here is kelly blanco. good thursday morning to you, kelly blanco. hope your morning is off to a good startrt no construction around the area of northwest 79th street. the express lanes are already open here at 4:32 a.m. expect them to be around 50 cents. northbound. over in broward county things are looking nice and clear. your northbound and southbound lanes. we're acdent free. we have construction on the maps where we have a couple of lanes expressway northbound. as a matter of fact, all lanes completely blocked off at tammy tamiami trail. the ramp to the palmetto expressway completely shut down. in broward cnty again, accident-free, but you will have two lanes blocked on i-75 southbound approaching sheridan street. president obama headed to cuba next month. the historic trip will mark the first time a sitting u.s. president has visited the island as you can imagine, that move is sparking a lot of controversy, especially here in south florida. julia bagg is live in little havana with more on what people there are saying about the trip. good morning. eric, good morning to you. it hasn't happened since 1928, that a sitting u.s. president has visited the island of cuba. you may remember president obama first shook hands with with president raul castro at the summit of the americas. what's happening now seems to be the next step after he led -- after half a century of isolation between those two nations. of course, this is not something that a lot of people in south florida are welcoming, in the cun exile community. have a listen to one local leader who is definitely against >> the president of the greatest democra in the world make even one demand of raul castro to change? not at all. >> as president obama makes this trip, keep in mind former president jimmy carter did visit the island of cuba. this was after his presidency. he visited in 2002 and 2011. coming up in our next half hour, details on what we're expecting to learn day about that upcoming trip and also what people right here at versailles are saying about it. live in little havana, jlia bagg, nbc 6 news. a maintenance worker may have lost several fingers after a chemical explosion at a community pool in westin. it happened in the bhroom of the pool house at san sabasian. he was mixing chemicals to clean the bathroom floors. the worker is in serious more consequences for the teenager allegedly speeding in his family's porsche. 17-year-old med dean nas is being charged in the death. his vehicular homicide charges are stemming from the first of the year when detectives say he lost control, hit a couple of trees. paramedics rushed them both to the hospital. detectives are saying medina who is the son of a diplomat tested positive for drugs. he was held in jail on $100,000 bond. the pontiff ended his emotional journey by sichl bol cli tracing the path of migrants headed to the u.s. and ending at the border. is in el paso with more on the pope's very busy day. >> reporter: a final good-bye@ from pope francis to the mexican people as he deerts for rome. his holiness concluded his viit with the maps on the fairgrounds. during his homily he highlighted the plight of the myigration of thousands of people. he stopped on the edge of the rio grand where he blessed people standing on the u.s. side of the border. but one of the most unifying moments of hi visit came when he said a few words for everyone gathered at the sun bowl in el paso. pope francis said than tox the help of technology everyone can pray, sing and celebrate together. noorder will ever impede them from sharing god's love. all celebrated together. >> reporter: earlier in the day he addrdrs add crowd of more than 700 prisoners. some of them wept as they heard the pope encourage them to stop the vicious cycle of violence. >> god bless him. he's really making a difference. >> reporter: are laura rodriguez, nbc 6 news. a look over downtown miami. let's get you over to ryan with what to expect for our end dch of-the-week forecast. i'll talk about the chance for maybe sprinkles here in my complete weather outlook in seven minutes. we'rfree and clear. false returns out there. the atmosphere is vepry stable. with that very cool readings to come alongith the setup overnight. broward county into the 50s. 57, very pleasant in pompano beach. 59 in ft. lauderdale. i'll highlight this 54 in west kendall. why that is in just a little bit. temperatures still coming down furs thing this morning. the winds will come up later on. they're from the north right now. from the northeast a little later this afternoon. clear skies and a dry atmosphere. we've got lots of south florida sunshine inyour thursday forecast. first alert weather today looking good. roadways are dry, no rain in sight. clear and cool. 59 earlier this morning. breezy on the beaches and a few clouds, your high of 76. a lot of construction out there. what else is happing? here is kelly. >> a lot of construction, no accidents. takink a look at the palmetto expresswsw. southbound lanes approaching northwest 122nd street. if you're continuing on the palmetto southbound on the 836, this is your drive. for you miami beach drivers, there's only a sichkal line gettiti by on indian creek between 63rd and 67th. ke that many mind as you make your way out the door. might cause a little tie-up once the morning continues. expressway and the 836 we have construction blocking all of your lanes. 