>> the bulk of the students that we get are in doubled up situations. they lost their home. this was a loss of housing and they temporarily have to stay with someone else. than 520 students in hernando. the county says it's because the lack of affordable housing. >> affordable to the families is $200 a month, $300. sometimes less. and we don't have anything around here that has that. we don't have transitional >> reporter: the program within the school system is for students in transition. their goal is to keep them in school regardless of proof of residency or proper documents. they're also given free breakfast and lunch and basic needs. >> we help with school supplies, backpacks, uniforms if it's a uniform school. regular if it's not. we also do toiletries. >> reporter: the county is partnering with departments for affordable housing. in the meantime if they can

will have the opportunity to help themselves. >> i know we can address issues if there was more unity. we're going to take a stance on this and let's see what we can do. >> reporter: in brooksville, sarah rosario, abc action news. >> the last couple days have been refreshing. 70s, 80s. we were dry but we do have clouds rolling in. temperatures even right now well into the 70s. we topped out officially at the a port 77. 79 in brooksville. clearwater, 75. overnight tonight, clouds will begin to thicken. and when they do, they will eventually bring us the chance of some rain and even some thunderstorms by first thing in the morning. now, at this point we are under a marginal risk of any severe weather. so, in other words, that is very i am have.

but it is still a possibility. it's something that we will have to keep our eyes on closely. we will be tracking it through the night. i will come back and tell you timing out the specifics of when the rains will arrive, where they will be the heaviest and most importantly if there is severe weather to track as well. that's coming up in a couple minutes. >> thank you, dennis. we are speaking with at 5:30 tampa is number one in the state of florida when it comes to the lowest cost of living, outranking some major metropolitan cities across the nation. serena joins us with what it means for your bank account. >> reporter: and laura, the bottom line is that your dollar goes a lot farther. we spent the entire day crunching numbers and doing research and everything that we found supports this report. and it's having a positive

single mother ortiz tired of working several jobs up north made the move to florida a couple months ago. it didn't surprise her at all. cost of living was the major driving force. she is already saving money. >> a big difference. >> reporter: a cost of living index compared to a national average of 100. that means that your dollar goes farther in essentials for your family, housing, grocery, health care. >> this actually looks very good for tampa. >> reporter: ut assistant professor of economics abby recently made the move to tampa from d.c. she looked at cost of living and says this index has a positive impact on many fronts, including jobs. tampa has a lower unemployment rate.

$33,000 annually. it requires $21,000 to be able to afford a home. their earnings are likely to rise which is good news for the city in the surrounding area. >> reporter: more good news, tampa leads the state in job creation. we found out just last month there were nearly 45,000 open positions. and a third of those in high skilled areas like engineering. ortiz's background is in the medical field. she was dropping off an application at the unemployment office extremely upbeat. >> i feel there's a lot of great opportunities out here. >> reporter: and of course our gorgeous weather also has an impact. in fact, the worst it gets in other parts of the country, it influences people to come here. and the first consideration, cost of living. reporting live from tampa, i'm serena fazan. >> a south florida teacher attacked by a parent is telling

20-year veteran teacher roslyn claims she was attacked by a parent in the west palm beach classroom. green's son was getting in trouble the day before winter break when his mother stormed in. >> i seen her come through the door. i was startled. i'm traumatized. i'm fearful to even think about me reentering that same situation. >> now, green reached out to our scripps station in that area after the report. she says she is guilty of confronting the teacher but clips she never hit her. green was charged with battery but posted bond. in six days, voters will weigh in on who they want to be the next president. polls show that the front runners in both parties are in a competitive race in the caucuses. 64% of republicans expect trump to win the nomination. trump is leading in the polls nationally.

