we begin with some concern from coast to coast as violence erupted at shopping malls packed with shoppers. >> wild scenes like this in ft. worth, texas, repeated in at least 15 malls. here at least in this situation, 60 officers were needed to break up the fighting between at least 100 teenagers. the violence now being linked to social media. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: overnight mall mayhem. >> they had rifles in the mall and they had batons to get people out of the mall. >> reporter: scared shoppers sent scrambling. disturbances at more than a dozen malls causing panic from colorado to ohio, north carolina to new york. the beechwood place mall put on lockdown after a group of teens caused a disturbance. police using pepper spray to break up the crowd. the fight led to dozens of shoppers rushing to the exits. in suburban chicago several fights broke out among large groups of teenagers at the fox valley mall. police o break things up. >> folk, the mall is closed. >> reporter: ten were injured in the chaos at a mall in elizabeth, new jersey. a fight in the food court here led to false reports of a shooting. and this morning, police in several states confirming these incidents were organized on social media. >> the crowd began to circle our officers and so our officer has to call for help. >> reporter: in aurora, colorado, a social media media post told people there would be a fight at the mall. not clear who was behind it but expect beefed up security today at malls near you. and we should point out several arrests were made overnight mostly young people accused of disorderly conduct but no serious injuries. the christmas spirit right out the window. now to this morning's other big story, the severe weather on the move. it buried the plains and midwest in several inches of snow. some cars you can see are barely visible beneath it all. >> those scenes are incredible. that system, though, is now on the move. moving east. take a look. all the way to new england. abc's janai norman just filed this report. she's tracking the damage. >> reporter: treacherous travel across the country. >> this is a holiday travel nightmare. >> reporter: winter weather making going home a widespread problem. in the dakotas over a foot of snow falling. >> i'm on the second story and the snow is right there. >> reporter: near whiteout conditions leading to more than 500 miles of highways getting shut down. authorities issuing a no travel advisory. in parts of north dakota, cars careening off ice covered roadways. causing pileups in salt lake city. in nebraska, wind gusting up to 75 miles per hour. flipping this semi on its side. bringing traffic to a standstill backing up cars for miles. those dangerous winds putting about 3 million people in arkansas, missouri, kentucky and tennessee at risk for isolated tornadoes. in minnesota, high winds knocked out power leaving m 19,000 customers in the dark and grounding flights. janai norman, abc news, washington. our thanks to janai, let's check in with accuweather's paula far paul williams with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. we're looking for terrible conditions throughout portions of north dakota, south dakota, going into montana. we're expecting poor travel conditions. they received over 18 inches of snow and even for the dakotas that's a bit much. better travel conditions just about everywhere else. green, we can travel without seeing much of a problem. the northwest, about to become really messy because we're going to see a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow covering the entire northwest corner of the country bearing down towards salt lake city. kendis, diane. >> all right, paul, thank you. president-elect trump is making headlines with his twitter account sounding off about the united nations, his foundation and his predecessor. >> he is reacting to president obama's assertion that he would have defeated trump had he run for a third term. we'll get more from mary's >> reporter: it's current versus future president. it started with president obama saying he could have taken on trump. >> i am confident in this vision because i'm confident that if i had run again and articulated it, i think i could have mobilized a majority of the american people to rally behind it. >> reporter: trump tweeting president obama said he thinks he would have won against me. he should say that but i say no way. jobs leaving, isis, obamacare. a different tone from that oval office meeting. >> very, very good man. >> thank you. >> reporter: trump slamming the u.n. just days after it passed air measure condemning israel saying it has such great potential but right now it's just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. these latest critical tweets coming 25 days before the inauguration as donald trump is racing to free himself from potential conflicts. announcing on christmas eve he's foundation to avoid even the appearance of any conflict. in the same statement trump insisting