made extraordinary contributions in california. she's using the money to build a shower facility for the homeless in eureka proving one person truly can make a difference. >> hook at me. i can do it. anybody can do it. you find so much joy. >> reporter: fredricka whitfield, cnn. hello, everybody. from the cnn center, you are in the "cnn newsroom." it's saturday, january 2nd. happy new year. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. >> good saturday morning to you and everybody else. thanks for having me. i'm in for home holmes on this saturday. it's 11:00 a.m. in the east, 8:00 a.m. on the west coast. if you're just pushing back those covers. >> let's talk about this. president barack obama pledges to hold accountable all those involved in the botched terror plot on christmas day. in his weekly address to the nation, the president reit righted his promise to, quote, disrupt, dismantle and defeat

al qaeda. >> the investigation into the christmas day incident continues. and we're learning more about the suspect. we know that he traveled to yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. it appears he joined an affiliate of al qaeda and that this group, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, trained him, equipped him with those explosives, and directed him to attack that plane headed for america. this is not the first time this group has targeted us. in recent years they bombed government facilities and hotels, restaurants and embassies including our embassy in 2008, killing one american. so as president i've made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence, and working with hem to strike al qaeda terrorists. >> intelligence officials say there's a link between the suspect and the christmas day attack, a yemen muslim extremist and the ft. hood attack two months ago. cnn's brian todd takes a look at that. >> reporter: he's been called

the bin laden of the internet, an online jihad di senation. anwar al awlaki has clearly inspired muslim radicals through online postings and other communications. now a u.s. countterrorism official tells cnn there are indications there was direct contact or communication between al ayla i can and umar farouk abdulmutallab, the suspect in the christmas day bombing attempt aboard a u.s. airliner. the official could not give details a bt the nature of the contact, how frequent they were or when they occurred. he had previously exchanged e-mails with u.s. army major any d hassan. the official says even before his name came up in the ft. hood investigation, al awlaki was closely scrutinized by the counterterrorism community, as he moved into a more operational role for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. that group has claimed

responsibility for the airline bombing attempt. what kind of operational role would he have with them? the counterterrorism official said he seemed to be mobilizing his cohorts to direct attacks but gave no other specifics. peter bergen offers another possibility. >> as an insider to jihad, also a religious cleric, he would, you know, be able to sanction attacks because, of course, al qaeda and like-minded groups, you know, they're looking for religious sanction for kinds of attacks they do. >> reporter: the 9/11 commission report says al awlaki has contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers while they were in the u.s., though there's no evidence he knew of the plot. the imam at the mos where can he was a leader described his appeal. >> young, handsome, californian, has the benefit of english without an accent, and who also

is proisficient in the arabic language. in fact, he is technically an arab. what better mix -- >> reporter: al awlaki is believed to have left the u.s. for yemen in 2003 or 2004 and since then has been called a rock star among those who incite radicalism on the internet. this is a video lecture appearing on an islamic website. >> it is important that we prevent the proper role models for ourselves to follow. >> ben is with the group called intel center, a contractor which gives counterterror support to u.s. intelligence and the military. how has he done it? how has he been so effective on a virtual scale? >> he's doing this by putting out video material that people can access, written documents, other kinds of writings and teachings that are then influencing these people and then ultimately corresponding with them directly in some cases. >> but it's unclear with anwar al awlaki is doing that at the moment or if he's even still

alive. there's been speculation he was killed in a strike against suspected strikes recently, but a u.s. official says the intelligence community believes he is alive and his own family is quoted this week as saying the same thing and they deny he has any role with al qaeda. brian todd, cnn, washington. the death toll stands at 93 in a suicide bomb attack on a volleyball game in northwest pakistan. police believe the bomber used a pickup truck loaded down with more than 600 pounds of explosives. eight houses in the area collapsed in the blast which could be felt 11 miles away. six children are among the dead, 34 people injured in the blast remain hospitalize. a sew somali man who tried break into the home of a danish cartoonist has been charged with attempted assassinatiassassinat. this home belongs to kurt westergaard, the man who drew the prophet mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban three years ago. this cartoon sparked an uproar

