good friday morning. we're there. i'm natasha curry in for robin meade today. she'll be back on monday. just 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 the man threatened to do with information about letterman's affairs. and a man who is deaf and mute couldn't hear the cries for help and couldn't shout when an apartment caught fire. find out how he was able to get his mother, fiance, and baby

girl out alive. president obama hopes he convinced olympic leaders to have the world's biggest sporting event in chicago. now while you were sleeping he wrapped up his pitch to the international olympic committee in denmark. both he and the first lady told personal stories about chicago and the president said if the city is picked to host the 2016 games, his hometown and america will make the world proud. >> the host, athletes and visitors from every corner of the globe is a high honor and a great responsibility. and america is ready and eager to assume that sacred trust. >> right now rio is wrapping up its pitch to host the summer games. tokyo finished lobbying about an hour and a half ago. madrid will go in less than two hours from now. then the committee will break for a vote behind closed doors but the winner won't be announced until this afternoon.

new this morning a jaw-dropping admission from late night 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 and in a somewhat bizarre explanation to his audience last night 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 come public and talk about the relationships but what you don't want is a guy saying oh, i know you have sex with women. 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 suspect worked for the show "48 hours." new this morning another strong earthquake shook an already devastated area today. this one hit autonga. people there and in the samoan islands are still looking for survivors from tuesday's tsunami. it killed at least 168 people, washed away villages, and ripped apart families. at least ten significant quakes have hit the area in just the last couple days. hope is quickly turning to sorrow in indonesia here where two big quakes in two days have killed at least 1100 people. look at the mess it's left behind. rescuers saved a teenage girl who had been buried nearly two days under what used to be her college. but time is running out to find thousands more who still may be trapped. and heavy rains are making the search even harder. if you're one of the millions of americans looking

for a job, all the talk of an improving economy probably sounds like a lot of hot air. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. the new jobless numbers come out today and aren't expected to be good. >> for a lot of people this is going to be the number that feels more like the truth of what they're seeing out there in the economy. today could be the day where we officially are going to get the check with the unemployment in september and it might even hit 10%. it is probably going to be very close. numbers are due later this morning in about 90 minutes. we're already very close to 10%, just under it in august. we've been headed this way for quite sometime. you can see that just two years ago unemployment was roughly 4.5% and of course since then we've been moving higher and higher and probably get a little bit higher later on this morning. so the question is, how do you want to square this kind of bad news that so many americans are feeling with the feds saying the recession seems to be ending? it's probably because jobs are a lagging indicator and it could be sometime before companies start hiring again. >> thank you.

we'll have to wait and see what happens. so tlc is stopping production on the reality show "jon and kate plus 8." the network says jon gosselin sent a cease and desis order to stop filming his children. on cnn he told larry king he's trying to protect his kids. >> i'm asking not to be on the show and i'm asking my children not to be on the show. i mean, 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 an don't think it should be televised and i think my kids should be taken off the show. >> jon wants to try this in the media. he doesn't want to go to a judge or deal with the question of the best interests of the children. that's kate's sole concern. >> kate gosselin accuses john of stopping the show because producers wanted to focus more on her experience as a single mother giving him a lesser role. lawmakers worked until after midnight on a health care compromise bill. around 2:00 a.m. eastern senate

finance committee chair max baucus said all work has completed on the legislation. democrats made last-minute changes to ease the impact on working class families. 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 she passed out in her park's minivan leaving two toddlers 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 the van in her driveway. she's charged with dui and child neglect. her husband says she's stupid. didn't mince words. all right. let's get over to bob. he doesn't mince words either. >> we'll stay away from that one. big line of thundershowers now developing right around the lower gulf coast. real humid atmosphere when you get towards the gulf but you get across northern georgia, carolinas, in towards virginia

and kentucky, high pressure has been dominating this area for the last couple days. still a dry air mass out there. it's a tough feel to get that rain all the way into the region. it's going to be heavy. the heavy downpours and the tornado watch still out there across lower louisiana. you can see new orleans, big showers, thunderstorms overhead. it's been raining steadily for the last hour and a half or so and it's now moving down out of new orleans out of the lake ponchartrain area down toward the rest of the bayous. there's the main squall line. the rain is still moving in towards mississippi and alabama and breaking up a part of northern parts of alabama. here's your dry air coming into play. takes that real heavy rain, buzzes it down so you're not looking at heavy downpours in north georgia which is good and is basically going to wash itself out over the carolina mountains over the next couple hours. as for the rest of the rain here it is the ohio valley. that's the cincinnati area. columbus getting decent rainfall as well. no flash flood watches or warnings, which is good, but the rain stretches through toledo in towards detroit. gets in towards ontario later today and then it stretches all

the way back through minneapolis and getting in towards the dakotas and then it turns into cold air and we're talking about below freezing temperatures underneath this high so denver right now with the temperature near freezing, freeze warning. we'll talk more about that in a little bit. get away friday. just a couple minutes i'll tell you. >> thanks, bob. brand new details about michael jackson's autopsy report. the surprising findings about the singer's heart, lungs, and the puncture marks on his body.

this just in. israel has just released 19 palestinian female prisoners being held at a detention camp outside jerusalem in exchange for a videotape from the militant palestinian group hamas. the videotape is important because it's supposed to be a recent recording of an israeli soldier kidnapped three years ago. he was abducted when palestinian militants crossed from gaza into israel. michael jackson was apparently in pretty good physical shape before he died.

the associated press got a copy of his autopsy report which says the jackson's heart was strong and his other major organs were normal but jackson's lungs were chronically inflamed. the medical examiner found numerous punctures on both arms, a knee, and an ankle. a coroner rules jackson's death was a homicide caused by a powerful sedative. all right. so bob was talking about serious weather coming some of your ways. so how is it affecting travel? if i could speak on this friday. bob, save me. >> you're anchoring for two. i can't believe you're awake. absolutely. let me show you what's happening. we have a squall line racing through the lower part of the gulf coast. we're talking about new orleans right now. no delays early but the rain is going through mississippi in toward alabama and then breaking apart as it moves in toward north georgia. we'll still get some showers out of it by atlanta. more showers, more thunderstorms and wind is what we will find across the great lakes. here are the major delays. i'm thinking chicago metro is an

hour or more. d.c., st. louis, gusty winds, 30 minutes, one-hour delays for you as well. the thunderstorms stretching into atlanta, cleveland, detroit, minneapolis, maybe charlotte but that's about it. right now minneapolis you will start seeing those delays pop up for construction at another 45 minutes from now and they will last for two and a half hours. watch for two and a half hour delays the first part of the morning for msp. more details in a little bit. all right. slow economy, jobs, jobs, jobs. jennifer westhoven, your stories on this? >> we have a big report coming up in about an hour and 15 minutes so a lot of people looking at this. unemployment close to a 26-year high. we could hope for improvement but that's not what the betting is. it's going to get a little bit worse. more than 7 million jobs have been destroyed since the recession started, the worst since the great depression in the 1930s. the dow-jones went down 200 points last night and is back down to about 9500.

remember not so long ago in the past few weeks we've been talking about getting close to 10,000. something else we talked about if you were watching yesterday. the head, the ceo of america's biggest bank quits. ken lewis from bank of america. you know, they said they were putting a stop to the golden parachutes but what he will get is a pension worth $53 million. that's what was in the small print. by small print i mean the proxy statement that bank of america has to file. lewis is leaving amid heavy criticism over his bank's takeover of merrill lynch. by the way, that number breaks down to a cool $3.5 million a year for the rest of his life. let's get you some good news after what, jobs is depressing and that one is kind of disgusting. for anyone in the housing market you'll like this one. mortgage rates back below 5% or maybe if you didn't refinance before take a look. there is the 30 year right under that level for the first time in four months. this is from freddie mac and the 15 year is a record low. if you can swing the monthly payment you will pay a lot less

in interest over the course of the loan than you would with the 30 year. all right. many women have overcome big challenges in their lives and they hope their stories could inspire you. take suze orman. you probably know she's a millionaire now, respected financial expert, award winning tv host, but did you know that 30 years ago she was a waitress struggling to make ends meet? this is her new series breakthrough women and she is telling her story so other women can have the courage to take charge of their lives. rfrnlts she's known for her no nonsense approach to money. >> stop, stop, stop. you cannot afford it. >> reporter: but before fame and fortune suze orman's life was a different story. she grew up with a speech impediment and lacked self-esteem. at 29 orman was a waitress making $400 a month with dreams of opening her own restaurant. her life changed when some customers chipped in to leave her a big tip, a $oo,000 loan so she could realize her dream.

