well, hello. it's only the middle of the week. how did that happen? morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. we're so glad you're part of our early morning club, all right. here's what's going on today. we're hearing for the first time from a woman who had been missing for 18 years and another first. you will soon get to see the first pictures of jaycee dugard, what she looks like now. plus, some troubling new info about the swine flu, why some people who should not get it easily still do. enough to put them in the hospital. and this -- >> i said, are you sure because i can't pay you for this. she said, honey, i have $1.5

million. >> imagine someone saying i'll pay for your shopping spree. some people heard that and they got very excited but was it too good to be true? first, though, our top story. we are about to get our first look at jaycee dugard as an adult. a new picture due out next hour. now her spokesperson released a statement yesterday saying dugard is happy to be with her family and appreciates their love and support. dugard disappeared 18 years ago when she was 11. phillip and nancy garrido have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping her. the h1n1 flu is affecting more healthy people than first thought. new research from the cdc suggests that nearly half of the people hospitalized with the virus had no underlying condition. the agency also says that for patients who did have a pre-existing condition, asthma is the most common. the government bought 250 million doses of h1n1 vaccine and thinks there will be enough for anyone who wants it.

a drive-by shooting in broad daylight killed two teenagers. three more were wounded. this happened yesterday on a busy street in washington, d.c. police say that hundreds of people might have seen the shooting. police think it had something to do with an ongoing neighborhood feud. >> it's time for this kind of opening fire on people standing outside to stop. and we're already getting calls in from people who want this to stop. >> police are looking for a black suv with tinted windows. they're hoping more witnesses come forward. people in california are being warned to evacuate their homes. a huge storm pounded the state yesterday bringing the danger of mud slides in areas like santa cruz where the wildfires have burned away the brush. more than six inches of rain fell on the area yesterday. >> certainly we have a lot of burn areas and we've been out

prior to the storm looking at a lot of these areas and trying to gain a perspective of how bad the storm could be. >> the dust storm caused a deadly 11-vehicle wreck in southern california. three people were killed. the storm made it impossible for drivers on i-5 to even see where they were going. the health care reform bill we've been watching so closely has cross add major hurdle. even one republican supporter. well, now democrats have to blend that with the house committee version and make any changes they think will overcome opposition from republicans. president obama called the vote a critical milestone. >> this bill goes a long way towards offering security to those who have insurance and affordable options for those who don't. it reins in some of the worst practices like the denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions. it also sets up an insurance

exchange that will make coverage affordable for those who don't currently have it. and as the nonpartisan congressional budget office has certified, it will slow the growth of health care costs in the long term and it will not add a penny to our deficit. >> but republicans point out the congressional budget office also says the bill includes tax increases and a large portion of those will fall on individuals who make less than $200,000 a year and couples who make less than $250,000. a potentially dangerous situation led to a huge recall of older model fords. are you listening here? a cruise control switch can overheat, possibly causing a fire, even with your engine off. more than one of a million ford windstars are included. ford has recalled a total of 16 million vehicles for that problem. we're going to have that list for you shortly on our website at cnn.com/robin. an update now on a story we told you about earlier this week.

good news for a delaware kid who was about to be sent to reform school over a camping tool. zachary christi now faces a three to five-day suspension. that's after the local school board rewrote some rules. zachary brought a combination knife, fork, and spoon to lunch. he was looking at 45 days at an alternative school for troublemakers because of it. >> california's first lady maria shriver was caught holding a cell phone while driving. that's illegal there and tmz posted two pictures and a video of her doing this and says that they were taken after governor arnold schwarzenegger signed the law last year. her office wouldn't comment. on a twitter feed schwarzenegger promised swift action. a spokesperson says that means he's going to tell her, stop it. stop it. >> a little bit of a revolt against the husband. i'll show you. >> do as i say not as i do.

