people clapping and cheering. "participants say the fruit cake fling is a unique way to have fun, but the best part is the family time." the entire sexton family participated in the throw. "it was really fun. i was kind of nervous because i've never done this before, but it was really fun," said 10- year-old, keira sexton. "it's a cool experience and you can just hike and it's fun with your family," said ian sexton. "it's cold so you get to bundle up with your family and have a nice time," said 15-year-old, quin sexton. "it was a great opportunity to come out to a beautiful state park and have a good time with the family. we've done this kind of thing before, kinn of staying in a cabb type of envirrnment and it's a lot of fun," saad dennis sexton. they say it was more than a friendly competition... "we have so much stuff going on sometimes we don't get to see each other very much so it's just nice to have some family time. it's kind of quality time," said 10-year-old, keira sexton. and they plan on coming back next year... "well i'm definitely going to have to practice for next year because gonna have to get things right. it's not like throwing a ball so

sure," said dennis sextoo. >> friendly-- made with bird seed so wildlife around the park can eat them. and winterfest organizers say next year the fruit cake fling and the rest of the festivities will be even bigger and better. robert? both hospitals in sioux city welclced the first babies of 2016! unity point t alth-st. luke's welcomom their first baby ofof 2016 yesterday morning. stephen was born at 8:47 a.m., weighing six pounds, eight-and-a-half ounces. he's 19-inches tall. his orgininal due date wasn't until january 12th but he had other plans. "due to low aminoc fluid i came in on wednesday to get induced and ended up having him at 8:47 this morning," said amanda cornish, mother. stephen's big sister k kynn is already stepping in to take care of her new baby brother. and the baby boy trend continues at mercy medical center.

born at 10:15 on friday, weighing in at seven pounds, two ounces and 20-inches long. his parents ana and vicente have two sons at home waiting to meet their baby brother. mercy medical center sends its new year's baby home with a car seat, diapers, and other baby essentials. we're starting off the new year with some warmer temps and dry weather but, how long will it lats for that we'll toss it over to meterologist tj springer high pressure will prevail as we ring in the first weekend of 2016! sunshine and warmer temperatures are expected through the rest of our saturday before clouds come back during the day on sunday. we could even see a flurry possible with the thick cloud cover. we dip back into the 20s for highs on sunday heading into the start of the workweek. abundant sunshine will return for monday. your 7-day forecast is coming up in 10 minutes the floods that inundated parts

midwest this week are starting to recede now, damage assessment and cleanup is underway, as cities further south brace for what's coming their way. nbc's chris pollone reports.

quickly as possible and families can get back on their feet the coast guard is watching from the air looking for people who might be stranded. the national guard is ready to help, too. s/ gov. bruce rauner / (r) illinois :54 - :59 "we've got equipment, communication equipment, as well as sand bags and other supplies to support local first responders." those who escaped with their lives, but little else, remain hopeful. s/ arnnd, missouri resident / no id 1:03 - 1:09 "we will get through this and we're gonna cce out better on the other side than when we started." now, focus shifts downstream. as places like memphis and vicksburg, mississippi prepare for the surge headed their way later this month. chris pollone, nbc news, new york. >> democratic presidential candidate martin o'malley will be visiting siouxland over the next few days. tonight, the former maryland governor will be in le mars at the plymouth county

on sunday he will be in sioux city at noon at mama treglia community house. that's at 900 jennings street. from there he heads south to council bluffs. republican ted cruz will be campaigning in iowa next week. he's planning to visit 36 counties in six days. one of his stops will take him to dordt college, in sioux center on tuesday, january 5th. he'll speak at the de yager activity center on campus from 6 until 8:30 p.m. and, democrat hillary clintoto plans to be in sioux city on tuesday for a 2:15 event at the orpheum theatre. the event goes until 4 p.m. more fuel for the hillary clinton campaign. the democratic presidential candidate has raised 55-million dollars in the fourth quarter--topping her 100- million-dollar goal. in all... the clinton campaign collected 112 million dollars for the primary since launching its s mpaign in april. the democratic front-runner worked hard for the money. she's headlined at least 174 fundraisers. president obama is spending his last day of

