blacksburg. tonight more than 12 hundred people are looking for the girl who police say could be in danger if she doesn't have her medication soon. take a good look, this is nicole lovell. she's 13 and was last seen in the lantern ridge area of blacksburg between midnight and seven wednesday morning. she has a tracheotomy scar on her throat and requires medication daily following a liver transplant. law enforcement from regional, state, and federal agencies including the f-b-i spent the afternoon handing out fliers in her neighborhood and looking for her. that's where they've set up a command post for the search. members of the of cadets are also helping with the new at five: who needs a flu shot the most? researchers at virginia tech have new findings that might help answer that question. wdbj7's eamon o'meara joins us live with the details of the study eamon. jean. the study used a computer lab base to recreate the new river valley to

through the population. thanks to this, we who should be sure to be immunized through her study, achla marathe found how the flu spreads so easily through a new river valley. (achla marathe, professor of agricultural and applied economics at the biocomplexity institute) likely to spread the who have a lot of network. not only just a lot of contacts, of time with those the first place she people's homes. there is some household size. large households, they have high contacts. of course people don't stay just inside their house. once they're away from home, one group saw more interaction than others. children have high contacts. they go to school, that's a high density location, they meet lots of people so they have have contacts. so that brings marathe and her team to one conclusion. it's really the school aged children of large households who have very high contact time and number of contacts.

communities see a shortage of flu vaccines, which is fairly common, there's a way to distribute them based on high priority people. you want to start from the largest household, find school aged children there, and then go to the next largest household and so one until you exhaust all of your resources. marathe tells me she's already published her findings so communities like here in virginia could start seeing this practice soon. eamon, the virginia health department advises that all children six months and older should be immunized. why iare these findings different? that was marathe's original finding- that the youngest children in the family should be given the shots. changed is children infants to five years interaction with family, unless they regular situation where they are surrounded by others. in that case, those children should be immunized as well. really focused on the outbreak, not the

groups. u.s. senator tim kaine has introduced legislation that would roll back protections for gun manufacturers. kaine says a 10- year-old law that shields gun manufacturers from liability in civil lawsuits is a "sweetheart deal," that no other industry enjoys. senator tim kaine/(d) virginia: folks who own guns, and nra members generally support common sense rules and it's usually now the lead against any rule are gun manufacturers, not even gun owners. and now i think the public is waking up to the notion that we can make our communities safer, we can reduce the risk of horrible shootings like those that you've experienced and know too painfully in roanoke and the new river valley. a trade association says the original bipartisan effort to protect against frivilous lawsuits. the national shooting sports foundation says kaine and others are using gun manufacturers as a surrogate enemy

tougher on criminals who use guns. seven republican presidential hopefuls are gearing up to take the stage tonight for the last debate before the iowa caucuses. frontrunner donald trump will be missing from the debate as part of an ongoing feud with fox news anchor megyn kelly. without him, the other candidates will have a chance to gain ground. the latest polls put trump ahead with 32-percent, with senator ted cruz in second place. a spokesperson for trump says he doesn't need to take the debate stage because iowa voters already know about him. katrina pierson/ trump spokesperson: mister trump has been the most visible candidate out there talking about his policies and we are convinced most voters know where he stands. trump plans to host an event with veterans at drake university tonight. the primetime debate will air on fox news tonight at 9. inand clouds have moved in across the area this is your sandwiched between two separate systems life picture

community college shows of high clouds in place the raynaud's thing for the south and east of us along a coastal low-pressure system that will be the case tonight however watching another clipper system move closer to our area right now one of snow falling from upstate new york back to michigan and also into indiana this clipper system moves quickly to the south denise moved our area tonight any cookies and mountain snow out of that especially early tomorrow morning into early friday afternoon winds will be gusty as well on the northwest reaching forty five to forty miles per hour at times and he should be sustained between fifteen to twenty miles per hour also something else you want to let you all know about nursing school closings or delays we have a bedford county schools the boxes in the using will snow snow snow and cry county schools in the opening two hours late thing for giles county 15 to 20 mi./h also something else you want to let you all know about nursing school closings or delays. we have a bedford county schools the buses in the using will snow snow snow craig county schools in the opening two hours late thing for giles county schools as

schools. just keep it eve valley in 20-15. it's the highest number of homes sold since the recession began in 2007. wdbj7's noell saunders explains what's behind the latest trend. the roanoke valley association of realtors tells me right now it's a good time in the housing market but it's not easy for everyone. location, price and other factors all play into how fast homes can be sold. the housing market in the roanoke valley is getting better since the economic downturn in 2007. but donna harris with the roanoke valley association of the best she's seen it in a long time. "we're definitely on an upswing right home sale price is only 8 percent below the 2007 15- year high" multiple listing service of the roanoke valley show that last year, 8617 houses were listed and of that 54 percent were sold . harris says there's

