nice to have you. >> overdressed, i know. >> a lot of news for you this morning. carol costello has it in the news room. >> happening new, signing scandal. the interpreter on the world stage at the mandela memorial telling his side to cnn. he says he's a champion of sign language. plus, republicans square off and split up over a budget deal. your money on the table and they're playing with it. and shut down. hear what the red skins coach is making rg3 ride the pine. making rg3 ride the pine. you're live in the cnn newsroom. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and good morning. thanks so much for joining me this morning. we begin in south africa where the ininterpreter from the nelson mandela memorial is

fighting back after being called a fake and sparking outrage in the deaf community. he says he's more than qualified and has appeared at many high profile events in the past. david just spoke with him one-on-one. >> he told me he was doing his job during the service of mandela. through those several hour, interpreting for world leaders including president barack obama. one disturbing development he say to me he suffers from schizophrenia and says he's not a security issue for that event. so, the question remains how did he get in if the deaf association in south africa is saying he was signing rubbish, not making any sense with the world leaders at this important event in south africa. take a listen to what he said to me. >> for the deaf association, if they think that i've done a wrong interpretation, i ask

forgiveness. but for deaf south african telling me that i was doing wrong interpretation, then they should answer me why there was -- >> all these years. >> all these years. >> people have complained before when you interpreted for president zuma before. >> listen, listen. i've never, ever, ever in my life have anything that said of interpreted to. you can go through all the medias of south africa. interpreted all the videos for south africa. if you can see my portfolio, i've been in papers for a very long time. no single one said i'm interpreting the wrong interpretation. >> at times, he was combattive. at times, nervous. he said initially to me he said he's received threats from the government and then pulled back

from those statements. certainly, he said he's been doing this for years here in south africa and why now are they bringing up these questions. the one interesting thing that happened is i asked him to give me some sign language. tell me what the sign for mandela is, which is a sign like this, then that because of his old haircut in the '60s. he would not give me any indication of a sign, so it appears he didn't know what he was doing. >> in other interviews, he claimed he's suffering from schizophrenia. did he tell you anything about that? >> yes. he said that he does have schizophrenia, that he's on medication for that. he claimed to me that wasn't what the issue was here. he said if he has some issue, then why didn't they bring it up through the years he was interpreting for leaders like zuma. he seems very nervous about this

issue. he told us the company that he works for, but we can find no evidence of that company in fact existing in the kind of bricks and mortar way. the government saying that they are investigating the matter, but deny that there's any wrong doing at this stage. this is a very fishy story. but one really important factor to take note of of course is this man had very close proximity access to some of the top leaders, including president during those hours and the other thing is the it's deeply embarrassing for south africa because this was meant to be a celebration of nelson mandela's life. >> thanks so much. you may just be waking up, but some of your senators never went to sleep. republicans forced the entire senate to take part in an all night talk a thon. it's happening now. this is a live look at the senate floor. that's tom coburn. my monitor's out here, but i believe that's tom coburn from oklahoma.

the all nighter is payback for the democratic majority using the so-called nuclear option. so democrats could approve president obama's nominees by a simple majority. just look at how the night unfolded. so far, democrats arooufed one nominee. republicans want to slow things down so this will continue into the weekend. some of the debate isn't really about the nominees. senators on both sides are talking about things like the american dream. and obama care and climate change. and even volunteer firefighters. we'll go live to the hill at the bottom of the hour. in the meantime, the house of representatives is facing its own problems. today, lawmakers vote on the bipartisan budget deal introduced by paul ryan and patty murray. but here's the catch. some groups are pushing back, calling it a terrible deal and some democrats are upset it doesn't extend federal unemployment benefits. so the deal could possibly collapse. cnn's joe johns is live in

washington. it was just yesterday we were celebrating bipartisan ship. >> well, that's true and a lot of people think this is going to go through any way, but it's supposed to stop the government from lurching from crisis to crisis every few months, but it's also a public battle over the heart and soul of the republican party that's gotten much uglier recently and the speaker of the house has been caught in the middle. now, he's throwing punches, too. before the big vote, a family feud over the federal budget between establishment republicans and the forces trying to steer the party further to the right. >> they're using our members and they're using the american people for their own goals. >> the house speaker himself with unusually personal pushback against conservative critics of the bipartisan budget deal. >> this is ridiculous. listen, if you're for more deficit reduction, you're for this agreement. >> boehner was talking about groups like heritage action, americans for prosperity, the

club for growth and others denouncing the plan because they say it increases spending $63 billion over the next two years, does an end run around the budget control act and uses gimmicks to raise revenue. heritage action responding to boehner said lawmakers will have to explain to their con stitch we wants what they've increased and offering up another round of promises waiting to be open. that will be a tough sell back home. a difficult spot for some republican street fighters defending it while holding their noses. >> it's the best compromise you can get in divided government. it's that simple. nowhere close to what republicans like to have. >> tough even for the congressal golden boy paul ryan, who co-authored the deal knowing his base will be watching if he ever runs for higher office again. >> if i clog my judgment by what is good for me politically or not, that's just not right in my

opinion. >> but the conservative groups have their defenders on capitol hill. >> anybody who thinks that my vote is for sale through heritage action is sadly mistaken. i would ask anybody who is attacking these outside groups what is it these groups said yesterday about this deal that is false today. >> so, republicans have their issues with this deal, but so do many democrats as well who wanteded to see much more, including an extension of unemployment benefits, so there's something in here for everybody to hate. >> okay. we'll see what happens. joe johns from washington. in just the past hour, we've gotten two new snapshots of the american economy and they're really telling. christine romans is in new york to tell us how telling they are. >> they're telling us more about the economy. we all want to know just how well this recovery is going.

let me start with jobless claims. they jumped to 368,000. that's the jobless claim increase. about 68,000 increase. that's how many people lined up for the first time for unemployment benefits in the last week. it's higher than you want to see, but government accountants and economists are saying it's likely because of the way the thanksgiving holiday fell. it dropped substantially last week, then they rose the next week, so that's what you're seeing there. the trend is still good there. if you've been newly unemployed, you have a better chance of getting a job right now than you have in some time. the next number, retail sales. this is a story about cars, my friend. you saw good car sales in november. people came in for black friday. they came in to buy cars. good incentives, but also a recovering economy. more confidence. people were out there with discounts and auto deals and they were buying both cars and other merchandise as well. so you saw a 7% increase in all.

