business development. good evening. i'm jamison uhler. >> and i'm laura harris. dunigan is live with why the spot has become such a hot one. rodney. >> reporter: laura, anyone who has been to downtown st. pete in the last couple of weeks, you have seen this. construction everywhere. you can't go anywhere and not see a boom in residential areas and also business. now, the local city administrators tell me this is a sign of growth and they also believe this is helping out the local job market as well. >> we came down here on a vacation in st. pete beach and we actually fell in love with it. >> reporter: it was on that vacation from new york stacie decided downtown st. pete had a lot of promise. name. >> reporter: 7 months ago she

she hasn't looked back since. >> business as increased since i have been here. >> reporter: a recent wave of development in downtown st. pete. >> we have heard from a number of companies considering the area that are in diverse fields, everything from technology and software development to the insurance fields. >> reporter: sean kennedy economic development manager with the st. pete chamber says it all started with the rise in residential properties. more than a thousand new units are in the works. about 15 developments are either under construction or in the planning stages. that has brought in new businesses and increase in new jobs. >> we see so many main street shop owners that feel comfortable enough to take the risk and get a bigger space or expand their line of products or hire a new person and bring them on because they're seeing so much traffic. >> there's businesses that are still building and advertising help wanted all over the place. >> reporter: opening shop here was the best move she made.

>> things are going well, thank god. >> reporter: and this afternoon, i also reached out to greenhouse, the local small business administration in the area. have helped a number of local businesses start. so this is a trend, whether it be big business or small to see. for now reporting live in downtown st. pete, rodney dunigan abc action news. umbrella there. taking a live look at the roads at ashley drive. it is a wet commute this denis phillips is standing by tracking all of that rain. denis. deal. that's pretty rare for us to see two solid days of rain. some folks got heavier rain than others. kind of rain a day and a half after we have already picked up this is rather rare. it's just another indication of el nino in full force. taking a closer look south of

that's where this rain and even a little bit of wind continues to pick up. it's moving off to the northeast. some of the stronger storms right now from arcadia and in the next 15 to 20 minutes. you can see it right there. more showers. no lightning with it. wind. look what happens in the next several hours. the front comes through and we clear out. takes the fog with it and the rain with it. and by tomorrow, we're waking up to more sunshine and temperatures in the 50s as a cooldown begins. we will talk about that coming up in a few minutes. >> thank you, denis. developing in south florida, one person is recovering after a commuter train ran off the tracks. 56 people on board when the train hit some debris. one engine caught fire, spilling more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel on the tracks. the cause of the derailment is still under investigation at this hour.

a moment of silence for 30 years ago when we lost 7 americans in the challenger disaster. >> for all that witnessed the in time. her life. jake peterson has her story. >> reporter: this 1986 year book is like a time capsule for tammy. like the black and white pictures of her classmates most of her memories of that time are a bit fuzzy. there's one person in here that comes in crystal clear. >> she was a really cool teacher. >> reporter: this section is something that she remembers vividly. she was picked to be the lucky educator to go on the challenger mission. >> the opportunity to be a teacher in space and be able to teach lessons from space, her

>> reporter: nasa picked the young teacher out of thousands honor. the school located in new on tv. >> reporter: then not even two minutes into the mission. >> and everybody silenced up real quick. and that was when we realized something is not good. >> reporter: the entire school >> it was very quiet going back to school for a while. >> reporter: now, hickey is a teacher herself, teaching physical education in bradenton. she says the lessons she learned from mcauliffe are ones that she teaches today. >> you can get somewhere if you really want to. >> reporter: quite the legacy both teachers are leaving. reporting in bradenton, jake peterson, abc action news. >> three more protesters in

one facing federal charges of conspiracy. bundy is asking protesters to stand down. bundy and seven others were taken into custody yesterday. another was shot and killed by law enforcement following a traffic stop. authorities so far giving no details about the deadly shooting but conflicting accounts are emerging about how he died. >> levoy they have murdered him. they shot him. >> he charged at law enforcement. he was not on his knees. that was a miscommunication. >> there are as few as just five militants out at the compound. as for the deadly shooting, police say a full investigation is now underway. well, today marks national data privacy day. it serves as an important reminder to stay safe online. >> jackie callaway shows what happens when you don't and the steps you can take to ensure that no one hacks your personal information. >> reporter: tampa resident

