monitor. you will see a lot of color across colorado. 98% of our state is in some stage of drought at this time. as we start to zoom this map on in here and get closer to the front range, you will notice a lot of tan color on the eastern plains. that is moderate drought includes all of metro denver, but to the north in larimer county and to the southeast in lincoln county, you will notice two darker brown areas. that is severe drought. that is what we sa u.s. drought monitor. back out here live on the side of lookout mountain, it is a cold one. 24.7 degrees. we have seen the wind from 6 to 15 miles an hour. definitely putting a chill in the air. jim and karen, this chill, nothing tom compared to what is coming down the pike. >> chris spears, thank you sir. talking ability the winds, still a problem back east.

killed three people and injured dozens. the flames whipped up by 60 miles an hour winds. the fire has destroyed more than 100 homes and businesses including a resort. and even the mayor suspects his house is gone now too. here is danny roberte. >> we have been overwhelmed at the destruction in the county and primarily in the city of gatlinburg. >> reporter: flames are seen surrounding a driver evacuating the ar tennessee. fire threatened to block off the only road to safety. at one point, sparks flew over the windshield. >> almost every cabin is burning to the freaking ground. >> reporter: flames closed in on the park vista hotel in downtown gatlinburg. people trapped inside recorded video on their cell phone as the fire burned. the lights flickered off and on in the smoke filled lobby where guests wore masks. logan baker inside.

for now. but is smoke is really bad. >> reporter: at one point, at least 30 structures in gatlinburg were burning. >> we are just now beginning to assess the loss of structures and the general conditions throughout the area. >> reporter: earlier in the day, smoke blanketed gatlinburg in an ominous cloud. this red cross shelter is one of many locations where residents stayed the night fleeing the wild fires. 600 residents are registered here. and many of them don't know what their are going to. cbs news, gatlinburg, tennessee. >> dolly parton's theme park is just north of the fire zone. it has not been damaged but more than a dozen cabins operated by the park are damaged or destroyed. president-elect donald trump has made his picks for transportation secretary. head of the department of health and human services and treasury secretary. this is the news across

will be treasury secretary. georgia congressman tom price, nominated to lead the department of health and human services. price is an orthopedic surgeon who wants to blow up obama care. mr. trump wants elaine chow to be transportation secretary. president-elect trump tweeted this morning there should be consequences for burning the american flag. he suggested loss of citizenship or a year in jail. that flag burning constitutes free speech. conservative justice antonin scalia was part of the majority opinion. investigators believe the student who went on the attack at ohio state university was infired by isis. abdul razak ali artan crashed his car into a group of people and started stabbing people with a butcher knife.

over by the gunman's car. but, he says he is lucky. he knows it could have been worse. >> fortunate he hit this big concrete planter. if that had not been there, he would have plowed into 40 or 50 people. >> reporter: three victims are still in the hospital. all expected to survive. a campus police officer shot and coupled the gunman. today, isis claimed abdul razak ali artan was a soldier who did what they asked. a white shopper gets upset with a black employee who tried to get her to buy the reusable bags at a shopper in chicago. she says she was being discriminated against because she is white and a trump supporter. >> you ring people up. >> the things she was screaming? nobody should be subject to that abuse. >> grady started a go fund me account for the employee. her goal was to raise $400 for

more than $25,000. >> it will be a big gift card. well, the oldest living person in the world turns a spunky 117. >> she is celebrating the day surrounding by friends and family who got her secret to a long life. >> and a chilly day today with a couple of snow showers over northeast colorado. you can see we have the moisture moving through the area and it will continue to do that. but the colder air from the you ain't seen nothing yet department. we will show you chillier air

>> we sure hope you can help the cbs4 care for colorado campaign. once again, we are collecting toys for the boys and girls clubs. >> the clubs serve all school age children, but many members are facing tough situations at home. that is when the like a second home. >> so what are some ideas that we have about the fund raising? >> reporter: the keystone club at the whiffley boys an girls club is raising money to go to the national conference. kids work together to do community service projects. the club emphasizes academics. mary is the president and her best friend leo, vice president. >> we came here at the same time. >> reporter: they have been

ago. >> i think our friendship has been very important to both of us because we both have grown together. and, we have helped each other through problems that we are facing. >> reporter: they don't go to school together, so the only time they see each other is at the clubment club. it is a bond they have come to rely on. >> without the boys and girls club, i would haven't that support system that i now have. and, i know i can rely 130%. >> reporter: mary's parents have faced severe health challenges. so, at times she has had to take on an adult role. >> this is like my outlet. this is where i can unwind. with all of the tension that has been happening at home, i feel like this is ... [ laughter ] this is my place to show who i am. >> you can help teens like mary and leo have a great christmas by making a donation to our care for colorado toy drive. we have collection bins at

we are at tenth and lincoln. for a wish list of toys, go to to the care for colorado section of our website, cbsdenver.com. great cause. up next, ed greene has a forecast that includes a ve,,

