we begin with breaking news. investigators are looking into the finding of a woman's body. >> reporter: take a look at this. you can see all this activity going on. we have a very active scene. go beyond that yellow crime scene tape. down there look to the right where the sheriff's office vehicle is. that's where the body was found around 1:30 this afternoon. two people happened to be driving by, they spotted it. and they called the sheriff's office. how did this woman get here? they do not know but they again, they have categorized it as a murder. and how long had she been here. well the sheriff's office said it hadn 't been too long. just a couple of hours. how did she end up here that's a question as well. the spokesperson said that was probably the case that this is not a random act. now.

that happened earlier today in braydonton. right now detectives are not ruling out whether or not that murder was connected to what you see right behind me. live in palmeto tonight, paul muller. meantime more breaking news in manati county, the sheriff the on the scene of a propane tank explosion. no serious injuries. day three of clean up under way now in sarasota and manati county and it's going to take some time for that area to heal. sarasota suffered $11 million of damage and work crews are now battling the clock as well. newschannel8's john rogers joins us live from siesta key tonight to explain, hi john. >> reporter: good evening stacy, even though it's going

a lot of restoration crews. they're roaming through the building because there's still a lot of work to do. most of the roof is missing and it caused severe water damage and lots of damage throughout the entire building. earlier, we're expecting rain working quickly to prepare for that. careful with the railings. anything. >> reporter: despite the damage, mary goes back up to her apartment. >> this clock is frozen at the moment. >> at the moment it happened. i thought that was really cool. >> reporter: after the roof tore off, there's nothing here worth saved. >> none of these things really mattered as much as us being okay. >> reporter: so mary is taking inventory of all the damage. this condo suffered lots of water damage. >> we're going to have to replace carpets, we're going to

>> reporter: this weekend is expected to bring more bad weather. >> we're going to get rain on friday. so we want to button it up as much as we can. >> reporter: so residents are quickly emptying out their condos. >> it hurts, it hurts a lot. messes up my winter plans i can tell you that. >> reporter: in the meantime, clean up crews will spend the day spraying the building to kill mold. they will also cover the unit with a tarp. >> you can replace things but you can't replace people. that's what it's all about. most important. officials tell me the tarp will afternoon. and they're also telling residents that it could be six to nine months before this building is fully restored. back to you. residents. all right john, thank you.

clean up to recovery efforts going on in manati county in duette. today we learned children rescued are doing better. the children have been moved from intensive care into a regular hospital room. the two boys have been released from the hospital and are with a family member. considering what's happened, they're doing pretty well. the outreach they've received from the community and all the support they've had has just been tremendous. >> reporter: the family wants to thank the community for their support but they are asking for privacy at this time devastating impact of this storm. preying on victims who feel they have nowhere else to turn.

when they started working for work. >> what these scammers are doing is illegal, and could be costing you money. >> reporter: good evening guys, street here. and that means contractors are on the prowl for work. i talked to homeowners that looking for work but the problem is some of these unlicensed. so today i set out to find a few. >> reporter: it was the first work crew we saw. easy to spot in their unmarked truck. >> are both of you licensed. >> no this is off -- i was just helping a friend out on this job. >> reporter: he would not give me a name but explained he was just freelancing his services. >> what happened if someone falls off the roof here and you're not licensed. >> no one is going to fall through. >> how do you know?

>> reporter: what would you do? what happens. >> reporter: good thing this guy spotted 8 on your side and got off the roof safely. up. finger salute. we found crew after crew, properties. this drone 8 video shows why storm chasing contractors came here fast. there's so much work to be done though, that it's hard to tell guys. the licensed and insured from quick buck. >> we have 15 or 20 cards. >> reporter: al fowler decided to hire one licensed contractor home. >> i don't even take the cards anymore.

wasting their time. >> reporter: rafway describes aggressive contractors. and deep discounts on work she doesn't even need. now not every job requires a state license but you should never hire anyone to do any work on your property if they don't have insurance. because if something happens, keith. >> the big take away here is do your home work. are there any other warning signs we need to know about, shannon. >> reporter: i spoke with some folks today at the better business bureau and they tell me they're hearing from people who are asking for cash or asking to be paid up front. those are big warning signs. also high pressure tactics because there's a lot of work here. so the good guys, the license insured contractors they don't have to beg for your work. >> trust but verify. shannon behnken live for us tonight.

need to know on our website wfla.com. a helpless puppy taken from a pet store. >> now an arrest has been made in this case. coming up what the suspect told investigators about why he did it and where that puppy is. >> plus some controversy over new rules in one bay area school. details on its policy regarding transgender students and which bathroom they should use. >> cold temperatures tonight, so much so a freeze warning in place for citrus, hernando parts of pasco and sumpter county. we take a look at that forecast and ahead at your weekend when

he works for water resources and police are now investigating -- in pasco county a bomb scare. deputies searched the building but didn't find anything. students were bussed to a near by school unless investigatorred gave the all clear. still ahead tonight. a new bathroom policy for transgender students at a bay area school. >> coming up we're going to introduce you to the student behind the change and tell you how the parents are reacting to the new policy. in this line of work only the freshest ingredients make the cut it's important to me to know

