The jumbo lottery prize jumping even higher this morning. Plus, the wild video of an owl attacking a woman and her dogs. And why the chickens crossed the road bringing this freeway to a halt. We do have a lot of wild animals and wild weather on this wednesday and we say good morning to you, everyone. Im kendis gibson. And im Erielle Reshef in for diane macedo this morning. We begin with the historic storm thats being called a winter hurricane. Its taking shape right now in florida and will spread snow, sleet and ice all the way up to the Canadian Border by the end of the week. And you see georgia right there. Fountains are frozen with temperatures 30 degrees below average. Houston, texas, opened Warming Centers overnight. Areas that havent seen this kind of weather in decades are bracing for a dangerous wintry mix. A monster winter storm taking aim at the entire east coast. This is not something that we experience on a regular basis. Reporter this morning parts of florida under a rare winter storm warning. Schools closing today in tallahassee including Florida State university and in jacksonville, the airport canceling flights. The citys mayor with this warning. These are conditions that were not accustomed to here in jacksonville, and were encouraging people to stay off the roads during those drive times. Reporter to the north in georgia, a state of emergency. Areas in that state could see snow for the first time in a century. The storm is expected to hug the coastline, dumping snow from the carolinas to maine. It comes as a blast of arctic air shatters record lows across the country. I cant even describe it. Its unbearable. Im wearing two hats, two pairs of gloves. I dont know. Reporter windchills 50 below zero in north dakota and minnesota. In chicago crews lighting fires to keep rail switches from freezing. And overnight in brooklyn firefighters battling this massive Apartment Fire in 18degree weather. Three firefighters suffering serious injuries and in western new york state miles of traffic. Miles. Reporter a whiteout causing havoc on the roads. A stretch of interstate 90 near buffalo shutting down after this Chain Reaction crash involving more than 20 vehicles. Quite a scene there and behind this winter storm temperatures, can you believe it, will be dropping even lower. The gory details on the forecast in just a few minutes. We turn now to the other big story this morning, a bold new tweet from President Trump is stoking fears of a nuclear standoff. The president fired back at north Korean Leader kim jongun, boasting about the size of the u. S. Nuclear arsenal. The fiery rhetoric comes as north and south korea take a new step clearing the way for the first formal talks in two years. Abcs Stephanie Ramos joins us live now from washington. Good morning to you, stephanie. Reporter erielle and kendis, good morning. This nuclear war tweet is getting a lot of attention and thats because before President Trump, no u. S. President had bragged so openly about the power they hold that can actually obliterate another country. President trump and the man hes called little rocket man, north koreas leader kim jongun, are squaring off on whose Nuclear Button is bigger. This back and forth prompted by kim jonguns threat against the u. S. In his new years day speech. He says, the u. S. Should know that the Nuclear Button is on my desk. The entire u. S. Mainland is within our Nuclear Strike range. President trump responding on twitter posting, i too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works. But before the president s latest tweet, he seemed open to talks between south korea and the north after kim made a surprising proposal to talk with south korea about the winter olympics. This morning, that key cross border hotline between the north and south is now open. North korea can talk with anyone they want, but the u. S. Is not going to recognize it or acknowledge it until they agree to ban the Nuclear Weapons that they have. Reporter and while the president s secretary of state and defense secretary have said over and over again theyre taking the diplomatic approach with north korea, the former chairman of the joint chiefs offered this dark assessment over the weekend. Were actually closer in my view to a nuclear war with north korea and in that region than weve ever been, and i just dont see how i dont see the opportunities to solve this diplomatically at this particular point. Reporter u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Nikki haley says if north korea carries out another missile test, which theyre expected to soon, she said they could face even more sanctions. Kendis, erielle. Much more to come. Stephanie ramos, thank you. Well, iran is bracing for a seventh day of violent antigovernment protests. At least 21 people have died and hundreds have been arrested amid outrage over soaring unemployment, inflation and corruption. The u. S. Government is calling for an emergency meeting of the United NationsSecurity Council to try to address the demonstrations. Irans Supreme Leader is blaming socalled enemies of iran for meddling. Now, the Trump Administration called accusations of u. S. Involvement in the protests complete nonsense. And the president is threatening to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority saying that the palestinians are no longer willing to talk about peace. The threat comes after he recognized jerusalem as capital of israel, a decision that palestinians said disqualified the u. S. From the peace process. In the meantime, pakistan is now responding to the president s tweet in which he said the u. S. Has foolishly given pakistan billions in aid and has gotten nothing in return but lies and