and sportscaster erin andrews back on the stand for a second day, testifying on her own behalf in a $75 million civil trial. good evening. i'm keith cate. >> and i'm jennifer leigh. thank you for joining us this evening. a pasco deputy is off the job accused of trying to frame a drug suspect for a crime. josh thomas joins us now live in new port richey and, josh, what exactly is this deputy accused of doing? >> reporter: well, jen, the sheriff tells us that the deputy actually had another man retrieve drug paraphernalia from inside his house and then that deputy placed it in a bag that belonged to a drug suspect. >> they trust we are going to do the right thing. >> reporter: sheriff chris naco briefed the media on what led to la blanc's firing. he planted drugs in a bag of a known drug suspect pleasea. >> it goes back to possibly the

painted la blanc's name on parise's only trailer shaking la blanc for sheriff 2016. we don't know any other altercation that occurred between the two. >> reporter: the deputy got a syringe and crack pipe from parise's neighbor and planted it into parise's bag. >> he goes and checks himself into a rehab center. when he goes, the staff notices these items outside the back, they notify the sheriff's office. >> reporter: that's what sparked the investigation into the deputy and led the neighbor to tell investigators what happened. >> we will hold ourselves accountable for our actions. we are going to be transparent with our citizens because we have to play by the rules. we know criminals don't. everybody knows that but law enforcement officers have to play by the rules. >> reporter: again, the sheriff tells us that this is a case where a deputy had a grudge with a drug suspect and tonight

>> is this deputy facing any charges? >> reporter: that now former deputy is possibly facing obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence charges so we will see what happens next. >> josh thomas in new port richey for us tonight live. thank you. and an update to breaking news, a pedestrian hit by a car on interstate 75 is in critical condition but is expected to survive. it happened around mile marker 218 in manatee county. this is eagle 8 hd video of the scene taken less than an hour ago. traffic was moving again. the victim flown to tampa general hospital, we are told he was in the interstate because his car had broken down. super tuesday is here. voters are going to the polls in a dozen states today. the results will shape the future of the race for the white house. frontrunners hillary clinton and donald trump may not lock up their nominations tonight but expected to get a whole lot closer. mark meredith joining us live

a lot on the line tonight, mark. >> you're right about that one. the polls are open right now, and nearly a -- in nearly a dozen states and two hours now before they begin to close in some of the southern contests and what's interesting is these candidates, whether you're talking about donald trump, hillary clinton or anybody still in the race, they are going after every vote right now. for instance, texas senator ted cruz, he was out in front of the cameras this morning but as he was going to vote in houston, you may remember he won in iowa but he is badly needing to win in his home state of texas tonight, one of the states voting. but it's donald trump that continues to make all the headlines and it's important to point out that even if he does come in first place, including every state, including texas, he is not going to be able to have enough delegates to capture the republican nomination tonight. so while you may hear some words that say inevitable, it's really not able to make that point because at where we are, the delegate race is still wide open tonight, though, though will certainly give us a clearer picture.

he's staying in the race. >> that i intend to remain the adult in the campaign for president of the united states. okay? and i also want to tell you that even though some in the press may think this is over, i i will beat donald trump in day. >> there is a large voter turnout today across this if not, we are probably going to be struggling. >> bernie sanders who you just heard from right there really counting on winning at least one or two contests tonight. some of the polls in oklahoma had him up by clinton by about nine points. at any time this could change and hillary clinton after doing well in nevada and south carolina, she is on a roll right now. >> like she is spiking -- picking up steam for sure and the frontrunners getting close to locking up their party's nomination tonight but a lot more work to be done here, especially for donald trump who despite all indications that he's sailing to victory still

his own party. >> reporter: absolutely. i think it is interesting, you were talking about that, whether it be the house or senate leadership making it clear they may not say donald trump's name but they are making it very clear what kind of campaign they expect the republican front runner to run if he does become the nominee. we've got another debate on thursday night, fox news is hosting one, states hosting on saturday. it will feel like it if you watched any of the cable coverage tonight that the race may be that decided. we are still a far ways out. >> especially in florida. we know that here. mark meredith thank you for that. >> candidates on all sides are taking shots at donald trump. >> trump's tactics seem to be working for the republican front runner and now some of trump's opponents are trying to use those same tactics to pick up voters. candace mccowan continues our team coverage with a look at how trump has changed this race. >> reporter: we saw rubio take on trump over the past week with the insults. now it seems rubio is taking another page out of trump's book and using it for his

it's been a trump move from the start. >> sit down, you weren't called. sit down. >> reporter: ridiculed journalists and get the crowds fired up. >> i'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposefully negative and horrible and false articles we can sue them and win lots of money. >> reporter: and now florida senator marco rubio seems to want to get in on the action. >> fortunately no one ever covers issues these days very much. that's why donald has gotten 10 times as much coverage as anybody else because he's always insulting people and saying outrageous things. it's funny, the media spends a lot of time covering those insults he's been laying out throughout the last year. >> reporter: the question is, will it work? >> i don't know if there's any issues for the media to cover because candidates never talk about it. >> i think what they are tapping into is a lot of that frustration and anger that the public has, we are seeing trump has been able to pull a lot of support from both parties. >> reporter: rubio has seen a rise in some polls since he's

