those are freeze warnings and frost advisories. it does not include the metro area of tampa. when you go east of i-75 that counties. the coldest is citrus and hernando where it will dip down to freezing or below. now. into the 30s. pinellas, you don't have to worry about a freeze or a frost. however, northern hillsborough, most of pasco, especially east of us-19, hernando and citrus counties, small areas will drop down to about 32 degrees. finally we have a change arriving for valentine's day weekend and we will talk about that in a couple of minutes. >> a teacher in citrus county is on unpaid leave while the district investigates claims that she hosted a party for students that included drugs, alcohol and sex tips. josephine has been with the district for ten years and has

since being hired. all of the schools are detailed behind me. her latest transfer landed her at citrus high school where she is accused of hosting a party for the student at her home. eric waxler is live for us tonight with the latest on that. eric. >> reporter: jamison, here at the citrus county school district offices, they interviewed 15 of the 40 or so student that's were at this teacher's home for an ugly sweater party on december 12th. you can see right here the written statements from those students. some of them say that she knew exactly what was going on. back in december, joes fee hosted a holiday party for her daughter and about 40 other citrus high school students. but according to a district investigation, the party was out of control. with the teacher well aware that the students were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. >> she talked about having a party in class?

but i kind of knew because it's a high school party. i mean, it's hard to say that there's not going to be any alcohol or something there. >> reporter: a district report found she was drinking too and allegedly caught on a snap chat video wearing a student's jacket and slurring her words. the report also says that she talked with students about her sexual relationship with her husband and how to perform oral sex. she has been suspended without pay and a termination hearing is coming soon. >> people are feeling that she is going to come back. at the same time she is just suspended. we don't know what is going to happen. >> reporter: when questioned by the school district, she denied all of the allegations saying she didn't give alcohol or drugs to any students and didn't talk to them about sex. we tried to reach her but couldn't find her to hear her side of what happened. the district says teachers are held to a higher standard than others and some students agree. >> you're supposed to be a role model and you're not being a role model. >> reporter: yeah, again, the

also found that this wasn't the first get-together at the teacher's home where students drank. i spoke to her attorney today. he tells me that she is very upset and professes her innocence completely. this until the end. meanwhile i talked to the sheriff's office. they have referred this case to the state attorney's office but filed yet. >> thank you, eric. a student busted with a gun in hillsborough county on a school bus. year-old sims. carson chambers joins us live from brandon alternative school where the bus was headed this >> reporter: right, wendy. 7 students and one bus driver on board the bus. luckily this gun that we're getting pictures of tonight on campus to brandon

thing you notice is a big sign that says no weapons allowed. >> that's scary. that's very scary. but thank god the parent was smart enough to call in. >> reporter: praise for a witness and other student who wasn't afraid to act immediately on a school bus. >> the witness was texting to the relative that they saw the suspect loading a gun on his lap. >> reporter: deputies say the student kept texting as he or she walks sims stash a .9- millimeter handgun in a seat four rows behind a bus driver. >> it's unclear whether jim marcus sims had intentions of bringing that into the school or hiding it on the bus for after school to grab it back from the hiding spot. >> reporter: sims attending brandon alternative school instead of the regular school because of disciplinary problems. his arrest record includes grand theft, burglary and drug possession. when deputies pulled the bus over, they found a black ski mask and a pistol loaded with

>> it was reported stolen out of temple terrace. the detectives are trying to see if he is a suspect in a burglary. we tried tracking down sims' family at the apartment complex where neighbors say they moved out monday. school officials say sims faces expulsion and/or other disciplinary action. >> if you're having issues at your regular school and something like this came up, we would have to look at the next step

>> officials have not been able to track him down. the house is as you can see now completely unlivable. people are hoping you know this person on this surveillance video with a stolen piece of expensive artwork. the box they're carrying contains the artwork that was stolen from the collection on sunday. this video is from the arts center where the box was anonymously dropped off yesterday. that piece is valued at $20,000 to $25,000. if you have any information, please contact st. pete police. and right now we're waiting to hear the punishment for o'connell, accused of killing her boyfriend's son three years ago. the father charged with the same crime testified against o'connell last week. the couple accused of choking, punching and torturing that little boy right there. the abuse so severe that he died. he agreed to testify in exchange of a sentence of no

