a surprising new report about autism this morning -- and how many children are now being diagnosed. plus -- a very big story overnight: a u-s airstrike targets a notorious isis terrorist. and we are getting ready for one of the most anticipated weekends at the university of place to be for thousands of fans tomorrow... for two events. i'm jerry gallagher... let's check on your weather now with storm track 7 meteorologist eileen loan. good morning. the winds are not as strong this morning, but the will stay on the gusty side... still 10-20 mph with some gusts to 25. temperatures are in the low to mid 30s with wind chills in the mid 20s. we still have a few clouds in the area, but they are tracking out of the state and we will end up with sunny skies today. while the winds won't be as strong as yesterday, there will

morning before the winds finally weaken this afternoon. highs will be in the mid to upper 40s. the weekend looks pretty nice before more breezy and rainy conditions track in for next week. i'll have that forecast for you in a few minutes. our top story this morning -- a story that continues to develop. were waiting to hear if a us airstrike against one of the world's most dangerous terrorists was successful. as of now -- tracie potts tells us -- the u-s is still not sure. overnight in the syrian town of raqqa, a u-s airstrike targeting the kuwaiti-born british terrorist known as "jihadi john." mohamed emwazi is believed to be the masked executioner in at least six isis

videos showing victims beheaded, including three americans. as of this morning there's still no confirmation if emwazi was killed. separately, kurdish forces went in from all sides this morning to clear isis from the northern iraqi town of sinjar. in the last 24 hours, they've taken about 58 square miles... and are surrounding a major isis supply route into iraq. experts worry if isis loses ground, they'll select new targets. "as isis territorial holdings start to shrink a bit, i think isis is going to re-orient itself toward spectacular external attacks." it's all happening as president obama and secretary of state john kerry prepare for the g-20 economic summit in turkey. "we are striving with local forces to put the squeeze on raqqa, the center of daesh's operations." daesh - another name for the islamic state. "we're taking stock of what is working; we will do more of what works, and that which has not worked, as well, we will move away from." the u-s, talking strategy with its allies - and going after one of

world's top terrorists. reaction this morning from shirley sotloff - her son steven was killed in one of those videos. she says she wasn't informed about the operation, and that it doesn't bring her son back. i'm tracie potts in washington, now back to you. a spokeswoman for the british prime minister says he would make a statement later today. isis says it's behind a blast that killed at least 43 people in beirut. there were two explosions. the terrorists say the first was from a motorcycle packed with explosives. the next from a suicide bomber. it all happened at lebanese lawmakers met for the first time in over a year. the country has been without a president for 17 months -- with the government failing to even make basic decisions -- like who takes care of the trash. a prisoner -- once the focus of a manhunt -- is in court later

today. convicted killer david sweat broke out of prison in june -- along with richard matt. matt was killed and sweat was captured after a three-week search. sweat was already serving life in prison -- and has since been charged with escape. police fire the officer who shot and killed a man -- after that man's car broke down. last month in florida, corey jones was on the side of the road after his car broke down. an officer pulled up -- wearing street clothes -- in an unmarked car. not long after that -- there was an argument -- and the officer shot jones. we don't know what sparked the argument -- and police gave no reason for firing the officer -- but say since he was a new hire -- they had the right to fire him at their own discretion. students are shaken up after being robbed at gunpoint inside a home. it happened early thursday morning near the university of iowa campus. police are now looking for three men. kwwl's kristin rogers spoke to the victims. "it didn't really hit you right then. like you kind of more students, because they are still shaken up

by the situation. "a couple of big bangs, i didn't turned out to be, them kicking in the door." three men, you can see the footprint right here... the door busted in so hard it knocked the wood trim off and left dry wall on the floor. "one of them, he ended up having the gun, and he was just kind of in the back, more then i'm told the man with the gun went upstairs pointing the gun at people up there. one of the women on the second floor attempted to hide in this bathroom you can see this door was kicked in as well, this time right into her head leaving this welt... "i heard a scream and i started to sit up and i'm like those are screams like i'm not okay with woman inside was sleeping. i'm told the men took some cash and an old cell phone home,

cell phone back to the owner before they left.... "he threw the phone at me and just started running out of the house." the residents told me the iowa they called using this cell phone,,, that the robbers had given back to them. "as fast as i could i just picked it up stood up and called 911." a scary situation. the people who live there say it was a random attack. crime stoppers is offering up to a thousand dollars reward for information that leads to an arrest. friends and family are not giving up hope. they'll spend the weekend searching again for a missing teen in waterloo. moe sed was last seen at his home on october 22nd. he's a refugee from burma -- and a student at west. his teachers are organizing another search. they'll meet tomorrow starting at ten.

