jamel lanee' reporting live. thank you. >>> an 8 on your side alert for parents about a dangerous drug making the rounds among teenagers the. the pasco county sheriff's office issued a warning about the drug. it's a synthetic opioid that is 10,000 more potent than heroin. some of the china white or china girl. it's used to sedate elephants and other large animals. >>> two residents thes in polk county will never own animals again. that's the ruling from the judge after deputies seized more than 170 animals from a rescue. we have to warn you, you are about to see extremely disturbing images. this is undercover video from peta from darlings darlings the animals are being treated by vets. >>> two bay area scammers are off the streets this morning and won't get their hands on our personal information any time soon. one will spend eight years and six months in federal prison. the second will spend four years in prison. the two were found guilty of putting skimmers at several gas stations in hillsborough, pinellas and

jamel lanee' is lye in clearwater beach. and meteorologist leigh spann is tracking hermine and ed monitoring the conditions. but first, leigh to find out the latest on the storm's track. >> reporter: yeah, first of all, i want you to see the massive scope of what is now tropical storm hermine. again, it was downgraded but we've got rain bands up into virginia and the feederrer band through our area. recapping though, it did make land fall at 1:30 a.m. with winds of 80 miles per hour right near st. marks. and now that makes it land falling hurricane in florida in 11 years. since wilma back in 2005. since then, we've continued to see worsening conditions here in the tampa bay area. high tide that happened just after midnight between 2:00 and 3:00. and that combined with heavy rain from the feeder band, the rain band, has really kept us with flooding conditions across the communities. we are remaining under a tropical storm warning for our coastline. well, embedded in any rain band around a tropical system, you have the threat

jamel lanee' reporting live. thank you. >>> let's check in with leigh because more rain could be coming our way. >> we're so lucky that we have the repriero and look in the gulf of mexico. i mean, obviously this is going to generate more rain as tropical storm hermine heads north. current advisories still a hurricane warning for the panhandle. for us, including citrus, hernando and pasco. a tropical storm warning. that means that you could feel tropical storm-force winds within 36 hours. really within 24 because i expect you to start feeling about this time tomorrow. flood watch for the green shaded areas, everywhere close to the coast, that's until this sort of greenish-gray color here along the coast, that's not necessarily flooding from rain but higher than average tides creeping farther inland than expected and. notice rain offshore and that could continue to rotate in. so the good news, just spotty rain this morning. light rain too which is good news. gusty winds, the winds will get stronger through the day,

. >> jamel lanee is live from clearwater where organizers are work working to get the jewelry replaced. it is an important time of the the year for that to happen. >> it is. organizers say the jewelry complements the dresses and less sparkle. belle of the ball, an organization that helps teens get ready for prom has been burglarized. >> i would say shame on you. i hope it is just the young kids who did that. quick vandalism, so to speak, but you know, everybody that hears about it says shame on you. >> reporter: joe marteski came across a broken window last week. >> i came in. i saw the glass on the ground i saw jewelry on the floor. then of the jewelry had been taken. >> reporter: that jewelry was to help with hundreds of teenagers an their dresses. >> we give them jewelry to go with their dresses. it is inexpensive costume jewelry, but we purchase it. we buy jewelry for them. >> reporter: now, the nonprofit will have to use reserve fund organizers don't want this incident to take the shine away from the girls' special night. >> they spend a great deal of time and energy in trying to

definitely police deafly want to look to find -- police want to look to find this person. >> all right, jamel lanee' reporting live. thank you, jamel. >>> distracted driving is to blame for recent crashes that killed a teenager and critically hurt a toddler. news channel 8's meredyth censullo is in the news center this morning. there's an update on the awful crash on the courtney campbell causeway other the weekend. up was caused by something like this, a plastic bottle. it happened sunday night on the courtney campbell causeway when a driver dropped a bottle of gatorade. the woman leaned over to grab the bottle and plowed into a car at a stoplight. that caused a chain reaction crash. eight people were taken to hospitals including an 18-month- old girl. she has critical injuries. rob shaw with clearwater police department says it's the kind of crash that can happen on any road. >> be per hour, or 50 miles per hour, or even 30 miles per hour, you take your eyes off the road for one second and that can spell disaster. >> reporter: a crash on thursday in tampa killed an 18- year-old. fhp says the driv

