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

testimony with the rest of the jury. >> to be clear, you had no knowledge regarding who sent the video to gawker.com or any other third party. >> i didn't know. >> reporter: now, i know it's tough to make out there but that was heather cole denying any involvement, any knowledge. hulk hogan is suing gawker media for $100 million for posting the video online. gawker claims they didn't make much money if any off of the video because they made an editorial decision not to show any ads on the page they were showing that video. there was also a bit of a development in the documents. sealed documents related to this case. an appeals court judge out of lakeland said that those documents that had been sealed

meanwhile, the judge here who is overseeing this case hasn't made a decision about that. so right now the contents of those sealed documents not yet public. it's not clear when exactly we will be able to see them. terry is expected to continue to delay that information. meanwhile as for the court case today, they could be wrapping up as soon as tomorrow and it could be in the jury's hands by tomorrow evening. i'm adam weiner. back to you. republicans are holding firm in their refusal to consider president obama's supreme court nominee. the president this morning naming merrick garland to replace antonin scalia. he currently serves as the chief judge for the u.s. court of appeals in washington d.c. generally viewed as a moderate. he has drawn bipartisan support. but republicans are still vowing to not even hold a hearing on the nomination.

thanked the president for the honor of nominating him. >> to find someone with such a long career, to find someone who just about everyone not only respects but genuinely likes, that is rare. >> and for me there could be no higher public service than serving as a member of the united states supreme court. >> several republicans voted in favor of garland's confirmation to the u.s. appeals do effort in the mid '90s. today republican leaders doubling down saying that doesn't change anything and that the senate has never confirmed a nominee to a supreme court vacancy this late in a president's final term. i want you to take a look at this the scot us nomination, the white house created this account if you want to know more about the nominee.

top, meet merrick garland. it's a three-minute-long interview. it has been retweeted thousands and thousands of times. i want to show you this if you want to read up on the controversy of the nomination. we have it on the home page of with web eastbound. wendy. >> turning to the campaign. donald trump won four of five republican primaries yesterday, including florida, marco rubio's home state. the loss was the final straw for rubio who suspended his campaign. even after all of the negative campaigning between these two, neither is willing to rule out rubio as a possible candidate for vice president. >> well, i think he's a fine person. and, you know, i'm looking -- look, 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.

donald trump on his victory. a big victory in florida. no. no. no. no. no. guys, we live in a republic and our voters make this decision and we respect that. it was a big win. >> governor rick scott also changing course tonight after refusing to support a candidate before yesterday's primary. tonight he is calling on republicans to come together, claiming it's a necessity in order to win the general election in november. the governor took to his facebook page. here is the fest to make that call to action and pledge his support for donald trump. he says the voters are speaking and they clearly want a businessman outsider to shake up washington. trump won every state but ohio yesterday. the wins boosting his delegate count to 696, well over half of the delegates required to win the nomination. ted cruz in second with 405. for the democrats, hillary clinton continues to pull away from bernie sanders, earning an extra 364 delegates in

clinton has racked up nearly 1600 of the 2382 necessary to win. sanders has just 844. but totals include super delegates. can you id this guy who police are calling an arsonist. st. pete police released this video of a suspected fire bug. they believe he has set five fires in the past two months in the crescent lake neighborhood. clifton french is live in the neighborhood. i understand that the target has been large plastic dumpsters. is that right. >> reporter: exactly. this is one of those dumpsters in these alleys where they have been set on fire. now, what investigators are saying is that this guy is simply walking up with a lighter or matches and setting anything that is on fire inside of these trash cans. fire after fire in just two

in the crescent lake neighborhood. plastic dumpsters melting into the pavement, catching anything nearby on fire as well. investigators say they believe someone is using matches or a lighter to simply spark whatever is inside. >> paper trash, everything that we would normally throw away. >> reporter: this is one of the latest fires, a melted dumpster in the alley. but investigators say this charred fence shows the danger. next time it could be a home with people inside. >> maybe we need to install a camera back here. >> reporter: holly schmidt lives next to where this fire happened. >> i hate to hear about things like this because it's a fantastic place to live. >> reporter: video caught this man setting a car on fire. there was another fire the very next day. on january 30th, four dumpsters went up in flames at this apartment complex, damaging several cars and a fence. another dumpster was set on fire in february. and just last friday, two

police say neighbors need to keep a close eye on what is happening. >> i hope them catch him. >> reporter: and some neighbors are taking that to heart. several people have set up cameras and motion-activated lights. police are asking anyone with security footage to come forward. check that footage out and see if there is anything suspicious. police say they cannot prove that every single one of the dumpsters was set intentionally but because of the close very suspicious. reporting live in st. petersburg, clifton french, abc action news. >> thank you, cliff. an update to the lane closure on park boulevard. a hydrant flooded the street. right now one lane is closed for repairs. that's park boulevard from 76 to 78 street. drivers are warned to avoid the it's a mess. back open.

weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> good afternoon, everybody. well, the beat goes on right back in the mid 80s across the area. a few brush fires and controlled burns down south. a couple of sprinkles in east central hillsborough county with temperatures well into the 80s east of i-75. closer to the beach, it's the fog burned off and it turned out to be a nice day with temperatures in the upper 70s. picture. all is quiet now but it won't stay that way. we have rain on the way and it's going to impact part of your weekend. not all of your weekend. we will pinpoint those details coming up in a couple minutes. really hectic day for people in washington, d.c. metro rail system closed for 24 hours. closed. causing traffic delays. a lot of traffic delays for commuters. more people taking the bus, putting the schedule 30 minutes behind at times. it was not easy to get to work. >> i'm going to have to call

can't make it and go back home. >> officials say an electrical fire caused major delays monday morning. they want to make sure there are no more faulty cables. massive fires and thick black smoke destroys a barn in south florida. coming up why what was inside the barn has the owner in mourning tonight. it creates more problems than it's worth really. preventing addiction. coming up, the first of its kind recommendation from the cdc and learn from those who know firsthand the problem with

>> this might help prevent pill abuse. >> reporter: they go by several names from oxycontin to vicodin. they are all considered opiates medications. they can treat pain. up to a fourth of people prescribed them get addicted and 40 people die from pill overdoses every day. >> it's a very dangerous class of drugs because you never know if you're taking a prescription pill or taking heroin when it's going to be the last time that you take it because there's no telling when your body is going to say that you've had enough. >> reporter: this woman who will call jill knows she is lucky to be alive. she abused pills like these for four years before finally getting help. >> i was kind of using them to party, go out in the evenings,

>> reporter: jill never had pain but through people she knew, getting her hands on pain pills was easy. >> they would have three different doctors at a time no problem circulating to continue to get more. >> reporter: while the government has been cracking down on doctor shopping and pill mills, a lot of people still get hooked after starting with a legitimate prescription. that's why the cdc is issuing new guidelines on opiates. they are recommending that doctors don't use the pills first in treating pain. following surgeries or injuries, not more than a week's worth of ms should be prescribed. doses that will stop people from getting addicted in the first place. >> as a community we into ed to start treating the addict and teaching them how to cope with life. if they have legitimate pain, to help them deal with that pain in a holistic fashion.

>> 12 horses are dead after a fire in lake worth. >> 27 horses were inside this barn when the fire started right about midnight. critical condition. the roof barn collapsed. they had hay and bedding inside that made it difficult for firefighters. the owner is heart broken over >> they're like my kids. i mean, i spent time every day with them. >> they're our four-legged kids. we watch them from being these little things that don't know how to get around. there's nothing that i can do it but pray for the ones that we saved. >> two firefighters were hurt. no word on their condition. investigators are trying to determine how this fire even started. now the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> well, a lot of folks are on spring break this week. and they hear there's going to be rain in the forecast. >> there is. >> kind of bums you out.

i think sunday looks a little better. still maybe cloudy but not rainy. earlier we were looking at both days. >> at least we get one good day. >> i actually think we do. monday looks to be beautiful. you look outside and not too shabby either, is it, from the apollo beach area. looking out over the water. the sunshine is out there. we have had a lot of sea fog lately. there's a good reason. for the cooler waters compared to the mid-80 afternoon temperature, what happens is the warmer air travels over the cooler water. and that air actually condenses and turns into a cloud right over the water. because that's all fog is. it's just a cloud. a cloud over the ground or maybe up higher. either way that gives us limited visibilities. we had it today, especially off shore. not as bad as yesterday morning. there will still be fog tomorrow morning. as things mix up a bit. in other words, the winds pick

