in pinellas county i'm on top of a crash on i-275. you'll see it on the northbound exit ramp to gandy bridge. this is not blocking any lanes either. injuries are reported. again, watch out for police on scene there. pinellas county you are looking great with all of your majors. no significant delays. we are in green everywhere. veterans expressway, i-275, i- 75. look at i-275 now. we are definitely seeing heavier traffic. this is a live look at fowler avenue. all of the head lights coming south. north is much quieter. your drive time is 15 minutes from the apex to i-4. no delays yet. looking live of i-4 west of kathleen road in polk county. you can see it is quiet. traffic is picking up a little bit. so far if you are traveling from lakeland into a tampa for work, from polk parkway to i-75 along i-4 it is taking you 15 minutes. looking at our majors in sarasota and manatee county. you can see a delay on u.s. 301. it is 32 miles per hour heading south past state road 70. i-75 is looking great. no delays there just yet. bobby? >> thank

corey dierdorff is heading to a very serious crash in pinellas county, pinellas park. u.s. 19 in the kenneth city area. traffic moving pretty good on u.s. 19 where he is but he's going to the crash where we're hearing there are multiple it's happening at u.s. 19 and 49th street north. so has he gets there and has more details we will bring that to you. elsewhere we are still keeping an eye on this crash in manatee county in bradenton, cortez road at 14th street west. still hearing there's some roadblock in the northbound and eastbound lanes though my traffic indicators are in the green here. you can see a slight slowdown there because of police activity. elsewhere in the bay area the interstates looking pretty good. here we are at i-275 and fowler, seven minutes from here to downtown tampa. >>> >>> a commuter train derails in northern california. at least one car overturning into a nearby creek. it's 30 miles north of san jose. deputies say a downed tree fell on the tracks during heavy rain causing the train to jump the tracks. nine people were hurt, four seriously. it

and pinellas, 580, we have a crash. and wesley chapel, an accident state road 56 at mansfield boulevard. >> thank you. >>> and thank you for joining us on this tuesday morning. our next newscast is first at 4:00. >> and stick with nbc news and the "today" show throughout the morning. we will extensive coverage for e have it. wel take abreak, allow our stations to reset. we'll be back with you in a second. >>> good morning. breaking news. terror in brussels. powerful explosions rocking the airport and the city subway system overnight. killed. dozens more injured. this morning, the chilling images from inside the airport and underground, as passengers are evacuated from train cars tunnels. a senior counter-terror official this morning telling nbc news, isis, the terror group, is likely behind the attacks. the hunt for suspects is underway today, tuesday, march

a batch of light rain is working from pinellas. that will be moving to the northeast about 35 miles per hour. we have heavier activity off to the southwest that we'll be watching throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. that will finally wind down overnight tonight. then we get more sunshine in the forecast for tuesday and wednesday. i'm talk about your weekend coming up. >>> time now is 6:13. it is monday march 14th. >>> this is a look at today's top stories at 6:00. >> we all got together to address this problem. >>> right now two police officers are in the hospital after a stolen car crashed into their truck. it happened overnight on central avenue and 54th street six people in the stolen car violence at donald trump rallies over the weekend. today the gop frontrunner will be in tampa for another rally. >> absolutely frightening. it is one thing for it to be certainly high but to see the flow and the motion there is definitely scary. >>> rivers are rising to historic heights in louisiana. wide-spread flooding has dam

. >>> we begin with continuing coverage of breaking news in pinellas county. we are over the school bus crash, happening at east lake road at tarpon woods boulevard. the driver of the other vehicle was not injured as well. but we will bring you more becomes available. >>> now to a critical day for the presidential candidates. polls begin to close in an hour and a half in some of the super tuesday states and this fight could be over on both sides if donald trump or hillary clinton win big tonight. candace mccowan joins us now >> reporter: there were many who were hoping but realistically it's a long shot. outside of an early voting location in temple terrace, some voters know the candidate that they voted for could very well not be in the race two weeks from now. >> afraid that everybody is going to vote for trump. >> yeah. >> reporter: 12 states this super tuesday will have a huge impact on this primary. if polls prove correct, donald trump could win in most states taking a large portion of the delegates. >> i think we will see some surprises, certainly in tex

so that would be affecting people from pinellas into the tampa area. cars are still getting on the bridge, from the tampa side of the bridge. cars still getting on but they are getting stopped once they get there. so if you have not left yet don't try to get on the you can take the franklin across or hillsborough from tampa road through oldsmar. in the opposite direction the eastbound lanes are open but look at that, it's taking 16 minutes to get across now. you might want to talk the howard frankland, that is taking just six minutes or the gandy bridge, just eight minutes. other problems. all in the green on the 75. >>> good morning. we have a few showers continuing this morning. nothing terrible or thunderstorms, but you can see that narrow stream of showers off-shore. in fact some of them have been making their way onshore. that is the trend thought the morning. we'll continue to see those coming in, in the northeast track here. some of them will be on the more moderate side. we'll watch that. but they will tend to weaken as they come. in i'm not ex

