Her side of the story during the today show. And of course, we will have much more on this controversy in just minutes. But first, a check on the wednesday forecast with leigh spann. Is there something going on in the tropics . Well, we have a tropical wave which has about a 90 chance of becoming our next tropical system, whether thats a tropical depression or a Tropical Storm. The Hurricane Hunters are expected to fly into it. The its just east of the caribbean at this point. And most of the computer models take it due west over the next couple days. Its south of cuba. But an upperlevel dip in the jet stream or trough is expected to pick this up and move it almost due north. A very odd look at how the computer models are going. And almost all of them take it toward the bahamas. We will have to wait and see, its just how far west this goes before it moves farther to the north. So we will keep a close eye on it for you. And of course, if it does know. Otherwise, an onshore wind flow pushing one or two showers on to the coast. That goes up to 30 as the storms push east of 75 later today. With a high of 88. So at 4 38, i do have a look at an eightday temperature trend just to see if we get a little bit cooler. We have a good drive. Bay area bridges look great. Lets take a look at travel times here. On u. S. 19 in and out of palm harbor, up to speed. And also on u. S. 41 land olakes, not seeing delays. Out in lakeland, looks wonderful on i4 and also downtown lakeland. No delays. And looking at 13 minutes between each entrance to the polk parkway. And through Wesley Chapel on i 75, up to speed as well. And a live look out near lakeland, near the polk parkway. Look at that, barely can see any vehicles. One in the distance. Thats a look at weather and traffic. Back to gene and gayle. Thank you. Happening today, remembering a major league our Community Gone too soon. Miami marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident over the weekend. He was a standout player in Hillsborough County helping the Baseball Team there win championships during his sophomore and senior years. Ryan hughes joins us live from there. Students, faculty and former teammates are all coming together tonight to remember Jose Fernandez. Reporter thats gene. A candle light vigil is set for 7 30 just days after the tragic boating accident in south florida. This week, staffing coaches reflected on a phenomenal player and a phenomenal person. Listen. To us, he was like a comet that we were able to harness for three years and then we let go for the rest of the world to see. Reporter Jose Fernandez was instead the team held a touching tribute. He fled his native cuba when he was just 15 years old. He and his mom settle here in Hillsborough County, becoming a star on the mound. He was drafted in 2011 becoming part of the then florida marlins. Coaches tell news channel 8 he would return here often to help mentor the high school players. Back here live where you see a sign remembering him, the vigil gets underway at 7 30 tonight at the high in the next half hour, i will show you the emotional moment held on monday at the marlins game. And by all accounts, somebody who touched a lot of lives. Ryan, thank you. Right now, a Pinellas CountyLittle League organization is in danger of striking out after parents say they were cheated out of nearly 35,000 by a Sports Management company. News channel 8s mary mcguire is live in st. Petersburg. Mary, where did all this money go . Reporter gayle, this all Management Company that is in charge of the Little League team. They are having their own financial troubles. Families here say they forked over almost 35,000 in fees to the texasbased Sports Management company. And now the owner says a credit card snafu is keeping him from releasing the money back to the league so that they can pay bills. Parents here are angry. You know, almost 300 kids playing baseball here in the and we owe thousands of dollars to local, you know, printers and shirt people and landscape people. And you know, we owe a lot of money. Reporter now 8 on your side contacted the owner of the company who told us his credit card processor froze his account so he is at the mercy of the Merchant Bank releasing the funds. In the meantime, parents have established a gofundme account to try and help the players, keep them on the field for the rest of the season. Petersburg police say they dont believe that anything fraudulent is happening here but thats little consolation the to the families here that depend on the league to disperse the funds so their kid cans keep playing ball, gayle. Thats too bad. I hope they get this straightened out soon. Thank you, mary. Happening today, a Lakeland Mental Health counselor will face a judge. He is accused of sexually assaulting his clients. He was arrested tuesday night. Police tell us he inappropriately touched two his patients during sessions claiming it was part of the treatment. Investigators believe there could be more victims. Anyone who has information is asked to call lakeland police. This morning, a local chevy dealer is offering the reward for a man who drove off their lot with a pricy corvette. You can see the suspect casually strolling through the lot on 34th street north in st. Pete. And then he climbs into the 100,000 corvette and drives off the lot. Anyone with information is now to an 8 on your side consumer alert, stopping skimmers. A new florida law will take effect late they are week. The new law increases the penalties for installing the devices which means more time behind bars and it increases penalties on those who steal credit card information and requires gas station owners to take measures to protect their customers from skimmers. The new law starts o ctober 1st. Right now, many around the world are mourning the former israeli president shimon peres. He is known as one of the founders of israel. He shared a Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a peace deal. President barack obama called him a friend who forceds to expect more of ourselves. He was 93 years old. Coming up on 4 38. Hump day, how is it looking out there . Well, similar to yesterday. You might notice its a few than yesterday. Yesterday was a little bit of a treat. Let me take you hourbyhour through the temperatures. We start around 76 degrees at 7 00 a. M. And it will still warm up quickly. 