their mother has been found. that mother does not have custody of her kids and in the past has made threats that she would hurt her children and herself. candace mccowan has the latest on this very developing story. >> reporter: a lot of people breathing a sigh of relief. there was a lot of concern starting at 7:30 this morning when the grandparents live at this home where the kids were also living. they called police and reported them missing. take a look at these two pictures that have been circulated around the state and even further beyond. you're looking at 4-year-old fredrick and 5-year-old dorian. they were missing. police tell us that they were taken by their mother who doesn't have custody of the kids. and that in the past their mother had threatened to kill the kid and kill herself if she didn't have custody of them. police tell us that last word that they heard that the kids were in north florida and that is where they found them around

4:10 this afternoon in madison florida. we understand the kids are okay and that they're fine. police are going now to meet them. again those two kids that they've been looking for since 7:30 this morning. they issued an amber alert this afternoon. they have been found. they're safe. they're mother is in custody. candace mccowan reporting live for us. thank you. tampa police need your help finding a man who tried to rape a woman. this is the sketch of the man. take a close look. a woman was on his front door when this man approached. he tried taking her clothes off but ran off after a light came on and a dog started barking. the city of lakeland has considered putting the red light on red light cameras. jeff patterson joining us live from lakeland with what could

>> reporter: here at harden boulevard and beacon road the number of accidents has actually gone up since 2012. that's not the impact the red light camera you see over there was expected to make. signs warn motorists of red light cameras. some apps even give you warnings. but still many are getting caught. jane got a ticket then found out where her fine was going. >> i thought when you paid your fine that this money all went to the city of lakeland. then i found out it didn't. so i felt a little worse about paying that fine. >> reporter: red light fines going to a state fund. the red light camera company gets a cut. and the city arts program gets a little. >> we don't get a penny. >> the lakeland police department doesn't get any of the red light camera fine money but they still like the cameras. >> so are the red light cameras working?

>> reporter: in april, city officials presented a glowing red light camera report to the state legislature. showing the number of accidents at intersections down by 43%. was outstanding. >> reporter: but now lakeland's mayor has discovered a new examination of the data shows the number of accidents at some intersections actually went up. and he wants to reconsider the program. >> i believe we need to relook at these cameras now that we're finding out that maybe the information was not what we thought it was. yeah the city of lakeland gave us a third report today that shows that these accidents statistics at these red light cameras intersections vary greatly depending on where you measure the accident. 20feet from the intersection or 100 feet from the intersection and they have data on both of those. in those cases, the numbers

they'll be taking a look at those when they consider red light cameras tomorrow. >> jeff patternson reporting for us in lakeland. thank you, jeff. and a mother wants to know why she and other children were waiting for hours for their school bus. >> i can imagine how this would be frustrating for students and their moms. >> reporter: this morning nine kids from new heights elementary waited and waited and waited for their bus that finally took them to school very late. relentless rain pounded the bay area for almost the entire day. for kids who catch the school

lateness added to their frustration. >> there's usually other buses that come by so we kept seeing them and saying, okay the bus is here, no it's not. >> we kept calling transportation. we would hear the automated message. we're receiving a high volume call, please call later. >> reporter: an hour and a half late for classes that start at 8:35. when another parent got an answer it wasn't good. >> they told us that there was no bus driver assigned for that rout that day and nobody was coming to pick up our kids. >> we certainly sympathize with all of our parents. >> reporter: an ongoing bus driver shortage sometimes causes problems like this. >> unfortunately there are times that we receive driver call outs which lead to delays. we're trying to address that issue. >> reporter: sometimes qualified staff members take to the road when needed. jessica schneider would have liked to have known what was going on.

to communicate with a parent to communicate with a parent any information that we have. unfortunately sometimes that takes time to develop. we need a plan and make sure those routs are covered. >> reporter: and that parent suggested that a reverse call could be sent out. >> sounds like the district really need more school bus drivers. >> they need a lot of school bus drivers. >> reporter: it's an ongoing effort. be qualified. they have to be trained. they just can't throw someone on the bus and say go drive. that's why when they sent other qualified. it's a catch 22. >> sounds like it. thanks. and the republican candidates will debate one more time but donald trump won't be there. meredith joining us live from

there, mark what's the latest. >> it's amazing that the one person that won't be there donald trump as you were just talking about will be the person everyone else will be talking about because he won't be there we've seen him so much be a big part of these debates and while he's promising to be off the stage. this could be a make or break moment for those other seven candidates will be on the main stage. >> reporter: taking his candidacy to a whole new level. donald trump says he's skipping iowa. >> i don't think iowa is going to care. >> reporter: instead the republican candidate plans to hold a fundraiser for veterans. his brash exchanges especially with host megan kelly have made for awkward yet viral moments. >> i'm sorry i've been very nice to you although i could probably not be based on the way you've treated me. >> reporter: the nbc news wall

a seven point lead ahead of texas senator ted cruz and way ahead of the others. seizing a moment of revival. ted cruz says he's ready to debate donald one on one. while tonight's debate isn't likely to include donald trump on the stage, you better believe that the others showing up are ready to be the donald trump for the country. >> i will bring this party together no matter what our differences may be. >> reporter: while donald trump is staying off the stage. he is not staying off the campaign trail.

showing that he understands how important it is to be in the forefront. the clinton campaign trying to point out any weakenses. we know he's 74 years old. there always was the question about his own personal health. today his campaign releasing his health records. there's the possibility of more debates because people are wondering what it will take for the republican nomination. mark meredith reporting live. and keith cate will be live from iowa. watch for keith's report throughout next week.

