making news this morning, honoring a legend. >> the passing of dick clark. he had an ear for the hits. and a flare for the dramatic. from "bandstand" to new year's, we say so long to a true entertainment titan. also this morning, new apologies from the u.s. military, all stemming from pictures of soldiers with dead insurgents in afghanistan. a naked protest at the airport. just what drove that guy to completely strip down with plenty of other passengers watching? and is that cute, little mouse right there, the cure for what concerns millions and millions of american men? here's a clue. check out his do.

good morning, everybody. tributes are pouring in this morning for entertainment legend dick clark. of course, it all started with "american bandstand," decades ago, where clark helped launch hundreds and hundreds of stars. >> but he also had a major impact on american culture, from how we listen to music to how we celebrate the new year. with more, here's abc's tahman bradley. >> reporter: from times square, to hollywood, americans are remembering the legendary dick clark. he was a cultural touchstone, and like a member of the family. >> live, from philadelphia, it's time for america's favorite dance party. >> reporter: starting in the 1950s and running into the late '80s, clark's "american bandstand" played records. and kids danced. >> this one's called "rock around the clock." bill haley. ♪ one, two, three >> we have great memories of dick clark. we grew up, every saturday, 1:00, watching dick clark. >> he was one of a kind. and he will forever be young in my heart. i loved him.

>> reporter: clark's influence was enormous. he introduced the world to new artists and bands, spanning several generations. >> and is she hot. this is madonna. >> reporter: he helped soothe parental shock about rock 'n' roll. and helped break racial barriers in music by inviting black artists on stage. >> "you send me." ♪ darling you send me >> the first visit, the jackson five. >> reporter: by the time "bandstand" went off the air, clark had become a media titan. his production companies producing countless movies and tv shows. >> happy 2000. >> reporter: every new year, he counted america down. >> i'm sad and i'm grateful for what he's given all of us and what he's given me. >> reporter: clark never liked good-byes. >> he used to end his shows with, for now, dick clark, so long. and then, he would salute. >> for now, dick clark, so long.

>> reporter: right back at you, dick clark. tahman bradley, abc news. >> well, there aren't too many people who do not feel a connection to dick clark. not only just because how present he was throughout so many decades. but he seemed like the most likable, genuine guy. seemed like one of us. and just had a remarkable career. and helped so many people become stars, as well. >> loved what he did. and that really translated. you can tell he loved what he did.to do it fd he was able to like you said, generations, which is an anomaly in these days. >> he did it. a life well lived, sir. >> there will be plenty more on the life and career of dick clark, coming up this morning on "good morning america." and now, our other major story on this thursday morning. three agents have now been forced out of the secret service because of that prostitution scandal. a supervisor was allowed to retire. one agent resigned. and another has now been given his 30-days' notice. eight more agents, though, are

still on administrative leave. and republican congressman peter king, says this is just the beginning of the investigation. >> i do think that what has gone on is very embarrassing. i think it's clear there are investigations going on, both at the pentagon and at the secret service. and i hope to get to the bottom of it quickly. >> if it's part of the culture, you've got to change that culture. heads don't roll under these circumstances, no behaviors change. >> now, an escort who partied with the agents said she was promised $800 for her services. but the next morning, she says he told her he would pay h hecks. after a loud dispute, the man agreed to pay roughly $200. the jabs are flying between president obama and likely republican nominee, mitt romney. the president told a crowd of students and blue-collar workers in ohio, he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. an apparent swipe at romney's privileged upbringing. and romney took a crack at the president yesterday, complaining he plays golf too much while the

country suffers. romney said, i scratched my head at the capacity of the president to take four hours off on such a regular basis to go golfing. meantime, ted nugent says he will meet with secret service agents today over some of his recent controversial comments. the aging rocker recently said if president obama was re-elected, nugent would be dead or in jail by this time next year, which some interpreted as a threat against the president. in other news this morning, secretary of defense leon panetta is apologizing for a new incident of troubling behavior by american troops serving in afghanistan. several gruesome photos have now been given to "the l.a. times." one showing a u.s. soldier posing with the hand of a dead insurgent right there on his shoulder. another shows soldiers holding up the severed legs of a suicide bomber. >> that behavior that was depicted in those photos, absolutely violates both our regulations and, more

