this morning on "world news now," bombshell plea. the man once second in line to the presidency possibly ending up in prison. his alleged victims of sexual abuse and the money transfers his accusers say was meant to keep them quiet. swept away. flash floods in southern california making a monster of a mess. mud slides trapping residents and wiping out roads. the latest just ahead. and new this half hour, lamar odom fighting for his life. >> the larger than life star hospitalized after being found unconscious in a brothel. his basketball family speaking out as his kardashian family stands by his side. and emotional moments for prince william, opening up about the sadness of losing his mother, princess diana, and sharing his joy of being a father to two very different little ones. that's in "the skinny" on this friday, october 16th.

from abc news, this is "world news now." a lot to get to on this friday. but we begin with the stunning downfall of a man once a political powerhouse on capitol hill and second in line to the presidency. now possibly headed to prison. >> we're talking about former speaker of the house dennis hastert. he's agreed on a plea deal in a criminal hush money case linked to accusations after sexual misconduct. abc's brian ross has details. >> reporter: the decision by 73-year-old dennis hastert to plead guilty means there will be no trial and none of his dark secrets will be exposed in open court. >> mr. speaker. >> reporter: but in exchange, the former speaker of the house, once second in line to the presidency, may spend time in prison, the first speaker ever to do so. the charges against hastert grow out of his role as a popular illinois high school wrestling coach in the 1970s. authorities say hastert sexually

abused several teenage boys on the team, and then a few years ago, began to pay one of them more than $1 million in hush money to keep quiet. >> these boys were 14, 15, 16 years old. >> reporter: jolene burdge told abc news her late brother, steven reinboldt, was one of hastert's victims, something she learned years later, she says, when her brother told her he was gay. >> i asked him, "stevie, when was your first same-sex experience?" i mean, he -- he just looked at me and said, "it was with dennis hastert." and i just -- i know i was stunned. i said, "why didn't you ever tell anybody, stevie? i mean, he was your teacher. why didn't you ever tell anybody?" and he just looked at me and said, "who is ever going to believe me? in this town, who is ever going to believe me?" >> reporter: for years, jolene burge tried to expose what dennis hastert allegedly did. and she said, even if there is no trial, the world now knows

what kind of a man dennis hastert is. >> he'll plead out and try to make this go away as quickly as he can. and he can do that, but the truth is out. >> reporter: authorities say what tripped up hastert was the recent effort to pay off his victim. he's charged with violating bank laws for the way he handled his huge cash withdrawals, and then lying to the fbi about them. he's expected to plead guilty to one of those two counts, either one of which usually results in time behind bars. brian ross, abc news. the u.s. is working to get custody of a computer hacking suspect with ties to isis. the man is a citizen of kosovo and he was arrested last month in malaysia and is accused of stealing the personal information of more than 1300 u.s. military and other government personnel. then officials say, he passed the material to isis which then posted it online hoping its supporters in the u.s. would use it to stage attacks. if he's tried and convicted in the u.s., he faces 35 years in prison.

u.s. troops will remain in afghanistan through most of next year. president obama had promised to bring all the troops home sooner, but that was before the taliban's resurgence. now more than 5,000 will continue to serve. nearly 10,000 troops will remain through next year. >> this modest but meaningful extension of our presence while sticking to our current narrow missions can make a real difference. it's the right thing to do. >> republican presidential candidates jeb bush and marco rubio criticized the decision saying the number of troops was far too low. burba accused the -- bush accused the president of undermining military commanders. hillary clinton's top aide about will be interviewed behind closed doors today about the terror attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. huma abedin will be on capitol hill before the committee looking into the attack. clinton will testify next week.

