contact needed to hear the recordings. the smithsonian has about 200 early recordings of bell. so far they have used optical technology to decipher six. you can listen to them logging on to americanhistory.si.edu. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> cnn newsroom continues right now with randi kaye. >> hello. it's 1:00 eastern. let's get straight to the news. a week ahead of the. >> with a caucuses ron paul's campaign is blasting allegations of a former aid that paul opposed the war in afghanistan is personally uncomfortable around gays and thinks israel is more trouble than its worth. in an online essay he says he is not anti-semitic and not homophobic. he'll join me on the phone in the next segment and ask the tough questions.

with one week to the way caucuses, it is an easy guess where they are today. five in fact crisscrossing the hawkeye state right now or will be later today, including perry, gingrich, bachmann and romney. on the ground right now in iowa, sanatorium at the gop headquarters in fort dodge. romney was on the stump in new hampshire this morning but is expected in iowa later today. next tuesday's bat sl the first contest in the race for the republican nomination for those living in iowa you can expect an explosion of campaign television and radio commercials. latest american he verge group poll shows a three-way traffic jam for the top spot with paul at 21%. romney at 20%. gingrich at 19%. 12% of likely caucus goers are undecided at this late date. you don't have to be rich to be elected to congress but it helps. you will have lots of company

there. data analyzed of "the new york times" shows the freshman class of 2010 had a median net worth of $864,000 up from 2004. "the washington post" reports that from 1984 and 2009 the median wealth of house members rose from $280,000 to $725,000. in that same period, the wealth of ordinary americans much, much smaller to begin with dropped. later this hour i'll talk with a researcher that finds lawmakers do better than the average investors in the stock market, that's coming up in 15 minutes from now. going overseas now and the deadly government crackdown in syria. arab league monitors in the country and visited homs. which has been under siege for weeks. tens of thousands of protesters were in the streets, witnesses say security forces attacked anti-government protest earls. while the monitors were still

there. the arab league team is in syria to determine if the government of president assad is upholding a pledge to end the crackdown. groups say protesters were killed yesterday. police in detroit say three of four women found dead in car trunks had been linked to online sex ads, all of the victims in the 20s. police say three of the women had profiles on backpage.com, a website used to buy and sell things, but it also offers adult services. >> we felt that it's imperative to alert the public that deciding to meet unknown persons via the internet can be extremely dangerous. >> police say the deaths could be connected but are stopping short of saying that are linked to a serial killer. we're now finding out the wife of former penn state coach jerry sandusky apparently had concerns about his behavior long before he was invested for raping several young boys. patriotic news talked to a

family friend saying she feared her husband could be falsely -- and had boundary issues. ten men accused the former coach of sexually abusing them as children. dottie said her husband is innocent. well, christmas is over. but it seems the grinch is still hanging around. sears holdings says it's closing between 100 and 120 sears and kmart stores because of poor hall seattleoliday sales. they're not saying how many jobs will be cut. there's more than 4,000 sears and kmart stores in the u.s. the stock took a hit this morning. alison kosik is at new york stock exchange for us today. hi there. what's sears stock doing right now? >> sears stock still hammered. guess what, sears not selling enough hammers. look at shares, tumbling right now. more than 20%.

in fact, sears has lost half their value just this year, randi. not only closing stores but also sending a warning shot about profit and sales for the quarter so really not such a huge surprise to see them running for the exits. >> how bad were the holiday sales for sears and kmart this year? >> you know what? sales for sears and kmart pretty bad. the company says sales this quarter down more than 5% overall. 6% lower at sears. down more than 4% at kmart and then you see how overhowl holiday sales did this shopping season and expected to rise 3% this year and then see how bad it is for sears right now. you know, it's just the old saying, you know, in business, winners and losers. sears, just was a big loser this season. >> yeah. certainly seems that way. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange, thank you. a former ron paul campaign

aide lit a fire about former boss. the campaign said he is disgruntled. the aide joins me live next to explain. as mitch gilbert left las vegas he hit the jackpot at the airport. he found two envelopes, inside $10,000 cash. he tracked down the rightful own enear returned the money. >> i wanted to show my kids the right thing to do. if it happened to me, i sure would want that back. you think about the bills you can pay. it felt so good to be able to get it back to the guy. >> and for doing the right thing, mitch gilbert, you are today's rock star. ♪ i want to start a fight ♪ i'm still a rock star ♪ i got my rock moves ♪ i don't need you ♪ guess what ♪ i'm having more fun

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there is just a week to go until the first votes are cast in iowa. right now, ron paul is leading in the latest polls fwlu's another story about him that's burning up the conservative blogs. you may remember last week the stories about racist anti-semitic and homophobic comments attributed to ron paul in news letters written years ago. the campaign and the candidate himself disavowed any knowledge of those writings but now a former aide, eric dundaro, whom the campaign says was fired years ago has startling revolutions in the conservative "weekly standard." israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the

american taxpayer. paul also quoted saying he was opposed to the war in afghanistan, and to any military reaction to the attacks of 9/11. and paul quote does not believe the united states had any business getting involved in fighting hitler in world war ii. joining me now on the telephone is eric dondero. you defend ron paul by saying that he isn't racist nor homophobic but the comments don't exactly paint him in a semp thetic light. what was your motive in getting this stuff out there in the first place right now? i mean, is this a personal vendetta against ron paul? >> oh, no, no. i like ron personally. in fact, i just live like 10 or 12 miles away from him there in texas. i'll state categorically i worked for the guy on and off for almost 15 years and i don't recall ever hearing any racist word or anything even close to a

racest word out of his mouth, like the n-word or something derogatory towards mexican-americans so is he personally racist? absolutely not. the homosexual stuff, that might be a little more iffy. it is up to the individuals to interpret that the way they please. the way they think -- whether or not he's a homo foeb or not. that's up to them. >> you say that you like him and this isn't a personal vendetta. sounds like you're walking a fine line here between trying to defend him but throwing him under the bus at the same time. >> yeah. i know that. i mean, he's a nice guy and i don't think he's got a mean bone in his body but it's his foreign policy that i have serious problems with. he said some untrue things, particularly in iowa in the last couple of weeks. i mean, and things that have skirted the edge of straight-out 911 trutherism and i want to

make sure that the libertarian movement is not associated with those sort of far out views on foreign policy. >> well, i know that you're not a fan of his foreign policy. you call it pretty extreme and sure lunacy. why did you stay with and work with the congressman for so long then? >> well, okay. because in the mid-'90s he really mellowed out. he moderated his tone. we were in a congressional race in texas in a conservative district. he attended two george bush events in the mid-'90s. he played the role of i'm a gung ho republican and in the campaign back then he was a loyal republican and then it kind of changed in 2000, 2001. with the 911 attacks. all of a sudden foreign policy was everything with him. >> i want to read you what the

campaign has told us. we reached out to the cam pan. he turned us down coming on the show today but issued us this statement saying that eric is a disgruntled former staffer who was fired. they also say you have zero credibility and shouldn't be taken seriously. so let me address the first issue, just to be clear. were you fired by the paul campaign back in 2003? >> absolutely not. that is a complete and utter lie. there's an e-mail out from the former chief of staff, that says that that is not true. >> you're saying that's a lie? >> i resigned in 2003. the people putting this out weren't around back then. this jesse benton guy, he came on the ron paul staff in like 2007. that is like four or five years after i left the staff. so, they don't know what they're talking about. they don't know what ron paul's staff was like back in the early 2000s. so they have no credibility on this issue. >> so you're saying you resigned on your own?

