i'm ali velshi. a lot happening overnight. a man in charges charged with attempted rape in new york city. police say he tried to force himself on a hotel maid and then tried to hop on a flight out of the country. flood gates, i'm christine romans. thousands on the run as the army corps of engineers opens a spillway for the first time in almost 40 years, choosing one flood to save new orleans from another nightmare on this "american morning." good morning. it is monday, may 16th. big news story we're following right now. >> that's right. we've got the stunning arrest of the head of the international monetary fund, dominique strauss-kahn scheduled to be arraigned this morning in new york.

he is charged with trying to rape a maid in an upscale manhattan hotel. >> strauss-kahn is accused of emerging from a bathroom naked, then dragging the 32-year-old housekeeper into the bedroom of his $3,000 a night suite and attacking her. >> before his arrest strauss-kahn was considered a front runner to become france's next president. richard roth is tracking the latest developments. strauss-kahn was supposed to be arraigned last night. why was that delayed? >> this was like a night court version. they are doing forensic tests and apparently reportedly some delays in figuring out a bail deal as this financial big wig was sitting, cooling his heels in a new york special victims unit precinct house. this is a bombshell of a story. this man, who leads the international monetary fund, based in washington, but a french citizen, walked by new york city police there, this is astounding to see, at an unbelievable weekend news

development. he is accused of sexual assault on a maid at a midtown times square new york hotel. last evening, his attorney explained to reporters outside the courthouse just what was happening with this client. >> our client willingly concepted to a scientific and forensic examination tonight. >> can't hear what you're saying, sir. >> our client consented to an examination tonight at the request of the government. that's being done in light of the hour, we've agreed to postpone the arraignment tomorrow morning and expect to be in court with him tomorrow. >> how is your client doing? >> he's tired but he's fine. thank you very much. >> strauss-kahn is expected to be arraigned at a new york court in downtown manhattan later this morning. he was widely believed to be a potential next french president. >> right. >> and, of course, he had been dogged by accusations of some types of misbehavior with women before. he had apologized for an

incident with an underling at an international conference a few years ago. he is known as dsk, in france, and in financial circles. they're scrambling at the imf to replace him temporarily. >> he is a key figure in the last couple years, the sovereign debt crisis in europe, all of europe's debt problems, dominique strauss-kahn is at the center. he's supposed to be in brussels giving a keynote and help to figure out with european leaders the way forward for europe's economy. this is a shocking, shocking development around the world. >> i mean, he is a king pin for helping out in emergency situations. you've got greece, portugal, ireland, you name it he's been involved in it coming to the rescue with millions of dollars of money. >> and this is a man now instead who's being picked out of a lineup in svu court in manhattan. it's an amazing turn of events. richard roth, thank you so much. let's talk more about who dominique strauss-kahn is. the head of the international

monetary fund known by dsk. born in france, named the managing director of the international monetary fund in 2007. christine, you know, 2007 is before the financial crisis hit. he received praise during the financial crisis. as you just mentioned with richard, overseeing the bailouts of greece and ireland, but during that time, strauss-kahn was investigated as richard alluded to, for having a consensual affair with a female employee. he apologized for that. strauss-kahn is a member of the socialist party in france. over the year he's been appointed to political positions including finance minister back in 1997. he was instrumental in helping france switch from the frank to the euro. prior to this weekend's incident strauss-kahn was considered a top candidate for the president of france in the elections next year. richard was talking about that. a french opinion poll published on sunday taken before the scandal broke showed him in

first place among six hypothetical candidates including the current president sarkozy. strauss-kahn is married to an american french journalist ann sinclair. she issued a statement defending her husband. bottom of the hour we are going live to paris, cnn jim bittermann has the reaction to the news of strauss-kahn's arrest and impact kite have on the global economy. concerns about the global economy weighing around stocks down around across the board around the world. markets are down in europe and asia and here in the u.s., futures are lower after the dow closed down more than 100 points on friday. the nasdaq and s&p 500 are also lower. new this morning, an arrest warrant expected today for libyan dictator moammar gadhafi. the international criminal court in the hague is charging gadhafi and two others from his regime with crimes against humidity itty. allegations include the killing of unarmed protesters and air strikes against civilians. libya's deputy foreign minister

tells cnn the government is going to ignore the warrants. bloodshed along israel's borders as pro-palestinian protester mashgz the anniversary of the jewish state. dozens more killed, hundreds more wounded as demonstrators clashed with israeli forces. israel says its troops were defending its borders while syria and lebanon criticized what they call israeli attacks. senator john kerry this morning says it's a critical moment in relations between the u.s. and pakistan following the death of bin laden. kerry arriving in islamabad overnight after a visit to afghanistan says there's a strong message for pakistani leaders, do more to root out insurgents in pakistan or face losing vital u.s. aid. and the wife of ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak is set to undergo open heart surgery. officials say susan mubarak suffered a heart attack after learning she was being detained in a corruption investigation. she's in intensive care at a hospital in egypt. she and her husband are expected

of abusing their positions to enrich themselves. back here the sudden death of pro hockey player derrick booguard remains a mystery. the 28-year-old's family has donated his brain to boston university where researchers are discussing the concussion injuries. he was found dead in his apartment in minneapolis on friday. the medical examiner waiting for toxicology test results to determine the cause of death. a space shuttle "endeavour" ready to go for its last ever liftoff less than three hours from right now. the weather looks good. the electrical problem that delayed this launch two weeks ago has been fixed. congresswoman gabrielle giffords, wife of mark kelly, will be among the 500,000 people watching in person when "endeavour" blasts off at 8:56 eastern. >> it will be the last time and i wish we were there to see it. john zarrella on top of this. >> live in a couple hours.

>> sanjay gupta will be following how gabby giffords is doing. we'll be on top of that story for you. eight minutes after the hour. a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center in atlanta for us this morning. hi, rob. >> good morning, guys. let's talk shuttle launch, pretty good chance. 68 degrees the temperature. a chance of seeing sh showers but i believe most will hold off to the afternoon. 70 or 80% go due to launch, better than average. we have rain across parts of the northeast and this is going to add to the troubles for flooding across northern new england. look for the rain to pretty much begin to fill in and intensify, not just today, but really through the rest of the week. and that's going to be the main concern i think is the potential for seeing heavy rain from the mid-atlantic towards new england. daytime highs today will be around 68 degrees there in new york city. so above average. here are the latest forecasts

for the cresting river situation. the number in the middle is the date that we expect the rest and the number on the right is the feet above flood stage. natchez, vicksburg above flood stage and in baton rouge and new orleans seeing a little bit of alleviation due to the opening of that spillway. that causes more troubles downstream. we'll be checking in with our live reporters throughout the morning and back out there tomorrow. more weather in ability a half hour. back up to new york. >> we'll check in with you in a little while. a college diploma, is it the ticket the to good life. according to a study by the pew research center a majority of college grads say getting their diploma was a good investment. grads say they earn about 20,000 more dollars a year because of their degree a figure that closely resembles what the government found. but the study also found that 75% of americans think college is no longer affordable. >> two major questions. in addition to how much extra

you earn in this economy it's about being employable. lot easier with a college degree. we'll talk more about that. we want to know what you think about it. is college worth it. e-mail us at cnn.com/am. give us a tweet @cnnam or christine romans or ali velshi. we'll read your thoughts later in the show. more about the louisiana spillway and some of the tough choices they're having to make as they open the morganza spillway to open one to save others. ed lavandera is live with amazing and dramatic pictures. >> while it may seem obvious to some people, a lot not happy about that. what happens to celebrity apprentice if donald trump were to run for president? >> pictures any parent who has had a kid in a bouncesy house, a dirt devil, picks up this bounsy house at a children's party and tosses it into the air. what happened and how amazing there were no injuries.

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one by one they're opening the flood gates in louisiana. the army corps of engineers letting water from the mississippi river pour through something called the morganza spillway. they're protecting two major cities, baton rouge and new orleans from severe flooding. >> you see what they're doing, opening it up so the river rather than forcing down to those places, ends up spilling out into other land but that means other communities downstream are directly in the path of those floodwaters. thousands of evacuations have been ordered right now. cnn's ed lavandera is in one of those communities that's on the run. he's live in boot la rose, louisiana. ed? >> good morning, ali. as you mentioned this is one of those towns that will be initially affected by the floodwaters restricted from the mississippi river into the river basin through that morganza spillway. they had opened up four bays over the weekend, late yesterday they opened up five more. there are nine of those flood gates opened up at the morganza spillway now. that means a lot more water will

be flowing down this river. it's a very slow process, kind of pain staking for the people who live ins they communities. yesterday in saint landry's parish north of where we are, there were mandatory evacuation orders issued out to several hundred residents who lived in these low-lying areas. the problem is, this river goes downstream, it backs up all these other creeks and tributaries and causes the water to swell up and a lot of these communities and that will be the problem here for weeks. we spoke to some of these residents who were evacuating yesterday for the most part, they're taking it all in stride, but they know it's a long waiting game here. this process could take a month to dry out. >> we are fortunate we have what we have and we have an opportunity to get out. material things we can replace. our family and what we believe in daily is just -- can't put prices on that. >> did you put up this sign? >> yeah. i put it up. i'm proud of that sign. we will be back.

