just doing some work here. how are you doing? just waking is up what you're doing. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on. after all of the talk about health care, a plan to change the system is finally being put to a key vote. how this could affect how you pay for medical help. hate your driver's license photo? now the fbi wants to see it. why they are looking at millions of faces. this crash didn't just start a huge fire. someone actually got pinned underneath the wreckage. he's okay but it's an amazing rescue. today is finally the day. we could see president obama's plan to overhaul your health

care take its biggest step. the senate finance committee votes on a reform bill. it's expected to pass sending it to the full senate where more sparks are going to fly. a couple reasons why this is a big deal. the bill does not include a hotly debated public insurance option. instead, it calls for a private cooperative that would offer insurance plans and it's the only bill out there that was created with some help from republicans. does it have a chance? >> we're going to find out. we're going to have a big debate in the senate and it will go on for many, many weeks. the american people will have an opportunity to weigh in. i do think the majority made a mistake in trying to jam it through before anyone had a chance to read it. they slowed the process down now. people are going to have an opportunity ton understand whats in it and how it will affect them. >> one woman is at the center of attention of today's vote. you'll find out who she is and why her vote is so important. not again.

the southeast is getting soaked this week. parts of georgia and alabama were under flood warnings yesterday. and there are more heavy rains coming. the atlanta area was just cleaning up from flooding three weeks ago. >> i've been up since 5:00 this morning trying to save what i could that is getting destroyed and everything i've done here in the last two weeks has been wiped out in the last 12 hours. >> a storm is also bearing down on california. people are preparing sandbags throughout the state. the rain could cause mudslides especially in areas burned by wildfires. meteorologist bob van dillen is going to be along in a few minutes with more on what to expect and what's going on in your backyard. the death rate for kids with h1n1 flu is at its highest since the outbreak began last spring. cdc says 76 kids have died since april with the virus. 16 of them died just last week. most had an underlying medical

condition but not all of them. that's why doctors really want you to watch your kids if they get sick. get help, the doctors say if your kids have breathing problems, a blueish skin color, they aren't thirsty or waking up easily. if they get better, make sure the fever does not return or their cough gets worse. and watch for a rash. new this morning after more than a year of ugly infighting, martin luther king jr.'s children will avoid a trial that would have made the family's money issues public. they reached a settlement late last night. martin luther king iii and bernice king sued dexter king last month accusing him of mishandling money. a temporary custodian will be appointed to run it. the feds have a new tool to find fugitives and it's in your wallet. they say that facial recognition software already led them to a

homicide suspect. critics say it's like putting everyone through a virtual lineup. civil rights leaders are speaking out against rush limbaugh's bid to buy the st. louis rams. rafer has the latest on that. good morning. >> good morning. the rhetoric is flying and this deal isn't close to being finalized. al sharpton and jesse jackson say limbaugh's track record on race should exclude him from owning an nfl team. sharpton sent a letter to rothe nfl commissioner saying that his comments have been divisive. limbaugh said the attacks saddened and disappoint him and he does not discriminate. we are blogging about this. go ahead to cnn.com/robin and leave a comment. we would love to hear from you. we'll have more sports in ten minutes. robin? >> okay. thank you. we told you about michael jackson's new song yesterday.

"this is it." ♪ this is it ♪ i am the light of the world >> turns out "this is it" isn't new. he recorded the song in 1983 with paul linka and then it was recorded by safire in 1991. he'll now get 50% of the royalties. >> that's huge. >> 50%. >> the last song out there will be huge. >> they say that there could be -- they found this in a box somewhere. there could be more. there could be many, many more songs. >> we could get them in the next five years. >> that's my bet. good morning. >> let me show you what's happening right now. a lull today for the rain in the deep southeast. they got flooded out across north georgia, alabama and even

toward carolina mountains. right now most of the energy is focused toward central texas, northern texas, oklahoma in toward arkansas. it's mainly around that frontal boundary and below it it's real warm and humid. we'll watch thunderstorms off the gulf coast now from houston and galveston. it's moving up due north but thundershowers will fill in across the entire gulf coast later today and around dallas more heavy rain and it's been prolific when you get west of ft. worth over the morning hours moving toward the east. you'll get affected around dfw trying to get in or out of dallas this morning you'll run into problems. we'll have delays in a bit. areas shaded in bright green. atlanta is in there. birmingham toward eastern texas flood warnings are out there. the reason why is because of all of the rain we'll see over the next couple of days. 48 hours watch the rain stretch on through tennessee and alabama and mississippi all of the way in toward northern georgia. the yellow shaded colors is 3 to 5 inches of rain in 48 hours. that's something we're real concerned with again for the northern half of mississippi, alabama, and georgia even into the carolina mountains.

here's atlanta right now. let me show you what it looks like on the tower cam. the clouds are still in from yesterday's rain. a bit of drizzle being reported down by the airport. look at the visibility, robin. that's awful. you'll see delays first thing in the morning because of that. more details on that in a half hour. >> one of those days you have to go a block, i'll take a cab. >> you can't tell what city you're looking at there. it's tough. >> thank you. here are two things that you rarely hear in the same sentence. chicken wings and the national economy. how the recession is making chicken wings specials disappear. plus a gas pump caught fire when it was knocked over with one man trapped underneath.

it's time right now for a salute to the troops. today's salute comes from a wife to her husband. she's counting down the days

until his return so he can meet his new baby girl. >> hi, robin. this is taunia bailey. i want to and send salute to my husband. he left three weeks before our second daughter with a born and hasn't met her yet. we're so proud of you and miss you every second of every day. we can't wait until you're home with us and can meet our daughter and we can be a family again. we love you and are so proud of you and pray for you every day. hurry home to us. >> so sweet. if you have somebody in the service it's our honor to help you salute them. cnn.com/robin. a crucial vote today could shape your health care for decades. after months of backroom negotiations, the senate finance committee will finally vote on its health care bill. we know this stuff is complicated. richard lui, so many versions floating. why is this one so important? >> this is the only bill the gop helped create. look at today's vote as a test

to see if it's working or not. the most conservative bill the democrats have to offer with no public option but with a co-op option. so far democrats have little support for their health care plans despite the president's efforts over months and both sides accuse the other of just not collaborating. >> who do the viewers need to keep an eye on today? >> one person is olympia snowe. democrats need a yes vote from her known as an independent thinker. snowe's big concern here, the cost of health care reform. and her experience with the health care system started early. orphaned at the age of 9 after losing her father to a heart attack and her mother died of breast cancer a year earlier. even by the workaholic standards, snowe is known as being tenacious. in the next 20 minutes, we'll tell what you may happen after today's vote including that public option.

pc prices have never been lower and general westhoven is speaking to me. >> a lot of people think can i afford to buy a pc right now? only if it's in your budget but the prices are almost half of what they were more than five years ago. that's according to "usa today" this morning. that's good news in bad economy. back then an average computer would have set you back more than $1,300. they're $761. that's an 80% drop in price. if you are thinking about buying maybe make sure you wait until two weeks when windows 7 hits the shelves. it's a new operating system. a lot of analysts said you may see at the present timing prices right now but it's a headache to install it. it can take 21 hours. can you imagine? pull your hair out. analysts say the new operating

system may be worth your time to wait for that and low prices should stick around. here's something else costing less. chicken breasts. if you go to chicken wing place you see 25 cent deals disappear. chicken wings are more expensive and boneless wings are showing up. this is a real flip-flop in the chicken world. the wing, which used to be tfor cheapos now cost more than chicken breast per pound. americans are cutting back on eating out and restaurants aren't serving breasts and many times people are going to wing joints when we go out. boosting demand. it is tuesday morning. if you're getting up ready for a business trip, bob says in this area, atlanta, you'll have a wait ahead of you. >> good morning. i tell you the clouds outside just looked outside the window they're down. they're about 500 feet. we'll see ground stoppages in atlanta over the next couple of hours. this is what it looks like.

this is downtown around the airport south of here. it's even worse. we'll get delays out of that. let me show you heaviest rain. here's the squall line. watch for thunderstorm delays. an hour or more around dallas. anticipate that. and then san francisco major storm developing off the california coast. rain and wind. one hour or more in san francisco easy. boston, new york, wind especially this afternoon. salt lake city looking at wind. and then more showers developing right across atlanta and charlotte. basically late today. this morning it's fog. memphis, houston, los angeles, rain. more on that in a bit. she doesn't want fame just money. hear how this 12-year-old is raising cash for a little girl with cancer.

