right now on america this morning, multiple tornadoes touched down across the chicago area. >> people seeking shelter at the airport got new images showing the extent of damage. and now more storms heading toward the flood ravaged northeast. while dangerous heat triggers warnings

to more than 100 million people, us government emails hacked a cyber attack blamed on chinese hackers. >> a member of president biden's cabinet and other top officials. among the victims, how china responded overnight. >> your money. new evidence that inflation is cooling off. we look at where price increases are finally leveling off and what it could mean for interest rates. new details on how a murder suspect escaped from a pennsylvania jail gathering with inmates late at night on the roof. >> and a closer look at four high profile prisoner escapes in recent days. what's to blame? >> the best in sports honored at the espy awards. what lebron james said about his future and the emotional moment demar hamlin honored the medical staff who saved his life. >> and later, making sleep the priority, the surprising number of couples getting a sleep divorce is no longer sharing beds from

>> this is america. this morning. >> good thursday morning, everyone. i'm andrew dymburt. >> good morning to you. i'm rhiannon ally. we want to begin with new concerns about this extreme heat bearing down on much of the country. heat alerts are posted from washington state to new mexico and from texas to florida. >> in the north, a different set of concerns. more rain for the northeast and tornadoes hitting the chicago area. at least eight tornadoes were reported in the chicago area last night. holy dozens of homes and businesses damaged the debris littering parking lots. car windows smashed. the side of this building gone. the city's airports facing ground stops. video shows hundreds of people taking shelter in this concourse at o'hare airport. and this video from a traveler inside midway airport. >> oh, my gosh, god showing a twister taking shape just past the runways. >> those storms shifting east overnight. people across vermont have been racing to clean up from this week's disastrous floods before more rain arrives today. thousands of people have

lost homes and businesses. the recovery could take years, if not decades. and storms are in the forecast for the next seven days with four more inches of rain possible, this may not be over with. >> rain in the forecast and nowhere for it to go. we could see waters rise up again. >> meanwhile, forecasters are warning of dire consequences from the extreme heat across the south and the west. triple digit temperatures will stretch from florida to california today. phenix will mark its 14th consecutive day of 110 degrees or above of heat related illnesses nationwide have more than doubled in the last month. places including miami dade county, los angeles and phenix have recently appointed chief heat officers, a city official who does everything from established cooling centers install more ac in public housing and plant more trees to cool the streets. now the mayor of phenix is calling on the biden administration to appoint a federal heat officer. one possible tool to fight climate change paint scientists at

purdue have created a white paint that's so white they say it can reduce the surface temperature on a roof by up to 19 degrees by reflecting 98% of the sun's rays. it could be available by next year. las vegas could set an all time heat record this weekend, and death valley could hit 130 degrees. we'll check today's forecast in just a few moments. >> allegiant airlines says four people were injured in severe turbulence during a flight from asheville, north carolina, to saint petersburg, florida. witnesses say there were about to land when two passengers and two crew members were thrown around the cabin. one passenger called the experience petrifying. >> authorities in washington are searching for a driver behind a deadly hit and run near the white house. secret service agents say they were pulling over the driver for expired license plates when he sped off, ran a red light and hit two pedestrians. a 75 year old man from philadelphia was killed. a 13 year old girl suffered minor injuries. >> now to a cyber attack targeting us government emails. it's been linked to hackers

based in china. the state department was targeted and now we have learned the commerce department was targeted as well . overnight, abc news confirmed the commerce department was also targeted during a recent breach of microsoft's cloud security linked to hackers based in china . officials say the hackers targeted commerce secretary gina raimondo emails beginning in may and the attack went undetected for about a month. the state department confirms it, too, was targeted, saying it took swift action. we took immediate steps to secure our systems, took immediate steps to notify microsoft of the event. >> the incident remains under investigation and we continuously monitor our networks and update our security procedures. >> the cyber breach started just before secretary of state antony blinken traveled to china in june. and while the commerce department has been imposed sanctions on beijing, then they had over 30 days before it was even reported and almost another 30 days before it was fully mitigated. >> so this is a very long period

of time to gain access. >> sources say it appears unlikely that the hackers got access to any high value classified information, but that the threat is growing. the number of cyber attacks affecting government organizations rose 95% in the last half of 2022, compared to the previous year. stopping the threat goes far beyond protecting passwords. experts say it requires spotting suspicious activity ahead of time. >> artificial intelligence and machine learning can do it much faster. so instead of detecting it in 30 days, we should have detected it in 30 milliseconds. and if we could do that, we have the ability to stop these types of attacks. >> but microsoft says email data from 25 organizations was exposed. the chinese government responded to the reports overnight by criticizing the us, saying, quote, the us is the world's biggest hacking empire. >> authorities in tennessee are trying to find a motive for the murder of a prominent surgeon, dr. benjamin mack was shot inside an exam room at his

