good luck shopping, folks.you're watching kcrg-tv9. now, from your 24 hour news source, this is ??? . a cedar rapids middle school student is still recovering after another student assaulted him. it all started with a snow ball. santa has nothing on the post office. the post office is trying to deliver thousands of letters and gifts before christmas. people are in the giving spirit this time of year. but one shelter sasa after the holidays are over, donations sharply decrease. good wednesday morning!

first, meteorologis t kaj o'mara has your first alert forecast, kaj... today will be an active weather day with light fog, drizzle, showers, and even some thunderstorm s all i ithe game plan. we are still on track for widespread 0.50" to 0.75" amounts, however, any storms that materialize could boost this in isolated areas. as for temperatures....plan on 40s for waterloo and 50s for dubuque, cedar rapids, and iowa city. this system may genete a brief period of mixed precipitation this evening, but it seems the ground will be too warm/wet for any impact. we eve and christmas day. saturday.today: showers/storms high: 50-56 winds: s 5-15 alo: 45 dbq: 53 cloudy low: 26-32 winds: nw 10-0- alo: 28 dbq: 29 iow: 33tomororw: mostly cloudy high: 36-42 winds: w 5-15 alo: 34 dbq: 37 iow: 39tomorrow night: mostly cloudy low: 25-31 winds: nw 5-10 alo: 27 dbq: 28 iow: 30 thanks kaj. one man is in custody this

incident of gun fire. waterloo police responded to a report of gunfire... at randolph street and west 7th street last night at 10:45. when they arrived, several people ran from the area. officers chased them and arrested a man in the 600 block of wellington street. police searched the scene and found a gun in the street. they didn't find any evidence of damage. and no one was hurt. police arrested 22- year-r-d vincent harringt. he is being held on an outstanding warrant in the black hawk county jail. a twelve year old cedar rapids boy is recovering from head injuries from an incident near mckinley middldlschool at the beginnnng of the month. his mother says the boy's injuries include head trauma that later caused a seizure and a stroke. it happened when her son miguel tirado was walking hohoe from school and ththw a snowball at an 11 year-old in the 500 block

street. police say the 11 year old then assaulted miguel. police have referred an assault charge for the 11 year-old to juvenile services because of his age. this video shows miguel's current condition. doctors placed a shunt in his head to drain blood away from his brain. b miguel is often confused and unsure where he is. his parents are hopeful he'll make a full recovery. 05:32:10 "our son is still alive. he's coming out, he's still his charming self. that's what christmas is for us, that's our christmas gift." miguel's parents have a "go fund me" page set up to help pay for hospital bills. if you'd like to donate, look for the link under this story on kcrg dot com. people in dubuque county are mourning the

stationed in afghanistan. joseph lemm died monday in suicide bomb attack in afghanistan. he was born in dubuque and worked as a police officer in new york. the pentagon says an attacker rammed an explosives-laden motorcycle into lemm's patrol near bagram air base. the blast also killed five other u-s soldiers. lemm was a 15-year veteran of the napd, working the last two years as a detective. he also s sved in the air national guard. this was his third deployment to the middle east, his second to afghanistan. two of his relatives in dubuque county talked about their memorores of him. "i desccbe him best as a guy that's built like a grizzly bear with the heart of teddy bear, 'cause he liked people, and that's why he was so good at what he did." "he was dedicated to his family, to his city, to hihi country, and that's something you'll never get from somebody else like him. "

two children. monday's taliban attack in afghanistan was the deadliest assault on international forces since august. police say 50-year-old david merrifield of marion stabbed a woman in the neck early yesterday morning. it happened in the 13 hundred block of grand avenue. first responders took the woman to a hospital with serious injuries, but she's expected to be ok. and remember when you u e news, give us call on newsline nine. that number is 319-365-9999. you can also send pictures and videos to newsroom at kcrg dot com. just two days until christmas meaning it's the final countdown for all ages. and that also means just two days until all of the presents need to be delivered around the country. kcrg-tv9's forrest saunders is live this morning at the post office in cedar rapids. forrest, christmas is coming, but postal workers are working right up until the big day? mail carriers will be delivering those last minute packages on christmas eve.