>> we want to help people who have touched our own lives. i think that me being a waitress and loving being a waitress spirnd them to try to help me. >> her luck quickly changed. >> i didn't know any better. within three months all $50,000 had been lost. >> the experience motivated her to get a job as a stock broker. >> the true secret of life isn't just to bring all these great things all the time but to make greatness happen out of everything that happens to you. >> reporter: orman eventually got her money back and worked her way to the top and is now an award winning expert and best selling author. >> i want women to respect themselves enough to understand what they have doesn't matter. who they are is the key to changing everything in their lives. >> wow. making greatness happen out of everything that happens to you. so maybe you're a woman breaking the mold. maybe you know a woman who

inspired you. we are looking for stories on women who have beaten the odds and made big difference for themselves and other people. you can nominate someone. you can nominate yourself. go for it. cnn.com/robin. look for the breakthrough women. elizabeth smart was just 14 when she was kidnapped from her bedroom. now she's telling the chilling details about what happened to her.

for a the city that wins the 2016 games huge prestige and billions of dollars in potential economic benefits are in store. that decision is going to be made today, this afternoon. here's larry smith with more. >> good morning, natasha. to be an olympic host is one of the most prestigous honors on the planet. for the losers just years of wondering what might have been and then the sting when the games take place somewhere else. four candidates. they'll be eliminated one by one in an intense half hour of secret rounds of balloting by the international olympic committee. chicago the u.s. candidate considered to be a slight favorite. the summer games haven't been staged in north america since atlanta in 20 years. spain hasn't hosted since barcelona in 1992. now, madrid lost a bid to host in 1972 and the 2012 summer olympics. its advantage, having 70% of the venues already completed. rio de janeiro just within the

last time it aims to become the first south american country to host the games. many consider tokyo to be the outsider with asian neighbor beijing having hosted just last year but they want ioc games to put the games in the quote world's most exciting city. we'll find out today. what a difference a day makes. the agency announced michael vick's new contract with nike. thursday nike denied that he had ever signed on as a pitchman. they said there is an agreement to supply vick with shoes. vick was a spokesman for nike before the company dropped him two years ago ahead of his sentence on dog fighting charges. our true champion on this friday is manuel who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident at age 18 and his key number now is three. that's his golf handicap. look at his swing. yeah. with one leg. he is now 25 years old, hits the ball 260 yards off the tee and refuses to play with a

prosthetic leg. instead, he chooses to walk with crutches in between shots. mr. de los santos is our true champion. imvery impressed. >> i am, too. that is serious balance. wow. he does such a great job. >> better than some of us golf on two legs. >> exactly. that would be me. thank you. we have an exciting addition. "the joy behar show" premieres this week and airs every night at 9:00 p.m. here on hln. here is a quick taste of what you'll get in 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.

by the way, how you spend your time is also important. may i 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 taken 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 eelsy to sit on your behind and criticize. my staff is doing that right now. i see you. i'm watching all of you. rather than accuse obama of being over extended, why don't these blow hards in congress come up with some alternatives or 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 this solution? when these lazy s.o.b.s come up for the mid-term election just tell them you would have voted for them but you were just too busy. that's just me.

and you can catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. well, when one woman couldn't find her crossbow to stop some burglars she grabbed the next best thing -- her pool balls. we placed leah's sofa in this glass box...

full of black cats... hey, wait... no! to demonstrate the cleaning power of our newest pledge product. i'm gonna clean my couch with this pledge? not that pledge, leah. use the pledge fabric sweeper. it's quick and effective, removing as much pet hair...

as 145 stinky lint roller sheets. wow! it really works! ooh, that is one big hairball. ( cat meows ) pick up pet hair. that's the beauty... of the pledge fabric sweeper. you'll find it where you find pledge. s.c. johnson, a family company. 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 overnight. 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. >> the audience didn't quite know how to respond though when late night host david letterman

admitted to having affairs with women who work 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 the beating of another teenager. a witness told police the 14-year-old was chased down by three other teenagers wednesday night. he's now in critical condition and 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 from the war's top commander army general ray odierno. he says it's because no one may know if victory is achieved for five or ten years. yesterday odierno said the u.s. is still ontrack to gradually withdraw its troops. welcome back. aren't you glad it's friday? i'm natasha curry in for robin meade today. she's going to be back on monday, though. the decision for the 2016 games is quickly approaching and

we'll learn later today which of the four final cities are going to host the summer olympics. now, our larry smith is a veteran of four olympic games. he joins us now with the latest details. all right, larry. >> yes, here we go. i get excited this time of year because it's exciting to see which city is going to beat out the other. chicago, rio de janeiro, madrid, and tokyo, all outstanding cities with impressive bids. how can the international olympic committee choose just one? there are so many key factors, venues, hotels and lodging for athletes, media, and other olympic personnel. security, transportation, doping control, and least but certainly very important is money. how much do you have and will your government make up the overage? the decision will be made by committee members with little knowledge of the finalists because they are prohibited from visiting the cities to prevent bribery. >> thanks for the update. appreciate it.

moving on, we'll go over and check in with bob coming up. before we do that, this just in. israel has just released 19 palestinian female prisoners being held at a detention camp outside jerusalem in exchange for a videotape from the militant palestinian group hamas. now, the videotape is important because it's supposed to be of recent recording of an israeli soldier who was kidnapped three years ago. he was abducted when palestinian militants crossed from gaza into israel. actor john travolta's lawyer testified two accused extortionists threatened to slander the actor unless they were paid millions. two people are 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 in the bahamas. both have pleaded not guilty. next week people in samoa will say their final farewells to the more than 100 friends and

family killed in tuesday's tsunami. the island is having a mass funeral. look at the mess. on american samoa some people will follow tradition by burying loved ones in their yards. one family said they're going to bury their daughter with her backpack because she loved school. we told you about a progress -- about progress on a senate health care bill. this half hour we've got unusual moments from yesterday's debate in the senate finance committee. republican senator olympia snowe tripped and fell. she is okay. also, a small protest erupted. >> we advocate for single payor system. >> demonstrators support a government run health care system. security guards stopped them. all right. now let's check in with meteorologist bob van dillen who's got the latest on the forecast. we were talking about a freeze

warning earlier. >> lots of thunderstorms across the gulf coast. more on that in a second. this weather brought to you by green giant frozen vegetables as nutritious as fresh. what about the radar picture? coming out of new orleans it's big. you can see the rain coming through the city now drifting back into the gulf of mexico. a lot of lightning flashing but most of it has been offshore for the last 15 minutes. the rain line, itself, out ahead of the main cold front is stretching through mississippi into alabama and then falling apart across the northern half of alabama and tennessee. here is atlanta. i want to take you live to atl right now because we have travel concerns as the cold front approaches us later today. you see the mid level deck of clouds already in place but it's been so dry over the last couple days i'm not anticipating any heavy rain or even any thunderstorms. we are going to see some showers here and there, mainly late this morning into the early afternoon by this weekend. looks pretty good. get away fromatlanta. temperatures in the 70s today. going to be in the 70s and 60s when you get in toward columbus, ohio. heavy rain over here for you and the rain shield itself now extends in towards western

pennsylvania, northern parts of new york, you can see western new york, too. above all you're about to get the heaviest rain coming in i'd say another two hours or so then it stretches and hangs in there for most of the day so it's going to be a washout, western new york and western p.a. more rain stretching in to minnesota out of wisconsin. it hits north dakota and stretches down into south dakota but the rainfall totals from yesterday have been pretty impressive. here's the way it looks. paynesville, minnesota, 2.91 inches of rain. the rain continues to fall today. no flash floods or warnings but an area that will be waterlogged this afternoon. high pressure over the rocky mountains brings real cool air so if you're traveling to the rockies today cool start, temperatures approaching the average numbers, though, but right now you're in a freeze warning, denver, with your temperature hanging in there about 28 degrees. so below freezing for you. we'll have details coming up in a little bit. natasha, getaway friday. >> yes it is. thank goodness. it was like 20 degrees. my gosh.

>> it was cool. >> thanks. so is internet access as important as highways and railroads? one need ya study shows what they have to say about the use of broadband. also ahead -- >> he'll be counting the days until he can get on a pair of skis. >> a teenager came a long way to get his brand new leg. hear about the accident that changed his life.

