good morning america. breaking right now american mom behind bars in mexico on drug charges is released overnight. acrossfor "world news nore live the very latest. i'm free. to a person of the fbi questioning a person in texas overnight. at least three threatening letters now including a new lethal letter sent to the president. the moment of crisis on the and good friday morning. we begin with that breaking news from mexico, the arizona woman accused of smuggling drugs is now on her way home. >> yanira maldonado was released

from jail after the case against her started falling apart. abc's gio benitez is in nogales, arizona, and joins us live on the phone. gio, what's the latest? >> reporter: hey, john, diana, talk about some late breaking news, right, this was just midnight local time when we find out that she is being released from jail, released from prison really because here in mexico when you're there and you're arrested, you're put into a prison. she was side by side with criminals like convicted murderers, and so she was released from jail, and this all came about after we saw this surveillance video yesterday, and the surveillance video showed both of them boarding this bus without any large packages. she just had a purse on her shoulder, carrying two bottles of water, and he had two blankets with him, and that really seems to set this all in motion. >> now, gio, the question on everyone's mind now that we see her walking out of that prison finally headed home with her

husband, gary, what's next? >> reporter: you know, that's the big question. we're told that she will -- that she will thank the country really for so much support in the morning here in arizona. we don't know if that's going to happen here where i am or in phoenix, but somewhere in arizona she plans to thank the people of this nation that so supported her. >> oh, i'm sure she's thanking everyone and so excited to just finally be home with her children. gio benitez at the border, we thank you for that. gio, of course, will have more on "good morning america." and the other major story we have been following overnight, a possible break in the case of those poisoned letters sent to president obama and new york mayor michael bloomberg. >> a texas man is being questioned after his wife reported some suspicious activity at their house. abc's devin dwyer is joining us from washington with more. good morning, devin. >> reporter: good morning, diana. good morning, john. abc news has obtained a copy of one of the letters, and in it the author promises a violent defense of his right to own guns. this morning, a possible promising lead on the person

behind the poison. federal agents have descended on this northeast texas neighborhood to question a man over signs he may have produced ricin. the man's wife called police after reportedly finding strange material in her refrigerator. >> it's definitely a little frightening. kind of hits home a little more when it could be someone who's djustown the street. >> reporter: authorities identified three similar ricin-laced letters sent to this shreveport, louisiana, post office, one to new york city mayor michael bloomberg, another to the director of his anti-gun lobby in washington and a third to president obama. >> he said, anyone who comes for my guns will be shot in the face. >> reporter: images of one letter obtained exclusively by abc news shows it was postmarked on may 20th, the typed message inside splattered with pinkish orange globs said to be ricin, but investigators say the substance had a low level of toxicity, apparently the work of an amateur. >> ricin is made from castor beans, and what happens is they don't follow the recipe correctly.

they don't really know what they're doing. >> reporter: there have been six confirmed ricin-laced letters sent to public figures so far this year. none has killed or seriously harmed recipients or the postal workers who delivered them, but the latest cases have rattled nerves. >> we're all on the line already. this is starting to get scary. >> reporter: investigators believe the latest ricin letters may be a copycat crime after last month's incident, which also targeted president obama. john and diana? >> all right, devin dwyer in washington for us this morning. thank you for that. developing overnight, an out-of-control wildfire in southern california burning dangerously close to high voltage power lines. wind gusts over 20 miles an hour quickly spread that fire to 1,000 acres in the angeles national forest. >> residents had been ordered out of their homes ahead of that fire, but improving conditions have now allowed them to return. temperatures today and tomorrow are expected to be in the 90s, which could present some new challenges. well, another round of violent weather is zeroing in on

the nation's midsection today. a string of tornadoes ripped through oklahoma and arkansas, one touching down in the tulsa area last night. it's too soon to determine the full extent of the damage, but at least nine people were injured yesterday alone, and accuweather meteorologist jim dickey tells us more of the same is on tap for today. >> good morning, john and diana. well, storms winding down through these early morning hours but certainly more ahead of us as our system just slowly crawling its way east. you see this broad swirl. it's a pocket of cool air that continues to crawl eastward here. it continues to spark off strong thunderstorms, so really the same spot that saw the storms on thursday under the gun here again today from chicago down in through st. louis into tulsa. the main concern, hail and damaging winds, but tornadoes on the table once again, and widespread flooding likely across the midwest here too. john and diana, back to you. >> okay, thanks, jim. and we turn our attention now to a different kind of storm, the atlantic hurricane season officially begins tomorrow. forecasters are predicting an active season with 13 to 20 named storms. well, new this morning, mitt romney is stepping out six months after losing to president obama. romney tells "the wall street

