thank you for joining us. a tropical depression expected to bring heavy wind and rain to tampa bay. >> steve jerve joining us now. >> it's something we've been watching since last week since tropical invest 99l became a tropical depression yesterday. it poses some threat to the west coast of florida. we have tropical depression 9 and tropical depression 8 that could affect north carolina and hurricane gaston which is well out to sea and not a concern. there's a track you can see tuesday at 4:00 pm with 35 mile per hour winds. and then reacting to a trough surface cold front. 60 mile per hour winds undergoing some wind sheer limiting the strength of the system we hope. stronger with the advancing winds, potential coastal flooding. that's the current thinking on the timing. note the cone.

are changeable in terms of intensity and track forecasting there's a lot of air. the reason we're thinking, the track we're thinking from the national hurricane center is this. the con sense sus basically -- consensus basically takes that path. most of the thunderstorms on the southern side closer to the island and country of cuba. and is helping to influence our stronger easterly flow. looking at the timing. tropical storm force winds. this likely will change thursday at 8:00. high tides up and down the west coast of florida. computer models say five to eight inches of rain. that in some -- that's in some areas and on the high side. but we could be dealing with those kinds of effects. >> we are certainly watching. thank you steve. a number of sandbag locations set up all over the

you'll need to bring identification to prove where you live. most areas have limitations on the number of sandbags you can take with you. steve newhouse lives on the river. >> we want to make sure the debris is cleared out to water will flow to the storm drain. when we were threatened by charlie i was out there in a po w debris down. >> many locations are open right now. but you will want to check out wfla.com for hours and operation, and for the nearest location to your home. new tonight another deadly walk to a bus stop in polk county. a 13-year-old struck by a car while walking on the side of the road has died. this is the fourth student to die in the last five years either while walking to school or to a bus stop in polk county. melissa marino joins us now

accident happened along barfield road in polk city. he was walking along sooitd that road in the morning to -- alongside that road in the morning to catch his bus, right? >> that's right. there is no sidewalk so she was -- there is no sidewalk so he was walking alongside the grass. >> it was jacob scott's first time walking to a bus stop for a new school. these mark he never made it. he was walking around 7:45 last monday morning when he was hit by a car. michael edmondson claims he couldn't see and went off the road. >> he said the sun was in his eyes and jacob was struck. >> the victim's family did not want to speak on camera but released a statement that they were feeling unimaginable pain. they described jacob as a

as for driver deputies viewed his phone and he had not gotten texts since the night before. >> he is cooperating fully. >> one woman we spoke to drives her sgrand-- granddaughter to the bus stop every day. news channel 8 reached out to the school board. the bus stop and the walk from jacob's home meet state those we spoke with say something needs to be done. >> one child dead is one too many. they need to look at it and do something to help them. >> jacob was in the hospital fighting for his life since this happened. he lost his life on saturday. his family did tell any way four people received lifesaving organs from the tragedy. >> it looks rural there. no sidewalks, obviously.

>> it's unclear. i asked the school district sidewalks not being here and they say that sidewalks are not required for a walk to the bus stop. stacie? >> melissa marino live in polk county. thank you. pasco county investigators trying to track down a drive-by shooter who shot a 1-year-old girl as she slept. >> my baby was just shot. they did a drive-by shooting in my house. >> this frantic mother in that call is linda exline she is a known gang member. investigators believe the port richey home was targeted. the little girl was shot in the wrist and expected to survive. >> that crib was hit six times. i will say, if you don't have a faith, you better believe because there were angels in that crib with that little baby.

