kevin: the mild air continues into christmas day. new records in places. how long it lasts as we look at the weekend ahead. josh the campaign trail has : reached the christmas break. but the 2016 primary is just weeks away and this could be the most influential one ever. for more than a year 53 americans were held hostage in iran. now, more than 3 decades later they are finally receiving compensation. fed-ex says it wasn' t able to make all of its christmas eve deliveries. the offer they' re making to customers who didn' t get their packages. stores were busy with shoppers picking up that final gift. >> a lot of times it' s tradition, they come out here on christmas eve to get their gifts and they do it all in one day. josh: why some people tell us today' s the perfect day to do all your shopping. >> no one covers new hampshire like we do. now, wmur news 9 tonight.

tonight. i' m josh mcelveen. a lot of places saw april-like temperatures today. but it didn' t quite get warm enough in the right places to break records. looking live at portsmouth right now, where it is 50 degrees. we' ll get another shot at record-breaking temperatures tomorrow. let' s start tonight with meteorologist kevin skarupa. kevin: we talked about the record highs, not quite reached today but the record have smith is 51. it is not fallen much through the evening thanks to a bank of loud. if you have impacted so visibility by early morning could be down to less than a half-mile but a brighter day after any on a and it sets us up for that next system out for the great lakes that will affect the second half of our weekend. next temperatures in the sixth reason -- and western and

either side of 50. it looks like this evening temperatures fall back between 30 5-45 with that patchy fog out there early tomorrow morning. beyond that it looks like the normative is working way back in tomorrow afternoon, record highs the possibility again tomorrow. all the big changes in the weekend beyond coming up in a few minutes. >> hitting the links, a very busy place at the derryfield in manchester and not far away at the park kids were on the playground comparing this day to summer vacation. even though it was so comfortable at least one person , told us they thought it did not warm up fast enough and wanted the warmer temps from the south to get here as quickly as possible. >> we' re waiting for it to come, it' s ten or fifteen minutes away. >> where have you been that this is so cold? >> it' s cold. it' s 86 down in cape coral right now, so this is cold.

last christmas was mild, and we all remember just how much snow can. no one was hurt when a tree crashed into a home in newton this afternoon. you can see the damage caused to the house on south main street. the homeowner was downstairs at the time. newton police say there' s no apparent reason why the tree uprooted other than the recent rain. in vermont a historic stone hut now run by stowe mountain resort is likely a total loss after an overnight fire. firefighters had to use a chairlift and snowcats to carry water to the site. the stone hut was built in the 1930's near the top of vermont' s tallest peak, mount mansfield. it could be rented for overnight use. it' s unclear if the hut was occupied last night. a woman from sandown whose son died unexpectedly in october as he walked to a neighbor' s house is now facing animal cruelty charges. the new hampshire spca took more than 3 dozen animals from sharon melanson' s property on tuesday. she says she knew officials had

resolved it. melanson faces 5 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. she says she and her son had started taking in animals that needed more care and she would never do anything to hurt them. >> i feel it' s a dishonor to my son considering we worked so hard everyday to make sure they had everything they needed. he would be turning in his grave if he knew this was going on. because cruelty is such an untrue and unfair and incorrect word. josh: sandown police aren' t commenting, and there was no answer at the animal control officer' s house today. new developments in the closure of a chipotle restaurant in boston. the restaurant didn' t open today as expected because of a water leak. it closed more than two weeks ago after a norovirus outbreak. health inspectors say the restaurant has been disinfected and tests of the building and employees have all come back

now saturday. commitment 2016 coverage now. and for all the talk about changing the presidential selection process by turning away from the early contest states, there are those who believe this new hampshire primary might offer the most powerful opinion in in long history as first in the nation, and it might be especialy true in the republican field. >> we just can' t afford anymore to be so politically correct. >> like it or not, donald trump isn't just the current front runner in new hampshire, but the established one. but with that comes the burden of expectation, and even national pundits admit that polls in new hampshire mean little. >> the new hampshire electorate is independent and we find out what they think when they go to the polls. >> in a recent interview on " matter of fact," carl cannon of real clear politics says polls, especially in new hampshire, are an illusion, but he also says this first in the nation primary just might more influential and impactful than its ever been. >> you have this big republican field.

