an in depth look at the people and events that shape our community.this is iowa in focus.this week -- president- elect trump starts to fill cabinet positions.and we take one final look at one of the people at the center of the clinton campaign. welcome to iowa in focus -- we're giving context to what happens in your political headl. headlines.that starts with the barnstorm. the president-elect kicked off the week by talking to russian president vladimir putin. putin.the trump transition team says they talked about the shared history between the two powers -- and what they can do moving forward to help both nations.the next day -- russia announced that they're stepping up their activity in syria. before russia's announcement - - the president gave an unexpected press conference before an international trip. he was trying to get all the questions about trump transition out of the way -- still -- much of the focus stayed on what was going on

say that no matter what was said during the campaign -- trump would have to reconsile his view of the world with the reality he'd face in the oval office in january. "regardless of what expereince or assumptions he brought to the office, thsi office has a way of waking you up. right after trump was elected -- the american civil liberties union jumped right into action -- sending an open letter to president-elect trump saying they'd fight just as hard if he away the rights of individual groups of people in the united states. the response they've gotten has been impressive. impressive.the a-c-l-u says 400-thousand people saw that open letter. letter.and that in five days -- they've increased their facebook followers 25-percent to nearly a million people. people.their mailing list has drastically increased -- and more than 120-thousand donations have added up to more than 7-point-2 million dol. dollars.they say it's the biggest show of support in

history. protestors in iowa city are falling in line behind groups like the a-c-l-u. u.they marched from the community center downtown through the ped mall and eventually to the pentacrest at the university of iowa.this was all organized by a group of high school students who say they were called racial slurs -- and told to go back to where they came from after the election. "we are so against hate and discrimination. not the candidate, teh president elect, but the hate and discrimination he has awoken everyone to know that we love and respect everyone and we are strong. that protest came less than a week after protestors blocked traffic on interstate 80 -- and state house representative bobby kaufmann wants to put that behavior to and end. end.he's proposing a bill that would take funding away from state institutions if they spend money on events surrounding these protests. kaufmann says it all started after he saw some schools spending money on grief counciling after hillary clinton lost the election.he

during the legislative session set to begin in about two months. "- bobby kaufmann: "you've got a right to be a brat. you've got a right to protest, that's constitutionally protected. but you do not have a right to throw a temper tantrum on i-80 and put my constituents' lives in danger." but kaufman got taken to task by the cedar rapids gazette. they wote that "kaufmann ought to know better. his announcement comes at a time when iowans need leadership in both parties to de-escalate emotions which continue to run high from the election." election."kaufmann, instead of offered up a corrosive and inflammatory proposal that will only drive them further apart."they mentioned former iowa republican governor bob ray -- who spent years pushing his character counts initiative. initiative.the gazette says: "kaufmann should take a page from ray, and others like him, and avoid future unsportsmanli ke conduct. nobody likes a sore winner." let's go inside iowa politics -- talking about what's going in inside state politics.

iowa representative ken rizer wants to put a different bill f. forward...that would create tougher penalites for people who specifically target police officers or first responders. he says he'll narrow down the finer details when the session starts -- but they could include bigger mandatory minimum sentences.a law like that could have momentum after the des moines and urbandale police officers were shot and killed just a few weeks ago. "there's still a lot of pain and grief at my agency and here in the metro so personally i'd like to see stiffer ni who target police. rizer's fellow state house republicans already re-elected linda upmeyer as the speaker of the house.state house reporter steffi lee explains the direction upmeyer wants to take the legislature. legislature. with eleven new members and a fifty-nine seat majority, house speaker linda upmeyer says it's time to get back to work - listening to voters about the changes they want to see.the seats are still empty inside house chambers right

republicans are getting ready for the 2017 legislative session behind the scenes.take sot: linda upmeyer 06:55:57 "we're focusing on the things we've done well - we also have to focus on the things where there's opportunities for changes."while house speaker linda upmeyer didn't provide reporters with specifics on what changes iowans can expect - one issue she addressed - is income tax policy.take sot: linda upmeyer 06:44:46:05 "that's something that's been very important to the caucus over the years == we're certainly going to study that topic - i we'll land yet."upmeyer says lawmakers are still studying the state budget - and their priority - is efficiency.take sot: linda upmeyer 06:49:20:10 "many times we have tried and looked at where there's duplication - where that particular program is getting eclipsed by the success of another program - so let's look at the ways to make things the most efficient as we possibly can.as unions start negotiating contracts - the fate of collective bargaining in the state is also up in the air.take sot: linda upmeyer 06:53:37:12 "i'm sure we'll have discussions about that simply because of the year - so we'll see where

