right now on "america this morning," water crisis. the entire city of jackson, mississippi, without water indefinitely. an emergency being declared. the national guard called in. what went wrong? happening now, ukraine launching a counteroffensive fighting to recapture territory from the russians as we see up close images of the damage at europe's largest nuclear plant. serena williams' triumph at the u.s. open. >> game. >> the stunning win in front of the adoring crowd including her young daughter and the post-match tribute to serena from billie jean king along with a surprise from oprah. months after the big slap, chris rock says he's been invited to host the oscars.

how he responded. the backlash after a popular news anchor loses her job. did her gray hair play a role? what her bosses say and the so-called go gray movement she's inspiring. later, a real morning jolt for coffee lovers courtesy of inflation. good tuesday morning, everyone. we begin with a developing story. the city of jackson, mississippi, declaring an emergency because of a crisis affecting up to 250,000 people. >> the national guard is being called in because there's no water. officials now warning the city will be without water indefinitely because the water treatment plant has failed and there's apparently no backup leaving families there scrambling. this morning, people in jackson, mississippi, are being told to expect little or no water for an undetermined amount of time.

shoppers race to this walmart for bottled water last night only to find empty shelves. all jackson public schools are switching to virtual learning indefinitely and the lieutenant governor says our understanding is the water and sewer system serving 250,000 citizens of the state and numerous businesses is at the brink of collapsing. >> it means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets. >> reporter: in some parts the fire department is finding no water in fire hydrants. >> all of our units have 500 gallons of water on it and the guys can use that water to sustain a lot of incidents. >> reporter: the warnings come after a pump at the city's troubled water treatment facility was damaged. the governor says he was told last week that a failure was possible. >> it was a near certainty that jackson would fail to produce running water sometime in the next several weeks or months. unfortunately, that failure

appears to have begun today. >> reporter: jackson residents have been under boil water notices since last month when water samples found harmful contaminant levels. the mayor blames issues at the city's water and sewage plants on staffing shortages and decades of deferred maintenance and now flooding from the pearl river is making the problem even worse. >> because of the river water that is coming into the plant, we have to change the way we treat the water, which consequently reduces the tank levels. >> so the governor called in the national guard to help distribute bottled water. it was another night of outrage in uvalde, texas, three months after the school massacre that left 19 children and 2 teachers dead. the new school year about to begin parents were left with unanswered questions. they still haven't started the process of responding to the

police officers and many new security measures still aren't in place and additional police officers have not been hired as promised and the board doesn't know who will monitor hundreds of new security cameras. several new developments this morning from the war in ukraine. ukraine now launching a counteroffensive to take back russian held areas of the south and now seeing some of the damage at a nuclear power plant. these images you're looking at posted by a russian-backed official, the concerns prompting the u.s. to call for a controlled shutdown. abc's justin finch is here with more now. justin, good morning. >> reporter: rhiannon, good morning. and that is right. ukraine's president zelenskyy is vowing to take back those russian-held areas in the south and the white house is closely watching that ongoing cross fire between russia and ukraine in the area of that zaporizhzhia power plant. new satellite images showing a bird's-eye view of some of the damage at the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant now under

russian control, the site has been a flash point of fighting between ukrainian and russian forces, both blaming each other. the pentagon asserting most of the shelling is coming from russians. watching from washington, the white house is calling for a preemptive powering down of the site's nuclear reactors and for demilitarizing the area calling that the safest and less risky option. that call coming as inspectors from the international atomic energy agency prepare to assess the situation at zaporizhzhia, europe's largest nuclear power plant. a ukrainian doctor telling abc's britt clennett fears of another nuclear disaster are growing. >> we worked with some people who were exposed after the chernobyl. they still have tremendous health problems, of course, frightening. >> reporter: ukraine's president zelenskyy announcing a russian counteroffensive in the south saying, ukraine is returning its

own listing regions by name, kharkiv, luhansk, donetsk, zaporizhzhia, kherson and crimea and to the russians this, the occupier should know we will oust them to the border. as ukraine fights for control of its country, russian air strikes continue and new reports that president putin is trying to ramp up the russian military aiming to add as many as 137,000 troops eliminating the age limit to serve and even recruiting prisoners. pentagon officials say putin's effort is unlikely to succeed. noting russia has lost between 60,000 and 80,000 soldiers in its war against ukraine. rhiannon. >> justin finch, thank you for that. violent protests have turned deadly in iraq after a prominent shiite cleric resigned. 15 people were skilled as they clashed with security forces in baghdadi and beyond. a nationwide curfew is now in