hampshire. jeb bush and marco rubio might to be there after new hampshire. these floridians there isnt room we' ll know if chris chrstie is if he doesn' t do well in new hampshire, he' s gone. >> while the likes of ted cruz, mike huckabee, ben carson and heavily on iowa. candidates like john kasich, have to be aware a poor showing their campaigns. which brings us back to this guy, because come january wmur political reporter john distaso believes despite what the polls say around the holidays, voters arent done shopping. >> as he takes more and more of these attacks is it going to wear him down or is it going to built him up like it has all year long? whos going to emerge as the alternative? we wont know that until primary night, but i think throughout january there is going to be a lot of jockeying for that second spot. josh: heading into the new year there are plenty of questions.

converstation with john distaso sunday at 10:00 am or read more about it in his column found in the primary source on wmur.com turning now to travel with , millions travelling for the holidays, the tsa is tightening security. you used to be able to opt-out of going through body scanners but now tsa agents can overrule you. john atwater from our sister station wcvb has more on the change. >> heightened concerns about terrorism prompted the change. now the tsa says agents can require a full body scan if they determine it' s necessary. before the change, passengers could instead request a physical pat down. you will still be able to make that request, but now, tsa agents can deny it. the change comes as more than 100 million people travel for the christmas holiday. though the majority will drive, millions will travel by air and could be impacted by the change, though the tsa says many people >> i have no problem with it.

>> i think it' s better security, and to walk through it is so easy to do. >> i travel a lot so i' m wary about getting any type of cancer, i don' t know what the radiation levels are in that machine so i am wary about it. john: some passengers a bit concerned about it but tsa says the impact should be minor. >> at logan airport, john atwater for wmur news 9. josh: fedex said it was not able to make all of its deliveries. fedex will deliver packages tomorrow and counters will be open at express offices for customers to pick up packages themselves. many people spent christmas eve in stores, picking up last minute gifts. the mall of new hampshire was busy all day today with shoppers.

closed at six. wmur' s kristen carosa spoke with a few of them. she joins us now live with the kristen: the parking lot here at the mall of new hampshire is empty now but this was a busy place earlier today with people looking to complete their holiday shopping. people packed into the mall of new hampshire christmas eve, looking for that perfect gift. >> they are on a mission, they know what they are here for. kristen: mall manager jack toscano says sales have been strong this holiday season with a steady stream of customers on the last day before christmas. >> a lot of times it' s tradition, they come out here on christmas eve to get their gifts and they do it all in one day. the national retail federation says the holiday season is the biggest time of year for retailers. this year the organization says sales will increase 3.7% equaling more than $630 billion. >> i picked up some last minute

yesterday we did some last minute shopping and we are probably going to go somewhere else to do some more shopping. kristen: octavious smith says he always waits to get his christmas gifts and he has a reason. >> you get the best deals at the last minute, most stores have 60, 40, 50, a lot of percentages off. kristen: but it wasn' t just the sales that brought people out. >> i just went and saw santa and my dad is getting two pictures. kristen: many families stopped by to take pictures, including one couple who got engaged right on santa' s lap. >> he was like hey, i never took s go take one. embarrassed. but then he was like, will you marry me? and got on his knee and that is what happened, and i said, yes, of course. kristen: and as the mall winds down from all the excitement, the mall is preparing to reopen on saturday. >> it' s the 26th of december but its also lies on a saturday so we expect a lot of traffic with

gift cards and some returns too. kristen: to accommodate the crowds, the mall of new hampshire will be open from 9am until 10pm on saturday. reporting live, kristen carosa, wmur news 9. josh: coming up protesters , gathered in chicago trying to interrupt christmas eve shopping. it' s not the first time michigan avenue has been the site of protest. they were held hostage is -- how held hostage for 444 days during the iranian hostage crisis will finally be compensated. kevin: 10 degrees above normal for the end of december. the details are coming up. josh: this families little elf

