the measures being taken in the bay area. good evening thanks for joining us. i'm wendy ryan. >> and i'm jamison uhler. the governor ordering more mosquito spraying in residential areas. two cases confirmed in hillsborough county. both got it outside of the state and brought it back. nine total cases in florida. so far no one has gotten bite enand gotten the virus from a mosquito in the u.s. with no vaccine or medicine, mosquito key. >> you knee long sleeved shirts, long pants and put some repellent on like cedar oil. up. so right now usf is studying the cry russ and one pharmaceutical company is working on a vaccine. dozens of victims of home

weeks are picking up stolen items at the sheriff's office. electronics, julie and so much more was recovered. what they found and the happy reunion for some residents out there. ryan. >> reporter: yes, some very happy and relieved victims. many of them left the sheriff's office just a few moments ago with watches, expensive jewelry, stuff they never thought they would see again. all of this came from at least 30 home burglaries in the area. take a look at some of this stuff. one of the guys we met today had 50 watches and thousands of dollars in his wife's jewelry stole especially. early last month he returned home to find his window busted out and his home ransacked. he got the call this morning and rushed down to carefully go through all of the items laid out on the table, looking for all of the watches he has collected over the years. it's a fraction of the more

>> i figured i never would see them again. >> obviously if you look at the locations they hit, they were selecting their parties carefully, trying to get the most out of each location. >> reporter: take a look. these are the two men arrested. dustin peters and harry dayman both of lakeland. they are likely going right back into prison after being let out. we are told that deputies found all of those items in one single apartment. we're live in tampa tonight. ryan raiche, abc action news. >> thank you, ryan. a saint man is accused of molesting a 3-year-old girl and biting her teenage brother who tried to stop him. for all parents. >> reporter: absolutely. bernard jones is already a registered sex offender, convicted of doing the same thing that he is now accused of. police say it's a good reminder that you can take advantage of

decide who you let around your kids. benard jones is now locked up, accused of molesting a 3-year- old girl. police say jones is dating the child's mother and that he went into the toddler's bedroom late last night and started performing oral sex on her. neighbors say they're outraged jones, a registered sex offender, was living on their block without their knowledge and that he would violate a child again. >> innocent kid, you don't mess around with kids like that. >> reporter: the girl's mother caught jones in the act and screamed for help. her teenage son came in and the two tackled jones, who then bit the teen in the stomach. but jones got away, running down the street and hiding at a friend's house until officers arrived to arrest him. jose saying that he would have reacted the same way. >> i would take him and rip him apart. >> reporter: police say it's

assaulted another child after being convicted of assaulting a child under 12 in miami-dade county. the case should remind all parents to check the sex offender registry. >> it's important if you do have young children in your home and you have any doubts, you should look up and know for yourself exactly what the person was charged with. he is a registered sex offender. he checked in with the unit in pinellas county in december d clearly he shouldn't have been around young children. >> reporter: tonight bernard jones is being held in jail on a hefty $1.1 million bond. he said that these are all just allegations. kera mashek, abc action news. >> opening arguments in the trial of a woman accused of beating a 3-year-old boy to death in 2010. kara o'connell is charged with murder. the child's father agreeing to testify against her.

spanking the 3-year-old boy and it kept escalating from there. he is testifying o'connell beat him with a belt for peeing on the bed and cut his lip with fishing string. >> on a few occasions i witnessed her pick him up by the throat, hold him up to the ceiling fan and tell him if he didn't get [censor] she would hang him from the ceiling fan. >> he agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder charges in exchange for his testimony against o'connell. he will serve no more than 30 years in prison. jamison. >> the woman accused of taking her two children and causing an amber alert is back in jail before a judge. gigi was found with her kids in madison, florida last week. police say she took the kids from the grand parents.

with the law, not even a parking ticket. she will be granted a public defender. a cop killer sentenced to death will have his case heard by the florida supreme court. morris killed tampa police officers david curtis and jeffrey in 2010. last month the u.s. supreme court ruled that florida's death penalty sentencing law is uncob at this tuesdayal. yesterday the execution was blocked of michael lambert. >> now the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> how are you doing, everybody. i hope you had a chance to enjoy our amazing weather the past couple of days. if not, you still have about an hour, hour and a half before sunset where you will have a chance to see sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. because after tonight, we're back into the 60s again. we have rain rolling in tomorrow morning. i think the severe threat will be rather low. then we have large changes to