days a week. the postal service says monday was the busiest day this year. maicarriers dedevered an esesmated 30 million pacacges in the united states. officials said this year they're seeing a 15 percent increase in package deliveries compared to last year. they're on trackcko hit 15 billion packages delivered nationally this year by new year's eve. in cedar rapids, around the holiday, local officials pect they'll bebedelivering about 1010 thousand packages each day. officials say all of this demand for carriers is prompted by more and more use of sites like amazon. with the package volume increasing, more people shopping online, the volume has increased tremendously. our carriers have been prepared and delivering 7-days a week since the 29th of november. " postal carriers have already been exclusively

sundays since january 1st. officials at the northeast side post office say they even had one postal employee agree to carry mail on christmas. he'll try to get families those packages that santa couldn't get to. back to you guys in the studio. tv-9's forrest saunders. thanks a lot. three friends involved with former lottery security worker eddie tipton's fraud scheme have somethininelse in common. a prosecutor says they hunt for bigfoot in their spare time. iowa prosecutor rob sand has asked a judge to bar any discussion of bigfoot hunting at tipton's upcoming trial. sand says such discussion could potentially prejudice the jury. tipton is accused of rigging jackpots in iowa and five other states to try to enrich himself and his friends. tipton is already serving g 10 year sentence e r two counts of fraud here in iowa. a dubuque man and his service dog are back together after the dog vanished last week. curt curiel

depends on his dog, sassy, , help h h throughout this day. up until a few weeks ago, the two were homeless and lived at the dubuque rescue mission.ast they were waiting for a bus. curiel's friends at the rescue mission posted information about the missing dog on facebook. and someone found sassy and took her to the dubuque humane society. "we made all the connections and turned out the dog that was here, belong to curt, so we did what we could to help them find each other and be reunited. " staff at the dubuque rescue mission have now pooled their money to p p for sassy's vaccines, a micro chip, and shelter fees. curiel and sassy have also found a place of their own to stay in dubuque. those going to pasadena, california for the rose bowl ll have to deal witittight security at the game and the tournament of roses parade. the city says visible and non-visible security measures will be in place along the parade route and at the rose bowl stadium.

the stadium. also, there will be more uniformed police officers and explosive detection devices. "on new year's eve and new year's day, federal personnel will be employing a variety of explosive detection methods at key venues across the city from bomb sniffing dogs to sophisticated devices tt register even minute amounts of radiation." homeland security says there is no known threat to the city of pasadena or any new year's event. the hawkeyes are hoping for a comeback win at the rose bowl, after their loss to michigan state in the big ten championship. yesterday, iowa city hoisted the spartan flag over city hall. it's the result of a bet between the mayors ofof iowa city and east lansing, michigan, over the outcome of the championship game. the hawkeyes had to fly the spartan flag over city hall for 24 hours. donations to food pantries usually increase this time of year. but one food pantry in marion wants you to remember to keep giving after the holidays are

donations. janet kittrell with the churches of m mion food pantry says donations start decreasing in mid-january. and she says they don't really pick up again until the next holiday season. "they kind of forget about the food pantry and the needs of other people, but people are hungry eryday and they need d some help, they need some food. " kittrell says the churches of marion food pantry is open tuesday and thursday afternoons. the pantry especially needs soups, canned vegetables, cereals, and tuna. the american red cross is asking people in linn county to done this holiday season. today they are holding the ninth annual blood drive at the cedar rapids marriott on collins road. the blood drive will be open from 7 this morning until 1 this afternoon. the feud between donald trump and hihiary clinton continues as clclton fires back in iowa. she told voters trump cannot bully his way to the prsidency as he continyes to

field going into the new year. but right now, here's a look atat today's opening farm markets. good morning! it's ---.