paris: there's a lot to do on a dairy farm. nobody's gonna do it for you. you have to get out there and do it yourself. bernie sanders is a well-known friend of family farms. bernie cannot be bought out by big money. bernie's opinion cannot be purchased. it's time for our next president to get in there, roll up his sleeves, take off the gloves, and take on wall street, take on big business, take on big money, and get the working class

he's a rock. and i approve this message. josh: an unusual december outbreak of tornadoes has killed at least 11 people in the south. seven in mississippi, three in tennessee, and one in arkansas. storms cause flooding in alabama as well as a mudslide in georgia. protesters briefly interrupted

chicago. they blocked entrance to an apple store. there have been sporadic protests over the last few weeks over released dash cam video showing a white police officer shooting a black teenager. the police officer has been charged. buried in last week' s controversy federal spending bill was a historic package that was a long time coming. the americans held for 444 days during the iranian hostage crisis will finally be abc' s tom llamas has more. >> tonight, more than 30 years after those american hostages were paraded before the world a measure of justice. the 53 american seized by an angry mob that stormed the u.s. embassy in tehran in 1979. >> they will spend at least another night imprisoned in the american embassy. >> they became international

for more than a year. a 22-year-old marine serving as a security guard at the embassy. >> being held hostage was 444 days of a bad nightmare where each day we woke up we thought we were dead. >> finally, on the day ronald reagan was sworn in. >> freedom for 52 americans. >> in all the years since, they former hostages fought for s finally come. president obama signed last friday. they will each receive up to $4.4 million. that' s $10,000 for every one of the 444 days they spent in captivity. sickmann calls it justice josh: the agreement struck between the united states and iran that secured freedom for the hostages also prevented them using the courts to seek payments from iran. the money comes from a new fund, filled in part by fines collected by the u.s. government on companies that have illegally done business with iran.

hostages are still alive. population in the last fiscal year. the main population drop by 928 people, vermont by 725. connecticut, illinois, mississippi and new mexico also 2600. pope francis celebrated christmas eve mass at the vatican tonight. christians marked the birth of jesus on christmas and the pope noted in his homily the simplicity of jesus birth in the stable. this was the pope' s only public mass but tomorrow he will deliver a speech at noon from st. peter' s square. you are looking at records that could be broken. >> the lack of slow -- lack of

that top percentage. it looks like tomorrow we will make a serious run into the mid-50' s. the drying process has continued through the evening in a lot of areas. not as much fog as one would expect, considering we' onto a lot of it are the day today. we' re not expecting a tremendous amount of dense fog tomorrow morning but in those areas that normally see that, concord and up through plymouth and through lebanon, there could be some thick fog out there to start the day tomorrow. beyond that we look for the high to give way to filter sunshine. temperatures up into the mid-50' s, not truly feeling like christmas by any stretch of the imagination. those numbers are about 20 degrees above normal for this time of year. another partly sunny day on

arrives. the next system will start changing things up a little bit from the mild pattern week then into much cooler by next week with the next system the coming in on those colder temperatures. above 60 across a good part of northern areas of the state but still offering in the mid-40' s to near 50 degrees in southeastern areas. still some fog and this is in the normal fog prawn areas like plymouth, concord, and keen. it looks like bad early tomorrow morning it could be less than a quarter of a mile there. as we look back to the west, much cooler air to be had. the front on sunday certainly drops temperatures by the early part of next week. from the mid-40' s. 56-57 are the record highs for concord and portsmouth. that'

tomorrow afternoon with a good deal of sunshine. if you have thick fog around tomorrow morning, it may take 11:00 or noon time to finally burned that all, but it should be drier through the afternoon. then a nice day on saturday. a big change over the weekend clouds increase saturday evening after highs in the 40' s. should not be an all-day rain for sunday but they will be out there at times and then eventually cool air rushes in behind that. monday may not get much above freezing in a lot of the state. that' s the colder air in place as this disturbance travels all the way across the country and tries to make its way in here on tuesday. the potential is there for the first accumulating snow for a lot of places in central and southern areas of the state. 50' s tomorrow and then we slip weekend. saturday will be the brighter of

