dead goats. i think it's animal cruelty. >> headless animals left to decay in the hot sun, we'll get to the bottom of what may be happening here. good evening. i'm keith cate. >> i'm jennifer leigh. thank you for joining us this evening. tropical storm julia just formed in the atlantic. storm team 8 meteorologist steve jerve joins us now. >> it's the same area of low pressure that tropical wave 93l throughout the day, not much effect here locally, maybe enhanced the rain chances a bit. they've deciding on the winds at the surface to issue a tropical storm for julia, the next name on the list for the atlantic hurricane season, the 10th named storm of the season. that forecast track will drag a lot of rain across sections of southern georgia, portions of northeast florida into south carolina right now moving north, northwest at 9 miles per hour. there you see it spinning away

strength running over the warmer waters of the gulfstream just off florida's east coast. it may help enhance our rain chances, pull a little tropical moisture from the south. that's the current look bringing those showers into jacksonville and brunswick, georgia, not much effect on it, but it's there in the atlantic area and that's why we report on it. we'll have more later. >> thank you, steve. we'll check back in a couple of minutes. now an 8 on your side consumer alert, after a macbook ignites and goes up in smoke, now the owner is warning others about a battery danger. talk about a scary situation, the owner is telling us that within 30 seconds his entire house was filled with smoke. >> he managed to rush his wife and kids out of the house as the battery in his macbook had sparks flying out of it. 8 on your side reporter melanie michael is live for us in tampa at the i hospital near usf. mel? >> reporter: hey, guys, good evening. it seems a bad battery is to

devices catching fire for this very reason. this is home video of the macbook meltdown. >> battery just started melting or went through an explosion on the dining table. smoke started pouring out. >> reporter: what in the world went wrong? that's what gill sanderford would like to know. >> i didn't know what to think. i hadn't seen anything like that in my life. i wanted to get it out of the house as soon as possible. >> reporter: this tampa fatherf his laptop caught fire right in front of him. >> it was closed charged and i heard a hissing sound and sparks started flying out from under the computer. >> reporter: sanderford realized that the fire seemed to begin with the battery, a product he purchased at this batteries plus on fletcher avenue in tampa. >> from what i understand, batteries plus has these manufactured and then they brand them as rayovac batteries. that's what they told me.

i think i've seen. >> reporter: the techs at i hospital told sanderford the replacement battery overheated and offered this advice. >> you never want to buy after market batteries. a lithium ion battery can literally explode at any point in time. you're causing your phone or computer to be a ticking time bomb. >> reporter: now this certainly isn't the first time we've heard about batteries exploding in laptops, but in this case it was an after market battery. so, keith, you heard that tech. he gave so a lot of people should really listen to that. >> i've had a macbook. they've had a couple batteries go bad. you go to the mac store and get one. they're pricey. other people want to get a bargain here. what about batteries plus? you reached out to them here? what did they say about their batteries? >> reporter: we did. that owner was scared to death, plastic on his fingertips when he was rushing outside, his house filled with smoke, so

solution tonight. >> not only that, the whole computer, everything's gone. fortunately no one was hurt. melanie michael live in tampa. right now the search is on for a man who attacked a 16- year-old bradenton girl on her walk to the bus stop. around 6 a.m. today a man approached the girl at 20th street east and 50th avenue drive east. he pulled her to the ground, tried to assault her, threatened to choke her, but as a car approached he took her phone, ran off leaving he covered my mouth. he was like shut up or i'll choke you. i was actually really nervous. i was afraid i was going to die. >> the man is about 5' 7, skinny, about 25 years old wearing jeans and a dark shirt. call crime stoppers if you know anything. deputies will be assigned to the bus stop the rest of the week. head buildings chickens, ducks -- headless chickens,

commuters pass by daily. the dead animals are left to rot in the hot sun on the courtney campbell causeway. peter bernard is joining us live tonight. this appears to be some kind of religious ritual is what they're saying from what you've seen? >> reporter: that's what we're hearing. it could be part of the santa ria religion. this is the area where tampa police found some of the dead animals. i see coconut, apple and some flowers. that's all part of the religious practice. is this where they were? >> yes, they were all over here, all under here. a lot of them was under the brush. >> reporter: monday night bay area animal advocate lisa hayward stumbled on scenes of death along a 1/2 mile section of the north side of the courtney campbell causeway just east of the boat launch. she suspects the dead chickens, ducks, other birds and a goat are part of a religious

