>> it is 7:00. 8 at 7:00 begins now. >> good evening. a first grader's hand was slammed in the door at school. the teacher is now out of the classroom while the school district investigates. and the child's parents are demanding answers. cahune elementary. >> reporter: the child's parents have hired their own attorney hoping to get to the bottom of what really did happen. we are not identifying the child, nor naming him. you can see how badly his hand was injured. his father describes getting the call last thursday. >> i didn't know what to think. all i hear is them telling me there is an emergency. you know. and they can't tell me over the phone exactly what it was. so my whole way there, i was just thinking, you know ... i don't know what this is or

time that it is not something life threatening. >> reporter: the teacher, amanda karansa, has been with the school system since august of 2011. she has no prior disciplinary issues. brian kathy represents the family and hopes to get some answers. >> i think every parent can appreciate this. what would you do if it was your child? that is what we need to know when we send our child to a school. we expect them to be safe. what is going on? why is this happening? >> reporter: district officials assure newschannel8 they want the same answers. and if the family's attorney determines there was no negligence, there will be no legal action taken. if he determines this was not an accident, we could be looking at a lawsuit against the school district. reporting live in tampa, i'm chip osowski, newschannel8. three high lands county

investigation for misconduct with their school. all of them are accused of sending or receiving naked photos. john rogers has the latest on this investigation. >> reporter: detectives say sebring high school teacher amanda roser-cannady sent photos of herself to two students. deputies are looking into bridget silva, a teacher with photos of a 16-year-old student on her phone. leave. and stacy hooks was charged with nine counts of child porn. she is already behind bars charged with having sex with a 14-year-old. >> not only can you ruin the reputation of a child victim forever, but look at the damage you are doing to yourself. >> reporter: next tuesday, the sheriff will meet with the school board to talk about the

>> there is another resignation tonight at the top of the polk county school system. associate superintendent of operations greg rivers is out. he formerly launched an investigation against katherine leroy. she eventually stepped down. rivers' resignation goes into effect may 6. he will use his accrued paid leave time between now and then. the driver accused of hitting and killing a tow truck driver intoed a not guilty plea. allison huffman is accused of hitting roger perez perado on the howard franklin bridge and leaving the scene. fellow tow truck drivers were there as a show of support. a day care has some damage to repair tonight.

eagle 8 flew over the little people christian day care earlier. no one was injured. should a little weed be a big deal? it won't be soon in tampa. under the proposed new rules anyone arrested with 20 grams or less would receive a ticket instead of a misdemeanor charge. a first offense is a $75 fine. the council will hold another hearing on this proposal march 17. tonight, unsolved cases are getting new attention on billboards across pinellas county. several billboards will be on display near the crime scene. this case involves 15-year-old malasia gamble found dead in 2009. >> i waited several years to be able to get in front of this

what my daughter meant to me. my daughter was a good person. >> clear channel outdoor is donating the billboard space and they will be appearing over the next two months. if one of the signs jogs your memory, call in with a tip because you could receive up to a $3,000 reward. long lines and frustration are growing in the irs office in tampa. today, jeff patterson went looking for answers. >> reporter: at the irs office in tampa, people are angry. lee was told to show up with a photo id to prove who she is. >> i have to get an appointment there. i went to lakeland. i'm from orlando. >> reporter: these long lines have been going on for days. today, we called the irs to ask what is going on. >> reporter: can you tell me

now? >> first of all ... [ unintelligible ] >> reporter: u.s. senator bill nelson wrote the commissioner of the irs asking him to respond appropriately to the long lines at the tampa office. but we took it further and asked the irs what they plan to do about this problem now. staff. >> reporter: the irs is setting up appointments in the next few days so people can avoid these long lines. jeff patterson, newschannel8. a bill that protects members of the clergy who refuses to marry same sex couple is headed to the governor's desk. it provides protection for pastors from being sued for refusing same sex couples. a bill with new rules for

it also says the sale and donation of fetal remains from abortions is prohibited. the bill is headed to the state senate. flying to cuba could be a little easier. several airlines are bidding to fly to havana. several could depart from tampa. >> reporter: georgiani chavez is making her first trip to cuba. like most americans, she chartered her flight, but that could soon change. several airlines hope to offer commercial flights to the island soon. several u.s. carriers applied to the u.s. department of transportation for u.s. cuba flight rights. u.s. and jet blue would have several flights a day out of tampa international if approved.

