good afternoon. this advertise leon bibb leading the broadcast with the story of change in the weather. snow is coming down right now in some areas. power of 5 meteorologist tera blake is here checking in on the all-important weather forecast. how are we looking? >> all day rain event yesterday. now all day snow event for the thursday forecast. we start out with the north

the totals in a few minutes. the low is progressing toward new york. for us, we are on the back end where the heavier snow is currently sitting. west siders have seen the majority. the heavier pockets are south of norwalk. we have steuben, fairfield, bronson seeing a little bit of heavier snow. farther east, southern sections of cuyahoga and medina as well as summit and stark with pockets of heavy snowfall, too. for the most part this is light wind driving the wet heavy conditions on 71, 80, 77 and 271. for the most part it's still going to be in place for the evening commute. troublesome, yes. possibly slower, too. moderate snowfall on the east side of cuyahoga stretching

the winds are quite breezy making it feel heavier for us. we have 2 to 4 with the winter weather advisory until 7:00 p.m. tonight. temperatures stay here hovering near freezing. we will talk about a warm up for the weekend in minutes. lorain schools are on a lock down. the district of lour cane tells us it has been notified about what it calls a possible perpetrator in the area. sources at horizon school academy are part of the lock down. the man approached students wearing all black and a ski mask. the police department will hold a news conference shortly. you can watch it live on our app. more and more candidates are scheduling appearances in our area. today senator bernie sanders. he just finished speaking at baldwin wallace university. dhomonique ricks has more.

lining up before 6:00 a.m. it's bernie's third stop in ohio, likely not to be his last as many of the stops at colleges and universities are focused on the cost of higher education and other financial concerns for students. the most recent poll shows he is nearly tied with hillary clinton in ohio with our primary three weeks away. >> we have come a long way in the last nine months. in the last week or so there were three national polls that actually had us in the lead. [ applause ] >> reporter: it is a busy day for the sanders campaign. after a stop in ohio, he is heading to flint, michigan, then to illinois. in the newsroom, dhomonique ricks, news channel 5. >> many thanks for your report. on the other side of the aisle, the republicans are texas. most of the candidate's prime objections are to do what they have failed so far to do, stop

trump started as an out candidate, the front-runner is confident as ever. he said his opponents such as marco rubio could be in for a rough night. >> we will be totally prepared. people have not done well again me. so far everybody that has attacked me has gone down. >> all five remaining g.o.p. candidates including ohio governor kasich will be in attendance. this is the final debate before next week's super tuesday primaries. now to a story you will see only on news channel 5. a late night hit and run sent two akron police officers to the hospital to be treated for their injuries. a search is underway for the driver of the van that hit the police. nick foley followed the story all morning and has what he knows. >> reporter: akron police respond to a crash involving two of their own. investigators tell news channel 5 the officers in an s.u.v. cruiser were heating south on south arlington to the call of a fight in progress where the

the violent collision causing damage to both vehicles with airbags deployed in the police s.u.v. additional officers responded to the scene including a canine. the driver of the van was not found. police determined the van was stolen. the officers were transported to nearby hospitals but were later treated and released. the investigation into the crash continues. letter in akron, nick foley, news channel 5. a 16-year-old boy is in custody after police say he shot at the fourth district police station in southeast cleveland. this is video from the scene. it is about a block from the police station. police heard shots and saw the suspect running away. the boy apparently shot himself in the thigh while fleeing. he was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover. officials say the officer did not fire any shots. new at noon, a cleveland man accused of calling in a

four years in prison. spirlin edwards assaulted his ex-girlfriend, slashed her tires and sent threatening messages. in may he called in a bomb threat. this morning he was sentenced to four years and 11 months for inducing panic and telecommunications harassment. now to a traffic alert. police reopened one lane of eastbound interstate 480 near route 91. the road had been closed this morning. there was a jackknifed semi. the driver was trapped and needed to be pulled out. twinsburg fire department tweeted that he is being taken to the hospital but the truck is on the side of the road and drivers should use caution in the area. winter is kicking its heels on the ohio turnpike. they expect the ban will be in place until this evening. the turnpike is now allow -- is

with high campers from the western sections of the ohio turnpike. another day of severe weather on the east coast. we will show you the cleanup efforts in virginia. which was hit by powerful tornadoes. and in michigan, the family of the man accused of shooting and killing six people is sharing more of his mental state. >> also, school report cards are due today in ohio.