over muslims at the time, and over the years tlfsh several suspects arrested for allegedly plotting to try to kill this cartoonist. getting out of the unemployment line. it is the new year's resolution of millions of americans. >> and 2010 offers a few glimmers of hope for some job seekers. >> reporter: happy new year. more than 15 million people in the country are unemployed, many of them lost their jobs in 2009. what's ahead for 2010? elena, who spoke to us late last year about her career hopes, after sending out dozens of resumes and searching for a job, she suddenly realized what she wanted to do in life. >> luckily out of all of this and something that's really positive that has come out of it is that i've discovered that i want to become a teacher. and i would have never discovered that out of, you know, this entire year of

looking for a job that instead of having a job physically handed to me i've really had to fight for it and kind of, you know, discovered where i belong in the world. >> reporter: as the unemployed site surf and soul search, there is some glimmer of hope. the last report in december found that new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply, down by 22,000. that was the lowest level since july 2008. and the four-week average of people who filed for benefits has been declining for 17 weeks straight. >> we are in a very different place today than we were one year ago. we may forget but we're in a very different place. we can safely say that we are no longer facing the potential collapse of our financial system and we've avoided the depression many feared. our economy is growing for the first time in a year. >> reporter: next week will also provide a good snapshot of how manufacturing and service sectors held up in december as

the economy gradually recovers from the worst recession since the great depression going from cutting jobs to creating them is a slow adjustment. businesses are likely to be cautious, fully convinced in recovery before adding any new hires. >> we're out of the recession everywhere, but we're not growing enough on main street to put people back to work. when the average person thinks of a recession, they don't think of it like economists do, zero gdp growth or whatever. they think of it am i losing my job or getting a raise. gathering intelligence in the war zone is a dangerous game for cia officers on the front line, a game that may have cost seven americans their lives. tylenol 8 hour eases body pain... with one layer that works fast... one that lasts all day... and no layers that irritate your stomach the way that ibuprofen can.

well, the need for counterterrorism intelligence may have played a part in a security breakdown in eastern afghanistan. that breakdown cost the lives of seven americans. >> and now we're hearing different claims about who carryeds out the deadly attack. we go to cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence for more. >> reporter: a u.s. intelligence official tells cnn the main purpose of a cia base like this is to recruit potential informants and plan covert operations like unmanned drones. and that may have made it a target for retaliation. one of the prime suspects in the suicide bombing is the haqani network based across the border in pakistan where the u.s. has dramatically increased its drone

attacks. the haqanis, are alive with the afghan taliban and al qaeda and have a strong presence in khost. some reports say the bomber was being recruited as a potential informant, but that doesn't explain the security failure. >> there should be multiple rings of security in multiple locations and a separation between those who are working in the clandestine service and those who are being brought on to be interviewed. >> reporter: ken robertson is a former cia officer. he says a potential informant coming on the base is normally checked head to toe, and someone would supervise them the entire time. >> these are the questions that will be answer merchandise the next 24 to 48 hours as to what specifically broke down or whether this person had already embedded and was already trusted and was already a member of the afghan national army. >> reporter: the afghan defense ministry says none of its forces were involved in the attack. but one taliban group claims it convinced an afghan army soldier

to wear the vest and blow himself up. other reports say a different taliban group in pakistan is claiming responsibility, saying it used a turn coat local cia operative as a double agent. so why bring in potential contacts at all? well, these are remote areas of afghanistan, small villages with eyes everywhere. and american base is often the only place to have a private meeting where officers are trying to build trust with potential informants. chris lawrence, cnn, washington. all right. we're going to move on to the issue at hand, that being the weather outside. a lot of people calling it down right frightful. it's dangerous peshlgsly in areas that are below freezing, reynolds. as always, it can involve the choice of wardrobe. if you're going out and you happen to live in fargo, you don't want to go to the mailbox wearing a speedo. maybe a parka would be better. let me show you what you have. one question people have is why

