mark: now on news 5 today, a young boy who touched the lives of so many has lost a fight to cancer. what we know so far about taylor grant' s funeral arrangements. lisa: an event today for you to voice your opinion on medical marijuna. the ohio senators in town, and what you need to know before the public forum. mark: and as the race heats up, the democrats have a turn tonight to compete for the nomination. the latest on the race for the white house. [captioning made possible by wlwt-tv] >> from cincinnati' s wlwt, leading the way, this is wlwt news 5 today. mark: good morning, everyone. thanks for joining us. i'

m lisa cooney. headlines are straight ahead. but first a check of the weather with wlwt news 5 meteorologist randi rico. randi: this morning i saw some patchy drizzle, maybe a flurry in your neck of the woods. lisa: i didn' t see anything. randi: it was superduper light. it is moving out relatively quickly. i cannot find much of anything left over. we are starting out with cloudy skies across the area and the weather is catching up with the calendar, and it will feel like february today. cloudy skies and temperatures will be in the 30' s. right now 33 degrees at cvg. most places, 30 to 34.

we will make it back into the s. s. mark: breaking news this morning. a house fire in lebanon has turned deadly. lebanon dispatch responded to a a.m. investigators say they found a man dead in one of the bedrooms. the fire appears to have started on a mattress. an elderly woman inside heard the smoke alarm go off and s house for help. investigators do not believe the fire is suspicious. we' ll keep you posted with the latest on this story throughout the morning. condolences all over social media this morning for the family of taylor grant. lisa: the 5-year-old who had been battling neuroblastoma has died. wlwt news 5' s andrew setters has the breaking details shared online by the boy' s mother. andrew? andrew: the family who shared so much of their fight against cancer is now publicly sharing their loss, too.

yesterday afternoon. we have been there with taylor as they have gone through he inspired people to join team taylor in fundraising efforts, including the march for gold walk. taylor' s facebook page letting people know he lost his cancer fight yesterday afternoon. she said, in part, there' s no more suffering or pain. he has earned his wings. taylor and his family have been an inspiration bravely facing this fight over the past few years. there will be a service open to the public, but the details haven' t been announced yet. reporting live, andrew setters, wlwt news 5. lisa: a car slams into an apartment complex, almost taking out two men. the suv narrowly missed jonathan james by inches and seconds. he was in the middle of a haircut when says he heard a loud boom and jumped out of the way.

the man driving meant to hit a the brake at a stop sign on mchenry. but hit the gas instead. first reponders say the driver is expected to be ok, but the . no word yet on whether any charges will be filed. lisa: should ohio legalize marijuana? mark: miriah turner has the latest. miriah: mark and lisa, ohio senators are meeting in cincinnati today to discuss the implications of legalizing medical marijuana. this is all a part of the ohio senate listening tour. senators kenny yuko and dave burke are hosting the public forum at the kresge auditorium on uc' s campus. the senators want to get the public' s input on medical marijuana and whether it should be de-criminalized in ohio. there will be actual patients at the event to give their testimonies about how medical marijuana has helped them. organizers are inviting people to attend and to voice their

topic. the forum is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. lisa: in commitment 2016, the democratic candidates trading some of their sharpest attacks yet, in the grante state. mark: the democratic battle in new hampshire is heating up, with the candidates going after each other as never before. hillary clinton and bernie sanders clashed over who' s the true champion of so-called progressive, liberal politics. sanders said clinton can' t claim progressive leadership when a super pac backing her accepts financial industry donations. mrs. clinton: i was somewhat amused today that senator sanders has set himself up to be the gatekeeper on who' s a progressive. because under the definition that was flying around on twitter and statements by the campaign, barack obama would not be a progressive. joe biden would not be a progressive. jeanne shaheen would not be a progressive. even the late, great senator paul wellstone would not be a progressive. mark: for more coverage on the

wlwt.com. right now we have the five takeaways from the cnn townhall. you can catch the democratic debate on msnbc tonight at 9:00. and for all the commitment 2016 latest news, check out our mobile app and website at wlwt.com. lisa: turning to the other side of the race, new hampshire campaigning is just heating up and already we have more republican candidates dropping out. candidates rand paul and rick santorum have both now dropped out of the 2016 presidential race. santorum didn' t stop there, announcing that he is now throwing his support behind now-former competitor marco rubio. rubio placed third in iowa' s caucuses, behind ted cruz and donald trump. trump is accusing senator ted cruz of stealing the republican iowa caucus. he' s calling for either new voting in iowa or for the results to be nullified. mark: florida governor rick scott has declared a health emergency in four counties of the state. at least nine cases of the mosquito-borne zika illness have been detected in florida, found in miami-dade, lee, hillsborough

