from sandy hook elementary inviting 11 relatives of victims to ride on air force one back to washington. this morning they will permanently plead with lawmakers. advocates for gun owners, meanwhile, have accuse d the president of playing politics. >> to me, it's political agenda, it's more divisive to america and the wonderful newtown parents that have gone through such an incredible tragedy. >> reporter: today at the white house, vice president joe biden joins this public push for new gun controls as key senators on capitol hill make a last-ditch try for compromise on a bill. marci. >> abc's devin dwyer reporting from washington. devin, thank you. there are new developments in the tense standoff involving north korea. japan has moved missile intercepters now into place in anticipation of a nuclear test by the north. two of the patriot missiles have been set up at the defense ministry in central tokyo as well as two other defense bases just outside the city. japan has never shot down a

north korean missile and would do so only if it were a direct threat. also this morning, north korea warning tourists and foreigners in south korea to device evacuation plans. secretary of state john kerry is on his third trip to israel in the last two months and will urge them to a new peace process involving reviving parts of a plan embraced by arab leaders a defense secretary chuck hagel is also scheduled to visit the region within days. queen elizabeth has authorized a ceremonial funeral for former prime minister margaret thatcher next week. flags are at half-staff at buckingham palace, parliament and 10 downing street. she died at a london hotel following a stroke. americans can sign a condolence book today at the british embassy in washington. we'll have more about thatcher's influence on pop culture later in the broadcast. today marks the ten-year anniversary of the fall of baghdad. now, this is the image that is seared in our memories from that day, the statue of saddam hussein coming down. u.s.-led forces had arrived in

that city that day, and the dictator's soldiers had melted away, but iraq is still a very divided country, and there are no formal commemoration plans planned for today. a sheriff's deputy in denver is on the other side of the law this morning. charged in an inmate's escape. matthew andrews was arrested on suspicion that he helped a fugitive who left the county jail wearing a deputy's jacket. the escapee is felix trujillo, a dangerous felon with a long arrest record. he is still at large. this morning. investigators in northern new mexico are trying to figure out why a school bus crashed and rolled down an embankment killing the driver. the bus was carrying children to a remote elementary school when it suddenly veered off the road and rolled nearly 100 feet. >> you have numerous curves and turns in this multilane road. it was negotiating a small curve and at that point based on the

evidence that one has seen, it appeared the bus drove off the paved roadway. >> all nine children on board suffered some injuries. two were seriously hurt. the driver was thrown from the bus and died at the scene. fierce winds are fueling a dangerous wildfire that's burning out of control north of los angeles. now, the fire started in a mobile home in ventura county and raced through an orchard and engulfed at least one other home. about 200 people have been ordered to evacuate as the flames inch closer to a housing development and more crews being called to help. that same storm hammered the rest of the state-of-the-art with gusts topping 80 miles per per hour in some spots. they're strong enough to uproot trees and block debris covered roadways and knock down electricity for thousands of people. but all that wind did some good. it gave a boost to the main power grid's turbine output which produced a record amount of megawatts on sunday night. and a storm system is blowing across the middle of the

country with a dangerous mix of warm and cold air. >> that means blizzard conditions and wicked storms. jim dickey tracking it all. good morning, jim. >> good morning, john and marci. a mess on tap here across the nation's midsection. broad upper level low pressure system, a pocket of cold air moving eastward running into the warm humid air bottomed up in the plains. typical setup for severe weather outbreak is what we're expecting. today, tonight, the storms in the central and southern plains on into the tennessee valley into wednesday. damaging wind gusts and large hail and tornadoes all on the table here. this while we're dealing with snowfall moving out of the front range of the rockies into the northern plains spreading eastward here through the day. traffic going to come to a standstill in many cases. up to two feet of snow expected from this system, especially wyoming into nebraska. john and marci, back to you. >> thank you, jim. >> time now for the rest of the weather from across the nation. up to 25 degrees warmer than normal here in the northeast. summer-like in the south. showers around detroit and chicago. chilly rain in the twin cities, scattered showers around