deceit. Pakistans government calls the tweet incomprehensible. Here at home the retirement of the longest serving republican in the u. S. Senate could open the door for a senate run by mitt romney. Orrin hatch says he wont seek an eighth term. If romney decides to run, he would be the favorite to replace hatch. Romney has been a very outspoken krit of President Trump. One possible hint about romneys plans, yesterday his twitter location was changed from massachusetts to utah. Former republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann says she is considering a run for al frankens former senate seat. Bachmann ran for president in 2012 but dropped out early. Frankens replacement, minnesota Lieutenant Governor tina smith, will be sworn in today. Franken announced his resignation amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Lets take a look at your Weather Forecast for this wednesday morning. Good morning. For the deep south we have a harsh freeze warning still in effect for most of the deep south, protect the plants, the pipes, the people, everything. Watching out for one to three inches of snow in savannah, charleston, myrtle beach, possibly into wilmington. For the northeast the cold eases very slightly, but thats just before were hit with a haymaker of snowstorms that will bring with it 12 to 24 inches of snow in some areas and at least 3 to 6 down towards the philadelphia area. Im Accuweather Meteorologist paul williams. Coming up, the nurse who commutes 2,600 miles to work to keep his paycheck and quality of life. Also ahead, the mega headline overnight about the Mega Millions jackpot growing once again. And a different type of reveal from chip and Joanna Gaines, the big announcement from the stars of fixer upper. New video from the scene of a bus crash in lima, peru, that killed at least 48 people. The bus plunging off a cliff and onto a rocky beach you see here. Police say a tractor trailer hit the bus on a narrow stretch of highway called the devils curve sending it plunging down that cliffside. So this is an interesting update, that canadian man who was held hostage with his american wife for five years in afghanistan, well, he is now under arrest and facing serious charges. Joshua boyle is accused of sexual assault, unlawful confinement and other offenses allegedly committed after he was rescued from the taliban along with his wife and three children who were born in captivity. No other details about the charges or the victims have been released. His wife says the trauma he was forced to endure has affected his mental state. If you need to ship something today, you will likely have a lot of company. U. P. S. Has dubbed the day National Returns day. The shipping giant expects to set a record by processing 1. 4 million returns thanks to all those unwanted holiday gifts. More than a quarter of Online Purchases are sent back. Three times the rate for items bought in the stores. An influential Technology Analyst is making a pretty bold prediction, amazon will buy target this year as the Company Looks for more ways to shake up the retail industry. Other experts have strong doubts about this but targets stock rose 3 after the prediction. Neither company, though, has commented. Thats interesting. To anyone whos complained about a long commute has never met this guy, take a look. Tom fowkes is a nurse who travels 2,600 miles to get to work. He lives in pennsylvania but his job is in San Francisco in that area and he insists the crosscountry flight four times a month is well worth it. So heres the day, he says, im making california money and i live very nice, and hes been doing it for nearly a decade. If youre planning to retire thanks to a Mega Millions jackpot, you probably should get ready for work this morning. The jackpot was worth 361 million, but there were no big winners overnight. Fridays jackpot will now be worth at least 418 million. The fourth largest jackpot in the games history. In the meantime, though, tonights powerball is worth 440 million. All right, a lot of money on the line. Coming up, the new headline about autism rates in america. Also ahead, an apology from a youtube star who posted a video apparently showing someone who had committed suicide. The growing concern about what children can see online. And the wild video. A woman fends off an owl that is attacking her dog. A disaster. My bargain detergent couldnt keep up. It was mostly water. So, i switched to tide pods. Theyre super concentrated, so i get a better clean. I mean, i give away water for free. Im not about to pay for it in my detergent. 1 trusted. 1 awarded its got to be tide. And for a plantbased clean, try tide purclean subway has a fresh fit menu. With two servings of veggies and 24 grams of whole grains, subway has eight 6inch subs with 400 calories or less. Try the fresh fit menu. Only at subway. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. Trust 1 doctor recommended dulcolax. Use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. Suppositories for relief in minutes. And dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. Dulcolax. Designed for dependable relief. Hey julie, i know todays critica. A sick day. Need. Dads dont take sick days. Dads take dayquil severe. The nondrowsy, coughing, aching, fever, sore throat. Stuffy head, no sick days medicine. Therethat only uses 100 american oranges. And simply orange and tropicana ship in juice from overseas. Only floridas natural grows all of our oranges in florida. Great taste. Naturally. Were back with an Airline Passenger who was tired of waiting, so he took matters his own hands. See if you can see it. He opened the emergency exit on a Ryanair Flight and escaped from the plane after landing at this airport in spain, but he had second thoughts about jumping down off the wing, hesitated, and so he was arrested right there. Youtube star logan paul is facing serious backlash after posting a controversial video. That video was recorded in whats known as japans suicide forest and included images of whats appearing to be a person who had committed suicide. Paul has apologized calling the video a severe lapse in judgment. For my fans who are defending my actions, please dont. They do not deserve to be defended. Paul took down the video as criticism intensified. Many critics are asking why youtube failed to take down the video immediately. I think that youtube was probably blindsided because they didnt take down the video themself, and it seems to have slipped through their moderation and safeguards. Youtube issued a statement expressing sympathy for the family of the person in that video. Many critics are demanding that paul be removed from the site altogether. Well, it appears that autism rates in the u. S. Are stabilizing. About 2. 4 of children have Autism Spectrum Disorders with practically no change during a threeyear period. More than 30,000 children were surveyed. Researchers arent sure why autism appears to be leveling off or if it actually is, and it still affects 1 in 41 children. The criminal investigation into hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein are now expanding. The Los Angeles District Attorneys Office is reviewing two sex crimes cases from the Beverly Hills police. The d. A. Established a special task force to review such cases, but this is the first time the prosecutors are considering charges against weinstein. A new comment from former olympic figure skater Tonya Harding has some asking whether she knew about the 1994 attack on her rival nancy kerrigan. In an upcoming interview with abcs amy robach, harding says that she knew something was up a month or two before the attack. Harding also says that she overheard her former husband and then accomplice saying, well, maybe we should take somebody out so we make sure she gets on the team, she being harding, of course. The full interview airs january 11th here on abc. In other sports headlines, nba star Isaiah Thomas made his season debut for the cavaliers last night. He hadnt played since last may when he suffered a hip injury as a member of the celtics. Thomas scored 17 points in clevelands win over portland. And in college football, the university of arizona has fired football coach rich rodriguez. The school announced his departure amid claims that he ran a hostile workplace. Rodriguez says the case involves his former assistant who had threatened a lawsuit alleging harassment. And the Cincinnati Bengals coach marvin lewis is sticking around for awhile. Nfl insiders thought he would be fired after the teams second straight losing season, but lewis has signed a twoyear extension keeping him with the team through 2019. A woman in georgia is sharing details of a scary encounter with an owl. Debra johnson says her two dachshunds were in the yard when the bird swooped in and pounced on one of the dogs. Johnson says the owl was several feet tall. When she tried to protect her pet, the owl moved in to attack her. Johnson says the owl knocked her down on the ground. She kicked and screamed trying to escape. Finally a man comes out of the house and shooed the bird away. Quite a bird fight there. And in california it was chickens that were causing traffic problems. They were running loose on a freeway after their cage fell from the back of a truck. A chp officer as you can see there had to stop traffic so they could collect the chickens. It seems the truck driver was unaware the birds had actually fallen and did not actually stop. Up next in the pulse, the warmest place in america may not be what you expect. And also ahead, big news overnight from fixer upper couple chip and Joanna Gaines. Plus, melting into extinction, one scientist says the worlds chocolate supply may be gone. My mind. My 30year marriage. My 3month old business. Plus. What if this happened again . I was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me . So i made a point to talk to my doctor. He told me about eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots. Eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Eliquis had both. And that turned around my thinking. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. 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Fiber helps keep things moving through your system. Which is great. Because when youre good to your system, itll be good to you. Feeling hot hot hot does it put you in the mood at all . No, not at all, all right. Were looking to escape these bonechilling temperatures. You may want to consider a trip to alaska, man. Way warm and all that. Yes, alaska, yeah, while most of the nation is freezing, alaska is feeling hot, hot, hot with balmy conditions, temperatures hovering between 44 and 50 degrees. Thats about twice as warm as the normal high of 24 degrees. Im coming for you, alaska. Several parts of northern and central alaska had their warmest december on record. Forecasters attribute the warm weather to high and low pressures pushing tropical air to the north. Im buying my tickets tomorrow. Yeah, there are actually parts of the u. S. That are colder than the surface of mars at this hour. Feels like new york is right now. Americas most famous fixer uppers are making time for a new project you could say as they prepare to exit their really famous show. Yes, so rumors had been rampant for a little while when chip and Joanna Gaines told fans the fifth season of hgtvs fixer upper would be