announcer: now on newscenter 5 eyeopener. antoinette: breaking overnight, former cuban leader fidel castro dies. the reaction rornd the world. doug: a woman his by a car on a busy street. her injuries and the investigation. antoinette: vandalism church. the search for a suspect right now. announcer: you're watching wcvb, boston's news leader. good morning. this is newscenter 5's eyeopener. doug: we continue to follow breaking news. former cuban president is dead, castro dead at the age of 90 triggering celebrations in miami's little havana overnight. the crowds still on the street

was a cruel dictator. antoinette: live pictures from havana where it has been very solemn overnight. good morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. just after 8:00 on this saturday, november 26. i'm antoinette antonio. doug: i'm doug meehan. we will have more on fidel castro's mark on the world in a moment. first we want to get to kelly ann who might -- what is behind you? kelly ann: that would be the fog we're seeing for this morning. it is dense in spots. this is downtown boston where we're ll seeing the buildings at this point. that fog is something that's rather strong, especially along the coastline. so you want to be careful with your travels for the next hour or two. that fog will eventually give way to gray skies for this afternoon. temperatures right now in the upper 30's. that's the case for much of our region. it's all about that fog as we are seeing visibilities significantly below that 1/4 mile mark, especially for downtown boston. that continues onto the north shore and really through the new

see a dense fog advisory in effect. as we move throughout the forecast today, we're keeping an eye on the potential for a few showers. right now, we're in the clear, but we do have a few showers barely skirting by as we move on the eastern portions of the cape and island and tracking what's next with showers to the west in the pipeline. doug and antoinette, i'll have a look at the track. doug: kelly ann, thank you. breaking news, the world reacting this morning to the death of former cuban president fidel castro. antoinette: castro's cuba's current president, raul castro, announcing his brother's death saying he will be cremated this morning. a funeral will be held sunday, december 4, followed by a period of public mourning. fidel castro was one of the longest serving heads of state in cuba. he was self-appointed president for life, banning free speech, freedom of assembly as well as a free press. he's responsible for thousands of executions and incarcerations of political opponents.

on january 1, new year's day, back in 1959. overthrowing a dictatorship that had been in power for a quarter of a century, promising cuba's citizens a new future, sharing the country's wealth with its poorest citizens. april 16, 1961, castro declares cuba a socialist state. what would follow? the bay of pigs, washington's ban on all cuban imports, and decades later, the fall of the soviet union crippling the country's economy. he years, formally resigning on february 19, 2008, giving power to his brother raul. his resignation only coming after he underwent intestinal surgery tied to a still unknown health issue. he would not be seen in public for four years. antoinette: as you know, we are entering a new era in cuba-u.s. relations. in march, president obama became the first sitting u.s. president to visit the communist nation in

cuba in 2014, ending more than 50 years of tensions. fidel castro, a critic of these recent changes. castro commenting on president obama's trip to the country saying in a letter to state media, we don't need the empire to give us any presents. president obama did not meet with fidel castro during that visit. he did, however, meet with raul castro several times. doug: meanwhile, news of castro's death triggering this is in little havana. people filling the streets, waving flags and dancing. miami, as you know, has a large cuban population. continuing coverage of this morning's breaking news as it develops here on the eyeopener and count on the wcvb app for the latest information. and if you're just joining us now, longtime cuban leader fidel

route 9 in framingham sending a pedestrian to the hospital. the eyeopener's julie loncich explains what happens and has a warning for those who live in that area. reporter: police say the 50-year-old woman had left the walgreens when she attempted to cross busy route 9 in framingham just before 6:00. police say the framingham woman had an armful of groceries when she was hit by this honda accord. pulling out and driving around. we were trying to figure out what was going. then i realized there was a person on the ground. reporter: the victim was conscious but rushed to u-mass memorial, where doctors determined she sustained a skull fracture. police say her injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. residents in a nearby apartment building say pedestrians frequently attempt to beat the traffic here. >> a lot of people do cross over when it's red, a lot. it's sad. it's sad to hear. it's very sad to hear. reporter: the driver remained on scene. he is cooperative.

