Good afternoon, I'm Ryan McPike.
Boy, we had some mild weather today,
but the winds were ferocious at times.
Good news. The wind advisory has expired.
I'll let you know if we're going to have to deal with that again tomorrow.
Just a few minutes first, though.
Here's Greg and Deb with the news.
Live from KM3, Omaha.
This is KM3 News at 5.
Burning buildings and fields on fire.
It's breaking news as wildfires spread fast.
Powerful winds making things even worse.
I'm Greg Peterson.
And I'm Deborah Ward. Firefighters are racing to keep up with fires in three counties.
One is burning just south of Kennard in Washington County.
KM3's Devin Patton is live.
Yes, I'm here in a cornfield just off a little bit of a county road here in Washington County.
If you look over to my right here, you can see just burnt ground.
I'm told by one farmer this is a burned barn field.
And this is pretty much where it all started.
That's what fire officials tell me.
The wind kind of took it up in this direction.
And you can see a farm right here behind me.
The wind caused it to jump over and it caused fire to some bales of hay where a farm is.
Now exactly how these, as we saw earlier, we saw farmers helping out firefighters.
Helping them to get this fire under control.
The wind was taking it and bouncing it around everywhere.
Now exactly how it started, one farmer told me how it started.
He said he saw a downed power line hit the bean field and it sparked a little fire.
And that fire just took off from there.
A little nap and I come out and man it was the smoke rolling over here and I was wondering where in the heck that come from.
And it was smoking like the dickens.
Now again, this is where fire officials tell me it all started in this bean field.
This is where the farmers saw that downed power line hit the bean field.
But the good news here, everybody's okay.
Fire officials tell me no one was hurt even with all this smoke.
And there is a lot of smoke out here.
Reporting live, I'm Devin Patton for KM3 News.
One of the nastiest fires is threatening several homes.
It's burning near the town of Rogers in Dodge County.
KM3's Michelle Bandour is live on the phone.
It's so windy here. We can't bring you a live report.
The wind is actually interfering with our signal.
That is why I'm bringing you this report over the phone.
To set the scene here for you, dozens of firefighters from at least five departments are here trying to save at least seven recreational homes sitting on the banks of the Platte River.
So far, the out-of-control grass fire has destroyed at least two of those homes, one barn and a boat.
It all started just before 2 o'clock this afternoon when crews from Union Pacific were actually working on the tracks, welding the railroad ties.
Sparks flew, catching the extremely dry grass on fire.
UP crews told me the flames spread so quickly, they at first tried to put out the fire themselves, but it moved so fast they couldn't get a handle on it.
That's when they called in the local fire department, the wind pushing the flames across the field, riding in the direction of those homes on the Platte River.
Luckily, no one is hurt.
Homeowners are out here trying to figure out if it is their homes that have been destroyed.
Union Pacific tells me and apologizes that this has happened and is sending representatives out here to deal with the property owners.
But as of right now, firefighters still trying to get a handle on this out-of-control grass fire in Dodge County.
Reporting live, Michelle Bandura, KM3 News.
And four grass fires kept crews busy in Pottawatomie County today.
They broke out near Lewis Township, Traynor, Carson and Oakland.
The fires in Iowa were relatively small. They are all out now. Investigators don't know how they started.
And good news, those strong winds should die down later tonight.
Yeah, KM3 Chief Meteorologist Ryan McPike has your first morning forecast, right?
Yeah, Greg, yeah, very important forecast tonight. And fortunately, yes, the winds are forecast to die down.
If you check out the latest wind gusts, you can see they still are very impressive.
But believe me, we are beginning to improve.
We actually had winds gusting over 50 miles per hour through a good part of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa today.
In fact, the highest official report I saw out of Eppley Airfield was 48 miles per hour.
So 37 an improvement. The wind advisory has been canceled, so that is some good news.
And as we check out our first warning, threat tracker winds are forecast to continue to diminish back under 15 miles per hour overnight.
So that is certainly the best possible scenario we could ask for.
We have continued mild to mild, not as windy, but then Greg and Deb, it is going to become windy again on Thursday.
And this is a situation we have been tracking down over parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.
A lot of problems with wildfires. We need some moisture. I will let you know if we have that in the forecast as well coming up.
Alright, Ryan, a scare for a busload of students.
A dump truck rammed into the back of their school bus this afternoon near 132nd and Ford in Omaha.
You see the damage here banged up the bumpers on the bus and the dump truck. No students were hurt.
A prison for a man caught in an internet sex sting.
Today a judge gave Ryan Geiger a year in prison for trying to meet an underage girl for sex.
Back in July, an investigator posed as a 14-year-old girl in a chat room.
Geiger asked her to meet in a La Vista apartment for sex.
Once Geiger is out of prison, he will have to register as a sex offender.
