right now at 6:00, a home goes up in flames in elyria overnight. how firefighters rescued everyone inside. coming up. >> plus, what sparked this explosion and how it's impacting school today. great news in downtown cleveland. we're going to look at developments for new places to live, eat, work, and play. but, first, here's holly. thank you so much, alyssa.

winds are 10, 15 miles per hour sustained there. 's a chill in the air, but we're seasonal in the field. temperatures in the 20s right now. we have scattered light snow. we have low 30s for highs today. i think it's just going to end up mainly overcast skies. a few peaks of sunshine. once we get past light showers this morning. here is an overview of radar. the lighter snow that was falling while you were asleep has really diminished. now we're left with a random flurry. most of it has, indeed, moved off to the east. all of that being said, we're in pretty good shape. we're going to see how the roads are so far. here is a look with dani. >> good morning to all of you. we're starting this wednesday morning off pretty quiet. no accidents or major delays. i am seeing a little, just a 71. airport. as you can see, everybody is still getting by just fine.

we take a look at the drive times on 480. 11-minute commute headed east. that slow traffic is only adding two minutes to your commute. john, back to you. >> breaking news out of elyria, responding to a huge house fire on 11th street overnight. we got the video from tmc news. you can see flames were billowing out of the home. we know at least two people and two dogs were rescued. this is a look at the scene after the fire was put out. two people were taken to the hospital to get checked out. so far it's unclear what caused that fire. more breaking news. we learned one person was killed in a house explosion. >> it happened in newcomerstown. it's south of akron. our sister station in columbus confirms the fatality. one homeowner had been reported missing.

after the explosion happened around 9:00 last night. the newcomerstown district has schools. this picture from the reporter shows how close the flames were to an elementary school. we'll continue to follow this story throughout the morning. >> the cleveland police union vows to fight the firings of six officers of a deadly high speed chase. the case made headlines around the world in 2012. 137 shots fired at a car. the unarmed suspects both killed. among the fired officer, michael breelow who was acquitted for firing the final 15 shots. the union is calling the firings politically motivated. >> there's two people promoted out of this whole thing. who are those, folks? mike mcgrath, the then police director. suspensions. rules. they filed grievances to get

the appeal will go before abarbitrator. the final outcome could take months. >> new rules will be in place about fake weapons that look very real. the prosecutor's office are launching a new initiative. they're saying they are seeing more cases of young offenders using things like pellets and air guns to scare people. they will let the juvenile court detain youth offenders or put them on probation for using the look alike weapons. right now the population is growing in downtown cleveland. close to 300 apartments are under construction with another 4,000 in the works. alyssa raymond joins us live this morning with a look at what's ahead for downtown. it sounds exciting, alyssa. >> reporter: it is exciting. we have residences, restaurants.

by the end of the may when the national retail conference is over, that's when the wave of announced. luxury apartments, retail stores, restaurants. >> the buzz word is to be a 24- hour city. city. >> terri coin works for knight frank. they helped with the ymca and cleveland athletic club. the new owners of the multimillion dollars building with help meet supply. >> you all of a sudden tighten up the office market that gives you a stabilized office market and allows people to build new buildings. >> coin says we see this happening in the flats and the stabilized market sparked the nukeous project.

condominiums, hotel rooms, and stores. >> nucleus has well known retail tenants that they haven't announced yet. so that will really pick it up when that happens. >> from west 10th to east 17 17th, the new mixes in with the old, and what happens here is said to have a ripple effect far beyond the downtown. >> this little patch of downtown, as it surges, takes with it the entire city, and the message is really good. >> and the rise in parking prices, you may not see this as a good thing, but coin says it's a direct reflection of a healthy downtown. back to you in the studio. >> all right. alyssa, thanks. coming in on your morning news feed, federal land in a small oregon community, a violent end. one person is dead after a shootout involving law enforcement. the fbi says it was trying to arrest members of an armed group that occupied a wildlife

