Groups, and answered with a postit note. Questis like, what factors bring life to this community, and what are the critical steps to make the library strive. The Cedar Rapids Library was one of 23 libraries across the nation selected to start a Community Conversation about libraries in their communities. Cedar Rapids Library officials are using the answers to those questions, as a guide for the librarys board of trustees. They Hope Community input will help with the tough choices currently on their plate. Certainly in times of less resources we have to make harder decisions about the choices we make. We want to still have a balanced Community Library where we are giving as much as we can to as many people we can but we have to make great decisions that are based in Community Need in the direction were given. Those involved in the conversation say the library is important, and i think that the library is possible service to this community from gather and just spend time and have our children learn and play. Schmidt says she hopes this meeting will lead to new partnerships, enhanced efficiencies, and a vision for the future for years to come. In cedar rapids, brea love, kcrg tv nine news. Turning to weather, and meteorologist joe winters. No snow in the f fecast again tonight . Meteorologist joe winters joins us now with weather. Joe, an even milder tomorrow . The brighter sky from wednesday will see an increase in clouds as a weak storm heads east. Rainfall from this system will be minimal and stays well to the north, across minnesota and wisconsin. With a stronger southwest flow of air beginning to develop, we are in for a warmup the middle 50s. Prepare for a wet weekend with rain developing late friday. Tonight partly cloudy low 3541 winds s 515tomorrow partly sunny, mild high 5258 winds w 1525 back to yoyo prosecutors have filed new charges against a man who they say tried to k kl a woman in elkader last month. 24yearold Brandon Thoma now faces first degree burglary and Second Degree theft charges. Thats in addition to the original attempted murder charge. Police say thoma broke into a home last month after the womans husband left for work. They say thoma then repeatedly punched and kicked the woman. Police believe the attack was not random. A linn county jury today found a cedar rapids man guilty of Second Degree murder for beating his mother to death with a crow bar three years ago. 47 year old faces up to 50 years in prison. Police say he admitted beating his 68 year old mother at thetime, but he claimed it was selfdefense. He was on trial for first degree murder, but the jury f fnd him guilty on the lesser charge. The university of iowa faces questions over a contract it awarded to a Prominent Republican Party consultant. The university awarded the 320thousand,dollar contract to former iowa gop chaiaian matt strawns company. The Company Provides polling and social Media Services to the university. The university obtained a waiver so they did not have to take bids before awarding the contact, even though it normally does. Money. A spokeswoman says the university chose the company because it provided across multiple platforms. A a od pantry in coralville is preparing to move because its running out of space. Right now, the coralville ecumenical food pantry is in the building at 203 first street. Starting as early as friday, the fofo pantry will move to coralvilles old building at 10th avenue and fifth street. Kcrg tv nines Sarah Mccarthy joins us live from coralville tonight. Sarah, wororrs say this new space will bebea much better fit . The old Coralville Post Office isnt much bigger thth the food pantrys current location. But right now, they share that building with a church, so its a tight squeeze. Workers say this space does needs some work, itll solve a lot of problems. Im looking forward to being where the action is. With just one small, shared computer crammed behind freezers, john boller operates an organization that feeds thousands each year. Demand for this food is grgring, and boller says he needs more space to keep up. Food storage has been a really big obstacle for us. Wee had to find creative ways to store food and at times weve for them. Right now, the group shares this location with a youth group. That means theres just no where to grow anymore. A new building. Key is key. Theyve been looking for more space and we were helping them kind of look around the community and this concept of using this building c ce up. The city bought this building with plans to tear up the parking lot as part of a roundabout project. But because thats not beginning for a few years, the city settled on this as the solution. Three years, rent free. Mayor john lundell says this location also means more attention. By locating on a visible corner like this it raises the awareness that the Community Needs to help up and help those people that arent as fortunatat we cant, by ourselves, reduce hunger in the community, it has to be a collective effort. So we definitely encourage anyone in the Coralville Community to contntnue to be involved, ether its a food donation, financial donation, or actually coming to the pantry to put in the volunteer work. Weve put Contact Information story on kcrg dot com if youd like to help. Theyll need some volunteers to help renovate this space. Live in coralville, Sarah Mccarthy,crgtv9 news. The Salvation Army is providing more than 18 hundred children in