importantly, our core values. this is not who we are. and it's certainly not who we represent. >> the pentagon says it has identified nearly all of the men in those photos. and they are now under criminal investigation. this morning, though, the taliban issued a statement. they are vowing revenge. a followup, now, to that tragic and bizarre incident outside a texas doctor's office. houston police now say that a woman has confessed to shooting a young mother and kidnapping her 3-day-old infant. they say verna mcclain, who was a registered nurse, had miscarried and wanted another baby. well, that newborn, little keegan golden, was found unharmed and has been given back to his father's care. and next, we turn to a staggering breach of trust by a public official. it all happened in dixon, illinois. that's the little town whegan g. ronald reagan grew up. >> well, rita crundwell, the town's long-time financial officer is accused of embezzling

$30 million, to support her farm, one of the nation's leading horse breeding operations. everyone in dixon wants to know how that could happen. >> the results, year after year, disclosed no instances of noncompliance or other matters required to be reported under government auditing standards. >> you just kind of expect that she's going to do everything really well. and that all of her actions are going to improve the city. >> now, the fbi has started confiscating some of crundwell's estate, allegedly paid for with taxpayer money. meantime, the town's swimming pool has been closed for years because of lack of funds. >> that's depressing. time, now, for our look at weather across the country on your thursday morning. we'll have some morning showers from new york to d.c. it will be a wet day in the southeast, with thunderstorms in the carolinas, georgia and much of florida. hail and gusty winds from oklahoma city to des moines. some rain from around green bay, southern minnesota, the dakotas and denver.

a half-foot of snow in the colorado rockies. some afternoon showers from seattle to northern california. >> it is 56 in seattle. 64 in salt lake city. and 80 in sacramento. near 50 in the twin cities. 60s oio detroit. 72 in the big apple. 83 down in miami. and coming up next after the break, your business news, including job cuts at american airlines. and hope for some help at the gas pump. falling prices could be here soon. >> welcome news on that front. and also, new fallout this morning from this infamous pepper spraying of occupy protesters on a college campus. @@q

welcome back, everybody. there is good news for drivers this morning. gasoline futures are falling, which means prices at the pump could be heading lower, as well. they are generally a few weeks behind the futures markets. the average retail price has been falling, actually, for the past two weeks. and now stands at $3.89. while filling up may be easier, it could be harder to get the car you want, all thanks to a shortage of parts and materials. a plant explosion in germany, actually, could limit how much plastic is available. and there may not be enough factories and auto workers to meet demand. overseas markets are mixed awaiting today's results of the spanish bond auction. tokyo's nikkei average was off 79 points today. hong kong's hang seng gaining 171. in london, the ftse opening lower. on wall street, the dow falling 83 points yesterd the nasdaq and the nasdaq index losing 11.

american airlines wants to get rid of about one-fifth of its nonunion workers. that's about 1,200 jobs, including passenger and cargo agents. the bankrupt airline plans to make the cuts in the next two to four months as it works to emerge from bankruptcy. and you've got until tonight to bid for a rare piece of baseball memorabilia. bidding for a 1909 honus wagner card is already over $1 million. it's considered the holy grail of baseball cards. why? because there were only 57 known, known, that is, honus wagner cards. >> impressive. when we come back this morning, new impact from the bp spill in the gulf. it is not appetizing. >> not at all. and the long-time leader of the lady vols, pat summitt. it is the end of an era. we're right back.

take a look at this video.

