office took time to remember fallen deputy john kotfila who was killed by a wrong-way driver early saturday morning on the selmon express way. mary mcguire has been covering this story all weekend long and it's emotional story. >> it has been a sad time. tonight, the memorial stone bare bares a new name. we're hearing from a 911 caller who says the deputy's last actions saved her life. >> i was flashing my lights crazily at him like a strobe light, like, click, click because i couldn't think of anyway to say stop driving at me. please don't hit me >> sarah was returning home from work when she saw a wrong way driving barreling towards her driving eastbound in the eastbound lanes of the selmon express way.

that hadn't occurred when the officer rushed around me and one or two seconds after he passed me, he ended up hitting the car instead of me. >> making the ultimate sacrifice, she is sure that deputy john kotfila intentionally crashed into that car saving her life. >> this man put himself in front of us as a human shield. absolutely. he definitely -- he definitely saw what was going on when i take a step back and look at the way everything occurred, he absolutely was a human shield for us. >> garren will always remember deputy kotfila as her hero. as his colleagues at the sheriff's office remember him as a friend with an infectious friend. >> he's a well rounded person you wanted to be around. >> his legacy will live on with the safety team. >> john made us better. he made this program better. he makes this sheriff's office better and

>> tonight, the agency continues its work with one less deputy on duty. as the fallen hero's memorial prepares to bear one more name. the sheriff's office says that all signs and signals to alert wrong-way drivers were in working order at the time of that crash. the deputy will be laid to rest this friday. stacie. >> mary, do we know if the wrong-way driver was drinking or on drugs or what caused this? >> we don't know that information just yet, but i'm told that toxicology reports are but those can take up to six weeks to process. >> okay. mary mcguire live in thank you. turning to your vote . donald trump campaigning in tampa today. and the republican front runner faced a few interruptions. we're hours away from florida's presidential primary. trump decided to spend

>> and hundreds of supporters packed into the convention center today. news channel 8 political reporter, candace mccowan joins us from the convention center with more. hi, candace. >>reporter: good evening, keith and stacie. they're cleaning up from the event that wrapped up several hours ago. as for trump this was his last effort to win over florida voters ahead of the primary tomorrow. trump had quite the ban of supporters with him today from sarah palin to chris christie and pam bondi endorsing the businessman. all signs are pointing to a big one for trump. a wall street journal poll shows that trump is expanding over rubio and trump has a 20 point lead over rubio and another poll showing rubio in third. >> did you think florida would be a hard battle for you? >> well, yeah, i did. i always

it's a -- you'll see tomorrow, but i'm not worried about that. that's ridiculous. >> trump is not letting up on rubio. >> i refuse to say it, right. i refuse to say little marco. >> trump even telling the crowd his wife and daughter asked him to rise above the attacks from other candidates. >> they said, be presidential. i said wait a minute, if they come at me i have to come back at them. when i hear little marco say bad stuff, i've got to hit him back. >> trump was adamant with his supporters to not just show up to this event, but to make sure they go out and vote tomorrow so that he is hoping to claim victory. keith. >> i don't know, can dace, it's like watching stand up comedy when you're watching trump. he says i'm not going to say little marco and he says it over and over again. you saw some of the

endorse him and he brought up another endorsement today. boxer mike tyson. >> yeah, he was doubting that endorsement bringing up that mike tyson quote saying everyone has a plan until they're punched in the face which is ironic after some of the complaints of violence at his rallies over the weekend. keith. >> for the record, we saw none of that here in tampa. we saw some protestors doing who protestors do, but no punches, no none of that, so that was a good sign. candace mccowan reporting live at the tampa convention center. we mentioned sarah palin. she took to the stage with trump despite her husband husband husband -- despite her husband hurt in a

they came face-to-face with protestors marched to the convention center. protestors and supporters clashed and talking why they do not support or one protestor was thrown out said he was glad to see people talking and not fighting. >> i mean, i think it's dialogue that's needed. but overall, this isn't like -- i think tampa is a very diverse place. i haven't seen much racial -- >> protest ended peacefully. former president bill clinton was in tallahassee campaigning for his wife hillary. he was at a and m university. he campaigned himself at florida a and m

