The couples dog killed in a morning fire. They were sleeping with the fire started. They just didnt wake up. Her and jana and the dog were in there. Reporter flames erupted after one a. M. On old poke city road. I dont know. If you might have said maybe the electricity and if they were sleeping, maybe they didnt, you know, if the smoke got to them before that and they just didnt wake up. I dont know. Reporter elton robinson, baskins grandfather lives behind the couple and he woke up to people screaming at his dog. There was one fellow there that was trying to get everybody out. My grandson and girlfriend. My grandson was a smart boy and he can put things together and i cant figure out why he it will be hard. A reality that neither family can come to grips with. They are good people. I cant believe they are dead. Now you are looking at a live look of a dog thats been sitting under this truck. This dog has been coming back and forth digging inside of the mobile home for the past hour. We
Hes out of the race. Also thats just no gator, thats a big gator. Indeed it was. A big scare for a lakeland couple after they find a 9foot gator in their Swimming Pool. But first reporter we are live at the strawberry festival. It gets underway today. Were looking at some of the rides, trying some of the food but we are also rubbing elbows with some royalty and coming up in 11 minute, i will have a live interview with the queen of the strawberry festival. That looks like a lot of fun. Good morning and welcome to news channel 8 today. Thank you for waking up with us on this thursday morning. I am gayle guyardo. And i am Candace Mccowan in for gene ramirez today. Today promises to be a Beautiful Day and meteorologist leigh spann joins us now. We are getting quite spoiled. And we should be spoiled because this is the perfect time of year. Now you may notice its a little cooler this morning, some of us in the 40s. 46 in inverness. Plant city, strawberry festival, 55 degrees. 60 in bradento
Who hadnt seen him in more than a year. Kelly remarked that his mission must not be americas last great adventure into space. This mission is the latest achievement in our countrys space program, but its not the last. There will be more. Its in our dna of our country to explore, and we must never stop doing this. We must lead, must learn, and must discover. Kelly will now undergo tests in houston as nasa works to determine the effect longterm space flight has on the human body. Ivan carrara joins us now. Reporter ivan cabrera joins us now. Absolutely. That compares to yesterday where we had high humidity where temps were well into the 60s. Temps move through quietly as the next one will for the most running anywhere from 5 to 16 degrees cooler than yesterday. Clearly weve had a front through. You will feel it this morning. Temperatures in the 40s and 50s for the rest of the day. It will drop a couple more degrees to get into the upper 50s through the morning. Commute looks good, dry, c
Im stacy sc schaible. Marry mcguire shows us how driving too slow will cost you. Were in the height of tourism season in florida and the florida highway is caution gs drivers that they could be fined if they dont obey the minimum speed limits. Florida is a destination state for many moving to the state, we have a lot of people coming here for tourist, people coming here to vacation from across the entire globe actually. So theres a lot of people that bring their driving behaviors here. Sergeant says the state is expected to see close to 100 million visitors in this year alone. Meaning lots of unfamiliar drivers on tampa bay if youre caught driving slow, you could be fined more than 150. Im mary mcguire, news channel 8. The reason so many drivers come to florida is because of the weather. Lets check with meteorologist julie phillips. Its a great time in the tampa bay area. Looking from clearwater beach, you can see clouds hanging around this location. Darker clouds there. Were tracking
3 3 3 3 in just a few hours. The fun begins, at the annual florida strawberry festival. But all that fun. Comes with some extra protection. The festival is adding security this year. Fox 13s Shayla Reaves joins us now from plant city, with the details. 3 3 3 later this morning, the city of tampa is expected to vote on an ordinance, decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana. 3 instead of charging offenders with a misdemeanor. Police would issue citations. The fines would start as low as 70 dollars and increase for repeat offenders. And this would only apply to people caught with 20 grams of pot. Or less. Fox 13s Alcides Segui talked with t idea. That part of the story, is ahead in our five oclock hour. 3 3 plans are in the works to lessen wait times at the tampa irs office. We showed you live pictures of the long lines wednesday morning on good day. Hundreds of people have been waited up to six hours in that line. Many of the people are in line because of id fraud, and they need to ver