good morning. i know a lot of you are up early, probably getting the kids ready for the costume parade at school today. i'm robin meade. welcome. here is what's going on now. a sixth person is charged in a horrifying attack on a girl outside a homecoming dance. one suspect told a family member why he just stood there and did nothing to stop it. it was only a matter of time, yet someone has created an iphone costume that actually works. those of you standing there with foil trying to fashion something out of it right now are like, ooh, that puts my little foil costume to shame.

first, happening right now, an intense search for nine people missing off the coast of southern california, they disappeared after the collision of a coast guard plane and marine helicopter. it happened a little after 7:00 local time, 25 meals east of san clemente island. weather conditions are good but survivors will still be at risk. >> the water temp right now off the coast is about 64, 65 degrees. how long you can survive in that is going to depend on your body type, what you're wearing. so i don't know all the individuals involved in this and what they were wearing. but 65-degree water is cold, much colder than your body temperature. hypothermia is definitely a threat. >> here is what we know about the crash. it involved a coast guard c-130 with seven people on board and a marine corps ah-1 cobra chopper. another pilot in the area reported seeing a fireball near

the crash site. debris has been spotted in the water. dentists, farmists, emts and other health care workers will be able to administer the h1n1 vaccine shot in new york state at least, part of a state of emergency that governor david paterson declared yesterday. it's to keep hospitals and clinics from being overwhelmed with patients. h1n1 related case haves grown in new york state. 75 people have died. take a look at an early taste of winter in colorado. this is part of a storm hitting several western states. hundreds of schools an businesses were closed in denver yesterday because obviously the snow is creating problems on the road. >> it's important that people know that they're not out of the woods yet. as the roads give the appearance of starting to clear off or they look like they may be just wet or slushy, that's the time when it might be the most precarious. >> this storm is causing problems this morning. let's check in with meteorologist bob van dillon who

is talking about a blizzard warning. where is that? >> right now across eastern parts of colorado, northwestern parts of kansas and nebraska, too. all this white is coming down, it's snow. the radar painting in the blue is rain. you can see the snow shield itself beginning to wind down just a touch. the upper level support from the heaviest snow is beginning to move away. i don't think you'll see the heavy snow last much further into the mid afternoon hours. the counties shaded in pink are beginning to wind down just a bit because they were in colorado the last half hour, still the winter storm warnings for central parts and western parts of nebraska. the heaviest snow by north platte and to the north and east it falls apart later today. the heavy rain is another huge story. that's east of here. i'll have that in just about two minutes. thank you. police have made another arrest in the attack on a california high school girl outside her homecoming dance. there are now six suspects in custody. four were in court yesterday for the first time.

and three of them wore bulletproof vests. one suspect's aunt says he told her he only watched and he didn't do anything to stop the rape because he was afraid he would get beat up, too. >> the charges is very false. i don't believe any of the charges, none of it. >> the juveniles are being charged as adult ts and could get life in prison. police won't say whether any of the witnesses recorded the attacks on their cell phones. an american contractor is talking about what it was like inside a deadly attack on the u.n. compound in afghanistan. chris turner says he grabbed an ak-47 and gave cover fire as 25 people ran from taliban gunmen storming the compound. he is credited with saving their lives. >> the real heroes of this conflict were the men that died, the afghan security, the afghan police and, of course, the u.n. guards that died in this battle. i just happened to be the last

man standing with a gun, so i was the one that ultimately protected people behind me from being blown up by the suicide bomber. >> yesterday the u.n. secretary general called for more security for u.n. staff in afghanistan. today president obama will hear from the joint chiefs of staff about the possibility of sending more u.s. troops there. the army and marine corps have already said they're worried that that would make it tougher to give troops the promised time at home between deployment. the house could vote as early as next week on health care reform. democrats unveiled their final version yesterday which includes a public option. speaker nancy pelosi says they would finance the $894 billion plan with a tax on the wealthy and cost-cutting in medicare and medicaid. pelosi says the bill will cover an additional 36 million americans. >> this is why this legislation is important. affordability for our middle class. it lowers cost for every

patient, reigns in premiums, co-pays and deductibles, limits out of pocket costs and lifts the cap on what insurance companies cover each year. >> an analysis by cnn says that bill's cost could actually top $1 trillion. republicans say the new taxes and regulation ins the bill would kill jobs and do little to curb health care costs. oh, my gosh. look at this. two burglar suspects wore disguises they couldn't get rid of. this is one of the most popular store ris on cnn.com. now you know why. the suspects used permanent marker on their face, and it didn't take long for high wa police to talk them down. the police chief admits it's pretty hilarious and jokes it was a perfect storm of being dumb and adding alcohol. i think they're knew at that. >> a mix of stupidity and drinking. >> i think they might be new at the whole burglary thing. >> let me write on your face.

>> i got a 40 and i got a sharpie and a hankering for burglary. it would be great. >> we are smart. we are normal. >> we are, relatively speaking, when you see stories like that. let me show you the heavy rain. told you about the snow across nebraska beginning to wind down later this morning and this afternoon. the rain will be here all day long from the lower part of the gulf coast, from houston, into lups anna towards arkansas. heaviest rain towards memphis, just over the river on the arkansas side. slowly moving to the east, but the bulk is all moving northward. it's going to fill in towards cape girardeau, st. louis later today. the entire rain shield is getting back into the great lakes with the heaviest rain across central parts of michigan. zero in on the grand rapids radar. the heavy rain overhead. basically you're dry around detroit. the rain will head in your direction. chicago getting plenty as well. flash flood warnings, we had

them up there shreveport yesterday, 5.3 inches of rain. ahead of the frontal boundary it will warm up nicely. if you're trying to get in or out of the big apple for the weekend, today looks very nice. look at that shot. a little cloudiness may slow you down. 60 today, up to 68 tomorrow. a nice look at the upper east side. >> looks very halloweenish on halloween eve. >> if you can see the bronx toward your left, yankees won last night in case you're just waking up. >> a little update from bob. >> the only yankee fan in all of georgia. most of you, here is something to be happy about. most of us will get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. this is the weekend when you set your clocks ahead, sunday at 2:00 a.m. no, you don't. you set them back. back, back, back. don't do what robby says. you set it back by an hour, back to standard time. in the united states hawaii and most of arizona won't be

changing because they never set their clocks ahead in the spring. enjoy that extra hour. a woman drank so much water that she died. the mother of three was trying to win a radio station contest. now a jury has decided who to hold liable for her death. plus some amazing video. a woman was trapped in a sinking suv. you'll see the stunning rescue caught on a live tv show.

in our salute to the troops we salute major john bellinger, on his fourth deployment. his wife sent these pictures so we could wish him an early happy birthday. she says john is her best friend. he has run marathons and done triathlons. she cannot wait until he comes home. happy birthday major. if you have somebody in the service go to cnn.com/robin so we can salute them. a woman drank so much water she died.

now a jury has awarded jennifer strange's family more than $16 million. she drank more than a dozen bottles of water in three hours for a radio station contest. contestants had to drink water without going to the bathroom. she died of acute water intoxication in 2007. her family sued. >> we're very grad fid with what the jury did. the number they determined is by definition a fair and reasonable number. >> the defense had argue thad the woman's death was unforeseeable. the sacramento radio station fired ten employees after this happened. the jury did not find the parent company negligent, but found the subsidiary liable for the actions of its employees. a company rep would not say if they planned to appeal. he did tell the sacramento bee that they respect the jury decision. there's one thing all remember sites had to have in common until now. new in about 20 minutes, how some sites will be able to change their names to something that you might not even recognize.