pmeantime also in pinellas pcounty. pthis is 275 at pinellas point pdrive. pwe have a crash reported in the parea. pyou can see looks pretty jammed pup in northbound direction. pwe do have lane blockages preported. pwe do have delays building pbasically pinellas pointe drive pup to 54th avenue south. pso plan stroo time outdoor you pcan keep an eye on it a keep you pupdated. p>> we know you will. pthank you. phappening today, this is great a plocal marine and his family will pget the home that he they all pdeserve. pthis is a part of the military pmake over show that you may have pseen on the lifetime tv network. pfor more on all of this get to pwalter allen in pinellas park. pthis marine, has a purple heart precipient, right? pactually right here on the pmantle. urple heart recipient. pdevin kyle is his name. phe was actually shot in pafghanistan at number of psurgeries since he's been back. pmilitary make over. pthat'sing what go to happen ptoday. pone co-hosts, biggest ersonality anyway. pthe good morning. psomething like 90 surgeries. p90. pvery serious

avoid that area and look at pinellas. this is looking out from the hotel. beach saying the same thing. it is better in parts of northern pinellas and the clear blue skies. this is limited to the coastal areas. a huge mess out there and it is close to a big difference in temperatures so coastal spots like st. pete at 76. we hop across i-75 and we have 81 in riverton. 82 mulberry. some areas but the coastal areas are a nuisance out there to say the least. storm tracker 10 not tracking rain that we are seeing this low clouds along the coastal areas and that is probably not going to clear out this afternoon. even right along this area. offshore is going to remain a mess overnight. not a great day to be on the water. in tampa temperatures in the low 80s this afternoon. pinellas county, likely not to hit 80 degrees today. for the overnight because of the southeast winds, still warm and muggy. you can see the difference, 85 dade city, 86 zephyrhills. 78 st. pete for the high. 82 across the bridge in tampa. 79 sarasota. lakeland

in just a few hours, construction workers will break ground on the pinellas county. a huge new highrise condo and it will tower 41 stories over beach drive and drastically change the skyline in the booming downtown area. 10news reporter sarah hollenbeck is live on first avenue north where the new one st petersburg tower will stand in less than 2 years. sarah, give us an idea of how big this is? imagine how long a football field is. now, imagine 1 and a half football fields stacked up right here in the downtown st pete skyline. this building will be so tall in fact that the companies working to build it, have to persuade the federal aviation administration to raise the allowed skyrise height to 500 feet and divert air traffic getting to albert whitted airport. right now-- developers are seeing a lot of demand for new skyrises in both the one st petersburg tower is one of 1,200 residential units either recently completed or under construction right in tampa, at least a dozen projects are underway now that will double the amount of people living in downtown. the st pete

in just a few hours-- hulk hogan will be back inside a pinellas county courtroom for day 2 in his trial against gawker. it all centers around a leaked sex tape. 10news reporter sarah hollenbeck is outside the pinellas county courthouse. sarah, hogan will take the stand again this morning and this time face tough questions from the defense. today they're expected to continue grilling hogan about the sex tape-- pressing on to find out if he knew there were cameras in the room and if he "invited" gawker's coverage of his sex life by boasting publicly about his sexual prowess for years. hogan told a packed courtroom he is "completely humiliated" by the 41-second video posted 4 years ago on gawker's website. and now he wants $100 million from the blogsite for damages. the video showed hogan having consensual sex with hogan's lawyer says the video shattered hogan's reputation and relationship with his kids. gawker sees its post as protected speech under the first amendment of the u.s. constitution, and contends it was reporting on a celebrity who publicly discussed his sex life. here's what i

i think pinellas will be getting in on that. they tend to weaken as they head further to the north and east. you see what happens, they kind of get little stronger as far as the showers, then weaken heading in. that is the trend this morning. i think by the time we get to 11:00 we'll dry out completely. still a lot of clouds left over. despite that we'll be warm. temperatures now upper 60s to lower 70s. look at the humidity as far as the dew point. we're getting into now between muggy and oppressive, 65 to 70- degree deurmts. it will make it feel muggier and warmer than 78 by lunchtime. then we'll have the temperatures in the low to mid- 80s as we head through the afternoon so. let's check on the roads and once again everything's going to be off this morning. we're going to have different light at different times. so we want you to wake up and slow down. >>> we have a traffic alert. just getting confirmation the westbound lanes on the courtney campbell causeway are closed so that is if you're heading into pinellas county. this i

eagle 8hd is over a fire in a restaurant in pinellas park. businesses around the cozy corner have been evacuated. >> reporter: let's push in real close. this is the cozy corner restaurant and earlier, a fire broke out. a lot of smoke. you can see it is still an active scene. plenty of firefighters on scene. they did like you said evacuate the buildings. the good news is a lot of the smoke has dispated and most of the fire is out. however, crews are still on scene as i pull back wide. it's still an active scene. the businesses are still evacuated so avoid the area >> we will update that story on wfla.com and here on newschannel8. >> we will be back at 11:00. have a great night. me tv pilot she hosted after her own hotel nightmare. plus, the breakdown on erin's courtroom win. >> how much of the $55 million she'll actually see. >> and reaction to the verdict from the new "dancing" cast just revealed today. >> i'm glad that justice is coming her way. >>> padma lakshmi's recipe for scandal. >> i'm human. i have made some mistakes. >> inside her sa

