good morning, america. breaking now, the giant wall of severe weather. tornadoes and dangerous hail pummel the midwest and o just i, plus, where it's heading now. early evidence unfolding in the ft. hood shooting. what may have sparked the rampage. and new details released this morning about the victim. caught on camera, a skydiver jumps from a plane and what's seen flying by him is almost hard to believe. late night bombshell. a big announcement from david letterman about the future of his show. good friday morning. we begin with strong storms barreling across the country with widespread damage being reported this morning. >> take a look at the radar here. the system stretches from louisiana almost to the great lakes.

millions in its path as it spawns tornadoes, as well as hail. >> there were a number of twisters reported across several states including this one in texas and the hail in some cases the size of baseballs. >> abc's tahman bradley has the very latest. >> reporter: overnight violent storms rolled through parts of the midwest and south. these ominous clouds hovered dangerously close to this minor league baseball game. [ sirens ] an ef-1 tornado touched down yesterday morning in st. louis damaging about 100 homes. the governor of missouri declared a state of emergency. [ sirens ] in texas, a tornado warning sent these college students racing for cover. ferocious hailstorms lasted for hours shattering windshields. >> i was telling people i don't even know what to do with the glass. like i've never been in this situation. >> we've had actually three windshields that were busted, and the rest of it is just all hail damage. i mean, the hail was awful. >> reporter: this is not something you see every day, a

river of hail flowing downhill. heavy rain flooded some areas including parts of indiana. out west, a different kind of precipitation, spring snow, up to 20 inches in parts of colorado. today the threat is far from over. damaging winds and a few tornadoes are possible in parts of the midwest as this new wave of severe weather bears down on millions. tahman bradley, abc news, washington. >> all right, our thanks to tahman there. so where is this storm system now, and who is it going to affect today? >> accuweather's jim dickey joining us now for a look at today. jim. >> good morning, john and diana. the storm system that brought so much severe weather to the nation's midsection on thursday tracking toward the eastern seaboard headed on through the day on friday. as the cold front sweeps into the ohio valley down to east tennessee looking for strong to severe thunderstorms. the main threat will be for strong gusty winds, and soaking rainfall then spreads towards new york, towards pennsylvania. across the mid-atlantic, we still deal with snowfall in the

upper midwest. snow winds down in the amp, not before we pick up 6 to 12 inches, minneapolis, duluth and into ontario. john and diana, back to you. >> jim, thank you. we turn now to our other top story, the deadly shooting at ft. hood in texas. >> we're learning new details this morning about the gunman, 34-year-old ivan lopez who shot and killed three fellow soldiers and wounded 16 others before killing himself. abc's marci gonzalez is live in ft. hood with the very latest. good morning, marci. >> reporter: good morning, diana. good morning, john. well, some of those 16 people who were wounded got to go home yesterday. at least three others are still in the hospital, but doctors say their conditions are improving, and we are now hearing from some of the heartbroken loved ones of those three soldiers who were killed. >> i said, son, call me and let me know if you're okay or not. well, never got no call from him. i thought, oh, god, please don't let it be. >> reporter: this morning stories surfacing of the soldiers who lost their lives shot to death by a fellow

soldier here at ft. hood. >> very terrible that they had to shoot my son. he was a good person. >> reporter: reflecting on the victims including sergeant timothy owens and honoring the heroism of sergeant keisha fountain whose family now by her side at the hospital says she was shot in the stomach when she tried to talk to the gunman and of others who risked their lives to save others. >> there's at least one chaplain that i'm aware of that shielded and saved other soldiers, broke some windows, got them to safety. >> reporter: still today, so many asking why. army officials saying the accused gunman, ivan lopez, was being treated for mental health issues and may have been in an argument leading up to the shooting. a family spokesperson saying he had been angry that he was only given two days' leave to attend his mother's funeral in november, and still there is the question, how, following the

