making news in america this morning, winter's wrath. snow, ice and rain stretching 1500 miles. the storm affecting travel in the air and on the ground, even washed away a bridge. breaking overnight, hillary clinton breaking her silence about the e-mail controversy as new details emerge about the account she was using as secretary of state. diplomat slashed, bloodied and badly injured. the american ambassador in south korea attacked. what we've learned about the man taken into custody and what the ambassador said about his injuries overnight. and clever cat. a family on a safari learning an important lesson, lock your door.

and good thursday morning to you all. we begin with what some people hope is winter's last hurrah. >> are you sure it is? >> we're hoping. >> okay. a far-reaching system affecting nearly 20 states right now. the storm looking impressive on radar stretching from texas to new england this morning. more than 2,000 flights already canceled. and overnight a plane in dallas, that one you're seeing there, getting stuck on the tarmac for three hours after a few inches fell in the area. passengers were forced to sleep in the terminal. abc's bazi kanani has our coverage. >> reporter: winter's wrath looked like this in lindbern, west virginia, the swollen creek washing away a bridge, flooding from all the rain and melting snow. >> look how fast that is. holy cow. >> reporter: in pennsylvania, basements getting soaked. some homes completely inundated. emergency crews rescued carol lind and her dogs. >> he had to carry us on his back to the raft. >> reporter: and now that rain is turning into another blast of

snow. at least 24 states from texas up to massachusetts under winter weather alerts. poor visibility and icy roads making treacherous conditions for drivers from kentucky up to new york. 23 cars entangled in this pileup on i-84 near greenville wednesday. four cars trapped under this collapsed garage in spencerport, new york, where tim thomas is working seven days a week to clear roofs. >> i've been in business for about 40 years. i've never been this busy another winter. >> reporter: the winter that just won't stop leading to a rush at hardware stores for scrapers, shovels and ice melt. >> as much as i don't like the ice or snow any more than anybody else, it does help our business. >> reporter: many other businesses and schools closed. at least six states bracing for another snow emergency. bazi kanani, abc news, washington. well, the mid-atlantic states are likely to be hit hardest before it's all over. >> accuweather's justin povick has the details of what's to come and also when. good morning to you, justin.

>> t.j. and reena, thanks and good morning. a very slippery and disruptive morning rush here throughout the middle atlantic and the northeast. d.c., baltimore, philadelphia, you will see the heaviest stuff, the snow, where for a time it could be coming down at an inch or two inches per hour. what that means is visibility is down to around a quarter of a mile. bridges and overpasses most susceptible for those slippery conditions. northbound new york city the snow is not as heavy but still steady here. boston looking at an inch or two before it's all said and done. snow will mix with rain as far south as the upstate of south carolina and again the heaviest snow, 6 to 10 inches. some spots could see a foot of snow from near charleston, west virginia, d.c. and philly. t.j. and reena, back to you. >> justin, thank you so much. breaking overnight, hillary clinton responding to the growing controversy over her use of private instead of government e-mail while she was secretary of state. clinton tweeting, and i quote, "i want the public to see my e-mail.

i asked state to release them. they said they will review them for release as soon as possible." well, possible is the issue right now. the state department says it might take a while. we've also learned that the domain name for clinton's personal e-mail can be traced back to her home in chappaqua, new york. it was registered as early as 2010. apparently clinton used this account for everything from planning her daughter's wedding to state department business. she has not yet explained why she used it instead of a state department address. also overnight, doctors say u.s. ambassador to south korea mark lippert is in stable condition following an attack during a breakfast meeting in seoul. a man with a ten-inch knife ran up to lippert screaming anti-american statements. lippert was slashed in the face and hand and had 80 stitches to close the wounds. he later tweeted that he was in great spirits and would return as soon as possible. four victims of the boston marathon bombing have now testified about what they saw that day. their testimony followed opening statements in which the lawyer for accused bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev admitted he did it.

