i'm jerry gallagher... let's check on your weather now with storm track 7 meteorologist eileen loan. good morning. temperatures are holding in the mid 30s this morning, which is still above normal, but is about 15 to 25 degrees colder than yesterday at this time. winds have turned to the north at 5 to 10 mph and will keep turning to the east before picking up more speed today. we still have clouds this morning and will keep most of them all day, although a few areas will see a couple of hours of sunshine today before more clouds track in with the next system heading our way for tonight and tomorrow. today, we will keep some clouds and patchy fog with highs in the low to mid 40s with easterly winds becoming gusty for the afternoon. temperatures will fall

that chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. i'll have more coming up in a few minutes. a big story this morning -- is the mystery surrounding the death of an eastern iowa native -- a freshman at iowa state. emmalee jacobs was hit by a vehicle in ames around seven yesterday morning.. the driver took off -- and so far, police have not said whether they have any leads. emmalee was from urbana. last night... her friends from the center point- urbana school district came together. dan josie chesmore cant look back on her own childhood without with seeing her friend together.' emmalee jacobs was the shy math whiz, a pre- business 'she didnt like to be in the spotlight, but, (but she was so photogenic) i know. she was picture taken.' josie knows that a lot

college... even the same college... they can meet new people and grow apart... but their friendship was the opposite. 'weve always been close, but ever since school started here weve gotten even closer.' and so, when the rumor started monday morning that something terrible had happened to emmalee... josie called her mom. cause my mom is good friends with emmalees parents and everything and my mom confirmed it.' mom 'its just, it makes no sense.' kelli chesmore says she hit the floor when she got the news. she says parents send their children off to college assuming theyll be safe... and that areas on or near campus will be monitored if something were to happen. 'and hope that cameras were out there and that this was caught on camera and its just nothing that you could ever imagine.' 'somebody needs to just step up and own up to what they did.' kelli and her husband are bringing josie home so she and emmalees other friends can lean on eachother... and as for

just starting a new chapter... 'shes always there. shes always gonna be there and now that shes not, i dont even know what im gonna do.' ames police are reviewing surveillance video. iowa state's president offered his condolences and asked people to cooperate with the investigation. funeral services have been set for a waterloo teenager. moe sed will be laid to rest on monday. a visitation will be held on sunday afternoon -- at the waterloo first united methodist church. his body was pulled from the cedar river near gilbertville. police still don't know how he died. anyone who would like to help his family pay for the funeral can donate at any veridian credit union under the "moe sed benefit." this morning, a firefighter is being remembered in chicago. a 42-year-old firefighter died

he was fighting a fire early monday morning. chicago fire and police held this procession to honor him. he was a 15-year veteran of the department. one city is turning heads with its new billboard about gun laws. this banner hangs on a parking garage in downtown boston. the city's mayor joined the group "stop handgun violence" to unveil the sign. supporters say it shows the state's gun laws are effective. opponents say it's a waste of money. gun laws could be a focus of tonight's republican presidential debate. we'll have to wait and see. this is what we do know. donald trump will once again stand front and center. senator ted cruz will be next to him. the texas senator surged into second place in national polling -- and is leading trump in at least one key poll in iowa. behind cruz in the polls: is another junior senator -- marco rubio. the rest of the republican field will look to pick up ground tonight --

here's a bit of levity we don't always see on the campaign from a movie. see if you know which one. and then suddenly carol kane, you said, i wish i wasn't. problem is, he's afraid, he's afraid. ever since prince humperdinck hired him, fired him, he's been afraid. don't say can't hear you! that's why i love the movie. that's from the princess bride. cruz is a big fan. we probably won't hear that impersonation on the debate stage tonight, but you never know. no doubt -- cruz and others -- will talk about the war on isis tonight. this morning, big news out of saudi arabia it announced a brand new alliance to fight terrorism. saudi arabia will lead a 34-national islamic military alliance -- saying

that terrorism is a serious violation of human dignity and rights. the new coalition includes nations like pakistan, turkey and african nations that have been targeted by terrorism. a man in maryland now faces charges of trying to help isis. the f-b-i says the man received about nine-thousand dollars, which he thought came from the terrorist group isis -- meant to pay for an attack in the u-s. he told the f-b-i he was just trying to scam money out of isis. investigators say he spent some of the money on a laptop. "they look for sympathizers in the united states, people who are sympathetic to their point they provide encouragement. the man was arrested on friday. he faces several charges. police in brazil break up a ring they say gave fake birth certificates to dozens of syrians. they claim several suspects have been to the u-s traveled -- and are former members of the syrian army. at least four people have been charged.

