>> 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?

at the tiger bay club's monthly luncheon. he was pretty fired up after voters asked him about a hedge fund and his family allegedly making money off of a company in africa that promotes slave labor. the room was steaming as representative grayson fielded questions from members today. >> i want to know what you meant when you said the best time to invest was when there was blood in the streets. >> i want to know how you plan to be a successful candidate with your financial baggage. i'm talking about the $17 million you lost in this scheme. >> reporter: the congressman keith and representative murphy are running for the senate. grayson says he is being targeted. >> there is a smear campaign going on right now against me because i'm ahead in the polls. all these people bearing false witness against me, they get the one-finger absolute. >> reporter: that one finger

senator harry reed calling on grayson to drop out of the race. he says he used his position to promote his hedge fund. patrick murphy says grayson's family profited from investments made off a mining company in africa that promotes slave labor. >> it's not true. but if we start giving money back, patrick should maybe give his money back from wall street. >> reporter: murphy's camp responds. >> for alan grayson to levy attacks on him, there is something truly horrifying about him and i'm truly disappointed. >> reporter: so representative grayson denies all-star the allegations saying everyone targeting him need to get back to the issues. >> the battles continue here.

well tonight, there is a desperate search to find an orlando teenager accused of intentionally running over a sheriff's deputy. it happened this morning as the deputy was trying to take 15- year-old into custody. the teen accelerated toward the deputy and sped away. now that deputy is in the hospital and the teen is wanted for attempted murder. today, divers searched a retention pond in orlando for a missing baby. police have yet to find any sign of newborn baby willow. the mother just gave birth on monday and admits she discarded the infant. police have searched multiple dumpsters at the apartment complex where she lives. tonight, another twist in the case of a teen who posed as a doctor. perseus wells claims that malachi love robinson's claims were so legitimate, he invested $10,000 in the teen's new health clinic. >> i don't know whether he is

but i know one thing. if he is lying, the government need it is hire him. [ laughter ] because he is good. if he is lying. >> love robinson is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from an 86-year-old patient. an attack from isis killed dozens of people in libya. 43 people are dead and others wounded. war planes attacked the place where they were training. 8 on your side's jeff patterson has wrapped up a week long trip to cuba where he witnessed history in the making. a u.s. congressional delegation traveled to havana to look at trade travel and issues related to the embargo. jeff patterson joins us live. how did this trip go? >> it went very, very well. the tampa bay area has a long

starting to look into a new era of the relationship. in cuba, we spent days on the streets of havana taking in the music and culture of this vibrant city. we also spoke to many americans about why they are coming to visit. >> what would you say to others who want to come here? >> do it. it's really cool. >> it is just different. everything in the united states is pretty cookie cutter. you come here and you feel like you are in a different time. >> reporter: we went to cuba to document the trip of u.s. congresswoman kathy castor and a delegation of congressional representatives. some of them are in favor of lifting the embargo. >> for 40 years, i thought the american policy toward cuba was foolish. >> reporter: but they know it's a complicated process as more than 6,000 u.s. claims exist because of properties seized after the cuban revolution. >> those negotiations are ongoing.

felt a little like forrest gump in the right place at the right time. pope francis arrived and talked with raul castro ten feet from our camera on his way to meet the head of the russian orthodox church. i was in the room when the agreement was signed to allow commercial flights into cuba for the first time in 50 years. you know how forrestgump kept showing up in the picture with richard nixon and other people? that was me. you can make sure they get daily flights to cuba from various cities across the united states. >> well, and jeff, tampa already has charter flights to cuba. will dia be getting daily commercial flights to cuba as well? >> reporter: i asked kathy castor about this. she says they are aggressively

is one of the hub cities that gives flight not only to havana, but other areas in cuba as well. >> jeff patterson reporting for us live on u.s. soil this time. thank you jeff. the florida house and senate are about a billion dollars apart in their budget. they have three weeks left to pass the budget to avoid a special session. lawmakers want to avoid a repeat of last session's big mess. both chambers have already passed their budgets. mark pafford says he is not worried yet. >> i think it is normal schedule. they could ramp it up and shout down pretty quickly i think and try to get a budget to the government. i think it is still possible. >> there are no budget conferences this weekend. but they are expected to happen early next week. hover boards were one of the most popular gifts this holiday season, but they caused

>> 8 on your side has an alert for the government in the popular boards. >> plus, why hundreds of students move their classroom to the movie theaters today. >> great day today. temperatures reaching the low and mid 70s in some of the inland areas. weekend looks good too saturday and sunday. but some changes for next week. rain and cool air again. we will talk about that coming up. >> we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel8.