office near memphis. police say the suspect, larry pickens, was a patient and had been in the clinic for hours. officers quickly flooded the building and arrested the suspect outside. they say employees in the doctor's office were previously trained in crisis response and it paid off. >> one of our officers highlighted to me that as they entered the building, there were several employees that had taken charge of other of the of the patients that were there to be seen and other employees making sure everybody was accountable. they were practicing what they had been trained. >> the suspect is due in court today. >> turning to the economy and some encouraging news about inflation. a new government report shows prices rose in june at the slowest rate in more than two years. wall street celebrate the news, but the question now becomes is what comes next? will the fed stop raising interest rates? abc's justin finch is here now with more. justin >> good morning, brianna and good morning. that june labor report finding a few of america's biggest expenses are coming down with falling rent

prices and stabilizing car costs . this morning, new economic data finding american households are able to stretch their dollar further today than one year ago. the us consumer price index, which measures how much households spend on average for goods and services and is used as a gauge for inflation. an finding welcome news that for 12 straight months inflation appears to be easing. the us bureau of labor statistics finding june's consumer prices were 3% higher than a year ago, marking the lowest increase in more than two years, tumbling from last summer's peak, when prices were 9% higher year over year. staples like meat, fish and dairy down slightly in june from may. airfares dipping 8. used car prices down with new car prices flat. the stock market reacting. >> we were anticipating something that was going to show

a good bit of progress and we got what we got this morning was even better. >> the inflation cool down follows the june jobs report showing us unemployment at 3.6. the economy adding 209,000 jobs. the white house attributing that growth to bidenomics in its effort to expand the economy through job creation, lowering costs and us investment. the fed now weeks away from its july interest rate meeting, many expect rate hikes will pick up again as this investor portfolio manager explains on bloomberg tv. >> because this is not going to get the fed to start cutting rates. all this does is get the fed to probably pause for an extended period, keep rates elevated. we need to see weakness in the labor market before they start cutting rates . >> though the us economy is showing momentum, the us treasury secretary cautioning a recession is not fully off the table as republicans argue inflation remains too high and wages too low. rhiannon

>> all right, justin, thank you. >> time now for a look at your thursday forecast. >> good morning. another day with dangerous heat from the california desert. all the way to florida. some of the worst of it's going to be on the gulf coast. houston will have an accuweather real feel temperature today of 115. yikes. as we look on the plane, some of us will cool off, but it will be stormy out there between denver and omaha. also severe thunderstorms possible today and tonight across the northeast, including new england speaking of which, heavy rain likely over the next six days, up to eight inches, renewing flooding concerns. i'm accuweather meteorologist kevin corcoran. >> coming up surprising details about how a murder suspect was able to escape from a pennsylvania jail. >> but first, the dentist accused of killing his wife by poisoning her protein shakes appears in court. what investigators revealed about his online searches.

>> and later, hear from the man who converted a missile silo in nebraska to a cozy new home

morning, america. >> a colorado judge has ruled that a dentist accused in the deadly poisoning of his wife will stand trial for murder in court yesterday, prosecutors said james craig repeatedly spiked angela craig's drinks with cyanide and a toxic substance found in eyed they say he googled how to make murder look like a heart attack. his wife's family wants the public to know what a loving mother she was. >> one of my favorite memories of angela from this is accident anyway, is her walk of honor as he took her out to be a donor and her heart was still beating . and that sweet heart of hers will go on to bless other

people's lives. >> prosecutors say his motive was to be with another woman, an accusation that woman denied to abc news. craig will formally be arraigned next month. >> new details in the search for a murder suspect who escaped from a jail in pennsylvania. experts say these kind of jail breaks are more common than most people believe. abc's andrea fujii explains today marks one week since a murder suspect described as a survivalist has been on the run after escaping from a jail in northwest pennsylvania. >> michael burrows escaped may not be as dramatic as this scene from the shawshank redemption, but experts say escapes are more common than you might think. >> it really just comes down to when they have a chance to do it. >> some people will take it. >> in recent days for high profile inmates have escaped from facilities in the us. burrum was enjoying outdoor time on a jail rooftop with other inmates. the group was monitored only by camera. no guard was present there, up there for quite a while.

