With a shop vac, some metal, a few pipes, a generator and wood chips, you can produce electricity. If you know how to combine those things properly. The process itself is older technology, said chris jeffries. Its very simple. Chris jeffries created this gasifier. He explained the process as using the shop vac to create negative pressure, while wood waste is heated in a separate large cyclinder where gasses from unburned wood are then siphoned into a filter before feeding a generator. Its a controlled combustion, a controlled pyrolysis, said chris jeffries. The city of south sioux city, nebraska, plans to plug in this technology. Were trying to be selfsufficient and go as green as possible, said rod koch. Mayor rod koch says using this gasifier will save the city 40,000 a year in electric costs. It saves us from having to dispose of trees that are eventually going to die anyways because of this emerald borer ash, said rod koch. The unit will be much larger than this and will be placed here near the scenic park. As you can see they dont have the actual gasifier yet. The bioenergy unit is going to be hooked up to these transformers and the grid system which means the electricity is not just going to be used for campers or people in the park here, it could be used in households as well. Were going to have about a ton and half capacity in their feed hopper, said chris jeffries. Jeffries says upkeep is easy and the unit would only need filling about once a week. In south sioux city, nebraska, sam curtiss, ktiv news four. The city used a grant to pay for most of the project. And they say theyre hoping to have it up and running before christmas. Valero renewables operates 11 ethanol plants in the midwest. Four of them are in iowa, including this one in hartley. Yesterday, those plants kicked off their annual United Way Campaign. Employees learned about the importance of giving back by donating to the united way, and completing Community Service with different organizations. While valero takes pride in its Community Service efforts, a Spokesman Says it also takes pride in how well the plants are doing, especially the one in hartley. Ethanol margins which is basically like the profit that you get from making ethanol are down compared to last year, said day. Last year was an excellent, excellent year for ethanol. This year is a good year. Its just not as gigantic as last year was. Valero has 11 ethanol plants in the midwest. Four are in iowa. It also has 13 Petroleum Refineries in the midwest as well. Yesterday mexicos government announced the capture of six people believed responsible for the july prison break by Joaquin El Chapo guzman, attorney general arely gomez said the alleged mastermind is a member of guzmans legal team who had access to the prison near mexico city. He was able to notify guzman of the operations progress and receive instructions. About 23 prison officials and employees have also been arrested, some face criminal charges. City leaders in cushing, iowa lifted a boil advisory that was put in place after a pump failed in the citys primary well, last friday. Well has been repaired, and is back in use. But, for the last five days, residents were told to boil their water because the water coming from a backup well had higher levels of nitrates. City leaders say nitrate levels in the primary well are much lower. And bacterial samples came back as satisfactory , making it no longer necessary to boil water in cushing. Today, folks living in soldier, iowa, will have to start boiling their water. City Officials Say the boil advisory is necessary after the main valve in the citys pumphouse broke. Crews will begin the repair work this morning. Residents are asked to boil their water starting at 9am. The suspect accused of killing a new York City Police officer is set to be arraigned for the crime. Tyrone howard is expected to be charged for the murder of officer randolph holder and could face charges for other crimes hes suspected of. Officer holder was shot and killed in a confrontation with howard tuesday night. Howard was a suspect in an Armed Robbery that had occurred moments earlier in east harlem. Officer holder had been with the nypd for five years. He comes from a family of Law Enforcement officers. Both his father and grandfather were policemen in his native guyana. One person is in custody after two ohio firefighters were held hostage last night in ohio. Five amherst firefighters were called to a report of a brush fire. A man at the scene was attempting to burn leaves. When firefighters told the man to stop, Officials Say the man pulled out a rifle. Three firefighters were then taken hostage. They were held for two hours. The situation resolved peacefully. And no one was hurt. Students at Umpqua Community college in oregon held a memorial for those killed during a campus shooting earlier this month. The event was held at a local park and was led by the students themselves. There was drumming and musical performances by students. Organizers said the gathering was about the Campus Community coming together to support each other. Sot Thomas OneillUmpqua CommunityCollege Foundation the students especially needed closure and the staff as well, but the students needed to be able to do this themselves and bring closure to their feelings. The night ended with friends and family of the nine victims sharing stories about their loved ones. The Decorah Eagles look to have a new home for this Upcoming Season but one they only partially built themselves. Staff from the Raptor Resource Center are building a new one for them after their old one was knocked down in a storm. Brad hanson has our story. Adopt it after a storm blew