>> right now on newschannel8 at 30 leigh. >> i'm josh benson. we begin with breaking news out of pasco county. depression under a home in hudson on mediterranean court. look at this. this is near the beacon woods golf club. right now, the hole is 25 to 30 feet in diameter. and the homeowners are out of town. we have a crew on the way there now. and we will bring you updates as soon as they come into the news center. the number of zika virus

florida. congress has not passed a bill. in fact, they are on vacation. president obama ordered millions to develop a vaccine. should congress get back to work? florida lawmakers are sounding off. >> reporter: where are the members of congress? summer vacation. as a result, no zika funding package has been passed. the inaction leaving political finger pointing and driving the obama administration to shift money from other programs to >> this should not be a political issue. this should be an issue we are largely united in. >> reporter: few doubt the urgency beyond party lines but health officials are reporting 400 travel related and 25 locally transmitted cases of zika in florida. >> congress needs to return immediately to pass an emergency funding bill to help all of our scientists, help our local communities fight the

david jali agrees but insists money is flowing for now. >> we are not worse out of today because of the current inaction in congress, but we will be soon. we need them back to work. >> reporter: meanwhile, governor rick scott hosted a zika round table. he expressed his frustration with congress and the white house but talked about good news for the area called ground zero reduced that area by two blocks last week and four blocks this week. >> reporter: democrats and republicans presented bills to fight the virus since february, but both parties blocked each other's attempts in getting the bills passed. info on the doomed el faro cargo ship. it is on its way to washington dc. the vdr was brought to mayport

it was recovered from three miles below the surface. this is the first time they have recovered a data recorder from that depth. hopefully, they will determine why the el faro sank. >> we look to those who perished, the families and loved ones to learn all we can from this tragedy to prevent accidents like this from taking more lives. >> families of the el faro's 33 victims will not be allowed to hear audio from the de. released and families will be allowed to review that before it is released publicly. a violent case of road rage caught on camera in gainsville. this all began then the driver of a car honked at the driver of a large black pickup truck. you can see on the screen. a woman in the truck got out and pulled a gun. the woman got back into the truck and they drove away. officers eventually caught up with the group and arrested them. and a tragic situation in

and saved two swimmers was found dead just one day after his heroic deed. authorities found the man's body in the waters off of the coast of panama city beach. the official cause of death is under investigation. summer is over and school is back in session for six bay area counties. students in the other counties will hit the books next week and if kids are complaining that summer was too short, it actually was. 8 on your side's ryan hughes finds out why school started two weeks earlier this year. >> reporter: the days of summer are a thing of the past for hundreds of thousands of students in the bay area. it was back to the books wednesday two weeks earlier than usual. >> i wish we had a longer break! i had a summer job so mine ended early. >> we had to rush a lot of our vacations and plans. >> reporter: in previous years, students went back to school in late august giving them more time to enjoy summer months.

jeff atkins explains. >> many of the high school students have been challenged. when we started later in the year, they had to finish their exams after the winter break causing a lot of frustration for them and families. >> reporter: state law dictated the change, they couldn't open any earlier than two weeks before labor day. legallers pushed for the change so the midterms will be finished before the holiday break in easier for students to retain material. they will have more class time ahead of state testing in march. aisle >> sarasota students head back august 22. all of them will end in may of next year. some of them didn't end until june. if you have been cheated, when you need help, she's on

better call behnken. >> more than $1 million. that is how much our better call behnken phone bank has returned to the rightful owners over the past 24 hours. that total is still going up tonight. so stick around to find out more about just how much some of our viewers will walk away with. despite fears of zika virus, people are still flocking to the state of florida. the sunshine state set another record in tourism more than 57 million visitors during the first half of the year, officials report that is the highest six month total ever. it is the biggest shocker in women's soccer in years. >> yeah. for the first time in olympic history, the outcome of a game came down to penalty kicks. >> plus, a little boy spotted on the street corner trying to sell his teddy bear for a heartbreaking reason. see how an off duty police officer went above the call of duty to help.

to build from southeast of us moving to the northwest. so still some decent downpours already occurring but in other parts of the bay area as well. your weekend forecast is here. we will have that for you shortly. >> we'll have that and more coming up.

i got shot down over vietnam and spent eleven months in a pow camp. what donald trump said about our members of the military being captured is a disgrace. he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured. emy territory, the odds might be against you being able to come home. donald trump doesn't understand the weight of sending americans into harm's way. he's unfit to be president.

