we have been covering this breaking story live at the stadium with the latest. >>reporter: 21 times rob gronkowski has missed regular or post season games and now we can pencil him for at least 26. he will miss the final five games of the year, that after reports surfaced that he is undergoing back surgery tomorrow surgery in his career going back to college. multiple reports have since surfaced claiming his injury occurred in last sunday's game against the jets on a long incompletion in the first quarter, forcing him to leave the game just before the end of the game's fourth quart.

back to college and the timetable expected to be about eight weeks, taking us up to the asc championship game. with the way the patriots have been so cautious with gronkowski in the past it could be we don't see him for the rest of the year. gronkowski is one of the patriots biggest stores and now there will be a big hole on the field. we have more on what it mean to the >>reporter: yeah, talk about big, the 6' 6", 275 pound gronkowski is a huge offensive presence on the field. now his teammates are going to have to do without him. the patriots on the field, prepping for the los angeles rams, the loss of a star player no doubt hits hard, but it is football, gronkowski or no gronkowski, they say they are ready. >> we are going to go out there

there are a lot of weapons on this team and we play well together so whoever is out there we are going to go out there and play with whoever it is. >>reporter: news of gronkowski's injury broke after reporters had access to the players, but i happened to speak with bennett, the other top tight end of the team and i asked him, how does your mission change when gronkowski isn't playing? >> i have been doing the same thing all year. my job is my job. >>reporter: i'm not asking you for the game plan. >> it is consistent. same for me. >>reporter: the team's injury report should be out shortly. no doubt gronkowski will be out and the 29-year-old bennett has been dealing with a nagging ankle injury he should be in. >> i just have to make sure i'm ready to play. i can only control who is going over my body. cut my grass before i cut someone else's. i'll good. i'm excited about another chance

official word on the injury from there the patriots. of course fan are upset that we might not see gronkowski on the field for a while. 7's kimberly bookman live at the stadium with what fans have to sate. >>reporter: well, obviously they are disappointed. they were really counting on gronkowski to get them to the super bowl and now the future is more uncertain. while in the patriots' proshop picking up grosk themselves and others, fans get word that he is off the field. >> it is obviously not good for the team and not good for my fantasy football and maybe they'll give me a discount on the shirt. >>reporter: all kidding aside, pats fans are concerned for two reasons. for than the 27-year-old football player will be okay and recover. >> that is a shame. i wish him well. >>reporter: and second, that gronkowski's absence doesn't affect the rest of the season! he is the backbone of the team.

we are going to be in trouble. >>reporter: while no one seemed toe expect this, gronkowski is prone to injuries. he missed the first two games of this season. >> they need to wrap him up in bubble wrap. always getting hurt and falling on himself. >>reporter: new england fans down, but not ready to count gronkowski out for good. the one thing about patriots fans is that they don'tow they are looking at the rest of the team to pick up the slack. this could obviously change how the patriots prepare for teams moving forward. we have the boston globe on with us now. your reaction to this? >> it is a little surprising. we saw him leave that game in new york. i was down there with the team and i think he played seven plays and he was off the field. we never saw him again. it is going to bring up questions as to what he was doing on the field and when the

the seattle or new york game. >> back to the big injuries he's suffered over the last two years, how reliable is he? >> this is the reason they got him in the first place. he was drafted in the second round. a guy with his skill set and size, there was a reason he fell to the spot in the draft and that was because he had back surgery before they even got him. he is one of the greatest tight ends that's ever played. he's had an amazing career. gronkowski has all the of modern medicine and science, but it is still football and he takes these amazing hits. you see them on the video. it is hard to stay out there and there are no guarantees in this thing. i think that you just have to say they are lucky to have had him as much as they have. >> talk about the long term situation between gronkowski and the pats organization now. >> you don't know. the family's always been involved in his care and his playing or not playing.

where you have family involved with the player. his star player is so great and attributes are so great that they allow that. it will be interesting to see if there is blame parsed out and to what degree who calls the shots. >> what does this do to the team's run right now? what does this mean for the team as we go forward? >> i don't think we are going to see him again this ye. championship or the super bowl, i suppose. there have been years when they didn't have him in the play offs and it hurt them. but the conference is so weak but they have great offensive players. >> thank you so much for your opinion and all the information. we'll continue to follow this story and bring you the latest on gronkowski's injury as we get it when we are not on the air.

