that is what's making news in america this mor emily: good morning. it's monday, december 14. erika: i'm erika tarantal. randy is off today. now on the eyeopener. a deadly fire in worcester. flames spreading through a single-family home. the challenge for firefighters responding to that scene. emily: new developments in the case of a runaway red line train. the actions being taken today as the investigation continues. erika: the new england patriots back on top of the afc this morning. the major boost to the offense as the team gets back on track. emily: we will get to all of those stories. first check in with cindy. what a great weekend. cindy: it was mild. didn't feel like december at all. it doesn't this morning either. take a look at these temperatures running in the low to mid 40's right now. upper 40's on cape cod.

there this morning. there might even be a patch or two of drizzle but that's the extent of it. snow is flying to our north up across far northern maine right now. the storm center well to the west here. it's going to spin up a lot of warm air out ahead of it. you can see the temperatures to our south and west, near 60 degrees, even 70 right now down in knoxville, tennessee. that's the warmth that is surging in our direction so despite the clouds, temperatures come out of the 40's into the 50's once again this afternoon. 51 degrees by noontime. looking for highs today in the mid 50's. warmest here in southeastern massachusetts. a little bit cooler in southern new hampshire but the temperatures climb slowly throughout the day. other than a patch or two of drizzle, just cloud cover through the evening commute. looks like the rain comes in thereafter. it will rain hard for a time tonight. let's talk about how much rain to expect coming up. right now we'll get you out to the roads. in for olessa stepanova this morning, kevin brennan. kevin: good morning at home. we're off to a pretty good start here.

early through the saugus stretch. we do have one trouble spot to watch for. it's up to the north. manchester-by-the-sea. we're dealing with a crash on 128 southbound. last check just the breakdown lane is getting by here at school street. something to keep in mind if you're just heading out the door. work crews downtown 93 the zakim bridge somerville both directions as well as route 1 and the tobin bridge inside the sumner tunnel and also on the mass pike both directions between the allston/brighton tolls and the expressway of routate 93. much of the same overnight crews expected to pick up by 5:00 a.m. route 3 between derby street and route 93 as well as 95 at the emily. emily: kevin, thank you. right now. firefighters are trying to figure out what sparked a fire in worcester that killed an elderly brother and sister. the flames broke out around 8:00 last night on burncoat street. we are still waiting to learn the names of the two people who died. neighbors say they lived in the single-family home for decades. firefighters say the fire spread

by the time they arrived on scene, most of the damage had already been done. right now jurors are just hours away from deciding the fate of the teenager accused of raping and murdering his teacher. erika: all eyes will be on the courthouse in salem today. the eyeopener's sera congi is there to set the stage. sera: erika and emily, closing arguments are scheduled for today and then jurors will begin deliberating whether the danvers teenager is guilty. the trial of philip chism began in early october. prosecutors allege he murdered danvers high school math teacher colleen ritzer two years ago. she was killed in the school's bathroom. she was stabbed 16 times. her body was found in the woods near the building. chism was 14 at the time. jurors will have to decide on these three charges-- first degree murder, aggravated rape, and armed robbery. chism faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

chism's lawyers admitted he killed ritzer but they brought in several witnesses to support a claim that he is severely mentally ill. live in salem, sera congi, wcvb, newscenter 5. erika: right now we are awaiting new developments in the case of a runaway red line train that put passengers at risk. the eyeopener's juli mcdonald is live in boston with what's at stake for the worker involved today. juli: that's right. the operator who was supposed to be at the controls of that runaway red line train faces a disciplinary hearing today. as "5investigates" was first to report, the employee involved is this man-- david vazquez. we've also learned he did not follow several safety procedures including setting the brake before stepping out of the operator's cab. braintree to quincy thursday morning only stopping when the "t" cut power to the third rail. 50 passengers were on board. no one was hurt. we'll be following today's hearing very closely and bring you new information as we get

live in boston this morning, juli mcdonald, wcvb, newscenter 5. emily: right now a 90-year-old man is in the hospital after being hit by a car in revere. it happened on malden street just after 7:00 last night. we're told the victim had serious injuries. the driver of the car stayed on the scene and was also taken to the hospital. erika: new hampshire police nab an arson suspect. justin kane is behind bars accused of trying to light his mother's salem home on fire. police say the two had an argument, and kane allegedly poured gasoline on the rear deck, set it ablaze, and then fled. officer tracked his cell phone anarrested him at his father's house. kane will be arraigned tomorrow. new bedford is mourning the death of the city's police chief. david provencher died last night after suffering respiratory arrest at st. luke's hospital. he was 59 years old and a survivor of throat cancer. new bedford mayor jon mitchell called provencher an outstanding police chief and a great man. emily: the man accused of killing a stoughton business owner over the weekend will be

