>> i'm jennifer leigh,. >> i'm josh benson. the polk county superintendent finds herself in hot water though her name has been cleared in a complaint filed against her. some school members appear to have lost confidence in their school leader and they are calling for her job. josh thomas joins us live in bartow with the latest. >> reporter: good evening josh. some polk county school board members want to see

so the district can move on from what they call a distraction from the education process. she appeared before the school board for the first time tuesday since she was cleared of several complaints lodged against her. >> allow me to apologize for any failure on my part to manage a relationship with a senior staff member. i take responsibility for that and i learned from it. >> reporter: associate superintendent greg rivers made several claims against suspect leroy including sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. >> the complaints were unsubstantiated. >> reporter: while succeed board members admit there has been academic progress made under the superintendent, some are still troubled.

leroy's leadership style is not appropriate for this system. i have loath confidence in her ability to continue leading the polk county public school system. >> reporter: but the superintendent has not lost the support of all board members. >> and i believe she should be given an opportunity to gain the trust and the respect from the community. from the schools. and from the employees. from everybody that is involved. i believe that. >> reporter: associate superintendent rivers still works for the district. he had little to say for reporters in the meeting. >> i standby everything i say in my complaint. >> reporter: superintendent her written statement. >> would you like to add anything else? >> no i would not. not at this time. thank you very much. thanks. >> reporter: now, that special board meeting to discuss superintendent leroy's future with the district will happen

>> so what optioning are on the table at this point? >> reporter: well, there are several options that are on the table right now. they could keep superintendent leroy in her current condition. they could suspend her, or they could let her go, but if that happens they would have to pay her 20 weeks of her salary. >> we will find out more friday night. josh thomas, thank you. a man attacks a customer with a metal option and then a clerk with a sword. surveillance video shows a man in a red hat walking to a shell station and starts swinging that metal object at an 82-year- old man if you can imagine. a woman gets between them and fights off the attacker. he leaves and moments later, police get a call that a man is attacking a clerk at another shop with a sword. turns out, same guy. to make it even stranger, police say he had just seen the movie poltergeist. >> we don't know if this

drug or having some kind of a mental breakdown. >> 22-year-old javaughn walker charges. car. a florida man is facing assault charges after throwing through window. joshua james was at a window. the server handed him the food and he turned around. that is when he tossed the three-and-a-half foot gator through the window. he said it was a harmless prank that has been blown out of proportion. >> this is a stupid prank that he did that is now turning into this. he is a prankster. he does stuff like this because he thinks it is funny. he is not a bad kid. he is a stupid kid. he did a stupid prank. he had no problem turning himself? >> their son is now charged with assault and unlawful possession and transportation of an alligator. seems 2015 was not a good

there were 59 unprovoked shark attacks in the u.s. last year according to the florida museum of natchal history. that beats the record in 2012. more swimmers, surfers, around divers in the water attributed to the attack. a police dog is back at work in volusia county after taking a bullet. he has a purple heart, a medal, and a medal of valor. k-9 officer endo and his handler were responding to a disturbance in november. a man shot and wounded his girlfriend and then took aim at deputies. endo took a bullet. deputy whitson will be forever grateful because he and endo have an unbreakable bond. >> i am with my dog more than

at home and work. >> endo is back at work now. legislation to protect pastors who refuse to marry same sex couples moved forward today. both side ins the debate believe they are the ones being tactorred. mike vasilinda has more now from tallahassee. >> reporter: there is no middle ground in the debate over pastor protection. >> is the concerns of just the hatred and the bigotry toward the gay community. >> reporter: but pastors say it is not about hate. it is about avoiding lawsuits. >> we are pastors. not politicians and lawyers and we cannot afford to fight legal fight to do what our first amendment rights are. >> reporter: the so-called pastor protection act would keep them from being sued if they refused to marry someone and guarantees their tax exempt status won't be taken away. >> everything i preach and everything i believe in the

i'm not hateful but i do live by the bible. >> reporter: gay rights activists say it is much to do about nothing. >> first amendment of the united states constitution protects every clergy member from being compelled to marry anyone for any reason. >> reporter: the legislation cleared the committee by a 6-1 vote. >> senator simpson. >> reporter: and the pastors we spoke to made it clear with or without this legislation, they will still say no to same sex couples. they city the decision on whom to marry is not in their hands. >> we stand on god's word. marriage is between a man and a woman. >> so you would refuse to marry a gay couple. >> i would. >> are you afraid of being sued? >> no, sir. >> reporter: the senate bill has one more committee stop. mike vasilinda, newschannel8. a legal battle today in tallahassee over an abortion