>> reporter: and ali, what these residents are being told they should plan on probably staying away up to a month and communities like bute la rose where we are, they've been told to expect as much as 15 feet of water which would put so many of these homes under water. just upstream close to where that gentleman is living they've been told in some of those areas to expect between five and ten, other places 15 feet of water as well. so a very dramatic few days here for a lot of these people who are up against the clock, taking out what they can and salvaging what they can because in the next 24, 48 hours, they're really going to see that water slowly start to creep up and they're being told they need to get out. ali? >> ed, how can they afford this? people must be really worried about whether they can rebuild and what kind of insurance they have. i mean this is a big financial strain on these families. >> there's no question. the insurance is a big deal. you talk to a mix of people, some have insurance, others don't. but the other weird thing about

this, life kind of goes on. it's not like every area of these communities is being flooded, so a lot of these people have to deal with this and continue going to work. so what we found here in the last few days is that there's so many of these people relying on family and friends, packing up what they can, sticking it in moving vans and going over to a friend's house and parking it in the yard for as long as it takes for them to go back in their home. you see a lot of that here in these areas. you only have to drive a couple miles to get to dry land. you're leaning on friends and family to get you through this. >> we'll stay in touch with you during the course of the morning. later we will speaks to the president of the parish. create na, gustav, ike, the oil spill. one level it's tough and on the other level these are in of the hardiest people i've met. >> one hit after another. thanks. we want to take a closer look at what's happened since the flood gates were opened in louisiana and what's expected in the coming days.

on saturday, at 3:00 p.m. eastern time, the army corps of engineers opened the morganza spillway. the waters rising to interstate 10 which cuts through the spillway. now by 3:00 p.m. today, 48 hours later, the communities of krots springs and bute her rose expect to be hit by the water. parts of crotz were evacuated yesterday. in butte larose, there are 800 homes in the flood path. flooding will spread through tuesday 72 hours after the flood gates opened. wednesday the waters will reach morgue city, louisiana, where residents have been creating temporary barriers to protect their homes. the water expanding west by thursday afternoon. then for the next few days after that, the swollen mississippi continues its slow crawl spreading to the east hitting huma, louisiana. >> we'll continue to follow that story. president obama is going to

be in memphis this morning to deliver the commencement speech at a high school. the school is booker t. washington high. it won the president's race to the top competition. president obama will meet with first responders and families affected along the mississippi river and hundreds of memphis residents were forced into shelters when the river crested at an all it time high. >> the high school went from 50% graduation rate to the 80s. >> a new era in chicago. rahm emanuel, the president's former chief of staff will be sworn in today as chicago' mayor. the first transition of power in 22 years in the windy city. vice president biden is expected to be on hand for it. imagine those two off the cuff talking in front of the cameras. a lot of work on emanuel's desk. he's inheriting a $587 million budget gap. >> 22 years for this daily, almost half a century with a daly in charge of chicago. the heart says no, that's

what republican mike huckabee said over the weekend about why he has chosen to stay out of the 2012 presidential race. some polls had him leading the pack among the likely gop conit tenders, especially in southern states. so who is he supporting instead? he says anyone but president obama. >> mitt romney is the nominee for our party i will support him because i believe that mitt romney would be a better president to the united states than barack obama on any day. i believe donald trump would be better for america than barack obama because he understands business. >> talking about donald trump, nbc is renewing "celebrity apprentice" with or without donald trump. the network says the show will remain in the prime time lineup even if the donald decides to run for president. the head of nbc's entertainment division insisting someone else will sit at the head of the board room table. he has not given hint to who that might be. >> you couldn't have trump sitting there doing both jobs. the other thing for the

republicans who have lucrative tv contracts if they decide to run for president they have to change -- >> it changed the world. >> we told you about this a few moments ago. a fifth grade graduation party in tucson, arizona, this weekend. powerful winds from a dust devil, i don't know if you've been in a dust devil in the american southwest, they're scary and quick, swept away this bounsy castp. several children got hit with minor debris. this could be worse. several parents got the kids out of the castle just in time. look at that. >> that's incredible. >> wow. >> wrapping around a pole. wow. good for them. for those of you who have been following the sony playstation network outage it is coming back on-line. you'll have to download something and it's about a week before it's fully on-line. we'll tell you about that when we come back. >> gamers and play station users have been plaining for weeks now. >> we call it affectionately in

the middle of the night the pretzel. this is princess beatrice, what she wore, it's about a $3,000 philip treacy hat, got her press, put it up for auction. how much it's up for now. >> we're coming back in a minute. it's 22 minutes after the hour. [ male announcer ] fastidious librarian emily skinner

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oddly enough, she took it right in stride. because, you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality... which meant, despite her years, she continued to have the means to live on however she saw fit. and to this very day, emily skinner is still going strong... even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. 25 minutes past the hour. minding your business this morning. the u.s. expected to reach its $14.3 trillion debt ceiling today. that's the amount the u.s. is

legally allowed to borrow. while both republicans and democrats agree failing to raise the debt ceiling is not an option both sides still far from a deal. the treasury secretary has a few weeks of wiggle room until it's critical here. with gas prices near $4 a gallon, president obama announces plans to speed up oil and gas drilling in the u.s. he says the administration will expand drilling in alaska, explore new oil sources off the atlantic and extend drilling leases in the gulf of mexico. the ceo of starbucks says they expect coffee prices to begin falling from their 34-year high. he blames market speculation not supply and demand for the spike. sony restores power to its play station network. it's back up and running in california and the northeast. the network went off-line after hackers stole personal information from its 77 million users. apple setting a few guinness world records. the iphone 4 named the fastest selling portable gaming system beating out sony's psp and

nintendo's ds. the app store named most popular application marketplace. weigh in, crazy or couture, the hat worn by britain's princess beatrice to last month's royal wedding is going more than you see it there, $18,000 on ebay. there are just six days left to bid. our question of the day, is college worth it? a majority of americans say it's no longer affordable. what do you think? e-mail us at cnn.com/am, give us a tweet @cnn a.m. we'll read through your comments later this hour. "american morning" will be back after this break. he most amazing thing you ever saw? ...was it something big? ...or something small? ...something old? ...or something new? ...or maybe, just maybe... it's something you haven't seen yet. the 2nd generation of intel core processors. stunning visuals, intelligent performance. this is visibly smart.

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flight moments from takeoff from new york on saturday and arrested. police say he tried to force himself on a hotel maid in manhattan. he's expected to be arraigned later today. the floodgates are open. the mississippi river unleashed on purpose in louisiana. officials sacrificing a region with 25,000 people to save baton rouge and new orleans. wanted for war crimes the hague is expected to issue an rest warrant for moammar gadhafi. one of his sons and his top spy. it outlines allegations of attacks against civilians by gadhafi's forces since february. and the arrest of the head of the international monetary fund turning france's presidential election campaign upside down. dominique strauss-kahn, a clear front runner in the polls before being arrested for allegedly trying to rape a new york hotel maid this weekend. >> he was yanked from the first class cabin of an air france flight saturday night minutes before takeoff to paris. he's facing arraignment in new york this morning. jim bittermann joins us live

from paris. dominic strauss-kahn, dsk as he's called there, could have major and political and economic implications. >> absolutely on both fronts. he was a key player in terms of the politics here in france he was the leading contender for president. he topped all the candidates including incumbent president nicolas sarkozy. his disappearance into a jail cell in new york is now really throwing the presidential race open for grabs and meanses there there are a whole new parameters and political classes doing chattering. this is the socialist party newspaper. his party, d.s.k., out. you can translate that even if you don't know french. basically he's out of the race as far as the political mavens here are concerned. then on a financial side, the international monetary fund, he was the director of one of the key world institutions, a man who goes around the world

lecturing to world leaders about exercising discipline and self-restraint, and then in his personal affairs gets caught up in something like this. we don't know whether he's innocent or guilty, but it's not a great example to show. >> jim, he's supposed to be in brussels right now where really important debt negotiations about the future of some of these countries that are facing these sovereign debt crises, he is -- you talk about the future potential candidate for the presidency of france, he is right now a linchpin in the economic future of europe in some of these ailing countries, isn't he? >> absolutely. and i mean he was a key player. one of the things that i think one of the reasons why he was somewhat excused for all the rumors that circulated for many years here about his personal life, he was such a brilliant economist and great negotiator and able to put together deals and was very well respected on that front. he was also supposed to be a key player at the table in the g-8 coming up here towards the end of the month. now it looks -- very unlikely

he's going to participate in any of that. he may have his feet nailed to the floor in new york. we have reported that, in fact, they've already taken away his passport. it's unlikely he's going to be able to continue in his current position. >> jim bittermann in paris, thank you so much. jim and ali, so -- the idea of him being picked up of a special victims unit lineup, a man of his stature, shows you how quickly the nypd reacted, got him off that plane and now facing these charges. >> they couldn't care who you are in new york. we talk about how things are more per missive in europe with respect to leaders and what they do with their time, this crosses the line. an alleged rape is a different story. >> it's a very serious allegation. he is going to plead -- his lawyers say he intends to plead not guilty, arraigned later today. we will follow these developments of course. michelle martelly took the oath as the country's new president over the weekend. former president bill clinton on

hand for the ceremony. many haitians see this as a new start after last year's earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left a million others homeless. a mid air scare for passengers on a cathay flight out of singapore. a stall warning forced pilots to bring the air bus a 330 headed for jakarta back to the airport for an emergency landing. fire fighters doused sparks coming in one of the jet's engines. no injuries to the 136 passengers or crew member years a san francisco giants baseball fan who was nearly beaten to death outside dodgers stadium in march is showing some signs of cognitive function. doctors say brian stowe has been taken out of a medically induced coma and opened his eyes several times in the past week. he's scheduled to be transferred from los angeles to a san diego hospital today. social security and medicare funds will be depleted sooner than expected, according to the trustees that run the funds for both of these programs. med care won't be able to pay

100% benefits beyond the year 2024, and social security will come up short in the year 2036. the reason, more baby boomers are retiring and fewer people are paying into the system. and our question of the day, as many people graduated from college this weekend. >> congratulations. >> congratulations. >> is your degree worth it? >> that's the question. graduates believe they make about $20,000 more a year than those who don't have a degree. what do you think? e-mail us at cnn.com/am, tweet us @cnnam @christine romans or ali velshi. we're already getting great responses from you. we'll read some of your thoughts later in the show. >> the majority think the college education is out of reach for most people. >> still worth it if you can afford it. >> we're going to go live to kennedy space center. this is a really important day. astronauts aboard the space shuttle "endeavour" are preparing for launch right now. we'll bring you live pictures as the countdown is on. movie theaters not just more

movies anymore. we'll explain what we're talking about when we come back. it's 37 minutes after the hour. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible.

good morning. a very exciting morning.