the family of 71-year-old joseph brady mourning the loss of the beloved husband, father, and grandfather right now. brady ran a christmas tree lot along route 27. he was run down friday night just steps away from that business which he owned for 45 years. he later died at the hospital. the man behind the wheel, michael burns of taunton, now facing several charges. police say he was driving under the influence of drugs. brady's wife linda heard the crash. >> i'm going to be a curse to that man. i will curse him for the rest of my life. he was the love of my life, but he's gone. i have nothing. i've got my family, thank god for that. emily: linda says her husband was an avid car enthusiast, inducted in the new england hall of fame for antique racers. he leaves behind 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. tom brady and rob gronkowski reunited on the field down in houston last night after gronk missed last week's game with a sprained and bruised right knee. gronk, a major boost to the

the team back on track. erika: the patriots dominated this one. with just 14 seconds to go in the half, brady throws up a jump ball and gronkowski get his 10th touchdown catch of the year making it look easy. 17-6 patriots at the half and no looking back from there. the tight end happy to get back to work. gronk: everything just worked out. throughout the last two weeks, rehabbing went really good. everything was feeling great so just overall just worked out very, very good. always trust and anticipation. certainly there's nobody that i trust more than gronk. erika: the patriots beat the texans 27-6, but there was another key injury. legarrette blount left the game with a hip injury. no word on the extent of the emily: the search for clues in southbridge where fire destroyed an apartment building. but it could have been much what firefighters say helped erika: family and friends trying student. their desperate search for

is. this morning. maybe a patch or drizzle. look at this as we head toward this evening. heavy rain in the forecast.

emily: commitment 2016. today bernie sanders will hit the campaign trail in new hampshire. sanders: it is an insurgency campaign that is taking on all elements of the establishment. emily: the democrat spent sunday in iowa making at least four stops in the critical the iowa caucus is just seven weeks ago. on the republican side, ben carson doubled down on his threat to leave the g.o.p. if the party engages in what he calls "back room deals." carson: if that is the case, then i'm out of here. front-runners will meet in another debate tomorrow night in and this saturday night, the three democratic candidates will debate in new hampshire. live coverage beginning at 8:00 pm. erika: it's now 4:41.

40 years in business. plus cracking down on hoverboards amid serious fire concerns. the action amazon is taking

emily: what a fantastic weekend, right? i want to pinch myself. is it really december. cindy: it felt like october. degrees. crazy. when reality sets in, you're happened. that's coming on saturday. morning. what we're talking about today in. and nothing more than a little patchy drizzle or a spot shower through the daylight hours today. the steadiest rain comes in tonight mostly after the evening commute and during the overnight hours there could even be a rumble of thunder so in terms of the rain impacting commuting today, i don't think we're going to have big impacts throughout the daylight hours today. once we get beyond 5:00 p.m. and especially here into the overnight hours, that's when the rain chances really go up and still by about 5:00 tomorrow morning medium impacts on the commute. the rain will be winding down but lingering moisture on the roads could impact you tomorrow morning as well.

cape. up on the south shore here, marshfield 48. beverly 46. worcester in the lower 40's. got lower 40's up across southern new hampshire as well. and notice over the next 12 hours, boston is in the mid 40's now. we're going to hold in the mid to upper 40's through lunchtime and then just slowly pick those this afternoon. it's a slow climb in terms of the temperatures today, but all tight. you can see them here. there is actually a little bit of wintery precipitation. imagine that here in december. up through parts of northern maine. you get north of banger up toward presque isle it's actually snowing this morning going to stay. you can see off to the west low pressure swirling back here. and really pulling up some mild air out ahead of this system. 54 in new york city right now but look farther south. 70 in knoxville, tennessee. so that is incredibly mild for this time of year. and that's the warmth that comes in on a light southerly wind today so temperatures picking up through the 50's. i think a late-day high

