Things sounds good. The crime rate is lower by just over 3 . Reporter department of Law Enforcement released a midyear report showing that the First Six Months of 2016 were safer than last year. Really driven down by aggravated assault, larceny and burglary. Reporter but its not all good news. Murder is up more than 15 and raped increased by 2 . The 561 does accounted include the victims of the pulse nightclub shooting. That is one reason why murder is up across the state. The number one highest creamery in florida. Reporter ball mcneil who formerly served as floridas department of corrections secretary ran a campaign centered around blowing the crime rate. He says the numbers are concerning. Very much so and thats something we have all got to community and look at the demographics and people who are being released from prison back in our communities, often times with circumstances that fuel crime in our communities. Reporter mcneils new job means he inherits the county with the highest crime rate in the state for two years running according to fdle. Its based on crimes reported per 1000 people. And if low. If that sounds familiar, its because the governor likes to tout that number even though we see those Violent Crimes going up. Thanks. Now to some breaking news. We are staying on top of those wildfires burning in eastern tennessee. This is video of the flames near westgate resort. Aaron shot this video while walking down the road. You can see the walls of fire winds near Hurricane Force have been fanning the flames at least and at least three deaths have been blamed on the wildfires. A gun background checks hit a Record Number on black friday. The fbi says on black friday alone and processed 185,713 background checks for gun buyers. Anyone who buys a gun at a federally licensed Firearms Dealer is required to first fill out a form about their background, drug use and criminal history. A du against a log while wading through the water but it was a gator. He disturbed that gator and said it came up so fast he didnt have time to react but his friend did. I was going backward and i saw the alligator coming towards me again. So my hunting partner shot my kayak in between me alligator in myself and i think if he hadnt have done that, the again. His friend and two offduty firefighters helped get him to safety. He ends up with stitches and a bandage but ms. It could have been worse. The staggering cost of childcare keeps many parents up as night at night. Some say its as expensive as sending a kid to college or paying monthly rent. Reporter working parents well tell you that quality child care, the cost of it is skyrocketing. But i found a place and Hillsborough County that is helping families find Affordable Care. Today, children of the Learning Center in tampa are taking making stone soup. With handson teaching and a fivestar rating, this kind of quality child care facility is something single mom marissa thought she would never be able to afford. This is an amazing childcare facility. I am really lucky to be able to reporter but now she and other parents can find Affordable Care thanks to an Ongoing Partnership with the Early Learning coalition of hillsboro county. 1300 childcare facilities in hillsboro fall under the agencys umbrella and receive support right down to training teachers and staff. We have the Quality Counts program. They helped us design is quality program. Learning coalition is running on a 2001 state budgets of private donors are filling the gap. Now there is a push to support corporate sponsors. We have been basically beating the streets. Reporter ceo steve noble and his board are trying to educate people that investing in Quality Child Care Centers will not only help lift the financial burden for children for parents with children one through five, but it will help prevent kids from falling through the cracks in the Public School system. Math, reading and social skills, its a dealbreaker for many families. Gayle guyardo, news channel 8. If you want to find out how to get more information on our website, go to www. Wfla. Com a medical report from Bluecross Blueshield reveals the Number One Health problem affecting americans and its depression. Lacrosse blueshield broke down data from every single county in america. Depression, anxiety and other mood disorders were found to contribute the overall reduction in health. High blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and Substance Abuse rounded out the Top Five Health hurdles. Depression can be especially tough around the holidays. A new Downtown Vision for a better area city was unveiled today. Imagine clearwater is one step closer to becoming a reality. What the new downtown could look like. Also ahead, defying calls for a boycott. What musical record the musical hamilton has just broken. Reaching the 80s. We are kind of in a warm phase before the next cold front comes through. We will talk about that front and rain chances up shortly. That and more coming up. You are watching news channel 8, the station that is always on your side. You have a lot of choices to make in the morning. Will the kids need a jacket, raincoat or umbrella . Should you take a chance on the Howard Johnson or stay with the choose the one thats on your side with weather and traffic on the eights. Might want to leave your house a little early. Its looking nippy out there. Its fall, its cool and clear. Start your day with weather and traffic on the eights weekdays on news channel 8 eagle 8 hd is brought to you by your local suncoast hyundai dealers. Visit your local hyundai dealer today or visit www. Buyahyundai. Com. Clearwater officials are changing downtowns waterfront after several public meetings. We finally get to see the first set of renderings of what it could potentially look