>> sure is. >> this is always one of those things down to the wire but as of right now, all systems go for space shuttle "endeavour." you're looking at live pictures from the kennedy space center. "endeavour" is on the launch pad, fueled up and ready for liftoff in a little more than two hours from now. 8:56 a.m. eastern time. and historic mission. >> it was scrubbed a couple weeks ago, last week, and here we go again. the weather is perfect. on board for nasa's second to last shuttle mission. a crew of six astronauts led by mission commander mark kelly, the husband of arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords and she is there to watch in person just four months after surviving a bullet to the head. >> john zarrella live at kennedy space center. how is the mood over there? tell us what's going on? >> ali, christine, the mood is good. the astronauts are a lot further along than they were two and a half weeks ago when the astro van got here to the vehicle assembly building, stopped and they had to turn around and go

back to the crew quarters because they had that malfunctioning heater system. that, of course, has all been fixed and does look very, very good this morning for the liftoff of "endeavour" on the 25th and final space shuttle flight. a mission, of course, to the international space station. as we were mentioning, couple hours ago, the astronauts got up and over at the operations and checkout building, they got suited up, put on their flight suits, and had their breakfast this morning and then, of course, made their way down the elevators, out the front door. the tradition of waving to the crowd of workers from the nasa work force, that gather there to watch them as they depart crew quarters and head out here, all of the astronauts are now on board the space shuttle. they're going to close the hatch in about ten minutes or so now. and mike fink, -- mike fincke

tweeted this out -- and he finally added, please help me not to mess anything up. now fincke is a veteran, flown a couple times on space station missions but this is the very first time he's flown on a space shuttle and with his flight, it marks the end of every single astronaut qualified to fly on a shuttle will now have flown on a space shuttle. and, of course, as you mentioned, gabrielle giffords, the wife of the commander mark kelly, is here. she arrived yesterday and tweeted her people tweeting out excited again to be here. and, you know, they're taking the alphaing me spectrometer off, a wonderful piece of equipment that may revolutionize our understanding of the universe. not only taking that up, they're taking energy bars up. the interesting story here, ali, christine, is that a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old sisters from battle creek, michigan, won a competition, a national

competition, their bar had to meet nasa standards. it did. nasa then cleared it. that energy bar. which has a lot of cranberry and oats in it, they were telling me. that cranberry bar is flying on "endeavour" as a meal supplement for the astronauts and the two girls are here, again, to watch hopefully the liftoff of "endeavour," carrying their energy bar into space. i tasted it. it was actually pretty good. ali, christine. >> proof there's an awful lot of american ingenuity inside that space shuttle. >> that is really great. as excited as you are. we will keep checking in with you and be live with you at 8:56 when that window opens for the launch, the first opening. we'll start a little earlier than that and we'll check in with ed again. stay tuned. this will be the last launch, if if it happens, of the space shuttle "endeavour." there is one more space shuttle launch after this but won't be the "endeavour." >> you're watching history, folks. this is the end of an era for

the space shuttle. 43 minutes after the hour. a quick check of the weather headlines. for that rob marciano in the extreme weather center. hi there, ro be. >> let's light that cannon. let's set that thing ablaze and send it into orbit. 70% of a chance go weather wise. technically for all the other technical issues i can't speak to that, but the weather looks decent. a couple big storms happening across the u.s. and both are pretty much locked down and slow movers. one across the northeast, that will be with you for the next few days, and then one across the west coast. in between, fairly nice weather, although it will be on the cool side, that's for sure. let's talk radar. scattered showers across the allegheny through upstate new york and adirondacks. more rain heading through vermont which doesn't need it as the flooding issues there continue. this radar will fill in as we go through time. here's why. we've got this low which is going to not move a whole lot. watch it. yeah. kind of sits there, taps moisture from the atlantic ocean. disturbances around it intensify

things. we could see three to five inches of rainfall over the next five days in new york city area. if you are traveling up and down the i-95 corridor, bring along the rain gear, at least that pocket umbrella you may have, just in case. temperatures i mentioned going to be cool behind this thing. 54 in chicago, 66 in memphis, and 62 degrees for the high temperatures, far south, as atlanta. 76 degrees expected in new orleans. other travel issues today, across parts of the airports, new york you will see travel delays because of the showers and low clouds spinning around that area. same deal in philly and boston. chicago 30 to 60 minute delays and orlando and miami, 15 too 30 down there because of a little wind. might have cross winds out at ksc that might be prohibitingings 70% chance of seeings the shuttle go off as the weather looks to be okay. >> talk to you soon. coming up ahead on "american morning," movie theaters reinventing themselves, as people's movie habits change.

what are you doing with these theaters if fewer are going to the theater. we'll tell you. >> is college worth it? is that expensive degree worth it out there. e-mail us at cnn.com a.m., or facebook.com/american morning. your responses after the break. car connection calls the xf, yet an instant classic."

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a lot going on. here's what you need to know. the head of the international monetary fund denies trying to rape a housekeeper at a new york city hotel. dominique strauss-kahn is expected to be arraigned later today. police say his accuser picked him out of a lineup. at least nine floodgates along the louisiana spillway have been opened to help protect big cities like baton rouge and new orleans from flooding. that comes at the expense of smaller, lower lying communities along the mississippi where evacuations are under way right now. space shuttle "endeavour's" final mission scheduled to launch a little more than two hours from now. live coverage of the final countdown right here on "american morning" starting at 8:50 a.m. eastern time. a dozen people killed as violence breaks out along israel's border with syria and lebanon. pro-palestinian protesters marks the anniversary of the creation of the jewish state. billy graham back at home in north carolina after five days in the hospital with pneumonia. doctors say the evangelist, who

is 92 years old, responded well to treatment but faces a slow recovery. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" is back right after this. hi, this other store has these for 20 cents less. what?! -match it! -match it! -match it! match it! -match it! -match it! 20 cents less. what?! just match it... -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -match it! -[ horn honks ] -match it! -match it! -match it! thank you, got it. i'll match that price right here. oh! cool.

[ male announcer ] we won't be beat. we have low prices every day. on everything, backed by our ad match guarantee. save money. live better. walmart. the high cost of higher education, a new pew research center study looks at whether college is really worth the price. a majority of those surveyed, they say -- thought they said yes. >> people think it's worth it. they do think it's less and less affordable. >> that's right. >> separate issues. we want to know from you, the question of the day is, is it worth it? here's some responses we got

from you. >> no, for an english major college is not worth the price. will need to attend grad school unless i want to teach or something. the highest paid english majors are technical writers. you have to pick the right career. speaks a lot to the amount you have to network these days just having a qualification doesn't do it for you. vinny in new jersey says -- >> and jamar sanders says -- that is true. >> absolutely true. >> it is tougher these days for liberal arts graduates if they don't go further and get specialization. >> those of you considering borrowing money remember the rule of thumb don't borrow more than you expect to earn in your first year out of school. and the average is about 20 to

$29,000 is what people are borrowing these days. >> the average starting salary this year will be a little above $50,000 but if you get in one of the high-end professions, high-end demand professions, software engineering, data systems analyst you're upward of 80 or $90,000. the unemployment rate in this country is 9%, the unemployment rate for people with a college education, a degree, is 4.4%. >> that's right. >> your chances of being employed are a lot greater if you have a college education. keep them coming. >> we want to hear what you think. send us an e-mail or tweet, tell us on facebook. we'll read more of your thoughts later in the program. at the box office, "thor" rules for the second weekend in a row. the superhero film taking in. the comedy "brides maid" debuted at number two, better than $24 million. some of the critics have been saying it's so good, that means the next "hangover 2" has a lot

to live up to. >> maybe i'll have to see this. theaters aren't just for the motion pictures anymore. they're evolving, showcasing sports events, the concerts and opera. here's careen winter. >> reporter: tickets, check. coffee, check. frieda is heading to an l.a. movie complex. >> thank you. >> reporter: her friends have arrived and the show is about to start. let's go. >> reporter: but they're not heap for a movie. they're here for this. ♪ a live performance of the metropolitan opera transmitted to 600 cinemas coast to coast. >> it's a beautiful facility. the chairs are very, very comfortable and it's reserved seats. which is ideal. >> reporter: and a growing number of cinemas are complements their fair with alternatives like opera and classical music. the l.a. philharmonics beamed

two concerts to movie theaters this year. a third is set for june. but it's not just high art that's filling seats. >> coming to move theaters. >> reporter: broadcasts of world cup soccer and ultimate fighting hit hundreds of movie screens. colorado based ncn phantom is a leader in bringing new entertainment to the multiplex. the ceo says the market is expanding. >> we did around 2 million people in movie theaters over our network last year. this is clearly a new and growing business. >> reporter: attendance for hollywood films is down this year, which has made the revenue from alternative events vital to theater owners. >> they get a piece of the ticket price as well as selling concessions. >> the truth is rarely pure and never simple. >> reporter: the broadway production of "the importance of being earnest" will be broadcast to movie theaters next month. tickets range from $18 to $22, a fraction of the cost to see it on stage.

♪ frieda paid $22 for her ticket to the met live broadcast. as a subtitle says for her. >> it's heavenscent joy. >> it knocks your socks off. it's quite wonderful. >> reporter: careen winter, cnn, hollywood. >> little opera to start your morning, ali. >> these theaters are sitting empty from time to time, why not get some -- >> do you sing like that in the shower? >> i'm not a big opera fan. >> the world's money chief charged with attempted rape. a shocking story from the weekend. it has the political classes around the world just absolutely blown away. he could have been france's next president, perhaps. reaction from france live. >> and some scientists have identified a gene that could be a trigger to make you fat. the number of obese people in the world has doubled since the 1980s. scientist mace have hfound the

switch. why it's no excuse to stop exercising. 56 minutes after the hour.

hauled off a plane and charged with attempted rape. a man in charge of billions of dollars of the world's money due in court this morning. plus, choosing one flood over another. the army corps of engineers opens floodgates for the first time in almost 40 years. on this "american morning." good morning. welcome to "american morning."

it's monday, may 16th. i'm ali velshi. >> i'm christine romans. kiran has the morning off. the shock and disbelief throughout europe following the stunning arrest of the world's money chief, dominique strauss-kahn, the head of the international monetary fund is scheduled to be arraigned this morning in new york. he is charged with trying to rape a housekeeper in an upscale manhattan hotel. >> you're looking at him in the middle there. strauss-kahn allegedly emerged from his hotel room, his hotel room bathroom, naked, then dragged a 32-year-old maid into the bedroom of his $3,000 a night suite and attacked her. before his arrest strauss-kahn was considered a frontrunner to become france's next president. >> as the head of the imf he has been critical if the negotiations in europe for these countries and their debt problems. he's supposed to be in brussels to help europe get out of its money problems. richard roth is tracking the latest developments, he was supposed to be arraigned last night, but that will happen later today. what's going on? >> his attorneys deny the

charges. the leader of the international monetary fund is expected as christine was saying to be arraigned in a new york state court in several hours. dominique strauss-kahn was due to be in europe for the high-level financial meetings. he spent the night in a manhattan jail cell. police say he emerged from his suite at a times square hotel naked. police say he chased her, the maid allegedly broke away. police say he sexually assaulted her in a bathroom. authorities say he hardly checked out leaving a cell phone behind. the maid rushed it to the front desk. police took strauss-kahn off an air france jet minutes before departure for paris. while reporters gathered for a potential court appearance sunday strauss-kahn's attorneys argued with the manhattan district attorney's office on a bail deal. strauss-kahn consented to physical and forensic examinations which led to a delay in any arraignment sunday night. >> willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination tonight. >> can't hear what you're saying, sir.