A big break in a case that had a lot of parents worried about their kids walk to school.
Police arrest a man they believe was trying to get kids into his van.
We have also learned he might be the same man responsible for other enticement cases.
KM3's Corey Wrangel is live where the latest scare happened.
A Central High student who missed the bus this morning became the man's latest target.
The girl was walking right here along North 30th when a man slowed down and tried to lure her into his van.
She's alright.
What a scare for this dad.
Ford over and tried to entice her into the car talking about drugs and then she go to Macmillan and she was sexing.
That's how a man tried to sweet talk David McCoy's 14-year-old daughter into a green van this morning.
It's just sick, you know, that men are trying to pick up little girls.
The girl's mom, Leela, says the clerk inside this dry cleaning store saw it all and acted fast.
She wrote down the van's license plate number, brought the girl into the store and called 911.
I was really worried when the police said that the green van had been mentioned several times before.
Police tracked down the green van and busted the man inside. They say he's 27-year-old Brandon English.
This is wonderful news.
The principal of Macmillan Magnet School believes English could be the same guy who tried to lure two of his students earlier this month.
He sent out this letter just last week warning parents and students about a man driving a green van.
You're so thankful because this is the way it's supposed to work.
The suspect, Brandon English, has now been booked on three counts of child enticement. Reporting live in North Omaha, Corey Rangel, KM3 News.
A two-year-old pit bull is beaten so badly it had to be put down.
As you can see in this picture, the animal is bleeding behind its eyes and there is blood all around his mouth and ears.
Council Bluffs police also say the dog had several broken bones.
The dog's owner called police. She says her boyfriend beat the dog after it nipped him.
The Humane Society says after seeing how bad the dog was hurt, the owner asked to put it to sleep.
28 hours on the run. Tonight he is back in jail.
The prisoner who threatened guards with a fake soap gun will now be charged with escape.
KM3's Kathy Sorontos-Niver shows us why guards believed it was the real deal.
You're looking at the bar of soap that Raymond Thomas carved to look like a gun.
Investigators say he even smeared dark ink on it to make it look more real.
Here's an actual 25 caliber Beretta they have at the sheriff's department.
Here's the carved out soap version.
Investigators say Thomas pulled the soap gun on two unarmed jail officers.
He ordered them to unshackle him so he could escape.
You know, if it's dark and the person is waving it around, you don't have a gun, you're probably going to go along with the program.
The jail officers were bringing Thomas back from the hospital.
He was coughing up blood and said he was sick.
The blood was drawn from his finger and placed into his mouth.
And when asked to produce blood, he threw that blood up.
Sheriff Dunning says even if officers searched Thomas, a routine pat search wouldn't necessarily have turned up the soap gun.
There are areas, bodily areas for concealment and whether that's how the soap was hidden, I don't know.
Both the sheriff and the jail director say the escape was well planned.
And Thomas probably had help from friends on the outside getting new clothes and a gun.
They're working on security changes at the jail to keep another escape from happening.
Kathy Sorontos-Neiver, KM3 News.
Well, Thomas was in jail for trying to rob Louis' market last month.
And now he can add an escape charge and a much longer sentence if he's convicted.
Well, the fight over Rainwood Road is over.
Rainwood takes you into Lake Cunningham Park in northwest Omaha.
Millionaire Walter Scott wanted the city council to close that road.
Scott lives on the west side of the lake.
His neighbors fought back, however.
And today Scott told the city council he will pay to pave Rainwood.
The council said, OK, so the road stays open.
All-day kindergarten, good idea or too costly?
The president of Nebraska's Board of Education is throwing his support behind a plan that would allow the state board
and not the legislature to decide how many hours a year schools must teach kindergarten.
Right now, current law requires only half a day.
The legislature says forcing schools to go a full day would cost them millions of dollars.
Coming up, three stories to make time for.
At 516, strong gusty winds are fanning wildfires in California.
A plane crashes and burns north of San Diego.
Details on this deadly wreck at 519.
And at 520, a young girl is shot inside a D.C. daycare.
And how long will these ridiculous winds last?
Brian will tell us coming up next.
As designers break their silence, that is,
with celebrities too dangerous, plus Kanye West and the new Jesus controversy.
Next, E.T.
Tonight at 630, right here on KM3.
Relax.
Hey, Omaha. I'm Mary Hart from Entertainment Tonight.
And I'm Mark Steinitz.
Now the first warning forecast with chief meteorologist Ryan McPike.
Certainly some good news.
The wind advisory has been canceled, but I was checking out some of the latest wind gusts
and they're still up a little bit.
So it's probably going to take another hour or two before we start to see these come down a little bit.
Fortunately, you see the update out of Eppley Airfield.
They have northwest winds at 15 with the wind gusts at about 15.
