And southbound lanes are closed. Right now, i am standing in the northbound lanes. No traffic right here right now. This is the scene behind me. A couple of big rig tow trucks just arrived onscene to start the task of moving that big rig out of the center lanes right here. And we have video to show you. This happened around 11 45 last night. Were told by fhp that a van was stalled in the center lane of southbound i275 with its lights off for some reason. Thats had the semitruck came barreling down the roadway and slammed into the back of the van. The van burst into flames and were told by fhp that the driver of the van dieded onscene. At this point, it doesnt appear that there were any passengers in the van. The semitruck came to rest in the northbound lanes. Again, this all happened in the southbound lanes but the semi truck came to rest in the northbound lanes of i275. Were told that the reason both northbound and southbound lanes are closed right now is because theres debris all over the roadway. Obviously thats difficult to make out right now. But were told the Investigation Continues and both lanes are expected to be closed for quite some time. Leslee, a very big headache for anybody who uses this highway this morning. Back to you. Thank you, ryan. And definitely a headache. And tragic news, a bad way to start off the morning in the bay area. This is where the collision is at folks. This is between bearss and the northern apex here on 275. Both directions are blocked. So southbound, coming out out of pasco county. You can take bruce b downs or fletcher and hop on that way. And over here on fletcher and get to i75 to continue north. And u. S. 41 known as nebraska avenue is a good alternate as well. Again, both those lanes closed. Ryan was at. I will keep you posted throughout the morning. Right now the traffic is extremely light so not seeing significant delays but if it continues to be closed for hours later, we will definitely see a problem. What a sad way to start the day. Yeah, very unfortunate. Its much warmer than yesterday. About 53 in tampa. Still cool at 45 in zephyrhills. 56 in sarasota. Look what a difference, anywhere from 10 to 16 to even 20 degrees warmer than we were just this time yesterday. And were going to stay warmer, a high today of 73. Thats above the average of 70. And tonight, down to 63. So a very warm but thats because were going to see increasing clouds and eventually heavy rainfall for tomorrow. I will break it down today at 4 08. All right. Thank you so much. Well, right now police are investigating a crash on 56th two pedestrians were hit. Theres no word on their condition. The intersection is now back open. Happening today, it was the first criminal conviction of its kind and now the couple who lied about sinkhole issues will be sentenced. This afternoon, glenn and Kathryn Jason will face a judge. The couple was convicted of mortgage fraud after failing to disclose sinkhole problems when they sold their house. Not only did they know, they the sinkholes. An armed robber is on the run this morning and detectives think he could be connected to as many as six holdups. This is the crook in action on 46th avenue north with the hoodie over his head and bandanna over his face. At one point, he tries to break into a coin game with a gun. He has hit the store three times as well as three other stores where a terrified clerk gave him what he wanted. Florida state is paying dollars to the woman who claims she was raped by the bucs quarterback jameis winston. She sued fsu claiming the school did not investigate her claim and even tried to cover it up. Fsu will give her 250,000. Her attorneys will receive 700,000. More than 3,000 of merchandise swiped from this victoria secrets in lake whale. This morning, employees are on edge. These four women robbed the victorias secret inside the eagle ridge mall over the weekend. You can see them trying to juggle the goods in this customers are still shocked. That can happen anywhere. I mean, it can happen you could just be distracted for 30 seconds and someone can swipe something. All four women are charged with retail theft. A store employee told news channel 8 that mall security their store now. President ial candidates will continue to crisscross the state of iowa. With the caucuses just one week away, the democratic president ial candidates had a lot to say at a town hall monday night in des moines. The race is at a dedead heat between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Rodham clinton with Martin Omalley a distant third. Sanders referred to his opposition to the iraq war while clinton stressed her experience. And news channel 8 will be there covering the caucuses live from iowa. We will show you how the tight races are playing out in both the democratic and republican fields and explain what this means for florida and the race going forward. Well the time the right now is 4 06. Residents in Hillsborough County are invited to try out new voting equipment. The supervisor of elections is holding open houses to reveal the new equipment that will be it starts at 4 00 in tampa and at the Hillsborough CountyElections Services center. Well the spotlight is on disney this morning as the company deals with a new Class Action Lawsuit filed in federal court right here in tampa. Yeah, two former employees accuse disney