a man died when the crane he was operating collapsed on a city street yesterday. fire officials in philadelphia say the man fell 125 feet strapped into the crane's basket. an elderly woman broke her arm when the falling debris hit her car. fire officials say the crane was sitting on a man hole cover that couldn't support its weight. a dramatic scene at an ohio gas station. a man was pinned under burning wreckage. keep an eye on the man trapped underneath the pump. you can see it it burst into flames here. people working there rushed over. lifted up the gas pump and pulled him out. a fire chief says the man should be okay. a little girl is helping a 4-year-old friend with cancer by performing songs right out on

the street. ♪ >> she's something else she's raised thousands of dollars to help her friend by playing her songs and singing. >> taylor gets excited for them and she loves getting them read to her because she likes knowing that people are supporting her and people are actually thinking about her. >> according to the website, the little girl is in remission but the type of cancer she has has a high risk of recurrence. the biggest golf tournament in the country for the blind. how does this work is my first question? >> with help. you have to have somebody be their eyes. it is a bit of a head scratcher because golf is so reliant on

sight yet these folks are playing at a very high level and today is day two of the 64th u.s. blind golf association national championship in san antonio. of the 35 competitors, all of them are sight impaired but half of them are completely blind. they have a coach that acts as their eyes. some are their wives. they say the best part about having trouble seeing is they never see their bad shots or the hazards. another amazingly dramatic finish in the baseball playoffs. phillies down with two with two outs in the ninth inning against colorado but somehow came back. first ryan howard. the biggest hit of his career ties it. and then jason werth drives in a run. they will face los angeles thursday and winner of that is going to the world series. lastly it's a bird, it's a plane, it's super shaq. the cavaliers were playing

greece. shaq goes for the lay-up. gets fouled. lands in the front row. who was at the bottom of that? this guy. he got a point of view here. cameraman was a little bit shaken up. this was an exhibition game. look at the cameraman there. okay. i love his t-shirt. >> cleveland is going to love shaq. they're going to love him. >> in the next half hour, "monday night football" a thriller to the wire. we'll have it for you. an oklahoma woman came to the rescue of a skunk in trouble. look at his head stock in a peanut butter jar. poor thing. the woman called in help. they called the skunk whisperer. he managed to free the stuck skunk. nobody got sprayed and the skunk ran off unharmed. hundreds of dmv employees

skipped work to protest losing the columbus day holiday. nine had to close any way. others reduced services. >> it's too bad that they stayed home. a lot of people looking for work. we could fill those jobs right away. >> i don't think it's right. it's not fair. if you have to be at work, they have to be at work just like everybody else. >> one employees union said it agreed to elimb gninate the hol in a proposed contract but governor schwarzenegger didn't push it through. at time when people are out of work, it's outrageous that the union would encourage this. a heck of a carving job on halloween, wouldn't it? this pumpkin weigh is 1,658 pounds. any moment now they'll play the theme to rocky. it set a new state record.

however, it's 47 pounds shy of a world record. that was set in ohio last week. the pumpkin's grower went home with $10,000 prize. that will make rocky happy.

we expect a huge vote today on your health care. the bill would move to the full senate even though it's a major priority for the democrats, the bill does not include a government run insurance option. the southeast is getting soaked again this week. parts of georgia and alabama were under flood warnings yesterday. there are more heavy rains coming. the atlanta area was just cleaning up from flooding about three weeks ago that killed nine people. veterans groups are outraged about a man who admitted to lying about being a decorated war vet. he was accused of a rare crime

called stolen valor. he said he was at the pentagon on 9/11 and wounded in iraq. he says he has an underdiagnosed mental illness. michael jackson's new song is not that new. it was written in 1983. when the song was released, anka called up sony and jackson's estate. he'll get half of the royalties. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. so today may be the turning point in the push to change your health care. now, the senate finance committee finally votes on its bill. it's the most conservative bill democrats have offered. correspondent richard lui, today's bill is expected to pass but then the reel backroom brawling might begin. >> perhaps some progress some are saying. the fight over the public option, that will continue after

it is passed as expected. behind closed doors as a finance committee bill is merged with a more liberal bill from another committee called help. now, here's the nitty-gritty of that merge. a public option is included in the help committee bill but not in the finance committee version that you have been talking about. expect lots of wrangling between democrats themselves and then with republicans about that issue. so the issue that provokes outrage at town hall meetings in august is not dead yet. >> what about other differences in the bill? differences that could cost or save our viewers money on health care? >> good point. here's what you need to know. the bills do not agree on whether employers should be forced to provide health insurance for employees. this could affect so many people from small businesses, their owners, to rank and file workers. another key difference is how much should government subsidies

help low and middle income people pay for health insurance? the goal is to merge with one bill that could win 60 senate votes and cost no more than $900 million over the next decade. >> we'll watch that today. thank you. secretary of state hillary clinton is in russia today. she's expected to talk with the president about how to convince iran to stop its nuclear program. she'll hold a town hall style meeting. a florida teenager is in the hospital after somebody set him on fire. police are holding three juveniles in connection with the attack. 15-year-old michael brewer was doused with gasoline and set ablaze. he ran through an apartment complex and jumped into the pool to put out the flames. he has burns on 80% of his body. >> this is the worst thing you could possibly do to a 15-year-old kid. >> to anybody. even an animal. you don't do this. can you not put fire -- you feel

every single bit of pain. >> the victim's family says the attack was in retaliation because he got somebody arrested for stealing a bike the day before. so horrible. a lung transplant patient is dead after he got the lungs of a 50 cigarette a day smoker. he got that transplant in 2007 but less than a year later doctors found the tumor in his new lungs and he died soon after. the hospital says that it's not unusual to transplant a smoker's lungs because there just are not enough lungs available. a teacher in florida claims he taught his dog to read. check this out. you can see the golden retriever picking up and dropping a pencil based on commands on the card. he says that he memorized the words shape but he's an inspiration to students. >> it's my hope that the kids will become more motivated, more interested in reading because having this dog that can read has got to be motivating.

>> some other words that the little dog knows. sit. down. and roll. she's so sweet. you know how much training he has to do that for that dog to recognize that? 34 minutes past the hour. meteorologist bob van dillen. >> my dog nose a couple phrases. one is i'm going on the carpet when it rains outside. just like that. >> i thought he also knows how to flip you off. >> he does. he can extend that digit. good for him. good morning to you, robin. this weather brought to you by u.p.s. let me show you the northeast. quick moving low. cold front dropping down toward the south. ahead of that, cool temperatures. rain and snow in the higher elevations now toward northern vermont, new hampshire, western maine. getting a decent amount of snow. we do have a winter weather advisory in the areas shaded in that blue-green.

2 to 4 inches of rain above 1,000 feet. you'll see that all of the way down to the valley floor just about. the snow and rain mixing in right now. down to the south farther toward new york city traveling here it will be a windy day today. tower cam showing it well. clouds are definitely in. might see a shower or two this morning. rain not a factor traveling up there. the wind later today will be. let me show you boston up to the north. you are getting rain showers out there now. gray skies and poor visibility. rains picking up this afternoon to 20 to 25 miles an hour. here's boston radar picture. you can see what it looks like on the tower cam. this is how it goes with radar shot. light showers over you. morning event out by this afternoon. sunshine but the winds will pick up. out west, we're watching a major storm just off the coast of california. look at the heavy rain pulling in off the pacific ocean toward northern california in the bay area. that's one aspect. the other aspect is the wind. wind warnings, wind advisories gusting to 65 miles per hour today in and around the bay

area. more details on that coming up in a half hour. >> all righty. thank you. she's a high school graduate and she's a wiz with numbers and she does it with only half of a functioning brain. i kid you not. meet the woman who says she's living a normal life even with half of a brain.

