and i don't know how to stop that. my neighborhood, we do things to people. >> are you threatening me? you're threatening me with physical violence, aren't you? >> i am. stop hitting on my wife every time you see her, please. >> you can see the rest of that interview on monday. now here's anderson cooper. from cnn center, this is joe johns here and do not attempt to adjust your television set. t.j. holmes is not at work today. it's me. having a pretty good time. there's president obama today. he's in poland meeting with the president and prime minister in poland. we'll have a report on that later today in this program. six days after the half mile

wide tornado roared through joplin, missouri, more than 100 people are unaccounted for on this memorial day weekend. here's the latest on one of the nation's deadliest tornadoes. 156 people are missing as of this morning down from 232 the day before. searchers are still going through piles of debris. the confirmed death toll stands at 132 with over 1,000 injured. more than 2,500 people have applied for federal disaster assistance to help with home repairs and personal losses. fema has approved $2.8 million in aid. president obama is returning from his overseas trip today and will meet with officials and victims in joplin tomorrow. rebuilding the city of nearly 50,000 people is going to require a lot of money and a lot of muscle. our casey wian is in joplin and he talked with one man who is rebuilding his wife's business. >> reporter: when you cover a story like this, you have a lot

of images and most are gruesome and bad. i'll remember driving around one of the streets in joplin amid utter devastation and there's this building that's brand new wood and construction under way. we stopped over and talked to the guy who was leading the construction process. a man named daryn collins. he was rebuilding his wife's beauty salon which he built himself 17 years ago. it was completely demolished by the tornado and he says it's time to rebuild. there are five beauticians who are not working right now because of this and he wants to get it rebuilt as soon as possible. he started the actual construction process on thursday. he hopes to have the roof on the structure by sunday and if power is back and gas is back and water and all those other services that are out in much of joplin he hopes to have the business back in business in 45 days. a real sign of hope for this community. >> at some point we'll have to

stop scratching our heads and staring at the rubble and roll up our sleeves and get to normalcy. >> reporter: he got six new jobs to rebuild structures here in joplin. he said when he first went to city officials on tuesday, a day and a half after the tornado struck, they looked at him in shock and surprise that he wanted to rebuild so soon. next day he went down to the city with plans and they approved it conditionally that he would start construction and decided to start rebuilding the next day. >> we're watching for the possibility of more strong storms across the plains today. our reynolds wolf is tracking all of it in the severe weather center. one of the things people want to know about of course is the wetlands in louisiana. there's a lot of talk about water actually diminishing the wetlands in louisiana. >> it's hard to believe.

>> isn't water supposed to be there? >> it is supposed to be there. amazing satellite images we'll share with you. check this out. you can see where you have most of the sentimentation and in some ways is fantastic because you think of marine life that benefits from all of the silt and sentiment that makes its way out into the gulf of mexico. the problem is you have so much of that water that's coming out, that discharge is so incredible that you are actually flooding many wetlands. there are all kinds of wildlife and birds too that normally nest in vegetation in the wetlands. many areas where they plan on nesting is gone. we have an imbalance to say the least. imbalance in the atmosphere in parts of the central plains. let me show you this. seems like this year 2011 has been for tornadoes what 2004 and 2005 were for hurricanes. we're seeing some development this morning. not in terms of tornadoes. not like that. we're still seeing storms erupt

over the last couple of minutes well north of springfield just to give you your bearings, joplin is in this area. these are forming well to the north of joplin. tuning in from that area today, you should be okay for the most part. there's going to be the possibility of strong storms. the reason why we've been seeing so much of this over the last couple of days and certainly the last couple weeks is because the atmospheric setup has been stuck. high pressure sailing over parts of the southeast has kept this area of low pressure and kept storm tracks. we have combination of moisture from the gulf, storm systems moving from west to east and jet stream coupled in makes for unstable atmosphere. that atmosphere being very unstable helps to see a lot of rough weather including outbreak of tornadoes. for today making our way into memorial day weekend, i would expect this trend to continue. if you were to cut the nation right in half from san francisco clear over to the nation's capital, everything to the north, you will have a chance of rainfall. any outdoor plans for the weekend, you better bring an umbrella with you. everything from the south, you're going to have some warmer

times to say the least. may get a cooldown in florida and georgia with a sea breeze and thunderstorm but for the most part, wow, it will feel like august out there. very warm in texas. southern california pretty nice too. coming up, we'll look at your forecast more in depth and talk about effects that you were talking about, joe, in parts of the southern part of the mississippi valley. very troubling to watch. >> as far as tornadoes and that stuff, we can't expect as much craziness as perhaps last week. >> it looks like we might get break but in this pattern we've seen you can never say never. >> it's that time of year. >> severe weather season. >> let's find out how you can help those affected by the tornadoes and flooding go to cnn.com/impact. president obama met with poland's president a short time ago. next up is the polish prime minister.