paul-- >> jamel lanee' reporting live for us from hillsborough county. thank you so much. >>> happening today, the next step in recovering from hurricane hermine, cleaning up all that debris left behind by those high winds and flooding. >> yeah, starting today, crews hour days, seven days a week until it's all gone. over the weekend, federal emergency management agencies toured some of the hardest hit areas. officials estimate damage at $111 million. look that the structure. it's been hard on residents like jeffrey. his trailer destroyed by a tree. >> it would be nice because the trailer is too old for the insurance company to cover it. it all falls on me. i have to demolish the trailer and clean the property all by myself. >> if fema issues a disaster declaration for pasco county, it would give money to help homeowners but officials warn it won't pay for all the repairs. >>> and pasco county residents are joining forces to help each other recover if the hurricane. dozens of people -- recover one woman whose home was completely damaged in the flooding, s

cameras in several neighborhoods and jamel lanee joins us now from clearwater and unfortunately, the property owners still have to pay to have this stuff taken away. right jamel? >> reporter: exactly, stacie. for example, this lot, you can see right here, the owner has a few day to clean it up. even though the trash was left by someone else. icy has had a lot of cleaning to do on her property caught dumping mattresses, a sofa bed and a cash. >> sofas, chairs, roll away beds. >> reporter: it has been a major headache over the last several months. >> it has been small piles for several years. but this year, they became major piles. it became unbearable. >> reporter: unfortunately, she had to bear the expense of having it all removed. >> the largest for one removal it was just that much stuff. >> reporter: so she went to city leaders and complained. she called clearwater vice mayor bill johnson. >> he rolled through. not only did we find this pile, we found others. >> reporter: here is trash on palm bluff street. more on taft avenue. dumping continued on surrounding roads. >> and rather

jamel lanee' is live from there. jamel, how bad is it? a lot of wind there too. >> reporter: yeah, you know, good morning. since we got down here, this wind has picked up. obviously you can see how windy it is. because of how fast the wind is blowing. i want to pan around and at least show you the trees so you can get a sense of how fast the wind is blowing. again, when we got down here, the roads are not too bad at this moment. there are barricades up. so expect some flooding, probably a little bit later on today. i took a short walk on the beach. again, could barely stand on the beach. the water, the waves are splashing and basically closer to the board walk than most people would think. and there's definitely lightning out here. so a very dangerous situation. again, i can barely stand out here. it's very, very windy. again, we will keep checking in with officials to see if there's other problems as far as roadways are concerned. but right now, the wind gusts, definitely not a beach day. definitely an issue right now. the studio. >> yea

newschannel8's jamel lanee spent the day at duneden high. >> reporter: students want to be patriotic and fly their flags but principal says any loose items are a safety hazard. they say they are flying the flag out of protest. >> today, we set up this to try and stand up for ourselves as we can fly our flags. >> reporter: students say they flag down during school hours. >> people in my family have fought for this country and for me to have a right taken away from me ... um, it is kind of just like upsetting. >> reporter: school principal kyle johnson said he never said they could fly the flag. he says school's policy says any loose items on cars or truck beds are safety hazards. anything on a vehicle must be secured. >> i understand how it is a safety matt because it was going to cause a conflict. >> we never confiscated any flags. what we did do, the flags were stuck in the back of pickup trucks and they were loose. we wanted to make sure no loose items that could be picked up. >> reporter: he will let democracy decide and give the students a chance to write a new policy. >> we just

jamel lanee' is live from st. petersburg. jamel, a disturbing story. >> reporter: a very disturbing story, gene. good morning. and police say the person who did this is still out there. now it happened right here in front of this walmart on 34th hardman says he was attacked in front of the store. he says he was in the parking lot on his way into the store when the suspect stopped him and asked him for the time. he told him it was 1:00 and that's when he says he was attacked. >> got on top of me and he grabbed me around the neck and started hitting and hitting and hitting. and finally gets me to the ground and he takes my walker and starts hitting me with the walker. >> reporter: and the thief got away his wallet and even his walker. police say they have a lead though. detectives say they believe the suspect took off in this blue dodge. a witness said the license began with the letters gka. and police believe that it was a random act. they say the robber is a man between the age of 29 to 35 years old, 6 feet the tall, 200 poun

