evening or christmas eve, locally the weather will hold for safe travels. however, if you must travel east conditions become more hazardous with moderate to heavy rain. temperatures will remain into the low 40s for tomorrow and christmas day. tonight: rain ending, cloudy low: 26-32 winds: nw 10-20tomorrow: mostly cloudy high: 36-42 mostly cloudy low: 25-31 cloudy high: 42 - low: 2 2saturday: chancncof showers high: 44 - low: 35 sunday: areas of drizzle high:

monday: chance of showers high: 38 - low: 32 tuesday: chance of showers high: 35 - low: 34 wednesday: partly cloudy high: 34 - low: 27 included heart ache, frustration, and triumphs that will affect eastern iowa well into 2016. our editors picked the top 9 stories of the p pt year. we'll also reveal l at you, the viewewechose, later in this newscast. but we start our countdown at number 9 on the list. kcrg t-v nine's dubuque bureau chief katie wiedemann revisits a random and violent attack that shocked a city and prompted changes. on the warm morning of september first, nancy

secretary, was doing what she loved. "she had just gone out for a morning routine walk. " police say nearby traffic cameras caught 19 year old helmon betwell approach krapfl, knock her out and then drag her lifeless bo off camera to the top of the steps of a vacant apartment building. from next door, william davis, witnessed the attack. "after that flurry of punches, he sat on her. he dropped his pants and he sat on her. " police say betwell told them he picked krapfl at random and he did it because he had nothing better to do. officers arrested betwell just 15 hours later. "as a family we're grateful that he's behind bars. " news of the attack and krapfl's death caused great concerm across the dubuque community. "it's scary that a human being can do this to another human being. especially someone who's never done anything wrong. " t following week, hundreds of people gathered at st. joseph's church

celebrate krapfl's life. her brother, rev. gary krapfl delivered the homily. "these kinds of things don't happen in dubuque, iowa. " the krapfl family called for peace in the community, safer streets and more public safety measures. "we would hate for this tragedy to be all for naught. " in october, the city council approved a plan to spent a half million dollars to install more than almost 100. security cameras and dozens of led lights. betwell's trial is scheduled to begin in march. in dubuque, katie wiedemann kcrg tv-9 news. the iowa caucuses don't come until 2016. but the presidential candidates dominined uch of 2015. kcrg t-v nine's chris earl has number eight on our list... picking a president here in iowa. twice this year, trains derailed

the first movements in the 2016 iowa caucuses actually came back in the spring on the republican side -- when, as the field was approaching more than a dozen candidates, some of the republican from the south said they wouldn't dump money and resources into the iowa straw poll in ames. by june republilin leaders in iowa cancelled the straw poll with a unanimous vote. when the republican field hit 16 candidates, some began to drop off. rick perry left in mid-september. wisconsin governor scott walker was an early favorite in the polling but, after one poll showed him at 0% nationally, he left the race. bobby jindal followed in mid-november, dropping the field to 13. for much of 2015, donald trtrp and ben carson trarad first t ace in iowa polls and then... ted cruz found his groove. " dec 5 10pm: what we're seeing every day is that conservatives are uniting behind our campaign, that they are looking not for a campaign conservative who talks a good game on the campaign trail but a consistent conservative" " " just last saturday, trump was in cedar rapids -- confident that he will win iowa, even as cruz has ww more recent polls.. " 27:41 ifif'm wrong, i'm wrong. i'll say w wdidn't make it but i think that we're going to win iowa and iowa is very important to me. " the 2016 democratic field featured all 5 candidates in cedar rapids

trimmed back to 3. around labor day, bernie sanders bumped ahead of hillary clinton in some polling of iowa democrats before the former secretary of state pushed ahead -- her iowa stops didn't touch on other democrats but almost always focus on republicans. "oct 17: mt vernon: you know 18 million americans now depend on the affordable care act for their health care. but in the last five years republicans have voted to repeal it 50 times. i am not gogog to let the republicans rip up obamacare and throw it away." " now with 5 weeks left until the 2016 iowa caucuses, will the leads hold? that won't be answered -- but plenty of you for february 2nd... twice this year, trains derailed and ignited fires. one carrying ethanol in northern dubuque forced parts of galena, illinois to evacuate. kcrg-tv9's brea love shares our countdown... the dangers on the rails. the first derailment happened february fourth in northern dubuque county. cars carrying ethanol burst into