face any charges. the victim's name is being withheld. in framingham, julie loncich, wcvb newscenter 5. antoinette: an investigation underway after a rock outside a school in harvard, massachusetts, has been vandalized. that rock at the broomfield school was covered with swastikas as well as racist, sexist and homophobic slurs. it was discovered yesterday morning. according to the "lowell sun," one of the swastikas is covering the star of david. a report was filed with police, d they plan to take action, intensifying efforts to include tolerance in the school's curriculum. doug: st. anthony's shrine is asking for the public's help to catch a vandalism suspect. the shrine says this is that suspect. it's believed he vandalized the first floor and stole sound equipment and keys. a kiosk ripped off the wall. the crime happening early yesterday morning between 4:00 and 6:00. anybody with information is being asked to contact boston

caught on camera. this morning, police in newton have charged this man they say robbed a gas station last week. 33-year-old matthew skinner from newton walked into police headquarters yesterday morning turning himself in. the surveillance video you're watching shows him storming into that gulf station armed with a long gun. nobody was hurt. friends are reacting this morning to the death of a young man in a wrong-way crash on thanksgiving morning. state police say james keating was going north in the southbound lanes of 495 in plainville when he crashed into an s.u.v. the 22-year-old from norton died. he was a football player at bridgewater state. childhood friends are remembering the young man they knew so well. >> he always had a smile on his face. he was always having fun. i couldn't say anything bad if i tried. i feel horrible for his family at a time like this. antoinette: the other driver, a woman from barnstable, was taken to rhode island hospital with serious injuries. doug: big additions to

announcing two more names to his administration. donald mcgahn is named white house counsel. he'll help separate trump's duties as president from his global businesses, trump telling the "new york times" he can do both all at once. trump naming k.t. mcfarland as his deputy national security advisor, serving as a former aide to henry kissinger. those appointments come amid internal trump team division, the sides split between mitt romney and rudy giuliani as giuliani saying he wouldn't discuss the selection. jill stein getting her wish, a recount in wisconsin. the green party candidate made the request after raising more than $5 million. her campaign says it plans to file for recounts in pennsylvania and michigan as well. the deadline to file in pennsylvania is monday. hillary clinton is behind in those three states by a combined 103,000 votes.

ignored, all of them centered around that driver who was behind the wheel in a fatal school bus crash in tennessee. police say johnthony walker was speeding when he crashed the bus, killing six children earlier this week. both students and administrators had raised concerns about him in the weeks before that crash. records released by the school district showing several complaints about his erratic driving. one student writing earlier this month, quote, we nd charges of vehicular homicide. doug: 8:09 right now. can you hear it? sigh of relief from patriots nation. tom brady returning to the practice field on friday. he missed practice two days following that win in san francisco. while he was back out there yesterday, he is still listed as questionable for his potential 200th win. but who's counting? coach belichick says brady will be listed on that injury report tomorrow. antoinette: maybe he just needed

doug: giselle is an excellent cook. brady doing the cooking. never mind. i did. i watched. i looked. doug: a special request for jetblue. antoinette: state lawmakers asking the company to make their planes more quiet. we'll have the response right now from the airline. doug: an abducted mother reunited with her family and this morning we're hearing from that family as the search for the suspects continue. kelly ann? kelly ann: another cool day in store for us. where will the rain fall? a look at the forecast coming up. antoinette: if you're just waking up this morning, we are following that breaking news coming out of cuba this morning. former leader fidel castro is dead. this photo, the last public image of castro when he met with the president of vietnam on november 15. continuing coverage on air,

kelly ann: your 12-hour forecast, starting near 40 we continue through the afternoon. clouds are thick. but the shower chances are looking scant. so don't be surprised if you miss out on that rain completely, because at this point a lot of that rain will stay confined well off to the coast and really as we move down south as well. those clouds will stick around until we clear tomorrow morning. clouds are in place. rainfall mainly tracking into the cape and islands, and we're

massachusetts, which as it initially approaches will move in cool enough where we could see snow mixing in for the highest mountains of the berkshires. not going to see that for much of the region. as that pushes eastward, that initial batch of rainfall will weakens. so we're seeing a few spot showers trying to make their way through the afternoon. much of the region seeing a lot of dry opportunities today despite those heavy clouds that are sticking around. moving into the forecast tonight, it's mainly dry. we do eventuall they push off the coast. that means the breeze will kick off and we'll see temperatures stay rather cool and still in the 40's. 48-degree high expected for boston. mid 40's through much of the coast as we move inland, though, a few upper 30's can't be ruled out with pittsfield about 39 degrees. seven-day forecast is looking cool through the rest of the weekend. we're moving toward next week