prosecutors will seek the death penalty against some of the people accused of killing a florida couple known for

adopting special needs kids. you may remember this surveillance video from byrd and melanie billings house. four of the eight suspects are facing the death penalty if convicted including the suspected ring leader. they pleaded not guilty. a democrat who has gotten national attention for wanting people to die quickly. here's one exchange with an opponent of health care reform. >> why do senators and congressmen have another plan than what we are getting forced on us? >> i have the same coverage as every other federal employee. no different than anyone else. secondly, you will not be forced to get any kind of coverage. you can keep the coverage that you have. the president said over and over again if you like your insurance you can keep it. >> when asked about his die quickly comment, grayson told

the crowd it was meant to be tongue in cheek. san francisco mayor was helping out an elderly man when he was robbed. kevin johnson was at a conference over the weekend and saw a man struggling to carry his bags and sat down his belongings. his suit, a pair of shoes and other personal items were stolen. planning to fix drafty doors or get new insulation before winter sets in? gets this. the government will pay a big chunk of your cost. bring it on, money expert jennifer westhoven. good morning. >> people are thinking about the fact they need more insulation and they need to fix the door or a heating system. >> do you have your microphone on? >> yeah, did it fall? it did. sorry about that, everyone. >> if you need to fix a drafty door, there's a good reason you

might want to do it this year or next year. save your receipts. you can get 30% of the price back. that's up to $1,500 back in your income taxes for regular investments like the ones we were talking about or heating or air conditioning systems and you can get more than $1,500 back if you upgrade to solar panels or wind energy. we'll have all of the details pretty soon on our website. cnn.com/robin. we're working on getting that up. you can check the government's energy star website. gift cards this holiday season that have been so popular and this year retailers think the sales likely to be flat. they'll get real creative to try to get you to buy them. so target has made gift cards that double as toys. like there will be a tiny mouse with a santa hat pushing a shopping cart with the gift card in it. how much did they spend on the toy? neiman marcus will hand out free

cards if you're there on a certain day or if you spent a certain amount. so something to look out for. cosco sells cards that are like a coupon. you pay $80 for a card that gets you $100 worth of stuff at a restaurant or a store or something like that. now, one of the reasons that sales may be down is because people talk so much about fees. there's been a lot of criticism. american express is going to drop the monthly fees on its gift cards and because it's pretty big in this area, some analysts say that other retailers could do the same. that would certainly be good if the banks and financial companies did that as well. they wait a year. they charge you nothing and then they charge you $2 a month. pretty soon your gift card is worth zippo. >> they have all of the money themselves. thanks. historically black university is crowning its first white beauty queen but the new job comes with some challenges. and a chicago cubs filing for

bankruptcy protection that's providing some material for the late-night comics.

the u.s. wants a huge bunker buster but it won't say if concerns about iran and north korea are why it is such a hurry to get one built. the 15-ton bomb is ten times more powerful than the weapon it will replace. that's expected to happen as soon as next summer. forget concerns about baby fat. chubby babies have been denied coverage by one health insurer. now the company is changing its tune about obesity. we'll tell you why in the next 30 minutes. my goodness. we're getting heated comments about today's health care vote. there's a big vote today. on our facebook page, have at it. bill w. says i hope it is voted down. we still do not have a good enough proposal. this one has too many hidden facets to it. and anita d. writes --

>> we want to hear from you. our facebook page is active right now and you can access facebook at cnn.com/robin. there's an icon. the first at hampton university next week. the historically black school will crown its first white mi hampton university. she wrote a letter to president obama about her concerns. >> there may be some negativity as to it but the fact is that everyone that has approached me personally has been so welcoming and congratulated me so i feel like we're a big family here. >> i think it will be challenging at first and not just because she's the first nonblack winner but because she's from the virginia beach campus but once that initial shock wears off i do believe that the students will come together and work with her. >> the pageant winner will move on to compete in the miss virginia competition. a woman who was born with just half a brain says that she's living a normal life and

full life. this is one of the most popular stories right now on cnn.com. doctors say that the woman's brain rewired itself because some parts were damaged during a prebirth stroke. she wanted to go public with her condition to help raise awareness. >> i wanted to do this so that people like producers, photographer, and security guards and police officers learn about people like me that i'm normal but have special needs and there are a lot of people like me. >> the woman lives with her parents but she works from home doing a data entry for her church. the miami dolphins landed the last punch in a thriller over the new york jets. and the stars were out. hi, rafer. >> yes. right now "monday night football" is delivering night after night. this was the most thrilling

fourth quarter i've ever seen on "monday night football." miami dolphins team co-owners trying to bring sexy back to the fans. the team delivered. there were five league changes in the fourth quarter. you're lucky if you get one or two lead changes in the game. that's on average. mark sanchez with the long pass to edwards. it was ruled a td but later overturned. ten seconds left. brown runs it in. miami wins and rhythm will get you. a thousand pound carved statue of buffalo bills hall of famer thompson has been stolen. buffalo bills fan, what is up with you? busy police department there. this tied the most amazing comeback in nhl history.

the chicago blackhawks down 5-0 in the first period to calgary and battled back to win in overtime. you score about one or two goals a period. calgary came back to win. it's also chicago's comeback in team history. and speaking of chicago, a judge is expected to approve the chicago cubs filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy at a hearing today. it's not bad news. it should help the sale of the team, but jay leno had this to say about it. >> the chicago cubs have filed for chapter 11, now sad is that, hu? the cubs finally do something in october and it's bankruptcy. now they're talking about moving the cubs to rio. >> chicago the cubs make a lot of money, valued at $845 million. people nearly choked on

their lunch when a deer came crashing through a restaurant and this is the video. the deer smashed through a window and ran out the front door. this is right outside detroit. and the restaurant is just blocks away from any woods. no one was hurt. that would shot you, wouldn't it? >> hey, everybody, we're going streaking. we're talking about the low clouds out there across charlotte in atlanta, both of those cities have a ground stoppage at their airports for the next 40 minutes because of the low clouds, poor visibility. here's what we have for the rest of the day. rain headed from the dallas area. dfw, you're going to see a delay for about an hour more. also atlanta, we have the ground stop delay at 30, houston, looking at showers and thunderstorms for the afternoon. more details for that weather in just about a half hour. some troops who were

deployed back to iraq for the next year. they saw their families after being so far away for so long. @

well, hello, hello, hello. putting my blackberry down. how are you doing? good morning, sunshine, i'm robin meade. some civil rights leaders are telling the nfl do not let rush limbaugh become a team owner, how they think he should not be and how limbaugh shot back at them. and the fbi has a new tool to track down crime suspects, and you may have it in your pocket right now. first, today is finally the

day, we should see president obama's plan to overhaul your health care, take its biggest step. the senate finance committee votes today on a reform bill. it is expected to pass, that will send it to the senate where more spark are going to fly. a couple of reasons why this is a big deal, the bill does not include a hotly debated public insurance option. it's the only bill out there that was created with some help from republicans. does it stand a chance, though? >> we're going to find out. i mean we're going to have a big debate in the senate, it's going to go on for many, many weeks, the american people will have an opportunity to weigh in. i do think that the majority made a mistake intrying to jam it through before anybody had a chance to read it. they have slowed the process down now and people are going to have a chance to understand what's in it and how it will affect them. >> plus one woman is the center

of attention in today's vote, find out who she is and why her vote is so important. the death rate for kids with the h1n1 flu is at its highest since the outbreak began last spring. the cdc says 76 kids have died since april with the virus, but 16 of them died just last week. most had an underlying medical condition but not all of them. and that's why doctors really want you to watch your kids if they get sick. get help if your kids have breathing problems, a blueish skin color, they're very thirsty or they're not waking up easy. watch for a rash, say doctors. the taliban is better at making money than is al qaeda. the television is getting cash by extorting money from both drug traffickers and legitimate businesses. on the other side of the economy, cash strapped and losing influence.

president obama's decision on whether to -- michael jackson's songs touched a lot of people. we told you about a new song called "this is it." turns out we have learned that this song is not so new. jackson wrote the song with paul anka in 1983. anka contacted jackson's estate yesterday, now he will get song writing credit and 50% of the royalties. wow. talk about a big chunk. civil rights leaders are speaking out against rush limbaugh's bid to buy the st. louis rams. >> this deal isn't even close to

being done and already the rhetoric the flying. sharpton sent a letter to nfl commissioner arguing that limbaugh that's been divisive in some of his comments, people while jackson said limbaugh's made his living insulting whites and minorities. limbaugh shot back saying that the attacks sadden and disappoint him and that he does not discriminate. we would love for you to go to c cnn.com/robin and comment. california now recognizes certain same-sex marriages, arnold schwarzenegger passed a new law recogniziing couples wh were married in other states only during the time that the state law was in effect.