he praised his wife's plan for equal pay, and gun control and college affordability. >> if you need your tuition paid, you can get - if you need more, you can get that. everybody should be able to work 10 hours a week in work study. it won't kill you. that will keep tuition cost and college cost down if we do that. >> clinton will be back in the sunshine state tomorrow stomping for clinton as well. we have team coverage of this florida primary season. you can watch a special one-hour edition tomorrow night at 11:00. we'll be at all the candidates watch parties and we'll have the results for you. you don't want to miss that tomorrow night at 11:00 right here on news channel 8. a school crossing guard has been fired for firing a gun with his step daughter. he was arguing with the 44-year-old

he got his gun and fired a shot. no one was injured. he did appear intoxicated says police. a push for change state wide. coming up, what they believe needs to be changed when it comes to birth certificates. plus a disease that's impacting the bee population. how it can cause your grocery bill to go up. we have that and more on news channel 8. the news always

in polk county, two men have been arrested for stealing at least ten five extinct wishers. -- there's a bunch of extinguishers. they're accused of stealing $2,000 worth extinguishers. her wife rebecca will have a baby, a boy. the florida does not recognize same-sex parents on birth certificates. they must go through an adoption. >> i have no right over him

so i have to adopt my own child. >> for a husband and wife, if a woman carries another man's child, the husband is considering the father. two lawmakers tried to change the law, but they didn't get enough support. edwards is the first female fire marshal. there was a swearing in ceremony. she's the first woman to take on any leadership role in the department. >> it's exciting to make history. there's a lot of women who are fire marshal, but for lakeland, this is historical. >> she has worked for the lakeland fire department since 1994. when we come back, a virus that effects insect that could impact your grocery bills. >> coming up, we'll show you what's happening to bees arnldz the world and why researchers believe -- around the world and why researchers believe

this is news channel 8 on

a deadly disease is wiping out bee populations across the globe and it's making its way through no, florida. if it's notor -- it's making its way through florida. >> bees can't pollinate. >> it could spell trouble for farmers.

joins us in menifee county to explain more. these bees are important to our ecosystem. >>reporter: the us da says bees pollinate 75% of the fruits, vegetables and nuts we eat in this country. if they die off, that's a big problem. most folks would run away at the sight of just one of these. but not kevin losman, he's a master beekeeper. when he's among them, he feels at home. >> there could be 40,000 in a good hive. >> there's some bees he doesn't enjoy seeing. bees like this. >> this guy doesn't have wings left. they can crawl but he can't fly. >> they have been struck by the wind virus. >> is it sad to see something like this? >> very much so. >> in recent years, the disease wiped out millions of bees throughout the world and more cases are florida.

through a parasite making the bees unable to pollinate crops. >> if we don't find out what's causing this die off, our food prices are going to get very high. >> this is a -- >> the bees serve as a vital purpose. >> they get the size of a water melon. >> he says the critters pollinate the plants and unique fruits found here. without the bees, the plant life wouldn't thrive. >> they're important here in florida for many of our crops. and they're just part of the outdoors, and that's what this park is about. >> and they're important to every food grower in this nation. researchers are working hard to stop them from disappearing. >> if you like food, you need to pay attention to why the bees are dying off. >> you can help in the fight too but supporting your local beekeepers and buying local honor if you're braver than me, you can contribute to the bee population and raise your own bee colonies as well. back to you.

bees. the bees aren't going to hurt you, buddy. >> you better make sure you know what you're doing. >> thanks, live in menifee county, john. i don't know about you, but i'm glued to the window of an airplane when landing and taking off seeing a cool aerial view. this was taken by our channel 8 viewers. excuse me. pollen is bad. you can see pinellas county here from the air. this airplane was landing at tampa international airport. clouds are -- it's good to be in florida where you can see the green grass and trees after being further north where things haven't turned green because of it being winter to our north. here's a live look from the st. pete beach. 74 degrees. humidity is high. we have quite a bit of moisture in the air despite the clear skies that

sunset this evening, it's going to be an hour later. if you're getting home from work, you're used to driving home in the dark. you're looking at sunsetting at 7:39 p.m. tomorrow morning, you might be driving to work in the dark with the sun rising at 7:30 a.m. we have 70s along our coastal ranges. cooler in the bay and gulf areas. 85 degrees right now in highlands county. here's your 8-day forecast. we're going to be pretty warm. above average. until a cool front passes through. we're going to see temperatures drop into the upper 60s which is cool compared to the temperatures we have been experiencing in the 80s. the showers and the clouds are history. we're looking at nice weather right now. the bigger view, it's pretty quiet through the southeast and southern states.