drdrzle, showers, and even some

s all in the game plan. we are still on track for widespread 0.50" to 0.75" amounts, however, any storms that materialize could boost th in isolated areas. as for temperatures....plan on 40s for waterloo and 50s for dubuque, cedar rapids, and iowa city. this system may generate a brief period of mixed precipitation this evening, but it seems the ground will be too warm/wet for any impact. we are still quiet for christmas eve and christmas day. more rain is likely by

showers/storms high: 50-56 winds: s 5-15 alo: 45 dbq: 53 iow: 56tonight: rain ending, cloudy low: 26-32 nds: nw 10-20 alo: : dbq: 29 iow: 33tomorrow: mostly cloudy high: 36-42 winds: w 5-15 alo: 34 dbq: 37 iow: 39tomorrow night: mostly cloudy low: 25-31 winds: nw 5-10 alo: 27 dbq: 28 iow: 30

a new study shows there's more

gap. male products cost less than female products that serve the same purpose. that's coming up in n erica's

20-16 republican presidential front-runner donald trump is explaining what he really meant when he used a sexually derogatory term while attacking hillary clinton. abc's kenneth moton has the latest on this potiential preview of a general election matchup. donald trump fired back at the media overnight for his use of a vulgar term to describe hillary clinton's 2008 loss. sot trump she was favored to win and she got schlonged she lost, i mean she lost. that

to the male anatomy...on urban dictionary, it's described as a sexually degrading act. last night, trump tweeted saying he meant clinton got beaten badly in the 2008 race...he then blamed the media. sot clinton that's why it's important to stand up to bullies wherever they are clinton didn't respond directly to trump during her iowa rally. but bernie sanders did. sot sanders donald trump is very upset. it's very hard for him to deal with - i i n't know what his relationship with women has been in his life - but he has discovered that women go to the bathroom." sanders...making light of trump's attack on clinton after her bathroom break during the abc news democratic debate. it's not the first time trump's comments havavinsulted women.n.his public battles with fox news host meghan kelly and gop rival carly fiorina made headlines earlier this year. donna brazile sot it's the mark of a man who i believe has no respect for women whatsoever. his reaction to being challenged by a woman is to

vulgar and degrading language. female supporters are sticking with trump. sot paula johnsonnh women's coalition for trump i don't think he is insulting to women. i think there are a lototf women who are insulting to otherromen and to men out there. the latest national poll has trump still at the top with 28 percent of gop voters. but quinnipiac university says 6 in 10 women voters say they would be embarrassed to have trump as their commander in chief. kenneth moton, abc news washington. now for a quick check on your weather w wh meteorologist kaj o'mara. stay with tv9. it's . morning's weather, kaj... today will be an active weather

drizzle, showers, and even some thunderstorm s all in the game plan. we are still on track for widespread 0.50" to 0.75" amounts, however, any storms that materialize could boost this in isolated areas. as for temperatures....plan on 40s for waterloo and 50s for dubuque, cedar rapids, and iowa city. this system may generate a brief period of mixed precipitation this evening, but it seems the ground will be too warm/wet for any impact. we are still quiet for christmas eve and christmas day. more rain is likely by saturday.today: showers/storms high: 50-56 winds: s 5-15 alo: 45 dbq: 53 iow: 5tonight: rain ending, cloudy low: 26-32 winds: nw 10-20 alo: 28 dbq: 29 iow: 33tomorrow: mostly cloudy high: 36-42 winds: w 5-15 alo: 34 dbq: 37 iow: 39tomorrow nighh mostly cloudy low: 25-31 winds: nw 5-10 alo: 27 dbq: 28 iow: 30

have this morning's america's money. good morning. topping "america's money," gender tax. >> the new york city department of consumer affairs find many products cost women more. scooter, the female version, $25 more. >> and these razors, $3.50 more for women. women's products carried higher price tags, 42% of the time. jonl johnny depp is apparently hollywood's most overpaid acto the actors movies returned $1.20 for every dollar he was paid. starbucks is predicting a record tomorrow. it expects to sell more gift cards than ever as last-minute gifts. >> easily beating last year's 2.5 million cards sold on christmas eve. stararcks sold $25 billion worth of them in the past 15 years. >> that's a good backup option

that's "america's money." automated voice: to file a claim, please state your name. carnie wilson. thank you. can you hold on? hold on for one more day really? hey, i know there's pain. why do you lock yourself up in these chains? this would be so easy if you had progressive. our mobile app would let you file a claim and help you find one of our service centers where we manage the entire repair process. things will go your way if you hold on. [ sighs ] someday somebody's gonna make you wanna turn around and say goodbye. say goodbye