one issue on the top of his agenda when he returns to the white house will be the nation's gun laws. the president determined to address what he calls the nation's epidemic of gun violence. nbc's ron allen has the story. . (s/ president obama :00-:09) "last month we remembered the third anniversay of newtown, this friday i'll be thinking about my friend gabby giffords five years into her recovery....." president obama in his first address of the new year...putting the nation's gun violence at the top of his list of unfinished business.....criticising congress for failing to pass a bill 3 years ago to make background checks for gun purchases almost universal... (s/ president obama :25-:31) "since then tens of thousands of our fellow citizens have been mowed down by gun violence. tens of thousands." now, the president is expected to try to use his executive authority to do what congress won't....for example closing the so-called gun show and online loop hole that allows sales without background checks... and perhaps stopping people on the terror watch list, not allowed to fly on arplanes, from buying guns.... proposals through executive action that gun enthusiasts insist would be an abuse of presidential power.... (s/ larry pratt / gun owners of america:56-1:04) "the president would clearly be overreaching because the law is very clear as to who can and cannot transact firearms sales.."

consoling the nation, visibily angusihed, more than a dozen times, after mass shootings, the president seems deterrined to take the gun lobby on.... (s/ eric schultz / white house spokesperson1:15-1:19) this is a tough one politically, but the president didn't get elected in 2008 to just work on the simple issues. also on mr obama's new year agenda....especially since paris and san bernadino....keeping america safe.....and defeating isis enforcing the iran nuclear deal and finally trying to close guantanemo bay.... but first up...guns (s/ president obama 1:35-1:40) "because i get too many letters from parents, and teachers and kids to sit around and do nothing." >> coming up on news 4 at 6 iowa had no answer for the ap player of the year. sam curtiss

bowl.. coming up in sportsfource

high pressure will prevail as we ring in the first weekend of 2016! sunshine and warmer temperatures are expected through the rest of our saturday before clouds come back during the day on sunday. we could even see a flurry possible with the thick cloud cover. we dip back into the 20s for highs on sunday

abundant sunshine will return for monday. high temps. will begin to rebound a bit, towards freezing for tuesday and wednesday, along with pleasant conditions lasting through the middlef the week. other storm system will move into the plains which cocod give us some more snow thursday night into the day on friday. definitely something that bears watching!>> still to come here on news 4 at

we'll take a look back at the entertainment news that made

in 20-15, some showbiz figurur days after the paris attacks, senators came together for a top-secret briefing on the terrorist threat... marco rubio was missing - fundraising in california instead. two weeks later, terrorists struck again in san bernardino... and where was marco? fundraising again in new orleans. over the last 3 years, rubio has missed important national security hearings and missed more total votes than any other senator. politics first: that's the rubio way. right to rise usa

praised as one of america's best mayors who governed as a pragmatist. bernie sanders passed more amendments in a republican congress than any other member. cracked the gridlock with john mccain tototrengthen veterans' healthcare. bernie sanders. a consistent, principled, and effective leader. building a future to believe in.

drew more attention for their off- camera exploits than their day jobs. david daniel looks at the entertainment stories that kept us, , ll... entertained.

allegations of sexual misconduct also took down a recent t-v powerhouse: the duggar family of "19 kids and counting." josh duggar faced reports he'd molested girls as a teenager -- including his sisters... and used the adultery websbste ashley madison-- he apologized on both counts. "i have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage..." some of the sexual partners of charlie sheen expressed alarm when the hard-living celeb announc he was h-i-v positive. and it was a devastating deja vu when bobbi kristina brown died at 22, in a manner eerily similar to that of her mother, whitney houston: discovered unresponsive in a bathtub. brian williams lost his lofty perch as n-b-c nightly news anchor, for exaggerating a tale about a helicopter mission during the iraq war. "the last six weeks, it's been crazy..." 2015 also saw quite a shakeup in the late-night landscape: david letterman signed off after 33 years of top ten lists and stupid pet tricks... jon stewart moved on from "the daily show" after 16 years, in which he made the comedy show a cultural and pclitical phenomenon... and stephen colbert left comedy central, too, shedding his faux-pundit persona to take over for letterman. after a year like this one, when so many people disappeared or disappointed us, it's no wonder we couldn't wait to return to a galaxy far, far away, as "st

