>> from boston' s news leader, this is wcvb newscenter 5 at noon. antoinette: good afternoon, and thank you so much for joining us. i' m antoinette antonio. doug: and i' m doug meehan. here are the stories happening right now. a chipotle in cleveland circle facing even more setbacks after inspectors give it the green light to reopen. antoinette: deadly storms slamming the country. nearly two dozen reported tornadoes devastating christmas in the south.

records today. this is the scene in boston right now, a warm christmas eve. it is unlike anything we have records this noon. danielle: boston just joined the pack. we just jumped up really high to starting to gust. boston, you have now joined the club, open to it. it is going to be a warm christmas eve for all of us as continues to press up to the north and east. and plymouth. notice, we seacoast of new hampshire. you have some fog and dense fog to do with.

some showers right now over part of the atlantic ocean, some of them could skirt the coast of the cape, the islands, and maybe parts of the south shore. other than that, it is a mostly cloudy day, but more rain chances on the way this weekend. we will timeout that rain and what comes behind it ahead. doug: while all is calm here in the northeast, there are deadly storms across the country. several tornadoes touching down, the death toll from those storms abc' s elizabeth hur has more on damper on the holidays. destruction and devastation across seven states, including the, arkansas, and tennessee. >> your heart just sinks and it makes you feel terrible. you want to run and help the best you can.

tornadoes touching down, ripping homes apart, and flipping tractor-trailers on to their side. leaving drivers terrified , watching these two twisters become one tornado right before their eyes. holly springs, mississippi the, hit especially hard. >> i and seeing devastation that have not seen. elizabeth: parts of the town destroyed, two people killed including a seven-year-old boy. >> whether it is a death with the devastation to the homes of all of these people right here on christmas eve, it is very hard to deal with but we will pull through. we ask that people pray for our community. elizabeth: with that val to rebuild, a promising sign. home reduced to rubble but this standing. with the homeowners are grateful

authorities say the damages are still being assessed so right now all they can ask for our prayers. elizabeth hur, abc news, new york. antoinette: a judge has postponed aaron hernandez' s double murder trial. the convicted killer is accused of killing daniel de abreu and safiro furtado in 2012. he allegedly shot them outside a nightclub in boston' s south end. lawyers will be back in court for a status hearing on january 19th. that is the previously scheduled date for this trial. the former patriot is already serving a life sentence for killing odin lloyd. kelley: chipotle had been cleared to reopen but we had another setback. when the usual opening time, more frustration as customers found the store was still locked.

this is two weeks into the issue where the cleveland circle location was closed after about 140 people became sick after eating here. city inspectors say the entire restaurant has been disinfected. the employee who came to work with that norovirus was fired. more than 50 customers getting sick with e. coli at about a dozen locations across the company -- country. the company is planning -- pledging to change our prepared food. antoinette: new at noon, investigators say -- doug: new at noon, a man in his 40' s was killed in a fire and police believe he was the only occupant of the home. they believe the fire is not suspicious.

in critical condition after being struck i a car in holliston. " the metrowest daily news" reporting, the 57-year-old is in critical condition after she was hit last night along washington street. the driver, a 53-year-old man from florida, did stay at the scene. doug: police are still investigating the crash that left a woman hurt and hansen. the victim is from hanover and was flown to a boston hospital. police are still investigating what caused the car to veer across the road. >> it does not appear it was speeding that there was no breaking, which is odd. doug: the driver has not yet and charged. antoinette: the death of a teenage prisoner is under investigation. the 18-year-old was found hanging in his cell at the essex county correctional facility last night. anfelnin feliz, of lawrence, was awaiting trial on armed robbery and other charges. boston police are continuing to

jamaica plain. this happened at the boston housing authority complex on centre street. the two male adult victims are both are expected to survive. the police commissioner says it does not look like the shooting is gang-related. doug: new at noon, a dorchester woman charged in connection with a theft at the worcester army reserve center has been released pending her trial. a judge granted her release under strict conditions. she was arrested after she was found to be in possession of a stolen assault rifle. she is also charged with lying to the fbi about her knowledge of the heist. right now, police in salem are trying to track down two christmas thieves. they say a man and woman stole presents intended for toys for tots. the couple walked into the sex offender registry board last week without identification and made off with $1,000 worth of presents. antoinette: u.s. marshals are tying a stash of cash found in safe deposit boxes in massachusetts to a former state representative from dartmouth who' s doing time for embezzlement.

