>> now on newscenter 5's "eyeopener." doug: two people found dead in this milford home. the christmas tragedy under investigation right now. antoinette: the swat team surrounds a home in everett for hours. the wild scene in that neighborhood and the difficult negotiations that ended the standoff. mike: still mild this morning, but changes are on the way. when the temperatures drop and a storm moves in. >> you're watching wcvb, boston's news leader. good morning! this is newscenter 5's "eyeopener." antoinette: and a good morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. it is 5:00 and i'm antoinette antonio. doug: and i'm doug meehan.

for those of you keeping score. antoinette: i learn something new everyday. doug: mike wankum came in this morning and told us all about it. mike: it's a big thing in england but here it's a day to go shopping and pick up a few items on sale. it's a very thin overcast we're talking about but i am watching several things. down to the south you see mild air and rain and a storm system over the midwest. this is all going to be coming in here for tomorrow. if you want dry weather, enjoy today because the wet weather will be moving back in. stepping outside this morning, got temperatures in the 30's and 40's. we actually were into the 50's just a couple of hours ago. they've dropped off just a little bit. here's what will happen today. basically clear skies across the area. late in the day though the clouds start to roll in. this is 8:00 tonight. after midnight it looks like we'll see rain moving in to the forecast. temperatures will not budge much today. they're holding flat. so we'll go with some mostly cloudy skies this morning. turning partly cloudy skies as we head to the afternoon but notice the temperatures. they're just holding steady. mostly cloudy skies as we finish

so we've got rain tomorrow. i'll timeline the arrival of that and maybe snow on tuesday. all those details coming up. antoinette and doug. antoinette: mike, thank you. right now two people are dead and two others hospitalized after a christmas day tragedy strikes a milford neighborhood. doug: the eyeopener's frank holland is tracking new information this morning. frank, good morning. frank: doug morning, doug and antoinette. right now we know those two survivors are okay after being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning at milford hospital. police say the call came in just before 2:00 yesterday afternoon. a couple found dead in the bedroom of their prospect heights home. board of health. neighbors describe the victims >> there were always a lot of people over there. barbecues. frank: right now the names of the victims are not being the district attorney's office is handling the case. but foul play is not suspected. doug? you.

tense and wild scene in an gunshots. and a huge fire inside that house. newscenter 5's john atwater was there as it all unfolded. john: it took five long hours of officer: hands up. hands up. locked down his neighborhood emerged from his home. officer: he was arguing with officers and resisting when he came out. john: police knew he was armed so they moved in to take him down. officer: he was armed and ultimately found with three firearms his body. john: just when the tension eased, another threat flared up. neighbor: a lot of flash and a lot of bang. the house was on fire. john: as police dragged 53-year-old mark lavoine to a cruiser, his summer street home erupted in flames. firefighters scrambled to fight the new danger maneuvering fire trucks around swat vehicles to tame the raging inferno. neighbor: it's kind of unbelievable. john: neighbors first called police just before noon reporting gunshots inside the

bang. john: on a beautiful christmas day, (shot) the neighborhood shook as police shot tear gas in and echoes of difficult negotiations filled the streets. officer: he refused to talk to our officers. john: finally more than five hours in, police had their man but not a clear understanding of why he staged a christmas day stand-off. and this morning firefighter s are still trying to determine exactly what sparked this fire. the man who lives here is facing several charges. in everett, john atwater, wcvb, newscenter 5. incident at the mall in concord, new hampshire, is under investigation. alarm at the steeplegate mall last night, they found part of bon ton department store. responded. but they say there is no danger they're releasing limited information at this point, but we'll keep you posted. doug: right now seven people are hurt after a car slammed into a hayride in maine.

you can see the car involved had massachusetts license plates. we have no other information about the driver. one of the victims was seriously hurt when they were pinned under the trailer. 15 people were on the hayride at the time of the crash. the ride was part of a free dinner put on by the city's elks lodge. also in maine, two suspicious deaths are under investigation right now. the bodies were found in an s.u.v. yesterday morning on a dirt road right outside augusta. the victims are identified as 35-year-old eric williams and 26-year-old bonnie royer. investigators say one of the victims called 9-1-1. but when officers got there, they found the couple dead. antoinette: this morning police in vermont are trying to track down a real-life christmas grinch. someone stole ten walkers and a christmas dinner for 30 from a senior housing facility in pittsford. residents woke up christmas morning to find everything gone, even the christmas cookies. puzzles, christmas c.d.'s, and the tv also gone. but neighbors weren't about to let the thieves spoil the

