. >> i'm gene ramirez. this mild tuesday morning. good morning, i january. >> -- ian. >> hard to believe we are at the end of november. 68 in tampa. 67 bradenton thanks to the southeasterly wind direction, 5 to 10 miles per hour. that's what will make things muggy as we head into this afternoon. warm, too. forecast high temperature 83 degrees. better than half a dozen degrees above average for this max defender 8 had a few sprinkles on it yesterday afternoon. we are tracking much needed shower chances that arrive later in the week. first traffic on the 8s. it's quiet. a great time to get out the door if you can. taking a look at the veterans, no delays from the van dyke road area all the way in to the tampa international airport area. widening out the picture, 275 in through downtown. still quiet out to west shore and looking good if you are out the door in polk county, i-4 is accident and delay free. >>> breaking news in tampa. investigators are on the scene of an apparent smash-and-grab burglary at a gun store. >> it happened at th

. >> i'm gene ramirez. let's check in with ian oliver check out the temperatures, more than 10 above average in spots. we are at 68 in tampa. 67 in bradenton. 63 degrees, moving up to brooksville. we can thank the southeasterly wind direction for what will be a warm and muggy tuesday afternoon with high temperatures well above average. it will be a little breezy, too. we will eventually turn some of the mugginess into shower chances later in the week more than a half dozen degrees above average. max defending 8 is quiet. we could have a few more sprinkles with a front coming through thursday. we need rain around here. >> knock on wood. i don't know that there is wood here. we will find that. >>> for now let's take a look at the maps. very quiet. earlier crash in st. pete has been cleared. you will see a lot of green 275 looks fantastic. 15 minutes the drive time from the apex in through i-4. 75 is clear as well. a crash on 75 northbound past cortez boulevard in hernando county. fhp is on scene but they say

. >> i'm gene ramirez. ian filling in. >> it's mild and muggy. temperatures to start the day about 10 above average. we are at 68 in tampa. 65 in apollo beach. 66 in plant city. that is thanks to a wind direction out of the south and east, 5 to 10 miles per hour. we have seen gusts higher than that. it will be breezy into the afternoon. the forecast high temperature, 83 degrees. more than half a dozen above average for this time of the year. max defender8, this morning. that may not be the case later on this week when we track much needed rain chances, more towards thursday. we will talk about those coming up. >> looking forward to that. thank you have each. >> we ant to get you on he roads. it's quiet with an exception here in st. pete, an accident with roadblock 28th street north and 41st avenue. this has been here for a while. it should be out of the way soon. we will keep you updated on that. bay area bridges in the green. are up to speed. another update in a couple of minutes. gayle, gene, over to you. >>> police are on the scene of an appar

reporting in miami's little havana, gene ramirez news channel 8. >>> 8 on your side will be reporting live from cuba. jeff patterson is in cuba right now and we will check in with him as soon as we can. >>> for the third time this year, a tow truck driver has been hit and killed while working on the side of the road and a suspected drunk driver is to blame. this latest case left driver danny ray dead and a sister of another one of those victims is on a mission to stop these deaths. candace mccowan spoke with her >> reporter: it's like the nightmare that won't end. >> it's like reopening those wounds. people are saying here we go again.>> reporter: she lives in way -- in miami but rushed to tampa when her brother was hit and killed while helping a stranded driver along the howard franklin bridge. the driver didn't even stop. >> you now, i've been pretty close to the tow truck family. they did so much when roger's accident happened. >> reporter: south hard when driver troy mcguire was killed in october while working and then again this weekend when danny ray hand was helping stranded mo

it's amazing. >> reporter: gene ramirez, news channel 8. >>> sugary drinks could be linked to type ii diabetes according to a new study. researchers at tufts university analyzed more than 1000 middle- aged people and found those that regularly drank sugar sweetened beverages had a 46% higher chance of developing type ii diabetes later in life. 2016 heart walk is just three days away, we are holding a special heart walk funding tomorrow from 4 pm to 6:30 pm. it is our final push to raise even more money for this very important cause. we want to thank some folks like dora for her $20 donation, pat from tampa who mailed in a check for $100 and laura sutton for her $500 donation. thank you for that. and it's not too late to join stacie schaible's team. for more information, head to tran03?/heart walk -- www.wfla.com/heart walk. >>> angelina jolie and brad pitt have come up with a temporary divorce solution. they have signed a legal agreement continuing the previous arrangement for their six children. angelina jolie has custody and the kids continue therapeutic desperate to find out what h