arrested. no officers were hurt. the person who was killed was the subject of a federal arrest. investigators still are not sure what made a bus suddenly jump the curb, killing principal susan jordan and killing two kids. it happened during routine near indianapolis. jordan pushed several students hit her. the long time principal is being remembered for her dedication and compassion. classes are canceled today. lawmakers in indiana and washington are pushing to make cursive writing a mandatory part of the school curriculum. supporters of the bill in washington say knowing cursive is critical to understanding documents. they say there are better ways to spend their time, typing, we called it keyboarding. that's how old i am. that was very important in school. but psychologists are weighing

they're saying that it teaches self-discipline, and it's a necessary hand-eye coordination movement that kids need to learn. >> that's a real good point. your name? are you going to sign it with hearts and dotting the i. >> we'll get to that point. >> john uses the hearts. >> we're going to buy a house. yeah, that's the way it is. >> thank you. >> can i get an autograph later to see what your autograph looks like. from niagara falls to niagara dips. why it may be a trickle, at least temporarily. the questions your doctor may start to ask you about depression. coming up. lynna, we have your forecast. most of the snow has already stopped, just chilly today, seasonal. we'll be chilly now. 30s later. we're tracking snow. we're tracking a warmup.

you see them on your television, wkyc.com. no need for you to stress. we've got you. it's 6:09.

doctors are asked to screen people for depression and pregnant and new moms should be screened for depression. have you felt down a lot? or how often do you feel tired or couldn't concentrate?

discussing plans to replace 115-year-old bridges that link the mainlands to islands near the brink of the falls. replacing the bridges means reducing the flow on the american side of the fall. >> that can't be an easy task. >> no. >> you have the handle? you turn it off? can you imagine? >> we need a plumber. it's not working right. >> get out the wrench. it has to be real tight. oh, my gosh. >> how does that work. >> you're not kidding. we have such a warmup on the way. we're starting off-seasonal and snowy in spots. temperatures are in the 20s. mid to upper 20s. wind chill in the teens. make sure you're bundled up. scattered snow, a lot of it has already fizzled out. i will show you what i mean on radar. temperatures will remain pretty seasonal here midweek and even into the next couple of days.

it's going to have you buzzing with some really happy news. we'll see temperatures back and forth. this is pretty typical, but last weekend in january and with the forecast we have, i think you're going to be pretty amazed. upper 20s at 9:00. low 30s through noon and this afternoon. flurries still possible through mid-morning, but then we really see those chances go away complete approximately for today before another -- completely today before another system moves in tomorrow. 20s regionally and locally, it's 20s. it's breezy. winds are sustained at 10, 15 miles per hour. that's giving us these feels like temperature in the teens. akron-canton, 17, is what it feels like for you. 19 downtown. 16 in elyria, 19 in mansfield. over the past few hours, we've

's more snow offshore. lake ashtabula county, you could see showers moving in here shortly. but, as i mentioned, we have another little system that will be moving in tomorrow. so we get past this morning's snow showers, lake effect. and we end up with mostly cloudy sky the rest of today. looks like for our thursday we'll begin the day dry and snow showers could move in. we'll see showers tomorrow before things wind down. and behind this, we'll see the warmup we've been talking about. from 30s today to another round of snow possible tomorrow into friday. should be light in accumulation. like i said, maybe an inch or so. then, look at saturday. if you're not staring at your television, if you're getting the lunches packed, it's going to be 50 degrees on saturday. and dry. low 50s on sunday, rain chances were 40s on monday of next

february 1st. tuesday is groundhog day. february 2nd. we'll see. it's coming up on 6:16. here's a check on your drive. brought to you by mike bass ford. ford. >> good morning to you. the commute is still looking great at 6:16. no problems. no accidents to the south. we're all green and clean. normal drive times, even state route 8 looks good through the region. no problems there. green to the north. this is a perfect commute to start your wednesday. the east shoreway in euclid. for those of you who take the east shoreway, it's your normal 10--minute commute. >> dani, thank you. it's almost 6:17. time for my biggest winners and