a lot to discuss including whether american f-16s will be stationed permanently in poland. we'll go there live at the bottom of the hour for more on that trip and what the president is hoping to accomplish in poland. the casey anthony murder trial begins in a few more hours. yesterday jurors heard from the owner of that tow company that impounded anthony's car. he said he smelled what he thought was the decomposing body. jared loughner has been moved to a mental hospital. a federal judge declared that loughner is not mentally fit to stand trial right now for the shooting that killed six people and wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords. loughner was transferred from tucson, arizona, to the facility in missouri for further testing. it's not too late to get some of bernie madoff's stuff if you want to do that.

the u.s. marshal service will put the last items they have up for auction next week. diamond watch, rings, and fine wines. there you see some of them. all on sale. the money raised at these sales goes to payoff swindled investors. madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for running his ponzi scheme. makes you proud to see that. famous blue angels will be taking off sometime after their commander stepped down. he said he didn't live up to the precision flying team's safety and performance standards during this air show in lynchburg, virginia, just last weekend. the angels have canceled their next couple performances while a new commander takes over. before you let your kids jump in the pool this weekend, have you heard this? the government is recalling more than 1 million pool and spa

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memorial day weekend means the beginning of pool season in neighborhoods all over the country but before you jump in the pool, you got to hear this. the government says thousands of public swimming pools should stay closed until they replace potentially deadly drain covers. >> reporter: it's the kind of news no one wants to hear on a holiday weekend but the government is advising thousands of public swimming pools not to open this weekend because of a massive recall. 1 million pool drain covers were recalled a few days ago. pool drains have 500 pounds of vacuum force and that's why they need drain covers so swimmers don't get trapped underwater by suction. the consumer product safety commissioner cpsc says it caused a dozen deaths between 1999 and

2010. some of the recalled drain covers weren't rated correctly so they may not protect you. kids are most at risk which is why they are really urging public kitty pools and wading pools to respond immediately to the recall. the covers need to be replaced or retro fitted and it would be an issue if you have a pool in your backyard. you can get more information at 866-478-3521 or apsp.org/draincoverrecall. hopefully everyone will have a safe holiday weekend. back to you. >> thanks for that. the record keeping at arlington cemetery made it impossible to keep track of the grave stones. the story of one high school student moved to right that wrong by creating a digital record of the graves.

>> i come here and i look at the birth dates and death dates and these are kids that aren't much older than me. they aren't just a number of casualties. they are actual people. >> we'll have his story in just a moment. i think you'll find it's the vegetables. deliciously rich. flavorful! [ female announcer ] together at last. introducing new stouffer's farmers' harvest with sides of lightly sauteed farm-picked vegetables. find more ways to get to the table at letsfixdinner.com. bridgestone is using natural rubber, researching ways to enhance its quality and performance, and making their factories more environmentally friendly. producing products that save on fuel and emissions, and some that can be reused again. ♪ and promoting eco-friendly and safety driving campaigns. ♪ one team. one planet. bridgestone.

♪ things are gonna get easier ♪ ooh-oo, child, things will get brighter ♪ ♪ ♪ someday, yeah [ male announcer ] wherever you are, whatever it takes, like a good neighbor, state farm is there. ♪ arlington national cemetery has been under fire for mishandling of remains.

one high school realized there was something he could do to help and learned something along the way. sandra endo has more on this. >> reporter: this memorial day many families of fallen service members may not be able to make it here to this sacred ground at arlington national cemetery but one young man is making the memory of troops buried here a click away for anyone in the world. one by one ricky keeps the spirit behind these headstones at arlington national cemetery alive online. you come here thinking what? >> it's sad. i look at the birth dates and death dates and think these are kids that aren't much older than me. >> reporter: the computer wiz started documenting the soldiers that fought in iraq and afghanistan and are buried at arlington. after he heard about the record keeping problems at the

cemetery. he posted the information and pictures on his website called preserve and honor.com. it received more than 1 million hits since it launched in october. what do you hope for when people logon to your website? >> i hope they can go on and feel a little bit of comfort in knowing they are not just a number of casualties or anything like that. they are actual people. >> reporter: an investigation found 211 graves were mislabeled here and they are under fire for keeping a record system of the 300,000 men and women laid to rest here. >> we're in the process of modernizing our record keeping and will make people doing sites like ricky's a lot easier because it will all be available on our website. >> reporter: the project took on a deeper meaning as he learned more about one fallen soldier. >> what's special about this headstone in particular is the only one around it that has gold

lettering which means that he was a medal of honor winner. he was fighting. someone threw a grenade inside the humvee. he jumped in and put his body over the grenade and absorbed most of the blast so he saved everyone else. >> reporter: we reached out to the family who had no idea about the project. in an e-mail, he was thanked for his work describing it as a way to showcase the sacrifices of our nation's heros. but there are still new sacrifices he will continue to capture. ricky says he's received nearly 600 e-mails from people supporting his project. he hopes to expand his website to include all of the lives lost in the global war on terror not just those buried here in arlington. he says with help of volunteers, he'll be able to do it.

joe? >> thanks for that, sandra, endo. we want to update you now on a story we first told you about a couple weeks ago. a plan has finally been approved to replace offensive grave stones in a cemetery in colorado. what we're going to show you are some offensive markers. 36 graves were moved in 1950s but the stones were carved with the n word in place of negro hill. after weeks of debate over who is at fault, the supervisors approved a plan to put in new grave stones. the county will raise $18,000 for granite markers and the county will raise $5,000 for a permanent memorial to negro hill and unanimous people buried in the cemetery. the town faded into disrepair

and now it actually sits at the bottom of a lake. for more than 80 years a singapore woman has been working tirelessly to help the needy. 112-year-old woman is someone we think you ought to know. 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. deal! after your dishcloth? bounty extra soft can help. in this lab test bounty extra soft leaves this surface three times cleaner than a dishcloth. super clean. super soft. bounty extra soft. in the pink pack.

