his life and his ultimate sacrifice. >> and another rescue at sea, the coastguard saves more lives off the coast of florida. tonight 1 man describes his near death experience. >> the candidates are focusing on florida, how things are heating up before tomorrow's important primary. good evening. i'm stacie schaible. >> i'm keith cate. thank you for joining us. tonight we know hillsborough deputy john kotfila gave his life to serve and protect. he was killed early saturday morning on the selmon expressway by a wrong-way driver. melanie michael is joining us now. this was an unbelievable act of bravery on the part of the deputy who sacrificed himself for a stranger. >> reporter: he did, keith. good evening. this young deputy was a hero until his very last breath. he saw this oncoming car and he put himself in harm's way so the woman driving next to him wouldn't get hurt and in the

impact. he was a hero in every sense of the word serving and protecting till the very end. deputy john kotfila spent his final moments laying down his life for another. >> this man put himself in front of us as a human shield, absolutely. 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. >> reporter: it was the ultimate act of sacrifice, the work of a brave man. sara garen tells us there's no doubt in her mind that the deputy drove intentionally into the path of the oncoming car to save her. he was willing to die so that she could live. >> i started to pull over to the side of the road, but that hadn't even occurred all the way when the officer rushed around me and one or two

ended up hitting the car instead of me. >> john made us better. he made this program better. he makes this sheriff's office better and he's going to be missed. >> reporter: those who knew him well admit they're not surprised by this final act of courage. that's who john kotfila was, a young man who wouldn't think twice about helping others, a deputy who will live on as an inspiration after dying as a hero. a deputy who will be very much county sheriff's office and around the bay area and the nation. he will be laid to rest this friday at 1:00 in lutz at st. timothy's catholic church. >> thank you. melanie michael live in hillsborough county. another coastguard rescue mission caught on camera, four men saved early this morning after their boat started to take on water of on the coast of southwest florida.

last week where the coastguard plane took off from clearwater initially. remember this dramatic rescue? this was from last monday when the boat actually sank. the two men were left floating in the gulf in their life raft. paul mueller joins us now live from clearwater and how scary this must have been, paul. >> reporter: yeah, scary indeed. you know, stacie, the pilot of the plane who took off telling me had these fishermen not had all that emergency equipment and been able to use it, things could have turned out a lot differently. a boat going nowhere taking on water, four men hoping help would be on the way. >> because they had a flare. that helped a lot. >> reporter: that's how the coastguard spotted them and took them to shore. >> you need to be prepared no matter when you're going out how far or how long. >> reporter: for danny gilliland this rescue brings back painful memories. >> mayday mayday, we're

>> reporter: one week ago his boat sank after hours on the gulf. >> it's definitely shook me up just because i never thought it was going to be me. i took a lot for granted out there. >> reporter: with his life raft still in his front yard we showed him this morning's rescue and he told us how life hasn't been the same. >> waking up out of a dead water. i woke up the other night thinking i was on fire. >> reporter: in both cases the coastguard said they did everything right, life jacks, strobes, emergency beacons. >> i don't think people realize the danger that is even associated with going out just on a calm day. >> reporter: a calm day that can turn tumultuous in a few minutes. the coastguard always ready to save lives so people like danny can go home to their families. >> that's my little pride and joy right there. that little girl is everything to me. that's who i wake up for. >> reporter: yes, there is an app for that. this is the coastguard app. you can go ahead and file your

this way if there is some kind of emergency, the coastguard will be able to find you sooner. >> paul, doesn't the coastguard routinely inspect boats in the first place? >> reporter: yeah. in fact, they do, but the thing is it depends upon the type of vessel we're talking about. in this case we're talking about commercial vehicles and for those they inspect them about every five years. >> paul mueller live in clearwater, thank you. all right. your vote takes center stage in tampa, donald trump holding a town hall rally at tampa convention center early today. trump goes on stage with florida attorney general pam bundy saying that she and trump have been friends a long time. today's trump rally was timely. voters in five states go to the polls to pick their party's nominee tomorrow and that includes the democrats who are campaigning hard today, but they are doing so in the long shadow of the republican party led by the showman himself, donald trump. jen holloway in our tampa news