2016. the candidates setting their sights on south carolina and smaller. tonight carly fiorina has race. and new jersey governor chris suit. christie staked the campaign on new hampshire. last night he told supporters instead of heading to south home. >> we have decided that we're going to go home to new jersey tomorrow and we're going to take a deep breath, see what the final results are tonight because that matters. >> last night's sixth place finish means it's unlikely that he will qualify for saturday night's debate. meanwhile donald trump finished first among republicans and bernie sanders delivering a double digit win against democrat hillary clinton. coming up on friday, trump will speak to a packed house at the usf sun dome. it creates unique security

we will have that story coming up at 6:00. scary stuff here. firefighters crawling through small spaces and busting through windows to make sure that they're better trained for an emergency. local firefighters are getting an opportunity for essential training here. as the hospital goes through a renovation, they offered up the empty wing. the rescuers doing search and rescue, hose management and other drills to prepare them for real-life events. >> the only way that we can stay ahead of the curve or stay up with the curve is training this way and giving us the opportunity to choreograph as much as we can. >> more than 100 firefighters from across pinellas county are participating in the three-day event. bobcat needs your help. we first told you about thor after he was hit by a car last week. his jaw is fractured and had an eye removed. now he needs to go through an

to donate visit the page on facebook. next at 5:30, taking action for an entire community in need. we're calling attention to how common hunger is here in the bay area. tonight the special event to henry sitelize the neighborhood surrounding the elementary school. trusted to prepare your tax return. now this man is charged with identity theft. how he stole his client's return and what you need to look out for. plus a new controversy tonight over beyonce's super bowl halftime performance. the backlash over the flashy outfits, even the lyrics to the

>> right now controversy over beyonce's halftime show. some calling it racist and a tribute to the black panther party. this is the reaction to our post. now tonight at this hour, 546 different comments on there regarding the show. some saying they're not offended at all. the controversy is everything from the outfits to the dance and the lyrics. the outfits were said to imitate those of the black panthers.

black power and doing the black panther formation. you can join the conversation on facebook. beyonce is coming to tampa april 29th. some proceeds from the concert will be donated to help aid the flint water crisis. check it out. there he is with his wife michelle next to him. he owns a bicycle shop in tampa heights and post this had picture to his facebook page. we caught up with him today to talk about the experience. >> well, it's great. it's wonderful. it's really exciting. i had a great time out there. see the performers up close. it's really great. >> well, the haskins get the perk of being on the field by setting up and tearing down the stage. this is the third time that joe has been there and the eighth time for michelle.

you get the best refund, tax refund available, that is. but instead one tax preparer in st. petersburg was arrested for identity fraud. clifton french explains what he did and what you need to be looking for. >> reporter: it's a reputable tax preparing agency. 4500 locations nationwide. 48,000 bay area taxes filed through them last year. tonight, one liberty tax employee is being charged with identity theft. st. petersburg police say the 45-year-old cashed in one of his client's returns. with all of thinks information at his fingertips, his 1099s, w- 2s, he went ahead and forged a tax refund. from there he filed for a tax refund loan, having all of that money put on to a debit card. >> he went around and started making purchases. >> reporter: rick shaw with the police says it was about $500. the customer wanted it sent to

>> all of a sudden he was alerted that his refund had been withdrawn. he contacted liberty tax and police. within days he was in jail. >> if you ask for i couldn't refund in a certain manner and all of a sudden you're alerted it's coming in a different manner, a red light should go off. >> reporter: liberty tax has filed paperwork with the irs to make sure that swinton isn't allowed to prepare taxes again. >> sometimes good companies can hire bad people. >> reporter: clifton french, abc action news. >> we've been following the data breach at ucf affecting people right here in the bay area. officials released news of the january hack last thursday. well, this letter now just notifying the people affected. 63,000 people. ucf is offering a free year of credit monitoring and identity protection with experian.

the letter and thinks they are a victim to call a help line. we posted that number on abcactionnews.com. now the most accurate weather team in florida. abc action weather. >> it's been cold the last couple of days. it sounds like it will be even colder tonight. >> it's entertaining because in social media it started off this is refreshing. this is okay. >> now we're like it's too cold. warm it up. >> someone did mention yesterday wendy was not wearing a turtleneck. today it's back. >> must be a freeze warning. >> i check with her before i put the forecast together. >> you know a freeze is on the way. >> i didn't put these maps out until i saw the turtleneck. the winds will be coming down. whenever we see the winds come down and a cold air mass we think of the possibility of frost and maybe even a freeze. as we said, yes, there is a freeze warning in effect just for citrus and hernando county.