be happening on the courtney campbell causeway and for all the right reasons for, you know, diseases and decomposing bodies and it seems like they're also using this as a dutch dump ground. >> reporter: hayward court documented at least 27 animals with their heads cut off and fruit laying along the shore line, pineapples, apples, coconuts and bananas and has the telltale signs of a santaria offering. fbi removed the dead animals and buried them, something they've done for take long time. this bait fish aremen has noticeed them for six -- fisherman has noticeed them for six years. >> i've seen dead chickens and dead goats and i'm very against it. there's a lot of people that like to come out here and relax and don't want it see dead animals at the beach.

tells me she's seen dead animals 25 times in the last five months. >> it's happening in a very public environment where people fish. families socialize. they bike. >> reporter: totally disgusting. stand in the right spot with the wind blowing the right way and the smell is downright terrible. people tell me they've seen candles with tablecloths that are wrapped up around some dead animals. it's just unbearable. >> what's the reaction from the tampa police department to all this? >> reporter: they were out there and tampa me there's a fine line here because religious ceremonies, they're fine with that, but this could be crossing a line into the safety and health and welfare of the people out here on the causeway. they're trying to gather more information about what is going on out here and what was going on out here. >> peter bernard live in tampa tonight. we want to know what you think about this bizarre story. share your thoughts now on our news channel 8 facebook page. a controversial vote override sharing in hillsborough county is in question.

tomorrow on new strict rules for services like uber and lyft. the tampa bay business journal is reporting the vote will not take place as scheduled, but a member of the ptc tells news channel 8 that it will go on as scheduled. a spokesman for uber told us tonight the ptc has not rejected these draconian rules, still plans to consider them tomorrow and has shown no indication they've listened to the community. that's a quote. the ptc meets at 9:00 tomorrow. are hoping surveillance video will help them put the cuffs on some crooks targeting marinas. you can see a guy creeping around a boat at j and j bait and tackle outfitters in holiday is where he was. we're told he's one of four suspects who stole from boats in dry dock storage. in hudson investigators believe a different group of criminals vandalized and stole from source one marina. the thieves stole several engines and shot up two boats.

call pasco county sheriff's office. the zika virus is spreading. today the florida department of health confirmed 19 new cases here in florida. six of those are nontravel related cases. all of them are from the miami beach area. we also learned there are 13 new travel related cases. one is in hillsborough county. another is in manatee county. now some breaking news, the city manager of winter haven is out of a job tonight. the city commission voted 3-2 immediately. more than 250 people attended the meeting tonight. many of them are in support of keeping him, but the assistants city manager will now serve as the -- assistant city manager will now serve as the interim until a replacement is found. a burglary victim could not believe his eyes when he saw someone else not only driving his car, but wearing his clothes. in the surveillance video you can see three emergency

communities. in lakeland the three were caught on camera again using the victim's credit card at a gas station. one of the victims recognized his things posted on facebook and called detectives. >> he was real happy that i gave them that information and they were able to proceed with their investigation. so i'm just glad that i was able to help them and i'm glad that they were able to recover my vehicle for me. >> today a judge denied bond for two jefferson and jamie sanders. incredible video out of maryland moments after a school bus burst into flames with students on board. take a closer look. you can see smoke pouring out of the roof and the side windows. the bus driver was able to get all 20 students off the bus and to safety just in time. the cause of the fire is now under investigation. in your vote coverage tonight hillary clinton's campaign announcing today that

on thursday. sunday clinton left a 9/11 event early due to what was at first described as an overheating episode. the campaign later said she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier. in iowa today donald trump continued to hammer clinton for calling half of his supporters a basket of deplorables. >> while my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, i call you hard working american patriots who love your coy better future for all of our people. >> the latest nbc news surveymonkey online poll shows clinton leading donald trump nationally by four points. an alarming breach exposes private information of several olympic athletes. >> coming up next those athletes are explaining why they were allowed to take several banned drugs. >> tech giant apple wants you to beware of a scam. we'll show you how crooks are trying to steal your hard

i'm really good at war. i love war in a certain way. including with nukes, yes including with nukes. i know more about isis than the generals do, believe me. nuclear, just the power the devastation, is very important to me. i want to be unpredictable, unpredictable, unpredictable, unpredictable.

