the battle to replace a supreme court justice is reshaping the race for the white house. the republican presidential candidates are taking a hard line against confirming anyone president obama nominates - no matter how moderate. but -- the democrats --are standing behind the rights of the president. andrea mitchell reports... it is the one issue on which all the balance of the constitution is at stake. sot trump republicans should not let allow it to happen." sot cruz we are one justice away for ted cruz - it's personal: he clerked for the high court - has argued before it - and knew drawn. republican senate leaders saying they wont confirm any obama nominee to the high court. democrats fing back: sen patrick leahy: it is unprecedented. it is pure politics. andndhe supreme

places, should not be tied up in politics. the president, in california hosting an asian summit, those responsibilities described in the constitution are iron clad. there are no caveats, he office. and hillary clinton weighing in... unleashing a flflry of tweets overnight aimed at gop senators. hillary tweeting - hillary tweet: (so, a message for senate the scalia succession fight now also a campaign issue for the democrats. sot hillary today now last time i looked, the constitution did nottave a parenthesis. . he an election year). that's not the way our srinivasen of washington, dc and jane kelly of iowa, also washington appeals court judges merrick garland, long on his list, although older at 63 - and patricia millett, an experienced litigator and former clerk for justice ginsburg.

president could decide to fire up his own democratic ase... nominating a minority candidate, or another woman... in a deliberate contrast to the majority of the gop opposition in the senate. back in iowa: a longtime fued between an iowa police chief f nd a county sheriff boils over. the police chief is now running for sheriff. and the current sheriff makes a shocking accusation... "as long as you are running for she had a miscarriage, okay?" the police chief says it's the voice of the pocahontas county sheriff -- he recorded the cald. the two men have apparantly been battling for the past two years...over which office is supposed to respond to crimes in certain areas. according to the fonda police chief, the allegations are not "i can promise you 100% there is no truth, there will never be any truth to it." as for the allegations of assault -- the sheriff hasn't commented following the phone call about where he got that

of a lawsuit. according to the des moines register, the sheriff cut emergency dispatch calls to the police chief last month. the mayor of fonda released a statement...saying all county agencies need to work together. a 19-year-old is dead after falling from a truck and landing on the highway. it happened friday morning -- in wisconsin, not far from the iowa border. authorities says kyle vosberg haha his truck see at 30 miles per hour on cruise control. he then got out of his truck and stood on the running board-- still steering from the outside. when he got back inside-- he slipped off the nning board. he landed in the highway and suffered a serious head injury. three of his friends were in the truck with him. vosberg was taken to the hosptial and later died. the accident remns under investigation. a domestic abuse survivor makes a plea to iowa lawmakers. in 2009 tiffany allison was attacked by her boyfriend. he was chged and convicted... but was released from prison after

sentence. once he got out, he attacked 'im really scared hes going to do this again and potentially kill someone the next time and i know i dont want to be responsible for that she's pushing for a bill that would require repeat offienders serve at least 85-percent of their sentence. currently they tend too only serve about 30 percent. this afternoon, we're hearing from a midwest academy teacher. the f-b-i is now investigating the iowa boarding schoollfor tetenagers. last month -- officers raided midwest academy in keokuk over allegations that a staff member sexually assaulted a student. that investigation has now expanded. some teens say they were kept in isolation boxes for days or weeks. the 90 students were removed and the academy has been closed for now... unless you worked out there or were a student out there, you just you dont understand what it was like. it's a privately- funded school

placements. some say -- it was basically ew at noon: the polls are open in cedar falls for a sscial school board election. the polls are now open in cedar falls for a special school board and ran for mayor. they'll decide between meg campbell, joyce coil and eric giddens. coil is a former school board president who was defeated in last year's election. the polls are open until 8 in the iowa legislattre... lawmakersrshear from ststdents pushing for more money for their school. davenport high school students visiting the state capitol. they want education to be a top priority this session. according to governor branstad...iowa has used the same funding formula since 19-71. he says while it may be outdated, it likely wont be changed anytime soon... "i think each year that we don't don't get great education." under state law, the legislature was supposed to set the budget for