for fog sort of settling down in on the area. titan doppler radar, one little sprinkle looked like it tried to pop up in hillsborough county. a controlled fire going in desoto county. temperatures in the mid 80s inland and 70s along the coast. mostly cloudy at the airport. saint pete is 77 and sunny. there is the satellite picture. as i said, we definitely had fog this morning. not nearly as widespread as yesterday morning. the moisture is building. when you have more moisture, higher dew points, you get a sea breeze going and temperature in the mid 80s as always possible a few stray showers could pop up. it happened today and tomorrow. our next significant weather maker, how it will impact your lives, will be later friday and into the weekend. the timing of course could be better. there is the fog tomorrow

the models are all over it, showing pretty widespread fog first thing in the morning. it will start along the coast and push inland. by 10:00, it's gone. it burns off. late thursday night, into friday, even hinting at another area of rain trying to roll through. not sold on that yet. 20% of showers. but our best chances are saturday afternoon through saturday evening. you look at friday afternoon, it looks actually pretty good. it's still going to be warm, with temperatures right through friday anywhere from the mid to upper 70s along the coast. there's your sea breeze, to the mid to upper 80s inland. yesterday a couple of folks reported up near 90 degrees. lake placid tomorrow 88. we're talking serious heat. temperatures at least 10 degrees above normal. but by early next week, we're going to get some refreshing air coming in from up north, with highs only around 70. until then, we have to have

possible on saturday. possibly even a couple of strong thunderstorms. at this point not sold on that. but it is something that we're keeping our eyes on. by sunday, it's gone. at least the rain is. i think the clouds are going to linger. and by monday, things look great. st. patrick's day, 82 and a good deal of warmth out there. down to 50% on sunday. look at the high on monday. upper 60s and lows around 50. more trouble tonight for former subway pitch man jared fogle. the prison encounter that left his bloodied and bruised. these signs causing controversy in ohio. the reason that some residents say the signs are insensitive. calls to 911 unanswered. and now a pasco woman wants to know why the disaster she tried to report and why she was told that nothing could be done

>> tmz is reporting that jared fogle was attacked in prison. >> they have uncovered documents regarding the attack. it happened on january 29th. according to tmz, an inmate the face. he was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of child pornography and crossing state lines to pay for sex with minors. a no crossing sign is getting ai lot of attention from drivers. it warns of suicidal deer. those that put up the sign says it is doing what they hoped for, getting drivers to take notice. residents in the small iowa town say deer are definitely a problem there. they're running in front of

vehicles and hitting a deer can be dangerous, even deadly. >> a lot of times when you see dents on cars, you just know that they hit a deer. >> we don't want anybody injured or killed. and we just felt that this would be an attention getter and it has been. >> some residents say the signs are insensitive and suicide is a serious issue. the signs cost about $40 each. next at 5:30, primary problems. the reason that a woman says she was forced to vote for the other team at the polls and how to make sure this doesn't happen to you in the general election. a high-speed chase ends after a driver flips over a fence. coming up, what he did before

>> live from the station taking action for you, this is abc action news. >> five fires, two months, one culprit. now at 5:30, the urgent search to find the person setting fires across the crescent lake neighborhood. investigators say the culprit is targeting dumpsters. police are asking anyone who may have security footage to take a look and see if they have caught anything suspicious. a florida appeals judge is ordering the sealed documents associated with an fbi investigation about the leaked video he made public. and hulk hogan's attorney planning to appeal that. bubba the love sponge was a no show today at court. but his ex-wife testified. she testified about the making of the sex tape. this is the greatest honor of my life.

marry me 28 years ago. >> an emotional merrick garland accepts president obama's nomination to the supreme court. the republican party plans to use a task force to block that nomination. they will attack garland's record and use the issue to go after democrats facing re- election. tonight we're hearing from some voters who didn't get to cast a ballot for the candidate they wanted. good eveningment i'm ashley glass. >> and i'm laura harris. wrong, plus the steps that you you. >> i kindly went up to them and i said i think you gave me the wrong ballot, i'm a democrat. >> reporter: she got a surprise when she showed up to this polling place. she intended to vote as a democrat for bernie sanders but she was listed as a republican. the 23-year-old says that has never been her party. she went to the election office to get it figured out but staff said that she had switched. >> i said i've never been asked