>> jamel lanee, reporting live for us tonight. thank you jamel. >>> an investigation is underway right now after a 13- year-old armed robbery suspect was shot and killed by police. officers responding to an armed robbery call chased down two suspects near the scene. 13-year-old tyrie king pulmod a weapon from his waistband and one of the officers shot king multiple times. however, reports now indicate the boy had a bibi gun, not a real gun. the officer involved in the shooting is now on administrative leave. >>> the man accused of setting a florida mosque on fire will not be getting out of jail on bond. investigators say joseph schriber is the man seen running away as flames tore through the islamic center of in prison because of his prior record. >>> florida is getting much needed help to deal with the backlog zika tests. the acceptabilitiers for disease control are sending lab technicians and lab equipment to help out. they bought more equipment to speed up the entire process. >>> as the number of cases continues to rise, so doe

another meeting with parents, school leaders and air inspectors is getting underway, newschannel8's jamel lanee is live outside the academy where the meeting is happening. and jamel, you tracked down the ceo today. what did he have to say? >> reporter: well, stacie, we went looking for him. he said the inspection company found mold on tonight, pure air control will face the fury of parents complaining about mold at the largo campus. pure air was picked by the school's board to conduct the inspection. the founder broke a promise he made a few weeks ago. >> you can go out. get your own reports for the company. independently. and i will pay for it mold inspections from a company of our choice by a parent or someone outside of the academy representation and we were denied access. >> reporter: a report from pure air states that there were no imminent health concerns. we tried calling the ceo to get answers. after the calls were not returned we found him in a restaurant parking lot headed to lunch. >> mr. crisdopolis, we have with you. you are promising the parents they can hire a company of their ch

jamel lanee live in clearwater tonight. thank you. >>> still ahead, cracking a cold case three decades later. >> coming up, how two very similar mug shots helped sarasota detectives solve a very old mystery. >> sunshine, warm temperatures, very high humidity today. just a few isolated showers to cool us off. the evening rain chances are lower than they were. we will look at your weekend forecast coming adto keep you safe. yet when a knofficer was killed in actions florida was not doing enough to give their families the help they desperately needed. dana young understood. that was wrong, so we changed that law. to ensure these families get the benefits they are entitled to and the honor they deserve. dana young has our back and she has yours. dana young for the florida senate. >> new tonight, sarasota county detective haves closed the books on a cold case that is more than 30 years in the making. we have to go all the way back to 1985 to see this man, allan doris walker paralyzing her. he was released on a promise to appear

jamel lanee shows us how they are fighting for freedom of expression. >> reporter: dunedin high school students say they are flying the american flag out of protest. >> today, we set up this to try and stand up for ourselves as we can fly our flags. >> reporter: students say they were told they had to take the flag down school principal kyle johnson said he never told them not to fly the flag. he says the school's policy says any loose items on cars or truck beds are safety hazards. anything on a vehicle must be secured. >> we never confiscated any flags. the flags were stuck in the back of the pickup trucks loose. we wanted to make sure no loose items could be picked up, swung around, hit somebody by students a chance to write a new policy. >> in our proposal, we talked about how the recognized national flags are allowed in school truck beds as long as they are secured properly so it is not a safety has. >> safety hazards. >> reporter: in dunedin, jamel lanee, newschannel8: getting through life without a car is a struggle but tonight, two homeless families are giving thanks for their

news channel 8's jamel lanee' is live in largo. jamel, good morning. residents had to be evacuated from an apartment complex yesterday. you were there all day. what are you seeing there now? >> reporter: good morning, hours make. this water from the pond was overflowing into the streets all day yesterday. and now looks like the water has receded. but the residents that live here, they don't want to take a chance being that there's more rain on the way. and now residents say they woke up to at least 3 to 4 inches of rain in their apartments yesterday morning. floors completely destroyed from the pond that sits behind the back of the units. and heavy rain caused the pond to overflow into homes and the streets and it continued on for hours. residents grabbed whaty and now others walked around and surveyed the damage. many who stayed behind the ponds say this is not new. every time heavy rain, there is heavy rain, the pond overflows and residents believe at one point, the city did fix this. >> you know, we are at the low end of the complex. the topography

news channel 8's jamel lanee' is live from largo this morning. jamel, residents had to be evacuated from the apartment complex yesterday. and you were out there all day. what are you seeing this morning? >> reporter: well, gene, i'll tell you, what a difference a couple hours make. yesterday the water was overflowing into the street. but the residents say they would rather be safe than sorry and stay away, especially with more rain on the way. residents said they woke up to 3 to 4 inches of water in the apartments yesterday morning. floors completely destroyed from the pond that sits behind their units. and heavy rain caused the rain to overflow. residents grabbed what they could and got out. and others walked around and surveyed the many who stayed behind say this is not new. every time there's heavy rain, the pond overflows and residents believe that city officials fixed it at one point. >> you know, we are at the low end of the complex. the topography of the land slopes this way. they have made attempts to keep it clear but when we get a lott

