our thanks to tyler perry and an amen to tyler perry for what he just put out there.journalist who knew and interviewed aretha franklin over the last 20 years. he is "the wall street journa journal's" christopher john farley. it's good to have you on. i'm sorry it's for this occasion, but it's important to remember what she means, especially right now. you couldn't get in the door, kid. how did you finally convince her, i want to talk to you? >> she's a hard woman to get to know. for five years, i had to talk to her -- her people, her handlers, say i want to do this interview, because she'd had some sort of issue with "time" magazine before. she hadn't talked to us for about 30 years. but finally she gave me an audience, told me to come down to detroit, meet her at the golden mushroom, a restaurant that since closed. we started early, went late, closed the restaurant down. she started off with a handshake, ended with a hug. we were conversing like we were old college chums. it was just beautiful. >> what did you learn? >> one thing i learned is that she's not just abo

tyler perry and whoopi goldberg. there will be performances by smokey robinson... stevie wonder... jennifer hudson and faith hill. bill clinton will also be speaking at the ceremony. ( darya ) still ahead... a warning for wildfire victims. who the f-b-i wants you to be on the lookout for. ( darya ) plus... a horrific crash involving a grey hound bus kills 7 people in new mexico. ( darya ) and... new surviellance video catches thieves stealing from a bay area apple store. )( darya ) welcome back to the kron 4 morning news. let's get a check of the forecast. our warm-up continues with highs today in the 60's for the coast with 70's and 80's elsewhere across the bay. plenty of sunshine can be expected yet again with warm weather to take us through the weekend followed by especially warm conditions into next week. no major hot spots. bay bridge wb 80 is less then 30 min from the maze to sf. san mateo bridge less then 30 min from 880 to 101. golden gat bridge drive time less than 30 min from 37 to the toll plaza. richmond bridge drive less than 20 min from the toll to 101 ( james ) a de

and one person who wants to help us celebrate that life is actor producer director tyler perry and joinsional and understanding what she meant to you. i completely get that because i remember her reaching out to me one day and having this icon, this legend tell me she enjoyed what i did and my shows and it was very moving to me. i remember she was very ill a couple of years ago i reached out to her and wanted to make her voice and have a good time on the phone. so it's a difficult time for everybody who loved and cared about her. but it's also a celebration. because i'm so grateful, as you are, that we got to be on the planet at the same time as she did. >> yeah. now not only got to be on the planet but develop a friendship with her. and that means a world, when someone like aretha franklin reaches out to you and says she is proud of you and what you are doing, for someone like me that meant the world to me. i didn't know what to make of it at the time. >> i get it. that's the kinship. i totally feel the emotion you have. i get t it's how our parents and your parents loved and appreciate

detroit in this again just day two of four days of celebration tomorrow gladys knight will perform tyler perry will be there and so will the four tops a contemporary with a wreath of franklin and then on friday she will be laid to rest tell him thank you very much for that for now that is john hendren joining us live from detroit thank you. now most workers tell their boss when they're questioning their job but not the french environment minister mykola shocked of radio listeners by resigning live on air he says the government isn't doing enough to combat climate change the butler has more from paris. it was on french radio that nicholas who law announced his sudden resignation as france's environment minister the pre-mortal the first time i'm going to take the hardest decision of my life i don't want to lie to myself any more i don't want my presence in this government to be taken to mean that we are doing enough to tackle this challenge lou had spent fifteen months in government under president emmanuel markov during which it helped stop controversial plans to build an airport on farmland bu

in detroit in this again just day four days of celebration tomorrow gladys knight will perform tyler perry will be there and so will the four tops a contemporary with a wreath of franklin and then on friday she will be laid to rest tell him thank you very much for that for now that is john hendren joining us live from detroit thank you. now most workers tell their boss when they're questioning their job bought not the french environment minister nicolo shocked of radio listeners by resigning live on air he says the government isn't doing enough to combat climate change the butler has more from paris. it was on french radio that nicholas who long announced his sudden resignation as france's environment minister the pre-mortal the first time i'm going to take the hardest decision of my life i don't want to lie to myself any more i don't want my presence in this government to be taken to mean that we are doing enough to tackle this challenge who had spent fifteen months in government under president emmanuel michel during which it helped stop controversial plans to build an airport on farmlan