like jamel lanee joins us live from downtown clearwater where several areas would be basically revitalized, right . Reporter definitely. They are excited about this. One of those suggestions was to this old lot, turn it into an event park, and basically at a restaurants, and shops. This is something residents say is muchneeded. This is the only reason vasco comes to downtown clearwater, to fish. I live five minutes away and i drive right past here because it has nothing to offer. Reporter instead, he heads downtown st. Pete beach. I would like it to be built up. Theres a lot of empty businesses they can. Id like to see more restaurants near the marina that way we can have a prettier you know scene rain. Reporter city leaders want the same. Consultants came up with these renderings after an outcry from residents who want change. Potentially, downtown green space, added parks, shops, and restaurants, pedestrian friendly paths, and an event loan with a new amphitheater. We want to make downtown walkable. We want to make downtown vibrant and we think that these plans will help us achieve those goals. Reporter the goal, to put downtown clearwater on the map as a must visit destination. I think its an opportunity for a much more heavily utilized waterfront. I think it will be a much bigger draw to the public. I think it improves the activity between downtown clearwater and the waterfront. Reporter now again, nothing is final right now and there is still time for the public to put their input in if they wanted to. There is another meeting tonight and tomorrow night. The meeting tonight is at 6 30 pm at the countryside library. When will these plans be and the consultants and developers are hoping to finalize all of these plans by the end of the year so again, they are a long way away from doing any groundbreaking on anything but they are very excited about the potential. The end of the year is right around the corner. Jamel lanee, live in downtown clearwater. The Broadway Musical hamilton broke a big sales record even after calls for a boycott. Hamilton generated 3. 3 wicked previously held the record. Trump supporters called for a boycott after a cast member gave a monologue directly to Vice President elect mike pence. , nightly show host Larry Wilmore has a host has a deal with abc. Comedy central unexpectedly canceled the show a few months ago. Under the new deal, he will develop material for his own projects as well as supervise others and work with the studio to develop upcoming talent. Tonight, the top 10 will be we are just two weeks away from the season finale. On tonights live elimination, two artists will be sent home. Stephanie stanton has an update from the soundstage. Reporter this is where the magic happens and boy did we see a lot of magic last night on that stage. Five voice artists landed in the top 10 on itunes. . Reporter sundance head led the pack. Putting him in the number one spot on itunes and topping the country country chart as well. Right behind him, brendan fletcher. He hit number two on itunes and number one on the rock charts with true colors by cyndi lauper. Hitting the overall number four spot, billy gilman with a Martina Mcbride classic. He also hit number one on the pop chart. Christian wowed the audience coming in at number six on itunes with a brandnew Lady Mcdonald landed the number nine spot on itunes with a billy holiday song. In addition to their own performances, last night on the red carpet after the show, these artists raved about their competitors. Billy hit a note that i literally like i went to the bathroom, made a cup of coffee and he was hitting the same no. Austins version of missing you was heart wrenching. Same thing wi reporter tonight, we say good night to two artists. You will also see the top 10 sing along with dolly parton as she performs two songs here on the voice. From inside stage xii, im stephanie stanton. Tonights live Elimination Round of the voice starts at 8 pm right here on news channel 8 10 00 and news channel 8 at 11 00. We have an important update for Frontier Communications subscribers. The contract to carry news channel 8 expires tomorrow on november 30 at 5 pm. As of right now, a new agreement has not been reached but by law, Frontier Communications cannot carry our stations without an agreement. Please know that we have tried hard to reach an agreement with Frontier Communications and we will continue to negotiate. Without fair and equitable treatment, local tv stations will not continue to provide topquality news programming that is most important to you. We thank you for your tremendous support and please know that you have many choices. You may continue to watch news channel 8 on great 38 via antenna or by switching to an alternate paytv provider. For further information on this story and to learn more about alternate paytv providers, visit us online at www. Wfla. Com. Most powerful radar and your Storm Team Forecast with chief meteorologist steve jerve. The moisture is higher in the atmosphere but that is not leading to precipitation. As we see on max defender 8, it looks all quiet but we cant rule out a few sprinkles over the next couple of days with an approaching cold front but overall, things remain dry. Our drought monitor, almost at the heart of that were fires are occurring. We have seen knows throughout the smokey mountains. You heard about gatlbu continue around this part of the country, particularly severe as you can see in thes a very area that has been seeing those wildfires occur. Not a great situation. Locally, not much in the way of rainfall but were not in a drought situation. Still above normal for most locations on the year although the deficit here is 1. 