to the trend but just simply good timing. "it's just a normal cycle in real estate and there's no beginning and there's no end" but while sales are good in the area, michela benicke says she begs to differ. benicke's house has been on the market in roanoke for over 3 months. "we have one of the nicer homes in our area here and i anticipated a quick sale. should have" benicke says she tried to make the house look attractive as possible for potential buyers. then after that didn't work, she lowered the asking price. "it's been up and down you know. we get somebody coming to look at it. it;s really exciting. i'm crossing my fingers and the alot of the times recently i'm not getting any feedback whatsoever" after all the trouble, benicke remains optimistic. she's says she's learned more about being a homeowner while selling than she did when she was buying. "in the end i really think that it just comes down person and whether

they need or not" according to he multiple listing service of the roanoke valley, the average price of a home sold las year was 197 thousand dollars. that's up more nearly 22-thousand dollars from the 20- 11 average. noell saunders, wdbj7. two companies in our hometowns have made the list for 2016 best places to work in virginia. scott insurance in lynchburg comes in at number seven in the large employer group. and interactive achievement in roanoke is number 47 in the small employer category. there are 100 companies on the list, created by magazine, virginia business. interactive achievement says what sets them apart is an acronym they use, called hug. marcy: being honorable, unselfish, and generous and it really is how we hire our talent into the organization. it's the heartbeat, if you will. it guides us in how we treat one another, how we treat our clients, and

community as well." companies from across the state entered a two-part survey process to determine the best places to work in virginia. there was a luncheon today in williamsburg to honor the companies that made the list. parents of newborns and toddlers in the new river valley don't have to go far for high quality childcare. a new early education center is about to open. and as wdbj7's justin ward shows us, college students can even learn from their visit. tables are set, dinosaurs are in a row, and dolls are ready for a squeeze. all that's missing are the kids at the brand new radford early learning center. bethany mott/radford child development, inc.: "the radford early learning center will be serving 136 children aged from 6 weeks to through age twelve." the facility is ready to open february first. it's already recieved accredidation from the national association for the education of young children. bethany mott: "it is the highest certification that a child care center can aspire to. it has very

required." kids enter through their own door, parents have places to keep car seats, and teachers help kids communicate. rhonda ekiss/radford early learning center director: "in here we do the baby sign language, we start incorporating the ready, set, grow. you will find some word cards that have some spanish words on it." a toddler size gym is small enough to let kids reach the goals, but large enough to hold a crowd. rhonda ekiss: "and the floors, it looks as if it's just hardwood but it is padded underneath." it's where students from radford university students can interact with small children and do internships and get credits for their degree. bethany mott: "at present they were going all the way up to blacksburg to do that internship and we wanted to be able to offer intern opportunities here." while dolls wait for their new friends, instructors are prepared for an open house saturday for interested parents starting at 10. bethany mott: "it's very important in the critical early years to have that quality child care."

ward, wdbj7 we have new details about the number of zika virus cases in the united states. being late to work can happen to anybody. but some excuses are wilder than others. we'll take a look some of the most outrageous examples. and piece of world war 2 history is flying high, once again. you're watching

in tonight's hometown health, an update on the mosquito-bourne zika virus. health officials say the number of u.s. residents diagnosed with zika infections in the past year has grown to 31. all of them are believed to have caught the infection while traveling in the caribbean or latin america where there are outbreaks of the tropical illness. officials said thursday the 31 people are in 11 states and washington.

virginia. the world health organization says it'll hold an emergency meeting monday to decide if the virus should be declared an international health emergency. the texas boy known as the "affluenza" teen is back in the united states. authorities in mexico flew ethan couch to dallas today, where he will face charges. couch was wanted for skipping out on his probation officers and going to mexico with his mom. he gained nationwide notoriety when he was giving ten years probation in a drunk driving crash that killed four people. prosecutors are working to get couch's case moved from juvenile court. he is now being detained in a juvenile detention center in dallas. a detention hearing is expected to be held tomorrow. the standoff between an armed militia group and law enforcement at an federal wildlife refuge in oregon may be nearing an end. the standoff began as a protest over federal land ownership. three more people who had been holed up at the refuge are in custody, but several others remain there. the group's spokesman was killed by police on

ammon bundy, who was arrested around the same time, is urging remaining occupiers to go sot mike arnold / bundy's attorney) (1630 ore oregon militia court sketches 0127) (16 44 03) mr. bundy wants everybody to remember that somebody died and this is not just about him right now. the remaining occupiers posted a youtube video this morning, saying there are just five of them left in the compound, and that all of them want to leave but they also said that the fbi told them a warrant is out for the arrest of one of the men that's there. and the other four say they are willing to stay until the government drops the charges against that man. a restored world war 2 japanese zero fighter took to the skies in japan. the flight test was conducted by a former u.s. air force pilot, because no japanese pilots had a license to fly it. the plane was found decaying in new guinea in the 1970s. it was owned by an american until a japanese businessman purchased it for about 350 million yen in 2010. running late happens to all of us. but many times it can lead to being late

