A couple hundred yards in that direction was the site of a wrongway driver going on the interstate. He did it twice before he died is. I passed the dell mabry exit and someone is going the wrong way. A wrongway driver on 275 southbound. That wrongway driver Larry Thompson exited and reentered going the wrong way. The crash killed him and the other driver eugene fisher. The d. O. T. Tracks dozens of wrongway drivers since 2008. Shouldnt the d. O. T. Do more to prevent it. We are. This is what they have done. Washing beacons, censors alert the wrongway driver. Photos are beamed to the Traffic Control office and the fhp. Turnpike managers credit averting crashes 22 out of 23 times. Why not at every exit ramp. We may have to do that. We have a dozen ramps, we want to make sure its working. A good start but far from a cure. Thats where were putting our focus on as well, not just that people are missing the turns and someones fault for not having a sign. People are putting people in jeopardy. The d. O. T. Plans to install at least 80 more of the flashing beacons when they establish they are effective. This morning the wrongway one of three ways to the ramp. They are trying to figure it out. There was a lot of discussion about using the wrong way spikes like they have at rental car lots. That makes sense, a study indicates that impractical. They are not designed for high speed travel, they dont holdup well and they dont work. Thats not an option. They are looking at other option. The flashing beacon is working on the turnpike. Maybe well see more of those. There were a number of 911 calls made by the driver who came upon that scene and one man tried to help the victims. How many people are injured. Be help is on the way. Dont move. That caller told the dispatcher he felt a pulse on one of the victims but both died at the scene. Breaking news, poke County School superintendent has resigned and they are deciding to give her a seven rance package or seven rance package or fire her. She made sexual overtures to him and when he did not play along his work enenvironment grew hostile. Several Board Members lost confidence in leroy, the assistant saw nothing but professional. During that time i washed watched as she tirelessly built teams and integrated programs to promote the academic success of the students but to enhance their quality of life. Leroy agreed to resign if the county gives her 20 weeks of pay, sick and vacation leave and pays for her attorney fees. Now the politics, donald trump is in tampa and he wants your vote. The candidate is holding a rally at the sundome. Hes set to take the stage in less than an hour. Candace is live at the rally. You saw him in New Hampshire a few days ago. I saw him in iowa, do some you know, im seeing a more diverse crowd in tampa, thats because of our population, much more diverse, if you look in the stands were an hour away from the event, almost full up to the top, back here on the floor they are half full. Theres Campaign Coordinators trying to get the event started. The supporters started lining up hours ago 23450 cant stump trump. Nicolas and holly webb are counting on donald trump to come through. Ive seen his rallies online, hopefully he talks about something of substance. He has their votes, trumps opponents are touting experience in government and attorney affairs, his business business affairs. The two main issues are the would say what is it about a ruthless businessman you dont think would appropriate. Tonight its trumps confidence thats speaking volumes while his opponents are scraping up votes in South Carolina trump is spending two nights away from the lowcountry. Hes selfmade, i consider myself selfmade. The crowd is hyped. This is trumps style of event. Hes had a few town halls. Unlike the other candidates, who are shaking hands with people. This is different. Go big or go home. Its going big. I wont ask questions you cant hear, it is very loud. As a reminder this rally doesnt start for another hour. It starts at 7 00. Chip will bring us live reports at 7 00 and more coverage at 11 00. Two middle School Students were taken to the hospital after eating marijuana laced candy, two boys bought the candy from another student, ate it and got sick, the principal left this voice mail for parents. The students were released from the hospital and the police sent the candy to the crime lab. A wild ride for people trying to back to tampa. 70 degrees for a high temperature. Beautiful day, we have a cold front set to move through the bay area tomorrow. Well look at the forecast coming up. Well have that and more coming up. Youre watching newschannel 8. A man plead guilty for hate crime for calling in threats. He threatened to fire bomb the mosques and shoot the worshippers, he called in the threats in november because he was anger about ther the a terror attacks in paris. Theres two new cases of the zika virus. Theres three cases in the tampa bay care. Today the governor announced a new information hotline for people who have questions about zika. 855 6226735. We have the number on wfla. Com. Scary moments for jetblue it happened in boston this morning. The plane was parked at the gate, the whole plane shook, we caught up with passengers as they arrived to describe what happened. There was a big bang, and a jolt. The pilot said we crashed the landing gear, but something hit us. The driver of the van forgot to put it in park, he hurt himself trying to stop it. No one else was hurt and the passengers boarded another plane to tampa. Newschannel 8 is the only station covering a trip to cuba. People in tampa bay are working to improve the business relationships with havana and. It is a historic day in cuba. Pope francis in havana meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox church. 8 on your side was there as francis was greeted by raul castro at the airport. Jeff patterson is the only bay area reporter in havana this week. A year ago, jeff was there talking to tampa tour steve rupert. He is talking to them about the changes happening there now. Reporter one year ago, i was in plaza vieja and saw they the change has spread out from here. So how is it changing life for the average cuban . When ever you have an economic expansion, there are some people who are rising with the tide and others arent. The people involved with tourism are doing very well. The people driving cars, renting their houses, they are doing very well. Everyone else is just sort of waiting. When all the money comes into the economy, it will lift all the barriers. The criticism is the money is going to the barrier. Are you seeing that or is the average cuban benefiting from this . If you are staying in a government hotel, it is going to the government, if you stay with me, it is going to the people i live with. Most of the money goes to cuban private entrepreneurs. That is what im seeing more than anything else. A rising entrepreneur class which is what we would like to see. Of course. Reporter that is what kathy and it is happening. Itis happening everywhere. Reporter they are even adding art to the square. Change is not happening overnight, but it is happening. In cuba, jeff patterson, newschannel8. And 8 on your side is the only tv station bringing reports from cuba on the delegations trip. Jeff patterson will continue to bring us stories from havana all week long. He is there the entire week. Coming up tonight, we will have more on the popes visit an the story behind it. Mostly clear skies around the bay area today, but there are a few clouds you can see at the plantation, crystal river. They will start from north to south with the approach of a cold front. Very pleasant 64 degrees. The weekend weather looks pretty good. We have a cold front moving through tomorrow. The first half of the day. Should be plenty of sunshine. A few clouds heavy in some of the inland areas. But overall, should be very comfortable both days. 74 degrees monday. 