seven. >> that's what's making news in america this morning. making news in america this thursday morning, the curse reversed. the chicago cubs are world series champions after winning an epic game seven in an extra inning thriller. the celebration still going on and lebron james trying to fire up the crowd. the final push. th battleground states. our experts on which states donald trump needs to win. and the new polls showing a neck and neck race with just five days to go until the election. trapped on a mountain in a blizzard, a group of firefighters stuck on one of america's highest peaks. the video of their ordeal. and vape mishap. an e-cigarette explodes in a man's pocket. the dramatic moment caught on

a bit early for the fourth of july or a little late. we say good morning on this thursday morning. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm linzie janis in for diane macedo. resident cubs fan. good day for me to be filling in. >> yep. the front page of this morning's "chicago tribune" saying simply "at last." and you can understand why, because at 12:47 a.m. eastern time, hell froze over. in cleveland at last, the chicago cubs became world series champion, and the celebrations were on, 108 years in the making. >> that is wrigley field there. its famous sign reading "home of the chicago cubs, world series champions." still plenty of security outside. thousands of fans were celebrating there after the game. i think they're still celebrating now. >> i think they are. you still see quite a few out there in wrigleyville on the north side.

back in cleveland the champagne and beer was flying in the cubs' locker room when the party finally arrived there. plenty of the players covering their eyes with their protective goggles. >> one great shot from the game, cleveland's own lebron james fired up cheering on the indians from the stands. his cavaliers didn't play last night. >> in the end lebron and the rest of the indians fans went home a little disappointed. this is a curse reversed. >> the cubs win the world series. >> reporter: for the first time in 108 years, the chicago cubs winning their world series in an epic and decisive game seven. it turned out to be quite a nail-biter. cubs fans spilling out into the streets of wrigleyville, chicago erupting into celebrations. it was an epic winner take all. the two duking it out to game seven.

comeback from a 3-1 deficit. david ross capping off the last game of his career with a home run but the game is itself a roller coaster tied after nine innings. >> tied at six. >> a rain delay and finally -- >> it's over. >> reporter: the cubs coming out on top with an 8-7 world series win. >> it was exactly 11:47 p.m. local time last night in chicago when the cubs won it. >> yes, emotions of their fans including yourself was obvious. word is those fans and the team will celebrate with a victory parade and rally tomorrow on the north side. it's expected to attract the city's largest crowd ever for a team celebration. plenty of these folks will be there. >> they may be recovered by then too. >> hopefully. >> you said he blessed your rosary.

before the playoffs and carried it all the way through. >> cheering and yelling and screaming and celebrating. through the world series. i can't believe the cubs have made it. yay! >> what he said. >> exactly. whatever that was. it was a stark contrast of emotions for indian fans. of course, they can spend the winter looking forward to their team's first spring training game. it's scheduled for february 26th in case you want to know. >> and it's against the cubs. >> exactly, just so you know. >> sick and twisted. >> much more from the game a little bit later on this half hour. returning to politics now and the final push to the election now just five days away. >> yeah, donald trump and hillary clinton are both heading to north carolina today as their surrogates try to drum up support across the country, as well. president obama is hitting the trail again for clinton, while trump's wife melania delivers her first speech since the republican convention. >> and the polls are tighter than ever. they are neck and neck in must win florida with a slight edge for clinton. in traditionally red arizona

night, trump has 49% support and clinton has 44%, all within the margin of error. abc's lana zak has the latest. >> reporter: donald trump brought the fireworks in florida literally. >> get out and vote. >> reporter: but he tried to avoid creating any new rhetorical fireworks in the final days of the campaign saying he'll stay nice and cool. >> stay on point, donald. stay on point. no sidetracks, donald. watching hillary the last few days. she's totally unhinged. >> reporter: but hillary clinton warned voters in arizona that the unhinged one, she believes, is her opponent. >> if donald trump were to win this election, we would have a commander in chief who is completely out of his depth and whose ideas are incredibly dangerous. >> reporter: clinton, a chicago native, watched the cubs win the series from an ipad after her rally in arizona, a state she said was in play for the first

>> arizona has only voted for a democrat for president once since 1948 and that was my husband in 1996. >> reporter: both candidates are making a massive final push. president obama helping close the deal for clinton in north carolina. >> i hate to put a little pressure on you, but the fate of the republic rests on your shoulders. >> reporter: and the trump children fanned out in five battleground states. >> he wants to infuse common sense back into the equation. happened of note in politics, president obama yesterday criticized the fbi in regards to the clinton e-mail probe saying that they have been leaking and that they have been practicing -- that they have been trafficking in innuendo though he declined to get into any of the specifics of the case. kendis, linzie. >> oh, it continues. just a few more days, lana. >> yes. >> just a few more days, lana.

