good morning.. and welcome to good day tampa bay... at 4:00. i'm walter allen. and i'm vanessa ruffes... in for jen. and we begin, with breaking news in east tampa... where a huge fire has broken out. fox 13's shayla reaves is center", in the palm river

another night of scary storms in the south. the system has already produced ?several tornadoes. at least ?three of them were confirmed by radar wednesday afternoon... just outside of atlanta. as you can see, the storm downed trees and power lines in the cobb county area. the national weather

damage... later today. thankfully no serious injuries have been reported. and now lets go to dave for more on this wild weather... and our local forecast. some fog early, with variable clouds and a quick shower possible today. high temps in the upper turning much drier. lows near 60. mostly sunny skies return for friday, with drier air and

and that storm system that hit georgia... helped put out most of the raging wildfires in tennessee. but the danger is far from over. officials say all mudslides and rockslides. the death toll from the fires in the gatlinburg area has also been raised. it's now up to seven people. and officials now believe more than seven ?hundred structures were damaged or destroyed. and most residents of gatlinburg are ?still under a mandatory evacuation. but the mayor ?may re-open the area tomorrow so business owners can finally survey the damage. the white house says president obama has now spoken to tennessee governor -- bill haslam. the president

the recovery. fema resources are already on the way. eight ?years after he was sentenced for manslaughter... a tampa man could finally be set ?free today. a judge on wednesday granted bond... for "trevor dooley." the bond is 100,000 dollars. the judge granted it wednesday after dooley and his attorney's argued that he should be let out while he waits for his ?new trial. he's appealing his manslaughter conviction for the second time. dooley shot and killed david james back in 2010a&at time claiming he was defending himself. he was ultimately sentenced to 8 years. james's family - reacting with dissapointment - to the judges bond ruling.

condition of his bond. he also can't have contact with the victim's family... and he can't leave his home unless its for medical or health reasons. again, still no word on ?when he will be released. but we have a crew at the jail... and we'll have live updates, throughout the morning. and now, to a life-and-death... in polk county. the winter haven police officer at the center of it... says he was just doing his job. but a woman threatening to jump off the ledge of a 13-story building....says she now owes him her life. fox 13's evan a 45 year old woman, on a ledge, 13 stories up, 10-14 monday morning."the first thing i did was say a prayer." inspector steve rusich drove the mile and a half from the police station to the apartment building along winter haven's lake howard."i told myself that life was the most important thing to me at the time."rusich - a trained crisis negotiator - would be the p-d's lead on this."i was able to open a window, and try to catch her attention. she had headphones on with music playing.""if i scared her in any way the ledge wasn't very wide."when she saw him"she held one foot over the ledge, i just had to show her i meant no harm."she said her dad died a few months ago, and that her mother passed just a day before."she told me that no one cared her life wasn't worth living anymore."they

the top of the second-tallest building in winter haven. there was one thing he reminded her of, again and again.""i had to reassure her, i cared. i was here now, and i am the one who cares.""my heart was beating out of my chest."it was his fifth crisis negotiation in a fourteen year career."i just kept calling her name out. eventually she turned to me and looked at me and said i really don't want to die. i just held my hand out, and she grabbed it."it was his fifth successful crisis negotiation."she basically just grabbed me, hugged me and cried."they will stay in touch."i hope she finds the help she needs. she is grieving with very little family to help her grieve."now she will always have a friend. the kicker... he almost didn't come to work that day!"i had just had a very long drive home from family in louisiana the night before i had contemplated calling and asking for the day off. i decided against it."a life

we now know what caused a deadly house fire in odessa earlier this week. someone left candles burning. the fire broke out monday at a mobile home in the silver dollar golf and trap club. a disabled man living there was trapped... and never made it out. his wife ran across the street to try to get help... but there wasn't much anyone could do. "james mongan" died at the scene. fire investigators say the couple fell asleep while candles were burning. there were smoke alarms, but apparently they didn't go off. the wife suffered smoke

later this morning... the ?recount begins... in the state of wisconsin. the state-wide effort was requested by green party candidate "jill stein." she claims there could have been voter fraud. hillary clinton's team is ?supporting the recall effort as well. wisconsin clerks have until december 12th to finish this recall... counting more than two ?million ballots. trump originally won the state... by about 22 ?thousand votes. stein is also asking for recounts in michigan and pennsylvania. and the is heading to indiana today... along with it's governor... vice president-elect "mike pence." the two will appear at the headquarters for "carrier air conditioning" to announce a deal to keep roughly one ?thousand jobs in the state. the company was originally planning to move those jobs to mexico. the deal is part of trump's campaign initiative to ease corporate regulations...and keep companies from leaving the u-s. the state of indiana will give carrier ?incentives, as part of this deal. and... can't wait for all

presale tickets for the next "florida state fair." next year's theme will be "picture yourself at the fair." one of the ?new attractions is called "sweets: a tasty journey." this is video of the attraction at another fair. it has interactive games and huge candy play areas... as it teaches you the ?history of candy. as for the state fair... tickets are 9 dollars for adults, five dollars for kids age six to 11. the fair runs february 9th thru 20th. later this hour: saying goodbye.. to a bay area museum. the history center that will soon ?be history... in a matter of ?months. but first... you can bet ?this holiday toy will be ?flying off the shelves. why "star wars" fans just got ?another reason... to get