what halloween character would best describe your boss? is one in five workers said glenda the good witch in the career builder.com survey. villains got a third of the vote. they include the wolf man, fine one minute, howling the next, the invisible man, there but really never around. dracula suck it is life out of the room. and the wicked witch of the west. needy explain? our boss is nacho libra. i don't know what that says. he has a good sense of humor. you can say something if you're thinking about every doing your kitchen or finishing the basement. melissa long got up early. >> if you've been holding off on maybe renovating the kitchen, the basement, the bathroom, you could save right now as much as 20%. that is certainly good news in a bad economy. according to the "wall street journal" this morning home

builders and contractors that have been idle because of the housing slump are getting into bidding wars. material costs are down like lumber, plywood. a remodeling trade group says cheaper isn't always better, of course. some low bidders may try to cut corners. if you need to buy the last minute birthday card or get well soon card, you could soon buy them at your local post office. according to "the washington post," the postal service has started selling the hallmark cards at about 1500 branches in a one-year experiment. if it works out, it could go nationwide and could expand it to other areas like insurance, banking and cell phones. seems like a great idea if you don't want to call uncle bobby and say, i'm so sorry, i forgot your birthday. >> that works. good morning, melissa. good to see you on friday morning. >> good to see you as well. nasty weather in colorado. >> and a lot of rain headed there, too. we have problems out there. they're going to start popping

up within the next hour or so. let me show you sabre flight explorer. in towards chicago metro area, you can see right there is midway, o'hair, up towards the north. rain coming off and on. low clouds found in detroit. you're going to see a delay of a half hour starting in the next hour. that's going to be in minneapolis st. paul. the longest delays will be chicago. an hour or more with the rain. houston, more thunderstorms, an hour or more there, too. you could see low clouds start the day. d.c. metro, charlotte, atlanta and dallas. cleveland and detroit it's going to be more rain out there. 30 minutes to one-hour delays. cincinnati, memphis, st. louis and minneapolis, we'll be talking about that in a half hour. you can see some of the reports for the last couple days near denver to cheyenne. take out these pictures, unbelievable footage, even around pine cliff, colorado, they have 46 inches of snow. that's north of denver by about

20, 25 miles. a football team is getting creative with how it puts points on the scoreboard. the quarterback makes one of the most unbelievable passes you'll ever see. these guys don't add accessories to their halloween costumes. they add apps.

i love that song. that's going to wake you up. the san francisco, oakland bay bridge could be reopened in time for the rush hour this morning. the crews worked overnight to finish emergency repairs. here is why. the bridge was shut down on tuesday. california transportation officials say that pieces of steel, including a major beam, fell onto the road. drivers are still being encouraged to take alternate routes in case the repairs get behind schedule. the sister of the reverend dr. martin luther king junior

started crying when she saw plans for a memorial to her brother. after years of delay the martin luther king memorial in washington, d.c. got a green light yesterday. the king memorial will be l located between the jefferson and lincoln memorials on the national mall. king's sister said he would have been humbled. secretary of state hillary clinton says she's not accusing the pakistani government of helping to harbor al queda. yesterday she said to pakistani journalists that says it's hard to believe no one in their government knows where al qaeda is hiding. she says she's asking the questions that many americans want answered. a couple of guys from florida are dressing up as iphones for halloween. but their costumes actually function. the flat screen tvs they have wrapped around themselves display searches, texts and anything else you'd find out on an actual iphone. the guyphone costume, it's going to cost about $1,000. they're hoping some of the prize

money might make up for that. that's still just hoping. >> that's bulky. >> that would be heavy, wouldn't it. one of the most hated men among yankee fans took to the mound to try to sink the bronx bombers. there was tension in the latest play-off game -- actually the world series game. >> that's correct. we're talking about phillies pitcher pedro martinez. that's a name infamous in new york as he's remembered for throwing a 60-year-old yankees coach to the ground. he once called the yankees his daddy with a loss. enter pedro with a chant of "who's your daddy." >> how do you concentrate when that's what they're yelling at you. >> he was big pappa until hi decay matsui hit this home run to break off a tie. pedro pulled off smiling, yankees win game two to even the

series. shaquille o'neal is looking to continue his stekd career as an officer now that he's playing for cleveland. the local sheriff's office says shaquille applied to become an officer. people do love him. check out this behind-the-back pass in a high school football game in baton rouge. this was a few weeks ago, the kids first did it while horsing around in practice. central won 58-0. now it is time for our true champion. this week high school football play kyle av,averto. his mom was diagnosed with cancer. in a recent game he convinced players to way pink. with the help of the charity, swing for life raised about $10,000 for cancer research. that's a look at sports. more in about 30. robin? >> motivated all those people. a church created an

imaginary hell and inviting people to step inside. wait until you hear about a controversial halloween display in a church.

as many as nine people are missing off the coast of california right now. they disappeared last night in a crash between a coast guard plane and a marine corps helicopter. another pilot reported seeing a fireball near where the aircrafts collided. the navy and coast guard are both searching for survivors. house democrats say 96% of americans would have health insurance if their version of a reform bill passes. speaker nancy pelosi unveiled the nearly 2,000-page bill yesterday. she said she would give lawmakers at least 72 hours to read it before a vote. a week ago president obama declared a national h1n1

emergency. but now new york's governor wants one for his state. david paterson says it's not to create panic, but it will keep hospitals from being overwhelmed with swine flu patients and allow other health care workers like dentists and pharmacists to administer the vaccine. those are a few of the headlines. morning, sunshine. i know a lot of you u up early getting costumes ready for school. i'm robin meade. welcome. a reporter in arkansas was live on the air talking about why people should not drive through the rising floodwaters when this happened on live tv. right behind him a woman's suv went under, and the cameras from affiliate kark caught one man jumping right in after her. then the fire department showed up and helped him get the woman out safely. talk about a crazy report on live tv here. thankfully everybody got out

safely. good news about growth in the economy led to the biggest gain for stocks in more than three months oovps. melissa long is in for jennifer. the recovery still has a long way to go. what are you find sng. >> very much about baby steps. we have been warned it will be a slow recovery. unemployment, 9.8%, still rising. a long way to go, robin. investors, however, were encouraged by thursday's gdp report. the nation's gross do mmestic product measures the output of growth and services grew 3.5% in the third quarter after a year of contraction. tim geithner told a congressional committee the gdp numbers are encouraging, but, of course, millions of americans continue to struggle. >> unemployment remains unacceptably high for every person out of work, for every family facing foreclosure, fosh every small business facing a credit crunch, the recession remains alive and acute. >> investors helped to lift the dow 200 points on thursday.

the nasdaq and s&p 500 making big gains yesterday. the markets soap just shy of two hours and are expected to pull back. lawmakers in rhode island closed a loophole that made prostitution legal as long as it was done inside. a 1980 law passed by the state's general assembly cracked down on outdoor solicitation. didn't say anything about paying for sex indoors. more than two dozen suspected brothels operate in rhode island. the governor is expected to sign the new bill. a maryland man could not be there to see the birth of his first baby because it was suspected maybe he had the h1n1 flu. doctors booted him from his wife's delivery room as a precaution. the couple had to get creative. the dad-to-ba coached his wife through labor from home using a speaker phone. obviously they were still heart broken that they had to be apart. >> at the moment when i had to leave, i looked at her and she got very teary-eyed.

