me four homes were broken into on saturday in the mecia neighborhood. in one case the thief broke into the house and the homeowner was in the shower. >> we're very fortunate that they did not cross paths. >> reporter: a burglar alarm was sounding while the thief was at work. and he still managed to get away before police arrived. police do have one clue. this photo of a white car that parked in front of one of the homes that was robbed. the white car stayed for about 15 minutes before the thief hit. >> which leads us to one of our bits of advice which is if you see something say something. >> reporter: keith roberts isn't sure why his home was targeted. but it was still unsettling for him. >> obviously, it takes away your sense of security and santuary in your own home. >> reporter: keith says his home is more modest than some of his neighbors so he's not sure why he was targeted but tampa police simply believe this was a crime of >> doesn't seem very opportunistic. it was daylight on a saturday. are police concerned about that? >> reporter: yeah they are concerned about that. frankly, police believe that the thief was looking at these homes making sure that nobody was home although in one case they were. but they want to try to catch this guy before something much worse happens. >> absolutely. all right, jeff patterson live in south tampa tonight. thank you. and now to major breaking international news tonight. a iranian military forces have seized two u.s. navy boats and detained the 10 sailors on board. this is happening on iran's far sea island on the persian gulf. the boats were on a mission when the boats drifted into understand it was a mistake and they will release the boats and the crew members. and an update tonight to breaking news, a punctured gas line that led to evacuations and traffic tie ups in pinellas county has been fixed. this is near 126th avenue north. a contractor accidentally hit the gas line. nearly a dozen businesses had to be evacuated. but tonight all the roads are back open and that gas line has been capped. a pinellas county teacher was caught driving drunk on a school night. kevin timmons was going the wrong way on arminia avenue. troopers pulled him over and gave him a breathalyzer test. his blood alcohol was double the legal limit. offered for information in an early morning shooting. a man on a motorcycle pulled up alongside a car and shot him. the victim did survive and is now recovering in the hospital. readers and researchers listen up. workers are going to have to shut down the venice county library due to mold problems. josh thomas is live. >> reporter: starting february 1st you won't be able to walk inside this library anymore. because officials say that they don't want to expose others to this impending danger. >> reporter: the venice public library has been a popular gathering place in this community for 50 years. >> this was one of the great places in venice. >> reporter: but there's a looming danger inside. been detected and the problem keeps getting worse. this room is locked and we're not allowed inside because the mold problem is so bad in there and county officials are so concerned about mold spreading through the rest of the library that they're not taking any chances. today county commissioners decided to close the library on february 1st. >> it's really with an abundance of caution about the well being of our citizens. >> reporter: so far no one has experienced health problems because of the mold. it's too expensive to clean up so officials say closing the library was the best option. but that doesn't make the decision an easy one. >> will you be sad to see this place go? >> of course. i think all of us here. >> reporter: this library is beloved. what does this library mean to you? >> honestly it's like a family. i know the people at the youth desk, i know them by name. >> reporter: but officials say and in the near future, they'll have a brand new library to look forward to. >> reporter: now take a look guys, not far from the library you will find the venice community center pretty much across the street. there a temporary kiosks will be set up on january 1st so that people can check out books and reserve them as needed. the main library will be closing on february 1. >> libraries are so important to communities. any idea on when they're going to actually build this new one if they're even going to do that. >> reporter: not clear yet. they're going to be holding a series of meetings in the near future. they will discuss plans to build a new library but they will have plans for three years before they build that library. and the high court ruled that the state gives too much to juries in the death penalty. right now a jury decides whether a convict is sent to death but it's the judge who makes the ultimate decision. the decision could bring appeals of the people sitting on death row. and a doctor accused of running a pill mill will spent three years in prison. she handed out oxicodone prescriptions at multiple pill mills