you will want to stick around for that. this evening, partly cloudy and mild. fog not the issue that it was yesterday morning. what about tomorrow morning? we will take a closer look coming up. >> thank you, denis. covering pasco county tonight. one person is dead and two others in the hospital after a shooting in dade city. it happened last night. deputies say they have been working this area of dade city for the past month investigating drug and gang activity. they believe it may be drug or gang related. police are searching for the person responsibility. a substitute teacher is out of a job tonight. he was arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old. deputies say he did not meet that 14-year-old at school. the school district deactivated him as soon as they learned of the arrest. he passed a background check before being hired. he is charged with battery. the university of south florida hopes the manatee skeleton hanging in the walkway

ex tint species from hundreds of years ago. there was a 3d scan taken of the skeleton and they will compare it to the sea cow. the distant cousin of the manatee was killed off long before it could be studied. the research being done in tampa will revolutionize the way that scientists study extinct animals. >> it creates a 3d model. you can take that and use a 3d printer to create a physical version of this. you can study it and assemble it. >> those scans can also be posted online to be studied by other scientists around the world. pretty cool. well, right now a major donation in the works to help the university of central florida's downtown campus become a reality. >> the city of orlando is committing $75 million to the infrastructure. the deal creates positive momentum for the project. even though it hasn't been formally approved by the board of governors.

received major donations from the orlando magic and an orlando based credit union. right now home depot is looking for more than 1,000 new employees right here in the bay area. the home improvement chain is preparing for the busy spring selling season by hiring 80,000 new employees across the country. not looking for seasonal work, don't be discouraged. most are full-time jobs. apply online. there's a link on abcactionnews.com. and here is more good news for the bay area tonight. the tampa bay is among the top cities in the country for people relocating. the announcement from the penske truck rental company supports the census data that reports a spike in florida. orlando came in fifth. well, scary scene playing out in tampa today. coming up, how this demonstration can help you

plus, relief tonight for residents of flint, michigan. coming up, the big break they have been waiting for when it comes to paying for tainted drinking water they cannot use. plus this -- >> reporter: bus passes for kids will help students never have to worry about how to get home from school. download the new news app for your mobile phone and tablet. search for abc action news in

>> we want to go to breaking news right now at 5:00. a federal jury just awarding $23.1 million to a 22-year-old black man shot and paralyzed by a sheriff's deputy. the jury determined that adam lynn violated stevens' civil rights when he shot him in september of 2013. lynn had stopped stevens for riding thinks bicycle in into traffic. stevens was unarmed at the time. an appeal is expected. a major forum to discuss the threat of mass shootings part of a safety series put together by the downtown partnership. as rodney dunigan explains, organizers say this type of training is just a sign of the times. >> reporter: it's a scenario none of us could ever imagine going through. unfortunately it's happened far too many times in recent years

in fact it played out right here through an reenact this morning. the folk that's participated in the training learned skills and knowledge that could possibly save their lives. the demonstration, graphic. the message police say important and timely. >> i think people just wonder, if something like that did happen, what exactly would i do. >> reporter: tampa police led an active shooter scenario wednesday morning. police stressing that awareness of what could happen is key to keeping yourself and why you are family safe. >> it's a little peace of mind. you hope that something like this never happens. >> reporter: all of this part of the downtown partnership security series taking a look at terrorism, the threat of mass shootings and other security trends. >> we need to be prepared on many levels to keep our district safe. >> reporter: the program which also included a forum discussion was sold out. a major indication that many people in the local business community see this as a real

>> people do fire evacuations all the time. that has probably saved thousands of lives over the years. why not train so you know what to do when you get in a situation like that you're prepared to take action for your own personal safety. and so absolutely this will save lives in the end. >> reporter: many of those here this morning are hopeful that this bit of knowledge will keep them and their family safe in chase case of an emergency. rodney dunigan, abc action news. >> well, right now some relief for residents of flip, michigan. they could soon receive help paying for their water bills. residents could see a credit on the water bill dating back to 2014. it's all to reimburse them for the water they paid for they could not use. rick snyder will include in the budget proposal next week. take a look at this incredible video. flooding in parts of georgia and tennessee. a woman had to be pulled out of that car.

through a guardrail. her car got swept up in the swollen river there. this is from tennessee. five people and four dogs had to be rescued from the side of a river bank there. the storm system is expected to move north, bringing freezing rain and snow with it. now the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> and we're expecting some rain tomorrow, right? >> that's actually the same system that spawned the tornadoes in alabama and mississippi yesterday. tomorrow is the first day of the fair. >> it will be rainy and miserable out. >> yes. but the weekend is looking better than it was this time last night. those are nice words to hear. there is a look outside. what a beautiful day, right? low to mid 80s. this is why a lot of us live in florida. there are folks saying not yet. it's too early to see the 80s.