soldiers have been called in to help as parts of colombia get swamped by deadly floodwaters. at least 19 people have died in floods and mudslides since the rainy season got under way last month. overflowing rivers have inundated almost 12,000 homes. now, for a look at your morning road conditions. wet on i-95, from new york down to miami. and i-10, in florida. rain soaks i-35, from minneapolis to oklahoma city. i-70, from denver to kansas city. and i-90, from the dakotas to wisconsin. >> if you're flying today -- we can both go. let's do it simultaneously. it should be pretty smooth sailing. airport delays are only expected in kansas city. i shouldn't have had that chamomile tea about a half hour ago. more serious news this morning. two years after the bp oil spill, fishermen and scientists are reporting a pretty disturbing impact in the gulf of mexico. they've been spotting an alarming number of deformed fish. many of them with sores, even lesions. chemicals released during that disaster, also being blamed for collapsing fisheries and other

mutations, such as eyeless shrimp. even crabs without their claws. the police chief who oversaw the university of california davis police department during its notorious pepper spraying of occupy protesters is stepping down effective today. he has been under intense criticism ever since that incident took place last year. and, of course, there was this scene at the airport in portland, oregon. john brennan took off more than his shoes during the security check. tsa agents pulled him over after he went through the metal detector and pat-down. so, he decided to show them he really had nothing to hide. that's his way to have a little political protest about the invasion privacy he feels hende to undergo at the airport. >> the stories about the fish and the oozing sores and that, i think we've ruined everyone's appetite this morning. it's the end of an era in women's basketball. legendary tennessee coach pat summitt is stepping down.

the announcement comes months after she said she had been diagnosed with early on-set dementia. >> at that time, she spoke optimistically to abc's robin roberts about staying on the bench. >> i said i would probably coach for three more years. and then, go to the beach. or hang out here with the dogs or do whatever. what i want to do is get other people to understand, if you have dementia, you know, don't be afraid of it. >> more about summitt's plans in what's sure to be a pretty emotional news conference that will take place later today. >> she said head to the beach. she has earned that. president obama welcome college football's national champs, the alabama crimson tide to the white house today. for highlights of a game that had a football-like score, here's espn news. >> good morning. i'm don bell with your "sportscenter" update. the flyers looking to sweep the penguins out of the playoffs. and we go to philadelphia. early first period. flyers up 1-0.

ilya bryzgalov makes the save. but evgeni malkin there for the rebound and score. game tied at 1-1. later on, game tied at 2-2. flyers on a power play. jakub voracek, beating marc-andre fleury for the goal. flyers take a 3-2 lead. less than two minutes later, standing right there, making it happen, because it was deflected by sidney crosby. he finds the back of the net. penguins t3-3. just over a minute later. matt cooke shoots wide. jordan staal, right place, right time. penguins, taking a 4-3 lead, in the first period. second period, flyers, benching their goalie. going, now, with sergei bobrovsky. tyler kennedy, passing to staal. different goalie, same result. staal's second of the game. 6-3, penguins. late second period. penguins up 8-3. two-on-one, staal. grips it, rips it. his fifth goal of the playoffs. 9-3, penguins.

third period. same score. chris kunitz, shooting. malkin, rebounding. penguins win, 10-3. pittsburgh tying a franchise record with ten goals. the series is now 3-1, in favor of philadelphia. friday night, espn has an nba doubleheader. rajon rondo, the atlantic division-leading celtics host the hawks at 7:00 eastern. then, at 9:30, it's a battle of western division leaders as andrew bynum and the lakers visit tony parker and the spurs. >> all right. thanks, guys. well, we now know who bought that third and final winning ticket in last month's giant mega millions lottery. merle and pat butler are the mystery winners from the tiny town of red bud, illinois. the couple has kept the secret to themselves for about three weeks and kept the winning ticket in their safe deposit box at the bank. >> she kind of looked at me funny.

then, she started giggling. and she giggled for about four hours, i think. one of the people i know in the bank says, oh, i guess you come over to put your ticket away. i said, yeah. i won this thing. i got to get this thing put away. just laughed it off. and she doesn't know until right now that i really had that ticket in there. >> they say they worked full-time for the past three weeks just meeting with attorneys and financial advisers, figuring out what to do with their lump sum payment of $110 million. must be so rough. >> good problem to have. up next, everybody, "the pulse." is this little fella with that tuft of hair you see right there, what bald guys have been waiting for? >> bald is beautiful, though. and the couple that were on and off. now, ew. stick around.

