>> stay with us for "gma." making news in america this morning, worldwide alert. global health authorities issue a new warning about the mystery virus in china. with the number of infected people on the rise. we hear from the americans evacuated from the epicenter of the outbreak. what happens next? kobe bryant's widow breaks her silence for the first time since the crash that killed her husband. her message to the fans and what she says she does after waking up every day. plus the powerful new tribute overnight from the nba star who called kobe his teacher. parenting alert. new research out this morning on how to get kids to learn more at home and at school. the simple technique that can get kids to focus 30% more. plus, oprah's book club backlash. is a novel promoted by oprah

racist? we hear from the author now facing threats. new questions along the u.s./mexico border as a new section of border wall collapses in the wind. and from the american tennis player taking on the number one woman in the world to the new commercial featuring a "game of thrones" fan favorite to the surprise survey on the number one super bowl snack. all the trending stories for your thursday morning. good thursday morning, everyone. thank you for joining us. we begin with the worldwide alert concerning that mystery virus in china. >> the world health organization says the whole world needs to be on alert to fight the coronavirus. y decidi whether to meeting declare a global health emergency, and overnight authorities in china confirmed more than 7,700 cases. >> in the meantime, we're now hearing from some of the americans evacuated from the epicenter of the outbreak.

this morning, back on american soil but a long way from home. >> it felt great to get back to the states. >> reporter: patrick stockstill, his wife and young son were on board the flight that evacuated nearly 200 americans from wuhan, china. ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak. >> when we first stepped on board my jaw dropped. i've never seen a plane set up like that before. it was a wide open cargo plane but had passenger seats in it and honestly it felt like something out of a movie. >> reporter: crews wearing protective white suits greeted the passengers as they landed at this military base in california. stockstill's wife was forced to leave her family behind in china. >> i didn't have a choice, and i feel so bad that they are still stuck in china. >> reporter: meanwhile, the number of cases now growing worldwide with at least 170 deaths and more than 7,700 people infected. all but 68 of the confirmed cases are in china. airlines around the world are not taking any chances suspending or scaling back flights to and from china. including delta, american and united. and tesla is the latest company

to close a facility in china because of the outbreak shutting down its factory in shanghai until further notice. as for the stockstills they'll be quarantined until at least this weekend at that military base along with the rest of the passengers before they can finally head home to rhode island. >> asked the first customs guy i saw, where is the nearest u.s. soil i could kiss. >> as many as 800 americans are still believed to be stranded in wuhan, china. here in the u.s., the number of patients with the virus remains at five. now to los angeles where people forced to flee this burning apartment building wednesday have still not been allowed home. city fire officials are investigating the cause, and they say it's too early to call the fire suspicious. 11 people were injured including a baby. one man, who you can see right there, was clinging to the side of the building with those flames just a few feet away. he was eventually brought to safety by a firefighter on a ladder. that building has no sprinkler system because it was built back in 1961, and los angeles didn't require sprinklers in new

buildings until 1974. hundreds of residents had to escape down crowded stairwells. >> i heard people run around in the hallway, and then i smelled some smoke and then i heard like a thousand fire trucks and i was like, something is not right. >> i got up and i looked out, and i saw there's flames. things are falling. glass, flames on my balcony. >> more than a dozen people were hoisted off the roof into rescue helicopters. two victims were in critical condition overnight. we turn to washington and the new fireworks overnight in president trump's impeachment trial. they came as senators were asking questions and ramping up the battle over whether witnesses will be called to testify. and we have new reporting on the vote count. abc's megan tevrizian has the latest from washington. megan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, kenneth and janai. senators have one more day to ask questions setting the stage for a possible witness vote tomorrow. pressure is mounting over witness testimony, and at the

center of the debate is former national security adviser john bolton. >> i'm no fan of john bolton although i like him a little more than i used to. but you should hear from him. you should want to. >> reporter: attention on bolton fueled by his unpublished book that reportedly claims the president withheld aid to pressure ukraine to investigate political rival joe biden and his son. republicans pushing for a speedy end to the trial saying if the senate votes to have witnesses, they have a list too. >> i want adam schiff. i want hunter biden. i want joe biden. i want the whistle-blower. >> reporter: the president attacking bolton on twitter calling his book nasty and untrue and sending bolton's team a letter claiming it can't be published in its current form because it contains top secret information. today attention turns to those key moderate republican senators who could clear the way for new witness testimony asking the first question on wednesday.

