beginning to move through right there. but that is not going to bother us all that much. you want to slow down a little bit. visibility great. yesterday we had blinding rain out there. upper 70s to low 80s right now. warmer by the afternoon. mid to upper 80s, morning coastal showers to afternoon thunderstorms. coverage 50%. let's check in on the roads. a little wet out there on the skyway good shape. people driving carefully so far this morning, because we don't have any major crashes or breakdowns slowing things down. we are going to start off with your drive across the bridges this morning. this is what if looks like as you come across the howard frankland into the tampa. let's check your drive times to see exactly how long it is taking get across. 9 minutes across the courtney campbell, 6 minutes on the howard frankland and 6 minutes on the gandy bridge.

the area. i-4, 275 over in pinellas county all in the green this morning. dan? george zimmerman claims he was attacked in a sanford restaurant sunday. >> the while row zimmerman claims his alleged attacker did it because he recognized him. there is another side to this story. zimmerman called 911 to report he was punched for from reason. witnesse martin in 2012 and another customer overheard him and got upset. >> i'm not going to approach him. he told me he was going to kill me. he told me he would shoot me. he punched me in the face. >> police pulled over a car, full of people, leaving the restaurant. but at this point nobody has been arrested. >> reporter: zimmerman just can't stay out of the spotlight? >> and dan it is not the last

the news. thousands of tweets poured in hours after the 911 call was released by police. many we can't read or even show you on the air but the majority of the people are praising the attacker. aside from run-ins with the law, zimmerman has had an online presence selling paintings. if 2015 he posted a controversial photo of his ex. he posted the gun he said he used to kill martin on an online auction site. count on us to let you know what happens. dan back to you. overnight we learned the identity of a man accused of starting a violent road rage confrontation.

motorcyclist. carlos rodriguez was hit in the back. rodriguez went to the hospital, is expected to make a full recovery. henderson drove away but was arrested a short time later. the motorcyclists say henderson was driving too close to their bikes. authorities in london release new evidence in the brutal stabbing death of a florida woman. they have found no ties between the accused attacker terror groups. the 1-year-old stabbed darlene horton to death and the suspect has mental problems. he was born in somalia but holds norwegian citizenship. the couple had planned to return home to florida last night. we are learning more about the police officer who shot an unarmed therapist in miami.

been hired to begin with. in 2012, a commander wrote a memo asking a young jonathan aheat be removed from the eligibility less, because of petty theft. there was also concern about one of his psychological reviews, reading he had a lack of tolerance categorized as a mild to moderate deficit. in the end the majority recommendation was to hire. the miami officer administrative leave for shoot beg harrell therapist charles kinzie who was unarmed with his hands up at the time. we have an update now on a major arson case in tarpon springs. atf and pasco county deputies are telling us they are now serving search warrants in a fire last march that destroyed a popular nightclub. investigators initially declared the fire an arson but

is the target of the search warrants. the couple tells us they had issues with a customer before the fire but they don't own the building where the fire happened. major consumer alert. ford is recalling 830,000 vehicles for a safety issue. several models from the past four years have a defectsive side door which may unlatch while latches free. -- defective side door which may unlatch while driving. dealers will replace the latches for free. when you drop your child off at daycare, you expect employees to keep track of them. but in central florida, two toddlers, a 1-year-old and 2- year-old, escaped from a daycare through a hole in the fence and were nowhere to be found for awhile.

walking in a gas station washing parking lot. today is world breastfeeding week. today the department of health is hosting a celebration. new moms are encouraged to breastfeed and offer peer support. celebrations will go on from 9:00 this morning until noon there are five different locations and we have them listed on our website abcactionnews.com. according to the cdc, hospitals, workitis and picture centers. a day full of island hopping drinking and fishing lands a man in jail. he was doing all that partying on someone else's boat. curtis boyd is the manager of

a tragic story from georgia. twin babies die after being left in a hot car while their mom was in the hospital. what neighbors are saying about the twins's father.

after dozens of vehicles have stolen checking to see if it isn't a high-tech job.

