Transcripts For WFTS The Now Tampa Bay 20160222

We are told minor injuries with three students and the bus driver. We just found out about this and have action air 1 on the way. The assistant principal from venice high is trying to get in touch with parents so they can come get their kids. Well have live pictures coming up soon. The nows erik waxler caught up with one fraud victim while the Sheriffs Office looks for others. Guaranteed supply, he told me. Didnt last five days. Reporter this is janets driveway after paying 900 to have it resurfaced. She got suckered by a slick sales pitch. Im very mad. Im more mad at myself that i allowed it. Door offering a professional job but investigators say career criminal dennis prairie used watered down cement to paint over the driveway. You can still see the drips. So he proceeded to slop some more of that stuff on and i said, you didnt cover it all. I will take care of it, dont worry. Reporter the Sheriffs Office says he pulled the same thing with 13 others in the 65. Detectives say he knew what he was doing and after catching him in the act, he was arrested for grand theft and fraud. Think about your own family its difficult. Reporter he is in jail but the Sheriffs Office doesnt want us to show his mug shot. They expect dozens more people to come forward and they want legitimate businesses rarely come to your door asking for work. Check for references and be sure they are licensed. I think they ought to hang him from the nearest post. Reporter erik waxler for the now tampa bay. Picture Ballast Point in south tampa, the last place you would expect a child to find a gun and shoot it, but thats what happened. Reporter folks say Ballast Point park was packed that day on sunday afternoon, a lot of people here when that gun went off. It was extremely chaotic. They were there talking to someone, throwing them in the back of the car. Looked like a family party so i reporter a 37yearold faces serious felonies and appeared before a judge this morning. Police say he stashed a handgun, revolver, inside a diaper bag that belonged to his girlfriend on a picnic table near the playground. At that point we are told he walked over to the pier to go fishing or go to the pier and left the bag unattended. It was at that point the boy it accidentally. We dont know where the girlfriend was at this time. When police arrived, they say they saw him trying to throw the gun into the bay. Thank you. Appreciate that. A lot of people were at the beautiful. Today a lot of the same. Its a gorgeous way to start the week. Hopefully you got to get still looking fabulous out there. A few clouds today but still no significant chance of rain. If youre looking at Pinellas County temperatures, still in the upper 60s to 70s, oldsmar 75 degrees right now. Hillsborough county we have a lot of temperatures near 80, temp terrace and lutz at 80 degrees. Well see the temperatures coming down over the next couple hours as we get closer to sunset. But were also going to see the clouds increasing. What happens in the evening when you get a thicker deck of clouds, it acts like a blanket. Overnight tonight temperatures will be more mild. 8 00 tonight still 69 degrees and 10 00 may even see an isolated shower out there, 67 degrees. If youre thinking, things are starting to change and maybe we should take a look at the rays in Port Charlotte. Worst days to check them out, coming up. Bail denied within the last 45 minutes for the uber driver suspected of going on a killing spree in kalamazoo, michigan. There are still a lot of questions about why jason dalton may have done it, with no connection between dalton and the victims. The rampage spanned nearly 7 hours this past weekend. Today we are hearing from a man who got an uber ride from dalton just 24 minutes before police made the arrest. Didnt seem like the type i mean, our interaction was very basic. I said, youre not the shooter are you . He said no. I said, are you sure . He kind of just said, no, im just tired, been driving for seven hours. Hes accused of shooting 8 he passed ubers background checks and faces up to life in prison if convicted. Michigan does not have the death penalty. For people there its been a nightmare with a sense of loss now. Reporter we saw it everywhere, retracing the steps police say that uber driver took. Everywhere we found bullet holes, flowers and a Community Coming together to grieve. Reporter at toughie auto repair service, its tough to lighten the mood today. From the waiting room, you can see the car dealership where a father and son were shot and killed. Below the sign for new and used, a new sign for whats been lost. Scares the stuffing out of me that it happened so close to everybody wants to know why. You know, why . What triggered this event . Well get the answer and still ask the same question, why . Reporter all three hit close to home for rick. His wife always goes to this cracker barrel, where four people lost their lives. And his daughter used to live in this apartment complex, now covered in