is this happening. it's simple. we have a trough in our jet stream. a jet stream is a giant atmospheric barrier. we have a big ridge to the west and a trough to the east. that allows cold air to pile in into parts of the great lakes and the northern plains. and this is exactly what's it's been doing and the temperatures have been dropping like crazy. fargo at this hour, 27 degrees below zero fahrenheit, minneapolis, 14 below, duluth, even des moines and sioux falls, temperatures there dropping significantly. kansas city this morning, current temperature right around 3. we're heading for a better day in kansas city. 14 degrees, nice and beautiful for you there. atlanta, 38 degrees, 30 in boston, new york also 30 degrees. speaking of new york, a great shot for you. it's of central park. not too many skaters for time being, but we've seen them on and off. looks like the zamboni is cleaning off the ice, but more skaters will enjoy the great day. with highs in the low 30s, don't think much of that snow or ice will be long gone. the rest of your forecast, we

may be seeing snowfall across parts of the central plains as well as the central and northern rockies, the cascades certainly could get in on the snow action, but fairly dry in the desert southwest with high temperatures that will be going up to about 71 degrees in vegas, 52 in dallas, 34 in memphis, and 65 in miami. that is a wrap on the forecast. pretty nice for part of the nation, but upper midwest, northern plains, egads. >> stay warm. still in my mind is going out to get the mail in the speedo. i don't know where you came up with that. >> just extremes of not what to do. no-brainer but worth mentioning. let's be honest, we've shown video of people jumping into water that has been just a few degrees above freezing so go figure. >> reynolds wolf, thank you. okay. so for brazil, the new year begins with a deadly storm. emergency crews are searching for survivors under the crush of two separate mudslides around r rio de janeiro. state officials say at least 45

people have been killed. cnn's natalie allen has the latest. >> reporter: 2010 started off with more tragic news as a stationary front continues to soak brazil's southeastern states, turning rio's picturesque float into nightmarish scenarios. on friday a giant slice of this mountain descended upon a high-end resort killing 22. officials say rescuers found another 15 bodies floating in the island following the new year celebrations thursday night. the per sis pent rain has put rescuers on the clock day and night. in the poorer suburbs, makeshift homes built on slopes are more susceptible to these types of disasters. sadness is in every corner. "no more tragedy. my god, we've had enough." on wednesday, some good news as the work of rio's rescue teams

begins to pay back. the mother and the father of this home did not survive the mudslide, but rescuer began to shout for marianna, a toddler who lived there. suddenly, one small miracle is granted before the new year. the men cheer as the little girl answers. she's now at a local hospital in serious condition. while the city continues to mourn for the remaining victims and wait for the return of sunnier days, natalie allen, cnn, atlanta. >> all right. we'll meet a woman who does not let anything get in her way despite some obstacles. is hoppin'! ple ah, it's resolution sea0ñn! well, my resolution -- save money. last year, millions of people visited progressive.com, and those who switched saved an average of over $350. no wonder it's like a party in here. [ blows horn ] [ blowing rhythm on horn ] [ rhythm continues ] i wrote that.

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president obama talking tough against terrorism this first weekend of the new year in his weekly address, plenging to crack down on extremists in yemen and to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al qaeda, his words. a branch of the terrorist group claims it's behind the failed christmas day attack on a northwest airlines plane arriving in detroit. the death toll is rising after a suicide car bombing at a volleyball game in northwest pakist pakistan. listen to this. at least 93 people are dead,

dozens of others remain hospital iced after yesterday's attack. police say more than 200 people were watching the game when the bomber drove a truck onto the crowded field and detonated it. and it looks like, hey, you won't see any disruption in your favorite pop shows like "american idol." time warner cable and news corp., the parent company of fox, have reached a deal to end their battle over higher fees. exact details have not been released about that. another check of our top stories in 20 minutes. all right. well, tuesday we're highlighting some of our favorite pieces from cnn's "in focus" series. bethany swain brings us the story of a young woman with a bone disorder who started a theater company for actors with disabilities. >> she must confront a complex medicare system to get the coverage she really needs. >> i'm trying to be interpret

