sunshine, not too cold tonight. another warm day tomorrow but then our arctic blast returns. details next, but first here's jessica with your local news! "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. sneaky's chicken fans, rejoice... renovations on the popular sioux city restaurant are already underway. owner dave ferris wants his customers to know they're not going anywhere. he says they've been at the gordon location since 19-79... and they're just going to re-start from the ground up. the business will continue to run through its

dave guesses the total cost of the rennovations will well exceed over a hundred thousand dollars... but he says nothing will stand in the way. "might sound a little cliche...the four of us that were in here when the fire started got out safe, the rest is details. we have a great staff, we're working with some good people. i've got 10 people that work for almost 15 years or more...no, i don't think there's anyting that we can't conquer," said ferris. jessica rae: the entire back end of the buidling was completly burned... and investigators have determined the fire was started by improper disposal of a cigartette. in the meantime... dave and his team will be working hard to re-open the doors of sneaky's chicken. "we're private business man, we gotta get open. we've got house payments, there's seven house payments that get made out of this little place so...we'll be going. i can't set a time on it yet. i'd like to see us going by early february," said ferris. jessica rae: all restuarant items will be sent to a facility to be cleaned from

jessica rae: sioux city parents are reacting to the news about an unloaded gun being brought to north middle school earlier this week. district administrators say the situation was handled immediately before anyone was as risk. but, that's not calming the worry of at least one parent. abc9 news reporter deborah souverain has the story. "we had what we believed to be the threat immediately detained and neutralized and felt that the best step was to begin the school day. a day after a north middle school 6th grader...brought an unloaded gun to school.... superintedent dr paul gausman insists students were never at risk. we don't believe that in the initial conversaions that was the innt to bring a weapon into school to do harm to any other student or any other staff member." said dr. paul gausman, superintendent of schools alfredson...a parent schooler isn't convinced. are you kidding me?!," said angelica alfredson. an automated message sent out at 6:30 p-m notifed parents of the

happened before school started monday morning.. natpop -- angelica listening to message some kid comes with a weapon and you knew about this and you just let him come and my kid is there, that's crazy there's no excuse sioux city police say a parent notified the school..after the student...showed their child the gun. school officals found the unloaded gun in the child's possession....and he is now charged with carrying a concealed weapon. angelica says the school waited too long to notify parents ,while others commend the school. "it's concerning but i think it was just an unfortunate situation that happend, and the school staff and administration acted quickly and responsibly to keep anything from happening," said "it's not okay, none of this is okay," said alfredson. jessica rae: police tell us the

out of a locked safe at home. the student is now suspended... until the school district completes an investigation on the issue. jessica rae: a virginia woman is using her hobby to help save her own life. "(debbie francis, needs double lung transplant) "so if you put your bowl in here, and you put this whole thing in the microwave, then you take it out like this and you don't burn your hands." jessica rae: debbie francis is making these colorful quilted bowl koozies to help raise 20- thousand dollars. she needs the money to pay expenses related to a double lung transplant. debbie has an auto-immune disease that damaged her lungs. "(debbie francis, needs double lung transplant) "so i did really well up until a couple of years ago, and then the last eight months have been really challenging, so time for a double lung transplant." jessica rae: debbie's daughter has established a go-fund-me campaign to help with contributions. campaign to help with contributions. debbie says she will continue to make the bowl koozies right up until she goes into surgery.

start, the flu season is striking big in iowa. according to the iowa department of public health, there have been deaths since iowa has three around.. including the h-1- n-1... which was serious in 2009. school-aged kids are more prone to that strain. health officials are warning anyone who hasnt got their flu shot... it should make a difference. patricia quinlisk iowa health " it could be a pretty two of the strains could cause pretty serious illness. the good news is the vaccine seems to be a good match for the strains, unlike last year where it wasnt as good for one of the strains" jessica rae: the flu season generally peaks in january or february. jessica rae: a local non profit spread some good will and warmth yesterday "thank you!!!... your welcome." member of quota international of sioux city spent their tuesday handing