new details this morning about what a 2016 joe biden campaign might look like. the vice president has yet to make up his mind, but one of his top aides reached out to his former staffers asking for their help should biden decide to run. the letter says a potential biden campaign would be optimistic and focused on helping the middle class but it gave no indication on when a final decision might come. a major freeway serving southern california could be shut down all day after flash flooding swamped the area with water and mud. a 30-mile section of interstate 5 north of angeles is covered in the muck five feet deep in some spots stranding drivers in both directions. nearly 1.5 inches of rain in a very short period of time also flooded many secondary roads trapping residents in their homes. so far no reports of any injuries but emergency crews will be working all night to make sure that nobody is in danger. forestry officials in texas are bringing in a dc-10 tanker to battle a raging wildfire that's burned nearly three dozen

homes east of austin. the dc-10 is capable of dropping about 12,000 gallons of retardant, a much needed tool to help control those out of control flames. here's abc's clayton sandell. >> reporter: military helicopters helping take on a blaze that in 24 hours exploded in size. burning at least nine homes to the ground. the governor declaring a state of disaster. >> this has to be an echo of a nightmare that they faced just a few years ago. >> reporter: in 2011, the most destructive blaze in texas history leveled more than 1,600 homes near bastrop and killed two people. it is hot and dry here now, even after record rainfall just this spring. more than 400 homes evacuated. >> there's nothing you can do except pray. >> reporter: and you can see these large military helicopters have been dropping water on the smoke and the fire. thousands of gallons, they've made lots of progress, but there's still lots of work to be done. clayton sandell, abc news.

the national oceanic atmospheric administration or noaa has issued a very wet winter forecast. forecasters say el nino is likely to be one of the strongest ever bringing lots of rain to the southwest. they predict cooler conditions in the south and much milder across the northern united states. >> her row spencer stone who stopped a gunman on a european train has been released from the hospital after his latest brush with death. stone was being treated for stab wounds following a street fight. he released a statement thanking those who cared for him and saying he was now focused on healing and recovering and looking forward to the next part of his journey. there have been no arrests in the stabbing. former basketball star lamar odom is still on life support this morning. but sources tell espn that he is making some progress. odom was found unconscious at a nevada brothel on tuesday and he's been on life support ever since. staffers say he spent four days there, at times drinking, doing cocaine and taking an herbal viagra.

his former nba colleagues are praying for his recovery. >> everybody associated with this organization feels for him right now and his family and like i said, we're all praying for him. >> his estranged wife khloe kardashian along with his previous partner and their children are at his side. >> actor randy quaid and his wife are free this morning after being held for a week in a vermont jail. a judge released the couple and dismissed that charges that they were fugitive from justice in california. they fled to california five years ago when accused of trespassing and vandalizing a santa barbara home they once owned. if they leave their bond, another state could extradite them to california. a terrifying ordeal for a florida man recovering after coming face to face with an eight-foot alligator. doug brown was fixing a backyard pump near orlando when the huge gator jumped from a canal and chomped down on his arm. brown managed to yank his arm away and the alligator fell back into the water. his injuries, thankfully, are

not serious but he's, of course, still rattled saying that it felt like a horror movie. and a group of migrants hoping to get a free ride from france to england got quite a surprise when they opened the back of a truck only to find there was a caged polar bear inside. that made some of them think twice but three of them climbed in anyway. police were called and the truck was pulled over so officers could get the would be stowaways out from behind the bear's cage. >> but the bear made it to the location? >> crazy. i don't know. >> oh, boy. >> that's crazy though. >> well, attention, fans of lucky charms. if you've ever wanted a box of your favorite cereal with just the marshmallows, you are in luck. >> the time has come. the maker of lucky charms general mills is giving away ten special boxes of lucky charms marshmallows. >> lucky charms. have you ever ever poured a bowl and wished that it could be free of oats, marshmallow only.

