making news in america this morning, the tributes pouring in overnight for the iconic actress and writer carrie fisher from her co-stars from "star wars" and her life beyond the big screen. several states will ring in the new year with extreme weather. a rapidly developing system could bring feet of snow to the east coast while the west coat gets hit with winter weather. best-seller this christmas but can voice activated assistance help solve a murder. the police warrant involving an amazon echo igniting a privacy debate. sliding down a rock face. see what happens when a b.a.s.e. jump goes very wrong. we do say good morning, everything, on this wednesday and ar

carrie fisher, the iconic "star wars" actress passing away at the age of 60. >> she died yesterday morning at a los angeles hospital four days after going into cardiac arrest on a flight. she she's being remembered for a legacy that stretches beyoung her role as princess leia. >> an outpouring of grief across the country. fans in san francisco leaving flowers and notes at the yoda fountain on the lucas film campus in the san francisco area. abc's byron pitts with more. >> help me obi-wan kenobi. >> reporter: it was the role that defined her career, princess leia, the heroine of the sci-fi series that swept the world. >> luke! >> reporter: she was just 20 when carrie fisher made the role larger than life. at age 59 rereprised the role. >> some things never change. >>

crazy. >> reporter: she died after suffering a heart attack. she was 60 years old. she leaves behind her mother legendary actress debbie reynolds, todd fisher and her daughter and she posted these heartfelt words, i am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are guiding her to her next stop. love carrie's mother and todd sharing a personal memory. >> we were, you know, close friend. i was the younger brother. she dragged me around the house like a doll. it's a very strange place to be looking at the world without her. >> reporter: "star wars" co-star harrison ford describing fisher in a statement, carrie was one of a kind. brilliant, original, funny and emotionally fearless. she lived her life bravely. her career was prolific first gracing the silver screen at just 1 playing a teenage temptress on cyst warren beatty. >> are you? >> what are you talking about. >> making it with myot

>> reporter: but it was the iconic role of princess leia, just two years later that catapulted her to super stardom. >> somebody has to save our skins. >> reporter: in the meantime, she will no doubt be remembered by legions of "star wars" fans with that iconic line -- >> may the force be with you. >> reporter: byron pitts, abc news. >> thank you for that. you know who else is remembering carrie fisher, peter mayhew, he played chewbacca. >> had a sense of humor like nobody else. their characters reunited with an on screen hug in "star wars" "the force awakens." >> she was friendly to everybody. that was a true princess. she knew what she wanted to do and she could always come up with stuff like being one of the boys. she was just

>> reporter: mayhew and fisher were friends for 40 years, the photo of him more than seven feet tall at one point lifting her up at a rap party after the original "star wars," they definitely had a good time together. he said that he last saw fisher in new york just a few weeks ago and we will have much more on fisher's passing later in this half hour including her final interview just weeks ago. now we're moving on though to the other big story, we have strong storms on the move on both coasts. >> let's start on the west coast, storm coming off the pacific, bringing several feet of snow and several inches of rain and the east coast is closely watching that right there. that could bring a lot of snow by the end of the week. some people are calling it a nor'easter, accuweather's paul williams tracking it all. good morning, paul. >> good morning, diane, kendis. by late week things are going to go right side up to upside down as my grandmother used to say. snow showers are going to become a big problem in the northeast with actually blizzard conditions nearly two feet of

snow. lake effect snow coming off the lakes with a shot of cold air coming straight out of canada and drop the temperatures dramatically throughout the ohio valley region but bracing for more thunderstorms and another set of storms and showers will make some flood potential storms in the southwest. kendis, diane. >> all right, our thanks to paul. want to get to breaking news overnight from the california area. a pair of strong earthquakes felt across a large area for that matter. the 5.7 earthquakes were centered near the california/nevada border but according to social media posts they were felt in fresno, sacramento and lake tahoe. we are getting reports so far of no initial damage reports, some minor rock slides reported in areas but no injuries as well. breaking news from overseas. turkey and russia have reportedly reached a cease-fire agreement for all of syria so the plan will be presented to the syrian government for consideration according to turkey state run news agency. both countries are working to ensure that the deal takes

effect after midnight but it does not cover terror groups. the white house may announce this week how it plans to punish russia for hacking during the presidential election campaign. officials tell "the washington post" punishment will include economic sanctions and diplomatic censure. president obama has been under pressure to respond before he leaves office. russia denies wrongdoing and president-elect trump has expressed skepticism that moscow was involved. president-elect trump is vacationing in florida but not taking a vacation from twitter. yesterday he con grad lated himself on the economy tweeting, quote, the u.s. consumer confidence index for december surged nearly four points to 113.7, the highest level in more than 15 years. he adds, thanks, donald. and president obama is also on vacation in hawaii but he did make time to meet with japanese prime minister shinzo abe. the two appeared at pearl harbor in a show of reconciliation. abe did not apologize for the attack by japanese

did offer condolences to the thousands of americans killed and said, quote, we must never repeat the horrors of war. president obama says the visit sends a powerful message. >> prime minister abe, i welcome you here in the spirit of friendship as the people of japan have always welcomed me. i hope that together we send a message to the world that there is more to be won in peace than in war. that reconciliation carries more rewards than retribution. [ applause ] >> the meeting with abe will probably be president obama's last with a foreign leader before he leaves office. well, still ahead the major milestone, the stock market could hit today. amazon is taking center stage in a murder investigation. we have the latest on the legal battle over the suspect's amazon echo device and whether police should have access to what it records. plus, a prestigious community is mourning after an tr

disappearing on christmas day. the suspect under arrest as police search for answers.

