a fierp at a florida high school pep rally -- -- fire. surprise it's a snake. what was concerning about this snake and why it couldn't have come from the person living in that house. the move today that left houses destroyed by a hoverboard. the talk of tampa is the passing of the new marijuana measure.

this ordinance but here is what it changes. once the mayor signs this into effect, 20 grams of marijuana or less is going to be a ticket and a fine instead of sending you to jail or having to wrack up court fees. so this changes a lot of things for a lot of people if they're caught. >> i would imagine. with that the mayor said he will sign this but there were some people who, like you were saying, really didn't want this to happen. >> there were. opponents say it won't help addicts who have a serious problem because it doesn't set any thresholds when it comes to fines. you will just get fined over and over again. >> if they would have twaeked this i would have been for it but it's unlimited number of times when you give someone a second chance makes no sense to me.

assessment and also a threshold so you don't get a second chance over and over. >> something tells me this isn't the last of this. also today carson got big news for tampa and the super bowl. >> right, which we love to talk about because we have hosted two. we're upcoming for 2019 and also for 2020. but we are now going for three so the next three that is new for 2021 as well. administrators say we have a good shot. we have hosted the rmc and the bolly wood awards and two super bowls as well. we had to take a lot of these things into consideration. also remember raymond james is getting upgraded for $100 million so that's also in our favor.

hosted it in 2009 and you got the taxes and people coming in to the united states. that's going to bleed into requirements for hosting another super bowl. >> so tampa will find out if the nfl will give us one or more of the bids. atlanta will have a new stadium open by then and also la that could be ready by 2019. so we'll see what happens. thank you carson. since we were last on air, we have learned who the man is tampa police shot and killed early this morning. that's 53-year old sunny chin with his girlfriend there. she's talking to us and she's the one who called police this morning. we are hearing chin has had trouble in the 90s related to domestic violence. that's what brought police to the home in south tampa on

and killed outside. abc action news reporter clifton french joins us now. >> reporter: she was saying he was drunk and jealous about a friendship she had with her neighbor. he started to threaten her and she managed to lock herself in a bedroom and this window right here is where she climbed out and got to safety. when police arrived chin pointed a gun at them and went back in the home and after a while came back out of the house and shot at officers. this is a picture of a bullet proof shield the officers were carrying that he hit. police returned fire killing chin in front of the home. the girlfriend explained what happened before the shooting.

[ speaking in foreign language ] he fell down over here. he couldn't hurt me. i want to die, yes. >> reporter: we did some checking in and chin has a large criminal record from the # 0s in pinellas county starting with animal cruelty and assault and domestic violence and dui's. no tampa officers were injured but the officers involved in the shooting as is protocol have been put on administrative leave. reporting live in south tampa for the now tampa bay, i'm cliff french. >> i know what is on the screen but picture this. a woman moves from ohio and the first thing that greets her is a boa constrictor. animal control wasn't even available because it was so early in the morning.

we talked to the officers and the homeowner who said officers had to do something. >> i cannot deal with snakes. >> who would have thought you had so much in common with indiana jones. >> i can't even look at it. we're going to talk about the beautiful weather we got out there. >> a lot of folks don't want to look up north at beach weather. there's rain up there. there's cloud cover although some of that is still the sea fog and if you were watching that yesterday, 4:00 we had a great shot by the beach. that same shot was fogged in. now, look at the rain off to the north. this is what we were talking about yesterday. remember the first line of probably three lines. this in spite of the fact it looks close and that citrus

the res of the area stays ouch to our north -- -- rest. -- -- out. we'll let you know what's coming up weekend wiedz in a few minutes. restrictions easing up on cruises headed to cuba. the obama administration removing cuba on security risks. this makes it easier for cruises and cargo ferries to travel back and forth. saint petersburg mayor will travel to cuba next week to see rays play an exhibition game. . still ahead, why you might want to spend less this easter especially if you have children or grand kids to buy for.

