. a lot happening overnight. let's get you caught up. new details on the news that stunned the nation. maria shriver and the kids breaking their silence after arnold schwarzenegger admits he fathered a child with a woman who works in their home. the secret everyone is talking about. 20,000 oprah winfrey fans packing chicago's uit. >>ed center for a farewell spectacular. we'll tell you who was on the a-list on this "american morning." and good morning to you. good to see everybody this morning. glad you're with us on this "american morning." the details you were talking about, the schwarzenegger front, the family, extremely painful,

not going to be kept private, obviously at this point and they're speaking out this morning. >> that's right. we've got new details on the confession from schwarzenegger that he fathered a child, a long time family staff member more than a decade ago. today's "new york times" reports the child is a boy, about 14 years old, and his mother is working in the schwarzenegger's home while she was pregnant. at the same time the paper says schwarzenegger's wife maria shriver was with the youngest four children. >> released a statement saying this is a painful and heartbreaking time. as a mother my concern is for the children. i ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and i try to rebuild our lives and heal. i will have no further comment. >> isolating herself appeared at the taping of oprah winfrey's farewell show in chicago. jessica yellen has been following the story and she talks about shriver's empowered woman who knows what she wants next.

>> reporte . >> there's a lot of talk lately, once she announced the split, the youtube video where she looked emotionally raw and talked about transitions and the people close to her say this is who she is, planning to pursue a journalism activism career next step when she opens up and talks about raw emotions like this and this is what we should expect from her. >> the couple's 17-year-old son patrick opened up with this tweet, some days you feel like the s world, some days you want to quit and be normal for a bit. yet i love my family till death do us part. that signed patrick shriver, not schwarzenegger. >> leads us to the question of the day, what do you think of the way that arnold and maria have publicly handled the situation, as it relates to the kids? >> e-mail us, tweet us, go to our blog, find us on facebook. we'll be reading your comments later in the hour. >> the pressure is building on the head of the international monetary fund to step down after his arrest on charges of trying

to rape a hotel made. >> dominique strauss-kahn remains in a new york jail cell where guards are taking extra precautions. deb feyerick is here with more on suicide watch we're told. may not necessarily mean he's trying to commit suicide. >> exactly. he's not suicidal per se. that's not why they did it. this is a precaution they take with high-profile people at rikers island. that's why officials did that. dominique strauss-kahn on a suicide watch. this is a precaution because this is a man when should be meeting with presidents, prime ministers, power brokers and he's alone, isolated. every 15 minutes, again, not necessarily because he's on suicide watch, that's just the way they do it in this way of rikers. he has received one visit. it's not clear whether it's the wi

wife. >> there wasn't any aspect of this encounter which in any way could be construds as consensual or anything other than physical and sexual assault of this young woman. she's frightened, totally frightened. this is a person who assaulted her, raped her, and any television program she turns on, he's picture on it. she has to relive this. it's a nightmare that keeps recycling in her mind and she can't escape from it. >> what more are we learning about the alleged victim at the center of this case. >> she is a 32-year-old from guinea, has a 15-year-old daughter. been working legally at the sofitel for 2 1/2 years. her lawyer describes her as dignified, intelligence, no pretense, somebody who gets along well with her supervisors and co-workers.

on the day of the alleged assault the housekeeper entered the suite around noon, thought it was empty, that's when dominique strauss-kahn supposedly shut the door and the alleged sexual assault took place. she's afraid to go home, to go to work, doesn't know what her future is. >> has she testified about this before a grand jury? >> she has not. her lawyer says she is ready to testify, willing to testify, and that this is sort of the first step. i also asked, why a private lawyer? why does somebody need a private lawyer when you have these prosecutors at the district attorney's office working with a specialized unit and he said that right now, he's just there to protect her, trying to get her through this ordeal, through this difficult time. you have to imagine the scrutiny is intense. she showed up at her home -- >> considering a civil suit? >> he wouldn't go that far. he wouldn't go that far yet. >> deb feyerick, thank you. more surgery for arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords, possibly as early as today. just days after giffords traveled from rehab in houston to the kennedy space center to

see the space shuttle "endeavour" launch with her husband mark kelly in command. >> senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen spoke to the doctor who's going to perform this surgery. elizabeth joins us from atlanta right now. when we talk about this, is this almost the final piece of the puzzle in terms of her recovery when it comes to the actual brain injury? >> right. this surgery sort of marks the beginning of the end, if you will. i sat down exclusively with her neurosurgeon, named dr. don kim, and he is the chair of the department of neurosurgery at the university of texas. and he showed me something, very interesting. let's take a look. it's a model of a skull and there's a hole in it. that hole is the hole, as you can see right there, that they took out of her skull, because they wanted to leave room for swelling, and then what they do, if you see that blue piece on the table, that actually fits right into that hole. they screw it in with screws and plates. you can see it doing it right

there. it is not her real bone. she's not going to get that back we're told. it's actually an implant. it's synthetic. that's often done in cases like this. it's sort of the beginning of a new stage of recovery. once someone has that piece of their skull back, they can possibly even leave rehab pretty quickly and go and do their rehab as an outpatient. >> and that's amazing. do we know anything else about further procedures she'll need and also what her psychological recovery is at this point? i mean in terms of her capabilities. >> dr. kim tells me often in these situations they have to do another procedure and it's called an internal shunt. here's what's going on. when people have an injury like hers, they often get something called hydro sef fa his, a buildup of fluid in the brain. and you can't walk around with that for long. that needs to go somewhere. the fluid has to go somewhere. so what they do is an internal shunt that's actually a tubing, that blue is tubing, that will go into her abdomen and the excess fluid will travel through

that tubing and get dumped in her abdomen and she'll walk around with that for the people walk around with that for the rest of their life. when he does this to patients they sort of forget about it at a certain point. you mentioned psychologically, we're told she's doing very well, that she's very positive, and that is a huge, important part of recovery. the patient's attitude is really key. >> all right. we certainly wish her all the best. this is a big surgery not to be taken lightly, but hopefully as you said, the beginning of a new chapter for her. thanks, elizabeth. >> thanks. two doctors who evaluated jared lee loughner, the man accused of shooting gabrielle giffords, will not have to testify at a compe tennessee hearing next week. >> the prosecution and defense have agreed not to dispute the findings on whether loughner is mentally fit to stand trial. the 22-year-old charged with shooting six people and killing them, wounding 12 others, including giffords, in tucson back in january. oklahoma republican senator tom coburn is quitting the gang of six, the bipartisan group of

senators working on deficit reduction. he says the discussions between the three democrats and three republicans have reached an impasse. >> that's right. the white house meantime hitting back at charges that the latest round of health care reform waivers are, quote, corrupt. conservatives take issue with the fact that nearly 20% of these waivers granted last month went to businesses and house minority leader nancy pelosi's district. the administration says it's been completely transparent about the process and that more than 90% of all waiver requests have been approved and these particular california businesses simply applied for a waiver to prevent premium increases or a loss of coverage. doctors now saying men should get the hpv vaccine too. the human pamplona virus is the sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer in women recommended for women under 26 years old. this vaccine. but researchers say it can also help prevent certain cancers in men and that boys should also be vaccinated. the fda approved the first hpv

vaccine back in 2006. he is fast foods iron man. this is don gorske. i don't know if we should say congratulations or did you get a checkup lately. the 57-year-old wisconsin man ate his 25,000th big mac. he says he's had at least one a day for the past 39 years. and it takes him exactly 16 bites every time. he also keeps all of the -- oh, go gosh, boxes stacked in the basement. wonder if he dated back to when they were in styrofoam. >> i don't think that's their slogan anymore. >> he is eclectic. isn't overweight. always gets good cholesterol numbers. guinness recognized the feat three years ago, three years and 2,000 big macs ago. i can put away some, but 25,000. >> i like fast food but not to that degree. a quick check of the weather headlines, jacqui jeras in the extreme weather headlines, i bet

she was once a quarter big mac consumer. >> i don't hate the big mac. is that the only thing he eats all day. he's this big. >> the fact that he saves the boxes in the basement, i guess that was in case guinness wanted to count. >> maybe. >> how much space would that take up, right? >> a lot. >> like the entire basement! speaking of basements, hate to use that as a transition, people are concerned about their basements in the northeast and mid-atlantic. residential areas that have flooding into the northeast as well as coastal flooding. we've got this area of low pressure that's been sitting there, guys, really since the weekend, and this thing just hasn't been budging. we're not going to see a lot of progress with it until later in the week. so in the meantime expect more heavy downpours. it's going to be periods of rain today. kind of on and off. you're definitely going to be needing that umbrella. flood watches and warnings are stacked up across much of the northeastern corridor. washington, d.c., philadelphia, new york city, and into western parts of massachusetts, all included here. so watch for that throughout the

day today. use caution out there driving. the nation's midsection, starting to kick in with stormy conditions. we've got showers and thundershowers this morning from nebraska down into parts of missouri. we think these will fire back up again later this afternoon and a few of those storms could be severe and also the west coast still dealing with all that heavy snow into the sierra, that should be winding down by tomorrow, but really cold temperatures, guys. it's cold in the west, cold in the east, only the southern plains seeing those warm temperatures. it is not feeling like may. lots of record lows yesterday morning, probably see a few of those as well. >> all right. it's been raining cats and dogs around here. we sandbagged around our house. >> you did? >> my husband was hauling 500 pounds. i don't know if it will be enough. we have to see. it's been a tough time for, as we've seen across the country. meanwhile, in denver, about to dock at the international space station, not even two days ago, the hard work begins we'll give you the latest on that. >> sugar ray leonard, a new book

out and he makes a stunning admission about being sexually abus abused when he was a young boxer. >> oprah winfrey, her fans lightning up for a seat at one of the final shows at the united center in chicago. a lot of people there and some pretty amazing tearful moments. we'll bring them to you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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now to the epic flooding causing so much misery in the south. the coast guard now reopening a 15-mile stretch of the mississippi river near natchez, parts further south, though, are still closed here as this big water move downs the river. >> vital shipping channel as well, troublesome that had to be shut down, parts reopened.