>> a closer look now at the path to 270 electoral votes, the magic number needed, of course, to win the presidency. >> abc's jonathan karl takes a look at the map and the numbers with david muir. >> the map still favors hillary clinton, but donald trump has momentum. you look at our ratings. every state that we've looked at, the red favor trump, blue favor hillary clinton. and two states since we last spoke have moved towards trump. utah and ohio have both gone from toss-up states to advantage donald trump getting him closer to 270. but, david, he still needs to win all the remaining toss-up states, arizona, florida, north carolina. if he wins all three of those, he goes to 259 electoral votes, still short. >> still short, so he has to pick off a couple of blue states. >> and he's got good news on that front in two states. in the state of pennsylvania a new poll out today shows trump within four. in wisconsin, a poll shows him within six. and joe biden is going to wisconsin on friday, a sign that

if he wins pennsylvania, he wins the presidency. if it's wisconsin, 269-269. we've got a tie. there's no co-presidency. congress chooses. >> our jonathan karl there. on the campaign trail today, hillary clinton will be in north carolina where she'll be joined by bernie sanders. tim kaine delivers remarks in spanish at an early voting event in arizona. donald trump holds another rally in florida before heading to north carolina, and mike pence campaigns with ted cruz in iowa and michigan then holds a third rally in pennsylvania. >> and do count on abc news for your election night coverage. our political team will be here all night as the results do come in. >> it'll be a long night. a person of interest being questioned in a torching of a black church in mississippi. the words "vote trump" were spray painted on the side of the hopewell missionary church in greenville. the fire chief says it's being

morning the country's best and worst airports. >> can you guess which ones they are? plus, an arrest made in the shooting of two police officers in iowa. new details about the suspect's past run-ins with the cops. and a group of american firefighters trapped on a mountain in a blizzard. how they made it out alive. and game seven was the one that clinched it all. more coverage of the world series as the windy city revels in the cubs championship.

breaking news from afghanistan. two american service members

mission. the general calls it heartbreaking. no names or hometowns have been announced. in neighboring pakistan, take a look at these dramatic images in of a horrible train crash there. the mangled train off the tracks. at least 19 people were killed and dozens injured. investigators say the train collided with another train causing that horrific crash. also breaking overnight, the leader of isis has a new message to militants who are fighting u.s.-backed forces in iraq, fight to the death. in an audio recording released overnight, abu bakr al baghdadi told his followers not to retreat as coalition forces close in on mosul and he calls for suicide attacks in other countries. the battle to retake the city of 1 million people is now in its third week. some residents are starting to emerge from hiding. so apparently the best airports in the country are in the west. 9 worst right here in new york city.

sky harbor is the best of the country's busiest airports and laguardia in new york city, the worst. >> so not surprising. >> no. with the other two airports here nearly as bad. vice president joe biden famously once described laguardia as something from a third world country. it's currently, though, being renovated, so the problem is being fixed. >> we hope. >> yeah. so, facebook has far exceeded expectations with a staggering quarterly revenue of $7 billion. that's a 56% rise er period last year. but shares dipped after the company warned that growth will slow next year. nearly 1.8 billion people now use facebook worldwide. >> impressive. when we come back, caught on camera, this terrifying moment. an e-cigarette explodes in a man's pocket. and at last, the chicago cubs are world champions after a nail-biter in cleveland. the full highlights straight ahead.