a little cooler to the north. and a little bit milder here to the south. with mid to upper 50's there but again nothing more than patchy drizzle throughout the daylight hours today. notice as we head toward about 6:00 p.m. the bulk of the rain is to the west. it should move into the worcester area around k-89 this evening and then by midnight, most of us are seeing some rain. could be some rumbles of thunder here as we get toward the predawn hours of tomorrow morning. but by 5:00 a.m., you can see the bulk of the steadier rainfall is shifting toward the coastline and then it's off shore. so we dry out pretty rapidly tomorrow morning. looks like a widespread half an inch of rainfall, perhaps a little bit more here in southeastern massachusetts. and a little bit less up towards southern new hampshire. overnight low temperatures holding in the 50's. we may actually see temperatures climb a couple of degrees overnight but once this low goes by, winds shift to the west tomorrow. that does dry us out. notice the temperatures holding pretty steady throughout the day. so one more day in the 50's tomorrow. then we'll cool down into the mid 40's on wednesday. the thing you're going to notice about tomorrow, wow, the winds really pick up.

the morning hours. 20-25 miles an hour but look at this. by day's end. the winds could potentially be gusting to about 40 miles per hour out toward the worcester hill s so a gusty wind bringing in the dryer air. cooler, 40's wednesday into thursday and maybe another round of rain coming in late in the week or next weekend, kevin. high temperature may struggle to hit 40 on saturday. snerch struggling. it is in the mid and upper 40's right now so it will feel very different. snerch fairly mild out there. a little drizzle every now and then. then again you may not even notice it. because i didn't notice it too much. all right. this morning off to a pretty good start. a live shot of the mass pike here pretty much wide open through the brighton stretch. they're already in the process of picking up those overnight work crews by newton corner and then also between route 93 and the allston/brighton tolls. we have one incident we're watching. it's up to the north. it's a crash on 128 south. manchester-by-the-sea at school street. two lanes are blocked. the last check just the breakdown lane is getting by. you're already seeing some

now work crews downtown pretty much picked up too on 93 between somerville. the lower deck, zakim bridge and the o'neill tunnel. they're still picking up on route 1 and the tobin bridge there as well as 95 at 128 ramp system in canton. erika. erika: k.b., thanks so much. flames rip through an apartment building in southbridge. this morning 15 families now have to find someplace else to the good news-- no one was seriously hurt when this fire broke out sunday morning. the fire at the rosemeade complex quickly grew to four alarms before firefighters from neighboring communities were able to knock it down. this building was just rebuilt after it was damaged in the june 2011 tornado. installed were new alarms and up-to-code enforcement. something firefighters credit with helping avoid tragedy. were taken to the hospital for minor injuries. emily: right now a desperate college student.

this morning family and friends are pleading for help and hoping for clues. they spent sunday handing out flyers at northeastern university and at other areas around boston. njoroge was home in worcester for thanksgiving. his older sister talked to him just as he returned to campus. both she and her mom are understandably concerned. >> i am concerned because we used to talk almost every two days, texts or phone calls. >> i do love him so much. i love you so much. emily: the family also set up this facebook page to help with their search. they say it's not like him not to be in contact. anyone with any information is asked to call northeastern university police. erika: it's now 4:50. economic headlines this monday. overnight. all eyes will be on the federal reserve which is expected to decide wednesday on whether to first time since the financial crisis. online retail giant amazon is pulling some types of hoverboards after reports of several of them bursting into flames. amazon says it will no longer

until safety reviews of the products are complete. the problem may be connected to boards that use lithium batteries which can sometimes burst into flames. emily: a 40-year-old pub in boston's faneuil hall marketplace is shutting down at the end of the month. the ames plow tavern made the announcement in a post on facebook but gave no reason for the sudden announcement. new year's eve will be its last day in business. a check of your trending stories this morning. christmas is coming early for taylor swift fans. starting on december 20, apple will exclusively stream her "1989 world tour live concert." it features swift's november show in australia, including backstage footage and rehearsals. swift announced the news on twitter on sunday, her 26th birthday, and she posted a trailer. erika: donors come to the rescue of a miniature horse that was shot in the leg near his owner's acushnet home. $11,000 has been raised online to help send two-year-old max to a clinic in new hampshire to undergo surgery.

