>> right now on newschannel8 at 5:30. trouble in a lakeland skate park after dark. complaints of sex and drugs. now, after several arrests, dozens of complaints. a change is coming. >> good evening everybody. i'm josh benson. >> i'm jennifer leigh. thank you very much for joining us this evening. lakeland city leaders want to close the skate park two hours earlier. that is not going over well with skateboarders but city leaders claim they have no choice. newschannel8's josh thomas joins us live to explain all of this. josh? >> reporter: good evening. well the lakeland skate park is one of the most famous in florida, but the city is forced

night instead of 10:00 starting on monday. 16-year-old skateboarder tyler wofford uses the park regularly, but he doesn't like the change in the park. >> i stay here very late a lot because my mom gets off work late. i don't know whatly do. she gets off at 10:00. i don't know whatly do for the two hours. >> reporter: lakeland police have made several drug arrests in the park. >> we are making a rule for the 1%. we are asking them to leave, they are not leaving. >> reporter: justin is a founding member of the skaters alliance and met with city officials. >> some of these issues have been addressed before. things got better an then worse again. i see where the city is coming from when they say they are exhausted with trying to deal with some of these issues. >> reporter: a family visiting from brazil knows all about the problems that can happen in state parks.

the places and they should be very safe for the kids. so i think it is the way you have to do things. >> reporter: skateboarders like tyler hope the bad apples don't ruin it for everybody. >> hopefully, we can get rid of the troubles. it is a really good place. there are a lot more good people than bad. >> reporter: now city leaders tell me they will wait and see what kind of impact the earlier closing hours will have on the number of incidents here at the skate park before they make any decision on taking those hours back to 10:00. >> an important time of year for those young people. all right, josh thomas, thank you. tampa mayor bob buckhorn is working to bring home more money to the u.s. med school moving downtown. the mayor is looking for $20 million to help out the project. he says that the board of governors as well as governor scott are backing the plan, but

lawmakers understand the importance as well. >> it is a game changer for tampa. for usf. they have been supportive all along. part of my job is to say thank you. the other part is to make sure we finish off the deal. >> the cost is expected to be $150 million completed by 2019. republican presidential candidates will take to prime time tv again tonight to duke it out with donald trump winning three of the primaries. it is now or never for the other candidates. candace mccowan joins us now to show us how the pressure is on. especially for senator marco rubio. >> reporter: good evening. he has shown he can come in second, but not that he can win. if he want it is white house, he has to use tonight to not just hang with the others but show he can be the leader. the question is how to do that. [ cheers and applause ]

especially for the two senators on stage. >> right now, marco rubio and ted cruz have to engage donald trump. if they ignore him, they ignore him at their peril. >> reporter: but engaging donald trump has been ugly. depending on who you ask taking off the gloves with trump may or may not be a good idea. for florida senator marco rubio. >> marco rubio is the only candidate that has support that has an optimistic and uplifting message. >> positive is important. >> just being positive isn't enough. jeb bush had all the credentials to be president. but that is not the flavor of the year. >> reporter: adam goodman is a republican strategist. he says they can't ignore what trump is doing.

on, he can't afford to miss any opportunities tonight. just five days away from super tuesday. >> rubio has just one asset he has that is different from his collectibility. >> he has a chance. but he has to act now. >> reporter: well, top rubio supporters say if he was to win two of the primary states on super tuesday, they could consider it a win. >> thanks candace. new developments in the battle over the supreme court vacancy. nevada governor and former federal judge brian sandoval made clear he does not want to be considered for the job of the supreme court. republican senators said they will not consider any selection by president obama and democrats today called that unconstitutional. >> if they are going to live up to the oath they took becoming

are going to have to reassess. >> however, there is some headway made. top republicans an democrats in the senate will meet with president obama on the issue next week. lawmakers ran into a roadblock in changing florida's death penalty. they want a 10-2 jury vote to sentence people to death. but others believe a unanimous jury vote is the only way to make sure courts don't step in again. >> require unanimity. >> the full house has approved the 10-2 jury vote. if the senate does not, florida will not have a death penalty. it appear to be the end of an era. a little piece of florida history about to fade in. >> the last one room schoolhouse is in duette in manatee county but this could

jeff patterson is live. >> reporter: the teacher, the principal, the head of the foundation are about to retire. that is just one person, by the way. and without her, this school may be out of options. >> duette school opened in 1930. and, at that time, there are three one-room schools in the area. >> reporter: at one time, there were more than 75 students here. >> when the school opened it was in florida's strawberry school. a strawberry school is closed from december to june because the children work in the fields picking strawberry. >> reporter: now it is schoolhouse. >> it is not a one-room building but it is a one-room school because all the students teacher. >> reporter: donna king has been the driving force here since 1993. >> i came in 1993. it was my dream to come here.