it's a tough drive in pinellas county. in st. pete, following this for you throughout the morning, folks. what you need to remember is that central avenue is completely blocked as they continue their investigation and so forth right at 54th street where the big accident happened. again, central avenue completely closed down. just go up and take 1st avenue north or south, they run parallel and they are excellent at getting by through the area. traffic still light in the area. and again, an easy alternate. so that's good news. and big issue on the courtney campbell causeway, westbound lanes are blocked here. there's an accident involving a semi-truck, another vehicle and a pole has been knocked down. never good when there's an accident but especially not good when there's a pole knocked down because it takes time to get the pole out of the roadway. if you're headed westbound, take the howard franklin bridge instead of the courtney campbell causeway. eastbound, just got some delays but leave the house five minutes early and you shou

tampa police told us they will have both inside and outside the convention center. in pinellas county major trump critic. pinellas county republicans listened to south carolina at their lincoln dinner. 10 news reporter jonathan petramala spoke to governor haley about the violence on the campaign trail. rumbles at rallies now becomming a rallying cry against donald trump on the campaign trail south carolina governor nikki haley talked to pinellas coupnty republican's about how trump divides people. coupnty republican's about how trump divides people. but haley couldn't unite the room behind her candidate. only around a third of the room willing to cheer for rubio, just three days before the florida primary as divided as the party appears now, all republicans still stand united against in pinellas county, jonathan petramala, 10 news wtsp. crime alert! police are trying to figure out what happened to a woman found dead in largo sunday morning... someone found her body while walking near 145th street north and starboard lane. investigators say they've identified the woman through fingerpr

it seems to be isolated in pinellas. thank you, adrienne. >>> hundreds of people at a funeral service failed to notice a huge mistake. >> coming up, who pointed it out and what happened. >>> and then the two have been at it for weeks. now the fbi is getting some good news about getting into the latest on the battle between apple and the fbi. you're watching news channel 8 today. our bacteria family's been on this cushion for generations. alright kiddos! everybody off the backpack, we made it to the ottoman. i like to watch them clean, but they'll never get me on the mattress! finally there's a disinfectant mist designed for sofas, mattresses and more. introducing new lysol max cover. its innovative cap has a 2x wider spray that kills 99.9% of bacteria. max cover is another great story. the death of one's mother, it's never easy but for one new york family, a tragic mix-up made that tough situation even worse. the 81-year-old mother of lee september. service. service. but the funeral homemade a terrible mistake and it was

some of the drugs are cheap, pinellas county. we will hear with the local sheriff about the issue tonight on abc action news at 5:00 and 6:00. >> right now we are watching history in the making. >>> the first official talks between the united states and cuba in more than five decades. president obama met with cuban president raul castro in havana. he wants to lift the trade embargo and return to gaunt tan monnet val base in cuba. he talked with castro about democracy and human rights. >> the ongoing engagement is guided by one overarch anger, advancing the mutual interest of our countries and improving the lives of our peek, both cubans and americans. >> president obama attended the ceremony before meeting with castro. the memorial honors jose, the independence from spain more than a century ago. we have the news there not only visit but they are about to play cuba's national baseball baseball team. >> reporter: we are on the field where the historic game will happen between the tampa bay rays and the cuba team, the first time th

pinellas county. pinellas side. in either direction is looking good. drivetime is about six minutes across into tampa or pinellas county. polk county. you are looking great on polk parkway. i-4 is getting heavier if you are traveling into tampa from work. you will see that delay is headed to plant city. from polk parkway to 75 on i-4, drivetime is 60 minutes. in sarasota and manatee county, the construction has wrapped up that i 75 south of university parkway silanes are back open and we did have a left elaine blocked going southbound >>> warmer out there this morning. we do have temperatures that are in the 40s and 50s. the warming trend gets going today plus more humid. that will introduce a few showers tomorrow and a few more weekend ahead. we are close to 80 today and low to mid-80s for the weekend for the afternoon showers and thunderstorms returning. 57 in tampa. 55 bradenton. sarasota 53. st. pete 62. landor lake and carol would in the upper 40s. riverview 52. 50 temple terrace. 56 safety harbor. the winds are light inland but northeast it will

a super pill that's invading the streets of pinellas county. the pill looks like a xanax but it's mixed with powerful main medications which can be deadly. at least nine people have died of overdoses in a matter of weeks. much more in a live report in minutes including all you need to know to keep your loved ones safe. >>> meanwhile, it's decision republican candidates have been campaigning heavily in arizona where 58 delegates are at stake. and for democrats, it's also a big prize day for delegate, 75 for them. >>> and the calendar says spring but our temperatures that the hour tell a different story. it's cold in the bay area but meteorologist leigh spann says good news, it will warm up fastly. >> exactly. once the sun comes up, we will see big jumps in the temperatures. between now and when the sun comes up, you need an extra layer. for sure up in inverness, brooksville, weeki wachee, all in the 30s. polk county, into the 40s. 46 bartow. milder closer to the coast like 50 in clearwater. but frost advisory for inland portions of citrus and he