tif. you understand what i'm saying? no. okay. >> this idea we played around with really needed to be there in the community. >> what i'd like to do first a vocal warm-up. my name is suzy. all of the actors tend to learn a lot about helping each other out. i'm an actress and director and artistic director of open circle theater. i was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, brittle bones disease. way too tight. look how tight it is for the wheelchairs to come in that way. about 20,000 to 40,000 people have it in the country, kind of like osteoporosis for your whole life but a lot more complicated. fourth of four children. i was pretty much expected to do what else everybody else did but according to my brother not as many chores. i had to have rods put in my leg bones for an infrastructure. having a family that was able to deal with it helped a lot.

having really great medical care helped a lot. i'm retired on disability because i'm too sick to work. now i'm back on medicare through social security. have them on stage. i still have a limit on how much i can make so i don't own any property because i'm not allowed to. my car is also my parents' car. let's get in places. if i start doing well i get nervous because am i going to lose my benefits? i seriously believe if you want them to be a useful part of the society you need to have medical care that you don't have to worry about having. clearly if you want people in general to be a useful part of society, they need to have medical care. you never know what's going to come up with my body but you never know what's going to come up with your body either. theater has kept me sane, so to speak, and that has helped a lot and just being able to express myself and help other people express themselves is really important.

>> indeed. cnn photojournalist bethany swain joins us from washington. bethany, why take on the topic of health care in this "in focus"? >> reporter: this was one of the five series we did this year and we thought it was important to put a voice and a face on the health care debate. we wanted to hear from some of the people that aren't necessarily getting their stories heard. i really enjoyed meeting suzy and seeing the open circle theater and seeing all the people there, they had all these different challenges they were overcoming and suzy and her medicare coverage was just one of her obstacles. but didn't keep her down. >> ot at all. amazing individual. we have this "in focus" starts in about 3 1/2 hours here. what else can we expect to see there? >> one of our other pieces we'll give a preview of next hour is by our photojournalist. he went to upstate new york outside of schenectady and

profiled the quilts for injured soldiers project. they've been collecting quilts from all over the world and bringing them to soldiers. they follow a quilt from new york down to maryland to be delivered to a service member as he gets to the air force base and is starting his recovery. >> these are great stories and really put a face behind a lot of important issues. how do you determine which stories you're going to tell for the series? >> we took on a couple different topics this year, did stories on health care, the environment, military, jobs, and giving in hard economic times. for our series airing at 3:00 southeastern, we opened it up to colleagues and peers to vote on their favorite ones of the year. we did 80 pieces this year. 14 pieces made it into the hour. >> that's great. and quickly, a lot of people will be watching these stories

and may want to help. how do they do that? >> reporter: go to facebo facebook.com/cnninfocus. you can learn more about suzy and other stories we've done and what's happening in 2010. >> fantastic. love it. we'll be watching. thank you. >> thanks, bethany. that full hour is coming your way at 3:00 eastern, in about 3 1/2 hours. two violent crimes in 2009 against young teens made americans question the mentality of no snitching. tony harris asked some kids in atlanta to explain it to him. >> i think the reason nobody called it in is the same reason that the whole class sees someone cheating on the test and no one tells, because you don't want to risk being excluded from that group or being included in the bad situation. >> you'd rather be a part of the group than to do the right thing because the right thing can isolate you? >> yeah. >> in a moment, a revealing conversation about this code of silence. answering. announcer: there's a better way.

