good morning. it's friday. i'm natasha curry in for robin meade. she'll be back on monday. stay tuned for that. a few hours from now we could find out if the president's pitch for the u.s. to host the summer olympics was enough. his promise, if the committee chooses chicago. late night host david letterman reveals he was the victim of a $2 million blackmail plot, what he says a man threat ended to do with information about letterman's affairs. a man who is deaf and mute couldn't hear the cries for help and couldn't shout when his apartment caught fire.

hear how he was able to get his mother, fiancee and baby girl out alive. president obama hopes he has convinced olympic leaders to have the world's biggest sporting event in chicago. while you were sleeping, he wrapped up his pitch to the international olympic committee in denmark. he and the first lady told personal stories about chicago. the president said if the city is picked to host the 2016 games, his hometown and america will make the world proud. >> to host athletes and visitors from every corner of the globe is a high honor and a great responsibility. america ready and eager to assume that sacred trust. right now rio is making its pitch to host the summer games. tokyo finished lobbying about 40 minutes ago. madrid will be the last to go before the committee breaks for a vote behind closed doors later this morning. the winner won't be announced until this afternoon.

we'll keep you posted. new this morning, a jaw-dropping admission from "late night's" host david letterman. he says he was the target of a $2 million extortion plot and he admitted having sex with female employees in the past. in a somewhat bizarre explanation to his audience, letterman said a man threatened to write a screenplay exposing those relationships. >> would it be embarrassing if it were made public? perhaps it would. perhaps it would, especially for the women. but that's a decision for them to make, if they want to come public and talk about the relationships. if i want to go public and talk about the relationships. but what you don't want is a guy saying, i know you had sex with women so i would like $2 million or i'm going to make trouble for you. >> letterman went to the authorities, and the man was

arrested yesterday after allegedly accepting a fake $2 million check. cbs says the cbs works for the show "48 hours". new this morning, another strong earth quake shook an already devastated area today. this one hit off tonga. people are still looking for survivors. it killed at least 16 people, washed away villages and ripped apart families. at least ten significant quakes have hit the area in the last couple days. hope is quickly turning into sorrow in indonesia where two big quakes if two days have killed at least 1100 people. that's from the u.n. rescuers saved a teenage girl who had been buried nearly two days under what used to be her college. time is running out to find thousands more who still may be trapped. heavy rains are making the search even tougher.

if you're one of millions of americans looking for a job right now, all the talk of an improving economy probably sounds like a lot of hot air. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. >> these are the big monthly numbers. if you watched yesterday, we got the weekly numbers. but this is like the big kahuna when it comes to the job market numbers, how do we know how things are going? there's a lot of fear. today could be the day that we officially -- maybe we see 10% unemployment. the september numbers are due this morning. we've already been very close to 10%. we were just under that in august. we've been headed this way for quite some time as you can see from this chart here. unemployment, where we started only two years ago, we were only at 4.5% there. how do you square this bad news we're talking about this morning with the fed head saying the recession is ending. we saw ben bernanke talking about that. jobs are a lagging indicator. >> painful still for so many

people. jen, thanks. tlc is stopping production on the reality show "jon & kate plus 8." the network says jon gosselin sent a cease and desist order to stop filming his children. gosselin told larry king that he's trying to protect his kids. >> i'm asking not to be on the show. i'm asking my children not to be on the show. i don't want them to film anymore. i don't think it's healthy for them. and the reason i don't think it's healthy for them is we're going through a divorce right now. i don't think it should be televised and i think my kids should be taken off the show. >> jon wachbts to try in in the media, doesn't want to go to a judge or deal with the best interest of the children. that's kate's sole concern. >> kate gosselin accuses jon of stopping the show because producers wanted to focus on her experience as a single mother, giving her a lesser roll. lawmakers wourkd until after midnight on a health care compromise bill.

