making news in america this morning, gun violence, race and policing taking center stage at the espy awards. the powerful messages from lebron james and other nba stars. >> the racial profiling has to stop. the shoot to kill mentality has to stop. and president obama holds a marathon meeting with both law enforcement and civil rights leaders, so was there any progress? donald trump's veepstakes heating up overnight. newt gingrich saying the search has narrowed down to two people, himself and someone else. plus, where trump is scoring a zero in polling. and it wasn't all serious talk at the espys. john cena brought many lighter

moments, and we'll take a look at his much talked about monologue and, of course, the fashion. i'm not really sure what odell beckham was doing there with the hair, but he was coordinating. good thursday morning, everyone. let's start with policing and race relations taking center stage in an unusual event, the espys to the white house, as well, and later today here on abc. >> so some of the nba's biggest stars opened the awards show last night with powerful comments about gun violence and police reform. >> and just hours before, president obama tackled race and policing with members of law enforcement, civil rights leaders and black lives matter activists. >> and all this comes as philando castile is laid to rest today. the 32-year-old was shot and killed by police in minnesota last week sparking protests across the country. >> let's get a report from abc's kenneth moton live for us with details in d.c. good morning, kenneth. >> reporter: good morning, kendis and diane. president obama is preparing to

have a national conversation about race and policing during a town hall tonight hosted by abc. the white house says the president is looking forward to this discussion after a violent week. this morning as the protests continue and racial tensions rise, four of the biggest names in the nba used the stage of the espy awards to make a powerful plea for change. >> we cannot ignore the realities of the current state of america. >> reporter: carmelo anthony, chris paul, dwyane wade and lebron james called for an end to all violence, the shootings in chicago, the police killings of black men, the attack on dallas police. >> the shoot to kill mentality has to stop, but also the retaliation has to stop. >> it's time to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, what are we doing to create change. >> reporter: that was the focus of a four-hour meeting at the white house wednesday. president obama spoke with law enforcement, civil rights leaders and black lives matter activists to find solutions to racial bias and policing.

>> we have to as a country sit down and just grind it out, solve these problems. >> reporter: tonight the president's conversation will continue on abc with a town hall on race and policing. the issue is personal to one of only two black members of the senate. in a powerful capitol hill speech, republican south carolina senator tim scott told how he had been repeatedly racially profiled by police even as an elected official. >> during the course of one year i've been stopped seven times by law enforcement officers. the vast majority of the time i was pulled over for nothing more than driving a new car in the wrong neighborhood. >> reporter: that abc town hall with president obama will take place tonight, again, at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific time and will be hosted by "world news tonight's" david muir. president obama's meeting on community policing produced a number of priorities, but the president admitted that this nation is not even close to

resolving the issues between police and communities of color. diane and kendis. >> a lot of us are expecting some big things from that town hall later today. thank you, kenneth moton, in d.c. donald trump, by the way, plans to keep us guessing for one more day tweeting that he will announce his running mate tomorrow in new york. indiana governor mike pence and former house speaker newt gingrich huddled with trump and his children in indianapolis yesterday, and new jersey governor chris christie met with the trump camp this week but gingrich told fox news that it's now down to the final two. >> i think trump has two very good people he's looking at in a serious way. i think that he's also looked at chris christie and jeff sessions and others, but my hunch is he's flying to california thinking about, you know, gingrich/pence, pence/gingrich. mike and i will both get phone calls, and one of us will be packing our bags to go to new york, and the other one will be going to watch it on tv.

well, former secretary of state condoleezza rice reportedly just turned down an offer to be trump's vp. a trump/rice ticket many say would have helped him with african-americans. and get this, there's reason for this. a new poll has him at 0% among black voters in the key swing states of ohio and pennsylvania. and trump has filed a $10 million lawsuit against a former campaign consultant. the suit alleges that sam nunberg broke a nondisclosure agreement by leaking confidential information to the press. he's accused of telling "the new york post" about an alleged affair between former campaign manager corey lewandowski and trump's campaign spokeswoman. nunberg denies being the source of that story. he says trump is trying to bully him into silence. and donald trump is finding some unlikely allies in his feud with supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg. trump is calling for ginsburg to resign after she bashed him in several interviews, and now several publications are slamming ginsburg. "the new york post" depicted her

on this morning's cover as darth bader, and she was also criticized by "the new york times" and "the washington post." and some details about next week's republican convention in cleveland are starting to leak. a list of speakers obtained by "the new york times" includes all four of donald trump's adult children, as well as former new york city mayor rudy giuliani and tim tebow. the convention's first night will apparently highlight the benghazi attack, the issues of border security and the economy will be reportedly addressed as well as former president bill clinton's infidelities. well, hillary clinton is back on the campaign trail and slamming trump as a polarizing figure accusing him of putting american against american. clinton delivered a speech in springfield, illinois. that, by the way, the same room where abraham lincoln gave his famous house divided address about the perils of slavery, and she said trump would do little to heal this country. >> this man is the nominee of the party of lincoln.