placed in child protection. her mother will be arrested on drug charges. crimestoppers is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the shooter's arrest. now to our 8 on your side coverage. zika in your backyard. >> sa sarasota woman started -- sarasota woman started experiencing zika symptoms but she got the run around at the it >> john rogers joins us in sarasota to help you out. >> when kill berly mar tee -- kimbery martinez started experiencing symptoms she went to the hospital but was surprised they would not help her. she had a stiff neck, fever, and swelling. >> on the plane flying back my

looking lied -- looked like pickly heat. >> she suspected she had zika but wanted to be sure so she went o the sarasota memorial hospital. eventually she got the test with her primary care physician. >> it was absolutely frustrating to not know where to go and what to do. >> the test confirmed she had see kachlt she was kwaurn tooned and teened and now -- kwaur ran teened and now the symptoms are gone. also zika screenings are expensive. they can cost around $800. >> the patient is going to incur a cost of an emergency visit and technically it's not an emergency. officials suggest you should do what martinez did.

pregnant you may get a free screening. if you have zika-related questions call your local health department. >> the cdc mosquitos can spread the disease from person to person in the first week of infection. officials suggest you stay inside if you have symptoms to avoid being in contact with other people. a police department mourning the loss of one of theiop death of a tampa police officer and what is being done to honor his memory. plus. >> this ulmerton road project is costing millions and you paid for it. we'll have that investigation plus steve

new tonight we are learning more about a tampa police officer who died during an off- duty incident. we know master patrol officer fred arnold iii died during a diving accident. his three children spoke about their father today. they say they often heard stories about his bravery. >> we knew that my dad was a hero. and, you know, he's always

>> officer or nold worked the media gates at -- arnold worked the media gates at buc's games. they will be honoring him at the next game. people paying their respects to lawrence higgins a public visitation is being held until 9:00 p.m. tonight at st. lawrence catholic church where he was a pastor for 49 years. there's another visitation tomorrow from noon until account. his funeral -- 9:00. his funeral will be aired live at 11:00 on news wfla.comment. a construction project expected to last a year and a half and now understand way in tampa lane cloe churs on -- closures on channel side drive and morgan street began this morning. it's linking downtown's channel district with the business district.

information. a multimillion dollar price tag for a project causing daily headaches for drivers. >> checking out a new trouble spot along ulmerton road because you paid for it. 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. now there are. while uncommon, meningitis b can 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...

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source of traffic head aches where rooz velt joins -- roosevelt joins ulmerton roetd. all because of a projektd that you -- project that you paid for. >> good evening to you stacie. friday morning i was stuck across the way there on roosevelt in about a 30 minute traffic jam trying to get here on to ulmerton road. it's not bad tonight but traffic is these cars used come on to ulmerton on a fly away. but the state removed it. >> this was the view from my dash cam after 8:00 this morning. i recorded traffic near the afrpt in this time lapse video on roosevelt boulevard as i neared ulmerton road. it took 12 minutes of stop and go stop and go to clear the intersection before i finally

>> turns out it's a test of patience for a lot of motorists. >> i think it's terrible. i come through here all the time and i do not like it. >> they removed the ramp joining roosevelt and ulmerton and replaced it with a stoplight. it's one of the first steps to make it a six-lane highway from 39th street to 48th street. they fission ration one that will -- configuration. one that will take eight months to complete. >> it's in preparation for the next step on the drawing board. >> the project details a new el varietied express -- elevated expressway. >> bids on the gateway project go out to road contractors next year.

elevate past this stoplight. bad as it seems to some there's at least one motorist who swears he's pleased with the bang he's getting out of it. >> i think it's a good idea. >> you don't mind waiting here? >> no. it's great. i like it. >> okay. >> chris carson tells me it's to finish this particular project and get the traffic moving as well as it can. if you don't like the traffic here my best advise is to avoid the area. even if you can't avoid the $19 million it's costing to build this stuff. >> mark douglas live tonight. thank you so much. well the rain really helps to drop the temperature and

