kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us now from the transportation office for linn-mar community schools. jill, it's not just cost and clean-burning fuel that's drawing the district to propane buses. that's right - people we've talked to say when it comes to iowa winters - this could definitely be the way to go in the future. these propane buses with the green logo on the top are becoming more and more popular. nats of bus rolling in some new buses are rolling io eastern iowa. they're opening the door to savings. "the fuel itself is probably running a diesel fuel. and then, in an oil change we only have to change seven quarts of oil versus 18 to 29 with some of our buses." the cedar rapids school district is expecting to receive its new propane- fueled buses in time for next school year. up theheoad at linn-mar - drivers started using their four new propane buses this school year. "we are projecting about $3,200 a year of savings per bus, and that's not just in fuel but in re-occurring maintenance costs."."hose who sell the buses say there's something else that's grabbing the interest of i

live in iowa city jill kasparie, kcrg-tv9 news. coming up on monday, you can catch the democratic town hall live on kcrg 9- point-2. all three democratic presidential candidates - hillary clinton, martin o'malley and bernie sanders - will be part of the town hall. it starts at eight p-m monday in des moines. c-n-n's chris cuomo will moderate it. again all of that is on kcrg 9-point-2. a pretty calm night as we take a live look over our parkersburg city cam. but some light snow flurries could soon be on the way. let's get the latest now from meteorologis t joe winters. all weather eyes are focusing gathering strengng in the mississippi valley, bringing severe and wintry weather to the south and east coast for the next couple of days. here in iowa we are generally quiet. the only real active weather for us through the weekend will be a disturbance rolling through the state tonight allowing light snow and flurries to develop. accumulations should be minor, if at all, and end friday morning. as an area of high pressure pushes east, lat

in cedar rapids, jill kasparie, kcrg-tv9 news. the city says this is the largest project the city has and plans are in the works on how to use the leftover sand from this winter. road sweepers will start picking it up in the spring. some dubuque and jackson county students are wearing new glasses, thanks to a free vision screening. the national non-profit behind these screenings says seeing better is the first step to better learning in the classroom. and one teacher at city high school in iowa city is hoping new stand-up desks will help students learn even better. stay with tv9. some dubuque and jackson county seeing more clearly tonight because of a community effort. the community foundation of greater dubuque and the non- profit, vision to learn, has provided free eye exams and new pairs of glasses to these children. it's all part of a pilot program to help students see so they can succeed in the classroom. according to national non- profit "vision to learn": 1-point-5 million students in the u-s need glasses, but don't have th

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie explains what they're up to. nats of kids it's a typical scene here at bennett elementary school. so if you didn't know what to look for - you might not even realize big changes are happening within the small district. crews have installed solar panels on pretty much the entire roof. "22:11 i think the school board has a lot of foresight. they say okay - state of iowa - if you are going to short us some money, this is what we are going to do." " 30:37 the school district is already gearing up for phase two of the solar panel project. the plan is to put more solar panels here near the playground in the spring. " "13:07 we are going to keep going until we are 100 percent reliant on our solar production." the superintenden t says this is a direct result of a lack of state funding. "6:21 i would say the state has forced our hands for smaller schools. we have one classroom per grade level. we are not like increase class sizes or have less teachers to offset their expenses. " the district has also installed new electri

kcrg t-v nine's jill kasparie was at the rally and joins us live from the iowa memorial union. jill, did a lot students turn they did. the room was packed with students. one u-i freshman told us he's trying to decide between hillary and bernie. while he wanted to listen to hillary, he says many students were buzzing about demi lovato. " "i think part of the reason demi is here so she can get some of the college vote, or some of the college vote or younger people to come to her events." " " "i'm hoping that each and every one of you will get interested, get involved, be part of this process. you know people in iowa are being watched, not just around the country, but around the world." " the big message tonight was to get out and caucus. all the candidates are doing what they can to get support from voters. that includes inviting celebrities on the campaign trail. sports icon billie jean king and curtis will join hillary prior to february 1st. coe college political science professor bruce nesmith joining up with celebrities can get voters to an event when they wouldn't come before

that was jill kasparie reporting. the monticello superintendent says while he wants a higher level of funding, he also realizes funding issues are not an easy decision for iowa districts received a one and a increase. it was a busy night on the hardwood for both boys and girlsn eastern iowa. nnedy, iowa city west and mount vernon were all in taking the light snow east of the state tonight. any snow thatatalls will be easy to move as it will be very light and fluffy. for the remainder of the week we see more seasonable weather ahead. slowly the high temperatures climb from the middle 20s on tuesday to t middle 30s by sunday. snowfall chances are few and far between for the week ahead with the next chance holding off through the weekend. have a great night! tonight: light snow continues low: 7-13 winds: e 5-10tomorrow: mostly cloudy highgh21-27 winds: s 5-10tomorrow night: partly cloudy winds: s 5-10thursday: mostly cloudy high: 27 - low: 19 friday: partly cloudy hh: 25 - low: 13 satuay: partly cloudy highgh31 - low: 12