new this morning, after more than a year of ugly infighting, martin luther king's children are avoiding a child that would have made the estate public. martin luther king and bernice king sued dexter king last month. now a custodian will be appointed to run it. five minutes after the hour. here we go again, we have some, i'm going to say some rain problems in the southeast. and it's getting soaked this week? >> we're in a little bit of a brief respite period for the south. but the rain is going to come back hard. big thundershowers beginning to blossom near dallas stretching in towards, basically oklahoma and fanning out across arkansas and lower missouri. notice some rain off the coast of houston and galveston, that rain is going to stretch on later today, so if you look at

the radar picture, it's going to come more active this afternoon. but around dallas, you're picking up thunderstorms near ft. worth too. morni more rain still out there for the atlanta metro area and picking up around birmingham. three to five inches of rain in roswell, georgia. the same area that got flooded out a few weeks ago. let me show you a computer model. most of the rain begins around texas, stretches on through towards tennessee, northern mississippi, alabama and georgia. that's about six inches of rain that's forecast for the next 48 hours. as for the northeast, all snow before 5,000 feet. parts of new york state and vermont too, two to four inches of snow.

winter weather advisory for you. down in the south, here's some radar, socked in with low clouds and the light rain there for most of the morning and then out west, major storm system wrapping up, we'll talk about that one in just about a half hour. you're going to see some extremely cheap lap tops out there, no, they're thin, that's what they are. a sneak peek at dell's interesting design twist for lap tops. so thin.

all right, time for us to salute our troops. today's salute comes from a wife

to her husband. she is counting down the days until he gets back so he can finally meet his new baby girl. >> hi, robin, this is tanya bailey and i would like to sent a salute to my husband antwan bailey. it's been three weeks since our daughter was born and he hasn't met her yet. we can't wait until you are home with us and you can finally meet our daughter and we can be a family again. we love you and are so proud of you and pray for you every day. hurry home to us. >> if you have someone in the service, we are always honored to help you salute them. a crucial vote today could shape your health care for decades. after months of back room negotiations, the senate finance committee will finally vote on this bill. why is this bill so important? >> they worked together, both the gop and the democrats, the first time they helped create this bill. look at today's vote as a litmus

test to see how closely both sides are working or are not. this is the most conservative bill democrats have to offer without a public option. democrats have very little support for their health care plans to date, despite the president's efforts over months. both sides have accused the others of not collaborating. >> who do the viewers really need to keep an eye on today. >> one person is modern republican senator olympia snow. democrats need a yes vote from her because she is know as an independent thinker. her experiences with the health care system start early. she was in fact orphaned at the age of 9 after losing her father to a heart attack. her mother died of breast cancer about a year earlier. the "new york times" giving more background of her, saying she's even by the workaholic standards of many lawmakers, she's known

as being especially tenacious. in the next 40 minutes, we'll tell you about the fiblghts looming after today's vote. >> because it's not over after that. are you due for an upgrade from that beater of a computer. our money expert jennifer westhoven has the examples here. >> they're about 80% lower than they were about six years ago, so almost half according to numbers cited by "usa today." that's some good news. the average price back in 2003, 1364, and now it's down to 761. if you are thinking about buying a computer and you want to take advantage of the prices. a lot of analysts say wait at least two weeks until windows 7 hits the shelves because they think the low prices are going to stay and you will not have to do the upgrade yourself.

>> it window s 7 is a headache to install. one estimate i saw was 21 hours. dell seems to be taking aim at apple. it has released some teeszer shots. there are these just released pictures of the superthin lap top and it's only about ten millimeters thick. >> sit light too? >> i don't know. they're not really giving out a lot of the specs about it. i suspect it's quite light, look how small it is. but if you come back to me, though. this -- basically this is ten millimeters so that's how thin it is. that's pretty cool. it seems to be taking aim at apple's mack book which bills itself as the world's thinnest notebook computer. it's also very stylish. and you kind of hear some of the

echoes of apple in the marketing. not in stores yet, but dell has hinted it might be out in time for the holidays. but you would be silly to ignore apple's example in the pc market or the computer market, right? >> who's chasing who, right? >> i believe dell's chasing them. when you love somebody, you would do just about anything for them. she's only 12, but this girl is finding a way to help out one of her best friends who has cancer.

prosecutors will seek the death penalty against some of the people accused of killing a

florida couple known for adopting special needs kids. you may remember this surveillance video from byrd and melanie billings' house before they died. four of the eight suspects are facing the death penalty if they're convicted. that includes the suspected ringleader. they pleaded not guilty. an arizona sheriff is deciding whether criminal negligence played a role in two deaths at a sweat lodge. those are sometimes used for cleansing experiences or exercises. the fire chief says that most hold up to a dozen people, but this one had up to 65. the owner of the resort where this happened wouldn't comment. a girl was helping a 4-year-old friend with cancer by performing songs right out there in the street. ♪ >> abby miller has raised thousands of dollars to help her friend by playing her guitar and

singing. taylor love has a cancer that affects her nervous system. miller also has people write notes to taylor and says they are very helpful. >> taylor gets excited for them and she loves getting them read to her because she loves knowing that people are supporting her and people are actually thinking about her. >> the type of cancer she has has a high risk of recurrence. a couple of remarkable little girls. president obama is now one of three sitting presidents to win the nobel peace prize. here's what hln's joy behar has to say about it in her "not for nothing" comment tear. >> president obama had a very full weekend, on saturday he promised to end the military's don't ask, don't tell policy and on friday he won the nobel peace prize. this guy is busier than the wallpaper in my aunt's living

room. but not everyone was happy for him. republicans cheer when he loses the olympics and yet they boo when he wins the nobel peace prize. when will these people realize that you can be civil and still be able to make political points. mike huckabee managed to be gracious about obama's win and john mccain was too. and lastly, let me stay a few words to president obama himself. quit apologizing already, you won the thing fair and square. so can the humility act, go to norway, snatch up your little piece of hardware and wave it in rush limbaugh's face. and not for nothing, but if president obama does manage to get rights for gay americans, he should also win the tony. but that's just me. it's considered the biggest golf tournament in the country for the blind.

here's rafer with more of the story. how does this work. >> it's really exciting to see because they need somebody to be their odds, and to watch them work with these coaches, it just really, really awesome. it's really special. today is actually day two of the 64th blind golf association national championship. it's in san antonio, of the 35 competitors, they're all signed up. but about half of them are completely blind. there's the coach behind them essentially telling them where to swing, how hard to swing, some of the coaches are actually their wives. and these guys perform at a high level. they say the best part about not being able to see is they never see their bad shots or the hazards. and amazingly, another amazing finish, in the baseball playoffs and it came down to the wire. the philadelphia phillies were down to two with two outs in the ninth inning against colorado. ryan howard ties it and jayson

werth runs in the game winning run. they get the dodgers and a shot at the world series on thursday. it's a bird, it's a plane, it's supershaq. cavaliers play the -- they need to start putting bumpers up for shaq. but look who gets the brunt of it, the guy with the camera. wait until you see the camera guy. he is legitimate shaken up. he would be okay, there he is. a little dazed and confused. i love his yeagermeister t-shirt. i would love a yeagermeister after that. this pumpkin weighs a stunning 1658 pounds. it is 47 pounds shy of a world record that was set in ohio last week. you know what cracks me up the most about this video?

is that when they start hoisting it, here comes the "rocky" tune. i'm telling you. this pumpkin grower went home with about $10,000 in prize money. they said it would never last.

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it's the longest-lasting plugins ever. 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. a storm is bearing down on california. people are preparing sandbags through the state. some areas could get as much as six inches of rain. the rain could cause mudslides, especially in areas that were affected by wildfires. secretary of state hillary clinton is going to talk with dmitry medvedev. she will also hold a town hall style meeting with students at moscow university. a man admitted to lying about being a deck raided war vet. he was arrested friday accused of a rare crime called stolen

valor. he said he was at the pentagon on 9/11 and was wounded in iraq. he later admitted that he had a mental illness and got caught up in the moment. good morning, it's 30 minutes past the hour. tuesday is off. we have a long way to go. but at least we're together. i'm robin meade, today may be a turning point in the push to challenge your health care or change it. the senates the committee finally votes on its bill and it is the most conservative bill that the democrats have offered. correspondent richard louie joins us now. the bill is expected to pass, and then the back biting really starts. but this is the big bay. >> perhaps a little process is what you're talking about. the fight over the public option, that will continue. but behind closed doors this time as the finance committee bill is now merged with a more liberal bill from another complete called help.

