this morning on world news now fears that china may help arm russia against ukraine. also this morning new developments from the toxic derailment in ohio the government's new warning to the train company that the ceo visits the area plus how former president trump is getting involved tributes to former president carter this morning as he begins hospice care at home plus what he asked recently of his secret service detail, plus tons of gold dating back to the civil war. buried in the pennsylvania wilderness. one treasure. hunter thinks so why he's suing the fbi over it. there are a lot of strange things found in new york city parks, the latest in alligator, where it was found as relieved new yorkers say later, gator. it's monday, february 20th. from

abc news. this is world news now . typically new yorkers moved to florida the other way around. first, it was the rats now we gotta worry about gators. i wasn't ready to park. at least it wasn't on a subway. that's how we're getting you started this morning, andrew denver joined alongside by morgan. nor would have you ever seen an alligator? anywhere i used to live in florida. absolutely course. yes what about here? no but i did hear about that. i saw the meme about like a gator in the subway. yeah this one was fake. i'm not gonna lie. i thought i thought i got fooled, but it doesn't doesn't appear that way we have questions is how did this alligator get from? presumably florida? let's come on. it's floreal, right? it had to be. how did it end up in new york city? we will tell you perhaps later in the show, or at least all we know so far, but first, we are going to begin with the growing uproar over the toxic train derailment in ohio. we now know that a total of 11

railcars carrying hazardous material came off the rails administration has been harshly criticized. as for its response to the disaster, and now the white house is calling the calling out those responsible and the railroad industry in general. this morning, the biden administration with the new warning to the train company at the center of the derailment disaster in ohio as concerns grow about the trains, toxic chemicals. i think we just need more data on on what people are being exposed to norfolk, southern transportation secretary pete buddha judge warning the company must demonstrate the jewel not seek to supercharge profits by resisting higher standards that could benefit the safety of workers and american communities to support the community. in a visit this weekend, the ceo said he's deeply sorry and promised to quote do the right things. norfolk southern train derailed more than two weeks ago, igniting a fire that burned for days, prompting officials to carry out a controlled explosion

. the ntsb now says 11 of the derailed cars were carrying hazardous material, one more than previously reported in a facebook update. last night, palestine's mayor wrote. the cleanup is going well but warned it will be ongoing for the foreseeable future. i will never be comfortable in my home. she'll be. walker says her family has suffered from infections, sore throats and headaches. my kids will never go play in our back yard again, which makes me very sad now. it's never going to be safe for them in my eyes, has said the air in water is safe, but experts say the monitoring equipment may not provide enough information, saying the fire and explosion could have formed dioxins which can cause cancer, the monitoring equipment that they're using to determine things that are safe. doesn't give us chemical specificity doesn't tell us what chemicals are. president just says they're below some level environmental activist erin brockovich has rescheduled her visit to east palestine, saying the circus is coming to town and we want to steer clear brockovich did not

name him directly. but former president trump plans to visit wednesday. ohio ohio senator's j. d. vance and sherrod brown have co authored a letter calling for the e p a to monitor dioxins in that area this week. president biden has said to address the world from europe ahead of the first anniversary of the war in ukraine. he plans to meet with nato nations and deliver what the white house is calling a significant speech. the president is expected to reiterate the u. s commitment to ukraine and urge allies to keep up their support as well. the u. s. is also warning china not to supply lethal military aid to russia, saying it would have serious consequences. former president jimmy carter's grandson says carter and his wife, rosalynn, are at peace with carter's beginning. hospice care at home, the white washington post reports. the 98 year old carter has recently asked his secret service detail to drive him around his hometown of plains, georgia. carter taught sunday school at a baptist church there for more than 40 years. finds us say it.

we're all set. we knew this day was coming. but. i just hope that we can all have our own private times of reminiscing and grieving and preparing for the final service here. jimmy and rosalynn carter have been married for 76 years, he once said, step one and living a long life is marrying the right person. step two is finding something interesting or challenging to do. an arrest has been made in the cold blooded murder of a temple university police officer in the 18 year old pennsylvania man is now behind bars accused of opening fire on the officer near campus. and trying to rob him as he lay dying. abc s phil lip off has the details. 12 hour manhunt is over. this is the moment federal marshals arrest the 18 year old who they say shot and killed a temple university police officer , officer officer christopher fitzgerald on patrol saturday night in north philadelphia when

he encountered 18 year old miles effort during an investigation near the border of temples campus available, please clear voice. three we got a report of all sit down their roots. the temple once again. clear broad street, all available units also down, the district attorney's office says pfeiffer shot fitzgerald several times, including in the head. and then , while the officer was on the ground, went through his pockets and tried to take his gun. shortly after that the d a, says pfeiffer was involved in an attempted carjacking. fitzgerald a beloved member of the temple university police department, and a father of four pronounced dead at the hospital, dozens of fellow officers and community members gathering to mourn early sunday morning, pfieffer was tracked down and taken into custody using officer fitzgerald's handcuffs tradition that we do any time there's a phone officer and we thought it was important. remember officer fitzgerald police searching the property where was arrested? this is the first time a temple university police officer has been shot and killed in the line