journal" he plans to rejoin the national dialogue next week. he will host a 3-day summit of 200 friends and supporters at a utah resort. romney also says he's planning to campaign for republican candidates in the 2014 midterm elections. the state department is investigating reports that an american woman has died in syria. syrian state tv reported that nicole lynn mansfield, a michigan native, was killed by government troops while fighting with opposition forces. family members say the fbi has confirmed that she was killed in the fighting, but the circumstances were not clear. they say mansfield was a convert to islam. well, the president of ohio state university is under fire for remarks he made about a prominent catholic university. gordon gee made the remarks at a meeting last december, and the ap obtained the audio recording. on the tape, gee is reportedly heard discussing why notre dame was never invited to join the big ten athletic conference. >> the fathers are holy on sunday, and they're holy hell on the rest of the week, and, you

know, you just can't trust those damn catholics on a thursday or friday. >> all right, osu called those statements inappropriate and says gee is undergoing a "redemption plan." gee has apologized to the president of notre dame, and the apology has been accepted. and now to a 13-year-old new yorker who happens to be the country's top speller. >> -- d-e-l, knaidel. >> you are the champion. [ cheers and applause ] >> arvind mahankali of queens clinched the scripps national spelling bee by spelling knaidel. it's a germanic yiddish word for dumpling and outlasted 11 finalists to get a huge trophy and a $30,000 cash prize. >> he happens to be also an aspiring physicist, his fourth trip to the competition. his last shot before he was too old to compete, and he joked that he is retiring on a good note. >> yeah, and he gets $30,000 to help pay for college and all that good stuff.

>> that's a pretty good note. >> i watched the last 15 minutes. it was riveting. i'm not kidding you. i was sweating it out with the kids. >> were you rooting for him from queens? >> rooting for all of them, honestly, i was. they just seemed like good kids, every one of them. >> still to come, it's no movie plot. an asteroid traveling closer to earth today. and it's not traveling alone. an experiment in eating fast food by the ceo of mcdonald's. what he says happened to his body by eating his company's food every day. >> for get the thighmaster and jazzer size. a popular workou

americans still have a long way to go to recover what they lost to the recession. a new report from the federal reserve finds a typical household has made back only 45% of what they once had. most of that rebound comes from

stocks. home values represent the biggest part of most people's wealth, and home prices remain about 30% below their peak. but there are positive signs coming from the housing market. contracts to buy existing homes rose last month to the highest level in three years and home prices are soaring. and things are looking up for boeing's dreamliner. the company just got an order for 30 of the high-tech long-range airliners. you'll remember the global fleet was grounded for months because of battery problems, but five airlines have now resumed flights with two more airlines resta restarting service tomorrow including japan airline's flights from boston to san diego. and the longest hotel strike in u.s. history is finally over this morning. after ten years of picketing, the union representing workers at the congress plaza hotel in chicago has decided it is time to move on. a hotel attorney says any workers that want to return have to do so under terms of their expired contract, which is now about half the city's standard pay raise. the ceo of mcdonald's claims that he has lost 20 pounds this

year even though he still eats at the golden arches every single day. don thompson admits that he has started working out, which may have to do something with his weight loss. when we tried to find out exactly what he orders from the menu each day, the company wouldn't tell us. >> two fries. no. i don't know. when we come back, a surprising benefit of taking calcium that has nothing to do with stronger bones. and the boston bombing suspect called his parents. what he told them about his role in the attacks. we'll be right back. ♪ ten hut! you up for the challenge suds-maker? i'm gonna need more than that to get through the rest of these dishes! i want more suds! dawn? you won't last. [ female announcer ] a drop of dawn has active suds that stay stronger longer, so you can clean 2x more greasy dishes. to get the job done. you're full of suds after all. now drop and give me twenty spaghetti bowls!

