making news in america this morning, winter arrives early. millions of americans bracing for a blast of bitter cold air. six inches of snow in the northeast. what to expect today and this weekend. breaking overnight, the request from president trump. what he wanted attorney general william barr to do to address the ukraine scandal and how barr responded. the american family ambushed in mexico. three mothers and six children killed. officials blaming drug cartels but this morning, new questions about whether the family was targeted. we take you to their compound. plus, the fight against those annoying pop-up ads online.

why ellen degeneres and sandra bullock are suing. a new way to pull kids away from video games. the lawmakers now imposing a video game curfew. and he died more than 60 years ago. >> what, are you kidding me? >> but james dean is starring in a new film, and it's not without controversy. good thursday morning. everyone. thank you for joining us. we will get to the bitter cold in just a moment, but first we begin with the impeachment battle now going public. >> democrats now say public hearings will begin next wednesday. the first witness to be called, bill taylor a career diplomat with 50 years of public service. >> meanwhile, overnight we learned about a new request president trump made to attorney general william barr. abc's karina mitchell joins us with the new details. karina, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, kenneth and janai. house democrats are promising ambassador bill taylor's

televised testimony is just the beginning as the inquiry probes president trump's alleged effort to pressure ukraine into investigating political rival joe biden and his son. west point grad and vietnam veteran bill taylor, the acting u.s. ambassador to ukraine, will be the first to testify in the impeachment inquiry telling millions of people what he told investigators, that the president withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to the u.s. ally. his transcript released wednesday says he grew so concerned, he sent a rare cable to mike pompeo but received no response. >> the most important facts are largely not contested. >> reporter: during a rally in louisiana overnight, he fired back. >> democrats must be accountable for their hoaxes and for their crimes. really, i mean, do you believe what's going on in washington with these do nothing somewhat evil and in some cases very evil people.

>> reporter: also testifying next week former ukrainian ambassador marie yovanovitch. one republican says none of the evidence points to corruption. >> there are perfectly appropriate quid pro quos, and there are inappropriate quid pro quos. >> reporter: this morning there are new details about the president's actions just as the ukraine story first broke. multiple sources tell abc news that the president wanted attorney general william barr to hold a news conference saying that trump didn't break any laws regarding that july call with ukraine's president. but barr reportedly declined. now, the white house while dismissing the hearings is raising its defense adding two longtime trump allies to its team to come up with a better strategy of pushing back. kenneth. >> all right, karina mitchell, thank you. jeff sessions wants his old job, the one before he was

trump's attorney. later today he's running for his old senate seat in alabama. it was exactly one year ago he fired him as a.g. calling him weak and saying he didn't have a clue. sessions is looking to unseat democrat doug jones. now to the americans caught in the middle of the mexican drug wars. funerals begin today for nine members of the same family killed during an ambush. officials say it may be a case of mistaken identity, but this morning the victims' relatives say they believe their family was targeted. this morning, members of the mexican military are standing guard protecting the american compound and family left just before they were massacred. nine members of the family killed in the attack including six children. officials believe drug traffickers attacked the family as they were traveling to a wedding, possibly confusing them with a rival gang. >> so much more awful than we -- any of us could have imagined. >> reporter: kendra miller was the bride-to-be in that wedding. she and other family members

say they're now convinced the family was intentionally targeted to spark a new battle in the ongoing war between drug gangs. >> so you're saying your family was used as pawns. >> yes. >> what kind of men can even call themselves men that murder women and children and they -- we believe that they did it intentionally. >> reporter: abc's tom llamas made his way to the compound. >> one of the reasons why the drug cartels are so prominent is because this is a remote border region. just driving through here as you can see is incredibly difficult, there are never-ending winding roads. mountains everywhere you look. it's so hard to get here and that's one of the reasons why it's so hard to police. >> reporter: once there he found julian, a relative who searched for the victims. he came upon one of the mothers' suvs lying on the side of the road shot in the heart. in the passenger seat her baby named faith. >> it was a bullet hole through the canopy on the car seat and we opened the canopy and the baby was smiling at us. >> reporter: the americans

