thanks for joining us this evening. a polk county school bus driver and an aide are in big trouble. they left a sleeping special needs student on board a school bus not once, but unfortunately twice. jamel lanee joins us now. she is live in polk county. the most baffling part about this story is the student apparently climbed through a window to get out the bus. and then he hitchhiked not ten, not 20, but 30 miles home. >> reporter: exactly jenn. the details in this story are mind-blowing. can you even believe that we just learned this student even told the bus driver the attendant, that they left him on the bus the first time this happened. it happened again days later when they didn't believe him. watch the surveillance video on this polk county school bus. the bus attendant and driver are packed up ready to go home after dropping students off on a morning route. but wait. a sleeping student emerges from

left behind. >> the attendant walked right by him on march 2. the driver paid absolutely no attention when she left the bus. >> reporter: and could you believe it happened again days later to the same student? >> but what wasn't functioning, the brains of the driver and the attendant. it is like, are you kidding me? do you hear what i said? they left a kid on the bus twice in one week! >> reporter: both times, the teen, a special needs student, finds a way off the bus, hitches and walks 30 miles home. each time, brown and simmons had disarmed the child reminder system reminding them to check the bus before leaving. nobody knew what happened until a therapist called the mom looking for him when he didn't tuesday. >> between the two of them, they didn't have one thought in

for the well being of the children on that bus. >> reporter: we have learned from the district that the bus driver has a few warnings in her file including speeding and a red light infraction. the attendant has a clean record. both are on paid administrative leave and these incidents are under investigation. jamel lanee live in polk county. we have backing news out of saint petersburg. a three-year-old child injured in a drive by shooting as a man and a child were sitting on the front porch of a house. a white four-door car drove by firing several shots at the house. the man and the little girl were injured but they are expected to survive. >> that's a shame. that's a baby. what can that baby do to hurt anybody? she is just starting living her life. whoever did this, they need to be in prison. >> so far tonight, police don't have any suspects or a motive in this shooting.

child's story about being nearly abducted in polk county was all a hoax. today, that 11-year-old girl admitted she made up the story because she did not want to walk home from school. detectives had drawn up a sketch of the man the girl told them tried to pull her into the car. the girl claiming that the man was sent by her mother to pick her up. the girl wrote a letter to detectives apologizing for this lie. it read in part, i'm sorry that the story that i told wasn't true. i never meant to hurt anyone or for this to get this big. that girl is charged with filing a false police report which is a misdemeanor. she will not be locked up. instead, she will receive counseling at the department of juvenile justice. and now we turn to the race republican candidates for president are gearing up for the gop debate right here in florida. >> last night it was the democrats, now it's the

keith cate is on the road in south florida and he joins us live at 6:03 from the university of miami where tonight's debate is being held. hey keith. >> reporter: hello jenn, hello rod. i'm coming to you live from inside the media center here in miami. i thought i would give you a little tour. this is where all the media comes together to file their stories. people sending back the stories like we did here today. google sponsors here. you see all kinds of cool things on the wall. if you want to follow your candidate, you can say look at ted cruz. all the orange across the map. look at the donald trump. how he is doing. marco rubio scattered throughout the united states. it is fascinated but here's the bigger picture. look at all the red. donald trump is killing it here so we will see what happens in the debate. it is like ground hog's day. we saw the democrats last night only this time, we get to see the republicans. hopefully, this last face to

sort of clarity to what has been kind of a chaotic political season. three of the four republican candidates made their way around the sunshine state today looking for a ray of hope in a race that has been controlled by billionaire donald trump. >> you are going to love your president. >> reporter: marco rubio comes in to tonight's debate desperate for a win in his home state. the same is true for john kasich. confident he will take his home turf of ohio. while ted cruz, the only gop contender who has cut into trump's lead, picked up added support from a senate colleague. the first to endorse his campaign. >> he is the only republican candidate who can defeat donald trump and who can defeat hillary clinton and i believe he will. >> reporter: of course, the most important endorsement will come from voters who get their next chance to weigh in on tuesday. if it is trump, so be it. the party that has been trying for months to take down trump may have to save the last dance

>> but at the end of the day, no matter who the republican nominee is, we will get behind that person and get that person elected. >> even if it is donald trump? >> yeah. that's what we do. the republican party remains neutral. no matter who the republican nominee is, our job is to make sure we get that person elected and deliver this state to the republican nominee. >> reporter: there you have it. some of the trends they are talking about, you sea on the big screen. isis, obama care, all of those are trending things on google and what the candidates will be talking about. i think they are hoping this is more of a softer debate, especially after the incident we saw between marco rubio and donald trump which many are saying hurt marco rubio. that's not the rubio a lot of people came to know. even rubio is disappointed with the way he went after donald trump. he has not apologized for it but the way he did it has been an embarrassment and he regrets

