nono the city is reworking it's original plan for construction. around it--- the 2008 flood in cedar rapids was nothing short downtown was under water. nearly 60 billion dollars in damage.... the owner of pierson's flower shop was right smack dab in the middle of it. (cg: al pierson/ co- owner pierson's flower shop) "we were i guess as a lot of people would say ground zero, the river is right across the street, we had 8 feet of lost.... now the city wants to do everything they can to protect buisnesses like pierson's and to keep this amount of damage rom happening again. but federal dollars have not come through (cg: ron corbett/ mayor) "we should have constuction money by now." (cg: kristin rogers) "it's been 8 years since this beautiful ver devistated the city and mayor corbett says it's frusterating not having the funding needed to protect it." (cg: ron corbett/ mayor) "i just don't want to have to go through an experience, and nor do out citizens or a buisness to go through another great flood like that and be defensless." ough congress has approved the cities original plan, no funds were ever given.

mayor) "it's like telling my son your approved to go to college and he said great dad, how much money are you going to give me so i can go to college? upsetting situation for many who live and work within the flood zone (cg:l pierson/ co- owner piirson's flower shop) "it's very frusterating to this neighborhood and to my buisness to know that it might be 20 years before we have protection." mayor corbett told me today although we need those federal dollars we can't wait for them so for now thth city is taking some steps. they are incorporating flood downtown. we've got you covered live in cedar rapids, kristin rogers...kwwl news. the city originally planned to build protection from the north

the south, for now, without the federal dollars they have decided to start building from the lowest points up, one of those points is the newbo area, levy's will be constructed there this summer. a beautiful weekend in store - but there's snow in the forecast following it. snow. from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team. see the screen information from the kwwl stormtrack 7 weather team: the wind diminishes tonight as some sunshine and a light breeze is just a tease to what we cannxpect this weekend. temperatures in the 50s will give most of us spring fever by monday. keep in mind it is still

with that said, we are tracking the potential for snow in parts of iowa tuesday. therr is still a lot to iron out, but model guidance is leaning toward a storm tracking across the middle of the country. right now the timing would be tuesday and tuesday night. thth placement and type of precipitation is not set in stone. w are still in the very early stages so there are not to many the concern for exploding e- cigarettes and vaping devices has consumers oncerned. we showed you this video yesterday where a man's e cigarette explodes in his pocket. kwwl's macleod hageman talks to a vaping expert -- and shares their advice to stay safe. he joins us live in the newsroom mac? it's

explodes -- but the high-powered vaping batteries that come into contact with metal. some of you may find thths is the aftermath of a former waterloo man's experience after his vaping batteries exploded in his pocket in fort dodge earlier this year. according to a witness -- geoff morehead was not allowed to keep his vaping device at work -- so he left it his car -- and put the batteries in his pocket. moments later -- the batteries exploded. waterloo vid- cycle manager jake buns says he promomtes safety too every customer who bbs vaping devices. "we have cases you can buy. we just don't recommend you putting them in your pocket, because if you have change or keys it can have your batteries vent out, and that's what causes them to explode." jake says buyers need to ake sure the batteries they buy aren't cloned. and the easiest way to make sure they're safe -- is the tight plastic wrapping around the battery . and the easiest way to make sure they're safee-- is to review the tight plastic wrapping around the batteries. we've got you covered live in

-- kwwl news. according to jake -- you can buy a plastic battery case for less than tww bucks. a man charged in the first degree murder of a church secretary wants a competancy hearing. helmon betwell is charged with first degree mmrder... accused of exually assautling and murdering this woman - nancy krapfl. it happened in dubuque... in september of last year... betwell admitted to killinggher r "noohaving anything better to do." his lawyer says he believes betwell has a mental disorder and it would impact his ability to stand trial. a woman is in stable condition after she's hit by a car in downtown waterloo. this woman -- 29- year-old amy garretson of waterloo -- was it by a 62-year-old driver last night near east fourth and lafayyte -- following a dinner at jameson's. according to witnesses -- amy was in the cross walk. she is being treated right now

day three of testimony in the trial of the man accused of killing a areway executive's daughter taking place today in decorah.. emily fazzino's sister on the stand, giving an emotional morning. kwwl's brad hanson ha our continuing coverage of this trial... the state wasting no time, calling ammie dighton, emily's sister dighton was noticeably emotional from the get-go today, talking about her relationship with her baby sister. dighton claimed she knew nothing about emily's addiction to ppescription medication, and said she still didn't believe emily had one, even after her death. dighton testified that she and her husband rushed to the fazzino me the night of emily's death, and she describes the only moment she saw emily that night, as they were taking her body out of the house. (ammie dighton, emily's sister) "i kissed her. where was alex fazzino whenever you saw emily's body? he was running ownstairs." the defefee says the kids were in the basement, where they were with ammie's husband jeff, who also

coming up tonight at six. we've got you covered in decorah, brad hanson, kwwl news. the department of criminall investigation agent who worked on this case also testified this morning--that testimony including the hour and a half long interview they had with alex fazziino. decision 2016... another g-o-p primary debate... this time just five candidates take the stage. jay gray joins us not from the university of houston with what this debate is the last time the republican candidates will be together before super tuesday -- and it could be a last stand for those chaaing donald trump.. (nats: trump rally) front runner donald trump travels to texas with growing momentum.. (s/ donald trump / r presidential candidate :04 -