. >> and i'm gene ramirez. thanks for joining us on this tuesday morning, the day after halloween is always tough, especially for the kids. you got that sugar hangover, you still got to get them out to school. hopefully, though, we have some good news from leigh spannn. >> it's going to be comfortable as you head out the door this morning. that's about all i can say because i know it's going to be a hard day to wake up and head off to work and school. 60 right now in brooksville, 63 in lakeland. so these temperatures are above average. they're just in a comfortable range. 66 in we have very dry air in the upper levels of the atmosphere. that's why we have that bright blue sky on halloween. so now bright blue sky is back in the forecast for the first day of november. look how much above average. the average is 81, i'm expecting 86. so at 5:38, i'll have the 8-day temperature trend. we do trend cooler. i'll tell you about that coming up. and leslie will get you out the door this morning. >>reporter: that's right.

gene ramirez has been little avail and joins us this morning for reaction. spamware more have gathered -- it has been more than 24 hours since cuban residents have gathered to celebrate the death of castro. when you scratch the surface you see emotions run way deep. >> she has been waiting for this news for decades sharing this moment in history with her sister and niece, but there's someone missing >> my mom died 2 years ago and was not able to see this. the first thing that we did today was go to the cemetery and put her little cuban and american flag. >> i am sure she is celebrating. >> saturday night hundreds if not thousands celebrated seeing the unofficial anthem of cuban exiles, a song of freedom. the artist joined the celebration. focuses not on celebrity appearances but rather his grandfather. >> he actually just passed away a couple of months ago. he always said he would have loved to have seen the state. i feel like i'm representing him in my family by being here. >> the multitude of cubans hopeful that the death of the face of the cuban revolutio

today's highs are gene ramirez low average. the high of 76. going up to 78 tomorrow, and that's average. up to 81 on friday before saturday's cold front will drastically drop our temperatures. sort of a florida winter. i know more and more people are hitting the doors. >> we are seeing more vehicles on the roadway this is beer av 20 minutes already. this is out of past cocounty, hitting up with 2175, moving into downtown. outdoors, the howard frankland bridge is lacking great. and also northbound on i-75 and southbound, approaching i-4, why is that? we have a crash on the northbound side, tieing up to lanes before the ramp to eastbound i-4, and also new tampa getting slow, too. the 8s. back to gene and gayle. >>> a little boy left for hours in a hot suv to die. >> the your verdict the jury reach in the trial of the little boy's dad. is he filleted by of murder? -- is he convicted of murderer? >>> what one accused of doing to a demonstrators. it's 6:40, and you're watching >>> right now barack obama's final trip as leader of the united states i

i'm gayle guyardo. >> i'm gene ramirez. thanks for joining us. leigh. how is it looking. >> mild. it doesn't feel like we are closing in on december. temperatures about 10 degrees above average. middle to low 60s in a lot of locations. 66 in clearwater and st. pete and down in bradenton thanks to the southeast wind. it turns more southerly heading into the afternoon hours. it gets muggy this afternoon. we don't have to worry about the sprinkles we saw around later in the week. the forecast high temperature, 83. it's better than half a dozen degrees above average nor this time of year, a few degrees shy of the record. max defender 8 is quiet after a few sprinkles yesterday. a cold front on thursday. that will be the best rain chance through the rest of the workweek. we will talk about that coming up. first we check in on the live look at i-75 in the new tampa area. looking fine. we have an accident to tell you about in eastern hillsborough county. mulberry area state road 60 at county line road. florida highway patrol is on