836 westbound to the palmetto expressway completely blocked off. also i-75 drivers, we've had construction on i-75 all week long. this time southbound right at sheridan street. two left lanes completely closed off. they'll reopen at 5:00 a.m. all right, thank you so much. time is 4:39. a woulde crook caught on camera. see how a good samaritan jumped in to stop a ththf from getting prescription drugs. some lucky south florida students had a surprise teacher for the day. a hometown hero mak a case that could go all the way to the supreme court, the a terrorist iphone. seyed farook went on a rampage with his wife iide a san bernardino office building killing 14 people last december. ere's a court order forcing apple to comply. however, the tech git ceo says doing so would be like providing a universal key that would give law enforcement access to any iphone. now to decision 2016. surprising new poll results at least for the gop candidates anyway. this is what we're looking at here. senator ted cruz paaed donald trump to lead the republicans in the race for the white house. a new nbc "wall street journal" poll shows cruz as first choice. 28% of republican voters felt that way. trump trailing sitting at 26%. marcol rubio in third place at 17%. nbc 6 reporter marissa bagg on lawson island with a closer look at those brand new numbers. >> reporter: republican presidential candidates night hoping to sway south carolina voters their way ahead of saturday's primary touching on hot button issues from social securitytyto immigration. >> waste, fraud and abuse is massive in social security. >> why wouldn't you raise the retirement age because people are living longer and longer. >> i'm not doing it. i don't want to do it. >> every ameran has a right -- >> reporter: theyackled the issues instead of attacking each other although each repeatedly set a bullseye on the other on the campaign trara. >> a vote for trump is a vote to erase the second amendment from the bill of rights. >> reporter: trump and rubio on cruz. >> i've never dealt with anybody who lied so much. >> unfortunate he he's proven he'll do or say anything to get elected. >> reporter: while democrats are still fighting. >> you have a chance to reset the race. >> reporter: it's florida received the most coveted endorsement ahead of saturday's south carolina primaries. governor nikki haley is backing him. >> i wanted somebody with fight. i wanted somebody with passion, somebody thad conviction to do the right thing, but i wanted somebody humble enough that remembers that you work for all the people. >> on the democratic site, bad news for hillary clinton. a new cnn poll finds her virtually tied with bernie sanders in nevada. she was a 16-point favorite in october with the nevada caucuses just three days away. it's now ten days since the democrats face off in south carolina. clinton's once huge lead of 50 polling points is down to 20 and shrinking fast. reporting in miami, marissa bag, nbc 6 news. nbc 6 is everywhere. political reporter steve litz is traveling to south carolina ahead of the primary. you can look for his live reports starting tomorrow on friday. twitter for updates on the campaign trail as well. he is@steve nbc 6. now first alert weather with meteorologist ryan phillips. south florida's most accurate forecaca. thursday morning, 4:45, quiet weather settling in. it's a beautiful morning across souttflorida. we're talking open your windows kind of weather. those overnights will be with us for the next several days. as we get into the afternoon hours, we'll see a mix of sun and clouds. i'll talk about sprinkle chances first thing in our forecast. nothing going on offshore. those are false returns. we'll see a turn in the wind irection which even a subtle shift in the wind has an implication. let's get to what you're going to head out to. dry roadways. we have not had any rain overnight. weatherwise should be fine on the drive in and the drive home. but kind of a cool change through the overnight hours, the upper 50s. looking at about mid 70s. we'll see 74 on the drive home. beautiful morning into ft. lauderdale. this is our nova southeastern research facility camera. there's the 17th street causeway bridge. we have radar and satellite loop revealing absolutely nothing. just few fair weather clouds somewhere across the area. not looking for much in the way of coverage. a lot of sunshine that will quickly bring us up out of the per 50s. notice 54 into the west kendall area, clear skies, light winds, away from the water. perfect setup for all the heat energy to escape in the atmosphere. we'll cool off a little more in the southwest miami-dade area. the