we also had masks on our face. it was sort of hard to see all of her emotion, but i knew she was very upset. >> after dad was fever-free for 24 hours, he got to hold his baby girl for the first time. funny little bird is making the streets his home. this ginny foul has been hanging out in lilburn, georgia. this bird is mainly found in africa. but he loves to run through traffic for some reason. at first there were two. but one was run over. oops. >> he's becoming an institution for lilburn. >> three or four months ago he showed up. id guess somebody dumped him. he prefers black cars. >> he loves suvs. business owners call him chatter because he constantly is squawking. the new version of frogger, except one of them not there

anymore, huh? you'd think he would learn. that's why they call him a bird brain. halloween costume parades at schools today. at least where i grew up that's where it works. halloween costumes for trick or treat tomorrow. what's the weather going to be like? please don't make the kids wear their winter coats. >> winter coats and rain jackets. a good chunk of the nation will see rain. first this weather brought to you by green giant. what's happening across the region? the whole picture is laid out for you. i want you to look at how ex-pane sive the storm system is. it starts up across the northern parts of the plains. the good news here with the snow, it's finally beginning to show signs of winding down just a bit. here is the way it goes. here is central nebraska, north platte picking up the snow pretty well. notice the snow shield over the last three hours, a three-hour loop, beginning to shrink down a little bit. it's moving into the central part of the plains. all that snow is going to start

to wind down gradually over the next couple hours. still a blizzard warning for the northeastern sections of kansas and southwest nebraska. that's because of the wind and poor visibility because of the snow. the green, heavier snow, about an inch to an inch and a half per hour at this rate. the rain is real heavy at times, too, coming right out of the gulf. more showers towards memphis, stretches in towards cape girardeau, into st. louis, back into the great lakes. live to detroit, right now light showers being reported. here is the tower cam. the clouds that are low, the rain off and on and a five-mile visibility. a good chance of showers today, better chance overnight tonight. it's going to be breezy. we'll have that to deal with. flash flood warnings down south of you. if you're on the east coast, the low clouds are hanging on the tough side, too. let me take you live to charlotte, north carolina -- it just went down. >> what happened? >> nothing, nothing. we'll get back to you. the heavy rain will be here for

the better part of the day. slides into the northeast for the weekend. that's something we'll be watching starting tomorrow morning. more in about a half hour. >> i was talking with the producers about what's upcoming here. >> they're telling me what tower cam died in my ear. >> i can tell you by the grimace on your face. he wants to kick something. >> it's friday. can't be bad. do you remember not that long ago one car company was offering people to return their cars if they didn't like them, like after two months. i can't get that good of a return policy on a dress i bought. >> return their cars? >> yeah. we'll hear from that car company, how it's going. there was a risk in that. what if people depleted the value and brought it back in. >> wearing a dress and bringing it back after the prom. >> no, i don't do that. you can get your hot little hands on a tricked-out easy chair. this one comes with a special warning from the cops.

house democrats included money for end-of-life planning in the final version of their health care reform bill. that is the same provision that some republicans have called a death panel. it allows medicare to pay for voluntary counseling about end-of-life decisions. one republican says that we should not have a government program for those difficult situations. the democrat who sponsored the provision says the controversy helped raise awareness about end-of-life planning. a third grade class in arizona threw a welcome home plan for a marine they adopted last year.

sergeant andrew valora was stationed in afghanistan when he started getting care packages from kids. he said their correspondence made a huge difference in his life. >> i thought i would come home and see the kids in the class. i didn't think it was going to be a huge production. but it's very nice to see how much they think i meant to them, but i hope i can convey how much they really mean to me. >> how sweetest that the children also sang "god bless the usa" for him? so this was a new program, that you buy a car. if you don't like it after even two months, you take it back and get a full refund? gm says its money back guarantee has been so successful that it is extending it. melissa long is in for jennifer today. there was concern that this was really risky for them. >> it's paying off. i know you're a savvy shopper. i know this has caught your attention and caught the attention of a lot of car

buyers. it was originally set to expire next week. gm say it is guarantee will continue for another two months, into the first week of january. the company will be releasing numbers next week that it says will probably show a year-over-year sales gain for the first time in over two years. it launched this guarantee in september as it was fighting the negative image in bankruptcy and also the government bailout. just a few people have returned the cars and taken advantage called "may the best car win" campaign. you probably notice you're paying more and more to fill your gas tank. according to aaa, the average price for regular unleaded, $2.69, 21 cents more than last plongt. all of this after exxon mobile reported a huge drop in profits, of course, do you know 68%, because of the global economic slowdown. an update on the drywall from china which thousands of

homeowners have said damaged their homes or made them sick. the consumer product safety commission says it cannot yet establish a clear link to any health problems or corrosion in homes. it was found to contain sulfur compounds as well as substances that give off a rotten egg odor. the government says it needs to study the matter some more before it will consider a recall or a ban. as you pointed out earlier, imagine that, that stench in your home. >> a new home, new walls and it stinks like rotten eggs? come on. did you get enough sleep last night? >> no. >> it might be hard to say you did. your answer might depend on where you live, though, in addition to what shift you're working. for the first time the cdc ranks states based on how frequently people said they got enough shut-eye. from a phone survey, the most sleepless state is west virginia. tennessee, kentucky and oklahoma were next. you'll hear some theories on why

this is and where people are getting the most rest.

before the break we were

talking about how west virginia was the most sleepless state according to the first of its kind cdc study. who gets the most sleep? the rested state is north dakota, followed by california, wisconsin and oregon. not sure exactly why it is that some people sleep better in most places. theories include difference ins the amount of health problems like obesity, financial stress and something that, if you're up this early you probably know about, odd-hour shifts. a woman raped by phillip garrido decades ago is keeping a very close eye on the jaycee dugard case. katherine hall attended the hearing yesterday. in 1976 garrido was convicted of raping hall. he served 11 years of a 50-year term. she says this time she wants to make sure he gets put away forever. the garridos are accused of kidnapping jaycee dugard when she was 11 and holding her for 18 years. people stood in the rain for

five hours yesterday to get the h1n1 flu vaccine, five hours. people started lining up at 5:00 a.m. in topeka, kansas. many parents complained about standing in the rain especially if they brought their kids who had asthma. others were just grateful there was a crack seen to get. >> i'm a child care provider. i have a day care in my home. my child has asthma. >> i feel safer getting it. i feel better, more relaxed getting it. >> i feel blessed we're able to get the vaccination today. that's the most important thing. we'll wait for hours if we have to. >> the lines moved fairly quickly. the clinic was forced to turn away people by the time noon came around. a follow-up here. police made another arrest in the connection with the slain connecticut football player. rafer is following that for us. >> good morning, robin. during the investigation into howard's killing, someone was making threats on the internet, just incredulous that someone

would tell people not to snitch. yesterday connecticut police charged an 18-year-old named christopher mutchler for making the threats. he was charged with five counts including hindering prosecution, threatening and an an act of terrorism, not linked to the three hours they previously arrested in connection with the murder. he was releaseded on $15,000 bond. brett favre makes his long awaited return to green bay wearing the uniform of the hated minnesota vikings. how will they honor him? today is flip-flop friday in green bay, encouraged to wear flip-flops. it's cold there. also a mock funeral employees with a hers is happening today. i think you should give him a standing ovation. more sell lay shows details. court documents filed by frank mccourt say he fire his wife jamie partially because she had an affair with her driver who was employed by the team.

they allege the two took a vacation in france and billed the team for it. she filed for divorce and wafrnts the court to reinstate her as ceo because she says she oh owns the team. ochocinco went on letterman to plug a new book. >> number nine. >> i was once put a disabled list when they found an ochoa in my cinco. >> two. >> planning a special touchdown celebration that involves pulling a dancing raccoon out of my pants. >> that's because he's known for his celebration. that's sports. >> what's this new book about? >> being him, pretty much. not a lot of depth from what i hear, but entertaining. keeping track of your expenses is es special sli important in this tough economy and especially tricky. hln money expert clark howard is here with some help. and listen to tasha's story and

see what advice the money coach has for her. >> hi, i'm tasha and i need a money coach. i want help doing a budget because i want to know where the money is going. there's not any extra. if we do need extra, it's put on a put on a credit card. that's what i'm trying to get away from. i heard about mint.com on either the clark howard show or in the paper. mint.com will is a free website that you can go to to prepare a personal budget. of course, you logon, create a passwo password, user i.d. had when i logged it, the website asked for my bank name, my routing number, and then my user i.d. and password to my bank account. that's where i immediately stopped and, oh, yeah. can't do this. my question is, is mint.com a safe and secure website to use when preparing a personal budget. >> tasha, you're really on to

something. i use mint.com, but there is that real risk if somebody does crack the code they're going to have access to not just one account of yours, all of them. but i do it anyway because i realize the risk is so small but the receipt ward so great. what reward? for free, you're able to track all of your dough. where's the money disappearing to? i rather over and over again from people, they don't know where their money is going. now you'll know with mint or their competitor wesabe.com. >> clark can be your money coach, too. in this struggling economy, he can help you, saturdays and zunds noon and 4:00. it looks like the harvard professor and the cop he accused of unfairly arresting him are getting friends. 

