good wednesday morning. robin meade is on assignment today. a powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami wipes out entire villages in som owe a. how the u.s. plans to help survivors dealing with the devastation. toyota launching the biggest recall ever in the u.s. the company says there is a deadly problem with floor mats. there's a new push to stop the millions of people who send text messages while driving. what is being done today to put new limits on distracted driving. our top story, tsunami hit

somoa. it was declared a major disaster area. triggered three separate tsunami waves that flattened entire villages or left them under water. somoans are heart broke sxwren desperate to find out anything about home. >> i'm hurt for them because they are my people. especially for the older folks. the children. they are helpless. >> here is a map you can get a better idea what we are talking about here. people in the islands say that if tsunami was so strong that it twisted concrete banes and mangled cars. some could be without electricity up to a month. the pictures are really something else. chicago police are looking for three more suspects in the beating death of a 16-year-old

boy. $6,000 in reward money is on the table. investigators have asked the secret service to enhance this amateur video of the fight that killed darion albert. they say that they may charge people who participated in the fight even if they didn't come into contact with albert. >> you watch the video. there are kids walking around with cell phones on the phone. have you someone filming it. why as a society someone doesn't call and try to help someone but we rather film is it beyond me to understand. it is very sad. >> so far four teens are charged with first-degree murder. the mothers of two of them spoke out in their defense yesterday. >> that's not my baby! >> they had to defend themselves! the young man that lost his life wasn't just standing there. he was fighting also. >> police say they are going to increase patrols before and after classes.

chicago public schools will also offer free bus service to some students. the president's health care plan has taken a major hit. opponents rejected efforts yesterday to include government-run health insurance in the plan. there's a slim chance the so-called public option could come back but key members of the senate finance committee think that the only way to get any kind of bill through this year may be to drop that provision. now there are two more hurdles coming probably today here. republicans will push for amendments to beef up the language preventing i will legal immigrants from getting subsidized health care. another to make sure there are s no federal funding available for abortions. listen up. if you have a toyota. the biggest u.s. recall ever for a potentially deadly problem that affects the top-selling camry and certain lexus models. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. this is all about potentially deadly floor mats. >> yes. this is a really important problem.

i think you might not think about it. more than 3.8 million cars are being recalled. what's happen sing the floor mat on the driver's side creeps up and then can jam down the accelerate oor pedal. your car speeding up out of nowhere. there have been 100 reports of problems. five people have died. 17 hurt. 13 crashes, including a san diego off-duty highway patrolman, his family. if you have a car that's affected toyota says don't just take the mat out and think it is fine. maybe put in a new one. that's now mao r how it works. go to the dealer. if it happens to you, toyota says try to pull the mat out or step on the brakes with both feet if you don't have time to do that. some models being recalled, c camrys, 2007 to 2010. >> thank you so much, jennifer.

appreciate it. 4,000 more u.s. troops will come home from iraq next month. the military's top commander there will announce that on capitol hill today and he says attacks are way down from two years ago. and that there are fewer al qaeda and foreign fighters. but he says there are still security concerns. he also says that the u.s. is on track to end the combat mission by next september. millions of h1n1 vaccines left the factory and on their way to undisclosed centers. the first vaccines shipped earlier than health officials expected. they said that in people will be able to get vaccinated by early next month followed days later bay large-scale vaccination program. actor john travolta is expected to be back on the witness stand this week. two people are accused of trying to extort $25 million from him for a document travolta signed while trying to get his son medical help.

jett travolta died after a seizure. the document is a liability for an ambulance company. yesterday travolta's lawyer testified. a paramedic told her that the document could be detrimental to the actor's reputation. better hold on to your hats. serious gusty winds in in parts of the country today. bob van dillen has a look at your forecast. good morning. >> reporter: >> two areas of low pressure we are watching. one over ontario towards northern canada. another may be forming up over the rocky mountains. towards the northeast, you folks are waking up to a lot of cloud cover. lake erie, ontario. low clouds coming into d.c. and philadelphia. could get you a delay the first part of the day. low clouds coming in by the airport. that's something we are going to watch. back side of that, cold atmosphere in place. frost warnings. freeze warnings, too. you see what it looks like temperaturewise. when you get outside of the major cities, temperatures are below freezing. right now throw in green bay and 34.

