right now on "america this morning," secret service scandal. four agents are suspended accused of accepting lavish gifts from two men posing as federal officers. one of the agents worked on jill biden's protection detail. what we're learning about the gifts and men who allegedly pr tpele in eastern ukraine amid concern russia is about to launch a new wave of attacks. the shocking new claims that russian forces used mobile crematoriums to cover up war crimes. why one official calls this the new auschwitz. is the u.s. economy headed for a recession? what a major bank is now predicting, plus what big oil ceos told congress about gas prices.

caught on camera, a bridge coming down crushing this pontoon boat. the nfl is under new pressure over how it treats women employees. and later too many choices. americans say they're overwhelmed with their streaming tv options. the possible solution being floated. good thursday morning, everyone. we'll get to the war in ukraine in a moment and the severe weather here in the u.s. but we begin with a breaking story overnight involving the secret service. an agent on first lady jill biden's detail is among those being disciplined for their interactions with two men accused of posing as federal officers. the question this morning is, why were those men posing as officers in the first place? overnight word that multiple members of the secret service have been suspended accused of accepting extravagant gifts from two men who were allegedly impersonating federal agents.

>> the gifts are not cheap gifts. >> more than a dozen fbi agents rushed into this luxury apartment building in washington, d.c. wednesday arresting arian taherzadeh and haider ali for allegedly pretending to work for the homeland security department. according to court documents, the men also provided gifts to secret service agents including rent-free apartments totaling $40,000, iphones, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat screen tv and law enforcement paraphernalia. four members of the secret service were suspended as part of the investigation and one of them was on first lady jill biden's protective detail. >> we don't know what they were trying to do, whether it was just dumb luck that they happened to befriend or get acquainted with a member of the first lady's detail or if it was intentional. >> reporter: court documents did not reveal what taherzadeh and ali were trying to accomplish by posing as agents and giving gifts to the secret service. there is no word whether or not they were trying to gain access to the white house. the investigation does show the

men had access to a lot of money. >> rent in d.c. is really expensive, and these men according to court documents had like a few different units inside of a very expensive d.c. apartment building, so that's not cheap and investigators right now are seeing where the money is. >> the secret service says it's cooperating with investigators. taherzadeh and ali are scheduled for a court appearance today on charges of impersonating law enforcement. southern states slammed by deadly tornadoes may be able to begin cleaning up today. overnight the stormy weather moved to georgia's coast drenching savannah with heavy rain and hail then heading out to sea but it was funnel clouds like these along with a slew of confirmed tornadoes that left a trail of destruction in the central part of the state. the twisters leveled dozens of homes trapping some people under the debris. >> i just seen both houses was crushed and stuff. i went over fast as i could, so

i could find out, then i had to climb boards and stepping on nails because that was my son and i was trying to help everybody out. >> georgia's governor has declared a state of emergency saying the storms created what he called complete devastation. turning to the war in ukraine, the mayor of one city now claims that this is the new auschwitz. with evidence of war crimes mounting, there's a new warning about another major attack being planned by russia. it comes even as ukraine claims it's destroyed nearly 700 russian tanks in the war so far. abc's em nguyen is here with the very latest. em, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mona. ukrainians in one part of the country are being told to flee now ahead of another russian assault. as new signs emerge of alleged russian war crimes, authorities in ukraine are warning residents of one region to evacuate now or risk death fearing an impending russian attack. moscow recently called that area in eastern ukraine known as the donbas a priority for its

military. capturing the donbas would correct a director russian troopses to crimea. it comes as russian forces withdraw from areas around the capital kyiv. in borodyanka the scale of the destruction is massive. virtually no building is untouched according to abc's james longman. >> somehow the devastation is even worse. i mean, take a look at this. businesses, homes just completely destroyed all the way down this road. you can see that apartment building there. look, people's homes just chopped in half. >> reporter: at least 14 bodies have been recovered in borodyanka, but authorities say far more are likely buried beneath all this rubble. in the southern city of mariupol, officials say up to 5,000 civilians have been killed. witnesses report evidence that russians are using mobile incineration units to burn bodies and cover up the killings. the mayor says mariupol is the new auschwitz. in a new video address ukrainian president zelenskyy claims russia is trying to hide

evidence of war crimes to interfere with the international investigation. as allegations of war crimes mount, president biden is imposing new sanctions banning new investments in russia and penalizings russia's largest banks even sanctioning vladimir putin's daughters. >> these oligarchs and their family members are not allowed to hold on to their wealth in europe and the united states and keep these yachts worth hundreds of millions dollars, their luxury vacation homes while children are being killed. >> reporter: zelenskyy says the new sanctions have a spectacular look but this is not enough. president zelenskyy is calling for the complete blockade of russia's banking system, meanwhile, the united nations will vote today on suspending russia from the human rights council. andrew. >> em, thank you. meanwhile, oil company ceos got an earful from members of congress angry over high gas prices. democrats accused top executives from the major energy companies of war profiteering after russia's invasion of ukraine drove up oil prices.

