>> good evening, i'm jenn holloway. >> i'i'm josh benson. >> there has been delay after delay, but it appears the case of a bus aid slapping a child with autism will go to trial. the court system is not moving fast enough for the child's mother who as josh thomas reports justst wants justice for her son. >> reporter: james lambert appeared in a pasco county courtroom with his attorney by his side for a pretrial hearing.

caught on surveillance video repeatedly slapping a ten-year- old autistic child on a school bus. he is facing child abuse charges. the incident happened two years ago, but lambert has yet to go to trial much to the dis appointmtment of the child's mother who also came to court today following several court delays taking a plplea deal may bring an end to this case. >> i really didn't know what to expect. because, so o much has happened in almost two years coming back. >> reporter: the judge did agree to hear the case that will now take place in june. neither he nor his attorney wanted to talk about the case, but the e child's mother did. >> with all the evidence and the documents and the video shows whwhat he does. a video speaks a thousand words. a video doesn't lie. >> reporter: lambert will have his day in court. his trial is slated to start

josh thomas, newschannel8. >> the school district launcheded an investigation into this incident and uncovered the video after the boy's mother complained that her son had been slapped on board the bus. an suv was in bad shape after an overnight crash. it was around 1:00 in the morning when it happened at the intersection of i-75 and 275. the driver was still at the scene when the highway patrol troopers arrived. look at the suv. it is not clear what happened or if thehe driver was hurt. a pedestrian hit on bush boulevard is expected to survive. it happened early this morning at the intersection of north boulevard. a man wearing clark clothing stepped in front of a driver with a green light and the investigation is ongoing. and baltimore ravens player trey walker has been involved in a serious motorcycle

he is being treated at a miami hospital. walker is from miami. a stunt man who was accidentally set on fire talked time. ricky charles said he used an accelerant will had never used before. he is not going to quit. we will warn you, the burns on you. >> i used the right fluid, but i didn't practice. you are supposed to practice this stuff. this is what happens when you play with fire. >> 20 other people were treated for injuries. the legislative session is look different in 2017. matt galka has more.

of work started in the senate chambers this week. lawmakers finished legislative session on the 11th. now the senate chamber is getting an overhaul. >> given the early finish to our legislatative session was to remodel the chamber to upgrade some of the fixtures. the electrical, the air- conditioning unit. the carpet. and also, make sure that we are up to the current building codes. >> reporter: it is the first major renovation since it opened in the late 70s . nearly $6 million project was actually supposed to happen more than a decade ago. >> back in 2003, under president jim king, there was an initial plan to upgrade the chamber at that time as well as ththe senate office building, but ultimately, those plans were put on hold. >> reporter: if a special session is called before construction is complete, lawmakers will have to take a step back in time and hold meetings at the old capital. >> when i talk to members they cool.

because you could sit down ththere with us on the floor. >> reporter: the money for the past budgets. the final product is expected to resemble this artist rendering. a far cry from the retro look being demolished. matt galka, newschannel8. >> and there have already been 20 inquiries to preserve the desks in the chamber. > fog has shut down the sunshine skyway several times. >> and it is a major route for thousands of drivers so coming up, 8 on your sidede wanted to know how officials make that decision to shut down the bridge. >> and, it is the age of sharenting. parents post thousands of picturing of their kids before the kids can talk, but there are security risks you need to know. >> and we are keeping an eye on a bald eagle's nest in washington. one hatched.

we are keeping anan eye on that one as well. >> we have had a good variety of weather this week with some e of the fog you are talking about and some sunshine. now we are seeing changes s with cloudy skies an rain. your weekend forecast is coming up. >> we'll have that and more

>> eagle 8 hd coverage is brought to yoyou by honda. most of us are on social l media these days. parents are no exception. on average, parents post 1,00000 pictures of their kids online by age 5. we take a closer look at this modern age of sharenting.

adele is one savvy selfie taker. the memories are now being shown n in favor of digital documentation. adele's mom sarah shares many of her daughter's life moment online. >> every other picture is her and mine. >> we have never seenen a geneneration of parents who have had to publicly talk about their children and go through the milestones of their parents' lives. there are some people who are turneded off by learning too much information about the little darlings in other people's lives. >> reporter: it could also pose security concerns if those photos or that knowledge get into the wrong hands. >> a lot of my accounts are private. so for me, it limits who access to the photos.