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okay. check the calendar. day two of 2010. >> yeah. >> how are you doing with your new year's resolutions so far? >> not so good for me, but if you're like many people this year, you want to do a petter job with your money. stephanie elam has the skinny on some folks' financial resolutions. >> happy new year, everybody. >> reporter: 2010, a clean slate. that means it's time to start living up to those new year's resolutions, and for many, it's all about the money. >> i plan to not spend so much money on all the shoes i usually spend money on. >> continue to make smart decisions financially. >> try to put a little more money away, absolutely. >> reporter: making resolutions is nothing new. but the ones related to money seem to work out the best in this economy. according to a tv ameritrade survey, 75% of americans will make at least one new year's resolution focused on finances this year.

that's up from 60% in 2009. >> statistics do show that women tend to be better in terms of specifically with investments. >> reporter: in fact, 66% of women and 59% of men plan to save more money this year. minorities also have finances in focus. 38% of hispanics and 43% of blacks say they plan to improve their investment activity. for many americans making financial resolutions may be more of a necessity than a desire, especially with unemployment at 10%. >> that right there is motivation enough to get your financial house in order. >> reporter: but the trick is getting those resolutions to stick. >> i was trying to, like, save money for the year and it didn't work out. i would just put the money in the bank and sooner or later go back in and take it out. >> your resolutions here, start around here, and by about here i think people tend to have forgotten about them. what are the qualities of a resolution that actually sticks

and lasts longer than midway through january? >> the best way to do it is put some of these on auto pilot. have money directly deposited from our paycheck or checking account into a dedicated savings account. increase or initiate 401(k) contributions or set up automatic monthly cricks from your checking account into an i.r.a. >> for some the resolution is obvious. >> i don't have any money, so get more money? >> reporter: everybody's got to start somewhere. so we know he's out of the hospital. what we don't know is that he'll be on the air on monday. conservative radio talk show host rush limbaugh was released from a honolulu hospital yesterday after undergoing a two-day battery of tests for chest pain. he says the results show nod heart problems. the he delivered a similar diagnosis for america's health care system. >> based on what happened to me here i don't think there's one thing wrong with the american health care system.

it is working just fine, just dandy, and i got nothing special, i got no special treatment. >> limbaugh says he hopes to be back behind the microphone sometime in the coming week. you see someone commit a crime. why not tell police? some say it's a no-snitching code of silence as part of his "class in session" series, tony harris spoke with high school students in atlanta about this code. when it came to the beating death of a chicago honor student. >> reporter: dereon albert, honor student, chicago. he's jumped. he's beaten to death. you saw the video, didn't you? you saw the people around him. there were people recording it that they didn't call. they're recording it to put it up on -- >> youtube and laugh about it. >> but they didn't call to say,

oh, my god, i'm watching a kid get beaten to death. >> where i live at and the society that i grew up in, you just can't snitch. it's just out of the question. you just can't do it. you'll get in trouble. you know what i'm saying. most of the people who are doing these bad things, you know them. they're basically you're click. you're cool with them. when i saw that video, it made a big impact in my life. i was thinking, this is ridiculous. you know, something needs to happen. those kids could have been at least trying to help him, trying to call for help, trying to do something. it's crazy. >> when there are enough people to stop the fight, that's what gets to me. 20 people and only four people are jumping or whatever the ratio was. it could have been stopped. >> my mother made my younger brother watch it, and she was, like, this is why you tell. this is why -- you see something starting you need to go and tell someone immediately. >> where do you get this messaging from?

don't snitch. kill the rats. >> since we're little, you're told that. mind your own business, keep your hands to yourself. >> who tells you that? >> teachers and parents. >> teachers. >> yeah. >> i think i may have said ta to my kids a couple of times. you begin to apply that lesson to more and more serious events? >> it's three main sources that i see this mostly. the community, music videos, and music. because in the videos, if somebody is snitching or somebody looks like they're informants or something, then they show something happens to that person who talks. >> so you see depictions in videos of people who are snitches being hurt. >> i think it's in the movies. like you see chose mafia movies or "law and order" where people who snitch are attacked or, like, shot down by the mafia. >> how many of you trust the police to do the right thing