bullet holes. Saw everybody come outside, somebody said they got shot. Just hope theyre okay. Reporter on this monday, as kalamazoo tries to get back to normal, the mood . Gray, bloomy, cold. Reporter sure fits the weather. Downright cold. Its tough to be tough today. Yes, it is. Reporter and there are a lot of tough people here. We met a man in that bullet holes and said he saw the shooting happen, jumped out of his house and went to go help. Another person, a firefighter on the street, also ran to help. They held that woman until paramedics arrive. They didnt want to go on camera because they said this is a neighborhood effort. I know youre talking to a lot of people there. What are thigh talking they talking to you about the most . They are intrigued about the way things played out, the idea that the uber driver stopped and accepted fares in between the shooting scenes. People are asking why and how this could be. Still a lot of questions to be answered here for sure. When we return, finally an answer as to why so many star fish are dying near beaches try and imagine hundreds of rattle snakes on one island. This. Reporter imagine an island crawling with these guys. Rattle snake island could become a reality. Officials in massachusetts want to make mt. Zion, an island off limits to the public, into a habitat for venomous timber rattle snakes. Officials hope by doing this, it will help save the species. There are only about 200 of them left. But residents are worried they could swim across the reservoir but Officials Say if they winter. There could be fewer than 10 snakes on the island a year, a far cry from the 150 reported snakes. Why did it have to be snakes . Reporter adult timber rattle snakes can grow up to 5 feet in length. Officials will address the publics concerns in a meeting on tuesday. Remember you can watch newsy with your favorite streaming donald trump is coming off a big win in South Carolina on saturday and is now the proven republican frontrunner. Rubio and ted cruzs rallies in nevada. All the delegates went to trump as the two continue to play second and third in nevada and show no signs of backing down, campaigning hard still. The republican field is now down to five. Over the weekend, marco rubio picked up an interesting endorsement from donnie wahlberg. He tweeted rubio is the only candidate that can beat trump. Right now wahlberg is part of the Reality Tv Show wahlbergers, where the family flips burgers, and they just opened a restaurant in orlando. Bernie Sanders Press Conference in boston just moments ago, hes comparing his views to issues. This saturday Hillary Clinton beat bernie sanders, picking up 19 delegates to his 15. The president ial race Goes National in just a little more than a week. When a dozen states hold primaries or caucuses. This is where it stands right now. For the republicans, donald trump is leading in the delegate count with 67, ted cruz with 11 and marco rubio with 10. A republican candidate has to get a little more than 1200 delegates to win the nomination. They could pick up 600 delegates now through super tuesday. And Hillary Clinton is leading with more than 500 delegates. These are Party Members free to back whoever they want. Bernie sanders only has 70 delegates by comparison, but could pick up some of the nearly 1100 delegates up for tuesday. Get more than 2300 delegates. A new study shows hpv cases have dropped 64 for women in the early 20s. Hpv is the most common std and can cause cancer. This is the first time we have seen this kind of decline since the cdc started recommending vaccines for young women in 2006. A number of star fish mysteriously died. Its been happening since 2013. Take a look at this picture. They turn white, lose their limbs like the one on the video. Researchers just revealed they are finding warmer Ocean Temperatures are making the disease worse. They found to warm water can stress the star fish out and makes infections more severe. Researchers are saying its not just star fish we should be worried about right now. Put everything from sponges to turtles at risk for diseases. I guess its not really helping, the fact that its so warm outside. We have some pretty great pictures from Port Charlotte right now. Spring training weather has been beautiful today. In fact, starting off the workweek like we had over the there. Things are about to start changing. If youre planning on heading to Port Charlotte, check this out. Tomorrow not bad. Wednesday, though, straight f. Not a good day. Thursday and friday look great. Probably bring the extra layer because the temperatures are coming down. So its a cold front thats on the way, bringing us that nasty weather. We have one more good day ahead, winds coming from the south and pumping in above average temperatures out there tomorrow not bad, maybe a few showers during the day, nothing too extreme. Its this batch of storms that will intensify across the panhandle of florida and across the southeastern states tomorrow that youll need to keep an eye on. If youre