good morning. why don't we do a time check. i want to make sure if you were supposed to change your clogs, you did. it is now 7:00. if you didn't change them, you're up an hour early. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. the lines for the h1n1 vaccine may ease soon as the drug companies step up production. today, there's new plan to ensure the vaccine is safe for you. a billion dollar ship built with steel from the world trade center, live pictures right now, is sailing toward new york city. look how many boats are alongside it. how first responders and families of the 9/11 victims are paying tribute. i just want to hang on that picture there. you can see the people on board.

so we'll be covering that story as they get closer to new york city. plus, you've heard kids cry planes before, sure. but a mom and her screaming toddler got booted off of their flight. we have your reaction. first, though, starting today, an independent health group will be watching how safe the h1n1 flu vaccine is. they're not expecting problems but they want to reassure people. there's been some worry because vaccines seem to be made so quickly and because there are reports of some people being paralyzed by different swine flu vaccine back in 1976. one pregnant woman with four kids says she is not taking the risk. >> it's side effects, potential down the line. you know, you put something new into your body. you know, people react very differently to different things they put into their body. you know, one person who may be fine, another person may not. >> right now, five drug companies are really cranking out the vaccine. 10 million more doses are expected by friday. so the supply may start meeting

the demand soon. that's a good thing. have you seen the lines? they've been terrible. >> i know how frustrating it is to stand in line for hours and maybe not get what you came for in the first place. that's infuriating. we really want to remind people, though, that there are some people who will likely get very ill and could potentially die. who are in much more priority situations, children's with underlying health conditions and pregnant women. we need them to get to the front of the line. >> now, so far there are no reports of any problems with the vaccine, other than some sore arms and fever. that is routine. it's going to be an emotional morning for the families of the 9/11 attack victims. i was going to tell you, look at these live pictures. they're coming in and out. in about an hour a navy ship built with steel from the world trade center will stop at ground zero. a ceremony for the "uss new

york" will include a 21-gun salute. it will dock for saturday's official commissioning. a suicide bomber blew up outside a bank while people were waiting for their paychecks today. police in pakistan say the explosion killed at least 35 people. it happened about 18 miles from the capital where secretary of state hillary clinton visited last week. the u.n. now says it's pulling out all its nonemergency workers from northwest pakistan. the coast guard says there's no hope of rescuing nine people who plunged into the pacific last week. their coast guard plane and a marine helicopter collided off southern california on thursday night. authorities gave up the search and rescue mission yesterday after 60 hours with no sign of survivors. >> we looked at the time that was involved, we looked at the nature of the collision itself. we exhaustedly searched the area where we would have found them

if there was anybody who could have survived it. you look at the cold water exposure models as far as the time goes. when you put all those pieces together, we no longer believe there's any chance that somebody could still be alive. >> sad to hear. the coast guard will have a memorial on friday. police are trying to identify six women, all found dead at a home in cleveland. the coroner says it appears they were strangled and their body may have been there for weeks, if not months or years. 50-year-old anthony sowell has lived at the home. after serving 15 years for rape. police spotted him walking in his neighborhood saturday and arrested him. >> sigh of relief. the street is now safe again. >> i'm glad he's off the street. >> we're just thankful that they got him. >> well, police found the bodies after they tried to serve a warrant on sowell as part of a different rape investigation. a woman says that sowell attacked her at his home november 22nd. police stopped by earlier that

day for a routine check on the registered sex offender. new this morning hamid karzai will remain the president of afghanistan. election officials just made the announcement after cancelling saturday's presidential runoff. car karzai's victory was pretty much assured because his only challenger quit yesterday. abdullah abdullah said he was worried it would be rigged. the u.n. wants $9 billion to fight the number one killer of children, pneumonia. it hopes to save 5 million kids by 2015. agencies want to vaccinate kids and work on economic development because pneumonia deaths are linked to malnutrition and poverty. one critic says trillions have been spent on economic change with little success. remember the story about a dude who got a dui in his motorized la-z-boy. now police are selling it on

ebay. >> five minutes later they call me, 20,000! i'm like, are you kidding me? >> yeah. bidding has actually passed $40,000. come on, get real. proceeds go to the police, state and prosecutor. the man who pleaded guilty is selling an autographed photo of himself sitting in it. there. >> that's the deal right there. that's what they're going for. >> both auctions end tomorrow. >> nice. if it comes with sirius satellite radio, maybe 40,000. >> 40,000, get real, nobody's playing that. >> throw in the floor mats, perhaps. what's up, rob? >> good morning. come standard with seat kugs. that's about it. >> nice, nice. it obviously has beer holders, too. light showers working through chicago right now. o'hare reporting light rain stretches in toward michigan. this cold front is a weak one. it doesn't have a lot of moisture to work with, unlike the last couple of cold ones.

really tapped into the moisture. that's woohy you've seen so muc rain. chicago in towards lower parts of wisconsin, it gets back in towards northern and central illinois. look how spotty the showers are. just widely scattered. that's the way it's going to be for the morning. more showers toward central nebraska, grand island. it's not that heavy yet there either, but if you open up the picture a bit, the xloudz aclou out there. everything moving to the east. it will head in towards detroit, lower parts of the ohio valley. you'll get light rain. we're watching for light rain off the coast of basically new york and pennsylvania. here's what it looks like around jersey. showers are out there. it's a low pressure center off the carolina coastline. the wind is coming in out of the east. you can see the scattered showers there at philadelphia through new york, laguardia right now you are reporting some light rain. you probably get a delay at the airport first part of the day. and that rain will move in towards lower parts of new england. it's not going to be heavy at all. in fact, it's going to be extremely light. pull the picture out just a touch farther and you can see

the frost advisory in place for most of tennessee. temperatures starting out on a cold note. mid to upper 30s nashville, low 30s outside of the big city. cold start in mid-atlantic to the midsouth. >> for the first time people are turning on the heat. one of the largest bank robberies in u.s. history has just been filed. that means the government and you collectively could lose billions. the other huge concern is what it might do to thousands of businesses. spectacular crash at talladega that takes your breath away. how can someone walk away from this? >> right on the hood of the 29 car.

salute the troops specialist shane story gets an enthusiastic shout out from his mom. he's in afghanistan but was home for a few days last month for the birth of his son parker.

>> good morning, afghanistan. it this salute goes out to my son. son, your family and friends miss you ton. i know they miss your money. we're proud of your sacrifice for the country. the pride we have for you timbers the sadness of your absence. everything squared away at home. i want to tell you, i think the georgia bulldogs are going to win it for you this year. love you, buddy. >> she got a lot of thoughts in there, didn't she? everything squared away at home. his faith football team. if you have somebody in the service you want to salute, cnn.com/robin. some commutes may be hours longer. san francisco's bay bridge is still closed. there's a live look this morning. "the san francisco chronicle" reports that some drivers face round-trip commutes of eight hours or more. crews are still working on repairs and safety tests. the bay bridge closed tuesday after 5,000 pounds of metal crashed into rush hour traffic.

we don't know when it's going to reopen. jury selection begins today for a man accused of killing a tv anchor in arkansas. curtis advance is karnlged with the 2000 murder of ann presley, found beaten in her bed and later died. his attorneys say police coerced him into giving a dna sample before his arrest. looking out for you, one person in new hampshire died after eating meat that may be contaminated with e. coli bacteria. now a company is recalling more than half a million pounds of ground beef. jennifer westhoven's here. this is kind of difficult because it's not just under one brand name here. >> yeah. you know, if you've got this in your freezer, a lot of times people put it away, forget about it. people have gotten sick in massachusetts, maine, connecticut, new hampshire. if you want to check about this,

if you live in the northeast, and you bought store brand ground beef at any of these grocery stores, b.j.s, trader joe's, there's a few more local stores, too, you can either take it back, just throw it out. just don't eat it. the code to look for est 492. if you don't have time to go ahead and grab a peb, check our website, cnn.com/robin and it's in the looking out for you section. be safe. cit has filed for bankruptcy. one of the biggest bankruptcies in u.s. history, headlines over the weekend. you may be thinking cit, i've never heard of them. this is a huge behind-the-scenes lender in our economy. they are the lender for more than a million small companies out there. trying to get through hard times right now. cit itself had borrowed more than $2 billion in your money, taxpayer money, so we may never see that again. but cit is hoping this won't be

the kind of bankruptcy where they get sold off. they're hoping to survive it and they say they're going to try to keep lending for a little while. monday, maybe you have a business trip coming or starting vacation today. bob's got the travel update. i hope the forecast for the game tonight -- >> yeah, so far so good. i'll tell you, getting low clouds, light rain being reported around the philadelphia metro area. i think they'll get the game in no matter what. new york city metros, looking at light rain around laguardia. it's being reported. in chicago, midway and o'hare, not. the rain is still up there across the lower parts of wisconsin, working through northern illinois. you get the delays first part of the day up there. new york city metro, philadelphia and including newark in there, too, half an hour to hour long delay because of low clouds and light showers hanging in there tough for most of the afternoon. detroit, chicago, low clouds and some light showers. mainly for the morning. 30 minutes to an hour delays. so far, no delays. good news there.

you may not want to listen to screaming kids on the plane but should it be enough to get kicked off the plane?