clout saturday night and sunday scattered showers moving through . a colder day on monday and then it could start early in the day tuesday and wrap up in the evening on tuesday. temperatures much closer to the average thereafter. then things will normalize to where they should be. josh: jamie staton is wearing

this epidemic of gun violence knows no boundaries. hillary clinton has what it takes to stand up to the republicans and the gun lobby. we need to close the loopholes and support universal background checks. how many people have to die before we actually act... before we come together as a nation? and i approve

jamie the only major : professional game on this christmas eve, chargers at the raiders. and a big play from our guy from nashua. big kendall reyes with an interception of doug carr and he gets credit for one yard return. first career interception for him. that set up a touchdown, 7-0 chargers. it looks like the raiders are about to score. merry christmas eve, and welcome to one of the slowest sports days of the year. no nba, no nhl, no local college or high school action. but there were a couple of college football bowl games. this is one of them, and how great does that beach look. a high-scoring college football bowl game today. the popeyes bahamas bowl. western michigan and middle tennessee state. jamauri bogan with a broncos td run from 62 out. he also had a 46 yarder. what again. 34 points, 475 yards in total offense.

they take it 45-31. in the hawaii bowl,.san diego state against cincinnnati. in the opening kickoff, penny catches it on the endzone, gets a few blocks and makes a few moves and he is gone. 100 yards for the touchdown. score, 7-0 san diego state. it was all aztecs san diego state rolls. college football on saturday, 42-7. live here on abc-9. the pinstripe bowl, indiana against duke. a christmas eve practice for the pats. they were on the field earlier today. they will look to continue their dominance over the ny jets when they play on sunday in ny. the pats have won 9 of their last 10 against the jets and new england can sweep the season series for the 2nd straight year. the patriots are 3 point favorites. >> obviously they' ve been well coached this year. there'

that are challenging. it' s tough, but we are grinding through it. >> they are playing really well. they were pretty good when we played them the first time. jamie: that' s a 1:00 kickoff. our hometown heroes on this christmas eve are the hockey players on the nh junior monarchs. the guys got together to make a real difference in nh with their cold ice, warm feet project. they have been collecting socks at their games, as well as donations to buy more socks all to help the homeless and needy. all told, over 2,500 pairs of socks were distributed before christmas. this is part of a bigger junior monarchs initiative called operation making life better, which has included programs like going into schools and nursing homes, yard work for military families on duty, and a pink in the rink game for cancer. so congrats to the players for being this weeks hometown heroes. >> one of the least donated items for homeless shelters are soft and underwear.

in the winner is something he would not wish on anyone but having some nice warm socks makes things better. >> anytime he can get out in the community and help the homeless, it' s a great feeling. the guys have really come together. taking care of her family, is not just us, it' s the whole community. >> a great program for them. nba on channel nine tomorrow, the bulls and the thunder at 2:30. the raiders discourse so they are up 20-17 with about four minutes to go. josh: still to come on news 9 tonight. one man is very busy this christmas eve. next we' re catching up with santa claus as we track his progress delivering gifts around

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there was a misprint with the norad phone number. they were happy to help and all these years later, it' s kind of their job. but santa is busy and has been for a while. >> kind of a cottage industry for them. five billion gifts already delivered tonight. 50' s tomorrow for your christmas day then back in the 40' s for the weekend. a couple of showers sunday and after that all eyes on the possibility of our first accumulating snow on tuesday. josh: thanks for joining us for news9 tonight at 11. jimmy kimmel live is next, followed by night line. merry christmas, wherever you are. have a great holiday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its

paris: there's a lot to do on a dairy farm. nobody's gonna do it for you. you have to get out there and do it yourself. bernie sanders is a well-known

by big money. bernie's opinion cannot be purchased. it's time for our next president to get in there, roll up his sleeves, take off the gloves, and take on wall street, take on big business, take on big money, and get the working class back to where they should be. he's a rock. sanders: i'm bernie sanders and i approve this message. (cell phone rings) where are you? in the attic. your dad won't call an exterminator... he says it's personal this time... you call at the worst time. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. r it's what you do. where are you?r it's very loud there. are you taking at