and donations poured in. >> i'm very rarely at a loss for words, and i am completely humbled by the unbelievable amount of support from the community. antoinette: in fact, so much food was donated, the facility should be covered for meals into next week. state police released a statement saying, "unfortunately for you, mr. grinch, christmas has been saved by the amazing community." doug: growing concerns this morning about drug deals being conducted inside a home for veterans in boston. the new england center and home for veterans has a zero tolerance for drugs, but residents and former employees tell "the globe" they believe at least 20-percent of the 300 people who stay at the center are looking to buy or sell drugs. two months ago, three residents reportedly died of opioid overdoses. the president of the center says they're working hard to keep drugs out of the facility, including working with boston police.

to raise awareness of suicide. antoinette: sean butler walked more than 220 miles from new york's wall street to quincy in memory of his mother who took her own life 20 years ago. his family and friends met him in quincy when he arrived home last night. butler says he felt his mother ann with him the whole way. butler: i talked to her through joy. i talked through tears. my mom was a powerhouse of joy, love. everything she is i am. everything. everything she is, i am. antoinette: the american foundation of suicide prevention headquarters is located on wall street, which is why he chose that starting point. doug: if even just one person is helped, some light goes off somewhere. antoinette: really made a difference. how about another holiday story for you. it was an extra special christmas for one leominster

doug: what she received from a secret santa and how she's using that gift to pay it forward. cleaning up down south. the wet and wild christmas for some, and the communities banding together to get through the holiday mike: we got used to the 60's. now it's the 40's and the 30's and a chance of snow or mix tuesday morning. i'll have the timeline on its arrival. (soft music) p - [voiceover] we've spent a lifetime mastering the senses, r so you can get the most out of life.

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antoinette: good morning. it's 5:10. welcome back. right right now federal investigators are calling a christmas day fire at a texas mosque suspicious. investigators rummaged through the rubble at the islamic society of greater houston yesterday. meantime, muslims who call the religious mosque home were forced to hold friday night prayers at a banquet hall. some 200 people were praying inside the center an hour before the flames broke out. >> it's just a place where people look for peace. people look look for solutions and people come in contact with god. it's really sad. antoinette: no one was injured in the fire. doug: this morning flooding is still causing a major mess in the south. and another tornado touchdown is confirmed-- this time in alabama. in that state and in georgia, floodwaters triggered forced

14 people are dead in at least three states, but that number could rise after last night's storms. barbara williamson lost her home in bellevue, mississippi. >> i don't even know how i'm alive. it's a miracle. that's what it is. a christmas miracle because we was right here in that. doug: but the spirit of the season was still there. ravaged communities came together offering support, clothing, and shelter to help people get through the holiday. antoinette: but here, my goodness. we've been having such good weather, it makes almost feel guilty for everything that is happening everything else in the country. mike: now it is going to change. doug: it is january. mike: when i talk about it cooling down, it will be back to where it's supposed to be. this has been way out of whack. let me show you the high temperatures for the month of december. not just once or twice do we get above the 50-degree mark. 18 times. that is a record. we're running 11 degrees above normal. i don't think you're ever going to find-- in fact, we're smashing the records at this

another december in your lifetime that is as warm as what we've got just gone. yesterday 62 degrees. we've started to cool things down now. 46 degrees out there. winds out of the north at 9 miles an hourisherring in a new wave of cooler air. i really don't want to call it cold because it's cool. the mild air has been pushed down to the south. that leading edge, add a few showers along it. you can overnight last night we had a few rain showers but it's pretty much dissipated. the skies are trying to clear away. this is a very thin overcast we're talking about. i think really today is not a bad day. it's just a lot cooler than it has been but you get to enjoy some sunshine today. right now we've readings pretty much inthoo the 40's out there. we were into the 50's just a couple of hours ago. do keep in mind 46 degrees the high temperature in boston. about 38 for a high. we're supposed to dprop down to 25 overnight. we haven't been anywhere close to that lately so we're going to get things back to where they're supposed ton this time of year but to get there, we've also got some rain to talk about. first off this afternoon, cloud cover starts moving in. midnight.

