making news in america this morning -- texas soaker. another round of severe weather hitting the state right now. pounding rains, once again. where evacuations are still under way from previous floods. we're tracking it all. indicted. the former speaker of the house in the cross hairs of federal prosecutors. allegations of lying to the fbi, shady bank deals, and hush money. what dennis hastert is accused of hiding. we're live with the latest. happening now. a massive volcano erupting. an entire island forced to evacuate. the new video just in. and spellbinding to the very end. competitors so good there are two winners in the national spelling bee.

good friday morning to you all. we begin with this never-ending deluge in the plains. more pouring rain, rising rivers forcing thousands to abandon their homes and cars. >> the incredibly fierce system now blamed for at least two dozen deaths. still very active this morning. another two inches of rain dumped from dallas to oklahoma city. this is what it looked like near dallas overnight. a flurry of lightning bolts brightening up the dark skies. the same area is getting pounded with downpours. you can see the rain coming down in sheets. as that parking lot starts to fill up. >> the worst yet to come for low-lying towns downstream. many families living along the water aren't taking any chances, they packed up, got out of there, trying to get to higher ground. scientists say the swollen rivers and lakes may not return to normal levels until some time in july. >> we could expect to see more scenes like this one. firefighters in oklahoma here working around the clock, pulling off one dramatic water rescue after another.

for more on what's on tap today, we turn to accuweather meteorologist justin povick. justin, good morning. >> t.j. and reena, thanks, and good morning. as we head into the upcoming weekend, we're almost there. we're going to be talking about more showers and thunderstorms over oklahoma and texas. i know i sound like a broken record. this is the pattern we have been stuck in all month long. some good news though coming up later on this weekend. maybe not so much the case for the northeast. showers soaking areas from detroit to buffalo and cincinnati, as well as pittsburgh on saturday. could have gusty thunderstorms. sunday looks like the i-95 corridor's turn with some travel delays here, as well. it will be noticeably cooler later on this upcoming weekend. saturday night, storms continue to soak the south plains. we'll wipe out the wet weather on sunday. t.j. and reena, back to you. >> thank you so much, justin. now to the story that has washington buzzing. a former speaker of the house. charged with violating banking laws and lying to the fbi about it.

>> yeah we're talking about dennis hastert. yeah there he is. he was allegedly trying to hide huge cash withdrawals, money to keep somebody quiet about something in his past. bazi kanani joins us now from washington with details. and lot of somethings and a lot of questions to be answered here, bazi. >> reporter: good morning, t.j. good morning, reena. yeah, it is all very mysterious this morning. the indictment says investigators initially wanted to know if dennis hastert was being the victim of criminal extortion. it does not say who he allegedly paid or why. what was his alleged secret? questions swirling this morning around former house speaker dennis hastert after federal prosecutors accused him of paying nearly $2 million in hush money to an unnamed person to compensate and conceal for some sort of prior misconduct. >> it's very surprising. yeah. it's -- it's a shock. >> reporter: the news of the indictment spreading fast in the small town of yorkville, illinois, where he started out as a teacher and wrestling coach, later rising to hold the

third highest office in the land. >> i never envisioned this former teacher and wrestling coach from kendall county, illinois, would have the opportunity to lead the united states house of representatives. >> reporter: but it was during those early years in yorkville, according to the indictment, that he came to know the person he's accused of trying to pay off. hastert left office in 2007. three years later, investigators say, he he would multiple meetings request that person agreeing to pay $3.5 million. when first asked about the unusual cash withdrawals from his bank account, he allegedly told the fbi he didn't feel safe with the banking system. yeah, i kept the cash. that's what i'm doing. investigators said he went on to withdraw cash in smaller amounts, under $10,000 at a time to skirt reporting requirements making payments to the unnamed person until just last year.

