with reporters across the you're watching kcrg-tv9. now, from your 24 hour news source, this is ??? . a week from monday, thousands of voters across the state will caucus. but not everyone knows where to go. hospitals across the country are short staffed in the nursing department. a cedar rapids hospital is hoping to attract more with a job fair. iowans are taking notice of lower gas prices. and cities and business owners are seeing the biggest benefits. good friday morning! its 430 on january 22nd. here is a live look at . first, meteorologis t kaj o'mara has your first alert forecast, kaj... plan on a few flurries in the region to start your friday, however, the impact of these flurries should be very minor. nothing measurable is

at least through the morning with a slow break-up of cloud cover in the afternoon from north to south. highs today should be similar to yesterday and mainly in the mid-20s. this weekend continues to look great with highs well into the 20s on saturday, with mid-30s likely for your sunday. our next system is still on track to move in on monday. with minor snow accumulation s likely, there will probably be slick driving conditions in the area monday and monday night. have a great weekend!toda y: am flurries, m/cloudy high: 22-28 winds: n 5-15 alo: 24 dbq: 25 iow: 26tonight: gradual clearing low: 9-15 winds: n 5-10 alo: 11 dbq: 12 iow: 14tomorrow: mostly sunny high: 26-32 winds: sw 5-10 alo: 27 dbq: 27 iow: 29tomorrow night: partly cloudy low: 18-24 winds: sw 5-10 alo: 20 dbq: 19 iow: 21 thanks kaj. it's just 10 days until iowans will caucus for presidential candidates. but not everyone knows where they need to go. the republican and democratic parties are encouraging you to

least be in line by 7 o'clock on february 1st. for the democrats, you can type your address into this box at iowa democrats dot org. for the g-o-p, you'll need to know your precinct location to find your location on iowa g-o-p dot org. " we are reaching out to as many people as we can. letting them know caucuses are feb 1, and everyone should come out " " come prepared, think about what you're going to do, and come early. exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point! " the democrats are also trying have set up a tele- caucus for iowans abroad in the military, school and the peace corps. democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton is trying to reach younger iowa voters. she hosted an event at the university of iowa campus with singer demi lovato. one u-i freshman says he's trying to decide between clinton and bernie sanders. demi is here so she can get some the college vote, or some of the college vote or younger people to come to her events." "

interested, get involved, be part of this process. you know people in iowa are being watched, not just around the country, but around the world." " one of the central messages last night was to get out and caucus. other celebrities will join clinton on the campaign trail. sports icon billie jean king and actress jamie lee curtis will join hillary prior to february 1st. coe college political science professor bruce nesmith says celebrities can get voters to an event when they wouldn't come before. " "if they are really super famous that you would end all your plans and go see them, they would get you in the door and you'd hear the candidate's message." " nesmith says celebrities can make a little difference in a very close race. but historically he says these types of endorsements don't make a huge difference. clinton is among the candidates running several ads in iowa with claims the tv-9 and gazette

at. like this one... "the first lady who helped get health care for 8 million kids." we first checked this claim in an ad that aired this past august. clinton is referring to the children's health insurance program, which passed in 1997. she was the first lady at that time. so she did not introduce, vote on or sign the law - but lobbied hard for it. at the time, senator ted kennedy, who sponsored the bill, said it would not have passed if not for clinton. that's why we again give the claim an 'a'. clinton and her democratic opponents bernie sanders and martin o'malley will be in des moines monday night for a town hall meeting. the presidential hopefuls will answer questions from democratic caucus- goers. it starts at eight o'clock, and you can see it on kcrg 9 point 2. c-n-n's chris cuomo will moderate the event. the old capitol museum in iowa city is getting children involved in the caucus buzz. it is hosting a mock caucus

and next friday from 6 to 8 p-m but instead of debating about the real candidates, the kids will focus on choosing which superhero deserves the hawkus nomination. it does cost 20 dollars and children must register before hand. the iowa department of education is recognizing four iowa schools for their work to eliminate the achievement gap. state officials presented the breaking barriers award to.. washington high school for its work with african american students. riverdale heights elementary school was recognized for a second year in a row for helping latino students. denison elementary school got the award for its work with students whose first language is not english. and the state is awarding west union elementary school for its work with students who come from low-income families. 52 percent of west union elementary students qualify for free and reduced lunches. but 93 percent of students are proficient in reading and math. that's above the state average of 68 percent. administrators say a tiered system to identify students who

