steve andrews has more information and he joins us from our tampa news center. hi steve. >> reporter: hi stacie, the sink hole opened beneath the compartment of the gypsum stack. eagle 8 hd flew over the sink hole a few hours ago. you water flowing into it. we flew directly over it and you can just not see the bottom. now, the sink hole opened august 27. mosaic says 215 million gallons of contaminated water went directly into the aquifer beneath the stack. the water is slightly radioactive and contains phosphoric acid. the company has a large pulling contaminated water out of the aquifer and pushing it back into the plant where it will be used to process the fertilizer. they have an extensive network of monitoring wells they say and the contaminated network has not reached the monitoring wells indicating much of it has been captured. the florida department of environmental protection was mosaic has notify first-degree federal eps as well as polk county. we have a crew on the way. this gypsum stack was built back in the 90s with a liner. but when a sink hole devel

if rick scott kept this potential health threat quiet, steve andrews tells us gwen graham calls it all unacceptable. >> reporter: after touring the sinkhole site in mulberry earlier this week, fumbled answering one simple question: governor, when did you find out about the water loss incident? >> jerry can get you the time line -- >> reporter: was it 24 hours after it happened? his office later claimed governor scott was not informed of this potential environmental disaster until after 8 on your side broke the story. his own department of environmental protection knew the dark. congress woman gwen graham has following our reports. following our report that is 215 million-gallons of radio active water contaminated the aquifer, they started testing the wells of nearby homes. pinellas county is monitoring lakes and stream sampling and making sure and protecting our citizens than waiting to hear from someone else that something is going on. >> reporter: steve andrews, news channel 8. >>> tonight a polk county man is behind bars for illegally using a milk crate. tim though troller is charge

steve andrews is live with this incredible story. steve? >> reporter: hey rod and stacie. good evening to you. one of those stories happened right here in seffner on florida avenue. how these people managed to overnight i will never know. but take a look at this. this tree split in two. and then one-half just hammered this business. and about 4:00 a.m., this huge 100-year-old oak split. half of it crashed down on this building that housed a lawn mower business. the roof and ceiling collapsed on a sleeping 77-year-old dale collier. brother ron showed up for work around 8:00. >> i didn't recognize the place because the tree had fell on the building there. >> reporter: dale dig out, but then ron says it was another close call. >> he got out. and crossed over a little fence there. and the electric wire was charged and it shocked him up to his elbow. >> reporter: he refused medical treatment. three-and-a-half miles away, 35- year-old reuben hamilton and his wife picked through what is left of their home. reuben's crushed truck was his way in and out. then everything went quiet.

tonight, senior investigative reporter steve andrews said he did not want to address the issue on camera. >> reporter: fact, this seasonnic hole opened august 27. it dumped 215 million dollars of radioactive water into fact, dep denied mo mosaic did not announce it until three weeks later. the government is defending dep. >> they started the investigation right after they were notified. they are continuing to do that investigation. if somebody has done anything wrong, we will hold them accountable. >> but they didn't notify the public. >> they started their investigation immediately. >> reporter: it is dep's contention it is not legally young. >> well, if dep doesn't today have a legal obligation to inform the public we need to change the law and make sure that they have a requirement to inform the public. >> reporter: fact, mosaic apologized for trying to keep the secret. fact, when confronted, dep couldn't whisk away a chuckling deputy secretary gary clark fast enough. >> who is going to lose their job over this? >> they did their jo starting the investigation immediately. they will co

steve andrews tells us that does not apply to agency that kept the mulberry sinkhole quiet for weeks. >> reporter: for 19 days, the florida department of environmental protection kept this from the public. a sinkhole, swallowed 215,000,000 gallons of radioactive contaminated water. it dumped that load into the aquifer, potentially threatening the wells of nearby homes. on thursday, i grilled the governor about a little secret. >> within 24 hours after being notified, they started the investigation. are they getting special treatment? absolutely not. >> reporter: the governor announced changes. within 24 hours, dep come a local governments and the general public must be notified of pollution by all responsible parties. until the sinkhole is plugged, sandy nettles told me via skype, contamination of the aquifer will continue. >>ry is more material going down that sinkhole. >> reporter: mosaic and dep estimate the plume of contaminants is moving at 30,000 feet per week. areas bordering the area will be shut off to protect water supply. the tampa bay water is drawing 14.5 million gallons

steve andrews reports that the government agencies have been silent on this one. >> reporter: who is watching to make sure the contaminated water that full through this sink hole is kept out of our water supply? mosaic apologized for not being up front, but after sitting for 19 days on millions of gallons of radioactive water dropping into the aquifer, they have trust issues. >> will anyone be fired for this? >> we will not get that right now. >> reporter: polk county failed to notify the public too. commissioners i have spoken with said it was up to mosaic to make the information public. >> constituents don't elect county commission. and, the county commissioners, polk county government didn't let the public know. it is your responsibility suspect it? >> morally, yes. >> reporter: in tallahassee, dep, the agency responsible for guarding our environment, couldn't risk deputy director carry clark fast enough from our mike vasilinda. >> we can set something up later. >> no we can't. we have tried to reach you for days and you do not return our calls and you are avoiding us again. i jus

