good morning. i'm sunny hostin in for paula faris. >> and good morning, everybody. i'm rob nelson. we begin with much of the country bracing for a new one-two punch of blistering heat followed by violent storms after more than two dozen temperature records were toppled yesterday. today the blast furnace will be back on across the east and cooling off will come at a big cost. all part of this summer of extremes. the signs are everywhere from rivers running low to city high-rises running out of water from the cornfields to the kitchen sink. this is taking a toll across america. 80% of the country is unusually dry. this year's drought already the largest natural disaster in u.s. history keeps spreading and heat records keep falling. in chicago, where it hit 101 on tuesday a transformer overheated leaving people in this 29-story building to struggle with no ac or water and only one running elevator. >> we're like 10% elderly. 45% people have little pets. getting like an oven. >> reporter: in burlington, vermont where the heat wave brought a 93-degree day farmers scrambled to save the crops they could even though the customers stayed away. >> it was so hot, people aren't going out to the market or they're not thinking about getting vegetables. >> reporter: but what people are thinking about is the price of food down the road. as corn withers on the stalk adding to the worry, many rivers are at their lowest level in years. the mighty mississippi was 23 feet higher in baton rouge this time last year and the lack of water is posing a threat to crucial shipping routes. >> when you start reducing the capacity of the tow by 50% you have an extreme effect on the economics of being able to move those barges efficiently. >> reporter: with the first half of 2012 already in the record books it seems the only relief from the heat wave this summer is delivered by powerful cold fronts that trigger violent storms and once again forecasters are warning people from the midwest up to new england that more rough weather is on the way. and after the storms move through, yet another heat wave is expected to start rolling east by the weekend. there are new details this morning about that security scare involving a stolen plane. the pilot scaled the razor wire-topped security fence at a rural airport before driving off with a jet. the incident is forcing other facilities to rethink security. here's abc's brandi hitt. >> reporter: on the run and wanted for murder police say 40-year-old brian hedglin attempted to steal this plane but did not get far. the sky west delta pilot climbed over the airport fence boarded the unlocked jet and headed for the runway. that's when he clipped the wing of another plane, went through a fence and into the parking lot. hitting the terminal and several parked cars. officers arrived to find the engine still running. >> mr. hedglin was deceased in the plane from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. he was a wanted fugitive out of colorado springs. he had committed a homicide on friday, july 13th. >> reporter: investigators believe hedglin killed his ex-girlfriend christina lopez and was attempting to escape. it exposes a weak spot in security. >> aviation security is a system and the system is only as strong as its weakest link. >> reporter: commercial jets are not locked. they have no security code and there is no key to the door or ignition which raises serious concerns whether anyone else could simply hop a fence and fire up a plane. >> he's going to know exactly how to get into the plane, activate all the systems, the redundant systems and take that plane off. >> reporter: brandi hitt, abc news, los angeles. >> in other news this morning, there is new controversy swirling around the boy scouts with word now that the organization will not budge on its policy banning gay members and gay leaders. the decision comes from a committee that met for two years actually to weigh out the rule which was upheld by the supreme court a dozen years ago. a spokesman calls it absolutely the best policy for the scouts, meanwhile, though, the head of a gay rights group calls it a missed opportunity of colossal proportions. now to presidential politics and the secrecy surround mitt romney's vice presidential pick. it's possible that romney could unveil his running mate as early as this week and there's word in "the new york times" this morning that his campaign is considering using a decoy, possibly two sets of planes or two event locations all in an effort to keep the pick from leaking out. romney campaigns today in ohio. and president obama was in republican leaning texas yesterday. what's being seen at fewer and fewer of his campaign events is a teleprompter which critics have said the president has relied on a bit too much in the past. instead president obama has been using notes in a binder. his campaign believes that helps the president better connect with voters. and overnight we learned the president will announce plans for a $1 billion master teacher plan. he'd use the money to lure professionals to teach math and science and give $20,000 bonuses to outstanding teachers already on the job. the president hopes to come up with the money from next year's congressional budget request. and one note from overseas, today is the 94th birthday of former south african leader nelson mandela. bill clinton marked it with him meeting with him for over 90 minutes. his wife says he's doing well after health problems last year. >> what a life he has lived. 94. still looks good. >> he does look good. look at that. time for a look at weather across the country dealing with the heat wave, look for more stifling heat from the plains to the reese coast, also afternoon hail and damaging winds from cleveland to boston, new york and the nation's capital. stormy across the midwest, also showers from atlanta to new orleans, thunderstorms in the colorado rockies and desert southwest. >> triple digits in phoenix and kansas city. 90s from the rockies to the east coast. 