today, ktiv's tiffany lane traveled to tilden, nebraska to show how the community is supporting the family.

friends and family are coming together to help. they have set up a fund to collect donations for the seven children the couple donations can be made at the tilden bank. the tilden library clothing and gift cards for the family. and a gofundme account in tilden, nebraska, tiffany lane, ktiv news 4.>> we spoke with the sportsman's bar just outside tilden, where bobbi jo worked for four years. they say they are grieving their friend's death at this time. for anyone interested in donating there is information on where that can be dot com. the community of beemer, nebraska mourning the loss of a joseph lemm, the new york city police officic and national guardsman killed in aghanistan earlier this week. he lived in west harrison, new york, but the loss is being felt in his hometown of beemer. those who knew and loved him are opening up about their great loss. he didn't have a dad there, and i thought he needed a little attention from men, i was like a

mentor to him. i don't know.. can't believe, don't want to believe and i say why are our boys over there getting killed for nothin'? he had a lot to give, and he gave a lot, just because he was a really caring person. i just, i lolo him and i loved him." lemm leaves behind his wife and two children. five others died in thehettack by a suicide bomber in afghanistan. charlotte police say the deadly shooting inside a mall on christmas eve was "not a random act of violence." police say two groups of people were fighting inside northlake mall when one of them opened fire. they say a gunman was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer who was working at the mall.

police say three people were treated for non-life threatening medical emergencies... including an asthma attack and a woman who went into labor. community activists held a march near chicago's magnificent mile today. protesters call the march "black christmas" and hope to call attention to their cause by disrupting holiday shoppers. the group is demanding chicago mayor rahm emanuel resign for his handling of the laquan police shooting case. the group held a similar protest on black friday. before we take a peak at o o christmas forecaca. it's time to track down santa! after a quick burst of snow earlier today that dropped a couple inches or so in some spots while only leaving a coating in sioux city. it was south of our viewing area near omaha that received up to 9 inches of the white stuff! so, yes there will be some snow on the ground to make for a white christmas, but christmas day itself will be fairly quiet, with perhaps some sunshine in the morning! clouds and eventually a rain/snow mix will move back in late tomorrow and continue into saturday leaving a few inches of snow in some of our northernmost areas. sioux city should once again be on the low end of the snow totals as winds become strong saturday too. sunday will be a rest day

chance of snow next monday and tuesday. see graphics. here's meteorologis t ben dorenbach! a tricky travel day for some in the region this christmas eve! several inches of snow hit parts of nebraska and iowa. up to 7 inches fell in the omaha area causing several accidents. conditions also slick in western iowa. crawford county saw almost 20 accidents because of the weather. even, sioux city saw a dusting of snow, making it a slick in some spots this morning. but, conditions

early afternoon. if you ran a little behind on your holiday shopping this year, you aren't alone. siouxlanders hit the aisles this afternoon to finish some last minute christmas shopping. this was the scene at target in sioux city. people were too shy, too busy or too embarrassed to talk to us today. it's nototncommon for shoppersrs to put off holiday shopping, urging more stores to keep their doors open on christmas eve with some even open on christmas day. so if you're still on the lookout for that perfect gift idea, there's still time left. tonight, an update on a sioux city woman who goes nuts over nutcrackers. last week, we showed you the nutcracker collection of jacque goettsch in that story, jacque, who is a retired nurse, mentioned that she was only missing one nutcracker. a nurse, nutcracker. just a few days later, she received a package in the mail from an anonymous elf. "it was my nurse, a nutcracker" said jacque "it's unbelievable that somebody heard the story," said jacque goettsch. "i had tears in my eyes. i thought, 'wow!' i just couldn't

goettsch still doesn't know who sent her the special nutcracker, but is grateful that the christmas s irit of giving is alive and well. "i was on t.v. and said i don't have a nurse doll and it came in the mail anonymously. it was like a gift," said goettsch. "if they're watching, they made my christmas. it was wonderful." goettsch started her collection back in 1988 and as of last week, it consisted of 243 nutcrackers. now, that number is 244. the giving spirit was alive today in sioux city. donald baumgardner spent most of the day today outside fareway on war eagle drive singing christmas carols, and greeting anyone who walked by. in addition to vunteering as a bell ringer for the salvation army, donald decided to hand out teddy bears and other stuffed animals to anyone who would take them. he said it was important to him to give his time to help make the holiday season for others a little brighter. "it makes you feel so good and

it's like you gave them a million dollars just for one toy." saididonald baumgardner. by early this afternoon donald had given away by early this afternoon donald had given away more than four hundred stuffed animals. still to come.... at 10. pope francis led christmas eve mass. hear the pope's christmas message.

paris: there's a lot to do on a dairy farm. nobody's gonna do it for you. you have to get out there and do it yourself. bernie sanders is a well-known friend of family farms. bernie cannot be bought out by big money. bernie's opinion cannot be purchased. it's time for our next president to get in there, roll up his sleeves, take off the gloves, and take on walllltreet, take on big business, take on big monene and get the working class back to where they should be. he's a rock.

