Inform neighbors until after 8 on your side exposed this potential environmental disaster three weeks later. The governor is defending dep. Within 24 hours after they were notified, they started the investigation, they are continuing actively to do that investigation. If somebody has done anything wrong, we will hold them accountable. They didnt notify the public. They started their investigation immediately. That are working to put the information out as quickly as possible. Reporter sure, now that we brough dep is sharings information with the neighbors. They have a right to know if their drinking watt sir potentially contaminated. There is no excuse for not being transparent on this. Reporter it is deps contention it is not legally obligated to inform the public about this. State representative dana young. If they dont have a legal obligation to inform the public, we need to change the law and make sure they have a requirement to inform the public. Reporter fact, mosaic fact, when confronted, dep couldnt whisk away a chuckling deputy secretary gary clark fast enough. Who at dep is going the lose their job over this . They did their job of starting the instress grace immediately. They will hold anybody accountable. Is anybody going to investigate dep . We are going to focus on water quality. Reporter so here we are. 26 da the sink hole dropped really nasty contaminated water into the aquifer. We know 106 private wells are scheduled for fests. We know the epa will show up tomorrow for the first time. We still have no explanation from them about why they didnt notify neighbors before we broke this story. So why the big secret, steve . I mean, is mosaic getting special treatment . Reporter you know, thats the only question of mine that the governor really answered. Was handling this instead of the tampa office, hented back into his preprogrammed mode. They are investigating 24 hours. You know. Second verse, same as the first. Reporter exactly. But it is an investigation that will continue. Reporter yes, absolutely. Thank you for breaking the story, steve. And, not surprisingly, many people in polk and hillsborough counties are reaching out about water tests. But not all of them live in places where the leak could possibly impact their water. So, that is something we definitely want to po understand where that water flows and whether they need to worry. We created a helpful graphic on wfla. Com that shows who could be impacted. New tonight, a socalled Expert Witness accused of lying under oath. We are told he made up his certifications, his education, and level of expertise. Chester quatawsky appeared as several trials involving the abuse of children in polk county. Now, he is facing big charges. Melissa marino joins us live where this report. The sheriff says it was all a lie. Reporter thats right keith. We have his resume right here. Investigators are combing over it looking at his qualifications and they say it is all a sham. Chester is used to testifying as a expert in trials. He claims to have testified in at proceedings and federal proceedings. Reporter but now, he is being called an expert lier. Chester what do you have to say for yourself . Reporter headed to jail, he had nothing to say to 8 on your side. We call him chester who defends the molesters. Reporter his testimony in recent child abuse cases caught the attention of experts at the sheriffs office. That is just not accurate. Reporter so they started looking into his qualifications to see what, if anything, is lied about his certifications, his levels of expertise and even his degree. Not only does he not have a masters degree of any kind, there is no such degree at the university of south florida. Reporter for that, he will get a new title. A social confinement engineer. Reporter 8 on your side questioned how this will affect the cases he has testified in. It would seem to me that the defendants wouldnt want to do that because them could only become stronger with their fictitious witness out of the way. Reporter we questioned if anyone else knew about this. We are told the investigation is still too early to tell. Keith . This guy,kwitowski, has he witnessed anywhere else . Reporter according to his own resume, he said he was an county. Keith . Wow, a lot to account for this. Melissa marino, thank you. Right now, authorities are searching for four people who ran away from a Border Patrol traffic stop on i75 in pasco county. And a fifth person was struck by a car when he ran. He was air lifted to the hospital. Deputies are still trying to find the people who took off into the woods. Highlands county deputies made an arrest in the deadly stabbing of a lace heflam was taken into custody on an unrelated charge and arrested for domanic de mundos murder today. He had been working as his housekeeper. Saint petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman facing tough questions about the citys waste water problems. He answered questions about the dumping of sewer watt severe the bay. The public works administrator admitted to Council Members that closing the albert whiten the southwest plant should have been expanded before alfred was closed. That is my stance. That is my opinion. In looking at the data, it is clear to me that decision should have been made. He is considering a number of temporary fixes so that sewage wont be dumped into the bay. In the next major storm. Authorities have busted three people accused of as tico employees to rip people off. We reported on these scams too. And, now, they are finally caught. These folks apparently used prepaid cards in an attempt to avoid detection. Tampa police are searching for a man who stole a bag of money from an armored truck