with that information and protect you? show of hands. >> from what i've seen, like, i'm a skateboarder, i go skateboarding and sometimes the police show up at places and they just deal with it the complete wrong way i think. they pull guns out on us. they come up, like, cussing, not even, just, like, treating me like a person. they're treating me like some sort of complete vandal animal. >> how many of you trust the school officials to do the right thing with information you provide about something bad that happens in your school? and protect you. >> it depends on who it is. >> on the majority kind of. >> at least with teachers i kind of know who they are and know what they've done and things like that. like i can assess their personality and what they would do in a situation. with the police, it's just this

big anonymous force that you don't know what they're going do do, whether they're corrupt or just not all that interested. >> can i get just a little support for police officers who put their lives on the line who have to deal with the knuckleheads who did beat him to death? you can help them by fostering a better relationship with them. they can certainly do their part by working on their relationship with you young people. >> all right. that was cnn's tony harris. you can watch his series weekdays beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern in the "cnn newsroom." great conversation, betty. >> really good. very compelling, especially to see what those young people thought about the police force and doing the right thing with the information they provide. there are a host of new laws on the books for the new year, and some of them have to do with your plastic and they could force you to change your spending habits.

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checking our top stories right now, president obama is linking the botched christmas day terror attack on a northwest flight to al qaeda.

in his weekly radio address, the president says the suspect had established ties with the terrorist network in yemen, and he says the group gave umar farouk abdulmutallab his marching orders. the president has ordered a complete investigation into the attack. a somali man is charged with if attempted assassination of a danish cartoonist who offended muslims of the prophet mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. the police say the axe and knife-wielding man who tried to break into kurt westergaard's home last night had terrorist ties. the suspect was shot but not injured. afghanistan's parliament is rejecting 70% of nominees for a new cabinet. afghanistan's commission says a parliamentary vote will be held in may despite critics who say the system needs serious reform. with cialis for daily use... a clinically proven, low-dose tablet

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(announcer) zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed. credit card changes are about to go into effect, so keep an eye on the mail because it's likely you will receive a letter explaining these new rules on your accounts, and there are a lot of changes. joining me right now is karen blumenthal, author and family money writer for "the wall street journal." karen, these are our good friends, our best buddies, especially during the holidays, credit cards, right? you have some reminders for us to look out for as well as the changes. let's start with what we care about most, interest rates for most of us. >> right.

right now we're seeing credit card companies raise interest rates ahead of new laws that go into effect in february. so you need to pay attention to whether or not your rates are going up, especially if you carry a balance, because it could really cost you. you have an option right now to get out of that, to choose not to do it, but you need to make that decision quickly. >> now let's get down to one detail. they can change the interest rate and these new rules take effect in february. is that correct? up to 45 days in advance they let you know. >> 45 days' notice, but the key thing is if you miss a payment right now your interest rate can go up. after february you have to be more than 60 days late before they can raise your interest rate. >> we're talking about, what, up to 30% or close to that, right? >> we've seen some banks go up to 29.99%. that's pretty steep. >> that is very steep on the balance. you'd be paying $3 out of $10 every cycle and that's going to kill you. another fee we watch out for, the interest rates with which we see at the bottom of the statement or the top, the overdraft fees if we go past our

limb. >> right. starting in february, they can't ding you for going over your limb. but what that means is they may start rejecting your credit card. so you need to be familiar with your credit limit, set up an e-mail alert so you know when you get close and don't have those embarrassing moments at the checkout stand. >> you have an option, either opt in or opt out of this program. if you opt in, what does that mean? >> that's correct. you have a choice. and you can choose to pay that over limit fee, or if you don't opt in, chen you take the risk that your credit card will be rejected. it will be better if you can stay under that credit limit and not have the problem. >> yeah, because that'll hurt your credit rating, might reduce your limit and such and so. another part of this is, you know, they're making a lot of money on these fees, aren't they? i was reading one of the articles from "the wall street journal," alluding to a report that said over $23 billion in '09, they made $18 billion in '08. this is also a big revenue stream for them. >> it's huge and hugely

