our chief meteorologist steve jerve joins us in the forecast center with the latest. steve, this will not be a major storm. we have been watching it for a while. still, it is something to keep an eye on. >> reporter: it is good news that it comes in every day and has not developed into anything. the longer it goes the better without developing. it would take a longer period of time. so, it is still there as invest 99-l. it will continue to drift to the west and we will continue to watch possible development. it does help to determine where the low level circulation might be. that would be just north of the eastern part of cuba. just southeast of nasa on the bahamas continuing to move to the west. as we see the hurricane hunter aircraft flying out of macdill air force base, did determine a 28 miles an hour wind gust in

area. that's great news. higher wind shear in place for now. that played a part in weakening the system with the exposed center, lower wind shear, longer term as it gets into the gulf of mexico and the warm gulf waters. it does have some potential to strengthen. so as we look at the spaghetti models. the trend has been to the west. they have been all over the place largely because this has not been a tropical system. but, the best thinking today is a little bit further west. also, we thunderstorms moving across pinellas county. moving offshore. we will talk more about this is a little later on. all right, steve jerve thank you for that. we will check back with you again in just a little bit. >> okay. terrified and alone. an eight-year-old girl dropped off more than 30 minutes from her bus stop. her family turned to 8 on your side to figure out how this happened. well, the eight-year-old i was lost, confused, crying when a substitute bus driver dropped

not by a stop or two, but a long way off. fortunately, a woman saw the little girl crying and called her mother. jeff patterson is in largo where the little girl should have been dropped off. >> reporter: this is largo. the little girl goes to a magnet school in south saint petersburg. the bus dropped her off all the way in tarpon springs. the eight-year-old is back with her family now. but, she isn't riding the school bus anymore. after a substitute bus driver put her off than 20 miles away from her home. >> so, for almost an hour, nobody knew where my daughter was. >> reporter: carrie simmon's stepfather was at the gus stop waiting and waiting. >> they patched into the driver and the driver said that my daughter had got gotten on the bus. >> reporter: but the eight-year- old had been on the bus with

and left here in tarpon springs. fortunately, another woman saw the little girl and noticed something was wrong. the woman let the little girl call her mother. >> she was crying. i couldn't understand what she was saying. and a woman had found her. she didn't know where she was. so, the woman got on the phone and told me she was in tarpon springs. >> reporter: officials investigated the ien follow a number of policies including announcing each bus stop before arrival. >> we also expect each of our drivers to follow a route in its entirety. every single bus stop whether they think the student will utilize or not. >> reporter: following an investigation, the pinellas county school system now tells me that the bus driver has been removed from that job and is no

>> now, the eight-year-old told her mother that she got off the bus because she believed the driver had taken a different route to get home and she was confused. now, an 8 on your side investigation. stealing from a soldier. >> he took an oath to defend his country and someone walked off with a thousand dollars worth of his soldier's work tools. gone and no one from a bradenton car dealership seems to know what happened tools. >> steve andrews joins us now. and no one at the dealership seems very interested in making sure that this soldier is made whole again. >> reporter: it is kind of sad. 3,000 to $4,000 worth of tools will hit anybody in the wallet. you have to wonder how could someone wheel one of those big heavy tool carts from a dealership that takes two people to move? and no one saw a thing. steve joined the u.s. army

at fort campbell. learning skill to keep him alive on a battlefield. >> he need to be focused learning those things. he is angry about it. who wouldn't be? >> reporter: according to steven's mother, he is angry about his missing tool cart. one like this. and his expensive tools worth 3,000 to $4,000. it all just vanished from alex carries' lincoln. the army notified him it was we would be in to get it. oh, no problem. no issues. we'll have it. >> reporter: when they showed up in january, the tool cart and contents were gone. >> they add a barbecue and opened the garage up. they pushed it out of the way and the next day, they said that is when they realized that it doesn't there anymore. >> reporter: the manatee county sheriff's office ran into a dead end. >> it didn't vaporize. it is heavy. it takes two people. you have to roll it up on a

somebody knows what happened to it. >> reporter: so stacey contacted rick harris about reimbursing steven. another dead end. the last conversation his step dad had, rick carris said they weren't liable and hung up on him. so i called mr. carris to see if he would hang up on me. >> he is as nice as he could be. >> reporter: he said he was a good employee. everybody liked him. he would contact his insurance carrier about filing he stopped returning my calls two weeks ago. >> he leave to go join the army. and, you don't have it in your heart to make it right? >> reporter: now, before he stopped returning my calls, he told me he didn't think his insurance company would approve a claim that didn't have receipts from the tools or the tool cart. well first, you have to want to make this soldier whole. and second, you have to file a claim. i don't know if they wanted to do either. >> well, you know these car dealerships have security

