it's a good thing but it's been coming for a long time."new information aims to overturn missouri state trooper anthony piercy's innocence in the may 20-14 drowning of brandon ellingson... " i've filed the charge of involuntary manslaughter against anthony piercy today" for the ellingsons, a death clouded in mystery is beginning to surface... "anthony piercy deserves what he's getting and he'll have his day in court but he knows what he did wrong."in may brandon was arrested by the missouri state patrol for allegedly boating while intoxicated...witnesses say a handcuffed ellingson was wearing a life jacket that wasnt fitted properly by trooper piercy when he fell out of the boat and drowned... " i have charged him with wrecklessly causing death."four months after brandons death ... trooper piercy claimed he had never been taught how to use life jackets and a "it's tough to live everyday because i have to walk by his room everyday and see he's not there." during the investigation, allegations of a coverup between the missouri state patrol and special investigator amanda grellner surfaced... "the people that were trying to cover up and protect anthony piercy need to exposed also."grellner then removed herself from the ellingson case and was replaced by william seay... it's been nothing but a cover up since the beginning."now...afte r nearly two years of fighting for the truth...brandon's father says he can find some closure " i think brandon's smiling down on us and appreciates what we are doing and we are not going to quit until we get justice." piercy turned himself into been placed on leave without pay. the lawsuits after their son's death... one patrol, the other coroner's office. both are pending.. authorities are still waiting to learn the cause of a death of 17 year old sammy kemp. the state medical examiner's office performed an autopsy and police say they hope to release more information in the case early next week. investigators pulled kemp's body from a pond near a rural granger home thursday. his family reported missing last weekend after he didn't come home from a party in the neighborhood. at this time, investigators don't know what led to kemp's death. this morning, family and friends are remembering an iowa state student killed near campus earlier this week. emmalee jacobs funeral is taking place at center point urbana high school at 10-30. police say jacobs was crossing lincoln way in ames ...when a car hit and killed her early monday morning. they have not found the driver or had many leads in their investigation. a boone county 16-year-old is accused of sexually abusing a 5 year old girl. now, he is out of jail... something the little girl's mom says is unacceptable... 032505 - she cant understand why people she cared for and she thought cared for her would do something to her like this according to court documents, clayton tullis pulled down the little girl's underwear and took pictures of her at his mother's in-home daycare in august. the teen is facing charges of second degree sexual assault and invasion of privacy. his bail was initially set a 100-thousand dollars, but another judge waived his bond. tullis is out of jail, but must have adult supervision around minors. he is due back in court at the end of the month. the city of des moines is facing more legal action over the use of interstate speed cameras. this time, it's a class action lawsuit. two plaintiffs claim the speed cameras on i-235 are illegally ticketing drivers because the d-o-t ordered them to be turned off. in march, the d-o-t said the cameras don't improve traffic safety. the lawsuit is asking to shut down the program and issue refunds to everyone who received a speeding ticket in the mail. meanwhile sioux city could reduce fines for its 29 interstate speed cameras. the city currently charges speeders 168-dollars. on monday, city leaders will consider lowering that to 100-dollars. in des moines.. speed camera tickets range from 65 to 80-dollars.... depending on how fast you're going. iowa families are expressing frustration over the state's transition to a new privately-run medicaid system. this week, the deadline for the switch over was pushed back from january first.. to march first. chris earl caught up with one family... who's hoping the extra time will also give them more answers. kelli scott never expected to watch for news on medicaid -- then trenton came into the world nearly 2 years ago, the youngest of 3 siblings...but with treacher collins syndrome. about one in 50,000 people is touched by it. " he is lacking facial bone development... small jaw. he doesn't have cheekbones and you can see his eyes are a little bit lower. the challenges aren't just on the outside. a t-c-s patient also has smaller airways. if you're a parent, imagine the sniffles leading to a trip to the hospital... nearly every time. " a common day cold puts him in the hospital. " kelli notes her other children, 17- year-old page and 7-year-old payton are on the family's private insurance but medicaid isn't just on income guidelines -- it also covers disabilities. to transfer trenton and his medicaid in recent weeks... " i'd call the hospitals and try to help them by getting on the right program for trenton and they could not tell me anything. they told me to keep calling back." now, a 60-day wait for iowa - with about 15% of the population using medicaid - to truly have the infrastructure to handle the transfer. " i received thousands of emails from people across the state what is going to happen next. how are they going to know which managed care organization to sign up with? maybe their child has 5 different doctors and each is with a different managed care operation. " that's the