ryan owens has tonight's report. >> it's just before midnight saturday night.the busiest trauma center in the united states, this is primetime. patients are already stacked up in the hall when two young boys are wheeled in. >> they were both ejected. >> the bays aged 2 and 5 were found lying on the side of a houston street. they had been thrown from this car when it slammed into a tree. >> okay. >> the 5-year-old may not make it. he's bleeding from the head. the 2-year-old's injuries aren't as bad, but you wouldn't know it from his screams. do you ever get used to it when it's kids? >> no kids is always tough because i have a daughter. and there's times when i call my wife to wake her up to make sure she's okay. >> across the hall, a 6-year-old may have to have his foot amputated. he was riding with his father on an atv. they crashed into a fence and the vehicle flipped on top of the boy, crushing his lower leg. dr. james mccarthy is part of the team trying to stabilize the child and save his leg. he runs this emergency room and says it's like this almost every

abc's ryan owens joins us this morning from l.a. with the latest. od morning, ryan. >> reporter: good morning, bill. here's a number for you. 1.6 million. that's how many people have registered online to try to get tickets to get inside this place on tuesday. by our math, a lot of them will be disappointed. less than 1% will actually get tickets. 17,500 are being issued. they're being drawn at random. and they will not actually be issued until monday. ♪ >> reporter: fan is short for fanatic. and these young canadians are certainly that. >> how he's impacted people's lives. he saved mine. >> reporter: they just met each other at a memorial for jackson in vancouver, and hopped in the car together for the 24-hour drive to los angeles. >> we haven't really come that far. people from japan, holland, that have flown down here. >> reporter: they are among the hordes of people descending on this city, in advance of tuesday's memorial service. >> i'm here supporting michael. >> reporter: joyce holsi is one of more in an a million people who've registered onli

here's abc's ryan owens. >> reporter: these days in texas, cattle auctions are crowded. ranches, forced to sell livestock they can't afford to feed. >> some we sold because their body's breaking down. >> reporter: weeks of 100-degree heat have compounded 2 years of drought. pastures are scorched. cows are starving. >> when they're gone, the price of cattle is going to go up. and the people in new york is going to pay a whole lot more for the beef. >> reporter: and it's not just cattle. texas produces more cotton than any other state. many of the fields have withered to nothing. state agricultural officials estimate $3.5 billion in crops and livestock have already been lost. cities like san antonio have deployed off-duty officers to search for water wasters. neighbors are calling in to tattle on each other. >> that sprinkler has been on running all day, for four days. my grass is dead out in the front 'cause i'm conserving water. and they're wasting it. >> reporter: austin's lake travis is more than half-way empty. so bone-dry, the sheriff has recovered cars dumped decade

ryan owens is at the johnson space center. >> we are ready to start. >> reporter: instead of staring into the heavens, "endeavour" astronauts spent their first full day in space tediously examining the underbelly of the shuttle. what they've found so far looks disturbingly familiar -- a series of nicks and scratches on the shuttle's supersensitive thermal tiles. >> we have a bit of a mystery on the external tank foam loss. it's from an area that we don't expect to see foam to be lost. >> reporter: at least a dozen pieces of debris, including some foam that wraps the orange fuel tank, fell off during the first minutes of last night's takeoff. this picture of the tank, taken after the launch, clearly shows pieces of that foam are missing. from an area just above the shuttle's nose. astronauts are still trying to figure out exactly how much struck the shuttle, and just how much damage was caused. the exhaustive inspection could take days, but nasa cannot afford to take any chances. >> and liftoff of space shuttle "columbia." >> reporter: in 2003, a chunk of foam the size of a suitcase h

ryan owens is in austin. >> reporter: these days in texas, cattle auctions are crowded. ranchers forced to sell. >> their body is breaking down. >> reporter: weeks of 100 degree heat have compounded two years of drought. pastures are scorched, cows are starving. >> a lot of cattle are gone in south texas. when they're gone, the price is going to go up, and the people in new york is going to be paying a lot more for beef. >> reporter: and it's not just cattle. texas produces more cotton than any other state. many of the fields have withered to nothing. state agricultural officials estimate $3.5 billion in crops and livestock have already been lost. cities like san antonio have deployed offduty officers to search for water wasters. neighbors are calling in to tattle on each other. >> that sprinkler has been on running all day for five days. my grass is dead out in the front because i'm conserving water and they're wasting it. >> reporter: austin's lake travis is more than halfway empty. so bone dry, the sheriff has recovered cars dumped decades ago. these boat ramps give y