a man hunt underway for a robbery suspect running since monday. this is video showing how javon smith escaped from the police station. this is video of police searching for him during his booking. then smith, age 21, waited until the officer was distracted on the phone and he made his dash to escape taking off his shoes and dart out the backdoor. if you know where he is, call any police department. a former prison escapee could go free. frank freshwater spent 66 years on the lamb after escaping from the ohio prison work farm in sandusky in 1959. freshwater was transferred there from mansfield prison, later the site of the movie shawshank redemption. last year he was caught in florida. today an ohio parole board will hear arguments on whether to

right now he is serving time for a 1957 manslaughter conviction. happening today, higher education officials will meet to discuss ways to step up sexual violence prevention on college campuses. today summit is at the columbus state community college. all ohio institutions and several private ones are attending. they will review ideas from state and national experts on the topic. in other news, education news, the ohio department of education will release a second round of school report cards. the data will include ranking for overall school achievement, annual progress and achievement gap. the first round of report cards included literacy levels and high school graduation levels. happening today, the plans to renovate the main avenue revealed.

hotel. it will include new signs, pavement striping and seating areas in confusing zone that separates the warehouse from the flats eastbound develop. the presentation begins at 5:30. amazing video out of new york. more of the coast guard rescue where the coast guard needed to rescue itself. quite a story. we will have it. now here is tera. >> the heaviest snowfall is here on the west side. snow totals and how long flakes will be flying this afternoon.

speculations are circulating in washington that president obama is looking at a republican to replace supreme court justice antonin scalia. an inside source is telling cnn

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northeast ohio we have to put on a parka. >> yes. >> we have ongoing snow showers in northeast ohio. a little different set up west side getting hit harder than the east side. wet in cleveland. it's -- at times it felt more like rainfall. extremely light. not impacting driving as much with this storm. certainly helpful for afternoon and evening plans. i think it will pick up. i will show you timing and locations in minutes. 32 degrees. northwest winds at 25 miles per hour making it feel like 19 degrees. here is a look at your radar. heaviest darkest purpose police on the west side. it's just recently picked up here, especially erie and huron counties. no advisories in place for the west side mainly the east side. it is contributing to what will be lake effect. you have snow in erie, north fairfield and new london as

at this point as it holds south it doesn't hold together. lighter in richland and ashland county. blooming grove, ashland seeing light to moderate snow. it is consistent on the west side. that's where the totals will be bigger than what east siders have seen. moderate snow in southern sections. much of cuyahoga is on the lighter side. moderate snow showing up on 422, newbury, bainbridge, hiram rapids not too bad and to ashtabula. some of you are seeing dry conditions, especially to and radar doesn't stretch as far over so you have light snow in place. 31 ashtabula. this line is expected to shift a little farther south and east as our low continues to kick home. then we transition into the

have our winter weather advisory until 7:00 p.m. tonight less than an additional inch, 2 to 4 in total from the beginning of today until this event ends nor your friday morning. let's look at totals, 2 inches southern lorain to northern wayne and well as medina. also noticing erie and huron. pushing east, eastern cuyahoga half an inch. a tenth in portage for ravenna. some of us not seeing much. we are significantly down on the year for cleveland to akron to mansfield. this month has been impressive. akron the most at 14 inches but down 14 to 30 inches for the snowy season. winds are impacting us here. 36 miles per hour wind gusts. it's makinged temperatures feel like they are down into the teens. for evening plans, watch out, there is the next line. we start to see it better in the overnight hours as well as for your friday forecast. let's take a look at the seven

letter we want to remind you driving in your car, turn on cleveland star 102, 98.5 ncx

snow fading into the evening hours.

>> i'm sara carnes. we will check in with retirement and financial expert bill smith. he is president of w.a. smith financial group and he is standing by in his retirement solutions studio with his retirement tip. >> we have been hearing about interest rates and how rising interest rates may affect the economy and stock markets. the federal open market committee has been keeping the federal funds rate near zero in an effort to make money more he is simply attainable and cheaper to borrow. the rising of interest rates generally indicates that the economy is on a stronger found days. a stronger economy shows

both aspects of a rising interest rate environment. so, in a nutshell, we need the interest rates to rise because the economy needs to be on a much more stable foundation without assistance from the government. an interest rate hike would help safers by way of making more interest on savings vehicles such as c.d.s, money market accounts and certain bank accounts and makes money harder to borrow or more expensive and rising interest rates may cause increased volatility in the stock market. anyway you spin it, rising interest rates will have an effect on you and your money. if you are ready to have your portfolio reviewed and develop a game plan for imminent interest rate hikes, e-mail us

or you can simply call my office and that's today's money tip. >> thanks so much, bill. if you would like more information, tune in to retirement solutions with bill smith sundays 59 noon and you can call the office 866-417-

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