he is already facing robbery charges. >> jamel lanee live for us in saint pete. thank you jamel. >>> well, sounds like the plot from the movie armageddon. nasa will launch a probe into space to chase down an asteroid that could one day clayed with earth. osirus rex will blast off. it is expected to arrive in august of 2018. it will take a map of the asteroid and take samples and take them back to earth. amazing. >>> bourbon will now be made in florida for the first time since prohibition. it has been brewing in saint augustine about two years now. and guess what? it went on sale today. the line was outside the door all the way down the street as people patiently waited to buy a piece of history. >> hm. >>> well, they endured that, the bloomingdale bulls are newschannel8's team of the week. anthony allred shows us the plays and the play makers that put them on top. >> we are the bloomingdale bulls. >> reporter: at the home of the bloomingdale bulls it was a big party up in the stands. ? [ music ] ? >> to be honest, our band an our stands took over. >> reporter: an

and jamel lanee' live in clearwater beach. ryan hughes in cedar key. and ed bloodsworth is in tampa monitoring the conditions for us this morning. >> yeah, you mentioned it, gayle, a huge system. this extends from north carolina on the north side to the central gulf of mexico. and we are stuck in the middle as the system did make land fall at 1:30 with 80 miles per hour winds, making it a category one hurricane near st. line there. but so significant that it made land fall as a category one hurricane. believe it or not, it's been 11 years since florida has seen a land falling category one hurricane or larger. so very, very unusual to have gone that long. but now we have what is left of this system affecting the tampa bay area. we have been inundated with rain over the last two days. so the ground is saturated but with this rain band, whipping around, this center of this point, the tropical storm warnings continue for our coastline. and that means we could feel tropical storm-force winds embedded in this rain band. and also in the rain band, we have the

jamel lanee' live in clearwater beach. and ryan hughes is in cedar key this morning. and ed bloodsworth is in tampa monitoring the conditions. but first, meteorologist leigh spann tracking now tropical storm hermine with a look. >> that's right. just downgraded as of 5:00 this morning and the center has pushed into georgia. the scope of it is huge. extending basically fr now the land fall happened with 80 miles per hour winds, making it a category one hurricane at 1:30 this morning at the border of jefferson county. and now i'm going to talk about the effects on us. we have a tropical storm warning that continues for our area. that's the orange shaded communities that you see. that means tropical storm-force winds could still be felt because the feeder bands that wrap into the center of from the east coast to tampa but all the way out into the gulf of mexico. and this will continue to rotate onshore. not only because of the heavy rain that's going to fall but embedded in a feeder band, you get a lot of rotation. that's why the tornado watch continues for citrus, herna

jamel lanee' is live now from the hillsborough county fire- rescue where officials will be talking about troy whitaker later on today. jamel-- >> reporter: good morning, paul. yeah, we're expect update on troy whitaker's position here at the department. the status of his job. the hillsborough county fire officials will speak about that later on today. they are expected to after whitaker was arrested friday on aggravated manslaughter charges. and now deputies say whitaker was taking his children to school on friday morning. whitaker dropped the 5-year-old daughter off first. and investigators say he was and detectives say he returned home around 8:30 friday morning with the child still strapped in the car seat. whitaker made a trip to the grocery store around 3:30 that afternoon and deputies say when he returned from the store that he noticed the infant and began cpr. >> it's not an intentional act. i'm not saying it but i'm saying you have to be responsible for your kid. you can't leave them in the car for eight hours >> reporter: again, now whitaker is charged with aggravated manslaught

jamel lanee' has the latest on thar gene. well, now crime stoppers offering a $3,000 reward to help catch the gunman. it was right here in the parking lot of this walmart where that victim was shot and it in the arm. detectives say the victim jake everett was driving east on state road 54 when everett says the driver in front of him suddenly brake checked him several times. now the driver in an older model black sufficient then followed everett into the walmart parking lot where investigators say the person round. and the bullet hit everett in the arm causing minor injuries and everett says he never saw it coming. >> he pulled up and he stopped and then all of -- i couldn't see him -- all -- it was just dark. and then all of a sudden, boom. it felt like a real -- a sting. like it was so quick and i was so amped up with adrenalin. >> reporter: now the bullet also hit everett's taillight. shooter had a dog in the passenger seat with him. and everett and his girlfriend say they are happy that her child was not in the backseat of

