well, hello, everybody. from the cnn center in atlanta, georgia. this is your cnn saturday morning. thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us. up first here, suicide bombers hitting a hospital in afghanistan as the coalition commander warns high-profile attacks more likely in the coming weeks. severe storms making a bad situation even worse along parts of the flooded mississippi. also, the 2012 presidential

race getting more crowded in exactly an hour. we will tell you who is announcing a bid today. we do have a developing situation in oklahoma city to tell you about. a manhunt under way for two men wanted for shooting an off-duty sheriff deputy as he worked add a security guard at a restaurant. he was shot without warning, but the shooting was caught on videotape, which may help identify at least one of the suspects. major john waldenville is a 25-year veteran is now listed in critical, but stable condition. also on the same day, general david petraeus predicted a summer surge in high profile taliban attacks. a deadly bombing in afghanistan. a suicide bomber attacking a hospital in kabul. the afghan government puts the death toll at 6 with 26 others injured. also, president obama seeking congressional support for the military mission in libya.

under the 1973 war powers act, the president has 60 days to get congressional authorization for military action, if not, the mission must stop within 30 days. well, yesterday marked 60 days since president obama formally notified congress about the mission of bipartisan resolution now in the works. also, the former head of the international monetary fund out of jail this morning. dominique strauss-kahn left yesterday and now at 24-hour guard apartment in new york. strauss-kahn proclaimed his innocence in the resignation to the imf board on wednesday. also in mexico, he is behind bars. they have been looking for him for a while and wanted him badly. an alleged leader of one of that country's most notorious drug rings. they offered a $5 million reward for the capture of him.

you'll see him in this picture in the red, this was after his arrest. he was nabbed at a mexican town across the border in texas during what authorities were saying were his own birthday party. randy savage has died. his jeep jumped a median and hit a tree in california. his wife was also in the vehicle, she was injured but since been released from the hospital. police say the 50-year-old savage may have suffered a medical event before the wreck. his brother was telling tmz it was a heart attack. autopsy will be performed. and it's one of the stories, one of the biggest out there that people are talking about. and many are saying it's a nonevent. an apocalyptic said today is the day, judgment day. you're seeing the website right there. it shows zero days are left. now, how did this all get started? herald camping and his followers believe the rapture will happen today when followers of jesus

will be called up in the air to meet him. camping also made a similar prediction back in 1994, we are still waiting on that prediction to come true. now, let's get back to this story. developing in oklahoma. police are on the manhunt for two men who shot and wounded a sheriff deputy overnight. h he is now in the hospital. we understand he is in critical, but stable condition. sheriff john wetzel is on the line with me now. sir, can you give me an update on your deputy? you told me a little while ago he was going into surgery. is that still the case? >> he went into surgery at 8:00 a.m. this morning. they expect that to be a lengthy surgery as they work to repair. at this point in time we're just, our thoughts and, of course, we're praying for the best as he, as he is in there. >> i know at this point, someone has shot and injured one of your

own. i could imagine a lot of resources being put into this. do you have good leads about where these two suspects might be or maybe might be headed? >> well, i mean, we're just, we have teams, oklahoma city police have teams out and we're coordinating our efforts with law enforcement throughout this entire region. and in trying to make a good identification of these two people. >> is it fair to say, it sounds, sheriff, you're not sure of the identities of who you're after just yet. is that right? >> at this point, we're not sure of the people we're looking for. >> sir, you had some evidence because there were surveillance videos around. what were you able to see in that surveillance video? >> all i can tell you at this point in time is that it is going to be able to give us a good, a good look with which to compare an individual with. so, it's going to be very helpful to us. >> sir, also in this video

describe as best you can how this went down. you explained to me a little earlier that they really did not give your deputy even a chance. >> no. the indication is that he was walking northbound from the restaurant to the bank. apparently heard the two individuals coming up from behind him, turned and apparently right after he turned was just shot in the head. never had the opportunity to even unbuckle his gun. >> and if people have any information, they should get a hold of the oklahoma county sheriff's department. is that correct? >> yes, the oklahoma sheriff office or police department. >> sheriff whetsel, we appreciate your time this morning. i know it's a busy night, we appreciate you giving us an update and letting us pass this information along to our viewers. >> thank you for sharing your

