making news in america this morning, poison plot. john boehner's bartender planning on an assassination on the house speaker with a spiked drink. live with the details. homemade and hard to detect. the new terror warning for american airports after al qaeda releases details about invisible bombs. teenage hero. a young man being hailed a hero for saving the police officer who just arrested him. and caught on camera. hippo on the hunt. chasing a group of boaters in a video going viral this morning. good wednesday morning. we begin with that poison plot targeting house speaker john

boehner. >> investigators say a former bartender who often served drinks to boehner is accused of making plans to mix the congressman a deadly cocktail. >> abc's bazi kanani is live in washington with the details on his alleged assassination plot. bazi, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, reena. good morning, t.j. the suspect in this case has a history of mental illness. the fbi says the threat was very serious. they believe if given the opportunity, he intended to act on his dark fantasies. investigators believe michael hoyt is deeply troubled and dangerous. the 44-year-old bartender worked for more than five years at a country club near house speaker john boehner's hometown in ohio. hoyt's intent to hurt him revealed only after he was fired from his job in october. according to court documents police responded to a 911 call from his home where hoyt admitted he had been thinking about poisoning the republican leader saying "he did not have enough time to put something in john boehner's drink."

he also said he thought about shooting boehner with the assault rifle that police later removed from his home. the day before his arrest hoyt sent a threatening e-mail to boehner's wife again saying they could have poisoned boehner's wine. investigators say hoyt was treated for a psychotic episode two years ago when arrested last fall hoyt told them he was jesus christ and voices from his car radio told him boehner was the devil. boehner told the fbi he remembered hoyt but didn't recall any confrontations with him. his spokesman released this statement "speaker boehner is aware of this situation and sincere lie thanks the fbi, the capitol police and local authorities in ohio for their efforts." michael hoyt is now in federal custody undergoing psychiatric evaluation and facing up to 30 years in prison. t.j. reena. >> bazi kanani live in washington bazi thanks so much. america is on heightened

alert triggered by a new terror warning. the tsa beefing up security stepping up random searches of passengers and carry-on luggage coming after al qaeda posted a chilling step-by-step instruction guide for what it calls a hidden bomb. the instructions even include where to sit on the plane to inflict maximum damage. >> it is detailed. it is instructional. it appears people are reading it and it is something we need to push back on very hard. >> u.s. security officials say even more concerning is the fact that this device with no metal parts would be invisible to standard airport metal detectors. overseas a message of defiance against terror has hit newsstands across fans and already sold out. exactly one week to the day after much of its editorial staff was brutally executed the first new issues of the satire magazine "charlie hebdo" have already sold out. with some readers waiting up to six hours in line for a copy. working out of borrowed offices, the magazine's surviving staff

published an unprecedented run of 3 million copy more than 50 times its usual circulation. the printer is now adding another 2 million copies to its run. meantime, we are hearing new details about the man who drew the cover of the magazine's newest issue. renaud losir missed the brutal execution by minutes because he was running late for work that day. he drew an image of muhammad under the banner "charlie hebdo" saying je suis charlie, meaning i am charlie. now to the search for answers to that deadly smoke incident on the washington, d.c. metro. passengers were trapped for nearly an hour. more than 80 were sent to the hospital and one woman died. federal investigators want to know if that evacuation as delayed and whether passengers were given the right information. fresh signs that new jersey governor governor chris christie is inching closer to a run for the white house. he could set up a political action committee as early as this month. that would help with the

fund-raising but on tuesday he sounded very much like a presidential candidate during his state of the state address. >> we are a nation beset by anxiety and it's understandable. america's leadership in the world is called into question because of a pattern of indecision and inconsistency. >> christie however, not expected to make a formal announcement until the end of spring. another possible contender, former florida governor jeb bush has established a political leadership pac. christie and bush may face a challenge from mitt romney for the nomination. he is sending some strong signals that he'll try for a third time to take the white house. we may learn more when he speaks friday at a meeting of the republican national committee. and some signs from hillary clinton, as well infusing her team with new blood as she inches closer to jumping into the presidential race. we've learned overnight that two more former obama campaign advisers are joining the clinton team they'll join current obama

