today here in the metro, but i'm sure there will be a few 40s in western and southern iowa. overnight tonight we'll see partly cloudy skies with calm winds and a low in the mid 20s. friday is looking like a partly cloudy to partly sunny day with warm southerly winds warming us up into the mid 40s. saturday will start with sun but clouds will return in the afternoon, but despite that cloud cover highs will still feel amazing in the upper 40s! we may see a few early morning showers on sunday with highs falling back on local five news midday.... this may be a first for iowa. find out how prison inmates are remaining zen. elias: the widow of the illinois officer who staged his suicide as a homicide is now being indicted for money laundering. elias: tonight is the last republican debate before caucus night, just four days away now. who's in the line-up and how will they fare on the stage. "local 5 news midday in hd starts now. we are iowa" elias: good morning and thanks for joining us for local 5 news midday...i'm elias johnson. elias:

morning...look for some long lines at metro fast food restaraunts, but not for ordering. not for ordering. elias: just days before the iowa caucuses....and hours ahead of tonight's republican debate...the iowa fight for 15 will hold events in des moines... organizers and fast-food workers protested this morning for a higher wage... forty-eight percent of iowans are paid less than fifteen dollars an hour for their work. just before sunrise, cooks and cashiers from fast-food chains around the metro striked... they also plan to hold a protest and march this iowa events center....the location of tonight's debate. elias: an activist for programs returns to iowa today... elias: actor and des moines to turnaround arts program.. the initiative the initiative areas... he visited area and september see how schools were program.

wednesday at the state capitol talking about education with iowa lawmakers... today, he will be back at harding middle school to meet with students... elias: it's possibly a first in iowa....yoga classes that take place behind bars for offenders. dave franzman says supporters already see some signs it's working to improve offenders lives in linn county. " [take pkg]pkg [anchor:dave]dave [readrate:15] [camio3(1 ) [one line l3] - cedar rapids (00:00 - 00:00 the mats probably look the same. sot/nat the instructions sound the same. but as for location... that's definitely different. [take sot]sot [camio3(1 ) [dave franzman] - (00:00 - 00:00)

some juveniles in skeptical at first. doing yoga for awhile [take sot]sot if i'm frustrated and i get frustrated some times.">4:50 [camio3

joins us again with a look at your forecast. sam feeling pretty nice with our highs 41 degrees! cooler cloud cover will keep metro, but i'm sure there will be a few 40s in western and southern iowa. overnight tonight we'll see partly cloudy skies with calm winds and a low in the mid 20s. friday is looking like a partly cloudy to partly sunny day with warm southerly winds warming us up into the mid 40s. saturday will start with sun but clouds will return in the afternoon, but despite that cloud cover highs will still feel amazing in the upper 40s! we may see a few early morning showers on sunday with highs falling back into the low 40s. there is still a large snow storm expected to impact iowa late monday through wednesday morning. the energy from this

pacific ocean so it's still too early for reliable snowfall totals, but it is safe to say heavy accumulating snow is a possibility on tuesday. elias: let's keep an eye on education...as let's keep an eye on education...as we check in at the statehouse. elias: its a waiting game for iowa school districts....as the education funding issue moves through the statehouse. lawmakers started with a 4 percent increase, then it changed to 2 percent - that wasn't agreed upon either. which now sends it to a special conference committee. that's where it was stuck for much of the session last year, before legislators made a final decision.

said it's their top priority and they'll decide on it as soon as possible. elias: iowa lawmakers also looking over a controversial bill this session. elias: called the death with dignity act....it would give those suffereing from terminal illness the choice of euthenasia or assisted suicide. lawmakers who will introduce the bill held a news conference wednesday. and iowans suffering from terminal illness shared their stories. christine 15:21 i don't want to suffer a slow and painful death, i want this bill passed before it's my time. my family and friends want this bill to be passed. john 19:48 i believe it is a basic human right to choose not only how we live, but also how we die. elias: the controversial bill will likely spark debate....a similar measure last year but enough support. the bill came religious groups... elias: hear from you at home... miles says quote

right of a terminally ill patient to be in charge of his or her end to life." sondra says that her mother was diagnosed with cancer...and given only two years to live... but she fought and lived another eleven years... she says quote..."what a loss if she listened to the doctor's prediction! never give up and have faith are two lessons i have learned from her." elias: and keep the discussion going... do you support the death with dignity act? let us know -- you can post you thoughts on twitter and facebook. or send us an email or give us a call . the contact information is on your screen. elias: in your national headlines now-- elias: now to a new twist in the case of that disgraced illinois cop who staged his suicide last year to look like a murder-- an investigation found he stole thousands of dollars from a youth police now, his widow on money charges. has the story. questioning her)

