breaking news this morning, on "world news now," reports that aides for president trump had direct repeated contact with senior level russian intelligence officials. this as lawmakers call for an investigation into the dismissed national security advisers communications with russia. details ahead. >> damaging tornados ripped across texas and southern states with reports of multiple injuries and damaged homes. students have been forced to take shelter, crouched in hall ways. pickup truck caught fire nt right in the drive-through driveway. check out how an officer ended up saving the day. >> does this mean we can't get the burger? >> speaking of heating things lebrities took to the internet to show their pretty and they're

in love. we're nursing valentine's day hangover in the skinny on this wednesday, february 15th. ♪ baby we should take it slow ♪ take it slow ♪ ♪ >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." ♪ take it slow ♪ take it slow >> serenading. take that. >> here on february 15th. >> so beautiful. >> sounded just -- like an angel. >> ha-ha. >> like angel the guy down the street, not -- >> yeah, uh-huh. yeah. >> start with breaking news. seems as if we are saying that every day. seriously for real breaking news. communications between associates of president trump and suspected russian intelligence officials. >> sources say u.s. authorities were concerned about the communications in the time leading up to last year's presidential election, "the new york times" now says those trump associates and suspected russian intelligence officials had

before the election. paper's report says there is no evidence of cooperation between the trump campaign and russia in an attempt to influence the election. >> contacts come to light as the trump administration is faced with serious questions how it handled dismissal of former national security adviser michael flynn. >> latest developments, the white house knew flynn had deceived vice president pence for two weeks before filling pence in on that. >> the administration says an erosion of trust between the president and flynn led to flynn's resignation. >> members of the senate intelligence committee say they may call on flynn to testify. and another big question looming why the president allowed flynn to be included in important meetings practically right up until the time he left the administration. some of the president's republican

administration that is significant disarray as far as esident trump and some of his , aide began making contingency plans for flynn's dismissal last week. the ap also says the president initially thought flynn could survive the controversy. >> as all of this playing out, we have learned that the start of flynn's downfall resulted from parts of the u.s. intelligence community paying attention to the news. what could be described as reading the tea leaves. abc's pierre thomas at justice. >> reporter: flynn's spectacular fall started with a hunch by the intelligence community. it began when president obama issued those tough december sanctions. kicking russian officials out of the u.s. for hacking the democrats. >> our goal continues to be to send a clear message to russia.

art. always knew he was very suspicious of the failure to nversations between flynn and russian ambassador. acting attorney general, sally yates and others wanted to notify the white house. fbi chief james comey was concerned the investigation was at too sensitive a stage and could be compromised. but as trump surrogates repeatedly backed flynn's version of events, yates decided she had to act. warning white house officials they had been misled. she worried flynn was at risk of russian blackmail. sean spicer insisted that then president elect trump never told flynn to discuss the sanctions. >> did the president instruct him to talk about sanctions? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: spicer seemed to blame yates for the delay. >> why did it take so long? i think the first question should be -- where was the department of

this. >> reporter: we learned that the fbi interviewed flynn the week at flynn said. to comment on if he wasn't completely honest he could be accused of lying to the fbi, a felony. flynn insisted his conversation with the russian ambassador was not about sanctions but the 35 diplomats, obama expelled end of last year. he also said the president expressed confidence in him though sean spicer says that trust eroded to the point where trump requested flynn's resignation a few hours later. pierre thomas, abc news, washington. >> pierre, thanks. >> new questions this morning about russia's intentions after a series of military moves. a russian spy ship spotted in international waters off the coast of delaware heading north. the ship reportedly outfitted with variety of high-tech equipment designed to intercept intelligence signals. we saw a similar thing off the coast of florida. a u.s. official confirmed to abc news that, russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile in an apparent violation of a

>> seven people injured after a swarm of tornados in the houston area. the storm system dumped an inch or two of rain. but spawned at least five tornados. dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed, the storm system also brought power outages downed trees, blocked roads and a gas leak as well reported. severe weather was likely a factor in the fatal crash of student on her way to school. other of students at area schools sheltered in place in hall ways. >> we have good news to till you. for residents living near oroville dam in northern california. heading back home. mandatory evacuations have been lifted. water officials say the spillway has been fortified against erosion. the area remains under an evacuation warning however. >> there is also some more rain heading for oroville and the rest of california. >> accuweather's cam tran has the weather for us. good morning, cam. >> good morning, diane.