good morning. how are you you? listen. i hear "men at work" on my show here. good morning. the how are you? i'm robin meade and i know a lot of you are up early right now probably getting some halloween costumes ready for kids for school and for tomorrow. here's ha's going on in the news. teens accused of gang rape are in court. one suspect tell s family membe why he watch and didn't do anything to stop it. a harvard professor and cambridge cop got together without the president. two guys have come up with a

great halloween costume though they may need to add a going to the bathroom application. that didn't sound very nice. first, our top story. an intense search is going on right now for nine people missing off the coast of southern california. they disappeared after the collision of a coast guard plane and marine helicopter. it happened a little after 7:00 local time last night 25 miles east of san cla meant tai island. the coast guard says weather conditions are good but survivors would be at risk. >> the water temp right now is 64, 65 degrees. how long you can survive is going to depend on your body type, what you're wearing. so i don't know all the individuals involved in this and what they were wearing, but 65-degree water is much colder than your body temperature so hype 0 poe thermia is a threat. here's what we know about the crash. it involved a coast guard c-130

with seven people onboard and a marine corps ah-1 helicopter carrying two. another pilot in the area reports seeing a fireball near the crash site and debris has been spotted in the water. take a look at this early taste of winter in colorado, part of a storm hitting several western states this morning. hundreds of schools and businesses were closed in denver yesterday because of the snow. it's creating problems on the road. >> it's important that people know that they're not out of the wood yet. as the roads give the appearance of starting to clear off or they look like they may just be wet or slushy, that's when the time when it may be the most precario precarious. >> the storm is causing problems even this morning. let's check in with meteorologist bob van dillen about a blizzard warning. >> for eastern colorado early this morning, winds over 35 miles per hour, rob. low visibility. here's the extent of the storm. you can see most of the snow, all the white, across middle chart parts of nebraska where it will be for the morning before it winds down a touch. look at the last three hours.

it's clearly beginning to shrink down. upper level will support for the snow moving away, but you're still getting bouts of the heavy stuff. it's falling at a rate of an inch to inch and a half an hour. blizzard warning in kansas, eastern colorado, extreme southwestern nebraska. winter storm warnings in red, two to four inches of snow in the band, located right over north platte stretching towards south dakota. more details on that plus a look at the heavy rain, another major thing we're catch watching, a couple of minutes from there. dentists, pharmacists and other health care workers are going to be able to give h1n1 shots in new york state at least. it's part of a state of emergency that the governor declared yesterday to keep hospitals and clinics from being overwhelmed with swine flu patients. h1n1 cases have grown, 75 people have died. police have made another arrest in the attack on a california high school girl

outside her homecoming dance. there are now six sl suspects nz custody, four in court yesterdayed for the first time. 3 of them wor$3 of them wore bu vests. one told his aunt that he watched it and didn't do anything to stop it because he was afraid he'd get beat up, too. >> i don't believe any of the charges, none of it. >> the juveniles are being charged as adults and could get life in prison if convicted. police won't say whether any of the witnesses recorded the attack on their cell phones. a jury ruled in favor of the family of a woman who died after drinking more than a dozen bottles of water. it was in a radio station contest. jennifer strange died of acute water intoxication. this is back in 2007. the contestants had to drink water and not go to the bathroom to win a nintendo wii. a jury awarded her family more than $16 million. >> we're very gratified with

what the jury did. the number that they determined is by definition a fair and reasonable number. >> well, the defense had argued that the woman's death was unforeseeable. the sacramento radio station fired ten employees after this happened. the jury did not find the parent company negligent but found its subsary liable for the aks of its employees. a company rep did not say whether they plan to appeal but told the xroemt bee they respect the decision. a harvard professor and massachusetts cop met for drinks again, this time without president obama. the boston herald reports that henry louis gates and sergeant james crowley met at a pub. back in july, gates was arrested after have trying to get into his own house. he accused crawly of racial profiling. then the president invited them to the white house for a beer. i still like that picture because i always thought about the table they were sitting at, there's vice president biden --

>> he's, like, do i have to sit on this chair in i'm the vice president of the united states. >> reaching for peanuts. >> good morning, everybody. i know it seems months away. it's almost the end of october. you're probably getting your kids' costumes ready. will halloween be wet, dry, cold, what? >> it's going to be pretty rough around the great lakes if you're going out tomorrow night being the rain moves into the northeast but won't be quite as heavy. looking at this thing unwinding a bit. check out the heavy squalls just coming off the gulf of mexico. plenty of rain, houston, stretching into louisiana. around arkansas, too. here's that memphis radar picture and one line of thunderstorms right over you. not a lot of lightning with it but definitely heavy rain and the whole thing is sliding up the north ahead of a cold front really isn't moving very fast at all. look at the rain around cape girardeau, in towards ontario,

as well. toledo with a little rain, same with detroit. the heaviest stuff by far is across central sections of michigan. notice chicago, light rain off and on over the day. wind will pick up. flash flood warnings in red, the flood warnings in green and watch are in dark green. we've seen as much as five inches of rain in northern louisiana and lower arkansas. the rain was out there, too. same spot today. but if you live east of that front today it's going to be nice. let me show you a dramatic picture of new york city. check this shot out. ♪ hallelujah it's great, right? we're not playing the hallelujah because the yankees won. it's because it looks so nice. >> it is pretty. >> 68 tomorrow. clouds first part of the day. that's it. in the air. >> it's mesmerizing. >> it is. if you want to get work done on your house, now could be a very good time. wror more on that. then a high school football

coach loves crazy plays. he once had a player do somersaults to distract the defense. now they have something better, apparently.

today we salute major john bell even jer, a soldier on his fourth deployment. his wife sent in these pictures so we could wish him an early happy birthday. she says he's her best friend. she cannot the wait for him to come home. happy birthday, major. if you have somebody in the service you want to salute, go to cnn.com/robin. the san francisco oakland bay bridge could be open in time

for the morning rush. the crews worked overnight to fix repairs. the bridge was shut down tuesday. transportation officials say after pieces of steel including a major beach fell onto the road. you can save big-time right now if you're thinking about redoing the bathroom or getting a new kitchen. melissa long is in for jennifer talking about consider it's a good team to remodel the house. >> if you're thinking about renovating your kitchen or master bathroom, it really may be one of of the best times to do so because you may be able to save serious cash, at least 25%. according to the "wall street journal," home builders and contractors that are idle because of the slump are getting into bidding wars for yr work for remodelling. also, you have some material costs down like plywood and lumber and insulation. however, a remodelling trade group says cheaper isn't always

better. of course, you get what you pay for sometimes, right? low bidders may have to cut corners apparently. also good news about growth in the economy led to the biggest gain for stock prices in more than three months. the dow rising just shy of 200 points on thursday, the nasdaq an the s&p 500 also making strong gains. investors like the better than expected report on the gdp which rose 3.5% in the most recent quarter after a year of contraction. the markets opening just shy of 1 hour 20 minutes from now. they're expected to pull back at the open, robin. >> thank you. a couple of accused burglars couldn't afford to get masks, but police say their homemaded disguises are exactly what gave them away. plus, doctors kick gd a dad to be out of the delivery room because they thought he might have the h1n1. how he managed to be there for it anyway.