traveling, have friends and family, make sure they have storm shield so they can be alerted. On wednesday. Storm shield also a good idea locally as the system moves through our area. More on the timing and risks associated with this cold front as it moves through and give us us a chance of storms on wednesday, coming up in the next forecast. Still coming up on the now tampa bay, theaters accused of discriminating against the blind. We all want to have the same why theyre blaming the theater chain for ruining their moviegoing experience. And before we go, tequila. Its National Margarita day and several places around town are take a look at the screen here. Truck and another car in the grass over to the left. Looks like this a winding road. Apparently they have the road shut down at this time. We are still trying to get more information as to how this bus accident happened. Three children and the driver with minor injuries in this one. We are told the assistant principal was on the scene about 30 minutes ago being sure parents were notified so they could come pick up kids. As soon as we get more information, well bring it to you. Right now bill cosbys wife is answering questions for the first time in a case against her husband. This is video of Camille Cosby and her attorneys getting to court today for her deposition. The women in this case are suing cosby for defamation, claiming he made them look like liars after they accused him of sexual assault. Camille has been trying for weeks to avoid answering questions. Information can go public if a group of blind people are suing amc, saying the head sets arent working and its ruining their movie going experience. The head sets tell the person whos happening on the screen, things like body language when theres no dialogue between the characters. We want to have the same experience, the same escapism, the same access to entertainment. I wasnt able to communicate with my boys about what happens happening for the remainders of film or afterwards because i missed out on a great deal of action in a film thats not heavy on dialogue. Reports say another person went to see the invitation game and given multiple devices that didnt work but then was given 50 shades of grey instead. We reached out to amc itself and are waiting to hear back. We may have the next Michael Phelps here. 16yearold Michael Andrew is training with 24 National Records for his age group, swimming faster times than phelps himself at his age. Andrew swims about three hours a day, his parents everyone building a training pool at their house. His mom is his manager and his his dad is his coach. It would be a miracle but we believe in miracles. At 14, ive dealt with a lot of pressure, put a lot of pressure on myself. I have to be positive, have to know i will make the team. Trials are in june and hes most usa swimmers on the 2012 team were 10 years older than andrew. Va leaders slashing 16yearold boy is in jail accused of kill z his 10year old sister. So far we only know her body was found in a field behind her house. Also today the female deputy run over by a 15yearold boy she was trying to arrest is now out of the hospital and on the road to recovery. Anyone who knows me knows im going to get through this and im going to be happy again. Ive got this life ahead of me and im going to make the most of it. Orange county sergeant marcy pierce is doing well despite the broken foot and cuts and bruises on her face there. She held on to the car for a while and jumped off when the teen kept going faster. A 15yearold reportedly behind this guy is making his mom proud today, taking his 34th mug shot. This time the 39yearold was going more than 100 miles an hour in a stolen car under the influence. And as you can see, hes got 33 other arrests on floridas west coast. Lets see if these charges will stick so hell be in jail a little longer. In response to the vas National Wait time scandal, congress created a program to help them get assistance sooner. 34 whistleblowers inside the cincinnati va paint a picture of departments getting slashed and reduced care for vets. And a day, i think. Reporter thats bill, lifting 200pound artillery shells. It makes my back hurt just to think about it. Reporter decades later when he needed relief from severe back pain, the cincinnati va told him. We dont have a neurosurgeon here at the hospital anymore. I couldnt believe it. Reporter so they sent him for private care through veterans choice, a new program intended to solve the National Wait time va scandal. To qualify, vets must live more than 40 miles away from a va hospital or waited longer than 30 days for an appointment. I was very, very naive because i thought it meant that i had a choice. You wanted to go to a specific place that had neurosurgeons . Yes, but instead was sent to a place that didnt have one. Reporter that was one of at back and forth between phone calls and visits over 19 months between the va, the choice program, the clinic he wanted to. Vets across the nation had similar experiences, with pleas for help coming from tampa, maine and colorado springs, all problems securing appointments. Whistleblowers say its intentional, with some local va hospital lead, looking at choice dollars as an incentive to make their books look good, reducing staff and eliminating costly medical services and the administration doesnt view it as a cost to our va. Reporter susan worked for 16 years in neurosurgery and one of 34 whistleblowers we heard from at the cincinnati va. Staff began to squeeze employees out from neurosurgery. Before he came in neurosurgery, we didnt have a backlog of problems with appointments. Reporter she says in 2014 he began looking at closing neuroand requested a cost benefit analysis. It would have cost taxpayers 1. 