39 minutes past the hour. broadband access to the internet is as important for americans to

have as fresh air and safe streets. that's according to a report from a group studying information needs in communities. they say with the amount of business done on the internet it is vital for people to have better access. the report says one-third of people who don't subscribe to broadband and in some rural communities, it's not even available there. hero pilot chesley "sully" sullenberger finally finished a flight he started eight months ago. >> yeah! >> yesterday the captain was back in the cockpit and reunited with his copilot on a new york to charlotte flight. it was the same flight he was forced to ditch in the hudson river back in january. all 155 people onboard survived. passengers on yesterday's flight said they felt safe knowing sullenberger was at the controls. a colorado woman fought off a bear with a pillow. yes, 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 it made a little mess there. yeah. later that week, though, the bear came back two more times. wildlife officers captured her and her three cubs. they were hungry. okay. so you or someone you know may be running out of unemployment benefits and you're counting on the government to pass an extension. our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. some people are asking why is it taking so long for congress to get this done? >> we've been following this story closely because i know a lot of people out there really are waiting to hear, will they get 13 more weeks? people are struggling. but, you know, in congress they've got to compromise to come to an agreement before it

becomes the law. the plan would mean 13 more weeks of unemployment checks for people in some of the hardest hit states. it passed the house of representatives but hit a road block in the senate. the extension would be in the red states where unemployment is more than 8.5%. so there you see them. there are about 27 red states. it's senators from the other states, those gray states that you see there, who are blocking this because they say, hey, it's not fair that everybody else gets the extra money. the bill is not dead yet so they may compromise. we'll be watching very closely. in the meantime of course many families are seeing their benefits run out. for every job open right now there are about six people who are looking for a job. here is good news. it's about heating bills. you may find them either flat or down sharply this winter. down if you heat with natural gas. government says, you know, look. with factories running on low, people are spending less, there's a lot less natural gas being burned up. so they're storing more natural

gas than ever so the supply and demand, more supply is good for your prices. it means they could go lower. natural gas prices down 8% yesterday. some of the suppliers are already cutting rates and more are likely to follow suit. natasha? something less to worry about moneywise. >> i love that story. one more reason to crank up the thermostat this winter. my husband and i -- >> you know, the experts are hoping we all won't do that. >> i know. >> i know what you mean. >> thanks, jen. we have an exciting addition to our primetime lineup. "the jay behar show" premieres this week and airs every night at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. last night she chatted with comedian jeffrey ross about his new book "i only wrote the ones i love." >> it took sarah palin four months to write her book. how long did it take you? >> it took me a year but in all fairness i had to use complete sentences. >> that's true. is it a tell all? what is it about? >> it is a tell all but, you

know, not like mackenzie phillips talking about having sex with her father. i don't think we have to tell everything. i was molested by bea arthur. you don't see me crying about it on the oprah winfrey show. >> catch the show at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln tonight. a high school football team thought they had lost the game after missing a field goal but you will not believe what happened next. see what went down after this kick.

education secretary arne duncan says federal stimulus money for education is meant to be extra dollars for schools. but 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.

no twitter and now no radio show for one star athlete. larry smith, what's going on in the nfl, huh? >> you know, sometimes the nfl does something that makes you go, what? >> yeah. >> this actually makes sense. jacksonville quarterback david garrard has had his radio show nixed by the coach. the show aired in jacksonville the last three fridays but it's just two days before game day. kind of close, you know? the coach says doing media stuff early in the week to rehash the last game is fine but late in the week that time should be devoted to studying game plans and spending time with family and getting rested up and garrard says he understands. the earthquake and tsunami has wreaked havoc on american samoa and samoa and that has resonated among the college football community in the u.s. dozens of college football players are samoan. university of utah's defensive tackle saligo lost eight family members and a team mate lost three close relatives. the school is doing whatever it

can to help the players. okay. you got to see this. the end of a high school football game in vermont. the losing team misses a game-winning field goal but watch this. the player makes the catch, spikes the ball in celebration. that's a fumble. that's a live ball. the losing team recovers, scores the touchdown, and wins the game! the moral of the story is know the rules and natasha i know you feel bad for him, but i don't. you got to know the rules. >> i feel bad for him because i probably would have done it. poor guy. >> unbelievable. i feel bad there but just kneel down. just kneel down. >> sort of cover your head. >> yeah. >> thanks, larry. an ancient skeleton may be the missing link to the first humans on earth. apparently it's not quite a person, not quite a chimp either but scientists say it has a lot to do with how we got here. that's new for you in 20 minutes. a beauty queen is missing her crown. miss maine says someone stole it

from her car last week. she says the crown was in a special box in the back seat and she wants it returned, no questions asked. now, for now she's borrowing a crown from a former winner. ms. maine says her original crown is priceless to her. in this tough economy we can all use our own money coach, right? hln money expert clark howard is here to do just that. listen to mike and tina's story and see what advice he has for them. >> i'm mike. >> i'm tina. >> we need a money coach. we've been very fortunate and blessed and we've made some good financial decisions. and therefore we've paid off our home. i guess i learned a lot of my financial responsibility from my mother. she raised three children by herself and she had to be frugal with her money and as an adult, i've always been frugal with mine. we should be saving a lot more than we are because primarily my whims i guess you would say and i think that's how to fut, i

like to go on trips and on ebay and i like to do things like that and the money kind of disappears. and we don't track it. my question is, we own an older home. we'll need some home we need home improvements, roof, heat and air system, et cetera. how should we bubblidget for th? >> mike and tina, so many people are enveious of you. i want you to look at saving 15 cents of every dollar you make so you can start to build up a rainy day fund. 5 cents of every dollar, but a dime of every dollar saving for retirement because you've got the to bulk up there. now, for most of us, if you through a working lifetime will follow the rule of a dime of every dollar towards savings for retirement, you you will create a cushion and some security for yourself later in life.

let's say you have an employer match. you put 6 cents in, they put a match, gets you a dime, that's fine, too. >> clark could be your money coach, too. the clark howard show airs saturdays and sundays right here at noon on had hln. in this struggling economy, clark will help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. the fame kills tour is dead for kanye west and lady ga ga. what concert organizers are saying to those who bought tickets.

good mother. are you awake? in just a few hours you are going to know whether president obama's olympic bid was a slam dunk or a strikeout. the president stayed up you late last night to try to snag the summer games for chicago. we've got details on the fierce competition. and you're going to hear david letterman's shocking revelation. he admits to having affairs with some of his employees and he also says he was the target of a blackmail plot. plus -- a mom is accused of being so drunk she passed out in her minivan. and her young kids apparently

wandered for miles. and her own husband says she's stupid. president obama and the first lady spent the wee hours of the morning pushing to get the summer olympic games to chicago. now they're headed back to the u.s. from denmark, and they have to wait until this afternoon to find out if their efforts worked. the president told the international olympic committee that chicago and the u.s. are ready to host such a global event. >> i urge you to choose chicago. i urge you to choose america. and if you do, if we walk this path together, then i promise you this, the city of chicago and the united states of america will make the world proud. >> chicago, tokyo, rio and madrid have been lobbying to host the 2016 olympic games for more than a year, but it's going to be at least five more hours before the committee announces the winner. new this morning, a jaw dropping admission from late-night 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, letterman said a man threatened to write a screenplay exposing those relationships. >> this whole thing has been quite scary. i had to go downtown to testify before the grand jury. and i had to tell them how i was disturbed by this, worried for myself, worried for my family. i felt menaced by this. and we get to, what was it? what was all the creepy stuff that he was going to put into the screenplay and the movie? and 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. i have had sex with women who

work on this show. >> and the suspect who works for the cbs show, 48 hours, was arrested yesterday in about 15 minutes we'll take a closer look at how this might affect letterman's reputation. hope is quickly turning into in indonesia where two big earthquakes in two days have killed at least 1100 people. that number is from the u.n. watch as rescuers save a teenaged girl who had been buried near nearly two days under what used to be her college. time is running out to find thoughs more people who may still be trapped. heavy rains are making the search even harder. if you're one of millions of americans looking for a job, all the talk of an improving economy may sound like a lot of hot air. jennifer westhoven is here. the new you jobless numbers come out in about 25 minutes, not expected to look too hot. >> thank you. today is the day where we get the big monthly jobs report. this is the thing you'll probably see in headlines of all the weekend papers.

what we could be doing is closing in on nearly 10% unemployment. the september numbers are coming in less than half an hour. we'll bring them to you as we get them. you can already see here in just two years unemployment rate has more than doubled to almost 10%. so we have been headed this for quite some time. how do you square this with the bad news? well, the fed says the recession is nearly ending. then you go being look at this. but it's because the job market is called a lagging indicator. it could be some time, even as other parts of the economy are healing, for the job market to come back and for companies to start hiring. >> painful for so many waiting to get a job. thank you so much. michael jackson was apparently in pretty good physical shape before he died. the associated press got a copy of its autopsy report which says that jackson's heart was strong and his other major organs were normal. but jackson's lungs were chronically enflamed. a doctor who reviewed the autopsy report talked about the findings.

