lose an eye or worse. th the kcked out my front teeth. >> reporter: he says sunday night he popped into the restaurant for some food. he says he was slow to order. couldn't make up his mind so he left. >> next thing i know i'm on the ground. this guy is beating me trying to kill me. no body shots. he went for my head. >> reporter: police say joseph ward of brookline, a firefighter was angry it took gagnon too long toard. the men got no an argument. minute later after the attack, officers arrested ward and charged him with assault and battery. in court he pled not guilty. ward's attorney says there are no sides to every attorney. >> police are going to have to do further investigation and so are we which is why i requested evidence from inside the restaurant where we believe the altercation started. >> reporter: earlier the fire chief said ward is on administrative leave pending an investigation into the matter.

in brookline tonight, kelli o'hara, 7 news. >> following breaking news right now, a medford police detective caught on a darb cam threatening a driver has resigned. here is ryan schulteis. >> reporter: the incident happened back in july and prompted an internal investigation by the police department. >> i didn't know -- [bleep] >> i didn't know you were a cop. >> i put a hole right through your head. >> investigators said the man violated several station policies during the stop. it happened while he was offduty. he had been on paid leave. there was a hearing to figure out if he could keep his job but the medford police detective resigned. ryan schulteis, 7 news. >> new at 6:00 police in cambridge are looking for a man who broke into a church. video shows the guy walking around in a priest's robe. investigators say he committed a lewd act on the altar. it happened back in september. >> the first democratic debate in the race for president happens in the matter of minutes.

spar for the first time on one national stage in las vegas. tim caputo is there now and joins us live with the preview. >> reporter: kim, good evening from las vegas where all eyes are on the wynn hotel resort casino where the democratic candidates will take the stage in a few hours from now. there has been a couple of republican debates but tonight final' chance for all the candidates to be on the national stage together. supporters on the strip are ready for tonight's democratic debate. the five candidates are prepared as well. it's las vegas home to many heavy weight boats. >> let's treat each other civilly and respectfully. >> reporter: bernie sander made waves in a few states and he will try to sway a national audience into his corner. >> he needs to take the stage show that he is ready to run the country. >> reporter: front runner hillary clinton will be asked questions about

e-mails and flip-flopping but she can clear the air. >> she is sustaining and she is doing well. we're going to -- she is excited to talk about issues tonight. >> reporter: some of the questions for tonight will be formed by conversations happening on facebook across country. religion is the number one topic being talked about. that hold true in new hampshire as well. religion is number one. economy is number two. guns are number three. across the country guns are number three but with this map you could look at by candidates who people are talking about. in new hampshire, pretty even across the state, people talking about hillary clinton but she has a bit after hurdle to overcome because if you look nationwide including right here in massachusetts, still the top person people are talking about is g.o.p. front runner donald trump. former rhode island governor lincoln chiefee, former virginia is not irwebb and martin o'malley. >> i'm looking forward to the democratic party finally

joining this join having a debate about how we solve our nation's problems. >> reporter: so the interest is a sixth podium put off to the side and might have gone up on the stage in case vice president biden decided at the last second he wanted to join the debate tonight. that is not going to happen. biden said he will not be participating but he will be watching from washington. tonight live in las vegas, tim caputo, 7 news. >> kim: tim will be right there for the debate in las vegas. we'll go back to him live for more reports tonight and the tomorrow morning right here on news. coming up in just a few minutes here on 7, our political editor andy hiller with his instinct on how has the most to gain from tonight's debate. >> 7 news turning to the mystery pushing back another murder trial for former pats player aaron hernandez. prosecutors asking the judge to let them access evidence now held by a third party.

dan hausle live in boston to sort all of this out for us. >> reporter: it's a mystery when the piece of evidence is but we've learned that the third party haled holding it it's aaron hernandez's former lawyers. the fight for this is going to push back the trial months, maybe more. with the lifetime statistic too he got behind bars aaron hernandez knows it will be a bit longer before he goes on trial for the murder of two men in boston's south end in 2012. the former patriot is already serving a life instance for the murder of odin lloyd and lawyers for both sides say they need more time to argue will prosecutors can get on on a -- the judge closed a hearing on the matter to protect the attorney/client privilege. >> i would expect there may be discussions relating and touching upon the attorney attorney/client relationship

between mr. hernandez and his past law firm and perhaps relating to the attorney client relationship currently existing. >> reporter: both sides agree the argument will be taken to the state's highest courts. with that appeal likely stretching past the planned december 1st date to pick a jury. >> i think the parties feel that there is some likelihood that the higher court will in fact accept review of that which would result in a postponement of the december 1 date. >> reporter: now hernandez won't be back december 1st for jury selection. instead returning mid january at the earliest. that is the best case scenario for the judge. if the case goes fully to the s.j.c.for appeal, boat sides expect that would last months and this trial that was set for early next year is now looking at late spring, maybe even mid-summer. live in boston, dan hausle, 7 news.

