. 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.

candidates went after each other in the latest debate and things got nasty fast. >> this little guy has lied so much. >> here we go. >> here we go. >> he has lied so much about my record. >> mr. rubio, senator rubio. let him finish. >> trump's rivals slammed the businessman. in the end, they did vow to support trump if he wins the republican nomin. we could be in for rain this morning. there are fewer showers than they there were a few hours ago. let's head straight to meteorologist leigh spann for a look for how much the rain lasts all together. >> not long. that is good news on friday headed into the weekend. it is associated with a relatively weak cold front. i'll zoom in and you can see spotty rain pushing into far northwestern polk county. we have heavier downpours along the coast of manatee and sarasota.

watch the forecast now. i've jumped ahead an hour. 6:00 a.m.. we're seeing clearing from north to south. still could be seeing showers in southern polk county manatee and sarasota over the next two hours. by 8, 8:30, the skies are clearing out. the lower humidity moving in and the sunshine obviously making a return. comfortable today. the year. at 5:08 in weather and traffic on the 8's. i have an hour by hour look at friday and let you know about the weekend, too. leslee is trying to get you to work on time. >> so far you will get to work on time. we're looking a pretty good. let's look at what is happening out here. this is the biggest issue going on. if you're going to hop on 275 southbound in southern pinellas county, heads up to 54th avenue south entrance ramp will be blocked for an hour or more. what you need to remember is take that 22nd avenue on ramp and that will get you back onto the interstate. meanwhile, we have a collision

be on the look out for. that also taking a live look at traffic out there. this is 275 right near 38th avenue south. it looks great. back to candace and gayle. >>. happening today, closing arguments will begin in a few hours as sports caster andrews stalker trial wraps up. >> he video taped her nude through a peep hole in a hotel. it has been emotional. erin is the daughter of our very own steve andrews. lindsey mastis joins us live from the tampa news center. what will the attorneys focus on today. >>reporter: good morning, sports caster erin anders attorney has to convince a jury that the hotel is responsible but they're stalker. they heard from the stalker, the family and even erin herself. >> it upsets me.

happen. i never thought a hotel would let somebody next to me without telli. >> she insists the hotel willingly gave the stalker a room next to hers without letting her know. the employee testified she admits she doesn't remember checking the stalker in but insists she would not have placed him in a room next to hers without telling andrews first. million for negligence, of privacy. this is a case very close to us here at news channel 8. we'll keep tabs on it and have updates beginning at first at four and you can count on us to bring you the decision as soon as it happens through the news channel 8 app. so make sure you have it gayle? >> you know, this is a case that has a lot of us thinking and general. thank you, lindsey. right now, tampa is one step closer to passing an ordinance that would lessen the punishment

the city council voted 6 to 1 in favor of a change. 8 on your side ryan hughes is live at city hall. this is a big change in the works. >>reporter: good morning, right now, somebody caught with marijuana here in the city would likely left side their license, perhaps go to jail. face a hefty fine. if this ordinance gets the green light. they will get a slap on the wrist. this is the top clicked story on wfla.com and here last night, heated discu. >> this is not a get out of jail free card. this is to target the first time o..er wheeze made a mistake and give -- offenders who have made a mistake and give them the opportunity to get into the criminal law. >> they're in favor of the change. some residents sounded off telling city leaders it is harmless. some say it ruined their lives, the lives the loved ones. here is what it looks like. under prot posed measure.

would be issued a $75 fine for the first offense. 150 for the second and offenders would pay $450 for each offense after that. now, this ordinance isn't a done deal yet. city leaders will likely discuss it again on march 17th to give it the stamp of approval. count on 0 your side to be here and -- 8 on your side to be here and bring you the latest. this closely. thank you. in highlands county, a teacher scandal is brewing 36789 teachers are accused of exchanging inappropriate photos with students. a sebring high school student is accused of sending nude photos to 2, 18-year-old students. she has since resigned. another teacher at avon park high are accused of having nude pictures of youj, male students. -- young, male students. the sheriff is disappointed in the alleged misconduct. >> it is unfortunate that people are making such poor choices

all self serving and they're not thinking of another human being but themselves when they do things like this. >> the middle school teacher stacy hooks is facing child porn charges. the high school teachers are still under investigation. more fall in the ranks at another administra. greg rivers submitted his letter of resignation. he got caught up with the then superintendent catherine lee roy. he accused her of sexual harassment. panama city spring break reputation is infamous but things are changing. it is no longer on the list of trashiest american spring break destinations. spring break will never be the same. co-ed.com removed panama city beach from the list. it came after the city approved