you start to see showers off to the west. overnight, tomorrow morning, yes, tomorrow morning is going to be a slow one out there because we've got rain out there morning. probably staying heavy through about 9:00. and then after that, just kind of scattered showers. the temperatures aren't bad tomorrow either. rain. we're not talking about snow in this one. this is a rain event going on. on one one we clear skies out. enjoyed it lately. on tuesday, the us tus morning we might have a mix. sunny. steady temperatures. about 46-52 degrees. then rain after midnight tonight with an occasional downpour. 38472. i think we're going to hit that pretty early and then we'll start to see our temperature maybe even climb a little bit into the overnight hours as this system works its way through. so high temperatures tomorrow will look like this. into the 50's again. about 52 degrees for high temperature in worcester. starting off into the 40's and again look for those showers especially as we start to talk about the morning hours. just kind of lighter stuff as we head through the afternoon. so let me break it all down for

happening. today we're topping it off with sunshine in there about 48 degrees for a high temperature this afternoon. coming in. as i pointed out, it will be heaviest into the morning hours and then just scattered showers into the afternoon. morning. but still 56 degrees. not bad for this time of year. now monday we have a in system coming in. but notice the temperatures. they're much cooler. monday day is fine. monday night we start to see some clouds. you see this? this is tuesday morning. the area. looks like right now we'll get enough warm air surging in that whatever strts off as rain or snow in the morning will be changing over to rain in the afternoon. so kind of a messy mix into the morning and then we'll get that changing over to that rain in the afternoon. here's what one of our computer models is showing for snowfall totals. it's not impressive but sit going to be our first snow of the season. we'll keep you posted. after this system goes through, we're talking about temperatures into the 40's and a chance of more rain as we start to head

we'll talk more about that new year's eve forecast coming up in a few min. doug and antoinette. antoinette: thank you, mike. now to some of the stories we're tracking right now on the eye. doug: frank holland is following information as it comes in. frank: a powerful rebel commander in syria is dead, killed just a month before peace talks with the syrian government. government officials say the syrian army is responsible for the airstrike that killed zahran allouch. he led a powerful group that is backed by saudi arabia and controls large parts of the damascus suburbs. a fire that damaged former president bill clinton's childhood home is being called arson. the flames broke out friday at the clinton birthplace national historic site in hope, arkansas. the fire was put out quickly and just one room was damaged. clinton lived in the home as a child before moving to hot there's another candidate in the race for president. john mcafee is running under the libertarian party. the 70-year-old is best known for his computer anti-virus software. mcafee originally planned to run

status quo. and if you didn't get everything you wanted for christmas, you might want to consider a powerball ticket. the estimated jackpot for tonight's drawing is now up to a $255 million. nobody has hit the jackpot since november 4, and there hasn't been a jackpot this high since september. you can catch the winning numbers tonight on newscenter 5 at 11:00. antoinette? antoinette: we're all going in on tickets, guys, all right? a rock legend bringing a little sweet emotion to his hometown. you know what i'm-- you know who i'm talking about here. aerosmith's steven tyler, a joined the town's police chief and went shopping for the local food pantry. the picture showing tyler holding up bags of groceries was posted to the police department's facebook page. that was nice of them. doug: really a man of the people. isn't he? antoinette: all right. we know all about working on the holidays. doug: yes, we do. and so do the people who keep all of us safe.

wanted to do something special for newton firefighters who have to work on christmas. so they trekked to the commonwealth ave fire station armed with an arsenal of holiday treats. five-year-old levi and six-year-old jordan tell newscenter 5 they also had a message for the men and women who keep them safe. >> what did you bring? it looks like. >> i brought crispy treats. >> snowmen. there's pretzels for arms and marshmallows for the hands. thank you for putting out fires and saving people. doug: firefighters loved the treats and invited the kids in for a tour of the trucks before they left. antoinette: cute. doug: i'll bet you those firefighters loved every second of that. antoinette: great lesson to teach the kiddos. doug: awesome. antoinette: a secret santa surprising a mother in leominster this christmas with a special delivery just in time for the holiday. doug: but the spirit of the season didn't end there. she made a big decision to share her good fortune. sintia: come on. open your presents.