important, so one of the things you'll be seeing is all kinds of new fees. one thing i heard from readers about dollar a month fees to get a paper statement from some retail cards like anntaylor. people are raising balance transfer fees, raising foreign currency transaction fees. they're even raising fees for just about everything you could think of that's not covered in law. >> so you would have to pay if you wanted a paper statement is what you just said? >> some retail cards are starting to charge a dollar a month for a paper statement. >> wow. okay. universal default. go ahead. >> well, that was an awful thing that credit card companies did if you paid late on one credit card then another credit card might raise your interest rate. they can't do that anymore. that piece of trickery is gone. >> so if you have trouble paying one credit card, they cannot raise your rate or change your other credit card based on what happened with this first one. >> that's right. that's right. only affect what you do with

that particular card. >> all right. yeah. you can see the cascading, you can see the domino effect if you have one little bit of trouble. then finally, those credit card mailers. we get them all the time. >> right. >> really small prints, about this big sometimes. we can't make it through. but i read one of the articles you wrote. you said, hey, you better read those. >> you do because there's going to be a lot of information in the next few months about those kinds of things, on thing in, interest rate changes, there's going to be a lot of things you need to pay attention to. it'll make a huge difference. get to know your due date because every credit card has the same due date every month and the number one thing you can do to keep your credit score strong is pay on time. if you pay attention to the mailings and know your credit limit, your due date, your interest rate, you're in good shape. >> stick to the basics. all right. >> all right. >> february is when all these changes happen, people look out for that. of course we can go to you, karen blumenthal and your writings in "the wall street journal" if we want to find out

more. thank you for joining us this morning and giving us some attention of the things we need to do as these changes take effect, hopefully for the benefit of many consumers as well as businesses, too. >> that's right pap thank you. all right. hey, don't forget, by the way, the dolans are our guests today as they are every week at 2:00 eastern. >> they're great with good advice. this week they'll the tell you the likely effect health care reform will have on your family budget nap's today 2:00 with brook baldwin. this morning at 6:00 a.m., we had a special treat for you. s go right here. bang! - that hasn't been paid yet. - what? - huh-uh. - all my business information is just a phone call away-- to my wife... who's not answering. announcer: there's a better way to run your business. intuit quickbooks online organizes your business in one place. it easily creates invoices and helps you stay on top of your business anytime, anywhere. this is way better. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com.

began the new year with a little something that we put together to reflect on some of the best interviews in 2009. and our morning team got a chance to look back. you were a big part of that. a look back memory lane. >> amazing stuff. across the plain and across the country, very memorable. >> we put on some miles. >> kept busy. yes, crazy year. >> here's a clip of the show. >> we're going to take look back at the year in review, some of the biggest stories of the year. also some of the stories we enjoyed covering. >> some of the biggest i guess the biggest no doubt about it, president obama. our first black president of the u.s. all in grated in january. a lot of coverage dedicated to that. we covered the big story, but a lot of stories big and small we just enjoy. we're going to share those dur this hour. >> we went across the nation, different countries covering stories. >> like mexico.

>> like mexico. weather-related story. >> a quiet hurricane season, but had youen opportunity to go to mexico and cover hurricane jimena. i was in southern california covering the station fire, one of the most damaging in southern california history. widespread damage. we'll take you back to that scene. >> another big story we cannot forget about this year, of course, michael jackson. the death of michael jackson. >> another one of the biggest stories in the country. this network certainly, all of us in some way, form or fashion were a part of that coverage, but i got an opportunity to go to the apollo theater where michael jackson got his start. the jackson 5, wee little guy singing onstage. first got to see michael jackson's talent. >> i was working on my coin collection. how about that? >> that's what i was doing in 2009. >> we did a lot. in fact, talked to newsmakers, celebrities, politicians. >> ran the gambit, really did. >> a good show. we're airing it tomorrow morning

