a child's tribute in 2001 leads to a reunion of strangers at a local restaurant. >> i had no clue when i did that it would impact somebody so deeply. putting virginia first, you are watching wfxr news virginia in high definition? >> thanks for starting your morning off on good day, virginia january 28th. the search continues for a missing teen last seen early wednesday morning and will you see her on your screen right now 13-year-old nicole madison lavelle. her parents are desperate to find her. she needs to take medication for a liver transplant. police are coming together with f.b.i. trying to locate the 13-year-old. investigators have been chasing down possible leads to bring her home. her disappearance are unclear. >> whether it is run away situation or foul play involved we are not sure. >> once again this is nicole here. nicole madison lavelle. she is 13 years old and needs medical attention and please call police immediately. police in roanoke need your help to find jonathan kent. kent's co-workers reported him missing and no word since january 20th and drives a gray honda crv. police are not saying whether or not they believe foul play is involved in kent's disappearance. if you know anything give roanoke police a call. new this morning wendy's is investigating unusual activity related to credit and debit cards used in their restaurants. the fast food chain launched an investigation after being alerted to payment industry to possible fraudulent charges made elsewhere after cards were it is unclear how many cards or restaurants are affected. wendy's encourages those to watch for unauthorized charges and always keep an eye on your credit card bill. >> putting together a 17 member panel and solve the water problem in flint. one of the members, the virginia tech professor who found elevated lead levels on flint's water and they will monitor the lead levels. >> as i said, everyone is on the same page and thinking about one thing and one thing only and that's helping flint. >> michigan governor rick snyder wants $28 million in relief funds from the state government. if the relief fund is approved $28 million will go directly to people helping to pay their water bill in flint. for the 78th straight year shriners are hosting the circus in roanoke. the circus from las vegas will be performing. and live where all the fun will be happening tonight. hey, taylor. >> good morning, guys. we are excited to have surface mack in the berkland center setting up shop all morning long. we have been juggling and messing around and with this entire three-ring circus we have going on here and it should be a fantastic show tonight through the entire weekend and we are happy to be joined by richard boyer with the roanoke temple and almost, people are responsible for bringing the circus to town. good morning, richard. >> good morning. we are happy to have you here. this is the 58th circus and excited about a great weekend coming up. >> it sounds for sure. the fun begins tonight. let's talk about what you do for the community and the reason you are putting on the circus in the first place. 100th year this year. we have been in roanoke 100 years. this is a fundraiser to support our units and clubs. we have a number of units. 19 units located here in roanoke. as a matter of fact, a couple of units will be at all the shows. the hillbilly unit is coming in and carriagers and clown units also. >> they will be involved right in the middle of the circus. perform and skits even. >> exactly. >> and after the enter mission our clown unit will open up the show. >> great place to help out the temple and therefore the community and head to the bergland center and there are six shows this weekend, correct. >> six shows starting at 6:30 tonight. tomorrow 7:30. 10:00 saturday, 8:00 and sunday >> plenty of options and no excuses to miss out. they are expecting shy of 30,000 people to attend. if we can get it above $30,000 i don't think you would be too mad about that. >> thank you for being with us this morning. paris holmes will be here and playing with the performers later in the show. reporting live in roanoke, wfxr news. >> hey, we have a beautiful day in blacksberg hiding the sunshine and it is cold out there. temperature 15 degrees in blacksberg and beautiful looking day at least and find milder conditions in the afternoon and got to walk the dogs before you head to work. take your jacket, hat and gloves. you need sunglasses. temperatures in the 20s and teens. take it with you on your drive. leave the umbrella at home. >> some spots seeing clouds through the day in central virginia and eastern south side. and you can leave the umbrella at home. cooler tomorrow in the wake of a cold front and big warm up over the weekend and details of your weekend forecast coming up in a couple. >> all right. thank you. >> coming up, we are headed to the kitchen next where kroeger chef tom