russia remain at odds over assad's role in syria, president obama says it's possible russia could change its position in syria's civil war. "for him to simply get bogged down in an inclusive and paralyzing civil conflict, is not the outcome he is looking for. " president obama is in paris f fr a 2-week climme change conference. we'll have more from the conference coming up in our next half hour. today secretary of state john kerry is expected to talk about turkey's shooting down of a russian plane over syria. he left the paris climate conference to meet with other foreign ministers in brussels this morning. secretary kerry will be overseas for meetings in 4 different countries through thursday. the white house wants to assure states across the countryrybout the safety of re-settling syrian refugees. all 50 governors, saying that upon request, the state department of the refugees settled in their states this year. this comes after several governors, including iowa's terry branstad, said they would not allow syrian refugees into their sste. some are concerned the islamic state is using the refugee migration to send its fighters into the u-s. this morning, former florida govvnor jeb bush discussed foreign policy during a campaign stop in dubuque. he's trying to build support here in iowa, after a recent quinnipiac university poll shows he only has about 5 percent support among republicans here. today bush said taking out isis needs to be the united states' top priority. "they have a goal to put the black flag of isis on top of the white house.e.e should take them at their word. they have declared war on the united states of america. we need to declare war on them as well. " morning is one of two today. he's scheduled to be at the sullivan brothers iowa veterans museum in waterloo at noon. the latest quinnipiac university poll showed ted cruz in a statistical tie with republican front runner donald trump here in iowa. yesterday, the texas senator told supporters at the kirkwood regional center he's not attacking trump because he doesn't think trump will win the g-o-p nomination. on the democratic side, former maryland governor martin o'malley will be in keokuk county next week. keota high school officials say the presidential candidate will be at the school next tuesday. the visit comes after keota high school students wrote letters to each presidential candidate. we first told you about their project back in september. at the time, the students' goal was to get at least one candidate to visit their school. o'malley will be the 2nd candidate and first democrat to pay them a visit. visited the school in october. governor terry branstad says there is no reason to delay plans to s sft iowa's memecaid operation to private management. this comes after a judge recommended the state throw out one of four contracts awarded to companans to run the program. the goveveor says the state always planned to have between two and four companies running the program. but he says the state has not decided how to move forward. the iowa medicaid program is set to shift to private management starting january 1st. today is giving tuesday. and nonprofit organizations in linn county are joining the effort. gems of hope executive director norah hammmmd says she and other local non-profits are working hard to spread the word about the initiative. "one of the commitments that we made as non profits that work with the foundatioiois to all work towards the messaging of the campaign, so we've all stepped it up and included it in our social media, in our e-blasts, in our talking thehealvation army is offering an incentive to get more people to donate to its red kettles on giving tuesday. the non-profit says the manufacturin g company, apache inc, will double all the donations to the kettle at the wilson avenue hy-vee in cedar rapids. the salvation army has collected a little more than 20 percent of its 790 thousand dollar goal. linn n unty residents are encouraged to share their participation by using the hashtag #givelinncoun ty. the city council in iowa city will hold a public hearing in two weeks, to talk about a controversial fifteen-story high rise building. according to the iowa city press citizen, the city council voted 5 to 0 to hold the public hearing to talk about extendininthe chauncey project's deadline. two lawsuits attempting to block the project are in the appeal stage. they have significantly slowed down construction. the meeting will be on december 15th. starting today, people can use database that showcases all the historic properties in cedar rapids. the site has information on where they are and what characteristics the roperties have. the e ty will hold two informational sessions today at the downtown library at noon and 5:30 this evening. a new era is underway on the football field at iowa state university. the cyclones officially welcomed new head coach matt campbell to the program yesterday. he's replacing paul rhoads, who was fired during the cyclone's 3-anan9 season. kcrg-tv9's josh christensen reports. on sunday, iowa state hired matt campbell on his 36th birthday to be the next otball head coach at iowa state. today, he was introduced at a press conference and there's a lot of excitement