we've been talking about this dry air now for some tile. it has really stuck around. there is the line, and generally speaking, south is where we see the orange there is where we have more coverage for today. 20% chance of showers and storms. the farther north you go along i-4, the drier the air will be. i think it won't rain certainly across the nature coast. we'll talk more about that in a few minutes. first, let's check in with janelle for the thursday morning commute. >> reporter: most of us will have a smooth ride. we do have flashing lights opinion this is i-275 right at 54th avenue south just before you get onto the sunshine sky way. looks like we have an ambulance on site. so one lane blocked with the traffic very light this time of

275. a little bit of a slowdown on 54th as you can see trying to get through the interstate. we also have a crash at 126th avenue north. leave yourself a few extra minutes there. i-275 from pasco to hillsborough looking great from the apex to i-4. rodney? the re from hurricane hermine are just beginning. more than 125 homes and properties were damaged. >> the damage estimates in pasco county alone were $89,000. it would be cheaper to buy up the homes and move everybody out instead of dealing with the impact from flooding year after year. lindsay, it sounds good but is

>> are. >> reporter: for some people, that is a real possibility. a week after hermine came through, they are still pumping out thousands of gallons going out into the street onto ridge road. county leaders say absolutely buy up the homes and move us out. other people say they are not going to go anywhere. the cleanup here will last few more days. inside not to mention the repairs to waterlogged homes, parks and appliances. areas along the river. those are always some of the biggest trouble spots when it comes to flooding. a solution there, and there are talks about this, is for the county to buy up those homes and move people out. we learned county leaders are eyeing $4 million in federal grant money to purchase the property and buy people out.

course help cover the costs of that. that would also involve major construction work. of course we are far from a done deal here. already, many people we talked to say regardless of how bad this was, they just refuse to sell their homes to the government. they think it will be a split. i'm lindsay logue, abc action ambushed during a traffic stop. a known fugitive shoots at police when they trayed to pull him over in lakeland. francis perry was firing at officers through the tinted passenger window so they never saw the attack coming until they opened fire. as soon as the officers approached the car, they came under fire and the officers started shooting, hitting perry multiple times.

respect us back and the overwhelming do. when they shoot at us, we will absolutely shoot back. that's a guarantee. >> thankfully, no officers were hurt during the shoot-out. we don't know how perry was doing this morning. he was in surgery last night for the gunshot wounds. the sheriff is planning an update later this morning. more in a live report at 6:30. a jewelry thief is on the run after authorities say he seriou who tried to stop him. that was surveillance of him making a run for it. what you didn't see on camera is what happened after that. this happened tuesday night at the mirage jewelry store in the mall. the thief got away with a necklace and bracelet. off cam remark the employee jumped onto the hood of the get

the thief. >> his actions could have easily killed this poor victim. >> the detectives are looking for a newer model silver camaro. >> meanwhile, another burglary case, this one involving two furniture stores in tampa. police say the guy you see right here broke into a store called oh, whatever home decor, and stole checks. he also tried to break into the summer house furniture store next door but couldn't get inside of that one. if you recognize the guy, their offering $3,000 for tips that lead to his arrest. tampa city council discussing the tampa crossroads facility that will be built on

a recently closed rehab center was a problem. right now, they turned down the special money needed. pay close attention to this video right here that you are going to see. okay. hang on. it's coming. i promise, it's coming. i'll tell you about it until it pops up. it's about an 18 wheeler and the driver of an 18 wheel who're was weaving across all lanes of the highway. a woman who wa is right there. that driver there weaving across lanes of traffic. a woman behind in the panhandle called 911 built says police nerve -- but says police never responded and she wants to know why. the woman followed the big rig driver and recorded video on her cell phone with several updates to 911 from 85 all the way to i-10. >> when you see something

