strongest earthquakes on record. the death toll now more than 720 and rising and we're seeing for the first time the panic reaction when the quake hit. a live report just ahead from the heavily damaged city of concepcion, chile. a senator is accused of playing politics with people's lives. a move by republican jim bunning has put 2,000 people out of work. he took shelter in an elevator when asked about it. we will talk to one of the people who is now feeling the impact of the actions. hundreds turn out to mourn a seaworld trainer killed by a giant orca last week and some are wondering if her death could have been prevented. a government safety agency in california actually warned this would happen back in 2007, but after pressure from seaworld, those warnings were never made public. we begin with the earthquake in chile and this morning we're actually getting our first look at this monster. 8.8 magnitude quake as it happened. it was video that was just posted on youtube. it captures a scene at a night club in chile when the quake

hit. it happened about 3:34 in the morning local time saturday morning. you can hear the screams and the music actually drowned out by the panicked crowd. meantime the city of concepcion, chi chile's second largests city is in ruins. fires are burning out of control three days after the quake and rescuers are fighting exhaustion, trying to do all they can to find people that may still be buried alive in the rubble. more than 700 people have died and the number of dead is expected to rise. there are more strong aftershocks that have continued to shake the country. meantime secretary of state hillary clinton will arrive in chile in a couple hours. this is with the first wave of u.s. aid, much-needed communications equipment and she's expected to leave uruguay this hour. despite curfews and army patrols looters are roaming the streets in the earthquake zone. soledad o'brien made it into the city of concepcion, traveling from the south and joins us on

the phone. soledad? >> kiran, the extent of the curfew we heard yesterday so the word we're getting is the curfew is extended until noon today which might pare back a little bit on the looters. last night was a night of aftershocks. that scares the people, many of them are staying outside and virtually impossible for the search and rescue teams to get into the buildings, especially the apartment building we'll been kind of camped out, trying to see if they can get in and pull out any bodies or rescue any people who might still be alive. the number of missing people is in the dozens in just one building, so we expect that death toll number to rise. take a look. >> reporter: on the side of this building in concepcion, you can see the numbers, 1 through 15. 15 floors, toppled sideways into a heap of rubble. the numbers on the chart of these rescue workers, even more grim. 48 missing and the count of the dead goes floor by floor.

of the 48 people inside what's the likelihood they're alive? >> i don't know. we are looking. there are some spaces there that, perhaps, we can find some persons. but in these floors down here, there's not too much chance. >> reporter: these rescue workers were heros in haiti weeks ago digging out survivors of that earthquake. now they're in their homeland doing the same after an earthquake estimated to be 800 times more powerful. a block away crowds watch a massive fire spread out of control. it was set by looters and local fire fighters were running the search and rescue victims and couldn't attend to both. a drive down a main street becomes dangerous. looters are breaking into open buildings, breaking into garages, in clear view of military guards. the military said it had to take all groceries from the market to a distribution point, but at

this mall, they're way too late. there is nothing left to distribute and nothing left to take. the water hoses were turned toward looters and people walking in and out of stores without resistance. i confronted two women carrying a bag full of goods and asked what they had taken and why. they ran off, in plain view of the military, no explanation, no reason. across the street, a family sat outside defending their tiny store and home. they can't go inside because of the powerful aftershocks, still shaking their vulnerable house. they're afraid of being outside because people are trying to steal what little they have left. >> translator: we don't know what we're going to do. we're sitting out here, waiting for somebody to help us. >> and kiran, we heard that a lot, a number of people said we're sort of waiting for someone to come and help and certainly for protection. a number of business people got together and sort of blocked off

their street with tires and, you know, sort of rubble from the earthquake because the looters were kind of wandering randomly down any street, stealing anything that wasn't nailed down, even some things that were nailed down. they said if no one is going to protect us, a minimal presence for security, we're going to have to guard our own places and there's a lot of frustration a lot of anger. >> understandable. soledad o'brien for us from concepcion, thanks. a little later in the hour, at 6:30 eastern, sarah takes us to a village hit with a devastating one-two punch. first the earthquake and dealing with the aftermath of a tsunami. they were working last week and now thousands of americans are waking up without a job this morning. president obama says they have one senator to thank for that, retiring senator jim bunning, a man who once threw a perfect game in the majors threw what some in washington are calling a screwball. blocking federal highway funding that keeps employed. on the floor he said it's so

important we should pay for it, but he also seemed concerned about his beloved wild cats. >> i want to assure the people that have watched this thing until a quarter of 12:00 and i have missed the kentucky/south carolina game, that started at 9:00, and it's the only redeeming chance we had to beat south carolina. >> our dana bash tracked down senator bunning to get some answers, but he wasn't that interested in talking. she has the latest from capitol hill. . >> reporter: jim and kiran, jim bunning is a hall of fame pitcher who played 17 seasons in the major leagues and here in the senate, he's still playing hardball. it's a package of $10 billion to extend funding for laid off workers, road projects and more. one senator, kentucky's jim bunning, is blocking it and he angrily refused to answer questions about why. >> excuse me. i've got to go to the floor. >> senator, could you just

explain to us why you're holding this up? >> excuse me! >> are you concerned about those that are going to lose their benefits? i guess we have our answer. >> okay. >> reporter: bunning's move is having a real world effect. construction workers here started the morning on the job, rebuilding a bridge outside washington. but as the clock ticked towards noon, workers on this $36 million project, were told to stop and leave, the site locked up. >> told everybody to go home at 12:00. told everybody to go home. >> reporter: the department of transportation says it furloughed 2,000 workers around the country because congress failed to pass legislation to extend funding for the projects. the $10 billion measure bunning is blocking, also includes unemployment benefits for some 400,000 people, cobra health subsidies for laid off workers and small business loans. bunning did go to the senate floor and did explain. he is for extending benefits, but he wants to pay for them,

not add to the deficit. >> if we can't find $10 billion to pay for something that we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of this u.s. senate. >> reporter: bunning even formally offered a measure to pay for the benefits, democrats objected. >> where was my friend from kentucky when we had two wars that were unpaid for during the bush administration? tax cuts that cost more than a trillion dollars, unpaid for? where was my friend and the republicans objecting to that? >> reporter: democrats immediately saw the political benefit in playing up a gop senator blocking legislation that would help hard-hit americans. the department of transportation's press release carefully detailed for reporters examples of popular projects halted because of bunning. democrats say they disagree with bunning. they call this emergency spending that shouldn't have to be paid for. now, democrats could use senate procedure to work around bunning, but right now, sources

say they have no plans to do that. they see a political upside in their standoff. kiran and jim. >> dana bash at the capitol. coming up at 6:30 eastern, we're take a look at more of the real-world effects of senator bunning's decision, talk to a woman from bunning's home state who lost her benefits because he's taking a stand. we'll have much more on that and the political implications. senator bunning is actually not running for re-election this year. >> that's right. and a lot of republicans are glad that he's not running. >> exactly. >> we'll get into that. >> candy crowley will join us later as well. nine minutes past the hour. a check of other story, the polls are opening for the texas primary in just two hours. most of the attention right now is on the republican contest for governor. senator kay bailey hutchison challenging governor rick perry who embraced an anti-washington, anti-tax message. perry recently has been consistently leading in the polls. toyota rolling out new incentives to get you in the show room. starting today the automaker

will offer 0% financing for five years and free maintenance for two years on certain models. toyota's reputation and sales are taking a huge hit after more than 8.5 million vehicles were recalled for safety issues. and toyota not the only automaker in a bit of trouble when it comes to recalls. general motors now recalling 1.3 million cars. they need to replace the power steering motor in some of these models. they include the 2005 to 2010 chevrolet cobalt, the 2007 to 2010 pontiac g-5s. the problem is the power steering can fail which would make it difficult to steer below 15 miles per hour. the u.s. postal service is taking steps to shorten its work week to five days to save money. the agency is asking an independent commission to hold hearings before it goes to congress. federal law requires six-day delivery. the agency has already borrowed $10 billion because of a decrease in volume. and icy conditions being blamed for a crash outside of

cleveland. it was all captured on video. you have a look. ouch. this was the police officer. he stopped to help a driver saturday. you know how dangerous it can be when the roads are icy. you have no control of your car. the driver skidded out of control and we'll see it again here in a second. there he is standing there trying to help this guy and it's captured on his dash cam. he actually is in fair condition. they say he's going to do okay, but he has a long road to recovery. several broken bones after that. >> they do dangerous work out there. air tran is canceling about 40 flights out of atlanta. the area is under a winter storm warning until midnight. it's 11 minutes past the hour. we get a check of this morning's weather headlines. our rob marciano is in atlanta this morning. you guys, your turn to get some of the bad weather? >> a little bit, yeah. you know we are into march and mother nature saying getting a lot of snow anywhere, including the southeast, going to be a tough chance. there have been some flakes flying across parts of the southeast. here it is on the radar scope

showing you a pretty intense storm system not only a mix of rain and snow, but gusty winds with this. strong line of storms moving through tampa, into orlando. jacksonville, flying out of those airports going to be an issue as well. no word from delta if they've canceled flights. there will be snow mixing in this afternoon, maybe as much as an inch or two of wet stuff on grassy surfaces. you see the snow trying to mix in as far south as hattiesburg, mississippi. your winter storm north of atlanta. advisories in effect from atlanta towards raleigh with 1 to 4 inches expected in some of those spots. we'll track this storm as it heads toward the mid-atlantic. is it going to make a turn up the east coast for another blizzard? >> please don't say that. >> it won't be another blizzard. will it make a turn up the east coast? we'll talk about that in about 30 minutes. >> with the rate we're going i'm going to bet yes. it was three years ago that government safety group warned seaworld that it was not a matter of if, but when a whale

would kill one of its trainers. at 6:15, cnn investigates why that warning was suddenly retracted when seaworld turned up the pressure. and at 6:21, we're minding your business. more and more doctors dropping medicare patients. find out why and what to do if you become one of them. at 6:30 eastern, why some hawaiian tour companies were happy to say aloha, as in good-bye, to the obamas. it's 13 minutes past the hour. [ birds screech ] [ loud rumbling ] [ rifle fires ] [ announcer ] if you think about it, this is what makes theladders different... from other job search sites. we only want the big jobs. join theladders.com. a premium job site for only $100k+ jobs... and only $100k+ talent.