>> our client consented to an examination tonight at the request of the government. that's being done in light of the hour we've agreed to postpone the arraignment until tomorrow morning and we expect to be here in court with him tomorrow. >> how is your client doing? >> he's tired but he's fine. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: a source says that strauss-kahn was picked out of a lineup by the alleged victim. he has no diplomatic immunity. his passport we believe was taken away. a lot of developments still to occur on this monday after a shocking weekend. >> his attorneys say he's going to -- he's not guilty of this crime. >> that's right. attorneys from washington, new york, he's hired some high profile attorneys, the horn in new york, ben brafman, involved in a lot of celebrity cases, knows how to use the media to make his case. >> more information through the morning. thanks very much. strauss-kahn's wife is coming to her husband's defense ann sinclair is an american-born journalist, hosted one of france's most popular political tv shows for more than 13 years

and covered the 2008 u.s. presidential race for french newspapers and television. she issued this statement following her husband's arrest, quote, i do not believe for one second the accusations brought against my husband. i have no doubt his innocence will be established. >> and in just about half an hour, 7:30 eastern, live to paris. cnn's jim bittermann has reaction to the news of strauss-kahn's arrest and the impact that it's going to have on the political direction of france. he was the front runner in next year's presidential races and also the effect on the global economy because he was the head of the imf. we'll stay on that story. happening right now, here in the united states, the water from the swollen mississippi river is now pouring through something called the morganza spillway in louisiana. the army corps of engineers opened the floodgates over the weekend. it's the first time in 40 years they've done that. this is a controlled release, designed to protect baton rouge and new orleans from catastrophic flooding. >> but diverting the water to save louisiana's two largest

city has sacrificed low lying rural areas. this animation shows you the areas flooded and can expect to be flooded out by the end of this week. as the swollen mississippi makes its slow crawl downstream, thousands of people in harm's way are giving up sandbagging and just getting out while they can. >> i'm picturing like on tv, i'm so scared we're going to have the water over the rooftops like some of those poor, unfortunate people. it's just so unreal. this house was built in '63 and it survived the flood in '73. so we just pray that it will survive the flood of 2011. >> take a look at this. the people in the path and on the run might be summed up in a sign like this, hope you appreciate this baton rouge. you're welcome. written by somebody in one of the areas flooded or being flooded. the person who wrote that sign spoke to cnn's ed lavandera.

ed is live in butte larose, louisiana. good morning. >> good morning this is the river you see behind me where water from the morganza spillway is pouring into nine of those floodgates are now open and it's causing evacuations in the early parts of this river. >> want to get everybody out. >> reporter: this neighborhood in krotz springs could soon be sitting in as much as 15 feet of water. >> we tried to move all the furniture yesterday. >> it's going to be bad. >> reporter: jake knows it's time to get his fajly out. >> we just moved everything in here. and now we're in the process of taking everything back out and bringing it to my other sister's. >> you have no choice? >> i have no choice. i mean if not i'm going to lose everything. >> reporter: nolan and his wife have a bigger problem. >> today's her 4th birthday. >> reporter: mya doesn't have a birthday cake and she's afraid of the floodwaters. >> she can't swim and hears the stories of everyone, the water rising, so she's scared she

won't make it out. >> reporter: since the opening of the morganza spillway, the massive rush of water is now taking a long, destructive path down the river basin away from the mississippi river. >> the water gets here. >> reporter: in saint landry parish about 750 people in 240 homes were told to evacuation. >> thank you. >> we just about got it out. >> reporter: eight years ago connie moved on to the banks of three mile lake. her slice of heaven. >> this is where i have home, family, kids come in, grandkids spend time, jet ski, four wheeling. this is my home. >> reporter: she's packing it up including her iguana. she's been told to expect ten feet of water and it could take a month or even longer to dry out. >> what's the mood now that so many are packing up? >> it's bad. it's sad. and depressing. >> reporter: after days of warning it's now the last chance to get out of the water's way. brett isn't messing around. he's moving his entire trailer

to higher ground. >> never seen it like this before in my life. it's crazy. unreal. >> reporter: but eddie won't let the flood get him down. he looks forward to fishing here again with his boys. >> we are fortunate we have what we have and we have an opportunity to get out. material things we can replace. our family and what we believe in daily is just -- can't put prices on that. >> did you put up this sign? >> i put it up. i'm proud of that sign. because it's just what we say. we will be back. >> reporter: and ali, this is a very slow process in terms of flooding this river basin. over the weekend, they started opening the gates of the morganza spillway. one at a time. they're up to nine. that is a deliberate process to give people the opportunity to pack up and get out of these areas that will soon be flooded. ali and christine. >> thanks very much. we'll check in with you later in the morning. shifting to bloody violence erupting along israel's borders

with syria and lebanon. israeli troops confronted pro-palestinian protesters arnlgds with stones. demonstrations marked the anniversary of the creation of the jewish state. a dozen people were killed. hundreds more wounded. israel says its troops were defending its borders while both syria and lebanon criticized what they called israel y attacks. massachusetts senator john kerry is in pakistan this morning, pressing government officials on what they may have known about how osama bin laden was hiding in plain sight in pakistan. kerry says this is a critical time for u.s./pakistani relations. >> we are at a moment where we have to resolve some very serious issues. this is not a moment for anything except very sober, serious, discussion with an understanding that there's a lot at stake. there's no other way to put it. >> the head of pakistan's military told kerry they had, quote, intense feelings about the u.s. raid that killed bin

laden. kerry traveled to islamabad after a two-day trip to afghanistan. a new era begins today in chicago. the era of rahm emanuel, the president's former chief of staff will be sworn in today as chicago's mayor. the first transition of power in 22 years in the windy city. vice president biden is expected to be on hand for that. >> two guys who are known for speaking their mind. >> there will be open mikes, gentlemen. you can call this the don't touch my junk bim. the texas house passed a bill that would make invasive pat jouns at airports a crime. it bans searchs that could be offensive to a reasonable space. tsa agents could face a $4,000 fine and one year in jail under the measure. i imagine lawyers for the texas government and the tsa are going to be involved in this because tsa agents have the defense they are undertaking something that is -- >> national security. >> national security and required by their employers. but this conversation, this issue continues to be in the

forefront. rain coming in sideways, straight line winds bending and breaking palm trees, incredible video of an intense thunderstorm that formed over florida yesterday. several inches of rain flooded some streets and at least one funnel cloud was reported. and speaking of weird weather, the dust devil tearing through a fifth grade graduation party in tucson, arizona this weekend. lifted up a blow up bouncing castle and wrapped it around a light pole. wow. parents got the kids out of the castle with only seconds to spare. a number of children suffered minor injuries but nobody was in the bouncy thing when it got lifted up by the dust -- can you imagine. >> how quickly the parents thought we have to -- pulling those kids out of there. a lot of excitement in an apartment complex in albuquerque. a 140 pound brown bear began wandering over the weekend looking for food. he ran up a tree before wildlife officials tranquilized him, lowering him down with ropes and relocated him.

that gives us an excuse to resurrect this oldedy but goodedy. >> this is miss sue la montana. >> he was fine. >> he was fine. i only show you because he was fine. bumps on the trampoline once, and then off. >> the trampoline was on purpose. >> they put the trampoline and tranquilized the bear. animal control officers are really good at trying to save these animals. i thought that bear was hurt when we first saw it. the bear was fine. >> he was like loose. you know. it's always when you're -- you tighten up when you fall. if ever you drop from a high place -- just relax. >> relax. >> all right. >> we got a shuttle launch coming up in less than two hours from "endeavour." it's the final flight of the space shuttle "endeavour." i never get tired of this shot but that's mark kelly on the right there commanding this trip. john zarrella live at kennedy space station. we're going to be -- kennedy space center, watching this along with him.

>> talking about the value of an education. you know the value of the college education in those people right there. >> you can't be an astronaut without a college education. >> hundreds of dollars of education investment in those people. >> potentially good news for coffee lovers. fill her up. prices could be coming down. we'll tell you why. 11 minutes after the hour. you could get arrested for that you know. it's not what you think. look. there was a time when a company like that would envy us. little outfit. it's almost quaint. all these years we had something they could never have. something only the biggest operations could ever afford. it was our strategic advantage. now they have it. what exactly is "it" that they have? logistics. a level playing field. it's not fair.

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welcome back to "american morning." it's all system goss for space shuttle "endeavour's" final flight. >> i'm excited about this. >> live look at the launch pad at kennedy space center in florida. the hatch just about 20 minutes ago they closed it. >> they're inside. >> that's right. >> all right. the six astronauts suited for nasa's next to last shuttle mission, it's early, 8:56 is when the launch will be eastern time. an electrical problem that scrubbed the launch two weeks ago, that has been fixed and you're looking at mission commander mark kelly leads the

crew on a 16-day trip to the international space station and it is his fourth trip into space. >> but his first since his wof congresswoman gabrielle giffords survived being shot in the head, there to watch the launch in person, in and of itself is a big story. john zarrella is there live at kennedy space center as well. so if they're in the hatch but haven't like locked down their visors yet right? >> right. exactly. and you were mentioning gabrielle giffords, she's going to be right over at the launch control complex on the roof with the families of the other astronauts to watch the liftoff. that's a couple, 300 yards away from where we are right now. she and the others will have a terrific look at it. mark kelly just tweeted out a few minutes ago, we should be pulling off earth in a couple hours. hopefully there's one little glitch that's come up. right at near the hatch where they close the hatch, there's a little scrape on one of the thermal tiles, about an inch long scrape, they've had this

issue before. it's not in an area that takes a tremendous amount of heat. it should not be a showstopper, but the engineering teams are looking at that just to make sure and see if they can cover it up with something or what they're going to do about that scrape on one of the thermal tiles. "endeavour" making its 25th flight. it is the youngest of all of the space shuttles and it has had a tremendous career. >> reporter: "endeavour" the newest of the orbiters, might never have been built if not for a terrible accident. in the aftermath of the loss of "challenger" in 1987 -- >> so -- well, the "endeavour" is, again, as i was saying, might not have ever been built except for the fact that "challenger" accident, after that, the president ronald reagan said we will continue on, we will press on, "endeavour" was then built and flew most of

the missions that "endeavour" in flew were to the international space station, construction missions, building the international space station, and now on its final flight, returning to the space station before it is retired and will ultimately go out to california to the california science center where it will be permanently on display. ali, christine? >> all right. so we have one little thing that we're -- you're going to stay on top for us. let us know as soon as you have an update. other than that we're expecting that window for launch to open at 8:56 a.m. and it's about a five-minute window they've got to launch. why is the window so narrow, john? >> because in order to hit the space station which is moving and them to rendezvous with it at the proper point in time and catch up to the space station, they have a five-minute window each day and some days, you know, of course it slides every day a little further back, so if

they don't go today we would be 20 minutes or so earlier tomorrow. literally in order to catch up to the space station and to rendezvous, they have only five minutes every day to make the launch. >> all the engineering and precision that goes into this, so interesting. all right. john we'll talk to you soon. live coverage of the launch of the space shuttle "endeavour's" final flight will start at 8:50 here on "american morning." get a cup of coffee, ready for work, come back. it's 18 minutes after the hour. [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible.

