Today's weather & top news

Today, mostly cloudy. Showers ending by mid morning. Highs in the lower 60s. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph becoming east. Tonight, mostly cloudy. A slight chance of rain showers in the evening then a chance of rain showers and isolated thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the mid-40s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent. Saturday, rain showers. Highs in the mid-50s. East winds 5 to 10 mph shifting to the northwest 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of rain 90 percent. ... The number of registered Democrats in the state has risen sharply this year heading into Tuesday’s primary election, giving party leaders hope they may be loosening the stronghold Republicans have had for years. The number of Nebraska registered Democrats has increased by nearly 14,000 since the beginning of the year, according to figures from Secretary of State John Gale’s office. Meanwhile, the number of registered Republicans decreased by nearly 5,000 during the same period. “It’s part of both a national trend and work we’ve done here in Nebraska,” including the state Democrats’ first-ever presidential caucuses held in February, said Matt Connealy, executive director of the state party. “With their numbers down by 5,000 and us up by 14,000 ... we’re getting new voters we haven’t had before, but we’re also seeing people who have realigned” and departed the Republican Party. ... Authorities were waiting for daylight early Friday so they could begin assessing the damage from a reported tornado that killed one person and injured three others in central North Carolina. What law enforcement officers said was a tornado touched down on the outskirts of Greensboro late Thursday as severe storms swept across the Southeast, damaging homes and businesses in at least three other states. An apparent tornado also wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few barns were damaged.