jennifer: and good evening, i'm jennifer vaughn. here's a closer look at what happened in claremont today. a concrete pillar, as you can see there, was knocked clear across the sidewalk, took out a window of a del i and a 55-year-old man is now under arrest and charged with d.w.i. this all happened about 12:30 today. patrick taylor was allegedly speeding near pleasant street in his jeep. police say that he sped right through opera house square immediate yab and then struck another vehicle before running into a concrete post. not one was hurt, but that store owner says he was stunned. >> was just a cloud of smoke and glass shattered everywhere, it was like an explosion. reporter: so the car stopped up here on the curb? >> right here on the post, took out the post, was sitting on the post. german --

we'll have more on this at 10 and 11. tom: the superintendent of exeter high school says for him the tipping point was the owen ba bree sexual assault case at st. paul's prep school. let's go to heather hamel now to explain the changes. reporter: superintendent mike morgan says the labrie case really bothered him, he feet bad for the young girl and with the inappropriate student behavior at exeter dances he felt it wouldn't be responsible to let them continue. >> it just dancing, i think, nothing really ever came out of it. reporter: but that dancing which school officials say is in large groups and often sexually suggestive just isn't acceptable. after years of trying to change the behavior at a september dance with no improvement, they finally decided enough is enough. >> it reached such a critical mass that you can't just all of a sudden say okay the whole dance is going home at this point in time. we want to make sure that all students feel welcome and all students feel safe, and it's been expressed to us by many

>> i think the grinding is something that happens, but it's not something that everybody does. and i feel like if you're engaging in that activity it's kind a conscious decision. reporter: he says he believes his classmates have respect for personal boundaries, but he also understands why school officials did what they did. >> especially with with all the recent cases going on and with all the issues at colleges with rape and things like that, i think it was kind of an inevitable thing that had to happen. reporter: the principle says there wasn't one thing that directly influenced the ban, but the superintendent michael morning ban says for him the owen labrie sexual assault case at st. paul's school was somewhat of a tipping point. >> exeter is not really like that. we respect our student body and stuff, and like we're like one big family. reporter: but the principal says the dance ban is a preventative measure that they feel is a responsible move. >> it doesn't make me proud to see the way that that behavior is going on, and i don't think it would make their families

representative of our community. reporter: while student leaders were supportive of the changes, they are concerned about how this will affect fun raising since the dances bring in thousands of dollars for the senior class. and the junior and senior proms are the only dances not affected which this ban. tom: tonight new developments in the case of a camp counselor accused of sexually assaulting boys from two states. today david joe hanson was sentenced to four to six years for assaulting a child in meation. last week a judge issued the same sentence here in new hampshire for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy joehanson met in hillsboro. he will also have to register as a sex offender. jennifer: new details about a man police say sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl. zachary garland appeared in court by video this morning to face three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. authorities allege the assaults took place this past august at a residence in middleton.

teenager knew each other when they traveled from maine to middleton. court records say garland allegedly invited the teenager into a room to talk when the assault took place. >> the court rules prohibit us from disclosing the evidence or speaking about the evidence. but basically the allegations is of forceful rape of a minor child. jennifer: girl and's lawyer says he demise the allegations, bail was set at 35,000 but he can be released if he's accepted into a county monitoring program. tom: despite a warm state, state tourism officials are expecting a rather strong winter season here in new hampshire. more than 7.5 million people expected to visit the granite state this winter, a 5% increase from last year. and their spending is expected to be 7% higher than the last year, reaching more than a billion dollars in just three months. >> here in littleton for folks traveling down from canada, the welcome center is ideally

first impression as you come into our state. tom: under a pilot program, three seasonal welcome centers are being reopened in littleton, colebrook and lebanon to help visitors enjoy their stay. jennifer: with these above average temperatures, the big question is will we have a white christmas. hayley lapoint is here to tell us what our chances are for some snow before the holiday. maybe just a little? hayley: i wish i had had better news, but it doesn't look good, especially to southern areas of the state with this warm air we've had in place. it's going to be tough. we've had had the precipitation, we've had had the storms coming through, except it's too mild and you get the rain. this is the probability of a white christmas per the different regions, but this is alone. so most of the time if you go up to the north you would think we'd have the snow, 90% chance

