it's 7:00 in the morning eastern. morning, sunshine. rise and shine. i'm robin meade. what's going on now? health care reform passed a big money test. a key senate bill would actually cut the deficit. four huge earthquakes hilt today. you're going to hear about the aftershocks and a tsunami warning. an undercover sting operation that authorities say show how easy it is for the wrong people to get their hands on guns. first, though, new detalsz on a deadly bottomimbing that r

through crowded streets just as people were getting to work today. the taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 12 people in afghanistan's capital. the blast hit a check point at the embassy, shattering nearby windows and toppling restaurant walls. here's our sister cnn. >> when i talked to one shopkeeper, he says he blames this on the rivalry between india and pakistan. he says it's the indians that are the targets because of the an nimty between the two, and he says it goes on so much that he's willing to give up his shop and trying to leave afghanistan. >> nobody in the embassy were killed, but about a year ago, two died in a much bigger attack there. the taliban are denying accusations that they are

involved. the budget office says the key senate plan being considered would cost $829 billion over ten years. i know it's a huge number. but it is 70 billion less than expected and would even cut the deficit by 80 billion. those numbers could make it more appealing to moderates in both parties. the plan would also help millions of uninsured americans get coverage. four major earthquakes have hit the south pacific. it's happening near vanuatu. when the first one happened, a tsunami warning was issued and people ran for higher ground. but the warning vanished quickly. several aftershocks have also hit the area. they broke up an international major theft ring. 100 american judicial suspects were indicted yesterday and almost 50 have already been arrested. they are accused of collecting personal info by getting you to respond to phoney e-mails.

the suchs haspects have stolen than $2 million. arnie duncan met with students yesterday at the same school as a teenager who was beaten to death in the street last month. duncan and attorney general eric holder also met with chicago's mayor. holder said incidents like the beating should concern everybody. >> youth violence is not a chicago problem any more than it is a black problem, a white problem or a hispanic problem. it is something that affects communities big and small and people of all races and all colors. it is an american problem. >> 16-year-old derrion albert's death was caught on cell phone video. it was not an isolated incident. last night on our sister network cnn, one father said his son was killed in a similar fashion 18 months ago. >> we've done a lot of things to help it change, but we need help

in the community with these community leaders. they say they're doing things, but they vaenhaven't stepped up done nothing yet. the mayor, nobody. they do nothing. >> last year more than 30 people suffered violent delts in chicago. attorney eric holder says the obama administration is asking for $20 million in next year's budget for community-based crime prevention. many parents apparently don't want their children getting the h1n1 vaccine even as it becomes available. parents from the associated press said they are unlikely to give permission for their children to get vaccinated at school. maybe they're concerned about the side effects. researchers say no serious complications have turned up in the testing. thousands of people lined up for federal money meant to keep a roof over their heads, and these are the lines in detroit yesterday. the city handed out 50,000 applications for only 3,500 house assistant checks.

gang police and tactical units stepped in to stop people from pushing each other. several people had to be treated for fainting and exhaustion. what words do people use that just annoy you? "whatever" was named the most annoying in a recent poll. also in the list, "you know," "anyway," "it is what it is." okay, that's not a word but it is a saying. >> how about, "make sure we're all on the same page." >> how about "whatnot"? that one kind of sticks in my craw. >> in college, it was, "we need to talk." >> at least your wife ain't saying it. >> whatever, rob.

if you're doing any traveling today, look at the rain coming out of oklahoma now, in towards kansas, stretching to missouri, and it's heavy at times. the back side of that, ilts cold enough it's producing snow in northern nebraska now and parts of south dakota. ahead of it, though, it's going to be warm and humid, and it's the real delyineation line. south of kansas city, look where it's headed, though, right toward st. louis. looking for three to five inches of rain near and around st. louis over the next 24 to 36 hours. it's going to be a problem for you. look at rain coming in basically toward indiana and falling apart in some dryer air, but the whole mass is going to continue to move to the northeast, so chicago, be prepared for rain,

troi detroit, indianapolis, cincinnati. they extend all the way from central indiana to indianapolis all the way to texas. rain for the next day and a half is what we're going to find. the real track of the heaviest rain looks like it will be right across lower missouri. that could be six to eight inches of rain over the next few days. that's something we'll definitely watch. severe thunderstorms, we'll have them later today, right in that cold front in toward texas towards the lower part of illinois. then you get on the back side and again, it's all snow for southern parts of north dakota and northern parts of nebraska. check out d.c. not as windy today. t making for a nice sunrise. some video from yesterday, though, we had a big low go right through the great lakes. about 1,400 people lost power in

detroit. that's because of winds about 50 to 60 miles per hour. today not as windy but the rain is headed toward you for this afternoon. full details coming up in about a half hour. >> i am checking our facebook page right now. i just went to cnn.com/robin, and people have a lot to say. however, i don't hear anything yet about what people's most annoying words are. but here they come. thank you. this annoys me that we're talking about christmas. gimme a break! 78 shopping days. some stores cutting their prices by 50%. a woman is accused of attacking her rival? her lawyers have some words for the alleged victim.

ooh, baby. tired on a thursday morning? i'm with you. let's try to wake you up here. today's salute is from a woman who has two family members in the military, so here's a double salute to her brother and her cousin. >> hi, robin. that is gabby from texas. i'd like to salute my brother, tom stone, and my cousin, abbey miller. i love you, i miss you, i can't wait to see you when you come home and you have to give me a ride in your new truck. and you are a good husband. we can't wait for you to come home for good. >> if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute

them, go ahead. new cover video appears to show how easy it is to buy a gun in the united stalts. new york's mayor sent private investigate orsz to seven gun shows in three states. correspondent richard lui joins us now with more on what they found. so it's the investigators saying it's easier to buy a gun illegally. >> that's what they found, robin. 19 to 30 private uncertified dealers. in most states, they can legally sell guns without doing background checks. but if there's reason to think the buyer couldn't pass a background check, they aren't to sell them a gun.

>> well, they ran a different test on licensed dealers and even a larger percentage there failed. we'll have more on that for you, robin, later. >> so these undercover folks would say i cannot pass a background check, and they would still be sold the guns. >> they would still be sold the gun, correct. >> this was done in ohio, tennessee, nevada. help me keblconnect the dots. why is new york's mayor getting involved and what's happening with other states? >> mayor bloomberg saying criminals are getting those guns and bringing them back to his city, new york city. at a news conference yesterday, he called for federal law to call for background checks on all gun saelsz. >> closing the gun show loophole and cracking down on sellers who violate the law has nothing whatsoever to do with the second amendment. it's about basic law enforcement, plain and simple. >> but the mayor says he's not planning to file lawsuits against any of the private dealers on the tapes. the national rifle association took issue with what was

happening there saying, quote, bloomberg's priorities are clearly media first, justice later, end quote. robin? >> richard, thank you. target is making a major move to get you to spend. it's slashing prices on your kids' favorite things. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. i call this good news in a bad economy. >> i think so, and you're on to something you said earlier. it's awfully early to talk about christmas, but this could be a way to save money for the holidays. the toy wars are on. target is firing the second shot here. it's cutting prices 50% for many toys, so barbies $5, connect sets, 15. walmart also cut prices. there is so much competition since kay bee toys went under. barnes & noble are make morgue space for toys. that is music to your ears to

have more competition. many places are willing to lose money on toys just to get you through the door. the housing market a jump since may. good news for the housing market. could be temporary, we'll see. relatively low home prices and the government talking about extending the $8,000 tax credit. right now it's scheduled to expire at the end of november. there are talks underway, though, about extending it for a while to try and help stabilize the housing market. all right, if you are traveling this morning, hey, bob has your hot spots, and la guardia tough enough already. weather delays? >> yeah, they do. ilts the wind from last night and into this morning. a 45-minute delay in la guardia. only a morning delay, though, because the wind should abate by this afternoon. look at the rain in central and northern missouri, now in central illinois. right over st. louis, too, so

we'll get some delays here. the rest of the day, half an hour delay to an hour, boston and new york because of the wind in the morning. otherwise rain makes its way to cincinnati, chicago, detroit, st. louis, kansas city and memphis. dallas and denver, showers and storms. san francisco should have one later on. the president wanted something from the war's top commander. also ahead, police pulled over a car and found a nine-year-old behind the wheel. get this: it's not her first joyride.