society contends it is saving thousands of animals bringing them to tampa bay and local rescues tell steve andrews that bad news for hillsborough county's cats and dogs. steve? >> reporter: josh, there's only so much room at the shelterment without a peep out of one of them. they agreed to pay the humane society of tampa bay about 100 grand to keep strays out of the pound. the problem, some say, is some animals they are importing are ending up there too. the humane society of tampa bay is dedicated to homelessness and providing care for others. that is one reason it rescues puppies from georgia and other states. local rescues contend these imports are causing problems for the local animals. after a thursday county commission meeting, humane society scared off over this issue. >> you are not doing any good by pulling these puppies and bringing them to hillsborough where they end up back in the shelter. >> but they don't. >> no. >> yes they do. >> i'm not going to, argue with you on camera. >> reporter: according to its own figures, the humane society has shipped in nearly 10,000 dogs and cats to be

water swallowed by a sink hole at a phosphate plant. 8 on your side reporter steve andrews exposed it all last night. tonight, steve has your update. >> reporter: the sink hole beneath this gypsum stack opened august 27. it sucked 215 million gallons of radioactive water into the aqfe how deep was this go? no one knows for sure. the immediate concern. >> threat to the public. >> there is no threat to the public. >> reporter: the water was in a containment pool. it was used to produce fertilizer. the mission, contain contaminated water on mosaic's new plant. stop it from spreading to the wells of neighbors like jen. >> i am not too concerned now. i have been here long enough to was designed to capture the plume. >> it is starting to detect traces. >> reporter: what's the plan to fix the hole? do what they did in 1994 and again in 2004 when sink holes opened on this property. inject a stabilizing cement or grout. fill the hole. the florida department of environmental protection is the lead government agency monitoring this incident. dep points out mosaic notified all the agencies but no

investigative reporter steve andrews exposed it last night. he joins us now live above that sink hole from eagle 8 hd. hi steve. >> reporter: hey stacie, a couple of points i want to make off the top is mosaic said there is no evidence that the sink hole is growing or endangers other water come apartments of the gypsum stack. but, let's take a look. let's zoom in just a little bit here. this crevice just to the bottom right of your screen, wasn't so, it looks like part of the wall is either collapsing or possibly this thing is expanding a little bit. second point, recovering that 215 million gallons of contaminated water from the aquifer is a process that will take years. the sink hole beneath the gypsum stack opened august 27. into the aquifer. how deep does this go? no one knows for sure. the immediate concern? >> threat to the public. >> there is no threat to the public. >> reporter: the water was in a containment pool used to help produce fertilizer. the mission, contain contaminated water. stop it from spreading to the wells of neighbors.

until 8 on your side investigative reporter steve andrews got involved this was a case of left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing. >> reporter: in 1970, rich kinkade was in the army. he was shipped to vietnam. rich was a medic assigned to an anti-aircraft unit providing been exposed to the toxic herbicide agent orange. heart disease is linked to that exposure. >> a flunked a fire department physical in 2007 because i had heart disease. >> reporter: he filed a claim for service connected disability. the examiner said he had coronary artery disease. the va wanted more tests but never scheduled them. in august 2011, rich sent a letter asking when the tests could be scheduled. >> respond at all to that. >> so didn't get a yes, didn't get a no. >> just got no answer. >> reporter: a few months later the va rejected his claim saying you do not have a diagnosis of heart disease. >> it was by some bureaucrat based upon apparently an opinion of a doctor that i had never met. >> reporter: rich appealed the denial. last year, va doctors performed open heart surgery on rich. he had advan

that is until senior investigative reporter steve andrews broke this story last week. steve is joining us live tonight. one again in eagle 8hd above that sink all this water. so is the hole growing or not, steve? what is it looking like tonight? >> well, i'll show you in a second, keith. but according to mosaic, the sinkhole shows no signs of growing there. no indication that says that the company says that other containment pools are in danger. but let's take a look down at this here. the contaminated water continues to flow into the sinkhole. of the walls. now when we first discovered this on thursday, we saw only a round part of the hole. now look the hole has elongated, it has widened. is that from erosion from the contaminated water that is still flowing into this thing? or is it getting bigger? according to mosaic, that's not the case. on the ground, mosaic is trying to delay fears. >> reporter: testing maxwell's house today to take samples of water from his wells. >> i'm scared to death what it has already done to me and to my neighbors out here. >> reporter: sca

swallow millions of gallons of radioactive water at a mosaic plant in mulberry. 8 on your side steve andrews tells us tonight that there is action on the ground to help ease the fears of neighbors. >> reporter: technician showed up at james maxwell's house in lithia to take samples of water from his well. >> i'm scared to death what it already has done to me and my neighbor >> reporter: scared because he lives near their mosaic new wales plant in mulberry. a sinkhole sucked 215 million gallons of radioactive contaminated water into the aquifer, our source of drinking water. >> i'm not saying that they don't do that lightly. >> reporter: no one informed the public until 8 on your side broke the news. james' well is at least one of 40 mosaic plants to test for about a couple of things. first what might be upset headed towards their wells and second the government knew about it and didn't tell them. mosaic hired ett a tampa company to take samples. expect results within a day or two. denise todd lives five minutes from the new wales plant. >> i think we should have been told immediately. >> rep