including one in pinellas county. rats crawling all over a single mother's apartment. and getting them taken care of is a whole lot harder than you might think. what happened when she turned to 8 on your side for some help. some clouds have rolled in but we had nice blue skies today. still a cool evening and overnight rain chances are back. especially for friday. we'll talk more in detail about pinellas county found a way to pick up quick landscaping equipment. he just pulled up to a truck and started taking it. the opening of the new interstate turned into quite a mess during rush shower traffic in tampa today. the lanes are straighter but the temporary ramp is really short. >> you lose at least 20 minutes. that's what it took me both mornings. >> reporter: dot promises it will get better as motorists get used to the new alignment. there will be a big improvement when the fourth northbound traffic lane opens up sometime in march or april. well pasco county has given the green light to a project that would extend state road the plan is to connect sr56 to highway 301 and then widen it from two lanes to four lanes. the price tag $65 million. the department of transportation is paying for more than half of it. and the work is expected to start in the fall and wrap up in 2019. reducing crashes involving bicycles and pedestrians. that's the goal of an enforcement effort on the way. officers are fanning out across the city looking for violations and it didn't take long for our cameras to see a number of people jaywalking across fourth street north. fines can range from $56 to more than $160. but for now police are just handing out information cards. >> it absolutely can be serious and it can change anyone's life. for both the families involved and so forth. it's just so easily preventable. able to be prevented. >> reporter: after a period of education st. petersburg police so be warned. imagine paying rent for an apartment filled with rats. >> it is happening right here in the tampa bay area. the resident called eight on your side for help. infestation frustration. a pregnant woman's apartment crawling with critters and no matter how many calls she makes solution to this rat problem. she's really stuck here between a rock and a hard place if you will. >> yes she wants to leave but she still has a lease. that's a problem. and her landlord is well tough to track down. eight on your side investigator shannon bank went out to check out -- shannon behnken went out to check out the situation and nobody should live like that. >> reporter: nobody should. and she just wants a safe home for her family. >> reporter: you won't believe how much alicia lee pays for this apartment. $660 a month and there's rats. her landlord at beach wood apartments on 21st street in tampa won't let her out of her lease. >> because there's a hole right here where they come out of. solution put rocks on the hole and hope that keeps the rats out. and put rat poison in them. but now what's happening. >> it's killing them but but the smell is coming out because the rats are dying inside. >> reporter: a company stuffed up the holes with holes. let's just assume they can't eat right through that. and then they put these rat traps. >> i didn't know rats could jump from the floor to the counter that high. >> reporter: fed up with living like this. she turned to 8 on your side for answers. we found the complex is owned with a canadian company with a local property manager so i gave her a call. >> what are you going to do to get rid of the rats and the >> reporter: the manager assures me the rats will be gone soon. as for lee, as soon as she saves the money, she will be gone too. >> i should have never had a problem with my rent. i've been on time and i've been letting her know that this problem is here. >> after a call from 8 on your side. hill county code enforcement promises action. the property owner has been unresponsive. so now they plan to bring the issue before the code month. and if the complex still doesn't do anything they could shut them down. >> okay, so i know they are trying to hold her to her lease but what happens if she just leaves. >> i asked her that because i would just leave. but she has spoken to an attorney who says if she just does leave they could charge and she's young, she has good credit she doesn't want that. we're hoping they just let her go. western part of pasco county, here new port richie you can see a few clouds. 57degrees, nice sunset though. post sunset. nice view on the beach but it's pretty chilly if you're going to be out for a walk this evening. you might want to bring a jacket, sweater not a bad idea over all. this is a cool idea. the averages, the coldest time of the year the second week in january. 44 tampa, 43 brooksville. we've seen some high and some mid-level cloudiness streak in from the southwest if that holds up. we could see milder forecast for us. our forecast lows for tonight 45 west chase, wesley chapel. we did see mid-30s in some of 40 arcadia and north port: chilly temperatures again maybe a bit on the breezy side. 60degrees at noon. clouds building slowly warming and 64 degrees at 3:00 p.m. 9:00p.m. again this evening. 