it's estimated more than 9,000 people in louisiana and mississippi have been forced from their homes in an effort to get away from these floodwaters. >> officials are warning everyone to watch out for snakes when they return to their flooded homes. i can't even look at these pictures. 23 different species, three venomous, displaced from their habitats by the floodwaters. officials are looki in ing -- s they are looking for some place dry. >> i know. as if it's not bad enough you're going back to your house, if you have a house to go back to, don't know how much damage, and then concerned about poisonous snakes. >> we heard last week about the

some folks have taken drastic action to do that. outside the seawall, outside the levee protection, these are the folks that we've been talking to that for one reason or another, be it their house was built well before that flood protection was built or because that's where they lived their entire life, they are having to move to higher ground. there are 22 shelters ready to be opened in louisiana. not one has been opened yet. there hasn't been that much of a demand not because people haven't left but because this is the kind of state if you know you're going to be out of house for a couple weeks, you have friends, you have family, you call them up and you just move in with them. so the red cross is ready to go, as far as housing some of these people, but it's also kind of a wait and see attitude because this water is moving relatively slowly. they're kind of, you know, moving out slowly but surely. back to you. >> rob, thanks so much. right now the space shuttle "endeavour" is doing something

it's never going to do again, right? docking for the last time with the international space station. this is a live feed from nasa. this is the 36th and next to last link up between a shuttle and the space station. there's another launch in july of the "atlantis"" i believe. nasa calls it the terminal initiation burn. the engine fire will propel "endeavour" into its final phase. the crew will install radio communication sal lights, a coolant tank, high pressure gas tank and spare arm for dexter, the station's two armed robot. the live picture there, is happening right now, history in the making here for "endeavour." >> closing the history books on this chapter. that's the sad part. some stunning revelations from boxing legend sugar ray leonard in his biography. according to an excerpt in t"th new york times" he claims he was sexually abuseded a a young fighter by a prominent olympic

boxing coach. his book "the big fight my life in and out of the ring" will be published next month. a fight no one would have believed a generation ago. queen elizabeth ii laying a wreath at a monument to ireland's fallen. this morning we're wondering how queen elizabeth might take the news she's related to a pirate. "the daily mail" is reporting donnie depp is the queen's -- johnny depp is the queen's distant cousin. they share the same blood line that goes back to 15th century aristocr aristocrats. up next on "american morning," inside bernie madoff's liquor cabinet. would you like to buy a bottle of his fine wine. >> i never get this. who wants that. >> his logo bags. the government selling off every last piece of this guy's fake empire to pay back his victims. the madoff liquor cabinet is next. >> live from chicago, an inside look at the two final tapings of

oprah. talk about an end of an era. thousands came out to bid the queen of daytime talk farewell. 23 minutes past the hour. what's this option? that's new. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside.

26 minutes past the hour. minding your business this morning. treasury secretary tim geithner warning congress failing to raise the debt ceiling is simply, quote, not an option. speaking last night geithner said he is optimistic lawmakers will reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling and reign in deficits and spending. big oil keeps its tax breaks for now. the senate blocking a democratic measure that would have stripped oil companies of about $20 billion in tax subsidies over the next ten years.

those savings would have been used to pay down the deficit. the white house calls the vote disappointing. here's your chance to get a bottle of alcohol from bernie madoff's collection. on-line bidding begins today on nearly 300 bottles of wine and liquor from his former mansion in palm beach, florida. all proceeds, of course, go to a fund for victims of his ponzi scheme. linked in about to become the first social network to go public, expected to be trading this week with a value of $4.3 billion. and if you're doing some spring cleaning, don't toss out the old flip flops. instead, take them to old navy. the retailer is collecting flip flops and recycling them into play ground equipment. you have until saturday. "american morning" will be back after the break. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work,

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>> i am. i feel like i grew up with oprah and watched her immediate yoric be rise, but also -- and tells the stories of america, it's such a real personal way. >> i'm going to miss oprah being around. she's actually saying farewell and now it's the final ovation and thousands of other people, fans, packed chicago's united center for a chance to be part of this. the taping of a two-part farewell spectacular. it will air may 23rd and 24th. we're going to show you some of the first clips from inside. we're going to get a live report from chicago in a few minutes. >> the world banker now on suicide watch in a jail cell in new york city. imf chief dominique strauss-kahn remains locked up after his arrest on charges he attempted to rape a hotel maid. pressure is building for him to step down from his possession because of huge consequences for europe's economy. >> maria shriver breaking her silence after her husband arnold schwarzenegger stunned the country admitted he had a child

with a household staff member. shriver saying this is painful and heartbreaking. some of the other new reported details, the age of the child, said to be 14 years old, which would mean that the woman was pregnant right around the same time that maria shriver was pregnant with their last child. >> a source close to arnold schwarzenegger telling cnn this has been hard for him, revelation has been hard, and he has stressed to all of his friends not to talk to the media about his family and take a step back from this. there's a media firestorm as the public wants to know and we want to know what you want to know. what do you think of the way arnold and maria have handled this situation, e-mail us, tweet us, go to our blog, find us on facebook, reading your comments later this hour. two of the final three oprah winfrey shows ready to air next week and what a scene it was at the taping in chicago yesterday. the united center packed with 20,000 passionate fans and a-list of celebrity guests fit for a queen, queen of daytime. >> she's just all heart.

i mean, she's an incredible woman. to be near her and to, you know -- i mean the great thing about oprah, even if you don't know her personally you feel like you know her personally. that's a talent she has. she's very accessible. >> with all those other people know her as well as we know. >> everyone feels like they really know oprah. madonna nailed it there. >> right. >> careen winter live in chicago this morning. all of these fans, was it just first come, first serve you waited in line you could get in there and watch that taping? >> some people showed up, it was incredible. right before the show and they got tickets. in fact, one woman we spoke with, brought her sister with her and they bumped into gayle king and scored lucky tickets inside. pretty much lined up beforehand, but there were people showing up the day of yesterday and boy, were they dazzled by last night's event. you know, oprah hates surprises. she basically told her

producers, i will just sit back and wait to see the night unfold and unfold it did. i don't think she would have traded anything for yesterday. all of her fans, all of her celebrity fans came out, everyone from tom cruise, tom hanks, madonna you heard from, patti labelle, will smith, aretha frankly and brought to tears, it wasn't just members of the audience crying, oprah was as well. she was touched by all of this and it wasn't just stars saying oprah, we love you, you're great. no, they were highlighting all of her work from education to the environment. issues she really, really twrully carried about. we caught up with one of her really good pals, tv host and interior decorator nate berkus and this is what he said, he described as his favorite oprah moment. listen to this. >> i think the one moment i won't forget was when i came back from asia after the tsunami and lost my partner, and i sat on the show on a stage so

comfortable to me, it was like anyone's watching, it would be like them sitting on their own sofa in their home. that's how comfortable it was to me, to be back on the stage of the oprah winfrey show and i looked at oprah in the middle of the interview and she had a blank stare at me because she completely understood how i was feeling at that moment and if anyone, anywhere, ever asks what the magic of oprah really is about, it's about that level of empathy. i'll never forget that moment. >> the stories really were endless. just a snap shot from one star who talked about how oprah shaped his life. kiran, christine. >> and maria shriver there last night, too, and thanked oprah for 30 years of friendship saying oprah shaped her life too. >> that's right. she walked out on stage with oprah's best friend gayle king, both women as you mentioned,

they've known oprah more than 30 years. it was a very, very short, but was she dressed to kill. in a stunning navy sequin dress. she didn't say much, but she really thanked oprah for her years of friendship for teaching her the truth and oprah interjected saying here's to the truth. what was so special, almost as if everyone in that audience embraced her. they knew what she was going through with her public scandal, police from arnold. -- split from arnold. no specific references to that but it was a touching moment on stage for her. >> it's considering, kareen, some who were there said it was almost a dig at arnold without saying anything. she said thank you for telling me the truth and they both sort of said that word and the audience erupted. that was file video of maria shriver. >> that wasn't last night. >> we'll be seeing that soon, of course, when the shows air. kareen, thanks so much. >> thanks. no sympathy for arnold schwarzenegger from late night comedians. we're going to hear how they -- their take on the situation, you

could say, coming up. and have you -- you guys know this guy, "dirty jobs" mike row, he gets down -- he put on a suit, did a dirty job, had to go to washington, one of the dirtiest jobs in the world. >> i saw the one he was in a sewer, shoveling things out of a sewer, i would say that's worse. >> have you seen how they make the sausage in d.c.? >> he's going to come to the defense of the blue collar jobs after the break. ♪ [ 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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okay. all these week cnn is taking an in depth look at america's job hunt. for decades the message g to

college, get the white collar job, has ruled america. mike roe, host of "dirty jobs" is stressing that good jobs good jobs are often the ones that built and still build this country. you know him as the host of "dirty jobs". >> my name is mike rowe. it's my job. >> reporter: where he catches snakes. >> i'm being bit by a snake. >> reporter: cleans up tar. >> glopping. >> reporter: and deals with a lot of dirt. and now mike's taking on an issue he says he learned from the people who deal with all our dirt. >> we've got this great rift in between blue and white collar. i would just say that our society is waged a sort of cold war on work. >> reporter: a war on a specific type of work, skilled labor. as our work force shifted to more white collar jobs and the definition of a good job changed, lucrative skilled labor

careers such as plumbers, electricians and machinists have seen their image suffer. >> there's a category of work, though, in our work force that's critical and those jobs have come to feel like, call it vocational consolation prizes and we are simply not had cret bratsing their contribution. that's why you have a skills gap right now at the same time as you have unemployment. >> reporter: according to the department of labor, skilled labor like plumbers and seam fitters will see a 16% increase in the number of jobs available by the year 2018. skilled construction workers, a 19% bump. the problem, finding workers with the right qualifications to fill the jobs and an aging work force that will retire soon. this problem brought mike to capitol hill where he testified in front of the senate commerce committee about the skilled labor crisis. >> we need a national pr campaign for skilled labor. like a big one.