returned to theaters with "the force awakens." (trailer nat) "we're home." david daniel, reporting. >> sam curtiss joins us now for sports. bowl season is winding down so we'll be talking a lot more basketball. a lot of teams in action today. indiana and nebraska one of the earlier games down in lincoln. the huskers lost their big tenn

games back in the conference. highlights on the way! and stanford ran away from iowa fast in the rose bowl yesterday. we'll recap how it got so lopsided when we see you

basketball team has gone 5-5. alternating wins and losses over

big ten play with a loss to northwestern. so the trend says they'd get their first conference win over visiting indiana, right? well the thing about trends is they eventually end. most of the first half this was no more than a three point game. jack mcveigh steps out - cranks a three to give nebraska a 31-30 lead. a few minutes later - huskers up 36-34 - mcveigh his second three of the game - he had 16 off the bench - huskers led by 3 at the break. second half - hooisers out in front - andrew white - he also had 16 - nebraska within one. but indiana outscored nebraska 43-30 in the second half - yogi ferrell game high 24 points. nebraska now 8-7 on the year losing 79- 69. iowa coming off their big home win over michigan state, on the road for another tough test against purdue. iowa trails purde 44 to 29 in the second half. jared uthoff has the majority of iowa's points - 16 of iowa's 20 first half points. the rest of the hawkeyes shot 2-19 in that first half. eleventh ranked iowa state and

big 12 showdown. that game in the early minutes still. georges niang with five points so far. we'll have highlights from both games tonight at 10. one play into the rose bowl, stanford took a lead that iowa never overcame. the hawkeyes seemed to have no answer for stanfords christian mccaffrey, as the cardinal won 45-16. mccaffrey, the a.p. player of the year, carved up the hawkeye defense and special teams. he had 368 all-purpose yards, also becomomg the first player in rose bowl history to have 100 yards rushing and receiving. the game was 38-0 before iowa put their first points on the board with a third quarter field goal. c.j. beathard was 21 for 33, 239 yards with two touchdowns and a costly interception stanford returned for a score. iowa's balanced offense, averaging nearly 182 yards rushing and 205 passing per game this season, became one dimensional.

they had to pass as they fell into such a deep hole. while stanfords counterpart, mccaffrey had nearly four-times that himself. "you know when you play a great football player and he is a great football player, he earned that trip to new york and nobody on our football team would disagree with that, it's impossible to dupilclce that out there on n e practice field," said kirk ferentz. "we don't have anybody like that." five offensive starters in the rose bowl are set to return next season. including quaterback c.j. beathard. iowa's finished the season at 12-2. sioux city will host the top two teams currently in the ushl western conference standings on baba-to-back nights stararng tonight. starting with second-place sioux falls tonight. in five matchups so far this season, the stampede have the muskies number - winning four of those games. both teams come in trending in opposite directions. sioux city has won their last two while sioux falls has dropped two. sioux falls has one of the ushl's top scorers. parker tuomie ranks second with 17 goals this season. a player head coach jay varady

everytime he's on the ice. "we have to check [and] stay over the top of them," said jay varady, sioux city head coach. "we have to makeit hard to go 200 et. he's a really good player. there's other players on that line [and] on that team that are dangerous. we have to be aware when he's on the ice at all times." puck drop at seven. and highlights tonigig at 10.

the united states postal service unveiled its 2016 line-up of stamps. a highlight of the group is a set of four star trek stamps honoring the original tv show's 50th anniversary. the star trek stamps show classic icons....the uss enterprise, the starfleet insignia, a crew member being beamed up, and a vulcan

on facebook/twit ter you said.... all great comments, and we want to hear what you the weekend insider from holl you're 24/7 celebrity conversation. >> bill cosby faces his sexual assault charges. inside the media madness. >> mr. cosby, any comment, sir. >> tha on part of our good week. >> bad week. >> oh my gosyes.