here's the nit tas you were say lots of wrangling between democrats themselves and with republicans thereafter about this. so the issue that provoked so much hostility in some town hall meetings is not dead yet. >> the public option may be the huge fighting point. but what about some other differences in the bill, that could save viewers money on their health care? >> the bills do not agree on whether employers should be forced to provide health insurance for their employees. this could affect so many people from small business owners to rank and file workers another key difference, robin, how much should government subsidies help low and middle income people pay for health insurance? the goal is to emerge with one bill that could earn 60 senate votes and cost no more than 9

million over the next decades. the feds have a new tool to fight fugitives and it's many your wallet. fbi agents in north carolina are scanning billions of driver's license photos. they're saying it already led them to a homicide suspect. critics say it's like putting everybody through a virtual lineup. a lung transplant patient is dead after he got the lungs of a 50-cigarette a day smoker. british soldier matthew milligan got the transplant in 2007. it's not unusual to transplant a smoker's lungs because there just are not enough lungs available. a pair of shoes are serving as a stark reminder of what youth violence can do. they belong to darian albert.

the shoes became part of a memorial during a call to action. >> while we're spending what's going to be a trillion dollars in iraq and afghanistan combined, why can't we do the same thing here in chicago to get guys away from the vice lords like we're trying to do with the taliban and al qaeda overseas. >> fourteens are charged with his death. several patients were exposed to too much radiation for a year and a half. all because of a computer error. officials at l.a. cedars sinai medical center say that 206 patients who had ct scans got eight times the normal dose of radiation. many of them lost their hair because of it. ge which made the machine says it's not defective. an oklahoma woman came to the rescue of a skin income trouble. his head was stuck inside a peanut butter jar.

so the woman called in help. a wildlife control expert called the skunk whisperer. with a little chloroform, the skunk whisperer freed the little guy. nobody got sprayed. and nobody got harmed. thank you mrs. skunk whisperer. they gave him chloroform. poor thing. >> he's got his head in a jar. glad it worked. glad he's alive. >> poor thing. 35 minutes past the hour. today let's focus on maybe some weather that is not so fall like. we're going to see where bob's starting. >> good point, too, it's the west coast with a major storm just offshore from california and you can see in the satellite picture just the extent of the cloud cover now as it presses through nevada in towards the rocky mountains with the heaviest rain right through san francisco. and it's not just rain that we're worried about, it's the wind as well. let me show you some of the

warnings that we have posted up there. san francisco is in a three-hour delay, sfo because of the wind and the rain, with warnings in red, gusting to 65 miles an hour. today wind advisories in yellow including most in nevada gusting to 50 miles an hour today. we will see a lot of action out there today, tonight through tomorrow as that low gradually slides up to towards the north. look at that radar picture coming out of california, look for about two to three inches of rain here, a lot of rain also around northern parts of california. that's stretching in towards oregon, seattle, you'll get it as well. notice the black shaded colors right now across the spine of the sierra nevada rain. that's about eight to ten inches of rain, possibly a little bit more, maybe as much as 12 in the next few days. so an area of concern especially in the burnedout fire areas. in dallas, close to the san

antonio area, give it some time to get some storms coming up towards the coast thachlt have a solid sheet of rain just towards your west by ft. worth. get into dfw shortly. and the rain should move on into lower missouri too. gateway to the west, a couple of showers popping up late this afternoon as well. good look at the city, low clouds, might get a couple of delays there at the airport. we'll talk about that, robin, in just about 15 minutes. >> a security camera caught a -- a car knocked over a gas pump and it caught fire. the scariest thing was that somebody was trapped underneath.

♪ a florida teenager is in the hospital after someone set him on fire. police are holding three juveniles in connection with the attack. 15-year-old michael brewer was doused with gasoline and set ablaze. people say that brewer ran through an apartment complex and jumped into the pool to put out the flames. he has burns on 80% of his body. >> this is the worst thing that you could possibly do to a 15-year-old kid. >> to anybody. even an adult. you do don't this. you cannot put fire. you feel every single bit of pain. >> so awful. the victim's family says the attack was in retaliation because he got somebody arrested for stealing a bike the day before. a dramatic scene at an ohio gas station, a minivaniced over a gas pump and pinned a man

under the burning wreckage. you can see that it burst into flames, people working there lifted up the gas pump and pulled him out. a fire official says the man should be okay. yeah, i don't know how heavy a gas pump is, that can't be easy. that's for sure. planning to fix drafty doors or get some new insulation before winter? get this, the government will pay a big chun of course your cost. tell me how to sign up, right? money expert jennifer westhoven will. >> it's getti ting colder so pee are thinking about insulation if you need an update to a drafty door or a new heating system. you can get 30% of the price back in your income tax, up to 1,500 dlrds.

that's for regular upgrades. you could really get a lot back if you go to wind power or solar energy. all that information is on our website, cnn.com/robin. all right, gift cards, retailers getting very creative to entice you to buy gift cards as holiday gifts. because they're concerned that sales are going to be flat here. target gift cards double as toys. they have a little mouse push ag shopping card. target is giving away free cards on certain days or to certain shoppers. costco is selling cards that are kind of like coupons, you spend $80 buying the card, but it gets you $100 worth of stuff. here's a change that's good for consumers. american express is dropping monthly fees on its gift cards and analysts say because

american express is so big, other companies could follow and do the same thing. so the deal was if you've got an american express gift card, if you forgot about nit a draw, after a year, every month it would tick down $2 every month. and if you forgot about it, it would go down to zero. a lot of people don't spends them. if you get them as gifts spend them right away. politics is something that you wouldn't want to discuss with the baldwin family. joy behar asked stephen baldwin about it's political differences last night. >> do you get along? >> yes. >> do you have fights with alex? >> we were hanging out a few months back and he said oh, would have thought, little

stephen, born again, conservative republican. >> it sounds a lot like his brother. "the joy behar show" right here on hln. she's a college graduate and she's a whiz with numbers and she does it with half a functioning brain. no kidding. she says she's living a normal life even without that disability.

♪ a woman who was born with just half an operating brain says that she is living a normal and full life. this is one of the most popular stories on cnn.com today. doctors say that the woman's brain apparently rewired itself because some parts were damaged during a prebirth stroke. she wanted to go public with her condition to help raise awareness. >> i wanted to do this so that

people like producers, photographers, and security guards and police officers learn that -- learn about people like me, that i'm normal but have special needs and that there are a lot of people like me. >> well the woman lives with her parents, but she works from home doing data entry for her church. a teacher in florida claims that he taught his dog to read. he picks up and places down a pencil based on the words on the card. abigail memorized the shapes on the cards. how smart is snow but he hopes that it's an inspiration to students. >> it's my hope that the kids will become more motivated and get interested in reading.

>> other words that she knows is sit, down and roll. there's a new device that prevents your car from starting if alcohol is detected on your breath. do you believe that? yeah. the device is so sensitive. that it will even shut down the car if you turn on the radio and amy winehouse is playing. the miami dolphins have landed the last punch in a thriller. did you see it? it was over the new york jets. it seemed like every star in the miami was there to look at it. >> and miami winning in the end, you know what that taught me? rhythm is going to get you. gloria estefan owns the team. there's anthony dancing in the stands with wadeway. -- dwyane wade.

mark sanchez t quarterback for the jets. this guy looks really good, he's going so have a really nice career in the nfl. with ten seconds left, miami was down, pulling from its bag of tricks to win it on a run by ronnie brown. miami wins 31-27. a 1,000-pound carved statue of buffalo bills hall of fame player thurman thomas. it was stolen right outside ralph williams stadium. the story turns me into jerry signfeld, what's the deal with buffalo bills fans? return the statue, that's all i'm saying. >> somebody hand carved that too. >> after facing criticism for signing convicted dogfighter michael vick, the philadelphia eagles are making good on a pledge to support animal welfare

groups. they unveiled a group called treating animals with kindness encouraging spaying and neutering and end dogfighting for public awareness. and lastly a judge is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy at a hearing today. the move should help the sale of a team from the tribune company to the rickets family. it's supposed to happen 1, 2, 3, kind of like when the cubs are up at bat. >> the chicago cubs have filed for chapter 11 hp how sad is that, huh? the cubs finally do something in october, and it's bankruptcy. here's a worse one. now they're talking about moving the cubs to rio. chicago can't win. >> can you imagine if they had the cubs in rio instead of the bears. you'd hear the vendors going hey -- >> people nearly choked on their lunch when a deer came crashes through a restaurant. check it out. the deer smashed through a window and then ran out the front door.

this was right outside of detroit. thing is, the restaurant is just a few blocks away from woods. and nobody was hurt. look at this rescue. this car dropped 225 feet off a cliff at a state park near san diego. rescuers say that the driver may have hit the gas instead of the brake when his car lurched forward and went over the cliff. authorities say one man fell out partway down the slope. the driver and passenger were also taken to the hospital. today's hot viral video. come here and look at a finger style guitarist whose songs are getting millions of hits. ♪ >> isn't that really good? we dug it up for you on youtube. so talented. a historically black university is crowning its first

white beauty queen. but that new job comes with some challenges.