[ female announcer ] dawn does more. [ sponge ] so it's not a chore. next minute i'm in the back of an ambulance having a heart attack. i was in shape, fit. i did not see it coming. i take bayer aspirin. [ male announcer ] so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. see your doctor and get checked out. it starts with something little. tiny changes in the brain. it can happen to anyone. a request for information. a simple donation. things anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. your loved ones. it ensures care, support, a breakthrough.

and one day. and one day. sooner than you'd like. sooner than you'd think. you die from alzheimer's disease. we cure alzheimer's disease. do one little thing to help end alzheimer's disease. the next click, call or donation gets us closer to ending america's 6th leading cause of death. and that's big. take a look at that. an asteroid the size of the one that wiped out the dinosaurs will be whizzing by earth today. it will come closest to the planet around 5:00 p.m. eastern time. fear not, it's still 3.5 million miles away. one expert calls that a close shave considering it is a mile and a half wide and has its own moon. >> yeah, that's pretty intense.

>> yep. >> all right, back here on earth, we take a look at this morning's road conditions. a foggy commute across much of montana into the dakotas. thunderstorms are making for a slick ride from the plains into the midwest and ohio valley, also wet into south florida. >> now, if you're flying, airport delays possible in kansas city, chicago, detroit and miami. and updating the breaking news story from overnight, an american woman jailed in mexico on suspicion of smuggling drugs is on her way home. >> yeah, yanira maldonado arrested after guards said they found a stash of marijuana under her bus seat. she spoke overnight from outside the jail. >> i want to say thank you first to god because i'm free now, and he sent me good people my way, and i'm very grateful that i'm free. >> her release came after court officials reviewed security footage that showed she and her husband carried no packages on to that bus. well, the surviving suspect in the boston marathon bombing has now recovered enough to walk and has assured his parents he

and his slain brother are innocent. that is according to dzhokhar tsarnaev's mother who claims to have spoken to her son over the phone. she says he is getting better but is still trying to understand what happened. another military sexual assault scandal may be unfolding, this one at the naval academy. three football players are under investigation for sexual assault of a female midshipman. the academy isn't naming the players or even saying when the investigation began. just last week, president obama told academy graduates that sexual assault had no place in, quote, the greatest military on earth. the zumba instructor who used her studio as a front for a prostitution ring will be sentenced today in maine. as part of a plea deal, alexis wright is expected to get ten months in jail and be fined $58,000. a crash landing for a small plane flying from oregon to seattle. look at where it landed, right on the side of that house. the two men on board were headed to a conference when they ran into some bad weather. they couldn't make it to the

airport. they are okay. thankfully no one was inside the home. there could be a major development in the mystery surrounding amelia earhart's disappearance eight decades ago. experts claim sonar may have picked up an image of her wrecked plane off an underwater cliff in the pacific. the sonar image is the right shape, size and is in pretty much the right place where many researchers believe earhart's plane went down in 1937. and now to medical news. new research on the benefits of calcium for women. doctors say whether the calcium comes from your diet or supplements, it helps women live longer, but the authors of the study admit the link is not likely understood. they do know the findings apply only to women, though, and not to men. a big find for a little boy at a kansas city hotel. 10-year-old tyler shaffer was staying at the hilton when his dad -- with his dad when his dad came across some money neatly stacked in the drawer. it turned out to be 10,000 bucks in cash. the shaffers turned the entire stash over to police. missouri law says if no one claims it in the next seven months, it'll be theirs to keep. now on to sports.

tiger woods tees off in a tournament that he's won before, and king james continues to dominate the nba playoffs. here's the latest espn news. i'm matt barrie with your the heat looking to control home court advantage in the eastern conference finals. the series tied at 2 apiece. lebron james needing a big game at home, and he does it. ties the game at 40 with the jumper. he would enter halftime down 4. the third quarter was huge for the heat. they would take a 19-4 run and outscore the pacers, 30-13. lebron, the finish, 30 points for him. under 20 seconds left in the third. lebron, a big night, 30 points, 3 of 7 from three. heat, 70-56, the lead in the third quarter. fourth quarter just gets sloppy for the pacers. lebron, the turnover, dish to dwyane wade, 10 points for him and the heat now lead three games to two. 90-79 the final. golf, the memorial, tiger

woods has won the memorial five times in his career and after a birdie on 14, tiger on the par 5 15. oy, that's not how you chip it. he didn't like it. two putt for bogey and finished the day nder. everyone chasing this man, charl schwartzel, the putter working including this right-to-left for perfection on 10 for birdie. s schwartzel, the leader at 7 under after the first round. should be an interesting tournament. see if tiger can bounce back from his 1 under. i'm matt barrie with your "sportscenter" update. all right, lsu football coach les miles is a big man in louisiana, but next to a 24-story building he looks kind of small. he is one of those tiny figures rappelling down the size of a high-rise in downtown baton rouge. >> miles took the plunge for louisiana's over the edge for adoption campaign. he was given just one small piece of advice, don't land fast. >> good advice. >> don't look down either. >> better advice.