>> on behalf of myself, senator murkowski and senator romney. >> reporter: their question, what if trump had multiple motives for his pressure campaign on ukraine? >> and if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment. >> reporter: and going into the second day of questioning, sources tell abc news that senate republicans believe they have enough votes to stop new witnesses from testifying, but the situation remains fluid. kenneth, janai. >> megan tevrizian there on capitol hill. thank you. kobe bryant's widow is breaking her silence using instagram to make her first comments since sunday's helicopter crash that killed her husband and her 13-year-old daughter. vanessa bryant wrote, there aren't enough words to describe our pain right now. i'm not sure what our lives hold beyond today, but we wake up

each day trying to keep pushing because kobe and our baby girl gigi are shining on us to light the way. thank you for sharing your joy, your grief and your support with us. she also added, it is impossible to imagine life without them. meanwhile, the los angeles lakers practiced wednesday for the first time since bryant's death, and they play their first game tomorrow. across the country in brooklyn two seats where kobe and gianna bryant sat during a recent game were left open. last night with flowers placed on them as a tribute.last night on them as a tribute. and you see there brooklyn star kyrie irving holding back tears trying to, and he spoke after the game about being mentored by kobe. >> he left a lot of teachings, a a lot of bread crumbs, i call them, and i just followed every sing one, you know. that probably pays a lot of focus into the person i am today. >> reporter: as for the crash investigation our station in

phoenix reports the wreckage of the helicopter has now been taken to arizona to a secure facility. and the coroner has officially now identified all nine crash victims. some encouraging medical news this morning. for the first time in four years americans are living longer. new government figures show life expectancy in the u.s. rose slightly last year, largely because of a decline in the rate of cancer deaths and drug overdoses. but researchers caution it's still too early to tell if the country has turned the corner on the opioid epidemic. authorities in houston say everyone on this school bus was able to escape a fast-moving fire. one of the passengers was a special needs student in a wheelchair who was removed along with three adult. no word yet on what caused the fire. well, time for a look at your weather for this thursday morning. check out that waterspout that was spotted off the coast of florida's delray beach wednesday. it came after the national weather service had issued a

special marine warning for that area. rain has been moving across parts of the south, but it is expected to dry out later this morning. looking at today's high temperatures, only in the 30s in boston and new york. upper 50s to low 60s from georgia to louisiana. 70 for phoenix and close to 50 in portland and seattle where more rain is expected across the region. coming up, the young american who faced off with the number one woman in the world at the australian open today. but first new questions along the u.s./mexico border after a new section of the border wall collapses in the wind. plus, the underwater crash involving the wrecka

my name is eddie metcalf. i enjoworking in my yard and you know, i can't. i can't do that any more,'cuz i'm missing most of my lung. they did a cat scan of my kidneys, no more kidney stones. that's the good news. "but, we found a spot on your lung." that frankly scared the "hell" out of me. i hadn't smoked in 22 years. how could this happen to me? he said, "well, you know about radon gas?" we'll... you know, i heard about it. he said, "well, the second leading cause of cancer" "in america is radon, 22,000 people a year die from this." i literally left the doctor's office, got a test kit, put it in my house, and our result was 39.8. the upper limit is 4. we got to get this fixed. that was on a monday, and on wednesday, our mitigation system was up and running. well, i think everybody should have their house tested.

we'd never know. we'd still be living there. i could get another tumor from it. right now, it's changing my life.

we're back with this crash scene from atlanta where police say a woman drove her suv off this parking deck, and you see there the suv was left dangling. emergency crews had to secure the vehicle making sure that it wouldn't move before allowing the woman to climb down a ladder to safety. she is okay. and in arizona a driver says she's lucky that this wrench came flying through her windshield on the passenger side and not on the driver's side where she was. she said she thought it was a bird at first. she says it likely flew off a truck on the highway. strong winds along the california/mexico border are being blamed for collapsing a new section of the border wall. this part of the wall was being held up by trees on the mexico side. border agents say the wall had only recently been set in concrete, and that's why the wind was able to blow it over. no one was injured. authorities have announced the discovery of the longest drug smuggling tunnel ever found along the southern border. it's nearly a mile long, and it's 70 feet underground.