cuba, only a few carriers from chosen airports will get to fly to havana, the mecca destination. >> it will be a competitive environment for winning the flights. there are only 20 slots allowed from the united states to havana and dozens of applications to serve havana from the united states. >> reporter: jamel lanee, newschannel8. steve jerve, you know what today is right? >> it is leap year? the beginning of the strawberry >> good guess. through. minds. we decided biscuit. >> seems like quite a debate. some were saying cheesecake. >> cheesecake with sounds delicious. 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, a few clouds around this evening. we are not expecting rain. it looks sort of rainy.

off the gulf. 73 degrees at 3:00 p.m. there is a possibility tomorrow morning. probably before 10:00 a.m., of seeing a shower associated with a coal front moving on through, but i think the sun comes back in the afternoon an the evening looks good if you are headed out to plant city. a nice shot from gandy beach this morning. obviously quite a few clouds there. storm team 8wfla on facebook. comfortable temperatures. mostly cloudy skies. a light southwesterly breeze bringing in a bit more humidity ahead of the cold front that will pass tomorrow morning. we will talk more about the weekend forecast. it looks good, coming um. still ahead on 8 at 7:00. >> we are out at the strawberry festival at plant city. we have strawberry short cake. doesn't that look good? delicious. we'll have more coming up. >> we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel8.

>> it is the bay area's sweetest event. the strawberry festival kicked off today in plant city. julie phillips had the tough assignment of checking it out. >> reporter: we are here at the strawberry festival in plant city. when you are here, you have to make a strawberry short cake. you probably have been through line. or biscuit? got to go with the cake. all right, thank you. then you have to top it with a lot of fresh strawberries. load it up with topping. i learned today this is actually dairy free. so if you can't have dairy, you can still have this topping. and we have the strawberry on top.

it looks so good guys. you got to come out and try this. and you get a sticker too. all right. excellent. >> i want her to bring some to us. our web team has compiled everything you need for the strawberry festival. a concert lineup. how to buy tickets. even strawberry recipes. you will find it on the news section on wfla.com. well, starbucks new rewards program is not a big hit with customers. that story is coming up. >> plus, amazon adds some new gadgets that will always be there for you.

pet moments are beautiful, unless you have allergies. then your eyes may see it differently. only flonase is approved toprelieve both itchy, watery eyes pand congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. when we breathe in allergens our bodies react by over producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. one substance. flonase controls six. and six is greater than one. complete allergy relief or incomplete. flonase.

>> wall street spent most of the day in the red, but the dow points. starbucks buzz is fading rewards program. to describe how people feel about the brand, they assigned a buzz score. 29. since the changes kicked in, the number of people who considered making their next

by 9%. amazon has two new gadgets that will make life a little more futuristic. today, it introduced the echo dot and the amazon tap. the tap is a more portable version of the echo which allows you to interact with amazon's alexa voice assistant. the dot is smaller and allows you to plug into another sown system to get better audio. it costs $89 for amazon prime members. the tap is $129. you will never need to remember to order water filters again. amazon and brita teamed up to create a pitcher that automatically orders another one when it is time to replace. it sends a signal to amazon placing the order. a $6 filter should last you about months. nobody wants to touch anything in an airplane

boeing has come up with a self- cleaning lavatory. it may not be the total wipe down that you would hope for, but that funky purple lighting contains uv light which will kill 99.99% of germs. it only takes three seconds as well. the lavatory of the future will also include touchless features. the idea has to be studied further before it can be installed on airplanes. we are headed toward a time when cars won't need drivers. as josh thomas shows us, florida's transportation officials are headed for the future. >> reporter: autonomous cars are already being tested in controlled conditions across the bay area. >> people think it is the future but it is really here with us.

ready to embrace them though. >> i don't think it is a good idea. i don't think computers should be drives cars. >> reporter: but fdot is leading the charge to incorporate that technology into the state's roadways. >> over 90% of the crashes are the result of human error. the tech knowledge can actually take a lot of that out of the equation. >> reporter: but a recent aaa survey revealed most drivers are not ready to hit the road in a car that drives himself. >> i want to drive my own car. >> reporter: some cars use some of the technology like automatic braking. while it may sound advanced, samuel knows it is coming but safe. >> making sure there is a lot of redundancy in the system. >> reporter: for now, a driver would still have to be behind the wheel. >> as the technology gets better i'm sure we will be able

you can read the newspaper or do whatever. but, the technology just isn't there yet. >> reporter: in tampa, josh thomas, newschannel8. there are a lot of extreme sports you can shoot with an action camera. plenty of canadians are digging out of a blizzard that started last night. winds up to 37 miles an hour. condition. but i guess you are having fun with a snowy situation there. spring is not too far off. i have seen that view many times. the snow shovels look a lot better. weekend weather here for us. 75 degrees. snow will not last in this kind of temperature. 76 degrees on sunday. sunshine mixed with clouds.