they are supposed to come investigate. i did that, but nobody came. isn't that what my tax dollars are supposed to be for? a former secret service officer accusedded of trying to solicit sex -- accused of trying to solicit sex from someone he thought was 14. robert lee moore was first arrested in delaware where undercover agent. he also had online sex chats with actual young girls. now they are filing federal child porn charges against him. a jury indicted him in june for producing child porn. a former pasco school resource officer is off the job because investigators say he was stalking his ex-girlfriend. russell was arrested yesterday. authorities say they were

drive by her home in his work car. he later admitted to driving by her home multiple times, harassing her with calls, text messages and e-mails. he has worked for the sheriff's office since 1999. supposedly, i'm dead but i'm alive. i'm very alive. jars were up asking to pay for her funeral and how she found out about it. >> a manses he'd rather be in jail than be with his wife.

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all new this morning, you always see donation jars >> a woman was stunned when she saw her picture on it asking for donations to pay for a funeral. she says someone stole her photo from facebook and put it on at least two of the jars with another woman's name on them. she found out about the donation jars from her cousin who saw the jars and thought she died. she's had problems finding the people behind the scam and tracking down remaining jars. the ones she did get only had

a manager protecting employees against armed robbers using simply a chair. the reason he says he regrets the move. >> plus, a space capsule is set to launch today. scientists are using it to carry out this for the first time ever. >> look going here weather- wise. we're looking at temps in the mid-80s. later on, 7:00. the northeast winds should be green as far we'll talk more about our forecast coming back at us in a

it's about 15 minutes after 6:00 right now. a julyry store manager in australia was trying to protect his employees when he confronted armed robbers. he throws a chair at it started after he got to the diamond store. he saw the masked men with a gun and sledgehammer. they ran out the door and he grab add i chair and threw it at them. he says just watching the video is taking a toll on his family. >> my little daughter started with me because they have the footage on their camera.

>> hannah says one of the employees is too scared to come back to work. the thieves have not been caught yet. a 70-year-old man says he was so desperate that he admitted he robbed a bank. he says he did it because he wanted to get away from his wife. >> he told police he wrote the note in front of her and told them he would rather be in jail than sitting there with her. how about that? he walked into a bank on friday and handed the the teller turned over more than $2,000. whipple took the money, walked out to the lobby and sat down telling then he was the robber. he told investigators he and his wife had been fighting earlier in the day. palm beach police say a man ran his 72 foot boat aground and ran away. he admitted to having a few too

himself and has been arrested for boating under the influence. they are wondering how the solar system formed lawn offing from cape canaveral and could possibly provide some of the answers. the spacecraft is set to liftoff at 7:05 tonight. the probe will travel to an asteroid where we'll look for water and other organic materials and molecules, ingredients considered key for life to evolve. the spacecraft sample of the asteroid back to earth for study. the mission is expected to take seven years to complete. speaking of florida's space coast, do you remember this dramatic video? take a look at that of the space ex rocket blowing up at cape canaveral one week ago today. engineers continue to access the damage at the launchpad.

from right here in florida. well, weather-wise, i think we'll be in fantastic shape. the space capsule to land and come back without matt damon, that is good stuff there. mostly clear skies. we're cool in the nature coast area. look at that adds we're we're about an hour away from sunrise. showers and storms later today south of tampa along i-4. as you look at the dry air that has taken over across the south eastern u.s., we haven't rained all that much. we should still be talking about good storms in the afternoon. of course the moisture will begin to come back for us

looking good friday morning. by afternoon, we'll notice more coverage ear before we've seen in the last few days. a sign of things to come here. we'll get back to the afternoon summer thunderstorm. any time after 2:00, we'll see storms. this is for today. there you see what we haven't seen in the last few days with sprinkles out moving up closer to hillsborough and pinellas as well. the to the south. a shore would be fine, thank you. very warm conditions and humid as well back at us here. for tomorrow, rain chances going up to 40%. then saturday into sunday looks good. just keep in mind, the afternoon storms will be back in the forecast and continue heading into the early part of next week. all right. let's head over to the traffic center. here is a lady whose husband

