making news in america this morning, crisis in iraq. president obama authorizing air strikes in the war-torn country. why the sudden change in policy and the operations already under way this morning. taking aim. a powerful storm bears down on hawaii with another one waiting in the wings. new video just in, plus the timing and track of the rare double storms. delivery disposal. letters, paychecks and notices tossed in a dumpster by a postal worker. the video evidence and the serious charges the worker could face. and security scare. s.w.a.t. teams, secret service and a lockdown at the white house. wait till you hear who caused all this. well, good friday morning to

you. we begin with the breaking news. the u.s. military is ready to use force in iraq if necessary. >> president obama has now authorized air strikes against sunni militants known as isis, that's the same group that's cornered thousands of refugees on a remote mountain in the northern part of the country. the president announcing just hours ago that the u.s. has come to their aid. this morning the u.s. military is back in action in iraq. >> today america is coming to help. >> reporter: president obama authorizing a military airdrop to help thousands of iraqi civilians stranded on this mountaintop surrounded by islamic militants. at least 10,000 people, all religious minorities, trapped in blistering heat without food or water. nearly 20 children have already died. >> the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. we can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide. >> reporter: under cover of darkness, three air force cargo jets escorted by f-18s dropped pallets like these loaded with

thousands of gallons of water and meals ready to eat. >> with the isis threat out there, our crews will be in some danger by doing these air drops. >> reporter: those isis terrorists taking control of iraq have surface-to-air missiles and a slew of other firepower. they're threatening to take control of the largest electric dam in the country and are now closing in on that critical northern city of erbil. the kurdish capital has key american outposts with hundreds of military consultants and a consulate. >> i've directed our military to take targeted strikes against isil terrorist convoys should they move toward the city. >> reporter: the strikes have not yet begun, but u.s. commanders have a green light. >> if we go into air strikes, we're really opening another chapter on a book that the white house had hoped that they had closed. >> reporter: the last u.s. troops pulled out of iraq in december 2011. president obama says he does not plan to send combat troops back in, and while there is no major new deployment expected, there are 700 american service members on the ground in iraq right now.

they're there to protect u.s. facilities and to help iraqi forces. >> a lot of people forget that isis was actually married with al qaeda. the two got divorced in february 2014 because al qaeda said they were just killing way too many people, overstepping their grounds in syria and just president obama using the word "genocide" as part of the grounds for going in. >> all right. well, stay with abc news for the very latest on the crisis in iraq. we'll have live team coverage coming up on "good morning america." also breaking overnight, hawaii getting lashed right now by the first of two major storms. >> take a look at the radar showing iselle beginning to move over the islands right now and then there's julio getting stronger out in the pacific behind it. >> and we're just getting in new pictures. you can actually see trees down and wet roadways on the big island. abc's clayton sandell is there right now where the wind and rain are building. he just filed this report from hilo. >> reporter: we are really feeling the power of iselle now here in hilo, hawaii. we've had heavy rains on and off all night, heavy surf out in the

ocean, but what's really picking up now are the winds. just a few hours ago, we were at about 20 miles an hour winds. now we're seeing gusts well over 30 miles an hour, and they are only going to get worse as the night goes on. those winds are bringing down trees onto power lines, so power has now been knocked out to thousands of people on this island, and now shelters are opening. hundreds of people are in shelters both for tourists and residents. nobody is going anywhere. right now airline flights between the islands are shut down, even a lot of flights from here to the mainland. the good news is most people are staying off the streets. the streets here in hilo are very empty heeding the governor's warning here to hunker down until the storm passes. reena, devin. >> our thanks to clayton sandell there. hundreds of people spending the night in shelters as he mentioned. others, though, are riding out the storm at home. we spoke earlier to former abc news photographer ginny vicario. she's now retired in hawaii

about the biggest fears for her house. >> the biggest fear are trees falling on our house. we have these very, very tall albezios, which is an invasive species, and they're very brittle, and they're about 70 feet high, and they tower on the sides, and so we're a little worried about them. we can hear them breaking and cracking and trees falling all over the place, so we're hunkered down. we're in the dark, and it's starting to get really noisy out there. you know, it's a little scary. >> scary is right, especially since this storm is going to be followed by hurricane julio. >> our coverage continues now with accuweather meteoroligist mark mancuso, who is tracking the storms. mark, take it away. >> okay, as we take a look at our satellite picture from the pacific here, you can see the hawaiian islands. here comes a cell, and right behind it is julio. julio is an environment favoring development. it has certainly strengthened here, but as the cell approaches the hawaiian islands, it is encountering some wind shear.

