calling me a liar and i could be 5 years from now and be president. >> you know what? stranger things have happened. jesse ventura. >> thank you. it's been a pleasure and you're very good at hitting buttons i see why they hired you. >> i'll take that as a compliment.

the president celebrates with a surprise visit to the lincoln memorial. >> congress was able to settle its differences. that's why this place is open today and everybody is able to enjoy their visit. >> my interview with tony braxton on the serious subject of her son's autism. the news starts right now. we start with a cnn exclusive a television exclusive, video you haven't seen on any other news broadcast. an up close look at the radiation zone leading up to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. what this reporter witnessed was almost surreal. with radiation detectors on the dash they enter the evacuation zone 30 kilometers, 18 1/2 miles from the highly radioactive nuclear power plant.

the radiation levels are detectible, 21 kilometers from the reactors, stray dogs roam freely. as they get closer 20 kilometers no traffic lights and only two other cars on the road. and at 17 kilometers, the radiation levels set off the detectors alarm. and they see truck drivers in radiation proof suits and heavy duty gas masks and at 15 kilometers in, higher radiation levels and the road is out. they have to find another route via gps. along the way, more farm animals and except for a few lone drivers this town is abandoned. at 3 kilometers they have to get out and walk. levels keep rising. the damage is unimaginable. more walking. more abandoned dogs. somehow they find a way around the damage by car, and finally their mission to the infamous fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant just under a mile away,

mission terminated. he'll join me in a moment. let's get you caught up. president barack obama is wasting no time in promoting the new budget deal. he made a quick the opera's the lincoln memorial surprising tourists when he stopped to remind them that popular monuments and other d.c. attractions are open because of friday night's bipartisan agreement. >> just want to say real quick that because congress was able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody is able to enjoy their visit and that's the kind of future cooperation i hope we have going forward because this is what america is all about. >> the budget deal marks a rare moment of agreement. democrats, republicans and president obama is calling it a

success. it required days of marathon talks with back and forth of political posturing. it cuts $38 billion. the president calls the cuts painful but necessary. a wildfire in west texas scorched more than 71,000 acres and tonight we're learning some 50 homes are being evacuated in midland and part of interstate 20 has now been closed. firefighters haven't been able to gain control of the fast-moving fire which has been burning since wednesday. air tankers dropped 58,000 gallons of retardant on the fire. the prep work is done. residents in north and south dakota can just watch and wait. for the third year in a row the red river is expected to crest above flood stage. crews piled up sand bags. it's. expected to crest sometime tonight or tomorrow. astonishing. just nothing i've ever seen before.

and, you know, we're going to be dealing with a lot of the issues for a long time this year. >> it's going up an inch a day. at some point we got to reach -- i mean how full can this lake get, you know. >> thousands of residents could be forced from their homes if the sand bags and dikes don't hurt. dutch police identified the gunman and i deadly rampage in the netherlands. he was a 24-year-old dutch national who left a farewell note behind claiming he left explosives around the town. a new glimpse of libyan leader moammar gadhafi. state television aired these pictures of his visit to a school in tripoli today. mean time the fighting today raised in ajidabiya, the last

stop on the rebel stronghold of benghazi. fighting was reported in several other cities. neil connery got caught up in that crossfire. >> reporter: suddenly we're told to take cover as libyan troops fear a rebel sniper is targeting them. the army captain we spoke to just moments earlier was injured and rushed away. journalist nearby was struck by shrapnel. >> nato says in the last 24 hours aircraft destroyed armor vehicles in several cities and government stockpiles east of tripoli. inside memo at new jersey's newark airport reveals lapses in security and we'll talk to the reporter who broke the story and tell you about the breakdowns. plus my interview with toni braxton who speaks about autism. remember you have a voice on

this show. it's as easy as logging on. find me at don lemon@cnn, twitter, facebook and foursquare.com@don't lemon. >> i'm toni braxton. check out my sugar lips don't -- donlemon@donlemon c nn. that's exclusive individual i always keep it in the house. that and boston crème pie, white chocolate strawberries. [ female announcer ] yoplait light -- over 30 delicious flavors at about 100 calories. babe, what are you doing?! ♪

that's exclusive individual from a brave japanese journalist who traveled inside the evacuation zone. he had to get out and walk. animals walked the streets. dogs, cows and the towns were virtual ghost towns. he joins me now live to talk about his experience. what made you do it? >> reporter well, you know, no one went in there. we heard a lot of strange rumors about the place. as a journalist i needed to go in there and find out what actually was happening. >> did you protect yourself at all with suits.