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thank you a newer policy in tampa area schools allowing transgender students to use the bathroom with the gender they identify with. story. >> reporter: with this policy, if you identify as a male you can use the male bathroom. the same goes with the opposite sex. >> in the girl's bathroom i would always have to wait. >> reporter: it was this time last year that nathan quinn told his parents he wanted to

knew to a boy. since then he tells me he's been trying to use the male bathroom in school. >> yeah he told me not to use the bathroom but i've been using them any way. my driver's license says male there shouldn't be a problem. >> reporter: nathan is talking about dr. steven colbert who's the principal. the school is for gifted students and has students from second to 12th grade. >> he said no parents could complain with second graders on campus. >> reporter: the community rallied around him and planned to call the school and he believes that's what led the principal to send this message. telling parents nathan can use the boy's bathroom. >> i heard some parents have complained and some students have complained but noneover noneover -- none of them would come to me about it. >> reporter: even though

camera, they have openly made comments on social media. one parent asking why nathan not just use the girl's bathroom since he's just about the graduate. >> it's not just about me but the other transgender students and they need the same rights. >> reporter: this is definitely a talker. we asked for your feed back. here's what we heard so far today. this guy from lacari. no way will my daughter attend a school where a boy can claim he's a girl and use the same bathroom. and one from kathie saying they should have a transgender bathroom. and michael rapper who says, i now identify as a woman, i didn't realize it was that easy to gain access to the lady's room. so a will the of people talking about this one, stacie.

is there any other districts that change their policies or use this policy. >> reporter: i reached out and most have said they haven't dealt with this issue but they say they have discussed it in case this may come up at their school. >> and we want you to share your comments on share your thoughts. 52 degrees chilly on the beach. st.pete beach you can see clear skies and probably will stay that way. at frenchies great looking sunset. but you do not see a cloud in the sky. 24 hours ago we saw quite a few high clouds streaming our way from the west. citrus, hernando parts of pasco county away from the coastline. see that area there.

with pets and plants needles to say. cover the pipes. you're going to be in the northern areas, temps could be near or below freezing. this is your eight day forecast, you can see the temperatures take a bit of a jump thursday along with a rain chance on friday. then a big dip after that cold front sweeps on through for the weekend. the festivities involved with the children's parade in downtown. dropping into the 40s. here are our temperatures mostly clear conditions. the sky and the freeze warning generally north of i40. interior areas especially lots of cold pockets. if you have any questions at all, take the precautions even though you don't think you will be below freezing. storm tracker came in real handy with the severe weather that we had. again at 7:00 a.m. winter gear to start the day. that's pretty chilly for folks that live in florida.

52 in apollo beach. right now the temperatures will continue to stay fairly cool farther to the north. very cold air. you can see this area of low pressure coming out from the west already leading to some snow. these are winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings in place. high pressure is our dominant feature. these are all warnings not cloud cover. you can see the snowfalling. points into southern illinois and southern iowa. we have our of course typical weather mornings. it would be freeze warnings that go into portions of the bay area. also those high clouds you can see streaming farther down to the south. 36 upper 20s. 40 sarasota.

66degrees you can see for barto and sebring. nice day overall but we will start a warming trend as we bring those winds more easterly which is a milder flow for us. 49degrees for the evening, burr, 39 degrees to start the day. high temperature in the afternoon of 64 degrees with plenty of sunshine. nice warm up through the day. wind shift keeps it milder for thursday morning. 49degrees here. 10degrees warmer than it will be for wednesday morning. 72 for a high that day. low 70s carry into friday along with the possibility of showers and thunderstorms along with pressure and another cold front kind of get the routine here with these storm systems that roll on through and bring the chilly air. that will happen again by the weekend. so for those headed out to the big one. >> it's a big one. we say that. >> extravaganza.

the children's extravaganza. >> five game winning streak. tonight they hope to make it six in a row. >> we hope they do too. >> and jameson winston friendly company when he saw his name on

atlantic division? if the lightning win tonight they will join the red wings in second place with 54 points. but right behind the bolts, a match up of the two wild card teams the bruins and canadians it matters, boston could leap right into third place if the the edmonton oilers.

the bolts are seeking their sixth consecutive win. they started their streak against the very team they went against tonight. and cooper feels his team is full of confidence. >> personally, i think back to the minors when we had 28 in a row. and, i'm telling you, you feel like, you walk in every single night it's 1-0 for you. there's a calming presence for sure that you're going to find a way to either close the game out or find a way to score big goal late. it brings us a sense of not entitledment but realizing we are a good team and if we continue to play the way we are. more chances than not we're going to find a way to win. >> we finally get to hear from new bucks defensive coordinator mike smith he will be introduced tomorrow at one buck place. and this reunion between smith and buck's head coach dirk cutter will be official. the profootball riders

rookie team this afternoon. quarterback jameson winston certainly made that list. but how cool was this. three more bucks rookies make this team including quan alexander and donovan smith. you think they drafted well last year. >> jaime bird hopes he can show the talent this year. three interceptions in his senior season at usf. but byrd feels he has to perform well because he's not as big as your typical nfl back. >> i play with a chip on my shoulder every time i play because i'm not the biggest guy out here. i have to play with that chip everywhere i go. that's going to put me to put extra stuff out here. to get them to love me not just like me.

all the shiny new seats are in. that's the entire project which is part of the massive three year renovation. comfy seat too. finishes one month before this year's daytona 500. they widen the seats. they widen them so they're more comfortable. they gave up a little capacity. it's only 101,000. >> is that all, of your closest friends. it was tight. but what a speedway. >> it's going to be nice. >> thank you dan. >> finally tonight a couple of bolts showing their softer side. victor headman paying a visit to the humane society of tampa bay yesterday. the players and girlfriends got to spend some time with very

they're planning a pet food drive.