for my biggest loser, well, it wasn't too tough to find this one. the clippers. they can't avoid headlines for their internal problems. blake griffin has been wearing everything but a clippers jersey. he got into an argument and punched the team's equipment guy at a toronto restaurant. no idea what the argument was about, but he broke his hand. he missed the last 11 games with a quad injury. the clippers are 11-3 without him in the lineup. i'm just saying they're 11-3. griffin has apologized but that's a dumb move. >> my biggest winners come from loraine county. the 8th grade girls -- there was not enough players to get through the basketball season, so they joined forces. what a team they've become. they've already won two tournaments, and they keep

work. even better. thanks to lisa for sending in the picture. both schools may not have had a basketball season this year, but they said, you know what, let's join together and have a and they're winning. if you would like to nominate your championship or all-star, send them to me or tweet them to me at john wkyc. manager. i mean, if he broke griffin's hand, what does he look like? just saying. >> i don't want to see it. clippers have way too many problems. >> time now is 6:18. >> there are some big changes coming soon to netflix, including the fan favorite series house of cards, and classics that ares the-- that are disappearing. >> this was taken out of

dear. yes, certainly happening right there. renee, thank you so much for sending it in. it's an adorable picture. we appreciate it every single

6:22 right now. apparently we like our alcohol. liquor sales topped a billion dollars which unseated last year's total by 70 million bucks. what is the most popular?

fireball is next followed by crown royal. >> it was a tough year, lynna. all right. if you use netflix, you know that shows and movies, well, they come and go. >> they do. greg dee joins us with what's new on netflix for the month of february. >> agreements with movie companies coming and going next month. so there's new things you will be able to find and some you will want to watch this weekend before they disappear for who knows how long. here's what's coming in february. added to the list. charlie's angels, one of my favorite classics, armageddon, now, this movie i've never seen, but for '80s kid, this is blowing up twitter. people are really happy about it. and, of course, the much anticipated series, the rebirth of full house, fuller house premiers on netflix later this month.

we'll continue to see those. here's what you need to watch because these are disappearing. it looks like tom cruise is going to be disappearing off netflix, at least his younger works. the firm, that's a classic, rainman, which i didn't know was available s about to go away on february 1st. a big movie award winner the hurt locker, a recent hit. that one is disappearing, and who knows if he'll be back, but the terminator is disappearing. the original one will be off the screens there on netflix on february first. now, another thing that's technically coming in february is house of cards. now, this year they're releasing season four a little later into the winter months. it's actually premiering march 4 march 4th. last night netflix gave us another teaser. it's 25 seconds. that's all it is. these have been very slowly

new things will be uncovered, is what they're saying in this. we don't know what's going to happen with frank underwood, but it premiers march 4th. >> all right. time to binge. >> all right. thank you, greg. >> of course february could be a great month to stay in and watch tv and movies. >> it's the month of valentines. >> got to go shopping. >> look at that chubby bird. >> he's cute, right. he definitely stocked up for winter time. temperatures will end up in the low 30s. that's high today. 35 is normal. i do think that we're going to have a pretty seasonal go of it here midweek and beyond. until that warmup comes in. we're going to tell you when. in the meantime, we're tracking a little bit of light snow today. another system that will zip through here will bring more snow. we'll track that hour by hour. a lot of wet weather down into florida today.

here is a look at forecasted highs. dallas, 57 in sunshine. vegas is in the 60s with mostly degrees. mostly sunny in new york city. john? >> holly, still ahead, 6:30. donald trump says he won't debate. what the front runner says he'll be doing instead and how mo. following a deadly shooting at a homeless camp in seattle, that's coming up in your morning news feed. and it's the prank to end all pranks.

again! r again! again! again! again? again! again! general mills is removing artificial flavors and colors from our cereals. so you can love cereal...

