there may be people that have worse intentions. >> stealing corpses. who went into a cemetery and stole bodies? two weeks out from the iowa caucuses, candidates are going after rivals and the president and each other.

to see if there's any truth to the talk. good morning. action news. we have been working hard overnight and fact checking the statement that's the candidates made last night at the debate. and we're keeping a close eye on the weather. the rain is moving through now. it s it is just starting. light and patchy and starting bridges. expect a wet commute for sure, especially the later you head out this morning. we have patches of heavy rain. but in hillsborough and pinnelas county, it is rather light. and most of polk county is light till you get into fort meade. and in the highlands, we're seeing heavier pockets. now, as we get closer to 8:00 this morning. that is where we'll see the storms starting to fire up all

across the area. and it gets incense by 10:00 in the morning. by noon, it is starting to move inland and taper off already. so this is going to be a quick event this morning. but as the storms move onshore, expect the heavy pockets of rain that could lead to isolated street flooding and gusty winds even the potential for some damaging winds. so get where you need to go early and keep storm shield on your mobile device and you'll alerted on the goal. and what are you seeing on the roads? crashes. but they don't seem to be causing any delays. and we'll check in our life drive cam this is 275. and we did have rain where he was back in tampa but i don't see any raindrops on the windshield. but use caution because you'll find wet roads out there. and he is heading towards the sunshine skyway and here it is here. and we have some raindrops on

the camera lens. hard to see, but the cars seem to be getting cross the bridge just fine. and i -- getting across the bridge just fine. this is normal for this time of the morning. and that is hillsborough where the fhp reported a crash in the northbound lanes own the north ramp. this is southbound into downtown tampa, 14 minutes from the apex from i-4 and five minutes from bush to i-4 and six minutes to the howard frankland. right now authorities are trying to track down the grave robbers that targeted a historic cemetery in ybor where they damaged tomorrows and coffin anticipates even stole body -- coffins and even stole a body from another could have

fen and -- coffin and a skull from another coffin. talk about a bold crime. the cemetery is right in the middle of a neighborhood. >> reporter: it is. and it is a small cemetery. it is only about two blocks down and two blocks wide and houses surround the entire thing. it's easy to see it from one end to the other. the thieves managed to break out and walk out with a coffin. and with the coffin are the remnants of this family. and then a second casket was broken into. you may recognize the last name. the family started the hardware in ybor. he is a former tampa city

former circuit court judge and attorney. they are typically looking for things of value. but the tampa police said that the remains were taken. the tampa police not sure of a motive nor do they know when the crime happened. but they know it was sometime before wednesday. and we did drive the parameter of the cemetery and there are several signs that warn of surveillance video that are in use. but the tampa police said they have not said if they have reviewed the footage. and the family want the remains returned, no questions asked. we're just hours away from meeting the buccaneers' new head coach. the steam expected to announce dirk koetter at 1:00 this afternoon. and there are so many comments and a lot of people weighing in and some fans are saying that

if cutter is the right choice. and others said great choice. maybe this will give fire to the offense. and the bucks' general manager gave him glowing reviews saying he did a great job making tampa bay's offense out by helping rookie quarterback winston acclimate to the program quickly. we'll livestream the conference on our free abc action news app. first debate of the year is over for the republican candidates in south carolina and they are back on the campaign trail ahead of the iowa caucuses on february 1st. the heated moments from last night's debate not getting by without a fact check from action news. and we start with the party front-runner. we fact checked his statement about syrian refugees and other immigrants being allowed to

on muslims entering the u.s. he pointed to recent terror events in europe. he said allowing them into the u.s. will be a great trojan horse. >> where are the women. there are very few women and children, strong powerful men, young and people are looking at that. >> trump's claims about europe did not hold up with our experts. they rated this one completely false. they stay data in no way sports trump's statement. and the nay majority of the 5 million syrian refugees entering europe are women and children and girls and boys under the age of 17 that will be 1 million migrants arriving by sea and half are women and children. and form governor jeb bush took a right turn when talking about national security and

brought of hillary clinton. >> if she gets elected, she is being investigated by the fbi right now. >> this is a half-truth. the fbi has looked into the security setup for her home server and thumb drive that has copies of clinton's work e- mails and law enforcement officials said that clinton herself is not the target of the inquiry. it is unclear if the fbi probe is just a political inquiry or if it is going to involve into a true investigation. >> we'll watch when the democratic candidates get their turn on the stage. they are heading to south carolina this weekend for their gave gave the -- their first debate of the year. and we're getting new

have happened in the moment before iran took ten navy sailors into custody this week. they say it seems that a navigation nal mistake caused the sailors' boat stray in the iranian waters. they were returned to their fleet less than a day after they were detained. people need to check with you before heading out. it is wet out there. yes, it is. now. roads. so this storm that i'm keeping my eye on is 160 miles to the west. i'll keep an eye on that. the man charged with killing a florida woman in italy said that he didn't do it. she's sharing his time of the

death. protests after this video from 2013 was released. it promised the police to -- what hospitaled -- what happened that prompted the police to shoot and kill a 17- year-old. you can get ultimate fan tickets here that include your own u.s. national team jersey

there is a wet morning commute. man accused of murdering a florida woman in italy is admiting that he fought with her in her apartment but he never intended to kill her. >> he said when he left olson's still alive. and autopsy showed that she suffered two skull fractures and then strangled.