adopted daughter shania celebrated christmas morning like no other. sure, there were the usual presents under the tree, but it's a gift without ribbons or bows that shines the brightest of all. sintia: this is the letter. doug: an anonymous letter addressed to this mother of four with nothing more than a boston postmark to indicate its origin. inside-- a note and $200 in cash. sintia: "dear friend, god has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. i hope that this will help you and your family to have a very merry christmas." doug: overwhelmed by the generosity of this secret santa, sintia keeps asking herself the same question. john: sintia has worked for the wiic program here in leominster for the past 18 years. when she received her christmas miracle, the first thing she thought of was someone else. she knew she had to pay it forward literally. after giving a $50 bill each to her two grown children and buying gifts with $50 more, she

80 jars of baby food for a fitchburg three-year-old whose father had fallen on hard times child would go hungry this christmas. sintia: we brought it to the house. they were so happy. i felt good doing something for somebody else. doug: sintia says she may never know who granted this christmas miracle; however, she does have a message sintia: whoever did it, i want to say thank you. they did bless us and bless somebody else. doug: let me tell you what. that family was so jeb russ with their time. we knock od the door at 9:00 a.m. she was still in bed sleeping. "let me put on a little lipstick and i'll be ready to go." she invited us into her shoam. antoinette: i'm glad she let you talk to her because it was such a great story. doug: so gracious. still ahead this morning, we are introducing you to the oldest woman in the state. antoinette: meet 110-year-old alice fisher. what she says is the secret to living so long. doug: ahead at 5:30, sitting

deval patrick talks about his political future. antoinette: and a live look outside this morning. check out the christmas lights on the common. they're still out there. you know, new year's just a few days away now. with the holiday over. 5:21, 46 degrees outside. we're cooling down.

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mike: technically this time of year we see temperatures in the upper 20's right now. instead we're seeing temperatures pretty much into the mid 40's out there. not a bad way to start the day. the temperatures won't be warming up too much as we head through the afternoon. tomorrow, rain. this is the way the map looks this time tomorrow morning. a lot of water out there but notice the snow is way up in the north. there is a storm system building out over the central plains. the map tomorrow night looks like this. we're going to keep a very close eye out what's going on out there to the west. that area will be pushing its way into this direction. as it does so, we may actually have snow to talk about as we get into tuesday morning. so for today, about 50 degrees. basically some sunny skies and then clouds coming in later tonight. rain after midnight. we head for tomorrow, we've got rain in the morning. just a few showers in the afternoon. monday is fine but look at the high. only 38 degrees. and then on tuesday, here's where we get that chance of seeing some snow in here. most of it will happen in the morning. we'll actually switch it over to rain as we head through the afternoon.

tuesday morning and some much-needed snow up to the north as well. after that, temperatures warm into the 40's. new year's eve looking like we may see a little bit of rain or perhaps a bit of mix inland. doesn't look like a big event come inning our direction. doug and antoinette. antoinette: mike, thank you. christmas is certainly extra special when you've seen 110 of them. doug: a walpole woman recently celebrated a very big birthday, and she shared her "secret" with our kelley tuthill. alice: oh, those were the good days. kelley: alice fisher has seen them all-- good times and bad. she was born on december 23, 1905, making her 110 years old. they say you're the oldest person in massachusetts. alice: who me? kelley: you. alice: i think the lord has forgotten me. kelley:: but no one here in walpole has forgotten alice. her great grandson celebrated the milestone along with alice's great great granddaughters. great grandson: she keeps going. she's happy.

things are good for her. kelley: she loves the patriots. great grandson: she loves the patriots, always talking about them. kelley: that's why "pat, the patriot" surprised alice with a number 110 jersey signed by owner robert kraft. president obama sent well wishes-- >> avid reader, expert knitter. kelley: --along with congrats from the state house. her former boss's son told the crowd she was an amazing bookkeeper well into her 80's. >> there were no computers or excel spreadsheets. she did everything by hand-- meticulous, accurate, and just done. kelley: and that hard work, alice says, is the key to her longevity. what's your advice to young people? alice: work hard. enjoy yourself. happy birthday to you a a

tuthill, wcvb, newscenter 5. antoinette: i love her reaction. me? i'm the oldest western? doug: that can't be right. antoinette: no way. doug: god bless her. what a spirit. i think that's what keeps her young is her spirit. millions of people ride each year, but critics say security isn't good enough. antoinette: ahead at 5:30, "5 investigates" with a look at what's being done on our rail system. plus, we go one-on-one with deval patrick. he shares his thoughts on returning to politics. doug: let's head on outside for a look at the city. it's dark and early out there grab another cup. share with you.