case for trenton, with a team of doctors between uihc and unity point health - st. luke's in cedar rapids. and, for the shift, kelli will be ready -- amid the others trying to transfer their coverage. " i can be on the phone long periods of time even though it's hard. " the transition from a public to nearly half a million iowans. a local grocery giant is trying customers around the holiday.. hy-vee is offering online ...starting monday up year. the "aisles online program" allows customers to shop from the comfort of their own homes. customers can then choose store pick up or a home delivery. hy-vee charges 2 dollars and 95 for delivery on orders less than 100 dollars. mother nature hasn't delivered in the snow department... but if you're looking to hit the slopes, you may get your christmas wish. "seven oaks" in boone is hoping to open for skiers and snowboarders by eleven tomorrow morning. owners say the snow making machines are working overtime until then. just in case, you should keep tabs on their facebook page for updates. the latest seven oaks has opened is december 26th... too much rain washed out jolly holiday lights, but there are other christmas displays to take in... and this is one of the best.... todd woolums went all out on his home in pleasant hill. the display is synched to music... with the lights changing color to the beat. several of woolums neighbors have also joined in decorating their homes. you can check it out for yourself every night from five-to-nine. the display is located at 51-25 spring street. still ahead on today in iowa saturday... give or get the ultimate gift when you take home an a-r-l pet this holiday. plus the other events the organization is planning for the we're less than one week away from christmas.... but most families have already sat down with santa to find out if they've landed on the naughty or list this year. we asked you to send your photos with the man in the red coat to our facebook page... and here's a look kayla opper's daughter alea at north grand mall in ames with santa - her first time. this is beth hamilton's son preston with santa. hayli, jeffery, and cannon took this picture with santa on december 8th asking him to pull some strings to send big brother colton home for christmas. santa must have some serious pull with the us navy, because colton it is going to be sunny today with less wind and highs in the upper 30s. highs will bounce back to the upper and middle 40s sunday through tuesday.sunday will be cloudy with some patchy drizzle/fog possible. there will be a brief light rain shower overnight sunday into early monday. highs will cool a bit onchristmas eve, but strong south winds will likely push temperatures well above average again on christmas day. while a white christmas looks to be something that will have to wait until 2016, the potential for rain or rain and snow over the weekend after christmas is something to monitor for post-holiday travel still ahead on today in iowa saturday... still ahead on today in iowa saturday... with temperatures cooling down for the season... the botanical garden in des moines is bringing folks indoors to enjoy all nature has to offer. we'll show welcome back to tod for lynn's family, the big stress is paying four hundred dollars a month in medical and drug costs for aidan. for other families it's higher deductibles, premiums and co-pays that keep adding up. that's why we've got to crack down on price gouging, cap out-of-pocket costs, and fast track approval of less expensive generic drugs. because we've got to get health care costs under control for lynn's family and for yours. i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. welcome back to today in iowa saturday. i'm joined now by kelly norris. she's the director of horticulture at the greater des moines botanical garden. she's here to give us some more information on some should want it, too. i'll tell you what and why, sunday night on soundoff. ----------------- let it snow, man! if the sound of that welcome back to today in iowa saturday. i'm joined now by lindsay rupp of the animal rescue league. we're coming up on the holiday season and there's a lot of animals in need of a home including roscoe. he has a ton of energy he's three years old, very puppy like. he does pull a little hard on a leash so he may need some training classes. he loves treats and knows a few skills. i would suggest older kids and needs to be the only dog in the home. starting in january we have some training classes. there's a puppy play group, there's different weight classes. it's the second and fourth week of each month. it's at our training center prices are online. we have a drop in classes from 6 months of age and older. you do need to register online for it, come as you go. bunny spa and pig pampering retreat we do it every couple of months, they get the full works. each service is 5 dollars. nails trimmed, ears cleaned, grooming. if you need more information on these events you can visit the arl website. or if you'd like to take roscoe home there is a link on our website. thanks for coming lindsay and have a recapping this morning's top stories... authorities say a missouri troooper who arrested a clive man in 2014 also killed him. brandon ellingson drowned while in handcuffs at the lake of the ozarks. more than a year after a special prosecutor cleared trooper anthony piercy of any wrong doing, a new prosecutor is now charging him with involuntary manslaughter. piercy turned himself into authorities yesterday...he's been placed on leave without pay. and police are still looking for the driver responsible for a deadly hit and run near the i-s-u campus. they say freshman emmalee jacobs was crossing lincoln