aide john podesta who joins next month. pope francis is celebrating a mass in sri lanka to canonize the country's first saint. tens of thousands turned out to see the pope includeing many who spent the night in order to get a good spot. he arrived well before the mass and got out to kiss the sick and disabled and travels to the philippines next. here at home residents in eastern connecticut are wondering when the next earthquake is going to be felt. in the town of plainfield they're pointing out cracks on streets and inside hopes after six small quakes in the last two days. the largest of them registered 3.3 on monday morning. experts say such a series of quakes is not unusual because of geological pressure. turn to some weather now. areas of snow in the southwest are ending this morning. it'll most likely be clear from l.a. to seattle. rain showers along the texas and louisiana gulf coast with icy mix over the carolinas, finally moving out of there. mild temperatures along the west coast, 30s and 40s across

the midwest and the northeast hovering around the freezing mark but it'll be only in the teens around the great lakes and upper midwest. stormy conditions as well. 93 million miles from earth. take a look. nasa releasing an incredible photo of a solar flare 50 times the size of earth. it did cause disruption of high frequency radio signals for about a half hour but luckily not expected to cause further disruptions but heck of a pic. coming up, warning from the irs. prepare to wait longer for that tax refund. great. also dramatic crash, a car stops on the tracks with an oncoming train battling through. why this could have been much worse than it was. plus new this morning a big development overnight for two men in the middle of a daring and monumental climb.

it's not what you want to hear slower tax refunds. that's one result of deep budget cuts at the irs. a memo from the agency's commissioner obtained by abc news says those cuts will result in 46,000 fewer audits this year so those cuts have gone so deep fewer than half of taxpayers who try calling the irs will actually reach a human being for help. those refund checks will be delayed by at least a week or longer. facebook's users can expect to see something new on their news feed. starting today they will be sending amber alerts to users in areas where a child has been reported missing. the partnership between facebook and the national center for missing & exploited children is metropolitan to help the alerts reach more people faster and more efficiently. apple has patented a new

design for a remote controlled digital video camera that can be attached to a helmet or elsewhere that could be bad news sort of for gopro. its shares plummeted more than 12% after word of apple's patent spread. analysts caution that apple's patents lots of design only a fraction of which used in products. cadillac showing muscle at the big auto show. they rolled out this beauty. the 2016 ctsv, 640 horsepower. top speed 240 miles an hour most powerful gm product ever. don't have the price on this just yet but it'll cost you a lot. let's just go with that. the current one is around 71 grand so maybe somewhere around there and word they'll start selling it by december. and what will start being sold this month? will be gluten-free pizza at pizza hut. they're making it with dough supplied by a gluten-free bakery and critics point out it'll be virtually impossible for the

pizzas to be truly gluten-free given the cross contamination from the kitchen that makes regular pizzas. caught on camera handcuffed hero. a teenager being booked for a crime ends up saving an officer's life. step on up. step on it actually a group of boaters getting a close encounter with a huge hippo. whoa. ...we're going to need you on the runway. (vo) don't let a severe cold hold you back. sir? (vo) theraflu starts to get to work in your body in just 5 minutes. (vo) theraflu breaks you free from your worst cold and flu symptoms. (vo) theraflu. serious power. ♪

