ketchmark will help prepare you for the bitter cold tomorrow morning on good-morning tri-state starting at 4:30. next at five - a remorseful teenager pleads guilty to causing the death of his own friend. friend.18-year-old tristan lacey - admitted to drunk driving - and causing the accident that killed mark valentine. 9 on your side is the only station with a bureau dedicated to butler and warren county. our reporter jay warren tells us what valentine's parents want all of us to learn from this tragedy ... jay? a sad day in court as eighteen year old tristan lacey must live with the fact that he caused the death of his friend mark valentine--lacey pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated vehicular homicide he made people laugh and had a lot of friends and people who loved him--those are the words of mark valentine's parents today outside butler county courtcloaked in the trappings of faith mark's friend tristan lacey stood with a cross the new testament in his hands lacey pleaded guilty today to driving drunk last december and causing valentine's death ((sot))"is it your understand that you'll be pleading guilty to one county of avh? yes sir." it was december 26th along beckett ridge blvd that lacey along with mark valentine and valentine's older brother eric were headed to get some food lacey lost control of his car and slammed into a pole-- valentine was pronounced dead at the hospitalthis was eric shortly after the crash((sot)) "he was a great guy to be around -- always lifted the mood. just a funny guy. i loved him very much.""how old are you? i'm eighteen. can you read write and understand the english language? yes sir. and is anyone forcing you threatening you or pressuring you to enter this plea? no sir. has anyone made any promises to you in exchange for this plea? no sir."lacey clearly felt remorse as he choked back tears when the prosecutor listed the facts surrounding the case valentine's parents asked that they not be shown today but did provide comments off camera stating that while they're still numb--debbie steel mark's mother said "we want kids to learn from this." said "we want kids to stop and think about mark and think about their choices." and a cruel reminder for the family ohio state sent an acceptance letter to mark valentine within the last week or solacey faces a maxium of eight years in prison with a lifetime suspension of his license he will be sentenced next month jay warren 9 on your side hamilton a crane accident shuts down a construction project downtown. the accident had all four of the crane's wheels in the air. 9 on your side's ashley zilka is live with new information about the efforts the get it back on the ground ... ashley? it's safe to say it hasn't been the smoothest day for construction here at the banks. at this hour- crews are working on getting this crane back on the ground. you can see it's a slow process-we have been here for several hours now and not much has happened. near paul brown stadium. city manager, harry black, says the crane was picking up a bundle of steel bars when it tipped. right now- the city has both the department of transportatio n and engineering and the department of buildings and inspections to access damage down here at the banks. the mobile crane was rented by maxim to monarch. monarch is main contractor for this project. 9 on your side spoke exclusively with tom butler, the president of monarch construction. take a listen. "there's an investigation underway to determine what caused the crane to tip over. it is fortunate no one was hurt, and they're developing a plan to remove the crane. it will probably be several hours before anything happens." nine on your side checked with osha about the crane company. it does not have any serious violations involving cranes. the city manager says the crane did not require a city permit. a lot of people have stopped by here today to take a look at the crane for theories on why this happened. reporting live, ashley zilka, 9 on your side. closer to home. ohio and indiana - now on the list of states in the u-s with confirmed cases of the zika virus. both states confirmed their first cases today. that brings the number of states with confirmed cases to 13. the ohio department of health says a 30-year-old cleveland woman contracted the virus while traveling to haiti. indiana health officials say a resident - who was not pregnant also visited the country of haiti. nine is on your side with what you need to know about zika - and your risk of contracting the virus. the virus is primarily transmitted through a mosquito bite. it cannot be spread person- to-person except through sexual contact. of all the people infected - 80 percent will not experience any symptoms. pregnant women are still asked to postpone travel to countries with high infection rates. senator sherrod brown and several other u-s lawmakes fast-track the development of a zika virus vaccine or other treatment options. in a statement, brown said today: "the zika virus - like so many other public health threats - is never more than a plane ride away... away...and we must make sure the u.s. stands ready to prevent its spread and give care to those who need it," turning to democracy 2016 - does he have a shot? shot?ohio governor john kasich's presidential campaign could come down to the results of the new hampshire primary happening today. in some polls kasich is within sight of a second place finish in new hampshire.his campaign got a boost today - finishing first in the town of "dixville notch" which votes at midnight. :06 - :11"i mean, it was huge. i just saw trump, i said 'trump i crushed you.' he goes, 'yeah you did. you killed me." me."kasich already promised to be on the campaign trail tomorrow in south carolina. on the democratic side - hillary clinton is making no predictions - only saying she'll keep working until the sanders is the predicted winner - winning by double-digits. bicyclist killed. a grand jury gets its say about that woman accused of killing a bicycle rider while under the influence.the new charges that driver now faces. school threat. a student is arrested after threatening to kill his classmates. the extra security now being put in place. which presidential candidate is for you?if you're still debating take our quiz right now on wcpo.com. you're watching 9 on your side there are new, more serious charges in a hit and run crash that killed a cyclist last month. a grand jury has now charged melinda woodall with aggravated vehicular homicide in the death of michael prater. police say woodall was under the influence of drugs when she hit prater on kellogg avenue in anderson township. she was also driving under a suspended license. four cincinnati police officers will fill some bigger shoes - in keeping our city safe. safe.four individuals were promoted to the rank of "assistant police chief," including david bailey as executive assistant police chief.police chief eliot isaac says a well-rounded leadership team is critical. 