concerns. we'll turn now at six past the hour to taliban spokesman there claiming responsibility for deadly blast at a military hospital in afghanistan. standing by for us in kabul and, mohammed, we're hearing different opinions out there, not necessarily opinions, but different reports on how many people were actually killed in this attack. let's start there. >> well, that's right, t.j. according to defense ministry sources here today, one suicide bomber from the taliban entered a military hospital here in kabul, entered the cafeteria area and detonated his explosive skz killed at least six people and injured 23. they expect those casualty figures may rise. but, according to the taliban, the taliban spokesman here told cnn that, in fact, it was two suicide bombers who carried out this attack. one of them went in, same area, they said. detonated their explosives. they said the other one was actually shot by security forces when they raided the area after

the first one detonated his explosives. according to the taliban, 51 people were killed in that attack. according to all the government officials we have spoken with here, they are maintaining that the death toll at this point is six, although they do expect it to go higher as the evening progresses. t.j. >> this comes as general david petraeus is actually warning about the possibility of an increase of high-profile attacks this summer. >> that's right, t.j. really underscores this memorandum that was released by general petraeus today to nato's security assistance force in which he basically warned that we should be on the lookout for more attacks of this nature because the taliban is trying and insurgents here are trying to prove that they can carry out these kind of attacks. general petraeus called to balance their tactical needs with those of the civilian population saying these attacks may increase the risk of suivalian casualties and put forces in difficult situations. the concern here right now, the

taliban, even though many forces within the government trying to get the taliban to get into these peace talks and reconcilizati reconciliation talks, we're going to continue our fight getting foreign troops out of here. they're in the midst of their spring offense and high-profile attacks against security targets and they're vowing to continue these attacks and that has the security forces here the international forces quite concerned. t.j.? >> mohammad in kabul, always good to have you. thank you so much for the update. let's now turn to the race for the white house and the growing, the ever-growing gop presidential field. it's a pleasure to have our cnn political producer shannon travis with us. you only come to town when something big is happening. >> something big like doomsday. no herman cain. right across the street from us is expected to announce he is jumping into the race. he's been exploring since

january and now he will make it official that he will be a presidential candidate. who is he? he is a former big-time executive in the restaurant industry. he's the former ceo of godfather's pizza and extensive background in the business world and also a huge tea party favorite. a lot of conservative activist like this guy. he is a radio talk show host. >> still trying to get that name out there. herman cain. >> you and i know a lot about him. does the rest of america know about him? he hopes to change that today. the campaign is saying that they might have thousands of people gathered in centennial park across the street. it's anyone's guess if they have that much and trying to make traction against mitt romney and newt gingrich. we'll see how much he makes after this announcement. >> what about that money? does he have, we have seen candidates oftentimes, he was godfather pizza's executive. does he have change in his own

account where he can fund himself. >> i asked him about that. i said, hey, you probably made a pretty decent living being ceo of godfather's pizza and other places. he said, i'm willing to throw in some money, but, obviously, i like to use other people's money, meaning donations to finance my campaign. another thing that is really interesting about herman cain is he will be running on this common theme of ceos can kind of right the ship, right the economy. something that we've seen before. remember george w. bush was the first mba president and also texas governor, of course, but he will be running on his solid business credentials. hey, i've got some solid business bona fides and i can help fix the economy. >> some other names that have recently gotten in. it now seems the field is getting crowded. >> it's getting more crowded by the day. we already have newt gingrich officially declared and a man named gary johnson the governor of new mexico officially

declared and texas republican congressman ron paul officially declared. monday we expect for tim pawlen pawlenty, former governor of minnesota, to officially declare. so, it's starting to gel and there are some other names that we expect to hear something from in the coming days like mitch daniels and a few other people. >> is he okay? he got hit in the head with a door when he was working out. he had to get 16 stitches. >> when he was working out, it was a little bit of a mishap, but nothing super serious. >> good to have you here in town. we saw that picture, they're starting to collect across the street at centennial olympic park. there it is. again, we can look out our window here at the cnn center and see this happening. again, we're just about 45 minutes or so away from herman cain officially getting into the race. good to have you in atlanta. well, at 12 past the hour now, let me turn to this rising water. rising water and more rain leaving a muddy mess all along

the mississippi river valley. we're taking you live to the river bank in two minutes. maybe...it's something you haven't seen yet. the 2nd generation of intel core processors. this is visibly smart. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers.

