emily: good morning. it' s friday, january 8th. i' m emily riemer. randy: i' m randy price. stories we' re following right now on the eyeopener -- a chemical plant shut down after a dangerous explosion. the problems keeping investigators at bay. emily: a road-rage incident turns violent in braintree. the search now for a stabbing suspect. randy: breaking overnight -- market concerns after another volatile day overseas. the impact it could have here. emily: we want to start with cindy. wet weather heading our way. cindy: we have some wet weather for the second half of the weekend. 30 degrees with a light

beverly in the mid 20' s right now. some cold pockets in the teens in places like bedford. norwood, 19. we' re running at her above the freezing mark at the cape. we have low cloudiness starting to develop. high pressure to our north starts to increase. that is going to bring in more clouds as the day wears on. we are clouding up to noon time and the afternoon. deeper into the afternoon, one or two patches of drizzle may develop. temperatures near 40 degrees this afternoon. concern for freezing rain overnight. let' s get you out to the roads.

a live look along the pike. let' s go to the maps. some overnight construction on the expressway northbound to the south bay mall. no major problems along 24. pike looks good this morning and so does route 9 out of framingham. emily: thank you. right now a chemical plant in north andover is shut down after an explosion sent four workers to the hospital. hazmat crews are returning this morning to figure out exactly how it happened. randy: investigators are hoping to get inside the building today, after extensive damage kept them out last night. they do say this appears to be an accident. four burned workers were rushed to the hospital in yesterday' s explosion.

investigators say the workers were handling a chemical which then came into contact with water or air. at the hospital, the victims had to be carefully treated. >> the patients were washed with water before removing any contaminants. randy: investigators say the lab was destroyed. the key now is determining why the chemical came into contact with something it should not have. emily: this is not the first time this plant has come under scrutiny. 5 investigates found a dow employee died in october, 2013, from severe burns and injuries after an explosion in a lab at the plant. investigators found a chemical he was using was exposed to air or a cleaning solution, then exploded. dow was fined $17,000 for safety violations. randy: breaking overnight, market turmoil overseas a day after a massive stock slide in china had investors around the world reeling. today will be another big one to watch. the eyeopener'

is tracking the overnight developments. erika: and finally some improvements in china after the mess on thursday which led the dow to close down nearly 400 points. the shanghai composite index closing 2% higher. right now u.s. stock futures are sharply higher. fears over weaker demand in chinese is what' s been reflected in trading on wall street. as for the average american, experts say don' t sell or change your 401(k) in a panic. also consider this as an opportunity to buy stocks at a discount. jonathan: if there are stocks out there that you have been following over time, that in your in opinion have been too expensive for you to purchase, this might be the time to step in. erika: on the brighter side, take advantage of low oil prices. also today, december' s job report comes out. most economists are optimistic forecasting thousands of new jobs. emily: thank you. other stories we' re following right now -- two people are being held in the u.s. on terror-related charges.

is charged with lying to federal investigators about his travels to fight in that country. in texas, a 24-year-old man was indicted on three charges of trying to provide material support to isis. the arrests are believed to be connected. randy: a bill is expected to be filed today to strip bill cosby of his medal of freedom. an arizona congressman says sexual allegations against the comedian disqualify him for the highest u.s. civilian honor. the legislation calls for the president to revoke the medal, which cosby received in 2002. it would also bring criminal penalties against anyone displaying the medal after revocation. emily: right now an attacker is on the run after stabbing a driver in a case of road rage. the eyeopener' s antoinette antonio is live in braintree with what we know at this hour. antoinette: those witnesses providing clues about what happened here. we talked to police overnight,

looking for that suspect. right now the victim is in the hospital with serious injuries. this all unfolded on granite street at the height of the evening rush. police say it' s not clear what started it, but both drivers got out of their cars and started to fight. that' s when a 30-year-old randolph man was stabbed several times. >> we just saw the guy on the ground. they try pulling it out and they were screaming. antoinette: the suspect took off, but police say witnesses did get a look at his car, and that should help. they' re not releasing that description of that vehicle but , as soon as we get new information, we will pass it along. antoinette antonio, newscenter 5. randy: thank you. 5 investigates learning a man