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basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose your service, choose your savings. like an oil change for just $19.95. meineke. ♪ 16 minutes past the hour. it was back in 2007 that a government safety group in california actually predicted that a whale would eventually kill a trainer at seaworld, but then the agency actually backed off that warning. sadly, that's exactly what happened last week in orlando. a 40-year-old veteran sea trainer, dawn brancheau, was killed by a giant orca. hundreds of mourners turned out yesterday in chicago to say good-bye to her. but why did the investigators abruptly reverse their warning? randi kaye, keeping them honest.

. >> reporter: jim, kiran, some experts say seaworld suppressed a report with dire warnings about swimming with killer whales in captivity. look closely, this whale trainer is in the fight of his life. a tourist took this video in november 2006 at seaworld in san diego. veteran trainer ken peters, gently rubbing a 5,000 pound killer whale, desperately trying to get the female orca to release his left foot from its jaws. just minutes before, during a trick, the whale trapped the trainer under water for nearly one minute. he survived with some broken bones. the attack prompted a major health and safety agency in california to release a scathing report of seaworld and issue a stern warning. in 2006, osha investigators predicted a whale trainer would be killed by a whale at the san diego park.

concludes, quote, swimming with captive orcas is inherently dangerous and if someone hasn't been killed already, it is only a matter of time. orca biologists my owe my rose, agrees with the findings. >> if they decide to act out there will be nothing the trainer can do about it. . >> reporter: rose says since the 1970s, at least two dozen people have been injured by killer whales, four killed. in 2004, this trainer at seaworld in san antonio, nearly drowned when the whale suddenly began diving over him during a show, repeatedly forcing him under water. he eventually made it to the side of the pool. back to the osha report, it also found trainers, quote, recognized this risk and trained not for if an attack will happen, but when. seaworld was furious and said the report was full of, quote, inaccuracies and speculation. it convinced the agency to re-write it without any predictions or warnings.

>> they didn't want it to seem as if, you know, killer whales were inherently dangerous. they wanted it to seem as though working with killer whales in the water was inherently safe. >> reporter: keeping them honest, we called seaworld to ask why it quashed the report. a spokesman told us the osha employee who did it was, quote, uninformed and reckless. when we asked osha why it agreed to rewrite the report, the agency told us it was inappropriate and speculative and that scientific analysis could not support the statements. >> it's unbelievable that a commercial corporation was able to influence what should have been an objective investigation by an agency whose sole function is to protect worker safety. >> reporter: the original report was 18 pages. the revised report, 10 pages shorter. what was lost in the rewrite our orca biologist says, could have saved a life. jim, kiran? >> randi kaye for us, looking into that. just shocking.

i mean everybody who knew her said she was a veteran trainer, she was very, very comfortable and one of the only people who seemed to have a relationship with that orca, tilikum, but still, he's a wild animal at the end of the day. >> beautiful creatures but wild. when you introduce them into that kind of environment, it gets unpredictable, even when you have highly-trained people. they survived chile's monster quake only to face a tsunami. a fishing village still reeling from a devastating one-two punch.

♪ control room sense of humor this early in the morning. >> even at this hour they can have fun. >> 23 minutes past the hour. welcome. it's minding your business time. christine romans with us and she has a little more on whether -- what you do in this whole unemployment situation. >> this is the bunning fallout. >> lot going on right now. >> the bunning fallout. i want to talk about medicare, potential boycott of medicare by your doctor. part of this whole debacle over politics in this bill in the senate means that there's going

to be a 21% cut in medicare reimbursement for doctors. that was something that was going to be fixed by the same thing that was going to extend unemployment benefits. doctors are warning of a medicare boycott. they're going to see a 21% cut. 43 million receive medicare. people who are advocates for seniors, anybody on medicare, saying look this is really a crisis. you're starting to see doctors who are saying they are not going to take new patients reimbursed by medicare. if your doctor drops medicare, ask for referrals, they're supposed to give you maybe four weeks we're not going to accept you anymore because we're not getting paid enough by the doctors. >> referrals to doctors who will. >> beware of patient abandonment laws. they can't just dump you on the stop. you have to go to urgent care centers or emergency room that's expensive. retail clinics, they're in your pharmacy and walmart. they're not really appropriate for older americans who need constant maintenance of their age-related issues.

this is a problem. i want to say federal agencies are trying to find a way to stretch some of their rules because they hope the senate will come through and fix this. they're starting to do some of that maneuvering that is kind of mysterious. it won't help everybody. now in terms of the unemployment benefits here they're trying to find way to get these extended again. there are millions of families who are very concerned this morning about their unemployment benefits because of this and just keep in mind, it's 11.5 million people are on unemployment benefits. these are not normal times and some of the talking points we're hearing out of washington about whether we should have unemployment benefits, whether it's putting in a new kind of welfare, come on, these are not normal times. there are more people receiving food stamps today, everyone, than are going to college. that's an upside down country. everything is upside down and that's what all of these bills are about. >> if you google jim bunning you will find newspaper articles across the country where people are losing their jobs this week because of this action that happened down in washington. >> that's right. >> roads work projects just went

to a halt. >> that's right. >> when this happened. >> we're going to continue to follow all of this throughout the day. good advice about what to do if your doctor is no longer accepting it. minding your business, thanks. >> we will be talking about jim bunning all morning long. we're talking to a woman who felt the immediate impact of a senator's decision when she lost her unemployment. what does she want to say to him? that's 25 minutes after the hour.

♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. after surviving chile's 8.8 earthquake, residents of one seaside town breathed a sigh of relief. the worst was still yet to come. one fishing village still reeling not from one catastrophe but two. >> reporter: sew hey and his wife pick pick through their home looking for anything they can salvage.

>> translator: i tell myself the only reason i am thankful is that i am healthy and i am alive. >> reporter: the family lives by the seaside and survived on the sea. i lost all my materials, my sue ba diving gear, the net, one boat is missing. in the seaside town of panko, not only did the residents have to survive the earthquake, they had to survive a tsunami. resident irma says immediately after the ground stopped shaking, she ran to the hills with her children. worried about a killer wave. but she says when authorities announced there was no tsunami, she returned home. it was intact. hours later, the waves came. the sea started rising from the bottom and it began to make noises and it started coming and my son started screaming, mama,

a tsunami is coming. the tsunami swept it off its foundation and jammed a boat into its side. along the chilean coast the tsunami left a jumble of broken homes. a quick drive from the city of concepcion where the army is visible, people say no help whatsoever has arrived, not from authorities or aid agencies. sarah sidner, chile. rescue operations continue in chile. to find out how you can help head to cnn.com/impact. you will find a list of approved charities and organizations. half past the hour. time to lk at your top stories. 2,000 federal workers are temporarily out of a job this morning as some politics play out in washington. democrats are pointing fingers at retiring senator jim bunning who blocked action on a bill that would have extended transportation funds, saying that it will only add to the budget deficit. in less than a minute we will be talking to a woman who is feeling the direct impact of the failure of the senate to approve this measure. congress with more questions for toyota.

top executives including chief quality officer and a top engineer, will testify before a senate committee today. it's the third hearing in a week. the company still facing doubts that the problems related to out-of-control speeding are because of floor mats and not the electronic systems which are much more complicated to fix. tour companies in hawaii are now to the feds you owe us for lost visit to president obama and his family's two-week holiday visit. the firm says the family visit in oahu called them $2,000 because no-fly zones grounded air tours and other small planes. back to our top story this morning, one senator's decision to block legislation is having an immediate impact on hundreds of thousands of lives this morning. senator jim bunning of kentucky staging a one-man filibuster that ended up holding up unemployment benefits and closing down some job sites. >> the retiring senator says he's for the extension, but he says he wants congress to pay for it first. that's about all he's saying. our dana bash tried to talk to

him yesterday about what happened. take a look. >> what is the issue? are you concerned about -- >> excuse me. >> people who are unemployed? >> i have to go to the for. >> could you just explain to us why you're holding this up? i'm sure you have an explanation. >> excuse me. >> are you concerned about those who are going to lose their benefits? >> guess we have our answer. >> note that was a senator's only elevator as the senator pointed out to dana and jonathan. >> it's at the senator's discretion. i don't think he was in the discretionary mood. millions of people could lose their benefits in all seriousness and already thousands have been cut off. >> that includes our next guest, linda calvin, she happens to be from kentucky, senator bunning's state and she was a case worker for a head start program until last may where she lost her benefits as of sunday night. linda joins us in louisville. thanks for being with us. >> good morning. >> talk about your back story. you were fired from your job

back in may of 2009. your employer tried to get out of paying benefits, you contested that in arbitration and won the dispute. you started receiving your benefits in september and as a result of this stalemate in the senate they are running out. how are you dealing with the situation and what's it been like for you since october? >> it's actually, i don't really believe it's sunk in yet. i just was getting back on my feet and going around putting in job applications and sending out resumes and have not found anything and here i am in the same situation again with no income. >> and linda, i mean, the question that comes to mind for me is, do you think washington gets it? >> no. washington doesn't get it because they are not unemployed. they're not affected by the unemployment rate. they're not affected by the people who can't pay their rent. they're not affected by the people who can't buy groceries for their children. they're not affected by any of these things. >> i understand that you were

actually forced to move in with your daughter for a bit just recently as you said, you got back your own place and you were trying to help take care of your niece as well, so what are you going to do now if, in fact, this isn't passed and there are no benefits and the checks stop coming? >> actually, i probably have to apply for welfare and food stamps and medical card and maybe that will pay for food, but it won't pay for our living arrangements. i need a job or i need my extended benefits desperately. >> and linda, what are the prospects like out there? >> well, i've been unemployed since may of 2009 and i have sent out hundreds of applications and resumes and i have not even had a call back. the economy is bad. businesses are closing. there are no new jobs coming to kentucky for people to even apply to. >> and what would you -- >> it makes it difficult.