something that addresses the widening skills gap head on and reconnects the country with the most important part of our work force. >> reporter: they are the, quote, dirty jobs and while not glamorous, they are essential to keep the country running. >> it's not about oh, no, the poor tradesman. they're going to be fine. they're going to be great, in fact. it's the rest of us who rely on their work, we're going to take it in the neck. >> and i agree with him. i write about a lot. a ladder job. you can work an entry level in these or own your own business, work up the ladder and become a small business owner and employ other people working in the industry. it's a big growth part of the economy. labor department report concerned that there's not enough focus on that. >> right. >> we have this job but not fitting people into those. >> the other question, they talk about this after the financial downturn, which was we have to start retraining workers, start helping people that -- whose job may never come back, do

something else. as you talk about in the beginning where the focus has been on college and white collar, there is a renewed focus on some of these vocational schools. >> you're hearing a lot more about it, making sure that we have more vocational training for our young people, vocational schools, but also vocational training in high schools. guess what? budget cuts mean a lot of places are losing vocational training in high schools and a lot of high schools are having trouble teaching reading, writing and arithmet arithmetic, let alone the vocational. i would say mike rowe is a good one. we're partnering with "time" magazine to learn where the jobs are, to get one, keep one. check out the new cnnmoney.com. we're back right after this. new near abu dhabi, where no gasoline powered cars are allowed, there is a new way to commute. >> it's the first kind

technology of a public transport which has more like a personal touch to it, like a taxi on demand that takes you from one destination to another at the click of a button. >> it's called the personal rapid transport system, or the prt. it consists of small automated vehicles that provide personal, nonstop transportation between points of a network. the city worked with a team of engineers to create a unique prt system, one without rails. >> we use virtual routes that the vehicles try to follow. once the passenger comes in, basically pushes the destination, the vehicle starts programming a route. >> magnets embedded in the road keep the prts on court. >> so all we do is we add little magnets to the infrastructure at reference points but the vehicles have a brain of their own. >> advanced laser obstacle system knows if a pedestrian crosses its path. >> the vehicle will first slow down and eventually stop. >> all that's left for the passenger to do is enjoy the ride. gary tuchman, cnn. ♪

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schwarzenegger's public admission he fathered a child with a long-time household staff member. the head of the international monetary fund on suicide watch at rikers island in new york. there are growing calls for dominique strauss-kahn to resign after a hotel maid says he tried to rape her. 9,000 people in louisiana and mississippi have now been driven from their homes by the flooding. floodgates are diverting water from the swollen mississippi over small towns and farmland to try to spare even bigger, more populated cities down river. space shuttle "endeavour" docked about 30 minutes ago at the international space station. among the gear astronauts will unload a particle physics detector which scientists want to use to explore the origins of our universe. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" will be back after a quick break.

today is tuesday, may 17th. or as arnold schwarzenegger calls it, father's day! >> in a statement arnold said i am truly sorry there are no excuses and i take full responsibility for the hurt i have caused. then he said, but enough about "jingle all the way" let's talk about -- >> arnold kept the secret the last ten years. ten years. do you realize we found bin laden before we found arnold's love child. how does that happen! >> arnold schwarzenegger had this child ten years ago. told his wife maria about it at the time but told her this long to figure out what the heck he was saying. what?

>> the tv writers had so much material they probably couldn't choose which jokes to go with. >> i know. of course people getting a laugh at the same time, i mean it's a very, very -- for the family. >> it's a very public situation. our question of the day for you, what do you think of the way arnold and maria shriver have publicly handled this situation? >> they both handled it differently. both we want to know what you think about what's been going on. alexandria howard wrote to us on facebook, i feel for maria. i think arnold is loving it. trying to jump start his career and what better than a scand toll get people thinking of you again. >> i don't think they had much of a choice in this. >> we still don't know about the trigger for why this came out.

first in "the los angeles times," but i'm sure more of that will come -- will unfold. one of the other jokes, part of the arnold schwarzenegger statement, that he gave was i take full responsibility for the hurt i have caused. some people are saying full responsibility, 12 years later. >> and that's also strange. new details out saying that this child is older than -- they said it was ten years ago but saying the kid is 14, so a little -- couple questions about the timing as well. we would like to continue to hear from you. send us an e-mail, tweet or find us on facebook and we'll read more of your thoughts later. >> 52 minutes past the hour. time for a check of the weather headlines. that means jacqui jeras in the weather center. >> good morning, guys. a bit on the dreary side for many people across the northeast and mid-atlantic states. once again, kind of a broken record, you're looking forward to some sunshine, that's going to take place by the weekend so hang in there. in the meantime we're going to continue to see the heavy rains as they stream on in. you can see it across long island into western parts of connecticut and we could see as much as an additional one to three on top of what you have.

big-time problems at the airports yesterday. we expect a repeat of that today. over an hour for new york's metros as well as boston, d.c., philadelphia, maybe 30 to 60, detroit as well as cleveland are going to see delays. due to low clouds and wind. phoenix is going to be windy there today as well and wet weather out west causing over an hour delay possible in san francisco. stormy conditions across the nation's midsection. this will be late this afternoon. isolated tornadoes along with damaging winds will be possible and that cool weather remains out west and getting more snow. it's kind of unusual, guys, to get this much snow this late in the season out west. some incredible video we have out of tahoe maybe we'll get to that next hour. >> all right. jacqui jeras, thanks. >> they call it the walk of shame and it is an nypd tradition, the perp walk in new york. >> the sight of one of the most powerful men, dominique strauss-kahn taking this perp walk, got people thinking about some of the best perp walks, if you can say best perp walks ever. >> reporter: it's a scene seen

by americans all the time. >> nicolas, did you strangle your girlfriend? >> why did you do it? >> reporter: but you tend not to look innocent, even when no one shouts a single incriminating question. it's what's called -- >> the perp walk. >> reporter: perp traitor. and some in france are outraged over the treatment of the head of the imf accused of attempted rape. france's former culture minister called it a lynching that provoked horror and aroused disgust. french laws bars the media from showing suspects in handcuffs before convicted. some say the perp walk goes against the presumption of innocence. >> it is done probably some would say to humiliate the suspect and they give off an aura of guilt. >> reporter: sometimes the aura doesn't fit the alleged crime from the smiling accused somali pirate. to the jfk terror plot suspect.

. others bend down or cover up to conceal their identity. suspects use anything that's handy. we do mean anything to hide from the cameras. amy fisher, the long island lowly ta used her hair to keep her face out of sight. the perp walk is a per ren nall, always popping up even as cameramen pedalling backwards are falling down and suspects are falling forward. every once in a while you get an apparent confession. >> something came over me. >> do you regret it? >> of course i do. no matter what i did, you can't justify that. >> reporter: he's been charged with using an ax to murder a man. sometimes a perp walk leads to perpetual cursing. >> you [ bleep ] [ bleep ] get the [ bleep ] out of my face. [ bleep ] i break your [ bleep ] and smack you [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. >> reporter: and finally the armed robbery suspect who managed to escape in mid perp

walk. happened in staten island last year. the suspect took off down the street with police in hot pursuit. they recaptured him quickly. check out how he slipped out of the loose handcuffs to make his break. if only they could cuff this guy's mouth. >> i kick you in your [ bleep ]. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn. >> [ bleep ]. new york. >> interesting, no one shouted a question to dominique strauss-kahn. i hadn't noticed that. the perp walk is notorious for as a reporter pepper them with questions. they never answer except in the one case of the guy with the ax. >> that was a little disturbing. top stories minutes away including the new osama bin laden al qaeda choosing its new temporary leader. there are already doubts how much power he will have and what kind of pull he'll have with his followers. >> you know what it's like to be sitting next to one of these people either on the train or the plane or the subway. kept talking, talking, talking for 16 hours in the quiet car.

>> no. 16 hours. >> supposedly until muteny. we'll tell you what happened. 17 minutes -- 57 minutes past the hour. there you go. ♪ everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn.

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may rhea and arnold breaking their silence to protect their children as we learn more about the love child that tore the couple apart on this "american morning." good morning. it's wednesday, may 18th. welcome to "american morning." i'm christine romans. >> i'm kiran chetry. ali velshi has the morning off. we begin with the news everyone is talking about california's former first family in crisis after arnold schwarzenegger confession he fathered a child with a member of their long-time household staff more than a decade ago. today we have new details. in "the new york times" reports the child is a boy and yesterday it was unclear about the age, but now it's being reported that he is 14 years old.

and that his mother was working in the schwarzenegger home while she was pregnant. the paper also says that schwarzenegger's wife maria shriver was pregnant at the same time with the couple's youngest of their four children. >> shriver released a statement saying, quote, this is a painful and heart breaking time. as a mother, my concern is for the children. i ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and i try to rebuild our lives and heal. i will have no further comment. shriver's not isolating herself. appearing last night at the taping of oprah winfrey's farewell show in chicago, cnn's jessica yellen talked to a source close to the family who says, shriver is an empowered woman who already knows what she wants next out of her life. >> there's been a lot of talk about maria shriver lately because once she announced the split there was this youtube video that came up where she looked emotionally raw and talked about transitions. this is who she is, planning to pursue a journalism activism

career next step where she talks about raw emotions like this. and this is what we should expect from her. >> meantime the couple's 17-year-old son patrick speaking out on twitter. quote some days you feel like the s word, some days you want to quit and be normal for a bit, yet i love my family till death do us part. he signed that tweet patrick shriver, not schwarzenegger. >> what do you think of the way arnold and maria have handled this situation? >> e-mail us, send us a tweet, find us on facebook and we will be reading your comments later in the hour. meantime the latest on the sex assault scandal surrounding the head of the international monetary fund. there are calls now for dominique strauss-kahn to step down after his arrest on charges of trying to rape a hotel maid. >> he remains in a new york jail cell where guards are take something extra precautions. deb feyerick is here with more on where he is now and he's not with the general population. >> he's not.

they've kept him far away from the general population and that's something they normally do with prison inners who are high profile. officials have put dominique strauss-kahn on suicide watch. he was supposed to be meeting with world financial leaders to discuss europe's debt crisis and bailout and now facing a different future, one likely thinking about as he sits alone on an isolated wing of rikers island where he's checked every 15 minutes. strauss-kahn's lawyers declined to talk about their client. they said forensic evidence will show the encounter was not forced and that he'll plead not guil guilty. when we asked the lawyer about the alleged victim, whether this could have been consensual here's what he told us. >> there wasn't any aspect of this encounter which in any way could be construed as consensual or anything other than physical and sexual assault of this young woman. she's frightened, je, totally frightened.

this is a person who assaulted her and raped her and she -- any television program that she turns on, he's pictured on it. she has to relive this. it's a nightmare that keeps recycling in her mind and she can't escape from it. >> interesting. everyone wants to know more about the alleged victim, but because it is a sex crime or alleged sex crime, there's a lot prosecutors and police will not tell us about her. >> that's right. nobody is saying whether the forensic information is back, things they took from the room, what the transmissions of the key cards say going in, going out. >> timing and all that. >> this lawyer was probably the most forceful in terms of describing what happened. calling it an out and out rape. the charges attempted rape and sexual assault. we have to keep that in mind. >> new details about what happened? >> we don't. >> it seems that that's changing and there's also a question about the defense, is it that he was never there? is it a question of the timeline or a question of that something occurred, but that it was consensual.