kids want that control over theieir online identity. >> the first generation of teenagers really that has gone through having so much technology just embedded matters. what this long term means for our culture. >> reporter: adele will one day be one of those teens but until then, mom decides what is shared online. mark barger, nbc news. betting on march madness bracket is expected to add up to big, big bucks. the american gaming association estimates that americans will bet $9.2 billion this year. about 40 million americans filled out 70 million brackets for the 2016 tournament. they tend to spend more money on march madness than any other form of gambling. fame romance model cover fabio is now a citizen. he took his oath wednesday inin los angeles.

citizen one of the happiest days of his life. he had to be a legal resident at least five years, show an understanding of u.s. history and governmentnt as well as demonstrate an attachment to the principles of the u.s. constitution. a scscreening room gets another thumbs down. the at home movie service proposed by tech mobile shawn parker would let viewers stream a first run film the weekend it opens. james cameron came out against this service. and now, christopher nolan has joined them in speaking out against it. ready player one may have a new addition to the roster. simon pegg is in talks to join the flick. the film directed by steven

watts who navigates a puzzle world. your favorite team asks you to sign a contract. that is exactly what happened to one indiana fourth grgrader. 10-year-old landis simms signed a real contract for real money and became a yankee for a day. he was born with no hands and feet. despite his differences, he is fearless in his abilities showing these pro athletes his skills. >> landis, is there anything you can't do? >> he truly believes he is whole and perfect just the way he is. landis is more about showing kids that he can do. not about complaining. >> landis is going to get paid for the day. doesn't know how much yet and it doesn't mat tore him. he can't wait to one day play for the yankees again. brave little guy there. nasa is giving us a closer look at pluto. something called pluto's haze.

space agency's new horizon spacecraft. about 20 haze layers can be seen in the photo. now, the layers typically extend over hundreds of kilometers but are not parallel to the surface. interesting stuff there. uh-huh. >> 8 is on your side every morning and night as you geget to and from work and school. >> this week, a bit messy with the sunshine skyway bridge getting shutut down twice because of fog, so we sent adrienne pedersen to find out how troopers decide how and when to close the busy bridge. >> reporter: so, we have all been there before, driving over someme of our bay area bridges in terrible weather. it is scary. especially when you are on the sunshine skyway. >> there is nowhere to go here if something bad happens. you are going to go off the bridge. >> reporter: the skyway bridge, vehicles. this week, on newschannel8

fog cocovering the bridge. fhp shut it down for hours. >> visibility is less than 100 feet. >> you can see the very thick fog in the area. >> reporter: several of you asked why they didn't close it wednesday as well. well, unlike wind speed, there is not a specific number that automatically means a shutdown, but there is an equation. so here is how it works. >> 65 miles an hour multiplied by 1.4.6666. that gets your velocity. you are looking at covering 100 feet of ground every second you are traveling. by the time you would see a problem, you have already hit it. >> reporter: visibility issues have caused two deadly pileups in the last few years. in 2012, 11 people died because of crashes in thick smoke and fog on i-75 near gainesville. and this one, the i-4 pileup that left five people dead. >> it is better to be on the safe side. absolutely. i would rather see it close for a few hours than see somebody get home. >> reporter: the troopers won't

more than 50,000 people take the skyway bridge everyday, and that is why closing it is always a really big deal. from the sunshine skyway bridge, i'm adrienne pedersen, newschannel8. 5:45 now. as we turn to breaking news. detectives inin polk county tell us they hahave caught a man they say stole a car with a child inside. 44-year-old tracy herle will now face grand theft and burglary charges. he stole a car from the mulberry pharmacy while the two- year-oldld's caretaker was inside filling a prescription. he abandoned the car with the child inside. today, the 44-year-old was arrested by polk county deputies. for you. so a warm day in lakewood ranch. 80 degrees now. manatee county. a little blue sky. you can see looking into the

more clouds to come. then kind of a cloudy day, a warm day on the beach. i think a lot of folks that have come down fromom the north are enjoying 75 degrees despite the clouds. at freedom plaza, 80 degrees. 53% relative humidity. so our weekend, 80 degrees. a warm day for tomorrow. about a 50% chance of on and off showers through the day. that includes morning showers. 73 degrees for sunday. early showers generally in the morning and then in the afternoon, some sunshine. and cooler air start to move in and breezier conditions for sunday. for the spring training games on saturday. watch the game. but bradenton, tampa, all hosting games here. phillies, blue jays. braves, pirates, yankees. as for the rain chances, 50% for saturday. 20% on sunday dropping too, you can see about 30% on sunday. and then, rain chances fall off generally as we look into next week. we are looking at clear skies.

