>> and tampa gets trumped. we talk to supporters who are psyched to see the donald tonight. >> exclusive coverage from cuba. how warmer relations are boosting american tourism there. good evening. i'm stacie schaible. >> i'm keith cate. thank you very much for joining us tonight. we begin with breaking news in a salacious scandal. superintendent kathryn leroy has resigned. it happened just a few hours ago. it comes on the heels of seedy accusations about leroy's questionable behavior. boy, this story has it all. steve. >> reporter: it has a lot. and now i have a resignation in my hand. kathryn leroy was cleared of any legal wrong doing. but, she faced a lot of

of support going into this 5:00 meeting. the most sensational complaints come from associate superintendent of operations greg rivers. he says leroy made comments about him like i wonder if he has sex hard. rivers told an investigation on a trip to tallahassee, the two were having drinks. ms. leroy was drinking, started touching me. she was trying to get me to stay in her room and i said no. when we got in the elevator, she was still trying to talk me into coming to her room. then she attempted to kiss me. i pushed her away and she was trying to get me to come to her room. former school board member frank o reilly new about it and let the relationship fester. >> the only decision they can make is to relieve the superintendent of her duties.

>> reporter: according to rivers, his environment grew hostile. when i was not social with the superintendent, the superintendent would be as i put it, irritated with me or i would be in the dog house. leroy denies any inappropriate behavior. another complaint against the superintendent, she does not value input from employees or appreciate their efforts. >> this report is just a crystallation of the way she met. people have been hearing this for years and haven't done anything about it. >> reporter: rivers also accused leroy of manipulation of the hiring process in order to create a position for a former romantic interest with whom rivers claims the superintendent said she had a four-year affair. now, while the school board decides whether or not to approve the school board package, they are looking into

they spent about $885,000 on a new software system that was supposed to be installed in september of 2015. and so far, keith, they have nothing to show for it. >> steve i know this story has been percolating for a while. but here, the resignation comes in. but what are the terms of the resignation? how does she walk away? >> reporter: what she is asking for, 20 weeks of severance pay. her sick leave and vacation pay and attorney's fees. >> we will see how that goes. keep us posted. steve andrews live in bartow. now, another breaking story. the third suspect in a lakeland triple murder is in custody to night, jamal smith has been arrested in miami. he along with two others is

people execution style in a lakeland home january 6. a demand for answers in the wake of another deadly wrongway crash. it happened on the southbound i- 275 ashley ramp near downtown tampa. larry thompson had been driving the wrong way on i-275 and exited. then tried to get back on. also, in the wrong direction. that is when he hit eugene fischer, killing both of them. >> giving this morning's double fatal, shouldn't the dot be doing more? >> we are doing more. we are trying to figure out where he could have gotten on or off. >> tonight at 6:00, we investigate what the state has done to prevent the crashes since 2014. thousands of tampa bay area voters are about to get up close and personal with donald trump. he is holding a rally at the usf sun dome.

>> people began lining up to get in hours and hours ago. newschannel8's rod carter joins us outside live. what's the crowd like there? >> reporter: yeah, we are actually inside stacie schaible. there are a bunch of people here on the other side of the folks. there is a donald trump impersonator. campus. yeah. it feels like you are kind of at a basketball game right? well i caught up with a couple of other students here. and usf in the audience to tell us about why they wanted to be here. thousands of feet of cable. dozens of television cameras. scores of volunteers and law enforcement. the stage is set for donald trump. some stand under umbrellas to shield from the sun.

two students we caught up with christina and marissa. one is not a trump supporter, the other is. but they share a common thread. both are interested in how a nonpolitical politician changed the course of this race. >> i think donald trump is very interesting. definitely the most fascinating candidate in the race today because he is just so different and he is not a politician which is what people like. >> i have been following the election and i have never seen a presidential candidate speak publicly before. i thought it would be an awesome experience. >> reporter: aalso different in their own voting background. one, her first presidential election. the other, her second. >> i think all the candidates are interesting. trump is obviously one of the more energetic. >> reporter: either way, they are witnessing politics like never before. >> the thing that i want to see is i want to see what he is telling people that makes them respond to him. because, he is not that typical

nominate for the republican ticket. >> reporter: when i tell you that people are here for a number of reasons, someone stopped me and said she is intent to getting to the stage and talking to donald trump because she intends to ask him for money for her nonprofit organization. i chuckled and said good luck. she said all i can do is ask. >> well you never know. i found it curious rod. trump in iowa. went to the rallies. when you talk to people there, many say they are there for the bizarreness, the fascination of being at a trump rally. he has a lot of supporters but it really is a mixed bag. not all of them are necessarily going to be pulling the lever for donald trump. >> reporter: you know what?

