between 30 and 35 brisk. here's the dayplanner. "announcer: "now live from kcau-tv in sioux city, iowa... this is abc9 news this midday.... " " lukas good morning and thanks for joining us this midday. i'm lukas voss a lot on the line in this evening's republican debate in texas ... the candidates goal? trying to stop a surging donald trump.

started as an outside candidate ... the front runner is as confident as ever, and says opponents such as marco rubio could be in for a rought night. scott mclean joins us now from the iversity of houston. "just a few precious days before super tuesday... the epicenter of the republican nomination race tonight will be texas. thth's where the five g-o-p hopefuls left in the race will meet for a debate in houston. the big question now -- can anyone stop donald trump? the front runner says he'll be ready thursday night. "we'll be totally prepared, people have not done very well against me so far everyone who has attacked me has gone down." marco rubio has been attacking trump -- something that won't likely stop on the debate stage: actually allud to obamacare are pretty good" (boo) then there's ted cruz -- who has faced tough questions after failing to consolidate evangelical support in nevada and especially in south carolina. the texas senator thinks he's being treated unfairly. "i'm curious how many reporters ask marco rubio after losing four states in a row, so when do you drop out?" rounding out the debate stage -- john kasich and ben carson -- who still believe they have a way forward."

after escaping from a work release facility. jacob michael tty, 26, escaped on january 26th ... he was placed on escape status after failing to return to the facility from an out patient treatment program. petty was convicted of second degree robbery and sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2008. he was then transfered to october of 2015. today at one of sioux city is set to announce some major changes that will affect the 108 parishes. priests and parishioners are invited to attend a press conference that will be held at the chancery offices located at 18-21 jackson street right here we'll also make updated right here on abc9 and on our website

lukas after almost two decades without a pay bump, 4he mayor of sioux city and council members are set to get a 50- percent raise ... it may seem like a big boost... butwhen comparing the city council's wages to thiercounty counterparts, there's a big gap. woodbury county supervisors earning over 32 thousand dollars a year with their chair netting just under 40-grand. but does that juststy the city increase? reporter christina grgralva has more stagnant salaries-- city and council members may soon be getting a much- needed raise. "it's been about 18 1/2 years by the time that the wages go into effect, um it's way over due." under the plan discussed at the last budget meeting-- the mayor's annual salary would increase from 10- thousand to 15- thousand dollars. city council pay would jump from 85-hundred to 13- thousand annually. although it may not be a full time job-- council members put in between 25-30 hours a week-- and most of them have other jobs as well. "we believe that we should take car of our people and the only way to do that is to be in contact with them and that's how it woks for us." council members not only attend regular council meetings, but they have other city board meetings-- and hours worth of preparation before each session. so how does their current salary break down? with an annual salary of 85- hundred-- and 30 hours a wewe-- your

council member-- pete gretkin was initially against e pay increase -- but now thinks it could help the future of the city council. "if the salary increase incentivizes people, uh others interested, good, hopefully young people interested in city government and more importantly interested in the city and have invested commitment to the city, then so be it." when some sioux city residents were asked if the increase was fair-- they weren't sure. "if you look at it as kind of a part time job, i mean it's not like a city like chicago or new york or la, this is kind of a small town city." community input is something to be considered when making the final decision on the pay increase. "anything we can do to get more involvement for the community and the community involved in the decision making process...i'm stl of the old school where multiple heads can make decisions than just one person or maybe e ve in this case." lukas: even though thth council has voted on this... nothing can take effect until the next general election... even though the council has voted on this... nothing can take effect until the

making it at the earliest-- january on this... nothing can take effect until the next general ection... making it at the earliest-- january1st of 2018. lukas: just a few days after the federal government gave the go ahead for the state of iowa to move forward with an april first rollout of medicaid privatization, a state senate subcommittee is taking a look at the possibliity of overseeing the program ... ensuring it maintains integrity. the meeting hosted 20 people testifying about their concerns, saying the transition is happening too