of illegally hiring Foreign Workers to replace u. S. Employees. News channel 8s Lindsey Mastis joins us live with the morning alert. A lot of people are on social media voicing their opinions about this case. Reporter thats right. This morning gene, you know this is a story getting a lot of attention on facebook and some people are calling for boycotts of disney products. Disney along with two Global Consulting firms are being sued in the suit. Two employees insist they were forced to train their foreign replacements and if they didnt, they would be denied bonuses and severance pay. Disney claims it hired back but the company is also insisting it offered the two men suing different positions with similar pay. An attorney for the former employees is adamant that disney and the firms illegally used visas to replace American Workers with cheaper foreign labor. We will follow the story and let you know what happens next. Gene thank you. You can follow the morning alerts each and every day on facebook and twitter. All you have to do is search hash ago ago 8 alert. 8alert. Good morning. You are going to notice a outside. Theres a chill in the air but nothing like yesterday, certainly no frost anywhere. Temperatures will be starting for most of us in the 50s which is some 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. And then hourbyhour in a quick warmup too. 64 by 11 00 a. M. 73 at p. M. Thats above average. And at 3 00 p. M. And thats above average. The cloud cover gets thicker as and 68 degrees at 7 00 p. M. Today, how much warmer its going to be is the big headline. Tomorrow the headline changes to rain and the possibility of strong storms that continues not only through wednesday but also thursday. And good news for pirate, sunny and pleasant for gasparilla. Todays high 73. Still 69 on thursday. And friday is going to be drier, we go to 68. And 68 for the pirate parade. And lets check on traffic on the 8s. I know one huge issue. Anything else going on . We have an issue underneath the veterans expressway ehrlich road is blocked. The major issue is 275. North of bearss is completely blocked. You can see flashing lights out there. Lets take a look at the maps. This is where this is located here. Again, 275 blocked both directions due to a fatal accident. And lets take a live look and earlier there were a semitruck that smashed into a van. The van exploded and one person was killed. And now theyve got to clean up this debris. So how do you get around it . Well, lets look at the maps again. You can take bearss up to bruce b downs. This is the way around it. And i75 is the key either direction. And then route yourself back over. So definitely going to create a detour but no congestion yet. Thats weather and traffic on the 8s. Back to gene and gayle. Thank you. Well the Florida Department of transportation wants your input on the proposed widened of u. S. 41 in Hillsborough County. The hear willing be held tonight at 5 30 at the gash vennville recreation center. The improvements include widening u. S. 41 to a sixlane divided highway. A distance of approximately seven miles. Coming up, all the travel updates you need to know about yeah, find out just how much snow one airport had to dig itself out of it. And as many out of. And as many train for the gasparilla distance classic, right now the blizzard may be gone but the travel nightmare on the east coast is far from over. More than 1600 flights around the u. S. Were canceled and that doesnt count the backlog of departures and arrivals. Reagan National Airport had enough snow to fill a football field. These guys are pushing and hauling snow from sun up to sun down. At jfk in new york, managers say its their biggest recovery effort since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Airlines are reporting its going to take days to coordinate getting people to their final destination. Enough snow to fill up a football field. Wow. Several whales found dead on the beach in the neglecter scientists believe they were looking for food and then became disoriented. And a bus plows through a shop in rhode island and this morning the driver is seriously hurt. Look at the damage. Police say four people were on the bus at the time when it crashed through the shop. Two of the passengers were also hurt. The two workers inside survived. Time right now 4 15. And this morning, eight is on your side as you get ready for the gasparilla distance classic. For those planning to run, youre most likely dealing with some sore muscles. They hurt so much. This is common. But did you know you can improve your run, like a golf swing, to prevent injury and soreness . Josh benson discovered a Bay Area Program that holds the key to your running success. Reporter are your legs sore from running . Would you believe you could be doing it all wrong . One of the number one factors in causing an injury in reporter maybe you think youre a decent runner. The truth is, few of us have great injuryfree form. You doing all right . Oh, yeah. Okay. Definitely out of shape though. Reporter running is not taught. Humans run to escape threats. So the doctor created ideal run, a simple. Program that uses science and video to show you whats wrong with your gait or manner of running. A few squats and step downs and he says he can transform your hobbling form into injuryfree strides in