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minding your business now. earnings from a number of major retailers are expected to sway stocks this morning. right now the dow is expected to

open slightly lower after closing down more than 100 points on friday. the nasdaq and the s&p were also down on friday. the ceo of starbucks saying they expect coffee prices to begin falling soon from their 34-year high. he blames market speculation, not just supply and demand for the current spike. mcdonald's about to change the way you order your big mac. the restaurant chain reportedly installing it touch screens at its restaurants in europe so customers can enter their orders. no word if or when the technology is coming to the united states. getting there is getting more expensive. "usa today" reporting toll agencies in 31 states have already or are planning to increase tolgs this year, they say it's needed to make up for budget cuts. two dozen ceo telling cnn money they believe the economy is getting better and plan to hire more workers as a result. their main concerns higher gas and commodity prices. check out cnnmoney.com for the full story. "american morning" is coming right back. [ wind howling ]

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spillway are open and water from the mississippi river is pouring through that morganza spillway heading downstream. mother nature with help from the army corps of engineers will save baton rouge and new orleans from a flooding disaster, but rural areas of south central louisiana, they have to sacrifice to make that happen. homes could be under 15 feet of water by the end of the week. people are being told to evacuate and they may have to stay away for up to a month. guy is president of the st. martin parish and joins us from butte larose, louisiana. welcome to the program. these spillways they're designed to do this, to relieve pressure from the system. unfortunately, for your residents, relieving pressure from the system is going to flood their homes, their businesses, to save the bigger cities downstream. how is that making people feel? >> it's heart wrenching. i mean we know that we live in -- these residents know they

live in a spillway without a doubt. the last time the structure was opened up was 1973 and only opened one time. it was finished in 1958 and here we are, 2011, and they're using it again to save those bigger cities. totally understand that, but, you know, if it's one person that's going to be affected, or thousands of people that's going to be affected, it makes a difference. >> still hurts. >> tears my heart out to know these people's lives are fixing to change. >> it still hurts. >> for these folks trying to move their stuff out, 36 hours ago is when they really sort of opened the spillway first. have you seen the water start to rise. is it happening there? >> it's rising. it's a slow, painful rise but it is rising just a little bit every night, as expected. they said that the waters of the morganza would be here about 36 hours from when they did it. we did see a jump in the rise last night and will probably continue throughout this week and the residents here are very aware of that. probably have about a 90%

evacuation as of right now. >> how many structures, how many homes do you think are going to be wrecked by this? >> probably about a thousand structures here. i would say that probably 75% of them will receive some type of water damage. people who have built under the new codes are built with that in mind being that they know that the river would get up real high eventually. they'll be okay. the ones that have older homes and older structures, you know, they will see some water. >> mr. core me yeah, the irony, you were suffering before a drought before this happened. >> we still haven't received any significant rain in these parties in my parish for months. it's weird that, you know, here we are fighting flood waters in the middle of a drought and it's just -- it's unexplainable. i don't know how else to say it other than the fact that we recognize that the north central part of the united states received more than 500% rainfall

than they normally have and all that water has it to travel down, you know. it is a weird feeling. >> let me, you know, katrina, hurricane katrina, rita, ike, gustav, the oil spill, now the water is coming through the morganza spillway. i mean, how many people just have moved out and haven't come back or what is it about the people of your parish that makes them sort of endure all this? it has been a rough, rough few years. >> louisiana is known, we are fighting people. especially in south louisiana. just like these waters are going to rise behind me, and that rising of that sun, that beautiful sun that's behind me, we're going to rise again. it reminds me of the randy newman song that says "louisiana they're trying to wash us away we're not going to get washed away. we're resilient people." we've had, you know, just natural event after natural event and we keep coming back. want the rest of the nation to know although it's just a few communities suffering this damage, the rest of our area is

opened up for business. we're here in louisiana to give you a good time. we play hard but we work hard and we want you to come and enjoy some of the hospitality we have in louisiana. >> keep everybody safe over the next few days and best of luck to your residents over the next month or so as they try to get back home, okay? >> thanks a million. appreciate it. >> thank you. ali? >> both you and i have experienced hotpy tallty of louisianians in tough times, they are hospitable all the time. bottom of the hour, your top stories, a man in charge of the world's money is expected to be arraigned later today on an attempted rape charge. imf chief dominique strauss-kahn was pulled off the plane moments before takeoff on saturday and arrested. he is accused of trying to force himself on a hotel maid, but he's denying the charges. we'll have more on that story in a moment. this just in to cnn. this may finally solve the mystery of why a plane literally fell from the sky. french investigators say they've opened the black boxes from air

flight 447 and the information is intact. data was downloaded from the flight recorders over the weekend, recovered from the bottom of the ocean nearly two years after the plane went down. all 228 people on board the flight were killed when it crashed hundreds of miles off the coast of brazil. and that gene that makes you fat, british scientists say they found a gene linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol that is a master switch for obesity. experts are stressing this isn't an excuse to sit around, but that it could help in developing treatment for disease linked to obesity, like type 2 diabetes, which has reached epidemic levels here in the united states. back to our top story. france's presidential election campaign in turmoil with the arrest of the international monetary fund chief. dominique strauss-kahn was a front runer in the public opinion polls before being charged over the weekend with trying to rape a new york hotel maid. >> you're looking at him in the middle of the screen there. facing arraignment after police

yanked him out of a first-class cabin of a paris bound flight from jfk on saturday night. jim bittermann joins us live from paris. jim, this has a couple of implications here. it could have major economic implications for the world because of his role at the imf, but also major political implications in france, where he was a candidate for the presidency. >> he was a candidate. he hadn't declared himself yet. the fact was in all the opinion polls he was the leading candida candidate, the man who could easily defeat incumbent president nicolas sarkozy. the socialist party which he was a member were looking to him to really put them back in power. this morning, at the socialist party headquarters, people are despondent, in tears, one spoke of the unspeakable cruelty of watching dominique strauss-kahn being led away by police in handcuffs, something they thought they would never see. of course, the idea that he would have any future in french politics was answered by the

newspaper this morning that said "dsk out." dominique strauss-kahn, "out" you can understand in any language. >> what's happening right now. i mean you shown us the newspapers. is there something active going on in france about this? are they -- is anybody talking about any legal positions on what they're going to want to do? want to bring limb back to france or let this play out in the united states? >> well, it there have been a couple things happened. for one thing, in terms of the presidential campaign, on the socialist side, they say they're going to hold to, the objective is still to defeat president sarkozy, and that mission is still on. whether it's dominique strauss-kahn who leads the battle or someone else, most likely now someone else, that's the goal. on the right, there's not a lot of glee because sarkozy really didn't have that much of an advantage going into the election campaign. he was in some of the opinion polls as low as fourth among the candidates. so not a lot of satisfaction on

that side necessarily, although strauss-kahn was obviously the biggest threat to the president. on another front, there has been a case, at least one more case, surfaced here, of sexual indiscretion. the mother of a young lady who was -- claims that she was agreesed by strauss-kahn nine years ago and never brought police complaint at that point, now says that her daughter may bring another complaint against strauss-kahn. so if that's the case, then in addition to the legal woes that he has in the united states, he could well face some legal woes here in france. >> jim bittermann, just amazing to, again, i keep saying this high profile french diplomat essentially picked out of a lineup in manhattan by the special victims unit. >> there's a distinction because while you may -- he works in dip plattic circles from a legal perspective he's not one. strauss-kahn scheduled to be arraigned in the next few hours it's important to understand how

the legal process might play out with such a high pro fooil suspect. >> the legal contributor for "in session" on our sister network and former federal prosecutor sunny hostin. strauss-kahn has agreed apparently to forensic testing. what does that mean? >> it probably means he agreed to provide a blood sample for dna. the forensic part, he probably agreed for photographs to be taken of his body to show possible injuries consistent with the victim's statement. and that's something in this sort of he said/she said type of case, which it's very, very important. >> all right. again, that issue of diplomacy versus not, technically the head of the imf isn't a diplomat. he's not a u.s. citizen. what kind of treatment does he get as an accused? >> he gets treated like everyone else without diplomatic immunity. when you go to another country you submit yourself to the laws of that country. that's why you're seeing him on television doing the perp walk, everything that would be done to

any other defendant. >> he denies the charges. what are -- what are prosecutors going to try to do next and what is his potential defense in a case like this? >> his attorneys and he's laurds up, hired benjamin brafman -- >> he's a well known, very good attorney. >> he represented plaxico burress and p. diddy, what is going to happen here the prosecution thinks this victim is credible. he would not have been yanked, put it frankly, off of an airplane by the port authority police officers had they not found this victim credible. she's pointed him out in a lineup. i think it's going to be business as usual. i called the d.a.'s office and they said they're not going to make comment because the arraignment is pending. he will probably be arraigned this morning even though there's a bit of fancy laurg going on because of this forensic examination. he's saying i didn't do this and submitted to this forensic examination. >> do you think he's a flight risk? >> no question he's a flight

risk. he got yanked off this airplane. possibly his passport, if it hasn't been yanked it's going to be yanked and he has to post a very, very high bail. >> is there -- put yourself on the other side, a logical defense he can offer. >> it's he said, she said. there was a sexual encounter but consensual the forensic part is interesting. let's say he has some sort of different physical characteristics that are unique. those photographs will show that and that may be consistent with her statement. and that's why the government wanted that. they want to prove up what the victim is saying into if you're a prosecutor do you try to play the power and privilege kind of hand? is that what you play to a new york -- to hear -- i guess it's state court. >> i don't think so. >> law and order that's how we treat it. >> yes, he's the head of the imf. did she know this? he's not sort of this high-profile person you see on television all the time. i don't know that will work. but i think the privilege part will. does someone really think they can come out of a bathroom naked

and be so sexy, as to sort of, you know, entrance this woman that doesn't know anything about him. i think there's that something a prosecutor will sort of glom on to. >> it's a fascinating story and we're going to continue to follow it for sure. thanks, sunny. ahead on "american morning," more of your responses to our question of the day. >> we're asking if college is worth it. we're getting some very interesting responses from you. tell us what you think. e-mail us, tweet us or send us a message on facebook or our blog. >> it's worth it but i don't have a job yet. >> a warning to teens, drop out of school, maybe you can lose your driver's license. >> that's kind of -- i think it kind of hinders you from doing any other work. >> the juxtaposition of those two stories, if you drop out of school you lose your driver's license. ♪