mississippppriver. the remote location meant firefighters had to simply let the fire burn itself out. to let it burn out. i've been down to as far as you can get with a vehicle. it's actually another half- mile using atvs and gators and snowmobile to get to the rest of it" testing showed very little ethanol leaked into almost exactly one month later, a train carrying crude oil l railed and exploded d near galena. thth toxic smoke could be seen for miles. b-n-f-s went door to door letting residents uple expecting a baby made sururto evacuate. "we're seven months at this point and we've had no problems and we'd like to keep in that way." a bike path was the only way to get to the site, so the fire burned for 3 days. crews began testing the water and air quality immediately with 24 hour monitoring. altests came back safe.e.oth derailments had tanker cars prone to leaks and fires in

department of transportatio n created new orders for all trains hauling crude oil and flammable liquids. thth include slowing trains down to 40 miles per hourr when passing through urban areas... requiring mechanical inspections and wheel checks before trains depart... brea love, kcrg-tv9 news. early this year governor branstad revealed his new plan for iowa's medicaid program. privatization.he numbfr six story on our list sounded simple. but implementntg the chanan was another matter. specifically, the governor proposed selecting up to four private health care companies to manage the system that provides medical coverage to almost 600- thousand disabled and low income iowans. the change would begin on january first, 2016. branstad said the move would modernize the four point two billion dollar system and save the state 51 1 llion dollars during the first six months alone. critics questioned those savings, but branstad defended

"the department human services has shared with me the spreaeaheet and the criteria and the approach that they used. i think that we acted in an appropriate way, and we feel confident, just as 25 other states haveveeen able to move forward with this." in august, the state selected four out-of-state companies to manage medicaid. but as the january first start date moved closer, concerns developed about the slow pace of healthcare providers signing up with the four management companies. " when we've contacted larger health care systems in the state, des moines metro hospitals, they've indicated they haven't signed contracts with any of the mco's." and fears grew among patients emselves. one duduque woman wondered i i her son would continue to get the care he needed. duration:0:11 "he has had some serious and significant medical issues that we nearly lost him. so we have a lot of concern about

medicaid patients had a december 17th deadline to sign up with a management company, not knowing if their providers had also signed up. "unfortunately the patients right now are in a definitional state off uncertainly. some of the providers, quiui frankly, there's the possibility that some of the providers may not participate or perhaps not participate fully with all the plan offerings." many people simply wanted the state to slow down the process. the federal government finally stepped in, forcing iowa to hold off on privatization until march first at the earliest. the delay will help get more provovers to sign up and give participants more time to understand their choices.

our countdown of the top stories of 2015. still to come, , international druru smuggling ring and a very controversial hire.

federal raids in cedar rapids uncovered an international gun smuggling ring. agents charged four people for secretly shipping guns to the middle east. kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie shares our number five story of the y yr. people who knew the defendants couldn't believe what happened. "if you meet any of them generally the response if they asked you how they are they've very nice people. it just seems uncharacteristic all around " ederal agents arrested ali herz, his son adam herz, ali's brother bassem herz, and his wife, sarah zeaiter, during raids at four locatioio in cedar rapids - including pizza daddy on 1st avenue southeast. "it was six in the morning, i went to hy-vee on first avenue, lood across the street and saw a black truck, saw about 13 people in kevlar and big automatic rifflesesso that's not normal for us in cedar rapids." federal prosecutors say the

ammunition in crates of humanitarian aid and construction equipmpmt bound for lebanon. authorities say the scheme started in ate 2013. the four defendants face a slew of federal charges including firearms conspiracy and money y undering. they all pleaded not guilty. their trial is scheduled for april. in cedar rapids, jill kasparie, kcrg-tv9 news. the search for the next university of iowa president ended in proteses with the hiring of businessman bruce harreld. kcrg t-v nine's sarah mccarthy explains why staff and students may keep this controversy going into 2016 and beyond. bruce harreld's first public interaction with students and staff included several tense interactions like this.. 10p fourth ui presidential candidate 09/01/15 "are you a performance artist? why? nevermind. no, why do you ask? i was just wondering if you were putting us on." four presidential candidates held forums

sotvo 09/02/15 "maybe, in fact, i have some role to play y d i might be helpful. you'll be t t judge legitimate for you to ask what the hell is this guy doing here?" the state board of gents chose harreld for the job just two days later. 66ui presidential announcement pkg 9/3/15 introducing bruce harreld the next president. clapping a decision faculty, students, and staff overwhelmingly disagreed with, sparking protest.. 6p ui harreld first day pkg 11/02/15 chanting after protest. 5p regents protest sotvo 10/21/15 "the board of regents, as i understand it, conducted a search that wasn't open or fair, the otr candidates didn't have a chance."."study from the american association of university professors says the state board of regents acted in bad faith during the process. calling the search manipulated and engineered. the regents responded, defendinin their c cice. 6p regents reaction - pkg 09/09/15 "it's about moving the university of iowa forward in a dynamic way and making the u of i a better place and that's the vision we saw in bruce

midst of controversy isn't easy, but he's since received some support. 10p ui president speaks to iptv sotvo 11/11/15 "if i hadn't gotten so much support from so many other members of the faculty, administration , even alumni outpouring, it would be harder." harreld wiwi hold his first public forum since becoming president of the university on february 23rd. sarah mccarthy, kcrg-tv9 news. threeeetories are left in o o countdown... including one story that made "every iowan cheer".

