it is like the final turn in a horse race down the stretch they come. candace? >> reporter: absolutely. you can definitely tell the heat is on. trump spent several days in florida this week as has clinton. today, she spent her 69th birthday on this stage behind me. she knows how essential it is at this point after seeing some of the poll numbers she really pushed hard on voters to get out to the polls. the crowd at treated to more than politicians. angela basset fired up the crowds. >> every time he says one of the outrageous things that he does have a wrong. he does have a way of saying i just keep remembering michelle obama's words when he goes low, we go high. >> reporter: every move matters here in florida. she is now only three points ahead of donald trump.

trump now in the lead. trump beating clinton by two points. 45-43. supporters vowing to do their part. >> i have two other voters at home. i have to make sure they get out and vote. >> reporter: while clinton promoted her policy, she mixed in digs aimed at donald trump. >> he says not paying taxes makes him smart. well i don't know how smart you have to be to lose a billion dollars in one year. >> reporter: clinton fighting back against a trump comeback in election problematic for everyone. >> if you are casting doubts, you want to keep people in suspense as to whether you will respect the outcome of an election, that is contrary to who we are as americans. >> reporter: and, when it comes to protester, we saw some of them outside at the gate of the event. there were 4500 people in attendance at this rally today.

and it is already underway. and clinton knows that. she wants people to vote now. she doesn't want them waiting right? >> reporter: she says hey, something could happen on election day. you could stub your toe, get in a car accident. so go ahead and vote now. get it out of the way. keith? >> same message donald trump is giving his supporters too. candace mccowan live in tampa. thank you for that. and a reminder before you head to the polls be sure to check out our 2016 election guide. it has early voting locations and now, we have an update to breaking news. two people are dead after a house fire in sarasota county. one of the victims was an adult. they had to breach the exterior wall of the house to save him. the house is a loss. we are working to find out the condition of the third victim.

investigators bust a boat motor theft ring that spanned the entire state. pasco county deputies arrested jose mananarilla after they spotted him driving the same mini van seen in this surveillance video. investigators watched the thief in the video drop the motor on his foot twice. they tell us his foot was in bed shape when they arrested him. >> i mean, a little clumsy. a very heinrich dropped on his foot twice. that would be a clue. when we find the person, they will have serious injuries. >> deputies are still searching for a passenger in the van who got away. they are accused of stealing. at least 50 motors worth about $25,000 each. investigators do expect more arrests. right now, a jury is deliberating in the polk county trial for rapper kevin gates. gates is facing battery charges for what happened in a video

a female fan at a concert at rumors nightclub in lakeland. back in 2015. today, he took the stand in his own defense. gates claims it was seventy defense because the woman was tugging on his pants. >> okay, and why did you kick? >> more of a warning. like don't touch me. >> gates was offered a plea deal. but he turned it down. if convicted he could face up to one busch gardens congo river rapids ride is back open after a day long shut down. the popular ride is very similar to the one in australia where four people died. so, the park closed it out of an abundance of caution. newschannel8's chip osowski joins us now live from the park. and, chip, let's clear up some confusion. was that ride manufacturerred by the same company as the ride in australia? >> reporter: it was not manufacturerred by the same company, but as you said,

and that is why park officials shut this ride down to make sure it is functioning properly. eagle 8 hd flew over busch gardens wednesday morning. congo river rapids was back over entertaining guests. tuesday, when the park decided to close the ride indefinitely, some visitors disappointed. >> it was all fenced off. >> reporter: the ride remained closed for only one day. the park issuing a statement saying "out of bay closed congo river rapids to make a thorough review of our operating and redundant safety procedures in place as a continued commitment to guest safety. the review has been completed and the ride will reopen today. donna gear and arlene greer are visiting from cincinnati. they planned a visit to the park, but they don't plan a trip down the congo river.