at 6:00 a.m. >> bright and early. we know you'll be watching. at least we hope you'll be, and we'll be there, too. we hope you'll continue to watch, the "newsroom" with fredricka whitfield continues at the top of the hour. football today. >> does that mean you get to sleep in an hour tomorrow? >> no, ma'am. we'll be here. >> no such luck for us. catch you on the tail end tomorrow, but today we'll continue with "newsroom." noon, and the stories we're working on. talk about new year's resolutions. people think, what are we going to do? maybe get finances in order. one family, an awesome story, because they were in debt and we're talking big time. six-figure debts. the story, gerri willis followed the story five years bigging out of this debt. amazing tips you won't believe, actually, some of the things this father what they were eating, but the good news is, that they are in fact debt-free as they're in 2010. >> great story. >> it is a great story. another great story involves

just about all of us. you've got a cell phone? sometimes when i get bored my thing is, maybe check like facebook status updates kind of thing. some people tweet. you know, some send e-mails. it's the kind of thing, ever thought about this, sitting in the jury box, on jury duty, grab your cell phone, want to google around, get background on that case, yeah. that may be a no-no. creating a lot of buzz from the legal community and something not a lot of people think about but something you can't do in certain places. we'll be tackling a bunch of legal topics with our two fantastic legal eagles coming up in the noon hour in the "newsroom." >> all right. looking forward to great stuff coming up. see you soon. >> thank you. >> sniffing out danger. a man's best friend. >> on the front lines of airport security pip we have that for you. evy cobalt xfe has better highway mileage than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage

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fetch your slippers, wag your tails when you come home and maybe can save you from a terrorist attack. >> really? why dog, one of our best lines of defense. >> reporter: there is a german shepherd trained to sniff out explosives. >> he's placing explosives in the springs of this vehicle.

like it's a car bomb. >> reporter: he hones in and signals by sitting. >> that was a find? >> yes. >> reporter: uncovering a compound similar to what the u.s. government says airport authorities failed to find on the suspected terrorist accused of trying to blow up a flight into detroit christmas day. >> just like silly putty, but it's a very high-grade explosive. >> reporter: patrick belts trains bomb snifring dogs bore agencies like the nfbi and the los angeles police and believes any properly trained dog would have detected the explosive. they're questioning how dogs and when like bear should be used. >> the fact this individual showed up way one-way ticket, no checked baggage, should have been pulled aside. at that point inspected by a dog would literally have detected it. >> reporter: dogs can only work so long without rest and tend to make a mess if stuck inside long

periods. still dogs tend to be the cheapest, fastest and most reliable explosive detection we have in this country. >> reporter: the los angeles area, trains monthly in different scenarios. today an old bus used to simulate an airplane. it only took the dogs seconds to find explosives hidden aboard this bus. he says had the same explosives been hidden in my clothing they might not have found them at all because they haven't been taught or directsed to do so. >> that i know of, no one has been given a green light for dogs to smell bodies. >> reporter: that's here in the u.s. belts does train dogs to sniff search people for countries in the middle and far east where he says standards of different. >> in america, it could be considered very intrusive to make you stand still while my dog went through your groin area, and smelled around. >> they can be taught. i have every confidence he could

do it, but right now the legalities of it are astronomical. >> reporter: the transportation safety administration says the 700 dogs its trained are trained for airport areas and cargo and could be used to check people if necessary. terrorism concerns prompted auburn university to develop a program they claim trains dogs to sniff out suspects carrying explosives as they casually walk past. since the detroit incident, discussions about increasing aviation security focused mostly on technology and perhaps one part of the solution is man's best friend. in california, kara finstrom for cnn. >> all right. >> good stuff there. the "cnn newsroom" continues right now with brooke baldwin. >> hey, brooke. >> hey, guys. a fabulous saturday to you. let's start first, today, president barack obama pledges to hold accountable every single person here involved in that botched terror plot. christmas day, and in fact in his