has all of them a little confused. so many different reasons. people are here because they like that donald trump doesn't care what he says. he says how he feels and puts it out there no matter what. everyone supports him. some people are just here out of curiosity. so you are right. it is kind of is a mixed bag, but again guys, the shirts off and trump, that just says it. >> right on queue. >> rod carter, thank you very much. and we do have continuing team coverage of donald trump in tampa tonight. candace mccowan is at the rally. so is newschannel8's chip osowski. and they will bring us live reports through the evening. president barack obama was the star of the democrat's last debate before south carolina. clinton and sanders squaring off in milwaukee last nighted. one of the more heated

sanders of big disloyal to the president. >> the kind of criticism we have heard from president sanders of the president i expect from the republicans, not for someone running for the democratic nomination to succeed president obama. >> that is, madame secretary, that is a low blow. >> president obama is popular with minority voters in south carolina and nevada which are the next states to vote. investigators believe the deaths of two teenage girls in an arizona school may have been a murder suicide. and a massive warehouse fire that burned for 20 hours is now under control. that fire started at veteran's industrial park in hillsborough, new jersey, yesterday. schools were closed there because of the fire. city leaders are re assuring locals there is not a health threat from the smoke.

that zika virus in florida. two new cases were confirmed. one in broward county. they were contracted overseas and not from florida mosquitoes. president obama has requested $1.8 billion in emergency funds to fight the zika virus. learning a foreign language is a requirement for high schoolers in florida. >> but what is speaking is not your thing? coming up next, how a teen with a speech disorder is trying to change the way lawmakers look at language. >> also ahead, changes in cuba. 8 on your side is in havana right now giving answers about tourism and travel. it is a story you will see only here on newschannel8. >> we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel8. the station that is always on

>> you might call it the language of computers. florida lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow high school students to substitute computer programming classes for speech classes. >> and a student is fighting for this. mike vasilinda spoke to him. >> reporter: andrew and his son jeremy are on a mission. allowing jeremy and other high schooler to take computer classes instead of a foreign language. >> it is important for me and my son. my son has a difficulty pronouncing words and pronunciations. a learning disability.

years of spanish in elementary school. >> it took me forever to pass the foreign language. >> reporter: and andrew is worried if his son is forced to take a foreign language, it will detract from his otherwise good grades. >> he won't have the time and the emergency to excel in the courses he does. we want to maintain the as and bs in science, technology, mathematics. we spend so much time trying to learn the foreign language, the grades will slip. >> reporter: some educators are pushing back. opponents argue while computer coding may be useful, it doesn't use the same brain activity as learning a foreign language. >> there is a lot of critical thinking that goes into it. a tremendous amount too. it is a global language. >> what would you envision doing? >> it person? >> reporter: when they push

getting an education in law making 101. in tallahassee, mike vasilinda newschannel8. >> we thought the idea of computer coding in place of a language is pretty interesting. what are your thoughts? should students be able to substitute computer coding for a foreign language? share your thoughts with us. 8 on your side is in cuba tonight. a delegation led by kathy castor is in havana now. jeff patterson is the only bay area reporter covering the trip. >> reporter: it is my first time in cuba in a year. i'm noticing a lot of change. more tour groups, more americans. and it is getting increasingly easy to get here. [ singing ] [ music ]

to come here? >> i don't speak any spanish. so getting here was easy. but once i got here, the language thing is a little difficult. >> did you book a trip through a group or yourself? air. >> what would you say to others who want to come here? >> you should do it. >> reporter: so for americans looking to come here, you can have the experience you want. stay in a hotel or a private residence. the point is for the first time in decades it is now possible once again for americans to come to cuba. jeff patterson, newschannel8. >> we are the only television station bringing you the stories from cuba. jeff patterson will bring them through the weekend. we should mention jeff is in pope. pope francis is meeting with the head of the russian orthodox church. he watched him get off the plane in havana and tweeted the