williams will cook up some comfort food and soup. stick around after the break on watching at 8:07. putting virginia first in salem and martinsville you are watching wfxr news "good day virginia" in high definition. >> all right. welcome everybody. and "good day virginia." you recognize this man here. chef williams from brambleton avenue kroeger. >> he just revealed to you i was practicing with kroeger. >> and it smells so good in here i have to tell everybody what you are making. >> i am making a tomato florentine soup. i have celery, onion and garlic and saute in olive oil and soften it up and add the wet ingredients to it. tomato sauce. i am using the simple truth natural food plan and add a 12-ounce can of diced tomatoes, no salt added. >> is that medium heat. >> it is over high and as you add things to it, it will drop the temperature fast and start with nice hot temperature. >> and i will add -- the recipe calls for two, 12-ounce cans of chicken stock. that's about 24-ounces, 3 1/2 cups and we will add that to it. >> and add water and i didn't prep that. bring it to a boil and let simmer 20 minutes. after simmering 20 minutes we will add in the other ingredients. i have a small shell-shaped pasta i will add into the liquid here. we will let that simmer another 10, 1 minutes until the pasta is you got me all flustered. >> that smells amazing. >> about how much does this yield? we are not done making it. >> it will yield a half gallon when all is said and done. maybe more. let it cook 7, 8 minutes and two cups of fresh spinach and you want it to wilt. >> that's probably the last thing. >> before we come back in the second segment i will put it in. it is nice for cold weather days with tomato soup with heartiness adding the pasta and i will serve with grilled cheese sandwiches using ciabatta bread and harvarti. cheese. if you have not had smoked harvarti you have not lived. i am telling you. >> i have samples there. want to marry, him or jeff. >> i have been proposing. no one accepted. >> stick around. >> all right. >> that's boiling and simmering and this is starting out. all we are waiting is the finish. >> this is the soup pretty much. >> it is simple and real easy. >> finish is the last thing and wilt and we will show you that when we come back. right now we have to get this th wfxr pinpoint weather with jason caterina. >> 8:15. good morning. taking a live look at blacksberg as our picturers are. fog in the distance and a lot of sunshine down the new river valley. for now we will find cloudiness wow, that sounds good. kareem walked in and wow that looks delicious. >> hourly temperatures middle 40s for highs and notice, let me go this way temperatures back down below the freezing mark headed to tomorrow morning. melting going on today and possible refreezing into the overnight. could be some slick spots once again. and temperature in roanoke, 23 degrees and pressure is falling as a cold front is approaching and we have a front to the east. we are sandwiched between. up in the middle and upper 40s and trailing to the lower 30s headed through the overnight and not to the freezing mark, though. good news there on liberty campus you can see we have quite a bit of melting going on and grass in between there what was all covered in snow yesterday when we took a look at the shot. 27 degrees dewpoint 22 and pressure falling there. lynchburg this morning. again, temperatures working well up into the 40s and mid and upper 40s today near the freezing mark by tomorrow morning. we will have to watch out in spots headed into tomorrow morning for possible slick spots. >> stuck in the middle of a couple of fronts. mountain snow showers due to a front headed into the overnight and absolutely gorgeous weekend on tap for us as temperatures rise well into the 50s. >> to near 60. 9 louisberg and 26 blacksberg 17 lexington and 29 danville. all is quiet and mainly clear on the satellite radar picture and quite a bit of cloudiness lynchburg to south boston and more as the day progresses. we have been watching this bump out in the clouds on the front bringing extra clouds in our afternoon. here is the first of the fronts clouds late in the afternoon and higher terrain and new river valley and highlands and following that one. more moisture associated with it bringing snow to to highlands and western-facing slopes into the overnight and tomorrow. this front stays out of our hair. we will get cloudiness and no precipitation. this front will bring in extra cloudiness later in the day sandwiched in between and nice sunshine and sun is setting after 5:30 now. here is the second front with light snow in the evening and overnight bringing snow to higher elevations and some ski resorts and looking good for friday skiing and spring-like skiing into the weekend and temperatures drop tomorrow in the wake of the front and bounce big time into the weekend and back in the 