when you strip out auto sales, you saw an increase still in line with that economists expected. gas prices are are falling. clothing was a little soft. people waiting for better deals later in the year and there will be very good deals on clothing i think late in the year and early next year. >> i'm going to be looking for them. thanks so much. still to come, a u.s. pastor jailed in iran. today, his family takes their fight to free him to washington. jim is following that story. jim? >> he's been jailed for eight years, simply for his religion. his family says that it amounts in effect because of his health problems to a death sentence. hi honey, did you get the toaster cozy? yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

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nasa says it's too soon to tell if a space walk will be needed to fix a failed cooling pump on the internashl space station. one went out wednesday after hitting the temperature limit. teams had to shut down noncritical systems, but the crew is not in danger. this is live action. it's newly released surveillance video of a fatal casino shooting spree in october. a patron at bali's casino in vegas killed a man and injured two security guards after getting upset about the cover charge. the man is behind bars facing murder charges. still not winter yet, but don't tell that to folks at the great lakes or the northeast where temperatures have dipped below 20 degrees. in chicago, the it was a frigid minus 3 degrees.

upstate new york got up to a foot of snow with more on the way this weekend. in just a few minutes from now, the wife of an american pastor imprisoned in iran will make a desperate plea for his release on capitol hill. he is a u.s. citizen of iranian decent and in january, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for what his family says are his christian beliefs. now, a house subcommittee will hear testimony from his concerned family. our chief national correspondent is here and i know you spoke with this man's wife last night. what is she saying? >> it's a really heartbreaking case. he went there to visit his relatives, but accused of a national security crime, trying to overthrow the government simply by being a christian. they say he's trying to convert muslims in iran to christianity. he leaves behind his wife and children, 5 and 7 years old,

really difficult for them as they go through this. they have no idea how long he's going to be stuck there. here's how she described what they're going through to me just last night. >> psychological tortures. they would, i know the first few months, they would say you're going to go free, pack your stuff and go and he would get everything ready and be excited to be able to come see the kids and i and the next day, they would say we're going the hang you today for your faith. >> tough for him, for them as well. she talks about how much they dread spending another christmas away from their husband, the father of their children. he's one of three americans held in iran right now. there's another american, a former marine, who went there also to visit relatives. still held and then in the case of robert levinson, who's been held in iran since 2007. his family believes he is there, so does the american government. when you speak to all these families, they really hope this new warming of relations between the u.s. and iran will give them

new hope that their family members will be released, but they haven't seen any change yet. >> i know you witnessed an american being released from prison in iran. what was that process like? >> this was another iranian american, mr. tagabi. you see a certain pattern here. he went there to visit relatives. he was accused of supporting terrorism, put in prison and sentenced to very long-terms in prison. national security crimes. spying, trying to overthrow the government. oftentimes, they may be sentenced for 8, 10, 15 years, oftentimes, to death and then those sentences are commuted and they're released, but you never know when that's going to happen. in the case of robert levinson, it's been six years and running an the government hasn't even acknowledged he's in the country, so you can imagine for the families, they have no certainty and they're worried, in the case of saeed, he has

health problems, he's been beaten in priszen and they're w worried his life may be in danger. >> many thanks to you. still to come, we've got to talk some sports now. rg3 is about to take a seat on the bench. hi, rachel. >> we're used to power plays in washington, but this one is on the football field. i'll have it for you after the break. (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help.

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part of the redskins turn. the latest soap opera in the nfl. yes, rg3 has been benched and coach shanahan survives despite rumors the coach is benching griffin to force the team's owner to fire him. >> somebody said hey, the reason you're going with kirk is you're trying get fired and get a year left on your contract. i'm not going to call up dan snyder and ask his opinion on a player i don't have to and if he says no, i'm not going to go that direction. >> yeah because daniel snyder doesn't control the team at all. rg3 bench, shanahan survives, it's just so unexpected. >> yeah, absolutely. but you have to remember that mike shanahan does have a contract. if dan snyder just fires him, he will owe him $7 million, so you can understand why he's taking a little bit of a pause before pulling the trigger.

still, mike shanahan does not have that much of a future left in washington and it is hard not to see this as a power play. shanahan has intimated pretty strongly he thinks dan snyder is too close to the star quarterback. he thinks that star system has undermined the coaching staff and the way they can deal with rg3. in fact, shanahan went so far as to say quote, dan doesn't even care about the other positions, so he is asserting himself by saying hey, i'll show you i can bench this guy and rg3 is unfortunately, he seems to be caught in the middle. take a listen to what he said yesterday. >> i expressed my desire to play. of course i want to be out there and finish the season with my guys, see it through, and he explained to me his reasoning and at the end of the day, coach's decision is what we go with and that's what it's always been. >> you can see how just thrilled and happy that he looks there

and i think what's hard for him to swallow, at least from the outside, and certainly for a lot of us on the inside, this is about his health. mike shanahan is the coach who left rg3 in a playoff game with a bum knee last season. just dangled him out there. he got a lot more hurt, then shanahan participated in rushing rg3 back this season when that wasn't the healthiest move, so to claim health now seems to be part of what makes this so hard to swallow. >> poor redskins fans, that's all i have to say. thanks to you and you can see rachel's show every friday night, 10:30 p.m. eastern here on cnn. still to come, a wealthy teenager who killed four people in a drunk driving crash will not even serve one day in prison and you won't believe why. money and a condition called

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good morning. thanks so much for joining me. the talk a thon goes on. senate republicans have been talking since 2:00 yesterday afternoon and they're still talking. and republicans plan to keep on talking to protest the nuclear option. they're upset democrats pushed the button and allowed for a simple majority to approve president obama's nominees. while they chat on and on about stuff to kill time, they're killing our time by not addressing things like oh, cuts to our national defense, entitlement reform, the farm bill, unemployment benefits, the minimum wage. oh, did i mention the budget? lisa is on the hill. at least they're voting on something now. >> that's right. one thing senators know hue to do is talk and they just did take a vote moments ago. this was on a nominee for the eeoc. that nominee has been waiting since the summer for that confirmation and that basically is what this is about for

democrats. they say these nominations have been in limbo. stuck nowhere because of intraction here in the senate and as you said, they changed the rules. they changed the rules so that a filibuster would no longer require 60 votes for these nominees. of course, republicans decried that as a historic change that will forever mean the senate is a different place, less dlib rative. what we see this morning is the direct result. we're seeing nominees getting through the senate. i know folks are like, okay, great, whatever, why are they taking all night? that's because of the rules of the senate when the filibuster is put in motion as republicans have done here, objecting to these nominees, there's a certain amount of time that senators get to debate that nominee and those clocks have to run to speed that up. democrats have set up these all night sessions so that those clocks will run continuously and carol, this isn't going to be the only one. we expect all night sessions