>> something definitely did happen. even the lawyer, dominique strauss-kahn's lawyer has admitted that saying there's forensic evidence but it will not show it was force. what we know about this 32-year-old woman, from guinea, has a 15-year-old daughter, lawyer describes her as intelligent, no agenda. the grand jury still waiting to hear her testimony. she'll be presented. we're not sure whether dominique strauss-kahn will be presented, whether he will speak on his behave. his lawyer is doing a good job of trying to protect him. like i said we called several times. they're not returning calls right now. they're letting what they said in court speak for them. at least right now. >> deb feyerick, thanks, deb, for the latest on that. new this morning, the new face of al qaeda, perhaps. this man, saif al adel is set to be an interim replacement for osama bin laden. he's egyptian and a special forces officer. cnn's peter bergen says that al adel has played a leadership role in al qaeda and been involved in activity since 1993.

a desperation and fear for thousands in the south as the mississippi river keeps rising. the coast guard now reopening a 15-mile stretch of the mississippi river near the town of natchez. water levels are so high, officials had to close that part of the river on sunday because they feared any wake from a boat, any boat traffic, could damage the straining nearby levees. >> more than 9,000 people so far, both in louisiana and mississippi, have been forced to get out. leave behind their flooded homes, pack what belongings they can get on their vehicles, with 15 of the morganza spillway gates now open, water is being diverted over towns and farmlands at speeds faster than the flow rate of niagara falls. >> i'm putting everything in the house as high as it can go. i'm sandbagging so i don't get water into the house. >> five to ten feet of water, sandbags is not going to help us. even up to the good lord, that's the only control of the water.

the good lord going to decide where the water is going. >> we'll be here. when it's gone. >> the gentleman was saying you do the work sandbags and seeing the water rush over it. it's so discouraging. in 1973, after surviving devastating floods, a 22-foot seawall was built to protect the people of morgan city, louisiana. people who live there like to call it the gateway to the gulf of mexico. they're hoping they don't become part of the gulf of mexico. they hope that seawall holds. >> rob marciano is live there this morning in morgan city where some residents are hoping to stay above the incoming floodwaters. when you hear those personal stories, people are, you know, leaving it in the hands of god and people are saying, we'll be back. i mean you see a resilience that's really remarkable given what they're dealing with. >> this is their home. i mean that's the bottom line. and you know, nowhere else, i shouldn't say nowhere else but louisiana, south louisiana, is special as far as the culture

here and the people that are entrenched here. they do not want to get up and move away. that's for sure. in the atchafalaya basin where we are, they know that there's always a risk for flood. certainly not of this historic proportion, they don't expect it, but they get floods on and off every couple years. talked about traffic, barge traffic into the rivers if the flow gets too high it gets dangerous. i was talking to a tug boat captain earlier today and he was telling me all the things you wouldn't think about driving your car when driving a boat it's a different thing especially if you have a big barge. that same captain grew up in this house. his name is mario. his parents still live here. we talked about what it's like living outside of the protective flood wall. >> people say, well they live outside the flood wall. i shouldn't feel sympathetic to them. >> yeah. some people say that because we

choose to live here but we chose to live here because it's not -- it's hard to find riverfront procedures. it's pristine. i love growing up here. a lot of childhood experiences. i love it. >> reporter: been here since way before its family, 140 years old, this house, and they've jacked it up six feet. it should clear the floodwaters as per forecast and say now that it's jacked up they're going to reinforce it and make it a permanent structure. one of the few people that live outside this flood wall. the flood wall should hold with the forecast, the folks that live in butte larose and other towns across the atchafalaya basen if they haven't got out they will in the coming days. >> rob marciano, thanks so much. meantime arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords possibly going into a critical surgery as early as today. just days after giffords traveled from rehab in houston to the kennedy space center, she went of course to see the space shuttle "endeavour" launch with

her husband mark kelly in command. >> senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen had a chance to speak with the doctor who will perform this surgery and she joins us from atlanta. explain what's going to be happening, as early as today? >> right. as you said, i sat down with dr. don kim and dr. kim is gabrielle giffords' neurosurgery, the chair of neurosurgery at the university of texas. take a look at that skull he's explaining to me in wounds like giffords, what you do is you remove that piece of skull because the brain needs a place to swell right after the injury. but now, when the swelling goes down, they can actually put the bone back or often what they do is put a piece of synthetic bone back. that's that blue piece right there. it snaps right in there. you see they screw it in with screws in place. this really is the beginning of the end. in other words, once that is on there, she is able -- they're able to think about sending her to be an outpatient. so she can leave the hospital and start her recovery at home.

kiran, christine. >> and then this isn't the end of some of the physical surgeries as well, right? she still could have to undergo more procedures? >> dr. kim tells me in many times in these situations, they have to do something about the hydrocephalus, it's a fancy word for water in the brain. so dr. kim explained you can't have water hanging out in the brain. it's dangerous and so what they do is they take a drain, and they put -- take the water from the brain, you can see here, that blue thing is actually a tube, so that the water will end up in the ab dough men. people walk around with these things forever. it's very interesting. he says his patients who have them, really most of them forget about it but they need to have it because that water keeps building up. >> all right. elizabeth cohen for us, we wish her well. i hope that surgery goes well. thanks so much. >> thanks. this next story you have all sat next to this person, but probably not for 16 hours. police in salem, oregon, were forced to boot a woman off an

amtrak train after she yapped on the phone 16 hours on her cell and she was -- she was sitting in the quiet car. that's a car set aside so you can't talk on the phone. passengers say they pleaded with her to shut up and got so aggressive when when one passenger approached her the woman was charged with disorderly conduct. >> why wouldn't you move to another part of the train where you can talk on the phone? >> even though i wouldn't want to be sitting there for 16 hours. why wouldn't you move? >> what is there to talk about for 16 hours? i don't know if it's the same person -- i don't know if i have enough people i know to talk to for 16 hours. you and i could probably talk to each other for 16 hours, maybe. >> the conversation would change topics 24,000 times but yes. that's what amtrak gets for having all those chargers. the creel phone would die but not these days. >> can you imagine using your cell phone on an airplane and talking about doing that. two of the final three episodes of oprah taped in chicago yesterday. star studded, check. really exciting, check.

lots of people screaming who love oprah, yep. we're going to tell you all about it. >> doctors tell mcdonald's to fire ronald. what? bad for kids' health. 13 minutes past the hour.

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16 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "american morning." it's been a rocky week one for newt gingrich after he announced he's running for president. he was glittered by gay rights protesters at a book signing in minneapolis. here's that. somebody just dumping a box of glitter on him and then running out. a liberal blog posted that video. the guy was ushered out of the room. gingrich brushed it off and said nice to live in a free country. then the report that gingrich may have owed up to $500,000 at tiffany, the high-end jeweler. politico reports that gingrich's wife listed as her husband's

debt on personal financial disclosure forms for 2005 and 2006. she was employed by the house agriculture committee and required to report assets and debts. >> may have been a revolving line of credit, use it, pay it off. president bush's old yale fraternity suspended for five years on on km kam pus recruit pg. recruits were caught on tape chanting no means yes. they are under a federal investigation into sexual harassment. george w. bush and his father are legacies of this fraternity. an hour ago we witnessed the space shuttle "endeavour" docking with the international space station for the last time. no time for nostalgia. just over an hour, the hafrps will open and there will be a traditional welcome ceremony and the astronauts are scheduled to begin work installing two radio communication satellites. also an ammonia coolant tank and high pressure gas tank. a spare arm for dexter, the

station's two armed robot. mcdonald's under pressure to fire ronald. more than 550 health professionals and organizations, signed a letter that will run in several major newspapers asking the fast food chain to stop marketing junk food to kids and to retire the character ronald mcdonald. in a statement, mcdonald's spokesman says rojds is not retiring and that he is still the heart and soul of ronald mcdonald house charities. here's the candidate for a new mascot if they decide to do so. how about don gorske. a 57-year-old picture of health from wisconsin who ate his 25,000th big mac. he says he's had at least one every day for the past 39 years and takes him exactly 16 bites every time. look at that styrofoam the old packaging of the big mac before they switched to the paper. he also keeps all of the boxes stacked up in his basement. i think that bothers me more than the whole eating of the big

macs. he is not overweight and says his cholesterol is always good, numbers always come in good. guinness recognized his feat three years and 2,000 big macs ago. >> maybe good to have all the paper waste in his basement than in a landfill. >> you could look at it that way. or perhaps his basement is a landfill, how many cartons and card boards and styrofoam holders he's had. >> up next on "american morning," a new study finding hidden dangers in baby products. all parents very interested in this next story. also billionaire hedge fund manager george soros selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold. something people should be concerned about? 19 minutes past 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.

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minding your business now. the dow down for a third day in a row after disappointing figures from walmart and hewlett-packard. down nearly 69 points. the nasdaq rising about a point. the s&p 500 down less than a point. billionaire hedge fund manager george soros dumped nearly $800 million in gold. this during the first quarter as the precious metal soared to record highs. the sale some says soros doesn't expect prices to rise much high jeer tim geithner warning congress to raise the debt ceiling is, quote, simply not an option. he said he's optimistic lawmakers will reach a deal to raise the ceiling and reign in american deficits. a new study finds toxic name retardant chemicals in 80% of baby products. like car seats and diaper changing pads. researchers say a third of those products also contained a

chemical that was removed from kids pajamas because of cancer concerns. netflix the largest source of internet traffic during peak evening hours. only a quarter of homes with broadband subscribe to netflix but watching videos take up more bandwith than other activities. >> if you believe this saturday marks the day of rapture, beginning of the end, entrepreneurial nonbelievers are offering to take care of your pets should you be taken to heaven. the cost 135 bucks payable up front of course. doing spring cleaning don't toss out the flip flops. take them to old navy. the retailer collecting flip flops recycling them into playground equipment. you have until saturday. "american morning" will be back after this break your advertising mail campaign is paying off! business is good! it must be if you're doing all that overnight shipping. that must cost a fortune. it sure does.