it is scary. you know. all those rides. they need to check them out. you never know if they are working properly. >> that's sad all those people got killed. that is sad. >> greer wonders if the tragedy would happen at a similar ride in australia, could it happen here? >> it is dangerous. it's dangerous. i'm sorry about the people who got killed you know. they should not have that ride. they should shut it down. >> reporter: as you heard in that statement, guest safety is priority and apparently, park officials here at busch gardens feel that the particular ride is operating as it should. stacie? >> chip, any other issues with that particular ride? >> reporter: not a single issue, stacie. the spokeswoman for busch gardens tell us that ride has been open since 1982. and more than 30 years there has not been a single incident

>> chip osowski live at busch gardens. thank you very much. it is a project that a lot of people were excited about including tampa's mayor. >> but now, google fiber is on hold. coming up, why the high speed internet experiment may applan don its plans. >> plus, puddles filled with creepy crawly creatures caused by a project you paid for. mark is on it because you paid for it. he has an update on why it is still there. >> the atmosphere feeling a bit warmer because we are little bit more humidity. but, the evenings are very, very pleasant. we will look ahead to the weekend forecast and at rain

>> deep city's wild things is facing an animal cruelty investigation after a video was put on youtube. this could be disturbing. zoo owners wanted to pursue charges against those who recorded the video. that call led them to begin an animal cruelty case. it shows alleged abuse against tiger cubs and other animals. at this point, no charges have been filed. google is putting their ultra fast project on hold in a

tampa. the ceo of google fiber announced he is stepping down and development in tampa will be paused. no word on whether they will abandon this project all together though. google fiber is supposed to be 100 times faster than the average internet speed. according to analysts, installing it is time consuming and expensive. a training center that provides job opportunities for people with disabilities has reached a very important milestone. the mcdonald completed it's 10 millionth sun pass today. the organization gives men and women with cognitive disabilities the opportunity to learn new job skills and earn a competitive wage. revenue does help them continue to provide services even when the government cuts funding. when we come back, the tadpole saga continues out on davis islands. >> all because of a project you

puddle problem get fixed. i survived a heart attack. i'm doing all i can to keep from having another one. and i'm taking brilinta. for people who've been hospitalized for a heart attack. i take brilinta with a baby aspirin. no more than one hundred milligrams as it affects how well it works. brilinta helps keep my platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. brilinta reduced the chance of another heart attack. or dying from one. it worked better than plavix. ctor since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. don't take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. tell your doctor about bleeding, new or unexpected shortness of breath, any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. >>talk to your doctor about brilinta. i'm doing all i can. that includes brilinta.

when powerful people need someone to do their dirty work, they hire bob buesing. how far will he go? buesing fought to foreclose assisted-living retirement homes, threatening local seniors with homelessness. then, buesing defended wells fargo against charges of helping a ponzi-schemer swindle millions. buesing's firm was even accused of overbilling local schools , running fees up to seventy thousand dollars. now, buesing's running for senate. how far will bob buesing go? >> taxpayer dollars wasted? not on his watch. mark douglas is making sure you money is not going down the drain you paid for it. >> contractors are repaving davis islands again. and you paid for it. now, the last time tampa repaved another section of

complained about puddles in the streets breeding mosquitoes and tadpoles. it happened for months. that is why mark is on it tonight. last time you did the story, did the city come out and fix the puddle? >> reporter: not yet keith. but they insist that help is on the way. meanwhile, another homeowner with troubles in front of his house does not start with tadpoles. paving crews started the $1.3 million three-step project that began two years ago. this time, transportation jean duncan promises better results. >> we are looking at the drainage before we resurface the streets. >> reporter: that's good. because the last $2 million paving job didn't work out so well. it left long term street puddles that breed mosquitoes and tadpoles and trigger worries about zika. do you think you got your

>> the tadpoles sure did. >> their new habitat. >> reporter: the puddles remain today, though there has not been a drop of rain for weeks. >> the same two puddles are there. what's up with that? >> good news is one of the puddles we are able to take care of that with a resurfacing project that is underway. >> reporter: duncan insists it will take some engineering to fix the other problem. meanwhile, taste islands homeowner insists the tadpoles in really gotten out of hand. >> what happens is that sometimes, when they become mature frogs, you open a toilet seat and there is a frog clinging onto it. >> you have seen frogs in your toilet? >> i have. >> it is highly up likely that the storm water system or any street ponding would be directly feeding those frogs into his plumbing system. sometimes they come in from rooftops or events from homes.

