america this morning. making news in america this wednesday morning, breaking overnight, deadly storms on the move. the powerful system spawning tornados. new video of the damage and who's in the threat zone right now. also this morning, a softer tone from president trump. the president lays out a vision of hope and unity. >> i am here tonight to deliver a message of unity and strength. >> we are live in washington with analysis of the president's address to congress and the emotional moment bringing the chamber to tears. a police officer today, perhaps nfl linebacker tomorrow. look at this. a man waving a bat outside the police department when an officer comes out of nowhere putting an end to it. we'll show you the tackle. plus, the high-end fashion at the president's address. the first lady's dress is getting a lot of attention this morning along with the hefty

price tag and see the cabinet member who wore $600 slippers. what is worth $600 besides a nice comfy pair of slippers? >> slippers, ah, pajamas. who knows. we do say good morning to you on what is turning out to be a very busy morning. we'll get to the president's news in a moment. first, breaking news. >> a deadly storm system moving into the northeast. tens of millions are in its path and that system spawned multiple tornadoes that went through illinois. one person killed by an uprooted tree. one witness said the tornado that destroyed her house sounded like a freight train. several buildings were also damaged including a nursing home and a factory. >> this really tells you how random mother nature's fury can be. in missouri overnight at least one driver died on a highway in that state when strong winds

picked up a wrecked car from a junk yard and that car then struck the victim's vehicle. >> that storm system is now moving toward the northeast and there are tornado watches posted from oklahoma and arkansas all the way to ohio. there are also tornado warnings from northern ohio. we' we'll be tracking that storm throughout the morning. of course, we do encourage you to stay safe because that storm system is on the move. now we want to get to president trump addressing congress and the nation with a striking softer tone. >> the president stayed on topic as he outlined an optimistic vision for the country and he touched on a wide range of issues from obamacare to immigration. >> and tears rolled down karen owens' face as everyone in the room stood in honor of her late husband, navy s.e.a.l. ryan owens, who was killed in yemen. and white house press secretary sean spicer posted this picture of the president greeting mrs. owens in the hall. abc's maggie rulli has more. >> reporter: this was a critical

moment in donald trump's presidency. with just over a month in office this was his chance to speak to the american people and to congress. president trump's first address to congress beginning with a call for unity. >> why not join forces and finally get the job done. >> reporter: a stark contrast to a chaotic and often divisive first month in office. >> a new tone for a new phase and softer tones on the harder edges of donald trump. >> reporter: abc news political analyst rick klein says president trump's new phase is also a way to repackage his old campaign themes to the people like calling to repeal and replace the affordable care act, to increase military spending, and build that wall. >> a great, great wall along our southern border. >> reporter: but also a shift in tone towards compromise over how to accomplish immigration reform. >> i believe republicans and democrats can work together to achieve an outcome that has

eluded our country for decades. >> reporter: the night's most emotional moment, a standing ovation for karen owens, the widow of chief petty officer ryan owens killed in action a month ago during a raid in yemen. >> ryan's legacy is etched into eternity. thank you. thank you. >> reporter: but during the rest of his speech, democrats sat silent in defiance. many female members of the party dressing in white to symbolize their commitment to women's rights and also getting their chance to respond. former democratic governor of kentucky steve beshear ripped into the president's plans to repeal obamacare. >> because this isn't say game. it's life and death for people. >> reporter: democrats and even some republicans are now demanding answers from the president about how exactly he plans to replace obamacare without jeopardizing health care for millions. kendis and diane. >> it sounds like we're starting to get little leaks but no concrete answers just yet. maggie rulli for us live in

washington, maggie, thanks. and just 40 days ago the president addressed the country at his inauguration. >> and covered some of the same topics, the fist bump, that different body language as well. immigration, the military, foreign policy, we went back and watched the inauguration address again and take a listen at the contrast in tone when it comes to his vision for the future. >> and the crime and the gangs and the drugs, this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. >> a new national pride is sweeping across our nation and a new surge of optimism is placing impossible dreams firmly within our grasp. >> now, listen to the president talking about immigration then and now. >> we must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products,

stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. >> i believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible as long as we focus on the following goals, to improve jobs and wages for americans. >> a much more mooted president, wouldn't you say, when you see the difference. "the new york daily news" calling it don's reset. >> the white house did say this was going to be a really optimistic and positive speech, so we saw the president at least trying to convey that message. >> so it appears voters also noticed the president's difference in tone. >> abc's matt gutman watched the speech with a group of people in kansas. they are mostly trump voters but of them agreed that president trump seemed more authentic. >> thus far it hasn't been the most politically appropriate response to the press or to anything he said thus far but it really sounded like he was the leader of the free world. he spoke eloquently. he limited his gestures, it was nice to see that kind of strong

and poised performance from a president that thus far hadn't demonstrated that. >> the group didn't like everything about the speech to be fair. they did agree that they wanted to hear more specifics about russia and iran. now, the big topic, of course, has been immigration and the president is set to announce his new travel ban as soon as today. the associated press reports that the order removes iraq from the list of mostly muslim countries whose citizens face a temporary u.s. travel ban. now, the previous order disrupted travel for many people coming to the united states. it faced legal challenges almost immediately and right now remains on hold. >> still ahead, we have new developments overnight in the death of kim jong-un's brother. plus, a new scandal for uber after video surfaces of the ceo arguing with one of the company's drivers. what that ceo is now saying about the confrontation this morning. and stopped in his tracks, the must see video of a police officer taking down a man with a

