it's tuesday, december 15. erika: i'm erika tarantal. randy is off. we're following breaking news on passengers stranded on the mbta the problem on the commuter rail. and how passengers finally got home. emily: the driver responsible for a runaway red line train shares his side of the story. the interview with his lawyer you'll see only on 5. deliberations continue in the murder trial of philip chism. what the jury has to consider this morning. emily: and donald trump takes the stage ahead of a key debate. the candidate to watch tonight who is catching up in the polls. erika: first we want to check in with cindy, say good morning. it is-- i would almost say hot. cindy: it is mild.

december outside at all. 57 degrees right now in boston. the winds are calm for now but that is going to change. it's going to turn into a very windy day. you can see the temperatures are even warmer out in worcester this morning. 60 degrees there. 62 in plymouth. we've actually set a record high for the day. already in providence where it is 64 degrees. incredibly mild out there. still a couple of patches of fog especially right along the coastline, cape cod up toward cape ann and the merrimack valley. that fog will be moving out. we're looking at the last of the one last batch coming across the state. these will be exiting i think in the next couple of hours as this front crosses the area but behind the front we've got cooler air waiting in the wings. this really doesn't settle in until tonight. as those winds pick up out of the west, we could see some gusts 40-50 miles per hour. a wind advisory is is in effect today. it turns into a windy afternoon but the sun breaks out. clouds giving way to sunshine. temperatures holding in the 50's to near 60 degrees through the afternoon. it's a warm one indeed.

right now because they are wet with that overnight rain. olessa: thank you, cindy. a live look outside at the zakim and the leverett connector looking good. let's check the rest of the ride. typically we see lots of overnight roadwork at this time. not out there today. you don't have that contend with. 93 south at the zakim getting into boston, no construction on the expressway. you're in good shape on 24, 95 as well. the ramps this morning not closed approaching 128. the pike looks good out of framingham. route 9 as well. so far as you travel down from new hampshire you're in good shape on 93 south out of methuen connector. we're expecting the trains and the buss to start the morning on schedule. emily. emily: thank you. commuter rail passengers tracks. braintree and south weymouth last night because of a this is video in overnight as the kingston-bound train finally pulled in to its final destination two hours late. it had to wait for another train to ease it into a station so passengers could reboard another

erika: right now an investigation is underway into the death of a woman struck by a commuter rail train. the 50-year-old was hit in ashland during rush hour last night when "t" police said she was trespassing on the tracks. service was stopped, and buses shuttled passengers between stops. emily: police are searching for the man in this surveillance video robbing a clerk at gunpoint. it happened at the brewster farms market sunday night. the robber reaches into the drawer and grabs money, then takes off. several shoppers are feet away, watching the whole thing. nobody was hurt. erika: deliberations continue this morning in the philip chism murder trial. the eye's sera congi is live outside court in salem with with the tough questions jurors have to consider. sera? sera: erika, during the trial lawyers for the teenager admitted to jurors that he in, fact, killed his teacher at danvers high school two years ago. but jurors have to consider two very different versions of why. the prosecution says chism planned the stabbing and assault

he was doing. excuse me. but the defense says chism was hallucinating and having a psychotic episode and did things afterward that a sane person wouldn't do. >> philip chism arrived at danvers high school that morning with everything he needed to do what he wanted to do. >> after leaving ms. ritzer's body in the woods, he enters the school. with probably blood on his pants. he's barefoot. his face is exposed. it makes no sense. sera: chism faces four charges including first degree murder and aggravated rape. at stake, whether chism goes to a state psychiatric hospital or an adult prison. jurors yesterday spent three hours in deliberations. they'll return here to the salem courthouse this morning at 9:00 a.m. to resume their deliberations. live in salem, sera congi, wcvb,

emily: thank you. train is telling his side of the david vasquez denying the newscenter 5's juli mcdonald is live in braintree with the interview you'll see only on 5. juli? david vasquez did not attend his but newscenter 5 caught up with his attorney. he says the veteran "t" driver did not rig the controls before investigators have been looking into whether vasquez wrapped a cord around the throttle and forgot to set emergency brakes before leaving the train to manually flip a switch to bypass signal problems. his lawyer points the finger at aging equipment. >> you're talking about a system and tracks that have problems on them and outages and tracks that would require for the train to continue at the particular point it was at to actually disable safety systems. juli: the train traveled four vasquez has been off the job since. the outcome of yesterday's hearing.

