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.

they have asked those people there if they want to evacuate. it is not required but they inquired with them. they said many of the people are not home at this time. but again, this sink hole we understand is about 30 feet in diameter. about six feet deep. this is not the first time this hole has opened up. they have done work here. they are fast to call this not a depression, but a sink hole. stacie? >> candace mccowan live in pasco county. thank you. now information tonight about a crime that saddened a community. a newborn brutally beaten to death by her six-year-old brother. their 62-year-old mother has just posted bond we are hearing. the mother is 62 years old, featured on a reality tv show. today a pinellas judge ordered her not to have any contact with her surviving children if she bonds out of jail. jeff patterson is live at the jail. kathleen steele is in the process of posting bond.

>> reporter: good evening josh. kathleen steele is still here in the jail. she has now posted bond and could walk out of those doors any minute. now we are learning more about her and her relationship with her children. >> i'm kathleen. i'm pregnant, and i'm 55. >> reporter: kathleen steele was once the focus of a reality show featuring the fact she chose to become pregnant later in life than most. >> we had discussed all baby stuff. attollent, before we got married. >> reporter: she went to great length to be artificially inseminated but after her husband passed away, she struggled with her children. >> every saturday and sunday, the kids would be out there screaming. >> reporter: neighbor manny often heard steele angrily yelling at the children. still, he was shocked when he heard her six-year-old son killed his 13 day old sister.

i don't know how things like that could happen. how a six-year-old can turn that bad that quick. i don't know what was going through his mind. >> reporter: he told us he couldn't believe it when he heard steele hopes to become pregnant again. >> it is unbelievable. she was having a hard time with what she had. >> reporter: today in court, her bond was set at $100,000. her attorney told us the death of steele's baby is a tragedy for all involved. >> it is devain you can only imagine the shock and the difficult time it is. >> reporter: yeah. the sheriff had a very different reaction yesterday telling reporters about steele's reaction to her baby's death saying that she even put away groceries as paramedics were trying to save her baby's life and the sheriff found that incredible. josh? >> i think anybody would find that incredible. jeff patterson live for us and

so we will stay on top of that with you. thank you very much. new tonight, sarasota county has its first case of the zika virus. it was travel related. not contracted here in florida. the infected person traveled to jamaica weeks ago and recently developed symptoms. and right now, in pinellas county, deputies are investigating a crash that killed a pedestrian in treasure island. happened around 9:00 this morning at bay shore drive and truck backed up to a house which the driver had missed on his route. he did not see justin crossing the roadway behind him. the truck backed over him and killed him. a popular watering hole back open tonight. ferg's sports bar has reopened. more than 40 violations were found yesterday.

the night to address the issues. inspectors returned this morning and gave the bar all clear to reopen. some tampa bay parents are sueing the state board of education. they feel it is unfair that students are being retained in the third grade just because they won't take a standardized test. so an emergency hearing was held just this afternoon and 8 on your side's john rogers has the latest from sarasota. >> reporter: good evening. a three hour emergency meeting was held in tallahassee this afternoon to ad we learned the judge will not issue a ruling until some time next week. this is a very contentious issue. a few years ago, amy lee's sons were make good grades at school but because they didn't do well on standardized tests, they were held back from advancing to the next grade. >> after 180 days in the classroom, and 180 days of instruction with a teacher, the promotion of the students should not be decided on one test on one day. >> reporter: here is the problem.

reportedly allowed students to opt out while other districts have not. many parents are angry the florida department of education has provided clear guidelines on the matter, has not provided clear guidelines. so parents are suing the doe. >> there is not uniformity from district to district or child to child. >> reporter: the law has been left up to the interpretation of local school districts. in a statement, manatee county superintendent dr. green has pass this difficult decision off to 67 school districts is a problem with responsibility. some feel the body of the child's work throughout the year is what should matter the most. >> we are basing 180s of learns on one test? we are devaluing the teachers and their profession in the classroom. that is not what education is about. >> reporter: a judge in tallahassee will not issue a ruling until some time next week. i reached out to the state department of education and