do or do i go to work on time? morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. let's jump right into the stories we're talking about. remember all the angry town halls about health care that we saw during this summer? well, all that fuss over coverage may come to a head after a major vote today. this crash didn't just start a huge fire. someone actually got pinned underneath the wreckage. he's okay. but it is an amazing rescue. all right. let's start with the health care thing. today's finally the day that we could see president obama's plan

to overhaul your health care take its biggest step. the senate finance committee votes today on a reform bill. it is expected to pass. that'll send it to the full senate where more sparks are going to fly. a couple of reasons why this is a big deal. the bill does not include a hotly debated public insurance option. instead it calls for a private cooperative that would offer insurance plans. the only bill out there created with some help from republicans. one senator told our sister network, cnn, many of his constituents are not happy that they may be required to buy insurance. >> when i was home for my july 4th break, not the rauk us ones we had in august, but very quietly, when people found out that the house of representatives had put out a bill that was going to charge people $1,000 penalty if they didn't have a health insurance, there was a tremendous reaction against that at the grass roots of america. >> the senate finance committee is expected to pass -- easily

pass that bill today. then some real back room brawling may begin. the fight over a public option may kick into high gear after today's vote. even though the bill does not contain a public option. we're going to break down the complicated fight looming in the senate. that story in about 15 minutes. not again. the southeast is getting soaked this week. parts of georgia and alabama were under flood warnings yesterday. and there are more heavy rains coming. the atlanta area was just cleaning up from flooding three weeks ago that killed nine people. >> i've been up since 5:00 this morning trying to save what i could. now it's getting destroyed. and everything i've done here in the last two weeks has been wiped out in the last 12 hours. >> a huge storm is also bearing down on california. people are preparing sandbags throughout the state. that rain can cause mud slides, especially in the areas burned by wildfires.

bob's going to be here in a minute with more on what we can expect there and also in your own backyard. the death rate for kids with h1n1 flu is at its highest since the outbreak began last spring. the cdc says that 76 kids have died since april with the virus. 16 of them died just last week. most had an underlying medical condition. not all of them. so that's why doctors really want you to watch your kids if they get sick. get help, doctors say, if your kids have breathing problems, a bluish skin color, they aren't thirsty or waking up easily. if they get better, make sure the fever doesn't return or their cough gets worse. and watch for a rash. civil rights leaders are now speaking out against rush limbaugh's bid to buy the st. louis rams. you knew that wasn't the end of it. hi, rafer. >> good morning. we're so far away from anything even potentially happening. but the rhetoric is flying. reverends al sharpton and jesse jackson say limbaugh's track record on race should exclude him from owning an nfl team.

sharpton sent a let tore the nfl commissioner arguing limbaugh has been devicive and anti-nfl in some of his comments. jackson said limbaugh's made his living appealing to the fears of whites, insulting minorities. limbaugh shot back on his radio show saying the attacks sadden and disappoint immaterihim and not discriminate. we are blogging about this possible sale and limbaugh owning a team. go to cnn.com/robin. we'll have more sports in ten minutes. >> we certainly have a lot of comments. you can share on facebook. we told you about michael jackson's new song, "this is it." ♪ >> well, turns out "this is it" isn't so new. jackson recorded and cowrote the song with paul anka in 1983.

the song was later recorded by the singer safire with different lyrics, same tune in 1991. now he'll get some writing credit and 50% of the royalties. not bad. good for paul anka. >> that's a good chunk of change. holy cow. five minutes after the hour. weather concerns. first of all, more rain in the southeast. give me a break. and then on the west coast i know a lot of you are joining us this hour from there. what's going on, bob? >> major storm system for california right now, rob. also -- we'll get to it. i want to show you this. the developing situation coming right out of the gulf of mexico in towards texas. it's beneficial rain still when you get towards san antonio. you need some around the region. you just don't want it to come down very heavy at the same time. you're going to get that in some spots. houston radar. a lot of action. more action near dallas. reds and yellows.

lightning and thunder, all stretching up towards northeast. the end result is going to be more heavy rain for you. maybe two to three inches today northern texas stretching into arkansas, getting in towards mississippi and louisiana, too. look at flash flood warnings. atlanta, parts of alabama, part of mississippi, northern louisiana as well. 48 hour map shows the big swath of rain getting right in towards tennessee. northern parts of mississippi first, then through alabama, north georgia getting all the way into the region of the carolinas as well. yellow shaded area is two to three inches of rain. more snow coming in across northern parts of new england. we have winter weather advisories. western parts of maine. get down to the south, light rain showers near boston. live to nyc. if you're traveling up here, low pressure center develops off the coast of cape cod later today. windy day for you, nyc. lots of clouds in the morning. dry for the most part. not the same can be said for san francisco. right now heavy downpours, lots of wind. talk about the weather delays there in ten minutes.

mostover us are a little embarrassed about our driver's license photos. i have a tiny bit of tomato sauce from pizza -- >> get out of here. >> in my teeth. >> you do? >> yes, i do. we're going to tell you why fugitives -- i was hungry at the dmv. we're going to tell you why fugitives should be downright worried about their photo.

i tell you what. we have a story coming up about driver's licenses and how the fbi is using those to catch fugitiv fugitives. so during the break we're passing around our driver's licenses laughing at the pict e pictur pictures. jennifer was appalled because they put your weight on the georgia driver's license. welcome to atlanta. time for our military salute. today's salute comes from a wife to her husband. she's counting down the days until his return so he can finally meet his new baby girl.

>> hi, robin. this is tonya bailey. my husband left three weeks before our second daughter was born and hasn't met her yet. can't wait until you're home with us and can finally meet our daughter and we can be a family again. we love you and are so proud of you. we pray for you every day. hurry home to us. >> if you have somebody in the service we'd be honored to salute them. go to cnn.com/robin. after more than a year of ugly infighting, martin luther king jr.'s children will avoid a trial that would have made the family's money issues public. they reached a settlement late last night. they sued dexter king last july, accusing him of mishandling money from the family's estate. now a temporary custodian will be appointed to run it. the feds have a new tool to find fugitives. it's in your wallet. fbi agents in north carolina are scanning millions of digital driver's license photos with

this new facial recognition software. they say it already led them to a homicide suspect. federal law gives agents access to dmv data bases. critics saw it's like putting everybody through a virtual lineup. if people looked at my photo they'd think it was gijit in the lineup. are you due for an upgrade from that beat up computer? pc prices have never been lower. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. >> this is one of those times when it pays to be cheap. computers tend to get cheaper and cheaper over time. now there are almost half price of what they cost about five years ago. according to the numbers cited by "usa today." good news in a bad economy. the average computer would have set you back $1,300 back then. now only about $750. that's good news if you're thinking about buying a new pc. if you are, a lot of experts say it might be good to wait at least two weeks. i know you're probably seeing

some sale prices right now. that's when the new microsoft operating system comes out. it's called windows 7. and there's a lot of talk that this is going to be hard to upgrade yourself. if you wait a little bit, you'll still get those low prices. you won't have to do the upgrade. a lot of the critics say the operating system is pretty good, but it's a headache to install. you've got to undo and reinstall all of some of your personal programs and pictures and et cetera. so might be good to wait a little bit. maybe you're seeing chicken wings for 25 cents and other specials like that disappear on the wings special? instead more boneless wings are showing up? they're often chicken breasts. because the entire chicken world has been turned upside down. that's what "the new york times" says this morning. the once lowly wing can now cost more than chicken breasts. it's because of the recession says the newspaper that's causing this very unusual flip-flop. lots of americans aren't going out as much. the restaurants are ordering less breast meat. when we do go out we're going to

places where the budget's cheap like a wing joint. tuesday morning. maybe you're on your way to some kind of a trip, coming back after a columbus day weekend. >> san francisco right now under the gun. three-hour delay right now at sfo because of the wind. it's a southeast wind right now about 18 miles per hour. that's going to grow in intensity. we could see those delays get even longer, unfortunately. let me show you a live radar picture around the dallas metro area. big showers and thunderstorms. atlanta first as we pan over. clouds go all the way across the deep southeast. that's atlanta. morning clouds. i think this afternoon should be fine with rain headed back in overnight tonight. again, here's what it looks like. doing any kind of traveling towards dallas, lots of rain around the region. not many planes going in or out. i don't see a delay yet. those will pop up. dallas about an hour or more. san francisco currently three hour delay because of the wind. rain off and on across the entire region. more rain across the deep south with wind in boston and new

york. salt lake city, wind related delays, 30 minute to one hour. charlotte and atlanta with the morning stuff. she doesn't want fame, just money. hear how this 12-year-old girl is finding a way to raise cash for another little girl with cancer.