6:30, good morning, everyone. nice to have you with us. middle of the week. >> you know it. >> a little cooler this morning than yesterday, but, holly, you say it's going to warm up nicely? >> it really is. the warmup is definitely the tease in the forecast. we're going to get to it. this is an overview of your day. right now we're in the 20s, which is where we should be. here's the thing. like john and lynna mentioned yesterday, at this same time we were in the 40s. 45 was the normal. it's feeling very mild to start. then we got colder in the afternoon once the front pushed through. as promised, we have had scattered snow in the morning. a little lake effect going on. temperature in the low 30s today, close to the normal high

most of the snow showers that were happening just a few hours ago have really diminished, just a few light flurries. really, really light. this is nothing that's causing any problems or accumulation, for that matter. we to have more snow on the way. when we start talking about this next warmup, i will tell you about it coming up. dani is going to tell you about the drive. good morning to all of you. welcome to your wednesday. in terms of the commute, still, it's an accident free ride. we're seeing slow traffic near cleveland. 71 north to the inner belt bridge, it's about a 1-2-minute delay as you're slowing down trying to get to i-90. however 490, we're seeing some slow traffic at 77. and we see 490 east between 71 and east 55th, a five-minute commute.

other than that, we're looking good. all right. dani. new in politics, donald trump says he's skipping tomorrow's republican debate days before the iowa caucuses. >> and cruz is challenging him to a one on one and bernie house. tracy potts has all the latest for us in washington. >> let's start with trump who has five out of six of the latest polls in iowa. he's leading those polls. and then he's got some new endorsements from jerry fallwell, pulling in the evangelicals that have been supporting cruz. sheriff arpaio is also backing trump. trump has decided that he apparently wants to go his own way instead of going that debate this week. fresh off two key endorsements, donald trump says he's skipping thursday's debate because he unfair. >> fox news, right?

>> fox calls trump's quote unprecedented. cruz is challenging trump to a one on one. >> i want you to think how you would react if you were interviewing someone for a job, and they said, you know what, i'm not willing to show up to the interview. >> by skipping the debate, trump is being a rebel, a renegade. is it's the year of the outsider outsider. some may wonder, why are you quitting? the democrats are fighting for a win. hillary clinton has -- >> i was on the front life insurance change and progress since i was your age. >> bernie sanders says turnout will make a difference. >> if we have a large voter turnout, we will win, and we'll win big. >> he's meeting privately with president obama at the white house today. >> the white house is a meeting they first started about in december. it's private, just the two of

there's no agenda. >> so, tracy, we have trump skipping the republican debate. there's a question whether anyone will show up for the next democratic debate or what the next democratic debate is. msnbc is teamed up with the new hampshire leader to set up an unauthorized debate or unsanctioned debate, i should say, on february fourth. hillary clinton has said she'll come if she's interested, if bernie sanders will come. no word from bernie sanders. martin o'mally has said it's a good idea. they've been thin compared to what we've seen from the republicans. this would be the only one before new hampshire. it's unclear if any of the candidates are going to be there. >> all right. we know you will keep following it for us. thanks, tracey. we know one person was killed in a house explosion in

the house is reported to be near a school. so the school district has canceled classes this morning. two neighboring homes were also damaged. and in elyria, two people were rescued from a house fire. check out this video from tmc news. flames were shooting out of the house. it happened on vine street. this was the scene after the fire was put out. the two vic tip thes were taken to the -- victims were taken to the hospital. two dogs were rescued. it's unclear what caused the fire. students in sebring will head back to school. this is according to the school website. school has been canceled for days after lead was detected in the water. two of the 123 samples it took tested high for lead. the epa director is calling for an investigation, saying the local plant operator failed to notify the public about the situation. a cleveland police officer is on the other side of the law

man, according to police reports, officer shawnna van zandt was beating up on a man outside maple high school monday night. the report also says van zandt tried to run over the man with her vehicle. she remains in jail this morning. now here's maureen with a look at the newsfeed. several people have been shot at a homeless camp in seattle. two people are dead. three people are wounded. that area is known to people in the seattle area as the jungle. the mayor was in the middle of a speech about the homeless when he was told about the shooting. he left that speech to go to the scene. travel alet for pregnant -- alert for pregnant women regarding zika. the virgin islands and

it's contracted through mosquitoes. toyota is still the world's best selling automaker. yesterday. it was a close one. 10.1 vehicles by toyota. and general motors made 9.8. toyota's reputation took a hit after massive recalls within okay. unbelievable. a man in erie got a call from a house. the only thing is his house wasn't for sale. he didn't realize he was. sure enough there was a description of his house, a picture, and the price tag in an ad in the newspaper. turns out his buddy he had a bet over with the steelers and broncos making it to the super bowl -- he also said he was getting divorced and he was

he was not getting divorced. >> oh, my gosh. >> this is like the prank to end all pranks. >> that's awful. >> yeah. so his friend puts the house up for sale and says i want two tickets to the super bowl for this house. he was getting offers of i will fly your airfare, pay for the hotel room. i want your house. he said the marriage is perfectly fine, and his house is not for sale. >> it's not going to be if he sells the house and takes the tickets. >> wow. put up an ad for that friend. >> that's quite a friend. >> i don't know how that friendship is going to last. >> not. >> thank you, mo. 6:38. still a lot to come. >> send things over to matt granite. >> you don't need to put anything up for sale. i have you covered. before we get to the deals, a reminder there's no need to pay an extra $200 to get a smart tv. you can make one smart for 30 bucks. a second reminder there's

shopping without a price match. i have you covered. prices are fluctuating. you need to watch out for that. also, this time of year, there may be brands you don't recognize. huge savings and reviews. i will bring that to you after the break. first, holly is keeping an eye on the weather. >> i see you in this monitor. it's so nice. >> back to you. >> all right. that was good. >> we're going the take a look at your forecast now. >> although, he's just happiness, isn't he? his smile makes you smile. we have a lot of seasonal air in place. we have a little bit of snow. we'll track the possibility of more snow. wait until you see the warmup we have in store.

apple will do something it has not done in a decade. the blame is being put on slower iphone sales. they're predicting the revenue will fall between -- compare that to december when it reported 76 billion for that last one. that's a big drop in apple world. the smart phone is the biggest in the apple line, but it had the slowest growth. revenue was only up 1%. they're not struggling. >> sure. >> but that's a big drop. all right. let's talk deals. hi, matt. >> we have the biggest super bowl tv deals online right now. not next week, not the week after. today is the day to buy. before we get to those deals, take a look at your reminder

best time to buy any consumer reporter telling you otherwise hasn't done his or her research, but we're seeing more super bowl tv deal this is year than any year yet, and they are in some cases on par with black friday, $300 on average is what you will save. up to 700 on wkyc.com. this hour, a 279 42-inch ld. awesome. if you're looking for the 4k smart tv, $500 in savings. plus the lowest price guarantee in the country on wkyc.com. i want to remind you that before you run out to buy a new tv, yesterday i showed you a 4k conversion kit. that may be the better way to go. that's on wkyc.com.

is the best tv, it's on our website. let's go get it. >> those curve tvs. >> i'm all about the curve. love it. >> do you know what? it's like throwing gas onto the fire. >> it's for the screens. you get your wonderful visibility. >> just stop. >> holly? >> do you guys want to hear something really nice? someone just sent me a tweet, a will. let your smile change the world but never let the world change your smile. isn't that good? >> let's take a moment and embrace. thus we get through weather like this. upper 20s at the bus stop. it really is a seasonal day. yesterday, but yesterday we were mid to upper 40s at this time. we ended up hitting 48

then we had the colder air move in. it felt much colder as you got the kids from school. today you put them back in your amazing. scattered light snow. flurries. it's lake effect. it's really hit and miss. warmup. it's 47 at hopkins. maybe a flurry. then, i think, maybe just for highs. most of you are in the 20s around here. regionally we're seeing 20s, 30s, even how nice 40s to near 50 degrees. in atlanta, those spots really got hit over last weekend with the big storm. so this morning, this is really right on target with where we should be. it feels like it's in the teens. so make sure you're bundling up. as far as the snow showers go, they have really diminished compared to just a few hours ago. just a few flurries in spots. your forecast, this will be the case.

