our big story tonight at 6:00, two recent accidents on area roads are showing a common connection. two women who were co-workers. >> the colleagues that spend their days helping others are trying to help themselves. tracy carloss is live with this story that you'll see on 5. >> reporter: chris and danita, one of those women are in critical condition and the sadness. in a split second this wrong- way driver killed a woman who many. a woman who would help those who needed the help the most. >> it really hits home when they are young like lakisha. >> reporter: 2-year-old kenneth was driving the wrong way,

kenneth was driving the wrong way. >> she would not call off under any circumstance because she felt like it was letting down the residents. >> reporter: she had finished her shift at the nursing home shortly before she was killed. >> she was, she was just a star in the staff. >> reporter: this is not the first tragedy that staff and patients here have suffered. just a few weeks ago the housekeeper was walking at 150th and meredith when she was hit by the driver who took off as she nearly died. >> thank goodness that she is doing great in her recovery. that we are really hoping to have her back soon. >> reporter: two women were dedicated to helping others. now workers, and the patients, they are finding themselves trying to mend their own broken hearts.

are still looking for the driver of that white van who hit jean and the owner of the nursing home have offered to pay for all of jean's rehabilitation. live in cleveland tracy carloss news channel 5. a news alert now about a preliminary autopsy report detailing what may have happened to a family before their home exploded. the summit county medical examiner found smoke sot. however no evidence of smoke inhalation was detected in the bodies of cindy matther and her two daughters. murder-suicide is one of the options in last month's deadly blast. but the final cause of death won't be determined for several more weeks. police need your help tonight in identifying who was posing as officers with their department. here is what's happening. they say that these people are asking elderly residence to help them in the investigation by withdrawing large amounts of money from their accounts.

to the bank by the suspects. the other victim was met at their home. anyone that may have information is asked to call akron police. and also cleveland police are trying to identify a man that stole an elderly woman's wallet. investigators say that this man walked out of the room after the suspect asked the woman where the bathroom was. she went in and checked her purse and her wallet was gone. law enforcement around the cleveland area still on the lookout for two convicted felons that escaped from the correctional facility. tucker and shepherd escaped sunday morning after throwing a pool ball through a window. the facility, which is operated by oriana house is an alternative to incas ration out of prison. the ohio attorney's office is suing a cleveland used car company for failing to provide titles to car buyers. a lawsuit was filed against champion marketing group for

its customers their title within 40 days. it's at several locations around cleveland on west 130th, the other locations were on west 140th, lorain avenue, yorkshire road and stanford drive. the ag's office received nearly two dozen complaints about this dealer. well the power of five tracking changes in the forecast. mark is here now with a first look at weather. >> already here after record highs today in the 60s everywhere in northern ohio. look at the cold air. really well defined seeping south and east. cleveland 60s earlier today. there you go 61 now in to the lower and middle 40s, so wear your coats if you are coming downtown and watch the cold air creeping in. the current temps, 50s over to new philly and canton dropping to 51. same for akron. everyone is going to see these temps falling through the 40s during the evening hours. sunshine or mainly clear skies

moving in as we do have isolated rain in the wet snow area that will try to move in tonight. but notice that they will wait until after you're done with your evening plans. after midnight a brief sprinkle or flurry. but the 40s, 50s at 6:00 p.m. lower and middle 40s for cleveland. upper 40s for akron and canton at 8:00 p.m. and then by 10:00 p.m., everyone will be teetering on the 40-degree mark. we will be cold for a little while. i'll tell you how long plus any forecast? coming up. many schools here in north east ohio have not had any snow days this winter. students at field high school, they got the day off because of widespread illness. custodians and teachers spent the day cleaning and disinfecting the buildings and buses. yesterday 30% of the students were home sick with diarrhea or vomiting symptoms.

but the first day for this school year. >> well i mean in the 18 years that i have been a bus driver to local schools, that's never happened before. amount. >> the high school will reopen tomorrow, but the students will have an excused absence if parents keep them home the rest of the week. >> the latest on what's happening with the presidential candidates, the republican field is getting smaller. rick santorum is expected to announce tonight that he'll be dropping out of the presidential race. in the caucuses on monday night, santorum finished in last place of the major republican candidates. and rand paul dropped out of the race this morning after finishing fifth in the caucuses. in a video posted to his supporters today, paul says he will continue to fight for criminal justice reform and privacy issues. he says he will now focus on kentucky senator.

