the guessing game is over. derek cutter is the new head coach of the buccaneers. >> and florida is the home to a billion dollar ticket tonight. we are tracking down the lucky winner. >> and taking full responsibility. how the sheriff's office is handling a deputy-involved crash that left a man partially paralyzed. good evening. >> thank you for joining us tonight. we'll start with the weather because strong storms could soon be moving across the tampa bay area. >> steve joins us now with the details on the threat. >> there's an area of low pressure just to our west set to move on shore some time tomorrow. that could move showers and thunderstorms ahead of that. most of the overnight could be okay. toward the morning hours, even

to early afternoon we could experience some potential strong thunderstorms and some severe weather. marginal risk for the green area. lesser amounts according to that forecast. lightning, rain, high chance of that, slight possibility of tornadoes. this is that el nino event. we have to watch everything this winter with the fast jet stream above us. the high winds will kick in later friday after this area of low pressure pushes on through. it i's rain back to the west. we had a few light showers fall in the tampa bay area. it's that low that will traverse the gulf of mexico that will produce the thunderstorm. moving those showers ashore, we'll likely see this increase as we head toward 5-6:00 a.m. as that area of low pressure

gets closer to us. we'll update you if there should be any bulletins. >> you can track these storms as they move into your area by using our weather app. the search is over for the tampa bay buccaneers. defensive coordinator cutter has been promoted to head coach. this decision does not come as much of a surprise to the buccs organization or to many fans. >> last week the general manager hinted that cutter was a strong candidate. we have team coverage on reaction tonight. >> from the moment lovey smith was fired, cutter seemed to be at the top of the buccaneers' wish list. in his first season as offensive coordinator, he turned an empty cup board into a full pantry of offensive weapons. he bonded immediately to winston who became the third

rookie to throw for 4000 yards. now the tandem is tied to the future of the franchise. under cutter's guidance, they broke the record for total offense in a season. plenty of that coming from running back doug martin who revitalized his career under cutter. despite injuries and a near- record number of penalties, the buccaneers produced the fifth best total offense in the nfl. clearly cutter's success on offense outshined smith's shortcomings on defense. this is cutter's first head coaching position in the nfl, but he's got plenty of experience. i'll elaborate later in sports. >> i'm sure the fans are looking forward to hearing coach cutter giving a few words. >> i think we'll wake him up early tomorrow. the buccaneers have yet to make

press conference is expected to come tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon. >> thank you. >> fans are reacting to the big news, many excited about seeing what cutter can do next season. we are joined live from outside raymond james stadium with some of that reaction. >> reporter: i'm at dale mavory highway and columbus drive where just a week ago, this billboard right here had lovey smith's picture all over it. right now that picture obviously gone. maybe by tomorrow we might see the new coach's picture on this billboard as his new era begins. fans are excited to see what the future holds. >> we need a winning season. we do. >> reporter: with new head coach cutter at the helm. >> new offensive coordinator, so i think it will be a change for him and the buccs. >> reporter: the news comes just after a week after firing lovey smith.

>> i knew cutter was going to be the coach. >> reporter: former buccs player believes it's probably the best decision for the team since they're still grooming a young quarterback. >> if they fired smith and didn't retain cutter, his relationship with winston is the most important thing in this equation. it would have been a failure. >> reporter: they hope this improvement doesn't bite them in the end. >> i wish smith could have had one more year because it was much better than last year. i hope someone on the inside really knows what's going on and can really make a difference. >> reporter: and many of those fans that i spoke with tonight, they believe that cutter can bring them a winning season. for right now, they're willing to stand behind him as well as the buccaneers organization. >> live in tampa tonight, thank you. what do you think of the

facebook page. after nearly a decade of bickering, late today the city of st. petersburg gave the rays approval to look for a new stadium site in the tampa bay area. the vote, 5-3. under this new agreement, the rays must pay the city a $5 million fee if they leave for hillsboro county or $2.5 million if the rays stay in pinellas county outside the st. petersburg limits. >> we intend to take a fresh look at the entire stadium- building process and at all those criteria. there may be ideas we haven't thought of yet. we want to build the first of the next generation of major league baseball stadiums. >> if they decide to stay, they won't have to deal with any fees at all. the other big news today -- three big winners will be sharing the largest powerball jackpot in history.

