Updated as the story develops. In tampa, athletes and administrators defending their faith saying their prayer and speech is being sensorred. Lauren rozyla is live outside of Cambridge Christian from the group that governs High School Sports here in florida. Lauren. Reporter thats right. The students and administrators right here at Cambridge Christian say they just want to be able to pray over the loud speaker before a High School Football game. However, they say that the state has denied them that right. The players at Cambridge Christian school were ready after an undefeated season they were going to the citrus bowl in orlando. The lancers were playing another Christian School and hoped to carry on their tradition of a prayer said over the loud speaker before the game. We thank you so much for this beautiful evening for football. Reporter but they said that Florida High School leaders when we were told that we couldnt pray, we were just like why . Reporter kicker jacob ends said they felt the state was sending them a loud, clear message. Prayer is wrong. That was something that as High School Football players we couldnt really understand. It was frustrating. It hurt. We were upset about it. But we firmly believe that this is something that can be resolved. Reporter in an email to the schools principal before the game, the Athletic Association said because the facility used for the citrus bowl was a public facility paid for with public dollars it was off limit for prayer over the loud speaker. They couldnt legally grant permission for such an activity. However their Attorney Says otherwise. The law in this country is clear. You are allowed to engage your prayers, youre allowed to speak in public as a person of faith, youre allowed to pray in public without the government telling you that you cant do it. Reporter both teams ignored the response and prayed any way on the field. Reporter now the school is threatening a federal lawsuit if they dont get a formal apology within 30 days from the Athletic Association. And if they do file it, the lawsuit will state that the students civil rights. And right now we did reach out the state and they did not get back to us in time for our live in tampa tonight, lauren rozyla, abc action news. In the meantime a Pinellas CountyElementary School is trying to stop a chicken pox outbreak in its tracks. If a child has not been vaccinated they are told to stay at home for up to 21 days. Cliff, how many kids are sick . Reporter wendy, right now we know of eight. But there could be more. But currently the school is telling kids to stay up to side of this gate for at least that 21 days. If theyre not vaccinating their children, theyre going to cause other kids to get sick. Its unfair. Reporter a debate brewing for years. Im a Firm Believer in if youre not going to vaccinate them, expose them. Reporter you have the right to decide what goes into your childs body but it comes with consequences. For the next three weeks, nearly 20 kids wont be able to go to school here at plumb elementary. Theyre being told to stay home until february 15th. Reporter Pinellas CountyHealth Department spokesperson hall says they have identified eight cases of chicken pox at the school. School Officials Say many of them had religious and medical exemptions allowing them not to be vaccinated. The vaccine is the best way to provide the virus. It provides 80 of protection. Your symptoms are more mild. Cases of chicken pox have been rising in Pinellas County for the past several years. In 2012, they were were 16. Last year, 38. At the same time more and more parents are not getting their children vaccinated. For parents here, the debate is split. But this mothers opinions are strong. And if its a religious belief, maybe you should look into homeschooling your children. Reporter and while there are eight confirmed cases, there could be more. County Health Officials are still investigating. If a parent decides to get that first round of vaccines im told by county Health Officials that their child would be allowed back in the school before that 21day waiting period. Im reporting live in clearwater. Clifton french, abc action news. A major step in the fight to bring recess back to florida schools. A House Sub Committee voted unanimously in favor of a bill that would set aside 20 minutes parents and teachers are pushing hard for the free time that so many of us enjoyed growing up. Well, take a look at this on your screen right there. You see it . Dramatic video showing the moment that the coast guard rescued 13 people from a sinking yacht out there. The coast guard responded last night to the yacht taking on water. All 13 people on board were transferred from the yacht to a coast guard boat. No one was injured. Were now told that ship sank to the bottom of the sea about 25 minutes after everyone was safely removed. Now the most Accurate Weather Team in florida, abc action weather. How are you doing, everybody . Things are quiet today. Finally we warmed back up well above normal. Yet again we continue the roller coaster. Either very cold or very warm with temperatures up near 80 today. Well, this even though it doesnt look that impressive, nothing, right, well, that will gain a little strength over the next several hours. And that is going to be rolling in late tonight and tomorrow morning. When you have temperatures this warm right now and we stay warm with more energy, pretty decent chance we will look at rain arriving before sunrise. We will time it out for and you tell you who has the highest risk of Severe