a little irish. i figured i'd do it because of the rain coming in. radar report will be filled up with heavy downpours. a couple of systems we're watching, one out of the gulf of mexico. number two is a weak impulse but it's starting to generate decent rain now especially for our southern parts of indiana. heavy rain south of atlanta pooled over the region last night. broken be showers left up a high, some low clouds around. rain down to the gulf of mexico. we're start iing to see very hey downpours just outside of mobile. had some severe weather out there earlier this morning. not looking at that right now. no warnings but heavy rain, lots of lightning, and the rain stretches through into augusta to get back into greenville, spartanburg. light rain showers into charlotte as well. that's what it looks like there. flash flood warnings, the dallas m metro back over to the east we go further in towards mississippi and parts of alabama and atlanta. the metro still under a flash flood warning. a flood watch for the area shaded in green.

a good chunk of south carolina out there for that. chicago getting back in towards madison, wisconsin, even towards green bay, too. it's all going to stretch quickly through ind inld and ohio getting to west virginia and virginia for later this afternoon but check out indianapolis. heavy rain is out there and that's the way it's going to be. a quick look at atlanta if you're traveling in or out. temperatures 65 degrees. rain in the morning. scattered showers in the afternoon. more details on that in a bit. >> okay. looks so dreary. you just want to stay in bed right now. i know you do. all right. an 8-year-old girl was attacked and left for dead but now this has been 20 years ago, and all that time later there is an arrest in the case and you will hear from her about her stunning story.

it is time right now for a salute to the troops. and today's salute comes from adrian martin to her brother marine corporal eric martin. she says that he's been in the

marines for five years now and when all of his friends were getting ready for their senior prom, he was getting ready for boot camp. she says that his family misses him but cannot wait for him to come home. do you have someone in the service that you want to salute? go to cnn.com/robin. a woman waited 19 years for the arrest of a man who she says assaulted her when she was only 8 years old. correspondent richard lui, it's a terrible story, this guy slashed her throat, but he could not silence her all these years later. >> right. she kept on fighting, robin. 8-year-old jennifer schuett was kidnapped from her bedroom and sexually assaulted 19 years ago. this is what she looked like in second grade. after police arrest add suspect, she thanked her boyfriend and police investigators who helped keep her case alive for all those years. take a listen. >> throughout this journey i've had two main goals and they were to find the man who kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and

attempted to murder me 19 years ago so that he could not hurt anyone else. and torl use my voice in telling my story to as many people as i possibly could over the years in the hopes that i may encourage other victims of violent crime to stand up and speak out against criminals. >> robin, two decades ago she says the man crept through her bedroom window back in 1990. she remembers waking up as a stranger carried her across the parking lot, and she says the stranger told her he was an undercover cop, robin. >> this is one of those stories that i know our viewers are going to have a comment on on facebook, and you're welcome to do that because she says she wants to encourage victims, other victims, to just keep up the hope and to speak out about their experiences. she passed out after this attack, richard, and she woke up, on top of all things, on top of a an nt hill with her voice

box torn. the suspect lived only two miles from her. so who is it? >> well, robin, what we know the fbi is saying 45-year-old dennis earl bradford lived near little rock with his wife and two kids. this is what he looked like before and this is what he looks like now. he's a welder. he was convicted of kidnapping in another case. he was accused of sexually assaulting her and slitting her throat, also, in that separate case but a jury did not reach a verdict on the rape charges. police say new dna testing and other evidence made it possible to identify him as the suspect in schuett's case today. more on how advances in dna testing are helping to solve cases like this up in 15 minutes. >> all these years later. it's amazing. it really is. a youtube video shows a group of kids getting splashed while waiting at the bus stop. >> come on, come on, yeah! oh, yeah! >> that is not nice.