mandated a 24 hour waiting period for a woman before she getting an abortion. jennifer sullivan says she didn't wry an unconstitutional law, but the civil liberties union disagrees. >> this empowers them to have the face to face consultation with a doctor with currently the doctors are not showing them that same care that they would to their other patients for other procedure. >> they should not be forced to delay the procedure. they soul not be forced to undertake the additional costs and burdens of having to take >> the appeals court will decide whether or not to keep the injunction against the law in effect and could ultimately court. well, it has been a traffic nightmare on i-275. >> coming up, why motorists celebrate tonight. also ahead, we will show you what you should keep and medicine cabinet. >> it has all been about the wind today.

front has slipped to the south now, chilly temperatures, clearing skies, eventual lighter winds.

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>> from the cough syrup you used to battle a cold last winter to pain relievers and ointments, it is easy to accumulate a lot of medication. >> it sure is, but what should you hold onto and what should you pitch? >> reporter: it is time to do some spring cleaning. the best place to start is actually with your medicine cabinet. >> it is not the best place to keep things. there is humidity. temperature fluctuations. if the bottles are not sealed, moisture can get into them.

as i go through them and put them in a safer spot like a dresser drawer. but first, we need some rules to follow. liquids might start to clump or product might start to separate. if the tablets look crushed or discolored or cracking, even though they are within date, they may have been exposed to temperature fluctuations. >> now they know what to keep, trash. >> take your old capsules, water. crush them up. either throw in old coffee grounds, food scraps, kitty sawdust. anything the make it filthy so someone will not want to dig through there and fine them. >> and keep in mind for prescription medications, cross out any personal information or scrape it off of the container

>> and when going through your medicine cabinet, check the expiration date on items like sunscreen, makeup, dental floss. >> dental floss? >> uh-huh. >> that's interesting. actor hugh jackman says wear sunscreen. he recently revealed he is fighting another bout of skin cancer. he wrote it was a basal cell, the mildest form of cancer. he has been treated at least three times for skin cancer. if you have already given up on your new year's resolution to exercise more, you are far from alone. gold's gym has dubbed today, february 9, the day people tend to fall off a fitness cliff. new year's resolutions to exercise have apparently stopped motivating people. after today, gym check-ins will never be as high again for the rest of the year. other fitness clubs have noticed similar drop-offs. >> interesting note here. that may be because it is national pizza day today.

deep dish, ordered or homemade, pizza is an american favorite. 3billion are sold in the u.s. each year according to pizza.com. if you are into carbs, today is also national bagel day. want to celebrate them both? get a pizza bagel. >> that is a solution. well, drivers who use i-725 from pinellas county into tampa have reasons to breathe a little easier. >> it was a mess. the florida department of transportation have opened two new lanes and ryan hughes took the roadway to experience the new drive. >> reporter: for weeks and weeks and weeks, drivers headed into tampa on i-275 northbound dealt with bumper to bumper traffic. but overnight a new lane opened causing this. smooth sailing now. it is something morning commuters waited weeks for. a driver to work or school without hitting the brakes. the florida department of transportation opened a

interstate in january causing major backups. they quickly closed the section between lois and armania avenues to open a new lane and an auxiliary lane. drivers certainly noticed. >> it was perfect. i was able to get here and at least 20 minutes less than what i normally do. it was great. >> reporter: we ran into jd o'neal again today. >> i extended my driver here by about 30 minutes. >> reporter: drivers are glad to see the free flowing traffic knowing their commutes into downtown tampa just got a lot easier. >> i want to get to work and come home as soon as i can. >> reporter: even with the reduced congestion, construction continues and drivers should use caution. and 8 on your side will continue to monitor this stretch of highway and bring you updates throughout the coming weeks and months. reporting on i-275 in tampa,

high winds caused the spectacle at oklahoma city eke lace hefner. forecast called for winds of 10 to 15 miles an hour with gusts up to 23 miles an hour. and we know all about the high winds. they have been gusts over 30 miles an hour routinely. northwest winds at 13 miles an hour. our humidity 60%. clouds, clearing taking place from north to south. that is the view from frenchies. 36 miles an hour. almost tropical storm strength with sometimes stronger gusts and you can see here at freedom plaza in sun city center, 60 degrees with a west wind at 12 miles an hour. still headed out to the fair, it will be a bit breezy. overall, the dress should be fantastic. 58 degrees at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. 11:00 a.m., mostly sunny skies. clear skies. 51 degrees for us. the day planner for tomorrow,

