this morning on "world news now," members of president trump's cabinet, grounded. why he says he's not happy about the use of pricey private jets for government business and members of congress on both sides of the aisle want answers. and the latest incident of an airline passenger being dragged off a plane by officers after complaining of an allergy. we'll tell you what else was on board that prompted that request. and later, remembering a cultural icon. >> hugh hefner has died at the age of 91. see what we're finding about the life and times of the man who changed america's attitude about sex. and a star opens up about

three of the most important people in his life who don't count themselves as his fans. who doesn't love the boss? "the skinny" will detail it out. it is thursday, september 28. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> aye yi yi. you got to love the boss. >> yeah, baby we were born to run. >> and walk. >> we'll have more on the boss, including some tunes, i'm sure, coming up. but we're starting things off with new questions about health and human services secretary tom price and other officials traveling on private planes funded by taxpayers. >> and the president is not happy, signaling that price's job could now be in

>> the treasury secretary steve mnuchin is also a target of that investigation. he's accused of using a government plane to fly to kentucky with his wife to watch the eclipse. abc's cecelia vega is tracking your money. >> reporter: president trump making it clear he is angry with his health secretary's penchant for private planes on the public dime. >> i will tell you personally, i am not happy about it. i'm not happy about it. i'm going to look at it. i'm not happy about it and i let him know. >> reporter: secretary tom price under fire for his luxury jet travel, costing tax payers more than $400,000. an investigation now under way, and price says those high-priced trips are on hold. >> we've heard the criticism. we've heard the concerns, and we take that very seriously and i've taken it to heart. >> reporter: but the president made it clear price's future is in question. >> would you fire him, sir? >> reporter: three cabinet secretaries now under investigation for expensive travel. treasury secretary steve mnuchin accused of taking costly

government jets over commercial flights, including that trip to kentucky with his wife where they viewed the eclipse. and new revelations about the epa administrator, scott pruitt's frequent trips home to oklahoma paid by tax payers, and now he's under fire for installing a $25,000 secure private phone booth in his office, something previous administrators didn't have. a spokeswoman says pruitt, a vocal critic of the agency before he took the top job needs the secure phone booth so his calls are not subject to hacking from the outside. now democrats and republicans on the house oversight committee want to know more. they have launched an investigation. they want to see travel records and the cost of those trips since inauguration day. the white house and two dozen federal agencies have less than two weeks to turn these do

in the meantime, the president is hoping to score his first major legislative victory. >> the president unveiled the proposal in indianapolis, insisting the cuts would be good for the meiddle class. rates for individuals would be lowered and simplified from seven to three brackets and the size of the standard deduction uld double. >> so the plan is facing an uphill battle if congress where democrats say it's a boon for the wealthy and despite a bruising loss on health care, the president is optimistic. >> i look forward to working with congress to deliver these historic tax cuts. and reforms to the american people. these tax cuts are significant. there's never been tax cuts like what we're talking about. >> the plan also calls for the elimination of the estate tax, which would be a big gain for the richest american families, like the president's. overall, the details are sketchy, and it's still not clear hoth

so congress will have to figure that out. a giant piece of rock described as the size of an apartment building fell from the face of yosemite's el capitan, killing one person and injuring another. it sent a plume of white dust into the air. it is the height of climbing season and at least 30 people were scaling that rock face at the time. an emergency chopper transported the injured climber to the hospital. no word on the extent of the injuries. disaster relief is slowly pouring into hurricane-damaged puerto rico. but a lot of it is caught in a bottleneck waiting to get out of port and to those in need. more than a week now after hurricane maria hit, 96% of puerto rico is still without electricity. and just over half now have drinking water. a tourism official is asking cruise operators and airlines to help bring in aid. a royal caribbean liner delivered generators and other supplies on wednesday, and puerto rican native jj barea is

planning another trip. he used the maverick's team plane on friday to fly donated supplies in to puerto rico. mark cuban personally loaned the plane for that effort. college basketball legend rick pitino is allegedly out of a job. he's been placed on unpaid administrative leave. the news comes after the program was linked to a federal investigation into fraud and corruption in recruiting. his attorney says he has effectively been fired. school officials are promising to move forward. >> effective immediately, coach pitino has been placed on an unpaid, administrative leave. coach pitino's employment will be reviewed at a later date. while this may be a dark day for the university of louisville, better days are ahead. >> the athletic director was also placed on administrative leave, and this is the latest black eye for the program. the school is currently on