6 million to keep neurosurgery inhouse and additional 4 million to 7 million to send patients outside the va. But emails show the hospital faced a large budget deficit. In february of 2015, staff was told by the regional director to find ways to improve operations and efficiency. He called an emergency meeting at 7 30 p. M. With the surgeons and according and whistleblowers say other services were hit too. I think this is shift of expense, making the local institution foot it. Reporter he says the hospitals specialists in hip, shoulder and knee replacements were targeted. We were told wed be reduced to one fulltime between the three of us. Reporter we confirm last year just 54 hip, shoulder and knee replacements taking place in the hospital, with 769 orthopedic referrals to choice. The regional director would only speak off camera. If someone doesnt receive neurosurgery at the va, now they can go to choice and another pot of cash will pay for it . You could look at it that way. Under our leadership then, is there a practice of not filling the positions so they what i dont want to see is that were using choice dollars to help balance the budget. Reporter jeff miller of florida chairs the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Hes a supporter of choice to reduce wait times, but not like this. If the government says theyre going to take care of their veterans, they should do it. Reporter sources from the House Committee on Veterans Affairs confirmed they have received complaints from employees at va hospitals in other states who think the shift to choice is also occurring there. Well stay on top of this and continue to follow the story all week long. Well add additional elements interviews, documents and interactives. Still to come, two miracles coming out of this exploding car crash. The driver gets out alive and what was found inside looking right now wild video out of memphis, people passing by rushing to help a man trapped inside a burning car. But wait, theres more. You dont believe . Dont know what to say. Not only did they get the guy out alive, but the entire car was burned inside and out except this one thing, a bible here found on the front seat without a single burn on it. Just incredible. We have a look at which tampa drivers are paying more for Car Insurance and why. Weirdly, it comes down to renting versus owning your house. The Consumer Federation of america just did a review and even if youre a good driver, if you rent, you pay an average of 7 more here in tampa, an this is looking at seven Big Companies including state farm, progressive and allstate in this one. These are people who really cant afford to pay more than they already do. The average income of renters is about 28,000 compared to 63,000 for homeowners. The Consumer Federation of america says this unfairly penalizes good drivers. Its calling on lawmakers and regulators to make Insurance Companies stop considering Home Ownership and other nondriving factors when setting their rates. Coming up, what happened to a young florida woman who found her roommate on craigslist is terrible, and these pictures are hard to look at. Maybe it could help the next person, that they might think twice about letting a stranger into their home before checking residences. You let someone in your house. Back to breaking news out of venice. We are learning the driver of the car there to the right of the screen, as action air 1 is moving out, that car is at fault in this bus crash. 18 children were on board, three students and the bus driver being treated now for minor injuries. Parents came to the scene to was seriously hurt. Hopefully they can get that road open soon. More breaking news out of missouri. Crews are working to clear the there. A tractor trailer in blue springs near kansas city, and a charter bus from ferguson on the side of the road with a flat tire, sideswiped by the tractor trailer. You can see the debris and see the bus and semi. You can see inside there. At least 10 people were hurt range ing from minor to serious injuries but everyone survived. We are just learning the driver of the tractor trailer told troopers head started choking on a piece of gum and reached for some water just before the crash. Right now a florida womans horror story about a roommate found on