making news in america this morning, debate day. republican presidential candidates facing off again with donald trump no longer the clear front-runner. >> i don't like being second. second is terrible to me. >> trump sharing center stage with ben carson so how will it all play out? we're live in washington. breaking overnight a plane struck with a laser while landing. the pilot sent to the hospital. new details just in. >> brutal robbery ending on a subway platform. the victim hit with a stun gun and thrown on to the tracks. the attack caught on camera. and what a win. game one of the world series going right into the record books, the out on leaving fans scratching their heads and a

late night ending. well, good morning. our top story is tonight's third republican presidential debate. it'll be in the university of colorado's basketball arena with an emphasis on the economy. >> yeah, basketball arena but i'm sure they'll go to bouts. a new poll is adding some drama to the event with another poll showing trump is in trouble. abc's bazi kanani joining us now from d.c. with the details. bazi, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, kendis, good morning, reena. this will be another important opportunity for the candidates to pick up some momentum and this time donald trump is also in need of a boost. a change on the debate stage, this time two men placed front and center for their rankings in the polls. >> iowa, will you get your numbers up, please? >> reporter: a humbled donald trump acknowledging ben carson's rise to first place in iowa and in one new poll in a virtual tie with trump nationally. >> i mean, i am second. it's not like terrible.

second is terrible to me. >> reporter: ahead of tonight's debate carson is not taking those new numbers for granted. >> you know, i do realize that, you know, it's a marathon. we're still, you know, more than a year away from the election. and there will be ups and downs. >> reporter: while trump and carson are expected to hit hard at each other in tonight's debate, other candidates are battling to be seen as the alternative to the outsiders. jeb bush declaring friend and protege marco rubio a gop obama. rubio suggesting bush is part of the past. >> we need to elevate a new generation of leadership. >> reporter: the candidates tweeting pictures of their debate prep. john kasich promising to take the gloves off. >> let the chips fall where they may. because i'm done with being polite and listening to this nonsense. >> reporter: there are 14 republicans still in the race but once again only the top ten will be part of the main debate and it is expected to have a

significant focus on economic issues. kendis, reena. >> all right, bazi kanani, big showdown in boulder tonight, thank you, from washington. breaking overnight another case of a pilot blinded by a laser beam but this time it was much worse, the pilot of an american airlines jet taken to the hospital. the flight from phoenix was approaching san diego's airport. no word on whether he was injured by the green laser. it's the second laser incident within a month at the san diego airport. there's growing uproar over the violent classroom arrest in columbia, south carolina. the officer who flipped the female student over and dragged her across the room is now the center of an fbi investigation and escalated when the 16-year-old girl refused to turn over her phone. the sheriff could determine as early as today if senior deputy ben fields will be fired. he says another video shows the girl hitting the officer. >> it just shows that when the officer puts his hands on her

initially, she reaches up and she pops the officer with her fist. makes you sick to your stomach when you see that initial video but, again, that's a snapshot. >> a lawyer for the student says his client was brutalized, her arm in a was and has a rug burn and is suffering neck and back pain. deputy feels is the subject of two earlier lawsuits involving allegations of excessive force and racial bias. >> this morning they're bracing for more flooding in coastal south carolina. a combination of rain and winds plus one of the highest tides on record sent water into basements and across roads. many cars stalled, some because drivers ignored warning signs. it's the second wave of flooding for the low country this month. rest deptsdzs say this time it happened more quickly. take a look at the radar and you can see the storms are pushing northward today. let's turn now our focus to justin povick at accuweather for the very latest, justin, what do you know? >> reena and kendis, thanks and

good morning to you. a wet day and not just run of the mill showers but tore rejs downpours advancing from southwest to northeast and major travel delays an the potential for a thunderstorm or two as well. low pressure and high pressure and when you have the two pretty close together, that normally is a cause for concern with regards to gusty winds and also rough surf. reena and kendis, back to you. >> justin, thank again. a major strategy change may be in the works in the battle against isis. the pentagon considering the use of ground forces in iraq and syria. the secretary of defense says u.s. special operations forces will do more than just assist iraqi forces as they did in that deadly raid last week. >> signaling that we won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against isil or conducting such missions directly. whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground. >> secretary ash carter also said there would be an

