good morning, america. new guidelines. the cdc shrinking the suggested distance between students and school. what it means and how several teachers unions are pushing back. >> what are we going to do in terms of urban schools? plus, cruising into summer. two cruise lines announce a return. what to expect on the high seas, an exclusive interview with the ceo of celebrity cruises. showing support. president biden and vice president harris visiting atlanta following the deadly spa shooting. >> hate can have no safe harbor in america. >> as a community mourns after the rampage, the painful and personal toll. >> she was quite literally the only thing that kept us running. >> the son of a woman who lost her life speaks out.

also right here, the latest on the investigation. turned away at the border. migrants sent back to mexico as many as 800 miles away from where they first crossed the border. is it a sign of a toughening stance as sources tell abc news the number of migrant children in border custody is skyrocketing. new allegations against new york governor andrew cuomo. this time a current aide in the governor's office for allegations of sexual harassment and how she's corroborating another woman's accusation. how the governor is responding this morning. and bracket busting. march madness it is. >> it's march. expect the unexpected. >> a slew of thrilling first round upsets. all the highlights, plus my own personal secret weapon, the young bracketologist i've enlisted to try to beat the odds.

i famously am a sports expert >> that's right. >> so the guy i recruited is -- it's a little bit of nepotism. >> child labor. > definitely child labor. >> yes. paula faris' son helped me win fantasy football a couple years ago. so that's coming up first, though, this morning i want to say happy first day of spring. a big deal. and right to our top story, the cdc is revising social distancing guidelines for classrooms. new york city, the nation's largest school system, among those already changing plans in reaction to their reduced social distancing recommendations while other districts such as pittsburgh taking a wait and see approach. >> but major teachers unions across the country are pushing back, some saying they want more information and others claiming the guidelines are being revised because of a lack of physical space in schools. >> the new recommendations coming on the same day president biden and vice president harris visited the cdc in atlanta and a key new milestone, the country administering more than 100

million vaccine doses since president biden was inaugurated. that's reaching his goal for his first 100 days in nearly half the time. and just about 30% of americans over the age of 18 have received at least one dose, more than 16% are fully vaccinated. abc's zohreen shah joins us from southern california with the very latest. zohreen, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, whit. those vaccinations are key to re-opening and changes in cdc guidelines could be too. it's been about a year since children walked these hallways and those new recommendations could help them get back into classrooms. this morning, the major change that could get millions of students back in classrooms full time conflicting parents. >> right now it's actually just my son and one other girl who are back. it's two kids. so, you know, i wanted to feel normal for them. >> sometimes i feel like the cdc is out of touch. let's stop this madness. keep the kids home.

>> reporter: the cdc reducing its distancing guidelines from six feet to three for elementary school students when everyone wears a mask. also applying to middle and high school students except in areas of high community transmission where they must work in small groups or remain six feet apart. >> i'm hopeful that we're turning a corner on this pandemic. getting our children back to school in person instruction as soon as possible is a critical first step in doing so. >> reporter: the cdc citing three studies showing shorter distance in classrooms did not compromise safety. still, major teachers unions sounding the alarm. >> this feels like an equity issue again, that, you know, that the suburban schools and maybe some rural schools can do this, but what are we going to do in terms of urban schools? >> reporter: the push for re-opening safely comes amid the biden administration's new warning, the highly contagious uk variant makes up 30% of u.s. infections. this as the vaccine rollout reaches the president's goal of 100 million shots in his first

100 days, well ahead of schedule. the vaccine enabling many states to roll back restrictions. connecticut restaurants able to open at 100% capacity. but in florida, overnight, packed crowds inside a popular ft. lauderdale bar. this line filled with mostly maskless people wrapping around the block to get inside. and we've rolled back on restrictions here in l.a. county too, but we're learning overnight over 3 million shots into arms here, still dr. fauci cautioning not to re-open too fast. whit. >> all right, zohreen shah for us, thank you so much. and joining us now from connecticut is abc news chief medical correspondent dr. jennifer ashton. dr. jen, always great to have you. thanks for joining us. so we're getting a lot of new data about the virus in kids in the classroom. what should parents and schools take away from the fact that the cdc was willing to cut the recommended distancing in half? >> well, i think the big thing,