good morning. 17 minutes past the hour as you brush your teeth here. president obama will start discussing the number of troops needed in afghanistan as early as tomorrow with his national security team. the pentagon says in an unusual move, the president asked for and received the top commander in afghanistan's formal troop and resource request before they met last week, and this troop-level discussion appears to differ from the white house's insistence that strategy comes first. >> one has to get a strategy that works. one has to get a strategy that has the confidence of all of those involved. at that point, you discuss the resources that are needed to

implement that strategy. but the president is very content not to do this backwards, not to pick a number of troops and then find a strategy, but instead to go through this in a rigorous way. >> some republicans say time is of the essence ask that he needs to decide about the troop lelz now. attorneys for the former as tra naut accused of attacking a romantic rival get to question that woman again. her attorneys want to get one of the charges dropped. the big issue, weather pepper spray actually touched colleen shipman. the prosecution says there is no evidence that it purposely withheld info. it said she drove from houston to florida to ask about her

dating a former boyfriend. did the score show this? >> you play 160 games in baseball, and minnesota and detroit were tied. they came down to one game, so the twins, they didn't even arrive at the new york hotel until 4:00 in the morning, the same day they were supposed to play, and yeah, they looked pretty tired. this was them the night before, celebrating after they beat detroit. a little champagne, a little beer. this is the first playoff game in the new yankees stadium. this is derek jeter with the first post-season run in the new park. whoever caught that ball was a happy karcher unless they were a twins fan. a little lie could have cost a player millions of dollars. bryant was suspended for the

rest of the year because he lied about deion sanders. when they asked him about it, he said, no, i didn't meet deion. well, lying is a suspension. whole year, suspended. he could still come back for his senior year. come on, ncaa, lighten up. talk about lighting up. michael jordan was told no smoking. when city officials saw pictures of jordan with a cigar in a newspaper, they quickly reminded the pga tour that smoking isn't allowed. so he supposedly carried it around and didn't light it. >> he just carried it around? >> carried it around in his mouth but didn't light it. last week senior citizens bringing on the heat, so to speak. the golden oldies, two dozen oldies trying out for the spots.

>> the team existed before and now they're getting new ones? >> they've had them a couple years now. i think the first one was '06. you know police wear bullet-proof gear, but now you can also. we're about to talk about clothing. not the bulky vest, but clothes that can stop a bullet?

the taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 12 people in afghanistan's capital today. the associated press reports that the car bombing targeted the indian embassy. it happened just as people were getting to work in what's typically a busy part of town. it looks like a key senate reform bill will cost less than expected. non-partisan budget analysts are talking 829 billion over ten years, 70 billion less than what the bill was estimated at. ilts expected to help cut the

deficit. the plan would expand coverage so 94% of all americans have health insurance. a state brazilian state legislator and tv crime show host is now considered a criminal fugitive. come on, you know the story. police say walasuza was involved in drug trafficking. he would have his rivals killed and, lo and behold, his camera crew would arrive on the scene which would drive up ratings. 31 minutes past the hour. i'm robin meade. you've got to hear about a controversial report about children in violence. the justice department says more than 60% of u.s. kids were exposed to violence last year directly or indirectly, but at least one criminologist said it

was inaccurate. he spent a million dollars on an investigation to highlighted what he says is rampa rampant. correspondent richard lui shows us what it found. >> unlicensed dealers do not have to do background checks, but it is illegal for them to sell to people they think may not pass one of those checks. now, the undercover investigation found that nearly two-thirds ignored those rules, but not everyone did ignore it. >> so he did follow the rules, that unlicensed dealer did, but investigators also tested licensed dealers. they found 16 out of 17 of those licensed dealers stole guns to

straw purchasers. robin, that's when someone with a clean record goes and buys a gun for someone else. >> those are the licensed people. >> they're licensed. they're not supposed to do that. well, mayor bloomberg says the atf needs to do a better job policing these gun shows. are they responding to that? >> the atf says the agency was not familiar with mayor bloomberg's report and couldn't comment, but a group called mares against illegal guns did a story on their own. they found gun dealers are inspected once every 11 years instead of the agency's goal of one every three. the atf also said they need $50 milli mi -- more agents to cover the entire country. was this straw purchaser

tell them? >> he would go up to that gun dealer, fill out the application forms while one of those people that wasn't supposed to purchase did, and they walked away and handed him the gun. she'll bet a $1.4 million award for her stories and pot o poetry. she was born in romania but had to flee. nearly two out of three muslims live in countries like indonesia, pakistan and india. now, the middle east and north africa are home to about 20% of muslims. this could be important to u.s. policy on muslim outreach. you know that texting while you're driving is a dangerous distraction. well, now there is a new push to teach teen drivers that same thing. some high schoolers in oklahoma went through a driving course while they were messaging their friends, using their phones and

even eating, and it was an eye opener. >> i couldn't even get my password into my phone. i have a touch screen phone and you have to look at it. i couldn't even get my password into my phone to start a text message because of the guy next to me sitting here going like this over and over again, and playing with my radio. there was no way. >> well, more states including oklahoma are considering new laws to make texting while driving illegal. an olympic hopeful was told, you cannot sell sex to pay your way into the games. rafer weigel, fill us in. >> what is this world coming to? robin, tae kwon do competitor logan campbell from new zealand set up a brothel specifically to raise money to get to the 2012 games. here's the thing, prostitution is legal in new zealand and he used it to advertise to his clients. olympic officials threatened to

sue him if he uses their name, so if he doesn't connect the olympics with it, it is legal. what do you think? if it is legal in new zealand, then as long as he doesn't associate it with the olympics it should be okay. >> oh, my goodness, our facebook page is full of comments about that one. >> and they're g-rated. >> so you can have a brothel, just don't say it's the olympic brothel. >> i guess. one airline is trying to lighten its load by asking you to go to the bathroom before you get on the flight. what? japan's japon air way said letting go of some weight would

use less fuel. it also includes recycled paper cups and plastic bottles instead of glass. who knew? >> somewhere the wright brothers are turning over in their graves, like, what did we come to? why did we invent this snithing. this weather brought to you by tylenol. feel better. what's going on across the region? we're watching the heavy rain continue now through new mexico, texas and oklahoma, ultimately getting into indiana and getting into ohio here as well. it's a cold front and it's a slow mover, so the heavy rain is going to be here a couple days, mainly around, i'd say, central missouri in the next couple hours. then you get down here farther, more showers and thunderstorms will fill in through amarillo, oklahoma city, in through kansas city, down toward i-70. getting more rain and it's heavy at times. when you start seeing the flashing and the lightning in

the reds and the color, that's the heaviest rain right now. that's at a rate of about an inch to an inch and a half per hour, so it's really coming down now. flash flood watches and warnings out there, too. heading in towards the cincinnati area. take you live to cincy. so far you're dry, clouds are in. assemblies mid to upper 60s. the rain will be there in a couple hours from now, then it really picks up in intensity overnight tonight. showers and thunderstorms are a good possibility. all in all, cincinnati gets about an inch to an inch and a quarter of rain in the next 36 hours. as for the flash flood watches, all the areas we put in dark green from kansas city all the way to st. louis, stretching in toward indianapolis and then down the pipe all the way towards texas. so this area gets slammed with heavy downpours over the next couple days. the commuter mputer monitor is picking it up well. somewhere around springfield

might see as much as six to eight. more coming up in the next half hour. it moves to the southeast for the weekend. >> i'm busy reading the facebook page. >> our fans are clever. they are. you know what i mean? >> you're commenting on so many different stories today. the one about don't connect your brothel to the olympics. >> just leave the five rings out of it, okay? >> exactly. and also what the most annoying words to you are, so just type away, i'll read them. you may have to wait and wait for your next flight to arrive. we're hearing one-hour delays might be ahead.

a strange-looking accident really tied up some people's morning commute. this suv somehow ended up dangling from the interstate ramp, and there it was. this is in little rock, arkansas yesterday. no word on how it happened or how the driver is doing. get ready to see more flight delays. a brookings institute report says more flight delays are more common now as they were back in 1 1990, and they say flight delays will get worse. about 10% of flights arrive two hours late. short flights between cities and an air traffic control system may be to blame. working moms say they're really busy but they're happy. that's the conclusion of a new poll. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here.

we have a humongous response on our facebook page. you're welcome to get involved here. what's the story? >> a lot of people started to write in. working moms are a little bit happier than stay-at-home moms, according to this survey. don't get me wrong, stay-at-home moms were happy, too, 85%, but working moms rated themselves just a little bit happier. they said they wouldn't mind just a little bit more time with the family, but the dads said they prefer working full-time, so elise wrote in to say, i love staying with him, teaching him and watching him explore, but the two nights a week that i have pictured up at a local restaurant are keeping my sanity intact. she said she needed the adult conversation sometimes.

perfectly understandable. what do you think about that? go to cnn.com/robin and then hit the little blue icon. the economy may be recovering, but the job market is still getting worse. congress's top two democrats, nancy pelosi and harry reed, met with the president in the oval office yesterday, and they had a lot to talk about. one, the idea of a reward for u.s. companies that create jobs. so, say, like a $3,000 tax credit for every job. we'll see how it shakes out but just trying to give you a sense of what they mean. they also talk about that push for longer unemployment benefits. we've been keeping you up to date with everything on that, but it's tied up in the senate and tax breaks. back to you. a seinfeld family reunion is happening, at least on the show "curb your enthusiasm." the show's star is one of the

crea creators of "seinfeld." >> the commentators would come into the room and say, oh, larry is on. >> you never knew, really, what was going to happen. >> what would happen if you didn't get the first laugh, let's say? >> one time i went up on stage, and i looked at the audience and i went, i don't think so. >> just the way they looked. >> just the way they looked. and i left. >> hear all of joy's interview with larry david on the joe behar show tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on hln. a top member of congress has been the target of a year-long investigation. republicans want charles wrangle

punished, and they're trying every which way to do it.

