In sarasota. That single car crash happening around 3 00 this morning. Reporter Corey Dierdorff has been on scene all morning long gathering information and corey, what do you know this hour . Reporter good morning. University parkway back open here in sarasota after that violent crash happened on this dark stretch of roadway. This roadway opened 30 minutes ago. Were just now learning the names of the people who died in this crash. Theyve been identified as wesley mcearly and Michael Duffy of sarasota and dane cluster of bradenton. All 21 years old. Were still waiting to find out who the sole survivor of the crash is in the hospital, expected to be ok. Sarasota police say they dont know how exactly this crash happened. Only it was a very violent crash, happened at a high rate of speed, the car struck a tree splitting it in half. This is some of one of the most horrific crashes theyve seen due to the severity of the crash. Unfortunately its left with a far as exactly what happened and so hopefully they hope to answer some of the questions in the next coming days and weeks. Reporter the Sarasota Police department will be working with the medical Examiners Office to determine if drugs or alcohol were involved. Well stay on top of this and bring you updates as soon as we get them. Live in sarasota, Corey Dierdorff, abc action news. The road had been closed for much of the morning. University parkway is back open in all directions and traffic is slowly getting back to normal there. Elsewhere in the bay area were in great shape. This is i75 at mlk, wide open, up to speed in both directions. Lets check the howard frankland, what it looks like coming across into tampa. Its taking 12 minutes to get across the howard frankland, less than 10 across the Courtney Campbell and the gandy bridge. Point now i4, 75, to 275, 51 Miles Per Hour but look great on i75 southbound and 275 over in Pinellas County. Pushing 70 now. Ivan, hows the weather . A lot of people are here. Looking pretty good, a little cold. I noticed that. Windy as well. We had some issues on the skyway with the advisory but we would rather have the wind and fog from last week. That was a mess. At least its open. Yes. But look at the winds, howling between 15 and 25, sustained winds at low 50s now. Wind chills in the 40s. Feels like january, right . 43 lakeland. 42 brooksville enverneness, cold and were getting even subside. Beginning at sunset youll feel the temperatures dropping like a rock. Look at the highs for today. Highs in the low to mid60s. Even colder than we should be in january. So well talk about how long when we can get back to more typical temperatures for this time of year. We should be near 80 degrees. 9 04. This morning president obama waking up in havana, cuba. Not only is he the first sitting u. S. President to visit the island nation in almost 90 years but our Tampa Bay Rays will make history as well. They are the First American Baseball Team since 1999 to play in cuba. Abc action news anchor laura harris is in havana now with today. Reporter its going to be another busy day in havana for president obama. Yesterday was a lot of family time. Today its going to be all about business. In a little bit were expecting him to go to the jose Martin Memorial where many dignitaries from around the world, when they come to cuba they lay wreaths. Its part of them paying respects in this area. Were also told that president obama will be speaking with president raul castro, they will have a private conversation today and then at going to have some sort of in cuba. We spoke with some people who are from st. Petersburg who are here in cuba for the events. They are saying its so important because commerce in our area, especially in the ports and tampa bay, its really important that we kind of open up the dialogue and make sure this conversation continues between the United States as well as cuba. We got a chance to speak with the mayor from st. Petersburg. He also had some things to say about this awesome trip especially since the Tampa Bay Rays are going to be here. He didnt really want to talk a lot about business, he wanted to talk about baseball. Were here for the team. To watch some great baseball, to see our team make some history here. And to be supportive. Were just really proud to have our team here playing the national team. Reporter at 1 00 this afternoon the Tampa Bay Rays will have a kids clinic for some kids in cuba at the the same place they will play tuesday. Well be there for all of it and bring you the latest on air and online. In havana, cuba, laura harris, back to you. Thank you. The tampa bay area of course is americans. This morning the Community Remains largely divided on whether restoring cuban not. We were at the cuban sandwich yesterday. Some say its a critical step in opening new opportunities for business and reconnecting family members that havent seen each other in decades. Others worry the u. S. Is entering dangerous territory and shouldnt be working with government. I believe you should start with the basic human rights. If you have somebody in prison for 20 years because they want to feed their family then i believe you need to start there. You dont need to start with Baseball Teams and so forth. As the debate continues on how the u. S. Moves forward both cuba has a better future. Abc action news will continue to bring you full coverage from cuba as anchor laura harris covers every moment of the historic trip. Tune in to abc action newstion throughout the day and tomorrow morning to see what happens. 