around 2:00 a.m. eastern senate chair max baucus said work had been completed on all parts. democrats made last-minute changes. one change would exempt millions of people from a requirement to buy health insurance. a final committee vote is set for next week. a mother is accused of being so drunk that she passed out in her parked minivan leaving two toddlers just to wander off. broward county deputies say someone found the kids, ages 3 and 4 miles from home trying to cross a busy road. they found the woman passed out in her van in the driveway. she's charged with dui and child neglect. her husband said "she's stupid." let's get over to bob van dillon. >> sounds like you may have cleaned that up a little bit. how are you doing, natasha. >> on friday, a major cold front chugging through the middle part

of the country in towards the east coast. look at the clouds wrapping up out of the gulf of mexico. the strongest part of this action is headed towards new orleans. we'll zoom in towards that area. towed watch that's getting wittaled down. here is that new orleans radar sweeping. you can see it, a big thunderstorm over lake ponchartrain. that will roll into the gulf of mexico the next couple hours. a lot of lightning going on here. a loud start for you down in the bay bayou. no doubt about that. jackson, mississippi, radar with rain squalls. huntsville, rain over you right now, falling apart a bit. should not be severe for you when it reaches in towards north georgia today. the rain shield goes all the way towards cincinnati. that's the radar picture right there. that is going to be heavy at times as well. we're watching the whole shield moving to the great lakes and ultimately the northeast on the weekend. satellite picture, i showed you one from yesterday. this is the one we just took yesterday. this is from the nasa tara

satellite. that's typhoon parma right near the philippines, a category 4 typhoon, 140-mile-an-hour winds, a massive storm that slams into the philippine later today, hopefully a little weaker. a beautiful picture, but when you're below that, a different story. >> thank you. elizabeth smart was just 14 years old when she was kidnapped from her bedroom. now she's telling the chilling details about what happened to her.

for the first time, elizabeth smart talked publicly about her kidnapping seven years ago. yesterday in court she described hir kidnap per, brian david mitchell as evil, wicked and slimy. she says mitchell raped her three or four times a day and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. smart was held captive for nine

months. her testimony will help decide whether mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial. 600,000 doses of the h1n1 nasal splay are on their way to 21 states. that's earlier than first predicted. about 7 million doses of the more common flu shot should be shipped by the end of next week with many more to follow. health officials say flu activity is already higher than usual for this time of year. michael jackson was apparently in pretty good physical shape before he died. the associated press got a copy of his autopsy report which says jackson's heart was strong and his other major organs were normal. jackson's lungs were chronically inflamed. the medical examiner found that numerous punctures on both arms, a knee and an ankle. a coroner ruled jackson's drug a homicide caused by a powerful sedative. when one woman couldn't find her cross bow to stop burglars, she grabbed the next-best thing. >> the pool balls just looked

like the most air dynamic, heaviest thing i could get ahold of. >> new in 20 minutes, how pool balls kept her out of harm's way. today could be the day that the nation's unemployment rate hits 150% for the first time in more than 26 years. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here and investors are not optimistic. >> no, very worried. the jobless rate at a 26-year high, more than 7 million jobs have been destroyed since this great recession started in 2007. a lot of people call it that, because it is the worst recession we've seen since the great depression. there's a lot of fear that maybe all the betting and hope that a recovery is coming, maybe we're not that close. there you see the dow down about 200 points, taking it back down to about 9500. we talked yesterday about the ceo of america's biggest bank quitting, ken lewis. you can't believe this.

here is his pension, $53 mill. $53 million. for what? for being retired. that was in the small print. they never tell you in the big announcements. it was in the problems dpi statement. lewis is leaving amid heavy quit sichl of his bank's taking over merrill lynch. it breaks down to a cool $3.5 million a year. nice. >> wow. let me give you good news. mortgage rates are back below 5%. that's the first time in about four months. check out the 30-year. this is according to freddie mac. 4.94. a 15-year is at record lows if you can swing the payments, but you save a lot in interest, 4.36%. >> thank you, jen. an art exhibit in california is stopping some people right in their tracks and that just what the creators wanted. take a look at the banner at fresno city hall.

it's made dozens of decorated bras, many of them created by breast cancer survivors. the idea here is to call attention to breast cancer awareness month. they do just that when you look close at them. very interesting. okay. what are we covering here next? cops say a bystander intervened to prevent a little girl from being molested. something wasn't right. but with no uniform police nearby, who would come to the rescue. why john travolta's lawyer says why he refused to pay two men millions to keep quiet.