who whoopi goldberg and tyler perry on hand to celebrate.to her. there were two public viewings and a costume change. in the first, she wore a beautiful red gown with her angles crossed. for the second, a powder blue dress. for the final open casket viewing in a gold-plated gasket we might add, she was dressed head to toe in a gold sparkled dress, something even former president bill clinton mentioned in his speech on stage today. listen. >> i was so glad when i got here and i hope you will forgive me, when the casket was still open because, i said, i wonder what my friend has on today. [ laughter and applause ] i want to see what the girl was carrying out. >> and that certainly got a big laugh from the crowd. a lot of respect going on today inside the greater great temple still underway now. trace? >> yeah, yeah, his speech was good. we heard from the family today as well. >> we did. we heard from many family members. all of the memories that they share, the private memories that they have. we know her as this beautiful public figure. they

when you look across at gladys knight and whoopi goldberg and tyler perry, johnny gill and ronnizelyn a totally different level than anybody else. and so it certainly has been one heck of a day. look, there's a lot more to go. stevie wonder towards the end, probably the most emotional thing was smokey robinson. because he taulked to the caske. he talked to her. singing that song a cappella was amazing to see his friend, 80 years old, smokey robinson, he said it was just the two of them left from their old neighborhood. now it's just him. >> you knew her so long and so well. i think on the day that she died we talked about gumbo and all sorts of things. >> yep. >> i wonder what you think she's looking down and thinking about all this, roland? >> trust me, she's loving it. she's loving it. president bill clinton said even he wanted to see her, what she had on, the gold dress and the wardrobe changes. she's the queen. she loved the pageantry. last nitrogen fghtnight, jennif she was going to see aretha and whitney said you're going to see the queen? she takes that seriously, that queen s

property we own, jersey shore and kevin costner series, yellowstone on paramount networks and the new tyler perry movement for paramount tv "nobody's fooled" that hits november what's the amazing thing about this, so few people know it's happening. most people aren't aware viacom even owns this stuff backish is looking at all the hits successful and reinventing them like top gun, the amazing top gun should have been made years ago, i loved that first one and the company's not so hot balance sheet and making low budget movies that are big hits and the amazon jack ryan series and making it viable something comcast and disney have tried to do the big story is it dominated the soap operas, family owned nature of viacom, cbs, and cbs ceo les moonves. there is something out there saying viacom will buy cbs and shareholders will be crushed because they would be succumbing to a lesser company. everyone has given up on viacom, which means it has much more opportunity on the upside than the stock everyone fawns over, like cbs man, i can't believe i'm talking about centurylink. talk about a heavy stock this

and then you have the funeral tomorrow where you'll have bill clinton, tyler perry speaking as well so can feel the energy from the city has been amazing to see people come together. we'll see what happens but you can feel the love for aretha franklin. alisyn? >> always nice to hear music at these moments, thanks so much. >>> education secretary betsy devos is about to roll out new rules for dealing with sexual misconduct on campus. why some people are very unhappy about this, next. - why are drivers 50 and over switching to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford? let's take a ride with some actual customers and find out. - well, tell me about your experience when you switched to the hartford. - when i switched to the hartford, i'm sitting there thinking, "man, i should have "turned 50 years ago." they saved me a bunch of money. you can't beat that. - what blows me away about the hartford is their lifetime renewability benefit. now this is their promise not to drop you even if you have an accident. - i know when i'm driving, i'm covered. - [narrator] drivers 50 and over can

there's tyler perry to the left of the screen. and i were just joking, they're running an hour behind schedule, like a true diva. >> reporter: yes, exactly. i hope people wore their comfortable shoes because they're way behind schedule now. i think she would be completely honored at the people who have turned out here, when you can get a former president of the united states to show up at your funeral, you have done something. that is certainly the case here today. but the folks that really aretha franklin would be most proud of are the folks you see standing behind me. they're still trying to get in. these are folks who stood in line for hours. some people got here last night to be a parts of the. the family decided, rather than make this a private, invitation-only ceremony, to open it to the public. the public has turned out this week for the various events, the celebration of aretha franklin's life. these folks are still trying to get in, i don't know when they're going to get them if, in there's a break in the program. >> ron,