who are mormon fundamentalists have been in this area of northern mexico for decades long before the drug cartels took over. now the mexican government says two local cartels are locked in a war. >> a lot of americans are going to say, why did you stay living here with all this drug violence surrounding you? >> there is a lot of goodness around us too. there is a people around us. there's a beautiful people. there's thugs around us but most of the people are good people. >> the mexican officials are vowing to find the killers. they say they're now sharing information with the fbi. a manhunt is under way for a suspected killer in san diego. police a say man shot and killed a woman working at a restaurant after getting into an argument with several employees and say earlier he tried to pay with counterfeit cash and escaped in a blue car. two murder suspects who escaped from a jail in month ray, california, this last weekend have been captured while walking across the mexican border into the u.s. no word how they first got into mexico. the two broke out of jail sunday by escaping through a hole in

the bathroom ceiling. well, now to the weather and a bitter blast of arctic air for millions of americans. the nasty prewinter storm has dumped snow across the upper midwest and sent temperatures plugging into the 20s and 30s and just in time for this morning's commute, those bitter cold temperatures are turning all that snow into ice. so let's get a look at your thursday forecast. good morning. low pressure moving up northeast coast bringing rain and eventually snow to the region. along the 95 corridor the rain is going to be gone before the colder air moves on in to change it over the snow, therefore, most of the accumulations expected across the interior especially northern maine where the heaviest is expecting 6 to

12 inches by friday night. meanwhile farther to the south from nashville to dallas heavy rainfall which could lead to some flooding, some spots up to 5 inches of rain. i'm accuweather meteorologist adam del rosso. coming up, the return of "jeopardy james." also ahead, more time in class. the new proposal in the u.s. senate to make the school day longer by three hours. the decision que

what is algeria? what is helen keller? >> "opardy james" is back. james holzhauer returned to "jeopardy" for wednesday's episode as part of the show's tournament of champions and found only one daily double but still managed to blow out his opponents. he's due back again next week when he could face a rematch with a librarian who dethroned him last time. the school day could soon be a lot longer if some lawmakers on capitol hill get their way.

democratic senator and presidential candidate kamala harris has introduced a bill that would provide funding to extend the school day by three hours in hundreds of schools across the country. the proposal has been co-sponsored by five other senators and the goal is to align school schedules with work schedules to lower child care costs. police in columbus, ohio, say a 6-year-old boy brought a loaded semiautomatic handgun to school and another child saw it in the boy's backpack and told school staffers. it belongs to the boy's grandfather. for now police say they are not pressing charges. unfortunately with a child of 6 years of age in the first grade, criminal intent is hard to articulate. in this case it follows that exact same pattern. we really don't know why the kid brought the gun to school other than show and tell or bragging or showing off. >> police praised the child who alerted school staffers following the rule of see something, say something. police in alabama have released surveillance video of a

person of interest in the search for a missing college student. the man was seen in the same surveillance store that 19-year-old aniah blanchard visited two weeks ago, the last time she was seen. her suv was found two days later badly damaged 50 miles away and police say there were signs of foul play. blanchard's parents have now met with beth holloway whose daughter natalee vanished in aruba back in 2005. we'll have hore on that meeting and the search for aniah later on "good morning america." a fashion announcement from queen elizabeth. she's going fur free. new outfits designed for the 93-year-old monarch will no longer contain real fur but will have it in ceremony dwral robes and other officials garments. animal rights activists are applauding the move. well, coming up, a wild