>> he's 50, all of us at the age of 50, you have some wear and tear on your body, especially with what he did. so to my opinion, would i have seen is certainly normal wear and tear. he did have scars from cosmetic surgery and all the issues that we know and he did multiple needle marks on his armses. >> a coroner ruled the death as a homicide. lawmakers worked until after midnight on a health care compromise bill. around 2:00 a.m. eastern, senate finance committee chair max baucus you said work had been completed on all parts of the legislation. democrats made last-minute changes to ease the imon working class families. one change would exempt millions from a requirement to buy health insurance. a final committee vote is set for next week. got some wild weather going on. let's check with meteorologist bob van dillen for the forecast. >> big sweeping low pressure

region toward the great lakes, a cold front down to the gulf of mexico. look at the low right around western great lakes, including a front where the cold front runs into the warm front. it stretches into the gulf of mech mexico, drawing out a lot of moisture. no severe weather right now, but the heavy rain is out there from areas just south of louisiana into new orleans and getting back into lower parts of my miss. now in alabama as well. new orleans radar picture, trying to get in or out, the main heavy squall is past you but the light rain showers are out there for the first part of the morning. later today, just break it up you to partly cloudy skies, humid. my miss to pam bam, the rain stretches that north georgia. if you remember two weeks ago, flooding rains were out here. for the last week or so, we've had dry air in place. as the squall line gets into the north georgia mountains it gets buzzed down by the dry air. i don't expect to see a lot of heavy rain around atlanta in towards knoxville.

we will columbus, ohio, cincinnati, rain showers. western new york and ohio get it. buffalo, be prepared for heavy rain. rain extend into detroit, filtering in towards toronto. rains getting into the lower parts of ontario. back toward the west, rain going in towards fargo, north dakota around the western part of that state and dropping down into south dakota and the rain here for the last couple of days has been pretty nice. here's what it looked like just yesterday. paynesville, minnesota, 2.91 inches of rain, fargo almost 2 inches of rain just yesterday alone. getting the rain again today. no flood warnings, which is good. but soggy conditions continue for the next day, maybe day and a half. here's what it looks like across the rocky mountains, high pressure in place, cold. temperatures below freezing toward the denver metro. already starting out on a cold note, 27 degrees in denver,

about 55 in vegas. on the way back up you to the 90s. more in a bit. >> making me think about skiing now. >> yes. starting to be that season, no doubt. an ancient skeleton is teaching scientists a lesson about our ancestors. it may be the oldest prehuman you ever found. it's changing the way scientists think about our species. plus -- it's getting cheaper to ditch your landlord and buy your own house. not just because home prices are down.

move over, lucy. it seems another female fossil may be the oldest skeleton ever found of a human ancestor. scientists believe the fossil remains of a 4-foot-tall female are 4.4 million years old. it predates lucy by more thab a million years. researchers believe it could offer new clues to how humans

may have evolved. >> if you were to ask someone on the street today, what did an early ancestor of humans look like, they would prove probably say, well, it would look like lucy and before that it would look like a chimpanzee. what the fossils that are being described in science today will tell you is that both of those conclusions are very incorrect. >> ardi was discovered in ethiopia in known 94 sandwiched layers of volcanic rock. it took years to dig it up you and study it. tlc is stopping production on john a"jon & kate plus 8." the network says jon gosselin sent a cease and desist order to stop filming his children. he told larry king he's trying to protect his kids. >> i'm asking not to be on the show and asking my children not to be on the show.

i mean, i don't want them to film anymore. i don't think it's healthy for them. the reason i don't think it's healthy for them is we're going through a divorce right now and i don't think it should be televised. >> john wants to try this in the mee media, doesn't want to deal with the judge you, deal with the best interests of the children. that's kate's sole concern. >> kate accuses jon of wanting to shut down the show because he was getting a loser role. we'll find out if the nation's unemployment rate could hit 20% for the first time in 26 years. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. investors on wall street are not too optimistic. >> no. they're worried. we could see that last night in the stock market. unyou employment still at a 26-year high, more than 7 million jobs destroyed since this recession started in 2007. it's been called the great recession because it's the worst one we've seen since the great

depression back in the 1930s. so for a while there was optimism. we were heading into recovery. that's unraveling. the dow is off 200 points. some of the recent economic signals have been pretty weak. that's why we've got fear about the number coming in just about 15 minutes from now. we'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. we talked about yesterday the ceo of america's biggest bank calling it quits. ken lewis at bank of america will get a pension worth 53 million and a pretty golden to me, $53 million. that was in some of the small print in the proxy statement and that breaks down to a cool $3.5 million a year for the rest of his life. he is of course leaving amid heavy criticism about his firm's takeover of merrill lynch. here's good news. this is for anybody involved in the housing market. mortgage rates are back below 5%. now, take a look at the 30-year. this is the first time in four

months it went below that mark. this is from freddie mac. and a 15-year, you could save a lot of money in interest. that's a record low, 4.3%. keep in mind, mortgage rates are good, but usually the reason they go lower is when there's a lot of fear about the economy. so it's a double-edged sword. but still a great time in many ways to be a connvic consumer. >> thanks. elizabeth smart was just 14 when she was kidnapped from her bedroom. now she is telling the chilling details about what happened to her.

we told you earlier about david letterman's shocking confession that he's had sex with female staffers in the past. he went public on his show last night after he claims someone tried to blackmail him for $2 million millioned. an editor told our sister network cnn this probably won't hurt letterman's reputation. >> first of all being let's be honest. you don't think of him as a sexual object. on the other hand, he's a classic bohemian so it fits that and he's a rascal.

if it happened to jay leno it might be damaging. how damaging is it with letterman's audience? these are largely frat boys. >> letterman just got married in march to the woman he has been involved with for more than 20 years. for the first time, elizabeth smart talked publicly about her kidnapping seven years ago. yesterday in court she described her kidnapper, brian david mitchell, as evil, wicked and slimy. and she says mitchell raped her three or four times a day and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. smart's father said she actually wanted to face mitchell in court and asked if he could be muzzled for the hearing. >> you know, there were certainly a lot of things that i had never heard before, and i had -- i had no idea what she had gone through. so much out there. >> smart's testimony will help decide whether mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial. hey, we're just hours away

right now from the final decision on the host of the 2016 olympic games. now, here's larry smith with more on the summer games. larry, we're waiting to find out. >> yes, we are. about 4 1/2 hours away. at stake is billions of dollars in revenue and priceless prestige that comes with forever being known as an olympic host. madrid is about to make its bid in copenhagen, the last of the four cities in the running. the candidates will be eliminated one by one in a round of successive bidding. chicago is the first u.s. to host since atlanta in 1996. we'd love to have it here in states. madrid lost a bid to host the 1972 and 2012 summer olympics. that city's advantage is they already have 70% of the venues needed completed. rio will host the 2014 world cup and aims to become the first south american country to host the olympic games. many consider tokyo to be the outsider with asian neighbor beijing having hosted last year.

they want ioc members to put the 2016 games in what they call the world's most exciting city. counting down to the vote this morning. what a difference a day makes. wednesday the agency representing michael vick announced the client's new deal with nike. thursday a spokesman denied that the eagles quarterback and ex-convict had signed on as a pitchman. they said there is an agreement to supply vick with shoes but he's not a spokesman. he was a spokesman before they dropped him before he went to prison. our true champion is a man who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident at age 18. now he's a 3 handicap in golf on one leg. he can hit the ball 260 yards and refuses to use a prosthetic leg. playing in a tournament in europe this weekend. that is a look at sports. cool for him. >> yes, it is.

he must have pretty strong obliques. >> and great balance. >> exactly. thanks so much. we have an exciting addition to our prime-time lineup. "the joy behar show" airs every night at 9:00 p.m. here is a quick taste of what you'll get. >> 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 hamilt hamilton, obama looks like a guy with hyperactivity disorder. by the way, how you spend your time is also important. 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 taken 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 just sit on your behind and criticize, 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 those blow-hards in congress come up with alternatives or solutions. all you hear is this endless stream of no, i don't want to. you want to do what? they sound like me on my wedding night. may i offer up a solution? when these lazy s.o.b.s come up for reelection, say you would have voted for hthem but you wee just too busy. the fame kills tour is dead for kahny west and lady gaga.

what concert promoters are saying to those who bought tickets. we placed leah's sofa in this glass box...

