in plant city, shannon valladolid, 10news wtsp. >> all right. just a minute ago we asked you what do you prefer, a real or fake tree? we have seen the votes at the bottom of your screen go back and forth. right now it's split in half. >> 47% say real. 53% of you say fake. i can tell you those north are buying a real tree. keep your devices out. there are more chances to interact with us. if you get the real tree, you know the struggle is real to keep those green through christmas, especially here in florida. no need to google. we found some easy ways to help you out. first, lots of water. you want at least a gallon day. keep that christmas tree away from the sunlight. the needles will dry out fast and then you will be vacuuming up every day. your evening commute along i-4, not too shabby. don't forget you can get a live look at traffic conditions in your neighborhood with our free 10news app. just search wtsp in your device's app i've been thinking... this might be the one thing in the world you pull apart to come together. >>> i don't know if a

were live in plant city shannon valladolid 10 news wtsp. of course, all eyes are on the presidential election. but there are two big races in florida a lot of people are talking about this morning. like we've been been mentioning, republican marco rubio wins a second term in the florida u-s senate.. rubio won with 52 percent of the vote.. patrick murphy, 44 percent. this is the race that caught a lot of people by surprise. charlie crist came out on top against incumbent david jolly for house district 13. crist got 52 percent of the vote.... jolly 48 percent. it's been just a few hours since donald trump won the presidency, and much like the campaign, phil, people aren't being shy about speaking their minds. coming up and c-b-s. starting at 8:00, survivor, followed by criminal minds at 9:00. at 10:00, code black. then tune in to 10 you love all-day breakfast. but you don't love that you can't get all your favorites. but now you can get more of what you love. so you can find something else to not love. you are waking up to the news that donal

in polk county, shannon valladolid 10 news wtsp. american legion says stone wasn't there. the other bar, x-y-z closed down. our newspartners at "the ledger" report the owner got the lawsuit and passed it on to his attorney. president-elect donald trump's transition team has already hit a few bumps in the road.. but a late night tweet from the man himself calls it a "very organized process." the revolving doors at trump tower welcomed a including former rival - senator ted cruz. former new york city mayor rudy giuliani's pushing for the secretary of state spot. at the same time senate democrats want chief strategist, steve bannon off the team. bannon has been referred to as a white supremacist. it's been 8 days since florida voters legalized medical marijuana. but there's a lot that needs to get done before all patients who might benefit from it can start taking advantage. amendment two still needs to go through the state legislature. they need to figure h law will work. then, it goes to the florida department of health. it needs to regulate the cannabis that's sold-- and m

in st.pete shannon valladolid 10 news we have a lot to get to coming up at 5 on 10 news this morning. allison is in the newsroom with what we are working on this morning. this morning, people in new zealand are recovering after a magnitude 7 point 8 earthquake hit the cotr weekend. the powerful quake caused major devastation on the island. and then there were several strong aftershocks. and just in time for the holidays, which major retailers announced a big discount on hoverboards as part of their thanksgiving night doorbusters. we are working on all those stories, plus ashley has your forecast as we start the work week and we'll take a look at some hot spots as you get ready to head out the door. that's all coming up in 20 minutes. still to come on 10 news early morning, a major fallout over a hear from a vet who says the manager of a popular restaurant humiliated him and questioned his service. honey nut cheerios get their delicious taste from honest ingredients. like real delicious honey, and real oats. ok that's still honey. ahhh, there we go. were back to honey again. who's dire

10 news reporter shannon valladolid shows you why this generating so much buzz.. and why the county initiated the ordinance in the first place. "ok come on." "nats barking" this is what you hear as you enter the humane society of sarasota " to be adopted. 150 to be exact. and you can't forget the cats!! nats autumn steiner with the shelter says sarasota county has been great with raising awareness about adopting. they also strive to make sure animals are treated humanely. that's some of the reasoning behind the county approving the sale of animals brought in from puppy mills or kitten factories. nats but that ordinance is now in jeopardy. petland is suing sarasota county, calling the ordinance unconstitutional. so pretty much a local breeder who breeds an animal in the county can still certain circumstances. if the county wins - petland's attorney says the store would have to shut down. in sarasota, shannon valladolid 10 news wtsp. take a look at this. take a look at this. yes that's moldy food. there's mold in the jelly and at the bottom of this sandwich. and tha