at one point you said you saw truck drivers in heavy suits and gas masks and they were among the few people who were on the road. >> reporter: you know, i have been dealing with this issue for quite some time and i have some knowledge. those suits really protect you from the iodine. we didn't wear a full fledge suit. we took precautions. we took iodine pills. we had our mouth and nose covered, stuff like that. but basically we went in in plain-clothes. >> so as you started to get closer and closer to that plant, the radiation detector started beeping, the alarms started to go off. what struck you most on your journey us a ventured into this

zone? >> reporter: well, you know, some of the thing you saw on the video, the animals wandering around freely because there's no policemen and no electricity, and basically it is a ghost town. but at the same time, you know, those geiger counters, radioactive meter is going off. but you don't feel a thing and that's the most scary thing. radioactive particles hitting your body but you don't smell anything, you don't feel heat, you just don't feel a thing. that's actually the most scary part of the whole trip. >> thank you and stay safe, okay. >> reporter: thank you. >> now to shocking news out tonight about a major u.s. airport, an airport with security lapses so bad even top tsa brass are worried about its ability to provided equate security for passengers. that airport is newark liberty international. the same airport united airlines

flight 93 departed on 9/11, a plane that later crashed in a field in pennsylvania. a new memo show security breaches. in one incident a dead dog was loaded on to a continental jet unchecked and cleared to fly. the memo cites incidents of unbe checked passengers boarding planes with knives. "the star-ledger" broke the story and moments ago i spoke with this reporter. it cites several high-profile lapses that has a lack of faith for world class security for passengers. tell us about that. >> reporter: the big one was when the chinese grad dict student at rut gears snuck past a vacated checkpoint to get a last good-bye kiss from his girlfriend who was flying back to china. that was back in january of 2010.

there have been others since, particularly half a dozen starting early this year. one of those involved a dead dog that a passenger brought to the gate, or to the security checkpoint with him, and the dog was sent down to cargo to be screened and loaded on to the plane and they found out after the plane had and the off that it hadn't been screened after all. >> ann davis, a supposed person for the tsa agency released a statement said managers have learned from this report and that lapses like this won't happen again. are people buying it? do you buy it? >> i won't say whether i buy it or not. i don't know exactly how they can be sure that there will never be security lapses again. there was some skepticism among the supervisors were at these meetings about whether or not the recommendations that are set down by managers in this document we got a hold of,

whether they would actually be implemented. >> let's talk now more about accountability here. take for example newark's federal security director. she's the one that allowed that dead dog on a flight but the tsa is back being her saying she will stay in charge at newark. why? will anyone be fired? >> i don't know if anyone will be fired. some of the rank-and-file tsa employees running up to these two meetings suspected that they might, the purpose of them might be to inform folks at newark at miss powell would be out. but that is not the case. and as ann davis said they are backing her, they are staying with her. as for whether anyone else will be let go, i don't know that. >> listen, the memo proposes a long list of recommendations for the airports. tell us about that.

>> the recommendations by the managers, they focused on training and staffing, basically. they say they are understaffed by a couple hundred people. the tsa acknowledges that they have not done a lot of hiring at newark after having brought in the full body scanners, which are fairly labor intensive so if you're using those you need a bunch more people. managers want more hires for that reason and also to pick up the slack on shifts when people are on breaks or any other reason. they also emphasize that there needs to be a revamping of the whole training system. >> you new jersey senator said this, frequent breaches at newark liberty airport are unacceptable and demand immediate attention. the federal government is doing more. coming up, toni braxton my interview with her on the serious issue of autism.

first 140 public school students have been shot this year in the chicago school district. when one mom worried her own daughter might fall into trouble she opened her front door and invited area kids and gang members inside. now they call her miss diane and we call diane this week's cnn hero. >> guns, guns, and more guns. these are young people. they represent them. we're losing a generation to violence. >> everybody is afraid to come out. >> people run in their house and close their doors. there's some people who are not scared to go outside and i'm one of them. my name is diane latimer. we opened the community center kids off the block. we're known as kob. there are kids that are in gang, homeless. so they have a lot of issues going on.

who signed up? i tell kids this is a peace place. this is a safe place. >> i was really want took a veterinarian. >> we have leadership work shops. music. there's a range of things that goes on here. we started out with ten young people and next thing i knew i had 15 then 25. at one point i had 75 young people in three rooms of my house. that's where i started in my live room. we opened the doors in july. last year we served 301 young people. if they knock on that door they can come in. >> i was 12 when i got in a gang. being with diane it changed my life. >> i just opened up my door. why can't you all come outside and see what's going on in our neighborhoods. >> there are people here who care and i'm one of them. >> remember, all of this year's cnn heroes are chosen from people you tell us about. to nominate somebody you know

who is making a big difference in your community go to cnn heroes.com. ♪ hello sunshine, sweet as you can be ♪ [ female announcer ] wake up to sweetness with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy.