drop in times square to signal the start of the new year is now in place. you can see it there. it has nearly 2700 waterford crystals. it is 12 feet in diameter, weighs five tons this year's new design is called the gift of kindness. police officials are blaming an outbreak of violence at shopping malls on social media and teen boredom. the latest incident was last night at a mall in philadelphia when a disturbance broke out at the food court. police say that gathering was planned on snapchat. four people were arrested and this follows

more than a dozen malls on monday night. and police in arkansas have filed what may be the first request to retrieve data from an amazon echo in a murder investigation. one of the voice command devices was found at the hole of a man accused of murdering a friend whose body was found in a hot tub. the echo could reveal if any music was played or anyone asked a question perhaps. but so far amazon has declined to provide any information that the echo logged on its servers. the online retailer is calling 2016 its best ever. amazon says it shipped more than 1 billion items around the world during the busy holiday shopping season. more than 72% of amazon's holiday shoppers used a mobile device to make those orders. speaking of record, the dow is inching toward that 20,000 mark. it gained 11 points yesterday to close at 1994 and the dow and nasdaq and s&p have

gains this year. when we come back, a country's stunning admission saying hundreds of olympic athletes were part of an organized doping campaign. check out a b.a.s.e. jumper's bad landing. the whole thing caught on camera. if you could see your cough, you'd see just how far it can spread. robitussin dm max is now better tasting, with the same fast powerful cough relief.

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bounty, the quicker picker upper but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. bird lovers around the world are keeping their eye on a pair of bald eagles in southwest florida or more importantly what they have in their nest. this live feed of the birds shows them taking turns sitting on two eggs expected to hatch in the next few days. now, it usually takes about 35 days for an eagle to hatch so the due date for these two is somewhere between now and the new year. if you're hitting the roads this morning expect rain from little rock to memphis to nashville and well into atlanta. snow showers from montana to colorado and a

and it looks like a good day to fly with delays only in memphis. police made a devastating discovery if the search for a popular yoga teacher and sometime actress. after a search they found tricia mccauley's body and charged a suspect with first degree murder. >> but investigators still have no idea why all of this happened. abc's mara schiavocampo with the details. >> reporter: the search for answers after a yoga teacher is found dead. 46-year-old tricia mccauley's body discovered early tuesday in d.c. mccauley was a beloved yoga instructor. >> she was just a very inspiring person. >> reporter: and a longtime actor. appearing in the 2006 film account "step up." police issued an alert for the person believed to be driving mccauley's car. 29-year-old adrian dwayne johnson apprehended at a nearby

car. now, johnson charged with theft, simple assault and her murder. as the community mourns. mara schiavocampo, abc news, new york. >> more on that murder mystery later on today on "gma." in the meantime, there are growing questions about the death of george michael at the age of 53. his friends and fans still in mourning. now this photo of him appearing bloated in september fueling speculation the singer had been sick. his manager said he died of heart failure but an official cause of death is not expected until next month. turning to you to a rough landing for a b.a.s.e. jumper in phoenix. that jumper plunged from a cliff at camel back mountain but hit the canyon wall as he came down. despite having a parachute you can see him slammed to the ground and fortunately a firefighter was nearby to assist him. the jumper's injuries luckily

life-threatening. after years of denial russian officials admit to widespread doping during the olympics including the 2014 winter olympic games in russia. "the new york times" reporting that one official describing its as an institutional conspiracy. a lab director tampered with the urine samples at the olympics and provided cocktails of performance-enhancing drugs. russian officials say the doping however was not state sponsored. time now for sports including some highlights from the nba. >> here are our guys at espn. good morning, america. neil everett here. usually i'm sitting behind the desk. and i'm not wearing pants. let's go, tommy. come on. thunder and heat right here. russell westbrook and steven adams are teammates and they practice that. look at that let's make it fancy. adams, posterizing hassan

whiteside. adams had 15 points. >> i'm nasty. >> yeah. look at westbrook. westbrook going for the triple-double even though he says he wishes we would quit talking about him. can't do it. 29 point, 17 rebound, 11 assists and thunder win, smile. rockets and mavs. give me a "t" for texas. give me a "t" for tennessee. trevor ariza and sala'ah mezery will not be exchanging gift cards, hanging out and frankly if you see them walking towards each other, get out of the way because it's going to go down. apparently ariza believes that mesry said something about his family in some regard so the fireworks in this one carried on into the locker room after the game. it's a story that will continue at the nba. the rockets did beat the mavericks in that one. at

have a great wednesday. >> all right. and we're happy that you're wearing pants there, neil. >> thanks, neil. so making headlines this season with the ucla basketball team, it's his youngest brother grabbing out the attention. >> that's right. watch as the high school point guard walks up to the half-court point line and drains the shot. only a sophomore but you can understand why ucla has already recruited him. >> all of the ball brothers are pretty popular. >> is that hard to do, shoot from the half-court line. >> effortlessly. >> just a little bit. he made it look so easy. up next in "the pulse," carrie fisher's final tv appearance and see what he said about her affair with harrison ford. apparently today is a good day. good riddance day. how people will be saying bye, felicia to 2016. t blood clot, i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about?

