this morning on world news now. >> countdown to the solar eclipse. >> millions are getting ready to see the sky show from texas all the way to maine. if they can get their issues on the roads and airports. plus, we open the abc news vault to the last total

eclipse to see just what it's like. >> also this morning, another cargo ship losing power in a busy harbor, this time in new york, plus the new progress that the bridge collapse site in baltimore, the frightening images southwest airline passengers capture the moment an engine cover ripped away during takeoff. >> what the pilot did next, and the incredible women's college title game and what caitlin clark is saying about her final time in a hawkeyes jersey. >> plus, looking ahead to the men's title game tonight, the one team with some hollywood star power looking on. it's monday, april 8th. from news. >> this is world news now. >> good morning everyone. thank you so much for joining us on this monday morning. it's total solar eclipse day. also ncaa tournament comes to an end tonight after what an exciting few weeks we've had. caitlin clark last night had a great game. yes she did couldn't her

hawkeyes couldn't pull it off and congratulate to the gamecocks. >> they completed a perfect season wire to wire. they never lost a game. not in the tournament. on the regular season tournament, not the conference tournament. they were perfect and deserved this. >> just amazing. and dawn staley has only lost like three games, the last like three years. >> she's wild at any level of basketball. yeah, incredible. >> so women's women are done. but we mentioned the wnba draft coming up next week. caitlin clark will be front and center. we know there. so we'll be watching all of that. but we have to begin with the total solar eclipse. it is really triggering a frenzy. across the country. >> hotels are booked solid along the path of totality as millions of americans gear up to watch as the moon entirely blocks the sun , creating roughly four minutes of total darkness in the middle of the day. >> and they are hoping we're all hoping that cloudy skies don't get in the way. abc's reena roy has more from the prime spot in niagara falls. >> the clock is ticking down to a historic moment across

america. a total solar eclipse from texas all the way to maine with 31 million people in the path of totality. more than 2000 miles long across 15 states. >> i don't think any of those will be is more excited than i am. >> small towns bracing for an influx of visitors waxahatchee just south of dallas, texas, expecting over 100,000 skywatchers. >> they even told us to maybe be prepared to sleep in our store if we needed to. so on monday, just i'm thinking, just because of traffic, hundreds of schools closed for the day or dismissing early, some areas even declaring a state of emergency to keep traffic flowing and resources ready to go if needed. >> we're going to see quite a bit of traffic trying to find that perfect spot, and we are advising motorists to be prepared to be in traffic for quite a while. >> millions of eclipse chasers traveling near and far for a front row seat. so you woke up

at 430 this morning like retired teacher rebecca causey from greensboro, north carolina. my seatmate on our flight to the buffalo niagara falls region who will be experiencing her second total eclipse. why do it for a second time? >> it's magical. it's fun. educational. >> floridian felix renta also heading to the area. >> being in totality is i don't know, it's undescribable. caitlin kenney is traveling with her husband and three month old son, jack, and i think it's going to be pretty interesting and especially for this little guy. >> so in new york city, a long line of people hoping to get protective solar glasses, but some places running out. niagara falls is certainly no stranger to tourists, but even local officials here are preparing to break records, with about 1 million people expected. hotels and businesses are ramping up staffing, and a statewide task force has been preparing for the last 18 months for these massive crowds in niagara falls, new york. reena roy abc news reena,

thank you. >> count on abc news for live coverage from all along the path of totality. our coverage starts at 2 p.m. eastern today. >> president biden is headed to the battleground state of wisconsin, where he is expected to announce new plans to ease student debt. sources say this latest round of forgiveness could impact millions of additional borrowers. biden has been rolling out student loan relief in stages since the supreme court struck down his attempt to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, former president trump held a record fundraiser, his campaign saying they raked in more than $50 million in a single day. >> saturday's event, held in palm beach, florida, nearly doubled the $26 million president biden recently raised, but biden still has much more campaign cash on hand. the new york times is reporting that trump commented during his fundraiser that people were not immigrating to the us from so-called nice countries like denmark. >> a huge cargo ship lost power while in new york harbor over

the weekend, reminding many people of what led to that disaster in baltimore last month. abc's derrick dennis reports. >> this morning, another massive container ship losing power less than two weeks after the deadly bridge collapse in baltimore. pictures posted online show the 89,000 ton, 1100 foot long vessel apl qing dao anchored close to new york's verrazzano-narrows bridge. the u.s. coast guard confirms the container ship had experienced a loss of propulsion friday night as it traversed a waterway in new york harbor. three tugboats were escorting the ship, which is standard procedure for large vessels heading out into the atlantic. the tugboats were able to tow the ship until it regained propulsion, authorities note. even if the ship had come close to the bridge, the design of the bridge, with protective rock islands built around its post, would have likely prevented the kind of march 26th catastrophe in baltimore, when a container ship lost power, hitting the pillars of the francis scott key bridge, causing it to collapse and kill