tut's tomb. studies from november show two sealed off areas suggest there were caves off in the tomb. experts have reviewed the full data and that there's something inside. no one knows for sure what's back there. one theory is it's the remains of king tut's mother along with whatever goods were buried with her when she died. special ises with national geographic scare out another

walls and discover a way to entethe chamber.

it's dark in dublin now. but it was a sea of green. here in the states between saint

i'm sure a lot of work isn't getting done today especially outside our studios. look at what's going on behind you, bill. take it away. >> reporter: bring a live tv camera and people come and want to see what's going on. you can see this is part of the crowd out here for the street fest. close enough for this time of year. i don't need to tell you guys this. this is the fourth biggest drinking holiday of the year. number one is new year's and number two is christmas and number three is fourth of july. what about when you get to new york, i don't know that one but

everybody here is irish on this day, i found a real irish woman all the way from ireland. what is it like to see florida embracing your culture and heritage? >> it's beautiful. i love a different country can feel my culture. it's lovely to see people parting the way we do back at home and everyone is enjoying themselves. >> reporter: let me ask you, is deal in ireland as it is here? >> no, it's more just like a monday. >> in new york it is. >> in ireland it's a bigger deal. everyone is out having fun. >> reporter: you got the viking thing. >> i'm not a viking myself but i'm here representing my step dad who has been a great father

>> can you get a shot of this entire outfit? this is really what it's all about. wearing green and enjoying the green beer and the corned beef and cabbage and shepard's pie and the whole bit. it's going to continue here through midnight tonight. if you want to talk about food, we went to a place serving up five tons of corned beef. >> is it my mom's kitchen? she whips up a mean dish of corned beef. >> no, actually five tons. ten thousand pounds. thanks megan. >> thanks bill. make sure you bring some back. this saturday you can see the river get died green. the party is at curtison park. -- -- dyed.

expected to spend $2.4 billion on easter candy. six candy companies have agreeded not to advertise to kids under the age of 12. they make peeps and mike and ike's. hershey's and nestle promising not to advertise to children. kids are seeing more candy ads on tv now than the past. that's after they pledged not to target ads at young children. the companies have kept their pledges but findings show they need to tighten their definition

sea word ending it's breeding program of killer whales. all 29 of them at sea world now were either born there or spent most of their lives there. they won't be released into the wild because they don't have skills to survive on their own. they are going to focus on enrichment keeping them in an environment. sea world is holding a press conference about these changes. >> almost two years to this day i introduced a first of of its kind legislation that calls for a number of things. most importantly an end to captive breeding programs that will end captivity once and for all.

17 years as a state and local legislature is that good policy making sometimes takes time. so even though that first attempt to get a law passed on orca issues was not successful, i continued to educate myself and advocate to others with the goal of introducing new legislation in the current term. amidst the public debate that followed for the next two years to support ending orca captivity only grew. online petitions gained a million supporters. organizations pledged their endorsement and congress introduced a similar bill leading publications such as the los angeles times and washington

and the san diego union acknowledged orca captivity needed change. in december as the time for introducing new legislation grew closer, i took note of a number of changes that had taken place at seaworld and around the issue including an important decision as the california coastal commission had the hiring of a new ceo at sea world who might be up for a new conversation. i took it upon myself to write a private letter to him and the park president here in san diego. >> this is a press conference at sea world san diego with the president of the sea world and they are talking about ending their orca breeding program. much more on this on our website. you have to believe that a part of this has to do with the documentary, "black fish".

