Fresh off his last season, a College Football player is now facing child sex charges. This arrest went down in pinellas county. Offensive lineman mack crowder. He started for the volunteers in fall. And he played five years with the team. A push to increase Mosquito Control in light of the Zika Virus Health emergency. Later this morning, the Hillsborough County county commission will consider a measure to increase funding for additional mosquito surveillance and spraying. This comes just weeks after governor rick scott declared a Health Emergency in light of the mosquitoborn illness linked to berth defects. And the republican president ial candidates are preparing for town hallstyle discussions. Time specials with frontrunner donald trump and Ohio Governor john kasich. And ben carson and senators marco rubio and ted cruz will appear on cnn. Its 5 01. Some of us might be dealing with fog this morning. Its very patchy. Usually we see this widespread. We are not seeing it widespread at this point which is almost more dangerous. You leave a place like tampa and its perfectly clear. And you are almost running into a wall of fog when you head east. It gets even thicker the farther east that you go into lakeland, and now zero visibility. And we are seeing fog many the clearwater and sarasota area as well. So what i think is that we get more of a widespread fog by about 5 00, 6 00 this morning but i dont think its going to get everywhere. So you will have the fog. Watch the forecast. And maybe some areas without fog around 7 00, 8 00 but after 8 00, it quickly burns off. Its a little cool they are morning, 54 in lakeland. And 50 in sarasota. And look at this, 70 degrees, just below the average of 73 later today. In weather and traffic on the 8s at 5 08, i take you hourby hour through the day and fog and we will drivethru the fog. Thats right. 275 right around bearss and the edge of pasco and Hillsborough County, very foggy there. And we have construction as well in sarasota. I mentioned this before. Should be wrapped up within 30 minutes to an hour here but you will see some lanes closed, i 75 around university and on Eastbound University parkway as well. And lets hop over here and look at a crash, state road 52 at driver lane involving a patrol car but no more delays. And look at this, this is what i mean by foggy here, 275 at bearss. And then activity, some construction trying to wrap up 275 at 38th avenue south. Keep that in mind. Thats weather and traffic. Back to gene and gayle. Thank you. This is happening right now at 114 59th avenue east. This is a live picture if the scene where you can see detectives right there searching for clues. Its still very active. We know that one person was shot outside the duplex. We also know investigators are looking for a shooter. So stay tuned to news channel 8 today and wfla. Com for updates throughout the morning. Happening today, protecting our kids from sex offenders. The Hillsborough County commission will discuss stricter guidelines for how close they can get to children. News channel 8s Adrienne Pedersen is live in Hillsborough County this morning. Adrienne, put this in perspective for us. What distance are we talking about sneer. Reporter good morn about here . Reporter good morning, gene. Well right now, they cant get within 1,000 feet. Some county commissioners want to more than double that to thats about half a mile. Like. As you zoom down the street, thats the apartment building. Thats about a half mile away. Thats quite a distance here. So pasco county just passed something similar. And today the commissioner will ask the county attorney to draft an ordinance asking that those convicted of sex offenses to not be able to live within 2500. Critics say that sex offenders wont have anywhere to go if we keep upping the distances. We will you know what they decide. All right. We will check back throughout the day. Thank you. Well this morning, a south tampa couple is sharing some very unnerving video. Doing and check this out. It shows three burglars caught on a Security Camera just going through the house room by room. The wife received an alert on her phone while she was at work that something was up. She checked and thats when she saw the burglars in her living room. She set off an alarm to scare them away. It worked. They moved out fast. We were able to get them out of our house within a minutes time. They were gone. Yep. Look closely, the alarm system is disguised as a decoration on the table. And now theyre looking for the other two which should be easy to find them because the video is so clear. Crystal clear but its chilling to see them taking their time. So braisen. Wow. An update to a Major National news story. Apple plans to fight a federal judges order to unlock an encrypted phone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. The future of Digital Privacy national security. There. News channel 8s Lindsey Mastis joins us live with the morning alert. What information are investigators hoping to find on the phone . Reporter gene, good morning. Fbi investigators want to know who suspected San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook communicated with. That could lead them to other terrorists and perhaps information on the phone will reveal plans for future attacks. Remember this big breaking story . Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik died in a shootout with police after they killed 14 people. The victims were Syed Rizwan Farooks own coworkers. They worked for the county Health Department and that organization actually owns the phone. Well despite the countys plea, apple is refusing to help unlock the phone. The ceo believes if apple is forced to comply, it would create a back door that then could be exploited in the future. The main issue investigators are having now with the phone if investigators try guessing the password and theyre wrong too many time, the phone could auto erase and wipe out all the information theyre looking for. San bernardino is trending in tampa right now on twitter. So this is a story a lot of people are interested in following. We will let you know whether investigators get into the phone. Gene yeah, a lot of people have opinions about their Digital Privacy and also national security. Thank you. And you can follow the morning alerts each day on facebook and twitter. Search the 8alert. Yeah, thick fog in spots this morning. Be aware of that depending on where you are. Thick in some spots and clear in others. After 8 00 and before 10 00 this morning, the fog will burn off and we are in for a spectacular day. Warming up, its cool, 62 degrees at 11 00 a. M. Right around 70 at 3 00 in the and low humidity, bright sunny skies and cooling quickly down to 61 degrees at 7 00. So a great stretch of days. Mostly sunny and pleasant, just a slow gradual warmup into the mid to upper 70s this weekend. And our next cold front arrives late tuesday and wednesday with the next best rain chance and look at this, the average this time of the year is 73. As long as we can stay around that, its great. 73 on friday. We will check on traffic on the 8s because fog is the Biggest Issue right now. It is. And it is moving around so much, i found another really patchy spot here. Look at this, i75 right through the brandon area, very thick now. So use caution on 75. And this extends from southern pasco county and they are moving the camera around and showing you the entire area here. And lets move over and take this at fowler avenue. Its thicker and you can just lights through the area. But very thick fog on 75. Use caution out there. And state road 52 at driver lane, an accident here. Not tying up lanes. It did involve a patrol car, state road 52 at driver lane is east of u. S. 41. Thats a look at weather and traffic on the 8s 9. Back to the you. Thank you. Weather and traffic on the 8s. Back to you. Thank you so much. A south florida teenagers game of pretend gets too real. Now he is behind bars. And shark mania. Where thousands of sharks are spotted off the coast of florida and why theres so many. And then cubas increasing role in world events. Up next, Jeff Patterson is in havana. He looks ahead to how events happening today, a big reveal in tallahassee. The winners of the Powerball Jackpot right here in florida are finally set to come forward. This is exciting stuff. Its been more than a month since the ticket was bought at the store in brevard county. Remember how excited we were to right here in the sunshine state. And news channel 8s ryan hughs is live at a convenience store. And it appears the winner waited to get all their ducks in a row. Reporter gayle, gene, good morning to you guys. A spoke to a Florida Lottery district manager and he said its wise for winners to get prepared. They should get attorneys and Financial Advisers before coming forward and that appears to be the case here. And now people are really excited about this announcement later today. You will remember on january 13th, we reported three Winning Tickets were sold nationwide, one in tennessee, one in california and one at Melbourne Beach. And news channel 8 traveled there to check things out. People in and around Melbourne Beach have speculated but nothing was confirmed until today. The Florida Lottery will announce the winners this afternoon. Florida law requires the names and some lottery and powerball tickets are never even claimed. In the next half hour, hear from the owner of this store where dreams came true back in 2013 and then they were shattered six months later. Yeah, i dont know that i could wait a whole month to take home that prize. Im too impatient. Dont forget, we are planning to cover the big reveal live on news channel 8 this afternoon. Turn here to watch it live starting at 2 30. In an 8 on your side exclusive, news channel 8 is once again reporting from the front lines of history from cuba. Our Jeff Patterson is in havana right now. You might remember i covered the opening of the u. S. Embassy in havana and i was there for the popes visit last year. And now jeff is there covering another papal visit and other historic events. Reporter its been a remarkable trip for us here to cuba. Pope met with the head of the Russian Orthodox church, the First Time Since 2054 the leaders of those two churches have sat down together. And also we have been here, the u. S. Secretary of transportation signed a historic agreement allowing u. S. Commercial airlines to the fly to cuba on a daily basis for the first time in 50 year. And today we plan years. And today we plan to talk with a cuban business man who takes tour groups and how these changes impact him and his business. Jeff patterson, news channel 8. Thank you. And jeff will continue to bring us reports from cuba. News channel 8 is the only television there and covering the delegation. Stay tuned for jeffs continuing coverage from havana all week onair and online. In an 8 on your side alert this morning, a warning about Online Rental scams. People here in the bay area. On craigslist, scammers offer condos with a gulf view for hundreds of dollars less than