all right. checking the time here, it's 7:00. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on today. a hurricane that already made a mess in central america is closing in on the united states. you're going to hear what kind of trouble hurricane ida could be bringing. is there a connection between the fort hood shooting suspect and 9/11 hijackers? no evidence yet but the fbi think there's reason enough to look into that. plus a big question today for the supreme court. what punishment is too harsh for kids who commit crimes? first, though, the u.s. gulf coast is about to get hit by the season's first atlantic hurricane, ida.

a category one storm with 90-mile-an-hour winds. it made a mess in nicaragua and is due to make landfall near the alabama-mississippi state line tomorrow. louisiana already declared a state of emergency. is it just me or does it seem like it's a surprise that it's november and we're just now getting our first storm from the atlantic? >> it is kind of odd. less than 5% of all tropical storms or hurricanes happen in the month of november during a season so it's odd but we're breaking the odds. this is updated within the last minute. winds are down to 80 miles per hour. still a hurricane, category 1, but continues to weaken just a bit. still moving to the north-northwest at roughly 16 miles per hour. it's 330 miles to the south-southwest of pensacola, florida. let me show you the path over the next day, day and a half. we'll continue up towards the florida panhandle, getting back in towards the alabama area. somewhere around that region overnight landfall possibly as a

hurricane, maybe as a strong tropical storm. either way makes a hard bee line to the right and a big hook because of a cold front dragging in some moisture and it's going to get absorbed into that and spread on through the atlantic over the next couple of days. i'll have full details in just a bit. new number, down to 80 miles per hour. that's good news. continues to weaken in just a bit. more in five minutes. >> but that's still a category one. >> yeah. now to the fort hood shootings. 16 of the victims are still in the hospital at this hour. 7 in intensive care. the suspect ed shooter, nid nidal hasan is off a ventilator and investigators are asking for help from anyone that was there because they may have inadvertently left the scene with evidence, like firearm residue or shell casings. meanwhile families at fort hood are trying to cope. private first class joseph foster was shot in the hip during the attack. >> the community came together. you'd have to get a taste of it.

it's like a giant family. when we get -- when anything like this happens, we just get stronger. >> well, amid the stories of heroism, there is the grim reality of what happened after the shootings. >> the part that was probably most troubling was in the event that one of the parents may have been wounded or killed and having a youngster waiting there to be picked up and never getting picked up and not being able to tell the school leadership which ones had been killed and which ones are wounded as we were sorting through that. >> i cannot imagine. meanwhile, the fbi will probably look into whether the suspect, major nidal hasan came into contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers. that's what a law enforcement official tells the associated press. it says the hijackers attended the same virginia mosque where the funeral for hasan's mother was held f may of 2001. also investigators are looking for any ties between hasan and a

radical leader who preached at that mosque. throughout the morning we'll take a closer look at those killed at fort hood. you'll hear some of those stories, who they were in about 15 minutes. the yeas are 220, the nays are 215, the bill is passed. >> health care reform took a big step to reality late saturday night. the house passed its $1.2 trillion by five votes. it does include a government-run plan to compete with private insurers, the so-called public option, but there was a last-minute compromise for conservative democrats. an amendment banning federal funding for abortions. one republican voted for the bill. >> for this decision, even though it was unpopular for my own party, but it was the right decision for my district, so i've always been focusing on

making the right decisions for the people of my district, whether or not it will cost me my political future. >> the senate debate could be much tougher. lindsey graham said the house bill would be dead on arrival in the senate. last week senate majority leader harry reid refused to give a timetable for passing a bill, signalling that he might be having trouble getting enough votes. about 500 people turned out to remember the 11 women found dead at a house in cleveland. they marched with candles after the memorial service to the house where the women were found. anthony sowell lives there. he's accused of murder and rape. one of the seven bodies identified so far is talesha fortson and her mom was there. >> as we stand here in front of this home where they found your daughter, what is that like for you? >> it's hard because i want to burn it down. i really would like to.

it's very hard. i won't look at it. >> reporter: why won't you look at it? >> because i know my baby was in there and she got killed in there. you know, and it's hard. >> again, the man accused in the case is anthony sowell, a registered sex offender. his dna is being entered into the national database to see if he's connected to any unsolved cases so his lawyer requested that he be put on a suicide watch in jail. commuters in philly will have an easier time getting to work this morning. the city's mass transit strike is over. the transit system and its largest union agreed to a new contract overnight ending the six-day strike. about 5,000 workers walked off the job last tuesday over a dispute about pension benefits. the strike affected philly subways, buses and trolleys. let's get another look at hurricane ida and maybe the weather in your backyard this morning. hi, bob. >> good morning to you, robin.

i want to give you the big picture because obviously hurricane ida well take up a lot of our time. it's in the gulf coast. this shield of rain is where the actual hurricane itself. back to the west you can see all the heavy rain across the northern part of the gulf. that's wrapped up with a trough of low pressure but not the same thing but it will be the same result. heavy rain all across the gulf. look at this cold front, that's going to draw everything in an easterly direction the next couple of days. heavy rain all around the gulf of mexico. we have hurricane warnings from are mississippi through indian pass, florida. all the bright red shaded areas, wind warnings inland all across the coast. about a four to six storm surge, four to six feet and that will start overnight tonight. look at the radar picture out of mobile. most of the heavy rain offshore. we'll follow that as it moves inland later this afternoon. rain around new orleans. you can see it there with that trough. back towards houston it's dry, but the rain is still out here. a breakaway shower or two is a

possibility from houston through shreveport. check out the next couple of days. it will really come on strong. the red-shaded areas, that's about four to five inches of rain. i think the highest amount we'll see could close in on eight inches across the north georgia mountains, north carolina mountains too as everything gets absorbed and pulled up out of the gulf and thrown into a coastal storm by the end of the week all the way in towards basically the carolinas. look at all the flash flood watches, the areas shaded in green. back to the west are warnings because of the heavy rain they are currently seeing now. let me take you live to new york -- actually a couple of minutes ago in new york. it's a warm one. southwesterly breeze today, temperature 70 degrees. this was captured just about 20 minutes ago right around sunrise looking very nice. again, 70 and sunny in nyc, enjoy it. more in a bit. >> is it t supposed to be sunny or is that haze? >> it sun wasn't quite up when we got that caption. it will be. >> thank you. appreciate it. we always salute you are

troops. so today it's for specialist cory gafner. his mom says he has a lot of love in his heart and everyone is looking forward to his wedding next september. >> this is angela out of texas. cory's mom of the i want to say that i am so proud of my son moo representing our country. i want to tell my son to stay strong, be safe and i love him very much. >> thank you. if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin so we can salute them. we've got some good news in a bad economy this morning. it's a price war. just for you if you're a movie lover. and a suspected carjacker thought he was pretty tough until he ran into a cagey 9-year-old kid. .