aggressive tone but on this super tuesday we will soon see if a change in tactics is too little too late. >> it's going to be a matter of seeing where cruz and rubio end up at the end of the day and when their portions of delegates -- and win their portions of delegates. >> beyond the trump tactics it will be -- >> it's interesting the way marco rubio has changed. i saw someone tweet the other day, marco rubio may not win with this new tactic he's on but he was definitely going to lose on the one he was on. >> so got to try something. and we might see rubio scale some of that back so it will be interesting to see what they do going forward. >> or if rubio is still in the race after tonight. it could be a two man race with cruz and trump. we will see. >> a lot can change. >> thank you, candice. >> a reminder too, for florida voters our primary is march 15th here in florida. early voting is already underway in hillsborough and polk counties.

counties start early voting on we have posted everything you need to know on wfla.com. a bill ending permanent alimony for divorcing couples in florida is now ready for a vote by the full state senate and house. the bill proposes that alimony be based on a formula taking into consideration the number of years a couple was married and considering the difference in the couple's incomes. the bill's sponsor hopes it will take some of the combativeness out of divorce cases. and now to an 8 on your side consumer alert. you need to check your fridge, whole foods is recalling maytag brand raw milk bleu cheese. it could be contaminated with listeria. no illnesses have been reported yet but if you bought the cheese, you need to throw that out and bring your receipt to whole foods for a full refund. another emotional day in court for sportscaster erin andrews. >> coming up, she describes how her life has changed since the stalker posted naked videos of her online.

with the fbi on capitol hill. it's the latest battle in a privacy war. what a gorgeous day today. temperatures a little bit above normal but still a very nice feeling, today a great day for baseball. there are changes, though. a cold front is headed our way tomorrow. we will talk about its impact coming up. we will have that and more coming up. you're watching news channel 8,

closed captioning brought to you by culpepper kurland. eagle 8 hd coverage is brought to you by your suncoast hyundai dealers. visit your local dealer today or shop buy hyundai.com. the u.s. house judiciary committee is weighing in between the fight between the government and apple. james comey says apple's new encryption is so powerful only the company can help it hack

terrorist syed farook. apple insists everyone's privacy is now at stake. for lawmakers it is no easy choice. >> building that software tool would not affect just one iphone. it would weaken the security for all of them. >> the big question for our country is how much privacy are we going to give out in the name of security. >> yesterday a federal magistrate sided with apple in a similar case in new york ruling there is no law forcing apple to hack a locked phone of a drug dealer. however, that new york case ruling. a second day of tears in court, sportscaster erin andrews fished testifying in the case against -- finished testifying in the case against her stalker. andrews said her life has changed forever. >> i think about it every day. for the second straight day, erin andrews' emotions spill offered as she talked about being videotaped without her nashville hotel room.

as i walk right by the fans, as near as they are to me, and i think, my god, everyone in this stadium has seen that video. >> reporter: that video was posted online by michael barrett, who spent 30 months in jail after he admitted to stalking the popular sportscaster in three cities, altering peepholes in her hotel room doors and secretly is seeking $75 million in a civil lawsuit that names barrett along with the nashville marriott and its management company at the time of the incident claiming negligence, emotional distress >> do you believe you will ever >> no. >> reporter: during a brief cross-examination, the hotel's lawyers looked to establish that andrews career hasn't been irreparably damaged. >> you have done very well in >> you have -- >> reporter: they also argue the hotel had nothing to do with barrett's actions, despite

andrews was staying there and next door. the trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week. >> defense attorneys for marriott also played a video deposition from erin's former boss at espn. he testified she performed very well at her job after the erin andrews, by the way, is the daughter of 8 on your side andrews. and now a preview of an investigation we are working on shannon behnken joining us now with a look at what she is working on. >> this is something we can all relate to, especially if we pay our bills online, a clearwater couple turned to us after they paid their brighthouse bill online and they accidentally typed in an extra number making their payment of $186 $1700 and they have had a really difficult time getting that money back so they turned to us. we have been making calls. i have been making calls all day long and coming up at 11:00 i'll have really good news. i just got off the phone with

working on this escalating it and trying to resolve it for this couple. >> so easy to do. every time i go online and i try to put in a number i have to look twice, is that $1, is it $10, $1000, you got to be careful. >> once you hit it, it's gone. >> more on that tonight at 11:00. be sure to join shannon tonight at 11:00 for this full investigation into money held hostage. now to breaking news for you, eagle 8 hd is over the scene of a school bus crash in palm harbor happening at east lake road at tarpon woods boulevard. we are told kids were on the bus but no one was injured. the driver of the other car was not injured either. march 1st, fantastic, the month certainly started out not so much like a lion but beautiful weather. 72 degrees, west winds at 4 miles per hour, a bit of a breeze here in new port richey at sun toyota but 50% relative humidity and the winds again

that's the view with the lows down in cesar, that's in st. pete beach looking towards the east. 68 degrees the current temperature there, a bit of a west wind off the gulf of mexico. spring training perfect weather for it. in fact for tomorrow we will add a few clouds in the forecast for wednesday. we have a cold front moving through the area with a slight possibility of showers, tigers, pirates -- tigers, yankees, braves, orioles and phillies, blue jays temperatures in the 70s. a slight chance of a shower as that front moves through the area. this is our average line here in white. you can see how through the next seven days we are very close to that or slightly above it so we are trending a little bit warmer long term so keep that in mind if you're going to be planning for the weather here. we are getting back to our normal levels. in fact, a little bit above that. the emoji guy is very happy about the spring training season. temperatures upper 60s through this period, very comfortable evening this evening. we have added a little bit of moisture back into the atmosphere ahead of this cold front but it's not uncomfortable by any means.