i call him sugar lips. you know him as don lemon. thank you, toni.

let's talk about what matters tonight. singer toni braxton talks about autism. a voice behind the hit "unbreak my heart" looks like she lives the glam life. she shows viewers the family struggles and that include raising a child with autism. her son has autism leading her to a role as a spokeswoman. what will parents gain from your new show and what do you want to say to families who are dealing with autism? >> it was very important to me. i'm a mother with a special needs son. he suffers from autism but i'm one of the lucky parents. i found out when he was younger. he's 8 now. early diagnosis completely changed his life. he's in public school. mainstreaming him. he's in a special education program. but, we're mainstreaming him and that's very important. the best advice i can give parents, there's always hope.

my child had no eye contact, he wasn't social, he wasn't speak. they thought he was hearing impaired. look at us today. >> tell our viewers what mainstreaming means. >> mainstreaming means he's no longer in an autistic school. he's and i regular public school in the state of georgia. he's in a school in a class with typical peers. from your typical peers they mainstream better. they learn different behaviors and makes them more social and those things are very, very important. >> okay. >> have to say this is national autism awareness month. make sure you light up the sky. lent and autism speaks is teaming up. by the bunny and ten cents goes towards autism speaks. >> president barack obama made a surprise visit to the lincoln

memorial in celebration of the new budget deal and we'll talk with robert walker about what happens behind-the-scenes in those high stakes negotiations. ♪ [ female announcer ] the irresistible taste of cinnamon toast crunch. crave those crazy squares.

congress was able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody is able to enjoy their visit. >> the president out celebrating at the lincoln memorial what

he's calling a budget victory. both parties are calling at it victory. what is it like when the leaders of both parties are in the room and the government shutdown is looming. robert walker certainly knows. he's now with the lobbying firm of wexler and walker. first i want to get your reaction to the comments by newt gingrich. he says house speaker john boehner got the largest spending cut in history. do you agree with this? is this good for the country ingood for republicans or what? >> well, i certainly greet with newt this is the first step in what will be a major battle. this is a small down payment on the real battle that will come over the 2012 budget. the republicans under the leadership of paul ryan, the chairman of the budget committee have already laid down a $6 trillion cut over a period of a

decade and that's where the real battle will be and this is the first step. i think what they found out about speaker boehner is he's a pretty good negotiator and he has some bottom lines he's going insist on keeping. >> for his first test he did pretty well. >> i think he did very well. if you add up all of the things that were in the cuts that took place as they moved towards a solution here, and then you add the $38.5 billion to that, you're up almost $50 billion worth of cuts that he got for basically what is half a year of the 2011 budget. >> mr. walker, the president says he's happy with the deal. he is out celebrity accelerating. some tea partiers are a little bit disappointed. shouldn't both be thrilled that the president is bragging about the spending cuts? >> i think the question is whether or not the president recognizes that this is simply the down payment.

the president is also saying that he thinks that some of these cuts went pretty deep. well they are going to have to go a lot deeper if you're going to solve a deficit problem that's close to $1.5 trillion of annual spending. and so it's good that the president is willing to take credit for what was done here but there's a lot more that has to be done and i think that's what the tea party people recognize is that this is one little step down the road towards some major steps that have to be taken if we're going to solve the debt and deficit crisis. >> real quickly, take us behind-the-scenes in what was happening last night. posturing. was it cordial. was it yelling? >> it was a very cordial negotiations. most of the time they are. everybody has bottom lines. everybody knows what they have to come out to say about the deal. you give a little bit to everybody so that they have something to take back to their troops in the end, but the

question is, who gets what as a bottom line and i think john boehner turned out to have a very, very good night. >> bob walker served in the house republican leadership during the last government shutdown back in 1995. knows what happens. thank you, sir. have a great evening. i'm don lemon. see you back here tomorrow night. good night. >> hello. welcome to london. i'm richard quest at buckingham palace the home of british royalty. in three weeks hundreds of guests will be here to celebrate the marriage of prince william to kate middleton. ♪ ♪

there's so much to tell you about this royal wedding, which is why each weekend until then, i'll be bringing you royal stories leading up to the main event. among the 1,900 guests invited to the wedding is the former king of greece, king constantine ii, he is family and close friend to britain's royals, a cousin of prince charles, and godfather to prince william himself. he can surely give us insight into what it will be like on the royal big day. you'll be there at the abbey? >> yes. >> the reception? >> yep. >> the evening? >> yes. >> you're one of the lucky. you've got all three tickets. what will your thoughts be? where will you allow your mind to go?