help is a big part of that success. about five percent of students spend one- on-one time with an interventionist. 11:18:40 "students who may be struggling with reading or math can come up here and they can receive that one-on-one instruction that they need to be successful when they go back to the classroom." the award is based on state test results over the last three years. mercy medical center in cedar rapids is putting out a call for more nurses. the hospital says it has a growing demand for the profession. and they're not alone. hospitals around the country are facing a major nursing shortage and schools can't meet demand. according to the bureau of labor statistics' employment projections for 2012-2022, an rn is one of the top jobs in the country in terms of growth. the rn workforce is expected to grow 19 percent. that's from 2 point 71 million jobs in 2012 to 3 point 24 million in 2022. the bureau also projects the

replacement nurses in the workforce. that means the total number of job openings for nurses is more than a million by 2022. kcrg-tv9's forrest saunders joins us at the desk to take a closer look at the shortage. forrest, why are nurses so critical? obviously, a lot of reasons. one of them, they save lives. get this, a recent study showed having more than one nurse per bed at a hospital may decrease patient mortality after general surgery by 20%. no wonder hospitals far and near need nurses morgan henkel has been a nurse for about a year and a half.morgan got into the business because she's all about caring for others. "i just really like helping people. i've always been the type to put people before myself. friends or anybody, really."in coming years, she won't be short of people to care for as demand for her profession continues to increase due to the shortage. the american association of colleges of nursing points to a number of causes. three of the

faculty at schools, meaning not enough nurses are being produced -on top of that, many nurses are nearing retirement age -plus, some are flat out leaving the profession because they're over worked. "so we've got growth and opportunity." mary brobst is mercy's chief nursing officer. according to her, nursing need seems like it's almost everywhere at mercy. the hospital is expanding in many areas that will need to staff more rns. that includes: outpatient care. home care. clinics. pediatrics. and cardiology. to help, mercy is hosting a job fair with a emphasis on nursing, later this month. "we'd love to have people that are interested. not only people who are currently either registered or certified as a health care professional, but those who are interested. i think about high school students."mor gan will appreciate the help. in some places, extra hours and shifts have become an industry standard as the shortage gets even bigger. "you have your good days and bad days like anywhere. but, i love what i do." that job fair is saturday, january 30th.

center. that's 701 10th street se in cedar rapids. nicole? thanks a lot forrest. in a tv-9 follow-up this morning.. a former criminal investigator is asking the iowa supreme court to reconsider his claim that the state unfairly fired him. former division of criminal investigation agent larry hedlund says he lost his job because he initiated a pursuit of governor branstad's speeding s-u-v in april 2013. the vehicle was clocked going at least 84 miles per hour in hamilton county, but law officers did not stop the state trooper who was driving the s-u-v. this is video from that day. the iowa department of public safety denies that it retaliated against hedlund, saying instead he was insubordinate. the iowa supreme court heard the arguments in the case yesterday. gas prices in iowa are in down

last month and may be trending lower. this is helping the budgets for businesses and organizations that rely on cars. gas prices are dropping primarily because of an oversupply of crude oil. a long period of high oil prices led to more production as drillers found new places to look for oil. the u-s also improved oil drilling technologies, and that helped add even more oil to the global market. lifting sanctions against iran will put even more oil in the market. and more than 500 pieces of power equipment that use gasoline or diesel fuel. from july 1st through december, the city saved 634-thousand dollars pierson's flower shop has a couple of delivery vans that make about 50 deliveries a day. right now, the business is saving 750 to 1000 dollars a month because of low gas prices. "after seeing those 3.50 gas prices, yes those bills are a lot easier to pay at the end of

the transportatio n department at college community expects the diesel fuel bills to be 120-thousand dollars under budget. when it comes to budgeting, the city looks at the average costs in past years as well as forecasts from the federal department of energy. the city of cedar rapids is sending a lot of notices to property owners to clear their sidewalks this winter. the gazette reports that city has mailed 234 notices since the first of the year telling owners to clear their sidewalks. that compares to all of last year when the city mailed 359 letters. after a city notice, property owners have 48 hours to clear their sidewalks. after that, the city sends the property owner a letter, investigates, and can charge owners 159 dollars to clear the sidewalk. people on the east coast are preparing for the worst. a winter storm threatens to drop more than 12 inches of snow in washington d.c.

