would be ithe sioux city post office is processing double the amount of packages they typically receive. but so far...officials say the holiday rush is running smoothly. "woman dropping off letter" whether you go with self help...or counter service...the holiday hustle at the post office is hard to avoid. today...lines nearly wrapped out the front door at the sioux city post office. between 5 to 7 thousand packages are processed every day this holiday season...that's double the average amount. and post office officials say they're also moving more than 100-thousand letters each day. with more mail on the move....officials say you should moniter your mail using a tracking number. "the other important thing for people to be aware of is that when the weather is yucky like this we try not to leave things out where the elements can get to them. so a lot of times you might get a peach slip saying 'you've got a package at the post

one of those please come in and pick it up," marcu schultze officer in charge, sioux city post office. if your holiday gifts aren't in the mail yet....you still have time. you have until tomorrow for standard post service. after that you'll be paying extra for a delivery before christmas. deborah: you have until december 19th....for first class mail service. the 21st....for priority mail...and hard core procrastinators can hold out until the 23rd...for priority mail express. but keep in mind..those services will cost you extra. reporting live in studio deborah souverain abc 9 news. jenna: with christmas on the horizon, drones are one hot ticket item being gifted by hundreds of thousands across the country. today, the f-a-a announced new regulations when it comes to the remote controlled- aircrafts. starting december 21st, the federal aviation administration will require drone owners to register a name, physical adress and an email address with the agency.

at least 9 ounces. registration will cost five dollars for an unlimited number of drones and will cover the pilot for three years. jenna: a man facing vehicular homicide charges has had his court date pushed back. jenna: sentencing was set for hearing this morning, however the judge presiding over the case has decided to postpone the sentencing date. for january 19th .feuto is facing vehicular homicide charges relating to an incident back in august that claimed the lives of 16 year old girls, bailey jacobsen and lindsey quirk. jenna: an emmet county homicide trial that was supposed to be held in febuary is being pushed back. 18-year-old lee christensen of estherville is accused of killing 19-year-old college student thomas bortvit earlier this year in june. his trial was set for january 19th but after a motion by the defense, that date has been pushed to june 21st. christensen is being charged with 1st degree

if found guilty, he faces up to life in prison. stay tuned to abc9 news for the latest developments in this story. jenna: police in storm lake iowa are asking for the public's help in finding two children who were suppose to be turned over to the state's care. according to officials, 3 year old ymani (ya- mon-ee) banks and one year old yamir (ya-meer) banks were suppose to be removed from their parents' home for evaluation of their well being. their father, 32 year old scott banks was held in contempt of court this morning for not turning them over to d-h-s custody. anyone with information on the whereabouts of those children is urged to contact storm lake police. jenna: after a briefing from the pentagon.. president obama addressed the nation, informing citizens about u-s led strikes against isis strongholds in the wake of the san bernadino shootings abc's elizabeth hur reports. "for anyone wondering what if anything is being done to defeat isis.. president obama had this answer. ((sot)) obama "we are taking out

killers one by one. ((skip to)) and the next message to them is simple, you are next." that message.. after his rare visit to the pentagon with top security officials.. talking strategy in tackling terrorism. ((sot)) obama "we are hitting them harder than ever.. the reassurance comes as new questions are raised about missed cues and warnings in the san bernardino attacks.. abc news has learned that tashfeen malik had exnsive social media postings.. supporting jihad but she still got a fiance visa to come to the u-s.. turns out.. a secret u-s policy prevented immigration officials from searching social media as part of the screening process. ((sot)) john cohen "the primary concern was that it would be viewed negatively if it was disclosed publicly and there were concerns that it would be embarrassing." just last year.. immigration officials did ask for new policies.. allowing them to look at applicant's social media public posts.. but were opposed by the homeland security

of civil rights and civil liberites. ((sot)) sen. charles schumer, (d) ny "had they checked out tashfeen malik a little more, maybe she wouldn't have gotten a visa. maybe those people in san bernardino would be alive." liz hur tag: the homeland security department says the current policy is being reversed.. but insiders tell abc news.. even the new pilot programs are not a widespread policy. eh, abc news, ny . " jenna: a couple of new polls out today on the republican side of the presidential race show some dramatically different figures. jenna: both of the polls taken over the weekend have trump in the lead, but in the latest quinnipiac poll, trump is sharing the lime light with texas senator ted cruz in iowa. republican presidential candidates donald trump and ted cruz are neck and neck in iowa. in a poll of republican iowa caucus-goers by quinnipiac university... trump has 28-percent support.

