good morning. how was your weekend, huh? there was a lot going on overnight or through the weekend maybe you're not aware of yet. i'm robin meade. let's jump right into that. news in the fast lane. we have evidence at this point to indicate that it was a publicity stunt. >> the balloon boy saga take ace new twist. why authorities now say the whole thing was a hoax. >> university of connecticut football star was awarded saturday's game ball, then a few hours later he was stabbed to death. first, we're going to start with this story. the whole balloon boy incident,

colorado authorities say, was a hoax. last thursday you may have been among the millions all over the world who watched what they thought was a run away balloon with a little boy inside. investigators say they believe 6-year-old falcon heene's parents orchestrated it so they could get a reality tv show. the sheriff says the couple is used to being on stage. >> after the fact, we have since learned, as many of you have, that these people are actors. not only have they appeared in several reality television shows and on uh-uhtubes, we have since determined, in fact, they met together, the way that they met and established a relationship was in acting school. >> now, authorities say that an interview that the family did on cnn's "larry king live" was a turning point. at one point, falcon seemed to suggest the incident was for a show. the heene's have repeatedly denied it was a hoax, but their neighbors are still outraged. >> i felt extremely betrayed. i'm angry for my kids.

you don't upset children and you don't use your own child to try to benefit yourself. >> the heene's do have a lawyer. you'll hear what he has to say about possible felony charges in less than ten minutes. >> a huge shift in the way that the government polices marijuana. two justice department officials say the obama administration will announce today it's going to stop going after patients who use medical marijuana as long as it's legal in their state. now, the same goes for their supplier. sources say the justice department has decided it has more important things to worry about. a third person has now died after spending time in a sweat lodge in arizona. the 49-year-old woman had been in a coma. the sheriff said that the sauna-like structure was covered with tarps and blankets and used for spiritual cleansing. it was at a retreat run by setting help author james arthur ray. he says he has hired his own investigators to find out what

happened. justice sonia sotomayor is sharing dirt on her experiences the day she became a member of the supreme court. she told her alumni that her nomination process was so tightly scripted that what she wore to the acceptance ceremony was chosen for her. she was told to bring five suits and one would be recommended. football player and soon-to-be dad was stabbed to death on campus. rafer has the latest thon. this was even on a day where he played a fabulous football game and was celebrating, i'm sure. >> see saw of emotions for him and the entire campus. authorities are still looking for the suspects that stabbed and killed. outside the student union, someone pulled a fire alarm during the building after midnight, an altercation took place outside and the stabbing happened after that. howard, soon-to-be father just

had his best game, win over louisville, hoped to play in the nfl, number six here, pulling out a fumble. his teammates say he will definitely be missed. >> you know, he -- before this morning, when i looked at him as a teammate, as a friend, but ever since he stepped foot on the campus, he was our brother. >> he was also the first one in his family to attend college. his mom said he talked to him right after the game saturday and was so excited. he also says he was a good kid and never got into trouble. >> i know he was a father to be and the football captain that you saw said basically they will all make sure that that child will have 100 uncles, the entire team. the whole city of the 2016 olympics turned into a war zone over the weekend. 14 people were killed and a

police helicopter was shot out sky in rio de janeiro. heavy machine guns brought down the chopper. thousands of police officers are now patroling the streets. what chaos. >> some paid $15,000, somebody did, for a clump of hair believed to be from elvis. it sold at auction yesterday. the hair was supposedly from a haircut he got when he joined the army in 1958. a man who ran an elvis fan club had it. a shirt of his went for $52,000. photos and elvis pez dispensers were also for sale. did you know? bob called it -- bob said it was a hoax, the balloon boy story. >> yep. >> i'm going to point out, i think people are saying it was a hoax just because authorities said it was. >> right. >> i'm going to wait to hear from the family. >> we'll wait to hear from them. >> they have not admitted that