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a texas judge just cleared the way for a sem-sex divorce hearing even though the men's marriage isn't recognized there. the couple got married in the state that allows it, so the judge said they meet the requirement to file for divorce in texas. the state teesh general plans to appeal here. he says it's just a round-about attempt to challenge texas's ban on same-sex marriage. two off duty law enforcement officers say they came to the rescue of a 13-year-old georgia girl. they were at a park where a sheriff's deputy said she saw a man's feet sticking out from a stall inside the women's restroom and she heard a child. >> the child sounded like he or she was in distress. i yelled hey, come out of there.

he let the girl out. she was a little disheveled and shaken. i grabbed her and i said, are you okay? >> the girl said she was okay. meanwhile an off duty georgia bureau of investigations agent who was also at the park detained the man. he is charged with aggravated child molestation. if you wanted to say kanye west and lady ga ga in concert, you'll have to wait. just days after announcing the tour, "fame kills," it canceled. concert promoter live nation didn't give an explanation. it says if you bought tickets, you can get a refund. for the city that wins the 2016 olympic games, huge prestige and billions in potential economic benefits are in store. that decision is going to be made today. larry smith has the latest on it. hey, larry. >> good morning. being the olympic host is among the most prestigious honors on the planet.

for the losers, wondering what might have been and the sting seven years late en when the games take place somewhere else. an intense half hour of successive rounds of secret balloting by the international olympic committee, chicago considered to be a slight favor. the summer games haven't been staged in north america since atlanta in 1996. that will be a 20-year span come 2016. spain hasn't hosted since barcelona back in 1992. it lost the bid to host the 1992 and 2012 olympics. rio aims to become the first latin american company to host the games. the 2014 world cup soccer will be staged there. many considered tokyo to be the outsider with beijing having hosted last year. they want ioc members to put the 2016 games in what they call the world's most exciting city. what a difference a day makes. the agency representing michael

vick's saying its client new deal with nike. thursday, a nike spokesman denied he had signed on as a pitch man. instead there is an agreement to supply vick with shoes. he was a spokesman with nike before the company dropped him two years ago ahead of his prison sentence on dogfighting charges. manuel de la santos, he lost a leg at age 18. his key number now is three. that's his golf handicap. look at that. he's now 25 years old, can hit the ball 260 yards in the air. he refuses to play with a prosthetic leg, instead choosing to walk with crutches in between shots. manuel de los santos is our true champion. as a golfer, i'm really impressed. >> as a non-golfer i'm really impressed, even who tries to do a little bit. a beauty queen is missing her crown. ms. maine says someone sole it

from her car last week. suzie stable say it is crown was in a special box in the back seat and she wants it returned, no questions asked. for now she's borrowing a crown from a former winner. ms. maine says her original crown is priceless. an exciting addition to our lineup, the joy behar shore airs every night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on hln. her not-for-nothing commentary. >> not for nothing, but all i keep hearing is that president obama is trying to do too much, that he has too much on his plate. rush limbaugh has too much on his plate. barack obama is the president. he's supposed to be busy. sorry, but after two terms of a president who had more time to work on his tan than george hamilton, obama looks like a guy with hyperactivity disorder. how you spend your time is also important. may i just add that? obama has spent the last eight

months trying to pass health care reform and negotiate a ban on nuclear weapons. bush spent eight years just trying to pronounce the word nuclear. president obama hasn't takt en on too much. he just has to work too hard to achieve anything because a lot of people in congress fight him at every turn. it's easy to sit on your behind and criticism. my staff is doing that right now. i see you. i'm watching all of you. rather than accuse obama of being overextended, why don't these blow-hards in congress come up with alternatives and solutions. all you hear is this endless stream of, no, i don't want to. you're going to do what? they sound like me on my wedding night. may i offer up these solution. when these lazy s.o.b.s come up for re-election, tell them you would have voted for them, but you were just too busy. that's just me. >> you can catch "the joy behar

show" right here on hln. deals on plane tickets and hotel rooms are getting better this fall. that's good news in a bad economy, ru?

