sloshed through siouxland along with other parts of the country yesterday. reports of rain, snow, high winds and even a tornado causing some severe damage around areas of iowa and nebraska. starting off in n omaha, nebraska, wet and windy were the keywords for the area last night. the first seasonal snow shrouded windshields and slopped up roads even some severe hail was reported in the omaha metro area, snow also fell in norfolk. and if that weather wasn't w wd enough, an ef-1 tornado o was confirmed to have touched down near avoca iowa, with winds blowing at 100 miles per hour, toppling an 18 wheeler off of the interstate . our affiliate in omaha has more. "(ketv)--as bad as it felt in the omaha metro area, it looked a lot worse on the other side of the river. the nationalal weather service confirmed that a tornado touched down in shelby county, iowa. in less that 15 minutes, the tornado left a scar on the county landscape 12 miles long. "i just saw a black cloud coming and it was right over that grain bin, which is only like 50 yards from here," avoca resident doug brown said. "it was time to go to the basement."

the tornado touched down just south of interstate e 80, mangling power lines and grain bins. "a"a i heard was a ump," brown said. "i figure that's when that grain bin must have went." "sideways rain and that's all i could see," mike johnson, who lost a cattle barn and corn crib, said. "i slowed down real quick and i couldn't see anything. i looked out the window and saw some hail coming down and then everything kind of started flying. electricity went out. that's about it." the power outage ickly moved down the list of priorities when johnson walked outside and saw the damage. "they weren't new buildings by any means, but they were worth something," duane johnson said. "now they're gone. we'll probably end up replacing them with something." johnson's neighbors will need to rebuild a barn and repair their home. "when it started to slow up, we walked out front and looked out and saw that tree down,"joanne rose e id. "then we s s this one and treeeein the back were gone. it took off the porch and the back porch out there." the tornado didn't claim any homes or lives. "i figured if we stayed, it would take the whole house and everything with it, but nothing. we're lucky," brown said. " jessica rae: high winds and severe weather were felt in central iowa as severe weather were felt in central iowa as

well. in des moines, big oak trees crumbled, debris scattered everywhere as neighborhoods were left without power. wind gusts shattered the glass on the second floor of ananlementary scho, and snapped a power pole at its base. national weather service meteorologists will survey the area today to determine whether the damage was the result of straight-line winds, or a tornado. jessica rae: charges may soon be filed in a sexual assault case on the campus of u- s-s- in a story we brought to you several weeks ago. jessica rae: according to vermillion police, on september 27th, two female students were sexually assaulted one on campus and one off campus. the vermillion police chief says the department has referred its investigation to the state attorney's office e due to probable cause until charges are filed the suspect is not being identified. following the attack the university of south dakota sent out an email to faculty and students with photos of three persons of interests. we'll bring you the latest on this story on abc9

jessica rae: a video of a missouri student journalist kept from a protest... has now gone viral. hear from the student about the new-found nation-wide attention. " (tim tai/student journalist) "i can't remove myself from being part of the story. i have to accept that, and move on, and deal with that." tim tai didn't expect to get national attentntn. millions of people have seen the video of him and another reporter facing demonstrators -- who demanded they move away from a public area on m-u's campus. (tim tai/student journalist) "you're physically intimidating people who have the right to be there, and i would argue, are not actually intruding on the scene." the scene was much quieter on the carnahan quad wednesday -- but the attention toward ththnow-viral video has not died down. while tai has received praise from across the country, he still has his critics. on tuesday -- we spoke to one of the demonstrators who said tai was out of line. (briahna martin/demonstrato r) "he was like, 'get out of my face and pushed her back. and that's when that other student got really upset." (tim tai/student journalist) "i never intentionanay shoved anyone or pushedanyone. i did try y stand my ground when they were shoving me." two m-u staff members issued written apologies for the way they acted toward

reporters. other protesters have handed out fliers to reporters indicating a more welcoming tone to ththe covering their story in the future.e. while tatabelieves he did nothing wrong, he says he probably would have reacted differently. (tim tai/student journalist) "if i had to do it over again, i probably wouldn't have engaged as much."" jessica rae: "my generation still has hope that there is another way of doing things, that we can power our economy and create resilient communities, all while creating good paying jobs that build wealth for our people instead of exploiting our precious resources. "food paying a mortage paying utility bills, putting kids through college,e,hat's the persrsal financial gain that this project will bring to thousands of folks in iowa" hundreds of people are gathering in boone, iowa this morning to voice their opinions about a proposed oil pipeline that would run through the stste. dakota access is hoping to build an