illinois police lieutenant joe gliniewicz, free on questioning her) melodie gliniewicz she was indicted in wednesday, accused of conspiring with her husband, who officials believe embezzled thousands of dollars from his police department's youth program (nats crime scene) police say in september-the officer, nicknamed gi joe, killed himself lt. gliniewicz: do you need a second unit? go ahead and start somebody (source: wls) but prosecutors now say melodie was in on the scheme - alleging the pair misspent more than 10-thousand dollars belonging to the youth program, which joe ran for approximately 20 years - ?including financing a trip to hawaii and more than 400 restaurant bills - the couple even posting photos from some of those outings on social media (sot police spox from wls) money for this explorer account that was supposed to be

used for personal reasons (nats september vigil) in the days after her husband's death- melodie defended him?the community initially embracing her as she grieved. (sot melodie at vigil ") but her attorneys now saying she too was deceived..."melodie is a victim of her husband's secret actions and looks forward to her day in court to show the world her innocence." melodie is charged with misuse of charitable funds and money laundering. if convicted she could receive 7 years in prison for gma ap abcn chi" elias: local 5 news midday... siri, cortana, google, alexa? which personal phone assistant works best? elias: and... the republican candidates take to the stage moines one last coming up, we'll analyst cokie roberts on to expect tonight on the stage. elias: does fitbit really work?

might not be working how you hoped.

news midday in hd with elias johnson and we are iowas most accurate forecast. this is local 5 midday. we are iowa" elias: fitbit is arguably fitness tracker on the market. it seems like everyone has those bracelets that track your steps -- and in some cases your heart rate. but does fitbit really work? mary moloney explains.. " --reporter pkg-as follows-- (nats) this year -- the word health is almost synonymous with the word fitbit. not only do you see these brightly colored bracelets at the gym or work -- but the catchy frequently.

get you in shape -- but do the wearable trackers work? this month -- fitbit was hit with a class action lawsuit -- alleging fraud. according to the suit -- two of the company's heart rate monitors -- the fitbit charge h-r and the fitbit surge -- don't accurately measure your heart rate. and that could be potentially dangerous. especially for people looking to push their heart rates past a certain mark. the suit surprised consumer reports -- who tested and recommended the fitbit charge h-r and the fitbit surge. so -- consumer reports retested the and compared fitbit's products with another device that has proven accuracy -- the polar h-7 chest the consumer reports testers again found were on point. and if there was a variance between the fitbit -- it was no more than three beats per minute.

but consumer reports noticed one exception. the fitbit charge h-r would give more inaccurate readings at higher intensity workouts depending on where that strap was put on the arm. if you follow fitbit's directions and wear the device in the place it recommends -- the monitor is accurate. while consumer reports says it will keep an eye on the fitbit lawsuit -- it says it will continue to recommend the fitbit surge and the fitbit h-r trackers." elias: and take a look at this today.....a piano performance goes viral... " nat pop of piano elias: old monntel west playing the piano inside of a has been getting attention... and get this.....west says he has never been formally taught how to play...doesn't read music, and doesn't have a piano at home.

electronic from watching videos on youtube. went viral....west has had offers for free piano viral....west has pianos...and was even contacted by a record label. all: elias: sam tease text here

most accurate forecast with meteorologist sam schreier. certified by weatherrate the independent weather experts" sam weather adlib: yesterday ended up feeling pretty nice with our highs climbing to a pleasant 41 degrees! cooler winds and afternoon cloud cover will keep things in the upper 30s today here in the metro, but i'm sure there will be a few 40s in western and southern iowa. overnight tonight we'll see partly cloudy skies with calm winds and a low in the mid 20s. friday is looking like a partly cloudy to partly sunny day with warm southerly winds warming us up into the mid 40s. saturday will

the afternoon, but despite that cloud cover highs will still feel amazing in the upper 40s! we may see a few early morning showers on sunday with highs falling back into the low 40s. there is still a large snow storm expected to impact iowa late monday through wednesday morning. the energy from this system still has to cross the entire pacific ocean so it's still too early for reliable snowfall totals, but it is safe to say heavy accumulating snow is a possibility on tuesday.

