thanksgiving day. which stores are open and which ones will be closed tomorrow. and a certain kind of crime on the rise near the holidays. what landed two people so far in handcuffs. and a boy with a big heart does something special with birthday presents. the reason he is now getting love from lakeland pd. i am stacie schaible. >> thank you for joining us today. the holiday shopping rush is on. grocery stores are packed with people picking up last-minute food items and tomorrow many bay area retailers will be open for business. je idea of what will be open and what will not be open. >> reporter: you are right about that. publics and other grocery stores were packed today. this parking lot is jammed right now. there was a waiting line to get into the parking lot but since the 1930s, publix has never been open on thanksgiving and they will not be open tomorrow to allow employees to stay with families. but a lot of stars are open on thanksgiving and some with big

sam's club, home depot, staples, nordstrom, nordstrom rack will be closed but many stores will be open for business thursday evening. among the early opening businesses, target and premium outlets. >> i plan to be here tomorrow at 6:00 to get some of these deals. >> reporter: april is among the shoppers who plans to come to tap was outlets to get -- tampa's shopping. >> i was thinking we would do early afternoon dinner and then try to get ahead of black friday. hopefully the deals will be worth coming out for. >> reporter: the majority of stores will be open at 6 pm on thursday, giving you an opportunity to walk off that big turkey dinner or just get away from that one family member who won't stop talking about politics. the outlet mall will be open.

allow for another family activity after you are done with food and you want to expend some of that extra energy, walking around and strolling through the mall is a great way to spend the time, a friendly environment.>> reporter: some people want to shop and other people just want to get away from their drunk uncle. we have a full list of stores that are opened and stores that are closed on www.wfla.com. >> drunk uncle. come on. not in our families. jeff patterson, live in tampa. a 65-year-old woman is behind bars, charged with robbing a bank in st. petersburg. as rod carter shows us, it's one of several bank robberies over the last few weeks.>> reporter: good evening, guys. that grandmother strolled and -- into the police station and turned herself in just like she strolled into this bank and robbed the place. 2 1/2 weeks ago, the tellers at this bank of america got the

bank around noon. >> she was wearing a wig and walked up to a teller and said i've got a bomb give me money.>> reporter: she did, $1900. that very same woman, now identified as janice allenwood walked into st. pete police headquarters and turned herself in. >> she told the officer said -- she was wanted. he asked what for >> reporter: and he found the story of the bank robbery. >> we got a story of a bank robbery with a potential gun. >> reporter: including one in new port richey foiled by fast- moving deputies. investigators say the suspect ran into the bank, yelling and acting as if he had a gun. he took off with cash but didn't get far. he tried to get a woman to drive him away. she rolled up her window so he

steep and he threw his clothing in the jeep and continued to run across state road 54. >> reporter: the sergeant chased him down. and hillsborough county, deputies are trying to track down paul lubin, wanted for robbing a chase bank last week that under -- on like that grandmother in st. pete, he has not given himself up. at last check, she was still behind bars and her bail now to some breaking news. avx error is seeking a court order to end a cargo pilot strike. the airline shares packages for amazon and dhl. pilots claimed a staffing shortage is forcing them to work on their days off. amazon explained they work with a number of carriers and are confident they can serve their customers. a dhl spokesperson says they

delayed. a takata pipeline protester is hospitalized after clashing with police. sophia wilansky's arm was hurt when something exploded. police claim protesters were rigging a tank and protesters claimant was a good name. protests have been going on for months now. here is more breaking news. authorities have found no alcohol or drugs in wheel during that deadly school bus accident this week. tennessee investigators released the toxicology results for johnthony walker this afternoon. five students died and 12 or hurt when walker crashed the bus. the governor is calling for a full review of the school transportation system. president-elect trump added a little diversity to his cabinet picks today. he chose to women and an african-american to join his

nikki haley, the daughter of indian immigrants. the other, betsy devoss a billionaire philanthropist. and ben carson will be the secretary of housing and urban development. brian moore shows us what these choices could mean. >> reporter: president-elect trump has chosen michigan billionaire betsy devoss, an advocate of charter schools and vouchers, as his education secretary. our mission is to carry out his campaign promises to break down bureaucracy the national teacher association was swift and firing opposition saying she has pushed a corporate agenda to privatize and d professionalize public schools. governor nikki haley is facing a much warmer welcome as the future presidents pick for un ambassador. just a few days ago she was playing down her prospects. >> i was very happy to be invited. >> reporter: she has virtually no foreign policy experience

