is at stake. >> a strawberry shortage blamed on a warmer winter. will the crop rebound in time for the strawberry festival? i'm jennifer leigh. >> i'm keith cate. thank you very much for joining us tonight. a middle schoolteacher accused of having sex with one of her teenage students. ryan hughes was the only reporter in the courtroom when stacy hooks went before the judge. >> reporter: her bond was set at a hefty $625,000. the allegations against her have shocked many in this small city. as a teacher, stacy hooks is used to being front and center in the classroom. the attention on her was vastly different in the courtroom wearing a blaze orange jump suit, appearing tired and teary eyed. the 38-year-old was arrested on

boy she taught at hill middle school. state prosecutors claim she had sex with the 14-year-old and texted him nude pictures. the relationship went on quite some time. the prosecutor blasted hooks. >> this person has violated every trust from that of an adult to a child. that of a teacher to a student. >> reporter: hooks' family members were in court to support her but refused to talk to newschannel8. we went by her home. no answer, a neighbor was devastated to learn the married mother of two boys is accused of such things. >> it's crazy. who knows what is happening today. >> reporter: hooks is still listed on the school's website as a member of the science department, but she will be put on unpaid administrative leave during the investigation. stacy hooks requested a public defender and the judge said no. so she has to get her own attorney.

i'm ryan hughes, newschannel8. >> hooks has been working in the school district for 15 years. the sheriff's office is trying to figure out if there are other victims. we are learning more about a lock down in hillsborough high school. a projectile broke through a second floor window. nobody was hurt and police have not said what kind of a projectile it was. one of america's most famous writers has died. harper lee, the author of to kill a mockingbird passed away last night. the book became a best seller and was adapted into a classic film. her family released another watchman. she was 89 years old. tomorrow, voters in two states, key states in fact, going to the polls. we are just hours away from the polls opening in south carolina for the republican primary and then the democrats will be caucusing in nevada. let's head to our washington

and our dc bureau reporter mark meridith for an update. >> reporter: good evening to you keith. this is the home stretch for the candidates. two states, two different coasts but it really comes down to how much they can get out the vote. let's look at where the democratic race stands. there was the town hall on msnbc last night. it is hard to tell if it shifted opinions but clinton and sanders have been neck and neck. she was up or down by one percentage point well within the margin of error. nevada is one of those interesting states because it will be geared more toward the latino vote compared to south carolina a week from now. so clinton really trying to get the stuff where she had a firewall. that is kind of the campaign turn she didn't think there was any chance bernie sanders would get in her way. but as we look at the latest polls it is neck and neck. it is anybody's guess who will come out ahead tomorrow. >> i'm sure hillary clinton will be anxious to get past nevada and then to south

the firewall for her. but, let's switch gears a little bit. donald trump may have grabbed some headlines with the war of words with the pope. but really, jeb bush and senator marco rubio are who everybody will be watching tomorrow. talk a little bit about that. >> reporter: absolutely. well, it comes to floridians, you guys know these names very well. but we are talking jeb bush who was the front page story today. if he does not do very well tomorrow in south carolina, there are very real concerns that he will either have to suspend or completely retool his presidential campaign. a lot of his donors, that was the story today, saying they were balking at the idea of giving any more money because of the disappointing performance in iowa and new hampshire. this past week, he brought out his family, the former president, george w. bush and his mother barbara bush.

the narrative because of marco rubio getting the endorsement of nikki haley. she has high popularity numbers and was sought after by so many different candidates. kind of what you saw sarah palin was to donald trump's endorsement in iowa is what nikki haley's was in south carolina. >> after tomorrow, we have another ... >> reporter: it stings. >> yeah. another set of contexts next week. but they are already looking ahead to march 1. talk some about that if you would. >> reporter: it will be there before you know it. there is still a debate next week in texas that will be for the republicans. this is one that was a little controversial. going to be cnn that will be hosting it. it will be geared toward the latino vote. when we talked about texas, it will be one of the key voting blocks. then democrats, they will have their next contest. they will have their primary a week for now and clinton

james clyburn. he was on the fence. a very influential congressman from south carolina. if she does well tomorrow in nevada, she will be riding high into south carolina. plenty of fun to watch. >> absolutely. it is an exciting time as if it hasn't been exciting already to this point. so hang onto your hat. thank you mark. breaking news in the apple privacy battle. the justice department filed a new motion demanding that apple help unlock an iphone used by one of the san bernardino terrorists. it clarifies apple would keep the phone to crack it. apple ceo tim cook says it would put all iphone users at risk to create such technology. today, the u.s. supreme court, the body of the late justice antonin scalia lays in repose. his fellow justices and president obama were among those present to pay their respects. a funeral will be held at the

president barack obama will be reading through information about potential supreme court nominees this weekend. new information about the jaw dropping tour helicopter crash. the national transportation safety board is looking into whether the pilot was following ruling and regulations before the crash. five people were on board. one of them, a teenage boy, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. and some breaking news. we are at the scene of a boat fire at a largo marina. >> paul mueller will have a live report in a couple of minutes. also coming up, fears of a strawberry shortage. we go to plant city to find out what is going on with this florida fruit crop. >> and beyonce backlash. what tampa police had to say on twitter. >> well, congratulations. you made it to the weekend. thankfully, we have beautiful weather planned for you for both saturday and sunday. by the time we hit monday, some changes start to happen. we will talk about that coming up.