others contend the process could leave many recipiens quote "out to dry" and keeps the money away from those who really need it. carla dempsey, mason city resident "we paid them to take care of our individuals ananour populationonn medicaid. now, we e don't know. are they going to k kp it for profit? are they going to give it back to the state of iowa. there's just so much at stake here, it just brings tears to my eyes honestly." the new medicaid program wil change the management of subsidized healthcare for 560 thousand iowa recipients. lukas: also rooting against the changes ... iowa's former governor, chet culver, culver actually organizing the "medicaid rally" day in front of the state capitol .... himself coming out of the political politics. election bid to 2010. lukas: proposed changes will affect thousands whyt about children? therapy center says it's still questions

the owner of sioux city's therapy station clinic says many parents are not sure if their children will be fully covered. she's says the new allotted time for the switch over will only bring more questions ... and concern about what exactly will happen. "we paid them to take care of our individuals and our population on medicaid...don't know. are they going keep it as profit? ? are you going to give it back to the state of iowa? who knows? thehe is so much at stake here it juju brings tears to my eyes, honestly." accordg to oneof the center's occupational therpists, parentnthave been very proactive in trying to get things in order before april first. one of the therpists, parents have been very proactive in things in order one of the problems parents is not being able to reach someone privatized companies. two of the four boys involved in an animal torture case in stanton county have been sentenced to probation, paul

boys involved in an animal torture case in stanton county to probation. judge the boys on probation for 12 months and required them to each perform 50 hours of the two earlier admitted their part cat and opossum sometime between the madison county board has accepted the bid of dennis tuesday's meeting, commissioner ron schmidt said the county received 15 bids from six for the piece of equipment. kuchar's bid was $85,000 for a the lutheran high northeast dance team - t t silver home the gold over the nebraska coaches association's cheer and dance championships in grand island. it was the school's fifth consecutive class c-2 state championship in the jazz dance competition. those and more stories can be heard on news talk wjag, lite rock 97.5 and 106 kix." lukas:

gaththing in sioux cici... for the e th film festival. the festival officially kicked about 100 movie goers got the chance to check out a few of the finalists films at college's cargil auditorium. the event has expanded over recent years to a 4 day gala with the addition of short documentary films this year each year introducing a different style of film competition. "we did watch 126 films and we have narrowed it down to see there's a the first time we had chesebro. opportunity to vote on their favorite film through saturday. tickets are 6 dollars for adults and 3 dollars for students with the the sioux city art center. lukas still to come... at what howard has cooking for test kitchen, stay with us scott:

lukas scott: scott:good morningng look outside on the

in sioux city and the storm lake skycam hd in western iowa. here's your satellite and radar where some very light snow tracked through the area. the stormcast hd highlights a strong breeze in place for today. we'll have high pressure build in as we go into tomorrow. that will spark off a quiet and calm pattern with sunshine and warming temperatures as we move into the upper 40s and eventually 60s! today your high is 39 with early cloud cover and slick spots, then

low is 22 and it'll be mostly clear, calm, and cold. tomorrow's high is 48 and it'll be sunny and pleasant for late february. here's your extended forecast. lukas scott:

lukas scott: lukas after the break...

and salty dessert, stay with us and salty dessert, stay with us

who doesn't than howard... and he has a salty recipe that will help develop your own sweet tooth. "we love salt. besides bringing out the flavor of our favorite foods, it's a mineral that our body needs in moderation. did you know that there's a load of different varieties? of course, we're familiar with everyday table salt, and probably kosher salt, which has a coarse texture that makes it great for both pickling and cooking. well, then there's sea salt, which is salt that has been mined from sea beds or extracted from evaporated ocean water, which is very trendy in all sorts of dishes. but salt varieties go far beyond these. today we can readily find different gourmet salts that range from smoky black lava to pink himalayan salt. and many of these salts are meant to be added to our foods after they're cooked adding a whole new flavor. one big trend we're seeing right now is to accent our sweets with salt. we're seeing this on everything from cookies and candies to chocolate bars. so we came up with a homemade candy b smothering slightly salted cashews with an easy homemade caramel and drizzled them with milk chocolate. and to put these clusters over the top, we sprinkled them with some sea salt. they look like we bought them at some fancy schmancy candy store, don't they? want the recipe for, "sea salt cashew turtles," it's online now so you can impress your friends and family with a sweet and salty

