>> there are situations and circumstances that are completely 100% out of your control. >> reporter: today a sobering talk with residents of this drug treatment facility hope now. a program whose future looks bleak at best. stern got the information this morning, the county board saying it will no longer fund the program. in fee years the county has handed them $5 million of taxpayer dollars. he decision coming on this scathing inspector report. money that went directly to board members, even employees, family members getting cell phones paid by the county. >> we have made missteps in management and decisions that we have addressed. >> reporter: stern defends the organization's spending. he says the county is paying for a service and that is to rehabilitate drug addicts like they did with tanya.

>> reporter: for $5 million, the county is not getting enough results. only 165 people from graduated from the program out of more than 500 enrolled. >> with you stewards of the taxpayer's money. we are looking for outcomes and what we want from our citizens. >> in here meals are prepared. >> reporter: since the vast majority of the funding comes from the county, there's no doubt that drastic changes are ahead. >> hope now will not stop operating. the question is what size will we operate. >> reporter: hope now has 60 days to figure out how to move forward without the county's funding and transition the current residents to a new treatment center. it is their legal responsibility to find them a new home. ryan raiche, abc action news. >> tonight, nfl players are in tallahassee looking for justice for a florida state football player who collapsed and died. 18-year-old davon darling

conditioning drills 15 years ago this month. his family is still waiting for the legislature to sign off on a settlement deal reached in a wrongful death suit filed three years after his death. >> this money will not turn back the clock. it will not restore davon's life but it will end this pill gram ag to bee receive the florida legislature for justice. >> darling's brother is a former wide receiver in the nfl. today he led other league veterans and current players to the capitol, hoping for a resolution. developing now at 5:30, the former district attorney who chose not to prosecute bill cosby comes to his defense. cod bee's lawyers are hoping that testimony will get the sexual assault charges filed

entering court today without answering questions from reporters is hoping to walk out of court free of sexual assault charges filed against him. testifying for the defense is former d.a. not believe there was a strong criminal case against the comedian back in 2004, citing red flags in the case, including the fa account that the accuser in the case first contacted police a year after the alleged assault. so caster confirms a deal was made, an oral agreement saying that cosby wouldn't be charged if he testified in a civil suit. but the current d.a. maintains because the deal was not in writing and not approved by a judge, that agreement is not binding. lawyer gloria allred in court in california for another civil case involving cosby calls the defense's arguments nonsense.

that mr. cosby would seek to exclude evidence that he, in fact, gave quaaludes to women. does he want to exclude the truth. >> reporter: it was last december, just days before the statute of limitations was set to expire that the embattled comedian was charged with drugging and sexually assaulting former temple university andrea constant at his pennsylvania home. the prosecutor saying the charges stem from cosby's own deposition. cod bee admitted he had a number of affairs, got quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with and gave constant pills at his home. of the dozen of women accusing cosby of sexual assault, this is the only criminal case filed against him. cosby has denied all allegations. now the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather.

groundhog day in florida, beautiful day. we started off with fog. visibility was hard to see in front of your hand. now there's a lot of moisture out there. a few showers are popping up. one right around hane city moving from the southeast to northwest. just a beautiful day as the satellite shows. higher moisture definitely meant fog this morning. isolated shower possible through the evening. tomorrow morning will not be as foggy as it was this morning. at least for a widespread part of our viewing area. under partly cloudy to clear skies overnight. then the rains roll in on thursday. we could see some stronger storms by the weekend. we will pinpoint that timing for you coming up in a couple minutes. >> thanks, denis. the battle ground shifts east as democrats and republicans take their message to new hampshire ahead of next week's primary. overnight in iowa, ted cruz pulled off a big win ahead of donald trump.

beating bernie sanders by less than a percentage point. however sanders is polling ahead in new hampshire. >> in iowa, we astounded the world. [cheering and applause] >> and now in new hampshire, we're going to astound the world again. >> mike huckabee and martin o'malley have dropped out of the race. ben carson took the day off. ted cruz is apologizing for saying that carson was dropping out of the race. the deaths of a brevard county teacher and her estranged husband may be a murder-suicide. her sister found her body next to her estranged husband as well as a gun. family members say that sandra this recently separated from her husband and filed for divorce. police believe that cook's husband may have shot her and

the templeton fire chief stepping down after 20 years of service and taking a job in the private sector as president and ceo of 10-8 fire equipment. he begins his new job may 1st. well a local group of retirees are putting their knack for knitting to good use. >> really cool. they have created a club knitting for cancer patients. it helps patients in unexpected ways and is personal. >> reporter: she loves to crochet. >> do the row. >> reporter: about a year ago, she and a neighbor started knitting together. but decided their talents should be shared to help others. >> a friend of mine says, well, if you like to crochet, just about every cancer center in the country is looking for hats and shawls. >> reporter: finding that