>> what would you say to senator bunning, if you could? >> senator bunning, i would say to him, bring some businesses here. do something to bring business here. you're trying to save money, but fine, bring businesses here. put the people to work. the economy will improve. when people have money, they pay bills, they work, they shop. they encourage the economy. they uplift the economy. if you're cutting off people's pay, the economy is going to go down. and it's not going to be a pretty picture. >> it's interesting. i would like to get your thoughts on this one as well. republican senator jon kyl made the case yesterday as all of this was being debated in the walls of congress, that actually continuing to give unemployment benefits dissuedes people and is a disincentive for people to try to get out there and get back into the job market. what do you think? >> that's ridiculous. people don't want to live on free money. you can't have a future. you can't make goals.

you're stuck. when you are dependent on one particular income and there's no way out. >> and do you understand, at least one of senator bunning's points, that if we're going to pass programs to keep people on unemployment insurance and to provide other programs, that these programs should be paid for and his complaint was, is that they weren't being paid for. do you understand that point at all? >> it's kind of hard to grasp, but i understand that unpaid bills are unpaid bills. but we're talking about people's lives. we're talking about children that are going to go hungry. we're talking about where's the money going to come from to take care of these people? is jim going to come out of his pocket to pay it? no. and, you know, president obama, we're in america, you know. we need to take care of our people. i'm not the only one unemployed. the reason i'm sitting here now is because this state is in a

big unemployment and it's growing and growing. businesses are not coming in. people are not finding work. people that have had jobs are taking meaneny yal jobs because they just can't find anything and it's a desperate time. >> absolutely. listen, i want to thank you for coming on today and talking to us a little bit about it. it's not easy to show your personal story about things like this and linda, we wish you the best of luck with your job search. by the way, if anybody out there happens to see you, i know you said you've been conducting a job search, you've applied everywhere, even your own cable company, they can contact us at cnn.com/amfix if they have something for you. >> thank you. >> thanks for being with us. >> good luck, linda. >> we'll take a quick break. when we come back we'll talk more about the fallout from washington. it's 38 minutes past the hour. my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine.

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♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. 41 minutes past the hour. after years of legal battles, lawyers for fred goldman and o.j. simpson have agreed to donate the suit that simpson wore when he was acquitted of murder to the smithsonian institution. it's not clear whether the museum actually wants it. goldman was suing to get the suit as part of his $33.5 million o.j. was ordered to pay after being -- actually he was found in civil court of wrongful death. and some high-tech scammers

are busted for shutting fans out of some of the biggest concerts like bruce springsteen and sporgts events. prosecutors say four california men virtually cut in line during on-line ticket sales and resold the tickets for $29 million in profits. that's just wrong. all right. also new york city prosecutors have cleared three acorn workers of criminal wrong doing after they were filmed, the video giving what appeared to be legal advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute. in a statement the d.a. said that no crime was committed. a spokeswoman for the organization says they're gratty fide by the decision. the videos were made by consertive activists. residents in fargo, north dakota, are taking steps to save their city. the sandbags will be used to reinforce levees. the national weather service says major flooding is expected again this year. wow. it's 42 minutes past the hour. rob marciano is going to be joining us after the break with the travel forecast today.

he talked about some flights being canceledp. airtran in the atlanta area, because of bad weather. >> that's right. in ten minutes is there a new iphone app for cheater? jeanne moos has the later on tiger text, tailor-made for those who want to cover their tracks. it is 42 minutes after the hour. in the villages life goes on in a stationary way. there is no change. >> translator: reading has made me laugh and dream. it has also shown me things i won't see in my lifetime. >> translator: we share the fact that we always lived here. my name is luis and my classroom is not traditional. mine consists of books placed on top of my bun kis.

-- donkeys. it's not easy to travel to the valleys. the burning sun or too much rain. you sit on a donkey for five or eight hours, you get very tired. >> translator: it's a satisfaction to arrive at your destination. we go to places that are not on the map. where a child has to work or ride a donkey for up to 40 minutes to reach the closest school. when they learn how to read, the child discovers a new world, like i did. someone once said to me, you've educated a lot of people. you read like no one has. these children need it. of course they want to learn. that's what keeps motivating me to ride. ♪ who's born to care

this life was protected... ♪ seems you've always been right there ♪ this life was saved... ♪ soothing sadness ♪ healing pain and this life was made easier... ♪ making smiles appear again because of this life. nursing. at johnson & johnson, we salute all those who choose the life... that makes a difference. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference

welcome back to the most news in the morning. 47 minutes past the hour right now. that means it's time for your am house call. stories about your health, older americans who feel the need to

nap frequently may be at greater risk of type 2 diabetes than those who don't. a study who annalized 20,000 chinese adults 50 or over and those who napped four to six times a week were 36% more likely to have the disease. it means that you, perhaps if you are napping a lot, you may have diabetes as opposed to napping causing diabetes. researchers say america's health care system could save $73 billion a year if we all just cut our salt intake by about 10%. the stanford university study concluding if that happened today nearly a million fatal strokes and heart attacks could be prevented among u.s. adults age 40 to 85. it's estimated three out of four americans eat more than the suggested maximum of 2.3 grams of salt per day. it turns out that wii games can speed the recovery for stroke victims. study patients were divided into two groups and the first group played wii tennis and wii cooking mamg ma and the second

groups played card and block stacking games. the wii patients wound up with much greater arm strength. doctors are considering using the game as part of a regular rehab program. they're going to have to change their mind about video games being bad for you. another study when we were doing a story on autism, they were using some of those video games to get autistic children to recognize faces and it was helping them as well. >> i think video games are good for you. >> i love them. >> all geese back to atari. >> frogger. >> exactly. >> all back to frogger and asteroids. >> exactly. pong even i think. >> oh, man. >> appropriate. let's get a check of this morning's weather headlines. rob marciano is in atlanta now. rob, you played some video games in your day. sort of a video game behind you, isn't it? >> yeah. >> magic wall. >> the weather wii. >> i miss the days of pong. that was a good one for sure. you know, atari might do it today if you live in the southeast look fog indoor -- looking for indoor

entertainment. we've seen winds gust over 40 miles an hour from texas to the louisiana coastline. you can see the classic signature on the radar with rain down to florida, wrapping around north of atlanta, trying to start to see mixing in of wintry precipitation. the pink is the mix and the white obviously the snow. even some of the snow trying to get into parts of alabama and mississippi. this dry air will move in over the next hour or two and then we'll get out of it by later on this afternoon and tonight. before that happens, the cold air comes in. winter weather advisories for the atlanta metro area. probably see an inch or so of wet snow later this afternoon. 2 to 4 inches of snow expected at the higher terrain in the mountains of north georgia and western carolina. how far north is this system going to get? it will get towards d.c. and philadelphia but we don't expect a whole lot of snow. greater impacts will be the wind. atlanta and charlotte, you'll see a slowing down if not cancellations of flights because of this weather. miami and orlando you're seeing some strong thunderstorms heading your way. it will be dry across the

mid-section of the country and it will be wet across the western half. let's go to atlanta and show you the live shot. temperatures right now dropping into the 30s where it is wet, but the wet may turn to a little bit of white later on this afternoon. that's the latest from the atl, back to you guys up in the big apple. >> all right. sounds good, rob. thanks. >> thanks, rob. and we'll be right back after this quick break. it is 50 minutes after the hour. i keep track of my entire business on this spreadsheet... and all of these. paid invoices 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.

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it is 53 minutes after the hour. that means it's time for the most news in the morning. there is a new iphone app that could have saved tiger woods a lot of trouble. >> yeah. i guess so. if he actually got away with some of this, not surprisingly it is called tiger text. tailor made for anybody who wants to see those incriminating text messages self-destruct. here's jeanne. >> reporter: when tiger woods was texting his alleged mistresses, he never imagined his messages would end up one day being animated for one to see. >> quietly and secretly we will always be together. >> reporter: now the quietly and secretly part stands a chance. introducing tiger text, their slogan, to cover your tracks. >> wouldn't it be great to send a text and it would self-destruct in 30 seconds. >> reporter: sound familiar? remember how the "mission

impossible" team used to get their secret assignments. >> this disk will self-destruct in five seconds. >> reporter: the makers of tiger text say their iphone app allows you to automatically delete text messages from the sender's phone and the receiver's phone. >> wow. >> reporter: you set the time from delete on read, the message disappears a minute after it's read, to a month later. and it also vanishes from the ser ver. >> when it's gone it's gone. >> reporter: in the tiger text demo someone messages how did the job interview go? the reply, i told you don't send me stuff like this. don't worry, i set it to delete on read. there's a countdown until the message vanishes, replaced by tiger paws. >> i don't know, tiger texting? maybe we can call it something else. >> reporter: the makers of tiger text say, they're not referring to tiger woods. they mean the ones with four legs. supposedly because they're hard

to track. "pc world" called it the app for spies and cheaters. >> it's not about salaciousness it's about the need for privacy. how many times have you sent a text message and closed with the words "please delete after reading." >> reporter: it's not just for the iphone. tiger text is coming soon to a blackberry near you. >> truthfully, i think it's very sketchy. >> very sneaky. >> wow. i don't know. i kind of like it. people should have be able to have their privacy. >> reporter: the biggest catch is that both sender and receiver need to have the app for it to work. if only tiger had it. >> can you please take your name off your phone. my wife went through my phone and may be calling you. >> reporter: one website called tiger text, the morning after pill of messaging. >> i think i'll get it. if it -- >> reporter: you have a guilty laugh. jeanne moos, cnn, new york.

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good morning to you. welcome to "american morning" on this tuesday, march 2nd. i'm kiran chetry.