good morning. 11 minutes past the hour. president obama and the first lady will attend a memorial service tomorrow for the victims of the ft. hood shootings. 13 people were killed and we'll share the stories throughout the morning. this is the first time our viewers have been watching and we've been able to know who the victims were and learn about them. for example, specialist fred greene. >> that's right. all special people with special stories. specialist greene was 29 years old with a wife and two small children. friends and family in tennessee called him freddie. they say he grew up in church and knew the bible like the back of his hand. he joined the army just last year after the company where he works shut down. >> many of his fellow soldiers have told us he was the quiet professional of the unit, never

complaining about a job given and often volunteering when needed. >> it's az heart-breaking thing to know he's gone, the way he had to lee this world, but i'm sure he's in a better place. but i hate, you know, it's heart-breaking. >> specialist greene was remembered at his parents' church yesterday, robin, and at a veterans memorial service in his community. >> you know, three women were also among the victims. what have you been able to learn about lieutenant colonel juanita warman. >> she's a 55-year-old and lived in maryland and served as a physician's assistant. she was married with two daughters and six grandchildren. one of them talked about how he felt when he heard that she had been killed. >> i was angry. i think everybody was angry and confused about why it happened and how it happened. now we're just trying to get through it and it's going to take a while. i'm sure it's not going to hit us for weeks or months because right now there's just so much

going on, but it was tough when i found out. it was tough on everybody. >> warman's family told the "pittsburgh post-gazette" that she had only been at ft. hood for 24 hours. she was being processed for deployment to iraq. >> that's got to be so hard to take. rip a richard, thank you so much. the government says that the official unemployment rate is now at about 10%. it's actually much higher than that and i think a lot of you say that like it feels worse in my community. money expert jennifer westoven is here. who goes uncounted in that number? >> they don't count people, for example, if you stop looking for work. if you're not looking at all there's not much chance you'll get a job. of course when jobs are this scarce, it can be very discouraging to keep getting out there, even when you're getting all those nos. you also wouldn't get counted if you're underemployed. maybe that means you want a

full-time job but you're willing to take a part-time job in the meantime just to pay the bills. people working part-time aren't counted as unemployed. if you count up all those people, unemployment would be more like 17%, not 10%. that's one out of six people who can work says the labor department probably at the highest level since the great depression according to this morning's "the new york times." first it was books. what else did they do, toys? now there's an online price war over dvds, just in time for the holidays. that's some good news in a bad economy. walmart, target, amazon, all in a big fight for some of the most anticipated, some of the hottest new dvds out there. they're selling them now for ten bucks or even less, even "harry potter and the half-blood prince." only about ten bucks compared to nearly $30. it's monday morning, maybe you're getting ready for a business trip this morning or you're getting ready for

something. the hurricane must be affecting a lot of people, right? >> exactly. something you don't think about in november is a hurricane slowing you down at the airports but that's across the lower gulf coast even as far north as atlanta. i've overlaid the radar. most of the rain from the hurricane still offshore. a little light stauf wiuff with rain. boston, atlanta, orlando, tampa, miami, new orleans, look for wind. boston, there's a cold front headed toward you. houston, seattle, low clouds and rain. 30 minutes to an hour. full details on the hurricane in just about a half hour. the next time you hear a baby cry, listen closely. researchers are finding some interesting patterns in infant screams and cries.

the families of three u.s. hikers jailed for entering iran illegally marked the hikers' 100th day in custody yesterday. one hiker's mom talked about how they're doing.

>> they're feeling very, very lonely at this point. they're feeling a lack of information. you know, they really don't know what the rest of the world is thinking or doing. >> the hikers' families released this video of them goofing around in hopes of proving to iran that they're innocent and only kraud the country's unmarked border by mistake. cnn.com and oprah are teaming up for the biggest oprah's book club event ever. go to cnn.com/oprahbookclub to read excerpts from "say you're one of them" or file an ireport and share your thoughts. register for the book club event happening on the new cnn.com tonight at 9:00 eastern. okay. there's new information about a woman's soccer player getting got on video getting physical. remember the ponytail pull? she's been suspended indefinitely. but there's a good question. good morning. >> yeah. a question that you posed this morning that they're still debating about in our newsroom. but elizabeth lambert of new

mexico has been suspended indefinitely for this behavior we showed you on friday on the field. just out of control. her ponytail takedown there on cassidy shumway. the mountain west conference su sports the suspension but the season is likely over. however, as a junior her suspension could carry over. meanwhile, remember this guy, brandon spikes, gouging a player's eyes? he got suspended for a half game. in fact he lengthened it to a full game. is there a double standard here in sports? matt from atlanta posted, in my opinion there is a double standard but it's okay. college football generates huge revenue. female soccer on the other hand does not. ouch! obviously the male football players should be given a little more leniency due to the amount of money they generate for the school and tv networks. meanwhile joshua from nevada wrote this is a complete double standard. i don't understand why their conferences don't invoke or show more support to punish the players. keep those thoughts coming.

the tampa bay bucs sporting their hideous throwback jerseys from the '70s got their first win of the season beating green bay. here is the irony. when they wore these uniforms from '76 to '96, they stunk. 18 losing seasons, they were a laughing stock so they bring them back and get their first win of 2009. a washington player is still steaming after a sideline skirmish in the redskins-falcons game. the falcons head coach, mike smith, got into it with him after this play. he claims mike smith told him i'm going to kick your butt. smith said he was trying to restore order. this was a mess for jimmie johns johnson. he wrecked here in the dickie's 500. he's going for an unprecedented fourth straight title. this was in the third lap of the he would come back and finish 38th. he's still in first place in the

standings. kyle busch was dominating the race but ran out of gas. a 9-year-old stopped a potential carjacking. nine years old.

the first hurricane to threaten the united states this year is due to hit the gulf coast tomorrow morning. forecasters say that hurricane ida could cause flooding, rough surf and even tornados from eastern mississippi to the florida panhandle. right now it's a category one with 90-mile-an-hour winds. no mandatory evacuations have been ordered yet. actually i think bob said at last check the winds had died down a little bit from 90 miles an hour. two u.s. pilots were killed when their helicopter went down in northern iraq. the military says that the army chopper had a hard landing yesterday and the incident is under investigation. separately a u.s. marine died from non-combat injuries west of

baghdad. now it falls on the united states senate to take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the american people, and i'm absolutely confident that they will. >> that was president obama yesterday congratulating the house after it narrowly passed a $1.2 trillion with a t dollar health care reform bill. it calls for a public option, which might not get enough support to survive in the senate version, by the way. a senate vote has not been scheduled yet. christmas is coming early at the box office. the new animated version of "a christmas carol" featuring jim carrey as scrooge was number one over the weekend. it took in $31 million. michael jackson's "this is it" fell to second place. good morning. where did the weekend go, huh? monday morning already. time for you to rise and shine. i'm robin meade. the accused ft. hood gunman,

major nidal hasan is in critical but stable condition this morning. there are growing signs that he was embracing extremist ideas about islam. classmates at a military college say that they complained about what they believed were his anti-american views, including a presentation that justified suicide bombing. senator joe lieberman said that he will start an investigation. >> in the u.s. army, this is not a matter of constitutional freedom of speech. if hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an islamist extremist, the u.s. army has to have zero tolerance. he should have been gone. >> we're also going to want to take some time today to remember the people who were killed at ft. hood, the victims. there were 12 soldiers, one civilian and correspondent richard lui, we've been learning more about these people, their names and their lives. for example, michael cahill. >> the 62-year-old michael cahill had worked at ft. hood for six years as a physician's assistant there. before that he was a rural