comment. we will be sure to keep you updated as the story develops. reporting in sarasota, john rogers, newschannel8. >> and we want to know what you think. should students be required to take standardized tests? log onto wfla.com to vote online. well, another city in the bay area could change their marijuana laws. >> coming up, what lakeland is thinking about doing and why the police chief says it is is a bad idea. >> a warm 92-degree high today giving way to showers and thunderstorms that across parts of the bay area. we will look at that and the

z2377z zy6z y2377y yy6y in florida, it used to be that if a child, a senior or one of our four legged friends was trapped in a hot car you and i were not allowed to save them unless we were willing

those who can not rescue themselves. that is the least we can do. after all the love they give. dana young for the florida senate. a return to common sense. >> the city of lakeland is tackling a controversial issue. what's the penalty for people caught with small amounts of marijuana? they are considering fines instead of jail time. today, the lakeland police chief argued against decriminalizing marijuana. commissioners voted to move forward with more discussions before making a final decision. >> i think this is something that has to be a regional wide decision.

sense at all for us to do it. >> my general belief is that it should be a simple ticket. at least for the first offense. if you have some other rules maybe. >> tampa recently passed an ordinance decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana. >> there is an app you can download now to help you get through tampa international customs very quickly. this newly unveiled free app is mobile passport control. with it. you can file claims with customs while you are still on the plane digital receipt and you are through. this works for american and canadian citizens. well, a stunning revelation about the backlog affecting hundreds of thousands of veterans. >> we have been investigating this never ending nightmare. coming up, what the va has to say about its own appeals

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 proud to work with president obama. to protect social security and a woman's right to choose. and grow this economy so it works for all of us. i'm patrick murphy and i approve this message

>> now, an 8 on your side investigation. >> never en yet another veteran needs help. he is on a list at the va. one of more than 26,000 who are waiting. exposed to agent orange during the vietnam war. -applied to the va for disability benefits. >> they rejected his claim, so he filed an appeal. and steve andrews found out that appeals process is broken. >> reporter: that directly from the va.

as of january, 48,000 veterans had appeals pending. it drags on for 1400 days. longer than america's involvement in world war ii. this is what happens to our vets. >> reporter: before he became ill, he rubbed elbows with some influential people. then something started happening. >> my feet started getting very hot. my hands started shaking. >> reporter: rod soon needed assistance walking and holding a pen. >> shakes real bad. >> reporter: turns out rod was in the navy aboard the hospital shape the uss sanctuary in vietnam war. he went ashore frequently. >> planes were pouring that stuff above us. >> reporter: that stuff was agent orange. once, he was rewarded with an excursion to china beach. it was just sprayed.

eating food with agent orange. >> reporter: he has neuropathy and diabetes associated with agent orange. he is number 12,717 on an appeals list. according to the va, the appeals process is broken. the frame work is complex, ineffective and confusing. a shocker. an appeals board may have to consult over 921 linear feet reference materials in any given case. that is taller than the washington monument and stature of liberty combined. once again, i reached out to the va for a response. >> i would really like to get somebody to talk to us about that. >> reporter: they are thinking about it. unable to work, rod lost his business, house, and savings. he was told he might hear from the va in a year-and-a-half. >> i said i could be dead by then. [ laughter ] >> reporter: 80,000 veterans

years. 5,000 veterans have appeals older than 10. if you don't really care, you should. the va is costing you and me $182 billion. >> reporter: they protect our freedom. so sad. >> this system is obviously broken. is there even a fix you can foresee? >> reporter: you know, i tell you what they shouldn't do. don't add. you saw the 921 feet of rules and rags. streamline this thing. this is the va. the affairs. make it veteran friendly. >> and thinking about getting back to you. they should be getting back to you right now. >> absolutely. >> unbelievable. if you think you have a problem that need to be investigated call our help line. 1-800-338-0808. well, our first ever better call behnken phone bank was an astounding success. we reunited thousands of our

didn't even know they had. the phone bank is over, but the cash total? that just keeps going up. >> it does keep going up. this was so popular guys that our phone lines actually overloaded and a lot of people couldn't get through. so today, they took to the state website to find out if they are owed cash and now, that number is up to $1 million. i asked for information on a few people and one man found out he was owed a woman discovered $22,000. but any amount of course, any amount that you could find out would be a very, very pleasant surprise. if you haven't checked yet, you can still go to that state website to find out if you are owed money. and i have a link to that on wfla.com. so check it out. of course, you had to check your own name. i checked mine. did you find any money? >> reporter: i checked my own name and everybody's name i know of. but unfortunately, i have not