way in ames when a car hit and killed her early monday morning. they say they have not received many leads in the case. jacobs funeral is taking place later this morning at center point urbana high school at 10-30. authorities filed charges in connection with the san bernardino terror attack. enrique marquez is accused of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. miguel almaguer has more details of the terror plot. it's at this quiet campus , riverside city college where according to a 36-page criminal complaint ... enrique marquez ... and longtime friend syed farook ... planned an attack in 2011 ... the plot ... to attack this busy library... and a packed cafeteria. su: marquez told investigators he and farook were going to drop pipe bombs from this second story area down below, then as students ran out of the cafeteria they would shoot them one by one. the abandoned plots were designed to quote "maximize the number of casualties." ""it's crazy that you would want to hurt so many people that you know." the complaint alleges the two also targeted the riverside freeway at rush hour. they chose a spot with no exits. farook was to throw pipe bombs onto the freeway... then walk along stalled cars shooting into them, while marquez fired from a hillside killing police and first responders "i think it's plenty dangerous enough without maniacs shooting and bombing you on it." nats highway marquez worked at jerry morgan's bar. "as you've seen on tv, he's a dorky kid. pillsbrry doughboy." facing a judge for the first time this week... marquez has been charged with 3 felonies... including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists... nats sirens prosecutors say there's no evidence marquez participated in the attack that left 14 dead. but the assault rifles marquez bought were used in the shooting... as we're explosive materials left at the inland regional center... nats sirens after learning of the bloodshed... marquez called 911. telling the operator "they can trace all the guns back to me." the operator at one point asking: "you said he used your gun." marquez: "yes, oh my god." tonight, the shock is gone, but not the grief miguel almaguer, nbc news, san bernardino. president obama met with families of the victims in the san bernardino attack. despite the pain and the heaache tat thy'refeelng, they ould not ave bn moe inirig, and re prud somethng gd cmes out f tis trged. and my f themare alredy taking iniiaives reach ou, tospek outon bhalfof mmnitynd toerace and reatng pople wit resct. any wer tereted inow we c prevent ootings like thi from hppning in th fuure. theirst family touched in calfornia astight. on their ay to begin their two week vacation.. the oomas ar spendg the holidays in hawaii...wherehe president spent most of his childod. he says he plans to take ation on gun control in the new year. t democratic national committee and the bernie sanders campaign have reached adeal to restore the candidate's access to voter daa. the sanders campaign filed a lawsuit yesterday afternoon saying the d-n-c is trying to tilt e election in hillary clinton's favor... by their action, the leadership of the democratic national committee is now actively attempting to undermine our campaign. this is unacceptable the d-n-c claims a anders campaign worker exploited a software error and accessed confidential voter information collected by clton'steam.team aners ys it wanedhe dn-c about th software proble months ago... the party's decision to cut off access to its voter database could could have been devastating for senator's campaign. 40:33 this could have an incredibly crippling impact for the caucus 40:39 immediately they can't run walk list, call lists for the volunteers coming in this weekend. 40:45 they can't record whatever data they get from anybody they talk to. 40:50 since much of the caucus is on the ground organizing knowing all that is very important 40:56 not having that your campaign comes to a grinding halt. 41:01 the sanders campaign says the d-n-c's favoritism towards clinton... the campaign says tonight's debate is another example. the d-n-c scheduled the debate for the saturday before christmas... a weekend when viewership is typically much lower because of all the holiday events and activities. coverage of the democratic debate starts tonight at 7 on abc. several republican presidential hopefuls will make their way around the state today. ben carson is stopping in carroll, harlan, and council bluffs. carly fiorina will host two town hall meetings in burlington and washington. donald trump will meet with voters at a rally in cedar rapids. this is expected to be the biggest weekend for retailers and holiday shoppers...with today being pegged "super saturday." courtney reagan shows us how the holiday season is faring so far for both sides of the equation. the final weekend for holiday shopping is upon us and retailers are hoping for a strong finish. shoppertrak says this saturday, often called "super saturday" typically ranks 2nd in terms of retailers' in- store revenue... black friday still number one. but monday and the day after christmas are also expected to rank in the top 10. according to the national retail federation, the final week of december can account for as much as 15% of retailers' holiday sales. ...and retailers are doing what they can to win shoppers' final holiday dollars... online and in-store. kohl's is staying open for 170 straight hours through christmas eve. best buy also has extended hours leading up to christmas and automatic free two day shipping for online orders made by tuesday morning. target is offering 10% off giftcards on december 20th, and delivery in time for christmas for online orders