. >> reporter: i'm steve andrews in hillsborough county. at 4:00 a.m., this huge 400- year-old oak split. half of it crashed down on a mower business. it fell where dale was sleeping. it was a close call. >> he got out. crossed over a little fence there and the electric wire was charged and it shocked him all the way up to his elbow. >> reporter: three-and-a-half miles away. 35-year-old reuben hamilton and his wife picked through what is left of their home. thursday night, about 7:00, rain pounded, then everything went quiet. >> just like that. everything came tumbling down. >> reporter: a tree crushed the roof. ll in which his seven-year-old daughter slept. reuben crawled in and pulled her to safety. steve andrews, newschannel8. >>> a power outage caused a tampa waste water treatment plant to waste nearly a million gallons of partially treated sewage into tampa bay. eagle 8 hd flew into the area and it took ten minutes to bring the city's standby power generator online. >>> hermine brought down power lines throughout the bay area. look at

steve andrews reporting. and we want to take you to a live picture of governor rick mulberry in polk county. again, the governor just arriving and on his way right now to the sinkhole that has caused so many problems and has so many people in the area and really throughout the state concerned and upset. we will see if the governor makes any remarks by the end of the newscast. if that happen, we will bring that to you live if possible. so stay with us for that. governor rick scott making his way to the sinkhole. >>> now, donald trump and hillary rodham clinton are back on the campaign trail after last debate. the two clashed on everything from job creation, race relations and even birthism. the question now, did either candidate win over new voters? nbc reports. >> reporter: it didn't take long for the friendliness to fade away. with democrat hillary rodham clinton trying to connect with the middle class, hitting donald trump hard on his tax plan and blasting him for not releasing his tax returns. >> maybe he

steve andrews broke the story 12 days ago. and once again, today, steve is pressing the governor for answers. >> reporter: expectations for high today. the governor's ounce announces he is meeting at the sink hole site. helicopters buzzing him around. the press is expecting an explanation. what did he deliver? a whole a quick helicopter tour provided governor scott with a bird's eye view of the sink hole causing concern in mulberry. mosaic and the department of environmental protection briefed the governor on monitoring and capturing hundreds of millions of gallows of contaminated water that slipped into the aquifer when this thing opened in august. neither mosaic nor dep told neighbors about this for 19 followed an outdated law that didn't require sharing contamination information with the public. >> but that law didn't say dep shouldn't notify the public did it? >> no. the bottom line is, you know, we will have notification. we will doubt within 24 hours. >> reporter: following our report, governor scott issued an emergency r

our steve andrews will be at the meeting this morning with polk county commissioners and you can attend there as well. if you want to be there, here's what you need to know. it's happening at the polk county commission chambers in bartow at 330 west church street at 9:00 a.m. >>> now also if you live near the plant and want them to test your water, here's the number you need to call, 813-500-6575. again, 813-500-6575. and we have this number posted on our website, wfla.com. >>> high-ranking state lawmakers are calling a special meeting today in st. petersburg water problem. the city dumped millions of gallons of waste water into tampa bay during and after hurricane hermine. emails from the city waste water plant operator and a consultant report appear to show the city was warned about the problem beforehand but ignored it. instead of of pass ago long the report and the concerns, a city manager asked the person sending the emails to stop copying everyone on the subject. the state called for today's special meeting. >>> and tampa bay is taking center stage in the next zika virus event hap

steve andrews joins us now. the dumping we find out did not stop there. >> reporter: that is right. the spread the wealth. the first place we caught wind of this, ridge manor. >> if you think this looks bad, you should smell it. >> the smell would make you sick. >> reporter: i mean get a good whiff. the smell is terrible, naus yating. >> south waste dropped load after load of sewage solids on the restaurant. according to the state,ment company was not permitted to dump here. state records obtained by 8 on your sideshowed why they needed to hold their nose. they dropped 46 loads here. >> they first exposed this problem in august. we went to south waste and seeking some statement. >> can we ask some questions about ridge manor? >> no >> no comment. you can follow-up with thdep. >> dumping dilemma. they put it on three other tracks of land all on lake county. 11 loads. 34 loads in one pasture. 96 loads in other. >>> so i called the company's answers. hoton for some possession. she insists it started in mid june and it went up to seven loads that were dumped on the pasture. the records

and now steve andrews tells us polk county also knew about the incident and failed to go of the sinkhole at mosaic september 9th, a week before we broke the story yet they contend dep didn't live up to its responsibility to notify neighbors. the commission chair contends the ball was in dep's court when they learned of the leak into the aquifer. >> polk county has -- we're pre- empted by fdep. they are monitoring. >> reporter: this mosaic big-wigs expressed regret for sitting on the information for 19 days. >> i deeply regret and apologize for not providing that information sooner. >> reporter: they assured county commissioners the water has not traveled beyond its property line. polk county does not have the expertise to make sure that the company is doing what they say they'll do. they must rely on the dep which commissioners say they haven't heard from. back to you. >> and now an emergency landing overnight. >>> we're told landing gear on an american airlines flight wouldn't come down 'til just before it landed. this video shows passengers on the runway at tampa international airport.

