WFTS

Full Story: https://wfts.tv/44N9x2s The Humane Society of Tampa Bay wants to ensure all dogs succeed in their new homes. The shelter offers free online training courses to anyone who adopts a dog who has been there for more than 30 days.

A volunteer search team discovered a 1970s vehicle submerged in a Pinellas County canal. Mike Sullivan and his brother, John Martin, started the Sunshine State Sonar, a volunteer search team specializing in underwater sonar technology. The pair was searching for a woman who was reported missing in 1995. The team, which has located about 70 vehicles this year, searches lakes, ponds, and other bodies of water across Florida to look for missing people and their vehicles.

Sean Daly live with Ginger Zee.

Pickleball is getting more and more popular. But with the sport can quite a racquet. “It’s a high-frequency ping sound," said Eddie Nash. And that high-pitched pop sound makes people living in The Colony Cove neighborhood so worried. “Extremely loud and uncomfortable to your head," said Wendy Nash.

ABC Action News tracks tropical developments in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

It’s a bitter irony. Aaron Hefty makes his living on the water. “Some of the best fishin’ in Ozello is out my back door,” said the charter boat captain who runs Hefty’s Ozello Adventures. But now, it’s the water threatening to injure his livelihood. He and roughly 600 other full-time residents live in Ozello, a remote chain of islands surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico in Citrus County. The community is particularly vulnerable as Idalia approaches because of its isolated geography.

Donation event to raise donations for hurricane recovery.

ABC Action News tracks tropical developments in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

Shelter opens in Pinellas County for those in need.

Mosquitoes become concern after Hurricane Idalia

During times like these is when “Signatures for Soldiers” wants to make a difference by helping our country’s military veterans get back on their feet after the devastation from Hurricane Idalia. For now, that is on hold. The founder of the 501(c)3 nonprofit can’t help these vets until he gets his life back together in his neighborhood of Shore Acres.

People who live in a Pinellas County community known for flooding said Hurricane Idalia has destroyed pretty much everything they own.

Floridians are reacting to the state's strict new immigration law. It cracks down on hiring undocumented workers and strengthens the governor’s migrant relocation program. Eliseo Santana works as an advocate in the Hispanic community here in Tampa Bay. He said he's talked to several people since the bill was signed into law, and both documented and undocumented people are scared. "I'm a pillar of the community. The majority of Hispanics in Pinellas County are that way, and yet by passing that law, whenever I go to get any kind of service from anyone, they looking at me as if I am undocumented,” Santana said.

Full Story: https://wfts.tv/428GnsB Daniel Smith is a man on a mission. He said he'd walk for 24 hours throughout Tampa as he passed out care packages to people struggling with addiction. As he walked from sunrise to sunrise Saturday, Smith carried essential items like a toothbrush, socks, and Narcan on his back as he reminisced on the days he struggled with addiction and homelessness. "Anything that can connect me to the guy that was sleeping behind the Walmart on Indian Town Road in Jupiter is something that I hang onto,"

Full Story: https://wfts.tv/42jX4RO Thursday, a statewide immigrant labor strike closed businesses as the Hispanic community protested recent legislation. Hundreds of people rallied alongside Dale Mabry Highway and Columbus against SB 1718, which Governor Ron Desantis signed in May.

Full Story: https://wfts.tv/3MFCoxS Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. felt like a rookie when he hit the field for day one of voluntary organized team activities. Tampa Bay drafted him in 2020, but COVID wiped out OTAs. The workouts were abbreviated in 2021, and Winfield didn't hit the field on the first day last season. But this preseason, he couldn't wait to get an early start in 2023.

Full Story: https://wfts.tv/3WWGhn0 Their technical name is Wave Attenuation Device or WAD, but to most, they look like big concrete pyramids. For the next few days, the Florida Department of Transportation is lowering the WADs into the water near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, right by the access road to the south-end fishing pier.

Sean Daly live with Ginger Zee | 6AM

Tuesday, we have an update on Miami-Dade Police Director Freddie Ramirez, who was critically injured yesterday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Tampa. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said Ramirez is now stable after undergoing surgery. The FDLE is still conducting its investigation.

Four people shot in what police are saying in serious conditions on East Shadowlawn Avenue

Tampa shooting investigation

Governor Ron DeSantis, in a letter posted online Monday night, invited Vice President Kamala Harris to Florida to discuss recent changes made to the standards for teaching Black history. The Florida Board of Education approved the new standards in July, and the curriculum has been met with some backlash. During a visit to Jacksonville in July, while speaking of the changes, Harris said extremists want to "replace history with lies." https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/desantis-invites-vp-harris-to-discuss-changes-to-floridas-black-history-standards

People living in Florida area will want to double check their Mega Million lottery tickets because someone who bought a ticket in the state is an instant billionaire. The Florida Lottery identified the Publix grocery store at 630 Atlantic Boulevard in Neptune Beach is the location that sold the winning ticket for the August 8, 2023 drawing. The winning numbers were 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 with 14 as the Mega Ball.

Polk County Fire Rescue (PCFR) is making an effort to hire much-needed recruits by offering new benefits and perks. Friday, the department announced it's now offering a $10,000 sign-on bonus for qualified applicants.

At Monday's special budget meeting, one thing became crystal clear—some people are not buying that the city of Tampa needs to raise taxes in order to create change within its 2024 budget. "It boggles my mind that with a straight face, anyone can ask the average hardworking citizens to take even more out of their pockets," said one resident. Over and over at the meeting, ABC Action News heard from people in the community who questioned the proposed plan to increase the millage rate by one—which the mayor's office says would bring in an extra 45 million dollars.