right now on america this morning monster storm blizzard conditions windchills near 60 degrees below zero and freezing temperatures set to extend all the way to central florida historic pre christmas storm and the message this morning for travelers whether you're flying or driving. on my way to the us those words overnight from ukrainian president vladimir zelensky, leaving his country for the first time since the war began. what we're learning about his visit to washington today, as congress considers billions of dollars in new aid for the war effort. state of emergency. the deadly earthquake jolted northern california a new look at the extensive damage and the

warning system that passed a critical test, giving people a potentially life saving heads up before the shaking. plus a fire outside buckingham palace. the arrest overnight, elon musk now says he'll step down as twitter ceo with one catch, and later the $13 dress sold at the grocery store, creating a phenomenon. from york. this is america this morning. good wednesday morning, everyone i'm andrew denberg. andrea fujian for rhiannon. we begin with the massive and powerful winter storm bearing down on tens of millions of americans is just getting started spreading heavy snow and record breaking cold into the rockies and upper midwest today before it threatens to impact some of the busiest airports and interstates in the country, just in time for the holiday travel rush today, parts of the northern rockies could see windchills near 60 degrees below zero, and denver could see temperatures plunged by 50 degree. grease in the coming

hours. get ready because nearly ever touched by the storm system. this a blockbuster winter storm is taking shape carrying with it, blizzard conditions and life threatening cold. 85 million americans across 28 states from montana to alabama are now under storm watches and warnings. let's time out where there's no is going to drop in denver and omaha's in places like minneapolis, then that low pulls towards chicago. that's when it rapidly intensifies it bombs out those winds going to get fierce on the front and the back side of this thing. blizzard conditions across chicago, maybe as far south as the st louis detroit come friday morning, heavy rain and wind on the front side, damaging winds potentially along the i 95 corridor. with tomorrow expected to be the busiest day of the week for air travel. major airlines are already offering waivers for passengers headed through airports in the storm zone. most airlines, especially if it's weather related, will usually email you or text you like the

day before and give you the option of changing your flight. and it's not just the weather and now resolved. technical glitch at british airways triggered a global disruption. passengers facing delays up to 20 hours actress elizabeth hurley among them tweeting still stranded, no food, water or hotel pretty dodgy service at british airways fans for calling this scene from austin powers really wanted to travel, you know, sort of. see the world fascinating. vanessa if your flight gets canceled, experts say, act fast rebook on the airlines app or head to the airline agents desk right away, calling customer service while you wait, and they say kindness is key. the desk agent has the most power to help. you need to calm yourself down. everything will sort itself out. even northern florida could see temperatures as low as 20 degrees. by christmas eve, we'll take a closer look at your forecast in just a few moments. for the first time since the war began. 300 days ago. ukraine's president, zelensky has left his country he tweeted overnight that he is headed to the united

states is scheduled to meet today with president biden and speak to a joint session of congress just as lawmakers consider billions of dollars in new aid for ukraine, abc s faith of booby has more faith. good morning. good morning to you. andrea white house sources tell abc news president alinsky will not only get a chance to meet with president biden, but you also get a chance to sit down with members of his cabinet and national security team before heading to capitol hill. this morning. the white house preparing to welcome ukraine's president dolinsky to the u. s what senior administration officials describe as an in depth strategic discussion. biden administration eager to underscore its commitment to the eastern european nation, and provide zelinsky an opportunity to meet with president biden, he members of his cabinet and national security team in a recent exclusive interview with abc news, zelinsky saying this about a potential visit. and i am lot of things what to say and what to do. we have to discuss embodying. very important things

for our country's security measures for ukraine. future security things, sources tell abc news president biden will mark the alinsky's visit with an announcement of a significant new package for ukraine. nearly $2 billion in security assistance, including patriot missile batteries that ukraine has been requesting to fend off the russian invasion will go along way to plug those gaps in the ukrainian air defense. ongoing russian missile strikes on critical ukrainian frustration like the power grid. have left millions of residents in the dark and with no heat as temperatures dip below freezing president zelensky seen on the front lines visiting with his troops, holding a moment of silence for the lives, lost the ukrainian president. surprise visit to the us his first since russia began its unprovoked war 300 days ago. it comes as congress considers $45 billion more in emergency aid for the country. house speaker nancy pelosi, urging lawmakers to be

present tonight for very special focus on democracy. zelinsky confirming on twitter, he plans to address a joint session of congress. and the white house hopes this visit with zielinski sends a message to putin that the u. s is in for the long haul when it comes to its support for ukraine, andrew thank you. house democrats have voted to release former president trump's tax returns. trump fought for years to keep his financial records under wraps. but a house committee will soon make public six years of his returns. democrats say the move is needed so they can draft new rules around presidential ethics. they say there was no audit of trump's tax returns as required by the irs during his presidency. republicans say releasing the tax returns could jeopardize the privacy of all americans. now to the clean up after a deadly earthquake in northern california residents say the shaking lasted for nearly 20 terrifying seconds. a state of emergency declared in california overnight as officials assess the damage from tuesday's 6.4 magnitude