up next, "the pulse," she has nearly a million likes on facebook and still isn't happy. that new deal for grumpy cat that could finally put a smile on her face. plus, it's the workout you can do in pearls but only if you have great rhythm like this lady. >> not going to happen. >> coming up next in "the pulse."

♪ what's new pussycat whoa whoa whoa whoa ♪ ♪ what's new pussycat whoa whoa whoa whoa ♪ >> a lot new for this cat. time to check "the pulse" beginning with that wildly popular cat making the leap from the internet now to the big screen. surely you know this face. grumpy cat, a mixed breed feline named tartar sauce who lives in arizona.

i didn't know her real name. >> you'd be grumpy if that was your name too. all right, but when her owner posted her picture on the internet, it went viral. now a movie company plans to make a live action movie based on her character. grumpy will talk. can't wait to hear what she has to say. >> i'm not too optimistic about this one. >> she's stalking in there. fast food foodies enjoying their burger king without lifting a finger. >> oh, yeah, check it out, called the burger buddy. burger king's hands-free apparatus for the whopper. hands-free contraption allowing you to enjoy your meal while your hands are otherwise occupied while you're tattooing someone. >> can't just run out and get one. actually part of a promotion being handed out only to their most loyal bk customers. >> and only in puerto rico apparently. >> a collector's item for sure. >> of course. >> good to have one of those while we're doing the news. >> please send us some burger king, hello. >> all right, and then there's the newest exercise video. it is our "play of the day" on this friday. call it prancercise.

it was a ridiculous-looking aerobic idea created in 1989, the whole idea was to prance like a horse. >> uh-huh, and the florida woman who created the video has made her website so popular that it actually crashed, and who can resist watching that sexy salmon colored jacket and the pants that are i'm going to say are two sizes too small. >> well, it was two decades ago. i guess it was the style. she said there was no youtube back then, no internet, so nobody really was exposed to it but now people are sort of curious. i will not be prancercizing. i'll tell you that much. >> can i tell you, america, from the moment he saw that that woman prancercizing, he cannot stop talking about it. >> you've figured me out. >> he's been talking about prancercizing for the last 3 1/2 hours. >> do not use that reverse psychology on me, perez. it's not going to work. >> she just looks like she's having so much fun. >> all right, it does secretly look like fun. i admit it. how's that? >> for some of you, your local news is coming up next. . for everyone else, we'll be

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>> live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. the breaking news at 4:2528, involves the bart problem with the transbay tube that could cause a big headache. >> thank you, we have single tracking on bart. we expect heavy delays if this does continue. what happened, on the transbay tube something was obstructing the tracks and they are single tracking so the commute from the east bay to san francisco could be severely delayed. we do not have trains taking off yet but in the future you may want to consider hopping on -- into the car. this could be in affect until further notice.

you may want to telecommute. muni and caltrain are on time but the trance into you cannot get to san francisco in a decent amount of time. mike nicco has the forecast. mike? >> good morning to you, leyla gulen, it does not sound great. everyone is going to be hot under the collar because of the warm weather on the way. live doppler 7 hd shows dry. the air is getting more dry. we do not have a fire danger here. to the west in lake county, a fire danger is developing. hazy this morning. inland we go from 84 in petaluma to 93 in the east bay develop. it will be almost hot. around the bay from 72 around san francisco to 84 in san jose, 78 in oakland, the coast will be breezy but mild at mid-60's.

the morning news and kristen. >> a lot more on the bart situation but san francisco firefighters are on the scene of a fire at a popular restaurant that broke out and spread to an apartment building. amy hollyfield is at 14th and full some. >> restaurant chose -- chez is on fire. the damage is significant inside. the damage was burning for a while before someone called it in. the fire was a big one. firefighters got the call at 1:30. no one was inside the restaurant but they say the fire spread to the two buildings next door. one was a resident. >> we got a car for a fire at a restaurant from the