9 07. The fight to keep some of the Hurricane Hunter fleet in tampa bay is ramping up this morning. Today senator bill nelson will be in town meeting with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Macdill Air Force fleet. The planes have called the air force base home since 1993 but macdill says they need the space so the Hurricane Hunters have to go by july of next year. Last month senator nelson helped write a letter to noaa says he expects the aircraft to remain in florida. A close call for a Tampa Police Officer early yesterday morning after hes nearly hit by yet another wrong way driver. Officers arrested aja cancela driving the wrong way on i275 and showed signs of impairment. Yesterday afternoon. Officers say aja cancela was speeding on the interstate, 5 00 a. M. In the same lane as the patrol car. Officer scott vantrise had to a collision. Other officers tracked her down at busch boulevard as she exited in the wrong direction. It was just one week ago a wrong way driver claimed the life of Hillsborough County Deputy John Kotfila jr. That crash happened on the selmon expressway near brandon. Fdot now installing signs and lights in hopes of preventing the types of crashes including along i275. A needed boost for a First Responder hurt in a crash. We told but eric valdez, when he was hit by an uninsured driver nearly two months ago. He was riding his motorcycle home from work. His right arm and hand severely family and friends held a fundraiser yesterday in tampa to help cover his medical expenses. He says hes grateful for all their help and chance to get back out into the community. Its nice to see everybody again. I was at home, couldnt move around much. Nice seeing familiar faces, friends and family supporting us. Valdez face as long road to recovery. Hes undergoing physical therapy to overcome nerve damage in his arm. Emmy nominated Actress Laverne Cox is coming to usf tonight. One of the stars of orange is the new black, the first transgender woman of color to have a leading role in a dramatic tv series. Shes expected to deliver an empowering message about moving beyond gender expectations. Free lecture is 7 30 in the usf marshall student center. Arrive early, seating is limited. 9 09. Easter less than a week away. But the holiday spirit came to himself tangled up in a brawl. It sent parents and kids ducking for cover. Plus, getting into college is an exciting moment for all students, now some colleges are going a step beyond sending acceptance letters. How they are making it more personal. The florida easter bunnies will like this. First week of spring, we have wind chills almost in the 30s up to the north. How long can this last . Not too long. The forecast coming up. 9 13. Its getting tougher for investigators in russia to figure out what caused a plane crash that killed everyone yesterday. Were told the black boxes were significantly damaged. It was trying to land in strong gusty winds when it crashed on people on board. The russian airport where this happened expected to reopen today now that the search and recovery operation at the crash site is officially over. Time now 9 13. We are just learning the names of the latest Service Member killed by enemy fire in northern iraq. The u. S. Department of defense says Staff Sergeant lewis f. Cardin was a marine from southern california. Officials say he died two days ago from injuries when his unit was hit by rocket fire, just outside of the Islamic State group held city of mosul. The last killing of the u. S. Service member in iraq was in october of 2015. Meanwhile, the lone surviving terrorist of the paris attacks is now talking to interrogators and admitting that he was planning more attacks. Thats according to belgian foreign minister. Saleh abdelslam was arrested this weekend and along with him authorities found a large amount of weapons in the police raids. Hes now fighting extradition to france and his lawyer says against the paris prosecutor for revealing details of the interrogations. Hes scheduled to make his first appearance in court wednesday. This line to have their pictures taken at a holiday display at that mall at one point the bunny throws his gloves off and takes the shopper to the ground. Right now exactly what sparked that fight or if anyone was hurt is unclear. Police expect to announce more details including if any arrests were made later today. New this morning more colleges across the country are starting to handdeliver acceptance letters to some students as a way to stand out from competing schools. At least four other colleges nationally have started Home Deliveries just in the past year. The visits are meant to be a surprise and often are filmed for online videos. Experts say colleges are going to greater lengths to show interest in students as competition grows among institutions. Have you seen the price of steak or eggs . Both