the vehicles that you see there, they're still in pinellas county. so they'll be routed off before they get to the skyway bridge. i-75 is the alternate. that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. >> thank you so much. >>> president barack obama took a break from the oval office monday to rock. >> yeah, look here at his free- style jam session. we will have that for you after a short break. you're watching news channel 8 (vo) making the most out of every mile. that's why i got a subaru impreza. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. (phone ringing) you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise) >>> all right, drop the beat. he's throwing up words free styling that you never heard constitution, bomb care >> what is going on here? yeah, the guy on the right, that's president barack obama. he's jamming with the stars of "hamilton." the

that story coming up. >>> the pinellas school district insists it's not school meltdown. so who is? investigators. you're watching news channel 8, >>> it's a debate over doggy doo that has some the bay area making a stink. some residents think their hoa is going too far with dna testing on those little packages left unscooped by pet owners. others tell jamel lenay the money is worth it. >> reporter: summer stiles says she has had enough. poop here, poop there, poop everywhere, the osprey run resident says she is tired of cleaning up her yard. >> i have to do it at least three, four times a week, i have to pick up somebody else's dog stuff when i am picking up my own. >> reporter: now the hoa is hoping to nab irresponsible >> i think it's a little bit ridiculous just because the people who do take care of their pets and clean up after their pets are being penalized for the people who are being lazy. >> reporter: dog owners will be required to pay a $35 registration fee for each dog to create a database. if poop is collected, it will be sent off and tested and if it comes back matchin

your other alternates in pinellas county across the bay through tampa. those running good right now. you can see down there at the bottom the gandy bridge running just a tad slow. a lot of drivers will be cutting across town up to i-75 and getting around the sky way that way. either way, ivan, you've been going for a while. the commute. taking to you downtown tampa right now. as far as the visibility you go up a few hundred feet. deck. you can head out to the clouds and get into trouble as far as visibility. that's what we have going on this morning. otherwise, the rest of the area is looking good right now. 70s warm and muggy out there. this is quite a difference. first things first, we'll get you through today with temps in the 70s. we'll be back in the low 80s in the afternoon with humidity making it warm out there in the mid-80s. right along the coast, it will stay into the 7. friday night is a first round of rain heading into saturday morning coming in with a good line of showers and thunderstorms. i think that's the best chance of most of us gettin

again this is northbound on 275 through pinellas county. so what you're going to do, if you can get off at the gandy exit and take the gandy bridge over that will save a lot of time. you want to avoid the howard frankland. you can work your way to the courtney campbell. and you could take that. let look at the drive times. you can see options now, nine minutes across the causeway. 07 minutes now to cross the -- 70 minutes to cross the howard frankland and if 16 cars are involved it's going to take some time to get all of that cleared up. 14 minutes on the gandy bridge. we're going to continue to follow this. another update in 15 minutes. >>> a lot of people going to be late to work. no question about it this morning. as we look outside. that is a nice shot. we are basically picking up where we left off from the weekend weather. hope you enjoyed that. a little cool in the mornings, thank you very much the case this morning as well. and temperatures this afternoon climb to the mid and upper 70. we're underway with a spectacular forecast once

let's talk about pinellas county. in pinellas park, we've got a serious crash. 49th street at u.s. 19. and we've got areas of the intersection blocked. i will keep an eye on this one for you. and next, more accidents to get to but now back to candace and gayle. >> thank you. >>> right now, police are investigating a deadly shooting in south tampa. it happened at the gardens at south bay apartments along south lois avenue. we have been following the story since the 11:00 newscast. and that's where news channel 8's lindsey mastis joins us live. lindsey, more than one person was shot so how is the other victim? >> reporter: we are told by police that the other man is in the hospitalled and he is expected to survive. they are not releasing his name nor the name of the man that died. they are waiting to tell his family what happened. and now it all began here and then ended about two miles down the road. police tell me both of the victims were in the same car when another car pulled up and shots rang out. and i want you to

corey dierdorff is heading to a very serious crash in pinellas county, pinellas park. u.s. 19 in the kenneth city area. traffic moving pretty good on u.s. 19 where he is but he's going to the crash where we're hearing there are multiple

