that's what's making news in america this morning. is morning. right now on "america this morning," collision course. hurricane laura growing stronger taking aim at the gulf coast expected to make landfall as a major category 3 storm. more than 500,000 people told to evacuate. 24 already killed in the caribbean. the storm surge expected and could the nation's fourth biggest city take a direct hit? melania's moment. the first lady takes center stage at night two of the republican national convention. her message about the pandemic and why she says her husband deserves to be re-elected. breaking overnight, more national guard troops sent to kenosha, wisconsin, as police move in to protect a courthouse during the third night of violent demonstrations over the police shooting of jacob blake. his family revealing new details about that shooting as a prominent coach in the nba

speaks out. >> we're the ones getting killed. we're the ones getting shot. >> his emotional message about black people being killed by police. swept out to sea. two terrifying cases of young children blown out to sea on a raft. just how far they got. >> the battle for britney's fortune. why britney spears' sister is now in control of the pop star's finances. and magically delicious. the cereal spin-off that will have you feeling lucky. good wednesday morning, everyone. hurricane laura is on a collision course with the gulf coast. >> the storm is getting stronger as it takes aim at eastern texas and louisiana. it's expected to grow from a category 2 hurricane to a category 3 when it makes landfall tonight packing winds of 115 miles per hour. >> more than 500,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their

homes, all during a pandemic with authorities trying to set up shelters that will be safe. >> right now houston is closely watching the forecast. one of the biggest cities in this country could end up in the crosshairs of this storm. this morning millions in the path of hurricane laura bracing for landfall. >> we don't have the resources to go door to door and pull people out of their homes. we have no intention of doing that. >> reporter: the deadly hurricane is building speed and strength as it moves north already killing at least 24 people and carving a devastating path through the caribbean and cuba. the wind already so strong, this home was flipped upside down. laura is expected to slam the gulf coast as a category 3 storm in less than 24 hours. coastal areas bracing for up to 13 feet of storm surge. destcte nds and ts, at is life-threatening storm surge well inland. we said 30 miles from the coast ret lake charles and obviously surrounded by water,

we will see a water rise of over ten feet potentially north of interstate 10. >> reporter: families from texas to louisiana now scrambling to get to safety. >> once it gets past the category 2 with the surge issues, there's no way i'm going to take that chance. >> reporter: nursing homes have been emptying out. stores and businesses are boarding up. colleges are busing out students. >> we urge people to take action sooner than later because the weather will get worse. the traffic is going to be worse. >> reporter: long lines of bumper-to-bumper traffic in galveston bringing back memories of the chaotic and deadly evacuation in 2005 before hurricane rita, which caused massive gridlock in the heat. the evacuation ended up causing more deaths than the storm itself. officials in the region are staggering evacuation orders to avoid a repeat of that chaos. but now new worries for the nation's fourth largest city, any movement in laura's track could take it right over houston putting nearly 7 million people in the crosshairs. we will take a closer look at the forecast and the storm's track in just a few minutes. now to the second night of the republican national convention being called melania's night.

the first lady speaking from the rose garden making the case for her husband's re-election. two of the president's children also addressed the convention. abc's ines de la cuetara has those highlights for us. ines, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, kenneth and mona. the second night of this mostly virtual rnc featured a number of trump family members as speakers. on day two of the rnc, the first lady taking center stage. >> almost four years ago we went into election day completely underestimated. >> reporter: speaking from the white house rose garden, melania trump was one of the few speakers to address recent racial unrest and the covid-19 pandemic. >> i want to acknowledge the fact that since march our lives have changed drastically. the invisible enemy, covid-19, swept across our beautiful country and impacted all of us. my deepest sympathy goes out to