placed by the 21st. "certainly amazon again is having a spectacular season, but if you look at the list of the top 4 retailers online, you do notice that walmart and target are having a very successful much of the country is hitting retail hard this year... taking a big bite out of winter-related goods, pushing retailers to discount deeper. looking at more than 150-thousand shopper receipts, consumer market research company infoscout says as a result consumers are buying more this holiday season, and it's costing them less "in order to make up the difference retailers are having to sell more units at a lower price. you saw walmart do this with wrangler jeans for $10 a pair, you see many retailers offering promotions where they're making up for the lower prices on volume, just by selling more product" but as the clock ticks toward christmas, retailers will also settle for just winning the sale, almost regardless of what it costs... courtney reagan, cnbc vendors at the winter farmers' market in downtown des moines are ready for the crowds in search of last minute holiday gifts. 24:57-25:07 sometimes they stand in line, sometimes they mosey in, and sometimes it's so crowded that they can't see the booth. laura benge runs whimsy creations.... some of her most popular items are hand carved driftwood pieces in the shape of santa or a snow man. she is just one of more than 130 vendors at the winter market this weekend. today is your last chance to catch it until the spring. it's going on from 9 to 1 at the kaleidoscope at "the hub" and "capitol square" . after a little shopping, watch your favorite iowa teams go head to head on the basketball court. we'll help you check off your list good morning everyone, it's another great weekend to get out and enjoy des moines and the metro. cheer on your favorite iowa basketball team at the annual hy-vee big four classic. watch drake and iowa take the court first at 3-30. and then catch iowa state as they take on u-n-i at 6 o'clock. all the action is happening at wells fargo arena. pick out fresh produce and homemade items for your upcoming holiday party. the downtown winter farmers' market is going on today at square. it's going on from 9 a-m to 1 this afternoon, finally, sing along to your favorite winter tunes. and enjoy the acapella group tonic sol'fa's holiday show at hoyt sherman place. the show starts at 7-30. tickets for children start at 18 dollars 30 dollars and 50 cents for adults. remember, there are thousands of ways to enjoy des moines and the metro. to find out how, check out our website at catch des moines dot com. it is going to be sunny today with less wind and highs in the upper 30s. highs will bounce back to the upper and middle 40s sunday through tuesday.sunday will be cloudy with some patchy drizzle/fog possible. there will be a brief light rain shower overnight sunday into early monday. highs will cool a bit onchristmas eve, but strong south winds will likely push temperatures well above average again on christmas day. while a white christmas looks to be something that will have to wait until 2016, the potential for rain or rain and snow over the weekend after christmas is something to monitor for post-holiday travel and christmas is a time for giving... but once those gifts are open...they can leave a huge mess. coming up next, metro waste authority gives us the do's and don'ts of holiday clean up. i'm keith murphy with sports, the number one, defending a saturday. christmas is just one week away, but with all those presents comes a lot of gift boxes and wrapping paper. i'm joined now by leslie irlbeck from the metro waste authority who's here to tell us the best the valley tigers know they'll get every team's best effort. when you're #1, you wear the target. dan, you're of strong voice. how bout helping me with these highlights. to johnston for the dragons and top ranked tigers. valley's carlo marble inside. ties it early. then quinton curry reverses. the curry name is a good one in hoops. valley leads. johnston, good ball movement, dawson jones finishes. ya like that? yeah you do. but valley is too much. #1 tigers run away, 67-48. to ankeny, top ten showdown, #1 waukee at #6 centennial. tough two. play that song again. jackson to the left hand, same result. waukee looks strong. but it's centennial's night. rachel schon scores inside,and centennial knocks off the #1 team, 57-49. that snaps waukee's 12 game winning streak. nicely done. the big four classic leaves the guesswork out of who's involved. iowa, iowa state, northern iowa, and drake. this year it starts with hawkeyes and bulldogs. the hawkeyes and bulldogs tip at 3:30 p.m. iowa state enters the big four as the nation's #5 team. this should be a good one. uni has won more than its share against iowa state lately. the hawkeyes don't have fewer fans, but they do have fewer fans going to home football games. the hawkeyes don't have fewer fans, but they do have fewer football games. iowa just finished a perfect 12 and oh regular season, but home attendance dropped 6%, most of that from frustrated season ticket holders who did not renew. should be a bounce back next year. only the night game against minnesota sold out. the cyclones only won 3 games, fired their head coach, and still spiked attendance 8%. a new stadium renovation, and more seats, helped. but 8 wins in 3 years and isu averaged nearly 57 thousand fans. with your sports on today in iowa r brandon." new charges. nearly two years later, a clive family is one step closer to closure in their son's death. what a missouri trooper is now a missouri trooper is now facing charges in the 20-14 death of a clive man. authorities say the trooper who arrested brandon ellingson also killed