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stealing cars using nothing more than a laptop computer. >> there is nothing you can do to protect yourself from this crime. michael arias and jessie slay were accused of stealing more than 30 jeans in the houston area over the last six months. they turned the jeans on using pirated software and their laptop and then drove off. the duo has been doing this for months and sending the cars to mexico. now the really troubling part about all this, there is not much that car owners can do to protect themselves from crimes like this. >> especially after you work hard for something and you put your own money in it and someone takes it away, it is crazy. >> it is. chrysler is investigating whether employees could be selling access to a master database of key codes. criminals can match those codes to vehicle identification

side door and program key fobs and drive off. a pair of well-known hackers demonstrated to the second year in a row a way to take control of the engine of a moving jeep cherokee. they first showed off this hack last year, and this, despite a recall of more than 1.4 million vehicles and a security patch. fiat chrysler claims the pair didn't show any new ways to take over the jeep. they pointed out the costly, time-consuming and required a great deal of expertise. we have a traffic alert in northern pasco county, u.s. 41 at somerset acres south of bowman road. there is a serious crash there, deputies asking drivers to avoid this area if you can. so your alternate is going to be the sun coast parkway. right now the sun coast parkway looking good up to speed in

on twitter and stay here and we'll let you know as soon as u.s. 41 reopens. checking your drive along i- 4 right at county line road. taking 22 minutes to get into downtown tampa from this area. and checking your drive times on the veterans, looking great there, still in the green. 18 minutes from 54 down to 275. 7 minutes from waters down to 275. all right so it is friday. we made it. >> yes. >> took awhile to get here. >> took five how about that. my goodness. but no yesterday we were showing your maps with all the green and blue depicting the wet roads and the ponding. not the case today. we have a couple of morning coastal showers but nothing like yesterday with widespread torrential rain. gotten the most. very close to bradenton there. not completely dry this

manageable certainly than we had this time yesterday with our major highways looking dry here at this point. we have an unsettled pattern that will be locked in through the weekend. not going to rain every minute heret keep in mind we are going to have periods of heavier rainfall tallies here right through the weekend. morning coastal rains and that will be followed by inland thunderstorms. regardless of where you are, we are going to see wet weather on the coast and across our counties. today the blob of rainfall beginning to migrate further east and we'll get the heating of the day going and we'll pop thunderstorms across the interior. tonight overnight thunderstorms will begin to redevelop and that will get us through the day tomorrow morning. high today 85 in st. pete, 89 in tampa, so not bad as far as the temperatures but that is because of the additional cloud cover, which by the way will keep us in the mid and upper 80s through the weekend. also keep our rain chances up

through the early part of next week. we are going to keep higher rain chances there before we begin to diminish them by the middle part of next week. authorities in jacksonville are investigating a tragedy. a 6-year-old girl drowned in a pool. she was being watched by another child, a child who couldn't swim. authorities say the girl's parents are now cooperating. sea world is blaming sinking attendance numbers on tropical storm colin, a slow down in and a drop in tourists from brazil. the parent company of busch gardens did not mention the documentary black fish as a factor in why their stock tanked yesterday. the mayor of a california city is accused of giving alcohol do six underage kids and playing strip poker with a 16-year-old boy. stockton mayor anthony silva was arrested thursday at his mayor's youth camp. authorities later searched his

about four video clips from the camp. the mayor had recorded himself playing strip poker with kids in his bedroom. you can hear them on the video saying they don't want to be recorded. coming up why authorities think someone may be targeting hike enters bike ners new jersey. we'll slow -- hikers and bikers in new jersey. a murder mystery unfolding in new york city. a young found dead just blocks from her home. lindsey davis has details. >> reporter: in this morning's "gma" first look, the hunt for a killer. police continue scouring the jogging path where karina vetrano was sexually assaulted and murdered tuesday. detectives described what may have been a case of stranger rape and they are desperate to

