on local five news at 5:30.. a house fire kills a mother and her three children.. the latest on the investigation into how it started... nikki then--a pastor released from prison.. and how a metro church celebrated his freedom this morning.. nikki plus....its lego wars... we're taking inside the competition to master the best model. "local 5 news at 5:30 in hd starts now. we are iowa " nikki: good evening. welcome to local 5 news, i'm nikki davidson. glad you're with us tonight. nikki: people across central iowa... are just trying to stay warm tonight... the temperature is already below zero in some places.... and the wind chill is making it feel like negative fourty... it's not looking any better for tonight, so we are handing it over to meterologist james peterson... james what can we expect ? nikki: an early morning house fire has taken the lives

house fire has taken the lives of four people in boxholm... officials have

young mother... amber sorenson and her three children... riley, autumn and brayden... around 1 a.m. boxholm firefighters fought the blaze at the home on beech street, with the help of nine nearby departments... crews searched the home, but were not able to get to the victims in time... the preliminary investigation found that a space heater may have caused the fire in the back of the house.... crews worked on scene for hours and say cold temperatures made extinguishing the flames difficult. dave huffman, boxholm fire chief: "it was an ordeal, freezing up, equipment failure, air packs were freezing up. it was a tough battle." nikki: firefighters tell us what happened is absolutely heartbreaking for them. fire crews are working on the scene as we speak. they say there are a number of hot spots still in the house, but they can't get to them at this point because of all of the ice. the victims husband and father was working, and not at home at the time of the fire... nikki: a fatal car crash left one dead and one injured

the crash took place saturday night just after 9-oclock on the highway 34- skyline bridge. deanne hoffman of creston died in the accident.. donna spare of afton was injured.. a go-fund me page has been set up for the victim's remaining family memebers. she leaves behind a husband and two sons. nikki: a community is celebrating today, after an american pastor was released from an iranian prison. saeed abedini had been in prison for nearly four years. communities all around the u-s have been holding rallies, benefits and prayer vigils --- all in hopes that he'd come home safely. today, the congregation held a special service to give thanks. church members say they never lost hope that he would one day be headed home, despite never knowing when it would happen. rob keller, organizer of the vigils: "it is on one level, but we knew that god would hear our prayers one day, and he heard them the other day, and it's been awesome celebrating that. " nikki: there's no definite date yet for when he will return home. church members say he must first see a doctor to treat the

bleeding he suffered while in the prison. nikki: the welcome home party is also being celebrated on the national stage.. president obama held a rare weekend address today.. four others were freed in a prisoner swap.. the president also talked about the impementation of the iranian nuclear deal.. " reflects our willingness to ingage with iran and to advance our mutual interests. even as we ensure the national security of us. nuculer deal, implmented. american famlies, reunited. " nikki: three of those released prisoners are at an air base in germany.. nikki: new details now in the muscatine shooting that involved a police officer.. nikki: the individual shot during a vehicle stop friday night has been identified.. tim seefeldt was shot by a deputy in muscatine friday night after seefeldt was stopped in a vehicle that was suspected of being stolen.. it happened in the parking lot of a best western after he attempted to drive off and hit several vehicles

enforcemnt vehicle.. the investigation is on-going.. nikki: a commercial structure fire occured saturday night around 9:30 in clive.. crews were called to 9-5-5-0 swanson blvd in response to an automatic fire alarm.. the cause of the fire is believed to be combustbles stored too close to a heat source.. the fire damage was minimal.. nikki: questions in a unsolved sex abuse case are one step closer to being answered.... officials say dna evidence have led to new charges in the case james murphy of knoxville was serving time at the anamosa state prison for a sex abuse charge in 2014... dna from that case turned out to match dna from an unsolved sex abuse case from back in 2008 in marion county. murphy is now facing a sex abuse in the second degree charge for that incident as well.... nikki: a billion dollar merger could mean big business here in iowa. in december, dow chemical and dupont/pioneer announced they'd be merging. the ag giant will finalize the merger by late this year.