of a dangerous and controversial exchange is facing a court martial. army sergeant bowe bergdahl was captured by the taliban after leaving his post in afghanistan six years ago. he was released through a prisoner exchange. he'll face a military court on charges of desertion and endangering other soldiers. if he's convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. today, in washington -- a big day for new american citizens. the president will welcome 31 new citizens to the u-s during a naturalization ceremony. the event marks the 224th anniversary of the bill of rights. the force is now awake -- along with the rest of us this morning. the red carpet was rolled out in hollywood monday night for the world premiere of star wars -- and new faces... and speaking of that. "well everything's bigger now or course the technology is completely advanced and beyond anything we would have imagined. everything's seems

here's one review from someone who saw it last night. they said star wars fans will be very pleased with the force awakens. a lot of old fashioned action with plenty of laughts and some sad parts. the star wars phenomenon is taking over. from store shelves to fitness classrooms. clare sebastian tells us now you can take lessons in being a jedi knight. the first rule of jedi school...know how to handle your weapon -- "why do you think i have my strike at an angle like this - slide it down - " every thursday at this lightsaber fitness class in manhattan...star wars fans get to sweat it out...in character. practicing moves just like the lightsaber battles from the movies though perhaps not quite to that level

today's instructor daniel reiser...a special education teacher -- has been doing this for 8 years. "where's the fun of just simply watching something, i mean you look at say a football fan - a lot of them are never gonna be an nfl player but they're gonna go in the back yard and throw that football around - it's the same thing but instead of footballs we have lightsabers. it's a way of becoming part of something that we truly love" by day these jedi's in training are... a legal assistant -- to a kitchen designer... by night - they are united -- by one thing. "its a visceral gut feeling, it you are a jedi knight, you are a sith lord" star wars has inspired a type of fandom that goes way beyond a experience it...and to really understand why...so do i. luckily i've been practicing my in- jokes "you don't have a really bad feeling about this" "i've got a bad feeling about

bad feeling about this - that still doesn't stop me." "one, two, three, four five" whatever your skill level...this group has one core philosophy "once a jedi, always a jedi "so i think i've finally seen the light as to what it takes to be "jedi! may the force be with you!" clare sebastian, cnn, in a somewhere in manhattan. we still have a lot to get to this morning: including a special surprise for a survivor. a little girl who lost everything -- and everyone she loves -- in a fire gets some unexpected news. plus -- water everywhere. an iowa town looks more like a lake this morning. it will be above normal today, but temps won't climb very much with clouds and gusty easterly winds. windy conditions along with a few showers track through for wednesday. i'll have that forecast coming

"now your storm track 7

from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team. see the screen for your complete weather information. here is additional forecast information from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team: areas of fog today with a few showers tonight and tomorrow, but mainly breezy to windy the next several days along with slowly cooling temperatures this week.

live weather network cameras will keep us mainly cloudy this morning, although we may have a couple of hours of sun breaking through in between systems. we are in the mid 30s this morning with low 30s to the northwest... still mild for this time of the year.... winds are light from the north, but will turn to the east and become gusty for the afternoon and be even stronger from the southwest tomorrow. clouds are holding

system tracks away and the next begins to track into the area. that low will bring more snow to the plains and more showers to us, although moisture is much more limited with this system... we may only end up with a few hundredths of an inch of rain. we will stay mild today, althooh we won't climb much.. highs will be in the low to mid 40s as easterly winds take over and become gusty for the afternoon. mostly cloudy skies and some patchy fog may break up for a couple of hours,

to mid 40s again for wednesday with strong southwest winds. it for sunday and monday as the we talked about minor flooding in eastern iowa eaalier. it's a bigger deal in other parts of county is a mess. basements are flooded.. the city park is under water.. city hall has also taken on water. crews are trying to pump water out... but it's hard to keep up when it won't stop raining. it's still to come this morning: a little girl is flooded with christmas cards -- and even though that's all she wanted -- she's in for a big surprise. plus... awaken your inner force and focus on the road. the iowa d-o-t is taking its creativity up a notch -- possibly to another galaxy. you're watching kwwl. we've got you covered in aurora,

the iowa d-o-t is even star wars fever to keep people safe on the road. yesterday on message monday -- the d-o-t posted five different messages

including: "the force is strong with you ... put down the phone." one of the best lines... "road rage? let the wookie win." two cities in iowa make the grade and then some when it comes to a list of best college towns in the country. the study by the american institute of economic research looked at the overall college experience. ames came in number one -- based on cost of the living and a high level of job opportunities in stem-related fields. iowa city was number three on the lst. se a tooth in the n-h-l, nobody bats an eye... lose a tooth on an n-b-a court and that's a bigger deal. the heat visiting the hawks last night. an elbow hits a player in the face-- knocking out a tooth. believe it or not -- the player who was hit in the face was called for the foul. an update now on a story we've been telling you about for the past few days. the little girl who survived a fire that killed the rest of her

you might remember eight- year-old safyre only wanted christmas cards for christmas. and those cards came in by the thousands. but that's not all she's getting. a friend nominated her for an all-expense paid disney trip through a non-profit organization called memories 4 kids. "obviously this trip can't take well in advance of everything and i'm so blessed that we bare able to give this family and see how beautiful safyre is. this is the christmas story. her aunt says it was very hard to keep the secret from safyre -- but they are so excited she'll be able to go. the time now is holiday travel can be tough on everyone, but extra steps should be taken for older people flying or driving for the holidays.

holiday travel can be exhausting

but what if you're vacationing with an older parent or grandparent? there are special things to keep in mind, bob hansen says now is the time to plan. people of all ages like complications. "some seniors definitely can travel they just need to take breanne brehm is with maxim companion services. she says medical care is a top priority when seniors travel out of town. and it's smart to know what's available and what doctors and hospitals are in your network if there's a problem. "have a list ahead of time of hospitals near you, doctors offices near you, and see if they take your insurance as well. those are just little things you relatives by arranging medication, especially when it comes to time changes. but not everyone should hit the road. "if you've recently had surgery suggest trying to have your family come to you instead."

families is often caring for "some folks will actually travel with a care giver, others might services says they arrange both short and long term care for families. one other important piece of advice when traveling with seniors... don't over do it. "make sure you're getting rest. make sure you're not filling that itinerary to the full and make sure you enjoy your time." many people in their 50's and 60's are taking care of their parents. but almost a quarter of adults are in the care of millennials. people between the ages of 18 and 34 who are holding down a regular job and helping seniors. eteorologist eileen loan has the forecast for us next as we get a look at storm track seven live doppler radar.

check of your storm traforecast. patchyhyfog today with gusty easterly winds this afternoon. becoming windy tomorrow with some showers tonight/wednesday and then breezy and cooler for for sunday. it's and coming up on today in iowa. iowa's governor is now in the record books. we'll have a look back at last night's events celebrating a mileletone and hear what the governor had to say. plus.... a boy's death has a sheriff's office handing out hundreds of gun locks. that story and much more in our next hour of today in iowa. ally crutcher joinin us next.

now on today in iowa... it's the last republican debate of the year. what we can expect amid a shakeup in the polls coming up. plus... in the wake of recent mass shootings, a school board and it's a christmas card that has a lot of people talking this morning. it has one student's family asking.... who are these people? good morning, i'm ally crutcher. and i'm jerry gallagher. storm track seven meteorologist eileen loan is here now with