involving escorts for recruits. and derek jeter will have his hands full as part owner of the miami marlins. baseball owners had unanimously approved the sale of $1.2 billion for the franchise. the former yankees captain will be in charge of the marlins' baseball operations. they're about to finish their eighth consecutive losing season, so he's going to hope to turn that around. >> absolutely. they have big stars there. another scuffle caught on camera between an airline passenger and police. this time a woman was forcibly removed from a southwest flight as it prepared to take off from baltimore to los angeles. the woman was asked to leave the plane after she complained that she had a life-threatening allergy to animals. southwest said they offered to rebook her on her to flight, because there were two dogs that were on board but clearly she refused. she was arrested, charged with disorderly conduct. southwest says it's disheartened

unfolded. delta airlines is offering free text messaging to flyers starting sunday. it will be available through i message, facebook messenger and whatsapp. they will be able to send and receive messages but it does not include the exchange of photos, video files or audio messages. just the old school stuff. and a driver in minnesota was either having a really bad day or maybe needs their eyes checked. check out the black suv. >> okay. while in stop and go traffic, the driver seems to accidentally rear end the suv that it's behind. so both drivers pull over. >> but when they get onto the shoulder, watch as the black suv rear ends the white one again. yeah. guessing they're ready to end that road trip. >> what were you doing in minnesota?

>> i am an excellent driver. >> yeah. coming up, tom cruise breaks his silence. is this photo of his, was this evidence of a -- >> i never thought i would see the words stunt butt in the prompter. >> it's ahead in "the skinny." i know it's in the skinny, but seriously, brian ross is investigating this. >> big story coming up in "the skinny," but first, remembering an american cultural icon, hugh hefner dead at the age of 91. hear how he wants to be remembered and the spot he chose for his final resting place. first, here's a look at today's forecast. "world news now" weather, brought to you by my pillow.

i'd like to be remembered as somebody who played some positive part in changing the social sexual values of his time and had a very good time doing it. >> and he did. both. those are the words of hugh he

americans look at sex. >> founder of "playboy" magazine also died at the age of 91. >> reporter: hugh hefner was the ultimate playboy, hosting wild parties at his mansion, in his trademark robe and pajamas, surrounded by women, celebrities and an aura of sex. >> made for a good party. >> reporter: for hefner, the party started in 1953 with the first issue of "playboy" magazine and featured a cover of a featured a photo of a nude marilyn monroe. >> glad you could join us this evening. >> reporter: the magazine led to tv shows and an entire playboy empire. there were key cubs, featuring waitresses wearing revealing bunny costumes.

in the '70s, hefner was attacked by feminists for exploiting feminism. >> playboy exploits sex like sports illustrated exploits sports. >> reporter: profits had dropped. by 1988, hefner closed the last of them and turned over the control of the still-profitable magazine to his daughter christie. a year later, he seemed ready to change his bachelor ways. hefner's marriage to a former playmate resulted in two sons. but after eight years it ended, and he went back to his old ways. in his mid-70s and touting the benefits of viagra, he took on seven girlfriends starring in a reality tv show. and in 2012, at 86, hefner settled down again, marrying it 26-year-old crystal harris. >> my age has changed. the women i'm attracted to have not changed. >> reporter: he has been

immortalized in wax and in the pages of his magazine. asked once what he was most proud of, he said he changed america's attitude toward sex. brandi hitt, abc news, los angeles. >> he did. when "playboy" magazine came out, you couldn't say "pregnant" on tv. "i love lucy" was on tv and they were -- >> in separate beds. >> exactly. imagine how revolutionary that must have been when they came out with this first issue there. >> as you can imagine, people on social media are reacting to this. my favorite post is r.i.p. hugh hefner, dude's been in heaven for decades anyway. >> that really says it. >> been in heaven for decades anyway. why bruce springsteen's massive fan base doesn't include his own kids. >> skinny's next. massive fan base doesn't include his own kids.

