good evening i'm jennifer lee. >> and i'm josh benson. they're supposed to help people buy the foods they need to feed themselves and their families. but detectives are accusing a number of store owners and customers of using ebt cards to make money. peter bernard is live. >> reporter: this bp station is the final cog of ripping off the taxpayers at the tune of $19 million.

of a 15 month undercover investigation. st.petersburg police rated the king food mark on 27th south taking the entire inventory. they believe the owner wale maley bought most of the merchandise with ebt cards from customers that stopped by. king food mart is out of business. a hand written sign said food stamp down. but he didn't even have a swipe device to take them as he lost that privilege in 2008. surveillance showing him loading up. >> keep in mind the people were not buying any groceries out of

just at the beginning of the month they could come in, exchange these ebt cards and he would give them cash. >> reporter: cash, a gun, and does -- dozens of ebt cards were confiscated. >> if you're taking money and then selling it, the amount of the crime is even larger. >> the message is if you're out there doing especially to people and the stores we're coming. just be prepared we're coming for you. >> reporter: police tell me when they arrested murray he had you guessed it ebt cards with him. and they told me his family qualified for an ebt card, they

>> reporter: what a scam, do police suspect any more of these arrests. >> reporter: they've already arrested card holders and business owners. those are the lower profile ones but they're going after them as well. >> a calculated plan. peter bernard live for us. thank you peter. a brandon man is facing dui charges after a trip home from the casino ended in a bizarre crash. the road. they said when they asked him to perform a field sobriety test he said i'm drunk. davis agreed to a breath test which showed his level was .14. a scary situation for some florida.

at party city in boca raton collapsed this morning. three people were treated on the scene for minor injuries. officers combed through the shelving to make sure there were no other victims. they didn't find anyone but no word on what caused the shelves to collapse. today marks a tragic day for haiti. it is the sixth anniversary of the deadly earthquake that hit back in 2010. the death toll was estimated at more than 3,000 people. another 300,000 were injured. the quake was followed by several severe aftershocks. last spring more than 60,000 people were still homeless from that event. governor rick scott layed out his agenda for lawmakers on his state of the state address at the state capital today. our capital bureau mark vaselinda explains. >> reporter: governor rick scott told lawmakers that the state of the state -- >> is growing. >> reporter: it was his sixth address to lawmakers, he says

and the legislature cut taxes and regulations. he asked for more of the same. >> with records day revenues we have the opportunity to diversity our economy and help our small businesses grow by cutting taxes by $1 billion. >> reporter: but the biggest applause of the day came when he mentioned the global terrorism plight. >> our next president must make it their mission to immediately eliminate the threat of isis to the united states of america. >> reporter: what the governor didn't mention is the seminole compound that could cost millions. the omission puzzled everyone some in his party. >> we have to look at the tax cuts anew and determine where a decent number is. >> reporter: the democratic

placed too much attention on creating low paying jobs. >> these low paying jobs the majority of them he has created does not bode well for people at the bottom. it really doesn't. >> reporter: scott's speech set it is agenda for the session that ends in march but he can't control what lawmakers do between now and then. >> reporter: while scott can't control what lawmakers do over the next 55 days he has a veto pen and proved last year that he can use it liberally of canceling projects if they crossed him. the new $250 million fund is used to lure new businesses and buck horn has endorsed his idea. how much the state spends on economic development has been a point of contention between scott and lawmakers for at least two years.

gone unspent while scott keeps asking for more. there's a heavy military presence in tallahassee on the first day of the legislative session but there was nothing to worry about. the men and women in uniform were being honored. it was national guard day at the capital. military machinery was brought out to the capital courtyard and put on display. the governor toured the scene and thanked the servicemen. a lot of people think of the national guard only when we have a hurricane or some other disaster but the truth is there's national guards being deployed all the time in harms way. we've been deployed 11 times since december 2011 and we're always there. there may be more rocket launches along florida's space coast. space x is planning around 20 unmanned space rocket launches.

12 launches scheduled from cape canaveral. expectations are rarely met. there were 16 orbita launch attempts last year. and lottery fever is hitting an all time high but are you having trouble keeping up with your ticket? believe it or not there's an app for that. >> it's going to be another chilly night tonight. although we're moving a few clouds in. rain chances back in our forecast coming up. next rodent run around.

in italy may have had a stalker. ashley olsen was last seen at a nightclub in florence last thursday night. she was found dead saturday. olsen was found nude with bruises and scratches around her neck. she was -- police say she was strangled but they're awaiting an autopsy. they're not ruling out any suspects. hillary clinton has reserved her sharpest attack for the republican presidential candidates. but as the poll has shifted so has her focused. clinton is amping up her attacks on bernie sanders and his agenda. >> he's proposing taxes that would cost $14.3 billion.

virtually tieing clinton in iowa and beating her in new hampshire. the same poll is showing donald trump leading all republicans. and bowie's last release seems to be a goodbye to his fans. the video depicts bowie on his hospital bed and writing. it has shot to the top of the uk album chart and the u.s. i tunes chart. and mark zuckerberg just posted a picture of his

but he has been getting blasted by those against vaccinations. and as jen holloway explains it came as a surprise to many that one of the area's biggest store fronts is closing its stores. >> reporter: benn and his wife had been customers of this furniture store. >> i love that couch. >> reporter: needles -- need less to say they're sad to see it go. >> bo concept spits the style of living here in the channel district. we're all really sorry to see it go. >> reporter: arnett has high pridle. >> this store has been a great asset to the community. first of all ray the owner brought bo concept. he was a great member of this community as a business person. >> reporter: but with 300 apartments being built just across the street and ground being broken this spring in channel side for 300 more, why would a store like this close

could it be competition from the gigantic ikea store 1.7 perhaps. and as for what or who will occupy this 7,000 square foot store next there's no official word but one thing is for sure, as usual, it'll most likely stay a secret even amongst most side restaurants. >> those kind of things are the best kept secrets in the channel district let me tell you. we all hear 100 things on who might be here and what goes on. we just pretty much wait until they put the balloons out and have a grand opening. >> reporter: we spoke to someone connected to the store who preferred to stay off camera and says it's simply a matter of timing. they know the store would have survived if all those apartments needed furnishings right now and not 18 months from now. do you have a power ball ticket. you better check it carefully. >> everyone if you don't score the big, big, big prize you could still win money and not