>> in order to accommodate state law. we have 90 people in the facility. they're going up 3 or 4 at a time. police say he escaped through a hole in the chain link fence, which was about to undergo repairs and rappelled down a makeshift rope made with bedsheets all within 10s while burrum remains on the run, an inmate in indianapolis has been captured after police say he used the chain of his handcuffs to strangle a sheriff's deputy while being transferred monday. >> one day earlier, a murder suspect in montana slipped out of his handcuffs while being transported to michigan. he's also been captured. experts say escape attempts during prisoner transports are the most violent . >> when you're breaking out from a transportation vehicle, you might have to overcome the vehicle, but there's going to be security guards in place that you have to that you have to overcome. >> last weekend, a murder suspect also escaped police custody at a california hospital before being caught one day later. so why so many escapes lately? experts blame staffing shortages. they say most escapes are at jails which have smaller

budgets than prisons. >> most escapes that occur are very mundane and routine. in fact, the vast majority of escapes are simply what we call walkaways. >> experts say there's also very little oversight of private companies that transport prisoners. as for michael byrom's, escape changes are already being made to that roof at the warren county jail. andrew rhiannon andrea, thank you. >> coming up, the news overnight about another big strike in hollywood. >> also ahead, tears and cheers, the emotional moments as damar hamlin honored the medical staff who saved his life on the football field. the top moments football field. the top moments from the espy awards is next if you're still having bladder leaks, it's time for a change. axonics therapy gave me my life back. it's not another pad or pill. it's amazing that a tiny device can provide 15 years of relief - and you can try it out first. get started at findrealrelief.com ask a bladder specialist if axonics therapy

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federal mediator, but that won't delay a possible walkout. but at issue is money from streaming shows and the use of artificial intelligence, which they see as a big threat right now, it's in its infancy, but maybe given five, ten years, if this isn't nipped in the bud, they can already like have a computer dialog and then just need one writer to go over the dialog. >> if they walk out, they would join the writers guild, who were already on strike. >> now to the best in sports, honored last night at the espy awards. lebron james addressed his thoughts on retirement. and of course, there were plenty of fashion statements. the top athletes from around the world gathered in los angeles to celebrate the past year in sports. patrick mahomes brought the cool vibes in these sunglasses and opted to not wear a shirt under his double breasted hugo boss suit. it was 90 degrees on the red carpet. >> i have a great stylist. it's brittany mahomes. >> mahomes once inside, mahomes

won best male athlete while skier mikaela shiffrin received the honor in women's sports. mahomes is kansas city chiefs won best team. the super bowl champs spoke to abc's will reeve backstage about getting back on the field for training camp in just ten days. >> we're ready to go after it again. are you ready to get going? ready to roll before we roll, can i see? is that the ring he's got the ring on. he's got the ring. >> the show also honored lebron james for becoming the nba's all time leading scorer. james's wife and his family introduced the laker as their king. >> i decided i wanted to tell you what i think. i think lebron james is the baddest mother. >> james thanked his family and then said this about his future . >> the day i can't give the game everything on the floor is the day i'll be done. and lucky for you guys, that day is not today . >> the most emotional moment of

the night came as demar hamlin took the stage. hamlin broke down in tears as he gave the buffalo bills training staff the pat tillman award for service. they were the first responders on the field when hamlin collapsed. >> by the grace of god and divine intervention, we had the best outcome. we could have prayed for or imagined. >> also honored the women's national soccer team for their fight for equal pay. >> coming up, the return of the espresso martini. >> plus, the sea otter now famous for stealing surfboards

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least one especially aggressive female otter is targeting surfers in santa cruz, stealing at least one surfboard and damaging several others. >> it was like biting chunks out of the surfboard and there would just be like foam chunks, like, everywhere. so kind of like upset and ruined one of my surfboards. but sorry, otter madness experts say human interaction likely affected her negatively, and they warn surfers to stay away. >> good advice. next many couples are getting a divorce to save their marriage. a sleep divorce. >> yes. a new survey finds more than a third of americans have decided to sleep in separate rooms. that's what they're calling a sleep divorce. they blame snoring and frequent trips to the bathroom. many couples say sleeping apart has actually improved their sex life because they're so well rested. imagine sleeping every night in a silo, not just any silo. a missile silo. >> it's waiting for you in nebraska. it was built during the cold war to house a nuclear

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