school students spent their morning at the movies but this was not about pleasure. >> we will have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel8. the station that is always on

>> new tonight, miami-dade's police department denies it is involved in a boycott of beyonce. beyonce is scheduled to perform in miami and tampa in april. usually officers will volunteer to do security to earn some extra cash. but, her super bowl performance with the allusion to the black

tampa police association issued a statement saying they were disgusted with their song. they claim the singer is anti- police. >> we are not going to voluntarily show up there and sign up to work for a woman. a woman that has portrayed a message that is anti-police. >> tampa's police union says they urge officers to boycott from the performance but didn't forbid them from doing security at her show. officers were in hash tag formation and are signing up for beyonce's show at raymond james stadium. you may have had trouble finding strawberries at the grocery store. this year's harvest has been less than stellar. josh thomas joins us now to explain. it has been really challenging

of year which is unusual josh. >> reporter: this is the time of year when they grow in large numbers but none of the strawberries in this field are ready to be harvested. it has created a shortage of the fruit being blamed on mother nature. these strawberry pickers are picking like crazy. but that wasn't the case just a few weeks ago. in large part, because of our unseasonably warm weather last year. crop. they need the cold weather. of cold. it has been super hot. >> reporter: that means it is taking longer for the strawberries to fully bloom leading to shortages in the fruit. but that is beginning to change with the warmer weather. >> it is starting to pickup. they were packed up. people were having to hold off on picking because they couldn't get the berries out fast enough. we have been doing okay over here. but, industry wide, they are hurting. >> reporter: the florida strawberry festival in plant city, they are setting up for

they were worried as well. >> i was a little concerned. some of the farmers were telling me that the blooms just weren't blooming because the weather wasn't proper. >> reporter: for the president of the strawberry festival has been assured there will be enough strawberries around to keep festival goers happy. >> i think we will have more than enough. and, most of the farmers putting us on a priority list. every morning they bring hundreds of flats in to the saint clements and they start stemming an making the strawberry short cake berries fresh. >> reporter: the people enjoying the strawberries in plant city say they are willing to pay a little more if they have to. >> when you can buy a good box of berries like this and you know every berry in the box is going to be a dessert, it is absolutely well worth the price. >> reporter: now, while the shortage of strawberries has led to higher prices now, that should change as more berries

>> how bad has the season been on the growers josh? >> reporter: it has been devastating. they tell me on average, there are about 25 to 35% below average. but, we should note that the growing season is far from over. >> good to hear. josh thomas live for us. thank you josh. right now, thousands of runners are getting ready for the gasparilla classic. the race steps off tomorrow morning in downtown tampa. they range from a 5k to a half marathon. we ran into one very excited runner at the 8 on your side health and fitness expo today. >> it is amazing. the energy. there's tons and tons of people. it is just the atmosphere is great. i'm all about the medals too. >> look at leigh spann. she will be running the 15k this weekend. that is the real deal right there.

are also lacing up their sneakers. we wish all the runners the best of luck. a lot of roads will be closed. to see which streets will be shut down and how to get around everything, come to our website, wfla.com. >> as opposed to you, keith cate, we will be running not at all either. >> not running unless someone is chasing. >> we have done it for many years. it is fun. >> but the weather, if you are running, terrific. >> starting out the morning with the races through the day and everything. fantastic. runners like it a little bit cooler. because i used to be a runner back in the day. i don't know. it all went downhill. you can see a few clouds out. 71 degreesful bright sunshine today. fair weather clouds. a lot of these should dry up as the evening goes along. that's the view at sun city

an east wind at 9 miles an hour. again, bright sunshine and a few clouds in the plantation, crystal river. 70 degrees. a few clouds have roamed their way over from the east coast. that will likely be the case again tomorrow. sun and clouds explaining the forecast as we head into the weekend. if you are headed down to do the runs, great weather. these are the high temperatures by the way. the low temperatures will start out early in the day in the 50s so we like it a little bit cooler if you are going out to break a sweat. above our normal line of 73 degrees, long term, thursday, friday, takes a bit of a dip back into the 60s . we are still in february getting very close to march now. so, we can still get some cool air sweeping through the area. that does have an impact on the temps. 67 degrees at 8:00 p.m. partly cloudy skies. as i mentioned with the dry air aloft. a lot of the clouds should dissipate as the winds become lighter. a lot of them breezing over from the east coast today. 55 degrees at 7:00 a.m. to start the day.