man: i accept i'm not the deep sea fisherman i was. i accept i'm not out on the ocean wrestling marlin. i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but i won't go after anything with less than my best. so if i can go for something better than warfarin, i'll do that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin. ificantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. that's what i wanted to know. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and, in rare cases, fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding,

if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. i may not be going for the big one, but i'm still going for my best. and for eliquis. reduced risk of stroke, plus less major bleeding. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. the easiest decision you'll make all week is to shop kohl's this weekend plus less major bleeding. because kohl's will give you tax break savings with an extra 10 percent off and an extra 10 dollars off your purchase of 25 dollars or more! feel secure in your dentures... feel free to be yourself all day. just switch from denture paste to sea-bond denture adhesive seals. holds stronger than the leading paste all day... without the ooze. feel secure. be yourself.

now for a look at morning road conditions, drivers are likely to encounter wet roads in the southwest and ohio valley this morning and later in the day in the northeast. >> yeah, and because of that, if you're flying, airport delays are possible in the washington, d.c. area and boston. republican vice presidential candidate mike pence among those paying respects to the two iowa police officers killed in that ambush-style attack. >> the man suspected of killing the officers, george michael scott, is no stranger to police. he has had numerous run-ins with the law including being told to leave a high school football game after he displayed the confederate flag. he is in custody but has not yet been charged with any crime. police in north carolina

demonstrators tried to cross a creek. it's the latest confrontation in the months-long protest. president obama says the government is looking into rerouting the pipeline to try to avoid those sacred lands. attorneys for bill cosby say his eyesight is so bad that he can't take part in his own defense. they say cosby cannot identify his accusers from photographs because of near blindness. the lawyers also claim that cosby was a political bahn in electioners by the district if the charges stand cosby is set to go on trial in june. some firefighters from south florida are recalling a narrow escape from death in california's mt. whitney. the men were stuck in an unexpected blizzard not far from the summit of the 14,000-foot peak. wind whipped at their tents all night long burying them in feet of snow. when they tried to make it out in the morning, they got lost on the trail but eventually made it to base camp.

>> that's smart. e-cigarettes are being blamed for another fiery accident. this time in france. this man suffered second-degree burns when an e-cigarette suddenly exploded in his pants. the man could be seen vaping outside a nightclub then putting the cigarette back in his pocket. he believes the hot battery came in contact with loose coins. ouch. >> hot pants, indeed. and you've ever been blinded by the high beams of an oncoming car, you'll appreciate this. traffic police in southern china are punishing drivers who forget to turn off their brights. those caught have to stare into a police car's headlights for 60 seconds. the police department described the program on its social media page and it went viral. one reader even saying a minute was too short. but others questioned whether staring into bright lights might not cause permanent injury. >> after that they get waterboarded. >> yeah. >> kidding. >> not quite. up next in "the pulse," the luckiest person at the world series, this random fan whose ticket was purchased by bill murray.

and jumping the gun. an indians fan who posted this hours before game seven was even over. whoops. t coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma

be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com. there's only one egg that just tastes better. fresher. more flavorful. delicious. with more great nutrition. and 25% less saturated fat. only eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. our special today is the seared ahi tuna. don't you hate that? when they don't tell you how much something costs and you have to ask? maybe that's why i always make sure to... i know. transparency about costs. just one way edward jones makes sense of investing. introducing tresemm? botanique a blend of coconut milk and aloe vera in a

y nature. blended by professionals to replenish for stunning healthy-looking hair. tresemm? botanique professional. at your fingertips. ? ? time for "the pulse" and we'll start with what's already being called a world series instant classic. >> absolutely. >> chicago has plenty to celebrate this morning now that the cubs have won the world series. >> so, of course, this was the scene around chicago's wrigley field in wrigleyville after the final out. thousands of fans on the streets of the city's north side there. and inside the bars. none of them had ever seen this happen before. their team's 108-year wait for a title now over. >> the curse reversed. it wasn't easy, and it was dramatic.