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie is live outside the mother mosque of america. jill, we understand that ad and other comments prompted this response. that's right. the imam says he wants to talk to trump whether that's at a public event or a private event. but he wants to stop the negative comments that are creating a sense of fear within the community. praying taha tawil spends his days at the mother mosque of america. he prays, gives tours and talks with anyone willing to listen about the muslim culture. "18:25:12 it is a loving culture. it's a culture of peace and tranquility and understanding." now tawil wants donald trump to answer their questions. "18:27:25 we need to know what's going on with him. he keeps intimidating and talking sometime hateful speeches against his own fellow citizens and that is not the american way. the american way is to come to the house and speak to us." " temporary ban on ... " " 18:35:29 tell us what you want from us. what's the problem. we don't know - what's the problem." this registered republican says what the presidential ca

tv-9's jill kasparie with that story. iowa city police say if students already have a prior criminal offense on their record or if they've been through ladders, they will get charged with those two crimes. the chief justice says the johnson county pilot project has reduced the number of school referrals to juvenile court by 61-percent. as we mentioned one of those programs trying to eliminate racial disparity is in linn county. the cedar rapids school juvenile courts, and big brothers big sisters rolled that one out this school year. they're focusing on finding 25 mentors for african american children who could face a troubled future. "right now we have five active matches meeting out in the community doing things together. the majority of them got matched in november or december so we haven't had quite enough time to see what difference that has made, but we are hearing positive things." school leaders refer students to big brothers, big sisters based on their absences, grades and other patterns of concern. o'brien-may s

tv-9's jill kasparie with that story. iowa city police say if students already have a prior criminal offense on their record or if they've been through ladders, they will get charged with those two crimes. the chief justice says the johnson county pilot project has reduced the number of school referrals to juvenile court by 61-percent. as we mentioned one of those programs trying to eliminate racici disparity is in linn county. the cedar rapids school district, police, juvenile courts, and big brothers big sisters rolled that one out this school they're focusing on finding 25 mentoto for african american children who could face a troubled future. "right now we have five active matches meeting out in the community doing things together. the majority of them got matched in november or december so we haven't had quite enough time to see what difference that has made, but we are hearing positive things." school leaders refer students to big brothers, big sisters based on their absences, grades and other patterns of concern. o

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us in the studio. jill, how is this creating a savings, if the district's spending money o o the project? we're told the entire project tag of nearly half a million dollars. the schools have to follow guidelines as to what pools of money they can use for district needs. this solar project is a way to use money from a couple of healthy funds to create savings in another - the general fund. almost the entire roof of the bennett school is now covered with solar panels. they were installed just before this current school year started. district leaders are already preparing for a second phase, which includes installing more solar panels on the ground. superintendent dave larson says the goal is to eventually become 100- percent dependant on their solar production for electricity needs. he says this project all started when money in n e general fund kept decreasing without enough money coming in from the state. "16:06 we have one teacher per grade level and support people, so we don't have that flexibility to

immigration laws inot anti immigrant it's what sovereign countries do all of them do it. " kcrg tv9's jill kasparie joins us now. jill, campaigns are reminding people to show up when it counts - caucus party leaders know they hold a great responsibility for caucus events to run smoothly. you might remember in 2012, iowa had i iues because some precincts didn't get results in on caucus night. so they're makikg changes because - with all eyes on iowa - there's no room for error. 22:36:55 you will have two instruction books. one will look like this. it's training time for the johnson county republicans and democrats. some are expecting big crowds on february first. "we are expecting turnout probably the second biggest we've ever had " parts are going over every detail with those who will lead the caucus process within each precinct. things are changing for this caucus following issues with the old call-in reporting system. " 22:56:03 all these, how many precincts? like, 1,500 or more precincts in iowa trying to call des moines s de for a lot of iowa's party leaders worked with microsoft to develop an