oil pipeline from north dakota across 11 hundred miles through south dakota and iowa.. more than 270 people are scheduled to speak at the public hearing today we have a direct link to that hearing on our website... siouxland matters dot com . jessicicrae: the candidates keep on rolling through iowa. as we are now just under a year away from the presidential elections. carly fiorina is scheduled to be in iowa today, she'll be holding a town hall meeting in harlan at 3:30. former pennsylvania senator and republican candidate rand paul is scheduled to be in altoona today for a meet and greet, that'll be held at one this afternoon. and donald trump is set to hold a campaign rally in fort dodge tonight, on the campus of iowa central community college. that'll be at 7 pm. be sure to tune into abc9 news at 5 fofothe latest on the presesential candidates campaigning throughout the state today. jessica rae: as a presidential candidate, how would you thank your supporters? a hand shake maybe a fist bump? g-o-p presidential candidate jeb

bush thanked one iowa voter for switching his vote to him by giving him a chest bubu. bush was at a town hall in waukee when campaign supporter, shane blanchard approached him. blanchard used to back cruz's presidential campaign, but told bush he is now backing him. bush thanked blanchard, then asked for a chest bump, which he got. jessica rae: some administrative changes at northeast community college are taking place. here's paul hughes with the details. a member of the northeast community college board of governors is stepping down. at-large member john davies of pilger cites time conflicts with his work and family as the reason for his resignation. applications for davies' seat will be accepted through december 16th. the norfolk high school marching band will soon have a new look. at its meeting monday night, members of the norfolk public schools board of education voted unanimously to purchase new band uniforms. associate superintendent of business, maintenance and transportation, bill robinson says the rrent uniforms have been used for 13 years - about three years longer than they were designed for. small businesses in the norfolk area are urged to sign up

now for small business saturday - nov. 28. jeff christensen with the northeast nebraska economic development district says businesses that sign up will get a packet of f fe marketing materials. those and more stories can be heard on news talk wjag, lite rock 97.5 and 106 kix. " jessica rae: still to come... two masked bandits were caught on tape... breaking into an art center.... more on these e unusual theives... after the break scott:

jessica rae scott: scott:good morning. here's a look outside on the port neal welding company skycam hd in sioux city and the king's pointe skycam hd in storm lake. right now, it's about 50 degrees and there's a pretty strong wind cruising in from the northwest with rapidly clearing skies occurring from west to east across our siouxland map. we'll enjoy plentiful sunshine as our thursday continues! keep in mind that a

through 6 pm. here's a check of our stormcast hd where yesterday's ststm system continues to pass off to the east and northeast. in its wake, we'll have sunny skies but strong winds gusting around 40 miles per hour. tomorrow and saturday should be nice with sunshine and gradadlly warming temperatures as we get into the ceekend. today's forecast calls for a high of 50 with sunshine and a brisk wind. we'll have clear skies and calmer conditions tonight as we fall to a a w of 26. tomorrow's high is 52 and it'll be sunny and pretty decent for our friday. the 7 day forecast shows high temperatures returning to the 60s for the weekend before increasing clouds and shower chances next week. jessica rae

jessica rae: police in oregon recently dealt with a break-in of a furry kind. officers were e investigating a a report of

police in oregon recently dealt with a break-in of a furry kind. officers were investigating a report of suspicious activity at an art gallery. when they got there, they found d four raccoons inside the premises.

police snapped pics of the masked bandits caught in the act. officers said the suspects are known by their street names... which are comical... there's home dog, da nails, squeaky feets and two- toes todd. now after a brief chase and d scuffle, thorities say the raccoons were captured without incident or injury. jessica rae: after the break... it's never too early to start baking christmas treats... howard has a cookie recipe you can't live without stay tuned for

season fast approaching... it's time to start plananng those christmama cookies. and howard has a recipe that will fill your kitchen with oohs and ahhs. check it out. "here in the test kitchen, sampling food morning, noon and night is the norm. last week, patty, our test kitchen director, went around the office with a platter

shortbread cookies. and what stood out was the reaction these got. all you heard was, "these are fantastic!" and "can i have the recipe?" and the rave reviews went on and on. so with feedback like that, i knew i needed to share these with you as soon as possible. so here we go. all we do is cream together a cououe sticks of butter with some sugar. once that's light, we beat in an egg yolk, vanilla and a touch of salt. now the flour goes in and after that's mixed, we slowly add some dried cranberrrrs, white chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. we drop teaspoons of this onto a couple of cookie sheets and into the oven they go. these only take

done. let me tell you, if you can resist these, you're a stronger person than a a of us in the st kitchen. beeen the delicate shortbread that holds all this together and all the add-ins.these are one special cookie. i do hope you'll go online and get the recipe for, "cranberry shortbread drops," so you can pass these out to your gang. i'm howard, with patty, in the mr. food test kitchen, where today we found a "sweeter way" for you to say jessica rae: if you would like a copy of at recipe you can send us a self addressed stamped envelope here to a-b-c 9 news. our address is 625 douglas street. the zip...51101. be sure to write "cranberry shortbread drops" on your request. or you can visit ouou website...siououan d matters dot com. and click on the mr. food logo.... jessica rae: in this weeks gardening segment... melinda meyers tells us about the science behind the fall color. here she is now with more. "the brilliant fall color in our landscapes is a magical transformamaon that happpps each year. ananthe science behind it all is just as intriguing.