whit, is that we are being guided by science here. evidence and not emotion and a scientific mind is one that remains adaptable and flexible as we learn more about the way this virus spreads in different environments amongst different populations. we have to be able to pivot and change gears here, and certainly when you're talking about this population and the risks involved in not bringing people back to school, this is a situation where clearly the science is showing the benefits tweigh the risks, and we have to remember as we just heard in that piece, this is under muty spread is low and 100% of people in a classroom setting are masked. >> and we did hear some people pushing back there, especially the teachers unions. it's been such a hot button debate. these new guidelines also

have implicatiol they're still advised to stay six feet away from other staff members and while interacting with kids. why the difference there between the adults and the children? >> well, whit, i'm glad you brought that up. i think it's very important to recognize and acknowledge that there are different age groups and different subsets of populations when you talk about schools. it's not just kids, and i think one of the big things that we've learned about this virus is that it behaves differently in different age groups. that's really, really important. so, yes, for adults and not just teachers but any adults, the six feet rule still applies, and we have to remember and remind everyone that just when they hear this headline, this is in school settings only. this is not a green light to shorten that distance yet in our general lifestyle. >> another topic i want to get to here if we can, dr. fauci is expressing concerns about those highly contagious

variants, and he's worried that many people are still hesitant to get the vaccine. explain to us why those two things are connected and what happens if a lot of people choose not to get the shot? >> yeah, whit, you know, viruses mutate for a living, and we've heard dr. anthony fauci say, if the virus is not replicating and spreading in the community, it will not mutate. so literally the faster we get a majority of the population vaccinated, the more we will see a slowing of these variants because, remember, if they are more transmissible, we'll have more people infected and, therefore, eventually sadly more people critically ill and dying so the vaccination is critically important in slowing the mutation of this virus. >> something to watch closely in the months to come. dr. ashton, always appreciate your time. thank you. eva, over to you. now to president biden and vice president harris condemning attacks on asian-americans during a trip to atlanta where a gunman killed eight people. this week six were of asian descent.

abc's elwyn lopez has the tributes in atlanta to those victims and the president's vow. good morning to you, elwyn. >> reporter: good morning, eva. the pieces after the violent - attack here that put a nationwide spotlight on anti-asian sentiment. this as the president and the vice president stopped short of calling the killings a hate crime. this morning, a show of support to a community stricken over tuesday's deadly rampage. >> hate can have no safe harbor in america. >> a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. >> reporter: president biden and vice president harris in atlanta condemning racism, just days after eight people were killed in shootings at three separate spa locations in the metro area. six of the victims asian women jung grant, a 51-year-old single mother to two sons. >> she was quite literally the

only thing that kept us running, calling every night to check up on us before she goes to bed, working for however long as she needed to. >> reporter: state representative bee nguyen the first vietnamese-american to serve in the georgia house says she was inundated with texts the day of the shooting. >> i was horrified. i started getting messages from family members and friends tuesday night shortly after the i do want and hope to see this treated as a hate crime. >> reporter: while the killings have not been classified as a hate crime, authorities say nothing is off the table. >> much more work has to be done. i think that people thought that it was all wrapped up once we made the arrest, but now this is where the real work begins. >> reporter: the suspect, 21-year-old robert aaron long, appears to be in this 2018 social media video.uthern bapti

taken down. the church confirming long's membership but not commenting on the video saying in part in a statement, quote, the shootings were a total repudiation of our faith and practice. from coast to coast an outpouring of support and growing tributes for those killed. among them, a mother, a wife, an army veteran. >> i'm just here to kind of pay my respects for the victims, because they're the ones that need to be front and center right now. >> reporter: and the one common denom iters of those coming here to pay their respects is not only grief, it is also outrage. many mourners telling me their pain is only amplified called this a hate crime, dan. >> elwyn, thank you very much. moving on now this morning we are getting new images of migrants being returned to mexico. the people who were deported were apparently taken by surprise as they were escorted by border patrol agents and handed over to authorities in

mexico. the biden administration has css our southern border. abc's chief national correspondent matt gutman is in sund landpark, new mexico, with much more. matt, good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, good morning. that surge you just mentioned is dmocrats and republicans as a humanitarian crisis and one of the senators who visited a detention center here in el paso yesterday said he visited with a 13-year-old girl, said he had to fight back tears and a judge visiting another detention center here said it was so dangerously overcrowded that it is a situation that will inevitably unravel. this morning, new images showing devastated migrants, many with children being led back into mexico after deportation from the u.s. this as the biden administration grapples with a border crisis it cannot seem to contain. this father emotional when talking about his family being