yet. >> no, but we'll wait and see if they do. who knows. >> i'll give them the benefit. but you did not. >> i can tell you -- >> you and most of our viewers did not give them the benefit of the doubt. hi, bob. >> yesterday's nor'easter that rolled through new england, jersey shore, now it's beginning to stretch out a bit, losing a bit of a punch. rain is still coming down across eastern maine and a little light snow on the top side of that. again it's a morning event, should get out of here by this afternoon. high pressure dominating the deep and mid south. frost warnings and freeze advisories, all of it is out there. temperatures coming in, 34 in philly, 37 in baltimore, 35 in r roanoke. charlotte, you were at 41, now up to 44. high temperature today in atlanta into the 60s. 44 in jacksonville, 41 in mobile and that cold air goes all the way down to the gulf of mexico.

seeing a cold start out there. rest of the country, pretty quiet. couple of areas of low pressure, marching in across the rockies, one off the shore of california. rain showers will be a possibility out there. then it's the hurricane. hurricane rick, it was a category 5 over the weekend. 80-mile-per-hour sustained winds saturday night, now down to 25 miles per hour. notice that western side, drier air, beginning to shave it down just a bit. little bit of sheer. where is it headed? up to the northwest today and bends on in towards baja, california, thursday morning possibly as a category 2. hurricane watches out there for the southern part of baja, california. >> it was a 5? >> yeah, second most powerful hurricane on record, first one is linda. now it's down to 125. >> is there anything higher than a 5? >> no. it can keep going up. >> now it's down to a 3? >> now it's down to 3. >> thank you. >> two stores are offering you

some cash. it's good news in a bad economy. it is also, apparently, good for the environment.

good morning. today, our military salute goes to sergeant steven doyan from his proud army wife. steve en deployed to iraq after being appeared. maybe you have somebody in the service. we are always honored to help you salute them. go to cnn.com/robin. more details on our top story, the balloon boy incident that police are now calling a hoax. the sheriff in larimer county, colorado, says that richard heene staged the whole thing to try to get a reality tv show. correspondent richard lui, what is wrong with people? someone who worked with this guy is apparently collaborating that

claim. i need to point out, that is the claim of authorities that the family has not admitted to this, as far as we know. >> right. you're talking about robert thomas, a student at colorado state university. he had a paid interview with gocker.com and worked for richard heene two months earlier this year. he ended up taking down the heene's reality proposal and one of them sounded like what happened last week. >> re-enacting the roswell u.f.o. phenomenon, launch this weather balloon and make people believe it was a ufo and exploit that controversy as a way to promote this television show. >> one difference here, robin, perhaps thomas said the proposal they discussed did not involve the kids. >> his own kids. well, investigators reportedly called thomas to hear that story

firsthand. it looks like they're going to go forward with criminal charges against the heenes. >> yes. >> previously last week they said oh, it could be misdemeanors. we're talking much more now. >> the sheriff plans to recommend three felony charges against he and his wife, conspiracy, contributing to the delinquenciy of a minor. the lawyer says he hasn't seen any evidence, but that the heenes are willing to turn themselves in here. >> these folks are presumed incident. they're willing to turn themselves in. there is no reason for handcuffs to be slapped on them in a public way for public consumption. >> robin, the sheriff said it's not likely they would serve jail time if they were convicted. >> all right, richard. thank you. >> by the way, folks, i know you want to sound off about that. you can. go to our facebook page and richard and i will read them and get a few of those on.

if an ad says we can get rid of anything on your credit score, watch out. people who are desperate to get rid of their credit reports are getting ripped off. jennifer westhoven is back, feeling a little bit better. >> people have black marks on there, maybe they want a mortgage, refinance. they want to clean up those reports. sometimes you hear these ads. there are these two small companies settling with the ftc. i thought it was a real good chance to let you in on what goes on here. you might hope that a company could come in, get rid of the evidence, get rid of any bodies on your credit report. they can't. the bottom line is they can only clean up mistakes. they can't clean up anything that is true or current, according to ftc rules. beware of any company that says we'll get rid of anything. that should be a tip-off to you that there's a scam going on. these companies have to perform the service before they get their money, another ftc rule. they ask for money upfront, red