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>> breaking overnight an suv stuck in fast-moving floodwater near phoenix. an elderly man was trapped inside. the swift current was moving the suv and forced emergency crews to make two rescue attempts. they were able to break a window and pull that man out and carefully walk him to safety. there's some new details in that deadly attack on north korean leader kim jong-un's half brother. the two female suspects are now charged with murder. the pair appeared at a hearing this morning in malaysia and they didn't enter a plea, but one woman told the court she's not guilty. prosecutors say they smeared a powerful nerve agent on kim jong-nam's face last month. the women face the death penalty if convicted. a class action lawsuit

against the company behind the kay and jared jewelry chains is now expected to go to trial in the fall. nearly 70,000 current and former employees are accusing sterling jewelers of fostering a demeaning culture for female employees. some are claiming they were sexually harassed by company executives and discriminated pay and promotions. the company denies the allegations and the company's stock starts the trading day down 13%. uber's ceo travis kalanick is apologizing for a heated exchange with one of his driver caught on video berating one of his company's drivers. according to bloomberg the man said kalanick bankrupted him by lowering the rate on uber's black car rides. kalanick fired back with an expletive. in a stamp memo, he said that he was ashamed. thousands of websites back up and running after suffering a crippling outage that triggered widespread performance problems. amazon's massive cloud based and

web services went down on the east coast for more than four hours yesterday. it's a thing that affected systems that host half a million websites including large companies like netflix, airbnb and spotify. >> all we get to do is chill instead of netflix and chill. >> no netflix. >> the former president and first lady have signed a megabook deal. the unique joint agreement with publisher penguin random house calls for the obamas to write separate books and reportedly worth $60 million. by comparison, bill clinton, you see him there, was paid $15 million for his memoir and hillary clinton got 14 million for her book about her time at the state department and george w. bush received 10 million for the release of "decision points." when we come back, chaos at a mardi gras parade after a truck plows into a marching band. hear what police are saying about the driver this morning. and a young basketball fan's climbing skills saved the day at this game.

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that was it. the final moment of a 79-year-old bridge in eastern georgia but nobody panic. this was a planned explosion. the old savannah river bridge used to cross the georgia/south carolina state line but they recently finished building a new bridge to replace it. and one of the world's most active volcanoes is at it again. italy's mt. etna erupting for the first time in eight months. the lava flow lit up the skies as well over sicily. officials say nearby towns are not in any danger. etna is the tallest volcano in europe at nearly 11,000 feet. >> what a cool sight to look at. >> it is. and another mardi gras parade horror is now under investigation this morning. >> police say a 73-year-old driver rammed into members of a high school band in gulf shores, alabama. 12 were injured, three critically.

authorities consider the case an accident. this came just days after police in new orleans say a drunk driver injured more than two dozen people at a mardi gras parade there. in texas, the manhunt is under way for a suspect in a deadly shoot-out with two houston police officers. a second suspect was killed when gunfire broke out early yesterday afternoon. the area was put on lockdown for a few hours. one officer is in critical condition with a bullet lodged near his spine. the other was shot in the foot. and there was some dramatic testimony in florida from a 73-year-old retired police officer accused of killing a man in a movie theater. curtis reeves is hoping to avoid being tried on a second degree murder charge and he's using florida's controversial stand your ground law claiming he felt threatened by chad oulson who he was arguing with in that theater. >> he was getting ready to punch me, and i perceived that at some point, and that's when the pistol came out. >> why did you shoot him? >> at that point it was his life or mine.

>> the shooting happened in 2014. the whole argument apparently all stemmed over the use of a cell phone inside the theater. a man with a baseball bat is taken down with a football move that would make lawrence taylor proud. this is outside a police station in the l.a. area, about ten miles outside l.a. to be specific. >> ooh? yeah, investigators say the officer tackled man after he started whacking the building's glass windows saying he had been threatening police and civilians and then the officer made this quick move. yeah. >> he's got to be pretty proud of himself this morning. >> i would say so. good move. well, football season is still a long way away. >> but the nba is in full swing so let's get some highlights now from our guys at espn. >> good morning, america. the "a" team with you, max and the coach, and what went down in d.c. on tuesday night, well, it has the entire nba waiting for results. only a minute into the game,

kevin durant, watch it here, they're calling it a hyperextension of his left knee and have fall into his leg and clearly didn't mean to. durant would stay in for a few more seconds, would leave. had an mri done after the game and results later today on wednesday. now, time winding down. steph curry, he was 2 for 9 from three. misses there and the wizards now 19-5 in their last 24 games. former teammate russell westbrook putting on a show, fourth quarter, against the jazz. he was the man. under one minute to go. thunder down for, for three. he would score 12 points in the final 2:05. gordon hayward, no. thunder down one. westbrook, you know where he's going, all the way home. 43 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, folks.

