a good wednesday morning to you all. parts of louisiana are just disaster zones this morning after a swarm of tornadoes hit from new orleans to baton rouge. >> but hardest hit is new orleans with hundreds of homes destroyed and thousands damaged. on radar right now you can see those storms are quickly moving south and dissipating at this hour after leaving its mark on florida overnight. overnight, the heavy wind and rain pushing south into florida. leaving behind uprooted trees, part of a fence torn off floating in a pool and a restaurant's roof suffering major damage. >> it looked like wind and rain was just coming up from the ground and flying everywhere. chairs were going everywhere. it was scary. it was horrifying. >> reporter: this same system responsible for spawning four tornadoes earlier in louisiana including this massive twister racing across the strip mall. watch and listen as strong winds topple a large vehicle pushing it across the parking lot. in new orleans, security cameras capturing the powerful winds peeling the roof off this building. this man and his son huddling in the hallway when a tornado tore through their home. >> the wind was just throwing -- tossing me and my son from side to side. >> reporter: and damage assessment underway at a nasa rocket facility. the agency releasing this video showing the tornado taking aim at the building and the damage left behind. quite amazing some of those images. >> especially that house splitting in half. >> incredible. now, those damaging storms are moving out and the threat is easing a little. >> so we're watching a winter storm heading toward the east coast and it will happen tonight into thursday taking aim at d.c., philadelphia, new york and boston. more than 6 inches possible. some areas might see as much as 18 inches. >> wow. now to the waiting game that's playing out over the president's travel ban. >> the trump administration is waiting for an appeals court decision while people around the world are waiting to find out if they can come into the united states. >> the senate has been in session all night long for the second night in a row. the democratic senators voicing their opposition to president trump's pick for attorney general. at this hour you can see there the democratic senator from oregon, jeff merkley who is speaking. >> abc's maggie rulli is tracking both stories for us. another busy morning for you. >> reporter: president trump this morning is waging a legal battle to save his controversial travel ban. on one side, the white house, lawyers arguing that the president was well within his legal right to impose the temporary travel ban. >> this is a traditional national security judgment that is assigned to the political branches and the president and the court's order immediately altered that. >> reporter: on the other lawyers for washington state insisting that the travel ban is unconstitutional and damaging. >> what's the irreparable harm? >> we had students and faculty at our state universities who were stranded overseas. we had families that were separated. >> reporter: the ninth circuit court of appeals could make their ruling in a few days but the president acknowledges this could go all the way to the supreme court. >> we'll take it through the system. >> reporter: president trump's also facing more opposition in the senate over his cabinet picks. overnight democrats staging another all night protest. this one against attorney general nominee jeff sessions. the debate quickly turning contentious after republican senators used a rare rule to formally silence massachusetts senator elizabeth warren for questioning the character of fellow senator jeff sessions. >> senators impugn the motive of our colleague from alabama. >> reporter: she was reading letters written in the '80s from the late senator ted kennedy and coretta scott king opposing his bid to become a federal judge. >> i am surprised that the words of coretta scott king are not suitable for debate in the united states senate. i ask leave of the senate to continue my remarks. >> reporter: and senator warren did just that taking to facebook live where she read the rest of coretta scott king's letter and that video has more than 3 million views. a vote on sessions' nomination expected later today. >> and despite that sessions still expected to be confirmed. maggie rulli live in washington for us, maggie, thanks. betsy devos is now the nation's new education secretary. she was sworn in last night promising to be a tireless advocate for all students. >> that was just hours after vice president mike pence cast tiebreaking vote in the senate confirming devos' nomination. it was the first time ever that a vice president had to break a tie on a cabinet nomination. and president trump is sticking by his claim that the nation's murder rate is at the highest level in decades. at a white house meeting with county sheriffs he took aim at the media. he claimed it's something he's been talking about for awhile. >> i'd say that in a speech and everyone was surprised because the press doesn't tell it like it was. it wasn't to their advantage to say that but the murder rate is the highest it's been in i guess from 45 to 47 years. >> so, here's what we have. the latest year for which figures are available is 2015 and they show that murder rate that year was among the lowest in half a century. however, 2015 also saw one of the largest increases in decades. trump