a bus crashed in river view. here is what the scene looked like from eagle 8hd. dozens of students on the bus when it collided with an suv. >> the good news, none of the children were seriously injured. and newschannel8's jamel lanee is live at the scene. and you have new information for us right now. >> reporter: i do have some new information. we are learning the bus driver who was transporting these kitteds from summerfield crossings elementary has been cited with failure to yield. let's go to that eagle 8 hd video again. look at what the scene looked like shortly before 3:00 p.m. the bus driver was trying to make a left hand turn. that is when the bus driver collided with another vehicle. now, we got some exclusive cell

here it is on your screen. take a look at it. you can see that there was a woman and a child on the ground crying and kids on the bus screaming. now, we have learned that the woman and child were taken to a nearby hospital as well as two children on that bus stop. again, we spoke with a mother who said she was really upset learning that this could have been the bus driver's fault. >> it is very scary. >> reporter: back out here live. u.s. 301 now back open. but again, those people taken to the hospital as well as those children. we are working to get more crash. once we have that information we will pass it along. newschannel8.

driver of the bus cited for failure to yield. thank you. this is the second time in a matter of months a hillsborough county school bus has been involved in a serious accident. you will recall this one back in september. a bus plunging into a lake in the eagles subdivision. the children were shaken up but otherwise okay, the driver was fired. for updates on this latest crash and all of our breaking news story, download and use the newschannel8 app designed for your smartphone. and more breaking news in saint petersburg. police busted an active crack house near fifth avenue 4 and seventh street. peter bernard has more on the scene tonight. >> reporter: good evening. this is an active scene down here. neighbors have been complaining about this house for a long time. you can see behind me some of the swat team members are still here. there is a fire truck here. investigators are looking into this. saint petersburg police decided to put a stop to what was going on here.

police rounded up 14 people who were getting high inside this tiny house. the swat team entered through the front door and removed a gate that was keeping them out. the chief of police say it is people inside were having a crack party and were doing crack, passing it from one to another. neighbors applauded when cops went in. one by one, police loaded up the people, put them in a paddy wagon for the trip to jail. the bust comes after getting some good tips from people. >> today we served a search warrant. we got crack, we got other stuff. then the officers hit the home, they were inside getting high. as you can see, they had cameras watching people come and go. we got 14 people in custody. so, this was all about neighbors calling in, giving us complaints. we want this out of our city so we are happy the neighbors called in on this.

i will show you where the cameras were. see the wire dangling down? that is one of the cameras. there were a number of those around. also, police using a distraction device called a flash bang. chief of police says they set off a few of those. that captured their attention. stacie schaible? >> a lot of information and a lot of activity. thank you. the widow of a man killed during an argument over texting has sued the movie theater in wesley chapel where it happened. nicole olsen says they failed the enforce the company's weapon's ban. she is seeking more than $15,000. curtis reeves murdered chad olsen in 2013. tiffany littlepage seen forcefully threw water in the face of a three-year-old boy.

targeting and punishing children with special needs. corporal joe minor was pulling out. the deputy was not hurt. now, an update to our 8 on your side investigation. sick and tired. >> the va is stiffing florida doctors and hospitals to the tune of millions. one doctor contacted 8 on your side when his office, trying to help a patient in the veteran's choice program, was overwhelmed by paperwork. >> to top that off, he has not been paid for surgery performed six months ago. senior investigative reporter steve andrews joining us with more on this story. this is not limited to the veteran's choice program. >> no. this is systemic. and it has people wondering whether or not they want to

in florida alone, the va has failed to pay tens of thousands of medical bills. after performing routine cateract surgery, they are waiting for the va to pay up. >> a couple of months would be fine, but this is ridiculous. >> but none is not the only problem, they require documentation. >> the documentation is way over and above. if we had to do this with every patient, i couldn't see that many patients a day. >> reporter: for one patient, they spent multiple hours on the phone with health net. >> it takes about half an hour to get in and talk to someone. >> reporter: the problem with delayed payments is not confined to the veteran's choice program. in october, the head of the va got this letter informing him