the waters are marginally warm, so what we're looking at is a weakening system. that's very important here. this system is weakening as it approaches the hawaiian islands, but nonetheless the weather will be intense for the next six hours on the big island as we're closest to the center of circulation, center of circulation just off to the southeast. but notice the wind field here. tropical storm-force winds in orange. hurricane-force winds in red. very small area. hurricane hunters are investigating and having a hard time finding hurricane-force winds. nonetheless, as this interacts with the mountains, we are going to see some hurricane-force winds and areas of trees being knocked down, power being knocked out and some intense rainfall. so it's certainly going to be quite windy here in the big island, but the winds, 40 to 75 miles an hour. flash flooding, power outages, that's what we expect here and, of course, the pounding surf. as the system interacts with these huge volcanic slopes here, it's going to get torn apart. the wind shear will weaken it, so this will be much weaker as it limps it way off to the west. minimal impacts as you head

farther to the north especially up towards oahu, so the main impact on the big island for the next six hours, bursts of rain, flash flooding and certainly some intense winds with power outages and julio should pass to the north. that's the latest. >> all right. accuweather's mark mancuso tracking the storms live for us this morning. thank you, mark. also breaking this morning, the peace and quiet between israel and hamas has come to an end. the israeli military says at least 18 rockets were fired from gaza this morning shortly after a three-day cease-fire expired. and israel has responded with fighter jets and gunships. delegates from both sides were holding talks in cairo hoping to reach a more lasting agreement but israel and hamas are still so far apart. well, by the end of the day today, closing arguments should be over in the oscar pistorius murder trial, and the judge will have the case. in a statement yesterday, the lead prosecutor accused pistorius of lying on the stand when he claimed he shot and killed his girlfriend by mistake. there's no time limit for the judge to reach her verdict. democrats are scrambling to

come up with a candidate for the u.s. senate in montana now that john walsh has dropped his re-election bid. walsh is facing an investigation from the army war college that he plagiarized large parts of a research paper. he sent a statement to supporters that he was leaving the race but said he will keep the seat until his term ends in january. well, time now for the weather from across the nation. it'll be dry in the east and the west coast today. mostly wet in between. there will be some heavy rain in the midwest, particularly the ohio valley but not much of a chance of severe weather otherwise, and much of the south will see rain at some point today. well, talk about how a toddler got one big time-out and caused quite the lockdown at the white house. >> that's right. plus, an abc news exclusive. hear from the american students now trapped in a country that's the epicenter of the ebola outbreak. and missing your mail? a postal worker is caught on camera behaving badly on the job.

some northern oregon residents are being allowed to return to their homes, but unfavorable weather conditions prompted evacuations and new warnings last night. it's scorched thousands of acres and shrub. six american college students stranded in africa by the ebola outbreak are waiting to come home. their study abroad program was only supposed to last a couple weeks, but flights from the region have been suspended. this ebola outbreak has killed nearly a thousand people in four countries. more than 1700 reported cases but the tuskegee students tell abc news they are safe and healthy.