craigslist serving as a warning this afternoon. She was attacked and nearly killed, and just over the weekend was able to open her eyes for the first time. We found a lot of people looking for someone to help split the rent, everyone from older single women to single fathers too. With that, adam weiner is explaining the extra precautions you should take now before letting someone move in. Reporter 23yearold Danielle Jones needed a blood just to put her face back together. Police say Byron Mitchell tried to kill her on valentines day after being roommates for about a week. The story was especially frightening to joseph, since he has an ad for a roommate on craigslist right now. You have no idea what these people have done in the past, what theyre capable of doing, whats going on upstairs. Reporter he is in an entry level position at work and looking to split the cost of living. When i see the emails that people respond with, they all start with, i love the post, it was funny. Thats how i know, like, this is a person whos reading the entire thing. Reporter that is a first step, and hell then meet candidates in person and look them up online. The complex is also doing background and credit checks. If youre doing those yourself, experian. Com is a great tool. And floridas department of Law Enforcement offers criminal website and its not a waste of money, Law Enforcement Officials Say. Its unfortunate. This is an example of what could go wrong if you dont take these steps. Steps. Reporter danielles mother says her daughter was just too trusting. Could help the next person, that they might think twice about letting that person into their home and not doing background checks. We have learned a Denver Police officer was shot. This is a live feed from our kmgh. Authorities there getting ready reporters. Initial reports say a female officer was shot in the foot. Investigators were chasing a person in a car who was also shot. Well have updates as they come in. Music on the moon. Noises the astronauts were hearing on the dark side of the moon, the side facing away from the earth. You can hear them talking about it on the unexplained files. There are multiple theories about what they might have heard that day. Some believe it was radio interference from the spacecraft and others believe it could be extraterrestrials. I dont know, big mystery. Did you know full moons have names . Tonights has a name too. It doesnt make a lot of sense, living in florida. But in february we see a lot of snow up north, so the february take a look at this great picture from places like tampa bay or other parts of florida where we dont see the snow this time of year. The moon rise tonight is at 6 34, so you can still get a good glimpse. I think for the next couple hours well have a chance at catching that moon. But the clouds will be increasing through the everything. 8 00 at night, mostly cloudy skies, everyone a slight chance for a shower at that point. Temperatures are still in the upper 60s here through 9 00. Then once we get past that, well start to see a higher chance of rain. Take a look at the radar over the last three hours. You can see a few little patches of rain in the southern counties. I dont think thats going to make it to the ground. If it did, it would be a quick drizzle. You can see the futurecast trying to project a slightly herer chance of rain this evening than what were seeing outside right now. We have a chance of showers but at 6 00, im not thinking well see problems with the commute due to rain. It will be more of an afternoon event where we could see showers farther inland. Maybe a shower or two late tonight or into the overnight, then rain chances really starting to go up into wednesday. Thats when the cold front presses through. As far as timing goes, looks like later in the morning or early afternoon at the latest when this storm system, that big line of storms will roll through. Along with it, the biggest concern is for damaging winds. Cant entirely rule out a hail or isolated tornado. Again, it looks like the dynamics will come together from tampa bay on north, and especially the farther north you go through florida on wednesday. Well keep posting here and online updates and of course storm shield, great to have on your mobile device to alert you wednesday. Tomorrow still on the calm side, showers on wednesday. Thursday and friday were back in the 60s, even low 60s for highs. We are fine tuning the numbers for the sevenday forecast and well have a look at the weekend ahead, coming up on action news at 5 00. Right now two more zika virus cases in the last few hours and miamidade has the most with 11 cases. Statewide we are at 28. Researchers have started new studies but we wont get the initial results of those now a story we have been tracking for months, the cdc saying a math error means some floors could have triple the amount of cancercausing formaldehyde than once believed. Reporter Lumber Liquidators tanked today with news its chinese flooring may contain three times the amount