seattle, windy in the southwest from southern california to vegas. >> 70s from sacramento to phoenix. 50s from seattle. to salt lake city. mostly 80s in the south and 70s in the northeast. >> the louisville cardinals are the ncaa champions. the top seeded team played to deserve the ranking overcoming the michigan wolverines with an 82-76 victory. >> guard kevin ware cheered them on from the sidelines. more highlights from espn coming up. and coming up, the nation's number one airline. we have the results from a new survey. and troubled retailer jcpenney going into its past as it looks towards its future. we're going to explain in your business news straight ahead. and the feathered friend that seems to be ruling the roost at a college in florida. we'll be right back.

fighting slumping sales. jcpenney is looking to its past for a new ceo. it comes after current ceo ron johnson was fired yesterday after just 17 months. before taking the job, he was known for creating apple's popular retail stores. myron ullman now takes over, he served as ceo from 2004 to 2012. >> overall performance for the u.s. airline industry is at its best ever. that is according to the airline quality rating report. it used on time arrivals, denied boardings, mishandled bags and customer complaints to compile the ratings but complaints are up 2% from last year. now, overall virgin america ranks as the year's best performing airline while united ranks last among the nation's 14 major carriers. lowering monthly payments on

an auto loan. some car lenders are doing it with a new 96-month option. that means you can stretch a loan out over eight years instead of the traditional five. lenders are doing it to boost new car sales. total interest paid, of course, will be far more than with a shorter loan. >> you need a new car by then so you'll be paying two car loans, the old one you don't have anymore and the new one. >> exactly. a new list is out of the world's most valuable companies. in fifth place, walmart followed warren buffet's berkshire hathaway and google with apple coming in second and exxonmobil takes the top spot valued at more than $410 billion. their combined value is more than $1.5 trillion. all right, golf lovers, all right here, the dream of attending this week's masters is getting so expensive. >> the lefty with the swing, there he goes. that's the righty with the swing. ticket badges are on the resale market. they are going for more than 7,000 bucks. the reason, tiger woods'

re-emergence combined with the tournament's close proximity to the final four. >> today's round tickets valued at $50 together going for nearly a thousand bucks. >> i love watching the masters. it is exhilarating. we were talking about it. >> if you say so, okay. when we come back, saying good-bye to annette funicello. tributes pouring in for a tv legend. >> and the cyclist who forgot a basic rule, watch where you're going. we'll be right back. the best yogurt they've ever tasted. and there are some people who haven't tasted it yet. delicious, nonfat, authentic greek strained yogurt.

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when your allergies start, doctors recommend taking one non-drowsy claritin every day during your allergy season for continuous relief. 18 days! 17 days! 22 days of continuous relief. live claritin clear. every day. parts of montana remain covered in white this morning after getting a dose of april snow. several inches of snow fell in great falls as visibility dropped significantly, and it was much worse in the mountains where they were slammed by nearly a foot of snow. >> i don't even want to look at

that video. i'm so over it. all right. let's take a look at morning road conditions. snow-covered roads in the rockies and northern plains. windiy thunderstorms over the heartland. also a wet ride around minneapolis, chicago and detroit. slick roads for the seattle area. high winds for drivers in the southwest. if you're flying, airport delays are possible in l.a., vegas, denver, dallas, kansas city, minneapolis and chicago. back to the news. we're learning details of a gun tragedy which has unfolded this weekend in tennessee. the wilson county sheriff says the wife of a deputy was accidentally shot and killed at her home during a saturday evening cookout. >> her 4-year-old nephew somehow managed to find a loaded gun and pulled the trigger. the sheriff says two adults had been looking at the weapon earlier. >> they were in a locked gun cabinet at the time, and he was actually -- he pulled another rifle out to show another family member that was present at the house.

