making news in america this morning -- >> the heat is on. a summer-like scorcher today for millions. buckling roads are making many people sick. and new york city braces for the earliest 100-degree day ever. weiner's women. the lurid exchanges. the congressman faces new pressure to resign. true grit at the nba finals. battling a 100-degree fever, the mavericks star leads his team to even the series. good morning. we begin with the stifling heat, smothering the eastern half of the country. >> and the hottest temperatures will stretch from the south, all the way to new england.

as you can see, the northeast is bearing the brunt of it, with baltimore topping out at 97 degrees. we begin our coverage this morning with john hendren. >> reporter: it's an unseasonably early, thirst-inducing, road-buckling, record-breaking, car-breaking heat. and in the east, it's about to get worse. >> tomorrow sounds like a killer. >> reporter: and it isn't even summer yet. advise is are posted in the east and the midwest. >> it's so hot, that the devil stopped me and asked me for a ride. it's just that hot. >> reporter: excessive heat watches are in effect in philadelphia. kids there are getting out early because of the heat. scorching temperatures will reach all the way into new england. in the midwest, some roads buckle, in minnesota and mississippi. >> it's a joint where roads come together. that'sially where it happens. >> reporter: the heat could last for days. >> an $89 service fee. >> reporter: it's not hurting

business at heating and air conditioning. >> we can't answer the phones fast enough. >> reporter: in chicago, the temperatures haven't been this hot in five years. temperatures hit nearly 100 in sioux city, iowa, as they continue to contend with midwest flooding. >> it makes it really hard because we're out here all the time sandbagging for friends and family. it makes it really hard, just the heat and everything. >> reporter: and the week after next, summer begins for real. john hendren, abc news. cooling centers are opening up in many cities so 350e78 can chill out. >> here accuweather meteorologist jim dickey, good morning, jim. >> surging out of the south and west. widespread 90s are expected. 95 in new york city. 92 in pittsburgh. 98 in the nation's capital. in the northern plains, the cooler, dry air in the plains. the chicago area, 94 degrees.

comfortable behind it. 62, bismarck and pierre. 78 in minneapolis. back to you, peggy and daniel. >> thanks, jim. the extreme heat is another challenge facing crews battling wildfires in the southwest. winds from the largest blaze, a 400,000-acre monster, are carrying the smoke as far away as iowa and minnesota. thousands more residents have been ordered to leave as the blaze comes dangerously close to their homes. our arizona stations are on the front line. >> reporter: the weather radio tells all. windy conditions expected through wednesday. pushing thick smoke and heavy flames closer to springerville. >> outside the fire perimeter, that causes a lot of problems. >> reporter: that weighs heavy on the minds of people like cheryl tisdale, who owns java blues in a garden shop in spring dale. >> everything we own to developing this.

it's a lot to absorb. >> reporter: as of late tuesday afternoon, the flames were less than six miles from tisdale's shop and all she holds deal. the winds have begun to pick up now. a firefighter's worst nightmare. now, it's a race against the clock to put those flames out before they reach town. more than 2,000 firefighters on the ground. and now, these helicopters, sky cranes from oregon, that are taking water from the lakes and dumping it on the plains. hoping to slow the spread of the wind-propelled fires. and we've had a team on the front lines overnight. they'll have live updates, coming up later on "good morning america." a major part of the u.s. mission in afghanistan is put in question by a congressional report being released today. it says that american nation-building efforts in areas cleared of taliban fighters have only had limited success. and it claims that u.s. assistance programs may not survive an american withdrawal from afghanistan.

afghanistan is just one issue that is sapping president obama's poll numbers. the other major one is, of course, the economy. another poll shows that makes the president pretty vulnerable to one challenger, mitt romney. jake tapper has the details. >> reporter: the bad economic numbers mean bad re-election numbers for the president. percentage who zis approve of the president's handling of the economy, 59%, an all-time high. percentage who say the nation is on the wrong track, 66%. >> we've still got some enormous work to do. >> reporter: hosting the german chancellor, the president argued he knows the job is not done. as evidenced by anemic job growth in may. >> we don't yet know whether this is a one-month episode or a longer trend. obviously, we're experiencing some headwinds. gas prices probably being most prominent. >> reporter: romney polled even with obama, in two groups he won in 2008.

two other poll numbers the white house is keeping an eye on. fewer than 50% says the president understands the problems of people like you and shares your values. senior white house officials say president obama is well aware of his potential vulnerability next year. he knows in 2008 he cut all the brakes. and still, 47% of the country voted against him. they said this could be a one-point or two-point race. jake tapper, abc news, washington. >> interesting political season, that's for sure. after a day of high-level talks between the president and chancellor merkel, the mood turned to a festive one. on the menu, tuna tartar, salad from the first lady's garden. james taylor provided the evening's entertainment. notables on the 200-person guest list, our own diane sawyer. the new mayor of las vegas is intimately familiar with the man she's replacing.