of duty is facing several charges, murder murder of a law enforcement officer and carjacking. philip off abc news , new york phil. thank you. classes resumed this morning at michigan state university for the first time since last week's deadly mass shooting. school officials acknowledged the rest of the current semester will not feel normal because of the attack, which killed three students. extra security will be present today on campus. two of the students who were hurt conditions upgraded yesterday. three others remain in critical condition. a massive winter storm is bringing heavy snow across the country this week kicks in today and tomorrow in the northwest, then strengthens as it moves into the heartland. possible blizzard conditions are expected across the northern plains and upper midwest, with some areas getting up to two ft of snow by friday. we can also expect to see record temperatures from coast to coast hot in the east and cold in the west. check out los angeles later this week. 51 degrees compared to 83 in richmond. it's february. february in richmond.

okay you want to know what else is strange? this new yorkers accustomed to seeing some weird things quite be critters, but i don't think anything like this before. yeah i mean, i'm still trying to get used to the rats. and now we're talking about an alligator captured in the middle of brooklyn's prospect park will what in the world is going on? i have always said that brooklyn is the wild, wild west. and now i have proof of it. you guys okay? he is certainly not a native new yorker. a four ft alligator was pulled from the prospect park lake on sunday morning of worker spotted the gator in the water and alerted park rangers. the stray reptile was lethargic and in poor condition. of course, alligators are used to florida like weather, and experts say it was likely shocked by the cold temperatures. that makes sense. so was i. this morning, the rangers managed to trap the gator without incident, and it was taken to the bronx zoo. for rehab. whoever dumped the alligator, though they could be in hot water. it's illegal to release animals in new york city

parks. almost just say new yorker like floridians that hate the story, though to yeah, apparently, it's been nicknamed godzilla. and for good reason. i mean, look at the four ft. long alligator, but you could also see in that picture. you don't have to be an animal expert to see that it's in. yeah condition , right. come on. i feel you did this and why? why do people do these things? hopefully, he's getting the care that he needs in the bronx zoo, um, and goes back to goes back to florida. keep you updated. don't worry. all right, coming up news just coming in about a shooting at a mardi gras parade allegations of a secret gold rush in pennsylvania night on the track at daytona. what went wrong and who won the great american race? you're watching world news. now. g

news overnight from new orleans , where at least five people have been shot during a mardi gras parade. one person has died. the other four are in stable condition. one suspect has been arrested, but authorities are still working to determine if there were other shooters involved. there were at least a dozen parades in the new orleans area today and tomorrow , which is fat tuesday. a treasure hunter in pennsylvania , is accusing the fbi of a cover up. he claims the government dug up a trove of gold from a civil war location after he located it now he wants a cut and is going to court to get it. abc is derek dennis has more this morning, a new court filing reveals allegations of a secret gold rush in the woods of dense run pennsylvania. we feel we were double crossed and lied to dennis perata, a treasure hunter is suing, claiming years ago, he detected a possible trove of

gold and silver buried underground that could be worth millions and led the fbi to it. we brought him up here in the snow set the gpl up. and set the test off in the machine lit up gold. i mean, it was great. the light bulb almost blew up area. folklore has it in 18 63. during the civil war, army soldiers lost a shipment of gold in the pennsylvania wilderness. harada says his tip to the fbi in 2018 culminated in a secret dig in the middle of the night that even he didn't know about and claims the government has been covering up the findings. you can hear the noise and i was like, and i looked in that whole hillside. i said it was so bright they had the biggest lights out there. i went back the day after they dug with all my equipment, and we didn't get no more gold or silver readings is turned into a legal battle with the fbi and previous court filings, acknowledging a team was sent to do testing admitting tons of gold might be buried there, but saying nothing was found, and it continues to

unequivocally reject any claims or speculation. to the contrary , perata doesn't buy it and is suing to get at all. the fbi records on the dig turned over, insisting he's do a finder's fee will never stop. i was stick at this until the end until i know everything that happened to that gold. the justice department has turned over some documents, but court filings claim others are missing. a judge now has to decide whether to ask the fbi to cooperate further. andrew morgen , derek thank you and coming up the nba all star game after a jam packed all star weekend slam dunk contest and the one player who put on a show. for the ages . later pencils down, we're marking president's day with a brand new pop quiz watching world news now. history month.

time now for sports news. now we'll start with a question.

