woman: made in georgia scott: good morning siouxland. here's the port neal welding company skycam hd where oud cover is beginning to shift away to the east. the satellite and radar shows our threat of snow is finally diminishing. temperatures are in the 20s and 30s with cool conditions. here's the dayplanner where today's high is in the middle 30s. your full 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. a hotly contested topic is gaining some traction with one nebraska

nebraska today in order to represnt patients using medical cannabis oil. jessica rae: republican senator tommy garrrett of nebraska's 3rd district is travelling around the state to talk to people about his recent visit to minneta where he saw how patients treated with medical cannabis oil are benefitting from the substance. garrett says he is impressed with there being no law enforcement incidents so far... saying the program is a prime example of how nebraska's sick could benefit without infringing on nebraska laws. senator garret will be in dakota city at 1-30 today at the dakota county building to share what he learned from his recent trip. jessica rae: a recall stemming from an e. coli scare now spans more than a dozen states and includes products sold at major grocery chains. contaminated celery from california-based farms was found to be the source the f-d-a expanded the recall of food products on tuesday. abc's david kerley gives us an update. the celery was produced by taylor farms in california... and it is in 150

salad kits to diced celery and onion...and vegetable trays. the products have been shipped to more than a dozen states... mostly in the west... buy also a couple of states in the middle part of the country and this is no longer just costco... 7-11's albertsons, safeway, even starbucks carry some of these products. the food and drug administration saying 19 people were sickened eating the chicken salad. this expansion to all these other celery products the agency says... is out of an abundance of caution. the products were primarily distributed in western states, but stores in georgia, arkansas, nebraska and hawaii are also affected. a list of recall items is available at f-d-a dot gov. jessica rae: alchohol sales in iowa are on the rise. according to numbers released by the iowa coholic beverage division... fiscal 2015 was a record year with just more than 319 million dollars in sales.... that's a 5-point-4 percent increase from 20-14. quor sales.....for products like

are responsible for the majority of that increase. the top-selling brand of liquor sold in iowa was black velvet. jessica rae: a major construction project is finally wrapping up... more than three months behind its original completion date. according to city engineers, glenn avenue will re- open today at noon. many parents of nearby morningside elementary school expressed concern at the start of the school year, when the construction began. although glenn avenue will be open again, the street may be closed briefly later on in the week for a d-o-t inspection. jessica rae: a new poll is finding donald trump the un- disputed leader of the republican presidential pack, with a 10-point lead over his nearest competitors. the quinnipiac university poll released today also found hillary clinton now has a two- to-one lead over bernie sanders in the democratic race. the poll also shows general election voters have shifted their support from the republican candidates, towards clinton and sanders. jessica rae: on the g-o-p side

it's a neck and neck race for second place. abc's tom llamas has the latest. "this morning a new national poll shows donald trump not only on top but growing. sot trump they say i have the most loyal people you know others if you sneeze they drop you! me i can sneeze i can say things that i think are right. overnight those loyal troops in his campaign fueling the the frontrunner's controversial claims of muslims in nj celebrating on 9/11...tweeting this video from a local nyc station after the attack reporting on rumors of that celebration -- nats ...celebrating the destruction they saw from the roof despite the claims...the video does not show any muslims celebrating on rooftops. the report attributed to with inaccurate information. trump's allegations fueling friction with new jersey governor chris christie...christie who received some key endorsements in new hampshire willing to take on trump over his words. sot-christie: cc: if donald starts yelling and screaming at me in the middle of a speech, you could be sure that i'll say sit down and shut up. candidates like christie and also senator ted cruz hoping to win over voters that like a tough talking candidate just like trump. on tuesday cruz connecting most criminals to a political party. sot - cruz-radio show "now listen, here's the simple and undeniable fact. the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are

but we couldn't find any research or statistic that shows that. the cruz campaign telling abc news the senator based his statement on a study conducted in only three states that showed a majority of ex felons in those states registered as democrats. sot-cruz on cam "when elected democrats push to give felons the right to vote, it is a perfectly rational and reasonable inference to say those democrats understand that the overwhelming majority of violent criminals vote democratic." " republican presidential candidate mike republican presidential candidate mike huckabee was in iowa yesterday... the former arkansas governor continued his

tour in mount ayr where he reminded people we are exactly two months away from the iowa caucuses. huckabee stressed the importance of voters not relying on national polls when they head to caucuses come february jessica rae: and on the other side of the aisle... democratic front-runner hillary clinton will make a return to the hawkeye state this friday. clinton will be stopping right here in sioux city at the carpenters training center on 19th street at 11-30 with doors opening at 10. clinton also plans on attending a town hall meeting at iowa central community college later on that day. jessica rae: a bar in norfolk has an electric bill that's past due, and the local airport authority wants to pick up the tab, here's paul hughes with the details. " the issue of whether or not it is proper for the norfolk airport authority to pay the past due electric bill for barnstormers' bar and grill has been forwarded to the state attorney general's office for an opinion. state auditor charlie janssen says his office has completed its review of the relationship between the airport authority and barnstormers. janssen says he remains concerned about the practice across the state of

assuming the debt of private entities. roughly a third of the 34-school field has been set for the state high school play-production championships, which will be contested next week at the johnny carson theatre in norfolk. and for the third consecutive year, at least one norfolk school will compete. norfolk catholic punched its ticket to state yesterday by winning the b-4 district at central community college in columbus. joshua clark directs the cry of the peacock. the norfolk men's chorus will renew a quarter-century- old tradition sunday when it presents its annual christmas concert at the johnny carson theatre. showtime is 3 p.m. tickets are available at the abbey, lou's thrifty way, and companion animal veterinary clinic. all proceeds go to support the norfolk good neighbors program. those and more stories can be heard on news talk wjag, lite rock 97.5 and 106 kix." "nats kids playing " jessica rae: the tyson event center was packed with dozens of special olympians this morning...

