the end of the month. i took the organize's concerns to fdot. before the festival? >> our hope was that the contract would be done but there was no guarantee that would happen. >> reporter: even though they stopped construction for the duration of the festival he worries about the big orange barrels and barricades. >> there are people going to be there. we are hoping not to have any >> reporter: the lanes are clearly marked and drivers should not have a problem but he understands the concern. >> our interstate is ready to handle the traffic. that ramp is set up that it will be able to handle the traffic moving through there. will there be congestion? certainly. >> reporter: three officers will be directing traffic during peek times. >> your best bet is to divert it. >> we have team coverage to help you get around the confusing construction. our road warrior hilary zalla

take so you are not sitting in traffic for hours. >> taking i-4 to thonotosassa road is the most direct route festival. plant city police department is asking you to consider an alternate route. this interchange can get really busy. i want you to know what you are supposed to do if you are headed to the festival. street. right here. the exit that is just to the west is branch forbes road. that's where they are asking you to go. you'll take branch forbes road, head south and martin luther king boulevard east. you'll run into the festival if you take that route. i know not everyone is taking i-4 east. some of you are coming from the west, south and north. i have posted more detours for you. search for our app at 10 news wtsp in the app store.

if you are braving the traffic and taking your family to the strawberry festival it runs until march 13th. 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. midway opens at 10:00 on the weekends and noon every other day. tickets are $10 for adults. $5 for kids. a change to the way criminals are sentenced to death in florida. if governor scott signs off on the law passed by state lawmakers it will be up to a jury, not a judge, to give someone the death penalty. ten out of 12 jurors will have to volt for the death sentence to happen. a change had to be made after supreme court ruled florida's sentence was unconstitutional since a single judge had the final say. two executions and cases across florida have been put on hold while congress worked to change the law. the republican party is getting a strong warning from the past. 2012 presidential nominee mitt romney is jumping in the

>> donald trump is a phony. a fraud. his promises are as worthless as a degree from thump university. if we republicans chose donald trump as our nominee the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminishes. >> also laying into trump today was john mccain. trump pointed out he endorsed mitt romney in 2012. >> you can see how loyal he is. he was begging for my endorsment. i could said drop to your knees. he would have dropped to his knees. >> you can expect ted cruz, marco rubio and john kasich to go after him tonight. new information about shocking video recorded at a school in baltimore. advocacy groups say baltimore's public school police officers need to change their policies and add more oversight after an

hitting a young man. the group say this is one of many cases where school police used too much force against students. baltimore public school district has its own police force. investigators are still trying to figure out if the young man in the video is a student. hogan is back in court today for jury selection. he is suing gawker for $100 million over a leaked sex tape. today attorneys for both sides questioned the remained 91 jurors. the main questions are they familiar with hulk or a fan of his past? they also wanted to know where potential jurors got their news and how close they followed it. the goal is to determine who they or may not be familiar with the case. lawyers have to narrow the pool down to nine jurors by monday. developing tonight, parents in highlands county say they are concerned after yet another

wednesday a language arts teacher abruptly resigned after allegations of taking pornographic pictures of two 18- year-old students. highland sheriff's office is confirming it is investigating a teacher at avon park high school for sending a nude picture to herself to a 16-year- old. a highlands county middle school teacher was charged with having sex with a 14-year-old student. >> it is like a small town and what's been going on with the middle school and the high school, it is just like sad. >> 10 news spoke with the highlands county school district and the sheriff about the rash of incidents. we are digging deeper into this at 6:00. google is donating $1 million to help stop the spread of the zica virus. google says searches for the zica virus have jumped 3,000% since november.

with the goal of raising awareness of zica to reduce mosquito populations and develop a vaccine. google plans to send scientists to unicef to focus on how the virus spreads. a former soccer star is donating her brain to science after she passes away. you may remember her as the team member who ripped off her jersey on the world cup field while celebrating her team's win. she is giving her brain to scientists studying long term effects of concussions and the degenerative brain disease cte. scientifics have never been able to diagnosis it in a living person. 300 brains have been donated to the research program already. only 7 have been from women. a change to the way you eat lunch.