each fall as the days shorten our deciduous trs and shrubs begin this transformation. the plants produce less of the chlorophyll that gives leaves their normal green color. in fact, the chlorophyll starts breaking down revealing the underlying pigments of yellow, red or orange. at the same time thesesplants begin totoreate an abscission layer between the leaf and stem. this barrier prevents t(e sugars produced in the leaves from moving down into the roots for storage. warm sunny days followed by cool nights without a hard frost mean more sugar and better red, orange, and purple fall color. gegetics determine the color each plant tends to produce in fall, while weather and the plant's health influence if and how intensely the color will be expressed. i'm melinda myers, check out our website for this and other gardening tips. jessica rae: coming up after the break..... it's open enrollment... how much do you know about your health insurance... we'll have tips for you to save some

year again. open enrollment is underway and millions of americans are looking to save money on their health insurance. abc's rebecca jarvis has tips to get the best policy available. "there's almost no worse feeling? an unexpected bill. money you didn't plan on spending. costs you can't afford. and when it comes to medical bills? it can be overwhelming. sot - lisa gill / consumer reports, prescription drugs editor "about a third of americans were hit with some unexpected bill- basically a surprpse medical bill." consider these numbers - out of pocket costs for: a knee replacement range up to 13- thousand dollars. a c-section - can be as much as 14- thousand. so how do you avoid these unexpected costs? first of all - do your research, and stay in-network. sot - lisa gill / nsumer reports, prescriptiti drugs editor "when there is aplanned procedure- like a surgery consumer reports stresses that

websites are not always up to date. and if not everyone is in your network - don't panic. call the doctor or surgical group and ask if they will acacpt an "in- network" rate - or assign someone who will. and remember, emergencies happen. when the bill comes - don't just write a check -- go back and negotiate. the second area where many people pay extra? prescriptions. sot - lisa gill / consumer reports, prescription drugs editor "it averaged about 39 paid extra out of their pocket you n work around those costs at the pharmacy counter - by first - asking if a generic drug is available. second - sometimes it's cheaper to buy without insurance... ask about the "cash" or "list" price. and third - shop around. sot - lisa gill / consumer reports, prescription drugs editor "be sure t tcheck costco. it turns out costco, nationonly, generally has the lowest cash prices." rebecca jarvis oncam close: it's easy to feel helpless when you get these big medical bills? but many hospitals have bill advocates - who can help you appeal costs, and even talk to your insurance company for you?saving you frustration and money. rebecca jarvis, abc news, new york. " jessica rae: scott's up next

of our forecast.

with dr. oz to see what's coming up on the show today. "today, we answer one of the biggest questions of all time. the five-second rule. is it ever okay to eat food that's fallen on the floor? see what our very scientific experiment uncovers. plus, at 61 years old, christie brinkley's model good looks haven't changed very much. how does she do it? she shares her secrets and shortcuts on lookiningreat at any age." jessica rae:again that's coming up today on dr. oz at 4 o'clock right here on abc9. jessica rae scott:

with sunshine and a brisk wind. we'll have clear skiesesnd calmer conditions tonight as we fall to a low of 26. tomorrow's high is 52 and it'll be sunny and pretty decent for our friday. the 7 day forecast shows high temperatures returning to the 60s for the weekend before increasing clouds and shower chances next week.

>> announcfr: thanksgiving's just two weeks ay, so we're celebrating the spectacular stuffings dreams are made of. the competition is heating up as two sisters go head to head in a heart- stopping stuffing showdown. then mario's in the kitchen with the always f fhionable kelly osbourne, and they've e t a rich and spicy stuffing that's red carpet ready. plus, carla's showing you how to turn your leftover stuffing into a delicious, crispy, crunchy creation. get stuffed, right now, on "the chew." [ cheeee and applause ] >> good afternoon, and welcome to "the chew." thanks, guys. you know, most people think the turkey is the main attraction on thanksgiving, right? >> right. right! >> wrong! [ laughter ] i just love doing that. reminds you of regis. everybody knows that you can't

have thanksgiving without the stuffing, so hold on to your