it big at the publix in melbourne beach. who is that lucky winner? where are they hiding themselves? smartly, i might add. >> the rumors are running rampant in the tiny town where the ticket was purchased, neighbors now wondering and whispering. first off, we hear congratulations are in order for you. you won 8 whole dollars. >> reporter: and you would have thought i won the entire jackpot. it's sad how excited i got. lunch is on me. this has been an exciting time here in melbourne beach. everyone has the fever, and it's a small town with a big heart. population 3000 where everybody knows each other, and they say they know who won the big jackpot. check it out. this place was on fire today. we're talking about media,

customers, patrons, residents, citizens, you name it, everyone was talking about it. a big-time winner in what they call little melbourne beach. everyone was so excited. the entire area was talking, and they were getting phone calls from all over the world. >> i'm getting phone calls from friends, text messages, e- mails, you know everybody sees melbourne beach. >> reporter: and they want to know if you won. >> and if they can share it with me. >> reporter: as you know, somebody had to win. it happened right here in melbourne beach. a lot of really nice folks. we enjoyed spending the day with them. some very exciting times. so where's the winner if who's the winner? that remains to be seen. i tried to crack the code at

those people can keep a secret. there was no shame in my game. i tried to get to the bottom of it, and they simply would not say. when i get back, as you know, lunch with my big winnings is on me. we're live tonight in melbourne beach. >> mel, we appreciate that live report and your incredible generosity. thank you, ma'am. we have everything you need to know on wfla.com. the story is right there on our home page. as expected, tonight's republican presidential debate included a fiery back and forth between trump and cruz. when the moderator asked cruz about trump's accusations that he's not eligible to be

in canada, he was ready with a sting. >> back in september, my friend donald said he had his lawyers look at this from every which way. there was no issue there. there was nothing to this fervor issue. since september, the constitution hasn't changed. but the poll numbers have. on the issue of citizenship, donald, i'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. >> because it wouldn't work. >> you're an american. >> they went at it. trump's mother was born in scotland. it should come as no surprise they are going after each other because polls in iowa have tightened between the two. it only gets more entertaining from here. >> i was just going to say, it's getting entertaining. a disturbing find at a tampa bay cemetery.

sheriff judd tells us two women and a man died at a drug house on magnolia street. a fourth man survived a gunshot to the face. the sheriff believes this miami man you're about to see was the master mind of the murders and said joseph's half brother jonathan alsageri was one of the actual triggermen.

turn in the remaining killer for a reward. >> make no mistake. every life is precious to us, and we will chase you to the ends of the earth. fortunately this time we only had to go to miami to make the arrest. but we will do whatever is necessary to bring the others into custody. >> check out the bottom right of your screen. that's a picture of one of the accused killers they're looking for. investigators believe they're probably in the miami area tonight. a disturbing discovery in a tampa cemetery. two bodies and a skull stolen from a mosileum. family members discovered that two small caskets with the remains inside were stolen. a third casket was disturbed with some of the remains inside taken. if you know anything about this, you should call tampa police. new developments in the case of a man critically

injured after crashing his motorcycle into an unmarked deputy cruiser. the sheriff himself is taking some of the blame for this. we are joined live in pinellas county with the update. it's tragic all the way around, but the county is going to have to pay up here. >> reporter: it is. all of it happening here. the motorcyclist headed this way. the undercover deputy headed this way out of this dunkin donuts parking lot. he never sees the guy on the bike. the accident caught on camera. the motorcycle coming in from the left in match for the undercover detective's car practically stopped in the middle of the road. >> the bike is bright red. there's no one you could miss a bike like that.

year-old eli headed home on a dinner break. a 12-year-veteran of the force driving the patrol car. >> i am involved. >> reporter: eli driving the under speed limit wearing his helmet, his light on. >> eli was doing absolutely nothing wrong. >> reporter: who was in the wrong? >> the sole responsibility for this accident rests with corporal. you'll have to swallow the pill and accept the consequences. >> reporter: $200,000 is the maximum liability they face under florida law. it's the memories that witness kyle allen will never forget. again. >> reporter: back live again. eli was going under the speed limit. he remains in critical condition.

chest down. today is his 21st birthday. he was planning on going on a missionary trip. >> what happens to corporal minor now, paul? >> reporter: yeah, that's the big question. is he going to be reassigned? is he going to be suspended? will he go on desk duty? since this is just a tragic accident, it will all remain the same. he will be cited for a traffic violation. he will appear before a judge. for now for him, all is status quo. >> thank you, paul. a popular lip balm facing a class action lawsuit. users claim that eos lip balm left them with serious side effects. the lawsuit claims the summer fruit lip balm caused blisters and a rash around users mouths. plaintiffs want a warning added to the packaging.

