attended todays service and joins me now... bria. bria: jeanne vakulskas, was described as a passionate woman who cared deeply for her family. her funeral brought in many from within the community to pay respects to a woman who changed history. "jeanne lays a trail here in this town...we've got members of the media here, fellow fire fighters, and all of your family and friends, what a legacy," said father erpelding. jeanne vakulskas was sioux city's first woman firefighter, but she was also a mother, grandmother, sister, and friend. during her funeral service, jeanne was desribed as an iconic woman who changed history as well as a parent who took pride in providing for her family. "but as jeanne just would tell me over and over, you just do it, it's your job, your supposed to," said father erpelding. as her loved ones celebrated her life, her cousin, father john vakulskas helped in leading mass. "and i would like to express publicly my affection for jeanne and all of you firefighters. if you could join me in appreciation for our

father john vakulskas. mark roth a lietenant for the sioux city fire department began working as a firefighter the same day as jeanne back in 1985. he says jeanne changed the face of fire departments everywhere and carried that same passion, tenacacy, and drive in evererhing that she pursued. "jeanne was a care taker if i'm correct...later on. i'm sure everything that she did in that area, she did with the very best of her abilities, that's just her nature," said roth. "mass church music is played" "her soul is very much alive and with our lord. her spirit is very much alive and with all who knew her and and love her," said father erpelding. bria: jeanne was a registered nurse, worked at the sioux city journal

fire department on her 55th birthday in 2007. live in studio, bria bell abc 9 news. tim: christmas is a time of giving..... and for one local teenager..... his gift... is helping share the gift of life.... while at the same time helping him prepare for college. lawton bronson senior henry haafke spent today working to earn a a50 dollar college scholarship...... by asking his friendsand family to nate blood. his goal, 50 donors before the end of the day. henry says although the extra money for school offered by lifeserve blood center...could help... it's also about giving.... "it makes me feel like i've done something to accomplish . it's always good for money for college too," said haafke. "our scholarship program is something that we just love to have because not only does it help us meet our needs for the community...the community's blood supple needs, but it's also giving college students and hihg school students like henri a chance to get experience in event planning, leadership, recruitment...just so many things," said

the blood drive ended just a few minutes ago at the american legion in sergeant bluff. no word yet on if he hit his benchmark. tim: ending up in the hospital can be frustrating and expensive... especially for patients with on- going heart problems. but, now a new tool used at mercy medical center could cut down on that burden. it's called a "cardio mems" (mems)... a tiny device, about the size of a quarter. it's implanted into the pulmonary artery, and once there, it tracks the health of patients in heart failure. george davis is s already seeing success with the device after about a month, and his doctor is pleased with how it's helping them stay on top of his condition. dr. jerome pierson says, "i'm old school, so i'm kind of skeptical, so i told george before we put his in, 'we're going to see how this works for him,' and hopefully, we've improved george's lifestyle and given him a better quality of life, as well." dr. pierson explains more

why the davis family says this has given them peace of mind... coming up tonight at 10 on your health matters. tim: e salvation army would call it a christmas miracle afr an incredible donation was left in one of their red kettles at a hy-vee in west des moines one passer-by le a south african gold kruggerand coin yesterday, the coin donated is worth more than 1,000 dollars. but they weren't the only kettles to be gifted with such charity tim: an anonymous donor called a generous donation "mom's final gift." that person dropping an envelope into a sioux falls red kettle containing a letter and a wedding ring inside. major thomas riggs of the salvation army says these types of unique donations put a new sense of joy into the heart of bell ringers. "this really starts to touch the heartstrings of every individual that's out here counting. we can get all caught up in the rush of things but then we start thinking about the

thing to see the people have such a heart of compassion." by the way -- the salvation army says it's at 245- thousand dollars of its 300- thousand dollar goal. tim: police in mitctcll south dakotata arrested several suspects in connecti with a aarmed robbery taking placacin yankton south dakota last night. authorities say the suspects were wanted in connection with a home invasion. according to yankton police . around 9:30 the homeowner was able to scare off the three suspects without incident and less than an hour later, four of the suspects returned... this time robbing the people at gunpoint. mitchell sd police found the suspect's vehicle this morning at a mitchell hotel. nabbing two of the suspects earlier today, three other suspects were located by authorities after a stolen vehicle was reported in town. those suspects were takenennto custody. they're being charged with robbery and grand theft. tim: authorities are still searching for the suspect that led the