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in singapore she's called mother theresa. she spent most of her life helping the poor, sick and elderly and we think that makes her someone you should know. she was born in 1898 when war broke out between china and japan and when wore broke out in the 1930s, she started working as a volunteer. she had a desire to help and embarked on a mission of mercy. >> wherever you see hungry, go out and help them. these are our fellow human beingsnormally go hungry.

>> the humanity and the thought of serving the poor and sick. >> whether it was working as a nurse in 1952 running a home for old and sick during the '60s or building a school for orphans in vietnam, she's shown tireless dedication to those in need and even in retirement she kept going establishing the heart to heart service center to provide critical supplies for elderly and destitute women. how does she keep doing it? she credits yoga which she picked up at the age of 69, lots of laughter and her sweet tooth. the 112-year-old woman simply loves vanilla ice cream. president in poland talking tourism and f-16s. not particularly in that order. we'll take you live to warsaw in a little while and tornado victims with no place to live banned from using fema trailers in town.

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with us. president obama is in warsaw, poland, this morning as last stop of his six-day european trip. we saw celebrations in ireland, pomp and circumstance with queen in london and g-8 discussions in france but this stop is just a little more low key than all that. cnn's senior white house correspondent ed henry traveling with the president now joins us live from warsaw. ed, give us an idea about the big issues the president is talking to the polish leaders about today. >> reporter: it's interesting because the polish leader wants to hear from the president on the issue of visas for example. they want to get more students and workers from here in poland over to the united states and want to talk about missile defense which has been a very controversial subject. russia not wanting there to be a u.s. backed missile defense shield here in eastern europe. that could protect some of our allies against iranian weapons for example. poland wants to make sure the u.s. is going to try to protect them

in that situation. but the president wants something from poles as well and that is lessons learned from their own transition to democracy. interesting that when you talk to white house aides, they say a parallel between the fall of the berlin wall and fall of soviet union to what's happened in the arab spring in the middle east and there's lessons learned for a trance toigs democracy that could be applied to egypt and tunisia. we saw the president talk about that as he's been trying to bring allies along to help rebuild the economy because they still have growing pains here in eastern europe. it's going to take many, many years, maybe decades after the arab spring for some of those countries to rebuild as well. >> this has been very sort of a whirlwind trip. you've been all over the place. you end up in central europe and my thought and the thing i've been wondering, it feels like this was tacked on perhaps or is

it a make good, why end up in poland? >> reporter: he certainly wants to each out to u.s. ally but i think you're right to mention that they are trying to make up for the fact the president could not be here in the spring of 2010 when polish president was killed tragically in that plane crash on his way back from russia from an official trip and so at that time there was volcanic ash in europe grounding some flights. air force one couldn't fly over here. the president could not be ho r here for that funeral. he'll visit a memorial later today that pays homage. his motorcade passed signs where there were protesters charging that russia had something to do with that plane crash last year. it shows you emotions are still raw not just about that plane crash but between russia and the polish people here.

they are not completely trustful that russia is moving toward democracy. >> you talk about paranoia involving russia that uneasy relationship since everything split apart. >> reporter: it applies to what i mentioned earlier which is missile defense shield. we saw former president bush pubbing that as a way to protect poland. russia balked at that saying the u.s. could put offensive weapons in that shield and launch them some day against russia if our relationship were to change. they are at a stalemate right now on that plan and people in poland are suspicious when they hear u.s. saying they are resetting relations with russia. they are not trustful of russia. this is the president trying to reassure the people of poland that we can have a relationship with russia and a relationship with poland and get along here. >> ed henry wrapping up that long trip with the president of

the united states overseas looking forward to having you back here in the states, ed. >> reporter: great to see you, joe. president obama returns to washington tonight but then it's onto missouri tomorrow. the president will get a firsthand look at the damage in joplin, missouri. he'll speak to a memorial service honoring tornado victims. and on that note, checking top stories, authorities in joplin are dialing back the number of missing after sunday's devastating tornado to 156. they are raising the number of those killed to at least 132. this is the highest death toll from a single tornado in the u.s. since record keeping began in 1950. the joplin coroner says it will take weeks to conduct dna tests to identify some of those bodies. gil scott heron has died in new york city. he was best known for the 1970

politically and socially charged song "the revolution will not be televised." scott-heron's music in 2008 in an interview he revealed he contracted hiv after years of battling drug and alcohol addictions. gil scott-heron was 62 years old. in pakistan the taliban are claiming responsibility for blast that left eight people dead and another dozen wounded. it happened near the border. a pro-government militia fighting the taliban was the target. the spokesman says the attack like others is a payback for the killing of osama bin laden. we're checking out reports of a live explosion in the libyan capital of tripoli this morning. we're told it's near the gadhafi palace. we'll pass on more information as it comes to us here.