calling for a rematch in iowa. in several tweets he said earlier today that trump is claiming senator ted cruz stole his win in the caucuses, explaning the claim trump says that cruz's campaign sent an e- mail claiming ben carson had dropped out urging carson voters to vote for cruz instead. trump is calling for cruz's results to be either disqualified or hold a new election. it's an underground election that is expected to increase. we are talking about human trafficking. they are preparing for it, joining us live. this crime is no stranger to large events? >> reporter: that's right. whenever a lot of people congregate it is common for sex crimes to rise. one local group is looking to help victims during the rnc. one way they are doing so is by training hotel staff to recognize the signs of the sex slave. >> slavery. that's what we're talking

people that are being forced to do things against their will that they don't want to do. un. if gnatly that it's happen -- unfortunately it's happening in every neighborhood. >> reporter: greater cleveland's coordinate response to human trafficking. made up of 19 local organizations, the response effort, they are planning to train restaurant workers, the emergency room doctors and their staff to know what human trafficking looks like. that means looking at tattoos and how the man speaks to a girl or woman. getting help is another part of the plan, the cleveland rape crisis center runs a hotline for victims. the center tells me that they plan to increase their hotline staff during the convention. it is not just the rnc that the super bowl is also known to draw very high levels of human trafficking. the super bowl is this sunday in san francisco and i just spoke to the anti-trafficking bay area group. they tell me they are also

and hospitality industries. they are even educating airport personnels in hopes of stopping trafficking in transit. live in cleveland news channel 5. the university of akron has received generous donations from two alumni. and now the honors college will have a new name. investigator jonathan walsh joins us live. jonathan, this is very positive because these two people have been giving to the university for years. >> reporter: you said it, gary and pamela william haves been supporting the university since 1969 to the tune of more than $10 million. so today a big celebration and ceremony as the university of akron named the university's honor college dr. gary b. and williams honor college. the size and scope of the donations can transform a part of the university. with it the academic experience and the lives of students. the school says enrollment in

nearly 30% in the past five years alone. >> it's an honor to make this contribution. it is not a burden. but something that we have talked about for years, allowing the university to move forward. >> and now a part of the money will be used for combining the physical sciences and the social sciences to better understand what people need in today's world. i'm investigator jonathan walsh news channel 5. speaking of giving, new at 6:00, king james is in the giving mood. giving an elderly man the gift of the lifetime. >> this is quite a story, giving the shoot to walter robinson very ill. they may not be able to see the other game in person. they gave words of encouragement, to never give up and that the sky is the limit. also thanking them for being one of his biggest supporters.

campaign to have the freedom award given to them. 100,000 signatures are needed. fowler was the first ballplayer to enlist in the military after earl harbor. e has 256 wins, starts, innings played, strikeouts, complete games. a health alert. >> the cdc issues an unsettling warning about the flu. what you need to know about the potential outbreak. disturbing new details of overdosed. why investigators are looking at a family member for the crime. >> e-mail us at

around to ohio tonight, the man accused of ambushing and killing a police officer in southwestern ohio appeared in court this afternoon, hirschel jones plead not guilty to murdering a police officer. he shot and killed danville

right his ex-girlfriend warned police that he was looking to, "kill a cop." charges expected to be filed against a mother who took the children to a local hospital unconscious after found in the kitchen floor of their apartment. police are still waiting for toxicology reports to find out if the children in fact ingested some type of poison. if you're the one i'm talking to, you better think about getting it soon because the cdc says the number of reported cases are starting to increase. the agency says they are getting reports now of severe flu illnesses in young and middle-age adults infected with the strain of the flu. and it will take two weeks after you get a flu shot for it to start working. flu season typically peaks between december and february and it can last as late as may. so go do it.