the tunnel was equipped with electricity, a ventilation system, even an elevator. it runs from an industrialindusl site in tijuana to san diego and believe it's been used by cartels to smuggle tons of drugs into the u.s. >> the tunnel discovery is another drastic reminder of how serious the drug problem is and how the cartels will take risks and expend endless amounts of money to get deadly drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine into the united states. >> so far no arrests have been reported, and it's unclear when that tunnel was last used. a new report claims the wreck of the "titanic" was hit by a submarine last year, but the u.s. government kept it a secret. that's according to legal documents reviewed by the british newspaper "the telegraph." it says a $35 million underwater vehicle hit the "titanic" wreckage in july. it comes ahead of what could be a landmark court battle over the future of the wreckage. some good news from space

this morning. two old satellites avoided smacking into each other last night. the satellites traveling at 17,000 miles per hour had a 5% chance of colliding in the sky over pittsburgh raising some concern, as you can imagine. no word yet on just how close they came, but we're glad they missed. >> pittsburgh is okay this morning. coming up, a major safety recall involving a popular brand of infant chairs. but first the best way to get your child to pay attention and learn. the new research on praise versus punishment. and up next, the growing firestorm surrounding a book promoted by oprah and the security concerns for the author. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) once-weekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like james lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight. adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. i lost almost 12 pounds! oh! (announcer) ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events

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and we turn now to oprah's book club sparking controversy. >> critics are slamming a novel promoted by oprah calling it racist, and now the publisher is canceling the author's book tour because of safety concerns, and oprah is now speaking out. this morning, the book with oprah's seal of approval now at the center of a firestorm. >> this book, "american dirt," just gutted me. >> reporter: "american dirt" is a fictional tale that sounds all too real. a mexican woman migrates to the u.s. border with her son making the dangerous journey after her husband and other family members are killed by a drug cartel. but critics say the book is inaccurate and full of stereotypes. and now the publisher has canceled author jeanine cummins' book tour citing threats made to her safety. cummins, who is of irish and puerto rican background, raised questions herself about the narrative writing in the author's note at the end of the book that she had wondered if someone slightly browner than me should have written it. but cummins said she did five years of research for the book. >> i'm a writer.

you know, i endeavor to write a novel that i hoped would move people. >> reporter: the book has been praised by several authors including stephen king but 83 other prominent authors have written a letter to oprah urging her to reconsider making "american dirt" part of her book club writing, good intentions do not make good literature particularly when the execution is so faulty and the outcome so harmful. but it appears oprah is not backing down saying she's following the debate and hopes for a broader discussion. >> i spent the past few days listening to members of the latinx community to get a greater understanding of their concerns, and i hear them. i do. so what i want to do is bring people together from all sides to talk about this book. >> and the controversy is not hurting sales. "american dirt" is currently amazon's best-seller. some news for parents and teachers this morning. a new study is out on the best way to keep kids focused at school.

researchers say praise, not punishment, can be the most effective way for children to learn. the study looked at kids between kindergarten and sixth grade and found kids work harder and focus up to 30% more when they hear positive reinforcement, and experts say that praise is especially effective for kids who struggle academically. >> good job, kenneth. >> oh, thank you. we have a safety recall to tell you about. an infant rocking chair made by graco is being recalled because of concern that it could suffocate children. the consumer product safety commision is recalling the graco little lounger rocking seat. a similar product was recalled by fisher-price last year after the deaths of dozens of children. we have more details on that on our website. in sports a major upset down under. sofia kenin, the only american left in the singles draw at the australian open, has now advanced to the final. she beat top seeded ashley barty in straight sets. kenin will play in her first grand slam final this saturday.

well, up next in "the pulse," the new commercial featuring a star from "game of thrones." also ahead we hear from the first female nfl coach to make it to the super bowl. what she's learned about leadership. and what's the number one super bowl snack? well, depends where you live. >> chips. mornings were made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results.

