making news in america this morning, we are getting our first look at the letter the fbi director sent to his former employees. plus, comey's request for more resources for the russia investigation just days before being fired. >> and the new report this morning about the white house not knowing where comey was when he was fired and why the deputy attorney general threatened to quit after the president's decision. a hiker found alive after nearly a week. hear how she ended up lost and how a dog kept up her spirits. plus, caught on camera, the dramatic moment a crane comes crashing down. a good thursday morning. i'm diane macedo. >> and i'm kenneth moton in for kendis gibson. we begin with the outrage in washington following the abrupt

firing of fbi director james comey. >> comey sent a letter to his former colleagues at the fbi last night saying, he is not going to dwell on the president's decision. the justice department is denying reports that comey recently asked for more money and manpower to investigate alleged ties between russia and the trump campaign. and the senate committee looking into possible ties between the campaign and russia has subpoenaed former national security adviser michael flynn. >> and president trump is now citing job performance as his motive. abc's janai norman has the latest from washington. good morning to you, janai. >> reporter: kenneth and diane, good morning to both of you. so, the questions still lingering, why was comey fired now? could this be tied to the russia investigation? some lawmakers saying the answers aren't quite adding up. less than 24 hours after firing the man leading the investigation into russian meddling, president trump welcomed russia's ambassador and foreign minister to the white house. trump laughing with the russians in the oval office and then commenting on why he fired fbi director james comey.

>> because he wasn't doing a good job, very simply. he was not doing a good job. >> reporter: james comey writing his former fbi colleagues, quote, i'm not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. i hope you won't either. it is done. i will be fine, although i will miss you and the mission deeply. the sudden decision less than week after the white house said the president had confidence in comey, but now a different story. >> the president had lost, again like i said, he had lost confidence in director comey and, frankly, he had been considering letting director comey go since the day he was elected. >> reporter: abc news has learned just days before he was fired, comey requested more resources from the department of justice for the russia investigation. the white house implying there's nothing left to investigate. >> let's put it behind us. let's move on. >> reporter: but comey's firing only raising more questions. >> obviously when you have a president fire the fbi director when there's an active investigation going on, then there are questions that need to be answered. >> reporter: the white house pinning the sudden decision on

how comey handled the clinton investigation in july of last year, but democrats say it's not that investigation the president is worried about. >> i think it's all about russia. it's not about hillary. >> reporter: and democrats are now insisting that a special prosecutor take over the russia investigation, even postponing all senate hearings yesterday to make a point. and now at least one republican is considering it. kenneth and diane. >> i know, it gets a little confusing. their names are very similar. janai, you're not the first or the last to do that. >> thanks, janai. >> that's janai norman live for us in washington. janai, thanks so much. well, the white house apparently didn't know comey was in california when it hand delivered his dismissal letter to the fbi. >> now, that's according to "the washington post" which also says the president had become agitated that comey seemed too focused on the russia probe and not on stopping leaks. "the post" also says deputy attorney general rod rosenstein threatened to resign in the wake of the firing as the white house seemed to cast him as the person who proposed comey's dismissal. the justice department has not

yet commented on that claim. congressman jason chaffetz, the republican chair of the house oversight committee, is now calling on the justice department's inspector general to investigate comey's firing, and democrats are demanding a special prosecutor, but they say they're convinced that president trump got rid of comey to derail the investigation into alleged collusion between russia and the trump campaign, but house speaker paul ryan and other gop leaders are defending the president's decision. >> i think the president lost patience and i think people in the justice department lost confidence in director comey himself, and i think the president was looking at a situation where you had senior justice department officials losing confidence. >> senate majority leader mitch mcconnell dismissed calls for a special prosecutor saying a new investigation would impede the work that's already in progress, but a handful of republicans are questioning the president's timing and demanding an explanation. and russian leader vladimir putin is also weighing in on the firing. in his hockey uniform before a special game, putin said comey's dismissal will have no effect on