mcdonald, wcvb, newscenter 55. erika: commitment 2016. the stage is set for a showdown. two candidates will face a critical test in just hours. the eyeopener's doug meehan is here with what is likely to be a heated battle. doug? doug: good morning, erika. there will be twelve candidates on the stage in las vegas tonight. but the spotlight will be especially bright on two of them-- donald trump and ted cruz. while trump still holds a commanding lead in many national polls, two recent surveys give cruz an edge in the early caucus state of iowa. last night in nevada, trump acknowledged it will be a challenging night on the cnn debate stage. trump: this will not like an evening in paradise for me. do we agree? doug: another candidate to new jersey governor chris his poll numbers have him bumped the first votes will be cast in this presidential racein just six weeks. emily?

democratic hopeful bernie sanders continues his new hampshire visit today. the vermont senator admits it's difficult to compete with front-runner hillary clinton's money and organization. but in a one-on-one interview with newscenter 5's janet wu, sanders says he's tapping into the same voter angst as donald trump. sanders: the fact that people are tiredded of establishment politics and tired of establishment economics, want real change, want leadership prepared to stand up to the billionaire class, that is going to give us the edge and lead us to victory. emily: the most recent new hampshire poll puts sanders ten points ahead of clinton. 4:37 this morning. a child locked inside a school van. erika: the trouble for the driver this morning. a ford dealership is facing a lawsuit over this photo. the texas plumber at the center of an isis controversy. cindy: the rain will be tapering off this morning, but the winds will be picking up. in fact, a wind advisory across the area.

(soft music) p - [voiceover] we've spent a lifetime mastering the senses, r so you can get the most out of life. visit masseyeandear.org. emily: a little boy left alone in a van that was supposed to bring him to school. erika: now the driver could lose his license and face criminal charges. police say the driver made his morning rounds, then pulled over on prospect street in lawrence,

unattended. there had been only four kids on the bus, but the driver somehow missed a five-year-old boy, sleeping in the back. a passerby saw the child and called 911. >> by mass law he's supposed to conduct an inspection at the end of his route to make-- to just avoid this circumstance. he obviously did that the do erika: police think the boy was alone for less than an hour. he attends a charter school and is driven there by nunez transport, a company hired by his parents not lawrence public schools. police have no prior complaints against the company. another hit to the pocket of drivers. emily: the surcharge you could face if you don't have an e-z pass. take a look. a christmas card going viral this morning. why this awkward family photo

emily: you will notice this when you wake up this morning. not only is it mild but it's like strangely warm. erika: it felt like a sauna treatment. cindy: welcome to miami. i mean, this is december in boston? are you kidding me? it is so warm.

temperature not in the city but down in the providence. the record high. it's warmer than that now. we're close to the record in worcester. the record is 63. it's 66 in boston. i think we'll fall short. this is incredible warmth for the month of december. 57 in boston. and 64 down in providence. a little cooler to the north. we are still hanging on to the mid 40's here in the merrimack valley around lawrence. beverly is 53 right now. there's still a little bit of fog out there. most pronounced through cape ann up toward cape cod. and also up into southern new hampshire. this fog is going to be lifting out as the winds pick up today. out. we still have one last batch of showers moving through. we did get a good bit of rain through the rover night hours almost half an inch in boston which is great news. you can see the back edge is through the berkshires. i can take you in tighter. there are heavier showers just south of the worcester area. these extend toward framingham, and these are all moving

boston. one last round of showers coming on through. associated with the frontal boundary. this front is the leading edge of dryer air. not necessarily cooler air just yet. you can see back across new york state, it's still in the 50's. they set record highs up near 70 yesterday up toward buffalo. but the colder air is back toward the great lakes in minneapolis so it's going to be a while before that settles in. we have a mild afternoon coming. even though we're in the upper 50's to near 60 now, we'll be in the upper 50's to near 60 degrees this afternoon. that westerly wind is going to kind of keep the temperatures fairly steady despite the fact that the sun will be emerging as we get into the late morning and afternoon. as well. we do have a wind advisory up from 11:00 this morning until 6:00 this evening. those westerly winds could gust 40-50 miles per hour but these are the sustained winds throughout the day. notice once we hit lunchtime right through the afternoon, the winds are going to be sustained over 20 miles per hour. so you're going to notice that wind gust 0, 40, even close to 50 miles per hour right on into