. >> that was gene ramirez reporting. >> amazon is expanding its service that connects customers with local handyman. its home services will be offered in 20 areas. from installing a new garbage disposal. i would use that a lot. >> the amount of credit card debt that they are facing may feel like it is so much to handling. >> could a cash only diet reduce that debt. >> $15,000, that's how much credit card, the average american has right now. and when you add that to your car payment, perhaps a student loan, many people will tell you yourself could you go on an all cash diet? >> that's radio host dave ramsey, he has a take no prisoners approach to debt. credit cards, cut them up. buying a car, forget the car loan, always pay cash for everything or don't buy it. is the key to wealth found by spending only cash with absolutely zero credit cards. >> i was kind of sad when i had to cut that one up. >> join me for my special report cash diet, that's monday night on news 3 live at 11:00. is an all cash diet possible? you'll meet the people who say it works. that's our special report, cash di

. >>> gene ramirez, thank you very much. reaction to fidel's castro is mixed cuban americans remember the dictator and they are rejoicing feeling a new era is about to begin. that's where we find chip people here at tampa international airport passengers coming from cuba are still frankly letting this soak in wondering what is next for their homeland. >>> since tampa international began charter service in 2011, more than 300,000 people have traveled from tampa to the island nation on saturday morning two flights arrive from cuba eastern flight 3192 and american flight 9473. as were hugs and kisses and conversation. what will the future hold for cuba now that fidel castro has passed? patty rodriguez was there when the news broke. >> it was something really emotional. i don't know how to say it, like we were there when this happened and it is really nice. >>> tampa has one of the largest cuban american populations in the u.s. tampa statement of hope quote they have never strayed from the belief that one day cuba would again be

. >> and i'm gene ramirez. thank you for waking up with us on this tuesday morning. the cold front pushed to the south. you had a quick drop or two of rain in places south of i-4 over the last hour or so. officially yesterday, a chase of rain, and all of november so far, only .01 of rain. in fact, since september, we are 3.5 inches below rain fall this is the dry part of the year. since january, we are more than 9 inches above the rain fall that is normal. your logic, probably dry and crusty right now, and the cold 51 right now in brooksville. inverness, look at that. 13degrees cooler than this time yesterday morning. notice the metrocast, you can see more sunshine by noon at 72, and during the afternoon, i have an 8-day temperature trend and it will cool down. >> it's exciting when it gets cold like that. we have a look. a crash here, and it's just beyond u.s. 27, and now i want to go down to ybor city. we mentioned it earlier a vehicle hit a bar there 7th avenue. one lane is taken away at 17th here. >> this is the live picture from the bad nonkey bar, and you can s

let's go ahead to gene ramirez this morning in little miami. it's been a celebration if you >> celebration in the streets there. of course you've been to cuba many times and know intimately what's going as an icon of social justice, his model of education and free health care for every citizen. that's what you saw on that >> of course we have in miami, as gene showed us, but from around the world as well, including here in the tampa bay area. for more on that, we turn to steve andrews in tampa with reaction from local cuban americans. >> steth must i say, a quiet day, if you will in weather. >> and thankfully it's shaping up to be a nice weekend. we just got these beautiful run size photos in. this is from barbra in lake plaza. and edward, how about that. nice view over the atlantic. we'll have the full forecast . >>> we are collecting new teddy bears to deliver to folks this holiday season. find a full list of dropoff from viewers in the area. we have a little more cloudiness this morning, the sun bright out at sun freedom plaza. we should sta