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we have our new couch. >> i like it. >> our question of the day, is pegged off a new study which looks at whether a college degree is still affordable. we're getting a lot of responses on this morning. so we want to know what you think about it. is a college degree worth it. that's a different question than affordability a little bit. >> i think a college degree, the consensus from this pugh study college degree is worth it. is a college degree affordable. >> no. >> on the question of whether or not had it's worth it, we have this comments we want to read. jonathan says today is first day of the start of my career. one of these weekend graduates. i'm being well paid and don't think i would have gotten the job without going to college. >> heck no college isn't worth it. i graduated over two years ago and i'm stuck with a crappy part-time job drowning in debt. >> but two years ago was really

the worst of it. >> your timing wasn't good. i'm hoping it's going to get better. >> kelly says no college is not worth it. i have two degrees and unemployed. i would have been better off working at mcdonald's all my life and moving up the ladder than all the years wasted in school and looking for a job. it's all about who you know. >> debar says used to be any degree. right now the right field or get used to the saying do you want fries with that. the right field is very, very important. you can graduate in an awful lot of debt and not be in a field that's growing and going to hurt you. >> keep your comments coming, send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook, we'll read more of your thoughts later. tweet us at cnnam or @alivelshi. >> hundreds of homes under water in the south, one man built a for tress to keep the water out of his home. a man in arkansas decided to ride out rising floodwaters building his levee and digging a

moat around his property. 100 neighbors pitched in on this project. he's been sleeping in the home in a life jacket ignoring a mandatory evacuation to stay back and monitor his water pump. rob marciano is here, 44 minutes past the hour. sleeping? a life jacket sounds very uncomfortable. >> yeah. >> the ingenuity of building your levee and a moat is interesting. >> it is. and it worked. safety first. always wear that life jacket, guys, maybe even on that new coat you want to wear it if you sink too far in. >> good morning. a couple storms we want to talk about and both straddling the country across the northeast and across the west coast. both are cold core, very slow moving, upper level disturbances stuck in the middle of tranquil albeit on the cool side as the canadian stuff continues to rotate on the backside of this thing. around the north east looking at showers very scattered at this point. this radar will fill in more and more as we go throughout the week. as a matter of fact, thursday looks to be the heaviest amount of rain at this point and we

could see significant rain showers. low clouds, some fog, we got some issues already at laguardia. ground stop, 30-minute delays in philadelphia and we'll see these delays i think ongoing. it's going to be kind of an unsettled day across parts of the northeast. as far as what's going to happen this week, for the northeastern third of the country here's your look. watch it as we roll the clock, doesn't really move a whole lot, the map does but this doesn't. we'll tap moisture from the atlantic and these brighter yellows and oranges indicate significant rainfall here. you know what, across parts of upstate new york and northern new england, they don't need any more rainfall. soil saturated, significant flooding across burlington, vermont, easing slowly. this rainfall not going to help that situation with lake champlain in a serious flood situation there. 61 degrees, the high temperature, in atlanta. i think we average like 80. that is a significant cool down. 69 dmeegs new york city. on and off showers there. cool showers. nice day in dallas.

your cool air sliding into the west coast with the other system that will make it ways off towards the east. guys, keep your umbrellas handy. i don't think it will rain so much in new york city where you'll need the life jacket on friday but if you really want to be safe -- >> we're beating you on the weather side, though. >> yeah. >> you are. 61 degrees in atlanta. warm it up for me, i'm going to be there on the weekend. >> all right. >> i'm going to warm things up with a story that's going to make every parent want your kid to be like this. a high school freshman thinking about his financial future. he invests his allowance instead of blowing it,s like $10 a week putting it into one of his accounts. i'm going to show adults smart is the new rich. jordan is going to show you that smart is the new rich. >> the 2012 race, mike huckabee says he's out of the race. who gets his support. breaking down the field of the remaining candidates and those who haven't declared with ed rowlands, next hour. 48 minutes after the hour. ff! business is good! it must be if you're doing all that overnight shipping.

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a major power player due in court today in new york to face an attempted rape charge. imf chief dominique strauss-kahn is accused of forcing himself on a hotel maid. unleashing a wall of water, the army corps of engineers opening up the of engineers opening up the morganza spillway in hopes of saving baton rouge and new orleans. president obama meeting flood victims in memphis. he's expected to give a commencement speech. today is the day the government will hit its debt limit of $14.29 trillion. congress now has about 11 weeks to do something about it before the u.s. can't pay its bills. japan extending the evacuation zone around the power plant. they are also bringing in a giant barge to store radio active water. lawmakers looking at a new

way of keeping kids in school. drop out and you could lose your driver's license. and the bidding, now more than, get this, $18,000 on ebay for princess beatrice's hat. "american morning" is back in 60 seconds. ine in the jeep grand cherokee has a best in class driving range of more than 500 miles per tank. which means you don't have to worry about finding a gas station. which is good... because there just might not be one. what do you see yourself doing after you do retire? client comes in and they have a box.

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future and setting an example for people twice his age. every other friday, florida freshman jordan palmer deposits at least $10 of his lunch money into one of his four bank accounts. >> it's cash. >> you can save up for something better. don't just spend it on something that really is worthless. just to spend money. >> sage advice for most adults, but jordan got started early. >> the first savings account was at the credit union. maybe it's that that helped him win a contest son spored by the national foundation for credit counciling. he was one of 18 students who submitted posters mapping out personal financial plans. this year's theme, be a superhero, save money. he traveled to washington, d.c.

for the award and met ben bernanke. a big day for the 14-year-old. >> i saved up for action figures. >> now, an ipod and some day -- >> i know we're putting money aside for going to college. >> jordan credits his mother and grandmother. >> his major account is for college. then he has a savings account, then checking account, which is important because i want him to know what it's like to write a check. >> i don't think it's too early, but you take a 2-year-old to the store and you let them know, no, you can only have this one thing instead of five or six things or either/or. >> lessons passed down from generation to generation and lessons jordan has learned well. >> it's important to create a budget first of all, so you won't overspend. create different accounts like

start saving from young age. make goals. >> and i love what she was saying, you're creating these important lessons every time you go to the store with your child. >> keep in mind, for the first few years, you're creating bad economic questions. >> yes, you can have a lol by pop. >> a lot of great lessons on dealing with your money in christine's book. >> that's one of the things we try to show, how you make the right choices and lay the right groundwork. this kid, jordan, gosh, we love this kid and congratulations for winning. ben bernanke, it's anyone's l e lifelong dream to get a picture with ben bernanke. >> i think everything about this kid is good. not sure how exciting ben bernanke was. top stories just minutes away, including the final launch of

the space shuttle "endeavour," one hour away. the window opens at 8:56 eastern time. we're going to have it all for you live. i'm hank williams jr. and you can make an impact to help the people of alabama, georgia, mississippi, that have been totally devastated by the worst disaster in the history of the state. you have to be here. just can't describe it. absolutely unbelievable. these cities need not millions, they need billions. help is on the way. america can survive and alabama can survive. so please join the movement, impact your world, go to cnn.com/impact. car connection calls the xf,

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charged with sexual assault.

the imf in turmoil as he prepares to be arraigned in a courtroom this morning. space shuttle "endeavour" lifts off for the last time ever lifts off for the last time ever on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it is monday, may 18th. lot of news, but first, breaking news out of london. >> a security alert issued after metropolitian police say they received a bomb threat believed to be linked to ira militants. they received the threat last night with no location or time. we'll continue to follow this news out of london throughout the hour. to our main story, the arrest of the man in charge of the world's money. scheduled to be arraigned this morning in new york. he's charged with trying to rape a maid in an upscale new york hotel. >> accused of emerging from the

bathroom naked and dragging a 32-year-old housekeeper into the bedroom of this suite and attacking her there. he was pulled off a paris-bound plane on saturday night. richard roth joins us with the latest. >> thank you. it was one of those developments you look at your blackberry saturday and like what? a court appearance is expected today. new york city police say one of the world's most powerful men attempted to rape a 32-year-old hotel maid saturday. it happened in a luxury suite in times scare. the 62-year-old, naked, chased the main, unaware the head of the imf was still there. he chased her, she fought him off. on the first attempt, he atta attacked her in the bathroom. he faced bad behavior with women before, rushed to jfk airport

where he was calmly pulled out of the first class section. sunday, he agreed to forensic examinatio examinations. >> our client willingly consented to an examination tonight. our client consented to an examination tonight at the request of the government. that's being done in light of the hour. we've agreed to postpone the arrangement until tomorrow morning and we expect to be hur in court tomorrow. >> how is your client doing? >> tired, but fine. >> thank you very much. >> a told cnn the alleged victim picked him out of a lineup. has no diplomatic immunity. his attorneys say their client is innocent. >> and this arraignment delayed because they had some negotiation where he agreed to this testing, but as things stand now, we expect an

arraignment this morning then do we know what? >> we don't really know. there was debate between his attorneys and the attorney of new york about bail. i'm sure there's heavy negotiation going on. you've seen those law and order episod episodes. >> then we asked sunny if she could clarify. she said that clearly, if they have not revoked his passport, they will. that he is a flight risk because they pulled him off an international flight. >> they don't want like a roman polanski thing where he and the director left town and never came back despite charges. >> we'll continue to follow it. thanks so much. it's concerns about the global economy weighing down stocks. here in the u.s., futures are in negative territory after the dow closed down about 100 points friday. it's interesting, there are big debt negotiations going on.

khan was supposed to be there leading those negotiations. he's a lynch pin in the global economy, so this is a story with huge global economic implications. and gadhafi is wanted for war crimes. allegations include the killing of unarmed protesters and air strikes against civilians. the foreign minister says the government is going to ignore those warrants. three of the reactors in daiichi japan have melted down. that's going to make it more difficult tort plant's operator to shut down this facility and stop a massive radio active release. the power company hoped this get this under control by the end of this year. last week, they acknowledged a meltdown had taken place in reactor number one and with this confirmation, that plan is likely to be overhauled.