it's going to take until the overnight hours before the wind settles down. temperatures tonight falling intak in the 30's to around 40 degrees downtown. tomorrow, well, we're talking about temperatures in the 40's with some sunshine, but the big difference is the winds are going to be much lighter as high pressure noses in. it's only for one day though. watching a storm off to the west. that will come at us as we head towards thursday. a break in the action tomorrow with sunshine. rain comes in on thursday in the afternoon. the morning hours should be dry but it looks like another good slug of rain which could linger into part of your friday before this front crosses the area and much colder air starts to settle in for the weekend. i said the word cold. not really cool. 40 degrees this time of year is slightly below average. and the winds will be cranking on saturday so a real blustery feel. it's going to be a shock to the system after stepping out this morning to temperatures near 60 degrees. so winter feel coming in this weekend but it looks pretty short lived. we're back around 50 again by monday. the longer range outlook for

olessa: no white christmas here. i think we need to push christmas to next month. it would give me time to get everything done. cindy: that would be great. olessa: so far it's a quiet start on the roads but the rain not bad. all the overnight construction. if you're heading out the door right now there's a live look at zakim and the leverett connector. so far we're quiet in both directions. let's get to maps and check the rest of that rides. that roadwork we typically see this early in the morning not out there right now because of the weather. if you're heading out the door you won't bump into any of that. south of town you're good to go. 95, 24, route 3 all nice and quiet. no problems on the pike. you're in good shape on route 9 as well. it's a quiet start. trains and buses are expected to start the morning on dead you'll. emily: thank you. new this morning, drivers in massachusetts could face a new surcharge if they don't have an e-z pass. the department of transportation is considering the surcharge for electronic tolling which is already operational on the tobin bridge. it's set for the mass pike next october. some state lawmakers say drivers should not be forced to pay extra if they don't want the

pass. the "t" is putting the brakes on late night service. the control board that oversees the mbta asked staff yesterday to begin the process of eliminating the pilot program. both late-night bus and train service would be cut at an estimated savings of up to $14 million. a final vote is expected early next year. erika: a first-of-its-kind bill in seattle. the city council voted unanimously to allow uber and lyft drivers to unionize. the outcome of the vote in seattle could influence cities around the country. the companies, however, are not pleased. a spokesman for lyft says unionization would threaten privacy of drivers and impose additional costs on passengers. the measure will likely be challenged in court. the federal reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade tomorrow. that had asian investors a little jittery, but stocks still ended mostly higher there. u.s. stock futures are up right now.

yesterday to close at 17,358. new plans for the popular restaurant wahlburgers. the family-namesake burger joint says it's adding up to 150 new locations in the next five years. wahlburgers currently has its flagship spot in hingham and locations in boston, lynnfield, toronto, and brooklyn. new restaurants will soon open in manhattan, orlando, a warning to twitter users over a possible hack. the company reached out to users of what it calls a small number of accounts, claiming a state-sponsored group may have stolen personal information. twitter claims there's no indication that sensitive data was compromised. this is the first such warning from the social media site. a check of the stories trending this morning. erika: a texas plumber is suing a ford dealership after his old truck was seen in an isis tweet. mark oberholtzer says he traded his truck in with the decals still on it and was told they would be removed professionally. oberholtzer says his company's

substantially because people think he is an isis sympathizer. he's suing for $1 million in damages. emily: an architect in kazakhstan has big dreams for an apartment complex. he wants to build a ski slope on top of it. it would descend 1,000 feet down from 21 stories. the architect says there are no ski slopes in the area, and people have already expressed high interest in the design. erika: a michigan college student is getting a lot of attention for this christmas card. it looks like an awkward family photo but that's because the people in the picture don't know each other. the man on the left of your screen offered $20 via craigslist to anyone who wanted to help him prank his family into thinking he got married and had kids. emily: okay. there you go. happy holidays. erika: funny joke, i guess. emily: a hot new trend for babies. erika: the winter gear that's catching lots of attention. then new on the eyeopener at 5:00, steps you can take to make last-minute holiday shopping easier. the tricks to know before your

emily: it 4:54. following breaking news overnight. erika: mbta passengers get stranded on the commuter rail for two hours. a train broke down between braintree and south weymouth last night because of a the kingston-bound train arrived overnight at its final destination. it had to be pushed along by passengers could reboard a different train. murder charges today in the shooting death of this man. police say brahden hill shot and killed 21-year-old edward andrews, pictured here, on hill was arrested yesterday afternoon and will be in court today. erika: no bail for the suspect in last week's triple-shooting in revere.