>> the oat stuff is the healthy part. he worked up a video starring iconic rap artist bismarcky explaining what fans need to do to get one. >> you have to take a photo of yourself holding a fake box of lucky charms. send it to them with the #lucky10 sweepstakes. but you got to hurry though. submissions only accepted for two more days and the ten lucky winners will be notified next week. sugar, sugar, sugar. >> you got to do this you know. this is my favorite cereal. we've got to send that. >> it's good. >> how about that. oh -- >> there we go. we've got to the put the box of lucky charms. >> i like lucky charms but you like it with the oats. >> you like it, the nutritional value. i would like straight marshmallows. they would be extra magically delicious. >> if it's all marshmallows, it's too much. >> why do you have to be so healthy. do you think we can win it? >> i think so. >> we've got the luck of the irish behind my left shoulder here. >> we can only hope.

>> coming up, parents' foul play. their bad behavior is leading to their kids' football season getting canceled and not just one team but the entire league. it is the latest in a string of events. >> and prince william opening up about losing his mother hoping to help other children heal. first a look at today's forecast. you're watching "world news now." >> "world news now" weather, brought to you by mucinex fast max. enough pressure in here for ya? ugh. my sinuses are killing me. yeah...just wait 'til we hit ten thousand feet. i'm gonna take mucinex sinus-max. too late, we're about to take off. these dissolve fast. they're new liquid gels. and you're coming with me... wait, what?! you realize i have gold status? do i still get the miles? new mucinex sinus-max liquid gels. dissolves fast to unleash max strength medicine. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this.

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he insists he did nothing wrong. >> i want a jury of my peers to say what you're doing is wrong and obviously a jury of my peers isn't going to feel that way. >> they did more than that. the jury of his peers helped create a facebook page. it's been created to show support. his preliminary hearing is set for next month. oh, come on. >> what is the world coming to when you can't dance? >> look at that, he's got good moves, too. and he dressed nicely. >> i think they're just hating. they don't have those moves. when parents misbelieve at youth sports events, it's often the kids who are punished and they're not able to play their games. >> in one pennsylvania town, it went beyond screaming and brawling. abc's matt gutman has the story. >> reporter: this youth football field deserted, the season canceled. >> this year, it got kind of bad with the parents fighting and yelling from the stands. fist-fighting. >> reporter: we've seen parents behaving badly in other towns. even fighting.

this one caught on exclusive video from our san diego station kgtv just weeks ago. and that's what happened in mt. pleasant, but then, officials say, things took a darker turn. officials first rescheduling a game because of anonymous threats, and now, this week, bullet casings found at the field gates, with the names of officials and coaches written on them. >> i have no idea where it's coming from, but it's got to stop. the kids have more sense than the adults here. >> reporter: as for the kids, they don't have playoffs this year, but they do have a lesson for their parents. >> this is not the way to handle situations. usually, the way to handle stuff like this is just stay calm. >> reporter: it's still a mystery who left the bullet casings on the field, but we have learned that parents are being interviewed about this incident. of course, the biggest victims in all of this are those kids who won't get to play in their super bowl this year. matt gutman, abc news. new york. >> whoever put those casings in the parking area, they could be charged with making terroristic

threats. so it could get worse for them. when we come back, the private lives of celebrities dealing with grief, their kids, and snakes. >> and a sequal to a blockbuster romantic comedy in the works. "the skinny" is up next. "world news now" continues after this from our abc after this from our abc st

♪ skinny, so skinny

>> okay. "skinny" time. we start with uncle jesse himself. "full house" actor john stamos has a court today. >> have mercy. >> he has been charged with driving under the influence drugs for an incident in june. he was spotted driving erratically in beverly hills. no word on what the drug was or why it took three months to charge him. >> now starring in "grandfathered," the 52-year-old actor spent the summer in a residential.rehab program. >> he told followers the rehab followed a rough year during which his mother died and he wasn't working enough. if convicted, he faces up to six months in the county jail. >> britain's prince william is opening up about his mother. at a charity dinner, he noted that it has been 18 years since princess diana died. grief, william says, is the most painful experience that any child or parent can endure. heas speaking on behalf of the organization child bereavement uk which diana helped found.