. >>> also, social media find gene ramirez on facebook. you heard famously ellen degeneres was locked out of the white house. she could not given to receive her medal of freedom because she didn't have you know there was authority and also honored by the >>> long before tv talent shows, marvin recorded a song that no one forgot. >> here comes. cottontail. you begin making rec now classic song. >> i call from a manager saying we got you on the grand old opry and i said this is incredible. >> that is awesome. you recorded 124 songs that even performed with the 20-year- old nashville newcomer named dolly parton. >> in fact he just bought concert which he is going to enjoy. she is amazing. they plan to reunite backstage. will show you how that goes. >>> we're all familiar with road rage at how about bull rage? in a brazen bid for freedom, this bull made it's way across i 95. is bolted from a truck outside of the slaughterhouse the. it led police on there? he is hiding in the bushes. they cornered him in some brush ending his last hurrah. >>> t

gene ramirez tells us about a the solution. "a lot of pressure, it's very breathing!" mayte diaz has been suffering from sinus infections for as long as she can remember. inflamed and clogged sinuses with symptoms 'over-the-counter medications' sometimes only temporarily relieve. -- dr. mark tabor recommends surgery for patients with chronic sinusitis -- and for long-lasting effects, his go-to tool is propel... a stent that keeps the sinus open after surgery while delivering an anti- inflammatory steroid directly to the sinus. in the stent?" "correct, so during sinus surgery we enlarge and open the natural opening to the sinuses. the problem is that those tend to scar shut during the healing process so what the recovering from surgery." the stent eventually dissolves. -- mayte diaz had the still." while not guaranteed to be a permanent solution, the formation the thought is that the opening would stay open." "i feel great...i can breathe." er: "what does that feel like?" "amazing! it's amazing!" doctor tabor has done the including some kids. the doctor says surgery --

. >> and i'm gene ramirez, right to leigh. >>> the last of the rain has come through in the last hour. we are officially got a trace of rain yesterday, meaning all of november, we had one on it's only three quarters of an inch below average. september, it's continuing to be dry. 3.5inches below normal, and here's the good news for you. since january, we are more than 9 inches above our rain fall total we expect. the cooler air behind the cold south you go, the warmer it is. this morning, there will be patchy clouds around. cooler at 61, and notice the blue sky breaking out by noon. 72, and it should be a great afternoon at 75. an 8-day temperature trend shows when the cold air will get here. leslee is letting you mow what -- know what is happening on the water main broke yesterday, and now there's road restoration in the area, and that's through thursday. we have got two lanes taken away, and there's three here. only one lane is getting by from 22nd over to 30th street, and you can see where it's orange there, a backup because of that. there's not this many vehicles on the roads. it's

. >> and i'm gene ramirez. >> reporter: good morning, i'm tracking the cold front, and we tracked if all day -- tracked it all day yesterday. most of the rain has come to an end. maybe some south of i-4, but it's dried up now, and the cooler air is replacing that. 52 in inverness right now, and we are seeing the cooler air spread south. 63 in sarasota, and obviously cooler than yesterday. inverness is cooler. plant city, brandon, 5 degrees cooler. and sunshine this afternoon, expecting below average temperatures. average is 78. i only expect us to get to 56, and then at 5:08, i will go specifically hour-by-hour through the day and tell you when the really cooler air will get here. first, let's get you through the morning commute. >> reporter: nothing will slow 275 is looking good all the way into downtown tampa on 275. as we move over to the ybor city area, more on this coming up a car went into a bar right there on 7th avenue, just east of 17th street, and one lane is tacken -- taken away. that's weather and traffic, and now back to gene for more. >> more on the breaking news, car d

. >> i am gene ramirez. the home of the bucs is home of the college football championships in less than two months. the impact expected here in the bay area and how you can cash in. >> and weather, traffic on the hey! is this enough? a little more... grandma! there you go... there's no more room. oh look who's here! i know i had one more... how's it looking? 20 more minutes... 8, 9... we need 1 more yes... let's enjoy. we need more rolls there was a little girl, and she became friends with every animal she met. it's getting late, grandma should go. one more? >>> now is a good time to call our phone bank to see of florida has any unclaimed money for you. a team assembled by shannon behnken is standing by. they will be there throughout the evening. if i may call it 1-800-528-0808 the cavaliers game last night was actually what happened when the team played hungry hungry hippos. they dressed up in hippo costumes and tried to grab as many balls as they could. the pink hippo gathered 15 balls and a crisp new $100