those of you down here to watch spring training at 1:05. temperatures low 70s . there is a possibility of a morning shower, but that should push to the south rain wise. by the afternoon, sunshine should end up very nice. the cold front is not going to make it too cold. it is going to allow more sunshine with that warm march sunshine, we should have a very nice day. mostly 60s at the moment. pinellas and hillsborough. 66 venice. 71 in bartow. quite a few clouds from west to east across the area. showers and a few thunderstorms. some severe weather in mississippi. a cold front with this area of low pressure. look at the snow occurring all the way into west virginia and virginia at this hour. so it is snowing further to the north. low pressure continues to create the possibility of a shower here locally as it moves to the north with most of the energies. cold front kind of drags into the area. that front arrives with some morning showers. really by 11:00 a.m.

south and by the afternoon, we start to break out some sunshine. that will set up a very nice weekend. slightly cooler for saturday morning because of the lower humidity in this air mass. but with an easterly flow for saturday and sunday, that will help to bring back moisture and bring a nice balance with temperatures in mid 70s . dry the rest of the time period as you can see in the seven day forecast. temperatures get to near 80 degrees for tuesday and wednesday. as a matter of fact, we will probably see some mid 80s . lit be warm next week. kind of a cold january and february. so, apparently, now is the time to thaw out from all of that and get back in the 80s just in time for all of our outdoor activities. the strawberry festival. >> and all the spring breakers who will be in town who want to go to the beach. >> and this is good for our economy all over tampa bay. >> feel free to make your checks to jennifer leigh and steve jerve.

>> if you love unicorns and you are concern about getting chilly, we have the solution. it is a stuffed unicorn with a rainbow scarf coming out of ... well, um, i think you can imagine where rainbows come out of unicorns. yep. as an alternative, you can pop out the brain on a stuffed zombie and wrap yourself in its entrails. either option available for preorder on kick starter for $49. nice. would you like to find benedict cumberbatch in your easter basket? well someone is making bunnies

a cumberbunny is described as having a handsome face and a tasty bottom. that just got creepy there at the end. back at 11:00. tonight, the gop rematch. >> and what romney told me about taking another run at the white house, now, on "extra." target, donald trump. >> donald trump is a phony. he is very, very not smart. >> mitt unloads today. >> i'll just address it quickly, because it's irrelevant. >> what romney revealed to mario before the race turned into american gladiators. >> would you ever consider running? what are hillary's chances? >> and what donald once told "extra" about a romney-trump ticket. >> romney-trump? >> then, megyn kelly reloading

>> they are tough questions. >> i'm in detroit for all the fireworks. plus, inside hillary clinton's new york night with katy perry and elton john. >> kaley quo toe talks divorce. >> how she feels about dating again and the rumors she's hooking up with her big bang co-star. then, khloe kardashian on getting revenge on the body shamers, and whose body she envy envies. >> i want to kill her. plus, why little sister kendall is stuffing her bra. >> i'm extremely comfortable, which kind of scares me. >> now, on "extra," from universal studios hollywood, the entertainment capital of l.a. >> hey, everyone. welcome to "extra." >> coming up, zoe saldana under fire. the outrage after she darkens her skin for a role. also coming up, a couple alert. what is arnold doing with caitlyn jenner? >> the donald getting ready to face off with megyn kelly

on fox news. trump started the day by taking a beating from mitt romney. who recently gave me his forecast for our next president. the donald versus mitt. >> donald trump is a foe any. a fraud. he's a choke artist. >> the donald versus megyn. >> tune in this thursday. >> the gop frontrunner in a super thursday battle royale. the man who was the nominee in 2012 blasting the man who wants to be this year. >> he has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. >> i sat down with mitt just before trump announced his candidacy. >> would you ever consider running in the future? >> i'm not going to be running for president again. >> who do you think has the best chance against hillary? >> i want to see the country take a different course. i'm going to be campaigning for the republican nominee. >> but today amping up his attacks on the current frontrunner. >> he's playing the members of the american public for suckers. he gets a free ride to white house and all we get is a lousy hat. >> trump, a campaign pit bull for mitt, with a.j. in 2012.