their old one down. Howe says it was a gamble, but one that has paid off. Sure enough, to our surprise and satisfaction, its actually come true now. brad hanson, reporting the eagles showed up in early october, and since then have spent more and more time in this nest, making it their own, much to the delight of thousands of fans worldwide. Theyre loving it. Its so neat to see how much people are enjoying the eagles already, just this early in the season. Howe believes this is the first time a project like this has been undertakena nd successful. He says its even more special because of the history behind this idea. Its neat to think about, because it was one of the last things we were talking to bob anderson, our former director, before he died. He was very excited about that. So really weve put something together that we wouldve done with him and now weve seen this great success. That was brad hanson reporting. Work is nearly complete on a backup eagle cam near decorah. Should finish work on that second camera on a different nest sometime in the next month. If youre looking for a little extra help getting your yard in shape before the snow falls. Be careful who you hire. Authorities have a warning about a landscaping scam that duping homeowners. Forecast next it all started w a knock on the door they came to the door saying they were already doing work on a neighbors house and that it would be a cheaper cost for us because the equipment was already in the area leonard wanted a tall tree behind his home cut down. The company quoted him what he considered a good deal. sot keith leonard, homeowner we couldnt refuse the price so leonard signed this contract and workers cut down his tree the same day. Then returned the next day to finish the job. But. sot keith leonard, homeowner but then they said, oh, sorry we dont have all the equipment what they were supposed to do is cut into really small pieces and remove it from the property so the Company Offered to do other yard work sot keith leonard, homeowner mulching leaf removalal rereining wall leonard gned a second contract. He paid for both jobs up front. More than 36 hundred dollars. sot keith leonard, homeowner and never saw them again this is what can happen when you hire a Company Without checking it out first. sot kevin brassler, checkbook. Org one problem is unlicensed workers, Unlicensed Companies running around with chainsaws who are just doing work on the fly. Kevin brassler is with checkbook dot org. It found some charged momo than twice as much h their cocoetitors. For that reason. Brassler says get multiple price quotes. And you dont even have to be home to do it. sot kevin brassler, checkbook. Org you can tie a ribbon around the tree or rope around the tree or whatever some way to identify it and just call a bunch of tree Care Companies and ask them to come out and leave a bid checkbook warns. Never pay for a job up front. And avoid hiring companies that canvass neighborhoods theyeye red flags leonard d ys he wishes d thought of before now. sot keith leonard, homeowner i feel ripped off. They came in seemed very trustworthy and they ended up not being that was Erika Gonzalez reporting. Still to come on news 4 today, northwest iowa Community College attempts to break the world record for longest selfie line. Well have the details coming up next. It wasnt a Typical School day for students at one iowa Community College yesterday afternoon. They were snapping selfies. Ktivs tiffany lane shows us how they tried to break a world record by taking pictures. Got on a full american suit. Every time a selfie is taken, theres a special meaning behind each photo. And with this activity, school Officials Say theres an Important Message theyre trying to get across. Picture your success, said alethea stubbe, president of northwest Iowa Community colege. Your success is our story. Selfies just fit into the theme so perfectly that we decided to do this attempt. Students classes were dismissed for a few hours so that they could all participate. Some students at the event were seasoned selfietakers. And others had a whole new experience. Are you someone who normally takes selfies . Said tiffany lane. No mam. I have a flip phone. So thats kind of hard to do. The school just fell short of the record. They had 445 selfies taken and the previous record was 531. Next year, they ll attempt to break another world record. In sheldon, iowa, tiffany lane ktiv news 4. The record attempt was part of the weeklong homecoming celebration at the college called the we might see more showers today. Bens in next with the details. And, have you caught star wars fever . How one company is taking weve seen them in all the star wars movies. Lightsabres. And now an Oregon Company is making them for ththe with star wars fever. Repopoer nina mehihaf has the story. She is descending into the bell of the stratus destroyer. I think there is a creator inside everybody. You just t ve to let it out. Phillip isherwood founded the company after losing his public utility job during the 2008 recession. He tapped into his si fi obsession and started messing around with a homemade ghtsabre. s Phillip Isherwood sabreforge1 011 07 18 mont ago we were running this out of a garage. It was me and two other guys. This is one of our really popular ones. Now they sell over a m mlion dollars in product a year worldwide. His 30 employees will double to 60 by december with huge orders for halloween costumes, christmas and of course the movies december premiere. s Phillip Isherwood sabreforge1 211 32 mostly social media. People making friends all across the world and realizing hey this is a eclectic interest we have e d its not so