assuming. >> you never know. >> there are those days. three kids, yeah. we have two crashes on cameras. one is 275 just before you get to the sunshine sky way. traffic is light out there. so we aren't seeing a huge delay there. we have a crash in the southbound lanes of i-275 just before you get to look at the heavy volume both north and southbound on i-75. it's starting to get crowded out there. let's craig your drive times. we're still in the green. six minutes from 75 to downtown from the leroy selmon expressway. still ahead, moral controversy. the reason leaders are refusing

the governor in kkk clothing. >> plus, a teen trying to buy a cake supporting donald trump is denied. why a store representative now says it was all a misunderstanding. first, a cold case of a college student who disappeared 20 years ago in california is heating up once again. here's today's gma first look. >> reporter: in this morning's gma first break in the college freshman's disappearance. investigators digging up a campus hillside searching for her remains. >> it's definitely been tough. we don't have close you're, and it's been 20 years. >> reporter: kristin smart was 19 years old when she vanished after a party in 1996. according to investigators this man, paul flores, offered to walk her home and was the last person seen with her.

never been charged or arrested. shortly after her disappearance, the trail went cold. though her body was never found, she was presumed dead in 2002. we'll have more live at 7:00

. it is 6:25 right now.

here. that is the governor of maine paula paige dressed as a kkk member. >> some people are calling this hate speech saying it should be taken down immediately. some took matters into their own hands by white washing over the mural. now with the mickey mouse ears. others wiped that paint off. the city says it's protected political speech, and they won't be doing anything about it. the governor has come under sharp criticism that some say are racially charged. a louisiana teen took to facebook after a grocery store denied her request for a trump 2016 case. >> the girl oil vote for the first -- the girl will vote for the first time this year and wanted to celebrate. when she tried to order the cake from albertson's, an

cake, but we're not going to write trump on it. it's your job, so i don't need your opinion on it. >> reporter: albertson's is responding that the employee was confused about the store's copyright policy. this is what it looks like on 275 through tampa. still a smooth ride down howard frankland. coming up, we'll check your drive across the bridges. coming up, a swimming ban at two tampa bay area beaches over bacteria. we'll let you know when ones and when the ban could be lifted. >> and jill stein, the crime

now at 6:30, a felon accused of trying to kill deputies is now fighting for his own life. >> the update we're expecting on the case this morning and this man's serious criminal history. good morning. thank you for waking up with abc on this thursday. i'm deiah riley. >> i'm rod hi dunny began. how's -- i'm rodney dunny began. how's it >> quiet. we'll have a couple of showers in the forecast by later on. southern counties are in on that. much of what we have to last a couple of days. upper 60s. may drop a couple of degrees. titan doppler look goods by the afternoon. we're not going to be dodging the typical afternoon showers and thunderstorms.

of i-4. the next few days will change. we'll talk more about that but your hour by hour forecast will be right around 91. it will feel warmer as the humidity will increase. rain chances are coming back up heading into the weekend. not too bad. we'll talk more about that coming up. the roads are dry now. for the most part, the interstates are running smoothly. we have a crash that just came in, in pasco county. i-75 seems to be running just fine right directions. a little bit of a slowdown heading eastbound trying to get onto i-75. be aware of that in pasco younty. checking out your drive across the bay this morning. we're looking great right there on the howard frankland. checking out your drive times on all three bridges. looks liker with under 10 minutes on all three. seven minutes on the howard frankland. eight minutes on the gandy bridge. let's check in with action air

>> reporter: hey, good morning, janelle. it's 1,000 feet. it's just a little wet for the hard rock. it's i-4 heading toward mlk maybe ybor city and i-275. no problems there. i can see all the way up through pasco county, but down south, the manatee is extremely good visibility. keep that seat belt fastened. now back to the desk. this morning, we expect to hear from lakeland law enforcement after a shoot-out between a convicted felon and deputies. >> reporter ashley yore is live right now on golf view street where this happened after the deputies were hurt in this, right? >> reporter: luckily, deiah, they were not injured in this. again, that is really lucky because the sheriff says that this man tried to kill officers from four different jurisdictions. take a look at the damage. you can see multiple bullet

charger. last night, 32-year-old francis perry fired multiple times at members of the high intensity drug trafficking area task force when they pulled him over for trafficking meth. sheriff grady judd says deputies never knew what was about to happen until bullets were coming at them. >> the windows with are blacked out. we could not see into the vehicle at all. as the officers and the deputy walked up to the car, he started shooting. when he started shooting, we started shooting. >> reporter: perry served a year and a half in prison for meth and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. he just got out six months ago. judd says they recovered a large amount of meth and a gun from the car. we still don't know how perry is doing this morning opinion he was in surgery for gunshot wounds. we expect to hear from the sheriff later on this morning about perry's condition and

that was happening yesterday. of course we'll keep you posted on social media. ashley yore, abc action news. a crime alert this morning. hillsborough county deputies are looking for the man in this picture right here. surveil lentz photos show him -- surveillance photos show him with a gun on monday. if you know who this guy is or have any information, you could possibly get a $3,000 reward. investigators are stuck going over the wreckage in pierce this morning. three crew members died when it crashed tuesday in palm bay. the chopper was on a test flight after a repair. no one reported any problems in the minutes that led up to the crash. tensions of running high as politicians debate funding for zika.

outside city hall protesting the plan to spray pesticides from airplanes. many are worried how toxic it could be for the people living in those communities. the spray treatments will continue for about a month. florida representative david jolly is causing a buzz for this bold move on capitol hill. he brought a jar filled with 100 mosquitoes from congress. the insects from the university of south florida don't actually have zika. he is demanding lawmakers pass a bill for funding. the cdc says it could run out of allocated zika money by the end of this month. heads-up for anybody planning to head to the beach right now. the hillsborough county health department says stay out of the water at the davis beach and davis island beach. both beaches tested positive for a bacteria that can cause disease, infections, and

samples on monday to see if the water is safe. in democracy 2016, both donald trump and hillary clinton participating in the national security forum in new york city. trump was asked if elected if he would be ready to handle complex foreign policy issues on day one. >> remember this i found this subject and the subjects of interest all of my life. this hasn't been over the last 14 months. i found these subjects of tremendous interest. that's why they about iraq 14 years ago. >> reporter: trump did say he regretted that he didn't win the republican nomination a nicer manner. hillary clinton was asked what she felt was the most important characteristic a commander in chief can possess. >> an absolute rock steadiness mixed with strength to be able to make the hard decisions because i've had the unique experience of watching and

these are not easy decisions. if they were, they wouldn't get to the president in the first place. >> reporter: clinton says with no one decision she would make is not to send u.s. ground troops to syria to fight isis. the republican chairman criticizing clinton for not smiling. that drew quick criticism from clinton's campaign who tweeted "that's what being serious about being president looks like." the tweet has since been deleted. authorities say stein spray painted the words "i approve this message" on a

facing charges. >> lots of sunshine and needing to get to the sunrise. 8:00 looks good. about 74. by 3:00 for the pickup there, there will be some traffic, i'm sure, with partly cloudy and dry with a slight chance of a shower. >> you know there's traffic around the school at pickup time. right now on 275, you are going to pass through flashing lights due to the crash we've been watching for quite sometime around past there. back to you. 6:38. coming up, new research shows the one thing you can do that might cancel the effects of drinking, even if you are a heavy drinker. >> and later this morning, a better smartphone. the new features allowing you to worry a bit less about accidentally dropping it into