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>> now on newscenter 5's "eyeopener." mike: we're in for a warm weekend at least for december, but i am tracking changes on the way in the form of some wintery weather. >> a lot of flash, a lot of bang, and now the house is on fire. doug: an everett home erupts in flames after an intense standoff. the neighborhood in shock as police try to figure out why the suspect set it ablaze. antoinette: a phone call from outer space? an "out of this world" mistake getting plenty of attention this morning. >> you're watching wcvb, boston's news leader. good morning! this is newscenter 5's "eyeopener." doug: good morning. happy saturday, the day after christmas. i hope you had a wonderful one. i'm doug meehan. antoinette: and i'm antoinette

in for danielle this morning. and, gosh, it will be so freezing. compared to the last few days, okay. doug: bundle up. mike: we were talking about this earlier. you enjoyed yesterday a bit more even though it was cooler but the sun was out. antoinette: the sun was out and it's nice. mike: the sun angle is so much low this time of year. right now there's a little, thin overdeck out there. that will be working its way through here this morning. this afternoon we get more sunshine in here but don't get too used to it because i have a new deck of clouds coming in as we head towards the oon. there's a lot of disturbance to the west. i'll be talking about wintery weather this forecast. that doesn't happen until tuesday. before we get to it, we've got rain. tomorrow morning it looks like it will be raining steadily. the temperatures right now. we're talking about 40's and a few 30's showing up out there. overall really nice. if those were day-time highs those would be way above normal for this time of year.

the 40's seem cool to us. we have the clearing skies going on. watch how that cloud cover starts moving in here as we tonight. after midnight, we do get the rain coming in here. so high temperatures are not going to budge much. maybe up a couple of degrees today. they'll hold pretty steady as we head through the day today. what happens? partly cloudy skies this morning. this afternoon partly sunny skies. about 48 degrees for a high temperature. mostly cloudy skies to finish off the day. then we start to talk about the cold air coming in. you see, tomorrow is warm enough i'm talking about rain. but then on monday, high temperature 38. tuesday only 38. and a little storm system coming through here monday night into tuesday. looks like we could see wintery mix on tuesday morning. i'll have much more details on what you can expect on tuesday. all that coming up in a few moments. doug: mike, thank you. now to the stories we're following right now on the eye. antoinette: a milford couple is dead, found in their home on christmas day. two other people were taken out of the prospect heights duplex and treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.

not suspected. doug: right now an incident at the mall in concord, new hampshire, is under investigation. it started with an alarm call last night. that's when police found part of the glass door at the bon ton department door shattered. police say there is no danger to the public. antoinette: seven people are hurt after a car slammed into a hayride in maine. this is a picture from the scene in waterville. the car involved has massachusetts plates, but we have no information on the driver. doug: damage reports are coming in after a powerful earthquake strikes parts of pakistan and afghanistan. dozens of people are injured mostly by falling debris. the 6.2 magnitude quake was centered near the afghanistan border. right now an everett man is in custody after setting off a wild christmas day scene in his neighborhood. antoinette: the eyeopener's frank holland with the dramatic video. frank? frank: antoinette and doug, investigators are still trying to figure out how and why this started.

when 53-year-old mark lavoine emerged from his summer street home after five long hours of coaxing by police. police say he was arguing with officers as he did, and they moved fast to take him down. but it didn't end there. >> a lot of flash and a lot bang. yeah, the house was on fire. >> unbelievable. frank: it's not clear why lavoine's house exploded in flames, but the fire just devoured the home. firefighters scrambled and no one was hurt. lavoine is facing a number of charges this morning. doug? doug: all righty, frank, thank you. a mother and daughter are facing assault charges after being arrested on christmas morning. barnstable police say it started when officers showed up at their home to take leah sylvia into custody for a stabbing. that's when her mother, roxanne, allegedly fought with police and hit one officer with a frying pan. both women were arrested and are due in court on monday.

