bay. right now a live look at the closing bell of the new york stock exchange. keeping a close eye on it after announcement. it's up almost 76 points, closing at 17321. today the feds saying it isn't changing interest rates. it expects fewer hikes than originally planned this year. just two instead of four. we're always watching financial moves that could impact your money. also traffic alert to get to right now. a mess on disney park boulevard in pinellas park. down to one lane.

and flooded the street as you see here. big thanks to kirk moody for getting us these pictures. they are working to get the leak capped and the area safe avoid the area. right now, the search for the person who keeps starting fires in a st. petersburg neighborhood. >> yeah. police got this video of the suspects. it's tough to make out. they're not really able to use this. it has gotten worse. we have a map that shows you where it has been happening since january, just west of crescent lake park. >> clifton french joins us live from crescent lake park. clifton, how many fires have there been. >> reporter: there's been five fires in the past two months in a six-black area. lately they have been targeting these alley dumpsters. these large plastic bins right here. this is one of the last ones.

this is what it looked like after the fire. the concern is that the fires spread. it went up to this fence. while it only burned a fence this time, the next time it could be a home with somebody inside of it. now, police did release a video of a man with a skateboard saying that he set one of the first fires. they hope somebody recognizes that guy. and they're asking all of the neighbors around here to be vigilant. investigators say they don't think this person is using gasoline or anything to set the fires. he is just simply lighting what is in the trash. >> we're assuming that the individual is either using a cigarette lighter or matches and dropping them in or possibly smoking materials and igniting paper, trash, everything that we would normally throw away. >> reporter: now, these fires have already damaged several cars. obviously property damage right here. a fence. utilities. they have caused a lot of

luckily no homes have caught on fire. police say they can't say that every one of these dumpsters have been set intentionally but they say because it is such a close proximity here that they do believe that these are extremely suspicious. they're asking any neighbors to check any surveillance cameras they have. once again, just be vigilant living in this neighborhood. i'm reporting live in st. petersburg, clifton french, abc action news. >> thankfully no one was hurt in the fire. but this one in lake worth killed 12 horses. flames shooting out of the barn and parts of the roof collapsed. what made battling this more difficult was the flammable materials inside like hay and wood shavings. the horses were being trained for racing but it's unclear if they will be able to race now.

bubba the love sponge was a no-show in court today in the lawsuit against gawker media and hulk hogan. only his lawyer showed up. hogan is suing gawker for publishing a sex video with clem's then wife. the judge ordered that once made public. >> we're staying here with the chief. and i feel like i could stand like this, den, because it was so beautiful out there. is there anything that we need to talk about but it's so beautiful. >> it is. i guess if you're thinking of doing something this weekend, we have to talk. >> i know. >> what you're looking at right there, a lot of people on spring break and at spring training. at this point in time i'm not showing any rain. there could be a couple of showers popping up over the next few days. the bigger changes arrive friday and the weekend. look at these temperatures.

the viewing area, especially east of i-75. along the coast where there was fog this morning, temperatures in the upper 70s. satellite picture is showing a little bit of cloud cover out there. maybe even a shower popping up around desoto county. otherwise mostly clear skies overnight. we stay dry for one more day and then changes coming this weekend. there's rain on the way ask cooler weather on the way. and we will time it out for you in a couple minutes. >> an update on the breaking news that we watched unfold on the now yesterday. people calling the d.c. metro shutdown metro. so far inspectors have found six damaged cables or connectors in need of repair. there was an electrical fire on the metro earlier this week. the same component malfunctioned last year.

that was that witnesses had said that a ryder truck was seen and a pickup truck with a light colored top. >> and that was the newly nominated supreme court justice back in 1995 answering questions about the oklahoma city bombings. merrick garland oversaw the cases. president obama no foundationed that today, pointing out his experience on the bench and his ability to build a consensus. >> this is the greatest honor of my life other than lynn ago. >> and garland says fidelity to the constitution, the law has professional life. he promises to continue on that course if he gets the job.