jamel lanee' is live in largo. and jamel, you spoke to a driver that got pushed into a ditch by flood waters. >> reporter: yeah, i did. he and his wife, they barely made it out. rescue had to jump in and basically make this -- get them out of the car safely. and it was all captured on dramatic cellphone video. now this was around 8:30 yesterday morning. the man tells me that he was georgia street in largo when the flood water basically carried his vehicle into a ditch. and you can see how high that water is. almost completely submerged the suv and the man finds a way out but his wife is trapped inside. a woman who lives on the corner just came back from dropping her daughter off from school. she and a friend captured crews as they went into action to save the woman inside the vehicle. >> the husband was out but the wife -- afters an old cup and with there. and they were trying to help her get out. and as she was -- they were helping her get out, the car was sinking, like really fast. >> reporter: now of course she w

more than 215 million gal jamel lanee's of radioactive water ended up in the aquifer. no one told people who live around the plant and drink well water here. it took 19 days before the public was notified. tampa bay water is getting water from the area and that concerns this scientist. >> if they're pumping that much water, i guarantee you, that than they're estimating. >> reporter: tampa bay water confirms two of the eastern most pumps in the well field boarding area are off and will stay off to protect the public water supply. governor rick scott expected to be here around 11:30. he will get a tour of the plant and sinkhole and brief reporters not too long after that, gayle. back to you. >> when there's an emergency of this magnitude, people need to know immediately. all right, thank you, ryan. > and right now, the murder of a local rap artist. police in haines city are investigating the shooting death of jonathan jordan. investigators know who pulled the trigger but the man isn't under arrest. he is claiming self-defense. jordan was an aspiring rapper who went by th

. >> jamel lanee is live from clearwater where organizers are work working to get the jewelry replaced. it is an important time of the the year for that to happen. >> it is. organizers say the jewelry complements the dresses and

news channel 8's jamel lanee' is live from pasco county this morning where the shooting took place. if >> reporter: good morning, gayle. well, the road rage incident started out on land o'lakes this parking lot here at the walmart. this is where detectives say the suspect armed himself with a shotgun and pulled the trigger. now detectives say the victim jake everett was driving east on state road 54 when everett says the driver in front of him suddenly brake checked him several times and the driver in an older model suv then followed him into the walmart parking lot. and now that's where investigators say this person fired a shot, at least one the bullet hit everett in the arm causing minor injuries. everett says he is just happy his girlfriend's daughter was not in the backseat. >> were you scared? >> i mean, i didn't really know what was going on. but after the fact, yeah, it was scary. very scary thing. >> reporter: now crime stoppers is offering $3,000 to help bring in the shooter. detectives say that this person model suv. and had a dog in the passenger seat. and again, if you

jamel lanee' reporting live. thank you. >>> two bay area scammers off the streets this morning and personal information any time soon. one will spend eight years and six months in federal prison. the second will spend four years in prison. the two were found guilty of putting skimmers on several gas stations in hillsborough, pinellas and sarasota counties. >>> two residents in polk county will never own animals again. that's the ruling from a judge after deputies seized more than 170 animals from a rescue. we have to warn you, what you are about to see is extremely ur this is undercover video from peta at darlings darlings animal rescue. the eveners are facing more than 100 animal negligent charges. the animals are being treat bid vets. >>> happening today, this morning we are expected to learn more about an elderly man who may have died due to negligence by a pinellas county nursing home. >> this happened back in may in pinellas park. newsroom this morning. meredyth, what's the latest in this case? >> reporter:

jamel lanee joins us live. these ploys are charged. jeff patterson? >> reporter: yeah, good evening keith, the medical exam per ruled this case a homicide because of the way kenneth wisham died here. now all the employees involved manslaughter. wal-mart security video shows 64-year-old kenneth in the aisles of the store lifting his jacket and putting things under it. as he starts to leave the store, he is confronted by wal- mart employees. now, a lakeland police interview with the employees tells us what was going on here. >> describe him for me. >> homeless looking. white male. >> reporter: customer service manager tells police she and when he ran, they chased him. nunez told police she knocked the 64-year-old over as he ran. >> the guy was fighting. he was not stopping or quitting. >> reporter: she and two other employees then held him down. >> he was fighting saying let me go. i didn't do anything. i didn't do anything. i think at one point, he did say i can't breathe. >> reporter: she even admitted to police she knows this is against store policy.