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27 minutes past the hour. all this week cnn has been taking an in-depth look at america's job hunt. many are on it. and many need one. this morning we're digging deeper into one state taking a unique approach to try to boost their economy and keep jobs in their state. >> illinois is betting that dramatically raising taxes will solve a budget crisis threatening to cripple government. governor, job creation is something that every governor struggling with right now. in illinois you have 8.8% unemployment. but you can't cut spending anymore. what is the strategy the state is taking and is it working to try to create jobs that also get

budget deficits under control? >> well, we have to do that. if you're able bodied and breathing we want you working in illinois and believe in education, we think that's the best way to create jobs, jobs follow brain power, and we invest in education in illinois because we have a skilled work force and we've had 14 straight months of lower unemployment and we led the midwest by far in job creation last year. we have very strong agriculture in illinois, very strong manufacturing, and we have a company here, groupon, that had eight employees in 2008, they have 6,000 today. and so we believe in technology and making sure we have smart workers who are very productive. >> you said that you led the midwest in job creation. you did in terms of raw numbers, 46,300 jobs, which is more than any other state, but when you take in the population of your state which you're far more populace than your neighbors in wisconsin, only ranking eighth out of 12.

where do you see areas of potential improvement? >> well, you know, google is a company that's located in illinois and the revenue that google makes in our state is far higher than other places around the country where a place that really does believe in high-speed internet and technology, we understand that it's important to have productive workers. we have good community colleges, third largest community college system in the whole country, and when our workers get a bad break in the economy, when they get laid off or they don't get as many hours, they go back to school. we have a million students in community college in illinois right now. they're improving their skills and they are very productive. that's what businesses like. in addition to our location where the inland port of america, last year we doubled our -- we had 20% increase in exports from illinois and our companies are very, very productive and competitive. >> you mentioned what business is like. what businesses don't like is their taxes going up and that's something that maybe with a friendly rivalry the governor of wisconsin yesterday, you know he

said that what they're doing in wisconsin is different than what they're doing in illinois. listen. >> our tax -- >> illinois, since the beginning of the year has raised taxes on corporations, they've got a higher effective tax rate than we do in wisconsin and raised taxes on individuals. we've lowered the tax burden, passed tort reform to cut through the litigation costs, pushed major regulatory cost to cut through the red tape. things as simple as repealing the state tax and health savings account so employers can put more of their money to put workers to work and not government bureaucracies. >> can i get your response? >> yeah. we're the number one state in the union with high-speed rail. there's companies from wisconsin that came to illinois because of our high-speed rail. and our tax rates are lower than wisconsin. our workers can outperform anybody in the midwest. our agriculture, by far, is better than any state in the midwest. so we know what we're doing in our state. we don't want to kick our neighbors in the shins. i don't believe in that. some of these governors in other

states think the way you get ahead is elbow the other guy. that's not the way we do it in our state. >> you just said your taxes are lower. it says the corporate income tax 8.5% in indiana, 7.9% in wisconsin. how about you guys? >> our corporate rate is 7%. and the bottom line is, in illinois, we believe in investing in education, we believe in the green economy. investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy, making sure we have water conservation. that's the jobs of the 21st century. >> you are doing a lot, investing billions into your infrastructure which is interesting because that's a debate back and forth as well. i mean, you know, do you spend that type of money to hopefully make gains and put people to work. but the other question, what's north dakota doing right? they're adding 9.5 jobs per thousand residents, they're number one, you are adding 3.6 jobs for every thousand residents. an app analysis from 2010.

>> i think a lot of people want to come to illinois, come to chicago. last year, for example, our film and tv industry, 8,000 jobs. we have the largest studio outside of hollywood. so there's all kinds of opportunity in illinois. that's why people come here. that's why they grow here. we have companies that are -- small companies and large companies, ford is building an energy efficient suv that's had a huge increase in sales, and our workers are the ones building that. we understand the importance of energy efficiency, those are jobs in your own backyard that don't get exported to a foreign country. we believe in made in the usa and have companies like fiat, chrysler, ford, caterpillar, john deere, all doing very well. >> all right. governor pat quinn of illinois, thank you so much for joining us. he mentioned the corporate tax rates and what tax foundation, people advocates for lower taxes point out that when you add two different taxes together, that 7% tax rate he was talking about, 2.5% tax on

called property replacement tax, that's 9.5%. that's what the corporations focus on. >> fudge the numbers a little bit, but, you know, it's clear as we've been talking to the governors, they're trying what they believe is best to try to generate jobs for their state. it's a challenge right now. that's why we're continuing to talk about it this week, partnering with cnnmoney.com, "time" magazine digging deeper on the job hunt learning where the jobs are, how to get them and keep them. you can check it out on cnnmoney.com. it is the end of an era. two of the final three oprah winfrey episodes are shot and they're ready for air next week. and boy, it was quite a seen at the taping in chicago yesterday. speaking of illinois. the united center packed with 20,000 passionate fans and a-list celebrity guests fit for the queen of daytime talk. >> she's just all heart. i mean she's an incredible woman. to be -- to be near her and to, you know -- i mean the great thing about oprah is even if you don't know her personally you

feel like you know her personally. that's, you know, a talent that she has. she's very accessible. >> kareen wynter is live in chicago following this for us. what did you see yesterday? what was the feeling like there? >> it was electrical, it was electric, magical. it went on until around midnight, so there are a lot of people probably playing hooky today or sleeping in. that's right. they partied until around midnight. oprah winfrey, some of her closest famous friends and fans alike, they packed the united center in chicago for the spectacular affair. what was so great about it, oprah, she's always in charge, right? not last night. she had to sit back and be surprised. it was so great to see as one guest arrived on stage, you could just see her taking it all in, saying wow, you're here for me. from tom cruise to tom hanks. and the music last night was simply amazing.

jamie foxx sang, beyonce knowles, and then the tributes. we caught up with so many stars back stage. for example, her longtime friend, interior decorator nate berkus. here's what he had to say how special oprah is to him. >> the one moment i won't forget was when i came back from asia after the tsunami and lost my partner, and i sat on the show on a stage that was so comfortable to me, it was like anyone's watching, it would be like them sitting on their sofa in their home, that's how comfortable it was to me, to be back on the stage of the oprah winfrey show, and i looked at oprah in the middle of the interview and she had a blank stare at me, because she completely understood how i was feeling at that moment. and if anyone, anywhere, ever asks what the magic of oprah really is about, it's about that

level of empathy. i'll never forget that moment. >> reporter: so many personal emotional stories shared by all the stars there last night. an incredible night. >> told us that maria shriver was there and looked absolutely stunning. what do you know about maria shriver, you know, 30-year friendship with oprah winfrey, what can you tell us about that? >> it took a lot of courage to come out in light of the public scandal, her big separation from arnold schwarzenegger, but she did. she did it for oprah because they are that tight. they reportedly had dinner earlier this week at a restaurant in chicago and her children were there. she came out on stage. she thanked oprah for her friendship over all of these years. she thanked oprah also for teaching her the truth. oprah jumped in and said, here's to the truth. you know what the audience really, really embraced maria, applauded, they felt what she was going through. there was no specific mention as to the scandal, but you could tell that everyone in that room was really rooting for her and

grateful she came out to be a part of that special night. >> she did look fantastic. good for her. good for her, not holing up and isolating herself but getting out there. kareen wynter, thanks so much. still ahead, we're going to be talking with paul calan, lawyer, prosecutor and defense attorney, telling us about what could be shaping up, the imf sex assault case, what we may hear from the accuser in front of the grand jury and more coming up. 37 minutes past the hour. a.

to the day's question of the day. arnold schwarzenegger and maria shriver trying to manage the scandal over arnold's love child with one of the family's household staff member. >> trying to deal with this private struggle and pain at the same time, of course, it's public. so we asked what do you think of the way arnold and maria have

handled the situation. >> cindy moore says on facebook they are public figures so they didn't have a choice to make a statement. ruth comar wrote on twitter there are no surprises to the story. maria equals dignity and class, arnold equals self-entitled to the world, kids equal hurt, and california voters equal nuts john on twitter says they've handled it much better. laid big mac, maybe she should get together with that guy in wisconsin, says -- by the way, your first e-mailer said she kept up her planned appearance on oprah. we did get our hands on the pictures she looks great. some of the pictures from her appearance with oprah. it's, of course, the big finale, the taping of oprah's final

episodes, longtime friends and maria shriver did come but did not speak about arnold but a moment of cheering when she talked about their friendship and always truth. >> strong women who are opinionated but given her activism in so many women's issues and her history as a journalist, it's clear that there is a next chapter for maria shriver that will be public and will be strong. no doubt about that. >> right. >> there's going to be a next chapter for arnold. "l.a. times" did a story, will he be able to recover. >> do you think he will recover? >> this is a nation that forgives transgressions. >> america loves the rebound story. >> yeah. >> this is -- the jokes out there, you know, i can't even say them. i mean he now when you say arnold schwarzenegger, you don't say "terminator" or governator. it's the scandal. >> keep your comments, send us

an e-mail, tweet, facebook, we'll read your thoughts later in the show. we're going to talk about toxic baby products. car seats, high chairs, veen the changing mats that you change your baby's diaper on, dr. gupta on a study that shows the pervasive of these chemicals in the things it touching your children every day. >> an amazing new view of the tornadoes. this is alabama from outer space. we'll show you more of that coming up. it's 43 minutes past the hour. ad @ and with its virtualinstrument, sensuous leather interior and modern design, jaguar has once again raised the bar. learn more at jaguarperforms.com. kids today have superheroes that lift buildings. and superheroes that fly. but what if we could go to a place where real superheroes lived. ones who moved mountains. lifted an entire people. and taught the whole world how to fly. come see america's greatest history attraction, the henry ford.