interior sections of wisconsin, well below freezing. it is a cold start no matter what. cold front draped across part of florida. showers and thunderstorm arriving. basically north of miami now, you can see right by cape coral, moving towards the inland area. watch for showers and thunderstorms today. north of this boundary will be dry and cool, too. live to atlanta. here is the way it looks. inner half of the big city. no problems weatherwise. cloudy skies from yesterday. and morning gave way to pure sunshine as can be the same case today. mid 70s the high temperatures. it is going to feel very nice. check out this i-roar picture we have of the fire burning in yellowstone national park. sent by tom robertson and national park service web cam. that's not ol' faithful. that's an actual forest fire. northwest part of wyoming. beautiful picture. they are letting it burn out to hepburn out all the fuel it has there. not affecting anything which is grit news. >> that is good ne. some can be dangerous.

devastating. this is so gorgeous sometimes. >> snow 'round sal lake city, we will talk abouout that in a- ho. >> you got it. thanks, bob. movie actors, director, producers are all coming together to support roman polanski. even the french government is on his side. what's next for the man accused of raping a young teen? also, -- there this will be the first shot fired in the american revolution. >> a bank boosted that woman's interest rates she took her case to youtube and got quite t response.

director roman polanski is getting big name support and

criticism as he sits in jail in switzerland. authorities there arrested him decades after he fled the u.s. before being sentenced for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. correspondent richard lui is following the controversy for us. what's the latest? >> good morning. some big named hollywood directors are rallying behind polanski. woody allen and martin scorsese. they are saying polanski should be released immediately. they are among 138 people in the film industry that signed a petition slamming his arrest. others say the supporters are downplaying the seriousness of this crime. the director of the california woman's law center told the l.a. time, quote, it sends a message that the rich and powerful can get away with crimes no one else can get away with. >> so what about the woman in the center of this case? how does she feel about the arrest? >> she wants the case to be tossed out. she now a 45-year-old mother of

three. she sued pollanski and sued for an undisclosed sum. polanski was accused of giving her champagne and part of a quaalude when she was 13 years old and then raping her. he was initially indicted on six felony counts and agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. >> thank you for that information and appreciate it. it was a crime to put an nfl athlete behind bars nearly ending his career. now michael vick has a strong warning about dogfighting. vick's emotional talk about his darkest days. a california woman says her bank raised the interest on her credit cards for no good reason. but she didn't accept it quietly. oh, no. she took her case to youtube. our money expert jennifer westhoven has more. >> i guess that's the new court of public opinion. she used this new technology. she said bank of america hiked

her credit card rate from 13% to 30%. she said the bank wouldn't budge even though he hadn't missed a payment. she took her ran to youtube. we have bleeps. cover up your kids' ears. >> you'reville [ bleep ]. you reaped ungodly profits in your behome oth casino scams and lost only to turn around -- >> her video has been streamed more than 370,000 times and maybe that influenced the outcome. bank of america is not saying the detauls but said it worked out a resolution. yeah. >> i wonder how long that will work. you have to think if people see that working -- >> hop on the internet. we will see. definitely. what else have you got? >> religious life may not the same because of the huge recession we are in. 10% to 15% of congregations may end up in serious financial trouble. that's what one expert told the

associated press. maybe in danger of no being able to survive this. of course, we know many religious organizations were struggling even before the recession. the story is about how people moving away to find jobs, enrollment in religious schools, catholic, jewish, christian. the one flip side to the story is that people who are still at the congregation say they are even more committed to help their neighbors in hard times and a lot of churches are finding activity by helping people find work. back to you. >> got you. jen, thanks so much. getting into disney world is not -- does not have to cost you a lot of dough as long as you give a little of your time. how you can get into disney parks for free. ♪