everyone who has lost a loved one. >> reporter: even with the death toll surpassing 178,000, larry kudlow, president trump's top economic adviser, claimed the administration successfully fought the virus speaking of it in the past tense. >> then came a once in 100-year pandemic. it was awful. health and economic impacts were tragic. >> reporter: prompting harsh criticism from the biden campaign writing in a statement, not only did the american people hear no plan for overcoming the pandemic after more than seven months of utter mismanagement, but the president's chief economic adviser even referred to the coronavirus in the past tense. secretary of state mike pompeo also facing criticism for speaking from jerusalem during an official visit there shattering precedence. >> i have a big job. as susan's husband and nick's dad, their freedom is more secure because president trump has put his america first vision into action. >> reporter: the night included

remarks from two of the president's children, but the rnc also dropped one speaker, mary anne mendoza, at the last minute after she tweeted out an anti-semitic conspiracy theory and the president made several appearances taking part in a presidential pardon as well as a naturalization ceremony. tonight it'll be vice president pence's turn to speak from ft. mchenry in baltimore. kenneth and mona. >> ines, thank you. the 2016 democratic presidential nominee says former vice president joe biden should not concede on election night under any circumstances. in a new interview hillary clinton says she believes the final election results are going to, quote, drag out because of mail-in voting. now to wisconsin where shots have been fired and that were shot in kenosha during another night of unrest. one was killed. the crowd demanding justice for jacob blake. the black man shot by police. his family providing new details on his condition. overnight protests turning

violent again in kenosha, wisconsin, with police hurling tear gas at demonstrators ignoring a curfew. a fence is now set up protecting the courthouse where protesters have gathered since sunday when video showed police shooting jacob blake. the state now calling in more national guard troops after demonstrators set cars, businesses and homes on fire. one video shows blake struggling with officers seconds before the shooting. another angle shows an officer grabbing blake by his shirt as he tried to get into an suv. blake is then shot at point blank range with his three young children in the backseat. >> all my grandson asks repeatedly is, why did the police shoot my daddy in the back? >> reporter: overnight los angeles clippers coach doc rivers getting emotional when talking about the shooting. >> all you do is keep hearing a

fear. it's -- it's amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country has not loved us back. >> reporter: a witness said officers told blake to, quote, drop the knife before opening fire, but investigators have not said whether he had a weapon or what led to the confrontation. court records show blake had a warrant out for his arrest on sexual assault charges. when asked about the charges, the blake family attorney benjamin crump called it a character assassination. >> and the reality is they know nothing about jacob before that moment that they made that decision. last question. >> reporter: blake's family describing him as a devoted father and a loving brother and son. >> they shot my son seven times,

seven times like he didn't matter, but my son matters. >> wisconsin's department of justice is leading the investigation. a gofundme page has been set up for blake and has now raised more than a million dollars. now to the coronavirus. the trump administration is rolling out new requirements for nursing homes. long-term care facilities could now face fines if they don't test staff on a regular basis. and hospitals that don't report data to the government each day could lose medicare funds. one day after we told you about the first official case of someone getting infected twice with coronavirus, there is word of two more reinfection cases this time in europe raising more questions about how long immunity can last. and back in this country, a growing concern in hawaii. oa is returning to a stay-at-home order because of a surge in cases. even though most states are making progress against the virus, cases are on the rise on college campuses. dorm parties are blamed for an outbreak at the university of miami. a new study reveals how quickly

the virus can spread. 20,000 cases have been traced back to one business conference in boston. as promised, time now for a look at your wednesday morning weather. continuing to track hurricane laura, here is the latest on this rapidly intensifying hurricane. going to feel effects from this along the gulf coast as we roll into the afternoon hours of today. that's how large of a system it is in comparison to marco, which was much, much smaller. here is the track on that, again, feeling effects by this afternoon, but by later on tonight hurricane-force winds will be felt inland and look at the rapid intensification. some 30 miles per hour plus over the course of 24 hours putting it at a midcategory 3, possibly a strong category 3 before it makes landfall late wednesday night or early tuesday morning. storm surge will be the biggest concern from this where we could see up to 14 foot along the southwestern coast of louisiana. i'm meteorologist greg dutra, abc news, new york.