their stuff safe. did anybody check the tape? >> reporter: i asked him about that. at the time, he told them there were no security cameras in the service department. so, that is just really unfortunate. >> 3,000, $4,000 worth of tools. >> somehow. this gets made right. >> yes. absolutely. >> thanks steve. now, if you have a problem you think need to be investigated call our 8 on your side help line. the volunteers are combing through a nature center in largo. >> it is all because this beautiful rescued hawk has now gone missing. coming up, why officials believe she hasn't gone too far. >> plus, he got in trouble with the state for doing his job without a required license. now, you are paying for his legal fees. the state law that leaves taxpayers stuck with the bill. >> ten seconds. i'm dan lucas live at raymond james stadium. just chating with the coach.

preseason game is so important. it is not the dress rehearsal we think it is. >> we'll have that and more coming up. you're watching newschannel8. my son has meningitis b. but how did we end up here? his mom thought he had the flu and that he was covered by the meningococcal meningitis vaccine he had received. until 2014 there were no vaccines for meningitis b in the u.s.

lead to death within 24 hours. trumenba is a vaccine for 10 through 25 year olds to help prevent group b meningococcal disease. trumenba should not be given if you had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose. most common side effects were injection-site pain, fatigue... headache, muscle pain, and chills. ask your doctor or pharmacist about all the risks and benefits of trumenba and tell them if you've received any other meningitis b vaccines. meningitis b can be spread by typical sharing like... a spoon... a kiss. it all started here... it might have been prevented with trumenba. ask your doctor or pharmacist about trumenba. >> volunteers are working to

escaped a nature center in largo. this is the picture of shae. it is a red shouldered hawk. she escaped during a mishap at a veteran's event yesterday. she isn't able to fly very well because of an injury to her wing. >> she has a partially amputated wing. the tip of her right wing is missing. so she is not capable of full flight. but she is good enough to get away from good news, do believe that she is nearby. and they hope she will return to the nature center when she gets hungry. a major construction project is about to get underway in downtown tampa. it could tie up the traffic out there for months. starting monday, one lane of channel side drive and two lanes of morgan street will close. today, we saw crews with cones in tow. this is the beginning of the plan laid out by the development group. they are going to install new

pipes. convert channel side from a oneway to a two-way. a lot going on. be warned. >> it will require patience. >> it is always nice when it is done. >> a building administrator busted for doing his job without a license. >> now he has been punished by the state and we are learning who is footing the bill. mark is on it. you paid for it. >> and high school football is finally back. sickles and alonzo kick off the campaign in our friday night blitz game of the week.

>> after a seven month long legal battle with the state, the top springs admits he broke the law. he gets probation and now you get his legal bills. sounds like a bad deal for taxpayers. tonight, mark is on it because you paid for it. >> reporter: keith, from the first day we broke the story back in january, it was clear to us, crystal clear, that anthony mastraccio had broken the same law he was supposed to enforce. but the tarpon springs city attorney defended him to the very end for a pay rate of $145 an hour.

the top building official has been dodging questions about his license since january. and he still is. tarpon springs taxpayers have spent $8,000 in legal fees defending anthony mastraccio. >> i was under duress at that point. i was trying to recover fr >> the city promoted and boosted his pay to $95,000 a year. he had to get a permanent building administrator license within 12 months. six months later, he had a stroke. and a setback. but, 16 months later, he still doesn't have his license. >> he has the full support of the city administration. >> reporter: don't forget the support of city taxpayers.

to defend him. he billed taxpayers $565 and $942 the first day he got involved and he kept billing day after day after day. 31 days of billable hours that you paid for including a five hour trip to fernandina beach for a last ditch defense. >> there are mitt circumstances. >> reporter: it was a defense you paid for. apparently, you didn't pay enough for an explanation from him or your city attorney. >> he is not going to have any comment to the taxpayers. so what's next? >> we are driving home. >> reporter: and you paid for that too. the hearing alone cost taxpayers about $1,100 in legal bills. on the bright side, the panel

investigators. he is now on six months probation and he hopes to get his license some day soon. and in fairness to the city, they say the state law requires them to pay these bills. that nothing keeps them from paying them back i suppose. >> was there a role? his medical trouble, did that play any role at all in all of this? >> reporter: he had a serious illness. he was out for a period of time. the panel yesterday determined that the stroke should not have gotten in the way of him getting his license or at least reporting that he didn't have his license. they didn't buy >> well, a lot of billable hours. thank you. >> you're welcome. overcast conditions here at nissan of venice. 15 one-hundredths. those headed out to high school football games. that's a very good thing. at the lake club in lakewood ranch, more rainfall.