2009 massacre here at ft. hood, could this happen again? >> you'd think that they'd have more security and be able to be more ready for something like that to happen, and i just don't understand. >> reporter: and defense secretary chuck hagel admits there are clearly gaps in the system and vows to put reforms in place to keep this from happening again. john and diana. >> all right, marci gonzalez live for us at ft. hood. thank you. >> and as we learn more about the shooter and the victims, stay with abc news. another live report from ft. hood is coming up on "good morning america." a new development overnight in the hunt for flight 370. the underwater search is finally under way for the black boxes. two navy ships have converged in the indian ocean including australia's "ocean shield." that vessel is dragging a pinger locator from the u.s. navy hoping to detect the black boxes before the missing malaysia airlines flight's batteries run out, and it's going to happen in

just a few days. aftershocks continue to rattle chile following that powerful 8.2 earthquake. some people had to spend a third night away from their home using tents and sleeping bags. others are suffering through long lines at gas stations, and the government is still trying to assess the damage there. no one injured in the aftershocks, but the initial quake did kill six people. serial killer tommy lynn seles has been executed in texas despite his complaints that the drug used to kill him could deliver an unconstitutionally painful death. the u.s. supreme court rejected that argument and sells was given his lethal injection. seconds later witnesses say he closed his eyes and he started snoring. sells was convicted of fatally stabbing a 13-year-old girl, but he is also linked to more than a dozen other deaths. portions of a controversial secret report on cia torture tactics will be made public soon. the report slams the cia for its interrogation procedures after the 9/11 attacks. it finds that methods like waterboarding were often excessively cruel and ineffective at uncovering any valuable intelligence, a charge

the agency denies. hillary clinton is coming down hard on washington gridlock saying it causes the u.s. to march backward instead of forward. sticking to the women in the world summit in new york last night, clinton also condemned russian president vladimir putin saying the u.s. has to say no to someone like that, and when asked if she's interested in any job she doesn't yet have, wink, wink, like maybe president of the u.s. or something, she answered, "not right now." >> wink, wink. >> wink, wink. all right. new concerns this morning over e cigaret cigarettes, poisoning from them is on the rise. the power of social media. a mom posted a picture of her young daughter and someone noticed something that saved her eyesight. plus, talk about brave. a man risks his own life to save a woman who fell on the subway tracks. how his hoodie helped stop the train.

welcome back. the ceo of firefox, maker of mozilla, has stepped down under pressure for his opposition to same-sex marriage. brendan eich's resignation comes just days after he took the top job. his employees publicly criticized him for donating money to support proposition 8, the 2008 ban on gay marriage in california. and we get another big sign about the health of the job market. the nation's official unemployment rate is expected to tick down a tenth of a percent or a tenth of a point with today's march jobs report to 6.6%. that rate would match the five-year low hit in january. and banana republic is facing a deceptive advertising lawsuit by a california man upset that a 40% off sign outside the store did not apply to the items he wanted to buy. he's suing for $10 million and

is hoping to build the lawsuit into a class action case. tesla hoping to replace side view mirrors on its cars with side view cameras. now the high-tech automaker is seeking necessary approval to make the design change with the government's traffic safety agencies. tesla claims replacing the mirrors with cameras will improve the car's aerodynamic performance and fuel efficiency. "captain america" set to dominate at the box office this weekend "captain america: the winter soldier" could be the biggest movie debut so far this year. >> it comes from marvel studios, which is owned by our parent company disney. estimates are "the winter soldier" could capture about $90 million. that would be called a blockbuster. >> oh, yeah. all right. when we come back, a near disaster at the drugstore. a shopper in the wrong place at the wrong time. and leaving late night, david letterman announces his retirement, so who is his likely replacement?

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in a sure sign that weather -- warmer weather is on the way, rather, the cherry blossoms in the nation's capital are just now starting to bloom. >> those trees, by the way, were a gift from the mayor of tokyo to washington, d.c. back in 1912. each year some 1.5 million people turn out to admire their beauty. >> but you got to hurry. those blooms peak for only about two weeks. >> so beautiful. let's take a look at your morning road conditions. commutes for pretty much everyone east of the mississippi will be wet and slick thanks to a massive storm system. snow will make things slippery around the great lakes. it will be wet driving up and down the entire west coast. and if you're flying, expect airport delays in new orleans, atlanta, new york, d.c., philly, boston, chicago and charlotte. and now to a life-changing story. a little girl's rare eye disease has been diagnosed from a photo that was posted on facebook. >> the picture showed a green glow around 3-year-old rylee taylor's left eye. now, several facebook friends recognized the symptom and urged rylee's mother to have her