morning. 15 minutes past the hour. an american contractor is talking about what it was like inside a deadly attack on the u.n. compound in afghanistan. chris turner says that he grabbed an kak-47 and gave cover fire wednesday as about 25 people ran from taliban gunmen storming the compound. he's credited with saving their lives. >> the real heroes of this conflict were the men that died, the afghan security, the afghan police and of course the u.n. guards that died in this battle. i just happened to be the last

man standing with a gun so i was the one that ultimately protected the people behind me from being blown up by the suicide bomber. >> yesterday the u.n. secretary-general called for mo security for u.n. staff in afghanistan. today president obama will hear about the possibility of sending more u.s. troops there. the army and marine corps have already said they're worried that that would make it tougher to give troops the promised time at home between their deployments. you have to see what a bad disguise looks like. this is one of the most popular stories on cnn.com. these burglary suspects used permanent marker. they're a couple of smart ones. it didn't take long for iowa police to track them down. the police chief admits it's so funny and a perfect storm of being dumb and adding alcohol. can you believe that? the house could vote as

early as next week on health care reform. the democrats unveiled their final version yesterday with an $894 billion price tag. but speaker nancy pelosi said they would finance it with a tax on the wealthy and cost cutting in medicare and medical i kaed. she also said it would provide coverage for 36 million more americans. >> the bill will expand coverage, including a public option to boost choice and competition in the health insurance reform. >> 1990 pages, that's about four reams of paper. i would say that the people that are getti inting reamed are the american people. >> republicans say that the new taxes and regulations in the bill would kill jobs and do little to curb health care cost. an analysis by our sister network cnn found the bill's cost could actually top $1 trillion. hey, if you had to say what halloween character does your

boss best fit, one in five workers said glenda the good witch in a career builder survey. that's a good answer. but the villains got a third of the vote. the wolf man who's fine one minute and howls the next. the invisible man, the boss never there. dracula, the one who sucks the life out of the room. and the wicked witch. >> our boss is superman! >> well beihe did dress up as no leeb ray once. one of the most hated men among yankees fans took the mound. the update on the world series. >> this guy has about as much clout as eliot spitzer in the new york area. that's how much they like him. we're talking about phillies pitcher pedro martinez. you you know why they don't like him? because he threw a 60-plus-year-old man don zimmer to the ground when he was a red

sox player. he once called the yankees a daddy after a loss. how do you think they greeted him? "who's your daddy"? >> after he lost, he called the yankees his daddy. they're saying, we are your daddy. they were in about the sixth inning, the score was tied, had a pretty darn good game. but then matsui broke it open with a home run. nainkes are still his daddy. yankees win to even the series. the divorce of the owners of the dodgers. court documents filed by frank mccourt say he fired his ex-wife jamie as ceo partially because she had an affair with the driver. they allege she and the driver took a vacation and billed the team. jamie did not publicly respond to the allegations. she filed for divorce and she wants to be reinstated as ceo.

in california, half. >> half. >> she probably does. check out this crazy behind the back pass in a high school football game in baton rouge. it's making national headlines because it's just nutty. you never see something like that. on a two-point conversion. the kids did it while horsing around in practice and they won 58-0. that's got to hurt. lastly, shaquille o'neal is looking to continue his career as an officer. now he's playing for the cavs, the local sheriff's office says he applied to become a special deputy. he would carry a gun and make arrests but not be paid. can you imagine being arrested by shaq? >> he's done this before in almost all the cities he played in, right? >> in arizona, florida and even virginia where he didn't play. >> he just did it. thank you. the u.s. surgeon general says she wants to be america's doctor. dr. regina benjamin got the job

yesterday. she is a family physician in alabama and made headlines for rebuilding a rural health clinic after creek. she was also the first african-american woman to run a state medical society. actor dennis hopper is battling prostate cancer. his manager wouldn't talk about his prognosis or his condition, but he said that the actor is going through a special treatment program at the university of southern california. he's best known for the 1969 biker flick "easy rider." right now hopper stars in a cable series based on "crash." he's also an artist and photographer. some of the stories we're busy watching already in the morning, express planner. 11:30 a.m., melissa huckaby will be in court. she's charged with the kidn kidnapping and killing of sandra cantu. they found her body stuffed in a suitcase in april. 11:30, tim will geithner will be in chicago to anoun a multibillion-dollar project to help spur growth in communities.

a church created an imaginary hell right in its sanctuary and it's invited people to step inside. wait until you hear about this controversial halloween display.

a week ago president obama declared a national h1n1 emergency. now new york governor wants one for his state. david paterson says it's not to create panic but will keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by patients and would allow other health workers dentists and pharmacists to administered vaccine. i want to check in with you. morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. today secretary of state hillary clinton says she's not accusing the pakistani government of helping to harbor al qaeda but yesterday she said to pakistani journalists, i find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where al qaeda is and couldn't get them if they really wanted to. she says she was reflecting questions the americans have about the part aniship between part i stan and the united states. >> i don't think the way you deal with negative feelings is to pretended they're not there or gloss over them or just come

with happy talk. >> clinton's been in pakistan to show u.s.'s support. a high school football player inspired by his mom's battle against breast cancer did something special about it. here's rafer with more on that story. >> yeah. good morning, robin. kyle's mom was diagnosed with the disease six years ago. her battle an emotional one with. he is our true champion of the week. at the time he was too young to help her so recently the senior from salt lake city convinced most everyone to wear pink at their home game in honor of those affected by the disease. players, even people in the stands, wore pink jerseys and kyle also with the help of the charity swing for life raised about $10,000 through raffles and auctions with all of the money going to cancer research. >> shows you what one person can do. you know being the sister of martin luther king jr. started crying when she saw plans for a memorial to her brother. after years of delays, the

martin luther king memorial in washington, d.c., got a green light yesterday. the king memorial will be located between the jefferson and lincoln memorials on the national mall. king's sister said he would have been humbled. this is incredible. a reporter in arkansas was talking live on tv about why people should not drive through the rising floodwaters. he was standing right in front of some floods. right behind him a woman's suv went under the water. the cameras from affiliate kark caught one guy just jumping in after the woman. then the fire department showed up and helped him get the woman out safely. all on live tv. >> that was absolutely hair raising when you look at that whole video. that's exactly why. it took two minutes for that car to go just up to the wheels to almost over the roof. it didn't take long at all. so scary. >> that's certainly a case of video doing a better job of saying, do not go into the water. >> three guys had to smash out the windows with an ax.

>> you're watching it right here. >> totally impressive these guys jumping in there. unreal. you never want it to happen, but people still drive through. what's going on? that same area getting slammed with heavy rain because of the cold front dipping down into the gulf of mexico and acting like a bin conveyer belt drawing in lots of moisture and spread it through areas like louisiana, arkansas, now getting in towards lower parts of indiana and illinois. you're talking about heavy rainfall amounts, too. how much over the next 48 hours? it's heading to the east. let me show you the computer model. if you zoom into the lower part of the gulf coast, the yellow shaded areas three to four inches of rain additionally on top of what you've already seen over the last 36 hours. the rain will be heavy again, specifically around central mississippi in towards western and central tennessee and kentucky. that's three or four inches of rain overnight tonight. then washes out over the carolinas. it's something we're definitely watching. on the back side of that, it's all snow. it's been heavy at times. central colorado, over 40 inches

of snow in some areas. even denver over a foot of snow. you can see the snow band itself over the last three hours beginning to shrink apart. the upper level support for the snow making capability moving away. that snow will come to an end shortly. give it four to five hours. for the morning, we still have

test

okay. just in time for you to get a stretch this morning, we were talking about how west virginia is the most sleepless state according to our first of its kind cdc study. on the flip side, the most rested state, people in north dakota followed by california?