we have a jet pattern that's allowing for warm air to push in from the south, so warming us for the midweek, but there's a price to pay, and that price will be the chance of showers moving in by late tuesday evening, sticking around through much of the late portion of the seven-day forecast. those showers stick around with temperatures in the 50's, but that also means that we're kicking off the month of december at 54 degrees on thursday. so, doug and antoinette, very strange pattern. eventually we'll dry out by next friday. thank you. time is 8:18. other stories we're tracking, state lawmakers with a special request for jetblue. doug: this is all over noise complaints. members of the state's congressional delegation asking jetblue in install the older planes with noise reducing equipment. the hope being the descent into logan would be less disruptive. jetblue will respond after a

necessary changes. antoinette: a warning for patients of a massachusetts hospital. personal information of more than 1700 patients of berkshire medical center have been compromised. the information was on thumb drives found and recovered from a former employee of an outside service vendor. that vendor based in delaware says there's no indication the personal data was misused. the information did not include social security numbers or any insurance information. doug: right now, a police with a skateboard and this is no joke. the officer is listed in critical condition with traumatic head injuries. the suspect was arrested and according to police has a lengthy criminal history. the police chief saying in a statement that his thoughts and prayers are with that officer's family. he is a husband and a father of two. announcer: now here's josh brogadir with sportscenter 5 powered by xfinity. josh: two teams, one day, but two losses at the garden.

b's not the start they wanted. sam bennett with a rush to the net. his fifth goal of the season. 1-0 flames in the first. bruins haven't been able to score many goals of late, but there's a commotion in front. david pasternak going to get his 12th goal of the season ties it 1-1 in the third. bruins with a chance. back to the scoring, but the wrong team. alex chiasson past anton 2-1 final. bruins lose their third straight and four of five. celtics hosting the spurs. close game in the fourth quarter. kawhi leonard the spin through the parking lot for two. spurs lead 100-94. then later in the fourth, isaiah thomas has really been the m.v.p. of this team, i think. from the corner, he had 24 points. three of them here. celtics within three. but patty mills all on his own. the d wasn't there at the very end.

brady back on the field yesterday after missing two straight practices. patriots/jets on sunday. i'm josh brogadir. have a great day! doug: all right. josh, thank you. this morning's 5 for good, the tireless efforts of a newton-based group reaching the most remote parts of haiti. antoinette: as erika tarantal explains, thousands are still waiting for the first signs of help after hurricane matthew. erika: lines out the door. so many sick, hu this is the scene every day at st. boniface hospital two months since hurricane matthew. >> most of the time we have over 500 patients in our waiting room. erika: the doctor updating us from the only fully functioning hospital in the hardest hit southern peninsula. one pressing fear -- cholera. the storm tore apart haiti's

water is scarce. >> you go to a village and they just have rain water. >> people hear haiti and disaster and have heard it before. erika: connor lived in haiti through the 2007 earthquake. heading up st. boniface, he implores people to pay attention, saying the tragedies are similar in scope. >> the same people were affected, 1.5 million pe the big difference is the ongoing issue people are confronting. over 90% of crops are destroyed. it's in a much more rural, isolated part of the country. and so the devastation is definitely different from the earthquake, but in many ways comparable in terms of a long-term effect. erika: to address this, st. boniface has gone mobile to reach the desperate population. already, they've vaccinated some

shapiro says they're opening a new surgery center but the ability to do this life-saving work hinges on others. >> in my opinion, for our organization, this is our largest challenge. we've gotten a lot of support and will need more support from those in the boston area to confront that challenge. erika: charities report a fatigue in giving to haiti, but as you can see, the need is greater than ever. st. boniface saying they've never seen demand like this. they're 25% over capacity. erika nt doug: it's amazing when you see those aerials. 8:23 is your time on this saturday morning. no surprise to anybody. boston traffic can be a nightmare. antoinette: yes, some spots are worse than others. the worst bottleneck areas and we're staying on top of breaking news out of cuba this morning. fidel castro is dead at the age of 90. he, of course, was known for ruling with an iron fist. the self-appointed president banning free speech, freedom of