we'll get to democrats in a second, but first let's start with gop and the new poll numbers. >> reporter: hi, kite. according to a new quinnipiac university poll donald trump -- keith. according to a new quinnipiac university poll donald trump trumps cruz in the primary. earlier today trump pretty much said game on to rubio. trump had quite the band of supporters with him today from sarah palin to chris christie and florida's attorney general pam bondy who endorsed the businessman. >> we need someone who is unafraid to lead and restore america to its greatness. >> reporter: all signs are pointing to a big win in florida for trump, but today marco rubio expressed confidence he will win his homestate. >> it's up to voters. voters are already voting. probably half the votes have already been cast and we feel really good about that. >> reporter: trump is not letting up his attacks on rubio

>> i refuse to say it, right? i refuse to say little marco. >> reporter: and the protesters didn't let up on their attacks on trump. something sarah palin just couldn't ignore. >> what we don't have time for is all that petty pick ass little thuggery stuff that's been going on with these "protesters" who are doing nothing but wasting your time and trying to take away your first amendment rights. >> reporter: early voting ended saturday. about 1.7 million votes are already in the bank and almost 1 million of those are republican votes. >> no question republican turnout is huge, but what are political experts saying about this early turnout on the republican base? did those early votes help or do they hurt marco rubio's chances? >> reporter: very interesting. something that several experts

early votes, especially the really early absentee ballots could actually hurt rubio's chances for two reasons. many ballots were mailed in before the recent anti high pressure trump campaign took hold and before jeb -- anti- trump campaign took hold and before jeb bush withdrew. rubio would have had a good shot at getting those votes. >> thank you. some great information there. jen holloway live in the tampa news center and on the democratic side tonight former president bill clinton was in tallahassee today campaigning for his wife hillary clinton. he was at florida a&m talking about the former secretary of state's experience and new plans for equal pay, gun control and college affordability. it was also a busy day for this man, senator bernie sanders. he started his day with a rally in ohio before heading to north carolina to rally for votes there. before you head to the polls tomorrow you'll want to head to www.wfla.com because

list of everything you need to know from locations to hours and what you need to bring. we or your side with complete team coverage of this primary. we'll have reaction from voters and political analysis tomorrow night from 11:00 to midnight here on news channel 8. more than 2 million people across the south are bracing for more flooding from storms that have claimed at least six lives already. people in parts of louisiana are cleaning up and drying off after those record setting floods. this video was taken in baton rouge. in some area boats are needed to move through the high water. it's the same story in mississippi. roads are washed out making it nearly impossible to drive there. officials in louisiana and mississippi are worried about record flooding on the pearl river. the floodwaters are expected to stick around at least through the end of the week. and wicked weather happening across the northern

captured a possible tornado, sure looks like one, as it ripped through a city in western ohio this morning, no toward on any injuries or damages yet. still to come tonight a bay area family fortunate to be alive. >> coming up next they talk to us about the moment that a car slammed into their home while everyone inside was sleeping. >> say it isn't so, star city being sold? what this means for craft beer lovers across the bay area. >> thank you, keith and stacie and everyone in tampa bay, we have music from aurora. it's a great show. do not change the channel. we had some showers earlier this morning, things looking good the rest of tonight. we'll talk about the potential of fog for your morning commute and rain chances for the week

(donkey sound) (elephant sound) there's a big difference between making noise, (tapping sound) and making sense. (elephant sound) (donkey sound) when it comes to social security, we need more than lip service. our next president needs a real plan to keep social security strong. (elephant noise) hey candidates. enough talk.

the tampa family is out of their home tonight after a

into their home nearly killing a man inside. >> while this is a terrible thing that happened this weekend, to the family it's just the latest in a string of unfortunate events. >> reporter: life has not been kind to the mosley family lately. >> my cousin just passed away. i've been taking care of him on march 8th and yesterday morning, my sister is now in icu, my younger sister that i take care of. >> reporter: yvonne moseley's sister suffered a heart attack. her mom is ill. that's a lot for a single mom who has a all right condition herself. yvonne thought her week -- who has a heart condition herself. yvonne thought her week from hell was over, but it wasn't. it sounded like a bomb went through the house at 5:20 a.m. as this woman blew past this sign going 50 to 60 miles per hour. jenna mosley talked to the woman as she got out of her car inside the family's home.