returned to mexico. overnight sources telling abc news, the number of migrant children and teens in border patrol custody has swollen past 4,600, a record 50% in two weeks. the majority of them held in warehouse-like facilities longer than five days. the legal limit is three days. >> we see very dangerous conditions that these migrants are forced to be in, whether it be lack of running water or the exposure and spread of covid. >> reporter: that as abc news has learned that one facility near mcallen, texas, that has a capacity for 250 migrants has over 3,300 in custody. and that border wall meant to keep people out easily scaled as we saw near el paso. this discarded heap of metal is actually what's left of dozens of makeshift ladders used by migrants to get over the wall and use this hook to get over the top. to address the crisis homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas toured hard hit el paso

in a trip cloaked in secrecy. the administration citing covid and privacy concerns. president biden urging migrants not to come to the border now telling george earlier this week the administration is working to restructure the facilities. >> we're in the process of getting set up, and it's not going to take a whole long time is to be able to apply for asylum in place. >> reporter: for the time being small texas towns are struggling to cope with the surge. >> we need more manpower. we need more technology. >> reporter: now, the biden administration is saying that it's working to streamline the transfer of migrant children and teens from those border patrol facilities into shelters run by hhs which are specifically designed for children. but we are told by officials that the number of migrants and children crossing the border as the peak of migration season nears could double or even triple.

whit. >> all right, matt gutman for us with that alarming situation at. thank you so much. we do want to move to new accusations against new york's governor. coming from the first current aide to publicly accuse andrew cuomo of harassment. abc's trevor ault has the latest claims. >> reporter: this morning new allegations of sexual harassment against new york governor andrew cuomo from a woman who still works for him. alyssa mcgrath is the first current aide in the governor's office to publicly come forward describing a series of unsettling interactions to "the new york times" claiming among other things cuomo would ogle her telling her she was beautiful in italian and in one inform had his office, she says he stared down her shirt before commenting a necklace there. mcgrath corroborated the story of another anonymous aide reportedly who told "the albany times" cuomo had groped her at

the governor's mansion and said cuomo had asked her not to talk about the alleged incident knowing the two women regularly spoke and texted about their interactions with mr. cuomo. a lawyer for the governor told "the times," the governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead or hand. none of this is remarkable although it may be old fashioned. he has made clear that he has never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone. mcgrath is now the eighth woman to accuse cuomo of some form of sexually inappropriate behavior and while he has admitted to unintentionally making some uncomfortable, he sternly denied any sexual misconduct. >> i never harassed anyone, i never abused anyone. i never assaulted anyone now and i never would. >> reporter: the new york assembly and state attorney general are now in the midst of sweeping investigations, and this week one of the accusers, former aide ana liss, says she was investigated by four investigators from the ag's office on thursday. >> i don't think the average person in new york state would

like to know that their governor is an absolute monster. >> reporter: and today will likely be the first time we hear from a cuomo accuser at a news conference. lindsey boylan, the first woman to come forward, is scheduled to speak this afternoon. eva. >> trevor ault for us there, thank you for that report. now to cruise lines trying to make a comeback a year after being forced to dock their ships because of the pandemic. two of them announcing their first sailings. abc's transportation correspondent gio benitez is here in new york with an exclusive interview with the ceo of celebrity cruises. good morning to you, gio. >> reporter: hey, eva. good morning to you. the ceo of celebrity tells me bookings for 2022 are at historic highs. clearly many people want to get back on the water and starting in june they can. this morning, royal caribbean and celebrity cruises saying they'll restart operations in june, but not from american shores. royal caribbean from the bahamas, celebrity from st. maarten.