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here's what you need to know to start your day. barges are moving again on the mississippi river. the coast guard reopening a 15-mile stretch near natchez. part of the mississippi farther south remains closed. al qaeda has a new leader. saif al adle is said to be an interim replacement, egyptian with a military background serving as a special forces officer. wanted by the fbi for the 1998 u.s. embassy bombings in nairobi and tanz knee ja. >> amtrak's president appeals to congress for more money for security on the rails. new technology can provide advanced warning if tracks have been tampered with. in defense of the french fri fries, some u.s. lawmakers are questioning the plan to reduce the amount of potatoes and other starchy vegetables in school meals. they say the federal government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. sales of an app that allows users to locate police sobriety

checkpoints have soared after efforts by congress to restrict them. the head of buzz alert says his companies sales have doubled and insists the application is not intended to help people drive drunk. incredible image of tornado damage from space. these satellite images show the path of destruction of twisters that tore through tuscaloosa, alabama, recently. "american morning" back in 60 seconds.

okay. nursing pillows, car seats, high chairs, they may all contain a chemical linked to cancer. >> a new study warning 80% of baby products may contain this chemical. sanjay gupta joins us from

atlanta. we talk about this all the time, you have three little girls, three boys, two kids, we always worry, are the products that we're using putting on them safe? >> yeah. and one of the things we've been researching for a long time, we're surrounded by chemicals all the time, about 80,000 chemicals and a very small number of them have been tested. so the answer to the question is, you know, as christine said before, potentially toxic chemicals, we don't know the truth about some of these chemicals. we don't know the cause and effect relationship that people are looking for. it's been this balance for some time when it comes to flame retardants in particular. they want to find good flame retardants for obvious reasons and part using some of these chemic chemicals. they found out of about 100 products surveyed, 80 of them had some of the flame retardants in them and one of these in particular, called tdcpp, that's been studied, banned back in the '70s or removed from children's pajamas in the 1970s and it's back now because people

use it as a flame retardant with real concerns about potential effects on your dna, potential effects causing cancer. children are being exposed to more than ever before because of the risks and benefits. want to get the benefits of flame retardants but the risk of these chemicals. >> our lives have changed from the '70s. we're sour surrounded by products -- our kids, maybe there's testing for exposure for one part but surrounded by to many different ways to be exposed. why are kids so susceptible? >> part of it is that there are just a lot more chemicals. a lot are not tested and kids are being born prepolluted something we found in the documentary as well. umbilical cord blood, to your point, before a child is born, has up to 200 chemicals in the blood. so they're getting exposed more than ever before. they are not just small adults, children don't think of them that way, but more susceptible

because they metabolize these chemicals more quickly, organs are still developing and they have a much longer impact. if you've been exposed to these later in life the impact will be less. this is a practical point. i have three small children. a lot of these types of chemicals and a lot of these chemicals end up accumulating close to the ground. on the floor of your house. they put their hands on the ground. they touch their hands to their mouth. it's a significant route of exposure. simply taking off your shoes, that can enter the amount of chemicals your dragging into the house from the outside. also, that new sort of furniture smell that you often smell, people like that, off curtains, furniture. often time, that can be a sign of these seem chemicals, so making your you ventilate that.

household plants can help absorb these chemicals. these are some things we can do because we are surrounded by these chemicals. >> i opened a playpen yesterday, it smelled like plastic, brand new. >> you have to gas it. >> i dragged it into the dining room and opened the windows. maybe i'm crazy, but not putting the baby in it yet. >> inside your home is often more dangerous for these reasons. you think you go inside to get away, open up the windows, let the ventilation occur. that can help as well. >> and eller ji season, you don't know which way is worse. >> all right. thanks. >> got a special cnn report sunday night. patrick kennedy comes clean about addiction, what he learned from his father and his new dream of curing brain disease. sunday at 7:00.

another great doctor. certainly a startling fall from grace. one of the most powerful men on the globe. on the global economics stage. sits on the imf. now, he's sitting in a jail cell accused of attempted rape. dominique strauss-kahn is accused of trying a assault a maid in a hotel in new york. this morning, his job is in jeopardy and so is his freedom. joining us how is paul cowen, a criminal defense attorney and prosecutor. you're familiar with rikers island. >> never been incarcerated there. >> people are making much of this suicide watch. that doesn't necessarily mean you're trying to take your own life. what does it mean? >> not necessarily. he's in this hospital wing. i've had clients incarcerated there. people in danger are put there because it's a protective custody place and people who are

ill are put there. it is not uncommon for somebody to be put on suicide watch in that facility, but he can actually be suicidal as well. it's not clear from the press reports. he is protected when out of the cell. it's a very grim place. he's gone from his luxury apartment and lifestyle to a tiny cell in a grim industrial background with people screaming in the night. the worst of the worst criminals in new york, murderers. kidnappers. >> what happens in bail negotiations? could he be out in the near term? >> on friday, the prosecutors have to announce an indictment. if it's 23 people who hear the evidence and really only the prosecutor's side of the evidence. if they think there's enough for the case to go to trial, an indictment is announced. if that happens, it gets

transferred to the main trial court and there will be another bail hearing at that time. if prosecutors don't finish the presentment by friday, he would have to be released in his own recognizan recognizance. >> is is the alleged accuser going to testify? >> she would have to testify? she's key to the case, but it's a secret proceeding. i'm sure the press has the courthouse surrounded, but no one will no what she says. >> we don't know what she said and that's because of laws to protect sex victims. >> ironic, we know a lot more about her. the central park jogger, we didn't know the identity until 15 years after. we know she's an african immigrant, 33 years of age. >> some of her family members are speaking out to papers as

well. >> apparently, she has her own lawyer who's been doing the rounds talking about her. >> what's the role of her own lawyer because there are prosecutors who are prosecuting this case on her behalf. >> i suspect that prosecutors are upset her own private attorney is in the mix because prosecutors like to control the dissemination of information carefully and don't give much to the defense. if she's going to sue him civilly for millions of dollars, her own civil attorney is now sort of mucking the situation up. and also giving her a motive, economic motive. >> this morning at least in what i've read, he's not even going there, but i want to ask about a possible defense theorys, that one lawyer in the court saying there was forensic evidence, but said it was not consistent with the forcible encounter, but then

there are some reports that the timeline might not work. those are startling, conflicting theorys. >> almost as if they're floating trial balloons much as politicians do. he's said to be a french presidential candidate in the future, so they do this. but here's how i think this plays out cht i think the defense attorney brafman is saying this. it was a consent encounter. she consented to the sex and the timeline indicates he acted like an innocent man afterwards. he had lunch with his daughter. he called for his cell phone when he went to the airport, revealing his location. doesn't sound like a guy who raped somebody. but here's the fly in the ointment of that defense. you would have to believe that a 63-year-old man comes out of a bathroom naked and all of a sudden, a 33-year-old maid is overcome with lust and has

consental sex with him? supposedly, she thought the room was efforty, she went in and he came out. i've got a problem with the consent theory if that's what's it's going to be. i understand if he's feeling a little depressed because frankly, if there's efld, if the frinzic evidence shows the presence like of a blue dress, he's got a major problem, career ending problem. >> thanks, paul. top stories are minutes away, including the new head of al-qaeda, choosing a temporary leader. a live report on who he is ahead. [ 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

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the new face of terror. this morning, we're learning more about the man who may have replaced osama bin laden. but the choice not sitting well the all of al-qaeda. and breaking her silence today. maria shriver calling for compassion, asking for privacy and saying it's all about the kids after her husband's hurtful confession. new details on this "american morning."

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. it's wednesday, may 18th. >> ali's off. we're following a lot of developing stories. we want to bring you the latest on perhaps a replacement for osama bin laden. a source is now saying the terror group has picked bin laden's temporary replacement. an egyptian and former special forces officer said to be in his 50s. >> there are already doubts that every terrorist will swear aallegiance to him. dan, when someone joins al-qaeda, they swear a personal allegiance to bin laden, so the new leader will have to command that kind of importance with all the followers and there are questions about this. >> there are. it's important to point out that he is only being touted at the moment from this source as a caretaker interim leader.

a source of temporary manager, if you like, of a organization, while they look for a new figure head to replace bin laden. that has been complicated by the fact they are worried about the intelligence that's been gathered at bin laden's hideout. they are harried by drone strikes by the u.s. and they're having to change their entire operating proceed as a result. sending messages back and forth is being abandoned and they're kind of having to start afresh about whether he will take over. he's the number two at the moment. seems this egyptian is the most likely to take over, but that may cause problems with some of the saudi elements. >> where is he right now? i understand he's on the fbi most wanted list. do we know anymore about his

where abouts? >> he is supposedly in afghanistan as is zawahiri. a former libyan jihadist, that there is increased activity in kunar province in eastern afghanistan right on the border with pakistan. this source even said to claim that he'd heard there were two al-qaeda training camps that have been reestablished there. we have no other way of confirming that, but that's the kind of territory we're being told by this source is a likely location. he sought -- in iran, then moved back into afghanistan and that's where we understand he is now. but i think it's important to stress he's not being seen as a replacement to bin laden. sort of a temporary caretaker.

>> and focusing on operations of the group to keep it running, i would suspect. >> yeah, he's a former egyptian military officer, special forces. was head of the chief of military committee and then of their security committee. someone who has been linked to the embassy attacks in 1998 in east africa. he's indicted in the u.s. for his training and support of terrorists involved with that. he's a veteran in afghanistan in the '80s. he's been involved with this kind of extremist islamist cause for a long time and a key figure in al-qaeda, but not being seen as a religious sheik as bin laden, but that keep the operation running while they consult and try and find a new

figure head. >> thank you. we're learning new secret details about the mission to get bin laden. "the washington post" is reporting that the u.s. flew unmanned and undetectible spy drones deep into pakistani territory for months before the navy s.e.a.l.s went in. this allows the cia to get high resolution photos without tipping off the pakistanis. >> many leaders in washington are still asking what did pakistan know about bin laden's where abouts. that's a live look at capitol hill where carl levin says support is growing to cut the amount of financial aid the u.s. hands over to pakistan. he says many lawmakers believe some pakistani leaders are still turning a blind eye to terrorists hiding in their country. others say we're spending a lot of money to keep stability in that county, a nuclear power and american influence.

