Tropics for us. Reporter we still have Tropical Storm gaston and invest 99l, but now its a possibility of developing in the next 5 days, down to 60 . Lets talk about gaston, the latest numbers an hour ago. 65mile an hour winds, and it should restrengthen, and it should be strong. Category 2 hurricane, but it will stay out to sea, and we dont have to worry about that anymore. Closer to extremely disorganized storm is headed here. You can can see it doesnt have anything to look like a tropical system attached to it. Going forward in time, it will be headed between cuba and the bahamas, in an area it will have a tough time to strengthen between now and saturday evening. Once it goes into the florida strait, its warm waters and a conducive environment for getting stronger, and monday at southeast coastline, and throughout the weekend, i will continue to bump up the rain chances, and its just basically bringing up deeper tropical moisture, and now the affects we will see will be determined by the greater track, but i added the higher rain chances, and just a hot day at 93, well above average. Lets look at your friday morning commute. On friday morning, and then getting into hush hour, later on, its busier. Different from the rest of the week. This is still a good drive here, and i will look at travel times through st. Pete, and 175 through the Howard Frankland bridge, and than this is looking great. 9 minutes. Thats a look at weather and traffic, and back to melanie and gene. Its 6 02 on your friday, ere alert. A local consumer alert. A local company is offering epipens at a fraction of the cost. Mylan has jacked up the price to 600, and now the canada january med canadian med store is offering it for a fraction of the cost. Ryan, the owner said its the right thing to do because so reporter good morning. He has owned the bay area store since 2003, and he has seen the ridiculous cost of some drugs. He knows some families cannot afford the epipens and he is doing what he can to help. Theres families that cant afford the 700 prescription. Reporter and listen to the epipens has soared 100 to 600. Bill decided to sell them for 180. Thats the cost with no markup. He gets the drugs for International Pharmacies. He assures us they are safe. They are policed by the equivalent organization of the fda in foreign countries, and now the fda warns the drugs sold by the companies could be expired or fake, but the owner insists thats not the case. Now many people are happy they can get important drug for a back to you. Im sure they are at 600 a pop it will be a break for them financially. Ryan hughes live. Ryan, thank you. This is an 8 on your side alert for you. Counterfeit money floating around the bay area. The secret service is seeing more cases of fake bills. More live from Hillsborough County with jamel. A man was just arrested in Citrus County on counterfeit charges. He was arrested yesterday bills at a Clothing Store in Crystal River last week. He and a woman went into a Clothing Store last thursday and tried to purchase items. He gave the cashier seven 20 dollar bills that were fake. He was arrested yesterday at a motel. Feds are seeing an increase in the cases like this around the bay area. Over the weekend a man up, and when he went do make the exchange, he noticed the serial numbers on the bills were all the same. I should have went with my gut. I knew something was wrong and off by the way he was acting. Reporter needless to say, the suspect got away with the phone. We are checking with detectives connected. Thank you. Turn down the valium. Volume, thats the cry from homeowners saying the bar is too loud. We need to take care of this problem. Im not here to criticize no one, but the same people who oppose this, they are going to get old and get a taste of this to see what its like. Its loud and kind of thumping. You can see how packed the room was when the homeowners went into the Tampa City Council to problem. Basically theres about ordinance under consideration, but bar managers claim its impossible. Just in normal conversation thats over the levels. City Council Members will put together a workshop to work out the compromise on the noise level. More drama surrounding ryan lochte. Brazilian police have charged him with filing a false robbery report, and it means ryan lochte may be headed back to rio to appear before a judge. You will remember he originally claimed he and then swimmers wither robbed at gunpoint, faced security guards after vandalizing the gas station restroom. Ryan lochte admitsed to being drunk at the time. Tensions are running high in north iowa rain january gulf. A u. S. Naval ship fired warning shots towards the iranian boats. The Iranian Revolutionary guard vessels where speeding at the naval ship. They fired warning flares, but the boats did not back off. Hours they have had to square off with the vessels. More misery in central italy. 500 aftershocks have hit the region this aftershock sent a cloud of dust over the crews in the town of amatri now leigh spann is keeping an eye on the tropics. Reporter hour by hour rain chances to show you what to expected. 89 at noon. Tiny rain chance to start, and then the storms will push to the coast. When its not raining on you, 93 at 4 00 p. M. , and still 88 at 7 00, and a lot of you are headed out to the High School Football games, and meredith is they are pumped up. 87 for the kickoff, and 84 at halftime. A stray shower is not out of the question before it dries out for the final play at 82 degrees. Focusing on the headlines today and tomorrow, typical summer days, and a better chance of afternoon storms on sunday with more tropical moisture in place, and at this point, of course it will all depend on the eventually path of the tropical wave. We will get the most wind and rain on monday and tuesday. I know people want to their friday morning started. Its a good deprive. We have had a nice morning so far trafficwise, and we will look at the veterans expressway. State road 54, and then to 275, just 9 minutes on the drive. Moving over to palm harbor and u. S. 19, we are getting busier, but state road to florida, 14 minutes, and this is just 13 minutes, and thats weather and traffic on the 8s. Back to melanie and gene. Most teens are addicted to social media, and most adults, too. Now schools are using social media to communicate as well. One bay area has its own social media team. How its being used to keep the students engaged. Plus look at this. Reporter good morning im here with 93. 