[Romans:] A federal judge throwing out the conviction of Penn State president, Graham Spanier. The ruling comes just as Spanier was supposed to begin a two-month sentence for misdemeanor child endangerment. The judge says Spanier was improperly charged, but he gave prosecutors three months to retry Spanier under a different 1995 endangerment law for the same incident. Spanier was convicted for his response to a report of former assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, abusing a boy in the team showers.
[Briggs:] "Empire" officially picked up a sixth season on Fox. The future of embattled co-star, Jussie Smollett, remains in doubt after he staged a racist attack in January. The state prosecutor dropped the charges over objections from police. In a joint statement, the show's producers said at this time, there are no plans for Smollett's character to return. Smollett was suspended from "Empire" for the season's final two episodes.
[Romans:] All right. Incredible drama. A deadly home invasion captured on a 911 call in Washington state. A terrified homeowner hiding inside, cornered as burglars move in.
[Operator:] 911, what are you reporting?
[Homeowner:] Yes, my house is getting robbed right now. 911
[Operator:] OK. Where are you?
[Homeowner:] In my bedroom. 911
[Operator:] Are you armed?
[Homeowner:] Yes, I have a gun. 911
[Operator:] The crashing behind you, is that them?
[Homeowner:] Yes. They broke the window.
[Romans:] As the man waited for police to arrive, the suspect opened the door.
[Operator:] Is your door locked? Can you hear me?
[Romans:] All right. The shots you heard were the homeowner shooting the burglar, killing him. Police say the homeowner will not face charges. You also you heard the calm and collected dispatcher. She had only been on the job, we're told, for three weeks.
[Briggs:] Severe storms and tornadoes roared across the Southern Plains Tuesday. The National Weather Service reporting 25 tornadoes in five states, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Heavy rain in Davenport, Iowa, the hometown of one Christine Romans led to the breach of a levy flooding part of downtown area. Look at this. The Mississippi River expected to crest at more than 22 feet in Davenport today. This weather system slowing down. The threat remains from Texas to Missouri with the possibility of flash flooding. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the forecast.
[Pedram Javaheri, Ams Meteorologist:] Dave and Christine, good morning, guys. Yes, yesterday, we had a significant number of severe weather reports. As much as 25 reports of tornadoes, 15 reports of strong wind damage. We know the pattern is similar to yesterday. We got the gulf moisture, we got a dynamic jet, a loft across portions of northern Texas here and, frankly, it's an area that has seen so much rainfall in recent days. We have widespread areas of flood watches and flood warnings, include St. Louis, Kansas City, even on its North Texas. And notice this, anytime you see yellow and you see oranges, you know two to four inches of rainfall has come down in a short time period. The storms once again will get going toward 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 in the afternoon. And right there, northern Texas, southern and eastern Oklahoma, that's not only an area of severe weather, but also an area here for some strong winds and getting some heavy rainfall on top of the saturated soil. So, certainly a story worth following. Another thing worth noting is the cooler air about to move in across the Midwest. We got the 60s in place. But much cooler as we go toward the upcoming weekend there. How about the south? Middle 80s in some areas. Close to 90 degrees on this early spring day guys.
[Romans:] All right, Pedram. Thank you so much for that. The alternative meat movement is having a moment. Vegan Meat Company "Impossible Foods" is growing so fast, it's having a hard time keeping up. Burger King, which has been giving the meatless Impossible Whooper a trial run, now plans a national rollout by the end of the year. That would essentially double the number of restaurants Impossible works with. The company says the challenge is not a shortage of ingredients, but demand greatly outstripping supplies.
[Alex Trebek, "jeopardy!":] Thank you for making an even bet, it helped my math. You now have $96,726 earned today and a new total of $1,426,330.
[Briggs:] A very familiar smile for "Jeopardy!" fans. Make that 19 in a row for the reigning "Jeopardy!" king James Holzhauer, now tied for the third longest winning streak in show history. Last night's final "Jeopardy!" clue was a capitol between Paris and Berlin. The answer, Romans?
[Romans:] Bonn.
[Briggs:] Bingo. Holzhauer was the only one with the correct answer. The third place finisher said, what is congrats to James. That just put that up every night.
[Romans:] All right. Let's get a check on business this morning. Folks, global markets are higher right now on Wall Street. We are watching futures slightly higher head to the Fed's second meeting on interest rates. April closed on another great month for stock investors. Folks, this is like one of the best starts to the year in years after the worst December since the Great Depression, four straight months of gains. Take a look here, the Dow is up 14 percent this year, up 45 percent since the election. The S&P 500 up 17 percent this year, up 37 percent since the election. The Nasdaq up 22 percent, almost 56 percent since the election. Those are numbers certainly the White House is keenly aware of. They love these numbers. President Trump will try to use the stock market as his personal scorecard here. A lackluster iPhone sales are dragging down Apple's business. Apple said iPhone sales fell 17 percent compared to last year. Revenue declined 5 percent to $58 billion. But, CEO Tim Cook signaled the worst may be over as Apple sees signs of improvement in China. Cook cited improved trade dialogue between China and the U.S. in a very positive customer response to the pricing actions they have taken in the market. Apple's stock up 5 percent after hours on some of the outlook numbers. Facebook is getting a new look and features to help move past some old issues. CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new look during a deliver conference. END