front up in the pacific northwest. that is slowly going to drift our direction. it's going to take almost all week for the -- by the time it gets here, it's going to put on its brakes on the florida border and georgia. no rain from this front, but a low pressure that develops along the front will bring us a few showers and storms as we head into friday, saturday and possibly lingering into sunday. over the next 24 hours, a very isolated inland shower. in fact, i think the chance is 5%, dry throughout your evening. sea fog to start the day tomorrow. maybe a little drizzle and sprinkle as well. by 10:00 a.m., all that fog will be history. a lovely afternoon. lots of sunshine and a high temperature of 80 degrees. overnight tonight, a little sea fog developing. kind of a warm night with a low of 68. tomorrow, lots of sunshine. nice day, high temperature of 80 degrees. good day for spring

tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. temperatures in the upper 70s and dry. looking ahead to the weekend. the macdill air fest. sunday looks like the bet ter day. we could have scattered showers and storms for the air fest on saturday. it's something we'll watch closely. so the next three days, we'll have morning sea fog. 10% chance for a little shower on saint patty's day. on friday, a 20% chance on saturday. scattered showers and storms. saturday is the day they'll be dying the hillsboro river green. that's not on saint patty's day, that's on march 19th on saturday. a few showers lingering and cooler for the first day of spring, upper 60s by monday. >> i like it. >> thank you, brian. sure. coming up, the bucs have been keeping busy. we're going to show you who they signed. a punch to the head sent a

who could happen to the player

rin the middle of a time when senior povertyt is increasing. republicans and some democratsp came up with a brilliant idea for cutting cost-of-living adjustments for social security. we said, "it will be over our dead bodies if you cut social security." as president, i will do everything i can to extend the solvency of social security and expand benefits for people

i'm bernie sanders,

the buccaneers continue to be busy during free agency. they resigned safety chris added former viking cornerback robinson this afternoon. robinson is the second cornerback the bucs pick up. they signed brent grimes to a two-year contract with up to $16.5 million with incentives. he made 4 interceptions last season. twice as many as the buc's corners combined. he signed the deal. he said knowing the system here helped with his decision to come to tampa. head coach dirk says the

when he was with him in atlanta with the atlanta falcons. >> i'm not too tied up on guy's age especially when i have personal knowledge of them. this guy sitting next to me, the age says one thing, but like jason said, he'll have a hard time getting into the applebee's having a gold one with having a beer. turn on the film >> i looked at the roster and we have a great quarterback here. we have two great receivers and a defense and the linebackers are great. and everywhere. >> the rays announces that chris archer will take as the opening day starter when they hope archer was the starter this afternoon in lake winner vista. he allowed

thirds innings. he had three strikeouts, but the rays lost 5-0 against the braves. they're back in port charlotte tomorrow hosting the phillies. the lightning snap their three-game losing streak against the blue jackets, but it came at a cost. bolts beat columbus 4-0 despite playing the last period with 9 forwards. the lightning lost -- and naciat to injuries. stamkos scored two goals. bishop got his 14 shut out and the team continues its four-game swing game tomorrow against. no update from the bolts on how ann are doing. the hit that presumably caused you are -- that's when a blue jay took out

-- he suckered punched him in the head. >> he didn't see it coming. prout has a hear with the player's safety and he could be facing a suspense for that sucker punch. >> the term for ncaa women's basketball is being selected. usf is a strong contender. we'll have an update at 11:00 tonight. this evening, thrill seekers, this is for you. six flags unveiled the first virtual reality roller coaster. you wear it while wearing a headset. it's opened at six flags. they zoom your body through the drops and twist while your headset provides the digital world with lasers, explosions and aliens. six flags, teaming up with samsung in the vr for that new thrill ride. >> can you kidding me. it's like being blindfolding while going over a cliff.

>> you've got the aliens too. >> that looks fun. i'm going to do that. >> don't go anywhere. nbc nightly news is going to be up next. >> and we'll be back tonight at 11:00.

breaking news tonight. under investigation. police weighing charges against donald trump and his campaign and whether they incited a riot at a rally. dramatic developments hours from the polls opening in critical states. race against time. catastrophic flooding destroys thousands of homes. tonight a major emergency effort to save entire towns. american isis surrender. a shocking moment caught on camera in iraq as a virginia man turns himself in. his parents thought he was on vacation. miracle survivor. the 14-year-old girl who squeezed her mother's hand right as they were preparing to