>> very, very difficult situation. and as jamie said yesterday, we're hoping to get back to the status quo, but people are questioning that's what allowed bin laden to be there undetected. newt gingrich is in damage control mode. politico reporting he had a revolving credit account with tiffany's when his wife worked as a congressional staffer in 2005 and 2006. a spokesman wouldn't say whether the account was now paid off. >> gingrich got glitter bombed yesterday. >> stop the hate! stop antigay politics! it's not fixing our economy! >> that's a gay rights activist hitting gingrich and his wife with glittery confetti at a book signing in minneapolis. the guy was rushed out of the room. gingrich brushed it off and

said, nice to live in a free country. >> on top of that, had to issue an apology, sort of to walk back the statements he made, criticizing paul ryan and his budget proposal. it's been a tough week. the first week out of the bag saying you're running. pressure's mounting on the head of the international monetary fund. timothy geithner now among those who think dominique strauss-kahn should quit. he's under suicide watch at rikers island. a grand jury has until the end of the week to bring formal charges against him. maria shriver is out with a statement after arnold schwarzenegger's confession that he fathered a child with a family staff member. quote --

>> the couple's 17-year-old son opening up with this tweet -- that was signed patrick shriver. his 21-year-old sister tweeting -- >> you can only imagine the siblings coming together around this. as they try to you know, help their mother and decide how to move forward. what do you think of the way they have publicly handled the situation? you can e-mail us, give us a tweet. tell us on facebook. lot of you are using the word class to describe how the family is handling it. we're going to read them later in the show. former first lady of california appears to be getting on with her life.

new pictures of shriver hanging out with oprah last night. many of the a list celebrities who turned out for the taping of one of the final shows. also on hand, mike jordan, will smith, tom hanks, tom cruz just to name a few. 20,000 fans packing into the united center. >> michael jordan had a huge retirement party just like this. star studded. >> the final farewell. we had a big to do for oprah's 50th birthday, too. >> nate berkus also on hand. she helped this former fashion designer launch his own tv career and he now hosts his own show, but he says it's oprah's enormous compassion that makes her so special to him. >> i think the one moment i won't forget was when i came back from asia after the tsunami and lost my partner, i sat on

the show on a stage that was so comfortable to me. it was like anyone's watching, it would be like them sitting on their own sofa. that's how comfortable it was to me to be back on the stage of the oprah show. i looked at her during the interview and she had a blank stare at me because she completely understood how i was feeling at that moment. and if anyone anywhere ever asks what the magic of oprah really is about, it's about that level of empathy and i'll never forget that moment. >> also for kristen chenoweth just being invited was a career highlight, but after her performance brought winfrey to tears after a show, it was all too much for chenoweth to take. >> some people are saying you had the performance of the night. you were fantastic out there.

>> thank you so much. most importantly, i think getting, seeing her react to the emotion -- as a performer, all you want to be is be a vessel and i'm just so glad she -- she was. she accepted it and she really was moved and i got all -- >> why does she have this effect on us? >> because she has been a great example. she's shared with us her losses, her wins, her disappointments, her humanness. that's why we love her. >> there you go. >> she had the shakes. >> clearly moved. >> still ahead, we've been talking about all of the horrible aftermath of the flooding for people, well, add on top of that, ail galligators

now warnings to be on the lookout for venomous snakes. also, area 51. what really goes on at this top secret military base. we're going to bring you the special investigation of the secrets revealed. [ male announcer ] diane was already the chief operating officer at a national tissue bank when she decided to get her masters in healthcare administration. by choosing a university that connects working students to faculty who are also leaders in their fields... she was able to apply her studies to the real world... and help more people, much quicker. ♪ my name is diane wilson, i deliver the best gifts on earth, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] learn more about the college of nursing at phoenix.edu. now use the best suncare recommended most by dermatologists. neutrogena®, with technologies like helioplex... it provides the highest average spf

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a developing story in new york. as many as 14 people reportedly injure this morning when an elevator plunlged three floors in a high-rise building. >> this is a big fear of mine. it happened in the chelsea section of manhattan. we know that fire officials are there. there are victims hurt after that and that an ambulance or a few are being sent to the scene, so we'll continue to monitor these. >> 15 people inside? >> and apparently still in the elevator, so after plunging three floors.

meanwhile, fear and desperation gripping thousands in the south this morning as the mississippi river keeps rising and the flood waters keep raging. the coast guard opening a 15-mile stretch. water levels are so high officials had to close that part of the river on sunday because they feared the weight from boat traffic would damage nearby levees. >> if the floods did not get to homeowners, there's a new fear. it's the snakes. the state is warning everybody to be on the look out. they have been displaced and could wind up in people's homes. they say there are about 20 some species and three could be poisonous. they're also worried about the copperheads, cotton mouths and rattlesnakes. >> in ft. lauderdale, florida, broward county officials are taking in stranded cats from mississippi and alabama and

offering them for adoption. justin bieber meeting about a dozen kids whose families were hit hard by the earthquake and tsunami in japan. it took place today, at the u.s. embassy in tokyo. >> he wanted to perform, but that was not possible so his label arranged for today's meeting. >> things can get better and will get better. there's only good times to come. again, my prayer gos out to all the families. >> he invited the kids to his concert tomorrow night. good for them. doing a good thing. area 51, it's been the subject of intrigue, conspiracy theorys. roswell, the soviets hidden aliens, the moon landing. all right. well, annie jacobsen takes a closer look in her book.

she joins us coming up next. it's 17 minutes past the hour. car connection calls the xf,

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it's 20 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. tim geithner warning congress that failing to raise the debt ceiling is not an option. he's optimistic lawmakers will reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling and reign in deficits. linkedin is about to go public. it's expected to begin trading this week with more than $4.3 billion. dow futures up slightly this morning after the dow's third straight day of declines. down 69 points yesterday after disappointing figures from

walmart and hewlett-packard. the s&p down less than a point. today, the u.s. marshal service begins an online auction to sell personal items from the unibomber. some will go to compensate the victims. here's your chance to get a bottle of alcohol from bernie madoff's collection. bidding begins today on nearly 300 bottles of wine and liquor from his former mansion in florida. the proceeds are going to the victims of his ponzi scheme. beer that's literally out of this world. two australia ans developed a beer for space tourists. it's to counter the loss of taste in space. back after the break. [ male announcer ] have you pushed your onstar button yet?

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26 minutes past the hour. when it comes to america's military secrets, there may be nothing that topped area 51 and the intrees about how secret it is. >> that has made it fertile ground for conspiracy theorys. our next guest has written the book, annie jacobsen. the government being so secret was fertile ground for a will

the of theorists to try to talk about the things happening there. what is area 51 and what did you find? >> a secret military facility in the southern nevada north of las vegas. it's been opened since 1951, hence the name. it's set in america's only atomic bombing range and during the '50s, we set off nuclear bombs there above the ground. on the other side of the fence over at area 51, the cia began testing their earliest spy planes there, the famous u2 spy plane was tested there, so was the oxcourt. i interviewed a lot of the pilots and engineers and mechanics who worked there. my book is really the secret, inside story of this legendary group of cold warriors. >> so area 51 was basically created to be able to do this. to be able to test the

untestable and have it not be known. what was the importance of the location and secrecy surrounding it. >> because the atomic bombing range was there, they knew this place was federally restricted and nobody would go there. the cia said, the perfect place. no one will look there inside an already restricted facility. the base has all these different secret areas, which i touch upon. >> 25 different areas. different people working at them. you met some of the now old men. why did they want to tell you the story about the secret things happening there? >> well, in 2007, the cia declassified a big load o of document ons a spy plane. the men were able to talk about it for the first time ever and sort of in the final chapter of their lives, able to say, this

is what i did, how i kept america safe and secure. >> you say this oxcart was really the beginning, the first prototype for what went on to be the air force blackbird. this is amazing because they were saying that when people said, oh, i think what i'm seeing is lights i've never seen before. these must be ufos. this was part of these exper n experimental planes the cia was working on. >> that's right. imagine being a commercial airline pilot flying at 25,000 feet or a passenger and you look up and see this plane go by at mach 3. in the 1960s, at 90,000 feet. people would say, my god, must be a ufo. >> what about the moon landing? we've seen the pictures of the craters. secrecy from a government allowed some of the conspiracy they a theorists say that's where they

did the moon landing. that it was taped here. >> the theorists, there's a threat of truth. the moon landing is one. >> astronauts did train there. >> they did, because the craters made by atomic bomb have the same geography as the craters on the moon. one of the guys in my book, ernie williams, was tour guide for the astronauts and they practiced going up and down these craters. >> the government, they deny this, or don't talk about it. >> they won't say area 51 exists, so in any of the documents, the word is redacted, it's blacked out and they refer to it as the test facility. >> i want to ask you about roswell, the most famous ufo incident. the crash landing in 1947. what happened? >> well, i write about that in the very end of my book and i encourage you guys to start on page one. you've got to get the landscape

of what's going on because it's almost impossible to believe some of the things that really happened out there. one of my sources of these 74 sources that i interviewed, all of whom used their real names except for one source, he tells me what he worked on at area 51 starting in 1951 and that involved the roswell crash remains. what tells me is that it was a russian craft, not from outer space. >> it's amazing what they say about what the russians were doing and why people felt this was, this other world, it's very interesting. we will encourage people to read it. i couldn't put it down. >> it's riveting. >> you have a lot of great information in there because again, you're not a conspiracy theorist, you're an investigator journalist. thanks for being with us. your top stories coming up. the new bin laden.

the source saying al-qaeda has picked its new leader. an egyptian and special forces officer who's wanted already and on the fbi's most wanted list in connection with the 1998 u.s. embassy bombings in kenya and tanzan tanzania. new controversy for newt gingrich. politico reported that he had a revolting credit account with tiffany's for between 250 and $500,000 in 2005 and 2006. a spokesman refused to say whether the account was paid off. maria shriver among the a list celebrity turning out for the taping of one of oprah's final shows. shriver did not take questions about her separation. >> responding to the confession calling it painful and

heartbreaking time. her statement continues quote -- i ask fd privacy as my children and i try heal. >> that's interesting. is she going to speak publicly or is this it and her son tweeting -- and this tweet coming from the schwarzenegger's oldest daughter -- >> what do you think of the way they have handled the situation? here are some of your responses. joey rivera on facebook says -- and tom 951 --

