This is KMDO 23, your local news station.
KMDO local news 11 at 11 starts now.
Good evening and thanks for joining us on 11 at 11. I'm Luchta Elmire, see ya.
And I'm Dustin McDowell. The Pasco Bulldogs have won their second state championship in three years tonight.
That's right and Kevin Uresti is live at the Tacoma Dome tonight with details of the dog's victory.
Kevin, got me all pussed up.
Well as you can see there all the guys sitting there, they won, they have their trophy now and unfortunately we couldn't hear Kevin.
Having some audio problems, we apologize for that and maybe we'll be able to check in with Kevin a little bit later.
But the Bulldogs did win tonight, it was a very impressive win and we were watching it here, watching it come down to the end.
So even had a lineman score a touchdown.
That's right, that was really neat. And Chuck of course will bring you all the details tonight when he gives you sports.
Well tomorrow in Florida, lawyers for Al Gore and George Bush will be back at it arguing whether a judge should order another partial recount.
This just may be Al Gore's last hope in Florida as both sides wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule whether these hand recounts are legal.
Mark Strassman has the latest.
Judge Burton is a constitutional judge.
Charles Burton, Democrat, Palm Beach County, Florida, called as a witness by Bush lawyers in Tallahassee.
Republicans eager to convince a judge not to order another partial recount.
Burton led Palm Beach's massive hand recount. Democrats write about his standards to restrict it.
But to Republican lawyers now, he's an example of recounters who did their best and the judge seemed to agree.
I guess since that day I've been the one accused of trying to block this recount which is not the case.
Absolutely not, I'd have to salute you as a great American as a matter of fact.
I don't see why any judge would decide that he wants to substitute his judgment for what they did with those ballots.
These are Dade County's ballots. Gore lawyers allege 9,000 of them have never been counted, faulty machines and an aborted hand recount.
The testimony that came in was very clear that this was a problem not with the people but with the machine.
Earlier, debate about voting machines built in the 70s. Were they faulty?
Inadvertently creating dimpled ballots and hanging chads rather than clear votes.
No resolution but from Texas, one confident candidate looked on.
I've seen to be the president. The court will stand in recess.
Court reconvenes tomorrow for the Gore camp, another lost day of no recounts.
Mark Strassman, NBC News, Tallahassee.
Meanwhile, local Bush supporters joined in Richland today for another Save Our System rally.
The group insists they are not identified as Republicans but as concerned citizens with patriotic attitudes.
This is the third week in a row that Save Our System rally has been organized in the Tri-Cities.
Many members of the group say they never thought of themselves as political activists until they became upset about the way the presidential election was being determined.
Probably the rallies will go on until the presidency is determined.
One Democrat showed up halfway through the rally. The rest of the group urged him to speak but he refused.
The same was happening in Yakima today in an attempt to send a message to Democrats that Al Gore lost the election and he needs to concede.
About 100 Republican supporters gathered at the GOP headquarters in downtown Yakima. Speakers including Representative Jim Clements and County Commissioner Ron Gommas told the crowd that George W. is our next president and Al Gore is violating the Constitution and his challenge.
A single protester stood outside the building saying the court challenge should go on.
Across America tonight people living near Lake Tahoe along the California-Nevada border got an early wake-up call this morning.
The ground began shaking with a magnitude 4.8 quake. Throughout the morning four more other minor shakes shook the area.
So far there have been no reports of any injuries or serious damage from the quakes.
A health company in San Francisco holds its first flu shot clinic of the season this morning.
The line at the clinic stretched down the street and around the block by the time the doors opened at 7 a.m.
In the first four hours of the clinic nurses had given out 7,000 shots.
Officials believe that some of the people in the crowd may have been frightened by reports of a flu vaccine shortage.
A cross has been erected in Cincinnati's Fountain Square but it's a far cry from city Christmas decorations.
The cross was put in place by members of the Ku Klux Klan. A group obtained a 10-day display permit enabling them to place the cross in the popular city landmark.
The KKK says this is just one way they can exercise their freedom of speech.
Around the world tonight four people were seriously injured in separate landmine explosions in south Lebanon today.
Security sources said the first landmine blew up while a farmer was killing the soil in his own field.
Two young children ages five and nine who were helping the farm were also injured in that explosion.
Further south a man who was pushing his stalled car became the victim of another landmine blast.
The rising violence in the Middle East has undoubtedly taken its toll especially on the lives of the Palestinians.
But Israel is also feeling the effects of the violence.
On the lucrative tourist industry the winter months leading up to Christmas are usually the busiest time of the year.
Since the violence does not seem to be diminishing the situation may only get worse.
Britain announced today that it would cancel more than $1.4 billion in debt owed to her by 41 of the world's poorest countries.
Treasury Chief Gordon Brown took center stage to announce the plan with only one major guideline.
Countries who choose to take advantage of this opportunity must ensure that debt money is returned to their own health care system, education and economy with a goal of alleviating poverty.
In more local news shoppers at the Yakima Walmart will see their dollars go a bit further than just the cash register.
Today marked the store's 10th annual holiday fundraiser.
From 7 a.m. until noon a percentage of all sales were donated to local charities.
The Full Sclerosis Society and the Yakima Humane Society. Both charities were chosen by store associates for their level of need.
I think it makes them feel good because like I say it's not only are they being able to come out and shop and get what they need for their family and their friends
but they also have the opportunity when they're making a purchase to be able to be giving to these organizations.
Last year's event raised nearly $2,000 for the Care Bearers Organization.
Christmas came early for several Dugan Yakima children today as Project 300 kicked off at the Yakima Mall.
The Salvation Army took about 150 kids for an early morning shopping spree at Mervyn's department store.
The children are selected by their elementary school counselors because their families cannot afford to buy them presents for the holidays.
Sponsors of Project 300 pledge about $50 per child to spend on clothes, shoes and other things.
It certainly benefits them because they need the service. They need shoes or pants or whatever.
And these wonderful sponsors that provide the money resources for that makes everybody feel good.
And by the end of the day all of the kids were tired out from all of their holiday shopping.
It was a picture perfect visit from Santa today at the Yakima Mall for some local animal lovers.
The Yakima Mall and the Ark Petting Service held their first annual pictures with Santa Paws event.
Both the residents had the opportunity to bring in their cat or dog for a holiday photo that they'll never forget.
All proceeds from the event went to the Yakima Humane Society.
And if you missed today's event it will all happen again tomorrow morning from 8 until 11 a.m. at the Yakima Mall.
Now I have a cat and she would look adorable in that little hat.
I'm sure she would.
Maybe a little scared of Santa but we'll have to talk her into it.
It was a good day to spend in the mall and sad it's cold.
It sure was and we're going to turn it over to meteorologist Jason Stiff now to see if our weather will be picture perfect tomorrow. Jason?
Well if you're looking at a picture of the sun maybe it will be picture perfect.
Otherwise if you look out the window you're going to see a lot of low clouds and fog.
We're going to see what we see today and we're going to see it tomorrow as well.
Daytime highs weren't that warm and overnight lows weren't that cold.
We're going to have very moderate daytime highs and overnight lows for the next several days.
You can see we were 38 degrees in Yakima, 41 for the Tri-Cities, 42 in Pelhampton and also 41 degrees for a high in Walla Walla.
The overnight lows weren't much colder, mostly in the 30s.
What are we expecting tomorrow?
Well you guessed it, cool temperatures, low clouds and fog.
High temperatures in most areas except for the Dalles are going to be in the 30s.
42 degrees in the Dalles, 38 degrees in the Tri-Cities and 37 degrees in Yakima.