making news on this wednesday, august 11th. >> alaska trance di. former senator ted stevens known to many as uncle ted is among those killed in a plane crash. this morning, new details about the survivors. the gulf coast again on storm watch as a new tropical storm system heads for the louisiana coast. and the nation's most famous flight attendant talks for the first time since his dramatic departure. and good morning, everyone. thanks for joining us. it's a plane crash that stunned many alaskans taking the life of a state political legend, senator ted stevens. >> he was among the friends and teenagers aboard the plane that crashed so forcefully it left a

300-foot garbin in the side of a mountain. this is the image, one of the first, which investigators have reached. brad wheelis has more. >> reporter: from washington, d.c., to his beloved home state of alaska, former senator ted stevens is being remembered as a man as large in life as the state he represented for 40 years. seens was among five killed. the aircraft was headed to a popular fishing destination over rugged terrain and through miserable weather about 330 miles southwest of anchorage when it crashed. >> they estimated there was about a 100-yard gash leading up the hillside as the plane traveled up the hillside and then came to rest. >> reporter: also on board that flight, ex-nasa chief sean o'keefe. he was one of four survivors. since people in se use planes like automobiles, stevens was no stranger to these kinds of remote flights. ironically, he had survived a plane crash in the state in

1978. his first wife ann and all others on board perished. stevens was the republicanngest and was never shy about using his perch to direct federal dollars to his home state. >> my motto has been here, to hell with politics, just do what's right for alaska. >> reporter: but his penchant for earmarks eventually led to political rumblings and his connection to pork barrel projects like the infamous bridge to nowhere became an embarrassment. in 2008 stevens narrowly lost re-election just days after being convicted on federal ethics charges. those charges would later be dropped, but by then stevens had largely removed himself from public life. brad wheelis, abc news. hospital officials in anchorage say sean o'keefe is in critical condition. his 16-year-old son kevin also in serious condition. they both suffered broken bones and other injuries. and in has been another aviation accident in alaska. a rescue helicopter crashed while trying to reach sight seers who had been stranded on a

glacier since sunday. no one was seriously hurt. this is home video of an earlier sightseeing trip by the same pilot. overnight we learned a second rescue aircraft was able to carry at least three of the sightseers to safety. it also delivered food and survival gear to those still stranded. one result from tuesday's primaries has some asking if president obama is the big winner. we're talking about the colorado democratic senate primary in which senator michael bennet was the winner. mr. obama had backed him. he was his win and last democrats breathing easier that the base is ready to rally around the president's policies. in another high-profile race linda mcmahon won. more about that and other races from t.j. winick. in ken connect she laid the smackdown on rob sirmens. she poured more than $26 million of her own fortune into her campaign. >> i am honored to be your republican nominee for the

united states senate for connecticut. >> reporter: in the georgia gop gubernatorial runoff, former congressman nathan deal squared off against secretary of state karen handel. >> we are very encouraged by the numbers. we hope that they will hold. but i justted to come out and say thank you to all of you for all that you've done. this has been a great night to have for us. >> reporter: the contest had turned into a proxy race for 2012 republican presidential candidates. handel was endorsed by mitt romney and sarah palin. deal had newt gingrich and mike huckabee on his side. the highest profile race of the night was easily the democratic primary in colorado where senator michael bennet bested former state house speaker andrew romanoff. bennett, appointed to the seat, was branded the establishment candidate even though this was his first time on a ballot. in his corner, the endorser in chief, president barack obama. romanoff ran as the outsider despite his years in state politics. romanoff had the backing of

former president bill clinton. bennet avoided becoming the third sitting senator this year to lose in a primary. t.j. wingic, abc news, washington. new york democratic congressman charlie rangel is not resigning despite facing more than a dozen ethic charges. he made that clear at an unexpected 37-minute speech on the house floor. any call on the house ethics committee to move it along without delay. >> don't leave me swinging in the wind until november. i do want the dignity that the president had said. if i can't get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot in getting rid of me through ex-pulse. >> he admitted to making mistakes but maintains he has done nothing corrupt. a new storm is menacing the gulf coast as it heads to the site of the big bp oil spill. a relief well has been suspended and a governor has declared a state of emergency there.

