Deputies tell us that the driver of the truck lost control near the intersection of livingston avenue and robertson trail. A lieutenant with a Clearwater Fire Department and medic are both suspended for having sex while on duty. The medic is suspended for 15 days and her boss, the lieutenant is off the job for 30 days. The family of a 14yearold girl shot in the head is counting their blessings this morning. Abigail caugh gave doctors a thumbs up sign after they asked her a question. The sign is giving her parents some much needed hope in the aftermath of this horrific tragedy. Its 4 31 on this tuesday morning. Lets turn things over to leigh. Its going to heat up later. It certainly will. For at least the 12 hours or so. Theres two storm systems. One to the north and one out in texas. And look at the threat for Severe Weather across east texas. This is the cold front i am tracking that will come here tomorrow morning. And in the meantime, notice no rain. But some extra cloudy skies this morning. Certainly warm, 61 in lakeland. 64 in sarasota. We will hit 78 despite the few storms and it will be more humid. So in weather and traffic on the 8s at 4 38, i will talk about tomorrows storm threat and what we could see. But leslee is going to help you get to work right now. Yeah, right now, a decent drive, pretty good speeds. And pasco county, Police Activity off to the shoulder. Its not blocking any lanes but lights southbound i75 just past blanton road. And state road 52 looks very good into dade city. No issues there. And lets move to the south and we have a good drive on i4. Good. Once you hit plant city at the paul buchman highway, either direction, 22 minutes. And thats a look at weather and traffic. And now back to gene and gayle. Thank you. Happening today, the search for the polk county superintendent ramps up. The board will talk about where to go here after the top dog resigned in the middle of a scandal. Today we should get a better idea of what direction the district wants to take. This is happening because of kathryn leroy. She resigned amid accusations she hit on a coworker. And the board will vote on making the deputy superintendent the interim. This morning, 8 on your side has details of a traffic plan that may settle things for spring break. The city of clearwater wants to work out a deal with clearwater ferry to lower fares. Its a way to keep a lot of cars off the beach. Goers a lot of time and trouble. Reporter gayle, good morning. For sure. This area behind me is where the ferry would depart from. And for eight week, the city wants people to use the ferry over their cars to reduce traffic on local roadways. And now we have a map to show you. It shows all the places the ferry departs from, including downtown clearwater. The city hopes encouraging visitors to park and take the ferry to the beach would help reduce traffic. It would cut oneway fares from 3 to just 2. It would last from march 1st to the end of april. It would be available from 10 00 a. M. Until 8 00 p. M. At this point, this isnt a done deal yet. They are trying to get a deal ironed out. And it could help spring break traffic here in clearwater and on clearwater beach. And you can count on 8 on your side to keep you posted on how things go in the next week or so. If you have ever sat in the would jump onboard that ferry in no time. Thanks, ryan. You might want to swim across sometimes. This morning, two teenagers are facing charges for weekend shooting at a holiday inn express. A 16yearold is charged with attempted murder and an 18year old is charged with aggravated assault. Both were arrested in high school. The shooting wounded two other teens and one is being treated at the hospital. Now to an 8 on your side fraud alert. Deputies are on the lookout for more victims after a man was captured and accused of scamming elderly homeowners across the bay area. Investigators believe he and his wife took money from victims to fix cracks in their driveways. Detectives claim he used a substance made of mostly water and a little concrete to coat the driveways but it only lasted a few days. Victims to come forward. Today republicans will caucus in nevada. At a rally, senator ted cruz got a roar ago pilaws when he said he roaring applause when he said he wants millions of federal acres in nevada turned over to state control. Senator marco rubio is confident he will win nevada. He doesnt have a win under his belt but he did edge out senator cruise for the second place spot in south carolina. His Campaign Continues to gain momentum. Senator rubio has a new key endorsement, former Senate Majority leader bob dole, the president ial nominee back in 1996. The republican frontrunner donald trump is encouraging Party Members to get out and vote today. And he is still drumming up a lot of support. About 10 the thousand people came out to cheer him on in las vegas. Voters begin caucuses as early as 8 00 a. M. Our local time. Hillary Rodham Clinton is leading in the race for delegates. Clip won the final delegate from the nevada caucuses. This morning she has a total of 52 while sanders has 51. And clintons lead gets bigger, 50370 when you include endorsements by super delegate, Party Leaders and members of congress. Would you favor a proposal to create a snake island . Thats what massachusetts wildlife officials are proposing and many residents are rattled. It would relocate about 200 timber rattlesnakes left that are native to massachusetts to an isolated island called mount zion. Its a 1400acre island that is off limbs to the public. Wildlife