farewell to florence as mrs. brady passes away. good evening i'm stacie schaible. >> i'm keith cate. shoppers aren't the only ones looking for deals so are car burglars. >>reporter: good evening. not only by on their bites parking lot checking handles making sure everybody is okay, but they are also watching people right here from the sky watch tower. now here they can immediately spot someone trying to break in. l aaron knows he can be taking a risk to do black friday shopping. >> you hope that there's some type of security whether it be golf cart or something they

safe. >>reporter: the busiest shopping holiday of the year brings out extra reinforcements. more officers patrolling through the parking lots and watching from above. >> with an elevated platform it gives you a better furniture to see people behaving suspiciously operating in between cars. >>reporter: sky watch tower gives officers a 360 spreeview. it came in handy last year. >> there is an individual that were going through the parking lot trying door handles. we were able to identi ground to the general area. >>reporter: but shoppers must also do their part to protect their belongings and themselves. >> first and for most you have to lock your doors. i see people coming out with bags arms full of things waiting till they get to the last minute. have your keys out early know your surroundings. you have skill acts and opportunity. opportunity the only things the victims can control. you can't control an

they will jump on it. >>reporter: so a couple more helpful temps to keep you safe during the shopping holiday season. you want to try to park in a well lit area and don't be distracted texting or talking on your cell phone as you're leaving the mall. another helpful tip you may not want to carry all of your shopping bags to your car at one time. maybe take a trip or two. this way you're not a target to thieves. >> i guess law enforcement is going to be everywhere. itot are all over the place right? >>reporter: definitely. they are going to be at pretty much the popular shopping spots we're talking about best buy, target wal-mart all the malls across the tampa bay area. but if you don't see the sky watch tower just foe that there are extra officers and law enforcement out just out there to help protect you. >> along with mail security. thank you. bay area shoppers were up late out early this morning to

tampa premium outlets in wesley chapel opened at 6:00 last night stayed open all night and all day today. we talked to one person this morning who had already spent $2,000 on christmas gifts. others told us the most important part of shopping on black friday is spending time together. >> we do this every year as a memory maker us and our mom we're crazy like that. >> got to have a positive attitude. >> tampa premium outlets ll black friday started with a bang at the mall of america in minnesota. the country's largest mall opened its doors at 5:00 a.m. the first 200 guests were given gift cards ranging in value from 10 to .500 dollars. others received mystery scratch offs tvs paisley park ticket and suites at a twins game. in atlanta there was some hustle and bustle but not a lot of big crowds.

different stores. a boater is facing criminal charges tonight for slamming into docks and crashing into boats and taking off. deputies say 44-year-old robert heart was drunk during the joyride and he nearly put some children in danger. john rogers joining us live from madera beach with the update. >>reporter: that's actually the boat right there that the man that you driving last night. witnesses say he was sailing erratically. andy has a big mess to clean up last night his dock was torn to shreds. but he's not the only victim here. >> going across the way he hit the dock over there. >>reporter: pinellas county deputies say this plan 44-year- old robert heart was heavily intoxicated as he steered a boat through boca ciega bay. >> where was the family? >> they were out here fishing. >> all right here.

>>reporter: pat hughes is so thank actual her dock didn't suffer the same fate as her neighbor. >> it's so frightening to think what could have happened. >>reporter: last night some children were out on her dock as the boat barreled straight toward them. >> take that boat was coming with such momentum if he hadn't turned he would have gone right up over the seawall irk the children ran back to land and the boat turned literally within inches of the dock. >> i mean scary, just frightening. it makes you so angry that somebody would do something heart slammed into a number of nearby docks and damaged boats along the way until officials caught up with him at a marina. >> you never think that you would actually witness something like that happening. >>reporter: thankfully no one was hurt. >> it 0 could have been a real tragedy here last night. >> you don't see stuff like that. i hope the guy gets help. lucky no one was hurt. >>reporter: now this boat looks kind of familiar there's a reason for that.