>> correct. absolutely correct. >> and what is your reaction to them saying that you have zero credibility to the campaign saying that? >> you know, there they're mad because of the foreign policy differences. you know? they're furious over that. they're mad that one time ron actually employed somebody who's pro-defense and pro-military and i am a veteran. and ron in the mid-1990s purposely hired veterans because we were running in a very conservative district and he really played up that pro-military card and then like i said in 2001 everything changed with 9/11. he felt -- he started feeling safe in the congressional district. and he -- you know, pacified the republicans down in victoria county, the conservative republicans and once they were pacified he knew he could keep the seat. then all the craziness started about -- >> i want to ask you, do you have a role in any other

campaign, and if so, does that candidate support what you're doing here? >> i -- i work as a professional political petitioner. i do a lot of different campaigns around the country. like -- >> are you working on behalf of any other gop candidate. >> i've been there for five months in california. >> are you working on behalf of any other gop candidate? >> i -- at the moment, i'm working -- at least two candidates trying to get them on the ballot as a petitioner but not directly connected with any political campaign. i'm a contract employee for petitioners. >> have you heard directly from the paul campaign about your comments? >> nah. i don't think they want to contact me. i'd love to talk to them. you know what? i tell you this much. if ron continues to deny this sort of thing, you know, i have no problem flying to iowa and directly confronting him on this. you know? he's an old friend of mine.

he knows what he said and said back in 2001. all the truther stuff and blaming bush and cheney and then -- they knew about the attacks before -- beforehand and all that. he knows what he said and i'd be more than willing to confront him to his face and say tell me you didn't say that. >> before you have to go here, how much of this is about the publicity and the spotlight? i understand on your blog you made a list of the media that have reached out to you and tried to call you today. >> that's just for my personal readers, for my libertarian republican blog. you know what? i wanted to keep it amongst the conservative blogs. that's all it was going to go to, conservative blogs. oh my god, it took on a life of its own yesterday. now it's almost getting to be sort of an annoyance if you can believe that or not. but no. i felt it was going to stay amongst conservative blog friends i knew. and one national media got a hold of it and, boom.

it's exploded. >> it certainly has. eric dondero, thank you for your time today. >> great. has the economic downturn bypassed capitol hill? why so many in congress seem to be sitting pretty while the rest of the country struggles. of su, you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. and now get even more with splenda® essentials, the only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. just another reason why you get more... when you sweeten with splenda®. ♪

the rich have always been well represented on capitol hill. but never more than today. while less than 1% of americans qualify as millionaires, almost half the current members of congress do. and take a look at this. a "the washington post" analysis of lawmaker finances show it is median net worth of members surged in 1984 to $725,000 15 years later. by contrast, the net worth of

ordinary americans again not counting homes dropped from $20,600 to $20,500. wealth in congress outpaced that of the richest 10% of everybody else. what is going on here? alan ziabroski is a professor who studies lawmakers' stock portfolios. welcome to the program. you found lawmakers outperform the general public in stock picks. how much are we talking about here? >> we are talking about for members of the senate, we are talking about 1% a month or 12% a year. for members of the house, about half that much, 6% a year. >> what should we make of that? >> well, our analysis suggests trading on information the rest of us don't have which is certainly given their position in terms of things that they deal with every day, certainly makes sense. >> so they're trading on nonpublic information because

they're not held to the same rules? >> yeah. they're not held to the same rules as us. they're held to the same rules as us but the bottom line is that they have information that the rest of us don't have. basically, the things that they deal with every day include things like tax policy, regulation and also federal spending. and the result, of course, is that they're the first ones to know the tax laws are going to change, the regulations are going to change. but that affords them tremendous opportunities in terms of their ability to trade. >> right. what is the answer here? what needs to be done? >> well, back in 2005, the stock act was proposed. stock act was basically designed to outlaw trading by members of the congress and their staffs. and in addition to that, it also

required immediate or not immediate -- as to what the trade. and that sort of died until the the -- >> all right. i think we have lost the connection there. professor, thank you very much for the information. 20-month-old toddler is snatched out of her own home just before christmas. now her emotional grandfather is begging for answers. >> bring her home. just bring her home to us. i want my baby home. i want her home. >> the search for little ayla reynolds is next. the man that allegedly shot this soldier at his home coming is behind bars. [ male announcer ] this is lara.

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or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? the man accused of shooting and paralyzing a u.s. soldier in california has turned himself in. san bernardino police say a fight broke out at a homecoming party for a soldier. a 19-year-old is accused of then firing two shots in to sullivan's back. the family says they've been told the 22-year-old soldier is paralyzed from the neck down. sullivan was returning home from kentucky where he had been recovering from a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan. sullivan got the purple heart after that attack. a community in maine has banded together and collected $30,000 to offer as a reward. they hope it helps bring 20-month-old ayla reynolds home.

last seen in her bed days before christmas, police believe she was abducted. her father was caring for her while her mother completed a rehab program. once out, she filed for custody. the next day, the baby went missing. reynolds blames ayla's father. >> i trusted him to keep her safe. and now, she is missing. and i don't know where she is. and i blame him right now because he did not protect the way that he was supposed to. >> he says he has no idea what happened. the grandfather just wants ayla back home. >> bring her home. just bring her home to us. i want my baby home. i want her home. >> police are hoping the reward will help them break the case. texas authorities are expected to release the names of those who were shot and killed

by a man dressed as a santa claus at a christmas gathering. seven kill reasonable doubt related by blood or marriage. police say the shooter is among the dead and also a family member. they're trying to piece together what happened and investigating whether divorce was a factor in the shooting. the victims range in age from late 50s to as young as 15. one week to iowa. which candidate has the most to win? and the most to lose. plus, turns out gingrich was for mitt romney's health care plan before he was against it. really? it is all fair game and it is coming up next. but first, our political junkie question of the day. what percentage of iowans are expected to take part in the caucuses next tuesday? if you know the answer, send me a tweet. i'll give a shout out to the person with the right answer when we come back. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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before the break, i asked you what percentage of iowans are expected to take part in next tuesday's caucuses. the answer is less than 5%. around 150,000 out of the more than 3 million people in this state. we had a bunch of responses. this is the first time this

happened. nobody got it right so we'll have to try again tomorrow. thanks for playing. now it's time to get to the heart of political debate where it's all fair game and we all know there's just one week left to go until the first votes are cast in iowa. let's bring in my guests today. republican analyst lenny mcallister and robert zimmerman, strategist. hello to both of you. >> good to be with you. >> ron paul is leading in the latest poll. but lenny, you say that a win by ron paul in iowa means nothing. why is that? >> it doesn't mean much because he's not able to ride the momentum moving forward in to the next primary contest. he has that nice little pocket to influence caucus elections. however, when it comes to primary statewide elections and things along those lines he doesn't have enough support to move forward with this. all this basically shows is republicans in 2012 are more judicious in picking a candidate than democrats in 2008. they put her in third place

