pete clearwater." the clearwater - st. pete area is especially growing fast. for fiscal year 2014 bed taxes collected are up 13 percent. downing attributes this to the terrible winter, and an aggressive 1.6-million dollar ad push. "we have been marketing heavily in some of our core feeder markets consistently year after year. we've done snow sculpture and snow installations in both chicago and new york and i think we've hit critical mass as far as marketing." florida beaches and downtowns are buzzing with tourists, but there's another side of florida officials hope to sell to visitors. we try to get people to connect with nature. enthusiasm to protect the environment has created ecotourism, where a visitor seeks out the natural side of a place. this sector of tourism is growing more important to florida. jean murphy leads groups on nature tours and her business has doubled every year since 2009. it's really a growing industry, not only here in florida, but nationally, we're not disturbing the wildlife we're going out and we're enjoying it. downing says it's im

pete/clearwater's 69. then add something a little different, a snow stamp that sent the pasty populous to i- need-sun-dot-com. "the roi is hard to calculate but we know about foot traffic and it's definitely working." in january, tourism in florida's pinellas county was up almost nine percent over the previous january. it increased revenues from overnight by nearly two and a half million dollars. thank you, chuck! coming up...why the u.s. is facing a shortage of dentists. plus... you better shop around. ins and outs to searching for a new health insurance plan. we'll be right back! 5 days are left in the open enrollment period for "obamacare." so far, 5 million people have signed up for coverage. as many move toward the health care website to sign up, nicole duritz of aarp says older americans are more apt to pick up the phone. " folks who don't want to use the internet, are calling the toll free number, and finding that individuals are online to help them navigatge this process." after the march 31st dead

authorities say the woman called hulk hogan's clearwater beach store yesterday, saying she wanted tounday's theft was captured on security camera, but employees didn't realize the $5,500 shoe was missing until tuesday. police say the woman went back to michigan and got three acquaintances to return the shoe to the >> coming up beds 7:00 a.m.. we will talk to gary at redneck about the raiders have a new quarterbacredneck abw gary about the raiders have a new quarterback. a ruthless ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ told ya you could do it. (dad vo) i want her to be safe. so, i taught her what i could and got her a subaru. (girl) piece of cake. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. i just ah woke up today and i said i need something sportier. annnd done. ok maxwell, just need to ah contact your insurance company with the vin number. oh, i just did it. with my geico app. vin # is up to the loaded. ok well then jerry here will take you through all of the features then. why don't weeeeeeeeeeee go out to the car. ok, i'll just be outside... ok, yeah. his dad is my boss. yeah. vin scanning to add a

clearwater. which he believes in the water history where sunlight reaches the bottom. water flows well. here is agreed to run a team. on the wrong. in the for children to st it replaced. a great opportunity to catch bream creek. usually this. and what kinds of features two tickets the task to show us. do you the eye. he's this the us and other creatures and the task to show us. do you the eye. he's this the us and other creatures and disappeared. try

jeffrey bronken reported fuel problems on his approach to saint pete-clearwater airport, moments before the plane went down. bronken died in the crash. there's a new legal fight involving the death of david koschman. his mother is now suing city and police officials for covering up the investigation. david koschman died after a fight in 2004. richard vanecko is serving a 60-day sentence for involuntary manslaughter. but koschman's mother's lawsuit claims a conspiracy formed when the original investigators realized vanecko was the nephew of former mayor daley. those accusations come from the special prosecutor's report that says daley's relatives and associates lied or gave mis- leading statements about the case. >> special prosecutor's report came out. one read the report i realized my fight was not over. >> this lawsuit will strive to answer the questions. we will strive to put the mayor and people in his family under oath. >>daley is not named in the lawsuit, but koschman's attorneys say that could change after they get more information. the bears are rejecting the notion of adding se

bronken was critically injured in the crash sunday morning just miles from the saint petersburg - clearwater airport. her father, jeff bronken, was flying the plane. he was killed in the crash. katie's friend was also on board. she was injured and is still hospitalized. investigators say the plane had a fuel problem as it approached the airport. a judge set bail at 200- thousand dollars for the man charged with shooting at another car during a road rage incident on 1-355 last week. prosecutors say vaughn atkins ordered his wife, who was in the passenger seat, to roll down her window so he could shoot at a driver who cut him off near ogden. his two children were in the back seat at the time. the bullet hit the other car, but the driver was not hurt. the archdiocese of chicago is paying up to two million dollars to settle another sex abuse case. the victim says he was abused by former priest daniel mc- cormack, when he attended our lady of the west side school. mc-cormack is currently in prison for sexually abusing children. b-p says crews have recovered most of the oil that spilled into lake