eclectic. A lot of people share it so people are being more honest about their geekyness. All the parts are made and assembled in oregon city. The handles are called hilts and drilled and designed by fellow star wars buffs. The most powerful led lights in the business are drilled in along with the amazing cinematic sound effects. And that policarbonate blade is virtually indestructible in the duel. Even for live action newbies ke me. Youre going to pull with the top hand and push with the bottom hand. Left foot forward. Were going to go high. A serious workout and some fun from some guys who arent hiding its. More news and weather for you on news4 today a aer the break. First though. Heres a look at some of e events on the good morning and welcome back to news 4 today. Some of the stories youll see in this half biden announces he will not run for president. Democratic frontrunner hillary clintois in the hot seat. The former secretary of state squares off with the republicanled House Committee investigating the 2012 terror attack on the u. S. Consulate in benghazi. The latest from washington is on the way. And as we get closer to halloween. Its crunch time to get your costumes. While theres always the traditional route, theres also new costumes to dress up as. Well head to a local costume shop to check out whats popular this year. And later. More younger diagnosed with colon cancer. But Health Screenings for it are recommended much later. In healthbeat 4. One man with the disease questions if thats old advice. But first ben. See graphics. In washington Hillary Clinton testifies today before the House Committee investigating the deadly 2012 attack in benghazi, libya. Its their first hearing since january. Tracie potts is on capitol hill with a preview. sot rep. Sheila jacksonlee d texas tomorrow will be nothing but a fiasco. Democrats call it a partisan witch hunt. Republicans say this could be the best chance to find out why four americans died in benghazi. sot rep. John Boehner R Ohio are you looking forward to the house benghazi hearing . i am. Besides grilling clinton on her own emails. Still being released. Lawmakers are expected to unveil new information today eight thousand pages of email from ambassador chris stevens. sot rep. Peter Roskam R Illinois so where does the fault lie for the timing of this . It lies with the state department who only 36 hours ago has released some of ambassador stevens emails. Stevens asked for more security before he was killed. He didnt get it. Clintons team says those requests never reached her desk. sot rep. Loretta sanchez d california i expect that secretary clinton will push back on the halftruths and the outright fabrication of these crazy conspiracy theories. The committee wants to know why stevens requests were denied . Were there warning signs . And given the risk why were we there in the first place . Today clintons expected to push for more security training. And more diplomacy in risky areas. political ad super burned in Clinton Superpac ad, republicans can play political games, but Hillary Clinton will always stand strong. the superpac backing Clintons Campaign is running this ad today in dc and four early voting states. Our nbcwall street journal poll found 44 percent of americans arent satisfied with clintons answers about benghazi. Just over a third think the committees been unfair and too partisan. Im tracie potts in washington, now back to you. After months of anticipation, and speculation, Vice President joe biden announced that he will not run for president in 2016. Biden made his announcement from the white house rose garden, yesterday afternoon, with his wife jill and president barack obama by his side. The Vice President said he believed the window of opportunity had closed for running a successful campaign. He did, however, say he wont be silent during the campaign, and urged democratic contenders to defend the legacy of president obama. And this is what i believe. I believe that president obama has led this nation from crisis to recovery and were now in the cusp of resurgence and im proud to have played a part in that, said Vice President biden. It was believed that biden had been preparing for a president ial bid following the death of his son beau, and his dying wish that his father give it one last go. Retiring House Speaker john boehner says hes confident the gops various factions will unite behind congressman paul ryan as the next speaker. Boehner announced yesterday hes scheduled a vote among republican members for next wednesday. If all go as planned, the full house would choose its new speaker next thursday. Boehner says hes confident that ryan will have the support he needs going forward. Rep. John boehner r speaker of the house this is not about us, not about us as leaders, not about us as members. Our job is to do the right thing for the American People every day, now youve heard me say this multiple times but ill say it one more time. If you do the right things every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen for our country. Ryan told fellow republicans that he would agree to be a candidate, but only if gop members unify behind his candidacy. Some hardline conservatives have expressed reservations. Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts says the state is still working with the dea to import lethal injection drugs from india. In may, nebraska lawmakers voted to abolish the Death Penalty over the governors veto. That triggered a petition drive that got enough support to place the issue on the ballot, and prevent the law from going into effect until the november 2016 election. Still, problems importing the drugs might mean the sta