making ne making news in america this morning, donald trump smoothing things over with former rivals. the high-level meeting with mitt romney, what cabinet position could be offered and the controversial general now emerging as the front-runner f winter's return. blinding snow and whipping wind right now over a foot of snow expected in some areas. the storm already causing problems on the roads including a 20-car pileup. a new crew heading to the international space station blasting off overnight and on board that vessel, an american now the old of the woman ever in space. survival story. a family of four getting stuck

how they were finally found. we we do say good friday morning. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm mara schiavocampo in for diane macedo. donald trump possibly welcoming a former foe into his cabinet. >> mitt romney, a fierce critic of donald trump in the past, and now he's in the running to be trump's top diplat flynn, now emerging as the front-runner to be trump's national security adviser. abc's janai norman is tracking all the latest developments. janai, good morning. >> reporter: some big name republicans taking up time on the president-elect's schedule as donald trump makes the deepest dive we've seen yet into foreign policy meeting with japan's primeinister. from foes to friends, president-elect trump is making

romney, a republican who had some of the harshest criticism of him. >> think of donald trump's personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. >> mitt romney's made a total fool of himself. >> reporter: now an unexpected change. sources tell abc news trump is considering romney for secretary of state among other candidates another former rival, south carolina governor opposition to the then candidate. >> during anxious times it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. we must resist that temptation. >> reporter: as trump's team works to get key players in place abc news is learning lieutenant general michael flynn who's been a contender for national security adviser in the new trump administration has reportedly emerged as front-runner for the job. >> it's going really well.

and the president-elect -- >> reporter: keeping campaign promises tweeting about working hollywood with the chairman of ford to keep the lincoln plant in kentucky rather than moving it to mexico, turns out the company never planned to move the plant to mexico. and newt gingrich is one person who apparently won't be playing a part in trump's administration. the former house speaker was a high-profile surrogate for trump during the campaign but now he won't serve in trump's cabinet in any position. kendis and mara. >> all right, janai norman live in washington. thanks so much. these are busy times for donald trump meeting with japan's prime minister. it took place at trump tower and it was trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since being elected. >> afterwards shinzo abe called trump a, quote, trustworthy leader. trump's daughter, ivanka and her husband top trump adviser jared kushner were involved. in the past trump has suggested

troops there. vice president elect mike pence pence served six terms in the house which had nancy pelosi say he'll be valued. pence took a group selfie and he told them they should be ready to work extremely hard. tim kaine is making himself clear definit will not be running for president in four years. he tells the associated press his place is in the senate and plans to seek re-election in two years. well, this morning's other big story, the deadly norm impacting nearly a dozen states. >> the first major snowstorm of the year is now moving from the rockies to the northern plains. some areas could see 6 to 12 inches of snow and wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour. let's get details now from accuweather's justin povick.

>> mara and kendis, thanks, good morning to you. big snowstorm working its way north and east over the plains states and look at snow accumulations by the time we get into late tonight. east of fargo along interstate 94, north and west twin cities, upwards of double-digit snow accumulation, some areas well over a foot of snow. the other big impact here, damaging winds which could exceed 60 miles per hour into the overnight. mara, kendis, back to you. >> all right, our thanks to justin and the that's been fueling dozens of wildfire, more than 190 square miles have burned in the past week alone. one official says he's never seen a fall wildfire season like this one. thousands of firefighters are trying to contain the flames which may burn until spring. the air quality is so bad it's sending people to hospitals. dozens of people have been killed in a third day of air strikes by syrian and russian forces in aleppo.

it took four hours for rescue workers to pull a 6-year-old boy from the rubble of his own home after one of those attacks. president obama is wrapping up the final european trip of his administration. this morning he's in berlin where he's meeting with chancellor angela merkel and other leaders. later today he will travel to peru the last stop on his final foreign tour where he'll take part in a global stument on trade. still ahead, overnight an american woman blastg and the desperate search for a congressman's son. the clues left in his room as the secret service and fbi join in that search. information just in about that. we'll have it for you. plus, you thought bathrooms had a lot of germs wait until

a a town in central illinois is still assessing the damage after a deadly gas explosion. the moment of wednesday night's blast in canton was captured by surveillance cameras. it happened as crews repaired a natural gas leak caused by dozen others were hurt. parts of downtown canton are still closed to the public. federal investigators now say the barrier separating visitors from gorillas at the cincinnati zoo was not up to par. the day a toddler fell into the exhibit, the little boy was not injured in last may's incident but zoo officials were forced to kill an endangered silverback gorilla and they concluded the barrier had become ineffective.