former florida governor jeb bush is getting ready for a big ad blitz. "the herald" reports the g.o.p. hopeful has reserved more than $14 million in ad time in both new hampshire and massachusetts. that includes two super bowl spots right before the crucial granite state primary. bush has been trailing badly in recent polls. here in the bay state 2016 could be the biggest year for ballot questions in 15 years. six petitions are eligible to go before voters in november including legalizing marijuana, expanded gambling and raising the cap on charter schools. they still need approval from lawmakers to make it on the ballot. with new year's eve less than a week away, more americans may be feeling good about leaving 2015 behind. a new associated press poll finds the most important events to americans this past year were-- mass shootings, including the ones in california, south

that's followed by the paris isis. the survey finds only 17% believe this past year was better for the united states than the one before. doug: one thing people in massachusetts are optimistic about-- the patriots if the team can get past all the injuries. yesterday, julian edelman was officially declared doubtful for sunday's game. danny amendola and seven others they also made a few roster moves. the pats cut tight end asante cleveland and, in his place, they picked up defensive back troy hill. but the cornerback matchup that everyone is looking forward to has to be the veteran darelle revis versus the student malcolm butler. stats don't tell the full story when it comes to defense, but malcolm butler looks pretty good next to darrelle revis this season. 60 combined tackles and two interceptions for the young pro-bowler, but the patriots will have a tough time with revis on the other side of the football. but let's be real. the jets will also have their hands full with a healthy gronk.

injury, he's exploded for 141 yards and two touchdowns. >> couldn't cover him. it doesn't matter. we have to mix it up. we have to play our game. it's not about gronk. it's about us trying to beat the team. >> the whole year they've had a very solid defense. they were very solid the last time we played them. very competitive. very toughment they're physical. we've got to expect that again. they're a very solid unit. we have to be prepared. things. the patriots beat the jets by a foxboro and have beaten their afc east rivals 8 of the last 9 kick-off for tomorrow showdown is at 1:00 p.m. antoinette: a wrong number all the way from the international space station. british astronaut tim peeke has only been on board for a few weeks, so he's still getting used to the equipment. he says he misdialed when he

tweeting: "i'd like to apologize to the lady i just called by mistake saying, hello is this planet earth? not a prank call. just a wrong number." oh, my goodness. could you imagine. she's like what? excuse me. you're calling from where? doug: i'm just glad they didn't call collect. will you accept the call from space? no, thanks. a vulnerable security target across the northeast. antoinette: "5 investigates" what's being done to keep you safe on the rails. and raging wildfires in australia. the destruction as these flames force thousands from their homes, doug: take a look at this. a police officer on patrol in louisiana forced to flee his car as an owl takes over. who?

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doug: welcome back. the time is 5:41. and time for some of the stories making economic headlines this saturday. antoinette: frank is back with a disappointing people for some christmas, frank. frank: doug and antoinette, i think disappointment is probably putting it lightly. many people expecting presents handled by fed-ex to arrive or

fedex says severe weather caused the delays. say just how many packages are the hashtag "fed-ex-fail" was trending on twitter yesterday. u.p.s. had a similar problem in 2013, but not this year. holiday sales are up in the bay state this year. deep discounts and big sales that began last month are expected to continue at least until new years. there is good news and bad news. a 6.5 percent sales increase originally projected for mom-and-pop stores turned out to be too optimistic. but holiday sales for massachusetts still appear to be higher the national average of 3.7 percent. in the week ahead, wall street will likely be relatively quiet during the final week of the year. the rise in interest rates is expected to give a boost to frank holland, wcvb, newscenter five. doug: all righty, frank, thank you. "5 investigates" looking into potential terrorists targets. recent attacks in california and paris have everyone talking about security in public places and with transportation.

throughout the northeast overlooked? here's investigative reporter karen anderson. karen: it's just before sunrise already a reminder of the threat of terrorism. armed homeland security police officers are here making an unannounced inspection. they're part of a t.s.a. v.i.p.r. team which stands for visual intermodal prevention and response. working with amtrak police and their bomb-sniffing dogs, looking for suspicious behavior, explosives, each one carrying a radiation detector. how likely is it that there will be a terrorist attack here in the united states on a train? sean burke: we have to expect it. you know, that's the bottom line. karen: sean burke is head of the center for resilient studies at northeastern and a former homeland security official. train attacks are happening overseas. he says there's nothing in place to guarantee it won't happen here. sean burke: passenger rail

populated areas. a system that is vulnerable really, you know, from the beginning of its trip to the end of its trip. karen: there's proof of that vulnerability right here at south station. open access everywhere. no bag checks for these passengers. they won't have to present an i.d., just a ticket before they board. the entire amtrak system encompasses more than 21,000 miles of unprotected tracks. and the rail line between boston and washington, d.c., the northeast corridor, carries the majority of amtrak's passengers. congressman lynch: if the terrorists were trying to disrupt and, quote, terrorize, that would be a prime target of those individuals. karen: congressman steven lynch terrorist attacks on trains since 9/11. congressman: when you see the rail attacks in france or russia or japan or spain or britain, that should be a message to us.