17:07:39 - 7:07:49"i think the city will see that their is a unified command staff. we direction."the department is rolling out a crime-fighting plan - targeted toward violent criminals and the places they live. it is a death threat with a deadline.. this thursday. thursday.and it has many parents at one local school very concerned. nine on your side gets answers from school leaders for you. a 15-year-old student arrested today - suspected of writing a "racially motivated death threat" at middletown high school. 9 on your side told you about the note - found by students. while the school ensures that students are safe ... ...9 on your side's t-j parker spoke with parents who say they're still concerned about that message ... t-j? despite that 15-year old being arrested, today, the school plans on beefing up security here at middletown high school, tomorrow and thursday. parents say though, there's still a lot of unanswered questions. *this* is the racially motivated threat- students at middletown high school- found on the floor, yesterday. school administrators- quickly reached out to parents through a voice recording- letting them know- the situation is under control. voice message: "the administrative team and school resource officer immediately investigated, secured the note, and removed from school."middletown police arrested the 15-year old student- charging him with a second degree felony- inducing panic. they say he acted alone. parent: "47:22 to me it's either something that he's learned at home or he's just watched a lot of stuff and decided to cause some problems and did that"this woman didn't want to show her face on camera- but says she *still* has a lot of questions. parent: "45:58 has the kid been expelled, is he going to come back to school, is this something the kids need to worry about outside the school?"in an effort to get answers- 9 on your side reached out to middletown police, the middletown city managers officer, and middletown city schools- all declining our request to speak on camera. school officials did sit down with us, though. they say- they're doing everything they can to make sure classes go smoothly this week. parent: "46:25 its still the toss up, do you send your kid to school on thursday" still- parents want to be assured the situation is contained. parent: "50:46 that's a death threat and it's a racial death threat" now, school officials say if there are any updates with by calling them and by posting information, online. live in middletown, t.j. parker, 9 on your side. new developments at five - a train crash in germany killed ten people.nearly 90 others were hurt.two commuter trains crashed head-on while traveling on a curve. police say an automatic safety braking system failed.german officials say they're lucky today was "carnival monday" - a holiday right before lent. otherwise - more people would have been traveling by train. by the time we get to will be the very cold air. temperatures are only expected in the low 20s and upper teens. then overnight, we drop to 90f for a low on thursday morning. an arctic blast of cold air settles in wednesday through the end of the week with wind chill values falling to near zero by wednesday falling off the fitness cliff... cliff... it's the most common day to start slacking off at the gym.we'll tell you the warning signs your fitness goals are at risk. bananas detecting skin cancer. how the popular fruit is being used to boost your chances of survival. new at 5:30...a tri state man buys a kitchen smoke detector...only to learn it's not supposed to be used in a kitchen.consumer reporter john matarese gets to the bottom of smoke detector confusion...so tonight in healthy living - along with being fat tuesday - it's also the day when most people fall off that "fitness cliff." cliff."according to a survey by gold's gym - february 9th is the turning point when many staying fit - stop showing up at the gym. we're on your side with the warning signs your health goals are at risk: you can't find the time ... you lack a game plan ... you're ignoring your commitment ... you're frustrated with a lack of early results ... and you forget why you started in the first place. you know those nasty black spots you find on your bananas peels?apparently they're making it easier for doctors to spot - and cure skin cancer. a team in switzerland says those dark spots have a lot in common with human skin. researchers are testing a new scanner using bananas. it could soon be used to detect skin cancer on human tissue. much more to come on 9 on your side at 5:30.here's anchor tanya o'rourke with what we're working on. craig - next at 5-30. 5-30.snow is falling in parts of the tri-state.how much we could get... before a brutal blast of cold air moves in. and a 9 on your side viewer is going above and beyond the call after learning of a local home.the happy ending you need before contemplating the many choices on steak 'n shake's $4 dollar menu, one must calm the mind in our zen garden. focus. the garlic double steakburger meal. reflect. the taco salad meal. zen the original double 'n cheese steakburger meal. oh! the $4 menu. where all meals are under $4. it's a 9 first warning alert day!and it's not just because of the snow falling outside. this is what it looked like a short time ago along the ohio river... brutally cold temperatures are in the forecast.let's get right to 9 first warning chief meteorologist steve raleigh - who has a timeline of when the temps will fall. snow is still going to impact the evening rush. snow squalls will be possible in this time. so a good reason to still be in the "alert day" status.tonight - snow should be much lighter and we won't see as much accumulating overnight... and in the morning it will feel like its