trading memories with mer vin shiner and dolly parton. >> i'm jeff patterson and we will talk about changes in cuba. >> a convicted killer will be out on bond. six years after gunning down he got it. chip, you are still waiting for his release tonight, right? reporter: and we have been waiting here all evening but i spoke with trevor dooley bail bonds man and she says he probably won't walk out of here until tomorrow and the widow is coming to grips that he will

today a judge ordered that he be allowed to bond out of jail while he awaits a decision on his appeal. the victim's widow katrina her es has a strong message. >> i hope you enjoy the holidays and i know your birthday is coming up. christmas and new year's eve and easter and all of the rest just remember we never got to because you took him from us. so enjoy that time. >> dj was david james. shot and killed in a valrico park following an argument over a skateboarder in 2010. a jury convicted dooley but now he is appeal that conviction for a second time. ryan cammareno is a defense

the original conviction and reinstated it. >> they allowed mr. dooley to appeal a second time. he is allowed to appeal it when it was denied and reversed again. >> that is all legal mumbo jumbo to this widow who will explain to her daughter, her daddy's killer is out of jail. >> it will upset her >> and dooley will post a 100,000-dollar bond before he is released. not sure how long he be will be a free man while his appeal is pending. the judge put restricts on dooley's release? >> absolutely. although he will be free, he won't be totally free. he has to turn in his passport.

weapons. thank you, chip. and now to the ashes of gatlinburg. the out of control forest fires have left their mark on the great smoky mountains. flames rolling through gatlinburg and pigeon forge. the death count remains at 7 an but many are hurting. we have had reports of families out in the charred hills searching for missing loved ones. firefighrs fires but seems like a never ending battle as they brace for more fires. a terrifying 48 hours that have left 250 homes and businesses destroyed. tonight more than 14 residents remain in nearby shelters. >> it is not anything but red. i was taking care of an elderly lady and our animals out.

time to get three miles south of mimmenville are dealing with tornado damage. more homes and businesses destroyed. more bad weather. a waterspout turned in to a tornado earlier today in the panhandle. take a will be. the tornado was captured on cell phone video as it moved to the city of destin. the southeast has seen a day of wild water in tennessee, alabama and in georgia. >> dangerous and on the round. finding the driver that plowed his car into an ebar city bar. you see it there. two weeks later with this dramatic video, no one is cooperating. that includes the man hit by the car who refuses to press charges. tracking down the driver of the car is proving to be a problem because it was a rental. >> so that complicates things a little bit. it might be easy to figure out who should be driving a car but this is a not who was driving the car and whoever was doing

is from california. all of those people running from the scene were long gone before the police got there. now 8 on your side special coverage, cuba mourns castro. what is the fate of cuba's future? even as fidel castro's ashes made their way through the town many are nd questions about what life will be life without fidel castro and what life will be like with donald trump. >> the passing of fidel castro is symbolic. it is emotional of the cuban people and his and accepts will be felt in this process of changes. >> harold is a man that lives in havana and some of his writings are critical of his own government but supportive

important. for me all e issues that we don't have, better economy and we need access to internet and many things. those are the things he couldn't achieve and those are the things of my generation to achieve. >> when i visited cuba i saw people opening small businesses and one business selling children clothes and restaurants and people renting out their homes and some of these businesses are facing new restrictio a >> there are restrictions that are new. but i think that the change that cuba will have, that the cubans will have businesses is not going to change. >> for decades fidel castro guided foreign policy here. now people have told me they are more uncertain than ever before because of donald trump. >> we feel very uncertain about it. we are very worried about trump. if you ask me for me, trump is

children because he is bigger. we don't like bullies. >> so this gentleman and others are hopeful that the new relationship" united states will continue. >> we want to be close to the united states. it is fair to be close. we have two million cubas living there. we want this normalization. >> a new relationship that he believes will open up opportunities for people in his country. jeff will be reporting from cuba tomorrow on the death of fidel castro and the reaction to his passing. new information tonight about that devastating plane crash that kill members of the brazilian soccer team. in recordings released the pilot said that he had run out of fuel before the crash. the plane descended to 9000 feet before going silent.

