But no pause before the clash of politics. There is no way the senate should confirm anyone barack obama tries to appoint in his last year in office to a lifetime appointment. An instant power struggle over a successor to justice scalia. Let me just say, barack obama is president of the United States until january 20, 2017. From california, president obama made clear he will nominate a new justice and expects the senate to consider his choice fairly. These are responsibilities that i take seriously, as should everyone. Theyre bigger than any one party. They are about our democracy. If the president gets to seat his third justice that change would make the court more liberal. Compounding the shock of scalias sudden passing is the timing. A campaign year. We ought to make the 2016 election a referendum on the republican candidate ted cruz. Had been a law clerk for chief justice rehnquist. Now as a senator, he intends to block any obama nominee. Were advising that a lameduck president in an Election Year is not going to be able to tip the balance of the supreme court. Democrats are already calling out cruz. Ted cruz holds the constitution, you know, when he walks through the halls of congress. Let him show me the clause that says president s only president for three years. Democrats with fewer senate votes may have to take their fight for an Obama Court Pick to the campaign trail as well. I just dont think it looks good that for very overtly political reasons that the republicans would deny this president the right to exercise his constitutional responsibility, which is to appoint members to the supreme court. A metro constitutional law expert says the political banter is taking away from the real issue 422017 the more you politicize courts making decisions based on legal principals not based on political and thats a potential problem drake constitutional law a new justice should be nominated sooner rather than later. Several major cases involving affirmative action, abortion and labor issues are pending in the supreme court. Without an immediate justice replacement. That leaves the court to just eight members. An eight member court will lead court to resolve issues. Kende says the argument between the democrats and republicans over the president s decision is ironic. 384127 if the question is, is our government running well which right now is a huge question in all of the debates, republican and democratic side. Republicans says obama is doing the thing he is supposed to do. This would be the height of irony the only recent case comparable president lyndon johnson. However, johnson nominated someone the year before. The senate didnt turn down that choice until the Election Year of 1968 Governor Terry branstad has ordered flags in iowa to fly at half staff tomorrow in honor of justice scalia. The governor and his wife expressed condolences in a statement today, it read. Quote chris and i wish to extend our deepest condolences to the family of justice scalia. He was a brilliant constitutional scholar that adhered the original intent that the Founding Fathers had for our us constitution. He goes on to say. I appreciate his 30 year service to our nations highest court. End quote. A Grand Junction man was out enjoying the new snow today. But tonight hes trying to recover from serious injuries after crashing his snowmobile the department of natural snowmobiling west of boone along us highway 30 this afternoon. He was going 60 Miles Per Hour when he crashed and flew off the snowmobile Authorities Say he was wearing a helmet but it may not have been fastened correctly because it came off. Crews airlifted louk to Mercy Medical center in des moines. Traffics back open tonight but it was a mess for hours on interstate 80 this afternoon near west branch. There were three crashes that involved 33 vehicles in a massive pileup that shut down ten miles of the interstate. Kristin rogers shows us what happened. A picture is worth onethousand words. Each of these were captured by kwwl viewers. You can see traffic backed up for miles, as an accident involving more than 30 cars shut down i80 west for hours near west branch. Iowa collision happened around noon, shortly after, another accident, this time impacting 28 vehicles. Nearly five miles from the scene you can see traffic was still backed up. But it wasnt just this accident drivers tell me they witnessed. I spoke with many people who took this exit to grab gas today and they told me that they notivced many cars off the road all over the area. About a car every couple of miles on 380 as we were heading south. Lucky for him he arrived near this scene when it was all but cleaned up i passed it heading east on 80, it looked like they were cleaning it up and things were getting more to normal but cars were still there all cracked up. You can see some of those crackedup cars in this photo, certainly not the gift anyone wanted this valentines day weekend. Three people were injured in the series of crashes. We should not get a break from the snow and could do some serious melting this week. Meteorologist Amber Alexander on this valentines day. Gifts like candy and flowers are but one des moines man took his gift giving to the next level. 