she was saying it was okay and all this stuff and i was like this is not okay. >> reporter: this family member was sleeping on a couch against the wall that was hit. yvonne says he was tossed across the room and broke his collarbone and injured his head. now the mosleys are without a home. they can't go in for personal items. eason thinks it will be three -- yvonne thinks it will be three to four months before the home can be fixed. so now the family and the dog is staying with her sick mother, one woman just trying to keep it together. >> i'm a single mom of five. i can't do it no more. i'm sorry. >> reporter: josh benson, news channel 8. >> we reached out to her attorney but did not hear back. one of tampa's signature breweries is changing ownership. cigar city brewing has been sold to oscar blue, a colorado- based brewery. the founder of the brewery is staying on with the new

will help the brewery keep growing. bad news at the pump, gas prices starting to creep up because the price of oil is on the rise. it was just $27 a barrel. now it's up to 37 a barrel. the national average, though, is still down about 52 cents a gallon from last march. drivers here in the sunshine state are filling up for about $1.91 per gallon on average. you can find the cheapest gas prices all across the bay area and in your area on www.wfla.com. well, nbc's hit show the voice wrapped up the blind auditions portion tonight. that means the battlegrounds are officially underway. >> i'm hearing the nice best battle was from two on team christina, malik in the white jacket going toe to toe with brian bautista and sang it's a man's world.

>> there were no losers, though. christina picked brian and pharrell stole malik. tomorrow night the young bay area singer shalyah fearing will take to the stage starting a 8:00. overall it was a nice start to this week. we did have some showers to begin with today, but those cleared out quickly. now as we head into the overnight hours, you can expect mild temperatures to stay with us. waking up tomorrow morning we'll be in the upper 60s. we are looking at fog to start the day which could slow you by 2 p.m. we have mostly sunny skies, temperatures near 80 degrees and overall warm into the evening hours. training.

if you want to head out to dunedin, the temperatures at the start of the games will be mid- to upper 70s, plenty of sunshine in the afternoon hours, overall looking great. low. they increase just in time for the weekend. pattern again. we'll talk about those detailed moment. notice right now nothing heading our way, clear skies across much of the state of florida and the southeast. the closest weather system to us is moving through the ohio valley bringing some showers and storms that way, but we're looking at quiet conditions through the overnight hours. you can see possibly a little fog already forming on our satellite imagery, but really as we head into overnight and early tomorrow morning is when we'll start to see more of that. great photo this even taken by robert from lucerne park.

storm team 8 wfla or share them on twitter. we love your weather photos. low to mid-70s, 75 plant city, 73 zephyrhills. right now it's comfortable, 74 in tampa and st. pete. temperatures hold steady through much of the overnight hours. we'll see sea fog and inland fog tomorrow morning. can't rule out a couple sprinkles, just enough to get your windshield up. we can't rule that out tomorrow morning completely. heading into the afternoon hours all the fog is long gone and mostly sunny skies and temperatures similar to today, back up to around 80 degrees. overall a pretty nice forecast. we do still have a little humidity. an onshore flow from the gulf is expected to continue through the middle of this week. we're looking at the chance to see fog around tuesday, wednesday and thursday morning. heading into friday the front stalls off to our north and

showers friday. as an area of low pressure develops heading into the weekend, this is when we see our best shower and storm chances, saturday into the first part of sunday. so the macdill air fest is this weekend. there could be showers and storms especially on saturday, a lingering chance of showers sunday. we want to give you a head up on that. as we get closer, we'll have a better idea on the timing of the rain. right now pollen an issue for folks. we did have some rain last evening and this morning but probably not enough to knock down the pollen counts much. they have decreased some. tomorrow it's medium to high and right back to the high range the rest of this coming week. so for tomorrow we'll top out near 80. once you get through the fog we'll see plenty of sunshine into the afternoon hours, not expecting any rain, great news for all the kids on spring break and everyone in town for their spring break.