today may be the turning point in the push to change your health care. the senate finance committee finally votes on its bill. it is the most conservative bill democrats have offered. correspondent richard lui, today's bill is expected to pass. but then the real back room brawling might begin. let's talk about that. >> perhaps some progress finally somewhere saying, robin, the fight over the public option, that will continue after it is passed, as expected. but behind closed doors as the finance committee bill is merged

with a more liberal bill from another committee called help. here's the nitty-gritty of that merge. a public option is included in the health committee bill but not in the finance committee version you've been talking at. expect lots of wrangling between democrats themselves and then with republicans about that issue. so the issue that provokes so much hostility, robin, in some town hall meetings throughout august, that is not dead yet. >> not dead yet. the public option might be a huge fighting point. what about other differences in the bill that could cost or save our viewers money on health care? >> good point. the bills do not agree on whether employers should be forced to provide health insurance for their employees. now, this could affect so many people from small businesses, their owners, to rank and file workers. another key difference here, how much should government subsidies help low and middle-income people pay for their health insurance? the goal is to obviously merge

with one bill. that can win at least 60 senate votes and cost no more than $900 billion, robin, over the next decade. >> richard, we will watch that today. thank you. a girl is helping a 4-year-old friend with cancer by performing songs right out there in the street. look at this. ♪ >> isn't she talented. abby miller has raised thousands of dollars to help her friend by playing her guitar and singing. little taylor love has a cancer that affects her nervous system. miller lets people write notes to taylor and says they are especially helpful. >> taylor gets excited for them and, like, she loves getting them read to her. she likes knowing people are supporting her and people are actually thinking about her. >> according to love's website, she is in remission. but the type of cancer that she has has a high risk of recurrence. president obama is now one of three sitting presidents to win the nobel peace prize. but here is what hln's joy behar

has to say about this in her "not for nothing" commentary. >> president obama had a very full weekend. on saturday he promised to end the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. on friday he won the nobel peace price. this guy is busier than a wallpaper in my aunt rose's living room. but not everyone was happy for him. republicans cheer when he loses the olympics. yet they boo when he wins the nobel peace prize. who's writing the gop's press releases, anyway? mahmoud ahmadinejad? when will these people raelsz that you can be civil and still be able to make political points? mike huckabee managed to be gracious about obama's win. john mccain, too. he's still [ bleep ] off from when woodrow wilson won his nobel prize. lastly, let me say a few words to president obama himself. quit apologizing already. you won the thing fair and square. so can the humility act.

go to norway, snatch up your little piece of hardware and wave it in front of rush limbaugh's face. not for nothing. but if president obama does manage to get equal rights for gay americans, then i think he should win the tony also. but that's just me. >> you can catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. it is considered the biggest golf tournament in the country for the blind. how does that work? here's rafer with more on that. >> well, it happens through team work. good morn ing, by the way. what's so great is to watch these guys work with their coaches and this team work produces really good results. and they've been doing this for a long time. today is day two of the 64th u.s. blind golf association national championships. it's in san antonio. 35 competitors, they're all sight impaired. you can see the coach behind the golfer there more or less being their eyes. about half of these guys, though, are completely blind.

a couple of their coaches are their wives. you know the communication is good. the best part they say about not being able to say is they actually never see their bad shots. another amazing dramatic finish in the baseball playoffs. i got to tell you, these games have absolutely delivered. phillies were down by two with two outs in the ninth inning against colorado. it's over, right? ryan howard makes the biggest hit of his career to tie it. jason worth drives howard in for the eventual game winner. the defending champs in this amazing come from behind win win it 5-4. they get the dodgers on thursday with a shot at the world series on the line. lastly, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's super shaq. watch him go up for the layup, get fouled and just keeps going. i guess if you're that big you don't want to stop. but look at the pov from the camera guy. oh, gosh! cleveland would win the game. shaq and lebron are looking good. that guy was looking a little shaken up. >> i can't wait to see lebron

and shaq playing together this season. >> it'll be great. a woman born with only half of a functioning brain is turning medical thinking on its head. hear her amazing story and how her brain rewired itself. not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

last month, this woman wasn't even able to get around inside of her own home. they chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store! if you or a loved one live with limited mobility call the scooter store! no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to guarantee your complete satisfaction. if we pre-qualify you for a new power chair or scooter and your claim isn't approved, the scooter store will give you your power chair or scooter free. that's our guarantee. they were so helpful and nice. they filed all the paperwork, and medicare and my insurance covered the cost. we can work directly with medicare or with your insurance company. we can even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it! so don't wait any longer, call the scooter store today.

morning. the new york stock exchange is open for business. that's elizabeth hurley ringing the opening bell. she is there representing estee lauder and their push to raise awareness for breast cancer. see her? what's in store for wall street today? a report in a few minutes. after months of heated debate, we're expecting a huge vote today on your health care. the senate finance committee is expected to approve a reform bill. now, it would move on to the full senate even though it's a major prior to for the dems, the bill does not include a government run insurance option.

secretary of state hillary clinton is in russia today expected to talk with president dmitry medvedev about how to convince iran to stop its nuclear program. she's also hold a town hall meeting with students at moscow university. the southeast is getting soaked. parts of georgia and alabama were under flood warnings yesterday. there are more heavy raining coming. the atlanta area was just cleaning up from flooding three weeks ago that killed nine people. there's some of our top stories. good morning. morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. come on in the room and sit down here for a little bit. a democrat whose gotten national attention for his harsh rhetoric about health care tried to down play it, apparently. allen grayson accused republicans of wants people to die quickly. at a town hall meeting yesterday brayson tried to keep the focus on questions from the audience. here's one exchange with an opponent of health care reform. >> why do senators and

congressman have another plan that what we are getting forced on us? >> i have the same coverage as any other federal employee. no different from anyone else. secondly, you will not be forced to get any kind of coverage. you can keep the coverage that you have. the president has said over and over again that if you like your insurance, you can keep it. >> when asked about his die quickly comment, grayson told the crowd that it was meant to be tongue in cheek. an insurance company is changing its attitude about big babies. in the past, rocky mountain health plans have denied coverage to obese infants. but the insurer says it will no longer turn down babies who are healthy but fat. babies. it made the change after denying coverage to a 4-month-old who weighs 17 pounds. the company blamed it on a flaw in its underwriting system. a florida teenager's in the hospital after someone set him on fire. police are holding three juveniles in connection with that attack. 15-year-old michael brewer was

doused with gasoline and set ablaze. police say brewer ran through an apartment complex and jumped into the pool to put out the fire. he has burns on 80% of his body. >> this was the worst thing you could possibly do to a 15-year-old kid. >> to anybody. even an animal. you don't do this. you cannot put fire. you feel every single bit of pain. >> how awful. the victim's family says the attack was in retaliation because he got somebody arrested for stealing a bike the day before. the attorney for an american dad says his client is being mistreated in a tokyo jail. the attorney claims that fist kwer savoie is being held without trial, denied treatment for high blood pressure and exposed to sleep deprivation. he's accused of kidnapping his kids after his ex-wife took them to japan. but a u.s. court has granted him sole custody. that's not recognized under japanese law. how would you like to find the first lady under your

christmas tree this year? a new york toy company is getting ready to sell michelle obama action figures. she'll be able in three different outfits, all with bare arms. the owner of jailbreak toys say they'll market the toy to adults rather than children. the white house has no comment. >> because we play with a lot of dolls as adults. >> yeah. okay, what, it's supposed to make a difference that you're not marking it to kids? 34 minutes past the hour. what's going on with the weather? bob has about three points of interest this morning. >> good point. we have snow across the northeast right now, heavy rain developing in texas and another big storm just off the coast of california. that's the one i'm starting with. look at that low pressure region. it's off the shores by about 400, 500 miles. but the rain is coming in and it's coming in in sheets right now from the bay area down to the south. now stretching to just south of portland, oregon, it's not just the rain we're worried about. also the gusty winds today. they'll really get up there