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opened more than a dozen gates on the morganza spillway. that's designed to take pressure off the levees, but, of course, the water has to go somewhere and it's going to other communities. what about the levees around natchez, mississippi? jeanne meserve is on the river bank there. one part they're dealing with. it looks nice right there. they're dealing with those flood waters, but now we're talking about rain coming into your area. >> yeah, nobody is looking forward to that, at all. speaking of the levees. a makeshift one built right behind me by homeowners here, by business owners to try to protect these historic properties. you go around the bend and there is about 11 feet of water covering the road and the casino in that river bank has been shut down for business because of the high waters. the water here now at about 61.8 feet. that's way above previous records here. but this city because so much of it is at a high elevation is largely protected. across the river, is louisiana.

you can't see it well right now because there is a barge going up the river and series of barges, but some properties on the river side of the levee that are dealing with some water issues. they have had some levee issues there. they have had to do some maintenance on them, but, so far, things are holding. if you look at the situation from the air, all you see is water. yesterday our cameraman dave russ had a chance to go up in a coast guard plane and take a look at the damage you see. you see a lot of farmland inundated and, of course, a lot of homes and businesses inundated, as well. the hope was that for parts of the river, the worst was past, but all this rain that's forecast, some people are talking about the possibility of three, four, five inches of rain. that's all going to be flowing into the river system. it will make this system potentially even worse. >> can you tell me one thing in the 30 seconds or so i have left. where is everybody right now? mandatory evacuations in that area or are some people riding it out, from what you can tell?

>> no, no mandatory evacuations here. in fact, if dave swings around with me. you can see that some of the local residents have come to town here with their cameras. they've never seen the river this high in their lives and may not, again. around here, again, subject of some curiosity. of course, there are some homes and some businesses that are affected, but the numbers here are far lower than they have been else where along the river. back to you, t.j. >> i'm sure they appreciate that fact. jeanne meserve, we appreciate it. i want to turn immediately now to our karen maginnis and we're talking about more rain. how much more are we talking about? >> this is further upstream. also in the southern mississippi, they are looking at rain, as well. the ohio river valley and central mississippi river valley all expecting about three to six inches of rainfall within the next five days. but some of these areas are going to pick up a lot more than that. but let's show you what's happening as far as the river is

concerned. here's the precipitation forecast as we look into the next five days. as i mentioned, the heaviest is going to be for the ohio river valley, extending towards st. louis. how does this affect people down stream? well, it's exasperating to say the least. i think we're fought going to see any significant fluctuation that takes place in places like natchez and vicksburg and in baton rouge. the frustration factor more than anything. we'll see these little crests every now and again. it will kind of ebb and flow. it's going to stay high for the next several weeks. we're looking even into mid-june where some of these rivers are still going to be way above flood stage. i just updated these. these look to be just about it for these areas. right around the red river landing. it is now 15 feet above flood stage. if you can imagine that. you know, 15 feet above where you would normally see a flood

stage for the mississippi river and that's why it is such an attraction for people to go down to the river and take a look at what's happening there. today could see thunderstorms rumbling across the mississippi river valley and ohio valley. >> all right, karen maginnis with us, always a pleasure to have you here on cnn saturday and sunday morning. 20 past the hour now. a small town has discovered a round about way to build up the town's economy. and save the residents in gas money. got your attention there. you'll hear it, next.