>> february is black history month. high school students got to learn about all history by

rod carter is live at jefferson high school. this was a neat thing for you to see wasn't it? >> reporter: yeah, it was really cool. this movie opens up today called racing. it explores the topic of the 1936 olympic games in berlin, germany and talks about all jesse owens and his historic accomplishments there. so the kids walked out of class, down the sidewalk, down the street, across over to the theater to learn history by watching the movie. early this morning ... , five students from jefferson high school took a short walk to see a race. >> you get a chance to be a part of history and you are going to walk away from it? >> reporter: the movie race. it exemployers the life and times of the once fastst man in the world jesse owens. that movie outing is moment for

history month. they have done this before. last year, they went to see the movie selma. and red tails about the tuskegee airman the year before that. there was a lot of cheering and laughing and a lot of silence. students learning about owens in nazi germany for the very first time. >> it really motivated me a little bit more. >> reporter: their teachers say trip. >> it makes students really understand or connect what they are learning in the classroom. outside of the classroom. >> students agree. >> don't stop fighting for what you love. >> reporter: and, the tampa police department blocked off the streets to make sure all the kids were safe when they marched over to the movie theater. by the way, appropriately enough, jenn, this march was kicked off by the track team. i would say that was perfect.

rod carter reporting live for us, thank you rod. now, to an 8 on your side consumer alert. parents, you will want to hear this. the government is now calling hover boards unsafe. they were a very popular gift this holiday season. they were everywhere. but there were several cases of the boards starting on fire and exploding, people getting hurt. cdc has set new safety standards to retailers, manufacturers, and importers as well. today is the last day for drone owners to register their drone with the faa. you can be fined if you fly your drone without a register. there are already more drones registered with the faa than actual airplanes. now to a preview to an 8 on your side investigation we are working on at 11:00. a spring dale couple who lied about a sink hole under the home are now convicted felons. shannon behnken joins us now. you are on this case again.

couple. they came to us when their insurance company dropped them because they discovered the sink hole and they actually found a large crack that cracked right down the middle of their living room floor. look at it there. the crack opened up in the middle of the night. this couple had to leave fearing for their children's lives. we confronted the sellers and found they had been collecting a big insurance settlement, but didn't fix the sink hole problems. a jury found them guilty and they face prison, but instead, a judge ordered them to six months house arrest and probation. so today, i went back out to the house to find out what it looks like. and you will have to tune in tonight. it is really interesting. you can actually see the visible sink hole activity. there is no doubt about it, it is definitely sinking again. >> what about restitution? has that happened yet? >> reporter: it has. that is very interesting too. you will be very surprised to find out what happened there. and tonight, we sit down with the victims and ask them how they feel about all of this.

>> an interesting story and it could happen to anyone with as much sink hole activity as thanks shannon behnken. you can see the results of her story, sink hole justice tonight at 11:00 here on newschannel8. hundreds of students helped history come to life in polk county today. it is all part of the annual polk county history fair. that event features hundreds of local students demonstrating their research skills. some wrote historical papers or created exhibits. others gave history based performances or made documentaries. >> they are beginning to make connections between what happened many years ago. much of this before they were born. with today. and, how history affects us each and every day of our lives. >> first and second place winners will move onto represent polk county at a

tallahassee in may. we picked up a few clouds today. 73% relative humidity. you can see the clouds are probably dry up here as the evening goes along. largely because we have very dry air aloft. again, we will see clear skies toward sunrise as well. but eventually by the afternoon, we probably will pick up just a few clouds. we will say 75 saturday. 76 degrees sunday. fantastic for all the gasparilla festivities for the runners going on this weekend. 68 degrees this evening. mostly clear skies to partly cloudy conditions. fairly comfortable for us. certainly seasonal weather. 65 degrees our forecast about 8:00 in the morning. average temperatures with some patchy fog here and there. 75 degrees tomorrow afternoon. partly cloudy skies. warm in the sunshine. we will see some of the sunshine mixed in with a few clouds. a great shot from tony in lakeland. thank you very much for that

that's the sunrise this morning. 68 degrees this evening. partly cloudy skies. east winds at 10 miles an hour. 55 at daybreak. again, sunshine, maybe a few clouds around, but the easterly winds largely will drive the clouds across the state. 75 degrees in the afternoon with a mix of sunshine and clouds. 71 degrees current temp in bartow. weeki wachee, 70 in zephyr hills. high pressure continues to be the big weather feature controlling us with a cooler drier air. also again dry air aloft extends all the way down to cuba at this point. we see a stronger northeast and eventual easterly wind. that is what is moving the clouds across the state. you can see them going along in the flow from east to west. very dry air high above in the atmosphere. so, as the evening goes along, we will look at mostly clear conditions with a lot of the clouds just dissipating. forecast then for this evening mostly clear.