this will focus pacific northwest. bringing heavy rain there as well. some windy conditions. but the tail end of that storm system will bring heavy rainfall across northern california as well as central california by thursday. now, off to the east, the same storm system that brought severe weather in texas heading east towards the deep south and southeast, producing heavy rain. also severe thunderstorms expect expected along the gulf coast as well. diane and kendis, back to you. >> thanks to cam. >> and playing out in central missouri where a former dairy queen manager accused of bullying an employee to death. 21-year-old harley branham made her first court appearance charged with involuntary manslaughter in the suicide of 17-year-old kenneth sutner. co-workers testified during an inquest that branham repeatedly taunted the teenager, threw food at him and forced him to clean the floors with bare hand. branham could face up to 7 years in prison. >> of singer, alanis morrissette, a couple of million dollars

are said to have made off with $2 million in jewelry from her home in los angeles. tmz reported, the seven time grammy winner was not home at the time. ironically, police say the jewelry was inside a safe. that was stolen by the thieves. >> nice pun there. >> yeah. >> anyways, optimistic numbers in the fight against hiv and aid this morning. new calculations by the cdc show a strong, steady decline in the number of hiv infections in the u.s. down 20% between 2008-2014. sharpest declines among heterosexuals and drug users, infections among gay and bisexual men have leveled off. infections among younger, gay and bisexual men shot up by 35% and gay and bisexual latinos up by 20%. aetna and humana have terminated their merger. aetna will pay a $1 billion breakup fee. the ruling follows a judge's ruling blocking the deal. officials for both companiesay

humana plans to exit obama care next year because of high medical costs. as if breakups aren't hard enough. imagine having to pay $1 billion on top of that. >> exactly. >> key is never to got together. >> didn't think that was a valentine's day message coming away with. but fine. >> valentine's day tradition in san francisco. a massive pillow fight. involving hundreds of people. participants were asked to only hit others carrying pillows. unless the unarmed person has asked to be hit. pillows were preferred. feather pillows make more mess. expected to cost the city $5,000 forgot my pillow.e feathers >> my pillow is upstairs. >> paper works. effective. >> would have been great. >> give me a paper cut. >> next, order up. a truck goes up in flames in a drive-through. see how a resourceful officer save

from being well done. >> really? >> i didn't write it. i just read it. >> don't know about that one. >> oh, hello, ladies. the hot felon -- um -- who turned model. was sizzling at new york's fashion week. full details in "the skinny." >> are you still thinking about my well done pun? >> i am, exactly. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by mega red advance four in one. ega-3s.. but did you know your eyes, your brain, and your joints really love them too? introducing megared advanced 4in1... just one softgel delivers the omega-3 power of two regular fish oil pills... so give your body mega support

mthat stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. guess i won't be seeing you for a while. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? let's end this. hei don't want one that's hadch a bunch of ownersd car? just say, show me cars with only one owner find the cars you want, avoid the ones you don't plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing it's perfect. start your used car search at carfax.com

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mthat stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. guess i won't be seeing you for a while. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? let's end this. and, our adult children moveare here, still. so, we save by using tide. which means we use less. three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. those are moms. anybody seen my pants? lasts up to two times longer. tide, number 1 rated. it was a pickup truck, at the fast-food restaurant that

when the police arrived. a quick thinking dallas cop used his cruiser to push the vehicle away from the jack in the box drive through. so that prevented the restaurant from catching fire, kept everyone safe. there were no injuries. and there was no word on what started the fire. just imagine how long the line must have been at the drive through. >> did they get free tacos, taco tuesday? >> i would hope so. at least be able to get good fries there at the jack in the box. >> have to find out more. >> uh-huh. >> faa investigating a close call involving harrison ford and a passenger plane. the 70-year-old actor was piloting his own plane when he came dangerously close to the jet. >> this isn't the first time ford has had an incident with his plane. abc's david kerley has the details. >> reporter: harrison ford in this plane taking off from santa monica is part of an faa investigation of a close call. it all happened monday.

ford landing at orange county, named for an acting legend, john wayne. ford was lined up for a taxiway instead of runway 20 left and passed right over an american airlines 737 that was waiting to take off. ford apparently not realizing his mistake asking controllers, if the jet was supposed to be below him. it's not the first incident for the star of "indiana jones" and "star wars." >> nice landing, thanks. >> engine fame year. immediate return. >> two years ago he crash landed another plane. details of which he didn't remember. >> how are you feeling? >> doing great. thank you. thank you. back, back, playing tennis, riding my bikes, and, having a good time. >> reporter: the faa says the pilot of the small plane, sources say was harrison ford did call out the right runway. but the american airline pilots watched him fly right overhead. the ntsb is gathering information along with the faa investigation. david kerley, abc news, orange county airport. >> maybe time to take a break from flying? >> u

star wars series movies. ground him a little bit. >> when we come back -- love was in the air yesterday. the celebrities did not disappoint. >> if you are one of those who hate the idea of valentine's day. just imagine how much you will throw up watching celebrities who celebrated the day. please come back, anyway. please come back, anyway. yeah, that stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. no thank you very much, she's gonna stick with the short-term stuff. 12 hours? guess i won't be seeing you for a while. is that a bisque? i just lost my appetite. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this.