it turns out the people driving the car may be the ones who are left all wet. that new for you in about 30 minutes. that could have been dangerous. jen is often today but you might get a crack at that $8,000 home credit even if you're not a first time home buyer. a vote is expected soon in congress on a proposal to make it available to all but the wealthiest and maybe increasing the credit to $15,000. wow. there's concern that without an extension of that credit home prices could plunge even more. who hasn't dreamed of winning the lottery? the people who run mega millions and powerball says a national lottery is in the works. the jackpot could surpass the all-time record $390 million. tickets might cost more than a buck, maybe as much as $5. i don't know about that one. and the guy who brought you

those fancy dyson vacuums is showing off a cool looking fan that works with no blades. here it is. that's a fan? that's dyson behind the fan who calls it an air multiplier. it draws air into the base and forces the air out through the ring. cool. it costs $300 and for that you could buy an air conditioner, too. just wanted to point that out. even new celebrities can get tired of the paparazzi quickly. >> just like anybody out there you should have the right to your privacy. >> well, the most famous governor apparently agrees. he is going after the paparazzi that go too far.

the singer, al martino, was 82. he sang "you're in my heart." martino played singer turned actor johnny fontane in "the

godfather." a movie director refuses to give the character a part resulting in the awful horse head scene. paparazzi chase all over hollywood. california governor arnold schwarzenegger signed a bill that will find the paparazzi for taking photos that invade privacy. it targets shows and websites that purchase the photos. fines can be as much as $50,000. the tabloids sometimes pay millions for those photos. rush limbaugh's bid to buy an nfl team is running into opposition from the nfl. so here's rafer with more on that story. it doesn't look good. >> okay. >> for him getting an nfl team. if this is happening -- >> but i'm not saying i'm for or against it but i wonder how you can stop someone from buying a team. >> the owners have a say in it. the owners have to vote or approve it. that's the issue here.

nfl commissioner roger goodell, who can't stop it but has influence, blasted limbaugh for his past comments calling them, quote, divisive and having no place in the nfl. you may remember limbaugh said donovan mcnabb was overrated bus the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. but owner of the indianapolis colts said he would not vote in favor of limbaugh owning a team. he notes he would be only a minority owner. for any sale to happen 24 to 32 owners have to approve it. johnson is expected to go home from the hospital today two weeks after dropping a 275-pound weight bar on his neck crushing his larynx. he is expected to make a full recovery. usc players will wear a patch saying sta fight on. australian golfer attacked

anthony kim after getting trounced by kim in the president's cup. according to golfweek cole allenby called kim a loose cannon and the current john daly after claiming kim got back to the team hotel sideways at 4:00 a.m. before their sunday match. >> wait a minute. kim still beat him. >> he schooled him. >> right. and he's calling him the new john daly. >> that means kim is that much better. >> whatever he's doing it didn't affect him. kim deny it is and says he hopes he was joking. some players did a nice thing sharing a moment with troops abroad and here guys like matt hasselbeck and john carlson visited with soldiers and played video games in real time with them online overseas and that's a look at sports. robin? >> interesting stories, thank you. the ama, american music award nominations, are out, and michael jackson is up for five awards including artist of the year. but, get this, several of his nominations are for his greatest hits collection released in 2003.

♪ you care about us >> taylor swift is also up for artist of the year. she has six nominations in all. the awards are scheduled for november 22nd. we told you about an insurance company that denied coverage to an obese baby, 4-month-old baby for saying it was a pre-existing condition, that it was obese. a colorado company has changed its policy but it still has hln's joy behar all fired up in her "not for nothing commentary." this week german designer defended using anorexic women as models and an insurance company denied coverage to a 4-month-old baby boy because they say he was too fat. now here's the baby. i don't know what they're talking about. he's adorable and he's not fat. he's big boned. anyway, the baby weighed 8 1/4 pounds at birth but he's now 4 months old and he weighs 17

pounds. his mother says that she is simply breast-feeding him. she must have half and half in those boobs because he's healthy. the insurance company says the kid can't have health insurance because he has a pre-existing condition. he's 4 months old. when did he develop a pre-existing condition? was he eating twinkies in utero? at the other end of the food chain are fashion models who stagger down the runway between purgings. lagerfeld says fashion is not reality, that it's about dreams and illusions. here he is. i'll tell you he has the illusion that he's not a wax figure and i'm dreaming of fitting into my size 12 jeans without spanx. so what do we learn here other than maybe this baby's mother should breast-feed karl lagerfeld's models? we learned to never take nutritional advice from clueless insurance adjusters or morbid, weird, european designers. but that's just me.

you can catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. what would you do if someone promised to pay for your shopping spree? shop, right? one woman showed up in the store and said knock yourself out. they said it would never last.