50s for us. lots of sunshine and could be touching on 60 degrees in spots headed into the day on sunday and monday. groundhog day and showers later in the day and chance of rain >> i like it. >> i like it, too. >> i have no issue with your forecast. >> sweet. >> there you go. >> thank you for that. >> i deliver the news mother nature is to blame if something goes wrong despite everybody giving me heat. >> you don't have a switch at the computer. >> no. it is down right now. >> oh. >> buried under snow. >> yes. >> virginiafirst.com news and sports headlines. virginiafirst.com. >> the federal reserve leaves key interest rate unchanged saying the u.s. economy lost momentum last year. last month, the fed raised rates for the first time in nearly a decade. after the two-day meeting the central bank says the job market improved and economic growth slowed at the end of 2015 and the fed gave no sign it will raise interest rates at least will continue monitoring global economic and financial development. results in from a new study and the personal loan market is booming. the study indicates 20 million americans will take out a personal loan this year. >> people coming up with a car that needs to be fixed or roof leaking or different reasons for unexpected needs for money to kind of consolidate that debt. > the survey found 30% of people did not have any savings whatsoever to handle an emergency. texas, right. we have heard that. except the price of gas. thirty-nine cents a gallon. part of a promotion by ag producers and co-op grain farmers it dropped to $30 a barrel. wondering where you can get gas for 39 cents, it was 1969. all right. up next on "good day virginia" we are having all sorts of fun this morning and getting making the rounds this morning kim white will talk about his we might be able to talk again! again! again! again! again? general mills is removing artificial flavors and colors from our cereals. so you can love cereal... again! putting virginia first in floyd and ham hearst county this is "good day virginia" in high definition. bluegrass and traditional music fans can catch this guy tim white next week. they are taping songs of the mountain scheduled at lincoln theater in marion and if you are looking for something to do head to marion february 6th. that date. >> we will have a great show. all the shows at lincoln mountain are great. if you don't recognize the artist's name it will be great. jeff little is a piano player from boone, north carolina and we get e-mail about jeff little coming back. he tours a lot with wayne henderson. he will be here february 6th at the lincoln theater with the jeff little trio fine appalachian-style piano playing and jeff brown and still lonesome and this is their second trip on the show. a brother duo group will be in compton. and doing the fine brother harmony stuff and mike compton is famous from the movie. >> very popular movie. >> if you like gospel music the church brothers from north carolina will be on the show. all the information for our complete season a show every month in our web site song of we will be sure to have that virginiafirst.com. bluegrass and that style of music is immensely popular all over the country. why do you feel it is important to keep this lifestyle alive. >> it is about our lifestyle in the southern appalachian region. our name is song of the mountains. we are heavily laced with bluegrass and we have old time music and americana music and celtic and gospel and a whole array of different styles of music. bluegrass is a big part of the music from our region. >> what time are you taping next saturday? >> 7:00 we tape it. it usually takes 8 months to a year to get edited and very good. of course you brought your hands on. take us to break. >> i smelled the good food in the hallway and it inspired me to do this one. world than i like better than bacon, lettuce and homegrown tomatoes. up in the morning out in the garden, i pick it and plant them in the spring and eat 'em in the summer and without them it is culler in i forget about all the sweating and digging every time i get it i get a big one. homegrown tomatoes what would life be without homegrown tomatoes. there are two things money can't homegrown tomatoes. across us this evening and off the coastby midnight. cold high mao wfxr news weather first. coming up on 8:30. thanks to tim coming in playing us out to break. we have a lot of sunshine for you starting our day. >> temperatures rebounding. >> louisberg, 23 roanoke and 27 lynchburg and smith mountain lake and temperatures headed in the 40s for the afternoon. a mix of sun and sun and clouds and warmer temperatures this weekend and almost shorts weather. we will talk about that in a couple minutes with your full forecast. "good day virginia" returns right now. >> putting virginia first you are watching "good day virginia" in high definition. >> thank you for joining