essex county sheriff' s department. sam dunn had been civilly committed and was sent to a treatment center in bridgewater. dunn had to be kept in the transport van yesterday because the center was on lockdown due to a disturbance. sources tell 5 investigates dunn was inside the van for more than two hours when the essex county transport officers noticed he was in distress. a sheriff' s spokesperson tells us the officers performed cpr, but dunn died at the hospital. emily: new this morning, trustees at an embattled rhode island boarding school say there will be a new investigation into sex-abuse cases. dozens of former students came forward this week saying they were sexually assaulted at st. george' s school in the 1970' s and 1980' s. after weeks of public pressure, the school will appoint a new independent investigator to oversee the investigation. the board hoping to appoint someone next week. 4:37 right now. president obama opening his new

randy: the opposition at a town hall event. and the plans for the president today. keeping a positive attitude. how the fiance of a boston secret service agent says the couple is coping with tragedy. erika? erika: following breaking news overnight. market chaos overseas taking an impact on stocks here. all eyes will be on wall street this morning after a volatile day of trading in china. right now, stock futures are up after the dow plunged nearly 400 points at yesterday' s close. cindy: clouds moving in but the

randy: the fiancee of a secret service agent from boston injured in a deadly crash is talking for the first time about his recovery. garrett fitzgerald' s life changed instantly in last week' s crash. s in intensive care at mass general, unable to feel or move from the chest down. but his fiancee says that hasn' t affected his spirit or his resolve to return to the job he loves. joan lyall says garrett is making progress every day. the immediate goal is to get out of intensive care and into a spinal injury rehab program. she says neither of them are angry. they are just focused on garrett' s recovery. >> i want people to see this and to hug their loved ones and to

women who protect us. emily: the young couple had moved to boston in september with plans for a wedding in march. new dangers lurking in your takeout. randy: the latest warning from the fda about pizza. the super bowl halftime show is getting an upgrade. the superstar performer who will

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randy: the weekend. emily: did you feel like it was cold? randy: i am getting used to it. >> i got it. >> the only well to tell january. cindy: we' ve got some changes coming in. hope you got your vitamin d. here come the clouds. areas of drizzle over the next 24 hours. there could be a few icy spots. so we' re watching for that. sunday is the wetter day of the weekend. we do get up to the mid 50' s in boston, which would be a record for the day. we are flirting with these numbers. it is going to be worn by the

worcester, 29. boston, 30. on the cape, the wind is not coming in off the water. not dealing with any fog just yet. the could be some icy spots. notice the wind is coming in off the water in southeastern massachusetts. that is why the temperatures are coming up pretty quickly. the air around that high is coming in off the gulf of maine. low clouds picking up that moisture. as you go through the next few hours, the clouds are going to start to thicken up. 8:00 this morning, over freezing in boston. most of the day over 30, close

s throughout the entire day today. through lunchtime the clouds become more widespread. we could find some patchy areas of drizzle. it could become more widespread, especially into this evening. freezing. near the interior, barely above the freezing mark. that is where there could be some freezing drizzle. it is patchy and light. the rest of your saturday features a lot of clouds, but nothing all that eventful. temperatures on saturday will mostly be in the 40' s. temperatures from the pike southward likely getting into

it does turn quite wet on sunday with heavier rain coming in. look at the yellows and oranges. those are some heavier downpours. we' re talking about wind gusts to around 40 miles per hour, over an inch of rain any chance of snow tuesday night into wednesday. we' ll keep watching it for you. olessa: one problem spot and you can see the flashing lights. the ramp to marcy boulevard is close for an accident. expect a bit of a delay until that clears. there is some overnight construction left over. so far doing ok on128 with construction.

so far into boston. trains and buses expected to start on schedule. randy: today the president will talk to grass-roots gun-control activists, as he continues a week-long push on the issue. at a town-hall meeting in virginia last night, he fielded questions from supporters and opponents. one woman, who was raped in college, says the president' s plan makes her family less safe, because she claims it' s now more difficult to get a gun. president obama: you want to make sure if he gets released, that he now can' t do what he did to you to somebody else. it is going to be easier for us to prevent him from getting a gun if there is a strong background system in place. randy: the widow of sniper chris kyle also spoke. she pointed out that people will still commit gun crimes, even with new laws in place.