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we're back with a wild scene. the man and woman inside jump out just as police arrive. officers caught the two and say a gun and bullets were found in the car. the driver of the t-boned vehicle suffered serious injuries. we turn to the accused of spying for saudi arabia. how the company is responding. the men used their access at the social media giant to gather sensitive and personal information on critics of the saudi regime. the goal according to the complaint was to find information that would give up a user's location. >> this ought to serve as a wake-up call to not only twitter

but all the big tech companies. they've become large and powerful, and they are up against highly complex spy operations. >> one of the men, a u.s. citizen, is already under arrest. he was allegedly paid $300,000 by a person identified only as foreign official 1 to access users' private information. the other former twitter employee, a saudi citizen, obtained the twitter data of more than 6,000 twitter users, including at least 33 user names for which saudi arabian law enforcement has submitted emergency disclosure requests to twitter. authorities also charged a third man, a saudi citizen who did not work for twitter. the case marks the first time federal prosecutors have charged saudis with deploying agents inside the united states. according to prosecutors, the saudi government recruited the men because the saudi royal family grew frustrated by growing criticism of its leaders on social media. >> the foreign affairs element to this story is going to grow. >> the allegations come a year after the execution of jamal khashoggi, "the washington post" columnist and critic of the saudi government killed in the saudi consulate in turkey.

the saudi royal family has denied killing khashoggi despite the cia finding the assassination was directly ordered by saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman. >> it's clear that the saudis were looking for information to punish people speaking against them, not just in the terrible brutal murder of mr. khashoggi, but in the form of suppression. >> two of the suspects are believed to be in saudi arabia. the saudis have not commented on the allegations. twitter says it's cooperated with the investigation. ellen degeneres and sandra bullock are working together to fight online scams. they're part of a new lawsuit targeting companies that use fake celebrity endorsements to trick consumers. both women say their names and likenesses have been used without permission to sell products through so-called auto ship programs that contie feeding products to consumers until they realize it's a scam. the suit claims the companies are part of a, quote, opaque and incestuous industry. airbnb is promising to spend

the next year verifying that all 7 million of its listings are accurate. this follows reports about scams run by hosts who are putting guests up in inferior properties that look nothing like the photos posted online. we have an update now on efforts to stop the upcoming execution of a texas man for a murder he says he did not commit. in 1996, rodney reed was convicted of raping and killing a woman after investigators linked dna found on her body to reed. but now a new witness has come forward claiming it was the victim's fiance, a former police officer, who killed her. a petition seeking a new trial for reed has now gained nearly 2 million signatures. >> the support and love that's out there for me, i try not to think about being executed. >> if a new jury were to hear your case, what do you think would exonerate you? >> i know that if they was to hear this case, that this case will itself exonerate me. >> celebrities including rihanna and kim kardashian have joined the movement to save reed.

for now he's set to be executed november 20th. the university of alabama says students will not be punished if they boo president trump this weekend when he attends the alabama football game against lsu. a message from alabama student government had threatened to revoke seating at future games for those engaging in, quote, disruptive behavior. but later that message was clarified to say students have a right to express their opinions. a college junior in nevada got the chance of a lifetime. sink a basket and avoid student loans for the rest of school. he had to make this half-court shot to win free tuition, and, bam, he made it. a bank sponsored the contest with the university of nevada-reno. he was randomly picked from the crowd. he wasn't even planning to attend the game but his friends convinced him to go. ? i'm sure he is very glad he did. up next in "the pulse," a new way to get kids to stop playing video games. also, the late actor james dean starring in a new movie. is digital technology going too far?

plus, the new video of killer whales underwater. what it reveals about their emotions and the power of touch. itso chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye.

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♪ time to check "the pulse." 64 years after his death, actor james dean is returning to the silver screen, but some people aren't so happy about it. >> the rebel without a cause has been inserted into the new movie "finding jack" thanks to cgi technology. dean's family okayed the movie but critics say it's taking technology too far. >> one james fan on twitter called it disturbing and unnerving. another tweeted, leave our legends to shine as they did and create new ones with living actors. >> yep. american parents may want to take advice from china when it comes to cracking down on kids playing video games.