75 degrees. that sets the stage for more comfortable weather. hot at the plantation crystal river. 89 degrees in the western part of citrus county with a north wind at 4 miles an hour. welcome to veterans ford. one of our brand new cameras and partners. 85 degrees right along the veteran's express way. now you know the truck can float in the sky. welcome guys. thank you very much. we have the cleveland growns in town tonight where the bucs will no doubt have a victory. 84 degrees temperatures will be pleasant. a little cooler. high school football. these temperatures are on the warm side for those who saw showers. you can see the clouds from largo, shelly had a great shot. there are some darker skies rolling in through the area. almost saw a sea breeze collision along coastal areas. mostly the easterly flow. when you see thunderstorms light up through the beaches, we haven't seen the west coast

we are seeing the thunderstorms get fairly strong. the northern part of pinellas. pretty quiet in some of the northern counties. you can see pinellas county probably the most active today. this east of palm harbor. watch for this kind of sliding your way. these were strong thunderstorms around pushing off to the west. and, a few scattered showers as well for the western part of hillsborough county. further south, manatee, sarasota have seen good downpours on the beaches. raining now, looks sarasota all the way up to just west of bradenton now and down to gulf gate estates. had a few showers pass around. currently raining in north port. that is moving toward venice and englewood. a few scattered showers. as the evening goes along, things should be quieter. 79 degrees at 7:00 a.m. cooler numbers now thanks to

88 lakeland. 90 degrees still a hot one in security sebring. most of the activity has been across central and south florida. high pressure dominates across the south and the northern portion of the state. deeper atmospheric moisture possibly in association with this area of low pressure. we talked about at the top of the newscast will help to increase our rain chances and moisture levels so you will see that in the eight day forecast. the numbers are getting progressively higher. trending west here on the spag in the forecast for the evening hours. 40% rain chance for tomorrow. 50% by sunday. rain chances just increase each day. but you know, if you look at this as an average weekend, which it is about average summer weekend, despite any talk of tropical weather, that is about what we expect this time of the year. as we get into monday and tuesday, depending on the shape this is in, stay tuned to the storm team this weekend. because, this situation like all this week will continue to evolve. right now, we will go slightly

way next.

>> welcome back to raymond james stadium where we had a pretty heavy shower come through half an hour ago. though the clouds are dark. it has cleared up. we have a nice night for football. this is a big game. every preseason. because the starters play into the third quarter. the fans like it, the players like it as well. we used to call this the dress rehearsal, but dirk koetter doesn't like that term. he has the big picture in mind. >> we have to worry about

out there on september 11. that's the number one thing. after that, you want as much an execution as you can get. we will be mixing and matching lineups based on trying to protect guys' health. >> starting off fast, finishing. this is really the last preseason game where you simulate a real game. so it will have that type of teasing feeling so we just have to go out there and play and perform. >> reporter: all right, out in you see quarterback jameis winston going through some warmups. there is mike lennon throwing a pass. we will see jameis into the third quarter. he wants a faster start. that's the big goal for him and as the coach mentioned, keep everybody healthy. get them to opening day on september 11. next week, we finish out the roster and that will be a big game for the guys trying to make the team. it is a big night for football. not just here, but all around

friday night blitz and paul ryan joins us live from alonzo high school. site of our game of the week. paul? >> reporter: hey. we are dodging rain drops out here. i got the better assignment. you only saw the starters for a half. i got them for the whole game. kicking off friday night coverage, the game of the week. these two rivals separated by five-and-a-half miles. they decided to put their meeting first every year. finally, alonzo is done talking and they want to play the game. >> i'm not a twitter and facebook guy. but i know these young kids are and there's been a lot of, you know, fair play trash talking going on. >> whatever they have to say, they have to say it. so we just show it on the field. >> a lot of us went to school, you know, back in middle school. we know each other. we are all friends. at one point in time. just to come out here and play ball is really great.

alonzo 16-0 in last year's opener. we will have highlights coming up on the blitz. for now, time to send it back to you. >> all right. thanks paul. >> and, weather continue to be the story tonight. and we are hearing reports now of a woman who has been struck by lightning. it apparently is a fatality. he is 50 years old. in a gazebo in sarasota county. that is something we will follow up on tonight at be very careful. take that lightning seriously. be on the lookout. the latest at 7:00, jen and steve will be back at 7:00 for newschannel8 at 7:00. we will be back at 11:00. >> you can join josh benson and jenn holloway at 8:00 on great 38. >> have a great night.

tonight, nbc news exclusive. for the first time, donald trump's doctor speaks out about his letter declaring trump to be the healthiest person ever elected president. why he tells us it was written in just five minutes, what we know tropica threat moving in, major flood warnings in florida and new concerns along the gulf coast. zika blood fears, a new recommendation from the fda saying that all blood should be screeninged for the virus. who would kill two women who dedicated their lives to helping