him. ellingson drowned while in handcuffs at the lake of the ozarks. as justin surrency reports... his family says the arrest brings them one step closer to closure. it's a good thing but it's been coming for a long time."new information aims to overturn missouri state trooper anthony piercy's innocence in the may 20-14 drowning of brandon ellingson... " i've filed the charge of involuntary manslaughter against anthony piercy today" for the ellingsons, a death clouded in mystery is beginning to "anthony piercy deserves what he's getting and he'll have his day in court but he knows what he did arrested by the missouri state patrol for allegedly boating while intoxicated...witnesses say a handcuffed ellingson was wearing a life jacket that wasnt fitted properly by trooper piercy when he fell out of the boat and drowned... " i have charged him with wrecklessly causing death."four months after brandons death ... trooper piercy claimed he had never been taught how to use life jackets and a jury ruled the death accidental... "it's tough to live everyday because i have to walk by his room everyday and see he's not there." during the investigation, allegations of a coverup between the missouri state patrol and special investigator amanda grellner surfaced... "the people that were trying to cover up and protect anthony piercy need to exposed also."grellner then removed herself from the ellingson case and was replaced by william seay... it's been nothing but a cover up since the beginning."now...afte r nearly two years of fighting for the truth...brandon's father says he can find some closure " i think brandon's smiling down on us and appreciates what we are doing and we are not going to quit until we get justice." piercy turned himself into been ellingson family filed two lawsuits after their son's death... one against the missouri state patrol, the other coroner's office. both are pending.. authorities are still waiting to learn the cause of a death of 17 year old sammy kemp. the state medical examiner's office performed an autopsy and police say they hope to release more information in the case early next week. investigators pulled kemp's body from a pond near a rural granger home thursday. his family reported missing last weekend after he didn't come home from a party in the neighborhood. at this time, investigators don't this morning, family and friends are remembering an iowa state student killed near campus earlier this week. emmalee jacobs funeral is taking place at center point urbana high school at 10-30. police say jacobs was crossing lincoln way in ames ...when a car hit and killed her early monday morning. they have not found the driver or had many leads in their investigation. a boone county 16-year-old is accused of sexually abusing a 5 year old girl. now, he is out of jail... something the little girl's mom says is unacceptable... 032505 - she cant understand why people she cared for and she thought cared for her would d something to her like this according to court documents, clayton tullis pulled down the little girl's underwear and took pictures of her at his mother's in-home daycare in august. the teen is facing charges of second degree sexual assault and invasion of privacy. his bail was initially set a 100-thousand tullis is out of jail, but must have adult supervision around minors. he is due back in court at the end of the month. the city of des moines is facing more legal action over the use of interstate speed cameras. this time, it's a class action lawsuit. two plaintiffs claim the speed cameras on i-235 are illegally ticketing drivers because the d-o-t ordered them to be turned off. in march, the d-o-t said the cameras don't improve traffic safety. the lawsuit is asking to shut down the program and issue refunds to everyone who received a speeding ticket in the mail. iowa families are expressing frustration over the state's transition to a new privately-run medicaid system. this week, the deadline for the switch over was pushed back from january first.. to march first. chris earl caught up with one family... who's hoping the extra time will also give them more answers. kelli scott never expected to watch for news on medicaid -- then trenton came into the world nearly 2 years ago, the youngest of 3 siblings...but with treacher collins syndrome. about one in 50,000 people is touched by it. " he is lacking facial bone development... small jaw. he doesn't have cheekbones and you can see his eyes are a little bit lower. the challenges aren't just on the outside. a t-c-s patient also has smaller airways. if you're a parent, imagine the sniffles leading to a trip to the hospital... nearly every time. " a common day cold puts him in the hospital. " kelli notes her other children, 17- year-old page and 7-year-old payton are on the family's private insurance but medicaid isn't just on income guidelines -- it also covers disabilities. to transfer trenton and his medicaid in recent weeks... " i'd call the hospitals and try to help them by getting on the right program for trenton and they could not tell me anything. they told me to keep calling back." now, a 60-day wait for iowa - with about 15% of the population using medicaid - to truly have the infrastructure to handle the transfer. " i received thousands of emails from people across the state wondering what is going to happen next. how are they going to know which managed care organization to sign up with? maybe their child has 5 different doctors and each is with a different managed care operation. " that's the case for trenton, with a team of doctors between uihc and unity point health - st. luke's in cedar rapids. and, for the shift, kelli will be ready -- amid the others trying to transfer