russia's relationship with the united states, and he says russia has nothing to do with the whole thing. a controversial monument is coming down this morning in new orleans. the city is removing the statue of confederate president jefferson davis after a louisiana judge rejected a last-ditch argument to leave it standing. it's one of three confederate statues slated for removal. a fourth monument was taken down last month. now for a look at the weather. severe storms are targeting the midwest and plains right now. you can seen on the radar the storms stretching from texas to indiana. the main threats are large hail, strong winds and flash flooding. in illinois near peoria at least one tornado touched down. it's the same area where a twister caused major damage just a few months ago. luckily this tornado was much weaker. and the same system spawned at least two tornadoes in oklahoma. this one was spotted along a highway in chattanooga.

education secretary betsy devos did not get an especially warm greeting as she delivered the commencement speech at a historically black university. >> students and some teachers at bethune-cookman university in florida loudly booed her saying she once made racially insensitive comments about historically black colleges and universities. whenever she tried speaking, the crowd jeered and turned their backs. >> i am honored to become a wildcat, and it's a real honor and privilege to be with you as we celebrate the bethune-cookman university class of 2017. >> finally the university president warned the audience if their behavior continued, graduates would be getting their diplomas by mail. still ahead, why the cost of mailing something could soon go up. and survival story. a hiker is found after spending

days in the wilderness and the mistakes she admits to making and how she was finally found. plus, a fired up crowd confronts a congressman. >> oh, we haven't even begun. i'm not done with you yet. i got the mic, and i'm not going anywhere. >> how the lawmaker handled some difficult questions about the new health care bill.

a new jersey congressman faced nearly five hours of grilling from angry constituents in his first town hall since the health care bill passed the house. republican tom macarthur helped resurrect and pass that latest gop health care bill, but he could barely speak for a minute

at a time without the room interrupting him with boos. there was one particularly fiery moment when a health care worker confronted the congressman about his wife and daughter's pre-existing conditions. >> you have been the single greatest threat to my family in the entire world. what happens if i lose my job? health insurance as a for profit business is immoral. when i am drowning and you insist that i pay before you will save me, that is immoral, sir, completely. >> the congressman responded by saying he knows the overhaul is still a work in progress. >> i'm not saying this is a perfect solution. the current system isn't perfect either and that's what we're trying to fix. >> the outrage in the room was hardly limited to health care. several people had questions about russia and fbi director comey's firing.

vermont's legislature has become the first in the nation to approve a bill legalizing recreational marijuana. it's now in the hands of the governor who says he's not opposed to legalizing pot but wants to be sure the bill answers certain public safety and health questions. if he gives the okay the bill becomes law in july of next year. other states that have legalized recreational marijuana did it through a voter referendum, not the legislature. snapchat is still losing money. as growth on the app slows, its parent company posted a $2.2 billion loss for the first three months of this year. a lot of that related to its ipo in march. and the postal service is also reporting a big loss, more than $560 million, so it's hoping to raise stamp prices by at least one penny, which would bring the cost of mailing a letter to 50 cents or more. an illinois homeowner is suing the online real estate site zillow claiming its zestimate tool has repeatedly undervalued her property.

it has created a, quote, tremendous roadblock to the sale of her house. the homeowner is not seeking financial compensation. instead she wants an injunction requiring zillow to remove or modify its assessment of her property. when we come back, new details on the discovery inside a student's book bag. knives, gasoline, even shotgun shells. hear what investigators say he was planning to do at school. and caught on camera, a crane comes crashing down. what caused this right here to happen. tradition calls it's "gotcha day!" best day ever love you, dad i love you too, sweetie

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take a look. that's one of five great white sharks that were seen in the water off long beach, california. some were swimming within 50 yards of the beach. thankfully they didn't come into any contact with humans. time now for a look at this morning's road conditions. the map shows a huge stretch of wet weather creating messy roadways from colorado to the gulf coast and into the northeast.