times as many people ride the rail system as fly in airplanes every year nationwide. experts say if you try to install the same type of airport-style security and screening in train stations, it would bring the entire rail system to a screeching halt. but in the meantime solutions may not be easy. sean burke: we need our security officials to be frank, our homeland security, our first responders. they're not always going to be able to keep us safe. karen: like on the train in france this summer when it took the courageous acts of three american passengers to subdue an armed terrorist. sean burke: they are the first line of defense. it's everyday citizens who are inevitably going to be the first responders. karen: amtrak partners with dozens of law enforcement agencies and even employs two of their own intelligence analysts. now congressman lynch tells us he's planning to host a rail security summit in boston early next year. karen anderson, "5

>> now your storm team 5 forecast with meterologist mike wankum. mike: well, we know it's been warm for the month of december. these numbers are amazing. on record. number one right now 2006. you'll see the average temperature was 41 degrees. notice how the separation between first and second or first and third. a degree. now. we have the warmest december on record by almost six degrees. this is pretty amazing stuff so even though i've got cool temperatures coming in, i'm pretty confident this is going to go down as one of the warmest decembers on record. i think we're going to smash all of the previous numbers. 46 degrees right now. the wind is out of the north at just about nine miles per hour. it's relatively mild morning out there. we have had a new wave of cool air come through. kind of displacing all of our warm, mild air down to the south. along this leading edge there have been a few scattered showers overnight. most of those off shore. the south coast can pick up a few sprinkles out of the whole

what we're waiting for now is the cloud cover to thin out that's out there. here are your temperatures as you step outside. where the skies have cleared away a little bit more, keys down to 34. jaffrey 39. fitchburg at 37. get into the city though and still holding on to 46. look throughout much of the south shore toward the cape we're seeing readings very close to the 50-degree mark. that cloud cover acts like a blanket overnight. it kept us very warm. now that that cloud cover is thinning out that's why the temperatures will start dropping off. i think your temperatures today are going to hold pretty steady all day today. may go up a couple of degrees but not by much. here's what the map looks like at 4:00 this afternoon. after a day of sunshine, the cloud cover rolls back in. and that sets us up for some rain after midnight tonight. i will point out, it is going to be in the form of rain because the temperature s are going to be too warm to talk about any snow or ice. however on tuesday morning, we may be talking about a wintery mix into the morning hours. 3:00 in the morning some showers start to break off to the west. by this time tomorrow morning it

that threat will carry until 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning. after that, hit-or-miss showers tomorrow. temperatures won't be bad. i think without the sunshine it will feel a little bit worse tomorrow than what it did today. again just scattered showers. monday by the way we do get back into plenty of sunshine on about. let me show you what is going to happen. monday into tuesday. tomorrow you talked about rain in the morning and showers in the afternoon and 54 degrees but then as we get towards monday it there. we've got a new system coming in from the wevment here's what will happen. as we head through the overnight hours we start to get a wintery mix going on. this is 8:00 tuesday morning we're talking about the wintery mix here perhaps turning into a little bit of snow. then as the day goes on, the warm air tries to work its way in. especially near the coast. it will change over to rain. not a big event. remember, we've had nothing to talk about so far. how much snow are we talking about? this is our computer models. i thrill it has the right trend. not much around here. as you look toward the north we

on. in ski country they may be getting much-needed snow up in that area. as far as our concern, i would say tuesday morning the commute will be on the slow side. after that, i do have moisture coming in again on thursday. that would be new year's eve but this time it looks like it will be warm enough, probably rain at the coast. maybe a little bit of mix as we look inland but overall a bit warmer. watch out for tuesday morning and watch out for the rain tomorrow morning. doug and antoinette. antoinette: we will watch out. thank you. time now is 5:49. some of the other stories we're following right now. doug: dramatic video in from australia where fires have now destroyed more than 100 homes. the wildfire tore through a coastline area popular with tourists. the threat is slightly eased today because of cooler weather, but officials warn the fire could burn for several weeks. there are no reports of any injuries. antoinette: a christmas tragedy in california. three children and their mother are dead after their mobile home caught fire on christmas morning. it happened in big bear lake. the father was outside at the time but couldn't get to his family because of the extent of

