while communities all over texas hold vigil for the people killed in the ft. hood shootings, authorities are trying to find a motive for the rampage. >> enough of this sort of political correctness. >> muslim leaders react at the killings at ft. hood, and some go far beyond condemning the crime. what they say might surprise you. if health care reform was the finish line told could touch off the final sprint. obama has to convince democrats, not republicans, to go along. hi there, welcome to hln on saturday. i'm natasha curry. thanks for spending part of your within with us. candlelight vigils took place all over texas for 12 soldiers

and 1 sillian killed in the ft. shootings. the suspected gunman, major nidal hasan, a licensed psychiatrist is among the two dozen people in the hospital, he said to be in critical, but stable condition. one of the cops credit ud with the massacre is in stable condition. her partner described what it was like as both officers fired shots. >> when i saw him, he was standing there. i ordered him to identify myself. he raised his weapon and he fired a couple of rounds. we both took cover. and then he went around one side of the building. and then i started to go after him, the bystander said, no, he came around, he came around. and i came around the other side of the building and then that's when i seen him again and ordered him to drop his weapon. and he raised it, fired a couple more rounds at me and i engaged him. he fell. i went up and secured his weapon. >> we're starting to learn more about the people who were killed at ft. hood.

the sister of specialist jason hunt told our sister networky that her brother spent her 21st birthday in iraq. he joined the military to be part of something greater than himself. >> leila, you can expect someone to go to the army, goes to iraq, okay, you're hardened for the worst. but you certainly never expect him to die at his base. >> i just want to say that, you know, because it didn't happen overseas or it didn't happen in the combat situation doesn't make him any less a hero because my brother was the kind of person to jump in front of a bullet for somebody. and i really feel like, you know, i don't know the details, but i know my brother and i know he was -- he was very brave in this situation. >> last night the bodies of the 13 people killed in ft. hood were flown to the military mortuary at dover air force base. the flag-covered coffins of the 12 soldiers and army sillian employee were transported through a ramp ceremony.

the deputy commander for ft. hood called the ceremony truly moving. some of the harshest criticism of the alleged ft. hood gunman is coming from other muslims. some not only condemned the crime, they say they're okay of having extensive background checks of muslims in the military. >> i don't take offense. i say, you know what? challenge, i need to fix this problem. my good's, it's bettor fine that out at this stage rather than discover it when the person becomes a major and kills 13 brave -- brave soldiers. >> those muslim leaders in arizona say their faith is being hijacked by fanatics. they say something must be done to prevent radical sects from spreading. we'll bring you more developments on the ft. hood shootings as soon as happen. because we're hln, we're going to cover the top stories as well. president obama goes to capitol hill today to try to close the deal on health care reform with fellow democrats. he's making a last-minute appeal to get him to support the bill that could be put up for a vote

tonight. democrats are struggling to get enough votes even if they have a strong house majority. they increased that majority yesterday when they swore in representative bill owen. he won a special election in upstate new york. many conservative democrats oppose the health care bill because it allows federal money to support abortions. >> no federal funds used to pay for abortions. that means no federal funds used to pay for abortions in the public option, no public funds used to pay for abortions for people receiving subsidies on the exchange. >> or your vote is no. >> right. last night, democratic leaders struck a deal with those conservative democrats. they agreed to add tougher restrictions to the bill. democratic officials are now optimistic they've lined up enough votes. all of the republicans are expected to oppose the bill. police shot and wounded a person of interest in the killing of a seattle cop on halloween. a police spokesman says the officers wren to check a car that looked similar to the one that was seen right after the

killing and when they approached a man, he pulled a gun so detectives shot him. a seattle hospital says that he was critically injured and had surgery last night. yesterday, thousands of people here attended a memorial for the late officer, timothy brenton, shot in his car after a traffic stop. a computer error nearly wiped out the bank accounts of 60,000 retired new york city teachers. yesterday morning, $189 million was withdrawn from retirement funds by mistake. many retired teachers are worried about scheduled payments and getting through the weekend without any money. but a spokesman for the bank of new york melon says most of the money will be returned by today and the rest should be in accounts by monday. take a look at this ferocious fire in massachusetts. it tore through an abandoned paper mill. look at flames here, exploding chemicals shot debris into the air, making things tough for fire crews. and at one point, the roof caved in.

the maintenance man said there were homeless people sometimes camp inside this building. no word on what caused the fire. there were no reports of any injuries. it's the one. you want tone joy the weather, right? tropical storm ida might make that tough for some of you. let's check in with reynolds wolf for the latest. >> it's been a quiet year for us tropicalwise especially the atlantic basin, caribbean until last couple of days where we've had a hurricane, now downgraded to a tropical storm, talking about ida, one of the strongest, has interaction with the land in nicaragua, honduras, weakened but now it's moving in the far western corner of the caribbean sea and it's gaining a little bit of strength. wins are the 45, gusting at 60 mile as per hour. the storm is expected to strengthen. still, staying as tropical storm but the latest path we have from the national hurricane center has the storm moving to the north and between cancun the yucatan and cuba, move into the gulf of mexico, getting into

both monday and tuesday. now, if you have happen to live along the gulf koefd, keep a sharp eye on this. however there isn't a singler to cast that brings this on shore. also a stationary front, that may cause the system to die out altogether in the middle of the gulf of mexico making landfall. at least that is the hope. today a great day. plenty of sunshine for northeast, high temps in the 50s. not bad this time of year. same deal in memphis, 74. 76 in las vegas. 87 phoenix. 63 san francisco. 69 in atlanta. that is a wrap on your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. a popular car manufacturer is recalling almost 4 million of its best-selling vehicles. hln money expert clark howard has the details that could keep you safe on the road. >> by now, i hope everybody in america who has a toyota or a lexus made between 2004 a2010 h

checked to see if you're vehicle is one of the ones affected by one of the oddest recalls of all time. 4 million vehicles approximately recalled because the driver floor mat could cause you to be in an accident and possibly even cause a fatal wreck. it's weird, isn't it? and the remedy, so simple. you pull out the floor mat on the driver's side and you let your carpet get dirty in the car. but most recalls aren't so simple as that. the shocker, though, that is most of the time even when there's a recall involving serious safety stuff, people don't respond, don't take their cars or trucks to the dealer. i want you to take care of it especially if it's steering, break, something like that. there's a website you can learn what's go on with your car, autosafety.org, check it out. i'm clark howard, check me out at cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> for more ways to save more, spend less, avoid getting ripped off, don't miss the "clark

howard show" noon eastern here on hln. it was a dirty job, but a 33-year-old mystery has been solved. >> she said, i think i have something that belongs to you. and you know, immediately it flashed through my mind, that's what it was. i couldn't believe it. >> hear what long lost treasure a little boy found while digging in his backyard.

one of the cops credited with taking down the ft. gunman is becoming a hero on twitter. kim munley only had a few followers. at story came out about her playing a key role, twitter followers raised 1500. munley wounded during the shootout and is said to be in stable condition. many people are leaving tweets thanking her and wishing her a speedy recovery. keep it here on hln for continued coverage on the ft. hood shooting investigation.

a 3-year-old boy has solved a mystery with a little digging in his back yard. he found a woman's wedding rings that she lost 33 years ago. >> i was just sitting right there watching the kids play in the dirt like they usually do, and ryan walks up to me and says, mommy, i found your ring. oh, ryan, thank you. he gave it to me. i said, oh, thanks. i didn't think anything of it. i thought it was costume jewelry. he goes, you want the other one? i'm like, yeah, sure! >> and the home's original owner lost the rings while gardening. and a little detective work, the retired teacher was tracked down. she plans to get the rings repaired in time for her 50th wedding anniversary. as for the little digger, he got a $50 reward. one idea from science fiction may actually be closer to becoming reality. investors successfully testing a version of a space elevator yesterday in california. the idea here is to find a way

to send people into space without the cost and risk of launching rockets. instead, spacecraft would climb up a cable that could stretch all the way to space. this robot climbed nearly 3,000 feet in three minutes, 38 seconds. seattle researchers won $900,000 in prize money from nasa. it's unclear whether space elevators can ever work. a stolen volkswagen van is finally been found. and it took just 35 years. customs agents found it in a shipping container in the los angeles port last month. here it is. the company shipping the blue van did not know, though, that it was stolen. it was taken from an auto shop in spokane, washington, back in 1974. a customs official says it was worth a few hundred bucks back then. now it's worth about $27,000. i'm larry smith. a month before his 25th ber day, le brob jam lebron james almost did it all. even hosted snl one time all

living in cleveland. imagine if he moved to new york. last night a-list celebrities and knicks fans made their pitch to the soon-to-be free agent who put on a show. this what's they does night in, night out, be it in new york or cleveland. shot like this, a guy up in his grill, no problem. three-pointer. later, yeah, better luck next time. i don't think so. shoot it? no. pass to ilguaskas for the assist. cavs get the win. james didn't attend the parade for his favorite baseball team. through the canyon of heroes friday, more than a million fans turning out to celebrate the first world series tight until nine years and the team's record 27th overall. giants cy young winner facing a misdemeanor marijuana charge could have a deal in place. the columbian is reporting that tim lincecum will pay $250 fine for possession of marijuana pipe with the officials dismissing

the charge of possession 3. 3 grams of pot. the deal is consistent with others who have been first-time offenders. jose canseco may top the list of ex-athletes who won't go away. the 6'4" 250-pound slugger won his exhibition in the boxing federation. when asked who else he would like to fall he immediately called out alex rodriguez calling a-rod, quote, a lying idiot, end quote. go backs the steroid issue. don't count on seeing that fight any time soon. a-rod doesn't need the cash. that's sports. a guy claimed that he was just too fat to kill his former son-in-law. and that was his defense in court for more than a month. now the jury finally weighs in.

we have video now from c-span that appears to show ft. hood shooting suspect major nidal hasan at a lecture earlier this year.

keep in mind, cnn has not confirmed it's him at the center of your screen here who's highlighted. but this video is from a lecture at george washington university on january 6th. israel's ambassador to the u.s. and other officials were talking about the gaza incursion. that appears to be hasan. but we have not confirmed that it is, in fact, him. keep it here on hln for the latest on the ft. hood shooting investigation and the day's other top stories. the number of u.s. banks that failed this year climbed to 120. five more banks went under yesterday. they've all been taken over by other banks so customers can keep using their checks and debit cards. those five banks were based in california, michigan, minnesota, georgia, and missouri. this is the highest number of u.s. bank failures in one year since 1992. a federal fund to cover failed banks is running low. a florida jury has convicted a man who said he was too fat to kill.

jurors rejected his lawyers' claims that he was too fat to run up a flight of stairs to shoot his former son-in-law. edward ates weighed 285 pounds. the 40-year-old victim was in a custody battle with ates' daughter. ates' lawyer plans to appeal the murder conviction. the suspect in a shooting spree at an orlando office tower has been charged with first degree mur. jason rodriguez arrested a few hours after the incident. police say he surrendered and apologized. witnesses say he shot and killed one person, and wounded five others at an engineering firm. the company says he worked there until he was fired for poor performance two years ago. police say he blamed the firm for having trouble receiving unemployment benefits. mater's race in iowa ended in a tie, but that's just the first twist in this smalltown election. as man da lewis of kcci reports now the mayor's wondering why they bothered having an election at all.