his teachers say this search will focus on parks and trails. the turmoil on a college campus leads to a major shift in power. days after the university of missouri president resigned, an african american has been named his replacement. a former law professor who served 18 years as deputy chancellor -- is now the president. mike middleton replaces tim wolfe who resigned after many students said he did nothing about racial incidents. many people hit the streets of philadelphia for the "million student march." dozens of students and faculty held signs protesting a variety of issues -- including student debt -- and the minimum wage for campus workers. wednesday's storms in iowa produced at least two ef-1 tornadoes. this is video of one of those twisters. it was taken outside avoca in western iowa. no one was hurt. the tornado toppled a semi on i- 80 and damaged some farm buildings. another tornado was confirmed near knoxville. in eastern iowa, there's a mess to clean up.

damaged by the high winds. a shed was knocked down, toys blown all over -- but no cows were hurt. a school was also damaged. part of the roof of eisenhower elementary in dubuque came apart. inside, water affected the gym and the art room. the school's prinicpal says they're trying to go about decision 2016 -- donald trump is back in iowa --- and comes out swinging at a campaign rally. trump was in fort dodge -- and targeted doctor ben carson -- who is now ahead of trump in many polls. trump repeatedly questioned carson's life story. "i'm not saying it. he said he's temper" and then he defined it cure for that folks. okay? there's no cure for that." trump also talked about isis -- saying he would bomb the oil fields isis

controls. on the democratic side -- senator bernie sanders has locked down his biggest union endorsement. the american postal workers union says it's backing sanders. sanders is pushing to let post offices offer banking services... which supporters say would help tomorrow. new this morning: a report suggests a startling rise in the number of children diagnosed with autism. the national center for health statistics now says one in 45 kids has been diagnosed. that's a sharp increase from the last estimate of one in 68. researchers say they're changing how they ask parents about their children's developmental delays. over the years -- the definition of what conditions fall under the autism spectrum has broadened. "now a much wider variety of children, at all levels of skills are receiving an autism

early diagnosis is key in treating autism and other developmental disabilities. experts stress talking to your child's doctor if you have concerns. two eastern iowa firefighters are being honored for their bravery. cedar falls firefighters eric jensen and kyle bovy pulled an unconscious man from a home during a fire in which they basically couldn't see. the fire happened last year. they were given the sullivan brothers' award of valor yesterday in des moines. the man they saved was flown to the hospital and has since made a full recovery. we all know the iowa minnesota football game tomorrow night is special. iowa's still unbeaten. it's minnesota -- which thumped the hawks last year. it's a rivalry game... for floyd of rosedale. and here's another reason. dozens of veterans are bringing the game ball with them from minneapolis all the way to iowa city. the univeristy of iowa veterans association started on sunday at

10 in the morning and are making the 286 mile trek to kinnick stadium. they rolled through black hawk county yesterday. each group is walking 15 to 20 miles. it was a tough, windy walk...but cause. "i think the main idea behind this was like the veteran suicide awareness. so, i wore a 22 pound ruck for 22 veterans raising money or raising anything except for awareness." the game kicks off tomorrow at seven at kinnick. watch out for fake tickets if you're going to the game. the the likelihood of counterfeit tickets is high... the game is sold out. kinnick looks a little different this morning -- the grapple on the grid iron mats are set up and ready to go.. here's video from the university of iowa showing the mats getting rolled out right onto the field. they're in place for saturday's historic wrestling match against oklahoma state -- which happens

before the football game. we still have a lot to get to this morning: including what could be the end of a very good deal for consumers. many of you have saved money by playing your cards right... but a key interest rate could soon go up. plus this giant building is getting a lot of attention. so what's the focus? technology -- no. health care -- no. how about a flood, many animals and someone named noah. while it won't be as windy as yesterday, we will still have gusty conditions today, especially this morning into the early afternoon. the winds will die down by

from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team. see the screen for your complete

here is additional forecast information from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team: we will continue to have gusts to 30 mph this morning as the winds finally die down by this evening. peak gusts yesterday were around 49 mph with 53 reported in cedar rapids. they are running around 20 to 25 mph this morning but will be up to 30 at times. stormtrack7 live weather network cameras will show a better day today... mainly clear skies.... temps are running in the low to mid 30s with 20s to our west. wind chills are mainly in the 20s, but a few teens are in there, too. the winds are westerly at 5 to 20 mph this morning, but will be mainly northwest at

to 30 this morning. they will die down by evening and then turn to the south tonight. we have mainly clear skies right now with a few clouds in our far northeast as that low is still affecting the great lakes, but high pressure will track through and bring us pretty sunny conditions for today and continue through the weekend. highs will be from the 30s to the 60s today in the midwest with mainly 50s and 60s tomorrow. sunshine today, but breezy northwest winds keep highs in the mid 40s to around 50. winds will die down this evening and turn to the south tonight. lows drop into the mid to upper 20s under clear skies... but by the time grapple on the gridiron begins at kinnick tomorrow in iowa city, temps

should be back into the low 50s! highs will be in the mid to upper 50s over the state with southwest winds at 5 to 15 mph. sunday will be nice, but we will have several systems track through the region next week keeping a chance of rain in the forecast most of the week. the time now is still to come: this is one cool pooch -- and one unusual attempt at a world record. plus -- it's not a u-f-o. it's not disney world.

so what is that on top of a house? it's a tribute to something that has millions of fans all over the world. you're watching kwwl. we've got you covered in jesup, peosta, coggon and all of eastern iowa

could soon be history. zero-percent balance transfers are pretty common these days. but a possible rate hike by the fed means that might not be the case for too much longer. that's because when the fed raises rates, it costs banks more to borrow money. and when it costs the banks more to borrow, those costs -- many times -- get passed on to consumers. americans are buying more gold. u-s demand jumped more than 200-percent in the third-quarter. that's the biggest surge since the 2008 financial crisis. so why the interest? experts say the price -- and recent uncertainty on wall street. this creation could be as good as gold for star wars fans. a california homeowner built their own death star. a 23-foot-tall star wars space station.

it lights up like a disco ball and is so heavy it had to be lifted onto construction continues on a full-size replica of noah's ark. the people behind the project in kentucky say they plan to open it next summer. the massive wooden boat is the 90-million dollar first phase of a planned religious theme park. a dog is skating his way into the record books. an english bulldog named otto is breaking the guiness world record for skateboarding through the longest human tunnel. look at the little fella go -- passing through 30 people in peru. if you're planning a holiday trip -- a very good reminder today about what could happen to your personal information if you're not careful. not only that --

personal information at risk without even realizing it. mark barger explains. millions of americans will take a flight somewhere this holiday season... and they'll each have boarding passes... traditional paper ones.... or ones sent to mobile devices. "the barcodes on airplane boarding passes might not look like much but they actually contain a lot of embedded personal information" ...information that security expert brian krebs revealed in his blog post... can be easily hacked. "someone could theoretically get access to a plane ticket if it was left behind somewhere, someone dropped their physical ticket." or if a photo of it is posted to social media. thousands of people use the hashtag "boarding pass" in their posts about trips. but anyone who gets access to that image can go to a simple barcode reader website and scan it. "they could find out someone's name, their frequent flyer number and the record locator for that flight" they could also use information to log in to your airline account--- and potentially change seats or even cancel trips. "it's a sobering reminder that you want to be really careful with your plane ticket don't leave it behind and you

definitely don't want to upload a photo of your plane ticket to facebook or instagram" because posting those two tickets to paradise might keep you from getting there. mark barger, nbc news. the best way to protect your paper boarding pass is take it home and shred it. or at least rip it up before let's get a look at storm track seven live doppler radar. meteorologist eileen loan is here with the forecast when today in iowa continues.

forecast. gusts to 30 mph this morning with winds dying down this and highs in the 50s. several our forecast. it will also be fairly breezy with the systems. today in iowa.

nearly fifty animals are rescued after a home catches fire. plus... astronomers discover a venus- like planet light years away - and they want to study it in detail. ally crutcher joins us for our

we've got younow on today in iowa... new this morning: a u-s drone strike might have killed a high-profile member of isis. plus... iowans are voicing their opinions on a proposed oil pipeline that would extend