rosenstock is an unhappy tampa taxpayer. >> did you get what you wanted? >> no. i don't think it was used correctly. >> reporter: transportation director jean duncan says there is a pool of money now that you paid for with tampa's new storm water assessment fee that is set aside to fix street ponding city wide. and that includes fixing problems from that previous paving job on davis islands. >> so, if you are a tampa taxpayer and you want to fee, what should you do? >> reporter: just call them up. we have the number on our website. and you can call it any day of the week. any time of the day. call that number and you will get results. they tell us. and if not, call us. >> all right, mark douglas. thank you. >> uh-huh. now, max defender 8, the world's most powerful radar and your storm team 8 forecast with chief meteorologist steve jerve. >> well, our billion watt s band radar not spotting much in

it is relatively dry in terms of precipitation. but, the humidity has come back a little bit in the last couple of days. really, with more of that easterly flow that really dry this weekend. as you recall. that is not so much the case anymore. here in lakeland now, 80 degrees with the east wind at 5 miles an hour. here at veteran's ford. 80 degrees as well. a beautiful day overall. temperatures will fall quickly. dew points are still relatively tyly low. in the 50s and also in the part of citrus county. what a gorgeous almost sunset there. days getting shorter. nice shot from paul lamison in eagle 8. just a great perspective flying all over the area. crystal clear weather across the sarasota area. they are covering a house fire there. that is the downtown tampa area. this is interesting perspective taken by a viewer of paul. eagle 8 hd flying near his home as they recovered the house

area. skies in sarasota look pretty good too. 85 degrees at 4:00 p.m. for tomorrow. and temperatures very similar, the next several days. we had 80 with all the clouds. the breeze from the east. and the sunshine lifted the high to 86 degrees. 81 clearwater now. 79 in saint pete. 81 plant city. lakeland, sebring, venice. citrus, hernando county. the wind speeds continue directly from the east primarily is what we are seeing in our sustained also stronger gusts. 21 miles an hour gusts there. we are seeing the trees and the palms moving around. the shower activity rolling along in the easterly flow. deeper moisture across the southern section of the state. speaking of moisture, their concern for a line of showers and thunderstorms for the world series tonight. game two played in cleveland. cool. also, i noticed they had the tarps out on the field as well. so this will be a chilly game. possibly a wet game. cubs and indians in cleveland.

relatively quiet. a few clouds around. some of those should dry up though. too, thursday morning you can see a nice start to the day. sunshine mixed with clouds. perhaps, shower activity further down to our south. some of the southern areas may pick up a few more clouds so we will likely see a better chance of seeing thicker cloudiness holding down the temperatures just a little bit. we have seen warm temperatures but it just feels warmer because we are seeing that easterly flow adding a bit more humidity to the atmosphere. that provides days. high temperatures are very consistent, mid 80s all the way into the weekend. which is halloween weekend. that is on monday. so, the temperatures will be nice toasty throughout this peer. not too far above normal. feels like october. certainly in terms of the dryness, means that we are not seeing much in the way of rain, this is the dry season guys so it hits in november. probably one of the driest months of the year. >> worked hard on that forecast it looks like. >> we actually did.

>> yeah, we forgot to do that. you can almost do it on a day like this. the tampa bay heart walk is just 17 days away. i hope that beautiful weather holds. we are very close to reaching our goal of raising $100,000 for the american heart association. look at the turnout at last year's heart walk. tampa's heart walk is always one of the largest in the nation. i walked for my family because of a history of heart disease. both my father and sister are heart attack and heart bypass survivors. so, fuccillo kia has agreed to match the first $50,000 that we raise. and we are just about $10,000 short right now. the heart walk is november 12 at ray jay. go to wfla.com/heartwalk to join my team. or donate. coming up next in sports, the cleveland indians have a win in the books. can the cubs answer in game two? >> looks like the bucs are starting to get healthier. dan lucas with the much lighter