the 30-year-old in broad daylight. vetrano who went out for a run around 5:00 tuesday was found by her father 15 feet off the trail face down in the shoulder high grass, strangled to death. >> if it is somebody that lives in the area, he might do it again. >> reporter: now officials say dna evidence found at the scene may be their best answer. and we'll have more on the investigation, coming up at 7:00 a.m. with your "gma" first look i'm

a grandmother died. christopher amos stabbed that woman who was just trying to protect her grandchildren after he lured them into an alleyway back in june. she recently died injuries. the grandmother and grandson were stabbed. the 8-year-old girl was not hurt. the 7-year-old boy has recovered. police a someone booby- trapped a popular hiking trail in northern new jersey. they discovered broken bottles, wooden boards with nails sticking out of them and barbed wire. visitors are being asked to be careful if they are going on the trails.

>> it is weird. why would you want to mess up people who are hiking and exercising and biking and having fun? you have to be sick. we live in a really weird world, don't we? >> no word on what charges the culprit could face. coastal showers, by the way, nothing compared to yesterday. bradenton beginning to light rain. none of this involving lightning. but we are going to have wet roads to contend with here, and eventually, some of our interstates, a few sprinkles out there. in fact the trend has been for the showers to weaken, unlike yesterday. they were all kind of coalescing together and interacting with each other and we did have a lot of lightning and thunderstorms rolling through. we will have morning coast al showers followed by afternoon thunderstorms. by the way, notice anything

sunday? both weekend days 60% high rain averages, keep in mind this will work its way just the same with the west flow, morning heavy coastal showers and followed by inland afternoon storms with breaks in between. the i think the weekend will be salvaged but a little above average for rainfall. good morning everybody. we are watching your drive on i- 75. this is right up to speed in both from the apex to i-4. we are watching a crash over inpasco that has u.s. 41 closed in both directions. how to get around it, coming up. 6:26. also coming up in just a up min someone is taking on pokemon on private land in florida. and george zimmerman says he was attacked after being recognized. but witnesses say e more

george zimmerman calls 911 in a panic after getting punched at a restaurant. zika virus can be transmitted sexually and is causing a headache for the world's largest sperm bank. thanks for wakinup with abcactionnews on this friday morning. george zimmerman can't seem to stay out of trouble. lindsey has the latest. but first traffic and weather together on this friday. >> reporter: we have a serious crash in pasco that has 41 closed in both directions. showers more concentrated

roads toward manatee and sarasee the showers, and now for the first time, beginning to get lightning there. a cup of strikes, nothing it apprchoast as sepod ju to the other way around which hacase so fathis morning. this will all continue moving into the north anst at 10 to 15 miles per hour. a thunderstorm beginning to roll the case throughout the morning, through the morning hours, west of 75 will be the action and by the afternoon, we'll get them inland as we get sunshine building here, which we'll have today as well. 77 across most of the area is in the upper 70s right now. a few mid to low 70s. 88 the afternoon, approaching night degrees, which is typical for this time of year.

this week. let's check in with breaking news. >> reporter: a serious crash up in northern pasco county that fhp is reporting u.s. 41 closed now in both directions right at somerset acres. so your all the not is going to be sun coast parkway. as you can see sun coast parkway moving good right now with traffic indicators in the green. in the meantime, let's go ahead and check your cameras on i-75 in the brandon area of state road 60. reporting a crash with lane blockages. if there was a crash, they have moved it off to the side. not seeing any delays on i-75 through the brandon area. and your drive times on i-4 looking great, still in the green. 22 minutes from the lakeland area into downtown. captain al how is it where you are this morning? >> reporter: hey good morning. we are on the way up to u.s. 4

road 52 and the airport there. right now we are stopped right by the mcdonalds. those cars coming southbound they will be headed toward dale mabry or toward nebraska and florida avenues. back to the desk. the guy punched me in the face and called me a bleep. >> that is george zimmerman making yet another 911 call. this time police say he is the victim after being punched at a florida restaurant. zimmerman claims it's all because somebody recognized him. but witnesses are telling a different side to the story. abcactionnews anchor lindsey lowe breaks it all dawn for us. >> reporter: george zimmerman can't seem to stay out of the spotlight in florida. this is from an incident that happened last weekend in sanford. zimmerman didn't want to give