opening farm markets. good morning! it's ---. plan on a few flurries in the

friday, however, the impact of these flurries should be very minor. nothing measurable is anticipated. clouds should hold at least through the morning with a slow break-up of cloud cover in the afternoon from north to south. highs today should be similar to yesterday and mainly in the mid-20s. this weekend continues to look great with highs

with mid-30s likely for your sunday. our next system is still on track to move in on monday. with minor snow accumulation s likely, there will probably be slick driving conditions in the area monday and monday night. have a great weekend!toda y: am flurries, m/cloudy high: 22-28 winds: n 5-15 alo: 24 dbq: 25 iow: 26tonight: gradual clearing low: 9-15 winds: n 5-10 alo: 11 dbq: 12 iow: 14tomorrow: mostly sunny high: 26-32 winds: sw 5-10 alo: 27 dbq: 27 iow: 29tomorrow night: partly cloudy low: 18-24 winds: sw 5-10 alo: 20 dbq: 19 iow: 21

region to start your friday, however, the impact of these flurries should be very minor. nothing measurable is anticipated. clouds should hold at least through the morning with a slow break-up of cloud cover in the afternoon from north to south. highs today should be similar to yesterday and mainly in the mid-20s. this weekend continues to look great with highs well into the 20s on saturday, with mid-30s likely for your sunday. our next system is still on track to move in on monday. with minor snow accumulation s likely, there will probably be slick driving conditions in the area monday and monday night.

they say if you find a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life. well, one company put together a list for this year's best jobs. more on that in today's

the east coast is gteting ready for what could be a historic blizzard in the nation's capital. projected snowfall totals continue to creep up.

has more. nats this morning---one last mad dash to prepare for a potentially historic blizzard. outside a costco in virgina lines to get in and lines to check out as stores try to keep up with the demand. sot: "dc's really not ready for this kind of weather" the same scene at this trader joes supermarket in the nation's capital nats "take the next ten..." ...forced to limit customers to ten at a time. shelves of water are now virtually empty and snow shovels are disappearing just as fast. staton sot: "we're down to our last few of them which is like 3 or 4..." also preparing? the federal government which announced it would be closing at noon today ahead of the epic winter storm. nat pop d.c. metro: d.c.'s public transportatio n including rail and bus service will be closing later today too. sot dr. louis uccellini, director of national

everything line up for a major storm system affecting the eastern third of the country, and affecting at least 50 million people..." at reagan international airport- de-icers on standby as all major airlines offer passengers waivers to rebook their flights. for those staying home like ryan williams in philadelphia one last stop before the snow arrives. "well, i already hit the grocery store, but honestly when we're being truthful, the most important thing is wine and whiskey" on-cam tag: but there is no doubt washington will be hit the hardest with more than 2 feet of snow expected to fall during the storm. a state of emergency has already been declared for the nations capital. five states have also followed suit. karla barguiarena, abc news, new york now for a quick check on your weather with meteorologist kaj o'mara.

plan on a few flurries in the region to start your friday, however, the impact of these flurries should be very minor. nothing measurable is anticipated. clouds should hold at least through the morning with a slow break-up of cloud cover in the afternoon from north to south. highs today should be similar to yesterday and mainly in the mid-20s. this weekend continues to look great with highs well into the 20s on saturday, with mid-30s likely for your sunday. our next system is still on track to move in on monday. with minor snow accumulation s likely, there will probably be slick driving conditions in the area monday and monday night. have a great weekend!toda y: am flurries, m/cloudy high: 22-28 winds: n 5-15 alo: 24 dbq: 25 iow: 26tonight: gradual clearing low: 9-15

iow: 14tomorrow good morning. topping "america's money" -- a huge car seat recall. >> recalling more than 71,000 infant car seitz because the handles can break. >> the travel system made last jeer. experts are predicting an unusual trend in the wine business, saying for the first time in more than 20 years, consumption is going down. >>apparently, analysts baby boomers willing to spend money on fine wine being replaced by min len yals who are more frugal. best jobs in america, number three on the list is solutions architect architect. >> number two is tex manager and the mum one job right now is

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