with this hire. "this place is special. i'm as loyal as you're going to get. i really believe that the building process in taking something and making it special do. campbell spent four seasons as the toledo head coach compiling a 35-15 record and led the rockets to two bowl victories. he says when t tedo came to ames last year, he loved the atmosphere around jack trice stadium. "as we came in, i was just so impressed with the fans, the energy and the excitement that surrounded this place. as i watched the team do the spirit walk coming in, i was blown away." "toledo was a tough team. they were disciplined, they never gave up... we need a didiiplined football team to be successful and i think that coach campbell is going to bring that." in ames, josh christensen tv9 sports. boys high school hoops starts tonight on kkg 9.2. the season tips off at 7:30 with the williamsburg raiders travelling to take on the mount vernon mustangs. again, that's tonight on kcrg 9.2. today the world is raising awareness about a disease affecting millions. that includes a special display in our nation's capitol. minutes you spend exercising when you're young, the more years you'll have later in life. meteorologist justin gehrts updates our fact. when emergency room ctors choose an otc pain reliever the medicici in advil is their #1 choice. nothing is stronger on tough pain than advil. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil. [ male announcer ] pain n n sitting too well? burning to feel better? itching for relief? preparation h offers the most maximum strength solutions for all hemorrhoid symptoms. from the brand doctors recommend most. temperatures coming up in your first alert forecast. stst with tv9. our sky is going to be pretty gray this afternoon. a few isolated snow showers are possiblelealong with blustery southwest temperatures won't move much, staying in the middle 30s. scattered flurries are possible tonight into tomorrow. we'll start tomorrow in the upper 20s with highs again in the middle 30s. sunshine will eventually try to peek through on thursday, followed by more sunshine frididy onward. mild weather will be here then, too, with highs getting into the 40s.today: windy, iso. snow showers high: 32-38 winds: sw 15-25 alo: 35 dbq: 35 iow: 36 tonight: chance of flurries low: 25-31 winds: : 5-15 alo: 27 dbq: 28 iow: 29 tomorrow: cloudy, scattered flurries high: 33-39 winds: nw tomorrow night: mostly cloudy low: 22-28 winds: nw 5-15 alo: 24 dbq: 25 iow: 26 thursday: gradual clearing high: 41 - low: 25 friday: mostly sunny high: 45 - low: 28 saturday: partly cloudy high: 47 - low: 30 sunday: partly cloudy high: 46 - low: 31 monday: slight chance of rain/snow high: 42 - low: 32 tuesday: partly cloudy high: 42 - low: 32 thanks justin. today people around the world awareness about a disease affecting millions. in honor of world aids day, the white house is showing itstsupport for aids awareness. a big red ribbon hangs on the front of the building. the foundation for aids research says 37 million people around the world are currently living with hiv. today university of iowa students will read aloud names of people who lost their lives to aids. this is video from last year's reading of the names event. linn county public health today through friday. new statistics show how that extra minute on the treadmill can provide huge health benefits years down the road. abc's doctor timothy johnson has more. running? lifting?. or swimming? some of us are fitter than others. now, new research may get you off the couch? suggesting that everyry minute we can hang in there for exercise in our younger years? pays off in a longer and healthier life. researchers at johns hopkins studied nearly five thousand 18- to 30-year-olds -- for more than 25 years. they put them on a treadmill when they were young ? and every extra minute a person was ae to run before they had to stop was linked to a 12 percent decreasesen heart attacks and d strokes in the next 25 years. good news for those of us who were natural athletes when we were young. should those of us who weren't? worry? past studies show that exercise is linked to better health no matter when you start. but you have to start. so the next time you're thinking of skipping that trip again. and thank yourself years later. with this medical minute, i'm dr. timothy johnson. the environmental protection agency has appointed a new r rional leader for the midwest. in today's agribusiness report, david geiger had a chance to talk with him about the big issues impacng farmers. good morning this is the david geiger. ---- the environmental protection agency has leaders down to the state level. the region seven administrator covers nebraska.. kansas.. missouri.. and iowa.. this year.. leadership exchanged hands and i had the opportunity to talk to the new administsttor.. mark hague.. he's not new to the region.. former administrator. . karl brooks.. i asked hague what his goals are for the region and iowa in particular. "reallylyant to build that relationship continue some of the work that's been done, to build good rapport, communication, i'm the kind of person that likes to meet with people face to face, ar their issues, concerns and a chance to talk about what