. an iraq war veteran and a former nfl player died unexpectedly at the age of 27. rafer weigel with more on that story. what's the deal? >> the deal is there is a lot of questions, robin, that still need to be answered. this whole thing is very, very mysterious. tony fein served 2.5 years in iraq. he was signed with the nfl this summer. he collapsed suddenly and died on the way to the hospital when he was at a friend's house. it happened just before he was to appear in court for allegedly attacking a police officer. dog fighter michael vick is getting his own tv show. vick has partnered with bet for a new docu-series.

it will chronicle his comeback and troubled past. some of you may think becoming a master in karate takes a lifetime. took this little girl three years. that's the youngest black belt in the world. five-year-old varsha vinod took it up after watching her father. so dad, let that be a lesson. they copy what you do. obviously dad doesn't sit down on the couch watching a lot of tv. >> he doesn't have to spend a lot of time worrying about her, does he? take care of yourself! how do you really know that organic food that you're buying is actually organic? hln money expert clark howard says read between the lines. >> i always roll my eyes when my wife comes home with some groceries and there will be this organic thing and that organic thing and the other organic

thing. then when i do the grocery shopping, well, as you might imagine, i buy whatever is cheapest. who is right? the thing with organic is a problem. why? because the federal government has been playing fast and loose with what items are allowed to have "or began ick" on the label fblt you may in order to protect yourself or do something better for you an your family spend the money on organic but "the washington post" reports that item after item has all kinds of non-organic type of stuff in it. while we're on the topic, what does "natural" mean? can you believe all it means is nothing? there are no standards that enforce what that word means. so before you spend extra money, know what you're buying. i'm cloosark howard. for more ways to stretch a buck, go to cnn.com/clark howard. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off.

join limb noon eastern saturdays and sundays on had hln. it's ten minutes to the hour. here's bob. he'll tell us about our traveling today. >> good morning, robin. laguardia, we have a 45-minute delay there because of the gusty wind. it's really the same storm from yesterday, but that should be out of there by the afternoon. here's what it looks like for the rest of the day, new york city metros, half-hour to hour-long delay for the morning. big rains moving in on the radar picture, detroit will see delays popping up, about a half hour delay by this afternoon. chicago, maybe a little bit longer but same thing. rain headed in your direction. then more rain delays when you get out towards dallas, showers and thunderstorms, some of those strong. might be more than an hour if we have a thunderstorm directly overhead. listen, bob. the father of sarah palin's grandson is closer to posing for "playgirl." give me a break!

levi johnston's lawyer says it will happen, but there's not a formal agreement. "playgirl" has not commented. he's training to get ready for the photo shoot. thank goodness it's not a tv interview. >> at least he doesn't have to talk. >> thank you. a woman was trying to be a good samaritan. instead, he was robbed, beaten and kidnapped. ha's going on?         

all righty. it's 8:00 in the morning eastern time, of course. i just wanted to say morning sunshine. i'm robin meade. into the stories now. health care reform passed a big money test. now a key senate bill would actually cut the deficit. more on that. a stunning undercover sting operation that authorities say shows just how easy it is for the wrong people to get their hands on guns. and a new witness may shake up things in the casey anthony murder trial. a computer store owner says he saw anthony with her daughter caylee. he describes how anthony was

acting at that moment. first, new comments now from people who survived the deadly bombing that ripped through the crowded streets just as people were getting to work. afghanistan officials say that 12 people died in kabul. the taliban claim responsibility. a man blew up an suv outside the indian embassy. the blast damaged the checkpoint, shattered windows and toppled restaurant what wal >> translator: there was an explosion. we were just sitting inside having tea when it broke the wind doughs. was in the neighborhood of the interior ministry. thanks to god's grace, no one in the store was injured. just our windows and goods broke. thank god no one was hurt in our store. >> translator: if they would have wanted to fix it, they would have fixed it in the last seven years. what they've done in these last seven years it's gone from bad to worse. it hasn't gotten better. >> well, the man you just heard was referring to the u.s.-led

war against the taliban there, which had its eighth anniversary yesterday. health care reform has cleared a major hurdle. the congressional budget office says that the key senate plan being considered would cost $829 billion over ten years, but as huge as that sounds it is a $70 billion less than expected and would even cut the deficit by 80 billion. those numbers could make it more appealing to moderates in both parties. the plan would also help millions of uninsured americans get coverage. thousands of people lined up for a chance at federal money meant to keep a roof over their heads. look at the lines in detroit yesterday. the city handed out 50,000 applications for only 3500 housing assistance checks. fear and anger set in when people realized how many people would have to leave empty-handed. police had to step in to stop people from pushing each other. >> there's people all over the place. this is getting crazy out here. we need help here.

>> my concern is that everybody is down here and they've been down here all night. might not get a chance to get an application for the grant. it's very sad. >> several people had to be treated for fainting and exhaustion. the most applicants can qualify for is $3,000. many parents apparently do not want their kids to get the h1n1 flu vaccine even as it now is available. 38% of parents in a new associated press/gfk poll, said they were unlikely to give permission for their child to get vaccinated at school. many are concerned about the side effects. researchers point out that no serious complications have turned up in the vaccine testing. how republicans are keeping the spotlight on the ethics problems facing charles rangel. they tried for a third time yesterday to get him booted as the post for the chair that writes new tax law yous. they failed as they did two other times.

on cnn last night, anderson cooper spoke with the head of the group who dug up allegations against him. >> he's a serial offender. he has two bank accounts with between $250,000 and $500,000 in them. he's got stock holdings, land and somehow he says he just forgot to put these things on the form. >> well, the form he's referring to is a congressional financial disclosure form. rangel is also accused of not paying taxes on some assets, but he says it's a smear campaign and that chairmen usually keep their posts during these investigations. brand new video this morning shows damage from a deadly typhoon in japan. it flooded homes and forced more than 11,000 people to evacuate. two people were killed and dozens hurt. the storm destroyed bridges and toppled large trucks on highways. police say that a man was killed as he delivered newspapers when his motorbike hit a downed tree. you know, we're really taking your comments today. our facebook is so busy.

just your comments on any number of different story we have going on. it is cnn.com/robin. there's a little "f." you click on that, the icon. it will take you to facebook. four minutes after the hour. who's got the rain today? every day it's somebody getting deluged like it's a sprang day. >> it's sheets and sheets of rain coming down. we're talking about oklahoma through kansas, now towards missouri. it's a stationary boundary turned moo a told front later fwrad you'lly shifting to the east. look at the snow coming down, the white areas on the radar, south dakota, portions of nebraska, too, getting light snow. not much out there, maybe an inch or so. but the real thing we're watching this monk is the rain developing from new mexico through the texas panhandle in towards just south of kansas city and stretching down i-70 into st. louis. look at all the rain around st. louis itself. one thunderstorm line is not moving this way, basically moving to the east. if you're getting heavy rain right now, this train of thunderstorm action is going to

go right overhead over the next couple of hours giving you more rain, three to five inches worth central missouri, illinois and stretching into indiana. here's the indiana radar south of indianapolis. rain is almost in the city itself, gets in towards basically cincinnati, cleveland and detroit later today. o'hare, midway will get affected in chicago as well with low clouds coming in and the rain soon to follow. that's something we'll be following. look at all the flash flood watches and the light shaded greens are the warnings. three to five inches of rain today, maybe an inch or two for you tomorrow before finally stretching off to the southeast. that's going to take a lot of rain with it. here's how it looks, the dark shaded red and pinks around st. louis, toward springfield, about six to eight inches of rain total. i think it's probably about right. that's why we have the flash flood watches. possibility of severe weather, a cold front moving into the lower part of the plains, plenty of moisture to work with here. obviously you'll have to watch for severe thunderstorms later

today. speaking of tough weather, not thunderstorm weather but the wind we had across the great lakes with that low pressure region in ontario, 104,000 customers lost power in michigan and detroit because the winds gusted there between 60 and 65 miles per hour. there's an active line there. trees down, power out. better day today with the wind, abating a bit. you're seeing delays at laguardia because the wind is affecting the northeast. more in about a half hour. >> thank you. let me ask you, what words really annoy you that people use? what about "whatever"? >> whatever. >> it was named the most annoying word in a new poll. don't you say that to me! 47% of americans surveyed don't like it when you say "whatever". >> whatever. >> also on the list "you know," "anyway," "it is what it is" and "at the end of the day". >> whatever. >> we have a ton of people just saying which words annoy them on our facebook page.