Officials Say the snakes are endangered because of human interference. Mount get me the heck out of here. I know, right. Take a look at where a tiny street in southern california. The plane caused damage to several parked cars. This morning the faa is investigating what caused the the plane to malfunction shortly after departure. Thankfully there were no reports of injuries. When you see the mess, its surprising that nobody was hurt. Its 4 38 on this tuesday morning. Lets turn things over to leigh spann. The first thing you will notice when you walk out, its quite mild and even more humid than we expect in february. Hourbyhour through the day, we start around 56 degrees. Theres just a slim morning rain chance. And it only goes up to about 20 after lunchtime. And temperatures in the mid70s by noon. 78 at 3 00 p. M. And even still low 70s, mild through the evening hours. And still notice its a 2520 rain chance through today its a 20 rain chance through today. And tomorrow morning, our rain chance goes up to 60 . These are the storm threats we could see tomorrow morning. I expect lightning in this and i dont expect a big hail threat but some strong damaging winds a possibility tomorrow morning and even that outside chance of a stray tornado. So we will be watching closely. Again, thats tomorrow morning with a cold front. And look at the eightday eightday temperature trend, thursday, friday, saturday, chilly and we warm up again next week. And lets check on traffic on the 8s to see how things are going early on this tuesday. Decent drive, perfect but overall it looks pretty good. A little bit of Police Activity in pasco county, southbound just past blanton road. Shoulder no. Lanes blocked. Shoulder. No lanes blocked. 72. Earlier this morning, we had better here. And clear everywhere now. On the the bay area interstate, parkway. Lakeland into tampa, a good thats a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. Back to gene and gayle. Grab old lottery tickets right now. The numbers that expires in one week. And also dangerous driving distractions. So what do you think do you think is more dangerous a plying makeup or driving angry . The findings might surprise you. But first, the apple verses the fbi over iphone encryption. Which way Public Opinion is its 43 00. Now back to breaking news. Two people are happy to be alive after escaping a house fire early this morning. Incredible. Right now, firefighters are still battling the fire in sulfer springs. Lindsey mastis just pulled up to the scene. Lindsey, bring us up to date. Reporter well, good morning. This is about as close as we are allowed to get but i want you to see a little bit more. I just got some new able to get out of the house safely. It was an elderly woman, the homeowner and a friend as well as two dogs, they are all okay this morning. A neighbor says she saw flames and called 911. It was pretty big. It was coming through the house. I could see it like flushing out. It had my i was sweating. Reporter now were told that the call came in just before 4 00 this morning right here. And we have not been able yet to the talk with the homeowners but i have seen one of the dogs out here this morning. And if you look at the house, shape. And i was just told that the arson investigator is onscene. Right now, they are trying to figure out how the fire started but the good news this morning is that everyone got out safely. Im going to remain onscene all morning. As soon as i get more information, im going to let you know. Gene and gayle, back to you. Yeah, you can see the damage live pictures we brought everybody, you could see the smoke in the area too. We will check back to see if investigators can pin down the cause of all of this. Thank you. To stay on top of breaking news anywhere, any time, all you need to do is download our news channel 8 app to your smart phone. Today apple supporters are planning protests against the fbi. Demonstrators will rally at apple stores and fbi headquarters in support of apple resisting an order to help the feds hack into a terrorists phone but a poll shows that they may be in the minority. Look at the resultoscarses of this results of this poll. 51 say apple should unlock the phone used by San Bernardino terrorist syed rizwan farook. However, only 38 apple should not do that so we can ensure security of others information the protests are planned for 5 00 this evening. One is happen at the apple store in International Plaza and the other is in brandon. Right now, only a handful of people are interested but no one has rsvped to attend. Today in florida, four people are facing burglary and criminal mischief charges after knots. We are talking about jessica conte, the woman right there, she ordered garlic knots but they were delivered with cheese on top. I like them with cheese, go figure. According to deputy, she demanded her money back and then became enraged when the clerk put the money on the counter and her Three Friends then trashed the restaurant. He is saying his last good byes. David ortiz arrived for his retiring at the end of the season. He shared hugs and hand shakes with his teammates, even a former enemy. But thats in the past now. Just put it behind them. And then they even shared a warm embrace. Good luck. This morning, a fantasy 5 big jackpot remains unclaimed. The Winning Ticket will expire next tuesday at midnight. The drawing was on september 13th, 2013. The numbers were 1, 11, 12, 15 and 28. The ticket is worth 73,000 was sold at a circle k in lakeland. The 180 dead the line to