this boat i featured in the tv show hell which aired on the weather s channel. >> how much damage are we talking about john? irk that's the thing. officials are still tallying it up. this happened over the course of a large area and so right now it's unclear how many docks an how many boats that he hit and so if anyone out there has any information or their dock was hit contact fwc. >> walk out your dock's john rodger live in madiera beach. beloved actress florence henderson has died. she had an unforgettable smile she was known the world over as mrs. brady on the brady bunch of. florence henderson passed away in los angeles she suffered from heart failure. coming up at 5:30 we're going to take a look back at her life and her very impressive career. the south carolina man accused of a deadly shooting killing 9 black church members

a charleston judge ruled that dylann roof is solid competent to stand trial. they are trying to track down a hit-and-run driver that hit a boy. the victim got a surprise he did not expect. 12-year-old darryle orte meet the team and take a tour in the process they got tickets to sunday's bucks seahawks game. his mom was overwhelmed with gratitude. >> my baby loves playing football. he was so broken thinking he could never play again. after speaking to the players he now has hope again. >> tough little good night here. he has a tough road ahead he broke every bone in his leg

a while. he's he's going to have another surgery the cast again for a few months. but this today was super encouraging for him. >> can you imagine how much his cast is worth with all those signatures? >> hang on to that. safer it. >> that's a good one. it's a rescue maneuver so risky it has not been tried in year ago. >> during a recent fire in new york city it was seconds from failing. the miracle they pulled f it's time to talk teddy bears with jeff patterson. >> coming up we're going to tell you where you can drop off a brand new at the time he bear for these rough ride earth and why it's so important for our community. another warm day also another dry day but long term looks like rain chances start to come back we'll talk about that and your complete weekend

. firefighters in new york city are calling it the miracle on 93rd street a daring rescue involving a rarely used technique that paid off with a life s. are just now talking about it. in older to save an 81-year-old man from the fifth floor of an apartment building they had to perform a dangerous rope rescue. one firefighter was lowered down, grabbed the man from a window and was slowly dropped to the ground. >> looking back up and seeing the fire out the which dose the rope was on fire, and the reality really set in that wow we really just -- we saved a guy 's life.

moments after they reached the ground. firefighters are raising money to help that victim find a new home. that is remarkable. well today is the kickoff for the rough riders annual john winter teddy bear roundup. >> the rough riders will be collecting new teddy bears from now until december 19th and they use them all throughout the year. jeff patterson joins us live in tampa hi jeff. >>reporter: high stacie. teddy bears just like this. regions bank in tampa regions is one of our great partners. they collect teddy bears at their branch offices throughout the bay area and it's a really big deal for us because we take them to children and hospitals to vets and senior centers to people suffering from cancer throughout the year. but this is the month that we collect the teddy bears. these rough riders get together. it's an all volunteer efforts they will be collecting them from today through december 19th and we are collecting new

those locations it helps put a smile on a child's face. everyone. it's a really important effort these guys put a lot of volunteer hours into to make it all happen. of course it wouldn't be possible without news channel 8 viewers helping to donate these new teddy bears. of course kindness day on december 9th you can bringing a at the time teddy bear by the tv station on kennedy boulevard but for a complete list of locations where you can drop off one of these teddy bears or for these rough ride earth on the john winter teddy bear roundup you can find out where those drop off locations are all state insurance offices at the town centre malls at the westfield mall. so it's a really important effort that these guys gunned depend on channel 8 viewers your generosity to make it all happen. the teddy bear wouldn't be on my shoulder without your help. so stacie back to you guys. >> they all look so happy those teddy bears don't they. thank you jeff.

those teddy bears they time at the news center. on kindness day we're going to be accepting teddy bears for the rough riders but also toy donations for toys for tots. food donations for feeding tampa bay and blood go donations for one blood. that's coming up december 9th right here at the news center in tampa. >> otto has moved into the pacific but it certainly caused some big problems for many folks in central america. this is what time looked like in costa rica. thousands of people were ordered to evacuate the coastline ahead a very high winds and driving rain thankfully the system has moved zoo the pacific and here it is. tropical storm otto it maintained its name as it crossed into the pacific winds now at 60 miles per hour. but thank any no longer a

pacific and eventually weaken long term as it encounters some dry air. here at home max defender 8 we've been tracking a just a few springs vick also throughout the ample they have situated through polk county and highlands county. few drops near avon park. frost proof as well. certainly something be keeping our eye on. there's lakewood rain of gorgeous. 78 degrees current temperature. couple of degrees cooler in crystal river. 73 degrees, calm winds and we are expecting another beautiful sunset tonight the view from hula bay restaurant 75. as we just mentioned the teddy bear roundup we're collecting brand new teddy bears all the way through december 19th a as we partner with the rough riders we want to rent remind you and remind you every single day head over to wfla.com for a

