good evening we begin with breaking news in hillsborough county. this is where a pedestrian was hit by a train. we're going to bring you more information as soon as we get it into the news center. a cheating scandal has

seven recruits are now fired and one deputy instructor has resigned. cook was the leader of the ring. he received the test from a friend of his who said not to give it to recruits but he did. seven people have been released. cook trying to give the exam some of the other 16 recruits but they did not take it. as for the exam itself, the sheriff says it was not hard at all. an armed mass bandit is on the lose. he may be behind as many as six hold ups. newschannel8's peter bernard talked to two of the clerks who say their lives have changed because of the crimes. >> his mo is the statement every time.

sticks his gun at the clerk and then takes the money. >> he said give me all the money. he was looking for the money. i said i don't care. i just wanted him to get what he wants and for him to leave. >> reporter: johnny's food mark at pinellas park and a second sonoco north of st. pete. >> this is definitely the same guy. >> reporter: as the clerk mopped the floor, the armed bandit came ready to rob. expect. you don't know what he's going to do. you don't know his intentions. you're just here taking care of the store and customers. florida state university has agreed to a large financial settlement with the woman who

fsu agreed to pay kingston $250,000. her attorneys received much more than. 750,000. kingston sued the school for not investigating and denying her of her investigation. nothing wrong. here's a look at the scene ago. the time. the pasco county sheriff's office tells us the injuries were minor. the scene is now clear. trinity road and little road are both back open. and 8 on your side story about a stolen cocotoo helped pinellas county with the theft. the bird could still be -- the bird thief may still be on the run, but hector is back home.

a hat and two pairs of glasses. nothing suspicious about that. a few minutes later he dances away out of the store. >> a woman said that she saw the story on your station and was alerted to it because she had been given the bird to babysit over the weekend. >> reporter: today we did our own pet detective work and tracked down the stolen bird. our camera was rolling when the unwitting bird sitting handed over hector to a sheriff detective in pinellas park. >> did you take the bird? >> no she did not. she did not. >> reporter: a few moments later hector was home. >> here's your mama. >> hi, did you miss us. >> reporter: there's still no arrest as far as we know. but at least hector is home. >> in largo, i'm mark douglas, newschannel 8. traffic troubles continue on interstate 275 in tampa.

you can see the back up from eagle 8hd and as you can it. i live in a town and country so it takes me an hour to get here every morning. >> it's frustrating because there never seems to be any reason for the delay. it's just until traffic opens up. >> reporter: a spokesman says a fourth lane will open by mid- february. dot believes that will cut down on the back up. headaches will continue. today sarasota county began a massive clean up in the water. large debris after the tornado ended up in the canal and waterwayless. >> reporter: across the intercoastal water and in canals you will find damage, debris and left over destruction. the county dispatched six boats and 20 workers to safely get it out. >> it's difficult and can be

>> reporter: the torn metal and exposed nails can shred boths so it's important to get it out quickly. all that debris can hurt not only boats but the entire ecosystem. the county expects this clean up work to be done sometime in the next five days. reporting in sarasota, john rogers. now. it started out chilly but man it got awesome. >> we have some of that florida snow. some frosty windshields this morning. this morning in tampa officially 38 degrees. very chilly start but like jen said we warmed up throughout the day and it's really been a pleasant afternoon. now starting to drop off to 60 in tampa. northern counties already falling back into the low to mid-50s. so still going to be a cool night.

if you have plans for the rest of this evening, expect it to stay quiet. partly cloudy skies. most of us will be in the mid- 50s. temperatures are going to drop back but we're not going to be in the 20s or 30s like we were yesterday. we're only going to fall back into the low 50s. places like st. pete still warming up to the low 60s by tomorrow morning. a few of our northern areas will drop back into the 40s. a light jacket to start the day off tomorrow. another dry day tomorrow. notice the rain chances they're wednesday. we'll talk about that in your full forecast. still ahead on 8 at 7:00. >> coming up, how scientists are using lasers to combat the the florida oranges. >> truckers at risk of losing their license for something they didn't even do. now after our questions, the

josh thomas has more from lakeland. >> reporter: citrus growers across florida have been fighting a disease that's been killing their trees for years. it's called citrus greening and it's had a devastating effect here in florida. but now scientists are using lasers to inject the leaves with antibiotics which has proven better than just spraying the trees with insecticides. >> you're not going to see this in any other agricultural enterprise. we're making head way and ultimately we're going to have a stable system followed by replanting.