that 100% of the money goes to charity. but there are questions about the foundation's spending including whether trump inappropriately used foundation money to purchase this $20,000 portrait. trump has already paid a penalty to the irs after the foundation made an an improper campaign contribution and now trump's plan to shut it down is facing a major snag, the new york attorney general's office is investigating the foundation and says it cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete. and already trump's white house is facing its first staffing shake-up. just a few days ago trump announced jason miller as his communication director but miller said he won't join the team after all and says his family needs to be his top priority. mary bruce, abc news, the courthouse. speaking of president obama, he and japanese prime minister shinzo abe make history at pearl arizona" memorial together. prime minister abe laid a wreath at a national cemetery in hawaii yesterday to recognize japan's attack. the white house calls the visit a demonstration of strength of the u.s. and japan alliance, it comes months after president obama became the first sitting u.s. president to visit hiroshima. still plenty of news ahead coming up, the inmates who escaped from jail because of a leaky toilet. plus, that new video just coming in overnight, an airliner skidding off a runway completely on its belly. we'll tell you what went wrong. later in "the pulse," george michael's acts of kindness. fans are mourning his loss and we're learning more about his overwhelming and secret generosity. stay with us. fwrietenning moments at an airport in western india. a jet airways flight about to take off from mumbai skidded off a runway early this morning. witnesses say panicked passengers started jumping from the plane once it stopped. 12 people injured. mostly suffering broken bones. we learned overnight that rescue crews have recovered one of the black boxes from a russian military plane that crashed on christmas. the plane went down just minutes after taking off from sochi en route to syria. unclear if the recorder suffered damage. all 92 on board that plane are believed to be dead including dozens of singers from a renowned military choir. six men escaped a tennessee jail. they made their way out of the jail early sunday morning after removing a toilet from the wall and going through a hole behind it. prior plumbing repairs loosened and leaking water rusted the bolts holding it. five are back behind bars. very happy to inform you no matter what you saw on twitter britney spears is not dead. sony music's twitter account early said the singer died in an accident. and then promised more details. bob dylan's account echoed that but it turns out the sony account had been hacked and sony actually manages dylan's twitter account. later spears posted some photos of herself on her own account verifying she is very much alive. we have new solutions for one post-holiday problem. what to do with those gift cards you didn't want in the first place. plenty of options. cardpool buys and sos the cards so there is no user to user interaction. card cash also buys and sells the cards itself but allows swaps and sellers can trade in cards for credit and raise is sort of like risk for cards. sellers list them at whatever price they want but have to verify the cards with the site. >> or wrap them up, wait for birthdays to roll around and give them back to the people that gave them to you. >> or valentine's day. problem solved. >> free gas at mobil. love you. the monday night showdown. we have highlights from dallas versus detroit ahead from espn. plus, the incredible story of survival from a mom who went for help after a family got stuck in snow. details of her 26-mile trek next. you'farewell, cookie betdough ice cream.e! what's that you're drinking? it's trop50. it's fine. it tastes delicious and has 50% fewer calories with this taste? no way. give me fifty 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need without the unnecessary additives you don't. store manager: clean up, aisle 4. alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. let's take a look at morning road conditions. icy mix in new england switches to all rain today. you'll get heavy rain in coastal areas of washington and oregon and it'll be windy in southern oregon and northern california. if you're flying airport delays are possible in new york and chicago. a woman rescued near the grand canyon is sharing a survival story many are calling a christmas miracle. >> yeah, that's because she was stranded with her family on a snowy road in the arizona forest when they were forced to separate to find help. after what was a harrowing ordeal they're all back together again. >> reporter: karen klein, her husband eric and 10-year-old son isaac set out an a family trip to the grand canyon. their gps serving as their guide. >> we were kind of thinking, well, this doesn't seem right but this is the way it's telling us to