health officials believe the people contracted the disease while traveling overseas. the zika virus has been linked to brain deformities in babies. lisa: more potential health problems associated with flint' s toxic water crisis are surfacing. health officials are now investigating if the lead-tainted water is causing skin rashes. the michigan department of health and human services says that while rashes are common and can have many causes, they want to make sure there aren' t more cases as a result of flint' s lead-laced water. they' re planning to personally interview residents who report skin rashes and test the water in their homes. a hearing was held yesterday on capitol hill and lawmakers vowing to get to the bottom of it. mark: covington police are investigating a possible home invasion. it happened on warren street, just before 10:00 tuesday night and ended with two burglars being shot. police say someone at the home called them and said two people were breaking in. both were shot, but are expected

the investigation is ongoing. lisa: the ohio riverfront is getting a make-over. plans have been revealed for the project in dayton, kentucky. the biggest addition is the riverfront commons trail, connecting ludlow to fort thomas. the entire project is estimated at $24 million and could take up to 15 years to complete, depending on funding. mark: new this morning, a downtown clothing store is closing its doors after six decades in cincinnati. the signs are up at house of adam on vine street. the going-out-of-business sale starts today. the store opened in 1955. no word on when it will close for good. lisa: 33 degrees on your thursday morning. randi: we are starting out with temperatures in the 30' s. we' re going to see temperatures slide through the morning rush

plan on cloudy skies. it will be breezy and you have to bust out the winter coats for the kids. the wind chill likely in the upper teens. on the way home from school, 35 degrees, cloudy and cooler. it is february. 35 today. we do warm-up in time for the weekend. kyla: a clear drive on this thursday morning. this is what you will see. 75 looks good north and southbound in butler county. heading toward the 275 loop, you are good to go. springdale, things look good east and westbound.

this is 71. much lighter than what we saw on the other cameras. a great start for you. we will continue to check it for you. lisa: high school athletes in cincinnati preparing to take the next steps in their careers. mark: what one soon-to-be-bearcat says he plans to do to be bigger and better next year. lisa: and what do barack obama, martin luther king jr., the red cross, and donald trump have in common? the interesting answer making headlines today. mark: we take a live look outside this morning. you' re waking up to cincinnati' s wlwt news 5 today. introducing longhorn' s steaks that sizzle for $12.99. like the new smoky bacon sirloin. and the parmesan crusted sirloin. only at longhorn steakhouse.

lisa: good morning and welcome back on your thursday. we are going to check the forecast. the franchise is not slowing down anytime soon. miriah: which one is your favorite. just two weeks after revealing the title of the eighth film in the "fast & furious" franchise, vin diesel has confirmed that there will be a ninth and 10th film in the series. he revealed the release dates for the final trilogy of the street-racing saga through a

media accounts, including a film on april 14, 2017, april 19, 2019, and april 2, 2021, bringing the total film count to 10 films over a 20-year period. the original film, "the fast and the furious," premiered in june, 2001. and among the nominees for this year' s nobel peace prize -- groups in greece welcoming syrian refugees, an escaped isis sex slave turned women' s rights activist. and donald trump. the republican presidential candidate has been nominated for the 2016 nobel peace prize by a mystery patron, who praised him for "his vigorous peace-through-strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical islam, isis, nuclear iran and communist china." that is why they nominated him. each year thousands of people are given the opportunity to nominate notable organizations and individuals for the award every year. uber is offering puppies on-demand ahead of super bowl sunday. today and today only, the mobile

users in seven cities the chance to book a puppy playdate in celebration of animal planet' s annual puppy bowl, whose upcoming 12th edition will see over 80 adoptable dogs face off in a model super bowl stadium just hours before the big game. $30 donated through uber and animal planet will give riders in chicago, washington, d.c., denver, san francisco, l.a., phoenix, and new york 15 minutes of playtime. not here. mark: love the puppies. they are adorable. miriah: every october uber does kittens. [laughter] lisa: the younger generation. different pets all around. miriah: cats do their own thing. randi: is something happens with the puppies -- >> i didn'

-- randi: if you mess up an uber car, there is a fee. we take a look at the forecast. temperatures are in the 30' s. breezy. run. snap a picture of yourself and send it to me via twitter or facebook. we have a warm up on the way for the weekend. mark: xavier basketball keeping fans on the edge of their seats on wednesday. lisa: george vogel has their tough matchup against st. johns, and all of your signing-day highlights in your morning sports.