plenty of people at the bar knew who he was. zimmerman said a man he doesn't know walked up to him, and punched him square in the face, breaking his glasses. in the call to 911 zimmerman stays calm on the phone and describes the attack and what happened afterward. >> he told me he would shoot me. he punched me in the face. >> what started the argument? >> he recogniz >> witnesses told police a slightly different version of what happened, saying the attacker overheard zimmerman talking about how he killed trayvon martin in self-defense and saw zimmerman prove out his id to prove his identity. that is when a man walked up to zimmerman and side you bragging about that? and then threw that sucker punch. >> reporter: police have not made any arrests. we'll keep you posted as this

the world's largest sperm bank helps thousands of people all over the world have children but it is now threatened by the spread of the zika virus. all donors have to have regular blood tests but without a blood test for zika, specimens have been on ice. affecting donations of everything from blood to organs. zika could be florida soon. >> certainly not out of the question orlando sees it before the summertime is over. >> what does that mean for you and blood and tissue? skew that is the million dollars question that none of us really know. >> if zika is found to be transmitted in central florida the rules will likely change. two bib baze in california have been born with microcephaly. it is a condition in which the head is smaller than normal

developed. there is no treatment. but not all women who catch the zika virus while pregnant will have babies with birth defects. cleaning products you have in your bathroom or kitchen right now might be dangerous for your kids and could cause problems well into adulthood. new research shows bleach and ammonia spray that his we use to clean our homes can pose a real threat to kids' eyes. children are more likely to get eye a liar risk of glaucoma in adulthood. parents keep those products out of reach of children. tampa's comic con starts today. 35,000 could visit the convention center each day of the event. starts at noon and runs until midnight. the actor who plays darrell dixon on the walking dead is scheduled to be there, as is the actor who plays dare devil

most of the celebrities don't arrive until tomorrow. however the actress clara oswald will be there today. killing pokemon, big clients are electric companies in florida. looking glass is a cyber security company hired by power utility companies in florida to help stop pokemon go players from entering private land and encountering electrical equipment. the company does this by alte to eliminate the creatures from restricted areas. there are concerns growing about where players are willing to go in order to catch them all. a polk county company is looking to hire workers and it is targeting people who play pokemon go. sykes enter surprises says you can catch pokemon and a job in the same place, the peggy brown building. the job fair runs until 3:30

a piece of advise. are you the person who shows up to a job interview without having to play video games on your phone, you'll be in much better shape okay. showers and storms move in, how that will impact your morning commute in just a few minutes. a traffic alert. if you are heading out the door in pasco, be aware, u.s. 41 is closed right now in both directions due to a serious crash right at somerset acres. your alternate sun coast parkway. captain al is on his scene to see exactly what is going on. a live look, coming up in just a few minutes. coming up this morning, hillary clinton is waking up to her biggest lead yet and taking a swing at trump's business practices. what both candidates are saying, after the break. crime seems to run in one new york family. why one mob boss' grandson just

according to the latest poll, hillary clinton is waking up to her largest lead yet in the presidential race. >> 48% of voters preferler to donald trump's 33 -- prefer her, to donald trump's 33%. trump campaigns today through paul ryan's home state of ohio yet refuses to endorse paul ryan. mike pence issued a blanket endorsement for all republicans

message during a campaign stop in las vegas, bashing trump at his business practices while trump defends himself for manufacturing overseas. >> one of the reasons i'm outside the country for some product, not much. >> i have met people who were destroyed by donald trump. >> president obama took the gop nominee to task again calling his claims of a nonsense. the hashtag next trump gaffe was a top trend on twitter overnight. live at a road crossing where a student was killed a few months ago. coming up, how authorities are working to make that section of road safer.