and my family in texas genevieve and gavin, a merry christmas. i love you guys, i miss you and i'll see you when i get home. end music plays >> after a quick burst of snow earlier today that dropped a couple inches or so in some spots while only leaving a south of our viewing area near omaha that white stuff! so, yes there will be some snow on the ground to make for a day itself will be fairly quiet, with perhaps some sunshine in

clouds and eventually a rain/snow mix will move back in late tomorrow and continue into saturday leaving a few inches of snow in some of our northernmost areas. sioux city should once

be on the low end of the snow tals as winds become strong saturday too. sunday will be a rest day from the precipitation before another chance of snow next monday and

as winds become strong saturday too. sunday will be a rest day from the precipitation before another chance of snow next monday and tuesday. see graphics. pope reading in latin. in some of our northernmost areas. sioux city should once again be on the low end of the snow totals as winds become strong,saturday too. sunday % will be a rest day from the precipitation before another chance of snow next monday and

pope francis led christmas eve mass in st. peter's basilica tonight pope reading in latin. and urged a return to the essential values of life. the pope celebrated mass for about ten- thousand people in the basilica. it began with a long chant in latin, the traditial proclamation of the birth of jesus. the pope's message on christmas eve called on those "intoxicated" by possessions and superficial appearances to return to the essential values of life. francis said christmas was the time to "once more discover who we are." a devastating blow to the southeasason christmas eve: after severe storms rip through the region. we have an updatat coming . >

this is the petersen family from the air 86th aero-medical evacuation squadron in ramstein, germany. reaching out to all our friends and

merry christmas! end mu it's been her fight for twenty years. something is wrong with our healthcare system and it needs to be fixed. then, it was about health reform and getting eight million kids covered. now, it's about stopping republicans from repealing obamacare, and taking on insurance companies to bring down drug prices. i'm not going to let any family be deprived of healthcare. i'm not going to let the republicans rip up obamacare and throw it away.

people injured dozens. meanwhile, the northeast is experiencing temperatures well above the norm for the holiday. karin caifa has details on the unusual christmas eve weather in many parts of the country.

makes you feelterrible. and you know, you just want to run and help, and do the best you can. :48 an unusual christmastime system brought severe storms to tennessee and arkansas -- and a deadly tornado in northern started there may have been on the ground for 150 miles, accordingngo the national weather service. rolled cut trees in half. and i don't know why i'm still standing here talking to you. hit especially hard -- the community of holly springs and surrounding marshall county, where a seven-year old boy was killed in a car with his family. (mayor kelvin buck/holly springs, mississippi) "the smaller the community, the more people you know, the emergency responders here, you're gonna deaea with yououfamily, your relatives, people e at you meet and greet every day on the street. " forecasters believe the greatest threat to the region has passed -- the risk of severe storms

last- minute travelers in cities like new york and washington have experienced spring-like temperatures in the sixties and seventies -- but, under some clouds, and a little rain. >> still to come.... this christmas eve. a little girl thought she had disappointed santa and almost ruined christmas...so she dialed 9-1- 1. that story coming up.

hope you're having an amazing christmas eve! what an exiting night.. especially since santa is coming to siouxland. let's see whwhe he is now! he's just t ew over toronto andnd is now heading toward thunder bay, ontario. a 7-year-old new jersey girl called 911 in a panic when she did something that she thought santa. brian thomas talked to the little girl about her "elf-mergency"

her elf was in trouble. <nats>:35-:40 "girl: i was trying to call my dad but (garble) an accident. 911 op: you can just say you made a mistake." she tells me now that s s was ththwing a ball and accidentally hit her elf. but police came to this door, worried that she was in real trouble. mom, lynanne, woke from sleep to see her daughter trying to shoo the cop away.... (s/lynanne laperuta/mother:54- 1:00) "she was hysterical crying, she was panicking." <butted to> "i didn't want to get in trouble." the officer radioed headquarters... <nats> 1:02-1:10 "officer: 504 to headquarters dispatch: go aheadad04 officer: isabella a ologized, she touched the elf on the shelf's. she won't call 911 again." police, with their own christmas cheer to hand out...are understanding. (s/lt. joseph mandola/old bridge police1:16-1:24) "to her it was an emergency when she touched the elf and she's going to ruin christmas so that

