burying cars on roads with people stuck inside them, brutal bone-chilling temperatures. and in some states, there is more snow on the way today. remembering richard holbrooke this morning, he dedicated his life to making this nation a more peaful place. he died yesterday at 69 years old. we're going to look back at a career that started during vietnam and ended with afghanistan and pakistan. score one for opponents of "obamacare," a federal judge declares a cornerstone of the health care plan unconstitutional. up first, though, we're talking weather in this monster storm piling on the pain in the midwest. from wisconsin all the way to western new york. relentless driving snow in a dangerous deep freeze, burying people in their cars in indianapolis. some people were trapped for more than 12 hours. rescuers still don't know if they found everyone this morning. what a mess it was at

chicago's o'hare airport, zero visibility on the runways, and zero chance of scoring a hotel room for hundreds of stranded travelers. >> whether you were flying or fearing for your friends and relatives trying to do so or if you were trying to dig out from feet of snow, we have this story covered. >> jacqui jeras covering the enormous storm from the extreme weather center in atlanta. first, though, let's send it out to rob marciano from chagrin falls, ohio. >> reporter: you know, this is the snow belt, but it's been relentless and we haven't reached december 21st. the big freeze is on, snow continues to fall across northeast ohio. and a lot of places across the great lakes. and, you know, just the snow piling up, you know, there's several issues that come with that. obviously cleaning in the roads. but because of the bitterly cold air, there's been a number of water lines that have frozen and burst around the cleveland area.

that brings about whole other slew of issues. 200 businesses and schools still shut down for the second day in a row here in northeast ohio. and this is another week where they've seen bitterly cold air and lake effect snows continuing to fall here. and even for the winter-hardened folks in northeast ohio, even this has been too much. yesterday we caught up with the mayor of chagrin falls, and here's what he had to say about that. >> in terms of early, this is nasty. in terms of winter, this is normally as bad as it gets. but so we have had storms like this in the past. but you don't have them every winter, and you certainly don't have them on a repeated basis. >> reporter: they got another foot of snow last night. other places across northeast ohio, ashtabula got 19 inches with this particular storm, this on top of what they got last

week, and in some cases that was 2 or 3 feet. many of the areas here in northeast ohio have already received three times what they normally would see up until now in this december. and we're just beginning this whole winter season. winter storm warnings, guys, are up until 7:00 tomorrow morning until the next storm comes in. but, you know, it's hard to talk too much nasty things about this. you've got pretty much a norman rockwell painting behind me. so they're trying to chagrin and bear it here in chagrin falls. back to you in new york. >> it makes for a beautiful picture. but yes, if you're trapped in the highways that were covered in snow, not fun. if you have to dig out, not fun. but it is beautiful. thanks, rob. also, the winter storm still doing damage. jacqui jeras from the extreme weather center. we're still dealing with bitter cold in many parts of the country as well, jacqui. >> that's a widespread story this morning as temperatures below freezing all the way into the deep south, the deep freeze impacting millions of people this morning.

and check out the feels like temperature, feels like 1 in nashville as well as atlanta, 15 in jacksonville, 26 in tampa, and 31 degrees as the temperature your body feels in miami. the northeast not fairing much better. mostly teens here, and we're still dealing with windchills below zero across parts of the upper midwest. now, we are expecting some gradual warming, but it's going to take a couple of days. this deep freeze really sticking around, and much of the high temperatures today are going to be staying below freezing. that cold air moving over those warmer lake waters. and we saw those pictures from rob and that's going to continue to be the big story on the lakes today. the high pressure is up to the north now, but it's going to stay a tight gradient between the low and high plunging in towards the east. we'll continue to see the snow showers. a little bit going on from new york city and down towards d.c., but only expecting maybe 1 to 2 inches. may be tough for the commute this morning, but it'll be fine by this afternoon.

over towards buffalo is where we'll see some of the heaviest snowfall accumulations. couple of feet over the next couple of days. we don't think the lake effect snow machine will be turning off until late in the day on thursday and into friday when we see those changes. high pressure there is a big controlling feature for everybody else across the nation's midsection and southeast. even though it's cool, guys, at least it's going to look good with plenty of sunshine. >> thanks so much, jacqui, we'll check back in with you. in wisconsin, the plows have been going nonstop since this weekend's blizzard dumped up to 24 inches of snow. this morning, crews are putting down salt to keep the major highways from closing down. >> jacqui mentioned, but these unseasonably cold temperatures stretching as far south as central florida. right now the temperature in orlando is 30 degrees. t

the average low is usually in the 50s. >> further north in tennessee, check out this video sent to us from i-reporter phillip mullen. shot this video from the deck of his house in mountain city. says it's been snowing there for two days. and forecasters did not expect the snow to let up until later on this evening. and if you've got severe weather in your area, send us an i-report, go to cnn.com and click on i-report. well, they finally got to play the vikings/giants game last night, relocated to detroit. the metrodome collapsed under the weight of all of that snow. it marked the end of the most remarkable streaks in sports history. after 297 consecutive starts over 19 seasons, brett favre was on the sidelines last night as the giants ran over his vikings. the game was played in detroit as we said because the metrodome's roof collapsed. 17 inches of snow over the weekend in minneapolis, but the extra day of rest was not enough to heal favre's injured shoulder. >> it's probably been long

overdue. probably been a lot of times that the streak should've ended. whether it ended today, several weeks, end of last season. it's been a great run, great run. >> sure has been. favre's streak began in 1992 when he was just 23 years old. george h.w. bush was the president. there have been 212 other starting quarterbacks in the nfl since then. >> nothing worse than ending the streak, sitting on the sidelines, and then watching the team lose, as well. nfl jets coming down hard on an assistant coach. good that they did. he tripped a dolphins player. the team suspended him for the rest of the season. and fined him $25,000. he apologized saying that his actions were inexcusable and irresponsible. what was going through his mind? hey, here he comes, i think i'll trip him. that'll be funny. >> whatever it was, it was a lapse in judgment for sure.

and he's lucky. the player was down for about a minute. he's lucky he didn't get hurt worse. well, a stunning turn of events in the baseball world while you were sleeping. all of a sudden cliff lee is a philadelphia philly again. he was the most sought after free agent pitcher on the market. a lot of people thought he was going to the yankees. almost everyone thought that or perhaps maybe the texas rangers. but lee apparently took less money to go back to the team that traded him away after the 2009 world series. reports say the contract is five years. and it's worth $135 million. but he is smart to go back there, they have an incredible pitching roster. and they look great heading into the next season. >> and if you're making $100 million to $135 million over five years, taking less money is all a relevant thing. >> a lot of people were surprised he didn't go with the yankees. but the phillies are looking good this year. >> phillies love him again, so why not? that happens from time to time. they love you, then they don't.

he sought peace in afghanistan until the day he died. we're live at the white house where president obama is remembering richard holbrooke. a federal judge says that requiring every american to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. we're going to talk with virginia's attorney general who challenged that law. and with much of the country in a deep freeze today, an idea that will definitely warm your heart. how about a robotic snow blower that's sure to clear your driveway better than the neighborhood kids. it's coming up on nine minutes after the hour. ♪ oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. ♪

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you need the patch. (announcer) icy hot patches. targeted no-mess relief. icy to dull pain. hot to relax it away. pain's no match for the icy hot patch. coming up now on 12 minutes after the hour. president obama called richard holbrooke a true giant of american foreign policy. holbrooke died yesterday at a washington hospital after surgery for a tear in his aorta. the diplomat was the president's point man in afghanistan and pakistan. it was holbrooke who hammered

out the peace deal that ended the war in bosnia. that was 15 years ago this week. he died at the age of 69. and his passing leaves a major void in the president's policy for war and peace in afghanistan. we'll get more on that from senior white house correspondent ed henry at 6:30 eastern this morning. meantime, a final vote in the senate on extending tax cuts to all americans could come as early as today. president obama's compromise deal with republicans easily cleared a procedural vote yesterday. disgruntled house democrats have threatened to try to change the deal. they're still upset about tax cuts for the top income earners. they're also now balking at tax exemptions for wealthy estates. and the embattled head of the republican national committee says he's going to fight to keep his job. chairman michael steele announced plans to seek a second term during a conference call. many republicans expected him to step down. he's going to face at least six challengers when the rnc selects a chairman next month. what do you get the most

powerful man who presumably has everything for christmas? first lady michelle obama won't say what she's planning to get the president, but she took some suggestions from children during a visit to children's national medical center in washington. >> any president gift ideas? >> a watch. >> a watch? okay. that's a suggestion. what do you think i can get him? >> you should get him a new suit. >> good idea. the president needs a new suit. >> you could get barack obama a new hot tub. >> you think he's got an old hot tub? >> the kids are hilarious. so she was cracking up about it. mrs. obama said that daughters malia and sasha are in charge of getting bo's holiday gift.

getting out from underneath a mountain of snow could be the job of of a snow bot. and it was a star-studded wedding in palm beach. there were actors and actresses including cameron diaz and a certain yankees slugger all in attendance. we'll have details on that coming up. 15 minutes past the hour. book a hotel with name your own price and if you can find a lower published price anywhere else we'll match it and pay you $25. book now and save up to 60% on hotels. only at priceline. ♪ ♪

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17 minutes past the hour this morning. it's morning talker time. stories that had us chatting in the newsroom. how about this one? this would be a good gift if it was available yet for sale. maybe on sky mall or something. it's the wonderful snow bot. when it's piled high and the windchill's zipping to zero, call in mr. snow bot. you don't even have to leave the house. it's the brain child of students at purdue university. they're still testing snow bot out. but eventually they think it'll sell for about $1,500. >> doesn't seem to be throwing the snow very far. grinding it up a little bit. snowstorms here in the

united states to a nasty sand storm in saudi arabia, an i-reporter shot this from a skyscraper in. the whole thing lasted about two hours. but it looks like a scene out of a movie like independence day. >> it does. and we're complaining about the snow. look at that thing. actress cameron diaz and alex rodriguez were spotted at a wedding this weekend. they were attending nick swisher's wedding. the tv talk show queen taping two shows before 6,000 screaming fans in sidney, australia's famed opera house being renamed the oprah house for the event. among them 302 u.s. audience members along for an

all-expenses paid week-long trip called oprah's ultimate australian adventure. among the guests, russell crowe, jay-z -- >> he gets around. people love him. not everything at this event was picture perfect. hugh jackman tried to come in via zip line. he smacked his face on some scaffolding. he ended up with a black eye, which he treated with an ice pack and some sips of red wine. >> the red wine being the important thing there. coming up, a federal judge siding with opponents of the president's health care overhaul. the state of virginia challenged a key provision, the one that required all americans to buy health insurance. we're going to talk with the virginia attorney general just ahead. halle berry talking about one of her most important roles. why it's a cause very dear to her coming up.