001819 i was just asking him what he was planning for valentines day and a movie then go to the ice rink. I was like oh okay this is gonna be fun but im gonna totally fall on my face but ice skating was not all the pair did today. Edgar camacho proposed to his girlfriend while the couple were skating outside at the brenton ice skating plaza in des moines. Camacho said he went through a lot of scenarios in his mind to come up with the perfect proposal. Hes just glad the weather didnt keep them snowed in cant blame the weather. But fans expected on the Basketball Court tonight. Still ahead on the channel 13 news at ten. How they managed to pull out that closer than expected game against lowly minnesota plus. Families of children with autism say Insurance Companies arent covering what theyre kids need. Well show you a proposal that could help and iowa teens may not like what the adults at the iowa statehouse are considering. How old theyd have to be to use a tanning bed. Some iowa families hope lawmakers will fix a problem with 40 megs of Internet Speed from centurylink, a family of four can all be online at the same time, streaming, gaming, or downloading movies. Yeah, the internets great, but i think hair and makeup went a little too far. Yeah, thats not working. I much prefer the twoday beard, hornrimmed glasses, justsleptinhiscar kinda thing. Yeah, i miss the rumpled crazy uncle look. Okay. Be paul giamatti. Thats the essence of this role. Feel like a hollywood insider them for years as they try to get help for their autistic children six years ago. Lawmakers approved a plan that gave state employees Insurance Coverage for Autism Treatments but it left some families out. Michelle shoening shows us a new for the cobbs, theyre living with the struggles of inadequate Insurance Coverage for their 15year old son noah, who suffers from autism. Its hard to know there is help but we just cant get it, said tina cobbs. When noah was five, he was able to receive applied Behavior Analysis treatment. But noah has since aged out of a grant which paid for that treatment. Its recommended by the surgeon general, the cdc, the American Academy of pediatrics. What it that does is help he gain and acquire new skills and help in reduce self injurious behavior, said josh cobbs, parent of child with autism. A proposed bill in the iowa legislatue would require all Insurance Companies to cover the diagnosis and treatment plan for those with autism under the age of 22. Current state employees get coverage through state Insurance Companies for Autism Treatment for 29cents per member per month. A cosponsor of the bill says its all about providing equal coverage for iowa families. Expanding to of coverage it would just be a matter of fairness, said rep. Dave dawson. Cobbs says they arent asking for advanced coverage, just adequate coverage. People will continue to ask, well why do you do this . They wont cover them unless we do. They wont cover families like ours unless the state takes action to make sure it happens, forty three states in the us have passed similar legislation. The bill has moved forward in the senate through subcommittees. However, the house has until february 19th to move the bill forward or it could get eliminated for debate this year because of legislative deadlines. In two days, about 100 iowans in favor of banning minors from using tanning beds will crowd the State Capitol to convince lawmakers this is the year to take action. 11 29 24 parents dont sign a the age of 18, can go buy cigarettes. Theres laws that you have to be 18 to buy cigarettes, and just like that, how cigarettes cause cancer, so do tanning beds. So you should not be allowed to tan under the age of 18. 