wisconsin and oregon. now, health experts are not exactly sure why people sleep better in some places but theories include differences in the amount of health problems like obesity and financial stress, something you know a little bit about, odd-hour shifts. a maryland man could not be there to see the birth of his baby because there were fears that he had the h1n1 flu. so doctors booted him from the delivery room as a precaution. the couple will got creative. the man coached his wife on a speakerphone from home. obviously they were heartbroken that they were apart. >> at the moment when i had to leave, i looked at the her and she just got very teary eyed. we also had masks on our face so it was sort of hard to see you'll of her emotion, but i knew she was very upset. >> well, after dad was fever-free for about 24 hours he got to hold the baby for the first time. little baby girl. a third grade class in arizona threw a big welcome home

party for a marine they adopted last year. he was stationed in afghanistan when he started getting care packages and letter frz this class. they say their correspondence while he was deployed made a big difference in his life. >> i thought i was going to come home and see the kids in the class. i didn't think it was going to be a huge production, but it's very nice to see how much they think i meant to them. but i hope i can convey how much they really mean to me. >> they really put on a production. the kids even sang "god bless the usa" for the sergeant. good news about the growth of the economy. led to the biggest gain for stocks in more than three months. melissa long is in for jennifer westhoven today. we have a long way to go in the recovery, but the stock market liked it. >> yes. we're taking baby steps basically when it comes to seeing improvements in the economy. unemployment 9.8%. the economy again has a long way to go, but investors were

encouraged by the gdp report. the gross domestic product which measures the output of goods and services grew 3.5% after a year of contraction. timothy geithner told a congressional committee that the numbers are encouraging but millions of americans continue to struggle. >> unemployment remains unacceptably high. for every person out of work, for every family facing foreclosure, for every small business facing a credit crunch, the recession remains alive and acute. >> the gdp numbers helped to live the dow just shy of 200 points thursday, nasdaq and s&p making gains. >> these figures just in to us, consumer spending fell in september by the largest amount this year, down half a percent as the cash for clunkers program called it a wrap and unemployment remaining high. meantime, personal income remained flat. and while the u.s. post office is trying to improve its

economic health, it is now selling get well cards. according to "the washington post," the postal service has started selling a variety of hallmark cards at about 1500 branches part of a one-year experiment. the goal to boost retail sales. if it works, it could go nationwide and they could expand into other areas like banking and insurance. no excuses for not sending your mother-in-law a birthday card anymore. >> true. an african-american woman is breaking into the male late-night talk show club. she tells joy behar why her show will only be on one day a week. >> you're only on on saturday night. >> just saturday nights. >> that's how you can do all this work. >> yes. with a black president now, i don't have to work as hard. >> that's true. okay. >> they wanted me to work seven nights. i was, like, uh-huh. race card. black president. >> catch "the joy behar show" 9:00 p.m. eastern. a group recently filed a

lawsuit claiming that president obama wasn't born in the united states. but a federal judge blew another cause. some are saying michael jackson owns them. how much the director of the "thriller" video is suing for.

♪ superstition stevie wonder and jeff beck teamed up last night to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. it was not the only collaboration at the concert that lasted more than five hours. pollution springsteen and billy joel here. the concert continues tonight with performances from yu 2, aretha franklin, metallica. it airs on hlb. the birther's movement got rejected again. in case you're not up on this, birthers believe that president obama was not born in the united states and therefore shouldn't be allowed to be president. the president, though, does have a birth certificate that shows he was born in hawaii.

michael jackson's collaborators on "thriller" say they are owed more than $2 million from his estate. both the producer and the director of the 14-minute "thriller" video filed claims yesterday. director john landis and his company sued jackson before his death claiming the singer had not paid landis his share of the profits in recent years. we've heard no response yet from the jackson estate. most of you are going to get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. it sounds good! sun at 2:00 a.m. you're supposed to set your clock back to 1:00 a.m. standard time. in the united states, hawaii and most of arizona will not be changing because they never set their clocks ahead in the spring. police have made another arrest in connection with the case of a slain connecticut football player. rafer has the latest on this. >> robin, i know for that first week when there weren't any arrests we were going, what's going on? it appears that connecticut police have been moving along pretty expeditiously since then.

while they were looking for suspects after howard was killed, there was somebody making threats on the internet telling people not to snitch. yesterday connecticut police charged a teenager for making those threats. 18-year-old christopher muchlehrs was charge d with fiv counts. police did not link him with the others they previously arrested in connection with the murder. he made two threatening posts and was released on bond. brett favre makes his long-awaited return to green bay on sunday, wearing the dreaded uniform of the hated minnesota viking. almost 20 years this guy was like family to the packer fans. one former packer said brett going to minnesota was like divorcing your wife and marrying her sister. will his return be like an episode of maury poef itch or will they be classy? remains to be seen. i hope they give him a standing ovation. i know i've been a favre hater.

a nascar driver was arrested on suspicion of dui. his driver's license suspended 30 days, but he'll still be able to race. ironically, you don't need a driver's license to race in nascar. they put him on probation until the end of the year. he was pulled over at 1:30 a.m. he said he had drinks at dinner and to his credit he apologized and owned up to it. beng els receiver chad ochocinco went on letterman and revealed top ten ref liegss from his book. >> number nine. >> i was once put on the disabled list when they found on choe in my cinco. >> two. >> i'm planning a special touchdown celebration that involves pulling a dancing raccoon out of my pants. >> oh, he would get such a fine if he did that. he's known for his touchdown celebrations. by the way, the reviews on the book, mixed so far from what i've been reading. >> it's just about mr. ochocinco

himself? >> exactly. a look behind the jersey. some people stooded in the rain five hours yesterday not for a concert but for the h1n1 flu vaccine. people started lining up at line, especially i they bought kids with them if they had arizona. others were grateful there were vaccines to get. >> my child has asthma. >> i feel safer getting it. i feel better. more relaxed getting it. >> so, that's the most important thing. we'll wait for hours if we have to. >> the lines moved fairly quickly. and the clinic was forced to turn away people by the time it was noon. ebooks are raising in popularities and the price of hard covered books are coming in the opposite way. if you're a book reader, you

got to love this three-way price war going on with target, walmart and amazon. all three of them are trying to compete for the crown of where you'll go when you're looking for a deal. if you're not familiar, new hot-selling books are going to be priced between $8.99 and 10 bucks. this is such a severe price war. the most significant thing, though, is that in the future, it looks like 10 bucks is going to be the key price point for box. a lot of this has to do with the way we're going to get books in the future, which, whether or not, overwhelming is going to be electronically, the idea of book lovers having cases and cases of books, there still be people who collect that way that's the good ole days. because the future is going to be electronics.

clark, he'll teach you to send more. 

good morning. it's friday, i know a lot of people are up early, making costumes for your kids for halloween. rescue teams have been going nonstop all night. they're looking for any survivors after a collision between a coast guard plan and a marine corps plane. one suspect tells a family member why he watched and did nothing to stop it. the church is getting into the halloween spirit. it's causing some screams and

some controversy. first, though, happening right now, an intense search is going on for nine people missing off the coast of southern california. they disappeared after the collision of a coast guard plane and marine helicopter. it happened a little after 7:00 local time last night. now, the coast guard says the weather conditions are good. but survivors would still be at risk. >> the water temp right now, off the coast, is about 64, 65 degrees. how long you can survive in that? is going to depend on your body type, what you're wearing. so, you know, i don't know all of the individuals involved in this and what they were wearing. but, 65-degree water is cold. high poe therm ya is definitely a threat. >> here's what we know about the crash. it involved a coast guard c-130 and a marine corps ah-1 helicopter.

debris has been spotted in the water. dentists, pharmacists and other health care workers will be able to give h1n1 shots in new york. it's to keep hospitals and clinics from getting overwhelmed with patients. h1n1 related cases have grown in new york state. 17 people have died. an early test of winter in colorado. hundreds of schools and businesses were closed in denver yesterday because there was so much snow. it's creating problems on the roads. >> it's important that people know that they're not out of the woods yet. as the roads give the appearance of starting to clear off, or look just wet or slushy, that's the time when it may be most precarious. >> this storm is causing problems this morning. let's check in with bob van dillen. is there a blizzard warning? >> that's about to expire in a

couple of minutes. the snow is starting to wind down. you saw the video just know. denver, itself, the metro got over a foot of snow in some locations. 71 miles northwest of denver. 43 to 46 inches of snow total. blizzard warning still out there, mostly across extreme eastern colorado. northern parts of kansas and lower parts of kansas. look at the snow band looking to fall apart. we'll talk about where it's heading, robin n just a couple of minutes. police have made another arrest. the attack on california high schoolgirl outside of her homecoming dance. one suspect's aunt told her he only watched the assault he didn't do anything to stop the rape, he was afraid he would get