medical marijuana laws -- house republicans proposed a partnership last session -- where iowans would drive to minnesota to get cannabidiol. but that bill never passed. take sot: linda upmeyer 06:54:01:09 "the interesting thing that we've learned since then is that the growers in minnesota lost three million dollars last year - so this is genuinely a conversation where you would create an environment where something could be sustained without taxpayer dollars."steffi: months before we start to see what bills get proposed in both chambers - the legislative session starts on january ninth. in des moines, steffi lee reporting. in linn county -- new supervisor stacey walker made history by being the first african american elected to the board of supervisors.but he had plenty of people there to share it with him. him.after the ceremonty -- walker shared a few hugs and tears with henry dawson -- who was the deacon at stacey's childhood church -- and was

raised walker.stacey's mother was killed when he was a small . child.the judge who did the swearing in was kevin mckeever -- he's the first african american judge on iowa's 6th judicial district court.walker says seeing that is really great for the large group of african americans students in the audience. "this is a historic say and it's not about me, it's about the folks in the audience watching who know if they want to be a judge, that is a live they can achieve. if they want to be an elected official here in linn county, that is a life they can achieve. senator joni ernst is getting answers for another soldier suicide in iowa.she sent another letter to the deparment of veterans affairs after curtis gearhart from ankeny committed suicide.that follows brandon ketchum and richard miles suicides after they both couldn't get care from the v-a. v-a.ernst wrote: "it is simply unacceptable that anyone who has courageously served this great nation is sent home without being given options that exist for receiving

this week -- gwen ifill passed . away.she was a fixture on washington week in review -- and p-b-s newshour -- while also being the first african american woman to moderate a vice presidential debate.did it first in 2004 -- handling the debate between dick cheney and john edwards -- and then again in 2008 -- between joe biden and sarah palin. palin.but one of her most memorable moments was in 2007 -- right after radio personality don imus got in trouble for referring to the rutgers women's team with racial slurs.she wasn't afraid to go after fellow journalists -- and anyone else -- for not appreciating the severety of imus' comments. "my concern about mr imus and a lot of people is not that people are sorry that they say these thiings, they're sorry that someone catches them. when don imus said these things about me, the said he wanted to apologize. now he says he never said it. it wanted to apolgoize for

david is right about the culture of racial complaint and the internal culture but this week, it was finally saying, nough."

for the next few weeks -- especially important and timely interviews from the caucus and primary season.most recently -- hillary clinton campaign chair john podesta had the thankless job of telling the crowds waiting to celebrate on election night with clinton that the campaign was going to wait until the next morning. "it's been a long night and it's been a long campaign. but i say we can wait a little longer, can't we?"

this week -- we look back at when we sat down with podesta in october of 2015.he served in the obama adminsitration -- and deserved much of the credit for the success that clinton ?did have.back then -- we asked him about the huge ground game they had built -- even before the caucuses. caucuses. closed captioning not

after the break...we explore the potential members of president donald trump's

welcome back.in the real story this week -- we're taking a deeper look at .... ....all the positions around washington d-c that stand to change. at the very top of the trump transition team will be former r-n-c chair reince priebus. those two men have sparred when the campaign was still going on -- particularly in the lead up to the republican national convention in cleveland.trump was worried the republican to keep him from getting the nomination -- by manipulating the rules. "the republican national committee, they better get going because i'll tell you what, they're going to have a rough time at that convention. it's up to each individual state over the next four years how they're going to allocate delegates. i don't take it personally john because i just rest in the truth. they've smoothed things over now -- and priebus will follow

his chief of staff.right next to him will be steve bannon -- from breitbart news.that's the same outlet who reporter michelle fields worked for when she was grabbed by former trump campaign manager -- corey lewandowsky -- while trying to ask donald trump a question.she left because she felt like brietbart didn't defend her enough. enough.bannon has been criticized for being anti- semetic and racist -- and bringing those perspectives the "alt-right" movement -- which has been accused of promoting white nationalism within the republican party. bannon will be a senior advisor -- but kelly anne conway says there's more to bannon. "my responce to that is i work very closely with steve bannon he's been teh general of this campaign people should look at the full resume. he has a harvard business degree, he's a naval officer, he has success in entertainment, i don't know if you're aware of that and he was a goldman