>> i'm jim acosta in for john roberts. let's get to our top stories this morning. the check will not be in the mail for thousands of people starting this week, thankses to a move by outgoing senator jim bunning who took shelter in an elevator when asked about it. was this the right time to make a stand about deficit spending? candy crowley joins us on bunning's political pitch. looting in the aftermath of chile's devastating earthquake. it appears to be getting worse this morning. thieves roaming the streets in the heavily damaged city of concepcion and more strong aftershocks are also shaking the country. we're going to be getting a live report from cnn's soledad o'brien. cnn is asking, why does an mri cost nearly $800 at one hospital and less than $250 at another for the same procedure? chief medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is shopping for health care, revealing huge price discrepancy from hospital to hospital that could be costing you thousands. >> what she found was amazing. >> startling. we begin with two major political stories that everyone is going to be talking about today. we're covering it like no one

else can. first it's the battle brewing in texas. one showing the major political shift that's going on in the country right now. it is primary day in the governor's race and the incumbent governor rick perry now has a double digit lead. that certainly wasn't the case just a year ago when his opponent senator kay bailey hutchison was considered a shoo-in for the governor's race. washington has never been a popular place in texas and that couldn't be more true than now. perry has tapped into that in policing ads calling her kay bailout hutchison. one video dubs her the earmark queen to the music of "dancing queen." hutchison fired back calling him arrogant and republican of convenience. outgoing republican jim bunning is accused of playing politics with people's lives. his decision to block emergency funding has put 2,000 people out of work. dana milbank wrote isn't out of

character. bunning has been on a one-man campaign to cut off unemployment benefits, kick the unemployed off health insurance, deny satellite tv, to rural americas, shut down federal food insurance and highway projects and furlough thousands of federal workers 7. >> we start this morning in texas where voters are finally getting their say after senator kay bailey hutchison and rick perry fought hard for hearts and minds. candy crowley is live in austin this morning. interesting how quickly politics change. has not been a run of the mill campaign. >> it has not. you know we like to say a week is a lifetime in politics. well, a year is an eon in politics and much has changed since a year ago. on the republican side of this primary, those who want to run for governor on the republican ticket, this has been a conservative versus a conservative versus another conservative and everybody versus washington. . >> is she in a car?

>> reporter: texas senator kay bailey hutchison has been out flaunting her roots. >> she's from texas and riding a horse, senator kay bailey hutchison. >> reporter: why does the great, great granddaughter of a man who signed the texas declaration of independence in 1836 have to remind texans she's one of them. >> when you've spent the last 17 years of your life as a united states senator in washington, d.c., when you voted for the bailout that in hindsight was an absolute atrocity, then you must go to the people of the state of texas and explain to them why you're not a creature of the washington culture. >> reporter: the race to be the republican nominee for texas governor is all about washington. >> there is an anger all over america, certainly all over texas, about what's happening in government. the overreach in washington. people think, what are on earth are those people thinking up there. and i don't disagree with them.

i agree with them. >> when it comes to being conservative kay bailey hutchison is the real deal. >> reporter: a year ago hutchison was the fave, a popular republican seen as the establishment candidate who would broaden gop appeal. but that's so 2009, before incumbent governor rick perry's year-long full embrace of antiwashington, antitax, socially conservative rhetoric that includes a declaration at a tea party event that texas should consider succeeding from the union. >> that got enormous response, not because texans want to succeed, but because they hear the words succession as code for we don't like washington. unbelievably successful. >> reporter: perry leads hutchison by double digits. not that it's that simple. >> i'm here to tell you today we're going to win. >> reporter: deborah medina has promised to abolish federal taxes and ignore federal laws she thinks are unconstitutional. a nurse who home schools her

children, she is a tea party activist, campaigning as the real anti-spending, anti-washington conservative. >> they sing the song well dur campaign season, but they don't legislate that way. >> reporter: her presence in the race could force a runoff if no one gets to the 50% threshold, but she took a hit recently and her numbers began to fall when she did not immediately repudiate the notion that the u.s. government was involved in 9/11. polls in texas open here in just under an hour. every single public opinion poll taken prior to voters going to the voting booth has shown that rick perry, the sitting governor, will, in fact, win this race. the key question again is, whether or not he'll reach that 50% threshold. if not, he and senator hutchison will have to face off again and some time in april. so the two of them could have to go at this another couple of months. kay bailey hutchison has promised a different, stronger campaign if that is to occur.

kiran and jim. >> interesting stuff. thanks. >> great race in texas. >> oh, yeah. turning back to the other huge political story, thousands of americans are waking up without a job this morning. president obama says they have one senator to thank for that, outgoing kentucky republican jim bunning. bunning, a hall of fame pitcher, who once threw a perfect game in the majors, threw what many in washington are calling a screwball, blocking the funding that keeps the paychecks coming. dana bash tracked down senator bunning for answers, take a look at what happened. >> what is the issue? are you concerned about people unemployed? >> i have to go to the floor. >> can you just explain to us why you're holding this up? i'm sure you have an explanation. >> excuse me. >> are you concerned about those that are going to lose their benefits? i guess we have our answer. >> point out that was a senator's only elevator. here's what's on hold thanks to this one-man filibuster. $10 billion for road projects and unemployment benefits along with cobra subsidies for laid off workers health insurance and

funding for small business loans. candy is back to talk about this decision and the fallout. this is turning in to be a big story down in washington. what happens now? the senate is a curious institution, as you know, candy. can democrats get around bunning and approve this money anyway? >> they could if they wanted to. they could do what we call filing closure, which means they would simply -- file papers and it if they get a 60 vote margin they could get around him. they would get a 60-vote margin but it's a really good issue for democrats. they have been playing this up, all of their leadership out there on the floor, chewing up cyber space, sending things to reporters, pointing out this party of no, this is their premier example right now, saying look what this one republican is holding up. it's these jobs, it's unemployment benefits, it's health care benefits for the

unemployed. it's a powerful political issue, they believe, and this is after all a political year. they will in the end pass a more permanent bill. that is expected to come up late this week, but at the moment, it doesn't seem as though on this temporary bill, this emergency bill, democrats will file clo ter on it. they will let miss play out. >> they're getting political mileage out of it as well. unfortunate, we spoke to a woman who's suffering because of this and one of the many thousands. back to jim bunning, though, for a minute. he, as we understand it, has a history of being pretty abrasive. "time" magazine called him one of the nation's five worst senators in 2006. and the republican leadership didn't really want him to run for re-election. as we call him the retiring senator from kentucky, is he basically being forced out? >> well, as you say, the republican leadership made it quite clear that they didn't want him to run again and they supported somebody that certainly would have been a rival, so no, they didn't want

him to run again. there is bad blood between mitch mcconnell the leader of the republicans and a fellow can kentuckien and bunning. that has not been an easy relationship. certainly senator bunning is testy. he is very strong in his beliefs. his whole thing is, i want these unemployment benefits, i want this bill to go by, but where's the $10 billion to pay for it? we could take it out of the extra t.a.r.p. money. find a way to pay for it and we'll move forward. and the democrats pointing out that this seems to be sort of a rebirth of having to pay for things since republicans presided over a lot of spending that wasn't paid for. >> all right. candy, thanks very much for talking about this. this is going to be the subject of conversation, i think, for a few days now. candy crowley in texas, watching that very important race down there, thank you, candy. and coming up at 7:40 eastern, we'll hear from one woman who's feeling the direct

impact of senator bunning's inaction. linda calvin shares her message to the senator and what she'll do now. it's a big day in politics for all of the latest, make sure you go to cnn.com/ticker. it's ten minutes past the hour. check of this morning's weather headlines. our rob marciano in the extreme weather center, not only are you surveying the satellite and radar, you're living it down there, right? because atlanta is in the crosshairs today. >> we are, getting some heavy rain right now and temperatures that are dropping into the 30s. some of the rain may very well turn into snow. it's doing in that in some spots of the southeast. also, rain heavy at times down across parts of florida. if you're traveling orlando, miami, in through jacksonville you'll probably see delays this morning. atlanta, we mentioned airtran has canceled flights already in anticipation of this wintry weather and we're starting to see some of that mix in northern georgia and hunts ville, alabama, trying to get as far south as hat tis burg in some cases. could see an inch or two, in some spots most of the metro

areas will see wet snow this afternoon. but places like atlanta, that's just enough to do some damage. we'll talk more about it in 30 minutes. >> that's all they need. >> certainly is. >> 2 or 4 inches of snow and what a mess. >> rob, thanks. looters gutting storefronts and setting buildings on fire in chile after this weekend's powerful earthquake. soledad o'brien is in concepcion. her live report is coming up. you look for bargains when it comes to shopping for clothes. a car, a house. but a colon os cospi. elizabeth cohen reveals how shopping around for health care could save you thousands of dollars. at 7:40 eastern she says d.c. does not get it. a woman who's now stuck, her unemployment cut off, thanks to one senator's decision. her emotional message, it's 11 minutes after the hour.

♪ 14 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. authorities in chile are struggling to try to maintain order after an earthquake killed more than 720 people. there are curfews and military patrols in place, but looters are still roaming the streets in concepcion, which is chile's second largest city and one of the most heavily damaged areas of the country. cnn's soledad o'brien is live there this morning with the latest for us. good morning, soledad. >> hey, kiran. good morning to you. i want to show you where the search and rescue teams are putting their efforts this morning. this is an apartment building. if you can imagine you're looking at the under side of the building, that was standing up like this and fell that way. you're looking at the toch of

the first place, and if you look down you look at the garage underneath. this is their focus. they have some 40 people or more who they believe are trapped inside. >> reporter: on the side of this building in concepcion, you can see the numbers, 1 through 15. 15 floors, toppled sideways into a heap of rubble. the numbers on the chart of these rescue workers, even more grim. 48 missing and the count of the dead goes floor by floor. of the 48 people who are inside, what's the likelihood they're alive? >> i don't know. we are looking. there are some spaces there that, perhaps, we can find some persons. but in these floors down here, i think there's not too much chance. >> reporter: these chilean rescue workers were heros in haiti weeks ago digging out survivors of that earthquake. now they're in their homeland doing the same after an earthquake estimated to be 800 times more powerful. just a block away, crowds watch

a massive fire spread out of control. it was set by looters and local fire fighters were running the search and rescue victims and couldn't attend to both. a drive down a main street becomes dangerous. looters are breaking into open buildings, breaking into garages, in clear view of military guards. the military said it had to take all groceries from the market to a distribution point, but at this mall, they're way too late. there is nothing left to distribute and nothing left to take. the water hoses were turned toward looters and people walking in and out of stores without resistance. i confronted two women carrying a bag full of goods and asked what they had taken and why. they ran off, in plain view of the military, no explanation, no reason. across the street, a family sat outside defending their tiny store and home. they can't go inside because of the powerful aftershocks, still shaking their vulnerable house. they're afraid of being outside because people are trying to

steal what little they have left. >> translator: we don't know what we're going to do. we're sitting out here, waiting for somebody to help us. >> again that's a sad situation going on in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake in concepcion, chile. thanks to soledad o'brien for her reporting. at 7:30 eastern we're going to be talking with two earthquake experts, the director of the u.s. geological survey and andre filiatrault from the university of buffalo, talking about the risk of a major earthquake like the one we saw in chile happening in the united states and if it were to happen are we prepared? it's 17 minutes past the hour. mcnous