they explain it is all part of the new plan for the area. >> what we're doing is marketing towards more families because we really do want to bring people in and let them know this is the place for them. i think it does show progress. that, you know, the word is getting out there that panama city beach is a great place to be. >> spring break and panama city officially kicks off this week. time is 5:08 and leigh is here with the weekend. my favorite word. >> it will be a wonderful weekend as well. even better news at 5:0 #. at 5:08 right now. it is not looking so pretty. we have spotty, very tiny quick moving showers out of pasco and into northern polk county. a sprinkle neal fort meade and some -- sprinkle in fort meade and some spotty rain. look at the last hour. i don't expect this rain to last much after eight this morning and then you're in for a treat. cooler, drier, less humid air arrives.

it does cool down pretty quickly if you're going out friday evening. we're back down to 64 degrees at 7:00 p.m.. the front clears us out. it will be breezy this afternoon. weekend top 10 kind of weekends. mostly sunny, mid-70's. we do trend a little warmer as we head into next week. here is a better look at it. seven # today. 75 saturday and 76 sunday. and then all the way to 80 by tuesday. checking in with traffic on the 8's. can come h. >> they certainly do. let's look at travel times for you if you'll be hopping on u.s. 19. it continues to be a nice commute through palm harbor. state road 54 to tampa road is 15 minutes and on u.s. 41 through pasco county, it looks good through land olakes and state road 52 to 54 is a 15-minute commute on u.s. 41. 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. mexico's treasury secretary

for the wall under any circumstances claiming mexican taxpayers can't afford to pay for that kind of project. >> getting to the bottom of the water crisis in flint michigan. a congressional delegation is headed to the city. lawmakers plan to visit families affected by the lead contaminated water. people in the community of flint not waiting on lawmakers to fix the problems there. some activists are using their own money to begin the process of removing lead pipes out of the ground. they started digging in one neighborhood. the activists explain why they aren't waiting on the city. >> this is the people. the people coming together. it is a human right issue. we have to take it upon ourselves to do something and take action and empower ourselves and save our own lives. us. >> other agencies are donating water bottles, lead testing kits and filters. a porta potty puts an end to a police chase in houston. four men in the car were speeding from police.

control and ran through a fence smashing into the portable bathroom. police arrested three of the four suspects. they're accused of robbing a pizza restaurant. we may soon find out more about the death of whitney houston's daughter, bobbi kristina brown. a judge granted an atlanta tv station's request to unseal the autopsy report. the tv station made the requests after an investigation into heroin related deaths in the atlanta area reporters discovered that some people who died of over doses may have been friends with brown. brown was found in a bathtub in her georgia home in january of 2015. she died months later. you have to see this. in china, a massive sand storm is causing major problems. take a look. it is like a wall of sand on the horizon there. strong winds whipped up all of the dirt. things were so bad, visibility was down to 60 feet in parts of northwest china. many communities cancelled school. train service was shut down and

asking them to get off the roads. big changes are under way at target. the retailer is switching its focus on digital. store executives explain a plan is in the works to change the online shopping experience. they want to give you a way to shop online and pick up your items at the store. target is also planning to add more organic items in the grocery section. tampa is a house flipping mecca. the reality track found that more than 9% of homes sold in the tampa area were flipped. daytona beach had the same rate. the only cities with a higher rate of flipped homes are memphis, fresno and las vegas. eight is on your side this morning with a look at a major event kicking off today in the bay area we're talking about the boat show. it is the largest of its kind in the state. josh thomas is joining us now grounds. i've been out there. tell us about them!

do and a lot to see as you see me behind the wheel right now. one of the fine boats out here, many, many boats packed into the expo hall at the state fairgrounds for people to get out and get a chance to see what is available this year. of course it is the news channel 8 outdoors expo and boat show that is going on all weekend here. whether you're a boat enthusiast. a hunter, there is a little bit of everything for the whole family to come out and enjoy, see, and even whch if you so choose to -- even purchase if you so choose to do so. family. this will be going on all this week. we'll show you the times it will be going on. today the doors open at 1 o'clock and will be open until 8:00 tonight. just so you know it is free all day today thanks to the southern chevy dealers. tomorrow the doors open on sunday and tomorrow at 10:00 in the morning. they close at 8:00 tomorrow and will close at 5:00 on sunday.