23 minutes now after the hour. the white house plans to appeal a ruling by a federal court judge in virginia that says a key provision of the landmark health care legislation is unconstitutional. it is the first major setback for the president's new law, battle that seems destined to be decided by the supreme court. virginia's attorney general brought the suit. ken, great to talk to you this morning. but just so folks at home really get a sense of this, why are you against the requirement that all people have to -- who could afford to, at least, have to

carry health insurance? >> right. well, there's obviously a lot of things we need to do in the area of health reform. i'm very sympathetic to that. but you have to stay within the boundaries of the constitution. and there's no power given to congress or the president to order you and i or other americans to buy any product. and this has never been tried by any congress before. and we think it's because they've all recognized they don't have the power to do this. and the judge yesterday recognized thaw don't have the power to order us to buy product. in this case health insurance. but if they can do it here, they can order us to buy cars, buy asparagus, to buy gym memberships. to use the examples talked about in court in our case. >> the big question in the constitution is whether or not the constitutionality is whether or not this regulates an activity under the commerce clause of the constitution or if it's an inactivity. now, two courts have previously upheld the constitutionality of this program. most recently in your state lynchburg, virginia, norman moon

wrote far from inactivity by choosing to forego insurance, plaintiffs are making an economic decision to pay later out of pocket rather than now through the purchase of insurance collectively shifting billions of dollars on to other market participants. they're basically saying by their inactivity, they're causing pain and suffering or harm, at least, to other people. what do you say to that argument? >> well, the judge moon there in the western district of virginia along with the judge in michigan adopted the federal argument. and that is that the economic decision as they characterize it to do nothing, to not buy health insurance, which judge moon goes on to call inactivity, is the same for legal purposes as the years and years, decades of economic activity or activities affecting economics that have been the basis of all of our commerce clause cases to date. all of them. >> right. >> and so they're squeezing this

decision to do nothing into the rubric of participating in an activity. and that's a real logical leap. a real leap of language. and those judges have adopted it. judge hudson yesterday refused to make that extraordinary leap that has never been done before and in michigan the judge acknowledged that what he was doing was totally unprecedented. and we don't think the supreme court is going to make that leap either. as you noted in your intro, this will ultimately be decided at the supreme court. and we're glad to get a win yesterday. but if i lost everything except one, it's the last one i'm hoping to win. >> let's talk about the practical effect of this. because attorney general eric holder and kathleen sebelius talk about this in an editorial in the "washington post" today where they say the new provision such as not being able to deny somebody for a pre-existing condition are going to be harmed by this decision. because in order to be able to fund those provisions, everybody has to be contributing. >> right.

well, there's no question that during the course of the case, the federal government conceited in their briefs that if the individual mandate was unconstitutional, at least the insurance pieces of the bill had to fall because, as you note, it was the financing mechanism. instead of taxing us to pay for all of these expensive new elements of an entitlement, they ordered us all to pay our own money to private insurers and then they ordered those private insurers how they had to set up the insurance. so they're trying to get -- make an end run here around the taxing power and around leveeing a tax. ironically enough, that was their fallback argument when they got to court that the penalty for not obeying that order of government was, in fact, a tax. and the judge rejected that, as well. >> but what do you say to people who may have a pre-existing condition, who if this ruling is upheld at the supreme court may not be able to get insurance? >> well, i certainly sympathize strongly with those folks.

and the reality is that i think the way this bill was pursued was very much in a direction where a lot of things that i think a lot of people could've agreed upon. like letting us compete interstate. we can't do that legally now. the it's something i tried to get us to do here in virginia when i was a state senator. to try and solve the problem of pre-existing conditions. i had a constituent who had a child with developmental deafness. it wasn't covered by insurance mandated in virginia. and she asked me to get it mandated. and i said, would it be good enough if you could buy from another state? she mentioned colorado offered such insurance, and she said, well, yeah, that would do the trick. >> so you're saying basically -- >> that insurance is out there, it's available, but not in virginia. and it's not legal to -- for a virginia citizen to go buy it in colorado as ridiculous as that may sound to people. that simple change would force competition across 50 states we don't now have. and that woman would be able to

buy insurance that she needs. >> your argument is, there are better ways to do this than the way the government has done it thus far? >> no question. for 45 years, we've all had one solution, and that's more government control. and what we need is more citizen control. and going in that direction wouldn't offend the constitution like this bill does where we're ordering our citizens to do something. you must buy this product that we have pre-approved. if they can do this, they can order you to buy a car. heck, you know, i own a chevy equinox, you don't want one. >> you're saying you don't like your equinox? >> well, it does the trick. this case is first about liberty and not about health care or health insurance because the same rule will apply across our society, across our economy. and that would be an incredible power to give to the federal

government. in fact, federalism and the distinction of power between the federal government and the states would effectively be over. federalism would be dead at that point. >> well, it's an understatement to say that this is a very important case. and one that we'll be watching closely as it makes its way through the courts. ken, great to talk to you this morning. thanks very much. >> thanks for having me. y'all have a great day. >> you too. and enjoy your equinox. >> thank you. well, it is now 30 minutes past the hour. time for this morning's top stories. the midwest getting battered. a monster snowstorm burying cars on roads, trapping drivers. this lake effect system hitting the great lakes area of northern indiana. cleveland, buffalo, and the brutal cold extending far beyond that, all the way down to florida this morning. in some cases, there is another round of snow on the way today. while the midwest is getting socked with snow, heavy rains have been the problem in the pacific northwest. a record rainfall in seattle led to severe flooding and threats of landslides. the army corps of engineers has

dispatched six flood fighting teams to help state and local officials in washington state. wikileaks' chief julian assange scheduled to appear in a london courtroom today where he's expected to fight extradition to sweden. his attorney will also try to secure bail. assange has spent the last week in a british prison cell. his last words were "you've got to stop this war in afghanistan." richard holbrooke, dead at the age of 69. he was in secretary of state clinton's office when he collapsed on friday. they were having a meeting. he had emergency surgery to fix a tear in his aorta. but that surgery, lengthy as it was, couldn't save him. president obama calling him one of the giants of american foreign policy. >> and richard holbrooke was a driving force in american diplomacy for 45 years, going all the way back to jfk and vietnam. he was perhaps best known for being the chief architect of the

1995 dayton peace agreement that ended the bosnian war and served under president clinton. and two days after taking office, president obama turned to him to be his point man in afghanistan and pakistan. and it means his passing could leave a big void in the president's war and peace strategy. ed henry live this morning from the white house. and the president set to meet with his afghanistan team today. what does the holbrooke loss mean to the white house right now? >> it's huge, kiran, as you just laid out. on paper, it doesn't seem like a big difference. because 11:00 a.m. eastern time, the president's afghanistan team will continue to review the situation on the ground in afghanistan. and on paper, there's a year-end review that's already finished. regardless of richard holbrooke's sad death, and that is basically going to say we're told by senior officials there's been some progress on the ground in afghanistan, but a lot more needs to be done. and the broad framework is

already there on paper to begin pulling out u.s. troops from afghanistan in the summer of 2011 with the goal of having all combat troops out by the end of 2014. all that on paper is set. but as you suggest, there's an intangible that richard holbrooke brought to the table that cannot be easily replaced. somebody that was able to help end the war in bosnia and you and john talked about 15 years ago this week. so he brought something to the table that just goes beyond a single policy. but it's about executing the policy that's already on the table and being able to force people on the ground, whether it's the u.s. ambassador in afghanistan, president karzai in afghanistan who needs to be brought along on a lot of these issues. the sheer force of will that he brought to the table, they don't have that now and it's going to be difficult to replace. >> he was a forceful diplomat. henry kissinger once said if holbrooke asks you for something, you might as well say

yes because you're going to say yes. the president's got some good news today. a key vote on the tax cut deal. what's going on there? >> yeah, absolutely. they went through the procedural hurdle, got more than enough, the super majority of 60 votes to cut off any filibuster. when was the last time you saw more than 80 votes, democrats and republicans coming together on any obama initiative in the senate? it's pretty rare and shows that the president finally has some momentum after a pretty rough week last week. i'm told by senior democrats they think this could be on the house floor as early as thursday. and so you can see the outlines now of it coming together. and while there's still some opposition among house democrats, especially liberals upset about the estate tax provisions, i think they're feeling here inside the white house for the first time they have the momentum and they can see victory in sight here, john. >> all right. well, thanks so much. ed henry, good to talk to you. coming up at 7:10 eastern, we'll be speaking to someone who

served with a.m. bmbassador holbrooke. >> it is sad he died. halle berry takes on a real life role to help victims of domestic violence. >> part of our big stars, big giving. also in the past year, more than 13 million hours of video. 13 million hours uploaded on youtube. what were the clips that hit it big? well, we have the list coming up. join the jaguar platinum celebration ! come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf.

38 minutes after the hour. you know halle berry is the first african-american woman to win an oscar for best actress. did you also know she's been raising awareness for a problem many women hide? >> our alina cho is here to, plain that as part of our special series. this is something near and dear to halle berry's heart. >> it certainly is. she's very close and works with domestic violence victims. there's a reason for that. even now, many women are ashamed to admit they've been abused. but halle berry wants the world to know it's okay to talk about

it. and she should know. she lived with it herself and it's inspired her to give back. >> reporter: it's been a personal crusade for halle berry for more than a decade. a secret she's kept hidden for the early part of her life. watching her mother being abused. >> how does that shape you as an adult? >> well, you know, honestly, i think i've spent my adult life dealing with the sense of low self-esteem that that sort of implanted in me. somehow i felt not worthy. >> do you know how many people in the world would say are you kidding me? you're halle berry. >> i'm sure because that's halle berry. but before that, i'm little halle, a little girl growing in this environment. and i've spent my adult life trying to really heal from that. >> this is amazing. >> part of that healing happens here at the center. a shelter for victims of domestic violence in los angeles.

where she volunteers, she often shows up unannounced. >> and i come here sometimes and i play with the kids. i see the children and so, i'm just regular old cracker. and i love being regular old crackers, i have to say. >> a far cry from the glamorous screen siren we know from the movies. but it is this work that berry says is more important, more meaningful. >> please help any way that you can. >> i have a spot in my soul that understands the devastation that this causes a family. and how hard it is to rebuild your self-esteem when you've suffered. >> reporter: it's the reason why she's taking on a personal project. renovating these rundown apartments so women who flee their abusive partners have a safe, happy place to live. >> happy and where they can

rejuvenate and feel hugged and loved. >> and see what life can be like so they can dream of a better future. >> well, we can turn these apartments around in two weeks. >> reporter: it's something she couldn't do for her mother. give strength to women who have been beaten, battered, and broken down. >> what is your message to any woman who might be watching out there who might be in a relationship that's abusive? >> get out. don't stay a moment longer. if there's no shelter, go to a friend. go to the police station, go somewhere, but go. >> great advice. now, for behind the scenes photos or if you want to get involved with the center yourself, go to cnn.com/amfix. for more on how you can make a difference go to cnn.com/impact. all the interviews this year from big stars will live on impact your world, our partner in this project this year.