their last. Well, now theyve announced theyre expecting baby number five. The couple said they wanted their kids to grow up out of the spotlight, and theyd like to spend a little bit more time with family, and the family will be bigger now. Yeah, ironically they made that announcement as their final season premiered. And now we have some alarming environmental news. Yeah, scientists warn that chocolate, chocolate, folks, may be extinct by the year 2050. The cacao plant that chocolate comes from only grows in a few areas, mostly rain forests, which are disappearing. But there is a little ray of hope. Researchers may be able to genetically modify the plant, but this, i tell you, is a complete horrible thing if it goes away. It really is. Weve started stockpiling here at world news now. So if youre wondering where weve depleted the stash of the world really. Never forget. Queen elizabeth is about to make a rare appearance in a documentary. In that broadcast she will talk about her coronation. And about her fathers coronation in 1947 saying ive seen one coronation and been the recipient in the other which is pretty remarkable. The highlight is when she pieces with st. Edwards crown which she hasnt worn since her big day in 1953. The documentary airs later this month. Yeah, im just excited for the royal wedding. Oh, yeah, next may, may 19th. Coming soon. Prince harry and meghan. To a theater near you. More news after this. Stuffynose nosleep i got it. Mouthbreather yep, weve got a mouth breather. Well just put on a breathe right strip and. Pow it instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone so you can breathe. And sleep. Go to breatheright. Com today to request a free sample. 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Saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. Kids safelite repair, safelite replace welcome to my f[cheers applause]a who wants a taco . I want one me how do yall feel about the new Weight WatchersFreestyle Program . I love freestyle. You can have anything you want. Its real food. Its so much easier going out to eat now. It feels great. You are living dangerously im living freestyle. Heres to freestyle freestyle the new Weight WatchersFreestyle Program has over 200 foods that are zero points. Now you can count less and enjoy more. Join for free and lose 10 pounds on us. Hurry, offer ends january 8th. Good morning. Its 4 27 on this wednesday, january 3. The gang is all here. Jessica is back. Happy new year, 2018. And of course sue is in for alexis who is with her baby this morning. And mike nicco is here to tell us about rain coming tonight. A better chance tonight, yes. There may be a slight chance this morning, sprinkles, a random shower. Lets look at live doppler 7. Radar returns out over the ocean on the left side of your screen. The gray is the cloud cover keeping it mild when you step outside. Look at the radar returns. Theyre pretty much moving south to north right now but one or two of those may leak into our neighborhoods this morning. Ill have the 12hour day planner in three minutes. Temperatures run from about 44 right now in santa rosa to about 54 in fremont and San Francisco. So another mild start out there. Its dry, though. Lets see if thats helping the morning commute. It is as far as light traffic goes. No problems on the roads yet. A look at emeryville. The east shore as you make your way into the mcarthur maze and to the bay bridge toll plaza moving nicely to the san mateo bridge, the causeway, we had an earlier accident on the high rise thats totally out of lanes now. Nothing to worry about for about a 14minute drive 880 to 101. Sue, thank you. San jose police want to you take a look at a video of a man they say sexually assaulted a school employee. They say this happened inside a classroom. Reporter good morning, reggie and natasha. This crime was horrific. Neighbors are definitely shocked. Police are hoping to catch the man after this attack happened yesterday morning. The good news all of this was caught on camera, at least the suspect here on campus. Check out the video. San jose police say this man sexually assaulted and robbed a woman at about 6 00 yesterday morning, about an hour before kids showed up for class. The woman is an employee at the school. Video that we have we believe the suspect was responsible for the robbery and sexual assault, we believe was on campus for some time before the incident occurred. Reporter a spokesperson for Harker School said theyre cooperating. The safety and security of our students, faculty and staff have always been paramount, and we regularly review all protocols for any additional ways we can help keep our community safe. Police say theyre increasing patrols. We just saw two patrol cars pull up and drive into the parking lot this morning. Matt keller, abc 7 news. Todays forecast of rain and an unwanted reminder after disaster that hit a san jose neighborhood almost a year ago. Water released from Anderson Reservoir overflowed the creeks banks. The Water District says it is preparing for the upcoming wet weather. As soon as the storms happened, our crews go out there and inspect trash blocks. It gives me some type of confidence it wont happen again. We have to prepare just in case. The Water District says anderson is at 26 capacity and does not pose an immediate threat. It is 4 30. Good morning. Heres a quick update on your weather and traffic. We start with mike. Good morning. It would take a catastrophic event for the coyote creek to flood again like last year. Reservoir levels are too low. The rainfall were going to get out of this system too light. Temperatures around as we talked about before. You can see they are running in the 40s