six construction workers who fell with the span. salvage crews have started removing the hundreds of shipping containers on board the dolly, and on friday, divers located the body of one of the four remaining construction workers. the incident in baltimore and the one in new york serving as reminders for bridge officials nationwide to be on alert. >> it is a time to go out and rethink what you have and make sure that all the inspections and all the studies have been made for the individual bridges themselves. >> as for the ship that lost power in new york after being repaired, it was allowed to continue on its journey, headed now to norfolk, virginia. rhiannon, andrew derek. >> thank you. southwest airlines is calling the loss of an engine cover in mid-air a mechanical issue. that cover fell apart shortly after the flight, with 143 people on board left denver. it quickly returned and made an emergency landing. no injuries were reported. southwest says it's reviewing the aircraft, and the faa has opened an investigation. >> well, in college hoops, one

champion has been crowned with another to come tonight, as march madness comes to an end, south carolina is celebrating another women's basketball title after the gamecocks climbed out of an early hole to hold off caitlin clark and iowa. >> as south carolina celebrates, clark gets ready to take her scoring touch to the wnba this morning. the perfect end to a perfect season. perfection with a touch of sweet redemption, the south carolina gamecocks capping off an undefeated season with a win over iowa and their superstar caitlin clark clark. oh my. >> from the future. >> clark kept iowa in the lead for most of the first half, scoring 18 in the first quarter alone, setting yet another record. >> she has 18, the most ever in a championship game quarter. >> south carolina was right on their heels, taking the lead right before halftime. >> here's powell powell mid-range jumper rolls in south

carolina, then pulled away in the final minutes of the game to win their third national title. >> head coach dawn staley was overcome with emotion after the game. >> it doesn't always end like you want it to end, much like last year. i mean, it's awesome. >> it's awesome. >> clark is expected to be the number one pick in the wnba draft next week. she finishes as college basketball's all time leading scorer, but leaves without a national title. >> there's not a regret in my mind of how things went, i'll be able to sleep every night even though i never won a national championship. there's going to be tears. it is sad that this is all over, but clark is already setting her sights on the future, sharing this photo of her jersey on instagram after the game, writing i'll miss you. >> as for the men's title game tonight, the uconn huskies will attempt to be the first team in 17 years to repeat as champions as they face the purdue boilermakers. it will be the ninth championship game featuring two number one seeds, and there might even be some

star power in the stands. one of the coaches behind uconn's unstoppable offense is luke murray, bill murray's son and yeah, bill murray's son, assistant coach on uconn. probably going to be a head coach. how did i miss that? soon back to caitlin clark. unless a meteor strikes earth, she is expected to be the first overall pick, which means she will head to the indiana fever. >> i know i was telling you, i was looking up opening tickets to the barclays to watch the new york liberty play because my daughter is a huge basketball fan and the tickets were so expensive and i couldn't figure out why. and they're playing the indiana fever. and i thought it's because caitlin clark will likely be there. that's why they're so expensive. >> she will earn her shot as well. and then to wrap up the college basketball season will be tonight. uconn taking on purdue. uconn trying to be the first repeat champion in some 70. >> who you got purdue or uconn? >> i guess at this point. uconn i mean i've been out. my bracket was busted day one. so you're asking the wrong person to i'll go for purdue then.

>> coming up, what can we expect from today's eclipse? we are opening up the abc news vault to the last one, which was, of course, seven years ago, plus the apparent arson at a senator's office. >> the suspect, who is now under arrest, and the man who just finished running across africa, the continent wild, disney,

hulu and live on abc >> back now, with tumbleweeds blowing across us route 34 and eckley, colorado over the weekend, those tumbleweeds were being blown by winds around 60mph blowing dust and hurricane force winds were expected there yesterday. >> well, suspect is under arrest and an apparent arson at the vermont office of senator bernie sanders. federal investigators say a california man seen in surveillance images used a lighter and an accelerant to start a fire inside the

burlington building on friday. luckily, no one was hurt. but if convicted, the suspect faces up to 20 years in prison. investigators do not know what the motive is. >> a british man who spent nearly a year becoming the first person to run the length of the african continent, says it was the toughest challenge of his life. russ cook crossed the finish line in tunisia on sunday after 352 days and nearly 10,000 miles. he started last april on the southern tip of south africa. cook managed to finish despite visa issues, health scares, even an armed robbery. he raised more than $820,000 for two separate charities. he says that he was averaging 54,000 steps a day for that entire year, according to his apple watch. >> this accomplishment coming up, you had to know there would be food deals for eclipse day, right? >> and what to expect from the eclipse itself. today you're