in fact, they've been married for 49 years. caroline goodman, wife of oscar goodman, won yesterday's race with 61% of the vote. oscar was prevented from running again because of term limits. >> inside scoop there. coming up, the nation's top banker says that an economic boost is just months away. then, another woman reveals her online flirting with congressman anthony weiner. and a massive warehouse blaze keeps firefighters pretty busy overnight.

the nation's top banker still says the economy will improve this year. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the recent slowdown is the result of temporary factors. high gas prices and the japanese earthquake. the markets were hoping for something a little more upbeat from bernanke. tokyo's nikkei average gained 6.5 points today. hong kong's hang seng is down a fraction. in london, the ftse opened very slightly higher. on wall street, the dow lost 19 points yesterday. the nasdaq index was off 1 point. the fed said americans borrowed more money in april but cut back on use of their credit cards. most of the borrowing was student loans and auto loans. consumers are not confident about their jobs and therefore are going to be cautious about running up credit card bills. even with gasoline at $4 a gallon, big, american muscle

cars outsold hybrids in april. one of the reasons was the scarcity of japanese cars. but many feel that cars like the chevy camaro and dodge challenger are just more fun to drive. video gamemakers are raising the stakes at the conference in may. then ten doe revealed its new video game console. also, sony unveiled the playstation, its next portable gaming system. the playstation vita should be available for christmas. the nintendo wii in a year or so. how is this for a new business idea? rent a grandma. it's for real. it's an employment service that specializes older women for jobs. rent-a-grandma will be looking for people who can provide more

experience. and also, they say, granny will not be texting or tweeting when she's supposed to be watching your kids. that's an upside. i think a lot of parents know that. >> can use some help. coming up next on this wednesday, no joke. a late-night comic injuries himself while on the air. >> say it isn't so. that's not our jon. indeed. also, the remarkable effort by dallas to even out the nba finals. ♪ [ instrumental: upbeat ] hey, max. [ announcer ] your dog's one of a kind. and now, you have the power... [ giggling ] to help significantly extend his healthy years. a groundbreaking 14-year study by purina... proves that puppy chow, then dog chow nutrition, fed properly over a lifetime, can help extend his lovable antics..., up to 1.8 healthy years. [ barks ] long live your buddy. oh, max! long live your dog. purina puppy chow and purina dog chow.

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rain drenches i-90 from madison to chicago. i-80, queen to chicago and des moines. i-70 from kansas city to st. louis. and wet on hi f 59 i-95 arnold maine. slick spots on i-84 and 90 in the northern rockies. >> if you're flying, airport delays are possible in a couple of cities. chicago and kansas city. another woman has been outed for her digital ties to congressman anthony weiner. >> now, he stands alone. top republicans are asking him to resign. his fellow democrats are refusing to defend him. >> and with reported ex-rated photos not surfacing. he's still not stepping down. here's abc's louisa yang. >> reporter: congressman anthony weiner is holding on. >> i'm not resigning. no. >> reporter: he kept his head high as he walked into his apartment building. but his world is imploding.

rad radaronline is reporting, the exchanges between lisa weiss. according to the texts, it takes a few days and 13, quick messages for the relationship to turn sordid. quote, from weiss, we can just get drunk and have mad, passionate sex. when she tells him to come to las vegas for a wild affair, he says, this whole re-election thing is keeping me tied up. in february, she writes, let's have some facebook sex. to which the kohnman responds, hey, sexy baby, i miss you. weiss claims he texted her when he was supposed to be doing the people's work in washington. and that they had phone sex on a government phone. >> he was eager to hear about if i wanted him. >> reporter: then, there's meagan broussard, the 26-year-old texan who told abc news, she had cyber sex with weiner, too. >> he would attempt all the

time. >> i have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at the time. >> reporter: if weiner thought that was his safety net, he is learning he is running out of friends in his own party. >> i wish there was some way i could defend him. but i can't. >> those words from harry reid. today's "new york times" reports that minority leader, nancy pelosi, is upset with weiner. when she tried to discuss his resignation, he was adamant he would keep his seat. police in indiana say they fear a missing college student has been the victim of foul play. lauren spierer left a friend's house friday and hasn't been seen since. the disappearance has been a jolt to the college town, which students considered to be safe. >> you don't expect something like that to happen around here in bloomington. it's such a friendly atmosphere. you don't expect things like this to happen. it's crazy.