beat up as well. >> i don't believe any of the charges. none of it. >> the juveniles are being charged as adults and could get life in prison if convicted. police won't say if any witnesses recorded the attack on their cell phones house could vote as early next week on health care reform. democrats unveiled their final version yesterday. speaker nancy pelosi said they would finance with a tax on the wealthy and cost cutting medicare and medicaid. it would provide coverage for 36 million more americans. >> it would expand coverage to boost competition. >> 1990 pages, that's about four reams of paper. i would say that the people are getting reamed are the american people. >> republicans say that the new taxes and regulations in the

bill would kill jobs and do little to curb health care costs. the bill costs could top $1 trillion. a slew of musical legends celebrated a 25-year anniversary of the rock 'n roll hall of fame. listen. ♪ >> okay, you know that's stevie wonder. but the bearded one is sting. he was among several former inductees that took to the stage at madison square garden last night. that's elvis costello, isn't it? who is that? i don't know who is that. okay, got it. that was crosby, stills and

nash. i think i seriously thought it was elvis costello. >> he stole elvis' glasses. that's what it is. >> the garden rocking again tonight. oh, man >> it's a two-parter. tonight, you got a crazy amount of artists. six minutes after the hour, i know a lot of you, is it going to be good for the kids trick or treating later tonight. >> the heavy rain is still around and it's roughly in the same spot that got pounded yesterday. she reeveport, louisiana, over five information of rain, plus a tornado yesterday. did a little bit of damage, too. the rain out of the gulf of mexico, back towards arkansas, into memphis, too. here's the memphis radar. rain overhead. southern parts of illinois, eastern missouri, too, the rain

continues to fall. it's at a steady rate. the rain around chicago, breaking up a little bit. another shield of rain, that's headed northward as well. rain in the afternoon. rain for about the entire state of michigan, except for the western part of the u.p. grand rapids radar is covered up. toledo, light showers out there. it's moving up towards the north. if you're not getting it now, you're getting it later around detroit. the red-shaded counties, again between two and five inches of rain. that will continue to pull on up. east coast, we're socked with the low clouds. take you live to atlanta. talking about low clouds and the possibility of delays at the airport. this is why. buildings covered up in atlanta. that's live. low clouds in charlotte. washington and new york, too.

>> i'm busy reading our facebookers' comments on david foster, music producer, has a national tour going on right now. when he was in atlanta, he called someone up on stage. >> i can tell you this, it wasn't me. >> the video is on our facebook page. what a bad idea of a disguise looks like. come here. one of the most popular stories on cnn.com. they used permanent marker, didn't take long for iowa police to track down. the police chief admits it's pretty hilarious. >> oh, man. >> all right. a woman drinks so so much water that she died. a mother of three was trying to win a radio contest. a falling church steeple crushes a car. you'll hear how the driver is

doing.

today, we salute major john bellinger, a soldier on his fourth deployment. his wife sent in these pictures. she says that john is her best friend. he's run marathons and triath n triathlons happy birthday, major. a jury ruled in favor of a family, of a woman who died after drinking more than a dozen bolts of water in a radio station contest. jennifer strange died of acute water intoxication in 2007. contests had to drink water without going to the bathroom, to win a wii. >> we're very grate fied with

the jury did. >> the defense argued that the woman's death was unforeseeable. the radio station fired ten employees after this happened. a company rep would i not say if they planned to appeal. but they respect the famidecisi a steeple fell on a car yesterday. torn from a church by one of three tornadoes that ripped through the area. driver was rescued buzz has broken bones. trees got knocked down left and right. you know what, you can save big time right now if you're thinking about remodeling. melissa long is in for jennifer westhoven. they're going to charge you high

amounts because you're the only customer. >> business has been down. if you have been looking to change the kitchen cabinets, it could be the time to make some investments right now on your home. because you can save 20%. according to wall street journal, contractors that have been idled are getting into bidding wars for you and your work for remodeling. material costs have been down. however, remodeling trade groups say that cheaper is not always better. stock market set to open at the bottom of the hour. 17 minutes from now. the dow rose just shy of 200 points on thursday. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 also making strong gains. investors liked the better than expected report of the gdp. also some new figures for

investors to digest at the opening bell this morning. consumer spending fell in september by the largest amount this year, down .1% as the cash for clunkers program ended. in the meantime, personal income remain flat. lot of lick wore. >> she's on a mission. we met her two years ago in chicago. the last place you would expect to find a garden. that's exactly what she showed me. >> those are greens on the far aisle there. >> she led an effort to start urban farm sites. she couldn't find any fresh produce in the neighborhood. >> you can get access to a variety of illegal drugs. if you wanted to buy a gun, you could buy a gun in this

community. if you wanted to find an organic tomato in this area, you wouldn't be able to buy one. >> with a few grocery stores nearby, most do their shopping at convenience shops like this. according to a new study, shopping at these convenience stores is part of what's making our children fat. on average, they were eating 356 empty calories at every stop. >> what are you buying in there? >> chips. >> chips, candy. >> in lower income minority communities like this one, where high blood pressure and obesity run rampant, we can't avoid the issues. >> healthy lifestyle is a must. >> two years after we first met her, she's adding store owner to

her resume. all in the hopes that she can change the tide in the ever-growing storm of obesity. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting.

youb know, during the break we were listening to new details on the intense search going on for the nine people missing off the coast of california. now, at a coast guard press conference that just ended a few minutes ago, the coast guard still believe that the nine people are alive, it's still a search right now. and they know that before the accident, one aircraft was already on a search and rescue mission. they're in the active search mode. they say the search conditions are pretty good. they have good visibility. they haven't found any survivors. they say that the debris field is pretty substantial. it happened 25 miles east of san clemente island. one of the most hated men of among yankee fans anyway, took to the mound to sink the bronx

bomb bers. >> these kind of dine mikes between players and teams that kind of make the game. it makes it a lot of interesting. said player, pedro martinez of the phillies, a great soap opera between him and the yankees fans. he's remembered in the big apple for throwing coach don zimmer to the ground. here's how they greeted with him of who's your daddy? but on the mound, he was big papa for most of the game. until this home run by matsui who broke it up. the yankees would go on to win, pedro was pulled later, he was smiling, just can't beat these guys. the divorce between the owners on of the dodgers takes another bizarre turn.

court documents filed by frank mccourt fired his wife because of an affair. jamie didn't respond to these allegations. she's the one who filed for the divorce. you know how much money she wants a month? $500,000 living expenses. that was yesterday. check out this, behind the back pass at a high school football game in baton rouge. look at that. it's getting national attention. because it's just insane. on a two-point conversion. these guys came up with this play horsing around in practice. and shaquille o'neal is looking to continue his second career as an officer, now that he's playing for cleveland. he gets to carry a gun and make arrests but he won't get paid. >> all right, thank you.

a dad to be missed the birth of first baby because he might have had the swine flu. how he hand to be there for anyway.

the new york stock exchange just opened for business. the dow is coming off its biggest rally since july. in five minutes we'll have a live report on whether investors can keep that momentum going zblanchts's a church steeple that you're looking at, lying there, it crushed a car in northwest louisiana yesterday. after at least three tornado hit the area. the driver was pulled out but has broken bones. a 20-year-old man died when his car hit a tree that was knocked down by this storm. a week ago president obama declared a national h1n1 emergency. now, the new york governor wants

one for his state. it's to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed with patients. and allow pharmacists and dentists administer the vaccine. back in court facing misdemeanor charges, a grand jury refused to indict mark mcleod on felony charges on wednesday. he resisted officers when he removed from cyrus's set. good morning. if you just kind woke up, welcome. i'm robin meade. breaking news right now on the search for nine people missing off the coast of california. the coast guard says it's going to keep searching for the survivors or victims of last night's crash. they searched all night and found some debris from the crash. >> is survivability is in the

area of 19 to 20 hours or more. depending on your body type and the equipment you were wearing. we're not at this time, basing our search efforts on survivable time but max coverage of the search area. >> the coast guard plane that went down was on a search and rescue mission itself for a missing person. we got new word this morning that the san francisco/oakland bay bridge will not be opened in time for the morning rush hour. this is from the california transportation officials and there's your live look. crews worked overnight trying to finish the emergency repairs. it's still cloetsdz in both directions until further notice. bridge was shut down on tuesday. this is incredible a reporter in arkansas was talking about why people need to avoid driving through flood waters when

