miles per hour and it's blustery with gusts getting near 30 miles per hour. the dayplanner reveals a high temperature of 68 this afternoon. your complete forecast is coming up - your news starts now. "announcer: "now live from kcau-tv in sioux city, iowa... this is abc9 news this midday.... " " jessica rae: good morning and thanks for joining us this midday. i'm jessica rae. this morning president obama announced his plan to amend withdrawal plans from afghanistan. karen travers has more from washington, dc. " it's a significant reversal for president obama. tbd potus sot there are about 98- hundred us troops in afghanistan?and nearly all were supposed to be home by the end of 2016.

but the president - on the recommendations of his top commanders - will now leave as many as 55-hundred troops on the ground. it will be a two-fold mission - similar to the current one - counterterrorism operations and training and assisting afghan forces. tbd potus sot so why the shift in policy? top pentagon officials believed afghan forces werent ready to operate on their own....and there's been a recent surge in violence by the taliban and now isis. last month taliban fighters took control of a key northern city. afghan forces battled back in kunduz, with support from us airstrikes. but one strike was catastrophic. a hospital was hit?leaving 22 people dead including 12 staffers from doctors without borders. general campbell mistakenly struck. we would never intentionally target a protected medical facility." there are now multiple investigations into how such a major

mistake was made. also looming large over this decision - the instability in iraq. the white house facing criticism that a lingering us military presence there would have prevented the rise of isis. : kt abc news washington " jessica rae: the russian defence ministry has released footage showing their airstrikes on militant facilities in syria according to the ministry, the footage shows airstrikes on a militant storage facility and a command center within roughly the last 24 hours. but as of now the exact date or location of the airstrike footage is unknown. jessica rae: with the first democratic debate in the books, presidential candidate hillary clinton is back on the campaign trail. clinton rallied a crowd of 25 hundred people in las vegas, the site

of the debate. during her rally, clinton picked up a union endorsement and weighed in on vice president joe biden's tough decision, whether or not he'll be running for president. biden chimed in about the debate, but still no word on his potential run. clinton sot: it is so great to be here with all of you! did we have a good debate last night? biden sot: i thought they all did well donald trump was also back on the trail greeted by immigration and black lives matter activists last night in richmond virginia. trump called clinton the winner of tuesday night's debate and set his sights on bernie sanders. jessica rae: a couple of g-o-p hopefuls are in iowa today. former arkansas governor mike huckabee continues his campain series "the huck stops here" in mount pleasant iowa. huckabee also has a stop planned in donahue today at 1:45 this afternoon. and he was in fort madison earlier this morning jessica rae: a group in nebraska is looking to have the ban on casino gambling at

racetracks lifted. here's paul hughes with the details. "a group that wants to legalize casino gambling at nebraska racetracks is ready to start gathering signatures to place the issue on the 2016 ballot. keep the money in nebraska will ask voters to sign three petitions, including one for a proposed constitutional amendment to allow games of chance. former state senator scott lautenbaugh of omaha, says the state has lost billions of dollars to neighboring iowa and south dakota, where gambling is legal. several awards were presented wednesday to long- time norfolk area united way volunteers. larry hilkeman was named as the recipient of this year's marlene ahrenholz spirit of volunteerism award, and marsha cleveland received the above and beyond award. volunteers reported another $52,000 in donations wednesday, bringing the total collected so far to $252,056, or 45.8-percent of the $550,000 goal. it is pretty much guaranteed that hangar rents at the norfolk regional airport will be going up on january 1st. but the question remains, how much? at monday night's meeting of the airport authority board, member bill jepsen said two members of the board and some area pilots reviewed rents at 26 airports in nebraska. they're

this year, and not the 30-percent a norfolk city council subcommittee recommended. those and more stories can be heard on news talk wjag, lite rock 97.5 and 106 kix. " jessica rae: this morning, the world's largest retail store walmart, is facing a hard hit. yesterday, tanked, wiping out 21 billion dollars in value in the worst day in 27 years for the company. effect across wall street, other major retailers with it. now that's setting the stage for deep discounts. . joe feldman, sr. managing director, telsey advisory group i think we're gonna see pretty aggressive discounts. 30-40% off is going to be standard fare. as we get closer to the holiday and certainly after christs one contributing factor to walmart's billion-dollar

slump is their fierce competition with online giant amazon, and this holiday season isn't expected to get much better so far, the national retail federation expects consumer spending this season to increase only three point seven percent from last year. jessica rae: tech giant google is giving back. right here in iowa. the iowa governor's stem advisory council received a check for 20 thousand dollars from google to help support code iowa. an effort in the state to help schools focus on better education. google's first twenty thousand dollar contribution allowed the stem council to award five schools across iowa with four thousand dollars in technology awards for participating in the "hour of code" during computer science education week. jessica rae: a big check is helping one central iowa center better serve iowans with autism. the homestead children's autism center in altoona, held an open house in celebration of their recent grant. thanks to the prairie meadows legacy grant and private donors,

they received one hundred thousand dollars worth of new funds to expand their services. "started this clinic space 5 years ago with only four rooms, due to our community outreach and support we were able to expand our clinic three times the size and now we have 12 spaces to increase the ability to serve more children " jessica rae: the homestead in altoona has been serving children with autism since 20-10, but they quickly outgrew their space. they were originally designed to serve time. long wait lists but now this space for 24 more kids. the next time shoppers in orange city visit market for chops something will be missing from the meat case. cutting meat at the market... al woudstra ( is retiring. started the 19-25 after holland. over the years al has cut back on his hours... but this time he's

knife for good. meat market very much but i'm thankful i'm still able to be around," jessica rae: al and his brother lee... owned the business selling it the late 90's. al says he and his wife jane are looking forward to retiring ridge retirement community. jessica rae: nasa is snapping all the planets. see why when we return scott:

far we've reached a high of 63 following a cool morning low of 40.