tomorrow night and friday night as well. >> how about that? >> thanks so much. senator lamar alexander's office is dealing with an awful scandal. his chief of staff has been arrested on child porn charges. he was arrested at his d.c. home by the u.s. postal inspection service. he's a long time aide of senator alexander's. the senator himself says he's stunned and saddened by these allegations. chris lawrence in washington with more for you. good morning, chris. >> good morning. yeah, we expect him to be arraigned in the courtroom behind me sometime today. yesterday, the agents came to his house about 7:00 in the morning. he lives just a few miles away from capitol hill. they removed a computer, several bags of evidence, his hard drive. but these were postal service inspectors. they also went to the senate

office of lamar alexander to look at his work computer there. senator alexander gave them access and in a statement, the senator said basically, he just learned of this yesterday when the agents asked for that access to the computer and said i am stunned, surprised and disappointed by what i have learned. based on this information, i immediately placed him on administrative leave without pay. the office is fully cooperating with the investigation. he has worked on capitol hill for about 13 years. he's worked for a number of influential republicans. he's well-known in the part of town. >> if he's found guilty of these charges, how much prison time could he face? >> child pornography is extremely serious crime. it falls under federal prosecution in this case. ten years just for the

possession of child pornography is the maximum, but he's also accused of distributing child pornography and that carries up to 20 years in prison. >> all right, live from washington this morning. thank you. affluenza. ever heard of it? let me tell you what it is. if you're an entitled kid and your wealthy family never taught you right from wrong, you have affluenza. this affliction was actually used to defend a 16-year-old boy in court. ethan couch. he was drunk out of his mind when he plowed into four people, killing them. vict victim's families thought the court would throw the book at him, but couch got probation. >> for 25 weeks. i've been going through a healing process. so when the verdict came out, i mean, my immediate reaction is i'm back to week one. okay, we have accomplished

nothing here. my healing process is out the window. >> alina is is here -- this is really a sad story. and outrageous. >> this sentence has been incredibly difficult for these families who are still grieving the loss of their loved ones. they wanted ethan couch to spend time in prison and now that sentence as well as this talk about affluenza, has some calling for justice. >> there is growing outrage following the lenient sentence handed down to a wealthy teen involved in a deadly car wreck. ethan couch admitted to drinking alcohol the night his speeding truck caused a chain reaction crash that killed four and injured two others in tarrant county, texas. his sentence, ten years of probation. not the 20 years of prison prosecutors asked for. >> he'll be feeling the hand of god, definitely.

he may think he's gotten away with something, but he hasn't gotten away with anything. >> the wounds that it opened only makes the healing process that much greater. and much more difficult. >> eric boyles lost his wife and daughter that night in june. >> we had over 180 years of life taken. future life not 180 years lived, but 180 future years of life taken and two of those were my wife and daughter. >> hollie and shelby boyles were helping breanna mitchell to change a flat tire. a youth pastor also stopped to help. also four were killed. >> how many were injured, do you know? >> one, two, three, multiple. i don't even know how many. yeah. >> three hours after the crash, couch's blood alcohol level was .24. three times the legal limit in

texas. a psychologist testifyinging for the defense reportedly called couch a product of quote affluenza, saying he was brought up to spend money instead of saying sorry if he hurts someone and he never learned that sometimes, you don't get your way. the judge opted for probation and therapy. >> teaching him to be a responsible citizen. >> but for the families of the victims, that's simply not enough. >> money always seems to keep ethan out of trouble. this was one time i did ask the court that for justice. and for money not to prevail and ultimately today, i felt like money did prevail. >> okay, i'm really struggling to understand this. 16 years old, so he is just a kid. maybe the judge, i'm sure the judge factored that into his

decision. he's going to be kept away from his family. where will he go? >> he's been ordered to undergo a long-term rehab. he's going to be away from his parents and be at a rehab facility. there's talk about a facility in california and the family has offered to foot the bill for that. >> so, he's going to go to a rehab facility because he's an alcoholic, right? >> to deal with these issues that brought him to this point. >> and affluenza, do you really think that played a part, this affluenza? >> the judge did say when he was handing down the sentence, that ultimately, the teen, he was responsible for his actions. not his parents. so you know, it came up u as a defense, definitely something people are talking about. it catches your eye. i had never heard of that kind of defense, but it was used in court. >> yeah, i hope never to hear about it again. we're going to talk about it more after the break. also still to come, it

looked like one of the creepiest pixar films you've ever seen, but it's part of the sexual harassment lawsuit against bob filner. we'll talk about that. my customers can shop around. but it doesn't usually work that way with health care. with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and cost estimates, so we can make better health decisions. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress, the fcc, and the administration free up... more licensed wireless spectrum, we can empower more... people to innovate, create new technologies and jobs... and strengthen the economy. america is the world's leader in wireless. let's keep it that way. free up licensed spectrum today, so wireless... can do more for america tomorrow.

some might call it creepy. others effective. i want to show you a bit of animation that could be used in court to prove alleged sexual harassment. that's bob filner. the accuser, a former city parks employee. watch.

>> isn't she great? isn't she great? >> yeah. >> i am mentoring her. i am thinking of making her employee of the day. >> sounds good. >> just to let you know, i like to get really close to my city employees. stacy, you are turning really red. >> you are really embarrassing me. >> i can't believe you're keeping a straight face. i know you want to laugh. >> i tell you, the stuff i see in court, you didn't believe. this stuff is i'll tell you, it's amazing. >> i don't know, why would a judge admit such a thing in court? >> well, getting this actually admit admitted in court's not going to be such an easy thing, to have it played in front of a jury. they allow animated re-enactm t re-enactments when you have a complicated case, but somebody

rubbing somebody else in a sexual way, i have never seen that as an animation admitted by any judge in any american courtroom. this is a publicity stunt essentially by the attorney representing the employee who's suing the ex mayor and boy, it's kind of getting a lot of attention. not that there was any lack of it to begin with. >> just to refresh our viewers memories, the san diego member who was accused of many women in the city of san diego of sexual harass m, now, the trials are about to begin. this is one of them. >> you know, the funniest thing carol was the expression on her face. you're supposed to exhibits are supposed to kind of recreate the incident exactly. how do you know what the look was on her face? i'm sure she was astonished, but maybe b not in quite the same