♪ >> those glory days. it's 21 minutes past the hour. >> they'll pass you by. >> exactly. christine romans minding your business. glory days, when mail came seven

days a week. >> exactly. might not come six days a week anymore. we have chronic problems with the post office and the post master general jackpoter having a press conference saying there's big things they have to do to make this whole situation more viable and save some money. they're saving about a billion dollars, cut about a billion dollars, but have to cut more. they're thinking about eliminating saturday mail, closing branches, maybe a lot of them and more self-service kiosks. i've seen these in my own post office where you can very quickly get what you need and not wait in that monster line, but they're thinking about putting these in retail places, maybe outside of the -- and broadening this out so you can get stamps and mail packages in other places. look, there are 600,000 workers at the post office. the post office has 32,000 branches. 26,000 branches are losing money. there's only a few thousand branches that get more in revenue than they have in expenses. this is not a news flash.

this has been going on forever. part of the problem here is that it's an independent government agency so congress is sort of involved. when you try to close a branch, a congressman goes crazy. you protect roots, you protect jobs. they've never had job cuts at the postal service. they rely on attrition and people retire. >> you make it sound like this is a problem? >> half of those people who work for the postal service are eligible to retire over the next ten years. they're going to get a chance to, you know, downsize but it's going to come with retiree health benefits and the cost of that. look, chronic problem here, you might lose your saturday mail, we have been talking about this for about a year but jackpoter saying they have to make big changes. . >> what would i do with all that junk mail if it had to wait until monday? >> it's going to come monday through friday instead. >> every mba class, graduate school, they send the bright 2 1 2-year-olds to figure out how to solve the crisis.

>> you talk about all the complications behind it, the political as well. >> $7,229 a minute. what could the postal service be losing? >> this is how much they're losing a minute. >> every minute they lose 7 grand. can you believe that. this just goes on and on. sort of like amtrak, the government's agency that's not a government agency that's independent but relies on congress. it's, yeah. >> but if you put a piece of mail in the mailbox it gets there. >> that's right. >> estrone santa claus. >> my mail carrier is very nice. >> so is mine. >> please keep delivering our mail. >> and they do deliver during the terrible snowstorms, rain, sleet, snow, whatever. >> 23 minutes past the hour. we'll take a quick break. "american morning" will be right back.

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26 minutes past the hour. top stories just four minutes away. first, an a.m. original, something you'll see only on "american morning." bargain hunting is something you do in a department store, look for deals at your supermarket, wouldn't think to do that at a hospital, right? well, cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen begs to differ. she's in atlanta this morning and has more, you've been doing a great job sort of highlighting for us the high cost of health care and how some of these costs are just really unknown to most of us. >> oh, it is unknown. people don't realize that prices for basic medical services vary, even when you're in the same city. this is important because even

if you have insurance, you are still paying for a big chunk of your medical bills and my report now shows that it really pays to bargain shop. >> reporter: here in concurred, new hampshire, like any place, when you do shopping you can do price comparison whether you're looking for a car or a pair of shoes. but what i think people here or anywhere fail to realize is that you can also go comparison shopping for health care services and save yourself thousands of dollars. so come on, let's go bargain shopping for a colonoscopy. our first stop the southern new hampshire medical center. they charge nearly $5,000 for a colonoscopy. let's see if we can get a better deal. come on. here at the concord ambulatory center a colonoscopy would only cost me about $2800. remember, the most expensive place to get a colonoscopy would set me back nearly $5,000. so by coming here i save more

than $2,000. it pays to bargain shop. i'm so excited about how well i did with the colonoscopies, that now i'm going to bargain shopping for a hernia surgery. here at st. joseph's hospital, they charge $13,400 to repair a her nia. that is so expensive i'm not getting out of the car. i'm going to try to find something cheaper. at elliott hospital, they only charge about $4500 to do a hernia repair. it's the exact same procedure. why does it cost $9,000 less here? i'm going to call these high-priced hospitals and ask them, why do you charge so much? hi, this is elizabeth cohen calling from cnn. the hospitals wouldn't comment. so i found someone who can explain these crazy health care prices to usp. her name is heather staples and she analyzes prices of health care for large employers in new hampshire. i go shopping for a gallon of milk and there's a huge price difference i'm going to see it

right there on the shelf. with medical services people don't know. there's no price tag. >> that's correct. and it's even difficult for consumers to call a facility and ask for the price of services. >> it's actually the reason for these discrepancies is simple, when you go buy a colonoscopy, there's no price tag on it. >> that's correct. >> give me another example of a procedure where there's wild differences all in the same city. >> sure. knee scope. at dartmouth south, it's about $5300. in the same region at st. joseph's hospital, it's about $10,500. >> so we all bargain shop for cars and things like that. does it pay to bargain shop for medical services? >> it absolutely does. we're talking about a $5,000 difference. it absolutely makes a lot of sense to do it. >> now what's interesting is some people might say, golly, what about quality?

as you saw there, at dartmouth, one of the best hospitals in the country, a knee laparoscopic surgery was $5,000 less than at the other hospital. high price does not necessarily mean high quality. low price does not necessarily mean low quality. kiran. >> fascinating stuff. elizabeth, thanks so much. we're going to be joining you in the next hour to talk a little more about this and tomorrow, our prescription for waste series continues. a look at one hospital's war on unnecessary and outrageously expensive procedures. it is 30 minutes after the hour. time for our top stories. 2,000 federal workers are temporarily out of a job this morning as washington plays politics. democrats are pointing fingers at outgoing senator jim bunning who blocked action on a bill to extend transportation funds saying it would add to the budget deficit. coming up you will hear from a woman who's feeling the direct impact of this. and also, president obama's white house to main street tour is going to be taking him to savannah, georgia. it's part of his plan to get out of washington more often and

spend time with everyday americans. the president is expected to announce details of a new home star program that will offer rebates to people who buy energy-efficient appliances. the u.s. postal service as we talked about with christine is taking steps to shorten its work week to five days a week to save money. the agency is asking an independent commission now to hold hearings before it goes to congress. federal law requires six-day delivery currently. the agency has already borrowed $10 billion in part because of a decrease in volume. kiran, we've seen two major earthquakes in two months and experts predict we'll see more. here in the u.s., the u.s. geological survey says more than 75 million people in 39 states, that's right 39 states, face significant risk from earthquakes. are we prepared and who's at risk? joining me this morning is marcia mcnutt, director of the u.s. geological survey and andre filiatrault, university of buffalo civil engineering professor and director of the

center for earthquake engineering research. good morning. thanks for joining us. marcia, a lot of americans are looking down at what happened in haiti and what happened in chile and wondering, could this happen here? of course we can't predict the future with any certainty, but how at risk is the united states for a major earthquake on the scale of what we're seeing now in chile? >> well, jim, this is a very important time for all americans to take a look at how prepared we are for an earthquake. the bottom line that we're seeing coming out of chile and haiti, is that once we factor out the depth of the earthquake, the magnitude of the earthquake, and the proximity to population centers, a citizen of chile had a 400-time better chance of surviving their earthquake than did a citizen of haiti. and i think that the goal of all americans should be that when an

earthquake strikes american soil, we should have an 800-time better chance of surviving the next earthquake to strike american soil and that should be because we are better prepared, just like the chileans were better prepared for their earthquake than were the haitians. >> and andre, we have a map showing some of the earthquake-prone areas here in the u.s. let's throw that up on the screen there. you can see the west coast obviously is, you know, very much at risk for a direct hit from a major earthquake. and then there's that blob in the middle of the country around memphis, i was a local reporter in tennessee so i know all about that. and folks in the midwest talk about that from time to time. really, the major concern is along the west coast and up in alaska. andre, can you pinpoint with any accuracy as to which areas folks should be most concerned about? >> well, it's very difficult to predict, you know, the exact location of the next earthquake.