kelly ann: the main concern as you're heading out this morning is some of the dense fog which has developed a problem along the coastline. high travel impacts early this morning. as we head into the late morning, we'll see coastal showers start to develop, weak as they move through, and eventually by tonight, we see more dry opportunities as we clear out heading into your

see temperatures staying relatively mild in the 40's, eventually, doug and antoinette, by next week, we're warming up into the 50's. antoinette: thank you. thousands of people travel on 93 every day and they know traffic can be absolutely horrible. doug: yeah, good times. researchers are agreeing. massachusetts has three of the nation's worth bottlenecks according to a new report from the highway users alliance. the worst is on i-93 from the zakim bridge through the o'neill tunnel to th and quincy also made the list of 50 trouble spots. and the third local trouble spot is on the mass pike going through the fort point channel tunnel. 8:27 is your time. we continue to follow breaking news out of cuba. fidel castro is dead at 90. antoinette: his brother making

announcer: now on newscenter 5 eyeopener -- antoinette: breaking news this morning. cuba's former president fidel castro is dead at the age of 90. details overnight on fidel castro's death. kelly ann: a cloudy start to your weekend but sunshine is on the way, plus the next chance of rain moving in this week. doug: what about the snow? how much will we get this winter? the big question answered by a weather guru. antoinette: the movie reviews this morning from the real-life

announcer: you're watching wcvb, boston's news leader. good morning. this is newscenter 5's eyeopener. >> it's a moment that we've been waiting for for more than 55 yoors. year. we are free at last. doug: the cuban community castro is dead. the longtime leader passing away last night according to his brother. antoinette: and donald trump tweeting fidel castro is dead. thanks for joining us. i'm antoinette antonio. doug: i'm doug meehan along with kelly ann cicalese who has a damp start. fog. kelly ann: travel is troublesome. we had our own trouble trying to get to work. doug: i didn't know i was on 128. kelly ann: it's true.

visibility below 1/4 mile, especially along the coastline. so that is why we definitely have travel advisories for this morning. dense fog advisories, especially as you're moving from the new hampshire sea coast northward. that's where we're seeing some of the worst of the fog right now. that's not to say we're not seeing it elsewhere. downtown boston, light fog with our live look right now. temperatures are now climbing into the upper 30's. so still snowing pretty chilly out there with clouds in is why temperatures are going to struggle to get out of the 40's this afternoon. satellite/radar showing the clouds moving through. showers relatively quiet. a few light showers moving along the cape and islands. we're waiting for the next batch for later today. as you can see, temperatures are staying cool with those clouds in place. doug and antoinette, we top out in the 40's this afternoon, but a warm-up is headed our way soon. antoinette: kelly ann, thank you. now back to that breaking news

castro is dead. doug: castro widely known for ruling with an iron fist under a socialist regime. his brother, current president raul castro, making the announcement overnight on cuban tv from his office. he will be cremated this morning. his funeral scheduled for sunday, december 4, followed by a period of public mourning. fidel castro born in cuba but fled to mexico as a young man only to return in 1956. he led a guerrilla war to take over that country. castro promised democracy but o 50 years as a socialist. that's something he never made an apology for. here's a clip from a 1993 interview with abc news. >> i am not afraid of saying i am a communist. i am honored to be a communist and i hope i will be till the last breath. doug: in 2006, castro temporarily handed over power to his younger brother, raul.

antoinette: news of castro's death triggering celebrations in the streets of miami overnight in the rain. this was the scene in little havana. people filling the streets, waving flags, and dancing. over his nearly half a century reign as cuba's leader, there were more than 600 assassination attempts on castro. his would-be assassins alleged to have plotted to kill him in a variety of ways, i poisoning him, dosing his dive suit with fatal botulism and blowing him up during a speech. he is responsible for thousands of executions and incarcerations of his political opponents. continuing coverage this morning of the breaking news as it develops here on the eyeopener and you can count on the wcvb news app for the latest information. if you are just joining us, longtime cuban leader fidel castro has passed away at the age of 90.