epa's doing. my perception is iowa's been a real leader in the nutrient reduction effort and they've had a good aggressive nutrient reductioiostrategy. we've been supportive of that movement. moving forward we want to be a partner with them and other federal agencies, academic institutions, state partners, and stakeholders." the iowa nutrient reduction strategy is a plan led by iowa state university.. the iowa d-n-r and iowa department of agriculture.. its goal is to reduce nutrients from point and non point sources to iowa waters and the gulf of m mico through voluntary measures. hague says he was encouraged about farmer practices at the iowa state fair this year.. farmers being recognized for the practices they're putting in place and that's really good and encouraging to see that going on. i know the state's invested a lot of resources to making that nutrient t eduction strategy y realized and i think there's a lot of value that can be gained there. you know when you hear about trients in iowa you don't hear anyone arguing over the need to kind of make some changes and improve how we protect our water quality and it's really and it's really encouraging to see the work going on." hague has been serving as the region administrator since march.. ---- the grain markets are a little shocking today.. a rally going on.. meanwhile cattle aren't having such a good time.. "we actually got some green back in the grain sector. veve surprising trade. we've got a strong dollar today, up roughly 22 points right now." "not any fresh, big export business ovov the weekend at all. and despite all that we are pushing out last weeks highs with beans at stops. corn is right back up against it too. pretty aggressive short coveveng as well. key to sustain this rally is fresh demand. can we find something there this week. and also too what the dollar does, does it keep pushing higher or not?" "we got red ink in the pork and beef sector today, thought we'd be better in the cattle starting off today with the weather. we've hid the whole central plains the last three to five days. and not getting any type of bounce e f of that. selling pressure today's coming from the cash trade last week. some areas steady at best, some areas a buck or two lower, last week too on very light trade." "hogs opening up lower in spillover in t cattle sector. same thing herer should get a little bit of a bounce off weather here shortly by midweek. the pressure's still coming from big weights, big supplies, lower cutouts and i think we can shuffle through that here hopefully today." a bit of a larger run at the colfax sheep and goat auction on saturday.. four hundred 43 head of days higigaverage price of a dollar.. 99 per pound, while fed lambs averaged a dollar 33 per pound. the one hundred 76 goats at the auction saw a high average price ranging from a hundred and 10 to a hundred and 75 dollars per head. ---- and that's all we h he for the show today.. thanks for joining us on the agribusiness report.. ---- we'll post a video every day in the agribusiness section of kcrg.com. you'll find it under the news tab. i'm david geiger with the agribusiness report. trt 3.54 oc w wtease an saint luke's hospital employee in cedar rapids is getting to live her dream. she gets s go to the happiestt place on earth all thanks to her coworkers. that's next on tv9. stay with us. a group of co-workers banded a group of co-workers banded together to make a dream come true for one of their own. a custodian at saint luke's hospital in cedar rapids is going to disney world after co-workers raised enough money for her trip. when they surprised her with the news, someone caught the moment on camera, and it's been viewed more than 100 thousand times on facebook. kcrg t-v nine's brea love explains why friends say this woman deserves this gift. if there's one person smiling on the second floor of st. luke's hospital itt resa collier . for the past two years her co-workers say she's brought so much joy to their lives as well as to patients. and the one thing she's always wanted to do was visit disney world. "disney world to me is a place that dream, and every thing's perfect." but she never had the opportunity. when she lost her father this year, her co-workers wanted to do something to help ease the pain.n.what better way to help her out t that moment, then to give her the trip of a lifetime." "everybody got behind it, it wasn't one person that said, oh i don't know, i'm not sure. it kind of just rolled on from there." more than 50 people raised the money to get her and her r sband a gift card. that card will allow her to travel, stay, and enjoy the park. collier sayayshe was in shock. "you could d knocked me over with a feather." "me, that was my biggest thing, me, why me?" "it was just really hard to see her going through so much pain and after bringing so much joy to patients, and staff. we just wanted to do something to bring a smile back to her." collier says after her father died support. "they were my new family, and they had been with me through thick and thin, there's just no describing how much love i felt." and the love showed through the gift. she and her husband d an to go in october. in cedar rapids, brea love, kcrg-tv nine news. this week