on a high-speed chase yesterday. the driver of the black chevy suburban led police on a pursuit originating on highway 77 around 11 am yesterday. the suspect drove down dakota avenue in south sioux and then over memorial bridge into sioux city, where the suspect fled on foot. currently deputies do not have a description of the driver. anyone with knowledge of the suspect or vevecle is urged to contact the dakota county sheriff's office. tim: turning to the presidential race now. where republican presidential contender donald trump still on the hot seat today for yet another controversial statement trump, using a sexually derogatory term when describing hillary clinton's loss to barack obama in 2008 the g-o-p frontrunner claiming the term he used was "not vulgar" and used frequently in new york politics but hillary clinton's campaign calls it "degrading language" and "disgusting sexist slurs."

(clinton) you are looking at somebody who's had a lot of terrible things said about me despite repeated contrororsies over trump's rhetoric... a brand new national poll shows he maintains his commanding lead in the republican race... at 39 percent tim: a big platform on the campaign trail is national security, and it seems the t-s-a is listening to concerns. the transportation security administration has issued a new rule for airport sceurity screening today. tsa screenser are now requiring all passengers to go though a security scanner, even if they want to opt out. a spokespersonf f or the administraraon says the new policy will improve threat detection that a pat-down may miss tim: as we inch closer to the holidays, several siouxland attractions are announcing their holiday hours

closing at 4-pm christmas eve. and will close at 6 on new years eve they'll be closed both christmas and new years day tim: the holidays also mean there are some adjustments to the garbage pickupupn town as well on christmas and new years day there will be no garbage, yard waste or recycling pickups. those pickup dates will be delayed one day. those looking to dispose of their trees will be able to do so during the first two weeks of january. trees will need to be cut into 4 foot lengths with all decorations removed coming up actor nicolas cage was in some hot water after picking up one "inter- national treasure" details after the break... (fred) we have rain and snow chances in your chirstmas forecast. next week will be cooler. . ur forecast is next!

fred hexom fhexom@kcautv.c om (fred) sioux city saw 0.22" of rain today. central iowa has had more snow, and road conditions are snow-covered in those area. the hd radar shows some light snow in the east, but that will be gone soon. the national satellite and radar shows active weather from eastern iowa, where we find a rain/snow mix, to the gulf of mexico. there is a severe weather threat from eastern iowa to the gulf of mexico, and tornado watches are in effect in the orange shaded areas. a severe thunderstorm w wch is in effect for parts

national storm reports today...wow. 162 reports, including 102 wind damage reports and 9 tornado reports, including more than one in illinois. here's a picture of a tornado on the ground in clarksdale, ms earlier today. here's the port neal welding company skycam hd from the ho chunk centre in sioux city. 39 was the high and 32 the low today, both above normal. local temperatures are in the 30s. the satellite and radar shows strong storms in eastern iowa and indiana, and more snow to the west associated with the disturbance that will affect us tomorrow. a winter storm watch will be in effect late friday and into saturday for north central nebraska and south

dakota. the stormcast hd shows another round of snow tomorrow, and 1-4" of snow is excted.. your forecast for tonight is for breezy winds and a low of 29. tomorrow's high will be 31 with snow

shows a good chance of in and snow in the evening friday, then a chance of rain and snow saturday. we'll cool to only 19 sunday before another chance of snow moves in monday. jenna/tim/fred (tim) thanks, fred.

tim: actor nicolas cage almost got himself into some legal trouble, after buyingng fossil that was marked as stolen the actor unknowingly purchased a dinosaur skull that federal prosecuters say was stolen from monglia. cage won the skull at bid during an auction in l-a. he willingly surrendered the skull and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation to find the suspects

stealing the fossil. still to come... they're the hottest gadgets on everyone's wish list this holiday season. some help with those tech toys you may open up christmas

