good thursday morning, i'm marci gonzalez, diana perez is off. >> i'm muhammad lila in for john muller. also an update on the latest amanda knox murder trial but we begin with the big developing story, the scandal involving new jersey governor chris christie and the lane closures at the world's busiest bridge just got a lot more serious overnight. one death happened during the day's long traffic mess near the george washington bridge when paramedics were delayed. the traffic backups appear to have been orchestrated by a top aide to christie. abc's mary bruce is live in washington with the story. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, well, this scandal over an epic traffic yam is becoming a main political liability for the rising republican star, governor chris christie. what happens when you combine political power, retribution and road rage? a political scandal. jersey style. new jersey governor chris christie a rumored 2016 presidential candidate is in a political jam over a traffic scandal. in september, gridlock turned the town of ft. lee, new jersey, into a parking lot when lanes onto the george washington bridge, a major link to new york city, mysteriously closed. >> i think it's outrageous. >> reporter: e-mails obtained by abc news reveal christianity's aides intentionally caused the chaos in an act of political punishment. payback to the democratic mayor of ft. lee who refused to endorse christie's re-election bid. it took one short e-mail to the agency that runs the bridge and a few weeks later traffic came to a screeching halt. time for some traffic problems in ft. lee. these cones inexplicably blocked two of the three lanes causing backup for miles. traffic was dangerously jammed for four days straight, commuters outraged, school buses delayed. emergency vehicles blocked. the town's emergency operators begged the mayor for help. this new traffic pattern is causing unnecessary delays for emergency services, but the mayor was powerless. >> who in their right mind would close down access to the busiest bridge in the world to send me a message? governor christie denies knowing anything about it saying in a statement "this type of behavior is unacceptable and i will not tolerate it." while governor christie says he's outraged by his staff's inappropriate behavior, he has yet to announce any firings. marci and muhammad. >> mary bruce reporting live from washington on that story. thank you. breaking news now overseas from japan where there's been a deadly chemical explosion at a mitsubishi plant. at least five people were killed and several others taken to hospital. >> the plant makes silicon for cars and trucks. we will stay on top of this breaking story. well, that bitter arctic blast is loosening its grip on much of the nation as the frigid polar vortex finally moves out. >> after a week of record low temperatures and blinding snowstorms, many cities are starting to thaw. but some are now bracing for flooding as all that ice melts. and it's not over yet for parts of western new york, digging out from snow drifts up to five feet high. well, that warm-up will certainly be welcome here in the new york city area where parts of the hudson river are still covered with ice. a commuter ferry struggling to make it through the ice had to call for help and tugboats were brought in to clear the way. a huge ice jam is triggering flooding along the delaware river. huge chunks of ice backed up water nearly three miles upstream. the spillover also created a big traffic mess when it froze on a busy new jersey road. conditions are improving, but the nasty weather isn't entirely over. that area just south of the great lakes is in for more rain and snow. also look for showers over most of texas and eastern new mexico, some freezing rain from arkansas to kentucky and more storms in the northwest. missing from today's temperature map, single digits. the lowest readings will be in the 20s around the great lakes and in the 30s throughout the northeast. navy rescuers aren't giving up the search for a sailor who is still missing after a deadly helicopter crash in the atlantic. but survival odds in the cold ocean are low. the chopper with five crew members went down off the virginia coast during the training mission. two crew members died and two are in the hospital. at the same time investigators are sorting through the wreckage from that u.s. helicopter crash in england which killed four air force crew members. teams combing the area have been hampered by bullets scattered across the scene and have not yet recovered the bodies. the latest amanda knox trial continues in italy with closing arguments presented on behalf of her ex-boyfriend. jurors could get the case as early as tomorrow. this is the third time knox and raffaele sollecito are being tried for the murder of her british roommate meredith kercher. knox has been back in the u.s. since 201 when her conviction was overturn. dennis rodman is apologizing for his epic meltdown on national tv during a visit with north korean leader kim jong-un. rodman went on live tv and implied that captive american missionary kenneth bae was responsible for his own arrest. rodman says he's sorry about