senior investigative reporter steve andrews broke the story wide open and joins us with more on the contaminated little secret. >> keith, our reports persuaded them to apologize for not informing neighbors for the environmental catastrophe. remains silent about its silence. >>>when this hole swallowed 215 million gallons, it dumped them. neighbors in lithia like james maxwell are on edge. >> i'm scared to death what its already done to me and them. >> my neighbors are here. >> in addition to keeping neighbors in the dark waited until the 11th disaster to contact the commissioner stacey white. >> i was briefed by the official in the evening at. >> even the agency that helps guard the environment was kept in the dark. >> we did not hear from mosaic. we heard from the news like everybody else. >> what's more shocking is florida's department of environmental protection as well. >> we were not notified by d.e. we heard the news. >> deputy secretary gary clark laughed it off when we confronted him about d.e.p.'s black out. >so tell me, why should the department have done more? >> what's not so funny i

steve andrews broke the story 12 days ago. and once again, today, steve is pressing the governor for answers. >> reporter: expectations for high today. the governor's ounce announces he is meeting at the sink hole site. helicopters buzzing him around. the press is expecting an explanation. what did he deliver? a whole a quick helicopter tour provided governor scott with a bird's eye view of the sink hole causing concern in mulberry. mosaic and the department of environmental protection briefed the governor on monitoring and capturing hundreds of millions of gallows of contaminated water that slipped into the aquifer when this thing opened in august. neither mosaic nor dep told neighbors about this for 19

that is until senior investigative reporter steve andrews broke this story last week. steve is joining us live tonight. one again in eagle 8hd above that sink all this water. so is the hole growing or not, steve? what is it looking like tonight? >> well, i'll show you in a second, keith. but according to mosaic, the sinkhole shows no signs of growing there. no indication that says that the company says that other containment pools are in danger. but let's take a look down at this here. the contaminated water continues to flow into the sinkhole.

. >> steve andrews, news channel 8. >> the v.a. decided he is entitled to a 50% disability. he believes he is entitled to neuropathy prevents him from working at all. >>> that is a beautiful view here. getting closer to sunset. 86degrees now. the humidity is a little lower so just a pleasant night there on the golf course. everything moving east to west. not seeing much in the way of showers farther south. that is when we did see earlier showers around venice and north port keeping those temperatures down a little bit, but otherwise a warm day. yes, the air has been drier but it has been warm. >>> as summer here, our tampa rainfall meteorological summer, the surplus there 9 inches plus. as we look at the rainfall, so far, since september 1st tampa international airport 1 1/2 inches plus above normal. that is good news. quite a bit of rain in here. we don't like any kind of damage that comes along with tropical weather like we have atmosphere. that is the red. that is largely why we're not seeing shower activity. deeper moisture to the south is where most of the rain and clou

. >> steve andrews broke the story about this dirty little secret following his reports and they are testing the wells of neighbors nearby. >> we got more today from those tests. they show radioactive water that fell into the aqua fur did not reach the wells of neighbors yet. >>> james maxwell now knows water taken from his well for testing met federal and, state drinking water standards. at least that is what the company hired bire mosaic told him. >> he said the water i tested last monday is okay. >> [ laughter ] i guess that remains to be seen. >> reporter: according to ec t incorporated test results today show radioactive water that went in to the awe qui fur did not reach the wells by the time the samples were not taken. that doesn't mean they are in the clear. >> the results are a snapshot of what that well was producing on monday, the 19th. >> reporter: our investigation confirmed for 19 days p mosaic nor department told the neighbors it moseed on their wells. who else did they keep this from? >> governor out about this? jer remember can get you the time lane. >> 24 hours afte

steve andrews has more information and he joins us from our tampa news center. hi steve. >> reporter: hi stacie, the sink hole opened beneath the compartment of the gypsum stack. eagle 8 hd flew over the sink hole a few hours ago. you water flowing into it. we flew directly over it and you can just not see the bottom. now, the sink hole opened august 27. mosaic says 215 million gallons of contaminated water went directly into the aquifer beneath the stack. the water is slightly radioactive and contains phosphoric acid. the company has a large

steve andrews joining us live with answers to a lot of questions about this ambitious plan. $250 >> reporter: oh, yeah. it's just the beginning, keith. the projected cost of this plan may run over a half billion dollars. and a couple of -- people in a couple parts of the city may not be taxed at all. >> reporter: the plan? put an end to scenes like this in ten years. >> we can't afford to ignore this problem any longer. >> reporter: how do we pay for it? not what randy portella wants to hear. >> i've lived in my house for 30 years. for the first time, i can't pay my property tax. >> reporter: they promise the city will work with those hard pressed. >> we do need hundreds of millions to address this. but the cost to citizens is, you know, the price of a cup of coffee these days. >> reporter: is this a fact? this won't apply to property owners here on harbor island in new tampa because they have self-contained storm water drainage systems. how much will this really cost? >> about a $250 million investment. it will go a very, very long way to alleviate our pipes. >> reporter: well, that's not q