volkswagen workers are paying the price for the company's emissions cheating scandal. the out to giant just announced it's cutting 30,000 jobs as it struggles to recover from that scandal. most of those jobs are in germany. vw has already agreed to a settlement for the 500,000 americans who own diesels equipped with software that cheated on emissions tests. the tsa says it's ready for the holiday travel crush. despite those long security lines at airports nationwide, just a few months expects this will be the busiest thanksgiving it has seen in its 15-year history. it has added several thousand new officers and dozens of canine teams. well, one american made history overnight. astronaut peggy whitson is on her way to the international space station along with russian and french astronauts. >> when they arrive tomorrow they'll bring the station crew back up to its full complement of six. >> at 56, whitson is now the

command making her the first woman to be in charge there two times. good for her. happy birthday and congrats. >> she'll celebrate her 57th birthday there. a police officer on leave after he's caught on camera punching a woman in the face during an arrest. why the officer says he did it. plus, a family's survival story. lost in the wilderness for days,

we asked women to smell two body washes and pick their favorite- i prefer b. b. i would like to smell like this every day! but what was body wash a? ohhhh, i love bath and body works! and what was the one they preferred? ohhhh... this is suave! really? that's quite a bit of smelling good. suave, three fragrances preferred over bath and body works now twice as much smelling good. buy one get one free with a coupon in sunday's paper. yesterday's snowstorm in the northern rockies caused at least two pileups on interstate 70 and two fatalities. one of the accidents involved more than 20 vehicles and i-70 was closed several times. that storm is moving east. this morning drivers will have to watch out for slippery roads and whiteout conditions in the northern plains.

texas gulf coast up to the eastern lakes and also in the pacific northwest. if you're flying, airport delays most likely in minneapolis, chicago and memphis. turning now to other news, washington state couple and their two youngest children headed out for a drive on tuesday and then they never came home. >> understandably other family members panicked asking for help to find them. after two long days, they got their wish. the family has been found and everyone is fine. abc's on how he survived. >> reporter: jason and melissa mcalister along with their 2-year-old and 8-month-old daughters vanished on tuesday. this morning jason says the family van got stuck in mud while trying to go around a fallen tree stranding them. >> got dark on us and spent the night on the side of the road after a made a shelter. >> reporter: thursday morning they heard on the radio people were searching for them and ran into a local hunter who called 911.

been looking for you guys for a few days. >> and you said they're dehydrated? >> yeah, a little bit but they look pretty good really. >> reporter: this morning, the family of four is waking up at home healthy and thankful. >> everybody is good. god's great. >> reporter: neal karlinsky, abc news, seattle. now to new york city where two men are facing murder charges in connection to the death of another man here in new york. 26-year-old joseph last seen alive last weekend while partying at a luxury manhattan apartment. now, police say that's where an argument broke out which led to comunale being fatally stabbed. his body found in new jersey on wednesday. now two men are charged with comunale's murder. one of them lives in the apartment where that party took place. and we do have breaking news to tell you about in the search for the son of michigan congressman john conyers. carl conyers a student at the university of houston was found

morning. he had been missing since tuesday. he's been interviewed right now in houston. john conyers is the longest serving member of the house of representatives. turning now to a stunning video which is landing an arizona police officer on administrative leave. take a look at this video. it shows a flagstaff officer punching a woman in the face while arresting her. investigators say the officer claims the woman kicked and kneed him in the groin. flagstaff police authorities say the officer has no history of they're promising full transparency in this investigation. a new warning about drug and alcohol addiction. it's taking a far worse toll than most people think. a new report from the surgeon general says 78 americans die every day from opiate overdoses and 20 million suffer from substance abuse disorders. the study calls for a shift in the way we think treating addiction as a legitimate disease rather than a weakness in character. a health alert now and a new