69 degrees in the forecast tuesday. A little fronted. Area of showers late monday into the early part of tuesday. But overall this evening looks good. Comfortable, low 60s. Light southwesterly winds. Seasonal overnight lows right at our averages. Beautiful shot from jackie in Safety Harbor an the pier this morning. Sunrise. Just gorgeous. Clear skies. Storm team 8, wfla on facebook and the storm team 8 weather max app. Download it. It is free. 54 degrees at 7 00 a. M. 67 at 3 00 p. M. Plenty of sunshine tomorrow. Later in the day. A few clouds i mentioned early with the passage of the weak. 67, wesley chapel. 69 bartow. 64 weeki wachee. Dry air aloft pushing north to south. The same thing once that front pushes on tomorrow. Again, the front is on the map. But it is not doing much in the way of creating showers, thunderstorms. Anything along those lines. A few clouds associated with it. That is about it. It will pass with little notice for us and basically shift our winds around another direction. Keeping it cool. This evening clear skies. Not as cold. Very pleasant. There come a few clouds associated with the front pushing down to the south. Associated with the front. Down to the south, we see the wind shift out of the north and eventually northeast. Now, by sunday, we will see more of a northeasterly flow. That will drive a few clouds into the inland areas. A few sprinkles with the stronger winds into the east coast of florida. When you look at polk county, de soto, maybe a few more clouds and coastal areas. As we get into monday, a mix of sunshine and clouds. Setting up the rain chance as much, much later in the evening monday into tuesday. 51 degrees, forecast low. Temple terrace. 52 plant city. 50 degrees in wachula. Chilly in some of the northern spots. Highs tomorrow look pretty good overall. Upper 60s. Near 70 degrees in some of the inland spots. We topped out at 70 today at Tampa International airport. 57 degrees tonight. 54 degrees to start the day with a few extra clouds. Sunshine in the afternoon. 67 degrees sunday. The clouds moving in the second half of the day. 74 degrees for monday. That is our high temp. Theres the rain chance monday into the early part of tuesday. And we had a slow warming trend into the second half of next week. Mid and upper 70s there thursday. Especially as we get into friday. You see temperatures shoot well above normal. Trend. We are looking good. The weekend looks good too. Coming up, trade rumors stamkos. Meantime he prepares for a home game against the predators. donkey sound elephant sound theres a big difference between making noise, tapping sound and making sense. elephant sound donkey sound when it comes to Social Security, we need more than lip service. Our next president needs a real plan to keep Social Security strong. elephant noise hey candidates. Enough talk. We are over two weeks away from the february 29nhl trade deadline. Thank goodness its leap deer. Stammergeddon is reaching a fever pitch. Stamkos said no matter what happens, there will be some answers. In the tv news business, we there is no shortage of speculation when it comes to deadline deals. If he is traded, most have him headed home to play for the maple leafs while other prospectors figure there is room for him to sign in ottawa or buffalo according to bob makenzie. He and the lightning are trying to stay focused on the task at hand, the visiting nashville predators. We are not going to let our last stretch ruin the past two months of pretty darn good hockey. It is unfortunate we left four points on the table. Now we have to win these games at home. We need to regroup. Like i said, you cant give up four plus and back to back and expect to win. Especially on the road. We have the offense that can sometimes pull those games out of the hat. We have talked about how important it is to play with a lead. A quick start. We havent done that the last couple of games. Hopefully, some home cooking monday and tuesdays clunkers in canada are all it took to send the lightning sliding down the standings. Tampa bay is now fourth in the atlantic. Barely clinging to a wild card spot. With 29 games remaining, the bolts are in for a battle. This year, everyone has a chance. You are playing desperate teams. You have to match the desperation. Take advantage of home ice which we have done. You have to continue to do that. There is no secret recipe. We are closer to being out of the playoffs than in. Finallying check out the swag up for grabs at the rays games. I like it. Two dozen items set to be given away on weekend home days. You can find promotions on our website. I want to meet the person who has saved every single one of those. His name is bob hanson, he is our sports photographer. I want to see all of it. I know it is probably floating around somewhere. Finally tonight, some young Bay Area Hospital patients received a special get from a former football coach. Tony dungy and his wife spent time handing out gift baskets to youngsters at saint josephs. It is the basket of Hope Campaign meant to cheer up the children at the hospital stays. They know all about it. One of their children had an extended hospital stay. Does he ever take time out . I dont think so. He is out doing good everyday. Dont go anywhere. Nightly new is next. Steve and jenn will be back here. Who is with you tonight . Jenn is not feeling well. We will find out. [ laughter ] well be back at 11 00 light tonight, dangerous freeze. Below zero in 16 states. 65 Million People plunge into the teeth of a polar vortex. Urgent warnings of a potentially deadly winter blast. Donald trump threatens to sue ted cruz as Bernie Sanders accuses Hillary Clinton of landing a low blow. Its getting nasty. Machete horror, a viterbo restaurant attack. A man suddenly starts slashing and stabbing people inside. The fbi investigating and asking was it terrorism . Trapped by war. Our team inside syria as word of a deal to