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well, 23 minutes past the hour now. president obama leaves for europe tomorrow night. monday he'll hold meetings in dublin, ireland. on tuesday on to london. wednesday it's another day with david cameron before speaking to parliament and then thursday to france for the g-8 summit and then the president wraps up the week with more g-8 business and a brief trip to poland. one of the high point's of the president's trip will likely be one of the first stops he makes. while in ireland he'll visit a small town. why would he stop there? that is where obama's great, great, great-grandforth liather before he immigrated to america. he had no clue about his irish roots until it was discovered back in 2007. i had a chance to speak to her this week, she says it took a

few months, two tombs to connect the dots. >> it was pretty easy to march back the first few generations and realize there was this fellow named fulmoth kerney. irish geneologist can be quite challenging and it took a bit of luck. it took two months of research, but also a pair of tombstones in ohio to tell me where to look in ireland. that's how i discovered it. >> make that connection for me because, like you just said, tomb stoun to moneygall, how did you do that? >> i wanted him to belong to that father because the father, joseph's tombstone and the brother, william's tombstone both said they were from moneygall. fitting the money piece into this family. once i was able to do that, i knew that is where he was also from and then i did some work across the pond. reached ooout to a number of churches over there to find out who the had corresponding

marriages. >> now, how sure are you that you've got this right and you've got this town and they're not over there celebrating for not? >> 100%. other people who have piggy backed off that research and took his roots back further and you'll find roots in dublin and everybody, of course, wants to claim their piece of obama. yes, but, moneygall is the most immediate destination, i'm sure of it. >> are you sure it's warranted, as well? we're seeing how they're celebrating now and people are writing songs about him and he's one 30-second hire. do you still, do you still get it and say they have a right to celebrate over there? >> i'm half irish myself, but it's almost a tradition for american presidents to claim their irish heritage and it works both ways. i think it's a win/win situation. >> you plan on heading over, do you have any plans to meet up with the president? he is going to ireland. we think he's going to stop by mon moneygall. we believe, or a lot of people

hope he will. do you plan on seeing the president and sayin, hey, i putt together for you. >> my odds are pretty good. i sure hope so. >> you sure hope so. congratulations on the work you're able to do in putting this together. you enjoy your time over in ireland and we appreciate your taking the time out with us. >> thank you so much, i appreciate it. turn now to building up america and an indiana town that's building up its economy by making the daily commute faster and more efficient. cnn's tom foreman explains. >> that's what saves the gas is the start from zero. >> reporter: north of indianapolis in the suburb of caramel the mayor has been going around in circles for years over traffic jams. >> round abouts work everywhere. >> reporter: he has done away with traffic lights at 80% of his towns major intersections replacing them with roundabouts. whirlpools of traffic that keep people moving. >> it's mage a huge difference in the way our city looks and feels and the way people get

around. >> reporter: roundabouts not to be confused with bigger more intimidating rotaries on the east coast are designed to smoothly sweep drivers in from any direction, slowly guide them around and just as easy let them out and on their way. since cars don't stop, commuters save time and officials say use 30% less gas at intersections. >> roundabout can handle about four to five times the amount of traffic in the same amount of time that the stoplight intersection can have. >> reporter: the mayor says intersection accidents are also way down, improving insurance rates and the city saves money, too. >> we don't have to buy $150,000 signal, we don't have to buy electricity every year. we don't have to replace it after 15 years when all the mechanical equipment wears out. >> reporter: some drivers and pedestrians don't like roundabouts, but local officials insist this simple idea is building up the quality of life here and that's building up the

business climate all around. tom foreman, cnn. well, it's that time, folks. it's time for a vacation. can't you feel it? you need one. a lot of people planning that summer vacation and maybe something as soon as memorial day. i will show you after the break how to get the most bang for your travel buck. ♪

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all right. we're at the bottom of the hour here now. maybe a lot of you are packing up right now getting ready for a road trip of some kind. some advice now on finding some best deal for your money. i talked to a lady by the name of laura. she is digital editor, i should say, of budget travel magazine. the best possible time to get a deal is coming up very soon. yes, there's a specific date. listen to this. >> the cheapest time to travel is actually coming right up. it's going to be over memorial day weekend, may 30th through june 5th. on the other hand, the most expensive time to travel is going to be the heart of the summer, late june, early july. >> you said price prediction algorithm. what is the logic behind that? why june 5th? is that an arbitrary date or on