place. the cleric supporter stormed the government palace, even swimming in the pool there. we turn to serena williams and her triumphant and inspiring night at the u.s. open. what could have been the 40-year-old's farewell match turned into anything but. then came surprises from fans and even from oprah. this was not your average opening night at the u.s. open. >> the greatest of all time, serena williams. >> reporter: a championship took center court in new york - for her final singles tournament. nearly 24,000 fans packing in to watch the most dominant tennis player in a generation take the court one more time. hugh jackman and mike tyson in the crowd as was former president bill clinton chatting with dr. ruth. serena's husband, mother and 4-year-old daughter olympia in the stands. olympia wearing an outfit matching that of her grandslam winning mom.

things started well for serena going up two games early but her opponent, danka kovinic, held fast breaking serena's serve twice and then taking the lead. serena dug deep and with the crowd behind her she fought back. >> she's back in front, 4-3. >> reporter: an hour later the crowd on its feet as serena did what she does best. >> game, set and match. >> reporter: serena doing her signature victory twirl as she took one step toward a long shot 24th major trophy and second act. it turned into a victory celebration. billie jean king taking the court to speak directly to the queen of tennis. one icon paying tribute to another. >> thank you for your leadership and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. especially for women and women of color. we love you. god bless you and guess what, you're just beginning.

>> reporter: serena was then surprised with a short film narrated by oprah. >> thank you for showing us what it means to come back. thank you for changing the face of the game. whatever you do next. we'll be watching. >> reporter: then serena's turn to speak telling the crowd why it was time to finally step away. >> i think now is the time, you know, i just have a family and, you know, have -- you know -- there's other chapters in life. it's like serena 2.0. i'm still going to be intense. just keep coming out and supporting me as long as i'm here, know that i love you so much and i'm so excited to be here. >> reporter: before she left the court, one last surprise, her fans in the crowd spelling out a special message for their beloved champion. serena now has quite a challenge ahead of her. she'll face the number two player in the world tomorrow and take the court with her sister venus in the doubles tournament. it is time now for a look at

your tuesday weather. at least two deaths have been blamed on severe weather in the upper midwest, a woman in toledo was hit by a tree that fell in her backyard and in michigan, a 14-year-old girl was electrocuted by a downed wire. checking the radar those storms that hit the midwest are pushing into the northeast and could hit the i-95 corridor just in time for the evening rush later today. checking today's high temperatures, upper 60s in san francisco, 90s in the midwest and lower plains, 80s across the northeast today. coming up, the animal cookies being recalled because of safety concerns. but first the wild scene as a bull escapes at a rodeo going straight into the crowd. later, why netflix is facing a lawsuit over one of its most popular miniseries.

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we're back with dramatic video from the florida state fair after a bull escaped from its holding pen and charged into the audience. the panicked crowd fleeing as the announcer urged them to stay calm. the handler on horseback managed to rope in the bull and bring him back inside the arena. no one was hurt. >> glad no one was hurt there. well, people came together last night in bend, oregon to honor two army veterans killed in a supermarket shooting. 84-year-old glen bennett and 66-year-old donald surrit died after a gunman opened fire. donald worked at the store and confronted the gunman and likely prevented others from being shot. >> without his intervention and without him physically confronting the shooter it could have been tragic.

the combination of the actions of someone fighting back and causing disruption as well as the officers immediately there and knew they were inside the store and there was no other option. >> reporter: police are still trying to determine a motive. alex jones will face another trial over his false claims that the sandy hook scoot shooting was a hoax. the trial set to begin next month will determine how much jones and infowars must pay to nine victims' families. the lawsuit had hit a road block after the company filed for bankruptcy. there is a new warning about climate change and rising sea levels. researchers say ice melting from the giant greenland ice sheet could raise global sea levels by at least ten inches before the y years. the ice volume will melt even if we reduce all carbon pollution going forward. coming up, there is an alert