a.m., 67 degrees at 10:00 a.m. 76 now odessa, 73 palm harbor, 68 in clearwater beach, 74 seminole, 76 in riverview and also at macdill. upper 70s lakeland, frostproof at 78 degrees. inverness 81 degrees. area of low pressure to the north, second one here to the west. showers along the boundary, snow in places like mel gibson today, very cold -- like michigan today, very cold. could be a lot worse. we are seeing a few whiskey looking -- wispy looking clouds. front will come and chase that away. the forecast for this evening, only a couple of clouds around, warm conditions overall. here comes a cold front sliding in from the northwest, may add a few clouds, only a slight chance of a very light shower, maybe just a sprinkle too. in the afternoon the wind will shift early afternoon, come more northerly and that will actually draw in for a short period of time some slightly cooler air until we get the next front on friday.

50s for thursday morning as we head into friday, we will watch the approach of another cold front sliding our way. that will help to up our slight rain chances again but this one too is really no big deal in the way of an impact creating severe thunderstorms, anything along that line will definitely look for a little bit cooler temperatures in between all of this. forecast lows for tonight, 61 palm harbor, tar binbin springs. tomorrow looks like another warm day like we are seeing. we saw low 80s some some of the -- in some of the inland areas temperatures before the front has an impact. get cooler. tomorrow evening will likely be a little bit cooler than it will be this evening. 69 degrees for our evening temperature, forecast low of 61 as well. add a few clouds in the overnight, mostly high clouds but as that front gets a little closer into the early afternoon, we will see a few extra clouds. temperatures through this period as we just saw on that

average of 74 degrees thursday, friday, of course everybody's eyes chase over to the weekend there. a little bit warmer, we forecasted in the upper 70s for the weekend, that's still looking pretty good there, partly cloudy skies, overnight low temperatures in the mid and upper 50s through this period. high temperatures long-term monday, tuesday, upper 70s near 80 degrees, so again, very nice weather ahead for us, guys, and the weekend is looking fantastic. >> awesome. thank you. new kickstand technology could be changing the game for bicycle riders. >> we will explain how after the break. also ahead, could the world soon have a new fastest car? we reveal the new model that could break old records. tonight we are live in all time zones with coverage of a super tuesday presidential contest. why a huge night for trump doesn't mean the g.o.p. race is over and why clinton is shifting to a new target. we will take you inside the hearing where apple and the fbi are facing off today and more testimony from the erin andrews trial. is the hotel to blame for giving her stalker access?

here shortly for live coverage on "nightly news." (phone ringing)

by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise) hey candidates,

a bigger burden for people who need prescription drugs. the average cost for a year's supply of drugs has doubled in seven years. it is now more than $11,000. that's about 2/3 of the average annual social security -- 3/4 of the average annual social security benefit. and a controversial new york city law requiring restaurants to post salt warnings on their menus is on hold.

effect today but an appellate judge put the plans on hold. new york city officials say they are confident it will be upheld. automaker ford is peddling its way into the bicycle business with an interesting new idea. an automatic kickstand. that means riders would never have to put their feet down when stopped. in its application for the patent, ford highlighted the difficult that disabled people in particular may have riding a bicycle if they can't use their legs. so ford has not released a launch date yet but any do claim the new tech will be affordable for riders. bugh gaudy is bragging -- ba gaudy is bragging. the new model is called the cheeron. the varyon is -- veeron is currently accepted as the world's fastest car. capped at 250 miles an hour for road use.

something out of oprah winfrey's closet. ebay teamed up with oprah. the money raised will benefit the oprah winfrey leadership academy. so from the show closet. maybe not from her personal closet. >> i thought it was her personal closet. >> i'm still worried about this bugatti at 260. that's 60 miles faster than an average nascar speed and you think about nascar going about 200 miles per hour. this thing is 260 for road use. >> not going to end well. here's josh -- >> the itchy pests are becoming a problem for students. pushing back against human trafficking. which businesses are now required to post fliers

good evening. i'm jennifer leigh. >> and i'm josh benson. we begin with continuing coverage of breaking news in pinellas county. we are over the school bus crash, happening at east lake road at tarpon woods boulevard. the driver of the other vehicle was not injured as well. but we will bring you more becomes available. now to a critical day for the presidential candidates. polls begin to close in an hour and a half in some of the super tuesday states and this fight could be over on both sides if donald trump or hillary clinton win big tonight. candace mccowan joins us now