. >> i'm gene ramirez.

i'm gayle guyardo. >> and i'm gene ramirez. thanks for joining us. i know it's tough the morning after halloween, the kids have that sugar hangover, but you gotta get them out of bed and get them to school, leigh >> yeah, it's just the kids with the sugar hangover and not us adults, as well, right? 58 in zephyr hills. it's comfortable as you get november 1st started. 61 in fish hawk, 61 in wimauma. boy, we had the bright blue sky yesterdaca atmosphere. check it out, still around today, so i expect lots of sunshine and above average temperatures. average is 81, i'm expecting 86. so coming up at 6:38, i'll have an eight-day temperature trend, and it does trend cooler. lesslee is here to let you know what's happening on the roadways. >>reporter: a pretty good drive, but getting busier out there. let's go ahead and take a look at i-4. westbound starting to get a little bit slower as you move into the junction. all right. you. so 275, and this is starting to slow down around bush down to about hillsborough avenue. this is the southbound side that's a litt

gene ramirez, back to you. >>> an historic weekend for sure. thank you. we'll see you in a little bit. >> the death of former cuban leader fidel castro stirring up mixed emotions as u.s. lawmakers weigh in on castro's regime and the future of the island nation. melissa continues coverage tonight in dc. reaction surrounding the death of fidel castro is spilling in. >> my note is a simple note thanking fidel for the sacrifice he made. >> for my family who came over here who suffered. so i was pretty ecstatic when i heard this morning. >> american politicians reacted to castro's death. including president obama who was criticized for offering condolences. senator bernie sanders she >> the goal right now is to see that we can improve our relationships with the people of cuba. >> senator marco rubio, a cuban american tweeted the american's statement was pathetic. >> barack obama is the president of the most powerful country in the world and what i call pathetic is not mentioning in that statement the reality that there are thousands of thousands of people who

in tampa, gene ramirez news channel 8>>> florida may soon double the number of protected bird nesting areas along our shores. the conservation well consider 10 new bird sanctuaries and one for bats as well. as mike russell linda tells us, a practice with proven results. >> reporter: florida has 20 critical wildlife areas, must created in the 70s or 80s but as the state population grew, nesting areas were mostly left behind until now. the fish and wildlife conservation commission will vote on creating 10 new sanctuaries and expanding five existing locations. both regulators and conservationists say this about the vote: >> it's a big deal. >> this is pretty huge. >> reporter: overdue but something few will notice. the biggest changes how the public is approaching one of these areas.>> what these will do is make it possible to post signs in water around the islands so that people are advised not to get closer than that so the birds can nest successfully. >> reporter: so both conservationists and regulators agree this is a big deal. why has it taken decades for an expansion? >> there has

. >> i'm gene ramirez. thanks for being with us on this tuesday morning. the countdown of thanksgiving starts now. it is the 1st of november and weather. how are we looking? >> we're still looking above average, just a lot like we spent most of october above average. november starting that same way. 59 in inverness, 63 in lakeland, 61 currently in auburndale, 61 in sarasota. so let's talk about your sky cast. this is what you'll see as you're out and about throughout the day today. a thin layer of clouds at times, but lots and lots of sunshine, warm again with a high of 86 and just a little bit on the breezy side. tonight, comfortable, above average at 68. tomorrow, though, you'll notice a couple more clouds and i even in a long time, a high of 85. now, at 5:'sing, i'll go more specifically hour by hour through your day today and you can make out your plans and leslie will help you make your plans on your commute. >>reporter: that's right, great commute. starting off very nicely on i- 4. this is in the lakeland area and traffic looks fantastic here on lake