70s in the pacific northwest. and coming up next after the break, new hope for heavy people. the weight loss pill that could be just what the doctor ordered. also, "the dark knight" lighting up the box office. what tickets are going for with the batman movie about to open. later in "the pulse," the young singer who has pop sensation written all over thanks to a big move from justin bieber. ♪ my love has come along welcome back, everybody. well, the fed is not going to do anything for now. chairman ben bernanke says the central bank is not yet sure if it needs to step in and stimulate the u.s. economy. he does return to capitol hill after warning lawmakers that the economy could get worse if they do not resolve the ongoing budget crisis. and despite the disappointing report from bernanke, the markets rallied on strong earnings reports. the dow gained 78 points yesterday. the nasdaq index was up 13. the government is investigating complaints about sticky throttles in some older suvs. nearly three-quarters of the million ford escapes and mazdas tribute from ten years ago with v-6 engines are affected. there have been nearly a hundred complaints and possibly one death. the revelation that yahoo!'s new ceo is pregnant has touched off a flood of reaction. some mothers are angry that marissa mayer is choosing to work rather than taking maternity leave. others say it's no one business how she plans to manage her family and busy work life. big news about "finding nemo" that instant classic beloved by adults and kids, as well. disney will release a sequel in 2016. the original animated film about a clown fish searching for his son was released nine years ago and won an oscar. andrew stanton returns for the sequel. ticket prices are rising for the first showings of "the dark night rises" tomorrow. scalpers are asking as much as $300 for a ticket. theaters are reporting sold out midnight showings but you can still find tickets at face value for early shows. >> 300 bucks? really. whoa? >> i can't wait to see it. >> it's going to be good but get a grip. 300 bucks. when we come back this morning, some tense days in happy valley while the future of penn state's football is now hanging in the balance. and kerry kennedy appears in court and offers a new explanation for her interstate accident. i've discovered gold. 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take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. well, as you can imagine that is not the way an suv is supposed to be brought out of a multilevel parking garage. an attendant was inside when the vehicle somehow wound up plunging down an elevator shaft. they fell nearly 50 feet, in fact. it took an hour to get the man out. he had to be hospitalized and did suffer minor injuries. you do intersee that every day, folks. now for a look at morning road conditions. thunderstorms soak highways around the twin cities, des moines and indianapolis. afternoon downpours drench roads from boston to d.c., also wet across the south. if you're flying today, airport delays possible along the east coast in boston, new york, philly and washington, d.c., getting a price for paying with the heat breaking. it is now day six of an agonizing search for two cousins still missing in the state of iowa. >> at least 30 fbi investigators have joined that search. police are draining the lake near where the girls' bikes were found on friday and tracking dogs have picked up the scent of 8-year-old lyric coelizabeth cod lyric cook in the area. they are strong swimmers and fears they've been kidnapped are growing. for the first time since her arrest we are hearing from kerry kennedy. last week the daughter of robert f. kennedy sideswiped a tractor trailer. police say she failed a roadside sobriety test and was swaying, slurring her speech, as well. kennedy says she was not drunk and not drugged. >> in a series of other factors led my doctors to believe that this accident was caused not by a sleeping aid, but by a complex partial seizure. >> these says that she is sure was from an old brain injury and pled not guilty driving while impaired. new hope that could be the most propsing 3r50e description drug yet for obesity. the fda approved pill called qsymia for overweight adults with hypertension or high cholesterol. patients who tried it lost up to 9% of their body weight in a year. it's a combination of two drugs on the market. an eye-opening study of being a couch potato. lack of exercise is killing roughly as many people worldwide as smoking and it doesn't take much. just half an hour of brisk walking five types a week would do the trick. penn state could face a possible shutdown of its football program. that is just one of the penalties the ncaa is now considering, all this, of course, in the wake of the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. the ncaa is now considering sanctions now that penn state's internal report found joe paterno and other officials concealed information about abuse allegations against sandusky. also the school says it will decide soon what to do with the statue of paterno that still sits outside its stadium. that decision is expected within ten days. as was widely expected now, former knicks guard jeremy lin is headed for houston so linsanity as it was known is over at least here in new york. the knicks decided not to match houston's $25 million offer for lin. last night he tweeted his thanks to his new york fans. and by this time tomorrow the best golfers in the world will be at it for real in the first round of the british open. tiger woods has been on the course paying particular attention to more than 200 sand bunkers on the course. you can see all four rounds of the open on our sister network, espn. and ironically enough we get some baseball highlights now from our man over at espn. good morning. i'm hakem dermish with your "sportscenter" outdate. roy halladay making his first start since may 27th facing the dodgers in l.a., tied in the bottom of two. base knocked to center. dodgers take a 2-1 lead. eighth inning, bases loaded for hunter pence back up the middle. chase utley and the phillies took their first win when trailing after seven innings, phillies have won four in a row. davey johnson of the nationals taking on the mets. top nine, mets down 2-0. are you kidding me? pinch hitting with a three-run shot. mets up, 3-2. bottom nine, nats down to their last strike. danny espinosa and desmond scores. we're all tied at three. to extras, top ten, into left. and that gets down. daniel murphy scores. bottom ten, bryce harper at the plate. making something happen. deep to right, jonathan solano scores. harper with a triple all tied at four. later in the inning, bases loaded. a wild pitch and ryan zimmerman scores, the nationals win 5-4 in extras, and the mets have now lost a season high five in a row. the series continues tonight. 