linn county with toys this year. Beginning in october, families had the opportunity to sign up to receive toys and food this holiday season. Today, the nonprofit distributed some of those toys at hawkeye downs. Each family picked out a few gifts. The majority of them are really excited about getting stuff and i know today weve even heard from some of the parents that their kids wouldnt have christmas without this. The Salvation Army will also give food boxes to nearly 13hundred families in the county. Totals are coming in from givivg tuesday. Thats the tuesday after thanksgiving when non profits ask people to consider donating or volunteering. The Salvation Army of cedar rapids says on that day its red kettles and online donatns added up to 5,56363 thats down about 400 dollars from last year. The united way of east central iowa raised 1,050 dollars and gained 15 new volunteers. Nights of family fun could include a new venue in eastern iowa next year. A developer is planning to build an Entertainment Center in North Liberty. Details on the project, coming up. First heres a look at the most popular stories today on kcrg dot com. Stay with your 24 hour news source, kcrgtv9. Hi this is captain George Tobias stationed at. Air option for family fun. A developer is planning to build a new Entertainment Center in North Liberty. The venue would include bowling lanes, bocce ball, an arcade, and a restaurant with a patio. The developer describes it as having a grandiose feel. Kcrg tv nines Jill Kasparie joins us in the studio tonight. Jill, where will this be the developer has big plans. Hes worked with consultants to pick the right city. The developer wants to put it right here on land he actually already owns. Its just off of interstate 380 on west penn street. Nats in kitchen John Burchert is usually busy in a restaurant. 22 23 21 you guys all good . Ok he owns or helps operate five restaurants in iowa city. Now hes turning his attention to a different kind of project. 21 56 10 we are 37,000 square feet of indoor space, so as i call it its a big one. Right now its just a grassy space by two gas stations. If all goes as the developer plans it could soon be much more. Burchert says after years of research, North Liberty was the right place for the Entertainment Center. 21 55 10 the growth and the potential there, the ability for parking, the amount of families that were there. Just made it so much more invitatious to make it happen right there. I have had it, having access to the corridor in that hub. Dick hartvigsen works in a small office across the street from the proposed site. Hes seen a lot of growth in town. 21 33 45 lots of changes he says hopefully this change will create more business for him. 21 34 35 i think it would be a wonderful addition to town. We have a lot of young families and it sounds like this type of business would really appeal to young families. Burchert wanan this entertainment to be a place where families can create memories. 22 01 29 theres just not that place, in my opinion, that so many people are welcome in a given point. That we can all go in there and spend two or three hours and kids can be in one area and i may be in another, my wife could be in another or we could all be together. He nts to Start Construction in march and finish it by late fall of 2016. Burchert says its an 8. 5 Million Dollar project funded with private dollars. He is, though, looking into the possibility of some tif funding. The proposal calls for hiring about 200 to 250 employees. The city says the council will still need to vote on a couple of topics related to the project. Thanks, jill. The author of the harry potter series, jk rowling, has responded to the 500 Letters University of iowa students sent her earlier this year. The letters asked her to come to iowa city and speak on campus. She wrote back with 500 letters of her own, explaining shes focusing on writing right now. But the students arent giving up yet. Today, they recorded video messages to rowling asking her to reconsider. A lot of speakers sometimes say no, e eecially the first time, and id say especially someone of her level. She doesnt speak publicly very often, doesnt live in the u. S. So we knew this would be a long process. Bell says the lecture committee will send rowling the video as soon as the messages are edited together. Investigators say the couple accused of killing 14 people in san bernanaino were radicalized years ago. Law enforcement Officials Say might have even been plotting another attack. The brighter sky from m dnesday hey this holiday, u. S. Cellulars giving you 15 gigs of data for just 70 [ gasps ] youre getting data. Ponysized data . U. S. Cellular sized data. 15 gigs of good, strong data you can actually use because it works in the middle of anywhere. Id like 100 youre getting 400 in promo cards yes switch to u. S. Cellular and get 15 gigs of data for just 70. Will see an increase in clouds rainfall from this system will be minimal and stays well to the north, across minnesota and wisconsin. With a stronger southwest flow of air beginning to develop, we are in for a warmup pushing highs on thursday into the middle 50s. Prepare for a wet weekend with rain developing late friday. Tonight partly cloudy low 3541 sunny, mild high 5258 winds w 1525tomorrow night partly cloudy low 3440 winds sw 515friday slight chance of rain late high 52 low 37 saturday rain likely high 52 low 41 sunday rain likely high 