♪ 16 minutes past the hour. abstinence education programs may get federal money after all. a committee voted to restore $50 million to those programs. president obama's 2010 budget. that money was to go to broader teen pregnancy reduction programs. another measure passed calling for money to be spent on contraception and std education. this has to go through the house and full senate. you can go to disney world to get in for free if you volunteer for one day. give a day and get a disney day promotion launched yesterday in florida. it applies to disney fland

california. disney is aiming to get a million people to volunteer in their communities. >> i think it is great. maybe lit get more people to get out into their community and to volunteer and help others. and i mean, if you get a free day at disney, that's great. >> and you have to register with disney so they can verify you did volunteer. the program runs throughout next year. the international olympic committee is telling the four big bidding cities for the 2016 games to play nice. here is rafer to explain. >> chicago, madrid, rio. we will get that decision in 48 hours. between chicago and rio, contentious. rio de janeiro rio de janeiro complained about comments. there is the different video. we are showing you nba referee video. let me tell you the story as i show you rasheed wallace. they were mad over comments made by chicago's mayor daly.

daly said he liked chicago's chances because rio is hosting the 2014 world cup of soccer. that's all he said. in chicago protesters against the games lined the city streets and claim the city is far too in debt and taxpayers may end up footing the bill. there they are. update on a serious story here. stephon johnson, you may remember, we told you yesterday he dropped 275-pound weight on his throat when he was bench pressing. doctors say he is awake and gave a thumbs up and communicating through writing to his mom and his teammates. he surgery to repair his larynx. he can't talk but expected to make a full recovery. it is unclear and or if he will ever play football again. maybe he still can. back to the nba story. have you ever got upset with a referee's call. you may get more frustrated after labor contract talks broke down again between the nba and ref's union. replace many refs will take the court when the preseason starts

tomorrow. to be fair, the replacements will come from the nb's developmental league. >> not fans. >> foul! last week funny video. watch the kids caught on camera at a yankees game. the finger fight. what? he goes two. lack at the red haired kid go for the duckout low. down goes frazier. as for baseball the playoffs yankees will play minnesota or detroit. and the red sox will play the angels. you are just looking at the kid. >> sorry. >> yankees won that game. sports in 30 minutes. >> thanks, rafer. we have an exciting addition to our primetime lineup. "the joy behar show" premiered last night and airs every night at 8:00 eastern on hln. her is a clip of what you will get. not for nothing commentary. >> over the iran fired two missiles even after the united

states, france and england told them not to. now, which part of no doesn't ahmadinejad understand? it is one thing to tick off the u.s., england and france. but you don't want to tick off israel. they already have nuclear weapons. they might use them and they are 15 minutes away from you. not to mention their prime minister, netanyahu is not a women and will not be pushed around by a holocaust den ire such as yourself ahmadinejad. mr. ahmadinejad, don't think such a big shot, i never liked you anyway and never enjoyed your act. you were bore when you spoke at columbia, you were annoying on larry king and you were tedious at the u.n. even gadhafi thinks you are a hack. the world is watching you. they don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth. as my mother used to say -- i'm

pretty sure translates to never trust a short man with a lo long-range missile. but that's just me. >> you can catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern on hln. let's get a look at the air travel situation. bob? >> what do you say? good morning to you. a major storm developing around the rocky mountains now. that will translate over to the midwest later tonight. you see what it looks like near northern utah. salt lake city, line of showers moving in and the rain will switch to snow later this afternoon. catch a delay or two out thereof. low clouds continue on swirl up across the northeast and great lakes. philadelphia, d.c., cleveland. watch for half-hour delays because of the low clouds. denver, phoenix, las vegas, watch for gusty winds today. salt lake city, rain and snow. 30 minutes to one-hour delay a possibility later this afternoon. more weather coming up. >> all right, bob. thanks. president obama faces a dilemma about sending more troops into

harm's way. how some experts now say that we can succeed in afghanistan without ordering more deployments. eeeeeeeeee

a tsunami killed at least 77 people in samoa. seven are dead in tonga. many are missing and feared dead. the three separate tsunami waves hit after a powerful earthquake yesterday. people on the island said an entire village had been flattened or cut off in the disaster. a terrorism suspect accused of planning an attack in new york city has pleaded not guilty. najibullah zazi was arraigned yesterday. investigators say he plotted to make explosives from household chemicals and possibly blow them up on the 9/11 anniversary a few weeks ago. president obama is putting $5 billion towards health and science research projects.