coming up, dunkin' donuts and beer, the new partnership in the beverage industry. but first when we come back, the terrifying moment when a little girl is blown out to sea on a unicorn raft. how she was rescued. and later the surprising twist in the fight over who controls britney spears' finances. ♪ i played with your heart got lost in the game oh baby ♪

check out this unicorn sighting in greece. a little girl drifted from shore and her parents while sitting on a giant floatie. she ended up drifting half a mile from the beach. thankfully a ferry was passing by and was able to rescue her. police helicopters were involved in a similar rescue off the coast of massachusetts. a 5-year-old girl was floating onafwh ad gu blew her more than 300 yards

into the ocean. rescue crews finally reached her and her dad, and they're okay. we turn now to the tragic story from miami. a police officer's wife died after she got trapped in the backseat of her husband's patrol car. abc's megan tevrizian has more. >> reporter: this morning, questions swirling over the death of a miami police officer's wife. >> they're hurting. i'm hurting, so i only can imagine what they are going through. >> reporter: 56-year-old clara paulino found dead in her husband's police patrol suv after getting trapped in the backseat for hourss in the middle of the day as temperatures soared into the 90s. >> i can't imagine. i don't think anybody can. to lose your life in that way is pretty horrific. >> reporter: her husband had parked on the side of the house after coming home from his overnight shift. sometime later she went to the suv apparently looking for something and got trapped in the back with no cell phone to call for help. her family finding her hours

later. >> she raised wonderful children. her husband, all of them. just nice people. >> reporter: "the miami herald" reports the partition between the back and front seats may have prevented her from being able to honk the horn and officials say the doors lock automatically when they close. one neighbor saying evidence from inside the vehicle shows paulino, quote, clearly panicked to get out. >> it's an unfortunate situation. the woman is dead. it's a loss for them. it's a loss for us. >> reporter: it remains unclear what she may have been looking for. investigators confirm they're treating her death as an accident. kenneth, mona. >> megan, thank you for that update. and coming up, a new bombshell allegation in the sex scandal surrounding evangelical leader jerry falwell jr. and later, the wedding ceremony with a big surprise. here's to the duers. to all the people who realize they can du more

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near miami. residents believe the bull has been in the area since early yesterday. no word who the owner is or where that bull came from. new details in the sex scandal surrounding evangelical leader jerry falwell jr. the man falwell admits had an affair with his wife is speaking out claiming the falwells first approached him and invited him to their hotel room. he later became a business partner. he claims falwell is, quote, a predator and sent him an image of a college student exposing herself at falwell's farm. falwell has not responded to the claim. the battle over who controls britney spears' finances has taken a new turn. her younger sister jamie lynn has been named a trustee and will control her sister's fortune. jamie lynn has been a fierce supporter of britney's following her meltdown 12 years ago. her father held that court ordered role but stepped down for health concerns. turning back to the

coronavirus, the cdc is out with surprising new guidelines when it comes to who should get tested. also there's a new study on social distancing. earlier i spoke with dr. shashank ravi about these headlines. let's begin with that surprising reversal from the cdc on testing guidelines. they're now saying you may not need to get tested for covid-19 even if you've had contact with someone who's infected. this is pretty confusing. what do we need to know? >> basically taking the onus of determining who needs a test from the federal level and moving it to the state and local level. there are some concerns with that. it does limit the ability to contact trace and really isolate and clamp down on these potential cases before they spread to a larger population. >> we've been told to keep a social distance of six feet but new research says we should evaluate social distance. it's depending on where we are indoors or outdoors. what's the takeaway here? >> there are many other variables that can impact how far the virus can travel in the air. as we start to go back to schools and offices, we need to

think about what we can do to minimize these risks, which includes wearing a mask and not putting ourselves in high-risk situations. six feet isn't a magic number by any means, but it's really how we can augment the risk of exposures. >> a new study finds the number of children infected with covid-19 has gone up 20% in the past two weeks. is the return to class for so many students the main factor for this increase? >> data that showed there was that increase of 20% to 21% was from data from the american academy of pediatrics, which looked at a date between august 6th and august 20th. i believe those dates are early to say that this is due primarily to kids going back to school. i think as we move into the fall and we do get more in-person schooling up and running, we'll need to carefully monitor that number and see if there is a change in that rate of increase. >> our thanks to dr. ravi there. and coming up, the news about lucky charms cereal this morning. also ahead, tom cruise sneaks into a busy movie theater.