the now todd walker joins us live with why republicans are adamantly fighting this nomination. >> reporter: yeah. it turns out that the supreme court actually has a lot more power than it used to or lawmakers or presidents give it that power. it is the final word on constitutional matters in this country. who sits on the court and appointed to it is one of the most important decisions in the country. >> it is really hard to see any kind of principle objection to merrick garland as a judge other than the fact that he was nominated by president obama. >> there was no testimony as to where they were. >> before becoming a judge, he prosecuted the oklahoma bombing trial. he is referred to as a legendary in washington d.c. brilliant, fair and neutral were words used to describe him. known for leaving his

as possible. >> nominating merrick garland to the supreme court is like nominating cal ripkin to the hall of fame. there's no reason to not nominate him. >> reporter: the republican is fighting it because the supreme court is viewed as the final word on the constitution now than it never has in american history. >> we might argue about it, we might complain that's not a faithful rendering of the constitution. but nobody gets up and says who are these guys to decide? >> reporter: so the classic instance of this was back in 2004 when the supreme court decided who became president of the united states. and a day later after that al gore conceded. some presidents like abraham

justices added to the bench so he could get a decision to go in his way. you can understand why there's so much more push-back to this latest nomination. live in washington, i'm todd walker for the now tampa bay. >> still head, we're catching up on what is changing after the primary wins last night. why marco rubio may not be out of the presidential race just yet. before we go, a look at a new idea to kick the smoking habit for good. our partners over at newsy have that. >> when it comes to quitting smoking, there are two schools last cigarette. some prefer to slowly reduce the knick teen before trying to turkey. researchers at the university of oxford wanted to know which is more effective so they formulated a study in the journal that put the two methods head to head.

to quit were divided into two groups. gradual cessation and abrupt cessation. the gradual group picked a day and withinned themselves off nicotine in the two weeks leading up to the quit day. both groups had access to counseling and nicotine replacement therapy. based on the results, going cold turkey is the best option. four weeks after the quit day, 40% of the participants were able to quick the habit compared to 39% of the gradual cessation group. that means that most people in both groups failed to quit. dr. holly theorized that having to plan out a nicotine schedule was more harmful than helpful saying it provided them with an extra thing to do that may have put off quitting all together. the study admits going from a heavy tobacco user to quitting overnight is not the best option forever. many people can't imagine being

for these people it's better to attempt to cut down the smoking than nothing at all. remember you can watch newsy on tv with your favorite reaming

>> let's take a live look right now at the traffic alert we told you at the top of the show. action air 1 live over park boulevard in pinellas park. this is near the wagon wheel flea market. a fire hydrant busted, flooded

on one side you can see work crews are trying to pump the water out. they're working the area now. trying to get the leak capped and the area safe to drive through. they're pumping the water out of there. for now, avoid this area. breaking election news over the last few hours. governor rick scott throwing his support behind donald trump. he posted it on facebook just four hours ago. look at this long letter he has put on his facebook page for everyone to know he is saying it's time for republicans to accept and respect the will of the voters. he wants republicans to come together and prepare to win the general election. and with all of that in the meantime, first trump canceled. now kasich. so the entire republican presidential debate for monday has been called off. trump plans to give a speech at the american israel public affairs committee instead of debating. ask kasich says he won't debate

trump says there have been enough debates. quite possibly what many voters are thinking right now. even though it seems like there's been a lot of debates, there are less than past years. democrats debated 20 times in 2012 -- republicans debated 20 times in 2012. >> it's not surprising that he is not going, saying his values are out of touch with the people of utah -- the people of utah, where the next debate was going to be held. utah has primaries next tuesday. he was in pennsylvania today next month. we want to look at the map and the momentum for both hillary clinton and donald trump. here is where the frontrunners stand right now to lock up their nominations.

bernie sanders would need about 1500 for the republicans. donald trump is now about 590 delegates short. his closest competitor, ted cruz needs 840. john kasich's win in ohio gave him a boost. still far behind however. >> with all of that, marco rubio has more than 160 delegates before he dropped out last night. those people will now be free agents. that means they can support any candidate they want within the party. that is unless rubio tries to resurrect his campaign if a contested convention happens. donald trump hadsa warning about a contested convention. >> i don't think that you can say we don't get it automatically. i think you would have riots. i'm representing a tremendous, millions and millions of people. >> and one of the names brought up for that possible contested republican convention is house speaker paul ryan. former speaker john boehner

but today ryan says he is not interested. believes the nominee should be someone who ran this year. >> all right. well, also today, donald trump dodging questions about rubio as a possible vp contender. >> take a listen to this. >> i'm looking at lots of people. but i'm not thinking about it yet. it's too early. i want to close the deal i'm a closer. i get things closed and i want to close the deal first. >> he's not thinking about it but he is looking at a lot of people. that's what he says. we're only going to see more of the political ads we have been seeing leading up to the conventions in july. >> we learned a pro-donald trump super pact has a $15 million goal to try to nominate him. nicole grigg is looking at political ads. >> reporter: fat pig. >> have you heard this ad yet. >> a person who is very flat