separate into three companies focusing on specific agricultural needs. however they havent decided where those companies will be located. the city of johnston is hoping dupont/pioneer's headquarters will be considered. the city is working with state officials, hoping to be the top choice. "we hope their decison is this is where they want their headquarters to be. we're ready to show them why that should be their decision." jack: dow-dupont isn't releasing which cities are in mind for company headquarters. those decisions will come within the next two years. nikki: and over in ames this weekend... its lego wars! teams from across the state came together to compete in the iowa first lego league championship at the isu college of engineering.. local 5 photographer ryan davidson gives us a look inside the heated competiton. "3 2 1 lego we're dong junior first lego league which is for 6-9 year old children they're building lego models they're dong research we want to show them that when you're an engineer or a scientist or a mathmatician it's a really creative area

today they go on and think about that for their future they've never done this in a championship setting before so it's just putting them at ease letting them know we're all here to help them out from table 21 260 the lego league lions it's a critical age for us to say math is really cool science is really cool you can do it through fun things that you play with at home like legos which is a wonderful toy but there's a lot of mathmatical inclanation in it there's a lot of design behind it well i like the robot runs a lot and i also like core values the truck has the yellow box oh the robot got stuck it's driving on top of the truck you're having to interact as a team you're having to problem solve you're having to think on your feet you're having to manage time those are the things these teams are having to do just show so much enthuasism not just

want to do it's really about getting the kids together having a safe space for them providing resouces and then letting the kids go at it " nikki: local 5 news at 5:30... tonight's debate.. it's the last one before the iowa caucuses february first. nikki: and....iowa looks to stay unbeaten in big ten play ..jordan has the details later in sports. nikki: have a story you think we should cover? email us at: news at we are iowa dot com. or call us in the newsroom: 1- 800-858-5555. we're on facebook "we are iowa local 5 news" and twitter "we are iowa 5 news" if you see news break... let us know. we'll be right back. you're watching local 5 news at 5:30. "you're watching local

5 news at 5:30 in hd. we are iowa" nikki: with the iowa caucus two weeks away.. candidates are doing all they can to get the upper hand over one another.. nikki: tonight.. is the final democratic debate before iowa steals the politcal spotlight.. abc's mary bruce has more. the attacks keep coming. frontrunners donald trump and ted cruz hurling jabs gfx tweet montage trump is slamming cruz in a barrage of tweets, questioning his comments on "new york values"? posting this photo comments on "new york values"? posting this photo asking: is this the new york that ted cruz is talking about & demeaning? and he blasted him for failing to properly disclose a loan from goldman sachs sot trump (5513 donald trump portsmouth nh pool feed 011616 c16) 11:55:02 he obviously didn't want the voters to know that he is totally controlled lock stock and barrel by citibank and by goldman sachs cruz fired back sot cruz (tvu 3ted

it seems donald doesn't react well when he's going down in the polls both frontrunners appeared at a tea party convention in south carolina where trump's attacks did not go over well? sot trump (wash 5 sc tea party coalition convention pt 3) 17:09:17 [corwd boos] excuse me, excuse me he didn't report his bank loans excuse me. didn't report his bank loans. say whatever you want, he didn't report bank loans that's ok. overnight hillary clinton and her opponents breaking bread in south carolina? but the pleasantries are not expected to last long? sot hillary clinton with the democratic race tightening, the candidates have been sharpening their attacks... sot hillary clinton he voted against the brady bill 5 times. sot bernie sanders i voted for a ban on assualt weapons nikki:

headquarters.. tune in for in depth caucus coverage on february first. meteorologist is here now...and james it is so cold outside. (james adlibs) i'll have your up. "now, we are iowa's "now, we are iowa's

meteorologist james peterson certified by weatherrate the

james/wx wall weather adlib: a wind chill warning will be in effect for our northern counties from until 9am monday. and wind chill advisory will be in effect until 9am monday for a majority of the state. temps will plummet again tonight with sub-zero lows for monday morning and barely single digits by monday afternoon. wind chills will range from -25 in central iowa to -40 in northern iowa. best to stay in doors if at all possible and stay safe. if you have to travel, make sure you have an emergency winter kit packed. snow moves is back in the forecast for tuesday before temperatures return to more seasonable 20s for the rest of the work week and 30s by next weekend. nikki: chill advisory will be in effect until 9am monday for a majority of the state.