>> ryan owens in l.a.gain tonight, thank you. >>> and abc's going to have live coverage of the jackson memorial service tuesday, starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern, 10:00 a.m. pacific. >>> at disney world in orlando, two trains collided at a stop overnight, killing one of the drivers. the passengers were understandably stunned, but unharmed. the drivers, however, had to be cut at of their trains. parts of the system were closed on this busy holiday sunday so the accident could be investigated. >>> overseas, a rare act of defiance in iran. a prominent group of religious leaders today sided with the reformers and the protesters, calling the recent presidential election illegitimate. as you know, iran's supreme leader has upheld the result of that election. also today, vice president joe biden had a strong message for the iranians on another issue, their reported attempt to build a nuclear weapon. biden told george stephanopoulos that the u.s. would not step in if israel attacks the nuclear facilities in iran. >>

this is crazy. >> ryan owens, abc news, cleburne, texas. >>> that's "world news."pe you had a good day. for all of us, have a good hope you had a good day. for all of us, have a good night. captions by vitac

this is crazy. >> ryan owens, abc news, clureb, texas. >>> that's "world news."pe you had a good day. for all of us, have a good hope you had a good day. for all of us, have a good night. captions by vitac if we don't act, medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act,

so abc2 news ryan owens went to this little town to find out why. >> reporter: cleburn ye is a sleepy town. under the blazing sun it's usually dead asleep. >> allyburn 91 . >> not this summer. >> it seemed like an earthquake here. >> it may seem crazy but was there an earthquake here? >> i believe so. >> reporter: this community south of dallas has been shaking for more than a month >> the bed just moved right and left and then all of a sudden the calf jumped and got out of bed immediately. i realized i had experienced a moment of history. >> reporter: the earthquakes have been small, magnitude 2.8 or less. >> wasn't enough to get me up off the couch. >> reporter: but did get seismologists moving. researchers set up five seismic sensors around the town. they accepts the slightest shift. >> we're going to do the east/west. >> reporter: so far they've caught plenty of shaking with -- but no answers. do you have a gut instinct on what this is? >> i have no idea. we're going to find out. srks people who live in this town aren't exactly awaiting the experts. they are pretty sure they know

ryan owens got a rare look inside condition of inside houston's trauma center.ou, some of these scenes are graphic. >> there was a back seat passenger -- >> reporter: it's just before midnight saturday night. in the busiest trauma center in the united states, this is primetime. patients are already stacked up in the hall when two young boys are wheeled in. >> they were both ejected. >> reporter: the boys, age 2 and 5, were found lying on the side of a houston street. they'd been thrown from this car when it slammed into a tree. >> it's okay. >> reporter: the 5-year-old may not make it. he's bleeding from the head. the 2-year-old's injuries aren't as bad but you wouldn't know it from his scream. do you ever get used to it when it's kids? >> no. i have a 2-year-old daughter. there are times i call her at 2 in the morning and wake her up to make sure my daughter is okay. >> reporter: houston has five million people. it has just two level one trauma centers. that's the place you need to go when you're critically injured. most cities this size have five or six such t