held at the n-a-i-a volleyball championships is something these young olympians look forward to each year, but they aren't the only ones who enjoy it... "kala meservey: "this is a really great part like it's so much fun like we bond so much with these kids. it's not just about volleyball, i mean obviously we want to win but doing around the community work " you can catch all the n-a-i-a tournament action at the tyson event center all week long, with the championship taking place this saturday jessica rae: it's officially the season of giving and what better way to get in the holiday spirit, than to give back to the community? "bell ringing and singing" the salvation army has begun their red kettle collection fundraiser. the bells started ringing two weeks ago, and since then they've already raised 10 thousand of their 180 thousand dollar goal, organizers say weather has played a big part into the dip in donations being seen. "we've lost really two days cause of the snow but you know people in siouxland know the long history and work of the salvation army and

generous. i see lots come by this kettle today are putting donations in." says of the salvation if you haven't salvation army, the drive runs till christmas eve. jessica rae: and it seems an increase of people are giving the gift guns this holiday this past black friday was a very big day for gun sales. the f-b-i says more americans had background checks conducted for gun purchases than on any other more than 185- thousand requests were processed by the national instant criminal background check system on november 27th. that's a five percent increase from last year breaking the one-day record set on december 21st 20-12. jessica rae: still to come... the most popular baby names have been released what names are newborns being given? tune in to find out! scott:

jessica rae scott: scott: good morning siouxland. let's snag a look outdoors on the port neal welding company skycam hd in sioux city and the king's pointe skycam hd in

after almost 2 days of continuous snowfall, our wintry system is finally departing! the satellite and radar shows snow showers pushing further and further away to the east. visibility is still slightly limited where the snow is

temperatures are in the 30s across most of siouxland and we have a wind that is fairly strong from the west and northwest at 10 to 20 miles per hour. we're on track for a much quieter weather day as our snow system spins eastward. we'll have cloud cover this morning

afternoon. then we'll have some warming temperatures as we through the week cracking the 40 degree mark by friday with melting snow! today's high temperature is 35 with gradual clearing. the overnight low is 10 and it'll be clear, calm, and cold. tomorrow's high is 37 and it'll be mostly sunny and seasonal. here's the 7 day forecast. jessica rae scott: jessica rae: it looks like 20-15

some trendy baby names kid names like lux, valencia, willow and ludwig are getting more popular. they're also all names of filters used to tweak images on instagram. another trend: royal-sounding names like prince, king, princess and reign. but tradition isn't totally gone... according to an annual list from baby center dot com: 2015's most popular baby names are sophia and jackson. jessica rae: after the break... a new spin on stuffed mushrooms. adding french onion to the mix.

tonight? well if you're having trouble finding what kind to have... howard has a recipe that combines two different flavors... in to one tasty concoction.

that gooey cheese on the top, then i have a good feeling that you're going to love the stuffed mushrooms that we're making today. best part? they're super easy. we start off by sauting some chopped onions in a little butter just until they're golden. while those are cooking, we remove the stems from about a pound of mushrooms and chop them up. the best way to do this is with one of these inexpensive hand choppers that we can find almost everywhere. we add these to our onions along with a packet of dry onion soup mix and a bit of water. then, once that cooks down, we add a handful of bread crumbs and a bit of black pepper, give them a good stir, and we scoop this into the mushrooms caps using a teaspoon, like this. right before serving these, we bake them for a few minutes, before topping each with a piece of swiss cheese and back in the oven they go. do these look amazing or what? and with every bite, we get everything we love in a stuffed mushroom plus all

onion soup. you have to go online and get the recipe for our "french onion stuffed mushrooms" so you'll have it on hand this holiday season as an easy way to serve up lots of smiles. i'm howard in the mr. food test kitchen, where today we're looking for a "fancier, and a cheesier" way for you to say . "ooh it's so good!!" jessica rae: if you would like a copy of that 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 "french onion stuffed mushrooms" on your request. or you can visit our website...siouxlan d matters dot com. and click on the mr. food logo.... jessica rae: coming up after the break... all expecting mommas, this one is for you... stay tuned to learn more about doulas and

and love donuts, do i have an event for you. michelle criss is here to speak about a very helpful gathering coming up this weekend. jessica rae:

with dr. oz to see what's coming up on the show today. "the biggest lessons in life come when you are forced to deal with something unexpected. it brings out strength and resilience that sometimes we didn't even know we had. no one knows this better than good morning america anchor amy robach and her husband, actor and entreprenuer, andrew shue. their lives were rocked after amy's very public breast cancer diagnosis. today, we go on a journey to find out how their marriage and family were made better because of her illness. then, we are taking a turn to show you easy life hacks to save 50 minutes today so you can spend more time with your family." jessica rae: again that's coming up today on dr. oz at 4 o'clock right here on abc9. jessica rae: and speaking of christmas trees... our christmas tree contest is now up and running! to enter... all you have to do is message me on facebook or email me (jrae@kcautv.com ) pictures of your best decorated tree- your pictures

our newscast... the winner will receive 4 musketeers tickets and will be announced on december 22nd! can't wait to see all of the christmas spirit! jessica rae scott: today's high temperature is 35 with gradual clearing. the overnight low is 10 and it'll be clear, calm, and cold. tomorrow's high is 37 and it'll be mostly sunny and seasonal. here's the 7 day forecast.