aide kellyanne conway is now apologizing for referring to a massacre in bowling green that never happened. conway has been taking heat after criticizing the media for not covering that nonexistent massacre thursday but last night she attempted to clear the air telling cnn she misspoke and she's sorry. >> i regretted it tremendously because i used the wrong word to describe something several times. i felt badly about that and i apologize and rectify but want to say something else. >> she meant to say bowling green terrorists referring to two iraqi men convicted in bowling green, kentucky, of helping al qaeda carry out attacks in iraq. abc news was among a number of outlets that reported their arrests in 201 16r789s 1. according to "the new york times," the yemeni government has withdrawn permission for special ops ground missions on its soil. now, the move is reportedly in response to the civilian casualties from last month's u.s. raid. a navy s.e.a.l. was killed during that operation. and turkish officials say they are expecting a visit from mike pompeo tomorrow. topping the agenda, turkey's extradition request for a cleric accused of planning the failed military coup last summer. he'll also discuss u.s. support for syrian kurdish fighters. turkey considers them terrorists. former vice president joe biden getting back to work. going to lead two new academic centers one at the university of pennsylvania focusing on diplomacy and national security. the second will be at biden's alma mater, the university of delaware. that one will deal with domestic issues such as civil rights, criminal justice and the environment. first tom brady's jersey and now something else, another piece of super bowl memorabilia is missing. a pile of smoldering debris is all that's left after an explosion levels a home overnight. we have the video. two bumbling burglars and failed attempt to break into a store but successful with their bruises this morning. massive explosion has destroyed a house in akron, ohio, and sent at least one to the hospital. investigators suspect a gas leak may have been the cause. witnesses said the explosion was heard more than a mile away. several neighboring homes were also evacuated. the hunt for a man and woman wanted in the murders of four women in the south is now over. it ended in a standoff at a motel in georgia when police say the male suspect william boyette shot an killed himself. his alleged accomplice, mary rice surrendered moments earlier blamed for murders in florida and alabama over a seven-day period. police say they killed two of the victims just to steal their vehicles. a death at a frat house on the campus of penn state university has been ruled dental. investigators say timothy piazza fell down basement stairs inside the beta theta pi fraternity late thursday night. the 19-year-old sophomore died saturday. paramedics say they weren't called until 12 hours after the fall. the fraternity has temporarily suspended operations on campus. the easement for the dakota access pipeline to cross the missouri river in north dakota is expected to be issued today. the news comes after the army yesterday announced it will not prepare an environmental impact statement to address concerns about the project saying it already has enough evidence to support the easement. attorneys for the standing rock sioux tribe believe it cannot be legally granted at this time. and two determined burglars in florida, they walked away with not very much. maybe a few bruises after picking this gas station convenience store in the middle of the night. they probably figured it would be easy to smash the glass door panel. no dice. hammer, shattered the window, didn't break it. then tried running at it. that didn't work. another crook tried to hammer and a body slam. eventually they gave up. >> police did put out a be on the look ute for two guys with bruised egos andide splitting a home in half. the mystery in panama. an american found dead. we have new details now about her death that could lead to a murder investigation. don't look now but chuck norris is right behind you. i heard superheroes read chuck norris comics. i heard at night, the boogeyman checks under the bed for chuck. i heard cats say they have chuck-like reflexes. do you think he's still got it? i bet you a buck he catches this salt shaker. you're on! hey! chuck! you owe me a buck. you can't always see what's coming but when you choose unitedhealthcare, finding an in-network doctor that's close to home is easy. so what happened? i had lunch with chuck norris. ♪ unitedhealthcare. of your brain can make it hard to lose weight? contrave is an fda-approved weight-loss medicine that may help adults who are overweight or struggle with obesity lose weight and keep it off. contrave is believed to work on two areas of the brain: your hunger center... 