shot and killed two people inside an apartment thursday. a third person was shot and seriously hurt. police believe the shootings were drug-related. the suspect in a deadly hit-and-run is behind bars, held on $10,000 bail. investigators say michael burns was high on painkillers while delivering pizzas when he struck joseph brady friday night. brady was walking across the street to the christmas tree lot that he runs. emily: this accused child sex predator is on the run. police say john munroe cut off his ankle bracelet and fled. the 75-year-old is from fall river. his car was found in hull. munroe is charged with raping a girl under the age of ten. anyone with information is asked to call police. erika: new details about troubling facebook posts from one of the killers behind the california shooting rampage. tashfeen malik sent at least two private messages pledging her support for islamic jihad. the messages were posted before malik came to the u.s. they were recovered by f.b.i. agents looking into whether

contact with foreign terror organizations before killing 14 people in san bernardino. emily: trouble for the environmental protection agency. congressional auditors say the e.p.a. broke the law when it flooded social media in an effort to generate support for a white house initiative intended to protect streams and surface waters. the government accountability office said the agency's campaign violated lobbying restrictions and used, quote, "covert propaganda." the e.p.a. was instructed to write a letter to congress, acknowledging the violations. former congresswoman gabby giffords will be in new hampshire today to discuss ways to reduce gun violence. giffords was shot in the head in 2011 during an event in arizona. she will be joined by her husband, mark kelly, and granite state leaders to announce a new bipartisan state coalition to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. erika: the bruins bombard the oilers with shots at the garden, but they couldn't find the back of the net. edmonton up early, 2-0. brad marchand helps the b's tie

go. we head into overtime. just 40 seconds later, the oilers score. 3-2 the final. the b's are at home tomorrow night against the penguins. emily: the salvation army needs help. the organization says red kettle donations are down $30,000 compared to this time last year. they blame a lack of volunteers and paid bell ringers. the salvation army also says people carry less cash than they used to. anyone willing to volunteer should contact the salvation army in new bedford. erika: it's becoming an annual holiday event in boston. shop with a cop. 100 police officers took 100 boston kids shopping last night at the target in south bay center. the program is meant to help form connections between young people and officers. emily: kids grow up so fast. or at least this "beard beanie" makes it look that way. the clever hat comes with a "beard" attached to keep baby's cheeks warm in the winter. the wool blend is the perfect substitute for some real

nasty. i don't know what to think about that. erika: it comes in pink for the girls. emily: pink beards? cindy: no, the pink top. erika: perfect. emily: bearded babies. olessa: i'm still not sure about this one. cindy: something else that is a little unusual. while we were sleeping the temperatures came up. in fact, overnight just after 2:00 this morning, it actually bumped up to 61 degrees in boston. so very, very mild. our high goes down in the books yesterday at 11:59 p.m. we jumped up to 58 degrees so i mean it's just been incredible how warm this month has been. we are running nearly nine degrees above average per day. as of now, this could go down as one of the warmest decembers on record for boston. we're at 60 degrees right now. we've got lower 60's plymouth down to cape. a little bit cooler in the merrimack valley at 46 but look at providence. 63. already topped the record high temperature there for the day. this cold air is out west.

dakotas. that colder air will try and sweep in behind this frontal boundary but it will modify first of all. here. today will still be a warm day. we've got a couple of scattered morning. these should shift off shore by about 7:00 this morning and then rapid clearing follows behind it. we will get a return to some sunshine after a couple of gloomy days. the one thing you're going to notice is the winds. morning. by late morning winds out of the hour. afternoon. in fact, we have a wind advisory for wind gusts potentially to 40-50 miles per hour throughout the day. the winds will settle down tonight and they eventually bring in some of that cooler air tomorrow. it's back to sunshine on wednesday but no 60's, no 50's. we're stuck in the 40's coming up tomorrow but with lighter winds, more seasonal temperatures it will be a pretty nice december day on wednesday. that is our break in the action. rain returns on thursday afternoon. it is with us into friday with some early lingering showers.