hastert has not yet responded to our request for comment. he's resigned from a law firm in washington, d.c., where he was working as a lobbyist. if convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison. reena? t.j.? >> all right, bazi kanani, for us live in washington. thank you so much. well, a manhunt is in kansas after an oklahoma police officer was shot in the head during a car chase. it all started when the officer tried pulling over an suv and it took off during the chase. shots were fired from the suv. the officer was hit in the head. two of the people from the suv are in custody. a third got away on foot and is likely hiding out in a wooded area. a spectacular volcanic eruption happening this morning in japan. take a look at the moment it happened. this is on a small japanese island. clouds of black ash and rock climbing straight up into the sky. it rose more than 27,000 feet. the few people on the island they were ordered to evacuate. the same volcano erupted last august. and it was the first time it had erupted since 1980. new details about the anthrax scare. the u.s. military using fedex to

mail live spores. at least 26 people are taking antibiotics. after possible exposure to the anthrax. it was mistakenly sent to 18 labs in 9 states and to an army base in south korea. before being mailed it was bombarded with radiation to kill any live spores. but some of the spores survived. leading to the current scare. officials say the public is not in danger. the southern california beaches plagued by a mysterious oily goo could be cleaned up enough to reopen this weekend. crews have picked up truckloads of tar balls and sticky that have ban washing up on the beach. no new tar balls have been spotted from manhattan beach to redondo beach. the material is being analyzed to see if it came from last week's oil spill in santa barbara or from somewhere else. a spectacular view from the top of the world. the observation deck from one world trade center is now open to the public. take a look. new york city laid out in front of you from 102 stories above.

because of bad weather many spectators on opening day only got a glimpse of a wall of white clouds and fog. on a clear day, you can see up to 15 miles. incredible view. well, still ahead here, ink and infection. new concerns this morning about long-term health effects caused by tattoos. and watch your step. a man texting on his phone walking right into the path of a snake. plus, move that car. a picture proving why you should never park in front of a fire hydrant.

woman: she wants to be home with her friends. but at this moment she's fighting a brain tumor. announcer: please take a moment and join st. jude in finding cures and saving children. visit stjude.org.

@ all right, folks. do not park in front of a fire

hydrant. yes, you could get towed. yes, you could get a ticket. or you could get two busted windows. see this. the firefighters said it's too hard to go around this vehicle because lit restrict the flow. so we're going to go right through the vehicle. that's what they did. they were trying to put out a house fire. they were able to get the fire out nearby. pretty quickly. but that's what they had to do in order to make it happen. >> something tells me the fire department is not paying for the windows. >> i would hope now. you may soon be able to find out if your car has one of those potentially faulty air bags. five makers are telling the government which ones need recalled. all the data has not been entered yet. keep checking the safer car.gov website. an all-american muscle car is coming home. the 2016 chevrolet camaro will

be built in lansing, michigan. it hasn't been made in the u.s. in 20 years. it's been built in canada. the production means 500 more jobs. summit white, bright yellow and red hot. just when you thought it was safe to return to the move i have theaters "jaws yts is back. just for two days. in order to celebrate the 40th anniversary. just last year hollywood voters ranked it as number 24 among the favorite films. tickets go on sale today. >> you're going to need a bigger boat. >> a good movie. when we come back a quiet neighborhood rocked by an explosion. the device going off on top of a car. the police say this was no accident. plus holy matrimony. married couple with an amazing accomplishment on the golf course. ♪ your body was made for better things than the pain, stiffness and joint damage of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.

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xeljanz can reduce ra pain and help stop further joint damage even without methotrexate. ask your rheumatologist about xeljanz. the taste of light and fit greek non fat yogurt gives you the power to help make temptation 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 ♪ my cut hurt. mine hurt more. mine stopped hurting faster! neosporin plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. when you pick any 3 participating products get a free all better bag. available at walmart. all right. what do you see there, reena? a big pile of dirt, right? actually, it's extremely dirty ice. these are leftovers from boston's snowiest winter ever. you remember that winter, don't you? some 85 ton of trash has melted out of this big heap. plenty more to go. they don't expect it to completely melt away for a couple of weeks. there's no snow expected on this morning's commute. plan on another day of flooded roads from the northern texas area into oklahoma. some rain could slow you down in

parts of the upper midwest and east of the great lakes. if you're flying, delays possible in dallas, minneapolis, and chicago. a suburban north carolina neighborhood is still reeling this morning after an explosive device planted in an suv went off. >> police say a man had driven about a mile from his house when the device exploded. amazingly, he was not injured. police evacuated nearly a dozen homes. they described the blast as coming from an ied, usually linked to war zones. >> it was a loud boom. kind of shook the house a little bit. saw some smoke. i don't know what the smoke came from. a big cloud of smoke came out of the vehicle. >> police still investigating. they're classifying the driver as an victim. they say the explosion was an isolated event. and police in dallas have arrested a man they say posed as a doctor at a children's medical center then stole an ambulance and crashed into another vehicle. a nurse spotted a man wearing a lab coat entering a patient's room. when she asked for i.d., he took off.

