>> like a raccoon. >> that is our report. i'm dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. tonight spring scorcher. severe weather on the move. and after all that snow, unprecedented heat. shattering records, triple digits. >> speaking out with our robin reports. hillary clinton talking about benghazi, and the kidnapped girls. and a presidential run? and surviving the fall. tonight the girl right there hanging only from her hair falling telling us what happened in those terrifying moments. good evening to you on this wednesday night as we are watching a wild shift in the nation's weather underway right now. people who were freezing a few weeks ago now sweltering in an

unprecedented heatwave. parts of the country in triple digits. records shattering. abc's clayton sandell reports on what he's seen firsthand tonight. >> reporter: tonight spring is turning severe. sizzling across the south with temperatures that are as much as 20 degrees above normal. concordia, kansas hit 96 degrees, breaking a record set 127 years ago. snow was falling in wichita, kansas as late as april 14th. just 20 days later, the city recorded its earliest 100 degree day, ever. wichita falls, texas is so desperate for water, they've hired a plane for cloud proceeding, pumping chemicals into the clouds to help it rain. >> where you see dirt, that would all be water. >> reporter: the heat wave follows powerful tornadoes that pummeled southern states. the destructive chaos captured in a new video from tupelo, mississippi, thrashing this preschool playground. today, the president toured damage in vilonia, arkansas.

>> we're going to support you every step of the way. >> reporter: as for those heatwaves, they are exactly what climate scientists have long predicted and what the president warned about this week. as humans release carbon dioxide disrupting the climate. add severe drought, and that's a recipe for a supercharged threat of wildfires. if the climate continues to get hotter one prediction says by mid century, people who live in regions like this could see wildfire activity double. oklahoma has been burning for days and fire weather warnings are out across seven states. >> we're looking at a very hot and dry summer and it's going to put our resources to the test. >> reporter: eight military fire fighting planes includes these from the air national guard are ready to back up a shrinking civilian tanker fleet. the c-130 spit out 3,000 gallongs in just five seconds.

>> it gives them capability to slow down and get it under control. >> reporter: severe thunder storm watches posted for parts of six states. new worry that storms packing lightning could spark more fires. clayton sandell, abc news, in denver. we turn to an exclusive. former secretary of state hillary clinton sitting down with our own robin roberts and weighing in on the missing school girls, talking tough about benghazi and a presidential run in 2016. abc's jonathan karl brings us what the former secretary said and what's coming next. >> reporter: this was a hillary clinton crowd. the talk centering on women and girls around the world. breaking glass ceilings. robin roberts turned the discussion to the highest glass ceiling of all. >> when i look at your twitter page, you -- the last thing you list is saying you're a glass ceiling cracker. >> uh-huh.

>> no one feels it would be better to crack that glass ceiling than to have a woman as president and many believe that that should be you. >> well, i think we should crack it also. i am 100% in favor of that. but i have nothing further to say about -- >> we tried, right? >> reporter: as she steps closer to another presidential run, republicans preparing to launch a congressional committee to investigate the attack in benghazi libya when she was secretary of state. mrs. clinton told robin she sees no reason for another investigation because there have been several investigations. >> benghazi, the investigation. are you satisfied with the answers and are you content with what you know what happened? >> absolutely. i mean, of course, there are a

lot of reasons why despite all of the hearings or all of the information that's been provided, some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to move forward. but they get to call the shots in the congress. >> reporter: she also weighed in on the kidnapping of the school girls in nigeria. >> the seizure is abominable. it's criminal. an act of terrorism. and it really merits the fullest response possible. first and foremost from the government of nigeria. >> mrs. clinton also had tough words for the nigerian government saying it has been derelict in protecting girls and boys generally and has not accepted enough help from the united states. in this case. that is tougher talk toward the nigerian government than we heard from president obama. >> thank you, john. and robin will have much more tomorrow of her interview with hillary

clinton first thing on "good morning america." >> the former secretary of state called the kidnapping of hundreds of school girls abominable and called on the government of nigeria to do more. late today first lady michelle obama lent her voice to bring back our girls. tonight hamish macdonald is on the ground showing us the dark forest where the girls have vanished. >> reporter: these families return to the scorched school where their daughters were taken, the anguished cries tell a story of lost hope. this man says he wants the world to know we don't feel nigeria can help. 23 days after the kidnapping, frustration and anger is simmering. today amid reports, boko haram killing hundreds of people. police offered a reward. $300,000 for any information leading to the girls rescue.