the rifle, but he had to move the pistol out of the way to do it and set it on the bed. unbeknownst to him, this small child runs into the bedroom. the first thing he sees is the gun on the bed. >> the sheriff says even though his deputy was a trained law enforcement officer, it took only a second for the child to grab the gun and fire. >> that is tragic. all right, the scheduled demolition of a 175-foot-tall chickny stack in washington state didn't go exactly as planned. the munition crew set it up at 3:30 in the afternoon but, crickets, nothing happened. they eventually had to saw through the rebar and three hours later the 70-year-old smokestack came down. wah, wah. in waco, texas, a tanker overturned on frontage road. it wasn't long before the milk and diesel started to mix

and leak into the roadway and had to be shut down until the mess was cleaned up in waco. tributes are pouring in for annette funicello, a beloved member of the disney family who died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. she was one of the original mouseketeers soaring to popularity on 1950s television then moving to the big screen starring in a string of beach movies. annette funicello was 70 years old. well, with all the police tape on a florida campus, you might think it was a major crime scene, but this cordoned off parking lot at nova southeastern university's tampa campus is to keep people away from the hawks who have set up housekeeping nearby. people have been dive bombed by the birds who are protecting their eggs that should hatch in a few weeks. got to watch out for momma. don't want to mess with her. now some sports and we start with a fundamental mistake over the weekend by a pro bike rider in france. >> check this out. he wasn't watching where he was going, which led him to that small sign in the middle of the road straight over the handlebars down to the pavement he goes.

>> that hurts. not only was he probably really, really embarrassed, he was hurt badly enough that he could not finish the race. >> i'll say. watch this one more time. >> slow motion. oh, my goodness. yeah. >> yeah. >> that is painful. the national championship of women's college basketball will be decided tonight in new orleans. >> sure will. the men's tournament already in the books. highlights from last night's title game in sports. a good tuesday morning. i'm matt barrie with your "sportscenter" update. national championship night in college basketball, the fourth seed michigan looking to take out top seeded louisville. kevin ware providing the support. luke hancock providing the perfect pass to peyton siva. great highlights all night. under two minutes to go in the game, this was the highlight that changed everything. shane behanan in the effort is why louisville won their first national championship since 1986. final score, 82-76. they were cutting down the net in atlanta.

don't forget the women's national championship tonight between louisville and uconn. on espn. i'm matt barrie with your "sportscenter" update. and with their team's victory secure, louisville fans hit the street. >> a huge crowd gathered on what's called cardinal boulevard. someone even brought along small fireworks. maybe not the best idea in a big crowd. things started out mostly peacefully but, unfortunately, there were a handful of arrests and the crowd had to be dispersed with tear gas. we were talking about that earlier. clearly it didn't get too out of hand. >> a little bit of trouble. >> okay, you saw louisville's kevin ware on his crutches and cutting down the net last night in atlanta. he was the cardinals' inspiration since suffering that horrific compound fracture of his leg back on easter sunday. >> now, after the game he continued being the ultimate team player. >> it's not about me. no, i've never been that type of guy. these guys came out here and played a great michigan team, and these are my brothers, you

know. they got the job done and i'm so proud of them. i'm so proud of them. >> the guy knows what to say. man, he should be a politician. perfect sound bite. kevin ware, louisville, and their number one fan at abc news diane sawyer all celebrating the school's third ever men's college basketball title. and this is incredible. to say it's been quite a few days for louisville coach rick pitino is probably something of an understatement. with last night's win, pitino became the first coach to lead two schools to a national title. >> earlier yesterday, pitino was named to the basketball hall of fame. it gets better. this past saturday, a horse he owns guaranteed its place in the kentucky derby. it goes on. last week his son was named the new basketball coach at the university of minnesota. and we left out another one, he tied for the most wins ever by a college coach. something he will clearly break next season. >> he should buy a lottery ticket. >> he should buy a lottery ticket, man. >> winning streak right there. >> everything coming up roses. one more basketball note from london. check out the city's mayor yesterday.