this happen? >> that's concerning to me. you know, how did you get my information? >> reporter: she is referring to the repeated calls from a collection agency. >> they had my first name and my last name and my address. >> reporter: and that's not all. we asked lisa to call the debt collector back and ask whether they knew her social security number. >> we have your social. >> you have my whole social. >> uh-huh. >> can you read the first three digits out to me. >> reporter: and they did. lisa suspects an online lender she used years ago shared her information. >> how many more other people were affected about i this. >> reporter: data privacy rule number one, never share any personal information with an unfamiliar online source. >> you have to be careful with what you -- what you do online, how you interact with businesses online and ideally do your homework. >> reporter: rule number two,

this way you're prompted to enter the pin number after a short period of inactivity. number three, always install updates. companies constantly update their software with patches for weak spots. number four, be caution when using the cloud. make sure that drop box are protected with a strong or complicated password. number five, be careful with open wi-fi. don't access anything sensitive on open wi-fi and always turn wi-fi off so you don't accidentally connect to a random network. we have all of this information for you and more like how to check and ramp up your privacy settings on abcactionnews.com and then click on taking action. i'm jackie callaway, taking action for you. >> jackie, thank you. new tonight, devry university is defending its job placement stats. next at 5:30, the reason that the government is now taking them to court.

rescues a man from a car fire with ammunition exploding all around him. coming up, how he walked away with his life. later, a new weight loss procedure is available in the bay area. next at 5:30, how technology is changing the way that some people are shedding the pounds. >> we feel like the wind is at our sails. medical marijuana on the

>> breaking news right now. just moments ago the port of tampa reopening. it has been closed for much of the day because of what you're camera. the fog lifting a little bit. it was bad earlier. cruise ship passengers were stuck at sea. picture from our river gate tower camera. we have a reporter on the scene right now. marisela burgos is live at the marisela. port officials just gave us reopened.

that was essentially stuck at sea will get back at 9:00. that's when they will dock. you will have a lot of guests getting off the ship. it will take several hours for them to get off the ship. we did get an update from carnival cruise lines. there was supposed to be another cruise ship leaving today. but because of this situation, those people are going to leave tomorrow. it was supposed to be a four- day cruise trip. now it will be a three-day trip. so those guests have been told that they have the option to get on that ship tomorrow for a four-day one with some discounts. cruise line, another ship that is supposed to be leaving from the port later on. and we were told that that is going to happen. a couple of juggling things happening right now. we do know that that carnival paradise ship is supposed to return at least around 9:00. and the reason why the port was closed for so long is because of dense fog.

burgos, abc action news. >> marisela, thank you. caught on camera, a kansas police chief is being called a hero after dash cam shows him saving a man from a vehicle fire. you see him running up to the car engulfed in flames with the owner lying a few feet away. he runs to the man and dragged him away from the fire. firefighters say ammunition was inside of the car and exploding as paramedics worked on the driver. the chief says he just followed his instincts. >> when you show up, none of that is running through your mind. you see what is going on and you react, doing what you need to do at that time. >> the fire chief says without the police chief's intervention, the man may not have survived. he was treated for smoke inhalation. they suspect the driver was attempting to commit suicide and caused that fire. right now texas authorities are searching for answers after the death of a 5 month old baby. a day care worker died about

it took her 40 minutes to call 911 after the baby started choking. once harrison realized that the baby was in trouble she called a friend and texted her daughter before calling 911. the federal trade commission is suing devry university. the agency is taking issue with statistics used in advertisements since 2008. they say the ads claim that 90% of people who have graduated since 1975 have found jobs in the preferred field six months after graduation. ads claim that they have incomes 15% higher than all other colleges and universities a year after they graduate. the ftc says the stats are deceptive. if you've ever considered weight loss surgery but don't want an invasive procedure, a new operation may be able to help you. a doctor in tampa is the first in the state to use the new technology. as abc action news reporter

could change the way that medical weight loss is tackled. >> it will be fun to see what the grandkids think as i slowly reduce in size. >> reporter: it's a move that myra has been waiting to make. >> i kept reading and saying this is almost too good to be >> reporter: she is the first person in florida to get the v- block device for weight loss. it's like a pace maker that gets implanted under the skin. but this attaches to the nerve that controls appetite. >> when that nerve is blocked, patients actually get a sense that they're either not hungry or they're full with a smaller amount of food. >> reporter: and it's an outpatient procedure all dunlap row cop i cannily. the doctor says it's much safer than other weight loss surgeries. >> there's no cutting of organs. there's a placement of it on the nerves. >> reporter: according to the fda, people lose an average of