01 18 andrea ard is a melanoma survivor and will be speaking with lawmakers tuesday on the issue. Bills proposing bans on tanning beds have come up before. But theyve never gotten very far. Last year the iowa Senate Passed a bill that would ban tanning beds for minors, and this year, the house is looking at that same bill. One local spray tan Business Owner says she quit using tanning beds once she learned of the health risks. She says awareness on this issue has grown in recent years, with more customers trading in their tanning bed for a safer spray tan. 12 51 31 i think the exposure thats on the issue is gaining traction. I can tell from my own personal business that there are more girls coming in for those events. And i think thats to school and tell their friends about it. Lawmakers recently changed the bill to affect only those under 18 to give it a better chance to pass. It previously banned 18 year olds, as after a snowy start to the morning well stay mostly cloudy tonight with temperatures Holding Steady in the lower 20s. Clouds will continue to decrease throughout temperatures will bump up into the upper 30s which will help start the melting process. Because we will still see below freezing temperatures during the overnight hours, slick spots will continue to be possible especially in parking lots and sidewalks due to the refreeze of melted snow. Monday will the be the start of a warm trend throughout the week. Well be in the middle to upper 30s monday wednesday, with upper 40s to lower 50s following through the weekend. Besides a rain snow mix on tuesday morning, most of the week will be dry. A young iowan named bryson isnt only cheering as a fan in the bleachers but now as a honorary coach. How he got the title. And why it means everything to the fourteen big fan of basketball, and now gets to be a part of the team in davenport. Hes a even bigger fan of his sister who plays for the girls varsity team. Tiffany liou has the story. Bryson mayfield is 14yearsold. A big fan of the davenport west Girls Basketball team. And a bigger fan of number 20. His big sister mariah. Shes the best i love her love her so much brysons sister hes almost at every game in the crowd cheering he gets down when i get hurt or injured 31 12 friday. Was a little different. Instead of cheering from the bleachers. He was at the front of the bench. Honorary coach im the coach help mariah and im sitting with my buddy sal 32 48 you heard him right. Bryson was the honorary coach. Sitting next to head coach steven saladino. Who wanted to make this game. As special as possible. Im bryson. Nice to meet you buddy so were going to introduce him as an honorary coach tonight. Hes going to sit by me and get involved in everything. Theyre gonna give us the rules now so you listen to them ok . I will bryson has down syndrome. And playing basketball is more challenging for him. But everyone seems to agree. He is just so full of energy and enthusiasm and thats the way we all should be and he just brings a special presence to our girls. To brysons family. This means everything. Hes ecstatic. He woke up this morning um and thats the first thing he said to me dad i get to coach today Christine Brownson brysons mom29 20 it includes him and with everybody else and it doesnt single him out and he feels part of the team just like everybody else like a normal child 29;28 bryson coaching so on friday. He dressed as sharp as ever. With his lucky scooby doo tie. Good job clap clap giving coaching advice. And most of all bringing a level of energy. No other team can beat. < brysons sister mariah says she feels lucky and proud to have him there at every game. Senior day at iowa state wrestling, and a lackluster effort from iowa basketball, but the hawks are good enough to get away with it. We begin with the hawkeyes, a team thats largely avoided playing down to its overmatched opponent. Not tonight. Home against winless minnesota. 1st half. Peter jok, 3 from the wing. Jok scores the first 5 points. Iowa up 3. The gophers led for much of the first half, but then Jarrod Uthoff wakes up. That is deep 11 straight points for uthoff. Hawks up 6 at the break. 2nd half. Jok, another from downtown. Lead up to 10. More from the u. Driving, cannot shake the gophers. Under 3 to play, lead down to 2. Jok, money from 3. Game high 27 for pete. Hawks up to 5. Then when they need another big bucket its uthoff who delivers the dunk. 24 points, 15 rebounds, 6 blocks for uthoff. It was not pretty, in fact ugly at times, but its a win. 7571 the final with the win iowa stays on top of the big 10. 1 game up on indiana and maryland. Hawks hot the road on wednesday at penn state the drake women have their 5 game winning streak snapped. Bulldogs lose at indiana state 6853. The state wrestling tournament begins in des moines later this week. Hard to believe its here already. Believe it. Ncaa wrestling. Senior day at hilton coliseum. Iowa state taking on West Virginia. 133. One of those seniors, 8th ranked earl hall, late takedown for a 105 decision. Tanner weatherman goes out in style. Gets connor flynn on his back, good night. Iowa state wins the dual, 2811 over West Virginia iowa wild head coach John Torchetti leaves iowa. Torch has been promoted to coach the Minnesota Wild on an interim basis. Hes been an interim coach twice in his career but never a fulltime nhl coach. Torch has another shot to prove himself and hell coach some familiar