that's his 30th triple-double of the season. four straight wins for the thunder who have been hitting the ground running since the all-star game. >> max, one more nugget. the warriors will sign matt barnes because they're not sure how serious the kevin durant injury is. that's going to do it for us. max, coach with the "a" team. have a great wednesday. >> the "a" team. i like the nickname. >> or the "d" team. and one more sports note for you, a basketball fan became a hero at a college game. >> it happened at the fresno state game. the ball got stuck on the backboard so players tried to get it down by throwing another ball. that didn't work. >> someone else tried getting a long pole. no luck there either. that's when another man lifted a young boy. he climbs the back of the hoop. >> yes. >> and knocks the ball free, and the crowd goes wild. >> bow down to that kid. whew! saved the game. up next in "the pulse," more from the president's speech and why it's now the social media

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president? >> too soon. colbert also joked that the loud cheers over repealing obamacare was actually excitement from the crowd over hearing president obama's name. being very bipartisan these days. >> definitely. first lady melania trump was certainly dressed to impress with a stunning black sequin number fit for, well, the wife of a billionaire. >> mrs. trump was sporting a michael kors skirt suit that cost nearly $10,000. now, it's not clear if she paid full price, but she definitely looks like a million bucks. >> yeah, she did. many people on twitter saying she kind of looked like a scene out of "dynasty" like joan collins' alexis there. new commerce secretary wilbur ross, a billionaire, went for comfort and style in his choice of footwear for the president's speech. >> i could get behind this. ross went with a pair of slippers complete with the commerce department logo, but these are not just any old pair

of slip-ons unless you're a billionaire investor, then maybe they are. the comfy kicks were identified as stubbs & wootton slippers and start at $500 a pair. >> where do they end? if that's where they start. this will probably be the most adorable video you'll see all day. two little toddlers in a wrestling match. >> it's going down. >> that really wasn't -- >> yeah, the match was between a young boy and girl. they shake hands, the referee blows the whistle and he takes off running. the video has gone viral. 500,000 views and you can see why. [ all sounds come to a crashing halt ] ah. when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. awww. try this. for minor arthritis pain, only aleve is fda approved to work for up to 12 straight hours with just one pill. thank you. come on everybody. aleve. live whole. not part.

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it is early in the morning and in the middle of the week, welcome to wednesday, march 1. >> wow. that's -- march is here. i was more focused on the fact that it's the middle of the week than it's early in the morning. march 1 is going to get warmer, right? because it still felt freezing cold when i walked outside this morning. >> this is going to be our last really cold morning. i had frost on the car this morning but didn't need to scrape it so hopefully you'll have the same easier commute this morning. look at live doppler 7. crystal clear sky outside. in fact, you can see that and look at the dry embarcadero as we look from our room cam towards the bay bridge. temperatures in the 30s and low 40s at 7:00. it's going to be warmer at lunch, mid to upper 50s and back to average, low 60s at 4:00,

pretty quiet here. let's talk about traffic. good morning, mike. not too many folks on the road this morning. here's a live look outside at the bay bridge toll plaza. no metering lights for about the next hour or so. we do already have a b.a.r.t. delay, though. track maintenance that maybe is going a little bit late this morning so ten-minute delay at daly city and that is in the pittsburg/bay point and dublin/pleasanton directions. i do have a couple rollover crashes coming up. new this morning, three people parachuted off the top of a hilton in san francisco overnight. >> they landed safely but now they're under arrest. amy hollyfield is live for us in san francisco. >> reporter: yeah, reggie, they made it here to the ground but then check out where they ended up. they ended up in police custody. we have video of them in handcuffs and in the back of police cars. police officers know that they jumped.

they have their parachute equipment. but that's not when they're under arrest for. officers telling me they went back to the station, did some research, couldn't find any crime for jumping off of a building, for b.a.s.e. jumping so right now, they're in custody for tres possessing. they will ask the district attorney but that's it for now. three people involved and they know that because the security alarm was triggered when they got to the area on the roof where they were and that security officers saw them on surveillance video but they only found two men, they say. they believe a woman was also jumping with them and that she got away. this is the hilton. we're on taylor, you know, that area. this is kind of the tenderloin, lower, where they jumped and we want to give you a live look at just how tall that north tower is. and that's where they safely jumped from in the middle of the night, surprising everyone.

officers tell me the people that they took into custody, the men are in their mid 20s. one has a local address. one has an out of state address and again, a woman, they think, got away. the officer investigating this tonight tells me this is a first for him and he has been doing this for 18 years. reporting live in san francisco, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. they have an amazing top floor view up there. you just don't have to jump off the building to get it. president trump returned to the capitol last night for the first time since inauguration day to speak to a joint session of congress. >> it was a more aspirational side of the president than we've seen so far. we are live in the nation's capital with the response. good morning, maggie. >> reporter: good morning. this was a critical moment in donald trump's presidency with just over one month in office, this was his chance to speak to the american people and to congress. president trump's first address to congress beginning with a