>> i think people have a lot of optimism about the future and their ability to see the world again. >> reporter: the ceo of celebrity cruises, lisa lutoff-perlo, speaking exclusively with "gma." it was over a year ago when covid outbreaks shut down the cruise industry. and in your case, every single passenger and crew member must be vaccinated? >> every guest and our crew must be vaccinated if they're 18 or older, and for children they will be required to have a negative pcr test within 72 hours of their cruise as well. one of the things that our guests have told us is that when they come back, they don't want their experience to be altered. >> reporter: lisa says it's too early to know what covid protocols will look like in june but that some changes are permanent like cleaning procedures and the air filtration systems. >> those will go on into perpetuity. we've modified our medical centers on board just to be able to take care of different things we didn't anticipate in the past when we built them. >> reporter: one of the biggest changes, what lisa calls a robust contact tracing program.

>> so it's going to be very easy to know where those people have been and who they've been with. >> reporter: the cdc had said in october that cruise lines would have to run test cruises with volunteer passengers on board before setting sail from america but -- >> the world has changed so much since october, especially the vaccines have changed and really been a game changer for all of us, so we'll see. >> reporter: and the cdc telling us overnight that its conditional sail order is still in effect until november, but we should expect some new guidance on that very soon. meanwhile, lisa says she is confident that they are ready to do it safely. dan. >> ready to do it safely, gio, thank you very much. let's talk weather now. rob marciano out in westport, connecticut, this morning. rob, before we went to bed last night, well, because i go to bed at the same time as my 6-year-old, he pointed out that today is the first day of spring. he's coming for your job. >> he can get it.

i mean, he's a smart kid. i know exactly where he gets it from, not from you. it's a beautiful morning here. it is the first day of spring, good morning, guys, good to be with you. i've been traveling this week so i'm on location. it's gorgeous here on coastal connecticut. the saugatuck river at high tide here. laying down flat in the sun about to come up on cobalt blue skies. in florida, there's one spot in the east coast that might see action, not so much on the gulf coast, which is where this happened yesterday. look at these lightning flashes, at times a power surge happening here where the lights go in and out. in the west we've -- that's where the action is, the next couple of days where we had heavy snow across the sierra nevada, ten inches there at donner pass getting up to lake tahoe. more in the way of valley rain and mountain snow and tell you what, the west could use this california to colorado so we will take it. it's not going to be a whole lot but it'll be enough to make some slick roads and some dangerous travel in spots. this will be the trigger for more severe weather

unfortunately as we get towards the beginning of the week, monday, into dallas, oklahoma city and pushing east into the central part of the country. good saturday morning spring has arrived. highs ranging from the upper 50s with a sea breeze today. 61 in san jose. low 60s in santa rosa. we warm it up a bit alexander online, 5:37 a.m. is what alexander told me was the beginning of astronomical spring. >> thanks, rob. well now to a very sweet moment. more than a year in the making, 82-year-old twin sisters,

jackie parker and janet kennedy, you see it there, hugging for the first time since the pandemic hit. the two sisters fully vaccinated and now able to make physical contact. those hugs meaning everything after a tough year for everyone. i think we all feel that way. >> absolutely. no question. still ahead here on "gma," star quarterback deshaun watson facing multiple lawsuits claiming sexual misconduct. his response to the allegations this morning. "good morning america" is sponsored by subaru who is establishing national make a dog's day. (woman) what should we do with it first? (man) road trip. (woman) yes. (woman) off-road trip. (man) how hot is the diablo chili? (waitress) well, you've got to sign a waiver. [loud laughter] (woman) is this even a road? (man) yeah. (woman) so what should we do second? (vo male) the subaru forester. the most adventurous forester ever. (vo female) get 0% for 63 months on select new 2021 models.

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approval. a group of oakland teachers staged a protest earlier this week calling it reckless unless staff, and students are vaccinated. let's check in with lisa for the forecast. hey, jobina. spring has arrived. 40 in mt.view. 49 in oakland. cool in morgan hill at 37. it's chilly with fog in north upper 50s at the coast to the low 60s, slightly warmer for your sunday. your sunday. >> thank you. your sunday. >> thanki have the power to lower my a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it. once-weekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. most people taking it reached an a1c under 7%. trulicity may also help you lose up to 10 pounds and lower your risk of cardiovascular events, whether you know you're at risk or not. trulicity isn't for people with type 1 diabetes.