>> and annette says -- >> there are others who were upset about that. why should she have to move out. >> wanting to start over, i'm not living this home and starting a new life. >> this is another tweet coming to us. pressures mounting on the head of the international monetary fund to step down after his arrest on charges of trying to rape a maid at a new york hotel. he was supposed to be giving a speech in brussels today. he's not giving a speech. >> he is holed up at rikers island. they're taking extra security precautions. the guards with, we're learning. deb fayerick is here. a lot of being made of the fact he's under suicide watch. >> this is a man supposed to be

meeting with world financial leaders to discuss europe's debt crisis and bailout, but after the humiliating walk there, which has outraged the french, they have put him on suicide watch. guards do check on him about every 15 minutes, which prison officials say they do any way because he's in an isolated ward and there are fewer cameras monitoring what's going on. his accuser, she's set to testify before the grand jury today. that's according to lawyers. she told police strauss-kahn grabbed her after she entered the luxury street. his lawyers not talking about their client, have said forensic evidence will show that the encounter was not forced and if indicted, he will plead not guilty. with asked the lawyer of the woman if this could have been consentual, here's the answer we got. >> there wasn't any aspect which

could be construed other than physical and sexual assault of this young woman. she's frightened. totally frightened. this is a person who assaulted her and raped her and she's, any television program she turns on, he's pictured on it and she has to relive this. it's a nagt mare that keeps recycling in her mind and she can't escape from it. >> also said that the grand jury, they have to present this by friday, so she's likely going to testify. what else are we learning about the woman? >> what we can tell you is that she's from guinea in west africa. she's a single mother and has a 15-year-old daughter. she's been working at this hotel on the books for about two and a half books. her lawyer, this private lawyer, describes her as dignified, intelligent, not a woman that has an agenda.

we ask if the housekeeper knew strauss-kahn and she said no. this is really turned her life upside down. afraid for her future. >> paul cowen, he said the private lawyer kind of made the mucking up of the whole thing because he's not representing her in this matter which is what we're talking about. what does the grand jury have to decide? what are the legal proceedings right now? >> it's a good point, which is that prosecutors, they have this case. they have this case. this private attorney who says he's stepping in to represent her interests, he's sort of looking forward to what may come afterwards. strauss-kahn, very well positioned. the grand jury has until friday on whether to vote to indict. the judge setting a later date. >> so i understand like people saying if she's going to go after a civil judgment. you have to imagine if she's an immigrant and she's been thrust into this very, very difficult

situation, perhaps she does need someone to navigate around her. the prosecutors are not going to be hand holding the witness. >> svu does. this is an immigrant. doesn't have a big support network here. she's got a couple of friends, so they're very careful on how they deal with her. the attorney who's come in, he's added a different element, which is once we see what happens in the criminal case, which is what happens in the case, then we'll think about what to do next and that's where the money component comes in. >> thanks so much. should high school dropouts lose their driver's license? is this a way to solve the dropout problem? steve perry is next. 38 minutes past the hour. building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity,

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sandra bullock believed this them and boy, did they deliver. the new orleans high school graduated every senior. they've been offered almost 5 million in scholarship money. a rep says bullock donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for a new health clinic and scholarships. those are the stories we love to hear. 100% graduation rate. >> it takes people getting involved in the public school system to solve the problem. here's a way pligs are getting involved. for many teenagers, having a driver's license means free dom. what if you threatened to take it away? right now, many states are working on bills to do that. let's ask steve perry. he's here with perry's principles this morning. i understand the importance of

fixing the dropout problem, but taking away the driver's license, is that a way to keep a kid in school, steve? >> it's absolutely not. there are no short answers for the long held questions. we need to focus on building more effective schools that build relationships with children, that offer them the opportunity to feel like they matter. once we do that, there are very low dropout rates. the ones in which children feel impersonal, those have the large dropout rates. >> we've got 1,634 dropout factories in the u.s. they graduate 60% or less of their students. they account for 50% of the dropouts. i don't know how many of those kids are driving, but i think driving their car to school is the least of the problem in some of these places. if we know where the school is, how do we get in that school and fix it? >> well, i don't know that we can fix those schools. those schools are broken.

they need to be shut down and the children need to be given access to effective schools, many of which are in the same town or in a nearby town. we know how to run successful schools. we need to run them like the successful private schools. at the successful public and private schools, teachers have to coach, teach and advise. it gives a teacher three opportunities to build a relationship with a child and more importantly, the child has three different places in which they can build a relationship with a teacher. what we see in the large failed schools is that these children don't feel a connection. when p a child has access to a program on campus which people often think comes with money, but you don't have to money for someone to stay after school for 30 minutes to volunteer time with a student. the question really becomes if you had your own money to spend on education, would you buy the education that come frs a large, failed school or send your child

to a large, successful school. we know how to run successful schools. we've seen it. >> we know how to -- studying if water is wet. this booker t. washington school where the president went this week, these kids managed to improve their graduation rate. we've seen the sandra bullock school. in new orleans, they graduated all these kids. the booker t. washington school, they separate out girls and boys in ninth grade. almost into like academies so they can get used -- be prepared for what the high school appearance is going to be. they have a.p. classes. they do lots of other things to really engage the children. >> that's exactly what you do. one of the reasons why every morning i'm standing outside, rain, sleet or snow, greeting the children, because i want them to know, good morning, son, good morning, young lady, it's a pleasure to see you. glad you decided to come back.

when the child understands somebody to greet them and love them and have the highest expectations of them, that's what they want. that's why kids join gangs, children at the teenage years in particular are looking for a group to belong to. so if it's the football team, it's the football team. it's got to be a group. they're going to join a group, wup way or another. we just need to make sure the group is a good group and that can be around educators who love and support them and use the word love because kids actually like being loved. >> back to the driver's license part. you can see how those laws resognate with parents who want to make sure kids stay in school. >> i can see it, but again, it's one of those gimmicks. if you live in new york city, it doesn't matter. if you live in chicago, detroit, many of the cities with the highest dropout rates, it doesn't matter if you have a driver's license. there's public transportation. we solved the easy problems.

what's left are the hard problems, the ones in which somebody's going to have to lose a job, schools are going to be to be closed. when we want to make the fundamental change, when we commit to our children's lives as opposed to our adult comfort, that's when we see the changes necessary. >> there are a lot of hard problems that remain. thanks so much. 46 minutes after the hour. >> it brings your best minds and their brightest ideas together. it helps the largest of companies seize opportunity like the smallest of startups. it's the network-- the intelligent, secure cisco network that lets your employees, partners, suppliers and customers innovate and share so you can unleash the power of your most valuable asset: your people.

almost ten minutes until the top of the hour. breaking news out of manhattan where 24 people were injured when an elevator in a high-rise in chelsea plunged three floors to the became. all injuries nonlife threatening, but 22 of those patients were taken to hospitals for observation. they're still trying to figure out what caused the accident. al-qaeda choosing osama bin laden's temporary replacement. a source tells us he's an egyptian with special forces training who's been involved in militant activities since the late 1980s. markets open in 45 minutes and right now, the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are slightly up as

investors wait for the minutes from the latest federal reserve meeting. and the space shuttle "endeavour" dock wd the international space station this morning for the very last time. now you're caught up on the day's headlines. we'll be back after a quick break.

can't find the red mug. more cups of coffee a day may keep a deadly cancer away. a study says men who drank six or more cups per day -- >> a cup meaning eight ounces,

so if you drink two starbucks, you've got it covered. >> these men were 60% less likely to develop more aggressive forms of prostate cancer. having just one to three cups can lower their risk by about 13%. >> today is the coffee is good for you day. people will still drink it. if you're a parent, you want to hear this. there's a new study finding toxic flame retardant chemicals in many of the products you use every day with the baby, car seat, diaper, changing pads. a third also contained a chemical removed in the '70s from kids pajamas because of cancer concerns. for the men out there who find oit hard to relax, kick back while your wife is doing chores. researchers measured saliva in couple's. those levels rise when your

stressed and fall when relaxed. levels in men fell when their wives were busy doing chores and they weren't helping. for women, stress levels dropped when their husbands pitched in. >> another classic example of males and females. you know, if you're a woman and your husband's helping you, you feel happy, but a guy likes to know he's with his remote and she's in the kitchen cooking up something good. >> these are not gender stereotypes. >> this is in your saliva. >> mcdonald's is under pressure to fire ronald. organizations have signed a letter asking the fast food chain to stop marketing junk food to kids and retire ronald mcdonald. they say his still the heart and soul of the charities. >> if they have a new mascot,

meet don gorske. he just ate his 25,000th big mac and says he's has one every day for the past 39 years, usually two. he isn't overweight. all gets good cholesterol numbers. each one has -- by the way, that's half your daily allowance of the fat for a guy. >> that's something like 13 million calories. >> take the middle piece of bread out, scrape off the special sauce and you've knocked out at least 200 calories. it's still on the other patty. knock half of it at. it's a low calorie big mac. >> or have apple. the solution for traffic

jams. how about get rid of the traffic lights? we'll have that story for you right after the break. ♪ when you're resonsible for this much of the team, you need a car you can count on. ♪ britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." ♪

two minutes until the top of the hour. a live look at indianapolis, indiana. cloudy, 51 degrees, showers in the forecast as well up to a high of 64. a simple idea to save commuters time and money in indianapolis. tom foreman shows us how they're doing it. >> start from zero. >> reporter: north of indianapolis in the suburb of caramel, mayor james brainered has been going around in circles for years over traffic jams. he has done away with traffic lights in 80% of his town's major intersections, replacing them with round abouts,

whirlpools of traffic that keep people moving. >> it's made a huge difference in the way our city looks and feels. >> reporter: not to be confused with intimidating rotaries on the east coast are designed to sweep drivers in, slowly guide them around and let them out and on their way. since cars don't stop, commuters save time and use 30% less gas at intersections. >> round about can handle about four to five times the amount of traffic in the same amount of time a stoplight intersection can have. >> reporter: the mayor says accidents are way down, improving snirns rates and the city saves money, too. >> we don't have to buy a signal. we don't have to buy electricity. we don't have to replace it. >> reporter: some drivers and