sabrina still to come on local five news midday... the animal rescue league is on with a special furry guest.

arl

league of iowa (arl) is iowa's largest nonprofit animal shelter, caring for many thousands of pets each year. the arl serves people and pets from across the state of iowa through its programs, which include pet adoption, humane education, pet behavior training, spay/neuter, animal cruelty intervention and much more. history the arl has grown dramatically since its founding in 1926 - expanding its programs that serve both people and homeless animals across iowa. the most obvious growth is the number of animals the arl provides shelter and care for each year. intakes have increased from a few thousand animals a decade ago to more 2013. through our outreach and in the past few years we have begun to see a decrease in the number of animals we care for, but our work is far from over. other areas of growth include the

to address the reasons animals end up in shelters, including spay/neuter, behavior training, and humane education programs. the arl's positive reinforcement training program has expanded to offer year-round classes, as well as free behavior advice for dogs, cats, rabbits and other pets. the shelter continues to spay and neuter all dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets and pigs that are adopted from our shelter. in addition to the animals that come through the arl's doors, the arl also serves the people of iowa through its many services. mission to promote animal welfare, strengthen the human-animal bond, and prevent the overpopulation of

" you're watching local 5 news midday in hd. we are iowa" : elias: on your money now elias: if you don't have your debit card...j-p-morgan chase says you can still make a withdrawal. just use a smart phone. the bank is upgrading its entire fleet of a-t-ms this year. it says one of the perks to the new machines is a

allows customers to take money out of their account by tapping their phones to the a- t-m. the technology used is the same one that allows apple-pay and other payment apps to work. elias: and a big television merger announced wednesday... our parent company... nexstar broadcasting is now the owner of media general. the local tv station group says the deal is worth 4 point 6 billion dollars. nexstar will now own 171 stations in 100 markets across the u-s. the new name of the company will be nexstar media group, it will be the largest independent owner of c-b-s affiliates. elias: and finally...it's national data privacy day the annual day is for raising awareness and promoting privacy and data protection best practices. so get your computers checked out and cleaned of viruses or malware... and remember to keep your personal information safe

elias: coming up on local 5 news midday... find out why many kids might be switching to flag football next fall. elias: next.... political analyst cokie roberts is on to preview tonight's last republican presidential debate before caucus night,

" you're watching local 5 news midday in hd. we are iowa" elias: good morning and thanks for joining us for local 5 news midday...i'm elias johnson. elias: with four days until the iowa caucuses....prepa reations are in full swing... setup in downtown des moines began yesterday... elias: it all began at capital square... all media coverage will be headquartered there as the numbers roll in on monday. the latest polls show a tight race for both parties....with

big weekend of events across the hawkeye state... trying to sway as many voters as possible before monday. elias: and all eyes on tonight's elias: and all eyes on tonight's republican debate in the hawkeye state. the republicans look to clash...without donald trump on the stage. the gop frontrunner...sp eaking out...on why he's not attending..and what he will be doing instead of participating in the debate. abc's ray raimundi explains. " the fox news - donald trump debate controversy continues this morning? both sides engaged in a high- stakes game of "chicken" just hours before tonights final debate (from tuner 4 donald trump on oreilly factor fnc c 16 012716) sot: 20:18:20: 00 o'reilly: "but by walking away from the debate, you are not giving them...." trump: i'm not walking away. i was pushed away. i'm not walking away, bill." o'reilly: "you are walking away." trump -- defending his decision to skip out on the republican debate on fox news (from turner 4 donald trump on oreilly

sot @ 20:02:05:00 "i was not treated well by fox. i have zero respect for megyn kelly. i don't think she is very good at what she does. i think she is highly overrated." and the gop frontrunner's republican counterparts -- pouncing on his decision to be a no show. particularly senator ted cruz (from wsvote2016wedpkg4 sot: ted cruz "if someone did that, didn't show up at the interview, you know what you'd say? you're fired!" the texas senator also now challenging trump to a one on one. debate trump tweeting his response - saying "okay-can we do it in canada?" insert nats from sanders rally in mason city: wssandersmasoncityia on the democratic side...bernie sanders meeting with the man he'd like to replace at the whitehouse. president obama and sanders long discussed meeting was a way for the president to show neutrality in the close primary race. nats back in iowa? former president bill clinton stumping for his wife ahead of monday's caucuses ray tag: donald trump says he will be holding a fundraiser for veterans in iowa...at the same time of the fox news debate...just two miles away. rr, abc news, new york." elias: there have been some shake-ups in this debate line-up these will be the participants on the stage.