folks were exposed to things going on. a lot of local folks forget the first sea world wasn't the one in orlando. i think most folks think they are headed until the right direction. for us, they have rain rolling in by the weekend. the circles looks great and partly sunny skies but you look at the radar and there are definitely some showers out there and you can see that rain across the area. let's come back here, shall we? look at the rain. you can see decent rainfall total north of citrus county and areas up towards gainesville. take a closer look. so much for the evening walk unless you live in citrus county, the southern flank of it could touch on citrus. this whole area isn't working down our way so tonight there

this is sort of a telltale sign of things changing and big changes over the next couple of days. nothing today though with temperatures back in the mid to upper 80s and still in the 70s along the beach and a lot of folks were socked in this morning with widespread dense fog. look at our future cast. through 8:00 tonight you can see rains to the north and everything pushing east but for our area still dry. fog possible tomorrow morning and another area that brings us a better chance of showers later tomorrow. in my mind the bulk of the rain coming through will likely be some time on saturday. the europeans chose the same thing. by sunday morning at 10:00, it's pretty much done. if you need a day this weekend, little drier than the other sunday is your day because i do think on saturday we have a good chance of rain and maybe a couple thunderstorms. this evening partly cloudy skies and another muggy one with fog

we'll tell you about the cool down on the way. i'll tell you when it arrives coming up. another hoverboard house fire and the popular toy banned

the company segway saying the hoverboards infringe on their patton. they remain banned in places

their garage. this one in maryland caught their house on fire. the neighbor heard the smoke detector going off and the smoke was so thick she couldn't see across her living room. >> i opened my door and there was a big cloud of smoke that went throughout the whole home. it destroyed everything. my furniture can't be saved. >> melissa's ten year old left it plugging in the wall while they were gone. it was only plugged in for 30 minutes. $2 million in damage have been caused now because of the hoverboards. from starting your cars to opening a hotel door we are becoming the keyless generation but at what risk?

a fire emergency in a high school gym. students captured this pep rally school. >> reporter: several students took video as the fire performer caught on fire himself. atlantic high school students say when they found out it wasn't part of the show fear

>> everybody started screaming. door. palm beach county fire rescue says the performer was doing fire breathing tricks and the flames got out of control. first responders say seven students needed treatment from extinguishers. >> it's scary. especially if you can't breathe. we did treat several individuals were nonlife threatening injuries. >> the fire performer still in the hospital with severe burns. no students were seriously hurt. in delray beach, jacqueline powell abc action news.

areas with a high number of sex offenders show lower home values and crime increases in zip codes with the number of sex offenders as well. major cities are shown in the circle how many living in that area. the darker the circle, the more living there. that information is public record and you can get the same kind of information by checking the state law enforcement website. this one is showing the areas surrounding our abc action news station. you can see where the registered sex offenders lived. have you cringed at the gas prices? refineries are shutting down for maintenance so you can expect to

pump go past $2. $1 and 99 is the trend in tampa today. a lot of people are road tripping and we have a tool right now on our website with gas buddy.com that lets you figure out how much you will spend in gas alone. here you see a trip from here to panama city in a 2010 toyota corolla will run $40. still cheaper than flying. you can find the latest under our traffic section. the cheapest gas in tampa bay now is $1.77 off of nebraska and fletcher. you can look at that when you need to, to get the cheapest gas prices. an extra safety feature you will see in new cars and not pay

>> reporter: nearly two dozen car makers agreed to put automatic braking within six years. the system uses cameras and radar and other sensors to see anything in your way on the road. it will slow your car down or stop for you if you don't do it yourself. this technology could do a lot for safety on the road. the recent study for the institute for highway safety shows automatic braking can cut rare end crashes by 40%. that adds up to 700 fewer crashes every year. adding to the feature, it's a

safety advocates say voluntary agreements could take up to three years longer to get the technology in cars if it went through the long process of issuing the mandatory rules. still ahead, we will all be mar vling at the acrow battic affects.