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>> six people survive a plane crash in columbia. >> it was carrying a professional brazilian soccer team and 71 people died. this is the news around the world. new video show it is crash site. the plane was about to land when it fell out of the sky. the soccer team was from brazil's top league. the flight recorders have been recovered. columbian officials say at first it appeared a electrical problem gh but they are not ruling out the possibility it ran out of fuel. 11 students and a teacher are dead following a dormitory fire in turkey. this was at a middle school in the small down of aldag. 22 other students were hurt. investigators suspect the fire may have been caused by an electrical problem. the world's oldest living person turned 117 today. i emma lives in italy. celebrated her birthday with a beautiful cake and a candle. she is believed to be the last

born in the 1800s. and get this, she credits her long life to eating three raw eggs a day and staying single. most of her life. >> that is outstanding. [ laughter ] >> i will move up on that list soon. [ laughter ] i'm gaining on her. she looks terrific. aware of what is going on. good for her. cooler weather. cooler weather coming. yeah. >> does it qualify as co you can see the tech center. everybody moving along just fine. no weather problems as we take a look at the doppler 4,000. you can see more of that. we have this system up in the north. that is still rotating around giving us a few snow showers over northeast colorado. what you notice is colorado is begining to clear. we will see clearing skies overnight. with the clearing skies, sunshine tomorrow. but, it is just a one-day event. here it is on doppler 4,000. hour by hour. as we put it in motion, wednesday clears out. sunny skies across the state. and we see a few scattered snow

the clouds pushing across the front range. as we roll it into friday, another surge comes in. look at where the snow lines up. laramie, southern metro. that is pretty heavy know going on. that is at 6:00 a.m. the start of your rush hour. look at how long it hangs around. right along the front range until 2:00. and that is as far out as the extended forecast goes on the hour by hour. we will be interesting to see what it looks like tomorrow. all the action taking place in the east, a lot of low pressure, that big storm system. some showers an there over the southeast, but for us, we were cooler today. high pressure, cool front coming on through. temperatures were on the chilly side. you can see only in the 30s and the 40s . that is right on into colorado. ahead of it, we were much warmer. this does look cool. yes, it felt cool. let's go to lauren whitney in the colorado weather center. lauren, you have even cooler weather coming our way. >> reporter: i do. 32- degrees in denver. it will only hit 38 in the denver area.

21 in steamboat. 22 in craig. 29 in grand junction. look up to the north though. 27 below now in fairbanks, alaska. you can see the pink and the white, that is really cool temperatures. we are watching this next system. the big area of cold is going to swing down toward colorado by early neck week. this could be a snow maker for us. we will keep watching that. we do know it will get a lot colder. temperatures across the front range may only be in the 20s tuesday. and wednesday. with overnight lows in the single digits or close to freezing. if that means denver is cold. the mountains are on the fridge side. we will continue watching this one. >> snow maker cold, sounds like winter. 38, 39 below the norm of 46. 21 and 25 for the lows. 19 is what we normally should be. 74, 22 years before that, the record low. 18 below. 33 and 32 right now.

we have a rising barometer. look at this shot. mount evans. he calls it by dawn's early light. very pretty colorado shot. yeah. we have snow on the mountains. here is steamboat springs. take a look at this from silverton. a lot of snow up there. all the ski areas getting great snow. great skiing. more snow is on the way. temperatures tonight, teens, 20s over the eastern plains. look at that in the high country. everybody is staying chilly. tomorrow, another cool day around here. 30s and 40s for the east. we will find 20 mountains. outs west, temperatures in the 20s and the 30s . here is your denver forecast. tonight, we will look for clearing skies. 18 and 16. then tomorrow, fair and chilly. we will stay on the cool side. maybe some scattered snow showers. saturday, and sunday, though, sunshine returns. a little bit warmer weather. upper 40s by sunday. and then, that cold weather lauren talks about. >> if you have not put up the christmas lights do it sunday.

