i'm alyssa deitsch. dave hall has the day off. now it's time to get a first look at your fox5 weather 24-7 forcast... cassandra jones joins us now. good morning i'm cassandra jones with fox5. the big story today will be gusty winds across southern nevada for friday. wind gusts around the las vegas valley will be in the 30 to 40 mph range. even stronger wind is expected along the colorado river valley. a wind advisory will be in effect for mesquite, laughlin, and lake havasu city throughout the day on friday with wind gusts in the 50 mph range. high temperatures friday will be in the mid to low 50s. it stays breezy saturday before winds calm down sunday. skies will be mostly sunny this weekend with temperatures back up around 60 sunday. we'll see

cold air for the middle of next week with more wind and below average temperatures. we always complain about how horrible drivers are in las vegas, but a new study shows they aren't as bad as we think. according to "quote wizard" nevada has the fifth best drivers in the nation. california topped the list for the worst. the best went to rhode island. the survey took incident data from the federal highway administration, looking at factors like number of accidents, speeding tickets, d-u-i's and fatalities.

good morning. here's a look at your fox5 traffic solutions let's begin with your drive here are the accidents to watch out and alternate routes you can use listed on our maps here are the construciton areas to look out for and alternate routes listed on our maps back to the news desk

first responders met with students at sunrise hospital to remind them about the dangers of drinking and driving. as fox5's christine maddela explains, students heard from families who are living with the deadly consequences of driving under the influence.

booth was 16 years old. this is jennifer's stepmother. we get a phone call that to get to umc trauma, that jennifer had been hit by a van is what we were told jessica williams admitted to taking drugs before falling asleep at the wheel of that van and plowing through the group of teenagers at 75 miles per hour. she hit several of the kids, she killed 5 instantly, my stepdaughter lived for 19 hours and passed the next morning. (nats) do whatever you do, just don't do it and then get behind the wheel. you have no idea how many people you're affecting by doing that. you're ruining lives. the lives still here are being destroyed. it never ever goes away. it's forever. that's harriet parker's advice to the las vegas high school teens at sunrise hospital today. a fellow teenager

go out and have fun, but do it responsibly when derrionna norwood was 13 years old, she was riding in the car with her 17 year old brother when another driver hit them. the impaired driver hit us on his side of the car, which is why he was killed on impact, i was thrown from the car 60 feet in the air i had a brain injury my life changed tremendously, my family got ripped apart because of it derrionna spent a month in the hospital, more time in rehab, but the death of her brother hurt the most. it's not the same wwithout that were so close derrionna speaks to these other teenagers to honor her brother. everything i do is for him. christine maddela fox5 news local las vegas>> metro police tell us they will have a sobriety checkpoint set up next weekend to be on the lookout for impaired drivers. it's been a deadly year here in the valley. so far this year, metro has investigated 157 homicides. that number

year-high in homicide cases and is quickly approaching the highest number on record for metro, which was 167 homicides back in 19-96. metro's homicide division says one of the disturbing trends that they are seeing is that the suspects are getting younger and younger. " everybody should be concerned about this number and the level of violence" "we've arrested teenagers, like, i counted this morning, there were 11 people between the ages of 15-19 that we've arrested for murder"" metro says even with the higher rate of homicide cases, the department is still closing about 75-percent of those cases. a toddler from saint louis just received an early christmas present, to help remember his late father. 2-year-old malachi just received these teddy bears, that were made out of his father's police uniform. malachi's father, officer blake snyder was gunned down two months ago while responding to domestic disturbance call. ever since that day, his mom says its

when daddy was going to be coming home. so a family friend made these two teddy bears for malachi. the words "love you always and "always with you" are sewn into the feet of each bear. the first family was on hand for a holiday ritual that they've been a part of for the past 8 years.... the lighting of the national christmas tree in washington d-c. and in true fashion, the president had a little fun lighting the tree. "you ready? (answer: yes!) you sure? (answer: yes) okay, let's go. five, four, three, two, one. hey! merry christmas, everybody!" this was president obama's final time lighting the tree as president of the

helped her parents turn on the red, white and blue lights that adorned the massive tree. actress eva longoria was on hand to host the tree lighting. and marc anthony and kelly clarkson entertained the crowd at the ceremony. (music) (music) james taylor also performed last night. the first family sat front row during the performances. empire's taraji p. henson is getting in the holiday spirit! she is hosting a fox christmas special called "taraji's white hot holidays," and it will be a star-studded event. some more big names have signed on, including ne-yo, tyrese gibson, smokey robinson,

keys and snoop dog. you can catch taraji's holiday special next thursday right here on fox5. all board! santa's giving his sleigh a break... and getting on a train! where you can hop on santa's train right here in southern nevada! plus... a fish tale of a lifetime. a man catches a

victoria's secret stores across the valley. henderson police say taja banks, kendra cole- matthews and deondra mcgregory went into the lingerie store in the district, grabbed merchandise off the display tables and ran out of the store. police say this was just one of the locations they hit. they say in all, around 10- thousand dollars worth of merchandise was taken. a company that trains k-9's is being sued by a customer who claims the dog she actually trained to protect her. fox5's miguel martinez valle dug through court documents, and spoke to both parties involved in the lawsuit.