checked out by a specialist. >> she didn't sit close to the tv. she's actually in gymnastics. she can walk on the balance beam. she's -- there's no indication that there was any visual problems with her left eye. >> as it turns out rylee has coats' disease, a condition that can cause vision loss and in some cases complete blindness unless it's caught early. doctors at the baptist eye clinic in memphis say regular treatments will maintain rylee's vision. well, a new warning about those electronic cigarettes that are supposed to help smokers kick the habit. health officials say e-cigarettes are posing a growing danger to children possibly attracted by the sweet flavors. they have led to a big spike in calls to poison centers. one call a month in 2010 to nearly now 200 a month so far this year. and now to a heroic move by a chicago man risking his life to save a complete stranger. a woman fell onto the tracks just as a train was pulling into the station. well, eddie palacios jumped down after her. that's him in the orange --

bright orange hoodie waving his arms for the train to stop. well, the driver saw him just in time and hit the brakes. palacios says he's no hero, though. he just did what he thought was best. and a florida woman who apparently lost control of her car plowed into a drugstore just barely missing customers. the car kept going until it finally stopped near the middle of the store, and even then witnesses say the wheels continued spinning. amazingly, though, nobody inside was injured, and the driver suffered only a few bumps and bruises. >> wow. all right. listen to this, a fourth grade teacher in south carolina says she never considered keeping a large stash of money she found. sherry whitesides and her son, they were driving around on monday and they saw something fall off a truck in front of them. it was a bag that held more than $11,000 in $100 bills. they snapped a few selfies with the money, of course, and then they turned it in to police. the 66-year-old man whose money it was also left his driver's license in the bag so he was easy to track down. >> i sure hope they got something for being so honest. >> i hope so.

yeah. march madness final four is tomorrow night, but college hoops lovers got something to tide them over for last night. check out michigan's state adreian payne throwing down a two-handed 360-degree slam in the college dunk contest. >> looks like a nerf hoop when i was a kid in my bedroom, only that's a real rim. >> they make it look too easy. >> anyway, the winner was marcus lewis of eastern kentucky who flew over a guy before executing a windmill dunk. that was good enough to bring home the championship belt. oh, yeah! congrats to him. >> congrats to all of them. >> awesome. well, there were some professional athletes in action last night, as well. >> yeah. for some of them accomplished, here are our guys at espn. >> hi there. neil has anxiety so i'm going to handle most of the talking here. this is the middle of the night sports report. for those who wanted to watch two highlights, go, neil. >> spurs, thunder, spurs' 19-game win streak, they're 0-3 against the thunder this season. russell westbrook, no. serge ibaka, yes. gregg popovich, no.

reggie jackson to kevin durant, you know what i sometimes -- >> no. kevin. >> durant had 12 points in the third. in the first half -- the former -- save our sonics! that was jerry hanley-esque right there. thunder win, 106-94. how about some baseball? yankees and the astros. astros going for a sweep. top of five, runner at second. two outs, derek jeter, uh-huh. jeter's pretty good for a guy his age, he's quitting too. uh-oh. you know what, i thought he learned -- he just -- time-out. yankees take a 3-1 lead. jeter, though, a lot of fans, what a good guy, and he's trying to get the ball to a little child. he made -- he has to make the move to get it to her. who does she think she is taking that ball away from an adult male? yankees in the same situation, david robertson was doing it. jonathan villar hits the soft grounder, robinson throws to first ends the game. why am i shouting? i thought there was more tape. that's why.

woke you up. >> getaway day for me. >> wine-out, california. >> thanks, guys. all right, a teenager in dover, england, has learned a rather embarrassing lesson. >> that's right. when her iphone fell into a storm drain, 16-year-old ella berkenoff decided she would retrieve it herself. as you can see, it didn't work out so well because she got stuck in the hole. >> that's a flattering picture. three firefighters came to her rescue. her mother promises to never let her live this one down. she plans to revive the story at ella's wedding. i hope she has a show and tell so she can put up on the slide projector toto. >> do you think when the firefighters arrived, they said fire in the hole? >> i don't know. they might have been thinking it, though. coming up next, it's "the pulse." when you think controversy, "golf digest" probably doesn't come to mind. why a whole lot of people are talking about this cover, though. >> quite a cover. and many things can go wrong when you're jumping from a plane, but one skydiver never expected this. you've got to come back and see this. it's incredible. it's incredible. in march, over 100,000 people visited our open house event