. >>> chief meteorologist steve andrews joins us now. steve jerve. were there some storms popping up outside? >> we had a few, but they are not widespread. >> so it should be painfully hot outside. >> sure, that's what you are hoping for right? >> you know how i love it. >> you love the heat. but it is not so special without the humidity. >> i know. it is the perfect combination. >> so you are si when it cools down you will be so bummed. >>> 84 degrees in new port richey. no rainfall in this location. the clouds have helped to hold back the temperatures a little bit. but the humidity has been veryings very high of late. showers an storms mostly closer to the east coast as a tropical wave there. a few showers can still develop associated with this tropical wave that is actually kind of strengthening a little bit in terms of its potential for national hurricane center. there you see the thunderstorm activity right along i-4. you can see just around polk city. and east of that, heading toward osceola county. around lakeland, too, no doubt, some folks al

about dep's lack of transparency environmental nightmare that has senior investigative reporter steve andrews interested. >> reporter: you know, we know and we reported dep is all over the sink hole business. what we don't know the why the agency charged with guarding our environment kept this contaminated secret. fact. this sink hole opened august 27. fact. it dumped 215 million gallons of radioactive water into the inform neighbors until after 8 on your side exposed this potential environmental disaster three weeks later. the governor is defending dep. >> within 24 hours after they were notified, they started the investigation, they are continuing actively to do that investigation. if somebody has done anything wrong, we will hold them accountable. >> they didn't notify the public. >> they started their investigation immediately. that are working to put the information out as quickly as possible. >> reporter: sure, now that we brough dep is sharings information with the neighbors. >> they have a right to know if their drinking watt sir potentially contaminated. there is no excuse for not be

our steve andrews will be at the meeting with polk county commissioners and you can be there too. if you would like to attend, it's happening at the polk county commission chambers in bartow at 3:30 west church street at >>> also, if you live near plant and want mosaic to test your water, here is the number to call. 813-500-6575. and we have posted that on our website, wfla.com. >>> high ranking state lawmakers are calling a special meeting today in st. petersburg to discuss what exactly is going on with the city's waste tampa bay during and after hurricane hermine. email from the city waste water plant operator and a consultant appear to show the city was warned about the problem beforehand but ignored it. instead of passing along the report and the concern, the city manager asked the person sending the the emails to stop copying everyone on the subject. the state representatives called for today's special meeting. >>> and in our continuing coverage of zika virus in yo backyard, tampa bay is taking center stage in the next zika virus prevention event today at st. petersburg colle

steve andrews exposed their contaminated secret and he is here with an important update. >> reporter: keith, according to mosaic, it is now all about rebuilding trust. well, after hundreds of radioactive water were swallowed by a sink hole dumped into the aquifer and you don't say anything to neighbors for 19 days i would say it is all about rebuilding trust, too. when this sink hole opened august 27, mosaic notified all government agencies it was supposed to. it did not notify neighbors. the secret got out last week when 8 on your side confirmed 215 million gallons of radioactive water used to into the aquifer possibly endangering the drinking water of neighbors. so the vice president apologized today to the polk county commission. >> we realize we could have done a better job in providing timely notification to our neighbors and the broader community. >> reporter: mosaic is now paying for and testing the wells of neighbors concerned about the integrity of their water. they are trying to build trust. >> i deeply regret and apologize that i didn't come forward and communicate with the

region alone, 26,000 veterans are waiting for the va to hear appeals, following a couple stories by steve andrews, one veteran moved from number 12,000 to the top of the list. fighting the enemy is tough enough. you shouldn't have to come home and fight the department of veteran's affairs. >> my feet are numb, handerize numb. >> navy veteran, rob, struggled with his balance and the va. the va rejected his claim that exposure to agent orange debilitated him. >> i can't feel with these hands. >> his friend informed 8 on your side that rod was 12,700-something on a list waiting v petersburg, we had to get involved. first, i reached out to the va. >> would really like to get somebody to talk to us about that. >> reporter: then, congressman david jolly. >> that va appeals process is broken. >> reporter: 8 on your side aired 2 reports in august profiling how doctors tied rod's physical problems to agent orange exposure, only then did the va respond. rapidly. >> thanks to you and channel 8 2 days later go from 12,000 to, hey, we got you covered. >> reporter: rod not only served his country in vietnam, h