we are watching it become the party of trump. and that's not just a huge loss for our democracy, it is a threat to it. >> well, as she tried to present herself as a unifying force, clinton acknowledged she has to do better, as well. at least two peole are dead after powerful storms pounded parts of the midwest triggering massive flooding. in missouri, the storms uprooted dozens of trees. this one crushed the roof of a home in independence. wind speeds hit more than 70 miles per hour at times and even knocked down power lines. this morning nearly 100,000 people are still without electricity in the greater st. louis area. some of those areas will clear out with drier, cooler weather, but stormy conditions are heading northeast toward lake erie and lake ontario where heavy rain, gusting winds and lightning are all expected, and that summer heat is building this morning, as well. looking at some of the numbers

today in the southeast, 107 in little rock. 100 in tallahassee. nearly triple digits from north carolina all the way to new york and possible record-breaking temperatures near syracuse, as well. still ahead, pokemon go getting some ads. plus, you got to see the sparks flying during a high-speed chase overnight. the new video of how it all ended coming in. and see what happens when a sudden landslide heads right towards a traffic jam. a traffic jam.

fire crews have stopped a brush fire that broke out late yesterday afternoon in lake sherwood near los angeles. the flames burned for more than four hours in the hills near a residential community scorching about 78 acres.

fire crews will be on scene through the morning looking for hot spots. a bit of good news this morning for air travelers. dozens more automated screening lanes are coming to the nation's busiest airports. the tsa chief says up to 60 of those lanes will be installed by the end of this year. automated lanes are already open at atlanta's airport and they will go up in chicago at o'hare there, dallas-ft. worth, los angeles and miami by the fall. the lanes are said to make passenger movement up to 40% faster. and volkswagen, their plan to recall diesel passenger cars has been rejected by california regulators. volkswagen has agreed to spend more than $15 billion to settle lawsuits and allegations that its diesel cars cheated on u.s. emission tests, but those regulators called the company's proposal incomplete. volkswagen says it's working to resolve the impasse as quickly as possible. the sensation of the summer pokemon go will soon have sponsored locations. the developer says advertisers will soon be featured on the game's virtual map in hopes of

driving customers to their establishments. meanwhile, a developer has created pokegone. it's a browser extension that blocks all pokemon-related content. demand is said to be very high. overseas the new british prime minister is promising to make her country work for everyone, not just a privileged few. buckingham palace released this photo of theresa may curtsying to the queen yesterday. the 59-year-old may is britain's second female prime minister. she faces a tough task, starting to manage britain's exit from the european union. may had been against leaving the eu in the first place. and across the pond in france, there is outrage over hair after a report that the hairstylist for the french president makes more than $120,000 a year. that is paid for by taxpayers, despite a pledge by president francois hollande to be a low-key head of state.

the government spokesman says, quoting here, everyone needs their hair done. no? >> everyone needs their hair done, don't they? >> even with a balding hairline i guess my hairstylist could get paid $120,000. >> easy job. >> yep, exactly. when we come back, what a shot. down to the last second, the must-see buzzer beater. and more from the espy awards, the fashion then the funny moments from host john cena. we know that the best things in life are real.,

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cleanup getting underway in wisconsin this morning where heavy downpours broke some roads apart. conditions have cleared up, but forecasters warn that rivers and creeks will continue to rise over the next few days. plan on plenty of trouble spots on the roads this morning. heavy rain and flash flooding are possible from oklahoma and arkansas to tennessee and from southern kansas to louisville, cincinnati and cleveland. taking to the air, you could have problems with delays in memphis, new york city, as well as boston. but this morning in phoenix, police are on the hunt for a man they believe is a serial killer shooting at least seven people to death. >> they've released a sketch of the suspect who they say targeted victims at random in front of their homes. since april 1st eight people have been shot in similar crimes, seven have died. the youngest victim was 12-year-old maleah ellis who had been sitting in the car with her mother and friend just listening to music. >> by the car. >> reporter: by the car. they heard gunshots.

>> they heard the gunshots and everything because the other daughter, she ran because she didn't know if when he finished out here if he was headed toward the house. >> maleah's and her mother's friend was also killed in the attack. there's at least one reward of $30,000 for any information leading to the killer's identity. the orlando nightclub where 49 people were shot to death last month has been released back to its owners by investigators. the owner says she is glad to have it back but is still devastated by the attack in a place meant to be safe for lgbt members. now, the future of that particular building is unclear but the owner hopes to re-open the pulse nightclub perhaps in a new location. and a vehicle chase in the los angeles area sent sparks flying down the freeway. a female carjacking suspect drove over a police spike strip which shredded the rear tire and that didn't stop her from driving, though it led to showers of sparks behind her

truck. the chase lasted half an hour and in the end it ended when the suspect putted into a casino and was finally arrested. and there's some danger for drivers on the mountain roads in china. this was seen by a driver first. he saw rocks starting to fall so grabbed his phone and captured this huge rockslide. luckily no one was hurt, amazingly no vehicles were even damaged. so apparently it looks like preschoolers who stay up too late, they actually pay for it just a little later on in life. a new study found that preschoolers who go to bed by 8:00 p.m. were less likely to be obese as teenagers some ten years later than those who went to bed after 9:00. researchers say kids with later bedtimes tend to snack on high calorie foods and sit around watching tv or using their phones late into the night. in case you're missing a little bit of basketball, because the season is over we offer this bit of march madness in july. it happened in the championship game of a charity tournament in boston. >> with the game and time running out, a three-quarter