good running weather. 75 degrees now in pinellas park. 72 largo. 69 clearwater beach. river view, now 74 degrees. 70 degrees in lakeland and 73 in north port. and the winds have been a factor because the direction of the winds coming from the east. that tends to drive a few clouds across the state. many more clouds over on the east coast today. a few of those made their way inland. you can see stronger gusts. a big picture here, this jet stream affects our weather here in florida. as we go throughout the next couple of days, you can see at 1:00 a.m., showers start to begin. once the showers breeze on through, tuesday, wednesday, early part of thursday, we will see temperatures drop and you will see that as indicated in the seven day forecast. a few of the clouds have been moving across the state. they are still try dry. a lot of these should dissipate.

the area tomorrow. for the evening hours, tomorrow morning, sunny start to the day. patchy fog possible with the clouds moving in from east to west across the state. a few clouds return in the afternoon. like we saw today. but generally saturday and sunday, a very nice day with high temperatures in the mid 70s . saturday, sunday, there you go. the mid 70s tall way into and through monday. we start to add a small rain chance with a few more clouds and then, approaching little short wave there. we will start to add rain chances as well for tuesday and wednesday. and maybe carry a slight chance into thursday where we start to introduce cool air back in the forecast. highs back into the 60s . >> well, that sounds delightful. >> if you like cool weather, yeah. the weekend, let's just talk about the weekend. >> absolutely. i could use three or four days of the weekend. is that an option? >> maybe three, four, our five. >> thanks steve . want to get back to some breaking news.

fire in largo. this started about an hour ago behind the old green iguana on bay pines boulevard. people were on the boat when it caught fire. they were able to get off. that's the good news. one person is being treated for smoke i inhalation. paul mueller is there working the scene sending back these pictures. we will have a live report after the break. wow. >> those are some images. a new scam warning from the irs as the clock ticks down to the tax deadline. >> that is coming up next. also, new ben and jerry's ice cream with new ingredients

r i don't know what i'm doing. i can't find anything p just when i think it's just not going to work. p this woman that works there comes over and asks can i help you? and he was so happy, to do it amazing right? r i never would have expected would have thought that anyone would find that do that. make that go out of their way for me. right then, right there i couldn't believe it he was so helpful i know it's such a small thing little thing. simple thing but it made me smile made me happy made my day share your story. r

>> want to get back to the breaking news for just a moment largo. this boat caught fire about an iguana. available now. let's go to you. >> reporter: good afternoon everybody. we are coming to you from the lighthouse arena. the good news here is that two people here are okay after a boat fire. one actually taken off the boat for minor injuries. you see where this is parked now, this is where the boat fire took place. some of that dock is still charred but let me show you some of this amazing video taken from the neighbor who watched this all unfold. 10 to 15 feet into the air, the smoke as far as the eye can see. this happening around 3:30 this afternoon.

responding to the scene as soon as they could. along with crews from other neighboring departments. again, one hour for them to put this out. and two people on the boat at the time, one of them taken to the hospital just to be treated for minor injuries for evaluation. the other person, they say, is okay. and right now, the cause of this investigation, of course, way too early in the investigation to tell. we will keep you posted as we bring you more details throughout the rest of our newscast this afternoon. but for now, live in pinellas county, paul mueller, newschannel8. >> looks like we lost one boat and maybe some damage to a few others. thank you paul. the irs is warning taxpayers that e-mail and texting scams are up a whopping 400% this year. in january, taxpayers reported more than a thousand fishing and malware schemes. they are intended to trick people into givenning up financial information.

payment information over the phone and text. ice cream maker ben and jerry's is rolling out their new line of dairy free desserts. they will use almond milk and coconut oil. look for them on chunky monkey, chocolate fudge brownie. coffee caramel, and pb and cookies. now vegan and lactose intolerant people can enjoy the ice cream. >> what about calories? >> why do you have to bring us down? [ laughter ] >> i want to know if they are lower. >> oh, got you. coming up at 5:30, a popular christmas gift deemed unsafe by the government. is this the end of the hover board? we will find out. and an 8 on your side exclusive. jeff patterson wraps up his recent trip to cuba and why a new era of travel and trade could be coming for the bay

>> right now on newschannel8 at 5:30. tonight, new blood drawn in a war of words. >> all these people who are bearing false witness against me, for me, they get the one- finger absolute. >> why this florida congressman running for the u.s. senate is so angry. >> good evening, i'm jennifer leigh. >> i'm josh benson. alan graceman is accusing people of smearing his name. jamel lanee joins us live from downtown tampa. representative grayson was in town earlier. he had a lot to say right?