With no gusts being reported right now, at least at the top of the hour.
So that is some better news.
Still, though, winds in other spots between about 25 and 35 and gusts,
the exception to that down in Lincoln right now.
Still seeing a wind gust of 37 miles per hour.
But as I was saying, the advisory has been canceled.
Let's check out our first warning seven day forecast because we are going to stay incredibly warm.
But winds will be out of the area tomorrow, but they're going to return I think Thursday and Friday.
And that's not necessarily good news considering the weather.
That's not necessarily good news considering the air is still going to be pretty dry.
We have a very slight chance of a sprinkle here.
It looks like as we head towards Thursday afternoon.
But the problem is because the air is so dry right now,
I've taken that on the forecast and it doesn't look like anything that appreciable
that would help our situation with the fires off to the north and west of Omaha right now.
Otherwise, as we head through the remainder of the weekend here, you'll notice we will cool down a little bit.
Another opportunity for a little bit of rain, possibly turning to snow as we head from late Saturday into Sunday.
All right. Not much else going on.
We do see that we do have an upper level system, low clouds, some snow showers across the Great Lakes.
Back to the west of the Mississippi River though, nothing going on here.
We've got clear skies, a very windy day, but it was also very mild temperatures generally in the low 50s
across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa to the low 60s out over the western high plains again today.
And really this pattern is going to hold true through the remainder of the work week.
As I was saying though, tomorrow we will lose the winds just a little bit.
Still breezy I think early this evening.
Otherwise, mainly clear skies, temperatures still pretty mild right now.
In the 40s, we'll slowly fall back through the 30s here I think as we head towards midnight.
Mostly clear skies will continue and that will be the trend overnight.
By 6 a.m., it's actually going to be cold.
I'm predicting a low temperature of 22 here in Omaha.
And as we head through the day again tomorrow, it looks like we will see a lot of sunshine, already mild conditions by noon.
And then as we head through about say three or four o'clock,
that expected high back around 50 degrees with temperatures slowly coming back down as we head through tomorrow evening.
Wind still shaking the camera around a little bit here at the present time.
You can see traffic actually not bad, fairly light for this time of day.
43, so we are beginning to cool off a little bit with that north wind at 15.
No higher gusts though being reported right now.
And you'll see the cool air is beginning to drain down in the Missouri River right now.
41 in Tekema, 50 the present number still in Lincoln.
A little bit milder in Bellevue at 48.
43 right now in the Bluffs and look at that, it's already cooled off to 36 in Denison.
So for us tonight, I think we'll continue mostly clear, a little bit chilly, down to 22.
The best news I have this evening though,
we will continue to see winds diminish under 15 miles per hour by daybreak tomorrow.
And then mostly sunny skies, beautiful afternoon, back to 50.
South winds this time around, but under 15 miles per hour.
So some good news. Bad news, winds return.
Strong and gusty, especially Thursday as the storm cranks up to the south and west of us.
And right now it looks like the center of that storm is probably going to sit out there and just kind of intensify.
So we stay very mild. That's the positive is that thing sits out there.
55 Thursday, 54 Friday. The problem is we're probably going to be dry.
We're going to have to deal with those breezes.
We could be talking about this problem again by the end of the week with the wildfires across parts of the area
and then maybe a better chance for a little rain or snow as we head through the weekend here.
But with that, we'll see some cooler temperatures.
I'm sure like a lot of people, I woke up this morning and said, you know, he said it was going to be windy.
There were garbage cans everywhere.
Ferocious.
And an empty can of hairspray.
A couple.
Thanks Ryan.
High winds and heavy snow are causing a lot of problems in North Dakota.
The snow and wind gusts as high as 50 miles an hour created near whiteout conditions.
At one point this morning, 20 cars were in the ditch along the highway.
Five hundred firefighters are working to put out a major brush fire in California tonight.
You can see a plane here dumping fire retardant on the blaze.
High winds are working against firefighters as they try to get a handle on it.
The fire isn't close to any homes right now, so no one's been evacuated so far.
Nearly 100 acres have been burned.
Well, this rubble is all that's left of a home burned by wildfires.
Now the fires have killed three people, thousands of cattle and sheep.
Ten thousand firefighters are working to get more than 20 separate wildfires under control.
Ten thousand firefighters.
And a fiery plane crash in California kills everyone on board.
Coming up next on KM3 News, investigators are trying to piece together how it happened.
As we head to break, here's a look at how the day ended on Wall Street.
MUSIC
There are bankers.
Four people die after their twin-engine plane crashes near San Diego.
The plane skidded off the end of the runway while trying to land.
The building you see here then burst into flames.
Everyone on board died.
The NTSB is on the scene investigating.
No word on how the pilot lost control.
And this Cessna ended up on its belly after a crash on a South Florida runway today.