and if you're flying, airport delays are possible in dallas, kansas city and chicago. well, a north carolina teen is awaiting charges after police foiled what they say could have been a violent attack at his school. >> authorities say they found knives in the student's backpack. along with those knives, they they say they also found firecrackers, gasoline, even an alleged hit list with up to a dozen names of other students on it. it's believed that the 16-year-old was planning an attack for tuesday morning. north carolina police were tipped off by authorities in canada who say they learned of the plot from a girl in an internet chat room who saw the boy discussing the plot. authorities in trenton, new jersey, are hoping to peacefully end a day-long standoff. gunshots were heard overnight as a man remain barricaded at his home. the standoff started when he opened fire on u.s. marshals who tried to serve a warrant. an innocent bystander was killed in the gunfire and three officers injured. some residents living nearby were forced to evacuate and spent the night out of their

homes. testimony continues today in tulsa in the manslaughter trial of a white police officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man during a traffic stop. prosecutors say officer betty jo shelby shot terence crutcher while he was obeying commands to raise his hands. shelby says she thought he was reaching for a weapon and race had nothing to do with it. a hiker that vanished in the mountains of montana has been found safe and sound. she was rescued and reunited with her family after a harrowing ordeal that lasted nearly seven days. abc's mara schiavocampo has more. >> reporter: a remarkable air rescue. a hiker in montana finally found after disappearing for almost a week. >> i can't believe that we were able to get out. >> reporter: 23-year-old madeline connelly was visiting relatives in montana when she decided to head out for a hike with her dog mogie in great bear wilderness near glacier national park, but the experienced hiker and nature enthusiast took a wrong turn. >> like the first night i realized that i was not in the

right place, but i thought if i kept going, i would be on the same loop of a trail and i would just get out. >> reporter: when connelly didn't come home after two days, officials launched a massive operation, then wednesday the moment they'd all hoped for, connelly and her dog finally spotted, rescuers airlifting her out after almost a week in the wild. >> it was just like a huge mistake that i ended up being like seven days in kind of treacherous weather conditions. >> reporter: mara schiavocampo, abc news, new york. >> and we'll have more about that rescue on "good morning america." and before we get to this next story, we do want to point out the guy involved is expected to recover. >> he rode his motorcycle straight into a truck on a road in china. wow, it burst into flames. the rider was on fire as well until some onlookers came to help him. again, he reportedly did not suffer any life-threatening injuries. >> unbelievable. and an investigation is under way in northern italy to find out why this crane suddenly collapsed onto a prefabricated

section of a railway viaduct. construction workers could only watch in disbelief as all that hard work came undone. amazingly the crane operator was able to jump clear of the crane as it started to tip over. and now for a look at sports, the san antonio spurs can advance in the nba playoffs with a win tonight against houston. >> two teams advanced last night in hockey. highlights now from espn. >> good morning, america. hockey, game seven. >> a couple of game sevens to talk about. oilers and ducks in anaheim. if you follow the ducks, you know about their struggles in game seven. i won't bother to repeat it. second period, oilers up 1-0. ryan kesler fighting for possession in front of the net. he finds andrew cogliano for the goal. first goal of the playoffs for cogliano. head to the third period, tied at one. ryan getzlaf gets the puck into the zone. corey perry misses it wide. nik ritchie from the circle for the goal, and that's the game winner and the series winner.

capitals never beat the penguins in the playoffs and never would be continued. alexander ovechkin not good. ian cole was very good right there. very risky. and sidney crosby over to rust. rust never sleeps. braden holtby beaten. this was on washington's home ice. alexander ovechkin unable to get that by marc-andre fleury. hornqvist goes five hole on schmidt right there over the shoulder of holtby. as it's always been, it still is. the penguins beat the capitals, 2-0. also from the nba, game five eastern conference semifinals, it's the celtics over the wizards, so boston up three games to two now as that series moves to washington for game six on friday. that's it from here. back to you. >> thanks, guys. well, up next in "the pulse," a kayaker paddling for his life with an alligator in hot pursuit. and the dog that likes to hang out on the roof. and on our facebook page, the rock's surprising comments about a future run for the white house. that's on atmfans.com.