countdown. it started with reports of a gunman at coral ridge mall. in the end, one woman was dead and her alleged killer in custody. here's kcrg-tv 9s mark

a normal friday y ght at the coral ridge mall quickly turned horrific on june 12, 2015. nats: "j-comm shots at the mall, shots at the mall!" investigators say former mall security guard alexander kozak left the mall that night after resigning his post. they say he returned with a gun and shot and killed 20- year-old andrea farrington, a children's museum employee who had been working at a aelcome kiosk k ar the food court. sinai colon-sanchez - witness "everybody was grabbing their children, their wallets, whatever they had in their hands and they just got out, everybody was going in their cars, piling as many people as they could in there and just getting out."witnesses were terrified. jeff carew saw it all. jeff carew - witness "i heard gunfire and out of the corner of my eye e saw the girl her knees buckle, she collapsed and i pushed my girlfriend behind the cooler and told her to get down and people were running and screaming and i stepped out past the cooler and ii wawached the guy walk awaw that had shot her and then i

help her with what i could."farrington was pronounced dead a short time later at the hospspal. troopers caught her alleged killer about an hour later on i-80 near the illinois boarder. two days later friend family and complete strangers gathered to mourn farrington's death outside the children's museum. miriam mead - victim's friend "i think in just one word she was just really spunky and just everything that goes along with that, she was positive and happy, she was just alive."kozak has plead not charge and is scheduled to go on trial in april. since the shooting he's remained behind bars on a $10 million dollar bond. iicoralville, mark cararon, kcrg tv nine news. 2015 started with many hawkeye football fans wanting the university to fire coach kirk ferentz. now - things are much rosisi for ferentz and the hawkeyes after going 12 and oh in the regular season. kcrg-tv9s josh christensen relives the number 2

year. after a rough end to the 2014 seasononsome felt 2015 wawaa crucial yeaeafor the future of coach kirk ferentz. c.j. beathard became the new starting quarterback after jake rudock transferred to michigan. but beathard showed his leadership right away leading the hawkeyes to an undefeated non conference season with wins over illinois state, iowa state, pittsburgh and north texas. the real test came in the big ten opener against 14th ranked wiscocoin. it wasn't a pretty game, but the hawkeyes held on to win 10-6 and took home the hearltand trophy for the first time since 2009. on november 21st, iowa clinched the big ten west division title with h win over purdue and climed up to number 4 in the college football playoff rankings. the hawkeyes ended the gular season with a ain at nebraska t tfinish 12-0 and 4-for-4 in their trophy games bringing back the heroes game trophy. they remained at number 4 in the college football pyoff ranking.

beginning of the season to win each and every game. that's what we've done. we've taken it one week at a time and we've accomplished our goal." "i just told them that i'm really not sure what to say because i've never been around a team t tt was 12-0. a little bit speechless on that, but it's just an uelievable accomplish nt." iwas onto indianapolis for the big ten championship. iowa facac michigagastate. the hawkekes battled to the very end, but it was michigan state coming back to win 16-13 handing iowa its first loss of the season. "we gave it everything we got. just execute a little better i think, maybe. we weren't quite there with our details like we had been this whole season." despite the tough loss, the hawkeyes gained respect across the nation and earned a berth to the rose bowl against stanford. it's their first rose bowl in 25 years. "it's a championship level game between the pac-12 and the big ten. it's going to be a very competitive game between two great teams. it's a huge opportunity for this program. wewe haven't been there in a while and it's going to be exciting." "it means a lot.

as a freshm, you want to play for championships , and the rose bowl is a championship. and you can bet there will be a ton of black and gold in the stands on new year's dada josh christensen tvtv sports. the top story of 2015 is still to come. and we'll also reveal what you, the viewers, thought were the top stories of 2015. stay with tv 9.

we've reached the end of our list of the top stories of 2015. on september sixth, a 15 year old died after another teenager shot him. that death in cedar rapids touched a nerer in the community. forums, task forces

committees formed in response to better