time of year. scattered clouds at 9:00 p.m. and 72. a mild start and a bit a foggy start for some of us for your saturday morning 64 degrees at 7:00 a.m. get into the upper 70s for your highs. upper 70s for macdill and apollo beach. 80 in riverview. it's been an normally warm day. 71 in weeki wachee 70, 77 in dade city. the moisture has been slowly coming one that easterly most the dew points have slowly but surely been rising some of this patchy fog we've been seeing throughout the morning. otherwise fairly quiet in the southeast. delays cold front a weak frontal boundary. nasty travel weather in the pacific northwest. with some moisture increasing near the surface. we still have a lot of dry air in the mid upper levels of the atmosphere. that's going to keep our rain chances still fairly slim. the dry air sticks around through most of the weekend and through early next week. but the next cold front midweek

with it and then we'll have to boost the rain chance it's been so dry as of late. tonight fairly quiet, mild a little fog saturday morning by saturday afternoon some drier air starts to work in. there will be just a slim chance of a shower as that front passes through, but again most of us will go rain free for your entire weekend. gorgeous by sunday as we usher in high pressure and some very comfortable air. 77 for your high sunday, but these numbers are actually still above average. tuesday. then the rain chances come back up to around 20 to 30% by the middle of your next work week. it is easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of the shopping season but money saved is money wasted if you regret the purchase later on. investigators shannon behnken joining me with some shopping

work out for you better call behnken. that might happen. >>reporter: probably so. but i spent the day tack talking to a bunch of shoppers. 68% of shoppers last year nation wild tried to return products they bought during the holiday rush. many found out those return policies vary by the store and they change often. have you ever had any trouble returning things? >> no normal policy for returning is 30 days. >>reporter: that's the common belief, but not exactly true. the holiday shopping season is in full swing. >> we're spending lots of money. >>reporter: before you gobble up every deal you see you might want to consider return policies. some stores don't allow refunds ever. it's best to check the return policy of every retailer you deal with. but i made a naughty and nice

first for the really generous policies. nordstrom. there's no policy. returns are up to team members and there's no limit or receipt required. l. l. bean items can be exchanged or returned even after years of use. receipts aren't even required. bed bath and beyond there's no time limit. and with a receipt refunds are issued in the original form of payment. and now for some of the worst return pol what you buy there are no refunds just store credit. k-mart, some items such as cosmetics can't be returned ever and music, movies and video games can't be returned once they have been opened. barnes & nobles. this bookseller typically has a short return window of just 14 days. but it is extending it through january for the holidays. but it won't take back anything without a receipt.

receipts for every single purchase in case you need to return something later but then again remember some of these stores don't allow returns so shop very carefully. >> what about online sales when you're shopping online? >> one thing i noticed that was really interesting when i was researching return policies is forever 21 for example they are very strict but they are not as strict for online. you can return things online with receipt. >> employer forgiveness online. >> which i was surprised by that. you have to be make sure in some of these stores there are no actual stores only online so you really have to be careful. >> be careful in general you start buying stuff all of a sudden it gets out of hand you get the big credit card bill later. >> it's hard to pass it up but you got to have a budget. >> thank you shannon if you have a problem needs solving better call behnken. 1855 behnken. speaking of shopping this is supposed to put the retail necessary the black for the

some stores might not be getting the crowds they used to see on black friday there is no question it is turning very good day for stores online. adobe is tracking online sales and it reports $1.93 billion of sales on thanksgiving day alone with more than half of customers doing their shopping on mobile devices. amazon reporting that thanksgiving day sales topped last year's thanksgiving day numbers as well as 2015's cyber monday. it is expecting a better black friday this year than last year as well. wal-mart says thanksgiving day was one of its top shopping days of the year.

6:00 last night. there video is from a wal-mart in chew la vista, california. by the way that adobe report found people shopping online using apple devices are spending more money than those who are using android tablets and phones. of course some people will skip black friday all together. the opt out side movement was started by outdoor retailer r he rei gave them the day off urged them to enjoy a 2.5million people have pledged to get outside today instead of shopping. before you clean your carpets you need to know about a new recall. it involves about 550,000 units of dry carpet cleaner sold under the names arm and hammer capture and/or recognize. these recalled units can contain harmful bacteria which poses a risk of respiratory and other infections in individuals with weak immune systems. by the way those units were

joining us with what's coming up at 5:30. >> you remember the mom who invited a stranger to dinner by accidentally texting to the wrong number? do you remember that story? >> that's a good story. >> we're going to follow-up on that story tonight. not only did he take letter up on the offer he showed up for the turkey. we're going to show you how it all went down. plus this year you might want to pick out toys that do more than just entertain your kids. we'll run down some of the gifts that will make your kids

. good evening i'm jen holloway. >> i'm keith cate thank you for joining us. tonight we have lost one of our favorite tv moms. >> florence helped son she has passed way at the age of 82.