and survivor's accounts confirm that theory. a land of lakes couple is sick of their home phone ringing around the clock boo callers think they are calling poppa johns. and when football is on tv ... >> why is this happening. >> do a search for papa johns in the land of lakes you will come up with their number. it started in late driving them nuts. >> when elliot and annie hear their phone ring, they take a good look at the caller id. most of the time they don't answer it. >> we would know because the call would come in, two minutes later the call would come in and i would say are you looking for papa john's in here is their number. >> there's only one papa johns but do a search the couple's

to order pizzas only every night. >> especially in football soap. sunday afternoon it is like call after call after call and saturday night. it is annoying. >> the google listings are messed up. they show a papa johns at this location and we checked and it is gone. elliot called a nearby store. someone promised a fix. corporate papa johns in louisville did not help. >> corporate put it on us bother for us. >> so 8 on your side did some digging and discovered a lake land marketing firm that promised to change the listing. no matter how you slice it, they are still papa johns fans. >> i think they make great pizza. >> you would order from them tonight if you wanted a pizza? >> yes. the couple has had their same number for six-and-a-half years. they don't want to change it.

do something about it and they will follow up and we will be doing the same. jen. >> peter bernard on the night beat. thank you. well, coming up, the incomparable dolly parton joins 8 on your side in tampa to make dreams come true for an old friend. >> the reunion of a lifetime, 50 years in the making. >> plus bids watching on netflix, why you won't internet. >> and a warm day despite actual rain showers and clouds. but a cold front is headed for friday.

about that shortly. >> if you watched dolly par top's movie that we did.

her during the 11:00 news last week from an old friend. singer songwriter merwin shiner is going to turn 96 and he wanted to get in touch with her and she wanted to get in touch with him. >> i am merven shiner. >> i know who you are. you wrote a song for me. >> i did. >> and reunion. >> here comes peter cotton tail. >> his recording of peter cotton tail made him a star in 1950. >> look at these records. >> yes. >> he appeared on the grand old opry and performed with big names. >> there was this girl at 20 years old dolly parton. >> she recorded one of his

>> he became a lifelong fan when mervin now 95 was appearing in concert he bought tickets and began to dream. >> i would like to see her. it would be nice to say hello. >> when i passed along that humble request teamervin. she send him a signed person invitation. >> i love this song. >> he was the first person that she grd. we had all of the good things going, baby. that is one of my favorite songs. >> put it off until tomorrow. you hurt me enough today. >> my uncle and i wrote that one. >> bill owens. >> the stroll down memory lane was brief. >> incredible. >> you can't put the words together because everything we

the good things going. >> so good to see you. i hope you enjoy my show something i do. i love you, darling. i got memories of you. >> you are a wonderful songwriter. you have been a blessing to this world. thank you. >> love that last pick too. our thanks to dolly parton and her team for being so kind mervin. dolly could gracious. everyone making it extra special. >> dolly is a huge talent anomervin is mervin is a talent in his own right. >> and he knows everything dating back to the 40s. he signed with deckca records and had a great career but there will never be anyone like

better. better than you expect. >> she seems to nice. >> i grew up in nashville and i watched dolly parton back in the day. she is remarkable. the rockefeller tree lighting. she is something else. >> if we can be like that at 95. >> he is doing pretty good. you can see this story and the previous story about mervin from our facebook page. we are posting it page of wfla.com. >> watching movies have gotten an easier. you can download them and watch them offline. you will use the database or the internet to download it but you can watch netflix even if you are on a plane or in the car. now, max defender 8, the world's most powerful radar and

gervy. >> any kind of rain was welcome today. dry across the peninsula and to the northwest. max defender is picking up on a few showers further off to the northwest and they will slowly move our way to give us a slight possibility of seeing a shower. locally they are a good distance away and we will add clouds with the approach of a front this is a not unusual. we will be talking about kindness day. we are excited about that at new channel 8 and we want to remind you the teddy bear new bears and the rough riders will be here on december 9th with the u.s. marine corp with toys for tots. don't forget to give blood and food, it is awesome too high temperatures, 79 degrees. the forecast for thursday. a warm day and friday is cooler thanks to the cold front coming through giving us rain chances for tomorrow. a little cooler at 76 for friday and warming up and saturday looks like a nice day

city sunset. double rainbow and a couple of great shots. this happened from watula. >> if your a gator fan you probably love this shot. >> a few extra clouds tomorrow and slight chance of rain and io whole lot but let's keep our fingers crossed. 72 degrees and high dew point and the southeast wind lifting the moisture and feeling like it is warmer. 72 in st. pete and of 66 in lakeland. dry air colored in red and there is the moisture at the surface. an that will drag a chance of

forecast. satellite will pick up on more clouds overnight and there are the showers you saw on max defender 8 to the northwest. and you can see the broader view. there was severe thunderstorms in places like atlanta and reports of a tornado in the metro and shifting off towards greensville or greenville south carolina. >> a cold front in the area thursday morning and early clouds as the front approaches the area. best rain chances from north to south. late morning and through late afternoon and further down south. a few showers and you the rpm. clear skies as we head to friday morning. breezy and a nice day and cooler and dryer. and temperatures closer to average. 76 degrees the forecast high for that day. saturday is looking pretty good. 76 degrees for a high friday. note the rain chances up to 20% that is pretty high compared to where it has been of late. the rain chances low up again tuesday. and you can see the temperature changes but we stay mostly

low 80s is warm for this time of year and the humidity probably higher than you would like. escaping the colder climbs from up north. thanks, pete for you putting peter cotton tail in my head. >> hopping down the bunny trail. >> speaking of dolly. she is donating money, all of that money to pigeon forge and gatlinburg. days and those folks can get help. >> terrific lady. >> and a terrific guy. the bubs are getting an offensive weapon back for the game on sunday. could willie taggart be ducking out on the bulls. the latest rumor is coming up in sports. and don't forget as we mentioned kindness day is coming up you can help new channel 8.

the roundup and accepting donations and kindness day is next friday, december 9th on

sports on new channel 8 sponsored by your gulf coast honda dealers. >> so whatever they need me to do i feel like i'm in pretty good shape so whatever >> that's reassuring. safety major wright is practicing for the first time since being cut. he is expected to back up tandy as chris conlin recovers from an injury. he should be good to go against the charters. it looks like that will be the case for running back rogers that has been out with a food injury since halloween. he was a participant at

carrier when he is ready to go. the bucks arriving a three-game winning streak going to san diego but you won't be able to tell by this. >> after the three wins, san diego is going to blow us out? we have to prepare for san diego like we prepared for seattle. >> it feels good to win this week is good for us. >> willie taggard is a strong vacancy for a vacancy at oregon. the ducks fired mark he lfricp.

experience west of the minnesota, save a stint at jim harbaugh's running back coach in twine but his name would eventually come up by power 5 programs. other candidates rumored to have ties to the gig. western michigan p j flack and ucs scott frost and greg bree anno. jim mackal wayne denies being contacted by the taggard's success is keeping recruits in florida. flowers was name the offensive player of the year. the miami jackson grad wrapped up a record and scored 37 touchdowns as a junior leading us p to its first ever win season. i think fans would like to see taggard stay. a 50 point win over florida national. maria jefferson led with 22

that woman's team good. >> decisive. >> that's a good word.

the

pick 4, 25534 and p pick five, 55574. in the morning. >> warm ahead of the warm front and the temperatures are mild. the normal high is 75. a mild start to the day. extra clouds and a warm southerly flow and the wind will switch from the northwest and making it much cooler and by friday, we are looking at a grea >> oh, man. >> they come from a long ways away. >> a live look at the rockefeller center and new york city. a world wide symbol of the holidays and it was lit for the first time. game on. season is here. thousands crowding the sidewalk for the event as millions watched around the world. >> what do they do if the first string of lights go up. >> this is a what happens year after year. >> they have so many you don't know.

>> artificial tree. >> they have to assemble that every year. >> the elves do it. >> jimmy fallon is coming up next. our next news case is at 4:30 a.m. >> have a great night.

[ 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 --