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♪ it is time to check "the pulse" and start with david letterman who is retiring sometime next year. he made this announcement before a live studio audience, that is, while he was taping that show. it aired last night. >> it ends the longest run of a late night host in u.s. history. started in 1982 and since then or rather has been on cbs since 1993. his announcement included gratitude as well as humor. >> i just want to reiterate my thanks and for the support from the network, all of the people who have worked here, all of the people in the theater, all the people on the staff, everybody at home, thank you very much and what this means now is that paul and i can be married. [ laughter ] ♪ >> letterman kept going while taping the show that airs tonight.

he reportedly joked that a year from now he'll be on a beech with a metal detector and that this weekend his son is taking him to see senior centers. possible successor? craig ferguson whose show follows letterman. his contract reportedly contains a clause that gives him a right to replace letterman. we'll see. >> there's conan o'brien whose current contract also expires next near. >> same thing for jon stewart of "the daily show." in the past he said he's not interested in a network show. >> and chelsea handler said she's leaving her show next year. >> don't forget john and diana, we're interested as well. >> all right, coming up next. the great one's daughter causing some controversy. >> we're talking about wayne gretzky's daughter in a provocative pose. looks great if you ask me. >> paulina is a not a professional golfer. she happens to be engaged to one, dustin johnson. lpga golfers who have never been on the cover say "golf digest"

is just trying to sell magazines. but she still looks good. all right, finally this, sky dive something fraught with danger but no one has ever recorded this kind of danger before. >> a guy skydiving in norway wearing a cam are on his head. he captures a meteorite zooming past. >> experts would watched this video say that it was a meteorite. it's called its dark flight. part of a larger stone that exploded far in space. haven't found it on the ground yet. >> jump out of a plane and see a meteorite. >> you're a bit of a conspiracy theorist. you're not sure. >> one of those we got punked, i wouldn't be surprised but our producers assure me that is the real thing. >> we want to find it first then we'll be believers. >> that guy needs to play the powerball because this is crazy coincidence. >> oh, yeah. >> for some of you your local news is next.

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can your makeup remover do that? in any foods. r really gave much thought to the acidity never thought about the coffee i was drinking having acids. it never dawned on me that it could hurt your teeth. my dentist has told me your enamel is wearing away, and that sounded really scary to me, and i was like well can you fix it, can you paint it back on, and he explained that it was not something that grows back, it's kind of a one-time shot and you have to care for it. he told me to use pronamel. it's going to help protect the enamel in your teeth. it allows me to continue to drink my coffee and to eat healthier, and it was a real easy switch to make.

live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> good morning. happy friday. i am katie marzullo here for kristen sze. >> happy friday! >> thank you. >> there is rain. i am eric thomas. this is mike nicco. >> there is rain. light-to-moderate. you can see from richmond down 80 to oakland from san francisco to pacifica and israeli -- and colma to hayward we have the best radar moving to the northeast. we will deal with light rain in the morning. when this pushes through, and it is raining lightly if san francisco, we will have scattered showers with temperatures below average and upper 50's at the coast and low-to-mid 60's if the rest of

us. >> we have construction planned yesterday so it looks like they have stuck to it in the east bay as you make the commute to the caldecott tunnel with plenty of rain falling. we have areas with construction. travel between eastbound highway 24 to fish ranch road you will find it. 580, tracy to dublin is 24 minutes and antioch to concord west is 15 minutes. we have a couple of accidents and a car fire. 4:29. breaking news from oakland fire damages offices belonging to children's hospital and arson could be for blame. we are on the scene with the latest. nick? >> the fire started in this area

but the situation is under control. they are trying to clean up and put a tarp over the roof to stop more rain from coming inside the building. look at some of the video we shot when the fire started. it is a single alarm fire and crews got to the seen and they understand the call came if after 2:30 a.m. with no injuries reported and it is in the residential area a block from children's hospital. the building houses administration offices for children's hospital. the fire is considered "suspicious" because it started outside of the building. you can see the damage site still smells like smoke but i want you to see how close i am to the building next to me. crews did not want the fire to