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our country is vulnerable. we need new heroes. oh, yeah. welcome back to "gma" on this saturday morning, bucky barnes and sam wilson are back, "the falcon and the winter soldier" is now streaming on disney plus. coming up in our second hour, more on the marvel miniseries and everything else you should be watching this weekend in "binge this." mcu fans will be glued to their television. >> so i watched a little bit last night but it was getting me too excited so -- >> you had to get your sleep. >> i picked up a highbrow novel and immediately fell asleep. that tells you about my sensibility. the other big stories we're following. happening right now the cdc has revised guidelines for social distancing in elementary and middle school classrooms.

officials now say it is safe for students to be spaced just three feet apart. teachers unions across the country are pushing back, this as the u.s. reached a key milestone administering more than 100 million vaccine doses since president biden was inaugurated back on january 20th. also right now, major new developments in the trial of the former police officer charged with killing george floyd in minneapolis. the judge deciding derek chauvin's trial will not be delayed or moved out of the county. the judge also allowing portions of floyd's may 2019 arrest to be admitted. 13 jurors including one alternate now seated. opening statements set to begin a week from monday. and the ncaa apologizing after some pretty stark differences at the men's and women's basketball tournaments. video from the women's bubble in san antonio showing just one rack of dumbbells while in indiana male athletes were provided with a state-of-the-art weight room. the ncaa saying, they, quote,

fell short and are now upgrading the women's facilities. we will have much more on march madness and all the joys of dan creating his perfect bracket. i can promise you he did not do that by himself. >> i love baseball. >> he always goes to a child for help whenever in need. we do start this half hour, though with texans quarterback deshaun watson facing allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment. it involves watson's alleged behavior with a number of massage therapists. abc's reena roy joins us now with more from outside nfl headquarters here in new york. reena, good morning. >> reporter: whit, good morning. seven civil lawsuits have officially been filed, and the lawyer representing these women says there could soon be more on the way. this morning, nfl superstar deshaun watson is under fire with seven women accusing him of sexual misconduct, with another five lawsuits expected to be filed according to an attorney representing the women. the 25-year-old houston texans

quarterback facing accusations that he assaulted and harassed the women during massages. >> you have a star quarterback who is physically and financially powerful versus single moms who work for themselves mostly from home. >> reporter: attorney tony buzbee says he's officially representing 12 accusers claiming similar inappropriate behavior. according to lawsuits, most say they were one-time encounters but one woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by watson on multiple occasions. the accuser's lawyer saying watson met these women on social media and was even referred to one by a texans trainer. >> these are cases that allege that watson conducted himself inappropriately during massages that he touched women in a sexual way. >> reporter: watson recently signed a four-year contract extension with the texans for $156 million. responding to the allegations the quarterback tweeted, i have

never treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect. the plaintiff's lawyer claims that this isn't about money, but before filing suit, he made a baseless six-figure settlement demand which i quickly rejected. unlike him, this isn't about money for me. it's about clearing my name, and i look forward to doing that. buzbee denying money is the motivator. >> this case is about female empowerment. >> reporter: the texans saying, we take accusations of this nature that involves anyone within the houston texans organization seriously. now, there are no criminal complaints, but buzbee says he has been in contact with houston police. whit. >> all right, reena roy with that report for us and, reena, while we have you we also want to point out that was your first report here on weekend "gma" and just want to say thank you and welcome to the team. >> reporter: thank you, guys, so much. it is such an honor to be here. >> it's great to have you. and we'll be seeing more of new the future. we will talk soon. we do want to transition

we want to get a check of the weather and go back to rob marciano in picturesque connecticut. gorgeous out there, rob, with the exception of the foreground but background great like a postcard. spring is here. >> it is here. thank you for that. i guess i am owed one after i got dan pretty good. good morning again. beautiful in westport. yes, a gorgeous sunrise and spring day, but in colorado where they actually need the snow even after the big snowstorm they had last week, this is pine, colorado southwest of denner in the in mountains there. the fire pit getting piled on there with a little bit of a time lapse, just kept on coming and coming and we'll take it. steamboat will take it as well. 18 inches of fresh snow in the last week and they are cruising down a gentle slope cutting fresh -- sorry, breckenridge, our friends in breckenridge there seeing some good stuff. all right. here's the snow forecast for the cascades. not a whole lot coming through the sierra but the wasatch, the bitterroots, tetons could

get 6 to 12 inches of new snow. where they don't need the rain is across the plains, similar situation where we'll see not just severe weather but potent welcome to spring, a few clouds here in the spout bay but we'll look at plenty of sun. this weather report sponsored by gap. here's more of that beautiful background. there you go. >> oh, look at that. >> drink it in. >> ah. we love seeing you in the shot too. >> come on, rob. our salty sea captain. come here, you. >> thank you. >> well, coming up on "good morning america" why a number of minority families are choosing to keep their kids out of the classroom.