. >> i'm gene ramirez. thanks for being with us on this tuesday morning. the countdown of thanksgiving starts now. it is the 1st of november and

i'm gene ramirez. in tampa. it happened at hollywood street. the girl was crossing the street at the time, and the car's mirror hit her. the paramedics rushed her to the hospital. we don't know her condition right now, but we have a crew on the way gathering information for you. updates on air and online. >>> let's check the weather with leigh spann. >> it's been generally cooler and cloudier, and we get break in the clouds as we thought. going through the day, more and more sunshine, and famous picture in tampa. it's still cool. 63 in st. pete. six -- 62 in north port. the cool breeze throughout the day today. slight warmup up to 81. >>> obviously you want to go through the area that gene was talking about the old seminole heights. avoid it there. around hollywood. not too bad. the howard frankland, busy here, and the courtney campbell causeway looking busy in the area. the accident has cleared >>> we're back now, 8:30 on a tuesday morning. 15th of november, 2016. now that doesn't happen every time we

. >> i'm gene ramirez. >> thanks for joining us on here is the weather. >>> our skies are clear. we haven't had any moisture in the air. it has been so dry. we're slowly going to gradually add some humidity back to the forecast because it is perfectly clear. it is 57 there. it is cool, but much 58 tampa. 54 plant city. 59 bradenton. right now plant city, you're warmer. >>> now that the sun is coming up, around 59 at 9:00 a.m. lunchtime around 73. around 4:00 p.m., a few clouds, but 78 should feel nice. at 6:38 i go into otto and the traffic-wise but you have to leave early. starting to get busy here. this is 275 southbound. some are still working today so you'll see the typical congestion. this is fantastic here. >>> travel times. i 4 still up to speed and so is the vets. if you have to leave today, leave before 2 p.m. >> now an 8 on your side alert.a stolen in hillsboro counties right out of their driveways. >> they call it car hopping. cops call it a crime. >>> ryan, the youngest suspect is just 13. >> reporter: exactly. only 13. really scary. investigators here at the sheriff'

. >> i'm gene ramirez. thanks for joining us. let's check in. >>> it's certainly clear and that fall chill in the air for sure. 57degrees. sun is coming up this morning. gorgeous. just that little bit of maybe a light sweater needed. everybody cooler than yesterday. tam pap 4 degrees cooler than yesterday. but brandon you're 9 degrees cooler. all the we actually see a pretty quick warmup. back to 61 at 8:00 a.m. few passing clouds great lunchtime. 74degrees. around 4:00 p.m., 77. barely a cloud out there. weather and traffic on the 8. >> . stay tuned to this 8 day temperature trend because we see a big cooldown and now we'll take a look at traffic. >>> traffic still looks pretty good. more vehicles on the roadway let's get to what's going on. more vehicles you can see they're all kind of loading up onto 275 on the right. it's not too bad there. look, down to i 4 about a 16 minute commute. getting more congested. >>> we're following breaking news this morning a usf student terrified after she was mugged on campus. mary mig joins u

thousands of dollars they didn't even know they had and it's not too late >>> i'm news channel 8's gene ramirez. the home of the bucs is the home of the college football championship. it's happening in less than two months. the impact expected here and i've been thinking... this might be the one thing in the world you pull apart to come together. new papa john's cinnamon pull-aparts covered with cinnamon crumble and sweet cream cheese icing. try our new cinnamon pull-aparts for just 6 bucks. >> the florida fish and wildlife conservation will consider creating 10 new sanctuaries tomorrow. here is mike vasilinda with a preview. >> reporter: florida currently has 20 critical wildlife areas. most were created in the late '70s or early '80s long before florida's population exploded and that left bird nesting areas in the lurch until now. the commission will creating 10 new sang chung wares and expand -- new sanctuaries and expanding five others. >> it's a big deal. >> it's huge. >> reporter: they call the action long overdue but something few will even notice. >> it will make it possible to post sig