way as the cartoon character was. tell your story, but no cartoons. >> i'd like to focus on this affluenza, the story we showed before the break. the 16-year-old got horribly drunk, he gets into a car, he hits and kills four people. his attorney said that he's a victim of his parent's upbringing. he's a wealthy kid. he doesn't know right from wrong. he doesn't know enough to say he's sorry because he's been privile privileged. the judge sentences him to what, ten years probation? he goes to rehab then lives his life as normal. some are outraged by this, especially the victim's families. they say this was terribly unfair. do you really think the judge took into account affluenza? >> i'm so shocked by this sentence. we're supposed to have a system of justice that treats the rich and poor the same. and now, the father comes forward and says i'll be 450,000 so you can send him to a nice

rehab center in california. so the judge gives this slap on the wrist sentence. there was a psychologist who says he suffers from quote, affluenza, meaning he was poisoned by wealth and never taught morals and how to obey the law, but frankly, if i were the chose would be to a cockroach dimly lit dungeon for a while and maybe later on, you could put him into therapy, but to think he caused all of these deaths through essentially, he deliberately drank all of this alcohol. huge amount. and caused this accident and to get a slap on the wrist i think is just stunning and shocking to the public. it's wrong. down right wrong. >> i guess he and his friends broke into a walmart and stole a bunch of beer and you're right, he was drunk out of his mind. .24. two times the legal limit in texas. he's 16 years old though, so

maybe the judge took into account his age. what is a normal sentence that would come down in a similar case? >> this has changed through the years. traditionally, juveniles were treated very differently than adults. they were in a special system. a judge decides the case, a sentence and the sentences have involved rehabilitation and therapy and that sort of thing, however, when you have a serious case where a number of people have been killed and where somebody has sort of a record, when you look at this kid's record, just listening to his own psychologist, he just ignores the rule of law and it cries out for a much more severe punishment. and you know, the law has two things going. one is you want to try to help and rehabilitate the defendant, but you also want to send a message to the community that you won't tolerate this kind of behavior. what kind of message is this texas judge sending to other 16-year-old kids? it doesn't look like you can kill four human beings and get a

guarantee you're going to be punished and that's not the right message. the message should be you'll pay a terrible price if you drink and drive in texas and the wrong message has been sent in this case. >> thank you. [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah.

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the guys from duck dynasty heading from the backwoods to afghanistan. traveling with general martin dempsey for his holiday uso tour. the dynasty will "duck" the halls with those stationed in afghanistan. big surprises as 2014 golden globe nominees were unveiled in beverly hills. nischelle turner was there. good morning. >> hey, good morning.

everyone wants to zig when they zag. and they did, giving us surprises with their nominations this morning. let's run down the categories for you. i'll break these up into the drama and category musmusic cat. 12 years a slave, captain phillips, gravity, filemena and rush. for mandela, captain phillips, matthew mcconaughey for dallas buyers club and robert reddford in "all is lost." for the women, kate blanchette, sandra bullock for "gravity" also great in that film. judi dench for "philomena" and kate winslet for "labor day" and emma thompson in "saving mr.

banks." butler was shut out. no best actor, no best actress for oprah winfrey. >> what about the comedy and musical categories? >> yeah, those were a bit of a surprise in those as well. another interesting list for the best comedy musical nominations for a picture, the nominees were her, "american hustle," "the wolf of wall street." the actors nominated for best comedy musical, christian bale in "american hustle," bruce dern for "nebraska," and joaquin phoenix for "her." amy adams nominate for the record "american hustle," "before midnight," gretta gerwig, julia louis-dreyfus.

osage county was not nominated in the best picture category. it was widely thought by people in the industry to be one of the best pictures of the year. julia roberts was nominated for best supporting actress, meryl streep nominated for best actress but no best picture for them. also just a note, carol, double nominees this morning. indris nominated for his work in mandela. and "12 years of slave," also both nominated for best actor in a tv. good morning for those two guys this morning, carol. >> you're not kidding. nischelle turner, many thanks to you. just ahead in the newsroom, rg3 won't be leaving the sidelines for the rest of the season. andy schultz is following that story. >> doing it for rg3's own good. do we believe him? we'll discuss it next in the bleacher report. ♪

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just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. [ driver ] and it got his okay on treatment from miles away. it even pulled strings with the stoplights. my ambulance talks with smoke alarms and pilots and stadiums. but, of course, it's a good listener too. [ female announcer ] today cisco is connecting the internet of everything. so everything works like never before. because what you don't know, can today churt you.urance.ng the internet of everything. what if you didn't know that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars? [woman] off to hawaii! what if you didn't know that as the price of gold rises, so should the coverage on your jewelry? [prospector] ahh! what if you didn't know that kitty litter can help you out of a slippery situation? the more you know, the better you can plan for what's ahead. talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum - bum♪

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but hurry, sleep train's interest-free for 3 event is ending soon! superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed! ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ we won't be seeing redskins quarterback rg3 again this season. not because he's injured but because mike shanahan says so. >> he is benching him, because

he doesn't want him to reinjure himself, but some think there are other reasons. shanahan said he got snyder's blessing before shutting down rg3. this is a full-blown soap opera in the nation's capital. doc rivers, crowd at the garden gave their former coach a very warm reception. river sincere one of the most beloved figures in celtics history. coaching the team for nine seasons, nba title at 2008. rivers had to fight back the tears after he touched a pregame tribute. >> really nice day. this is -- such a classy place. i was basically useless for the first 18 minutes of the game. i told my coaches i needed half time far more than the players. >> about to see a monumental

change in major league baseball. the league is planning to eliminate home plate collisions, possibly as soon as next season. the new rules being discussed include banning catchers from blocking the plate and not allowing them to target catchers. pretty bad couple of weeks after missing three field goals against auburn. to cheer him up, president george w. bush sent him a handwritten letter. check it out. it reads, life has its setbacks, i know. however, you will be a stronger human with time. i wish you all the best. sincerely, another 43, george bush. >> i thought that was sweet. >> so awesome. >> this poor kid got death threats on twitter after missing those field goals. for president bush to send him a letter, that's awesome. >> you think your life will never be the same and it will get better. good for george w. bush.