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as 145 stinky lint roller sheets. wow! it really works! ooh, that is one big hairball. ( cat meows ) pick up pet hair. that's the beauty... of the pledge fabric sweeper. you'll find it where you find pledge. s.c. johnson, a family company. president obama says chican. would make the world proud if it most hosts the 2016 games. he made his plea to the international olympic committee in denmark. chicago, tokyo, rio and madrid. find out which city wins. >> 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. >> the audience didn't quite now how to respond when david letterman admitted to having

affairs with women who work with him. he came clean after a man allegedly tried to blackmail him for 2 million bucks. that man who works for cbs' "48 hours" was arrested yesterday. police in chicago are investigating the beating of another teenager. a witness told police the 14-year-old was chased down by three other teenagers wednesday night. he's now in critical condition. this come a week after a 16-year-old was beaten to death in the city. welcome back. i'm natasha curry in for robin meade. she'll be back on monday. >> it's a city that works. in its first world's fair more than a century ago to world cup we hosted '90s. we know how to put on big events. >> today i can dream and i am dreaming of an olympic and paralympic games in chicago that will light up lives in neighborhoods all across america and all across the world.

>> the decision for the 2016 games is expected around 12:55 p.m. eastern time and we're going to learn later today which of the four final cities will get to host the summer olympics. our larry smith is a veteran of four olympic games and joins us now. >> i can't wait to see how this will all come out. i'm thinking about the suler games before i've been to, atlanta, beijing, athens, troent toe, the four cities now, chicago, rio, madrid, tokyo, all great cities. how can they choose just one? a lot of key factors, hotels and lodging for athletes, media and personnel. that's important. the venues need to match specific criteria. security, transportation, doping control is huge, and least but very, very important is money. how much do you have and will your government make up for any overage? that's key as well. the decision will be made by committee members with little current knowledge of the

finalists because they are contributed from visiting the cities to prevent bribery. >> interesting. tell me this. which city has the most to gain? >> good question. i think that would be rio. their selection would be the first by a south american country and would give the process some equality by put gt the games in a lesser developed region. the secret balloting begins as you mentioned later this morning and cities will be eliminated round by round until finally one gets the majority. the city that's out first you wonder who will that congregation throw their support behind to get to the number one choice. president obama as you mentioned extremely popular abroad and some believe his impassioned speech along with the first lady's speech about chicago, the city's massive parks, the water front space with the picture effe esque skyline. my pick? chicago for 2016. >> thank you so much, larry. so president obama just held

a secret meeting with the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, but now the word's out. senior white house correspondent ed henley has details. >> reporter: the president has just wrapped up a 25-minute meeting aboard air force one with his commander on the ground in afghanistan. this meeting took place here in copenhagen because general stanley mcchrystal was already in europe in the last couple of days so white house officials private arranged for the general to be in copenhagen thext were trying to keep it secret. it just leaked out that the president met with his commander to continue the conversation that really kicked off wednesday that three-hour meeting in the white house situation room to figure out what the is strategy coming out of general mcchrystal's report about how the situation on the ground has deteriorated in afghanistan and the general believes there kneads to be more troops sent there. >> on thursday, general mcchrystal said the situation in afghanistan is serious and deteriorating. we've got breaking news. the government says the september unemployment rate rose

to 9.8%. in august, it was 9.7%. 263,000 jobs were lost last month. our money expert jennifer westhoven is crunching today's numbers, we'll check in with her in a few minutes. a texas judge just cleared the hearing for a same sex divorce hearing. the couple got married in a state that allows it so the judge says they meet the requirement to file a divorces in texas. the state attorney plans to appeal. he says it's just a roundabout attempt to challenge texas' ban on same-sex marriage. john travolta's lawyer testified two accused extortionists threatened to slander the actor unless they were payed millions. two are accused of demanding $25 million from travolta. otherwise, they would go to the press with a story that he was somehow responsible for his son's deadly seizure in the

bahamas. both have pleaded not guilty. it's friday. ready for the weekend? looking at some storms, let's check in with bob for the 40 cast. >> good morning. i want to show you the main weather player today, that real big area of low pressure now that's sprawling across the western great lakes into the upper midwest, northern plains. it's jacking the cold front all the way down to the gulf of mexico, helping to draw out a lot of clouds and a lot of rain out of the gulf and throw it into areas like louisiana, alabama, mississippi, and that cloud shield is moving its way into the northeast. it's also getting into the mid-atlantic. let me take you live to the way it looks in washington, d.c., right now. the clouds are in. peeks of sunshine, too. the high today about 73. rain is headed in your direction, but i don't think it gets there until after sun tonight. mostly today is dry. watch for the rain midnight couple of hours before. looks pretty decent around the beltway. as for the actual rain, it's been heavy at times, pulling down out of northern louisiana

towards new orleans. most of the rain is offshore, a couple of light scattered showers around lake pontchartra pontchartrain. the rain itself is beginning thin out toward the east and drier air. you might see a stripe of showers toward northern georgia, near rome and central alabama. a couple of showers or two around atlanta, but the heaviest rain is pulling in toward columbus, ohio. that gets into western pennsylvania, western new york state, too. buffalo, watch for about an inch of rain to pile up starting later today. ending up tonight. rain stretches into basically northern minnesota into the dakotas and breaks up a touch. a lot of rain in this area just yesterday. look at the results from yesterday's rain. paynesville, minnesota, almost three inch, jackson, 2.39. the rain continues this morning, off and on for the next day, maybe day and a half. more in a bit. >> thank you, bob. we have an exciting addition

to our prime-time lineup "the joy behar show" premiered this week, airs every night at 9:00 p.m. last night she chatted with comedian jeffrey ross about president obama. >> comedians have pretty much avoided a lot of jokes about obama. you think it's time now? >> i think obama's skin is thick. there will be a lot of jokes about the size of his stimulus package. a lot of fun, i think. they're going to sling jokes in washington, may as well do it here. >> check the show 9:00 p.m. eastern. a man who is deaf and mute couldn't call for help when his apartment caught fire but still managed to rescue his fiancee and baby from the flames. plus, the summer travel season may be over, but the deals on plane tickets and hotel rooms are getting even better this fall.

buried just in dust, covered in it. still in their uniforms. at least 1100 people died after two quakes hit the country. look at these people just trying help get other people out. it's thought thousands more may still be buried. a man who is deaf and mute was able to save his family from their burning apartment. he didn't hear the fire alarm. he woke up to find the room filled with smoke but he couldn't yell to help his mother, fiancee and 4-month-old daughter. he explained through an interpreter what happened. >> he's saying that he woke up

and the whole place was in flames and he just busted out windows to drag his mom, and his baby out. >> his mother is in the hospital with life threatening injuries. his fiancee and baby girl are okay. breaking news. the unemployment rate rose in september to the highest level in 26 years. our money expert jennifer westhoven has more on what these numbers could mean for the economy. jen? >> thanks. this is one of the best ways, one of the biggest economic numbers that we get, way to see how economy is doing. the numbers show that things are getting rougher still when it comes to finding a job. unemployment ticked slightly higher to 9.8%. that's what you'll see in the papers tomorrow morning, a 26-year high. it's all the worst since 1983 when we had unemployment at more than tenor%. a lot of forecasts it may go there in the coming months. what we see from this report is companies are still cutting jobs.

united airlines, they're still worried the economy is shrink and that they have to bryce brais for tougher times. 263,000 jobs were lost in the latest month month. a lot worse than expected and that's why we're probably going to see the dow you have a big drop when that bell rings in about 45 minutes. you know, there's a reason for that. all the total number of jobs at this point since the recession started in december 2007, about 7.2 million. it's the worst job loss since the great depression. now, for all the people who are maybe on unemployment now and hoping there's going to be an extension, we've talk eed this, rumbles about it on capitol hill. maybe someone you know is on unemployment and is worried they could run out of it. basically the story here is that things are locked up on capitol hill. it did pass the house, but it didn't pass the senate. the reason is because i think we've got a map we can show you, i'm not positive that's coming up right now, in the red states

unemployment is more than 8.5%, people in the hardest hit states. the extension was for them. but senators from the other states, the gray states, they say that's not fair to our people that they're not getting more money, too. so it's not dead yet, but it is glommed down. maybe they'll work out a compromise. i'll let you know any news we see on that front. i know so many people are counting on that, hoping. they know their employment benefits are running out and they just haven't found a job yet. a judge blasted a mother who is accused of getting so drunk she passed out in her parked minivan. what else she's accused of that got the judge so angry.

i'm larry smith with sports. no twitter and now no radio show for one guy. well, you know. this is all about focusing on the task at hand when it comes to nfl athletes. david girard has had his radio show nixed by his head coach.