paying its bills to florida hospitals. like, $134 million behind. according to a survey taken by the florida hospital association, the va is looking at 29,760 unpaid claims in florida. more than 10,000 of those are more than a year old. 5800 unpaid claims more than two years old. david jolly is one of 12 members of congress who signed this letter demanding an investigation. >> the doctors on the outside are not getting paid by the va. that's wrong. ultimately, it reduces access to care for veterans. >> it shouldn't be this difficult. >> reporter: but it is. late this afternoon, health net sent me a response saying waiting six months for a claim to be processed is not what health net wants for doctors and we apologized to any who

of wait. >> what will they do about this? >> reporter: they believe making the reimbursement process is going to help. so we will see. >> the last thing they need is fewer doctors out there. >> this was also supposed to make things much quicker but when you don't pay your bills. >> it slows things down. >> you bet. >> thanks steve. well, smoke and fire at a bay area department store. >> shoppers evacuated from this nordstrom rack. we will show you what happened coming up. >> plus, anything but your typical wedding. who is helping this couple in the woods live happily ever after? >> cool day today. 61 degrees. lots of clouds, a chilly evening. rain chances moving back into the forecast picture as well as thunderstorm chances too and your weekend.

>> a two alarm fire broke out at a nordstrom rack in bradenton. the clothing was removed and covered as a precaution. the good news is the fire was contained to the roof and nobody was hurt. governor rick scott was in tampa today. he stopped by the usaa office on delaney creek drive. he is touring the street

this after he asked state lawmakers to approve a billion dollars tax cut. so is tonight going to be the night to someone gets a whole lot richer? the powerball jackpot is $1.5 billion and it could go even higher before tonight's drawing believe it or not. and those powerball tickets are selling like crazy. here in florida they from going at a rate of 34,000 a minute. be sure to tune in to newschannel8 tonight for your winning power ball numbers. the drawing will take place at 10:59 sharp. and we will be on then. we will show you the numbers the moment they are drawn. we are also putting the winning numbers up on the bottom of your television screen during our newschannel8 at 11:00 broadcast in case you missed the drawing at 10:59. good luck to all of you. an remember us in your groupings. if you win. >> when you make that much money right? share. well, they can't even afford a home, but they are getting a dream wedding.

story of a community that came together to help a homeless

>> every bride dreams of her perfect wedding day. the dress, the honeymoon, and where they will live happily ever after. >> for one couple in the bay area, that dream is about to come true. rod carter joins us live from

hello rod. >> reporter: hey, good evening guys. yes, we are talking about a wedding. you are probably thinking if we are talking about a wedding, why in the world is he standing out in the middle of a wooded middle of nowhere? the couple i'm talking about actually live right back there in the woods but they are hoping to not have to live here very long. off manhattan avenue in south tampa ... shower. >> reporter: just a few hundred yards back into the woods. >> we are going to get stable. >> reporter: there is a homeless area. evelyn and her boyfriend dave live right here. they have been in this spot for years after leaving their home in ohio. evelyn's son died in a car crash and it changed her life.

>> reporter: evelyn and rocky have been together for 22 years. they have wanted to get married, but could never really afford the $93 for a license until they met this man. officer daniel mcdonald. he works with the tampa police department's homeless initiative. while he works on getting them a permanent home. >> i would love to move inside. i would like to take a hot bath. be able to flip on the tv, kick back and relax. >> reporter: he also found a way to pay for the marriage license. people started coming out of the woodworks to help pay for the wedding to the tune of roughly 20 grand. >> people i have never met. we have never met them. we had a wedding venue contact me. they wanted to host the wedding. and it is all inclusive. i have had an outpouring of support. >> reporter: from the dress, to the venue, to the food.

wedding of their dreams. >> i don't know what to say. i said thank you. are you sure these people want to do this? he says yes. because, this is what they do. >> reporter: and move from the woods to a wedding and they hope to a new way of life. now, there is one other person who actually lives back there with them. there's a total of three people. the third person is actually going to be their best man at the wedding which is going to be held at the cross creek resort. it will be held on april 1. april fools day. but they assure us that it is not a joke to them. it is serious. >> now rod, as far as a home, any line on that? >> reporter: well, the officer is working to get that done. in fact, he is hoping to have them a permanent home before that wedding takes place. he is still trying to find the perfect place. they have a little dog that they have to take into account.

