reporter: they want to build a pipeline that they say is worth the cost. it's an environmental issue they want to keep current. beyond. >> high chemical levels could cause issues downstream. >> instead of putting it in the raccoon river, like we are able to do under the law, we will connect it with a pipeline. reporter: that would run to the sewer. about 300,000 gallons of water a day would go to the pipeline. >> high-volume, it's not that much. by concentration, it is significant. reporter: while the high concentrations get diluted, that brings the salt levels down and

into this energy rich sludge used for biogas and fertilizer. >> we send about to farm fields where it helps grow corn. reporter: in the end, 60% of the nitrates rejoin with the des moines river. leaders say that they are more focused on the end cost. >> thinking downstream is important. we wish that producers upstream would think more downstream of the environmental impacts of what they are doing downstream. reporter: they hope to have the pipeline in operation by the end of the year. i spoke to a dnr spokesperson and they are in full support. kcci 8 news, iowa's news leader. stacey: this comes after water works filed a $241 million 5-year plan with its board of much of that money will go towards water quality. water works says it expects be a major problem in both the

steve: a des moines man, charged with killing his wife and daughter last november, appeared in court for the first-time this morning on murder >> name? charges. >> barney fraaken. steve: 47-year-old barney fraaken made his initial appearance in court this morning after being released from the hospital. investigators say fraaken shot himself, after shooting his wife, 42-year-old amy fraaken, and their 14-year-old daughter, amber. police say the shooting, on november 22, was the result of a domestic dispute. he is now being held in the polk county jail, on one million dollars bond, for each murder charge. kcci's mark tauscheck talked with fraaken's stepson about his stepfather's criminal charges. reporter: greg russell-lane says it was startling to see his stepfather's appearance after three months in the hospital. he says investigators told him barney fraaken shot himself under his jaw and the bullet traveled up into the area of his left eye socket. he says his stepdad looked frail and scared today, and he says

had died he is now happy his step-father survived the self-inflicted gunshot so he can spend the rest of his life with his own thoughts. >> every time that he does close his eyes, he is going to relive that night every day. the rest of his life. and that is much more satisfaction to me than anything else. reporter: russell lane says his mother told him that she was tired of his unfaithfulness and wanted a divorce the day she died. stacey: stacy? stacey: jurors in the alexander fazzino murder trial hear from fazzino himself today. prosecutor say fazzino murdered his wife emily in their boone home in 2012. jurors today saw a video of police questioning fazzino. on the video fazzino told investigators about his wife's prescription drug abuse. and that it caused stress to their marriage.

stand today, and denied emily was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. steve: funeral services were held today for a grand junction man killed in a snowmobile accident in boone county. 35-year-old damien louk was injured west of boone on february 14. the iowa dnr says louk was thrown 150 feet from his snowmobile. des moines police say, they have arrested a suspect in an early morning convenience store robbery near roosevelt high school, because the clerk knew the suspect. 3 men robbed the git and go at gunpoint last night around 12:30. the robbery was caught on the store's video system. the clerk told police one of the robbers was a roosevelt high school student who used to come in on a regular basis. that suspect was later arrested. stacey: a crash involving a des moines police car will cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. back on april 27, 2013, a des red light without its lights and sirens on, hitting another car. three women in the car sued,

and back pains linked to the collision. a jury awarded the women $422,000. the city is considering whether to appeal. urbandale fire investigators looking for what caused a vacant house to catch fire. the fire broke out at 3:30 a.m. at a home on the 3200 block of 78th street. the house was vacant at the time of the fire, but was for sale. no one was hurt. steve: it is a little chilly out there, but we don't have to worry about it for very long, do we? kurtis: northwest winds keeping the chill in place. 32 is your highest summit, and we are going to cool down tonight into the 20's. you factor in the wind even though it will slowly go down as the night goes on. when chills in the teens.

out of the southwest, noon 33, 4 p.m., 49 degrees. it's going to feel oh, so good, and the weekend even warmer. next week. stacey: many drivers speeding down interstate 235 wound up view mirror. the central iowa traffic safety task force conducted a traffic crackdown on i-235 today. while officers were focusing on excess speed, they also pulled over drivers for other violations as well. the iowa house passed a bill that would ban cities from putting up automatic traffic cameras over a highway. the only exception would be if the dot gives its approval. the bill passed on a 89 to 8 vote. it now goes on to the iowa senate. steve: the iowa house also overwhelmingly passed a bill today that would allow an athlete who transfered schools

sports immediately. currently, students must wait 90 days. an iowa house committee also would require coaches to take a certification training in cpr, issues. for debate. iowa senator joni ernst is speaking out today about the battle brewing over hearings for a possible supreme court nominee. as kcci's chief political reporter cynthia fodor shows us ernst is aligning herself with , her republican colleagues. reporter: with one iowa senator in the center of the controversy -- senator grassley: this is an opportunity for the people to have a voice. at reporter: our other senators stands by his side, in accordance with most republicans refusing to take action on a supreme court nominee until after an election. >> i agree with senator chuck grassley and i think the american people will have a voice this fall when they go to

reporter: democrats say that people had their voice when they elected president obama. >> we believe that people spoke loud and clear in 2014. reporter: the democratic party chair says that senators are not doing the job. >> their responsibility is to vet the candidate, not say we're not going to even talk to them. that is unfortunate, obstructionist, and i do not think that is what people want. reporter: joni ernst went to congress with the theme of getting congress back to work. >> it is laid out in the constitution as i stated before. the senate has no obligation to vote on a president's nominee and those are chuck schumer's words, a democrat from new york. we will see what happens. i am very confident we will hear

steve: that was cynthia for the reporting. meanwhile, brian sandoval says that he does not wish to be conceded -- considered as a nomination to the supreme court. his name was being floated as a possible nominee. stacey: the current state historical building needs work. it has a leaky roof, warped floors and granite slabs outside the building have come loose and fallen off. tonight we're getting our first look at plans to completely renovate and change the historical building. this computer animation shows what these $65 million renovation will look like when completed. the first thing you'll notice is that the renovations will make the historical building smaller by 79,000 square feet. the renovated building will accommodate exhibits, classrooms and artifact storage, and more outdoor space on the grounds. the existing building which was -- the existing the link, which was completed in 1987, cost $26 million to construct. steve: what went wrong with wisconsin. the hawkeyes speak out about last night's bitter loss to the

stacey:t serve any fish sandwich at culver's. we serve wild-caught, north atlantic cod. this cod grows in water that is cold, clean and pristine, full of flavorful nutrients, and that comes through in the fish.

it's not pre-breaded. so not only do we use the highest quality cod, but we still hand-batter it the old-fashioned way. that's remarkable. and we think we get the best fish filet sandwich because of that. this is the best fish sandwich in america. "welcome to delicious!" what's all this nonsense about balls? pink balls, blue, yellow, red. it's hard to keep the whole thing straight. and all these so-called deals? well, they come with a lot of deal breakers. like when you leave the city the signal goes weak. u.s. cellular built a network to give you a stronger signal where the other guys don't. and as for deals? how's $300 back for every line you switch? $300! ball nonsense. get $300 per line and a stronger signal,

announcer: this is iowa's news leader.

steve karlin, stacey horst, chief meteorologist john mclaughlin, and sports director andy garman. stacey: ok, this is your new puppy. [laughter] >> it's a beautiful dog. stacey: a sweet update to a story we aired yesterday of a man with ptsd who was scammed out of a therapy dog. he spent all of his money on a dog online and was devastated when he learned he had been scammed. steve: and one of the police department's administrative services employees it is buying mike a dog, right? reporter: yes, it's an incredibly generous gesture. but it's not only dmt that has offered to help, the dozens of

asking if there was any way they could help. >> to the people who have reached out, i am speechless. reporter: mike says his heart grew three times after hearing how many people were touched by his story and wanted to help. >> we have a legitimate pet therapy program and would be honored to help this guy connect does. this is your new puppy. reporter: today, mike got to see a picture of the 12 week old hubby named baxter who hopefully will be his in a few weeks. -- 12 week old puppy named baxter who hopefully will be his nephew weeks. >> this dog will be the answer to my prayers. reporter: he says he told his story so no one else would be deceived. >> there are times i break down.

reporter: mike is a very genuine guy. he is so excited to have this new dog. thank you all for doing that. one more thing i want to mention -- the rockwell city breeder who has baxter -- get this -- he has offered to donate the money the des moines city is using to teach people about pet scans. kcci 8 news, iowa's news leader. stacey: what a terrific solution. thanks. the melting snow uncovers a new problem all around the des moines metro area. potholes. our crews ran into these workers on george flagg parkway filling in the holes in the road that have made driving a bumpy experience. it's relatively warm weather for anyone needing to work outside. meteorologist kurtis gertz has your forecast. kurtis: temperatures tonight

then a warm-up arrives and it will stay mild for the weekend. we have cloud cover out there, temperatures hovering around 30, 31 degrees, wind chills at 20. it will quiet down as the night goes long, but northwest anywhere from 10 to 15 miles per hour, gusting to near 20. here is your planner. mostly cloudy. temperature, 29. clouds early. temperatures at 7 a.m., 26. the warm-up arrives by -- the sunup, at 6:55. the sun going down at 6:01. we have snow showers in wisconsin. the back edge of these clouds clearing kansas.

then we will have clouds in the morning. after that, the sunshine look at the temperatures off to the northwest. excuse in kansas. we will have to wait one more . tomorrow, not too bad. green bay, 32, chicago, 40. this is the weakest system that winds out and front of it. the back edge of the clouds clearing. the sunshine moves in and sticks around through saturday. futurecast. this is the band of clouds, not going to bring any precipitation. they move through, hang around, crystal clear skies friday night . here is your timeline. saturday should finish with sunshine. temperatures, chilly.

tomorrow, 49 degrees. going to feel good. winds out of the southwest at five to 15 miles per hour. how about saturday? it just looks warmer and warmer. 62 degrees, six degrees shy of a record high. a whole lot of sunshine. the only problem, i think southwest winds are going to get a little gusty, but they will warm us up. a slight chance for a shower. going to be cold in the 40's. nice weather on sunday. breezy. 57. sunshine on tuesday. we will keep an eye on that for a winter and 30's for the rest of the week. steve: thank you. coming up tonight at 10:00 -- you want to watch this one. forbes, to time, to u.s. news and world report, all rank des moines as one of the top cities in the country. why are so many national

city? kim st. onge shows us one reason why des moines ranks so high tonight on kcci 8 news at 10:00. stacey: sports director andy garman and now. couple teams trying to bounce back.

we will your from the hawks announcer: from iowa's sports leader, this is kcci 8 sports. andy: it was not that long ago we were talking about the iowa hawkeyes is the number one all over seeds in the ncaa turn them it. but mccaffrey's team is suddenly skidding. the hawks are in trouble. especially after a game like last night where they went scoreless -- excuse me -- basket lists -- basketless. the run does not look favorable looking at iowa state. it was a tough, tough test to suddenly right the ship. >> we did not do enough that crunch time. we did not do enough. whatever.

we did not act to what we need to. we have to do a better job of that and they've got to understand -- i'm not asking them to do something they have already done. they have proven they can play that way. they just got to play that way. andy: they will get the chance sunday in columbus. it's the place to be. the game is live here on kcci. plus, speaking of skidding, the cyclones are trying to find a way out of the number six spot in the big 12 standings. kansas state comes to town on saturday and that is a great chance for iowa state to tighten things up. >> they look at us from an offense of clip right now, and were probably playing the best we have played. our offense numbers get better and better and better. what we have to do is finish

i think we all know that this team has a chance to do really special things. >> the misuse that we have is really the result -- [inaudible] andy: cyclones and wildcats on espn2. and the ohio energy over at the wells. it is the end of an era in high school basketball in the state of iowa. bob and sharon hansen are hanging up their whistles. they have been had coaches for 46 years and have one 175 games along the way at ease tie, north polk, and of course the dallas county where they have combined for five state champions. they officially retire. they say they will miss the games, but they will really miss the people.

get out of it, because it's all about the relations with kids. >> we love it. we love the game. love being with kids.

players kurtis: chili other tonight. we do warm-up tomorrow. sunshine by the afternoon.

stacey: thanks.

the donald trump tapes. >> deborah: could his racy interview from years ago come back to haunt him? >> every time i do your show i get in trouble.

>> a woman so desperate for a baby, she did the unthinkable. >> complete shock that someone could do that. and the erin andrews peeping tom trial. >> reporter: the day she called 911. >> i'm the girl that was video taped without her knowing in the hotel. >> and what's going on with the rash on her neck? and then bizarre noises, from nowhere. >> reporter: it's a real life x- files. >> where the heck are they coming from? plus, charge! he's chasing a u.s. senator. >> were you scared for your life? and -- >> welcome to the game of fame. >> the latest contestant who thinks he's on a real game show. >> wedding crashers. >> he is in for a big surprise. >> shame on you. >> from game of fame to game of shame. >> i think you're a sleazeball. now "inside edition" with