we're very excited to have a web presence -- this strong of a web presence. what's interesting about halle berry. you talked about this project she's working on, renovating these apartments. it's very important to her because she says, you know, this is where the dream is born. if these women come -- especially out of abusive relationships, they see how they can live a clean environment, a happy environment, but, you know, you see the colors they chose. all these beautiful colors. then they can dream the dream for themselves. when they leave the shelter because, remember, these are temporary homes. and you can see it. you know, i spoke to some of these women, and the boost that halle berry gives them is immeasurable. just to see her. and this woman shows up by herself often unannounced and walks in the doors, you know, and she says i'm regular old crackers, i'm just hal, i'm just halle. and she said, yes, i am. >> it's great to take your personal experience and turn it a around. who are you profiling tomorrow? >> ed norton. he's doing something different

and interesting. he's long been a fundraiser for various charities, raised more than $100 million over the years. and he saw something interesting with what was interesting on the internet with fund raising and he didn't like it. and so he created what he calls the facebook of philanthropy. it's a fund raising platform called crowd rise. it's fun, he's enlisted the help of his famous friends and we'll talk to him tomorrow about it. >> don't miss alina's one-hour special airing on christmas eve 7:00 p.m. eastern and christmas day 8:00 p.m. eastern. still to come this morning, snow still causing headaches for the great lakes. jacqui jeras has your forecast right after the break. and a look at the most popular viral videos. 40 minutes past the hour. we asked people all over america where the best potatoes come from. the best potatoes? idaho.

idaho! idaho. and how do you know you're getting idaho potatoes? well...uh... uhm... heh.. (sighs) not all potatoes come from idaho. so if you want the best, you have to do one important thing. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i knew that. i knew that. look for the grown in idaho seal.

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well, smartphones could soon be standard issue for american soldiers. on the front lines, the u.s. military right now wants to have every soldier have an iphone or an android cell phone. this would be their choice. and uncle sam would foot the monthly bill. officials say smartphone would improve communication, the intelligence gathering in the war zone, and also the goal is for soldiers to get information when they need it wherever they are. we've got something really exciting this morning. a new way to explore the news with cnn's new app for the ipad which launches worldwide today. i happen to have -- this is very uncharacteristic of me, an ipad right in front of me. >> and i just downloaded the app today on my own ipad, it's free. the app is free, also free on the iphone. here it is, and we're going to show you a little bit of it. this is the front page. when you first log on -- when you first click on it, you're just going to see all of the different stories you can check

out. and i think it's really neat how you can see a picture in the front sort of a preview page and -- >> well, the whole layout's different now. you've got key frames of all of these stories and you can scroll through those. your key frame page here, and as well, you can go up here to a text version if you like that a little bit better which gives you the stories in the headline form, as well. >> and if you know you want to go straight to the video, you can click on the third way to view it, which is right here. and then you'll be able to just see all of the video that's available and you can scroll through it on the bottom. this is one of the stories. and it really uses the swiping technology really well. so you can swipe through, check out the various videos. again, this is the new ipad app, also on the iphone. it launched today and it's free. >> yeah. it's free. and here's another thing i really like because i grew up in radio. that was my foundation. and we give you the hourly cnn update. >> cnn radio, i'm andy rose.

>> so you can get that, the hourly update from cnn, as well, if you like radio. >> pretty cool. 47 minutes past the hour. time for a check of this morning's weather headlines. jacqui jeras in the weather center for us this morning. bitter cold temperatures out there, and people still trying to dig out from this storm. >> yeah, you know. the freezing temperatures sticking around for a while too. so no big thaw any time soon. but the good news is this is as bad as it's going to get. what you're experiencing right now is the lowest the thermometer we think is going to go and then it's going to gradually try and warm up over the next couple of days. jacksonville, florida, hit 23 degrees now this morning. that's a record for you. and a few more may be set before the day is done. you can see the frost and freeze advisories in effect that go all the way down to the beach where temperatures could reach very close to that freezing mark. and certainly that will happen inland. you add in those brutal winds across the midwest, great lakes, and northeast.

that's bringing the windchill factor into the single digits as well as below zero in the midwest. look at atlanta, feels like 1 degree right now. extremely frigid conditions. high temperature staying below that freezing mark across much of the east, we'll see some 30s and get up into the 50s for florida, which is well below your average for this time of the year. now, the accumulating snow is done with the exception of those favored lake effect snow belt areas. we've got a little bit of snow coming down around new york and the d.c. area. that's going to make your commute just a little dicey. but this is going to be ending by this afternoon. then those winds coming in towards the cleveland area to the south towns of buffalo, that's going to stay strong over the next couple of days. but you're going to start to wind down a little bit in the northern parts of indiana. big picture for today looks like this, that cold air continues to pummel south. you might be asking, why is this so bad? well, that big low to the northeast and the big high to the west is just helping to funnel those winds all the way down into the southeast. and that's why things have been

so brutal. might want to mention too a little area of low pressure developinging, which is going to take a southerly track by tomorrow and might see some more wintery conditions across parts of the tennessee valley. back to you. stay warm. >> thanks, jacqui. this morning's top stories are minutes away now, including out of work, out of benefits, out of hope. we'll talk about what happens to a person, to their families, to the nation when they can't find work for months or even years and why there is still hope. it's the golden arches versus the golden gate. mcdonald's slamming san francisco, telling the so-called food police to step aside and let parents do their job. and coming up next, whoa, a double rainbow all the way. remember double rainbow guy? the youtube sensation, was he the star of the most viral video of 2010? jeannie moos runs them down coming up next. join the jaguar platinum celebration !

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seven minutes till the top of the hour.

time for the moos news in the morning. the year's top viral videos. >> what were they? the viral videos the ones you probably e-mailed to people saying, whoa, did you see that double rainbow? here's jeannie. >> reporter: forget cats playing patty cake. >> patty cake, patty cake -- >> reporter: there's not a single adorable animal video in youtube's top ten most popular videos this year. number ten showcases extreme driving. the number nine video featured a 3-year-old heart broken over heart throb justin bieber. >> i love justin bieber. >> you're crying because you love justin bieber? >> yes. >> reporter: so jimmy kimmel invited cody on his show and surprised her with justin bieber. the group okay, go took a place with their music video. talk about the pot at the end of the rainbow. >> double rainbow, oh, my god.

>> reporter: many who saw the rainbow video guy were suspicious. whatever he was smoking, i want it. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: but the rainbow guy told jimmy kimmel he hadn't ingested anything. >> absolutely not. completely sober in that video. >> reporter: one kid posted his parents wondered if he was watching some kind of porno stuff. speaking of spicy, number five. it's the old spice web ad. >> he could smell like he's me, look down, back up, where are you? you're on a boat with the man your man could smell like. >> reporter: the number four video made a fruit famous. >> wuzz up? >> reporter: the number three video made a star out of a 13-year-old singing a lady gaga hit. ♪ >> reporter: viewer discretion, the number two video might make you gag. actually, we've edited out the

gross parts. it's a parody of this music video by the singer kesha. and the number one video, the bed intruder song. antoine dodson got famous when he appeared in a tv news report after interrupting an intruder who climbed in his sister's bedroom window. his reaction to being the global number one video? >> oh, my god, it's so exciting. >> reporter: from his half of the proceeds from autotuning the song, he bought his mom -- >> a whole house. >> reporter: and next, he bought himself a mercedes. based on the top ten youtubes, you might think our culture is going down the tubes. jeannie moos. >> i'm on a horse. >> reporter: cnn, new york. >> and we've got 2011 to look forward to now. top stories coming your way right after a quick break. stay with us.

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good morning to you. thanks so much for being with us this morning on this tuesday. it's december 14th. we woke up to a little bit of snow falling outside of our house this morning. >> yeah. it started last evening, i flew in from atlanta late last night and it was snowing and more snow on the ground today. just a dusting, though. let's get you caught up on what happened while you were sleeping. an awful beating in the midwest, monster snowstorm burying cars. single-digit temperatures, the kind of cold you feel in your bones compounded the misery this morning. and the pain is not letting up because there's another wave of snow on the way for you today. well, you're one step closer to keeping a big chunk of your paycheck that could disappear new year's day.

the tax bill cleared a hurdle yesterday. but will the house move quick enough? and he's dedicated his life to making the world a more peaceful place. and today we're mourning the life of richard holbrooke. we'll take a look back at a career that started during vietnam and ended in afghanistan. up first, a monster midwest storm piling on the pain from wisconsin all the way to western new york. wind-whipped snow and a dangerous deep freeze had people trapped in their cars. this was in indianapolis. a lot of people stuck for more than 12 hours. rescue workers weren't sure if they found everyone this morning. >> and so that's the situation on the streets around chicago. check out chicago's o'hare airport. well over 1,000 flights canceled yesterday, zero visibility on the runways, and zero chance of booking a hotel room for thousands of stranded travelers. >> we have the storm covered for you. >> our jacqui jeras is tracking this enormous system.

she's in the weather center in atlanta, but first, let's send it out to rob marciano who looks like he's in the middle of a norman rockwell painting in chagrin falls, ohio. they're used to snow there, just not this much this often. >> reporter: no, and you couple that with this biting cold -- i mean the big freeze is on and the snow continues to fall. you mentioned air travel. we tried to get in here two days ago and couldn't do it because of the weather. they're still under a winter storm warning. the snow continues to pile up. this area -- of keeping the roads at least passable, but the cold is so bitter and so long standing that now even some water main lines are beginning to burst. and you see a number of roads that are closed because they're trying to patch up those water lines. and when you've got temperatures in the teens, that water freezes obviously and that ushers in a whole other realm of problems. the winds were blowing about 40 miles an hour, still the winds are gusting that high.

with temperatures in the teens, windchills well below zero. this is biting, biting cold. here about 15 to 20 miles off the lake, not quite as windy, but more snow. this is a beautiful set-up, especially during the holidays. you mentioned like a norman rock well painting. it certainly has that feel. but even for folks who are used to it, this is too much. we talked to the mayor yesterday. here's what he had to say about how bad it really is. >> this is -- this is very severe. it's as severe as it gets. we had a couple of feet last week and then partially melted over the weekend and now we're in for it again. so we are used to winter, but this is peak. >> reporter: yeah, so they're already tired of it. and we're not even too christmas. and that little bit of melt over the weekend, that creates other issues. and you've got in some spots a frozen layer on top of the snow that's already on the roadway.