>> thanks. we know meme in colorado are getting into the spirit when we see homes decked out with holiday lights. now is your chance to show off a little bit. into your decorated home on cbsdenver.com. on our contest page for a chance at $500 gift card to mike's camera. if you want to vote for your favorite house, check out all the entries on our facebook page. when you get there, like the lights and we will feature some of the houses on cbs4 news. hundreds of people from all over the country walk >> what these workers are

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,, >> little movement on wall street. stocks closed in the green. the dow closed up a bit. s&p up almost 3. developiow demanding better pay and better benefits. this was just one of the protests nationwide. and downtown la, demonstrators shut down an intersection. those blocked traffic were arrested. the workers want a $15 per hour minimum wage. the strikes were part of the fight for 15 movement. it is projected now cyber monday sales hit a record yesterday. >> but, protecting all of those online payments from cyber criminals is tough. at paypal's command center,

monitored 24/7. in these, suspicious transactions are flagged. >> there's a bunch behind the actual monitoring. and, through that monitoring, we are able to highlight only those things that seem unusual. >> you may remember that paypal shut down last month when hackers struck a company whose servers route internet traffic. happening today, it is giving tuesday. a global day meant to encourage the idea starts five years ago. it is always held after black friday and cyber monday. last year, 700,000 online donors contributed to $116 million to charities all over the world. now, a week from today is the annual colorado gives day. today, governor hickenlooper hosted a rally on the steps of the capitol. the annual event celebrates philanthropy in colorado and raises money for nonpresident-

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,, >> a judge in boulder county sentences a man to life in prison for a crash that killed a state patrol cadet. th >> reporter: i'm kelly werthmann in boulder where a person was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a trooper. christopher gebers got the mandatory life sentence and 342 years in prison after hitting trooper taylor thyfault last year. he was just 21 years old. trooper clinton rushing was also hit. and critically hurt. he addressed the court today

relatives. this is especially difficult given another trooper was killed in the line of duty friday. i'm jennifer brice. everybody knows how bad the prescription drug problem is in colorado and across the nation. that is why this room is packed with medical providers, families, and also pharmacists who want to fix it. the state's licensing board held a forum want to hear from awl the stake holders. the feedback from the meeting will be provided to the state guidelines. the goal is to cut down on addiction without taking medicine need it. >> reporter: i'm matt kroschel. there have been some delays on i-70 and there will be tomorrow between lawson and empire junction for cdot worker to do rock scaling work. they are dislarging some large boulders that have been crashing down on the highway. they say all of this work should be wrapped up tomorrow. and it will make it safe for the winter. that you might have to go back out there next summer to continue more work. mother nature originally

this summer. they are now making sure it is safe for drivers. >> the forecast is cold. >> it is cold. but, it warms up just in time for the weekend. take a look. we will see 30s and 40s , even 32 degrees on friday. maybe snow showers. but, near 50 by sunday. >> all right, thank you. >> thank you for joining us on colorado's n,,

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captioning sponsored by cbs if i live to be a hundred, i'll never be able to forget that big snowstorm a couple of years ago. the weather closed in, and, well, you might not believe it but the world almost missed christmas. oh, excuse me. call me sam. what's the matter? haven't you ever seen a talking snowman before? nice around here, isn't it? i call it christmas town, better known as the north pole. the christmas tree forest. yup, here's where we grow 'em. nice place to live, you know. christmas seals. ( barking ) of course, the number one citizens up here are the clauses-- santa and the missus. they live right over there-- first castle on the left. matter of fact, the only castle on the left. papa, you haven't touched a morsel.

eat. i'm busy, mama. it's almost christmas. whoever heard of a skinny santa? eat. eat. now, don't any of you worry your heads about santa. mrs. claus will have him plenty fattened up by christmas eve. it's always the same story. ah. i love this christmassy time of year, especially when everything is running happy and smooth like it is this season-- ooh! i don't know what we would have done without rudolph to pull us through. anyway... rudolph? could it be that some of you are not acquainted with the story of rudolph? well, pull up an ice block and lend an ear. now, you know how santa uses these flying reindeer to pull his sleigh. you know dasher and dancer