well, in year that may be the case, but i would put all of these levels much lower, probably closer to zero percent when you get into southern new hampshire by next week. warming trend. the reason for the warm air, it's el nino, the warming of the ocean temperatures in the weather. and this is the outlook for our temperatures over the next couple weeks. really through the end of december, more mild air. we'll get a little cooldown over the weekend, that will be great for the ski areas to make more snow. but in terms of southern areas getting any snow before then or before christmas, it just doesn't look great. our chief meteorologist mike haddad will have more on the full forecast in a couple minutes. tom: have no fear, kids, santa does have a set of goodyears for the sleigh. still to come, the date for new hampshire's first in the nation primary has been set, when granite staters will cast their votes.

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tom: in commitment 2016 coverage now, it's finally official tonight. new hampshire's primary election will take place on february 9th, 2016. jennifer: secretary of state bill gardner making the announcement today at his office in concord. he also unveiled a special poster to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the primary. and it's an historic election for another reason as well. >> first time in my years that we will not be out of compliance with one or both of the parties. >> we're going to have the first

primary, the first real election yet again. jennifer: don't forget the iowa caucuses will take place eight days earlier on february 1st, and this is the 8th time new hampshire's primary has been held in february. tom: we want to thank everyone who donated to the spirit of giving food drive last weekend. thanks to your generosity we raised the $100,000 needed to receive a matching donation from an anonymous donor. $235,000 will benefit the new hampshire food bank, and hungry families in our area this season. >> unfortunately the need is growing. last year we sent out about 11 million pounds. this year we'll probably do 12.5 million. the need is even greater, it's really based on what we have for donations. tom: we also collected more than 154,000 meals for the new hampshire food bank. mike: good work. tom: now a lot of rain today. mike: yes. the rain will move out tonight

we move through the weekend as temperatures, could they finally return to average? jennifer: now to our u local hot shot, get this, everyone, we found some snow. sure, it's just a dusting in pittsburgh, but it there. you can submit your pictures and

tom: people from around the country are sending gifts to a mom accused of shoplifting. jennifer: earlier this month police responded to a call for a woman stealing cake materials from ocean state job lot. when the mother told the officer it was for her child's birthday and she couldn't afford it, he paid for the items himself. so now people have donated more than $1,000 in gifts and even one woman from texas sent a fruit cake. and right now fans are lined up waiting for the premiere of the new star wars movie that's highly anticipated, it's already breaking records. tom: the movie has sold the most tickets ever on the website fandango which movie goers use to prebuy seats. stephanie boodz is in nashua. reporter: tom, chunky's just

are pouring in, real excited to see star wars "the force awakens." the lobby is thinning out, but there's still one very important person left, i'm talking of course about r2d2. this is courtesy of make it laboratories in nashua. so r2, are you excited to see the movie tonight? you heard it from him. thanks, r2. if you haven't snagged a ticket yet, all shows at all locations unfortunately are sold out tonight. this movie picks up where return of the jedi left off in 1983. this is the first star wars movie directed by j.j. abrams and produced by the walt disney company. the actors who made the franchise famous will reprise their roles as luke sky walker, princess leah and hans solo. but there are also some fresh faces in the movie. fans have waited for hours today

favorite characters and villains return. >> i like him because he tells luke that he, he's his father, and that just surprises me in amazement. reporter: jedi and storm troopers will have to check their light sabres at the door tonight. chunky's and other cinemas across the country are banning any sort of toy weapons from inside the theater in the wake of recent shootings. stephanie woods, wmur news 9. mike: mike: if you've got travel plans to the theater over the next few hours, it's going to be wet and soggy, no doubt about that, so be prepared for slow going on the roads. upper 30's to start around 8:00, 9:00 tonight.