earthquake in humboldt county. felt like i was in a horse, uh, tornado, my house is on post and peers and it completely moved in circles. um it was it was pretty terrifying to people died from medical emergencies. another dozen were injured, and that number could rise. the city of rio del saw the brunt of the damage. windows destroyed thrown off shelves and entire houses are shifted off their foundations. front porch, the owner of the auto parts store, cleaning up glass and boarding up windows you couldn't walk through, either. i'll side doors and accessible my backdoors inaccessible now closed for safety inspections. you can see the cracks in the road here and railing beds. at least 15 homes have been red tagged, meaning they're not safe for habitation . the quake also knocking out power for 70,000 people. more than half of those affected saw

power restored by last night, but residents are left shaken with more than 80. aftershocks already reported. one came as local officials gave a news conference aftershocks also. experts say there is now an 11% chance of a quake stronger than magnitude five hitting in the next week. residents are being urged to strap down any large items. priority from the very beginning is life and so we are concerned about our residents here in the county. tuesday's quake was a crucial test for the earthquake warning app called my chic. it notified 270,000 people about the quake, some getting 10 seconds notice to prepare and it was the biggest alert for the my shake apps since it launched in 2019 to the crisis on the southern border. biden administration is asking the supreme court to end a controversial policy that restricts migration. opponents say this could unleash a flood of migrants overwhelming border states. abc s. morgan norwood has the latest from el paso morgen. good morning. andrew

good morning title. 42 remains in place, at least for now. of course, that's the pandemic era policy that allows us to spill migrants back across the border without an asylum hearing. let's get into this policy was set to expire today. but chief justice john roberts issuing a temporary order keeping title 42 in place after several republican led states 19 of them, arguing that lifting the policy will trigger a flood of migration that will then overwhelmed the s te sce the public health threat from covid 19. has passed, but the administration did ask for a delay asking the court not to lift the policy before christmas, giving border patrol agents and other agencies . time to prepare bottom line here. there's no word yet on when the supreme court could rule, so we remain in a holding pattern. in the meantime, they'll here in el paso national guard troops are stationed along the border. the mayor 20,000 migrants are waiting

across the river in mexico preparing to enter the u. s. wants that policy is lifted. we also oh no, that vacant schools are now being set up as shelters. smugglers continue to take advantage of migrants and border patrol says it least in the past two days, agents busted 12 smuggling schemes and rescued nearly 60 migrants, andrew alright, morgen. thank you. elon musk now claims he will resign as ceo of twitter but with a catch. he says he'll resign. quote as soon as i find someone foolish enough to take the job. people responding to his own twitter poll voted 57 to 43% in favor of musk stepping down. time now for a look at your wednesday weather. as we head towards your christmas weekend. hey wednesday's a big travel day for us looking good up and down the i 95 corridor dallas atlanta, but there will be snow and wind from minneapolis to denver to the west. we're tracking a big snowstorm this week's folks from

the rocky mountains on wednesday to the mid south on thursday between thursday and friday, this storm will strengthen and there will be a blizzard later this week in chicago in st louis, kansas city, 6 to 12 inches of snow thursday to friday airports all most likely be closed. and roads will be impassable. meantime an arctic blast is headed our way by friday, will make its way to the gulf coast temperatures behind this arctic blast 25 to 50 degrees cooler than out ahead of it. accuweather meteorologist kevin costner in. remembering beloved actress from daytime tv ahead the train collision caught on camera in tennessee and the aftermaths morning and new video in the search for an 11 year old girl whose parents, police say waited three weeks to report her missing what investigators are no

2022 monday night at 19th, central on abc. we're back with a train crash near chattanooga, tennessee, a free train slamming into a semi truck that was stopped on the tracks in college, dale two people were injured. the rig was carrying a concrete beam for a bridge. the driver was waiting for a red light to change video has been released in the search for an 11 year old north carolina girl missing since before thanksgiving. police say there are inconsistencies with her parents statements. here's a b c's line on louise. last night, a north carolina community came together holding a vigil for missing 11 year old maddalena. kojak. ari want to pray for her? we want to keep everything positive as the cornelius police department releases new video of what investigators say is the last time they can confirm madalina was seen in public. the short clip from november. 21st shows her getting off the school bus heading home. it's the last day she was at school, but she