us on >> 8:30 on the i'm kyle benjamin. >> we will start with trouble for norfolk southern. the railroad says profits are down and will cut more jobs profits. >> in an effort to combat the numbers they plan to cut 2,000 more jobs. happen. >> wfxr news is your local election headquarters. we are learning donald trump is standing firm and won'ting part of fox newschannel debate tonight. >> now trump will hold a competing event instead benefiting veteran's. >> hundreds are split on this move. on the plus side for him, all anyone is talking about is donald trump. on the down side chris christie says americans don't want a candidate who will walk away fox news debate in iowa maintaining fox news megan kelly treated him unfairly in the g.o.p. debate in august asking him to explain past disparaging remarks about women. >> you once told people on celebrity apprentice you would like to see her on our knees. >> this escalated into testy back and forth of media statements with trump and fox news. the closest rival ted cruz challenged him to a one-on-one debate saturday. >> night and a super pack says they will donate $1.5 million to veteran's if trump shows up. >> he doesn't want to answer questions to men and women of iowa about how his record doesn't match what he is selling. >> some of trump's rivals are critical of his moves, one seems happy. >> to me i feel i have a double win. i am in the main debate and don't have to put up with donald trump. trump asked twitter if he should debate and 56% said yes and he still pulled out. >> reporter: in washington caroline shively fox news. the greatest show on dirt is opening at the bergland center. it is time to talk about the fun of it all now. >> we are talking about the circus and not the world of outlaws, wfxr paris holmes is joining us from the bergland center. she has a nice hat. >> i know, i will have a show for you with these hats. >> we had the contortionist and one of hundreds of acts and performances here at the shrine circus starting tonight. see, we have the human cannonball. the producers wanted me to get inside of it. we couldn't convince our boss to let us do that. as i said, there's a lot going on and lots of people all over the world performing tonight. here is one of them. me how you got the name. >> i was about to be on the stage and we have a problem, houston we have a problem. what. he can't say your name. i said try it. >> tommy -- he said it wrong. i say try my name tommy tequila and that's how i became tommy could coahuila. i like that. it is kinda funny. >> he has been juggling 30 years and for the last two hours i have been practicing. and he will show us. >> yes. >> yes. and i will try that. not quite that but try something here. >> i will try a couple. >> there you go. >> in five seconds. i don't know if i am as talented as him. here we go. oh. oh. keep practicing. keep practicing. >> you can do it. >> i will try it one more time. do it. >> keep going. >> oh! >> i'm sorry. >> i will never be part of the circus. >> on the show i will do i juggle with my mouth. i go up to 7. and show you now. >> yes. right here. >> good. >> okay. okay. whew! sound effects. not just juggling. great sound effects there. look at that, guys. will you have a great show. the show is two and a half hours and jam-packed with excitement and activity. during the enter mission and stuff for kids to do so. tickets range $26 and tomorrow 7:30 and sunday 10:30, 3:00 -- saturday you have 10:00 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and sunday 2:00 p.m. come and join tommy and the rest of the acrobats. >> we have horses, elephants. >> we have lions and high wires. >> we have a lot of stuff here. >> very, very good show. live show. >> you guys definitely need to come and check this out. live in wfxr. >> better watch he will take the mic away from you. >> running the show there, tommy. >> if you are headed out and you have to take the dogs for a walk you will need the jacket sunglasses, hat and gloves. on the morning commute and a lot of sunshine throughout much of the day today around roanoke. mostly sunny with clouds here and there. temperature in the middle 40s and headed to central virginia to lynchburg way and more many the way of clouds as they are closer to a stalled out front off the coast. cooler tomorrow and big rebound headed into the weekend. i think you will like the weekend forecast. i have all the details in a couple of minutes. kyle. >> thank you, jason. >> you wear a fit bit and some as advertised. >> and looking at test results of the fit bit coming up to let you know whether you should hang onto your money or spend a bit of it. coming up on "good day virginia." 