the mr. food test for a sweet (or for you to say . " lukas: if you would like a 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 "sea salt cashew turtles" on your request. or you can visit our

d matters dot com. and click on the mr. food logo.... lukas coming up after the break... well take a look at mission life line and how it can help you during a heart attack

loved one, have signs of a heart attack... you should call 9-1-1 or go to the e-r immediately. abc9 news anchor jenna rehnstrom has more about the system in place to save your life... all in this week's your health matters. as soon as siouxland paramedics get to a heart attack patient, the life-saving measures are put in place immediately. john says, "we automatically do these four out here to start with." john jorgensen has been using equipment and protocol implemented by the american heart association for several years. he also teaches rural, volunteer ambulence squads to do the same. it's part of an initiative called mission: lifeline. the idea is to close the gaps that lead to slower and less effective patient care. john says, "the key is to save time, because time is muscle and so that's our goal throughout this whole process is to save the time."

field, paramedics do an ekg, so a heart attack can be diagnosed in the field. the results are sent to doctors at a local hospital, so they can know almost immediately what situation to prepare for. dr. jerome pierson says, "we're able to pull these ekg's up and look at them and it tells us if a heart it nmal? is there something else going on that we mercy heart center pierson says the goal is to have a patient diagnosed and get treatment underway within 90 minutes. in a smaller community like sioux city, that can happen even faster. dr. pierson says, "i lot of times, we don't even take them off the gurney from the ambulence, [we] take them right up to the catherization labratory, onto the table and go. a lot of times we can have these arteries within 20 minutes of them entering our emergency rooms." doctors, and emt's, know it's that early intervention that saves lives... dr. pierson says, "we know that greatly reduces the amount of heart damage that's being done." and mission: lifeline gets everyone one the same page when it comes to the best care for you or a loved one. lukas: the leona m. and harry b. helmsley charitable trust

of this initiative... mercy medical center recently got a check for 105-thousand dollars to help launch mission: lifeline. statewide... about 4 and a half million dollars have been given to hospitals and ems squads. but ... each piece of equipment to perform and send those ekg's is about $30,000 ... the hope is to eventually equip all 900 services in iowa with the same technology. lukas: scott's up next with a final check of our forecast. stay with us. lukas: now let's check in with dr. oz to see 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: 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. today. "today, your favorite daytime stars like

starting with what really happened with talk show host and reality star tamar braxton. you're going to see footage shot by tamar herself, what went down the night doctor's forced her to leave dancing with the stars. tamar's here today with what you need to know about the blood clots that almost took her life. then, you know him as port charles' sonny corinthos in general hospital. today, in a honest and very raw interview, maurice benard talks about his brutal battle with bipolar disorder. an issue he's kept secret for over a decade." lukas: again that's coming up today on dr. oz at 4 o'clock right here on abc9. lukas scott: today your high is 39 with early cloud cover and slick spots, then clearing. tonight's low is 22 and it'll be mostly clear, calm, and cold. tomorrow's high is 48 and it'll be sunny and pleasant for late february. here's your extended forecast. " " lukas

delicious, dreamy dinner party. want to throw a fabulous dinner party without breaking the bank? clinton's revealing tips you won't want to miss. then, michael's got a crowd-pleasing mash that's a guaranteed smash. plus, mario's in the kitchen with the talented star of "girls," jake lacy. he's looking for a recipe, and mario's got one that'll have him shouting, "mama mia!" the dinner party starts right now on "the chew." [ cheers and applause ] >> hey, everyone. welcome to "the chew." shh, be quiet. my co-hosts are sound asleep and look, they're dreaming. michael's got meat on his mind. carla's dreaming of puzzles, daphne's not dreaming. she's just happy to be sleeping at all, and mario is having opening in outer space.