hosting a saint patrick's day wheel of "furtune," where you can spin the wheel for a chance to have your adoption fee waived, or win a free pet i-d tag.

We have more information on our website, wdef dot com.

==== and bekah, the weather wasn't t wp [your you know i've got a letter right after the show but being reminding me very wet 24- hour is the typically for north alabama nor georgia counties in the orange going to use the writer that the little over 3 inches of rainfall but over 2 inches of rain in chattanooga with her most northern counties really miss lives will have lots more ranging for the next few days currently, take greater just light showers continue to weep off into the tennessee valley when gus right now not really much only get about 10 miles per hour there but it will 55 right now in chattanooga think the knife over, and 50s have been over and done as we head into your evening hours temperatures will likely only drop by if you would agree soaks likely by tomorrow morning will be waking up to the low to mid fifth these all around 54 expected in chattanooga 53 and eight and 53 expected down over in somerville it's been a gloom days though far with the potential for severe weather wednesday all have that work a cancer diagnosis doesn't have to make you feel powerless.

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This, after a harsh exchange between co-hosts sharon osbourne and sheryl underwood on the popular daytime program.

The situation escalated after osbourne defended recent comments piers morgan made about meghan markle during a show last week..

According to numerous sources, c-b-s says it will conduct an investigation into the verbal battle between osbourne and underwood.

Osbourne says she doesn't agree with everything morgan says, but she supports his freedom of speech, and considers him a friend.

Tiger woods may be recovering from a car wreck, but he can still play golf now in a new video game.

"take-two interactive" announced it's signed an exclusive long-term deal with the sports legend.

It was finalized before the crash last month in california.

Take-two says the deal includes the rights to use tiger woods' name and likeness in the p-g-a tour 2-k franchise, and any other golf games published by 2-k.

Woods was previously the face of a golf game made by take-two rival -- electronic arts from 1999 through 2013.

Two of the biggest bands in the "kell-tick" celtic punk rock scene will be live streaming concerts on saint patrick's day.

Dropkick murphys did a live stream show on the holiday last year, and they'll do it again tomorrow.

Flogging molly will be live streaming from whelan's pub in dublin, ireland - the first place they ever played there.

Part of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to bands and crews in need.

Flogging molly takes the stage at three o'clock eastern tomorrow at flogging-molly- live-dot-com.

The dropkick murphys show kicks off at seven at d-k-m- stream-dot-com.

Coming up next on prime news at seven... it's time to raise your glass!

We'll show you how some top notch women in the brewing business are being honored this women's histor here's bekah wi the firsters but the book all charitable to enter unfortunately this st.

Patrick' day weather wise not looking to lucky for us all the details on that come in a little bit later but the fog over lookout mountain this will look over our news will studios had had a thick layer of clouds for the entire day 55 and cloudy winds are calm at this hour but big picture big picture not a light greater a few light showers on doors southern end but it can b the southwest that will be watching for potential storm development into tomorrow and night out right now currently on the service analysis will be watching as a warm to line the tennessee valley by wednesday afternoon and a cold front alongside a low pressure system will be moving east's word and because of that could be watching for the potential for some severe weather solicitor severe weather outlook for wednesday as you can see the tennessee valley is under not want to even tory risk of your weather so the main risk for potential again severe storms i going to be down to our most southwest counties what rollout of you may be an isolated storm up to our northeast counties right now looking at a moderate risk for overall your weather with the main risk is going to be flooding again we do very we conditions early this morning as well as last night to the groun is saturated that could cause some downed power lines trees a well as runoff area is openly watching the potential of healt as well as the damaging winds alongside a few strong storms a well, ability of you are an isolated tornadoes assuming tha would be watching for our local weather window of the gate of the day can always send you outside picture in today's the mission is from bill and half sunrise over copper-based and copper health think they'll will and saying cheers this women's history month.

An international organization is honoring women in the brewing business with a special kind of beer.

The brew is being made by a woman and head brewer who's been in the business for more than two decades.

Julio avila shows us.

As you brewed your morning cup of coffee this morning, <nat sound the team at maker's craft brewery were brewing a special kind of beer, one honoring the women in the brewing business.

"it's great to see that there are so many women now."