students at hunt elementary. it was all thanks to a grant given to the club by mid-american energy. all of the items donated and distributed were bought locally... over 300 hats and mittens were handed out in total. quota international is dedicated to helping women, children, the deaf and speech impaired in local communities. "yeah it gave us a really good feeling, the kids are so appreciative. i got a little thank you, hugs and smiles and many many thank yous." says club president deb erwin. jessica rae: over 300 hats and mittens were handed out in total. quota international is dedicated to helping women, children, the deaf and speech impaired in local communities. jessica rae: president obama kicked off the final year of his presidency with a state of the union address... where he spoke about an array of topics... less about policy... but more on long term goals abc's stephanie ramos has a recap "nats - "the president of the united states!" this was it. president obama's last state of the union address before congress and the nation. nats: applause kicking off the speech.. acknowledging the 2016 election and the horse race in the early primary states. obama, "for this final one, i'm going to try to make it shorter. i know some of you

back to iowa." presidential hopefuls marco rubio and bernie sanders sitting in the chamber .... gop frontrunner donald trump ....not invited but going straight to twitter....to down the speech. without mentioning republican candidates by name took them on? president obama "how can we make our politics reflect what's best in us, and not what's worst?" but also made a plea for untiy... i hope we can work together this year on bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform. and highlighted past successes...and the future. obama the future we want - opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids - all that is within our reach. but republicans challenged the president...starting with the gop response from south carolina governor nikki haley gov. nikki haley / (r) south carolina "the president's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words." haley even taking a swing at donald trump. gov. nikki haley / (r) south carolina "it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." today...president obama will kick off his post state of the union tour...stopping in nebraska and louisiana. stephanie ramos abc news washington and speaking of

later today... making a speech on gun control. he will be speaking at the university of nebraska-omaha this afternoon before heading off to louisiana this evening. jessica rae: the longest serving governor in u-s history gave his condition of the state address for the 22nd time. iowa governor terry branstad covered issues facing the state from the budget, and energy, to education. like many of the lawmakers said on the first day of the session... governor branstad re- enforced

needs to be a top priority. " it is my sincere hope that the general assembly will move quickly to approve supplemental state aid early this session." jessica rae: branstad received bi-partisan support on a number of issues he talked about, receiving a long number of issues he talked about, receiving a long standing ovation for his efforts to improve fairness and equlaity in iowa's criminal justice system. we'll have more on branstad's condition of the state later on in the show. jessica rae: madison county is struggling with snow removal this year and the 29th annual farm and equiptment show is underway paul hughes brings us more " " madison county commissioners and road supervisors have been fielding complaints about snow removal on county roads. at tuesday's meeting of the county board, commissioner christian ohl said weather has made snow removal a challenge this year. ohl says many people have asked why county roads are not cleared as quickly or completely as state roads, and he says the county does not have the money, manpower or resources that the state does. a large crowd is expected thursday night as the lower

resources district proceeds with plans to require flow meters on all irrigation systems in the district. the board of directors voted last year to amend the groundwater management plan to require flow meters on all systems. the hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. thursday in the lifelong learning center. the 29th annual northeast nebraska farm and equipment opened today, and continues thursday in the chuck pohlman ag complex on east benjamin ave. hours are from now to 9 to 5 today and 9 to 4 tomorrow. chip flory will broadcast the nationally- syndicated radio program, market rally, live from the farm show beginning at 2 o'clock this afternoon. those and more stories can be heard on news talk wjag, lite rock 97.5 and 106 kix. jessica rae: still to come... a farm in virginia is looking for people to hug their goats, i'll explain coming up scott: warmer today, with sunshine... then another arctic blast ahead. details next.

dad: i know. spots. culligan man: the problem is your water! anncr: a culligan whole-house water conditioning system gets rid of sediment or impurities. so keeping everything spotless is effortless. mom: hey. dad: the culligan man.

culligan man: the problem is your water! anncr: a culligan whole-house water conditioning system gets rid of sediment or impurities. so keeping everything spotless is effortless. dad: spots. culligan man: the problem is your water! anncr: a culligan whole-house water conditioning system gets rid of sediment or impurities. neal sky cams are beautiful blue! already up to 17 today, our low not bad at 12. these temperatures are cold, but way better... which is

still in teens. but it is 15 to 20 warmer than yesterday! winds are calm and will be out of the south today which will help us warm. wind chills aren't too bad, pretty close to our actual temperatures.warmi ng fast, breaking 30 with sunshine today. clouds clearing, finally gorgeous sunshine today.south wind keeping us warm on stormcast hd. tomorrow, even warmer... getting close to 40 ahead of another cold front. that front comes through going into friday, could bring some flurries, and will bring a cooldown for friday. arctic blast returns for the weekend. today, spectacular sunshine and breaking 30. tonight, not too chilly and a few clouds... 19 degrees. tomorrow.. 39! another winner with sunshine, our last one before the arctic blast. 7-day has a temperature roller coaster. up to 39, down to 15 by saturday... another blustery day sunday. jessica rae scott: looking forward to