do you think that your government is doing everything that can be done? >> no we don't think so. that's why we're doing what we're doing. that's why we're doing this advocacy and our protests. >> reporter: this may be a tiny group, but they have sparked a global movement to bring back these girls. they know as well as anyone how difficult that task will be. adding to growing international support, a team of some ten u.s. military personnel arrives in the coming days. specialists in logistics and intelligence. the challenge for nigeria is enormous. the search will focus here where its thought the girl were taken. remote rugged wilderness. more than six times the size of yellow stone national park. >> i think what's certain is the young girls are no more together, almost certainly dispersed in small groups or even individuals. >> reporter: some possibly already out of the country. sold into slavery. it's what happened to this young

woman here in the shadows. she says she was taken last year by the islamist militant group, and held for three months, and forced to sleep in caves. she thought death was certain. young girls like malala yousafzai knows this is a global one. >> it's happening more and more and more. if you want to stop it, then we have to speak. >> reporter: speak and act. the pressure is now on nigeria's government to do just that. hamish macdonald abc news, nigeria. to ukraine. a big shift in tone from russian president vladimir putin. he announced russian troops pulling back from the border. seeming to signal a new push for peace. is it for real? abc shows us that tonight ukraine has chaos still growing. >> reporter: the crowd was

angry, staring down these men in black, ukrainian troops guarding a prison. >> they guard us and they're holding them over there. >> reporter: inside innocent detainees, this woman tells us. suddenly chaos, the angry crowd storms the gate. the ukrainian troops open fire. >> round this corner, round this corner! >> reporter: unarmed bystanders run for cover, others crawl for safety. we're here right now in a safe position, where we can monitor what's going on. as we zoom in with our camera, what you don't' see is a sniper to the side aiming his rifle right at us. this is what happens next. the terrifying moment caught on camera, the shot going just above our heads. in the end, the ukrainian troops rescue their other comrades who'd been guarding the prison, then leave. on a day when vladimir putin says he wants peace, there is only fear and fights like this

one on the ground as this country slowly tears itself apart. abc news, in eastern ukraine. from ukraine now to another international hot bed. syria. tonight this is the scene. the birth place of the uprising. syria's third largest city. rebel fighters and families evacuating. heeding the strong holds of the president's forces. after three years of digging in, they are leading as part of the cease fire agreement. back here at home. a national report card tonight. one that won't be hanging on our refrigerators. we learned only about 1/4 of high school seniors are proficient in math and the 38% proficient at reading. the results show no improvement over the last five years and reading skills are lower than they were in the 1990s. now to washington where today the beloved hollywood actress valerie harper appeared

on capitol hill to raise a provocative question. she has been battling lung cancer but she says the number one cancer killer is not getting priority in the search for a cure. abc's national correspondent, jim avila. >> reporter: the senate headliner today, valerie harper, tv's rhoda and to a younger generation a brave cancer survivor on "dancing with the stars." that fighting spirit on display. harper delivering the hard facts about the lung cancer she suffers from. >> lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the united states among both women and men. >> reporter: an estimated 160,000 americans will die from lung cancer this year, more than prostate, breast and colon cancers combined. while 90% of breast and prostate cancer victims survive, lung cancer victims have only a 17% survival rate.

lung cancer research is underfunded. the u.s. spending three times the research dollars on breast cancer than it does for cancer of the lung. >> wait a minute. this is the biggest killer and has the least funding. >> reporter: harper says it's the social sigma of smoking that hinders progress of defeating lung cancer. but the other hard fact is that 15% of those diagnosed with lung cancer never smoked. >> i never smoked. my mother never smoked. she has the same kind of cancer. >> reporter: it spread to her brain and she was given three to six months to live nearly a year and a half ago. now every day is a gift. fighting for lung cancer funding and she says refusing to go to her funeral until she dies. jim avila, abc news, capitol hill. up next right here tonight, surviving the fall. the girl who was right there hanging only from her hair falling in the circus accident tells us what happened in those

