convicted killer trevor dooley set to be released from jail later today. six years ago he basketball court. the two were organizing over a skateboarder. in tennessee the death toll from this week's fires is up to seven and that number could rise as search and rescue efforts continue. the flames also claimed thousands of acres, hundreds of homes and forced tourists out of harm's way. the largest fire in tennessee in a century. a water spout in the panhandle came ashore and turned into a tornado. it happened in destin. the tornado captured on cell

destin. the southeast has seen a day of wild weather with tornadoes spotted in tennessee, alabama and georgia. good morning. welcome to newschannel 8 today, i'm gayle guyardo. >> i'm gene ramirez, thank you for joining us on this thursday morning. let's check with ed bloodsworth in for lee. >> that same system that caused that water spout is heading our way. knits a much weaker fashion though. in the last few minutes a few showers popped up over hardee and extreme southern portions of polk county. also a thin line of showers here it is. it's holding its own as it slowly but surely starts to march our way. rain chances on the increase in the day ahead. as you step outside, it doesn't feel like december 1st. six and 70s with extremely high humidity and fog an issue especially in interior portions of our area. visibility now down to zero in lakeland. temperatures staying warm today. your average high is 75. we get to 79 later on this afternoon. we're going to talk more about

first looks like that fog could affect travel conditions. a little coming in between plant city and poke city. let's look at some. i-4 at county line road. i'm going to switch the camera and get closer into polk county. i-4 by the polk parkway a little foggy as well. closer to the ground it lessens, so it's a little deceiving but we do have fog out there. let's look at i-75, great drive now through manatee co in fact clark down to state road 70 just 11 minutes but we have a little construction on university under i-75. we're following breaking news out of hillsborough county. newschannel 8's mary mcdwyer joins us live from the scene of a big fire off palm river road. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we just learned this building is a total loss. certainly devastating news for folks in this area that use

to play basketball, to play sports. very popular place for kids to come after school. so devastating news that it is a total loss. you can see that firefighters here are still working to put out hotspots. this building was an organization that has been in the news lately. in march jeff vinick, owner of the tampa bay lightning announced they would donate $2.5 million to renovate the rec center. a rep from the hillsborough county parks department says were being made, was set to open in late december or early january. so very close to its opening date. 35 firefighters responded, two ladder trucks came to get it under control. one of the challenges that firefighters had was the sheer size of the building and the size of the flames. neighbors tell me this was a place where kids came to play basketball. also offered child care programs to feeder schools in the area. we spoke with one man who has been coming to the rec center since he was a kid.

disbelief. >> i grew up here. it just meant a lot to see something happening in the neighborhood for the kids. >> reporter: it's located next to a little pals preschool, also has several other businesses in the area. we're told there were no injuries and so far no firefighters have been injured either. we'll continue to stay on the story and g back to you. >> this will definitely affect lots of people. checking back later this morning. a man convicted of killing another man on a valrico basketball court six years ago could walk out of jail at any moment. trevor dooley is allowed to be free while waiting for a new trial. ryan hughes is live.

the family of david james doesn't think trevor dooley should be able to leave the jail at hillsborough county while waiting for a new trial. we spoke to the victim's widow and this is what she had to say. listen here. >> i mean you try to prepare yourself but when it comes down to it and it -- it -- it's still -- it's so difficult. very difficult to know that he gets so family that we never -- we never got. >> reporter: trevor dooley shot and killed david james six years ago after an argument about skateboarding on a neighborhood basketball court. the victim's 8-year-old daughter witnessed the killing. dooley claims stand your ground but was convicted of manslaughter. his attorney recently requested he be released and yesterday a judge agreed. the judge told the 75-year-old dooley he must remain in hernando county where he lives

if he has to deal with court related matters. he can't have any weapons, he must stay away from the victim's family. we're told by a jail worker he should be leaving here sometime late morning, early afternoon and we'll bring you the very latest one and certainly if that happens. back to you. >> interesting outcome to the request. some new information about a fire at a mobile home in odessa. the survivor told investigators she fell asleep with the candles still lit. her husband died she also said there were smoke alarms in the home but they didn't go off. family and friends of a popular band member are trying to prevent another tragedy. rob cartwright was killed along a dangerous intersection on u.s. 19 in hudson, his friend started a petition for a traffic light at u.s. 19 and beach boulevard. >> it's ludicrous. i don't get it. i mean i could just see if

part doesn't -- car doesn't see it. literally three no no u turn sign before you get there to warn you don't do it. >> after several studies the florida department of transportation concluded beach boulevard doesn't warrant a light. officials say there's not enough traffic volume there. into a search on for a woman who was staying with family in volusia county and disappeared while jogging. rachel madison was staying with husband. her family now believes he had something to do with her disappearance and had been making threatening phone calls since she left. >> every time he says i'm not going to give up. i will -- i will get her. you can't stop me. >> authorities in multiple states are searching for jarvis madison and any sign of rachel. a struggling military museum in largo plans to close for good. the armed forces history museum

permanently january 29th. organizers say the museum may be taken over by the government or some other organization. leaders are still discussing what will happen to all the memorabilia there. 5:08, thursday morning. let's check the weather with ed. >> we have rain chances on the way. we're certainly in desperate need. coming off of what is the second driest november on record for the area. so we're due for some rain. looks like we'll be able to get some today. let's look at it now. the humidity, notice morning. it's rather uncomfortable out there. certainly doesn't feel like the start of december. as we look at the temperatures those numbers will climb above average again. we should be normally at 75 but by 2:00 we're at 79. this is what is going to cause our small rain chance today. it's a weak cold front. notice the activity is very spotty. so our rain chances only 20% for today. slightly lower as you get down towards hardee, desotoo and highlands county. 20% but we'll take it.

time to see if, what is happening on the roads. no fog, a little issue? >> just a little bit. what is nice is -- the camera is a little deceiving. the higher up the camera the worse it looks. it's a little better on the ground. we're going to look -- first i want to show you u.s. 19, travel times. looks pretty good. just lights to go through, traffic lights. good drive on u.s. 41 as well. through the land o' lakes and palm harbor area. it's a pretty good drive. let's look at some of the fog at i-4 that is by polk and hillsborough county. that is the road we're talking about there. then i-4 around the polk parkway, it's foggy in that area as well. let's look at a little bit of construction. remaining both directions on university parkway right underneath i-75. both eastbound and westbound lanes completely blocked here but they should reopen by 6:00 a.m. that is a look at weather and traffic on the 8s, back to you. with just a few clicks we can get almost anything

concerns. coming up -- crooks are stealing packages straight off doorsteps. we'll show you an easy and free way to prevent the thefts. >> dramatic footage from the carolinas. the drought stricken states needed some water but these

with modern technology we can buy just about anything and have it delivered right to our door step. >> it's convenient but for consumers it could also be dangerous. you may be setting set yourself up for some thefts. violation your space like that. it happened to my family. it was very creepy. fortunately for all of us there are ways that we can be in control of our deliveries at all times and the great news is some of these ideas will not cost you a penny. fedex ships to their locations or fedex express stations for free. a free u.p.s. my choice membership gives you the option to leave packages with a neighbor or for $5 have

delivered and actually where they are delivered. >> amazon's free amazon locker service is a one-time use p.o. box, you choose a delivery location and use an unlock code to retrieve the delivery. it's a waiting game to see which one is the lock they're is going to open. >> reporter: there are lockers in pinellas and hillsborough counties and a handful in manatee, pasco and heck hernando counties. a car alarm for the porch. delivery arrives and must be disarmed before the package is moved. cameras can catch criminals if the picture is clear enough. live streaming cameras such as the $99 blink or $200 nest cam notify you more quickly a crime has been committed. for $229 the august smart lock device remotely locks and unlocks doors. >> the package gets delivered, can i call my neighbor, ask

door and lock it behind them. >> the land port lock box is a $500 steel container that bolts to any surface, opened with a code you share with your delivery service. the three major delivery services, u.s. postal service, u.p.s. and fedex expect to deliver 1.8 billion packages this holiday season. >> wow. maybe get things delivered the front desk of an office building that can take packages as well. >> always an option. people are watching all the time. >> i saw somebody post on facebook yesterday, had all my amazon packages off my door step. >> it happened to us. it's terrible. you know somebody's been creeping around your porch. >> terrible. >> thank you. the st. pete police department is ramping up special enforcement for bicycle and pedestrian safety in the city's top 10 most needed locations. today is the start of the

designed to target unsafe behaviors on the road from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. today. officers will be giving out educational materials to ensure everyone is aware of road laws. they will be stationed in the area of 3rd avenue south and 3rd street south in st. pete. now let's look at what is making news across america. severe weather rolling across parts of the carolinas wednesday. torrential downspouts driven by wind anderson, south carolina, the rain needed but the system possibly spawned tornadoes. they didn't need those. many reports of trees and power lines down. lots of damage to homes. no injuries reported. so far the fbi has not established a connection between isis or other terror groups and the attack at ohio state. agents are scouring through abdul artan's laptop and other devices and haven't determined that his family knew of his plans to attack innocent

