good evening. for more than five hours today pinellas county state-of-the- art 911 system was down, and during that time the 911 center at st. petersburg's police department fielded calls for almost the entire county. live from the fire department in largo where county leaders claim calls were not disrupted, right. >> reporter: you have that

the county does have a plan in place when there is a 911 service disruption. the county's 911 director telling me the plan worked. one 2000 911 calls. that's how many calls dispatchers at st. petersburg police departments 911 call center normally field in a day. when the center took over calls from the pinellas county sheriff, largo, pinellas park, and tarpon springs police departments, that number more than doubled. us it was seamless. >> it took a couple of minutes for the county to route their directly to us. >> reporter: this is video of the county's 911 center from its open house. cameras operation. answering non-emergency calls at the center during the disruption.

compares what happened today to a glitch with a smartphone upgrade. >> it's technology. it's equipment. it's computers. and as i think anyone knows working with their home computer, their laptop, their iphone, technology happens and you do have issues with it. >> reporter: and calls from fire stations like this one in largo were answered normally. after the system was restored back to normal, st. pete reported its come center handled 684 calls, 397 of those were emergency calls to 911. reporting live in largo, chip osowski, news channel 8. check out this incredible surveillance video. a customer at the pharmacy wasn't afraid of a would-be drug thief. he took the man down and held him until police arrived. john rogers tells us the touching reason why he did it. >> reporter: this criminal was taken down, and it was all caughten a camera.

happened to be nearby to stop this crook. >> i wasn't trying to be malicious in any way. it's just how he reacted to the situation. >> reporter: on valentine's day, david west stopped by this bradenton walgreen's to visit his girlfriend in the pharmacy. as the payer spoke, this suspect rushed over, climbed onto the counter, and threatened the staff telling them to give him oxycodone. he told them he had a gun. >> when he started reaching into his pants like he had a weapon, that's when i did something, you know, just to protect my girlfriend. >> reporter: so west casually walked over and took him down, wrestling in the aisle until he knocked him unconscious. the crook was 26-year-old anthony nemeth. police don't encourage this kind of behavior. john rogers, news channel 8. a school employee could end up this trouble for firing a gun on school grounds this morning. a parent found the gun at rock crusher elementary in citrus

the school employee who pulled the trigger thinking it was a bb-gun. he lost it while dropping off his son this morning. caffera didn't realize he has a hole in his pants. he does have a concealed carry permit. investigators have not figured out what sparked a huge fire that destroyed a bay area church. it broke out last night at the baptist church in haines city. about two dozen church members were inside for bible study when the fire started. they all escaped unharmed, but the church build something a -- building is a total loss. >> to see it go down in flames and there was nothing we could do but stand there in despair and cry, it hurt us all. how you see the church is emptied, that's how most of us are feeling right now. >> and unfortunately the church was not insured. as the cuban trade embargo is lifted it's easier to pay a visit to our communist neighbors

jeff patterson is in cuba this week. he he asks one american flame why they decided to make the trip. >> reporter: there are currently 12 categories that allow u.s. citizens to travel to cuba legally, one of those is a cultural exchange and this is the mercato san jose. there is art through this entire village. it's a center geared for tourists. we found a family here from north carolina that was just fascinated by what they found inside. >> what do you think, you know, of everything you see here? is. >> it's certainly for public tourist appeal. it's got some great merits to it. and, you know, it's entertaining. >> reporter: what brought you to cuba? >> just the people and just wanted to learn more about the culture. >> reporter: what do you think? >> amazing. >> reporter: americans aren't

to havana as tourist, but it's lovely. jeff patterson, news channel 8. 8 on your side is the only television station bringing you reports from cuba on this trip. jeff patterson will have more at 11. and the u.s. and cuba have agreed to open up commercial flights to the island nation. the deal allows airlines to operate up to 110 flights per day to the country. some travelers are excited. others are skeptical. >> i don't know. cuba? that government has like a lot of like issues. i'm not sure if they are going to accept this. i don't know. let's see. let's see what's happening. >> a charter flight to cuba started flying out of tampa in 2011. by the following year, some 45,000 passengers had flown from tia to cuba. airlines have until march 2nd to apply to offer cuban flights.

comes with a price for hillsborough county taxpayers. about half a million dollars. today county commissioners approved a measure to shell out more than $475,000 to kill, prevent, and monitor mosquitoes. the latest numbers from the state surgeon general and the secretary of health revealed 22 cases of the virus in florida, with three in the bay area. >> 14% increase in budget is good money to spend to see, to make sure that we keep people here safe. >> old tires collect standing water and can be the perfect place for bugs to breed. the county is hosting an additional pretire collection event this weekend. speaking of the weekend, oh my goodness, every time your forecast comes up i am excited at this week, at the weekend. this weather is amazing. >> it's a pleasure to talk about this kind of forecast. >> you don't get nearly as much hate mail. >> less. put it that way. nice temperature range. you think by the sweet spot of

>> this is the best time of year for sure. >> absolutely. in late february, earlier march, of course we don't like the severe weather, but mostly clear skies this evening. temperatures low 60s and fairly comfortable we think. secondary front passed through the bay area and has a small impact in the way of creating slightly cooler temperatures. 49 degrees to start the day and less fog than we saw this morning. so mostly sunny skies. a little bit cooler, breezy at times, and more sunshine in the afternoon for tomorrow. looks good. lots of sunshine and overall just a real nice stretch of weather, as jen was saying. temperatures low 60s seminole, clearwater beach. middle 60s in riverview. mild in brandon. 69 degrees. farther out 62 frost grove. 65 lake plas you had and mostly clear conditions. there are some changes farther up the road once we get into next week. we will talk about that. again come back for the seven-day forecast. it looks pretty good. still ahead on 8 at 7.

attraction that will take you on a 40-mile-per-hour mysterious archeological expedition. what? i'll explain coming up. a man thought it was an honest transaction that he was selling his watch to someone he could trust until he realized it was fake. his story coming up. we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching news channel 8.

if you don't like snakes, how will you feel about one that's 80 feet tall? busch gardens is putting the finishing touches on the coaster called cobra's curse. it promises to be a ride with bite. >> reporter: if you are looking

curviest coasters of 2016, you're in luck because busch gardens is just about ready to unleash its newest attraction. >> right behind me we are starting to see the snake king take its full form. when done it will be 85 feet tall. >> reporter: cobra's curse is a three and a half minute, 40 miles per hour ride that gets you up close and personal fang to face with a deadly reptile. >> the coolest part about the ride is our guests go up this big elevator lift and they will eventually become face to face with the snake king. it's eyes to fang. as they approach him, their coaster car will turn over a little bit and he'll place the curse on their vehicle and then actually start to go on the rollercoaster experience. >> reporter: as you gear up to take on this slithering 80-foot beast of a ride, just remember the curse of the coaster doesn't start until you stare into the snake's eyes. anthony allred, news channel 8.

selfie you have ever taken for a billion years? well, they have just invented the technology that can do that. that story is coming up. plus, talk about a happy meal. find out where you can order a

on wall street today investors liked what this saw in the fed's january minutes, which included the words uncertain 14 titans. the dow climbed 257 points. the s&p up 31. the nasdaq gained 98 points. so much for all that talk about cheaper airfares. the big airlines have now raised fares for the second time this year. this time jetblue led the pack with a $6 round trip price hike. this week delta, united and american followed along. last year airlines raised prices twice for a total increase of $14. do you win you could order some golden suds the golden arches? mcbeer will soon be a real thing. for now the idea will be limited to one mcdonald's restaurant near seoul, south korea. it will begin serving draft beer with premium burgers. the idea is to get more young people to return to mcdonald's, young meaning over

age there. if you spend time only twitter see an onslaught of dancing cats and other memes. they are providing a way to ad animated gif's to your tweets. the next time you send out a message, look for the gif icon. they are ground by category. attach it to your tweet. twitter says last year people shared more than 100 million gifs. the pentagon is ready for an upgrade. microsoft announced the biggest windows 10 customer. the pentagon is going to upgrade four million computers to windows 10 over are the next 12 months. that is a big endorsement since security is a pretty big deal in the department of defense. some scientists believe they have figured out a way to store a massive amount of data that will last for billions of years.

university of southampton are presenting their 5d memory technology this week. here's the idea. they use a tiny glass disk and nano technology to record technology in five dimensions. each tiny glass disk can hold 360 terabytes of data. 420 times more than your average smartphone. it was a sneaky switch by a thief who walked off with a $6,000 rolex. a golf pro didn't realize he was a victim of a craigslist scammer until hours after the con man walked away. >> reporter: what was your first indication something was wrong? >> i got moment and decided to -- i got home and decided to put it in the safe. it rattled. >> reporter: it was a rattle that he never heard before when handling his $6,900 rolex. >> i took a look at the serial

watch and noticed it was the incorrect serial number. >> reporter: it took two hours before he realized he was scammed. he was hoping to sell the rolex so he put up an ad. he tells this man to come by his golf club repair shop. >> i sold a couple watches on there. never had an issue. >> reporter: but he got played. >> we walked outside to show his girlfriend. never thinking anything of it. >> reporter: the man came back in and decided not to buy the watch. once joe realized that his role rolex was gone, he went back and looked at the video. the video shows the crook reaching into his pockets, exchanging the watch before he even walked out the door. >> i was sick to my stomach. >> reporter: joe is hoping someone recognizes the thief in this video. he knows the likelihood of seeing his rolex again. >> chances of getting it back are probably not good. >> reporter: when it comes to craigslist, joe's had enough. the worst could have happened. >> well, the thought that keeps running through my mind is if i

escalated, what would have happened? was he armed? >> reporter: law enforcement has gone so far to create safe places like this like in front of their buildings to handle your craigslist business. the man we talked to today says he didn't know about these locations and it clearly cost him. candace mccowan, news channel 8. astronaut scott kelly is once again wowing us with some beautiful pictures from the international space station. he posted these on the twitter page showing different colors. snowy white, green, and blue seas, orange sand and a yellow desert. better enjoy the view. kelly returns to earth next month. he has shared some spectacular pictures while he has been up lights up social media. 63 degrees at 8 p.m. evening. mostly clear. a few high clouds northern spots. overall a very nice evening.