>> also on 7 the pilgrim nuclear power plant in plymouth is shutting down. it's expected to chose in fact sometime in the next four years. in the wake of this surprise decision there are concerns about safety and job loss, too. jonathan hall is live in plymouth. this is a big blow to people in the area. >> reporter: kim, it is. the nuclear regulatory commission said this is one of the most unsafe nuclear power plants in the whole country. it's losing tens of millions of dollars a year. it'll cost at least that much to fix the safety problems but even though this shutdown is coming the company which own this is place says they'll do it. pilgrim station going the way of the dinosaur. the reason is money. >> after careful analysis it became clear pilgrim no longer financially viable. >> reporter: entergy corporation which owns pilgrim estimates it'll bleed money to the tune of $10 million a year in each of next three years and it

blames massachusetts for providing subsidies to natural gas and other forms of energy like hide row power. >> simply an unlevel playing field. >> reporter: in june of 2019enteringy will no longer be supplying power to new england but pilgrim could shut down in 2019 if the company dies to buy power elsewhere and resell it. pilgrim has had fierce opposition since boston edison opened this place in 1972. one opponent say it's a long-term win but she short-term. >> how many appliances do you have that are running that are 43 years old? >> not many. >> not many. it take as lot of maintenance. >> reporter: entergy says it set aside millions to make sure the plant is safe and stays safe in future years. >> the health and safety of the public has been protected at all times. forward. >> reporter: plymouth will lost about $10 million annually in tax revenue. along-term resident who advices the board of selectmen says this is going

to be a tough period. >> you feel your property taxes going up right now? >> yes, no doubt about it. >> reporter: so whether it's 2017, 18 or 19, what nuke leigh fuel? it's going to stay right here in dry storage for perhaps up to 60 years. the n.r c. gives companies that long to decommission these plants. jonathan hall, 7 news. >> following more news here today, an illegal crop confiscated in dan dry, new hampshire. police posted this photo of marijuana plants covering the hood of a cruiser. the caption tells whoever grew the plants to call police so officers can council the growers through their loss. a reading couple gets a patriotic surprise. they got a brand new americaning in they reported having two flags stolen. when a police officer heard about the theft she went to buy a flag for the couple. but when the store's manager heard the story he gave them the flag for free.

>> tonight's democratic debate comeing up in a couple of hours. andy hiller says hillary clinton has a few key questions she needs to answer on the stage. we'll have more on that and the challenge for bernie

ready to head out when others head home. at eversource, we prepare for ugly weather all year long.

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live picture from inside las vegas. it's where the democratic debate will take place tonight as you see right there. the stage is all set. as hillary clinton and by reason ofy sanders take the stage what exactly specifically do they need to do to win over voters? >> andy hiller says a lot. here is tonight's hiller instinct. >> reporter: the biggest bets in las vegas tonight won't be made at the gaming tables. they'll be made on this stage during the democratic debate. >> i like with a cloth -- >> i don't know. >> reporter: the campaign season hillary clinton has been her own worst emmy. her e-mail server has weakened her candidacy by raising questions about her integrity and trust worthness. tonight she must answer those questions. she should be clear, direct and honest. because if she is not, she has more trouble ahead. >> are their differences of

opinion, there should be. >> reporter: bipartisany sanders has a reputation as a pretty good day bitter, too. but he -- good debater but he never debated before a crowd the size of tonight's audience. he is getting crowds the size of trump but he is the anti-trust. >> let's treat each other civilly and respect any and not try to demonize people who may have disagreements with us. >> reporter: then there are former rhode island governor and senator lingon chief of chafee, former virginia senator jim web and former maryland governor martin o'malley. all three need to break out or any dropping south. >> debates are make and break moments for every campaign. lots of people are going to do this. given how few of them there will be this year. >> reporter: then there is the democratic sixth man, vice president joe biden he

hillary clinton faulters we could be seeing a lot more of joe. i'm andy hiller and that is my instinct. >> tonight's debate. we're asking you is tonight's debate more important for hillary clinton or bernie sappedders? >> here are the results. 60% of you say clinton, 40%

>> announcer: now 7 weather with chief meteorologist pete bouchard.