>> talking can be key to improving police community relations. that is why the department of juvenile justice is working to open communications between young people and law enforcement in the bay area. a panel discussion was held in saint pete. teens were able to ask officers about current events includeing

beginning steps to open the dialogue between law enforcement and the youth in our community. it is very important we are able to hear from one another and break down those gaps or barriers that prevent us from being able to have open, honest, and productive dialogue. >> the dojj plans to host several more panel discussions throughout the community within the coming weeks. we will keep you posted on when and where those will take place. well, a florida man decided to break out racy dance moves during his that was of course all caught on camera. take a look. calvin griffith wanted to get the judge's attention. he started twerking. his bond was set at $15,500. the judge was not amused. we call this one the fan fail. one baseball fan didn't get to catch the foul ball or enjoy his plate of nachos.

he has his hands full but when a foul is hit in his direction, he can't help but go for it there go the nachos onto the face. [ laughter ] probably tastes pretty good though. he tried at least. >> in slow motion too for the world to see. this summer's block buster is not showing in theaters. it is lighting up the skies overhead. >> the annual perseid meteor shower is visible overnight in the skies across the northern hemisphere. the cloudy skies kept us from so here is the next best thing. an awesome time lapse taken by somebody in spain. the scattered specks of dust are created by a trail in the comet's wake. they flash as they enter the atmosphere at 132,000 miles an hour. and then just burn up. heavy rains turning roads into

this is video out of tampa -- baton rouge. just in 24 hours, some of these areas have seen two feet of rain estimated by doppler radar. that is the same area of low pressure helping to bring us showers and the flooding along coastal areas. it is now stalled in louisiana. 82 degrees the current temperature in connerton. in land o' lakes. mostly cloudy a 10n't of an inch of rain, you can see the boiling clouds in telephone on the time lapse. as for the current temperatures, 82 degrees. a little bit of rainfall has helped to cool down temperatures just a little bit. this is the view from hyundai new port richey. three quarters of an inch of rain at this location. decent shower activity. we see the clouds developing in the afternoon heat and humidity. been a fairly active day and

getting an update from noaa as the forecast. we have had five named storms. two hurricanes so far. still expecting a near average season with 12 to 17 named storms but right now, good news is for today anyway, tropics remain quiet but late august getting into september, by september 10 would be the peak of the season. 92 degrees would be the high. 96 degrees, the record set in 1972. but, certainly a warm day. that is at tampa international airport. high temperatures low average line near 90 degrees. temperatures near or slightly above nor massachusetts we hope for a shower storm to slow us off. we expect the warm temperatures to definitely be there. we are seeing some showers and strong thunderstorms. nothing at severe levels. fairly quiet northern counties. western parts of pasco east of dade city, zephyr hills. a few showers in pinellas county right now. you can see the safety harbor area drifting to the northwest. east of clearwater.

over the lakeland area in polk county. these are good thunderstorms moving through hardy county drifting toward polk, hillsborough, manatee. seeing some strong downpours. lightning, again, we are seeing the precipitation rate here almost four inches per hour. that may cause local flooding. 76 degrees at 7:00 a.m. 93 degrees at 4:00 p.m. for tomorrow. again, the rain chances slightly above normal we will see plenty of sunshine and warm numbers obviously. international airport. very high dew point, 76 degrees. that is the area of low pressure, remember that earlier in the week? it shifted to the northwest. the influence is nil now. it is drawing gulf moisture, stalled out here and creating that incredible amount of rain. two feet of rain in 24 hours. nobody would handle that. showers continue to develop mostly along the west coast sea breeze. the heating of the day, a

over the state. that will help to stabilize the atmosphere and give us slightly below normal rain chances. 30% for both saturday and sunday. yes, we will see isolated to scattered showers or thunderstorms. but overall, again t rain chances for the day in august, slightly below. temperatures will be warm. 93, 92 this weekend. basically seasonal rain chances through the week next week. looking at an easterly flow, showers along the sea breeze. that is classic this time of year. back to you. >> thank you verych max defender 8 special tomorrow. we will show you how the newest fastest radar in the world will work. tune in tomorrow saturday at 7:00 on newschannel8. now, 8 on your side special coverage of the rio olympics. >> michael phelps came away with his 13th individual medley. he won the same event at four

he possesses the most individual gold medals ever breaking a record dating back all the way to 152 bc. in case you are doing the math, that is more than 2,000 years ago. heartbreak on the ground in high hopes in the pool. those are the headlines today from the summer olympic games. jarod smalley joins us now. >> reporter: stated. we start with the good stuff. this will likely be michael phelps' final olympic games. the actual stunner today from the u.s. women's soccer team. a stunner for the world cup champion u.s. women's soccer team. a quarter final match in sweden ends in extra time and a shoot- out for the mighty americans falling hard. usa missed two shots in the tie breaker and the americans are