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has doubled. the batteries cause a chemical reaction that can severely burn a child's throat. an animal cookie sold at target is being recalled because of metal fragments being found. consumers should stop eating the market pantry white fudge animal cookies and return them for a refund. we turn now to the dismissal of a popular news anchor in canada. it has ignited a movement on social media dubbed the going gray movement. at issue is whether the anchor's gray hair played a role in her contract not being renewed. abc's derricke dennis has the story. >> reporter: this morning, growing support for an ousted gray-haired news anchor suddenly dismissed from her job. >> hello, everyone. >> reporter: lisa laflamme, anchor of one of the most watched newscasts saying good-bye on twitter explaining her employee bell media ended her contract after 35 years, her dismissal sparking a public

backlash with allegations of age and gender discrimination. >> i was blindsided and i'm still shocked and saddened by bell media's decision. >> reporter: her twitter message makes no discrimination claim but an open letter to bell media signed by several prominent canadians including anne murray and sarah mclachlan says it appears to be an egregious act of revenge tainted by ageism, sexism and misogyny. >> they are really moving the discussion forward on this particular social issue. >> reporter: canada's business community rallying around laflamme wendy's changing the red hair of its iconic logo to gray with the caption, because a star is a star regardless of hair color. dove launching a campaign with the #keepthegrey and "sports illustrated" touting the mother of elon musk. >> you can look great at any age. >> reporter: now bell media says

its vice president of news, michael mellin is on leave. the globe and mail newspaper reports he had asked who approved the decision to, quote, let lisa's hair go gray but bell's ceo saying the narrative is lisa's age, gender or gray hair played into the decision, i am satisfied that this is not the case. the company's ceo says laflamme's firing was a resource issue saying the news industry has changed and resources need to be reallocated to adjust to those changes. rhiannon, andrew. >> derricke, thank you. coming up, the popular netflix show now the subject of a lawsuit. also ahead, chris rock is responding to an invitation from the oscars. woman tc: my a1c stayed here, it needed to be here. doctor tc: ruby's a1c is down with rybelsus®. man tc: my a1c wasn't at goal, now i'm down with rybelsus®. son tc: mom's a1c is down with rybelsus®. song: a1c down with rybelsus®

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all right, it's time to check "the pulse," and we begin with big news. >> chris rock reportedly saying he turned down an offer to host next year's oscars. it follows that, of course, infamous slap from will smith during this year's ceremony. rock broke the news during his show in phoenix. >> and reportedly said hosting the oscars would be like returning to the scene of the crime. all right, netflix has been slapped with a defamation lawsuit over its series, "inventing anna," the story of new york con artist anna sorokin. >> rachel williams claimed it damaged her reputation by portraying her as sorokin's back-stabbing friend. >> she says netflix intentionally misrepresented her character and producers acknowledged parts were made up. no comment from netflix on the lawsuit. next good news for tea lovers. drinking two cups of black tea per day can apparently low you are your risk of death. >> they have a reduced mortality of up to 12% even if they add

milk or sugar. >> it is high in anti-oxidants but found no casual relationship. perhaps tea drinkers just live healthier lifestyles. if coffee is your choice get ready for higher prices at starbucks. pumpkin spice is back but a grande cup will cost $6. an increase of 9%. speaking of pumpkin, one guy set a record by using a pumpkin as a kayak. >> duane hansen paddled 38 piles down the missouri river setting a world record. >> i was lucky and only got hung up a couple of times, but i had some pretty close calls, i've never been in a pumpkin going down the river. it's -- it's -- i can't say it's easy. >> he grew the 846-pound pumpkin himself. finally some record-breaking skills involving a rubik's cube or in this case three of them. >> he solved three rubik's cubes

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my 100% all-white-meat spicy chicken strips are back. look at them sitting there. just sitting there. can't believe we hired a director for this. spicy chicken strips starting at $5.49 are back at jack in the box. >> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. reggie: now at 5:00, children in

california know may soon be forced to attend kindergarten. why they want to add the requirement for thousands of kids. kumasi: a potential nuclear meltdown in ukraine. the worries as russia ramped up attacks. reggie: worries about the department of justice about how their teens can get their hands on. how to spot rain the rainbow fentanyl. kumasi: what kind of tea might help you live a longer life. good morning it is tuesday, august 30. let us check in with drew. drew: it is not too hot but people will change by the end of the week. live doppler 7, we have thrown the satellite. you can see shading on the coast, patchy fog without dense areas of fog. visibility this morning, where you see number 10 you are good to go. in most areas we are not finding pockets of dense fog. the lone exception is santa rosa. in