a study finds that the keypads on atms in new york city are covered in bacteria. most of them came from human skin, food and household surfaces. the machines in laundromats and corner stores had the most bacteria and for some reason many atms here in midtown manhattan tested higher in food and sugary baked goods. explain that one. >> what does that say? t' chicago and other cities. speaking of other cities los angeles, well, they went back to the future when they returned to southern california this season talking about the rams. >> now they're looking ahead to their new home. yesterday the club broke ground on a $2.6 billion stadium complex. it's at the site of the old hollywood park horse racing track in inglewood. the 80-000 seat stadium set to open in 2019. speaking of football, the

>> quite a game. the highlights now from our guys at espn. good morning, america. i'm john buccigross. this is john anderson in the beautiful studios at espn. a couple of football games played last night. you might have been in bed when they ended. number five louisville getting ready to play at houston. after louisville fumbled to catalon. houston up 7-0. they never trail. 24-0. bonner hits chance allen. race, it's a 31-0 lead. teams that have trailed at the half by 31 points or more all-time are 1, 400 and 30. they were not coming back. lamar jackson, heisman candidate took a hit, three lostfulles for the cards got beat 36-10. panthers/st., cam newton not

ted ginn jr. out of bounds originally but upon further review it's good. luke kuechly left the game after this hit. concussion. obviously shaken up and scared on the field. missed games last year due to conor mcgregor. you can see the look in his eyes. panthers won it 23-20 >> that's what we got. good morning, america. all right, so as we saw carolina won nfl's thursday's nfl game but panthers quarterback cam newton did not pregame footwear. why the heck not. >> the wildlife motif let's call it. one twitter user calls it dead fu fu fu fur furbys. the best time to call in sick without raising suspicion. and the dress sold for nearly $5 million. who wore it and the moment that made it so famous?

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? ? friday "pulse." in case you have the munchies major changes coming to your neighborhood mcdonald's. >> i might have them at 4:00 in the morning. >> wonder. >> fancy on us. the fast food giant plans to roll out video kiosks all of its u.s. locations soon. nearly 500 already have them. >> there's no word on how long it will take to make the changes in all 14,000 u.s. locations. those paying with cash or don't like kiosks can still go to the counter but customers who use self-service kiosks tend to spend more money. >> that's why. all right, who says there's never a good time to call out sick? a new study revealed there's actually a perfect time to do

day and time that you should make that sick call. as well as a top reason. >> the best day and time, 6:38 a.m. on a tuesday. tuesday has the nod because they're considered a nonday. forget mondays and fridays. too close to the weekend, too obvious. and the number one reason, stomach problems because that's just tmi. nobody wants to know the details. stay home. >> stomach flu, we're good. >> >> that's people with normal schedules. >> right. here you got to call in at 9:00 p.m. >> 9:00 p.m. on sunday for a tuesday sick-out. >> we'll make a note of it. we'll need to know that. >> exactly. now to the dress that's more than 50 years old and just sold for millions of dollars. >> here it is. you can see it there, the beige rhinestone encrusted dress purchased at an auction for a whopping $4.8 million. why? does it look familiar to you.

? happy birthday mr. president ? ? happy ? happy birthday to you ? >> yep. >> yep. that's the dress that was worn by marilyn monroe when she sang "happy birthday" to president john f. kennedy in 1962. ripley's believe it or not purchased it. dress because it was so tight, it is said. >> i had to be sewn into that skirt. >> me too. it's spy spafks. nx. a better moment of proof. victoza? lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill, which didn't get me to my goal.

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. this is abc action news. >>now at 4:30 president-elect donald trump holds his first in-person meeting with a foreign head of state. the meeting comes as his transition team floats several names for future cabinet positions. police release a photo of the driver extensive damage in ybor city. and police investigate a charter school teacher. good morning and thanks for joining us. i'm dan shaffer. >>and, good morning, i'm dia riley. president-elect donald trump met with japan's prime minister yesterday. >>retired lieutenant general michael flinn is now the frontrunner for national security advisor. flinn has ban