4 inches for the month, currently tied for the second driest on a cold front is passing our way with a few showers on wednesday. Temperatures will drop back to seasonal averages behind the front and then next week warm and muggy. Our temperatures trending along what we talked about for the upcoming december through february time period with that la ni . A phase. We talking about a warmer and drier trend. In lakeland, 74 degrees with a south wind at seven meet me. Still fairly quiet with musick cloudy skies. We have seen a few clouds begin late but we have seen of sunshine as well. Innisbrook is getting dark but a beautiful sky and palm harbor. 74 degrees with light winds overall, very comfortable conditions. The humidity is a little high overall but not to really uncomfortable levels. The afternoons are certainly feeling warmer. 76 degrees in connerton. Here at veterans ford we have some is six degrees in still some clouds left on the map. The teddy bear roundup would welcome your help as we always ask and you always come through for us, looking for brandnew bears. Www. Wfla. Com or you can just visit us on kindness day december 9 from 6 am to 7 pm. You can also drop off some food and brandnew toys for toys for tots or potentially give blood. We have a passive international station going on very shortly at 5 55 pm. The southwest sky to the northeast, maximum height about 40 40 degrees. Not a bad shot from lucerne park earlier today. Few clouds remain. Temperatures generally low 70s, maybe some mid70s, 60 degrees overnight, close to 10 degrees above normal. Clouds mixed with sunshine much throughout the day and 83 degrees in the afternoon at 5 pm. 77 degrees, Tampa International airport, 76 degrees. The dew point is shooting back into the low to mid60s. The winds continue to come in from the south as you can see from our wind direction. That is helping make the a little bit more humidity for the region. For the next three days, 83 degrees for a high, remain chance 10 , 20 for thursday with the approach of a cold front. You can see the effects of the front flowing out temperature to where we typically expect this time of year for friday. 77 degrees on saturday and for sunday, 81 degrees. Kind of the routine cold front comes through and then we jump back but we are trending warmer and drier. Thank you very much. Up next, the Tennessee School bus driver heads to court after a deadly accident. Pipeline standoff coming to an and . Why the government may not have the power to get protesters to leave after all. Join us for news channel 8 on great 38 every night from 8 pm to 9 pm. Ahead on nightly news, elite report from the scene and a now deadly wildfire that but would it be legal . And some important advice about Breast Cancer detection when we now to headlines across america. The driver involved in the deadly Tennessee School bus crash that killed six children was in court today. It was the first time Johnthony Walker faced a judge since his arrest. He is facing six counts of vehicular homicide after the bus he was driving flipped over and slammed into a tree. His next court date will be december 15. The former South CarolinaPolice Officer who shot and killed a black driver after a traffic stop took the stand today. Slager is accused of murdering muer 2015. Slager admitted to killing scott but said he had no malice when he did. That is a critical element of the murder charge. A kentucky man wasnt laughing much after he scoffed at a judges bond rolling. When the judge set the bond at 25,000 and then openly threatened the judge. After multiple threats, he was finally hauled out of court with nine additional charges and a 100 day jail sentence. Dinner proved deadly for three people and officials want to know why. Five other people who lived with the three got sick at the dinner and had to be hospitalized. 835 people eight and are at the American Legion building in california. Others reported feeling sick but no one else had to go to the hospital. A federal order for pipeline protesters to leave by next monday may prove meaningless. A sheriff openly dismissed the order by the army corps of engineers as wa the army corps says it has concerns for protesters because of Winter Weather but they have no plans to forcibly remove anyone. News channel 8 at 6 00 is coming up next. Stacie schaible and keith are here with what we are working on. On in less than two minutes. Multiple Law Enforcement agencies are looking for fast moving done thieves. We will show you just how many firearms these guys got away with and how does part of a a tragic done mishap. How the boys teenage friend ended up shooting him on accident. Coming up, we are going to tell you about a remarkable display of respect for fidel castro and why people from all over the world have traveled here for his funeral. Stay tuned for sports with pauline coming up on news channel 8, the station that is right now on news channel 8 at 6 00 grab and go. The brazen Gun Store Burglary that has Law Enforcement locked in a desperate search. A tragic accident kills a teenager. How the 14yearold ends up getting shot by his young friend. As the country mourns the death of fidel castro. Our exclusive coverage, coming up. I am keith cate. And i am stacie schaible. Thank you for joining us. An organized effort to grab as many guns as possible. Surveillance cameras captured these slamming through a gun store at 3 am this morning, making off with dozens of firearms firearms. Those guns are clearly in the wrong hands so investigators are work weapons. Candace mccowan joins us, tampa arms company. These were fast acting thieves. Reporter in fact they were. It took less than two minutes for those these two smash grab and get out of here and now thats more than 35 guns in the hands of god knows who. We had full bars. They are all smashed. Reporter they were no match for the truck or suv that