than we saw today. the northwest winds have driven a lot of low clouds across the area. saw a few sprinkles last night and throughout the day. light stuff primarily. coal started 45 degrees as we get to the morning hours. 55 degrees at noon. 58. breezy again. probably not as windy. still a good breeze coming in from the northwest. 53 for the evening hours. 45 degrees at daybreak. as we head into the afternoon, of course, we will see the upper 50s . this cool air continue to roll on into the region. wind gusts in blue here, you can see 31 miles an hour in tampa. 32 in the airport there in saint pete. really it is windy everywhere. temperatures are primarily upper 50s , 60s at this hour. just to the north of us, there is cold air to tap into the with the northwesterly northerly flow. when it is cool to the north, you know lit be chilly in florida.

the cold front past the air y. high clouds from west to east. freeze advisories in the north. you notice the clouds eroding from north to south. some of the clouds here as they slowly push to the south. another little push of cooler drier air. so that will make it quite chilly the next couple of mornings. so much so, with lighter winds, going to be some freeze advisories coming up in the northern counties as we get into the next night. lingering clouds, dropping temperatures. we see the winds coming out of the north basted on the lines of equal pressure. tomorrow afternoon, still quite breezy. mostly sunny and cool. windy conditions overall as we get into thursday morning. you can see the coldest morning with the area of high pressure that is helping to provide us with this cooler air sitting over us. good radiational cooling. so, plan on that morning to be chilly on thursday morning. in the afternoon, very dry air allows for bright blue skies for the area with with this

over us for friday. gradually warming. if you want more sunshine, you will likely get more of that tomorrow. 68 on saturday. valentine's day weekend there looks pretty good overall. upper 60s . partly cloudy skies. we will introduce chances monday, tuesday time frame. with another area of low pressure swinging across the gulf and moving across the state. we will fine tune the numbers as we get a little closer to those days. guys? >> always good to look ahead to the weekend already. >> absolutely. people do it all the time. >> thank you steve. >> thank you. scary moment for two maintenance workers. >> coming up next, we will show you what happened when they were cleaning an awning at a

>> now, to what's making headlines across the area. a missouri state trooper caught burning car. when the trooper saw the smoke, he ripped over the passenger safety. hospital. the crash was caused by another driver who ran a red light. and an inmate mistakenly released from the los angeles county sheriff's department is back in custody. steven wright was arrested in boulder city, nevada.

he is now being held in the nevada custody facility pending an extradition hearing. he will not face additional charges. surveillance cameras caught impressive video of a gas station awning collapsing to the ground. two workers were on the roof cleaning it when it collapsed with them on it. one worker has minor injuries. the other fell with the steel roof. but amazingly, was unscathed. >> it is scary. scary to think something like this could just happen to randomly. >> there was a car in there. and i guess there was a passenger inside one of the cars. an and he got so scared he got out of the car running. >> engineering and safety inspectors arrived quickly to shut down the station. the person who fell with the

good times are rolling in new orleans for mardi gras. thousands are in the streets. revelers will eat, drink, dance, and catch the traditional beads. the carnival ends at midnight when police will clear the streets. >> sounds like gasparilla. up next. >> with 16 cases of the zika virus across florida, mosquito control officials are on high alert. >> we will tell you the steps taken to keep you safe and what you can do on your own. plus, streets of downtown saint petersburg will be transformed for the grand prix. and the changes will start today. >> there has been a huge setback with some road construction. we will tell you why tonight. >> why a medical service dog caused a family to be evicted from their apartment. >> those stories plus your

sports with dan lucas coming up

you like being you should want your banking to be too. stop into td bank and we'll help set you up with picture perfect banking. new customers, open a checking and savings account and you can get a polaroid cube+ video camera on the spot. >> right now on newschannel8 at 6:00. >> more traffic headaches ahead. >> the polls close in just two hours. we are live from the new hampshire primary. >> and, dog debate. a family claims their medical service dog earned them an eviction notice. good evening, i'm keith cate. >> i'm stacie schaible.