that. he blames stress over his, quote, dreams of basketball diplomacy falling apart and drinking. a daring show of resilience from former congresswoman gabrielle giffords. she marked the third anniversary of the tucson shooting rampage that almost claimed her life by jumping from a plane. the sky dive with a former navy s.e.a.l. highlights how far she's come since learning ow to walk and talk once again. she was among 13 people injured in the shooting. six others were killed. scientists say folks across the northern u.s. may be getting a treat over the next few days thanks to the sun. >> they say the northern lights could be coming further south than usual thanks to a powerful solar flare shot off tuesday. it is set to begin this morning but best viewing probably tonight, chicago, boston and seattle might see the lights low on the hore risening. coming up, setting sail. there is another item on google's long list of employee perks. and fatal malfunction. a van packed with people and no way off. no way of slowing down. this morning, the dramatic 911 call giving new clues into the crash. plus, the big winners and the fashion. who's making headlines after last night's people's choice awards. you know, from a young age. i definitely want to major in political science. become the mayor or something. make the situation better for other people. my name is justin, and i am your dividend. welcome back. there's new trouble for a california chicken plant linked to salmonella. the foster farms facility in livingston has been shut down because of a cockroach infestation. the usda says it poses a threat to public health. three foster farms plants including the one in livingston are linked to a salmonella outbreak that made 400 people sick. despite a good holiday shopping season, macy's is going to cut 2500 jobs. the retailer says that will save about $100 million. some workers will be reassigned or transferred. macy's is actually adding jobs to support its fast-growing online operation. and delta is going to spend $770 million over the next few years redesigning the interior of nearly a third of its fleet. the planes will get seats with outlets, as well as bigger bathrooms and overhead bins, and economy class cabins will also be expanded by up to 16 seats. google is adding to its extensive employee perks offering private ferry service. the catamaran ferry will shuttle workers from san francisco to buses south of the city then on to headquarters in the silicon valley. the idea is to reduce the number of vehicles on bay area roadways. and if you haven't noticed, there are plenty of fast food deals to choose from right now. national chains are doing whatever they can to lure you in during a traditionally slow month. >> and among them, burger king giving away free coffee with a breakfast sandwich. all subway foot longs are 5 bucks this month, and pizza hut offering half price pizzas if you order online. when we come back, unusual home invasion. a man is forced to wrestle an animal when it wanders into his home. >> my goodness. plus, ride of a lifetime. who is the man plucked from a crowd by his holiness, the pope? 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[ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ take a look at this. a goose trying to make its way across a frozen nashville pond ran into some serious trouble. first it got stuck on the ice. it just couldn't move. a kayaker managed to break up the ice helping to free the bird, but the ice on the bird's wings kept that goose grounded, so the kayaker wound up ferrying the goose back to shore. and for those of you traveling by car this morning, look out for icy roadways from arkansas to western kentucky. other trouble spots include the area south of the great lakes, the pacific northwest and texas. meanwhile, if you are flying today, airport delays are possible in memphis, dallas and miami. now to a deadly crash that happened just over a week ago in northern california. we're now hearing a stunning 911 call made right before it happened. >> a van carrying several people was out of control as it left interstate 80 following a trip to reno. it was going 50 miles an hour, and the driver couldn't stop. a woman inside called police for help. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> we need help. we're coming off of -- >> where are you at? >> coming off 80. we're on a side road. we lost our brakes. >> simply terrifying. the call ended when the van struck another car, went down an embankment then burst into flames. a 90-year-old woman died at the scene. six others were injured. a trucker is recovering in indianapolis after spending six hours trapped under his vehicle in subzero weather. kim rutledge was fixing his frozen brakes at a truck stop when his semi shifted and pinned him to the ground in the snow. no one heard his cries for help, and he eventually called his supervisor, who then called the truck stop. >> thank you very much to every person involved, especially the people there at the pilot store and the ems people that crawled under there in the freezing weather and dug me out. >> rutledge couldn't reach his phone at first, but his worried wife just kept calling over and