A student pilot was flying the plane when she somehow went off the runway.
The good news is the pilot walked away without a scratch.
The plane has already been moved back into the hangar for inspection.
A motorcycle rider died in a gruesome accident this morning in Southern California.
The victim ended up on top of this semi-trailer after he smashed into an SUV, which then hit the truck.
Police say the man was heading the wrong way down the interstate when the accident happened.
A University of Maryland student dies after a fire in the student's off-campus apartment.
The 23-year-old student from the New York area died at the hospital.
Another victim suffered minor injuries.
A 7-year-old girl is shot by another child who brought a gun to this daycare just outside of D.C.
Police say the 8-year-old boy was playing with the gun in his backpack when it accidentally went off.
The girl was hit in the arm. She'll be OK.
Police say they do not know where the child got the gun.
Samuel Alito faces one last hurdle on his way to joining the Supreme Court.
Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 along party lines to send his nomination to the full Senate.
That vote is expected by the end of the week.
Republicans say he is the right choice. Democrats worry he will swing the high court to the right.
We confirm this nominee will further erode the checks and balances that have protected our constitutional rights for more than 200 years.
All of the evidence, every bit of it, points to a judge who honors his oath.
Ben Nelson is the sole Democrat saying he will back that nominee.
Saddam Hussein's on-again, off-again trial is delayed yet again.
The court planned to resume the trial today, but canceled proceedings.
They are scheduled to start again on Sunday.
Two judges say members of the panel hearing the case are split over yesterday's appointment of a new chief judge.
Another judge complained about outside interference with the court.
Billowing black smoke can be seen for miles in Iraq after an oil pipeline catches fire.
Investigators say villagers accidentally set fire to some leaking oil.
The pipeline distributes oil to Turkey and is shut down now while firefighters work to put it out.
Tens of thousands of Cubans march outside the American mission in Havana.
Castro called the march to protest recent U.S. actions aimed at Cuba,
including new electronic signs on the side of the U.S. mission to broadcast human rights messages.
While rescuers pull four survivors from a building in Kenya a day after it collapsed, trapping 300 people inside,
14 people are reported dead with dozens more hurt.
Rescue teams from Israel, Britain and the United States are now helping.
About 200 people are still missing.
Well, Ryan will check in with another check of the forecast when we come back.
But first, as we head to break, here's a look at what's coming up tonight here on KM3.
The best in the world can step out there and something can go very wrong.
Plus the new Jesus controversy, Kanye West and a crown of thorns.
Why some Christians are outraged next to ET.
Tonight at 630 right here on KM3.
The emotion.
The adventure.
The competition.
Winner of Survivor Bottle.
There have been many great survivors over the years, but nothing compared to what you'll see on February 2nd.
For the first time, four tribes, young versus old.
Men versus women.
And each week, one of these castaways will have to survive alone on Exile Island.
The ultimate survivor begins Thursday, February 2nd, only on CBS.
Why did you choose No Frills?
The customer service at No Frills is super.
The customer service at No Frills is really good.
The friendly people and the prices.
We've shopped in all the stores in the area actually, and we found that the people here are the friendly.
The customer service at No Frills is the best.
No Frills is a very good place to shop.
The customer service and the people that work there.
They're very helpful.
They do a great job. They're always very friendly.
The prices are always low.
No Frills.
This is my favorite place.
Supermarkets.
Yo, guys, dinner time.
Dinner!
Hey, guys.
Dinner!
It'll take a while, but they'll get used to dinner at home.
A real meal on a weeknight?
What a shocker.
Get your meal started with nine freshly cooked pieces of the Colonel's world famous drumsticks and thighs, all for just $6.99.
And don't forget the wings.
Bring back dinner at KFC.
Dodge Ram, with available MDS that turns our powerful Hemi V8 into a fuel-saving four-cylinder at cruising speeds.
Plus, 4x4 off-road traction give you incredible capability.
One of these days we're going to have to actually use those things.
Whatever.
Winter is so much more fun when you have the proper equipment.
Qualified returning less ease can lease a Ram 1500 SLT 4x4 for $249 a month after $1,000 over stock bonus cash.
People everywhere are flippin' for all-you-can-eat pancakes at IHOP.
We'll bring you stacks of our irresistibly delicious, world famous, fluffy buttermilk pancakes till you've had your fill.
With all your favorites like eggs, hash browns, bacon or sausage starting at $4.99, you'll flip for all-you-can-eat pancakes too.
IHOP. Come hungry, leave happy.
They're not the most traditional couple, who is? But they're getting along just fine.
Instead of lunch, this furry little hamster turned to love.
The Tokyo Zoo had originally purchased this rodent as a meal for the snake, but for some reason the snakes refused to eat it.
And for now, they don't seem to mind each other's company.
Well the snake seems to mind.