animals at zoo miami love that. high pressure wedging in. cool weather across the we talk about the wind shift. we bring winds over the atlantic waters. you see a lot of precipitation developing on future tracker. i think we'll see passinin clouds. from time to time tonight and into tomorrow we could see a few sprinkles. today's forecast filled with sunshine, cool start but a warmer afternoon. we'll turn breezy on the beaches at 76. quick look overnight tonight at 63.. here is your northeast wind, a few sprinkles. we get into tomorrow looking for highs of 75. a beautiful way to wrap up the workweek. let's see what's moving on the roads. here is kelly. >> we're accident-free in miami-dade and broward county. traffic and weather shining down on you this morning. five southbound. no issues whatsoever. no construction whatsoever. everything has cleared out. the express lanes are open. no delays making aour way towards the golden glades interchange. southbound a 12-minute right airport expressway. indian creek drive between 63rd street and 67th street, only one lane getting by. it will be going on all morning long. keep that many mind as you head towards miami beach. 836 westbound onto palmetto expssway, all lanes still completely blocked off. we hadconstruction on the palmetto expressway and tamiami trail with all lanes shut down. that has finally reopened. i-75 southbound at sheridan lane, two lanes blocked off. orlando police are headed back out today in a sad search for what they think was a discarded baby. their search including dumpsters all over town at this point. this is why, 30-year-old susan richardson was pretty quiet. she held her head down during her first court appearance prompting the judge to ask if she was even ae wake. investigators believe she tossed police found bloody footprints to her home. richardson is in jail on tds 50,000 right now charged with all aggravated chchld nug glekt. the bill is officially dead for the 2016 legislative session, one of three gun bills he's killed this season. he refused hearings on bills to allow concealed weapons on college and university campus and another to allow concealed weapons in airport terminals. a robbery suspect could have used pain killers himself after he tried to steal some and failed ms. rahbly at doing it. it happened at the walgreens in bradenton. this hooded g climbed in and told the pharmacist he had a gun and demanded oxycodone pills. that's when a customer you won't be able to see it in this video, but the suspect ended up being knocked unconscious. he was taken for treatment and then to the jail. carnival king andy garcia got the party started. >> this place for me has a tremendous amount of memories. i'm proud of its people, its culture and its growth and how it represents our city. the kiwanis club unveiled the festival's 2016 poster, this just days before the official carnival kickoff this saturday at miami high. the event will be followed by the popular carnival on the ile. this year's artists include plan b and alexis will rock the stage as @ell. in today's education on 6 homecoming. alvin ailey is considered one of the best dance companies in the world. set to debut the show in miami thiseekend. the man who leads them, robert florida. he went back to old school teaching a class of kids who want to dance in his footsteps. education reporter ari odzer shows us more. >> reporter: you can call this giving back. name for it. >> this is really something that i like to call spiritual reciprocity. >> reporter: what a great term, spiritual reciprocity. battle has been here before as a stew didn't at northwestern high school. >> you want to fulfill the promise. boom, boom. >> reporter: fast fo@rward 30 years of hard work and he's now the artistic director of the alvin ailey dancece theater. how big g a deal is this? back to talk to the basketball team at his old school. that's what's happening here. >> i think it's amazing that someone of robert battle's stature is coming back to northwestern to work with these students. it's amazing. it gives them hope, something to look forward to, he comes from the same place they come from. >> i come back in hopes that my story will connect with these young people so they understand there's a bath w for ward if they want it. >> reporter: battle gave the kidsointers not just about dance, but about life, talking about the virities of hard work, visualizing success. >> i want to lead you with something you can use. >> did his message resonate with his audience. >> this is a very amazing experience. >> it means a lot that he lives in my same area and attended the school i attend now. no matter where you come from, you can make it in life. >> reporter: who's to say one of >> i absolutely see the talent in this room, not physically in what they're doing, but in their their eyes. i can see their potential. >> reporter: maximizing their potential, that's the next step. in miami, ari odzer, nbc 6 6 news. >> when somebody at the top of your game comes to visit you in your chosen