police records show the man has a long history of masquerading as a doctor and a firefighter. well, a new warning about potential health risks from tattoos. researchers now say certain ipgs can cause major long-term skin problems itching, scalping and permanently raised areas. the longer lasting effects occur most often in the places where there is black and red ink. we've been talking a lot about the flooding in oklahoma and texas. we have kind of a lighter note here from what's been an awful situation. it happened to this guy, tim malone. he was checking his phone. people do this. he was looking down, not paying attention. what does he do? he stepped on a snake. he realized it at the last moment. you see him react. >> adrenaline took over. i realized it was a snake. i started kicking. get it off. >> a natural reaction. he did get some small marks, though.

the snake did bite him. he wasn't seriously hurt. it wasn't venomous. it's believed the animal wound up on the sidewalk to get away from the rising floodwaters. the pros on the golf tour are or on a course in texas. the chances of them doing what this couple did is almost impossible. >> i don't know about this. i need to see video evidence. tony and janet, back-to-back holes in one on the same hole. now, tony was first. and janet followed. come on, now. come on, david muir. really? >> and you've got witnesses on the course? >> yes. >> when i had mine, they came over and congratulated me. when janet hit hers, one lady actually ran all the way to the hole. >> i don't know. reena? chances of that happening, according to the national hole in one association, there is such a thing? 26 million to 1.

tony and janet tell our david muir that they got a couple of hats from the golf course as a reward. that's it? a couple of hats? >> maybe a couple more rounds. we got "the pulse" coming your way. cool, calm, collected. the national spelling bee crowns two champs once again. and for sale, michael jackson and neverland ranch hitting the market for an eye-popping price. ask your doctor if adding once-a-week tanzeum is right for you. once-a-week tanzeum is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes along with diet and exercise. once-a-week tanzeum works by helping your body release its own natural insulin when it's needed. tanzeum is not recommended as the first medicine to treat diabetes or in people with severe stomach or intestinal problems. tanzeum is not insulin. it is not used to treat type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis and has not been studied with mealtime insulin.

do not take tanzeum if you or your family have a history of medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you're allergic to tanzeum or any of its ingredients. stop using tanzeum and call your doctor right away if you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction which may include itching, rash, or difficulty breathing; if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe stomach pain that will not go away and may move to your back, with or without vomiting; or if you have symptoms of thyroid cancer which include a lump or swelling in your neck hoarseness, trouble swallowing or shortness of breath. before using tanzeum talk to your doctor about your medical conditions, all medicines you're taking, if you're nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. and about low blood sugar and how to manage it. taking tanzeum with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your risk for low blood sugar. common side effects with tanzeum include diarrhea nausea, injection site reactions cough, back pain and cold or flu symptoms. some serious side effects can lead to dehydration which may cause kidney failure.

ask your doctor if adding once-a-week tanzeum is right for you. go to tanzeum.com to learn if you may be eligible to receive tanzeum free for 12 months. make every week a tanzeum week. in "the pulse" for the second year in a row, there are co-champions in the national spelling bee. >> they successfully handled words most of us have never heard of. >> yeah. >> here's abc's michelle franzen. she explains why. >> crannog. c-r-a-n-n-o-g. crannog. >> correct. >> reporter: it's the annual ordeal to see who can be letter perfect. >> correct.

>> reporter: when even a momentary dry spell -- >> that's not right. >> reporter: -- can spell doom. for $37,000 in cash and prizes, young people from all over the u.s. run an obstacle course of abcs to see who can spell success more often. >> -- p-o-i-e-s-i-s. >> correct. >> reporter: from -- >> commasurat >> reporter: to -- >> tartarean. >> reporter: the bell tolled for each verbal victim. until there were two. >> s-c-y-t-a-l-e, scytale. >> correct. >> that's how good these two are. >> reporter: vanya and gokal in a war of words. >> if you spell this word correctly, the scripps national spelling bee will declare you and vanya co-champions. >> reporter: they battled to a draw. >> nunatak. >> n-u-n-a-t-a-k. nunatak.