. >>> in pinellas county, a stolen car full of teenagers tried to hit pinellas county police officers. he took aim at a k-9 officer and his dog. they were able to avoid getting hit. police used stop sticks on that car. the three teenagers inside were caught and arrested. >>> president obama has made his choice for the next supreme court justice. but getting congressss to accept him will be an uphill battle. >> this is the greatest honor of my life. other than lee an agreeing to >> merrick garland was emotional as he spoke about his mom nation and his family. many voted for garland when he was on the court of appeals but the gop is adamant theyey're waiting for the next president to appoint the next nominee. >> president obama made this without seeingg the nominee confirmed, but in order to po lit size it for purpose of the election. >> he's doing his job this morning. they should do there's. >> blocking the nomination is a risk that could backfire on republicans at the ballot box especially if a democrat wins the white house. >>> a big shift in the presidential race on the republican

of pinellas point drive in pinellas county. i will break down the detour a little more. >>> good tuesday morning. i am allison kropff. >>> it is election day in florida. your ballot could make or break a few candidates. >> sarah hollenbeck is live. you are watching three >> reporter: they could either secure their place in this race a little bit longer or force them to drop out in florida is so important. marco rubio is battling donald trump in his home state and outside of the busiest primary ballot location that you will see today in hillsborough county, these signs next to each other as these candidates face-off. the candidates that are fine for a place today are marco rubio who must win florida today. he wants a shot at the presidential candidate spot. governor john kasich who would need to win in ohio to stay in the race. bernie sanders is betting hard on a win today. beyond today, there are concerns with rubio if he loses that he cannot win in florida today and it will have a tough time running against any seat here is wh

news channel 8's josh thomas is pinellas county -- joining us from outside the pinellas county courthouse. >> reporter: a lot of people looking forward to the trial. opening statements are scheduled to begin in the trial after the jury was selected on friday. hogan is suing the website gawker after it released the sex tape of hogan in 2012. hogan claims it was an invasion of his privacy but the website countered that he is a public figure and that the tape should be considered news worthy. gawker's general counsel addressed that issue. >> we will take them through our facts and the evidence in this case and i think they'll understand that what we published is protected by the first amendment when a celebrity is talking in dethe tail about a story, the media is -- detail about the story, the media is allowed to join in the conversation and that's what we did here. >> reporter: now a jury of six as well as three alternates have been chose on the hear this case. civil trial are slated to begin at 9:00 this morning and news channel 8 will have the very latest at first at 4:00. >> you know, be

the pinellas sheriff's office tells us the same thing. so far so good at least here on clearwater beach except for this darn fog out there. where's the sun? we want it back. >> yeah, look at that out there. no booze. no sun, but a lot of fog. all right, mark douglas live for us in clearwater. thanks mark. >>> well mark is wanting to know where the sunshine is. well mark, you onlyly have to go a few miles inland. right now, sun city center we have beautiful sunny skies. immediate coastline. tonight, the fog is going to bay. by tomorrow morning, the morning commute could be a little interesting once again with some low visibility. but again, right now, that is a view from sun city center. still lots of sunshine. the sun won't set for another two hours so if you are just getting home from work and want to do a little fishing or whatever you may want to do, you have two hours of daylight. tomorrow morning, the sun will rise at 7:38 a.m. current temperatures now, a big range because of the fog in arecas our coastal location. we had a high temp

in just a few hours, construction workers will break ground on the pinellas county. a huge new highrise condo and

peter bernard joins us live from the pinellas county jail and where is that suspect now, peter? >> good evening. the accused road rager was arrested and taken to the pinellas county deal and bonded out on the same day. >>> i notice that there was a car that cut me off. >> on her way home sunday evening, rochelle did not like being cut off so she let the other driver know. >> i was surprised and i honked at the guy and he slammed on his brakes and so i flashed my

no other way to get to pinellas county. heading up further north over to hillsborough county, you will need to take 75 all the way around. so of course, leave the house early because this is not an easy alternate to go all the way around. so depending on where you are headed, leave the house early. and let's take a live look at the fog. this is 275 right on the skyway bridge. it is closed right now so i-75 is your alternate. that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. now back to gene and gayle. >> okay, leslee, thank you. >>> a craft brewery that got its start in tampa is now sold. >> what it means for cigar city and craft beer lovers. >>> and up next, what is budget. you're watching news channel 8 >>> bad news for driver, gas prices are starting to creep up because the price of oil is on the rice. it was $27 a barrel and now it's $37. the national average is still down 52 cents a gallon from last march. state are filling up for $1.91 on average. you can find the cheapest gas prices on wfla.com. >>> all right, swipe aw

southern pinellas county. a quick reminder, for the next hour or so, we have the entrance is blocked from southbound 275. ha is a look at -- that is a look at weather and traffic. >>> a big event to give you great ideas on how the whole family can take advantage of the beautiful beaches and water ways. >> look at this. a wall of sand, where the winds were strong enough to stir up the dirt and bring some communities to a standstill. >> but first, donald trump's controversial plan to build a wall at the u.s. mexico border. up next, for the first time, mexico is directly reacting. we'll share how the country it is 5:10. . >>> now to breaking news out of pinellas county. while you were sleeping, a market on 15th avenue south of st. petersburg caught fire crews responded around 1:20 to dave's market. no one was injured. we're working to find the extent of the damage and if firefighters know what caused the flames. >>> mexico is directly responding to donald trump's vow to build a wall along the u.s. mexico border.

