>> the move is to give second chances to good people. . >> reporter: dillon's mom says they have done everything to ease their eight-year old son's pain. >> what do do you do when your kid is sick? you will go to any length? >> she's relieved to city tampa city leaders decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. charges that have derailed many people's lives. >> i was studying at the university of south florida. >> reporter: he has three bachelor's degree and one masters and one misdemeanor marijuana charge. >> i was leaving class one day to get food and i had a gram of marijuana on me and i was arrested. >> reporter: tampa city councils passed the ordinance making

civil citation with a $75 fine instead of a criminal charge. the crimes increase with every citation. >> this is giving people a second chance. >> reporter: the ordinance will likely be adopted march 17th after a second reading. >> this is an opportunity to unclog the system and a bit and not ree yat a record for somebody. >> reporter: the ordinance is really aimed at youngsters who make bad choices and minority disproportionately arrested for marijuana charges, this mom is thankful it may help her son. >> it's chipping away at the bigger issue. an update now at 5:30. one day after complaints about long lives the iers sending

the irs tells us staff cuts are the reason to blame for the delays. a grade scam in nenelos county. teachers at high schools are giving undeserving high school students a pass and some barely showed up for school. >> clearwater issued more passing grades than any other school. >> reporter: he was enrolled in last year. another student appears to have earned three strait 80s in grad point the kids graduating who wouldn't a lot of kids? >> e ya, i know some kids that had to take at least three classes within a day to graduate. >> reporter: grad point credits

program can help students who failed classes previously graduate. they say grad point is being abused. >> they know it's an option. they laugh about it. they think they can get in grad point and graduate if they fail. >> they may not pass the course for a number of reasons like illness and maybe they didn't submit their homework. doesn't mean they don't have mastery of the skill. >> reporter: student absences are one of the main reasons students turn to grad points. these students missed 56 and even up to 161 days of school but remain enrolled. >> these are kids you don't see for months. >> and we find them at graduation and are shocked. >> so we don't want to penalize them for a personal or medical issue or they aren't ready to complete their course work. if they choose to return it allows them to pick up where

>> absences were listed as unexcused. the high school says grad point scores were invalidated last year. the principal says there was an attendance computer issue that wasn't calculating absences correctly. >> reporter: they say the grad point irregularities were discussed five days after graduation last year but no diplomas were taken away. the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action news weather. you know just in case folks forgot it's still winter out there, you look up north and now there's rain. there's still a winter weather advisory in atlanta now with ice and snow and freezing rain and kind of nasty across there and

by the time it's here there won't be a lot left. they will linger and we will have still turn out to have a nice day. temperatures in the 70s but by next week we go from 70s to 80s and i think somebody may see 90 next week and i'm talking locally. we'll talk about that coming up in a couple minutes. developing tonight, maryland's highest court is deciding if an officer charged in the death of freddie gray can be compelled to testify against his colleagues. a hung jury. his neck was broken in the back of a police transport van while handcuffed in leg irons. he was not restrained by a seat belt. porter is waiting retrial.

officer from mont montgomery, alabama is charged with shooting an unarmed man. 23-year old officer eastern smith is charged with killing 59-year old dunn. there has been an arrest but they say their fight for justice is far from over i don't care how a man do. god has the last say so. >> the lawyer maintains smith was confronted by a dangerous suspect and according to police smith shot and killed gun fouling an at occasion last week. the officer is out on bail. so far at this moment 176 people have been killed by police in 2016. the most recent case right here

man in palm bay was shot. the website we're looking at is the guardian.com. click on your state. it will populate and tell you exactly where this person was and who they were when they were shot. this latest case apparently -- he allegation allegedly said he would shoot three construction workers near his home. a nashville teenager is in custody accused of shooting his grandmother and two young relatives. the 16-year old argued with his mother and grandmother about getting out of bed. he shot his grandmother twice and turned the gun on his 12-year old sister and six-year old nephew. he also tried to shoot his mother in the home. all three victims are expected to recover. also right now a south carolina teacher is fighting for her job.

resign after a student stole her phone and shared naked pictures meant for her husband. the school district says she's the one at fault though. it happened when she briefly left the classroom last month. a male student looked through her phone and found our partially nude photos and he sent them to other students. >> everybody that you look at you ask have they seen it or what exactly did they see. it's the weirdest feeling. it makes you want to just ball up and just stay there. >> school officials pressured h her to resign a week later. the school claims she could have prevented the problem. she plans to sue the school and file criminal charges against the student. the high lands today reporting nine new porn charges for stacey lynn hooks. she was arrested for having sex

another teacher as sea bring high school has also resigned. amanda roser kennedy is accused of making porn with an 18 year old student there. an avon high park high school teacher is also under investigation for child porn. erin andrews back in court today where former colleague testifies in her trial against a nashville marriott. she's suing her stocker, marriott international and others for (7) 500-0000 75 million dollars$75 million. the fbi arresting a flight attendant accused of setting a fire and acting like a hero when he put it out. he admitted to setting the fire and ignited paper towels with a

he forced an emergency landing. the flight aten dent said the fire was an accident. during an interview tuesday the man took that back and said he set the fire on purpose. take a look at this frightening picture. a tire flew off and went through the window. they had just purchased the car. no one was injured. keeping cancer at bay without taking pills every day. >> the break through research happening here in tampa bay. coming up we'll show you how much a facelift without surgery

breaking news out of north carolina. a 24-year old man shot time four times by a raleigh police officer. we're learning more about the case. the report shows den kins was shot in the arms and chest as he

he was wounded in the arms and chest by senior officer dc twitty. he says he was fleeing arrest on drug charges. we do not know how it affects the investigation. the new cancer treatment helping patients manage their disease instead of blasting them with chemotherapy. >> my wife and i like to cruise. we can go and nothing to hold us back. >> reporter: not even treatment for prostate cancer that dean has been battling since 2001. now he's part of a study that requires him to take this medicine when his ts levels spike. >> i have lost a couple friends that were diagnosed after me with prostate cancer. since i have been on it i feel feel lucky.