now an 8 on your side alert for some parents out there, three students at a zephyrhills preschool are diagnosed with shigella and now the health department is involved. the school is following recommendations from the florida department of health including extra hand washing and isolation of symptoms which include stomach cramps, fever and diarrhea. and some new disturbing video outs of phoenix showing three police officers struck by a car. it happened this morning outside of a gas station. here it is again. the officers just standing by their cruiser when the car slams right into them. the city's police chief believes this was an intentional act, unacceptable move. all three officers are expected

hospitalized. >> wow. russian hackers claimed to have released the medical records of several team usa athletes that competed in the rio olympics. today venus williams and gymnast simone biles responded to the leak. pipes said her use of medication for adhd is within the rules and u.s. gym -- biles said her use of medication for adhd is within the it's believed the attempts are carried out in an attempt to undermine the doping system. >> these girls followed the rules to a t and to suggest or imply anything else is absolutely false. >> the company believed to be behind the hack is known as fancy bear. it is the same organization tied to the lack of the democratic national committee. the russian government denies any involvement. in an 8 on your side

warning consumers of scams involving itunes gift cards. users are getting calls from scam artists asking them to pay overdue bills, taxes and bail money with an itunes gift card. apple stresses they can only be used to purchase items from the itunes storm, app store or ibook store. if -- store, app store or ibook store. if you're asked to do anything else with the cards, you're asked to report that to the ftc. the upbraid to the iphone and ipad -- upgrade to the iphone and ipad made them temporarily useless. that happened to you, connect your devices into a computer. then connect to itunes. that should restore the operating system. there are a lot of new features with the update, but before you download, make sure to back up your device. there are enlancements to the messaging app and siri is getting an upgrade.

models of ipads and ipods. you should receive a notification under your settings icon when your update is ready to install. i mentioned the enhancements, rain from the new tropical storm julia to the north. we're seeing a few of these showers passing south to north. we have a lot of atmospheric moisture. julia add instability and can take advantage of that with the overall flow. the flow really extends far storm is located. citrus, hernando, pasco a few passing showers. right now across pinellas county just north of new port richey along the beaches you can see racing south to north, these are brief showers. there might be a few lightning strikes, not much out in polk county. you can see north port seeing showers lifting south to north. a few may continue to do this overnight and on and off

off jacksonville, the center of which is 5 miles west of jacksonville, lots of tropical moisture, warm water with the gulfstream sitting just off the east coast of florida. you recognize this out in lakeland? looks like the south gate shopping center, love the retro art texture. that's the -- architecture. that's the actual thing, it? keep in mind we'll see passing clouds and showers, upper 80s wednesday, thursday, friday and rain chances for us a little high are tomorrow at 50% largely because of this tropical influence. as we head toward the weekend, we'll see less influence from tropical storm julia. at noon 84 degrees, 88 degrees at 4 p.m. and at 7 a.m. 76, small rain chance early in the day including overnight, possibility of seeing a passing shower, temps held down some

89 degrees was our high today, very high humidity with the tropical moisture in place. we really felt dew points in the mid-and upper 70s, 80 dew point in bartow. quite a bit of moisture high above in the atmosphere mid-and upper levels. the bright green color you can feel in the atmosphere. it's also helping create quite a bit of rain along coastal areas. this thing will move slowly to the north and cause local flooding issues. it's bringing banding into brunswick and jacksonville. hurricane center upgraded julia from a tropical wave 93l. skimmed right past the impression stage, 40 mile-per- hour winds -- skipped right past the depression stage. there's ian way, way out there and there's julia. you can see her on the satellite imagery and another area we'll keep an eye on, 60% chance of possible development