attempted to hide $1 million in cash. those bills were found tied in small bundles, and stuffed into oversized safe deposit boxes. the 69-year-old is currently serving a six-year prison sentence. george was ordered to pay nearly $700,000 in restitution, but claimed under oath that he had less than $190,000 in assets. doug: belgian authorities say they' ve arrested a ninth suspect linked to the deadly paris terror attacks. federal authorities say a belgian-born citizen who had been in contact with the s cousin was arrested tuesday. he is being held on charges of taking part in a terrorist group and terrorist murders. americans on alert right now overseas. the american, french, and british embassies in beijing issued a warning to staff of s popular shopping district. embassies are urging for extra vigilance. meanwhile beijing police are , stepping up their presence at malls and shopping centers. antoinette: we'

accelerator tampering," which led to an unmanned runaway train pulling out of braintree station two weeks ago, was not the first time mbta operators have tampered with throttle controls. " the globe" reports that two other t operators have been disciplined for that practice. in 2011, another red line driver tied down the throttle and was caught by a passenger. a similar incident happened in 1999 with an operator on the blue line. the passenger who witnessed it wrote a letter to the t and then-senator john kerry. as for the incident two weeks ago, the preliminary investigation reveals that the operator, david vasquez, tied down the throttle to disable the " dead man' s switch." a separate emergency brake was not set. so, when vasquez stepped off the train to deal with a signal failure, the train took off without him, blowing through four stops with more than 50 passengers on board. vasquez has since been fired.

longtime boston mayor thomas s tradition of gift-giving on christmas eve, doug: as newscenter 5' kazakiewich tells us, it' s been a tradition for over 20 years. of the holiday, christmas came a little early for 500 children in need. thousands of gifts organized by age group were given out. it is an annual provision started in 1993 by former mayor tom menino. now, his children and tradition alive. >> he would be so happy that when he has done now has been instilled into our kids, and they want to take it over. >> he might not be here physically but spiritually he is here. todd: for the recipients, the generosity is overwhelming. susan copeland is picking up presents for her granddaughters. >> they were not counting on it.

s successor came to support. team many now did the shopping. >> we grow up watching him do all the stuff of the community so it was like, he was the one for us to experience everything he did. todd: and dorchester, todd kazakiewich, wcvb, newscenter 5. doug: 2016 candidates firing back. antoinette: the cartoon that has all the candidates agreeing. it has been a wakefield tradition since 1991, but this may be the last year. danielle: the christmas holiday is going to be mild, but big changes are coming. the big coal down that follows.

feel connected. rso, when important things happen, we're here. your local tv and radio broadcasters. america's number one source for news, weather and information. on every screen in your life. r we are broadcasters, always here for you, wherever here may be. text "tv" to 52886. tell washington local stations matter. >> you are watching newscenter 5 at noon. antoinette: just before christmas, many of the

thing. they say a major newspaper crossed the line with an s children as trained abc' s bazi kanani is in washington with more. bazi: ted cruz now hitting back after "the washington post" ran this editorial cartoon online depicting cruz' s two daughters as trained monkeys. >> not much ticks me off, but making fun of my girls, that will do it. bazi: the cartoonist was critizing cruz for this christmas-themed political ad, the grinch who lost her emails, the candidate enlisting his young girls in an attack on hillary clinton. >> i know just what i' ll do, she said with a snicker. i will use my own server and nobody will be the wiser. >> all of us learned in kindergarten do not hit little girls. it is not complicated. don' t make fun of a 5-year-old girl and 7-year-old girl. >> bazi: cruz' s gop rivals are backing him up. on twitter, marco rubio called

both donald trump and jeb bush defended cruz on fox news. >> it' s one thing to talk about your children, but it' s another thing the way they were to pick did. >> this is off and ted cruz is right to be outraged. bazi: " down the controversial cartoon, s policy to leave the children out of it, but not before cruz forwarded the offending graphic to supporters in a fundraising appeal, saying it shows exactly how desperate the liberal media is to attack and destroy me. the presidential candidates are taking a break from the campaign trail for the christmas holiday, but donald trump is not taking a break from twitter, going after hillary clinton in a series of tweets. washington. doug: speaking of donald trump, he could be headed to lowell reports the republican front runner is in talks to hold a rally at the tsongas center at umass lowell on january 4. a crowd of more than 1,000 trump supporters gathered when he