eagle 8 hd, the clouds, a beautiful shot today. not a lot of sunshine to be featured today on these weather pictures. at 9:00 p.m., 72 degrees, still warm. a cloudy start at 66 degrees. 80 degrees at 3:00 p.m. 82 degrees the current temperature right now in lakeland, bartow. 77 clearwater. 65, pensacola, temperature difference across the state much more overcast and rainy up in the panhandle. other portions of the lower south, places like mississippi and alabama today, thanks to this area of low pressure emerging out of texas. but you can see the shower that's extend all the way out into the gulf of mexico. probably a few thunderstorms mixed in. and we can't rule out the possibility of a few thunderstorms mixed in as well locally. we just don'n't think it will be severe w weather or anything like that. but, the rain on and off a possibility there through the day. so, as i mentioned it won't rain all day, but the possibilility does exist through

afternoon and the evening hours as the cold front, this area of low pressure reaches the area. a few extra clouds around. a slight chance of a morning shower for saturday morning. that is what the rpm forecast model is indicacating. as we watch the passage of this area trailing, saturday afternoon, increasing storms with the approaching front. especially back to the west. along that boundary later saturday night into the early part of sunday, as the boundary pushes into and through the area, maybe a few showers. then, once we get into the afternoon hours, really generally afternoon and late morning sunday, the sun should reemerge and we will start to see a stronger wind develop. that just means cooler air building in for us as we roll all the way into monday. sunny skies. much cooler temperatures. 68 degrees for a high temperature. temperatures meanwhile for the weekend, 80 degrees for saturday. 73 for sunday. 67 degrees for monday. spring begins, holy cow, that happens on sunday.

at easter weekend next weekend starting with good friday. 82 degrees. so not a bad weekend forecast temperature wise. but obviously, the rain chances are there and we havave a lot show. plan accordingly. with are going to take another look at the eagle up in washington dc. earlier, we showed you at 5:00, the eagle was sitting on the chick and briefly, the chick was out and there was an egg. but now, it looks like the eagle is back on top of the chick. it is cold, it is breezy. just trying to keep the little guy warm. that is what a mother does. so, that's the latest look from washington dc. what a great hd view guys. >> eagle 8 reporter steve jerve. [ laughter ] >> i could do it all day. >> thanks steve. another city has discovered lead in its drinking water. >> coming up next, we will tell you where children are being tested for lead poisoning. >> and a barn blows sky high

>> n now to what the making headlines across america. students are being tested for lead poisoning in new jersey. lead levels in the district's water have been elevated since at least 2012.

schools with elevated lead levels. those reresults are expected to be mailed to parents within one week. the testing is voluntary, so it is not yet clear how many will opt to undergo the e blood test. the fbi has determined the ststudent who stabbed four people at a california college in november was indeed inspired by isis. initially, police said the attack was the act of a disgruntled student. he visited websites for isis and other terror organizations before the attack. a campus police officer shot mohammed to death. 50,000 college students in louisiana are in danger of losing their scholarships. state programs allow eligible student to go to school tuition free or get assistance. a massive budget shortfall has put it in jeopardy. they want to make it hard tore be eligible for the programs. none of the prproposals have been voted on just yet. and a barnrn explosion in

check this out. a news camera was rolling when that fire ball erupted into the sky. officials believe some chemicals and oxygen tanks inside of the barn caused that explosion. a pot bellied pig and goat were rescued just before the explosion, but the barn is a loss. newschannel8 at 6:00 is coming up next. >> stacie and rod join us now with more on what we are working on. >> thank you. saint arnmand's circle has some major parking problems. >> we will tell you the solution it t is city is considering. >> an keep your eyes on the skies this weekend in south tampa. because that's back. air fest. what you can expect to see at this year's big event coming up. >> the jury is now deliberating the hulk hogan sex tape trial and we are getting a very revealing look boo the case. that story coming up. >> so why did the alligator

to get to the school. and we have the whole thing on video. wait until you see it. >> those stories plus your

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>> that is what made him a true hero. not because of how he died, but because of how he lived. >> he dedicated his life to protecting and serving others. today, a deputy killed in the line of duty is laid to rest. how thousands of his law enforcement family honored him today. >> a fiery plane crash claims the lives of two people. where the investigation into what went wrong stands right

>> and the hulk hogan sex tape trial is now in the hands of i'm rod carter. >> i'm stacie schaible. thank you for joining us. >> thousands of people turned out today for the funeral of hillsborough county deputy john kotfila jr. he died in a terrible crash saturday after putting his squad car between a wrongwgway driver and another motorist. mark douglas was there and joins us now live. mark, i was there with you today. there were moments of both sadness and pride for this young deputy who literally gave his life to save someone else's. >> reporter: yes there was rorod. this was an impressive turnouout. died at the age of 30 years old. barely starting his law enforcement career. he was a deputy who carried out his oath to serve and protect