more on the new study. christina tim and jenna-- a total of 36 practices are participating in the program-- and akron mercy/medil is the only clinic-- in the state of iowa-- signed on. reporting live in studio christina grijalva, abc9 news in rural communities, like akron, iowa, nearly 20-percent of the population live at a higher risk of obesity and obesity related illness. a new grant is allowing the akron mercy/medical clinic to study the issue to help find a solution. "partly it's gonnas be coaching, partly it is being counciling. so it's gonna be a little bit of everything put together....we call it a pragmatic study. it's going to be looking at the way things really are in your life." 40 patients from the clinic have been chosen based on certain criteria. for the next 36 months-- they'll be following a pl set up by two of the clinics' nurses. "we'll give them kind of the basic structure for each patit, but then we'll work from their depending on the patients goals and what they want because this is basically their program that their formulating for themselves." even though it's a 'patient-centered' approach-- eekhoff says their main

"motivation will be the key factor, but also helping them with resources that we don't normally get in our office setting right now." for patient, mary james, motivation is exactly why she is so excited to start the program. "it is time to lose weight and get in a healthy regimen again and just, you know, be for healthy living." dr. wolfe hopes that by working with patients-- they can find what will work best in the long run. "we're not looking at making people skinny, that's not the approach of this. this is a lifestyle health change." christina other states receiving the combined 10- million dollar grant include-- kansas, nebraska and wisconsin. reporting live in studio-- christina grijalva-- abc9 news jenna: a new study done by the environmental working group claims that voluntary conservation practices to protect iowa's water supply simply don't work. the study looked

watersheds over the course of three years. specifically the group watched two key farm conservation practices. buffer strips are pieces of land near water ways that keep farm land further away from streams and rivers. grass waterways collect excess water within farm fields. the environmental working group says that farmers added both practices when commodity prices for corn and soybean were low.... but removed ose practices when prices were up, basically wiping out any conversation gains made. one of the co- author of the study tells a-b-c 9 that iowa spent more than 200 million dollars of tax dollars in 20- 15 alone with nothing to show for it. " how many more billions can we spend, without seeing any real progress without changing the approach? and voluntary, that working, sot we think it's time for standards to be adopted." the idea of mandatory

with agriculture leaders. iowa secretary o state bill northey said the study is too narrow and doesn't consider all the other conservation practices farmers use. northey also says iowa's ag industry is much larger than most states. "the scale of iowa agriculture is huge. compare us to chesapeake bay or some of the other smaller areas where they are trying to do some mandatory practices, they struggle in htose areas. we are deailing with an agriculture that produces more corn than all but three countries in the world." jenna tonight at ten we will show you a siouxland farm that is taking part in a state program to improve water quality. tune in to hear of the success and struggle they've seen there. tim: at the iowa state capitol lawmakers were back to the grind again today, hashing out the state budget for education. amanda krenz from our des moines station explains how lawmakers are looking past the

"amanda intro 1:05:57 the funding in conference committee for the next school year could be tied up for who knows how long. the senate decided to get started on funding for the 2018 school year. inside senate chambers - democratic leaders say they're following the law when it comes to eduation funding... and fighting to get money place for the next two school years. they proposed a 4 percent funding increase for 2018... after hearing from school districts that they've had to delay buying classroom materials, textbooks, and technology. quirmbach 2:57 - over 90% our our school superintendents and principals are tellinus that without a decent increase, class sizes will increase, our the individual attention they need and deserve." senator quirmbach told lawmakers that said they'll have to cut reading programs which didn't sit well with some senators. garret 12:02 i'm ovting no and i would strongly arecommend schools make reading a priority, not somethign they cut right off the amanda tag - 1:06:18 school year passed along party lines 26-24. it wll now move reporting from the

tim: vietnam veterns are getting some well deserved attenton at sioux ci's lewis and clark are getting some well deserved attenton at sioux city's lewis and clark interpretive center. fifty veterans whose stories and photographs made up the the sioux city journal's three- month exhibit "vietnam: service with honor" are being recognized as part of the centers "thank you for your service" program. even thought the exhibit closed in january, veterans say they're still experiencing a flood of emotions.... "it was very nice of the sioux city journal to ask us veterans to tell our story. it let's us relieve alot of pressure, it let's us tell about were we where, what we did and how we got back home and what we're doing now." says vietnam veteran michael monroe of spencer.