allow schools to decide for themselves whether to allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry guns on campus. a snow plow truck caught fire. you see it here. the fire also caused several explosions there. this happened on route 26 in in gray. firefighters put out the flames and no one was hurt. something coming big at newschannel 8. >> we're gearing up annual tradition at our studios in south parker street in tampa. drive through to donate teddy bears for several different charities. we hope to see you out there. >> this is the easiest way to donate. you don't even have to get out of your car. >> it's so cute. people bring dogs, they are all excited. we're excited to see you for sure. >> for a good cause.

5:18 on this thursday morning. ed, feels like summer. >> it's soupy out there. not what you anticipate in early december. we've got clouds, fog and now just a few showers starting to pop up other portions of hardee, northern highlands. avon park, sebring, showers nearby. a heavier downpour south, going to the north and east. we'll be tracking it. also tracking this thin line of showers over the gulf. that is os bringing us rain chances today. so warm out there. 71 in tampa. it's 66 apollo beach. you'll feel it as you step outside. extra clouds and follow. temperatures hit 79. showers fairly hit and miss as we go through today. humid today as this frontal boundary slides through. again notice the spotty showers from time to time. behind the front cooler and

they should be for this time of year. in fact by friday afternoon high 76. lows dipping into the 50s by saturday morning. we'll start to warm up as we head into next week. another check of what is happening with the roads. i mentioned a little fog. you can see it. this is i-4 around the polk parkway. use a little caution here. coming from plant city to lakeland, back and forth on i- 4. let's look at another area as i move over here. want to show you 275 around 54th avenue north. it's a course in pinellas county. we're up to speed on i-4over all throughout lakeland, just a little fog there. and also i-75. in and out of wesley chapel and pasco county. state road 52 to 275, only 11 minutes on your compute if you're heading out the door soon. back to you. decades ago one man wrote a song for a very special woman. >> newschannel 8 helped those longtime friends reunite. coming up, mervin almost 100

how the two reunited, next. >> we're going to show you a snippet from that story but later in the day, if you have time you really should sit down and watch the whole interview with keith -- it's a special story with one of my favorite

a sad bit of news, the

famous sandwich was the brainchild of michael delligatti. he came up with the big mac in 1967. and when it became a big seller at his 47 locations in pennsylvania it was added to the chain's national menu a year later. he was 98 years old. new twist on breakfast. you can now have the taste of dunkin' donuts coffee including frosted vanilla latte and frosted chocolate mocha. both will be available beginning later this month. >> coffee and breakfast in one. if you like to binge watch netflix may be making it more convenient. netflix worldwide allows to you download certain shows and watch them offline wherever you want. >> what? >> yeah. you'll still have to use your data plan or internet to download the programs of course

time, anywhere. and facebook bringing classic video games like pac man and space ininvaders to its users for free. it's called instant games. user can play video games solo on the facebook news feed or challenge friends perhaps and play with the mass injury app. if -- ms.ier app. >> if you watched dolly parton's movie you may have learned thing about her you never knew reunite with her. 96-year-old singer/songwriter mervin shiner retired to tampa but wanted to see her one last time. he once wrote a song for her so keith cate reunited the pair after a recent concert at amalie arena. >> you're still a young man. i remember that song as we had all the good things going baby. it was one of my favorite songs. >> ?

>> bill owens, your uncle bill. >> so sweet. the stroll down memory lane was brief but even better than mervin imagined. you can see this story in our previous stories about mervin again and share it from my facebook page at -- actually keith's facebook page and also on wfla.com home page. i tell what you, he was just so excited to meet her. she's just and down to earth. i think that's what makes people love her and her concert. >> you think of the people involved in making somebody like dolly parton. great moment. coming up -- a substitute teacher under arrest charged with molesting students. >> thousands are running from wildfires in tennessee. people are missing in the flames that are consume be

at the bus stop, patchy fog. 70. a few showers for the afternoon and 79 degrees. we have a little construction still lingering but trying to clear up, university at i-75. keep it in mind throughout the

fire at a historic hillsborough county rec center, we're live with a look at the damage and what this means for the families that use this popular after-school site. >> he shot and killed his neighbor in an argument over a kid's skateboarding on a community basketball court this morning trevor dooley is about to walk free. we'll tell you why. >> then wildfire devastation in tennessee. seven people are dead and the officials fear that number could go up. this as rescue crews searched