and we're in pinellas county and lakeland this morning. we begin with ryan in riverview. good morning. . >> good morning p.m. this is precinct 947 here in riverview considered one of the busiest in this part of hillsborough county. it's been said that hillsborough is one of the most important counties in the country, you may ask why, well, it's picked the president in almost every election since 1960. now, let's go back 2 elections to see how things turned out in 2012 hillsborough county went blue. president obama won by more than 36,000 votes. mccain. that margin of victory was much smaller as you see on the right of your screen. now, because it has been so close this years past, every single vote counts this year. listen. >> the entire election in 2000 was settled by 547 votes here in florida deciding who was president of the united states for the next 8 years. >> at the community center here the vote in hillsborough is generally so close because balance of registered democrats, republicans and independents here in this county again polls open this morning at 7 a.m., the

guess what, pinellas county? i have more heavy rain coming straight at you and this is a problem with periods of rain over and over for the next couple of days. it's not going to be just today. it will be tomorrow as well. hae has moved into southern portions of pinellas county. indian shores, st. petersburg, watch as we lapse it meaning we put it into motion. that is heading due north bu the same spots where we're experiencing some flooding this mor morning. north and east, veterans right now, has to be slowing down with all the heavy rain which is now moving up through, say, the dale mabry area into the airport. heavy rain that has reached plant city, southward. how about southeastern hillsborough county? pinecrest, some very heavy rain this morning and that extends southward into dewitt. bradenton and sarasota, you picked up rain this morning. this trend will continue, this south to north trend will continue. tropical depression nine, winds of 35 miles an hour moving north at two and the pressure is beginning

pinellas county schools will continue to work with the pinellas county and in place to deal with mosquito control (dumping standing water, etc.). teachers will share information with students provided to them within the governor's teacher's toolkit. at this point in time recess will not be affected. concerned parents should spray their students skin and clothing with insect repellant before coming to school. fox 13's shayla reaves will be in pinellas county this morning covering this for us. she'll have a live update, in our next half hour. the florida highway patrol is investigating a deadly crash this morning in clearwater. a man ?tried to cross the street... but he never made it. it happened around nine-thirty last night at the intersection of roosevelt boulevard and morgan street. a 57 year old man was trying to cross roosevelt when he went right into the path of an oncoming car. the car hit him, and he died at the scene. the man's name has not been released. troopers say he was ?not on a crosswalk, and no charges have been filed. but neighbors stretch of road is known for deadly cras

pinellas and pa pasco county are dealing lot of rain coming in. we want to start team coverage in pinellas with of course's kelly cowan. last time we talked it was raining pretty hard. >> yeah, the rain let up just a little bit because of all of that hard rain we were having here in la go i will step aside so you can look roadway behind there's even more rain water on the street right now. and, cars are dealing with this rain water. with varying degrees of let's just say responsibility. some are flying right through here. shooting rain water up. and others are taking it easy. we highly recommend that everybody just slow it down out here. we can hear another car creeping through here. we will keep the shot here so you can see how these cars are dealing with it. everybody should just been warned there is a localized flooding going on on roads through pinellas county right now. everybody should just take it easy on roadways. and the situations are changing very quickly on the roadways. so slow down and if you see standing water, emergency officials ar

they encourage it and spend to impress clients to bring more people to pinellas county. and hillsborough county it's a different game. they are a private agency and secretive about how they spend the bed tax dollars as you will see tomorrow night.>> pinellas is going $1.3 million, wait find a cloud in the sky and 87 degrees helping to lift the temperature to 87 for a high of tamper international and other spots warmer or cooler depending on the location. 81 degrees at lakewood ranch and temperature should follow 80s and upper 70s for halloween evening. freedom plaza a beautiful shot and 81 degrees with mostly sunny conditions. ed cooley bay -- at hula bay degrees. nice to be on the water at that location. at venice 82 degrees with mostly clear skies and a few high clouds. 41% relative humidity and drying out here. 2.26 inches is the average for the entire month of october. we fell shy of that and only an inch and a half of rain and 30% below normal. we don't expect a lot during october. trick-or-treaters not bad and 82 degrees. very calm under clear conditions. high tempe

south in pinellas county, please avoid. we also have reports of flooding northbound at 175 which we'll get to in a second. i want to show you this. overturned semi crash is now officially causing delays northbound. there is some block janl. we're trying to sort it out, how many lanes are blocked but according to st. pete police, there's at least one lane blocked so give yourself extra time or take 75 instead. we'll get to the standing water reports on the interstate itself. flooding in 275 near 175 so this is passing by tropicana field. two left lanes are going to be blocked. the inside and the left center lanes so make sure you're skirting to the right. you can see delays in that area. some travel times right now, still holding off yellow and red travel times but i'm sure it won't be long until we see those pick up. make sure you're leaving early and as always, in between reports, check out traffic conditions on my facebook page and on twitter at fox 13 traffic. >>laura: all right. democrat congressman patrick murphy won e