thank you, andy. next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. >> good morning. the memorial for nelson mandela has taken one man from center stage to controversy. that his interpretations were all fake. now the interpreter is taking on his critics, saying he is highly qualified and his work has never been questioned. he also offered these words to those who are outraged. >> i apologize to the community, to -- i did not want to harm any of them. it was not my intention to harm any of -- any south african or any person in another country

that is affected by the issue of my interpretation. >> he is also revealing a medical condition that he reportedly said impacted his work on the day of the memorial. >> i would like to see the people who are deaf disability accommodated as much as i want to be accommodated. >> what kind of disability do you have? >> i suffer from schizophrenic. >> brian todd is continuing this story from washington. good morning. >> good morning, carol. as for the other reaction to this, african national congress has confirmed over the years it has hire this had man. his name is thamsomka jantjie. this time the government hired him for the mandela memorial. up until yesterday, the african national congress had not been aware of any complaints

regarding the quality of his services. but according to various reports, members of south africa's deaf community had actually previously raised concerns about jantjie. the planning of the memorial, but they say jantjie is not a fake as some have accused him of being. here is south africa's deputy minister of women, children and people with disabilities. take a listen. >> what crime has he committed? why must he be brought to justice? what would be the charges? because i think we need to understand, dear colleagues, that sign language in itself is a language in transition and, yes, he did not sign whatever was expected of him, but i don't think he committed any crime. >> no one actually accused jantjie of committing a crime. the issue is his competence and

the xeps of the people who hired him. his mistakes were very obvious to the hard of hearing and deaf community. head of the interpretation department here at the liberal arts university in the world for the hard of hearing. here is what she said about mr. jantjie's signs and gestures. >> see the repetitive movements here and here? there's a repeated gesture, but the speaker is not repeating the spoken message. so you can see just by that, the interpretation is not accurate or equivalent. >> and so that speaks to the issue of his confidence. there's also, carol, the issue of security. how did someone who was apparently a fake and now admits he was a schizophrenic gets that close to the united states? we'll be digging into the security issues. the secret service says the proper security measures were in place, that they coordinated all of that with the south african

government. the issue, of course, is vetting his background. there's a lot of unanswered questions. >> let's talk about his background. he worked for a certain company, right? supposedly the government hired the company and the company put him into place. what's the company saying about this? >> the company, i don't believe, has spoken out. it's called sa interpreters. the government says it had tracked down that company but according to that one minister who we just heard from, the owners of the company, quote, seem to have vanished. so i think there are some questions that they have to answer as well. but they seem to have gone underground, at least for now, carol. so, again, this man's background and the hiring of him, the vetting of him for his psychological issues or any other issues he may have, there's still a lot to be reported on this. >> brian todd, you'll have more later on this afternoon in "the situation room." thank you so much. >> thanks, carol. the house is set to vote on the bipartisan issue but there's a catch.

some conservative groups are pushing back, calling the budget deal a terrible deal. and some democrats are upset it doesn't extend federal unemployment benefits. so, there is a possibility this deal could collapse. >> before the big vote, family feud over the budget, forces trying to steer the party further to the right. >> they're using our members and the the american people for their own goals. >> reporter: the house speaker himself with unusual pushback of critics of the bipartisan budget deal. >> this is ridiculous. listen, if you are for more deficit reduction, you're for this agreement. >> reporter: heritage action, americans for prosperity, club for growth and others denouncing the plan because they say it increases spending $63 billion over the next two years. budget controla act and uses gimmicks to raise revenue.

heritage action responding to boehner says lawmakers will have to explain to their constituents, many of whom are our members, what they've achieved by increasing spending, increasing taxes and offering up another round of promises waiting to be broken. that will be a really tough sell back home. a difficult spot for some republican street fighters defending it, while holding their noses. >> it's the best compromise you can get in a divided government. it's that simple. it's nowhere close to what republicans like to have. >> reporter: tough even for the congressional golden boy and former vice presidential candidate paul ryan, who co-authored the deal, knowing his base will be watching if he ever runs for higher office again. >> if i cloud my judgment for if this is good for me politically or not, that's just not right in my opinion. >> conservative groups have their defenders on capitol hill. >> anybody who thinks that my vote is for sale through heritage action is sadly mistaken. i would ask anybody who is attacking these outside groups,

what is it that these outside groups said yesterday about this deal that is false today. >> cnn's joe johns is live in washington. it was only yesterday we were talking about a spirit of new bipartisanship. where did that go? >> reporter: that's a very good questi question. still, remember, this is a party that has had this fight for a very long time, carol. and it continues and will continue after this. one of the big questions, of course, is what about unemployment benefits? this is something that democrats said they wanted inside the bill. it didn't happen. it's not in the budget. and the question is whether they're going to do something down the road, either right now at the very end of the session or something early next year to try to get it through. few options in this option so far, carol. >> joe johns reporting live from washington this morning. nasa says it's too soon to

tell if if a spacewalk is necessary. one of the cooling stations went out yesterday. they had to shut down noncritical systems. the spags station and the crew, nasa says, is not in danger. still, it's worrisome. john zarrella joins me now from miami. >> reporter: the mission management team is meeting this morning and will have to come up with some contingenciecontingen. they have a con contingency for a spacewalk. they did one back in may to fix a cooling loop. back in 2010 they had to replace one of the two pumps out there on the outside of the space station. in fact, the one that failed yesterday is the one that was used as a replacement back in 2010. now, of course, any time you have to go outside of the space station to do any kind of work, it can be a dangerous situation. but what happened yesterday, of course, was the pump failed. they managed to get it restarted

but have had to shut down some nonessential systems. they just don't have enough cooling capacity with the two pumps, with one not working at 100%. they don't have enough capacity to keep everything cold. but the life support system is fine. science experiments are fine. there's no problem there. we're just really waiting on the mission management team and the troubleshooting to be done to figure out if, indeed, they'll have to -- they can fix it another way or if they have to actually go outside and do the work. carol? >> cnn's john zarrella reporting live from miami. thanks. facebook may have gotten off to a rocky start. now the social network iing gia is making an achievement with the announcement it will be added to the benchmark s&p 500 index. christine romans is in new york city to explain. >> the hoodie is all grown up.

its validation that facebook belongs with some of the most important companies in the world in the s&p 500. it will happen december 20th. that's when facebook will go into the s&p 500. what it really means is that anybody who has a mutual fund or an exchange traded fund that tracks the s&p 500 now will own a piece of facebook. facebook is now open up to a much, much bigger universe of investors and has really sort of come of age. it has been a rocky start. remember the facebook face plant of ipo? ipo price of $38 a share, remember, and it fell all the way down to $17 and people said that was crazy, what a farfarce. now it's trading at almost $51 a share. facebook, turned out, it's up 86% this year, turned out in the end to be a pretty decent investment over its short little life. >> depending when you buy, right? >> now will be added to the s&p 500. you'll have it in your 401k.