>> honestly, i don't even know. just doesn't feel real. >> reporter: michael phelps could be competing in his final race in the olympics. >> hopefully i will have a chance to do it again. but that is something that when i do retire, i will miss it. >> reporter: and katie ledecky could break her own record again. she was eight seconds faster than her nearest competitor. ledecky is so strong in that race. team usa men's basketball are back on the court tonight. that arena back there. they are taking on serbia. and newschannel8's own paul ryan will be in attendance there. he will be busy signing autographs while the players

give the fans some of his personal time. it is nice. >> just trying to give him what they want right? don't tell him i said that though. his head is already big enough. jarod, thanks. [ laughter ] and i guess it is worth mentioning again. paul ryan, also in rio covering the olympic games and apparently signing autographs as per usual. you can catch his live reports every morning here on newschannel8 and watch the special extras he is putting together under the olympic section on wfla.com. >> i heard pokimon go. [ laughter ] well, a midwest police department is turning to technology to help train officers on how to handle potentially life threatening situations without being in harm's way. it is a virtual simulator that teaches decision making and firearm training. now officers can act in a virtual reality scenario. the department says it enables officers to make decisions in

trying to sell his teddy bear for food, an officer knew he had a mission beyond the badge. that officer was on his way home from work. when he got a call from a little boy pedaling his teddy bear. that is when the officer arrived. the seven-year-old boy actually told him he needed money so he could buy something to eat. so the officer took the boy to subway for a sandwich before taking him to child services. >> i would like to go home at the end of the day feeling like i have done something positive and had some kind of posi impact. >> police discovered the child and his four brothers lived in squalor and the parents were charged with child endangerment. still ahead on newschannel8, the family that steals together stays together. >> coming up next, we will show you how a woman used her own child to pull off a heist. >> and remember, you can join jenn holloway, julie phillips, and me on newschannel8 at 8:00

in florida, people are working hard, just to get by. but in washington - "republican senator marco rubio has the worst voting record in the u.s. senate." marco rubio stopped showing up for work. let us down. i'm patrick murphy and enough's enough. i'm proud to work with president obama.

so it works for all of us. i'm patrick murphy and i approve this message because i'll never stop working for you. >> now to what's making headlines across america. houston police officers still on the force after she was caught on camera body slamming a woman. that officer arrested sharon

influence. when they got to booking, she throws a swing at the officer. >> i would have taken her down at that point. most of us would. >> police say the use of force was reviewed and the officer stayed on the job, but graves wasn't satisfied. the incident is under review by civil rights prosecutors. police in missouri are looking for a woman who used her young child to help her steal hundreds of dollars in this woman stole $500 in dresses from a boutique. here she is shoving clothing into her purse while the kid distracts the clerk. police say it is not uncommon for parents to shoplift with their kids present but it sun usual for a child to actually help with the stealing. a texas man got quite the shock when he opened his garage door last night and found this. a nearly nine foot 300-pound alligator. you know. hanging out and stuff. the man called the police to help get it out.

authorities showed up. pretty much, it flipped out. but wranglers did get the big guy under control eventually. no thanks. >> nope. all right, newschannel8 at 6:00 is coming up next. >> stacie is here with what we are working on. >> reporter: we are following breaking news in pasco county. a 30-foot hole as opened under a hole in hudson. we are going to have a live report from the scene coming up. >> plus, breaking news in an unthinkable crime. >> a mother charged in her newborn daughter's death is now out of jail. >> some tampa bay parents are suing the florida department of education. they are fighting for the right to have their kids opt out of standardized tests. i'll tell you why. >> one veteran lived a good life in this neighborhood until his agent orange related illness took hold. then, he lost it all. >> those stories plus your storm team 8 forecast and

>> right now on newschannel8 at 6:00. >> a crime that is unthinkable and unsettling and tonight, a mother charged in her days old baby's death is out of jail. >> testing woes among bay area parents. why they ha fights straight to state official. >> half a million veterans stuck in limbo as the va admits the appeals process is broken. 8 on your side investigates. i'm josh benson. >> i'm stacie schaible. thank you for joining us. we begin with breaking news now. a large hole has opened up underneath a home in hudson. authorities are calling it a depression. these are pictures from the scene. we are told the people who live

candace mccowan just got to the scene. she joins us now live. and crews are out there working on it as we speak. candace? >> reporter: good evening stacie. we talked to emergency management director here in pasco county. he says this is a sink hole because this is not the first time they have had this issue at this home. let me show you what the going on. we are here off of mediterranean court. they are working on filling in the hole now. i understand that the homeowners were very fast to act on this. this call came in around 6:00 this morning noticed that something was going on here. the driveway was literally falling into the ground. now if you take a look, you can't really see it. but even deep inside the sink hole, the ground underneath is slushy. it is moving when they put the sand in there. 30 minutes or so, they had a heavy storm come through the area compounding the problem. they are putting this fine sand in there as they try to address the sink hole before it impacts any of the other homes. all of these homes are packed on top of each other.