. >> reporter: steve andrews, newschannel8. >> water testing confirms a red tide bloom and sarasota county coastline. testing revealed medium to high levels of the organizism responsible for the high tide. the bloom could cause respiratory issues. >>> a high school football team in tampa is fighting for the right to pray over a loud speaker before games. cambridge christian school filed a federal lawsuit and tells our melanie michael civil rights are being violated. >> i'm a dad of a young man who team. >> reporter: tim is fired up. he says he can't believe the football team was banned from prays over the loud speaker before games. >> i take offense to that. as a citizen of the united states, as well as the head of school of cambridge christian school, and as a dad. >> reporter: it started when cambridge christian school made it to the championship game in december. they planned to start with their traditional prayer. but they faced a penalty before they ever took the field. the florida high school athletic association told the government property. >> it is teaching the students that the f

all of this kept under wraps by investigative reporter steve andrews exposed it last night. he joins us now live above that sink hole from eagle 8 hd. hi steve. >> reporter: hey stacie, a couple of points i want to make off the top is mosaic said there is no evidence that the sink hole is growing or endangers other water come apartments of the gypsum stack. but, let's take a look. let's zoom in just a little bit here. this crevice just to the bottom right of your screen, wasn't so, it looks like part of the wall is either collapsing or possibly this thing is expanding a little bit. second point, recovering that 215 million gallons of contaminated water from the aquifer is a process that will take years. the sink hole beneath the gypsum stack opened august 27.

our steve andrews will be at the meeting this morning with polk county commissioners and buck there as well. if you want to be there, here's what you need it's happening at the polk county commission chambers in bartow at 330 west church street at 9:00 a.m. >>> now also if you live near the plant and want them to test your water, here's the number you need to call, 813-500-6575. again, 813-500-6575. and we have this number posted on our website, wfla.com. >>> high-ranking state lawmakers are calling a special to discuss what exactly is going on with the city's waste water problem. the city dumped millions of gallons of waste water into tampa bay during and after hurricane hermine. emails from the city waste water plant operator and a consultant report appear to show the city was warned about the problem beforehand but ignored it. instead of of pass ago long the report and the concerns, a city manager asked the person sending the emails to stop copying everyo subject. the state representative peters called for today's special meeting. >>> it's 5:08 on this tuesday morning. leigh spann,

let's check back in with steve andrews. any updates? >> reporter: well, let me tell you. we are at florida avenue, just north of mlk in hillsborough county, and i just to have ask you, ever seen the inside of a 100-year-old oak tree? this baby split in two this morning at about 4:00 a.m. lawn mower business. you might be able to see a lawn mower handle just beyond the tree here. this section of the tree crashed down on the business, the structure of the business. look at the size of this tree. it is just immense. it is just incredibly large. inside that business, asleep, 76-year-old dale collier. the tree crashed through the roof, smashed through the ceiling. the ceiling he was trapped there for a few hours. his brother ron showed up at about 8:30 this morning, tried to -- obviously didn't know what had happened, tried to get in, couldn't get in, couldn't hear his brother. in the meantime, dale had managed to crawl out from underneath that ceiling and somehow get to a fence. but unbelievably the fence was being -- a live wire was on that fence, and he was shocked. hillsbo

steve andrews broke the story last week and he is back tonight with an important update that includes that overdue apology. >> reporter: keith before i get into that, let's show you what the sink hole looked like five days ago and what it looks like today. this is what thursday as we flew over on eagle 8 hd. this thing developed under a gypsum stack. it is round, circular, about 45 feet across at this point, today, this hole is getting bigger. it is widening. it appears as though the walls are eroding, cracking, separating. i looks as though it is about to collapse. now, florida's department of environmental protection claims but, the guardians of our environment have been dead silent about this. all of this. from the get go. so, who is watching to make sure that contaminated water that fell through this massive sink hole is kept out of our water supply? mosaic apologized for not being up front. but after sitting for 19 days on information about millions of gallons of radioactive water dropping into the mosaic admitically has trust issues. >> is anybody going to be fired for not comin

about dep's lack of transparency environmental nightmare that has senior investigative reporter steve andrews interested. >> reporter: you know, we know and we reported dep is all over the sink hole business. what we don't know the why the agency charged with guarding our environment kept this contaminated secret. fact. this sink hole opened august 27. fact. it dumped 215 million gallons of radioactive water into the

. >> we learned that tampa bay water is keeping pumps near senior investigate reporter steve andrews found that they provide water for the public water sly. >> reporter: that's a whole another kettle of fish here. the governmenter claims it just doesn't make sense to not immediately inform the public of a pollution incident. well governor, tell that to your department of environmental secrecy. for 19 days mosaic and the florida department of environmental protection kept this from the public. a sinkhole million gallons of radioactive contaminated water. it dumped it into the aqua fer. on thursday i grilled the governor about dep's dirty little secret. how ab sem ability to you is the that dep sat on information. >> within 24 hours they started the investigation. >> reporter: they didn't notify the public. >> they started doing their investigation immediately. >> reporter: are they getting special treatment? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: two business days changes from now on within 24 hours, dep, general public such as people living close to this must be note filed of pollution by a