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more healthy people are getting the h1n1 flu than previously thought. the cdc reports that nearly half of the patients hospitalized with the virus had no underlying conditions. now the agency also says for patients who did have a pre-existing condition asthma is the most common. today a new chapter in the stunning story of jaycee dugard. for the first time we will see her as an adult. people.com will release a photo next hour, so stay tuned for that. a family spokesperson says dugard wants to do this as a way to thank everybody for their support. she had been missing for 18 years until she was found over the summer.

the wars in iraq and afghanistan are not scaring away men and women who want to serve our kcountry. the pentagon says that all four military branches have met their recruiting goals this year. officials say that increases in military pay have helped especially in a time when the recession is hitting so hard. police in toledo, ohio, say that a cook who works at this bar is one of the suspects in that wild shoot-out last week. no one's been arrested yet. police say they have been getting tips on the street names used by some of the gunmen. that was one piece of tape. all right. good morning. hugh are you? i know you look at this video sometimes and you're like, okay, my life is calm compared to that. how are you may? it's wednesday. i'm robin meade. morning, sunshine. all right. some of the other stories we're following this morning, let's get to those. a girl who ran away from home after she converted from islam to christianity, will have to return to her home state of

ohio. a judge in florida said the teen will be put with child welfare officials while a judge in ohio takes over the case. the girl says that her father threatened to kill her for changing religions. he denies the accusations. happening right now in florida the space shuttle "atlantis" is being rolled out from a hangar. it's not moving fast. the 3 1/2-mile trek is expected to last about six hours. "atlantis" is expected to head to the international space station next month. starting friday people on twitter can sign up to go to kennedy center to see the launch in person. some air force members will walk 800 miles for their fallen comrades. they're walking from texas to florida to raise awareness for fallen troops. here they are in louisiana. they have support vehicles going with them so they can take turns walking. their destination is ft. walton beach and hope to arrive there on friday. a woman says she was only 8 years old when a stranger

kidnapped her from her bedroom, sexually assaulted her and left her for dead in a texas field. jennifer schuett waited years but no one was arrested. well, finally police arrested a suspect yesterday. and here is her stunning reaction. >> this event in my life 19 years ago was a tragic one. but today, 19 years later, i stand here and want you all to know that i'm okay. i am not a victim but instead victorious. >> correspondent richard lui joins us now. how did dna tests help catch the suspect? and good for her that she is so strong and said she wanted to make this statement yesterday and that someone's been arrested? >> and continued to fight over two decades, robin. what they're attributing this to partial ly in terms of identifying the suspect is advanced dna testing. dennis earl bradford was arrested in arkansas yesterday. jennifer's clothes and a man's underwear were tested in 1990 but the sample was not large

enough for conclusive results then but then newer techniques now allowing dna to be isolated from a single human cell so the chairman of forensic science group telling a charleston newspaper for example, in the erm 1990s analysts needed a blood sample the size of a half dollar. dna can be mined from a sample invisible to the naked eye. >> isn't that something? that's huge. jennifer really pushed for years to keep her case alive. we can see that in her reaction but tell us how she did that. >> robin, she decided to go public with her story to increase the chances of finding and prosecuting her attacker and she says doctors told her after the attack she would never talk again because her voice box was damaged. she believes she got her voice back so she could tell her story. she even built a website devoted to her own case. she hopes her case enkornls other victims of violent crimes, robin, to speak out about their situation.