a statement from eos claims the lawsuit is, quote, without merit. as we talked a couple of minutes ago, we have this passing area of low pressure that could bring us storms potentially severe. damaging winds, isolated tornadoes are possible. the prediction center had us in a marginal risk. we jumped back up with temperatures for a couple of days. another cold front back below the average line of 70 degrees. we certainly have felt plenty of that this week. 61 degrees at midnight. you can see the rain chances increase hour by hour here climbing up to 60-70%. we are going to focus on the first half of the day for the best rain chances, possible severe thunderstorms, and then into the late afternoon it all clears out with this fast-

lakeland 63. 62 in brooksville. sarasota 64 and bartow 63. there's the low we looked at with this warm front moving ahead of it. not unusual for an area of low pressure. mostly showers across south florida today. we have seen lots of clouds pass across the area. winds at the surface have been primarily from the southeast. right now doppler radar, a few showers back to the west. this is light rain. a light rain down to our south as well. more toward sunrise we're expecting showers to increase. this oddity here, hurricane alex with 80-mile an hour winds. i'm standing here in january talking about tropical weather. this is a hurricane reached 80- mile an hour winds.

no effect on tampa bay or the u.s., but it is curious to observe. you can see the center of low pressure open on the southeastern side as it moves over those cooler waters. it is significant in terms of history. the first to form in january since 1938. since 1955 when alice formed, the first to occur during this month. talking about december and january tropical weather, highly unusual. el nino is very much a part of our weather. this can be the story when you have el nino storms, a far- moving jet stream, potentially tornadoes, thunderstorms back to the west. 9:45:00 a.m. and moving through midday and by later in the afternoon it all cruises off to the east very quickly, turns windy. fog possible but the winds will still be up a little bit. winds will be lighter for

saturday looks like a good day. 75 and mild. 66 degrees by sunday. there's the cool down. 61 on monday. temperatures near 60 degrees for a low. that's on tuesday. overnight lows are chilly once again next week as the second cold front rolls across the area. this is the coolest time of the year for the tampa bay area. we expect chilly temperatures. during this el nino phase, we also expect severe thunderstorms. throughout the winter, remain severe weather aware. >> let's hope it's more bark than bite. thank you. coming up, more on dirk cutter. >> plus the bolts are are back in town. can they ride the lightning from their west coast trip?

in this line of work only the freshest ingredients make the cut it's important to me to know every dish i serve is the best it can be. especially for this food critic. publix bakery scratch made bread we bake it in store every day with pride so you can serve it with some publix. where shopping

you ever lose something, search tirelessly for it, and

that was the bu ccs coaching search in a nutshell. smith's replacement already had an office and it said offensive coordinator cutter to the door. he's expected to be officially introduced as the 11th head coach in franchise history tomorrow. the last domino fell this afternoon when san francisco hired chip kelly. the 49ers were the only other team to interview cutter. this would be his first head coaching gig in nfl. he did hold that position for a 9-year period of time at the college level. he's worked as an oc in eight different places. he helped matt ryan post franchise season records. once the ink dries, jason lyte will have to go right back to work looking for a new director of player personnel. that's because john robinson is

jumping ship to become general manager of the titans. he spent the last two seasons with the buccs organization. the tampa bay lightning feeling a little less motley crue and a little more willy nelson. home sweet home hasn't been as kind as on the road again. they won their last three games, a streak tampa bay has matched just twice this season. now they're back on familiar ice. >> it started off as a little bit of a nerve-wracking trip and turned into a darn successful one. now we have six games before the all-star break. five of them are at home. we're the one team who hasn't gone into any sort of run. we started one here and now we have to keep this going. >> i think as far as complete games go, i think that was one of our best stretches for sure.

there's still room to improve, still things we have to get better at, but i think we're moving in the right direction. >> a couple big ones coming up against the bolts -- the penguins and the florida panthers. maybe they can keep that winning streak going. >> thank you. we'll be back with your winning lottery numbers. stay with us. here. i know, right? it's so nice to have everyone over. hi hey. mmm. i just laid an egg. does anybody want it?

yes, please. mom, guess what? i married a clown and we're having tiny little clown babies. mhm. i just bought a hammer. with internet fast enough for everyone, your guests might get a bit carried away. get out of the past.

vo: know you have a dedicated advisor and team who understand where you come from. we didn't really have anything, you know. but, we made do. vo: know you can craft an investment plan as strong as your values. al, how you doing. hey, mr. hamilton. vo: know that together you can establish a meaningful legacy. with the guidance and support of your dedicated

again in the morning, steve. >> showers and thunderstorms, some could be severe. that would be any time after 6:00 a.m. up until early afternoon depending on the timing of this low. we can see showers develop ahead of that in the overnight. we'll be watching this and this concern for severe weather. we saw the tornado in cape coral that did quite a bit of damage from a rather quiet- looking thunderstorm. >> yeah, benign-looking. >> that's el nino, and we'll watch it closely. a panda cub that's had more than 5 million views on its

debut this weekend in washington, d.c. bebe will be introduced on saturday. the cub is already a celebrity, and the zoo expects long lines. >> have you looked at bebe's web cam? >> only when we're on tv and i kind of see it. >> if you're having a rough day and you go to that web cam, everything's all better at that point. thanks for joining us. jimmy fallon is up next.