obviously this after a pinellas county man contracted the zika virus. county leaders over here in hillsborough, they are under pressure to do what they can to stop the spread of the virus. the virus is now in our own backyard. and now pinellas county leaders stepping up their efforts to spray and kill any mosquitoes that could potentially carry zika virus. yesterdave related cases, one in pinellas county. the person was recently tested and officials aren't saying where in pinellas county the person with this zika virus livers or how they got the virus. the governor told us, they are still working to find that out. >> just because we have one case here doesn't mean we have local transmission. the next step is, the department of health working with the mosquito corral aggressive mosquito control and aggressive testing. >> so far, the state has pumped 26 more additional dollars to help fight mosquitoes that could potentially carry the zika virus. and a lot of that money has gone towards spraying. >> gayle. >> i know the governor will be here answering our q

this is 275 in pinellas county at gandy, up to speed here, no major issues throughout pinellas county. all the major roadways are open and running smoothly this morning. the howard frankland bridge also looking great. look how wide open the lanes are. i just checked and six minutes to get across the howard frankland, from pinellas county into hillsborough county. just watch for some lingering veterans expressway, we have hillsborough and ehrlich closed right underneath the veterans so detour signs are posted. >>> 5:19. with hundreds of thousands of kids heading back to school today teachers and school nurses are doing everything they can to protect our kids from the zika virus. right now hillsborough county schools are doing their best to get rid of standing water. a new directive from the florida governor rick scott has school nurses being trained by the health department to recognize zika symptoms like fever or rash. many school districts including hillsborough county are already preparing to send materials home explaining the dangers of zika to families. >>> today senator bill nels

so far, though, that case, not the case for pinellas county. officials still recommending taking precautions if you're in pinellas county. >>laura: and shayla reaves is there. clearly a concern for sending kids to school. >>reporter: this is certainly something parents are paying attention to and we've already seen the word is spreading on social media. in fact, we're here at lake st. harbor where the pta active on social media did share a message yesterday from the principal on just some of the steps that are being taken here in pinellas county to address this concern. so students are going to be returning to the classroom in a few hours and the district, the pinellas county school district did release a statement about this non travel related zika case tuesday. a spokesperson said in that statement in part, pinellas county schools will continue to departments. there already is a policy in place for the district to deal with mosquito control. teachers will share information from the governor's teachers cool kit with the students and at this po

i'll bet in parts of pinellas county we've already seen that much rainfall. so rain i think is primary issue. winds from pasco county north takes that exact path it supposed to take the computer models are all agreeing on this morning. so the way it sets up like this breezy with periods of rain today. obviously, more along the coast, a little bit less inland. temperatures in the mid 80s tonight. 78. tomorrow's when it starts to get windy. pick up that wind as storm approaches, the big bend area of our state tomorrow night will probably windiest period that we have and rainiest as well. but by friday it's out of here. weekend, we'll start to slowly slide back and getting more in the way of just the regular afternoon thunderstorm chances. sunday, 50 percent rain chance. and monday, 40 percent. vanessa, how are things on the roads? well it is looking a little bit better dave over the skyway bridge, we will give you live look. we were concerned of course with northbound direction where we had earlier overturned vehicle crash. it's been hard to get a good view of t

the courtney campbell causeway, 10 minutes, that's from pinellas county over to memorial highway. and eastbound on the gandy bridge and westbound, just seven miles per hours from pinellas to manhattan. that's a look at weather and traffic. back to gene and gayle. >> all right. thank you so much. >>> we have more breaking news right now. a gas pump in hillsborough county burst into flames. this happened while you were sleeping at the station near the intersection of bearss and nebraska. it happened when the driver of a car slammed into the pump, causing the fire. no one was hurt. and investigators believe the driver was under the influence. he is now under arrest and we are working to find out who the driver is and what charges he will face. >>> and also breaking this tuesday morning, a port richey neighborhood is waking up to a a water main broke in the brown acres neighborhood overnight. crews repaired the line but homeowners are being told to boil the water before using it. it will be tested today to figure out if it's safe to use. >>> and this is the second full day of president

the latest case in pinellas county. the governor emphasized that doesn't mean mosquitoes carrying the zika virus have been discovered in pinellas. the governor told reporters today efforts are now being made to find out how the infected person in pinellas county contracted the virus. >> we need to start doing strategic testing with the family, with individual work. all those things. >> reporter: the only known direct transmission zone the zika virus are in the miami area. the first area, a one square mile area in the wynwood area. the second in miami beach. >> the good news here, as a result of education and aggressive mosquito attacking, it is now less than one-half a square mile. >> reporter: yeah, the governor told us today he is now directed more than $26 million zika. most of that to inpsychiatries spraying activities. primarily in south florida where the hot zones are located. >> what about pinellas county? what are they doing there right now? >> reporter: they are stepping up efforts to monitor for any mosquitoes

infected in pinellas county. and as mary mcguire shows us, state officials are working to find out where the person contracted the illness. >> reporter: officials are not telling us where that person living in pinellas county, only that a person here in pinellas county does have the zika virus and they didn't contract it by traveling to any known hot zones including miami. it is the news we never hope to hear. the zika virus in our own backyards. governor rick scott revealed the latest case of nontravel related zika in pinellas county. >> we only have two areas we believe have local transmission. >> reporter: the question remains where did that person contract the virus? at this point, we don't know that it happened in pinellas county. efforts now shifting to find out the answer to that question. >> we need to start doing strategic testing with the family, where the individual worked. all those things. >> reporter: the governor insists there are only two known direct transmission zones the first area, is a one sq