up sharply in recent months. Consumer reporter John Matarese has more on this so you dont waste your money. Reporter have you noticed prices on some grocery staples its not just beef prices taking a bigger bite out of your wallet. We have a warning about the number of items that are costing you more in 2016. Gas may be cheaper than in a decade. A trip to the grocery costs 30 more than 10 years ago. That is according to the government, shoppers like natalie brown. The meat has really gone up a lot. Shoppers had no problem naming items that cost a lot more than they used to. Mostly milk and dairy, cheese, its gone way up. Toilet paper is expensive these days. Paper towels. Reporter yes, their hunches are correct. If you too are juggling rising grocery prices you might want to know which ones are up the most. The web site 247wall street checked those with the steepest price hikes the past 10 years. Eggs up 100 since 2005 due to bird flu. Chicken ditto, same reason. Droughts and loss of fields. Orange up 43 due to fruit tree disease. Apples up 41 because of bad weather, canned vegetables up 40 due to droughts. Pet food up 37 because of demand for better ingredients. Bacon up 35 due to a swine virus and rice and pasta up 30 , adelaide just got hit by higher prices. Normally its 7. 99. Its up to 9. 99. Normally you will too if you buy any of those nine items. Well look at this. Looking snowy. Good advice to day here. First week of spring in new england. Of course, after a few weeks of temperatures in the 60s they are getting snow. In fact some areas, i just checked, some of the numbers already a halffoot of snowfall. That just hurts. Were complaining about the cold here. Were allowed. It is cold. Its freezing out there compared to where weve been. Nice end to the weekend there but right now were looking quite cold with temperature in the 30s. This area of low pressure is wind chills out there with winds anywhere from 15 to 25, in fact gusts to 30 Miles Per Hour. At this hour that keeps us in the lower 40s from polk county heading up to the nature coast. Right at tampa and clearwater low 50s. But, again, because of the wind it feels like low 40s. Gusts anywhere from 20 at that 25 this afternoon. Look at the temperatures, we have not seen even lows this low and these are the highs for today. Low to mid60s. The winds subside tonight. Is what happens, temperatures if down. Crash, low 40s in the morning. Temperatures in the low 70s. 30degree jump by the time we get to the afternoon. That is tomorrow. By the way Small Craft Advisory with the winds northerly at 20, 8 to 11foot seas, that is dangerous stuff. As we check the 7day forecast well call it windy today, cold still one more morning tomorrow. Then low 70s. That will feel nice by the afternoon. Well push 80 wednesday, with the southeast wind, again rain chances going up a little as we get to more moisture to work with. The temperatures beginning thursday, low 80s into the weekend. Theres fire on a plane. Panic strikes when a fire is air. The item most of us bring on the plane that started the fire midflight. Your positively tampa bay and the results for this weekends International Cuban sandwich well tell you who won, who lost and which one of us ate 9 25. Unexpected scare in the air. Iphone bursts into flames mid night on the way to hawaii. Anna krail, her iphone here, an iphone 6 caught fire on the flight, alaska air flight. She says she remembers flames shooting up nearly a foot from her phone. Luckily the crew put out the started. Apple and now the faa both investigating what went wrong. They believe it was likely the phones lithium battery. If you have been waiting to upgrade your iphone and dont like the larger size of the i phone 6 or 6 plus youre in luck. Apple is expected to announce something new today. Releasing a new 4inch iphone. Models feature a 4. 7 or 5. 5 inch screens. Some people dont like the larger phones especially people who have smaller hands, you may have trouble gripping the larger models so. Apple is also expected to announce today its coming out with a smaller ipad pro, just for you. And new bands for the apple watch. 9 25. We have a consumer alert to share with friends on facebook this morning. Nissan says more cars than it first thought have a serious problem that needs fixing. Its expanding a recall of rogue models to fix a fuel pump problem. This can keep the cars engines from starting or even cause them to stall while they are being driven. Nearly 47,000 cars are under recall from the 2014 model year. We have the exact manufactures dates of the recalled cars on our web site and our facebook page. Still ahead at 9 30 breaking news from sarasota where three young men are dead what police say may have led up in sarasota three people are dead, a fourth in the hospital after an overnight crash. What were learning this hour straight ahead. Then president obama in cuba today for the first trip of its kind in nearly 90 years. We find out what is on his agenda plus what the Tampa Bay Rays are up to in havana today. The hulk hogan versus dwawrk trial continues at this hour as damages. Coming up, the impact that the outcome of the trial could have not only on gawker but other well. First now