the u.s. state department is urging american citizens to get out of yemen as the violence escalates between anti-regime tribesmen and yemeni security forces. the small arms fire heard yesterday in the yemeni capital has grown louder as five powerful explosions rang out earlier this morning. what's going on? >> reporter: well, we're hearing since last night the overnight hours in sana where there were five explosions where intense fighting is going on between one of the largest and most powerful tribes in yemen. just to give this more context in the past several days what's

happened is this tribe, a tribe that i might add the president is a member and turned against the president. it's been doing so more and more because of aept government protest movement and anger directed at the president in that country. last weekend political actions in yemen were on the verge of signing a deal to end the political turmoil there. there was more anger directed for not doing so and there was fear because he put up so many obstacles to this deal that that would plunge that country into chaos. more and more tribesmen are going at him. in a country as tribal and divisive as yemen is, that's the most dangerous thing of all. it's the tribes and allegiances to tribes that rule in yemen.

more and more people there worry that because there is tribal warfare going on in the streets of the capital and other districts nearby that that is going to plunge this country into all-out civil war. >> just how dangerous is it? what is the likelihood in our view and in your view that civil war actually occurs? >> reporter: right now it's looking more and more like it's slipping down that slope. like it's really teetering on the edge of all-out civil war. it's one thing to have a protest movement there. hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters in the streets of major cities across yemen for the last four months demanding that president step down. they've been encouraged by this arab spring movement. they want that president gone. they believe that he is a corrupt figure and he's not providing them with economic opportunity and that he's not working for them and that's a youth led revolutionary movement. everybody was worried that if more and more people were out in the streets of yemen and more

and more competing tribes with different allegiances, that could lead to clashes. now we see those clashes happen. not only do you have different tribes angry at the government and government forces fighting it out with one another, you also have military factions loyal to different commanders out in those streets. they're going to be fighting and people are very worried that country will go downhill and civil war will break out. >> we will be watching. thank you so much mohammad jamjo jamjoom. gaza strip is open to the world. the main gateway starting today is opened. israel forced a blockade in 2007. the siege of gaza meant people could only leave for humanitarian reasons or if they had a visa for a third country. men between 18 and 40 will still have to get a visa to enter egypt. this has been the deadliest

year for tornadoes in decades. >> it's getting big, big, big. >> that's huge. >> i got it all on video. i got it all on video. >> we'll explain the factors that came together to make this such a terrible year. stay with us. [ female announcer ] the counter. in most homes, it gets all the action. bring it. getting it clean again is easy with bounty. in this lab test, one sheet of bounty leaves tr than 3 sheets of the bargain.

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you have seen the fierce power of a tornado and now you can have a closer view of how they operate. a group of storm chasers spent the week trailing twisters state to state as they tore across the midwest. >> it's coming. power lines right here. >> we're good.

>> it's getting big, big, big. >> that's huge. >> i got it all on video. i got it all on video. >> sounds like a waterfall. wedge tornado. >> it is on the outskirts western edge of waverly. it's in a more populated area. >> oh, my gosh. there it is. there it is.

oh, gosh. that's a monster tornado. >> it's crossing the road. >> my god. back up. oh, no. >> stop. >> oh, no. slow down. >> very large tornado. >> hopefully they'll get everyone out of there and safe. >> the motion is tremendous. >> violent tornado.

>> another killer tornado. it went across highway 81 and intensified and almost got us. it intensified right on top of us. >> this was a violent tornado. you can see how it is carving out a v-shape debris cloud. this was live for a good 20, 25 minutes. that's the water tower. we showed that to you a short while ago. watch this. we're watching and they were in their safe spot and a lot of folks left town. a lot of folks got out of town in their safe spot because homes are obliterated. >> right there. right there. you got it. we got a funnel. >> right on the ground.

tu >> just incredible to have pictures of all that stuff. tornadoes have killed more than 500 people this year and that makes this the deadliest tornado season since 1953 and the question i've had so many times, meteorologist reynolds wolf, is why? why now? why so many? why so many deaths? >> the thing that's interesting about it is the reason why we have so many deaths is because these storms, these tornadoes, are hitting highly populated areas. that's the number one issue we're having. when it comes to numbers, frequency of these tornadoes, the problem we're running into is we've only been keeping track of these the last 40, 50 years. if you go back to a planet that's 4.6 billion years old, we've got a lot of storms and tornadoes over that time since the earth started. we've got just a tiny snapshot. i'm telling you as long as we've been keeping records, it's been very active. the reason why, there are a lot of reasons but two biggest players and two distinctively different air masses.