okay. it is time to check "the pulse," stories you're going to be talking about today. the controversial relationship between a california high school student and her former teacher, it is back on again. >> 18-year-old jordan powers had broken up with 41-year-old james hooker when he was arrested on a sex charge involving a different student. well, powers was staying with family in ohio. but her mother says she left a few days ago and moved back in with hooker. >> you may remember, in february, hooker left wife, his kids, quit his job and

moved powers into his new apartment. she's apparently cut off ties with her family. >> a high ick factor on that. this is good news for lots of guys. japanese researchers are raising hopes for a cure for baldness. they've successfully grown hair and whiskers on bald mice. you see the black, wispy stuff on the neck. it started with stem cells from skin. >> those cells turned into hair follicles they implanted on bald mice. the japanese team said they want to do the same thing for humans in a few years. they also expect the method will restore color to hair that has turned gray. we had to show you this picture this morning. you might agree it sure looks like it was taken back in the days of dinosaurs. but check it out. a 22-foot crocodile. >> holy crocodile. it weighed in at 2,500 pounds. that's a ton and a quarter for those of you good at math. the big croc was captured in the african nation of mali. that's after a couple of villagers disappeared. if you know what we mean. >> disappeared. thank you for -- >> putting the pieces together

this morning for you. for some of you, now, your local news is coming up next. @b

. next, back to court, embattled sheriff battles to keep his job. plus, a glimpse of new hope turns out to be a hacker's cruel joke in the such for a missing morgan hill teen. >> the tech trick that has berkeley suspending 50 students. >> mike will look at your warm-up. >> frances will have your traffic, join us updating our top stories now. fans and friends, of course, are remembering the legendary dick

clark this morning. dubbed america's oldest teenager. clark died yesterday of a heart attack at the age of 82. three members of the secret service are being forced out of their jobs over that sex scandal. a top republican in congress says he welcomes the action. but the investigation's far from over. and the taliban is vowing revenge this morning, following the publication of pictures showing u.s. troops posing with dead enemy bodies in afghanistan. a pentagon investigation is now under way. checking out today's weather. thunderstorms from miami to raleigh. morning showers in the northeast. severe storms from oklahoma city to des moines. rain around green bay, the dakotas and denver. and snow in the colorado rockies. and finally from us this morning, it is that time of year. mother nature is putting on her annual show at yosemite national park. >> and thanks to warm weather that's melting snow, water is gushing through yosemite's famous falls. our fresno station has the breathtaking views. >> right now is a pretty magical

time. >> reporter: visitors to yosemite national park may get a bit wet from the mist coming down the waterfall. >> it's unbelievable. >> it's beautiful. it's picked up in the last couple of days. >> reporter: jason doolittle brought his students to experience the flowing waterfalls on sunday. and the views have just been getting better since. >> we noticed here on monday, the waterfall wasn't flowing as much as it was last year. but monday night and tuesday morning, the water flow was picking up. it's gotten louder and flowing a lot more water in the last day or two. >> reporter: and the falls won't be at their full peak for another month. >> typically, peak water flow season is around memorial day, the end of may. it's starting to pick up, especially with the warm weather we're having. >> reporter: here at the case, water is gushing down from the top. but park rangers say, sights like this aren't expected to last too long. >> this year, we're at about 50% of normal precipitation. so, the waterfall will probably

start to dry up in midsummer, end of june, early july. >> reporter: park officials are expecting bigger crowds this season. they've already seen a 25% jump in visitors in the first few months of 2012, compared to last year. and visitors coming to the park via highway 140 through the merced river canyon, may notice the colorful hillsides. >> you see the bright hillsides with the poppies covering them. it's really beautiful. >> the weather's been phenomenal. everybody should come up here and join us. it's been great. >> reporter: as the sunny days melt away the mountain snow, visitors will continue to experience a majestic view. reporting from yosemite, carlos soucedo, abc 30, action news. >> the views almost as majestic as in new york city. >> some of them, yeah. that's what's making news in america this morning, everybody. >> stay with us for more memories of the late, great, >> stay with us for more memories of the late, great, dick clark. closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc