from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, this is early start weekend. >> all of a sudden we just hear, boom, and then we saw, like, smoke everywhere. >> new this morning, a train collision and derailment along one of the most traveled routes in the northeast. 70 people injured. some critical. now a major investigation. we are also getting a first look at ground zero in texas where tornados killed six and flattened an entire community. new information that some of the injuries are so severe that doctors have begun amputations. day dream for me right now. what would you do for $600

million. that's nothing compared to what it will be if nobody wins tonight. o.j. simpson, his attorney appears in court but not to defend o.j., but wait until you hear what he said about the disgraced superstar. good morning. it's saturday, may 18th. i am victor blackwell. >> i am poppy harlow. and looking for a reason for the commuter train jumped the tracks and the new york times reports that the police are investigating it as though it were a crime scene. >> all of a sudden, we just

hear, boom, and then we saw, like, smoke everywhere. i just focused in on my two kids and just hugging them and embracing them. >> i almost flew over the seat, and i held on and i'm okay, and others are hurt, though. >> we went to the front and kicked out windows and we got off the train. >> it will take us a while to determine the cause so it will take quite sometime. this morning, ntsb investigators expected to be on site in just a few hours. as of this hour we know 24 people are stillhospitalized. it happened near bridgeport, connecticut, on friday. it could be shut down for weeks. we will have more on the developing story throughout the

morning for you with live updates from the scene as soon was we get it. let's go to texas now and the devastation left behind by the killer tornados. this is what is left of one neighborhood. the area was hit by as many as 16 tornados. six people died in the storm and the rest are thinking about what is next. and our nick valencia is in granbury, texas, this morning. are people being allowed back into their homes now? >> reporter: victor, when i spoke to the hood county sheriff he said he hoped to allow residents back in around 8:00 a.m. this morning. behind me, there are only two ways in, and as residents come back this morning it's unclear what a they will go back to. >> i was screaming. >> reporter: all of there

possessions gone. we ran into gomez and a dozen other neighbors as they receive food on the side of the highway, and they had nowhere else to go and they are just thankful to be alive. >> when the sirens went off the tornado was already there. >> reporter: not enough time? >> not enough time. >> reporter: the sheriff responded to the claim. >> there is never enough time when it comes to tornados and thunderstorms. when we knew we had rotation and the national weather service confirmed it we put the warnings out. >> that is destruction that is almost incomprehensible. >> reporter: survivors told cnn haunting stories of moments when they were not sure if they were going to make it. >> i thought i just seen myself -- i don't know, i just

came into that point and gave up. >> reporter: rick perry said it's too early to request assistance from the federal government, but he believes they will get support. >> i am pretty sure we will get the help we need but it won't be the same anymore. >> reporter: today it's a bittersweet homecoming like gomez and it is going to take a long time to put their live back together. victor? >> we will talk to you a little more later in the morning. the planes could see the same kind of storms that spawned those tornados in texas. chad meyers is watching that for us. >> yes, saturday, subpoenaed and even into monday as a storm system rolls out of the rockies and into the plains. summer is still a couple months away, or at least one month away, and we still have spring to go through, and a severe

weather drought and a rain drought for that matter, and it has not been raining in the plains. we will see showers and storms and thunderstorms and some of them will rotate today and tomorrow and in monday. when a storm rotates it gets big and bad and it can put down tornadoses and that's what we have for nebraska and into kansas for today and into tomorrow. and kansas all the way up into north platt. and then for monday, even towards chicago and st. louis and down into oklahoma city and down into arkansas. a storm system that progresses from west to east across the country. we are talking about drought. 2011. i know there was a lot of tornados in 2011, 758 tornados happened in one month. in april of 2013, only 83 tornados. we should have an average of 300 to 400.

but you get the idea. we did not have a severe weather season in april, and now it's about to start. we will keep you advised but keep a watch out for yourself because this could be a violent day in the plains, too. this just in to cnn north korea fired three short-range missiles but there is no damage. the missiles landed in the see off of the korean peninsula. the tension in the peninsula has been going on. investors ignoring the more adage, and some are all finishing the week higher for a fourth straight week in a row, and the dow and s&p 500

finishing the week at record highs. and the economy is continuing to improve. and a new consumer sentiment showing it stands at a six-year high. and shares of jcpenney slid after the quarterly loss. half of americans have no exposure to the market and they are not invested at all through a 401(k) or an ira or anything else, so if you benefited from the rally, maybe you are looking at the powerball. it's climbing to $600 million. that's the biggest powerball in powerball history. what would you do with all that money? let's bring in our financial expert, zane. >> it's powerball mania where

people are lining up to throw their hat in the ring and have a chance of winning tonight's jackpot prize. and the chances are winning are dismal. 1 in 175 million. that's not stopping people, though. i spoke to one person and i asked her what would you do if you won this kind of cash. here is what she had to say. >> i would pay off my mortgage and my parents' house, and buy a shore house on the beach and donate to the cancer society, and my mother is a cancer survivor two times already so i would donate to that charity and probably another charity and set up a college fund for my children. >> and she obviously thought about this in some quiet detail, and best of luck to her, and if nobody wins tonight's jackpot, it could grow by wednesday of

next week it could grow to almost a billion dollars. >> what do you do with $600 million or almost a billion? >> i think it's too much. >> you say that until you win. >> i would keep a little bit of it. >> some people wrote in i would give most of it away. i don't need a lot just enough to buy land and adopt a whole bunch of shelter animals. >> i would be able to buy a ford escape. >> you are buying a ford escape car first? >> i dig american. >> here is the deal, though. i would have a really -- just disrespectful weekend of spending money to get it out of my system. expensive champagne, and then i

would do something sensible. >> and then give some of it away, right? >> yes, and just have one legendary weekend. o.j. simpson, probably following his case all week, and his stunning fall from grace back in the spotlight and he's back in the courtroom and coming face-to-face with a man that he claims help put him in prison for the next three decades. in nebraska, officials looking to whether the case of a professor and his wife dead at home could be linked to a cold case with a university connection. ♪ ♪ fly me to the moon ♪ let me play among the stars ♪ and let me see what spring is like ♪ ♪ on jupiter and mars

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he's been in prison for the last four years in las vegas. >>. [ applause ] >> he's back in court and is hoping for a second trial. not only a second trial, he is hoping to be the first man to

have a trial of the century in two consecutive centuries. >> lawyers for o.j. simpson say his former attorney is why he is in prison. and one of simpson's new attorneys tried to convince the judge that simpson's convictions in 2008 on robbery and kidnapping should be tossed out and he should get a new trial. he accused his former lawyer of botching the case and failing to tell simpson of a possiblebly deal. >> tell me what your question is. >> it was a flat fee. on page four. >> do you want me to read the flat fee? >> read page 4. >> both of you stop. >> you heard the judge. she will decide whether simpson gets a new trial.

from football star to murder suspect to convicted felon, o.j. simpson has been in the spotlight for decades, and we watched the rise to fame and the fall from it on television and movie screens for decades. we are taking a closer look on why we cannot seem to turn our eyes off of o.j. >> victor and poppy, o.j. simpson captivated o.j. for better or for worst for decades now. when we had breaking news all around on the white house e-mails on benghazi, the president's statement on the irs and a crucial moment on the joiy arias trial, we still told about o.j. the first time we heard him speak publicly in years. >> that's what i told everybody involved that if they don't give it to me, i am going to get the

police in it. >> request would we take such an interest in a puffy, shackled 65-year-old o.j. simpson. michael o'keefe says it's the o.j. story that pulls us in. >> we are drawn to o.j. because he has been in the public eye for four years now. we have seen a spectacular rise and a fall in his life. >> america took notice of simpson when he played in the nfl, and then simpson became the first running back to gain 2,000 yards in a season, and several all-pro years followed, and then he became david beckham before david beckham. >> rent a ford fast from hertz.

>> he crossed seamlessly into hollywood with movies like "the intowering furno". on screens big and small as an actor and pitch man and network football analysts, o.j. simpson, observers say had a charm and a smile and the next door guy that made whites and african-americans comfortable with him. and then pockets of small crowds cheered simpson as he led the police on the murder chase. and the murder of nicole made

the first time for the tv court case. and his trial casts the deepest and most disturbing devise. >> it pitted black against white and rich against poor. nobody had an opinion about whether or not o.j. was guilty and you thought he was guilty or the victim of racists police. >> and o'keefe said it was a watershed cultural moments when america was shaken out of the habit of fawning over celebrities. >> brian todd, thank you so much. >> do you remember where you were? >> i do. i think everybody does. i do. i was in grade school. i remember. they brought a television out -- i think it was during, you know, maybe after the chase and during the trial to see what the verdict would be. and i remember being home and watching that bronco chase and

trying to understand what was going on. >> i remember asking, where is he going? where is he going? and then he went home. >> you were watching larry king. >> i was watching larry king narrate the entire thing. and then talking about an nba superstar, dwyane wade. what he did that will be remembered for a lifetime. >> love this story. so...how'd it go? well, dad, i spent my childhood living with monks learning the art of dealmaking. you've mastered monkey-style kung fu? no. priceline is different now. you don't even have to bid. master hahn taught you all that? oh, and he says to say (translated from cantonese) "you still owe him five bucks." your accent needs a little work. welwhere new york state is... investing one billion

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♪ welcome back, guys. what do you think dwyane wade does on one of his nights off,

one of the biggest stars of the nba when he is not playing during the playoffs? what does he do? surprise a lucky fan at her high school fan, of course. good morning. >> a few weeks back you have this high school senior that goes to high school in coral gables florida, and puts this video on youtube asking dwyane wade to go to her prom, and for weeks nicole heard absolutely nothing from dwyane wade until last night and that's when dwyane wade just showed up to her prom and surprised her and all of her classmates. as you can imagine, they were all excited. nicole says it was the greatest moment of her senior year so far. wade said it was her persistent that paid off. and nicole's date was a good

sport about the whole thing. they pick up the houston conference finals. later today, we have the stakes. all eyes on the horse named orb. orb is on a role, and won its last five races winning the florida derby and the kentucky derby. the last horse to do it was in 1978. >> i wouldn't be telling the truth if i said no. i try to block it out, but in this position, you think about it and you get reminded of it quite often, too. the houston astros lost their 31st game last night on a walk-off blooper. bottom of nine, and bases loaded

and pittsburgh -- and the collision and the pirates score and the pirates win. it's the second time this week the right field as collided with a teammate during a fly ball. ouch. and then a foul ball goes into the stands, and watch in the replay, it looks like one unlucky fan -- his beer is blown up thanks to the ball. and the gray in the gray shirt has the beer, but the guy -- you know, those beers run about 25 or $30 a game. they are ridiculously expensive but good video here. coming up, we are giving you an invade look at jodi arias' jail cell and the strange magazine she has been reading there. plus, in nebraska, a cold case teen joins the investigation into a mysterious set of murders of am crayton

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it's half passed the hour. good morning, everybody. i am poppy harlow. >> i am victor blackwell. here are five stories we are watching this morning. number one, the commuter train in connecticut. investigators should be on site

this morning to try to determine what caused the train to jump the tracks and into the path of another train. and there are three people still in critical condition this morning. new hampshire. a former chechen rebel probed by the fbi for any connection to the boston bomber has denied any involvement in the attack. the man that you see here in this video says he barely knew the tsarnaev family. what they have done cannot be justified by any background, any political or religious idea. their acts only brought shame and fear into our hearts. number three, amy copeland. remember her?

she lost both her hands and legs to a flesh-eating bacteria last summer. now she is the first woman in the world to get new limbs. they are $100,000 a pair and they mimic natural hands. they allow her to pick up tiny things, and even comb her hair. copeland says she is excited to get back to cooking again, and she hopes to receive a prosthetic leg later this year. good news for her. >> absolutely. number four, north korea launched guide missiles today. all three ended up in the sea off the korean peninsula's east coast, and there is a high level of readiness to act. a u.s. district judge granted a motion that blocks the enforcement of a state law that

limits abortion at the 12th week. the arkansas abortion law was passed in march. it was scheduled to take effect in august. we have been following this for months and months now. jodi arias is expected to address the jury that is deciding whether she will live or die. the jury on wednesday found arias was exceptionally cruel when she murdered her ex-boyfriend, alexander. the emotion was very high when the brother and sister addressed the court. >> i cannot sleep in the dark anymore. i have had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower, thrown in there and left to rot for days. >> i'm so glad he talked me into

taking this picture. i will cherish it for the rest of my life. >> very powerful statement. jane velez-mitchell has been covering the trial throughout. she has a rare look inside her cell. >> reporter: outside the jail in phoenix, arizona, and i was able to take a tour of the facility with the controversial sheriff, joe arpaio. jodi has been here for a while. she was in the general population, and she managed to make friends and have supporters. she was socializing and making a life for herself in a matter of speaking. well, now all that has changed. she is enclosed custody, which means she is kept in her tiny

cell for 23 hours a day, and only allowed out for one hour a day and checked on by authorities every 15 minutes to make sure she is not doing anything untoward to herself especially. what is so fascinating i was able to peek inside jodi arias' actual cell, and they roped it off with tape to allow us to see. there would be room for somebody else, but she can't. she is in solitary. she sleeps on the bottom bunk and turned the top bunk into a desk where she has documents and on the ground there was a magazine that said "the optimist." i don't know if she is optimistic about her chances of this phase of her trial. they are getting into the mitigation phase. we heard from her attorney that jodi arias is going to take the

stand and plead for her life, and she has to be wondering what on earth can i say given the horrific nature of the killing which i admitted i carried out. what can i say to convince this jury to spare my life? food for thought. back to you, poppy. >> thank you so much. of course so many of the fa fascination has been on jodi areas. you can see jane's show each week night at 7:00 a.m. and a man arrested at the cannes film festival after shooting a gun. a man fired two shots from a starter pistol. he had a fake grenade. the bullets he shot were blanks. good news here. no injuries reported. well there, is new legal fallout this morning in one of the worst oil spills in u.s.

history. texas, that is the latest state to sue bp, that oil giant, and also suing haliburton and several others filed suit. texas wants civil penalties for every barrel that gushed into the gulf in 2010, and it's also seeking financial damage for tourism lost and that bp plead guilty to manslaughter charges related to the explosion and agreed to pay a $4.5 billion penalty fine. now back to the developing story out of connecticut that we have been telling you about this morning. the commuter train collision. investigators will be there in a couple hours to start to piece together what they can find about the accident. dozens of people injured in this crash.

we heard earlier from the bridgeport connecticut police chief that said the investigation is problably goin to take quite a while. i want to bring in now, a reporter from our affiliate in bridgeport. are the two damaged trains still sitting there on the side of the track? i want you to walk us through and show us what is behind you. >> reporter: well, good morning. the trains are still up there. you can see behind me they are just right there on the tracks, stuck. >> unfortunately, it looks like we lost kate. we will try to get her shot back up for you shortly. it was two trains heading in opposite directions, one into new york and one out of it that collided around bridgeport, connecticut. that was in the 6:00 p.m. hour during heavy rush hour.

and 70 were injured, we're told, and three of those in the hospital. very serious. we will keep updating you throughout the morning on the victims, and a big headache for the commuters ahead as this will stay shut down. and police in omaha are trying to figure out who killed a creighton university professor and his wife. and now one answer could be wrapped up in another tkublg murder still unsolved after six years.

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toronto's mayor wrapped up in controversy this week because of tape from a cell phone. the toronto star newspaper says they have seen video of ford cooking crack. cnn has not been able to confirm that video's authenticity. the mayor calls the allegations ridiculous but has not issued a former statement on that tape. a hiker who became an internet sensation after using a hatchet to save people from a crazed motorist.

he is now in jail. he was arrested at a bus stop on thursday, and police thinks he was with the victim the night before the killing. he claims he was sexually assaulted. a beloved professor and his wife found murdered in their home. the killing of the professor and his wife rocked nebraska and creighton university. now a possible lynn toink to a case may help investigators solve not one, but two double murders in that city. >> reporter: poppy and victor, this is a real mystery. double murders and both connected to a small medical school in nebraska, and people there believe they have to be connected. the 65-year-old was in the process of retiring.

on tuesday, he and his wife, mary, were found dead in their home. a flashback to 2008, 11-year-old thomas hunter and shirley sherman were found dead in a family home connected to creighton. thomas was the son of two doctors. his father, william hunter, worked with brumback, and it's believed the same person killed all four people. >> anybody other than somebody that works in the pathology department in creighton, you would not give it a second thought. >> reporter: police found the bodies after a piano mover saw mary through a door left open in their house. why somebody would kill them is a mystery. >> when i heard the news last night, i was literally shaken. why would anybody want to harm

them? >> reporter: police are keeping the details under seal while being investigated. medical students wore their white coats to a prayer service this week in honor of the doctor. >> he always wore his white coat. when i imagine him in my mind he is wearing his white coat and that's a tribute to his professionalism and dedication to the trade. >> the police department is not saying much about their investigation, but we have learned that the team that was investigating the 2008 cold case joined the team on the current double murder, and obviously they think there is a real chance that these two are connected. >> ted, thank you. the government is up against a deadline to indict tsarnaev.

[ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you hear me? and you hear your voice? oh, it's exciting! [ man ] touchdown confirmed. we're safe on mars. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ hi. [ baby fussing ] ♪

this music makes you wanted to jump out of bed, doesn't it? good morning, new york! a live look at the sun coming up over the hudson. the big apple waking up at this hour. 56 degrees now just before 7:00 here on the east coast. good morning, new york. >> good morning. good morning, atlanta. it was pouring here when i came in. news to tell you about. we are likely going to have to wait to hear the full charges against one of the suspects in

the boston marathon bombing. authorities say they will miss the deadline to indict dzhokhar tsarnaev. >> the government usually has 30 days from the time the complaint is filed to indict a suspect but the u.s. attorney's office says there are exceptions, including hospitalizatio hospitalizations, and plea negotiations make it not clear on when they will indict him. >> and a freelance photograph shared his memories of the bomb reand the bravery he witnessed at the finish line of the boston marathon. >> the images that stuck with me the most are the ones of all the people who thought nothing of themselves to run back into that scene not knowing what was

there, or if it was even safe to help people, help the victims. i am a freelance photographer, and also a staff photographer at the university. this was my third straight marathon. the finish line at the marathon, it's a special place. everybody is there and is in such high spirits because they just ran a marathon. >> i was with my girlfriend's roommates and we were having a great time, you know. we were watching the runners. and just that one guy, you know, he didn't look like he was having a good time. he just didn't seem right. he was there and then he was gone, and then, boom. next thing you know, you hear fireworks and i'm on the ground.

>> you hear all this cheering and then aloud boom goes off. and then silence. >> and then the second one went off and then it got really loud and chaotic. and i knew it was bad when i saw people kicking over indicates, and these were the big barriers police set up and they threw them down and ran on to the course, and i had never seen anything like that. >> tonight the photographers that were there in boston on that day, hear their incredible and heart-breaking stories. moments of impact tonight at 8:00. in france, authorities are on the hunt for a million dollars in jewels stolen during

the cannes film festival. [ male announcer ] someone said that it couldn't be done.

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...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. more drama at the cannes film festival that has nothing to do with film. a million worth of jewels stolen from a hotel room. >> one of the firms employees staying in that room left for dinner. by the time she returned the

safe containing the jewels, the whole safe was missing. no description of the jewels have been provided. >> $1 million doesn't buy you so much anymore. >> okay, victor. >> a couple earrings when it's from chopard. and then a long and controversy week for president obama and his administration. of course the late-night kau phaimmediate comedians had to g their take on it. >> i am sure you heard by now president obama fired his acting irs commissioner, and apparently he was acting like richard nixon's irs commissioner. talking about imbeaching barack obama, and he said i have no

word to this, and i have two words that will put an end to this nonsense, and he said two words. i said what? and he said president biden. >> there's rumor that there is a video of him smoking crack, the canadian mayor, and our mayor put it, hey, at least it's not a large soda. i'm not that crazy. >> and the mayor of toronto, there. and the jackpot is up to $600 million, and the record is $650 million. and people are lined up all over the united states to buy tickets. you can re-create the experience of playing powerball at home simply by flushing a dollar down the toilet. >> that story about the mayor of toronto, that is unbelievable. >> still no official statement from him