he is expected to make the announcement this morning at the national institutes of health. the money comes from recovery act funds and should support tens of thousands of jobs. former democratic fund-raiser will spend more than 20 24 years in prison for fraud. prosecutors say norman shu swindled people out of at least $20 million and told some investors their money would be in jeopardy if they didn't donate to candidates he supported. president obama and hillary clinton returned campaign donations or gave them to charity. some of the headlines we are following for you this morning. welcome back. robin meade is on assignment today. u.s. intelligence officials say they started -- they are starting to break al qaeda down. they say there are two key reasons for their success and now have spies inside the terrorist net work and a series of air strikes killed top insurgent leaders. that report is bound to play a role in president obama's decision about whether to send more troops to the country. u.s. generals want to make more

deployment but others, including the vice president, say the recent successes show the war can be fought without so many soldiers. director roman polanski is fighting to get out of jail in switzerland. authorities there arrested him decades after he fled the u.s. before being sentenced for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. correspondent richard lui is following the legal battle in all of this. richard? >> continues. polanski's legal team fired the first shot yesterday. they filed a request that polanski be set free while his extradition case winds through the suisse judicial system. suisse authorities are saying they will decide in the come weeks regarding that and holding him on a decades-old u.s. warrant for a 1977 sex charge involving a 13-year-old girl. before he pled polanski accept ad deal and pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor happened decades ago. >> there's some controversy over how polanski's case was actually

handled decades ago. bring us up to speed on that. >> you are right. court documents showing this that polanski, attorney and prosecutor thought they had a deal that would spare polanski from prison and let the young victim avoid a public trial. on the eve of the sentencing the judge said he was inclined to send polanski back to prison. the late judge refused to throw out that case but said he might consider if polanski shows up in court, the judge referred to a documentary film, should prosecutors and media obsessed judge who was worried his image would suffer if he didn't send polanski to prison. >> interesting details. thank you. talk to you soon about more of that case. some health care workers in new york refused to get the swine flu vaccine even though it might cost them their jobs. they had a rally in albany yesterday. the new york state health department requires all health care workers to get vaccinated by november 30th. the critics say they shouldn't

be forced to try it before everyone else. >> it is -- not just one stop. one of many steps towards controlling the american people. >> there is no reason to force us to take a vaccine that's full of all kinds of ingredients we don't want to put in our body. >> the cdc says the vaccine is safe and health officials say most healthy adults will need only one dose. lawyers for michael jackson are suing his estate for $341,000. they say they were never paid for defending jackson against charges he molested a 13-year-old at his never land ranch. a jury acquitted him. jackson's estate is involved in another case and suing the heal the world foundation for improperly using jackson's image for donations. jackson died in june. powerful winds and even snow is possible in n some parts of

the country today. bob van dillen with the latest on this forecast. snow? >> yes. little bit. we are talking about the rocky mountains and salt lake city. a little bit of snow today. the winter storm warnings out there now. it is definitely a possibility. that's one storm wore watching developing. the other one is the old one from the last couple of days. now in northern parts of canada. pittsburgh back to philadelphia. and down towards d.c. cloud cover is out there. take you live to washington. here is what the white house looks like. still dark out there. temperatures around the low 07s. look at that. looking at the lights popping up here. clouds are going to be the main staple of your forecast today. also, scattered showers are possible later this afternoon. but no heavy downpours. i think just kind of goes in and goes out with the upper-level low towards the north. what about behind that? to the west. cold temperatures, frost advisories, areas shaded in light blue, freeze warnings. temperatures around here all below freeze when you get outside of the major cities. even green bay flirting with that freezing mark and 32.