. >> we saw cars and trucks in pinellas county. many had to create their own detours, just to make it home safely. it is the same story all across much of the tampa bay area, even at this hour. we have team coverage for you tonight area. we'll start with steve. give us the latest storm track. we know we get it this time every night. >> it's a little stronger. they've been investigating the system with aircraft, and 60- mile an hour winds, that's a bit of the increase from 50 earlier, but it's in an area before the wind sheer will kickback in, and move this system eventually off very -- upper area will carry it off. just sending out the waves of rain, dragging moisture across the state. 7, 8 inches of rain is fairly common in pinellas county. now forecasting it to be a hurricane thursday at 8:00 p.m. and the track might be shifted to the east, we are still out of cone of air, but tropical storm warning in place nor citrus, fast co, hernando, -- pasco, and hernando. the initial measurement is 60- mile an hour winds, and the forecast

another round table discussion and like you said with yesterday's news that a person in pinellas county contracted the virus, hillsborough county leaders, they are doing what again. that virus happening or confirmed near our own backyard. and pinellas county leaders now stepping up their efforts to spray and kill any mosquitoes that could carry zika virus. yesterday governor scott announced five new non-travel related cases. four in miami-dade. and one in pinellas county. and we only know this person was recently tested. state officials aren't saying where in pinellas county the person who has this case lis or how they lawmakers are saying that federal funning is needed for research in mosquito control. >> we'll got to provide the tools our communities need, the tools our researchers need to develop the vaccines, the tests. >> reporter: so far the state has pumped $26 million additional dollars into fighting the mosquitoes and allocated for spraying. gayle-- >> all right, i know the efforts are strong. thank you so much. >>> governor rick scott was in our studio this morning to talk mor

>>> bond raised, a new charge coming after a pinellas county teacher dies from a horrific crash. this morning we find out what is in store for the man police say was drinking and driving when he slammed into her car. >> meanwhile, a together to say goodbye to a man who protected the bay area through his service with the fire department for decades. >>> good morning to you. if you're headed out this morning to walk the dog or to go for a jog or bike ride things are looking very similar to where they have been over the last couple of mornings. in fact temperatures are starting off in the upper 70s to about 80 degrees. this is where we're going to be 92 in tampa. 93 brandon. a little lower in the places where we see the showers and storms developing. even by the coast today we're going to see temperatures in the low 90s across much of the area. so mid to upper 80s where, again we see a shower and storm hormone help to cool things off. we start with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s. dry, lots of sunshine. by noon maybe a shower or thunderstorm inland but the majority of the rain

also around pinellas county and palm harbor, across clearwater beach, all getting pretty wet. so we've got more what we have seen lately. and you can see more in our northern county. citrus and hernando and pasco county hit and miss. and heavy downpours again moving in generally from the south and then shifting back to the northwest. so this circulation is all coming from that deeper tropical moisture. we're going to continue to see the rain chances off and on not just through sunset, but now we're going to start seeing more and more of that moisture just building into our area. so the rainier weather has gun. l t more intense over the next couple of days. check out the possible rainfall totals. as question look at now through 11:00 wednesday morning, it doesn't seem all that bad. we're looking at one to two- inch totals point. but then after we get into wednesday afternoon through thursday morning, that's where westart to see the two three-inch and then by fridayning, we're seeing totals. this is looking at four to five-inch rain -- or four to six-inch range i would say closer

>>> well, out here in pinellas county, we have two issues going on. not slowing you down but be aware of it. first of all, 119th street at ulmerton road, accident with injuries. good drive near the beaches. northbound 275 past the 375, remnants of a collision on the side of the roadway. not blocking lanes. let's take a live look. look at this, sunshine skyway across the area. about six minutes howard frankland bridge. so does the courtney campbell causeway and the gandy bridge. when it hit, it really was quite dramatic. road signs bent over because of the force of the water. you know, gushing down the street everywhere oving down the street. we always think we're the keeper of the house... ...so it makes a lot of sense you would have flood insurance. knowing that you have that and if you need it, it's going to be there, and you've done everything you can that this house might be here in a hundred years for another family to enjoy it. >>> it's back to school for students and polk county. what officials are doing this morning to make sure the students g

includes all the way up to citrus county and hillsboro and pinellas county. the hurricane warning would be further north. this is a tornado watch in place. you can see the red area indicating hillsboro county, pinellas county, and polk county northward. but look offshore there. that's a nasty line of thunderstorms. within these areas, that justifies the tornado watch. we can see the wind sheer rotation that may include the you may have seen us on the air earlier. it's bands off the center where you'll find a lot of sheer and potentially tornadoes. that will come ashore here in pinellas county within 15 minutes to a half hour. this is where we're looking for high winds but also the possibility of a tornado. it's always remarkable to see a tropical storm in the gulf of mexico, just west of the bay area. you can see that center of location really coming and now clearly a formed eye as a category 1 hurricane taking aim. we're on the eastern side. we have to watch our high tides coming up at 3:00 in the morning up and down the west coast of florida. about that earl