abc's brian ross is in boston. >> reporter: with new video made public for the first time, prosecutors brought back the horror of that festive spring race day in boston. the chaos and the carnage and the aftermath caught on tape by a wounded spectator. >> get her out of here. >> reporter: inside a nearby sports store, stunned and wounded spectators stumble in. the store manager uses running clothes to fix a tourniquet on the leg of a badly injured woman. others rip clothes off the rack to be used as tourniquets for the wounded still outside. and in a surprise opening statement, dzhokhar tsarnaev's lawyer judy clarke flatly stated it was him admitting he was responsible for the senseless, horrific, misguided acts, but she pointed to this video of tsarnaev and his older brother tamerlan about to plant their bombs to claim her client was only following the path created by his older brother later killed in a police shootout. setting the stage for a defense that could help the younger brother avoid the death penalty and perhaps the most damning video will be shown next week,

an extension of this still photo. tsarnaev, his hat on backwards, right after he dropped the bomb in his backpack on the ground just feet away from the richard families whose 8-year-old son martin died in the blast. brian ross, abc news, boston. many protests in ferguson, missouri, following that scathing report on the police department. at least two demonstrators were arrested overnight as they gathered outside police headquarters reacting to the announcement that the officer who fatally shot michael brown would not face federal charges but the justice department is calling for a sweeping overhaul of the city's police department and criminal justice system after finding systemic mistreatment of african-americans. ferguson's mayor said they are cooperating with federal officials revealing last night that a police official has been fired for sending racist e-mails and two others are under investigation. the mayor also said their actions were not representative of the employees of the city of ferguson. the supreme court appears sharply divided as it considers the latest challenge to president obama's signature

health care bill. at issue, is it legal to use federal subsidies to make health insurance more affordable. without them more than 7 million americans could lose coverage. the liberal justices seem to be siding with the administration. we'll have to wait until june to find out how the court ultimately rules. a superbug linked to a contaminated medical instrument has been found at a second major los angeles hospital. four patients were infected at cedars-sinai. 71 other patients have been warned they may have been exposed. the superbug cre, is highly resistant to antibiotics and can kill up to 50% of infected patients. a similar outbreak at ucla medical center made seven patients sick two weeks ago. two of those patients died. well, today's big storm is likely to create great sledding conditions in washington, d.c., but the best hill in town is off-limits. we're talking about capitol hill. d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton asked capitol hill police for a waiver lasting

through the weekend saying families should be able to enjoy america's front lawn. the police denied her request saying it's a security and safety issue. >> america's front lawn. i've never heard that before. >> you can't go sledding in america's front lawn. use your own. well, still ahead, the big changes coming to mcdonald's. also behaving badly. a fraternity under fire for what a neighbor allegedly caught some members doing, caught it on surveillance camera. plus, what caused this accident. a bus driver hitting nearly everything in his path.

our family was drifting apart... ...until we found a connection. you have the power to change your child's life. the boys town national hline can help. (tdd# 1-800-448-1433) well, mcdonald's is changing its chicken. within two years it's going to require its chicken suppliers to

stop using most antibiotics. but mcdonald's says it will still allow the use of some antibiotics that aren't used in humans. smaller chains like chipotle and panera already serve chicken raised without antibiotics. well, a big real estate deal in the works in the second city. chicago's willis tower could soon be sold. its owners have reportedly hired a real estate banking company to broker the potential sale. speculation is it could go for as much as $1.5 billion. 11 years ago it was sold for $840 million. that was when it changed from the sears tower to the willis tower so stand by to see what tower it's going to be next. and the inventor of those popular coffee pods, these so-called k-cups, well, he says he doesn't use them. why? because they're too expensive and they create too much trash. john sylvan is his name and says no matter what, the k-cups will never be recyclable. keurig green mountain, the biggest player in the coffee pod space, says it's work ging

to make all its k-cups completely recyclable in the next five years. ford has revealed a new price tag of its gt and, boy, is it a hefty one. the company says the new super click and powerful gt will go for about 400 grand. it's got more than 600 horsepower and plenty of high-tech stuff all in a super aerodynamic shape. ford says it only expects to sell about 250 of them a year. well, those of you out there who love those peeps, you're in for a real treat. the makers of that popular easter candy want to make sure you get your fill, so they've introduced three peeps-flavored milk drinks. they are marshmallow milk, mm-mm, reduced fat chocolate marshmallow milk, mm-mm, and easter eggnog. they are in stores now but for a limited time. >> mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm. i'd do the marshmallow one. >> i'd do the car you were talking about. >> okay. i'll drink the milk while you drive the car. when we come back, the smoke scare on a plane packed with people. one passenger filming the evacuation and a slide down the emergency chute. and nothing but net.