into an time trump add. woman reciting phrases. whether you're for or against republican or democrat. >> it's infuriating. >> reporter: we sat down with linda. one trying to break the glass ceiling and one trying to get back into the working world. we wanted to see if the election is changing how they thinking. women is becoming more and more to political campaigns not because of a potential first woman president. >> i would have loved to have been able to hear through the media more of other -- not just one candidate's views on the topics that affect women minorities. >> reporter: lindsey is a mortgage loan officer. >> when women try to negotiate pay, they are a little too intimidated to speak up. i think men come in and they're confident.

latest numbers on the so-called wage gap, women make 79 cents to every dollar that a man makes. which is why working women of tampa bay hopes to remind people about today. as for the political race, it's not this message that margaret wants to you remember. >> women, you have to treat them like [censor] >> reporter: it's in one. >> saying what you do and what you think and who you vote for is important and matters. >> reporter: for the now tampa bay, i'm nicole grigg. >> nicole, thank you. help wanted right now. at&t is hiring 20 employees in the tampa bay area. almost 500 across the street. the in-person job fair just wrapped up. but don't worry, you can still apply online right now. they encourage anyone to apply, regardless of your experience or your education level. all you need is a passion for the latest technology. we have a link to the job

abcactionnews.com. back with the chief now. chief meteorologist denis phillips. did i hear you say cooler temps earlier. >> yeah. by monday. >> like boots weather cooler. >> i won't go that far. >> i can hope. >> it will be in the 50s in the morning. that might be boot weather. right now, it's summer weather. you look at that picture. does that not look like something building in july and august with scattered showers and a sea breeze? if you take a look at titan doppler radar, down here in desoto county, that's probably a controlled burn. you can see the smoke plume moving that way. in hillsborough county, this actually looks like a shower that just popped up. if the entire area moves off to the east, then that's probably a quick little shower. that's what you would expect when you have such warm temperatures, high dew points, a taste of summer. we're going to see it again tomorrow. by friday and into the weekend, that's when everything begins to change.

normal. temps while they're at the airport at 80, you go east of i- 75, you're well into the 80s, closer to 90 than 80. and yet along the immediate coastline, mid 70s thanks to that cooler water temperature. that's the same reason that you're seeing the if fog in the morning. we had it this morning. if you look at the satellite picture as i said, a few showers popping up on radar. anything that develops will not be lasting long. tomorrow, more of the same. by friday, we will be tracking a storm system. chances. visibility. by overnight tonight, the fog starts along the coast and moves inland tomorrow morning. check in with ivan first thing tomorrow morning to snow what is going -- to know what is visibility. but our rain chances increase

that is a good chance for rain and thunderstorms. we will talk about that the next half hour and go a little further down the road and talk about the cooler air that i mentioned with ashley just a couple minutes ago. >> we will check back soon, den. what sent a guy off to the point that he smashed his brand- new car into the dealership

>> breaking update on the now tampa bay regarding that maryland police officer who was shot and killed. the chief just saying, quote, it was deliberately aimed at him by another police officer. the chief is stressing, though, it was a chaotic situation and this does not mean that the officer actually shot him intentionally.

plain clothes and no bullet proof vest when he was shot. that was moments after he confronted a gunman in front of the police station. bad blood between the car dealership and this man. >> he smashed his brand-new white sedan into the car dealership. his own car. the man really didn't like the purchase. he sued for a refund but dropped the case because the dealership threatened to hurt his family. the dealership denies the claims. no one was hurt in all of this but we're assuming the man in question won't be able to return the car now. go slow, use less. controversial new guidelines about opiates like oxycontin. plus, is the controversial weight health card from your

them be healthy?