>> reporter: 224 people did their civic duty. they voted. two days later they still have no idea who will be mayor. >> excitement, in st. charles, we don't get that often. this is exciting for us. >> reporter: after a hard-fought campaign with dueling lard signs and supporters. >> i voted for joanne. i think she's done great things for the community. >> smith. >> reporter: why? >> they're associated with cub scouts and stuff around here. >> reporter: joanne brown and dennis smith are neck and neck, 112 votes for brown, 111 for smith. that was until this afternoon. >> we, joanne, kathleen, solemnly swear. >> reporter: one group of officials take one carefully kept absentee ballot out of the county lock box and open it. >> the vote is for dennis smith.

>> reporter: now, it's a tie. so the mystery will remain, and the saint charles mayors' race will be decided the old fashioned way. >> what the -- they did was put a name in a hat and drew out a name is what they did. >> our thanks to amanda lewis for that report. two more votes could have helped settle the election but they were abled spoiled and tossed out. so that means a voter made some type of mistake on the ballot. the ft. hood shootings have some soldiers on edge right now. >> fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines looking at muslim comrades and a little bit worried, more skeptical, it's human nature. >> how american muslims fear a backlash because of shooting suspect's religious background. 

while communities all over texas hold vigils for the people killed in the ft. hood shootings, authorities are trying to find a motive for the rampage. >> enough of this sort of political correctness. >> muslim leaders react at the killings at ft. hood, and some go far beyond condemning the crime. what they say might surprise you. if health care reform was the finish line, told could touch off the final sprint. why president obama has to convince democrats, not republicans, to go along. hi there, welcome to hln on saturday. i'm natasha curry. thanks for spending part of your weekend with us. candlelight vigils took place all over texas for 12

soldiers and 1 civilian killed in the ft. hood shootings. the suspected gunman, major nidal hasan, a licensed army psychiatrist, is among the two dozen people still in the hospital. he is said to be in critical, but stable condition. one of the cops credit with ending the massacre is said to be in stable condition. her partner described what it was like as both officers fired shots. >> when i seen him, he was just standing there. when i ordered him to drop the gun and identify myself, he raised his weapon and he fired a couple of rounds. we both took cover. and then he went around one side of the building. and then i started to go after him, the bystander said, no, he came around, he came around. and i came around the other side of the building and then that's when i seen him again and ordered him to drop his weapon. and he raised it, fired a couple more rounds at me and i engaged him. and then he fell. i went up and secured his weapon. >> we're starting to learn more about the people who were killed at ft. hood.

the sister of specialist jason hundred told our sister network cnn that her brother spent his 21st birth day in iraq and he joined the military to be part of something greater than himself. >> leila, you can expect someone to go to the army, goes to iraq, okay, you're hardened for the worst. but you certainly never expect him to die at his base. >> i just want to say that, you know, because it didn't happen overseas or it didn't happen in the combat situation doesn't make him any less a hero because my brother was the kind of person to jump in front of a bullet for somebody. and i really feel like, you know, i don't know the details, but i know my brother and i know he was -- he was very brave in this situation. >> last night the bodies of the 13 people killed in ft. hood were flown to the military mortuary at dover air force base. the flag-covered coffins of the 12 soldiers and an army civilian employee were transported through a ramp ceremony. the deputy commander for ft. hood called the ceremony truly

moving. some of the harshest criticism of the alleged ft. hood gunman is coming from other muslims. some not only condemned the crime, they say they're okay of having extensive background checks of muslims in the military. >> i don't take offense. i say, you know what? challenge, i need to fix this problem. moo goodness, it's better to find that out at this stage rather than discov it when the person becomes a major and kills 13 brave soldiers. >> those muslim leaders in arizona say their faith is being hijacked by fanatics. they say something must be done to prevent radical sects from spreading. we'll bring you more developments on the ft. hood shootings as soon as happen. because we're hln, we're going to cover the rest of the day's top stories as well. president obama goes to capitol hill today to try to close the deal on health care reform with fellow democrats. he's making a last-minute appeal to get them to support the bill that could be put up for a vote tonight.

democrats are struggling to get enough votes even if they have a strong house majority. they increased that majority yesterday when they swore in representative bill owen. now, he just won a special election in upstate new york. many conservative democrats oppose the health care bill because it allows federal money to support abortions. >> no federal funds used to pay for abortions. that means no federal funds used to pay for abortions in the public option, no public funds used to pay for abortions for people receiving subsidies on the exchange. >> or your vote is no? >> right. last night, democratic leaders struck a deal with those conservative democrats. they agreed to add tougher restrictions to the bill. democratic officials are now optimistic they've lined up enough votes. all of the republicans are expected to oppose the bill. police shot and wounded a person of interest in the killing of a seattle cop on halloween. a police spokesman says the officers wren to check a car that looked similar to the one that was seen right after the

killing, and when they approached a man, he pulled a gun so detectives shot him. a seattle hospital says that he was critically injured and had surgery last night. yesterday, thousands of people here attended a memorial for the late officer, timothy brenton, shot in his car after a traffic stop. a computer error nearly wiped out the bank accounts of 60,000 retired new york city teachers. yesterday morning, $189 million was withdrawn from retirement funds by mistake. many retired teachers are worried about scheduled payments and getting through the weekend without any money. but a spokesman for the bank of new york melon says most of the money will be returned by today and the rest should be in accounts by monday. take a look at this ferocious fire in massachusetts. it tore through an abandoned paper mill last night. look at flames here, exploding chemicals shot debris into the air, making things tough for fire crews. and at one point, the roof caved in. the building's maintenance man

says homeless people sometimes camp inside this building. no word on what caused the fire. there were no reports of any injuries. >> it's the weekend. you want to enjoy the weather, right? tropical storm ida might make that tough for some of you. let's check in with reynolds wolf for the latest. hey, reynolds. >> it's been a quiet year for us tropicalwise especially the atlantic basin, caribbean until the laugh couple of days where we've had a hurricane, now downgrade to a tropical storm. we're talking about ida, one of the strongest, has interaction with the land in nicaragua, honduras, weakened a little bit. but now it's moving in the far western corner of the caribbean sea and it's gaining a little bit of strength. winds are at 45, gusting to 60 miles per hour. see deep convection right neither center. the thing is, though the storm is expected to strengthen. still, staying as tropical storm but the latest path we have from the national hurricane center has the storm moving to the north and between cancun the yucatan and cuba, move into the gulf of mexico, getting into both monday and tuesday.

now, if you have happen to live along the gulf coast, i would be advised to keep a sharp eye on this. however, there isn't a single forecast that brings it on shore. also a stationary front, that may cause the system to die out altogether in the middle of the gulf of mexico without making landfall. at least that is the hope. what you can hope today is a great day. plenty of sunshine for northeast, high temps in the 50s. not bad this time of year. same deal in memphis, 74. 76 in las vegas. 87 phoenix. 63 san francisco. 69 in atlanta. that is a wrap on your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. a popular car manufacturer is recalling almost 4 million of its best-selling vehicles. hln money expert clark howard has the details that could keep you safe on the road. >> by now, i hope everybody in america who has a toyota or a lexus made between 2004 2010 has checked to see if you're vehicle is one of the ones affected by

one of the oddest recalls of all time. 4 million vehicles approximately recalled because the driver floor mat could cause you to be in an accident and possibly even cause a fatal wreck. it's weird, isn't it? and the remedy, so simple. you pull out the floor mat on the driver's side and you let your carpet get dirty in the car. but most recalls aren't so simple as that. the shocker, though, that is most of the time, even when there's a recall involving serious safety stuff, people don't respond, don't take their cars or trucks to the dealer. i want you to take care of it especially if it's steering, braking, something like that. there's a website you can learn what's go on with your car, autosafety.org, check it out. i'm clark howard, check me out at cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> for more ways to save more, spend less, avoid getting ripped off, don't miss the "clark howard show" noon eastern here

on hln. it was a dirty job, but a 33-year-old mystery has been solved. >> she said, i think i have something that belongs to you. and, you know, immediately it flashed through my mind, that's what it was. i couldn't believe it. >> hear what long lost treasure a little boy found while digging in his backyard.

one of the cops credited with taking down the ft. hood gunman is becoming a hero on twitter. kim munley only had a few fol lores followers on the site. at story came out about her

playing a key role, twitter followers raised 1500. munley wounded during the shootout and is said to be in stable condition. many people are leaving tweets thanking her and wishing her a speedy recovery. keep it here on hln for continued coverage on the ft. hood shooting investigation. a 3-year-old boy has solved a mystery with a little digging in his back yard. he found a woman's wedding rings that she lost 33 years ago. >> i was just sitting right there watching the kids play in the dirt, like they usually do, and ryan walks up to me and says, mommy, i found your ring. oh, ryan, thank you. he gave it to me. i said, oh, thanks. i didn't think anything of it. i thought it was costume jewelry. he goes, you want the other one? i'm like, yeah, sure! >> and the home's original owner lost the rings while gardening. and a little detective work, the retired teacher was tracked down. she plans to get the rings repaired in time for her 50th wedding anniversary. as for the little digger, he got a $50 reward.

good work. a stolen volkswagen van has been found and took 35 years. customsing as found it in a shipping container in los angeles port last month. here it is. the company shipping the blue van did not know, though, that it was stolen. but it was taken from an auto shop in spokane, washington, back in 1974. a customs official said it was probably worth a few hundred bucks back then. now it's probably worth $2700. i'm larry smith. somebody asked how many the yankees spent since the last world series, almost $2 billion in the past year on the new stadium, pricey prefree agents is but it was worth it. the yankees, 27th time, honored with a ticker tape parade friday. the players even got keys to the city and, of course, all talked about winning another title next year.

the party continued last night at madison square garden as yankees stars and celebrity showed lebron james. look at that, everyone's gathered around just to say high to the most valuable player who is doing this to spike lee's knicks. spike lee also in the crowd, by the way. james the most famous yankees fan, not new york. a. abusing the home team. cavs winning on the road. central florida freshman marcus jordan couldn't imagine wearing anything but daddy's nikes now adecember as can't imagine, continuing its apparel contract with the school. neither has budged. m.j. refused to wear the home shoes in exhibition games. shoe gate has made uc the most talked about team to never won an ncaa game. want to get sus spendinged from your team? do stuff like this. elizabeth lambert bench indefinitely for doing

sufficient it like this during the 1-0 loss in a semifinal. the cameras focused on her but really? yes, in case you're wondering, this is in one game. lambert later apologized saying her actions were uncalled for. you think? that's sports. beyond the surface report this saturday takes us on a topic most of us want to avoid, bad breath. >> a big concern among patients obviously is bad breath. it's really the bacteria that causes in part the bad breath. gum disease is the culprit for really bad breath. you're smelling the bacteria. perhaps a crown is a little bit loose. you do get that bad breath from just the bacteria under that crown. i have gotten many concerned parents asking me about what my child's breath is awful. look and see two big golf balls

in the back of the throat, tonsils harbor bacteria. a lot of these mouth washes are just alcoholy, minty and try to mask it. hydrogen peroxide diluted 50/50 with water is actually a good mouth rinse. another important thing that people don't always think about doing is brushing your tongue, get any areas that may harbor bacteria.

we have video now from c-span that appears to show ft. hood shooting suspect major nidal hasan at a lecture earlier this year. keep in mind, cnn has not confirmed it's him at the center of your screen here who's highlighted. but this video is from a lecture at george washington university on january 6. israel's ambassador to the u.s. and other officials were talking about the gaza incursion. that appears to be hasan. but we have not confirmed that it is, in fact, him. keep it here on hln for the latest on the ft. hood shooting investigation and the day's other top stories.

the number of u.s. banks that failed this year just climbed to 120. five more went under yesterday. they've all been taken over by other banks, so customers can keep using their checks and debit cards. those five banks were based in california, michigan, minnesota, georgia, and missouri. this is the highest number of u.s. bank failures in one year since 1992. a federal fund to cover failed banks is running low. a florida jury has convicted a man who said he was too fat to kill. jurors rejected the lawyers' claims that he was too fat to run up a flight of stairs to shoot his former son-in-law. edward ates weighed 285 pounds. 40-year-old victim was in a custody battle with ates' daughter. ates' lawyer plans to appeal the murder conviction. the suspect in a shooting spree in an orlando office tower

has been charged with first-degree murder. arrested a few hours after incident yesterday. police say that he surrendered and apologized. witnesses say they shot and killed one person, and wounded five others at an engineering firm. the company at an engineering f. the company says he worked there until he was fired for poor performance two years ago. police say he blamed the firm for having trouble receiving unemployment benefits. soccer is helping homeless people across the country get back on their feet literally and figure ratively. it's because of one man's selfless efforts. robin meade has this week's "leader with heart." >> lawrence grew up playing soccer, now is using that sport to keep homeless men and women off the streets. >> it's using sports for social change. what you see happening is people believing in themselves again. it isn't just about playing sports. >> he knows firsthand how easily life can change. >> when i was 9 years old, my

house burnt down. thank god we had family to support us. it toaught me what community ca do. >> reporter: there's a u.s. and even a homeless world cup. off the field, they set 3, 6 and 12-month personal goals. >> when you get here, your spirit is broker, your self-confidence is broken. being in an environment where there's teamwork and trust helped. >> no one wants to be homeless. my heroes are the people who come through our program. the ft.hood shootings have some soldiers on edge right now. fellow soldiers, airmen and marines are looking at their muslim comrades and skeptical. it's hume nature. >> here how american muslim

soldiers fear a back lash.

while communities all over texas hold vigils for the people killed in the ft. hood shootings, authorities are trying to find a motive for the rampage. >> enough of this political correctness. >> muslim leaders react and some go far beyond condemning the crime. what they say might surprise you. if health care reform was the finish line, today could touch off the final sprint. while president obama has to convince democrats, not republicans, to go along hi there. thanks for spending part of your weekend with us. canned uplight vigils took place all over texas yesterday

for those killed in the shootings. nidal hasan, a licensed army psychiatrist is among the two does not people still in the hospital. he's said to be in critical but stable condition. one of the cops credited with knit massacre is also said to be in stable condition. her partner described what it was like as both officers fired shots. >> when i seen him, he was standing there. when i ordered him to drop the weapon, i identified myself, and he raised his weapon, fired a couple rounds, and we both took cover, then he went around one side of the building. as i started to go after him, the bystanders said he came around, he came around. that's when i seen him again. i ordered him to drop his weapon. he raised it, fired a couple more rounds at me, and hen fell. i went up and secured his weapon. >> we're not starting to learn more about the people who were

killed at ft. hood. the sister of specialist jason hunt told cnn that her brought spent his 21st birth die in iraq. >> you can expect someone that goes in the army, goes to iraq, okay, you're hardened for the worst, but you certainly never expect him to die at his base. >> i just want to say that, because it didn't happen overseas or in a combat situation doesn't make him any less a hero, because my brother was the kind of person to jump in front of a bullet for somebody, and i don't know the details, but i know my brother, and he was very brave in this situation. last night the bodies of the 13 people killed at ft. hood were flown to the military mortuary at dover air force base. the flag-covered coffins of 12 the 12 soldierses and employee were transferred. the commander called the

ceremony truly moving. some of the harshest criticism of the gunman is coming from other muslims. some not only condemn the crime, they also say they're okay with having more extensive background checks of muslims in the military. >> i don't take offense. i say, you know what? it's a challenge, i need to fix this problem. it's better to find that out at this stage rather than discover it when the person becomes a major and kills 13 brave soldiers. >> reporter: those leaders in arizona say their faith is being hijacked by fanatics and something must be done to keep radical sects from spreading. because we are hln, we're going to cover the rest of the day otop stores as well. president obama goss to capitol hill today to try to close the deal on health care reform with fellow democrats. he's making a last-minute appeal to get them to support the bill that could be put up for a vote

tonight. democrats are struggling to get enough votes. they even increased the majority yesterday when they swore in representative bill owen. he just won a special election in upstate new york. many conservative democrats oppose the health care bill, because it allows federal money to support abortions. >> no federal funds used to pay for abortions. so that means no federal funds used to pay for abortions in the public option, no public funds used to pay for abortions for people receiving subsidies on the exchange railroad or your vote is no? >> right. >> reporter: last night they agreed to add tougher restrictions to the bills. democratic officials are optimistic they have lined up enough votes. all republicans are expected to oppose the bill. police shot and wounded a person of interest in a killing of a seattle cop on halloween. a police spokesman says that officers went to check a car that looks similar to the one seen right after the killing.

when they approached a man, he pulled a gun, so detectives shot him. a seattle hospital says he was critical injured and had scourgery last night. yesterday thousands of people here attended a memorial to timothy brenten. he was shot in his car after a traffic stop. a computer error nearly wiped out the bank accounts of retired new york teachers. a spokesman for the bank of new york mellon says most of the money will be returned by today, and the rest should be in accounts by monday. take a look at this ferocious fire in massachusetts that tore through an abandoned paper mill last night. exploding chemicals shot debris into the air, making things tough for fire crews. at one point the roof caved in.

the building's maintenance man said sometimes homeless people camp inside the building. there were no reports of any injuries. [ speaking foreign language ] casa de la amestad, as its name translate, is a house of friendship. bessie has volunteered here. the shelter provides free housing and medicine to low-income children, most from rural areas. the children and families are invite to do stay at friendship house free of charge for long as they need at nearby mexico city hospitals. volunteers help the time go by as they wait for the chemotherapy treatment, but it's involved in more than just facilitating treatment. daily life and a sense of normalcy is protected as much as possible.

a special shelter in mexico is providing care for low-income children who have cancer, but it's giving them up much more than medical help. for more on this and other exciting advances, just go to our website, cnn.com/vitalsigns. it was a dirty job, but a 33-year-old mystery has been solved. >> she said i think i have something that belongs to you, and, you know, immediately it flashed through my mind what it was. >> long-loss treasure a a little boy found while digging in his backyard.

all right. it's the weekend, you want to enjoy the weather, by i hadda is making is a little tough.

let's check in with reynolds wolf. >> it's been a quiet year for us tropicalwise until the last couple days, a hurricane downgraded to a tropical storm. ida was a pretty powerful storm that had interaction with nicaragua and honduras, but now moving in the far western corner of the caribbean and gaining strengths. the thing is this storm is expected to strengthen, still staying as a popular tomorrow, and right through the uk tan peninsula. getting into both and into tuesday. if you happen to live along the gulf coast, i would certainly by advised. however, there isn't a single forecast that brings it onshore.

at least that is the hope. when you can definitely not just hope, but expect a great day, in the northeast. not bad this time of year, same deal back in memphis. 87 in fines, 63 in san francisco, and of the in atlanta, that is a wrap on your forecast. i'm reynolds wolfe for hln. a 3 years old boy has solved a mystery with a little digging in his backyard. he found a woman's wedding rings that she lost 33 years ago. >> i was just sitting right there, watching the kids play if the dirt. ryan walks up and said, mommy i found your ring. i said, thank you. i didn't think anything of it. and he goes, you want the other one? i'm like, yeah, sure. >> reporter: the home's original owners lost the rings while gardening. the retired teachers plans to

get the rings repaired in time for her 50th anniversary. for the digger here, he got a $50 reward. a stolen volkswagen van has finally been found and it took just 35 years. customs agents found it in a shipping container in a los angeles port last month. the company shipping the blue van did not know it was stalin, but it was taken from an auto shop in spokane, washington, back in 19 4. a customs official says it was probably worth a few hundred bucks back then, now worth about $27,000. lebron james has done it almost done it all. all while living in cleveland. now, imagine if he moved to new york. last night celebrities and nix fans made their -- the soon to

be free agent put on the show. a guy all up in his grill, no problem, three-pointer. he says later, yeah, better luckett next time. i don't think so. and the pass, the assist, the cavs get the win on the road. james didn't attend the victory parade for his baseball team. a ticker tape pa rad. more than a million fans turning out in brisk weather. first world series title in nine years and the team's record 27th overall. that cy young winner facing a misdemeanor marijuana charge could have a deal in place. it's reported that tim lincecum will pay a fine for possession of a marijuana pipe, with officials dismissing the charge of possession. jose canseco made top list of ex-athletes who won't go

away. the 6'4", 250-pound slugger won his first exhibition match. when asked who else he would like to fight, he immediately called out alex rodriguez, calling a-rod, quote, a lying idiot. this back to the whole steroid issue. don't count on seeing that fight anytime soon. a-rod doesn't need the cash. that's sports. one idea from science fiction may actually be closer to a reality. investors successfully tested a version of a space elevator yesterday in california. the idea is a way to send people into space without the cost and risk of launching rockets. instead, spacecraft would climb up a cable that would stretch all the way to space. seattle researchers won $900,000 in prize money from nasa, but it's unclear whether space elevators can ever work.

a popular car manufacturer is recalling almost 4 million of i vehicles. clark howard ha has details that could keep you safe on the road. >> now i hope everything in america that has a toyota or lexus has checked to see if your vehicle is one of the ones affected by one of the oddsest recalls of all time. >> a guy claimed he was too fat to kill his former son-in-law. that was his defense in court for more than a month. the jury finally weighs in.

one of the cops credited with taking down the ft. hood gunman is becoming a hero on twitter. as more reports came out about her playing a key role in ending the ft. hood massacre, her

twitter followers raised to 1,500. she was wounded in the shootout and said to be in stable condition. many people are leaving her tweets wishing a speedy recovery. the number of u.s. banks that failed this year climbed to 120. they've all been taken over by other banks so people can keep using checks and debit card, but they were based in california, michigan, minnesota and missouri. a federal fund to cover failed banks is running low. a florida jury has convicted a man who said he was too fat to kill. jurors rejected his lawyer's claims that he was too fat to run up a flight of stairs to shoot his former son-in-law.

edward ates wade over 200 pounds at the time. his lawyer plans to appeal the murder conviction. the suspect in a shooting spree in florida has been charged with first-degree murder. he was arrested a few hours of the incident. police say he surrendered and apologized. the company said he worked there until he was fired for poor performance two years ago. police say he blamed the firm for having trouble receiving unemployment benefits. the recent race in iowa ended in a tie, but that's the first twist. now the mayor's wondering why they bothered having an election at all. >> reporter: 224 people did their civic duty on tuesday night.

in a small church they voted. two days later they still have no idea who will be mayor. >> excitement in st. charles, this is pretty exciting. >> reporter: at what happened to be a hard-fought campaign -- >> i voted for joen, i think she's done some great things for the community. smith, because they're pretty much associated with the cub scouts tinchts neck and neck, 112 for brown, 111 for smith, that was until this afternoon. >> we do solemnly swear. >> one group take one carefully kept absentee ballot out of the lockbox and open it. >> the rote is for dennis smith. >> now it's a tie. the mystery will remain an the race will be decide the old-fashioned way.

>> what they did was put a name in the hat and drew out a name, is what they did. >> our thanks for amanda lewis. and two more votes could have helped settle the election, but they were labeled spoiled and tossed out. the ft. hood shootings have some soldiers on edge right now. >> fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are looking at their muslim com rats and are worried, more skeptical. >> hear how muslims fear a backlash.

while communities all over texas hold vigils for the people killed, authorities are trying to find a motive for the rampage. >> enough of this sort of political correctionness. >> muslim leaders react to the killings and some go far beyond condemning the crime. what they say might surprise you. if health care reform was the finish line, today to touch off the final sprint. president obama has to convince democrats to go along. welcome to hln. i'm natasha curry. thanks for spending part of your weekend with us. cand candlelight vigils took place

yet for those killed in the shooting. nidal hasan, is among the two dozen people still in the hospital. he is said to be in critical but stable condition. one of the cops credited with ending the massacre is also said to be in stable condition. her partner described what it was like as both officers fired shots. >> when i seen he was standing there, when i ordered him to drop his weapon, i didn't find myself -- he raised his weapon, fired, we both took cover. he went around one side of the building. as i started to go after him, the bytappeders said he came around, and that's when i seen him again. i ordered him to drop his weapons, and he said fire a couple more rounds, and he fell, i went up and secured his weapon. >> we're now starting to learn more about the people who were

killed at ft. hood. the sister of specialist jason hunt told or sister network cnn that his brother spent his 21st birthday in iraq and joined the military to be part of something greater than himself. >> leila, you can expect someone in the aempl, goes to iraq, you're hardened for the worst, but you certainly never expect him to die at his base. >> i just want to say that because it didn't happen overseas or didn't happen in a combat situation doesn't make him any less a hero, because my brother was the kind of person to jump in front of a bullet for somebody, and i feel like -- i don't know the details, but i know my brother. i know he was very brave in this situation. last night the bodies of the 13 people killed at ft. hood were flown to the military mortuary at dover air force base. the flag-covered coffins and army civilian employ wee were transferred through a ramp ceremony.

the commander called the ceremony truly moving. smut harshest criticism is coming from other muslims. some not only condemn the crime, they also say they're okay have having more extensive background checks of muslims in the military. >> i don't take offense. i say you know what, i need to fix this problem. it's better to find that out at this stage rather than discover it when the person becomes a major and kills 13 brave soldiers. >> those muslim leaders in arizona say their faith is being hijacked by fanatics and something must be done from radical sects from spreading. because we are hln, we're going to cover the rest of the day's top stories as well. president president obama trying to close the deal on health care reform with fellow democrats, making a last-minute appeal to get them to support the bill.

democrats are struggling to get in enough votes even though they have a strong house majority. they even increased that majority yesterday when they swore in bill owen. he just won a special election in upstate new york. >> no federal funds used to pay for abortions. that means no federal funds used to pay for abortions in the public option, no public funds for people receiving subsidies on the exchange. >> reporter: or your vote is no? >> right. they agreed to add tougher restrictions to the bill. democratic officials are now optimistic they have lined up enough votes. all republicans are expected to oppose the bill. police shot and wounded a person of interest in the killing of a seattle cop on halloween. a police spokesman says that officers went to check a car that looks similar to the one seen right after the killing, and when they approached a man,

he pulled a gun, so detectives shot him. a seiges hospital says he was critically injured and had surgery last night. yesterday thousands of people attended the memorial for the late officer timothy brenton. he was shot in his car after a traffic stop. a computer error yesterday morning $189 million was withdrawn from retirement funds by mistake. many retired teachers are worried about getting through the weekend window any money, but a spokesman for the bank says most of the money will be returned by today and the rest should be in accounts by monday. take a look at this ferocious fire in massachusetts. look at the flames here. exploding chemicals shot debris into the air, making thinks tough for fire crews. at one point the roof caved in.

the building's maintenance man says sometimes homeless people camp inside the building. there were no reports of any injuries. all right. it's the weekend, you want to enjoy the weather, right? but tropical storm ida may make it tough for some of you. >> it's been really a quiet year for us, tropicalwise until the last couple days. we're talking about ida, which was a pretty powerful storm, had some interaction with the land in nicaragua and honduras, now moving into the far western corner, and gaining a bit of strength. we see some deep convection right here in the center. the thing is this storm is expected to strengthen, still saying as a tropical storm, but the latest path has the storm moving to the north and right between cancun, the uk tan peninsula and moving into the gulf of mexico.

now, if you happen to live along the gulf coast, i would certainly by advised to keep a sharp eye on this. however, there isn't a single forecast that brings it onshore. it may die down atogether wow making landfall. plenty of sunshine for the northeast, highs in the 50s. same deal back in memphis, 74, 76 in las vegas, 87 in phoenix, 63 in san francisco, and 69 in atlanta. that is a wrap on your forecast. i'm reynolds wolfe for hln. it was a dirty job, but a 33-year-old mystery has been solved. >> she said i think i have something that belongs to you, and you know, immediately it gnash through my mind what it was. i couldn't believe it. >> a long-lost treasure that a little boy found.

i just around the corner, the busiest travel days. >> this outlook will be different. we can expect that prices will be lower this year than last, which is great news for consumers. >> in order to get a cheaper flight travel on an off day. >> you can sign up for things like faesh alerts which will automatically e-mail you.

one of cops credited with taking down the ft. hood gunman is becoming a hero on twitter. she had only a few followers on her site, but as more information came out, her twitter followers reached 1,500. munley was wounded in the shootout and said to be in stable condition. many are thanking her and wishing her a speedy recovery. keep it here for our continued coverage of the shooting investigation. a 3-year-old boy has solved a mystery with a little digging. he found a woman's wedding rings that she lost 33 years ago. >> i was sitting right there watching the kids play if the dirt like they usually do. and he said, mommy, i found your ring.

he goes, you want the other one? i'm like, yeah, sure. >> the original owners lost the rings while gardening, but the retired teacher was tracked down. th she plans to get the rings repaired in time for her 50th anniversary. a stolen volkswagen van has been finally found. it took just 35 years. customs agents found it in a shipping container in los angeles port last month. the company shipping the blue van did not know it was stolen, but it was taken from an auto shop in spokane, washington, bashes in 1974, a customs official says it was probably worst a few hundred bucks back then, now worth about $27,000. the resume yor's race in iowa ended in a tie. as amanda lewis of our after atreports, now the mayor

wondering why they even bothered to have an electional all. >>? sts charles, 224 people did that civic on tut night. two days later, they still have no idea who will be mayor. >> excitement in st. charles, we don't get that that often. >> with dueling yard signs and dueling supporters -- >> i voted for joe an. i think she's done some great things for the community. >> smith. because they're pretty much associated with the cub scouts and stuff. >> joan brown and dennis smith. one group take one absentee

ballot out of the lockbox and open it. now it's a tie. the mystery will remain and the st. charles mayor's race will be decided the old-fashioned way. >> what they did was put a name in the hat and drew out a name. that's what they did. >> our thanks to amanda lewis for that report. two more votes could have settled the election, but they were labeled spoiled and tossed out. i'm larry smith. somebody asked me this week how many bills onthe yankees have spent since the last title. i'm not sure, but i know it's almost $2 billion alone on that new stadium and three pricey flee agents, but it was worth it, right in? honored with the parade on friday, the players got keis to the city and of course they all talked about winning another title next year.

as the yankees starts and celebrities showed lebron james. look at that. everyone's gathered around just to say hi, who was doing this to spike lee's nix. s james already the most famous yankee fan not in new york, abusing the home team. a jordan-we'ring adidas? that's like george foreman cooking on a weber grill. he couldn't imagine anything but wearing daddy's nikes. little mj refused to war the home chutes. shoe-gate has made it the number one team to never have won -- do you want to get suspended from your team? do something like this. elizabeth lambert has bench for

doing stuff like this. i mean, really? in case you're wondering, this is all in one game. she later apologized, saying her access were uncalled for. you think? that's sports.

we have video from c-span that appears to show suspect nidal hasan at a lecture earlier this year. keep in mind cnn has not confirmed it is him at the center of the screen here, but this video from from george washington university, israel's ambassador and other officials were talking about the gaza incursion. we have not confirmed it is in fact him. keep it here on hln for the latest on the ft. hood shooting investigation. ened the number of u.s. banks that failed this year just climbed to 120. five more banks went under yes. they've all been taken over by other banks, but those five

bangs were based in california, michigan, minnesota and missouri. a federal fund to cover failed banks is running low. a florida jury has convicted a man who said he was too fat to kill. jurors rejected his lawyer's claims that he was too fat to run up a flight the stairs. the 40-year-old victim was in a custody battle with ates' daughter. his lawyer plans to appeal the conviction. a suspect has been charged with first-degree murder. he was arrested a few hours after the incident. witnesses say he shot and killed one person and wounded five others at an engineering firm. the company says he was fired for poor performance two years ago.

police say he blame the firm for having trouble receiving unemployment benefit. do you ever wonder what bot and so on when we're all through with them? unfortunately, they don't just disappear. an environmental researcher talked about the problems it's causing for today's eco solutions report. >> the pervasiveness of the small material, plastic does not bio degrade. most of it does not. but it photo degrades. and that means that uv influence on the plastic when it comes to larger pieces which can be many things, they are just household items and they find their way into the ocean into this middle where the currents are basically swirling in in the middle of the pacific, all of the debris gets

broken down by the sun and gets into smaller and smaller pieces. and when you look out over the water, it looks beautiful. when you look down, you see all of these particles as if an airplane came and just spread plastic debris across the entire surface and it's not that thick. but it's pervasive everywhere we went. >> and was that one of the things that you found, you were holding a plastic container? is that one of the things thaw found? >> that's right. this was some of the material that is about a millimeter two, millimeters in size, and this was found in all of our samples with life and sometimes it was not. this was the problem that, unfortunately, has been stuck under our radar in the last 40 years when plastic has really expanded in terms of its use on the planet. and you might think when it comes off of the beach it goes into never ever land but unfortunately it is floating out there somewhere and this is what

we're trying to raise awareness about. >> and for more problems caused by waste products, check our website at cnn.com/ecosolutions. n

ways that you can make more out of your dough. you give me this next half hour, and you're going to smile all the way to the bank. i embarked on a new mission, helping you save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped

off. your money expert, clark howard. >> the new stats on the housing market were absolutely atrocious. for the third quarter of this year, foreclosures hit an all-time record. but, wait, it gets worse. if you wait in the pipeline of what is coming in terms of people already delinquent on their homes, wow, we're going to have a really, really rough time with the housing market in 2010. because instead of it being lower priced home, it's homes at all price levels. you know what that means? great opportunity for you as a buyer and it's only going to get better, especially through the winter. so i'm looking forward to seeing this first one. it looks really nice from the

curb. >> wow, these people beat the dale lights out of this place, where right here this for mika is damaged. it makes a bad impression, looks all of, but this is so inexpensive to repair. we built so much more than we really need. what do you think is going on here? people are taking the grease and pouring them on the carpets. >> it's a great price point, especially for a first-time home buyer. you don't have to do a lot of work. >> this is not a real handyman

special. this one is a good buy. they are doing a good job of taking care of the property. i bet the family that was here spent all of their time right on this area right here. i'll be right here with my big screen tv watching the nfl. you know, when i lived in the north, i had a bed the size of this closet here. if you look at distressed sales in the neighborhood, it's priced just about right. but compared to not distressed prices, this one is a deal.

this one is very well maintained. this one is not looking so hot. this one right here looks like termite damage here. look at these windows. this is either termite, water damage, or a combination of the two. well, actually, it's not as bad as inside so far as it was outside. oh, it's not looking so good back there. wow. i don't think you'd have a better representation of the heartbreak that mortgage meltdown has. this ain't bad. and the bathroom is not looking

so good. let's go upstairs and see what we've got. uh-oh. danger. we have serious water damage here. let me see. there's been real water damage here and the tiles are just trying to cover it up and more water damage up above my head. this would be one that you'd want to watch and wait for and be willing to use a lot of elbow greecas grease. if this was smellivision, you'd be smelling the mold of the dampness down here. hide the children.

no. what in the world is this? what were they doing? look at the mold. was i telling the truth? this is something that would tell me this house is more trouble than i could handle. so there is both truth and when is something a real deal versus fair market value in the nand and the cost that it will take to you do the repairs of that house that it requires and are you up to those repairs? i can tell you, i'm not. >> i'd like to learn a lot of things from the money coach. i want to learn how to be smart with my money, how to make it work for me. >> the best cd rate that i could

find is 2.2. and i'm considering buying $300,000 worth of gold. >> wow. that's a huge amount of gold to own.

how are you kog, doing, bob? >> great. >> caller: i'm thinking about t i'll give you a brief outline. i'm 78 years old. i own five pieces of real estate, three of them are rental houses. and i have eight cds and $100,000 each.

i'm considering the best cd rate i could find is 2.2. i'm considering buying $300,000 worth of gold. >> wow. that's a huge amount of gold to own. generally when people want to own gold or precious metals, it is 10% of your assets is gold and based on what you just told me, owning somewhere like 80,000 in gold would be appropriate. but owning $300,000 in gold would be too much of your assets tied up in something that is very volatile and has significant risk over time. >> all right. >> but if you're going buy gold, i would like to you buy something that is kind of like a

mutual fund of gold, known as an etf, exchange traded fund. it's the kind of gold you should buy. research this term. gold etf fund. because a gold etf allows you to own without you paying big fees to buy and sell it. but i would be careful taking too much of that low-earning cd money and throwing it into gold because that would also prove to be very risky. michael is with us. hello, michael. >> hi, clark, how are you? >> caller: great. thank you. >> i understand that you are ill recently. are you feeling better? >> caller: yes. last month i had to go to an emergency room for flu symptoms

and i paid the bill, left, everything was fine. then i get about a month later i receive another bill for doctor services. and is this normal? because i asked when i left the hospital what my total was. they gave me a total amount and i paid it and now i received another bill. i didn't have any lab work or anything like that. it was basically just a doctor visit. >> so you will have, in your case, they didn't do any culture or anything to try to confirm that you have this, that, or the other? >> no. they just asked me for my symptoms, she wrote a prescription, and i left. >> so if you got a bill from the hospital and then the bill from the doctor, you're surprised it should be over. do you have insurance? >> i didn't at the time because i just started a new job. >> so when the hospital bills you initially, they bill you at full retail and then the

attending physician bills you at full retail as well. did you know that? >> no, i didn't. >> all right. give me a for instance. when is this doctor bill that they charged? >> caller: $245 and initially i paid $200 to the hospital. >> all right. the $245 is fall retail list price. and nobody pays full retail list. what you should do is you should contact the doctor and see -- say, under your plan and whatever that is, that would be a reasonable amount for to you pay. >> by now i hope everybody in america has a toyota or a lexus made between 2004 and 2010 has

checked to see if your vehicle is affected by one of the oddest recalls of all time. 4 million vehicles were recalled because the driver floor mat could cause you to be in a wreck? it's so simple. pull out the floor mat on the driver's side and let your car get dirty. the shocker is, most of the time when there's a recall involving serious safety stuff, people don't respond and don't take their trucks to the dealers. i want you to take care, especially if it's steering, something like that, there's a website that you could learn what's going on with your car, autosafety.org. check it out. next on clark howard -- >> is it a credit card that you already had or is it a brand-new

one out of the blue that you heard from that somebody was pretending to be you? >> it's about ten of them so far. >> no, really? >> really.

>> caller: are approximate my biggest concern is that i'm ill-prepared for the future, meaning tomorrow and the next day. i'm just afraid that i'll continue on the cycle of destruction as far as finances go. i would like to start saving for

retirement and other big expenses. i worked for a big company in my last job and i automatically contributed. so since then, which is about five years ago, i haven't contributed anything. my question is, as a single 30-year-old, how do i start preparing for the future, for things like family and retirement? >> ashley, ashley, ashley, five years you haven't been saving any money? don't break my heart that way. you've got to get cooking with this. now, because you' you're self-employed, you have a wonderful s.e.p., simplified employee pension. it's very flexible in terms of how much money you can contribute to it. you can do it with no-commission companies and that will take care of one half of what you need to do. the other thing was more ill-defined. saving for a family. well, for that, simple savings

will do. every month i want you to automatically deposit money into a savings account to start building up a cushion for whatever near term needs you might have for dough. and as for you, it's always a juggling act. trying to figure out what to do with limited resources where your money should go. your first dollar of savings should go into tax-advantage savings. next thing, you do the roth account and then after that you save for other things like, well, a kid's college education. daniel, how are you doing? >> caller: i'm good. how are you? >> good. when did you get this duplicate personality? >> caller: i found out about it this week. >> so what we're talking about here is somebody has flattered you in a way that nobody wants to be flattered.

>> caller: that is correct. >> they have become your cologne? >> caller: that is correct. >> and is it one person or -- >> caller: it's about ten of them so far? >> no. >> caller: really. and they are opening up credit cards under my person. >> so this individual has been a human wrecking crew and they have already -- think about all of the effects here. they have trashed your credit score because suddenly you have all of these new lines of credit that have been opened everywhere that you had nothing to do with. what solves the problem and you're even allowed to do this up front in all 508 stat states

freeze your credit fund. once you freeze your credit, which you can go online and you can freeze all three of your credit file, bam. >> uh-huh. >> from that second forward, nobody will be able to apply for credit as if you are you. you stop them cold 100% in their tracks. you have an identity theft victim, you have access to copies of your credit reports for free where normally people would only be allowed a single free copy of a report a year. you have extra rights because you've already been wronged. and in most states when you actually need legitimate access to credit, you'll be able to temporarily thaw your credit for free as well. so it gives you the peace of mind that you are not going to have right now until do you freeze your credit. next on clark howard -- >> have you ever been to australia before? >> i have no, no.

>> it's a fun, fun, fun trip. >> are you going to drive? i don't mean to there but once you get there, are you going to drive?

today on the clark howard show, you're going to learn how to stay out of harm's way of identity theft. that's just one way you'll learn how to fatten your wallet. you give me this next half hour, i'll tell you how to be your own boss. ever since i can remember, i've been fascinated by money, making it, saving it, studying it. by the time i was 31, i had earned enough to retire. so i embarked on a new mission, helping you take care of your money so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.

i'm not from the fbi, but i'm here to help you. there's a new warning from the fbi about a hot, hot scam working where you get an e-mail that pretends to be either from the fbi or the department of homeland security with a claim that there's information there that you might be interested in. what kind of information? there are several versions. one of them says that it's a confidential fbi report on new patterns and al qaeda financing. another one says, weapons of mass destruction directory. that just gives you an example of what kind of things are floating out there and what happen if you open one of these e-mails or you get a virus on the computer? and what are the criminals going to do with that? they are going to try to take over your bank account. they will have access to all of your passwords and the rest. these are known as trojan and key hogger programs.

the key to this is the fbi is not sending these. you've got to be smart about any e-mail that you receive and ever opening any attachment. now, how can i help you out of harm's way? what's your question for me? aaron is with us. erin, how are you? >> caller: hey, i'm hoping that you'll help me keep my sanity and i'll be okay. >> tell me how i can be of service. >> caller: my husband and i are one of those unfortunate people that are upside down on our home now and from listening to your show as advice of friends, we learned about refinancing our mortgage company and in april we started the process with our then mortgage company. we got approved and two days later a new mortgage company called and said, we bought your

loan so they immediately faxed in all of the 60 pages of paperwork and three weeks ago we got approved and literally the next day the mortgage company called and said, we can't continue with the loan modification. even though you've been approved, because we're sending your loan as of november the 1st. >> are you fannie or freddie? is it owned by fannie mae or freddie mac? >> no, sir. >> you're not? >> no. so your loan has a modification and amazing three twice, this story that you're telling me, twice you've within approved and each time the rug has been pulled out from under you? >> yes, sir. >> here's what you do. go to the website nfcc.org. let me repeat that.

nfcc.org. and then you're going to put in your zip code and then it will take you to the closest national housing counselor. and with their help, hopefully you'll be able to get these things moving for you and your family so you can keep your home. steve, you are headed to retimplt. congratulations to you. >> well, clark, i appreciate that. i'm just weighing it off right now. i've been either -- i don't know if it's once a year or twice a year. social security sends you and statement and says you have so many credits based on -- it shows the credit so many years and if you retire at 62, you're approximately this. if you retire at first

retirement, i was wondering if you know or have any idea how accurate those numbers are. >> credit. >> caller: okay. >> those are very accurate because as you get close to retirement, they are almost right on the money. >> caller: well, then i'm unpleasantly surprised. >> so that's nothing to worry about. your social security check is going to be fine if you're getting close to that stage. >> well, in february i turn 62. i'm just trying to figure out, of that check, if i keep working versus if i take something part time, my wife works part time, i could get by on part time. >> do it. >> well, i just -- now, i'm talking -- sometimes i talk in not absolutes and sometimes i hem and haw. i will tell you that you will smile so long through your retirement years if you defer taking that social security

check at 62. keep working part time and build up more credits and then ultimately take your social security. if you're capable of working, you will generate longer social security the longer you take it and you will earn money when you are capable rather than what happens to so many people when they get older and they won't be able to work but they need the money. >> next on clark howard -- >> when i logged in, the website asked for my bank, routing number, and then my user i.d. and password to my bank account. and that's where i immediately stopped. >> if she knows about the money and she turns out not to be responsible -- >> i hope not. >> i can't keep her from taking the money and blowing it. >> okay. >> so try to keep it quiet. this money is there.

do you have a question for me? go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. post your question for me. if you do so, you could be right here on money coach where you can ask me your question about your wallet. we're going to meet somebody right now who has a question for me about whether or not something that i've talked about is really safe to do.

it's time to meet sasha. >> caller: hi, i want to do a budget because i want to know where the money is going. there's not any extra and if we do need extra, it's put on a credit card and that's what i'm trying to get away from. i heard of this on the clark howard show or in the paper. mint.com is a place to go to prepare a personal budget. you log in, create a personal i.d., and when i logged in, they asked for my bang number, my routing number and then my user i.d. and password to my bank account and that's where i immediately stopped and ah, you can't do this. my question is, is it safe website to go to when preparing a personal budget. >> i do use mint.com.

you cough up their passwords and if you read their security, they will tell you all of the things that they do to try to keep your information safe. nowhere does it safe if they have a breach that they will cough up your dough if there's a problem. but they do in fact give you an alert that let's you know later that, hey, if there's a big transaction going on in your account, is this okay so that you're able, over time, to monitor what is going on. and speaking of monitoring, for you, if you were trying to track your dough, i would want you to know i love their competitor wysabi.com and because w these sites you can track all of your income, all of your out-go and all of your assets so you're able to see where you can trim expenses, where you need to beef up your savings and your retirement doughcollette is with

us. how are you doing? >> caller: i'm fine. thank you. >> how can i be of service? >> caller: my 9-year-old had an accident in 23006. >> oh, is she okay? >> caller: yes, she is. thank you. we just had a court settlement and i just wanted to ask the best way to save this money for her. >> did the court specify the money for your daughter. >> >> caller: no, just that it has to be for her. >> and how old is she now? >> caller: she's 9. >> what would you like the purpose of the money to be? >> caller: to use it for school or maybe later in life or something like that, flexible. >> caller: >> so pretty far down the road. >> >> caller: yes, yes, yes. >> and the total amount that you have after taxes?

>> caller: it's 17,250. >> most often what happens when somebody gets a settlement like this is the lawyer who negotiated it for you will try to hook you up with an insurance person who will then sell an annuity for your daughter and what i prefer instead is that because your daughter is only 9 and the longer term nature is that you look at putting the money into a mutual fund for your daughter and in her case there is one in particular that i would like you to look at that is that is known as a tax management portfolio. what that will do is put the money into the mix of stocks and bonds and there will be no tax that she will owe in the years up to the point that she's an adult and only at the time that

she would sell would she owe tax but the way it's set up, the tax that she would owe is tiny, tiny, tiny, if any, at the time that she would need access to the money. next on clark howard -- >> caller: we're looking at these self-directed i.r.a.s that supposedly you can put real estate in them. >> well, that is something that just freaks me out. that is such a smart way to handle car buying because it means that you will never owe more on the car than what it's worth. and it means you will own it free and clear without any monthly payment for years and years and years.

ed is with us. how are you? >> caller: good. how are you? >> wonderful, thank you. >> caller: i need your advice in an area that is a little bit confusing. >> okay. >> caller: and that's self-directed i.r.a.s. my wife and i accumulated a little bit of money. we had them in cds and they are

not paying much right now. >> the money in the i.r.a., is it money that you're going to need to live on in the next few years, ten yearings, 20, or never. >> caller: yes, we want to live on the money in the i.r.a. >> starting when? >> caller: well, we're looking at these self-directed i.r.a.s, you know, that supposedly you can put real estate in them. >> well, that is something that just freaks me out. >> caller: okay. they are scary. >> what are you doing in terms of real estate? are you thinking of owning real estate inside of that i.r.a.? >> caller: you know the condo, the kind that you can rent out? >> owning an investment property inside of an i.r.a. really costs you so many ways because real estate is best owned in a

taxable way because there's so many tax advantages to owning an i.r.a. and if you have someone handle the self-directed aspect, if you actively own and manage real estate. >> one, you pay a lyou pay a lo fees with that. there's a way to actually not own and manage and that is, in yourself-direct yourself-directed i.r.a., you can own a real estate mutual fund. if you look at the tax advantages to owning that as a taxable asset, you won't consider any further at all owning that inside of an i.r.a. how are you? >> caller: thanks for taking my call. >> sure. >> caller: i have a question. my husband and i are looking at

buying a new car and the manufacturer has so much going on right now, either you get cash back or no interest for six months and i'm trying to find out what is the better way to go. >> well, there is no one right answer on that because if you were to get zero percent financing versus what you might be able to get at a credit union -- are you a credit union member? >> i am not. but i got preapproved. >> if you compare and have to run the numbers on this, you do an ammortization scale and find out which is the cheaper for you, some of the calculators, you find them available for cars

on edmonds.com. >> caller: okay. >> and then you'll be able to see which exactly of the two alternatives will be cheaper. normally on a short-term loan cycle lining that, with you whichever lending source you found under 4%, you'll usually do better taking the $2,000 off and taking out the low cost loan. and did you know you're a genius? >> caller: i am? >> yes. for taking out a three-year loan. >> caller: oh, thank you. >> if you went back 40 years ago, the only loans people ever took out were three-year car loans. we've gotten away from that but that is such a smart way to handle car buying because it means that you will never owe more on the car than what it's worth. and it means you will own it free and clear without any monthly payment for years and years and years. good for you.

i've had so many calls from people who are just absolutely fit to be tied by the notices they're getting from their credit card companies. credit card companies are racing new legislation that takes full effect in february of next year that restricts when a credit card company can raise interest rates on you, and when they can change terms and conditions on you as well. now they have to give you longer notices. that's already happened. but what kind of things are credit card companies doing in advance? well, number one, they're switching how your interest rate is calculated on your credit card, moving from fixed rate offerings to variable rates. why is that significant to you? well, here's the deal. the rate that the variables work off of is something known as the prime rate. prime rate's extra low right now. when the prime rate rises, your interest rate will rise on your credit card can as well. how do you fight back against a changing interest rate? pay off your balances. they can't charge you.

>> next -- >> even if it means you have to delay finishing school for awhile until you saved up money, pay with cash, do not under any conditions take out private student loans because they are the most miserable experience. @

a local muslim leader says he talked with the suspected shooter in the ft. hood tragedy. what he said about major nidal hasan's state of mind. the suspect in friday's deadly shooting rampage in orlando makes his first court appearance. we'll talk to someone who witnessed the chaos from her apartment balcony. and the "uss new york" commissioned today. it hasn't sailed its first mission yet but it's already got a piece of history on board that pays tribute to the 9/11 victims. you're watching hln. i'm jennifer westhoven. we start with the shooting tragedy at ft. hood, texas. here's what we know. a local muslim leader says in a recent conversation with major

nidal hasan he seemed almost incoherent. he said hasan never expressed anger toward the army but said something didn't seem right about him. investigators say hasan fired more than 100 rounds from two hand guns yesterday. 13 people were killed. two dozen of the 38 people wounded are still in the hospital. many are in intensive care. hasan, who was shot four times by a police officer, has been taken to brook army medical center in san antonio. he's in critical but stable condition and is under heavy guard. the flag-draped remains of the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed thursday were flown to dover air force base in delaware last night. autopsies are being done there. it's not clear whether religion played any part in the ft. hood attack. muslim leaders are speaking up and they're among the harshest critics of the alleged gunman, nidal hasan. some not only condemn the crime, they also say they are okay with having more extensive background

checks of muslims in the military. >> i don't take offense. i say that you know what, that's a challenge. i need to fix this problem. my goodness, it's better to find that out at this stage rather than to discover it when the person becomes a major and kills 13 brave soldiers. >> those muslim leaders in arizona say their faith is being hijacked by fanatics and say something must be done to prevent radical sects from spreading. president obama says people should be patient and not jump to conclusions about what prompted the attack at ft. hood. in his weekly radio and internet address, he said with the veterans day holiday next week, the country should take time to remember exactly who makes up the armed forces. >> they are americans of every race, faith and station. they are christians and muslims, jews and hindus and nonbelievers. they are descendents of immigrants and immigrants themselves. they reflect the diversity that makes this america. but what they share is a patriotism like no other.

what they share is a commitment to country that has been tested and proved worthy. what they share is the same unflinching coverage, unblinking compassion, and uncommon camaraderie that soldiers and civilians of ft. hood showed america and showed the world. >> he also said the training designed to keep u.s. forces safe while on active duty prevented further deaths during the rampage. the suspect in the shooting at an orlando office tower made his first appearance in court today. in a brief hearing, the judge found probable cause for the arrest of 40-year-old jason rodriguez. rodriguez was ordered held without bond. he's charged with first degree murder. witnesses say he shot and killed one person and wounded five others at an engineering firm. the company says he worked there until he was fired for poor performance two years ago. police say he blamed the firm for having trouble getting unemployment benefits. one of our i-reporters had a

unique perspective on the orlando shooting from the balcony in her apartment, high above the action. she was right there. here by phone is heather pallett. thanks for joining us. what was that like for you? you're looking out, you see all these police, all these emergency vehicles. were you scared? what was it like? >> caller: at first i was really scared, because i had no idea what was going on. i had just woken up and i opened the blinds and there was, you know, 50, 100 rescue teams and it was very scary when i did not know what was going on. when i found out later what was going on, i wasn't that scared. i was actually probably more protected than anybody else. i was surrounded by s.w.a.t. team and secret service. >> and you found out by watching tv, is that right? so you were watching it outside and watching it on the television at the same time? >> caller: yep. i opened the blinds and saw that there was all the policemen and

i turned on the tv. as i was calling my boyfriend. and i was watching the live interviews that were being conducted five stories below me on tv. i was standing out on my balcony watching the live report on tv as well as the live broadcasts on the ground. >> and did you know anyone who was there who was involved, who works there? >> caller: i didn't. honestly, i didn't even know that company existed. there's a bunch of different companies in that one building and i've never even been in the building. but you know, i look at it every single day. >> wow. yeah. so that's the story that's really right home with you. and i mean, how long did you -- were you in your apartment for a long time, were you able to get in and out? >> caller: i was on lockdown. i woke up about 12:15 and i was already on lockdown. i don't know -- i think everything started happening maybe 15, 20 minutes before i woke up, so when i woke up, i was on lockdown and i was on

lockdown for about two more hours after that. and even late last night, 9:00, i got home from the store, there was still policemen out there, reporters, big tv towers, so it just -- it did not end. >> all right. heather, thank you so much for sharing with us your experience of you from right there, right near that orlando shooting. thank you, heather. >> caller: thank you. if you've got pictures or video of breaking news or maybe just a great story from your part of the world, send them to us and share them. click the upload link at i-report.com and you'll find everything you need to know to send in your stories. president obama went to capitol hill today to personally lobby for the health care bill. a vote could come can as early as today in the house. the white house says president obama wants house democrats to keep the ball rolling on one of his key domestic priorities. he's already won the support of some congressional democrats who

say the health care situation is a problem that must be fixed soon. >> we simply cannot afford to maintain the status quo. those who continue to resist a much-needed change in our health care system are refusing to deal with the problems and they won't go away if we ignore them. >> meanwhile, the gop is sharpening its attacks on the president's plan in a last-ditch effort to derail it. so far, congressional republicans are standing united in their opposition. >> not only does the pelosi health care plan raise taxes and increase spending, it will vastly grow the size and power of the federal government, taking more and more of our freedoms away. the pelosi health care plan proposes the creation of more than 110 new bureaucracies, boards, commissions or programs. more taxes, more spending and more government is not the plan for reform the people support. >> in the gop's weekly address, mississippi governor barbour called for the plan to be

withdrawn and reworked. barbour said if it passes, the bill would clobber small businesses and hurt job growth. health experts say obesity is a major problem in the u.s. but has it also become a legal defense? a man claimed he was too fat to kill his former son-in-law, and that was his defense in court for more than a month. well, now the jury finally weighs in.

the navy commissioned its newest battleship today. the bow on the "uss new york" was forged from steel made from the world trade center. just before it was commissioned, secretary of state hillary clinton and new york governor david paterson unveiled a memorial to the heroes of september 11th. the memorial is also made of steel from the trade center. the firefighter who suggested the idea using steel from the twin towers to make the battleship says he got emotional the first time he saw it. >> i was driving through

northrop grummond's yard, i was going to the commissioning. the hair was up on the back of my head. i was shaking. just to see that ship and know how much it meant to not only me, but the nation, it's finally some of what we lost returns and it's very, hopefully for the family members of everybody that lost and the rescue crews down there, it's a healing. it's finally some of what we lost returns. i hope they all feel the same way i do. >> scott keion helped the september 11th rescue efforts. he runs the website ussnew york.com, an online tribute to the new battleship. it's also a day to remember in pennsylvania. today in shanksville, they are breaking ground on the permanent 9/11 memorial for the victims of united flight 93. you remember flight 93 was the one that crashed in a field on september 11th. 130,000 people visit that site every year. organizers plan to officially open the memorial on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in 2011.

police shot and wounded a man as they were investigating the killing of a seattle cop on halloween. a police spokesman says officers went to check a car that looked similar to the one that was seen right after the killing. when they approached a man, he pulled a gun. so detectives shot him. a seattle hospital says he was critically injured and had surgery last night. yesterday, thousands of people attended a memorial for the late officer, timothy brenton. he was shot in his car after a traffic stop. a new jersey jury has convicted a man who said he was too fat to kill. jurors rejected his lawyer's claims that he was too fat to run up a flight of stairs and shoot his former son-in-law. he weighed 285 pounds at the time. the 40-year-old victim was in a custody battle with his daughter. the lawyer plans to appeal the murder conviction. take a look at these pictures. a ferocious fire in massachusetts tore through an abo abandoned paper mill, causing

the roof to cave in, shot debris into the air and made things tough for fire crews. the building's maintenance man says homeless people sometimes camp inside the building. no word on what caused the fire and at this point, no reports of any injuries. it was a dirty job but a 33-year-old mystery has been solved. >> she said i think i have something that belongs to you. and you know, immediately it flashed through my mind that's what it was. i couldn't believe it. >> the long-lost treasure found by a little boy digging in his backyard.

one of the cops credited with taking down the ft. hood gunman is becoming a hero on twitter. early yesterday, sergeant kim munley had a few followers on the site but as the news came out about her role in stopping the ft. hood massacre, hundreds of people signed up to follow her on twitter. she was hurt during the shootout. she's in stable condition and many people are leaving her tweets to say thank you and wishing her a fast recovery. the u.s. army says it's seen a flood of support on social

network sites after the ft. hood tragedy. people are adding messages like such a terrible thing to happen to our brothers and sisters in the armed forces. keep the families in your prayers tonight before you lay your head to rest in the comfort of your own home. and, i'm a mother of a soldier in the u.s. army and i want to say my heart goes out to all the victims and their families at ft. hood. my prayers are with you all. an associate editor at facebook says u.s. troops have long used the social networking site to check in with loved ones. >> one of the things that we've seen through the wars in afghanistan and iraq is that deployed soldiers and airmen and sailors are using tools like facebook to stay connected so there's a natural already use of facebook in the military to stay connected with loved ones when they're overseas and now, unfortunately, being used in the same way here at home. >> if you want to add in your voice, say a prayer, add your own comment, go to facebook.com/u.s.army or twitter.com/forthood.

the number of u.s. banks that failed this year just climbed to 120. five more banks went under yesterday. they have all been taken over by or banks so that means if you're a customer, you can keep using your checks and debit cards. it should be very smooth. the five banks were based in california, michigan, minnesota, georgia and missouri. this is the highest number of u.s. bank failures in a year since 1992. the fdic says its fund that protects deposits in banks, it's running low and it will likely be in the red until 2012, but that your money will be kept safe. a price war is on. that's good. this time it's dvds and that's just in time for the holidays. online retailers are slashing prices. walmart got the ball rolling. it said it would sell new dvds online for just $10. well, then amazon slashed its dvd prices to $9.99 and target followed suit. then walmart wanting to get the last word cut prices again to

$9.98. walmart started a similar price war in books last month. a video game coming out this week could be the blockbuster entertainment gift of the holiday season. analysts say "call of duty modern warfare 2" will bring in $1 million in the first week. the game allows you to fight troifrts by shooting your way through a complex series of scenes. the developer says it's like stepping into a movie. go it alone or fight one another by connecting online. "call of duty" goes on sale after midnight tuesday for $60. a popular car maker is recalling almost four million of its top-selling vehicles. get clark smart. clark howard has the details to keep you safe on the road. >> by now, i hope everybody in america who has a toyota or lexus made between 2004 and 2010

has checked to see if your vehicle is one of the ones affected by one of the oddest recalls of all time. four million vehicles approximately recalled because the driver floor mat could cause you to be in an accident and possibly even cause a fatal wreck? it's weird, isn't it? and the remedy, so simple. you pull out the floor mat on the driver's side and you let your carpet get dirty in the car. but most recalls aren't so simple as that. the shocker, though, is that most of the time, even when there's a recall involving serious safety stuff, people don't respond, don't take their cars or trucks to the dealer. i want you to take care of it, especially if it's steering, braking, something like that. there's a website you can learn what's going on with your car, autosafety.org. check it out. i'm clark howard. check me out at cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> check him out. for more great advice, don't miss clark's show today at 4:00

p.m. eastern time. he's going to help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. so you hear a crying baby, or you think you hear a crying baby. scientists hear the language of the baby's parents. research suggests newborns tend to cry in the same speech patterns as their parents' native tongue so the crying of german babies mimics the german language. the crying of french babies mimics the french language. take a listen. the first is a german baby crying. the second, a french baby. you can kind of hear it, right? the german newborn cries in falling melodies. the french baby's cry rises in pitch just like their respective languages. scientists say the research suggests that infants start picking up on some of the elements of language even in the womb. the details of the research are

in the november issue of "the journal of current biology". a stolen vw van was finally found and it only took 35 years? customs agents found it in a shipping container in the los angeles port last month. the company shipping the blue van didn't know it was stolen. it was taken from an auto shop in spokane, washington in 1974. a customs official says it was probably worth a few hundred bucks back then. now, it's worth about $27,000. you know what it's like in the job market. unemployment lines are stretching longer than ever. and the government's been throwing around a lot of numbers. so what do they all mean? well, see how a youtube star found a fun way to try and sort it all out. y8

a local muslim leader says he talked with the suspected shooter in the ft. hood tragedy. what he said about major nidal hasan's state of mind. the suspect in friday's deadly shooting rampage in orlando makes his first court appearance. we'll talk to someone who witnessed the chaos from her apartment balcony. and the "uss new york" commissioned today. it hasn't sailed its first mission yet but it's already got a piece of history on board that pays tribute to the 9/11 victims. you're watching hln. i'm jennifer westhoven. we start with the shooting tragedy at ft. hood, texas. here's what we know. a local muslim leader says in a recent conversation with major nidal hasan he seemed almost incoherent.

he said hasan never expressed anger toward the army but said something didn't seem right about him. investigators say hasan fired more than 100 rounds from two hand guns yesterday. 13 people were killed. two dozen of the 38 people wounded are still in the hospital. many are in intensive care. hasan, who was shot four times by a police officer, has been taken to brook army medical center in san antonio. he's in critical but stable condition and is under heavy guard. the flag-draped remains of the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed thursday were flown to dover air force base in delaware last night. autopsies are being done there. it's not clear whether religion played any part in the ft. hood attack. muslim leaders are speaking up and they're among the harshest critics of the alleged gunman, nidal hasan. some not only condemn the crime, they also say they are okay with having more extensive background checks of muslims in the

military. >> i don't take offense. i say that you know what, that's a challenge. i need to fix this problem. my goodness, it's better to find that out at this stage rather than to discover it when the person becomes a major and kills 13 brave soldiers. >> those muslim leaders in arizona say their faith is being hijacked by fanatics and say something must be done to prevent radical sects from spreading. president obama says people should be patient and not jump to conclusions about what prompted the attack at ft. hood. in his weekly radio and internet address, he said with the veterans day holiday next week, the country should take time to remember exactly who makes up the armed forces. >> they are americans of every race, faith and station. they are christians and muslims, jews and hindus and nonbelievers. they are descendents of immigrants and immigrants themselves. they reflect the diversity that makes this america. but what they share is a patriotism like no other.