jessica rae: after the break... a farm in virginia is looking for volunteers, to help in an unexpected way. i'll explain in two minutes jessica rae:

the farm in virginia expects about 90 newborn goats by mid- february. so it's in need of volunteers who would snuggl and feed all of those babies. newborn goats have to be bottle-fed four times a day and they must be kept warm. one farm worker says volunteers would also get to learn something. " " " this is kidding season, it's gonna be a really happy and really hectic time, we'd love to have people come and see that whole process and see where their food comes from." the farm says no experience is necessary for volunteers. sounds fun! sign me up! jessica rae: are you sick of the usual side dishes for dinner? well howard has an idea to freshen up your plate! take a look "this time of year our markets are brimming with winter veggies. the good thing about these are they're reasonable and super versatile, which means they are just as good in our soups, as they are sauted. but my new favorite way to make them, has to be roasted. let me show you. we start by cutting a half a head of cauliflower into florets and placing them in a large bowl. to that,

sprouts that we've cleaned, trimmed and cut in half, along with some chunked up carrots and butternut squash. you want make sure everything is cut about the same size so they cook evenly. and when it comes to cutting the butternut squash, we've found that it's easier to cut it into chunks before removing the skin. or better yet, if your market has them already peeled and cubed, pick those up. now all we do is toss them with some olive oil mixed with a good amount of seasonings before roasting them. and when these babies are tender on the inside and crispy around the edges, are you ever in for a treat. you see when we roast them, the natural sugars come out making these irresistible. i do hope you'll go online and get the recipe for what we call, "roasted winter veggies," along with more of our roasted vegetable recipes. i'm howard in the mr. food test kitchen, where today we found an "in-season way" for you to say . "ooh it's so good!!" " jessica rae: if you would like a copy of that recipe you can

addressed stamped envelope here to a-b-c 9 news. our address is 625 douglas street. the zip...51101. be sure to write "roasted winter veggies" 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... powerball mania isn't slowing

veisha . the historic event was cancelled last year... after rioting in the streets two years ago when young people flipped cars and tore down light poles. the i-s-u president released his list of alternatives for the event. a cherry pie bake sale in february. a celebration of the arts in april. a student-led community service project, and a parade . all these events will be included in the next academic school year. jessica rae: tonight's powerball jackpot has been raised again. the prize currently set a world record for 1 point five billion dollars. ticket sales are going strong and continue to go up along with the jackpot.

wondering about what they might do if they actually get lucky enough to win. "well i'm pretty excited about the prospect of winning it i don't think i will but i won't know unless i try right nats would you like your reciept i think anybody has a shot at it that buys a ticket i think it'd be fun but i just want it to be someone who uses it wisely nats you're a winner woo whoo i think my chances are slim to none but you don't know if you don't buy one and i'd hate to think i have some numbers that might have worked and i didn't buy one so what the heck i wanna do 5 picks all on seperate tickets and one of them that one odds are minimal probably not going to happen but it's over a billion dollars so you gotta give it a shot i don't think its ever been this high before i think a lot of people are really excited about it but i just hope it goes for a good cause and they don't blow it jessica rae: elisa is up next with a final check of our forecast. stay with us. of our forecast. stay with us. jessica rae: now let's check in

" " jessica rae: again that's coming up today on dr. oz at 4 o'clock right here on abc9. jessica rae scott: today, spectacular sunshine and breaking 30. tonight, not too chilly and a few clouds... 19 degrees. tomorrow.. 39! another winner with sunshine, our last one before the arctic blast. 7-day has a temperature roller coaster. up to 39, down to 15 by saturday... another blustery day sunday.

dad: i know. spots.

anncr: a culligan whole-house water conditioning system gets rid of sediment or impurities. so keeping everything spotless is effortless. mom: hey. dad: the culligan man. culligan man: morning! culligan man: the problem is your water! anncr: a culligan whole-house water conditioning system gets rid of sediment or impurities. so keeping everything spotless is effortless. dad: spots. culligan man: the problem is your water!