>> right now, new guidelines for opiate prescriptions that could affect how you're treated the next time that you have an injury. anne mcnamara is finding out the recommendation is a first of its kind for the medical world. >> they're using those words. >> reporter: it's no secret that opiates like oxycontin and vicodin are addictive. now the cdc thinks that doctors need a reminder. >> it's the first time that the cdc has waded into the waters of giving prescribers advice on how to practice medicine. that's very controversial. >> reporter: primary care

there's no legal obligation to follow the new recommendation, to stop writing prescriptions when possible. >> they are not laws or regulations. doctors don't have to do it. but the guidelines kind of become a standard of practice. >> reporter: professor robert says he agrees with the guidelines that opiates are only safe to take for a few days before an addiction can be developed. 40 americans dying from overdoses every single day. of the survivors, nearly 2 million abuse the drug or are dependent. be sure that you ask. >> why am i being presibed this. >> reporter: for the now, i'm anne mcnamara. >> thank you. there were exceptions in the guidelines for canner and is end of life care. ashley has a look how healthy

>> we have rankings coming out of florida's 60 counties. this is by countyhealthrankings.org. and the bright spot for the bay area out of all of florida, you look at sarasota county at number three. the rest of the counties in the bay area didn't even crack the top 20. they look at high school graduation rates and obesity and smoking rates. they want to sort this out so communities can identify problems and come up for a solution for a healthier place to live and work. >> for the first time a current first lady is speaking at the festival. michelle obama spoke today in austin, texas. they are trying to break barriers for the girls around the world that don't go to school. michelle obama and kelly clarkson teamed up to make a song about empowering women. take a listen. [music]

[music] >> money from the song will go to the let girls learn initiative. one more girl power story for you closer to home. this is a habitat for humanity home just finished by an all women building team. 200 women in fact. it was dedicated. single mom kimmerle lost her home during hurricane and then cancer treatment. more schools are now giving them body mass index reports. but ashley is here to explain that they may not be working. >> there's a new study looking into this. it's published in the national academy of sciences. it looks at children in new york city. giving kids their bmi doesn't

similar studies in california have shown the same thing. the national institute of medicine have been recommending the screenings in schools for more than a decade. schools in 20 states including florida are doing them. but only some of them require to parents. and researchers say students may just dismiss the information about their weight as nothing they didn't already know. so now they're trying to figure out how to make the reports more effective. the latest numbers from the cdc show more than a third of children in the u.s. are overweight or obese. we've got breaking news to tell you about out of florida right now. i want you to take a close look at your screen. there to the left, that is noah daly, three years old, believed to be with amy daly. this is out of fort myers. they might be traveling in a black mercury sable. there is the tag number on your screen.

our twitter feed. be sure to share it, retweet it so hopefully they can find the child in the missing child alert. new reports from prison about former subway guy jared now child sex predator. what happened when he was moved

>> right now news that jared fogle was roughed up in prison. tmz reports that fogle was attacked in the federal prison

january. the other inmate that reportedly attacked him was in praise on on weapons charges. let's check in with our florida teams in the ncaa tournaments. tomorrow night number 3 miami takes on number 14 buffalo. meanwhile president obama is getting help from an 11-year- old girl to create a winning bracket for march madness. she is 11. the white house calling her before the president made his picks to get they are thoughts on the tournament. that's because of the letter that she sent to the president last year. it says i saw your bracket and i beat you. you're a great president, not the best bracket picture. the president has kansas, texas a&m and michigan state. he has kansas winning the national title.

pay lawmakers based on how they do on tests. this is an actual idea being talked about. we will tell you who is bringing it up and why. a purple heart medal ends up on the shelves of a goodwill. how in the world it got there and the famous private it belonged to.

>> we have breaking news to get to on the now tampa bay. we have new pictures coming in. a massachusetts state trooper and another person were seriously injured in this crash. you're looking at the pictures here on the massachusetts turnpike in charleston. the crash happened on the westbound side of the highway near the service please am the trooper was transported to the hospital with serious injuries. one lane of the westbound side of the highway is closed. the victims' names have not been released. he is most upset about the best and brightest program. here is what it does. it awards bonuses to teachers

act from years ago. but now steve cornell wants to force lawmakers to reveal their scores. the now's lauren rozyla is here. lauren, can he really do this? >> he is certainly going to try. cornell believes that this de means teachers. he wants to give lawmakers a taste of their own medicine. >> it's insulting. it's offensive. it implies that teacher are not smart and are not good enough. and really the problem is not our teachers. the problem is our legislators. >> reporter: st. petersburg city council member cornell says soon he will introduce a resolution forcing state lawmakers to show their high school sat and act scores. council members wanted to know if he was serious and cornell says he is. he says if state lawmakers think it's a good idea to tie teacher bonuses to scores from years ago, then lawmakers should have to go through the same thing. over the last 15 years,