for marco rubio, it's an uphill climb. he is trailing in the polls by double digits. our primary is next tuesday. jenn, as you know, it is winner take all. coming up at 7:00,ly show you an interesting interaction we had with governor rick scott who walked through here. he had something happen on the morning show with joe scarborough that was kind of strange. we will get his reaction coming up at 7:00. tonight at 11:00. all of the highlights from the republican debate in miami. back to you. >> keith, you are so good at getting those exclusive stories. keith cate live for us tonight. thank you very much. we look forward to it. well, on the democratic side of things, you are look live at the state fairgrounds where senator bernie sanders is holding a campaign rally in less than an hour. this is being held at the state fairgrounds expo hall. it is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and is filling up rather quickly. tonight's rally will cap off a three-day tour of sanders. and earlier today, hillary clinton campaigned in the bay

it is her first trip here since campaign in 2008. clinton spoke to a capacity crowd at the ritz in ybor city. hundreds of people listened in as the former secretary of state touched on a variety of topics including the importance of the tampa port and she talked climate change as well. coming up at 7:00, keith and candace will have much more on this coverage ahead of tonight's debate and for full reaction and analysis after the 11:00. also, florida's primary is next tuesday on march 15. if you don't want to wait until then, you can cast your ballot early now. we posted everything you need to know on wfla.com. >> and that's a lot of information. >> it is. >> so check it out if you don't know. a string of car thefts to tell you about. >> how you can help deputies nab the thieves an protect your own car. >> plus, several car owners are fuming tonight after their cars were towed. still ahead, 8 on your side

>> and we saw near record heat in the tampa area. made it up to 85. warm temperatures continuing but rain chances back into the forecast this weekend. we will have the timing of that

(phone ringing) you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some seem to be dealing with social security. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan (elephant noise) (donkey noise) hey candidates,

>> susanna baldwin appeared before a judge. authorities believe she was drunk when she plowed into the back of a car and sent the car kelly mccain. her family and friends went to closure. >> what made you come here today? is right. susanna has done wrong. she has to live with that for the rest of her life. >> mccain had a son and the couple had recently had a baby. they were also planning to conceive again this month. tonight, the search is onto fine several thieves breaking into and stealing cars in at least four counties. take a look at this surveillance video. pasco county deputies say they are investigating 15 cases of at least three thieves checking for unlocked car doors. investigators say the crooks are driving a hyundai and a

both of which are stolen. a tow company targeting cars with expired license

>> now, an 8 on your side investigation. towing trouble. >> 8 on your side found a towing company towing cars with expired tag stickers. the owners are now being charged hundreds of dollars.

no idea it is perfectly legal for tow companies to do this. >> but here's the thing. at least one of these cars did not have an expired tag. the owner simply had not replaced the sticker and is still on the hook for a very large bill. shannon behnken joins us with this very frustrating deal for anyone in this situation. >> reporter: guys, people are fuming mad. this company towed eight cars from one apartment complex in just one night. and we went there today and found no warnings about expired tags. sketchy, but perfectly legal. >> i feel like they are just taking advantage of people. >> reporter: russell brown was visiting a friend at foxcroft apartments. he had no idea a tow truck driver was on patrol. >> i know i didn't park in the wrong spot. what did i do wrong? >> reporter: it was the sticker on his tag. his registration was paid, but he forgot to change that pesky yellow tag. >> if i did something wrong and

you got me. i'll pay the fine and go about my business and life goes on. but, that wasn't the case. >> reporter: it didn't matter to professional towing. it cost $170 cash to get the car back. no one at the apartment complex would talk, so we went to professional towing. [ knock at door ] no luck there either. but we ran into someone else with a car towed from another apartment complex, also, for an expired tag. >> there was a point where i wanted to burn the car. i didn't want anything to do with this car anymore. >> reporter: in this case, the owner had to fly in from venezuela to pay $1,200 to help her sister get the car back. a lot of angry people. but 8 on your side checked and apartment complexes can tow for whatever. not illegal, but ... >> probably a better business practice and a more ethical business practice is for the apartment complexes to let residents know what the rules

>> reporter: so here is your warning. get those stickers up to date or you could pay a big price. no one from the towing company or the company that owns the apartment complex returns any of my calls today. but regulators say they get the most complaints about towing and that they added that this issue about the tags is the first time that they have heard this. so again, this is your warning. >> got to pay attention to that. any chance these people will ever get their money back? >> reporter: probably not, but the regulators told me they want the complaints on the record and they promise they will go out and ask the question egg. but this is your warning. these folks are looking for you. >> so the minute you get your sticker put it on the tag. >> immediately. >> a lesson learned hard for them. thank you shannon behnken. really nice evening.