upcoming school year last session. they didn't -- and still havent. . leaving schools forced to make budget decisions without knowing how much money they'll have. hundreds of iowa students could be forced to retake third grade. starting nnt year.. thhd grade sttents who can't read at grade level could be held back. that's about 25- percent of iowa third graders this summer... the branstad administration is launching a pilot reading program to help students who are behind. about 40 schoodistricts have already signed up for tt from the school districts that have.. about 4-6 weeks of the summer> students who participate in the programwill be re-evaluated to getting your taxes done early can help protect you from fraud. thieves are filing returns early and the easiest way to protect yourself is to file early. if you need help getting them

available accounting juniors... seniors... and grad students at uni are offering free tax return help... they say every monday and wednesday night they will be in the curris business building from 7 to 9. students wiwil electronically prepare and exile both federal "it's just a fun time to come problems." in order to qualify for the program.. you must make less than 52 thousand dollars a year... coming up... tonight--oe eastern iowa city is going into a snow emergency--- what you need to knowowo you and, the dangers of hidden apps. they can look innocent -- but it's where your kids may be storing the problem in a special report and when you see news - or if you have pictures or video to share... you can do that by going to our page on febook. you can also "like" our page to stay up to date on breaking news

we'll be right back with your storm track seven forecast. lots of clouds this afternon and we could see a few snow showers and flurrii. that may continue into tomorrow with colder temperatures, but a warm up heads our way by the end of the week. i'll have details coming up. got you covered, with ally crutcher and meteorologist eileen loan. this is the kwwl news at noon" "now your storm track 7 forecast on kwwl." from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team. see the screen for your complete weather information. here is additional forecast information from the kwwl stormttack 7 weather tetem: gorgeous weather over the weekend up in portions of minnesota, where the ice fishing was apparently hot and ice skating was, too! we will have clouds over us today along with some flurries and light snow showers for the next couple of days, but it will be breezy and

we also have areas of fog this afternoon.. it weather network cameras shows that light fog in the area, too. it wonn burn off... we have lots of clouds over us today with a few snow showers tracking through. temperatures are pretty mild... in the low to mid 30s here and to the west. around 5 to 15, but will eventually turn to the north and northwest this afternoon. we are pretty socked in with clouds over much of the midwest right now. we have another weak disturbance that will bring some snow showers to the state tomorrow, this one expected to be farther north, but still veryy light... and will keep clouds over us for a few more days. temperatures will be mild today, but will cool a few degrees tomorrow.. however, warmth is building nicely to the west and south... we will eventually see our boundary track to the north anan bring us some warmer temps. today we will be in the mid 30s, but as the winds turn to the north, we may have falling temps this afternoon. a light wintry mix to low 20s tonight will lead to highs in the mid 20s to

tomorrow with a few stray snow showers tracking through. we could get up to an inch of new snow out of that system if it holds together long enough. we warm back to around 40 on thursday and will aim for the upper 40s on friday. we could see a few showers on friday, but we will see a lot of melting snow later this week and that could lead to ponding on roadways, especially if the

a snow emergency goes into effect tonight. the city of cedar falls says the college hill and downtown areas will be under a snow emergency from nine tonight until six tomorrow morning. crews need to aul snow frr the area. a parking ban will be in place during that time. if you don't move your car -- it might get towed. coming up.... the dangers of hidden apps. we take a deeper look at the problem in a special report and, spring is near-- and the housing market is the lowest it's been for several years-- you're watching kwwl. we've got you coveed in la portrtcity,

smart phones are a part ofnews because of the dangers they pose. we're hearing more out so- called "hidden apps" -- which can lead kids and teens down a dangerous sharing -- mobile apps practically invade our cell phone apps can lead to deadly consequences. a recent t urder in virginia highlights just that. "her favorite color was blue. she was a very lovable person."

lovell met people on a messaging app called kik. and police believe this app might have played a factor in her death. following thiscase, police departments in eastern iowa say kik is now on their radar. "but there's another monster to tackle -- and that's secret hide, smart hide calculator, hide it pro ... and look at the some college students know of them... "i know a lot of like high schoolers, middle schoolers. my sister is in high school, i wouldn't be surprised if she had one to keep things private or away from my parents." others hear about why kids might be using them... "do things like hide stutuf from their parents, hide inappropriate photos and things like that." "you get behind it and there's some nefarious activity going on." when it comes to teens she's a parent.

