Same period this year. And police say its mostly because burglars are snatching checkbooks and blank checks from homes and cars to use for themselves. Kcrg tv nines Dave Franzman has more. Cedar Rapids Police caught thousands of dollars in fake bills very early this year. That accounts for a part of the higher counterfeiting and forgery have targeted something many consumers hardly use at all anymore. Paper checks. Investigators say burglars may grab checkbooks. Or do something even sneakier. If they find a checkbook, they wont take the top check theyll go down a couple, down a little ways and people dont notice and people dont use checks very often might not see it 234 weeks. Someone who has a checkbook stolen can call the Financial Institution and have the thief time to forge signatures and pass the stolen checks. Police say residents could do a lot to help themselves by taking simple precautions. Half the car burglaries involve unlocked vehicles and too many people leave valuables visible. Police are trying to revive Neighborhood Watch programs that have largely gone dormant in recent years as a longer term solution. A lot of people dont know their neighbors they dont know what cars a supposed to be there. The Crime Watch Program will help acquaint people to that police say making sure you have good locks and ex burglars from getting in homes as well as cars. Cedar Rapids Police say the number of home burglaries so far this year is almost exactly the same as last year. But thefts from Motor Vehicles are up. Meteorologist joe winters joins us now. Joe, what is the latest on yesterdays tornadoes . Clouds have been slowly building low pressure swings through. This storms system has been producing snow showers across the plains on tuesday and will do the same for us on wednesday. When those snow showers move through visibilities could be reduced from time to time. A cloudy and cooler trend then moves into the state as we begin the month of december. The next chance for precipitation holds off until the start of next week. Have a great night tonight mostly cloudy. Wind w 510. Low 31 tomorrow chance of light snow. Little to no accumulation. Wind w 1525. High 38 wind w 1015. Low 32 thursday cloudy and cool. High 37 low 32 friday cloudy. High 36 low 30 saturday mostly cloudy. High 37 low 24 sunday chance of rain snow. High 39 low 29 monday chance of rain snow. High 39 low 28 tuesday mostly cloudy. High 38 low 28 wednesday partly cloudy. High 37 low 25 bruce and beth. A headon crash has left two injuries. The Black Hawk CountySheriffs Office says a car jean okwo was driving tried to pass a semi. Okwo is 25. Bt road around 8 15 this morning. Okwos car hit a truck going in the opposite direction. The crash seriously injured okwo and the truck driver. Police cited okwo for unsafe passing. The department of transportation released video of the moments before a fatal interstate 380 crash. This video shows a car Martrell Watson was driving speed down i380 and hit the center guard rail. Then, police say he crashed into the back of a camera angle. Kaitlyn hall and watson died at the scene of the crash. Two officers were injured. An eastern iowa restaurant is donating all sales to one of the victims of this crash. Hear from halls mother, who works at odies bar and grill in ely, about why this fundraiser is so important. Office has arrested the mother of a two year old who girl who was wandering around in the rain last week. The charge against ysable ceplecha is neglect or abandonment of a dependent person. She is 24, and from eagle grove. The Sheriffs Office says deputies found the girl in the small town of galt on november 22nd. The girl was wearing pajamas but no shoes. Authorities interviewed ceplecha after the public helped identify has also placed the womans one year old child in protective custody. Gatlinburg, tennessees mayor says wildfires the area is experiencing killed three people. Wildfires have been burning through parts of the great smoky mountains, spreading overnight with wind gusts above 87 miles per hour. They have damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and other buildings, including a 16story hotel. At least a dozen people have gone to hospitals, mostly for treatment for burns. National guard troops arrived today to help overworked firefighters. And meteorologis ts say even though the area has gotten some rain recently, it wont be enough to provide relief. President elect donald trump has picked elaine chao to be be the next transportation secretary. Chao also served as labor secretary under president george w. Bush. She was the first Asian American woman to serve in a president s cabinet. Shes also the wife of Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell. Iowa senator joni very thoughtful about his appointments so far. I think the transition seems to be going as every other transition has in the past. He is coming from the outside. He doesnt have an established network at the white house right now, and i think with the appointments or potential nominations that we have seen thus far, he is doing a very good job this morning donald trump suddenly sent out a tweet concerning flag burning. He time or lose their citizenship for burning the flag. But the Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is a form of free speech under the first amendment. And the constitution also bans the government from removing citizenship from a naturalborn american. House Majority Leader Kevin Mccarthy responded by saying congress has no plans to take action against flag burning. Providing nutritious meals to Senior Citizens takes quite a bit of work. And still ahead youll hear how couldnt do without donations and volunteers. Were here with the fill a plate telethon. 