Till the snake gets a little hungry.
The hamster's trying to eat the snake there. It looks like he's nibbling on his tail.
He's ruling, the snake's hiding.
Do you see the size of the hamster though? Maybe a little bit too much for the snake down there.
Never. Never.
Good point. Count your blessings, right?
Alright, well we're watching our weather just continue to stay mild.
50 degrees tomorrow. The good news about tomorrow is we stay with a lot of sunshine.
Not nearly as much wind. Unfortunately the wind does come back Thursday and Friday, but check out those highs.
55 Thursday, 54 Friday. Even the overnight lows at or above freezing. Chance for rain or snow by the weekend.
Alright, thanks Ryan.
Thanks for watching KM3 News at 5.
We'll see you back here tonight at 10.
After a dog found what may be a severed human foot and brought it to the home of his owners.
Deputies are searching a rural part of Council Bluffs off Aspen Road, not far from the Wabash Trace Bike Trail.
Action 3 News reporter Taylor Thomas is live with this breaking story.
Deputies have actually just called off the search for the rest of the body today just due to the conditions and the fact that the search dogs are tired.
But let me set the stage for you out here.
Right behind me you can see the house where deputies have been basically looking around through the day.
And beyond this house is the house where the foot was actually brought by a dog.
An elderly couple owns that dog, a collie named Dolly.
Now over here on my other side you can see the Wabash Trail.
This is where deputies have taken those search dogs throughout the day looking for any other sign of a body.
Now as for the foot itself, the sheriff describes it as a small foot but not a young child's, possibly about a size 5 or a size 6.
And as for its condition, he says it's still in relatively good shape.
This has flesh on it and it appears that it has not been probably in the ground.
There was soil on it.
It doesn't appear that it's been in the ground a long period of time.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says his deputies are searching with dogs to find the body the foot belongs to.
And it may not be too far from the home where the dog left it.
According to the owners of the dog, they said the dog is older, it doesn't go that far.
So we're thinking the dog probably found it in a relatively close area.
The trail is used by runners and bikers but not too much this time of year.
Again, it's remote.
I mean, there's not a lot of people on there at times.
So could someone come down there and dispose of a body?
You know, that's possible.
And actually, you are looking live right now at the dog in question, Dolly.
Her owners say she doesn't go too far from home, as you heard the sheriff say.
She's basically just running her router on the area right now like she normally does.
Now, as for the foot, it has already been sent to the state crime lab for testing.
The sheriff says that should reveal more about who it belongs to.
Reporting live, Kayla Thomas, Action 3 News.
Well, Kayla, you said the sheriff said it may be a missing person and, of course, the most high profile missing person in our area,
the young girl who vanished in Omaha, Amber Harris.
The sheriff says that is the question that has been brought up time and time again.
Basically, they will be able to get a DNA sample from that foot, and that will reveal if it is a possibility.
Because of the size and the condition, they're definitely not ruling it out, but they just don't want to say that for sure yet.
Also new tonight, Action 3 News has learned the identity of the person killed by a U.P. train this week.
Firefighters found the victim on the tracks near Oakview Mall on Wednesday night.
Police say the victim is 14-year-old Mary Ledoux from Washington State.
She was attending school in Millard, but the district is not telling us any more than that.
The crew on the Union Pacific train says they saw Ledoux on the tracks but could not stop in time.
A Canadian national train smashed into this car near the Mormon Bridge just before midnight.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff says the driver of the car, James Young, tried a U-turn right on the tracks when the train rammed into his Ford Escort.
Witnesses say Young got out of the car just in time.
The train was going about 10 miles an hour when it hit the car. Young is expected to be okay.
A school bus crashes into a car, causing a big scare for a lot of students this afternoon.
Deputies say the driver of this white car pulled in front of the bus here on Giles Road.
The bus, full of portal elementary students, hit the car, pushed the car into the mailbox.
No one was hurt, but the scare put a lot of scare into the students on the bus.
All of a sudden, our faces went right into the book and then they went even farther into it.
And then we looked out our window and there was this car crashed into a mailbox and the bus was just standing there.
And we're like, what happened? Then we saw all these police cars pop up.
Were you scared?
Really scared.
And the driver of the car was ticketed by police.
Police cuff a foster parent in Sarpy County. They are accusing him of sexually abusing a young man in his home.
Action 3 News reporter Corey Wrangel is live.
Police say the abuse happened here in Papillion inside one of these apartments behind me.
Officers say a trusted caregiver broke his trust and broke the law.
He was supposed to be taking care of kids who've been mistreated.
Police say John Eckerman only made things worse.
He's accused of sexually abusing a foster teenager inside his apartment over and over again for nearly a year.
From our point of view, the investigation revealed a very solid case against this individual.
Police say Eckerman gave the 18-year-old alcohol too.