plugged in... "as soon as i get on an app or pops up that's more popular." susan hadn't heard of these so-called secret apps. frankly, a lot of parents haven't. so we also talked to police. dubuque officers say these apps do what kids want them to do... "blind the parents. because it'll have the face of a calculator, or other icons like utilities or settings." other cases of secret business. guns, drugs, nude photos -- and kids have access to the apps. the appeal -- secrecy. the consequences -- dangerous. "if you were to have images of people under the age of 18, and theye nude, then that is illegal." for parents -- like susan -- it's a alarming conversation. "it doesn't scare me so much that my kids are doing it, i guess i feel sad that there are

lot of kids out there that are doing that." so what can you do downloaded, ask your kids about police also say -- look at your child's phone differently. it's not a diary. "when you give them access to of security -- because once something's out there, you can't take it back. when it comes to talking to yor teens, some advice that's worked in susan's house. "i would say talk to your kids, think sometimes we get lost in the act and we're not looking at what happening behind it." one way these apps are getting on kids' phones -- they're free to download. we have a list of other hidden apps

advice for parents from police- on our website. just head to kwwl dot com. coming up.... the most popular alcoholic beverage among millenials might surprise you-- stay tuned to fin out what it is. and, pressure is building from animal rights activists to go cage-free.-- and stores are listening. this is kwwl-- we'll be right back.

dringeneration. according to the nonprofit wine market council, millennials drank 42-percent of all wine in the u-s last year. that's about 2 cases for eacc person 21-to-38 years old. when it comes to high frequency drinkers, those who drink several times a week... baby boomers are number one followed by millennials and generation xers. trader joe's says it plans to sell only cage-free eggs. the grocery store chain says by 20-25 it'll sell eggs from only cage-free hens. at this point, about 62-percent of the eggs it currently sells arr cageefree. it plans to make that 100-percent in the next nine years. the move comes as pressure builds from animal rights activists to o cage-free. a number of major reeaurant

recently announced they're moving to cage-free eggs including target and mcdonald's. the spring housing season kicked off this past weemend, but with record short supply. president's day weekend typically kicks off the start of the spring housing market...but right now, supply is down. in fact --this is the lowest number of homes for sale since 2005 coming up on kwwl, the mister food test kitchen....a delcious rib recipe..... that's finger lickin' good! but first, a look at your latest we're a nation that loves our baby back and spare ribs, and

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rubbed or slathered with bbq in the mat case. they're called short ribs because they're short in length, and they come from a cut of beef called the "short plate". you see, the brisket so you know whatever you make with these is going to be good. let me show you how to make some amazing short ribs. we started by dredging theee in

them in a heavy soup pot. once they're browned, we add some cut up carrots, celery, and onions along with a a bay leaf. then all we do is cover it and let it simmer for an hour and half or so until the meat gets super tender while it sauce that is incredibly deliciouss i do hope you'll go online and get the recipe for our, "braised country short ribs," so you can serve your family what we think is the best of the best. i'm howard in the . food test kitchen, where

got a big surprise-- when they pulled up to the pump -and only had to pay pennies-- find out why coming up plus, one man is getting a lot of attention by the ladies after the message he puts on a billboard and a beautiul blessing by the pope to a a an in a wheelchchr welcome back to the news at

let's go to storm track seven meteorologist eileen loan now for your first forecast. a few snow showers and flurries continue to are mainly in the low 30s and the winds have turned to the northwest and are mainly 5 to 15 mph. they will stay that way through tonight. we will keep a few snow showers/flurries in the area, too. we will gain a few more tomorrow. i'll let you know if that will continue for the rest of the week in a few minutes. a kwwl follow-up. the people injured in a 30-car crash are expected to recover. three people were hurt in the pile-up in cedar county this week... investigators say traffic was backed

now to another follooup- a couu date is set for a cyride bus driver accused of hitting and killing an iowa state student. i-s-u freshman emmalee jacobs died in a hit and run in decmeber. she was from bana. benjamin clague is accused of hitting her with a bus - he's pleading not guilty to charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. clague entered that written plea yesterday. his jury triaawill start onn april fiftt three iowa police officers now on paid leave following a deadly shooting. the urbandale officers respondd to a tel over the weekend for a drug compllint. they say a man shot at them, and they fired back. the man died from his injuries. a community college president plagarizes part of his matin luther king day speech. now trustees are reprimanding him. the kikikwood communitit college board approved a motion expressing its disappointment that president mick starcevich didn't attribute the source of an anecdote he used