chris says most annoying phrase "you know what i'm saying? "yes, i can figure it out. "seriously? i'm so sick of seriously. jake sob says a word that totally annoys me is a totally." he didn't say totally. bob, you? >> you know what word i hate the most? album. >> album? >> it hurts my ears, album. the word. >> luckily we haven't used that since the '70s since we stopped using vinyl albums. >> i guess it's a jersey thing. >> kids, before cdss, there were albums. >> i hate that word. >> facebook, cnn.com/robin. barbie dolls for 5 bucks? gi joes for 15? something's going on when you hear those kind of prices. and a major organization says that david letterman's admitted affairs may have affected even more people on his show's staff.

ten minutes past the hour, i'm robin meade. i already told you that like ten minutes ago. i'm just rambling. 's time for a salute to the troops. today's from a woman who has two family members in the military so here's a double salute to her brother and her cousin. >> hi, robin. this is tabby from texas. i would like to salute my brother johnstone and my cousin robbie miller, army boy, i love you. i miss you you. i can't wait to see you when you come home soon and you've got to take me riding in your new truck. and, rob, you you are the best soldier. you are a fantastic husband. you have grown a lot, come a long way. we just cannot wait for you to

come home and be with us for good. sarge out. >> tabbie, i love your energy. thanks for the pictures. if you have somebody in the service, we're happy to help you salute them. hln host jane velez-mitchell is going to join you us live this morning. she's got a new book coming out about her battle against an array of addictions including alcohol and work and people. the book is called "i want," but she also wants you to learn something from it. she'll be here in about 30 minutes. she does not survive a storm. >> with the way she's on the beach. i'm teasing it a little bit. like maybe she just survived a shipwreck. >> we don't have video of you. go walk on the beach, would you? we'll talk about the message in her book. target is making a major move to get you to spend. it is slashing prices on your kids' favorite things. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. i would think in anticipation of

the holidays but it's way ahead of the holidays. >> way ahead. but i think a lot of moms right now, dads, too, who are stretching the budget. they've got all these gifts they've got to get. the toy wars are on, and that may be something that could really help you. target is firing the second big shot, cutting prices 50%. walmart was first last week. at target, barbie 5 bucks, gi joe 15, some of the price cuts out there. there's a lot of competition in the toy world this year. sears is starting to carry toy stores, barnes & noble, borders, making more space for toys. that means more competition, that is music to your ears if you want cheap prices and maybe piles of stuff under the tree. analysts say it's going to be cheap this season. a lot of those stores willing to lose money to try and get you in so you'll spend your money on other things while you're there. housing market latest. mortgage applications jumped last week to their highest level since may and behind that surge,

mortgage rates are below 5%. home prices are relatively low. and the government's 8,000s tax credit which you're in the home market i'm sure you know it's scheduled to expire november 30th. there are talks, though, going on about ways to extend this. we shall see. maybe it will get extended for members of the military. they're looking at that. also looking at maybe they'll extend it for everyone. take a while for them to work those things out in congress. robin, back to you. >> thank you. okay. it's 14 minutes past the hour. it you're running for the airport, just give me a second. bob will tell you how it's going. >> so far just one delay. good news. it's up in laguardia, busy airport. a 45-minute delay because of gusty winds. i want to show you the tower cam from columbus circle in manhattan. gusty winds this morning. by later this afternoon, things should be okay. look at that gorgeous blue sky. nice. calling for a high in the low 70s today, not as windy.

the morning delays are there just because of wind. rest of the delays, the wind heavy at times, st. louis nasty line of showers and thunderstorms to the north. look downstream all headed in your direction, watch for rain and those delays will start to mount. morning delays, boston, new york because of wind, cincinnati, chicago, detroit, showers, thunderstorms, 30 minutes to an hour, st. louis, kansas city, memphis, all about 30 minutes to an hour. if those thunderstorm lines just sit over the airport, obviously those delays will grow. dallas, denver, san francisco, morning fog. more on that in about a half hur. >> thank you. new york's mayor is angry. he wants a new gun law. that's after an undercover look into gun shows and the investigation was caught on tape. you're going to see what happened. smoo .

oh, i like that guy's voice. 17 minutes past the hour. authorities say that new undercover video shows how easy it is to buy a gun illegally in the united states. new york's mayor send private investigate rz to seven gun shows in three states. richard lui joipns us with more >> good morning. this is a report they came up with, 37 pages that reads gun show uncovered. 60% is the number, they're saying an investigation found 19 of 30 private, unlicensed sellers sold guns illegally to people. here's why it was illegal. in most states, unlicensed dealers can sell guns without doing background checks. that's okay. but if there's reason to think the buyer could not pass a background check, they're not supposed to make the deal. here's one case where those rules were ignored. smoo

>> okay, buddy. they ran a different test, by the way, on robin licensed dealers and even larger percentage failed there. we'll have that for you you later. >> you know, these sting operations were done in ohio, tennessee and nevada. so i think a lot of people are asking, why is the new york mayor involved in what's happening in other states? >> yes. lots of folks asking that question. mayor bloomberg saying criminals who get those guns bring them back to his city. he doesn't want that. yesterday he called for a federal law to require background checks on all gun sales. take a listen. >> closing the gun show loophole and cracking down on sellers who violate the law has nothing whatsoever to do with the second amendment. it's about basic law enforcement, plain and simple. >> the national rifle association says bloomberg should go after people breaking the law rather than holding news conferences, saying broomberg's priorities are clearly media

first, justice later. mayor bloomberg says he is not planning to file lawsuits, robin, against any of the private dealers on the tapes. >> richard, thank you. the most expensive team in baseball took on probably what was last night the most exhausted team in baseball. here's rafer to explain. it was the new york yankees against minnesota, right? they had no sleep time, did they? >> i love how we feel sorry for minnesota for getting no sleep. on our shift. they didn't get to new york until 4:00 a.m. we get to work at 4:00 a.m. anyway, yes, the minnesota twins were a little exhausted. they checked in at 4:00 a.m. because this is what they were doing the night before after they beat detroit. perhaps a little premature, champagne, beer. well, it was time to play the yankees in their first postseason game in thestadium. derek jeter, the first home run in the new stadium. whoever caught that ball probably going to be worth a lot

of money. yankees won 7-2. game two friday. this is tuesday. a little lie may cost a college football player millions of dollars. oklahoma state receiver des bryant was suspended the whole year by the ncaa for lying about meeting dooe onsanders. bryant met with the former star. that is not a rules violation. when he was asked about it, he said no. lying is a violation. he was expected to be a high draft pick next year. not playing will likely derail that, but he could come back for his senior year. michael jordan was told no smoking. he and tiger woods took in practice for the president's cup. when officials saw a picture of jordan and a stogie in a paper, they called and said, it's a city course, you can't smoke it. he carried it but did not light it. >> it must have either been expensive or maybe an endorsement or maybe he thought it looked cool. lastly, these folks, the miami heat held auditions for

its over 60 dance team the golden oldies. men and women. one of the league's moecht popular dance troupes. got to love it. >> i like it. tom delay, there you go. a new witness claims that casey anthony did not exactly look like a loving mom? what he says that he saw a week before her daughter disappeared. smoo .

says that long delays are twice as common now as they were in the 1990s and that report says that flight delays are going to get worse. it says that about 10% of flights arrive at least two hours late. the taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 12 people in afghanistan's capital

today. they said that the indian embassy was their target, but the bombing did most of its damage to nearby restaurants and carses as people were getting ready to go to work. and those were some of the headlines we have. want to say morning sunshine. it's 30 minutes past the hour. i'm robin meade. we have new details in the casey anthony case. a computer store owner says that he saw casey with her daughter caylee a week before the girl disappeared. last night on hln's "prime news," mike galanos got the details on this new witness and what he says that he saw. >> jim thompson, who is he and what did he see? >> that's right. james thompson owns a computer store that casey anthony went into with caylee back on june 9th of '08. while they were in the store, he offers beanie babies to kids who come in there. at the end of their visit there, casey anthony was in there looking for a computer monitor. at the end of their visit there, he offered a beanie baby to caylee, which she accepted and seemed to be very happy about

it. however, her mother roledrole dd her eyes and groaned. >> get the latest on "prime news" 5:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. new york city's mayor is urging congress to stop illegal sales at gun shows. he spent more than a million dollars on an undercover investigation to highlight how rampant he says the problem is. correspondent richard lui is joining us to share what that investigation found. >> good morning, robin. they found a lot. at gun shows first of all they're saying that private, unlicensed dealers don't have to do background checks. that's just the way it is. now, it's illegal, though, for them to sell to people they think may not pass one of those background checks. the undercover investigation found that nearly two-thirds ignored those rules, but not everybody did. take a look at this.