in pinellas county count pinellas county. >> the supervisor of elections saying only one glitch. more on what happened out there. >> reporter: earlier today there was an issue with checking in 75 voters. so in some cases it said they voted or other cases they were at the wrong precinct but within 20 minutes they got that fixed and those people voted provisional ballot. when you look at the numbers for early voting and mail in ballots, results of 340 precincts, clinton beat trump in hillsborough. they said no to amendment one but yes to amendment two. presented to the canvassing board by thursday. the supervisor of elections says that every election year they review everything, even randomly selecting not only a race but precincts to review so they make sure the numbers add up. the other big race in florida, marco rubio will keep his seat. he beat challenger patrick murphy. take a now, marco rubio beating patrick murphy by 3,000 votes all precincts now reporting. >> there's still no nation on earth i would rather be. despite our challenges, there is no country or people on this pl

. >>> florida's primaries five way to you. to pinellas county election office in largo where pole with ballots. >> 17 pounds 5 feet feet tall all being shipped off today across pinellas county so that they are there to voters in time for our primary on march 15. with the help of a forklift, they, they lifted all of those pallets into a mail truck that will be delivered to homes in the next few weeks. 62,010: more than half of all ballots cast in pinellas county have been mailed ballots. people don't even knee an excuse to vote by mail. >> this is neat for florida because once again we get to play a big role in selecting your nominees for president as county. and ready to go. >> only registered republicans ballots. but it is is not too late to change her political 40 party you have until tuesday, 4/16 and that means you too can be a part of the primary. over here they are getting all of the other ballots ready, it takes a lot of work to get everything ready. >>> just a day after it was discovered stolen, this $20,000 this morning an employee of the arts center in st. petersburg business

pinellas county investigators still looking for other suspects. at least four cars were broken into, in seminole yesterday morning. a woman nearby seeing one of the crimes in progress, noticed two teens going from car-to-car and quickly called 911. within an hour a 14-year-old and 15-year-old were under committed five felony crimes in the past year -- 15. and is on a special list. they monitor them for high risk juvenile offenders. >>> getting a first look at plans for a new memorial honoring the victims of the pulse nightclub shooting. the city of orlando releasing images of the building with messages like "orlando united" and "love more hate less." that colorful fence will replace the chain link one that surrounds the club now. on friday workers will start gathering the rest of the more than 3,a 00 tributes everything to the city's history center. 3,500. they will start installing the new fence monday featuring work from orlando-area artists. >>> worshippers can now go back to a fort pierce mosque for the first time since hit by an arsonist. off

fully be seen as you have to have all the same access. >> is not just sarasota, hillsboro and pinellas county could be next. in fact hillsboro already has its at attorney drafting a new policy for board members to vote on soon. pascoe county says they've not yet discussed it. there's a board meeting at 9:30 am in in sarasota and told him would come out and closer to 11 >>> un secretary general says some of the victims were children. the attacks some days after several world powers agreed to start pete cease-fire in syria earlier this week. despite the agreement russia says there will be continued strikes. monday after the pilot reported the smell of smoke. the plane took off from dc's reagan airport head for seattle. that turned into a short 60 minute flight when the plane was diverted to dulles airport for an emergency landing. the pilots s fire crews to meet them on the runway. one passenger told cbs she noticed a burning smell just after takeoff. both pilots were checked out by doctors. the airline is still looking for the source of the smoke. >>> passengers who were removed from a small p

not a lot of storms across hillsborough and pinellas county. but around citrus and hernando county, that's where all of the action has been. thunderstorms up and down the coastline. this has been a northeast to southwest flow. so this is all heading off into the gulf around pine island. hernando beach, it may brush you to the north. but you're likely to see the lightning and hear the thunder from there. you can see in a wider picture that we do have a few showers and storms working through polk county. this has all been coming from the east coast of florida and working its way across to our coast. we will see more across hillsborough and pinellas county in the next couple of hours. no big surprises tonight. we will be dry overnight. but some of the storms could linger as late as midnight. take a look at the heat today. this is what it feels like outside right now. 107 in tampa. 101 in zephyrhills. with the exception of our northern counties around citrus and hernando where the heavy rain has been moving through. that helped to cool them down so

donald trump didn't step foot in pinellas county. >> pinellas county is a classic bellwhether county in the state of florida. this reflects the actual vote totals that we're seeing all across the state. with this, yes, they split the vote in pinellas county. charlie crist trump wins as well, but not by very much. yes, it's very, very close. they're separated by what is that, 1.2%. what's the overall margin, 1.4%. it is said that pinellas county reflects the mixture of north florida and south florida, and it's a good indicator of which way the entire state is going to go. boy, that seems to be holding true here tonight. >> certainly does. okay. i know you're watching it for us and we'll talk to you soon. thank you, craig. now. >> let's take a look. you've probably seen a lot of commercials for the new state senate district 18 in hillsborough county.& it's been a dead heat in the polls. dana young has served in the florida house before. she defeats attorney gaining 48 to 41%. joe red rednour is the businessn in. dana young winning district 18. in district 19, part and then part of hill