gun highway to anderson road, we a look at the pinellas county. the 54th avenue south on ramp to southbound 275 is blocked for the next hour for overnight construction. now, over the last few days it has been the exit ramp. we're working on the on ramp. if you need to hop on 275. take 22nd avenue south instead . >>> good morning and welcome to news channel 8 today. i'm gayle guyardo. >> and i'm candace mccowan in for gene ramirez. the top stories this morning, tampa is moving closer to decriminalizing marijuana. it gave preliminary approval to a plan that would only impose a small fine to those caught with pot. you can lose your driver's license, spend up to a year behind bars and be fined u $1,000. >>> a showdown in mo town.

use caution as you travel overer to manatee or pinellas. that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. back to adrienne and gene. >> thank you. >>> getting discovered is half the battle for musicians really trying to land that record deal. >> yeah. but social media, well, it makes it easier. and now that without your kisses >> still ahead, how one local give his career a big boost. >>> but first, keeping spring break crowds frfrom getting way out of hand. the approach local law enforcement is taking to keep a chaotic scene from happening on our beaches. it's 6:11. >>> welcome back. 6:13. right now, that time of year when collelege students from all over the e country flock to the florida beaches. and police are just trying to keep the peace. this year, they're taking a more proactive approach. news chahannel 8's josh thomas is joining us live from what is obviously now a quiet clearwater beach. but josh, tell us about what police are doing to try to crack down here. >> repororter: yes, it is quiet for now but we all know, it's going to pi

call the pinellas county sheriff's office. 3 3 3 a star, a sex tape and a scandal. thats all part of hulk hogan's lawsuit against the celebrity gossip site gawker. 3 jury selection began yesterday in a pinellas county courtroom. there's 100- million dollars on the line. tape involving hogan and heather clem, who was married to bubba the love sponge. while bubba gave his consent for the sexual rendezvous.. hogan says he never gave his okay to record it. jury selection is expected to last all week long. 3 3 tampa water officials are testing the emergency siren system at the c-w bill young regional reservoir this morning. the sirens will go off at 9 a-m. there will be 3 to 5 short blasts lasting 10 to 20 seconds each. the monthly tests make sure the sirens work in case of an emergency. 3 3 the best two words you can hear in the morning: "free. breakfast." and you can get it today... at all participating chick-fila restaurants. for the past free breakfast offer on catch? you don't know *which breakfast item they're giving away... each week. it could be a chicken biscuit

this could impact to drive in pinellas park. sky 10 is over the crash and she is looking to gather more information and we will check in with her coming up in three minutes. >>> here is what is coming up tonight. ncis new orleans at 8:00. limitless and 10:00. stay after the late show with stephen cold air. >>> good morning. 642 a am. we're picking up a little bit in between hillsboro and if you are heading across the drivetime seven minutes into the skyway bridge is so quiet this morning, no accidents i am here to help you get out the door on time. the roads are picking up. there is an accident and pinellas park which is really big. >>> pollen forecast is on the high side. and with dry conditions between now and friday it will stay higher. 5 pm through 10 am is a prime time for that to fly around so avoid those times, it will help you out. >> scattered showers and thunderstorms on friday. 20% chance. i will have the weekend forecast coming up in 10 minutes. >>> here is the sports lineup for tuesday. back-to-back games for the li

so pinellas county, up to speed. no delays on the howard franklin bridge. that's a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >> thank you so much. >>> well, thrill seeker, you will want to stick around to hear about this. busch gardens is moving to the next phase of one of their newest rides. >> yeah, when the ride is set to open and what you can expect. >>> but fist, the exclusive event walt disney world is hosting for a limited number of guests. how much you can pay to take >>> on select dates, the park will stay open for three additional hours for those who purchase the after-hours option. among the rides that stay open, space mountain and peter pan's flight. disney is not revealing how many after-hours tickets will be sold. >>> and a new roller coaster will soon start thrilling busch gardens visitors. >> the final part has been testing phase. it will spin rider forward and then backwards and then freely bringing them just inches from four-foot long cobra fangs. and now are you a thrill seeker? doing this with me? >> yeah, but i don'

campbell causeway and that takes you from pinellas. again, the sunshine skyway bridge is closed down. so a big delay taking 75. you might want to leave the house earlier. i don't know, maybe you're feeling a little sick today. back to gene and adrienne. >> leslee, just a bad influence. thank you. >>> a lakeland woman is alligator. that's right. marathon claims the 15-year-old reptile can use the remote and likes to cuddle. she -- she claims the 15-year- old reptile can use the remote and likes to cuddle. >> he says, how w tall is he? you know, anand i said, i don't know, he's getting pretty big. so we measured him. and that's where it started. >> look, he is face was right by hers. he needs 2.5-acres to keep a gator his size. a gator insist that his life style isn't healthy and worries he could bite someone. clearly she is not concerned. she claims he has never snapped and she hopes to keep him. and i saw video too from the story and he is kissing him and opening his mouth and putting her hand in. just daring the gator. >> i am amazed