you antibiotic-free chicken as an option for sandwiches. subway is the latest fast food chain to move to antibiotic- free meat. that switch could prevent a catastrophe because you have heard that antibiotics are not good for you. there is more to the story. the danger isn't about the antibiotics themselves but the soup you are bugs that evolve to resistant the antibiotics used by large farms. those drug resistant germs enter the food supply. according to the cdc, 23,000 year. the question stands what will happen to your wallet when the free. >> the price of the meals will not go up much, if at all. >> they seem to be making changes without having price increases to the consumer. >> in september a report graded

use of antibiotics in their meat. only panera, chipotle, chick- fil-a, mcdonald's and dunkin' donuts got passing grades. looking at the roads i-275 southbound howard frankland bridge normal backups on the northbound side. another look here i-4 branch forbes road. a little bit of a slow down. keep that in mind. a lot of people there are heading two and from the strawberry festival. >> a live look over clearwater beach. there are storms on the way.

there is no doubt you want crime off the streets. >> a man started serving two decades in prison for firing a warning shot in self defense. for that shot he was charged with aggravated assault. bo zimmer found out the later move won't help people already serving time.

i grabbed it and loaded it and fired warning shots from the driver's side windows. >> reporter: eric white was 23 years old in 2006. he was leaving a bar when a group of men surrounded his truck. >> the things i did were to protect myself. >> reporter: no one was hurt. he had no criminal history. but a judge sentenced him to 20 years in florida state prison for aggravated assault. >> it is like the wind got sucked out of me. i looked at my parents. >> i could not believe it. i went home and cried all night. >> it was hard. >> reporter: even though no one was hurt or touched, if a jury convicts you of aggravated assault florida's 10, 20 life law requires a minimum mandatory 20 year sentence. that's what happened to white. at the time of sentencing the judge made a point of saying he was bound by the legislator.

a guy had a child molestation probation. >> reporter: it has been nine years since the sentence. one that's taken a toll on white's entire family, sister. >> all the christmases. all the births. the growing up. the parties. we don't get to spend with him. keeps happening. the grieving never ends. >> reporter: now an uncle, his two young nephews, can only visit him in prison. >> he would have had less time had he gone out and gotten drunk killed somebody. >> no one was physically harmed. when did this start making sense? it doesn't. it never made any sense. >> reporter: in late february governor rick scott signed a

aggravated assault charge from the 10 color 20 life law. what happened to him won't happen to anyone else. >> even preventing anyone else from falling in the same situation is wonderful. >> reporter: it doesn't help wyatt. he still has 11 years left to serve behind bars. >> you have to play the hand you are dealt. and not allow bitterness or resentments to enter in. >> reporter: after failed post conviction appeals he said he is done fighting. >> whoever god has in store will come to pass. resting in that and knowing i'm not forgotten. >> what a powerful story. >> incredible outlook for being locked up. he's been in there nine years. >> i think the question we are all wanting to know is what are the odds that maybe something will happen in his case? >> the carry thing is the law has been changed. it is not retroactive. he is stuck there to serve out

his only hope now is that the board or the governor himself would sign something that would pardon him to be released from prison. coming up tonight at 6:00, we'll talk with the director of families against mandatory minimums. they are fighting for his case to be reviewed and for all of the other case that fall under the state category. good evening. very powerful story there. as we are tracking a cold front it is time to talk about tonight and your weekend forecast. cloudy skies are expected. instead of a blue sky it has been a white sky. most of today has been around

we are watching temperatures start to warm in the middle part east of i-75. we are also keeping these clouds going out there for tonight. as we are headed into tomorrow morning, a cold front will move through before sunrise. i am expecting that these will produce mainly just some light rain and the coverage is low. 30 to 40% of the entire central florida region, including west central florida on our coast. again, not a big deal other than you might encounter some damp roads early in the morning. if you are someone who gets on the roads at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. the 8:00 to 9:00 drivers, we'll be transitioning to sunshine. majority of the day will be behind this weak cold front and nice and warm. like the last front we'll know it has come through by the winds from the northwest kicking up 5 to 15 knots.