♪ >> ah. nothing better than the boss. >> especially at this hour. >>

so, yeah. so the boss is now talking a bit about his family life, and apparently, his kids may have been born to run, but not so much listening. they're not big on that part. >> so 20 grammy awards. an oscar, more than 120 million records sold, so no surprise that bruce spring steen has one of the most loyal fan bases in music and industry. >> but it apparently does not include his own children. the 68-year-old rock legend says his three kids have shown a healthy disinterest in his work over the years. >> he says he doubts any of them have read his best-selling memoir, "born to run", but he was quick to add that he's not at all hurt that his kids aren't fans. he feels he did a good job in raising them. >> they don't like my music, so i did a good job? >> so they were smart kids. >> well, we're fans, bruce, for what that's worth.

next to twitter 280. >> we told you yesterday about how twitter's testing out doubling its current 140 character limit, well, it's surprised a select number of random users with that new limit. >> yeah. among them, jimmy kimmel. and apparently, he can't resist bragging about it. >> so he tweeted yesterday afternoon, hey, guys, i feel so sorry for those of you who have to abbreviate tweets, because you only have 140 characters. so lame. >> look at how huge that is. he went on to say or type, just type, type, typing away, so many characters, talk to you soon. #blessed. #280 characters. >> he's doing #blessed. >> abcdefg, wow. >> just because he can. >> just seeing it there, though. >> it's nice to see that jimmy isn't gloating.

>> no humblebrag at all. >> taking responsibility very seriously. thanks jimmy. next up, tom cruise weighs in on the stunt butt controversy. >> yep. >> yep. i just said the words stunt butt. >> that's bc education right there, boston college. last month, an eagle-eyed fan tweeted out this scene from valkyrie showing what appears to be an enhancement. and it nearly broke the inner webs with speculation that crews may have used either a stunt but the or had something extra stuffed down his khakis. >> but now cruise is telling screen rant that there was no prosthetic of any kind used in that scene, nor was there a butt double involved. he apparently will soon provide proof of this, by the way. >> oh, good. fans will catch glimpses of the

his upcoming film "american made." in which his character moons members of his family, not just once, not the twice, but several times. >> to show off his american-made butt. >> butt. >> maybe i should say made in america. >> i just laughed in my head. you know that's david's series, can you imagine him doing a piece on that? >> i wasn't even trying to go there. >> tonight on made in america, tom cruise. okay, and finally, a major revelation from zac efron. >> he opened up to "vogue", in the interview about hanging a poster of tyra banks in his childhood bedroom to wanting to make a cameo appearance on "stranger things". >> but perhaps the strangest revelation is that he'd love to share a love scene with dwayne the ro

>> wait, what? >> back of the line, buddy. >> have you not smooched the rock as yet? >> no, i have not. >> all right, coming up. saving old glory. a dollar. and i never thought i could get quality life insurance with my spare change. neither did i. until i saw a commercial for the colonial penn program. imagine people our age getting life insurance at such an affordable rate. it's true. if you're 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance life insurance through the colonial penn program for less than 35 cents a day, just $9.95 a month. there's no medical exam and no health questions. you know, the average cost of a funeral is over $8,300. now that's a big burden to leave your loved ones. as long as you're 50 to 85,

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the flag looks terrible and it's the country that we fought for. >> reporter: 17 when he enlisted, all four brothers were in world war ii. >> when we see this condition of the flag we don't like it. >> reporter: he noticed the flag's condition last spring. how many months ago did you call? >> 12 months ago. >> reporter: the 91-year-old's notepad filled with names of post office personnel. >> and they said they're going to get in touch with this post office. >> reporter: and nothing happened. except the flag got worse. now the p.o.w. flag beneath it is disintegrating. what do you think about the condition of the flag? >> it's so bad. >> reporter: we called our contacts at the u.s. postal inspection service which has always helped with mail fraud. and by the time the sun went down, old glory was replaced to its original glory.

>> reporter: but someone else had also acted. a man we interviewed the day before. >> america is great. >> reporter: assam abdel, too, said he wanted to replace the tattered flag to thank the u.s. for the opportunities it will give his family. and this morning, the recent immigrant from yemen had a gift to share for the world war ii vet. >> i got chills up my arm. >> reporter: strangers before, the neighbors and now friends pay tribute in their own way to the symbol which means the same to both, freedom. >> it is unbelievable that you did something like this. that somebody cares about the flag and about the country. the >> there are all these rules for displaying the flag, including you're not supposed to leave it out during inclement weather, and when it's not a good emblem, you have to destroy it in a dignified way. you don't leave it dangling outside the post office. >> and good that those two people recognized those problems. >> working together. >> that's it for thiha

this is abc's "world news now," informing insomniacs for two decades.

>> making news in america this thursday morning. crisis in puerto rico. desperately needed supplies arriving but sit ng port not delivered. millions with no power or water one week after hurricane maria. what's behind the life threatening delay. >> president trump reveals his tax cut plan. who stands to benefit and who will pay for it. >> the overnight intelligence leak. fbi transcripts revealing how one contractor named reality winner smug led a secret report on russian hacking. >> the death of an icon t. remembering hugh hefner how he built the play boy