amendment 1 protects consumers from scams, promotes safe solar, because amendment 1 stops their subsidies. amendment 1 ensures that if you don't choose solar, you don't have to pay for those who do. amendment 1 blocks special subsidies for special interests. it's solar done right. vote yes on amendment 1. this year the voters of pinellas county have an opportunity

as governor he worked with both parties to get things done and i know you can trust charlie to do the same in congress. he'll fight to protect social security and medicare. defend women's health care and planned parenthood. and take care of our veterans. charlie needs your vote, please stand with him. i know he'll always stand with you.

i moved on her like a [bleep]. you can do anything. grab them by the [bleep] we have to make sure that donald wins this election. no we don't. marco rubio stands by trump and failed to show up for florida. here's what i believe in. bringing people together and reaching across the aisle to get things done. protecting social security. and building an economy that works for all of us. because i'll be a senator who always works for you. hillary clinton: far too many families today don't earn what they need and don't have the opportunities they deserve. i believe families deserve quality education for their kids, childcare they can trust and afford, equal pay for women, and jobs they can really live on. people ask me what

i approve this message. >> well, rain is already hit cleveland today. and it will likely be a factor all night during game two of the world series. the start time bumped dodging worst weather later tonight. how about indians pitcher corey cluber in game one? he sat down cub after cub. until he made post season history. eight strikeouts through three innings. kluber wound out with nine strike souths. catcher roberto perez had not one, but two home runs as the

start game four and could potentially start at game seven. >> at this point in time, it is all about doing whatever we can to get four wins before they do. if that means pitching or short rest, i'm able to do that. >> he has such good late movement. fast ball. and, i think he had both tonight. he was, i mean, his balls had an extremely good movement tonight. >> now, the bucs injury report ic dozen players, was down to just four today. and only running back doug martin was unable to practice. so, the player you see going through the tackling drill. that is robert ayers. he was able to go on a limited basis today. clinton mcdonald looks good. they would both be welcome additions to the lineup sunday against the raiders.

not count against the roster now. he suffered a setback in his long return from a torn acl. he emphasized that murphy's injury is not related to that knee. and the florida gator it is landed a big fish. malik davis announced a verbal commitment to florida. davis just became hillsborough county's all time leading rusher and thinking he can put up big yards in gainsville, and, i just feel like i fit in perfectly with the offense and the things that they are doing. i like to run the ball. and a team that knows how to run the ball wins football games. >> and if you have not seen the ben bishop toothless video. he took a puck to the mask and lost his two front teeth. it turns out those teeth were already false. so, no fancy cosmetic surgery necessary right now for the

today. i said did you see the dentist? he said nope. no dentist today. that's a tough man. >> hockey player. finally tonight, a kitten gets out of a tight spot with the help of a tarpon springs rescue crew. >> oh my gosh. >> oh! >> come on. come on. >> come on. you have to come out. >> oh! >> there you go. firefighters pulling a compartment. a driver pulled into the fire station after she heard meowing on her way to work. and the firefighters showed up. dismantled part of the car and the kitten was not hurt. the driver actually took the cat home with her. >> how could you not? nurse her back to health. don't go anywhere. nightly new is coming up next followed by newschannel8 at 7:00 with steve and jen.

port tampa bay has now become florida's largest and most diversified. which helps explain why it is one of dana young's top priorities. generating over 15 billion for the regional economy, and 80 thousand local jobs. attracting high waged jobs for families who need them and fighting a bureaucracy that too often gets in the way. dana young for the florida senate.

tonight, taking care of business -- 13 days to go, donald trump detours off the campaign trail to promote his new hotel. and personally congratulate his surrogate final exchange. >> you are fascinated with sex and you don't care about public policy. >> a new attack on megyn kelly as hillary clinton barnstorms florida where a new poll shows trump edging ahead. too drunk to fly? a pilot arrested at the airport after tsa agents sound the alarm. nbc news exclusive, the pentagon chief shares plans for the next u.s. mission against