no time. I was the guinea pig. Hop up. We look at what we call the footground angle. We want it to be less than 10 degrees. Reporter 212347 i jump when i run, my strides are too long, my right foot sticks out like a duck. I have a lot to work on. But with basic exercise and science, the doctor says you we are just getting people closer to an efficient Human Movement in this pattern we call running. Reporter and that will have you jumping for joy. Just dont do it when youre running. Josh benson, news channel 8 today. I got to ask josh about the duck foot. The Doctors Office is located in clearwater but he says anyone can have their running style reviewed. All you need is a device that captures 15 seconds of video website. Today a crew will break through tampas defense and storm into city hall and demand the mayor surrender the city. They have been putting on the parade of piratings since 1904. This year they are rolling out one of the largest floats. Its going to have water that comes over the teether and and teeth and recycles back. It will be blue water. Got induction fans that will blow smoke out into the crowd. Thats cool. And the mayor will meet with the captain at noon today to negotiation a peaceful surrender. We hope you have your costume picked out. The adult parade is just a few days away. News channel 8 will carry the parade live of course. Our coverage starts at 2 30 and we will stream it live on wfla. Com. You cannot miss it. And the web team has been busy compiling everything you will want to know as the pirates invade tampa. Look for it at wfla. Com. Such a great time of year here. We have nice weather, right . We do. We have nice weather today. And nice weather for the parade. Its the time in between im more concerned about. Lets focus on today because you have things to do the this morning. Its already 10 to 20 degrees warmer than yesterday morning, 59 degrees, feeling nice. Day and temperatures warm up. 67 at noon. 73 at 3 00 p. M. Thats above average. And auburndale, youre starting at 49 degrees. Yes, thats a little cool but nowhere near yesterday. 56 in sarasota. A southeast wind is going to push the temperatures into the 70s and more clouds will stream in. And in fact, after midnight tonight, already putting in a slight rain chance and obviously more clouds. This time tomorrow, we could already start to see pockets of rain ahead of this slowmoving cold front. Look at this, all day the tomorrow, off and on showers, the possibility of strong to severe storms. Im putting the rain chance at 80 and continuing to 50 great. Leslee has issues on traffic on i do. We have two issues. Two closures. We kickoff starting at the veterans day. The vets, at the veterans expressway, ehrlich road right under neither the vets. If you think thats bad, check this out, this say nightmare, this is 275. Both directions are completely blocked here. And this is right in between bearss and the northern apex. So how do you get around it . Well, you have to take bearss avenue or bruce bruce b down here and go this way to get back up to 275, especially in and out of pasco county. Its due to a fatal accident where a semitruck ran into a van and the van exploded. Its hard to see but again, both directions are blocked. Blocked. Allow for a good 20 minutes to get around the detour. Back to gene and gayle. Thank you. Just ahead, a house fire in california forced eight people out of their homes. Coming up, what firefighters did to rescue the family. Were found. A new line of hotels with millennials in mind. The hotels will appeal to millennials with new technology. Like a social media board in the lobby. Pretty neat. Scale hotel category. Well how much do your facebook friends really like hmm. A new Study Reveals only four of all those facebook friends are part of your support circle. What does this mean . Well, theyre the only ones that would be thering for in a time of crisis. The study adds the average person can count around 13 Close Friends and while social Networks Help you keep in touch, they dont expand your number of Close Friendships. I buy that. You can love me from a distance. Some lucky pups are alive after being rescued from a fire. Firefighters rescued three dogs and a whole basket of puppies from a house fire. The fire started in the garage and forceed eight people out of the home. Look how cute. One person suffered smoke inhalation but is expected to the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Adorable. Weather and traffic on the 8s is three minutes away. Plus, we are on top of breaking news this morning. A deadly crash shuts down i 2750 in tampa. Time for weather and traffic on the 8s. Look at emoji man, hes happy about it being not so cold. However, increasing clouds throughout the day. Thats what you need to know. Not as cold this morning, 59 degrees. And in fact, almost warm this afternoon at 73. But with increasing clouds and look at this, an 80 chance of storms tomorrow. Still 50 thursday. Leslee, how about traffic on the 8s . Well, overnight construction has ehrlich road blocked at the veterans expressway. Take gunn highway instead. And a fatal crash, both bearss completely blocked. You can see what im talking about. Its a mess out there. Youre not going to be able to get by. A lot of cleanup going on and an investigation. Take bearss or come off of i75 and head to 275