we spoke to a dowling science teacher who is with the students now... she says the buses had actually refueled right before they got accident on the students have warm with no problems. and earlier something you seen before... outside of the stranded buses of snow, six priests it was incrediable. went to mass today in the snow, in a foot of snow. " nikki/ots: they are not the only ones being affected by this massive storm. theres already thousands of car crashes due to the snow with several deaths. abc's kenneth morton has the latest from the target of the storm... " blizzard blast... blinding, white out conditions, heavy snow and bone chilling winds... there are blizzard watches and warnings from dc to new york. gov cuomonew york: we keeping an eye on what i considered are nature's wrath which are flooding conditions. concern on the jersey shore...this is new video of the storm surge and coastal flooding in ocean city. in philadelphia, the streets are covered...a snow emergency is in effect. in dc, it's predicted to be the biggest blizzard than 2 feet of snow mayor our message is to stay streets this massive winter than 80 million people...left a blanket of snow in the south. havoc... in kentucky, a 35 mile stretch of i-75 closed drivers stranded in the cold, emergency in the carolinas, snow plows are working overtime. there have been thousands of crashes...several people have died. scottie sheltonsnow plow operator: several times this morning in my dump truck. emergency crews have also been working around to clock...to save even our 4 legged friends. in fairfax station, virginia, this large saint bernard named milo fell through the ice in this freezing lake. firefighters jumped into action, rescued the dog and got him warmed up." thousands of flights have been cancelled because airports in the northeast are closed. hundreds of thousands of people are in the dark but crews are working to restore power. kenneth moton, abc news washington. nikki: tonight at ten we'll hear much more from the local students stranded... and tell you how they're doing. nikki: an inmate housed at the newton correctional release center has escaped... edward shorter is serving a twenty year sentence for possession of controlled susbstances... he turned up missing during a year old african american with tattoos on his upper arms and neck. anyone with information about shorters whereabouts should call 911. nikki: with less than ten days until the iowa caucus, candidates have made central iowa a second home nikki: today, one republican candidate got a big endorsement. television personality glenn beck announced that he will be backing senator ted cruz. the announcement came at the faith baptist church in ankeny. beck has never endorsed a presidental candidate before...here is what cruz had to say after glen beck left the stage. "everyone here, i think, has recieved an hour of college credit from the bible college...for glen beck university!" nikki: cruz claimed that he's glad to have beck on board becuase the two both believe in religous fundamentals. nikki/ots: sticking with the cruz campaign. there's a lot of work to do and the candidates can't do it alone. they rely on staff and volunteers to get their ground momentum. one volunteer for ted cruz has taken it to a whole new level. she is from texas.. and has been team cruz since his first senate race. not only has she been in iowa campaigning for cruz for months... but maggie wright has gone as far as to wrap her car in cruz signs. she and her husband have been turning heads since she did it in august. 22:40:23 "people are walmart say are you ted cruz's parents and i say no but its like hes our adopted son, we love him." " 21:53:08 "he is the most consistent conservative and he's a chrsitan first and he loves our country and he's spent his adult life fighting for religious liberty and the constitution."" nikki: cruz's campaign is continuing to grow... they have rented the old a-i-b dorms and turned them into camp cruz where dozens of volunteers stay... hundreds have come through in the last few months. nikki: now looking over to ames... thats where made a visit today... the u-s senator met a crowd at the isu alumni center rubio spoke on what he would do on his first day. one of his main points was . "after i take the oath i'm going straight to the oval office. i'm going to find a pen, i'm sure he left one around, along with a phone. then i am going to repeal every letter of barack obama's unconstitutional executive orders." nikki: up next on the campaign trail, rubio plans to visit cedar rapids and waterloo. nikki: rubio got a much needed boost right before the caucuses, the des moines register today endorsing the florida senator. on the democratic side the paper chose hillary clinton, the register says rubio offers an uplifting message of a "new american century." as for clinton they say she stands ready to take on the most demanding job in the world. nikki/lam: a prominent name in pro-choice made an apperance in ames today.... saying she vouches for hillary clinton. parenthood, says she's backing clinton because of her promise to keep planned parenthood open. richards is a iowa native... she says she feels this is a critical primary and presidential election because it could shape the future of women's health and health care. cecile richards, planned parenthood president: "we have candidates running for the presidency on the republican ticket, who've pledge to end access to planned parenthood, to overturn safe and legal abortion in america, and get rid of all the benefits that we've now fought for and won under the affordable care act. so, the stakes in november are very high." nikki: richards took time to meet with supporters after her speech. many of them spent the afternoon making phone calls and canvassing the neighborhood. nikki: we want to know what you think about how the candidates are handling the final days leading up to the caucus... let us know for a chance to see your comments on-air. you can post you thoughts on facebook and twitter. or send us an email or give us a call . we'd love to hear what you think! the contact information is on your screen. nikki: coming up on local 5 news at six... east coast snow storm from above. nikki: and.... iowa state looks to avoid a trap game against tcu. a cy-hawk preview is on the way. nikki: have a story you think we should cover? email us at: news at we are iowa dot com. or call us in the newsroom: 1- 800-858-5555. we're on facebook "we are iowa local 5 news" and twitter "we are iowa 5 news" we'll be right back. you're watching local 5 " you're watching local 5 news at 6 in hd. we are iowa" nikki: welcome back. we've already heard from several presidental candidates. but perhaps the largest name of this campaign was in northwest iowa today. donald trump visited dordt college in sioux center where people braved "nat/sot: "i am mostly telling people they have to get there pretty earlylyf they want to get a seat." vo: that was steve kelly ... chair of dordt's college republicans whom i talked to last week ahead of trump's visit ... and his advice was certainly valid ... well ahead of trump's 11 am scheduled appearance people had lined up to get into the b-j haan auditorium ... in the freezing cold they waited ... even at the back of the line. sot: "we want to hear what he's got we want to hear him in person. you can hear so much over the tv but we get this opportunity and we are going to take it. - just got to see donald ... just excitement - it is really cold ... it is kind of freezing ... the line is catching up a little bit it's going ... still back of the line, do you think you are going to get in? - we hope so ... we"ll see how it goes ... we are sticking it out." vo: sticking it out were also those who specifically waited for trump to come to the area ... and see him in real life ... warming them up at least a little. sot: "i have been looking forward to this. i have been never so involved or excited about anyone as i have been with donald trump." vo: there were also those who didn't come for trump ... but to show their protest against the g-o-p frontrunner right in front of the venue ... and seeing so many people there meant something. sot: "it means to me that america has not changed and that america was never great, when 20 percent of sioux center iowa are immigrant families i am here to protest for people who cannot speak. "fortunately i know that not all of these people are supporting trump they just want to be part of the spectacle and hear somebody who is leading in the republican polls." vo: inside meanwhile ... trump spoke to an excited crowd ... engaging them to caucus for hime because afterall ... sot: "iowa hasn't had a winner in 16 years...you picked a lot of looser folks ...a lot of looser.... and mostly because right now...incompetent isn't leaders. "we have very stupid people running our country ... when zyou look at these deals they are very stupid ... i used to say very incomptetent but they are really beyond i think stupid is a better word. vo: trump is leading ted cruz by 16 points in the latest polls ... and he was certainly popular at dordt today ... we'll have to wait until february first to see if his appeal translates into votes. " nikki: trump continued his path through iowa right after his stop at dordt ... going to pella and he also has another campaign stop in muscatine tomorrow. nikki: and some local businesses are getting in on the fun, surrounding the caucus craziness. tonight at ten, we will hear from those places as the big day is right around the corner. stephanie: we've really covered snowmaggeden from on the ground. now, we take a look at it from the air. check this out. a drone in blacksburg, virginia. they've gotten anywhere from six to 12 inches of snow. this footage seems much more calm that what we saw from the d.c. area and in pennsylvania earlier in the show. nikki/2wxhang meteorologist bree sullivan is i'll have your forecast next "now, we are iowa's "now, we are iowa's most accurate forecast certified by weatherrate the independent weather experts" bree/wxwall: weather adlib: put script here in green the clouds will hold steady overnight and the skies will remain dry. central iowa will stay locked under the clouds through the day tomorrow as well with light southerly above that freezing mark. it might finally be the day to take down those leftover christmas decorations outside! there won't be any relief from the clouds sunday night, but temperatures will remain mild under the blanket in the upper 20s. the overcast skies will finally give way to precipitation by monday as highs top out in the low-to-mid 30s. central iowa will likely see the precipitation fall as freezing drizzle before it changes over to snow. low snow accumulations are expected. western the metro currently looks to stay under an inch, and snow amounts continue to lessen to the east where the precip looks to fall mainly as rain. nikki iowa state travels down to the lone star state to take on t-c-u.. see if the cyclones could avoid a let down. and iowa continues to keep on winning. a preview of cy- hawk rewind is next. jon: " now, local 5 sports with jon schaeffer. we are iowa sports" jon: " "tonight on the cyhawk rewind a big game for iowa state as they take tcu after a the week on big monday. of course they can't afford to overlook the horned frogs going into kansas monday night coming up here. bj schaben is in he'll break down all of the action with me as well as iowa just keeps rolling through the big ten the hawkeyes getting a big win over michigan last sunday and then another one on the road at rutgers. so iowa doing what they need to do to stay a top the big ten standings we'll break it all down here on the cyhawk rewind starting at 6:30 right after your local 5 news at 6 with that let's send it back to nikki nikki: thanks jon. for many, the question what you'll have for your next meal is an easy one to answer. but there are many in our state that go hungry. at lincoln high school here in des moiens, the community is finding creative ways to support its students. local 5 photographer austin page shows us how. "(nats of unpacking food) "i dont think people realize really how much of an issue childhood hunger is in every community in iowa." we hear, everyday, 'i'm hungry' and it's really hard to focus and learn and grow when your basic needs for ways to get kids the food that they need and a natural place for kids to be is at a school." "a school pantry is a really great way to get kids food when they don't have access to a traditional food pantry. it's convenient for them, they're there everyday, their teachers know their needs they know them as people and they are able to help work with them to get them the food they need." (nat pop ohh honey bunches of oats) "i come from a single parent household so i know what it is like to not have food in the refrigerator or on the shelves and i know that is also a shared experience with a lot of my peers here at lincoln so i feel a sence of fulfillment and enjoyment knowing that students are bieng taken care of." "students are taking food not just for themselves but for families of 5, 6, 7 even 9 other people. it's not that they are just feeding themselves but they are taking that food and it's entire family." "there are so many people in our school and our community that need this food so why not do it, why not help?" nikki: every community in iowa suffers from some level of food insecurity. statewide, 1 in 8 adults and 1 in 5 children are food insecure. nikki: we'll be right back... you're watching local nikki: miss a story? don't forget to visit local 5 on the web. we are iowa dot com is your home for the latest in news, weather, and sports. bree: weather adlib: put script here in green the clouds will hold steady overnight and the skies will remain dry. central iowa will stay locked under the clouds through the day tomorrow as well with light southerly winds and melting temperatures just above that freezing mark. it might finally be the day to take down those leftover christmas decorations outside! there won't be any relief from the clouds sunday night, but temperatures will remain mild under the blanket in the upper 20s. the overcast skies will finally give way to precipitation by monday as highs top out in the low-to-mid 30s. central iowa will likely see the precipitation fall as freezing drizzle before it changes over to snow. low snow accumulations are expected. western iowa could see 1" to 2", the metro currently looks to stay under an lessen to the east where the precip looks to fall mainly as ngnn00a cyclones with a big monday showdown for o.u., then to >> welcome to the cyhawk