in his new york times interview, the president-elect sing the praises of james mattis, a top contender for defense secretary. he said the general surprised him with his take on waterboarding terror suspects. >> he said i have never found it to be useful. he said to give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and i do better with that than i do with torture.>> reporter: is the next president took a thanksgiving break, future vice president mike pence had a little more to do in indiana. he helped a local charity dish out some food for people in need. although the president-elect is in florida, he has apparently never been much of a vacation take her and he has a lot of work to do between now and inauguration day. brian moore, nbc news washington. a new poll shows a majority of americans, about 59%, are optimistic about the next four years under donald trump but the same number of people think

quinnipiac found 50% of voters say trump should ditch twitter. 45% say he should keep tweeting. president barack obama has pardoned his final turkey as president. the president brought his young nephews to the ceremony in the rose garden. voters on twitter decided of the two turkeys, tater and taught, taught should get the official pardon. taught got excited about the reprise. both turkeys will get to retire and live out their lives at virginia tech university. a little reminder here that members of america's armed forces are still hard at work abroad keeping us safe. sailors on the uss eisenhower are launching from -- fighter jets to strike at isis. the global campaign against

thanksgiving, did you know it's known as the drunkest night of the year? coming up next, what steps popular bars are taking to keep customers safe. a lakeland boy asks for a lot of presence for his birthday but then gives them all away. it's a touching story we will have for you after the break. another very lovely day, mostly sunny to partly sunny skies. a bit more moisture in the atmosphere. thanksgiving is tomorrow. we will have your full forecast an it me the thanksgiving but campers have been outside stores since last week. which deal has them so excited. that and more coming up on news channel 8 , the station

hey! is this enough? a little more... grandma! there you go... there's no more room. oh look who's here! hmmm... more. how's it looking? 20 more minutes... 8, 9... we need 1 more yes... let's enjoy. we need more rolls there was a little girl, and she became friends with every animal she met.

need more of, is each other. happy thanksgiving from publix.

eagle 8 hd coverage brought to you by your local hyundai dealer. right now we are keeping an eye on thanksgiving traffic across the tampa bay area. this is a live look at interstate 275 n. around. this is just northbound of the split from i-4. doesn't look too bad, at least not from here but we are keeping an eye on several crashes right now. be sure to drive safely if you plan to hit the road this weekend.>> bars. the parties are plentiful. where talking about tonight. thanksgiving eve. the wednesday before turkey day is the busiest bar night of the year and carries with it an unflattering name. drunks giving. and 2014, south tampa hotspot

tonight will find dozens of tampa police officers nearby to crack down on dui. >> we will have tons of them out here and they will be lots of -- they will be doing lots of dui checkpoints. be safe. carpool. don't try and do anything that you shouldn't do while you're drinking. >> park your car, leave it here and get a ride home. >> you can leave it overnight and come back tomorrow. >> we will be spot where dui cases originate in hillsborough county at 6:00. now to a touching story. an eight-year-old lakeland boy decided to give all of his birthday presents to children in need. today, he dropped them off at the lakeland police department. it's a story you are only going to see on news channel 8 and melissa marino joins us from the police department. what a great gesture from this young man. >> reporter: absolutely and he

paddington here but he wanted to give it all away. ethan chatman wanted two things for his birthday: a glow-in-the- dark rollerskating party. >> i got to wear white stuff and i had to things that glowed in the dark. >> reporter: and you can probably guess what else made the top of his wish list, toys. a whole lot of them. truck that is so many. but is that? >> paddington. >> reporter: but not for himself. >> i have too much toys. >> reporter: you have to many? >> and stuffed animals. >> reporter: he decided to give all of his birthday kids -- birthday gifts to other kids. >> reporter: what kind of kids? >> kids that don't have any toys.. surprised? ethan's mom isn't. >> he has got a big heart. >> reporter: ethan had all of

toys and he got some pretty cool stuff. >> reporter: is it hard to give away these ties? >> yeah. >> reporter: he proudly marched all of it to the lakeland police department for the cops for kids toy drive. >> one me were at the dry cleaners, we saw a sign for cops for kids. he said we have so much stuff and not enough room for things so why don't we collect gifts for cops for kids?>> reporter: the chief was so impressed -- >> this makes you an official investigator of the lakeland police department. >> reporter: and gave him a bunch of other goodies for the gesture. ethan tells me what he wants most for christmas is a furby. >> he has earned that. i think we will probably find out how to make that happen. how can others help with this toy drive? >> reporter: you can drop them off at the police department. we have more at our website www.wfla.com melissa marino