field, what a motivation that is. you know the feeling when you reach into yours back pocket or purse and your wallet isn't there? your heart sinks to the ground. that means all your information is out there for anyone to see. >> it's exactly what happened to one new york city man. what surprised him was the person who found his wallet returned, tell, almost everything. ryan flattery lost his wallet at a concert. two weeks later he got an credit cards and surprising note. the note says i kept the cash because i needed weed and the wallet because it's cool. >> you have to take the good with the bad. i got the most important thing back, you can take the cash -- >> i got everything back. >> he said he thought it was funny. time now is 4:54. still ahead -- >> mind over muscle. how hundreds of athletes with physical limitations are getting the workout of their lights. >> coming up on nbc 6 news at 5:00, the sunshine state's newewet multimillionaires have we're introducing you to the a south florida-based over come their physical disabilities. we'll introduce you to some of the, quote, adaptive individuals who say their life has chged because of this organization. >> nbc 6 reporter jamie gur ril la has the story. >> using strength to overcome physical disabilities and redefine e work handicap. >> doing back squats with one arm. it doesn'take jonathan lopez long to up his weight to 245 pounds. >> at the beginning it was hard. >> reporter: the 36-year-old veteran injured overseas by a drunk driver. he's one of thousands of people with physical disabilities who found an organization that helped them stack the deck in their favor. >> they have helped me reach so many people that i wouldn't have been able to reach on their own. >> i am adaptive founded by and socializ the veteran communities. their mission begins with warming people up of not saying handicap or disabled. >> the moment somebody incurs a trauma, they may be using a wheelchair to get around. the moment you tell them they're handicapped or disabled, something happens mentatay. >> reporter: that's how chris felt after a motorcycle accident on i-95. >> i had to learn how to walk, talk and swallow. >> chris learned how not to let the accident weigh his life down. >> really good. i didn't think i would be able to do anything. i thought i would be sitting on the couch or in a wheelchair. >> reporter: just two years old, i am adaptive created a network where individualsonnect and thrive on teamwork. >we want people to know what they're capable of and see what the boundaries of everyday life. >> reporter: for more information on i am adaptive download the nbc 6 news and weather app. jamie guirol nbc 6 news. >> the gym can be an intimidating place whether you have limitations or not. the fact they're giving opportunity to somebody who saw themselves as having -- >> did you see how ch they were lifting? >> four 45s on either side? that is fantastic. >> nbc 6 news at 5:00 starts right now. >> right now nbc 6 is everywhere. a major announcement from the white house. president obama will be visiting% cuba this year. local leaders are reacting to that news. a south florida teenager accused of running a fake medical practice, he's speaking out. hear what he has to say aboutut the serious allegations. two young men end up hind operation in a quiet south florida neighborhood. >> live, "nbc 6 today" starts now. good morning everybody. your t tme right now 5:00. i'm eric harryman. >> i'm sheli muniz. thanks for joining us on this thursday, february 18th. as we like to say, happy friday eve. >> it's a cool and clear start this morning. >> ryan phillips with a look at what's ahead. >> we get up before your average bear. didn't it feel good stepping outside this morning? >> felt great. >> picture perfect weather. we're dry, by the way. our roadways are dry across the two-county area and down through the keys. the atmosppre gets this way, everything is picked up by the radar. a lot of sensitivity out there. no precipitation to worry about. free and clear of any wet weather out there. on to the temperatures, most important part, 50s across broward county. we've got a lot. 58 in pembroke pineses 59 in 56 in west kendall, 62 in miami. winds out of the north, drawing in the cool and dry air. mostly clear. what a beautiful dpraft, upper 50s for everyone. a lot of sunshine all the way through, a few coastal clouds and a northeast beach breeze. your highs of 76. let's check traffic with kelly. >> happy thursday south florida. thank you for waking up was. you might remember that garbage truck incident. that southwest 7th street ramp is completely shut down. take southwest 17th avenue, brickell avenue or biscayne boulevard as your alternates. we haveonstruction 826 southbound at miller drive. 836 westbound, the ramp to the palmetto expressway is still completely blocked off. hopefully that opens up before you make your way out the door this morning. indian creek drive between 63rd and 67th only one lane getting by at this time. going to be happening all