his new order will reduce the number of criminals getting their hands on guns. emily: outspoken maine governor paul lepage is in hot water again for comments some are calling racist. the governor making claims against drug dealers from out of state. >> these are guys named shifty that come to connecticut and new york. they sell their heroine and go back home. half the time they impregnate a young,wh white girl before they leave. emily: a spokesman for lepage says the remarks were not about race, but about the emotional toll drugs have on children. in a statement, he said, "race is irrelevant. what is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers." the comments caused a lot of backlash. hillary clinton' s campaign released a statement saying they are offensive, hurtful, and

randy: big shake-up in the boston television market. nbc is pulling the plug on its affiliation with whdh, channel 7. whdh has been the home of nbc programming in boston for more than 20 years. but nbc network wants to own and operate its own station, moving programming to wneu tv, a new hampshire station that currently broadcasts telemundo. for those who watch with an antenna, they will be watching on a new channel that may not have the same amount of coverage. >> we have to make sure that the "today" show and jimmy fallon and football continues to be on free, over the year television on every television. randy: whdh owner ed ansin says he' ll fight nbc in court. the switch over would take place in january, 2017.

headlines. massachusetts, if passed, could hike the price of eggs. a controversial animal welfare question will appear on the november ballot. it' s backed by a coalition of humane groups, and would mandate that all eggs sold in massachusetts come from cage-free hens. the eggs could cost anywhere from 12 cents more per dozen to 80 cents more. united airlines is slapped with a fine over its treatment of passengers with disabilities. the government fined the airline $2.7 million for violating rules aimed at protecting those passengers. united reported a significant increase in disability-related complaints in 2014. the company also being fined for five lengthy delays in which passengers were kept on the tarmac. a check of your trending stories on the eye. a new warning from the fda. randy: it could have you thinking twice about that take-out pizza. the food and drug administration

"reasonable certainty" that chemicals found in pizza boxes are safe for people. the fda is banning three chemicals that repel grease and moisture in the boxes. emily: el nino storms trigger a massive rockslide in yosemite national park. that forced the closure of interstate 140 below the park' s entrance. it' s unclear if that road will reopen today, inconveniencing some visitors. people wanting to go into the park must have chains in their vehicles for certain areas. randy: the super bowl halftime show has a new super star. beyonce, who headlined the 2013 halftime show, will join the band coldplay on the stage for super bowl 50. that' s february 7th at levi' s stadium in california. the duo recently collaborated on coldplay' s new album "a head full of dreams." three fishermen getting a little too close to the action in australia. emily: their close call, and the video to prove it. then new on the eyeopener at 5:00 -- snacking the right way.

down in the new year. starting sunday morning there are even more chances to catch the weekend eyeopener team. join antoinette, doug, danielle, and frank from 5:00 to 7:00 a.m. followed by " gma." then another round of the eyeopener from 8:00 to 9:00. followed by "this week with george stephanopoulos." and if you sleep in, catch the

emily: 4:56. time for your early "news to go." randy: fire investigators are returning this morning to the site of an explosion, at a chemical plant in north andover. four workers are suffering critical injuries after yesterday' s explosion. they were handling a chemical

either air or water, causing the burst. investigators say it appears to be an accident. emily: a new bedford man accused in the murder of a baby in his care has been sentenced to life in prison. ethen harrison was sentenced yesterday with the possibility of parole after 15 years. he was convicted of second-degree murder of a 9-month-old girl he was babysitting in january, 2013. he was dating the baby' s mother at the time. the sentencing hearing for the danvers teen accused of murdering his teacher has been postponed until february. 16-year-old philip chism was convicted in the murder and rape of colleen ritzer two years ago. sentencing was pushed back to february 26th after a probation officer says she was denied access to materials needed to conduct a pre-sentencing investigation. randy: two taunton men are facing charges they stole keys from local gyms and robbed cars in the parking lot. police say stepbrothers john fisher and john root hit several towns. they are also accused of using a

at a target in stoughton. emily: a close call for a fisherman in australia. you can see the three men, struggling to reel in a marlin when it flies out of the water and onto their boat, nearly impaling one of them. the men say it happened so fast, they barely had time to react. bunkley nobody had a single scratch. they had some pretty cool video. "it was 100 feet long." they had the video to prove it. cindy: we haven' t had a lot of snow this winter just yet. this is the anniversary of a big storm. 20 years ago. you can see the snow totals, very impressive. boston had a foot and a half.

this was a big storm 20 years ago on this day. we' re still telling up the numbers. under an inch so far in boston. last year winter did not kick in until the end of january and then it barely even stopped. the temperatures are pretty chilly right now, running in the teens. we' re above freezing plymouth down to the cape. we are starting to bring in some low-level clouds. this is the main storm we are watching into the weekend. the temperatures are going to come up pretty significantly on sunday, as we jump into the 50' s.

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