>> so that unlicensed dealer passed the test, but investigators also tested licensed dealers. they found that 16 out of 17 sold guns to straw purchasers, someone with a clean record who buys a gun for someone else, which you're not supposed to do. >> did the sellers know they were buying for someone else who doesn't have a clean record? >> they were aware of that based on what it was said, it would appear. >> mayor bloomberg says that the atf needs to do a better job of policing the shows. are they responding? >> the agency says they were not familiar with mayor bloomberg's report and could not comment. but mayors against illegal guns says the atf needs more agents and money. they did a study saying gun dealers are inspected once every 11 years instead of the agency's

goal of once every 3 years. the group says atf needs another $53 million to hire more field inspectors. we take a look at those numbers right now. there are about 2500 agents to cover the entire country, robin. >> richard, thank you. the national organization for women is slamming david letterman. the group says that letterman promoted a hostile work environment. it says that as the boss he's responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace -- and that he did that with sex. any work environment it says this places all employees in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation. letterman's critics say that he may have been intimidating the women he was involved with. >> people say, no woman has raised a claim. think about what it takes to raise a claim against an a-list powerful man like david letterman. i mean, the woman who raised the sexual harassment claim against bill o'reilly left the news business, new york city entirely. it is a very scary thing to come up against a major celebrity. >> letterman has apologized for

the affairs that apparently led to the alleged sextortion scandal surrounding him. the father of sarah palin's grandson is close to posing for "playgirl." please! levi johnston's lawyer says it's going to happen but there's not a formal agreement yet. "playgirl" has not commented. johnston is training, though, to get ready for the photo shoot. now, when it comes to "playboy," doesn't it come to the articles? must not be a lot of talking coming from levi. have you ever watched an interview with him? >> is he training at the gym? hope he's taking a speech course like we were talking about before. have you heard this kid interview before? >> a lot of "uh". >> poor larry king had to interview that guy for a half hour. >> i was, like, poor larry. how do you get a whole hour out of this guy? >> so you got anything else?

no. it's, like, poor larry. let me show you what's happening right now. beautiful sunrise shaping up for the northeast right now. all the way down through the mid-atlantic and florida. lots of high pressure here. look off to the west, a lot of clouds coming in and heavy rain, too. that cloud cover is going to take its time getting in here. let me show you early this morning at baltimore, the inner harbor looking fantastic for the sunrise today. temperatures today about 70, 72 degrees. look at that sunrise coming up. not as windy as yesterday either. if you're anywhere around the mid-atlantic to the northeast, winds were gusting between 20 and 50 miles per hour. but what a great sunrise in the inner harbor right there in baltimore. what about the rest of of the region? we're talking about heavy rain, the main feature of the story today. it's all generating from an area of low pressure that's now turned into an open wave moving to the east. you're looking at heavy rain starting in basically texas, back on in towards oklahoma and stretching through new mexico where it starts and gets all the way into the plain states. look at the heavy rain south of kansas city. that evolves into your region

later today, will blossom itself out over the next couple of hours. that rain right now is setting up shop right near st. louis. let me show you the tower cam in st. louis. if you're trying to travel in or out of here, look at the rain on the lens. it's already here. we'll see as much as three to five inches of rain today. that's really going to last through tonight, into tomorrow. heavy rain out there for st. louis, flash flood watch, three to five inches of rain. back to the map, rain is headed toward champaign, illinois. the radar picture there ends around indianapolis. but it's really going to fill out later today around the ohio valley, as far north as chicago, into detroit as well. anticipate major delays if you're trying to get in or out of those airports. full details in a bit. look at the extent of the watches an warnings start in texas and end near ohio. more in a little bit. >> widespread. >> yeah. s tons of rain. breaking news. the government says new jobless claims dropped more than expected. there's still a lot of people. you're talking 521,000 people.

but it is the lowest level since january. little context there. our money expert jennifer westhoven is crunching those numbers right now. she's going to be back to check in in a few moments to see maybe what it says about the economy and where we're headed. all right, moms. we know that you all work very, very hard. find out who may be happier. is it stay-at-home moms or moms that work outside the home? jane velez-mitchell joins us live to talk about her new book where she describes her battles with past addictions including alcohol and hopes that you can learn from her experience.

so more on our breaking story that just came in. it has to do with the jobless numbers. things are looking a little bit

better. jennifer westhoven is joining us now. it's been a while since we could say the jobless numbers dropped. it doesn't mean we don't have a ton of people out of jobs. >> it's right. the weekly number looked really good. there was a sizeable drop meaning that the line at the to filers, the lowest since january, 521,000 people filing for the first time, down by 33,000 people. it's still long. more than half a million moern americans, not a healthy sign but a good signal that the job market is gradually getting better, although we know it's healing far too slow for many americans who are trying to find work. now, stocks were already looking like they were going to rally before that number, but it looks like they'll have a strong start. that bell rings in about 59 minutes. 9:30 east coast time. working moms say they're busy but they are happy. that's the conclusion of a new poll where working moms clocked

in a little happier than stay-at-home moms. don't get me wrong. 80% of the stay at home moms but 85% of working moms rated them t themselves haf ves happy. you've been chiming in on this story on our facebook page. nikki wrote in to say, the only thing i miss is the adult contact throughout the day. you can only have so much conversation with a 10-month-old. and another said, i couldn't wait to get back to work. i love my babies but i like not having to say stop every ten seconds. we seem like we've got a lot of moms who are saying, i'm glad to work a little bit. send us your thoughts, cnn.com/robin and look for the "f" icon. >> i don't see any of our moms saying they're not happy, period. a lot of people say, i'm happy to stay at home or happy to work a little or full time. whatever your opinion is, welcome it. jennifer, thank you. what do you want out of

life? had when someone asks that, usually people will rattle over a list of things they want to accomplish. in her new book, jane velez-mitchell talks about how what she wants his drastically changed over her life and she hopes she you can learn from her example, too. jane joins me. she's up early. >> thank you for having me. >> the book is "i want." if we were to talk about what jane velez-mitchell 20 or 30 years ago wanted, what did she want then? >> i wanted money, status, prestige, i wanted fame, i wanted validation. i wanted everything that really did not make me happy. and i gorged on so much stuff, and yet i was not happy. so this book is for anyone who is strus struggling with an addiction. i also used alcohol. i used all sorts of things to

try to make myself happier. and in the end, happiness is an inside job and that stuff isn't going to make you happy. if you're struggling with an addiction, to alcohol, drugs, food, sugar, which i had to go through after i gave up alcohol, sugar reared its ugly head because there's sugar in alcohol. you take away the alcohol, the craving for sugar remains. if you're struggling with any of that or you know somebody who's struggling with this addiction, for example, food. that's another big addiction in america. read this book. it it puts you in the mind of the addict, namely, me, and i talk about the struggle and how i finally climbed out of that and how you really can't reason with an addict. you cannot lecture an addict. you've got to really use other methods to conquer addiction. >> so i was reading this book and i was up late reading it last night. i was going, oh, my gosh, she divulged this and she talked about that and look at that old picture she showed us. it's really brave. it is. what was the hardest thing to

write about, i wonder. >> well, i think the hardest thing to write about was how everything changed once i got sober. once i got sober, i had to deal with why was i self-medicated? what was i running away from? and when you can't hide behind that bottle of chardonnay anymore, things come up. one of the things that came up was my sexuality. i had to come to terms with my sexual identity. finally i did acknowledge that i'm gay. >> are you fearful, welcoming reaction you may get from all kinds of admissionses you make in the book? >> no. in fact, every time i make an admission i realize one thing, the sky doesn't fall down on my head. life goes on. and nobody cares. nobody really cares because they're concerned with themselves. >> isn't that the truth? we are all walking around in our own little movie, right? >> exactly. >> i wonder what's for lunch for me. >> come on. you were very brave about admitting your experience with anxiety. >> yeah. >> so you know. you admitted it. it's like, the sky didn't fall down. that's part of it. we're so shame-based, we're so

afraid an we keep these toxic secrets, and they say you're only as sick as your secrets. i said, i'm going to spill it all because why waste a good problem? i want my experience to be helpful to somebody out there. millions of americans are struggling with you'll all sorts of addiction. we're an addict nation. we do everything to extreme. we overconsume. it's getting us in debt. it's causing an obesity crisis. it's causing a drug and alcohol crisis. 90% of the crimes we cover are related to drugs or alcohol. and so we can do something about this. that's what my book is all about. how to conquer addiction. >> you know what? somewhere someone might be watching right now and going, god, just give me a sign. just give me some help this morning that i can get out of this mess i'm in. for the person who feels like, i can't change, i can't go on, at this very instant, what do you want to say to them? >> i would say, if i can do it, you can do it. because i honestly thought i

would be a practicing alcoholic my whole life. when i wanted to quit, i couldn't. i went to therapists. i tried all sorts of things. and finally i hit bottom and i surrendered to the fact that i was powerless over alcohol. it's a dichotomy, and what it really is is a spiritual program. when you are in your disease and you're self-medicating and mood-altering, you're playing god. you're saying, oh, i don't like the weather out there, i'm going to have a drink. i had a bad interaction with my boss, i'm going to have a drink. instead of accepting life on life's terms. when you finally hit bottom on whatever addiction it is, you're surrendering and saying, i'm not in charge. there's a higher power in charge. a lot of people say, that's god. i can't -- you know what? you can decide what your higher power is. and you can change it whenever you want. the whole point is to admit you're not god. but i can tell you that people who struggle with addictions, there is a way out, but you can't -- why go through the forrest on your own when people

have gone through and learned, why go through the hell i went through? read my book and figure out how to do it faster! >> hold your thought there. hold your thought. we're going to ask jane coming up, how do you know, what are the telltale signs that you have an addiction? it doesn't have to be to alcohol or food. an addiction to anything, the telltale signs when we come back. smoo .