entertainment, this game is a must see program. every other play was a big dunk or a big three. x down four early. that they e big dunk for x. some big-time thunder and a technical foul. midcourt, sumner comes away with the steel and another dunk. xavier has 86 point a six-point lead. myles davis leads with 16, and the musketeers win it again. the excellent season continues. xavier reaching 20 wins this season and ranked number five in

s coaches poll. a new set of recruits for uc' s football teams. they did not fare so well locally with just one recruit from cincinnati. >> we finished second, third, sometimes fourth with some of these guys who want to go other places to play. george: the big 12 is not expected to vote on expanding but it is expected to be a topic. uc has worked very hard that the bearcats and the city are ready. this was the scene at high schools yesterday. players signing for college scholarship. some pulling in plenty of

they caught up with the local guy who signed with uc fo rom mason. >> it has been a goal of mine since i started playing football. you are moving on and it is time to work even harder. george: he is expected to play linebacker at uc. all of the interviews with players, slideshows, and a complete list of the high school athletes who signed the dotted line yesterday, almost 400 in all. the first ever recruiting class at cincinnati christian university. they will compete in division two in hte the kentucky athletic conference.

that is all the sports for now. we will have more coming up later in the day. mark: congratulations to all those youngsters signing those deals, moving on. and congratulations to the students. randi: and all the parents. mark: yes, indeed. >> yahoo. randi: yesterday is an exciting day. signing day. weather-wise, february is back. we are going to see cloudy and breezy conditions. temperatures are going to be stuck in the 30' s. yesterday was jacket free. probably not the case today. you can see flurries and light

we had some rain showers early moving into central ohio. that is gone. the clouds are sticking around and the breeze will be around. let' s take a look at the ohio river level. it has gone above action stage over the last 12 hours. it is expected to crest on saturday afternoon and then fall back below the action stage by monday morning, keeping the flooding contained near coney island. we have 33 degrees and the wind nine miles per hour. it feels like 25. 8:00 a.m., 28, cloudy, breezy. the clouds clear out just before

a gloomy-looking and cold morning for us. i do not think the clouds go away totally until sunset tonight. friday morning, close to 20 with some spots in the teens. the winds will start to shift. 35 degrees today, cloudy and breezy most of the day. tomorrow, a rebound back to 43. 46 on saturday. 51 on sunday. a pretty nice stretch into the weekend. mark: one of the hottest toys around nearly burned down a home. an exploding hoverboard is to blame for this living room fire south of dayton. check out this damage in miamisburg. a 12-year-old charging his hoverboard when his family says it began smoking, and then exploded.

home and doused it with water. >> it appears as if the data raise burst -- the batteries burst apart. >> do not buy them. mark: there wasn' t much for fire officials to do once they got on scene. lisa: columbus, ohio, airport is joining its counterparts nationwide in training employees to recognize signs of human trafficking. beginning this month, all 400 employees at port columbus international airport will watch a 30-minute video on how to recogize the signs. the cincinnati-northern kentucky international airport has investigators trained to detect trafficking and has also trained employees to look for signs. mark: new developments in the case against wiki-leaks founder julian assange. he says he will accept arrest by the british government, if a u.n. panel investigating his

he took refuge there to avoid extradition to sweden, where two women have accused him of sexual assault. assange says if the u.n. finds that he has lost his case against the united kingdom and sweden, then he will turn himself in to police at noon tomorrow. lisa: a show of athleticism in manhattan. the 39th annual empire state building race took place on wednesday. the world' s oldest tower race and competitors have to climb 86 flights of stairs on foot to win. the fastest runners are able to do it in about 10 minutes. mark: wow. >> cincinnati' s certified most accurate forecast. randi: it took a couple of days of , but today you feel that winter chill in the air. mid 30' s today.

lunchtime, cloudy, freezing, feeling like 25. we will make it to about 35 or so. skies will be clearing out tonight. 20' s to start out your friday. temperatures back above average by tomorrow afternoon. 51 on sunday. we may see a light makes of rain and snow -- a light mix of rain and snow on tuesday. kyla: i will be looking forward to the weekend. st. bernard, we do have an accident along mitchell between vine and leonard. take orchard to cut you across the intersections.

interstate travel looking good. 17 minutes on 71 out of warren county. 17 minutes on 74 from the indiana state line all the way to 75. we' ll check again at the top of the hour. mark: still ahead, a live report from a deadly house fire in lebanon. what our team is learning at the scene about the victim. lisa: and a boy has passed away. what his mother has said about her son' s death. mark: 33 degrees right now. you' re waking up to cincinnati'

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lisa: the idea of legalizing marijuana in ohio becoming a topic of discussion once again. the forum happening today with state lawmakers wanting to know the public' s opinion on it' s s medical uses. mark: sad news this morning of a local boy battling a terminal cancer. lisa: breaking news of a deadly

how officials believe it