course. today, we have political analyst with us to expect. to preview what to expect. cokie? elias: hi cokie. thanks for joining us. with donald trump not participating in tonight's debate, what differences can we expect to see tonight, compared with the past republican debates? cokie (response) elias: who are you predicting to perform well and not so well? cokie ( response) elias: how important is a call to end the protest in oregon tops our look at national headlines. elias: ammon bundy, leader of the armed group occupying a federal wildlife refuge, has asked his followers to stand down. bundy and several protestors were arrested tuesday on federal charges, with one protestor killed during the arrest. officials say the man reached

where he had a gun, and swat team members opened fire. through his lawyer, bundy asked his followers to end the occupation. the group is being held without bail. elias: and a university of missouri communications professor may lose her job because of her involvement in a confrontation with student photographers. mizzou's board of curators debated for about four hours last night -- and then decided to suspend melissa click.. during november protests over racism on the school's campus, click was caught on-camera ordering student journalists to leave and asking for - quote -- leave and asking for - quote -- "muscle" to remove one of them. elias: meteorologist sam schrier joins us again in this debate line-up these will be the participants on the stage.

cokie roberts on to expect. cokie? hi cokie. thanks for joining us. with donald trump not participating in tonight's debate, what differences can we expect to see tonight, compared with the past republican

(response) elias: who are you predicting to perform well and not so well? cokie ( response) elias: how important is this debate and how much of an impact do you think it will have, with just four days until caucus night here in iowa? cokie ( response)

sam weather adlib: yesterday ended up feeling pretty nice climbing to a pleasant 41 degrees! cooler cloud cover will keep today here in the metro, but i'm sure in western and southern iowa. overnight tonight cloudy skies with calm mid 20s. friday is looking like a partly cloudy to partly sunny day with warm southerly winds warming us up into the mid 40s. saturday will start with sun but clouds will return in the afternoon, but despite that cloud cover highs will still feel amazing in the upper 40s! we may see a few early morning showers on sunday with highs falling back into the low 40s. there is still a large snow storm expected to impact iowa late monday through wednesday morning. the energy from this system still has to cross the entire

reliable snowfall totals, but it is safe to say heavy accumulating snow is a possibility on tuesday. elias: the news from doctors that the late tyler sash had advanced traumatic injury to his brain after years of hits on the gridiron....has added to the debate over whether kids should be allowed to play contact football. sahs's family donated the young man's brain to science... researchers then found c-t-e, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated trauma. according to their findings...the disease had advanced to a stage rarely seen in someone sash's age. elias: because of the national attention drawn to football- related brain injuries, people across the coutry and iowa have been contemplating alternatives. many organizations and community leagues, like the y-m-c-a already have flag football leagues for younger kids. it's designed for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade to learn the basics of the game,

shoulder pads. organizers say it will help with technique later on. ryan westerkamp, ymca sports and youth director: "you learn some of the basic skills of football, whether it's running routes, how to throw properly, you know how to do those things. and when you add pads and a helmet to that and then you have to teach them how to tackle, some of the kids just can't handle that much information at one time." elias: a recent study from the department of veterans affairs and boston university found that 96 percent of former n-f-l players suffered from c-t-e. the study also found that around 80 percent of athletes who'd played the game at the high school level or above had the same type of brain disease. above had the same type of brain disease. elias: we turn now to your technology news and a closer look at virtual personal assistants so many of us use them on our phones, but how well do they really work? abc's gio benitez has an inside

" it was supposed to be the future... star trek nats computer - background on actor anton but today, it's the butt of hollywood jokes... sot sex tape movie clip "siri how do you perform cpr on a dog?" "i found four places named starbucks." (keyables) just about all of us have virtual personal assistants on our smart phones? apple has siri, google has... google.. microsoft has cortana... and amazon has alexa.. so new york times personal technology reporter brian chen created an experiment- sot chen and i thought, 'what are some really, really obvious basic questions to ask each of these and how can we see how they perform each of those tasks?' (gfx) he asked the virtual assistants to complete 16 tasks -- in categories like music, productivity, travel and commuting, dining, entertainment and sports. sot chen (we can do some really cool graphic stuff with this bite) 17;46;43;57 all four of the assistance promised to deliver the same things. but it turns out each of them was really good at a specific thing. apple was really good at productivity things