over, and the vibrating phone eventually moved and fell to the ground. now, he was too frozen to dial, but he managed to get the voice command to work. a noted cancer surgeon is facing charges that he spied on his wife during a divorce battle. dr. steven curley is accused of using a program called eblaster to monitor his wife's e-mail. he retired from the md anderson cancer center in houston last year. a minnesota family were rudely awakened before dawn earlier this week by an intruder that had crashed through a sliding glass door. that intruder, a full-grown deer. in just a few minutes, it tore the place apart turning the living room into a trash heap. not what anyone needs first thing in the morning. >> when i came down the steps, i saw that it had turned, so i tried to tackle it. and, of course, i was wrestling it for it seemed like an eternity but may have been 15 minutes from beginning to end. >> now, he did get the deer out of the house. the game warden tracked it down, and it is okay. well, pope francis has broken with another vatican tradition, once again, inviting a friend into his popemobile. it happened yesterday during francis' first general audience of the year. >> yeah, the man he welcomed on board the popemobile was no stranger. he was a priest friend that francis knew from his time in argentina. the holy hitchhiker understandably said he was very moved by the whole thing. can you imagine? experience of a lifetime. >> well, did he just stick his thumb out and say, hey, can i have a ride? that's what i call a blessed intervention. well, back here at home the baseball hall of fame has three new members. first up greg maddux who won 355 games over his 23-year career. that's good for eighth best of all-time. he'll be joined by teammate for a long time tom glavine, the winner of 305 games. >> and last but certainly not least is frank thomas, the big hurt. he hit 521 home runs in a 19-year career mostly with the chicago white sox. they will be inducted on july 27th. speaking of baseball, spring training starts in just 34 days. >> but this morning there's a lot of nba action to share with you, and that's why neil and stan are joining us, our friends at espn. good morning, america. neil is hard at work there on the computer. >> absolutely, i'm wearing a pink shirt. >> we noticed that too. how about some basketball? >> how about some basketball? how about golden state. they may never lose again or they may lose this game against brooklyn. they've won ten games in a row. excuse me, they're on a ten-game winning streak and seven -- this will be seven on the road. steph curry ties it. he had 34 points, 15 from the floor. this was a foul on curry. jessica downstairs did not agree with this at all, but then again in her world, steph has never committed a foul. nets took the lead on the ensuing free throws. warriors need a three. curry, shoot it, no, he didn't. that seals it. the warriors lose to the nets, 102-98. how about this from college basketball. georgia and missouri. missouri at home. that's mark fox, georgia coach. his father passed away on saturday. bulldogs' first game since then. he said his dad would have wanted him to coach. his dad was a high school basketball coach. carson shot, you saw, go off there. so they went to overtime. charles mann with the layup and check out fox. his team secured the victory. bulldogs go on to win it, 70-64. >> yeah, man, we play fast and loose sometimes but that story is one that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. >> back to you. all right, well, coming up next "the pulse." >> we take a look at the big winners at the people's choice awards. and wait until you see where justin timberlake went after the big show. ♪ [ girl ] roses are red. violets are blue. splenda® is sweet. and so are you. [ female announcer ] just about anywhere you use sugar, you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. ♪ splenda® lets you experience the joy of sugar without all the calories. it's a very good reason to enjoy something sweet with the ones you love. think sugar, say splenda™ orange juice...tomato sauce... can cause acid erosion. the enamel starts to wear down. and you can't grow your enamel back. my dentist recommended that i use pronamel. because it helps to strengthen the enamel that you have. and i believe it's doing a good job. because it helps to strengthen the enamel that you have. . colorburst matte and lacquer balms and new high shine lacquer moisture rich finishes tthe pleasure you crave bjust got real.leasure? light & fit greek nonfat yogurt. irresistible flavors, like toasted coconut vanilla, with a thick creamy texture. never have 80 calories tasted so satisfying. light & fit greek. taste satisfaction without sacrifice. ♪ dannon welcome back. in your thursday "pulse," the first major award show of the year brought out some stars in l.a. last night. with some of them rocking some serious fashion. >> we're talking about the people's choice awards. the night started with a big award for sandra bullock. the "gravity" star took home four awards including favorite movie actress. she thanked her son louis for letting her have a night out. >> nicely done. and fans picked ellen