claim the prize is next tuesday. Well, starbucks is making changes to its rewards program. A lot of people chiming in on this on my post on facebook about this. Now instead of getting one star much they buy, reward members will get points based on how much you spend. They believe it will help speed things up at checkout where people are making multiple transactions for rewards. A new Study Suggests some driving distractions are riskier than others. Researchers collected data on the real world behaviors of more than 3500 drivers. How would you feel with a camera in the car . Hmm. Applying makeup or interacting with rear seat passengers had little impact. But driving while angry, sad or emotional created almost 10 times the risk of a crash. And speeding it was the most dangerous increasing the the risk of an accident by 13 times. And music has a lot to do with that, blaring that stuff. On, get some lead foot. Yeah. Its 4 48. Lets turn things over to leslee lacey to find out if were going to have a great drive the today. So cut down on the metallica . Maybe barry manilo . I75 actually looks good throughout Manatee County but transferring into sarasota county, thats where we have intersection. We still have about a year of construction of this thing. The two lanes are blocked southbound and the exit to from southbound i75. This should wrap up in about an hour. And meanwhile, take fruitville and loop around because away there. And weve got a good drive across the skyway bridge new york city delays there. And earlier issues with police county. Thats cleared. Everything is gone now. Thats a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. And now actually at the weather. How is it looking lee . Well, its nice and warm now. 65 degrees at 8 00 a. M. And look at this, we go to 78 at 3 00 p. M. With a small rain chance. Look outside right now. Lakeland, youre 61. 63 in inverness. 6 s 4 in sarasota. And over the next 64 in sarasota. And over the next couple day, a mild start. We did have overnight rain. I dont expect a lot left in the morning but during the afternoon, we could see a few 75. And things really go downhill overnight. And strong cold front crosses the gulf. Makes it here right around sunrise tomorrow. And we could see strong storms as the system pushes from west to east. Afternoon. And now let me show you what i think the biggest threats are, the farther north up into the southeastern united states, bigger threat for strong for us, north of i4, strong wind gusts up to citrus, hernando and pasco. Along with the small risk of an isolated tornado, tomorrow morning, clearing out and cooling down too for the end of the week. Gayle and gene all right, thank you so much. Which is the most popular dog breed in america . Plus, teen inspiring students from coast to coast. How he managed to get acceptance letters from more than 20 colleges. Thats coming up next. Youre watching news channel 8 phone ringing you cant deal with something, by ignoring it. But thats how some president ial 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 hey candidates, he is inspiring his peers. A georgia teen is looking for acceptingenses from more than 20 colleges and he has more than 500,000 scholarship offers. He credits Something Else more than his gpa. The more positive people you are around, the the more positive you will be. Good people. Thats great that he credits other. He already made his pick. He wants to study Political Science at moorehouse in atlanta where he feels the culture suit his interests best. And for postgraduate, he has his eyes set on law school. They are too cute to handle for the fifth year in a row, labrador retrievers are breed. Thats according to the american kennel club. The other breeds in the top five beagle, golden retrievers and german shepherds. The list Shows Americans prefer easy to care for Family Friendly dogs. I like my yorkie. Today is world spay day. Many pets will be snipped and thats not an easy decision for pet lovers. Coming up in the next half hour, the importance of this day plus we will talk to a local vet about some spay and neutered myths. When you say the word snip, that causes the the problems. Weather and traffic on the looking great and stepping out with confidence includes having beautiful feet. My newest beauty routine secret starts in the shower. Discover the latest innovation from amop\. The new pedi perfect wet dry. Now get effortless hard skin removal plus, it has 2 speeds and its rechargeable. The easy way for touchably soft feet. Suits me and my new shoes. New amop\ pedi perfect wet dry. Available at walmart in the foot care aisle or near the registers. It is 4 58. It will be a warm and humid day with a high of 78. Then a cold front tonight. Ill tell you when we have the best rain chance coming up. In Manatee County, we have a collision on state road 64 right by i75 and its off to the side of the roadway. Not tying up any lanes and construction i75 around good morning and welcome to news channel 8 today. Im gayle guyardo. And im gene ramirez. Right to our big breaking story this morning. Three people happy to be alive after escaping a house fire early this morning. Right now, one of them is in the hospital being treated for burns and firefighters are still battling the fire at a home in sulfer springs. Our Lindsey Mastis pulled up to the scene on east sitka street. And she is joining us live. Lindsey, bring us up to date. Reporter well, gayle and gene, this is about as close as were allowed to get
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