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the president did you a favor. >> maybe. >> by giving you an excuse to call it quits. we have a couple of animal stories to start off with. >> starting with a golden retriever who lives in austin, texas. >> his name is huckleberry and his owners say his favorite spot to hang out is on the roof. >> roof! >> he even has his own instagram account, huck the roof dog. >> they say huck is on the roof so often that they've posted messages telling neighbors not to be alarmed, huckleberry, they say, is fine, and there's nothing wrong with him being up there on the roof. >> loving the roof joke. i want to know how he gets up there. >> you know what, that's a great question. >> that's the video i want to see. not him on the roof, i want to see him climbing up the gutter or whatever it is that he's doing to get there. all right, be careful up there. and maybe we should have the music from "jaws" for this last story. [ playing the "jaws" theme ] so check this out. a guy in a kayak in alabama just enjoying himself, but look behind him. so, that's an alligator following him. >> the man attracted the gator's attention after getting a little

too close while the gator was hanging out in some reeds. the person who shot the video says the kayaker claimed he was completely calm through the whole thing. >> i can tell you a lot of emotions i would be feeling if i were kayaking with an alligator chasing me. calm would not be one of them. >> i used to be scared on the jaws ride at disney, parent company of abc. >> that's a fake. it's not a real shark. you know that? >> i was scared. >> the moved is not based on a true story. it's not a real shark. you'll be okay. more news coming up after this. . because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection.

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>> announcer: good morning, north bay. let's get up and get going. >> this is "abc7 mornings." >> may 11th, morning. i could have used another two hours. >> just two hours? >> that would have been nice. >> keep thinking it's almost friday and it's going to get cool. maybe that's it. maybe you will sleep better when it's cooler and let's take a look at live doppler 7. the promise of drizzle is out there, and right now it's mainly dry. from the roof camera, you can seat flags unfurled headed to the east. starting off in the low to mid-50s at 7:00. upper 50s at the coast, and mid-60s bay and inland at noon, and mid to upper 60s at 4:00, and barely still in the 60s 7:00. going to be another cool

evening. how about the commute this morning? >> we are off to a good start this morning. we had a high wind advisory issued for golden gate bridge last night, and those wind gusts around 15 miles per hour and should not be too breeze y as y make your way in from the bay. and mostly clean here on our traffic flows. a couple overnight projects still wrapping up and we will talk about those next. amy hollyfield is live for us in san rafael this morning. amy. >> reporter: hi, reggie. here's a team of search and rescue volunteers coming in right now. they have been out looking for this man. we have a picture of him so you can keep an eye out for him, too. 71-year-old robert rich. he disappeared last night and he has dementia, and he did seem disoriented last

he borrowed a man's phone and called his wife and told where she was and hung up and walked off. they do have people on foot along with search dogs looking for him and they are asking for the public to keep an eye out for robert this morning. just look for him as you go about your day. they are really hoping somehow between the volunteers and the search and rescue efforts they can get him home safely. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. >> thank you. this morning the acting director of the fbi is going to testify in front of the senate intelligence committee. james comey was supposed to be in that seat until the president in that seat until the president fired him this week. >> less than 24 hours after firing the man leading the

investigation into russian meddling, president trump welcomed the russian ambassador into the white house, and commenting on why he fired james comey. >> he was not doing a good job. >> james comey wrote this, i am not going to spend time on the decision or the way it is executed and i hope you won't either. the sudden decision less than a week after the white house said they had confidence in comey. >> the president lost confidence in director comey and he had been considering letting director comey go since the day he was elected. >> abc news learned days before he was fired comey requested more resources for the russian investigation, and the white house implying