hope to be able to use the new technology soon this march. larry black is a fifth generation citrus growers and can't wait to use it on his crops. >> there's no silver bullet but this is an important turning point for the industry to have these bacteriacides. >> reporter: it's a top priority for an industry that does not want to become instinct. josh thomas, newschannel 8. florida senator bill nelson has secured 125 million federal dollars over five years for research into ending citrus greening. the industry also plans to plant 20 million trees over five years to try to stabilize the losses. welcoming up, call it inflate gate. tickets to super bowl l are approaching record prices. also ahead, trouble for thousands of truckers who found out their instructor was not qualified. we'll have the latest on this 8

>> the dow dropped 208 points and the nasdaq lost 72. hilton is opening a new line of

the hotel chain will debut true hotels. the new brand is looking to cater to millenials. daily rates range from 90 to $100 a night. if you bought a new home last year odds are it was bigger and priceyer than in years past. according to the association of national home builders, the home rose by 40 square feet. almost all buildings had three bedrooms and garages with room for three cars. and gates is helping fight malaria by donating to the

>> we have really great science which it's liverpool or berkeley. the scientific community has agreed that by 2040 we can get rid of this disease. >> reporter: malaria kills almost 6,000 children a year. the cdc now wants to cut deaths by 90% before 2030. when it comes to all daybreak fast, mcdonalds customers and investors appear to be loving it. the fast food restaurant has seen a jump in same day sales by more than 40%. mcdonalds is crediting the all daybreak fast for the earnings report. olive garden announced that catering delivery is now available at all of its restaurants in the u.s. and canada. meals and bread sticks can be delivered for family gathering, office parties and other special events.

for minimum orders of $125 and 15% delivery fee for orders up to $500. donald rumsfeld has launched a gaming app. the app is called churchill solitary. it's a variation on solitary that churchill winston devised. it uses two decks, 10 rows of cards instead of seven. before now not to many people knew the version of the game even existed. >> winston churchill used to play this game and he taught it to a friend of mine. a friend of mine thought it to me back in the 1970s. it's a game that dates back many many decades. >> reporter: profits will go to military charity that is support the troops and their families and the families of the fallen. tickets to super bowl l are approaching super not to mention record prices. the average resale price of a

panthers face the denver broncos is, you ready for it? $5,178. that's according to ticket price tracker zeekgeek. a pair of club seats has already sold for $12,100 each. super bowl lx is february 7th in santa clara california. thousands of truckers fooled by a fake trucking inspector forced to pay thousands to keep their licenses. these truck drivers didn't do anything wrong they just happened to have a shady examiner. we went to state officials to see if there's anything they could do to help. shannon behnken has some good news. >> reporter: about 2,000 drivers paid thousands to get their licenses to drive big rigs.

effort involved and everything. >> reporter: the problem their state tester. clarence barber was busted for taking bribes to pass people who couldn't pass the test on their own. now legitimate drivers who just happened to be tested by the same guy have to pay the price. many of these truckers have been driving for years, but they must now take the test all over again. and it's not cheap. >> it'll mean a lot of money out of my pocket to retake the test. to retake the class. a lot of money that i've paid already, a lot of these guys have. >> reporter: the test costs 300 bucks, extra money that truckers like michael lee simply don't have. >> it's very difficult to live out here on this road. you have to pay for three meals a day, all your drinks out of your pocket. that cuts it down pretty quick. >> reporter: jose perez is caught up in this mess. he got a legitimate passing grade on his driving test but it happened to be given by that crooked tester.

so i feel i should be able to keep my license. >> reporter: perez is fine with retaking the test, but thinks since he did nothing wrong, someone else should pay for it. >> i don't think i should be charged especially for a retake. >> why won't the state step in and help them out with that money? >> reporter: at first they simply told us, too bad. so (303) -- so 8 on your side went on air to call them out. >> this seems ridiculous. >> reporter: after seeing our story the state had a change of heart. now they're offering to help on a case by case basis which is good news for truckers. shannon behnken. 8 on your side. after a frosty start this morning, temperatures not going to be as cold for tonight. as you wake up tomorrow morning head off to work, get the kids to school temperatures will be in the low 50s.