7:00 eastern on espn, jordan zimmermann taking on chris young, 7:00 eastern, espn, espn 3, also live on watch espn. and team usa returns to action on thursday against great britain. you can see it live at 2:00 p.m. eastern on espn2. not near a tv? check it out, espn 3 or the watch espn app. coming up next check out the very cool new clothes and when we say cool, we mean it. that's because the air-conditioning, yeah, it's built right in. and then a horse is a horse unless, of course, he is an artist. 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[ female announcer ] soap leaves behind soap residue that can cause a tight draggy feeling. with 1/4 moisturizing cream, dove cleansers rinse cleaner than soap. because vitamin d3 helps bones absorb calcium, caltrate's double the d. it now has more than any other brand to help maximize calcium absorption. so caltrate women can move the world. ♪ at last my love >> uh-huh. that, of course, is my ex-wife beyonce singing "lat last" but this morning we're hearing mrs. jay-z, a little competition. take a listen. ♪ at last my love has come along ♪ >> that's 13-year-old madison beer, an unknown youtube singer until yesterday, though, when she caught the attention of none other than justin bieber. the biebs was so impressed he fired off three tweets about madison yesterday and it looks like bieber is pag it forward, he, of course, was discovered on youtube by usher. bieber has 25 million twitter followers, madison should be well on her way to stardom. >> she'll be a star next week. with the biebs' endorsement. just in time for the sizzling summer, air conditions apparel. clothes designed by japanese engineers have little fans inside that keep the air circulating as long as the batteries last. >> hard to imagine that americans are going to go for these pants which inflate like the michelin man. it looks like something m.c. hammer might wear. >> go for it, folks. high-jumping horse has found a new career as an artist. these works were done by justin, destined to become a show jumper before his true talent emerged. there's even a self-portrait. >> his owner says she first noticed it when she attached a brush to his tail. now he just uses his teeth to hold a brush. his artwork sells for hundreds of dollars. whatever. we'll be back after this. this is my grandson. and if it wasn't for a screening i got, i might have missed being here to meet him. the health care law lets those of us on medicare now get most preventive care for free like annual wellness visits, immunizations, and some cancer screenings. and that's when they caught something serious on mine. but we could treat it before it was too late. i'll be around to meet number two! get the screenings you need. learn more at healthcare.gov. you don't want to miss any of this! that's value sense. introducing the scott shared values program. get free movie rentals, access to family attractions and more. use your value sense. sign up at scottbrand.com. use your value sense. wmy credibility crawled out of the basement and got all street up in here. (in her head) holla! the dcs they want are in the house. famous brands. famously easy. famous footwear. victory is yours. updating the top stories, security is being reviewed at a small utah airport after a pilot was able to scale the razor wire fence and steal a commercial jet. the incident lasted only a few minutes before the pilot killed himself. the boy scouts of america has announced it is sticking with its ban on gays after a two-year review of the rule. a spokesman said excluding gays is simply the right policy for the group. and mitt romney's campaign is maintaining its extreme secrecy about his vice presidential pick. one report says decoys may be used to keep the selection, which could happen this week, a secret. look at weather. another hot, humid day for the country. thunderstorms in the rockies, midwest and south. violent storms along much of the east coast. finally from us this morning, some very successful americans have discovered a new edge on the competition. >> they owe it to one thing, dan harris shows us what that is. >> reporter: they are all around us, a secret society of the successful. and they all say they owe it to this drug, provigil. it's only approved for narcolepsy, sleep apnea or for people who work irregular hours but many are now taking it for an off-label use to boost energy and focus. the drug which excites the mind so much it's been nicknamed viagra for the brain is quietly being used by military pilots, pro athletes and pro poker players. many users are secretive but not dave, a successful executive who wakes up at 4:45, pops a pill, makes breakfast for the kids. >> there you go. >> and flies all over the world as vp of a billion dollar internet security firm. as a kind of experiment we asked dave to stop taking it for three days and undergo cognitive tests to measure his concentration and reaction time. during this whole 72-hour period he said he just felt off. >> i've noticed that my speech is very slightly altered. >> reporter: after three days, i watched as he popped a provigil. >> all right. so i guess let's do it. >> let's see. >> reporter: it took only 17 minutes for him to snap back. the world suddenly seemed brighter, he said. and remember those cognitive tests. even we could see it on the screen, a pronounced improvement over the day before. we called doctors all over the country to ask them if there's a downside. they told us there are rare cases of people developing a life-threatening rash but the truth is most people don't suffer any side effects. >> give me five. >> reporter: there is, however, one big fear and it's what we don't know. there have been no studies on the long-term effects of provigil. >> i want some