the going rate. And if you take the bait, the next step is the scammer asks for a deposit. Once they get that money, theyre off and youre left without a place to stay. Experts recommend you use a reputable booking company or real estate agent. The theyre too good to be true, red flag. Yes, always a scam. This next one is going to blow you away. A south florida teenager is accused of playing doctor with real patients. Yeah, again, we are talking about a teen here. And listen to this, detectives explained he opened his own office in west palm beach. And this story is one of the top clicked on our app this morning. This is the guy. He is just 18 years old. Now he is behind bars. And investigators claim he Medical Center and urgent care claiming to be a 25yearold doctor. And an undercover agent posed as a patient and busted him. The teens grandfather knew about the clinic but didnt think much of it. Well, once he opened up the office and the practice, just, i felt like it was something legit that he was trying to do. Again, hes 18 years old. Didnt go to medical school. And theres more to the this story. He is a repeat offender here. The Palm Beach County health didnt cited him several months ago for the same scheme. Wow. And this video is trending on wfla. Com. Take a close look. You see all the black little dots all over the screen there . Theyre not dot, theyre sharks. Tens of thousands of them in fact. Black tipped sharks swarming the coast just off the coast of florida. And researchers claim this is actually normal, part of their it closed several beaches and gave a lot of people a show. Certainly so. And we have a show of fog in a few spots. And where it has developed, it is extremely thick. The thing is, just not everywhere. Downtown tampa, you can see for 10 miles. You go to the eastern Hillsborough County like brandon, visibility is zero. You go farther east into lakeland, your visibility is zero in this fog meaning you cant really see in front of your car. But head to winter haven and you can see six miles. Fog other. Places clear. And after 8 00, the fog burns weather. 70 and low humidity this afternoon. Its 52 right now in zephyrhills. 53 in bartow. 50 in sarasota. My weather watcher wendy in brooksville chilly at 46. And look at this, everybody is cooler than yesterday by some nine to 15 degrees cooler. So this fog will erode after breakfast time. Little cool to start the day tomorrow in the 40s. But my goodness, a nice stretch of weather into the weekend. It is foggy in patches. Downtown tampa looks good. But check this out, you can see the car go by barely, 75 at fowler avenue. New tampa area, very, very thick fog. Use caution. And also 275 at bearss avenue, a little bit better but quite foggy out there. And this is the northern end of Hillsborough County, southern end of pasco where im seeing it on the interstates. Lets talk about state road 52, the accident has cleared. A great drive for hernando county, no delays into tampa. Fast 44 minutes from cortez road to highway 60 in brandon. Thats weather and traffic on the 8s. Back to gene and gayle. Let me dramatically take bad luck into a performance when a blast of Winter Weather left them stranded in washington, d. C. The the band captivated stressed out travelers and some people even felt the performance calmed their nerves. Well, a new twist for jewelry that is keeping women connected to their smart phones. I like your glasses. Thank you. Ahead, how one entrepreneur is making a fashion statement with ear buds and charger chords too. And helping parents stay in touch with their children and all those they use. What one Police Officer is doing to help. Parents in Central Indiana with doing their best to get up to speed on new social media apps. It seems like theres always a new app to learn about and download. And thats why captain brent worth put together a forum for parents. He introduces parents to social media apps that could be dangerous. They come into the conversation thinking that whoever they are talking to wont know who they are. Captain worth wants parents to be aware of their childs app use. And now by monitoring them, you can watch for predatory buzzwords. Some include modeling, private. Those are things to look for. But most important of all, he honest discussion with your child. Thats a great way. Just talk to them. Yeah, you have to do that. Women, say goodbye to the tangled mess of headphones in your purse. Yeah, this is snappy. You wear jewelry to express your style. Why not give it function, right . A Startup Company did it with a necklace. The dipper has the full functionality of headphones. Just pop in the earbuds and start dipping. See, right out of the trendy statement piece and then it connects to the smart phone, ipad or computer. So no more time waisted on traditional headphones. Whats with the name . The dipper . If you dip, i dip, we dip. Remember that Old School School . I put my hand up on my head. We got the hook from our producer again. Plus, unclaimed lottery money. What happens to a Lottery Jackpot when no one claims it. The baby monitor to the rescue. Big heads up for the kids at the bus stop. Very thick fog in spots. Cooler, 70 and comfortable this afternoon. Emoji man says, yeah, that feels good, leslee. But looks terrible. 75 at fowler avenue, this is one of them, definitely use caution through the new tampa 5 30 on this wednesday morning. Good morning. Im gene ramirez. And im gayle guyardo. In our top stories this morning, allison huffman, the
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