Weather coming up. Thank you, denis. A person reported hearing three gunshots in the buildings basement. Authorities went room to room, leading workers out of the building. A sweep of the basement did not turn up anything. The victim of a shooting in tampa this morning may not have been the intended target. Leroy carlisle was shot while leaving the blue store on east chelsea street. Police believe the shooter was aiming at a group of men standing outside of the store but hit carlisle instead. Have been driving a silver nissan. Carlisle is expected to survive. A new police chief. Melanie bevin will take the top spot in bradenton. The announcement was just made. Rodney. Reporter well, thats right, jamison. This is a historic decision by the Police Department. She becomes the First Female Police chief in this departments history and comes with a wealth of experience. Now, she has been with the st. Petersburg Police Department since 1986 and has risen through the ranks to become the assistant police chief. She told us in the press conference this afternoon that she believes her work with the saint petersberg Police Department will serve her well as she tries to clean up the streets in bradenton. She has an impressive background both in Law Enforcement and education. She has a masters and a doctorate degree in education. And the mayor says that bevins i will tell you that im not im not a proponent of change for the sake of change. I think this community and this Police Department deserves the opportunity for me to simply come in and get to know the people, the place. Reporter and this announcement comes at a very tricky time for the new police chief here. We have seen a recent rise in Violent Crimes in the bradenton area. Last week a man was gunned down in broad daylight. We asked the new police chief how she plans to address the rising problems. I will have more on that tonight at 6 00. Reporting live in bradenton, rodney dunigan, abc action news. The famous crew began their morning visiting the Childrens Hospital sharing treasures with the kids and the care staff there. They gave out beads, canon balls and activity books. Through. Year. Them. When i was a kid i was in the hospital for a month. I remember nurses and doctors batman. And when youre in the hospital bring joy. The crew will invade morning. It begins at 11 30 a. M. Starts at 2 00. It goes bay to bay to downtown tampa. Find a link to all of the and singed. Coming up, the common item that exploded in his pants pocket mother. Plus this reporter growing pains in lakeland. The First Major Development in more than a decade bringing excitement and unintended consequences. I hate it. Reporter coming up, the tablet. Search for it in your favorite covering polk county tonight. A Major Construction project in downtown lakeland promises to bring new business to town. It may lose some in the process. Fighting to stay afloat with construction at their doorstep. Reporter four months in and the first Downtown Development in a decade is finally taking shape in lakeland. But with any progress comes growing pains. The lack of visibility has totally shut down business. Reporter martie johnson owns Home Essentials just feet away from construction. So close to the 2 by 4s she has a giant sign alerting customers she is still opening. Promoting a were still open sale to get people in the door. The city permitted us to do this 15 years ago and said, yes, put your building here, put your entrances here. Come on down. Pay taxes. Make this work. Reporter johnson says she has made it work up until the project came along. A trendy development with restaurants shops and much needed apartments. Problem is with parking. Where does everybody park now . That is a driving factor with tonys. It plans to make room for more parking later. We planned for a building to be there. Not a parking lot. As the economy paged up, the developer came and purchased the land from us. Reporter the building will tower over her business, leaving nothing but a sixfoot walkway to her door. I hate it. Reporter cramped quarters that may force her to pack up and move out. The new. Ryan raiche, abc action news. Right now a warning about those electronic vaporizers. A New Hampshire man suffered second and third degree burns to his body when it exploded in his pocket. The Surveillance Video shows the moment it happened. The device dubbed a healthier alternative to smoking exploded in matthews pocket. He was at work at the time. From the machine he was working on. The trail of smoke is coming from his own pants, not the equipment. He underwent a second skin gravity but his mother says that he is lucky to be alive. I almost fella part when i saw the underwear. Thats my kid. If my grandson had been here and picked that up, it would have killed him. The family has hired a lawyer. The lawyer says there are similar complaints about exploding vaporizers and its time for the fda to take action. The most Accurate Weather Team in florida. Abc action weather. Its warmer than it has been. But we have rain on the way, dont we. Yes. Today we were up near 80. It felt good. On saturday, we were in the 40s. There are clouds that are rolling in. That is the sign of things to come. First the clouds and then the rain. And potentially then the severe because of that storm shield great app. You download it either for your Android Device or iphone or ipad. It gives you instant immediate notifications of any Severe Weather. And not just in the area that you live in. Not just the county. All the way down to your zip code. So, again, storm