apps. now on to the latest on the trump transition. the president-elect hitting the road once again, starting a thank-you tour. he is in the midwest tout what he calls his first victory, announcing details of a deal with the carrier organization to keep jobs in indiana. the facility has dropped plans to move to mexico in exchange for tax incentives. he says this is the first step he is taking to keep jobs in the u.s. >> we can't allow this to happen in our country. so many jobs are leaving and going to other countries. not just mexico. many countries. and china is making so much of our product that we are closing up a lot of plants. i mean, i wrote down some numbers that are incredible, but the numbers of manufacturing jobs that are lost, especially in the rust belt and the rust belt is so incredible, but we

unbelievable. one after another. >>reporter: and president-elect trump will hold a rally in ohio tonight. his first large scale event since the election. enough details on the clean up from the water main break in chinatown. all the roads in the neighborhood are back open. crews worked through the night to clean up the mess a a major water transmission line broke early yesterday morning. the cause of the break is under investigation. and 7 news now turning to the forecast. a rather sunny and warm day out there today after two days of rain. and this warm weather >>reporter: oh, it is on the way. we don't have el ni?o this winter to save us. i think you are going to like the next few weeks if you like winter. earlier today we were into the 50s. now the numbers backing up a little bit. boston, at 50. bedford, 49. jeffrey, 45. little breezy as well. this time of year the breeze can

west and northwest wind around 10 to 20 miles per hour. there is the weather system that came blasting through new england yesterday with all the rain. behind this cold front the temperatures are noticeably cooler. that is on the move and will sweep into new england tomorrow night and be with us through the weekend so tomorrow not too bad, near 50. and then cooler for saturday and sunday. details in a few minutes. we are following more news today. 11 hostages are now safe after being held captive inside a florida robbery. swat teams were able to storm the bank after two hostages made a run for it, distracting the gunman. the suspect allegedly held a gun to the head of one of the hostages demanding money. police were able to arrest him and he'll face several charges. dozens of peaceful protest tors hitting the street in north carolina after a judge decided not to charge an officer in the deadly shooting of keith scott.

officer was lawful in shooting and killing scott. protestors say the shooting may have been legal, but wasn't right and asking police to use non deadly force and improve their negotiation skills. the shooting happened on december 20. scott was armed with a gun and refused to drop it more than ten times. that is when the officer fired, killing scott. protests over scott's death have led to more than 100 arrests, two dozen injuries and one death. a washington man who killed a pic police. police say the officer was responding to a domestic violence call last night when a man in the house shot him. the officer was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late. a procession of police cars followed his body from the hospital to the medical examiner's office. after the shooting, dozens of police officers were called to the scene where the man was barricaded inside. the neighborhood was under lockdown as police tried to negotiate with the suspect.

until police were able to kill the suspect and get children inside the home out safely. >> we negotiated through the night. we went in and took one of the kids away and he grabbed the other kid and one of our officers felt he had a shot. he took it. the suspect's deceased. we grabbed the other kid. both kids are safe. >> neither the officer or suspect have been identified at this point. ahead here on 7 news, the damage is done. residents in ravaging that area. the super star who is stepping in to help. a brutal beating under investigation in brockton. a man held hostage inside his home. >> and we are following breaking news. patriots star tight end rob gronkowski is set for back surgery and expected to be off the field for a while. we'll keep you updated on this

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we continue to be grateful for that and humbled by all the support we are receiving. >> at least seven people have died as a result of those fires. around 14,000 people were told to leave that area on monday. access to the city of gatlinburg is still blocked off. a helping hand there. >> singer dolly parton, who is from tennessee, donating money to help residents who lost everything in those wildfires. >> hi, this is dolly. i know many of you, like me, have been watching the wildfires that have affected the great smokey mountains around gatlinburg, tennessee, where i grew up. >>reporter: dolly parton lending her support to those back home in tennessee as wildfires ravage the state.

to home. now the 70-year-old has pledged to donate $1,000 per month for six months to each family in severe county who lost their home in the wildfires. >> i have always believed that charity begins at home and that is why i have asked my dollywood companies to help me establish a "my peoples fun." ? jolene jolene jolene i'm begging of you please don't take >> she appeared on the voice wednesday night along with myley cyrus, singing "jolene" in s solidarity with those pack home. >> thank you for your help, prayers app concern. i hope you'll soon visit our tennessee mountains an experience the tennessee spirit. >> they are accepting donations online. the link is available on whdh.com. coming up on 7 news, the

how is your team holding up. we'll tell you who to sit and play in this week's fantasy picks. >> i need to sit my whole team. forecast is coming up next. ahead on 7 news at 4:30, caught in the act. two suspects tagging a building and now a lawyer is under investigation for his questionable conduct. and on 7 news at 5:00, a mother murdered and her son charged with her death. the courtroom chaos before he