something dangerous happened right behind a woman's suv went under water. look at this, the cameras from affiliate kark caught one man jumping in, in the water, after her, after the driver and the fire department showed up and helped him get the woman out safely. but the reporter was delivering a report live on the air about safety in the water when this happened right behind the reporter. a high school football player inspired by his mom's battle with breast cancer truly something truly special. here's rafer. his mom was diagnosed with the disease six years ago, her battle an emotional one. for what he's done, he's our true champion this week. recently, the senior from salt lake city, convinced almost everybody to wear pink for their home game. he had players wearing it. people in the stands were wearing it and kyle, also, was the help of the charity swing

for life, raised about $10,000 through raffles, auctions, with all of the money going to cancer research. to not only inspire his mom but others who are fighting the disease. robin? >> that is really amazing this one person was able to motivate an entire group. most of you can get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. sunday at 2:00 a.m., we'll set the clock back to 1:00 a.m., in the united states, you got hawaii and most of arizona who won't be changing because they never set their clocks ahead. 5-year-old and 2-year-old, they don't recognize the change. i noticed the last couple of years. still getting up at the same time. >> that's true. >> now, they're going to wake up 6:00 a.m., much better.

what's happening now the heavy rain is still around. you saw the video earlier of that flooded out road in little rock, arkansas, that was from last night. the rain continues to central arkansas right now. dips into louisiana. pulls out into the great lakes. it's heavy at times. what about the next couple of days? here's what we're calling for on the map? the rain is going to rain itself out by the time it moves to the east coast. yellow-shaded areas, three, four inches of rain locally. western kiemplt, tennessee, central mississippi and parts of alabama, too. some heavy rain later this afternoon. the backside of the storm system, all cool air. the upper level support moving away, you're looking at the blizzard warnings out there. just because of the wind and the blowing snow, that should loosen up a bit this afternoon. we're going to see the showers come to an end later today as

they move up towards the great lakes. full details coming up on a half-hour. so, wall street got a treat yesterday. when the dow soared 2%. today, is it going to be a treat? susan lisovicz, good morning. >> investors are spooked or perhaps having a little bit of a pullback. we had the best day for the dow since mid july, not bad. the dow, mind you, is up 2.5% in october. as we enter the final trading day of the month. sony's posting its fourth straight quarterly loss. like other companies, sony benefitted from cost cuts. and also a price cut on playstation 3.

chevron boosted production in the last quarter. the oil giant pumped out of a profit of nearly $4 billion. chevron shares today, not doing too much. but have had a recent run-up given what we have seen with oil prices moving higher on hopes for economic recovery. finally, on this halloween eve, this word from the national retail federation, we're going to spend $1 billion less on halloween than we did last year. 88% of people surveyed said they would spend less. and frajly, making your own costumes sometimes, so original and well, i mean, brings you a great deal of pride.

>> it depends on who's making it. sometimes, it can look better than the store-bought stuff. >> what are you going on as robin? >> resurrect an old outfit from my an '80's prom party. or i'm going to arizona seen on tv, and wear those crazy products on tv. >> i want to go as the balloon boy. >> i think you're going to see that everywhere, don't you? >> okay. i'll go to plan b. >> which is what? >> i don't know. we'll show you the hero's welcome when he returned to the united states.

we're getting incredible video of a massive fire at an oil depot, at least three people were killed, 45 injured. when it broke out in western india last night. authorities say they'll have to let the thing burn itself out. even though, six more workers are missing, about 13 million gallons of oil were stored there. this just in, police in arizona are telling the associated press they arrested a father that we have been talking about, accused of running own his own daughter. he hit his daughter with his car because she was becoming too westernized in his opinion. we don't have any details on

where or how her father was picked up. a third grade class in arizona threw a big welcome home party for a marine they adopted last year. sergeant andrew valora was stationed in afghanistan when he started getting care packages from kids. he said that their correspondence made a big difference in his life. >> i thought i would come home and see the kids in the class. i didn't think it was going to be a huge production. but it's very nice to see how much that they think i meant to them, but i hope i can convey how much they really mean to me. >> it was so sweet, the children also "god bless america" for him. as ebooks raise in popularity the price of hard-covered books are going in the opposite direction. who's competing to offer the best deals? >> if you're a book reader, you got to love this three-way price

war going on with target, walmart and amazon. it's all three of them are trying to compete for the crown, of where you'll go when you're looking far deal. if you're not familiar, new hot-selling books are all going to be priced between $8.99 and 10 bucks. this is such a severe price war. the most significant thing, though, is that in the future, it looks like 10 bucks is going to be the key price point for books. a lot of this has to do with the way we're going to get books in the future. whether or not like you look it, it's going to be electronically. the idea of having cases and cases of books, there still will be people who collect that way. because the future is going to be electronic. i'm clark howard. for more of my opinions, go to

c cnn.c cnn.com/howard. >> catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here. jon gosselin has been getting bad press for bad behavior. now, he's looking for some spiritual help. and he's turning to the same man who onced helped michael jackson. that's new for you in the next 30 minutes. during world war ii, it was hard for women to get ahead. a woman proved that it wasn't impossible. her mother explains in this edition of "breakthrough woman." >> marion is a member of the greatest generation, her whole life was filled with breakthrough moments. she was my mother. my mother always told me that i could do anything. she blazed a trail to follow.

i always wanted to be a writer like my mother. the first female newspaper wire service editor 1942. i'm proud that she held the equivalent rank of brigadier general. a civil rights activist and and invest ga tif reporter. she broke through the ceiling. one achievement at a time. do you know a breakthrough woman. go to cnn.com/robin. a couple of movies coming out, one is getting the most attention. we'll see what mr. moviefhone has to say about it and his competitors.

a woman rapid by phillip garrido decades ago, is keeping a close eye on the jaycee dugard case. back in 1976 garrido was convicted of raping hall. he sechbd 11 years of 50-year term. this time, she wants to make sure he gets put away forever. michael jackson's this is it documentary is out in theaters right now. it's getting some of the possible oscar buzz. oscar-worthy. hear what gayle king tells our joy behar. >> do you think it's oscar worthy. >> i actually do think it's oscar worthy. i was always a fan of michael

jackson's music. i can't say i was still into michael jackson. when i went to see this movie, i can say to you, i was blown away and not expected to be. i was blown away you see his passion for what he does. his humility, his kindness to people. >> catch the joy behar show at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. police have made another arrest in connection with the case of slained connecticut football player jasper howard and rafer has more on that. >> for a while, as you remember, police were having trouble with people coming forward with any video after howard was killed. that could because someone was making internet threats saying don't snitch. yesterday, police charged

christopher mulcher. he was released on $15,000 bond. and this sunday, bond. this sunday, mark your calendars, brought favre makes his long-awaited return to green bay. how will they honor him? after thousands of suggestions, here are the best they got. flip-flop day, they're going to wear flip-flops, and a mock funeral with the hearst. that tells me they're way too nice. one packer fan said it was like divorcing your wife and marrying his sister. nascar driver a.j. a al mendinger. they put him on probation, but led over at 1:30 a.m.,

said he had drinks at dinner. to his credit he's owning up and apologized. ocho cinco went on letterman tonight and here are the top ten revelations from said book. >> i was once put on the disabled list when they found as ocho in my sinko. i'm praying a touchdown celebration that involved pulling a dancing raccoon out of my pants. >> he would get so fined for that. >> i thought it was a reference to stupid pet tricks. >> no it's a reference to his outlandish celebrations whenever he scores. >> all right. thank you. getaway day friday. maybe you're flying somewhere for a special halloween. >> i hope so, but getting there in and out, especially around the great lakes, will be tough. rain coming in, you had it on

and on. houston showers, thunderstorms, more hour-loan days, and st. louis, same thing. more on that, robin, in the next half hour. michael jackson's new movie is out, maybe this weekend we'll see what mr. moviefone think being it.