months old. doug: a lot of cleaning up to do bridge collapses. the truck that tried to drive weight limit. that bridge was built in 1880. no one was hurt. as the first family celebrates christmas in hawaii. president obama and first lady spent part of their day with service members and their families at the marine corps base there. the president told them that americans don't take the work they do to keep the country safe for granted. a close encounter with wildlife for a louisiana police officer. it was supposed to be a routine overnight patrol for officer lance benjamin until he was assaulted by an owl. it flew into his vehicle through an open window and began pecking at his head, scratching his back, and even slapped him a few times with his wings. officer benjamin's defensive driving training was put to good use. >> i tried to keep control of my car.

avoided some trees. finally i was able to stop the get out. car. officer benjamin rolled down the passenger side window, and the owl flew out after about 45 minutes. the officer received a tetanus antibiotics and returned to work the rest of his shift. antoinette: 45 minutes! doug: yeah. computer. antoinette: he was surfing. doug: still ahead this morning, we are going one-on-one with deval patrick. antoinette: the former governor reflects on the time since he's been out of office and shares his thoughts on possibly returning to politics. doug: on beacon hill right now. we'll give you a live look outside. christmas lights out. a couple people out and about. dry roads out there for now. mike wankum says eventually that

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emerge restored. fortified. replenished. emerge everyday with emergen-c packed with b vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good everyday? emerge and see. if you could see your cough, you'd see all the sickness you're spreading. new robitussin cf max severepsoothes and delivers owerful relief of cough, sore throat, stuffy nose and fever. new robitussin cf max severe. because it's never just a cough. mike: i have rain in the midnight. otherwise most of today is not looking too bad. one thing we haven't talked about much is the snow. so far this year we've had zero. no snow to speak of. last year at this time we had 2.9 inches of snow. most of that fell in november. it was very dry last year. typically by this time of year snow.

snow is january 3. do we have more snow to talk about before january 3? i think we do. today as you step outside you're looking at readings in the 40's. we have the rain tomorrow morning. then we watch this system out over the central plains. it's going to start moving this way. looks like late monday night near tuesday morning we will be talking about some snow into this forecast. that lifts its way to this area. by the way it does look like it will be warm enough that it will probably start as snow and change over to mix or ice as we head through the afternoon. tuesday is not looking very pleasant. monday and sunday don't look bad. temperaturewise it will be 54 degrees. down the road, we have more sunshine and temperatures back into the 40's. doug and antoinette. doug: thank you, mike. it's been almost a year since deval patrick left office. last week, the former governor broke his months of silence, talking about his new life and defending his record. antoinette: he also told newscenter 5's janet wu whether he'd consider being vice

janet: it's been almost a year since he walked down these stairs. deval patrick: i have more i now have to go through security at the airports. there's some downsides. (laughs) janet: patrick is now raising money for a new investment fund at bain capitol to grow businesses with financial and he was surprised when asked if he feels any responsibilities the mbta since his departure. his predecessor has never mentioned patrick's name, but the implications are unquestionable. it's probably time for the governor to take responsibility well. janet: do you feel any guilt that you should have left the agencies in better shape than you did? patrick: i feel that after stewarding the commonwealth through the worse recession in living memory to a 25-year high in employment that we did a lot to make the commonwealth stronger. janet: patrick said he was dismayed when the "t" system failed last winter but not

it's an old system in need of investments and you know, we knew that. and you know, we tried to make new investments in the system. janet: and you got a big tax hike to help you with that as well. patrick: we got a big tax hike at the end in the last few months. janet: patrick said he misses political life but only a little. there's very loud mutterings about hillary clinton possibly putting you on the short list for v.p. if she gets the nomination. any interest if that opportunity ever came up? patrick: no. janet: none? patrick: no. but would the former governor say no if asked to be on the short list. he doesn't answer that definitively saying right now his only priority is building his new business at bain. janet wu, wcvb, newscenter 5. antoinette: we will see what happens. ahead at 6:00, she's 110 years young. doug: you'll meet the bay state's oldest resident and one of the patriots' most loyal fans.

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