the flood watch, the only exception fayette and union county. at this point i don't foresee widespread flooding. there will be ponding on the roads and washed out roads at least in spots. especially rural dirt roads. now, notice more like showers for the afternoon, and there may be some occasional cloud-to-ground lightning. we're close to our high for the day.

this is just a cluster of rain coming through switzerland, ripley, gallatin, also toward peeples. upper 30s to the west, and mid # 50s to the east. we'll talk about the transition to snow and talk about the warmer air coming up. a crash of a tree just

luckily nobody was urlt had -- hurt. the fire department responded right away. we're waiting to see what the inspector says and insurance and go from there. >> john: other news now a family pet starved to death and thrown in a dumpster. animal advocates turned out for tougher penalties in owe high. >> katy schmuck and jacob goodwin walked into the courtroom quietly with their attorneys. the judge laid out the charges and then set a pre-trial hearing allowing time for discovery. that hearing is scheduled for march 16th. at that time if either one wants to plea, it will be taken then. near schmuck nor goodwin can own an animal or live with someone

case is pending. sheriff richard jones says this is one of the worst cases of animal neglect for years. schmuck left her dog with town. >> he said he checked on the animal three times but never let it out of the cage. the dog died in its own waste in the cage which was then thrown in the dumpster. they face misdemeanor charges, if convicted they could face up to six months in jail and a fine. >> advocates for animals say animal abusers in ohio should face stricter penalties. >> until we can get better laws enacted. we want to ask that he set the maximum penalty and set an example. >> the legislation is still pending.

>> you can read more about this story on our website at local12.com. >> big game tonight at the cintas center. villanova. >> villanova is the nation's top >> local 12's adam clements is joining us now. his fans are already gathering to get the tickets into the game. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> it is a party in front of the cintas center. they started lining up right around #:00 this morning. these are fans that already have tickets. for student tickets, it is pretty much first come, first serve. the student section is opening up at 5:30. a big game indeed. the city hasn't seen anything like this in quite a long time. two top five teams facing off

let's go back to december 31st. that's when these first two teams faced off. it was not pretty. point guard adam sumner went down and then down went the xavier musketeers. they got hammered and would go on to lose all of that game and several others. today it is about redemption. that's what the fans are hoping for. they are excited and riled up and ready for a big "w" here at the cintas center. >> just the excitement that's going around the game. everybody is out here already getting ready. just the atmosphere, too. >> it is going to be crazy. just as a senior, it is my fourth year here. it is definitely the most excitement that we've had around campus for a game. two highly ranked teams.

the buzz around campus is unbelievable. >> the buzz here on campus still going on, playing some sort of game that i have never seen before, it looks like a lot of fun. swag bag. this is what all of the fans will get when they head to the big east tournament. got a towel in here. a rally towel they are calling it. these are what the kids going to the big east tournament coming up in march. i want to get the crowd involved. it wouldn't be a party if we didn't get the crowd involved. let's go x. john, we will send it back to you in the studio. >> now the last time they beat a top ranked team was back in 2004

number one st. joseph team in

>> trump t t >> goshen township is looking for a new police chief.

position last night. a majority of the board members wanted a change at the top. combs tells local 12 the decision to fire him was political and he had told board members that he would not resign. donald trump is on a roll after his big win in nevada. adding to his victories in new hampshire and south carolina. as mark albert explains, his challengers say the race is just heating up and they are the ones who can stop the billionaire businessman. >> we love nevada. we love nevada, thank you. >> donald trump scored a huge victory in the nevada caucuses tuesday night. >> we won with the evangelicals, we won with old, we won with highly educated, we won with poorly educated. >> 46% were the hispanics. >> marco rubio and ted cruz are

each claims they are the only ones who can beat trump and both agree there's still time to take him down. >> the republican nomination is decided by delegates. over 1200 delegates. >> all eyes are now on next week's super tuesday with 595 delegates at stake. >> i cannot wait to get home to the great state of texas! >> texas has become a must-win state for ted cruz. if the senator hopes to remain a viable alternative to trump. >> it is our duty as texas conservatives to support a leader that we can trust. >> wednesday he picked up the endorsement of texas governor greg abbott. cbs news, the white house. >> ted cruz is leading in the polls in his home state of texas, but donald trump is

the gop candidates will debate in houston tomorrow night. >> a historic decision, why a jury ordered johnson & johnson to pay millions of hey, what are you doing? getting the coats. for a half hour? bob just got time warner cable. he's getting more. more what? more than 30,000 movies and shows on demand, most for free. look, he's dvr-ing like 6 shows at once. let's go. ah, this grass is so much greener than on our tv. why are your shoes off? because i'm on their bed.