june 6th you might see prices go up? >> well, believe it or not, bing has this amazing technology. they've used an algorithm that draws on historical data and current data to determine what kind of prices you'll see when. they put a lot of thought into this. i couldn't explain to you how it works, but i do trust their numbers. >> also not where you travel but when you travel can make a difference and we have the best deals. zee a list of cities. five here where you can get good deals. let's start with orlando. why orlando? >> well, orlando is a great destination. there's something for everyone there. you have all the major parks and you have disney, harry potter, sea world not to mention great dining, nightlife and plus not all kids are out of school yet. you're not going to see the same kind of crowds you'll see later in the summer. >> my favorite, vegas is next. why vegas? vegas is always a great place to go, right? >> vegas is always a good place

to go. believe it or not, this is the time of year when many places across the u.s. are hitting beach season, peak season and in las vegas memorial day marks the end of comfortable temperatures in the desert. resorts and casinos know this. they want to get you out there. they're rolling out specials, pool parties for the holidays and the whole nine yards. >> d.c. why d.c.? >> well, d.c. is always a great destination for families. it's especially timely for memorial day. where better to celebrate our veterans than in our nation's capital. plenty of pomp and circumstance. you have the national day parade. you've got the wreath laying ceremony in arlington national cemetery as well as concerts happening across the city. >> our last two, san diego and cancun. >> that's right. two beach destinations. san diego is incredibly affordable right now. hotels are averaging just $100. that's in the city and near the beach. if you wanted to save more, you could stay in nearby mission valley for just $69 a night.

cancun, if you want to go international, is also looking good right now. airfares averaging around $450 and you can get a three-star hotel on a beach for just $145. >> quickly here for me, people always debate. people try to figure out, should i fly or should i drive? what should you debate about? what should help you decide if one is better than the other? >> well, that, the answer to that question depends on a number of different factors, including how fuel efficient is your car, how many people are traveling with you. how far are you traveling and, finally, whether or not there's a low-cost airline that flies to your destination. so, what i tell people is the things that you want to do to answer that question for yourself, first, you want to figure out what kind of gas mileage does your vehicle get? most people have a pretty good sense of that already. if you don't, the government has a great website, fueleconomy.gov. they'll break it all down for you. the second thing you want to do is to check current gas prices. plan out your route. figure out what makes sense for you.

and, finally, you want to check airfares and do a little price comparison. >> all right, so, we're at 35 minutes past the hour now. we're going to get back to these flood waters. slow-rising flood waters reaching parts of na tchez, mississippi. 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. ♪ na, na-na, na [ men ] ♪ hey, hey, hey ♪ goodbye [ flushing ]

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all right. 37 minutes past the hour now. give you a look at stories making headlines. tedious waiting game for thousands of people along the mississippi river waiting for flood waters to stop rising and waiting to see if their homes can withstand it. more than 5,000 people have already been forced from their homes in five states. the republican presidential field getting a little larger. herman cain will declare his presidency, excuse me, moving ahead of myself. his candidacy during a rally today in atlanta. happening right outside our doors. talk radio host tea party favorite. he's trailing, though, in many of the early polls. also, the odds are, animal kingdom, the 3-year-old colt who won the kentucky derby will win today's preakness stakes. the second jewel in the horse racing's triple crown. no horse has won all three in 33 years and animal kingdom which was a relative unknown was a long time to win the derby, but since then, a 2-1 favorite to win the race today in baltimore.

well, a century-old family business working overtime to keep the historic floods from causing damage. cnn's david mattingly has this story for us from natchez, mississippi. >> reporter: fighting the mississippi is a game of vengeance. how far out can you go that is safe? the river doesn't quit. >> it just caved away right there. there's nothing. used to be dirt all the way out to here. all this is caved away. >> reporter: howard jones is the fourth of five generations at the jm jones lumber company in natchez, mississippi. but i find him directly in the business of surviving. building up and trying to hold a levee that keeps his family's business from being swept away. are you confident you can hold the river back? >> absolutely not. no, i'm confident that it will not go over my levees, but i'm not confident that enough of this is going to cave off and i'm going to have a breach. i'd say it's 50/50.