news this time on an 8 on your side investigation. a judge has just sent down the sentence. glen and katherine jason were sentenced to five years probation. they will also have to under go house arrest and community service. the couple lied about a 21-foot sink hole void underneath their home to new home buyers. they may have to pay restitution to that family. the judge will decide that in a future hearing. we'll have much more on this case. we'll have more on the judge's decision as welcoming up tonight at 6:00. the world health organization says the zika virus is spreading explosively. the meeting will determine whether zika should be named a world epidemic. zika has been strongly linked to severe birth defects.

teen is back in the u.s. the 18- year-old arrived in dallas this morning wearing handcuffs. ethan house and his mother were arrested last month. couch killed two people in a drunk driving accident and had been serving probation. today marks 30 years since the space shuttle challenger exploded. >> coming up next, we're going to show you how students today set aside their math books to learn about this american tragedy. >> ahead a terrifying experience. even when a tor nay dee tears apart a south florida highway. >> strong thunderstorms in south florida today. mostly june rain for us. maybe a rumble here or there of thunder. other wise things are drying out. cooler too for the weekend. your forecast is coming up. >> posts like these on facebook are pretty popular. clicking on them could put you at risk. i'll explain. >> we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel 8.

30 years ago today the off. class. school. today i decided to visit schools and talk to them about the tragedy. kids who had not even been born on that ill fitted day. >> this is a special report from channel 4 news. >> reporter: the topic today had nothing to do with arithmetic. >> it's just a few seconds away from blasting off from the canaveral florida.

instead watching a news special report from january 28, 1986. >> four, three, two, one and lift off. >> reporter: it was about the challenger shuttle lift off. >> my god. it just exploded. this is not standard. >> reporter: and it's ultimate disaster. >> what do you think? why do we stop to remember today. >> because what they did for us was important because they went into space and found that different things can happen with different outcomes if they don't have everything right. >> reporter: they learned how that disaster threatened to stop space exploration and tapped into an emotion that were born. >> what did you think? what did you think about that? >> i was in shock. and like it was really

>> reporter: yeah it was very scary. what about you? >> i was also in shock. but what made me think is that it exploded for a reason and that reason is why we have the future and what we're going to grow up to do. >> reporter: now talking about space exploration itself. that school specializes in math, science and technology with an emphasis on aerospace and aviation. >> a family is suing disney's animal kingdom after a bizarre incident. you don't hear these stories every day. the attorney claims that a snake fell out of a tree and bite a child. the grandmother watched the snake fall and bite and had a

and the weather service confirmed this was an efzero tornado. check out this video. you can see debris flying around. cars were flipped over. the driver said he thought his truck was next. the national weather service ruled this one an ef1 tornado. which pretty scary if you're behind the wheel when that happens. >> or any where near. >> that's close to 100 miles per hour. the person drove right up there into the tornado. i would imagine it would be not be a good idea to drive into a tornado. >> what a dreary day. just rain all day. >> we need some sunshine. floridians get used to the sunshine. >> we miss it when it's gone >> it'll be back. almost an inch of rain at this .96.

same story for you folks out in sun city center. temperatures 65 degrees. .79 at the freedom plaza that location. you see it at sun toyota. the clouds likely will continue. then we'll start to see some of the clearing. moderate to light showers continue for many up until sunshine comes in. the sunshine we've been waiting to drop the temperatures a little bit. much cooler near 50 degrees. breezy with northwest winds developing. as the breeze moves through, it's fairly typical to see the wind move through. for gasparilla the pirate fest. 62degrees, 68 degrees at 8:00 p.m. and the conditions look pretty good for this one. yes it'll be cool to start the day but you will get the day going and in the 60s should be

close to our average high of 71. 71. 77degrees by monday. we're going to be cool but we're going to be warm back up by next week. rain continues to pound into the area. the heavier stuff continues to move into southwest polk county. northeast sections of hardy county. now things start to trail off to the west and quiet down. this is kind of the like the last harrah from north to south. you can see the heavier activity. crystal river to inverness and the inland areas of polk county and this area down south of arcadia. doppler radar seeing a chance of rain. occasionally some heavier rain. some folks have set out in sebring. 4-inches the last 24 hours. quite a bit. certainly into the evening hours here. starts to taper off overnight.

we start to work some cooler air. gets gusty at times. these are the temps right now. nothing exciting to look at here. humidities remain high so the temps really have been about the same the last 24 hours even overnight. cold front just to the north of us. high pressure set to move into the area. we'll eventually as this upper level thereof carries the upper level disturbance through the area. that should help to quiet surface temps. you can see as we work this area of showers into the area some remaining clouds but then quieter. conditions. the gustier winds and that's going to draw in the cool stuff. the rpm computer model still breezy. us. look how clear it is as high pressure settles over us. meaning light winds for saturday and a few of those high clouds should make for a very nice day.

things back up low 70s. not a bad weekend over all. look at the rain chances there. they kick back in especially for wednesday. possibly another round of thunderstorms for that day. can't rule out that any time you see these higher amounts with the el nino phase we've just seen a track of that. for us it's been mostly rain. >> but i saw sunshine on the forecast. >> it's coming. >> i'm good now. >> we're waiting. thanks steve. >> thank you steve. big changes could be coming for your cable or satellite box. >> how you could actually end up with more options. plus how uber plans to drive

now an 8 on your side consumer, cable companies are thinking about renting third party boxes or through devices like tablets. nearly all cable users lease a box paying $231 each year. uber will start using smart phones to sell how fast uber drivers fast. uber promises to get in touch with that driver. >> they're watching you. >> they're always watching you. >> kind of scary. >> you know what if you've been in an uber and white knuckled

you wanted someone to take a look. >> they should mix that into all transportation. if you're planning a spring break trip now is the time to book the tickets and reservations. we're going to show you where you can save if you go book now.