world leaders from nearly 200 countries are converging on paris to discuss climate change. among them is a city leader from right here in eastern iowa. and the obama administration is making g anges to how much corn ethanol is going into fuel in the united states. it's a big change from what was proposed just a few months ago. meteorologist justin gehrts updates our temperatures coming up in your forecast. stay with tv9v9 two eastern iowa cities head to runoff elections today. they'll decide who will take the mayor's seats. president obama is in paris this week. he's focusing on climate change and terrorism. and linn mar district leaders say pre- schoolers could all end up under one roof in the future. you're watching kcrg-tv9. now, from your 24 hour news source, this is kcrg-tv9 news at midday. first, meteorologis t justin gehrts has your first alert forecast, justin... our sky is going to be pretty gray this showers are possible, along with blustery southwest winds of 15 to 25 mph. temperatures won't move much, staying in the middle 30s. scattered flurries are possible tonight into tomorrow. we'll start tomorrow in the upper 20s with highs again in the middle 30s. sunsnsne will eventually try to peek through on thursday, followed by more sunshine friday onward. mild weather will be here then, too, with highs getting into the 40s.today: windy, iso. snow showers high: 32-38 winds: sw 15-25 alo: 35 dbq: 35 iow: 36 today voters in black hawk county are once again casting ballots in some key city elections. waterloo and cedar falls voters will l cide on new mayors in runoffs. councilman quentin hart and former mayor tim hurley are both vying for the mayor buck clark, who did not seek a 4th term. hart and hurley were the two highest vote- getters in the november 3rd municipal election. and mayor jon crews and businessm jim brown will be on the ballot in cedar falls. however, crews recently announced plans to step down and urged people to vote for his challenger. polling in the run-off elections is opened at 7 this morning and will stay open until 8 tonight. the polling places are the same as they were in the city election in november. new at midday... a west union man f fes charges after authorities say he assaulted a sheriff's deputy. fayette county sheriff's deputies responded to the 9- thousand block of golden road near west union last wednesday. authorities say a man was trespassing on a property, and causing a disturbance for the owner and children there. the waterloo cedar falls courier reports police arrested 5 year-old terry mork. resisted arrest and d assaulted a deputy. the deputy had to be taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. since his arrest, mork was later released from jail after posting bond. a teenager is in critical condition at the university of iowa hospital and clinics accident. the sheriff's office says 17 year old daniel gibbs of west union was squirrel hunting when he tripped over a log and impaled himself through his neck with the barrel of his rifle. the rifle did not discharge. it happened on a friend's property near 11-thousand great river road sunday afternoon. the iowa state patrol has cited a johnson county sheriff's deputy in a weekend crash. sheriff lonny pulkrabek says deputy ryan quiles was on a routine patrol about 4:30 saturday afternoon near the intersection u-s highway 6 and 109. that's north of oxford. he says quiles pulled away from a stop sign and into the path of another vehicle, ininring one person in that vehicle. the cited quiles for failure to yield. quiles remains on active duty pending a the crash. university of iowa officials are looking into a racici campus property. president bruce harreld says they found it in a bathroom in the spence laboratories - which contains faculty offices and research labs. he says crews immediately sanded down the bathroom door to remove the comment. harreld told students, act is offensive to our community and will not be tolerated." professor put this statue resembling a k-k-k member on the pentacrest. the professor said it was meant as a protest to the violence against black people. but some students found it offensive and authorities removed it. today world leaders from nearly 200 countries s e in paris to tackle climate change. this morning, president obama fighting a war on two fronts- one against climate change and the other against isis. abc's lana zak reports. some have asked why the world would dedicate some of our focus right now to combating climate change even as we work to protect o o people and go after terrorist networks. the reason is because this one trend, climate change, affects all trends. at the un confrence on climate change, philanthropists, businesses, and governments pledged $20 billion to invest in clean energy. the messasa reverberating ?pope francis, traveling back from africa, urged even greater action, saying ? pope francis "we are at the limits. if i may use a strong word, i would say that we are at the limits of suicidewhile in beijing, the smog so thick, pollution levels there 45 times beyond what is considered safe. chinese president xi jinping pledging chinese cooperation on climate?and in the war on still r rling from the terrorist attacks that killed 