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after a year of remote learning, most parents are itching to send their kids back to school but this morning, the number of minority parents opting to keep their children home in some states is staggering as restrictions ease. school districts in parts of the country are seeing the same trend, students of color are far more likely than their white peers to not return for in-person learning. >> asian-americans really feel under siege. we're really concerned about our safety, about racism fomented by the pandemic. >> reporter: for parents like julia paris, it's all about safety. when his child's school shut down, the family created a pandemic pod allowing the family to see each other while keeping safe. >> we have three households, all members of our family, so we live within ten miles or so from one another, but we try to help each other with child care and grocery delivery and what have you, so that's what our pod looks like. >> reporter: that's why when his child's school announced they'd

return in person, his family opted not to in fears it could endanger his older in-laws. >> we can't be sure that all families are adhering to those same standards, and for us that risk is just a little bit too great for us. >> reporter: for third grade teacher mabel sei, it's not just the virus that she fears, it's bullying. >> bullying has always happened in schools, but now that covid has this anti-asian sentiment, i would say that it's probably going to be worse. >> reporter: the number of attacks against the asian community has skyrocketed. some parents worry sending their children off to school alone puts them at risk of harassment and that's not a risk they're willing to take. these recent attacks including the shooting in atlanta this week have officials and parents in major cities on high alert with law enforcement beefing up security and patrols in asian neighborhoods. for the organization compassion in oakland, they've managed to

assemble a small army of volunteers to protect their neighbors pairing volunteer chaperones with elderly asian-americans who may feel unsafe going on walks or running errands. >> we've had over 1,200 people sign up to volunteer, and it's only been a month. it shows really how the community wants to show up and feels really strongly about protecting our community, protecting our elderly and being there for one another and unifying together. >> to hear more of these stories about the uptick in hate crimes against asian-americans, tune in to an abc news special "murder in atlanta." it is now on hulu. >> you were a big part of that special and looking forward to watching it. really important stuff. coming up on "gma," we'll switch gears a little bit and talk about march madness, highlights from the ncaa tournament. the underaged expert i recruited to help me with my bracket, we'll meet him as well. keep it here. . if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture,

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back now on "gma" and the back now on "gma" and the first case of march madness in nearly two years. you may be wondering why the producers gave this story to me given that i know nothing about sports and i thought this had to do with volleyball, but as you're about to see, i got some extra special help on this one. check it out. after two years of waiting, march madness is finally back. >> five seconds. for the tie. yes! >> reporter: 32 teams tipping off today and this morning, brackets are already getting ripped to shreds. >> hello. >> knocks down a three. >> three games went to overtime but none was more thrilling than 15 seed oral roberts from tulsa, oklahoma, pulling off the huge upset over ohio state.

>> it's march. expect the unexpected. >> reporter: their first ncaa tournament victory since 1974. another first -- >> it's a two-possession lead for the scarlet knights. >> reporter: -- rutgers stealing their first tournament win in nearly four decades. and while this year's tournament is taking place in indiana, it was not a good day for the hoosier state. their only team in the tournament sent home. >> for three, it's good. >> reporter: north texas knocking off purdue for their first ever ncaa tournament victory. >> and there she is. sister jean is ready. >> reporter: and it wouldn't be march without sister jean, the 101-year-old making the trip to cheer on loyola. according to espn more than 16 million brackets were submitted this year, and after just one day of the tournament, less than 1% are perfect. i decided to join the quest and put my knowledge to the test enlisting the help of my very

own bracketologist and sports guru, j.j. faris. how do you have so much time to know this much about sports? >> i don't work like you. i go to school and then i come home and then i do research from some brackets. >> reporter: he walked me through my entire bracket. >> next you have usc and wichita state/drake. and it's not the singer drake, by the way. >> reporter: even advising me it to go against our own eva pilgr pilgrim's beloved team. >> next we have florida and virginia tech. i picked virginia tech. >> so i'm going to pick -- i'm basically going to pass over eva's team. >> well, it's up to you. it's up to you. >> no, no, i'm delighted that you -- i'm delighted. this is great. i get a chance to make fun of eva so let's go, virginia tech. >> reporter: with j.j.'s help i hope to beat the odds and the buzzer. >> yes! incredible!

