the cavs coaching controversy is playing out on the court tonight. two-and-a-half hours from now tyronn lue makes his debut as head coach of the cleveland cavaliers. thanks for joining us. we are live inside the q getting ready for the big game. you can watch it right here starting tonight at 8:30. our sports reporter lauren is in the newsroom with more. >> not an easy task for tyronn lue tonight in his head coaching debut. the bulls are 24-18, chicago

this is also just the second match-up between the two teams this season. remember the bulls beat the year. as for tyronn lue he has no head coaching experience, but yesterday newschannel5's sports director spoke to espn and got some insight taos why the team went with lew over blatt. >> reporter: tyronn lue has something that david blatt does not, and that's the respect of the players. david blatt basically didn't wield the stick to hold players accountable because of a lack of respect. >> the cavs take on the bulls tonight at 8:30, then stay tuned for our championship post- game special. hiring a coach that's been 0 the team's bench should help with continuity, but we shall see tonight.

the blizzard of 2016 is creating a massive mess. washington, d.c. could see as much as three feet before the storm is finally over. and the travel ban is in effect in one of the busiest places in the country. new york city is at a stand still. >> reporter: no hype here. the blizzard of 2016 hitting hard. new york city nearly doubling its expected snow total. officials forced to ban travel on streets, highways, bridges, and commuter rails. system frozen. >> if you have taken your car out for any rope, turn around and go home right now. >> reporter: in west virginia, white-out conditions nearly object securing this convoy of plows. in arlington, virginia, snow buried police cruisers. travel by air crippled. no planes going in or out of new york, washington, or

instead, equipment lined up to clear the runways. people in the d.c. and virginia area expecting three feet or more of accumulations. >> a few feat is okay, but once you get past 24, when they're calling for 36 or 40, you start to wonder how much can your roof hold. >> reporter: but it's not all about the snow. from long island to the jersey shore, entire neighborhoods overrun with acey ocean water. still, new jersey governor chris christie reasugar his state things are under control. >> this is my 17th snow emergency in six years. this certainly not superstorm sandy. >> reporter: but it's not misser rae for everyone. these skiers enjoyed the empty streets of washington, d.c. while a few brave parents helped their kids enjoy this historic blizzard. here in manhattan more than two inches of snow were coming down an hour during the height of the storm. as you can see it was burying

virtually impossible. what's worse, there's more snow to come. >> although the storm is not hitting us it is affecting a group of john carroll university students. the group left a few days ago headed to washington, d.c. to take part in a march for life rally. they got stuck. they've been sitting on a highway outside bedford, pennsylvania for hours now. we tried to reach the group on cell phones but service there is spotty. meantime air travel is grounded tonight all along the east coast, and a few dozen of the nearly 9,000 flight cancellations and delays are out of cleveland hopkins airport. today we met a man who has been trying to get home to charlotte for the past two days. >> canceled four times yesterday, delayed two times, three times today. just trying to make it home. hoping i can get out before the rest of it hits up here now. >> if you plan to head out this

do that with our newsnet5 app. 100 first energy employees have been deployed to eastern pennsylvania and new jersey to help utility crews getting hit with that storm. crews from toledo are also helping our neighbors to the south in west virginia. let's check in with janessa. >> d.c. is currently the bull's- eye. definitely dealing with a lot of snow. to eight inches across portions of the east coast. the good news this morning, i was talking about advisories and warnings for about 12 states. we are down to about five to six states currently under some kind of an advisory or warning. a gray sky here, cloud cover,

mentor area, lake and geauga county. due to that area of low pressure happening on the east coast we dealt with a rare occasion today. dealt with some lake-effect snow that was moving backwards. so out towards eerie, huron county, lorain county, you can see those flurries flying. let's talk about our temperatures. definitely on the keeler side. when you factor in these winds that have been chattering all day long out of the northwest, 15 to 20 miles per hour, it brings your windchill down. at the airport currently at 14 degrees. going into the rest of the evening the really good news here is we start to lose the wind and high pressure is really going to build as we head into tomorrow afternoon. tracy, we are looking at more sunshine in full effect, but we are track on the power of 5 a little bit of rain headed our way as we head into next week. your full forecast coming up. >> thanks so much. taking a stand against