i realize that some of the things we're going to talk about here might be heavy talk as you're sitting there downing your cerealand getting the coffeemaker going this morning. i'll ask jane velez-mitchell. she has a new book "i want." how do you know if you're addicted to something. it could be to anything. maybe just to shopping. i think as a nation we had to get out of that because our economy wasn't so hot, but a lot of us were. >> absolutely. we're addicted to more of everything. we're an addict nation, as i said. one of the hal marks of addiction it's never enough. you can have it, but you want a little bit more. that happens with fast food. you have it, you eat it.

i'm not feeling satisfied, i want a little bit more. so that's one hal mark. the other hal mark is remorse. after you do something if you start experiencing remorse and a sense of demoralization and a sense of why did i do that? that's another classic hal mark of addiction and then some hal marks are specific to that addiction like with alcoholism, blacking out is a hal mark of addiction. if you drink and you black out, very good chance that you're an alcoholic. >> blackout doesn't mean you fell on the floor. blackout means you don't remember? >> i was there, but i wasn't there and that's dangerous. >> in your book -- she talks about there would be the catch-up call in the morning like what did i do. did i tell my boss off, anybody? was i clothed? >> i called it a demeanoring assessment meeting. okay, what happened after 9:45, and that's scary. it's really not funny. when we cover these horrific car crashes, wrong-way drivers, et

cetera, a lot of times these people are in blackouts and again, if we folk us on. >> don't even than they did it. >> so they wake up and they say how did that happen? hold your thought. i'm going to ask jane when we come back. prejudice, how we can deal with that and how it affected her as she's doing her job now as a journalist. =

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> all righty. rise and shine here. it's 9:00 eastern and we're show glad to have you with us. i'm robin meade. let's jump into the headlines today. we're hearing from survivors of a bomb that targeted people going to work. what they're saying about the deadly suicide attack. a plan for health reform turned a big corner. why the senate plan could cut the deficit by their 80 million bucks. things got chaotic when thousands lined up just to stay in their homes. just a sign of how desperate it is.

a bomb went off as people were getting to work this morning. officials say 12 people died in kabul. the taliban claimed responsibility saying a man blew up an suv outside an indian embassy. indian officials say they targeted the embassy. the blast damaged its checkpoint, shattered windows and tomed restaurant walls. >> translator: there was an explosion. we were just sitting inside having tea when the explosion broke our windows. it was in the neighborhood of the interior ministry. thanks to god's grace no one in the store was injured. it was just our windows and goods that broke. thank god no one was hurt in our store. >> translator: if they would have wanted to fix it, they would have fixed it in the last seven years. what they've done in these last serve years, it's gone from bad to worse. it hasn't gotten better. >> the man that you just heard was referring to the u.s.-led war against the taliban there which had its eighth anniversary

yesterday. fbi has broken up an international theft ring. at least 50 have been arrested. they're accused of collecting personal info by getting people to respond to phony e-mails. the fbi says that the suspect his stolen more than $2 million. so head's up. >> health care reform has cleared a major hurdle. the congressional budget office says the key senate plan being considered would cost $829 billion over ten years. that's $70 billion less than expected and it would cut the deficit by 80 billion. those numbers could make it more appealing to moderates in both parties. the plan would also help millions of uninsured americans get coverage. some kids in chicago are overcoming odds that most people have trouble even comprehending. that is the word from the nation's education secretary. arnie dunk an met yesterday with students from the same school. as a teenager who was beaten to death in the street last month, duncan and attorney general eric holder also met with chicago's

mayor. holder says that incidents like the beating -- that beating should concern everyone. >> youth violence is not a chicago problem any more than it is a black problem, a white problem or a hispanic problem. it is something that affects communities big and small and people of all races and all colors. it is an american problem. >> 16-year-old dereon albert's death was captured on cell phone video. it wasn't an isolated indent. last night on our sister network on cnn anderson cooper talked to a woman who was a nephew of a friend of robert's. >> if that child's hurt i'm hurting because i know that parent in that household is hurt. so it is not my child personal, it's all our children needs help. needs help, and we've got all these politicians and all these people saying this and that. nobody's coming to help our kids until something like this

happens. >> last year more than 30 young people suffered violent deaths in chicago. attorney general holder says the obama administration is asking for $25 million in next year's budget for community-based crime prevention. four major earthquakes have hit the south pacific. a tsunami warning was issued and you know when? hawaii was included in that. it was called off pretty quickly. the quakes rattled vanuatu. several large after shocks have also hit. one airline. get a load of this story is triting to lighten this load by asking you to go to the bathroom before you board. i'm not joking. japan's omnipon says cutting back on extra weight will cut back on carbon dioxide emissions because planes would use less fuel. it's part of an environment alex perment that includes using recycled paper cups and plastic bottles instead of glass. but you're telling me we're

all going to weigh that much less if we go to the bathroom first. >> how are they going check that? is there anything to be an extra x-ray line? >> they must have proof. >> the way in and the way out. >> is that not inkred snibl. >> hey, it makes you think. we'll show what's happening now. lots of rain will be the central issue for you if you're doing traveling today from south texas where they're getting rained on now through oklahoma and through arkansas and through missouri and illinois. these are all of the areas under flash flood or flood watch and the light shade of green areas are the flood warnings. let me take you live to dallas and rain on the way and it will get heavy at times. it's just a great start for you. weird-looking sky right there are the low clouds moving in. the humidity is in place clearly at the surface going all of the way up through the atmosphere. that means heavy rain, looking for an inch to an inch and a half of rain, from the red river valley through oklahoma and picking up in intensity probably

through missouri. you're looking at 2.6 inches of rain possibly around dallas and that's what the computer models are thinking. 4.1 is a possibility outside of st. louis and even near springfield you'll get six to eight inches of rain over the next couple of days. that's something we're concerned with. also severe thunderstorms, and the possibility of this afternoon and along with the cold front with the wave of low pressure riding out of the south. i'll show you the radar in a half hour. look at the video coming in from yesterday. yesterday was all of the wind going through the great lakes into the northeast that affected the phillies game and the yankees game. here's what it looked like in detroit. 60 mile-an-hour wind gusts knocking power out for people. >> what words do i use, bob, that really annoy you? >> you know, you never say the word album. i hate that word. >> album is a collection of work, right? maybe i'm wrong, i don't know. >> i thought more like' 70s

vinyl. let me ask you, what word that people use that really annoy you. >> whatever. >> whatever, was named the most annoying word in a new poll. 77% of americans hate the word whatever. >> whatever. >> also on the list, you know. anyway, it is what it is and at the end of day. how dare you use those words? >> how about your words. let's make sure we're all on the same page. think out of the box. >> that's my old job, not this one. >> our facebookers are ripping it up talking about the words that annoy them. word. katie says i hate it when you're talking to someone and they just say never mind. this facebooker says i almost lose my mind when someone says catch ya on the flipside. that's from johnny. and here's the pet peeve of our

senior producer john, my bad. >> oh, yeah. i hate it when someone messes up and it nearly crashes and they say my bad. no repercussions. whatever. >> whatever. keep them coming go to cnn.com keep them coming. a powerful member of congress has been a target of a year-long ethics investigation. house republicans want charles rangel punished. 100 shopping days until christmas, makes me say whatever. this is not the right video, my bad and they're cutting toy prices by 50%.

all right. let's salute our troops with something we do every day, every hour we're on our salute. the first one is a woman that has two family members in the military. this is a salute to her bother brother and to her cousin. >> hi, robin.