why? the radio show aired the last three fridays just two days before game time. del rio says doing media stuff early in the week to rehash the last week is fine but late in the week, this time should be devoted to neil studying game time, getting ready for the task at hand. ga regard says he understands no more radio shows on fridays. he won't give away trade secrets before kickoff. the earthquake and tsunami has wreaked havoc in samoa and american samoa and resonated among the college football in the u.s. a university of utah player lost eight family members and a team lost three close family members. the coach says the school is doing what it can to help the players. the end of a football game in vermont, the losing team missing a game winning field goal. but wait, this guy decides he wanted to celebrate by spiking

the ball. the so-called losing team picks it up, runs in for the game winning touchdown. there you go. moral of the story, you've got to know the rules. we've all had those horrible, embarrassing moments. luckily i'm old enough it wasn't on video and put on the internet. >> when you're little, you're playing basketball, you start running for the wrong basket after halftime. >> oops. >> i've done that. a mother is accused of being so drunk she passed out in her parked minivan leaving two toddlers to wander away. broward county deputies say that someone found the kids ages 3 and 4 miles from home, trying to cross a busy road. they found the woman passed out in the minivan in her driveway. the judge openly scolded her in court. >> your children were found two miles away from you past out in your driveway. if that is not a danger to your children, then i don't know what is, ma'am. short of having a loaded gun

with them, i don't know what's any more dangerous. >> she's charged wi ed dui and neglect. her husband indicated she's stupid and indicated they wouldn't married much longer. chesley sullenberger finally finished a flight he started eight months ago. yesterday the captain was back in the cockpit and reunited with his co-pilot on a new york to charlotte flight being the same flight he was forced to safely ditch in the hudson river in january. sullenberger was quick to compare the two trips. >> this flight today was a lot longer than that one in january. and i was able to give mr. parker back his airplane without getting it wet first. >> all 155 people on board january's flight survived the splashdown. amazing. passengers on yesterday's flight said they felt safe knowing

sullenberger was at the controls. a married couple says someone put raw meat in the walls of their home to stink up the place. that will do it. they say their las vegas home was vacant and unauthorized renters trashed the place. a man is accused phoney landlord and renting out their empty home. >> it's just crazy. anybody can leave out of town for a few weeks or whatever it may be and come back and their house could be gone, somebody could be living here. so it's just odd. it's crazy. >> yeah. the man is accused of collecting rent on several homes he doesn't own. hey, here's some good news in a bad economy. if you can get away for a trip, now's a great time to go. hln money expert clark howard says there are ultra-cheap deals out there. >> do i have great news for you if, a, your job is secure and you're not carrying extraordinary levels of debt. this fall represents the best

bargain time i can remember in forever for you to take a trip somewhere. why? because everybody else either can't afford to or is to afraid to go. so the deals have gotten better and better and better. listen to this new stat, hotels.com, which is a big hotel booking site reports that the average cost of a hotel room this year versus last year is down 17%. that's a big number. and if you really shop around, hotel rates are the lowest i can remember in this decade. so you know what else is a deal? air flights. air flights around the u.s. and from here overseas, ultra, ultra, ultra-cheap for fall. kids are back in school, they're begging for customers. i'm clark howard, for more money-saving tips, go to my website cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> and clark, will teach you how to save more, spend less, and

avoid getting ripped off. catch him saturday and sunday on hln. get this, when one woman couldn't find her cross bow to stop some burglars, she grabbed the next best thing. how some pool balls kept her out of harm's way.

it's friday. thank goodness. i'm natasha curry in for robin meade today. she's going to be back on monday. here are the stories making headlines on "morning express." your odds of landing a job just got worse. the unemployment went up and today's grim report may rattle wall street. in just a few hours, we're going to know whether president obama's olympic bid was a slam dunk or a strikeout. you're going to hear the president rave about his adopted hometown. but chicago faces big competition. and, a mom is accused of being so drunk she passed out in her minivan. her young kids apparently

wandered for miles. her own husband says she's stupid. breaking news, the unemployment rate rose in september to the highest level in 26 years. jobs are still being lost. our money expert jennifer westhoven has more on what these numbers could mean for the economy right now. >> this is one of the most accurate gauges we have of looking at the economy and especially the economy the way that you feel it. right, not just the economy the way that the federal reserve sees it through lots of numbers. the job market. the main way you participate in the economy and things are getting rougher. unemployment ticks slightly higher, 9.8%, now at a 26-year high. it's hard to find a job these days, back then we did go to more than 10% and there's fear that that will happen either later this year or early into next year. companies are cutting jobs. they're still worried the

economy is shrinking, 263,000 jobs lost. natasha, back to you. >> thanks so much. president obama and the first lady spent the wee hours of the morning pushing to get the summer olympic games to chicago. well, now they're heading back to the u.s. from denmark and they have to wait until this afternoon to find out if their efforts worked. the president said that chicago is diverse and the place where he finally found a home. >> chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different just as we celebrate what we have in common. the place where our unity is on colorful display. at so many festivals and parades and especially sporting events where perfect strangers become fast friends just because they're wearing the same jersey. >> now, right now madrid is making its bid to host the summer olympic games and when it's finished, the committee will break for a vote behind closed doors.

rio wrapped up its pitch a couple of hours and tokyo finished early this morning. the winner won't be announced until this afternoon, 12:30 p.m. eastern. president obama held a secret meeting, but now the word is out. senior white house correspondent ed henry has details. >> reporter: they were trying to keep this secret. it was just leaked out basically that the president met with his commander. this was to continue the conversation that really kicked off wednesday. that three-hour meeting in the situation room to figure out what is the strategy coming out of mcchrystal's report on how the situation in the ground has deteriorated in afghanistan and the general believes there needs to be more troops sent there. >> on thursday, general mcchrystal said that the situation in afghanistan is serious and deteriorating. new this morning, a jaw dropping admission from late night 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 last night he said that a man threatened to write a screen play 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. >> cbs says the suspect joe holderman has worked at the network for 20 plus years. most recently at "48 hours." holderman was arrested yesterday after allegedly accepting a fake $2 million check.

new this morning, another strong earthquake shook an already devastated area today. this one hit octonga. they're still looking for survivors from tuesday's tsunami. it killed at least 168 people, washed away villages and ripped apart families. ten significant quakes have hit the area in the last couple of days. aftermath in indonesia this morning here. take a look, we've got these fresh pictures. captured right after a roof collapse at a sports hall while people were inside practicing karate. you can see this woman coming out dazed and bloodied. other people coming out still covered in dust, still in their uniforms. poor thing. at least 1,100 people died after two quakes hit the country. it is feared that thousands more may still be buried in rubble just like this. but again, these pictures here, people just coming out, able to escape and getting help from people. 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. but jackson's lungs were chronically inflamed. a doctor who reviewed the autopsy report talked about the findings. >> he's 50, all of us at the age of 50, you have some wear and tear on your body, especially with what he did. to my opinion, what i have seen is certainly normal wear and tear. now, he did have some scars from cosmetic surgery and all of the issues that we know and he did have multiple needle marks on his arms. >> a coroner ruled jackson's death was a homicide caused by a powerful sedative. have you noticed -- really it's starting to look like fall is in the air and feel like it too. let's check in with bob van dillen for our friday forecast. >> on a cool note right now. right around the rocky mountains then it's warming up toward l.a.

high pressure dominating over the four corners, the northern rockies getting decent air in there. now it's dry. with the dry air, the high pressure overhead and a cool night, freeze warnings all the way around. denver under a freeze warning. most of eastern colorado is, as well. 26 degrees in denver, waking up to 18 in jackson. that's what it looks like going in towards wyoming. the cold air firmly entrenched b uh a little closer to the coastline, it's going to heat up nicely for you today. l.a., looking at a high fire danger north of you. red flag warnings, low humidity into the single digits. gusty winds to about 35 miles per hour and you're looking at warm temps into the low 90s north of l.a. in the mountains and valleys. the other big story that is spiralling low that is right around the minneapolis and stretching down on in towards the gulf of mexico with the cold front, drawing a lot of rain out of it. and under the clouds, look at that rain going from the gulf up through the ohio valley into the northeast now stretching all the way back into the upper midwest. more on that in a bit.

another day closer for philippines to get typhoon parma. here's how it looked yesterday as a category four type storm. it's beautiful with this picture from nasa, but they are going to get slammed tomorrow morning and we're talking about the northern part of the philippines that got hit just last week with another typhoon. hope for the best for those people. more details coming up in a bit. >> more flooding possibly. we'll see. so elizabeth smart was just 14 when she was kidnapped from her bedroom. now she's telling the chilling details about what happened to her.