president obama says that chicago and the u.s. would make the world proud if it hosts the 2016 summer games. he made his plea to the international olympic committee in denmark a few hours ago. chicago, tokyo, rio and madrid find out which city wins this afternoon. the creepy stuff was that i have had sex with women who work for me on this show. now, my response to that is, yes, i have. >> so the audience didn't quite know how to respond to that when

"late night" host david letter admitted to having affairs with women who worked for him. he came clean after a man allegedly tried to blackmail him for $2 million. that man who works for cbs's "48 hours" was arrested yesterday. police in chicago are investigating a beating of another teenager, a 14-year-old was chased down by three other teens wednesday night and is now in critical condition. this comes a week after a 16-year-old was beaten to death in the city. the u.s. may never be able to declare victory in iraq. that's come from general ray odierno. no one will know whether victory is achieved for years. he says u.s. is still on track to withdraw troops. welcome back on this friday. i'm natasha curry in for robin meade. she'll be back on monday.

the decision for the 2016 games will happen today. larry smith is a veteran of four olympic games. is there an ideal host in this situation? >> there really isn't. no matter who is going to win this, there's going to be some issues. somebody is going to be criticizing. atlanta in 1996 said listen let's build disposable buildings we don't have to maintain after the games. that was criticized. athens wasn't ready in 2004. that was criticized. beijing had phenomenal facilities, people couldn't get to them. so many key factors this committee is going to be deciding. venues, security, transportation, money. the four cities, chicago, rio dejaneiro, madrid are all impressive. the question is which of those are going to try to make this decision, try to decide which one it's going to be. i thought athens did a great job

in security. i thought be jing was extremely prepared. the three summer games i covered. i covered the winter games in torino. from my end there were no issues. a close call for me. just as tony blair's visit to the ioc gave them a final push ahead of paris, mr. obama is extremely popular abroad. i don't know if you've seen or heard this. there are shots of committee members taking cell phone pictures with him after his speech. chicago's massive parks, waterfront space along lake michigan an extensive mass transit system play in the city's favor. i think chicago will be the host. >> especially with president obama being so popular around the whole entire world, you wonder if it will be. thank you so much. john travolta's lawyer testified two accused extortionists planned, two

people accused of demanding $25 million from travolta. otherwise they would go to the press with the story that he was somehow responsible for his son's deadly seizure? the bahamas. both have pleaded not guilty. next week people in samoa will say good-bye to more than 100 friends and family killed in tuesday's tsunami. on american samoa some people will follow tradition by burying their loved ones in the yards. one of them say they'll bury their daughter with her backpack because she loved school so month. we have unusual moments from yesterday's debate. olympia snowe tripped and fell. she is okay. also, a small protest erupted. >> we advocate for a single-payer system. >> demonstrators support a

government-paid health care system. security guards stopped them. new this morning, pirates have highjacked a fishing boat in the indian ocean. a spanish fishing company says they haven't heard from anyone on that ship since it sent a distress signal. 36 crew members are on board. this is the second time in less than a month that the vessel has been attacked. a woman took matters into her own hands when she thought she heard burglars inside her home. when she couldn't find her cross bow or her pellet gun, she used pool balls to take them down. she put several pool balls in her son's bicycle helmet, climbed a tree and took aim. >> i hollered out death from above. i'm not kidding. no sooner than i said that, i started chunking pool balls at them. they took off, had their hands up like this, they took off running, cursing and cussing. and they were gone. >> she's okay though.