doctor and served the national guard and army reserves. cahill's children say he was incredibly smart and loving as well. they also said they don't want people to discriminate against muslims because of the alleged shooter's background. >> this is just a man, an american man, who had issues and problems. and did a horrible, unspeakable act, but being so angry at one group of people because of this, that's not going to bring my dad back. >> just three weeks ago cahill had a heart attack. he was back to work just a week right after that. >> thank you so much. new this hour, we're also looking at the life of specialist jason hunt. >> specialist jason hunt, 22 years old, recently married. he joined tuse he wanted to be something greater than himself. take a listen. >> i just want to say that, you know, because it didn't happen overseas or it 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. i really feel like, you know, i don't know the details, but i know my brother and i know he was very brave in this situation. >> and he wanted to commit more time to this special hunt. he had reenlisted and was set for his second deployment to iraq. >> your heart just goes out to the families when you hear these voices. richard, thank you. where were you 20 years ago today when the berlin wall came down? well, the scene symbolized the beginning of the end of communism in europe. there will be celebrations today in berlin. bon jovi is going to perform. many world leaders will be there too, including the secretary of state, hillary clinton. >> we need to form an even stronger partnership to bring down the walls of the 21st century and to confront those who hide behind them. >> i don't know if we have any more of that tape there, but

secretary clinton also said that the ideas that made people bring down the wall are just as relevant today. wasn't that something? a 7,000 pound christmas tree is heading to the nation's capital. a choir sang as the tree was cut down saturday in arizona. ♪ o christmas tree, your branches green ♪ >> and now we're going to chop you down. it is the first year that arizona provided the capital christmas tree. the tree will reach the capital in three weeks and then it will take another week to decorate it with and 5,000 ornaments made by the arizona schoolchildren. >> that is such a good point. they have been cultivating this tree for 30 years, it's beautiful, it's gorgeous. let's just cut it down and bring it to the capital. >> good morning. >> more on hurricane ida in a second but this weather brought

to you by tylenol. let me show you what's happening. hurricane ida, 80-mile-an-hour sustained winds, down just a touch. look at the satellite presentation. it does not look as healthy as it did just 24 hours ago. look at the wind shear beginning to spread out the cloud formation a little bit. the thunderstorms look like they're all getting displaced up to the north from the center of circulation, all good signs that this is beginning to weaken ands also running into some cooler sea surface temperatures, obviously great news. what about the path the next couple of days. goes in towards that florida panhandle, alabama border sometime overnight tonight. most likely as a strong tropical storm, maybe a weak hurricane but then gets absorbed into a cold front off to the west. you can see that cold front helping draw this thing to the north-northwest, ultimately towards the northeast. here's the rain with the hurricane itself. more rain off to the west but that's where the trough of low pressure right across the western part of the gulf of mexico.

we have hurricane warnings out there mississippi all the way towards the panhandle of florida to indian pass and then tropical storm warnings for those coastal counties. inland, tropical storm wind warnings. meaning you'll get the win and rain but not the storm surge, which is going to be good for you. now look terrain just south of the mobile area, the rain beginning to pick up the reds. that's the outer band of the hurricane moving to the north at 16 miles per hour. probably makes landfall, the center of it probably after midnight tonight so be looking at this the next couple of hours. more in just a bit. first let's show you some video from el salvador. they got slammed by this thing over the weekend. about 15 to 20 inches worth of rain that killed more than 124 people, right around that number, because of mudslides. that's how bad it was around central america. >> from the same storm, hurricane ida. >> yep. now it's making a beeline into the gulf of mexico. we'll have more in about a half an hour. venezuela's leader, hugo chavez, is telling his military to get ready for a possible war

with colombia and he claims the u.s. is partially to blame. also ahead, the soccer player who made headlines for yanking another player's hair. she's been suspended indefinitely. we're going to hear what you say about whether there's a double standard when it comes to punishment in sports.

what is it about human nature that we love ourselves an implosion. well, that was the implosion of a seven-story hotel in

owensboro, kentucky. hundreds turned out to watch it come down. we don't know what the city plans to do with the 20 acres of land now that it's gone. now that the building is gone. prepare for a possible war? that's what venezuela's president, hugo chavez, told his military forces yesterday. chavez says that rising tension with colombia might lead to an armed conflict that could spread to the whole continent. he blamed the united states for trying to turn the countries against each other. the colombian government has said that it never has and never will make an act of war. we want to take you on a memorial known as the healing fields. this is in california. they're placing a u.s. flag for each of the service members who have died in the war on terror. here is a mom who lost her son in battle. >> my son was like 510 or 513 and here we are over 5,000. it still hurts. and every year, it doesn't really get better, it goes

deeper. >> people listened for more than five hours as the names of fallen service members were read allowed. a mouse reportedly forced people off of their delta airlines flight from new york to london. the "new york times" reports passengers were switched to another plane after somebody spotted a mouse on board while waiting to leave the gate. delta says that it was a precaution. mice can eat wires, though, so you can see where the safety hazard would be. no word on whether the mouse ever turned up. we just had a squirrel eat one of the transformers? i never thought about the mouse on a plane. my question is was it a cute little mouse or was it a rat? completely different. they can carry your cats away. >> if it was white with a pink tail, it was okay? >> exactly. the days of mortgage companies hitting you with unexpected closing costs might be coming to an end. everybody say amen. good morning. >> thanks, robin.

this would be good news, right. if you've ever bought a gnome you know or maybe you're heard the dread moment is when you're at the close and suddenly the list of all the fees and charges comes and it's a lot more than the good faith estimate. i mean sometimes it can be hundreds of dollars more. well, that could be coming to an end. "the washington post" says that on new year's day new federal rules are kicking in and that is meant to make things friendlier for you at the closing. a lot of the fees that right now can be all over the place compared to the estimate, they're going to be locked in. also your hud statement is going to give you a direct look. it's going to show you the good faith and what they're charging you at the moment so you'll have a much easier way to say what the heck is going on here so that's a good one that we'll watch. it happened on friday. you know all the extension for the jobless benefits but i want to talk a little about it because we've talked so much and i promised to keep you up to date. well, for millions of people now, good news. it is now the law of the land, the house and senate finally

agreed the president signed the bill into law, that means 20 more weeks of benefits. if you're on unemployment and if you live in one of the many states with high unemployment, more than 8.5%, and in the rest of the country, 14 weeks more of benefits, that is going to get a lot of people through the holidays. we also have talked, though, about the many people who if their benefits already ran out, for example, there are a lot of people who are in trouble who won't benefit from this, but in some ways it still is a lifeline for the people who are getting it and actually could help the economy because they can still spend a little bit then. robin. >> certainly an emergency, yeah. jen, thank you. do you think that you know the news? i know that you do because you watch this show so, honey, you're on top of it. so challenge yourself with the cnn challenge. by the way, you can pick your favorite anchor to walk you through, be your new best friend. >> you know, i would love to be your host. i hope you choose me. not to put any pressure on you, but choose me. pick me. love me.

>> you know where i stole that line? i stole it from "grey's anatomy." play now at cnnchallenge.com. powerful memories of 9/11 came rushing back over the weekend in shanksville, pennsylvania, where flight 93 went down after passengers fought back the hijackers. well, now the nation wants to make sure that brave reis never forgotten.

seven years after one of the biggest man hunts in u.s. history, the d.c. sniper, john allen muhammed, is about to be put to death. he shot at least 20 people, five in a single day, ten victims died. he is due to be put to death at 9 p.m. eastern tomorrow. people were petrified, remember this, by the random shootings. his accomplice, lee boyd malvo is serving life in prison. michael jackson's father wants some money. new for you in about 30 minutes, his petition to get a monthly allowance from michael jackson's estate. you know, the good times keep rolling in new orleans as

their team, the saints, they are the talk of the nfl. >> good morning, robin. as they say in new orleans, french for what you just said. as the people in new orleans are smiling through their french accents, the saints have given these folks something genuine to cheer about. they won their eighth straight beating carolina to stay undefeated at 8-0. they're having their best year in the franchise's 43-year history. now they're talking saints in the super bowl. by the way, they have never been to the super bowl, even though their superdome has been host to many. after sunday, the only other unbeaten team in the nfl is payton manning and the indianapolis colts. they were up 20-17 with one second left to houston. texans with one last chance. >> and it is no good, he missed it, he missed it! colts win! colts win! >> kicker chris brown misses left. the colts have won 17 straight regular season games. i've got some scary video to show you.

it might be a little disturbing. the good news is this judge man is out of the hospital after this fall. the team lost to oregon state. he was knocked unconscious. he laid there motionless. he suffered a concussion. it's just hard to watch. he was carried away on a stretcher. they say he will miss at least one game, hopefully more if his safety is in question. he should miss a lot more than one game. andre agassi told "60 minutes" his hair started falling out with he was 17 but before the french open he washed a wig, it started to fall apart and that was a bigger concern than winning the match. >> the first time i ever really prayed for anything as it related to a result, i was praying not for the win but for my hair to stay on. >> were you afraid it was just going to fly off? >> scared the heck out of me. i kept envisioning what this would be like if my hair just flu off. in other news, remember the young woman and her phony tail

takedown. meet elizabeth lambert. she was suspended indefinitely for on-field antics and she did apologize. their season is likely over but her suspension could carry over to next is likely over. her suspension could carry over to next year. remember this guy? florida's brandon spikes tried to gouge out a player's eyes? he got suspended for half a game. he extended his suspension a full game. some people don't think that's equitable. robin has more. >> here's the question. on our facebook page, do you think there's a double standard in sports when it comes to punishment between men or women? juan says, was it at the same school? if so there is a double standard. if not it might just be a different tolerance policy. that's a very good point. it was not at the same schools. ann says football is a rough sport, period. spikes even suspended himself for the entire game. he made a mistake. two different situations, no comparison warranted.

so the reason this came up was because my husband was watching this over the weekend. he's like, that is so unfair she got suspended indefinitely because she pulled somebody's hair. then you have this football player accused of trying to gouge people's eyes out and him only getting suspended for half a game. so that's where it came from. hi, bob. >> what's going on? i'll show you what's happening right now. delays mount up across the gulf coast. trying to get to work this monday it's going to be a tough go around florida up towards atlanta over towards new orleans, too. looking for about a half hour to hour long delay in atlanta because of the winds. they're going to pick up out of the east today to the tune of 25, maybe 30 miles per hour. orlando, same thing. 30 mile per hour winds. tampa could be a little bit stronger. watching winds gusting near 40 later today. across new orleans you have a tropical storm warning for you for this afternoon through the evening hours. watch for at least an hour long delay there because of ida. more on ida coming up in just a bit, rob. >> afraid to get into the talk

about double standards? >> a little bit. i'm a meteorologist. >> you've never been afraid to talk. people lined up for a free and early thanksgiving meal from a tv cooking star. rachel ray did her best to boost a town hit hard by the recession.

time for you to rise and shine. where did the weekend go? isn't that always the feeling on monday. i'm robin meade. morning, sunshine. so the health care reform came to a -- a step closer to becoming a reality. it barely squeaked through the house. but why the real test may be yet to come. is there a connection between the ft. hood shooting suspect and 9/11 hijackers? no evidence yet, but the fbi think there's enough reason to look into it. and -- >> mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> president reagan said it. the wall later came down. there's a big reason to remember that today.

first, though, the first hurricane of the atlantic season which is, by the way, almost over, is heading for the gulf coast. ida is a category one storm with 80 mile an hour winds. it already made a mess in nicaragua. it's due to make land fall near the alabama/mississippi state line tomorrow morning. louisiana already declared a state of emergency. let's see where it is right now. bob's saying it's weakening this morning. >> it is. good morning, robin. i want to show you the picture of the satellite. i'd be surprised if this actually came ashore as a hurricane. looks to me like it is losing strength right now. blown apart with the southwesterly wind in the mid to upper levels. that's good news. also running into colder sea surface temperatures. 80 degrees or warmer at sea surface to make this thing sustain itself or get stronger. right now it's below 80 degrees. it is going to come ashore overnight tonight sometime right around that florida/mississippi line.

or alabama line. that's what it looks like as it moves to the north. makes a beeline to the right and gets absorbed by the cold front. it's going to be a very heavy rainmaker either way. who's going to get just downpoured on. >> in the next 24 hours. thank you very much. the yays are 220, the nays are 215. the bill is passed. >> health care reform took a big step to becoming reality late saturday night. the house passed its $1.2 trillion bill by five votes. now, it does include a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. you know, the so-called public option. there was also a last-minute compromise for conservative democrats. an amendment banning federal funding for abortions. one republican voted for the bill. >> for this decision, even though it was unpopular for my own party, it was the right decision for my district. so i've always been focusing on

making the right decisions for the people of my district, whether or not it will cost me my political future. >> the senate debate could be much tougher. republican senator lindsay brgr said the bill would be dead on arrival in the senate. harry reid refused to give a timetable, signaling he might be having trouble getting enough votes. in the ft. hood shootings the army says 16 of the victims are still in the hospital. seven in the intensive care unit. major nidal hasan is off a ventilator. investigators are asking for help from anyone who was there during the shooting. they think they may have inadvertently left with evidence such as firearm residue or shell casings. meanwhile, families at ft. hood are trying to cope. private first class joseph foster was shot in the hip during the attack. >> the community came together. you'd have to get a taste of it.