"we might not even need the two months to be honest folks" and the rest of the (s/ chuck todd / nbc news political director / moderator of meet the press :13 - :16) "his three chief opponents alll have to run in their home states and trump could beat them all." will be high.. with marco rubio.. (s/ sen. marco rubio / r presidential candidate :22 - :25)) "the vast and overwhelming majority of republicans don't want donald trump to be the nominee." and ted cruz.. taking shots at the front runner.. (s/ sen. ted cruz / r is some urgency now to stop that - either way- will begin tooplay out when former president

barbara are expected to attend tonight's debate.. the first since their son jeb dropped out of the i'm jay gray at the university of houston. now .. back to you. we'll have highlidhts from the debate tonight on the kwwl news at ten. coming up... widespred damage spreads from louisiana to canada after a winter storm. and... will apple unlock a terrorists phone? find out their next move in this legal chess match witit the fbi. that's coming up in just a few minutes. here's a live look at the storm track 7 live doppler radar. chief meteorologist mark schnackenberg has your full forecast next. --------- --------- --------- ---------

weather information. here is additional forecast information from the kwwl is just a tease to what we can expect this weekend. temperatures in the 50s will

monday. keep in mind it is still february. with that said, we are tracking the potential for snow in parts of iowa tuesday. there is still a lot to iron out, but model guidance is leaning toward a storm tracking across the middle of the country. right now the timing would be tuesday and tuesday night. the eaeay stages so there are not to many details we know at this time. check back for later updated.

temperatures drop into the 20s by friday morning. afternoon temperaturere near 40 degrees, some sunshine and a light breeze is just a tease to what we can expect this weekend. temperatures in the 50s will give most ofus spring fever by monday. keep in mind it is still february. with that said, we are tracking the potential for snow in parts of iowa tuesday. there is still a lot to iron out, but model guidance is leaning toward a storm tracking across the middle of the country. right now

tuesday and tuesday night. the placent and type of precipitation is not set in stone. we are still in the very early stages so there are not to many details we know attthis time. check back for later updated. coming up... find out the latest move byapple in their fight with unccle sam - will they unlock the terrorist's phone? and -- find out what astronaut scott kelly plans will do when

year in spacece you're watching kwwl. we've got you covered in waverly, marquette, lamont and all of eastern iowa --------- --------- --------- (baseball on tv in background) with heart failure, danger is always on the rise. symptoms worsen because your heart isn't pumping well. (water filling room) about 50 percent of people die (dog whimpering) within 5 years of getting diagnosed. but there's something you can do. talk to your doctor about heart failure treatment options.

apple is asking the federal government to throw out an order requesting the company unlock's a terrorist phone. the fbi want the company to unlock the phone of one of the san

phones... but the director of the fbi is torn - he says this is the hardest "part of me thinks - that's and say - ya know - law enforcement - which i'm part of - really doee -- save peoplele' lives." some in congress are backing a new law requiring backdoors to smart phones and apple is reportedly working on a new operating system that could never be unlocked by apple or law enforcement. is supporters are making direct threats at facebook o mark zuckerberg and twitter ceo jack dorsey. the pair and their company are trying to fight the spread of terrorism on their social media sights... isis supporters made a 25 minutes video targetting the two men... the video was first spotted by vocativ -- a web analysts service. at least eight eople are dead after at least 60 tornadoes rip

the storms were reported betweetn tuesday and wednesday... once passing through virginia -- it moved up into new york, pennsysyvania and new jersey leaving thousands without power... the storm is now moving offshore and into canada. after nearr a year in space, astronaut scott kelly is making quarters at the johnson space center for several hours of medical tests and end at about 3 in the morning. then i'm gonna go home and jump in my pool." this was from kelly's final news conference from the internationonl space station. kelly ads back to eaah on tuesday to end nasa's longest space flight. he'll land in kazakhstan, then it's home to houston. still to come on the k-w-w-l news at five... and - a very unique crop is

and... a driver heads the wrong way down the inttstate... findndout what police say was wrong with the driver. --------- --------- --------- ---------

being it happened yesterday afternoon in davenport off of i- 80. the iowa state patrol says the debris on the road went through the driver's windsield, causing them to o rash their car -- though they say they can't describe the debris. the driver's name hasn't been released and the accident is still under investigation. a driver akes some peeple by surprise - by driving down the wrong side of the road. check out this dash cam video out of sarasota florida. police say the driver was realllly drdrnk - his blood alcohol content was nearly four times the legal limit. the driver was on the interstate and faces drunk driving charges. a unique crop, that will be used to help power the university of iowa, is being harvested today. giant miscanthus can grow up to 13 feet tall -- and be used as renewable energy.

one of their fields in iowa city. the school plans to burn the grass with coal. it's a cleaner energy source that will produce stam and electicity at the university's power plant. (ingrid anderson/ui environmental compliance specialist) "steam goes onto campus for heating and cooling across all the buildigs, dorms, etcetera, and then that and that's used for lightiand all of our electric needs." anderson says burning giant miscathus won't cot the school any more than coal - and only t tes around a day to harvest each field. the university hopes it will here's a live look at the cedar rapids skycam. storm track seven meteoroligst mark schnackenberg has a final look at your weather next.

reporter: "so when you hear, say, one side, saying that they'd like to wait 'til "the next president is in office to appoint a justice, what do you think about that?" justice o'connor: "i don't agree. i think we need somebody there, now,"

storm track seven chief meteorologist mark schnackenberg has a final look at your forecast.

developing news tonight. tornado disaster. states of emergency as over two dozen twisters carve a adly path of deststction. hundreds of homes decimated. for the first time, we see the massive scope of the damage. targeting trump. a critical night for cruz and rubio. it could be their last chance to blunt donald trump's mch to the nomination. super lice warning, striking in 25 states. extremely resistant to the ways we usually get rid of them. what every parent should know. don't drink the water. another big city warns its residents about what's flowing into their homes. and video horror. the chilling moment that made eriri andrews get up and leave the courtroom. as jurors see the tape that she says turned her life into a