3 flz and Alonso High School its football time, and we are getting ad and taking on their rival tonight, and they are pumped up we are going to talk to everyone here coming up in a we are how educators are adjusting to new forms of communication. They are using social media networks, and Meredith Censullo shows us a team is responsible for providing information on every single platform possible. Reporter this team tracks trends and responds to trends, including the increased desire for information on mobile mindful of that and providing Important Information to our family in the ways they want to get it and the ways they are used to getting it. Reporter that means expanding beyond a website, facebook, and twitter to platforms popular with the younger audiences. I did a focus group recently, with our 8th grader, and you know, i said, whats what are the top social media platforms youre on. Just tell me. Snapchat, instagram, and youtube for the best responses. Reporter they Just Launched an instagram feed, and they are developing short video. Recently they experimented be Live Streaming graduation ceremonies. If it sounds like a lot of work, youre right. Every comment or question gets a response, no matter the platform. We are communicating with a great thing. Reporter Meredith Censullo, news channel 8. The most shared posts for the school system, a graphic for the calendar year. I think they are looking ahead, and i totally endorse the poll theory. Changing gears. At 6 15, the bodies of two although lick nuns, believed to be homicide victims were discovered dis nuns believed to be homicide victims were discovered in a small town in oklahoma. The cause of death remains unknown at this time. The high speed chase in florida that ended with a taser. Deputies chasing down Robert Rogers at speeds of 100 miles an hour, and afterwards he walks threateningly towards the deputies, and then after the use of their tasers, rogers is the sheriff is waiting to see if he was under the influence at the time. Crazy footage of a hitand run dui that sent a Philadelphia Police officer flying. 21yearold colin murphy hit the officer, knocking him 15 feet in the air, and police later catch one murphy and arrest him. By a miracle, the officer who was hit should be okay. Its 6 16, and i was just tweeting about this. Football is finally back. It means friday friday night blitz news channel 8 style. Its a right. Get excited. With reteaming one 93. 3 every friday morning to bring you a dose of school spirit. I love this girls sentencing. One girls energy. Mary, i want to be out there with you this is my kind of an event. Reporter we are getting cloud and it is 6 00 in the cloud, and the Football Team the ravens [ cheers ] all right tonight the Football Team is taking on their rivals, just down the road, and its a big rivalry here, and they are getting ready for the big game this is their first home game of the year, First Official game, too, and one of the people that helped to get everyone back i want you to meet. Amanda is part of the leadership team, and you have helped to bring everyone together. Talk about the spirit that alonzo has. We are making the best rally, and we are the best school the in Hillsborough County, and we have the spirit and have it all. We will win tonight [ cheers ] reporter go ravens jessica. Shes the senior class president. Talk to me about how the team is looking this year. The team is looking great. We actually will win 247. Ravens whooo, oo reporter we are going to talk to more of the folks here in a bit, but we have to get back to the party. Its friday night blitz yeah, and i have to get my ears checked out there. That is a what a great way to start your friday morning. You cant help but get excited. So great to see they are excited about their school and their team. We wish them the best tonight. Football is finally back. A check of your forecast, and a look at football and the tropics, and we have a lot of news this morning. Everyone is excitedded the football is back. At 8 00 this morning it will be dry for you as you head off to work and school. By lunchtime, 89 degrees, and whistle on the week. 30 rain chance, and that will be a hot one when you leave work and school. 87 in paratoe and tampa. And so all morning long in sarasota and tampa, and all morning long it will be sunny and dry. This is our best chance of rain, 30 chance, and at 7 00 High School Football gamings 0 the buccaneers game, the rain chances is coming to an end. Tomorrow i will watch the tropical wave headed through the bahamas. For us a typical summer day, and its not until sunday when enough of the tropical moisture will spread northward that even if the system does not develop, i think will increase the rain chances, and that is at 60 bucss game, and a very special person will be on the field tonight. I will tell you about that coming up. Greet drive here on the Howard Frankland bridge, and only 6 minutes to cross it we have had a really, really nice morning this friday morning, and just 10 minutes, thats a look at weather and traffic on the 8s. My ears are ringing a little bit, and back to that was loud. Leslee, thanks. How a skunk got