that's backing you up to about pinellas county. allow extra time heading over to manatee. >> definitely do that. thank you, leslee. >>> this friday morning. >> have great weekend. >> go cubs. you love all-day breakfast. but you don't love that you can't get all your favorites. like hearing the sound of your own voice. (softly) like hearing the sound of your own voice. get more choices you love, now with all day breakfast. >>> good morning. dinner served cold. donald trump and hillary clinton trade jabs at a charity event. >> i took a break from my rigorous nap schedule to be here. >> this is the first time ever -- ever -- that hillary is sitting down and speaking to major corporate leaders and not getting paid for it. >> but some jokes fall flat, even drawing boos. >> hillary is so corrupt, she got kicked off the watergate

pinellas county, in my opinion, is the no. 1 swing county and the no. 1 swing state in the country. we carried pinellas for donald trump. that's the second time since 1988 that a republican candidate for president carried pinellas county. >> hispanic voters shattered turnout records during early of 2012. that's important because hispanics are typically the least likely to do early voting. according to the university of florida, around 560,000 hispanics voted as of saturday. expearts say that's a 100% increase over 2012, and a fourth of those who voted are first-time voters. another curve ball in the data could be the cuban vote, which typically leans republican. >>> in other news this morning, a gunman is dead in california after a rifle attack in a los angeles suburb. killed and two women were critically hurt not far from two polling places that were closed because of the shooting. now, we 're told the violence was not election related. the two polling sites were shut down over several hours yesterday while officers surrounded a home where that gunman's body was later found. one --

in pinellas county i'm on top of a crash on i-275. you'll see it on the northbound exit ramp to gandy bridge. this is not blocking any lanes either. injuries are reported. again, watch out for police on scene there. pinellas county you are looking great with all of your majors. no significant delays. we are in green everywhere. veterans expressway, i-275, i- 75. look at i-275 now. we are definitely seeing heavier traffic. this is a live look at fowler avenue. all of the head lights coming south. north is much quieter. your drive time is 15 minutes from the apex to i-4. no delays yet. looking live of i-4 west of kathleen road in polk county. you can see it is quiet. traffic is picking up a little bit. so far if you are traveling from lakeland into a tampa for work, from polk parkway to i-75 along i-4 it is taking you 15 minutes. looking at our majors in sarasota and manatee county. you can see a delay on u.s. 301. it is 32 miles per hour heading south past state road 70. i-75 is looking great. no delays there just yet. bobby? >> thank

one, in pinellas county. the state is calling that case nontravel related. >> not travel related means that they have not gone to a place where there transmission. >> reporter: the governor told us today they are still working to find out how they got the virus. >> you have to start doing are the teenist strategic testing. >> reporter: and they want to assure tourists that florida is safe. >> we have to be aggressive anywhere. everybody has to be aggressive with no standing water. >> reporter: that is why i'm standing here next to a public sports complex. old tires can collect water, breed mosquitoes. the parks department definitely need to do something about that mess over there. >> so right now we don't know where the person contracted this. we are not sure how this person picked it up and was it sexually transmitted. do we know anything about it? >> reporter: not information that we gleaned. they are trying to protect the privacy of this one individual. they do not believe this case was sexually transmitte

she will eventually be transferred from pinellas county to hillsborou county where she could face additional charges. meanwhile, roger perez's and we have a link at abcactionnews.com. >>> fog left over in some areas, especially across the interior otherwise we're in pretty good shape with a lot of sunshine. look at the temperatures, responding to the sun, upper 50s to low 60s now. the calm winds and clear skies got us overnight. as things cooled down and allowed for the fog to become quite dense, a lot of areas are covered. at this point the coast looks good, again just the interior, polk county to desoto county, reporting still mild visibility. watching that another half- hour. i think even there we'll be good. 69 by lunchtime and then we'll be in the low 70s as we head through later on today. janelle has been guiding us through the fog. which roads may still have to deal with fog? >>> looks like we're slowly coming out of the fog. here we are at i-75 just north of i-4, still looks foggy there although down at the road where that fog is starting to lift. if we switch cameras look at the how

yesterday scott revealed there is a non-travel related case of zika in pinellas county. the governor is not telling us where exactly and some are calling that a mistake. jeff patterson joins us now live. i am wondering, any more information about this case? >> reporter: we have asked and asked and still have not been given a direct answer. that case could be anywhere . obviously it is a very large county. today, congressman david jolly told us that the public deserves more information. >> i put that of the second i heard. truck rick falkenstein is one of the owners of hurricane restaurant in st. pete beach. popular with locals and tourists , he wanted everyone to have information about the zika virus. he downloaded info from the cdc >> more information is better. chuck getting specific information from the state on the latest non-travel related case of zika in pinellas county is not easy. our morning anchor gene ramirez tried to get specifics from the governor today. >> pinellas county is a large county. when we find out specifically where? the governor would not give ou

also getting some drying south of i-4 across pinellas county, still heavier pockets of rain north on i-75 through hernando and sumter counties. but again as we look closer in, all of our bridges now are rain- free and downtowntap tampa is starting to dry out but again north on i-75 around bushnell into ridge manor is where we still have heavier pockets of rain. our southern counties, sarasota, manatee, desoto, hardy, highlands counties drying out temporarily. i have to emphasize this is temporary. as we move through the day round of very heavy rain that moves across downtown tampa. at this point models are showing it's likely to start moving in around 11:00 to noon and along with this we'll also see a chance for more street flooding, damaging winds, even an isolated tornado. this continues right through the evening commute pressing farther inland and then farther to the southeast. thereafter. bands of rain overnight and then tomorrow we'll begin a gradual drying out process. so for today, widespread rain, maybe a few breaks but nothing that is going to last all that long. and we're wa