you can see an overnight shower. as we've already pointed out, that's exactly what the rpm forecast model is saying. 40% rain chance thursday, friday. saturday, too, you can see mostly in the afternoon. we'll get into more of a typical pattern. julia will slowly move north and continue to drench that part of the country. we certainly have warm temperatures planned for us, average high 89 degrees this time of year. basicallgh the upper 80s. >> we learned a little something about the edward scissor hands movie location. >> it was shot in central florida and one of the really cool scenes is from the south gate shopping center. it's authentically retro like you guys. >> oh. coming up the bucs have a running back added to the

three big options during games. >> vernon hargreaves gets a nice compliment from his head coach. >> the 2016 tampa bay heart walk is just around the corner. we need your help to raise $100,000! kia is matching the first $50,000. you can go to www.wfla.com/heartwalk for details. - marco. - polo. - marco. - polo. marco. marco? marco?

i'm patrick murphy. solving problems means showing up. showing independence. and working together. it's why i worked to protect women's health care and worked with both parties to stop cuts to medicare. i'm patrick murphy and i approve this message because florida needs a full-time senator. marco? marco? come into steak 'n shake for hand-dipped fall milk shakes. better yet, come into steak 'n shake for hand-dipped fall milk shakes at half- price... weekdays, now two to five...

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i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. i know more about isis then the generals do. john mccain, a war hero. he's not a war hero, he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured ok. donald trump compared his sacrifices to the sacrifices of two parents who lost their son in war. how would you answer that father? what sacrifice have you made for your country? i think i've made a lot of sacrifices, built great structures. i've had tremendous success, i think...

you know, some people, they shop all over town to save money. i just go to publix, find the signs with the deals and save. when you add it all up... it's a lot. that's how i save at publix. how 'bout you? publix. where shopping is a pleasure. sports on news channel 8 is sponsored by your gulf coast honda dealers. >> four touchdown passes on opening day landed bucs quarterback jameis winston on the ballot for the fedex air player of the week award. fans can vote for winston on the nfl.com home page. winston up against drew brees and matthew stafford, good stuff in week one. the loss of defensive end smith

channing ward at smith's no. 2 spot, ward was inactive at last sunday's opener and the place today was filled with a running back. rogers was no stranger to the bucs. he torched them with four touchdowns all while playing under an offensive coordinator named dirk koetter in atlanta. now rogers creates a very solid trio of bucs running backs behind doug martin and charles simms and the bucs enjoyed a nice day defensively the falcons on sunday. that includes the quarterback, a big topic during the preseason. brent grimes had a pair of pass breakups. there was a field goal attempt late in the game and rookie vernon hargreaves was a victim on one big play but held his own in his nfl debut. >> vernon going against a guy like julio jones for his first game in the nfl did a nice job,

he had a couple plays get away from him, but we're real encouraged. whether it was bad blood or disentrust blue jays shortstop troy tulowitzki was in no mood to talk about monday night's shouting match with steven souza, jr. and turned away reporters when asked about it. cooler heads prevailed tonight in third game just picked up last week a three-run shot there, trips over first base, though. it counts. how good did this feel, though, sousa, the guy stuck in the middle of that postgame controversy last night, goes yard tonight. rays win 6-2. that is their 10th win over the blue jays this season. they win the season series. lightning goaltender ben bishop did not get into team usa's final tune-up for the world cup of hockey. he's going to back up jonathan

on finland tonight. who is this guy? we know him, the lightning's valtteri phillippe. now they play for real and begin world cup saturday against team europe. so i can't wait for that tournament, for one, all in toronto. >> will bishop get into those games you think? >> he'll get into the games because they're so close toer john tortorella. >> that will be fun to watch. >> let's hope they don't get hurt. that's the a man thing. >> thank you, dan. we'll -- main thing.

and in the morning, mr. jerve? >> a few showers. i'll show you radar to show you where the activity is kind of lifting south to north. we have julia by jacksonville, a tropical storm in florida now moving to the north away from us, but it may enhance a few showers through the night and

high humidity. >> 77, 76. >> the overnight low probably 77, 78. >> that's going to do it for us. thanks for joining us. jimmy fallon coming up next. >> our next newscast at 4:00.

[ cheers and applause ] ? >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- shailene woodley, carol burnett,