the quote came from a blog on the new york times website. a middle school basketball coach is under fire for reportedly making racist comments to her players. the indianaacoach was telling r plaars to be on their best behavior --but allegedly used racial steoreotypes. now the naacp is responding... "talk about ghetto or dont act like black kids, that's very inappropriate to use" the coach has since taken sensitivity training. it's not known when -- or if -- she'll return to coaching the case against two high school basketball coaches and an athletic director...facing allegations of failing to report player's sexual abuse...will continue. all three men pleading not guilty yesterday. four tennessee basketball players have been accused of sexually assaulting a teammate while on a team trip in december. three of them face aggravated rape eharges. bullying is a problem so many kids face.

making it so much worse. that's why three teenage girls from dubuque are doing something about it. erin, alexis and katherine made a website to help victims of cyberbullying... "we feel that websites are a their phones or social media, so or see your presentation. anyone can see it, any time they want." the website features stats on online bullying, tips to help...and shows a video the girls created. a muslim advocacy group plans to file a complaint against an employer which allegedly fired seven muslim employees. the wisconsin company recently changes its rules...telling emplplees they could not take unscheduled breaks in order to pray. some muslim employees left the company at that time. some who "these breaks that they were taking ere very similr to the continue until that person

the complaint is with an employment commission...but the muslim advocacy group is also looking into legal options. in tokyo, a man heads to prison after landing a drone on the prime minister's official residence. was carrying a bag of soil that had radioactive particles. his actions to protest nuclear power were within the bounds of the law. but the court said he could have endangered those working at the residence, and sentenced him to two years in prison. you may have heard of adderall -- the drug for a-d-h-d. a new study finds more young adults are abusing it. researchers say thl number of prescriptions for adderall didn't change between 20066and 2011 ... but the non-medical use of it rose 67- percent. e-r visits went up 156-percent during the same time period. a significant percentage of adderall misuse cases were among college students ... who took it to help stay awake and focus while

the majority of those abusing adderall -- got it from family and friends without a doctor's recommendation or prescription. one michigan man might have become the most popular guy in the area-- after his creative billboard idea to help him find love . meghan morelli s the story matt hill, now known as "billboard matt," is a 25-year- old fife lake man whose number on a billboard to try and get him a valentine's day date. 7&4 news aired the story about matt's billboard on friday and posted it online. since then the story has gone viral and has reached more than 250,000 people through social media and other news stationon. matt says he's into two- his favorite color is lime green, he loveepeanut butterrand jelly sandwiihes, chinese food, and the walking dead. he's also a sucker for chick flicks, and more than 600 phone calls, text messages, and emails from people from all over the

"i was thinking a little local "yeah, matt just ran away from us," laughed james somers, another coworker and mastermind. matt says his frieeds originally bought him a track phone with a separate phone number for the billboard, but when texting through t9 format became too difficult, they switched the numbers to his personal cell getting a new number sometime this week. but now the world wants to what's better is the three dates figured i'd give them a go and all over the country who for his three big dates this week? "probably just csual stuff, t- "probably just dinner and a movie, just to get to know them," he said. where's dinner? "chinese is out there," matt laughed. "i'm not sure. i'll ask them what they prefer and i'm not a real picky eater." gaganed a lot of friends througg become his true love? "it's a possibility, you never know," he smiled. a very creative idea-- well best of luck to him and his many choices!

an octopus is released back to the wild because he could not find a date for mating season. "now your storm track 7

from the kwl stormtrack 7 weather team. see the screen for your complete weather formation. here is addiiional forecastt infororation from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team: gorgeous weather over the weekend up in portions of minnesota, where the ice fishing was apparently hot and ice skating was, too! we will have clouds over us today along with some flurries andd light snow showers for the next couple of days, but it will be breezy and warmer for the end of the week. but still there to be aware of. stormtrack7 live weather network cameras sho that light fog in the area, too..t won't burn off... we have lots of clouds over us today with a few

temperatures are pretty mild... in the low to mid 30s here and to the west. the winds are around 5 to 15, but will eventually turn to the north and northwest this afternoon. we are pretty socked in with clouds over much of the midwest right now. we have another weak disturbance that will bring some snow showers to the state and will keep clouds over us for a few more days. temperatures will be mild today, but will cool however, warmth is building nicely to the west and south... we will eventually see our boundary track to the north and bring us some warmer temps. today we will be in the id 30s, but as the winds turn to the north, we may have falling temps this afternoon. a light wintry mix this morning, otherwie mainly cloudy today. lows in the teens to low 20s tonight will