however, what is very important and i think the earthquake in chile demonstrated that is enforcements of building codes is extremely important to improve, you know, the likelihood of survival as marcia has mentioned. chile is a country where, you know, building codes have been enforced very strictly and you can see although there has been significant damage and unfortunately loss of lives, there's also very good success stories. here in the united states, obviously, the earthquake issues have been concentrated on the west coast for good reasons. there's been many earthquakes in california obviously, and in the california region, enforcement of building codes, also development of new technologies, has certainly been a big factor. however, we also have to think about other issues of existing buildings and that's perhaps older buildings i should say, and that's perhaps one of the problems we will be facing, particularly east of the rockies where we have several older buildings, masonry buildings and

so on, that have been built prior to the implementation of these building codes and these buildings could be particularly at risk. >> every year civil engineers come out and talk about how our infrastructure is failing in this country. you talked about building codes, infrastructure, is there a connection there? should we be concerned about the state of ur bridges and tunnels in this country when it comes to earthquakes? >> well, i believe we should take a look at our infrastructure because we saw on the lioma earthquake failing overpasses did cause many deaths and it's not only the risk to human life, but it's also the economic disruption that is caused in the days, weeks and months afterwards when we can't get our economic engine moving again because we can't get our transportation going again. so i think it's time to take an assessment of how robust are bridges, our highways are, to

the damage that would be caused by a major earthquake. >> and andre, i know we can't pinpoint with any accuracy as to when or where the next earthquake might strike, but there have been recent studies down, one out in california, that indicated along the west coast we should expect to see a major earthquake in the magnitude of perhaps what happened down in haiti within the next 30 years. >> well, definitely. the magnitude that occurred in haiti certainly can occur, you know, any time in california. however, again, haiti, what is a learning experience for us, is this is a region where earthquakes have not happened in a long time. the last earthquake that struck port-au-prince was in the 18th century around 1750, and over there, of course, there's absolutely no concern about seismic design at all. this is a lesson for us to some extent where we also have a region in the united states, if we think, you know, the midwest, eastern united states, also some extent the pacific northwest, where earthquakes have not

occurred in a long time and we may not be, you know, as prepared as we think we are. >> marcia mcnutt and andre filiatrault, we appreciate your insights on this important issue. thanks a lot for joining us. >> thanks very much, jim. still ahead, is a u.s. senator playing politics with people's lives? >> we're talking to a woman who felt the immediate impact when she lost her unemployment benefits. what does she want to say to senator jim bunning? it's 36 minutes after the hour.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. time for minding your business. one senator's decision to block funding for unemployment benefits is having an instant impact on people across the country. >> and, in fact, we spoke to linda calvin earlier on "american morning" she was a case worker for a head start program until last may when she lost her job and as a result of what's been going back and forth in washington she also lost her unemployment benefits on sunday night. here's her story. >> actually, i don't really believe it has sunk in yet. i just was getting back on my feet and going around putting in

job applications and sending out resumes and have not found anything and here i am in the same situation again with no income. >> and linda, i mean, the question that comes to mind for me is, do you think washington gets it? >> no. washington doesn't get it because they are not unemployed. they're not affected by the unemployment rate. they're not affected by the people who can't pay their rent. they're not affected by the people who can't buy groceries for their children. they're not affected by any of these things. >> i understand that you were actually forced to move in with your daughter for a bit just recently as you said, you got back your own place and you were trying to help take care of your niece as well, so what are you going to do now if, in fact, this isn't passed and there are no benefits and the checks stop coming? >> actually, i probably have to apply for welfare and food stamps and medical card and maybe that will pay for food, but it won't pay for our living arrangements.

i need a job or i need my extended benefits desperately. >> and linda, what are the prospects like out there? >> well, i've been unemployed since may of 2009 and i have sent out hundreds of applications and resumes and i have not even had a call back. the economy is bad. businesses are closing. there are no new jobs coming to kentucky for people to even apply to. >> and what would you say to senator bunning, if you could? >> senator bunning, i would say to him, bring some businesses here. do something to bring business here. you're trying to save money, but fine, bring businesses here. put the people to work. the economy will improve. when people have money, they pay bills, they work, they shop. they encourage the economy. they uplift the economy. if you're cutting off people's pay, the economy is going to go

down and it's not going to be a pretty picture. >> it's interesting. i would like to get your thoughts on this one as well. republican senator jon kyl made the case yesterday as all of this was being debated in the walls of congress, that actually continuing to give unemployment benefits dissuades people and is a disincentive for people to try to get out there and get back into the job market. what do you think? >> that's ridiculous. people don't want to live on free money. you can't have a future. you can't make goals. you're stuck. when you are dependent on one particular income and there's no way out. >> there you go, linda calvin's story. we have reached out to senator bunning's office. we have calls in to him today and he is welcome to give his side of this entire situation and perspective on our show today or this week. >> that's right. bunning's point was that he, not necessarily wants to, you know, three people out on the streets, he wants these programs paid for

and that was his problem with this legislation which is why he decided to go ahead and filibuster it. we should know democrats are talking about later this week passing legislation that would retroactively bring those benefits back to those folks who lost them temporarily. but for the folks who are out on those highway jobs last week and went there yesterday morning and found out they don't have work, you know, that's tough. >> as candy crowley pointed out earlier, both sides seem to get? political mileage out of this. they could vote to end this. >> it is an election year. >> to be continued. it is 44 minutes past the hour. rob marciano will have this morning's travel forecast right after the break. >> also coming up in ten minutes, it's your "am house call." a bit of a catch 22. possible new health care coverage for millions of americans, but in the u.s., not enough doctors to see all these new patients. we're going to talk about that conundrum coming up. it's 44 minutes past the hour. imagine if it were this easy to spot the good guys.

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which for us, lately, you know, is hallelujah. >> it's spring. >> exactly. >> let's take you to rob marciano. he's in the so lucky in atlanta. they're already canceling some flights, airtran ahead of the weather you're getting. >> we are going to see a little snow, not nearly as bad as it could be with this storm track. if there was colder air in place or a month earlier, we would see what we saw a month ago, which was 4 or 5, 6 inches of snow in some parts of georgia. today we're starting to see some snow mixed in, north georgia, north alabama and even extreme northeast mississippi through parts of tennessee also. right now atlanta just reporting some cold rain and 39 degrees. just in the northern suburbs there are some flakes mixing in. an inch possible in some of the metro areas. mostly on grassy surfaces. again later on this afternoon, the winter storm warnings posted in parts of north georgia and the high country of the carolinas. maybe 2 to 4 inches of snow there.

notice the temperatures not a whole lot even close to freezing, so that tells you what does fall, will be of the slushy variety. how far north is it going to extend? up the appalachians will get into the d.c./philly area but not a whole lot, maybe an inch or two. the winds and coastal flooding might be an issue with this windstorm. atlanta and charlotte you will see delays. miami and orlando also some delays because of thunderstorms. i should point out that there is another storm coming into the pacific northwest, actually the west coast, there's several systems lining up for the pacific and we will be concentrating on that as we get toward the end of this week. no doubt, california doesn't need any more rain or storminess. 'tis the way an el nino season goes and this doesn't want to seem to stop. >> this is a brutal wenter. >> what's the el nino spring, do we get some sort of flip side, silver lining to this? >> just because i think you need it so bad i'm going to tell you it's going to be warmer this spring. at least warmer than it is now. >> thanks, rob. >> awesome.

we'll take it. >> that's as far as you'll go in terms of your predictions. appreciate it. this morning's top stories minutes away including coming up at the top of the hour, they're dealing with more misery in chile because of looters, those who survived the terrible earthquake are trying to salvage what's left of their survived t earthquake is trying to salvage the rest of their belongings. we are live in chile in a moment. how one senator made it a early day for 2,000 federal workers. and at the bottom of an hour. a warning, a killer whale lived up to his name four years before he killed his trainer. randy kay investigates. if you want to see the weather ahead, push here. if you want to access 10 gigs of music you just downloaded to your hard drive, push here.

and if you want to pull away from it all, you can push here. the all-new-40-gig hard drive nav and entertainment system on the 2010 lacrosse. from buick. it's the new class of world class.

by the time democrats and republicans figure out how to reform health care and provide coverage to millions of uninsured americans, there may not be enough doctors to go around. and as our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, tells us, the problem is bound to become a lot worse. >> they are part of american lore, the american family doctor. fixing whatever is broken and making house calls. that version of the primary doctor has long since faded away and the modern day version is close behind, which means the woman you are about to meet a

rare breed. >> i wanted to meet you because you are going into primary care. why aren't more of your colleagues choosing this as a profession? >> i think there are several reasons. one of the main reasons is the prestige and spotlight is not on family physicians, we don't have the same representation like other doctors do in subspecialties. >> reporter: the academy of physicians predicts a shortage, and that's before any reform of the health care system that could produce tens of millions of patients into that system. the number of medical students choosing primary care has slipped by more than 50%. at the university of illinois, they graduated 314 medical students last year, and only 20

chose primary care. >> people who have insurance can't find a doctor so suddenly we are going to give insurance or give access to health care to a whole bunch of people that have not had it without increasing the number of physicians, it's going to be a problem. >> reporter: why such a decrease? how much is about money? >> i think that's a major reason why, the potential financial gain is not as much as the other fields. here in atlanta, maybe around 150 you are starting off. >> that's lower than a national average of $173,000 a year. cardiologists average $419,000, and oncologist make more.

many want to close their clinic because of costs. you still went into primary care? >> i had a strong interest in teed pediatrics and ob, and now i can practice both. >> it's three minutes until the top of the hour. your top stories are just two minutes away. we'll be right back. client's come in, they're anxious.

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good morning to you on this tuesday, it's march 2nd. glad you are with us on this morning. i am kiran chetry. >> and i am in for john roberts. we are following the latest in the aftermath of the big earthquake in chile. looting still a big issue. there are patrols in the city, but still looters roam the streets. hillary clinton is expected to arrive in chile carrying the first wave of aid.

and then is this a right time to take a stand on deficit spending. and a winter storm on the move, and it could dump several inches of snow across georgia. already flights are canceled. our rob marciano is keeping an eye on all of it for us. breaking news out of dallas, texas, this morning. a four-alarm fire burning. lots of thick smoke rising according to reports there. as many as four businesses, including two restaurants -- there is the burning video we were talking about. those businesses are burning at this hour. we are told, thank goodness, there was nobody inside the buildings when the fire started, kiran. >> we'll keep an eye on that this morning. secretary hillary clinton is due to arrive in santiago at any moment. rescue workers are continuing to search for people that may be buried in the rubble.