in north liberty, jill kasparie, kcrg-tv9 news. the water superintenden t says the project cost the city about 18-thousand dollars. we'll be right back. stay with tv-9. afternoon at 15th street and bever avenue southeast in cedar rapids. they say emergency responders rushed him to the hospital. police responded to the area with guns, protective gear and shield kcrg-tv9's brady smith has been covering this story and is live from the scene. brady what can you tell us about what'ss happening there now? let's go back to joe now for a final look at

tv-9's jill kasparie with that story. linn-mar had to purchase a propane fueling system for 27 thousand dollars. cedar rapids says it's going to build a 10 thousand dollar base and plans to lease the fueling equipment. a federal appeals court has refused to reduce the sentence for a former iowa state university scientist who falsified aids research. dong-pyou han had received a sentence of 57 said that was unreasonable. this week, an appellate court upheld the sentence. a group of harvard researchers discovered han and his research team had improperly used rabbit blood to achieve some promising results in fighting aids. the cedar falls area education agency 267 is on its way increasing its budget this year. according to the waterloo cedar falls courier, the board of directors gave initial approval to 58 point 5 million dollars this week. that's a 3 point 35 percent increase over last year's budget. this budget is based off assumptions that a-e-a 267 won't receive any state or other categorical aid. the board is also assum

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us live in the studio. jill, you got to see the students use this new equipment. that's right. it was hard to see with the camera, but the images actually come out of the screen. they could work with items and learn things in a whole new way. "okay - what do you got there?" it might look like these students are playing a video game or watching a 3d movie - but they're in class. "it's different because you can look at something like you've never seen before." this is their new 3d classroom. " 21:09:18 the kids are so engaged in it, they love it. the first day they were so excited to see this, so it made learning fun for them." click on the heart and pick it up." "students put on these glasses to get a view of all kinds of things, for example you can twist and turn this heart and see everything inside and outside and you can even feel a heartbtbt." from prosthetics to human anatomy and even dissections - students can see it all. " 20:42:22 for example there's one you can dissect a frog on there, so that kind o

kcrg t-v nine's jill kasparie joins us in the studio. jill, today he also pointed out some programs that could be part of the solution. that's right. the chief justice says linn, johnson and scott counties are working with georgetown university on juvenile court pilot projects to disparity. johnson county's program is called ladders, and it started last school year. through that program and others - many are working to make sure kids have a bright future. nats of dancing it's not hard to find happy kids at the dream center. "here at the dream center we have homework support, we have mentoring, we have a performing artscademy. " frederick newell, who started the non-profit, says it's all about education and giving youth more opportunities. "we are creating programs here that kind of help with making sure people don't get involved in the system." his organization isn't the only one striving to help kids. the ladders program is a team effort in johnson county that includes law enforcement, the school l district, the juvenile court system and

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us on the story. jill, you talked with some eastern iowa gun shop owners today? they've been watching congress and the president as this topic of gun reform keeps surfacing. the store owners say they are very safe with all sales. bob ducharme spends a lot of time with his customers at his vinton gun store. "opened a little shop up inside my house and have been here for two years and at gun shows every weekend and store monday for roger howe at his gun store in durant. " 9:16:06 i have been in the business of firearms since 1986, some coming up on 30 years. and i have been around a lot of other dealers and private individuals buying guys." both have a passion for waiting to see what the president has to say. with the focus coming on background checks the two walked us through how it works in iowa. " 9:05:16 if it's a handgun, you have to go to the sheriff's department or your local sheriff, get your permit." during that process the sheriff's office conducts a background check. if it's a long-gun - the s

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us in the studio. jill, what funding is running out? three years ago, cedar rapids received funding when it became recognized as a blue zones demonslration site. we're told money from 'wellmark - blue cross, blue shield' funded blue zones staff positions. those people worked to get schools, businesses and others involved in making healthy changes. now - the funding has run out, but those involved say this isn't the end of the program. nats of game there's blue everywhere you look at coe college. the school is celebrating as it becomes an official blue zones worksite. "20:50 it has p pbably been about a year in progress that we started working on this." the school has incorporated more health options for staff and "it's really just making those choices a little bit easier for people." but as the school cuts the ribbon for their success... ...the funding for the blue zones project staffing is virtually gone. so, is this the end of blue zones in cedarapids? "54:2121 would say it's just starting." cedar rapids assistant city manager sandi f