but other people have. >> i found some for keith cate a couple of years ago. it pays off. thanks shannon. well temperatures have cooled down in some locations. this is in lakeland, you can see an 80-degree temperature there. quarter inch of rain. helps to drop the temp. temperature a degrees. over inch of rain at this location since midnight. further down the beach in pinellas county. the weather in rio not too bad. 24 celsius. 64 degrees to start the day with plenty of sunshine down

progresses. 93 degrees in fahrenheit. a beautiful shot from clearwater. the skies have been gorgeous. john hooper got this shot as well. this one around dade city. eastern parts this is all east of brooksville. a few showers lifting into the southern part of polk county. these are massive thunderstorms developed in hardy county. you can see manatee, sarasota, a few light showers. venice, north port. this area of thunderstorms moving toward fort meade. the whole area seeing a pretty good coverage.

north port, you can see in venice. 81 lakeland. 91 hot dade city. upper 90s in the inland spots. this is the same area of low pressure that brought the rain earlier in the week. this has moved over the southern part of louisiana drenching these folks. estimates, 24 hour rain totals, two feet of rain. this is rare just watching the southeasterly flow, a sea breeze convergence. temperatures have been in the 90s . 30% rain chance. that is the chance for tomorrow. close tore where the west coast sea breeze may be located. for the short term, high resolution says the possibility of evening rain carries until

in there until well after midnight. we know because we were here. 93 degrees. 30% rain chance for saturday. also for sunday. so, slightly below normal. but yeah, we will see some rain. as we get into next week, classic florida weather. easterly flow overall. testifies low 90s . maybe a couple of days 50% chance scattered about. mostly related to the sea breeze. we will be here tonight watching the olympics. excited for that. >> it keeps going. thank you very much. >> i have spent so many hours olympics. fabulous. thanks. coming up in sports, a stunner in brazil as an american gold medal favorite gets eliminated from competition. >> how bad exactly was last night's bucs lost to the eagles? well, not as bad as you think according to the coach. >> and a reminder our max defender 8 special is tomorrow. our meteorologists will show you how the newest most powerful radar in the world

>> back to the grind for the bucs after their 17 tonight. preseason loss to the philadelphia eagles. if you stuck with us on the great 38 game broadcast, you saw what a kinder gentler head today after watching the film a day later. he was able to chuckle about roberto aguaro saying he told him to miss to get it out of the way early. you probably saw this play.

he enjoyed a decent night. just hang onto the ball and return son. dominating performance. four quarterback sacks. eagles finish below 100 yards in both rushing and passing. after the game, i asked smith about the big night. >> what were your thoughts on being able to get to the quarterback the way you were able to do tonight? >> i think that is a great start. to the season. you can go out there doing. in training camp, things of that nature. it is a lot of stuff we have to work on. >> we understand the game plan for the guys. at the same time, for us to come out there and be cohesive, it shows a lot of improvement. >> the bucs will try to get things clicking next saturday at jacksonville. on great 38 again. check those listings. 7:30 kickoff this time. and the bucs will spend nearly

the jaguars in jacksonville. believe it or not, there is rays news tonight in the bronx. matt duffy makes his debut at shortstop, but this game belongs to alex rodriguez playing the final game against the ray rays. they hope arod finds the hitting magic tonight. the rays hope to make this send off a bittersweet one. a games. the swedes advance in a penalty kick shootout. the u.s. had won the previous three olympic tournaments. they were gold medal favorites in this one and they are out. they will not medal. >> that's a shocker. >> that has not happened has it in olympics? >> they have medalled in every olympic game all the way back to 96. >> don't go anywhere. nightly news is up next followed by newschannel8 at 7:00. >> sand join us at 8:00 on great 38.

olympics.

>> devopinews togh dead flo disaster on the gul coast. state of emergen deared in louisiana. avy rnnd heroi scues asivers up to rooftops. and donald trump says he was being sarcastic after calling president obama the founder of isis and hillary clinton releases her tax returns, trying to get trump to release his. and the thrill of victory, michael phelps makes history again. we talk to his family. and there's