the eighth when cleveland tied it with a two-run home run. then before extra innings, everyone had to wait out a 17-minute rain delay. >> and when it started again, this is what happened. the cubs driving in two runs, and they were feeling pretty good. cleveland, though, got a run back in their half of the tenth, then it was nervous, but it wasn't enough. this is the moment. >> he makes the play. >> 108 years in the making. >> and the cubs have finally won it all. >> it ended on an infield ground ball. the celebration for the cubs and their fans was on. final score, cubs, 8, indians, 7, cubs come from three games to

then i kind of walked behind him and all of a sudden he turned around and handed me the ticket. pushed me in. opened the door. and i was like, god, i really appreciate you giving me this ticket. and he said, not only am i giving you the ticket, you're sitting with me. >> how cool. said murray wouldn't let her buy him a beer either. thank you gift. >> he probably won't accept it. >> take a look at this. i saw this on twitter last night, fascinating. an indians fan posted this image there hours before the game ended. you see it there. indians, 2016 champs. whoops. >> that's a major, major oops. >> he says he has no regrets, though. and finally the last play of the series ended with the ball in the glove of cubs first baseman anthony rizzo, of course. now, after the game he said he couldn't put the feeling of winning a world series into words.

listen to his chat with veteran catcher david ross. >> i'm an emotional wreck. >> well, it's only going to get worse. just continue to breat. that's all you can do, buddy. that's all you can do. it's only going to get worse. >> i'm a glass case of emotion right now. >> yeah, yeah. >> a glass case of emotion. nothing quite like channeling your inner ron burgundy amid the pressure of game seven. >> one on, two outs. >> i'm in a glass case of emotion! >> you can look for that phrase on a t-shirt after the cubs celebration. this is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis with humira.

joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number #1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. want more proof? ask your rheumatologist about humira.

good is in every blue diamond almond. a good that comes in 20 flavors from whole natural to wasabi and soy sauce. and once good gets going, there's no stopping it. get your good going. blue diamond almonds. discoverar but i'm calling about that credit scorecard. give it. sure! it's free for everyone. oh! well that's nice! and checking your score won't hurt your credit. oh! i'm so proud of you. well thank you. free at at discover.com/creditscorecard, even if you're not a customer. (vo) pro plan bright mind adult 7+ promotes alertness and mental sharpness in dogs 7 and older. (ray) the difference has been incredible. she is much more aware. she wants to learn things.

take a look at our top stories on this thursday, hillary clinton and donald trump both campaigning in battleground north carolina today. with five days to go, they're both making plays for states that don't traditionally go for their own party. >> president obama will be on the campaign trail in florida after making a pitch for clinton in north carolina saying fate of the republic rests on their shoulders. melania trump is holding her first campaign event on her husband's behalf. she'll deliver a speech in suburban philadelphia today to talk about her upbringing in slovenia and her love for america. taking a look at today's weather, quite warm in the northeast and south but rain moves into the northeast tonight and temperatures are going to plunge, brrr. there will be heavy rain in the southwest today. >> you see 79 degrees in nashville.

milestone by honoring some legends featuring some contemporary artists as well and showcasing some superstars. >> along the way there were some memorable performances at the cma awards. elizabeth hur was there on the red carpet in nashville. ? play me some mountain music ? >> reporter: a massive star-studded open to the 50th annual country music awards. ? >> reporter: including an emotional surprise to kick off country music's biggest night. >> randy travis. [ cheers and applause ] ? >> reporter: randy travis making his first award show appearance since suffering a massive stroke in 2013. then hosts carrie underwood and brad paisley quickly opened their monologue hitting on what else, the election. ? the election is taking forever

>> entertainer of the year, garth brooks. [ cheers and applause ] >> we are so damn lucky to be part of this thing called country music. [ cheers and applause ] ? we got married in a fever ? >> reporter: from all-time greats taking the stage. ? >> reporter: to legend dolly parton honored with a lifetime achievement award. >> i just want to thank all my fans and everybody for allowin me to see my little girl dreams come true. ? >> reporter: then the surprise performance of the night, beyonce with the dixie chicks. ? >> reporter: so there you have it. so many great moments, and if you missed any of it, it's okay because all of the performances are posted right on abc.com. kendis and linzie. >> and we should mention lara spencer will be there from nashville this morning on "good morning america."

. it's 4:30. multiple breaking stories right now. someone right now on the run, outside of the cherry bar. police say they have a good idea who the suspect on the run is. >> and police investigating a colfax. the person in the wheelchair injured and no word on the suspect. >> and two kill in afghanistan. >> that's right. two killed as they came under fire in afghanistan where they were advising and assisting troops fighting the taliban.