Six. Jack and its debate night in sin city. Republican president ial las vegas for their last debate of the year. Stephanie seven weeks before the 2016 nominating race gets underway with the iowa caucuses. donald trump r president ial candidate the other candidates should be thankful. Because im giving them a chance to make total fools of themselves in front of millions of people. Going into tonights cnn republican debate, Donald Trump Holds a commanding lead in the National Polls. He has crossed the 40percent mark in a National Poll from monmouth university. Thats more than the next three competitors combined. Kayleigh Mcenany conservative commentator its huge. In a field of 15 candidates to command a plurality that large, 41 its remarkable and it really speaks to where the republican partys at right now. One of the candidates rising in that field is ted cruz. The texas senator has leapfrogged over trump in two iowa polls. Putting a target on his back. Ron BrownsteinNational Review the more significant confrontation you could see is between ted cruz and marco rubio over the substance of Ted Cruz National security and Foreign Policy positions. National security is one of the topics moderator wolf preparing. A topic thats taken on new significance since the last republican debates, with isis related attacks in california and paris, and trumps idea to temporarily ban muslims from entering the us. Meanwhile, other candidates are hoping the debate will give them a boost and keep them in the race until the iowa caucuses. mike shields Congressional Leadership Fund i think theyre going to continue to execute their game plans as theyve been doing, its going to look like some of the other debates, i think youre going to see that volatility more around february first. Stephanie terrorism is now the number one issue for iowa terrorism is now the number one issue for Iowa Republicans in this campaign. According to the latest quinnipiac poll, 30 percent of likely caucusgoers say its the most important issue to them. Thats even more than jobs or the economy. And 33 percent say donald trump is best suited to handle terrorism jack so just how much can we expect National Security issues to dominate the conversation in the debate tonight . Joining us now live with a preview is our reporter on the ground in las vegas pahtrahnyuh poonsuewhan. Who will be flexing their Foreign Policy muscles tonight . Patranya live Patranya Bhoolsuwan answer jack ben carson has lost his footing in the polls recently. Do you expect to see him changing strategy when it comes to showing off his Foreign Policy credentials . answer jack thanks and well check in again with you on local five news at six. Jack for Iowa Republicans, its all about trump and ted cruz tonight. Trump is still in the lead in that latest quinnipiac poll of iowa voters, but barely. Ted cruz is getting 27 percent support to trumps 28. The texas senator also surged to a 10 point lead in the Des Moines Register bloomb erg poll over the weekend, meaning ted cruz can expect plenty of incoming fire tonight. Jack meanwhile, a gesture of goodwill from ted cruz. To help former fellow candidate scott walker pay off his campaign debt. Walker ended his campaign in september with a Million Dollars in debt. And cruz tweeted out this week a link for people to donate. Now he may have ulterior motives walker would be a coveted endorsement. Stephanie now if it seems to you that the media spends more time covering donald trump than anyone else, its because its true. Nate silver, the statistician behind the 538 blog, did some analysis of headlines in american newspapers and we wanted to share with you some of that data. Donald trump has dominated coverage with 54 percent of media attention. The next most mentioned candidate is jeb bush, with 8 percent of the coverage. On the democratic side dominates with coverage compared to Bernie Sanders 20 percent. And speaking of there is also a new quinnipiac poll of likely caucus goers. Lead there51 Bernie Sanders at 40 percent. Martin omalley has just six percent support. Jack lam moving on from politics now. To flooding river at fleur moines is at moderate flood today, after our heavy weekend rain. But its expected to go down through the rest of the week. City of des fleur drive avenue to mlk jr. The water goes down. Jack good for a popular wintertime attraction. Sleepy hollow Winter Sports park in Pleasant Hill still hasnt been able to open for the season because of warmer than average temps. They started making snow in november, but then had to stop because it just kept melting. We checked in again today Sleepy Hollow is hoping to open on thursday. Things have been a little better, though, for some other area winter attractions like brenton skating plaza. The past few years, fridged weather or warm weather, so we just really have to watch the weather every day and see how its going to react to the ice. Jack brenton skating plaza in Downtown Des Moines tells us they only close when the temperatures above 50 degrees. Jack is this winter messing with your family traditions . No sledding, no skiing. Sound off with us on facebook and twitter. Send us an email to news at we are iowa dot com or call us in the newsroom 1 8008585555 wed love to hear what you think. Stephanie 2shot coming up on local 5 news at five. Hollywood got its first look at the new star wars film. Well bring you to the star studded red carpet. Jack but next. The