humid air from gulf of mexico. that's going to march to the north. when it does, it will interact with blast of cold air to the north and when they come together, that's where you have your dividing line. frontal boundary. these two air masses do not get along so to speak. a great contrast. along that boundary where they meet, that's been combining with this strong upper level jet stream. when you have that, that's what helps develop these strong storms and tornados. we've seen some of it over parts of oklahoma back into arkansas and even into missouri but it's also moved over toward portions of alabama. tuscaloosa, central alabama, plenty of tornadoes there. human air and cold air and combination of that coupled with jet stream and storm track is the biggest reason. we've been focusing on tornadoes. there's all kinds of weather phenomenon taking place with that setup. first and foremost, we have seen cold air spilling out and colder than average temperatures toward the west and snow pack immense.

some places the roads remain closed because you have up to 20 feet of snow that are blocking some of the roadways. what's more than that, you have dry conditions. historic drought in parts of new mexico and into texas and i know it's very dry out near the mountains and it's supposed to be. this is even lower than what you would normally expect. on the other side we've had historic flooding in parts of the mid mississippi valley and you have to remember heavy snowfall up toward parts of minnesota and back into the dakotas and all that funneling down into the mississippi valley which is giving you historic flooding. it's tornadoes and flooding and extreme temperatures and not only heat but of course the cold. all coming together to give us a severe weather burrito so to speak. >> it's incredible. the thing that's so amazing is there are so many cameras you the there and you can see pictures of all of this. that's what's bizarre. >> that's the key thing. they were moving into such a -- just a mass where every person with cell phone can take great

video and we document these and through the internet we've seen ireports that we share with viewers worldwide but we capture these more than ever before and that makes it numbers seem higher. >> fascinating stuff. all right. thanks, reynolds. the federal government has offered the storm victims trailers to live in while their homes are being rebuilt but in one alabama town they're being turned away. >> what i had suggested doing was putting fema trailers in my backyard. because of the mayor, we can't do that. we can't help our neighbors because he won't let us. >> you heard right. the mayor is saying thanks but no thanks to fema's help and in 60 seconds i'll tell you why.

anger is bubbling up in alabama one month after a deadly tornado tore through the state. people there are upset over a city ordinance banning single wide trailer homes. it's there to boost property values but now that ban is coming back to haunt residents who lost everything in the tornado. fema trailers offered as temporary homes are single width and can't be used. have the mayor make an exception but he's not budging. the mayor says he thinks that once people get in the trailers, they'll squat on land making those fema trailers permanent fixtures in his town. >> if you don't want to listen, get out. >> things got pretty heated at this week's city council meeting but again mayor scott says no.

now, check these out. these trailers, see what's written on them, police. that's right. the police department and even city hall now in trailers. single wide trailers. their buildings were destroyed in the tornado. other businesses are doing the same thing. workers out of the trailers while trying to rebuild. the ordinance does not effect them, just residents. this is where danny banks now lives. >> having to sleep on the ground. it's rough having to sleep on the ground. i am not leaving my property until i get me something to live in. >> for the part of fema they say trailers are just a last resort. they prefer to help people find places to rent while they are rebuilding. the police chief says they're not against the trailers

totally. they just rather see them set up outside of town. japan's earthquake and tsunami making waves in the u.s. car buyers could soon see higher prices. plus, how do you like your coffee? cream, sugar, how about some peas? i said peas. i'll explain after the break. memorial day marks the start of the summer travel season. more than 34 million of you will hit the road this weekend. if you're not sure where to go, dr. beach has you covered. he scoured the country for america's best beaches.

coming in at number five, cape hatteras, north carolina. number four, main beach in east hampton, new york, and number three is in hawaii. what are top beaches in the country? i'll tell you after the break. [ melissa ] i hit the water and everything changed. ♪ i saw what my life could be... and found the strength to make it happen. ♪ i lost my leg serving my country. now i serve in a new uniform. [ male announcer ] helping people achieve without limits. at the hartford it's what we do... and why we're the founding partner of the u.s. paralympic team. show your support at facebook.com/thehartford.

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people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing of the skin or eyes. talk with your doctor about your medicines, including those for migraine, or if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles, to address a possible life-threatening condition. tell your doctor about alcohol use, liver disease, and before you reduce or stop taking cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. side effects include nausea, dry mouth, and constipation. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. before the break we were breaking down america's best beaches. here's the list rounding out the

top five. coronado beach in san diego and top beach in america, that would be white sands in sarasota, florida, on siesta beach. >> not everyone is headed to the beach. memorial day weekend car sales average about 40% higher than nonholiday weekends in may. this year could be different. very different. dealers are scrambling to cope with a new car shortage some call unprecedented. >> reporter: two car dealerships and one problem. >> i've never seen anything like this. >> i've never experienced this before. >> reporter: the devastating earthquake struck japan more than two months ago but some of the effects are just now hitting american soil. automakers aren't operating at full speed and that means we could see a car shortage this summer. >> we're probably going to get about in round numbers 70 cars a month. about 30% down for the normal