second with 27- percent. senator marco rubio is in third with 14-percent. the latest monmouth university poll of republicans and republican- leaning voters shows trump with a 41-percent lead. nationally ted cruz is in second with just 14-percent... marco rubio in third at ten- percent and ben carson with nine- percent. the other 10 republican candidates tested poll in the low single digits. jenna: on the democratic side of the race for president, candidates are gearing up for this saturday's debate. but have you ever wondered how moderators know what to ask candidates while on the big stage? they talk about what makes a good debate question. :"you know i think what makes a good question is.... "then you did your job""

jenna: a local non-profit is showing some appreciation to our troops this holiday season support siouxland soldiers is holding their 8th annual holiday for our heroes event tomorrow from 5:30 to 7:30 at the red cross located on on war eagle drive. the event is free to attend for veterans and will feature a holiday dinner, plus santa and his elves will hand out toys to military children. still to come... iowa's governor hits a milestone no other governor in the u-s has. we'll take you live to des moines when we come back. fred: (fred) light rain and light snow will be seen in our weather, along with cooler temperatures. see you after the break!

governor terry branstad is celebrating a special milestone. today marks a record-breaking day as he serves his 7,642nd day in office. abc9's cheif political correspondent amanda krenz is in des moines, amanda: jenna, here at the iowa

is nothing short of a monumental event honoring governor terry branstad. we can take a look at what an impressive accomplishment is is to become the nation's longest serving governor in history. he first took office in 1982 at the age of 36. he's never lost an election. his record is 19-0 when it comes to elections for any office he's ever tried for. to achieve this mileston he passed george clinton of new york, clinton served seven three-year terms starting in 1777. today marks governor branstad's 7,642nd day in office. we took a trip to forest city iowa where it all started. " "tucked away in north central iowa, there's a room inside of the forest city mansion museum... the governor terry e. branstad room. carol whiteis 24:42 thesee are all of his personal things from his first three terms. carol whiteis is a tour guide at the mansion, she leads people, young and old, through the room that dispalys

longest serving governor. 26:36 he was born here, went to school here. carol, who calls the govenor by his first name, says terry's interest in politics started back in a junior high civics class. he was inspired by one of his teachers. her personal favorite items that are on display include the duffy cartoons, she says the kids that come through enjoy governor branstad's elephant collection. 23:03 i try to stress upon them, he went to school here. he graduated here and look what he became, he became the governor, if you work hard you can become something really big too. governor branstad enjoys having some of his history showcased here, everything from photos from his first trip to china.. to some of the gear he wore when he was in the military. as branstad's tenure as iowa governor now makes record- setting history, the historians in charge of this room hope more and more people come by to visit it, so they can see for themselves some of the peices and experience the same sense of dignity they feel for their hometown boy, turned governor. 26:30 a lot of pride, very much pride.

amanda: evening is a who's who of iowa politics... to give you an idea of who will be speakint tonight... former leanard boswell, senators chuck grassley and joni ernst, governor scott walker from wisconsin is just to name a few. governor's book. out and raising special cause. we'll have that story tonight. amanda krenz abc9 news jenna: thanks, amanda fred: jenna:

forecast looking? (fred) we have more chances for rain and snow. fred: (fred) the hd radar shows that our current patchy dirzzle is light enough to not regiester on radar, but rainvision shows that up to 3" of rain has fallen over the past 24 hours in southeastern parts of siouxland. let's take a moment to consider that 0.86" of rain has fallen since midnight today. that's actually a record amount of rain for this date. the old record was 0.67" from way back in 1891! the port neal welding company skycam hd in sioux city shows the scene from the ho chunk centre. 39 has been our high today and 37 the low. 37 is our current temperature. local temperatures are in the 30s. winds are from the northwest at 15 to 20 miles per hour. wind chills are in the 20s for most of us. lower visibility is seen around some parts of siouxland, especially yankton. the midwest satellite/radar shows snow west of us. that's the next system that will slide through. we will get off easy. west and north of us, winter storm watches, warnings, and advisories have been posted, so be