so when you open that shiny new gift what should you do? mary moloney has the tips you need in today's consumer watch. " if santa placed tech presents under the tree -- there are some things to consider. before using the internet on a new smartphone -- tablet -- or laptop -- go to the "settings" tab to adjust privacy options. if kids will use the gifts -- there may be addidional options. (glenn derene/consumer reports electronics editor) "you might want to look through the parental controls that's in the settings, and you can enable any restrictions that will make you feel comfortable giving that to your son or daughter." also check for the latest software update and anti-virus protection. but if that gift isn't a perfect fit -- don't worry. (glenn derene/consumer

editor) "one, make sure that you have the receipt. if you don't have the receipt, at least figure out what store you got it from. and don't go taking it out of the box if you're not going to use it. that's generally a no-no when it comes to returns the next day." retailers often charge restocking fees for those returned electronics that have been opened. for consumer watch -- i'm mary moloney . " coming up in sports...iowa continues its preparation for the rose bowl.t& hear from the cali-bound hawkeyes when we come back. plus...northern iowa took a trip to hawaii this week to play in the diamond head classic. stay tuned for highlights from their opener

scored 28 points in uni's upset win over iowa state, earning him conference player of the week honors. with the big four classic in the rear view mirror, the panthers took a flight to hawaii

diamond head classic. northern iowa in action late last night on the islands....playing the host school.... lets just say things didn't go as planned.....isaac fleming...steal and the layup...warriors up fourteen.... it would get worse....flemingth e steal! ane one.....the home crowd going bonkers in honoluu...they pull the shocker 68-52. the lone bright spot for uni was ma bohannon. the senior hit a pair of threes in the loss ...breaking uni's career three point record with 204 made triples. the previous record was 203 set by ben jacobson in the mid 2000's. with the loss, uni moves to the consolation bracket of the diamond head classic. the panthers will play washington state tonight at 10:30 central time. that game can be seen over on espnu. alex nine wins. three losses. pretty solid non- conference performance for the iowa hoops team. in last night's pre-big ten file......the hawkeyes took care of tennesse tech.for their second straight win. after a sluggish

things in motion. four iowa players scored in double figures, led by peter jok. the junior scored 21 points, fueled by a career-high five three- pointers. big ten fresman of the week nicholas baer scored a career-high 19 and.mike geseel dished out 9 assists...a great tune-up before conference play begins "i think we're in a pretty good place. you always look at, could we run our offense a little more efficiently, could our defense get more consecutive stops?we're taking care of ththball, i think our shot selection's good, our ball movement is good. we got a l l of different guys producing. i think that, ultimately, i feel pretty good. " iowa begins big ten play next tuesday at home against top- ranked michigan state. they follow that with a road test at fourteenth- ranked purdue. fran? your thoughts. "you got to play those people at some point. you play them early, you play them late, you play them in the middle, you space it out better. does it really matter? you're still playing 18 really tough games against really

two are particularly talented. if you look at where thehere ranked and so forth. but i think any time you u ter into conference play, you recognize a challenge and we'll do everything we can to get everybody ready. " next tuesday's big ten opener against the spartans is set for an 8:00 tip in iowa city. on the ladies side, what a night it was for south dakota freshman jaycee bradley. the norfolk high alum scored a career-high 17 points for the 'yotes as usd upset illinois in champaign. bradlet shot 5 of 7 from three point land in the win, leading south dakota to its 9th victory in 10 games. back in iowa city.....the iowa football team continues preparation for the rose bowl. the hawkeyes held media availability on tuesday as they get set to battle stanford on new years day. kickoff in pasadena is just nine days away and this group knows just how important this game really is.

saying its the grandaddy of them all. it will be an amazing experience for all of us and just a great opportunity." "it's exciting. we have been preparing these last two weeks...and just playing in the rose bowl is a huge accomplishment for us. its going to present a great challenge in playing a great team in stanford." we will haveve continued coverage of the road to the rose bowl just about every day leading up to january 1st. on new years eve, we will have a 30- minute rose bowl special called "dream season: right here on

photo of theay. today's picture comes from...jeff carlson ugly sweater and jacket day for members of bpi's two rivers sales team wishing folks a very merry christmas. if you're like to submit a facebook fan photo, just post it on our abc-9 facebook page.

(fred) your forecast for tonight is for breezy winds a a a low of 29. tomorrow's high will be 31 with snow accumulating 1-4". the 7-day forecast shows a good chance of rain and snow in the evening friday, then a chance of rain and snow saturday. we'll cool to only 19 sunday before another chance of snow