numbers that we normally get for this time of year. it's not great. >> typical month you could earn anywhere between 140 to 200 vehicles per month, right? now we're in a situation where we are seeing that we are earning anywhere between 40 vehicles a month. that's a drastic reduction. >> reporter: the auto industry has been through tough times before but what makes this situation so unique is that dealers don't know when things will get back to normal. >> there is still a little bit of uncertainty as far as exactly when we'll get cars and what we're going to get and what numbers may be. there's not a good forecast. normally you can forecast what you're going to get. >> reporter: why a problem businesswise to not be able to forecast? >> you have to know whether or not you can pay your bills. >> reporter: ultimately paying the bills is the issue. >> we have a huge responsibility. we're responsible for people and we're also responsible for making sure that people's needs

are met. i don't sleep very well. >> reporter: unfortunately there's not much these business owners can do. they don't make the cars and they can't change what's available so they are watching business walk out the door. >> a woman walked in. wanted a specific model. and it's fine when people want what they want. we didn't have it. i didn't have it. i tried my best. >> reporter: this is a supply and demand business. with fewer cars available, prices are rising. edmonds.com says overall car prices are up $350 since the earthquake. if you want options and lower prices. >> you need to come out and start looking now if you want to get something. >> if you are thinking of buying a vehicle this calendar year, now is the time. as we all experienced, we just can't predict what may or may not happen. >> if you try to take a swim in a public pool this weekend, don't be surprised if it's closed.

the government announced a recall on thursday of 1 million pool and spa drain covers. the consumer product safety commission says they could pose a risk to swimmers. pool drains have about 500 pounds of vacuum force poorly designed covers can trap swimmers, especially young children, under water. if you got your coffee from cuba, it may taste funny. 70% jump in coffee prices forced the government to add roasted peas to its blends. some people are actually happy the old blend is back. take a look at this. it's believed to be one of three anchors from the queen ann's revenge. the pirate ship belonging to one of the most feared sea captains of all time. [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance?

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time to go cross-country now for a story cnn affiliates are covering. in georgia, an armed robbery suspect nicknamed grandma bandit was shot and killed following a police chase friday morning in atlanta. later authorities discovered the grandma was actually grandpa. police say employees at a restaurant tipped them off after recognizing the suspect from a crime stoppers report. welcome signs of recovery along the flood ravaged mississippi river. mississippi area casinos reopened yesterday after being closed for almost a month due to historic flooding.

an industry website says all casinos will be open for memorial day weekend. look at what they fished out of the water off the coast of north carolina yesterday. something that hasn't been seen since the early 1700s. this anchor once belonging to the ship queen ann's revenge better known as the pirate blackbeard's flagship. the anchor will be on display later this month at the state's maritime museum. from cnn center, this is "cnn saturday morning." it's 6:00 a.m. in joplin, missouri. 4:00 a.m. in las vegas. good morning wherever you may be celebrating your holiday weekend. i'm joe johns in for t.j. holmes. the big question this weekend, will sarah palin run for president? her poll numbers are pretty good. she's off to a bus tour this

weekend but hasn't officially jumped in the race. we'll take a closer look at palin's prospects. some call it abuse but most americans call it borrowing their own money. we'll look at a new bill that could limit the loans you can take from your 401(k). nearly a week after a half mile wide tornado roared through joplin, missouri, more than 100 people remain unaccounted for on this memorial day weekend. here's the latest on one of the deadliest tornadoes in the country. 156 people are missing as of this morning down from 232 the day before. searchers are still going through piles of debris. the confirmed death toll stands at 132 with over 1,000 people injured. we expect an update on the number of missing and hurt at 11:00 eastern time. more than 2,500 people applied for federal disaster assistance to help with home repairs, personal losses. fema approved $2.8 million in

aid. president obama is returning from his overseas trip today and will meet with officials and victims in joplin tomorrow. when disaster strikes, some people freeze and others take charge. we go to joplin. paul, a lot of stories of survival and bravery coming out now, right? >> reporter: memorial weekend indeed because they'll remember heros in joplin. this morning they'll remember 59-year-old dean wells. a manager at that home depot that many have seen. it was obliterated by the tornado but instead of securing his own safety, he ran around and directed other people to shelter. if you talk to his family members, they say this absolutely no surprise that their husband and their son and their father would give his life. >> he was always helping other people. i mean, i miss him but i'm glad that if he had to lose his life,

he lost it the way he lived it. >> reporter: there's also been a lot of frustration this week. that's because in the case of dean wells, his body remained there in the morgue for a long time. while not pointing fingers at a federal agency, a state agency, a county agency or a city agency, the wells family would like to see in the future when it comes to a disaster that all of these agencies get together and button things up so they don't go through what they went through when the body was just returned yesterday. >> my father set in the refrigerator and we fought to get him out and we got to see him today. >> reporter: now back here live. that memorial service later on today. they call dean wells the whistler for his ability to whistle. i want to give you a sense of the scope of devastation. cleanup is the next thing. they have so much to reckon with her in joplin. we'll give you a 180-degree view. if you see where i'm standing right now, this is close to the

hospital where the twister came through and cut this four-mile long swath. in this particular area, everywhere where you look for 360 degrees you can see this sort of devastation. one of the reasons the search for bodies has been so difficult, you can imagine with 200-mile-an-hour winds if a tornado can pick up a car, obviously people were picked up and moved by this tornado. they have a lot of heavy lifting to do in joplin as they comb through this wreckage. we're standing on a little hill by the hospital and this just goes on for miles. the swath of the tornado we say four miles long and at some points it was as wide as three-quarters of a mile and that's why it looks the way it does behind me, joe. >> it's really just stunning. thank you so much for that report. president obama is wrapping up his six-day trip to europe today with a few events in warsaw, poland.