behind a trend and a guy trying to cover up an affair. at least the republicans are more judicious in picking the candidate in ron paul. >> i have to give you credit. >> indicate to others what a ron paul victory basically indicate to others that, listen, we are going to go through the process and pick the right person for the job in 2012. >> robert, i know you want to jump in here. >> lenny, you're the only one to take a victory in to a spin against democrats in 2008. so it's a good try but the reality is a ron paul victory is significant. not that ron paul's going to win the nomination but it does furth further demonstrate how it backs the romney movement from coming together. a ron paul victory or a strong finish in way is a benefit to mitt romney and the nomination campaign strategically speaking. >> i don't know about this. >> hold on. let's move on here. i have a few questions to get to. i want to talk about newt gingrich and report of "wall

street journal" on the campaign trail you know that gingrich is an outspoken critic of mitt romney's health care plan in massachusetts calling it a blueprint for president obama's plan but apparently back in 2006 a former consulting group of gingrich's put out this under the heading of newt's notes. the health bill that governor romney signed into law this month has tremendous potential to effect major change. the memo says we strongly agree with this principle, the campaign responded saying that gingrich wasn't endorsing the plan but had some criticism for it and that he didn't write the notes associated with that but they also say that newt previously supported a mandate for health insurance and changed his mind after seeing its effects. but he did support this, actually, in a television interview in may, as recently as may. i believe on "meet the press." let's start with you, lenny.

what do you make of the latest controversy? >> it wouldn't be that big of a deal if he wasn't determined to be a super conservative right now. he was doing well showing that he was more conservative than romney, but also, not too conservative where he can talk to the independents, talk to the moderates and make sense of things and do that during the debates. now that he's gone off the tracks a little bit, these types of things make him look like a hypocrite and a guy with personal issues, the three marriages, et cetera, a major issue he's bashing romney on does not play well. he needs to get back on script. listen. i'm more conservative than romney and moderate enough to talk to independent that is are disgruntled with president obama to win in november 2012. >> robert, your take? >> lenny, the problem in your party is the right hand doesn't know what the extreme right hand is doing. be realistic. the concept of a mandate for health care was originally a conservative principle. it was a cornerstone of the

heritage foundation. it was advocating by conservative members of congress but the issue is mitt romney, newt gingrich in this matter not only a hypocrite on this but did a commercial with nancy pelosi endorsing climate change and an adviser to freddie mac and he also at one point a consul tata to the health industry. as they try to be and play to the extreme right wing of party they lose credibility. >> i want to ask you one final question. the gingrich campaign has promised, of course, not to go negative but they did say this. this coming from his campaign communications director saying can we trust a massachusetts moderate to enact a conservative agenda? now, that's part of an attack in an ad that mitt romney tauts as the conservative businessman. does this show now that gingrich seems to be going slightly negative?

does it show a sign of desperation, lenny? >> it does show that he's willing to go negative and surprisingly enough, talking about the moderate wing of the republican party makes jon huntsman look good. he won't come out of nowhere and win iowa or place there. the endorsement of new hampshire and now conservatives looking saying maybe we have overlooked huntsman too much with him not going negative and being stronger in these debates and kind of being steady with his campaign, these type of things make somebody like a jon huntsman maybe get that one more look before we really go towards super tuesday. >> let me let robert weigh in here. >> lenny, the bottom line to the issue is, newt gingrich would have gone negative earlier if he could have avoided to and much more than a slight reference in an e-mail if he afforded to. obviously he failed to respond to the attacks confronted but speaks to a bigger issue in the republican party. the reason not seeing any of the candidates galvanize more than 20% of the electorate, the

reason they're so divided amongst themselves is not building coalitions of support but moneying innomercials of anger management. >> okay. >> you have to know what you believe in to lead. >> thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> that is fair game for today. >> thank you both. still ahead, thousands of haitians killed by a nationwide cholera outbreak. victims are locked in a battle for millions of dollars of compensation. i'll speak with their attorney right after this.

just over a year ago, earthquake-devastated haiti was hit by cholera. since then, the government says more than 6,000 people have died and 4,000 others sickened by the disease a. story we think is undercovered. a human rights group is suing the u.n. on behalf of more than 5,000 victims and their families seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. evidence suggests that it was brought to haiti by troops with the u.n. peacekeeping force. a study by the u.n. found a local contractors failed to dispose of the waste at a u.n. base. attorneys for the victims accuse the u.n. of failure in containing the outbreak. we received the statement of the u.n. the yintsz received the claim by the institute and currently considering the matter. we cannot comment on it.

the institute for justice and democracy is haiti is based in boston. brian k inkanon is the group's director. thank you for joining us. what if anything have you heard from the u.n. beyond the statement we just read? >> we've heard just that statement. they're studying it. in the meantime, an estimated 40,000 more haitians have been sick and about 300 people have died and so this is an urgent matter and does does require an urgent response and disconcerting that the u.n. is taking so much time to come up with an initial response. >> how do you intend to prove gnat u.n. is responsible? >> most of the proof is in the u.n.'s own report. the u.n. issued a report by a panel of experts in may which cited overwhelming evidence that it was -- that the cholera introduced from nepal and cited the failure to test peacekeepers coming from nepal and also the improper as you mentioned the

improper waste disposal which allowed contamina tatamination largest haitian river system in two places so the proof is all we really need. there have been other study that is are more conclusive in terms of the genetics of the cholera strain. it's actually a very easy case in terms of the actual proof. the hard part is getting to court which the u.n. is resisting. >> but from what i understand, forces are immune to criminal charges. how do you get around that? >> the u.n. has an agreement with haiti called the status of forces agreement to protect it from haitian courts but there have been other courts not in haiti and not with the u.n. but other courts that said that immunity cannot mean impunity and said that with the status of forces agreement the u.n. has a responsibility to set up an alternative dispute mechanism -- distut resolution mechanism and courts have said if they do not set up a fair, alternative

mechanism, then they'll refuse to respect the immunity provision so we think that if the u.n. does not come back with a response soon, we can go in to u.s. courts. >> just for quickly before we have to go here, can you let us know how you think the government is handling the outbreak and how things are going? >> well, it's the worst epidemic in the world. there's over 200 people are dying each month and this is a year later. obviously, it is not handled well. what needs to happen -- this is what the clients is asking, for the clean water and sanitation and health care structures put in to place to control the epidemic. >> appreciate your time. thank you. from libya to cairo and all the way to wall street, protesters occupied places throughout the world in 2011. defining moments of the year from the movements that brought historic change. [ female announcer ] in the grip of arthritis, back, or back joint pain?

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or triumph? at genworth, we believe in taking small steps every day to keep your promises, protect what matters, and prepare for a secure financial future. no matter where you want to go, one step at a time is the only way to get there. go to genworth.com/promises. as the new year approaches we can't forget the defining events of 2011 from cairo to wall street, protesters were front and center. the protester made the front page as "time" magazine's person of the year so with that let's take a look at the movements that brought change around the globe.

>> reporter: it was the year of people power. of revolution. >> men on horseback and on camels. >> reporter: and bloodshed that doomed a dictator. >> no one's going home. no one's going to go home. we're in this to the end. even if it means we are going to die. >> reporter: it started with one man in one country, tunisia, who set himself on fire when the government confiscated his fruit cart. that set off a movement that kicked out long-time president. a region was gripped with freedom fever. fueled by social media, protests erupt in algeria, then yemen. its leader seriously injured when his palace was shelled left the country for treatment, returned and later gave up power.

protests in bahrain, morocco, jordan. egyptians filled tahrir square, protests police. >> these protests have gone on all day long. it's now almost 5:00 in the afternoon. two hours after curfew has begun and the square is packed with people. and these protests will likely go well in to the night. >> reporter: their demand -- long-time ruling hosni mubarak has to go. by february, he was gone. >> did you ever imagine that this would be happening in egypt? >> never. a month ago i would never imagine. for me, i'm a young man and i always believed that my generation will never make any history. >> reporter: the arab spring then hits libya. the opposition's galvanized to get hid of gadhafi. nato launches air support. the country becomes a war zone. tripoli eventually falls. this is an important day, especially for the rebels who

gadhafi said would never be able to break his spirit, never be able to take the city. >> reporter: eight bloody months later, the tyrant was dead. the world's attention now focused on syria. will it be the next domino to fall? even with the brutal crackdown of the regime, demonstrators are on the streets. according to the u.n. at least 5,000 have been killed since march. some fight for their freedom, others protest for bread and butter. in europe, thousands demonstrate, angry at tough economic conditions. furious protesters in greece battled with riot police for weeks against pay cuts and layoffs. >> this is a suicide faith earlier on by the bank of greece governor. he said if we don't pass this, the country's gone. >> reporter: in england, peaceful protests turned ugly,

discontented youth fought with police and destroyed parts of the city. in september, the wall street movement started in new york, and soon gripped major capitals around the world, condemning the wealthiest 1% for leaving the other 99% out in the cold. and by december, a glimpse of people power in russia. thousands marched, rejecting election results favoring vladimir putin's party, frustrated with corruption and economic stagnation. 2011 shattered and rattled the political orders of the world. >> this will send shockwaves throughout the region. >> reporter: setting in motion a wave of discontent that promises to wash into the years to come. zain verjee, cnn, london. the countdown begins, just within week until the iowa caucuses. will voters ban together or

muddy the water even more. joe johns joins us live from the hawkeye state coming your way next. a woman allegedly held hostage in her home by this man escapes. the social media website she used to call for help. you don't want to miss this story. first, a story of dumb and then really, really dumb. table a look at these foeters. a group of pittsburgh teens posing with about $8,000 in cash. where did they get it? police say they robbed a store, then posted the pictures to facebook the same day for all their friends to see. one of their relatives saw the photos and tipped off police. now all four suspects are facing burglary charges. to these dim wits, we have to say here is your 15 minutes. enjoy it. ♪ multi-policy discount. paperless discount.

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time to check stories making headlines at street level. first in colorado a family survived for two days in their suv after being buried under four feet of snow. mom, dad and a 5-year-old girl were on their way to new mexico for a ski vacation and got stuck in a snowdrift. they tried to ride out the storm. snow and ice quickly piled up on the car. it took rescue crews two days to find the car. dad said they were running out of oxygen and getting really cold. just last hour he spoke to cnn's

drew griffin. >> we never realized the snow would end up four feet over the top of our vehicle. and we would be encased or entombed inside that vehicle. honestly i know god guided them to where we were. they said they threw the probe down through the snow two or three times when it struck the vehicle. >> the family was treated for pneumonia and hypothermia and they are all expected to be okay. to hendersonville, north carolina, an armed robber looking for a fist full of catch when we burst into a we buy gold store. instead he only got a fist. >> i was scared about the gun. when i made my mind up, i said i got to hit him with everything i got. >> reports say the clerk even made the robber clean up his own blood. the guy is in custody charged with attempted robbery. to clarksville, tennessee. roma harrison is trying to sell

her house, not rent it. when a would-be renter found several fake listings for her home. someone else was offering up her home for rent. an online scam her put up an ad with her information hoping to bilk potential renters out of phony deposits. to the suburbs of salt lake city, a woman from utah said troy critchfield held her and her baby hostage for five days. he was rescued after hiding in a close it and asking for help on fats book. critchfield is in police custody held without bail. also in salt lake, a family was shocked to find a deer inside their home on christmas eve. it apparently crashed through the basement window. it was stuck for two hours in this room. the family found it tramabling over their christmas gifts. wildlife officers came to the house and unfortunately had to put the deer down in order to get him out. let's check in with joe

johns. he is in iowa checking on all things related to the upcoming caucus. joe, how is it going there? >> reporter: real good, randy. we're looking at the ads the candidates are putting out in the final days. i tell you, it's been a real barrage. millions of dollars of ads on television. they call it the t slfrnlths war. some of these, of course, have been attack ads. notably, as you talk to the experts, a number of those ads, perhaps a disproportionate number, depending on who your perspective comes from, have been aimed at newt gingrich, the former speaker of the house. he blames those ads for bringing his poll numbers down. now, we can just sort of go to one of these ads. i wanted to give you some idea,ality least a flavor of what we're talking about here. >> know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrich's baggage. newt has more baggage than the airlines. freddie mac helped cause the economic collapse, but gingrich

cashed in. freddie mac paid gingrich $1.6 million. >> reporter: who is spending the most on these ads? rick perry, ron paul, mitt romney among them, have spent huge numbers, a couple of those over a million dollars we think. it could be more than that by the end of the day. the other story about ads here coming out of iowa is about the ads being paid for by so-called super political action committees. these are the groups that say they're not affiliated or related to a specific candidate. nonetheless, do things to try to benefit that candidate. we've seen just an explosion of ads of that type and we expect to see more as this campaign goes on. randi? >> joe, does it seem as though the candidates are connecting? so many people there still haven't made up their minds when they go to the polls. do they seem to be connecting with the voters there? >> reporter: you know, that's really interesting. there's something like 10%, 12%

undecided according to some of the last polls. the other thing that's been really interesting, when you look at these numbers, a lot of the people say their support is soft. they say they supported one person and could support someone else, in other words, change their minds by the time we get to the caucuses. there's been a lot of picking and choosing going on. it makes it clear that people just aren't settled in the decisions, at least not yet. but now the real ground game gets started where you're seeing a lot of retail politicking in iowa and that could get people to solidify their positions. >> our joe johns watching it for us in des moines, iowa. thank you very much. remember, next tuesday night the country's first real votes and the candidates' first true test taking place in the iowa caucuses. watch it unfold live with the best political team on television, "america's choice 2012" begins tuesday night, january 3rd.

that's 7:00 p.m. eastern. mark your calendar on cnn. thanks for watching today. i love to hear what you think. you can continue the conversation with me online. you can find me on facebook or twitter. that will do it for me today. i'll hand it over to isha sesay. i'm in today for brooke baldwin. let's catch i don't up you up on everything making fire. police in detroit have four bodies, all women, all found in car trunks, two on christmas day, two others a few days before. all in the same neighborhood. three of the victims were reportedly involved with a website that features personal ads for adult services. >> we felt it's imperative to alert the public that deciding to meet unknown persons via the internet can be extremely dangerous. >> no word yet on how any of these wrim died, but two of them were burned beyond recognition. so far no suspects, no arrests. i'll be talking to the chief in

the next hour. if you're anywhere from new england to florida, brace yourself for a very wet blustery couple of days. look at the soaker of a winter weather system, not just heavy rain we're talking about, but super high winds on the back side. a closer look from the cnn severe weather center coming up in a few minutes. federal investigators are in florida to examine the wreckage of a helicopter crash that killed three people on a medical flight. the mayo clinic says two of its employees, a surgeon and medical technician, died in the crash. the pilot also lost his life. the chopper was flying the medical staffers to the university of florida in gainesville to harvest organs. no word yet on what caused the crash. >> we'll look into the pilot's skills, his training, his performance. we also look into the weather. we also have radar data. >> one week from today iowa republicans will pick their choice to be the next president of the united states.

it's the first big test of the 2012 presidential race. five of the gop candidates are in iowa today, but they haven't just relied on the personal touch. the campaigns have funneled millions of dollars into a last-ditch ad blitz. voters can't see them in person, but will be hearing from them online and in person. another challenge arises to the democrats' control of the senate. a democratic source is telling cnn nebraska's ben nelson is about to announce his retirement. former democratic senator bob kerry has reportedly spoken with democrats about running for the seat himself. after christmas shopping, it can get a little crazy. but seriously, watch what happened yesterday at the mall of america. police arresting several people after a couple of fights broke out. they say it all started in the food court. witnesses describe the whole thing as pretty chaotic.

>> some people are running. some people are just staying. people are confronting each other like in the middle of people just walking. nobody was even around. they were just going at it. >> all of a sudden, stores started closing down and the gates were going up. so we just didn't really know what was going on. if cops were pushing us all away from, like, nordstrom. >> it took nearly 30 police officers to bring the brawl under control. a kra toddler somehow survived after a fall from a two-story window. san jose police say the boy's mother tossed the 22-month-old child from the window and jumped out herself. his mother was treated for broken bones in her feet. she's facing attempted murder and child abuse charges. police say the woman has a history of mental illness. >> according to the family, she had recently undergone some type of emotional distress, and i believe she also sought medical attention because of that.

the man accused of killing a 9-year-old indiana girl made his initial court appearance today. police found the body of aliahna lemmon last night, four days after she was last seen. according to court papers, the man charged with her murder admits to beating the little girl to death, then dismembering her. neighbors say the man is a close family friend and was babysitting the 9-year-old and her two sisters while their mother was sick. >> these officers did an excellent job. this is not the conclusion we hoped for. we kept that hope that we would find her alive. also knowing in the back of our mind as time went on, it was going to be more and more difficult. hope begins to wane. they did an excellent job. >> police are not yet releasing a motive for the girl's killing. the suspect is being held without bond. the company that owns sears and kmart stores are shutting doors for good at more than 100 locations. corporate officials blame luke warm holiday sales on top of an another difficult retail climate.

no announcement yet on which stores will close or how soon. there's a lost and found story that drips holiday spirit. mitch gilbert of colorado finds two unmarked envelopes at the las vegas airport. he doesn't open them until he gets home. he finds $10,000 inside. what would you do? spend it or turn it in? gilbert said he wanted to show his kids the right thing to do. he went to considerable lengths to track down the owner. >> i will always thank mitch for doing this. carbon any, very difficult to get back. >> i think he was pretty much in shock. i don't know if he believed it. >> i'll talk with that good samaritan, mitch gilbergilbert, the next hour. a lottery ticket worth $77 million is now worthless. take a minute. let that sink in. somebody bought the winning powerball ticket in late june at a gas station in northwest georgia. the deadline to claim the prize was yesterday. you may remember we talked a

little bit about this. nobody did. ouch. that money now goes back to all the states in the lottery system. thanks to the heroics of a kansas man who girls who fell through an icy pond are alive. bud brown was looking out the window when he saw the girls fall through the ice. he ran to the pond, jumped in and was able to pull the girls from the freezing water. he took them to his home, wrapped them in blankets and called 911. listen. >> it took me a little while to get to them because the ice was about one-inch thick. it seemed like it got thicker the closer i got, just pounding, trying to get the ice. when it got deeper, i couldn't break the ice. i wasn't thinking about it. i just wanted to get them out of there and make sure they were okay. >> he missed christmas at home, but the grandfather of prince william will be there for new

year's. prince philip left the hospital after doctors inserted a stent to open a blockage. he's been married to queen elizabeth ii for 64 years. a lot more to cover in the next two hours. watch. the tragic final moments of the grandparent and little girls caught in this burning home, and now we know what reportedly sparked this mansion fire. >> what this poor family has to endure, what this mother has to endure from this point on for the rest of her life, it's too much to bear. the payroll tax cuts are extended. who is covering the cost? here is a hint. you own a home. do you want to? then women's bodies found in the trunks of cars and three of them have something in common. >> we're stopping short of calling this any kind of cereal pattern. >> find out which website police want you to be aware of.

a woman who had been harassing politicians, even sending one lawmaker a pigs foot in the mail, shot and killed by police. congressman peter king will explain why he believes this woman was targeting him. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. hello everyone. we're expecting new details as to the cause of the horrible christmas day fire in stamford, connecticut. here is the first call placed to 911 just before 5:00 sunday morning. >> stachl ford 911 -- >> a huge fire at the house next door to us. the whole house is on fire. >> what is the address ma'am. >> we're at 2241 shapan avenue.

we're the house next door. there's three kids there. >> you hear the panic in the caller's voice. those three kids the caller spoke of, all three died as did their maternal grandparents. we're expecting new details very soon. stamford's mayor now is saying the fire was fireplace related. we're also getting accounts of anguished heart-wrenching attempts to save the lives of those children. with us izra gouldson. tell us what you know. >> the fire chief yesterday telling us when they went into the burned out house after they were able to get the fire out, they found the grandfather and one of the daughters near a window. it appeared the grandfather was trying to help that young girl out. apparently the grandfather was

able to get just outside the window, he was trying to help the young girl get out. both of them perished as well. there was some sort of effort. as we reported yesterday, the mom was actually trying to get up the scaffolding of the house. the house was under renovations, trying to get up to where she thought the girls were. she was not able to get up either this is so very, very tragic. what are we hearing at this stage? anymore details beyond this, the fact that officials are saying it was fireplace related, about the specific cause of the fire. i know there's a timeline starting to emerge. that was about 3:00 a.m. >> that's correct. the investigation definitely focuses on the fireplace area. so something from the fireplace, whether it was ashes or embers that were put outside or put inside or something to that effect. we're waiting for a news conference which is expected to happen sometime before 5:00.

they're trying to move it up as we speak. but there has been no set time yet. but at this point, yeah, they were looking at that fireplace area, and we did get some source information -- some sources from the police department telling us that whatever did happen, it does not look like it rose to any kind of criminal negligence or anything like that. they are calling it an accidental fire as far as how it started. >> i'm wondering what you are hearing about some reports of there being christmas present wrapping that went on late into the night, early morning and how that fits in with the timeline? >> reporter: yes, the police and fire telling us early on that the mother and her friend were up late. of course, it was christmas eve, and then going into christmas morning. and then something happened right before 5:00 when they started getting the calls, the 911 calls you just heard earlier, saying that the house was totally engulfed in flames. >> this news conference which

we're standing by for to learn more about this tragic accident on christmas day. who are we expecting to hear from? >> reporter: today -- the mayor's office is basically orchestrating this news conference. we're supposed to hear from the fire chief. for the first time -- nobody has really been able to hear from the fire marshal, the chief fire marshal from stamford. he's obviously the one heading up the investigation. all police sources telling us that the investigation is all coming out of the fire marshal's office. hopefully we'll be able to hear something from him, whether it's the cause -- we're hearing they have some sort of preliminary cause or where they're focusing on. we're expecting to hear that. hopefully we'll get a better idea of what may have caused this very deadly fire. >> we're showing our viewers images of the home, this victorian home that was engulfed by flames. i understand the home has actually been demolished now. set the scene now. >>. >> reporter: yes, the home was

taken down just yesterday morning. the fire marbles were able to get into the house the day after christmas. they said they got what they needed, physical evidencewise, out of the house. the crane came in immediately. the house was so -- it was not sound at all. they needed to take it down very quickly. so it's been taken down, completely levelled. the two houses on either side were not touched at all by the fire or by the demolition crews, but the house is just completely gone. there are flowers, there are teddy bears at the mailbox where they used to get the mail for that house, all wishes beautiful messages and things like that, but just a very, very sad scene over there. a lot of people just coming to pay their respects, even though they didn't know this family at all. >> one quick question for you, robert, the mother who survived and her friend who survived the fire, do we have any information about their whereabouts? >> yes, the mother was released from the hospital christmas night hours after she lost her entire family. her friend, the contractor who

was apparently doing this work on the house, he is still in the hospital, last listed in fair condition here in stamford. obviously trying to reach out to either one of them to find out exactly what they saw, what they think may have happened. but we have not been able to get in touch with either one of them. >> robert goulston of wfsb. we'll continue to check in with you, thank you. the payroll tax cut extension was approved last week, but at what expense? how will we pay for the two-month extension? alison kosik is standing by with the details. she joins us live after this very quick break. but first -- a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪

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since you might have been focused on the holidays -- and that's okay -- you might have missed the fine print in the tax cut deal cooked up in washington. get ready for this. the government is planning to pay for the cut through fannie mae and freddie mac, that's right, the mortgage lenders. alison kosik is in new york. alison, the devil is in the detail. what's the plan here? >> yes. the $37.5 billion to pay for the payroll tax cut has to come from somewhere. in the bill that passed last week, what congress voted to do is raise what's known as the guarantee fee. that fannie mae and freddie mac charge to banks that ors nate new mortgages. the fee they will charge will go up by .10%. that's a fee the banks pay when they sell the mortgages to fannie and freddie. no surprise here. the banks will pass that free increase on to you, the borrower. the higher fee is expected to bring in the $37.5 billion over

a ten-year period. this is the money needed to pay for the two-month extension. isha. >> this is a two-month extension, but levied across a decade. why? >> so, first of all, it wouldn't go into effect for another two years. keep in mind that this would only affect new loans or, if you refinance your mortgage, it would have no impact on you if you got an existing mortgage. but something to keep in mind, isha, mortgage rates right now, they're at rock bottom. also the changes, as i said, because of this are going to be happening over a two-year period. you may not even notice it. it will make a new mortgage slightly more expensive. here is the clincher here. what really bothers critics about what was done here is raising the guarantee fees sets a bad precedent. fannie and freddie are supposed to exist to help people afford homes. what this would wind up doing is increasing the cost of home

ownership in order to pay for something that has nothing to do with housing. it's like raising gas taxes to help fund the space program. it makes no sense. >> the fear is, of course, this will ultimately have an effect on an already sluggish housing market. what about government efforts to wind down fannie mae and freddie mac? >> it would like like make it less likely that the government would wind down fannie and freddie if it's dependent on them. there's nothing to stop companies from hitting private companies. think of the fees we pay on rental cars and airline tickets. one thing that may have made it easy to get in the bill is the fact that fannie and freddie are prohibited from lobbying the government. one insider we talked to points out the fact that congress had to think so far outside the box to fund the tax holiday that it says a lot about the climate in

washington right now. this is an interesting way to sort of skirt by i guess the headlines. it's something kind of complicated, but it's interesting how things are funded when you see it this way. isha. >> when you look closely at the small print. alison kosik breaking down the details, thank you. and now this -- >> during the test, no one was standing except for a woman and male doctor. six soldiers were standing behind us and watching the back side of the bed. i think they were there to be witnesses. >> she says that was after soldiers tied her, forced her to the ground, and shocked her with a stun gun calling her a prostitute. >> do you remember this story? we have big new developments coming up. brand new video of the devastating floods in the philippines. also new details on the death toll and the hundreds of people still missing. that is straight ahead. and we've all jumped on anesque later in our lifetime, right? how about this one? it's 18 stories tall.

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globe trekking now into egypt. that's where human rights, particularly women's rights advocates are claiming victory today. it's in the case of one woman who took on the country's new military leadership. she and others claim egyptian police strip searched them and forced them to face humiliating ex-pexs of their body. today the new egyptian government took action. details from cnn's ralitsa vassileva. >> reporter: tfth a month after the fall of the mubarak regime.

clearing sta rear square of protesters, several female protesters say they were rounded up and subjected to virginity tests while in military detention. now an egyptian court has issued a ban on those tests. this woman says she was one of those victims. the 20-year-old hair dresser says she was submitted to forced virginity test under threat of forced electrocution. >> translator: during the test, no one was standing except for a woman and male doctor. six soldiers were standing behind us, i think they were there to be witnesses. >> reporter: she said that was after soldiers tied her, forced her to the ground and shocked her with a stun gun calling her a prostitute. at first the army denied the allegations made in an amnesty international report. a journalist interviewed a senior egyptian general who admitted the army did conduct so-called virginity tests. >> these checks were carried

out, he said, because the military authority didn't want to be accused of sexually assaulting the girls. >> reporter: the egyptian general defended the practice telling amin these women were not decent girls because they had camped out with male protesters. va late is a vassileva, cnn, atlanta. more misery for people in the southern philippines who are already suffering in the after math of a deadly tropical storm. disaster officials say more rain could cause flash floods and mudslides. more than 1200 people have died since tropical storm washi slammed the philippines. flash floods wiped out whole villages. this video we want to show you, it is shaky. if you look closely, you can see a house floating down the river after a flood today. a civil defense official says bodies of people swept away by flash floods are washing up on nearby beaches and islands. now to colombia and something you may not have seen before.

it is a huge outdooresque later in the middle of one of the poorest areas. the neighborhood is wedged into a hillside and people, they used to have to climb hundreds of steps to get to where they were going. now they can jump on the eggsing later and they love it. >> they're really cool. it gives you an advantage when you're going up. much more comfortable when you're carrying packages. >> very good, a lot more qom fortable to do my job. >> it used to take 35 minutes to get from the bottom of the neighborhood to the top and now it takes just six minutes. i wonder whether they get travel sick, motion sick. a woman in georgia is shot dead after reportedly coming at police with a knife and a gun, also accused of sending a fake weapon of mass destruction to a new york state senator and accused of sending a bloody pig's foot to new york congressman peter king. representative king is standing by to talk to us live.

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vrnlths a woman charged with threatening two new york lawmakers is dead. she was shot by police when she allegedly came at them with a gun and a knife. an officer responded to a panic alarm at the atlanta area home of jamila barnett. the officer says barnett opened

the door and attacked him, leaving no choice but to draw his gun and shoot her. barnett who was muslim had brushes with the law before. in april she allegedly mailed a bloody king's foot to congressman king. a month before he attracted a lot of attention for his hearings on the radicalization of muslims in the u.s. she was also accused of sending a fake weapon of mass destruction to mark ball. the hearing included a heated debate over islam. barnett pleaded not guilty to sending the packages. earlier this month she was ordered for a mental evaluation. congressman peter king joins us. thank you for joining us this afternoon. i want to make clear the package this woman allegedly sent to you never actually made it to your office. nonetheless, what went through your mind when you heard the

same woman who targeted you was now dead? >> isha, it was actually startling. i pretty much had forgotten about the incident that happened six or seven months ago. you're right. i never saw it. it was intercepted by the postal officials in baltimore, i believe. i know a police investigation was done afterwards and they felt she was not considered dangerous. when i heard it, actually i felt badly for her. she was clearly a deranged person. she was not acting out of any political ideology. she was, again, very deranged person. she was sick. apparently more sick than the authorities thought she was. but one comment i would make, though. i think people like this, they can respond to what i believe were overly inflammatory charges made against me, made against the hearings, accusing me of being a bigot, an anti-muslim. those types of charges can stir up this type reaction, i believe, in people who are deranged. i think some people in the media, not talking about cnn.

i was treated very fairly by them. the hysteria against me and against the hearing, i can see why someone like this could have been set off the way that she was. >> congressman king, i'm sure you know there are some people who believe -- some muslims who believe that there is an islamophobia that is growing in the states and that could have been in itself enough of a trigger. the concern of that could have been a trigger for a woman like this. we are speculating now. but laid at the doorstep of the media, many would question that. >> well, i would say, not just the media, but also many muslim leaders who overreacted to this, holding rallies in times square with thousands of people accusing me of being a bigot. on the issue of islamophobia, there are as many jews and muslims in the country, an equal number of both, there's nine to ten times more anti-semitic

incidents. to me if there's nine time more anti-semitic as anti-islam, that's not islamophobia. granted there's more christians, but still i think this whole talk of islamophobia, it creates a sense of panic among some people and it's wrong. i think these are phony charges, they're inflammatory charges and they're politically correct charges, and i think they end up doing much more harm than good and they damage the national debate. >> i want to be clear so that i'm not misunderstanding. are you saying islamophobia or the growth of it in the united states is not real? >> that's totally exaggerated. there are eight to nine times more anti-semitic incidents every year as anti-islam. the whole concept of islamophobia is a phony political argument thrown out by people on the left. >> the hearings, nonetheless, have led to people targeting you. we see that in this case.

how does that make you feel? >> well, it gives me -- some concern for me and my family. i'm not going to go into details about different security provisions that have to be made, that have been made. but there's been a lot of att k attacks, personal attacks made which doesn't bother me. i have thick skin. i don't care about that. as we saw of this woman in georgia. this is the type of thing that can be set off. when i think of other things that have been said and possible threats that are there, it makes me take them more seriously than i would have before after seeing a woman who on the range of threats, she was considered probably minimal, she ends up attempting to kill a police officer and being killed herself. it shows what a dangerous world we're getting into. >> does it make you rethink the way you handle the issue of islam and the questions and the statements you have made about radicalization of muslims?

>> no. i stand by everything i've said, and i stand by the hearings. i will put the four hearings that i've held on islamic radicalization, i'll compare them to any congressional hearings held in recent years or any time as far as being fair, as far as being open and being devoid of any type of bigotry or racism whatsoever. these have been very objective hearings. we've had expert witnesses come in. we've had muslim witnesses come in and testify both for and against the points i've been making. they've been open. there's been diversity. no, i think we have to realize that this is a very important issue, the is you of islamic radicalization, the extent of it, it's a hearing that has to be held. we had one several weeks ago that senator lieberman and i co-chaired on radicalization in the american military. we saw threats against the military from without and also from within the military. these are legitimate issues. i preface every hearing and

every interview i give by saying the overwhelming majority of muslims are outstanding americans. but there's a very small minority being used by al qaeda and is being radicalized over the internet that is cause for concern. to me, it should be people in the muslim community who smoub supporting what i'm doing because i'm defending them against a very small element within their community. >> representative peter king, we appreciate you taking time to join us today. thank you. >> isha, thank you, thank you. another embarrassing revelation for republican presidential candidate newt gingrich. this one has nothing to do with his personal life. we'll have the details in a live report coming up. plus a giant rat eating plant. yes, i did say rat eating planted. if it can eat a rat, what else can it's? stay with us.

we are now just one week away from the iowa caucuses. with the race still undecided, the gop hopefuls aren't pulling any punches. our mark press sen and steinhauser are in the hawkeye state. thank you for being with us today. mark, rick santorum is aiming for those conservative evangelical voters. why? >> reporter: isha, because the

evangelical, the born-again voters in iowa are the ones who drive the winners and losers of the iowa caucuses. yesterday rick santorum, a day after christmas decided to go on the campaign trail. he went out pheasant hunting with congressman steve king. he was hoping for steve king's endorsement. he didn't get it. but rick santorum did talk about the race for the evangelical voters. let's listen to how he broke it down. >> there's a libertarian primary which ron paul is going to win, and then you've got the moderate primary which gingrich and romney are scrumming for. you've got three folks who are running as strong conservatives, and i think if we win that primary we're in very good shape as the nonnewt-romney. >> isha, who he is talking about, who he's contending for is texas governor rick perry and

minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann. to put this in remember speculative, back in 2008, the entrance polls to the iowa caucuses showed 60% of the republican whose participated in those caucuses described themselves as evangelical voters. for someone like rick santorum, he will need a big showing should his campaign survive and move on to new hampshire, south carolina, florida and there on, isha. >> you made the important point he'll have to scrap it out with a few others. paul, if i can bring you in, newt gingrich is facing a rather embarrassing situation. 2006 newsletter surfaced showing he praised mitt romney's health care reforms when they were first passed. as our viewers may know, this is the same plan he's harshly criticized in the last few months, right? >> yes. it was the former house speaker for it before he was against it? let's talk about this for a second. this was mitt romney's health care plan, the governor of massachusetts in 2006, passed it