out of a stinky situation, and who helped him out of it. The picture going viral this morning, the heart warming story behind this picture of the baby getting the bath in the sink. Youre watching news channel 8 this certainly has a lot of the picture is going viral. A West Virginia trooper giving a 1yearold a bath. He found the baby covered in vomit when he arrested the childs mother for drunk driving. While his partner took the trooper to jail, he took the baby to a sink to get him all cleaned up. I love the smiles. Not only on the baby but the trooper. They are pulling on ou a university Police Officer is facing a stinky situation, and this will make you laugh a little. A skunk with his head stuck in a cup going on at the university of arkansas. The officer quickly snatched the cup, and he took off running. He didnt want the skunk to spray him. He succeeded. His fellow officer there, wearing the gray, he was sprayed, and that stinks for do that . You help him out . And thats how he pays you back. The buc fans are getting ramped up for the preseason game. We are excited for the bucs because theres a browns,s player we are rooting for. A dad accused of driving in your own words driving drunk with a baby in the car coming up. . . And its 6 28. We are sending the kids off to the bus stop. By the afternoon, hot. 93, and a 30 chance of storms when the kids come home. A bit. 92 for saturday, and 91 for sunday. Even 89 on tuesday. The rain chances will be ramping up. All the details on invest 99l, the skyrocketing price of epipens has people concerned nationwide thatry very expensive. And 8 on your side is looking at a local company th stepping in to help. Marco rubio will be in the bay area today, and we will show you when and where and how to early vote for the primary. Its the story that everyone is talking about, tracking the tropics. The system moving through the bahamas. Im Melanie Michael in for gail. And im gene ramirez. There, and thats what we are seeing. Tropical storm gaston, out there, and not an issue, and then theres invest 99l, and you would probably call it a tropical wave. The Hurricane Hunters are not finding anything, and a 60 chance of ever developing. Gaston did develop, and now its a Tropical Storm. It should regain its category hurricane. Now i talked about the Hurricane Hunters flying into it. We can track them and it is not just a graphic, but using the gps with where they are. Winds 28 miles an hour. Weak and disorganized, but it may enter an area, if it can hold together, theres the potential to be stronger. I will show you what im is sunday morning and it is going to enter the area with very warm waters, and this is something we are keeping an eye on. Its ragged at this point. Monday afternoon it will draw up the tropical moisture, and thats why im bringing the rain chances up, and the eventually pacts will be based on how close it gets to us. This is bringing us rain on monday, and extra rain for tuesday, but computer model is going well away from out. At 6 38, the 8day temperature trend for you. I like the plane. It was cute. Its out of tampa. Its adorable. The Howard Frankland bridge will fake 6 minutes to cross it. An exceptional thely nice morning out on the roadways this morning. The Courtney Campbell causeway the veterans express highway all the way over to Pinellas County. Its a pretty drive here no delays, and some slowdowns here. 275 to hillsborough. Thats look at traffic. An 8 on your side consumer alert. The Pharmaceutical Company that uses the invectors to street earl joy attacks is now under fire, and now a local Bay Area Company is helping out, selling absolutely no markup, and 8 on your side ryan hughes is live at the medstore in tampa. They are available for 180, and thats quite the savings. Reporter its an incredible savings, and the epipens are around 600, but they are coming to the aid of those in need. The folks in this Community Helping them out. Reporter its a big help in deed. The price of the eastbound eastbound from mylan has soared 100 to 600, and the founder of canadian med boyfriend based store gets the prescriptions from International Pharmacies and assures 8 on your side businesses are called the facilitators. The fda has concerns customers are getting drugs that are fake or counterfeit, but we are assured by the owner this stuff is in deed real. Its just not regulated by the fda, so we want to keep that many mind, but people are desperate, and they will do whatever they need to do to get the drugs at a price they can afford. Its 34 on your friday. Rubio will be in the bay area today. He will meet with supporters at 11 15 this morning to explain why he is running for reelection and the importance of the election itself. This weekend is your last chance to early vote for next tuesdays primary. Its upon us. Some sites will be open through sunday, and others will only be open through tomorrow. Take your opportunity to get it done. We have a list posted to wfla. Com, voting. Time now 6 35, and governor rick scott is planning a trip to washington, dc, to demand what he calls urgent action on the funning to fight zach. He to fight zika. The state is running out of the emergency funds for zika, allocating 23 of the 26 million set aside for fighting it. Thanks to zika concerns, at Pinellas County mosquito control. They are getting 2020 calls a day. They recommend people dump standing water to prevent mosquitoes. This friday morning, funny money is going around the bay area. Where is the cash coming from jamel, it looks so real, and people are fooled constantly. We need to be on the lookout, average citizens out there. Ep do, melanie. The money is being bassed around at businesses, and it could definitely end up in our pockets. One local guy basically said it looks so authentic. Mark tesario was trying to sell his iphone 6 on offer