alert. bring in your reusable shopping bags to target, they'll give you five cents back for every one you use. shoppers use 58% less bags, according to "usa today," good for landfills and the ocean. they started something similar at cvs, too. back to you. >> can i ask a question? do you have to bring your reusable target bags or any reusable bag? >> any bag. do not feel bad walking into target with a whole foods bag. sometimes you feel a little guilty. don't worry about it. >> excellent. thank you. remember the days you would walk in with a big bag into a shopping thing and they would look at you and ask if they could put it behind the counter. my, how things have changed. from high heels to combat boots, taking civilians to the front line of fitness. stephanie elam has this week's "small business success."

>> reporter: lauren brinner wants you to be all that you can be. pure power boot camp offers a military-style indoor obstacle course. >> different elements, different obstacles over ft. knocks, louisville, kentucky. >> reporter: this is not your average fitness class. clients are whipped into shape by former marine, but not everything is done like the military. >> the military breaks you down to build you up. we're all about building you up from the onset. >> reporter: brenner worked on wall street before starting her company in 2003, combined her passion for sports, entertainment and business and turned it into her profession. >> there was no other program that i could have emulated in any way. there was nothing like a brand new concept. it was throw it on the wall, see if it sticks and it did. knock on wood.

>> if you're a small business owner, we would like to see your success story. go to cnn.com/robin to upload a video of your business, share your info and you might be featured here on "morning express." president obama is considering sending more troops to afghanistan to battle the taliban. but they're reconsidering their plan. cameras on a bus capture a frightening accident.

afghanistan is facing a crisis that could impact whether more u.s. troops are sent there. two officials told the associated press that enough

balance llots were thrown out t trigger a re-election. they say they've seen the results of the ballot fraud investigation. the white house says it can't decide on troops until it gets worked out. >> the question does not come how many troops you send, but do you have a credible afghan partner for this process, that can provide the security and the type of services that the afghan people need. >> president karzai is on the ballot. his spokesperson says he won't commit accepting the fraud report until it becomes public. karzai is influencing the process, karzai denies this. >> time for your little angels to turn into ghost and goblins. one of the most popular costumes may not be very scary, but is making people very angry. that's new for you later this hour. tom brady had a record-setting day in the snow. here's rafer with more on that.

good morning. >> good morning, robin. okay, so he's not just a pretty face. can he actually play football as well. >> where was the snow at? >> in foxborough, massachusetts, which makes it more interesting. brady has done something no quarterback has ever done in the national football league on this blustery day. he threw five touchdown passes under ten minutes in the second quarter of a blowout in tennessee. normally when it's this snowy you're not going to do that. you're going to run the ball. that led to the largest half time lead in nfl history, 35-0. pats go on to win 59-0, ties the alarmest margin of victory. marquis quarterbacks, drew brees had a breeze with the new york giants. nobody saw this one coming. 48-27. brees is only about six feet tall, but is playing like a giant. he and the saints are looking like the best team in the nfl right now. it also spoiled the homecoming

for eli manning, who grew up a few miles from the super dome. watch how ridiculous this is. dante westlake right there. we'll give you a replay. smith called for a fair catch, totally exposed and vulnerable, wesley levels him. he says he mistimed his hit, but leaps off his feet and leads with his helmet. smith was down. and did not return. wesley should be fined. there's no need for that on the field. see the pinlgion, lining up for kickoff coverage. there goes the pinlgion. >> that would be a little distracting. >> he has the cover man. he's holding him in. it appears the pinlgion would help, because the raiders stunningly beat philadelphia and the pinlion was later signed to a three-year $25 million deal.

brett favre continues to prove us wrong. robin? >> i love it. that would be so distracting. >> minutes after entering an amusement park, a woman and her family were told they had to leave. why security guards did not want them inside. three men running in a half marathon died, all collapsing within minutes of each other. what went wrong?