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remember when remote-controlled ?cars were the coolest holiday toy? well today... things have really gone to a gala called "propel" just unveiled some star wars ?battle drones on wednesday. they are in the shape of star wars spaceships... buy fly just like drones. and kids can even do ?laser battles with them. the controller keeps track of laser hits... and even plays star wars ?music. the drones go on sale tomorrow... for about 240 dollars a piece. but sorry... no milennium falcon

could the florida gators be making a big ?change on their football team? up next: the head coach addresses the big rumor. plus: a classy move.. for bucs quarterback jameis winston. he just gave away the ?game ball... from sundays big win. why the ?fans should be very happy about it. and were continuing to follow this breaking news out of east tampa... where a rec center under rennovations, has

a live look at the scene. fox 13's shayla reaves will bring us another update from the scene, in a few minutes. ? ? you guys ever try one of these bars made over at right twix? why? our special cookie is cascaded with caramel and cloaked in chocolate. you never wondered? [ glass breaks ] aah! [ male announcer ] try both.

time to talk some sports this morning. and we begin... with a big coaching rumor in college football. could the florida gators be ?losing their leader? the rumors have been swirling the past few days. a recent report in usa today said gators head coach "jim mcelwain" may be interested in leaving florida... for the recently opened oregon head coaching job. mcelwain is familar with the northwest. he's from montana and coached early on in his career at eastern washington. and mcelwain addressed the rumors wednesday with the media. but he didnt ?exactly put the rumors to rest:

and did you hear about this? after the kansas city win on sunday, bucs quarterback jameis winston was given the game ball. but he then tried to give it right ?back to coach koetter. but he wouldn't take it. well jameis found someone he could give it to wednesday.. you. that's right, all at the game sunday get the gameball... jameis says that was the loudest he's heard the stadium and hopes it continues for the rest of the season. and... get ready for some big changes in major league baseball next season. the owners and players union just reached a tentative contract for the next five years. details of the contract have not been ?officially disclosed... but insiders are

the biggest change could be the all-star game. the ?winner is no longer expected to ?host the world series. instead, it would go to the pennant winner with the best overall record. when we come back, i'll have another check on your thursday plus... these could be the ?cutest co-eds you'll ever see. why these furry friends were the big ?canines

making headlines across america: another police officer ?shot in the line of duty. and the manhunt is underway this morning in washington state... for the man who pulled the trigger. it happened yesterday responding to a domestic violence call. police say officers called for backup... just before shots were fired. officers rushed into the home and brought the wounded officer outside. that officer has yet to be identified. he underwent surgery at a hospital... but died. right now... police aren't sure if the gunman is still inside the home... a large perimeter has been set up around the home. a developing story in charlotte, north carolina... where heated protests have erupted last night. it

would ?not charge a police officer for the killing of a black man. officer brentley vinson, who is also black... shot and killed "keith scott" back on september 20th. police say scott had a gun, and refused to drop it. the protests have been mostly calm, but police did make at least four arrests. a jury in charleston, south carolina will be deliberating today... in the murder trial of michael slager. he's the former police officer who was caught on cellphone video black man five times in the ?back... after a traffic stop. that man... "walter scott" ...died from his wounds. slager was ?fired from the force after the video surfaced. the jury could now convict him of murder... ?or manslaughter. and switching gears... some much need ?stress relief, for college students out west... just as they're getting ready for fall semester finals. "sacramento state" continued a tradition of bringing ?therapy pets on campus, at the end of

students relax for a few minutes as they cram for those exams. the dogs will be available the next few days. still ahead in our next half hour: we continue to follow a news alert out of tampa. a fire at broken out at a rec center... in the palm river areof

manolo! you're so cold, come in! what's wrong? it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp and... ...keeps you up to 100% flake free ((walter)) head and shoulders' dry scalp care good morning.. and welcome to good day tampa bay at 4-30. we'll get to your weather and traffic in a minute. but first, we're following some breaking news in tampa... where a huge fire has broken out at a rec center. fox 13's shayla reaves is out there with the