52degrees at 7:00 a.m. 44-degree. a cold start to the day. 61degrees our current temperature that's in lake land. clear water is 55 degrees. bradenton 65. skies a bit clearer there at the moment. and you can see across north florida. temperatures cool relative to key west at the moment 67 degrees. high pressure to our west. this has backed off a little bit to the west a little bit. and because of the position of that high we're seeing the clock wise flow around that high kind of moving that north wind into the area. north and northwesterly. that's just a cool flow from the north. freeze warnings still in place florida straits, florida keys today and we have winds coming from the west. as for the forecast on rpm. you can see the clouds will continue to move our way for the morning hours maybe a few of those around helped to hold the temperature up a little bit. they're not just high clouds: they're probably a bit more substantial. keep it a tad milder. high pressure will continue to be the big feature. cool again in the 60s. the high will continue to shift. the conditions get milder with more of an easterly flow. the approach of this area will add rain chances later thursday into friday. so we're looking at mostly overcast skies through this period. going beyond that period overnight into friday morning you can see the rain increasing with the possibility of overnight showers potentially thunderstorms too. and that's for friday at 5:00 p.m. moving eventually in the afternoon off to the east away from us. temperatures will be warming by friday to 74 degrees coming along with those rain chances. for saturday. it's 74 degrees then we get another push of cooler air associated with a cold front that will drop those temps back into the 60s. as we head into this mlk weekend here. for tuesday, 62 degrees for a high temperature with overnight low temperatures in the 40s again. so we warm up a little bit. cool down a little bit with the rain chance in between. >> thanks steve. so how would you like to be the winner at least share in the winnings of $1.5 billion plus jackpot? we're going to send you the opportunity. we're going to give you a chance here if you want to do this. if you want to enter the power ball drawing with newschannel 8. enter the newschannel 8 shares a jackpot contest. if one of our tickets wins big, we're going to share the winnings with 50 randomly and woman looks to regain a play off spot. >> and john lucas tells us what happened today. yeah, that's right. deal diva coming through. you see all my bogos, my weekly ad. and brace yourself. the digital coupons are coming next. look at her, so proud of her momma. you saved quite a bit today go ahead. say it. cha-ching! thank you the weekly ad, bogos and coupons. three easy ways to save at the same place you love to shop. publix. where shopping bucks ownership is now in houston for the nfl owner's meetings but there's confirmation by the team. finally an interview with dirk cutter. . it has officially taken place. that makes three interviews by the bucks for their head coach opening. that's not many considering the eagles interviewed five candidates and wrapped up that process without the cutter interview. he was on the original list of eagles candidates. we don't know if that took place or not. i mentioned the nfl owners meetings. the next 24 hours critical for the rams, chargers and the owners will listen and vote on proposals to move at least one of these franchises to los angeles as early as this year. it is an ugly situation. if you stayed up for the end of the alabama clemson game last night it was beautiful. what a classic we got to watch for the national championship. the key moment in the fourth quarter, an on side kick with the game tied at 24. the crimson tide right there converted. scored immediately on their way to a 45-40 win. it's bama's fourth national title in seven years. the lightning finish up their western road trip tonight in colorado. and a win would be huge on the heels of their back to back victories over the weekend. we're doing math now, two points would bring the volts back into the eastern play off. game a little bit and what we have to do to be successful and it starts with our work ethic. it's not easy especially when you're on the road for this long and you've gone through the time changes. good teams find a way to do that. >> and the pga valspar championship is under way. spieth confirmed he will defend his title. nbc golf analyst gary koch was on hand and says it doesn't get any better than having the masters and professionals play in this tournament. >> spieth has become a big name, a talk about mcilroy and spieth. any time you can get the players -- >> i was there last year. he's fun to watch. is so fun to see. >> he's won in hawaii over the weekend. >> he's got an entourage. >> steve and keith back at 7:00. we'll see you then.