prosthetic leg for him. police continue to search for clues about who shot max and why. after he recovers, his owners hope to make him a therapy horse for hospitals and schools. emily: the return of a tradition in haverhill where a new christmas bell is now hanging downtown. a similar bell was part of the city's decorations for years but hasn't been seen for decades. this year an effort to replace this piece of the past was lead by h.c. media, which built a new bell with the help of students at whittier regional vo-tech high school. the bell was hoisted into place and lit for the first time saturday night. it also has a speaker inside that plays holiday music. 4:52 this morning. ahead in your early news to go this morning, president obama hoping to alleviate growing concerns over the terror threat. erika: the action he's taking today. then new on the eyeopener at 5:00, beat holiday stress by heading for the kitchen. no, we're not talk about over snacking. the good treats to keep you

>> closed captioned funding provided by luna. erika: it is now 4:55. time for your early "news to go." emily: all eyes will be on a salem courthouse today where closing arguments will be heard in the philip chism trial. jurors will begin deliberating whether the teenager is guilty of murdering his danvers high school math teacher colleen ritzer two years ago. the defense claims clism was insane at the time. prosecutors say he is faking mental illness. erika: today, we are expecting new developments in the case of a runaway red line train that put passengers at risk. was supposed to be at the controls of that train, will face a disciplinary hearing. the train traveled from braintree to quincy thursday morning only stopping when the "t" cut power to the third rail. we'll be following today's hearing very closely and bring

it. emily: firefighters are trying to figure out what sparked a deadly fire in worcester that killed an elderly brother and sister. the flames broke out around 8:00 last night on burncoat street, and firefighters say the flames spread quickly. scene, most of the damage had we are still waiting to learn the names of the two people who died. erika: president obama is planning a series of events this week aimed at alleviating concerns over terrorism. the pentagon to meet with his top national security advisers. the president is expected to deliver an update on the war against isis. this is president obama's first visit to the pentagon since the terror attacks in california and paris. emily: today marks three years since the attack at sandy hook elementary school where a gunman opened fire, killing 20 children and six educators. this is the first year the anniversary falls on a school day. there will be moments of silence at the middle and high schools but not for elementary students. town officials have not organized any public remembrances. erika: today massachusetts

the group "stop handgun from the hynes convention center. the first billboard from the group was along the mass turnpike near fenway park. the new one will highlight massachusetts's gun laws and urge congress to follow the state's lead. coming this week for tobacco there is a vote set for thursday on a proposal to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21. mayor marty walsh is backing it, saying he hopes it can discourage young people from taking up smoking. a similar bill is in the works on beacon hill right now, also looking to increase the statewide age to 21. erika: the patriots clinch a playoff berth after dominating the texans. rob gronkowski giving the pats' ailing offense a major boost with just 14 seconds to go in the half. brady throws up a jump ball and gronk gets his 10th touchdown catch of the year making it look easy. the patriots beat the texans 27-6, but there was another key injury. legarrette blount left the game with a hip injury.

problem. emily: hope that is going to be okay. cindy checking in with our forecast here. we continue to have these mild temperatures this week. cindy: it's crazy. if i cover up the word "december" here, look at that calendar, you would never think this is the month of december. our coldest highs this month have only been in the low to mid 40's. an average time of year is in warm weekend. 50's yesterday. 61 on saturday. that was due to a little bit of sunshine. we're not seeing any of that today but look at these temperatures. average high 42 2. we're above that today despite cloud cover. we'll get some sun back tomorrow. we'll be up near 60 degrees. then we're settling back closer to average with mid 40's on wednesday, upper 40's on thursday. so if you're out this week, it looks like temperatures are staying on the mild side once again. here's what you're waking up to this morning. a lot of 40's out there. 46 right now in boston. already 51 in nantucket. so it is a mild start but we do have the cloud cover out there

a little bit of snow flying across far northern maine, and the storm we are watching is back here to the west. this is spinning up a lot of warm air out ahead of it. the northeast. york city. look at philly to d.c. today. it is going to be 70 degrees here in the month of december. so crazy mild stuff. out in the western part of the country, here's where some snow cold is. snow. we'll see the mild air flood in up ahead of this storm system. the rain holds off until after the evening commute. downpours overnight. as the system pulls away tomorrow we dry out with some cooler air slowly settling back in for midweek. use it. we have quite a deficit going inches. looks like a widespread half an inch or so of rain from this system. the more december-like air will hold off until the weekend. saturday will be a blustery day.