davis. " he basically pointed me in this direction and convinced me that this was the dog for me..." she brought him home, but says thor didn't live up to expectations. " he was not trained in personal protection at all..." " you can't sell a protection dog if it hasn't been trained as a protection dog if you don't have the correct licensing" graciolett and her atorney becky pintar say not only was thor untrained, he was unhealthy... " he's not been trained as a protection dog so that was a fraud, his clean bill of health, the shot records were fradulent" so they filed a lawsuit against the company and the owner dean kajka represents ms. davis he says there was no fraud... they have a contract that shows graciolett got what she paid for. " the contract for this dog was for a sports dog, not a protection dog." i got a copy of the contract, it wasn't signed... when i asked the lawyer about this, he says the original signed copy was burned in a fire... he tells me the davis' didn't know thor had health problems... and they haven't seen any proof of the dog's medical issues... " would not provide my client with any evidence of that, any vet records or anything" graciolett tells me they've submitted everything they've been asked for one thing both sides agree on, graciolett was

" my client offered to refund the money for the return of the dog, but mrs. graciolett refused to do so" she says at that point she was too attached... the legal dog fight has gone on for months. they even went to arbitration. mr. kajioka has since filed a request for a new trial ... miguel martinez valle, fox5 news local las vegas>> graciolett tells fox5 the company was not licensed to sell protection dogs at the time of the transaction, and received a 25-hundred dollar citation. the licensing board says the company does have a k-9

still waiting on a trial date to be set. uber is now offering riders an elevated experience. this week, the ride sharing company is letting riders hitch an uber by boat or plane. the options are available in miami. it's part of a partnership with a vodka in accordance with "art miami" an art festival which brings a lot of extra traffic to the city. those who chose to go by car instead, can get a free an upgrade," which includes a ride in a limited- edition luxury s- u-v, wrapped in custom artwork with a photobooth inside. talk about the catch of a lifetime. check out this massive fish a guy in north carolina just caught. the 112-pound catfish was so big he wasn't even sure he was going to be able to pull it out of the water.

hooked up with him i felt like i had something really big" "i didn't realize how big he was until i actually got my hands underneath him." brewington says he battled for 30 minutes to reel in the massive fish, which only 5 pounds shy of the state record. you may be wondering what he did with the 112-pound catfish, brewington said he released it back in the river. good morning i'm cassandra jones with fox5. the big story today will be gusty winds across southern nevada for friday. wind gusts around the las vegas valley will be in the 30 to 40 mph range. even stronger wind is expected along the colorado river valley. a wind advisory will be in effect for mesquite, laughlin, and lake havasu city

on friday with wind gusts in the 50 mph range. high temperatures friday will be in the mid to low 50s. it stays breezy saturday before winds calm down sunday. skies will be mostly sunny this weekend with temperatures back up around 60 sunday. we'll see another surge of cold air for the middle of next week with more wind and below average temperatures. good morning.

your fox5 traffic solutions let's begin with your drive here are the accidents to watch out and alternate routes you can use listed on our maps here are the construction areas to look out for and alternate routes listed on our maps back to the news desk the annual 98- point-five kluc toy

and it didn't take long for chet buchanan to get his first bike donations. two bikes were donated bright and early

have been rolling in ever since. the 18th annual toy drive takes place in the n-v energy parking lot at sahara and jones. chet will be there for the next 11 days collecting your donations. this year they need bikes... toys... cash and gift cards. old saint nick is coming to town. and yesterday we got a behind-the- scenes tour of the santa train that kicks off this weekend in boulder city. we even got the chance to speak with the big man himself. "i come down every year to visit with all the good little boys and girls on the santa train... every year down here in boulder city. the santa train the santa train runs every weekend until christmas at the nevada state

you can ride a train here in southern nevada. tickets are 6- dollars. as cassandra just mentioned, thousands of santas will take over downtown tomorrow morning for the las vegas great santa run! and we'll be right in the thick of it. festivities kick off at nine a-m tomorrow. the five k starts at ten. the santa run benefits opportunity village. join les krifaton and i tomorrow on fox5 news this morning from 6 to 8 am! lewi there... dressed in his best santa suit, as racers prepare to take over the streets of downtown. it should be a fun morning. coming up... a triple threat! an actor, composer, and artist has his work on display here in las vegas. coming up... we

about sir anthony hopkins? the actor is also a painter, and his work is being exhibited at two galleries here in las vegas.

galleries at bellagio and m-g-m grand are showcasing hopkins' limited edition serigraphs and original acrylics on canvas. hopkins says his wife encouraged him to start painting about 12 years ago. today, he says he never expected his pieces to be on display in an exhibit. "i'm... well, to be quite honest, i'm quite astonished... i'm... thrilled that people want to buy it." sir anthony is also a music composer. he says he's going to start composing again sometime next year. coming up on more at 9-am, we will hear more from sir anthony about his lucrative new passion as an artist. we'll be right

las vegas is edging closer to a record we don't want to hit. the number of homicides this year is close to the worst year we ever saw. cc will continue shortly plus... the national finals rodeo's back in

bringing along a little holiday cheer! w'ere taking you inside "cowboy christmas" good morning i'm alyssa deitsch in for dave hall. and i'm maria silva. welcome to fox5 news this morning. first - cassandra jones joins us with a quick look at the fox 5 weather 24-7 forecast. good morning i'm cassandra jones with fox5. the big story today will be gusty winds across southern nevada for friday. wind