and friends gathered to remember a warrensville high school student whose family says she was murdered. >> reporter: they describe her as loving and generous, on her way to becoming a grief counselor for others. she was stabbed to death, left on a street corner. troopers caught and arrested her boyfriend miles away in erie county. a single mother, tracy leaves behind two kids, one what is wheelchair bound. now her tight-knit family is trying to cope with a tragedy they say they never saw coming. they're trying to tell others, if you see something wrong in a relationship, you have to say something. >> we want to make aware to other people who are going through abuse or who have died from domestic violence.

has been charged with murder. he is held on a $1.5 million bond. all new tonight at 6:00, kent state procedures and the university have agreed to a new three-year contract. 80% of ksu's procedures voted in favor of the deal which includes 2% pay raises. coming up, water crisis. a local church is helping families in flint, michigan. how you can make a difference tonight. check your refrigerator, because several brands of lettuce could be contaminated with listeria. and buried by a blizzard. major cities slammed with heavy snow. here is a live picture of new york city.

happening now, a cleveland church is doing its part to help families in flint, michigan who are dealing with that water crisis. members of the blessed hope church are collecting bottled water. the federal government is pledging $80 million to help the state fix the city's water system infrastructure which is contaminated with lead. donations are being accepted at the church tonight. check your refrigerator. dole is recalling various brands of packaged lettuce that

one person has dade from eating tainted salad. packages from the facility can be identified by the letter a at the beginning of the manufacturing code. for a complete list of recalled products go to our newsnet5 app. coming up next, helping the homeless. hundreds of people are stepping up to help those less port you the nut. this storm system sun folding towards our east. how it's impacting your weekend across northeast ohio. your full forecast after the

a massive winter storm is clobbering the east coast, and some places could get even more snow than first forecast. baltimore is under a blizzard warning until 6:00 tomorrow morning. meantime, new york city is buried in snow. a travel ban was put in place there this afternoon. tonight, 11 states on the east coast have declared states of emergency. some places could see as much as four feet of snow this weekend. at least 12 deaths are blamed on the storm so far. 200,000 people don't have power, and nearly 9,000 flights have been canceled. winter weather is tough enough, even when you have a warm home to go to.

conditions. hundreds of organizations, including us here at newschannel5, came together today to lend a helping hand to those unneed. here's more on the annual homeless standdown. >> reporter: waverly spent her giving haircuts. the 25th annual homeless standdown hits close to home. >> i was gay who used to come to these type of events just to get some help. >> reporter: willis got caught up with drugs and alcohol 15 years ago. but finally in 2004 he found the urban barber association and turned his life around. he's now one of the directors helping others who are homeless or struggling. >> that's what i will continue to do, is help people in need, because i was once these people. >> reporter: in addition to

what attended today received a hot meal, warm clothes, and access to several social services, many expressing how grateful they are. >> it makes me feel good that i can help someone, and they can help me. i love every minute of it. >> reporter: in cleveland, meg shaw, newschannel5. >> last year more than 1,000 people were served. organizers say they will likely surpass that number this year. and for anybody who does not have a home, it's certainly been tough to be on the streets out there because it is cold. today was chilly. >> what a great event. it is definitely chilly. we're seeing clouds, and it produced sunshine, but the trade-off is going to be cooler conditions. tomorrow we'll be back in the 30s. look at this great sun there is set out towards the mentor area, the sun currently coming down. midafternoon, after a morning of clouds and some flurries, we

morning, where normally i'm tracking lake-effect snow that is moving east into lake geauga, ashtabula county, it's moving backwards out towards huron, lorain county. avon lake definitely dealt with a few flurries. right now the power of 5 not tracking any moisture. pretty great night to be out and about. make sure you have that coat handy. at the airport, 23 degrees. we did not step out of the 30s -- out of the 20s, excuse me, today. 22 out towards canton-akron. we'll continue to see our temperatures tumble as we head through the evening. some good news this morning. i was telling you about 15 states under some kind of advisory or warning. it's down to five or six right now. but that massive moisture continues to move into d.c. they could see possibly another foot of accumulation.