8:36 on the clock. stay with us. >> putting virginia first. kyle benjamin january keaton and your pinpoint weather with meteorologist jason caterina. virg putting virginia first in roanoke, danville and bed this is wfxr "good day virginia" in high definition. we are in the kitchen and kinda adapted the soup recipe. it is that final of year where you want soup. >> soup and sandwich is a good thing this time of year. and when i heard there was harvarti cheese in there you came in on a sprint. >> on the move. >> don't get between me and cheese. cheese away from january. >> or there won't be anything left. >> we have to introduce her to it. >> we will. >> yes. will you like him. okay we have tomato florentine soup with onion, celery and garlic and add tomato sauce. diced tomatoes and no sodium added and some water and finished it off with shell pasta. and spinach. >> yeah. yeah. >> i can do it. >> yes. >> all right. >> it looks like a nice healthy take on tomato soup. not a lot of it in there and i used kroeger simple truth items and low sodium and i adjusted the seasoning with a little salt. it needed a little. >> and i would like to suggest serving it with shredded parmesan cheese and right there olive croutons flavored with -- what do we have roasted garlic, tomato and feta. they are good. >> i like croutons as a snack food. >> and soup they are perfect. >> and i will -- pardon no gloves on my hands here. >> the croutons in the soup and if you are more of a cracker person they hold crunchiness longer than the cracker. >> the texture is better. that's why i like it. i like the difference in my soup. >> enjoy. >> let's dive in here. see -- plus it makes noises. >> and pasta is a nice touch. >> you need something to go with it and the noodles. >> that whole pot of soup i only use a cup of dry pasta. >> i measured it. >> and that's shocking. >> going rogue today. grilled cheese. yes. >> and you can never have bad grilled cheese. >> you can dunk it in the soup like when you were a kid. >> that's perfect. >> my wife never believes me when i ask her to make a grilled cheese sandwich. she does a better job than i do. there's a distinct art to the grilled cheese sandwich. >> i like using different breads. the ciabatta or focaccia and nice sourdoughs we have at work. the ciabatta has a nice texture. >> crisp cheese sandwich. >> are we running out of things to talk about? >> we are also out of time. >> we will have this recipe posted on our web site virginiafirst.com and always on facebook. thank you. see you next time. forecast after getting himself your wfxr pinpoint weather with meteorologist jason caterina. >> 8:45 now. thank you for joining us on "good day virginia." we have a chilly start and nice, warm fuzzy man in the studio that's going to maybe -- not you, kyle. our furry friend coming up in a couple minutes buddy bruce. he is awesome. >> outside in blacksberg, looks beautiful out there. it is cold. 15 degrees in blacksberg and it is a chilly, chilly start to the day. be careful. snow piles are starting to go away in the last couple of days ramping up into the weekend. we have it going on today temperatures mid and upper 40s and spots in blacksberg down near or below the freezing mark to tomorrow morning and the possibility for frozen spots on the roads and sidewalks into tomorrow morning around the roanoke area it is 23 degrees for us. the wind is calm. we are not taking anything else out for the wind chill. headed into the afternoon temperatures make it a solid run in the 40s for us down near the freezing mark and not here in roanoke. and liberty, campus there. you can look in lynchburg and we are starting to see the grass poking through in spots totally covered in snow in the last couple of days as melt continues. 27. no melting yet. it will pick up in the afternoon as temperatures in virginia make their way in the mid and upper down to the freezing mark and spots could find some problems in the morning with black ice. stuck in the middle of a couple of fronts bringing a slice of nice today. looking good with sunshine for many of us. mountain snows into the overnight and into our friday and balmy weekend. great to get out and enjoy as temperatures take a solid run well into the 50s to near 60 degrees. 10 and 20 in widthville. >> and south boston and east of lynchburg, everybody else with sunshine and saw the picture in blacksberg with the beautiful blue sky. we are sandwiched in the middle of two fronts. and there's another behind it. that one behind this initial front bringing out the snow into otherwise a good looking day. futurecast all is quiet and clouds to the west and sunshine in the middle and clouds to the east. and the front comes through with snow showers overnight into friday. >> roanoke temperatures in the mid-40s and much the same story. clouds, and temperatures similar to roanoke valley. >> tomorrow with the front from the west it is a touch cooler, 30s and low 40s and headed into the 50s to near 60 degrees going through the weekend. >> looks pretty nice. >> can't complain about that at all. >> thank you. don't forget virginiafirst.com is your destination for all things news. head to virginiafirst.com and check it out. >> that's right. 