again tonight with sub-zero lows for monday morning and barely single digits by monday afternoon. wind chills will range from -25 in central iowa to -40 in northern iowa. best to stay in doors if at all possible and stay safe. if you have to travel, make sure you have an emergency winter kit packed. snow moves is back in the forecast for tuesday before temperatures return to more seasonable 20s for the rest of the work week and 30s by next weekend. nikki:

monday for a majority of the state. temps will plummet again tonight with sub-zero lows for monday morning and barely single digits by monday afternoon. wind chills will range from -25 in central iowa to -40 in northern iowa. best to stay in doors if at all possible and stay safe. if you have to travel, make sure you have an emergency winter kit packed. snow moves is back in the forecast for tuesday before temperatures return to more seasonable 20s for the rest of the work week and 30s by next weekend. nikki: we love to see chill advisory will be in effect until 9am monday for a majority of the state. temps will plummet again tonight with sub-zero lows for monday morning and barely single digits by monday afternoon. wind chills will range from -25 in central iowa to -40 in northern iowa. best to stay in doors if at all possible and stay safe. if you have to travel, make sure you have an emergency winter kit packed. snow moves is back in the forecast for tuesday before temperatures return to more seasonable 20s for the rest of the work week and 30s by next weekend. nikki:

photos! if you capture any good pictures make sure to post them at we are iowa dot com. just click on the share it tab! nikki/2ram the iowa hawkeyes on quite the hot jordan: ever since the state, the hawks have beaten #1, #14 and #4... coming up on

make it 7 wins in a row taking on michigan... " now, local 5 sports with jordan furbee. we are iowa sports"

are iowa spott0w!t^)hw! %4@-=6, tt0w!t^)hw! el@-71@ tt0w!t^)hw! ed@-13$ tt0w!t^)hw% )8h-qmx tt0w!t^)hw% kzh-l"$ tt0w!t^)hw% n-h-9k( tt0w!t^)hw% 0ph-',0 tt0w!t^)hw% s"h-7^p tt0w!t^)hw% ueh-4< tt0w!t^)hw% 7hh-(>t hotter than the iowa hawkeyes right now! since a december 10th loss to iowa state the hawkeyes have won six straight, are now ranked 16th in the ap, 4th in the kenpom power poll. and more importantly find themselves at the top of the big ten standings... hawks going for 7 in a row versus michigan... and they start out on fire! jarrod uthoff on the drive hits the turnaround. then it's peter jok, sinks the jumper... he listens to jok jams! and then it's uthoff nailing the step back three. hawks start the game on an 11-0 run... but back comes

dj wilson left wide open, he of a 13-0 run. the lead. but iowa adam woodbury the steal and the slam for the big man! hawks up 38-33 at the break... 2nd half, wolverines pull ahead. zak irvin, count the bucket and the foul. maize and blue up 2. but the hawks answer. and in a big way... peter jok the step back three, then it's anthony clemmons straight cash. more from jok another triple... then it's dom uhl from long range... and then uthoff is seeing triple!! part of 7 second half threes. uthoff had 23, jok 16. hawks win their 11th straight regular season big ten game dating back to last season 82-71. "fran mccaffery recaps iowa's win over michigan"

trip to piscatawy to face rutgers... that game is set for thursday at 6pm and can be seen on espnu... drake men in action, trying to snap a 5 game skid hosting southern illinois... 1st bucket of the game goes to the dogs. as kale abrahamson drills the three... but the salukis would pull ahead from there...thanks to some sloppy play from drake. the steal, the missed shot is rebounded by siu and they get the putback. they'd jump out to a 13-5 lead. but back come the dogs. finds ore arogundade who drills the corner three then from the same spot, graham woodward who nails the trifecta... steal, woodward ahead to arogundade, count the bucket and the foul. drake goes up 14-13 after the free throw. but the bulldogs fall again, 81-76

women's hoops, the iowa state women rally from an 11 point 4th quarter deficit but fall in overtime at texas tech, 69-66. seanna johnson had 19 points and 10 rebounds. next up for the cyclones another road game at oklahoma state on wednesday... uni women also at home today hosting indiana state. and the panthers win their 4th in a row, 53-42. that moves them into sole possession of first place in the valley at 5-1! jordan/2shot nikki: we'll be right back... you're watching local five news at 5:30 james:

chill warning wifrom until 9am monday. and wind chill advisory will be in effect until 9am monday for a majority of the state. temps will plummet again tonight with sub-zero lows for monday morning and barely single digits by monday afternoon. wind chills will range from -25 in central iowa to -40 in northern iowa. best to stay in doors if at all possible and stay safe. if you have to travel, make sure you have an emergency winter kit packed. snow moves is back in the forecast for tuesday before temperatures return to more seasonable 20s for the rest of the work week and 30s by next weekend. nikki/3shot thank you for spending your time with us tonight. log onto our website, we are iowa dot com for more news, weather and sports.

ribeiro: here's a eak peek at tonight's "afv." we know you're gonna love it. almost. oh! -[ laughs ] aah! man: ohh! woman: what are you doing?! man: whoo! welcome to...

alfonso ribeiro!