device this small can have such massive results. it's not an easy fix. patients like myra still need to put in the work, like good nutrition and exercise. but this may be that extra help she needs even a day later. >> it is turned the very lowest but i'm really not hungry. it's wonderful. >> reporter: right now v block isn't covered by insurance. the device stays in your body for life and this all costs about $30,000. you need a body mass index of 35 to 45 to qualify. in tampa, i'm ashley yore, abc action news. now, the most accurate weather team in florida, abc action weather. >> well, the port is back open because of the fog. if you're expecting anyone going over the bridges tonight, it's going to be a slow drive because the fog is there. >> and the rain. heavy rains across the area. you can look out over from apollo beach and you can see all of the clouds and all of

boy, it has been just a dismal day. closes eskies most -- cloudy skies most of the day. this was a good two-day event. most folks had several inches of rain. heavy rain. this. it's just decent to moderate rains across the area. and i want to show you a look at some of the rainfall totals over the last 24 hours because they have been pretty impressive, especially across southern pinellas county. anywhere between two to three inches of rainment you can pretty much extend that up through i-4 around polk county as well. now, up north in citrus and hernando county, not as much. anywhere from manatee to sarasota county, that blue color right there is a solid one and a half to two and a half inches of rain. so good news, we can always use the rain. i think a lot of us are saying,

this is supposed to be the sunshine state. temperatures in the mid 60s today. we're going to be in the mid- 60s tomorrow as well. but it will be completely different because as you see, northwest winds are now coming in. that's going to help to force out the clouds and force out the moisture and force out the rain. which means we're sunny tomorrow. the temperatures will still top out right about in that same location in the middle 60s. which is really where we are right now. raining and 65 at the airport. the dew point 63. look at the winds. they have come around out of the northwest at 14 miles per hour. today we hit 67. the normal has gone up one. it was 70 yesterday. the normal today is 71. heading in the right direction. the record is 84 and 26. st. pete is raining and 65. northwest winds 9 miles per hour. humidity at 97%. definitely some fog still out there. in fact the humidity is as high as you can get in sarasota, 100%.

teased us today. we had rain early and the clouds. in. i guess you could call it the fourth wave in the last two days. we had street flooding reported in south tampa in the last hour to 90 minutes. that is now ending because fortunately the heavy rains are pushing off to the east where they will stay. by 7:30, 9:00 tonight, most of metro. by tomorrow morning, it's long gone. we're sunny. how about that? waking up to more sunshine than clouds and temperatures hanging in there in the upper 50s to low 60s. they're not going to go much higher later on in the day. gasparilla, for the invasion on saturday morning, the weather looks great. now, yes, i do think there will be high clouds that kind of stream in from the west. this is not the kind of cloud cover that gives you rain. he says confidently.

say we absolutely will not see rain because it will come back to burn us. but it absolutely is not going to rain for gasparilla with temperatures in the 60s to 70s. let's take a look at the 7-day. looks great for the -- the invasion. another chance of rain by the middle of next week. next at 5:30, three high school students are facing federal charges for sharing naked pictures of classmates. what authoritieseed to stop

>> now at 5:30, three high

after police say they shared pictures of naked classmates. >> a six-month investigation led to the arrest. now another 20 students could be in trouble. according to police, the pictures were taken by the students of themselves and posted to social media apps such as snap chat. some students are accused of selling them to the media. onestein says they didn't know any -- one teen says they didn't know any better. >> educate people on the severity of this. i know there's minor education about it but it's not emphasized as much as it ought to be. three of them are facing charges that include obscenity and possession of child pornography. three others will have to face a juvenile review board and a possible sentence of community service. here is wendy ryan with a look at what is coming up at 6:00. >> thanks, jamison. breaking news.

plus these top stories. >> assault. assault. thank you. from road rage to racial slurs. coming up next, it's all caught on camera. the video that you need to see and hear. we're talking about the people who are sickest and most injured among us. medical marijuana on the ballot this november. why its number one backer is confident it will pass. just down the road, no problem. coming up, the polk county liquor lines that are under

>> abc action news starts right now with breaking news. two teenagers with autism are missing in tampa and officers need your help to bring them home safely. tampa police telling us that 13- year-old logan and blake bennett were last seen walking southbound on 22nd street away from the mendez exceptional center. authorities are worried because they do have special needs and of course it's been raining all day long. so if you see these two, please call tampa police. the rain continues to fall on the bay area as we speak. the showers picking up in some places in the past hour. taking a live look outside from our live drive cam.