want a light jacket, but not yet. we were up nicely into the mid- 70s by the afternoon hours. look for partly to mostly cloudy skies but we're going to stay dry again for tomorrow. you can see it's quiet right imagery. as we take a step back. here's what we're watching. here's the front we're watching it's going to move through on wednesday really moving up those rain and storm chances. high pressure still in play bringing us that warm southeasterly flow. this is what's going to help allow temperatures to warm up as we head into tomorrow. this storm system is slowly pushing east. you can see more showers and storms developing across the southeast as we head into tomorrow. for us it's going to stay dry for tomorrow. it's not until wednesday until this front sinks further to the south. kind of combined with this. and that's why our rain chances are so high for wednesday. taking a close look in, you can see partly cloudy skies, not as

it really looks nice. we will have more cloud cover around so not as much sunshine but we'll make it into the mid- 70s. by wednesday morning, notice the showers and storms rolling in. and these are expected to continue through the day. that's why our rain chances are so high. not only will most of us see rain but we'll see rain through a large portion of the day. watching that slight potential for a severe, a few isolated severe storms as well on wednesday. the linger storm system will continue in on thursday before clearing out, leaving us with briefly cooler weather. but by gasparilla that looks pretty good for us. upper 60s, partly cloudy. no rain in the forecast. i think we can handle temperatures in the upper 60s. it's going to feel significantly warmer than the children's parade was this past weekend. >> that sounds like a great pirate forecast. we'll take it. thank you. we'll be right back, stay with us. plus here's what you will see tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. >> i'm josh benson with 15 seconds of video. i will show you how to fix bad

the next 15 years or more.

well here's further proof that there's a day to celebrate just about anything nowadays. did you know that today is bubble wrap appreciation day? when it comes to stress relief let's just be honest there's no way you can stay angry after popping a roll of bubble wrap. did you know that bubble wrap was initially made to be wallpaper. the idea was not a success. which is good because do you really want someone popping

and officer bobby white responds to a complaint of kids playing basketball too loudly. instead of reprimanding them he joins the game. as he leaves he tells them he's going to bring back up next time. and boy did he. >> look at these big guys i brought. i brought other back ups for you. are you sure you can take them? >> oh snap, or shaq. that's right. officer white brought serious back up. shaquille o'neil said he was touched but he wanted to keep it quiet to surprise the kids and officer white and the crowd that was to ensue. we got this. oh yeah, shaq, we got this. >> as a kid. >> it would be pretty incredible. >> a great night ahead.

last night was. temperatures just falling back into the low 50s for tomorrow night. >> we'll be back here at 11:00. we'll see you then. is that kim kardashian? the new photo setting off a frenzy of rumors. >> now on "extra." >> "extra." >> kim kardashian's surprise new look in her first selfie since giving birth. what's different about her face? lady gaga's bombshell confession. >> it affected my family tremendously my whole life. >> gaga goes secret with a dark secret. >> making a murderer, steven avery's new letter from prison. why nancy grace is going off today. >> it doesn't even make any sense. >> and the two bernie madoffs.

niro on transforming into the park avenue pariah. >> he was so guilty, it dripped from his mouth like blood. >> then -- >> matt damon, chelsea handler, kristen stewart, all the sundance stars are coming straight to "extra." >> what's the big shocker in chelsea's new netflix series? >> and it's on camera. >> wow. >> then, bachelor ben popping the question. why he's inside a wedding chapel and getting down on one knee. >> tell me everything. >> yeah, right. >> plus, tina fey back on "snl"? you betcha. now on "extra" from universal studios hollywood, the entertainment capital of l.a. >> hey, everyone. welcome to "extra." i'm mario lopez. well, the big blizzard on the east coast is over. coming up, new photos of the stars in the snowstorm. also coming up, mario, she just got engaged, but what's mariah

kim kardashian is the focus of a