>> thank you, christine. i appreciate it. >> you're welcome. on trial for the murder of her husband of eight days. we'll talk about the evidence prosecutors say points to her guilt. we'll show you next. i love to eat. i love hanging out with my friends. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free -- it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. is one thing. but shaving without proglide... what are we, animals? gillette fusion proglide, for unrivaled comfort even on sensitive skin. gillette -- the best a man can get.

checking our top stories at 14 minutes past the hour. 25-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter are pack home today after their family survived two days of sub zero temperatures. christina mcintee's aunt talked about their ordeal. >> sage brush, they heated rocks to keep the kids warm. they burned a spare tire.

they had food and some water. never saw such strength in little kids ever. they never cried. they were scared, obviously. but, you know, they would play a little bit during the day. >> mcintee's fiance and three other children are still in the hospital this morning. doctors don't expect any long-term health problems, though. dealing with an awful scandal, chief of staff has been arrested on child porn charges. arrested by the u.s. postal inspection service, long-time aide and confid nachlt t of senator alexander's. he says he's stunned and saddened by the allegations. the chief of staff is expected to be arraigned later on today. more damaging testimony in the murder trial of a montana bride accused of pushing her brand new husband off a cliff. defense attorneys say it was an accident. kyung lah explains that

prosecutors sbrusd a piece of evidence that play into their theory that she planned the whole thing. >> reporter: carol, an emotional day in court where the jury saw pictures of the body, how steep this fall was and the prosecution has pursued its case that all of this was planned. cody johnson's friends arrived for the third day of his murder trial, with their grief visible and still raw. they testified jordan graham was not an overwhelmed newlywed who accidentally pushed her husband off the cliff but a bride who planned to kill. a friend saw johnson the day he died and asked him to go golfing. he said he couldn't because jordan says she has a surprise for me. three other witnesses testified to the same thing, including his stepfather who said his son mentioned the surprise for him. graham downplayed it and said

the surprise was a barbecue with friends but later that night, he was pushed off the cliff at glacier national park. johnson grabbed her, she pushed and he fell to his death, graham claims. prosecutors have a different version. they say graham wanted out of her marriage and plotted to kill her new husband. deputy coroner richard sein testified downstream from johnson's body he found a black cloth. at the cliff, the theory that graham blindfolded her husband, possibly with the black cloth before pushing him in the back with two hands face first to his death. defense attorneys have already begun fighting how this cloth was found, including contamination of evidence. lying to one of the groomsmen, who said in court what she said this summer. >> she actually changed her story and stated she was at the house when cody left and that she saw him leave in a

dark-colored car. so, between the two days, two completely different stories. and at that time, that's when i became suspicious and then actually went to the authorities. >> where she continued lying to detective cory clark. have you had many people lie to you? >> i don't want to talk about that. >> reporter: he did talk on the stand. testifying, graham created a fake e-mail account, so that she could send e-mails that would cover her tracks. jordan graham continued lies to police, friends and family until an fbi interrogation where she was shown this image. it's a snapshot, surveillance camera at the entrance of glasher national park. at a higher resolution, it's clear, graham is a passenger in the car, sitting next to her husband, putting her at the scene of the crime. the prosecution now winding down its case. the defense expects to present

its side, their explanation for what may have motivated this young bride. carol? >> kyung lah, reporting live -- reporting for us this morning. still to come in the newsroom, should you be ai allowed to chat on your cell phone while you're up in the air in an airplane? the fcc is considering making the changes today. rene marsh, hello. >> hi, carol. the fcc is moving forward with its proposal with a vote happening later this afternoon. we'll have more on that, on the other side of the break. i don't just make things for a living i take pride in them. so when my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis was also on display, i'd had it.

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the fcc is debating whether to allow you to chat on your cell phone mid flight on an airplane. fcc is seeking public comment. take a look at how people feel about this poll from quinnipiac shows 59% of americans don't want people using cell phones on airplanes. 30% say it's okay. and some people feel pretty passionate about the issue. >> you might want to talk the entire flight at a loud voice about every single problem you have in your family, right? blah, blah, blah. i'm afraid it won't work. >> a lot of work that i do that i need to be in touch with people and the hour and a half that i spend flying between atlanta and d.c., i lose that time. >> but do you need to do it on the plane, on the phone? you could use the internet, right? you could send e-mail now. right, rene marsh? rene marsh is covering this story. i just can't believe they are

considering this. >> they are considering it, carol. you saw those live pictures. fcc is moving forward today with its proposal to allow fliers to text and talk on their flight. all fcc commissioners will vote on whether to lift the ban. in ano op-ed this morning, dozes of companies around the world permit use of cell phones and airlines have taken advantage of the flexibility that those systems offer. he calls the ban outdated and says that technology has advanced enough that cell phone transmissions from the air would not interfere with towers on the ground. we should say after the fcc does complete this vote today, the issue will be open for public comment.

and this will be a topic of discussion, carol. >> i'm just thinking about it. on a train, you can go to the quiet car, right, where people aren't allowed to talk on their cell phones. but on a plane, you're sort of trapped. >> you're stuck. >> so i guess the airline -- individual airlines could decide whether to allow you to talk on the phone or not, in spite of the fcc decision. right? >> absolutely. and that's what the fcc is saying. they're saying, look, we're just lifting the band. it will be up to the individual airlines to decide whether they will allow their flyers to use the phones or not. congressman bill shuster introduced a bill to block cell phone use. some people feel it would lead to fist fights in the air because people would be annoyed. some aren't really jumping to

allow cell phones even though they allow tablets. delta said they would not allow cell phone use. flight attendant union has some concerns. take a listen. >> ability for those who might wish to do harm to coordinate during the flight or amongst flights. >> here is the bottom line. after the fcc reviews the public comments and they draw up their final rule, carol, good news for you, it would be at least a year or even more before you actually have to worry about that annoying person talking next to you the entire flight. >> envisioning, i'll have to bring ear plugs that block out all sound on flights. rene marsh, we'll check back. thanks so much. >> sure. still to come in "the newsroom," deal finally hammered out on the federal budget. not everyone is happy. we'll stage our own debate right here in the "cnn newsroom." [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your nasal congestion,