it's like a giant family. when we get -- when anything like this happens, we just get stronger. >> well, amid the stories of heroism, there is a grim reality of what happens after the shootings. >> the part that was probably most troubling was in the event that one of the parents may have been wounded or killed and having a youngster waiting there to be picked up and never getting picked up. and not being able to tell the school leadership which ones had been killed, which ones are wounded as we were sorting through that. >> now, the fbi will probably look into whether the suspect, major nidal hasan came into contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers. that's what a law enforcement official tells the associated press. it says the hijackers attended the same virginia mosque where the funeral for hasan's mother was held in may of 2001. also, "the washington post" reports that investigators are looking for any ties between hasan and a radical islamic leader who preached at that

mosque. throughout the morning correspondent richard lui is going to take a closer look at the lives of those killed at ft. hood. you're going to hear some of those stories about them in about 15 minutes. commuters in philadelphia are going to have an easier time getting to work this morning. the city's mass transit strike is over. the transit system and its largest union agreed to a new contract overnight, ending the six-day strike. about 5,000 workers walked off the job last tuesday over a dispute about pension benefits. the strike affected philly's subways, buses and trolleys. a potential carjacking was stopped in west virginia by a 9-year-old. police say the little boy pulled the keys out of the ignition when the suspect allegedly jumped into the car. the boy was in the car with his three younger brothers while his mom was inside a store. >> somebody just came and opened the door and tried to -- he told me to get out. but i didn't get out. i yanked the keys out of the ignition. and i had them like this.

and then he tried to get it. and he banged my head against the door. and then he got out and started running. and then he ran across the street. >> well, the poor thing. the suspect is facing several charges, including kidnapping and auto theft. that little boy, there he was recounting exactly as he remembered it happening. >> what a tough kid. that's great. >> right. the guy pushed his head against the door. all right. let's talk about your weather. bob is going to start by showing you -- >> it won't be a radar. >> is that hurricane ida? >> it is. >> it's kind of weird shaped? >> by the time the radar gets that far out, it's way above. in the highest levels of the clouds. it's picking up the rotation just a little bit. you can see the red's coming in. that is extremely heavy rain. that's really the leading edge of the hurricane as it moves up in towards your direction. the heavy rain is out there. this stuff by new orleans is an upper level trough. not related to the hurricane

itself. that hurricane rain is headed in that direction. look at the radar picture. rotated around the counterclock wise direction. top half of that from the radar picture. overshooting the back half. out to the west here's your trough of low pressure with the rain here. either way you're going to see plenty of downpour action. it's all going to get absorbed in this cold front as it steers it up to the north ultimately back into the mid-atlantic states by later on this week. hurricane warning still out there. the red shaded areas, inland tropical storm warnings at the coast, it's tropical storm warnings including the storm surge. a four, maybe six foot storm surge especially on the right side of that hurricane. the western part of the florida pan up and downpanhandle, you p hit the hardest with the storm surge. about eight inches of rain for central parts of alabama through georgia. we have flash flood watches. all areas shaded in green right

here. bright shade of green, flash flood warnings from the rain you had a couple weeks ago and the rain that continues to fall. up the sea board a little farther, let me take you up to new york city. if you're traveling up here, at least today looks pretty good. beautiful. hazy. sunshine, about 70 degree. not bad for mid-november. you'll get your rain for the end of the week as the remnants move up that way. we'll talk about that in about a half hour. >> thank you. there is some good news in a bad economy this morning. a price war, if you are a movie lover, i think you'll love this one.

in our salute to the troops, it's specialist corey gaffe ner. this is from his mama. she says corey has a lot of love in his heart, they miss him, and everyone is looking forward to his wedding next september. >> hi, robin. specialist corey gaffener's mom. i want to say i'm so proud of my son for representing our country. i just want to tell my son to

stay strong and be safe and i want to let him know i love him very much. >> angela, you have every reason to be proud. if you have somebody in the service, you're proud of them, go to cnn.com/robin so we can salute them. president obama and the first lady will attend a memorial service tomorrow for the victims of the shootings at ft. hood. 13 people were killed. and we're going to be sharing who these people were throughout the morning. correspondent richard lui, one of them was pregnant. one of these victims. >> yes. good morning to you, robin. her name was fran chcescheska v. she was scheduled to become maternity leave in december. a family spokesman says they're struggling to understand this tragedy right now. >> a lot of things run through your mind. you know, why. it could have been avoided. it happened on a military base, so. >> i have a lot of anger, yes.

of course. because she died in our country. you know, she's supposed to be safe. >> the last time that private velez was home was in august for her 21st birthday. her mom says she'd called her recently, robin, to say she was looking forward to buying baby clothes. >> so young. we also learned more over the weekend about specialist fred greene. tell me about this person. >> he was 29 years old with a wife and two small children. friends and family in tennessee called him freddy. they say he grew up in church. knew the bible like the back of his hand. he joined the army just last year after the company where he was working at shut down. >> many of his fellow soldiers have told us he was the quiet professional of the unit. never complaining about a job given. and often volunteers when needed. >> a heartbreaking thing to know he's gone. the way he had to leave this world. but i'm sure he's in a better place. but i hate -- i hate -- you know, it's heartbreaking. >> specialist greene was

remembered at his parents' church yesterday, robin, and at a veterans memorial service in his community. just a couple of those who lost their lives. >> exactly. many more story where is that came from. richard, thank you. so the government says that the official unemployment rate is at 10% right now. but you know that it probably feels a lot worse in your own community. it is higher than that. our money expert jennifer westhoven is talking about how who goes uncounted when they do the unemployment count. good morning. >> good morning. thanks, robin. row know, 10% unemployment. such a huge headline over the weekend. and i know so many of you whenever we talk about it say that's not right. i know there's more people than that. so i want to get into sort of behind the numbers so you know why it doesn't count everybody. one thing is, if you stop looking for work, if you're really not looking, they don't really count you anymore. because it's not likely you're going to get a job if you're not looking. you can see why it's not part of the official number. but you know in real life, i mean, this is a very

discouraging job market for people who've been hunting for months and months. so sometimes people may just give up for a little while. but it does mean they're not counted. you also wouldn't be counted if you're underemployed. say that means you really want a full-time job, you're really looking for one, but you could only find part-time work and you took it. you wanted to get something in the meantime. everybody who's part time who wants to be full time, they're not counted either because tech nickically they're working. if you did count all those people in, unemployment would be more like 17%. that's one out of six workers. the labor department says -- that's according to the labor department. this is probably the highest level of sort of true unemployment that we've seen since the great depression. back then, though, it was likely more than 30%. worse than now. let let's get you good news. a lot of price wars. first there was books. then there was toys. now it is dvds. as long as you buy them online. good news in a bad economy. walmart started things. it slashed prices to about ten

bucks. then target and amazon jumped into the fray. we're not talking about flops. these pretty hot new dvds. one example is "star trek." lists for $27. get it online for ten bucks. "harry potter," a lot of popular movies. a college soccer player has been given the boot for her actions on the field. but is there a double standard in sports when it comes to punishment between men and women? that's the discussion. hit our facebook page over the break. come on.

mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> those were the words from then president ronald reagan at the site of the berlin wall back in june of 1987. so two years and five months later, that's exactly what happened. the berlin wall came down. and can you believe that event was 20 years ago today? events all around the world will mark the anniversary. in california at the reagan library they're actually going to be tearing down a commemorative piece of the wall at 12:30 p.m. secretary of state hillary clinton will be among the speakers this afternoon in berlin for the ceremonies there. one of those where were you 20 years ago? well, a women's soccer player caught on video getting physical has been suspended indefinitely. there is your update on the pony

tail puller. >> pony tail takedown. >> here's rafer with an update and intriguing question. >> good morning to you, robin. this young lady, elizabeth lambert of new mexico has become a national sensation. she's one of the top searches on google for this brutish behavior. she did say she was sorry and it was out of character for her. she is indefinitely suspended. here's the deal. their season is likely over. as a junior the suspension could carry over next year. meanwhile, remember this guy? florida's brandon spikes who was gouging out a player's eyes? he only got suspended half a game and his conference was behind that. he was the one who lengthened his suspension to a full game. is there a double standard? one guy gets half a game. he gets indefinitely. jevon posted, i don't see a double standard on this. she was way more violent in her disgraceful composure in her sport compared to what the college football player did.

okay. william wrote, i do agree there is a double standard. whether it is college or professional, female or male sports, there has to be a code of conduct. cnn.com/robin. click on the facebook icon. tampa bay bucs sporting their hideous jerseys from the 1970s got their first one of the season against green bay. when they wore these horrible uniforms, they stunk. 18 losing seasons. and they were a laughing stock. they bring back the uniforms and get their first win in '09. a washington player is still steaming after a sideline skirmish because of the team's coach. falcons head coach mike smith got into it with him. there's smith. williams said smith told him he was going to kick his butt. he says he's going to file a complaint. smith says he was just trying to restore order. one new york city office worker got carried away during the yankees pay raid and tossed

out banking data and court files instead of confetti. so says "the new york post." they did reprimand an overzealous employee for throwing things out that should have been shredded. >> oh, my gosh. i forgot a step there. >> oh, my goodness. couldn't wait to even tear it up. let me show you how quick it can be. there you go. there it is. this is right there. you don't have time to do this before you do that? >> that's a good story. thanks. or the toilet paper. >> yeah. tp, baby. that's all you do. let me show you what's happening right now. outside of atlanta. the hurricane sky is in. let me show you what i'm talking about. the clouds are ahead of the hurricane. you can see them there. delays for wind around florida, miami, orlando through atlanta to new orleans, too. the next time you hear a

baby cry, listen closely. because researchers think they're finding patterns of the parents' language in there.

the first hurricane to threaten the united states this year is due to hit the gulf coast tomorrow morning. forecasters say that hurricane ida could cause flooding, rough surf and even tornadoes from eastern mississippi to the florida panhandle. right now it's a category one storm with 80 mile an hour winds. no mandatory evacuations have been ordered yet. now it falls on the united states senate to take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the american people. and i'm absolutely confident that they will. >> that was president obama congratulating the house yesterday after it narrowly passed a $1.2 trillion health

care reform bill. it calls for a public option, which might not get enough support to survive in the senate version. a senate vote has not been scheduled yet. it could be a tense meeting tonight between president obama and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. remember, netanyahu rejected president obama's demand that israel stop building settlements in the west bank. president obama has said it's a necessary step to restart peace talks with the palestinians. those are a few of the headlines we're checking this morning. i wanted to check on you really fast here. morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. the accused ft. hood gunman, major nidal hasan is in critical but stable condition. this morning there are growing signs that he was embracing extremist ideas about islam. classmates at a military college say that they complained about what they believed were his anti-american views, including a presentation that justified suicide bombing. senator joe lieberman says he will start an investigation.

>> in the u.s. army, this is not a matter of constitutional freedom of speech. if hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an islamic extremist, u.s. army is to have zero tolerance. he should have been gone. >> we also want to take some time, though, to remember the people who were killed at ft. hood. 12 soldiers and one civilian. new this hour, correspondent richard lui is looking at the life of specialist xiong. >> he was from st. paul, minnesota. just 23 years old. and already a husband and father of three. his sister says he was at ft. hood to get a medical check-up before his first deployment. >> he's just a loving person. a person that has no enemies. none at all. it's so hard to let him go. because he was such a good person. >> she says specialist xiong would have deployed to afghanistan in january. his younger brother is already there serving with the marines.

>> the youngest victim at the ft. hood shooting was 19 years old. aaron nemelka. his family spoke out this weekend. what have we learned about him? >> nemelka was the youngest of four children. in this situation his family says he graduated from a utah high school just last year and immediately enlisted into the military. >> aaron was intensely proud to serve under the leadership of the president. aaron felt keenly the responsibility of representing both his country and his family. he's proud to have fallen in the footsteps of both his grandfathers that served, two uncles that are in the military currently, and one cousin. >> one of nemelka's grandfathers received a purple heart in the korean war as well. his family says, robin, he was set to deploy to afghanistan himself also this coming january. >> i cannot imagine the pain of these families. richard, thank you. >> sure. tough sentences for kids

committing crimes that don't involve killing. that's what's on the docket for the supreme court today. the justices will hear arguments about whether it's cruel and unusual punishment to lock up a juvenile for life with no chance of parol. four years ago the supreme court ruled out the death penalty for anyone younger than the age of 18. new this morning, two u.s. pilots were killed when their helicopter went down in northern iraq. the military says the army dhoper had a hard landing yesterday. the incident is under investigation. separately, a u.s. marine died from noncombat injuries west of baghdad. the families of three u.s. hikers jailed for entering iran illegally marked the hikers' 100th day in custody. they organized vigils around the word like this one at uc berkeley. one higher's mom talked about how they're doing. >> they're feeling very, very lonely at this point. they're feeling lack of information. you know, they really don't know what the rest of the world is thinking or doing. >> the hikers' families released the video of them goofing around in hopes of proving to iran that

they're innocent and only crossed the country's unmarked border by mistake. about 500 people turned out to remember the 11 women found dead at a house in cleveland. they marched with candles after a memorial service to the house where the women were found. anthony sowell lives there. he's accused of murder and rape. one of the seven bodies identified so far is talisha fordson. her mom was there. >> as we stand here in front of this home, where they found your daughter, what is that like for you? >> it's hard. because i want to burn it down. i really would like to. it's very hard. that's why i won't look at it. >> why won't you look at it? >> because i know my baby was in there. and she got killed in there. you know, it's hard. >> again, the man accused in the case is anthony sowell,

registered sex offender. his dna is being entered into a national data base to see if he's connected to any unsolved cases. his lawyer requested he be put on a suicide watch in jail. for a hurricane, hurricane ida doesn't look very organized. bob can tell you why that is. >> good morning. it's getting sheered apart which is good news. down to 80 mile per hour sustained storm winds. now we're watching for the radar to come on through by the alabama radar. this is mobile. look at the rain shield just offshore. the center of circulation, eye of the storm is about 330 miles south-southwest of pensacola, florida. we're already starting to see the signs of winds picked up. these are sustained winds. pensacola, 23 miles per hour, 22 towards new orleans, 22 to 23, a little less, inland. those winds will steadily pick up. we'll see the rain continue to pull up to the north. right now winds are down to 80 miles per hour. good news here. look at the satellite presentation. it does not look as organized as it had just about a couple hours

ago. watch the main bulk of the clouds getting blown up towards the north. southwesterly wind breaking it apart just a bit. also going over relatively cooler sea surface temperatures. good news. it should continue to weaken over the next 24, certainly 48 hours. it's going to continue over that northerly track over the next day. then take a nice bend to the right. landfall tonight ought to be after midnight sometime near the pensacola area. give or take a couple miles. you can see exactly where it is from the panhandle of florida all the way out towards basically mississippi. i think it's probably going to be a strong tropical storm when it comes to shore. a four to six foot surge out of it. i think it's going to be the heavy rain. a cold front going to drag all that moisture out of the gulf of mexico, throw it in towards alabama, mississippi, georgia, the florida panhandle. but we do have the hurricane warnings in effect.

most of the western part of the panhandle all the way over to mississippi. >> i'm surprised at how far the flood watch and warning is extended outward from that hurricane. >> right. the landfall takes it up there alabama in towards georgia. the next 48 hours, look at all that rain that's going to fall. purple is about eight inches of rain. of all the things that the internet viruses can do, this might be the worst. you could unknowingly be storing child porn on your computer?