at 9 30 breaking news from sarasota. People killed in an overnight crash. Wesley murder kerley, michael mckerley, duffy and custer all killed. A fourth person not identified is in the hospital now. Police say it happened near the section of old bradenton road and desoto road. Only one car involved. Its not clear what led up to the crash but officers do believe speed was a factor. Right now history in the making as president obama and his family wake up for their second day in havana, cuba. Today president raul castro is expected to meet with president obama at the palace of the revolution. The president says the trip is an opportunity to engage with the cuban people. The last president ial visit was in 1926. It took president Calvin Coolidge three days to get to cuba. President obamas trip only three hours on air force one. Our favorite Baseball Team the opportunity to play in an historic game. President obama will be in the stands when it starts at 2 00 tomorrow afternoon. As the president makes history in cuba there is a new Health Warning out for the island nation this morning. The centers for Disease Control says the zika virus is spreading in cuba so pregnant women should avoid traveling there. Cuban Health Officials say at least five people are infected with the virus, more than 100 others are showing symptoms. The virus is spread through mosquito bites and linked to dangerous birth defects. Any mosquitos now are in shock, in hiding, as we have temperatures in the 40s and we have wind chills in the upper 30s up to the north. An incredible turn of events, running from 15 to 20 plus degrees colder this morning than we were yesterday. You can see here temperatures not warming up that much despite full march, late march sunshine, in the low to mid 60s. Well below average for this time of year. I think well get actually colder tonight. Ill tell you who may see some make a comeback. 9 33. Happening today 115 Million Dollars and counting, the jury back at work in the hulk hogan versus gawker trial. Jury members now considering punitive damages following the release of the sex tape. The result could be millions superstar. Abc action News Reporter Rodney Dunigan joins us live from the courthouse in st. Petersburg. This could have a damaging effect on the gawker web site. Reporter it can. The outcome of this trial could not only force gawker out of business but it could force other celebrity web sites just like this to change the way they do business. For their part attorneys for the gawker web site say theyve process. Just a few minutes ago we got fresh video of hulk hogan as he entered the courthouse today. He didnt have comments for the media but did appear to be pretty confident, as you can imagine. The punitive damages are meant to punish defendants for intentional wrongdoing. Gawkers appeal will focus on the recently unsealed documents in this case, also lawyers for the web site contend that hogan filed the lawsuit in efforts to hide racist statements he made in that video. For his part hogan maintained he did not know that video was being shot and did not authorize its release. We have a crew in the courthouse today and we will be following this story throughout the morning. If you want to follow it of course go online to abcactionnews. Com. For now reporting live in st. Pete, Rodney Dunigan, abc action news. Were following breaking news just in to the newsroom at 9 34. Deputies in bradenton are investigating an overnight murmured. Police say 34yearold Nicolette Johnson was found suffering from gunshot wounds before 2 00 this morning. She was found in a driveway on 8th street court east. Investigators are now on scene piecing together exactly what happened. No word on if any arrests were made or if police even have a suspect. Right now tampa police are run driver who killed a man on a bike and just kept going. Video from the scene here, weve learned that victim was a man in his 40s. Investigators have not released his name just yet. Were told he was riding his bike on interbay boulevard near 6th street south saturday night when hit. Were working with tampa police to get you a description of the car involved. Pasco county a car chase leads to two crashes, and started with two 13yearolds. Authorities say the girls were running in the car while driving away in a car along u. S. 19 when they lost control crashing that car into a pole at the intersection of darlington road yesterday just after 4 00 a. M. An ambulance came to assist and then an 80yearold man crashed his car into the ambulance. He got a ticket for not yielding to emergency crews. Both those girls though rushed to the hospital. This morning we know the passenger is currently in serious condition. St. Pete Police Report a spike in overdoses around the drug spice. Were learning about arrests Pinellas County city. There are two people in custody now, by clearwater police. Officers say Cory Lawrence and marie covanas have what marijuana. They were busted at crestlake park where several people had drug. The police chief says hes concerned about drug dealers targeting homeless people, similar to what has been happening in st. Petersburg. Comping hernando county, a number of families out of their homes