>> while the price of oil has dropped significantly from the peak, the price that americans are paying at the pump has not. >> don't use 2020 as an excuse for gouging the american people today. one bad year does not excuse the practice of ripping off american consumers. >> i also want to be very clear about where chevron stands. we do not control the market price of crude oil or natural gas, nor of refined products like gasoline and diesel fuel. and we have no tolerance for price gouging. >> republicans blame president biden for high gas prices saying his policies have sharply reduced u.s. energy production. new concerns at the u.s. economy could be headed for a recession. deutsche bank is the first major financial institution to predict a recession. it says the federal reserve's policy of raising interest rates to fight inflation will likely trigger a mild recession late

next year along with a sharp increase in unemployment. the fed has suggested it could soon raise interest rates by half a point. the mother of a young black man fatally shot by police in minneapolis says she is disgusted that no charges will be filed against the officer who killed her son. police video shows a s.w.a.t. team entering an apartment with a no knock warrant. authorities say amir locke who was not named in the warrant raised his gun towards the officers before one of them opened fire. locke's mother described a conversation she had about the case with minnesota's attorney general. >> he basically explained to us that they were not going to bring charges against the police officer, and i reiterated to him that i was not disappointed, i was disgusted with the decision. >> you don't want to put anybody on trial for a case simply to meet public demand. it has to be an ethical consideration based on prosecutorial ethics. >> a ban on no knock warrants in

minneapolis goes into effect tomorrow. locke's family wants that ban extended statewide. two california men have been charged in a massive drug bust. authorities say the men had enough fentanyl inside a minivan to kill nearly 5 million people. they were pulled over in orange county. police say they also seized nearly 200 pounds of cocaine and 800 pounds of meth. >> all right, time now for a look at your thursday weather. good morning. lingering thunderstorms could be strong into thursday morning around the south carolina and georgia coast especially still could see a few tornadoes with some flooding downpours. meantime, during the day on thursday this front presses south and east. behind it it is going to be gorgeous feeling more like say march than april and the weather for the masters tournament round one looks wonderful. now, meantime, during the day thursday severe storms possible around the eastern carolinas and into north florida. i'm accuweather meteorologist kevin coskren.

and coming up, concerns about a looming crisis at the southern border. the governor announcing a new busing plan. also ahead, the energy company busted for killing at least 150 eagles. and kim kardashian's new campaign, why she's pushing to get a texas woman convicted of killing her young daughter off of death row. ♪ ♪ [ bird chirps ] springfest is back!

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we are sending them to the united states capital where the biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border. >> that's texas governor greg abbott unveiling his plan to send migrants captured at the southern border to washington, d.c. by bus. his proposal comes as time runs out on title 42, a trump-era

policy that allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants during the pandemic. abbott says the end of title 42 next month will trigger a wave of illegal immigration, but border patrol says preparations are being made to take 18,000 migrants per day into custody. a major wind energy company has pleaded guilty in the deaths of at least 150 eagles. esi energy has been sentenced to probation and was fined $8 million. most of the bald eagles and endangered golden eagles were hit by wind turbine blades in eight states. prosecutors say the company failed to take steps to protect the eagles even as it received millions of dollars in federal tax credits. now to the questions surrounding the case of a texas daht.r onng kimn h n joined the fight to win a stay of constitution for melissa lucio and a rally is planned for tonight. abc's andrea fujii has more. >> reporter: this morning, growing calls for clemency for a texas woman set to be executed for killing her young daughter.

>> i'm sorry that i wasn't there to protect her, and i failed her. >> reporter: more than 100,000 people have now signed a petition claiming 53-year-old melissa lucio is innocent and her alleged confession to police after five hours of questioning was not valid. among those on lucio's side, reality star and current law student kim kardashian. >> when i had the opportunity to help someone and was successful at that, i started to dig deeper and saw that our system just had so many flaws. >> reporter: kardashian has helped other death row inmates, including alice johnson, whose lifetime sentence for a drug offense was commuted by former president trump. kardashian now hoping her celebrity will help lucio, posting, so heartbreaking to read this letter from melissa lucio's children, begging for the state not to kill their mother. there are so many unresolved questions surrounding this case, and the evidence that was used to convict her. lucio was convicted of killing her 2-year-old daughter mariah

alvarez back in 2007. she claims mariah accidentally fell down the stairs. authorities say it was child abuse, saying the e.r. doctor called it the worst case of abuse they'd seen in 30 years. but a recent documentary on hulu raised awareness of the case, and soon support for lucio began to grow with a bipartisan group of dozens of texas lawmakers now questioning whether the trial was fair and whether lucio's defense was adequate. >> cases like this where you have a child death, there are experts that come in and do research and analysis. her attorneys decided to go to trial without allowing those experts to complete their work. >> reporter: lucio is the first latina sent to death row in texas. the parole board plans to vote on her clemency petition two days before her execution, which is april 27th. mona, andrew. >> more to come. andrea, thank you. coming up, the possible new punishment for airline passengers who misbehave.