email. google was much better at commute-related tasks like mapping. microsoft was actually pretty mediocre across the board. and alexa was just really, really good at music. so despite them all claiming that they're really good at everything,they're all pretty focused and concentrated on certain tasks. so we decided to conduct our own experiment-- putting 3 virtual assistants up against each other with one of chen's questions- about the super bowl.. sot gio we'll start with the most popular- siri. hey siri- who is playing in the super bowl.. (answer) ok so she says when and where, but not who.. sot gio now cortana... who is playing in the super bowl? (show screen to camera) a search engine comes up with information about the super bowl and news articles.. sot gio now let's try google ok google... who is playing on the super bowl? (gives correct answer)" elias: answer)" elias: still to come on local 5 news midday... (weather) sam has the details in central iowa's most accurate

most accurate meteorologist sam schreier. certified by weatherrate the independent weather experts" sam weather adlib: yesterday ended up feeling pretty nice with our highs climbing to a pleasant 41 degrees! cooler winds and afternoon cloud cover will keep things in the upper 30s today here in the metro, but i'm sure there will be a few 40s in western and southern iowa. overnight tonight we'll see partly cloudy skies with calm winds and a low in the mid 20s. friday is

day with warm southerly winds warming us up into the mid 40s. saturday will start with sun but clouds will return in the afternoon, but despite that cloud cover highs will still feel amazing in the upper 40s! we may see a few early morning showers on sunday with highs falling back into the low 40s. there is still a large snow storm expected to impact iowa late monday through wednesday morning. the energy from this system still has to cross the entire pacific ocean so it's still too early for reliable snowfall totals, but it is safe to say heavy accumulating snow is a possibility on tuesday. sam:

elias: you're watching local five news midday. we'll be back after this with

we just heard back from our girl scout, marialee depriest, and she is able to come to woi for the january 28 timeslot at 11:50am! she is a junior girl scout in troop 01030 here in des moines. please let me know if this time slot still works for you - if so, we will see you at 11:30a.m. next thursday! thank you for your time, savannah thompson communications manager girl scouts of greater iowa t: 515-278-2881 / 800-342- 8389 f: 515-278-5988 sthompson@gsio wa.org www.girlscoutsi owa.org girl scout cookie season coming feb. 1 - mar. 20 girl scouts ready to use digital tools to market cookies online for the second year in a row! des moines, iowa - the

program is back for another exciting year! for the second year in a row, girl scouts in iowa are taking the iconic girl scout cookie program online, as they use web-based tools to market their cookie businesses starting in february. bringing twenty- first-century technology to the classic piece of americana that is the girl scout cookie program, this initiative was a first step in preparing girls to be leaders in the high- tech, fast-paced, e- commerce world of today. the app used in iowa, called cocodirect, allows girls to take orders and have cookies shipped direct to consumers; the cookie boundaries for fans of new year's cookies? no problem! customers can donate through our cookie share program to send a taste of home to members of the iowa military. cookie varieties: gluten free trios,

cranberry citrus crisps, lemonades, shortbreads, thin mints, peanut butter patties, caramel delites, and peanut butter sandwiches. price: $4 per package (trios are $5 per package) when: february 1 - march 20, 2016 how to find cookies: visit the booth sale locator at girlscoutsiowa.org, or download the convenient cookie finder app on your iphone or android phone to find cookie booths near you. ### about girl scouts of greater iowa: we're the girl scouts of greater iowa. we're 14,000 strong- 14,000 girls and adults from central/western iowa, ne nebraska and se south dakota who believe every girl can change the world. it began over 100 years ago with one woman, juliette gordon "daisy"

sam weather adlib: yesterday ended up feeling pretty nice with our highs climbing to a pleasant 41 degrees! cooler winds and afternoon cloud cover will keep things in the upper 30s today here in the metro, but i'm sure there will be a few 40s in western and southern iowa. overnight tonight we'll see partly cloudy skies with calm winds and a low in the mid 20s. friday is looking like a partly cloudy to partly sunny day with warm southerly winds warming us up into the mid 40s. saturday will start with sun but clouds will return in the afternoon, but despite that cloud cover highs will still feel amazing in the upper 40s! we may see a few early morning showers on sunday with highs falling back into the low 40s. there

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