steve andrews broke the story last week and he is back tonight with an important update that includes that overdue apology. >> reporter: keith before i get into that, let's show you what the sink hole looked like five days ago and what it looks like today. this is what thursday as we flew over on eagle 8 hd. this thing developed under a gypsum stack. it is round, circular, about 45 feet across at this point, today, this hole is getting bigger. it is widening. it appears as though the walls are eroding, cracking, separating. i looks as though it is about to collapse. now, florida's department of environmental protection claims

but, as senior investigative reporter steve andrews reminds hillsborough county we are talking about. >> reporter: that's right keith. an animal abuse registry sounds great. county commissioners are busting their buttons over this one. but, and a big but, critics say this won't save one animal from abuse. animal abuse stories haunt our headlines. the county created an animal abuse registry. it requires people convicted of abusing animals to register prohibits them adopting in the future. it requires buyers in pet stores to sign and affidavit that they are not on the registry. >> when we talk about an affidavit at the pet store, that animal is already out the door, already abused. it doesn't matter if they sign a piece of paper or not. >> reporter: anna think it is ordinance needs more work. that's when the fangs came out. >> there were accusations that forward. this is hoardly a political ploy. >> reporter: commissioner kevin beckner is behind the registry. he claims the animal advisory committee wants to rewrite it to get the credit. >> i think there are a couple of members that prob

and senior investigative reporter steve andrews tells us she wants to know who knew what and here is the key. when they knew it. >> reporter: exactly. i told you on wednesday that the governor's office claims it, too, was kept in the dark about this contaminated sink and his disciples. after touring the site by helicopterrerrier this week, the governor fumbled answering one simple question. >> reporter: governor, when did you find out about this incident? >> jerry can get you the time line. >> reporter: his office later claimed like everyone else, governor scott was not informed of this potential environmental disaster until after side broke the story. his own department of environmental protection knew something was happening for 19 days and kept the governor in the dark. congresswoman gwynn graham is closely monitoring our reports. whether the governor knew of the sink hole and kept it hush hush or dep hid it from him, both scenarios are appalling. following our reports, the 215 million gallons of radioactive began testing the wells of nearby homes. an attorney represents thereof t

steve andrews ha mosaic about the contaminated radioactive water in the aquifer. plus, some local students set out to change a rule forbidding the american flag. i wore a badge for 38 years knowing how much you trusted us to keep you safe. yet when a officer was killed in action 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 for the florida senate. a return to common sense. >> i'm jenn holloway.

. >> steve andrews tried to get to the bottom of it. >> he says when you're dealing health and veteran, you cannot afford to be wrong. the va got it wrong. >>reporter: in 1970, rich kincaid was in the army, shipped to vaughn. he provided perimeter defense for field artillery. military personnel are presumed to have been exposed to agent orange. heart disease is linked to that fire department physical because i had a heart disease in 2010, rich filed a complaint for a service disability. the examiner stated he had coronary art disease. the va wanted more tests but didn't schedule. he sent a letter, asking when the tests would be scheduled. >> they didn't respond. >> you didn't get a yes or no? >> no answers. >> a rejected his claim, stating you do not have a diagnosis of heart disease. >> it was based on a bureaucrat, an opinion of a doctor that i never met. >> rich appealed the denial. last year, doctors performed open heart surgery on rich. he had heart disease. >> the claim seems to be wrong. >> more than a year later, the va still hadn't decided if rich it operated on him for it. ri

. >> steve andrews is there live. he talked to the owner. fortunately no one injured severely. >>reporter: absolutely, stacie. i'm here on florida avenue, north of mlk boulevard in hillsborough county, behind, what used to be a 100-year old tree. it split into this morning, half of it falling on a lawn mower business and over to the other side, the other half falling on a structure that was called collier's sharpening. in the back of that struct 7 him, pinned him in. the no one new about this until his brother, ron, the owner of the business, showed up about 8:00, 8:30 this morning, tried getting in, tried contacting his brother, couldn't, called hillsborough county firefighter and rescue . somehow, dale managed to get out. he climbed near a fence that hitting it and dale was shocked. thankfully, he was noter the comply injured. he refused transport to the hospital by hillsborough county fire rescue folks. ron collier tells me he has been owner of this business here for 18 years. it is wiped out. not sure what he's going to do. hillsborough rapid response team was here, taking

on wednesday senior investigative reporter steve andrews revealed that in addition to keeping the public in the dark, mosaic, and radioactive water leaks in mulberry from the governor for three weeks. according to congress woman gwen graham, either they knew about it and didn't alert the public. either scenario she says is appalling. see the full story today at 6:00. >>> now to your vote 2016. and the latest post debate pole numbers in the presidential race prove that. according to mason dickson democrat hillary clinton has a 46% lead over donald trump in the sunshine state. libertarian gary johnson is supported by 7%. green party candidate jill stein. political analysts are surprised, especially after monday's debate. clinton's better showing she might have bumped herself up. if i were here i'm concerned. and if i'm donald trump, i'm elated. >> clinton currently has a slight advantage. >>> a 14-year-old south carolina boy accused of killing his father and wounding three tried as a juvenile or an adult. a judge ordered that teen to continue to be held in custody. he's accused of killing