81 at 10 00. Around noon, 85 degrees. We hit 88 at 3 00. And 87 degrees at 4 00 p. M. What about the rainfall potential . With an onshore wind, we push the showers from the gulf of mexico onshore. So between now and lets say 10 00 a. M. , almost all of the rain will be west of 75. And it will be spotty. We get a be rain, about a 30 chance east of 75 later in the day. And what i want you to notice is, there will be places that dont see rain. And other places that could see the blue and pump color, thats up to about 2 inches. So just scattered, heavy down the pours. We go from 88 today which is average to 87 tomorrow. And down to 86 on friday before we warm right back up into the upper 80s for next week. At 4 38, we will check on traffic on the 8s this morning. We dont have any construction thats going to slow you down through downtown tampa. Rite now, looking at 2 right now, looking at 275. Most traffic heads to the south but this early, theres hardly any traffic period. And a good drive through downtown too. Travel time, Hillsborough County, bruce b downs to 75 looks very good. No delays in and out of new tampa. And bearss avenue to i4, thats only about 10 minutes on 275. So good drive overall. And the bay area bridges as mentioned before still up to speed. No delays on the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Everything looks great across the water. Back to gene and gayle. Leslee, thank you. Out of control wildfires strike another city in california. The damage done and where the fires broke out. Plus, in the wake of the first president ial debate, donald trump and Hillary Rodham clinton are hitting the campaign trail hard. Which president ial candidate is in the bay area today. Thats next here on news in your vote, green Party President ial candidate jill stein will be in the bay area this morning. The event is scheduled to start at 6 30 tonight. Campaign in iowa and wisconsin today. You can expect to see more trump ads in the coming days. Trump is planning a major investment in advertising from now through election day. Trump told supporters that his campaign raised close to 18 million following mondays president ial debate. Trump told rally attendees tuesday night that he won the first debate citing unscientific online post debate polls. Democratic president ial candidate ar senator Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire today. Her running mate virginia senator tim kaine will campaign in arlington with former senator warner. A republican and former Navy Secretary is endorsing clinton. He retired in 2009 and served with clinton in the senate. This morning, the issue of weight shaming is a hot topic. Boy is it ever. The woman drowned Miss Universe 20 years ago says president ial her miss piggy and an eating machine. Meredyth censullo is here. Players have been responding on social media. Whats the buzz . Well, she was just a teenager when she won the title of Miss Universe. Her name was brought up by Hillary Rodham clinton during monday nights debate. And in an interview airing this morning on today, she says trump called her miss piggy, miss House Keeping and miss she says that treatment was normal for him in the moment. Yes, its hard for me and i dont want to remember that moment. Because i work really hard to forget that moment. Reporter now she is responding to critics on twitter this morning, just two hours ago she tweeted, you can see it here, i am not a woman of politics. I received threats and insults im just supporting. Now overnight, Hillary RodhamClintons Campaign tweeted 20 years after donald bullied a beauty pageant winner for her weight, the real problem is still donald. And now while not addressing her specifically, Trumps Campaign last night posted to facebook a great honor to meet with Hispanic Community leaders in Little Havana miami. I am grateful for your kind words and your support. Al reporting for us. Thank you. Its 4 45. Jeb bush is headed to harvard where he will be a guest lecturer at the john f. Kennedy school of government. He delivers the first lecture tomorrow. And he is colecturing a courser course titled the political economy of the school. Community members join activists near a memorial outside the home of keith scott, the man killed by flowers last week. And it expanded with a recent vigil. His family disputes the Police Departments assertion that he had a gun and refused to drop it after being ordered to do so. The shooting sparked days of deadly violent protests. An Police Officer involved shooting in phoenix tuesday night. Police say the suspect rammed a patrol car after a routine traffic stop. And another Police Officer saw the suspect raise a hand gun suspect. No officers were injured. Two hand guns were found inside and the car. Right now, evacuations are underway for residents in the Santa Cruz Mountains in california. This fire so far has scorched over 2,000 2,000 acres. And theres a home completely engulfed in flames. At least one home and six structures have been destroyed. Right now. In this mornings medical report, new Government Data reveals the new teen birthrate fell 18 for nearly all age and race groups. Teen births have been declinedded since 1991. Researchers say declining since 1991. Researchers say fewer teens are sexually active and those who are are more likely to contraception. Cvs