also ahead, another major mishap involving a drawbridge in mishap involving a drawbridge in florida. i'm a fancy exercise bike noobie. and i've gone from zero to obsessed in like... three days. instructor: come on milwaukee! i see you! after riding twelve miles to nowhere, i'm taking a detour. and if you don't have the right home insurance coverage, you could be working out a way to pay for this yourself. get allstate and be better protected from mayhem for a whole lot less. frank is a fan of fast. he's a fast talker. a fast walker. thanks, gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc can take one to four days to fully work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast.

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ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. we're back with a new effort to punish unruly airline passengers. a new bill in congress would establish a passenger no-fly list managed by the tsa. it would ban anyone who causes a disruption on a plane from flying on any airline. currently only individual carriers can ban passengers. >> there should be zero tolerance for violence aboard an airplane, and our message is simple. if you assault a flight crew member and compromise the safety of others aboard the aircraft, you're going to be grounded. >> no word yet if the bill has enough support in congress. a man accused of moving into his daughter's college dorm and manipulating her friends has been convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering. prosecutors say larry reyes is a cult leader who had near total control over a group of young people he met at sarah lawrence

college in new york. he could now face life in prison. officials from six states are warning the nfl if it doesn't start protecting female employees, it could face legal action. in a letter to the nfl commissioner, six attorneys general cited a "new york times" article describing the league's culture as hostile to women. in response, the league said it's made great progress on the issue. we turn now to florida and yet another mishap involving a drawbridge. video shows the moment this drawbridge crushes a pontoon boat in jupiter, florida. boaters jumping overboard as the bridge slowly comes down on the vessel. jillian peshoda filming the incident. she says the boat was parked under the bridge when she and her friends saw the bridge start to move. >> they ended up not hearing us baus they were on their phone. >> reporter: jill indian saian s

raining and the boat was under the bridge avoiding the downpour. >> i thought that someone was going to get hurt or someone was going to end up dying. >> reporter: a palm beach county spokesperson says the bridge operator didn't know the boat was there. it's just the latest mishap involving florida drawbridges in recent months. ♪ in november, a man was seen clinging to the side of this raised bridge in miami. the bridge was eventually lowered and the man was able to cross. just last month, this video captured the moment a motorcyclist tried to cross a rising bridge in daytona beach. the man falling off his bike only feet from the edge. the bike left dangling over the side. >> i see one lady. i don't know how to explain it. >> reporter: back in february, carol wright was killed after this bridge she was walking across began to open without her knowing. she then fell 50 feet to the concite. the bridge operator was later arrested and charged with manslaughter due to negligence. as for that latest case involving the pontoon boat, no one was hurt. coming up, too many choices.

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push that turned out to be worth millions. >> a california woman says she was at a lottery vending machine, about to choose her scratch ticket. that's when she says a, quote, rude person bumped into her, causing her to push a different button than the one she wanted. >> but that scratch ticket she got was a $10 million winner. thanks. >> so much for being rude, right? next, it's opening day in major league baseball with seven games on the schedule. >> and there's a lot more to eat than peanut and cracker jacks. one example, detroit's notorious p.i.g., pulled pork with mac and cheese all on a pretzel. >> fry box, cookie pieces. >> and in atlanta, a wagyu beef burger with foie gras and a lobster tail that will cost you $151. >> play ball. finally, a man who appears to be sleeping with the fishes, or sharks, or at least sleep ago bof them. >> a drone flying over the

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this is abc 7 news. reggie: taking action to further cut ties with russia. the moves expected among u.s. lawmakers today. >> new developments in the mass shooting that claimed six lives in sacramento. the new social media videos of the suspects leaving guns. reggie: also, get ready for that heat. drew is tracking record-breaking more today. we have everything ready. we have the shades down. you're doing that thing where we have our door open and the front and the back. we are trying to create a breeze. [laughter] there is all kinds of scientific things. it is working so far. >> good. for a lot of us today it is going to be the warmest day so far this year. in the city we will hit 80. is going to be a hot one for a lot of us. it is already warm. it is 60 in the city, we are in the 50's from fremont to

hayward.