[ inaudible ] . >> the number one goal to defeat obama and he said publicly and that's what they attempted to do make sure obama was not re-elected. you're listening to senator harry reid talking about president obama's nomination for

0. isis attacks on christian groups and other ethnic minority groups in the region are a wake up call. >> we know hundreds of men and older women in town and trapped them on mount sin jar without allowing access to food or medical care. without our intervention it was clear those people would have been slaughtered this is the first time the u.s. has declared gentlemen know jen

decade -- -- genocide. you may have noticed more rumbling in tampa. this weekend it's back free for families saturday. the air force actually needs pilots. one south pilot short and with that they need drones for intelligence. they call it one of the most valuable battlefield assets. the epa comes under fire for what they did and didn't do in the flint water crisis. hear what people are saying coming up.

frank sinatra jr. passing away is really taking a toll on people. anyone who purchased tickets for his show tonight will get full refunds. he was 72 years old. this next story is for everyone. i know you're convinced you have to use all your electronic devices each and every day. i have my commute er computer and ipads and iphones. did you know kids are spending as much time as a full work day on technology? it's an average of seven hours a day. nicole is here to show us it's nicole? >>reporter: that's right. classrooms don't just have the technology we have in our studio

the kids use that and they even take tests on their cell phones so it's hard for us as parents to really keep track. >> use your paint brush. >> you will find kids more savvy. they work on creating their own digital houses. >> i decided to add people in it. >> it's a lot funner than using pens and papers because our hands get tired. >> a dozen students and six graders are constantly using new innovative technology. >> these kids are digital natives. they were born with technology. when they came in, we already had cell phones and computers and tablets. >> reporter: just over the past

been added to the classroom. there's more screens than paper. >> we purchase ipads and desk tops and nooks. >> reporter: that's only the beginning of the smart board and smart clicker and smart phone so how can parents truly know how much kids are on devices? excessive use can lead to sleep and eating disorders and behavior issues. >> we are in constant communication that are assigned to kids through our student database system. >> reporter: a pod cast is teaching the history of saint patrick's day. >> it's customary to wear green. >> reporter: this is meant to prepare them for high school and college and the working world. so here's the thing, it's hard for parents to track how much in school because there's so many places that students are using

you have your math and science and social studies but they still have peshgse p.e and they're disconnected. take a look at your screen. mr. president and the first lady are about to have a baby -- those are the names of the bald eagle at the national arbor in dc. the american eagle foundation saying they should break out of their shell as early as tonight. this is the first bald eagle pair to nest in this spot since 1947. we have a link if you want to

you have heard of carrier pigeons back in the day. now they are on pollution control. they are wearing a tiny backpack. it's a device measuring nitrogen dioxide, another air pollution we can't see. researchers outfitted these ten trained pigeons to help them track pollution over the last three days. air pollution contributes to the death of an estimated 7 million people each year. >> how about the word arboretum? that's a good word. >> yeah, how about rain? that's a four letter word.

over hillsborough bay and it looks nice out. we had fog this morning and clouds in the area but look at the rain to the north lurking there. it's going to stay off to our north tonight although maybe citrus county could pick up action. most of this could push off to the east back towards gainesville and across to the east of the state. we have a frontal boundary hanging out for the next couple north. and what goes on little pieces front. every now and again one will bump up the rain chances. that will cool us off early by next week. we are in the upper 80s now across polk county and it's not just the heat but the humidity. the dew points are high too and that's why it feels unusually warm this time of year. the beaches started off foggy

out to be a nice day. this evening all in all, dry across the area and the clouds are lingering and we will see fog again tomorrow morning. eventually this frontal boundary is going to come on through and hang out for the next two or three days. that means rain chances continue to bump up through saturday morning. notice totals are pretty small so in terms of measurable rain that's going to give you time to do something outdoors it will be on saturday. through sunday afternoon when i think it actually begins to clear out, we're not talking about heavy rain. maybe half an inch. so light to moderate showers coming through and it won't be widespread. i'm not ready to call it a wash out but saturday will be a cloudy rain off and on day and then things cool off as