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...and have 50% less calories? exactly. now you drop... ...and give me the 50. trop50 calcium. new taste so good you won't believe it has 50% less calories. allen . here in new york this morning we are under a winter storm watch with some areas set to get from six to eight inches of snow. plows are ready in yonkers. southeastern ohio and west virginia hit the hardest with 8 to 10. the best way to describe this morning's road conditions extremely messy. be prepared for rain and flash flooding from texas to the carolinas and icy conditions in tennessee to maine. if you're planning to fly, there are going to be some airport delays in a lot of place, boston new york philadelphia washington, d.c. charlotte, atlanta, new orleans, memphis, houston and also wherever you are pretty much. whoo. we'll have a mess today. scary moments on the tarmac at denver's airport when

passengers are ordered off their aircraft seconds after landing. >> taking some of this video here an escape video into the snow and american airlines flight beginning in charlotte, the airline now trying to figure out what caused that smoke in the plane. turn now to some texas returning brothers. they were caught on camera behaving like frat boys. >> the students from southern methodist university are seen spitting and urinating on their neighbors' fence next door to their off-campus sigma chi fraternity house in dallas. the neighbor caught them writing obscenities and hurling raw meat into their yard. >> i brought it to that attention. they paid rent and can do whatever they want they say. turning to video that's just jarring to see. take a look here. you see this accident.

this gives a look at how dangerous drowsy driving can be. this is what happens when the bus driver near detroit falls asleep at the wheel. slams on the brakes. too late. look at the mess that he leaves behind. he plows into seven cars seriously injuring a husband and wife. a lone passenger on the bus, you see her there on the right was not hurt. the driver admitted to nodding off. he pleaded not guilty citing medical issues. also it is official. peyton manning coming back for another season. his 18th nfl season. the broncos quarterback was on the fence about another year after denver's playoff loss. manning has decided to play at least one more season and he's taking a pay cut. a $4 million pay cut. he's only going to make 15 million a year. how is he going to eat? would have been making 19 million but he wanted to take that in order to give the broncos some more money to get more players. >> if manning has a big year he could make that $4 million back in incentive bonuses. >> he'll be fine. away from football and time

for hoops highlights. >> good morning, welcome to our "sportscenter" set in los angeles. i'm stan verrett. nba action from wednesday. boy, lots to show you including the four-five matchup. what it would be in the playoffs between the blazers and clippers. clippers in the five spot by a half game. chris paul final seconds of regulation, tied at 87 apiece. deandre jordan thought that was the game clock. it was the shot clock. could have put that back in. chris paul said you could have put that back in. but he didn't. and so the game went to overtime. in overtime batum just took over. three ball there. that was the big shot that really did it for the blazers and win it 98-93 over the clippers. 76ers and thunder. russell westbrook came in with three straight triple-doubles and coming off a facial fracture caused his team to miss the last game but there goes that masked man. this game went to overtime, as well.

westbrook with the assist another triple-double for westbrook and this one included a career high 49 points. there he goes off to the races once again. russell westbrook 49 points 16 rebounds and 10 assists, four straight triple-doubles for him carrying the load for oklahoma city while kevin durant has been out. that's all we got from here. now back to you. >> okay thank you sir. one fan at last night's rockets/grizzlies match one probably won't remember much of the game. >> this at halfpipe. try to make the shot and win something. there he is making the half-court shot and banks it in. look at his happy dance. you know what that is i just won 25 grand happy dance in that half-court shot. yes, he has no idea what happened in that game. >> i'd be doing that same dance. >> that's -- ooh. that's a good dance. up next in "the pulse," conan takes on cuba.

he takes his show to the caribbean island. a terrifying moment caught on camera. a smart lion gets a little too smart and a little too close. hd 4. hd 4. wow, i've been claritin clear for 10 days! when your allergies start, doctors recommend taking one non-drowsy claritin every day during your allergy season for continuous relief. 18 days! 12 days! 24 days of continuous relief. live claritin clear. every day. dude totino's blasted rolls. sweet.

totino's blasted crust rolls... yeah. flavor at full blast lilly. she pretty much lives in her favorite princess dress. but once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. i use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. you are free to go. tide and downy together. hold it! come with me. new dannon oikos triple zero is my go to protein snack. cam, protein from yogurt? yup, this greek nonfat yogurt packs 15 grams of protein punch. but what else? unlike some other protein snacks, it has 0 added sugar 0 artificial sweeteners and 0 fat.