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(avo) to help control cravings. across three long-term studies, contrave patients lost approximately 2-4x more weight than with diet and exercise alone. contrave is not for everyone. one ingredient in contrave may increase suicidal thoughts or actions in some children, teens, >> test test reduce hunger, help control cravings. contrave. the #1 prescribed weight-loss brand. go to contrave.com. say hi to xiidra, lifitegrast ophthalmic solution. >> test test do not touch the container tip to your eye or any surface. remove contacts before using xiidra >> test test blank northern cal homeowner watched helplessly as a mudslide destroyed his boyhood home. luckily there was enough time to get everyone out and even grab a few possessions. officials are now trying to decide whether it's safe to go back in and recover more of those possessions. out rain in the northern california area is causing many mudslides and rockslides. also causing quite a bit of flooding such as in this rv park in oakhurst near the entrance to yosemite national park. that's not supposed to be moving. it is floating away. a portable round tent. the manager says they're so busy pulling rvs out of the water they don't have time to chase after them. it does rain in southern california and in the north as we take a look at the radar. much of the golden state is expected to get rain today and you see that over the pacific and it will bring snow and rain to the west coast through friday. l.a. has received a year's worth of rain in just four months. new overnight reports out of panama say an american found dead over the weekend was likely strangled. >> catherine johannet's body was discovered on an island hiking trail. the columbia university grad had been missing for three days. a panamanian tv station is reporting the 23-year-old may have been hit in the head with a rock then dragged to where she was found. it also reports she was likely strangled with a piece of her own clothing. the fbi is working with local authorities on the investigation. a new health alert is out on a study finding hearing loss is a growing problem. according to the cdc nearly 20% of people in their 20s have diminished hearing and a quarter of adults have hearing loss. the problem is environmental noise. the cdc says anything from leaf blowers to loud music in headphones can cause problems. it was definitely loud in the streets of boston as hundreds of thousands of fans came out to cheer on the new super bowl champs. the patriots braved lousy weather as did the fans but everyone had a good time showing off the vince lombardi trophy they claimed sunday night. >> rob gronkowski didn't let the back injury that kept him on the sidelines stop him. gronk opened some beers with his mouth spiked the cans like he was in the end zone. >> another piece of memorabilia is now missing. the ball that james white ran in for the winning touchdown is gone. white says he wasn't thinking and just left the ball on the ground. now no one knows where it went. tom brady's jersey also still missing. someone collected some booty at the game. now to some hoops. the fans who went to last night's game at the university of south carolina got their money's worth. >> highlights now from our fired up guys at espn. good morning, america. he's stan, i'm neil. got a couple highlights here for you. fire it up. >> start with college basketball. alabama, south carolina from the s.e.c., this one went a while. so first time ever we've got four overtimes in columbia. desperation three-pointer no good for south carolina. rebound, alabama and the crimson tide rolls, 90-86, first win over a ranked s.e.c. opponent on the road since 2004. portland at dallas, yogi ferrell, he went for 32 against portland and earned himself a two-year deal after he was on a ten-day contract. c.j. mccollum, now, mavericks down two. dirk nowitzki. take that with you. ready to shoot. he had 25 and it looked like a winner but with four seconds left mccollum finds space, finds the bottom of the net and the blazers beat the mavericks. those are two teams 9-10 right now in the west so big win. >> only the top eight make the playoffs. >> something you might not have known. >> back to you. >> thanks, fellas. up next in "the pulse," reaction pouring in to that video of former president obama kite surfing. and the donkey who came to the rescue when his friends were having difficulty. >> what did he do? what? o m g ten years later, nothing's really changed. it's time to snap out of it. hello moto. snap on a jbl speaker. put a 70" screen on a wall. get a 10x optical zoom. get excited world. hello moto. moto is here. the moto z with motomods. get 50% off on moto z droid. and the wolf huffed like you do sometimes, grandpa? well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. you should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. watch out, piggies! (child giggles) symbicort. breathe better starting within 5 minutes. get symbicort free for up to one year. visit saveonsymbicort.com today to learn more. ♪ [one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do] ♪ nobody likes a dog with bad breath. that's why there's oravet dental hygiene chews. oravet's dual action approach cleans teeth and gets to the underlying cause of bad breath by blocking bacteria to help prevent plaque and tartar. for a cleaner mouth everyone can love. ask your vet about oravet chews. serious oral care made simple ♪ well i say oh what a beautiful morning ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ yes what a wonderful day ♪ y'all look at that i've got a beautiful feeling ♪ ♪ everything is going my way ♪ she said oh what a beautiful morning ♪ ♪ yes what a wonderful day ♪ girl i got a beautiful feeling i got everything i got everything ♪ ♪ i got everything whoo everything's going my way ♪ good morning, america. a lot of news to get to this morning. ♪ i got everything going my way ♪ ♪ it is your wednesday "pulse." we'll start with former president