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♪ with no more weeds, it's your year ♪ for the first time we hear from one of the circus acrobats who plummeted in that horrifying fall. eight young women crashed during their performance hanging only by their hair. abc's linzie janis with the first moment she knew there was trouble. >> reporter: 23-year-old samantha pitard was living her dream. soaring high under the big top, suspended only by her hair. >> we all loved doing it. very fun act to perform. very unique, beautiful act. >> reporter: but sunday, something went terribly wrong. >> curtain falls, and we start doing our first little routine, and about three seconds in we hear a huge crack. and we just plummeted to the ground. it was really fast.

i landed on my butt and elbows, i was still conscious. it was really hard to catch my breath because of the impact and the shock. >> reporter: she immediately thought of the other girls. >> i said is everybody alive, is everybody okay? and they just said yes, and i was like this is a miracle. >> reporter: the accident, bringing new attention to an ancient circus act. this video showing how the woman tie incredible braids and knots around the steel rings suspending them three stories above the crowd. pitard, who went to circus camp as a teen and later became a clown says being chosen for the hair act was an honor. >> we have to take good care of it, of course, use good shampoos, use good conditioners. we can't dye our hair, we can't blow dry straighten it. >> reporter: painful on the scalp, a single head of hair can support the equivalent of two elephants.

of course, sunday it wasn't the hair that failed but the metal hook holding the chandelier. tonight seven of the young women remain hospitalized. two of them with critical spinal cord trauma. pitard was lucky suffering minor injuries. >> i hope eventually some day i'm able to hang by my hair again. >> reporter: linzie janis, abc news, new york. when we come back right here the 6'9" kevin durant bringing his mother to tears in a stunning tribute rocketing around the country. tonight in our "instant index." my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke.

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finally tonight, she has done it again. we have told you about the 25-year-old singing nun who became a sensation but just hours ago she took it to a whole new level. abc's nick watt shows us just what happened. ♪ >> reporter: on tonight's show sister cristina sang, "what a feeling" and those are dancers dressed as monks disrobing behind her. easy to see why this real-life nun have quadrupled the shows ratings. her fans tonight voting to keep her in the competition. this incredible journey began with a blind audition. the judges can't see her. the back stage groupies, the sensible shoes. or the dance moves.

and they only turn around if they like what they hear. this 25-year-old sister was a god-given pipes has since scored tens of millions of youtube hits and a twitter review from alicia keys herself. the crowd chants, sister. but did the vatican like her rendition of "no one." i don't know she says. i'm waiting for a call from pope francis. together, i would say they're altering the image of the catholic church. sister cristina has turned down interview requests and chose a rapper called j-ax with a tattooed neck as her mentor and called him very sensitive. in the battle round earlier in competition she sang "girls just wanna have fun." i would like to think that song was her choice. nick watt, abc news, los angeles.

>> there she was tonight. we thank you for watching. we're always here at abcnews.com. "nightline" later. and i'll see you back here tomorrow night. good night. how many electric cars can tesla make and sell year? >> will this hospital be forced to close doors? why no one has hope for survival. video of a mountain lion

captured overnight. >> and oakland post office under fire after taking actions against messy birds nesting in the trees. >> more cars is the key to success for tesala good evening, everyone. iet builds cars but the company suffered a set back after issuing it's quarterly earnings report. wall street didn't like it. the stock dropped $15 a share, down 7% of the value. abc7 news is live at the plant in fremont tonight with the story. david? >> you know the expression it takes money to make money. and that is the situation tesla

is facing. >> it's planning to spend $850 million to expand production with model x sold. but demand is expected to grow more as the palo alto based company expands sales to china and the united kingdom. plans in the works for a new battery plant and this will mean adding emmoiys the turnout on saturday caused highway 880 to be closed. there is a spill over affect. fremont worried about the loss of 5,000 jobs when numi shut down. the economic development director didn't return our call the manager at red wing