$2billion go unclaimed every year. now new mobile apps are becoming popular to keep track of tickets and winnings. some like lotto lotto alert lottery players if they have winning tickets. others like the lottery pool boss help people keep up with lottery pools. low down to 58 degrees. high and mid-level cloudiness over all. 59degrees with a northwest winds at 9 miles per hour. this is in the western part of citrus county. plantation, crystal river. 56degrees at frenchies. gorgeous shot there. northeast winds at 8 miles per hour. not a bad night on the beach. a jacket will be a good idea if you're going out for a walk. a frost advisory in effect freeze warning was last night. storm chances rain moves in

a possibility of thunderstorms there even in the early morning hours another low will bring more showers on sunday. about a 30% chance at this point. the rain chances do take a bit of a climb here for thursday and again into friday. the rain timing will be later on thursday into the early part of friday. then again on sunday. temperatures are going to jump up too as you will see in the seven day forecast. this evening will be cool. we are seeing some increasing clouds from south to north. 52degrees, 42 our forecast low temperature. if those clouds hold up, could be a bit milder than that. 64degrees at 3:00 p.m. right now we'll look at the dewpoints. these are lower. these numbers are lower than they were 24 hours ago. that's why we're forecasting a little cooler at this point. if we had clouds that could make a difference in the overnight lows. right now we have low 50s, invernus. 62 in sarasota.

tampa national airport. 12degrees in chicago. 21 detroit as the cold air spills into the northern sections of the country. adaughters a-- across the southern portion, this system moves in. it's a pretty good trail of moisture. that's backed off a little today. what it's done it's kept us on the eastern side of that high or some kind of northerly flow. typically we'll get back to a northeasterly flow. but keeping a northwest to northernly flow will keep our skies clear. high pressure will continue to be in our forecast this evening. a few clouds address as i mentioned. some -- a few clouds around as i mentioned. cooler temperatures on thursday. and thursday the possibility of showers develop and the possibility of seeing thunderstorms too.

clouds and sunshine. increasing clouds thursday with a 30% rain chance. 60% chance in the forecast for friday. this does include the possibility earlier in the day of potentially seeing thunderstorms for this day. temperatures are milder certainly. 74degrees for friday, saturday. but another cold front set this holiday weekend. you can see puts us back into the 60s for highs. overnight low temperatures will cool us down into the 40s. cool weather fans that don't like it so hot. >> thank you, steve. we're following stories making headlines across america including one very bold man on the run from police sending officers a selfie. this is a story now going viral. >> it's incredible. coming up next the reason why he snapped the self-centered picture.

now to what's making headlines across america. a group of armed protesters in oregon are going through government document stored inside refuge buildings. the potential charges are starting to stack up. so far the group has not accessed computers there. the protesters also cut down a fence as part of a bigger plan

residents in harney county. this this is range ground that they've used for years and they've fenced off and prevented them from using it. >> the bundy is protesting, protesters from out of the state are showing up to oppose the armed occupation of the refuge. right now a warning is out about a mosquito borne virus in texas and it's not the west nile view russ. the first case of zyka has been confirmed in harris county. the woman became infected after she traveled to el salvador. >> we don't have any evidence of zika virus in our county, but when someone goes out of the country, we certainly want them to take the proper precautions. >> there's a possible link

the flu is spreading on the east coast and it's not even peak season yet. maryland and north carolina are seeing widespread flu activity. more people are also getting sick in connecticut, massachusetts and virginia. experts highly advise getting the flu shot before peak season which is next month. an explosion and fire killed a family of four in northeast ohio overnight. today investigators combed through the wreckage. we're working to determine what caused the initial blast. the fire chief says an explosion doesn't appear to have been caused by a gas leak. he says this is the first deadly incident in his 25 years with the department. and a man on the run from police didn't like the look of his mug shot so he sent the cops a selfie. donald hugh failed to appear so the cops posted his picture. hugh was not happy so he snapped a selfie with the message, here's a better photo,

and police hope this self- centered picture will help catch him. the cheetahs are calling the naples zoo home. you can see they don't seem to be having a problem getting used to their new place. the wildcats moved from a conservation center in north florida. the sisters are 9 years old and the zoo staff is more than happy to have them. >> beautiful animals. very cool. newschannel 8 at 6:00 is coming up next. >> keith and stacie are here with what we're working on. >> reporter: a lawn equipment heist caught on camera. >> yes coming up we're going to show you who this thief targeted and how you can help catch him. >> keeping pedestrians safe. what one police officer is doing to educate the public. and two brazen thefts in the area this past saturday. the story coming up. >> this library will soon be shut down because of an ongoing mold problem. i'll show you what will happen next. >> a woman is dealing with rats

houses broken into in broad inside. tonight the search for a fearless thief. a campus attack in a parking lot. and living with rats, nobody should have to live this way so why does a single mother have to. good evening i'm keith cate. >> and i'm stacie schaible. breaking in while the homeowner is still inside. a terrorizing thief is on the run tonight. there were four bold robberies in just a short time span over the weekend. now tampa police are hoping a