portraits of the book "vietnam: honor" tim: today, we continue our look at a piece of history you might not know exhisted. jenna: it centers around small communities in florida before the civil rights movement. america's untold celebrate black history month. " narr - little africa was a community of new freed blacks augustine after the they were skilled farmers, high rates surely condemn them and their children to a life of hard poverty. ending this, would require outside help. sister thomas- joseph mcgoldrick - we came in 1866 at the request of bishop asked for 8 sisters father tom willis - i wish you to understand and clearly that it is for

them alone that i have the sisters of your order come to my diocese. sister thomas- joseph mcgoldrick - and he made it very clear that they were coming to teach the liberated slaves. that that would be their work here. father tom willis - when they arrived they knew no english so they had to learn the language, they had to learn the culture of st. augustine as it existed in the years after the civil war. sister thomas- joseph mcgoldrick - when they started to teach here they taught children, you know. and only

originally. but it wasn't too many weeks later at the little girls started to come too and the parents would send the children. and at night we taught the adults. narr - despite their good works, it wasn't long before the sisters were caught in the rising tide of racial segregation. sister thomas- joseph mcgoldrick - 00:22:18:00 it was illegal to teach black people. 00:28:02:00 there was a lot of animosity about, you know, educating black people. even after the civil war, even after they were free. 00:23:22:00 in 1916 three of our sisters were arrested and it was on easter sunday and they were arrested over at st. benedicts.. 00:28:51:00 the order to arrest them probably came from the governor, narr - these noble sisters became revered by the people they were sent to help. sister thomas- joseph mcgoldrick 00:15:47:00 - the first nun who died here, the black ladies from the cathedral parish .. they took over the funeral. they said "these women came for us, we're gonna take care of this funeral" . and they did. " tim: coming up fat tuesday celebrations kick off today we'll take a look at some of the revelry going on in new orleans after the break... (fred) cold weather will be back tonight, and light snow is coming tomorrow. a warmup

underway this morning and the good times are rolling down in new orleans. the city hosted its annual mardi gras festivities today. as thousands lined the streets for the parades revelers are expected eat drink, dance and catch the traditional beads well into the night. tim/jenna/fred (tim) fred, what's this talk about snow? (fred) we do have a chance of light snow tomorrow. fred hexom fhexom@kcautv.c om (fred) the hd radar shows quiet weather for now, but light snow

road conditions have improved a lot in the past 24 hours. here is the port neal welding company skycam hd from the ho chunk centre. 25 was the high today and 11 the low. here's a look at the storm lake skycam hd! highs over western iowa were in the teens and 20s today. eastern nebraska and southeastern south dakota saw 20s and a few 30s. 25 is the sioux city temperature. winds are north/northwest at

later this evening. local temperatures are in the teens and 20s for most. that puts wind chills in the single digits and teens for most. it's been another breezy day, with sustained winds of 10-20 miles per hour all day, but this is still much lighter than yesterday. winds are

northwest at 10 to 20 miles per hour for most, but we can see lighter winds to our west that will spread through the rest of siouxland tomorrow. we can see the beginning of tomorrow's snow chances in north dakota. we've been

stream. we're stuck in a cold pattern, and as you can see, it's not going to change anytime soon. the stormcast hd shows a chance of light snow tomorrow. the greatest totals will be found over western iowa. quiet weather will return thursday. the snow forecast shows that east of i-29 will see 0.5" to 1.5" of snow, while less than 0.5" will be seen west of i-29. tonight, look for a low of 10 and mostly cloudy skies as the wind backs off. tomorrow, a chance of light snow will be seen with the highest totals east. the 7- day shows cold weather until valentine's day, when we'll get above freezing for the first time in days. and, 40s are expected monday and tuesday. tonight's ask fred prize will be 2 tickets to alan jackson at the tyson on april 30! email or facebook your weather questions! jenna/tim/fred (jenna) thanks, fred! (fred) you bet! jenna: still to come... today's new hampshire's big voting day. an update from the first in the nation primary in

impressions on the national stage during the first in the nation caucus, tim: but today all eyes are on new hampshire as they host the first in the nation primary. tim: we have a familiar face among the voters in the granite state jenna: reporter allison warren is in manchester allison, has it been a busy one there? allison: it's an exciting day here in new hampshire as we await the close of many polling locations in just a few hours. polling locations were packed and often had long lines much of the day today. but while voters enjoyed voting indoors in the heat... some volunteers were