we were manipulated by the family, and the media was manipulated by the family. >> a 6-year-old boy's parents will probably face charges now for allegedly staging the story of him floating away in a balloon. authorities say they believe the heenes were trying to get a reality tv show. the couple still insists the incident was not a hoax. revolutionary guard says the u.s., britain and pakistan are linked to a weekend suicide bombing. 42 people were killed, including five senior guard commanders. a sunni group took responsibility for the attack. iran says the u.s. and others

helped fund that group. >> the obama administration is ba not going after medical marijuana users and its suppliers as long as it's legal in that state. neufeld guidelines will be announced today. the reason? the justice department decided it was not a good use of manpower. typhoon is threatening to hit a country still under water from back-to-back storms. more than 850 people have died in the philippines. a tropical storm flooded the country more than three weeks ago, only to have a typhoon hit days later. the latest typhoon could hit the philippines thursday. >> those are some of the day's top stories. hello to you. well, hello! 31 minutes past the hour. morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. back to the balloon incident that captured the country's attention. investigators now say it was all a hoax. on friday, remember they were stressing to the media that they believed the heene family's

story? correspondent richard lui, the sheriff admitted they intentionally misled reporters. >> that's right. >> i guess that they didn't want the heenes to suspect. >> as they underwent their investigation, that's right, robin. they would have their trust so they would keep talking to investigators. they especially wanted to get separate interviews with each of the members of the family. take a listen. >> mr. heene voluntarily came in here under the pretext of we were going to return his aircraft to him. unbeknownst to him, at the same time the minute he hit the door here, we had investigators prepared to go to the house and talk to mrs. heene and try to gain her cooperation as well as conduct interviews with her and the children. >> so, the sheriff also wanted to pursue separate lie detector tests but by law isn't allowed to say exactly what took place.

>> interesting. investigators also said there's no way 6-year-old falcon was in the balloon. they've been looking scientifically at it. >> 20 feet in diameter, four, five feet tall. when this started last thursday, the sheriff's department called a balloon expert at colorado state university. given the dimensions i just mentioned that heene provided at the time, the balloon could have carried the 37-pound boy. once the balloon landed, they found out it weighs 18 pounds more than heene said. they say that means iteled not have been able to lift off with 6-year-old falcon on board of it. >> if this is all true that it was, in fact, a hoax, i think about those three children. if they were allegedly put up to do this. no wonder that little 6-year-old roused on tv. he was probably upset. >> a lot of people expressing that concern. >> on the face book page right now, talking about this give us your thoughts. >> a 16-year-old girl is in serious condition after she was

beaten in a street fight in chicago that may have involved at least 25 people. four people have been charged in the attack and will appear in court next month. witnesses say the fight started after people started talking trash with each other. >> at least 35, 40. >> golf clubs, baseball bats, two-by-fours. >> i can't say what all is going on, but i see so much brewing, so much meanness and hatred. it just -- and these ain't no kids. >> this is just the latest in a string of violence involving kids in the chicago area. since january, at least 47 school-aged kids have been killed. most died from gunshots. after a boy was beaten to death several weeks ago, president obama sent members of his cabinet to chicago to push for solutions to the violence. the future of iran's nuclear program takes center stage in vienna. world powers are meeting at the

u.n.'s nuclear watchdog agency. iran agreed to send low enriched uranium abroad for processing, and it would be sent back to iran for cancer research. three men unexpectedly collapsed and died during a half marathon in detroit. here is rafer with more on that. i thought it was a marathon, but it's a half marathon. makes me wonder what the deal was. >> right now, we're still searching for answers, robin. all three of these men died of cardiac arrest while running in detroit. they all collapsed within 20 minutes of one another. the first a 36-year-old man at 9:00 am, then a 65-year-old, who we're told had anh a massive heart attack, fell hard hitting the ground, and then a 26-year-old collapsed after crossing the finish line. all of the men were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were pronounced dead. officials say they had six medical stations and 60 medical professionals on scene. the last time anyone died in this marathon was back in 1994.

robin? >> all right. thank you. what was the weather there? was it especially hot? >> no. the weather was nice. it was cool. it would seem ideal conditions for running. >> people there wrapped in solar blankets. >> movie director roman polanski has been moved out of jail and into a hospital for medical treatment, according to his lawyer. the lawyer said that polanski told them he was depressed and worried about his health. and he's not sure when polanski will return to prison. he is facing extradition to the united states for a sex case with an underage girl in 1977. we've got incredible video of a bus smashing into an suv in new mexico. this is the video from inside. this is what it looked like when the bus could not stop in time for an suv making a turn. the bus driver, authorities say, is not at fault. check out the suv. it is flat basically. it took two hours to get the

driver out. he does not have any life-threatening injuries, surprisingly. i haven't looked on our face book page. i'm sure it is lighting up with your comments about the balloon boy. go to cnn.com/robin. there's a face book icon. weather wise, bob's not going to start here. i'm going to tell you he will also talk about a hurricane that has been a category 5 over ethe weekend. now it's a 3. >> if uh-uh watched the patriots against the tightens, it was a blowout, but it was fun to watch because the snow was coming down. more across lower new hampshire, four inches. the rain and snow is pulling away from maine. it's on the light side, moving toward the northeast as that low pressure falls apart a touch. good news there, you're drying out a bit. look at the freeze warnings, though. all the areas shaded in purple, below freezing right now,

outskirts of town. blue shaded areas are frost advisories. charlotte, in the 30s for all of north carolina, 29 in pittsburgh. cold air goes all the way down to mobile. little warmer in dallas. 56. windy conditions out here, winds out of the south. you'll be watching that. cloud cover moving through the ro rocky mountains, light rain around idaho. a little heavier rain toward northern california with a low pressure region trying to come on n here is a picture of that hurricane. we were talking about this over the weekend. it's category 5. overed weekend had 180-mile-per-hour sustained winds, second strongest hurricane in this part of the world since 1997. that was the strongest one we saw. the path goes up to the north, affects the baja, california area some time thursday morning, rains itself out over the next couple of days. headed toward l.a., take you live right now. low clouds in the morning, might

catch delay at lax. downtown looking nice. only 64 the high. morning clouds and sunshine, breaks out late in the day. we'll talk about that coming up in a little bit. wait until you see the picture, gulf shores over the weekend, we'll show it to you in about half an hour. >> appreciate the i-reporters. find a job. sarah palin has posted a resume for millions of eyes to see. i don't know. like we didn't know it already? plus, a bear saunters through the front door of a convenience store and makes his little self at home.

almost 30,000 soldiers have fought their way into the heart of taliban territory. that's from pakistan officials. the country has launched a massive offensive against militants near the afghanistan border. a military rep says this is important because the area is a power base for insurgents. they've been blamed for deadly bombings over the last few weeks. >> seems like former alaskan governor sarah palin is going public in her hunt for a job. she posted her resume on linked in, known as a face book for professionals. it lists her work experience including stint as vice presidential candidate. job inquiries, business deals and getting back in touch. wonder "where the wild things are"? they're at the box office. >> sometimes they have an odd way of showing it. they act weird, you know. >> the popular children's book made more than $32 million in

its opening weekend. "law abide citizen" came in second, "paranormal activity" was third, not bad for a film reportedly made for about $15,000. wow! secure jobs and a chance to start with the unemployment rising, more young and women are turning to the military. jennifer westhoven is here. morning. >> good morning. thanks, robin. i know you talked last week about how the pentagon said it met or beat its recruitment goals this year. we wanted to get into how -- what the pay is. break it down a little bit for uh-uh. for a lot of people that can't find a job, they think at least i know i can get a paycheck if i join the military. recruits can typically make by the end of their first year a little more than $18,000 a year, there's also free health care, food and housing allowances as

well and, of course, you probably know they've been waving around big bonuses to try to get people to sign up, too. 40% of recruits got bon uses averaging $14,000, almost a year's worth of pay there. here is some good news, too. because we all rely, in many ways, on the military. the pentagon says its newest ranks are better educated, 96% are high school graduates. that are meeting their own internal quality goals as well. women's pay has risen faster than men's in this recession. in the past two years, women's median wanls rose more than 3%, men's rose 2%, in the "wall street journal." men still make more than women, about $155 more a week in a full-time job. we know that the recession has really hit many jobs that were traditionally men's jobs more, like construction and factory jobs. back to you, robin. >> they're calling it the

men-cession instead of recession. >> yeah. >> thanks. >> presidents, senators, celebs. another high-profile newsmaker made it the weekend update desk.

>> you play that song over my face? queensland area, immediate threat to the home mace be over. fire officials say they're still trying to contain 14 fires burning across the state. the number is down to 41 fires in the area this weekend. firefighters will continue back burning as they try to help with containment. "weekend update desk" on "saturday night live" had a member of a high-profile news story stop by. bloont that had people glued to their tv last week. >> get out of here, balloon. >> why?

>> because you're not news. >> but i was on the news for a whole day. >> that doesn't make you news, balloon. >> what if i told you i had a boy inside of me? >> do you have a boy inside of you, balloon? >> no. >> get out of here, balloon. >> seth? >> what? >> i'm -- i'm sorry. it's not my fault. >> it's okay, balloon. >> i'm just a balloon. >> did you know that there are already like t-shirts the next morning with the balloon boy story on it? you know people will be selling mylar balloon boy balloons. "snl" also featured dwayne johnson doing his role as the rock obama. sorry i missed it. >> it was a good one. >> was it a good one? >> yeah, yeah, he tore his arm off some guy and said go call your insurance. >> a friend of the show. other friends of the show are in the airports this morning. how are they?

>> so far, so good. today will be a much better day than yesterday. no nor'easter to deal with across the northeast. obviously good news there. rain is headed in toward the bay area. san francisco, watching for about an hour delay today. windy conditions. they set up shop from the great lakes down to dallas. detroit a half hour delay because of the wind. chicago, same thing. dallas, more wind-related delays, less than an hour, rob. more in a little bit. >> thank you. a bear walks in the front door of a convenience store. heard this one? apparently he had one thing in mind. he was captured on surveillance wondering up and down the aisles until he spotted the beer cooler. climbed on top, sat down and stayed there until wild dms life official got there. the manager said it looked like the bear knew exactly what he was doing. brett favre looked like he knew exactly what he was doing at 40 years oel. here is rafer with more on his latest victory. hey! >> hey. i mean, the guy looks like he is

on a mission from god, because he just keeps winning, and right now he and the vikings are the only 6-0 team in the nflite now. 40 years old. this is amazing. they were down by one point with three minutes left and favre doing his usual last-minute heroics heaves this down the field. that long pass sets up a field goal by another former packer ryan longwell. vikings up two. in response, the ravens drive all the way down, two seconds left for the win. the field goal goes left. look at favre. can't look at it. goes, what happened? what happened? he missed it. he missed it? yeah! because he couldn't even look. hard for a lot of ravens fans to look. while you were sleeping, the atlanta falcons trying to stay atop in the mike vick postera. jay cutler airing it out. hits greg olsen, sets up a t.d. to tie it 14-14.

the falcons response after a long kickoff return. they run it in for the go-ahead score by michael turner. looking pretty good. who's no, the falcons won. you can see the despondent look at jay cutler's face. and the new york jets rookie all the rage lately. paradesing the heck out of him. he's looking like a rookie, because right now, the buffalo bills made him look silly sunday. five interceptions and the in the jets overtime loss to buffalo. eight picks in the last two games. his coach thought an benching him. not good for him. this is not good for the sport of soccer. showing you soccesoccer, you kns to be good. look at the beach ball there on the field. there it is. you see it? beach ball on the field. the ball hits the beach ball and goes in. this goal should not have stood but the referees didn't restart

play. so nobody apparently new the rules. a look at sports. tom brady did something no nfl quarterback ever be. let it stand and they shouldn't have. a halloween costume has lots of people talking. an illegal alien. harmless humor or offensive.