due to a gas leak are back home this morning. Killian street and spring hill, an underground pipe was leaking propane gas. Eight homes are evacuated until a crew could secure the leak. No injuries reported. Its been 14 months since the tragic death of phoebe jonchuck, her own father arrested for throwing the 5 yearold off the dick meisner in january of the last year. Bikers rode in memory of the little girl, to the bridge in st. Petersburg where phoebe died placing flowers in the water close to where her body was found. For many phoebes sad story hits too close to home. I have two daughters, its hard to fathom why someone could do Something Like at that to their own child. For the second year the bikers raised money to go towards 4,000 scholarship for social work students. They hope their donation will help prevent more deaths like phoebes. John jonchuck, her dad hasnt been declared competent to stand trial in his daughters death. Heres a look at stocks now. They are slightly lower, just a few minutes after the opening bell. Right now the dow is down nine points to 17,592. As you hit the road donts be surprised to see number two on signs at bay area stations. Gas prices jumped 17 cents the last couple of months the average price tops 2. Slightly higher than the overall state average but less than the national average. Experts believe it will reach 2. 50 a gallon by summer. An easy way to save money on your childs next meal, if you live in manatee county. If you have a son or daughter that goes to school there, free lunch will be provided. Pick up the free meals all week long during spring break at the sympathy three spots on the screen. This idea is all to ensure that children have access to nutrition even when school is not in session. 9 38. A big announcement today expected from donald trump. Who he would nominate to the Supreme Court if elected. What hes hoping to avoid by releasing his list early. Plus plus a fun day at the pool ends with more than a dozen children hospitalized. What officials think happened in a Colorado Recreation Center president ial hopeful donald trump is addressing some white house business this morning. The gop frontrunner says hes releasing a list of five or 10 judges he would like to nominate to the Supreme Court if elected. He said by releasing this list now he hopes to kill concern his judge choices could be too liberal. He says hell pick judges everyone respects, likes and totally admires. On the democratic side Bernie Sanders holding a packed rally in Washington State saying he expects to do well in the western primaries and in an attack sanders says he doesnt make often on other opponents. He shared his confidence that trump wont be our next president. The reason that i think donald trump is not going to be president of the United States, that i am quite sure of [cheers] is because the american candidate who lies all of the time. [ cheering and applause ] 7,500 people were there for the rally. The first of three events for sanders in washington. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton took the day off, husband and former president bill clinton campaigning in her sted, in arizona, along with former congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband, former astronaut mark kelly. Clinton has a lead of more than 300 pledged delegates over sandsers from primaries and caucuses. Utah, arizona and idaho will be an important get tomorrow as contests continue. A troubling scene from colorado this morning. More than a dozen kids rushed to the hospital after a hazmat situation at a community pool. Emergency crews responded to a rec center in lafayette over the weekend. Officials say they were called after reports of children coughing, vomiting and having trouble breathing after going into the pool area. I was in the waiting room working out. I was going to go into the locker room. People were coughing and having a hard time breathing. 22 people, mostly children taken to the hospital. All are expected to be ok. The Boulder County hazmat team investigated for over an hour, but wasnt able to detect lingering gas or chemical levels in the air. Today, stargazers are looking to the skies for a twin comet flyby. It could make history. Nasa says the two comets could be interplanetary twins, that means the smaller one on the right there may be a fragment that broke off and the bigger one on the left, the bigger one is expected to fly by today. The smaller one tomorrow. Both will be a safe 2. 