.™ >>> happening today in florida, special election in the clearwater area.tage for this fall's midterms. democrat alex sink facing republican david jolly to replace late congressman bill young. both parties see the race as a test of their messages over obamacare and the issues facing the country. cnn political editor paul steinhauser here to explain, why, oh, why is this vote today so important, paul? >> reporter: great question, because if you don't live in the area down by st. pete and clearwater, why care about florida 13, unless maybe like me, you get paid to cover politics? here's why, christine and john. there are not a lot of swing districts left, i guess you could say, competitive districts, house districts left in the country. this truly is a swing district in a swing state of florida. we all know the history florida's had lately. that's why both sides, not only the candidates in the parties, but outside groups, the so-called super pacs and other groups have been pouring in millions of dollars, over $11 million spent on this race. you also mentioned

today a special election in set in clearwater area to replace long time republican congressman bill young who served 43 years before passing away in october. with polls opening at 7:00 a.m., it's still considered a toss-up. slate calls it obamacare's ground zero. the president's controversial health plan is one of the main focuses of the debate in the race. outside money has poured in. $9 million has been spent on tv ads and tv spots that have aired 200 times daily in the market. jolly has been targeted for his days as a washington lobbyist and former aide to congressman young. sink ran unsuccessfully against rick scott the in 2010. her record as former state cpo has come under question. she moved into the district just to run for this seat. >>> oscar pistorius murder trial is back in session. defense is trying to cast doubt about the doctor who performed the autopsy on reeva steenkamp. pistorius became violently ill during the testimony. he became pale and threw up as he heard gruesome details including how a bullet went through steenkamp's skull. the judge temporarily stopped the trial

the clearwater-st. petersburg area is a test area. obama did carry the drnkt two times. it's being called one of the most expensive this cycle. outside spending more than doubled candidate spending, and the outside interests often overshadowed the candidates themselves, but last night a raucus crowd congratulated jolly. bob barker even announced him by video. jolly, who was a former lobbyist, called for unity after a hard fought, often nasty race where committee and super pac ads some true and some -- saturated the airwaves. >> i have very good news tonight. no more commercials. >> i have believed from the very beginning that this is a pineliss county race. we've talked about it. for months that's been a guiding principle to me. this race has always been personal to me, not political. >> no more commercials was a good line. >>> less than eight months to go new polling data suggests an uphill battle for president obama and the democratic party. according to nbc news and the "wall street journal" president obama's approval rating dropped to a personal low. 41%. more americ

petersburg clearwater airport. her father was flying the plane. he was killed in the crash. investigators say the plan had a field problem as it approached the airport. >> the senators are asking for a meeting with bp following this week's oil spill. clean-up continues along the southern shore of the lake. between 9- 18 bar. of crude oil spilled into the lake after a malfunction at the plant earlier this week. crews have recovered most of the oil which got into a system that cools equipment. the epa says it does not look like there's any threat to the environment or drinking water supply. crews will continue to check the beach for oil. >> a man is suing police claiming officers beat him so severely he was hospitalized for several days and needed surgery to have a metal plate put in his head. he says he was walking earlier this month when a police officer began chasing him and hit him in the head with the butt of a gun. more officers from evanston joined in and began hitting him before handcuffing him. the lawsuit does not say why he believes he was attacked. it does note tha

scientist discover about the lake once crystal clearwater. >> sandhya here with the forecast. >> yes. weekend almost here and the tempts will be coming up. but first we have a brief cool down to. i'll be back with the details. >> thanks sandhya. >> facebook founder mark zuckerberg call to the white house. the earful he gave the president. stay here. 7 news at 9:00 is back in just a at 9:00 is back in just a moment. when i was living without insurance, it was very scary. charles not having coverage stressed me out. knowing that i have an insurance card in my pocket gives me a sense of reassurance. i'm in because nobody deserves to be without health insurance. i'm in because my coverage can't be denied. i'm in so i can protect my family and my future. i'm in because she wouldn't take "no" for an answer. i'm in. [ both ] we're in. i'm in. [ female announcer ] everyone deserves health insurance. are you in? go to coveredca.com before the march 31st deadline. >> 16-year-old girl was arrested today after police say she gave classmates brownies laced with marijuana. police say the girl hande

. >> john roberts in clearwater beach.thank you. >>> up next, the obama administration tries to reframe the debate for the november midterms, but first, here's what some of our fox affiliates across the country are covering tonight. wnyw in new york is covering the explosion that leveled two new york city apartment buildings. the blast killed two people and injured more than 20. more than a dozen are still unaccounted for. authorities suspect this was a gas explosion, but it is still under investigation. >>> ksaz in phoenix has jan brewer's announcement that she won't seek a third term in office. there was speculation she would challenge the two-term limit. and this is a live look at denver from our fox affiliate there. the big story there tonight is a police chase that included three stolen vehicles, spanned close to 100 miles, and lasted almost two hours. the suspect was eventually apprehended and a 4-year-old inside the first vehicle stolen was found safe. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special rep

the clearwater-st. is a swing district where president obama won by 5,000 votes in 2012. democrat alex sink was considered a strong candidate but it was not enough to win and that has democrats worried going into this year's midterm. joining me now, chuck, you know politics better than anyone else, but you also know florida here. so what is the aftershock of what's happened there? >> well, there seems to be a couple of things. number one, democrats had a hard time getting their voters out. what should be a swing district in a presidential year and even a general election and midterm turned into a district that was pretty heavily favored, tilted toward the republicans, at least turnout-wise. and in some postmortems already, the pollster for alex sink came out and admitted -- he said, look, health care is a big motivator for republicans to go to the polls. it is not serving as that kind of motivator for democrats, and there is not yet necessarily anything out else out there serving as a motivator to get d