and performers include former president clinton, reverend al sharpton and reverend jesse jackson, tyler perryn, jennifer hudson, and stevie wonder. we'll stream the service through our app and on abc7news.com. it is expected to begin friday at 6:30 a.m. our time and last about six hours. >>> well, tonight veterinarians at the lindsey wildlife hospital in walnut creek are fighting to get an injured eagle back up in the air. the struggle is even more frustrating because investigators say that majestic bird was shot. for this injured golden eagle, the flight to the examination room was in the arms of veterinarians. they were examining the progress of the bird's injured right wing. the 6 1/2 pound female was discovered last week in pittsburgh, but vets at the lindsey wildlife hospital were stunned when they x-rayed the injured bone. >> notice the pellet right there. >> a lot of nuisance animals will sometimes get shot. it's hard to see why would somebody shoot an eveningle? >> fortunately, they say the pellet missed the joint area. but after removing it, the amount of damage was severe enough to

at this time coming to give remarks and reflectens, the one and only tyler perry.wood, that industry, the one and only cicely tyson. then followed by mr. clief davis, chief executive officer of sony music. let's these three and then we will have the choir. >>> god bless you everybody. to the family, i just want to say, my prayer -- my prayer for you is that god will allow you to grieve in waves, not that it would come crashing on you all at once in like a tsunami. like in waves it was the only thing got me through my mother's death. so i could focused and move on and get through. my prayer is it comes in waves. it's going to come. you can't it work i tried that you can't drink it away. you got to let it come. and my prayer is that it comes in gentle waves for you onto your soul. my mother died in 2009. and it was her introduced me to the voice of aretha franklin. we would be driving up to the country and she would have the music blasting. i could tell what my father had done by the music she was playing. if she was playing "respect" or "think you knew he was doing

steven tyler, joe perry and the guys will play 18 shows in what is being called deuces are wild. tickets ranging in price from $75 to $750. the announcement comes a week after lady gaga announced she will be taking up residency at the same theater in december. >>> you are about to get introduced to a girl who knows how to get exactly what she wants. we will show you how this 6 year old managed to order hundreds of dollars worth of her favorite things. >>> a mischievous 6-year-old girl knows what she wants and how to get it. take a look at these photos of caitlyn posing next to a tower of amazon boxes. she ordered nearly $400 worth of toys without her mom knowing. her mom says she let her daughter order a barbie for doing extra chores but she let her use the phone again to check the shipping status and that is when she saw her chance. ltn'ntve amazon. she ordered close to $400 worth of items. mostly barbie's and a few dolls and a pony and accessories. >> instead of returning the extra toys the family donated them to a children's hospital in salt lake city. she knows she is up to n

dignitary, sports stars, in entertainment world, whoopi goldberg, tyler perry. 1000 members of the public received open invitation. it was first come, first seated invitation. the family wanted to extend the service to include fans that meant so much to her. powerful voices here to celebrate franklin's music, we heard from faith hill, arianna grande and stevie wonder and chalka khan. bill clinton has been a friend of franklin for years and she sang at his inauguration. the booming lyrics we come to know and love and incredible strength in her personal life. listen. >> she said, faith not without failure but over coming her failures. she lived with power, not without weakness, but overcoming her weaknesses. i just loved her. reporter: he really very strong response inside of this temple today, standing ovation. in fact a motor city tribute on hand as well, here in detroit with over 100 pink cadillacs lined outside the temple on seven-mile road. similar what he see in a police funeral with, police cars lined up. that was brought to light by the temple's bishop and his wife who thought it wo

we have political dignities, sports stars, whoopi goldberg, tyler perry and 1,000 members of the public who received an open invitation from aretha franklin's family late yesterda yesterday. and it was a dramatic shift, this was supposed to be a very private event. we were inside the church when this happened, the church organizers got a call saying that aretha's family wanted to open this up to the public, saying she was a person of the people, she knew her fans and how much they loved her and they said they wanted to respect the fans wishes to attend because many people had asked to do so, so that's what happened here. as far as the music we have heard so far, some of the most powerful voices in the entertainment world have taken the stage to celebrate her music. faith hill, later we will be hearing from stevie wonder and shock icon. bill clinton is expected to be a highlighted speaker who has been friends with franklin for years and years. he will speak along with the reverend jesse jackson, and the list of speakers is long and so are the words of praise to someone who meant so much