go. >> reporter: they were in the midst of a storm and their car got stuck. so she slogged back to the main road where she'd hoped to flag someone down or find a cell phone signal. finally after walking 30 miles for 30 hours with a pulled groin muscle she noticed a cabin near the entrance to the park. she broke a window, crawled in and collapsed. >> i kept thinking this isn't how my life is supposed to end. >>ep eric and isaac's car then they trekked karen to that cabin. matt gutman, abc news, los angeles. >> matt will have more on her story later this morning on "good morning america." to michigan now, where 20 families are out of their homes this morning after a sinkhole in the detroit area. the hole opened over the holiday weekend swallowing one home and putting several others at risk. could be weeks before residents can get back to their houses. >> a loud noise, cracking throughout the evening that got progressively greater like, boom, boom, boom so that's when we got up and couldn't get out of the garage door. >> reporter: it's believed a broken sewage pipe caused the sinkhole so city officialing are taking drastic action and dumping raw sewage into the nearby clinton river. and in south florida a woman rescued after her car plunged into a canal. a passerby saw the pt cruiser go in and he jumped in. it was sinking quickly. samaritans they were able to pull the woman out of the window. she's now in stable condition. police are searching for the suspects in the robbery of a high-end store in new york city. the chiefs stole millions of dollars in lavish fur coats from the dennis basso boutique. the suspect threw a brick through the window and seemed to know what they were doing beelining for the furs. they got away with at least 20 major fur pieces. time now for sports and monday night beatdown in dallas. >> a little harsh. good morning, america. so we haven nfl football game. cowboys and the lions, a lot of blue and silver and if the lions win, they go to the playoffs. >> they would clinch a wild card. >> like you never studied. >> you might have missed this because you're up so early now. last night monday night football game. 55 yards for this score. elliott and the cowboys up 14-7. this was a game for awhile. in fact, the cowboys were down, yeah, emmitt smith likes it. old cowboy running back looking at the new cowboy running back. cowboys down but dak prescott hit dez bryant. watch it again. puts one mitt on it. secures it, game tied. 21. cowboys up 7 now in the third. prescott to dez, come on. jason witten waited very patient. didn't go out for a pass right away to sell the run. watch him right there. he's engaging then he goes out. that's an easy pitch and catch. he fires back. left-handed pass for parcells. all right, now bowl mania tuesday. and we talk bowl mania. quadruple. if you go by nicknames. black knights against mean gophers and cougar, broncos and bears, noon until midnight. take you through a lot of college football. >> we say good-bye and happy new year. all right, we thank you, guys there at espn. so a rookie in the nba is making a lot of news this morning. for two throws he made. it's how he made them. here it is. he made them underhanded. >> some call this granny style throwing which tells you what some players think about shooting that way. it worked. switching to underhanded raised his free throw percentage 12 points in college. there he made two in a row. nothing looks better than when it goes swish. >> in the nba. quite a dubai for him. up next in "the pulse," superstar's secrets. what we're just learning about george michael. and it looked more like a concert than a birthday party so why was this birthday girl so unhappy? i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but no matter what path i take, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, 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you feel. new olay eyes collection treats every eye concern. lift depuff brighten smooth or ultimaltely all of it. express every emotion. without showing your age. new olay eyes. ageless ♪ i need some time off from that emotion ♪ >> this is my favorite. >> your senior right here. checking "the pulse" and george michael's song "faith" one of the top five songs at spotify. streams of his music skyrocket more than 3100%. >> he's known for his incredible music but since his death, dozens of people have also come forward with stories of george michael's incredible generosity. he apparently gave money to establish charities and individuals he heard needed money and sometimes he donated directly. other types through the royalties of his recordings. the causes ranged from youth counseling to aids to hunger. he reportedly even worked at a homeless shelter anonymously >> that's the incredible part about it. did you know five years ago he was the first guest on "carpool karaoke" with james corden. ♪ i made you happy ♪ baby i'm your man >> i love it! >> it was all for a sketch yet again for british telethon. very generous over