buses stayed in the lot today. Why an entire major metropolitan School District cancelled classes today and it had nothing to do with weather. Youre watching local 5 news at 5 in hd with tt0w ti h, 4 h h tt0w ti h, el bg tt0w ti h, ed de tt0w ti h, 8h ;< tt0w ti h, kzh9t tt0w ti h, nhl l tt0w ti h, 0phrzt tt0w ti h, shb 4 tt0w ti h, uehajd tt0w ti h, 7hh]h0 edwards. This is local 5 news at 5, we are iowa. Jack fight against terror as the hunt for isis sympathizers in the us intensifies. A maryland man is arrested for supporting the terror group. And today. Threats made against the two Largest School systems in the country led to the shutdown of all Public Schools in one of those cities. Abcs Elizabeth Hur reports. Two differing responses to similar terror threats. Made to two of the Largest School systems in the country. nat robocall all lausd schools are closed today. Due to a threat made against the district. In los angeles. Authorities explained their decision to close all Public Schools was out of an abundance of caution. While in new york. Schools remained open. Despite receiving similar threats. Mayor deblasio this was a very generic piece of writing sent to a number of different places simultaneously, and also written in a fashion that suggest that its not plausible. From la presser it is very easy in hindsight to criticize a decision based on results that the decider could have never known. Sources tell abc news. The threat in la was not serious, but given the deadly attack in neighboring san bernardino, no one is taking chances. The white house responded saying americans will not be scared by the threats. sot josh earnest at the same time the president is resolute in the refusal to allow yesterday, the fbi announced the arrest of 30yearold Mohamed Elshinawy in maryland. For allegedly taking 9 thousand dollars from isis to quote conduct an attack on us soil. Meanwhile. Defense secretary ash carter arrived in turkey Tuesday Morning to meet with u. S. Troops about the threat posed by isis. And to hear their thoughts about defeating them. Tag in saudi arabia. 34 nations agreed to form a new Islamic Military Alliance to fight terrorism. Eh, abc news, ny. Stephanie ots if youre making your Holiday Travel plans and in airports with about 100 million other people. Triplea predicts that how many people will venture at least 50 miles from home between december 23rd and january third. Thats nearly onethird of the nations population and an alltime high for Holiday Travel. A decline in gas prices may be a factor in that. Stephanie meanwhile some tricky travel in colorado. A heavierthan expected storm hit the denver metro area overnight. Drivers woke up to roads covered in four to five inches of snow and plenty of ice. The weather forced several schools to close for the day and about 130flights were reported canceled at Denver International airport this morning because of the inclement weather. Stephanie chief meteorologist brad edwards joins us now. Now, we are iowas most accurate forecast with meteorologist james peterson. Certified by independent weather experts james wx wall weather adlib the metro was soaked with 3. 78 falling from saturday night through monday making this the wettest december of all time not only for the metro but most of iowa. Tonight it will be cloudy again with lows in the mid 30s strong southerly winds. Rain and a wintry mix will be falling across central and northwest iowa, but that will turn into snow in northwest iowa by wednesday morning. Northwest iowa will likely see accumulations ranging between 1 to 2 inches with totals increasing as you move towards south dakota. We are going to be dry but cold through the rest of the week as upper 20s. Next week there will be a few rain chances early in the week and we will likely warm back into the 40s, so as of now still no White Christmas in the forecast. James wxhang adlib Jack Stephanie well be right back. Well be right back. Stephanie welcome back to stephanie fans were out in full force last night for the starstudded hollywood premiere of the latest film in the Star Wars Franchise the force awakens. Jack stars from the original series including Harrison Ford, mark hamill and Carrie Fisher joined some of the newcomers on the red carpet last night for what critics say could be the biggest movie opening of all time. Part of the reason for all this excitement and hype is the unprecedented secrecy that surrounds this movie. And last night was no different. Everyone was tight lipped Harrison Ford its hard for me to talk. Keeping my mouth shut is easy. Lupita nyongo i have really enjoyed the secrecy. N why . L its been fun. Its been a power trip. laughs . Daisy ridley the reason were keeping it a secret is so people can enjoy the thing. Jack official film reviews are embargoed until midnight awakens will be available in a record 41 hundred theaters starting thursday night. Jack now you wont find a much bigger star wars geek than local fives morning meteorologist sam schrier. There he is posing with storm troopers when some re enactors came to our studio. And of course, light sabres. We hear sam will be attending the First Showing at Jordan Creek Town Center thursday night. Look for live reports from him at five and six on thursday, right here on local five. Well be right time with us tonight. Jack we are working hard on another great newscast for 6pm. Watch for were proud to say we are iowa. Have a great night