emergency. so she did right? in her mind she did right and it was s ne with us." and izzy learned her lesson with santa. 26-1:28 "he knows i'm not going to do that again." izzy, isabella, points to the two elves safely tucked in these stockings in the laperuta living room. 07-:10 "it was an emergency, i was very nervous." you see, somehow one of the elves on the shelf ended up on the floor while mom was sleeping...izzy <nats>:18-:27 "911 op: 911 hello girl: it's isabella 911 op:hi, hi isabella. why are you calling 911?" then suddenly izzy panicked. <nats>:30-:33 "girl: don't come to my house ok" <nats>:35-:40 "girl: i was trying to call my dad but (garble) an accident. 911 op: you can just say you made a mistake." she tells me now that she was throwiig a ball anddaccidentally hit her elf. but pollce came to this door, worried that she was in real trouble. mom, lynanne, woke from sleep to see her daughter trying to shoo the cop away.... (s/lynanne laperuta/mother:54- 1:00) "she was hysterical crying, se was panicking." <butted to> "i didn't want to get in trouble." the officer radioed headquarters... <nats> 1:02-1:10 "officer: 504 to headquarters dispatch: go ahead 504 officer: isabella apologized, she touched the elf on the shelf's. she won't call 911 again." police, with their own christmas cheer to hand out...are understanding. (s/lt. joseph mandola/old bridge police1:16-1:24) "to her it was an emergency when she touched the elf and she's going to ruin christmas so that was her emergency. so she did right? in her mind she did right and it was fine with us."

"he knows i'm not going to do that again." >> and, the woodbury county sheriff's department had it's own elf on a shelf. elf jerry spent the last 23 days taking part in some shenanigans around the community. he even took over making license plates. you can see his favorite one that he personalized for his own little vehicle. he even helped prepare the woodbury county communicatio ns operators for santa's arrival. before taking off for the north pole, woodbury county sheriff dave drew and elf jerry wished everyone a "merry christmas and a happy new year". you can check out more of elf jerry's hijinx on the oodbury coconty sheriff's office facebbok page. you can find a link in this story on our homepage at ktiv.com. brad's here -- the hawkeyes and brad's here -- the hawkeyes and huskers are in california. the hawkeyes flew out to continue preps for the rose

living with sickle cell disease is never easy. but we'll show you how one boy has accomplished so much depsite the disease. and many companies are reaching out to help others during the holidays. we'll show you one volunteer organization in the business of changing

behind iowa's winter for warmer weather. the hawkeye football team hopped on a plane today -- bound for california and a date with stanford in the rose bowl on new year's day. the football team boarded their flight in cedar rapids surrounded by their families for the christmas eve sendoff. the players were excited as they took pictures of each other and themselves, to document the big day. once in cacafornia, the hawkeyes will share a practice facility with stanford -- finishing off the 15 bowl practices that each team is allowe the hawkeyes have a lot of work, and a lot of fun, ahead of them. "disneyland, i'm sure that's fun time for the guys, to be able to just enjoy the moment," said senior jordan lomax. "to be able to be in disneyland, i've never been there before, i'm sure a lot of the guys on the team have never been there before, so just being able to be out there and go to disneyland should be fun for us." "you want the player to enjoy thth. they've earned that. this isisomething they've earned," said head coach kirk ferentz. "but you also want them to have an awareness of what it is we're trying to get accomplished at the end of the day." iowa landed safely at about 5 o'clock. the rose bowl kicks off at 4-10 on new year's day. iowa is a six and a half point

we will air a half-hour special called "the road to the rose bowl", next thursday. with the help from our sister station, kwwl in waterloo, we'll look back at the special 2015 season and look ahead to the matchup against stanford. again, see that hawkeyes special, a week from tonight at 6:30. the cornhuskers are also in california, getting ready for saturday's game against ucla in the foster farms bowl in san francisco. these two schools have great traditions. this will be the 13th meeting between the two schools and the series is even at six wins apiece. the two coaches met once before -- mike riley beat jim mora in 2012, when riley was at oregon state the bruins are 8-4 -- disappointing for them -- they were ranked as high as seventh ininhe country early in the seasonon nebraskakaot into a bowl game with a 5-7 record, but those seven losses are by a combined 31 points. "we've had what you would call a rollercoaster but at the same time it wasn't a rollercoaster week to week because of the continued work that these guys showed and the example that they set that allowed us to even get better as the season went along even

times," said riley. "m"me than anything it's just an opportununy to play another ga together as a team and test ourselves against one of the great teams in college football," said ucla head coach jim mora. the foster farms bowl kicks off at 8-15 on saturday night on espn. new iowa state football coach matt campbell says the cyclones could be getting new uniforms. campbell tells the des moines register that he's a traditionalist -- but adds that, quote "re-identifying ourselves on a national stage is really important". he says they're still looking inin -- if a new look could debut 2016. campbe also added that uniforms can only be cool, if the football team's cool. iowa state has won just five game over the past two seasons. football from the islands -- san diego state against cincinnati in the hawaii bowl. opening kickoff -- rashaad penny of the aztecs -- catches it in the endzone, gets a few blocks and he is gone. 103 yards for the touchdown. i'ts 7-0 san diego state still in the first -- san diego state's christian chapman finds mikah holder for thth14 yard score. it's 14-zip. the aztecs run the halfback

donnell pumphrey throws the touchdown pass to dakota gordon. san diego state clobbers cincinnati 42 to 7. and before we go, meteorologist ben dorenbach has been tracking santa! tonigh great travel conditions for saa. a low of 22 with some partial clearing and calm south winds. christmas day: some morning sun? increasing clouds. late day mix?