mmm... will it up my game? no man! new dannon oikos triple zero official yogurt of the nfl. mmm dannon. ♪ hey there, everybody, time for us to check "the pulse" beginning with conan o'brien's visit of cuba. >> and the first of two episodes filmed entirely on location in cuba. o'brien did his best to get the full cuban experience. saying his goal was simply to make new friends, and one of his first moves was to brush up on his spanish skills and use them to communicate with some local musicians. ♪ ♪ >> that's funny. >> clearly having a good time. yes.

the first phrase he tried to learn in spanish was, how do you say i am the most famous man in america. he also asked, how do you say please don't check on that, as well. a different sports story. in "the pulse" this morning, it comes to us from murray state university in kentucky. >> yeah, this guy, john lawler, is a pitcher. yes, obviously a pitcher, but that's a heck of a leg kick he has. >> ooh, whoa. >> he's 6'1" and that is his leg kick. he's a sophomore. he said he learned to pitch right there in the same town his school is in. >> john's had some tough luck in this young season going 1-4 so far. he and his incredible flexibility expected to be back on the mound tomorrow. good luck to him and the rest of them. >> maybe he should take up martial arts of some kind. >> gymnastics. >> there you go. >> yoga. competitive yoga. >> you're telling him to give up baseball already. >> catch a game this season. in phoenix, forget the peanuts and cracker jackson, the arizona diamondbacks continuing

the tradition of strange ballpark food. >> and there it is, folks. that's a churro dog inside a chocolate glazed doughnut topped with frozen yogurt chocolate and caramel sauce. >> the diamondbacks have a d-bat dog. it's an 18-inch corn dog with cheese, jalapenos and bacon. >> okay, maybe that -- i judged it too soon. that doesn't sound bad. tampa bay, the fans there can order a fan versus food burger, four-pound burger, you finish it and get free tickets to another game. >> and heartache for the heartburn. in milwaukee it's the pulled pork parfait. yes, that's pulled pork with mashed potatoes and has its own twitter account. >> of course, it does. >> my waistline is expanding just seeing that. a close call for a family taking in the sights at a safari park in south africa enjoying the lions from the safety of their car until this very moment. [ screaming ] >> yeah, the lion opened the door with her teeth. luckily the girl in the back

seat acted quickly. you hear the door slam shut. after that sigh of relief for everybody around and some nervous laughter. good story, though. why do i cook? because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. for every way you make chicken noodle soup, make it delicious with swanson®.

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live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. good morning. i am here for kristen sze i am matt keller. >> i am eric thomas. leyla gulen is here. nice to have you back. meteorologist mike nicco is here. aeveryone is feeling better and can join us. nice to see both of you and you, too matt. >> thanks for throwing me in. >> you are next to me today kristen is between us. now a look at the high definition camera showing how clear it is this morning with dry air. you will notice another chilly start, 30s and 40s. we will warm quickly mid-60s and the coast by noon. we will stay in the mid-60s this afternoon at coast and of rest of us make a run at 70.

the evening temperatures are mid-50 to nearly 60. we will see if records are in the future. >> no disagreement with that forecast. leyla? >> i missed you guys. i forgot how fun you are. now, the traffic. it is clear so far. that is a look at the bay bridge toll plaza and we do not have too much traffic from the east bay. moving to the south this is a look at san jose from the camera. traffic on 87 beyond the tank, it is light. no actions so far in the bay area. just construction. i will tell you where the construction areas are just ahead. happening today suns at california pacific medical center will make medical history. it is the first day of a series of kidney transplants that will involvzen patients. amy hollyfield is at the medical center. amy? >> they think the largest chain

of kidney transplants to happen at one hospital on the west coast in history. here is how the chain works. it starts with a woman who is donating to a man whose relative was willing to donate for him but was not come patible. that relative donates to someone she doesn't know. that patient has a relative who is willing to donate to someone else and on and on. this continues four more times. the staff at california medical center held a press conference to explain the complexity of it all including the reasoning for doing these back-to-back operations. >> one donor had a sore throat and if any of the 12 has a medical problem the whole thing falls apart and we have to regroup. >> this pairing is very complicated. they were able to achieve it in