10 minutes past the hour. a mother is accused of being so drunk that she passed out in her parked mini van leaving two toddlers to wander away. broward county deputies say someone found the kids miles from home trying to cross a busy road. they found the woman passed out in the van in her driveway.

she's charged with dui and child neglect. her husband says she's stupid. for the first time, elizabeth smart talked publicly about her kidnapping seven years ago. yesterday in court she described her kidnapper brian david mitchell as evil, wicked, and slimy. and she says mitchell raped her three or four times a day and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. smart's father said she actually wanted to face mitchell in court and she asked if he could be muzzled for the hearing. >> you know, there were certainly a lot of things that i have never heard before. and i had -- i had no idea what she had gone through so much out there. >> smart's testimony will help decide whether mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial. breaking news for you. the unemployment rate rose in september to the highest level in 26 years. some sectors of the economy were

hit harder than others too. and our money expert jennifer westhoven has more on this. >> and we wanted to take you inside the report. this is the way it effects so many of the americans out there. the job losses in the latest month were widespread across a lot of industries, many that have seen losses before. construction, 64,000 jobs were lost there, factory jobs, down 51,000, people who work in retail, down 39,000. got a lot of headlines about people getting hired for the holiday season, but overall employment there is down sharply. and government jobs were down, down 53,000. that's something that is a surprise. those are one of the few areas that have held up, but a lot of state and local governments are cutting back. one of the few areas to eke out again, health care. remember if there's any way you can line up your skills to apply for health care jobs, that's where you want to go, that's where the growth is. it's likely to really hit the stock market when the bell rings in about 15 minutes. at my last look, looked like the dow was going to open off more

than 100 points. mortgage rates went below 5%, if anybody's in the housing market, that's for the 30-year, if you can afford a 15-year, those rates are at record lows according to freddie mac. don't bite off more than you can chew, though, with those big monthly payments for a 15-year. >> there's no question, for nfl player kerry roads, fitness is a job. on the field, off the field, even on twitter. >> a lot of people have been asking me on twitter to give them workout tips. looking to lose approximately 23 pounds over the next six months. you're trying to do too much. >> rhodes tip number one, map out a fitness plan and start slow. >> work your way up and take your time and get to that point where you can do more. >> he says it's about setting reasonable goals and keeping your routine interesting.

>> do creative things to not get tired and not get used to doing the same thing over and over. >> reporter: a typical meal for ro rhodes, an early morning snack, high protein snack like a lean hamburger patty and for dinner, a chicken salad. also he loads up on things like water, fruit, green tea, or energy drinks to help stay full throughout the day. >> i get at least four meals in your system. whether that be a snack for one meal or energy drink for one meal. >> reporter: his advice for fans who tweet him and for kids who are obese, make fitness a priority. >> put on paper what you want to do. overall what you want to be at the end of the day. be active and that's the biggest thing. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. reality television got a little too real for jon gosselin. why he told producers of "jon & kate plus 8" that the show had to stop and how they're reacting.

lawmakers worked until after midnight on a health care compromise bill. around 2:00 a.m. eastern, senate finance committee chair max baucus said that work had been

completed on all parts of the legislation. democrats made some last-minute changes to ease the bill's impact on working class families. one change would exempt millions of people from a requirement to buy health insurance. a final committee vote is set for next week. hey, guess what? we have an exciting addition to our prime time lineup for you. "the joy behar show" premieres this week and airs every night right here on hln. here's a quick taste of what you're going to get with 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. by the way, 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 taken 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. you know, it was easier to just sit on your behind and criticize. 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? all you hear is no, you're going to do what? they sound like me on my wedding night. may i offer up this solution, when these lazy s.o.b.s come up to the midterm elections, tell them you would have voted for them, but you were just too busy. that's just me.

>> and you can catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. and hear joy and john stewart chat about her show, her other show, and the president. tlc is stopping production on the reality show "jon & kate plus 8," the network says that jon gosselin sent a cease and desist order to stop filming his children. on our sister network cnn gosselin told larry king he is trying to protect his kids. >> i'm asking not to be on the show and i'm asking my children not to be on the show. i mean, 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. and i don't think it should be televised and i think my kids should be taken off the show. >> jon wants to try this in the media, doesn't want to go to the judge. that's kate's sole concern. >> kate gosselin accuses jon of stopping the show because producers wanted to focus more on her experience as a single mother giving him a lesser role.

we're just hours away from the final decision on the host of the 2016 summer olympics. can you wait? can you guess? >> the olympics the real reality show where people work for four years. billions of dollars in revenue and prestige that comes from being forever known as an olympic host city. the candidates will be eliminated one by one in rounds of secret battling by the international olympic committee. madrid is giving its presentation right now at this moment. that is the spanish delegation, the spanish president spoke a couple of moments ago. it has never hosted an olympics, but madrid's advantage of having 70% of the venues completed. plenty of hotel space and the u.s. city would mean big advertising dollars and a bigger return to the ioc. rio is a sentimental favorite trying to become the first south american country to host the games. while many consider tokyo to be the outsider, beijing hosted the

summer games last year but they pitched about becoming a model of public safety and environmental responsibility to the world. we'll see who wins later today. michael vick won't be selling nike. the apparel giant denied signing the former qb to a contract a day after an announcement claimed otherwise. vick will get shoes from nike but he's not getting paid. he was dropped as a nike spokesman two years ago just ahead of his prison sentence on dog fighting charges. our true champion is this man. in a motorcycle accident at age 18, he lost a leg. but check out his golf game on one leg. now 25 years old, he hits the ball 260 yards in the air and refuses to play with a prosthetic. instead he chooses to walk with crutches in between shots. manuel santos, truly a true champion. >> yes, smooth. my goodness. captain sully returned to

the cockpit to take care of some unfinished business and complete a flight cut short when it took a dive into the hudson river. y8

the new york stock exchange has just opened for business. and investors are reacting to a new jobs report. we're going to have a live report from the trading floor in five minutes. it could get very interesting. it's a city that works. from its first world's fair more than a century ago to the world cup we hosted in the '90s, we know how to put on big events. >> today i can dream, and i am dreaming of an olympic and paraolympic games in chicago that will light up lives and neighborhoods all across america and all across the world.

>> president obama says that chicago and the u.s. would make the world proud if it hosts the 2016 summer games. he and the first lady made their plea to the international olympic committee in denmark overnight. chicago, tokyo, rio and madrid find out which city wins this afternoon. the u.s. may never be able to declare victory in iraq. that's from the war's top commander army general ray odierno. he says because no one may know for five to ten years. odierno says the u.s. is still on track to gradually withdrawal its troops. 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. >> the audience didn't quite know h david letterman admitted to having affairs with women who work with

him. he came clean after another cbs employee allegedly tried to blackmail him for $2 million. the suspect was arrested yesterday. and those are some of the headlines we're following for you today. welcome back on this friday, i'm natasha curry in for robin meade. the decision for the 2016 games is expected around 12:55 eastern time. we're all over it. waiting with excitement here to find out who wins. our larry smith is a veteran of four olympic games. joins us now. >> this is such an exciting time. you think about how often do you get a chance if you're going to be a host of an olympics. all outstanding cities with impressive bids. so you wonder how could the international olympic committee choose just one? and as a member of the media, you have a chance to see a lot of things inside and out. hotels from lodging for media athletes and other personnel. the venues that are going to be built or in place need to match criteria. security's a major issue, doping

control, and of course, money. how much of it do you have? and how much will your government loan to you if there's any overage? the decision will be made, they are prohibited from visiting the final cities to prevent bribery. natasha? >> so, larry, which city has the most to gain here? >> wow, you know, i think rio certainly does. they're the sentimental favorite. but madrid right now is an interesting case. madrid is actually giving the presentation as we speak in copenhagen, denmark, considered dark horse with a majority of venues built and coming in third in bidding for the 2012 games, however, more than half a century since a continent stage consecutive olympics. now, the spanish capital, their congregation finishing up their presentation. the cities will be eliminated round by round until one finally gets a majority. we'll see who goes out first and where that city support goes to

in the next round of balloting. president obama, as you mentioned extremely popular abroad. some believe his impassionate speech about chicago and the massive parks, water front -- the skyline alongside michigan avenue will play in the city's favor. my pick for what it's worth chicago in 2016. >> does it count for good shopping? chicago has great shopping, larry. >> well, that's got to figure into it, i think. but most of the venues will be right near the downtown area, which is what the world knows about chicago. the magnificent mile. and in fact, a few blocks away in daily plaza's where they're going to congregatcongregate. female prisoners being released outside jerusalem in exchange for a videotape for the militant palestinian group hamas. the videotape's important because it's supposed to be a recent recording of an israeli