>> you know, i wonder if our viewers are also having something to say about this. >> right. >> even encouragement. our facebook is open now and i'm betting we're getting comments there. richard, thank you. the nobel judges are doing what they rarely do. they're explaining their choice. that's after getting a lot of criticism for naming president obama the nobel peace prize winner. they say it was unanimous even though the presidency only began in january. one judge admits it was shocking to see the president didn't look very happy at being chosen. all right. so 35 minutes past the hour. bob has his face turned away from me which says he does not want to comment on that. >> we've been working almost eight years together. >> i read him and i tell you what i'm reading into him. >> don't want to say anything. >> don't ask me. don't ask.

i cannot believe that a lot of our viewers who are awake at this hour are being soaked again. >> they are. and it's atlanta but some poe tejs good news here. the heaviest rain we saw overnight last night probably won't be repeated today for north georgia in to alabama and mississippi. those are the areas that really got flooded out three weeks ago. now the heaviest rain south of atlanta into lower parts of south carolina, georgia on in towards alabama, too. the panhandle getting soaked. that mobile radar picture picking up rain. you can see it in to panama city, all stretching to the east. that's the heaviest rain. up to the atlanta metro and it's drying out. some scattered showers the rest of the day. still the flash flood warnings for the entire area because of the rain that fell yesterday and the potential for more rain later today. flash flood warnings, all areas in bright green. that includes a good drunk of georgia and south carolina including columbia. that's a weak impulse but enough

to get decent rain going. you can see it there and down to the south. we'll talk about that and how much you're going to see in about half an hour. >> thank you. all right. the taliban has been the military's big focus, right, in afghanistan, but the top u.s. general there is saying that the afghan people may be a big concern as well. why they may turn on the united states. and then a toddler who just wants to dance, dance, dance. an internet hit. hear from the parents who shot the video of this tyner dancer.

the top u.s. general in

afghanistan says that the taliban and al qaeda are not the only obstacles there. u.s. officials briefed on his recommendation say that army general stanley mik crystal is deeply worried about government corruption. mcchrystal's fear is that the afghan people might be so fed up with the government they'll support the insurgents. president obama gets briefed today on the war. a woman told shoppers at an ohio store she would pay for their stuff. she showed up in a stretch limo saying she won the lottery and wanted to help everyone. >> i won the lottery, $4.5 million, thank god. i don't want none of it really. >> really i don't even need the clothes. i said i just need some assistance with my rent. she said, well, how much is it? and she just promptly wrote out a check. >> wow. but the store managers say after she spent about $5,000 she said she was going to the bank for more money and didn't come back so customers trashed the store.

some local media reports she did not win the lottery and could be charged with fraud. they trashed the store meaning they were grabbing up stuff because they thought she was going to buy it for them or because they were upset because she didn't come back? anybody? producers? anybody know? ♪ and there's no reply at all $180 billion in taxpayer money bailed out aif ig, then the aig execs collected millions of dollars in bonuses. remember how ticked often you were about that? the government is putting the heat on aig to reduce the payouts. the cord wanted aig to recoup about $45 million in bonuses paid in march but only about $19 million of that has been collected. two moms from oklahoma have gone from shopping second hand to building a million-dollar brand. stephanie elam explains in this "small business success."

12 years ago shannon and devin had their first children's consignment sale. now they run a multimillion-dollar company called just between friends. >> it's a glorified garage sale but it's organized. you can buy or sell anything and everything. >> the working moms had no business experience when they started but knew where to turn for advice. >> we surrounded ourselves with people in our neighborhood who had businesses of their own and said how do you do this? >> reporter: and when it came to franchising, they brought in the experts. >> anybody that wants to start a franchise system needs to have an attorney and an accountant because it is fun to market, it's fun to socialize, but if your business is not making money, then it is a very expensive hobby. >> reporter: with nearly 100 locations nationwide, the friends are willing to sacrifice to keep the business growing. >> we did not pay ourselves for

the first three years. the dreams and hopes that you have for the company have to come slowly. a lot more slowly than what you hope for in the beginning. >> if you're a small business owner, we'd like to hear about your success story. go to cnn.com/robin. upload a video i-report. share your info and if we like what we see, you could be featured right here on "morning express." an elementary school is a pretty unusual place for a protest, but that's exactly what happened. how it was sparked by a song about the president.