he met with poland's president just a little while ago and now meeting with the prime minister. a lot to talk about including whether american f-16s will be stationed permanently in poland. jared loughner has been moved to a federal hospital in springfield, missouri. three days ago a federal judge declared loughner is not mentally fit to stand trial right now for the shooting that killed six people and wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords among others. loughner was transferred from tucson, arizona, to the facility in missouri for further testing. it's not too late to get some of bernie madoff's stuff. the u.s. marshal service is going to put the very last items they have up for auction next week including a diamond watch, rings, some fine wines, all are going to be on sale. the money raised at these sales goes to pay off the swindled investors. madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for running his

ponzi scheme. the famous blue angels will be taking some time off after their commander stepped down. the commander says he didn't live up to the precision flying team's safety and performance standards during this air show in lynchburg, virginia, just last weekend. angels canceled their next couple of performances while a new commander takes over. hurricane season for the united states begins in just a few days but in japan, they are on alert for a big storm right now and bad weather is threatening the nation's crippled nuclear power plant. reynolds wolf tracking typhoon and that's an incredible lead in. >> things are getting active over there. things have been just absolutely bizarre weather wise in the united states. today we have a chance of

extreme heat, sleet and also heavy snowfall. can you believe it? we'll talk about it coming up right here. you see the sign behind me. you know what it says. teal it in your heart. see you in a bit. while a bodyn tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain, you and your doctor need to balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure

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less than a month before the report is due, a team of international experts descended on japan's crippled fukushima nuclear power plant yesterday. it's the final fact finding visit to the accident site. the team hopes to improve global nuclear safety by learning from the disaster that occurred on march 11th. japan's latest worry is a powerful typhoon as if that's not enough set to slam into the island nation today it could hit the nuclear disaster zone and reynolds wolf, this is just almost unbelievable. >> it's unreal. it's the time of the year. it's when you have that kind of weather over in parts of the pacific and let's look at the

video we have for you. a close call to a few places over toward the pacific pass the philippines. this is from taiwan. heavy rain coming down. how many times have we seen this play out? rough weather that we see again. that storm may head for parts of southern japan. we'll keep a sharp eye on it. in the back of your mind keep in mind that our own severe weather season may be fading out in terms of tornadoes but hurricane season begins on january 1st. before we get to that, let's talk about what we have in front of us. as we zoom into parts of the central plains, we see an eruption of storms developing. joplin is right about here. we've been seeing thunderstorms. a few of these have been severe and intense dropping quite a bit of rainfall along parts of i-35 back toward 44 you may have ponding on roadways. if you tune in on satellite radio, anyone near springfield get ready for rain. hit and miss sort of thing over the next couple hours.

more possible as we make our way through the day. we talk as we go into the break, out west something different. heavy snowfall and this morning up near steamboat springs in many big resorts including over in aspen, people are going to be skiing. i know what the calendar says. i know what time of year it is. nature will have its own way and the way will be snowfall. if you were to move that from that area and move up into portions of yellowstone national park, the snow not too impressive for time being but by this afternoon we may see more of it develop especially near grand teton itself. heavy snowfall into a foot in some places. we may see some of it into parts of the foothills of mt. shasta and parts of the cascades. snow and rain and even your heat and possibility of severe weather that we talked about and humid conditions in parts of the south.

the northeast we wrap things up. hit and miss showers. new york looks good. that may change into sunday and into monday. let's kick it back to you. >> thanks so much. coming up, we'll talk about sarah palin's political future. an obsession people just never seem to get tired of talking about. will she run or will she not run? we'll talk about the prospects in just a minute. another reminder of what i couldn't do. ♪ the accident could have been my excuse to quit. i made it my reason to go even harder. ♪ [ male announcer ] helping people achieve without limits. at the hartford it's what we do... and why we're the founding partner of the u.s. paralympic team. show your support at facebook.com/thehartford.