brilliant technician. late in the week -- the trump team named leutenant general michael flynn a national security advisor.that would be a big job in a trump administration -- since he's expected to lean on those advisors a lot since trump doesn't have any military experience of his own. own.but flynn has attracted some negative attention -- after being more outspoken than many retired military personal -- and from tweets like this one.it's from february of this year -- where he says fearing muslims is rational -- and links to a video pointing out that people who practice islam have carried out attacks all around the world. the next attorney general under president trump will be alabama senator jeff sessions. he'll have to shape the "law and order" rhetoric that the candidate ran on -- and deal with trump's debate threat to put hillary clinton in jail. over the course of the transition process -- chris christie -- rudy guiliani and ted cruz have all been rumored

morning.senator sessions got on the short list after the trump team released a statement saying they were impressed with sessions' work as the attorney general and u- s attorney in his home state. the day before the decision went public -- sessions was singing trump's praises. "donald trump i've been in a number of meetings with him while talking to peopel who are under consideration. he just does a good job. he's engaging talking to them, it's a good feel. good feel. that appointment is also liikely to get criticism because sessions is accused of making racist comments to a black assistant u-s attorney and the n-double a-c-p.the rest of trump's cabinent is still in limbo.just this week - - the transition team sent out "landing parties" to federal agencies to talk about shifting leadership to the new team.one of the biggest positiosn to fill is secretary of state -- hillary clinton's

would be responsible for building a lot of the alliances that donald trump has said he may strain with some of his policies. policies.the short list so far is former new york city mayor -- rudy guiliani -- who has limited international experienc. experience.john bolton -- the former u-s ambassador to the united nations under george w bh bushsouth carolina governor nikki haley -- who was extremely critical of donald trump during the primary proces. process.and tennessee senator bob corker -- who is the senate foreign relations committee chair -- and was on the short list for vice president before mike pence was picked. so far -- turmp moving faster naming his cabinet than many of his predessors. predessors.fox news put this graphic together -- showing that only george h-w bush appointed any cabinet positions within two weeks of getting elected.trump now has rolled out five spots in less than two weeks. congressional democrats are starting to figure out the new look to their leadership struct.

minority leader -- democrat harry reid is on the way out -- he decided to retire this year.new york senator chuck schumer has already been picked to take his spot. spot.in the house -- nancy pelosi is the minority chair for now -- but ohio representative tim ryan announced that he'll he looking to take that spot. coming up next...one of the funniest parts of the 2016 election to hit the internet

welcome back -- we'll close the show each week taking a look at what happened on social media... media...one thing that people on both sides of the aisle can come together on are some hilarious president obama and vice president joe biden memes. they've started to come out -- creating fake conversations between the outgoing leaders. leaders.one of the funniest ones i've seen is here:joe biden says he won't give donald trump the wifi password in the white house.president obama says "joe..."and biden responds with "i said what i sa" said."in another -- the vice president wants president

certificate in an envelope marketed "secret" and leave it one the desk.president-elect trump was one of the biggest names pushing the "birther" movement earlier in the president's time in office. now -- we look at their voice -- what the candidates and their campaigns are posting on social media. media.this all starts back in 2012 -- when senator grassley... grassley...who famously runs his own twitter account -- tweeted out that he had hit a deer near dyersville. he was fine -- but the last line caught a lot of people -- "assume deer dead" dead"it was funny because it was current fellow senator -- joni ernst tweeted this: this:"no presumption -- but i hit a deer last night, chuck grassley. what do you think it's odds are?"i couldn't help but chuckle. thanks for watchingbe sure to tune in next week to get the

>> champions of the world denver broncos. >> it is caught for the win! >> danny willett has won the masters. >> jason day, major champion. >> derrick henry will win it. james: week 11 in the nfl. tony: and there's antonio brown, one of the best in the business, taking on the winless browns today. bill: matthew stafford, all four wins have been fourth quarter comebacks. bart: and a raven alumni, super bowl m.v.p. enough said.