you know when we're playing

a good song when everybody on the set is going like this. all right. people protested outside an eleme elementary school where kids sang a song praising president obama. >> shame on you. shame on you. >> kids were in class even during the protests monday. most of the protesters were not parents of the school kids. second graders performed the song about president obama as participate of an assembly last february. critics call it indoctrination. not everyone believes it was a political message. >> schools should be teaching reading, writing and arithmetic and not providing a political message. >> a man who has made history. it's not indoctrinating anybody. the kids put on a play. >> obama to make this country strong again. >> this youtube video shows part of the song. the school board says it was in no way political and that the lyrics were sent home to parents

ahead of time. proud parents taped a video of their 2-year-old dancing up a storm to "single ladies" by beyonce. ♪ >> it gets better. look at him shake his little tush. it was supposed to be just for the family but it is an internet hit. more than 1 million people have downloaded the clip, many on youtube. >> whatever she feels, she dances to it and sings it and so this is one of many for her. >> the family says that they have been posting videos of all four of kids for relatives out of state to keep in touch. you can see the joy that -- the joy on that baby's face. >> oh, man. >> what is it about music? a baby doesn't have to see other people dancing or ever see other

people dancing and there's something about music, it must be primal, that makes you -- >> no doubt. >> do cave men do that to drums? >> she doesn't care who is watching. she doesn't care if she's making crazy moves. >> her or ellen degeneres. >> haven't seen any delays yet. we're watching for atlanta with the rain in the morning to get a half-hour delay there. charlotte, you can see the rain now, the low clouds today as well. so half-hour delays. chicago currently raining. watch for that. san francisco, wind again but less than three hours. more on that in a bit, robin. a u.s. soccer player was seriously injured in a fatal car crash. here's rafer with more on the story. very scary stuff, u.s. forward charlie davies had to be airlifted to a local hospital after suffering several broken bones and a lacerated bladder. necessary serious but stable condition. meanwhile, another man in his car did not survive. the accident happened about 3:15 in the morning on tuesday on a

virginia highway. it is under investigation. coach bob bradley broke the news to his players who were hit hard by it. he was a starting forward for team usa. they play against costa rica and unlike bely he will play in next year's world cup. the 1,000-pound stolen statue of bills hall of famer thurman thomas turned up in canada. >> huh? >> an ontario man called orchard park police and said he rescued the statue, which disappeared outside ralph wilson stadium from vandals trying to burn it. he put it on a flatbed truck and will bring it back. how does that get across the boreder? honestly? what you got in the back there? twhaes that about? how does he ut it on a flatbed truck and bring it back? fergie may soon become a part owner of the miami dolphins after owners approved the singer being a part owner of the team. the dolphins majority owner

brought in six other celebrities including mark anthony, gloria estefan and venus and serena williams. why rush limbaugh's bid to buy the rams hit another hurdle in the bid to buy a team hit another hurdle. a couple had to two-step out the door on "dancing with the stars." >> chuck and anna. >> you don't want to make an ultimate fighter mad. chuck and his partner were eliminated from the competition. one said you bring carnage and mayhem to everything you do. >> michael irvin survived. the scores were so low. i have a hard time believing that. are you putting away savings? you can get higher returns. clark howard tells you where to

find the best rates. >> are you a sitting duck? you know what i mean by that. you hang out with the bank you've been using. they're offering you a worse and worse and worse deal. the fees they charge you on a checking account, the small returns on a savings account, the deals get more unfriendly to you. do you have to sit there and take it? no, you don't. a lot of people are reluctant to move their checking account but at the very least dip your toe in the water by moving your savings. better have some savings by the way. if you look at the online banks, wow, the deals that are there are generally paying interest rates that are so much higher than you can get from a traditional bank that you're crazy to let your idle cash sit and stew at the bank. it's not as hard to move it as you think. what you'll get in return is a much better deal. try it. i'm clark howard.

for more ways for you to pack a punch in your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach to you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln.