a warning to watch out for this felon on the run. deputies say he is armed and dangerous. the violence that they say he is responsible for is coming up. plus, voter registration on the rise. we are digging into the trend to see which party may benefit. first breaking news that we are following from overnight. hillsborough county deputies say a man lit his home on fire. >> we got new information on this about a half hour ago. the mobile home on is heavily damaged. investigators say someone called 911 to report an unstable person in that area around 1:30 this morning. while deputies were checking that out, they got a call about the fire. they say the man set the home on fire from inside the house. one firefighter suffered minor injuries putting out the fire. nobody else was hurt. deputies arrested the man. they are filing charges. they have not released his name. let's get an update on traffic and weather together to get you out the door on this wednesday.

in the 60s for the most part. a couple of 70s, especially st. pete and tampa by the 80-degree water temperature. another warm day. we climb back in the upper 80s. almost hit a record yesterday. 87 at 4:00. we will do that with partly cloudy skies. not expecting rain today. there his the big front with the blue. that will come in our direction. we will talk about the low temperatures this weekend in a few good morning. slow going through pasco county southbound on i-75. a crash had all the southbound lanes blocked. all the lanes are now open but we have a good backup that starts just past state road 52. the crash is just before state road 54. we have a stalled car in the backup. that could be the reason that we are seeing delays even though the lanes are back open. elsewhere in the bay area, we are looking great. this is i-4 around thonotosassa

tampa. back to you guys. >> thanks, janelle. it's 2 minutes after 6:00. a crime alert out of pasco county. deputies are asking for your help. they want to find an armed and dangerous felon. this is the man they are looking for, michael putman. detectives say he got in a physical fight with a woman and then shot her in the arm. he was seen near 52 and altoona avenue in hudson around 1:30 yesterday afternoon. when he is caught charged with attempted homicide and a felon being in possession of a gun. if you see him, deputies say use extreme caution. don't approach him. call crimestoppers right way. new information on a shooting outside of two san francisco schools. police think the 14509ers were targeting a -- shooters were targeting a 15-year-old girl who is now in critical condition. detectives are searching for the four men that fired the shots then ran off.

of two school campuses. three other students were shot with less serious injuries. they ran into the school for shelter. ahead of the final presidential debate, more people are registering to vote and registering and requesting mail-in ballots since the last he vehicles. >> we are finding out if the increases favor clinton or trump in flavor. james tully is live in hillsborough county. you found counties seeing big increases in new >> huge increases like in hillsborough county they reported over 80,000 new registered voters. that was before the deadline was extended not once but twice. there are record numbers in places like pinellas county. in the past, our experts say more mail-in ballots would tend to favor republicans. it's easy to assume that the new registered volters would help voter turnout over all, the negativity surrounding the

could be pushing other voters away. we checked in with our political expert at usf and asked her if republicans or democrats should be excited about the increases. >> of course both parties are trying to take advantage votes by mail are returned by people from their party and they assume they would vote for their party's candidate. you can't assume that, necessarily. >> the reason she said you can't assume it, there is problems within both top g.o.p. leaders battle trump and clinton with the millennial vote. more people are watching it and it has been a stressful election for a lot of people and it could drive them away and have them decide the best decision is to not vote at all. live in hillsborough county, james tully, abc action news. >> thanks, james. speaking of the stress, there will be extra measures in place at polling measures around the country to keep

rushing to reassure the voting public about their locations, taking subtle steps to boost security because of the passions stirred by the race. some are increasing patrols like in south carolina. one town in maine is canceling classes fearing agitated voters at polling locations at schools. a lot of anticipation ahead of the third and final face off between clinton and trump. you can watch it live on your abc action news station at 9:00. then join us tomorrow we are teaming up with politifact fact checking what the candidates say. regal cinemas is showing the debate on the big screen. a former tampa teacher convicted of having sex with two students is getting out of prison. in 2010 she pled guilty to having sex with the teens. she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. she taught at davidson. the woman that cared for the vick of a hit-and-run accident has a message for the

cover his tracks. jarvis kendricks is accused of hitting janice joy as she walked on did you have road in lakeland. deputies found a piece of kendrick's truck near the scene. they say he deliberately crashed his truck into a sign then contacted his insurance company to cover up the crime. >> i feel he was selfish. the choices he made, now his family is fixing to lose him as well as >> kendrick is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death and tampering with evidence. still to come at 6:00, praises this morning for a young brave boy that got a scare when he came home from school. >> the strange weapons a woman grabbed stopping a violent confrontation and saving a

good morning. we check in on current conditions and get you out the door, this is about as cool as some of us across florida like it. upper 60s. low 70s in tampa and st. pete. these will be the temperatures around 10:00, 11:00 a.m. sunday. we have a big cold front on the way. that will cool us, especially at night. east wind. dry air.

in the upper 80s. how cool we go, that will be in a few minutes. take a look at this. caught on camera. a young boy walks in on an intruder in his home in new jersey. >> you saw the intruder casually walking around the house. here comes the boy home, an 11- year-old from school totally unaware there is a stranger there. he bolts out of the house when he spots that man. police officers are giving the boy a lot of credit for getting out as well as what next. listen to him describe what happened? >> my heart started pumping when i saw him. >> basically then i immediately run out of the house. i see that any neighbor is driving by in her car. i stop her, ask her for her help. >> that man left after spotting the boy but police caught up with him. they say he stole the boy's phone. "good morning america" is following up on the story. they will have much more from the brave boy at 7:00. >> scary.

of two women in tennessee stopping a violent encounter. >> he keep watching. see that that woman is holding? i can tell you what it is. >> there it is. >> a golf club she grabbed from her trunk. police say another woman used a tennis racket she grabbed to subdue a man that stabbed his own father. the video shows the suspect lying in the road after good samaritans beat him. he got in a fight with his dad then the fight spilled road. the women were driving by, saw what was happening and they both stopped and grabbed items from their car to stop it. >> i was begging, threatening, you know, for him to get on the ground. >> life matters. so, you see something like this and you react. >> i said golf club but that is a bat she is holding. they are old friends who just happened to run into each other at the scene.

coming up, a mysterious death of a florida teenager. there is one thing stopping investigators from arresting the killers. >> democratic national committee caught in another dump but not a data dump. we are talking waste from a tour bus dumping it in a storm drain.

florida are trying to get to the bottom of a teenager's mysterious death. >> sad to inform you that one of our students passed away. >> that is the message students at families heard at winter park high school. the principal is referring to the death of 15-year-old student roger trindadi who moved here from brazil a year ago. authorities say he was beaten but had little signs of trauma. the medical examiner is trying to figure death. police say until that happens they can't arrest anyone even though they identified a group of minors at suspects. the democratic national committee is under fire for dumping human waste in from a tour bus. a georgia man snapped a photo and shared it.

who you are, you don't dump human waist down a storm drain -- waist down a storm drain. >> the dnc resummons this way: we keep telling you about crimes linked to the election year. the latest is out of arkansas. a woman said someone set her donald trump signs on fire which then set fire. she extinguished the flames before police and firefighters arrived on the scene. fire officials say fortunately the fire didn't spread to the house an cause more serious damage. she said someone started messing with her trump pence signs a month ago. 30 were stolen. another crime involving a donald trump sign. a cape corral man is caught on camera intentionally driving over a donald trump sign. he posted the video to social

charges. officials say that woman told them the sign was worth about $275. florida senator marco rubio is joining the call to save a landmark cigar business in tampa. j.c. new man cigar company is the oldest family owned cigar maker. they are fighting to stay open. they say recent rules from the food and drug administration are hurting them and their employees. senator rubio will be at the company at 9:00. he is calling for give relief to cigar makers across the state. we are taking action for you. we are taking a look at a new way for you to get the best deal on the next flight. google flights is offering new features that predict fare changes and notify you about price changes for flights you are interested in. if you don't have a specific flight in mind, they will provide tips for specific

search as well with a deals tab showing discounted rates. just after 4:00 this morning, the three newest members of the international space station blasted off from kazakhstan. it will take two days for them to arrive at the iss. they will spend four months in space conducting hundreds of experiments before returning to earth in february. we will bring you the docking live good morning. wednesday, cool temperatures. mid- to upper-60s. 70s on the coast. warmer here. this is going to be basically a warm -- compared to what we have coming up for the upcoming weekend. titan doppler radar not showing much. dry, east flow. partly cloudy conditions the rest of the day. we have been following the tropical wave well to the east of us.

with wind sheer. may be a tropical or subtropical storm. we will call it otto. it will be away from the u.s. thankfully this front just in time will pull it to the north and become a big rainmaker there and then there is this. the front comes in friday night. notice not much rainfall. futurecast is associated with it. by saturday morning you will feel the difference. saturday afternoon is great. sunday morning ev the cold air gets established. this is quite something, right? compared to what we have been in the 80s so upper 50s for the morning lows. a couple more days of warm and above average temperatures. 87 today. we cool down for the weekend. lack of rainfall in the seven- day forecast. early next week we continue with the pleasant low humidity,

relief through pasco county, i- 75. this crash is just before you get to 54. it's cleared, out of the way. we are back in the green. seeing residual delays on i-75 southbound through pasco county i expect in the next few minutes. all of that will be gone. we have a new crash, hit and run reported with injuries. this is in pinellas county, st. pete. 49th street north at 43rd. i am seeing slowdowns westbound. leave yourself enough time to get around the crash. elsewhere in pinellas county all the major roads are up to speed. 275 at 54th avenue north, wide open in both directions. college graters leaving school with more dent than ever before. the average under grad has more than $30,000 in loans. that is up 4% from 2014 according to the institute of college access and success. that members students will pay about $300 a month for more than 10 years.

giving in to your kids request to get a dog, now may be the perfect time to do that. pinellas county animal shelter is waving adoption fees for large breed dogs. they have larger dogs looking for new homes. they are spayed and neutered. if you want more information, head to www.abcactionnews.com. still ahead, calls to close a dive site in florida again after the deaths of two more divers. the father of one of the men who died disagrees. why he said dangerous underwater caves should remain open. >> a case for road rage turns

the father of one of the men diving in a cave in wachee is speaking out. his son talked in detail about his plans before he dove the eagles nest. the cave has been closed in the past but it has been opened since 2003. there are calls to shut it down permanently. the father says it should stay open. it's not too dangerous for qualified divers. the two were experienced divers but after they went in the cave

he talked to his son days before his body was found. >> he called me friday. he dived that cave and felt good about it. they were going to redive it saturday. something happened. i don't believe at any time did they think that they were at risk until probably the very end. >> officials are working to determine the exact cause of death. since 1981, there will be eight deaths at the cave. the most recent is the drowning some feel it should be closed permanently. much more on "good morning america." take a look at this cell phone video. that is a rage road incident in south florida. the man you see running toward that window of a car, that is paul peter man. he jumps out of the vehicle. he races to the passenger window of another car. the driver who is recording this drives off afterwards. in a strange twist, police

investigators aren't saying how he died. the family says he was not a violent man. he was hearing impaired. the first time we are hearing from his mother. she wants answers. >> a senseless death that we don't understand. the loss of your son is heart wrenching. >> some people are criticizing the man involved in the road rage incident. joshua he is under fire for not staying to help him. privacy concerns over the use of facial recognition technology. what a new study says about a program highly touted by

now at 6:30, it's used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies around the state. could it be violating rights? a local sheriff is defending cutting edge crime technology. >> our only hope. what have we got? clinton? >> donald trump will get support at the debate from a woman who lost her son in benghazi. what she is expecting from hillary clinton tonight. >> good morning, i'm deiah riley. >> i'm dan schaffer. that woman is one of the

president obama's half brother will be making an appearance but not in support of democrats. >> first a look at traffic and weather together. ivan has a look at the wednesday morning forecast. it looks good. nice and cool. compared to what is coming, it will be mild. 71 tampa and 75 in st. pete. all of us warming into the 80s. back to the upper 80s. titan doppler radar will look about the same later this afternoon. not much going with just dry conditions, 87 th almost hit a record yesterday. we will not do that this weekend. the coolest air mass of the season is on its way. we will have more in a few minutes. good morning. we are checking cameras on the howard frankland because we have reports of a crash in the southbound lanes. that would affect cars heading over into st. pete. right here, traffic seems to be flowing nicely. i checked. you are at six minutes to cross the bridge in both directions. heading out the door to the veterans, check this out.

morning. 17 minutes from 54 to 275 and just six minutes from waters to 275. dan? >> thanks, janelle. the sheriff of pinellas county is set to address concerns over the use of the facial recognition programs. >> a new study is is pointing out -- is pointing out issues with privacy. rodney dunigan lips at the -- is live available to the public. >> reporter: you are right, via mugshots, driver's license pictures or photos that we place on facebook each and every day. the facial recognition system was launched in 2011, kwon of the longest -- 2001, one of the longest running systems in the country. it is used across the state including st. pete and tampa. according to the report just

georgetown law the pinellas county sheriff's office has broad guidelines outlining the use of the safety wear system that raises privacy concerns and could lead to misuse. the sheriff's office maintained the system is an effective crime fighting tool. >> to have a mechanism to search that against other images and get a robust result is huge, paramount to law enforcement. >> reporter: agencies across system is not being abused. the study found that the pinellas county system is used for 8,000 monthly searches without any audits and that could possibly lead to a number of privacy issues. back out live, we are expected to hear from the sheriff about 9:30 this morning on what he thinks about the concerns following the release of the study and if folks watching should be concerned. stick with us and you can get an update online at www.abcactionnews.com.

office, rodney dunigan, abc action news. breaking overnight. lieutenant is announce -- lufthansa is announcing smoke was detected in the cockpit. we are waiting to hear what caused the smoke. it was on its way to orlando from frankfort. the passengers spent the night in felony charges after deputies say he left his two small children in a hot car. kevin slain was arrested after deputies say he left his young children in the car for 27 minutes. walmart surveillance cameras showed what happened. a good samaritan snapped a picture of the girls then called 911 for help. he says the 5 and 6 year olds were crawling through the open sun roof to escape the heat.

fine. they are in the car. i don't think there was proper parenting going on with that. >> slane faces two counts of felony child neglect. tonight the third presidential debate. it starts at 9:00. >> tune in tomorrow morning. we will fact check hillary clinton and donald trump's comments. one of the guests expected in the audience is pat smith, the mother of one of those killed in she gave an emotional speech at the republican national convention. our sister station got an exclusive interview with her ahead of the debate. she is not sure how she will react when clinton takes the stage. >> i want her to talk to me. i want her to tell me what happened? why is my son dead? >> this appearance is another push from republicans trying to

some of her debate invitations to make a political point. mark cuban will be her guest again. and she invited another well known billionaire, meg wittman, the ceo of hewlett-packard. she is a long time republican who ran for governor of california but endorsed clinton earlier this year. the most important supporter may be president obama who mocked trump's claims of >> when things are going badly for you, you lose, you blame somebody else? you don't have what it takes to be in this job. so, i advise mr. trump to stop whining and try to make his case to get votes. >> clinton is off the campaign trail preparing for the debate. aides say she is preparing to address the release of more of her e-mails tonight. while clinton spent the

trump has continued campaigning. he held two rallies in colorado yesterday. he told supporters clinton is part of the problem in washington. i wants a constitutional amendment on term limb nights in congress. >> in if washington, d.c., it's time to drain the damn swamp. >> he wants to prevent congress member and the years after they leave office. he claims the sexual assault claims against him are lies. a new story from "people" magazine includes six witnesses that back up one of the magazine's writer's claims that trump assaulted her. one woman that saw natasha after the incident said she told her what happened, was shaken up and asking what to do. another witness said she was present during a conversation

writer. melania trump denies it happened. first the donald trump statues. now this. yep, a topless hillary clinton statue. as you can see, we sensored it for you. somebody put up the clinton statue outside a subway station in new york city yesterday. a lot of people protested and it was removed. hillsborough county commissioners are trying to improve traffic in our area. they are set to vote today on a plan that they want to pay for with revenue. some say -- some, rather, plan to protest the deal saying it does not include public transit. many opponents plan to voice anger this morning at the meeting. it starts at the county center in tampa. 66 million people will see a tiny pump in the social security checks next year, .3% increase. 3.92 a month.

overall inbound nation steady. many are worried because of health care costs and prescription prices and medicare premiums. the average retirees monthly benefit is one thousand three hundred fifty dollars. >> officials announced they found screw worms in six areas west of big pine key in the lower keys. anyone traveling north from the florida keys with animals at a checkpoint so agriculture officials can check for signs of the worms. they are maggots, flies that eat livestock alive. how about giving dozens of swans a check up in one day. vets will perform wellness exams on dozens of swans. lakeland parks and recreation gathered the swans.

much bread. a pregnant manatee named washburn is back in florida after swimming all the way to massachusetts. remember we told you about this when crews rescued her about a month ago taking her to an acquisition an -- to an a car yum -- aquarium. beachgoers in save a beach whale calf. it washed ashore tuesday. they immediately called fwc who rushed out to save the calf. they worked for hours but eventually decided to euthanize it. they are trying to figure out why it beached itself. fwc says whales usually beach themselves for a reason. if you see one, don't go near it. nice and cool this morning.

71 in tampa. 75 st. pete. the rest of us are in the 60s. brooksville 63. we will all warm up to the upper 80s. it will be warm the rest of the week. we have the cold front coming in friday night. it will move through quietly but leave us with the ol 64 then down to 60. that means widespread 50s for most of the area. we will talk about this cool down in a few minutes. still ahead, a woman says an airline charged a fee for helping her son with special needs. the reason it may be against

morning sprint brings you the news and weather and traffic before you head out the door. >> we start out with a search for an armed and dangerous felon in pasco county. deputies need your help finding michael putnam. he was last seen in the area of state road 52 and altoona avenue in hudson around 1:30 yesterday afternoon. investigators want to charge him with attempted homicide and a felon with a gun.

you could be egg gibel for a $3,000 reward. a new study raising concerns about the facial recognition system. according to the center on privacy and technology at georgetown law it could lead to abuses of personal privacy. the pinellas system is used for 8,000 searches without audit. the sheriff is going to address some of the concerns before a firefighter is injured putting out a mobile home fire that the owner set himself. deputies got a call about an unstable person on gunn highway. they got the call about the fire next. they arrested the man. he was the only one home at the time. we are waiting to find out his name this morning. charges are pending against him that the. a former teacher is getting out of prison today.

students. she taught at davidson middle school and will be required to register as a sex offender. tampa international airport is letting travelers enjoy more local favorites. they will celebrate the grand opening of news link in airside c with southwest planes depart. it features ten tampa bay exclusive brands. today visit tampa ba the marriott in downtown tampa. visit tampa bay says hillsborough county is on track to have a record breaking year for tourism. a mother wants answers from hawaiian airlines about the policies after her disabled son was charged a fee for an airport escort. she was charged $100 to have an employee meet her adult autistic son at the gate and then at baggage claim.

compliance with the federal law. my son should have the same right as anybody else. >> the law states that carriers must provide assistance to those with disabilities including getting on and off the plane. we have all heard of therapy dogs. have you ever heard of a therapy duck. >> no. now you have. a thing apparently. to the delight of some people that traveled wi recently. daniel the duck recently took a trip with the owner carla on a flight from milwaukee to north carolina. other passengers tweed daniel was a big hit. the owner suffers from ptsd and the doctor prescribed daniel as a therapy animal. >> i love you the most.

voice thanks to a cochlear inplant. it was tested on tuesday. >> is there anything that would have stopped you from coming to do this for her? >> no. >> the woman said is there anything that would have stopped her from coming? hurricane matthew almost did. they were delayed a week testing out the greasy and her grand -- gracie and her grandmother are living in a shelter because of the flooding. she has the implant in her right ear. >> she will undergo another surgery next summer for the implant in the left ear. an update on the roads. >> we are seeing backups on i- 275. this is a live look at fowler.

these cars are heading to downtown tampa. let's check the drive times. we are in the red. 25 minutes from the apex to i- 4. eight minutes from bush down to i-4. the good news, in downtown, it will take you five minutes to get to the howard frankland bridge. let's check in with action air 1. captain al, good morning. >> reporter: happy wednesday. looking at an accident that should be on the howard frankland but it moved to the south. southbound 275 frankland heading to st. pete, there it is in the emergency lane. not blocking any traffic. maybe a visual delay. howard frankland is getting busy. add time to your schedule to get to work. now back to the desk. all right. another warm day coming up. a nice cool start. mid- to upper-60s. low 60s across the nature coast. 71 tampa and 75 in st. pete right now. titan doppler radar not showing

moisture but essentially become a partly cloudy day. that will be it. no rain as i see it the next few days. this low pressure is trying to get going. displaced thunderstorms east of it. this will try to get organized and head to the north. the front will come in, here it is. it will pick up the low it will do so quietly, not much in the way of showers and thunderstorms. a couple of sprinkles will be it. a cool saturday morning and afternoon. by sunday morning getting established with widespread temperatures in the 50s. compared to where we have been and where we are, upper 80s. quite a draw 3459 particular change for the weekend. 87 today. upper 80s will continue for most of us.

saturday and sunday. highs in the 70s. staying dry early next week. the tampa bay lightning thrilled their friends last night bringing back a former captain and scoring with seconds left in regulation. sold out crowd welcomed vinny lecavalier to tampa. he retired in june. he dropped the ceremonial first puck with two of looked bad for the home team but with seconds left the lightning tied it. >> stamkos, he has the top of the crease. eight seconds to go. they score. what a goal. stamkos. >> stamkos tied it. the game went into a shoot out where brayden point showed off his skills. lightning win it over florida 4- 3. new details about the bogus

levine abused his wife and young daughter. >> today's gma first look. >> reporter: in in gma first look, police in los angeles say last week anonymous caller phoned in claiming that the maroon 5 front man adam levine was abusing his wife and four week old daughter dusty rose. >> when an allegation is made where a child is being abused and in particular a very young child, they want to jump on it. >> abc news learning the lapd juvenile decision investigated the complaint and found no evidence of abuse and closed the case. many this morning, while police say no charges have been filed, experts say the grammy winner was victimized. the call to police is reminiscent of swatting. dan abrams weighs in live at 7:00 a.m.

good morning. checking the drive, live look at i-4 around mlk. not bad out there. you are looking at about 30 minutes from lakeland to tampa. >> cool start out there. most of us in the 60s.

highs in the upper 80s. >> in democracy 2016, hillary clinton and donald trump square off in the third and final presidential debate. abc action news airing the debate at 9:00. >> charlie brown and the peanuts gang are celebrating the 50th anniversary. in its honor, farms across the country including one in california are peanuts characters in mazes. speaking of the great pumpkin, you can watch it tonight at 8:00 right before the debate on your abc action news station. >> great tradition. always has been in our family. >> the weather will feel cool. >> head to the corn maze this weekend. >> "good morning america" is up next. >> keep up to date with us on air, mobile app and facebook

good mor good morning, america. the final showdown. donald trump and hillary clinton facing off for the last time tonight. >> she's been doing this f years. now she has to do debate prep for five days. >> the gop nominee planning another debate surprise. his special guest, president obama's half brother as the president takes on trump and his claims of a rigged election. >> he starts whining before the game is over, then you don't have to take. >> and the first lady in versace as the obamas host their final state dinner. also this morning, fire and fog.