i would like to salute my brother and my cousin rob miller. army boy, i love you, i miss you. i can't wait to see you when you in home soon and you have to take me riding in your new truck. and rob, you are the best soldier. you are a fantastic husband. you have grown a lot. you've come a long way, and we just cannot wait for you to come home and be with us for good. >> if you have someone in the service we'd like to help you salute them. cnn.com/robin. house republicans are keeping the spotlight on ethics problems facing charles rangel. they tried for a third time yesterday to get him booted from his post as chairman of the committee that writes tax laws. rangel is under investigation for allegations that he didn't pay tackes on some investments. he says it's a smear campaign and chairmen usually keep their

posts during these investigations. target is making a major move to get you to spend. it's slashing prices on what your kids love. our money expert, jennifer westhoven. the parents are, like, oh, great. now my kids are going, let's go shopping, mommy! how lower they going on prices on toys? >> the toy wars are really on. target is cutting prices 50%. so just some of the deals, barbies five buck, connect sets are 15. walmart started this all last week. there's a lot of competition in this field this holiday season. sears is trying to carry some toy stores. barnes & noble and borders are clearing out spaces from books for toys. if you're a parent and have lots on your list that could be music to your ears as the stores get into the action here. new this morning, a sizeable drop in the number of people filing jobless claims for the first time. that's good news. it tells you that the line at the unemployment office got

shorter. it came in at 521,000. that's still a big number, but it's the lowest we've seen since january. so a solid sign the job market is gradually getting better although i know very slowly, not fast enough for many people. more good news is americans are paying off our credit card debt. new numbers from the federal reserve show a steady reduction in credit card debt. so, i mean, it may come with bad reasons, like we're afraid of losing our jobs, but those are good habits to be forming. lawmakers will focus interchange fees. those are the fees that every time you swipe your card, the business, they have to pay the credit card company about 2%. it's a big deal for small companies and big companies that don't make big margins like grocery stores. you can have a cup of coffee and help people at the same time. stephanie elam has the story of an atlanta area coffee company in our "small business success." ♪ ♪ ♪ land of a thousand hills coffee company is brewing up

more than a great cup of joe. it provides jobs for rwandan farmers still recovering from the 1994 genocide. this year we purchased enough coffee to provide living wages for 2,000 farmers in rwanda. you can be in business and you can help people at the same time. >> jonathan golden, a part-time anglican priest founded the company three years ago with a small loan and coffee bean roaster he bought on ebay. >> i said to myself, this will either work or my 14s and family will have coffee to drink for the next 20 years. >> he started off selling coffee to churches and is restaurants. he now owns two shops in atlanta and plans to open two more including one in rwanda. >> all of our coffee is roasted fresh. the driving force has been an excellent cup. >> the company helps widows of the genocide start their own businesses and farmers buy bikes to transport coffee. >> we've sent over $30,000 in

microloans from a little bean, you can influence a lot of people. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey, maybe you're watching this and thinking hey, that's a great company, but mine's really good, too. well, take a video i-report of your business and then go to cnn.com/robin and upload it to us. share your tips. if we like what we see your company could be next on "morning express."

new information shows that most of the world's muslims do not live in the middle east. according to the pew forum on religion and public life more than two muslims live in indonesia, pakistan and india. the middle east and north africa are home to 20% of muslims. this could be important to u.s. policy on muslim outreach. a long-awaited seinfeld reunion is happening on "curb your

enthusiasm" on hbo. it is one of the co-creators. joy behar talked to him about his comedic temperament. >> temperamental. >> the comics always love to come into the room and they say, larry's getting up and everybody look at their watch and see how long they'd last. >> they didn't know if i was going have a breakdown on stage. you didn't know really what was going to happen. >> what would happen to you if you didn't get the first laugh, let's say. >> one thing -- i've done the story before, i went up on stage and i looked at the audience and i went -- i don't think so. >> just the way they looked. >> just the way they looked. and i left. >> hr all of joy's interview on larry david here at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hl. three kids are orphans after police found their patients sthot death and you might

remember the mom. she got attention for bringing a loaded gun to a kid's soccer game. you'll hear what happened. new for you in the half hour. so sad. the most expensive team on baseball took on the most exhausted team last night in baseball. here's rafer. our first playoff game for the yankees and minnesota yes? >> the yankees and minnesota. the yankees with the $200 million payroll and they looked like it. >> meanwhile, the twins -- they were out celebrating beating det rid to get to the playoffs. a little beer and a little premature. where kate hudson. she's dating arc rod, hanging out with jay z and derek jeter made history. this is the new post-season home run in the park. whoever has that ball is a happy person. game two is friday. the twins said they're exhausted and they'll be well rested then. get this, a little lie may cost a college football millions

of dollars. oklahoma state receiver bryant who was a top nfl prospect was sus pended for lying about meeting former nfl player deion sanders. he met with deion. that alone is not a rules violation, but when they asked him about it he lied and said no. that is a rules violation. he was expected to be a high draft pick and it could probably derail that. he could come back in his senior year. ncaa, lighten up. >> michael jordan was told no smoking. he and tiger woods was -- when city officials saw pictures of m.j. smoking a cigar in a paper they remind the pga tour on, that's a city course. no smoking allowed on it. he then just carried a stogie, but didn't light it. the fine's $100 for smoking. he could probably afford it. >> that's like toilet paper for him. >> lastly, the miami heat held auditions for its over 60 dance team. i love the music.

the golden oldies, more than two dozen senior, 60 years young old, men and women. >> i'll bet the crowd loves them. they've been around since the '05, '06 season and they're up there with the florida marlin manatees, not that these people. they're just a darling of the fans. >> oh, yeah. that's what i'm getting at. that is where tom delay should go now. >> there you go. all of the sports in the next half hour. >> all right. attorneys for the former astronaut accused of attacking a romantic rival will get to question that woman again. lisa nowak's attorneys want to get one of the charges dropped. the question is whether pepper spray actually touched colleen shipman. they have to see the case file to make sure that they have all the info. >> the facts that were concealed from us either inadvertently or intentionally were very important to the case. >> the prosecution says that there's no evidence that it purposely withheld info.

police say nowak drove from houston to orlando to confront shipman about dating a fellow astronaut. her trial is set for december. a street fight caught on security cameras locked like it involved two men and two women. wait until you hear who the women really were. they said it would never last.

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get freshness that won't fade away for 60 days. ahhh! with plugins lasting impressions. and yes, it's glade. s.c. johnson, a family company. the new york stock exchange has just opened for business. we're expectation boost in trading today after better-than-expected earnings from the company alcoa. we'll see if that's the case for you in about ten minutes here. ten minutes. more like a couple of moments. the taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 13 people in afghanistan's capital today. they said that the indian embassy was their target, but the bombing did most of its damage to nearby restaurants and cars just as people were trying to get to work. it looks like a key senate health care reform bill will cost less than expected.

non-partisan budget analysts are talking $829 billion over ten years. that is 70 billion less than what the bill's author estimates. it's even expected to help cut the deficit. the plan would expand coverage so that 94% of all eligible americans have health insurance. a former brazilian state legislator and tv crime show host, get this, is now considered a criminal fugitive. here's the deal. police say wally azusa was involved in drug trafficking. he would have his criminal ri l rivals killed and have his camera crews would show up first which you would think would drive up the show's ratings. those are some of the top stories. let me check in with now. good morning, sunshine, as you're scurrying around and trying to get out of the door on time. i'm robin meade, let me get you informed while you get ready. >> you have to hear a controversial report involving children and violence. more than 60% of u.s. kids were exposed to violence last year directly or indirectly, but at

least one criminologist says the report's inaccurate because it included kids who just heard about violence against someone or a possible threat against their school or home. you cannot sell sex to get into the games. >> yes. tae kwon do competitor logan campbell from new zealand, set up a brothel, that's right, a brothel, specifically to raise money to get to the games in 2012. prostitution is legal in new zealand and he advertised his olympic dreams to his clients while the new zealand olympic committee threatened legal action if he continues to use the olympic connection with his business. the ncoc hasn't commented. as long as he doesn't connect the olympics with his business, he's fine, but he is threatening legal action against the ncoc. what do you guys think about all this? israel from corpus christi wrote on our facebook page. if his way of gaining money for

the 2012 games is legal in his country the olympic commission should respect that. go to our facebook, cnn.com/robin and click on the facebook page as robin says. >> here you go. thanks. we've had really great response on the facebook page. thank you for making this a two-way street for us. today coroners will perform autopsies on a mom and dad found shot to death in a pennsylvania home. the mom made headlines before. last night she temporarily lost her weapons permit when she took a loaded handgun to her daughter's soccer game. it was september 11th. pennsylvania police said it looked like a murder suicide and the three kids are staying with family and friends. some of the stories we're watching in the "morning express planner," the national shrimp festival kicks off in gulf shores, alabama. there's art, music, kids events and there's shrimp. it runs through sunday and at 11:30 a.m. eastern you can buy what's believed to be one of al capone's old hideouts.