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us. jill, now people in cedar rapids are helping too. they are. mount zion's senior pastor got a call from another midwest pastor last week about what's going on in flint. from there, he called religious leaders in flint and developed a plan to help. unloading church leaders at mt. zion are staying busy -- not just with church activities. unloading but with collecting cases of water. pastor damian miguel epps got to work after hearing from pastors in flint. "t"ty told me it was worse than what we even saw in the media. " and it didn't take long for the message about the collection to spread. "just the idea of people drinking poison water and lead and stuff is enough to make it." pastor johnson and deacon shelby humbles jr. from fellowship missionary baptist church quickly came up with money from their congregation to buy dozens of cases of water. ""that's what the lord put us here for - to help each other. it doesn't make any difference if you are bck, red or white. when people are in need you come to their aid," these religious leaders say they e

tv-9's jill kasparie with that story. iowa city police say if students already have a record or if they've been through ladders, they will get charged with those two crimes. the chief justice says the johnson county pilot project has reduced the number of school referrals to juvenile court by 61-percent. as we mentioned, one of those programs trying to eliminate racial disparity is in linn county. the cedar rapids school district, police, juvenile courts, and big brothers big sisters rolled it out this school year. they're focusing on finding 25 mentors for african american children who could face a troubled future. "right now we have five active matches meeting out in the community doing things together. the majority of them got matched in november or december enough time to see what difference that has made, but we are hearing positive things." school leaders refer students to big brothers, big sisters based on their absences, grades and other patterns of concern. o'brien-may says the idea is for the students to work wi

in clarence, jill kasparie, kcrg-tv9 news. " skiers and snowboards new to the slopes in dubuque tried to help set a guinness world record today. "i've always wanted to try something new." and they did it in conjunction with other beginners throughout the country. we'll see how it went. after the fog lifts and some light snow comes to an end look for strong northwest winds to build across the state. saturday our then fall through the day. highs by sunday stay in the single digits with wind chills between -10 to -20 for most of the day. the early part of next week. have a great night and a safe weekend. tonight: showers to lt. snow low: 24-30 winds: nw 10-20tomorrow: chance of light snow, windy high: 24-30 winds: nw 15-30tomorrow night: low: 1-7 winds: nw 20-30sunday: mostly sunny, cold high: 10 - low: 4 monday: partly cloudy high: 19 - low: 6 tuesday: chance of snow, mainly early high: 13 - low: 9 wednesday: partly cloudy high: 19 - low: 1 thursday: partly cloudy high: 30 - low: 15 friday: chance of thanks joe. a little girl undergoing treatment at the university of iowa hospitals and

kcrg t-v nine's jill kasparie joins us now with the story. jill, how many more magnet grant fund? if the district gets the money, it wants to create five additional magnet schools over three years. that plan, right now, includes a high school program - which is currently known as iowa big. that would become a magnet school and the district would also transition two middle schools and two elementary schools into magnets too. good normal nats of kids talking if anyone knows a thing or two about magnet schools - it's these kids... they're students at the district's first magnet school - the johnson steam academy. today they're working with robots ... "5:08:45 if you press this turtle, it goes slower" ...crafts and much more in the steam lab. "5:02:57 it's a lot of fun and in the steam lab you get to do things you haven't done." teachers and the principal say after only six months, they're noticing a difference in their students. "5:15:10 i have seen so much more engagement and the confidence in their learning and ability to present and speak." hands-on learning we are offering, offic

tv-9's jill kasparie with that story. linn-mar had to purchase a propane fueling system for 27 thousand dollars. cedar rapids says it's going to build a 10 thousand dollar base and plans to lease the fueling equipment. a federal appeals court has refused to reduce the sentence for a former iowa state university scientist who falsified aids dong-pyou han had received a sentence of 57 months in prison. han's lawyer said that was unreasonable. this week, an appellate court upheld the sentence. a group of harvard researchers discovered han and his research team had improperly used rabbit blood to achieve some promising results in fighting aids. the cedar falls area education agency 267 is on its way to increasing its budget this year. according to the waterloo cedar falls courier, the board of directors gave initial approval to 58 point 5 million dollars this week. that's a 3 point 35 percent increase over last year's budget. this budget is based off assumptions that a-e-a 267 won't r reive any state or o oer categorical aid.