later this afternoon. the wind warnings posted for you, all the areas you see shaded in red. we're talking about the bay area, parts of the reno, nevada, area now. winds gusting to 65 miles per hour this afternoon. the yellow shaded areas are advisory areas. 50 mile per hour winds there. a good chunk of nevada and parts of utah and oregon as well. the california coastline again with the radar. most of the rain is still offshore. it continues to pile in from the bay area in towards northern california. i think end result today, two to three inches of rain around this area. over the next 48 hours maybe as much as ten inches of rain in the southern sierra nevada. the burned out areas getting in, areas around los angeles, mud slide potential definitely there starting this afternoon through the weekened. also showers and thunderstorms developing in texas. not houston yet. here's the way the tower cam looks. a lot of energy coming in off the gulf. we are just burned out with the sunshine right now. tough to see it. but we are going to see more thunderstorms this afternoon in houston. more details on that and a look

at that southeast weather in just about a half hour. >> thank you. >> you got it. so on wall street they were this close to the 10,000 mark. we haven't been there since, like, i think it was october of last year. susan lisovicz is at the new york stock exchange with a look at what's going on today. good morning. >> good morning, robin. that's right. we were this close to it yesterday. and now we're about this close to it. yeah. because we have a soft opening. it's, well, you know, it's kind of a quiet day. we have earnings from johnson and johnson. but they're not making investors feel better. this is the company, of course, that makes band-aids and baby shampoo and contacts. it did report a 1% increase in profit. but sales fell largely because of competition from generic drugs, which cut into sales of its topomax epilepsy drug. that drug alone from competition fell more than 70% from generics. domino's pizza sales held steady

last quarter. the pizza chain delivered a more than 75% surge in profit. domino's has faired better than competitors like pizza hut during the recession. pizza hut is seen as more expensive than domino's. domino's also grew international ae sales. finally, singer carly simon says starbucks didn't work hard enough to promote her 2008 album and she's suing. she's suing starbucks now, saying it's now defunct music unit doomed her album "this kind of love" by not offering it in enough key stores and by slashing the price. the album sold just 124,000 copies. this is a woman that sang and wrote "you're so vain." i'm still trying to figure out who that's about. that's another story. >> 124,000 doesn't sound so bad. the white house hasn't

exactly hidden how it feels about the fox news network. but now we're hearing some of their sharpest words yet about that. >> good morning.

a lung transplant patient is dead after he got the lungs of a 50 cigarette a day smoker. british soldier matthew milligan got the transplant in 2007. yes than a year later they found a tumor on his lungs and died shortly thereafter. the white house is accusing fox news of basically being a republican party spokesperson. listen to what white house communications director anita

dunn told our sister network, cnn. >> the reality of it is that fox news often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the republican party. take their talking points, put them on the air. take their opposition research, put them on the air. that's fine. but let's not pretend they're a news network the way cnn is. >> last month, president obama appeared on five network talk shows but did not appear on fox news. "the new york times" reports that anita dunn has said the president will likely go on fox in the near future. fox says that the white house has told them not to expect that this year. >> if they are afraid to go on fox news because they think they're going to get badly treated, how are they going to sit down and negotiate with ahmadinejad or chavez or kim jong-il in north korea? these are really tough guys. >> i don't think that they're afraid of fox news. they just hate them. you know, and some of the people who represent fox news and just hate what they've done to them. >> a fox news executive said that viewers can recognize the

difference between its commentary and its news programming, and attacking the messenger doesn't work. a pivotal vote on your health care could begin in less than 30 minutes. that's one of the stories richard is working on in the next hour of "morning express." >> supposed to start in 20 minutes. this will be the fifth committee to vote on a health care reform bill. but this vote is bigger than ever before. we'll tell you why it matters as the vote is happening live. plus, details on a new frightening phenomenon called compensated dating. it basically amounts here, robin, to teenage girls selling themselves for sex. and you won't believe why they say they are doing that. and don't let your eyes deceive you. police say that is a fake. and we're not talking about the drugs, robin, coming up in 20 for you. >> hmm. okay. thank you. look at this rescue. this car dropped 225 feet off of a cliff at a state park near san diego. rescue officials say the driver may have hit the gas instead of

the brake when his car lurched forward and went over the cliff. authorities say one man fell out partway down the slope. the driver and the passenger were taken to the hospital. are you at risk of identity theft? well, a new website can tell you. hln money expert clark howard has the details about this free and easy way to help protect your identity. >> what risk are you at of identity theft? we hear so much about it. you see all the commercials about how there's this great way for you to keep your identity from being stolen and all that stuff. but how would you figure out how much risk you are actually at? there's now a mathematical formula for free. you can run yourself through and see how much risk you're actually under based on your profile of having your identity stolen. you go to a website called myidscore.com. when you get there, you fill out

a short amount of information about yourself, and if you're trusting enough, your social security number. i chose to put it in there to see what it would show for me. guess what it showed for me? i was at pretty high risk of identity theft. thank goodness i've already frozen my credit. but check out your number and see if you need to take more precautions to protect yourself. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> so clark's the guy to teach you to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. a pair of sneakers are being used as a call to action. what people in chicago are saying about the teen killed in a gang fight. and a bit of history at a historically black college. but some people are not happy about the first white miss hampton university.

a pair of shoes is serving

as a stark reminder of what youth violence can do. they belonged to daerrion alber, a 16-year-old honor student brutally beaten to death next to his chicago school. yesterday the shoes became part of a memorial during a call to action. >> while we're spending what's going to be $1 trillion in iraq and afghanistan combined, why can't we do the same thing here in chicago to get guys away from the gds and vice lords like we're trying to do with the taliban and al qaeda overseas. >> authorities say albert wandered unknowingly into a gang rivalry. fourteens are charged with his death. politics a topic you may not want to discuss with the baldwin family. joy behar asked steven baldwin about the family's political differences last night. >> it's a wacky group, but they're fun, the baldwins. did you have a fight with alec politically? he doesn't agree with you on

politics. >> we were hanging out a few months back he said who'd ever thought. little stephen. born again, conservative and republican. i said i'm a registered independent. he said we all know you're a republican sympathizer. >> good impression. catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. people nearly choked on their lunch when a deer came crashing through a restaurant. the deer smashed through a window and ran out the front door. this is right outside of detroit. the restaurant is blocks away from any woods. where did the poor deer come from. poor thing. >> he was hungry. the miami dolphins landed the last punch in a thriller over the new york jets. here's rafer with some of the video of the game, some of the video behind the scenes. >> good morning, robin. it was easily one of the most thrilling fourth quarters of any football game that i can remember. and that's the god's honest truth. the team owners trying to bring sexy back to the phins?

button your shirt, son. he can do whatever the heck he wants. but it was quite a game. a barn burner with five lead changes in the fourth quarter. mark sanchez with the long pass here. originally it was a touchdown but later overturned. here tied -- sorry. not tied. with ten seconds left miami was down by three, pulls from its bag of tricks. miami wins 31-27. that's a good football story if you're a miami fan. this is a bad football story. a thousand pound carved statue of buffalo bills hall of famer therman thomas has been stolen. police say the statue was taken a day after it was unveiled outside ralph wilson stadium. this is the same area where a bills player's lawn was vandalized by fans and another player had a few hundred grand of jewelry allegedly stolen. so orchard park police very busy. after facing criticism for signing convicted dog fighter

michael vick, the team unveiled a program tawk. that stands for treating animals with kindness. the initiative aims to reduce animal abuse, encourage spaying and neutering and end fighting public awareness. lastly, a judge is expected to approve chicago cubs for chapter 11 bankruptcy. the move should help the sale of the company, but jay leno had his take on it. >> the chicago cubs have filed for chapter 11, how sad is that, huh? the cubs finally do something in october and it's bankruptcy. here's the worst part, now they're talking about moving the cubs to rio. >> you know the scariest part going to rio, cub fans in thongs. >> oh, my gosh. that is a thought, isn't it? cubs in rio. thank you. the same place where they go,

you know, i'm having a heart attack, wait. >> i'm having a heart attack. >> it's carnival, big whoop. >> what's up, you guys. take you out to california and show you some tower cams and the bay bridge in san francisco and notice the shining off the pavement from the lights. heavy rain there and winds gusting to 20 miles per hour and high to 30 to 60 this afternoon. three-hour delay at sfo. down the line a little bit farther. l.a. cloudy still and winds gusting to 20 miles per hour. not an earthquake, just gusty winds. what about the rest of the region. dallas, watch for heavy rain off and on and hour or more delays. sfo currently a three-hour delay and showers headed back into atlanta overnight and morning fog in houston and rain showers, too, this afternoon. watch for that to slow you down, too. you like seeing celebs in awkward moments.

we have a story that will double your pleasure and double your fun. people on tape spitting out the gum.