as far as snowfall totals, another foot, and other spots the northeast, ohio, including ashtabula, almost -- still in effect until 7:00 tomorrow morning. back to you in new york. >> yeah, they got hit early. and they took a big hit early. and we had a long way to go until winter's over. thanks, rob. >> thanks, rob. >> we want to get to the extreme weather center where jacqui jeras is tracking this for us. indianapolis, they weren't sure if they got everybody out of their cars. >> it is a dangerous situation. so that's why we always tell you plan ahead and make sure you have that emergency kit in your car and a full tank of gas, too, so you can periodically turn that car on and get that heat and blankets and food and always that have with you. that bitter cold air all the way down through the seep south, even through the state of florida this morning. it feels like 12 right now in jacksonville. a record low at 23 degrees,

feels like 9 in nashville, 1 in atlanta. you're looking at 20s and teens here, 13 in syracuse, which will get hit really hard, by the way, with the lake effect snows, as well. feels like 9 degrees in the detroit area. high temperatures, not looking that great. you can probably take -- especially in this part of the country up here, maybe take a good 5 or 10 degrees off the thermometer reading. that's what the wind will be doing to impact your temperature. barely above the freezing mark in atlanta. and in new orleans, you're under the freeze advisory, as well. what about the snowfall? you can talk about that. you can see the snow showers in new york city, over long island right now. very little accumulation expected. light snow moving into washington, d.c. so just a little bit on the rough side on your commute this morning, but things should be better by this afternoon. there's that snow coming down into syracuse, east of cleveland, and we're going to watch that continue at least through tomorrow. and some of you might be getting those lake effect snows thursday

early friday morning until this begins to wane. and that's courtesy of our area of low pressure, our lingering low that doesn't want to leave, continues to funnel that cold air along with the high pressure. that's why it's colder with the windchills across parts of the southeast and the mid-atlantic as opposed to northern parts of new england because that's where that wind field is driving. looking great across the midwest. lots of sunshine. even though it's cold, it looks good. hopefully that'll get you through the day. >> thanks so much. in wisconsin, the plows have been going nonstop since this weekend's blizzard dumped up to 24 inches of snow. this morning, crews are putting down salt to keep major roadways from freezing over. many of those side streets in the areas, though, have already turned to ice. and once that happens, officials say there's not much you can do except wait until warmer temperatures move back in to try to melt those streets. also, this morning, unseasonably cold weather stretching as far south as central florida. temperatures in atlanta hovering over 30 degrees.

the average low usually in the 50s. this could relieve some of that frozen frustration right now. it's called the snow bot. designed by a group of students at purdue university. so you don't have to risk slipping or falling, shoveling snow, or risk a heart attack like many people do. it isn't quite ready for prime time. they're still testing the prototype, but who knows? this could be on the home shopping network in a couple of years. >> it needs to throw the snow a little further. well, what a difference a day makes. check out two shots from peter from st. paul, minnesota. the first one taken during the snowstorm on saturday, and then the next one taken on sunday. you can see the sun is out, should stay out today, but temperatures are expected to only reach the teens. there you go. nice, right? it cleared out? >> it did. it's a little clearer, yeah. but unfortunately clear usually

means cold. >> oh, yeah. >> i flow home with somebody from minnesota saying it was cold even for them. >> yes, i know, and early, early in the season. they have a long way to go. if you've got severe weather happening in your area, send us an i-report, go to cnn.com and click on i-report. president obama's compromise with republicans has cleared a major hurdle in the senate and a final vote could come today. but one democrat called the $858 billion measure a time bomb. in the past, maybe a lot murky in the house. ed henry joins us live from the white house this morning. we've been talking about this, of course, all week, but what are the chances this doesn't pass through the house? >> the president really has the most momentum, kiran, than he's had in the whole debate. clearing that senate hurdle was so important. because as you know we've seen so much of the obama agenda get easily through the house and struggle in the senate where you need the super majority of 60 votes. he got that yesterday on this tax cut plan, well over 80

votes, it's hard to remember the last time an obama initiative got that many votes. and now all eyes turn to the house. and now the president's leaning on his fellow democrats to get this done. take a listen. >> i urge the house of representatives to act quickly on this important matter. because if there's one thing we can agree on, it's the urgent work of protecting middle class families, removing uncertainty for america's businesses, and giving our economy a boost as we head into the new year. >> now, after final passage in the senate as early as today as you noted, the white house is now hopeful and private that they can get this tax package on the house floor as early as thursday of this week. it's far from a certainty that it's going to get done. but there's a lot of talk behind the scenes that house democrats will get some sort of an alternative that will make changes to the estate tax that they're not happy with in this original plan. and getting that extra vote, getting on record about their

concerns might help push this through finally. so the white house is very hopeful they're going to get this done by the end of the week. >> it's not really a deadline. because you can move things around a little bit. he's supposed to leave for his vacation in hawaii on saturday. is he sticking to that so far? >> sounds like he's not going to -- robert gibbs says he'll stay as long as congress stays in session. originally they wanted to be out of town by friday. instead looks like he'll leave next week. largely because he wants the new start treaty done. he's hopeful he can get that in the senate, he'll probably leave early next week, i'm interested in that because i've already got my board shorts packed. >> if he's not leaving until next week, neither is ed henry. >> we've seen you in your board shorts, as well, ed. >> doesn't sound like you're looking forward to it, john. >> oh, no, very much so. >> just wear sunscreen. >> lots of sunscreen. >> all right.

thanks, ed. >> happy holidays. >> you too. wikileaks chief julian assange scheduled to appear in a london courtroom today. he's wanted for questioning on sex crimes charges. his attorneys will also try to secure bail. assange has spent the last week in a british prison cell. 100 years means forever for former president ronald reagan, nancy reagan helped unveil a brand new centennial stamp dedicated to her husband yesterday. expected to be sold as the forever stamp when it hits post offices in february. well, come if you dare . it will be open to tourists next year. they can get an upclose look at the reactor that exploded nearly 25 years ago. also towns and villages that were abandoned. the government claims that radiation in some spots is starting to return to normal.

>> that's a huge selling point. that's probably on the front of the brochure. >> it's beginning to return to normal in chernobyl. mcdonald's ceo blasting san francisco city officials for banning the sale of happy meals for kids. jim skinner says that the "food police" undermine parents. last month's city board of supervisors voted to ban restaurants from offering toys with meals unless the food meets nutritional guidelines. well, he brokered the name to the war in bosnia, tirelessly sought peace in afghanistan right up until the day he died . take a look back at the life of richard holbrooke. and hugh jackman with an eye for danger. he tried to make a grand entrance to the oprah show, ended up with a black eye. and one of the greatest sports streaks ever is over this morning. brett favre inactive, on the

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15 minutes past the hour now. leaders here and across the globe this morning are paying tribute to one of the giants of diplomacy. richard holbrooke who passed

away yesterday. >> president obama's saying the united states is safer, the world more secure because of his half century of patriotic service. and joining us now to talk more about richard holbrooke is former assistant secretary of state jamie rubin. he served with holbrooke for almost eight years and close friends with him ever since. this is a huge void when it comes to afghanistan policy. he'd made so many changes in how we were doing things diplomatically over there and now he's gone. >> yeah, i think it is a great loss, not only to the people that he put together this rather unique team of dozens of experts from across the government and true experts he put together in this mission in afghanistan. but in many ways, it's a loss for all of us who believe in the moral and principled role of the united states in the world. richard really believed in that, and i think his finest moments were during the balkans peace

accords where the united states worked on behalf of the bosnian people to do what's right for people, individuals, a group, not just strategic calculations, but a moral foreign policy. and richard believed in that. and i think it's a loss for those of us who agree with him. >> he's been described and remembered over the past few hours since his death as very tough negotiator. someone that it was very hard to say no to. what was it that -- what does it take, i guess to be a good negotiator? and how did he embody that? >> well, richard was an intelligent man, but he also had the ability to operate at several levels. he operated as a -- in the world of politics, in the world of policy, in the world of the press. he was quite formidable in the media. and he also operated in the world with people. so you put all of those components together and i think it's probably signature element was his historical analogies.

he was always making a grand analogy saying this was the guns of august and like in world war i or that it was related to vietnam. so he had this unique ability to use all the tools of history and geography and politics and diplomacy and put it together for one person. >> i was intrigued and slightly amused too at the way he would grab your hand and say, there's somebody over here you just have to get to know. but back to what you were talking about, bosnia, he took some heat for negotiatie innego. he said i have no moral qualms about negotiating with people who do immoral things. he knew that there were bad people in the world that he had to talk to if he wanted to get something done. >> well, absolutely. and clearly his ability to work with milosevic and achieve these historic date and accords was the highlight of his diplomatic career.

and although he was someone who recognized evil when he saw it, he also knew that sometimes the job of america's diplomacy is to deal with such people to get the job done for the united states, for the people on the ground, and we couldn't be too pure or couldn't be, you know, too principled to say that we're not prepared to talk. but talking isn't the same as capitulating or appeasing. and some people forget that. >> the other thing that's interesting is the -- where this leaves afghanistan now. how did richard holbrooke feel about our chances of success in afghanistan? and where is it left now with his loss? >> well, richard was a realist. i don't know his innermost thoughts. i think few people do, maybe his wife and one or two others. i do know that richard believed very strongly in the civilian part of our role there. whether it's getting agriculture

experts in to move away from opium production, whether it's to get salaries paid by cell phones to the police and military could stand up in afghanistan. he was involved in all aspects of the nonmilitary role of the united states. building of that nation's capacity. and so i think there are going to be some, you know, difficult times now finding someone who can do all the things as well as richard could do them. but in the end, i think richard wanted america to succeed there. he wanted president obama to succeed there. and i -- and i hope that those around him get a chance to continue to serve in the way that he helped them come to government. >> white house thought he was a larger than life character, that he was potentially the right person to put in the job there in afghanistan because he was nicknamed the bulldozer and had that hard nose for diplomacy. one that led henry kissinger to say about him. if richard calls you and asks

for something, just say no because -- just say yes because if you say no, you'll eventually get to yes, but the journey will be very painful. he in a way, even in some of the most difficult places in the world of bringing people around to his way of thinking. >> well, yes. and that was because he embodied the fine principles of our own country. both pragmatism, getting the job done, doing the thing that needs to be done. but also principle. and i think richard believed in that and he -- he was brilliant at using all of the tools of our diplomacy knowing that we had a military backing it up or economic sanctions or humanitarian assistance. all of those things. and he also, you know, played a powerful role publicly because many times certainly before 9/11, the american people had turned away from foreign affairs. and during the bosnia period in particular, he saw the role of the media to explain to the american people why we should

care about these events thousands of miles away. and he was particularly skilled at that. i know he appeared on this show and many others. and i think we will need to find a way to fill the gap because american diplomacy can't just be about, you know, calculations and chess boards and all the traditional means of diplomacy. his son told me once when we were in colorado together that they had a -- obviously a relationship where richard was traveling a lot. but he said he was so proud of his father and the things his father did for people on a humanitarian level in and out of government. >> such a shame this happened. so sudden. >> yeah, big void to be filled. and i know you were friends with him, so our condolences to you, as well. james rubin, thanks for talking with us today. still to come this morning, drama on the oprah winfrey set in australia.