education and this is not fair to public school teachers. >> i think it's embarrassing. how many business people, go to the chamber of commerce and let's ask them how many people want to tie their salary to thr act scores from high school. come on. that has nothing to do with it. >> all right. so in reality, cornell doesn't really necessarily believe this is going to pass. he says he's moreso doing this as a way to get the word out about the issue in education. ashley. >> thank you, lauren. right now. the student was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state. it can range from slight discomfort to torture. he is accused of trying to steal a banner from his hotel. the north korean government claims he was manipulated into taking it by the united states. >> i've got incredible pictures

this is the calm before the storm in illinois last night. this was yesterday evening as people were trying to vote in the primary just south of springfield. and then check it out rolling in. just about that time, a possible tornado hit. i want you to listen to a woman explaining something different than what we're used to hearing. there was no it sounded like a train warning. >> we thought the danger was already passed because the sky had already cleared. and -- but it was really windy and was starting to hail. and we were standing at the window watching it when we saw tin flying off the shed roof. and then that's when we went for the basement. >> the hail and the high winds doing some serious damage as you can see there in that video. thankfully though no one was hurt. in the meantime to the south, the weather story is

you see that donkey stranded in the flood waters. he was rescued. in texas enough water to shut down interstate 10. look at that home surrounded by sand bags. they are too under water. >> reporter: this shows a unique but devastating perspective of how flood waters have reached. >> i guess you get a little worried and anxious maybe is the big word. just when is it going to recede? when am i going to get back to normal. >> reporter: normal is a long way off. 4958 homes have been reported damaged in louisiana alone. more than 4200 people have evacuated. as clean-up begins in some areas, volunteers heading that way say timing is everything. >> we wanted to make sure that we were able to get in right afterwards when they're lying to clean up the mud and debris. they need safety items. we give them things that they don't think about like paper

brushes, things like that. >> reporter: a team from matthew ministries is delivering truckloads of supplies and volunteers who plan to help out near shreveport for a week. >> the team will be able to get in there when they're able to get back into their homes and give them normalcy as they try to rebuild. >> reporter: then they will head to texas. and the worst is yet to come. heavy rains subsided monday. but just this morning, 12 million people were under flood warnings across the south and scattered thunderstorms are predicted later this week. the insurance institute estimates damages will exceed $2 billion. and despite the potential for yet another blow from mother nature, the sense of hope and help volunteers from near and far are bringing is keeping spirits afloat. >> we just feel it's our responsibility to help people in our community. >> just devastating there. so far the storms down south have killed six people. if you would like to donate, contact the local red cross and

on that on our twitter feed. tampa bay. today. our weather looking really nice. >> yeah. >> over the past couple days, i would say. >> we started off with fog but they're in the mid 80s. could be. take the boat out today in the circles near apollo beach. still mid-70s. that's out in the gulf. then you go inland and you're in the mid-80s. so warm that we're picking up a few showers across the area. almost like a summertime type of pattern with your sea breeze, higher dew points and temperatures. we have a front on the way. not only do we have a front but we have an area of low pressure that is giving us refreshing air coming in early next week. right now, there's not a lot of folks complaining. there are a few. i have heard on facebook, denis, we have gone right from winter to summer.

spring weather returning. until then, we have to deal with morning fog, afternoon warmth, a few scattered showers. as we said, pretty sure there's a fire going on across desoto county, west of arcadia. probably a control burn. i haven't heard anything about a brush fire. but still we're lacking rain and it is warm out there and scattered showers. however, that will be changing. check it out. by saturday afternoon, we will have had a little bit of rain. from saturday through 2:30 through saturday night into sunday morning, that's when a band of rain is going to come through. there's a chance that we could see a couple of stronger thunderstorms with that on saturday. here is the good news. when we look act the long-range sunday. the first half of the weekend is wet. the second half cloudy. by early next week, temperatures cool off dramatically. highs in the upper 60s to low 70s. not a freeze and not all that cold but certainly refreshing

your hour by hour forecast with temperatures in the 60s to the lower 70s. as i said, with temperatures in the low 80s right now, we're going to be back closer to the upper 80s tomorrow before those rains return by friday. >> thank you, denis. right now i want to take you live outside to traffic in washington d.c. unfortunately you can't see what i want you to see right now. this is a chopper shot. what you would be seeing is a lot of traffic out there. traffic nightmare because the d.c. metro is shut down. people calling it metro. you see those tine owe cars down there. this is the grid lock we're talking about. crews are doing emergency inspections on every line of the metro. every line is shut down until tomorrow morning at 5:00.