currently see being 34. rain showers, thunderstorms off the coast of florida on the gulf side. this rotating towards alligator alley and stretch towards miami later today. scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible. mainly from a line of about west palm down to the keys. other big storm is this area of low pressure we are watching. right around western parts of basically the dakotas, surface low. upper-level low moves in today and transfers the energy to the surface as a surface low. we could see powerful thunderstorms this afternoon. mainly spots put in red. isolated tornadoes, large hail. damaging winds possible. late this afternoon. evening hours. right now rain by sal lake city and turning into snow for portions of idaho and montana. that's a first major storm we are watching for the fall season. >> hail, snow, winds. got it all. already. thank you, bob. an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 struck in western indonesia this morning. that's according to the u.s.

geological survey. the tsunami watch has been issued there. yesterday a tsunami killed at least 77 people in samoa and american samoa. seven are dead in tonga. many others are missing and feared dead now. three separate tsunami waves hit after a powerful earthquake yesterday. people on the island say that entire villages have been flattened or cut off in this disaster and we are going to have more on the stories as soon as we get more information in. an exciting edition to our prime time lineup. "the joy behar show" premiered last night. airs every night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. last night joy chatted with bette midler. >> i was on a cruise before i had "the view." i was on this cruise and performed. i walked around the boat. i talked to people, the whole crew. i overheard someone say how can they afford bette midler? i mean -- that was at the end of the cruise. >> that's hilarious. >> that's a true story.

>> i was on a holiday not so long ago. >> did you see roman polanski? >> i did not see him. i was looking for the bathroom. i'm standing in line like everybody does. the lady says to me you look just like bette midler. imagine. she says i bet you wish had you her money. that's a true story. >> catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern on hln. police are looking for two suspects who led them on a wild chase. but it is hard to believe that they actually got away once you see the -- cam video of how this chase ended.

a new -- cam video shows a high speed chase coming to a crashing end. look at the smoke from this. police in ohio say the suv got up to 99 miles per hour before skidding 1150 feet and plunging down an embankment. look at it again. the driver took off running towards a hotel and has not been caught. do you believe he survived? some people in ft. myers, florida, paid big bucks to get coffee essentially mid -- ready for this -- cat poo. from an indonesian animal that looks like a cat. it eats raw coffee beans. you can figure out where they end up. the animal must be hyper. the workers gathered the beans. in honor of a national coffee day yesterday, a coffee shop served a 20-ounce cup of it for $20. would you drink that, jen? >> i'm just wondering what -- i don't know.

laefrmts move on to this. recession may be bad for your sense of well-being but could it be good for our health? jennifer westhoven here to explain that. a silver lining for bad financial times. that's the good news. >> could recession be good for your health? when they were telling me this story, i was like -- you are kidding me, right? like it was such a surprise. researchers say during the great depression life expectancy rose. so you could call that good news in a bad economy. if that trend still works. maybe it is stressful but maybe it is really good for news the long run. researchers at the university of michigan say life expectancy rose by more than six years from the start of the depression to 19 33. it is not just chance. people with less work have fewer physical demands. they get more sleep and they spend more time with their family and friends. that can cut down on your stress

levels. and it is said they have less money to fritter away on alcohol and tobacco. so that can encourage some healthy habits. >> that makes sense. >> yeah. >> for people looking for work in the recession, well, the holiday season does mean a chance for a lot of seasonal jobs out there. we know hundreds of thousands of people, i think, defend on these. this morning, toys are us, three years in a row, it will hire 35,000 elves for the season. they are mostly part time but i know with so many people out there looking for a way to make ends meet, looking for a way to find extra cash, go check out the toys 'r' us. there may be candy this year. pumpkin they use for candy carrying. not the real pumpkin. the recession is going to cut into halloween spending according to experts. national retail federation says that people expecting to spend about $56 this year compared to $66 last year. about a third of the people in this poll say partly because of the economy that they are cutting back on their halloween