>> we have not been in any contact with anyone that has contracted ebola. we are in a safe environment where everyone is completely clean and safe. >> and we are also taking preventative measures such as carrying around hand sanitizer and washing our hands frequently. >> they're now scheduled to leave liberia on the 17th. meanwhile, late last night, the state department ordered families of its embassy staff in liberia to leave for their own safety. well, the 62-year-old stowaway who was arrested monday night after sneaking onto a flight from san jose to los angeles has been arrested again. marilyn jean hartman was taken into custody yesterday at l.a.x. where she was in violation of her probation. police say hartman wandered through several terminals on what they called a scouting mission. and the white house was briefly on lockdown after a security breach on the north lawn last night. the culprit, a toddler who squeezed through the fence and sent agents racing across the grass. in a rare moment of levity, the secret service released this

statement, "we're going to wait until he learns to talk to question him, but in lieu of that, he got a time-out and was sent on his way with his parents." >> i wonder what his parents did. what do you do when you break white house grounds? >> i don't know. get a little spanking? all right. what would the first lady do? >> oh. well, when we come back, out of control barreling into a bus and building. how a bug is being blamed for this wild crash. plus, read the fine print. a restaurant under fire for tacking on a surprising new fee. t and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive and they're them. -yes. -but they're here. -yes. -are you... -there? -yes. -no. -are you them? i'm me. but the lowest rate is from them. -yes. -so them's best rate is... here. so where are them? -aren't them here? -i already asked you that. -when? -feels like a while ago. want to take it from the top? rates for us and them.

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nation's midsection. and if you're flying today, airport delays are possible in memphis and atlanta. well, a suburban detroit man who was on trial for the murder of an unarmed woman who was pounding on his front door is waking up a convicted murderer this morning. >> a jury yesterday found theodore wafer guilty of murdering renisha mcbride, who had been in a car crash and was intoxicated. following the announcement of the verdict, her family was feeling vindicated. >> and justice was served today. >> yes, it was. >> justice was served today. >> wafer will be sentenced at the end of the month. he faces life in prison, but analysts say that's unlikely. the search for a little girl in washington state has ended in tragedy. police believe they found the body of 6-year-old jenise wright near the mobile home park where she lived. they're waiting for an autopsy to find out how she died, but they say it is a criminal investigation. jenise was last seen when she went to bed saturday night. well, a bizarre accident may hamper law enforcement in central arkansas.

a car failed to make a turn, flew over a retaining wall and crashed into sheriff's helicopters parked in a field. you see it there. at least two of the choppers were damaged. the driver was taken to the hospital. officials don't know why he plowed through the intersection at such a high speed. well, newly released video this morning of a wild crash in jacksonville, florida. surveillance cameras were rolling on a city bus. look at it there. it was sideswiped by a coca-cola truck. another angle shows the truck slamming into a seafood store. the trucker was cited for careless driving but claims he lost control after a wasp flew into the cab. five people were hurt. the building was so badly damaged, it had to be torn down. the postal service would never have known why mail wasn't being delivered in one cincinnati neighborhood if it was not for this video. the letter carrier appears to be throwing the letters, bills and checks into a dumpster. residents complained, and the postal service retrieved the mail. a spokesman calls the behavior "clearly unacceptable." the carrier has been suspended. she could face federal

misdemeanor charges for deserting mail and delaying mail delivery. well, now to some sports and we start with a scary incident last night in pittsburgh. take a look. miami marlins pitcher dan jennings was hit in the head by a line drive clearly leaving him stunned. >> jennings left the game, was diagnosed with a concussion. he also underwent a scan, which came back negative. look at that again, scary moment there in pittsburgh. yikes. well, tiger woods goes in today's section round of the pga championship nine strokes off the lead. >> and for last night's other action, we toss it over to espn. >> this is the "sportscenter" set in los angeles. that is stan. i am neil. hillsborough beat eugene in minor league baseball on thursday. stan has major league baseball. the dodgers beat the angels. so an opportunity for the athletics to extend their lead to three games in the a.l. west if they can beat the twins. steven vogt trying to help with that. that's off johan pino bottom of the third.

his sixth home run of the year. a's up 2-0. jon lester did the rest, went the distance, a three-hitter for lester. fourth career shutout. 11th career complete game. a's up three in the west. t they win this one, 3-0. a super bowl rematch because the two teams playing the game were in the last super bowl. stakes not quite as high when seattle visited denver. peyton manning, number 18, avoided a safety. that is not right. wes welker, demaryius thomas. demaryius thomas, manning 10 of 13, 178 yards. russell wilson, a lot of folks say it looks like stan's son. >> younger brother. >> much younger son. runs first down. broncos win, 21-16. >> really? son? that's how it is. >> hey, man. >> he may be doing this alone next time. >> not well. >> back to you. >> thanks, guys. well, anyone who's followed basketball and the career of this guy who grew up being

called ron artest knows he's quite a character and a name changer. >> for the last few years, he's been metta world peace, but now that he's going to play in china, he's changing it again to the panda's friend. >> yes, that's his name, the panda's friend. he says the first thing he's going to do when he gets to china is visit the pandas with his daughter. all right. there we go. pandas make really good basketball players, i hear. >> do they? >> they're so lovable. well, coming up in "the pulse," the 5-year-old mayor who recently lost re-election reflects on his time in office. and extreme kayaking, the wild ride at over 50 miles an hour. ow who you are... you've become deaf to the sound of your own sniffling. your purse is starting to look more like a tissue box... you can clear a table without lifting a finger... well muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin. because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it.

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university of phoenix can help open the door to your future. go to phoenix.edu to get started today. ♪ time to check "the pulse" starting with a suburban minneapolis eatery getting an earful after adding a charge on its checks.

>> the owner says the extra 35-cent minimum wage fee is necessary because minnesota's minimum wage went up 75 cents this month. he says that will cost him an extra $10,000 a year. and a small restaurant chain in the area is now deducting a fee from service paychecks if customers pay tips using their credit cards. >> ouch. kind of unfair. in my hometown. staying in minnesota though, a two-term mayor in a northern part of the state ready to move on after getting unseated by an opponent more than three times his age. >> now, the 5-year-old bobby tufts' political career is over. he traded that in for a polo shirt. after two election victories for the ceremonial office in dorset, mayor bobby lost to a 16-year-old and says he won't miss being in the spotlight. >> i have to look at the cameras so much. i can't be googly eyes and fun and nonsense. >> love the spiky hair. mayor bobby's biggest

achievement was probably -- get this -- declaring ice cream top of the food pyramid. >> you can do anything when you're mayor. >> i know. if i had the power, who wouldn't? >> he does sport a polo shirt quite well. >> that's right. >> maybe he'll get on a talk show. >> dapper. >> maybe a talk show or reality tv. run for office again, buddy. finally, though, a wild video that makes daredevil downhill riding in events like the tour de france look absolutely skinny. comes to us from vancouver. and it is our "play of the day." >> so check out these two kayakers both with cameras on their helmets as they plunge down a drainage ditch along the way. they're speeding at about 45 miles an hour. >> wow, the paddles there hardly necessary because there's really not that much water. before splashing out into a lake, they nearly run into each other a number of times. look at that. incredible ride down a mudslide. >> i would love to try that. >> well, it's kind of fun in a ditch. well, for some of you your local news is next.

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live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. good friday morning. at 4:28. first up, a look at traffic. there is already a problem spot. leyla gulen? >> we are looking at the golden gate bridge. you can see the traffic is looking clear. that is not so bad. we do have construction as we make it through the bay area especially if you are travel along 80 and making your way eastbound and westbound between powell and buchanan. we will track all traffic problems. we will turn it over to meteorologist mike nicco with the forecast. >> good morning, everyone. we are looking at temperatures today close to average but we have a lot of cloud cover.

by 11 o'clock we are sunny at 80 to 91. the coast and san francisco is more sun than yesterday at 62 to 68. an the bay we are 68 to 80. we will have total sunshine by 11 o'clock. iselle is now a tropical storm with winds down to 60 miles per hour. it is making land. the land is keeping the winds down with gusts at 37 miles per hour in hilo. the southeast shore is what is getting hit on the big island. winds are 25 to 35 miles per hour. as mike said iselle has yet to make landfall but it is now battering hawaii with rain and wind and waves.

residents are just now seeing the problems. >> we have been watching this all morning and we have live pictures to show you. this is from a night vision camera. the photographer can show you exactly how recarous the -- precarious this situation is. tropical storm is knocking trees and branches. crews can get to the site to restore -- cannot. the winds are so strong the rain is coming down horizontally. they could be destructive winds. >> roof damage and older homes will have structural issues. flying debris is a problem. >> t