u.s. 41 is shut down. we are still waiting on investigators to release a reason for that, but it is shut down north of bowman road. >> deputies are conducting an investigation in that area, again, we are waiting for more information to be released. that is going to happen through a news conference later this morning. right now captain al is over the scene. what do you see? >> reporter: hey good morning. you can see the pasco county

of u.s. 41. again this is shut down both directions about a mile south of county line road. so between state road 52 and county line road there is not anyway to get through here. the sun coast parkway would be your only option unless you go all the way east to i-75. this is a rural area here and going to be investigated for some time. use a detour now and put that in your morning plans. that detour for you right now. the sun coast parkway right here, looking great. i checked the average speed, 73. so no delays if you can get there, definitely the sun coast parkway is going to save you time. elsewhere in the bay area, we are looking really good out there. i-275 through downtown tampa, the lanes wide open. taking just about 5 minutes to get from here down to the howard frankland bridge. across the howard frankland

8 minutes across the courtney campbell. we have been talking that it is the weekend and comic con is going on. got your cossey assume ready? >> got the costume ready. the rain is -- costume ready? >> got the costume ready. showers to talk about here appr may get lightning with this particular cell. certainly getting lightning with this one here, and that is headed up toward bradenton in the next 15 to 30 minutes. these were kind of beginning to now parallel, lug and eventually migrate along the coast, just not as heavy as we had yesterday. that continues through the early part of the morning. rain chances are going to be higher. by this time tomorrow gulf

with. if you have early plans, keep that in mind. the coast gets wet first and then inland. later on in the afternoon, temperatures in control. upper 80s, futurecast be able to see that right along the coast. by the time we get to 1:30, we'll begin to pop showers and these will be thunderstorms as well. things wind down in the evening but redeveloping offshore setting the stage for showers morning and the afternoon as well. temperatures mid and upper 80s with the southwest wind flow that continues. a disturbance up to the north that will provide us with an enhanced rain chance through the weekend and heading into the early part of next week before we wind things down back to average on wednesday. the parents of a child in polk county have to be holding their breath right now as kids in polk county get ready to head back to school.

to make changes to a dangerous road where the 17-year-old student was hit and killed back in may. his parents pushed for changes to that dangerous road and it appears they are happening. corey deardorf is live with the effort to make that area safer. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. people here along clubhouse road in lakeland have been complaining about this road for years. they say it is dangerous. the student that died, died bus. now they are looking at ways to improve safety. 17-year-old kay lynn kirk was hit as he made his way across the street. this stretch is known as a problem spot and polk county is collecting information on vehicle and pedestrian traffic. also county commissioners are reviewing areas that need additional lighting especially near school bus stops and school zones. you are looking at the light

student was killed at the intersection. the study is expected to be finished later on this month. we'll bring you updates as soon as we get them at abcactionnews this morning. corey deardorf abcactionnews. back to you. thanks corey. happening today an active shooter drill at river ridge high school. the drill will include the school's crisis plan and law enforcement's response to a violent incident on campus. >> it is all part of grandson of the late new york city mob boss john gotti just got arrested. 22-year-old john gotti, also the aim name, is one of seven people busted thursday. prosecutors say the suspects were part of a ring illegally selling prescription drugs in two new york city neighborhoods. officers raided the home of gotti's grandfather, who reportedly died in 2002.

arrested dozens of people on organized crime related charges. >> the mob still has its fingers into what goes on with narcotics, et cetera. they are not the influence they once were that the cartels superseded them, but the mob still has its fingers in so many things in new york city. >> reporter: an attorney for 22 yelled i don't know gotti says he hasn't done anything wrong. he was arrested in june after police reportedly found prescription drugs after stopping him for excessively dark tinted windows. mortgage rates fell this weeking 3.3%. a year ago 3.91%. homeowners are refinancing in large numbers and new programs are making it easier for low credit borrowers to refinance. marijuana growers are making their job tough.