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♪ ♪ time to check "the pulse." we begin with a big movie star at the movies. >> it was a surprise cameo from tom cruise himself but not on the big screen. cruise posted a video of himself in london heading to a theater to see the new film "tenet." and he was surprised when fans recognized him in the taxi with his mask on. >> yes. cruise praised the film saying big movie, big screen, loved it. >> i guess that mission wasn't so impossible. next the lightning strike coming right on cue at a wedding in massachusetts. >> the groom was delivering his vows, y'all, and making a crack about the difficult year when this happened. >> let's face it, 2020 has not been the best year.

>> oh, you talking about me? >> a message from above and mother nature proved his point. >> but the couple says the storm didn't last long. omen. next to the 3-year-old offering a sweet thank you to first responders during this pandemic. >> mia is delivering more than a thousand chocolate chip cookies to hospital and supermarket workers and fire and police departments. >> her mom helps with the baking. mia has been working on the recipe since she was 18 months old. >> what? >> she includes a picture with each delivery. cute. >> so accomplished. finally some news for sugar fans this morning. first the sweet headline about lucky charms. >> if you want extra marshmallows with your cereal, you can now buy them. general mills plans to sell lucky charms marshmallows in six-ounce bags for $3.99. but only for a limited time. >> and get this, from cereal to doughnuts, dunkin' donuts is now teaming up with harpoon brewery to make doughnut infused beer.

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♪ . desperately needed help is the way for weary firefighters. national guard troops will be here. and the weather is also turning in firefighters' favor with cooler temperatures and higher humidity. and that better weather is helping firefighters with containment. the three major fires burning in the way area a bay area are at least 20% contained. i like when we can start the day off with good news and more good new, mike is in the studio with me. >> how are you or should i say how are you? .eah, in the studio the next so let's take a look at more good news. hi, everybody. good morning, thanks for joining us on this wednesday.

and you can see a lot of green as we look through the bay area so far this morning. and wouldn't you know, having computer problems. so let me walk other than here and see if i can get this to work. there we go. yellow and green just about everywhere. and so let's talk about what will happen today. we have the air quality advisory that spare the air as we talked about yesterday, extended through at least friday. temperatures today from 67 in san francisco to 92 in antioch. and the battle against major wildfires burning in the bay area and in california finally paying off. the latest tally from cal fire indicates that they destroyed a com confined 11.125 million acrs of land. but the more than 14,000 on the front lines are starting to get the upper hand. crews are making progress on the

czu lightning complex fire. morning.% containedhis and julian glover is live in santa cruz county where we're expecting an update on the overnight battle in about 90 minutes. >> reporter: good morning. we'll get that update at 6:00 this morning. but yes, containment ticking up from 17% to 19%. that was the last up date as of yesterday evening. and more good news to tell you about, they have really had two back to back days of favorable weather conditions that have really helped in the firefight effort. so more good news as far as the santa clara county evacuation warnings, they are no longer in place. they we cleared yesterday as crews made significant are confident won't creep into the palo alto area. but still we know some 443 buildings have been destroyed. and the santa cruz county. so many of these 77,000 people

who have been evacuate so far wondering what might be waiting for them when they are allowed to return home. >> this is just devastating. i grew up in these mountains, i've lived here all my life. this is just off the hook. it is over the top lollipop. >> caller: that woman you heard from, kathy, she lives in davenport, an area that we have seen ravaged by the flames. and these are the conditions evacuees are staying in. around 75 people seeking shelter at the santa cruz civic auditorium living in tents spaced out 6 feet apart. and we'll get that update in the 6:00 a.m. news conference and we'll bring that to you live here. but the firefight continues around the clock with nearly 1700 personnel now working the yzu lig czu lightning complex fire. julian glover, abc 7