we'll have a peek outside on the port neal welding company skycam hd in sioux city and the king's pointe skycam plentiful sunshine. shows low levels of temperatures are in the 50s and 60s. the wind is picking up from the west and northwest sustained between 10 and 20 miles per hour and gusting around 30. sky conditions are mostly clear with some clouds to the south associated with a cold front. here's a look at your stormcast hd where a cold front moves through today. we'll have a strong

morning and reach its peak during the early afternoon with wind gusts getting up to 30 miles per hour. calmer conditions take over tonight and we'll likely see our first frost. then we'll have a gradual warm-up through the weekend with highs moving through the 60s and into the 70s. dry conditions will

the weekend. today's high temperature is low is 30 degrees. a effect as near the freezing mark tonight. tomorrow's high is 59 with sunshine. forecast where showers returning next week on monday and tuesday. scott:

nasa's hubble space telescope has snapped jupiter's annual portrait. movement of jupiter's clouds can be seen in the second image. the maps confirm the great red spot is shrinking and becoming more circular - as it has been doing for years. zooming in on the

great red spot a unique feature not previously seen. jupiter's portrait wave just north of the planet's equator. the wave may clear layer clouds, only becoming visible when it the cloud deck. jessica rae: after the break... chicken flourentine is on the menu in the mister food test kitchen simple recipe

quality dinner... without spending hours in the kitchen? well howard has the recipe for you! he's in the mister food test kitchen... with a chicken florentine that will take you no time at all. "even though we create new recipes in the test kitchen every day of the week, i still love cooking at home. so last weekend i was in charge of making dinner, and let me tell you, there were slim pickings in the fridge. i did have some chicken breasts, which we

always have since we buy them in bulk so let me show you what we did with them . i seasoned them with some salt, pepper and garlic and sauted them in a little olive oil. now once they were browned on both sides, i topped each with some store- bought spinach dip. you know, the kind we find in jars in the chip aisle or in the produce section near the salad dressings. i finished each one with a slice of cheese and a bit of paprika. as for the cheese, i used swiss, but you could use anything from provolone to mozzarella. then i covered the whole thing for a few minutes so the cheese got all melty and the chicken cooked through, and it was ready to serve. the combination of the spinach dip and the gooey cheese took plain old chicken to a whole new level. i served it with some rice and a few roasted tomatoes. the recipe for "smothered chicken florentine" . it's online now. it's easy enough for any week-night, yet fancy enough for

the weekend. and by using this time- saving idea, you'll be in and out of the kitchen in no time . i'm howard in the mr. food test kitchen, where every day we're looking for an easier way for you to say . "ooh it's so good!!" jessica rae: in this week's gardening segment... melinda meyers shows us how to properly lay out plants in your garden. here she is now with more. "you layout your garden bed and head to the garden center to buy plants. those small shrubs seem lost in that big space. fight the temptation to plant them closer together than the tag recommends. these small plants will quickly grow to full size. if overcrowded, you will need to remove the extra plants - something most gardeners are not good at. and by the time you do, all the shrubs may have lost their beauty. use a tape to measure and plant your shrubs at the recommended spacing. carefully remove the plant from the pot, loosen any girdling roots and place in a hole the same depth as the rootball and two or more times the diameter wide. fill the space between young shrubs with annual and perennial flowers. a few decorative squash and pumpkins make excellent seasonal fillers. the flowers will quickly fill in the gaps between your properly spaced shrubs. as the shrubs grow, fewer annuals are planted and the ornamental grasses and perennials can be divided or moved to a new location.

i'm melinda myers, check out our website for this and other gardening tips. jessica rae: coming up an exciting art event is returning to the sioux city art center. more on artilicious 2015

erin webber- dreeszen art-ilicious is making a return. artilicious touts top of the line food and drink options including a selection of wine and beer. an art auction also is included. signature artwork from art-splash is being auctioned off as part of the 4th annual event. staff at the art center are hoping for a big turnout again this year. proceeds from arilicious will

exibits at the art center art-ilicious 2015 will be held at the sioux city art center on october 22nd from 5 to 8pm cost is just 25 dollars per person so be sure to head on out there. jessica rae: scott's up next

of our forecast. stay with us.

what's coming up on the show today. "almond milk has been making the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. there are questions as to whether or not it delivers everything it promises. we've done our research, and we're going to share what we found. then, we're breaking down the benefits of the other nut milks to see which one is right for you. plus, can bread increase

you to meet the man who says he has the answer." jessica rae: again that's coming up today on dr. oz at 4 o'clock right here on abc9. jessica rae: darius rucker is going to be at the tyson events center this saturday, and we here at abc9 want to send you to the concert were giving a way two sets of vip tickets to the concert. well be asking viewers trivia questions tonight and thursday during our 5 and 6 newscasts the answers have to be submited to contest-at-kcau- tv-dot-com and the winner will be randomly selected and announced during the 10 pm shows! jessica rae scott: today's high temperature is 68. the overnight low is 30 degrees. a frost warning is in effect as temperatures fall near the freezing mark tonight. tomorrow's high is 59 with sunshine. here's your 7 day

forecast where we've got some showers returning next week on monday and tuesday.