>> but talk about extremes. earlier in the day, he talked about something much more up beat. his two preschoolers the prince told the head master of the school his two children have very different temperaments. george is very lively while 5-month-old charlotte is very lady-like. >> those are very cute kids. >> i cannot imagine how emotional he was today talking about princess diana. how even 1 years later, you sort of never get over the loss of a parent as a parent would never get over the loss i've child. so to see how the scars are still there and how difficult it still is. >> most of us remember how shocking it was for the entire world at that time. 18 years though, that's quite a bit ago. i can't believe it's already been 18 years. chris hemsworth has only been on instagram for a few days but he's already got it figured out. he's posting up a storm. >> yesterday in his second snap he had a photo of him running on a treadmill while holding one of his 19-month-old twin boys.

the avengers age of ultran star captioned it, the family who trains together stays together. >> his first snap was this. it was a picture of him in front of a giant snake. do you see it there? it was in his backyard. >> wow. is that real? >> that's worth an instagram post. this one he said showed him he was hanging with the locals in the real jurassic park. he's got a number of films coming up including a thor sequel and ghostbusters. >> didn't know he was going to be in that film. can't wait for that. >> and the beloved romcom film getting a sequel on abc. the half hour show will pick up where "my best friend's wedding" left off. i loved that movie. >> yeah, it came out in 1997, started julia roberts as a love shy food critic by the name of julie and potter. it will follow her as she nab gates life in new york city and the original screen writer is helping write the tv pilot. so far there is no word on the casting yet.

>> it's going to be good. >> coming up, we'll look at a week what left many of us hanging on so many stories. we'll be back. ny stories. we'll be back.

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lysol that. it's been quite a week with democratic politics, unrest in the middle east and sports making news headlines. >> few of these stories are wrapped up. we will be watching developments for quite awhile. let's take a look back with ""friday rewind."" >> i would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. i'd ask them to listen to what i'm proposing, look at what i accomplished. >> time and time again, i have never changed. you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. >> our greatest long-term strategic challenges are our relations with china. our greatest day to date threat is cyber warfare against this country. >> it's time to stand up and pass comprehensive gun safety legislation as a nation. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.

>> thank you, me too, me too. >> enough of the e-mails. let's talk about the real issues facing america. >> i call him a socialist/communist. okay? because that's what he is. >> i thought they all did well. >> you can see here these young palestinians throwing rocks at those israeli soldiers down the road. the fear now is that these scenes are not part of the regular cycle of violence but rather with the growing number of attacks and clashes, that this will now turn into something much bigger. >> flight mh-17 crashed as a result of the detonation of a warhead outside the airplane. >> i need to you hurry, please. because he's got blood coming out of his nose. white stuff coming out off his mouth. i can't get him to wake up. >> lamar odom is one of the greatest people i've ever known. i'm obviously hoping that he can pull through this. >> utley going in hard at second. tejada is down. >> the tackle, it was illegal. it was sickening.

>> i think you're taught from a young age to try to break up double plays. i think that's part of baseball. >> i wish she was here. i've cried 30 times already. i cry like a frigging baby. >> you see it on tv but you got to be there to really enjoy it. >> oh, love that lady. >> cannot get enough of her. again, the mets will take on the chicago cubs. the national league championship series. we cannot forget about the other side, the american league, the kansas city royals. kansas city needs love taking on the toronto blue jays. baseball is fun again. backflips are cool. like it all. >> you're into this. >> we all are. it's awesome, can't wait. >> don't miss our updates on face wnnfans.com. >> and more from the mets lady. this is abc's "world news now," informing insomniacs for two decades.

making news in america this morning, breaking overnight, muddy mess, heavy rains causing massive mudslides on the west coast. new video just in showing a wall of water pushing cars into each other. republican revolt. why donald trump and ben carson are threatening to boycott the next gop debate and new evidence overnight showing that joe biden could be rallying the troops for a presidential run. we're live in washington. scary sight. a plane on the runway about to take off when a piece of the engine comes flying off. a wild night in sports. the mets moving on winning on the road, plus, the play already being called the catch of the year in college football.