our steve andrews is there and we will have updates in the later newscasts. for more, wfla.com. >>> this morning on today's take, jeffrey tambor is here fresh off his emmy win. >> now. >> announcer: from nbc news, th is today's take with al roker, tamron hall, and billy bush. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >>> welcome to "today" on this tuesday morning, september 20th, 2016. got to put the year in there. in case you forget. >> you still write checks? >> yeah. >> really? >> yeah. >> i do everything online now. >> well, there are still certain things. like for bar mitzvahs or birthday parties, things like that. >> how did $53 become the number for a bar mitzvah? >> because it is the multiple of 18. >> really. >> i've got a communion on friday and i need to give the boy something very special. >> $1,000? >> what? >> right now it's $1,000. which means you're going to have to sell some shoes. >> actually, yesterday we talked about the thigh-high boots are the rage. and savannah asked how do you get them on. took about 40 minutes to get these on. >> how

steve leaseman. andrew is off today. we are counting down to the august jobs report.a.m. eastern time. payrolls increased by 188,000 in august. the unemployment rate is expected to tick down a tenth of 1% to 4.8 %. we keep saying this is an important number. this time around it might actually be important. odds are the feds watching this very closely and could ride on this number today, whether or not they decide to raise rates later this month. more on this in just a moment. in the meantime check out u.s. equity futures.

steve leaseman. andrew is off today. we are counting down to the august jobs report. out 8:30 a.m. eastern time. payrolls increased by 188,000 in august. the unemployment rate is expected to tick down a tenth of 1% to 4.8 %. we keep saying this is an important number. this time around it might actually be important. odds are the feds watching this very closely and could ride on this number today, whether or not they decide to raise rates later this month. more on this in just a moment. in the meantime check out u.s. equity futures. essentially flat lining. everybody waiting to see what happens. 8:30 a.m. s&p futures down by less than a point. the nasdaq up by 1.5. yesterday you saw the nasdaq close down by basically it was flat. it was down 0.9 points or something. it was flat. dow and nasdaq did manage to eke out gains. check out what happens overnight in asia. the nikkei looks like it was flat lining as well. up 3.5%. shanghai comp and hang sang both a little bit higher. in europe, you'll see thing are relatively positive if evfor th major averaging at least. dax up

steve: where is andrews in connection to washington, d.c.? re-stationed there in 2001? , that is wherees it is located. the dca or national guard, the one 21st spider squadron is on the east side of the base, which is only about eight nautical miles as the crow flies from the pentagon. walk us through the morning after the second plane hit the second tower. what was happening? who are you talking to? what was the reaction at andrews among your colleagues? major penney: there was initially a lot of confusion remember,f you can you know, 10 years ago, there was really -- there were no air defense units. the air defense units, which had been stood up and used to postulate that the content -- the continental u.s. to defend our sovereign soil from the , when the soviet union collapsed, that had been drawn down significantly throughout the 1990's erin -- 1990's. it was no longer part of that defense mission. we were an air force unit designed to go to war, not designed to protect american soil. as a result, our chain of command didn't go up to norad, did not go up to the firs

. >> mitchell switch, andrew frank and steve are, swaggering advancement who loom the craft on watcher mondale's campaign served as my role models. they were the democratic's answer to michael during the summer of 1988 and they taught me well. schwartz was a lead advancement brimming with self-confidence, and quick humor. [applause]. >> was that self-serving and not by the way, i had to read that. who's out here claimed that he was his mentor but in the book he got four pages that was known as a great teacher. so just to be clear on that. >> josh is a good buddy and a good friend and a lot of people worked with him and me, we worked on democratic politics together so it is slicing everybody. josh has written an interesting book that most of you have bought in. he said that he would sign everybody's. the tv, tv has changed politics dramatically. just a quick couple of examples of that. in 1960 the famous debate of nick's and versus kennedy, a lot of people said when they heard it on radio they thought that nixon had one. but they watched the tv version they thought kennedy one he looked

steve: i realize i keep going back to this point, but you're on this helicopter, flying to andrews or for space. at that point, what were you thinking? well, i was, at that point, we became a little more confident that the circumstances were becoming clearer. we, up until then, because of the chaos, because of the extraordinary degree of uncertainty about just about every aspect of what we were experiencing, there was so little opportunity to appraise our circumstances with any confidence that we knew what was going on, but the pieces were starting to come together by then and we all gained a greater appreciation i think of the challenges that we were faced with. the best analysis we could find coming up with a plan to deal , with those circumstances as we had analyzed them, and then probably more profoundly, what to do with the amazing loss of life that was already being reported. steve: when you were in the sky, you were one of the few aircrafts in the sky over washington, d.c. in this helicopter. did you see any fighter jets? did you see any other activity? sen. daschle: we heard a