began operating targets drugstores this year and replaced the unique red bottles with the orange and white bottles found in most medicine cabinets. Cvs has responded saying they are working on a new system for fulfilling prescriptions but hasnt given details. And a career fair in st. Pete at the bayfront at 333 1st street south. Morning to 2 00 this afternoon. Imagine planning to the pop the question and then losing the ring. Thats what happened last night at yankees stadium. He was so nervous, he dropped it. Thankfully those around him lent a hand to the romeo. And helped him, tracking down the missing ring. Yea, they found it. He got his ring back. He got a redo. And most importantly, i should say, he got a yes from his ring. And by the way, the yankees beat the red sox 64. So its a winwin. Theres that too. Dont lose the ring. And on the yes network too. All right, we have an onshore wind. And maybe a couple showers will form along the coast. At this point, im not seeing any but i left it in the forecast. Inland areas, dry this morning, 77 degrees. So a few more storms start to fire up around lunchtime. At that point, the storms will head east of 75. Right now, 70 in lakeland. 73 in bartow. 72 in inverness. And 75 in venice. If that sounds warmer than yesterday, its because it is. We were a little cool yesterday for this time of the year but its two degrees warmer in plant city and bradenton. And three degrees warmer in tampa right now than yesterday. And a lot has to do with the onshore wind. And there you see between 8 00, 9 00 this morning, a couple showers here. And watch how the storms push county and polk county and Highlands County by around 4 00, 5 00. A lot of moisture for storms to work with. Green and blue, a lot of moisture. Today and tomorrow. As we head into friday, dry air is going to lag right behind this cold front. So north of i4, you notice the drier air but not for long. There comes the moisture back in for sunday. So we dip the rain chance to 20 friday. And more humid next week. How about traffic on the 8s . Well, checking out south there. Overall, a great drive on the bay area interstates. Traffic is light. But road work here in south tampa, working on utilities and this kicked off two days ago but macdill, you will see closures in the area and thats going to last through october 7th. You can get by but just remember, right by bay to bay. A lot of closures there. You might want to take dale mabry instead for the morning rush hour commute. And st. Pete, very good on 275 and also in county. Thats a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. Back to gene and gayle. Thank you. Calling all law and order svu fans. One entertaining episode tonight. One prominent politician is guest starring and he is not doing it for acting fame. Tonights new episode of law and order svu features a guest star thats out of the about Vice President joe biden playing himself. The appearance is connected to the white houses campaign to prevent sexual assault. I have no illusions, im not a very good actor. But this one i didnt have to act about. This one is just right from the gut. The law and order episode focuses on a case connected to the backlog of untested rape kits across the country. An issue biden hopes will get appearance. Royal couple william and kate are touring british columbia. And on day four, they visited canadas premier wine growing region. Yeah, the royals attended a dedication at the 10yearold campus of the university of british columbia. It was to showcase the world class wine region and university as well. That sounds like fun. Yeah. The most talked about story. Yes, and it involves a National Controversy thats raising eyebrows. Coming up, a local protest of colin kaepernick. How one lakeland bar owner is making a point. But first, outside for a look at beautiful downtown tampa. Looks like its going to be another great day. Weather and traffic on the 8s how can this have been washed 12 weeks ago and still smell like springtime . Unstopables inwash scent boosters. The more you pour, the more scent youll savor. Toss it in before your clothes for luxurious scent up to 12 weeks. Unstopables by downy. Time for weather and traffic on the 8s on this wednesday. And it is a beautiful morning. A little warmer than this time yesterday when you look out of the tampa camera over the hillsborough river. Its 78 degrees. Again, thats a couple Degrees Higher than it was yesterday. But our afternoon high will be basically the same, around 88 degrees. The storms that develop will generally head east of 75. And when its not rain on you, a mix of sun and clouds. The evening showers come to an end but i expect the clouds to linger overnight with 75 as a cold front gets closer to us. I will tell you the impact coming up. How about traffic on the 8s . Well, we have an accident on i75. This is in the Sun City Center area. And this is apparently northbound on 75. And it is just past state road 674 which is also known as college or Sun City Center boulevard. Again, just north of it. Not seeing delays but fhp saying, there are injuries involved and it is tying up a lane but traffic is very light. Thats why theres probably no and meanwhile, 301 looks great, and so does u. S. 41. A good drive across the a st. Petersburg Little League left in a lurch. How money problems could keep them from playing ball. F0 and the company they say is to blame. And a tw anthem controversy. The sticker a bar is using to denounce the acts of protests. Plus, tracking the tropics. Hurricane hunters will head toward invest 97l this morning. Will this system turn into our next Tropical Storm . Leigh spann has the latest in a bit. Good morning. Welcome to news channel 8 today. Im gene ramirez. And i am gayle guyardo. Lets head to leigh spann. Hurricane hunters flew into it yesterday and did not find