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here in boston the city's 75th official tree lighting happens tonight. the mayor with the help of santa claus will light the tree just before 8:00 tonight followed by a fireworks display. the tree arrived late last week. it is an annual gift from nova

santa claus, gathered to watch the tree make its way to the common. that is so crazy because it is already december, but it doesn't feel like it outside. >> it is a little spring feel out there today, jr. >>reporter: very nice earlier today if you like the warm weather. if you love these snow flakes, it is not your kind of weather. however, it is not going to be a repeat of last december which was very warm. i'd have to go back into the books, but i think it was top boston. i know it was the second warmest winter for boston because of a super el ni?o but that is not around this winter so it is back to a more normal winter. so the first of month, our normal high is 46. the average low is 33. by the end of the month the average high down to 37 in boston with an average low of 24. record high, 76. record low, 17 below.

boston. the last several decembers, the last two less than an inch. 2013 close to a foot of snow. this one should be closer to what we normally pick up. we keep running these decembers with little or no snowfall. trends sometimes just reverse themselves in the world of meteorology. the the three coldest months of year, december, january and february. before that, how about that rainstorm. many cities an towns around two inches of beneficial rain. this map doesn't reflect the change. they analyzed the data for the drought and they cut off the data every tuesday of the week in the morning. rainstorms like the last couple days go a long way.

this wet pattern into winter and spring. today was nice to get the sunshine back. we do need the rain, but you need sunshine as well. it was mild for a time this afternoon. upper 50s. now the numbers are backing up to around 50 in the city. breezy at times, adding a bit of a chill to the air. out and of about this evening for the tree lighting it should be okay with temperatures in the 40s. there is another cold front on the move up here across southern canada. it will come charging out of canada during the day tomorrow. it still has a long way to go so it won't temps tomorrow, upper 40s to around 50. there you go saturday and sunday. lower 40s with mostly sun sni skies. great weekend if you are getting that tree. monday, clouds and a couple snow flurries monday morning. >> how festive. thanks jr. good afternoon. we begin flying high over starow drive. it is a little heavy, not too bad.

it is jammed back towards mass circle. tough going on the connector in both directions. not much better on the bridge. the southbound side is crawling from the hood plant into the southbound tunnel. the northbound side jammed out of the tunnel into medford up to 128. usual stand still delays on the expressway, heavy out of the o'neil tunnel, into the south bay shopping cente brain tree split and granite avenue. we'll take a look at the drive times. from o'neil tunnel to the brain tree split, 25 minute drive. it is week 13 in the nfl and some teams already thinking about the play offs. >> it is not too late to turn your fantasy team around. we have your fantasy fixer. >>reporter: hey fans, welcome to fantasy fixer.

already on the verge of play offs. we are also talking about the patriots comeback win against the jets. that was amazing, but man, they lost gronkowski in that. >> yeah, big price to pay for fantasy hunters out there as we wind down. if you are playing a two week league, not a good thing to not have gronkowski this week. somebody has to pick up the slack. the rams defense is one of the better doffses in the league, but they are not enough in stopping the run. not a good match up last weekend to jets. exact opposite this week. >> let's talk about a super bowl rematch from 2001. the pats honoring the bunch from the first championship. cool there. if you could rewind time the rams would probably want some of that offense back. >> their offense is abysmal.

gs goff. guy's paying the price. brit, the best receiver of the bunch. austin, dynamic in the past, but not the same. >> and afc west may be the best division in football right now, but one team is getting a break this weekend. >> would have to be the chargers. good match up playing the bucks. williams, a young receiver. a really good quarterback, something you want to look for in terms of fantasy foot. touchdowns. >> all right everyone, go set your lineup. a risky rescue caught on camera in connecticut. a man trapped inside a burning car rescued just in time. and dangerous drive. what happened to one driver who was streaming live video while going high speeds in rhode island. >> gronkowski set for back surgery. he is expected to be off the field for a while. we'll continue to follow this story and bring you the latest as we get it here in the 7

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patriots star rob gronkowski going to have to have back surgery, according to the nfl network. that means he could be missing a lot of time on the field. >> this isn't the first time he's had trouble with his back.

in the newsroom with the details. >>reporter: gronkowski will be out for the final five games of the regular season. the injury happened last week against the jets on a long incompletion on the first quarter. the injury forcing him to leave the game. he will undergo surgery in los angeles for a ruptured disc, the third of his career. it was suggested it was from this violent hit he took against the seahawks a couple weeks back, but we know otherwis having missed 21 games in his career, the number now rising to 26. he is expected to be out eight weeks, which would bring us to the championship game. it is known for the patriots to be careful with gronkowski, so we might not see him the rest of the year. >> and right we are joined by former patriots player live opt phone. steve, what is your reaction of hearing this news? >> well, it is terrible for