was not reported missing until more than three weeks later. later on december 15th. police say her school tried contacting her family, eventually sending a counselor and resource officer to their home december 12th two days later on the 14th police say madeleine, his mother, diana, kojak, ari told a counselor. she would bring maddalena with her the following day, but court documents say she arrived without her daughter and then told them that maddalena had been missing since november, 23rd. the 23rd would have been two days after she was seen o. s was shocked and arrt sheet spfher, r palmer told police. the last time he saw her was on november 16th when officers asked diana why she did not report maddalena missing. earlier she said she was worried it might start a conflict between her and christopher. both have been arrested for failure to report the disappearance of a child can play one parent off the other parent, so i don't know a whole

lot. about these two parents. but you can very easily test there. understood or at least what they are reporting as the circumstances of her being missing and compare the two so obviously they're going to separate the two and really, really grilled them if they have not invoked their right to counsel. documents show. both parents questioned each other about whether they had medellin a and both denied it. police are asking anyone with information about madalina to come forward. she was last seen wearing a white shirt jacket and jeans with pink, purple and white adidas shoes. andrew andrea lionelou.me tv actress sonia eddie played epiphany johnson on general hospital. previously she appeared on seinfeld and fresh off the boat. eddie was only 55. no cause of death was given. coming up of fire outside buckingham palace. the arrest overnight also ahead how wells fargo allegedly mistreated its customers and how mistreated its customers and how the bank is being punished.

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buckingham palace overnight after a fire outside the gates and officer was seen throwing a man to the ground and arresting him just a few feet from the flames. police charged the protester with criminal damage. no word on a motive. we turn now to a bombshell. the banking industry, a major bank has been ordered to pay billions after being accused of mistreating customers. wrongfully seizing homes and cars. this morning. another scandal is rocking wells fargo. the bank has been ordered to pay $3.7 billion to settle a number of violations, including charging illegal fees and interest on auto loans and mortgages and incorrectly taking overdraft fees. in a statement, the ceo says the bank identified a series of unacceptable practices that we have been working systematically to change . it seems that they are not only too big to fail. there are also too big to jail. it's the latest in a string of massive fines for wells fargo in 2020, the bank paid $3 billion after

employees opened millions of phony accounts without the customer's knowledge in order to meet sales goals as the employees falsified records, investigators say the bank collected millions in fees reportedly targeting minorities who speak little english, along with college students and seniors. you had to open 10 accounts. every every single day since at least 2016 senator elizabeth warren has urged federal regulators to break up wells fargo once calling the bank's former ceo gutless at a congressional hearing. have you resigned as ceo or chairman of wells fargo? the board. i serve at the resigned no. i have not returned one nickel. of the money you earned while this scam was going on, and the board will do, i will take that as a no. then or an applauded the latest fly fine against wells fargo, calling it much needed accountability. coming up a celebration with french fries. bring your pet to work day may soon announcer: type 2 diabetes?

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it's more than a gift. you start your day. good morning , america. bring your friends. time to check the pulse, and we begin with a doggone good story . a warm welcome for pets in the workplace. love this bean pet friendly is apparently good for business executives are allowing workers to bring their pets to work after the pandemic produced a slew of new pet owners and the animals go a long way to creating a happier work environment. one company detroit has nine cats living in the office. the owner calls them the ultimate stress relievers. as long as you're not allergic exactly next, the party of a lifetime for the world cup. chance things got a little crazy in argentina. two fans threat to jump onto the teams open top bus from an overpass. shortly after that the parade was cut short. try this at home and estimated

four million people crowded into buenos aires for the celebration , and fox says sunday's game was the most watched english language world cup broadcast ever with nearly 17 million viewers. check out world cup winner lionel messi. he posted pictures of himself in bed with the trophy. he's sleeping easy these days. i love it. it was a very different celebration in boise, idaho, where eastern michigan university's coach got a french fry bath followed his team's win over san jose state in the famous idaho potato bowl . somebody brought up exactly next to the fashion craze. born at a grocery store, it is flying off the shelves at all the dress was featured in a weekly advertisement, then shot to fame through a facebook group that focuses on all these so called isle of shame. here's the best part the glittery sparkles actress sells for 12 99. it's limited release added to its popularity. and finally, with a big storm coming get ready for scenes like this north dakota woman was outside. when this

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(boy) i think this is going to work... (vo) small businesses like this thlearning center...nsurance. (smb) there's only one way to find out. (vo) ...help communities thrive. that's why wells fargo has donated roughly $420 million dollars to diverse small business owners. (smb) back to alpha, plant. (vo) new thinking, and new thinkers ...make the future brighter, for all of us. happy holidays from wells fargo. karin

moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. reggie: the deadly earthquake rocks northern california. we are getting a look at some of the aftermath that left thousands of people in the dark. >> annual report about how muc money the state will need to pay to end homelessness. if you are heading east for the holidays, what you need to know about a powerful storm that is impacting some of the busiest airports on the busiest travel days of the week. if you are watching us, we are noting you.