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some of the stories that have us talking in the newsroom this morning. oprah winfrey creating a media frenzy down under. taping two shows before 6,000 screaming fans in sidney, australia's famed opera house renamed the oprah house for the event. among those people in the crowd, 302 u.s. audience members who were along for an all-expense paid week-long trip. and among the star studded guests russell crow, jay-z, and bon jovi. >> that would have been fun to win. not everything was picture perfect, however, hugh jackman was trying to swoop on to the stage with a zip line. okay. there he comes with a zip line. waving to the crowd. but he accidentally -- yeah, he wasn't able to slow down and hit a piece of scaffolding. let's see it in slow motion

here. yeah, you can see him clinking into it. he actually is lucky he didn't get more badly hurt. he had a little bruise over his eye. but the taping came to a halt. the paramedics and oprah herself attended to his eye. got treated with an ice pack and sips of red wine. he returned to the stage about ten minutes later explaining he was okay explaining he forgot to hit the brakes. >> you either put the hand on the wire or sometimes there's a hand brake to pull. the streak is over after 297 consecutive starts over 19 seasons. it was an injury that sidelined brett favre last night as the giants ran all over his minnesota vikings. >> probably been long overdue. probably been a lot of times that the streak should've ended. whether it ended today, several weeks, end of last season, it's been a great run. great run. >> favre's streak began back in

1992 when he was 23 years old. how long ago was that? it was 18 years, obviously. but george h.w. bush was president, the baltimore ravens were still the cleveland browns. and the houston texas and the jacksonville jaguars and the carolina panthers didn't exist. >> clearly a football fan wrote that one. >> clearly. and another thing -- >> who was that football fan? put your hand up. >> rick. >> thanks, rick. appreciate that. well, the founder of wikileaks julian assange scheduled to appear in a british court today. his attorneys are hoping to keep him out of prison and away from sweden as he fights extradition. >> the u.s. army private in custody suspected of releasing secret documents to wikileaks. why is one city voting to declare him a hero? we'll tell you coming right up.

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crossing the half hour right now. a look at our top stories this morning. this monster storm keeps pounding the midwest, wisconsin to western new york. cars buried in 5 feet of snow in some cases. roads closed, and the brutal cold sticking around, as well. this beast of a system isn't done yet. there are two more -- well, 2 more feet of snow that could fall in parts of the northeast before it's all said and done. his last words were "you've got to stop this war in afghanistan." richard holbrooke, one of the most well-known and accomplished diplomats is dead at the age of 69. he had emergency surgery to fix a tear in his aorta, but the surgery couldn't save him. president obama calling him one of the giants of american

foreign policy. bradley manning, accused of leaking thousands of classified documents to wikileaks earlier this year and called a traitor by many could be officially declared a hero by the city of berkeley, california, today. scheduled to vote on a proclamation. declaring "blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime." after spending a week in a prison cell, julian assange will appear in a london courtroom today. his lawyers expected to argue for his release on bail. >> they also plan to fight extradition to sweden where assange is wanted for questioning on sex crime issues. atika is live in london this morning. hi, atika. >> reporter: hi, i wanted to show you a little bit of the scene outside of the courtroom here. you can see down here there's a line of cameras. and that whole line there in

front of the courthouse is actually all the press waiting for press passes to actually get into the hearing today. and now what we are expecting to hear today in today's hearing is, again, that request for release on bail. there is the possibility that he is released. and then hopefully we may be able to hear from the lawyers how they're going to lay out their fight for extradition. whether they're going to argue it on political grounds, or if he's up to trumped up charges -- or if the arrest warrant is invalid. it may simply be a short hearing simply setting up the next hearing, as well. we're going to have to wait and see what happens. in the meantime, julian assange's mother has flown from australia to be here at the hearing. and she actually -- a statement was released from julian assange. he said my convictions are unfaltering. i remain true to the ideals i have expressed. this circumstance shall not

shake them. so still in jail remaining defiant. we'll have to see whether or not he says something in the hearing later on. >> at the same time, as this is going on "time," preparing to unveil its person of the year. and there's buzz growing that that person of the year could be julian assange. sometimes they like to go with a controversial character. >> reporter: yeah, it's interesting to see that. he obviously has a huge amount of online support from the online community. but we also took a poll here in britain and we asked people what they thought about the wikileaks release of the documents. 42% said they were right to release the secret documents. and it's interesting, 44% of people said they believe that the swedish charges he's facing are a set-up to get him into u.s. custody. but, also 44% said he should be sent back to sweden for questioning. and it's important to point out that in all of these polling questions, about 20% said they weren't sure, they didn't know.

that this is a case that's thrown people into a lot of confusion and they want to know more about the facts of the case before they make a decision. >> atika, thanks so much. for thousands of victims in the gulf oil spill, there's a fast way to get bp to pay. there's a catch, you would have to surrender your right to sue the oil giant. 166,000 individuals and businesses are eligible for a new quick-pay program. and in this individuals would immediately get checks for $5,000, businesses would get checks for $25,000. and once they sign a contract waiving their right to file a legal claim against bp. many are out of work and staying unemployed for longer periods of time. how every office is feeling the impact and what we can learn from that experience coming up next. join the jaguar platinum celebration !

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♪ 38 minutes now of after the

hour. living without work. this month, millions of the long-term unemployed are seeing their benefits expire. and a lengthy stint without a job takes more than just an economic toll. >> right, there's a psychological impact, as well. this month "fortune" magazine asks, what happens when the jobless just give up? joining us now is "fortune" magazine's daniel roth. it's happened to a lot of people, actually, just sort of giving up after trying and sending out resumes and trying to find a job. and not being able to get work. >> well, i think that a lot of people are seeing in this economy the frustration of doing everything they've been told they were supposed to do. networking, sending out the resumes, going on the job boards online, and trying to find these jobs when there aren't jobs out there. and you keep hearing there aren't jobs out there. and people are frustrated and giving up. and it's not just people entering the workforce or who haven't had job experience before. these are middle managers, people typically in the primes of their career, in the top

earnings years. and they're unemployed for longer and longer periods of time. >> we talk about the 27ers, people without a job for 27 weeks and then the 99ers. the longer someone is out of job, the more difficult it is for them to find a job. what's the principle behind that. >> the principle is that you remember what it's like to be in the workforce, you know how to network, you know the people that you know and you're constantly in touch with them. if you're out of work for a few months, few weeks, you're still calling people, you're still in the habit of going to work. that habit erodes after a little while. and your connections erode and your connections to technology start eroding. >> perishable skills, basically? >> right. and the longer you're out of work, the employers start think, why would i bring this person in? their skills are rusty. they don't know modern systems, don't know all the people they're supposed to. why don't i hire this person who just got this job?

or a lot of employers say i can poach now, taking people from other companies. i'd rather have someone who was working somewhere else. they must be really good. >> and that the interesting conundrum. many people want jobs and can't get them, yet there are millions of jobs unfilled. why that disconnect? >> well, i think in boom times, the kind of jobs you can get, the kind of jobs companies create are different ones you do in recession or postrecession, still, tough times. companies are trying to do more with less or not willing to spend as much to hire people. corporate holdings of cash are at levels we haven't seen in 50 years. looking at almost $2 trillion in cash. being held by the top company, by all the companies in the u.s. but not spending on jobs. they basically are holding the cash -- when they're hiring people, they're saying come in, do what used to be two jobs. before you had a job and someone

under you. now you're expected to do the work you did before plus what someone else did underneath you. it's hard to do that. if you've been out of work for 27 weeks, 99 weeks, you remember what it was like to have all of these benefits, people around you. companies aren't willing the take risks. >> long-term unemployment is also changing the basic operating machinations of the workplace. new jobs, new employment depends. people are afraid of being unemployed. they're playing defense, protecting their job, not looking for something outside. how does that affect the work life? >> you're not seeing as much growth in people taking risks in start-up companies. a lot of ways we've grown out of recession before, people have started companies, started hiring people. you're seeing a lot of companies being formed, hot start-ups, but everywhere else, not as much. >> daniel, what is your one

piece of advice that the long-term unemployed can take that might be that silver lining? >> don't give up. the american economy is incredibly resilient. that things will pick up again, jobs will come back again, but you've got to stay out there, be networking, do pro bono work, talk to people, stay connected, and you've got to stay in the practice of working. >> be positive, but don't exist on hope alone. >> thank you very much. how low will the temperatures go? our jacqui jeras next with details on the frigid blast of air moving east. plus, more snow in the forecast for a lot of folks. stay with us. [ beeping ]

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cold day in cleveland this morning. they're waking up to cloudy, windy weather, 17 degrees only, and a bit later, they are expecting more snow. it's only going up to a high of

21 today in cleveland. >> a lot of people expecting a lot of snow and cold temperatures across the eastern half of the country. our jacqui jeras is monitoring it all in the extreme weather center in atlanta this morning. and it's cold where you are too, jacqui. >> that's the common word i keep hearing from people today unfortunately. brr is the word. it is pretty bitter for a whole lot of folks out there. and primarily, east of the continental divide, and when you add in the blustery winds, which are a little calmer today, but still quite brisk in many areas, especially the great lakes and into the atlanta states. 9 in new york, feels like 1 in atlanta, yeah, that is pretty nasty. and you have the right to complain today because it's abnormal. it shouldn't be quite this cold. in fact, temperatures 20 to 25 degrees below average. so that is really widespread. and then about 10 below average. and to the northern tier. temperatures, by the way, in the southwest, really nice and warm if you're looking for a place.

we had records this weekend in the 80s for l.a. as well as the phoenix area. that doesn't help you out today across parts of the southeast. we've got freeze warnings advisories in effect. these may be extended into tomorrow morning. the good news, this is it, we're bottoming out for the southeast. a little warming can be expected. see this nice little bubble of warm air into texas? that's going to push to the southeast over the next couple of days. for the most part, you're going to kind of level off. you're going to get a little warmer across parts of the north, but not a whole heck of a lot. let's talk about some of that snow. continues to come down across the northeast. little bit of light snow across long island right now. very little accumulation can be expected here. and this will be pulling out later today. ask the primary snow is going to be the lake-effect snows that continue to come down. this will last into thursday and wane off a little bit by friday. high pressure then controlling pretty much everybody else and

in place and if you're trying to travel today, primary delays in the northeast and atlanta due to winds. and we've had a lot of flooding in the packed northwest, and foggy conditions. safe travels. >> thank you so much. well, if you have one of these, you're going to love what we're going to show you coming up now. it's the brand new cnn ipad app that launches worldwide today. >> i feel a little bit like vanna white here. but it's cool. >> have you got a letter in there? >> a lot of letters, text, and pictures. very cool. this is the main screen here. and you can just go up and down and decide what story you want to see. click on it. let's take a look. there's this story about the senate voting, preel voocedural. it's very easy to look at what others are saying about the story. >> we've got these little ipads and then we have our big ipad here. and you can see in greater detail. rather than having a lot of

texts and stories, the main part of the new app -- look at, this all of these little squares, key frames that allow you to bring up video whenever you want and scroll through it that way. so it's a lot more user friendly than it is -- in its current. also if you want the broad sheet, we've got updates, as well. and here we go to the headlines. you can also -- you can choose whether you want u.s., world, politics, money, entertainment, tech, justice, health. it's a lot more user friendly than it was in the past. and the best part about it -- >> it's free. >> you also like the fact that they do the radio updates in the corner, as well. >> we unfortunately don't have video here, but i do have the video here on the ipad app. because our good friends at radio. and anybody who was -- >> it was a powerful diplomat who helped bring a terrible war -- >> anybody who started their career in radio is a good person in my book.