intensification of the air campaign against isis with more aircraft with the higher and heavier rate of strikes. the house today is expected to make sure the next government shutdown threat happens after the presidential election. the budget agreement will be john boehner's last ago as speaker of the house. it increases federal funding and raises the borrowing limit through 2017. the senate is expected to move quickly on the measure. president obama says he's happy with the deal. former house speaker dennis hastert is expected to plead guilty today as part of a deal to avoid a trial. prosecutors in chicago say hastert sexually abused several teenage boys and then a few years ago began to pay one of them more than a million dollars in hush money. the plea deal will likely mean prison time for hastert. once one of the most powerful men in washington. >> okay, a lot of blurry eyes after the long baseball game and talking about the fox executive, it was an eventful game one for the world series between the mets and royals. in the bottom of the fourth,

viewers were told fox sports was experiencing technical difficulties. please stand by. that had technicians moving quickly to fix the problem. >> and the network said an electronics failure caused generators to lose power. the game went to 14 innings before the royals pushed the winning rush across. they take it, 5-4. full highlights coming up later. and there were smiles all around yesterday as world cup winning u.s. women's national team, whoo, was honored at the white house. >> president obama received the traditional team jersey and used some colorful language while praising the team. >> this team taught all america's children that playing like a girl means you're a badass. [ applause ] and -- [ applause ] perhaps i shouldn't have used that phrase.

after the ceremony soccer legend abby wambach announced her retirement and will play four more matches during the national team's currentry victory tour. >> wambach leaves as international soccer's top scorer ever. we're talking in both men's and women's soccer. so that is quite an achievement. >> quite impressive. thanks to one play at the world series, we're all getting free taco bell. >> plus, mystery solved. a missing teen found miles from her house and sleepwalking is to blame. and strange sight. a car's driver finding a parking

in michigan. it wound up after the driver lost control, went through a field and ended up on the roof of the house which backs up against a hill. both the house and the car had minor damage. no one was injured in the accident. the air force picked up northrop grumman to build a new generation of stealth bombers. it's a deal worth more than $50 billion. the new military bomber could one day be flown as a drone. rivals boeing and lockheed martin are expected to challenge the pentagon decision. another multibillion dollar deal to talk about. a megamerger could turn walgreens into a bigger power in the drugstore business. they plan to buy the rite aid chain. if it goes through they will have 18,000 stores. the $9 billion deal could draw scrutiny from antitrust regulators. no plans to change the rite aid name. shares of apple will get attention after the company reported record sales.

chain led to another quarter of earnings. demand for the smartphone pushed their quarterly profit up 31% and ceo tim cook sounded an optimistic note saying he expects healthy iphone sales during the holidays. speaking of healthy, breakfast on the house at taco bell. they promised to serve free crunch wraps if anyone steals a base during the world series. oh, yeah, didn't take long. in last night's game taco made it official with the tweet. they will hand out the free wraps next thursday. >> 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. >> get there. >> line up. camera. first date ending with a police officer shooting a man. investigators say the video shows why the cop will not be charged. and a possible advance in treating autism. the nasal spray that could make a difference. see why more than 5 million feet in the u.s. speak for amop\ pedi perfect.

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first date sitting in his car when officer bhashg tiller approached with his gun drawn. hammond was shot as he tried to drive away. prosecutors say the shooting was justified because the officer had reason to fear for his life. it all started when the woman in hammond's car allegedly bought marijuana from an undercover officer. there are concerns this morning about the safety of cryo cryotherapy after the death of a spa employee. it involves exposure to subzero temperatures for a minute or two. it's supposed to relieve pain and make them lose weight but she was found frozen to death in one of the spa's cryotherapy change bevers. she should not have used the equipment by herself. some video from philadelphia disturbing here, crime caught on camera in philly. a robbery suspect chases two suspect -- two mvp robertry victims and the victim is struck three times with a laser and you see there shoved onto the tracks.

no train was coming and the man was not electrocuted by the third rail. police released the video hoping to find those suspects. and two men were killed last night when the car they were riding in crashed into a house near washington, d.c. it's unclear what caused the accident. no one was in the home at the time. neighbors say the family that lives there had left about 20 minutes prior. well, the latest treatment for autism could be as simple as a nasal spray. doctors in australia tested oxytocin, a so-called love hormone drug on a small group of children with autism. all under the age of 8. researchers say those children showed significant social and behavioral improvements. specialists are cautiously optimistic but this limited study is limited and awaits further research. and a missing sleepwalker in colorado has been found nine miles from home. investigators think the 19-year-old walked most of that way. although she may also have taken a bus while asleep. she was missing for more than two hours.