spending. maybe they won't have all that extra stuff hanging around the house saying boo. plastic that tends up in the landfill. a michigan woman who as a child 'her vegetables and now has a growing company. stephanie elam has the story in this small business success. >> reporter: michelle made a life-changing decision at a young age. >> i was 14 years old when became vegetarian. >> reporter: it was natural to follow her stomach and start what's now known as into into's vegetarian cuisine in 2004. she began by making fresh food and selling it wholesale to local markets in the detroit area. after several months, she opened a small vegetarian bee astro at her facility. then her food was distributed to stores, hospitals, and universities mostly in the midwest. in 2007, michelle's business plan changed. >> i decided i had to start focusing on the wholesale aspect

or on the house aspect. i shut the bee astro down and go completely wholesale and launch froze a frozen food line. >> moo moo's is going national. it will soon be sold in more than 400 stores. >> i think it is important to always kind of be thinking ahead, you know. my head is here now. actually like five years -- no. two years away. >> maybe you are watching the story and thinking hey, my business should be on the show or maybe your friend's business. well, we want to see your success story. cnn.com/robin. make a video of it. upload it to us and share your tips and you could be featured on "morning express." michael vick had a word of warning for people gathered at the church. what he said about dogfighting and what he wants to do for his family.

this just in. an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck in western indonesia this morning. that's according to the u.s. geological survey. it may have triggered a tsunami but there are no reports of waves now. we will keep you posted on that. yesterday a tsunami killed at least 77 people in samoa and american samoa. some of first video here we have gotten in from that region. devastating as you can see. seven people are dead in tonga and many others are missing and feared dead right now. three separate tsunami waves hit a powerful earthquake yesterday. people on the island say that the entire villages have been flattened or cut off in the disaster. michael vick now calls himself an animal rights advocate and is warning people to stay away from dogfighting.

here is rafer weigel with this story. >> good morning. vick was addressing a small crowd at a washington, d.c., church. one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. he said dogfighting is, quote, point sxlst he doesn't know why he ricksed his lucrative career over it. the appearance was sponsored by the humane society as part of an effort to rebuild his image and added that yes, while he is an animal rights advocate he wants another dog for his family. >> hopefully the judge will grant me the opportunity to have a dog in the future and i will take care of him with the best of my ability. that's only if it is in god's plans for me to have one. i know my daughter wants one. >> unfortunately, it may not be in the judge's plan as part of his sentence the judge ruled he could never own a dog again. you have seen him on "dancing with the stars." future hall of famer jerry rice will try his hand at pro-golf. rice who is quite the golfer will host and play in a nationwide tour event in april. he was given a sponsor's exemption to play as a pro the

guy does it all. how about a little wackiness perhaps? the l.a. red bull soap box derby race, there goes a boat on its side. goes a boat on its side. i don't know what that is, but it looks painful. this was in downtown l.a. there is a downtown in l.a., actually. >> they are revitalizing it, actually, yeah. >> they've been trying for years. this is pretty wacky. last night a david letterman, we saw something interesting on his show and we want to share it with you. >> now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the sarah palin memoir round-up. sarah palin memoir round-up. take a look. >> she's chosen one intriguing title for the book. "going rogue."

palin's advisor says it's going to be called "going rogue"s. >> it's going to be called "going luge." >> you made david letterman? >> thanks so much, rafer. appreciate it. that's funny. do you remember your mom telling you to eat your fruits and veggies? it looks like many adults don't do it. a new study says only 27% of americans eat the recommended amount of vegetables and only one in three eat enough fruits. people in new england and the west coast tend to be the best in the nation. the three worst states are in the southeast. well, tlktd here could be h for three american hopefuls that are detained in iran. they're allowing a representative from the swiss government to meet with thechl to check on their condition. we have video of one of the hikers accusing them of

illegally cross sbug iran from iraq. relatives have said they accidentally crossed an unmarked border. don't you hate it when someone yells right in the middle of a play?