amy has the latest there. >> thank you, rob and vinita. the gulf is certainly in the spotlight. our latest low pressure system has been officially upgraded to a tropical depression about 150 miles from the west coast of florida. you can see the defined circulation on the radar but looking very unorganized. we are just looking at shower and thunderstorm activity here. sustained wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour. as this tracks northwestward through the gulf we are expecting it to strengthen before making landfall. eventually we expect it to be upgraded to tropical storm status. nothing major but still looking at pretty heavy rain. that will be our main impact when it is said and done, expecting landfall to be made early on thursday southeastern parts of louisiana but the tropical storm-force warnings are out from new orleans heading into mobile back into the panhandle of florida. once it does make landfall our main impact will be heavy rain, talking locally between 3 and 5

inches. now back to you, rob and vinita. >> thanks, amy. now for this morning's weather from elsewhere around the country, hot and windiy thunderstorms from chicago to detroit, cleveland and nashville. more heavy rain in the southwest. drenching parts of arizona, new mexico, colorado and utah. showers from the northern rockies into washington and oregon. >> 70s in portland and seattle and 8 in boise. the heat wave continues in the middle of the country. 90s from minneapolis to kansas city while dallas heats up to 104. 93 in new york. 95 in new orleans and 88 in miami. and when we come back this morning, the fed fights back against the slowing economic recovery. plus, mission accomplished. the u.s. air force teams up with an unlikely ally for a special training mission. and in lighter news, we'll go inside the new temple of pop tarts. [ female announcer ] introducing, new townhouse flatbread crisps.

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the federal reserve says the economic recovery is slowing down and it is taking action to get it back on track. after its meeting tuesday the fed says high unemployment and falling home prices are holding back growth. the fed hopes to jump-start growth by buying tens of billions of dollars in government debt to drive down interest rates on mortgages and corporate loans. >> the objective is to make sure there's plenty of money out there to incentivize businesses and individuals to borrow money at low rates so they can invest in things. >> economists are doubting this will help much. rates are already low and that

hasn't done much for spending. concerns that both the u.s. and chinese economies are slowing has stocks down sharply overseas this morning. tokyo's nikkei average tumbled 2.7% today. hong kong's hang seng is down. in london the ftse opened sharply lower and the dow lost 54 points and the nasdaq was down 28. president obama is signing a bill today to bolster the nation's manufacturers. it will reduce or suspend some tariffs on materials that cops import. one industry group says that will help croat jobs and increase put outby $4.5 billion. there is more evidence general motors is on the road to recovery. automaker is reported to have a profit. it may have earned more than $1 billion in the second quarter thanks to stronger sales around the world and higher prices in the u.s. government investigators say they have found no evidence of faulty electronics in the toyotas that experienced that

sudden acceleration. the only problems they have uncovered are with the floor mats and sticky pedals. while many of the reported incidents appear to have been driver error. they recalled nearly 10 million vehicles to fix these. netflix subscribers will soon have a lot more movies to watch instantly. the company is paying nearly $1 billion over the next five years to stream movies from paramount pictures, mgm and lion's gate. that means movies like "shutter island" will be haval vabl online three months after they appear. the deal starts next month. >> not bad. watch whatever you want in bed. coming up next on this wednesday, your air travel forecast plus this -- >> vinita, that infamous jetblue flight attendant, well, he is out of nike. i'm mike marusarz. hear what he has to say to his supporters.icicicicicicicicicicc

now for a look rat your morning road conditions. that storm in the gulf triggers flooding on i-95 in southern florida and from the panhandle into new orleans. flooded highways across the midwest and ohio valley. wet on i-40 from albuquerque to flagstaff om from billings to spokane. >> flying today, you can expect airport delays in chicago, new orleans and miami along with detroit. the flight attendant turned hero has been re-released from jail. >> his explosive exit from the job has hit home with unhappy workers everywhere and talking for the first time since his arrest. mike marusarz is joining us with details. >> reporter: he is facing

serious charges but even before he said a word after being thrown in jail, he also gained a lot of support. steven slater's exit from jail -- >> are you going to lose your job? >> more than likely. >> reporter: not as spectacular as the one that landed him in the national spotlight. >> tell me about all the support you've gotten. >> it's been very, very appreciated. >> reporter: the jetblue flight attendant was working a flight in new york monday. prosecutors say a passenger ignored his order to stay seated. her luggage hit him in the head infuriated passengers say slated loaded an expletive laced resignation on the p.a. system. >> did he just swear at a passenger on the intercom? that never happens. >> reporter: he grabbed a couple of beers, activated the emergency chute. >> we just had a slide deployment. >> reporter: and slid out of the plane. he confessed in a signed statement to the judge yesterday. the man who says he's logged

nearly 30 years as a flight attendant is now piloting a new movement. >> it seems like something here has resonated with a few people and that's kind of neat. >> reporter: thousands of supporters are taking to social media. his mom, a former flight attendant herself, is fighting for her son's represent hetation. >> i also don't think that people who are in the service industry should be abused by anybody. >> reporter: and his ex-wife backs him saying he truly enjoys flying, a passion that's grounded at least for now. >> he definitely exited in a grand fashion. he is a dramatic fellow so i wouldn't expect any less of him. >> reporter: slater is facing serious charges, in fact, two felonies. he is also facing up to seven years in prison if convicted on all of those charges. by the way, his next court appearance is set for september 7th. vinita and rob. >> we heard him say more than likely he'll lose his job. at least that's what he thinks. do we know his status. >> reporter: not officially not

just yet, vinita. jetblue says it's investigating along with police agencies involved. of course, this process will play out in the next few days. >> all right. mike marusarz, thanks, mike. a multistate manhunt is under way for a serial stabber linked to at least five murders. the suspect is a white man and police says his attacks are racially motivated because all but 3 of his 20 victims are black. one new lead, a surveillance video, showing the suspegreen 1 green 1995 to 2005 gmc jimmy or chevy blazer. much more on the story coming up later today on "good morning america." the u.s. and russia have wrapped up a joint mission touted as a groundbreaking training exercise. fighter jets from both country crisscrossed the pacific chasing a chartered plane playing the role of a hijacked airliner. it was designed to test how well russia and norad can coordinate and work together in the event of a hijacking. time for baseball highlights. things got rough in cincinnati.

here's adnan virk at espn news. a huge series between the cardinals and reds. the reds trying to answer. choice words to the cardinals. usually batter ritual. i would appreciate it. >> i'll say it again. i'll say it to you right now. >> so the fun begins pushing and shoving between grown men. cardinals pitcher was involved too. johnny tried to defend himself. as for the game itself, real fun begins, molina was getting into it. he also had that long distance feeling, a home run and later on the cards add to their total, bases to left will score a couple of runs, a wild throw to try to get the out at second. instead, the ball is kicked around. the bottom line, all you need to

know is the cardinals have won the first two games of this big pivotal series. molina making things happen. >> how about the yankees and the rangers? top of the eighth, down 3-2. rodriguez leading off. and for a-rod, the grass is greener on the other side. 18th of the season, 601st of his career. bases loaded for david murphy off mariano rivera. his fourth career walkoff hit. he had a home run as well and rangers win it, 4-3. nationals hosting the marlins. stephen strasburg. top of the first, dan uggla, coyote uggla. the marlins rock, 8-2. six earned runs and four strikeouts for him. disappointing performance. that does it for this sports update. back to new york. >> a breakfast favorite is getting a thumbs up from new yorkers and tourists.

>> some sweet tooths flocked to times square yesterday as kellogg's pop tarts world opened for business. customers sampled pop tart sushi and dozens of other treats using pop tarts as the main ingredient and also used a machine called the varietizer to create a personalized box set of their favorites. >> sushi is scary but maybe it's good. >> i tried it. >> they only rented it till january so you have to get there fast. the government crackdown on bullying. xxgi

now a look ahead to stories

we'll watch on this wednesday. forecasters are keeping a close eye on a tropical depression heading to the oil spill area out in the gulf. it's expected to grow to a tropical storm and make landfall in louisiana sometime tomorrow. investigators will be poring over the remote crash site where the plane carrying former north ted stevens went down. weather is being looked at as one possibility. a big fund-raising party is being held in new york to mark embattled congressman charlie rangel's 80th birthday. on the house floor yesterday he said he is not resigning and ready to fight the 13 ethics charges he is facing. in washington the department of education begins a two-day anti-bullying summit, the goal of the first ever meeting to craft a national strategy to reduce and stop bullying. the holy month of ramadan starts for muslims across the globe today. the observance requires muslims to fast and abstain from food to drink from sunrise to sun set. >> we'll be right back with more

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as we mentioned earlier this morning steven slater, jetblue flight attendant was released from jail here in new york overnight. he will be back in court next

month to face several charges. slater's walking off the job in dramatic fashion seems ready made of course for the late night comics. here's a sample. >> you guys hear about the jetblue flight attendant yesterday? >> all: yeah. >> that guy is pretty awesome. not too surprising someone would snap after 20 years of explaining how to use a seat belt. >> if we had an inflatable slide i bet 80% of us would use it. he should be rewarded, not arrested. had is the first time flight attendant ever got all the passengers to pay attention to the emergency exit demonstration. >> pilots were furious. that was their last two beers. come on! man. unbelievable. yeah. >> and the guy has become like a folk hero now and he really went crazy. he went so crazy, the good news, terrorists are now afraid to flight jetblue so that's good news. >> thanks to slater we'll need

to make some changes to the airline safety cards. like in the event of flight ume ndant frea crash position and extend arm to capture meltdown on iphone. i mean, seriously, no. well, now we know it's true. jetblue really does have the best in-flighttertainment. sully sullenberger, the bar has been raised. >> there's a serious side to the story, though. apparently part of the reason he was upset, stress in recent months. one, his dad recently died. his mom has cancer. reports that he battled alcohol so he had a lot going on in his life that led to yesterday's -- >> feedless to say he really has become some sort of hero. facebook has a fan page. last night there were 33,000 fans so people are certainly raising him on shoulders right now. that is what is making news in america. >> get more from abc news later on "go