dissipate as we head into tomorrow afternoon. we're finally going to get a little reprieve, but people will be dig out for days. hour by hour, closer to home, i think we're under a clear evening. a few clouds. it's just our lows. by 11:00 we are into the lower 20s, and that's not factoring in those northwest winds. so the feel-like temperature on your skin, on your face is going to be feeling like we are into the mid teens. showing you hour by hour these clouds. they sag more towards the west, but tonight not looking too bad, even for your overnight. as we step into tomorrow morning clouds stick around more towards the east. that. by noon we are almost hitting the 30-degree mark forecasting freezing. so tonight we are down to 18 conditions. let's go back into the 30s

and lauren, it gets even better for the end of january. we are talking about 40, 41 tuesday before our next front really starts to move in. a little bit of snow midweek as we head into your wednesday but that moves out midafternoon, and a pretty quiet weather pattern as we head into next weekend, highs well above normal. lauren. cavs at home tonight to take on the chicago bulls just one day after their former head coach david blatt was shown the door. tonight they will play their first game under this anew head coach tyronn lue. there is no "interim" tag. he is their new head coach. the team found out about 3:30 yesterday. of course, everyone asking whose decision was it. the general manager, david griffin, is saying it was his decision.

like every other player on this team at 3:30 yesterday when griff called us in on our day off and told us he was making a change. he said you can like it, you can love it, but you are going to respect it. that's what i feel. it's where our team is today. this is the decision i'm making, and that's it. so for me, i can't get caught up and worried about what other people think. i've stopped that a long time angst my career, worrying about what other people think about me or what i influence or what i don't. >> lebron may not have made the dizzy, and he very well may not have been informed of the decision prior to the rest of his teammates. we spoke to espn host mike wilmot, and he says he believes griffin knew exactly how felt about blatt and the situation.

we're going to fire david blatt today, but anything that happens in cleveland within the organization, lebron is going to have some feel for. that would be irresponsible of the front office to do that. david griffin who i know is not irresponsible. he's ultimately responsible and professional. so it doesn't mean they had to consult lebron before they pulled the trigger, but you're there every day. lebron is in that place early in the morning on a practice day or game day, and out of there after midnight. so he knows what's going on. >> now, with a new coach at the helm, the team looking forward, not looking back. lue spoke to the media this morning. >> we have young superstars and young all-stars in kyrie, lebron, kevin. we have the big three. you're not going to get the same amount of shots you got before.

that can learn together. it's my job to put them in situations where they can be professionals. >> if you don't have a ticket to tonight's game, that's okay, you can catch the game right here on newschannel5 starting at 8:30. stay tuned for our post-game special.

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trending tonight, a panda playing in the snow. the national zoo shared this video of him rolling around and sliding in the snow. excited. the video has been viewed more than one million times since this morning. he is. hundreds of people braved icy waters today for a heart warming cause. special olympics hosted its 10th annual polar plunge. this year's donations reached more than $1700.

be sure to catch a brand- new edition of academic challenge tonight. teams from edison, fairless, and indian valley compete. tonight is a good night to stay home because it is chilly. >> we'll be into the mid-30s for lows, then back in the 40s for monday and as the day.

in late january. a little snow and rain moves in tuesday late, so nothing really significant as we just watch this storm unfold for the east coast. if you have family and friends, make sure you're contacting them throughout the weekend. thanks everybody for watching newschannel5 at 6:00. we are back at 11:00. we leave you tonight with pictures of that blizzard that is pounding new york city.