. >> the health department in polk and pinellas counties expects to be able to start the testing monday. there are now 16 non-travel- related zika cases in florida, all of them in miami dade county. >>> an overloaded extension cord started a fire at a mosque in tampa. in this know a refrigerator was plugged into an extension cord that couldn't handle the load. they are looking into any possible connection with yesterday's small fire. >>> the staff at busch gardens has seen an outpouring of support following -- a man is charged with injuring pinky, the bird, so bad earlier this week, the bird had to be put down. pinky's caretakers who are still grieving. >>> a usf student injured in a car accident in cuba more than a year ago is set to graduate saturday. as rod carter shows us, it took a long fight for her to recover and get back home. >> reporter: barbara jimenez traveled to cuba last year and on day 1 got into a major car accident. she and what's worse, her health insurance lapsed and she didn't have money to get back home. >> i'm doing the walk, everything, homecoming queen wave. >> r

if you stay in a hotel or motel in pinellas county, you paid for it. mark is turning the spotlight on hillsboro county and the big question here is how does visit tampa bay spend money to unlike pinellas county, visit tampa bay operates as a private organization but nearly all of the money they spend comes directly from the tax. visit tampa bay just celebrated a record year. >> it's hard for me to find a word that describes this year. amazing seems like a good place to start. >> the executive director recently bragged that hillsboro bade taxes are approaching $30 million.>> possibility of adding yet another % to our bed tax. >> reporter: music to his ears because 86% of his budget comes from the bed tax. that amounted to $10 million last year, an investment he claims generates billions for tourism.>> we import money . >> reporter: in pinellas county, it's run by county workers and spent on travel and entertainment at some of the world's finest hotels and restaurants but visit tampa operates as a private agency and the director insists his credit card r

. >>> we begin with continuing coverage of breaking news in pinellas county. we are over the school bus crash, happening at east lake road at tarpon woods boulevard. the driver of the other vehicle was not injured as well. but we will bring you more becomes available. >>> now to a critical day for the presidential candidates. polls begin to close in an hour and a half in some of the super tuesday states and this fight could be over on both sides if donald trump or hillary clinton win big tonight. candace mccowan joins us now >> reporter: there were many who were hoping but realistically it's a long shot. outside of an early voting location in temple terrace, some voters know the candidate that they voted for could very well not be in the race two weeks from now. >> afraid that everybody is going to vote for trump. >> yeah. >> reporter: 12 states this super tuesday will have a huge impact on this primary. if polls prove correct, donald trump could win in most states taking a large portion of the delegates. >> i think we will see some surprises, certainly in tex

((wally fox-13's shayla reaves is on the story, live from pinellas county... ((wally thanks, shayla. we're learning new details about a deadly pedestrian accident in pinellas county - at an area where there's no crosswalk.. and a history of bad crashes.. it happened at roosevelt boulevard and 60th street north in clearwater. troopers say a 57-year-old man tried crossing roosevelt boulevard when he was hi by a chevy impala. he died at the scene. not been released yet... troopers say they are still trying to notify his next of kin. but this isn't the the accident happened down the street from a bar... investigators believe the pedestrian may have been under the influence. because the pedestrian was not in the crosswalk at the time... the driver is not facing any charges. (wally we have new video this morning, taken just minutes before a man allegedly carjacked a woman in lakeland. it's from outside the seven-eleven at the intersection of west pipkin road and florida avenue south. polk county deputies say: the man left the store, and walked over to the "bonefish

how pinellas county is protecting >>> pen silts paper and bug spray. how pinellas county is protecting students from zika. >>> and the lies that bind. the scientists says he knows why we lie. and points to the olympic swimmers as proof. >>> from tampa bay's number one news tampa bay. >>> hey everybody it's 8 o'clock i'm russell rhodes. i'm laura moody. good morning it's a business morning here on good day tampa bay. thank you for waking up with us wednesday august 24th. we will get straight to dave. we touched 80 degrees in couple minutes on tampa international. warm, muggy, it's, steamy. it's all today set up like yesterday we will get back to low to mid 90s. we'll be a degree or two on either side of 92. but then, the showers and thunderstorms take back over as

jamel lanee' in pinellas county. and our ryan hughes in sarasota county this morning. we begin with leigh in the studios for the latest on the tropical storm hermine. >> what a good thing to wake up and it not be pouring because it rained for 15 hours or so yesterday. we really needed at least a little bit of a break so that some of the water could recede. look at the big system. basically from the yucatan up to jacksonville. having some impact from what the current advisories, look at the red shaded area here along the panhandle. that's a hurricane warning meaning hurricane-force winds within 36 hours. locally from cedar key, new port richey and citrus, hernando, pasco counties, that, that's a tropical storm warning meaning tropical storm-force winds are expected within 36 hours. but really, within 24 hours i expect you to see the stronger winds coming in. and the reason why is because the storm is finally picking up now moving north, northeast at 12 miles per hour. and maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour. this afternoon, 65 miles per hour winds. and between

more rain moving into pinellas county. thuchbder, lightning, gusty winds heading into hillsborough county. a flood advisory out for pinellas, pasco and hernando through 10:15. it will dry out i promise eventually. ?? dogs - sure can be messy. but with nexgard, their flea and tick killer doesn't have to be. nexgard, the vet's #1 choice for dogs, is a delicious, beef-flavored chew that kills both fleas and ticks. so it's easy to give, easy to take. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures. why mess around? for powerful flea and tick protection, ask your vet about nexgard. time now is 9:xx.. >>> time now is 9:45. nasa's spacecraft has transmitted its first photo since going into orbit around jupiter. nasa released this pic showing jupiter surrounded by three of its four largest moons. the picture was taken as the spacecraft circled some 3 million miles away. >>> a manufacturing company in scranton, pennsylvania is working on creating the world when complete, it will be just over 40 feet long by 90 and a half feet wi

39- 46 marsha fischer witness 106-127 beau zimmer pinellas county 58:41 pointing their guns at him telling him hold still hold still. marsha fischer arriving home to catch the tail end of an all out manhunt in the middle of her neighborhood. pinellas deputies finally catching up to 42-year-old david ross. the state prisoner who escaped from a work detail in polk county earlier in the day. investigators say ross used an improvised sharp object. to abduct the supervising corrections into a county work truck. then driving away. hours later, deputies in pinellas stopped the stolen vehicle. near kenneth city. ross this time trying to escape on foot. before being taken down. 55:31 it took them a while and there were about five of them and he finally held still. and they cuffed him and away they went. state corrections officer jeffrey rexrode. was found a short time later. uninjured... after he managed to escape at a nearby gas station. scheduled for release in 2019. he's now back in custody. facing a whole new set of charges. and likely a much longer sentence. and those new charges i

not just the counties under a tropical storm warning but it does include pinellas, hillsborough, manatee and sarasota. >> they could easily see flooding here which we're already beginning see in opinions county a rain falls. one other thing. which we don't think about a lot, but, north and east of where center of system moves, sometimes you will see tornadoes. so there is a marginal risk for severe storms today in this area shaded in green. that includes just about our entire viewing area. so don't be surprised if you're not pin wheeling a few storms through here later this afternoon. tomorrow, that focus will go a little bit further, that shift will be a little bit further toward the north. so let me just summarize it for you threat high winds medium to high further north you go. higher winds are going to be. flooding, with all the heavy and that low to moderate tornado risk as well. although a. lot more you can check on www.myfoxhurricane.com, breezy with periods of rain today. we're looking a at this system impacting our area all the way through until late tomorrow night even early on

the pinellas county sheriff is talking about the case right now and we want to listen in briefly here. >> we fast forward to this past monday august 8, 11:00 monday morning. steele took the baby to a pediatrician office. she claimed the baby was not we speak with the pediatrician and he found nothing medically wrong with the baby. but importantly, in the physician's examination of the baby 11:00 a.m. monday morning, he states there was no sign of trauma to the baby. the baby's skull was intact and there was no bruising on the baby's face. after leaveing the pediatrician's office, frankie, the six-year-old, dropped his mom's cell phone the screen. they went to a business called cpr cell phone repair in saint petersburg and dropped the phone off. after going to a restaurant in saint pete, they returned to the cell phone repair shop at 1:50 p.m. where steele left baby kathlene, six-year-old frankie, and three-year-old phillip in the vehicle alone. and this was a van type vehicle frankie and phillip could get out of their seats, stand up and move around. baby kathlene was in the car seat.

coming onshore in pinellas county. and i'll toss it back to the news folks because the intensity has come down a little bit. but that tornado warning is still in effect until 6:00 for about 20 more minutes for this area. and although the rotation isn't as distinct as it was, say, 5, 10 minutes ago, 10, 15 minutes storm and will be. so if you're in the southern part of hernando county, moving up towards brooksville, notice you'll get very strong winds as it moves over your area. this tornado warning is in effect until 6:00 p.m. well th we've been showing you on radar, this is a powerful line of showers and a few thunderstorms. but mostly about the wind. you can see the broader picture around the eastern side of that category 1 hurne so we'll toss it back to our news anchors now and let you continue. and maybe we'll get reports there from the ground and see how it's going out there. but this is -- >> yeah, steve, we appreciate it. and if you need to get back to us for any reason, let us know. otherwise, we'll check back

live at the pinellas county jail, emerald morrow, 10news, wtsp. parts of the south, including areas in florida, are cleaning up this morning after severe weather hit on monday. there are reports that 16 possible tornadoes touched down. dashcam from a police car in florida shows one twister on the ground. another apparent tornado plowed through the town of johnsonville, alabama tossing debris everywhere. in mississippi, the storm damaged the roof of this school, which as you can imagine, was terrifying for students. right now...icy making travel very difficult up and down the east coast. take a look at this video out of virginia. you can see lots of ice on the roads. one family driving from new york to florida says they couldn't escape the dangerous driving conditions. a spokesperson for the virginia department of transportation says they are telling people to stay home if they can.. but if they need to be out, to take it slow. and make sure that if you are heading out of t-i-a to check your flight status. you can do that by going to the travel sec