>> clearwater beach.that when she said let's fix obamacare, that was what people didn't want to hear. when you talked about obamacare being an example of big government and that doesn't work, that was the message that resonated. am i correct? >> that's right. listen, obamacare has hurt people here with increased premiums, canceled policies and particularly our businesses. it's increased costs and it's weakened employment here in the district. here is what you saw in the democratic side. at the very beginning they embraced obamacare. they realized that that message was bad. so then they knocked the rollout. they disparaged the rollout. my nine-year-old niece knows it was bad. then they worked on this message of let's fix what's broken and keep what's working. again, no substance behind that. just rhetoric, just talking points. they never wanted to talk about the substance of obamacare and why it was wrong. >> lastly, is this going to be a rematch in five months? are you going against her again? you got to

a special election is said in the clearwater st.43 years before passing away in october. with polls opening this morning, it's still considered a toss-up between democrat alex slate and david jolly. >> now he's lying about alex sink's record on health care. jolly would go back to letting them deny coverage, even forcing seniors to pay thousands more for prescription drugs. >> we can't go back to letting insurance companies do whatever they want. instead of repealing the healthcare law, we need to keep what's right and fix what's wrong. i'll work with republicans and democrats for healthcare that's affordable and works for us. >> you're looking at two of the most important people in my life. so, protecting their social security means everything to me. it's personal. that's why i'm fighting obamacare. it takes $700 billion out of medicare, forcing many to lose their insurance and doctors. >> now sink and her friends are running ads to scare us, that even the media condemns. >> you know, this is going to be fascinating district outside

if she took the shoot from the clearwater beach store on sunday.an, got tthree friends in florida to return it. >> coming up on the kron 4 news. we are working on several development stores. the latest in ukraine. will have what the eu is doing. >> a mental see commando see noe deputy killed in the line of duty. we will hear from family court still reeling from the loss. >> starbucks is want had is from the loss. >> starbucks is want had is yeah help me find some mugs? sure. [ beep ] hey. okay. [ male announcer ] wake uph.a of folgers. ♪ the best part of wakin' up so, where do youwant to start? i think this i a pretty good place. >> we are following a developing story out of san jose or overnight a fire at a church has the fire department to call in federal investigators. i will have details coming up. >> a 40 a. blaze a breaks off and what fire officials stated that this is a sign of the upcoming fire season. the search for the new malaysian airline and may go deeper into the ocean. should of did before sell th >> acute for joining us >> we have b

the plane was en route from chicago to florida when it hit power lines and crash landed near clearwaterthe pilot has died, the two teens are recovering in the hospital. >> a familiar site returns to the los angeles skies today. the blue angels are back for the los angeles county air show after cancelling most of their 2013 season due to budget cuts. 50-thousand people are expected to come out today to watch the blue angels fly by. the blue angel jets cost 30- million dollars each. >> in new jersey-- investigators are ramping up the investigation of a motel fire that killed four people. the fire happened at the mariner's cove motor inn at the jersey shore early friday morning. about 40 people were staying in the motel when the fire started. some of them lost their homes in superstorm sandy. arson investigators are tyring to find the cause. the identities of the people killed will be releeased later today. eight other people were injured >> coming up on the kron 4 news. the latest information and the deadly newest station helicopter crash. when investigators discovered on surveillance a v

the clearwater-st.ters as republicans. as "the new york times" framed it, the loss is a significant blow to morale, to democrats. ms. sink, a moderate, who lost her race for governor in 2010, is a well-known party figure and ran a well-organized campaign. awash in donations and buoyed by millions of dollars of outside spending. in fact, the race is being called one of the most expensive this cycle. outside spending more than doubled candidates' spending and the outside interests often overshadowed the candidates themselves. but last night, an enthusiastic crowd congratulated jolly. bob barker even announced him by video. jolly, who was a former lobbyist called for unity after a hard-fought and nasty cases where some ads saturated the airwaves. in fact, one of the jokes he made when he got up on stage was, here's the good news, no more commercials, because, apparently, they've been inundated. here he is in his victory speech. >> folks, i have very good news tonight. no more commercials. [ applause ] i ha

people in the clearwater-st. petersburg area were feeling under siege by campaign ads. those ads will begin anew in a few months. there will be another election in november. it is unclear if synch is planning on running again. >> natasha, thank you. really raises the question of how much national interest plays into these local elections these days. >> trying to find out what the mid terms are going to look like. >> ukrainian's prime minister will be meeting with president obama, why the meeting may come down to money. >> i have grave concerns. >> the head of the senate intelligence committee accusing the c.i.a. of spying on the committee. we'll talk to a former c.i.a. operative about accusations and ramifications. >> 4,200,000 is our big number of the day. >> what it means for health care when we come right back. >> taking a live look now at the snow covered roads in detroit this wednesday morning in mid march. >> 943,000 people signing up for obamacare in february was down from 1.1 million who signed up in january. >> that was before he did the zack galifinakis show.