how about highs in the 60 on monday? overnight, partly cloudy skies. the rains return by friday. we'll try to pin point the timing yet again coming up at the top of the hour on abc action news. breaking news. a jury found a phoenix man guilty of planning an attack on a cartoon contest in texas. the man is guilty of supporting isis. authorities say the man motivated two isis followers who were killed in the shoot out while trying to carry out a ram page at the anti islam event. he also gave them guns. he and the two gunmen traveled to the middle east to join islamic state fighters. it's one of the first times persons charged in the u.s. related to the terrorist group. the michigan governor and head of the epa facing four

today about their roll in the ongoing water crisis. hundreds of people showed up from flint trying to get answers. >> reporter: three bus loads of people came from flint, michigan to hear their governor face an angry panel. they found no straightforward answers. >> they should have rushed in sooner to rescue the people of michigan from governor snyder's vindictive administration and utter incompetence at every level. >> you had the authority and backing of the federal government and you did not act and you should step down. >> reporter: if these members of congress sound mad, it's nothing compared to the hundreds of people angered here. three bus loads of people from flint, michigan packed into a small hearing room spilling in the hallway and overflow rooms to hear and see their governor

>> you did not declare a state of emergency until january 2016. state's exhibit that true? >> i took immediate action. we started doing water testing and blood testing. >> governor snyder, possibly plausible. >> i'm highly upset what has happened to my town. >> i'm not pointing fingers or shifting blame. plenty of that to share and neither will help the people of flint. governor snyder and republicans blame the epa and democrats blame the state. >> the fact that they're not owning up to things makes it hard to rebuild trust with the community. >> there were calls for both snyder and mccarthy to resign. >> be a man about it and tell us like it is. >> i saw a guy in a motorized

had enough. that right there struck me. i've had enough. that's why i got on the bus to come here. >> reporter: if the people here looking for answers they left angry because they didn't get any. >> we're doing this for our health and family and the children and for flint. >> reporter: people in flint still drinking from bottled water and no one has been charged in the case and at the epa no one has been fired. when asked multiple times if the epa did anything wrong, the administrator would not give a straightforward answer. the governor says he takes full responsibility but will not resign because he wants to fix the problem. one of the victims of former subway pitch man jared fogle is suing him in court. fogle is serving 15 years for

only been punched once in the face. the inmate's family says he was paying for protection. he is a minor and suing fogle and russell taylor the head of his foundation also serving time for child porn. she was secretly recorded for taking showers in the home. ann kelly has more. >> reporter: we're outside the u.s. federal courthouse in downtown indianapolis where the lawsuit against fogle and his wife were filed this week. something happened in her home and she could have prevented it, this suit claims. so how do you prevent this situation? you could avoid having kids over

the attorney the key here is to provide reasonable care. under indiana law and many other state laws if a child is in your home you are expected to care for them as their parents would. >> the standard is if you have a where something bad has happened and it's believed that parents weren't keeping a good watch over the kids and there was something that should have been done that would make a difference, then the possibility is there. >> if you take full responsibility of the children in your home, supervisor them and don't turn a blind eye to danger you should be able to avoid one of these. reporting for the now in

chaos at school tonight. the saint patrick's day performance that ended. . thank you for joining us. tampa police say officers shot back after sunny chin fired the first shot and that shot actually hitting the officer's shield. >> cliff french joins us life from south tampa with what led to this morning's shooting. >> reporter: his girlfriend said chin was drunk and angry and she hid in this bedroom and climbed out the window to get to safety. only hours after her boyfriend was shot and killed by police, she shows us how she escaped her home last night kicking out this

neighbor's home to call 911. she said her boyfriend for 18 years was drunk and angry. >> he grabbed my neck. he said it's going to hurt you. he really really angry. he think i love my friend more than him. >> reporter: when police arrived chin had a gun and wouldn't come out of the house. police listened and tried to talk him out. he still had a gun and took a shot at an officer who then opened fire. >> about that time boom. >> reporter: bullet holes cover cars in the driveway. chin died only feet away from this bin of empty beer bottles .