>> my mind will go to one specific place, that this young couple remains a very happy couple and help each other for the rest of their lives and always keep in the back of your mind you are there for one purpose, service to the people, that's all you're there for. >> are you surprised at the amount of interest that there is in this wedding? >> i really am not surprised. there are many aspects why. first, they are both young, good looking, happy, in love, and of course, he will one day succeed his father to the throne. so that makes the mystique and makes everybody excited about it and i think makes people happy. >> when you heard that they were going to get married, let's face it they were going out for a very long time so it wasn't a huge surprise, what was your initial reaction? >> i always hoped this would happen, he would find somebody

he really loved and most importantly that she really loved him, that they'd live together for the rest of their lives, especially in this very difficult job he has to take up one day. >> you've known him all his life, haven't you, since he was born? >> that's correct, absolutely. and i was touched and thrilled when his father rang me up and asked if i would be his godfather. what impresses me about the young man, he takes his life seriously, but he's got a fantastic sense of humor. it's important today, because he's a young person, and his father's ahead of him, he can't waste his time. he has to do something constructive, and he's done that. >> it's not just he has to wait, god forbid for when her majesty passes on, he has to wait for the next generation to pass on. >> that's the way the system works. >> kate middleton has to learn and she has to learn that her role may not come to be for another 20-odd years. >> that's so. >> is that difficult? >> as long as she is able to understand that she has to give

all the support she can to her husband, to see him through the transition that's going to happen in his life, it's going to be vital for him. i don't believe for a moment that she will have any problems with that. she really is a very intelligent, young lady. >> it's quite interesting. it's not often we've ever had an event like this where you had ordinary commoners with royalty, a big wedding. it's very different in that sense. >> it makes it more fun. it makes it more fun and it's more interesting. it's more humane, the whole thing. >> wonderful insight from king constantine. with around three weeks to go to the big day, preparations are now really ramping up and we need to have a round-up of the main developments. kate has been waiting almost a decade to marry william, so asking their guests to arrive

two and a half hours before the ceremony shouldn't be too much to ask. palace officials said 8:30 a.m. is when most of the 1,900 guests have been asked to show up. if you can't see any of it in person, the royal wedding will be broadcast live on gigantic screens at two central london locations. londoners and visitors alike can picnic at hyde park and trafalgar square. free live screenings of the royal festivities will take place. days after the wedding, prince charles will travel to washington to meet president obama. official state travel for royals must be officially sanctioned by the british government. finally, ladies, can your nail salon do this? cnn.com has unveiled, look closely, royal nail decals, they

come complete with william and kate official engagement photo. you'd have to come to london to get one because they're all sold out online. there's plenty of good royal wedding news at our website cnn.com/unveiled. after the break our journey takes us to the tower of london, where we'll hear about the food that will be served, for william and kate's wedding reception. [ male announcer ] germs in your mouth build up and form a layer called biofilm so strong it survives brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula penetrates biofilm, kills germs and protects your mouth for hours. fight biofilm with listerine®.

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welcome back to our special royal wedding coverage. this is the tower of london, magnificent, isn't it? the relationship between the royal family and the tower goes back many centuries. it's been a palace, a fortress, a menagerie, and yes, of course a prison for the king's wives, not that kate needs to worry. this is a memorial to those who were beheaded here at the tower of london, including three queen consorts, the most famous of which being ann berlin, henry

viii's second wife, she was beheaded with a sword. she still rests in the chapel. the white tower is newly restored and gleaming. it's the oldest part of this palace complex. started in 1078. the tower also has its souvenirs. $60 for a plate. just $15 for a pin cushion. after a couple of hours at the tower i'm ready for an ice cream. after several hours of the wedding, the guests will be ready for a banquet. next for us in our reports, what buckingham palace is likely to serve up.