>> morning rain but in the places that were hit you could call it big downpours, centerville picking up over two inches, oak bluffs close to two, big downpour from the vineyard right over mid-cape. then clipped plymouth, too, boston, .11. that's about it. cooling. mostly dry forecast. the cold shot of air coming this weekend. you will feel it then. over the next couple of days it's not all that bad. the cool air will settle in and the 70's are slipping from our hands. 71 today in boston, warmest from norwood to preliminary out. new bedford look at the temperature, nashua the little ray of sun poking out didn't push it all the way through the sea coast. sprinklings and showers is what we have. we had a downpour across central mass and this faded to a regular shower moving through leominster and up through pepperell as well then it's right around

marlboro, westboro. tomorrow sunshine, clouds, there maybe a sprinkle as a front pushes through in the afternoon. see the clouds collect there. that is front going by but i would say that is about 20% chance at best for tomorrow. high temperatures, wow, this is respectful. another showing of upper 60s once again and mid 60s out through central mass. it's not all that chilly just yet but we push down the numbers into friday and more so into the weekend. normal high temperature about 62 degrees, own there late week we're close to normal. even shower clears skies 49-a 55. a passing sprinkle possible. wind will be brisk tomorrow. i don't have any showers on the seven-day forecast but they're hidden. thursday night, so i don't see them. otherwise a dry forecast. there is the chill sunday and monday. slated for that time frame. see you tonight. >> great football weather for football. >> the family dog scooby

has discovered the selfie. t.b. 12 posted a photo of his dog smiling for camera. the dog is a huge hit with patriots nation. >> bruins off off to a 0-3 start getting outscored 16 had ever 17 in the process. they just put morrow on injured reserve with the flu. this is not way to head out of town on a two-game road trip. they got good news at practice. march shand out there in the green contact jersey. the wingser progressing well enough in his recovery from a concushion that he will travel to kohl kohl and arizona. no time table on his rush to game action but he is not pushing it. >> it's early in the year. i'm not going to rush back because of the results. i would rather miss another game or two than miss

months if i get hit again. it's very tough any time you sit out especially if the team losses but it's more beneficial to the team and for myself. i come back 100% and i don't get injured again. >> the 2017 team celt agonad starreddard but this year's team might give them a run for their money. in indy look for them to add to their already gaudy numbers against a shaky colts defense. through four games the pats have piled up a 149 points. one more than the 07 team and despite playing one fewer game than the majority of the a.f.c.those 149 points lead the conference. their last four games against the colts pats have hung 5, 42, 43 and 45 point million pack ano knows the -- pagano knows the team he will see on sunday has a

>> heck of an offense, quarterback is outstanding. he does a great job of managing the offense. he is flawless right now. tight end, nightmare. back up is a nightmare. edelman, amen dolessa,they got a done players and they're on the same page. they're playing at a high level right now. >> pats and colts face off an 7 news nbc. we'll get you ready for kickoff with our 7 on the siredlines pregame special beginning at 6:30 on sunday. dombroski is rolling up his sleeves for a rather interesting red sox offseason. trey daerr has more on his to do list at fenway park. >> reporter: after making a splash last offseason the red sox still fell to the bottom much the a.l.east for the third time in four years. >> i don't know how close we are but i think we have a

i think a lot is going to be dependent upon the it bed growths of our young players. >> reporter: a promising outfield make ram rass e pendable prompting an attempt to transition him to first. >> we need to do everything we can to make that work. we're committed to it. i bleach he is committed to it. -- believe he is committed to it. will it work? only time will tell. >> reporter: starting pitching going to be at a premium but dave dombroski is bent on getting a top-of-the-line guy and is not backing off his claim that is what the red sox need. >> i don't think the back end of our rotation is going to be the difficult part. so i don't think it's the depth as much as you are looking for the one guy that can be your horse. >> these other guys on the pitching staff to have a guy that shows them the way in a lot of cases. we have a lot of guys in position to do those things but that can help from a make upstant pound. >> reporter: at fenway

park, trey daerr, 7 sports. >> the celtics will be a little shorthanded tomorrow night in brookline. marcus smart is out with the flu. bradley will set out to get some rest. that the is sports. 130 yards now... bill's got a very tough lie here... looks like we have some sort of sea monster in the water hazard here. i believe that's a "kraken", bruce. it looks like he's going to go with a nine iron.

that may not be enough club... well he's definitely going to lose a stroke on this hole. if you're a golf commentator, you whisper. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do.

>> adam: so the first democratic presidential debate tonight. a full wrap up on 7 news at 10:00 on cw56, thank you for

being with you, i'm adam williams real time closed captioning provided by u.s. captioning company