moderate chop on the bay. as we are looking at the water temperature coming up tides around lunchtime for our high tide. low tide 3:47. behind this front what little showers that are out there will not reduce our pollen count. we need heavier rain than we'll get and more longer periods of time. it may help for the first couple hours of friday. by the afternoon oak trees, cedar and pine trees kicking back up in the air. that will stay the course for the weekend. next couple weeks take your allergy medicine. seven-day forecast the few showers we see 3:00 to 7:00 is going to be it. just a few showers by 7:00 it is done. this front, like the last one, only difference is the rain showers will be a dry one and no coal behind it for the majority of friday. 55 to start saturday morning. actually warmer behind this front saturday with sunny skies.

we are going to 78 in tampa on sunday. suburbs will likely be in the 80s. we are seeing tampa's temperatures reach the 80s next week. that will mean suburbs likely mid to upper 80s for the middle of next week. winds turn southeast tuesday and wednesday. they'll be breezy. i'm watching behind this front one other system a week from now. models are still going back and forth as to whether it breaks up or whether we see rain or storms. we'll keep tracking it and talk about your weekend forecast. beach and boating, all of that coming up in the 5:30 half hour. a south carolina teacher fired over sexy photos is on the defense tonight. i'm reginald roundtree. all new on "10 news at 5:30" her life has been turned upside down.

>> it is telling me someone in the neighborhood is having a cardiac arrest. a new way a local community is taking charge in hopes of saving a life. a family pet was inside this car as it caught fire in a walmart parking lot. see how the right person was in the right place at the right time to save the dog's life. those stories and more coming up next. a principal tries to put a stop to young love in the classroom. the rules laid out to keep kids focused on school work instead of each other. 10 news and the tampa bay lightning teamed up to give away a vip prize pack to the april 2nd lightning versus new jersey devils game. one winner will receive signed team gear. all you have to do is watch 10 news this morning next week for the word of the day and enter to win through our facebook page. you heard jim saying rain is on the way for the morning.

a school in texas is cracking down on dating to keep

it is no secret rumors about who likes who are coming from elementary school. this lists talked about the action that will be taken if you are talking about going steady, public displays of affection, including passing love notes and anything else learning. some parents don't see anything wrong with that. >> as parents we should be talking to our kids when it is appropriate to show those in a feelings aren't wrong. >> school district agrees and told parents the students would not be getting into trouble for dating or talking about dating. the letter was sent by a first year principal who didn't check with the district first.

astronaut scott kelly's record journey in space is over. his scientific journey is just beginning. sciences are looking at what 340 days in space did to his body by comparing him to his twin brother. one of the noticeable differences is scott is two inches taller after the time in space. scientists are also going to get a look at his genetic structure to see if that has changed. he'll also go through mental health exams. nasa wants to learn everything they can so scientists know what to expect from future long term trips to mars. it is a cool new crime- fighting tool. why st. pete police are looking for so-called super recognizers.

toes, noses, eyes, hormones know, too. dogs know. kids know. st augustine knows. debs know. guys who peaked in high school know. oh yea, this guy? he definitely knows. scotts bonus s.

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switch to fios good evening. i'm reginald roundtree. i'm jeannie dean. we are staying on top of three big stories happening now. obama administration is allowing thousands of pregnant women and children in flint, michigan to get medicaid. that's in response to lead in the city's tap water. waiver allows those exposed to blood monitoring and help services for the next five years. power outage in syria comes in the midst of a cease-fire.