130 ago. among world leaders, the fight against isis was as much a part o othe discussion as the environment. president obama hinting at a possible diplomatic breakthrough with russia and syria. obama sot: i think it is possible over the next several months that we see both a shift of calculation from the russians and a recognition that it's time to bring the civil war in syria to a close? in meetings with the leaders of turkey, russia, france and the uk, unified front developing... in hopes of leaving the world safer and cleaner for generations to come. tag: obama sot i ththk we're going to solve it. i think thth issue i igoing to be the pace?and how much damage is done before we apply the brakes. lana zak, abc news. washington. dubuque's mayor is attending that summit. roy buol is co-leading a four member delegation of midwest mayors. theyeyill represent the mississippi river cities and towns initiative. buol believes climate change could dramatically impact the mississippi river. the linn-mar school district is looking to consolidate preschool learning into one location. preschool classrooms across the district. it's planning to transition to one centralized building, a center that would hold all of f e preschool classrooms. the district just started working on this project, and officials say it could at least be another 3 to 5 years before this becomes a reality. a preschool advisory group of parents, teachers and administrator s came up with the recommendation to the school board after thoroughly studying the issue. the executive director of student services says this conversation started when school leaders looked at room space in the elementary schools as enrollment grows. "we have about ten preschool classrooms that we thought, maybe it's time to look at should we go to centralized preschool? but we didn't want to make it just about space. we wanted to make sure we made it - what is best for kids. " one current preschool teachehe says a centralized building would allow for easier collaboration between teachers. the district says the board still needs to determine where this cated and how much it would cost. john deere is laying off hundreds of workers in moline, illinois. the layoffs at deere's seeding and cylinder factory affect about 220 employees. it goes i io effect on february 15th. in past years, john deere has laid off workers seasonally, and those people would usually return in the fall. this time, the companynyays the layoffs will last indefinitely. the announcement came after john deere released its fourth quarter earnings report last week. deere earned 351 million dollarar in august through october. that was significantly less than the 649 million the company took in, during the fourth quarter last year. deere is also expecting sales totodrop about seven percent in the current fiscal year. the obama administration is boosting the e ount of ethanol and other renewable fuels in the u-s gasoline supply. the environmental protection will increase the nation's renewable fuel standards. the agency says it will require more than 18 billion gallons of renewable fuels next year. that's less than the level lawmakers set in 2007, but more than what the e-p-a proposed last spring. iowa produces mme corn for ethanol than any other state. governor branstad released a statement saying he's disappointed that the e-p-a didn't follow what congress had called f f. he said, the "decision showwthe lack of interest in providing consumers choice at the pump... ... creating jobs, and increasing incomes in rural america, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil." people in cedar rapids are starting out the month of december with a 2 and a half-ton christmas tree in the city. a large crane pulled the city's new 35-foot christmas tree into its designated spopoon mays island yesterday. a family donated the colorado spruce from their property in southwest cedar rapids. city estimates the tree is about 30 years old. "yououon't always see treeee flying through the air. it's a different thing to do. it's always kind of a neat process" more than a dozen workers helped to stabilize the tree with cables. they also decorated the tree with 11-hundred l-e-d light bulbs. the city is planning to light the tree on friday at 5:30 p-m. a legendary artist is taking on the holidays with a new tune. and star wars director j-j abrams says the force awakens isn't just for boys. that's coming up in today's showbiz wrap. tv9. chicago mayor rahm emanuel has fired the city's police superintenden t. the chief of detectives will take over until the city can find a replacement. emanuel fired superintenden t garry mccarthy, saying the public no longer trusts police after a chicago police officer was charged with first degree murder. jason van dyke is accused of killing 17- year-old laquan mcdonald last year, shooting the teenager 16 times. van dyke claims he was justified in shooting mcdonald because mcdonald was armed with a knife. meteorologist justin gehrts joins us now.w. afternoon. a few isolated snow showers are possible, along with blustery southwest winds o o15 to 25 mph. temperatures won't move much, staying in the middle 30s. scattered flurries are possible tonight into tomorrow. we'll start