guard. You can see the suspect, he walked into the wawa where it happened wearing a reflective vest and the hood. The guard was servicing an atm inside when the thief grabbed and a heist worth more than 20,000 and the pricey items taken, hair extensions. You can see thieves with dozens of these hair extension packages in their arms. At least, six criminals broke into this hair supply store. And raided the place. Law enforcement officers are being scrutinized all around the country. So, one woman wanted to show her support in a special way. Coming up, how she is showing the lakeland boys in plus, you already paid for it once. Saint petersburg fills wanted you to pay for the Housing Project one more time. Why not . Well tonight, they may be backing off for now. 91 degrees, a hot day on this First Official day of fall. Very few showers to cool us off. We will look ahead to the weekend toasty if there is hope im Hillary Clinton and i approve this message. Hes a racebaiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. Donald trump is a phony, a fraud. Hes not a serious adult. I cant vote for donald trump given the things that he said. Trump should not be supported. I believe hes disqualified himself to be president. A Bay Area Company is finding a way to fill ems positions by turning to veterans with medical training. Sun star ems needs to fill nearly 50 emt and paramedic openings. A bill allows veterans with the training to fill the positions. There is a shortage of paramedics all across the country. A lakeland nurse is showing her support fur Law Enforcement paula pat made one pin by hand for every police officer. She sees what happens when police end up in Emergency Rooms and she wanted to show her support. I appreciate their job. You know. I know they are out there on the line making sure we are safe and are rights are predicted and i was hoping this would relate to them that. Pat says it took a weekand ahalf to make all 235 of debate between Hillary Clinton and don ailed trump is coming up on monday. And newschannel8 will be there. That guy, rod carter, our rotor, will report live from hamstead new york. The reports will begin sunday night right here on newschannel8. I tell you what, everybody is talking about this first debate. They will have three different debates. Lit be something. Absolutely. Well, making taxpayers foot the bill for a Housing Project coming up, why housing officials are now changing that deal. Mark is on it because you paid the Saint Petersburg Housing Authority is delaying a deal to it they were ready to pay private developers 400,000 forgiving millions in federal and city loans. It is a complicated deal, but taxpayers were about to pay for that project not once, but twice. And that is why mark douglas is on it toe night. Mark . Reporter stacie, taxpayers back millions of dollars in loans, grants, and tax credits, also, that private developers could rebuild jordan park 15 years ago. But, until recently and a City Council Member started asking questions. The Housing Authority was set to let taxpayers pay for all of this a second time around. For 15 years, private developers have owned and operated the jordan park Housing Project with no payments on millions in taxpayer loans and grants. They kept all the rent, along with federal rent subsidies and cashed it on millions in tax credits. And until we started raising questions, the housing those same developers 400,000 to buy it back. Forgive 18 million in developer loans, and pay as much as 7 million taxpayer dollars to fix up apartments that developers allowed to fall into disrepair. This is how the Housing Authority ceo defended that deal two weeks ago. So, basically, the developer gets to walk away from 18 million and in addition to getting 400,000. Well, all of these loans were te forgivable grants. Reporter you are saying that is a good deal for taxpayers . Thats a great deal for taxpayers. Reporter that was before Council Member Steve Cornell started raising questions as he did again today. There are a lot of questions. I have about eight pages of questions. And, i have been advised by legal that we do have a right to ask for an audit. Reporter the Housing Authority has put off the buy back deal indefinitely an demanding 400,000 to sell back to taxpayers the 237 apartments you paid for in the first place. Which is the right thing for them to do. And that High Pressure tactic clearly didnt work. Reporter activist terry lipsk scott is a vocal opponent. We are delighted to know once again we will not have to pay for a building we already paid for in the past. Taxpayers paying to buy back jordan park, there is going to be a financial audit. The citys stake in all of this . More than 3 million in loans that the Housing Authority expected city taxpayers to walk away from and let developers profit from it. Back to you, stacie. We know you are on it. Mark douglas live in saint pete tonight. Thank you. Well, officially in florida, fall, first day today. 87 degrees here at sun city center. Down in venice, here at nissan of venn in addition, 86 degrees. Towering cumulus there in the distance t. 63 relative humidity. It is like you cant tell the difference between summer and fall. Southern manatee county. Here at veterans ford along the veterans express way, 86 degrees at the moment. And kind of a mix of clouds and some clear skies. Warm start to the fall, the average high, 88 degrees. That is official high today. 