that secondary front, temps in a nice range. 65 in riverview. temple terrace 63 degrees. same in wesley chapel. sebring 65. 61 sarasota. low 50s in crystal river. we look at the jet streams for changes in the surface. we have a bit of a cool dip that will move away and a big ridge of high pressure is building in. this is that nice stretch of weather we have been talking about. temperatures closer to average and above the normal levels getting into the weekend. now, long term tuesday, wednesday, next week another trough digs in. that allows cooler air southward. instability. creates a rain chance in the seven-day forecast locally. high pressure continues just to the north and the flow around that high is northeastly. that's going to continue to bring in a northeastly whipped. breezy tomorrow morning. sunshine through the day. we will transition with that

easterly flow. mild temperatures tomorrow afternoon low 70s. in the early part of friday %-`morning typical february temps. light jacket weather for us. friday evening maybe a few clouds around coming across from the east coast on a breezier east coast moving to the clouds. as we get into saturday. that looks good, too. great start to the weekend. mid 70s. same for sunday. partly cloudy skies. there's your forecast. 72, 74, 75 degrees. not the rain chance though tuesday into wednesday and behind that front some cool air once again. we are definitely going to experience some chilly temperatures still as we get into the latter half of february. but as we cruise on into the weekend, a lot going on, of course, with the gasparilla distance classic. there you go. we played our cards right on that one. >> definitely. 50s in the rain for a race day is perfection. >> runners like it a little bit cooler. >> definitely. you did well. >> thank you. we will be right back. stay with us.

tomorrow at 6 a.m. >> i will show you how you can see behind the scenes here at news channel 8 by using facebook. plus, weather and traffic on

some people are excited about the possibility of a donald trump presidency, but for those who aren't one canadian island wants you to know they are ready for you. cape breton island just launched a website called cb if trump wins.com. the home page welcomes anyone who wants it get the heck out of america schthe donald win. the island is located in nova scotia just north of maine. tourism officials say healthcare is free, housing prices are free and no one has a handgun. don't tell this lamb he is

he was just recently born on a farm in turkey. they call him malek. the turkish word for angel. he is having no trouble living a normal life amongst his animal enfriends. >> that's cool. everybody is taking selfies these days, including the residents at the aquarium of the pacific in long beach, california. their sea lion, my low, has a selfie stick with a gopro camera attached. he started shooting during a training session. i feel like my low and i would be friends. your rear end might not be ready for this kind of a ride. a mall in shanghai has installed a slide that's five stories tall. the 177-foot tube stretches from the top level of the mall to the ground floor spinning around a couple of corkscrews along the way. the whole ride takes 16 seconds, but it won't be open for a few more weeks. my question is, can you load --

with your bags, your purchases, and make it down? that's the inconvenience is walking all the way down with all your bags. >> that's a good point. you have to take your bags down and then go up. >> yeah. that looks like a slide that could maybe accommodate bags and people. >> it's a nice sized slide. i think i would want to sit on a rug or something. i mean, the friction. >> remember when you were a kid on a hot metal slide? >> painful. take a look at our forecast for the evening. looking pretty good. 64 degrees. mostly clear skies. a few high clouds here, but nothing to get in the waive a great forecast. nice start to the day. seasonal weather. what we expect this time of year. a fantastic weekend. >> it's amazing that we survived childhood when you think about the stuff that went on. >> yeah. because we didn't tell our parents. >> exactly. we are back at 11. see ya. chilling abuse diaries unlocked. >> her explosive hand-written

the o.j. murders all over again. now on "extra"! threw me into walls. you're going to pay for this, expletive. a battered nicole brown-simpson detailing the physical, mental and sexual abuse at the hands of o.j. and her fears he would kill her. >> my sister documented years of abuse. >> nicole's sister, tanya brown, her close friend, kris jenner. >> she never told me the whole picture. >> rihanna's meltdown before the grammys? and gwen's new confessions about the hot new song she premiered during the show. >> that song is about blake shelton? kylie jenner, what she really wants to do is direct? >> i've done like three movies so far. they're a hit. then "extra" inside new york

every designer, every trend, every star. >> spoiler alert. plus, aj and cj. >> i'm with the best in show, celebrating his big win at westminster, so cj, would you vote for trump? now on "extra" -- from universal studios, hollywood, the entertainment capital of l.a.! hey, everyone welcome to "extra" i'm mario lopez. coming up, donald on the trump phone, colbert's hilarious front-runner. and "the full house" gang back together. what star almost didn't land the role that changed his wife. the country is now obsessed with the o.j. case. and now today nicole brown-simpson's lost diary is being reopened. it is full of bombshells. here's jerry. making headlines. now playing in primetime. >> he is not going to get away