looting is the major problem right now. our soledad o'brien is live there in the city. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. they extended the curfew, so not many people out on the streets right now. we have seen the rescue workers, and they started to work. really they were here through the night, and aftershocks kept them from making a lot of progress. one of the saddest things to see, family members are starting to come by and when they get a sight at the building, this is a building toppled over, and they gasp and cover their mouth with their hands and are devastated. there are 40 plus people inside they are searching for. >> soledad, you talk about the curfew being in effect right now. has that made much of an impact on the problem of looting? >> reporter: yeah, certainly, the streets have been quiet through the night, and you see

virtually no cars on the streets. and you saw once the curfew was lifted, people started breaking in and climbing into and pushing their way into stores. you had many store owners sort of set up barricades, and they get together and they put a barricade on their block, and they put tires and any debris that had fallen down in the earthquake, and they are there with dogs and sticks, and saying my store is here and my neighbor's store is here, and nobody will get past the barricade and if nobody will protect us, we will protect ourselves, and there were tense moments. but that has calmed down overnight. >> thank you so much. to find out how you can help and reach out to the people of chile, go to cnn.com/impact, and you will find a list of charities and relief organizations. thousands of americans are waking up without a job this morning. president obama says they have one senator to thank for that,

retiring republican kentucky senator. dana bash tracked down senator bunning, but he was not that interested in talking. i think there may be republicans out there that would like to call in a reliever at this point and bring the pitcher off the mound, as it were? >> reporter: yeah, they don't have the power to do that. it's the power of one senator. every single person elected to the senate has the power jim bunning is using, and to keep the metaphor going, he is still playing hardball. it's a package of $10 billion to extend money for workers. but one senator, jim bunning, is blocking it and refused to answer questions about why.

can you explain to us why you are holding this up? >> excuse me! >> reporter: are you concerned about those that are losing their benefits? i guess we have our answer. construction workers here started the morning on the job rebuilding a bridge outside washington, but as the clock ticked towards noon, workers were told to stop and leave, the site locked up. >> they told everybody to go home at 12:00. >> reporter: for 2,000 workers around the country because congress failed to pass the funding to extend the projects are out of work. cobra health subsidies for layed off workers and small businesses loans. bunning did go to the floor and

explain he is for extending them but wants to pay for them. >> if we can't find $10 billion to pay for something that we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of this u.s. senate. >> reporter: he offered a measure to pay for the benefits, and democrats objected. >> but where was my friend from kentucky when we had two wars that were unpaid for during the bush administration, and tax cuts that cost more than a trillion dollars unpaid for, and where was my friend and the republicans objectives to that? >> reporter: the department of transportation press release carefully detailed for reporters examples of popular projects halted because of bunning. democrats could use senate procedure to work around bunning, but talking to democratic sources they have no

plans to do that in the next few days. the democrats see an up side in the stand off. they are planning a larger jobs expansion package. they hope to pass that at the end of the week, but it will be a few weeks before that would reach the president's desk. jim? >> dana, yesterday the minority whip, jon kyl got into a debate with max baucus on the floor, jon kyl said there are disincentive to people looking for work. how does that message play in the political year, the election year we are in right now? >> reporter: it's one of the philosophical differences you see. that's the majority review. some believe the unemployment benefits are the wrong way to go. having said that, most republicans wish their fellow

republican jim bunning would not have picked this particular issue to help jobless americans to stake his claim on the idea of fighting the deficit. besides jon kyl, the republicans are silent in dealing with this. they cannot force him to stop, but they wish the political nightmare for them would go away. >> and perhaps retire early, so to speak. dana bash, thank you so much. good talking to you. it's eight minutes past the hour. we will check in with rob marciano, and he is in the extreme weather center for us in atlanta, and you will get your share of rough weather today. >> yeah, a little bit of snow and rain and everything in between. a big storm rolling across the gulf states. it's moving across louisiana, and kicking up not only rain and snow but heavy wind gusts. you see the radar go up here and it expands from southern parts of florida where we see delays because of thunderstorms rolling

through there, and then to kentucky as the thing moves off to the east and northeast. the pink moving in means the wintry precipitation is trying to mix in. and so we do expected to see a bit of a change over as this thing moves up to the north. but just an inch or two of slushy snow, the suburbs up north will see a little more in some spots. and then temperatures colder in atlanta than new york today. a nice touch for you guys. another batch of storms rolling into the west coast. we'll get back to that when we finish with this. the beginning of march is the beginning of meteorologistal spring, and that has not worked yet. >> yeah, jacqui jaris tried that

on us yesterday and it's not working. coming up, we will go down to texas where they have a texas three step going on down there. the republican primary for the governor's race, has three candidates going at each other and many of them down in texas. the tea party folks we have been talking about a lot lately, they are watching the race very closely. candy crowley coming up shortly with that.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. it's 12 minutes after the hour. thank you for joining us. it's primary day in texas. the polls are open and all the attention is on the republican contest for governor. rick perry and kay bailey hutch hutchenson is in a race. the favorite of the tea party folks, this race is going to be an interesting one to watch. >> reporter: it is. i will tell you, it has had just about everything in it. not just three candidates, but a candidate backed by the tea party, and another that courted the tea party, and a sitting senator that has been bashed for her incumbent, for being attached to washington, because

this was not about one candidate against another but this was about everybody against washington. why does the great, great granddaughter of the man that signed the texas declaration of independence have to remind texans she is one of them. >> when you spend the last 17 years of your life as a senator for washington, d.c., and you vote for the bailout that was an atrocity, you must go to the people of the state of texas and explain to them why you are not a creature of the washington culture. >> reporter: the race to be the republican nominee for the texas governor is all about washington. >> there is an anger all over america, and certainly all over texas, about what is happening

in government, the overreach, and i don't disagree with them, i agree with them. >> when it comes to being conservative, kay bailey hutchison is the real deal. >> reporter: she was the established candidate that brought appeal. but that was before rick perry's year-long socially conservative rhetoric, and that includes a declaration at a tea party event that texas should consider succeeding from the union. >> that got an enormous response, not because they think texas should succeed, but it was a code 4, we don't like washington. >> reporter: perry leads by double digits. not that it's that simple. debra medina has promised to

apolish federal taxes, and a gun-owning nurse that home schools her children, she is a tea party activist, campaigning as the real anti-spending and anti-washington conservative. >> they sing the song well during campaign season but don't electricity that way. >> reporter: she took a hit recently and her numbers began to fall when she did not immediately repudiate the notion that the u.s. government was envelope in 9/11. whether there will be a runoff and whether any candidate will get to the 50% mark is the only suspense that is left in the race, and the polls just happened this hour, every poll shows rick perry ahead by a substantial margin. >> got to love texas politics. we'll be watching.

thank you. our "am" series for prescription waste continues. shopping for medical procedures. how is it something like a colonoscopy could vary in cost? it's 17 minutes past the hour. i've been an ameriprise financial advisor for 24 years.

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liberty in the new york harbor. >> always pretty. we are 20 minutes past the hour and time for minding your business this morning. christine is here with news about the postal service for us. hello, christine. >> hello. >> so the postal service has chronic budget problems and the postal general is trying to talk about how to modernize some of the laws it operates under. it operates under laws of 1971. in 1971, there was three ways to communicate, telegraph, the mail. and this is going to have to change. they are talking about a five-day delivery. they will have to get congressional approval for this.

that means no saturday delivery. people scream about this, and they scream to the congress members and they scream when they talk about closing branches, but most are not profitable. they lose money. and they are talking about adding more self service kiosks. so you know, they had to borrow $10 billion just to stay afloat over the last few years. last year they had $6 billion in budget cuts. they need a commission to make recommendations to congress because we need to modernize. >> we love our postal workers, but at the same time something has to give, right? >> i linked up to cnn money.com, and a lot of people said they pay them to be there, and somebody else said it's the day a lot of us lose errands.

revenue. >> maybe it would be monday or tuesday. we talked about this earlier. a lot of the grad school programs for management they look at the postal service and they say how would you fix it, and i would send in the ceo of fedex, and this is an independent agency, and it makes most of the money comes from stamps and postal charges but it's tied to the old, you know, you know how it works. >> yeah, it's easier to solve our problems on paper than putting it into practice in the real world. >> their phones light up if you start talking about changing anything, the way they defend routes or jobs. half of them are eligible to retire over the next ten years, so atrishen that will a way they will make a smaller postal service so they can compete. >> thank you, christine. >> thank you, acosta.

shopping for medical procedures. elizabeth cohen reports. e

25 minutes past the hour right now. top stories five minutes away. first an "am" original, something you will only see on "american morning." the same mri could cost you $800 at one hospital and less than $250 at another. elizabeth cohen is in atlanta explaining why we should do cost shopping. >> you need to bargain shop for health care, even if you have insurance with deductibles and copays, you are paying a chunk of the medical bill, so it pays to bargain shop. like anyplace, when you go shopping you can do price

comparison whether you are looking for a car or pair of shoes. what i think people here or anywhere else fail to realize you can go comparison shopping for health care services and save yourself thousands of dollars, so come on, let's go bargain shopping for a colonoscopy. first off, it's the southern new hampshire medical center. they charge nearly $5,000 for a colonoscopy. let's see if we can get a better deal. and here at the surgical center, it would cost me about $2,800. remember, the most expensive place would set me back $5,000, and i save by coming here more than $2,000. i am so excited about how well i did with the colonoscopy, now i will shop for a hernia surgery. here at st. joseph's hospital, they charge $13,400 to repair a

hernia. that is so expensive, i will not even get out of the car. i will find something cheaper. at elliott hospital, they charge about $4,500 to do a hernia repair, and it's the exact same procedure, so why does it cost $9,000 more to have the procedure here. i will call them and ask how come they charge so much. the hospitals would not comment. so i found somebody that could explain the crazy health prices to us, and her name is healther staples and she analyzes prices for health care. >> i will see with medical services, people don't know because there is no price tags. >> that's right. it's difficult for a consumer to call and ask for prices. >> reporter: the reasons for the

dau skr discrepancies is simple, when you go to buy a coen acolonosco no price on it. >> right. in the same region, at st. joseph's hospital, it's about $10,500. >> reporter: we bargain shop for cars, so does it help to bargain shop for medical procedures. >> yeah, it makes a lot of sense to do that. >> high price does not mean high quality and low price does not mean low quality. in the exactable you saw there, the low price was at one of the

best hospitals in the country. thank you, elizabeth. great stuff. it's 29 minutes after the hour. that means time for this morning's top stories. secretary of state hillary clinton scheduled to arrive in chile this hour for a first-hand look at the damage from one of the strongest earthquakes on record. two remaining americans being detained in haiti may soon be coming home. a haitian judge says he is likely to order the release of the missionaries. they were trying to take dozens of haitian children to the dominican republic without proper documents. >> and workers out of a job this morning as washington plays politics. and democrats are pointing fingers at outgoing senator