that's on -- frenchy's. that's on clearwater beach. nice spot to be with the temperature lowered. 80 in lakeland. three tenths of an inch of rain was welcome. temperature down in polk county as well. 81 at st. pete beach. northeasterly wind. half inch of rain. these are fairly common amounts. not as much at freedom plaza. kill norman -- kim norman got a nice spot of the skies after the showers came down in the downtown area. showers continue to push to the west. breezing over from lake county. bushnell over to inverness and pushing toward pine island. you can see the northern part of hernando county. some of these may hit the central and northern sections of hernando. north of indian rocks polk

north port, evening lwood venice very light showers. slight chance for rain in the forecast but #k078s down -- comes down tomorrow. 82 degrees the current temp. 80 largo. clearwater beach apollo beach 82. arcadia sarasota 82. clouds continue down at the south with the tropical depression farther to about 200 miles west of key west. helping to control the flow easterly flow is in place and will be for the next several days as that flow will continue to drag across the state. lots of atmospheric moisture so showers can certainly start. look at the hurricane hunter aircraft flying out of the tampa bay area. 40 mile per hour gusts now. most of the thunderstorm activity closer to cuba really.

with air space there. 35 mile per hour winds as you can see 200 miles west of key west. which is right there and directly to the west the center exposed as we showed you at the top of the newscast. dry air here too colored in red. that and wind sheer coming off an upper low to the north. pushing the thunderstorm activity to the south of the center itself. the all important track. this will likely change but fairly consistent roy computer model that is we showed you. really keep an eye on this whole area here. this cone of air that's the most important part of this forecast. it could tend to move around quite a bit. keep in mind with the counterclockwise rotation south of the rotation is usually the worst part of the storm. rain can spread over the entire area. and that's kind of what we're forecasting here.

the next couple of days the rain chances going up towards thursday. in terms of timing appears to be the day at this point. the current thinking is that thursday for the pential higher winds. -- potential higher winds. caused by heavy rain skauls they may -- squalls may come off. saturday and sunday by the weekend should clear to the northeast if supposed to. >> thanks steve. coming up next in sports our three quarterbacks -- are three quarterbacks better than two for the buc's this season. and a preseason finale that

sports on news channel 8 brought to you by your gulf coast honda dealers. dirk cutter did not tip his hand this afternoon he flat out told everyone the buc's are likely to keep three quarterbacks on the roster like last season and that means ryan griffin is safe. griffin will play most of if not all of thursday night's preseason finale against the washington red sk determine which receivers make the team. griffin is the buc's insurance policy. brought in as a project last year. in the first two games this year he threw three interceptions total but passed for a combined 226 yards. >> we put a lot of time into ryan griffin and i think he's proving that he's capable of being a backup in this league. and the second thing is it's

his contract. jameis is the long haul but we have to have a two. buc's watching tropical depression 9 in the gulf of mexico. thursday's game is set to go on as normal but rain will be a factor over the next few days and from a football standpoint will effect the play of guys fighting for a spot. i asked a couple of players what they think about playing >> you know, that's just part of the process. i mean it don't matter because you have to practice in it anyway. >> we try to use the gloves and the bad thing apt it when the -- about it when the rain hits the gloves don't really work. got to focus on the ball and catch the ball well. try to see it all. that's the main thing.

ponchos thursday night no problem. news channel 8 your official buc's station we'll broadcast the preseason finale. it kicks off at 7:30 p.m. . the rays evan longoria ruined the night of red sox pitcher rich. the rays won the game in 11 innings. the ray's on rich's turf where he's 12-0 this season. on archer took over the american league lead in strikeouts reaching 202. it happened as he tried to avoid a record 18th loss in a single season. awkward moment though as george springer took exception with archer's enthusiasm. they had words and talked after the game too. everybody is happy now. >> they're good. >> that is the news for now.

tonight, shockwaves as hillary clinton's closest aid huma abedin says she's separating from her husband weiner. airport chaos. all out panic amid widespread rumors of an active shooter. what's going on? bracing for impact. florida on high alert as the tropical threat closes in. too little, too late. a prize move from the pharma giant over the cost of a life saving medicine, why critics say it's not enough.