not change ng a good way. nine flood gates on the morganza spillway are open and that is sending a massive rush of water away from baton rouge and new orleans and on a long, destructive path towards smaller communities. some homes could be under 15 feet of water. >> that means alligators are no match for the mighty mississippi. they're being sent down river. wildlife experts are warning people in louisiana's flood zone, stay away from the edge of the river and avoid these encounters. incredible extreme weather video out of florida. rain coming sideways, straight line winds bending and breaking those palm trees. this is in the middle of an intense thunderstorm in florida

yesterday. several inches of rain. at least one funnel cloud reported. a very close call r for dozens of fifth graders at a party in tucson, arizona this weekend. this is what's called a dust devil. powerful winds lifting a blowup castle off the ground wrapping it around a light pole. several children suffered minor injuries, but this could have been a lot worse because parents were alert. they saw this developing. they pulled the kids out of the castle just in time. let's look at the weather across the country today. >> stay away from dust devils. get kind of drawn into it, but some can be pretty powerful. want to remind everybody that we have the flooding in the mississippi. we concentrate on mississippi and louisiana, but we are still flood warning up through the

ohio and mississippi. vicksburg under the gun for the next several days. then down river. we got rainfall that's going to cause flooding across the northeast. doesn't look impressive now, but going forward, i think the radar is going to fill in. this will get more impressive unfortunately. low pressure that's not going to move a lot will continue to spin. it's going to be a cool one and create instability, but on the front side, it will be warm enough to pick up a decent amount of moisture. we could see several inches of rainfall in new york. more rain in burlington, vermont. 54 degree for the high in chicago. cool out west. 61 degrees in illinois. cool but dry. all the wet weather will be across the northeast. thanks very much. less than an hour, historic moment for nasa and triumphant one for the mission commander

and his wife. mark kelly expected to lead "endeavour" into space for the last time. there to watch the launch, gabrielle giffords. another milestone in her remarkable recovery from an assassination attempt. >> john zarrella is live. you told us there there was a potential small problem. what's the update on that? >> reporter: yes, they had a tile near the hatch where the astronauts enter the vehicle that had a scrape on it. they were able to go ahead and smooth that out, fix that, so that's not an issue. we didn't think it would be, but you just never know. so that's clear. everything else is clear. the astronauts got on board "endeavour." finished getting on board little over an hour ago. now, they're going through the final checkout procedures as the clock winds down to this launch and as you mentioned, less than an hour, they were up early this morning and over the operations

and checkout building where they had breakfast and after the breakfast, they started the suit-up process. putting on those flight suits they'll wear down the assent into orbit, which takes eight and a half to nine minutes. then the traditional walk out. the they come down the elevators and out of the operations and checkout building where they are greeted by hundreds of nasa employees cheering them on then make their way out to the launch pad and they are all on board now. gabrielle giffords, here, she and other families will be on top of that building to watch the lift off. what's interesting, i asked other veteran reporters if they had seen this, they had not, but

nasa has put a curtain literally around an entire section of that area presumably so no one with long lenses can get shots of those people watching and not get any p pictures of giffords. counting down about 40, 50 minutes to lawn. >> we're going to watch it with you. we'll come to you in about 40 minutes exactly, then watch down the count sequence will be underway. this is the final launch of the shutting "endeavour" scheduled to launch about 8:56 a.m. >> john's going to take us right through it. should be a lot of fun. the 2012 race is wide open and on ed rollins republican strategist, he's going to join us live to tell us about the field, next. >> he's got some interesting ideas about what is likely to happen and who can win. in the republican field at

least. after a three week outage, one of the long down times for a major corporate network ever, sony's play station network is creeping back online this morning. sony's trying to apologize with some gifts. and a really heartwarming story. walking proof that dreams can come true. a paraplegic student at berkeley walks across the stage to get his depemployee ma. the crowd went wild. [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible.

washington, d.c., mostly cloudy, 63 degrees. thunderstorms expected later on and 74. >> a potential front-runner is out of the race. mike huckabee made his decision over the weekend. >> all the factors say, go. but my heart says no. and that's the decision that i

have made and in it, i finally found some resolution. >> huckabee was putting up big numbers in early primary states and the south. so where do those votes go now and where does his support go? ed rollins, governor huckabee's former campaign manager in 2008, did you think this was the decision? >> i thought about two weeks ago, worked with him the last six months trying to put a campaign together, there was always a hesitancy. mike's a friend, extraordinary human being. going to be a grandfather in month. >> where does his support go? >> i think it gets split. i don't think it's romney, although romney is the front-runner today. i think congresswoman bachmann picks up some, glover pawlenty,

then mitch daniels and governor hun huntsman. gives them some opportunities particularly in south carolina. >> i was looking at the sound, so many of these people have tv shows or appearances. dold trump, too, where you're watching television to find out from them themselves on their shows. >> huckabee made his career last time. it was about him being on television, doing interviews and becoming a very appealing candidate, which he was. >> let's break this down. in the latest poll, pew research poll taken about the gop presidential candidates among evangelical christians, huckabee had the highest numbers, palin at 16, then romney. you've got evangelicals, other conservative christians and then

fiscal conservative republicans. break the field down. >> need to attempt to appeal to all of them. romney's the establishment candidate. he sort of has the role mccain had four years ago. he's got money and resources and good people. an attractive candidate although he has to get over the health care debate. the others are unknown other than the big names. the gingrichs and what have you. it's the most wide open field in my lifetime and i'm 68 years old. >> i saw a poll that said evangelical men were more like loi to be swayed toward gingrich than women. >> i think multiple marriages are something you have to overcome. he's in a good marriage today. catholics important in aiea. it's a wide open race. someone comes off iowa, new

hampshire, south carolina, if it's all the same person, then they go on with a chaser. >> looked observe a year ago that health care was going to be central to this debate. you said romney has to overcome his health care issues. listen to what newt gingrich had to say about health care. >> i think that is too big a jump. what you want to have is a system where people voluntarily migrate to better solutions, options, not one where you suddenly impose. i'm against obama care, which is imposing radical change and against a conservative imposing radical change. >> somebody opposing radical which i think, but feels that has to pay into health care. >> medicare doesn't work and didn't reduce the cost of the president's program. i think the key thing is the ryan bill is interesting. it's not going anywhere at the epd of the day other than pennsylvanpas passing the house. medicare voters are very

important to us. >> all right, ed rollins, nice to see you. we're less than one month away from the first presidential primary in new hampshire. cnn is going to host it live monday night, june 13th. grammy winner carlos santana takes the mike before a braves game and slams arizona and georgia for their immigration laws. wait till you see how the crowd reacted. and apple sets a world record for -- tell you on the other side. ♪ ♪ when you're resonsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can count on. ♪

it's 23 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning, for many of you, it's about to get more expensive to use a toll road. agencies in 31 states have already or plan to increase tolls. they say it's needed to make up for budget cuts and declining gas revenue. sony flips the switch on the play station network. the system is now back online in a number of states after last month's hacker attack. to make up for it, sony will offer customers free games and service. apple setting a new world records. the iphone 4 was named the fastest selling portable gaming system. apple's app store also named most popular application marketplace. the number of teens unable to find a job this summer may hit a record. just one in fourteens will find work. that will be the lowest

percentage since world war ii. college grads say getting their diploma was a good investment. they say they earn about $20,000 more per year. we want to know what you think about that. is college worth the money? e-mail us, give us a tweet or tell us on facebook.com/ -- having trouble getting it out this morning. "american morning" is back after the break after i get a new mouth. and with its virtualinst, sensuous leather interior and modern design, jaguar has once again raised the bar. learn more at jaguarperforms.com.

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you're listening to. started up before yesterday's braves civil rights game at turner field. he was on hand to receive major league baseball's beacon of change award. but he used the occasion to blast new immigration laws. >> i'd like to say very clearly, i am here to represent the immigrants and to the people in arizona and atlanta, georgia and atlanta, you should be ashamed of yourselves. peace, we love you. god bless you. >> santana called on all latino immigrant workers to stage a two-week boycott, then everyone would realize who runs the economy. >> some were cheering, others were like, what? >> i think he said there, it seems a little short. >> hope he didn't return his tux because a connecticut high school senior has gotten a

reprieve. the school's expected to reverse its decision and allow james tate to go to the prom. he was suspended after plastering his prom proposal in big letters on the high school. thousands of people rallies behind him on facebook. >> i think he's going with the woman he asked to go. this was a walk to remember. austin whitney, a student at the university of california berkeley, was paralyzed from a waste down in a 2007 drunk driving accident. with the help of an exoskeleton, was able to walk across the stage. >> austin has always wanted his accident to have meaning and this today really gave meaning to i think hundreds of thousands of people around the world. >> i knew when i stood up here in front of all these people

today that it would be different and it truly was. >> incredible. it is still being developed. can't be bought yet, but is likely to help thousands of people walk again, fairly soon. it's developing quite rapidly. >> how awesome that it's his classmates and engineers at the school doing it. top stories. the man in charge of the world's money is expected to face arraignment today on attempted rape charges. dominique strauss-kahn was yanked from a plan on saturday. he's accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. he's denying the charges. out of london, a security alert issued after metropolitian police say they received a bomb threat linked to militants. no specific location or time. french investigators say they have opened the black boxes

from air france flight 447. this information is in tact. they were recovered from the bottom of the ocean nearly two years after the plane went down in june 2009 killing all 228 people on board. this was a mystery. a plane that dropped from the sky, no trace. every passenger's worst nightmare. space shuttle "endeavour" lifts off in less than half an hour. you can watch it here live on cnn's "american morning." launch time, 8:56 a.m. eastern. we'll go into coverage of it at 8:50 a.m. eastern. john zarrella will be there to talk with us about gabrielle giffords, who is there. >> she went for the first. low lying communities in

louisiana being turned to ghost towns. orders were issued after engineers opened the gates. the idea is to save new orleans and baton rouge from catastrophic flooding. >> ed, what's the situation there? people are not happy in those places that got flooded to save bigger cities. >> reporter: you know, there's just simply a somber mood going up and down the river. the river has started to go up, but exactly how bad this flooding will be is really been kind of hard to gauge and people don't know what to expect. they've been told to expect anywhere between five and 15 feet. it's expected to up and into the tributaries. they're facing back water flooding. this neighborhood could soon be sitting in as much as 15 feet of water. >> trying to get rest.