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checking our top stories at 30 minutes past, the interpreter in the middle of that sign language controversy is dismissing critics who say he's a fake. the interpreter says this is the first time anyone has ever questioned his abilities. >> never, ever, ever in my life have anything been said about interpreting. you can go through all the media of south after ricka. i've been interpreting to all the medias of south africa. if you see my portfolio, i've been in papers for a very long time. no single one said i'm interpreting the wrong interpretation. >> the interpreter went on to apologize those who were angered by his performance and says he is getting treatment for schizophrenia, which he says may have impacted his appearance. nasa says it's too soon to tell if a spacewalk will be needed to fix a cooling pump on

the international space station. one of two pumps went out wednesday. teams had to shut down noncritical systems. nasa says the space crew, not in any danger at all. we got mixed reports this morning on the state of the u.s. economy. retail sales rose seven-tenth of 1% in november on auto sales, the steepest climb since june. weekly jobless claims also jumped to a two-month high. numbers for the previous week had been at their lowest in almost three months. today, the house of representatives will vote on a bipartisan budget deal. many say it is expected to pass, but conservative groups are slamming the plan, calling it a bad deal that doesn't do enough to cut spending. and that outraged republican house speaker john boehner. >> groups that came out and opposed it before they ever saw it? >> yes, those groups. are you worried that -- >> they're using our members and the american people for their own goals.

this is ridiculous. >> co-author of that plan, paul ryan, echoed boehner's feelings, responding to criticism of senator marco rubio this morning. >> said that this much, quote, advances our principles. marco rubio said this, though, last night. quote, your deal is going make it harder for americans to achieve the american dream. what would you say to marco? >> read the deal and get back to me. >> read the deal and get back to me. okay. so this budget includes spending levels that would eliminate a big chunk of those forced budget cuts, sequestration. it does not -- repeat, does not extend unemployment benefits and raises revenue, in part, through airline security fees. cnn political commentator for the blaze, will cain, joins us now, as well as executive

director for "the daily beast," john. you were celebrating this deal just yesterday as a bipartisan ray of sunshine. today it's -- i guess the twist is the conservative republicans are fighting the budget. republicans are fighting among themselves. will this thing pass? john, oh, john? >> yes, it will most likely pass among those on the right. when you have john boehner slamming the conservative activist groups that are just a racket at this point, trying to raise money and inflame furry with no interest in governing -- when paul ryan is being called insufficiently conservative on the budget, you have republicans realizing they're creating a monster that is not interesting in governing the national interest. that's the fascinating fight amongst this vote. >> john boehner said this isn't anything about politics.

read the deal and then get back to me. >> i definitely agree this is about nothing more than politics, but that's coming from both sides. i mean, both sides of this conservative food fight. look, substantively, this deal doesn't have much to say for itself, net $23 billion in savings over ten years on an annual, what, trillion dollar plus budget? this thing doesn't have much to say for itself. marco rubio, positioning themselves in kind of a cost-free manner to hold fast principles and look good in a presidential election. there is a principle involved and on the flip side, by the way, the primary goal of paul ryan and john boehner is also political, to get the concept of government shutdowns behind you and focus on a true issue that you can run on, like obama care. let's focus back on obama care, not have government shutdowns get in the way of that focus. >> john?

>> my friend, will, is confusing governance with governing. another government shutdown would be disastrous for the gop politically, but there's also the principle of having government run. when paul ryan was running for vice president, you heard over and over again, how come we haven't had a budget in so long? we had a budget conference in effect and we have a deal. is it a moderate deal? yes. would i have preferred a grand bargain? yes. folks on the far right would never have allowed loopholes to be closed by revenue. you're constrained by that fact. the fact that we have a budget is a good thing for the country. those who are invested in inflaming the crisis. that's what's going on. >> i think marco rubio is sort of inflaming things. he wrote an op-ed on brightbart.com and said this deal will kill the american dream because it's left us with a government too broken to function and families falling apart. hard work, discipline, honesty and self control. oh, come on, will!

>> for god's sakes, yeah! >> are you all done with your come ons and god sakes? >> go ahead. >> marco rubio could have made that argument before the deal. this deal isn't the one that sends america spiraling around the drain. lack of self dependency or depending upon the government, that existed before this deal. if we have principles that we think we can get back to, less government entitlements, fixes to the tax code, those were good principles to fight for. but i do think john makes a decent point. you aren't going to get it. it's not just because republicans weren't allowed for tax loopholes to be closed, john, but also the left has zero interest in addressing the true driver, medicare and social security. zero interest. >> that's not true, will. president obama's budget put forward entitlement cuts on the table as part of a grand bargain. that doesn't fly. >> where did that go? >> will is right, that went absolutely nowhere. he certainly hasn't talked about

it since. >> well, no. look, he put it forward in a budget. cpi. angered folks on the far left. his party took that risk. that needs to be acknowledged. that's an important fact. talk about a fact-free document. marco rubio is better than an op-ed in brightbart. it's pathetic that you start talking about an american dream, to slam the deal before he reads the details. the state of the gop. if he wants to run for president, he has to be as irresponsible as possible and that's sad. >> i think it's interesting that john boehner used read the deal. and so did paul ryan. it's sort of a play on read the bill that they used to attack democrats with. now they're attacking their own party with the same thing. >> yeah. >> i would say this, carol, at the end. paul ryan did say this in defense of his bill. i'm a conservative. that mean ice recognize reality. we can say we want all these principles but you have to recognize the fact that there's a democratic president, democratic senate and ask yourself what you can get.

apparently this is all paul ryan thought he could get. it's also serving a higher purpose, which is he wants to talk about obama care. he doesn't want to talk about government shutdowns. >> will cain, john avalon, thank you for the spirited discussion this morning. appreciate it, as always. >> you bet. take care, carol. >> you, too. still to come in the newsroom, major league baseball changing the rules around home plate. what? no more collisions at home plate? andy schulz is following that story for us. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues

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major league baseball is making major changes as to how the game is played. no more collisions at home plate. >> catchers will no longer be allowed to stand in front of home plate and block it and runners are no longer able to run into catchers. they're trying to avoid the collisions we've seen. it's become a hot topic of discussion when buster posey, in 2011 he got laid out at the plate, shattered his leg. that ruined the san francisco giants season. his head coach has been trying to get cligs eliminated from the game. originally execs said this is part of baseball. we're not taking this out of the game. as we've seen over the past few months, concussions and injuries have become a serious issue in sports and now they've changed their minds on this and will eliminate it from the game. >> catchers have it tough anyway. going to first base because he

can't catch anymore. it's a tough position. >> owners want to protect their investments. they've paid millions and millions of dollars for tha these players. losing one of your star players for one run in one game in the span of 162-game season is ludicrous. it's just not worth it. taking it out of the game, they think, is a smart decision and also lessens the concussion injuries. mike matheny is speaking about how he deals with concussion-related symptoms in his life. it's a thing that major league baseball would like to avoid. >> no final decision yet. >> players and owners have to vote on it. if they do it soon, it could be in place for next season and definitely will be in place for 2015. coming up, a very important story to tell you. "the muppets" are going to grow bipartisanship on capitol hill. i'm serious. ♪