ryan owens reports. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of michael jackson fans are anxiously awaiting selected to attend tuesday's memorial service. more than 1.6 million people applied online. less than 1%, 17,500, will get inside. >> i realize the chance i will get it is really, really low. >> it will be like a dream come true. >> reporter: the worry for police is what disappointed fans locked out of the ceremony will do. top brass at the l.a.p.d. are meeting again to go over the security plan to cordon off the downtown staples center. it's massive. 2,500 officers at a cost of $2.5 million. police are focused on finding the doctors who prescribed the singer so many medicationsnd so many often false names. >> and michael wasn't no freak! >> reporter: already grief has turned to anger for some. jackson family adviser the reverend al sharpton preached this morning at los angeles's first ame church. he lashed out at the media for focusing too much on the singer's scandals and not enough on his legacy. >> i say show the same respect for michael that you showed for frank sinatra and elvis

ryan owens reports. >> these days in texas cattle auctions crowded. ranchers forced to sell livestock they can't afford to feet. some even have to be sold bus their body's breaking down. >> reporter: weeks of hundred degree heat have compounded two years of drought. >> a lot of cattle in south texas. when they're gone, the people in new york is going to be paying a lot more for the beep. kweks as produces more cotton than any other state. >> state agriculture ra rahal officials estimate 3.5 billion in crops and live start have already been lost. cities like and san sewn i don't has -- that sprinkler has been on running for four days. my conserving wart and they're p -- >> these boat ramps give you some idea of what this drown has done for nearly two years. look at this, dock. no one's been here for quite sometimes. of the lake's 12 poet ramp, this is the only one saying anything. >> all of a sudden you look out and you see dry land and you're like promising a wetter than usual fall. but for so many here fall seems an awfully long way away. >> certainl

. >> reporter: ryan owens,

abc's ryan owens is at the family home in encino, california. forest lawn cemetery good morning, ryan. >> good morning, robin. this is where the jackson family will begin. in what is going tbe a long and difficult day. you see the memorial, that's been here from day one. as early as it is here on the west coast, there's fans coming by to pay their respects. the family, including michael's three children, are expected to leave the compound here at encino, about 7:00 local time, two hours or so from now. it's a relatively short drive, we should point out, to the forest lawn cemetery. they will have a police escort, courtesy of the california highway patrol. awill be laid to rest in the hollywood hills, a short drive from here. and mike von fremd is there this morning. good morning, mike. >> reporter: what is plans, as you say, a short ceremony for a very large family. some of the family were here last night. jackson has five brothers, two sisters. a mother and father. and they are expected to attend a short funeral today, where the king of pop wil

as our ryan owens found out near austin. >> sam, i'm actually right in the middle of lake travis. or i should be. really, i should be about 30 feet under water. that gives you some idea of what the drought has done. and it's not just about a lack of rainfall. but about excessive heat, as well. the austin area has already seen 40 days of 100-plus this summer. >> amazing shots, if you've ever seen that area in austin, as dry as it is now. this is how much of the southern part of the state is at the highest level of drought. it is a very serious, critical situation. as we said, san antonio, more than 28 inches below their normal rainfall, if you took it about a year and a half. you go to where the heat is in the northwestern parts of the map. we're looking at seattle for the fourth day, so far this season, above 90 degrees. at 92 today. portland, 103. redding at 111 degrees. this is serious heat there. a lot of these places aren't air-conditioned. they're not equipped to handle that much heat. they don't usually get it. but they're seeing it this year. here's where the strong to seve

brett haber, dave owens and myself kicking off coverage at 11:30 p.m. >>> ryan zimmerman scoring a personalictory. the third baseman named to the all-star team for the first time in his career. clearly that 30 game hitting streak certainly helping his cause and today the nats with a rare opportunity to win a seeshz. this time against the braves. the all star getting things going early. singling in the first. that would score morgan from second base. then morgan would deliver with the bat as well. forcing one through to right. the insurance run there would give the nats a 5-1 lead. scott olsenson went eight and two thirds and mike mcdougall would close it out taking the series from the brave 2-1. >> when we pitch and play defense that's what we have been able to do that lately, not winning every one of them but giving ourselves a chance but the addition of them is great, getting unbelievable defense. >> as kids we are all taught to share but in tennis being all alone isn't such a bad thing either as roger federer found out. he began tied with pete sampras for the most grand slams in history