♪ skinny so skin gee really so happy that so many couples, celebrity couples keep their love to themselves. >> private matter of course. >> then there is chrissy teagen and john legend. put it all out there. >> they're just being ordinary people. ♪ ordinary people >> trying to be. >> lot of pda in the five-minute video they put out there to celebrate their love. ♪ ordinary people

it was. >> it was. >> i think john is impressed by chrissy's lip-syncing ability. >> you mean that's not her singing? >> don't think so. >> on to some more cute couples. >> michelle obama posted this pic from the obamas recent beach vacation, with the caption t. happy valentine's day to the love of my life and favorite island mate. >> clearly had a few mani and pedi's. >> with sand. >> looking good. >> exactly. >> and iman sharing love for david bowie, posting this touching tribute to her forever valentine as she calls him. adding the hashtag, bowie forever. >> rounding out the category -- >> miley cyrus and liam hemsworth. you do not have double vision. photo shopped liam's head on the dress she is wearing. with the message -- liam hemsworth and i wish you a lovely v-day. >> got similar haircuts too. >> who wore it better? >> going with liam. >> liam? okay. >> speaking of the hemsworth clan,

role as the prince in the upcoming marvel movie "thor." >> yeah, that one. >> and when he is not saving the world he is a, apparently busy being a terrible roommate. >> you might need to think about getting a job. ha-ha. >> get a job. >> are you serious? i have a job. you know what my job is. i save the planet. maybe you should get a job. >> i have a job. >> really, hitting the machine with the word that come out of it. this is knowledge. knowledge is power. no it is not. knowledge is not power. that's power. the brain is a muscle. that's a muscle. that's a muscle. they're all muscles. this is all muscle. so i am covered in brains. and i have more brains than you. >> so do you think -- do you think he wrecks things around the apartment with his giant hammer all the time? >> with his muscles. >>

missing. so this is the second clip, demonstrating thor's lack of manners when it comes to being a roommate. i guess not all gods are created equal there. -- when it comes to room mates. >> does he do the dishes? >> probably not. if he does, just. do you remember the guy, hot felon from 2014 with the teardrop tattoo. >> uh-huh. yeah. >> lot of women wanted to start a gofundme to break him out of jail. jeremy meeks back then when he was having his picture taken for all the wrong reasons, namely gun possession. but the mug shot led to a big shot with a modeling agency. >> so, flash forward to this week. the hot felon is now walking in new york's fashion week. the 33-year-old says he doesn't mind the nickname because of the opportunities it has created for him. >> he is keeping quiet about any future gigs he might have. and, someone reported, not sure it is true. he got a lot of practice walking the run way from all the perp

>> oh. >> not true. >> did he make that joke? >> no. >> no. >> don't -- ♪ no. >> don't -- it's like having a sick family member that you didn't even know was there. and we all know what happens when one family member gets sick. but lysol spray and lysol wipes kill 99.9% of germs including 8 common cold & flu viruses to help protect your home. this cold and flu season help keep your home happy and healthy and lysol that. mthat stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. guess i won't be seeing you for a while. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? let's end this.

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breathe happy with new febreze. ♪ ♪ >> a new app. >> chameleon run. >> we laern -- we learn about. most 7-year-olds are worried, what game they will play at recess. what snack in the lunch box. >> his squad goals, ending childhood hunger. that's all. kevin reece from dallas station tells us how. >> it's cool that we have this much food here. >> reporter: the reason his living room is full of so much room and the reason he is sitting on a case is his own fault. he went with his parents to donate at the food bank in rockwell.

he didn't like what he saw. >> not like kid friendly. they didn't have like, chef boyardee or pancake mix. >> reporter: he started his own company, he called it, mac and cheese and pancakes. >> two favorite foods. >> reporter: they asked friends, family to donate made an amazon wish list. that was just ten days ago. the living room stacked halfway to the ceiling with all of kaden's kid friendly foods. >> my mom's goal was 100. mine was 5,000. >> we never expected to get this kind of response. to get this kind of response is absolutely amazing to us. >> reporter: because when the helping hand food bank folks arrived, cayden had 7,000 items ready to go. >> let's get mac and cheese in there. >> reporter: made sure he helped with every one. >> i got excited about all the kids that are going to have food. i figured you might need more pancake mix. >> reporter: kaydenas

sing his praises. >> kayden has shown us, you can't forget, that you have got to push forward, and provide for those less fortunate. >> when we interviewed cayden he explained his reason for doing all this. >> made my heart feel happy. >> reporter: after an hour of loading trucks? what do you think so far? >> it's awesome. >> reporter: his heart and two trucks were full. told me it made your heart feel good. wonder how your heart feels now? >> it's even better. it's awesome. >> reporter: yes, it is awesome. then again, so is he. in rockwell, kevin reece, channel 8 news. >> his mom says he first showed interest in doing this at age 4. >> uh-huh. his plans at 20 its to run the bill and melinda gates foundation as well as feed all of the people of africa. >> aiming low. aiming low. don't miss our updates on facebook at wnnfans.com. >> announcer: this is abc's world news now, informing insomniacs for two decades.

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making news in america this morning, breaking overnight, the crisis rocking the white house. members of the president's team accused of having constant contact with russian officials during the campaign. details on the bombshell new report. more fallout surrounding the resignation of national security adviser michael flynn. what did the president know about his contact with russian officials and the growing calls from lawmakers for a full investigation. assassinated. the half brother of kim jong-un killed with a poison spray. the two women police are look for now. the sentimental favorite at the westminster dog show gets best in show. we will show you the results. all about rumor.