That includes michele lowney, the head brewer at maker's craft who's been in the business for over 20 years.

"when i started i think there were 10 head brewers at the time and now there's probably 100s of them and there's 1,000s of women in the industry."

And the beer they're brewing is a specialy blend of hops from the "pink boots society," an international organization that supports women in the brewing business.

"each year the pink boots society has a different kind of blend and this blend you're seeing here is this year's blend.

They choose a variety of hops they send out to the participating breweries where they only produce on this special day."

"different chapters smell, do some tests with the different hops that they offer and they go to yakima chief and there'll be like five or six and they'll make a blend."

But michele isn't alone, "i think the best way to make beer is collaboratively."

Breweries including tradition, bold mariner, and wasserhund are helping.

"michelle basically invited me to make a pink boots society beer with her.

It's a about equality and if half the population is female then half the workforce should always be female."

"go for it, it's an awesome business to be in and everybody is really cool."

The beer will take three weeks to make.

A portion of each sale will go to the pink boots society in its mission to continue supporting women in the are you still like the clouds all around in the mid-50s that have a warm front pushed throug that will develop a few green showers as well as the possibility of a thunderstorm so will see that towards the leade into the out your new but the best chance to see potential strong to severe storms will be late wednesday night into early thursday morning this is where you show multiple ways to get alerts us especially if you're asleep to be around i just afte midnight after wednesday night so deftly be aware of that to get have those weather app notifications on's will be continuing into thursday mornin both for eventually drying out by the early elite in terrain wise looking at two maybe even over 2 1/2 inches of rainfall can we just had to do it over 3 inches of rain here in the tennis the valley from this morning and last night's were gonna be watching for the so i this whole week of windsor but going to be feeling a warlike ring out there again definitely want to be whether aware eyes we had into wednesday and thursday for potential's strongest beers storms nothing is out of the question again not highest risk is going to be for last flooding of the possibilit of high damaging winds is going to be pretty decent hell as wel as the possibility of a tornado to what you should do now is prepare find a safe place in your home and share that plant with family members household members have a kid ready to go by tomorrow turn weather out notifications on a mission to have fresh batteries in your weather radio if you don't have a weather app for this viewing area makes download our free news will now app it will give me the latest on whether watches warnings or advisories lawsuit to leave the latest on news and sports the current temperatures across the region pretty: chattanooga 55 in here and 76 over in ashland avenue right now over in columbia look at that 24 hour temperature change a lot cooler senior atlanta 180 were there and nine over in chattanooga going into the seven day forecast definitely not going to be on that lucky type for wednesday so deftly want to be whether aware and celebrate safely if you do have any st.

Patrick's day plans were to be drying out by friday afternoon in this first weekend of spring looks absolutely amazing lots of sunshine we can even wake up sunday morning near freezing in the low 30s and will be startin the dry weather pattern all the way into monday injured our joy to dry up like you so much for the bowhat's going on.binson weu this is an idea that you're gonna say, "why didn't i think of that?"

This is the touch screen purse, and right now, we're all trying to be as clean as possible, simplify our lives as much as possible, be as organized as much as possible, really be aware of our surroundings.

You know how that goes?

This is such a fabulous idea, because when i leave the house, i have to have my phone.

Now, oh my gosh!

I need my hands-- do i put my phone down?

Eh, eh, no!

I have it!

This touch screen purse has a great place to put my phone in the back, but here's the unbelievable part.

This really works!

Oh my gosh!

I love it.

It works with all different sizes of phones and the phone can be in the case.

And you have space for keys and readers and lip gloss and whatever you wanna have in there, which i have all my stuff in there, so it's all good to go.

I'm not the only one who thinks it's a great idea.

Lori greiner from "shark tank," who is a sweetheart, by the way, think it's a great idea as well.

We have different patterns and different colors that you can definitely have them to match different outfits.

But now when you leave the house, you're not gonna have to go, "oh no, i don't wanna put my phone down on the table and walk away.

Oh no, i have too many things in my hand," right?

How easy and streamlined and efficient is your life?

Voila!

Cross body, rfid protection, adjustable, all the technology you want, and it's gonna work with any of the phones that you use.

By the way, it's also 20% off on localsteals.com.

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