officers as they use their tested tactics to keep everyone and everything calm, but first shannon valladolid spent the day with protesters. shannon, you learned each of them has a reason for being there? >> reporter: women, african-americans, and muslims, and you can just see the fear and the hurt in their eyes. they tell me that fear comes from the unknown. not knowing what a trump presidency is going to look like. protesters are now starting to trickle in here in downtown tampa. i did speak to some of them, and they tell me they are not here because they are sore losers. they are here because they feel that minorities, african- americans and the lbgt community has made such great taken away possibly by a trump presidency. donna davis with black lives matter have yet to get any sleep since the news that trump won the election for president of the united states. >> because the in-box was blowing up, and so i said, okay, i am not going to go to bed. i am going to organize through the night. >> reporter: davis says the messages were filled with fear, sadness, and frustration from minorities ac

shannon valladolid, 10news wtsp. >> and a live look right now. a protest going on at lake eola in orlando. from what we understand, about 1,500 people responded to a facebook call to attend this rally. this is going on we will continue monitoring it to see if it turns violent as we have seen some of the protests across the country. >>> meantime, you can be the first to know about president- elect trump's transition development. you can get alerts sent straight to your phone through our free 10news app. >>> right now a wife wants justice. her husband was shot and killed while working at a gas station in lake wales. the people who killed him still have not been caught, and she cold. 10news polk county newsroom reporter grady trimble shows you the toll it's taking on the victim's family. >> reporter: people who shop here say along with more than just a clerk, he was a friend. now the person who knows him best is asking anyone who has information about his murder to come forward. >> so many time i ask the police, he's okay? but they say i don't know.

this story has enraged fans valladolid spoke with that fan who -- mike evans' jersey. >> to see it happened is shocking. >> reporter: adam james is outraged over tampa bay buccaneers mike evans sitting out during the national anthem to protest president-elect donald trump. >> america is not right right now. i have common sense. >> reporter: this video of james setting evans jersey on fire he says he doesn't regret it. >> reporter: would he burn it again? >> absolutely. >> reporter: the bucs game was held to honor our military heroes for veterans appreciation day. >> to do that right there in front of them, i thought that was embarrassing. >> reporter: veteran robert thompson agrees saying he put his liven the line for our country. so whether evans likes the president-elect or not, he shouldn't have done that. >> it's the wrong time, wrong like that. >> reporter: christian says he has ever right to do what he did. many of you wanted to know if evans cast a ballot in this election. i did some digging and found evans is registered to vote in galveston, texas, where he is from, but that doesn't

shannon valladolid shows you worked up. >> what do we want? >> no! >> vote no on 1. >> reporter: it's no secret that some want amendment 1 removed from the ballot. >> this is wrong. so we need to get the facts out, but we first need to defeat this amendment next week. >> reporter: solar power advocates are making a last- minute appeal to the florida supreme court to kill the amendment on tuesday's ballot. they say it's misleading. the problem? the solar energy amendment. >> i don't understand how anything could be bad about that. >> reporter: the st. pete amar'e long with groups like sierra club and solar industries say if passed utility companies would have an easier time charging florida homeowners unfair fees and making it more costly to go solar. >> if it helped us become less dependent on fossil fuels, the utility companies wouldn't support it. >> reporter: the companies like florida power & light, duke energy, tampa electric, and gulf power have already donated close to $12 million for this amendment. and this is what you're seeing when you are

eric glasser and shannon valladolid in downtown tampa. thanks to you. before the protests begin, we want to know what you think. we asked if you think these demonstrations are uniting or dividing the country. you see the poll at the bottom of your screen. that is the big question for tonight's big story. new at 5:30 10news political reporter mark rivera is giving you a chance to explain why you think the country is united or divided. you can and actually share your opinion because you see here he is live on facebook. on facebook.com/10newswtsp. you can also weigh in at our live poll facebook.com/vote now. >> this is a big deal. this is the first presidential transition in eight years. today president obama met with donald trump in the white house for the very first time. outside demonstrations continued in washington. chanted. the president and president- elect spent about 90 minutes, as you can see, speaking together in the oval office. >> i very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel. >> we now are going to wa