2 million miles away but get this, that is the closest fly by since the year 1770 and third closest comet fly by on record so you may be able to catch the view with a telescope. Cool stuff. Nice clear skies. Were going to make it though. Two million miles, a little better than a direct hit. Lets check out conditions. Enjoy your weekend . Yes, thank you very much. Saturday rained. Dan has been gone for an entire week. Have to sign up for that. Wasnt bad either. Thank you. Youre welcome. Yes, the weekend was interrupted with the rainfall on saturday but we made up for it yesterday. A great day. Who won the cuban sandwich thing . That is coming up. Low to mid50s with partly sunny skies, a little windy. A lot windy, actually. Temperatures because of that feel like they are in the low 40s. These are the feelslike temperatures. To me they are more important when you talk about wind and cold combined. When you walk outside that is the temperature that is important, what it feels like to the body. 20, 25 mileperhour wind gusts. Weve had wind gusts up to 30 earlier this morning. Look at the temperatures here, if these were our overnight lows, it would be pleasant but they are the daytime highs. If you are missing winter, logs on the fire there, its going to be very cold tomorrow. The difference will be the wind, tonight it will subside. Were not going to have the wind chills but the temperatures themselves are going to be cold enough. Can you imagine wind chills with low 40s . We would get back to the mid 30s. Lets go to low 70s. Tomorrow we begin to warm up and well continue to do that, add a few degrees everyday. By wednesday already 80. Very difficult to hang on to cold weather this time of year with the sun angle. Small craft advisory, rough seas, 8 to 11 feet, so forget. That by tomorrow conditions much improved. If you want to take out the thereafter because weather is of sunshine. Temperatures again as i mentioned approaching 80 by wednesday. Look at the overnight lows, not only going to lose the 40s, lose the 50s and get back into more typical Florida Weather for this time of year as we get close to april now. Low 80s with the additional moisture that is going to warm us up. Well have a few afternoon continuing friday and into next weekend. Ladies, how would you like to wear this rock on your finger . This blue beauty could soon be yours if youve got a couple of Million Dollars. Take a closer look. This is a rare diamond, comes in just over 10 karats, goes up for auction next month. Expected to fetch somewhere between 30 million and 35 million. When it comes to excuses for skipping school you would think teachers have heard it all. Not so fast this. Is a good one. A rock n roll legend helped get a 9yearold out of school. Talking about the boss himself. Bruce springsteen. Last week a dad took his elementary schoolaged son to see the boss in l. A. On a school night. 9yearoldave had a sign that said bruce, illbe late for school tomorrow. Will you sign my note . The boss came through writing he has been out rocking and rolling, please excuse him if hes tardy. By the way the teacher cool teacher. That is cool. Old. Sandwich . And the winners. Tampa or miami . I dont know. Well see. The winners of this years cuban festival are revealing good morning. It is the morning after the big showdown. The cuban sandwich festival, forget the miami tampa rivalry, you are going to be shocked. Ready . This year the winner of the worlds best cuban sandwich is hama, the team from london. Whats going on there . The huge shocker of the day. Omar and gazi beating competitors from memphis, tennessee and cities from the keys to miami to the florida panhandle. The team here at abc action news very difficult job we had of tasting and judging the historic traditional cuban sandwich category. Its a tough job but somebodys got to do it. With more than 30 teams competing the winner in the traditional cuban sandwich category was michelle on the gold and winner of the nontraditional cuban sandwich was fifos cafe in bay pines. Ivan did really well eating. Clearly i was taking it very seriously. Theres a lot riding on this. Who ate more . I think i did. We ate about the same. That is im wearing a loose fitting dress today because nothing fits. It was really good. 25 sandwiches. I wasnt there. I would have eaten you both under the table. As i have done the past two years. You have. This year theyve had its the first time they have International Guests so it was pretty funny they won it. How about that. Well talk about more cuban sandwiches. Its going to be cold and windy today. But dont panic. Back to 80 degrees by the time we get to wednesday so hang in there. Stars are shining their shoes and shritching into the sequined dresses. Dancing with the stars returns tonight. Twohour premiere featuring a dynamic opening number featuring all the celebrities. All 12 couples will then dance a chacha, fox trot, jive, tango or quick step. No eliminations tonight. Tune in, 8 00 p. M. On abc action news. Well be practicing as well and come in tomorrow and show you our movers. Continuing coverage of the days top stories on abcactionnews. Com. Fab life is next. Today on fablife. Spring has sprung. Spring cleaning, that is. And you might be surprised to find out what germs are lurking. A purse is filthier than a Public Toilet . It is true. cheers and viewers recreate some of our favorite looks. Oh, my god you look fabulous. Plus, spring trends with hair god ken paves. Beauty is liberating. Use the hair as a frame to only see the things you love. cheers and applause welcome, everyone you guys, as of yesterday, it is finally spring cheers and applause how awesome is that . Oh, my gosh, i cant wait. Im so excited. And so, of course, today we are having a fab awakening and getting everybody ready for the warm weather thats to come, yes, hopefully. Hopefully, right . Hopefully. Yes
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.