ted cruz is threatening to block trump's momentum. >> he has an opportunity to do something that no other gop candidate has ever done, which is win iowa and new hampshire. if he wins iowa, he's on a roll and the dominoes start to fall. on the democratic side, hillary clinton and bernie sanders taking on the issues and each other at the town hall last night. sanders admitted he would have to raise taxes to pay for the universal health care plan. voters and poll workers in hillsborough county are getting a sneak peek at the polling equipment ahead of election day. like the old ones, the new machines will catch errors like blank ballots. but the details will be easier to see thanks to bigger screens. >> it certainly puts the voter in charge so they can see that they may have made a mistake, didn't realize and may have voted too many people in a

so they can get a new ballot. mark your calendar's, the presidential primary is march 15th. early voting starts february 29th. the deadline is register is february 16th. two bay area gap stores are closing for good today. the gap store at westfield citrus park in tampa and at tyrone square mall in st. petersburg will close for good. five other stores remain open. you can get items up to 90% off until closing tonight at 9:00. 70 stores will close today. gap plans to close 175 stores throughout the next few years. outlet stores are not affected. well, new tonight, a pregnant cow in distress and minutes from death until a pasco county sheriffs deputy sent the text that saved this mama and her calf's life. abc action reporter eric waxler has the story and the body cam video to back it up.

bad way. so we thought we would have to put her down. >> reporter: this was the scene at a ranch in hudson last week. thomas smith showed up and found a cow on the verge of drowning in in a pond. a man was desperately trying to hold her head above the water. >> he was getting fatigued and couldn't hold her up. he was crouched down in the water. >> reporter: smith used a little engine ute, finding a log nearby, bringing it back so the cow's head could be propped up out of the water. that bought them time. as reinforcement arrived, they put straps around the cow and pulled her to safety. >> hang in there. >> reporter: weighing in at least 1200 pounds, it wasn't easy. >> dealing with the muck, slipping and, you know, we got her out. >> reporter: the cow was still in shock. minutes before she would have been put down, deputies sent a picture to her to a veterinarian. he was able to instruct them how to position the behind legs

>> we were able to save the cow. i talked to the rancher earlier and she is doing good. i think she will have a normal birth. i feel good about that, not putting her down. >> always good to get an animal call because they're easier to deal with than people sometimes. >> reporter: the cow is back in the barn and expected to give birth to a baby calf soon. in pasco county, eric waxler, abc action news. breaking news in st. petersburg. a woman shot her boyfriend after the two got into an argument. it happened on 17th avenue south. the man was taken to the hospital. we're making calls to get his condition for you. we have a crew on the way to the scene. we will bring you more information as soon as we get it. a police chase into ohio ends in flames. the one thing that a 13-year- old girl feared as she ran to call police.

if he is treated like i was treated. the reason the man who alerted police says he is being punished by the catholic church. florida's gulf coast known for its beautiful beaches. now some of the quiet beach communities are starting to become known for something else, designer drugs. we will tell you a little bit about what one community is

>> an abduction leads to a fiery crash in ohio. a 13-year-old says the man pulled up asking if she had seen his lost dog. she had a bad feeling and told her dad to call 911. the van took off reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour. this fire forced the driver to stop. deputies had to rescue his dog and pull him to safety. tonight a priest says he is being punished by the catholic church for whistle blowing. fat john gallagher told police that another priest was showing

after six months in jail and six months probation, the priest was deported. he got in trouble for alerting police. he says the church went so far as to change the locks on his home while he was sick in the hospital. >> we're looking at a governance that is faulty and fractured and the people deserve better. the church has had enough of this. >> the diocese of palm beach says there was no cover-up and the locks were never changed. father gallagher hopes it will lead to change in the catholic church. well, one year ago, none of us could stop talking about a big boy. avery, the biggest baby ever born at st. joe's hospital weighed in at 14.1 pounds. right now avery is getting ready to celebrate his first birthday. his parents invited abc action

>> he never gets full. >> reporter: feed him cake with plenty of icing. and whatever else little avery wants. his metabolism keeps up. >> he is only 22 pounds. >> reporter: an average weight for a one-year-old. but avery is far from your average baby. he is perhaps the most famous little guy in the state. and known throughout the world for making a grand entrance at 14.1 pounds. >> it's always in somebody's news feed. if it's not facebook, it's twitter. >> reporter: avery's parents never imagining nearly one year later that people would still be talking about their baby and his record-setting weight at st. joe's hospital. >> i thought it was going to be talked about and forgotten. it's still out there and it's shocking it's still out there. >> if you google it, he is the

>> you were famous right when you came out of the womb. >> reporter: another surprise twist when alexandria says she didn't know she was pregnant now we know why. timing and history. >> it was the holidays. so much going on. shopping, cooking thanksgiving dinner, halloween. thing. i was like my clothes are whatever. maybe it's just because of the holidays. >> reporter: just like during her first pregnancy, her cycle seemed regular through much of the pregnancy. >> i didn't know until two months before i had her. >> reporter: it's because of jackseen who so desperately wants a sister that they are planning to have another baby with one caveat. >> it's all in god's hands. if he wants him, her to be 16 pounds, so be it.

i think we will just go c- section next time. >> so fun talking to them. and avery is absolutely adorable. the family will celebrate his birthday this weekend. it won't be a big bash. but one full of happiness and joy. abc action news. >> mark my words, that kid will be a full back on somebody's team when he is six. >> so cute though. >> a 1-year-old birthday, they have a smash cake. maybe he will get two of them. >> going to town on that one. >> can't blame him. >> no. we have rain rolling in. we have a lot of changing weather that will be coming through. what else is new? we have been talking about this for two months. that is we -- that is by definition what el nino brings. conditions are calm compared to this past weekend. this weekend looks better. sandwiched in between, we have

weather tomorrow morning. i don't think it will be a widespread thing but something we will keep our eyes on just in case and we will notify you on facebook and twitter if things begin to pop. temperatures today, how about it. back in the upper 70s. a beautiful day with temperatures for the most part about five to eight degrees above normal. yet this morning we started out chilly. not frosty. not down into the 30s. but we dropped down to the mid to low 40s. cirrus and hernando county. most in the upper 40s to low 50s. right now in tampa, it's cloudy. the clouds have rolled in. they will be sticking around for 36 hours. way more clouds than sun. we will see rain off and on. it will not be raining the entire time. not by any stretch of the imagination. but cloudy most of the time and some heavier showers and storms sandwiched in between. 77 today. the normal is 70. last year we were 65. the record, 84. st. pete, skies right now

the clouds will be rolling in shortly. dew point 56. sarasota also a good deal of sunshine and 73. the dew point is 57. all right. satellite picture. there it is. clouds coming in to part of the area. as you see, there's plenty of breaks in the cloud coverage. if you're going out this evening, no worries about rain in the evening. in fact it will be nice. you don't need the sweatshirt or heavy coat for a change. it will be a nice evening. overnight, we start to see the deep moisture coming in. there are dew point that's were so low over the weekend. yet in florida, not all that unusual to see the dew points just rise dramatically as tropical air comes in. that's exactly what we will be seeing in the next 12 hours which is why we go from clear and cold yesterday to cloudy and rainy tomorrow morning. how much rain rolls in first thing? the jury is still out on that one. some of the models are more aggressive than others. the way i see it, i think we

storms. certainly nothing widespread. have a little bit better chance of heavier rains and even a bit of rotation out there. so as the storm prediction center saying there's a very, anything severe. but we will continue to watch it because at the very least, there is decent rains that will be rolling in. this is through tomorrow night. thursday. steadily? no. we will get breaks. thursday morning, we see more showers and thunderstorms and then things clear out by friday. here is the severe weather outlook i talked about. a marginal risk of tornadoes. about 2%. if it went up slightly it would be 5%. clearly that is not our big issue. heavy rain, gusty winds and as we said clearing by friday. there's a look at florida's most accurate 7-day.

it will be breezy friday. the weekend looks great for gasparilla. 66 on saturday. 70 on sunday. mostly sunny skies both days. then back to the low and mid 70s by early next week. for the parade on saturday, clear skies, temperatures in the 60s, no rain. >> we have never had any problems. and it's like what just happened out here? attacked over craigslist. next at 5:30, the one thing that the homeowner grabbed after attackers tied him up

>> here >> tonight a warning for anyone posting items for sale online. >> a man was targeted by thieves after posting items to sell on craze list -- craigslist. the district attorney is trying to determine if the homeowner will face any charges after killing one of of the suspects. now here is wendy ryan with

>> a woman missing for two years and only one man named as a suspect. the twist that could keep investigators from ever getting answers. plus these top stories. >> it is getter to extend a hand than lift a fist. >> florida lawmakers work to remedy a dark past. problem with designer drugs in florida's quiet beach communities. how one is tackling the issue and stopping offenders in their tracks. a trip of a lifetime. what went wrong and why this tampa florida had to turn to abc action news to set things

>> he is now being treated at an area hospital. we have a crew on the way to the scene and we will pass along details as soon as we get them. also breaking news right now in hernando county. two people being flown to the hospital following a violent home invasion in spring hill. a suspect has been taken into