>> back here in her new york hometown, friends and family prayed for lauren's safe return. and we'll talk to her anguished parents coming up later on "good morning america." searches resume for body near a long island beach. investigators scoured the area yesterday. ten sets of human remains have been found since december, possibly victims of more than one serial killer. a college golfer from texas is taking tiger woods' place at next week's u.s. open. woods pulled out of the tournament yesterday because of continuing issues with his left knee and also left achilles tendon. it will be the first u.s. open that woods has missed since 1994. for you nba fans you have something to watch on sunday night. it's called game six of the finals. it was made possible last night. >> cole wright here with your espn news update. let's head to dallas. game four, the nba finals. lebron james and his heat trying to take a 3-1 lead on the mavs. nowitzki battling a fever of over 100 degrees throughout the

day. two minutes to go in the third. lebron, to dwyane wade. those guys love the blue label. miami up a three-spot after that. you have to take another look. fourth quarter now, heat up three. tyson chandler, throwing his hat in the ring. drives to the hoop. he's blocked by dwyane wade. james at the other end. wade would finish. that's a coach's dream. getting it done on both ends of the floor. miami with a five-point advantage. look at the block. wade getting up high on tyson. thank you very much. under two minutes to go. mavs up two, to shawn stevenson. good hit from the corner. lebron finds wade down the floor. his fouled hard by jason kidd. that is a veteran move. it's not a flagrant. wade would go to the line. hits his first. his second. wade would miss. and dirk would grab the board. so, under 20 seconds to go. dallas by one. dirk drives. and dirk sinks. dallas, out in front by three. 14.4 to burn.

heat down three. wade drives by chandler. makes its look easier than breathing. heat within one. but dallas would take a three-point lead on jason terry free throws. miami inbounds, down three with 6.7 seconds left. wade couldn't wrangle that one in. mike miller, oh. no good. mavs hold on, 86-83. the series all-square, 2-2 games. that will do it for your update. until next time, check out "the highlight express." >> veterans getting it done in dallas. >> it's turning into a good playoff season. nba, hockey, the whole thing. the anthony weiner sexting scandal has turned painful for jon stewart. stewart cut his hand on a piece of glass during a skit. i doubt it went that way during rehearsal. >> the pair are long-time friends. they roomed together in earlier

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from parts of the midwest into the northeast and also the deep south. heat advisories are in effect in major cities along the eastern seaboard. also, temperatures in many areas will feel like triple-digits. more evacuations are expected as the massive fire in eastern kansas threatens hundreds of homes. the fire, which was believed to be started by an unattended campfire is now the second-worst in history. secretary clinton has stops in the middle east and africa. traveling with mrs. clinton, one of her top aides, huma abedin, who is anthony weiner's wife. a federal judge's ruling says the new law is unconstitutional. it's an issue that is likely to be argued before the supreme court. and the soyuz space capsule is headed toward the international space station. the crew will meet the shuttle next month when the crew docks

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♪ and finally this morning, a ride like none other. our own diane sawyer just had it

on a supersecret u.s. military plane. very cool. >> wonder what they served for food onboard. >> probably better than what we get. i would imagine. >> it's to respond to a catastrophic attack. diane takes us onboard. >> reporter: eit feels like we'e inside a monsoon in singapore, as we run to meet defense secretary robert gates and get our first look inside night watch, the doomsday plane. think of it as an airborne ark. if a nuclear bomb hits the united states, the most powerful survivors will board this plane. the plane will take to the air so they can consider retaliation, assess the damage. the plane is on permanent high alert, the flight team sleeping nearby, ready to scramble in five minutes. so, everybody is standing by, ready to fly. >> all the time. constantly, there's at least one alert airplane waiting to get airborne. >> reporter: it has shields all alongside the walls.

they are thermal radiation shields and electromagnetic pulse shields. in the event of a nuclear attack, this plane is defended. this plane can command a nuclear retaliation. it's big on electronics, short on amenities. this is the secretary in his quarters. >> you can see, there's a couple of bunks in there. a number of seats. he can hold a conference if he wants to. he does not have a shower. >> reporter: no? >> no shower. just a little, a bathroom, a couple of sinks. but no shower. >> reporter: every man for himself? >> every man for himself. you bet. >> it's like being fedexed. it's a very nice way to travel. it's fairly spartan, but no windows or anything. >> reporter: night watch standing by for an awful possibility. designed and manned by the best, hoping we will never face the worse. i'm sorry to wake you up. you really need to sleep. >> isnha