a woman is recovering after she was hit by a car on a busy route 9. antoinette: it happened at 6:00 last night in framingham. the 50-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. the driver did stay at the scene. no charges have been filed. doug: signs of hate on the campus of a school at harvard, massachusetts. a rock outside the broomfield school covered with swastikas as well as racist, sexist and homophobic slurs. according to the "lowell sun," one of the swastikas is covering the star of david. a report was filed with police. antoinette: a roxbury man accused of driving twice the legal limit when he slammed into a state police cruiser. this was the scene on 93 south on the boston-milton line yesterday. the state trooper inside that cruiser was taken to the hospital with neck and back injuries. he is expected to be okay. the driver has been identified as reginald pyram. he is now being held on $5,000 bail. the boston man accused of

before a judge friday. as the eyeopener's todd kazakiewich explains, the suspect says this is all a big mix-up. reporter: 34-year-old vincent weaks of dorchester showing little reaction during his arraignment for injuring four boston police officers with a car. >> he ran over four cops. >> all right. we're getting e.m.s. over there. reporter: the incident happened early wednesday morning on stoughton street in dorchester. police were responding to a call about a person with a gun. weaks was behind the wheel of a officers approached, ordered him out. he allegedly refuses and reaches for the shifter to put the car in drive. officers reach for the shifter too and the keys. >> the officers were reaching in the car. he drove off with the officers hanging onto the car. reporter: weaks allegedly drives into two other officers while he's escaping. all four officers are recovering from minor injuries. weaks' attorney argues police

she indicates that he was at home when the incident allegedly occurred, so it could not be him. reporter: despite the claim that this is a mistaken identity case, some of the strongest evidence comes from weaks' own sister, who heard about what happened here on stoughton street early wednesday morning, and she went to police telling detectives she rented the car involved and she rented it for him. vincent weaks i $75,000 cash bail for this case and being held without bail pending a hearing regarding alleged probation violations for prior convictions on drug and assault charges. todd kazakiewich, wcvb, newscenter 5. doug: todd, thank you. another case of a car being used to assault a boston police officer. this happened at around 3:00 yesterday. officers were called to the report of a domestic disturbance on julian street in dorchester. police say a man was in that car talking to a woman standing on the outside.

one of those officers was struck rolling onto the hood. the suspect, whose name has not been released, was arrested after crashing his car on i-93 northbound near exit 16. the officer was taken to the hospital to get checked out. he's since been released. >> you can't ignore it. we will not let you build this pipeline. doug: standing in solidarity with standing rock, protestors chained themselves to the entrance to the downtown crossing td bank yesterd investment in the dakota access pipeline. td bank is a primary lender for that project on the standing rock reservation. hundreds of demonstrators have been facing off with police in north dakota. three protestors were arrested at the rally in boston. antoinette: the u.s. army corps of engineers plans to take action to close the makeshift campground for the protestors by december 5 according to a letter sent to the leader of the

land will be considered a trespasser and may be prosecuted. the letter also says anyone who stays on the land does so at his or her own risk. they lived through the horrors of the boston marathon bombing. now local heroes are seeing themselves portrayed on the big screen for the first time. doug: the eyeopener's mary saladna has their early reviews of the new "patriots day" movie. >> they say half a million people watch the boston marathon. >> are you behaving yourself? reporter: the early critical reviews for mark wahlberg's "patriots day" are overwhelmingly positive, but it's the opinion of the people who lived the bombing and the aftermath that wahlberg has always cared most about. >> i think mark wahlberg, the director, i think they went to great lengths to really get this down right. reporter: watertown police sergeant jeffery pugliese is

good. he was shadowing me and trying to get my mannerisms down, my speech patterns. reporter: pugliese played a critical role in the watertown shootout. he came face to face with marathon bomber tamerlan tsarnaev. >> we were exchanging gunfire. and, you know, he misses me and i'm hitting him. and it's afterwards, you go back and you look at that house, and you see all the bullet holes. reporter: pugliese says the filmmakers got the watertown scene right. it was explosive and violent. he says other events were also depicted faithfully, from the showdown in the boat to the joint f.b.i./police investigation and the bombing itself. was it hard to watch all that again? >> it was. honestly, it brought back a lot of emotion. reporter: boston police commissioner is also giving the film high marks for respect and sensitivity. >> throughout the whole process, they were concerned how it would play out. >> every inch of this city is