moved a lot of furniture yesterday. >> reporter: jake knows it's time to get his family out. >> we just moved everything in here and now, we're in the process of taking everything back out and bring it to my other sisters. >> reporter: have no choice though. >> i have no choice. if not, i'm going to lose everything. >> reporter: but nolan and his wife have a bigger problem. >> todays her fourth birthday. >> reporter: no cake and afraid of the flood waters. since the opening of the morganza spillway, the massive rush of water is now taking a long, destructive path down the river basin. in st. landry, about 750 people were told to evacuate. >> okay, thank you. >> just about got it all out. >> reporter: eight years ago, connie moved on to the banks of

three mile lake. her little slice of heaven. >> this is where i have home, family, kids, grandchildren. this is my home. >> reporter: she's packing it all up including her iguana. what's the mood now? >> it's bad. it really is. it's sad and depressing. >> reporter: after days of warning, it's now the last chance to get out of the water's way. brett isn't messing around. he's moving his entire trailer to higher ground. >> i've never experienced nothing like this before in my life. it's crazy. unreal. >> reporter: but eddie won't let the flood get him down. he looks forward to fishing here again with his boys. >> we're fortunate we have what we have and an opportunity to get out. material things we can e place. >> reporter: did you put up this

sign? >> yeah, it's just what we say. we will be back. >> reporter: and those mandatory evacuation orders were put upstream from where we are in st. dra. here, they tell me the mandatory evacuation order will be put in place at the end of the week. here in butte larose, we've set up a camera on the rooftop and we're going to be streaming that picture and over the coming days, we hope to provide a constant picture for you when these waters start to rise. >> thanks so much and what a great idea. watch that yourself and see this sort of slow motion rise of the water. thanks, ed. public schools. a lot of them are ending vocational training. are we preparing kids for the real life working world while

more jobs need college educations? we still need a lot of vocational workers. how do you train kids for vocational work without setting them off a college strike? we're going to diskiss on the other side.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. lawmakers looking at a new way to keep kids in school. drop out, lose your driver's license. 21 states have laws linking driving proliferation ledges,

but only some require that a child be in school at the time he or she gets that license. >> that one makes me scratch my head. this week, cnn is taking an in depth look at america's job hunt. president obama has stressed there's a clear link between education and jobs and in just a few hours, he's going to deliver the commencement speech at booker t. washington high school in memphis, tennessee. a school that not only offers ap courses, but vocational training as well. joining me from hartford, connecticut is stevery. this is a big deal. let's talk about this. back in 1950, only 20% of the jobs in the united states require an education. only 20% were thought of as skilled jobs. now, that's up to 65% and only 15% of our jobs require no particular skill or training. but we still have to fill those jobs. are we doing a good job of vocational training in this

country. >> we think it's either/or. you can prepare children for both. when we're talking about clenl ready, we're seeing a 12th grader should be able to read, write and compete as a 12 grader. two cities that i think represent this best is pittsburgh and baltimore. these are two cities built on industry. and now, spri is gone. what's left are the two biggest employers. university of pittsburgh medical center, high-tech, high industry and johns hopkins down in baltimore. they are the wave of the future. when secretary duncan says there are 2 million unskilled jobs, i'm preparing my kids for where the jobs are because the economy's not going in the other direction. it's going in the direction of the greater impact of technology. >> in many cases, these jobs have been looking at as

fallbacks from not succeeding in a college ready environment. how do you deal with the fact there are going to be so people who want to be directed to toward some of these vocational jobs without putting them off track if that's something they want to do later on. >> too often, we've used the vocational track if you don't want to go to college. if you've tried to open the hood of a car and look inside, you need to be a bright person. you need to be able to use computers and technology. you need to be able to write down reports. there's not a single part of the economy that i'm finding that people are comfortable with people coming in unskilled. in fact, one step further. when we realized the impact of education on our economy, we begin to see children perform better in so many parts of life, the more education they have. when we see them having higher

self-esteem and out of wed birthrates and incarceration rates, education is not something we use in order to get a job. it's a way in which we make ourselves better and healthier. >> what do you say to a student graduating right now who maybe isn't getting into college or going where they want to go. what's their best preparation? >> things get complicated because there are very few jobs. the place many people who are unskilled used to go, city and federal governments to work in some of the jobs programs that came out of a great society, i'm sorry, the second world war, we know those jobs, the government isn't hiring. in fact, the government's laying off and the only people the government is hiring, are who? highly skilled, highly eblg educated people. go to school. >> if you want to be in a vocation which some may want to be, you still have got to get

the same education as if you're heading towards college. >> i don't care if you're a carpenter, a bricklayer or want to be a surgeon. you're going to be a parent. as a parent, we want you to be educated. help them to feel comfortable and help them with homework. don't just think about education as what you're doing today to get you a job. that's where you're wrong. that's the vocation alex appearance into the practical. education is for the whole mind, body and spirit. see education as a valuable experience unto itself even if it doesn't lead to a job, it will lead to a better life. >> thanks so much. steve perry, cnn's education contributor and founder of the capital prep magnet school. 44 minutes after the hour. minutes away from watching "endeavour" take off. stay with us.

here's what you need to know to start your day. gadhafi wanted for war crimes this morning. an arrest warrant issued today from the international criminal court. allegations include killing of unarmed protesters and air strikes against civilians.

new this hour, a security alert in central london. metropolitian police say they refed a bomb threat possibly from militants. the head of the international monetary fund denies trying to rape a maid at a manhattan hotel. dominique strauss-kahn faces arraignment in new york. he was pulled off a jet saturday and charged with sexual assault. marks open in 45 minutes. right now, all down. weighing on the markets, the u.s. is expecked to reach its $14.3 trillion debt ceiling today. the amount it's legally allowed to borrow. hundreds of people this morning living in harm's way. been told to get out of the way. the gates of louisiana's morganza spillway were opened for the first time in nearly 40 years. protect new orleans and baton rouge from a disaster. and "endeavour" blasting off just minutes from now.

weather looks good. commander mark kelly is in the cockpit and gabrielle giffords is there to watch. watch live here on "american morning."

is college worth the money? let's bring you your thoughts. >> brian on facebook said this is a question that should not be asked. it is absolutely worth it. i fear for young people who do not get to college. as a matter of fact, i feel it's

so worth it, i'm attending grad school. >> good for you. one on twitter says i left high school in tenth grade. worked a string of useless jobs. taught myself to program computers and now make $85,000 a year. that might be the one exception though because that's an area in great demand that you can learn yourself. >> you can have a degree and not be in an area of great demand. paul says it's probably worth it, but colleges need to look hard at why tuitions are the way they are, especially endowments. >> college affordability has been an area of concern. tony writes, i have two degrees and have been looking for a job for two years with no luck. went back to school for a third degree along with working two ub paid internships. still looking, now with three degrees. any ideas? curious, tony. >> what are those degrees? >> we know your chances of being

unemployed are substantially lower with one degree let alone three. i wonder what you're studying. >> we're going to be back in just a minute because it's t minus just a few minutes. "endeavour" ready to launch. we're going to have live pictures, next. car connection calls the xf, yet an instant classic." with sports car styling and power, plus the refinement and space of a luxury sedan, the jaguar xf is a timeless blend of performance and craftsmanship. see how jaguar outperforms the competition at jaguarperforms.com or visit your local jaguar dealer. good gravy, bill. our insurance company doesn't have anything like it. magnificent, isn't it? with progressive, it's easy to cover all of your favorite rides. progressive has truck insurance? number one in truck and motorcycle.

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they're doing all these last minute checks. looks like this could actually happen. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. there's no question about it. under four minutes now. when "endeavour" lifts off, 115 million miles it would have flown on 25 flights. 139 different astronauts will have flown and i have mike good with me. twice on "atlantis." mike flew the last couple of servicing mission in '09. mike's going to be here with me and sanjay gupta is there in atlanta and of course, sanjay, you know, gabbrielle giffords i going to be with the other families watching this. i imagine it's going to be a tremendous thrill for her and incredibly lucky she's here. >> she's medically stable. a few months after this tragic injury. this is part of i thought it was

interesting, part of her rehab, that she can leave her hospital in houston, go here to florida. all the steps required for her to do that in terms of navigating steps, getting to this location. she's with her mother, who's also a nurse and some of the other spouses of the astronauts. it's a small group of people inside this room, but yeah, it is pretty remarkable. i think even before the last launch, which was scrubbed, it was sort of the decision made just a few days before that whether she could go at all. in the end, as you know, coming down on the side of her going and sounds like she's doing well down there. >> no question about it. i'm sure if it hadn't gone so well the first time around, they would not have allowed her to come back. i know still a lot of difficulty with speech yet and a lot of rehab ahead for her. i want to bring in mike goode

now. less than two minutes now. 1:54. these last few minutes are compressed. >> i'm nervous just sitting here. >> you were telling me what, the second best seat in the house we have. >> that's right. it's great to be here with you, but there's only one place i'd rather be. >> what's going through your minds now when you're in there this last minute and a half or so? >> it's totally focused on going and you're ready to get into space. it's only eight and a half minutes until you're going to be floating in space for the next two weeks. >> when you get that adrenaline rush, is the heart pumping? are you like, okay, we're really going? >> absolutely. this is like our super bowl. you're anxious, you're trained, you put the time in and now, it's time to run out there and play the game. >> in your case, you did like two years of training for the hubbell. a lot of time goes into that.

under a minute to go before the liftoff and you know, we're going to take one -- this is an interesting crew. drew, who learned auto mechanics at a young age. a magician and of course, you know, the commander on board and the story he has. we're going to listen in now, about 30 seconds before the liftoff of "endeavour," the second to final flight in the space shuttle program's history. >> 25. 20. >> firing chain is armed. pressure water system is armed. start. 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2 -- zero and

liftoff for the final launch of "endeavour." expanding our knowledge, expending our lives in space. >> "endeavour" -- >> roger, "endeavour." >> houston is now controlling. "endeavour" beginning to roll over on to its back. the roll program has never began a heads down position on course for a 136 by 36 statue mile orbit. >> three engines now throttling down at "endeavour" passes through the area of maximum dynamic pressure on the vehicle in the lower atmosphere. approaching one minute into the flight.

>> "endeavour," go and throttle up. >> roger, go and throttle up. >> "endeavour's" three main engines now back at full throttle. all three engines in good shape. "endeavour's" already traveling 1300 miles per hour. at an altitude of 11 miles down range from the kennedy space center. now 12 miles. at liftoff, "endeavour" fully fueled. weighed 4.5 million pounds. it's already lost half that weight in propellant now. burn out and separation of the twin solid rocket boosters. that upcoming here shortly at the 2:03 point. those boosters are burning 11,000 pounds of fuel per second. standing by for separation of

the solid rocket boosters. onboard guidance system has done its job of settling out dispersions. the orbitter is traveling 2,300 miles per hour. 37 miles. all systems in good shape. good hiydraulics system. the fuel cells providing electrical power to all the systems. >> two engine down. >> "endeavour" can reach a site in the event of a single engine failure, however, all three are in good shape. "endeavour" sailing into fair