saint pete beach. 74 degrees right now with our winds coming out of the southwest at about 15 miles an hour. so, it has been a little bit breezy today. but, otherwise, just a gorgeous day and i know we are already talking about the weekend. so, here is what it is shaping up to look like. expect some extra cloud cover around on saturday. but, overall, going to be staying dry with temperature ins the low 80s . the rain chances are really moving in for sunday. so, that is when we are looking at some showers possible. temperatures though will still be warm. near 80 degrees. and let's take a look outside right now. we had a photo come in earlier of course. great photo. always love to see your weather photos so head over to our facebook page or twitter. we also love to see your photos so send them to us. we have your weather max app forecast. it will show you a very mild start expected again tomorrow morning. we are in the mid 60s to begin with. by 3:00 p.m., we are tapping out in the low 80s . notice a little more cloud cover around tomorrow. but we will keep rain chances out of the forecast.

comfortable in the mid 70s for your friday night. high pressure. this has been the dominant force. this is why we are staying dry and also warm over the last week or so. notice barely a cloud in the sky across the state of florida. that is thank to the area of high pressure, but this is also partially responsible for all of the storm systems just streaming across places like louisiana, mississippi, texas. they have been dealing with some very heavy rainfall now all week. and that time they were dealing with real flooding. this rain will eventually make its way toward us but lit be much weaker. 82 brandon. 83 in weeki wachee. and notice, for this time of year, actually, some pretty warm temperatures across much of the eastern half of the country. it is 76 in atlanta. 72 in dc. 59 in new york city this evening. so our friends up north loving the warm temperatures like we are. this evening, a couple of clouds will remain with us.

a mix of sun and clouds through the day friday. but we will keep rain out of the forecast for your friday afternoon and evening plans. temperatures warm back into the mid 80s . if you are planning to head out to the beach. a great day for that. saturday morning a dry start to the weekend. we will keep rain chances only 10% for saturday afternoon. maybe a small stray shower pops up. notice the rain and the storm system still west of us. but as the high backs out, we will finally start to see some rain moving in on sunday. we can actually use it. unfortunately, sunday is the grand prix. don't like the timing of that. but, that is mainly when we will be seeing the showers will be on sunday. potentially lingering into monday morning. so here is what it look like. notice our temperatures are remaining warm in the low 80s all the way through this weekend. this weekend, don't forget. we spring forward. so saturday night as you go to bed make sure you set the clocks forward an hour. saturday looks to be the better outdoor day.

but either day looks awful. >> it looks great. yeah. >> not if illuding an hour. especially with all this. >> i like the fall back better than the spring forward. >> more sunlight. >> yeah, i know. i know. [ laughter ] >> thank you. >> appreciate it. coming up next in sports, a busy weekend for sports in the bay area. >> and the bucs added another free agent player. this may answer another question on the offensive line.

>> mopped, if you remember, the

so the manager dipped into free agency and found guard jr sweezy with the seattle seahawks. sweezy introduced a short while ago. he is a great story. a former seventh round draft pick as defensive tackle. they turned him into a starting offensive linemen. he says the word and football is the bucs offense has a chance to do something big in 2016. >> everybody i talk to says you know, you know we are on the brink of something special here. and you know, when you have multiple guys talking about it, you know, it is real. something is going on here. and, something i want to be a part of. and just ready to get started. >> the tampa bay storm opened training camp this morning. first order of business, get the quarterback position solidified. right now, there is one qb in

but qb or not, they are still in expectation for lauren samuel. >> i can't wait to get it on the field and put it into motion. >> once everybody gets in, you know, ain't no telling what might happen. we want to host in the end. >> all right. >> first round of the valspar championship. high winds today wreaking havoc with everyone. that puck goes in for a birdie to set up a three-way tie. hey, in the pga tour, not the only show in town this week. the indy car series begins its season with the fire stone grand prix. drivers kicked off race week in saint petersburg. home of one of the favored courses for driver elio castroneves.

and you are going to the downtown. when you see the bust of wind, it changes constantly. plus, the track is a street course. every lap is getting more grip so it is getting faster. >> and the rays desmond jennings continued his hot hitting in the spring. can this continue? a two-run homer against the pirates. jennings is five for ten this spring. seven runs batted in. rays win 5-1 today behind three and a third scoreless inness. the foals taking on east carolina. it was a one-point game at halftime. angel nunez had the hot hand of the second half and the bulls win it 71-66. they will take on the top seed temple tomorrow. florida gators won earlier today. and julie's hurricanes play in the acc tournament. >> that is why she has been smiling all day.

>> all right, thank sos much. thanks for joining us. >> thank you.

breaking news tonight. donald trump accused of encouraging violence at his rallies. his campaign manager accused of roughing up a female reporter. the rising death toll as record floods rage. high-water rescs. brawl on a plane. mayhem as fists fly. shocked passengers with the melee. you won't believe what started it all. ambush horror. five massacred, including a pregnant woman as gunmen opened fire in a backyard