we're shutting it down. reporter: mary saladna, wcvb newscenter 5. doug: it's still hard to watch at times. "patriots day" opens in select cities, including boston, on december 21. it will be showing nationwide on january 13. antoinette: it being a big hollywood movie, it gets people in theaters, but it's nice that mark wahlberg did it right. doug: shifting gears, wallet feeling lighter after black friday? antoinette: you're in luck. maybe. doug: please tell me i'm in luck. antoinette: just how much tonight's powerball jackpot is worth. doug: and no luck here. winter is on the way. so how much snow can we expect? we'll let you know what our weather guru says. kelly ann? kelly ann: sunshine is coming, but temps are staying cool today. the timeline on when it warms back up into the 50's. antoinette: breaking news out of cuba this morning.

we'll have continuing coverage

doug: welcome back. we're following that breaking news of the morning. cuba's longtime leader fidel

we've learned his funeral will be sunday, december 4, followed by a period of public mourning. fidel castro has been in poor health for years. he was 90 years old. continuing coverage all morning long for you on air, online, and on our wcvb mobile news app. antoinette: we have learned beloved tv mom florence henderson died of heart failure. he was 82 years old, best known at carol brady, the mother on the 1970's tv sitcom "the brady bunch." it's the question how much snow are we going to get this winter? our weather guru, judah cohen, sees the signs. he's the director of seasonal forecasting at atmospheric and environmental research in lexington. by studying the snow cover in siberia, he estimates we'll see 75 inches in boston this season. that's about 30 inches above normal. cohen says climate change could

>> the warm arctic decreases the ice, but also makes more moisture available, and we get these snow blitzes across siberia. that's where we get these more severe winter weather episodes. i think it's all connected. antoinette: he also says we could see outbreaks of those severe cold snaps like when we set a record with 9 below in boston on valentine's day. doug: well, looking on a brighter side of that, we really do need antoinette: we do. doug: we do need the water. antoinette: all 75 inches. doug: we don't need the 9 degrees below zero but we need the water. kelly ann: speaking of needed water, we have a chance of spot showers, more so into next week. that's when we get good rainfall heading into the area. we're looking forward to that. that's going to bring a warm-up as well. things are looking up. here's a look at what we're seeing right now, because right now, although the rain isn't quite as prevalent, we have a

downtown boston, we're seeing some improvement just within the last hour. we've gone from 1/4 mile visibility up to 2 miles. that is starting to improve. worcester at 10 miles. that's where we're seeing the clearest of conditions. starting to see as you're moving to the cape where the worst fog is as you move from the north shore through the new hampshire sea coast and toward maine where there's still a dense fog advisory in effect for this morning. temperatures as you're heading out right now are mainly in the starting to lift, we're seeing start of us starting to cross into the 30's. springfield at 38 degrees. our satellite/radar imagery is relatively dry for the bulk of our region. we're kind of the cream in the oreo cookie. we have the rain to the east and rain to the west. we're smack dab in the middle waiting for that rain to try to break into our area.

nantucket. outside of that, the rain is in new york and that will skirt by in the late morning to afternoon forecast. so we're watching a storm system, and because it is following such an easterly track, you're heading out today, expect a sprinkle or two. but it's that cloudiness that's going to be impacting your forecast this afternoon. and also the dampness as well. moving into the forecast showers moving off the coastline. we're getting in on drier conditions. but the price to pay will be some breezy conditions that push into the area as well. tomorrow we'll see winds occasionally up to about 15 miles per hour gusting near 20. and so that's going to make those 40's that are expected yet again tomorrow afternoon feel like they're in the 30's for many spots. for today's highs, we're hitting a high of 48 degrees in boston, marshfield and boston.

massachusetts, that's where we see a few upper 30's on the board. that's something we'll see as we head into tomorrow as well. seven-day forecast, we're drying out into your sunday. monday, brighter. we start to see things warming up. but with that warm-up we're seeing some showers heading our way. we actually have a system moving in from the west helping to bring that warmth in from the south initially with a warm front, but eventually that cold front pushes through, brings those showers into the area. we'll be tracking that from thursday. and, yes, thursday is the first day of december, and look at that, we are seeing temperatures well into the 50's, doug. so a very strange pattern as we're kicking off the next mo month. doug: i love how you dropped in dessert in your forecast. thank you, kelly ann. programs -- perhaps many of you are busy putting up the christmas tree. i met a local man whose family has been in the business for