world's most powerful radar and your storm team 8 forecast with chief jerry -- chief meteorologist steve jerve. >> it could be here but we're not dealing with snow and ice. check out this video from minneapolis-st. paul airport where planes have to be deiced before takeoff. that's always a lot of fun. but if you fly to tampa and you have temperatures near 80 degrees, tampa te nothing on the radar right now. max defender 8 doesn't see much going on in terms of precipitation. should be pretty dry the next couple of days in the way of precipitation. we have a cold front headed our way saturday. a slight chance of rain, very small, just a readjustment in temperatures. that is the view from land o lakes. hundred and 72 degrees. temps will fall quickly into the 60s. our view from veterans ford is

veterans. north wind at 8 miles per hour. lakeland 74 degrees within north northwesterly breeze. crystal river, 73 degrees. just checking out all of our cameras this afternoon and who labbe is waiting on another fantastic sunset in tampa. as for the thanksgiving day forecast, looks pretty good. we have returned some humidity in the atmosphere. it's not a big deal but perhaps less dry than it has been. that could lead to patchy early fog that. cement forecast this evening 68 degrees. maybe a few clouds. there are some clouds but that should start to dry out. early fog a possibility the next couple of mornings. 63 degrees, 81 degrees in the afternoon but sunshine mixed in with clouds in the afternoon. 77 degrees at mcgill, largo 72 degrees, odessa 75 degrees, 72 degrees crystal river, 73

frostproof. we talk about the visibility being a little low throughout the overnight and early morning hours. you can see the visibility will be dropping. if you're headed out in the early morning hours, just know that you could be dealing with thick fog on the roads around the bay area and the rest of the state of florida. these are the flight delays at the moment. minneapolis no surprise, chicago about 22 minutes. things moving okay in new york and los angeles. higher elevations for the cascades. area of low pressure continues to move out of the west. coldest temperatures means snow for the great lakes. the northeast isn't too bad but you can see it area of low pressure moving toward that area. at the moment things are just fine and that is the case in the bay area. just a few clouds around.

we could see it strengthen back into a category 1 hurricane. that would be possible landfall near costa rica and nicaragua. that would be the first in that area since 1851. and's. thursday morning here, some lower visibility as a result of that fog. that is true friday morning. a cold front moves through on saturday. thanksgiving day looks more friday morning as i mentioned, more fog is possible. just a bit more humid because of the moisture return. temperature 81 degrees our high on thursday, thanksgiving day. looks warm friday but two [ gobble ] -- days ahead. high temperatures will drop just a little bit [ gobble ]. rain chances about 10% friday but the front doesn't have a lot of impact.>> one more

>> we're going to survive right? >> peter is feeling tainted but taught was officially rescued. after opting out of black friday, one tech giant is teasing one day deals on its website. >> we will reveal which one coming up after the break. plus a helpful tool to keep your christmas gifts a surprise. the new feature you will see on news channel 8 at 8:00

surprising news from facebook. they are building a censorship

times. the software will blocks -- block certain posts from news feeds in certain parts of the world. the design is built to appeal to china where the website is currently blocked. after sitting out the in no black friday ritual last year, apple has changed its tune. the tech giant is teasing one day deals on its website now. apple is also offering free two day shipping and extended retail st customers the power of x-ray vision. a smart phone app for iphone now let's customers scan the codes on amazon shipping boxes to see what's inside before they open them. you don't have to worry about your spouse or kids ruining any surprises as long as you don't share an account. the package x-ray only works on your own order so thieves cannot see inside the box. to a holiday safety

on your side has basic safety tips. don't wear loose clothing with one sleaze while cooking. turn all of your pin handles for the back of the stove to keep the kids from grabbing them. if you are using a turkey fryer, please do it outside away from structures. karen bass we reported earlier, tonight is considered one of the biggest drinking nuts of the year but many americans will also drink a fair bit over thanksgiving dinner. to avoid drunk family drama, limit yourselfo or have water or soda in between each alcoholic beverage. and of course don't drink and drive. >> no joke. i always joke i'm going to have one after the other but you don't want to take that approach. >> we will all be working tomorrow. >> what's coming up at 5:30 pm? >> have you done your christmas shopping? you think about tense when you

will see my campus outside the stores. but black friday bargain hunters hope to score this year. and dramatic video of a fireball streaking across our sky goes viral. where we at any point in any

sleeping bags, tense, and credit cards. it's that time of year again. we are talking about black friday. wait until you hear about the reason one black friday camper is looking for a new tv. i am ryan carter. >> i'm jenn holloway. if you are not first you are last is the theory of a lot of black friday shoppers. they are giving up their