the snow or trying to make one last appeal as people walked inside to cast their ballots. david wilson, campaigning for clinton "i'd do it for any candidate. it's part of the process and i think it's important to stand up for what you believe in." simone farland, campaigning for carson "oh it's not that cold but i'd do it even if it were really cold" allison: we continue to wait for the results to come in. i'll tell you a lot of voters are very excited by their candidates. i spoke to a voter for just about every candidate but there is quite the buzz about some of the candidates that didn't do as well in iowa like john kasich jeb bush and chris christie. tim: allison, what're experts saying with early exit polls? allison:

sports...one of u- s-d's standouts was named summit league athlete of the month...again. we'll have the details up ahead. tim: plus...first place in the big ten is at stake this week when iowa heads to indiana. we'll have a report from iowa

big ten standings square off this thursday night when the hawkeyes head to indiana. the hoosiers are 9-2 in conference play, just a game off iowa's pace, but are coming off a head- scratching loss to penn state. but as alex giaimo reports, the hawkeyes expect a high-scoring battle. alex giaimo--"thursday's matchup between iowa and indiana features two of the big ten's top

uthoff and indiana's yogi ferrell, which means this game will most likely be extremely fast tempoed and high scoring. the two teams are the highest-scoring in the conference and will need to keep pace with each other." anthony clemmons--"it should be a track meet. to be honest you know, throughout the previous years when we played them it's been track meets. i think we're able to play fast and we're able to play slow." peter jok--"they're athletic. they're a running team too just like we are. and we're going to scout them and we're gonna see what we have to do to win." alex giaimo--"the hawkeyes say the key is letting their defense dictate mike gesell--"when we're not making shots we've got to and you know i think that's what we're definitely gonna be a track meet. both teams want to get that's fun. that's how we want to play, that's how they want to play." fran mccaffery--"we mean, if you score because it's harder to run on makes. but they run on makes. your defense back. you don't get the defense back they're going to score 100." alex giaimo--"they'll senior guard yogi best in the country, averaging 18 points per game."

all. he can shoot, he can drive, he's really quick. probably one of the greatest guards in the big ten and i think mike and anth got him handled." mike gesell--"a guy like that, you're not gonna guard with just one player. it's going to be a concerted effort from all five guys out there and he's just a guy that y ou've really got to lock in on." alex giaimo--"the hoosiers trail the hawkeyes by just one game in the big ten standings. there's a lot on the line for both of these squads. it's going to be intense and it's going to be a big ten battle. in iowa city with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo." indiana and iowa have split their last six meetings at assembly hall and last 8 overall. south sioux alum mike gesell is just two points from 1000 for his career and will aim to get that milestone shortly after tip off at 8 oclock on thursday night. the game can be seen on espn. usd senior nicole seekamp is starting 2016 the same way she end 2015, as summit league athlete of the month. seekamp helped

averaging just short of 20 points to go with six assists, 3 rebounds and 2 and a half steals per game. the coyotes have taken the lead in the conference race this month and return to action saturday when they host oral roberts. tonight's sportszone will feature a pair o games with conference championships on the line. fourth-ranked cherokee hosts number one western christian tonight for the lakes conference crown. the wolfpack routed the braves 82-56 three weeks ago. the okoboji girls also have a chance at their first siouxland title since 2006-07 when they take on sioux center. the fifth-ranked pioneers have a 1.5 game lead on the number 6 warriors. two days after winning super bowl fifty, the denver broncos took to the streets today, celebrating their third lombardi trophy in franchise history. fire trucks carried the players along the parade route, highlighted by the lead truck of peyton manning, super bowl mvp von miller, and annabel bowlen, the wife of owner pat bowlen who's battling alzheimers. hundreds of thousands of fans swarmed the parade route and the rally, but still--no answer from peyton on

today's picture comes from...judi goodchild from mallard iowa... sun dogs on the way to town this morning... cold but pretty. if you're like to submit a facebook fan photo, just post it on our abc-9 facebook page. jenna/tim/chris/fred: (fred) tonight, look for a low of 10 and mostly wind backs off. tomorrow, a chance of light snow will be seen with the highest totals east. the 7-day shows cold weather until valentine's day, when we'll get above first time in days. and, 40s are expected monday and tuesday. tonight's ask fred prize will be 2 tickets to alan