tyler perry, whoopi goldberg, former president bill clinton are just some of the other prominent guestsance. the incredible lineup of speakers and performances still to come also include the former president as well as chaka khan, jennifer hudson, and stevie wonder. let's go to cnn's ryan young joining us from detroit, just outside the funeral. set the scene for us, ryan. >> reporter: wolf, this has been unbelievable when you think about the combination of people here, but then you think about all the normal citizens who just wanted to come out and pay their respects to the queen of soul. we've been here for the last few days, and we've watched thousands of people, some who could barely walk, who said they had to be here. they wanted to come, they wanted to make this journey because of how much she meant to them. when you think about the civil rights movement -- and i was talking with jesse jackson. he talked about the times she would go around the country, making sure she would use her voice to help raise money for martin luther king and the push for civil rights. the idea of one time

there have been an awful lot there's been from members of congress to for instance the director tyler perry and the cast of her favorite television show the haves and the have nots are all there we saw whoopi goldberg obviously the people that we're still expecting to speak the reverend jesse jackson and former president bill clinton are are there and not worried at all about the late schedule apparently. there have been numerous speeches and prayers and readings from scriptures by leaders of the church the number of detroit politicians obviously. members of her family representatives from the music industry to. to who that is at some moment maybe you're there that my friend the lawrence from congress will wish. to speak and it's interesting because people they have seen a lot of you know political crises also there we had for example a little bit earlier of reverend al sharpton of course one of the big leaders from the civil rights movement and he said something so poignant actually about her legacy which which touched not only on her musical genius but also he said she was a feminist befo

a new category that is a controversial one that we'll talk about that has i'd say the likes of tyler perryr everyone. >> his movies will finally get a nomination, i think. we'll get to that a little later. >>> but we're going to start this half hour with the russia investigation. the ball now back in robert mueller's court. >> president trump's legal team has responded to the special counsel office's latest offer. after eight months of negotiations, it looks like questions about obstruction of justice are still proving to be a major sticking point. more from arlette saenz. >> reporter: president trump's legal team making a counteroffer to robert mueller. the president's lawyers rejected the special counsel's request for an in-person interview on a range of topics, including possible obstruction of justice by the president. sources familiar with the negotiations tell abc news the president's lawyers told mueller's team he's willing to consider, quote, appropriate written questions, but he's not inclined to answer questions related to obstruction of justice. and the president's lead attorney

city today for her funeral,rom evie wonder, jennifer hudson, and ariana grande to cicely tyson and tyler perry name just a handful. ♪ >> reporter: while he certainly lived among the movers and the shakers, fans sayfr aretha klin always stayed true to them. >> i feel her spirit here in the city, and i'm with her, with hen d her family and all her fans.♪ ♪e're going riding on the freeway, love in a pink cadillac ♪ >> reporter: as many as 100 pink callacs are expected to line up outside greater grace temple today, a high-octansalute. ♪ aretha franklin's powerful voice stayed strong and relevant for nearly six decades. she brought former president barack obama to teaonce. he and the former first lady sending their regrets to the family, a letter to bed rea the reverend al sharpt. the woman who wed the world with her music, gone. her gift now ours to enjoy time and again. the funeral program is chock-full of a-list singers and some of these speakers not necessarily known for brevity, so we'll see if they keep the time. as it stands, this funeral is scheduled to go five h s eduled to go five hours!

the band's steven tyler and joe perry say it'll let them take "50 years of performing experience ande a one of kind show." (nat-music)how'd you like to get your hands on this guitar? the buddy holly limited edition acoustic is signed by 75 all-star musicians, including eric clapton, paul mccartney, robert plant, keith richards, brian wilson and elvis costello. it's up for bid this week at heritage auctions, to benefit teen cancer america, and expected to bring more than a quarter- million dollars. info at h-a dot-com."the abbey has a long history.""violet!""not all good."if "any publicity is good publicity," the horror flick "the nun" just got a big boost from you-tube! a "jump-scare" ad for the film shows a volume sign suddenly replaced by a scary screaming nun. you-tube responded to a complaint on twitter, saying the spot violated its "shocking content policy" and would no longer run as an ad... which, of course, helped it go viral. that's some scarily good marketing! in hollywood, i'm david daniel. (robin) still ahead on the kron four morning news... a new report shows bay area ro