39919399, 6000. The great santa hat shes also waiting for your call. These are Dave Wright Subaru. Our weather today has been very, very nice. Weve seen sunshine across the area. The winds were fairly light and temperatures. And youll notice the clouds are building once again. And clouds will continue to thicken now as we move through our overnight and hours. Right now our current readings 40 . In cedar rapids. 40 . Endue buick. Also in but lou. And those dew points are in the lower frizz. You notice the low pressure starting in the counterclockwise fashion. Throughout the day portions of the dakotas have seen some light to moderate snow showers. Now that moisture will spin across iowa. And bring that chance of some snow showers to the state. The first thing is our clouds thicken up. That happens as we move through get. Maybe a few sprinkles as temperatures will be in the upper and 30s to near 40 . Just in time to turn the page on the calendar. Heres the air area of low pressure responsible near minneapolis. What happens as that the low slowly moves the winds slowly increase and then finally some area with the cloudy skies with that will come snow showers and flurries. And that will last until wednesday night. Tonight looks pretty good. And but in the morning scattered pockets of snow showers during and thursday begins december with 37 . Friday 36 . And you notice for the weekend were pretty quiet on saturday. Highs will stay in the 30s. For the next week were expecting those highs to stay in the 30s. Couple of storms to watch. One storm happens sunday into monday. And then we ateds we head into could see some wintry weather to move into the area. It usually happens every year. We are kicking off High School Hoops on kcrg 9. 2. Beckman starts at 7 30 on kcrg citizens has become much more than a daily events. It creates friendships. And long acting reversible pill like the iud may be on track be on track. Research found most Family Planning prefer the iud. Lark includes types of Birth Control that you dont have to monthly. And thats one of its benefits. Its as effective as permanent sterilization. So at any point you are ready for another child it can be right now theyre not so busy. During the commercial break. You can also donate online at kcrg. Com. Prepare about 30 meals a week. Every day for elderly whore in need. Samantha myers looks why this program is so volunteers. Every day around 10 30 in the morning youll find these volunteers serving meals. Theyve got an Assembly Line system and it takes 10 minutes to get the meals out of the door. You get to know them really well. And i think its important for anybody to be able to give back to the community that they live bell plain. You see them sometimes when youre out and about or at the grocery store. Hey theres my ashley. Thats my meals on wheels lady and they get to know you and you develop those relationships. The mayor of bell plain says that the recipients are at the core of the community. Retired residents are the people that built your community and i think its important for the community to give back to them every way we program could always use new volunteers. In bell plain Samantha Myers kcrg tv 9 news. And we continue to raise money. Well be doing that here with the phone bank with the telethon until 10 30 tonight. Call the number on the bottom of once again we are here at the fill the plate telethon raising money for the Heritage Agency on aging. This doesnt become anything close to success without a lot of the community support. Tim getty with the Heritage Agency has been since here before 4 00 a. M. And we have dave wright from Dave Wright Subaru. You are a huge supporter for what were doing. Well its been to Dave Wright Subaru is a fantastic partner. And just the outpouring of you had an event stuff the subaru. Yeah we took subarus to all of the subway stores. And we asked them to purchase food items and stuff the subaru us. Why are you devoted to making sure that seniors have food. Well its actually voted on by subaru owners that to pick five charities and then arity. Each subaru will donate 250 to these charities that will be donated locally. And come back to our community. There really is a need for these donations. There really is. The need just continues to grow. And then while we were fortunate not to have waiting list. The issues were not providing enough meals. Services. One individual might only receive one meal. But they might need five meals instead of the one meal. We appreciate it tim and we appreciate it dave. Hes first in line to get phone calls. Get back to work. Welcome back to our fill the plate telethon and we have the updated tally that the tim getty just handed to me. Its now topped 45,000 weve raised from your donations today. Thank you very, very much. You can still donate at lets get a check of youre forecast with joe. Lets take a look at live at our coralville city cam. You will see the temperatures stay pretty comfortable. Though the clueds are going to move in. Scattered snow showers doesnt develop until tomorrow afternoon. The fill the plate. Now we go to tonight, breaking news. The state of emergency right now. Several major fires out of control in tennessee. Thousands of families and tourists racing to escape. This hotel engulfed in flames. Even Dolly Partons dollywood in the path. Some cabins catching fire. Also breaking, the deadly plane crash. What we have just learned. What happened just before the crash. And the team onboard, the video of them celebrating before the fateful flight. And the six found outside the plane, alive. The attack at ohio state. The student on a rampage with a butchers knife. Whats now been discovered tonight. Donald trump about to go to dinner at this hour with mitt romney and his wife. Will romney get the job as secretary of state over Rudy Giuliani . And cameras in the court. The stunning moment. The officer who shot walter scott in south carolina