police could not find the suspects. that was some quick thinking. >> she's ma gooifer. that's a brand new reality show. that's good tv. good for her. >> big morning for you around areas by lower parts of louisiana and alabama, mississippi, too. here is your squall line. heavy rain-maker through lower parts of mississippi stretching into alabama. but the heaviest rain we have is right around new orleans. we'll zoom in towards that area, this red watch box, tornado watch that's set to expire within the next 25 minutes. i think you'll see most of that action over to the east of this box over the next couple hours. you can see it right there. new orleans itself, big thunderstorm right overhead by lake ponchartrain, shifting down to the south. not a severe one. notice the bow shaping to it. a little breeze associated to it. probably winds gusting there to 45 miles per hour, somewhere around that range. that's something we're watching this morning. jackson, mississippi, overnight

last night, thinning out as it moves towards northern alabama. huntsville radar, you can see the rain right around your region. that should slide into northern georgia over the next few hours. heavy rain around lower parts of ohio. look at the rain field as it tries to extend in towards the cleveland metro. heavy rain now. now getting towards eerie, pittsburgh as well. a beeline towards buffalo later this afternoon. not as far east as philly, boston and new york until overnight tonight. nyc, if you're traveling there, a cooler start for you, low 60s the high. what a gorgeous sunrise. clouds begin to filter in and will get chicker later this afternoon. what a gorgeous start for nyc right now. that's the east side. more in just a bit. >> new york looks so lovely, doesn't it? >> it does. is internet access as important as highways and railroads? one media study says so. what they have to say, though, about the use of broadband.

also ahead -- >> he's going to be counting the days until he can get on a pair of skis. >> a teenager gets a new chance at moving around. wait till you hear how he lost his leg in the first place.

20 minutes till the hour. broadband access to the internet is as important as fresh air and safe streets. that's according to a report from group studying information needs in communities. they say with the amount of business done on the internet, it's vital for people to have better access. the report says one-third of people don't subscribe to broadband, and in some rural communities it's not even available. pilot cap ton chesley

sullenberger finally finished a polite he started eight months ago. yesterday he was back in a cockpit and reunited with his cockpit on a new york flight to charlotte. it was the same flight he was forced to ditch in the hudson river back in january. all 155 people on board survived. passengers on yesterday's flight said they felt safe knowing that sullenberger was at the controls. a colorado woman fought off a bear with a pillow. she said it was the only thing nearby when she found the bear in her bedroom. >> raised up on her hind feet and was hissing at me, and i grabbed this pillow and i just slung it as hard as i could. >> the bear also charged at her son, though, before wandering into the kitchen. you can see what a mess it made here. later that week the bear came back two more times. wildlife officers captured her,

the bear and her three cubs. they captured the bear, not her. you know what i mean. if you or someone you know may be running out of unemployment benefits and counting on the government to pass an extension, our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. why is it taking so long to get this done? >> because it's congress. that's the nature of our legislative process. it could take a long time. the point is for everybody to come to some agreement. the plan would mean 13 more weeks of checks for people in some states. the hardest hit states. you know we've been covering this story for you. a lot of people are hoping to get this extra tranche of checks. the idea passed the house of representatives, but the bill has hit a roadblock in the senate. now, the extension would be in states where unemployment is more than 8.5%. those are all the states you see in red there, 27 states. the roadblock is the guys, the

people, from the white states. the senators from the other states is saying, hey, that's not fair to their constituents. they want money, too. that would make it more costly. the bill is not dead yet. they may work out a compromise. i'll keep following that for you and let you know. i know there are so many families rights now who are depending on those benefits and hoping they won't run out. there is good news about your home heating costs this winter. if you heat with gas, the government says there's more natural gas getting stored away right now than at any other time on record. people aren't using as much. the good news is, right? that means a lot more supply. good for prices. natural gas prices down about 8% yesterday. it may help you with that winter heating bill when it comes in. some gas suppliers have already cut prices and more expected to follow suit. so that could help for everybody who is trying to pinch -- make your paycheck go a little further or whatever check you're going, to have a little extra room come this winter. >> every little bit counts. jen, thank you. we have an exciting addition

to our prime timelineup. "the joy behar" show airs every night at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. last night she chatted with comedian jeffrey ross about obama. >> medians have avoided jokes about obama. do you think it's time? >> i think his skin is thick. there could be a whole bunch of jokes about his stimulus package. it would be a lot of fun. they're going to sling jokes in washington. we might as well do it here. >> catch "the joy behar show" right here on hln. a high school football team thought they lost the game after missing a field goal. you will not believe what happened next. see what went down after the kick.