gone tomorrow and i don't have any more in the 7-day forecast. upper 70s to low 80s under mostly clear skies in st. pete. a few more clouds at the airport in tampa. who is complaining? 78 and southerly winds. those winds this time of the year when you see a south or southwest wind gusty, that's a good indicator that there is a cold front on the way. and, yes, there is a cold front on the way. same front that brought the rain we just talked about. same storm system that created the tornadoes yesterday. by the time it makes it here, there's not going to be much energy. in fact i think we will be hard pressed to see any lightning or thunder. if you're going outside tonight, beautiful. mild and breezy, temperatures in the 70s. and most importantly, dry. tomorrow morning, that's when things begin to change.

typically experience tells us thatted models are slow -- tells us that the models are slow to bring the rain in. the one thing that you're not seeing are the deep shades of red and purple that indicate the rain and severe weather. i don't see that out of this line. what i do see is a decent amount of rain at times. then by thursday evening, everything quiets down. if you're going to the fair on friday, that's more like it. sunny skies, but noticeably cooler and breezy behind the front. the weekend still somewhat up in the air. i think rain chances will be around saturday night into early on sunday. here is the overall rainfall totals through thursday and friday. most folks from, say, i-4 northward will pick up an inch of rain out of this. less down to the south. bottom line, i'm not looking for any security threat of severe weather out of this. that low looks like it may develop a little more to the east, outside of our viewing

yeah, what a difference a day makes, right? 60s to low 70s across the area. maybe some mid-70s across the anterior counties. so literally about a 20-degree swing from top to bottom, from citrus county down to highlands county. for the boaters tomorrow, that is obviously going to be an issue. the winds will kick up a bit. ahead of the front at 15 to 20 knots. moderate chop on the bay. once the front goes through tomorrow, the winds will shift to the northwest. then i think they stay that way again on friday. sunrise 7:16. sunset at 6:13. a look at florida's most accurate 7-day forecast. so it's going to rain tomorrow. there's no way around that. rain chances a solid 80% starting in the morning along the coast and cutting across the metro late morning. by late tomorrow night, it's over. friday, sunny. 20 degrees colder than today. we top out at 63.

is the change from what we were saying yesterday. it will still rain. i don't think the severe threat is high now. the timing is late saturday night into sunday. your saturday looks good and i think the second half of sunday looks good. but look at the highs. right through next week, highs back in the 60s. >> thank you, denis. coming up, dangerous disease. the former oakland raider now the latest nfl player diagnosed with cte. another recall affecting thousands of vehicles. coming up, the problem with dodge chargers and what you need to know that could save your life. i'm at the women's center at tampa general hospital. pregnant women still the main concern with the zika virus. tonight i'm asking doctors how much risk are they really

stabler joins the list of now deceased nfl players diagnosed with the brain disease cte. >> he had a progressive form of the brain disease. he died of colon cancer in july. he had high stage 3cte. it is brought on by repetitive brain trauma. it includes memory loss, depression and dementia. more cars being pulled off the roads to fix a potentially dangerous problem. chrysler is recalling dodge chargers because they can slip off of a jack when changing tires. the place where you put the jack can become deformed, making it unstable. it includes 2011 to 2016 models. the company is ware of three incidents where someone was injured but not seriously. they will issue free wheel chalks. owners will be notified.

pulling unof its low performers off the road forever. toyota is discovering the scion brand. toyota has decide today pull the plug. in august some of the models will be moved over under the toyota brand. owners can still visit toyota dealerships for repairs. two astronauts traveled outside of the international space station. they released a container with a flash drive containing videos and messages from the 70th anniversary of the victory day last year. they retrieved biological samples and test a new glue. next at 5:30, the one thing that students need to get on the bus. a new push to get body cameras for officers in florida. the change that one family is already making in south

>> live from the station taking action for you. this is abc action news. >> new at 5:30, free bus passes for students. i'm jamison uhler. >> and i'm laura harris. a new program is set to launch next month, giving kids free rides on public transit. all they need is their school id. lauren rozyla is live outside of the bus hub right now with what parents need to know. lauren. >> reporter: starting march 1st, students in middle or high school and under 18 can ride these buses for free. and hart says they have your student's convenience in mind. >> route 90 is leaving. >> reporter: most students