They took the teen and another foster child out of Eckerman's home.
How could this happen? I went to Eckerman's foster care agency to find out.
In terms of what he presented to us, he was one of the best foster parents that we had.
And that's what's disturbing about that.
The agency says Eckerman passed several background checks.
Agents looked into both the child abuse and sex offender registry.
They also checked local law enforcement criminal records.
They even had frequent in-home visits.
In this particular case, our staff were in the foster home on at least a weekly basis for the last six or eight months.
But the agency admits it might have to do more.
And bearing in mind that he's innocent until proven guilty, we nonetheless are reviewing our protocols.
Eckerman is out on bond.
Today I went to his apartment, but no one answered the door.
Until the investigation is complete, he cannot have any contact with foster children.
Reporting live in Papillion, Corey Rangel, Action 3 News.
A pit bull breaks out of its owner's yard and attacks a seven-year-old neighbor.
Paramedics came out to the scene, but the girls' injuries luckily were not serious.
It's one of two pit bulls owned by the girl's neighbor.
When he got out, the girl says he attacked.
The bite, the dog bite me.
How scared was he?
He was chasing me around the car and I couldn't, I was running from him because I was scared.
The dog is licensed and has its current shots.
The Humane Society is quarantining the dog for 10 days for rabies just in case.
There is a new grave in Council Bluffs tonight marked simply Baby Boy Doe.
A fetus found last month is now buried there.
Action 3 News reporter Kathy Sorrento-Snyver was at today's funeral.
I am the resurrection and life saver.
They're strangers. Most of them don't even know each other.
They gathered on this isolated hill on a blustery morning to say goodbye to another stranger.
Maybe Baby Doe, Jeremiah Doe, put a lot into our lives even though probably never ever meant to do that.
Two people walking through another cemetery found the fetus two weeks ago.
Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Since then, a funeral home donated a casket, the cemetery donated the plot, and someone else, the headstone.
It's kind of a community's child at this point.
My wife and I had miscarried this when we were younger, before we had life.
It just went back in my mind.
Canals tells me a lot where people would have been here today had it not been for the bitter cold.
He says Baby Boy Doe touched that many hearts.
Kind of a loneliness, I think.
Yes, I mean it's a lonely situation, but I think this child is very loved.
The mother at this point should realize and know that her child was buried, and people love the child.
He expects lots of strangers to visit this lonely spot.
He hopes the mother does.
Kathy Sorrento-Snyver, Action 3 News.
Now, your first warning forecast.
As expected, colder weather moved in today.
We are under some sunshine right now, and I think we'll see more of that as we head towards tomorrow.
Let's check out the radar here.
We're looking at our first warning storm tracker.
We actually do have some rain and snow showers over southwestern Nebraska.
Those are dropping south and southeast, so they will avoid us tonight.
In fact, our first warning threat tracker stays in the green.
Clear or cold?
Well, spots wake up in the mid and upper teens tomorrow.
We will see a lot of sunshine, but cool highs once again in the mid-30s.
And then, Deb, we still have that chance of light snow or flurries in the forecast Sunday.
Of course, I'll talk more about that coming up in a few minutes.
All right, Ryan, an Omaha attorney accused of stealing thousands of dollars from his clients admits he did it.
Thomas Gleason was in court today.
You see him here with the white hair and the glasses.
Gleason's law license has been suspended.
His clients complained he kept their accident settlement money.
Today, his attorney told us Gleason has given up his license for good.
The concern Mr. Gleason has is making retribution to these people.
I mean, he's suffering from clinical depression and a number of other maladies, and he's on medication.
You know, it's really a sad case.
The attorney also tells us Gleason kept the money to help run his office.
He's due back in court again in March.
A family mourns and a community remembers a soldier from Lincoln who died in Iraq.
23-year-old First Lieutenant Garrison Avery died earlier this week after a bomb exploded near his patrol just south of Baghdad.
He had been in Iraq since September.
His family says Garrison was a very modest person and served his country well.
It was very hard for him to be away from his wife and his family, but being in the military is what he wanted to do.
It's what God called him to do, and that's where he was headed.
And that's what he was doing, was just what God wanted him to do.
Garrison joined the military in high school after his parents gave him permission to join the Army when he was 17.
After graduating from West Point, he underwent Army Ranger training and received numerous honors.
New information tonight on a gruesome killing from back in December.
Police released these photos of the suspects.
Rob Osborne and Sabrina Stanley are arrested in connection with the robbery and murder of an Omaha taxi driver.
Firefighters found Lee Lacy's body burned in his cab.
Police say the cab was set fire in an attempt to hide the evidence of the robbery and murder.
Investigators cleared the owner of the Hamilton Outlet tobacco store, David Klein, of any wrongdoing.