degeneres as their favorite daytime tv host. ellen collecting her 14th people's choice award. of course, she hosts the oscars, remember, right here on abc in march. >> and britney spears took a break from her vegas show to accept her award for favorite pop artist. looking good, britney, being very careful going up the stairs. and justin timberlake scored three awards at last night's ceremonies. j.t. rocking that suit without a tie look, and how does an award winner celebrate? >> well, guess what he did, like all award winners want to do, he made a run for the border. there's a photo of justin posing with some taco bell employees that is now online. the store near the staples center in downtown l.a. i guess he just needed some mexican food. >> some taco craving there. a few head turners with some serious decolletage, in other words, showing some cleavage that you wouldn't likely see at the oscars. >> "trophy wife" star malin ackerman left little to the imagination with a revealing black and white number. no jewelry needed there. supermodel heidi klum wore a sparkling sleeveless gown with super plunging neckline and -- >> jessica alba all glammed up in a strapless jason wu with barely there bustier. >> looking good, ladies. i don't think it's too over the top for an awards show. >> no, not at all. you got to dress up and maybe a preview of what's coming up at the oscar. >> i think they look lovely. >> i'm impressed britney spears made it up those stairs. >> i know. very carefully. >> looked like that was some hard work. all right, well, coming up for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, we'll be back with an amazing first for an amazing little boy. stay with us. try align. it's the number one ge recommended probiotic that helps maintain digestive balance. ♪ stay in the groove with align. when the cranberry crosses the road, it's for citrus. cranberry citrus oat fruit thins. real fruit, whole grains. newtons fruit thins. one unique cookie. 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[ female announcer ] pore refining cleanser. neutrogena®. or training for a run... find your balance. every delicious balance bar® has 40-30-30 balanced nutrition to give you energy that lasts. balance bar®, have you found your balance? you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. we were told nothing could be done, to enjoy these final moments together. but in that moment, when all seemed lost... st. jude children's research hospital gave us hope. announcer: because at this moment, st. jude children's research hospital is saving lives with pioneering research and care. we're changing the way the world treats childhood cancer by sharing our discoveries with doctors and scientists everywhere. and we'll never have to pay st. jude for anything, ever. at this moment, she wants to be in her own bed. i want to be outside playing. announcer: please take a moment and join st. jude in finding cures and saving children. visit stjude.org. >> abc7 news begins with breaking news. >> at 4:28 we have breaking news. it involve as house fire in san jose but we have to, first, check on the weather. >> what is going on with the weather, mike nicco? it feels like yesterday. >> we will look at live doppler 7 hd, we will have drizzle and fog in the morning. there you go. we have fog. that is it. there is a little bit of patchy drizzle but not much rain. downtown, you can see if it was foggy you could not see the top of the embarcadero center. this will last through 10:00 and we will see a transition to partly cloudy sky by lunch and temperatures are warmer today, low 60's inland and upper 50's to low 60's around the bay and money 50's at the coast. here is leyla. >> good morning, everyone, at 4:29 we have an accident in san jose northbound along highway 17 if you are traveling before highway 85 two vehicles are involved with a lane blocked. in slow downs yet. drive time traffic 580 from tracy to dublin, westbound direction is 23 minutes and it is clear on highway four from antioch to conquer, 101 to san rafael to san francisco is 16 minutes. the san mateo bridge shows traffic moving smoothly away from hayward into's step -- into foster city. >> a biotech company faces questions of worker safety this morning. >> for the second time in eight months a fire at a plant has injured workers and caused a hazardous materials situation. our reporter tells us more. >> it became a full-blown haz-mat incident at the facility in south san francisco. the explosion was strong enough to blow out the window of a third floor laboratory. that was followed by a fire. it set off the sprinkler system. a deputy fire chief said employees were working with chemicals. >> the employees received burns from the fire. one was appeared to be in critical condition. one had minor burns. someone but add first alarm and the building was evacuated with 100 workers pouring into the parking lot. a spokesman refused to answer questions but released a written statement which says we are working with the south san francisco four department to address the situation with the safety of our employees being our first priority. >> this is not the first injury at this facility. in may last year