a lodge in wisconsin that sights nearly 407 acres, it got auction block. the minimum bid is $2.6 million. it looked like a fight between two men and two women. one was wearing a pink wig and hot pants and the other in short skirt and stockings. the two in women's clothings were cage fighters dressed up for a stag night. the two in men's clothing started the fight with the men in drag not realizing who they were. does that mean that cage fighters kicked their butts? it looks like it. >> yepper! the guys pled guilt toe using intimidating behavior or words. >> that would be a surprise for you, wouldn't it? trying to cut two women and they wind up kicking your butt because they're cage fighters because they're men opinion not that woman wouldn't be able to do it to you. >> it's not something you see every day. look at the rain coming out of oklahoma in toward kansas,

missouri, too, now toward central illinois and this rain is producing a lot of rainfall and an inch to an inch and a half per hour. you're right on the edge of the heaviest rain and you can see what it looks like with the tower cam. it will be rainy for most of the day and it will last until tomorrow morning. so there's your tower cam and it can barely see the tops of the buildings and watch for as much as three to five inches of rain in this area and it's all starting now and again, it's a slow-moving cold front and that's what's generating this action and it will last there for at least the next day and a half. most of the heavy rain is south of here and look at the lightning flashing all of the way around. you get in to the nevada area, and it's all moving slowly to the northeast. tremendous amounts of rainfall over the next day, day and a half. the rain shield itself goes on st. louis, heavy times there and now the heavy rain is stretching into lower parts of indiana and getting in toward ohio as well. here's the heavy downpour

action. all of these areas are under a flash flood watch or warning. the watches are the dark green shades. the warnings are the light green shays. two to three irves of rain easy over the next six hour, but all together going for as much as 2.6 around dallas. 4.1 in st. louis. outside of st. louis, you can see six to eight treching down toward springfield and the whole mess was on into the southeast over the weekend. we'll talk about that into a half hour. a want to show you a story that is happening right now. this is happening in lomita, california. a car has crashed into the building. you can think it is an early hour there, it's 6:30 and we're hearing from our affiliate ktla, they think one person is trapped there. these are live pictures. so pardon us, sometimes the camera switches. we don't know anything more about that. i see there are crews there definitely working. check out the firefighter who just got up on a ladder so that they can -- i would assume see into the car to maybe get a

vantage point that way, but it appears that we have a lot of firefighters and rescue teams working on the other side of the car maybe because of the way that it's tilted. that's the way that they'll be able to get the person who is supposedly stuck in there out of that. it's a car that crashed into a building in california. we'll continue to bring you more as that develops. okay, let's talk. 37 minutes past the hour. wall street has been waiting all week for the start of the third quarter earnings season. right now it started and it's off to a pretty good start. hi, stephanie. >> hi, robin. aluminum maker alcoa kicked off the season by posting a surprise profit. its first in nine months. sales to automakers picked up and the company expects global aluminum demand to increase in the second half of the year. earnings from pepsico also beat expectations. the world's second largest soda maker and the largest snack food maker says profits rose 9%. frito-lay and quaker foods helped offset losses in its core

beverage unit. a drop in jobless claims is boosting the rally. job little rates fell to the lowest level in january. they remain high above 6 million. the city of los angeles is trying to keep filmmakers from fleeing to cheaper locations. the city council is considering new incentives including a sales tax refund, free parking and access to city power notes to save production companies time and money. california's share of u.s. feature film production fell from 66% in 2003 to just 31% in 2008. they may have hollywood, but they're not getting all of the movies anymore, robin. >> all right, stephanie, thank you very much. while you were talking we were watching right now this wreck in california. we thank they're just about ready to get somebody out of that situation. it's in lomita, california. the car has crashed into a building and now i'm seeing for the first time two people standing nearby. i don't know if they're from -- now i see.

they just got someone out of the car because before our affiliate ktla was thinking one person was trapped. i'm thinking that's the person that we see on the stretcher as they're ticking them away. more information as we get it. but you can see where the car apparently must have ripped through that white picket fence this morning. we had a number of what appeared to be firefighters and rescuers trying to get at the person who must have been in the car and let's hope that they're going to be all right this morning. we're just getting a scary picture of how many people can no longer afford the roof over their own head. thousands of people lined up for a check from the government and most are not going to end up getting a dime.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all right. that is mariah carey's top ten hit "obsessed." her new album was not number one. she was beat out by babs. barbara streisand is out on top. still, that's not bad. thousands of people lined up for a chance at federal money meant to keep a roof over their heads. look at the lines in detroit. the city handed out 50,000 applications for 3500 housing assistance checks. fear and anger set in when people realized how many people would go home empty handed. police had to step in to stop people from pushing each other. >> there's people all over the place. this is getting crazy out here. we need help here. >> my concern is that everybody is down here and they've been down here all night. might not get a chance to get the application and it's very

sad. >> several people had to be treated for fainting and exhaustion. the most applicants can qualify for is $3,000. house republicans tried again to oust a powerful congressman. that's one of the stories that richard is working on for the next half hour. what have you got? >> good morning, robin. the next 15 minutes, republicans are turning up the heat on democratic congressman charles rangel and the third attempt to oust him has failed. he's being investigated for possible ethics violations and we'll hear from rangel himself. two people are accused of kidnapping a plan and planning to bury him alive and covered this hole with cement in the bedroom. plus skinny models, not welcome at a top fashion magazine. if you're skinny, get out. it's giving fashion models the boot, robin. >> really? >> that's right. >> interesting. >> okay. thank you. okay. how do you than the organic food that you're buying is 100% organic? h had ln money expert clark

howard says you need to read between the lines. >> i always roll my eyes when my wife comes home with some groceries and they'll be this organic thing and that organic thing and the other organic thing and then when i do the grocery shopping, well, if you might imagine i buy whatever's cheapest. who's right? the thing with organic is a problem. why? because the federal government has been playing fast and loose with what items are allowed to have organic on the label. so you may, in order to protect yourself or do something better for you and your money, spend the money on organic, but "the washington post" reports item after item that you buy that has organic has all kinds of non-organic stuff in it. and while we're on the topic what does natural mean. do you believe that when you see natural on a food label it means absolutely nothing. there are no standards to ebb force what that word means.

so before you spend extra money, know what your buying. i'm clark howard for more way for you to stretch a buck go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. a skier gets caught in an avalanche and gets buried under a pile of snow. you'll see amazing video from his point of view and the race to save his life.

all right. you knew texting while driving can be dangerous. now there's a new push to teach teens that lesson. some high schoolers in oklahoma went through a driving course while they were messaging friends using their phones and even eating. it was a real eye-opener for many of them. >> i couldn't each get my password into my phone. i have a touch screen phone. you have to look at it. i couldn't each get my password into my phone to do my text message because he's going like this over and over again and playing with my radio. there was no way. >> more states including

oklahoma are considering new laws to make texting while driving illegal. hln host jane velez-mitchell has a new book titled "i want." it's about her battle with a dicks and she dropped by the show to explain why she wrote it. >> well, i think the hardest thing to write about is how everything changed once i got sober. once i got sober i had to deal with why was i self-medicating. what was i running away from? and when you can't hide behind the bottle of chardonnay anymore things come up and one of the things that came up was my sexuality and i had to come to terms with my sexual identity and finally i did acknowledge that i'm gay. >> are you fearful? are you welcoming in a reaction that you might get from all kind of admissions you might make on the book? >> every time i make an admission the sky doesn't fall down on my head and life goes on and nobody cares because they're concerned with themselves. >> jane's show "issues" airs at 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on

hln. we want to show you amazing video of an avalanche rescue. a skier was wearing a helmet cam going dunn the mountain. there you go. you can see snow from the avalanche starting to catch up with him in the snow pack below, breaking up. in seconds, he was buried, but rescuers found him. oh, can you hear him breathing? i'm guessing that's what that is. they quickly dug him out and somehow he did not even break a bone. >> amazing. >> i would be huffing and puffing, too. poor thing! glad he's all right. a 27-year-old iraq war veteran and a former nfl player died unexpectedly. here's rafer with more on that tragic story. what's going on there? >> they're still trying to piece together because the whole thing is very, very confusing, robin. as you said, only 27 years old and a tragic figure, tony served

years in iraq and was cut by the baltimore ravens. he died of unexplained causes. l situation. authorities say he was unconscious, barely breathing, and vomiting when they arrived. then he died on the way to the hospital. police are investigating, he was, by the way, set to appear in a baltimore court for aassaulting a police officer. he's out of prison, back in football and now convicted dog fighter michael vick is getting his own tv show. the "l.a. times" reports vick has partnered with bet for a new eight-part documentary series, docuseries scheduled to air next year. it is being called "the michael vick project" and chronicle his controversial come back and troubled past. and most of you probably think becoming a master in karate takes a lifetime. this is the youngest black belt in the world. 5-year-old varsha vinod from india started learning the sport

when she was only 2. she took it up after watching her father. so bullies, beware. nobody's taking her lunch money. >> that's right. >> you know? >> her daddy does not have to worry. >> very impressive stuff. that's a look at sports. >> she's a cutie. bob's already signing up his daughter. >> that's brilliant. instead of fending off the guys for my daughter when she's 13, she can do it herself. la goodward yashgs 23-minute delay because of wind. it's no the that bad. san francisco, you have a 45-minute delay. here's what we have for the rest the day, new york city metros, half hour to hour delay because of the wind. detroit, looking at the rain moving in this afternoon, half hour delays. chicago, rain heavy at times. and then dallas, severe thunderstorms possible. watch for delay there. pop-up this afternoon. more in a bit. it's fun to start your day with a pet trick. come here. look. bob, don't go away. how about the potty trained kitty that uses the toilet.

oh, my. how do you teach a kitty -- can't a kitty get some privacy? >> we were looking at ways to decrease the amount of litter that he kick around. and just kind of surfed the web. >> he didn't teach the cat to flush because another owner said our water bill is high because the cat learned to flush. >> you know what? the cat is taking --