it won't be a hard freeze but bring in the pets. it will be chilly. you will be doing a little scraping tomorrow morning. you might want to set the alarm early to give yourself some time to scrape the windshields because there will be frost. usually we need calm winds for a frost to occur. while titan doppler radar is rain free right now, we have not seen calm winds of late. we've had the cold air but not calm winds. we've had gusty winds and we still do. these winds will dramatically come down overnight. by sunrise, 3:00, 4 will be, they will go relatively calm. that will allow us to see the possibility of frost. especially east of i-75 and also areas north of i-4. 53 in tampa and clearwater. st. pete, 54. it is unusually cold. remember, we should be in the low to mid 70s this time of the year for afternoon highs. this year we've been all over the place. either well above normal or well below normal.

now, this will help you go hour by hour for the next couple of days. 9:00 tonight, already in the low 40s across our northern counties. upper 40s across the metro. low 50s closer to the beach. by 5:00 a.m., low to mid 30s across those northern counties. upper 30s to low 40s elsewhere. and by about 6:00, 7:00 a.m., there will be mid 30s across a good portion of the area which is when you will see a good chance of having to do scraping for your windshields. and then by 9:00 in the morning, we warm back up to the mid 40s. by the afternoon, we're back in the mid 60s. we're headed in the right direction. still below normal but at least on friday morning it won'ting as cold as you will be waking up to temperatures in the 40s. by the afternoon, back up near 70 degrees. and then we've got another front that will come in on saturday. first things first. check it out. the satellite picture, skies have cleared.

is being replaced by more of a northerly drain. that keeps the clouds away and allows that coolest air to roll in. in florida, usually when we get this kind of a freeze, it's because we have light winds or a very subtle northerly wind. that's what we will have tomorrow morning which is why we have the freeze warning in effect for the northern counties. in terms of sunshine, lots of it. tomorrow, friday and the front coming in on saturday, i think it's a dry front. maybe a little cooler on valentine's day but not too terribly cold. tomorrow morning will be the only freeze we'll be talking about for at least the next week. maybe longer. a lot of cold air across the northeast. in fact i suspect this will be the coldest weekend of the year across new england. they're also going to be 20 to 30 degrees below normal.

temperature down to about 0. a big time snuggle alert for people in the northeast for valentine's day weekend. the winds will be coming down the next few hours through tomorrow morning and then finally things will start to get back to normal. actually pretty decent boating conditions starting tomorrow, right into the weekend. on thursday, sunny and cool. we top out at about 61 degrees. that's still a good 10 degrees below normal. here is a look at the 7-day forecast. how about that. we have 70 back there on friday. i was going to go 69, but i figured why not. let's try 70. 68 on saturday. valentine's day a little cooler behind the front. the next chance of rain, early next week. >> thank you, denis. more problems on the road tonight. coming up, the latest automakers to recall vehicles because of takata air bags and the specific cars now being recalled. adding to the list of possible problems caused by the zika virus. coming up, new symptoms that affected babies are now showing.

children accused of failing them. today former dcf workers are speaking out. the mounting problems and the one thing that made their job harder here than anywhere else

>> now to a consumer alert affecting 1 million drivers in the u.s. >> vehicles being recalled because of takata air bags. vw the latest automaker to recall the vehicles. they recall to recall 86,000 equipped with air bags. the dymler ecall involves 705,000 mercedes suvs and vehicles.

freight liner vans from 2007 to 2014. the recall is precautionary and they do not know of any reported problems with air bags in their vehicles. more bad news about the effects of zika a a new study revealing infants exposed to the virus may suffer eye damage, including blindness. researchers in brazil studied 29 infants infected. of the group, ten suffered from eye abnormalities. in 7 out of 10 of the babies both eyes were affected. because of the small sample size, more research is needed to definitely link these vision problems with the zika virus. next at 5:30, employees at a local wal-mart chase down a suspected thief. coming up, the reason that they could face charges in the suspect's death. >> my children mean the world to me. they know i would do anything for them. plus students at risk for falling through the cracks. straight head, the one thing

>> now at 5:30 a teacher is as you cooed of giving students alcohol, drugs and sex tips at a christmas party. an 18-year-old is facing charges after bringing a loaded gun on to a school bus. according to reports, marcus sims had a ski mask and a loaded magazine as well. the bus was headed to brandon alternative school. deputied evacuated the bus and got the gun away from him.