come out with some pretty creative excuses. the survey from career builder asked hiring managers the most outrageous late excuses they'd heard: they included: "my hair caught on fire from my blow dryer." "there was fresh powder on the hill. i had to go skiing" "a vaseline truck overturned on the highway and cars were slipping left and right." and: "i was detained by homeland security." the survey shows a quarter of us show up late at least once a month. 60 percent of workers say if they later to make up for it. showers and breezy conditions will end the work week but a the weekend. meteorologist lindsey anderson is in for chief meteorologist brent watts with more. complete details of your first alert forecast

thedaffodils that came up in december because of all the warmth welling the world the snowstorm and after county sheri carr writes of this photo is of the daffodils there still are surviving amazing now temperatures out there are still pretty chilly forties expected towards the far southwest virginia thirty nine degrees rainout wytheville storyline degrees rainout which burke and thirty seven degrees in hot springs where sandwiched between two separate systems the first one if his low-pressure system bringing a lot of rain from georgia south carolina now since in north carolina that is where the rain will stay our next batch of moisture will arrive from this clipper system not a lot

will develop acrosswas not communities along the clipper system move quickly through the area will also notice the gusting winds with this clipper agency the snow developing, especially across the country west virginia back into the mountain empire. the money flurries could make it into the new river valley was in the west of the blue ridge and those wind speeds who will become the aam 10 to 20 miles problem to across our area at this boundary continues to sleep through the winds remain high gusting between 30 to 45 mi./h and sustained up to 20 mi./h over local drop into the upper 20s and low 30s. most of us below the freezing mark highlighting the chance for the scattered flurries to develop across the mountain communities in a bikini accumulating snow will stay across the ski country of west virginia. most of us will be cloudy go for tomorrow. temperatures are surely you will want to figure jackets before you head out to score off to work. temperatures will stay in the middle to upper 30s across the area of the blend of sun and cloud if not until the weekend and next week and begin to see a warm up your daytime high for blacksburg and 35 tomorrow 43 martinsville 41 lynchburg and 35 in covington with the strong breeze out of the northwest but then come the end of january upper-level ridge and begin to develop movie fifteen to twenty degrees above average for the end of this month and into the store of february were daytime highs will approach the sixties and factory can certainly see that come sunday afternoon and definitely by monday and tuesday blend of sun and clouds is expected at that point for me deal ends the month very warm in fact to be the one mistake always has so far in january disney we get there tomorrow afternoon temperatures in the thirties we warm up quickly saturday and sunday groundhog day also

upper fifties a slight chance for some rainbow late in the day tuesday and will continue into wednesday long cold fronts cold front moves through b the hokies lost for the third straight time last night on the court, but there were some positives for coach buzz williams and his team. travis

sports. now dropped 3- straight, following 16th-ranked louisville. but for the hokies it's not all negative. head coach buzz his players after the north carolina loss, defensive glass, limit opponents' points in transition, and limit their own turnovers. the hokies did all of these things, but still came-up short made-threes from louisville. and as game, his team is still a work in virginia tech men's coach, "i think there maturity and growth, month, partly because of the

think. i think when of the experiences we've had since the start of the year, without a coach having to tell you how important a possession is, i think it becomes fairly evident really quick when you've played in the games we've played in. yeah, i have been pleased." apparently the hokies and tennessee volunteers won't be the only ones to play the bristol motor speedway this fall. east tennessee state and western carolina will play a football game at the track on sept. 17th. the game will be exactly one week after the battle at bristol between the hokies and vols. the infrastructure from the that game will remain in place for the etsu- western carolina game, the southern conference opener for both teams. jerry caldwell/ bristol motor speedway general manager: etsu folks are like family to us and this was just a natural as we looked around to say how else are we gonna be able to use the field. once you've gone through all this work to get it in there what else can we do to use it. way to give

carl torbush/etsu head coach: perfect scenario. first game back since 2003, a rival that has been a rival for many, many, many years. when you've got two schools together and a school named east tennessee state and one named western carolina, the impact in this region i think, speaks for itself. the market saw some gains today on wall street. the dow climbed 125 points. nasdaq rose 39. and the s and p

the one million dollar powerball winner in salem has stepped forward. wdbj7's amanda kenney was there was there when she got her big check. jean, literally a big check. the lottery did the traditional photog ops with salem's winner this afternoon. kelly cox was just one number away from winning the record setting 1.5 billion dollar jackpot. kelly was just one of the many people who only played because the jackpot was so big. she didn't even know how to play. tonight at six, we'll have the story of how she found out she won and what she plans to do with the money.

weather anytime, turn to our webpage at wdbj7.com and be sure to follow us on facebook and twitter for weather headlines and more at wdbj7weather. thank you for choosing your hometown news leader, wdbj7.