tomorrow in the upper 20s with highs again in the middle 30s. sunshine will eventually try to peek through on thursday, folllled by more sunshine friday onward. mild weather will be here then, too, with highs getting into the 40s.today: windy, iso. snow showers high: 32-38 winds: sw 15-25 alo: 35 tonight: chanan of flurries low: 25-31 winds: sw 5-15 alo: 27 dbq: 28 iow: 29 tomorrow: cloudy, scattered flurries high: 33-39 winds: nw 10-20 alo: 35 dbq: 35 iow: 37 tomorrow night: mostly cloudy low: 22-28 winds: nw 5-15 alo: 24 dbq: 25 iow: 26 thursday: gradual clearing high: 41 - low: 25 friday: mostly sunny high: 45 - low: 28 saturday: high: 47 - low: 30 susuay: partly cloudy high: 46 - low: 31 monday: slight chance of rain/snow high: 42 - low: 32 tuesday: partly cloudy high: 42 - low: 32 thanks justin. j-j abrams is making the rounds awakens premiere this month. and john legend is using the actual stars to create music for the holidays. abc's jason nathanson has today's showbiz wrap. the stars have aligned for this new john legend holiday tune. the singer wrote the song, called "under the stars," using actual recordings of stars. he tells people magazine that scientist have been recording the vibrations of stars, and they put that into the song. the tune was written for the stella artois give beautifully holiday campaign speaking of stars, j.j. abrams wants the new star wars film to be more than just a boy thing. talking to good morning america, the director of the upcoming 7th film in the franchise spoke about his hopes for the force awakens star wars: the force awakens hits theaters in a little over two weeks. harry potter fans are probably j.k. rowling's upcoming stage play "harry potter know who's a little more blas?? harry potter himself, daniel radcliffe he has until next july to decide, that's when it opens in london. and that's what's happening in hollywood, i'm jason nathanson, abc news, los angeles. this weekend kcrg-tv9 is helping feed senior citizens in eastern iowa. yououan help seniors and d nior centers by donating to our annual fill the plate telethon. you can watch the telethon live on kcrg 9 point two. it runs from 5:30 until 9:00 on sunday night. all that heavy food can make throughout the holidays a huge challenge. our hy-vee dietitian will join us after the break, with tips on how to keep from putting on those christy frese here with us this morning. she has a few ideas for making your health a new holiday tradition. we all love the holidays. it's a special time of year to create our own traditions and make memories with ououfamilies. they also offer great opportunities to add a few extra pounds, with all the extra food, holiday parties and get- togethers. the problem is, when the christmas tree is dodon, the scale sometimes stays up. eat slowly and socialize while eating. rethink your drink - have non-calorie or low calorie beverage option cold offerings before getting in line - plan. make one trip to the buffet table. " only take the foods you really want. eat fruits and vegetables first - you will eat more of the foods you choose and eat first. choose low-calorie foods first, such as fruit slices, raw or steamed vegetables and green leafy salads, to save calories. christy, thanks for being here. answer your calls. stay with your 24 hour fact. advil pain relievers are used by more households than any other leading brand. to treat their aches and pains more people reach for advil. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil. [ male announcer ] pain not sitting too well? burning to feel better? itching for relief? preparation h offers the most maximum strength solutions for all hemorrhoid symptoms. from the brand doctors recommend most. preparation h. don't stand for hemorrhoids. voters in waterloo will pick either councilman quentin hart or former mayor tim next mayor in today's runoff election. in cedar falls, incumbent mayor jon crews has bowed out and has endorsed jim brown in today's runoff. polls close at 00 tonight. former florida governor jeb bush is trying to build support in iowa. he talked about the economy and the fight against terrorism in dubuque this morning. he's scheduled to be in waterloo in just a few minutes. now, one last look at this morning's weather, justin. our sky is going to be pretty gray this afternoon. a few isolated snow showers are possible, along with blustery southwest winds of 15 to 25 mph. temperatures won't move much, staying in the middle 30s. scattered flurries are possible tonight into tomorrow. we'll start tomorrow in the upper 20s with highs again in the middle 30s. sunshine will eventually try to peek through o othursday, followeeby more sunshine friday onward. mild weather will >> announcer: ah, the sound of sleigh bells can only mean one thing. it's time to deck the hodays with "the chew" clinton's getting into the holiday spirit with a delicious party cocktail that packs a real punch. then super soprano, kristin chenoweth, is in the kitchen making beautiful music with mario. plus, the inspiring way one organization is shattering stereotypes through christmas ornaments. >> "glass roots" is a place of warmth, it's a place of change -- a magical place. >> announcer: the holiday excitement starts right now on