>> reporter: now she is facing the reality the school may not be able to go on without her. >> i want to go to the garden and see if it raises the plant. >> reporter: there are 11 students remaining. many come from the most rural areas of manatee county. the students have the advantage of focused attention and very individualized instruction. a different approach for many of today's schools. but donna king is retiring and no other teacher has stepped forward to take over. >> so now, it looks like the school will close and the district is concerned about maintaining it. >> reporter: the school does receive state funding, but with only 11 students, that is barely enough to pay a teacher's salary. donna king did reveal something to me today. that is that she has not been taking a salary here for some time. that has allowed the school to open. they run as a 501c3. and the contract with manatee county school district to

but with donna retiring, that contract is set to end. >> jeff patterson reporting live for us. we want to tell you breaking news. we are over the scene of a truck that has crashed into a building in tampa. this is happening at north tampa fire rescue says there is with this. several buildings are being evacuated at this time. the hazmat crew is on scene. so we want to send it out to paul. what can you tell us? >> reporter: this likes minor. when i zoom in here, you see the truck. it just clipped the outside of this building. but it looks like it hit a hot water heater. fire crews are up close. they evacuated the buildings for safety. you can see the truck clipped

they have it under control, but it is still an active scene and the people are still out of the buildings. that is all we know now. back to you josh. >> thanks paul. we will keep an eye on this and bring our viewers any details as soon as we get new ones. and again, you can get developments on this story by downloading our newschannel8 app. that is free at the app store. if you feel out of place at work, you are not alone. >> we are going to introduce you to a local company that is trying to change all that. >> plus, harlem globetrotters are in town. how these basketball wizards are helping police in saint petersburg. >> sunshine and high pressure in the west. strong wind.

know you can keep your financial big picture under control. know you can see how much you have to spend and whether you should transfer funds. know you can easily keep track of what you're putting away.

great escape.

>> 8 on your side consumer alert. takaka is accused of faking test results about exploding air bags. they are looking at tests in the last 12 years. company officials argued that data on inflated quality and data to hide the problems. it now involves 14 vehicle manufacturers and millions of u.s. vehicles. did you know in florida, gay people can technically be fired just for being gay. the florida competitive work force act, a bill aimed at stopping that, just got shut

one major local player backed it. adrienne pedersen takes us inside tech data, a company striving for inclusion. >> reporter: hey there. do you dread going into work? maybe you feel you are just not like anybody else. you get that pit in your stomach when you hit the elevator button? one company is trying to change that. 24-year-old christian wright feels safe sitting in the middle of his company cafeteria talking to me about being gay. definitely not something he would have done just a few years ago. >> it was a very small comfortable. out. it is something you have to think about if you are closeted like that. it really wears you down. >> reporter: tech just started a group called spectrum for lgbta communities. >> people are encouraged to be themselves. >> diversity of thought is

>> reporter: spectrum members will have guest speakers, attend charity events, indigo and go to job fairs. how inclusive are other bay area companies? the human rights campaign keeps track. three bay area companies got perfect scores for 2016. carl tonfields, jordenburt, and holland and knight. >> you are so focused on hiding something, you won't focus on the job. >> reporter: i found out a lot of companies especially the bigger ones, have special employee inclusion groups. i'm adrienne pedersen, newschannel8. the harlem globetrotters teaming up with saint pete police officers to keep kids

it is part of the hoops not crime campaign. buckets blakes and the officers made a visit at johns hopkins middle school to talk to them about making a positive difference in their community. >> we want to make sure these kids respect each other. and also, have a carefree learning environment. not having to come to school and worry about being pushed around. >> the globetrotters visit 400 schools each season. well, sun city center, trying to find a cloud, not finding any. you can see winds are out of the north, the northwest, that's the way it has been through the day. gusty with winds over 20 miles an hour. so cooler temperatures, a stretch of high ins the 60s ahead. all the way through the weekend as a matter of fact. really no rain until the middle of next week.

it looks less potent today than yesterday. that is good news. we hope that trend continues. saturday and sunday, there you go. 69 degrees on sunday. as for this evening, 56 degrees. mostly clear skies. quickly dropping temperatures. breeze tends to mix the atmosphere just a little bit. but with the clearer skies we will see a fairly quick dropping of the temperatures. 49 degrees in the morning. in the afternoon, 61. a lot of sunshine. below normal temperatures. any time you see 60 those time of year, you know the temps are below the average. check out the weather max app. came in handy with the severe weather and the bulletins given to you. also a nice day too. 49 degrees at 7:00 a.m. 61 at 3:00 p.m. at 9:00 p.m., mostly clear skies but breezy, windy throughout the period will make

63 degrees now in brandon. same in lakeland and frost brew. clearwater 61. across the state, a sameness going on here from key west to miami all the way to tallahassee. generally in the 60s . the whole state is overcome with cooler drier air. this is higher up in the atmosphere. the front is way down to the south with the head of the area of low pressure to the north. you see it to the northeast causing snow showers in sections of west virginia. helping to drag the cold air across the country into florida. there's the marking line there and we are seeing stratocumulus clouds. across the peninsula, we are not seeing many today. breezy conditions this evening. temperatures falling fairly quickly. keep in mind, it will be kind of cool.

in the 40s . 30s popping up for sander morning. in the afternoon, nice looking day. it is saturday morning with this area of high pressure back to the west. you can see the lines of equal pressure filling in. that's the center of high pressure. as it becomes closer to being over us, radiational cooling. as it shifts to the east, we will slowly start a warming trend, but the sun still looks a little cooler. a milder afternoon for that. forecast low to night are in the low 40s . further north, perhaps upper 30s in places like brooksville. crystal river. some of the inlands could be 40 degrees too. 61 degrees for friday. 64 for a high on saturday. sunday, 69-degreings. monday, tuesday, back in the 70s . that gives you an idea

should be this time of year. the rain chances creep back. it is wednesday. working with computer models this can be challenging. the good news, we want to try to avoid another severe weather event. this looks a little potent. >> well that certainly sounds better than what we dealt with. hopefully, we are right on the money. >> i hope so. >> thanks steve. many people who smoke marijuana say they do so in order to feel better. >> but in colorado where it is now legal, it is making a lot of people very sick. >> plus, how a coast guard rescue mission went all wrong

>> now toe what is making headlines across america. the u.s. coast guard ran into problems in new york as the crew went to rescue fishermen. then the coast guard boat capsized. the five would be rescuers ditched their boat and swam to shore. they were not hurt. then a helicopter flew in to help the stranded fishermen. >> they were getting some water washes over the railing. they were pumping it back over. and, just over time, they

ended up and grounded. >> the seven fishermen are back on dry ground tonight. none of them were injured. marijuana related er visits have increased in colorado since marijuana became legal there in 2012. and the incidents are a lot higher for out of state visitors. researchers looked at more than 100 hospitals from 2012 to 2014. out of state visitor trips to the er for marijuana related symptoms rose 109% during that time. for colorado residents, by contrast, those trips rose 44%. newschannel8 at 6:00 is coming up next. >> keith cate and stacie schaible are here with what we are working on. >> an assistant fire chief on the wrong side of the law. >> he is charged with theft. and you won't believe what he is accused of stealing from a convenience store. >> plus, they see us at our best and our worst, now tampa police officers are giving us a firsthand look at what they

>> i am a good mother. i do take care of my child. >> say it is woman who lied i'm adrienne pedersen and you'll get the rest of this video. >> a man's pants catch fire while standing in a store. >> those stories plus your

>> right now on newschannel8 at 6:00. >> i am a good mother. >> this self-described good mother lied to police about her son being missing. what she had to say to us about why she did it. a police officer.

tampa police face on the job everyday. >> and cleaning up after twin tornadoes. we will show you the destruction left behind. i'm keith cate. >> i'm stacie schaible. thank you very much for joining us. we begin right now with breaking news. a truck crashed into a hot water heater in tampa and it caused a hazmat situation. paul is live above the scene. good evening paul. >> take a look. >> reporter: you can see it right into the side of the billing. what happened is the gas connected to that came loose causing a gas leak. if i pull out wide, these house haves been evacuated because they are not too sure what is