with an animal. they are working on it as best they can. >> rod carter live in the woods. thank you rod. live in tampa. well, the plantation 58 degrees right now. this is the western part of citrus county, just a little bit of color there on the horizon, but the clouds certainly tell the story. it was a mostly cloudy day and that will continue throughout the evening hours. temperatures a little cool. low to mid 50s . that is certainly true overnight. dropping near 50. the clouds will play a part. they did last night, in helping to keep it a little warmer. any rain will swell to our south. as for tomorrow at 8:00 a.m., 51 degrees. mostly cloudy. late jacket weather. the sunshine will be limited. we will probably get a little sun, but a lot of clouds tomorrow. still cool. a bit warmer in the afternoon. the rain chances increase into the early part of friday. at 3:00 p.m., 67 degrees.

temperatures will continue to fall slowly. a little bit not as slow. low. pretty close to our average. 51 is our normal low. temple terrace, treasure island. 55 degrees in lakeland. 54 brooksville. the tropical flow pretty active southwest. essentially. not rain, most of the rain, the low level stuff well down to the south. but this has been keeping the clouds because of this flow across the gulf of mexico, this goes back to the west. so this trail is pretty solid. that is why we are calling for mostly cloudy skies here. surface high pressure and the flow around that has been cool. northeasterly, that is still a cooler flow. the rain primarily has been across south florida but our portion of the state of florida is mostly cloudy.

clear patch in the western sections of citrus county. in the tropics rather unusual. we have a subtropical storm named alex. enough to be called a subtropical storm. very rare for this to happen. the forecast track no affect on the u.s., florida, anything like that. a very rare event needless to subtropical. alex formed this afternoon. and we have to go back to 1978. january 18, 1978 for a subtropical storm number one. high pressure continues to the north and we will cop to shift to the east. the flow coming from the southwest will keep quite a few clouds in the forecast area. later in the afternoon, especially the evening hours, a possibility with the approaching area of low pressure of seeing a shower. this is around 7:45 friday morning. potential thunderstorms here

as it moves our way and everything moves quickly to the east. it will start to cool down again once we hit sunday. there's our rain chances at 60%. we saw the timing on that. that would be the first half of the day. especially the morning hours. long term, you see cooler temperatures settle in once again. the rain chances go away. the cool temperatures are back next week including overnight low temperatures that could be in the 30s there tuesday morning in the northern spots so we are not done with the chilly air. still january. >> all right. thank you steve. >> all right. and coming up next in sports, one nfl team hires a head coach. will it have an effect on the bucks' choice? >> as one city welcomes the new

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>> tick tock, the bucks remain silent in they search for a new coach. the dominoes are starting to wobble a little bit. jackson was hired this afternoon by the cleveland browns. he was supposed to be the preferred candidate of the san francisco 49ers. so as the niners regroup tonight, three games being tossed around. chip kelly, mike shanahan, and dirk cutter. the bucks offensive coordinator had a good interview over the weekend and is reportedly a finalist for the 49ers job. they are celebrating the rams today in los angeles. but in saint louis? not so much. angry fans echoed their mayor when discussing the city's effort to keep the rams. in fact, the mayor directly contradicts rams owner in his claims he could not get a new stadium built in saint louis. >> the nfl ignored the facts.

saint louis fans. they ignored a viable plan for a new stadium. and they ignored a strong market which demonstrated beyond a doubt that it can, and did, support an nfl team. >> in less than six weeks, the rays pitchers and catchers report to spring training in port port charlotte. baseball season will be underway. the rays are holding their annual winter development program. you may not know all the names now, but some of your household rays players web through this camp. this is a program designed to teach major league life on and off the field. >> you perform and do what you have to do and kevin is a perfect example of that. you are going to play in the big leagues for us. and guys fall off the ladders.

there are low picks. james shield, even matt moore. they were all making contributioning toward major league teams. restored. it sure looked that way when avalanche. the bolts have temporarily grabbed hold of the top wild card spot in the eastern conference. so, nice going. six pounds. but, as hot as they are right now, they can stay hot. again. >> and now is the time to get on a streak. >> they are getting healthy. >> thanks stan. all right, finally tonight, law enforcement protects the surge, you know that. in manatee county, that is not limited to humans. deputies found a raccoon in a sticky situation. the entire head stuck in a can. the deputies carefully picked up the raccoon, took off the

you got to be careful when you get a can on your head. be careful. >> well, nightly news is coming your way next. don't go anywhere. >> steve and jen will be back at 7:00. we will see you tonight at 11:00. have a great night everyone.