the years. >> and took off. so successful they made it into a whole segment on corden's show. taylor swift also delivered a christmas surprise to what might be her oldest fan of the singer crashed the family christmas gathering of a world war ii veteran. >> cyrus has been to two of her concerts. they posed for pictures and gave an impromptu accusic performance. one of the grandsons called it a christmas miracle. >> look at that smile. a family in rural mexico found out the hard way if you invite they will come. >> oh, man, celebrated her birthday with family and friends. thousands of complete strangers and she was understandably overwhelmed when her 15th birthday party turned out to look more like a rock concert. >> ruby's dad posted an invitation promising good prizes, horse races. her mom says they meant everybody in nearby towns, not the world. morning y god, look at that. washington. for many people-- this is the first day of the holiday-shortened work week. it's tuesday, december 27th.. only 5 days left in 20-16. meteorologist eileen whelan will give us a preview the weather, in just a few moments. breaking overnight. dc police -- making an arrest in connection to the search for a missing yoga teacher. this was the scene just after 1 o'clock. police found a toyota scion on m street in northwest -- matching the description of the car owned by mccauley. she went missing on christmas day. our crews were there as one man was taken into custody, and police began examining the vehicle's trunk. we are following this breaking news story, and will bring you updates as they come in. good morning washington. toss to eileen - unseasonably mild winter day - rain thursday - cold & windy friday - few showers to ring in the new year today: early am showers. sunshine this afternoon. warm & breezy. highs: 60-65 winds: sw to w 5-15+ g 30 mph tonight: mainly clear. cold. lows: 33-39 winds: nw 5 mph to calm wednesday: mostly sunny. cooler. highs: 44-49 winds: se 5 mph good tuesday morning, quiet run for us so far. most of the week. heading out along the beltway right now, no issues. we're at or above the speed limit in more areas. no accidents or crashes to report. heading towards bwi, it looks great on i-95 and the baltimore washington parkway, we're in the 50's. live look at i-270, moving very well. right now -- people living under a state of emergency outside detroit. and that's because a sinkhole is now forcing police to evacuate an entire neighborhood. it's the second time in twelve years they've had to deal with a sinkhole like this. adding to the problem this time around? that hole is now filling with raw sewage. residents say they grabbed what they could - and ran. city leaders are looking at all options to fix the mess including dumping the raw sewage into a river. but there's no timeline for when that could happen. and that means residents don't know when they'll back home. in virginia-- police are trying to figure out what killed a man found inside an arlington restaurant. police say a cleaning crew found the man's body inside the bathroom of a ruth's chris steakhouse. it happened yesterday, shortly before the restaurant was set to open. police say there are no obvious signs of foul play. so far, the man's identity has not been released. happening now-- two children are recovering- after possibly suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning in silver spring. and now their mother may be under investigation. police say the woman and her ten-year-old son went into the white oak shopping center late monday afternoon. they left a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old -- alone -- inside the car. when the mother and older son came back - the younger children were visibly ill. they were taken to the hospital. no word on their conditions. police are still working to determine if charges will be brought against the mother. a big night for music lovers at the mgm national harbor. bruno mars is coming to town. mars will take the stage tonight at mgm. the grammy award winning musician is currently on tour studio album, 24 karat magic. if you are looking for a late holiday present-- tickets are still available. it's xx and we're just getting started. just getting started. breaking news. an arrest overnight, as police look for a missing yoga teacher. overnight, as police look for a missing yoga teacher. the latest on the active scene in northwest washington this morning. holiday havoc for millions of travelers. wintry storms now derailing plans, across several states. how travelers are coping.. coming up. good morning washington. - unseasonably mild winter - unseasonably mild winter day - rain thursday - cold & windy friday - few showers to ring in the new year today: early am showers. sunshine this afternoon. warm & breezy. highs: 60-65 winds: sw to w 5-15+ g 30 mph tonight: mainly clear. cold. lows: 33-39 winds: nw 5 mph to calm wednesday: mostly sunny. cooler. highs: 44-49 winds: se 5 mph good tuesday morning, quiet run for us so far.