pontiff. >> so much going on. as one guy said, he has seen more change in one year than the previous 20. hi steve. >> how's it going? happy weekend. >> how is the weekend looking for us? >> a few clouds but generally very pleasant. today is stunning. 62 degrees. we have a southwest wind. breeze off the gulf is a little cooler at the moment. bright blue sky. not a cloud in the sky. up the beach at clearwater, we have a south wind at 7 miles an hour. overall, looks pretty nice. west winds at 7, 68 degrees at the freedom plaza. you can see the blue sky here. very nice evening planned. little later. saturday, 67 degrees, partly cloudy skies. because we have a cold front passing through the area, a little notice.

warnings. some of the cooler air we have in place, maybe a few extra clouds in the afternoon. but a lot of early sunshine for that day. headed out to the state fair, still going on this weekend. temperatures look very, very nice. a little cool. but just a jacket takes care of that. a few clouds at 11:00 a.m. sunny, breezy, with the front passing through the area. got a great shot at the downtown area today. look how blue the sky is. hope you had a chance to get out and enjoy this one. if you don't have a chance, the evening looks pretty good. low 60s for us. mostly clear conditions. a few high clouds here and there. as we head throughout the day tomorrow, a few extra clouds early in the day as the cold front moves through the bay area. just kind of recooling the air. 69 degrees.

lake placid, 72 degrees. cold front, there it is just hanging to the north. the front is there. hardly any clouds. let alone showers. we are under the influence of this area of high pressure that took over about 18 hours ago. more like 36 hours ago. has given us this gorgeous weather. one heads up. maybe some early fog possibilities as we saw fog this morning but once the front pushes through with the drier air, it goes away. just a heads up if you are out early tomorrow morning. looks good this evening. here comes the front. it. that is around 7:30 by the tomorrow south. and we are seeing a cool northeasterly flow for us. as we get into sunday, more of a northeasterly to easterly angle to that wind. as a result, may drive few clouds across the state from east to west. afternoon. but that's a great looking week overall. 67 degrees both days. our high temperature, a few clouds here and there. but no rain.

we start the warmup here at the end of this period as a ridge of high pressure moves in from the west. that will help to provide a more moderate atmosphere. so by friday, looking at temperatures near 76 degrees. been a while since we forecasted that kind of number. i think some of the folks will enjoy that kind of weather for sure. >> had to get out and walk around. it is just gorgeous. >> yeah. well, uber agrees to pay up in a class action lawsuit. >> and, you may be eligible for some of that money. we will explain coming up next. >> also ahead, you notice that your airline seat is smaller than it used to be?

>> uber has agreed to pay millions to a class action suit that says they misrepresented safety. they would pay about $25 million to riders who made u.s. trips between january 1, 2013, and january 31, 2016. if the settlement is proved by a federal court, riders could be contacted by e-mail and offered a rider credit, or a refund. the tennessee congressman wants to put a stop to shrinking airline seats. steve cohen of tennessee introduced legislation for minimum standards for the seats. it is not just for comfort, but for health and safety as well. according to seat guru, the

seat has shrunk from 18.5 inches to 16 .5 inches. speeds up to 100 times faster than today's networks. however, 5g isn't expected to power smartphones until the end of the decade. verizon says it will also test 5g. well, you might be able to get a tattoo when you visit one of whole foods' new millennial focused shops. the 365 locations are set to open later in year and customers will see separate store. they could range from fresh parlors. they want to enhance the experience for everyone. so now, josh benson, you know tattoo. tattoo. >> why not? >> we love options. >> what's coming up at 5:30? well brazen criminals caught on camera. we need your help to track down whoever stole this expensive

flight from saint petersburg prompted an emergency landing. an airline spokesperson

5:30. two truck thieves are caught on camera in a bold theft. loading up the truck and driving off. tonight, the search is onto find these crooks. >> good evening, i'm jenn holloway. >> i'm josh benson. thanks for being with us. tonight, a pair of criminals committed a brazen crime, drove a flat bed into a sarasota car dealership and stole the expensive truck. now police need your help to find them. john rogers joins us live from the scene of the crime. it doesn't get much more bold than this.