under 12 will be able to get in here for free and it should be an opportunity to enjoy yourself out here and maybe get behind the wheel of a nice boat. >> you're looking pretty good behind the wheel of the boat. will you take us for a ride late sgler. >> yeah. we'll go out on the water. >> i think i'm more of a pontoon girl. let's turn things over to leigh spann. it will be a great boating weekend. >> you would be surpriseded. some places are seeing rain. this won't last long and we have a fabulous weekend in store. let me show you where the rain is now. we'll sghoom through the eastern portion of hillsborough. northwest portion of polk county. i-4 will be getting wet here in a little bit in northern polk county and then we have a little bit of spotty rain moving through manatee and sarasota. not much. i left in a 20% chance. by 8:00, the rain is pushing out of the area as a cold front comes through helping to clear out the skies.

it will be a nice, northwest breeze. feeling like spring outside. seven # degrees and 3:00 p.m.. 59 in brooksville. 63 in lakeland. it is warm ahead of the cold front. 69 degrees in bradenton. even the weather watcher wendy, she is at 60. northern areas, citrus county and hernando county, you'll see that cooler air and clearing sky first because by 9:30, all of the rain is south of us and quickly, the cold front comes through. so notice much fewer clouds, lots of sunshine, but the dry air and lower humidity, cool a bit in the morning, but comfortably so in the mid-50's. we'll keep it nice and sunny for saturday. also sunny for sunday, there is a general warming trend back into the low 80s for next week. we'll check in now with traffic on the 8's. >> taking a look out. there we have a good drive but not a perfect one. we have a collision. this just popped up on northbound 275 right at the exit to gandy boulevard. i want you to keep that in mind. you can get by. it is not blocking the exit but

there on the roadway. also around roosevelt and 4th. not far away from there. the intersection of roosevelt there, is a lot of construction going on in that area and that tends to bog you down as well. all right, we have a good drive across the gandy bridge. good drive across the howard frankland bridge. it will take you six minutes to cross it. gun highway at anderson road, 275 looks very good. here is a live loo275 around 38th avenue north. in pinellas county, no delays. when we come back i'll take a look at lakeland. that is weather and traffic on the 8's. back to candace and gayle. >> thank you so much, leslee. a bay area mail carrier did more than just deliver mail. he helped save a life. >> still ahead, how the carrier is being honored. >> first, how the presidential candidates are using social media to win votes. also, a big news, if you haven't heard. florida celebrated the 169th birthday. if you couldn't live in tampa

favorite? connect with me on facebook and

. many people like being private about the political views but the candidates could know about you than you know about them. according to dan patterson. winning campaigns have two things in common. the use about big data and social media to drive activity. >> you saw this come out in

things that make her seem like a person and not just a stiff robotic candidate. >> it will only get more intense as this election plays out. a mail carrier is honored after saving the life of a man along his route. last year, terrell brown was on his route when he spotted a man laying in his road. an 84-year-old fell and hit his head while trimming trees. brown jumped into action. >> at that point i made the decision to get the ambulance out here and stay with him to make sure he was all right. >> he was able to recover and the mail carrier received a plaque and letter from the post master general recognizing him for his actions. he got to thank the mail carrier personally. weather and traffic on the

>> saving money on your doctor bills. we'll show you a website that may have to save on everything from x-rays to mammograms. >> police officers on a wild ride. we'll show you the dramatic dash cam video of a driver taking off as officers question her. you're watching news channel 8

. 5:28 on this friday, there are a couple of showers out early this morning, if the kids have to go to the bus stop early and you live south of i-4, you might have a shower but mostly sunny, breezy and 74 when they come home from school. emoji man smiling about the great weekend weather. if you're headed out today at the strawberry festival. big and rich hitting the stage. lingering clouds at 10 a.m.. notice sunny and 76 at 3:00.

this is located on dale mabry highway just before you get into the pasco county. dale mabry at lutz lake. keep an eye out for. that is not going to slow you down. we have a fantastic drive in polk county. no delays coming in and out of

gmg and welcome to news channel 8 today. i'm candace mccowan in for gene. >> i'm gayle guyardo. after two weeks in court, the erin andrews lawsuit is starting to wrap up. arguments. the sports broadcaster is suing a man who secretly took nude videos of her in 2008. and the marriott for allowing him to book the room next door to hers. >> in hillsborough county high school brawl has some parents pointing fingers.