. welcome back. hitting the bottle might not be so bad if you also hit the gym. that's according to new research this morning. researchers looked at drinking and exercise habits and how many died over the course of the study. heavy drinking, which is anything over eight drinks a week for women or 21 for men

for people who exercise. that seemed to cancel out the effects of too much booze entirely. >> it turns out that exercising could save you money. the journal of the american heart association says people who work out spend less on medical bills every year. people who showed the most dramatic results saving $2500 a year. still ahead this morning, a thief targets drinks. the pricey items that he swiped

good morning, everybody. starting to see a little bit of a slowdown just past the crash on i-275 southbound before you get to the sunshine sky way. just a little bit of the slowdown because check out your average speeds through 275 through st. pete. not bad at all. 69 is heading northbound to the sky way and frankland. 67 right past the crash to the howard frankland to the sunshine sky way. in pinellas, park boulevard right at 58th street north. a little bit of a slowdown. leave yourself extra time if your morning drive takes you through that intersection. 16 minutes from county line

let's check in with action air one. >> good morning, janelle. under i-75. we can see a couple of vehicles there. the animal was in the middle of the road. this is westbound 52 in the upper left making that left hand turn to get on southbound i-75. it will be a little slow there. you can see another officer arriving now to add to the backup. now here's liven with the forecast. >> that look goods out there right now. 67 in brooksville. 68 and much drier air out there. it's going to be nice most of the day today. a couple of showers in the forecast. farther south, the forecast has been dry to the south and or dry to the north and wet to the south but really not all that much. so the dry air has inhibited

thunderstorms. we've had the heat. we've just been missing the moisture. the clouds and storms try to develop but height a wall up above. the storms today will be farther to the south. south of polk and hillsborough, not to say we won't get a few. most of the activity staying south. it won't amount to much once again today. so 20%. 91, though, for the high today in tampa. otherwise, northeast winds coming in at 10:00. it will feel like 95, 98 that is a sign of a change, right? more moisture that will double for tomorrow. 40%, and that's where we should be. it's not going to be rainier than it should be for the weekend. we'll hold on to 30 to 40% for the afternoon. high temperatures staying nice and toasty through the early part of next week. the fbi arrested a woman

board a jetblue flight. during the flight from new york to puerto rico, they say gomez used a lighter to ignite two blankets and a seat next to hers. she was late area rested and placed in fbi custody. if convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison. authorities say a kidnapping victim called for help. sadly, they later found her body in the trunk of her own car. rita mays was forced into th hit in the head. she called her husband and law enforcement. they tracked her signal to a parking lot in spokane but by the time they got there she'd already been murdered. the u.s. justice department dropped its legal case against the release of 911 calls during the pulse nightclub shooting massacre. the justice department says withholding the recordings is no longer necessary to the federal investigation into the rampage.

calls. last june, a gunman opened fire in the club killing 49 people and wounding 53 more. a suite tell killed that gunman while rescuing both hostages. u.s. coast guard identified the woman who went overboard on a cruise ship. crews are looking for her at this hour. this is a helicopter scanning the water near the bahamas. a carnival spokesperson says witnesses overboard but others claim she fell from the 11th deck. the ship is nowen its way back to charleston. swimmer ryan lochte is suspended from team usa for the next few months. he was handed down the punishment for the gas station robbery he admittedly exaggerated. lochte has since apologized and is working on moving forward.

social media. lochte will be on "dancing with the stars" which premieres monday night right here on your abc action news station. more than 1,000 jobs will be up for grabs in tampa. a diversity fair gets under way. mohn companies at the event include amazon.com and busch gardens. jobs are available in hillsborough, pasco, and hernando counties. web site, abcactionnews.com/jobs. this morning, a team pa tampa bay's prosecutor -- a team of tampa bay's prosecutors are prosecuting 06 cases in the fiscal year. they recognized the work and will start at 10:00. it will be held at the u.s. attorney's office in downtown tampa. marijuana use among college students is on the rise.