october. more trouble for boston-based draftkings, and rival fanduel. illinois has become the third state to ban daily fantasy sports gambling. the state' s attorney general says the sites are clearly games of chance or skill, both of which are banned under state law. last month, new york and nevada used similar reasoning to ban the online sites. no comment yet from fanduel or draftkings. antoinette: if you have stayed at a high at hotel recently, you might want to keep an eye on your credit card statement. the chain confirming it recently found malicious software on the computer system that processes this raises the possibility that hackers may have obtained credit card numbers or other sensitive information. hyatt has hired security experts to help investigate. hits are now streaming on music sites around the world. s songs hit the web just after midnight this morning, on sites like spotify, google play, apple music, and amazon prime music. online including, " abbey road," " let it

collections. antoinette: and is a hard days night for this dude, we are keeping a close eye on this goal all day -- on this guy all day. santa took off from the north pole overnight. norad is tracking the jolly old elf as he delivers presents across the globe. right now santa is dropping gifts off to kids in pakistan. he has installed his retractable so not to worry when he stops here. danielle: he made some stops in tropical locations this morning so he is prepared. it is warm out there. we have set some records and we are only going to get warmer as we go through the afternoon. these are the high temperatures so far, in fitchburg, 68 degrees.

boston. providence did it at 4:25 this morning, so we are on target to probably be the warmest of december ever on record, and you can see why. every day has pretty much been above normal except for the weekend. you see 60' s and boston as well as along the south shore. the only exception is along southern new hampshire, where s. you folks yet and because of that, you are on the cooler side of things. you are noticing wind getting up out of the south and west. that indicates the warm front has crossed, and they are gusting upwards of 39 miles per hour in worcester. you will feel the wind gust as you step outside the door, and i

to the north, dense fog still in portsmouth, visibility and lawrence is about a mile. the fog impact should back down but as we head into the overnight hours, some patchy fog could develop again as the skies begin to clear out. crossing through our region later on this afternoon, and down to our south. some may skirt the south coast. we are hanging on to the clouds , although there are some pokes of sunshine, and i anticipate more of that as we had throughout the afternoon. there could be a couple more showers later on this evening, especially the south coast cape and islands. i think everybody else is dry and starting to clear out, and some fog could be developing. upper 60' s, low 70'

s. s are on the way. rain chances on the way up saturday and sunday from another is a chilly rain to start with temperatures in the upper 40' s. notice that timing. the rain really begins in the afternoon through the overnight sunday morning. turn much colder by monday. that cold air settles in just ahead of our next system. it looks very tricky at this point, but it looks like it

doug: snow or no snow the spirit , of christmas, celebrated in a unique and generous way in wakefield. gifts delivered throughout the town by sled. this has really become a holiday tradition. antoinette: but right now, it' s facing an uncertain future. a local running club provides the reindeer that pull santa all over town, delivering gifts to children in need. each child is shopped for, specifically getting five to seven wrapped gifts apiece. >> it is absolutely the best there is nothing like it. these kids, you see the looks on their faces. >> we will go down a street where it is quiet, the music playing, and you will see a little kid in the window. >> but after 25 years, many members of this team feel like it' they' re hoping some younger neighbors will pick up the reigns, and keep the tradition going.

a woman is reunited with her long-lost wedding dress. antoinette: one man' s efforts to return the gown that was swept up in a tornado. plus, the surprise of a lifetime. you don' t want to miss the precious gift making this woman

doug: -- antoinette: a wedding dressed lost and found. an illinois woman is disappeared in a tornado. a farmer found the dress while after an april twister. farmer was able to track down the owner. and get this, he is such a nice guy he had it cleaned before he returned it to her. to indiana now, and the christmas surprise of a lifetime. antoinette: this one is so one woman' s son came back from serving at the air force base in pearl harbor. but that wasn' t the only reason to celebrate. >> when did you get here? antoinette: why is she so excited? grandma eva got to meet her new

her son and daughter-in-law kept their daughter' s early adoption a secret, and flew home with the baby to share the news. a moment of pure joy for this lucky grandma. antoinette: you -- doug: you do not have to bring any other gift. antoinette: that does it for us here at newscenter 5 at noon. doug: breaking news all afternoon on wcvb.com and our mobile apps. we'