good morning everybody. a couple delays we're concerned about if you're traveling out at the airports this morning. number one is going to be chicago with rain and wind in the area. could be about an hour or more for there. also thunderstorms arriving in atlanta, about a half hour delay for the metro area.

cincinnati has thunderstorms rolling in right now. minneapolis will see a 2 1/2 hour delay starting at 7:00 your time. the reason why? runway construction. this afternoon you're looking at rain and wind as well. no twitter? no radio? what the heck is going on over here for the nfl? >> what's up with that. it's one of those things, sometimes the nfl does things that makes you go, what? this actually makes sense to me. jacksonville quarterback david gerard has had his radio show nixed. the rah show aired the last three friday ts, two days before game day. he says doing media stuff early in the week to rehash the last game is fine, late in the week players should be devoted to stid difficulting game plans. injury regard says he understands. the earthquake and sue ma'am any has reeked havoc. that has resonated as well among the college football community in the u.s.

y a teammate lost three close relatives. utah coach kyle whittingham says the school is doing what it can to help those players. you've got to see this. the end of a high school football game in vermont. the losing team misses the game-winning field goal. look at the players spike the ball in celebration. that's a live ball. that's a fumble. the losing team recovers, scores a touchdown and wins the game. the moral of the story every time. know the rules. here is an idea. just kneel, kneel down, dead ball. you can dot whaefr you want with the ball. look at that. >> poor thing. >> his 20th reunion, they're going to say you're the guy that cost us the game. >> that poor thing. thanks so much, larry. that hurts to watch. education secretary arne duncan says federal stimulus money for education is meant to be extra dollars for schools.

he says some states are cutting their own education spending and using the stimulus money to make up for it. duncan says the states will be held accountable. but because of the way the law is written, there may not be much federal officials can do. new this morning, a mean march court has rejected the latest appeal by nobel peace writer. the pro democracy leader has to stay under house arrest. in august she was sentenced to 18 months on top of her existing sentence after an uninvited american stayed at her home. she's been in prison for 14 of the last 20 years. if today is your birthday, guess what? you know who you share it with? talk show host kelly rip pa. she turns 39 today. can you believe it? she just looks 20. her husband, mark con swale lows will help her celebrate as one of today's guests on "live with regis and kelly." happy birthday to both of you.

top seeded heroes of cnn have been announced. we'll tell you more about these extraordinary individuals and their work as you begin voting for which one you want to be the cnn hero grammy award winning music legend john legend introduces you to one of our cnn heroes. >> hello. i'm john legend. during last year's cnn heroes an all star tribute i had the honor of performing and helping to recognize the great work of every day citizens changing the world. as founder of the show me campaign which seeks an end to global poverty i am thrilled to be able to help cnn introduce one of this year's top ten honorees. now more than ever the world needs heroes. >> approximately 1 billion people lack access to clean water. it's killing more people than aids and malaria combined yet

all that can be prevented. you pay the same tab every day. i felt they really wanted to be part of something. >> my name is doc henry. i used to be a bartender and now i provide clean water to people in need. >> i got on the ground in darfur. >> these people in conflicts, their biggest concern was the huge loss of life because of unclean water. whether we're filtering water or filling a well we want to train and educate people that are already on the ground, enabling locals to fix their own water needs. that joy is the only thing that helps lift the burden. you can be just a regular anybody and you really can change the world. i'm walking truth of that. >> all right. police say a woman was upset

with her husband so she fried up his pet fish and ate them but she warned him first.