The i-Opener: Big Thaw Flooding Alerts, County in Settlement Talks with Jail Inmates

Good morning and welcome to TGIF - Thank Goodness It's not Freezing anymore - on this Feb. 1st, 2019.

Meteorologists are warning of flooding as Northeast Ohio swings from two days of subzero temperatures to highs in the 40s and 50s this weekend.  In Vermillion, police are urging residents along the Vermillion River to take precautions and have an evacuation plan in place.  They say flooding could occur Monday through Wednesday next week.

Cuyahoga County is in talks with MetroHealth and seven inmates at the county jail to settle a class action lawsuit by the inmates over conditions at the jail.  Cleveland.com reports the talks were revealed in court papers filed Thursday.  The federal lawsuit alleges conditions at the jail are hazardous because it's underfunded, understaffed, and intentionally overcrowded.  

A homeless advocate's fight to re-open a tent city in Akron is heading to court. Attorneys for Sage Lewis plan to appeal a zoning panel's rejection of his application for a variance.

The six candidates seeking the CEO job to lead East Cleveland's schools out of academic distress made their pitches to the public Thursday night.  Many who attended showed support for superintendent, Myrna Loy Corley, who's applying for the job. East Cleveland is the third school district in Ohio to be taken over by the state.  

A house explosion in Vermillion is being blamed on an out-of-control driver who plowed into the home's gas meter early Thursday.  Kenneth Karnow fled the scene on foot but was later found by police hiding in a closet in a vacant home. 

A coroner in Lorain County says the death of a woman found in a vacant house Wednesday was likely due to extreme cold.  Coroner Stephen Evans said the 60-year-old appears to have died of hypothermia.  Authorities say she may have been staying in the vacant house for months and apparently died in the last day or two.  A housing inspector found the body as the inspector checked vacant homes for occupants Wednesday when temperatures were below zero degrees.

T he Cleveland Browns are raising season ticket prices "for a segment" of ticket holders.  It's only the second time in eleven years that they've done so. Renewal information goes out Monday.  

The Winnipeg Jets beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3.  It's CBJ's fourth loss in a row.

Weather forecast: Snow this morning, but just a light dusting expected.  Cloudy, high 18.  Low 16 tonight.  Saturday, cloudy, high 39.  Sunday, partly sunny, high 48.