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>> police are trying to piece together what happened at this house over the weekend. according to authorities, some fraternity ritual led to the death of a college freshman in what appears to be another case of hazing gone horribly wrong. fred pleitgen is in new york with this story. hi, fred. >> reporter: horribly wrong, tragic case and apparently criminal implications. the game they were playing is called the glass ceiling. what happens there is that the person that's actually playing this game, a heavy object is placed on his back. he is blindfolded and he has to try to make his way to someone who is calling. who is making noises. in that process, other people try to tackle that person. it seems as though this would-be -- this new fraternity member who is called michael deng suffered some sort of head injury, they brought him inside, was laying on the couch. he was unresponsive for a while.

they drove him to the hospital. you're noticing one big thing missing in all of this. they never called an ambulance. so they brought him to the hospital, substantial amount of time later there, the doctors diagnosed a severe brain trauma. they put him on life support. but in the end, he died. therefore, there could be some serious implications for the other people involved in this as well. certainly the district attorney in that district is investigating this matter. very, very serious and very tragic event, carol. >> it says it's baruch college. that didn't look like a fraternity house for me. where was that? >> baruch doesn't have much in the way of fraternities. most of the people who go there is from the new york area. the college itself says they're absolutely shocked. these people getting together and playing this game was not sanctioned by the college at all. they released a statement. i'll read it for you. baruch college has a zero tolerance policy against hazing. michael's death is a painful reminder no individual should be

put into a position where his or her personal safety is in jeopardy. they say they are fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities to try to come to the bottom of what exactly happened there and what implications this could have. carol? >> fred pleitgen, thank you very much. ntsb has released new video of that fatal asieana airline there. the co-pilot says he was nervous about landing this those conditions. 6-year-old boy kissed a girl on her hand. hunter yeltin's mother says it was just an innocent crush but admit that is her son has been suspended previously for kissing that same little girl. new foreclosure filings dropped by 15% last month

according to the online marketer realty track. that's the biggest monthly decline since november 2010. new foreclosure filings are at their lowest level since 2006. they're also down 36 37% compared to this time last year. looking to get rich? today might be your day. mega millions jackpot is $400 million. and tickets are being sold in 45 states across the country. if someone wins tomorrow, it would be the fifth largest jackpot in north american history. good luck. still to come in the newsroom, the deep freeze creeping across the country won't let up. ind ra petersons is out in the cold this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. i have the dance going here. definitely chilly. feels like 13 degrees out here. wish i had better news. arctic air and another storm headed our way. details up next. ♪

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parts of upstate new york could see up to four feet of snow by the end of the week. in syracuse, the snow is already piling up, covering cars and bringing road travel to a crawl. in north dakota, 18 degrees below zero and things won't warm up there any time soon. indra petersons is in new york city. compared to that, it's

relatively warm. >> you're actually 36 right now. you feel like 28. i have zero sympathy for you, carol. here, it feels like 13. no one should have sympathy for me either. take a look. temperatures are cool across the entire country. more arctic air is expected to come our way. and another storm right behind it. wow, it's going to be tough out here. >> everybody throughout the area is at the freezing park. >> frigid temps gripping the nation as another blast of arctic air has millions from the northwest to the great lakes waking up to cold air. the windy city already feeling like it's earliest subzero temperatures since 1995. earlier this week, morning temperatures plunged to 6 below zero. same story in frozen fargo.

they've had single digit temps or below for a full week. new yorkers bundling up for their morning commute with brutal windchills that feel like the teens and 20s. bitter cold temps made fighting this apartment fire in wisconsin challenging for the firefighters. it's so cold in wisconsin, a reporter for cnn affiliate left this banana outside in negative 2 degree air for just 30 minutes. >> reporter: when we come back, we find the banana completely frozen solid. so frozen, in fact, i could use it to hammer in this nail. >> reporter: and in minnesota, one of the coldest spots in america. hospitals there already preparing for an influx of hypothermia cases. doctors urging people to stay indoors. >> as you get colder and colder, your decision making gets worse and worse. the longer you're out, the more damage is done and it can be fatal. >> reporter: that's exactly the problem. look at the huge chunk of the country that are seeing these temperatures at the below

freezing mark. only in the south are we escaping from these chilly arctic air. these are the temperatures right now. talk about the windchill. factor in these places. chicago was in the negative teens with the windchill and it doesn't stop there. let's talk about what we're expecting today. lake-effect snow off lake erie, lake ontario. here comes the next storm diving down from montana. one low combining with another system. any place in kansas, missouri, you could be looking at another chance that have wintry mix. as we go into the weekend, look at the chances here. we're talking about snow from the northeast back down to the midwest. from the midatlantic, especially new england, that wintry mix back through west virginia and rain in the southeast. it's kind of that mixed bag. it also means safer conditions out there. not as many people will be expected out on the roads. as far as how long does this chill last? temperatures day by day. notice, it is not changing. still talking about a good -- in some ways, look at bismarck, 25 degrees below normal. that's the kind of arctic air

we're dealing with. at least we're all in it together. and we'll get through it together, carol. >> we should all get in one big huddle and be a lot warmer. >> that's true. >> indra, thank you. checking top stories before we have to go. george zimmerman will not face charges for a domestic dispute with his girlfriend, samantha schibe when she said in a court document she did not want him to be charged. she said police misinterpreted her initial statements about the assault and she may have misspoken. deadly casino shooting in october. police say a patron at casino injured two security guards and killed a man. he is behind bars facing murder charges. something happy now. guys from "duck dynasty" are heading out of the back woods of the american heartland to afghanistan, traveling with general martin dempsey for his holiday uso tour.

"duck dynasty" will duck the halls with contractors and service members stationed in afghanistan. thank you so much for joining me today. i'm carol costello. legal view with ashleigh banfield starts now. mixed signals. that sign language interpreter on the right says he's schizophrenic and was hallucinating during the ceremony. you'll hear from him here on cnn. too rich to go to jail? a texas teenager driving drunk, kills four people and his sentence? no jail time. his lawyers say he was too wealthy to know any better. and death by hazing? a fraternity initiation goes