DAYTON — The freezing temperatures in the Miami Valley can have an impact on one of the most important parts of your vehicle — the tires.

Cold weather can cause your tire pressure to drop one to two pounds, according to experts.

A low tire can lead to less traction, slower braking and destroy the tire over time, according to Mark Breining, a manager at Grismer Tire in Dayton.

He said there were about a dozen customers in his service center this morning who had a low-tire dashboard indicator light come on in their vehicles.

“Like any light on the dash, it unnerves you or makes you nervous. You think ‘I’ve got a tire that’s almost flat,’ when most cases it is not,” Breining said.

In most cases, the tire needs a little air to get it up to the recommended pressure, Breining said.

You should be checking your tires’ pressure with an inexpensive tire gauge about once a month, and more frequently when it is extremely cold or hot outside.

“If we get really warm weather later on this week you may even want to let some air out of them. If they are a little high it doesn’t really hurt, because we still have a long winter ahead of us,” Breining said.

Motorist Bob Baudendistel, of Dayton, said he deals with low tires all the time, especially in the winter, so he goes everywhere prepared with a small air compressor.

“It plugs into the cigarette lighter and the hose goes in the tire. It cost 20 bucks,” Baudendistel said, adding that it gives him piece of mind.

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Freezing temperatures impact tires

Freezing temperatures impact tires

Freezing temperatures impact tires

— One winning ticket was sold in Florida in Friday night’s nationwide $450 million Mega Millions jackpot, according to the Mega Millions website.

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The winning numbers for the Jan. 5 drawing were 28, 30, 39, 59 and 7, and the gold Mega Ball was 10.

There had been no winner in 23 straight drawings; a $42 million prize was shared by winners in Michigan and Rhode Island after the Oct. 13 drawing, lottery officials said. Friday night’s winner won the fourth-largest jackpot in the history of Mega Millions. 

The winner will have the option of a $450 million annuity over 29 years or a lump-sum payment of $281 million, lottery officials said.
“Congratulations to Florida on their big jackpot win,” Mega Millions Lead Director and Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director Gordon Medenica said in a news release. ”This has been an exciting run for Mega Millions players and a great way to start off the new year! But it’s not over yet. We’re looking forward to Saturday’s $570 million Powerball jackpot. Good luck, everyone!”

>> 7 biggest lottery jackpots in US history

Also in Friday night’s drawing, there were eight Match 5 winning tickets – one each in California, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Virginia, and two each in Oklahoma and Texas. One Oklahoma and one Texas winning ticket included the optional Megaplier, so those two tickets are worth $3 million because the 3X Megaplier was drawn. 

— Researchers are telling parents to put their cell phones down.

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A study conducted by researchers at Temple University suggests that parents should limit their cell phone use around young children because too much use can hinder the youngsters’ learning skills, KABC reported.

In the study, child psychiatrists asked Jennifer Bell to teach a new word to her 2-year-old, but also to answer a strategically timed cell phone call. Scientists at Temple’s language learning lab were trying to determine if the interruption caused by the call caused the learning process to stop, KABC reported. The result? It does.

“The child doesn’t learn the word when interrupted and does learn the word when you have a conversation, psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek said.

Scientists hypothesized that young children learn better in a live back-and-forth conversation. They discovered that without human social connection, very little learning is accomplished, KABC reported.

Experts call this the “socially gated brain.”

"It's not just about the quantity, but this kind of research shows us it's about the quality as well,” Hirsh-Pasek told KABC. “Preserving that conversation is what matters. As researchers, we want to understand that a little bit better. What works, what doesn't work and why.”

For Bell, “It was kind of an ‘aha’” moment.

“There are times that my kids are on devices or I'm on the phone, and I am feeling, hmmm, should I be teaching them something and are we passing up learning moments?” she said.

There are things parents can do to build up children's language skills, researchers said.

NEW YORK — With heavy snow falling and wind swirling, an unexpected visitor stopped by a Staten Island home, SILive reported.

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A large buck ambled up to a home in the South Shore neighborhood during Thursday’s snowstorm to nibble on a bush, SILive reported. It was recorded by a woman named Donna.

This isn't the first time a Staten Island resident has filmed a deer during a snowstorm. In 2015, two of them stopped by a home near Bloomingdale Park, prompting the family cat to stare.

CHICAGO — A Kansas pawn shop owner helped a homeless Chicago man get off the streets, returning savings bonds now worth $3,000 that he pawned more than 30 years ago, WGN reported.

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Woodrow Wilson Jr., who was stationed at an Army base near Junction City, Kansas, sold a stack of $100 savings bonds for some quick cash three decades ago.

Now, Wilson is 58 and homeless, but thanks to the efforts of Chris Mathis, his immediate needs have been solved. 

Mathis took over the pawn shop from his father several years ago. He decided to return savings bonds to those people who had pawned them off and had found more than 50 of them, WGN reported.

Mathis had Wilson’s name and a photograph, knew he had been homeless and had been arrested for loitering.

When a reporter found Wilson, she asked about pawning the bonds.

"Yes! I remember the pawn shop!" Wilson said.

Wilson was surprised to learn that his handful of $100 savings bonds were now fully matured and worth more than $3,000.

"You could use $3,000, right?" the reporter asked Wilson.

"Yeah! Yeah!" he replied, but he remained skeptical until he got on the telephone with Mathis.

"She told me about it but I thought she was trying to trick me,” Wilson said to Mathis, who made plans to return the cash by Friday.

It was relief to Wilson, who had been turned away by crowded shelters and was desperate for a warm place to sleep for more than a week, WGN reported.

"They've been jam packed,” he said. “You just can't get in.”

With just two pairs of pants and a blanket in his backpack, Wilson said the money will be enough to get him off the street for good this winter.