of formaldehyde once thought, which more than triples the risk of cancer. It sparked federal investigations around prompted the company to stop importing from china. The report says the levels were high enough to cause respiratory and throat irritation, but low risk of cancer, only 2 to 9 cases per 100,000 people. The levels are risk to 6 to 30 cases per 100,000 people. The Company Stock fell 20 today following the news and last year the companys ceo resigned. They could take steps including ripping out those floors. Right now they are facing several class action lawsuits but no criminal charges have been filed in connection to the health concern. The company stopped importing flooring from china last may. We have just learned ted cruz is asking his Communications Director to resign over a tweet sent from his account falsely alleging his competitor marco rubio insulted the bible. Cruz told reporters he wont question the faith of another candidate for president. We also have breaking news right now, a press conference thats happening in denver. Now what youre looking at is ktlas live shot out in l. A. Theres a Small Plane Crash there. Firefighters are on the scene right now. Miraculously we are hearing the pilot was not hurt and no one else was hurt down there. The passenger side wing apparently ripped off, fuel appears to have spilled all over the road. Two parked vehicles nearby were damaged but no one was hurt. Right now ive got an update on the applefbi debate. The ceo is thanking his staff for their support of not helping the fbi break into the iphone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. He sent them an email today saying while it does not feel right not to help, doing so would threaten Data Security for millions of people. The comments come hours after the fbis director said that this is act giving the victims in the shooting justice. Government panel on encryption to deal with the National Security and privacy issues. They have until friday to respond to the court order in the fbi case. Even if youre not a regular on facebook, i am certain you see the quizzes quite a bit. Quizzes like this ask you which celebrity you look like. See them all the time. Might seem like its fun, but some of these are only created to get your information and then give your information to thirdparty companies. This amount of data being acquired by the companies can mean a lot of profit to Third Party Companies trying to acquire this data. Read the fine print, like this one that says this is only using facebook to get data. And when they ask to log in or if you hit okay, youre giving them access to your information, telling them where youve been, likes and dislikes and even your friends information. Now a story of hope, filling a home with laughter of a child. We meet a young boy whod given up hope of finding a forever family. Reporter they hadnt seen each other in more than a year, an ace pitcher and zach, reuniting with chris archer, whose gesture changed his life forever. Its hard to believe things like that dont always happen. I mean, as much as ive done in the community, i dont see it come around full circle. Reporter today zach finally has parents he can call his own. Terry and mark adopted the 15 yearold, all thanks to a video. It was really touching. Reporter that video made more than a year ago when archer heard this story. This is one of the most special experiences that ive had directly impacting someones life refrigerator the two made the video. I thought he was a good inspirational player. Reporter zach was losing hope hed ever find a family, archer hoping that he could help with the dream. If you get the right parents, its a perfect thing, its an awesome thing. And i can speak to that because i was adopted as well. Reporter now a perfect fit, the couple has two grown sons and no longer wanted to be emptynesters. This young man is a really good kid, seemed like hed be a good match for us. Its just completed a long reporter zach was too overwhelmed to speak today. For archer, it gives him more drive and hopes others will be inspired too. Thats what i hope i can continue to do, not just in the adoption world but just in making positive impacts globally as well. Thats it for the now tampa bay. Were back here at 4 00 tomorrow. Now abc action news at 5 00 starts. Tonight, how neighbors stepped in to save a life from a criminal. And gunfire at a playground. How the gun ended up in the hand of a child and why this good evening and thank you for joining us. Im wendy ryan. Im ashley glass. A dangerous combination at a tampa park, a child and loaded gun. Carson chambers is live with more tonight. Reporter the owner of the gun was his moms boyfriend and was not even here at the time. He was out on the pier when the gun went off. Then there was an ambulance with the little child only stretcher. Reporter a 6yearold boy who made a dangerous discovery in his moms diaper bag. Police say the boy pulled the trigger in a busy park packed with families picnicking and playing. It scares me