♪ christmas came early at the box office. the new animated version of "a

christmas carol" featuring jim carey as scrooge. "this is it" fell to second place with $14 million. george clooney in "the men who stare at goats" finished third. seven years after one of the most frightening kills sprees in u.s. history, d.c. sniper john allen muhammad will be put to death tomorrow. the shootings came as the country was still reeling from 9/11. and the anthrax letters. muhammad's accomplice is serving life in prison. you know, the number of people who owe more on their house than it's actually worth, well, it's going down. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. that sounds like good news. but you say not in all cases. >> this is one of those -- i want to say it's good news. you're going to see headlines

that say it's good news. really it means we went from an "f" to a "d." it's improvement. if you owe more on your house than it's really worth, it's called under water. in the latest quarter, fewer people are under water. i guess that's good. by fewer, what we mean, though, is that it went from 23% down to 21%. that's still a lot of mortgaged homes that are in trouble. plus, this was put together by zillow. they said one of the big reasons that the number went down is because a lot of the people who were under water last time lost their home to foreclosure. so they're not counted in the numbers anymore. still, they did say home prices had stabilized in their latest reading on prices. so that's a good sign. but, you know, it's really hard to read the housing market lately. i can tell you all these numbers and show you signs of improvement, but there are plenty of people who believe the government is doing so much to help prop up the housing market right now, we don't know how

long it will last. if you bought a home, you know a tough moment is at the close when they hand you that list of fees and charges and somehow they're magically way off from what they told you they would be in the good faith estimate. maybe no more. "the washington post" reports that get ready. in just eight weeks, new year's day, the new federal rules are going to kick in. they are meant to make things friendlier for you, the homebuyer. not the banks and lending companies and realtors. a lot of the fees that currently jump are going to be locked in. in hud statement is going to let you directly compare some of the costs. you're in a better position to look somebody straight in the eye and go, what are you talking about? robin, back to you. this just in, jen. a truck driver has died after losing control on the new s-curve that's on the san francisco bay bridge. the highway patrol said he went over the side and fell 200 feet. it was just a few hours ago, and

it was still dark. now this is the backup. these are live pictures here of this traffic backup. this is the first fatality at the curve. the s-curve. but apparently it's a big problem. the chronicle, the san francisco chronicle, reports there have been, like, 42 trashes there in the last two months. people apparently are not negotiating the s-curve very well at all. you might remember the 13-year-old boy who ran away with his mom to avoid chemo. find out how he's doing after months of court -ordered treatment for cancer.

you might remember the 13-year-old boy who ran away with his mom to avoid chemo. well, his family says he's finished his court-ordered treatment and is now cancer free. daniel hauser stopped his treatment last february citing religious beliefs. a judge says he'll probably close the case after he gets a doctor's report. computer viruses have apparently made some innocent people look like they were child porn collectors. an associated press investigation found pedophiles can infect kbrokct your compute store their child porn images or

people frame ing youor pulling pranks can make it look like you've been surfing porn states. the ap spoke to one man who says he spent $250,000 to prove his innocence. good times keep rolling in new orleans. the saints. they're the talk of the nfl. >> you know, it is very nice that the people of new orleans have something to genuinely cheer about. the saints football team are having the best year in their 43-year history. they won their eighth straight game against carolina in a come from behind win to stay undefeated. and now the talk is the saints could go to the super bowl. i know it's halfway through the season. but they have never been to a super bowl. even though their super dome has been host to many. wish them well. the only other unbeaten team in the nfl is peyton manning's indianapolis colts. they stayed undefeated in dramatic fashion. 20-17 with a second left to houston. texans with one last chance. >> and it is no good!

he missed it! he missed it! colts win, colts win, colts win! >> chris brown misses left. koe colts have won 17 straight regular season games. scary video that might be disturbing to some of you. this player is out of the hospital after this fall. the team lost to oregon state saturday. poor kid was knocked unconscious and laid there motionless. yeah. he suffered a concussion. they carried him away on a stretcher. they say he will miss at least one game. oh, no, no. if he's got a concussion, for his safety, he should miss a lot more than one game. andre agasi told "60 minutes" his hair started falling out when he was 16. so he wore a wig. >> the first time i ever really prayed for anything as it related to a result, i was praying not for the win but for my hair to stay on. >> were you afraid it was just going to fly off? >> scared the heck out of me.

i kept envisioning what this would be like if my hair just flew off. >> he said he would have had to pick it up and pretend to kill it. speaking of hair, the young woman and the pony tail takedown? new mexico women's soccer player elizabeth lambert is suspended indefinitely for her on the field antics which included that. their season's likely over. her suspension could carry over to next year. she's a jr. remember this guy? brandon spikes tried to gouge out a player's eyes. same week. he got suspended for half a game. he was the one who extended his own suspension. some think this is not equitable here. robin has more on that. >> here's what our folks are saying here about the story on facebook. the question is, is there a double standard between men and women when it comes to punishment in sports? elaine wrote, of course. men are encouraged to be violent while women are not. jerry wrote, if it had just been for the hair pulling, yes, a double standard. but it showed the girl punching, kicking and tripping other players. to me just looking at how she

acted she is a mean person, has no place on the playing field. we love hearing from you. there's a lot of talk on our facebook page right now about this story. why don't you join it? go to cnn.com/robin. and there's a little little li. you hit that, an f, for facebook, i don't think you have to sign up. takes you right there. however, bob has been conspicuously silent on whether he feels there's a double standard. >> i don't think it's men and women. i think it's if you're more important to your team or not. spike, the linebacker, he's getting a better deal. kind of the way they let michael jordan travel all over. >> it's a good point. >> want some wine with those sour grapes. >> you know it's true. if you're traveling out today, no delays, but the wind is picking up across the gulf

coast. watch for delays as far north as atlanta. orlando, tampa, about a half hour delay. tampa, same thing. be looking at that, robin. details in about 15 minutes. i know that you know the news well because you watch this show. we just get you full of it. challenge yourself, test your knowledge and by the way, it's a deal where you get to pick your favorite anchor to walk you through. so i say, pick me. choose me. love me. you can go right now at cnnchallenge.com. remember the day the berlin wall came down? people ripping the wall apart and at the end of communism in europe and today, we have a big reason to remember all of that.