coming to cleveland to make you smile as home depot announces they are preparing for a big spring season. they're looking for anyone who would like to work as a cashier to operations, to online order fulfillment. that these positions will be both permanent and seasonal. part-time positions. nationwide the company says they are aiming to hire more than 80,000 people. the price for a gallon of gas, have you noticed they will continue to bottom out standing at $1.78. the average across the state is right around $1.59. drivers in canton are seeing the lowest prices at $1.54. akron and cleveland drivers are average. but it's low. >> yes. >> we're not complaining. >> not at all. >> yeah. and fill up today as you'll while. >> i didn't pay. it was under $40. >> it was great. >> yeah, i'm not complaining. i grabbed my winter coat today not thinking that they would

and the keys of the truck and it's sweating. >> yes. it was 60s when i came in and that's a record high for cleveland. akron set a record high of 62. 62 in mansfield a new record high broken from 125 years ago. center back in the 1800s. let's take a live look downtown akron. look at that beautiful twilight little star shine out there as you look at the very top of your screen here. any way quiet weather as far as the skies go. we are still seeing windy conditions around the area. that will continue to be blustery through the evening and the overnight. currently 41 downtown cleveland. 41 degrees. we'll widen out the view, 43 in

50 in peninsula with 40 at avon lake. temps have really fallen. 56 in jackson, 51 for akron and canton and mid-50s for alliance. look at those temps falling from the northeast everyone will cool down still 57 over new philly down to 47. 53 in mill mill. we'll continue to see these winds gusting. 29 miles per hour, the wind gust of 28 miles per hour in elyria. 25 for worcester and canton. so still blustery. that's the main headline here. 63 the official high. breaks the old record from 1890 of 57 degrees. we blew it away by six degrees. same for the akron area. all right a new record.

well below normal with the front now. from virginia all do carolina as they will continue to progress towards the east coast and then stall out there, all right? in the meantime for us we'll get colder air filtering in with a little tiny bit of the isolated rain and wet snow trying to move in. we'll see some flurries overnight tonight. you may see a light accumulation in the snow belt by sunrise focusing in tomorrow for maybe an inch, a little bit more. of the lake effect snow showers. tonight cloudy and breezy. 32 degrees, tomorrow only 35. back to seasonable weather. mainly cloudy with some lake effect snow continuing with a

police, how about that seven day? we will cool down. do we have a winter storm coming our way any time soon? let's take a look. friday 38 dry, no winter storm. there saturday 42 dry. sunday super bowl 42 dry. now in the super powell for monday and tuesday -- for monday and tuesday with a low near 19. right at this very moment no major winter storm for northern ohio at least for the next couple of days. for the weather this morning it was awesome. thank you, mark. >> it's amazing how he makes weather. >> yes, i don't know how he does it. all right lebron james and

something he said on super bowl media day. this young woman right here talking to me is going to the super bowl. we'll explain that when we come

cavaliers are at charlotte tonight trying to turn the winning streak to six. a little nfl and nba crossover today between cam newton and lebron. cam newton was asked if he was

responding by saying why can't lebron be the cam newton of power forwards? well the tables were turned on lebron today. >> i heard that. i'm not a power of four. >> will you ever be? >> i don't know. i like being the wing guy. >> today is national signing day for college football. lsu appears to be the big winner across the kids, making commitment of the schools across the country. in the meantime in ohio state the buckeyes landed 25 new players, including four from northeast ohio. and luke farrell. maple heights, and it is a top five class nationally. >> any way that i look at it, it'll be more than the rankings. some people have 25 as the average, you know, that i just think it is appealing to me and to know that we're one of the top teams in the country as far

again what does it all mean? nothing. >> i was just watching like on espn and stuff like that. and it is kind of my favorite color. then it was for ohio and i was like all right, i like this team. >> it's going to be exciting for me. it means a lot. i've been exited since april 18. and just knowing and putting my name on the line, finalizing it, it is big for me. >> a lot of high school kids, they are having a big sigh of relief today. all right, do you have this, making this special through the special wish foundation as they would give them three tickets to the super bowl. and they battled through pediatric cancer after 42 blood transfusions. this will be a welcoming break. [ laughter ] >> usually i listen to my mom. i got the super bowl tickets and it's wonderful. >> very cool. what a great thing. >> that is real nice to have. >> a trip of a lifetime.

very surprised and happy. >> all right, go ahead. >> i need about six. >> i could get you one in front of the monitor over there. >> we'll see you back here tonight at 11:00. no one is going to the super bowl.