>> he's very generous. we should say j.j. is the son of former "gma" weekend co-anchor paula faris, and she shot a lot of the b roll. >> also, he's like a regular in your sports picks. >> manager of your fantasy football team as well. >> i won fantasy football a few years ago, but all the money went to j.j. >> because j.j. picked all the picks and managed the team. >> and just remember drake, the university, not the singer. >> yes. >> we'll be right back with "play of the day." if you have obstructive sleep apnea and you're often tired during the day, you could be missing out on amazing things. sunosi can help you stay awake for them. once daily sunosi improves wakefulness in adults with excessive daytime sleepiness due to obstructive sleep apnea. sunosi worked for up to nine hours at 12 weeks in a clinical study. sunosi does not treat the cause of osa or take the place of your cpap. continue to use any treatments or devices as prescribed by your doctor. don't take sunosi if you've taken an maoi in the last 14 days.

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our retirement plan with voya, keeps us moving forward. hey, kevin! hey, guys! they have customized solutions to help our family's special needs... giving us confidence in our future... ...and in kevin's. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. back now with our "play of back now with our "play of the day." today in case you didn't know is world storytelling day, and what better way to celebrate it than by joining disney and the nonprofit first book in the magic of storytelling. last month, you know, texas experienced that winter storm that shook the entire state and left many with limited access to

essential needs. well, our friends at first book told us about how a counselor from escamiy in in in in in in reached out in hopes to receive new books to bring some joy to the students during this really hard time. we know the magic a new book brings so we are excited to distribute 1,300 new disney books to escamia elementary school. >> not only they're magic because they're disney stories but we'll give them to the children for something to embrace and something to read, something to keep building that, you know, sense of hope and the magic happens. >> if you're an educator or nonprofit serving children in need you too can register with first book to receive free and affordable books. learn more about that and how to join disney and first book to celebrate the magic of storytelling at magicofstorytelling.com. mickey mouse is our boss.

>> that's right. >> we should say, eva has a children's book coming out soon so stay tuned. >> we'll talk about that soon. "good morning america" is two hours on saturdays. coming up, new guidelines from the cdc on social distancing in the classroom. what it could mean for your child. and our "gma" cover story, instagram just for kids, how it will be different from the adult version. building a water bay area for a safe and secure this is abc7 news. good morning. i'm jobina forston. an event starts at noon at at portsmouth square in chinatown. organizers are calling it a safe space to honor the eight

victims who were murdered in georgia and show support for those attacked in the bay area. anyone who is an ally is welcome to attend. the event will be socially distanced and family friendly. people have one for chance. for a second straight weekend vendors will be offering up fair favorites like corn dogs, churros, funnel cakes and more. guests can stay and enjoy their food on the grounds or preorder ahead for a designated pickup time. the event runs today and tomorrow from 11:00 until 8:00. now let's check in with lisa. first day of spring. boy; it gorgeous in san francisco with 46 degrees. 49 in oakland. 43 in mountainview as well as san jose. 37 in morgan hills. a lot of sun on the way.

35 with fog in north 36 in napa. a drier air mass is? placement we are anywhere from 1 to 15 degrees colder this morning. so with that dry air mass, those winds out of the north, northwest right now in the upper elevations allowing for that chill in parts of the bay area. by the afternoon it will be sunny upper 50s coast to low 60s inland. >> thank you, lisa kevin bacon here. you know me from six degrees of well... me. but it's time to expand. see, visible is wireless with no surprise fees, legit unlimited data, powered by verizon for as little as $25 a month.

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good morning, america. it's our second hour and happening right now, the cdc changing distancing guidelines for elementary school students now recommending students separate by three feet rather than six when all are masked. these suggestions extend to many middle and high schoolers as well. what it all means for classrooms nationwide. after tuesday's tragic shootings in which eight people including six asian women were killed, president biden and vice president harris visiting atlanta and condemning racism. the latest on their visit and the ongoing investigation. instagram for kids. the social media powerhouse with more than a billion users announcing their plan to add even more followers. a new app in the works geared toward