jamel lanee' is live from pasco county with the latest on the search. jamel-- >> reporter: good morning, gene. yeah, crime stop theres now offering $3,000 to help catch the gunman. the shot was fired right here in this parking lot of this walmart. that's when the bullet hit this person in the arm. detectives say that the victim jake everett was driving east on state road 54 when everett suddenly brake checked him several times. and the driver in an older model black suv then followed everett into the walmart parking lot where investigators say the person fired at least one shotgun round. and now the bullet hit him in the arm causing minor injuries and he says he never saw it coming. >> he pulled up and he stopped. and i couldn't see him. all-- it was just dark. and then all of a sudden, boom. it like it was so quick. and i was so amped up with adrenalin. >> reporter: now the bullet also hit everett's taillight. pasco county detectives say the shooter had a dog in the passenger seat with him. and everett and his girlfriend say they are happy that her chi

jamel lanee' on clearwater beach. and ed bloodsworth is in tampa monitoring the conditions for us. first, leigh with a look at the latest. >> that's right. t's look at where hurricane hermine is. came on land as a category one hurricane in florida in 11 years. and st. marks is around the border of jefferson county. and now the center has moved up into georgia, north of i-10. leaving in its wake of course locally we have the tropical storm warnings for citrus, pasco, hillsborough and pinellas, coastal areas of manatee and sarasota counties. what does that mean? it means you could feel tropical storm-force winds. even thouge are wrapping the feeder bands around the system which includes strong winds and rotation. the possibility of seeing tornadoes. we have a tornado watch mainly for areas from tampa and st. pete and northward. and that's where we have the threat for tornadoes as the strong feeder bands or the strong rain bands rotate in off the gulf of mexico and around hurricane hermine. a flood watch continues for our coastal areas as well. and we've been at high tide still going

news channel 8's jamel lanee' is live from hillsborough county fire-rescue with the latest on this investigation. jamel-- >> reporter: good morning, gayle. well, like you said, the father of the child troy whitaker is out of jail. pinellas county sheriff says infant in a hot car that reached up to 108 is irresponsible. and deputies say he was taking his children to school friday morning. he dropped off his 5-year-old daughter first and was supposed to drop off the 23-month-old lawson at a day care center. and detectives say with the child strapped in the backseat, in his car seat, whitaker made a run to publix and then returned home, leaving the child in the car until he was discovered sometime friday afternoon. whitaker tried to give him cpr and the child was pronounced dead at the hospital. law experts say the charge is appropriate because he is a first responder and left the child in the car for hours. >> there's a difference between losing track of a kid for 30 seconds, a minute, verses four to six hours of being locked up in the car. especially if he was in the paramedic field. i'm sure he'

jamel lanee' joins us live with the latest on this investigation. >> reporter: good morning, gayle. again, that firefighter, the on a bond. and again, pinellas county sheriff saying that he is not saying that this may have been intentional but he's saying obviously leaving an infant in a car that reached up to 1508 degrees is irresponsible. deputies say whitaker was taking the children to school friday morning. he dropped his 5-year-old daughter off first. and was then supposed to drop off lawson at day care. detectives say with the child still strapped in the car seat, he made a run then returned home. leaving the 23-month-old in the car until he was discovered around 4:30 friday afternoon. now whitaker tried to give him cpr. the child was pronounced dead at the hospital. experts say an aggravated manslaughter charge is appropriate because he is a first responder and left the child in a hot car for hours. >> there's a difference the between losing track of a kid for 30 seconds, a minute, verses four to six hours of paramedic field. i'm sure he's countless times he may have been in