>> my family's been selling christmas over 60 years. doug: nino lambert and his family business of the same name is ready for all of santa's helpers that will be descending helpers that will be descending upon their 10 locations around the state. and they're prepared for it. a seemingly endless amount of trees stand at the ready. just to give you an idea of how many trees we're talking about, this is all one truckload, 1,000 trees coming in from quebec, canada. the wreaths are ready as well. they're already waist deep in them. nearly a dozen trees already sold before that thanksgiving turkey even hit the table. >> it was pretty funny. they came in with the santa hats and reindeer antlers. and they're all excited. but it's fun. doug: getting a bad tree is not fun. so nino has a few tips for finding the perfect tannenbaum. first, make sure it's a fresh fraser fir that's flexible. >> you want to take the branch and bend it. if it snaps, stay away from it.

early, make sure that newly cut base sees water asap. in three hours, the sap can seal it shut. >> even if you're not going to put it up, put it in a big bucket of water. the first day it's going to soak up a ton of water. over a gallon. doug: as far as fake or real? is there really a choice? >> i don't know what you're thinking. you walk in the house. you smell it. i can't even imagine having a fake tree. doug: in short, to keep christmas reke antoinette: i can't even show my face around here anymore. doug: come on. shall we try it this year? i don't mean we, but i mean you. antoinette: are you going to get my tree? water it every day? doug: i'll get your tree. it doesn't have to be every day. just the smell. we'll get you one. throw it in the back of your car. what the heck is this? antoinette: okay. doug: i'll buy you two if we win the powerball ticket. we, like we're buying together.

the powerball ticket. antoinette: okay. well, the powerball, getting back to that, tonight's jackpot continues to grow. it's gone up to $403 million. that's the cash value of nearly $244 million. so if you're buying a ticket, doug, good luck to you. doug: should i pick up one of those for you as well? antoinette: get my tree. my morning drink. doug: you're ready to go. 8:52 is your time right now. we continue to follow that breaking news from cuba. former leader fidel castro is dead at antoinette: his brother and current president making the announcement overnight.

antoinette: 8:55. we're following breaking news from cuba this mo former cuban president fidel castro. doug: he was 90 years old. he'll be cremated this morning. the funeral will be december 4 followed by a period of public mourning. antoinette: news of castro's death triggering celebrations in the streets of miami overnight. this was the scene in little havana.

into the morning hours waving flags and dancing. president-elect donald trump tweeting this. fidel castro is dead! pope francis also reacting in a telegram to castro's brother saying i express my sadness, i offer my prayers for his eternal rest. doug: in local news, a sign of tape on the campus of a school out in harvard, massachusetts. a rock covered with swastikas as well as racist, sexist one of those swastikas is covering the star of david. a report was filed with police. antoinette: time right now is 8:56. and it is still foggy and damp out there. kelly ann: that's the main concern initially this morning. as we head into the afternoon, it's those gray skies that will lead to the chance of spot showers along the coastline. temperatures today are topping out in the 40's. tomorrow in the 40's again. but the good news is we're trying out. we'll see the sun break out. the patriots are going to be at

they'll see sunny, dry, with highs approaching 50 degrees. monday is sunny and dry before next rainfall on tuesday. antoinette: don't forget today, small business saturday. go out and support your local businesses. doug: indeed. a great idea. so when you're out there, drive safe. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning. antoinette: have a great day. energy costs go up and down. at eversource, we don't like it any more than you do. it doesn't mean more money for us. it means that the market price of the energy we buy for you is changing. but we're working to increase

and the communities we serve. and as the number-one provider of energy-efficiency programs in the nation, we're committed to helping you manage the energy you use.

>> "jack hanna's wild countdown" is sponsored by nationwide insurance. coming to you from my base camp here at the columbus zoo and welcome to "wild countdown." when you hear the word "ranch," you probably think of cattle and the old west. >> moo! >> but today, we're looking at 7 unique ranches from the middle east... >> jack, here is where we milk the camels. >> ...to alaska... >> whoa. this thing's friendly, right? ...to the southern tip of south america. >> oh, there's sheep up there. >> look at 'em coming now. plus, my bovine blooper of the week. can i drink that? >> you could.