47 low 45 monday chance of snow, windy high 39 low 34 tuesday partly cloudy high 40 rain snow about the married couple who killed 14 people a week ago today in San Bernardino, california. The director of the agency say syed farook and Tashfeen Malik talked about an attack as early as 2013. Investigators now believe the couple had become radicalized before they met or started dating online two years ago. They also say farook might have plotted an attack with the man accused of providing him assault rifles used in the San Bernardino shooting. As early as the end of 2013 they were talking to each other about jihad and martyrdom, before they became engaged and married and live together in Law Enforcement officials tell abc that images on electronics the couple tried to destroy show other locations, including a high school. But they dont know whether they were targets. Today prosecutors formally charged the alleged planned parenthood gunman with 179 felony counts including first degree murder. They accuse robert dear of killing three people, including a police officer, in colorado springs. The november 27th shooting also injured nine others. During his Court Hearing today, dear repeatedly interrupted the proceedings. Could you add the babies that were to be aborted that day . Can you add that to the list . Lewis also yelled out, in his words, i am guilty. There is no trial. I am a warrior for the babies. Sixteen shots and cover up sixteen shots and cover up chicago protesters flooded the streets today demanding the mayor to step down. The peaceful but angry protesters want rahm several deadly shootings and revelations of Police Misconduct. The mayor gave an emotional address to the city council apologizing for recent Police Misconduct and he promised reform. Coming up next in sports. Scott will feature stanford running back Christian Mccaffrey who is up for the Heisman Trophy. And was iowa allbig 10 Center Austin blythe almost a Stanford Cardinal . Stay with your 24 hour news source, kcrgtv9. The hawkeyes might be facing the Heisman Trophy winner in the rose bowl. Stanford sophomore Christian Mccaffery broke Barry Sanders all time record for all purpose yards in a season with 3,250. Mccaffery who had 461 yards against usc is one of three finalist for the Heisman Trophy which will be awarded this saturday night. Even though he is receiving a lot attention mccaffery is trying to stay grounded. He we have so many goals ahead of us we still have a huge game against iowa at the rose bowl in pasadena so as great as it is i am extremely humbled to have thisbut we are focused on winning this next game. Humble the young man is such Team Oriented proud of him he has worked so hard to get were he is and he is that good. He has anyone that has played college football. Its not a conference record or just a really good year this is historic year he did something that know one has ever done better than anyone who has ever won a hiesman. 43 oc anyone that has ever won a hiesman the leader of the iowa offensive line Austin Blythe could have been playing for stanford in the rose bowl. The pride and joy of williamsburg visited stanford with his mom and coach ritchie and they really wanted austin bad. Its kind of funny to hear the phone conversation iowa assistant coach reese morgan had with coach ritchie before the plane ride back from california. Stanford it really came down to those two places i was able to go on the visit to stanford and i will never forget coach morgan calling me as we got on the jet to come back home to see what i thought. I do remember my response was if you got to ask him but if it is me making the decision and it would be hard not to comeback. I think his response was well you just be quiet. I remember coach shaw running around and coach harbaugh spent the most time with austin trying to get commitment before we left. Community has always been very important to him and family and to be close and having the blessing to do that this close to home was really the determining factor and so it has been fantastic. Sot 47 oc been fantastic we will have more on blythe from his hometown williamsburg. We are heading to several iowa players hometowns for features for our one hour rose bowl special countdown to kickoff that will air at 9 00 am new years day right before the Rose Bowl Parade right here on kcrg tv9. Joe schad of espn is reporting that desmond king is leaning towards returning to iowa next season. King is in Orlando Florida for the Home Depot College football awards show tomorrow night. Iowa state freshman running back mike warren was named the big 12 offensive freshman of the year. Warren was the country for freshman with 1,339 yards. And cyclone nose tackle Demond Tucker was named the big 12 defensive newcomer of the year. Tucker had 13 tackles for a loss and six sacks. Thanks, scott. One last look at the forecast, joe. The brighter sky from wednesday will see an increase in clouds as a weak storm heads east. Rainfall from this system will be minimal and stays well to the north, across minnesota and wisconsin. With a stronger southwest flow of air beginning to develop, we are in for a warmup pushing highs on thursday into the middle 50s. Prepare for a wet weekend with rain developing late friday. Tonight partly cloudy low 3541 winds s 515tomorrow partly sunny, mild high 5258 winds w 1525 thanks joe. Thanks for joining us for kcrgtv9 news at 10. We hope youll be with us again