their coverage. " i can be on the phone long periods of time even though it's hard. " the transition from a public to privately run system will affect nearly half a million iowans. a local grocery giant is trying to free up more time for customers around the holiday.. hy-vee is offering online shopping at all 240 stores ...starting monday up until january 2nd of the new year. the "aisles online program" allows customers to shop from the customers can then choose store pick up or a home delivery. hy-vee charges 2 dollars and 95 cents for pick up and 4 dollars and 95 cents for delivery on orders less than 100 dollars. mother nature hasn't delivered in the snow department... but if you're looking to hit the slopes, you may get your christmas wish. "seven oaks" in boone is hoping to open for skiers and snowboarders by eleven tomorrow morning. owners say the snow making machines are working overtime until then. just in case, you should keep tabs on their facebook page for updates. the latest seven oaks has opened is december 26th... still ahead on today in iowa saturday. no party is complete without that sweet treat. the dessert you can whip up, announcer: one candidate tough enough to take on the bully... jeb bush: donald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. that's not going to happen. (applause) announcer: one candidate tough enough to take on isis. jeb will destroy isis... and keep america safe. jeb bush: the united states should not delay in leading a global coalition to take out isis with overwhelming force. announcer: tested and proven leadership matters. jeb bush. an one week away from christmas.... but most families have already sat down with santa to find out if they've landed on the naughty or nice list this year. we asked you to send your photos with the man in the red coat and here's some of the responses we got on our facebook page. kathy jackson's photo of her twins with santa - she says her twin girls loved santa...until they were put on his lap christi southard's photo of zaria who is wondering if santa's beard is real! danae hill-sellers' photo of adora, shane, and ireland with mister and still ahead on today in iowa saturday... the most wonderful time of the year... often brings a load of responsibilities. some ways to cope with the added stress so you can enjoy your welcome back to today in iowa saturday. the holidays make for a great time to celebrate with loved ones but it can also come with added responsibilities. i'm joined now by lori boehm-shereck from compass clinical associates. she's here to give us some tips on how to cope welcome back to today in iowa saturday. i'm joined now by whitney packebush from fareway for another centsable health. today we're we're making no bake coconut snowballs. you do have to love coconut. it's very similar to a mounds candy bar. there should be about 100 calorie for each individual snowball. you can vary the chocolate on there depending on what you like. you're going to throw these all in a food processor. you just add coconut, i did a mix of a raw unsweetened coconut and and a little of sweetened coconut to save some calories. there's about half as much calories in the raw. maple syrup as a sweetener adjust it our liquid use the light coconut milk and then you want to add coconut oil. make sure not to melt it first. it comes as a solid and you want to keep it that way to put in the food processor. it's going to take a little longer than you think. when you're done you're going to want a batter. i can get about 16 snowballs. make whatever size ball that you want. then put it on a cookie sheet with wax paper, then pop them in the freezer for about 30 minutes so they can harden and hold together. then you can coat them melted chocolate after they set. then you can sprinkle them with more coconut. once you make them, keep them in the fridge. if you'd like more information you can check it out on our website. or you can email whitney at centsablehealth@fa rwaystores.com. recapping this morning's top stories... authorities say a missouri troooper who arrested a clive man in 2014 also killed him. brandon ellingson drowned while in handcuffs at the lake of the ozarks. more than a year after a special prosecutor cleared trooper anthony piercy of any wrong doing, a new prosecutor is now charging him with involuntary manslaughter. piercy turned himself into authorities yesterday...he's been placed on leave without pay. and police are still looking for the driver responsible for a deadly hit and run near the i-s-u campus. they say freshman emmalee jacobs was crossing lincoln way in ames when a car hit and killed her early monday morning. they say they have not received many leads in the case. jacobs funeral is taking place later this morning at center point urbana high school at 10-30. authorities filed charges in connection with the san bernardino terror attack. enrique marquez is accused of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. miguel almaguer has more details of the terror plot. it's at this quiet campus , riverside city college where according to a 36-page criminal complaint ... enrique marquez ... and longtime friend syed farook ... planned an attack in 2011 ... the plot ... to attack this busy library... and a packed cafeteria. su: marquez told investigators he and farook were going to drop pipe bombs from this second story area down below, then as students ran out of the cafeteria they would shoot them one by one. the abandoned plots were designed to quote "maximize the number of casualties." ""it's crazy that you would want to hurt so many people that you know." the complaint alleges the two also targeted the riverside freeway at rush hour. they chose a spot