discover how much more is included. are those meatballs still circulating? switch to time warner cable today and ask how you can get a

>> a missouri jury has ordered johnson and johnson to pay

lawsuit over its talcom powder. alleging that he died of ovarian cancer because of the product. the company is appealing the ruling which represents the first award of damages by a u.s. jury over similar claims. johnson & johnson says its stands by the safety of its talcom powder. designers in london are putting a new twist on seats. similar airlines have shown interest in the twister which takes up no more space than your typical economy street. >> the dow jones is down 96 points. the s&p 500 is down 12 points. you can catch the closing numbers today on local 12 news first at 4:00.

could give w >> the national weather service says that a tornado hit downtown pensacola, florida on tuesday night. the twister ripped apart an apartment complex. a couple talked about surviving the storm. >> i'll tell you what, for 30

>> it was so sudden. >> they always say go to a room with no windows. we got a big closet on the stairwell, i just pushed her in there and went in behind her. when she went down. there was glass all over, it was that powerful. >> we didn't have time to grab a flashlight or anything. just run and trying to get in the closet. we were both pulling on it and we couldn't get it closed. just panic. >> shattered the glass. and cut her knees all up. she kneeled down on the tile floor. >> the paramedics put band-aids on it and did the best they could. it was just something you would never want to imagine going through, never. >> i'm just thankful everybody is okay. >> this is a big area of low pressure.

and the southeast. rain in the middle where we are. and winter weather not that far up the road. there's a blizzard warning for areas just to the east of chicago. the winter side of this system is now. tonight and tomorrow, we'll see it transition over to snow. for the remainder of the afternoon, temperatures in the 50s and 40s. we're also looking at the possibility for pockets of heavy rain, gusty winds, perhaps some small hail, some occasional cloud-to-ground lightning. gradually from late this evening, initially areas north and northwest through the overnight, we'll see rain transition over to snow. i believe we see more clusters of rain this afternoon. unlike earlier today where we had widespread soaking rain. on precision doppler 12 hd, a

lined up from ripley, dearborn county. back toward boone, kent and campbell county. that's moving to the northeast at 30 to 35 miles an hour. the main concerns with these clusters of rain and storms, moving into the 275 loop into the next 20 minutes.

storms are on the move. everyone to the north and northeast of cincinnati dry for the time being. we'll watch that band of storms move to the northeast with time. we're not expecting severe weather this afternoon, but there may be small hail, gusty winds and occasional cloud-to-ground lightning. i've updated the hour-by-hour forecast on local 12's weather authority app. cloudy sky. windchill 33. temperatures falling through the 50s and 40s over the next few hours. afternoon showers and thunderstorms before a transition from rain to snow tonight. there may be areas of blowing snow tomorrow. thursday will be windy. accumulations will be minimal.

winter in full force. chicago back to st. louis, meanwhile you've got a moderate risk for severe weather in the carolinas. an outside chance for stronger storms, but at this point, i don't see severe weather being likely. clusters of rain through the afternoon. then the transition over to snow will begin late this evening and continue overnight. i expect mainly wet roads tomorrow and an inch or less of accumulation accumulation. rain to snow tonight. outside chance for thunderstorms this afternoon. visibility will be down and of with snow tomorrow. it is an inch or less of wet snow. temperatures fall through the afternoon and then fall through the 40s and into the 30s this evening. transition from rain to snow

an inch or less of snow, nearly steady temperatures on thursday. a nice warm-up for the weekend. i'll update the forecast on local12.com and on local 12 at 4:00 and 5:00. >> we just found out police are investigating a body found at a park. the butler county coroner confirms they found out about this body yesterday.

man or a woman, or the conditionon >> be sure to watch local 12 tonight. survivor at 8:00. criminal minds at 9:00. stay tuned for the hour-by-hour forecast on local 12 news live at 11:00. >> as the sign outside of water canyon says you may get wet, or drenched.

everything moving >> chelsea: oh, come on. you're not scared of a little thunder, are you? >> summer: no, i'm -- i'm just scared about luca, that what i warned him about came true. [ door opens ] >> adam: [ sighs ] it is not fun out there. and that little bit of snow that we got's already turned into ice. >> chelsea: i'm glad you made it home in one piece. >> adam: me, too. and what are you doing here? you taking refuge? >> summer: no, not exactly. >> adam: well, you can tell me about it over a drink. how's that sound? >> summer: uh, why -- why are your hands shaking? >> adam: huh?