♪ time is sweet >> the democratic house plan for health care reform would mean whopping tax increases on the wealthy. we're talking about 5.5% for people making over 500 grand a year and couples making more than a million. starting in 2011. republicans say that will hurt small business owners. it doesn't look like the senate would approve those taxes either. a sheriff is not giving up on trying to charge inmates for rent, haircuts and medical visit. the massachusetts supreme court will hear an appeal today about it. he started a program in 2002 but a judge struck it down. the sheriffs the fees can teach inmates to accept responsibility and ease taxpayers' burden, but

inmates' attorneys say it's like any legal tax. southwest airlines has apologized for kicking a mom and her toddler off a flight. the crew booted them because of the boy's screams of go plane, go, and i want daddy, drowned out the preflight safety announcement. mom said she was confident the little boy would behave once the plane took off but they never got the chance -- look at the picture. southwest called her, offered her a refund and $300 travel voucher since this happened. >> looks like he was still screaming it, doesn't it? plane, go! we give you news and you give us views. should very have been kicked off or should southwest even have given them a refund and voucher? chris, they should have family flights that way uptight people don't have to listen to children. stephanie says, i believe there is a time and a place for screaming children.

if parents had better control it wouldn't be that tough. stacy says, distract the child, support the mom. keep them coming. go to cnn.com/robin and click on the facebook link. we'll read them all morning. i lieu the family flights. all the screaming kids together. >> when is there a time and a place for a screaming kid, that's what i want to know? >> actually, our senior producer says we've had a lot of suggestions about the family flights only. after getting hit by a fastball, alex rodriguez responded by hitting back. the latest on the world series. here's rafer. >> good morning. this guy's had a real sort of change of life events. he's in that whole steroid controversy and now he could end up being the world series mvp. kate hudson? >> kate hudson. >> very first pitch a-rod saw a 90-mile-an-hour fastball in his back, third time they hit him in two days. they weren't happy. the umps said, cool it, everybody. two outs ninth inning, score tied a-rod hits back. he knocked in the even actual

game-winning run and the yankees are one win away from winning it all. other news it was the return of the 40-year-old viking brett favre came back to green bay. how did they greet him? in case you can't hear, those are boos, lots of them. brett had the last laugh. he just destroyed the packers. passing for four touchdowns. if you know anybody from wisconsin, today they are probably very depressed. i'm not being glib. give them a call. it was probably very difficult for them to see this. this was great for everybody to see. a proud moment for america. member keflezighi was the first american to win the new york city marathon in 27 years. this guy's story a great one. his fame emigrated from a war-torn part of east africa. he's kissing the ground after he won. goes around with the american flag. 34 years old, a star at ucla, i u.s. citizen in 1998 after battling injuries, ran the best race of his life, 26 miles in 2

hours, 9 minutes. >> after he finished did he start crying a little bit? >> absolutely. emotional day. the wife and former girlfriend -- i'm sorry, a recent girlfriend of raiders' head coach tom cable claimed he used to beat them. both women say he has anger management issues. he acknowledged in a statement that he struck his wife with an open hand but said it was the only time it happened. his lawyer disputed the fairness of espn's report. nfl is still investigating allegations he hit an assistant coach. lastly on halloween night, this is crazy. a bat got into the at&t center. a bat. the spurs coyote tries to go after it wearing a batman shirt. more on that in a second. ginobi ginobili, watch what he does. swats it in midair, stuns the bat, tries to give it to somebody. later the team says the bat was stunned and flew away. that's a look at sports. there were a couple of big

crashes at talladega speedway. amazingly, the driver walked away. we'll have it for you. some veterans honor the men who saved their lives more than six decades ago. you'll hear about the stunning rescue of the so-called lost battalion. c

i am really nervous. >> eye met a lot of parents who have lost their children to regular seasonal flu. i'm so grateful if that didn't happen to us. >> that's a mom's whose son had a nasty bout with the flu as a baby. she wants him vaccinated for the swine flu. today an independent health group is watching how safe the h1n1 vaccine is. doctors are not expecting problems but they want to reassure people. secretary of state hillary clinton will meet with several arab foreign ministers today in an effort to restart the middle east peace talks. now, the talks will take place in morocco. palestinian leaders criticized her this weekend after she praised israel's offer to limit

but not stop jewish settlement construction. >> i want to thank to get closure to this because it's been over so many months but i do not know. >> the daughter of a missing woman says she's afraid her mother may be one of six women found dead at a home in cleveland. nancy cobbs lives in the same neighborhood but no one has seen her for six months. the man who lives at the home, convicted rapest anthony sowell, was arrested yesterday. those are just a few of the headlines. let's do a time check. 7:31. hope you're on time and you remembered to switch your clock. i'm robin meade. senator joe lieberman says he'll do anything he can to stop a health care bill that includes a public option. yesterday he argued that that kind of legislation will be worse than not getting a health care bill at all. a democratic proposal with a public option is expected on the senate floor soon. democrats need lieberman's support to avoid a republican

filibuster. he is an independent. >> it's fascinating and, frankly, troubling it has suddenly become a litmus test. if you're not for government health insurance company you're somehow not a good democrat. if you look at the election last year, the presidential election, the public option was never discussed. this was all about how do we control the increasing costs of health insurance and how do we make health insurance available to people who can't afford it now. those are our goals. >> but president obama's senior adviser says the public option would achieve those goals, plus, cut costs and expand coverage because it would bring competition to private insurers. new this morning, police arrest aid man accuseded of gunning down four people in a north carolina parking lot. investigators say they tracked down marcos gonzalez at a motel in virginia about 40 miles from the crime scene. they say that he shot and killed

four men yesterday outside a tv shop. police are not giving the details, but they do not think it was random. a horrific crash, i mean, crazy looking, at talladega speedway. here is rafer with the video. good morning. >> good morning to you, robin. every year there is a crash at talladega speedway. nascar drawing some criticism. they have inserted measures to try to reduce them but those measures, they say, are to blame, some drivers anyway. this guy here, ryan newman with five laps left, his car flips upside down. this is in slow motion. we're showing it to you. sputters along the track, hits the wall. but it's not done. i mean, he comes sliding down towards the grass in the center of the track. watch now as his car flips over a few more times. it took crews 13 minutes to get him out. they had to cut the roof off. he said it was like being stuck in a tomb and not being able to get out. fortunately for him, he would be

okay. but there was another big crash and a surprise winner. we'll have that video in about ten minutes. >> same track, same race and another big crash? >> uh-huh. >> just a few minute after that. >> glad he was able to walk away. new this morning, hamid karzai will remain the president of afghanistan. election officials said today that there will be no runoff this weekend after karzai's main challenger dropped out of the race yesterday. the u.s. is very concerned about what happens with the government there as president obama's trying to decide whether to send more troops. >> the president has said consistently is he is going through a very rigorous process before he puts our men and women in harm's way. he wants to make absolutely sure he has a strategy. this isn't just a matter of how many troops to send over. all of that is a very important component. we have to look at what's going on on the ground, what our allies are doing, the state of the government in afghanistan. >> well, allegations voter fraud in afghanistan have not helped either.

former afghan foreign minister abdullah abdullah quit the election. he says he can't trust the election process. here's a haircut you probably do not want -- well, maybe only for halloween. an arizona barber did his job dressed as edward scissorhands. he's been doing it for halloween for about ten years. despite the outfit, his hands are still nice and steady and the customers don't seem to mind. i like his way of thinking. you keep using the same costume year after year. i had to do that from like second to fourth grade because i didn't grow. >> really? >> yes. >> and you still have it. >> oh, bless you. >> i'm just kidding. >> hey, you saw some weird halloween outfits, didn't you? >> one of my favorite -- this was at a restaurant -- an adult dressed up as a table and a working lamp and he said he was a one-night stand. >> pretty clef. what's going on, everyone? this weather brought to you by

tile natural. feel better. if you are doing any travel today we have a couple areas of concern but not as bad as last week. two areas of low pressure. one off the coast, another one circulating with some clouds right over the northern part of the great lakes. you see the cold front justing down through chicago with rain at o'hare. midway, you're dry. the first area, around the carolina outer banks. here's your low. want clouds thrown back in towards north and central parts of south carolina. that's where you have most of the cloud cover. a little fog out there when you get in towards northern georgia. temperatures cooling down quickly but that should burn off quickly. the mid-atlantic and northeast, light rain showers reported outside of philadelphia, central jersey. all of the blue, most of that is hitting the ground. new york city metro and you're reporting rain at laguardia and newark but no rain at jfk. it's going to be like that, scattered light showers but enough to slow you down at the airport, especially this morning as the clouds continue to filter in off the atlantic. tennessee, frost advisories out there.

temps well below zero in some areas. the mountains in toward kentucky and ohio, too. 37 degrees currently in nashville. 39 in birmingham. 50 degrees in dallas. a different week this week than last week. i'll have the rain across the gulf coast. rain across chicago, on the light side but still out there for the morning. that's the cold front, zeros in toward detroit later today. light rain possible around cleveland. more coming in in half an hour. if you have a tax-free flexible spending accounts for doctors and dentist bills, the health care proposal could hit you hard.

♪ back to the street where we begin ♪ ♪ feeling as good as loves can ♪ >> i like them. dick cheney reportedly told the fbi, i don't recall when asked about how cia agent valerie plame was outed. the 2004 interviews included in some newly released documents. remember, plame's husband was critical of the bush administration. cheney's chief of staff, scooter libby, was convicted of lying about the leak. president bush computed his sentence. about 300,000 people converged on atlanta over the weekend for one of the largest gay pride festivals in the country. it's usually held in the summer but pushed back to halloween this year. plenty of people showed up in costume for the parade yesterday. the grand marshal was the atlanta police department's liaison for lesbian, gay, transsexual and transgender community. this just in. good news about the financial health of the only big u.s.

automaker that didn't get bailed out. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. so ford? >> yeah, we're talking about ford. their results just came in a few minutes ago. we were looking through the news release. they made about $1 billion in profit in the last three months. from the numbers teasing out, they say they also made money here at home, in north america. that's been very rare for any of the detroit companies. it was the first time ford did that in about four years. now, look, a lot of it probably has to do with the cash for clunkers program, right? that helped sales of the ford focus and ford escape but fords they think they'll be fine even without the program and they are predicting that ford will be solidly profitable in 2011. we'll watch. that would be good news, certainly, for detroit and the country. meanwhile, not all of detroit doing well. chrysler, another round of shrinking. it's buying out another 23,000 workers. chrysler says this week they'll

lay out a five-year plan to get back to profitability. they're out of bankruptcy but still in a lot of trouble there. so thousands of chrysler workers will have a big choice to make over the next week, sitting at the kitchen tables and bars, trying to decide, are they going to take a buyout and give up their job or keep the job and there's always still a risk that you could get laid off and miss out on all that money. that's a big deal. the white house, signaling, of course, it cares about the $1.4 trillion deficit is what they're trying to say but before they focus there, they want to try to get a heart beat in the economy. meaning, growth. >> unemployment is worse than almost anybody expected, but growth is back a little more quickly, a little stronger than people thought and growth is necessary. with growth jobs will come but growth has to come first. >> timothy geithner on nbc "meet the press." we've been following the home buyer credit, still happening in washington, robin. not law yet but we'll keep you

updated. >> thank you. you-e be ever been on a pla with a screaming child? it's no fun for the parents or the passengers. one airline is trying to make amends after booting a mom and toddler from a flight. we have your views on whether the screaming kid should be allowed on a plane.

all right. if you have a flex spending account for medical bills, you could be hit by the health care plan. congressional democrats want to cap those tax-free accounts at 2500 bucks a year. right now most companies cap them at 5,000 bucks. the cap would mean more than $13 billion in tax revenue. insurance companies, some unions and others say it's too hard on the mid-middle class. southwest airlines has apologized for kicking a mom and a toddler off of a flight. the crew booted him because the boy was screaming, go, plane, go! and, i want daddy! it drowned out the preflight safety announcement. the mom said she was confident the boy would behave when the

plane took off. here's his picture. but they never got the chance. southwest did call her now, offered her a refund and a $300 travel voucher. honey, we give the news, you let it rip with the views. should they have been kicked off? do you agree with southwest and say, hey, they shouldn't give them a refund? sara says i'm a mother of four kids and know for a fact that every child has a meltdown no matter how great a parent you think are you. chris says i fly twice a week for work and wish more airlines would remove children that won't behave. miguel says, noisy kid, kick him off. you're in a tube. sylvia says, toddlers are toddler, they make noise. how many people listen to the instructions anyway? these are from our facebook page. you want to go there, if you don't know how to get there, go to cnn.com/robin. there's the icon and right there you are. one of the most popular

responses that we're getting this morning is why doesn't someone come up with a family-only airline? kind of like disney cruises but for the air. >> you couldn't pay those flight attendants enough. i'm just saying. >> he's about to be a daddy. >> oh, no, that's going to be my kid, too, on the plane. i know it. brett favre return to green bay. this time playing for one of the packers' biggest rivals. >> yes, after almost 20 years in a green bay packer uniform, it was time to come back home. how would the fans react? like this. they're not -- they're saying boo. but there were a couple of people that did stand and cheer. but the 40-year-old viking had the last laugh. favre just shredded the green bay packer defense. ripped the hearts of packer fans out and sort of showed it to them. four tds.

afterwards he commented on the mixed reception. >> lots of packer fans there. i saw some purple. i saw a mixture of everything, cheers, a couple fingers. >> he means those number one foam fingers. it was sad to see. other nfl news, these guys were the biggest surprise in the nfl. the denver broncos had not lost a game until sunday when the ravens said, never more. webb runs this kickoff back for a score. good things don't last forever, i guess. for tunes change. just ask these guys. two of the worst teams in the nfl, the st. louis lambs -- rams, sorry, against the detroit kittens -- sorry, tigers -- lions. the rams lost 17 straight until this game. head coach get the water jug splash. come on. barely fool. when you're down and demoted, here's how you respond. ted ginn lost starting job as receiver so he pulls off a 100

yard return for a touchdown, length of the entire field. not once, but twice. first player ever to return two kicks 100 yards or more in one game in nfl history. >> is that teddy ginn from ohio state? >> yes. good girl! his dad koechs there. he did used to play there. more crashes at talladega, considered one of the most dangerous tracks in nascar. two laps left. 14 cars were taken out here. this is just a few minute after the one we showed you ten minutes ago. 50-year-old mark martin got the worst of it. this is his dash cam right here. >> oh, wow. >> yikes. he would be okay. jamie mcmurray was the surprise winner. mcmurray hadn't won in 86 races. jimmie johnson took sixth meaning he'll probably win his fourth straight sprint cup. that track is just crazy. and so is this. a bat crashed an nba game on halloween. you have to see how one player's quick remrections took care of the problem. robin? >> thank you. a bat in the nba game. our money expert clark

howard serves in the georgia state guard. this weekend you'll see him serving the troops. clark and i teamed up to help soldiers and you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. >> all getting ripped off. senior officer jeff torres, he's a candidate. you want to talk about investing in a certain plan. let's ask about that. >> since becoming parents in the past year my wife and i have been concerned with the forecast for higher education. what i've done for the first year is invested in my state's 529 plan. i was wondering what your thoughts are on 529 plans or other state or federal plans i might not know about. >> it's a state college savings plan. you can put money into it and all the money is tax free as long as the money is used for college. all the earnings are tax free. so it is the absolute best vehicle to save for college. and so you're doing the right thing. what state plan are you in?

>> virginia. actually, i made a conscious decision to remain a virginia resident almost exclusively for their education benefits. >> let me tell you something about virginia. virginia is one of the states that has multiple 529 plans. and there are good 529 plans in virginia and bad ones. so i have a guide on my website which is clarkhoward.com where you can do the hyperlink and make sure the virginia plan you're in is the good one, not one of the bad ones. >> watch "operation clark smart" this weekend at 6:00 a.m., noon and 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. rush limbaugh just took a major jab at president obama and other democrats. get this. he thinks that they may be trying to hurt the country on purpose? ♪ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

okay. let me wake you up this morning. it's 8:00 eastern. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. right into the stories here. if you have second thoughts about getting the swine flu vaccine, the government is doing something to try to convince you that it's safe. some steel from the former world trade center is right now making its way back to new york. these are moving live pictures here. this is a ship, and you'll literally see that steel all over it. the steel from the world trade center site. we're going to be following this. any moment now it should be very near ground zero. singer elton john is in the hospital, and some of his concerts have been canceled. you're going to hear what's

going on with him. first, though, some people have been worrying about how safe the h1n1 flu vaccine is. starting today, an independent health group will watch how it's working. they're not expecting any problems, but they want to reassure people and dispel any fears. but one pregnant woman with four kids says she is not taking the risk. >> its side effects, its potential down the line. putting something new into your body. if people react very differently to different things they put into their body, one person it may be fine for. another person it may not. >> right now five drug companies are really cranking out the vaccine. 10 million more doses are expected by friday. so the supply may start meeting the demand, soon, in other words. that's a good thing. have you seen the lines to get these shots? the back-ups have been terrible? >> i think you can't protect yourself from everything out there. i think to a certain degree it protects you from the worst of the worst.