shield just a great way to keep you and your family safe. As we continue in a very active el nino season which brings us the threat of strong thunderstorms every four or five days. Right now titan Doppler Radar is rainfree. It is quiet. That will be changing dramatically by tomorrow morning. Satellite picture across the area. Again, primarily were looking at clouds thickening coming in from the south and the west. In doing so, thats why temperatures warmed up so nicely today. Up near 80 degrees. We will be seeing temperatures dropping down only into the 60s overnight. And by first thing in the morning, theres going to be thunderstorms out there. From the mid to upper 70s. And we were up near 80 degrees earlier today. And then of course thats all going to be changing again tomorrow. What else is new . The roller coaster ride continues. 75 and cloudy in tampa. Clearwater and st. Pete both at 74. Nice change, right . You walked outside this afternoon and this is more like it. The Florida Weather we are used to seeing. But this year its been every bit as unusual as we always see with an el nino year. You get Severe Weather. You get clouds and you get quick changes to our weather. Which is what will happen overnight. Lets go through tonight into tomorrow. Help you time out your day. Overnight were mostly cloudy. Things should remain dry. Now, between 4 00 and 6 00 a. M. , a decent chance that we will see rain come in. Its a really good idea to check us out at 11 00 because the numbers will be updated. We will be looking at radar and will help you pinpoint down to your neighborhood just who gets the worst of it. Early on it doesnt look that bad. Late morning, we look at the line rolling in. By mid to late afternoon, all of a sudden theres the chance of heavy rain. The Severe Threat is minimal. However, it isnt see can row. It is something that we will keep our eyes on. Right now in my opinion its a heavy rain event, especially south of i4. I think thats the way that this sets up. If you live north, you will get rain. But you wont have the rainfall totals that areas down south will have. This will continue not only wednesday but also thursday. Thursday wont be as active as wednesday. Finally by late thursday into friday, things begin to clear out. Now, as we have been saying, the european model still painting very decent rainfalls across the central and southern counties. Maybe not as much as it was showing this time yesterday. Notice up north, the numbers begin to drop down. Bottom line, you see this, this is a good rainfall covering the entire area right through friday. Then by saturday, just in time look at the water temperature in clearwater. Down to 57 degrees. Light chop out of the bay. There are your upcoming tides. Sunset at 6 06. Look at floridas most accurate 7day. Rain chances at 80 on wednesday. 70 on thursday. Friday we clear out. Look at the weekend. Thats what im talking about. Highs in the 60s. It will be cooler but the weather looks great for the the disgusting lies this woman told about her health and the charges she now faces for scamming her friends and neighbors out of thousands of dollars. Plus this decades of abuse part of floridas dark past. How one group of men is turning we have an update to the deadly bus crash in end police. The principal of the Elementary School is the adult that was killed. Two 10yearold students are in serious condition. 25 kids were on the bus. Details surrounding the accident still not clear. If youre familiar with that area, we are hearing that it is a local school in Lawrence Town shill. We will give you more information as soon as we get it. All new tonight at 5 00, a Georgia Community is stunned after finding a woman there pretended to have cancer. Yeah. This is a disturbing story. She used the fake diagnosis to get about 25,000 in donations and gifts. Details or detectives rather arrested 29yearold mary bennett. The nurse used her medical background to trick people into believing she had terminal Ovarian Cancer for six years. Her facebook photos show Treatment Centers but the hospitals have no record of her. Fraud to receive free trips and fundraisers. She is facing forgery and misdemeanor theft. Ford owners, listen up, another recall to tell you about. Ford is recalling 391,000 ranger pickups because the drivers side air bag may explode with too much force causing injuries. It includes trucks from 2004 through 2006. The government expects another 5 million cars to be recalled over faulty takata inflators. Next at 5 30, homeless, hungry, and helpless. The efforts underway to help hundreds of children in Hernando County find a place to call home. I was startled seeing him come through my door. A florida teacher says she was attacked by a parent. The one thing keeping her from live from the station taking action for you. This is abc action news. Now at 5 30, hundreds of students in Hernando County are homeless. So now county leaders are stepping up efforts to help the kids and families find homes. Reporter county leaders and local organizations have teamed together to provide much needed items and warm hot meals to families in need. Some of the people here today have children. And the only place that some of those kids can call home is a classroom. With trucks full of groceries, free meals are being handed out all over hernando today. One way that they are getting an accurate homeless count. Her living on the streets, in the woods, abandoned buildings. Reporter among the homeless are children with working parents that cant afford to the bulk of the students