bunning. as we just learned, some hospitals do over charge for routine procedures costing patients thousands of dollars and our health care, it adds up to billions of dollars being spent. we are looking at the issue with mr. clark. we are joined again by elizabeth cohen, our senior medical correspondent from atlanta as well. your take on elizabeth's piece. she went shopping and saw differences to the tune of thousands of dollars for bas basically the same procedure. what about the huge discrepancy? >> yeah, it's frustrating for anybody to understand what their responsibility is in a hospital bill. it's difficult for the average consumer to understand why there is such a difference in the prices. >> you talk about how it does, sort of, i guess add up to making sense. let's simplify it a little bit

for people watching. do they charge more for certain things because they know they are losing money else wear? >> yeah, all of those. on hospital makes 4 cents on every dollar they charge. what it does is compensate for the government, the medicare and medicaid programs tend to under way hospitals. and hospitals have uninsured patients that don't pay anything. so the mix of payers, the percentage of medicare and medicaid, that has an influence on how a hospital will charge. >> elizabeth, in your reporting did you find the wild fluk chau

wagss. >> you get an itemized bill. you see what you are being charged for and if you used all of it. i think it's important to recognize that sometimes hospital charge a lot because they can. if a hospital can get $10,000 for knee surgery, they will charge that. it's like any other law of economics, if they can get that money they will charge it. >> well, elizabeth brought up the question in the state of new hampshire where there is an easier process, and is in some cases you can look at the internet to find out what some procedures costs, but in some cases you cannot find out ahead of time how much it will cost. shouldn't there be more transparency when it comes to how much you are paying for and why? >> absolutely. one of the challenges is, of course, a patient may call and

say i need a simple cat scan, a ct scan, does that scan have contrast or without contrast? if they come in and say they need a colonoscopy, is there a possibility they will have paulups found and they need remova removal. there is a whole series of other issues. and they are working hard where they can give estimates on common procedures, and a colonoscopy is a pretty common procedure. >> the state of maryland regulates hospital price and has done it before, so it's a flat 20% over what the cost, i believe it is, whereas in some cases it could be 102% over the cost of the actual procedure. is that something that other states should be looking at as well? is there a way to find out whether or not that would make sense for certain states and

perhaps even sometime down the road on the federal level? >> there are other states looking to follow that maryland model. maryland has been doing it for ten years. they basically, to a certain extent tell hospitals what they can charge for certain procedures. can you charge more if you are in a more expensive area or if you have higher operating costs. people say it has worked relatively well. maryland hospitals have a higher profit margin than hospitals in other states. so other states are looking to see if that would work for them. >> richard clark, as well as elizabeth cohen, thank you for your insight today. we appreciate it. when we come back, the latest the tragic accident at seaworld. [ announcer ] if you think about it, this is a lot like most job search sites. - they let everyone in, - [ crowd groans ] so the best people can't stand out.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. a government safety group in california predicted there would be problems at a seaworld park if there were the continued treatment of animals that concerned animal rights experts. randi kaye has been looking into this and she has the story. >> jim, kiran, some experts say seaworld suppressed a report with dire warnings about swimming with killer whales in captivity. look closely, the whale trainer is in the fight of his life. a tourists took the video at seaworld in san diego. veteran trainer, ken peters, generally rubbing a 5,000-pound killer whale, desperately trying to get the female orca to

release him. he survived with broken bones. the attack prompted a agency in california to issue a stern warning. in 2006, osha investigators predicted a whale trainer would be killed by a whale at the san diego park, concluding, quote, swimming with captive orcas is dangerous, and if somebody has not been killed already, it's only a matter of time. >> if they decide to act out, there will be nothing the trainer can do about it. >> reporter: rose says since the 1970s, at least two dozen people have been injured by killer whales, and four killed. in 2004, this trainer at seaworld in san antonio nearly drowned when the whale dived

over him in a show, repeatedly forcing him under water. he eventually made it to the side of the pool. back to the osha report. it found trainers recognize this risk and train not for if an attack will happen, but when. seaworld was furious and said the report was full of speculation and inaccuracieinac. >> they didn't want it to seem as if, you know, killer whales were dangerous. they wanted it to seem like working with killer whales are safe. >> reporter: a spokesman told us the osha worker that did it, it said it was reckless. when we asked osha why they agreed to re-write the report, they said scientific analyses could not support the report.

>> it was unbelievable a corporation could influence what should have been an objective investigation by an agency whose sole function is to look at the safety. >> what was lost in the re-write our or kau biologists says could have saved a life. >> randi kaye with that investigation for us. thank you. when we come back, we will have tips for president obama after his one-year physical, his first year physical. the doctor noted that he is still smoking. maybe we could all use a little reminder. it's 42 minutes past the hour. ♪

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44 minutes past the hour. our rob marciano is keeping an eye on the extreme weather for us. you got some in atlanta this morning. >> yeah, we do. pretty extreme for the month of march certainly, and for anytime during the winter, you see snow mixing in in parts of the deep south, and that has not unusual this year but it would be any other year. look at the white and pink mixing in on the scope. a classic sign for what has become a cyclone over the gulf of mexico. a little bit of tree and power

issues there, and now we are looking at the snow issue as cold air begins to filter in. and thunderstorms will rumble from naples over towards miami this morning if you are traveling. and if you are traveling in birmingham or atlanta, the rain is beginning to turnover to snow getting snow in birmingham and getting snow in huntsville, and mixing in at times in an stun. nashville, and chattanooga, a little snow, but the rain in some spots is beginning to change over to snow in the northern suburbs. so 1 inch expected and maybe 2 in parts of atlanta, and 2 to 4 expected in georgia and extend that to parts of alabama. shouldn't be horrible. and traveling, we do have a storm move into san francisco, and we expect to see delays as well. here we go across the gulf

coast. we mentioned the big wind maker and now a wind and snow maker. after today we start it to see it off the eastern seaboard. it will dump snow across parts of philly and d.c., and maybe one or two inches and that will be it. and this will not be snhuge. be it wet or dry, it can spell trouble. these guys will be below freezing. whatever falls and sticks on the sides of the road, there will be icy spots tomorrow. tomorrow may be a bigger problem than it is right now. back up to you guys in new york. >> rob, thank you. want to know how hard it is to quick smoking? >> yes. >> so hard the president of the united states is having trouble kick the habit. dr. sanjay gupta will be with us

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♪ it's 50 minutes past the hour. it's time for your "am" house call, and we are talking about your health. president obama still cannot kick the smoking habit. his struggle could be a lesson to millions still going through the same thing. did that surprise you? >> no, it does not surprise me. he probably had a significant smoking history in the past, and there are rumors here and there as he falls off the wagon as people closest to him put it. his doctor, as you know, urged him to quit, as other doctors have in the past. there has been a lot made about

how much he smokes, and he continues to smoke. and robert gibbs was asked specifically about this. here is what he said. >> the president continues to chew nicotine gum, and you know, i pointed many of you and i would point you to the comments you made in june -- i think in this room in june of last year, that while he has quit smoking, he is occasionally falling off the wagon when it comes to that, and like many who have struggled with kicking that habit. >> you know, it's said that many of his aides walking around him carry the gum in their pockets for the government to chew had he is busy. this could be the worse time for him to quit, a stressful time, in the middle of two wars and the health care debate, and robert gibbs said he thinks the president is 95% cured, but

kyra, i think you eluded to you are cured or not. this is a difficult addiction to break for a couple reasons. one is in the way a lot of substances work, it binds to the pleasure centers in the brain, nicotine does, and you crave those things and you get a certain sense of euphoria when the nicotine hits those centers. and just having something to put something back in your mouth, back and forth, which is why people gain weight because they eat instead. and you need to surround yourself with supportive people that help counsel you through this. and nicotine replacement, and prescription drugs in some cases. it could take up to seven cycles of quitting and falling off the wagon again and then quitting. it could take time, kiran. >> and there was reference to

recommending patches. you have to be more than an occasional smoker to need nicotine to a regular basis, correct? >> yeah, that's probably safe to say. we are seeing somebody in the later stages of trying to quit here. how much he used to smoke and how regularly. if he is weaning down off higher patches of gum or patches, that's safe to say. there are lots of incentives out there. and what is remarkable to me is on how short of time you can derive benefit from quitting smoking, and even within 20 minutes of quitting smoking, your blood pressure starts to drop. blood pressure in a safe range, but higher than it was before. you can take a look at the list there, and within ten years your lung cancer risk starts to come back down to not quite as normal but as somebody that doesn't

smoke. >> the old adage, it's never too late to quit, right. >> that's right. >> thank you. and coming up after the break, jeanne moos returns with a new killer app on how to deal with the tigertext. we will explain coming up in just a moment. but it can't have... can't have about half a i assure you it does. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters, honey, and brown sugar. no madam, i don't have esp. (announcer) fiber one. cardboard no. delicious yes.

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developing story we are following for you right now. just in to cnn, you are looking at secretary of state, hillary clinton, arriving in santiago, chile, the earthquake-ravaged country. she is bringing equipment as well as a technician. she is providing support and meeting with the outgoing chilean president and the president-elect. the secretary of state, hillary clinton, arriving in chile for her visit today.

a new iphone app that could have saved tiger woods a lot of trouble. >> yeah, it's taylilor made. >> reporter: he never thought the texts would be there for everybody to see. and introducing tigertexas, their slogan in to cover their tracks. >> wish it could self-destruct in 30 minutes. >> reporter: sound familiar? remember how the mission impossible team used to get their assignments. >> this will self-destruct in five seconds. >> reporter: this allowed you to delete text messages from the

senders phone and the receivers phone, and you set the time from delete on read, the message disappeared a minute after its red to a month later, and it vanishes from the server. >> when it's gone, it's gone. >> reporter: when somebody messaged how the job interview go, and then i told you, don't send me stuff like this. there is a countdown until the message vanishes, replaced by tiger pause. >> tiger texting? maybe we can call it something else. >> reporter: the makers say, they are not referring to tiger woods, they mean the one with four legs, because they are hard to track. >> how many times have you sent a text message and