>> all right, jamel lanee' live in polk county, thank you. >>> now zika in your backyard. >> the aggressive fight against the zika virus is working. earlier today the cdc lifted its travel wynwood neighborhood after governor rick scott declared the area zika free. the wynwood neighborhood became the first u.s. city where zika was transmitted locally by mosquitoes. that was two months ago. but today scott said that the neighborhood had not recorded a case of zika in the last 45 days. >> how did we do it? aggressing the mosquito control efforts. everybody came together and thought how do we get rid of these mosquitoes? residence, the businesses, the county health department, everybody came together. >> public health experts say it is just a small victory though. and also new today the state reported another travel-related case in polk county and two more non-travel related cases in miami dade. >>> and still ahead tonight, he paid for life insurance for his mother for nearly four decades. >> but u when he went to cash in, the money wasn't there. that's when you call behnken. >>> we'll see if t

jamelle lanee' attended a news conference today. >> polk county school board leaders wrapped up a press conference here at west middle school. school officials need help. they're asking community leaders, parents, to come forth and students at these schools. they are being placed on improvement plans, as required by the state board of education. the schools are in jeopardy of shutting down if their grades don't improve. several community and business partners have reached out to the district to say they're committed to saving these schools. >> frankly, our most precious assess are our children. we can't ignore them. we have to give them the best education possible. to making that happen. no matter what, no matter where we go, these schools will not close. >> polk county school board leaders plan to present an updated plan to the state board of education by october . >> all right. starting now, district leaders say teachers at the failing schools will get additional training courses. the state board of education will meet in tallahassee come friday. polk county officials will not be at m

and now as news channel 8's jamel lanee' shows us, other drivers are keeping their eyes peeled for this guy. >> reporter: crime stoppers and pasco county deputies now asking assistance. crime stoppers is offering $3,000 to anyone that can give more information. it happened here in the parking lot of this walmart on land o'lakes boulevard. the victim was in the parking lot of this walmart whena und was fired from the shotgun and hit him in the arm. now detectives say the victim jake everett was driving east on state road 54 when everett says the driver in front of him suddenly brake-checked him several times. everett into this walmart parking lot where investigators say the person fired at least one shotgun round. and the bullet hit everett in the arm, causing minor injuries. customers shopping here today say they can't believe it. >> i think it's really bad out there, the road rage. and i personally would not ever beep my horn at anybody because i'm scared of that. how people are out there. >> reporter: everett and his girlfriend say they are just happy that her daughter was not in she

and we have jamel lanee' live this morning. tell us what's happening there, jamel. >> reporter: good morning, gene and gayle. again, as you said earlier, this street, that lake that's next to the neighborhood is flooding into this neighborhood street. this is dr. martin luther king, jr. street. and highlands street here in st. petersburg. i've talked to several neighbors. they told me at 4:30 in started to creep into the neighborhood and they saw an alligator swimming down the middle of the street. residents are now moving their cars out of the way because again this water is creeping up closer and closer to the doorways. so again, we have seen a lot of st. petersburg officials out here, turning around and they're keeping the barricades up, telling people, turn around, don't drown. >> and as i say when we're covering storms like this, my pet peeve is, if you encounter something like this, if tough drive through it, so you don't displace that water and create a mess for other people. >> in many cases, it's best not to drive throu

reporting inindian shores, jamel lanee', news channel 8. >>> st. petersburg's mayor says while the city was prepared the aftermath is still very bad. >> he had a strong safety let's take a listen. >> keep out of the water. don't let your kids play in the water. there could be power lines in the water. there could be snakes. in this area there could even be alligators. and the water could be contaminated. >> we actually did spot a gait tour in one of our live shots yesterday near lake mcgory. the mayor urged people to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. no storm related deaths have petersburg, but you have to be careful out there for sure. >> and there's a whole lot of damage in the panhandle as well. >> our capital borrow reporter matt went to one of the neighborhoods in tallahassee cleaning up this morning. >> reporter: we're here on delqaid drive in tallahassee, a five or 10-minute drive away from downtown. two trees came out of the ground last night while hermine was wreaking havoc on the city. you can see where it snapped right from

well, jamel lanee' coming toes from indian shores where a fire apparently started somewhere around 6:30 this morning. i know you will keep us updated and we will check back shortly. >> and now we want to check in the comments on social media. a lot of people talking about hermine and what it's doing to the area. >> yeah, no doubt trending. no surprise here. of course, we've had numerous tweets sent in. really over the last 24, 36 hours. really since the onset of the event. and several of the emergency management folks have been tweeting out reminders to residents and. of course, we have been passing these along to you as well. so pinellas certainly reminding folks there's a lot of flooding and even just some of the flood waters that don't really look that deep, they warn folks, do not walk through flooding that you see here because a good reminder, it only takes 6 inches of moving water to knock you off your feet. doesn't take as much as you think it does. only a foot of water to lift up a small vehicle. so again, flood waters still going to be an issue, even into this afternoon. and