obama, that guy, his latest vacation video shows him kite surfing in the caribbean. we've also seen him hanging with billionaire richard branson. they're bffs. >> the former president wasn't allowed to kite surf while in office so he's clearly taking advantage. ironically all the good times he's sharing had some twitter users a little sad and now they're going public about that. >> here's one that says, baby come back. i can change. >> another says, quote, his hair might just turn black again. >> lastly, who you gonna call. not obama with the caption, new phone, who dis? >> scrapplayers will love this. merriam-webster added a thousand words to the dictionary. >> throw shade, which means to express contempt or disrespect for someone publicly especially by subtle or indirect insults or criticisms. basically you every night to me. >> pretty much. binge-watch is another term, that's watching many or all episodes in rapid success. >> nsfw, not safe for work. scientists say donkeys are fairly smart. this video from italy certainly supports that theory. >> the one donkey can't seem to get through the fence. his legs don't bend enough. another has the answer. >> just take it out. >> clear it out. >> problem solved. and off they go. >> we need that guy around here. >> more news coming up after this. try nivea essentially enriched body lotion. the unique formula with nourishing almond oil... ...leaves skin smoother. moisturized for 24 hours. nivea essentially enriched. for noticeably smoother skin. maybe almond breeze tastes because it's the only almondmilk made with california-grown blue diamond almonds. of course, if you ask one of our almond growers... there's no maybe about it. almond breeze. the best almonds make the best almondmilk. ( ♪ ) ♪ they tell me i'm wrong ♪ ♪ to want to stand alongside my, my love ♪ ♪ whoa, talkin' 'bout my love ♪ ♪ to want to stand alongside my, my love ♪ hashtag stuffy nose. hashtag no sleep. hashtag mouthbreather. just put on a breathe right strip. it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone. shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. breathe right. >> ♪ >> good morning. good to see you. i'm matt o'donnell. it is wednesday morning, 4:27 a.m. get ready for an accuweather rollercoaster ride. temperatures will be in the 60's today. as we take a look on sky6 live there and then a winter storm arrives that could bring up to 8-inches of snow in some spots. the storm is less than 24 hours away. as we look at the airport we can tell you many airlines are taking action as the storm approaches. we'll be live at philadelphia international airport with travelers. airport thieves ruin a new jersey girl's trip to disney world. but then better news arrives for the girl who suffers from a chronic medical issue. all those stories and much more next on "action news." stay with us. >> ♪ ally bittersweet. a soccer ball that was supposed to go into outer space more than 30 years ago has finally made it into orbit. >> so the journey created a mix of emotions at a florida high school. kevin quinn from our station in houston has more. >> and liftoff. liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission and it is cleared the tower. >> reporter: in 1986 when "challenger" exploded 73 seconds after it launched. >> it was tragic. >> reporter: a few things somehow survived. this soccer ball among them. signed by the members of the then varsity and junior varsity teams at clear lake carried by astronaut onozuka. steven peter was among them. >> i thought it would be a neat idea to get the kids to sign it. >> reporter: after the family got it back they gave it to the school and on display ever since until astronaut shane kimbrough whose daughter now attends clear lake high asked the school if it would want to send anything up. he launched to the space station in october and posted this pic, the ball finally in space. >> i immediately broke down in tears. i mean, it's almost indescribable. >> reporter: jared shriver is now head coach long friends with the onozuka family and knows what this means to them. >> both wonderful and really emotional at the same time. >> "challenger" now heading downrange. >> reporter: even if the "challenger" seven were never able to get to space at least now a small part of what was was carried on their mission has. >> they say once they return with the ball they'll put it back in the school and be there on display in great it made it there after that time. that's what's making news in america this morning. stay with us for "good morning america." have a great wednesday and catch us at atmfans.com. >> ♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with matt o'donnell, tamala edwards, karen rogers and meteorologist, david murphy. >> ♪ >> good morning. it is 4:30 on this wednesday february 8th. >> and here's what we're following for you on "action news." a winter snowstorm is headed our way. sky6 taking a live look at philadelphia international airport. airlines already alerting flyers to alter their plans. >> philadelphia police are trying to catch the robber behind an aggressive crime spree where before people get it. >> a lehigh valley man suffers a heart attack while crossing the street and people nearby including a nurse rush to save him. >> we'll get to all of that in a moment. let's talk a little bit about this snow coming in with dave murphy. karen rogers is

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