>> reporter: it's been four weeks since lumber operations seized and all resources went into building at the company's existing levee. up to eight feet higher in some places. now, they're constantly plugging, bagging and patching what the river gouges away. >> you can tell this is a patch deal here. we, our primary tarp was ripped. >> reporter: compounding the problem, river traffic, boats pushing barges upstream stir up waves that jones says has been doing some real damage. pounding away fragile dirt out of these levees. he calls it a battle of attrition because this water is going to stay high for weeks. the coast guard stepped in slowing boats down to a crawl. keeping them to the middle of the channel and spacing them far apart. a small bit of comfort for a family with five generations of success and a proud legacy at the mercy of a river. >> very humbling. very humbling and i think about

this all the time. and that's why we are doing everything we can to find it. and if we fail, we'll just say, well, we tried. >> reporter: so far, a $500,000 of company cash has gone into the levee. if it fails, the jones lumber company will probably not be able to recover. so, there's nothing left to do but work, watch and worry. david mattingly, cnn, natchez, mississippi. well, 41 minutes past the hour. a lot of people talking about doomsday today. the prediction that one california pastor made. why you might not be expecting the rapture the cdc is actually trying to get you ready for zombies. this is not a joke. it's there on their website and the man behind it. you'll meet him after the break. ooo. sounds pricey? nah, with the hotels.com summer sale, you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting...

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all right. we're a quarter to the top of the hour. with all the tornadoes and flooding and everything else, would you believe it's time to start worrying about hurricanes. karen maginnis, as i bring you in. hurricane season is upon us. >> we dealt with a lot this year. an awful lot. >> yes. >> these folks have along the gulf coast, we dealt with an oil spill last year. they were hoping nothing would develop in the gulf of mexico. a couple things did, but the steering currents drove those hurricanes in more so into mexico, inyucatan and central america. so, in the united states, we were spared for the most part.

coming up, over a 60-year average, about two category 3 hurricanes per year. well, it looks like for noaa they're saying 3 to 6. so, they're kind of upping the chances that we'll see more than just a couple strong hurricanes over this time period. this particular hurricane season. how many do we typically average? usually we see about six named or six hurricanes form and they're saying six to ten. colorado state also puts out their own forecast and back in april they said, we think we're quoeg to see nine hurricanes. if we do, it will already be an active season. last year, t.j., we saw 12 hurricanes, but none of them just made landfall here in the united states. they were steered away. >> that's still considered an active season. >> yes. >> karen maginnis, we appreciate you, as always. the centers for disease control and prevention, the agency, you know, that's charged with protecting the public's

health and safety. this week they put up a website and they think a part of your health and safety is getting you prepared for the zombie apocalypse. i am not kidding with you. that is a real website you're seeing. if you happen to learn on how to prepare for hurricanes, earthquakes or other natural disasters in the meantime, that is just fine. you see what they tried to do here. i talked to the cdc spokesman. he was part of the group that came up with the plan and asked how this came to fruition in the first place. >> we thought every year we do this campaign and we're wondering, does anybody listen or read or pick up on it? >> yeah. >> so, one of my colleagues mentioned during a twitter session on japan and the reactors, somebody asked about zombies and radiation and the interest seemed to spike. so, i thought zombie preparedness and i walked into my boss' office and i said, we're going to do something with zombie preparedness. and he didn't throw me up. >> i'll put up a graphic of what you all are actually doing. it's important to say, the cdc

does not think that zombies are about to take over the earth, correct? >> no, we do not. >> that gives some of your zombie emergency kits, things people should have. switch to the other graphic that i want to put up and show, i'm pulling this directly from your website. once you made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan. this includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearinguted is your door step. you can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake or other emergency. >> that was our goal. >> is that what it takes? are we so immune and tune it out so much that it takes you to bring up zombies. >> we don't know for sure. we knew we would reach a new audience through the social media demographic. it has been astounding. >> help us understand just how astounding. what has the reaction been like? >> typically one to three hits on his blog over a ten-day span.

on wednesday, the serve crashed with 30,000. now over a million hits to that blog and we're just amazed. >> now, i have to say here, as well, you didn't get permission, necessarily, before you did this from the folks you're supposed to get permission from. the higher ups. what are they saying now? i think we have a well done from our director and everyone else sems to be encouraging and supportive. >> i guess you learned a lesson here in maybe how you should get your message out? >> we're learning a lot. we'll take a hard look at this afterwards. we want to evaluate. did we affect behavior? did more people make kits? it's been a wild ride. >> all right. folks, well, here we are, almost noon on the east coast. i'm still here. but coming up after the break, our last shot together, me and fredricka whitfield on the end of days. fredricka. let's make this one a good one.