research here aims to balance drug sensitive cells and chemo cells. >> reporter: doctors say high dose treatments can help drug resistant cells to thrive. patients like dean will only take this cancer fighting drug when he has to without regularity keeping his disease guessing. >> we try to see if we can maintain the cancer cells response to the treatment. >> reporter: for dean that means living with few side effects but remember this is still the beginning of the trial. >> if half the people can have the success i have, it's great. >> reporter: dean and his wife are looking forward to their next cruise. in tampa, ashley your. abc action news. how about a facelift for less money and without going under the knife?

now available in the united states. there are no incisions or anesthesia and it can be done right in the office. doctors in a series of bio degradable comes work to gently tighten the skin. >> oh my god! >> you notice a difference? >> yes, it's not hanging there. >> that's why they call it insta lift. it costs 3,000 dollars and lasts about 18 months. it does have side effects including swelling and nerve damage and a lopsided face. right now in tampa one of two areas in the country leading in home flipping. were flipped. builders say the local housing business is so competitive it's buyer.

you're trying to buy a house it makes it more difficult because you have somebody with large amounts of cash competing with you. >> builders also say there used to be a lot of tampa bay area homes on the market because so many local fore closures but the housing surplus is beginning to dry up. closures but the housing surplus is beginning to dry up. . >> i keep talking about how it's snowing in georgia. in march that's unusual. >> but it's beautiful here though. that's why you live here. >> he was over at spring training earlier today. >> a little hooky.

you got your sunshine and warm temperatures and your rides and your strawberries and whip cream which laura and i were talking about that. you can make your own piled mountains high. if you lookout side there are some clouds trying to roll in from the north and west. in fact, that's the same cloud cover while it isn't bringing us rain but extends up north and check it out. snowflakes in northern georgia. winter weather advisories and they picked up over 2 inches of snow in the last couple of hours. how about that? you hear that in january and february but once you get into early march, it's not unheard of but a little more unusual. then it's also the time march and april when we start talking about severe weather even more so than normal which this years seems like we have had it every month. typically march, april and may are the months when tornado

nation and the rain extends down throughout alabama and mississippi and there are severe thunderstorm warnings going on out there. when it arrives tomorrow it will be early and not much showers. they will be long gone by tomorrow morning. temperatures today were nice. we had the cloud cover but did not keep the temperatures down. we stayed in the upper 70s and 80s and the winds have been coming in between 8-12 miles per hour off the gulf. tampa checks in at cloudy skies and 71 degrees. the dew point 51 at 51. typically we should be 75. we were 75. in the morning we should be 57

what we are seeing next week is down right unusual as i think we see upper 80s in interior counties in southern polk. not for the metro area. except for the beach where it's 70 now and the cooler water will cool off the coastline and give a sea breeze effect. now. picture. things will stay quiet until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. the line comes through. outside of that not much to it. by 8:00 or 9:00 it's gone and we return to mostly sunny and that's a sign of things to come. sunny skies and not just tomorrow but saturday, sunday and all of next week. the only thing i'll keep my eyes

that can give us unexpected cloud cover across interior counties. at this point in time we don't have it in the forecast. a few showers tomorrow morning and home free right through the middle of next week with highs in the low 80s and mid to upper 80s interior and. south. new details about the officer kicking and punching this teen. why these college students who cried "hate crime" are facing charges. download the abc action news app for your phone or tablet. search abc action news in your

one baltimore officer is found kicking and slapping this student in this video. >> get the [bleep]up. >> his attorney says he was trying to get to class but the police department says the officer thought the boy was an intruder. the school police chief and two officers in the video are on administrative leave. hi, i would like to record that me and my friends were just jumped on a bus for being black. >> they claim they were attacked because of their race are fighting for their innocence tonight. they are facing charges after this instagram video contradicted their story.

coming up at 6:00, an officer accused of flirting instead of doing his job. the one thing he did not do that delayed help for a domestic violence victim. an unsolved murder. more than a decade after a highway killing. a giant gator winds up in a pool. the video making a splash online and the unusual rescue here that was used to take him out. that and more coming up straight

tonight shocking allegations. a police officer resigns accused of trying to date a domestic abuse victim instead of helping her file a report. >> these actions left her safety in jeopardy. good evening, i'm jamison uhler. >> and i'm wendy ryan. we're going to look at the time line here. december 22nd is the first day the department says the officer took a call on that date. it was from a woman reporting her abusive boyfriend had

>> but he didn't file the report until january 14th. that was 23 days later. he eventually resigned then on february 3rd two weeks after the incident. the abc action news reporter jackson explains how she suffered for weeks from this. >> reporter: this is the report outlining the alleged actions by officer pru it. he spent more time texting her instead of filing paper work. this shows how much pruitt didn't take the woman's claim seriously. she tells investigators the second time he showed up he says over dinner. >> it is extremely inappropriate. >> reporter: the captain says the woman stopped reporting her boyfriend's abuse because she felt pruitt was trying to take