>> all right. >> in the background, boris johnson puts his back to the basket for the ball over the head and goes in. it was all part of a promotion for the end of a european tournament that will take place in london next month. he walked off the court batting 1,000 there. nice metaphor. >> go for it. up next, "the pulse." russia's vladimir putin gets an eyeful from protesters. whoa, and his surprising reaction. >> uh-huh. that is the latest craze possibly taking place in your school. swimming without water. we'll tell you about it coming up. physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function

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germany with chancellor angela merkel, but three topless protesters rushed towards them. they were members of ray women's rights group, and one painted "dictator" on her belly. but when asked what he thought, putin said "i liked it," which you can see from those pictures of his face. >> vladimir putin. >> let's take a look at synchronized swimming like you've never seen it before. no swimsuit or water necessary. >> these canadian students came up with the bright idea to use their hallway as a swimming pool there they are performing their routine in perfect unison. looks as much fun doing it solo. [now arriving: city hospital] which is why we're proud to help connect our students with leading employers across the nation. [next stop financial center]

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>> live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> good tuesday morning. it is 4:28. thank you positive joining us. i am kristen sze. >> you found your way back? >> i did! >> nothing has changed between here and southern california. >> first up, check on the weather forecast.

mike? >> we have good news. live doppler 7 hd shows it is dry. there is no watch out there or warning or advisoryies. it is up to 23 in fairfield and san francisco is 15 miles per hour and san jose, though, down to six miles per hour. the dangerous winds from yesterday are gone. it will be breezy this afternoon. we will have temperatures hitting upper 60's to mid-70's in many neighborhoods. leyla gulen has traffic. >> it is a far quieter start to the only commute. we are looking at the walnut creek drive headed southbound along 680 coming down to 24 it is looking clear. it is not a problem. because of yesterday's wind we still have the closure between lincoln and skyline parkway so we are looking at the road closed because of the sand on the freeway. we have wind advisories for the

toll bridge, golden gate bridge is one and the richmond and san rafael and along the dumbarton you will see the high wind advisory signs. >> our top story this half hour, 200 students at deer valley high school in antioch will be tested for tuberculosis this week. a classmate has contracted the highly contagious disease. letters are going to parents to let them know the health services are on campus thursday to test any student who shared a classroom or club with the student. the dog was confirmed march 25 before spring break. it has a three-month intubation period so you may have been exposed in mid-john. officials will conduct follow-up testing in may to make sure no one else comes down with tuberculosis. >> a wildfire is burning in southern california. mandatory evacuation orders forced 200 people from their homes overnight have been lifted law enforcement is letting

people back home the last couple of hours. the fire burned 170 acres an hour north of los angeles. the fire destroyed one home and damaged another. flames broke out late yesterday afternoon when power lines came down in strong wind. >> beachgoers are urged to take precautions after high winds created strong waves on the coast. parts of the great highway are closed after gusts up to 75 miles per hour dumped sand on the road. 15 to 18' seas forced the most experienced to keep their boats tied up, the first time they have had to keep boats tied up in a dozen years. >> it is bad for business. >> we charge $125 for a fishing trip and 20 people wanted to go out to go fish but we cannot get there. it is too dangerous. >> the coast guard advise you

people to be ought for the rip currents. >> pg&e said a lot of the outages yesterday were because of fallen trees, like this one, dropping power lines on a car. fewer than a dozen homes do not have power yet. at one point, electricity was knocked out to 12,000 pg&e customers. a teen near modesto was pinned under the branch of a fallen tree on her hive campus in patterson yesterday. crews freed her and the 7-year-old suffered a broken vertebrae and cuts and becauses. >> search is underway for a 76-year-old with early signs of alzheimer's disease. he has been missing since sunday. he was last seen at a friend's house in east san jose. lopez when for a walk but never came back