>> so far there are no reports of any problems with the vaccine other than some sore arms and fever and that is routine. let me show you a live picture because right now a navy ship built from the steel from the world trade center is nearing ground zero. this is the "uss new york." you're looking at live pictures this morning. i don't know. would that be on the hudson right now? many first responders and families of 9/11 victims are going to be at the world trade center site to witness it. so we're waiting for a ceremony. it's going to include a 21-gun salute. what a breathtaking picture for people who lost loved ones. the ship will dock later today to prepare for saturday's official commissioning. i wanted to show you that live picture. as it gets closer, we get closer shots, we'll keep going back to that. new this morning, a suicide bomber blew up outside a bank while people were waiting for their paychecks today. police in pakistan say the explosion killed at least 35

people. it happened about 18 miles from the capital. secretary of state hillary clinton visited last week. the u.n. now says it is pulling out all its nonemergency workers from northwest pakistan. police are trying to identify six women all found dead at a home in cleveland. the coroner says it appears that they were strangled and their bodies may have been there for weeks if not months or years. 50-year-old anthony sowell has lived at the home since 2005 after serving 15 years for rape. police spotted him walking in the neighborhood saturday and arrested him. >> a sigh of relief. i said, the street is now safe again. >> i'm glad he's off the street. >> we're just thankful that they got him. >> police found the bodies after they tried to serve a warrant on sowell as part of a different rape investigation. a woman says that sowell attacked her at his home september 22nd. police had stopped by earlier that day for a check on the registered sex offender. new this morning, hamid

karzai will keep his presidency in afghanistan. it was officially announced this morning. it comes less than a week before a runoff election was supposed to happen. election officials canceled that after karzai's challenger bowed out sunday, saying the whole process was corrupt. new this morning, police arrested a man accused of gunning down four people in a north carolina parking lot. investigators say they tracked down marcos gonzalez at a motel in virginia about 40 miles from the scene. they say he shot and killed four men yesterday outside a tv shop. police are not giving details, but they do not think that it was random. some morning commutes may be hours longer. san francisco's bay bridge is still closed. the san francisco chronicle reports that some drivers face round-trip commutes of eight hours or more. this is a live picture. i see no lights there. you know, nobody moving across the bridge. crews are still working on the repair and safety tests. the bay bridge closed tuesday

after 5,000 pounds of metal crashed into rush hour traffic. we don't know yet when it's going to reopen. you know, do we have the picture of the "uss new york"? i wanted to show you that. we can talk about the weather there. >> that's awesome. >> it's got to be so moving as they're unfurling another flag and hoisting that as well. they're going to be getting near ground zero. there is a special ceremony expected there. a 21-gun salute. i just wanted to point that out before weather because i wanted to know what the weather's going to be like for that. >> a little breezy. you can see that. also light showers in and out of the harbor right now. you can see laguardia has the report of light rain. jfk is dry. new york light rain, too. scattered showers off and on. temperatures in the low 50s. typical november-type weather for you. look at that shot. that is just awesome. >> it's moving. this is a ship that a large part of it was built from steel from the world trade center. >> i love it. they recycled it, put it where it counts.

i love it. >> from something ugly to something very powerful like that. >> let me show you what's going on. if you are traveling out today, low clouds, rain around the great lakes, too. a weak cold front but enough to generate light scattered showers around chicago, back on in towards the border and state line with wisconsin. most of the heavy stuff right across lake michigan. the cold front itself is basically draped over chicago. it does extends back to the west a little farther. it doesn't have a lot of moisture to work with. basically low clouds and light rain. not even huge temperature drop behind this thing. here's what it look like in central illinois. light showers around bloomington. back to the west, the cold front a little more active. it goes across central nebraska, south of kearney a nice little pocket of rain. that's drifting down to the southeast as well. i don't participate severe weather today due to thunderstorms at all but we are going to see travel delays because of the clouds around the northeast. here's your low pressure center right off the coast of carolinas. look at the clouds bleeding in behind it. patchy low level fog, too,

around central south carolina, back in towards atlanta, georgia. we have a ground stop at the airport because of the low clouds. that burns off later today. zero in towards the philadelphia radar. scattered showers all the way around. see off the atlantic there's the jersey shore, there's long island, there's new york city. light showers off and on. philadelphia light rain this morning. the game is going to be just fine. what are we, game six comes up here? game five. yankees didn't quite sweep it but they may get close. here's what it looks like down in d.c. looking at a decent one for you. lots of low level cloudinesclou. showers have been towards your east and the heavy rain not there today. this evening, again, the game's at about 8:00 or so. i think they'll be just fine with the phillies against the yanks. hope for a good one. one of the largest bankruptcies in u.s. history has just been filed. now, it means that the government and you collectively could lose billions. now, the other huge concern is what it might do to thousands of businesses. diplomats are reviewing what

they saw while visiting three american hikers held in an iranian jail.

it is time for our salute to the troops. specialist shane story gets a very enthusiastic shout out from his mom. shane's in afghanistan. he was home for a few days last month for the birth of his son, parker. this is dana. >> good morning, afghanistan! this salute goes out to my son, specialist shane story. son, your family and friends miss you tons. i know that the beer industry misses your money. we're so proud of your service and sacrifice for our country. the pride that we have for you tempers the sadness of your absence. i want you to know everything is squared away here at home and i just wanted to tell you i think that the georgia bulldogs are going to win it for you this year. love you, buddy. >> she got a whole lot of thoughts in there. thanks. if you have somebody you love in the service go to cnn.com/robin. three american hikers who've

been jailed in iran for three months are reportedly in good health. swiss diplomats visited them for a second time last week. and they brought clothes, books and paper. a senior state department official says that they seemed nervous and afraid but otherwise okay. family members say that they want to hear from their loved ones directly. >> it's overwhelmingly obvious to all of us that they're certainly harmless. if they're guilty of anything, it's just crossing the border unknowingly. and we would certainly appeal to the islamic republic of iran to not treat this case as a political case in any way. this is purely a humanitarian case. and please release them. >> the families recently released a video of the group goofing around during their trip. a fourth friend who shot it stayed in iraq the day they were arrested because they didn't feel well. they say the video shows how harmless the hikers are. one person in new hampshire has died after eati ining meat

may be contaminated with e. coli bacteria. a company is recalling more than half a million pounds of ground beef. the info you need to know right now from jennifer westhoven. looking out for you. >> this is something that could be really dangerous. in your fridge. it's not easy to spot. so pay attention if you can. a health official says people have gotten sick in massachusetts, maine, connecticut, new hampshire, all in the northeast. so you want to check if you're in the northeast and you bought store brand ground beef. that's why it's hard to find. at any of these stores. acme, bj's, trader shows. a few more. if you have the meet take it back or throw it out. the code on the package, est 492. if you can't memorize that or right it down, check our website. cnn.com/robin. click on looking out for you. something to be real careful of because it may be contaminated with the e. coli bacteria.

a big bankruptcy to tell you about this morning. cit. one of the biggest bankruptcies in u.s. history. you may be thinking, what is cit? they're really a very huge behind the scenes lender. think of them as like a bank for more than a million small and medium-sized companies who depend on cit to keep their lending smooth and flowing. cit, by the way, had borrowed more than $2 billion of your money, taxpayer money, bailout money. we may never see that again. it does hope to try and keep lending to survive this bankruptcy. just a quick one, stocks this morn wk we'll be watching them very closely later on after a wild end to the week last week. thursday a huge rally, about 200 points. then friday, plummeted about 250 for the dow jones industrial average. so we're well below the 10,000 mark now. well, 9,700. the big deal this week is going to be the latest numbers on the job market. the big ones that come out on

friday. the monthly employment report. unfortunately, this could be the time that we see 10% for the first time. >> i know. it comes after a week where we saw the gdp, right, go up a little bit? you're just so hoping the jobs will follow. >> it just feels disconnected. the economy is growing, but unemployment's at 10%? >> all right. thanks. this is any parent's travel nightmare. your kid starts screaming on the plane and won't be quiet. this actually got one mom and her toddler booted from a flight.

a live picture so moving right now. the navy ship, the "uss new york" built with steel from the world trade center. right now it is nearing ground zero this morning. look at the escort that it's getting, how many smaller boats wanted to be a part of this and are kind of leading the way around it. many of the first responders from 9/11 and the families of the victims are at ground zero waiting to see this. we're waiting for a ceremony. it's going to include a 21-gun salute. the ship's going to dock later on today to prepare for saturday's official commissioning. it's going to be an emotional moment. because the ship is sailing toward the city for which it was named and toward the place where

so many hearts were broken and lives were changed forever. and it is made from steel from that site. southwest airlines has apologized for kicking a mom and her toddler off a flight. the crew booted them because the boy's screams of go, plane, go, and i want daddy, drowned out the preflight safety announcement. such a nightmare. mom said she was confident he would have behaved on the plane once it took off, but she never got the chance. southwest called her now. it's offered her a refund and $300 travel voucher. but you tell me. because we give you the news, and you give us your views. should they have been kicked off in the first place, or do you agree with southwest and should southwest have even offered a refund and voucher? anna says if i had been on that flight i would have kicked the boy off myself. it could just be me but i want to hear where all my emergency exits are. angela says unless there is a safety issue, they should mind their own business. samantha says, i think they

should offer adult-only flights. patrick says, sometimes you can't control children. but it doesn't mean you can't try. so keep them coming. go to cnn.com/robin. click on the facebook link. we're going to read those all morning. bob says he's the noisy family. >> i know that's going to be mine, too. >> i love people telling me how to parent my kid, too. that's the best. makes me so happy. >> that's me. >> just a few months ago, a-rod was at the center of a doping controversy. now he's on the brink of leading the yankees to the world series championship. >> good morning, robin. yes. he turned into david banner from the incredible hulk. >> wow wouldn't want to make me mad. >> exactly. because they did. they definitely made a-rod -- the fillies hit him with several pitches. he was terrible the first two games. then they hit him with a pitch and got him mad. the first pitch he saw sunday. a 90 mile an hour fast ball in the back. it was the third time they hit him in two days.

he's not liking that. ump says everybody settle. you settle. everybody relax. two outs in the ninth. score was tied. a-rod hit back. this was an rbi double that hit in the eventual game winning run. the yankees are a win away from winning it all. speaking of new york, a proud moment for america. meb keflezighi became the first american to win in 27 years. kissed the ground and even broke down and cried. this guy's family em brigrated m a war torn part of east africa. a star at ucla and a silver medalist in the 2004 olympics. ran his best race. 27 miles in two hours, nine minutes. on halloween night, a bat got into the at&t center in this first kings game. a bat flying around. how does that happen?

check out the coyote with a net wearing a batman shirt. coincidence? swat the bat, stun it and pick it up. >> he could have been bitten. >> he picks it up and wants to give it to somebody. here, will you take this? i don't want that. later the team said the bat was just stunned and they set it free. >> so it lived? >> that's what the team is saying. that's a look at sports. >> all right. thank you. all right. bob, what's your opinion about the person being kicked off of the plane? >> i think people should mind their own business. you want my personal advice, mind your own business. seriously. are you going to listen to it? this is how you click your seat belt. everybody knows. look around where the exits are. >> you're the person with children. >> i'm the minority. i understand this. >> i'm the person who doesn't have children. i just want to sleep! >> shut up, kid. >> say it to my kid. tell her to shut up. no ground stoppage here yet. atlanta, the low clouds are there. you're going to listen to the kids screaming a little bit

longer. ground stop until 8:30, detroit, chicago, new york philly, a get a little hot when people yet at my kids. more morning express in just a bit.

i am really nervous. i've met a lot of parents who've lost their children to just regular seasonal flu. i'm so grateful that that didn't happen to us. >> that is a mom whose son had a nasty bout with the flu as a baby. now she wants him vaccinated for the swine flu. starting today, the independent health group is watching how safe the h1n1 flu vaccine is. but doctors are not expecting problems. they want to reassure you. we just learned this morning hamid karzai will remain the president of afghanistan. election officials made the election after cancelling saturday's presidential runoff. karzai's victory was pretty much

assured because his only real challenger quit the race yesterday. former foreign minister abdullah abdullah says that he was concerned the vote would be rigged. secretary of state hillary clinton will meet with several arab foreign ministers today in an effort to restart the middle east peace talks. the talks will take place in morocco. all right. time for you to rise and shine. it's 8:31 eastern. i'm robin meade. welcome. a defiant republican is supporting a former democratic rival after she dropped out of an election race. new york assemblywoman dierdre sko scozzafava dropped out on sunday. scozzafava supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

some say conservatives criticized her for her moderate views. >> it's rather telling when the republican party forces out a moderate republican, and it says, i think, a great deal about where the republican party leadership is right now. i think it's becoming more and more extreme and more and more marginalized. >> the republican party needs to learn something. if it goes country club blue blood moderate, it's going to lose. if it goes reagan conservative and commits to it, it's going to win landslides. >> the special election is tomorrow. big name republicans like former alaska governor sarah palin supported the conservative candidate, doug hoffman. the coast guard says that there is no hope of rescuing nine people who plunged in the pacific ocean last week. their coast guard plane and marine helicopter collided off of southern california on thursday night. authorities gave up the search and rescue mission yesterday after 60 hours with no signs of survivors. >> we looked at the time that was involved. we looked at the nature of the

collision itself. we exhaustively searched the area where we would have found them if there was anybody that had survived it. you look at the cold water exposure models, as far as the time goes. when you put all those pieces together, we no longer believe that there's any chance somebody could still be alive. >> sad to hear. the coast guard will have a memorial for the victims on friday. a horrific crash. did you see this at talladega? of course it was at talladega. rafer, this is one of the fastest tracks, right? >> that's right. every year there's a big trash at talladega speedway. here it is. one of two big crashes. ryan knewmnewman. here it is in slow motion. get a look at this. his car is upside down and airborne, then slides along the track, hits the wall, and it's not even close to being over from here.

you can see the sparks flying as the car slides down towards the grass in the center of the track. the car then flipped over a few times. it took crews 13 minutes to get newman out of the car. they had to cut off the roof. he said it was like being stuck in a tomb and not being able to get out. no nascar's credit, amazingly, he was okay. that's a real testament to how safe the cars are. there was another big crash and surprise winner. we're going to have that for you in ten minutes. >> i'm so glad he was able to walk away. a sheriff is not giving up trying to charge inmates for rent, haircuts and medical visits. the massachusetts supreme court will hear an appeal about this. he started a program in 2002. a judge struck it down. the sheriff says fees can teach the inmates to accept responsibility and ease taxpayers' burden. the inmates attorneys say it's like an illegal tax. emergency officials in louisiana are telling people in the bossier city to evacuate.

water is spilling over the top of the levy and a breach could happen. water started spilling from a nearby bayou on saturday. homes are already flooded. >> it's an amazing amount of rain, rob. what song is this? >> it's from the dixie chicks. i'm just the human jukebox machine over here. >> it's funny. not my cup of tea. but people love that stuff. let's throw it in there. >> good morning. >> you talk about that rain in louisiana, shreveport just in the month of october alone had over 20 inches of rain. it's been prolific down there. good news here, over the next five to six days, drying out for the gulf coast. no rain in the forecast. not true when you get towards the jersey coast, in towards philly, up towards new york city. all the blue, that's the radar picture picking up a little bit of rain ahead of a bigger low down to the south. i want to show you this map.

pretty interesting what's going on this week as opposed to last week. we have a couple storms we're watching. a cold front towards chicago and the cold front off the coast of the carolinas. the baseball game tonight, world series game, should be okay. you might see the low clouds, maybe a sprinkle or two. they will get the game in. then we focus in on that cold front headed through the midwest. i'll show you what it looks like under those clouds. the rain is not that heavy. not connecting up with the gulf. you don't have the gulf moisture, but the rain is around towards o'hare and midway and now it's sliding in towards central michigan. light rainfall towards southern michigan, in towards detroit later today. travel problems might be out there at the airport. they shouldn't be much more than an hour. down to the south a little farther, broken showers in illinois. rain picks up better across southern nebraska in towards the northern areas when you get in towards kansas later today. then you can see the cloud cover again across the east coast not

looking that bad. full details in a bit. good day to travel with the exception of new york, philly, chicago and detroit. major cities, but at least short delays out of that. some news this morning that you might not expect. we're going to break down the financial health of the only u.s. car maker that didn't get bailed out. it's good news. also, if you have one of those tax free flexible spending accounts for doctor and dentist bills, the health care proposal could hit you hard.

♪ michael jackson's "this is it" thrilled audiences enough to make it number one at the box office this weekend. it made more than $21 million

for its national debut and more than $100 million worldwide. the runner-up is "paranormal activity." it dropped from last week top spot. still it made $16.5 million. which i don't think it even took to make it. all right. take a look at a bus that flipped over while take a marching band from atlanta's morehouse college to a football game. the bus skidded and roll over a couple of times before coming to rest on its side. more than a dozen members of the band were injured but none of the injuries is considered to be life threatened. here's a haircut you probably only want on halloween. an arizona barber did his job dressed up as edward sis scisso hands. the customers don't seem to mind. new this morning, some good news about the financial health of the only big u.s. automaker that did not take the bailout. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here with more on

that. good morning. >> this is certainly i think good news for ford just in general that we hear that a major company from detroit, one of the automakers is doing a lot better. ford motor baking about $1 billion in profits in the latest quarter. looks just inside their numbers, too, they even made money here at home in north america. that is rare. that's for the first time in about four years. obviously, part of that is because of the cash for clunkers program. that particularly helped the ford escape, ford focus. the company says, though, even without the cash for clunkers, since it's over now, they say that by 2011 they will be solidly profitable around then. we'll watch. a lot of people would be happy to see that. travel trends. this is worth it if you're pouring your himilk in your cofe or something. take a look at this video. the biggest cruiseship in the world. it's 20 stories. it's going under a bridge right now, robin. they have less than two feet of

clearance. >> where is this thing in operation? >> this is -- right now there are all these people waving good-bye to it. that is denmark. but it was on its way from the shipyard in finland where it was built. >> is it just me or does it seem like it goes on forever? >> it does. it's going to port everglades, florida. that is its new home. it's five times as big as the titanic. they said they divide it into neighborhoods, it's so big. one of them's calmed central park. it's a royal caribbean ship. they ordered it up -- there's central park -- before the recession started. that doesn't look like central park. that part kind of does, though. >> wow. >> i mean, of course, these days you can get pretty great deals on cruise ships. we'll see if there's a lot of demand for this. they also say it's the greenest cruise ship out there. a lot of criticism on that front for the cruise industry. they say it will not dump sewage into the sea and it runs on 25% less power than smaller, similar ships. but, yeah. >> i love the cruising.

>> it's a monster. >> you ever been on one of those? >> no. >> you just get on board and you don't have to worry about anything else. just get yourself to the ship. all right. thank you. you ever been on a plane with a screaming child? it is no fun for parents, no fun for the other passengers, okay? an airline is trying to make amends after booting a mom and toddler from the flight. we have your views on whether screaming kids should be allowed on a plane.

a new navy ship built with steel from the world trade center is in new york city right now. the "uss new york" was near ground zero where many first responders and families of 9/11 victims held a ceremony not long ago. it include add 21-gun salute. the congressional budget office has a new estimate for how many people might end up using the health care public option. 2%. the estimate suggests that a government-funded coverage plan would not be the big competitor that opponents worry about. but insurance companies are not

buying it. an industry spokesperson says that hospitals and medical providers could get hurt and the public option is is still a dividing line between the democrats and republicans, for sure. >> i think both the house and the senate are going to move forward on bills that likely will have a public option. the president believes a public option is valuable to create competition within the insurance industry. >> what this is going to do is bankrupt america. it's going to cause millions of americans their jobs. and cut benefits for seniors. this is not what the american people want. we want a more gradual approach to fixing our current system. >> right now it's not clear whether there are enough votes in the senate to pass a public option. southwest airlines had apologized for kicking a mom and her toddler off of a flight. the crew booted them because the boy's screams of go, plane, go,

and i want daddy drowned out the preflight safety announcement. the mom says she was confident he would have behaved once the plane took off. he never got the chance. here is the little guy. he looks rambunctious. bryant says, i think removing the child was the correct decision. but don't mess with cindy. cindy says kids will be kids. maybe the airlines should install a soundproof time outbooth for temporary relief. lona says i am sick and tired of being forced to endure unruly planes. get them off the planes and then get them out of the restaurants. all right. keep them coming. >> not a mother, obviously. >> go to cnn.com/robin. click on the facebook link. we're going to read your opinion no matter what it is all morning long. >> i've just been informed that i was not nice. maybe she was a mother. i'm sorry. >> she could be a mom whose kids

are, like -- >> really well behaved. >> angels in public. >> that's possible. >> that's what we were. we were angels in public. then at home i'd just tear the house apart. brett favre made his much anticipated return to green bay in another uniform, though. here's rafer. >> oh, gosh. i'm not even a packer fan and it hurt me to see this. after almost 20 years, brett favre was wearing a packer uniform -- for almost 20 years he wore a packer uniform. the 40-year-old viking came back. they were so thrilled to see him. listen. >> boo! >> okay. this just in. those were boos. they were not thrilled. okay. there were a couple of cheers. people were cheering for breet breath. he was, after all, there for a long time. you couldn't hear the cheers very much. favre said he was not looking for revenge against his former team, but he got it. four touchdowns he threw. afterwards he commented on the reception. >> all the packer fans were there. i mean, there was some purple.

and i saw just a mixture of everything. cheers, a couple fingers. >> he means the foam number one fingers. speaking of not being number one, two of the worst teams in the nfl, we actually dubbed this the toilet bowl. the st. louis rams going against the detroit kittens -- i mean lions. rams had lost 17 straight until they beat detroit. they reward the coach with a gatorade sprinkle. that's why the victory shower must go away. when you're down and demoted, here's how you spin. miami's ted ginn jr. lost his starting job at receiver so he pulls off the most exciting play in football not once, but twice. a 100-yard return for the a touchdown. the full length of the field. then deja vu all over again. he is the first player ever to return two kicks 100 yards or more in one game in nfl history. >> does he get his starting receiver job back?

>> you would think. more crashes at talladega. two laps left. take a look at this. 14 cars get taken out. this was just a few minutes after the other one we showed you about ten minutes ago. 50-year-old mark martin got the worst of martin got the worst o. how scary would that be? jamey mcmurray was the surprise winner. he hadn't won in 86 races. jimmie johnson took 6th. and a bat, that's right, a bat, crashed an nba game on halloween. you've got to see how one player's quick reflexes fixed the problem. investigators say they found the body of a missing 4-year-old boy in a drier. they discovered it in his neighbor's home saturday and arrested a 14-year-old boy who lives there, the sheriff says he'll be charged with murder.

>> you don't know who's actually your neighbors. so now, it's like you're afraid to let your children out in the streets because you can't trust nobody. >> neighbors also say the suspect's mom was baby sitting the victim. dick cheney repeatedly told the fbi i don't recall when asked about how valerie plame was outed. the 2004 interview was included in some recent documents. cheney's chief of staff was convicted of lying about the leak. a leaking oil rig is on fire. the fire started yesterday when workers tried to plug a leak by pumping mud into a hole. it started about ten weeks ago in australia. >> we've already seen 25,000 barrels of oil spewed into the ocean and we're worried that

this fire will add to the toxic cocktail. >> indonesia says thousands of dead fish have drifted into their area. police took a motorized la-z-boy from a man and now, you can get it.

good morning. how are you doing today? i'm robin meade. welcome. morning, sunshine. jumping right into the stories this monday. millions more flu vaccines are on the way. today, there's a new plan to ensure that the vaccine is safe. a new navy ship built with steel from the world trade center is in new york city this morning. how the first responders and families of 9/11 victims paid tribute. plus, flying with young kids can be a real challenge, but a mom and her screaming toddler actually got kicked off their flight.

a ship built from the steel of the world trade center is in new york city. the "uss new york" was there this morning where victims' families held a ceremony. the ship is going to dock later today to prepare for saturday's official commissioning. some people have been worrying about how safe the h1n1 flu vaccine is. starting today, a health group is going to watch how it's working. they don't expect problems. one pregnant woman says she's not taking the risk. >> it's side effects, it's potential down the line. something you into your body and people react very differently to things. one person who may be fine, for another person, it may not. >> right now, five drug companies are really cranking out the vaccine.

ten more doses are expected friday. the supply may start meet tg demands soon. have you seen the lines? >> i think you can't protect yourself from everything out there, but it protects you from the worst of the worst. >> so far, no reports of problems from the vaccine other than sore arms and fever. police are trying to identify six women found dead at a home in cleveland. the coroner says it appears they were strangled and they may have been there for years, weeks, months or years. anthony sowell lived at the home since 2005 after serving 15 years for rape. police spotted him saturday and arrested him. >> a sigh of relief. i've said the street is now safe again. >> i'm glad he's off the street. >> we're just thankful that they got him. >> police found the bodies after they tried to serve a warrant on sowell as part of a different

rape investigation. a woman says he attacked her at her home on september 22nd. police stopped by earlier that day for a ree teen check. president obama has congratlationed president karzai. it was announced this morning and comes less than a week before a runoff election was supposed to happen. the election has been canceled after the challenger has bowed out. the u.n. wants $39 billion to fight the number one killer of children. pneumonia. it hopes to save more than 5 million kids by the year 2015. the agencies want to vaccinate kids because these deaths are linked to malnutrition and poverty. a u.s. man won the new york city marathon for the first time in 27 years.

rafer has more. >> very proud moment for this man and a proud moment for this country. meb keflezighi -- not a proud moment for me, meb keflezighi and his family immigrated to the united states when he was 12 years old from africa. 34 years old, became a u.s. citizen in 1998. this guy was a star at ucla. he won the silver in 2004 for america, but this was his best rice, running the 26 miles as he proudly displayed the american flag. >> and look, the worse for wear. looks like he still has energy. >> amazing. >> thank you. new this morning, san francisco's bay bridge may reopen later today. a california state transportation spokesperson says

the final inspections on repairs are underway. now, it is closed though for the morning commute. it's rush hour, or nearing rush hour. well, okay, maybe it's not. it's nearing 6:00 a.m. eastern there. the "san francisco chronicle" reports that some drivers have faced eight hours or more round trip. the bridge closed tuesday after 5,000 pounds of metal crashed into traffic. why don't we start with the weather right there because that's where bob's starting. >> you saw that live shot. eight hour commute though. >> can you imagine? >> four hours, round trip. >> still feel terrible for you. the weather is going to be nice. trying to get in or out of sfo, no weather delays. to your north, there is a cold front. you can see clouds around puget sound and portland. light rain a possibility in vancouver and canada, then

dropping to seattle. then getting away from there, things are looking okay. most of the western seaboard looks good. high pressure dominating across lower parts of arizona and nevada as well. we have one area of low pressure, it's a weak one, enough to get showers going for areas like chicago and later today, areas like new york and philadelphia. what about the world series tonight? philadelphia? looks pretty good. got the low clouds all morning, but i don't think it's going to be a washout. the only game to watch, 90-minute delay, not going to happen today. full details coming up in about an hour. politics makes strange bedfellows. why a defiant republican is now supporting a former democratic rival. plus, elton john in the hospital and he's fighting two illnesses.

specialist shane story gets a shoutout from his mama. he's in afghanistan and was home for a few days last month for the birth of his son. this is dana. >> good morning, afghanistan. this salute goes out to my son, specialist shane story. son, your family and friends miss you tons and i know that the beer industry misses your money. we're so proud of your service for our country. the pride we have for you tempers your absence. everything is squared away here at home and i think that the georgia bulldogs are going to win it for you this year. love you, buddy. >> if you have somebody you want to salute, i just love that message today, go to our website. new this morning, police arrested a man accused of gunning down four people in a parking lot in north carolina. investigators say they tracked him down at a me tell in

virginia. he shot and killed four men yesterday outside a tv shop. a defiant republican is supporting a former democratic rival as dropping out of an election race. she abruptly suspended her campaign saturday and then endorsed democrat, bill owens, not the conservative they favor. she supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage. some say that conservatives criticized her for her moderate views. >> telling the republican party forces out a moderate republican and says a great deal about where the republican party leadership is right now. i think it's becoming more and more extreme. >> the republican party needs to learn something. if it goes country club blue blood moderate, it's going to lose. if it goes reagan conservative and commits, it's going to win landslides. >> the special election is

tomorrow. keep going, guys. big name republicans like sarah palin are supporting the conservative candidate doug hoffman. one person in new hampshire died after eating meat that may have been contaminated with e coaly. it's not like you can just like for one name however. >> yeah. because you won't see that company's name on the packaging. this is store brand meat, so you've got to be careful. you might have this and wouldn't even know it i. especially, if you live in the northeast and you bought any store brand ground beef and any of these stores. that should tip you off a bit. you really should go and check the meat. health officials say people have gotten sick in massachusetts, maine, connecticut, new

hampshire. what to look for, there's the code -- maybe you're driving right now or just can't write it down, you can check the website later on and it's under the looking out for you. you have to scroll down a bit. cit has filed for bankruptcy. it's win of the biggest in u.s. history. don't worry if you've never heard of cit. they're kind of a behind the scenes lender. they lend to more than a million small companies and are very important to the backbone of those small companies. cit though had borrowed more than $2 billion of your money to try and stay alive. well in bankruptcy, that means we may never see that money again. they hope to keep lending and hope to survive the bankruptcy. remember, bankruptcy is late l bit like financial life support,

so it's still there and operating, but in a lot, very serious trouble. we'll be watching the stock market later this morning. the bell rings in 15 minutes. after the wild ride last week, on thursday, a huge rally, on friday, a huge drop. either way, the big day is going to be friday morning when we get the big unemployment report. it's monday morning, maybe you're getting ready for a business trip or vacation. how's it looking? >> so far, so good. just a few clouds across the eastern seaboard, but the ground stop in atlanta is over. we had low level cloudyness, so far, just broken cloud cover. what about the rest of the region? we are looking at rain across the great lakes. that's lake michigan, that is illinois, wisconsin. there's o'hare and midway. so far, no delays out of that. here's what we have the rest of the afternoon.

going for the low clouds around philadelphia and new york city metros for most of the day. world series game ought to get in without a problem. 30 minute to one hour delays in detroit and chicago. full details in about a half an hour. you may not want to listen to screaming kids on a plane, but should that be enough to get them kicked off the flight?

new this morning, a suicide bomber blew up outside a bank today. police in pakistan say the explosion killed at least 35

people. it happened about 18 miles from the capital where the secretary of state, hillary clinton, visits last week. the u.n. says it's pulling out all non-emergency workers from northwest parks. the budget office has a -- for how many people might use the option. 2%. the u.s. said the plan would not be the big cop pet tor that opponents worry about, but insurance companies are not buying it and the public option is still a dividing line. >> i think both the house and senate are going to move forward on bills that likely will have a public option. the president believes it is valuable to create competition. >> what this is going to do is bankrupt america. it's going to cost millions of americans their jobs. and cut benefits for seniors. this is not what the american people want. they want a more gradual

approach to fixing our current system. >> right now, it's not clear whether there are enough votes to pass a public option. southwest airlines has apologized for kicking a mom and her toddler off a flight. the boy was screaming things like go, plane go, and i want daddy, it drowned out the preflight safety announcement. the mom was confidence the child would calm down. but they never got the chance. southwest has called her and offered her a refund and $300 travel voucher. man, have you given us the views today. should they have been kicked off? just southwest not have even offered a refund? richard says -- anissa says --

phillip says -- but kandi says -- we have a lot of people weighing in. juan -- all right. i think we've hit a nerve here. keep them coming. there's a link to our facebook page. >> i've been known to scream, go plane, go when it's been sitting on the tarmac. >> and you've had a couple of cocktails. after getting hit by a fastball, alex rodriguez responded by getting angry and hitting back. >> yes. t they need to be thanking kate

hudson because this guy has done a complete about face. he was at the center of a steroid controversy and is now about to become the world series' most valuable player. 90 mile-an-hour fastball in the back. the ump sent this message. cool it. here was a-rod's message in the ninth inning. they were tied with two outs and he knocked in the game-winning run. they are one win away from winning the whole thing. and it was the return of brett favre going back to green bay. listen to their response. oh, you can barely here. that went on for a loong time. the 40-year-old viking showered with boos. passing for four touchdowns, if you know anybody from wisconsin, they are probably really depressed today, maybe give them a call, a hug.

it was very tough for them to watch this. the former wife and recent girlfriend of raider's coach claimed he used to beat them. in an interview, they say cable has issues. he did strike his wife with an open hand, his lawyer talked about the unfairness of the report. lastly, on halloween night, a bat got into the at&t center in the spurs-kings game. how does a bat get into the stadium? he needed no net. swats it. stuns the bat. the bat would later be released according to the team. they said they did not kill it. it was just stunned. there were a couple of big crashes at talladega speedway.

>> so we see the tape coming up. a minnesota man pleaded guilty to drunk driving in his motorized la-z-boy. now people are willing to pay for a picture of him sitting in it. come on.

okay. the new york stock exchange is open for business and the archbishop of new york rang the opening bell. he's raising awareness for a charity. meanwhile, stocks may rebound today after friday's tumble. a live report a few minutes away. i am really nervous. i've met a lot of parents who've lost their children to just regular, seasonal flu. >> that's a mom whose son had a nasty bout with the flu and

wants him vaccinated. doctors are not expektsing problems, but want to reassure people. we've just learned this morning that hamid karzai will remain the president of afghanistan. karz karzai's victory was pretty much assured because his only real challenger quit yesterday. a new navy ship built with steel from the world trade center is in new york city right now. the "uss new york" was near ground zero, where many first responders and families of 9/11 victims held a ceremony. that was a really neat story about that ship and that was that they have more, a bigger percentage of people actually from new york on that ship because they requested to actually serve on that ship. those are the top stories. welcome back. i'm robin meade.

jury selection begins today for a man accused of killing a tv anchor in arkansas. he's charged with the 2008 murder of ann pressley. vance has pleaded not guilty to all charges. joe lieberman says he'll do anything he can to stop a health care bill that included a public option. yesterday, he argued that kind of legislation will be worse than not getting a health care bill at all. now, a democratic proposal with a public option is expected soon. democrats need his support to avoid a republican filibuster. he's an independent. >> it's fascinating and frankly troubling, that it has suddenly become a litmus test if you're not for government health insurance company, you're somehow not a good democrat. if you look at the election last year, the presidential election, the public option was never

discussed. this was all about how do we control the increasing costs of health insurance and how do we make health insurance available to people who can't afford it now. those are our goals. >> but president obama's senior adviser says the public option would achieve those goals, plus cut costs and expand coverage because it would bring competition to private insurers. a big crash at talladega is making headlines today. here's rafer with the video. >> every year, there seems to be a big crash at talladega speedway. this year, there was two. this was the worst of the two. ryan newman, with five laps to go. you can see his car get airborne, then flip upside down and then keeps on going, sliding on its roof. it sputters along the track,

hits the wall. you can see the sparks flying there. it's not even close to being over. it finally settles down into the grass, but not before it turns over and flips over. it took crews 13 minutes to get him out of this car. he said being suck in there was like being quote, stuck in a tomb and not being able to get out. fortunately, he would be okay. there he is right there walking away from the crash. there was another big crash and surprise winner. all that in about ten minutes. a sheriff is not giving up on trying to charge inmates for rent, haircuts and medical visits. the massachusetts supreme court will hear an appeal today about it. we started the program in 2002, but the judge struck it done. the judge says it can cause them responsibility. emergency officials in louisiana are telling people to evacuate. the water is spilling over the

top of the levee and a breach could happen. if it does, up to 4,000 people could get trapped. some homes are already flooded. you know what? it was just a wet october. welcome to november. let's look back and then forward. >> really, specifically, the last half of october for the louisiana state has just been dell unlg. things are finally beginning to dry out. a look at rainfall totals, shreveport, louisiana, almost half your yearly total in about four weeks. little rock, 16.5 inches just in october. things are drying out today, but we're still getting a little bit of rain and low cloudyness and that's going to be over the great lakes for the morning and then working through the ohio

valley later this afternoon. stuff around jolette not touching the ground. when you get towards southern parts of lake michigan, it's all ahead of the bigger system. we have a cold front jutting through the great lakes. it touches off a lot of clouds, but notice the cold front does not connect down to the gulf of mexico. that means it's not going to bring a lot of rain with it. it's just basically moisture starved. towards the west, coming out of nebraska, this is the heaviest rain we have and it's not even that bad. it's all rolling towards the east. but there is one coastal storm now. enough to get the clouds and raurs in there. take you live to new york city metro, sunshine, clouds and rain off and on, most of the day. right now, you need a sunny period. the high today, a little on the cool side. central park looking very nice. more details on that travel

forecast in about 15 minutes. the stocks ended last week with a big sell-off. it had its biggest drop in nearly four months. susan lisovicz, good morning. >> the s&p 500 slipped into the red last month breaking a string of seven straight monthly gains. today, we are seeing some growth for the dow and s&p. investors are looking past that cit bankruptcy, which was expected and however, they're focused on ford. ford shares now surging 10%. they surprised wall street with a profit totalling nearly 1 billion bucks. ford also says it expects to be solidly profitable. it increased market share last quarter and cut costs. at the same time, chrysler is

trying to reduce its workforce and is offering buyouts to 23,000 workers at plants that are slated to close. and finally, the scene in new york city yesterday as more than 40,000 runners flooded the borrows for the new york city marathon. it's many people's personal goal and it's also rooifed with cheating. at least 46 for reducing the marathon to something less than 26.2 miles. this isn't new. 30 years ago, rosy ruiz hopped on the subway in boston and ended up winning at least for a few minutes. we haven't heard from her sense. >> in your runner's out fit,

taxi. taking a flight with young kids, that can be a challenge. but a mom and her screaming toddler got kicked off a plane. and we have your opinions on it. plus, meat ball fans, you're looking at the ultimate dream. you can say the world has never seen something like this before. >> not done yet --

dick cheney repeatedly told a special prosecutor, i don't recall, when asked how valerie

plame was outed. the 2004 interview is included in newly released documents. plame's husband was critical of the bush administration. scooter libby was convicted of lying about the leak. southwest airlines has apologized for kicking a mom and toddler off of a flight. the crew booted them because the boy's screams of, go, plane, go, and i want daddy, drowned out the preflikt safety announcement. the mom said she was confident the boy would behave once the flight took off. southwest has offered her a refund and $300 travel voucher. man ever have you given us your views. should they have been kicked off the plane? what do you think when kids are misbehaving on a plane? larry says -- john says --

laura says -- kimberly says -- man, oh, man. keep them coming. we have a lot of your comments and there's a facebook link or if you're already a facebooker, you know how to get to our page. your tax dollars could be used to help you spend less time waiting from flight delays, but instead, a new analysis says you're paying to fix up airports you'll probably never fly from. the reason why new in the next half hour. our money expert clark howard, did you know he serves in a georgia state guard? this weekend, he'll serve the

troops. we teamed up to help you. senior officer jeff torres, you wanted to talk about investing in a certain plan. >> since becoming parents in the last year, my wife and i have been concerned with the forecast for higher education about 17 years from now, they're forecasting about $300,000 to shell out. what i've done for the first year is invested in my state's 529 plan. i was wondering about your thoughts on that. >> 529 plan is a college savings plan. you put money into it and it grows tax free as long as the money is used for college. all the earnings are tax free. so it is the absolute best vehicle to save for college. and so you're doing the right thing. what state plan are you in? >> virginia and made a conscious decision to remain a virginia resident for the education benefits. >> let me tell you something

about virginia. it's one of the states that has multiple 529 plans. and there are good 529 plans in virginia and bad ones. so i have a guide on my website, which is clarkhoward.com, where you can do the hyper link and make sure that the virginia plan you're in is the good one, not one of the bad ones. >> he's so good. watch "operation clark smart" this weekend right here on hln. what are the hot topics in many local elections tomorrow, streetcars. boise. an unpropose d plan -- the projects could get and need for mass transit. people were watching to see what happened when brett favre returned in a viking uniform.

what he had to say about the reception and the boos. >> miscue --

all right. so hamid karzai will remain the president of afghanistan. officials said there will be no runoff after the main challenger dropped out yesterday. the u.s. is concerned about what will happen with the government there. some veterans want more troops. others like jake are against it. here's what he told our sister network, cnn. >> even if you could prevent the taliban from taking over afghanistan, you could not guarantee that al-qaeda would not be able to go back there, so to think that, that is a one-size answer, we need to be in afghanistan is not complete. we have fallen in love with a military solution in afghanistan and that is not the answer. >> allegations of voter fraud haven't helped things.

former foreign minister says he quit the election because he can't trust the process. it was scheduled for this saturday. brett favre made his anticipated return to green bay in a viking uniform and there was a chorus of boos. >> i've always said people in green bay are way, way nice. the man spent almost 20 years in a viking, i'm sorry, a packer uniform. the 40-year-old viking came back and they were kind of happy to see him. listen. >> offense. >> okay, i'm sorry. that's not happyness. that's boos. there were a couple of cheers. a couple of people cheered. some wearing purple. he said he was not looking for revenge, but he got it.

afterwards, he comments on the reception. >> all the packer fans were there. there were some purple and i saw just a mixture of everything. p one fingers. they were the biggest surprise of the nfl. but the denver broncos were pummeled back to earth. the broncos had not lost a game until the baltimore ravens said never more. good things don't last forever. just ask two of these guys, two of the worst teams in the nfl. we dubbed it the toilet bowl, the st. louis rams. the other video against the detroit lions. that's not them -- there we go. so the rams had lost 17 games in a row until this one. the lions lost all of their games last year. the head coach spag nola gets the win and the water drizzle. that's why the victory shower must go. with two laps left, a 14-car pileup. watch mark martin's car get the

worst of it, spins around. this is one of the most dangerous tracks. we're going to give you the pov shot from his tash camera. in mcmurray the surprise winner. martin was okay. that's the good news. jimmie johnson took six meaning he'll probably win the fourth straight sprint cup. a bat crashed an nba game. see how one player's reflex sls took care of that. >> bat on the nba floor. hey, thank you. had some help, it looks like. business travelers back at it today. here's bob. >> so far, so good. no delays due to weather right now. fog by jfk, newark, no big whoop. what about the rest of the day? showers back in new york. they're going to be on the light side but watch for a half hour delay. philadelphia same thing. world series games looks good. detroit, more clouds. then chicago, more clouds and possibility of some showers this morning. more weather in 20 minutes.

some veterans honor the men who saved their lives more than six decades ago. you're going to hear about the stunning rescue of the so-called lost battalion.