shannon valladolid went on a hunt to find one. of course, her hunt was online. >> reporter: how easy is it for someone to buy a tiger? >> in florida, it's technically i will legal own a big cat. you can get around that to i am an exhibitor and purchasing an exhibitor license. >> reporter: it's fairly easy. i searched for usda exhibitor license online and found the paperwork. i also searched for this. how to buy an exotic animal. with a few thousand dollars you can buy a camel, a pig, zebra, or even a possum, but you can probably find one of those in your backyard. talk to me about some of the crazy things that people want to buy from you guys. crocodiles. alligators. komodos. illegal iguanas and things like that. >> reporter: he works at pinellas county reptile and exotic pet. he has to break the news to customers all the time. owning some of those animals is illegal. with it being fairly easy to get your hands on some of these exotic pets, big cat rescue is trying to stop it. at least for owning big cats like this. the big cat pu

the community are hurting, including law enforcement officers' families. 10news reporter shannon valladolid sat down with an officer's wife as she told her emotional story of what it's like to say good-bye to her husband, not sure if he's going to return. >> i am so sad for my sisters who are burying their husbands and the children. it's something that you never imagine will happen to you, but the truth is it could happen to any of us. and so having that support with one another is vital. >> reporter: your husband has been a police officer a little over a year. so you guys are still new to this. >> yeah. >> reporter: how do you feel coming in during a time when all these attacks are happening? >> it's hard and it's scary. good-bye, you know, it's never known if he is going to come home in the morning. we have a child, a young son together. we are taking videos and pictures of them because i never know if that's going to be the last memory he is gonna get of his dad. it's hard. it's a calling. whether or not i want him to do it, it's not a choice. he is going to continue suiting up every day

you can sit under the shelter or, of course, enjoy the valladolid. shannon, you showed us what our options are when we get off the ferry in tampa. you didn't forget about st. pete. >> didn't forget about st. pete. look right here how beautiful it is right by the water and literally 100 yards away the st. pete seafood and wine festival, that's going on right now. you got tons of options. >> reporter: as soon as you get off the cross-bay ferry in st. pete it's so convenient. you have bikes that are literally just steps away, and they cost $8. so let's goad and head over to the dolly museum. when you are renting these bikes out here in st. pete you're gonna wanna download the app called social bicycles. anything after 60 minutes is more than $8. we took a little over 7 minutes to get here to the dolly museum. not a bad option if you want to use one of these bikes when you are down here in st. pete. so let's say you don't want to rent a bike. the good part is it literally takes five minutes to walk to trolley, which is about 50 feet away from the ferry.

officers as they use their tested tactics to keep everyone and everything calm, but first shannon valladolid spent the day with protesters. shannon, you learned each of them has a reason for being there? >> reporter: women, african-americans, and muslims, and you can just see the fear and the hurt in their eyes. they tell me that fear comes from the unknown. not knowing what a trump presidency is going to look like. protesters are now starting to trickle in here in downtown tampa. i did speak to some of them, and they tell me they are not here because they are sore losers. they are here because they feel that minorities, african- americans and the lbgt community has made such great

as you make up your mind, we are bringing in 10news reporter shannon valladolid, and one thing people are asking about the ferry is what each side of the bay offers. >> reporter: tampa, as you mentioned, this is where the ferry is headed. i found out as soon as you get be disappointed with the amount of options you have. when you get off the ferry you are dropped off in front of the river walk. there is a ton of things to do. a six-minute walk up the hillsborough river there is plenty of options here, too. the tampa museum of art and for the kiddos the glazer children's museum. we just walked about ten minutes. we are arena. another option hop on a segue to visit downtown tampa. and let's say you don't want to get off the water. there is tons of options. you can rent kayaks. there is water bikes. and check this out. this is a pedal boat where you can actually drink beer. let's say you don't want to walk anywhere. that's onshore breeze. across the street we have the trolley. you can hop on and head over to ybor city. after a 15-minute ride we are let's talk about the prices. it's $5 al

thanksgiving is over...many of you are getting your homes ready for christmas. 10 news reporter shannon valladolid met up with families -- as they kicked off a holiday tradition of finding the perfect tree. nats the sweet chance to connect with santa in a special way.... westfield brandon, citrus park and countryside malls are all hosting "sensory santa" events....inviting families that have children with autism or special needs to come out and visit santa in a calm and quiet space. there will be plenty of santa's helpers standing by too. it's next sunday december, 4th from 9 until 11 a.m.## we hope you keep it right here for 60 minutes.. tonight there's an in-depth look at a new way scientists are trying to stop a disease that robs millions of people of their memories...every year. years in the making....the usf top 25... coming up in 10sports -- ryan bass tells you just how long its been since the bulls have seen their name in the national polls... let's take you live to los angeles! be glad you do not live there right now! this is all the traffic around l-a-x tonight. today is one of the busies