soldier kidnapped three years ago. he was abducted when palestinian militants crossed from gaza into israel. actor john travolta's lawyer testified two accused extortionists threatened to slander the actor unless they were paid millions. two people are accused of demanding $25 million from travolta. otherwise, they would go to the press with a story that he was somehow responsible for his son's deadly seizure in the bahamas. both have pleaded not guilty. it was the apocalypse. that's how one woman described mud slides that killed at least 13 people on the island of sicily. you can see how deep the mud got in some places. look at this car buried half way. authorities say several buildings collapsed and about 20 people are still missing. people who lost their homes are gathering in public schools until the government can find them shelter. just lately this weather has made such a mess of so many spots across the world. let's see what's going on here in the u.s. bob, what's the latest of the

forecast? >> friday morning, you're looking at heavy rain now across central ohio, central p.a. and central new york state. south of buffalo, south of i-90, that's getting back in towards columbus and stretching out and thinning out too. getting to areas by alabama and north georgia out of mississippi. the rain is falling apart, but the gulf coast should pick up later on today as that cold front continues to steer moisture on through. look at the rain coming through right off lake superior and michigan, getting back toward northern parts of minnesota, north dakota, this area had a lot of rainfall yesterday afternoon. look at the board coming up. looking at jackson, minnesota, 2.39 inches of rain. and you're going to see more rain coming up again in a little bit. let me show you what it looks like in chicago. we're looking at basically cloudy skies in the morning, breezy conditions out there too. i anticipate to see a couple of showers too. it's dry right now, that's good news, rain on the way, some

wind, rain, delays because of that storm. basically sitting right overhead. in the rocky mountains, cold temperatures will start out the day. freeze warnings, all the areas we see shaded in purple. haven't seen temperatures like this in quite some time. look at the readings this morning, right around 26 in denver, las vegas about 54, but that dry desert air, you heat up quickly. l.a. today, upper 80s looking at low 90s across the mountains. >> chilly temperatures, thanks, bob. you know what? this morning, there's new evidence that the recession is still inflicting a lot of pain. the government says the unemployment rate rose to 9.8% last month. that is the highest it's been in 26 years. susan lisovicz is live with a look at how wall street's taking all this. hey, susan. >> welm, we're seeing an attitude adjustment on wall street, natasha. we've seen going into today's session, stocks have closed lower six out of seven sessions.

so we're seeing more negative sentiment because this is a disappointment. the number of job losses last month 263,000, much worse than expected. the labor department says since the start of the recession in december '07, 7.6 million more americans have lost their jobs and the jobless rate, by the way, has doubled. meanwhile, one of the nation's biggest commercial lenders continues its desperate efforts to avoid bankruptcy. cit group launching another effort to restructure its debt in hopes of trimming its balance sheet by more than $5.5 billion. analysts are optimistic about apple's outlook. iphone sales could double next year. at&t is the exclusive carrier of the iphone but after that contract expires, apple will probably strike deals with several very interested other carriers. and finally, the great news would be that chicago today wins the 2016 summer olympics. the bad news is, the windy city

has to pay for it. the current estimate $3.8 billion. and natasha, keep in mind host cities around the world overrun their olympic budgets as a matter of course. that's just a working number. >> yeah, $3.8 billion, though, that's a lot of money in a recession. thanks so much. >> you're welcome. say hello to your distant relative. why researchers say that this skeleton is changing the way that scientists look at the evolution of humans. also ahead, a deaf and mute man couldn't hear the screams for help and couldn't shout, but he was able to save his family from a burning apartment.

police in chicago are investigating the beating of another teenager. a witness told police the 14-year-old was chased down by three other teens wednesday night. he is now in critical condition. this comes a week after a 16-year-old was beaten to death in the city. move over lucy, it seems another female fossil may be the oldest skeleton ever found of a human ancestor. the fossilized remains are 4.4 million years old. artie predates lucy. researchers believe it could offer new clues to how humans may have evolved. >> if you were to ask someone on the street today what did an early ancestor of humans look like, they would probably say, well, it would look like lucy. and before that it would look like a chimpanzee. what the fossils that are being

described in science today will tell you is that both of those conclusions are very incorrect. >> artie was discovered in ethiopia in 1994 sandwiches between layers of volcanic rock. took years to study it. how about some good news in a bad economy? if you can get away for a trip, right now is a great time to go. hln money expert clark howard says there are ultra-cheap deals out there. >> do i have great news for you if, a, your job is secure and you're not carrying extraordinary levels of debt. this fall represents the best bargain time i can remember in forever for you to take a trip somewhere. why? because everybody else either can't afford to or is afraid to go. so the deals have gotten better and better and better.

hotels.com which is a big hotel booking site reports that the average cost of a hotel room this year versus last year is down 17%. that's a big number. and if you really shop around, hotel rates are the lowest i can remember in this decade. so you know what else is a deal? air flights. air flights around the u.s. and from here overseas, ultra, ultra, ultracheap for fall. kids are back in school. they're begging for customers. i'm clark howard, for more money-saving tips, go to my website, cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> and clark will teach you how to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturday and sunday right here on hln. a man who is deaf and mute was able to save his family from their burning apartment. now he didn't hear the fire alarm, he woke up to find the room filled with smoke and couldn't yell to help his

mother, fiancee and 4-month-old daughter. so he explained through an interpreter what happened here. >> he's saying he woke up and the whole place was in flames and he needed to drag his mom and baby out. >> reporter: his mother is in the hospital with life threatening injuries, his fiancee and baby girl are okay. we have an exciting addition to our prime time lineup. the "joy behar show" premiered this week and airs every night on hln. last night, joy not only did her own show, she also got some face time on "the daily show." >> is there a time of day now that joy behar is not on television? >> no. >> not really. >> i have more exposure than obama at this point. i'm on constantly 24/7, it's ridiculous. >> i'm so glad for you. you deserve your own show. it must -- because the view it's

a nice show, it's fun to watch. it must for you, to have your own thing and not constantly going -- that's right, chery. anyway. it's got to be -- >> i know, it's true. i have my own thing, i have to interrupt myself now. >> now, catch the joy behar show at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. cops say that a bystander intervened when a 13-year-old girl was being molested. wait until you hear the clue that saved her.

48 minutes past the hour. two off duty law enforcement officers say they came to the rescue of a 13-year-old georgia girl. they were at a park. the deputy says she saw a man's feet sticking out from a stall in the women's restroom and heard a child. >> the child sounded like he or she was in distress. i yelled, hey, come out of there, come out. he let the girl out. she came out, she was a little dishevelled and shaken.

and i grabbed her and said, are you okay? >> the girl said she was okay again. but meanwhile that state investigator who was nearby helped detain the man. he is charged with aggravated child molestation. a new flu vaccine is arriving at hospitals and doctors offices and a lot of nurses are not pleased with what that means for them. new for you. hear why 16,000 nurses are filing a lawsuit. no twitter and now no radio show for one star athlete. larry smith, what's going on in the nfl? >> natasha, it's crazy, the nfl with twitter and now can't do a radio show. this one focusing on the task at hand. david garrard has had his radio show nixed after only three weeks. the show aired each friday afternoon and that's the problem. del rio says doing media stuff early in the week is fine, but late in the week, players should

be devoted to studying the game plans, resting and spending time with his family. he says he understands the coach's decision. the earthquake and tsunami has wreaked havoc and resinating among the college football samo american samoa. dozens of college football players are samoan. university of utah's defense tackle lost eight family members in the tragedy and a team mate lost three close relatives. their coach says the school is doing what it can to help those players. okay. look, you got to see this. the end of a high school football game in vermont. now, this is the losing team missing a game-winning field goal. look at this. that's a live ball. you got to know the rules. you can't march out, spike the ball, and then, oops. that's a fumble. referee calls it a touchdown. the other team. that team wins. the home team in blue loses. oh, boy. you got to know what you're doing. premature celebration by the young high schooler here. what are you going to do? >> poor guy.

>> look at the video. there he is. >> oh, no. >> oh. poor thing. >> all at once. >> i feel your pain. >> he'll always be known as the guy who fumbled away the -- >> can you imagine what it would be like to go to school the next day? >> i don't want to think about that. >> me neither. >> everyone watch it this morning on hln? >> i know. i know. larry, thank you. hopefully he won't get thrown in the trash can. that's the worst. >> or a swirly or something. what's going on? one delay is major, a construction delay in minneapolis. msp. look at that. two and a half-hour delay because of the construction. that ends by about 11:00 your time. here's what it looks like weatherwise. chicago, one hour or more. rain, wind headed in that direction. a 60-minute delay is a possibility right now around atlanta later this afternoon and later this morning and minneapolis once you get away from the construction more rain and wind. we'll talk about that in a bit. >> busy with weather. there are a lot of new movies coming out this weekend

but one looks like it may be a big hit. >> you got a pretty mouth. >> mr. movie is going to tell you it's zombie land. is the film worth your ten bucks? )$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$)$