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presidential election shows just what people think about the current field of republican contenders. take a look at this. two of the first three names on the list aren't even running yet. that's rudy giuliani and sarah palin. we know mitt romney is running though he won't announce until next week officially. what about the two phantom front runners. we haven't heard much from giuliani and sarah palin, that's another story. getting ready to start a nationwide tour, launching a movie that gives her positive light and buying a plays in sunny arizona serving as a base for a national campaign or maybe just home away from home in the lower 48. just enough stuff to stir up some buzz or is she actually getting ready to jump into the race for president? on fox news where she gets paid big bucks to be a contributor, her comments have only added to the speculation. >> i think my problem is that i do have the fire in my belly.

i'm so adamantly supportive of the good traditional things about america and our free enterprise system and i want to make sure that america is put back on the right track and we only do that by defeating obama in 2012. i have that fire in my belly. >> she's not in bad shape tied with mitt romney. moneywise her political action committee was busy through the end of december. we do know that just this month she sent out an e-mail solicitation to 400,000 people nationwide. her people say all she was doing is raising money for sarah pac but a former staffer says if she gets in, she'll have no problem finding donors. >> sarah palin can do it like a holy roller on sunday morning. >> palin could compete for social conservative votes but she's not a shoe in. no one thing, michelle bachmann

is likely to get in the race. direct mail master who has been called one of the founders of the modern conservative movement says palin has not surrounded herself with the kind of crowd that tells him what she stands for. >> what are her views on judges or who does she look to for guidance and leadership and advice and counsel? so she's kind of a blank slate to most all conservatives. >> as we said, sarah palin kicks off her nation bus tour tomorrow. more on palin's prospects in the next hour. hands off that 401(k). congress is considering a new plan to limit access to your own money but why is that? we'll explore that coming up next.

you got a tough economy along with high gas prices, food prices, and some people have borrowed from their 401(k) and going on for a while. now a couple senators if they have their way that will be a thing of the past. democratic senator herb kohl and mike enzi have introduced legislation that would reduce the number of loans workers can take from their 401(k)s. senator kohl had this to say. more and more americans are treating retirement accounts as rainy day funds. i thought they were rainy day funds. they're not supposed to be used as a piggy bank. we would like to talk about that. clyde anderson is here. what's up with it's not a piggy bank? isn't this supposed to be rainy

day fund and why would capitol hill not want a guy like me or you to spend our own money if we were in a pinch? >> i think they are saying they are trying to protect the american citizen. with social security having problems, they want to make sure we have some sort of retirement fund even though this is our own money. >> herb kohl is rich. >> the owner of the milwaukee bucks. >> when do you think he tapped his 401(k)? >> i have the bill in my hand. i have a problem because i think he may be out of touch with reality of what middle class americans are going through right now. this is money that we put aside for our own savings and now they say they want to limit the amount you can touch. people use this money right now for foreclosures to avoid foreclosure and help ends meet. >> who does this benefit? >> they want to protect the consumer and limit the amount of time you can pull loans from this.

some people are in a situation where they abused this and said i needed to do certain things to pay for certain things as americans consume but you have a lot of people that are in positions where they are being smart about what they're doing but realize this is money they have put away and companies have made money off this 401(k) as well. you are talking about putting money aside that came out of just pretax dollars and a lot of times we get caught up in pretax and seems like so much more. we go with 401(k) and invest it. >> what i did on the radio and other places that term 401(k) abuse. look at it on the other side, what is 401(k) abuse supposed to be? too many loans or taking money out and not paying it back or what? >> they say it's too many loans but people take loans out and then they lose their jobs. what happens when you lose your job, you have several years to pay back this loan if you take it from the employer. once you lose your job, you have 60 days to pay it back. a lot of people, almost 70% of the people that take loans are

now defaulting on the loans. everyone is losing if you look at it from a government and company perspective. >> it's 401(k) financial disaster. >> time for a shift. this has been in place for a while. it's time to look at a different mechanism instead of 401(k). it's outdated right now. >> i asked viewers to weigh in on the 401(k) plan and i got some responses. either my facebook or twitter page. judy says my two older kids had to dip into their 401(k) but they pay it out of their check. i see no problem with it. >> it's your money. it's like a piggy bank. my savings account. if i need to pull from it, i'll pull from it and then pay it back if need be. >> and this one, no comment considering they have the golden parachute retirement that takes care of them and their families for the rest of their lives. there really is a pretty good deal on capitol hill when it comes to benefits if you work

there for a long time. >> out of touch with reality maybe. >> kathryn said this. it's been a life saver since credit dried up. there's another thing. the banks went give you credit but you can still borrow from yourself. >> again, you mention this is why it was put in place. a mechanism to save me if i need to. as the market crashed, you can't get credit, money is set aside, why can't i tap into it to save my financial situation? we have to look at it that way. >> thank you for coming in and interesting discussion. we're going to be watching capitol hill to see what they do with that bill. let's talk shopping. want to fill up your grocery cart but pay a few bucks? we know a guy who can show you how to do this. he's mr. coupon. meet him in the next hour. plus, more than 100 people in joplin, missouri, are still unaccounted for on this memorial day weekend. details coming up next. [ bell rings ]

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checking our top stories. authorities in joplin are lowering the number of missing after sunday's devastating tornado to 156 and raising the number of those killed to at least 132. highest death toll from a single tornado in the united states since record keeping began in 1950. the joplin coroner says it will take weeks to conduct dna tests to identify some of the bodies. happening now. president obama in poland. this is mr. obama meeting the polish president and he followed that event with a meeting with the polish prime minister. both men holding a joint news conference in the next hour. we'll monitor that and bring you the highlights. gil scott-heron, the godfather of rap died friday in new york city. he was best known for the 1970 political and so