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all right. i've been waiting on this all morning. fredricka whitfield, you have no idea how good it is to see you. >> it's always great to see you, under any circumstances. >> on this doomsday. this might be it for us. >> that's what they say. and i know you've been hearing from a lot of people about how they are spending their last day, this end of day.

>> if you want to have a good time today on twitter, she is @fwhitfield. i asked people what they would do in their final hours? >> in fact, we have done just that because i know that you've been doing it all morning and i figure, i know you're going to hand the baton over to me. so in tweeterdom i'm asking for the same thing. i like to play with words every now and then. we were talking about calling upon our tweeps last time? we're doing the same thing to find out how you're spending this last day. and we're going to get your comments on the air just as t.j. has done all day long. i'm following your lead on being in tweeterdom. >> that's the blind leading the blind. >> no, no, i think you've got it. we're also calling upon our legal guys because they've got some interesting things to say

about maria shriver and arnold schwarzenegger and what might be at stake if there are prenups involved. likely there were, how might that impact the fact that she is already acquired a divorce attorney, what will happen. and then what will happen with arnold schwarzenegger and his business propositions? he has, of course, proposals in place and promises in place. but many of those things have been put on hold. >> they've been together a while. >> 25 years. >> 25 years. that's interesting. i can't wait to see what you have on that. >> california is a 50/50 state, no-fault divorce. meantime, when you were graduating, wearing that cap and gown, were you thinking about finances and planning and -- >> at that age, you're thinking one thing, i'm broke. that's the extent of your finances. >> exactly. our financial expert says it's time to rethink if you're a graduating senior, you need to start thinking about your finances, how to plan for the days ahead, what to do about

your money right now even if you have none. maybe that play money, the monopoly money. she's going to explain how and why. that's what she does. and then you recall venus williams face to face, earlier this month, we wanted to bring you most of that conversation face to face with venus. she's on the injury list. she's not playing in the french open which is getting under way. but at the time of this interview, she was still contemplating french open as well as wimbledon. we're going to try and bring you that face to face with venus williams beginning noon eastern time, barring breaking news because that's what happened last time. breaking news sidelined our wonderful convenience williams segments. but we'll give it another shot today. >> 6:00 p.m. eastern time is when the whole apocalypse and the rapture is supposed to start with the earthquakes. >> you tweet me and let me know how you're spending your day. and that's another thing keep it

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oprah winfrey's last syndicated talk show is going to air wednesday. say it ain't so. last hour, i talked to a reporter, steve johnson, who's been following her career there for years in chicago.

he started off by talking to me about that huge event she hosted. >> insane celebrity bash send-off that will result in the monday and tuesday shows next week. more celebrities than have ever been gathered together in chicago at one time, probably as many as we've seen in one place this side of one of the big awards shows. but then the big mystery is what she's going to do with her final show on wednesday. her staff hasn't said anything. she hasn't said anything. the only thing we found out is that oprah herself is producing that show. i expect it will be more of an intimate, quiet farewell but we'll have to see. >> people might not remember, she's been around so long, people might not remember how she got started. what was it about oprah that got oprah to being oprah? >> it's funny. you talk to the people who hired her and they say, we knew right

away this was special, this was the most amazing talent -- >> they say that now, huh? >> exactly. i was a genius, right? but they did talk about in testings they did, her ability to kind of draw white and black audiences both alike to her. and, remember, this is a time of racial division in chicago with harold washington just elected as mayor. what she's been able to do above that is to kind of be the avatar for her audience, step in, represent their interests, ask really personal questions of her guests while sharing personal information about herself which has made her, i think, approachable and it's allowed her to do this astonishing thing, which is to stay approachable despite becoming massively rich and massively famous. >> what can she do now? i guess she never really leaves the spotlight. but she's leaving that

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