with suspected pot growers while trying to contain wildfires. wednesday a fire crew found three men in a suspected marijuana garden. the firefighters left, they contacted authorities. the policy is that firefighters leave the area if they think that there is criminal activity going on that can force them to change their firefighting strategy. we are learning money from the 1 orlando fund could be distributed. the fund administrator says money will be paid to distributes's families, club patrons who were wound and to those who those who escaped. $23million is in the fund, the amount expected to rise. china is now testing an elevated bus that smaller cars can drive under to help ease traffic congestion. but now we are learning about some of the downsides. the bus can't turn in 90-degree angles, it has a ground clearance of just 7 feet and

keep taller cars from driving up under the bus and signal drivers when a bus is about to drive over them that could cause drivers to miss their turn. good news if you regularly surf the web. internet speeds have hit an all time high according to speed test's latest report. 42% faster than last year. remember the good old days of dial up? speeds now are 1000 times faster than that. speed tests looked at tens of this year and found x finnerty had the fastest download speeds and verizon the fastest upload speeds. the fcc still saying internet is slower, much slower in rural areas. 39% still don't meet the target speed that would be recommended for streaming hd video. starbucks's attempt to appease angry workers with summer pay raises seems to have backfired. the company started cutting back work hours so even with a pay increase, they are making

some employees may lose health insurance coverage. health benefits are only offered to employees averaging 20 hours a week. the company has acknowledged the complaints but says the issues are isolated. you have only a few more hours now to win $50,000. our app contest ends this morning at 10:00. the players scratch and win sweepstakes, all do you have do is open up our app. you click the contest li enter your e-mail address and scratch the logo and you'll know instantly if you win. your morning sprint counting down to "good morning america." we start this morning with george zimmerman, back in the news again. zimmerman says he was punched for no reason, but witnesses at gator's riverside grill in sanford tell our sister station there was more to it. they claim zimmerman was bragging about killing trayvon martin in 2012.

and got upset. 29-year-old ezekiel henson charged with a road rage shooting in tampa. it started with a traffic incident at 109th avenue east of i-275. henson shot a man in the back. that victim now recovering at st. joseph's hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. henson is facing aggravated battery charges. today kicks off the tax free holiday weekend. comput three days instead of 10 days like last year. for a list check out our website at abcactionnews.com. a new attraction opens up called the beach. 15,000 square feet filled with 1.2 million antimicrobial plastic bulls. the free experience runs through august 25th. and good morning everybody. we are checking your traffic cameras. over in pinellas county traffic

275 from the sunshine skyway down to the howard frankland bridge and checking drive times on 275, starting back at the apex to i-4, 16 minutes to get into the downtown tampa area. 7 minutes from bush to i-4 and 5 minutes from i-4 down to the howard frankland bridge. captain al is flying over an incident that has u.s. 41 block in both directions. what going on out there? >> reporter: if you are coming from brooksville this if mind, both directions -- in mind, both directions closed. over to the sun coast parkway to proceed south toward 54 would be your best bet for now. this investigation is going to confor awhile. on this friday, the sun is up and most of us can key it right now. but -- can see it right now but there are exceptions. showers and a few thunderstorms

sarasota county. by noon inland thunderstorms today coverage about 50%. san diego has a bunny problem. around 30 pet rabbits found. animal control has been trying to rescue them. >> the theory is they were all left by the same person since all of them have similar characteristics. foster families are stepping up to adopt some of the bunnies. >> they are cute. we had a pet rabbit f little while. >> that is terrible. >> i know. >> it is what it is. step up and adopt one of the bunnies. >> maybe not. stay tuned. "good morning america" is coming up next. keep up with us on our mobile app and on facebook and twitter. ivan and janel are back in 25 minutes.

good morning, america. dangerous twisters hit the south. a tornado tearing through new orleans flattening buildings, residents rushing to the rescue. livestreeping the moment they pull someone from the rubble and flooding on famous bourbon street. now more threats this morning. of the startling poll numbers showing he's in a fry fall as the president lashing out on his latest allegations. >> of course the elections will not be rigged. what does that mean? >> now hillary clinton taking on donald trump's sons and these pictures. a search for a serial killer. a shooter on the loose in phoenix now linked to nine attacks. this time a man and his 4-year-old child targeted. the urgent manhunt right now.