the town ultimately kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us in the studio. jill, people involved with the project say this will mean a lot to the town. that's right. the people behind this project say they know there's not much in garrison. so, the library board was determined to have a place built for kids and adults. car nats on the quiet streets of this small community -- you won't find a lot happening. but not far from the old buildings on the main stretch -- you will find some activity with a flashing open sign. " 5:48:24 we are proud of it. we are pleased we were able to get this done and do it for our community. " and it's no mystery as to how this library project got done. " 5:331 it has been very fun. it has been extremely stressful " the members of the library board made it happen. after the city council told them they couldn't borrow money, they decided to raise much of it themselves. " 5:37:33 we also had bake sales markets, you name it we did it. " they were dedicated, even when people doubted them. " 5:49:01 my husband, at first, said you gals c

kcrg t-v nine's jill kasparie was at the school board meeting and joins us now. jill, some parents say the new schedule would throw a wrench into theirs? that's right parents, teachers and community members had a lot to say about this calendar. after two hours of discussion the board voted to table the decision. "we have been working on the since october." the calendar that's been in the works for months didn't move forward monday night. board members halted the process after hearing from passionate parents, teachers and community members. "this new schedule, proposed schedule was not very well thought out. the school system is here for the intent of our children. the next generation, not for the teachers. " "i understand the need for professional learning, it's important, we need to do it, but i don't think the morning is the time to do it. " "i think we are putting a large inconvenience on a lot of parents and a lot of children." the plan would give teachers time - every monday morning - to discuss students. school leaders say that frequent professional developm

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie will take a look at how much money this project saved the city. today, middle school students took on cedar rapids police officers in a dodge ball tournament. harding middle school hosted the ninth annual kids versus cops tournament. the event raises money for the cedar rapids police dog unit. it cost three dollars to watch or to play. one school advisor called it a good opportunity for the kids to build positive relationships "it gets the kids to see the cops outside of their normal roles and it allows the police to see the kids in a totally different environment and everybody has a great time with this it's like i said it is one of the most popular events that we've ever done. " organizers say they've already raised two thousand dollars, and donations are still rolling in. last year, the tournament raised 22 hundred dollars. sit still in class. that's what teachers have asked of students for generations. but now, some students in an iowa city classroom don't have to sit at all. and their teacher hopes the change will help them learn. if you're i

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie met with students to see how the lab is helping them learn. "okay - what do you got there?" it might look like these students are playing a video game or watching a 3d movie - but they're in class. "it's different because you can look at something like you've never seen before." this is their new 3d classroom. " 21:09:18 the kids are so engaged in it, they love it. the first day they were so excited to see this, so it made learning fun for them." "20:27:55 i want you to just click on the heart and pick it up." "students put on these glasses to get a view of all kinds of things, turn this heart and see everything inside and outside and you can even feel a heartbeat." from prosthetics to human anatomy andndven dissections - students can see it all. " 20:42:22 for example there's one you can dissect a frog on there, so that kind of saves in the long-run, time and money for like our science programs " some students tell us the technology is helpful. "20:51:32 it's more visual and i'm a visual learner." the district says this is just one example of

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie has more on how much this means to the benton unty community. car nats on the quiet streres of this small community -- you won't find a lot happening. but not far from the old buildings on the main stretch -- you will find some activity with a flashing open sign. " 5:48:24 we are proud of it. we are pleased we were able to get this done and do it for our community. " and it's no mystery as to how this library project got done. " 5:36:31 it has been very fun. it has been extremely stressful " the members of the library board made it happen. after the city council told them they couldn't borrow money, they decided to raise much of it themselves. " 5:37:33 we also had bake sales and spaghetti suppers and flea rkets, you name it w wdid it. " they were dedicated, even when people doubted them. " 5:49:01 my husband, at first, said you gals can't do that. you'll never get that done and i said yes we will. nobody and they didn't stop with the library - they are still raising money to nish up the remaindedeof the building, outside the library walls. it'l

kcrg t-v nine's jill kasparie joins us now with the story. jill, how many more magnet grant fund? if the district gets the money, it wants to create five additional magnet schools over three years. that plan, right

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie joins us in the studio. jill, how is this creating a savings, if the district's spending money o o the project? we're told the entire project tag of nearly half a million dollars. the schools have to follow guidelines as to what pools of money they can use for district needs. this solar project is a way to use money from a

in north liberty, jill kasparie, kcrg-tv9 news. the water superintenden t says the project cost the city about 18-thousand dollars. we'll be right back. stay with tv-9.

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie met with students to see how the lab is helping them learn. "okay - what do you got there?" it might look like these students are playing a video game or watching a 3d movie - but they're in class. look at something like you've never seen before." this is their new 3d classroom. " 21:09:18 the kids are so engaged in it, they love it. the first day they were so excited to see this, so it made learning fun for them." "20:27:55 i want you to just click on the heart and pick it up."

kcrg-tv9's jill kasparie reports on the johnson county program called ladders. nats of dancing it's not hard kids at the dream center. "here at the dream center we have homework support, we have mentoring, we have a performing arts academy. " frederick newell, who started the non-profit, says it's all about education and giving youth more opportunities. "we are creating programs here