in the basement of buckingham palace a team of 21 chefs will make nearly 10,000 bite-sized canopes for the 600-odd guests invited to the reception. >> any canope is all about the last minute. there's a lot of preparation but lots that we would like to do earlier that we really can't do until we see the guests coming into the room. >> the canopes will be carried upstairs on trays and plates to the spectacular state rooms. this is home to arguably the finest art collection in the world. >> in the 19 state rooms which are used during state functions, dripped with opulence. they really are intended to make

people think, wow, this is an incredible palace. >> reporter: this is also a working palace, a staff of 60 upstairs will attend to the guests' every need and this is the level of detail, using an antique measuring stick to make sure every glass sits a certain distance from the table's edge, a perfect line, a perfectly polished glasses ready to be handed to the guests, including monarchs, prime ministers and diplomats. during this most exclusive of wedding receptions, the public will get a chance to see the newlyweds. about half past 1:00 we expect them to come out on the balcony for what's bound to become an iconic moment in history when prince william kisses his princess. max foster, cnn, buckingham palace, london. joining me to give us perspective on the day and the various parts of it, sarah hayward, the ultimate wedding planner extraordinaire. we look at this day, several

bits, you've got the abbey, reception one and reception two. who is in the abbey? >> people in the abbey are family, friends, foreign royals and dignitaries and charities, people who must be acknowledged in the setup. >> who gets to go to reception number one, hosted by the queen of buckingham palace? >> close family, close friends and foreign royals. >> a lot of them, 600 of them. >> yes, there are a lot of foreign royals, a lot of royal families throughout europe and there's protocol as to who arrives when, who sits down before the other, so they've got a lot of -- they have a headache organizing that. >> different parties will have a very different feel to them. >> i think the second party, the evening party i think we'll see the couple change. there's all this talk about a dress, we might see a slinky evening dress on kate, champagne flowing at the beginning, a

fabulous meal, lots of fun going on, followed by dancing and we know that the royal family love a party. >> thank you very much. the question of what kate will wear, never mind the slinky evening dress, more importantly what about the long, white dress that she'll walk down the abbey wearing? when we come back in just a moment, the british fashion experts believe they know what it will look like. here's our trivia question of the week. we are young members of the wedding party. we are not related, but we have a special relationship to prince william. who are we? tweet your answer to @en is richardquest. use the hash tag royalwedding or send me an e-mail to quest@cnn.com. memorabilia mugs for the first correct answer pulled from the pile. ♪

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you're sneezing. i'm allergic to you. doubtful, you love me. hey, you can't take allegra with fruit juice. what? yeah, it's on the label. really? here, there's nothing about juice on the zyrtec® label. what? labels are meant to be read. i'd be lost without you. i knew you weren't allergic to me. [ sneezes ] you know, you can't take allegra with orange juice. both: really? fyi. [ male announcer ] get zyrtec®'s proven allergy relief and love the air®. you can see these chaps all around the tower of london. they are the yeoman morger, known as the beef eater, because they used to get a daily ration of beef and beer. their uniform goes back to 1845.

kate middleton's dress will be newer and only has to last one day. we now report what the dress might look like. >> reporter: the dress diana wore when she married prince charles was seen as the most guarded secret in fashion history. but now rumors surrounding kate middleton's dress are heading fever-pitch, especially since it was reported that sarah burton, alexander the queen will be designing the dress. burton became director of the dress when alexandra mcqueen died last year, she worked mostly behind the scenes and while her appointment shown a spotlight on the career this commission if true is one that casts her into the fashion stratosphere. >> this is a major royal

wedding, quite ceremonial, quite religious, a lot of protocol, and the dress needs to suit the occasion. >> reporter: mcqueen reps denied the appointment and the royal family's clearance house refused to comment saying "it is catherine's wish to keep the designer a secret until the wedding day." while middleton has been frequently compared to william's mother, diana, many believe the wedding dress will be different. bridal designer ian stewart says while the opulence of diana's dress was a contrast to the tough economic times britain was facing in 1981, he believes the future queen of england will go a different route. >> i have a feeling that it won't be a big dress. i have a feeling it will be kind of like fishtail or mermaid style, quite figure hugging and flairing out from beneath the hips. i think she's fully aware of what she's marrying into and she knows that she has to come out

there with a certain amount of strength and diva-ishness in her wedding dress. >> reporter: the dress is being made behind the secure walls of buckingham palace. all will be revealed when kate steps out of her car at the steps of westminster abbey on april 29th. monita rajpal, cnn, london. >> if you can't get enough information about kate middleton there's more coming your way. cnn's soledad o'brien brings you this special cnn documentary "the women who would be queen" right here on cnn. doubtful, you love me. hey, you can't take allegra with fruit juice. what? yeah, it's on the label. really? here, there's nothing about juice on the zyrtec® label. what? labels are meant to be read. i'd be lost without you. i knew you weren't allergic to me. [ sneezes ] you know, you can't take allegra with orange juice. both: really? fyi.

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