jaw dropping moments caught in pinellas county. a little boy trying to ride a tricycle on to the bridge. he finally gets stopped at the toll booth. he did not get on the bridge and no one is hurt. no charges have been filed. after an accident on a pinellas county bus. henry fell off his mobility scooter while the bus was making a turn. the bus driver never called for help. he died from his injuries seven days later. officers asking for anyone who was on the bus to come forward. >>> breaking news now with the hulk hogan gawker case. this is him speaking live about the punitive damages in this case. >> we're very excited and happy. >> tell us about the support from the community. i know you're on twitter. what do you see from people? >> the community knows who i am. my wwe family knows who i am and have been very supportive of me. at the end of the day it's nice to get back to be with my family and friends in the area. treat me like i'm still a champ and they have been really supportive. it's really cool to be in this community and f

this is from pinellas county into hillsborough, only one lane getting through right now. we know a tow truck is on scene so hopefully they will have this moved over, maybe open up at least one more lane here shortly but for now we're seeing some delays. let's check the other bridges. you can see the backup starts around the hump there, so not extending all the way back to st. pete, your other bridges seem to be moving pretty good now. the gandy bridge is travel about 57 miles an hour. and the courtney campbell looking good as well, about 70 miles per hour so if you can get to one of the other bridges you might want to do that. it's taking about 15 minutes to cross the howard frankland now. this is what it looks like at the bottom of the sunshine skyway, you can see it's foggy, traffic advisory issued, people -- highway patrol asking drivers to use their low beams you fet to the top there. >>> this morning problems are still mounting for scandal- ridden automaker volkswagen. hundreds of investors are now suing the company for more than $3 billion. investors from the u.s. a

that's the southern end of pinellas county. that is blocked. what you will need to do is before you get to it, remember if you're heading out the door soon, exit at 22nd avenue south and go over to u.s. 19 and take that down to 54th. and this should reopen within about 20 minutes or so. and we have got a big issue on i-75. and now we're not seeing any significant slow downs. 301 to big bend southbound on i- we have a fatal accident and all of the traffic is taken off of the interstate on i-75 southbound. you see where it slows down here and taken off at gibsonton drive. meliek on the street is live out there and this is what it looks like. you can see to the right with the cones in the roadway and the vehicles to the right, they are exiting at gibsonton drive and heading over to u.s. 301. take 301 and don't bother with the interstate. and we have a lot of debris on the roadway. you can see it scattered there. an investigation taking place. this involves a motorcyclist that rear-ended a car. and unfortunately, it is a fatal crash. and you can se

windsor prep academy in pinellas county is $1 million in the hole. that's despite getting millions in state funding. now the pinellas county school district wants to know where that taxpayer money went and parents are furious about this. 8 on your side investigator mark douglas shows us why they are so concerned. >> reporter: keith, parents sent their children to windsor prep with a promise of a superior education and an independent charter school setting but what they have ended up with is a financial fiasco and a questionable future for their kids. trouble started for windsor prep two years ago when it failed to open on time. now parents are furious the charter school of about 800 kids is running a million dollar deficit. how can it keep operating with that kind of debt? >> it can't. >> reporter: some parents want to dump the private management company, newport education partners, because of the >> the resources that the teachers need, they are not getting. the textbooks the kids need they are not getting. >> reporter: last week the school district

the trail will eventually connect to the pinellas trial... which runs north and south through the entire county. 3 it's the first tuesday of the month... and that means you can get into the glazer children's museum for free. the offer runs from 2 this afternoon until 7 tonight. and this month's free tuesday couldn't fall on better day... the museum is hosting the 'seuss-tastic' week in honor of doctor seuss' birthday tommorrow. today is 'read across america day'. the kids can come read a book and make their own tasty version of green eggs and ham. 3 and, today at busch gardens... it's time to *twist again, like we did last summer. "chubby checker" is performing, at part of the parks "real music series." of course he invented the "twist" back in the 19-50s. he has three shows today starting at 11-30... and they are all including with normal park admission. and if you miss him today, don't worry. he has shows every day... through friday. 3 3 3 3 3 @"h"h some people don't like to share their wifi, but at bright house networks, we do. login to on

i want to mention the construction project we have on 275 southbound in pinellas county. from 26th avenue south to 54th avenue south. you can't see it here, it's way off in the distance, you can see flashing lights but this project starts 9:00 at night and doesn't wrap up until 7:00 in the morning. so in the early morning hours you might see just a little bit of a disloadown but right now i just checked and you're still at 65 miles per hour. from the sunshine skyway to the howard frankland. and in the opposite direction. you can see it here, 68 northbound and 70 southbound so looking great there. so your drive times on the veterans expressway looking great, all in the green. >>> coming up on 6:02. today a multimillion-dollar throwdown in tampa bay will pit a former wwwe star against a media giant. live look now at the courthouse in pinellas county, opening statements start in three hours in hulk hogan's trial against gawker. from tampa says gawker violated his privacy when it featureereds parts of a sex tape featuring him. we'll be live streaming opening statements on our