headed that way. the stormcast hd shows low pressure moving northeast from denver, co. we rain/snow mix tomorrow, espeically late in the day. light snow and breezy winds will be seen wednesday. the snow forecast shows a half inch or less of snow for siouxland with those higher amounts to our west. your forecast tonight is for a low of 32 with drizzle and fog. tomorrow's high will be 38 with a chance of light rain and snow. the 7-day shows a chance of snow and breezy winds wednesday, then cooler weather for thursday and friday. we'll warm back to the 40s over the weekend. tomorrow's ask fred prize is 4 tickets to q102's birthday bash

and andy grammer! you can email your weather questions to fhexom@kcautv.c om! i'll answer the winning question patchy dirzzle is light enough to not regiester on radar, but rainvision shows that up to 3" of rain has fallen over the past 24 hours in southeastern parts of siouxland. let's take a moment to consider that 0.86" of rain has fallen since midnight today. that's actually a record amount of rain for this date. the old record was 0.67" from way back in 1891! the port neal welding company skycam hd in sioux city shows the scene

our high today and 37 the low. 37 is our current temperature. local temperatures are in the 30s. winds are from the northwest at 15 to 20 miles per ho. wind chills are in the 20s for most of us. lower visibility is seen around some parts of siouxland, especially yankton. the midwest satellite/radar shows snow west of us. that's the next system that will slide through. we will get off easy. west and north of us, winter storm watches, warnings, and advisories have been posted, so be

stormcast hd shows low pressure moving northeast from denver, co. we expect a light rain/snow mix tomorrow, espeically late in the day. light snow and breezy winds will be seen wednesday. the snow forecast shows a half inch or less of snow for siouxland with those higher amounts to our west. your forecast tonight is for a low of 32 with drizzle and fog. tomorrow's high will be 38 with a chance of light rain and snow. the 7-day shows a chance of snow and breezy winds wednesday, then cooler weather for thursday and friday. we'll warm back to the 40s over the weekend. tomorrow's ask fred prize is 4 tickets to q102's birthday bash featuring echosmith and andy grammer! you can email your weather questions to fhexom@kcautv.c om! i'll answer the winning question tomorrow night on abc9 news at 10! (fred) you bet. can parents be too involved in their children's care? we'll find out more about one poll that suggests "helicopter" parents may be butting in too

of popular baby names at the hospital for the year. and at the top of the lists were the names mia and carson for new babies born in 20- 15 easton and noah were also popular for baby boys... while ava remained a top choice for little girls... along with lillian. some of the more unique names parents came up with were names like worthy, gideon and axel. at unitypoint health - st. luke's, traditional baby names reigned supreme in 2015. evelyn was the top girl's name this year, beating out mia from 2014. for boys, jaxon, with liam and noah also being quite popular. some of the less traditional names at st. luke's were lennon and mystiq for girls, and callaway and rowdy for boys. jenna: as a parent, your child's health is

top of list of important things in yoru life, but could it be affecting their doctor's appointments in a negative way? abc's dr. timothy johnson shows us more. " everyone wants a happy, independent teen. you may be sabotaging that at the doctor's office. a new poll conducted by c. s. mott childres hospital? suggesting that helicopter parents - too involved, too hands-on -- are taking over at doctor's visits for their teens? as a result, these teens are not learning to take control of their own health. nearly forty percent of parents in this poll saying that they alone - not their child - ask questions during the visit? two-thirds of parents complete all the health history forms by themselves? and seventy percent of parents didn't ask their teen their opinion about vaccines. so these almost- adults are learning that their own health is something somebody else takes care of. some strategies for parents: have your teen to write down their own questions before they see the doctor. have them check in at the front desk, get theieihelp to complete forms. most important: wait for them to speak

visit. next time you bring your teenager to the doctor, take a step back. it will let them step up. with this medical minute, i'm dr. timothy johnson . " jenna: fred's back next with a final check of our forecast.

deserving kids this christmas through operation toys. we're hoping you buy a new toy and drop it off - unwrapped - at any sioux city bomgaars, the salvation army, or downtown at the abc9 studio. all the toys donated will remain here in souixland and will go to the salvation army t t be distributed to less families in r area so parents can pick out presents for their kids before chirstmas. (fred) your forecast tonight is for a low of 32 with drizzlele and fog. tomorroros high will be 38 with a chance of light rain and snow. the 7-day shows a chance of snow and breezy winds wednesday, then cooler weather for thursday and friday. we'll warm back to

tomorrow's ask fred prize is 4 tickets to q102's birthday bash featuring echosmith and andy grammer! you can email your weather questions to fhexom@kcautv.c om!