>> the interrogation tapes tonight on abc. i'm walking on sunshine. >> whoa. and i feel good. >> hey, what an incredible shot that was. millions of americans are eagerly awaiting today's total eclipse. >> for an idea of what to expect, we're opening up the abc news vault way back to august 21st, 2017. and the last total solar eclipse over america with matt gutman. >> after so much anticipation, it arrived right on schedule. the celestial matinee turning night to day in lincoln city,

oregon. the first stop for totality. >> oh, it is just absolutely spectacular. look how dark it is, how quiet it is. the air is still. this is like being in the eye of a hurricane. >> next up, the place known as solar city. >> i'm almost speechless. the crowd here is absolutely ecstatic. i'm going to have our cameraman, glenn, turn down the lights. you actually get a sense of how. turn it off, glenn. let's see how dark it really is. it's pitch black here. this is the most incredible thing i've ever seen. >> madras, oregon. going dark for two minutes and four seconds. then that sliver of sun coming back, 100,000 people just in this part of oregon, outside of madras, feasting their eyes on a spectacle that many of us will never get to see again. the shadow marching eastward, averaging 8800 miles an hour, reaching a place known as carhenge in alliance, nebraska, america. cars forming a replica of stonehenge built by a family 30 years ago. >> 38 cars rescued from nearby

farms from from the dumps. they painted them all gray, but right now you can't see the color. you can just see the outline of them under that extraordinary moment there, the spectacle landing in city after city, including the so-called capital of the eclipse, carbondale, illinois. >> but carbondale, which should have had two minutes and 41 seconds of darkness, was darkened by something else clouds. but then, with just seconds left, the clouds part in kelly, kentucky, something else emerges in the sky and we can see venus at this point here in kelly, kentucky. >> i love the fact that you can see venus, even the president stepping out of the white house to watch, finally, the last major stop for the great american eclipse, charleston, south carolina. >> the clouds cooperating. >> you know, it really puts us in our place as far as our role in the cosmos, doesn't it? the fact that we here on earth are part of something much bigger. >> and then sky gazers starting to make the long journey home in remote rigby, idaho, bumper to

bumper traffic for miles. >> you can see the traffic coming out of idaho falls goes as far as the eye can see. >> this traffic jam started precisely as the eclipse ended. people already had packed, gotten into their cars, one family heading back to california, and how long do you expect that to take you with this traffic? about 20 hours. 20 hours. was it worth it? 20 hours? >> yeah, as it was for a nation of americans soaking up the great american eclipse. >> well worth it. our thanks to matt gutman there. that was fun to watch. >> that that traffic to

emerald ksat.com com. >> we're back now with the mics, starting with the brand new oldest man in the world, john tinniswood of southport, england, has just been crowned by guinness world records at 111 years young, and he's been in

retirement since 1972. >> wow. >> wait till you hear his secret to a long life. tinniswood says. it is, quote, just luck. >> that's right. no special diet, no special exercise. but he does enjoy a special meal every friday. fish and chips. >> i kind of appreciate his honesty, you know, just saying. it's just luck. you either he says. you either live long or you live short and you can't do much about it. big congrats to him. yes, next to the tourists who just can't get enough of japan's toilets, a group of four tourists has embarked on what they're calling a toilet tour to a section of tokyo. >> they're visiting nine of the 17 groundbreaking public restrooms that have been built there over the past four years, or so. >> the tokyo toilet project recruited creators to revamp those public restrooms in a bid to promote accessible and artistic hospitality. as long as it's still has privacy. >> and they're getting rave reviews, apparently, as being extremely clean, very safe, and each boasting a distinctive

design design. >> some here in new york city. >> well, my problem is i just i want to make sure i know it's a bathroom right? >> right. it can't be too artistic, right? should just clean. that's all i ask for. >> all right. next to the countdown to today's total solar eclipse. >> so you might notice that animals may not be as excited about it as we are. based on what we saw back in 2017, scientists say we can expect creatures and critters of all sizes to act a little bit kooky. >> yes, that includes at the moment of totality, which again lasts for about 4 or 5 minutes, cows and birds bedding down for the night. you'll hear crickets chirping, perhaps bats flapping about. remember, it's the middle of the afternoon, horses clustering together and shaking. and we see these here all the time, giraffes breaking into a full gallop and avoid these guys tortoises because they've been known to go into mating mode during an eclipse. well, you know, when the lights go down low. and finally, if you're looking for some special munchies during the eclipse, a

few of the major fast food chains are getting in on the action because, of course they are. >> we love a deal. burger king is offering a buy one, get one free deal on the whopper, but of course it's only via its app or online, and krispy kreme is offering its solar eclipse donuts with an oreo cookie as the moon. >> i get it, i remember these from last time. >> i think they did this are available while supplies last. donut with an oreo on top of it. >> can't we just watch the celestial event without corporate interference? >> by the

from the alex trebek stage at sony pictures studios, this is... here are today's semifinalists-- a marketing director originally from chesapeake beach, maryland...