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♪ it's time to check "the pulse." we begin with a trail blazer on the brink of nfl history. >> when the chiefs and the 49ers face off in miami sunday, katie sowers will become the first woman ever to coach in the super bowl. >> she is an assistant coach for san diego and doesn't believe gender should play a role in leadership. >> it's not just men that can lead men. it's not that women could lead men. it's that people can lead people

if they're true leaders. i'm willing and i'm happy to be a trail blazer and -- because i know that other women, other young girls are watching this, and maybe their path seems a little clearer now. >> that's right, katie. sowers said she wanted to be a teacher, a coach or a counselor, and now she's all three. all right, so the owner of -- more football news for you. the owner of the dallas cowboys, jerry jones, is going big, like real, real big for the big game sunday. >> huge. jones arrived in miami for the super bowl with his 357-foot yacht. look at that. that supersized "bravo eugenia" was almost too long for the dock. >> it sleeps 14 people and it was a bargain. $250 million. >> 357 feet and it only sleeps 14? >> that's it. >> we could pack that full of more. next two pop culture phenomena are joining forces for a super bowl commercial.

>> "game of thrones" star maisie williams belts out the hit "frozen" song "let it go" while in an audi. take a look. ♪ let it go let it go can't hold it back anymore ♪ ♪ let it go let it go turn away and slam the door ♪ ♪ i don't care what they're going to say ♪ ♪ let the storm rage on >> the commercial doesn't say exactly why she's singing "let i it go," but the exhaust fumes and gas stations give a hint. the super bowl snacks and the most popular ones. >> so it depends where you live. according to google search data a lot like dip. from california to florida they're searching for buffalo chicken dip. >> but it's seven-layer dip in texas. a different story in missouri, new york and alabama where they're craving potato skins. >> the number one search in most

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. making news right now, more fallout from the corruption scandal rocking san francisco's city hall. a top official at sfo now resigning. we are completely devastated, those words from kobe bryant's wife vanessa as she reaches out to fans. health leaders about to meet to consider declaring a global coronavirus emergency. it's spread from china to 20 countries. good morning. it is thursday, january 30th. >> let's get you out the door. meteorologist mike nicco has a look at your foreca. at temperatures. you can see we're in the mid 40s to low 50s. 42 in san ramon. 43 in livermore, napa and santa rosa 46. fremont at 49.

milder around san mateo and half moon bay. 54 in san francisco. let's see where we end up this afternoon. we'll push the temperatures up the scale a little bit. 62 at san francisco. 69 in santa rosa. 67 in san jose. oakland, concord, livermore, 66. warmer tomorrow, i'll show you that coming up. good morning. happening now, we have this commuter alert for the caldecott tunnel. this is bore number 1, eastbound highway 24, started at 10:00 p.m. it will wrap up at 4:30. i'm letting you know about this because there was just a crash here that has just been cleared up. a live look right now at oakland, 880 at the coliseum. headlights are moving south. and all the way in, south san jose, 101, looking nice and clear. going to pull up the drive times here. we have a slowdown, tracy to

dublin, 32 minutes. >> thank you. the corruption scandal at city hall continues to spread. one person resigning from the airport, and another person on city council is asking to have a bigger investigation. >> and abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield has more on this. >> the scandal has hit here at sfo. an airport commissioner has stepped down citing health reasons. a supervisor is planning to call for her resignation before she decided to step down. we're talking about linda crayton. she is saying she resigned for health reasons. she met with the two men arrested in this scandal, mohammed nuru and nick bovis. she was offered a $5,000 cash bribe in exchange for granting bovis a bid to open a restaurant at the airport. she did not accept the money. she has not been charged with a crime, but san francisco supervisor aaron peskin did not

like what he read in the criminal complaint about crayton. >> while it is true that a sitting city commissioner did not take a cash bribe, the words that were recorded are beyond unethical and inappropriate. it is conduct that is not becoming of a city officer, which an airport commissioner is. >> another supervisor, matt haney, will be calling today for the immediate firing of the public works director, mohammed nuru, and will be calling for an internal investigation into that department. nuru and bovis face up to 20 years in prison on corruption charges. nuru's attorney says his lint lo client looks forward to fighting the allegations. back to lia