be bipartisan support. a lot of republicans say, you know what? that was the inspiration for the national health care plan which they dub obama care. we know that's hated by a lot of republicans. here is the newsletter. the health care bill governor romney signed into law this month has tremendous potential to affect major change in the american health system. that's from the april 2006 newsletter, published by his former consulting company, the center for health transportation. no a days newt gingrich, presidential candidate, is saying something very different about the romney plan and individual mandate. listen to what he told our wolf blitzer a few weeks ago. >> you've been criticized for the health care mandates. you criticized them. >> when heritage foundation was trying to stop hilly care we used the man daelts as a way of blocking her because we thought they were less damaging. in retrospect we were wrong because what happens -- once you go to a mandate, you turned so much power over to the government, that the politicians

rather than the doctors end up defining health care. so it was a mistake. >> reporter: guess what? wolf blitzer gets another chance this afternoon. he's here in iowa. isha, he's got another chance with newt gingrich. we'll see what they say. i spoke to the campaign earlier, r.c. hammond, the spokesman, told me this is all news covered already. newt previous lit supported a mandate for health insurance and changed its mind after seeing its effect. mark, romney has been criticized for flip-flopping, will this bite gingrich a little bit? >> reporter: this is another example of something bad right now happening to newt gingrich right before the caucuses. there's been new questions raised about his first divorce to his wife, his first wife back in 1980. this thing has come up. he's been very critical of mitt romney on this issue. it certainly is not helpful to him at this point. >> indeed. the gingrich campaign may want to paint this as old news. we'll have to see what iowan

voters make of it. appreciate it. something cool and scientific to tell you all about. it's a new species. it's a rat eating planted. look at this. buttonist first discovered the queen of hearts plant in born yeah in the 1980s. it's now been officially recognized as a previously unknown species. one of the largest carnivorous plants ever. some of its flowers grow to eight feet. think about that for a second. it chows down on insects, small mammals and reptiles that get too close to it. an american soldier who survived a suicide bombing in afghanistan is shot and paralyzed at his homecoming party in california. >> i'm mad. i'm really mad because he's a good boy. he's an excellent boy. >> now there is a break in the case.

we'll have the details straight ahead. and a familiarly is trapped in their car underneath snow for 48 hours. we'll hear from the dad after this quick break. stay with us. you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta.

not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson.

the man suspected of shooting and paralyzing a soldier at his own homecoming party is in the hands of police today. ruben ray jurado turned himself in three days after he allegedly shot 22-year-old army

specialist christopher sullivan. it happened in san bernardino, california, at a welcome home celebration for sullivan who spent much of the last year recovering from a suicide blast in afghanistan. police say sullivan tried to break up a fight between his brother and jurado when jurado shot him twice, shattering his spine. sullivan's mother suzanne is staying by his side in the hospital. she took a moment to tell us what kind of man her son is. >> he was a very good son. and i don't know -- just to say that -- he was a wonderful man and a great soldier. and yes, he got the purple heart. that's showing a lot of people right there that he would give his shirt off his back just to help anybody. and now he comes home to this. he always said, mom, you know, i know i'm going to die by the time i'm 24, but i'm going to

die for my country. i don't think christopher ever thought in his own back yard. >> christopher had a visit from someone in his infantry. you've already said being part of the army meant so much to him. share, if you would, what that visit -- what happened during that visit and who came to see him. >> richard. his name was richard. he's from the 101st infantry division, a retired vet. he came to bring christopher the screaming eagle flag. he hung it on the wall. and when i went back last night, i told him, i don't know if you remember when he came earlier, christopher. i said, but richard came to bring you your screaming eagle flag from your platoon. i said, would you like to see it? he shook his head. i said, all right, i'm taking it

off the wall, son. and i said, okay, if you want to see it you need to open up your eyes. he opened his eyes up. he looked at the flag. he closed his eyes and he started crying. tears were just rolling down his face. and then he just -- i asked him, okay, son, what would you like for me to do with this flag? would you like for me to hang it back up, or would you like for me to cover you with it? i said, just shake your -- i mean move your eyes if you want me to cover you with it. he moved his eyes. he wanted me to cover him with this flag. >> our thoughts and prayers are with specialist sullivan and his family. a texas man says god was looking out for him and his

family and that's why they're alive today. david higgins and his wife and their 5-year-old daughter got stuck in a blizzard on the way to a new mexico skiing trip. help took nearly two days to arrive. the family's suv was covered in four feet of snow. david higgins talked about the ordeal earlier this afternoon. >> we were completely entombed in the snow bank. there was nothing else around us. these are kind of the plains on this rural road, and we were the highest object out there, and the snow just started building up around us. by 5:00 that afternoon we could not even get out of the vehicle, the snow was halfway up the doors. >> incredible pictures there. higgins says hi wife is still recovering from pneumonia, but making great progress. a fake "people" magazine cover is making the rounds today saying twilight superstar taylor lautner is gay. we'll debunk the rumors straight ahead. plus, find out why louis vuitton

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his bare torso sent a thousand teen hearts a at which timer in the "try light" movies. what appears to be a twitter joke is sending the wrong message about taylor lautner. this cover titled "out and proud" an absolute fake.

michelle turner joins us with the story. this cover fooled a lot of people. do we know who created the fake cover? >> first of all, i'm not sure how many people have actually fooled because this was happening over christmas day, isha. even in this digital age, i don't think it was a high traffic day on the web. we know the phony cover did fool some folks yesterday, including russell simmons who tweeted his support of lautner's announcement. and then when he discovered it was a fake, he responded tweeting he was, quote, disappointed that people would joke about someone coming out about their sexuality. he also said let taylor lautner be whoever he wants to be. you asked, also, if we knew who created this fake cover. really we don't. we have no idea. as "people" magazine pointed out, this was a twitter joke that went viral. now, here is what we kind of did discover. the fake cover did have a couple of tales that tipped people off it wasn't real. if you looked really closely, you would have noticed among

other things that the sidebar pictures on the cover were actually several years old, and the release date on the fake was for the wrong day of the week. >> all right. i want to shift from magazines to movies. louis vuitton is not happy with the makers of "the hangover 2." it has to do with this clip. let's run it. >> don't be ridiculous. >> careful, thaus a louis vuitton. >> there are also scenes with the actor, zach galifianakis with a bag over his shoulder. you hear him. he says lewis i have ton. i watched the hangover films again. any brand would love this product placement. louis vuitton is filing a lawsuit. what exactly is going on here? what's their problem? >> you're right. brands do love product placement. but the question is why are they upset? they say the bag in that clip is a fake. they say it's a knock-off.

according to the court documents, louis vuitton is suing for trademark delusion, false designation reporting and false designation. they reportedly want warner brothers to pull the scene from the film before they release it on dvd. we did reach out to louis vuitton and their attorneys and warner brothers. nobody has been able to give us a comment on the suit yet. "the hangover 2" has already been involved in three lawsuits. they've been sued by a stunt man who was injured during filming, a writer who claimed warner brothers stole his idea from the film and a tattoo artist who claimed the tattoo in the movie constituted copy wright infringement. good lord, they have had a lot of issues with this movie. >> for a movie that wasn't even as good as the first one which kes it even mo ironic. >> you're right. you're right. exactly. >> all right