>> he did not strangle her but picked her up by the neck after she fell to put her on her bed. demonstrations planned in chicago to protest newly released video a deadly police shooting of an unarmed carjacking suspect. >> >> he was running away from the police officers when he was shot. >> it comes on the heels of the police dashcam video released in november when a white officer shot a teenager 16 times. and now calls from the chicago locals are growing louder for city officials to resign. >> what is right to get this mayor out of office and vote anita alvarez out in march and to go forward and hold all leaders accountable. >> officers said that they shot in self-defense when he pointed

a dark object al them. but it was a black iphone box. suing the city and the two police officers that pursued him. and now we have a check of the weather and we're timing the rain and what it will take off. right now, not a big deal. we have some heavy pockets moving through the southern counties. this is the line of thunderstorms that will be moving through around 8:00 to 10:00 this morning. and then we'll start to move out of the area by noon. so right now, we just have the patchy light rain across hillsborough and pinnelas counties and the heavier downpours in the highlands and de soto. we're going to that period of time when we have that heavy

band of storms moving through. and we're going to is he a waterspout or a brief tornado moving onshore. it will most likely be coast to the coastline. so that is where we want to keep our focus this morning. but all areas today will see the heavy downpours moving through and definitely some vivid lightning out there. so use all of your normal precautions. and if you don't have storm shield on your mobile device, it is a great time to download your app to get alerts. but by noon, we start to see the storms pressing inland and it becomes less than ten and breezy in the afternoon but even sunshine before the day is out and the temperatures are starting off in the low to mid- 60s and we'll end the day in the low 70s. tomorrow is a nice, clear and calm day. but sunday, we have a similar looking storm system now. at first it looked a lot weaker. and now it could bring us gusty kinds and heavier downpours and

a slight risk for severe storms roll on through in the first part of the day on sunday. and then clearing and cooler through the afternoon. so that is the big difference with sunday's system. the temperatures come down into the 60s in the afternoon and then we start off the workweek near 60. keep the boots handy. what are we seeing as far as the winds go this morning. certainly something to gift drivers a heads up on. -- to give the drivers a heads up on. the drive times still nine minutes here. but you want to use both hands on the wheel when driving over this bridge. a slowdown here when you go over there. fhp issuing the high wind advisory for the skyway right now. this is 275 just getting into the tampa area off the howard frankland. and if drive this area, it has

been a mess the last few mornings due to the lane shifts and the new merge situation. so leave yourself a good 15, 20 extra minutes to drive from the howard frankland to downtown tampa and we'll watch that through the morning. and the drive times on the veterans looking great, all in the green. 12 minutes van dyke to 275 and six minutes from waters to 2 75. and the average speeds right now on 275 and 75, in the wesley chapel area, both looking good right now. and 75 moving a lot quicker. a new tampa bay business journal hits newsstands tote and we're here to talk about some of the big stories today. you have a great profile story you talk to the founder of burr

they sell hundreds of thousands bracelets every year and the woman started it out of her >> yes. this is one of the things where she was traveling in china and she had some precious stones. and she started making brace lets. her mother said you should sell those. and now she's no nordstrom and she is tell 50,000 to a hundred thousand a week. it is one of those iconic fashion brands that is based here and those are good stories for tampa bay. >> and you have ambitious plans for a tampa software company. >> reporter: yes. they are dong a million dollars

expansion and adding 45 jobs. and they got help from the dec and they did not provide then sensitive money but fast tracking of permitting. but they're adding 45 jobs and expanding the space and these are good stories how we build a critical mass of certain types of industries. and they will grow the company and they're confident. and that is a good sign. >> and you have an update on the grocery war. it looks like publix has a competitor. >> reporter: safeway, it merged with albertsons in 2015 and they are going to expand a store in largo. we talk about publix specialty foods and prepared foods, just really trying to outdo each other.

and which national brand people love. so this is a really hot topic. we talk about is a lot. but the grocery business is something that we cover a lot. >> the wars means the consumers >> yes. news goes to our money section on our mobile app. starting this coming monday a new afternoon lineup right here on your abc action new station. right this minute is running from 3:00 to noon and the dr. oz show is moving to 3:00 that begins this monday january 18th. also coming up, this morning on action news, chipotle is closing down all of its restaurants. don't worry. it is only temporary. we'll tell when you it is happening, why and how long it will last. scattered showers moving across the area right now and it is a big line of storms

about 160 miles offshore that i'm keeping an eye on. i'll have the timeline for what

chipotle is making a bold move this morning. they are change closing every student for one day to meet with the employees about the outbreak that has affected the chain. they will close monday, february 18th. 53 people in nine states were affected with the e. coli. they have met with the cdc officials and hope that the organization will declare the outbreak over. mosquito warning. the dangerous disease that could leave babies with birth defects and what actions are

take a look at this this is what you're waking up to this morning, all of that rain on the titan radar. and we're monitoring the conditions. and it will get worse later this morning. >> we're working to find out how much extra time you'll need when heading to work this morning. >> you say it will get worse between 8:00 and noon? >> yes. it will go downhill from 8:00 and noon and then dramatically better. so the line of storms that i'm keeping an eye on that will be the strongest from the 8:00 a.m. to noontime frame will be 88 miles offshore. right now we're getting hit and miss rainstorms. but we have wet roads in pinnelas county and hillsborough from north to south. and polk county is drying out here temporarily.