farook was to throw pipe bombs onto the freeway... then walk along stalled cars shooting into them, while marquez fired from a hillside killing police and first responders "i think it's plenty dangerous enough without maniacs shooting and bombing you on it." nats highway marquez worked at jerry morgan's bar. "as you've seen on tv, he's a dorky kid. pillsbrry doughboy." facing a judge for the first time this week... marquez has been charged with 3 felonies... including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists... nats sirens prosecutors say there's no evidence marquez participated in the attack that left 14 dead. but the assault rifles marquez bought were used in the shooting... as we're explosive materials left at the inland regional center... nats sirens after learning of the bloodshed... marquez called 911. telling the operator "they can trace all the guns back to me." the operator at one point asking: "you said he used your gun." marquez: "yes, oh my god." tonight, the shock is gone, but not the grief miguel almaguer, nbc news, san bernardino. president obama met with families of the victims in the san bernardino attack. despite the pain and the heartache that they're feeling, ey could not have berinspiring, and more prd their loved ones, and more insistent that meing good comes out of this tragedy. and many of them are rdy king initiaves to reach out, to speak out on behalf of community and lerance and treating people th respect. many were teresdn how we can prevent shootings like this from happening in the future. the first family touched in california last night... on their way to begin their two week vacation.. the obamas are spending the holidays in hawaii...where the president spent most of his childhood. he says he plans to take action on gun control in the new year. the democratic national committee and the bernie sanders campaign have reached a deal to restore the candidate's access to voter data. the sanders campaign filed a lawsuit yesterday afternoon saying the d-n-c is trying to tilt the election in hillary clinton's favor... by their action, the leadership of the democratic national committee is now actively attempting to undermine our campaign. this is unacceptable the d-n-c claims a sanders campaign worker exploited a software error and accessed confidential voter information collected by clinton's team. team sanders says it warned the d-n-c about the software problem months ago... the party's decision to cut off access to its voter database could could have been devastating for senator's campaign. 40:33 this could have an incredibly crippling impact for the caucus 40:39 immediately they can't run walk list, call lists for the volunteers coming in this weekend. 40:45 they can't record whatever data they get from anybody they talk to. 40:50 since much of the caucus is on the ground organizing knowing all that is very important 40:56 not having that your campaign comes to a grinding halt. 41:01 the sanders campaign says the d-n-c's favoritism towards clinton... the campaign says tonight's debate is another example. the d-n-c scheduled the debate for the saturday before christmas... a weekend when viewership is typically much lower because of all the holiday events and activities. coverage of the democratic debate starts tonight at 7 on abc. with less than 50 days until the iowa caucuses.. parties are working fast and furious to prepare for february first. 12:32:18 we are assembling all our precinct caucus packets. so all 1, 681 packets of materials...caucus night. 12:32:30 the packets include information about the rules...important forms..and details on how to do the caucus night math. the republican party says it's in the middle of nearly 300 meetings for it's caucus volunteers. during those meetings workers are learning how to use a new 11:41:53 we have a new app that people can see what they are doing... careful about 11:42:15 the republican party of iowa teamed up with microsoft to make the new app. this is expected to be the biggest weekend for retailers and holiday shoppers...with today being pegged "super saturday." courtney reagan shows us how the holiday season is faring so far for both sides of the equation. the final weekend for holiday shopping is upon us and retailers are hoping for a strong finish. shoppertrak says this saturday, often called "super saturday" typically ranks 2nd in terms of retailers' in- store revenue... black friday still number one. but monday and the day after christmas are also expected to rank in the top 10. according to the national retail federation, the final week of december can account for as much as 15% of retailers' holiday sales. ...and retailers are doing what they can to win shoppers' final holiday dollars... online and in-store. kohl's is staying open for 170 straight hours through christmas eve. best buy also has extended hours leading up to christmas and automatic free two day shipping for online orders made by tuesday morning. target is offering 10% off giftcards on december 20th, and delivery in time for christmas for online orders placed by the 21st. "certainly amazon again is having a spectacular season, but if you look at the list of the top 4 retailers online, you do notice that walmart and target are having a very successful season" but unseasonably warm weather in much of the country is hitting retail hard this year... taking a big bite out of winter-related goods, pushing retailers to discount deeper. looking at more than 150-thousand shopper receipts, consumer market research company infoscout says as a result consumers are buying more this holiday season, and it's costing them less "in order to make up the difference retailers are having to sell more units at a lower price. you saw walmart do this with wrangler jeans for $10 a pair, you see many retailers offering promotions where they're making up for the lower prices on volume, just by selling more product" but as the clock ticks toward christmas, retailers will also settle for just winning the sale, almost regardless of what it costs... courtney reagan, cnbc vendors at the winter farmers' market in downtown des moines are ready for the crowds in search of last minute holiday gifts. 