shot goes in. you can imagine the wild scenes of celebration on the court. the crowd goes wild. the charity, which promotes sports in boston's neighborhoods, was also a big winner by the way. >> i would say so too. those kids are pumped. do it again. >> oh, i love that. up next in "the pulse," carter meets carter. a cancer survivor gets his wish and meets a former president. and customers running scared after a giant lizard walked into a supermarket. how this ended. thank you. my advice for looking younger... longer? pam. this...this is pam's. try not to take things personally. all right. thank you pam. don't let the little things get to you. get your beauty sleep. and use new aveeno® absolutely ageless® night cream. with active naturals® blackberry complex. you'll wake up to younger looking skin in just one week. younger looking skin can start today. new absolutely ageless®. aveeno. naturally beautiful results® we know that the best things in life are real.,

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and such a serious one had comedic chops. right off the top cena delivered a hilarious monologue in which he roasted some of the top names in sports. >> here's the one place that the wwe has you beat, the one thing we have that you don't, vince mcmahon. a maniacal billionaire pulling the strings behind the scenes who uses every trick in the book to manipulate things to his advantage any way he can. something like that, that is way too crazy for real sports. [ laughter ] >> well, cena also featurein skits that got a lot of laughs. one website calling his comedic timing perfect. an emotional highlight came when nba announcer craig sager received a perseverance award from vice president joe biden. the vice president is heading a quest to find a cure to cancer and sager is battling leukemia. in his acceptance speech he delivered a powerful message of

hope and determination. >> i will never give up, and i will never give in. i will continue to keep fighting sucking the marrow out of life as life sucks the marrow out of me. >> sager is well known for his brightly colored wardrobe, obviously last night's outfit did not disappoint on that front. the wild print carried all the way down to his shoes, by the way. >> he won the jimmy v. award. >> and that's coach jimmy v. right there. when it came to fashion it was the men who turned heads. >> so let's start with steph curry who rocked things out here in this custom tailored sapphire velvet tuxedo jacket with black satin lapels and then you see him rocking it out in a lighter moment earlier in the evening with chance, the rapper. >> did a little dance there. >> uh-huh. >> i'm wondering what those moves are all about.

also a lot of people wondering what peyton manning was thinking with this getup. robin's egg blue jacket and some gray slacks, some brown shoes. >> he's retired now. but what about odell beckham jr. who showed his sense of style in contrasting black and white all the way to -- what's with the hair? >> just continues. all right, moving on from the espys to a wonderful moment. a 10-year-old new york boy who beat cancer was granted a very special wish. >> the boy whose name is carter got to meet another cancer survivor also named carter. former president jimmy carter, that is, the two carters shared a hug as well as a few cancer anecdotes. >> and it was a wonderful moment. now to a chaotic scene at a supermarket in thailand as it was invaded by a frightening creature. >> yes, a giant lizard strolled into the automatic doors like any other customer sending shoppers running. several brave workers there

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abc7 news begins with breaking news. >> we start with break news in the south bay. crews are on the scene of a vegetation fire in san jose. you cannot see the flames. you can see all of the fire department crews working on this. it is burning in a rural area several miles out on sierra road on the san jose city border. it broke out at 2:30 this morning and it has burned ten acres. >> we hear san jose fire has it under control. we are gathering more information with a report shortly. breaking updates are on twitter@abc7newsbayarea. >> good morning, i am reggie aqui. >> i am natasha zouves. now a check of weather and traffic. drew is here for mike make. it will be hot? >> it is.

>> we are mild now. a look from the exploritorium shows fog free across san francisco. that means it will be warm. the afternoon is hot inland in the triple digits and around bay, into the mid-80s. that is weather. traffic? >> good morning, drew. good morning, everyone. we are off to a good start better than yesterday. this is 101 in san rafael. southbound traffic is good. to the golden gate bridge. down to south bay, 101 in san jose has no problems northbound out of morgan hill and gilroy up into san francisco. >> if you commute from marin to the east bay you could smile. the third lane on the richmond-san rafael bridge is going to become reality. amy hollyfield is on the bridge with more. >> goodood morning, natasha, drs do come true.

we are talking about the lower deck eastbound if you have driven it you have probably seen traffic like this. this video is the plan to avoid traffic looking like this, gridlock can be rough. especially during the rush hour. they have a final design to open a third lane going to caltran yesterday. the date for oning is december of 2017. there will be a bicycle lane on the top deck. the projects will cost $74 million. traffic on the bridge has increaseed 13% the last five years. as it grows in popularity officials say the lanes need to grow. good news. after a year and a half you. get the third lane. >> great news. >> a 31-year-old santa rosa woman was airlifted to