predawn hours, around 35 or 36 with fog and a leftover shower possible. the time lapse at the coast today, fog, low clouds, drizzle all morning long. then during the afternoon steadier rain did build in from the south and west. that rain is continuing right now. it lingers right on through the evening before it tends to taper off overnight. that means some slightly dryer air comes in over the overnight stretch into early tomorrow morning. so a dry and pleasantly cool friday. temperatures still well above average. once we get interest the afternoon we could make a run near 50 again near the coast, just like we did today and it does turn cooler as we get into the weekend. snow showers on saturday, that means a return to average temperatures finally by the upcoming weekend. in terms of what's happening on the radar, it's all green, that indicates all rain from the great north woods through the white mountains into the southern part of the state. but it's beginning to break up off to our west. so i would say another couple hours of steady rain, then the

and move to the east. just a couple of lingering showers can't be ruled out during the overnight stretch. but all in the rain form and no frozen roads, which is good news for early tomorrow morning. tonight not all that cold, upper third will do it up north and low 40's elsewhere. but changes are coming in. notice how much cooler it is back to our west. finally at or below average temperatures in the northern part of the plains states, and as that moves off to the east, as we go through tomorrow and into the day on saturday, notice what happens on the jet stream flow. we finally get some cold air marching in, great news for ski resorts, will be blasting snow starting later tomorrow night, all day saturday into sunday and even early on monday. so that will help to improve conditions dramatically. the cold air does retreat to the north by monday, and that means temperatures return to at or

next week, and there's a slight chance a bubble of warmth could boost temperatures near record levels as we go towards christmas eve. so temperatures heading down, but right back up, a good part of next week. notice sun, radar scopes again things drying off to our west, so on future cast you can see late evening. highs tomorrow mid to upper 40's, tonight it's 35 to 40. and beyond that we get the winter chill for saturday. gusty winds out of the west, snow showers a good part of the day in the mountains and can't rule out a snow shower in southern new hampshire with a spot dusting even on the grassy surfaces south of the lakes region. so don't be surprised if that happens saturday and then it warms back up next week. jennifer: thank you, mike. before we get to sports, an update on breaking news in farmington, a first picture is in from 474 main street, here it is. a two-alarm fire has reportedly badly damaged that building, main street is closed because of

we'll have updates throughout the evening for you right on wmur.com, and updates on the news at 10:00 and 11:00. tom: jason back the here, patriots trying to fill up the roster again. >> yes, we'll tell you about that, plus it's home town hero

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>> the patriots claimed a couple

wide receiver leonard hankerson and adrian waddle. waddle started six games for detroit this year. aside from the injuries and players coming and going, it's business as usual in foxborough this week. >> it's like the same deal every week, just put everything you got boo the opponent. just got to concentrate on them, and put all the work in. >> bruins and celtics are both off tonight. b's my at pittsburgh friday night while the celtics return home to host the hawks on friday. this week's home town hero is not only a three-sport athlete but a three-sport champion from sunapee. the sunapee girls basketball team won the division four state championship last winter, and has a great chance to repeat, returning most of last year's impact players, including senior rachel malanga, rachel is a role

role seriously. >> i like to think that i lead by action, so hopefully being upbeat and everything gets everyone else upbeat and it's good to see those attitudes stay up so we can compete against each other. reporter: rachel has helped sunapee win state championships in not only basketball but also softball and volleyball. and has a chance to win two more before she graduates. right now she's focused on hoops. >> we have everyone pretty much returning and as long as we keep our heads on each game and not worry about the future, we definitely have a very bright future for our team. reporter: raich elf is also the student council president, a member of the national honor society, student leadership council, and a tutor for the middle school homework help program. >> i like how i can always bring something to the team, whether it's my skills aren't always there, then i know that my attitude and my effort can always help lead people. reporter: rachel will attend

year where she will study business and hopes to continue her volleyball career. >> the monarchs played an early game in kalamazoo, michigan today. in overtime, legion won it. manchester will play at fort wayne tomorrow night. tom: thank you. right now on wmur.com, what do injury wassic world and caitlyn jenner have in common? they're two of the most searched topics on google this year. jennifer: and we've put together everything you need to know about the original trilogy, the prequels and the new movie being released tonight. tom: tune in for "new hampshire chronicle" that follows world news. we'll see you tonight after barbara walters and the 10 most fascinating people of 2015.

for lynn's family, the big stress is paying four hundred dollars a month in medical and drug costs for other families it's higher deductibles, premiums and co-pays that's why we've got to crack down on price gouging, cap out-of-pocket costs, of less expensive generic drugs. because we've got to get