74 degrees the average low. Tonights low of 77. So yes, those temperatures are a couple of degrees above our averagings. A few showers. These are falling apart. Northern part of hillsborough county. Southern sections of pasco county. You can see them raining themselves out. Earlier, pretty decent thunderstorms did develop in and around this area. And then further down to the southeast, you can see some rain here, lake placid stretching all the way down into the southern sections of de soto county. North shore park, this is from shot. Just a beautifully colorized here today. That is a florida fall for you. Sunny sky, warm, 91 degrees at 4 00 p. M. Another hot day expected on the second day of fall. 82 degrees the current temperature. Some rain cooled numbers here. 88 tampa. 82 zephyr hills. 90 bradenton. Upper 80s inverness, brooksville, 91 in winter haven in polk county. Dry air aloft helping to stabilize the atmosphere across the central and northern part of the state. Water vapor imagery. Deeper atmospheric moisture means a few more showers but it is not super widespread, there are some thunderstorms north of alligator alley here. A few scattered showers as you saw in the local radar. It has not been a very rainy day for us. Temperatures are very warm at this hour. On the wrap model, you can see the bulk of the activity tyty. Widespread. Maybe a scattered shower is think. Most people will be feeling. As for the early part of friday, partly cloudy skies start the day. A sunny start to the day average temperatures of 77 degrees. Friday afternoon, not many showers will develop. Toasty temperatures for sure as we have been pointing out. The warm fall weather we expect. Slightly above average as we get into saturday morning. Warm dry start to the day and the rain chances are fairly low as well at 20 because of that drier air still around. Limiting the amount of shower acty dont plan on much rain, but plan on warmer temperatures if you are going to be at the sidewalk this evening. Rain chaps chance 20 friday. We will be running average rain chances monday, tuesday, and you can see a little bit higher there at 40 long term. And temperatures average about 88 degrees. That is encouraging to see the average high start to fall a little bit. Still, we like it warm in florida. So do a lot of people. I notice a lot of people like to come to florida because it is warm. Yeah. Thanks steve. I like it. The tampa bay heart walk is coming up and we need your help to raise 100,000 for the american heart association. Fuccillo kia has agreed to match the first 50,000 we raise. If you can, please come and join wfla. Com heartwalk and join the team Florida Conservation and donate as well. And we will be right back oh, hockey season. It is kind of like my student loan debt. It never goes away. Hardly three months after the Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted the stanley cup, the team they beat lightning reported for physical testing and photo shoots. If you are looking at the faces and dont recognize many, there is a good reason for that. A dozen membering of the nhl club are still in toronto competing in the world cup of hockey. The general manager sees their absence as an advantage giving the new guys a chance to shine and getting the veterans in game shape. You are looking around. Where is stammer and heady . That is a little different for them. They will come back. And i days off. But for all the guys at the world cup when they get back out there, they have a month ahead to prepare. They have had pretournament and in tournament games that for the most part, these are do or die games. They will be ahead of our guys. Fur our team, that is an advantage. The bolts has a successful agent. They hope to have him in camp as soon as possible when he gets back from the cup. We want Nikita Kucherov signed. We will continue to work toward reaching an agreement. We are in Constant Contact with his representatives and we will continue to do that. And hopefully we can reach an agreement. A man who lured hockey to the Sunshine State is fame. Bill esposito is the headline. Johnny damon. Jeremy foley. Finally, for a second straight day, the buccaneers without some key contributors at practice, running back doug martin and defensive end robert ayers among the six guys sitting out. Donovan smith did return in a limited capacity. Short, and stalker are out against the rams. A team that has not yet scored a touchdown this season. Hopefully the bucs can score victory number two. They need. Finally tonight, something cute to take a look at here. The flamingos at sea world getting their first taste of fall. Look at the background and the foreground. They created a Pumpkin Patch for them to explore. Judging by the video, they dont seem too interested in it. The pumpkins are but sea world says it is good to change the environment from time to time. I think they like that. Give them a new view. I like that. I like that. We should have pumpkins around here. They turn pink because they eat the pink shrimp. If they ate the pumpkins would they be orange . Nightly news isup next followed by newschannel8 at 7 00. Then josh benson and jenn holloway at 8 00 on great 38. We will be back at 11 00. Have a great evening. Captions by caption breaking news tonight. Charges filed against the Oklahoma Police officer involved in a deadly shooting caught on camera. And tonight, charlotte, north carolina, under a state of emergency as violent protests erupt over a separate shooting there. Hack 500 million yahoo accounts impacted in the largest data breach in history. Plus, stolen emails rocking the white house. The first ladys own passport apparently leaked. Terror tape. Exclusive new veo showing the suspect placing a bomb in new york, and what nbc news has learned about how much the government may have known about him before the attack. And the letter to the president from a 6yearold, striking a chord across the
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.