tomorrow morning a sunny start for the day. that will be the case in the afternoon with a few clouds warming into the mid 70s this period. getting into the early part of sunday, mild temperatures. patchy fog in some of the inland spots. partly cloudy skies will do it both days with high pressure the big feature. a southeasterly flow with sunshine and clouds. a 10% rain chance for this day. perhaps a better chance as we get into tuesday and wednesday. won't rain all day. but the rain chances do increase with a couple of little short waves sliding through the area. showers possible there on tuesday. and eventually, we look at the cold front coming along as well with the second round with the front bringing additional rain long term. 76 sunday. looks great for monday, a 10% chance of showers but the increase of clouds will come for tuesday and wednesday.

on the map, we will see cooler numbers with high temperatures in the mid 60s thursday and for friday. 67 degrees. the overnight lows down near 50 degrees so we will still have some cool air geting to the time of air, spring training, we start to hang onto the warmer temperatures. we still have cool air up the road. >> just a beautiful weekend forecast. >> without a doubt. >> thank you steve. >> thank you much. well, this is not what you ever want to find in your dinner. >> coming up next, you won't believe what one woman found when she cracked open her can

>> tonight on date line, a murder mystery here in the bay area. bueller went missing in 2008. the man who killed her admitted to it all. >> both of us were obsessed with this case. and we know we did it. >> on a mid october day, william cumber led detectives here to holmes beach on anna maria island. they had an argument and he killed her, burying her here where they enjoyed watching the tides roll in. >> i told them if you wanted to say a prayer, you could. that is when he got teary eyed

i walked him back to the car. he said she was a very good woman. >> keith morrison has the rest of the story tonight tonight at 10:00 on dateline here on newschannel8. now to what is making headlines across america tragic story out of new york. a father who saved his daughter from a burning home is dead. the man carried her out and ran back in to look for the rest of the family. he never made it out. his wife carried the other two children to safety. the nine-year-old has burns on 90% of her body. in atlanta, a large fire destroyed dozens of apartments. 36 units were damaged. luckily, no one was injured but the red cross is helping all of the families. in missouri, a firenado caught on camera during a grass fire.

no one was hurt. a utah woman claims she got a little surprise in a can of green beans. a snake head. she was working on a church event when she found it. cans are already being pulled from store shelves as a precaution. she hopes it doesn't happen to anyone else. >> when i went to get it out, i thought it was a burnt bean, but it was a snake head. that was my biggest concern was that somebody else would get the body or something. [ laughter ] >> wow. western family has stopped production to find out how this happened. >> i will put off dinner for a little while. >> wow. newschannel8 at 6:00 is coming up next. >> stacie schaible and keith cate are here with what we are working on. >> we will update you on breaking news. a fire at a local marina. >> we will show you more of this incredible video and show

>> an 8 on your side exclusive. bullying concerns left unanswered. when 8 on your side got involved, we finally got results. >> one mother shares her heartbreaking struggle with her son's addiction. how she is helping others to heal. >> we have a cat problem in citrus park. only this time, we are talking about rabies. >> those stories plus your storm team 8 forecast and sports with paul ryan coming up on newschannel8.

>> right now on newschannel8 at 6:00. >> breaking news an smoke rising over a local arena. the dramatic inferno caught on camera.

the parents struggling to get the school district to listen. then 8 on your side got involved. >> and a rabies alert in a bay area neighborhood. but, 8 on your side found out some are not getting the message. good evening. i'm stacie schaible. >> i'm keith cate. thank you very much for joining us tonight. in an exclusive interview, the parents of a 12-year-old pinellas county student says their daughter is bullied so much, she is afraid to go to school. their cries for help went unanswered but after 8 on your side got involved, there is word that the parents are seeing some action that should get the bullying stopped. peter bernard joins us live in pinellas county. sownes like this one got the ball rolling. >> reporter: people in the pinellas county school district had the power to stop bullying are now very much aware of what is going and promising that little 12-year-old victim she doesn't have to worry about going to school. in this bullying case, the writing was on the wall.