college students tried marijuana in the past year. that's up 8% from a decade egg. more troubling, daily use of pot has risen to 5.9% of students, the highest level in the last 34 years. frequent pot use can adversely affect student grades. researchers say other drug use is declining among students. marijuana is a hot topic in florida with medical dispensaries opening up across the state and constitutional amount on the november ballot. learning more about the business side of opening the dispensary, you are invited to a networking event. a drake concert in arizona sparks a police investigation after someone stole nearly $3 million worth of property from the rapper. police say a man boarded the singer's tour bus during a concert tuesday and stole a briefcase full of expensive jewelry. the suspect, trayvon king, was

nearby college pus. all of -- nearby college campus. drake was performing at the time and faces trespassing and theft charges. ? [music] ? >> that's ja rule and singer ashanti with their hit song. tonight they are performing at the ritz ooh ybor city. take a look at is behind me. police in south florida caught that monster gator. it is an 11 foot gater that weighs 450 pounds. police officers along with trappers caught the gator. florida fish and wildlife now have to decide what to do with it. martin county deputies also calling in for backup. the 5 foot gator was chasing children. as we all know, iphones

combination. you'd know that, of course, if you ever drop one into a full sink, but no worries. yesterday, apple introduced its newest iphones, the 7 and 7- plus, both are water resistant. other unique fete chores include a sense-hold button similar to that found on a mac book. >> where's the head phone jack? the head phones $160. you can pre-order the iphone if you'd like. starting tomorrow apple unveiled a new apple watch with its own "pokemon go" app. in about two hours, the second annual bike ride sponsored by the wounded warriors abilities ranch will get under way. the 11-mile fun ride is set to get started. police will allow people to thank them for their service. it's all meant to inspire

active. the time right now is 6:53 as your morning sprint counts you down to "good morning america." >> later this morning, we expect to hear from schaffer gradey -- sheriff grady judd. no deputies were injured when 32-year-old francis perry fired multiple times at members of a drug task force. they fired back hitting perry. appearry had just gotten out of prison six months ago. deputies say they uncovered a from his car. and a former pasco county school resource officer is off the job because he was stalking his ex girlfriend. russell was arrested yesterday. authorities were talking to his ex about her complaints when they say they saw him drive by her home in his work car. they say he admitted to harassing the woman through calls, text messages, as well as e-mails.

some people have finally returned home after you had mine. hurricane you had mine destroyed several -- hermine destroyed several pasco county homes. and searching for a man who stole $23,000 inallry. this happened tuesday night at the mirage diamonds and jewelry store. as the suspect drove away, an employee who tried to stop the guy was thrown off the vehicle. he injuries. crime stoppers is offering a $3,000 reward for any information leading to that suspect. police are searching for the man who burglarized a south tampa furniture store early yesterday morning. they say he stole checks from a home. he also tried to break into the busiest door. if you recognize this man, call crimestoppers. good morning, everybody.

southbound lanes. not causing road blocks but could be the reason for delays. across the bay today, all three. seven minutes to cross the gandy. back to you. good morning, janelle. we followed this from pasco county. you are looking on the southbound side. here's ivan with the forecast. >> a lot of sunshine, warm and 91 with a 20% chance of sunshine. "good morning america" is up next. >> you can keep up to date with us on air as well as our mobile app and facebook and -- and

good morning, america. national security showdown. hillary clinton and donald trump going at it overnight. >> we are not putting ground troops into iraq ever again. >> clashing over the military, isis and experience. >> the generals have been reduced to rubble. >> now questions about those briefings. did trump reveal too much? and hillary clinton defends herself over her e-mails. flash floods and funnel cloud, a massive storm hovers over arizona as remnants from hurricane newton floods wisconsin. the east braces for a heat wave. temperatures that feel like 100 degrees. a stunning shoot-out caught on surveillance camera. a 71-year-old man shot while watering his lawn in chicago.