what they share is a commitment to country that has been tested and proved worthy. what they share is the same unflinching courage, unblinking compassion, and uncommon camaraderie that soldiers and civilians of ft. hood showed america and showed the world. >> he also said the training designed to keep u.s. forces safe while on active duty prevented further deaths during the rampage. the suspect in the shooting at an orlando office tower made his first appearance in court today. in a brief hearing, the judge found probable cause for the arrest of 40-year-old jason rodriguez. rodriguez was ordered held without bond. he's charged with first degree murder. witnesses say he shot and killed one person and wounded five others at an engineering firm. the company says he worked there until he was fired for poor performance two years ago. police say he blamed the firm for having trouble getting unemployment benefits. one of our i-reporters had a unique perspective on the

orlando shooting from the balcony in her apartment, high above the action. she was right there. here by phone is heather palot. thanks for joining us. what was that like for you? you're looking out, you see all these police, all these emergency vehicles. were you scared? what was it like? >> caller: at first i was really scared, because i had no idea what was going on. i had just woken up and i opened the blinds and there was, you know, 50, 100 rescue teams and it was very scary when i did not know what was going on. when i found out later what was going on, i wasn't that scared. i was actually probably more protected than anybody else. i was surrounded by s.w.a.t. team and secret service. >> and you found out by watching tv, is that right? so you were watching it outside and watching it on the television at the same time? >> caller: yep. i opened the blinds and saw that there was all the policemen and i turned on the tv.

as i was calling my boyfriend. and i was watching the live interviews that were being conducted five stories below me on tv. i was standing out on my balcony watching the live report on tv as well as the live broadcasts on the ground. >> and did you know anyone who was there who was involved, who works there? >> caller: i didn't. honestly, i didn't even know that company existed. there's a bunch of different companies in that one building and i've never even been in the building. but you know, i look at it every single day. >> wow. yeah. so that's the story that's really right home with you. and i mean, how long did you -- were you in your apartment for a long time, were you able to get in and out? >> caller: i was on lockdown. i woke up about 12:15 and i was already on lockdown. i don't know -- i think everything started happening maybe 15, 20 minutes before i woke up, so when i woke up, i was on lockdown and i was on lockdown for about two more hours after that.

and even late last night, 9:00, i got home from the store, there was still policemen out there, reporters, big tv towers, so it just -- it did not end. >> all right. heather, thank you so much for sharing with us your experience of you from right there, right near that orlando shooting. thank you, heather. >> caller: thank you. if you've got pictures or video of breaking news or maybe just a great story from your part of the world, send them to us and share them. click the upload link at i-report.com and you'll find everything you need to know to send in your stories. president obama went to capitol hill today to personally lobby for the health care bill. a vote could come as early as today in the house. the white house says president obama wants house democrats to keep the ball rolling on one of his key domestic priorities. he's already won the support of some congressional democrats who say the health care situation is

a problem that must be fixed soon. >> no bill could ever contain everything that everybody wants or please every constituency in every district. that's an impossible task. but what is possible, what's in our grasp right now, is the chance to prevent a future where every day, 14,000 americans continue to lose their health insurance and every year, 18,000 americans die because they don't have it. >> meanwhile, the gop is sharpening its attacks on the president's plan in a last-ditch effort to derail it. so far, congressional republicans are standing united in their opposition. >> not only does the pelosi health care plan raise taxes and increase spending, it will vastly grow the size and power of the federal government, taking more and more of our freedoms away. the pelosi health care plan proposes the creation of more than 110 new bureaucracies, boards, commissions or programs. more taxes, more spending and more government is not the plan for reform the people support.

>> in the gop's weekly address, mississippi governor barbour called for the plan to be withdrawn and reworked. barbour said if it passes, the bill would clobber small businesses and hurt job growth. health experts say obesity is a major problem in the u.s. but has it also become a legal defense? a man claimed he was too fat to kill his former son-in-law, and that was his defense in court for more than a month. well, now the jury finally weighs in.

the navy commissioned its newest battleship today. the bow on the "uss new york" was forged from steel made from the world trade center. just before it was commissioned, secretary of state hillary clinton and new york governor david paterson unveiled a memorial to the heroes of september 11th. the memorial is also made of steel from the trade center.

the firefighter who suggested the idea using steel from the twin towers to make the battleship says he got emotional the first time he saw it. >> i was driving through northrop grummond's yard, i was going to the commissioning. or the christening. the hair was up on the back of my head. i was shaking. just to see that ship and know how much it meant to not only me, but the nation, it's finally some of what we lost returns and it's very, hopefully for the family members of everybody that lost and the rescue crews down there, it's a healing. it's finally some of what we lost returns. i hope they all feel the same way i do. >> scott keion helped the september 11th rescue efforts. he runs the website ussnew york.com, an online tribute to the new battleship. it's also a day to remember in pennsylvania. today in shanksville, they are breaking ground on the permanent 9/11 memorial for the victims of united flight 93. you remember flight 93 was the

one that crashed in a field on september 11th. 130,000 people visit that site every year. organizers plan to officially open the memorial on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in 2011. police shot and wounded a man as they were investigating the killing of a seattle cop on halloween. a police spokesman says officers went to check a car that looked similar to the one that was seen right after the killing. when they approached a man, he pulled a gun. so detectives shot him. a seattle hospital says he was critically injured and had surgery last night. yesterday, thousands of people attended a memorial for the late officer, timothy brenton. he was shot in his car after a traffic stop. a new jersey jury has convicted a man who said he was too fat to kill. jurors rejected his lawyer's claims that he was too fat to run up a flight of stairs and shoot his former son-in-law. he weighed 285 pounds at the time. the 40-year-old victim was in a custody battle with his

daughter. the lawyer plans to appeal the murder conviction. take a look at these pictures. a ferocious fire in massachusetts tore through an abandoned paper mill, causing the roof to cave in, shot debris into the air and made things tough for fire crews. the building's maintenance man says homeless people sometimes camp inside the building. no word on what caused the fire and at this point, no reports of any injuries. it was a dirty job but a 33-year-old mystery has been solved. >> she said i think i have something that belongs to you. and you know, immediately it flashed through my mind that's what it was. i couldn't believe it. >> the long-lost treasure found by a little boy digging in his backyard.

one of the cops credited with taking down the ft. hood gunman is becoming a hero on twitter. early yesterday, sergeant kim munley had a few followers on the site but as the news came out about her role in stopping the ft. hood massacre, hundreds of people signed up to follow her on twitter. she was hurt during the shootout. she's in stable condition and

many people are leaving her tweets to say thank you and wishing her a fast recovery. the u.s. army says it's seen a flood of support on social network sites after the ft. hood tragedy. people are adding messages like such a terrible thing to happen to our brothers and sisters in the armed forces. keep the families in your prayers tonight before you lay your head to rest in the comfort of your own home. and, i'm a mother of a soldier in the u.s. army and i want to say my heart goes out to all the victims and their families at ft. hood. my prayers are with you all. an associate editor at facebook says u.s. troops have long used the social networking site to check in with loved ones. >> one of the things that we've seen through the wars in afghanistan and iraq is that deployed soldiers and airmen and sailors are using tools like facebook to stay connected so there's a natural already use of facebook in the military to stay connected with loved ones when they're overseas and now, unfortunately, being used in the same way here at home.

>> if you want to add in your voice, say a prayer, add your own comment, go to facebook.com/u.s.army or twitter.com/forthood. a computer error nearly wiped out the bank accounts of 60,000 retired new york city teachers. can you believe that? yesterday morning, $189 million was withdrawn from retirement funds by mistake. many retired teachers are worried about their scheduled payments, how will they get through the weekend with no money. a spokesman for the bank of new york mellon says most of the money will be returned by today, and the rest should be back into teachers' accounts by monday. a price war is on. that's good. this time it's dvds and that's just in time for the holidays. online retailers are slashing prices. walmart got the ball rolling. it said it would sell new dvds online for just $10. well, then amazon slashed its dvd prices to $9.99. and target followed suit.

then walmart, wanting to get the last word, cut prices again to $9.98. walmart started a similar price war in books last month. a video game coming out this week could be the blockbuster entertainment gift of the holiday season. analysts say call of duty, modern warfare 2 will rake in at least half a billion dollars just in its first week. the game is rated m for mature. it lets players fight terrorists by shooting their way through a complex series of scenes. the developer says it's like stepping into a movie. you can go it alone or you can fight one another by connecting online. call of duty goes on sale after midnight tuesday for $60. so you hear a crying baby. or you think you hear a crying baby. scientists hear the language of the baby's parents. new research suggests newborns tend to cry in the same speech patterns as their parents' native tongue so the crying of

german babies mimics the german language. the crying of french babies mimics the french language. take a listen. the first is a german baby crying. the second, a french baby. you can kind of hear it, right? the german newborn cries in falling melodies. the french baby's cries rises in pitch like their respective languages. scientists say the research suggests that infants start picking up on some elements of language even in the womb. the details of the research are in the november issue of the journal "current biology." a lot of businesses hope going green will put them back on the road to success. but one company found out that just being organic by itself is not enough. mary snow looks at how they made their turnaround. >> reporter: it's become a place where hollywood hairstylists

turn to for beauty products but simply organic hair products's rise to fame was less glamorous. its start was near disastrous. these two founded the company in 2001. founded the company in 2001. >> would you put parabens in your salad? so why on your hair. >> it strives to use plant based products as often as possible. >> i had to sell hi house. my car. it got to the point where ever dollar we could make would go back in. >> in 2004 we said we are not going recover unless something dramatic happens. that's when the boys stepped up. >> and step up, they did. their sons decided to take over the business. >> they have taken a beaten down horse and turned it back up into a racehorse.

>> it was definitely nerve racking at the very beginning not knowing where our source of money would come from. >> but the boys partnered with a smaller local manufacturing company. they focussed on the internet. they went beyond hair styling products. >> we literally went from salon to salon, telling our story. >> the result of all the hard work is a growing fan base. >> i was so excited because it was a product line that i actually believed in and also gave me results. >> it also pumped up the bottom line. sales were less than $100,000 when they took over. this year the company is on track to make close to $4 million and the future looks just as promising. >> i see this as being something thatly be passing down to my kids some day and really, truly building an amazing family

business. >> cnn, new york. ynynynynynynynn