24:57-25:07 sometimes they stand in line, sometimes they mosey in, and sometimes it's so crowded that they can't see the booth. laura benge runs whimsy creations.... some of her most popular items are hand carved driftwood pieces in the shape of santa or a snow man. she is just one of more than 130 vendors at the winter market this weekend. today is your last chance to catch it until the spring. it's going on from 9 to 1 at the kaleidoscope at "the hub" and "capitol square" . still ahead on today in iowa saturday... this impressive holiday display has stopped hundreds of drivers in seattle. meet the teenager bringing light to others...and the disorder he we're less than one week away from christmas.... but most families have already sat down with santa to find out if they've landed on the naughty or nice list this year. we asked you to send your photos with the man in the red coat and here's some of the responses we got on our facebook page. cooper and piper over the years sent by allison lukehart courtney starbuck sent us this picture of her daughter audrey. a christmas light display is catching the attention of hundreds in a seattle neighborhood and the person behind the magic may surprise you. alex rozier has the story. that's going to look much better it's a family's christmas gift to their community the lights are like my favorite part of the season. with the radio tuned to 89.1 at the corner of 77th and 2nd.... a 10,000 light show begins. s/mos i usually see cars just parked outside just watching it,it's a pretty neat sight to see in the neighborhood s/mos you absolutely cannot miss it it's definitely a statement piece. and though you may not miss it it's very complex you probably won't see the person behind this impressive creation. s/alex lubbers so what we have here is the piano key effect. 14 year old alex lubbers started working on the display in september. s/alex lubbers you need to keep going and when you keep going you'll have stuff like this. incredible displays that amaze the whole family. but what makes this work even more impressive..... is alex's story. s/alex lubbers my autism allows me to visualize what's going on in my head. he was diagnosed with autism at 17 months old. s/rebecca kerl/alex's mother the likelihood of him talking was rated very very low and i just wasn't willing to accept that and boy were the doctors wrong. right mom? s/rebecca kerl/alex's mother this boy is now a freshman in high school, he's fully mainstreamed, he's part of the robotics club, he is hoping to go to college, the world is wide open for him. so this december he's using his success by bringing light to others..... s/rebecca kerl/alex's mother i don't think i could be prouder of him. showing us, you really can do whatever you want.... s/rebecca kerl/alex's mother and i know every year it's just going to get bigger and better. all you have to do is believe. s/alex lubbers it's so bright it lights up the entire neighborhood both with joy and with light. coming up in sports... top ranked valley goes head to head with the johnston dragons. plus we hear from the coaches the valley tigers know they'll get every team's best effort. when you're #1, you wear the target. dan, you're of strong voice. how bout helping me with these highlights. to johnston for the dragons and top ranked tigers. valley's carlo marble inside. ties it early. then quinton curry reverses. the curry name is a good one in hoops. valley leads. johnston, good ball movement, dawson jones finishes. ya like that? yeah you do. but valley is too much. #1 tigers run away, 67-48. to ankeny, top ten showdown, #1 waukee at #6 centennial. waukee's reilly jackson with a tough two. play that song again. jackson to the left hand, same but it's centennial's night. rachel schon scores inside,and centennial knocks off the #1 team, 57-49. that snaps waukee's 12 game winning streak. nicely done. the big four classic leaves the guesswork out of whoos involved. iowa, iowa state, northern iowa, and drake. this year it starts with hawkeyes and bulldogs. the hawkeyes and bulldogs tip at 3:30 p.m. iowa state enters the big four as the nation's #5 team. uni already took down #1 north carolina. this should be a good one. uni has won more than its share against iowa state lately. the hawkeyes don't have fewer fans, but they do have fewer fans going to home football games. iowa just finished a perfect 12 but home attendance dropped 6%, most of that from frustrated season ticket holders who did not renew. should be a bounce back next year. only the night game against minnesota sold out. the cyclones only won the force awakens...even in the depths of a large fish tank. the dive team at a popular florida aquarium created an underwater light saber fight to celebrate the opening of the popular film. aquarium workers say they hope the force is with you . . . above and below the - ruff-ruff. - tweet. - and dave! [song] - ruff-ruff, tweet, and dave. - what a wonderful way to spend your day with - ruff-ruff, tweet and dave - what a fun day here we go - yay ruff-ruff, tweet, and dave - the spin-again will take us on another great adventure say their names - what a great game - so play along at home - we're off on the spin-again who knows what