He fired a gun when his store was robbed back in December.
One employee, Sham Journey, died during that robbery.
The suspected robbers, Herbert Elliott Jr. and Omari Manuel, are charged with the death.
Mexico reopens its border to some U.S. beef after more than two years, and that's good news for Nebraska ranchers.
Mexico is the state's second biggest foreign beef market.
Nebraska exported about $200 million of beef to Mexico in 2003.
That's about $100 million less than Nebraska's exports to Japan.
Mexico stopped the imports because of concerns of mad cow disease.
An email with a provocative title could spell disaster for your computer if you click on it.
A tremendous rescue operation is underway in the Red Sea.
And you won't believe what drug dealers are using to smuggle heroin across the border.
Breaking news.
First warning weather.
This is Action 3 News Live at 5 with Deborah Ward, Greg Peterson, and Chief Meteorologist Ryan McPike.
Closed captioning is brought to you by your local Toyota dealer.
Nate and Eva Longoria have a secret of their own.
Then, the love of Eva's life, NBA star Tony Parker, their first TV interview together.
How'd y'all meet?
In the locker room.
What were you doing in the locker room, girl?
Monday's Oprah.
Monday at 4 on your Action 3 News station.
Can anyone here tell me what's on sale at Nebraska Furniture Mart?
Everything.
Everything?
All furniture, flooring, appliances, and electronics.
For example, this Sealy Pillowtop Queen mattress set is now just $2.99.
Impressive.
Say 50 cents a square foot on Shaw Glue-less locking laminate flooring on sale for just $1.29 a square foot.
Anything else?
Everything else.
Furniture, flooring, appliances, electronics, everything is on sale at Nebraska Furniture Mart.
Attend an H&R Block tax cut software seminar Saturday.
Now, your Action 3 News First Warning Forecast with Chief Meteorologist Ryan McPike.
As expected, colder weather moved in.
Today we did see a lot of sunshine, but it looks like as we check out our first warning,
seven-day forecast is going to stay kind of chilly here through the next week.
Highs in the 30s for the most part.
Overnight lows, yeah, a bit cooler in the teens to low 20s.
We still have a slight chance for a little bit of light snow Sunday into early Monday,
and then maybe some flurries with a couple of quick moving weather systems as we head towards the middle of next week.
As we go topside, check out first warning storm scan.
You'll notice low clouds with that fairly intense cold front that pushed through here earlier today.
A lot of that eroding away, and you can see right now here through the Missouri River Valley,
lots of sunshine.
We will stay clear and cold tonight.
Incidentally enough, we continue to track a few rain and snow showers out here over southwestern portions of the state,
but you can see by the movement that is tracking down toward the south and southeast and should avoid us tonight.
And it looks like not much coming in behind this, so I think we'll continue to be clear
and then get back into some sunshine tomorrow.
Now, here's how things are going to shake out as we head through the weekend.
First warning future track here shows this evening we will stay clear and chilly.
High pressure is going to be in control.
This will gradually ease off to the east, so I expect a lot of sunshine as we head through the day tomorrow
and even early on in the morning.
Clear temperatures in the mid and upper teens.
That sunshine starts to break through as we head through the afternoon.
Notice the slow shift.
This high pressure ridge starts to slide to the east,
and that's going to allow for this system to start to develop over the Rockies.
That'll be our chance for snow as we head towards Sunday.
Initially, we'll see a few clouds move in towards Saturday night,
and then the possibility for some light snow flurries as this system swings out into the plains.
That'll be with us as we head, especially towards Sunday afternoon.
Now, I really think this storm is going to take shape over the southeastern part of the country,
and much like the last several, be a lot more intense as it heads up the east coast there.
But at least a chance for a little bit of light snow, something we haven't seen in quite some time.
Nothing like that outside right now.
Clear skies over downtown.
In fact, we're still looking at some sunshine.
37 at last check.
Humidity very low, so the air is dry.
And the north winds right now at 16, producing a wind chill factor of 26.
Other locations look like this, with the exception of Lincoln at 40 degrees.
Everybody else in the 30s right now.
Cool spot, 32.
And Dennis and I will right now, Shenandoah at 39.
Bellevue reporting 37.
And the 5 o'clock temp over in the Bluffs checks in at 36.
So for tonight, then, mostly clear cold.
Down to 17, wind chill factors down near 10 above early tomorrow morning.
Our forecast then as we head through Saturday, it looks nice, but it's going to stay cool.
Lots of sunshine, 36.
Northwest winds at about 5 to 15.
And another look at the first warning, seven day forecast shows highs in the 30s there,
overnight lows back in the teens to low 20s.
No major snowstorms on the horizon here.
It looks like we will generally be looking at the possibility of light snow or flurries as we head towards late Sunday into Sunday night,
and then the possibility for maybe a few flurries, Greg and Deb, as we head towards the middle of next week.