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shrink away! light and fit greek. with irresistible flavors like strawberry cheesecake never have 80 calories tasted so satisfying! light and fit greek. taste the power of satisfaction. ♪ dannon ♪ an arctic what is is providing chicagoans with the most scenic of wintry sights. this is the shoreline of lake michigan frozen. coast guard officials say it is dangerous to venture on to the ice so early in the winter. now for a look at morning road condition, driving slippery from lingering snow showers in the southwest and roads wet along the texas and louisiana gulf coast. icy conditions will linger through parts of the carolinas. watch out for black ice, even when temperatures are above freezing. we want to turn to this amazing rescue of a cruise ship

passenger in the caribbean. >> the 22-year-old man who fell off a royal caribbean ship could be seen as just a speck in the ocean. someone on a disney ship traveling the same route spotted him in those choppy waters off the coast of cozumel, mexico. the rescue caught on camera by this man on deck. >> it was very surreal. i never imagined in my lifetime that i would ever see anything like that. you know you hear about it on the news sometimes. you read about it. but to actually be there and see it happening, it was just unreal. >> well we don't know much about the man who went overboard. the cruise line didn't release information but we know he's pretty lucky. a terrifying close call for an illinois woman. you see this here. she careened into the path of a commuter train. 78-year-old woman behind the wheel stopped and tried to reverse. she was unable to get off the tracks in time. the train struck the passenger side of the car and treated for

broken bone, ribs and other internal injuries. hope solo is free to focus on this summer's world cup now that assault charges against her have been dismissed. she was set to go on trial next week but a judge threw out the case raf her attorneys argued her half-sister and nephew, the alleged victims were uncooperative. the whole thing started with an altercation at a party last june. a 3-year-old boy is safe out in utah this morning of a frightening carjacking. police say a stranger stole a car with the child still inside. there's the little guy. the thief gimped the vehicle after a few blocks leaving the boy all alone. mom then realized they are cell phone was still in the car. police called that phone hoping the boy would pick up and he did. and when he did they told him to honk the horn and found him pretty quickly after that. >> oh my gosh. it felt so good knowing he was safe and what he did. he was so brave. >> the police department is

making the young man an honorary junior police officer. and another young man who was in trouble with the law is now being praised by the law. jamal rutledge and three police officers are being honored by the ft. lauderdale police department for saving the life of officer franklin folks. rutledge was being processed when officer folks collapsed. he yelled for help and three officers quickly responded. he had an apparent heart attack helping to save his life. now, some animals in the news starting with what we'll call a moving violation in washington state. the violator a couple days after christmas, that cow, which escaped its pen and went for a walk along an interstate brought traffic to a standstill as it weaved into the road. then back off there. officers giving chase eventually put the cow down for its own safety and that of drivers. all right. let's turn to this video now.

we have safety in mind when it comes to animals mere. look at this piece of video. this happened during a tour in africa. you saw an animal kind of there, duck under the water, maybe he didn't make it out there but you'll be able to make it out in this next shot. you see that. that's a hippo. >> whoa. >> who knew a hippo was that fast but before long he explodes out of the water there just a few feet from the back of the boat. the driver of course gunned the engine to try to get away and did it at the right time. >> don't mess with that hippo. whoa look at that guy. well all right. we've been following here loving this story, a rock climbing history expected to be made maybe by this evening in yosemite national park. it's the 18th day of climbing for kevin jorgeson and tommy caldwell. >> if everything goes as planned they will get to the top of el capitan's dawn wall by tonight and be the first people to ever free climb the 3,000-foot sheer rock face without using climb aids. an incredible accomplishment. never climbing experts never

thought this would happen. ohio state says it will honor its national championship football team with a big on-campus celebration a week from saturday. >> one guy who watched the buckeyes title win in person was back in action last night actually. highlights from our guys at espn. good morning. welcome to "sportscenter" here in los angeles. this is neil everett. i'm stan verrett. lebron james back in action. >> they went 1-7 without him. they're much better with him than out him. >> you don't say. >> in phoenix, stop looking at my lemonade. phoenix was up by as many as 19 in the third. six-point game when james hit that and j.r. smith hit that and we had a ball game. james had 33 in this game. there he is stop and pop and hitting a three. that tied it at 88. morris had a career high 35. nobody could guard him and the suns beat the cavs with james.

pacers hosting the timberwolves. minnesota had lost 15 in a row. one loss away from tying the longest streak in franchise history. mo williams said he was tired of losing and went out and did something about it. he did a whole lot about it. as you can see, williams was finding his shot. off balance but on target. he averages 11 points per game. he had 31 through three quarters in this game. under two minutes left in the game the timberwolves up three. williams put the finishing touches on a masterpiece. 52 most points in the nba this season and most in a single game in timberwolves history and career high for him. >> when he was with the blazers, he gave my little man his headband. always digging for that. >> okay. >> critical information there. >> inside. >> back to you. up next in "the pulse," what a lineup. three hollywood hunks in one movie? >> i can't wait.