>> it's also cool to get the quick synopsis in 30 seconds or less of what's going on in the world. it's free cnn.com/ipad. check it out. all right. top stories minutes away now including vacation hot spot. it's hot in more ways than one. how would you like your next vacation to be to chernobyl. we also have an a.m. original. big stars, big giving, one-on-one with halle berry on her mission to help battered women andit's a personal mission for her. next, it's unconstitutional. a judge tosses out a key part of president obama's law. sanjay gupta tells us what it could mean for your helt and how you pay for it, coming right up.

quickly walking to the nearest ipad. >> there you go. it's free. it works not only on the ipad but the iphone, as well.

it's president obama's signature legislative achievement but the health care overhaul hit a legal roadblock. a federal young in virginia saying a key provision requiring americans who don't have health insurance to buy it is unconstitution. >> dr. sanjay gupta joins us from atlanta. it was a big part of the legislation. without it, is the bill sustainable and seen it put into action yet? >> some parts have been put into action. much of it scheduled to roll out in 2014 and an important point. as far as how much this is still sustainable after this, if this is upheld, its serious blow overall to the affordable care act. the best thing to think about this, it was sort of crafted as a bargain, if you will, between congress and insurance companies. en shurns companies said, okay, we won't charge higher premiums to people with preexisting conditions and offer them insurance, keep kids or young adults on the parent's insurance

plans until the age of 26, provisions like that. the deal was, though, that people who could afford to buy health care insurance and didn't have it would have to buy it. mandate. that's what's at play here and specifically it is not the mandate but the idea of actually penalizing someone or taxing someone extra because they don't have insurance. that was a specific part of what judge hudson here in virginia really took issue with. one specific area of this entire 2,700-page bill but to your point unless people in some way are penalized for not buying insurance, the idea is they may not and therefore the whole financing of the bill sort of starts to crumble so this is a pretty big deal. >> sanjay, as you mentioned, the structure of the bill is for people who have things like preexisting conditions to get insurance. more people need to be paying in the pool to keep the costs down and what will it mean for folks at home who are counting on these benefits for preexisting

conditions if this law is eventually found to be unconstitutional by the supreme court? >> that's an important point. so far nothing has been firmly decided at a national level and two other judges as you guys know have said the opposite saying it is constitutional but so far there are a couple of things into play as kiran was asking about. kids can stay on their parent's insurance plans until the age of 26 and children right now cannot be discriminated against for preexisting conditions. so those things are already been implemented. for the rest, for 2014; the so-called public option. this idea that if you were having trouble buying health care insurance, join the option and maybe get subsidized health care, that would be in jeopardy. someone with a preexisting condition was thinking about actually getting health care insurance under the public option, this might be a problem. someone with an employer right now with health care insurance and thinking of doing a business on my own and getting the

insurance through the public option, that may be in jeopardy so things like that primarily. but again, right now nothing's been firmly decided. this is one ruling an enthere's been two opposite. >> may be in front of the supreme court. sanjay gupta this morning for us, thanks for giving us new insight of what may be going on. thanks, sanjay. >> you got it. >> a quick break. top stories in two minutes. just breathe. we know it's intimidating. instant torque. top speed of 100 miles an hour. that's one serious machine. but you can do this. any socket can. the volt only needs about a buck fifty worth of charge a day, and for longer trips, it can use gas. so get psyched. this is a big step up from the leafblower. the 2011 chevrolet volt. it's more car than electric. this is my band from the 80's, looker. hair and mascara, a lethal combo.

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good morning to you. thanks so much for being with us on this tuesday, december 14th. waking up to snow out there for a lot of you. >> a lot of the country. a little dusting here in new york city but elsewhere we're talking in terms of feet of snow. we're coming up to the top of the hour. almost 8:00 eastern. time for the top stories. monster storm keeps battering the midwest from wisconsin to new york. carries buried in up to five feet of snow. roads closed and it is bitter cold outside. this beast of a system not done yet. in parts of the northeast, a lot more snow could fall today. dedicated his life to making

the world a peaceful place and this morning the nation the mourning the death of richard holbroo holbrooke. he died yesterday at 69 years old after an aorta tear and several hours of surgery to try to repair it. we'll look at a career that started in vietnam and ended trying to end the war in afghanistan. social network is golden with critics. will the hollywood foreign press show love? nominations in 40 minutes from now. we'll find out. also, it is not over yet. a big bruising winter storm pounding the midwest, burying cars in up to five feet of snow. millions suffering in single digit temperatures and the system is not done yet. >> freeze warnings issued for the south and parts of the northeast, could be in for more snow today. rob marciano live in chagrin falls, ohio. they're chagrinned about the amount of snow they're receiving. good morning, rob. >> reporter: good morning, guys. the big freeze is on again.

it's on this week. and the snows continue to come down. they have done a pretty good job of keeping the roads clear. of course, when you live in this part of the world, you know, they know how to do just that. but when the cold is this severe, you've got water mains lines that have burst. flooding in some cases freezing and shutting down roads and a couple of suburbs outside of cleveland, they're under a water boil restriction so this is a serious business. you get off the roads and the snow piles up quite a bit. a foot again here last night. but considering it's come on top of what they had last week, they're about three times what they normally see in the month of december and for the folks here including mayor of chagrin falls, it is a little too much too soon. >> in terms of early, this is nasty. in terms of winter, this is normally as bad as it gets. but so we have had storms like

this in the past. but you don't have them every winter and on a repeated basis. >> reporter: and that's just what beats you down when you get it week after week and we don't sew this pattern shifting for a week or so. might have to wait for a january thaw before they get temperature that is are remotely barely. they got another foot of snow last night. other spots in northeast ohio getting 19, 20 inches. sporadic power outages because of the winds relentless off lake erie this morning. blowing 30, 40 miles per hour. temperatures in the teens. drops the windchills below the zero mark so it is just a bone-chilling cold. talk about weather. we have lake-effect snows happening here and shifted to the north and east. here's the radar. zoomed in a little bit toward lake erie. this is one of the first lakes to freeze but that doesn't happen until january and february. until that time, when you get

cold -- warm air over the water, that's when the lake-effect snows happen. shifting more east today. and we had trouble yesterday in indiana, northwest indiana, la port with almost 20 inches of snow. reports of a number of motorists that were stranded temporarily in the roadways there. upstate new york, as well. snows there. below average temperatures, 20 to 25 degrees below average in spots across the northeast. i know it's a time of year, john and kiran, and certainly places like here, cute little towns to do it up right. you have to go into the gazebo to warm up at all. but even when it's this cold and this time of year, it's hard to be happy about the bitterly cold temperatures. back over to you. >> i'm curious as to how you warm up in a ga ze bo open to the elements. >> well, you know, breaks the wind a little bit. it is a little bit warmer here.

>> see that? >> half a degree. >> well, it makes more a beautiful picture. thanks, rob. >> if you think it's warmer, it is. he is remembered as america's toughest peacemaker this morning. an accomplished diplomat, richard holbrooke died yesterday. >> ed henry joins us live from the white house this morning. ed, the president set to meet with the afghanistan team today. what's the white house saying about holbrooke's loss and what it will mean to the efforts in afghanistan? >> reporter: well, the president himself made it clear that this was a true giant in diplomatic circles. they know here this is a huge void to fill as you suggest. on paper, though, not a lot will change. face it. i mean, the president's policy is already in place. he surged u.s. troops to afghanistan. he's already made public that he wants to start rotating some of those u.s. troops out in the summer of 2011.

have all the u.s. combat troops out based on the conditions on ground end of 2014. all of that is in place so on paper things don't change but there's sort of an intangible factor that richard holbrooke brought to the table based on the experience back to the vietnam war, the war in bosnia he helped end and some ways he was sort of the undiplomatic diplomat. in private, very coarse. abrasive. tough. but that tough as nails sort of persona enabled him to get difficult decisions done and implemented and that's what this administration is going to need in the days ahead. they have the policy. thigh need to implement it, get tough on afghan president karzai, for example, to make sure that the turnover to the afghan forces really works. missing someone like richard holbrooke, so effective at those difficult diplomatic tasks is so difficult to measure in terms of how to fill it. >> is anyone prepared to fill

it? >> reporter: he was the special envoy and obviously there are a lot of people here at the white house and the national security counsel staff at the state department staff with secretary clinton who was on the margins. but there is no one when you talk to senior officials ready to immediately step in because he sort of one of the irreplaceable folks. >> ed henry at for us at the white house this morning, thanks. let's take a little more of an in depth look at who richard holbrooke was. he helped turn the wheels of history over the course of the long career, spanned 45 years to jfk and vietnam. best known for being the chief architect of the dayton peace accords that ended the war in bosnia and served as ambassador to the united nations under president clinton and two days after taking office, president obama turned to him to be his point man in afghanistan and pakistan. a final vote on the senate on tax cuts could come today.

a compromise package easily cleared a procedural vote yesterday. it combines two plans. disgruntled democrats in the house are not happy about the estate taxes and the tax cuts for the highest income earners. the head of the republican national committee says he will fight to keep his job. chairman michael steele announced plans for a second term in a conference call last night. many republicans expected steele to step down. surprise. he'll face at least six challengers with the rnc selecting a chairman next month. a scare on stage brought the australian extravaganza to a halt because hugh jackman forgot to hit the brakes. swooping in on a zip line yesterday amid cheers to the crowd. maybe should have had his hand on the brake. poor guy. didn't brake in time and smacked

against some scaffolding. lucky he didn't get more badly hurt. his eye was bruised. he returned to the stage ten minutes later saying he was okay and just forgot the brakes. >> have you gone on a zip line before? >> yeah. >> you get a rush and you can be very close long before you realize it. >> it sneaks up on you. some breaking news in the world of baseball. mr. clutch cliff lee is a philly. it's not a repeat from 2009. he is reportedly signed a new deal worth somewhere between cha-ching, $100 million and $135 million for throwing a baseball. everyone thought the yankees would buy him or stay with texas. phillies traded lee for hall day that pitched a no hitter last year in the playoffs. they have decided, well, they love him again and he is back and they're going to be pitching in the same rotation. >> everyone's -- all the philly

fans are thrilled this morning. >> we don't love you. hey, guess what, we love you. we love you 100 million times. >> oh, yeah. nfl and jets hard on an assistant coach. you may have seen it yesterday. he tripped a player running down the sideline. the team suspended sal alosi for the rest of the season and fined $25,000. he apologized saying that the actions were inexcusable and irresponsible. >> what did he think? >> max kellerman was on yesterday and said you see it happening, want your team to win so badly and do something so stupid. >> really, really stupid. >> he is paying the price. suspended for the season. the streak is over after 279 consecutive starts over 19 seasons. an injured shoulder that sidelined brett favre last night. and he sat there sort of wishing he were on the field because the giants ran all over the minnesota vikings.

>> probably been long overdue. probably been a lot of times that streak should have ended. whether it ended today, several weeks, end of last season, it's been a great run. great run. >> favre's streak began in 1992. he was just 23 years old at the time. there had been 212 other starting quarterbacks in the nfl since favre began his career. is there a financial future that's frightening and explain the cash problems to the children? money 101. many say it's time to teach kids financial literacy early on. >> teach them how to be frugal. tourism, a knew frontier. you won't believe this. chernobyl, site of the world's biggest nuclear disaster, seriously. not fooling here. details coming up. ♪

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thank you for being with us this morning. >> my pleasure. >> when is it the right time to teach kids about money? >> i think when the kids -- i tell parents when kids ask questions about money, can be very simple questions as preschoolers and want mcdonald's for lunch and you say, well, i don't have any money today. they say, why don't you go to the cash machine and get some? because, of course, that's what they've seen you do since they were sitting in the kiddie seat in the car and you explain to them that the bank is like a big piggybank for mom and dad and just as it's empty when they spend money, you have to wait until you put money in your piggybank from the paycheck, from dad's paycheck, mom's paycheck, that sort of thing. so just to give them an idea this money is real and not just a little machine in there spewing out the $10 bills. >> it is interesting because the fact that you can use your credit card, obviously. we have had that for decades and the fact to use paypal. a click on the computer.

how do you make the connection in young minds that this is all coming out of the same pot, a greenback, i swipe my credit card, whether i go to the atm or click on paypal? >> cash, cash, cash, kiran. i talked about this and people said cash is pa say. it's all plastic. we have the return of layaway plans. people are conscious of how they spend money and for kids of all ages you have to keep it as concrete as possible. i really believe that. because for them, a plastic credit card, they think that's money. and you have to make the distinction that it really isn't money. it is a loan you are taking out from the issuer of the credit card and this is something that teenagers can understand if they know real money and having to reach into the pocket, plunk it down and then see the great big empty in the pocket or wallet so keeping things as concrete as possible in an age appropriate way is good for kids, i think and then moving into the more

sophisticated ways of spending money. >> you also talk about an allowance. probably around 6. how do you sort of make that happen? >> well, i think, first of all, aallowance is great, a great money management tool and teaches kids to make choices and what spending and saving money is all about and i say 6, doesn't have to be exactly about 6 but 6 and 7, when kids learn about money in school, they know if you're going to be giving them $3 a week or $3.50, a week they compute how much that is and how far it will go and a pretty good age to start. >> and then should an allowance or money given to the kid be tied to chores or things that they need to do for you or for the house snoeld. >> the big question, kiran, two ways. basic allowance, no. it should be tied to financial chores so these are certain financial responsibility that is the kids have. for younger kids, buying their own collectibles, small things. for teenagers, a clothing

allowance but i think that the chore should be a separate issue. the chores of doing the dishes and cleaning up the room. i really like the idea of the financial chores to make it clear to the kids what the money is all about. and then if you want to teach them the idea of working for pay, you can give them additional jobs to do on a job by job basis to get paid for washing the car or vacuuming the family room or something you define as an extra chore and also has the virtue of easier for you to keep track of. only doing one thing, one job, you can say, oh, they have done the job well. yes, you get paid or no, you won't get paid because you haven't done it as well as i think. do the vacuuming under the furniture, too. >> you know, and my parents and my husband's parents felt strongly to have jobs even as young children or not jung children but as young people and earn money. >> exactly. >> when do you recommend that? there are a lot of people who link their credit card -- i mean, the child has a credit card linked to the parent's account and don't have to work for a living.

all the way through college. >> i prefer that when a child gets into high school and old enough to get a job, he has his own checking account or access to his own money perhaps through a savings account before he's old enough for a checking account but the point is that the children have access to their own money that they're earning and making decisions with their own money. so they're not waiting for mom and dad to top up the account when it runs low. not on mom and dad's credit card and using that going to the mall. they're using their own money for those expenses. i think that's critical. >> yeah. learning these lessons early can spare kids pain as adults. janet bodnar, thanks for joining us this morning. >> my pleasure, kiran. >> john? what is the best movie of the year? the golden globe nominations are coming up. we'll take you there live. plus, remember this youtube sensation? with the fellow in the car saying, whoa. double rainbow. well, it was viewed by millions of people and not the number one

viral video of the year. we'll tell you what is coming up. that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf.

♪ time for a look at the stories that got us talking in the newsroom. chernobyl. radiation hot spot and soon to be tourist hot spot? the government opening the site to visitors next month. yes, we are serious here. see the reactor that blew up. tour the village that is are abandoned. the government claims that radiation returning to normal levels. almost 25 years later.

yet one expert recommends saying if you go take a look at chernobyl, wear something you wouldn't mind leaving behind just in case it's dirty. >> sign up? >> no, no. >> cancun, chernobyl. i don't know. tough choice. >> i mean, it is a fascinating, you know, historic spot but i think i'll leave it for others to discover. >> depressing. what's the first lady getting the president for christmas? michelle obama isn't telling and did ask the kids for some suggestions yesterday. she was visiting the children's national medical center in washington haened that creative ideas. >> any president gift ideas? >> a watch. >> a watch? okay. that's a suggestion. what do you think i should get him? >> you should get him a new suit. >> good idea. president needs a new suit. back there. >> maybe you should get barack obama a new hot tub.

>> you think he's got an old hot tub? >> even saw the santa trying to hold back the laughter there. there is obama said the daughters are in charge of getting bo the dog's christmas presents. there's snow all around. temperatures in the teens. this, though, could receive some of that frozen frustration. it's called the snow bot. a remote controlled robotic snow blower. not quite ready for prime time. not really knowing the snow. more kind of chewing it up and spitting it out. they' they're still testing the prototype. >> i don't know if it can put a dent in the snow in the midwest. >> i wouldn't think so. maybe if you left it out there until 2026. >> until july. hitching a ride. this is the first test fly of

boeing's new phantom ray test drone. it was strapped to the back of the nasa 747. usually carries the space shuttle and first time to carry something other than the shuttle. double rainbows, justin biebers, a dose of "twilight." most popular youtube videos of the year and wondering what the number one was with more than 28 million plays, it was the auto tune version of antoine dodson's song. have a look. ♪ hide your kids hide your wife ♪ ♪ you don't have to come to confess ♪ we're looking for you we going to find you ♪ ♪ so you can go and tell that ♪ homeboy homeboy ♪ >> things turned out good for

him. scary for the family when that happened and a potential rapist on the loose and he collaborated with the gregory brothers. they got a share of all of the downloads which, i mean, extremely popular. bought his mom a new house, bought himself a car. everything's turning around. >> amazing what you can do with a musical device. >> grab on to the opportunity which he did. >> well done. big stars, big giving next. aly no cho sits down with halle berry. wikileaks founder is appealing to the courts. we'll have that story coming up next. we fill them with amazing technology. and we fill them with inspired design. and now your chevy dealer wants to fill them with as much good will as we can. come see how chevy is giving more. right now, get no monthly payments till spring plus 0% apr financing and fifteen hundred dollars

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♪ 27 minutes past the hour. you know halle berry as the first african-american woman to win an oscar for best actress but did you know she's awareness for a problem that many women hide. >> good morning to you, aly no. >> good morning. it is very personal for halle berry. she is committed to the genesee shelter in los angeles and donating time and money there and there's a big reason for it. she lived with domestic violence herself and it's inspired her to give back. it's been a personal crusade for halle berry more than a decade. a secret that she's kept hidden for the early part of her life. watching her mother being

abused. how does that shape you as an adult? >> well, you know, honestly, i think i have spent my adult life dealing with the sense of low self esteem that that sort of implanted in me. somehow i felt not worthy. >> reporter: do you know how many people in the world would say are you kidding me? >> i'm sure because because that's halle berry but i'm little halle who was a little girl growing in this environment that damaged me in some ways and i've spent my adult life trying to really heal from that. >> reporter: this is amazing. part of that healing happens here at the genesee center, a shelter for victims of domestic violence in los angeles. where she volunteers. she often shows up unannounced. >> i come here sometimes and i play with the kids. i see the children and so, i'm just regular old crackers to them. you know? really? >> i love it.

>> reporter: a far cry from the screen siren we know from the movies. but it is this work that berry says is more important. more meaningful. >> please help. any way that you can. i have a spot in my soul that understands the devastation that this causes a family and how hard it is to rebuild your self esteem when you have suffered. >> reporter: it is the reason to take on a personal project. renovating these rundown apartments so women who flee their abusive partners have a safe, happy place to live. >> very happy and where they can rejuvenate and feel hugged and loved. >> reporter: and see what life can be like so they can dream of a better future. >> well, we can turn these apartments around in two weeks. >> reporter: wow. it is something she couldn't do for her mother, give strength to women who have been beaten,

battered and broken down. what is your message to any woman who might be watching out there who might be in a relationship that's abusive? >> get out. don't stay a moment longer. if there's no shelter, go to a friend. go to the police station. go somewhere but go. >> she is so committed to the genesee center. i was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours with her in los angeles recently so for all of the behind scenes photos or to get involved with the genesee center gorks to cnn.com/amfix to make a difference. all of the interviews this year from big stars, big giving will live there. i talked to the director of the genesee center saying she does what she says and better than her word and meeting with the women, she said, well, you know she says this beautiful thing.

she said i care. and they can see it you know? >> and also just so inspiration to know living it and got through it. it is wonderful. >> that's right. she is someone they look up to. you hear the women talk about her and inspiring to hear. >> beautiful person inside and out. how about tomorrow? >> tomorrow i'm talking to edward norton. real actor's actor. he spent a lot of time off camera raising a lot of money for charities, more than $100 million and what he noticed is there's something lacking on the internet. that the fund raising platforms really weren't there. and so, he created something himself with a couple of friends called crowd rise. it's really an innovative new web platform to raise money. there's a gaming aspect. you can earn points, win prizes. he's enlisted the help of celebrity friends and he's really an interesting guy. we'll talk to him tomorrow. >> looking forward to that. don't miss the one-hour special

"big stars, big giving" christmas eve and christmas day. well, we are at 32 minutes past the hour. a look at the top stories. a monster storm still battering the midwest leaving some cities buried in five feet of snow. the system moving to the northeast right now where more snow and frigid temperatures up and down the east coast are in the forecast today. his last words were, you've got to stop this war in afghanistan. richard holbrooke, one of the world's most known and distinguished diplomats dead at age 69. he had emergency surgery but couldn't save him. president obama calling him a giant of american foreign policy. bradley manning accused of leaking thousands of documents to wikileaks this year could be officially declared a hero by berkeley, california, today. they're scheduled to vote on a proclamation to release him from custody. the resolution declaring, quote, blowing the whistle on war

crimes is not a crime. wikileaks founder jewel january assange will be in a london courtroom today. the attorneys expected to argue for the release on bail. >> they also plan to fight extradition to sweden where he is wanted for questioning on sex crimes charges. atika shubert is live in london where all of this is getting under way in little more than an hour. hi there, atika. >> reporter: hi there. outside the court and i want to show you a little bit of the chaotic sich wagts happening here. you can see the amount of press that is come out here. the line of cameras, the amount of press trying to get inside to the hearing and in addition to the press, there's protesters out here and that's also expected to grow somewhat. in the meantime, we have been seeing people going into the hearing, julian assange's mother flown in from australia. she is here as well as his lawyers are here and some of his supporters. namely, two celebrity names

here. the british socialite and the well-known journalist and also personal friend of julian assange have gone in. now, what we expect to hear today, basically, is the lawyers requesting for him to be released on bail trying to assure the judge that he will remain in the country. there's been some discussion even of him wearing some sort of a tracking device to make sure he doesn't leave and monitor the movements. we also may find out whether or not another hearing will be set to fight the extradition and whether or not the -- on what grounds the lawyers may try to set up that fight so those are some of the things hoping to hear from today, john and kiran. >> "time" magazine is ready to unveil the person of the year for 2010 and growing speculation that the person may be julian assange. >> reporter: well, you know, if you go by the online polls, certainly julian assange is way

ahead of others and because he has tremendous online support as has been evidenced i be the sort of online campaign we have seen and interesting to note that even here in the -- among the british public, he does have quite a bit of support. we did a poll showing that 44% of people felt that wikileaks and julian assange was right in releasing the classified documents, and they also 44% felt that the swedish charges were a set-up. sorry. there's a lot of police coming by the area. but basically, that 44% of the people here to believe that the swedish charges a set-up to get him into u.s. custody. there's a significant amount of support for him. >> all right. atika shubert this morning, we'll see how it goes. thanks. still ahead, we are heading live to hollywood. which tv show with the most sizzle, what about the best movie of the year? golden globe nominations next and we'll take you there live. 36 minutes past the hour.

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all right. happening right now, the hollywood foreign press honoring the year's best in film and television with the nominations

of the 68th golden globe. >> clair danes, temple granden. judy densch and jennifer love hewitt. best performance by an actress in a motion picture, comedy or musical. anetd benning, the kids are all right. anne hathaway, love and other drugs. angelina jolie, the tourist. julian moore, the kids are all right. and emma stone, easy a. you like emma stone. all right. best performance of an actress in a musical. johnny depp, alice in wonderland. johnny depp, the tourist. right? paul giamoti. jake gyllenhaal, love and other drugs and kevin spacey, casino jack.

>> best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture. christian bail, the fighter. michael douglas, wall street, money never sleeps. andrew garfield, the social network. the town. jeffrey rush, the king's speech. best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture. amy adams, the fighter. helen carter, the king's speech. kunis, black swan. melissa leo, the fighter. jackie weaver, animal kingdom. best performance by an actor in a television series drama. steve bushemi, board walk

empire. brian kranston, breaking bad. michael c. hall, dexter. jon hamm, mad men. hugh laurie, house. best director, motion picture. darren, black swan. david fincher, the social network. tom hooper, the king's speech. christopher nolan, inception. david o. russell, the fighter. best motion picture comedy or musical. alice in wonderland. burlesque. the kids are all right. red. the tourist.

>> best television series drama. boardwalk empire. dexter. the good wife. mad men. the walking dead. best performance by an actress in a motion picture drama. halle berry, frankie and alice. nicole kidman, rabbit hole. jennifer lawrence, winter's bone. natalie portman, black swan. michelle williams, blue valentine. best performance by an actor in a motion picture drama. jesse eisenburg, the social network. collin firth, the king's speech. james franco, 127 hours.

ryans go ling, blue valentine. mark wahlberg, the fighter. best motion picture drama. black swan. the fighter. inception. the king's speech. the social network. thank you. >> there you go. the nominees for 2010. the interesting choices for best picture of the year. >> uh-huh. >> social network in there. king's speech which i thought was interesting. >> just out this week, though, right? >> collin firth with the nod for best actor. mark wahlberg, too. >> for the fighter. people say great things about that. so yeah. a lot going on halle berry we just featured for the wonderful work for the genesee charity to help domestic -- women who have w.h.o. are victims of violence also getting a golden globe

nomination ian natalie portman. had to lose pounds? >> she said. i believe she's 5'3" or 5'6". that's very jarring. >> and then a controversy with the reviewer of "the new york times" who dinged the woman in the new york city bah lie for quote eating one too many sugar plums. had a weight problem and natalie portman relates to that. ballet really, you know, kind of out there this season in a number of ways. >> check them out online to see if your favorites were nominated. how low will the temperatures go? rob marciano is braving the cold outside. he's up next with more details on more snow.

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♪ look at that. >> yeah, we got a little bit of snow. >> i haven't looked outside since we came into work this morning. we got snow in new york city. all right. that's something to rock about. cloudy right now, 21 degrees. later on today, a little more snow. not a lot more. the high of 26. >> we got what they probably got in an hour in chagrin falls, ohio, where rob is this morning. hey, rob. >> reporter: yeah. little bit of a break right now. we're on main street. not a lot of window shopping

going on but sheer at chagrin fine jewelry, come over here and find yourself a little something for your sweetie. another spot, this is a very small town. only about 4,000 people live here. 20 miles or so east to northeast of cleveland. and they got about a foot of snow. just last night alone on top of what they saw last week. so this is the second week in a row to see an incredible wave of frigid cold temperatures and know that continues to come down with winter storm warnings in the 7:00 tomorrow morning. you can come on through. no worries about that. they do a pretty good job of keeping the roads clear. but, you know, all the brutally cold temperatures frozen a couple of water mains and some pipes burst that led people to have to boil some water. some power's out in some of the suburbs and outside of cleveland so it's not all fun and games here even though we're closer to the holidays.

a couple of weather maps for you. snow in northeast ohio even though the winds have shifted a little bit. coming off erie, ontario, upstate new york, as well. indiana had problems. bitter cold temperatures down to the south. yeah, a couple of snowflakes across parts of the northeast. quick shot of what i found just around the corner. john roberts still on. not kidding. i didn't know you had a side business up here in chagrin falls. they have people getting the hair cuts. maybe i'll go in there for a trim later on. >> people would kill for his head of hair. opened several of the outposts. >> i also have a bmw dealership in dallas. you know? this business, rob, you got to diversify. >> he sits on the supreme court in the spare time. >> never know when they'll pull the -- >> pull the what? >> reporter: you have to have a back-up plan. >> thanks, rob. so you know all morning looking

at this wonderful new thing. of course, if you have an iphone, you are familiar with the cnn app for the iphone and now for the ipad. >> we had a chance to check it out this morning. unveiled -- >> dean, don't be shy. >> it's free. >> we won't bite. >> download it now. look at the stories -- >> okay. wait a minute. if we bring a camera over, you have to take the camera. >> there it is, see? >> it's right here. >> there you go! i knew we could talk them into it. the new app for the ipad and the key frames and each one is a video to pop up after a brief little advertisement which only lasts three, two, one seconds. there you go. there's michelle obama walking in with the santa claus. that's the story of earlier today. >> video is so bright and so easy to see on the ipad and another interesting aspect is pulling up a story, this is cnn

politics, vote on the senate clearing the tax deal, at least the first procedural hurdle, check out comments and what people are saying, you can comment yourself by logging into your cnn account and then another cool feature is this hourly radio update which you can hear it any time by just clicking on the screen and getting, you know, just a two-minute version of what's going on in the world. >> buddies in radio appreciate the plug. it's available in the itunes store and the best part of it is our last a 3 p was $1.99. it's free to use. >> if you surf it for 15 minutes, you will be much smarter than playing angry birds all day. >> something wrong with angry birds? >> we'll be right back. join the jaguar platinum celebration !

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we want to introduce you to two extraordinary men. a 16-year-old living with a disease and the friend from the hospital trying to help. >> here's our dr. sanjay gupta with this week's "human factor." >> reporter: 5:30 in the morning and kwayne is arriving for dialysis. he's fighting an uphill battle with the kidneys since he was born. >> he needs a kidney transplant? >> yes. i lost 30 pounds to give him a kidney. >> reporter: like most moms, she wants to do everything she can for her son and just paying for treatment is a real struggle. >> just do what i have to do for my son and i've been doing it

for 16 years. so i fear i'm going to get mine. >> reporter: what about financially? how hard has this been on your family? >> it's real hard. >> reporter: this is the sort of physical, emotional and emotional hardship that -- he's 16 years old and about to get help from a pretty unusual source. in fact, it's kyle over here. good morning, kyle. 14 years old. have a seat. how do you guys know each other? >> i met him in diagnosis clinic. >> you were right here, as well? >> i was on the machine as he was for about three hours monday, wednesday and friday. >> step up! >> reporter: kyle cobb looks like think healthy teenager and wasn't always case. in 2009, kyle's kidneys failed and took months of diagnosis and new kidney to save him. but kyle never forgot his friend. what made you decide that after all that you'd been through that you wanted to give something

back? >> i just want to help him any way i can. gives me a sense of joy and thinking outside of myself for once in life and to help someone else is a blessing to me, also. >> reporter: so far, kyle's raised $ ,100 for him and his family with some help from the local motorcycle club. >> it help with everything that he needs. >> reporter: he didn't get a christmas last year? >> no. >> reporter: he will this year? >> yes. >> reporter: he continue it is fight with kyle by his side both agreeing that a kid nee would be the best gift of all. i'll tell you, you know, it is amazing how draining that whole process of dialysis is. you can tell looking at kwane there. this is what happens. someone with kidney problems, the whole life going to dialysis early in the morning. you can imagine how difficult to get anything in their lives done, even going to school. getting help from an unlikely in this case stranger, kyle, was just an amazing thing.

>> to help raise money, i mean, makes all the difference to get some of those creature comforts and a christmas. so sad. >> that's right. exactly. he wasn't able to have christmas. his mom told me that last year she bought a couple of presents but they were robbed right before kris ms. >> oh! >> one thing after another. >> oh my goodness. >> kyle heard that story and really he helped and he got a lot of other people to help, as well. >> great when people step up like that. great story this morning. thank you for bringing it to us. >> any time. >> two minutes until the top of the hour. you want some fiber one honey clusters? yeah. you must really care about him. what? you gave him fiber. this tastes way too good to be fiber. they're delicious crunchy clusters with sweet honey and half a day's worth of fiber. you care about my fiber? not really. [ male announcer ] fiber one. took some foolish risks as a teenager. but i was still taking a foolish risk with my cholesterol.

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