>> i've got to contribute something back because i'm not dead. >> reporter: before she knew it, the group was born. through the summer, just two ladies spent time crocheting these beautiful caps and blanks as snow birds flocked to florida this winter, more women joined in. a group that has crafted more than 300 caps now. >> it just makes me feel like my life is worth something. >> reporter: cancer patient ruth says the caps are a lifeline. chemo makes her body get cold easily so these hats give her physical warmth. >> being positive is the most important thing to do. anything that helps you be positive. and these help without a doubt. >> reporter: she beat the odds on her own diagnosis and her tumors continue to shrunk. these knitters are thrilled that every stitch they make is helping to improve attitudes and outcomes for patients in

>> if spending the time and effort makes somebody happy and feel better and deal with this horrible, nasty disease, it's well worth it. i'll be doing this until my hands fall off. >> next at 5:30, a special needs girl is bullied online by a celebrity. the reason that you could end up paying for what you post. >> do you honestly think i should? he admits to having sex with an underaged girl. coming up at 6:00, hear his explanation why he feels that

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for sharing this meme with his 300,000 plus fans on forecast. the text reading letting your child become obese should be considered child abuse. the family is suing for $6 million saying that he humiliated a girl with down syndrome who is at higher risk for obesity. >> since then close to half a million followers of this individual have apparently viewed this same image. >> reporter: according to the lawsuit, the girl was 8 years old when the photo was taken unknown to her posted to flicker with the caption everything is wrong with america back in 2008. >> the older sister was surfing on her social media facebook page and happened upon a site by him where he had used this image of her little sister. she was shocked and surprised. >> reporter: the backlash on social media was swift.

i agree with the fact that parents need to encourage healthy eating but you don't have to put down this child to do it. while others are standing by the dance pro, using the hashtag i support val. >> val was not aware that the girl had down syndrome and took down the photo before there was any legal action. he never meant to offend nip. trying to start a conversation about what is healthy or not. taking to twitter to plead his case. one day you will hear my side of the story if anybody is listening. the fbi is investigating flint's drinking water that has left residents poisoned by lead. the u.s. attorney mcquaid says the fbi and other agencies are investigating criminal wrong doing. this week russell simmons, fedra parks and bryant are in flint rallying around residents who are still looking for answers.

well, if dieting and working out are not getting you the results you want, you may want to try body sculpting. marcie gonzales shows us how to get results without going under the knife. >> reporter: this and this and this never goes away no matter how much they diet or hit the gym. now doctors across the country say losing stubborn fat specifically from those problem areas is as easy as this. with some cool new technologies. >> ready. one, two, three. >> reporter: heating up the body sculpting industry. some freezing, others melting away fat cells with no surgery and no pain. with procedures so fast they can be done over a lunch break. >> i can go in and out and i can still go on with my daily activities right afterwards. >> reporter: natasha miami has lost a pant size after one

another, hoping to firm up even more. >> it's life changing and boosts my confidence. >> reporter: it has only been available since september. since then patients both men and women have seen huge results that last. >> and we heat the fat up enough to make the fat cells miserable and kill them. that fat then is removed from the body over a month or two. >> those fat cells are gone for good. >> those fat cells are gone. >> reporter: susan had similar results with another nonsurgical treatment called cool sculpting that destroys fat cells by freezing them. >> i noticed that i could fit into the pants better. that is pretty amazing. >> reporter: this isn't just for the waistline. >> this is really great way to improve the look of your profile. >> reporter: pricing for these hot and cold treatments generally start at around $1,000. abc news medical contributor dr. ashton says since these are fda approved treatments, the risks are minimal.

treatments are not for weight loss, just body shaping. and she urges caution. research. and most of all have realistic expectations. >> reporter: but patients who tell us their expectations were met are ready to trade winter just one complaint. years ago? that's all i want to know. >> reporter: marcie gonzales, abc news new york. >> now the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> a lot of folks talking about groundhog day. >> yeah. there isn't just one. i grew up thinking that punxsutawney phil was it. you have general lee in lap. >> my neck of the words. >> and chattanooga chuck. >> who is that? >> he e-mailed me today. >> he has e-mail. >> apparently so. he didn't see his shadow. everybody saying that spring

we were in the low to mid 80s this morning. we had fog this morning with all of the warmth. the larch, los angeles -- the afternoon, look at that picture. it doesn't get better than that. we certainly had plenty of fog this morning. in terms of rain, yeah, there are a couple of showers out there. if you were watching last night, we showed the interior counties with a couple of isolates showers popping up. that's about it. thursday morning, it gets more this way. temperatures right now beautiful. upper 70s to low 80s. we ended up in the low to mid 80s for afternoon highs today. 84 in crystal river. lakeland.

the dew point right now is 67. the winds will keep up overnight. because of that, fog won't be quite the issue tomorrow morning as it was this morning. 11 degrees above normal today. the normal low is 53. we were 11 degrees above normal in fact only 2 degrees of the record high of 84. go figure, right? we're 15, 20 degrees below normal and then above normal. that's el nino for you. the humidity is 68%. sunshine in sarasota as well. a balmy 77 degrees. a few showers popping up in eastern polk county. that's it. i doubt most of it make it to the ground. again, that rain near hane city is -- there could be a handful more over the next hour. anything that develops will be interior and south. tonight, we will go partly cloudy. there will be fog tomorrow

as this morning. and then by the afternoon, we go partly sunny. in fact mostly sunniment we're right back in the lower 80s. a very nice day. but then we start to see what is coming in from the front. think there will already be area. continues to come on through. of course it's the first day of the florida state fair. so if you're wanting to hold is your day. and even saturday for the first half of the day. but saturday night into sunday morning, i think we're looking at severe weather in our neck of the woods. we will have to watch that closely and update you over the next few days and updating on social media as well. forecast highs on wednesday, another beauty. upper 70s to middle 80s. if you live east of i-75, you will be closer to 75. closer to the beach, you will be closer to 79, 78 because the water temperature is cooler. 68 in clearwater. that's up from 57 just last week. you get it, it's rather chilly

which is why you have the fog out there. cooler water, warmer air means fog. seas two to three feet. moderate chop on the bay tomorrow. your sunrise and sunset. wednesday, a couple of showers are possible on wednesday afternoon. the best rain chances were thursday. rain chance a 60 to 70% on thursday. friday looks good. saturday looks good. saturday night into sunday morning, rain. potentially severe weather. that is something that we will be updating throughout the week. next at 5:30, investigators are looking into two suspicious suicides at a texas high school. coming up, the reason that police believe the victims planned to take their lives

wrestlers are facing disturbing allegations. >> they sexually assaulted two buys on a school bus. prosecutors say the group used force and fear to attack a save- year-old and a assault a 12- year-old twice. the alleged assaults happening on the bus heading back from a wrestling tournament and at school. one coach has quit. another was fired last month. police are now considering whether the deaths of two girls were part of a suicide pact. the two 17-year-olds went to the same texas high school. they were both found dead just one died from multiple medications, the other found hanging in a wooded area. counselors and others agree that it's important to talk about this troubling topic. anyone else can do to prevent stuff like this but i think just talk going it would help. >> texas is ranked 39th in the suicides. florida is actually much higher, ranked 15th.

about suicide to call the national suicide prevention life line. here is a look at what is coming up at 6:00. animals abandoned. a box full of puppies found on the side of the road. the terrible condition they were in and how long it may take for them to recover. plus these top stories. the owner of a popular waterfront restaurant is being forced to close because his landlord has bigger plans. the eye-popping facts that the i-team is uncovering straight ahead good go around and try to sleep with little girls. a bay area man accused of helping girls run away and using them for sex. the warning that all parents need to hear. this car looks like it's been repaired. couplingcoming up, what may be endangering the family that

>> live from the station taking action for you. this is abc action news. >> i wasn't pursuing her. i wasn't trying to come and get into her pants. that's not -- that's not what i do. >> now at 6:00, caught with underaged girls. two men busted days apart with teenage run-aways. how they met them and the disturbing similarities between the cases. the reason that a popular waterfront restaurant is being told to close up shop and the big question demanding an answer tonight. i'm jamison uhler.