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theater new year, a hunky hollywood trio. >> this is not the story i'm upset about. brad pitt, christian bale, ryan gosling are in various stages of talks to star in the same movie, an adaptation of the michael lewis best-seller "the big short." the book explores the housing and credit bubbles that led to the financial crisis. unclear when the movie would start filming, but pitt's company is set to produce. speaking of checks, we have an update this morning on a really big check. >> this is a big check. the ex-wife of oklahoma oil baron harold hamm, who was awarded one of the biggest award settlements in american history, says she's planning to appeal even though she has already cashed the award check that he sent her, which was about $975 million. >> that's okay. she cashed it. legal analysts say it will be difficult for sue ann arnall to appeal after already accepting the award, but she says she deserves more. she helped him build a fortune. >> that wasn't the story i was upset about either. next up, a rather unique traveler in seattle. her name is ellipse. yeah, 2-year-old lab mix. >> yeah she's popular, a

popular bus rider, that is, on seattle's "d" line making friends with other passengers even while licking the seat handle. sometimes eclipse gets on all by herself taking it five stops and gets off where she's supposed to at the dog park. >> gets the bus to the dog park and back. she keeps it simple. >> she makes everybody happy. how could you not love this face? >> eclipse even got friendly there on the bus with abc's own neal karlinsky. she needed a rest after so much running around. >> it's very impressive because it can be difficult figuring figuring out how to get place to place on the bus and the lines and the trains and all that. the dog's got it figured out. >> you're so sympathetic towards the dog. >> i am. you all have softened me up here at abc. >> i'm surprised. >> about the pet stories. >> a lot of change with you. >> oh. >> just a matter of weeks. >> more changes to come, reena. for some of you out there, your local news is next. >> for everyone else we'll be back with a group proving

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live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> good monday morning on january 14 on this wednesday. >> i am kristen sze. >> i am eric thomas. >> leyla gulen is with us and trust me, meteorologist mike nicco is here. >> i was watching the fog. 9 fog is in the central valley and it is starting to full through the central valley. it could make it to the heart of the san francisco bay. less than quarter-mile visibility in concord. it is not over to sfo as you can see. the forecast today, if the computer will cooperate...it is fought going to. temperatures in san francisco are upper 40's to low 50's

the day planner is ahead showing a lot of sunshine. temperatures of mostly in the low-to-mid 60. >> that computer doesn't want to get up. >> i know how it feels. >> hump day, after all. so far it is all right but we have a warehouse fire that could cause a traffic impact. in berkeley i-80 traveling toward the maze those are the headlights and tail lights pushing eastbound. at walnut creek you can see foggy. you have reduced visibility. yesterday it was clear. this morning use the low beams and give yourself plenty of space. >> that is chaining in five minutes. it is clear. you can see how quickly the fog is moving in. >> more on the fire you referred to the warehouse fire which is the breaking news from san jose were firefighters are battling a

massive fire near downtown a short time ago. they seem to be making progress? the fire is burning. can you see fires have up their ladder dousing the building to get the upper hand on the fire. things have calmed down from an hour ago when it broke out. this is three-alarm fire. it is burning at north san near downtown san jose starting an hour ago. they have side streets near the fire closed to traffic. you can see the flames and how big it was. we have not received reports of injuries. we know these are old warehouses. most of them are abandoned. we do not know if there was anyone inside or a business