low 30s tomorrow with a few stray snow showers tracking through. we could get up to an inch of new snow out of that system if it holds together loog enough. e warm back to around 40 on thursday and will aim for the upper 40s on friday. we could see a few showers on friday, but we will see a lot of melting snow later this week and that could lead to ponding on roadways, especially if ththstorm drains are plugged.. two days after valentine's day -- we're focusing on your heart

again tcday. we're celebrating one of the most heart-healthy foods on the market. today is national almond day. they're said to be good for your heart and waistline. 80-percent of the world's cocoing up ... the 58th annual grammy awards honor the best of the best in music... we'll take a look at

apparently love wsn't in thseattle aquarium. the annual mating between octopuses was called off this past valentine's day. staffers at the aquarim say they were afraid their 70-pound octopus.........was too big for the females on hand. apparently there were concerns he would eat the potential mates.....who weigh about half as much as him. so he was released-- on some level, his weight may hahae exttded his life. drivers in one ohio city got quite the surprise over the weekend. two gas stations got into a bit

price war. that meant drivers were paying just pennies a gallon to fill-up. but the dropping prices then caused a computer malfunction. and that glitch caused a gas station across the street to get in on the action. they dropped their ices to compete, leaving customemes in disblelief... "i just filled my whole gas tank up from dead empty for 26 cents. that's too funny." the price drop lasted for about three hours. girl scout cookie season is here! in california -- about 15-hundred voluluteers pitchh in deliver morere than 800-thousand packages... "why are thin mints the best?" "because they have chocolate. "427 cases." girl scout cookie season ends march 22nd. a young child in a wheelchair is blessed y the pope. the pope listening to

mexico then stopped their comments. he went to the front of the stage. people in the crowd lifted the child and the wheelchair into

michaela pereira has the highlights. (nats: taylor swift) "welcome to the 2016 grammy awards, but the pop superstar snagging three grammies...

coveted album of the year at the know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there." compton rapper and powerhouse kendrick lamar grammy goes to... to pimp a butterfly. kendrick lamar." electrifying the audience with an explosive performance .. (nats: kendrick lamar) "do you hit "uptown funk" by mark ronson and bruno mars named record of the year .... ed sheeran and meghan trainor riding high off their first grammy wins... (meghan trainor/artist) "my mom and dad for always believing in me. i love you so much. thank yoyo." and adele e alling short of vocal perfection when audio issues marred her performance ... (nats: adele) "i will see you...(indecipherable)" the night peppered with earnest tributes .. lady gaga channeling

red shoes and dance the blues." but many thought it was broadway that stole the show ... (nats: hamilton) "what's your name man? alexander hamilton." a live broadcast of the opening number of the hit musical "hamilton," .. dazzling audiences ... and winning best

his support for the democratic presidential candidate to new heights... ...about roof high to be exact! a california man decided to campaign for bernie by painting a sanders campaign sign on the roof of his home .

if i get the three year price lock, am i stuck with the three year contract? no. that just means the price won't change. for three years. that way the price is locked, you're not. you cacajust hang out and be free. lock in your monthly price for 3 years without a contract when you bundle with unlimited nationwide calling. see you in 2018. . >> jj: hey, thanks for meeting me. >> gabi: hey, um, i... i thought you had work today. >> jj: yeah, i'm going in in a few minutes. >> gabi: so... >> jj: so i just wanted to buy you...just a cup of coffee. >> gabi: a coffee? >> jj: yeah, and--and do this. >> chad: as soon as e sale is finalized, i want all the locks changed and a new security

>> harold: yes, sir. uh, thank you, sir, from the bottom of my heart, for letting me stay. >> chad: hi. >> abigail: hi. >> chad: and, um, i'm sure you won't forget, but you work for us now, right? not my father or andre. >> harold: yes, sir. [somber music] >> chad: good morning. how'd thomas do when you dropped him off? >> abigail: he didn't even cry. >> chad: that's a good thing, right? he won't be at daycare much longer, okay? >> abigail: yeah, i know. i'm gonna, um... [sighs] i'm gonna see my mom and tell her that we are eloping,