Those systems also look to be quick and fairly weak.
Flurries in February, I feel normal.
Yeah, and temperatures back in the 30s, that's normal.
Okay, thanks, Ryan.
Okay.
A computer worm set to strike today so far hasn't caused much damage at all.
That worm is known by several names, including Kamasutra, and experts warn it could harm documents on your computer.
Hundreds of thousands of computers were believed infected by the worm, but there was enough advance notice those computers have been cleaned.
Well, nearly 300 survivors have been rescued, but a thousand people are still missing.
Coming up next on Action 3 News, we'll take you straight to the turmoil in the Red Sea.
And here's a look at today's action on Wall Street.
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A ferry sinks with 1,400 passengers and 98 crew members aboard.
That tops our look across the world tonight.
The ferry was crossing the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia to Egypt when it disappeared from radar.
Nearly 300 survivors have been found so far, along with nearly 200 bodies.
An expert says the type of ferry that sank has a reputation of problems.
It's relatively old, it's built 1970, which means that it's not going to comply with the sorts of safety standards
we'd expect from this kind of ship in the developed world.
It took 10 hours before Egyptian rescue ships arrived.
The U.S. State Department says none of the passengers on board are Americans.
A 9-year-old student shoots a classmate on a school bus.
That's first in our look across the nation.
Police say the special education student was showing off a handgun to another student when it went off right inside the school bus.
An 11-year-old is in the hospital with a wound to the elbow.
No word yet on where the special ed student got that gun.
A shootout with police here in L.A. after a man sets fire to this apartment building and wouldn't come out.
The man eventually left the apartment unit and walked through the building.
That's when police moved in and arrested him.
Despite the gunfire, no one was hurt.
A teenager walks into a gay bar and opens fire.
Today, police released the frantic 911 tapes.
911, please go to which emergency?
I need an ambulance.
You need an ambulance? What's the problem?
A condo on Front Street.
What's the problem?
Someone's been shot.
Somebody's been shot?
Someone's been shot. You have to get here now.
Witnesses say the teen walked into the bar, ordered a drink, and then asked to make sure it was a gay bar.
That's when he pulled out a hatchet and a gun and started shooting.
Three people were hit. One is in critical condition.
Take a look at this surveillance video.
You can see a man get out of the car.
He walks up to a five-year-old girl sitting on a bench and grabs a gold necklace from her neck, runs back to the car, and takes off.
The girl suffered some cuts on the back of her neck.
The man got away.
Six churches catch fire overnight in Alabama, and I'm sure you're thinking the same thing.
Investigators are arson.
Some of the churches burned to the ground.
Most of the fires started at the church's pulpit, which is why investigators suspect the same person may be involved.
The fires happened at both predominantly white and predominantly black churches.
Five of the six are Baptist.
Well, 14 people are hurt, six critically, after a car crashes right through the front doors of a health clinic.
Police say two cars were driving erratically, one trying to pass the other, when one jumped the curb crashing into the clinic.
Police say the driver appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
He has been arrested.
The DEA says Colombian heroin smugglers are using puppies as drug couriers.
The drug ring surgically implants packets of heroin into the puppies.
The animals are then sent to New York.
Investigators believe dogs and human couriers have smuggled millions of dollars worth of liquid heroin on commercial flights for distribution.
The DEA arrested more than 30 people in the scheme.
As we head to the break, here's a look at what's coming up tonight on your Action Free News station.
MUSIC
Elizabeth and I decided we were going to tell them so that we could be together.
And a fiery crash caught on tape.
Next ET.
ET tonight at 630 on your Action Free News station.
The soul cannot leave the body until life is gone.
But tonight, one will.
I'm not dead!
A new ghost whisper then.
I killed Kirsten, too.
He felt they weren't nice to him.
We could risk losing all the evidence.
You're kidding.
New Close to Home, then. Is this young genius a traitor?
He's selling a bioterror weapon to an enemy state.
We could be dealing with a foreign agent.
A new numbers after ghost whispering Close to Home, CBS Tonight.
A little more like winter out there today.
I will say so, that's for sure.
Especially with the wind.
We were stuck in the 30s all day long.
We saw winds gusting out of the northwest up to about 25.
Wind chill factors have been in the 20s most of the afternoon.
Still a chance for light snorer flurries as we head towards Sunday into Monday.
You notice temps change very little through the next seven days.
We're going to be stuck in the 30s, I think.
Wind chill.
Yeah, we're going to feel that tomorrow morning.
It's been a while.
Yes, it has.
Thanks, Ryan.
Thanks for watching Action 3 News at 5.
Our next scheduled local newscast is tonight at 10.
When news breaks, Action 3 News always breaks in.
Have a good night.
We'll see you then.