8:50 on the clock. fit bit arguably the hottest fitness tracker on the market and seems everybody has except for me and kyle and some cases it checks your heart rate as well. does fit bit actually work? >> there's debate about that. mary explains >> reporter: this year the word health is almost synonymous with fit bit. you see brightly colored bracelets at the gym or work but catchy commercials run frequently. fit bit promises to help get you in shape. do the wearable trackers work? this month fit bit was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging fraud. according to the suit, two of the company's heart rate monitors don't accurately measure your heart rate. it could be potentially dangerous and for people pushing heart rates past a certain mark. the suit surprised "consumer reports" who tested and recommended the fit bit hr and surge. "consumer reports" retested the products with another device that has proven accuracy. the polar h7 chest strap. the "consumer reports" testers found both fit bit models were on point. if there's a variance with the device no more than three bits per minute it is big. the fit bit charge hr would give more inaccurate readings at higher intensity workouts depending where the strap is put on the arm. if you follow the directions and put in the place where it recommends the monitor is accurate. "consumer reports" will keep an eye on the fit bit lawsuit it will recommend the fit bit surge and hr trackers. for consumer watch, i'm mary moloney. every pet deserves a good home. your home may be it. >> you brought this beautiful dog. them over there and forgot i had to show my feet. this is bruce. he is playful. for those of you who don't know what this is give us a synopsis of what you do. >> we try to save urgent animals in our local area and bring them to the rescue. we are mainly a foster-based rescue. we need people to open up their homes and if they can't adopt just foster to find an approved adopter to take them in their homes and give them a new chance at a happy life. >> bruce is a definite sweetheart. he was going to take my socks and take them to task. he is a play baby. i have two rescues of my own. i also foster. talk to people how important it is to foster and the need. >> it is urgent. the pound is full of that's a euthanasia if they run out of space they have to euthanize the dogs. that's sad because there are good dogs that end up at the pound for different types of reasons and usually not their fault. he came from the urgent list from the bb. he is around 6 to 7-years-old and loves to play and ride in cars and scared to pieces with thunder and lightning and gunshots. >> but a foster is able to tell a potential adopter exactly how this dog acts in a home atmosphere. he gets to relax and decompress from being in the kennel and pound. it is unnerving for any animal cats, dogs, anything. >> true personality doesn't come out until they are in a home environment. >> that's why fostering is important to bridge the gap. >> thank you, bruce. and bruce will get my sock a a day none of us will ever forget. fourteen years later, welcome. 911 is a day none of husband forget. 14 years later we still think about the attacks. >> roanoke, a meeting took place with words scribbled by a child after the towers fell and a woman who knew folks in new york that fateful day saw it and sparked a reunion of sorts after anthony kicked off what's your story campaign. charlie cooper explains. >> reporter: at first glance it looks like a typical family meal brought together by a work of art. >> 9/11 was a very difficult time for me. when i went to anthony's and saw this picture with the words about the destruction and they can destroy our big famous american buildings and can't destroy our big famous american pride that just really spoke to me. she didn't know it but aaron lyle was behind it. and sharing the stories it all came together. >> we decided to use it as our kick off story with the help finding aaron would be icing on the case. >> after months of searching they found him. >> i had no clue it would impact somebody so deeply. >> he says it was inspired by his upbringing. >> some of the values from a young age love of god and love of country and something from way back then could have an impact. it is great but for me it is trying to live out the values. kids are powerful. >> they are smarter than when we give them credit for. >> famous anthony's can be credited for creating the new bond with strangers. >> in roanoke charlie cooper wfxr. >> share your story with famous anthony's and you might have something like that and tell your kids for years to come. looks nice. >> going forward sunny and warm. 50s maybe 60s. >> we like it. see you tomorrow mo on today's hour of "maury," some play yell. some may dance. >> whatever.