when is the daytona 500? not the daytona 500? well the answer is in 2023. when nascar season opener went well beyond its planned 200 laps, it was the longest ever running of the race 212 laps all because of caution on the track. he double overtime status meant that the 500 was really more like 5 30. i didn't realize that was the thing so at the end and underaution, ck steinhaushe checkered flag. it was his first daytona 553 and the third of his career overall and check this out from saturday night's race. daytona 19 year old sam mayer flicking his car in an attempt to move up in the pack. my goodness being upside down. i know you look at this. he was fine. a lot of this is because of the safety technology that they've you know, obviously, it's evolved in cars. unbelievable good thing for him . he is okay. this is part of nascar. it's a dangerous dangerous sports. alright heading west. if you like scoring salt lake city was the place to be wrapped up its big weekend in utah with the annual

all star game team, yonas met team lebron at vivint arena, the brightest star of the night, though it's boston's jayson tatum, the celtics leading scorer, said it all time all star game record 50. five points team giannis winning it this story is ridiculous. 184 to 175 with tatum taking the m v p i wanted to win. m v p. i didn't. i didn't think i 55 but you know that's icing on the cake. congratulations to jason. but you know he's going to save you ask him about it. he really wants to win that larry o'brien trophy. that's all that matters in the celtics right now are one of the best teams. if not the best team in the nba. they're doing really well right now for the weekend in utah may have revived the career of a player who didn't suit up sunday. 70 sixers matt mckay, longo came out on top in the dunk contest. quite literally, he wowed the salt lake city crowd saturday. leaping over two friends in one move. talk about trust would

like to think i can do that. but no, but he kept standing. i can do the standing fire. i mean, the dump to you know, right, then he capped it off with a 540 degrees spin while wearing his virginia high school, jersey jersey to take home the prize. he said he was just trying to have fun. i mean, just to show outthere. really just grateful . i had a lot of help. it wasn't just me. i had chuck and my best friends call me every night trying to give me ideas. so it was a lot of fun out there. he had been playing in the g league until valentine's ay, which was like just a few days ago when he signed with philadelphia. so that is how he qualified for the all star festivities and then the dunk contest, and now he's a champion. well there is one more basketball player who's got a lot of people talking. he's already a star on tiktok check out little number 14 making shots like he's the new michael jordan. he's four years old. so the adults are looking past the whole traveling there. that's going on. i didn't see it is proud uncle posted this video andit was viewed nearly five million times in just two days.

listen i know lebron just recently broke the scoring record, but look out. very funny on the rise. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. , t

com for imprint for certain. case you were headed to the bank or the post office today. forget about it. it's president's day and will is back putting us to the test about just how much e know about our nation's chief executives and everyone else at home to the test as well. in honor of president's day we've worked up a quiz. we're calling red, white and true or false. all read you statement. if you think it's true, put your paddle to indicate true if you think it's false. flip it to false question. number one, thomas jefferson's gravestone mentions that he was the author of the declaration of independence and president of the united states. true or false weight. andrew's going with paul's going with

true andrew is correct on this one. he actually wrote the epitaph for his own grave purposefully left off that he was president of the united states. i wonder what he was nervous. it wasn't going to go down well in history. i don't know next question. number two harry s. truman rose before dawn each morning for two hours of piano practice. little piano, a little poker. you guys are both going with true. yeah it is. okay i had a feeling little bit of a truman enthusiast, if you will. your father? yes, a couple of his biographies and interesting then you might know this next question. i already see it. and i know the answer. speaking of president truman, the s and harry s. truman stands for shirley. true or false stands for nothing. i wanted that to be true stands for nothing. it stands for nothing. just thought it would sound better, more professional and he for a long time didn't even put the dot after the s because it stood for nothing. and then i guess people were like you're setting up an example for the

youth, so he just had to put a dot that's right. the buck stops here. harry truman. good middle name. i like it too. all right. president ulysses s. grant made independence day of federal holiday. true or false. i'm gonna go false. this is what i do. you are both correct. it's false. he did not do independence day. but he did make christmas a federal holiday as well as new year's day and thanksgiving day. but he couldn't make the monday after super bowl sunday and federal come on ulysses like the oscar, thank you equal opportunity there, all right. last question, president chester a. arthur hired louis c. tiffany the first design director of tiffany and company for a massive renovation of the white house tour. false you are both correct. it is true , true with flying colors. how about that also had a reputation for being very fashionable and his nickname was the gentleman boss. yeah cancel man. okay

bringing intention. just bonus

♪♪ from the alex trebek stage at sony pictures studios, this is the "jeopardy! tournament of champions." [applause] please, welcome our three champs. an associate professor of operations research at the naval postgraduate school. from pacific grove, california... [cheering and applause] a software developer, from san francisco, california... [cheering and applause] and a writer from oakland, california... [cheering and applause] and now, here is the host of "jeopardy!", ken jennings. [cheering and applause] thank you, johnny. welcome, everyone, to the sixth game