pacing shower. i know the river is being dyed green on saturday. that's really when our storm chances are moving in. we can hope that will shift a bit. have another blast of cooler air. >> we thought maybe this was it, but we got another cooldown. >> stacie is all ready for st. patrick's day, the green and everything. >> we'll get the theme going. coming up next in sports we'll tell you who the bucs signed today. >> an exciting night for the lady bulls, who they're taking on in the 1st round of the ncaa women's basketball tournament coming up next in sports. >> plus here's what you'll see tomorrow at 6 a.m. >> reporter: voters are ready to cast their ballots in the crucial florida primary tomorrow and poll workers are gearing up. i'll show you what the

is doing to make sure things run smoothly. >> plus weather and traffic on

the tampa bay buccaneers continue to be busy during free agency in this off season before the nfl draft in april. today the bucs signed former dolphins quarterback brent grimes to a two year contract worth up to $16.5 million with incentives. the four time pro bowler made four interceptions last season, twice as many as all of the bucs corners combined. grimes arrived in tampa today after signing that deal and said knowing the defensive system here helped with his decision to come to tampa.

the youngest teams in the league and the head coach said the 32-year-old still plays like he did when he was with him in atlanta. >> i personally am not too tied up on guys' age especially when i have personal knowledge of them. again this guy sitting next to me said the age says one thing, but like jason said, he'd have a heard time getting into the applebee's and have a cold one without getting carded. turn on the film. he's been to three straight pro bowls. >> look at the roster. the main thing you see is you have a great quarterback here, two great receivers, great linebackers are great, great defensive tackle and it's a lot of talent everywhere. i could keep going on and on. >> not sure how brett feels about that getting carded at applebee's? the ray announcing today pitcher chris archer will take the mound as the opener day

april 3rd, not a big surprise. archer was starter today at lake buena vista against the atlanta braves. he allowed two runs in his 4 2/3 innings, one of them earned, three strikeouts, but rays lost 5-0 against the braves. they are back in port charlotte tomorrow hosting the phillies. the lightning snapped a three game losing streak in a sunday matinee against the blue jackets, but the bolts beat columbus 4-0 despite playing the last period with nine forwards. the lightning lost the two players to injury, no update on their conditions today. thankfully steven stamkos came up big scoring two goals and goalie ben bishop got his 14th shot out of the season. the team plays toronto tomorrow night. a big congratulations to the usf women's basketball team headed to the ncaa tournament for the fourth time in the last 15 years.

the good news, they are the sixth seed in the bridge port region, but bad news? that is the same region as the overall top seed and three time defending champ uconn. usf opens against colorado state saturday night in los angeles. >> we wish them the best all the way, great team this year. we'll be right back with your

what if one piece of kale could protect you from diabetes? what if one sit-up could prevent heart disease? one. wishful thinking, right? but there is one step you can take to help prevent another serious disease. pneumococcal pneumonia. if you are 50 or older, one dose of the prevnar 13 vaccine can help protect you from pneumococcal pneumonia, an illness that can cause coughing, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and may even put you in the hospital. even if you have already been vaccinated with another pneumonia vaccine, prevnar 13 may help provide additional protection. prevnar 13 is used in adults 50 and older to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. you should not receive prevnar 13 if you have had a severe allergic reaction

if you have a weakened immune system, you may have a lower response to the vaccine. common side effects were pain, redness or swelling at the injection site, limited arm movement, fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain, less appetite, chills, or rash. get this one done. ask your doctor or pharmacist

is the economy rigged? well, the 15 richest americans acquired more wealth in two years than the bottom 100 million people combined. i'm bernie sanders, and i approve this message. my plan -- make wall street banks and the ultra-rich pay their fair share of taxes, provide living wages for working people, ensure equal pay for women. the middle class will continue to disappear unless we level the playing field. with your help, as president,

and in the morning julie? >> things looking pretty good in the morning. the only thing you need to be concerned about is the areas of fog. it could slow you down a bit on your morning commute. give yourself a few extra minutes, some sea fog as well. by the afternoon hours the fog is long gone, mostly sunny skies and back up to around 80. either of you have some pie today? >> no. i wish i would have. >> i'm talking about math. it's national pi day, not the kind you eat.

for the person to solve three complex math problems will get 3.14 years of free pizza. they range in difficulty level of mathematical questions from high school to phd. >> word on whether it's been solved yet. >> i don't know.

[ cheers and applause ] >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the