low 30s. tomorrow we have a system that will zip on by later in the day and into friday. could see light accumulation. again, it's not going to be a major deal. 30s for the end of the work week. this weekend, holy cow. 50 degrees for saturday. it's the last week of january. we'll be in the low 50s on sunday with rain showers later in the day. cooler this week but above normal for this time of year. shelby is who you're staring at. part lab, and she's just a doll. thank you for sending in this weather for doggone weather. love it. >> very cute. thank you, holly. here is a look at the stories trending online this morning. oprah is proving to be a power house for weight watchers. >> how about this. she tweeted that she lost 26 pounds even while eating bread every day while using using the weight watchers system. well, after the tweet, shares

more than 20%, closing at 13.29 a share. oprah, you see, owns about 10% of weight watchers stock and has a 5% of the company. as a result of the tweet, she earned over $12 million on a single tweet. >> how about that. if you're a star wars fan, we have something for you. you can get your hands on luke skywalker's blaster. the laser gun is the same one that mark hamel used on the last movie. it doesn't fire. it must have been broken once because they had to glue part of it back together. but they still want $200,000 as the minimum bid. it was broken at one point. >> meanwhile, princess leia's bikini sold for 100 grand. >> a cleveland animal shelter, they're getting an overwhelming response now for helping to

whiz was taken to a vet to be euthanized because the owner was tired of the pet hair. second hand mutts rescued the heatlh think 12-year-old dog when the vet called them for help. well, the shelter placed whiz in a foster home and now hopes to find his retirement home too. the response on social media, full of outrage of what the sheller calls convenience euthanasia. we have residential. we have restaurants. next up, retail. coming up after the break, a look at what big named stores

welcome back. 6:52. time for today's top stories in your morning rush. >> holly is tracking a little bit of snow. dani has the roads. and alyssa raymond is in downtown cleveland. firefighters responded to this huge house fire on 11th 11th street in elyria. check out this video we got from tmc news. two people and two dogs were rescued. the two people rescued were

still not clear what caused that fire. maureen? >> john, thanks. this is a story we've been following all morning. one person is dead in a house explosion in tuscarawas county. our sister station in columbus confirms the fatality. one homeowner was reported missing. this explosion happened at 9:00 last night. the newcomerstown school district has canceled classes for nearby schools. this shows just how close the flames were to an elementary school. over to you. all right. thanks, maureen. after six cleveland police officers were fired for the deadly november 2012 chase, the police union has filed grievances to try to get them their jobs back. an arbitrator will decide if the firings will hold off. the union will file grievances for the six suspended officers as well.

are now getting training on the procedures the city says were violated in this case. alyssa? >> reporter: good morning. we're on huron road right near the q. late this spring, a buffalo wild wings is going to open in this space behind us. there's a little room left for what they're hoping to turn into an office space and rent out during the rnc. but in future hopes, they hope to turn it into a tapas lounge or a work environment. buildings keep getting converted into apartments. ymca and cleveland athletic cleveland living. i'll have more on what downtown retailers will be here after the conference in may. they're talking urban outfitters and lu lu lemon. >> thank you, alyssa.

drive downtown. that's the only place we're seeing incidents. the breakdown reported on west 14th street. here's the picture from west 25 25th. good news is the drive time. checking your forecast. low 40s today, really light snow showers. another little round tomorrow with a system moving through afternoon, evening, get into early, early friday. could see very light accumulation and a warmup. 50 degrees saturday. low 50s on sunday. >> how about that? >> do you know what it's time for? matt granite's bonus deal of the day. >> 80% off tv mount. look for today's super bowl tv, round up on our website. that's where we have all the deals tomorrow. a bargain to end your back pain.

someone to carry the groceries. >> pretty much. >> you just make us laugh, smile, and you save us money too. >> i love this show. >> thank you. thank you for being with us. today show is coming up next.