. longer than most sleepwalking episodes. the young woman was unharmed when she woke up even though she left her shoes at home. >> glad she's doing okay. we mentioned the world series earlier in the half hour. >> a bit more from game one and another first game, as well. highlights from the guys at espn. >> he's stan, i'm neil. game one of the nba season but also game one of the world series. batter up. >> yeah, it took a while. royals and mets from kansas city. bottom of the ninth mets up 4-3. in for the save, doing well this postseason and alex gordon, 442 feet to tie it up, solo home run, 4 apiece going nuts in k.c., bottom of the 14th, royals with the bases loaded. eric hosmer had a sacrifice fly earlier in the game. another one here. escobar will come in to score. escobar had an inside-the-park home run and scores the

game-winning run and royals take game one of the world series 5-4. cleveland will not go 82-0 but still a possibility for chicago. derrick rose and the bulls there, stan and i hit that before the hard shows. president obama doesn't come to watch ours. he came to watch this. >> he watches on tv. >> that's cool. rose, he's playing with one eye, okay. lebron james, pau gasol, not as big as one eye. lebron said afterwards, a heck of a block bay pau gasol. pretty cool. mo williams, i'm getting the ball to james or i'm turning it over because nobody else is getting it. and nobody else got it. turnover. bulls win by two. >> that's some hard work from jimmy butler to prevent that pass. >> growing my hair like that. >> thanks. up next in "the pulse," more about that game one blunder. the internet blowing up overnight with hilarious memes. and first class dog. a large four-legged friend going

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it is time for "the pulse" and we're going to get started with a little fun from overnight from all the technical glitches at last night's world series game. fox saying that it was an electronics failure that caused generators to lose power. >> oh, there was plenty of reaction on the internet. one critic posting this to chevy chase and "christmas vacation" trying to make repairs. >> another the fox sports control room with homer simpson with a leg kicked up on the control room. >> finally, chewbacca and han solo "star wars" fame getting to work in the fox truck. a lot having fun but it did get up and running and there were 92 innings so nobody missed anything.

>> i think they might still be playing right now. well, hillary clinton is the latest presidential candidate to visit stephen colbert on "the late show." >> the democratic front-runner talked about her favorite tv shows and how she spent her birthday earlier this week. >> but she also got in a plug for how successful her husband's time in the white house was prompting colbert what it would mean for a clinton 2 presidency. >> we get the '90s back again if you're president of the united states. >> no. >> do i have to wear parachute pants and slap bracelets and all get jiggy with it. >> you'd look pretty good in parachute pants. >> yeah, yeah. i have the hips for it, yes. >> i saw you out here. >> bring back mc hammer, please. but clinton was quick to say she's not running for bill clinton's third term but for her own first term. >> and we should remind you she'll be on jimmy kimmel live here on abc next week. "forbes" out with the list

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our top stories, donald trump will be at the center of the stage at tonight's republican debate but a new poll shows he's no longer the front-runner. ben carson is. a south carolina officer is facing a federal civil rights investigation, and outrage after this violent classroom arrest knocking a 16-year-old girl to the ground and dragging her. he could find out today if he'll lose his job. for the first time in 25 year, the math skills of american students have dropped. the education department says that's according to nationwide testing. experts want to know if it's a fluke or a trend. looking at today's weather, showers and chilly temperatures in the south, northeast and around the great lakes and upper midwest. rain as a new storm moves into the pacific northwest. and finally for us on this wednesday morning, some guys doing a great thing for their mom. one of them will be on the court tonight when the brooklyn nets open their nba season against the chicago bulls. >> yeah, no matter what happens, in that game and this entire

about and his brother for that matter are already all-stars. abc's david muir with their story. >> reporter: the backyard, front yard and for sale sign out front and look at the bottom of the sign there, now says sold. because inside that house two accomplished basketball players, two sons, one of them just signed for the brooklyn net, rondae hollis-jefferson. >> over here for special occasion. today is my mother's birthday. >> reporter: their mother on the way. had the birthday cake ready. soon a knock at the door. >> hey. >> surprise! >> and listen closely. he says come on in. this is your house. come on in. this is your house. this is your house, babe. >> surprise. >> oh, man. i'll tell you. >> reporter: ronde told us he will never forget that moment.

was like, whoo, no more worries so taking that burden off her is like a blessing a gift for me. our parents, our moms specifically go through a lot to make sure we're fine and stable and situated. they really love us, you know, even in the toughest days they really care about us. i love them. make sure you make them feel valued and special. >> oh, i could watch that all morning. >> yeah, tearing up. >> if you can't buy mom a home at least give her a call, i would say. >> give her a call. give her a visit. give her a cake and then some. they deserve it. >> you got to take care of momma. >> that's what's making news in america this morning, folks. stay with us for "good morning america."