>> correct. >> congratulations. >> reporter: the two share the trophy as co-champions. a spellbinder until the end. michelle franzen, abc news, new york. >> they work so hard. memorizing the entire dictionary. i told you yesterday i was the only indian-american kid out in the first round of the spelling bee. every year. every year. >> both of them have been in it before. their last year of eligibility. both eight graders. her sister has won before, back in 2009. he came in third place last year. they have all been down this road before. congrats to both of them. what a show. >> they should name merriam-webster after these two. >> they should. >> right? they ran out of words. >> they ran out of words in the championship round. some sad news, right? or expected news from "the bachelor" couple. chris soules and whitney bischoff. >> he asked her to marry him on the season finale just two

months ago. the statement says the decision to call things off was made mutually and amicably. >> chris is back on the family farm. she's back in the windy city. >> lots of other fish in the pond. >> the pond. not the sea. we're going to go with the pond. >> the pond. it's a smaller area. it was a fish bowl they were in. now we move to the pot. do you happen to have a spare $100 million? you could own michael jackson's neverland ranch. >> jackson's former perm fantasy lapd is on the market. the 2700-acre completely remodeled. 12,000-square-foot, six-bedroom main house. >> no more amusement park. no more animals. the train and the clock made from flowers still standing. and unfortunately, no more neverland. the property wept back to its original name which i did not know was sycamore valley ranch.

would you live here? would you move here? >> it's on the market. $100 million. it can be yours. american sign language interpreter shelby micheson says a video she recorded performing the song "lose yourself" was never meant to go viral. but it has. this is why. ♪ i was playing in the beginning spit out and booed off stage and i kept rhyming and saying the next cipher ♪ ♪ best believe somebody's paying the pied piper ♪ >> that similar press i. she says she never expected such fan reaction. she says she'll be flooded with questions to interpret other songs and upload more music. it also looks like gangster science. >> leave this up for a second. most rappers i have ever seen perform look like this any way. >> they do you're right. >> there's a lot of hand gestures. maybe, who knew. i didn't know they were doing sign language. >> maybe rappers really do know sign language. >> for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, more after this.

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live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. >> good friday morning at 4:28. i am kristen sze. >> i am eric thomas. alongside leyla gulen who will be watching traffic. mike nuclear has -- mike nicco has some fog. >> drizzle. >> another morning of dampness and fog along santa rosa and heavier drizzle. you can see how it is hazy because of the moisture hanging in the air. a little bit of a frizz factor this morning. headed to noon we will see the clouds opening up inland at 70 an bay. 58 at the coast. circuit at the coast at 4:00 mid-70s bay is inland. you may not need a coat inland this evening, in the 70s but

everyone else in the mid-50s to 60's. >> you found interesting stuff coming in? >> i had to use my windshield wipers. as we look at the bay bridge toll plaza traffic is light coming from the eat bay toward san francisco. we will move over to the san francisco bay traffic is moving nicely with lingering construction eastbound side. flashing lights and cones blocking off the lanes. if you travel between foster city to hayward you want to slow down, always slow if the cone zone. >> thank you. it is 4:29. our top story this half hour, the banged up warriors are use the week best finals to recuperate after a physical series with the rockets. stores using the time to pack warriors merchandise on shelves. matt? >> yes, we had a good opportunity to recuperate last

night because this was no nba playoff game last night. that was the first time in a long time. a lot of people are gearing up for the warriors and cavaliers final in campbell. they have the newest gear here the western conference champion t-shirts with a lost people exciting about gearing up. it is not just official stores but pop-ups at 19th and fans cannot get enough shirts and other gear. the hottest item is the black and white finals cap. one shopper was trying to bay it for $100 from the manager and another said he would pay $200. michael bought his hat at oracle arena and fielding big offers. >> i got offered $300 at the oracle arena people were grabbing me, all kind of ways but i walked out. i will never sell the hat. never. priceless. i don't care if