>> so the chinese government has reportedly launched new harsh rules including no gaming between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. no more than 90 minutes of playtime during the week. three hours on weekends and holidays. >> the crackdown comes after reports of gamers getting poor grades in school and some suffering nearsightedness. >> got to do something. >> yeah. next, to the new video of killer whales revealing something we never knew before. >> apparently they're just like us, at least when it comes to showing affection. the video from the university of british columbia reveals the orcas are touchy-feely animals. >> oh. the orcas were communicating with each other all the time, calling out as they searched for food and playing with each other. the lead researcher describes how one young whale showed affection for its mother. >> i was really struck when i watched this mother and calf, and the calf was, in essence, hitting its mom with its tail on

her snout, and then the whale was sort of pushing it along. and we're getting to observe this playfulness, which again from the water surface, it looks as though they're all about business. and yet we're here watching this calf almost like any toddler, doesn't have a care in the world. >> very, very sweet. scientists say the cameras did not disturb the orcas. they apparently never knew they were being watched, also like us. >> oh, so we're vowers apparently for the orcas. they just like to cuddle. >> they do. finally, superman has a new home. >> so he's landed in the front yard of a home in nebraska. all right. so it all started with a dying tree that needed to be cut down. would you look at that? jason thompson wanted someone to carve that big old trunk into superman. >> he got a lot of nos before a college student finally took the job. it tock a year to finish the seven-foot superman. >> there's a lot of detail that went into that. >> it looks incredible. even got the chest and got the

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and it gives me control. it gives me power to be who i want to be everyday. making news right now, firefighters make major progress against the kincade fire. this morning it's no longer a threat. >> did spies working for twitter give your personal information to saudi arabia? federal prosecutors say maybe. and who can forget this heart stopping video. the b.a.r.t. rescue hero will be honored today as we hear from the man whose life he saved for the very first time. that is a good interview. i'm so excited about this. >> i've been wondering if he was going to talk to the media. he has now. it doesn't disappoint. >> good morning, everyone. what is today? thursday? >> it is thursday. it's also christmas. >> yes. happy holidays. >> red cup day at starbucks.

>> we got that going on. what else we got going on? >> we have everything covered. fog is covering all of us this morning. watch out. it's thick out there once again. here's a look at your temperatures today. we'll have mid 60s for half moon bay, san francisco and richmond. 70 to 74 for the rest of the bay. san jose is at about 76. if you're heading out right now, most of us in the mid to upper 40s. 50 in san francisco. 52 in oakland. in los gatos, 61. let's see what's going on with the commute. hi, jobina. >> good morning. i'll show you the fog right now in emeryville. 80, you can h hardly make it ou here. please take your time and be careful as you head out. live look now at the golden gate bridge. there is a fog advisory for the

golden gate bridge as well as a fog advisory on 880 in the san leandro and hayward area. foggy around the robin williams tunnel. foggy at the smidge as well. i don't see a fog advisory there yet. we have tracy to dublin, 32 minutes. antioch to concord, 13 minutes. san rafael to san francisco, 15 minutes. firefighters have won a big victory against the huge kincade fire. this morning it is no longer a threat. >> cal fire says the fire is 100% contained. firefighters have been battling it for two weeks. flames scorched more than 77,000 acres in sonoma county. 174 homes were lost. a public health order prohibiting neighbors from cleaning up their burned property remains in effect because of the toxic matierials in the debris. also this morning, they are still counting ballots in san

francisco. some races are still too close to call. >> one of them is a big one, district attorney. suzy loftus increased her lead with 51% of the vote. public defender, chesa boudin, has almost 49% of the vote. more than 2,200 votes separate the two. we should get another update on the vote count later today. another close race is for district 5 supervisor. brown is now ahead. she is just over 50.3% of the vote compared to dean preston's 49.7%. prop "d," a tax on rideshare rides also too close to call it needs a two-thirds majority to pass, right now yes barely has enough votes at 66.7%. the registrar of votes will release updated results today and we'll have the latest on