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♪ time to check "the pulse" starting with another glimpse into carrie fisher's extraordinary life displaying her humor until the very end. >> just before she died, fisher was in london promoting her new book, "the princess diarist." if her final interview she spoke with the bbc about her affair with co-star harrison ford. >> we saw each other a lot and, no, literally i remember three times that we -- i, of course, made some oblique reference to it and he went, uh -- [ laughter ] >> for his part harrison ford has never confirmed nor denied that affair. even carrie fisher's dog was famous and in later years she would take gary everywhere with

and even to interviews such as this one last year with amy robach on "good morning america." >> gary is bored as hell. can you imagine? just crying. >> we've actually lulled him to sleep. this is a low moment for me in my interviewing skills. >> he likes watching tv. >> i never had someone fall asleep. >> that you know of. >> thank you. >> gary, by the way, has been sending out one tweet after another with photos of himself with his master, of course, expressing his affection for her and lifting everyone's spirits a little bit. >> even after. >> yeah. this has been a pretty awful year for a lot of people but now it's time to turn the page and to help in that effort there is good riddance day. being observed today in new york's times square. >> it's a chance to destroy any unpleasant, embarrassing or unwanted memories from 2016 and make way for the good memories

shredder. just write whatever it is you want to forget or maybe bring a marriage document you want to forget. >> shred it up. a family's adorable pup did something naughty. >> snuck into the kitchen, ate the turkey. the family was clueless until the stuffed pooch collapsed bloated on the floor unable to move. tryptophan wins again. >> hey, bubba. that's wmorning washington on this hump day. it's december 28th, and meteorologist eileen whelan will break down the final days of 2016 in just a moment. but first-- a quick look at a developing story we are following this morning. duane johnson- the man accused in the murder of yoga teacher tricia mccauley-- is due in court in a few hours. our cameras were there when police took him into custody early tuesday morning. police say johnson was found driving

hours after she suddenly went missing on christmas day. her body was found in the trunk. we'll have much more on this story.. and how loved ones are coping with the shocking loss, coming up. good morning washington. toss to eileen - cooler today - rain tomorrow morning - few sprinkles nye; otherwise dry weekend - roller coaster temperatures first week of 2017 today: mostly sunny. cooler. highs: 45-50 winds: nw 5 mph tonight: increasing clouds. showers developing after 2am. lows: 30-36 winds: se 5 mph thursday: morning clouds, showers. pm sunshine. highs: 46-52 winds: w 10-15 g 25+ mph

a mother and child are recovering this

they are both hit by a car that witnesses say was driving erratically. the crash happened tuesday afternoon in aspen hill. the woman was airlifted to shock trauma in baltimore with a critical leg injury. her child is at children's national medical center with serious - but not life-threatening injuries. those who live along parkland drive are horrified by what happened -- but not surprised. the woman was reportedly taking her child out of a car seat when the crash happened. police say the

with investigators. an update on a story we have been following since monday. two children sickened by carbon monoxide inside a car - have been released from the hospital. police say the mother of the three-month-old and two-year-old left them inside the car - while she and an older child went into a store at the white oak shopping center in silver spring. that car - had an exhaust problem. the children are okay now. no word yet on whether the mother will face charges. december is almost over. and amazon workers are probably happy to finally get a break. the online retail company says it shipped more than a billion items around the world through its prime loyalty program this holiday season. amazon also says more people tried prime than during any previous holiday season. prime costs 99 bucks a year and comes with guaranteed shipping, and other perks. it was at the top of many christmas wish lists. but thousands of parents are now reporting a pretty big problem with the popular hatchimal toys. they won't hatch. the 80-dollar toy is supposed to emerge from an egg when

or rub on the shell after about 30 minutes of playtime. parent company spin master is asking disgruntled parents to contact them on twitter. it also uploaded a video, showing how to manually break the egg open. it's xx and we're just getting started. a shocking death-- now rocking an entire community. how loved ones are remembering a beloved yoga teacher-- as the man charged in her death

breaking news in syria. a reported ceasefire deal is reached, but not everyone is protected. the details.. coming up. good morning washington. - cooler today - rain tomorrow morning - few sprinkles nye; otherwise dry weekend - roller coaster temperatures first week of 2017 today: mostly sunny. cooler. highs: 45-50 winds: nw 5 mph tonight: increasing clouds. showers developing after 2am. lows: 30-36 winds: se 5 mph thursday: morning clouds, showers. pm sunshine. highs: 46-52 winds: w 10-15 g 25+ mph