it's a tough drive in pinellas county. in st. pete, following this for you throughout the morning, folks. what you need to remember is that central avenue is completely blocked as they continue their investigation and so forth right at 54th street where the big accident happened. again, central avenue completely closed down. just go up and take 1st avenue north or south, they run parallel and they are excellent at getting by through the area. traffic still light in the area. and again, an easy alternate. so that's good news. and big issue on the courtney campbell causeway, westbound lanes are blocked here. there's an accident involving a semi-truck, another vehicle and a pole has been knocked down. never good when there's an accident but especially not good when there's a pole knocked down because it takes time to get the pole out of the roadway. if you're headed westbound, take the howard franklin bridge instead of the courtney campbell causeway. eastbound, just got some delays but leave the house five minutes early and you shou

no doubt puddles are forming in pinellas county where for the last six hour, it has been pouring. now the entire county including over into hillsborough county, southern portion of plus county, 2 to 3 inches. even an inch in portions of hillsborough county. rain coming down, fish hawk, plant city, farther down to the south. spotty rain but rain nonetheless. throughout the day, inland areas will be drier than the coastal communities. overcast, rain, off and on all day, 82 at noon. 85 rain coming onshore. there's the tropical depression. so not necessarily a rain band, more just the fact that everything is moving around it. so drawing up the tropical moisture. if it's not raining on you all day, there will be rain around all day off and on, cloudy skies. setting the the stage unfortunately for the even heavier rain coming through tomorrow. when we have the tropical storm off the coast. so we are saturating the ground today. flooding rains will be possible tomorrow. and rough surf. closer to the center of circulation north of i-4. 80% rain chance tomorrow. and still a 60% rain chance

ryan hughes is live at the jail in pinellas county. we understand the mother was part of a reality show and bragged about getting pregnant so late in life? >> reporter: good morning, pregnant at 55 years old on tlc. she paid a doctor in new york city to artificially inseminate her with her late husband's sperm. her baby was killed by her 6- year-old son. >> i'm not a quitter. i don't like to fail. i tend to be an overachiever and perfectionist. >> reporter: that's kathleen steele on the program in 2009. she was 55 years old and had her son frankie. fast forward to this year, and the sheriff addressed reporters and called the situation one of the most troubling he has ever seen, and vicious is the word of a cell phone repair shop in pinellas county, and investigators tell us kathleen steele left her 13-day-old little girl in the minivan with her siblings. steele was in the store for 38 minutes, and frankie got upset when the infant cried, and he beat the baby so badly, she died. >> frankie, the 6-year-old removed baby kathleen from the

now let's go to abc action news reporter lauren rozyla in pinellas county. >> we just checked in with lauren. improve traffic in hillsborough county. commissioners are giving the first details on a proposal to use 1/3 of tax revenue growth for transportation. learn more at a public workshop, 1:30 at the county center on kennedy. >>> we're going to show you this too. tampa police want to you see this man. detectives say he may have burglarized more than 20 south tampa homes since march. he may be working with two other men too. if you recognize him, call crime stoppers, you may be eligible nor a reward. >>> if you're looking for a job there's a hiring happening in northport today. it's a window supplier and door supplier. a hiring event will be at the goodwill in tamiami trail in north port this afternoon. organizers say no appointment is necessary. >>> we're checking the drive in pinellas county. from bridge-to-bridge. if you're heading to the veterans expressway it's starting to slow a little, typical this time of morning, 26 minutes from 54 to 275. 21 minutes just to get from van dy

another big race to watch right here in pinellas county. it's florida's 13th congressional district. david jolly and charlie crist. redistricting has made the once battleground district more democratic. latest poll really shows that. this poll comes from st. pete polls which shows the former governor with a five point lead district. 51% of voters say they were backing crist compared to 46% of those voters backing jolly. nw, both candidates have a watch party tonight. we've been talking about early voting all week long approximate 2/3 of florida voters have cast their ballots. now, if you didn't cast your ballot early and you're coming out today, expect some lines. we're not seeing the line outsid robert's recreation center but we count at least a dozen people inside. the polls will be open until 7:00 this evening. a few things to keep in mind to get to your designated precinct, just take a look at your voter i.d. card. polling address is right on there. bring a government issued photo i.d. shayla reaves is over in hillsborough county to see

eight students at a pinellas county elementary school have the virus. health department officials are now worried that number could go up if children are not vaccinated. >>> the leaders of the armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in org organize are under arrest. this is exclusive video from our oregon tv station where the one person died before agents took him. into custody. >>> and we are waking up this morning to rain here in the bay area. a storm system is moving through right now and it could bring us 2 to 3 inches of rain over the next 24 hours. meteorologist leigh spann is watching this for us. >> you know, we're watching the rain now but it's going to stay with us all day today. so this one batch is coming in off the gulf of mexico and notice the cold front is well back to the west. that's still coming in. and that's why i expect it to be a wet day. it's already been raining for several hours now. so we've picked up about .25 in most places but from north to south, citrus, hernando, pasco, that's this yellow county. sebring getting r