or in need of repair. the same electrical component malfunctioned last year. the debate over security continues. this is the first for google. they are revealing how much of the web traffic is protected from hackers. endescription shields 77% of the requests sent from around the world to the data centers. the majority of your information is scrambled so no one can read it, if they can even get access to it. even get access to it. the things that are most encrypted are e-mail, maps and advertising. google is trying to overcome with encryption. some older devices can't handle the current standards. this is a hot topic right now especially with the fight between apple and the fbi for unlocking the phone of one of

they say the request would set a dangerous precedent. these never get old. a marine surprises his little sister with an early homecoming right in the middle of her junior rotc class in palm beach gardens. take a look. >> how are you doing, holly? [applause] >> love it. 16-year-old amanda lynn hasn't seen her brother since he left 2013. him until friday. >> i was like is that tyler? it's been so long. it's been two years. i was like it's tyler. whatever. chair now. >> i was shaking going in there. very excited to see her. >> he is more than a brother, he is an inspiration. tyler will be home for the next >> awesome.

arizona goodwill store on the shelf for $4.99. >> the couple that spotted it knew it was a treasure that somebody had to be missing. what did they do, they took to facebook. thousands of shares later, they connected with the military hero's ex-sister-in-law. she didn't know much about him. just tidbits. really cool tidbits like when he was on the cover of life magazine in the '80s for bull riding and a stunt man in the western with sally fields and kirk douglas. >> i used to tell my kids about him. he was a very impressive looking man. he was very tall and muscular. >> but still she had no idea about that military honor. it turns out he was awarded three battle stars and a presidential unit badge as a pair atrooper during world war ii. he died in 1991 and when his nephew inherited the medal, he

somehow it ended up at the back. people posting pictures saying that the cincinatti zoo was on lockdown. >> reporter: officials here at the cincinatti zoo says that the bear escaped the enclosure earlier this morning but no visitors were in danger. just after 11:30 this morning, rumors began to fly. >> we just got kicked out because there's an animal loose. >> a polar bear got loose they said. got out of its enclosure. >> reporter: soon enough the rumors were confirmed. zoo keepers discovered a female polar bear was not in the exhibit and had wandered away. >> we were watching the polar bear chat. and the presenter was sort of surprised that both bears weren't out. >> reporter: the bear had

as a precaution, zoo officials took action. >> because it's a dangerous animal. we got all you're guests to go into buildings where we knew they would be safe. >> reporter: zoo veterinarians had to help. a safety process that zoo visitors say was quick and efficient. >> i thought they were professional. we didn't know what was happening. but it was very calm and orderly. >> reporter: zoo officials say for every animal exhibit, there are multiple levels of containment but how this polar bear managed to get out is unclear. >> we will have a debriefing situation to see what door got open and how we make sure that it's secure in the future. >> reporter: it's an experience that visitors weren't expecting and won't soon forget. >> we weren't too close to it

>> reporter: again, all zoo visitors were safe. at some point the zoo did temporary shutdown but has since reopened. zoo officials say this was the best case scenario because no one was injured. for the now, briana harper. >> and that's it for the now tampa bay. abc action news at 5:00 starts right now. >> do you know the man in this video? tonight the dangerous crime he is accused of committing and why police want to stop him before someone gets hurt. plus, more drama in the courtroom today in hulk hogan's sex tape trial in pinellas county. tonight the local shock jock who was a no-show in court today. good evening. i'm wendy ryan. >> and i'm ashley glass in for jamison tonight. bubba the lovesponge was expected to testify at trial today but he didn't show up. >> adam weiner is following the developments in court today.

instead of bubba's testimony? >> reporter: they heard from bubba's ex-wife instead of bubba himself. he was supposed to come through the courtroom doors for the first time since the trial. instead bubba sent his lawyer to plead the fifth for him. part of the reason is that he didn't want to hear about his ex-wife's sexual relationship with hulk hogan. heather cole testified on camera that they showed -- they showed i should say her testifying back in january of 2015. in the video testimony that they showed today, ex-wife heath cole explained that she had no idea that her sexual encounter with hulk hogan was being recorded and said she didn't know how the video got into the hands of gawker media, which then went online. it was a bit of an awkward moment in the courtroom today. the former wrestling star, hulk