straight ahead the reason she >>> in pinellas county authorities trying to stop a spice epidemic. authorities are targeting the homeless. already 30 medical calls for spice overdoses in the past few days. officers are handing out brochures and offering rehab paid for by the city. crash in sarasota is recovering. the high speed crash claimed the lives of his two friends. he said he's thankful to be alive. >>> a woman accused of driving the wrong way on the interstate nearly hitting a tampa police officer head on says the police have the wrong driver. glass. >> and i'm sere ree na fizon. >> reporter: this is where she was pulled over and arrested but tonight tampa police and this woman have two different

kim and sarah mae's home is the 351st habitat for humanity house in pinellas county. coming up at 5 on 10 news this morning, at least three police officers in chicago are hurt after a shooting during an drug investigation. we're working to get new details. cleanup will be underway this morning after a through one ohio town. a sinkhole opens in the middle of a new jersey street and swallows a car! that and more coming up in just about 20 minutes. still to come here on 10 news early morning, health code violations so bad health inspectors called in backup! we'll take you to the popular nightclub shut down by the state on today's restaurant red alert! plus, the iditarod race takes a deadly turn. now the man charged for ramming two separate racing teams with a snowmobile is talking about what tampa nightclub is a popular north tampa nightclub is after what state health inspectors call a rodent infestation. green gators bar out of the former location on anderson road, just expressway. the business is much more a nightclub than a restaurant. 10investigates looking into the

reporting live, kera mashek. >>> five people are grateful to boat flipped over in pinellas county. strong surf and wins overturned the boat. you can see people were forced to sit on top of before crews showed up. the coast guard came to the rescue about 7 miles off the beach. one motor -- one butter had a diabetic condition but everyone is expected be okay. >>> in hillsborough county a boy was hit while riding his bike. the driver did not see dylan herman on route 41 and crashed into him around 2:30 am. unfortunately the boy was not wearing a helmet. >>> ahead, protesters caught off traffic. the huge demonstration and the threats that finally cleared the road. >>> everything was destroyed. everything. all my life. >> ceiling collapse. the reason her mother -- the reason a mother said her children were traumatized by >>> look at this video. these are dozens of demonstrators and they are blocking a main artery in fountain hills. this is northeast of a phoenix. trump is holding a rally there. demonstrators packed cars sideways to block the road. traffic was backed up for miles. the sh

you can see your drive time is 17 minutes from pinellas point drive. and looking at the gandhi bridge, something that was backed up this week, well, we're zooming into a sign which actually says it's only 5 minutes across the bridge. >>> 12 minutes after 6:00. frontal boundary to the north. we're not timing this very good guys. this is going to slowly move through the area through the weekend. that means we stay unsettled. warm, today and tomorrow. rain chances today, 20%, showers tonight, storms tomorrow morning, and then it looks like we'll have rain for the first half, i think, of sunday as well. then cooler air comes in. in less than ten minutes, we'll go hour by hour with your weekend forecast, right here. >>> time now is 6:13. it's friday, march 18th. this is your eye opener a look at today's top stories at six. >>> honoring a hero. today's services will be held for a hillsborough county deputy killed in a wrong way crash. after the funeral, deputy john kotfila will be buried in his home state of massachusetts. >>> political show down. today the

pso far at least nine people have pdied in pinellas county. pjosh is there live to tell us pmore about what's going on. p>> reporter: the sheriff calling pthis a major public safety pconcern, one that's almost pexclusive to pinellas county, pthe sheriff's message tonight, pdo not go out and buy xanax on pone it's illegal but two it may pnot be pure xanax. pit could be laced. pas people are finding out, one ill can kimt nine silhouettes, pnine pinellas county lives lost pto a tiny pill, passed off as pregular xanax. p>> however, these pills that pwere taken and swallowed were a pcombination of xanax and feint pno. p-- feint natural. pdr. fentanol. p>> if if people are going to{ buy pwhat they think is xanax on the pstreet they could not wake up. p>> this is really is a public psafety concern. p>> it's so dangerous, it's hard pfor authorities to understand pwhy anyone would even blend this pmore mixed street drugs are pbeing reported. p>> we don't know whether the psource of this xanax mixture is pa little source, whether it's pbeing manufacture

pinellas deputies are pointing the finger at an armored truck for sunday might's incident. a man cut her off so she honked her horn and flashed her a short time later while relaying the events to her husband on her cell phone, the man pulled in front of her. >> i told my husband, he has a gun. i started screaming he's got a gun. he turned it sideways and raised it up and pointed it directly at me. >> 44-year-old dean contorte is charged with aggravated assault. he is an employee at dunbar armored car in pinellas county. >>> now, an 8 on your side investigation. schools in chaos. >> a bay area charter school is running out of money. windsor prep is under scrutiny for not only a million dollars deficit, but also, for spending $300,000 on consulting. tonight, we are learning more about the troubled track record of the consultants across the state of florida. >> reporter: we are talking about a for profit company called new point education partners. it is in charge of several charter schools. apartments who send their kids to windsor threat are furious about the final threat th