all right. good morning. boy, that weekend was short, wasn't it? let's jump right into the stories this monday. the season's first hurricane is heading straight toward the united states right now. what kind of damage this storm could bring. investigators in the ft. hood rampage are asking for help. why they think some people may have left the seen with evidence. first, the gulf coast is about to get hit by the first hurricane of the atlantic

season. ida is a category 1 storm with 80 mile-an-hour winds. it already caused a lot of flooding in nicaragua. forecasters say watch out for flooding, rough surf and possible tornadoes. louisiana already declared a state of emergency. we're not talking about just the gulf coast area here. >> no, you're right. we're looking at the heavy rain swath through central alabama, mississippi, the panhandle of florida, into georgia and the carolinas. the leading edge of the rain is coming ashore in northern parts of florida. right now, indian pass, 24 miles an hour. new orleans, about 27 miles per hour. wind should pick up over the next couple of hours, become hurricane strength. where does it go from here? we'll talk about that in about

three minutes. the army is saying that 16 are still in the hospital this morning. the suspected shooter is off the ventilator, but investigators are asking for help from anybody present at the shooting. they may have left with evidence like firearm residue or shell casings. we have new comment frs a soldier shot in the hip during the attack. private first class joseph foster was asked, did he ever think that something like this could happen at the army post. >> it's still home. i still consider myself pretty safe. this was something that couldn't be controlled. it was something that we couldn't predict was going to happen. >> we've heard incredible survivor stories, but there is also the grim reality of what happens, what has to happen after these shootings.

>> the part that was probably most troubling was in the event that one of the parents may have been wounded or killed and having a youngster waiting there for them to be picked up and never getting picked up and not being able to tell the school leadership which has been killed or wounded. >> the fbi will probably look into with whether the suspect came into contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers. that's what a law enforcement official tells is associated press. it says the hijackers attended the same mosque where the funeral for hasan's mother was held. investigators are looking for any ties between hasan and the leader who preached at that mosque. throughout the morning, richard lui will be taking a closer look at the lives of the people killed at ft. hood. the yays are 220.

the nays are 215. the bill is passed. >> health care reform took a big step to becoming reality late saturday night. the house passed its $1.2 trillion bill. it does include a government-run plan. but there was also a last minute compromise for conservative democrats. an amendment banning federal funding for abortions. one republican voted for the bill. >> for this decision, even though it was unpopular for my party, but it was a right decision for my district, so i've always been focussing on making the right decisions for the people of my district, whether or not it will cost me my political future. >> well, the senate debate could be much tougher. lindsey graham said the bill would be dead on arrival in the

senate. harry reid refused to give a timetable, signalling hng troub. two u.s. pilots were killed when their helicopter went down in iraq. the incident is still under investigation. separately, a u.s. marine died from non-combat injuries. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> those were the words of then president ronald reagan as the site of the berlin wall in june of 1987. can you believe that was 20 years ago today? the events all around the world will mark the anniversary. in california, at the reagan library, they're doing to tear down a piece of the wall. hillary clinton will be among the speakers there. if i remember correctly, i

was still in college, but i already had my first job at a tv station and was watching cnn. >> i was in german class in high school. i'm not even kidding. basically what you heard from me. >> and that was your voice changing? >> can we get on the tv and watch the wall come down? that's basically what we were doing 20 years ago. let me show you the big satellite. hurricane ida, doesn't look very healthy at all. great news before it makes landfall. the center of circulation is still about 330 miles away from pensacola and moving twashd towards the north. still you're going to see a lot of rain out of this over the next 24 to 48 hours. the path is going to continue to

move north. basically makes a landfall tonight then makes a beeline to the right. probably makes landfall tonight as a strong tropical storm or hurricane. there is a cold front to the west that's going to steer this thing up and move it to the north and east. watch how much rain gets siphoned along that the next couple of days. the purple areas, eight inches of rain, flash flood watches and warnings. we have them posted for most of the gulf coast, from georgia to the carolinas. >> i don't know what this says about my memory, but someone just corrected me. i was interning at cspan. exactly. seven minutes past the hour. 13 people died in the ft. hood shootings. they expected to face danger overseas, but not at their own base in texas. we're sharing some of their stories today. also, we've got good news in

a bad economy this morning. a price war just for movie lovers.

time to salute our troops. this is to specialist cory gaffe ner from his mom. she says he has a lot of love. everybody's looking forward to his wedding. >> hi, robin, this is angela. corey's mom. i'm so proud of my son for representing our country. i want to tell him to stay strong and be safe and i love him very much. >> if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them, we want to help you. president obama and the first lady will attend a memorial service tomorrow for the victims of the shootings at ft. hood. 13 were killed and we're going to be sharing who these people were throughout the country. richard lui, one was pregnant.

>> her name was francheska velez, three months pregnant. she had been maholm less than a week and was scheduled to begin maternity leave in december. a family spokesman says they're struggling to understand this. >> a lot of things run through your mind. why? could it have been avoided? >> i have a lot of anger, yes. of course, i have anger. because she died in our country. and you know, she's supposed to be safe. >> the last time that private velez was home was in august for her 21st birthday. her mom says she had called her recently and said she was looking forward to buying baby clothes. >> so young. we also learned about specialist fred greene. >> he was 29 years old with a wife and two small children.

friends and family in tennessee called him freddy. he grew up in church, knew the bible like the back of his hand. >> many of his fellow soldiers have told us he was the quiet professional of the unit. never complaining about a job given and volunteering. >> it was a heartbreaking thing to know he's gone, why he had to leave this world, but i'm sure he's in a better place. it's heartbreaking. >> specialist greene was remembered at his parent's church yesterday and at a veteran's memorial service in his community. >> many more stories where that came from. thank you. i'm jennifer westhoven. robin will be back after the break. the government says the official government rate is now about 10%. but you know it probably feels higher than that. we wanted to get you right behind the numbers. you wouldn't be counted if you

stopped looking for work. and as you know, when jobs are this scarce, it can be very discouraging to keep staying out there day after day, so a lot of people just sort of dropped out out of the hunt. you also wouldn't be counted if you're underemployed, say if you wanted a full time job, but all you could get was a part time job. that's why a lot of people aren't in that 10% number. they say if they counted everybody like that, would be more like 17%. it's probably the highest since the great depression, says "the new york times," when the number was more like 30%. kraft really wants to buy cadbury, the british candy company, for $16 billion. cadbury said you're not even close, no. well now, kraft is trying to go around the board and straight to cadbury stockholders, so this is a hostile bid. a deal would make kraft the

biggest candy maker in the world. you may only know cadbury's eggs, but they are iconic in england. if you like the british kind of chocolate, you like that. and just in time for the holidays. a price war for dvds. first it was book, then toys. now, walmart came in, slashing prices on dvds sold online. they started, but then target and amazon jumped in and we're talking about hot, new movies, too. like the latest harry potter, for example. here's account "star trek." about 27, but online, about 10 bucks. >> not bad. wow. so, a college soccer player got the boot for what she did on the field. she was caught on camera, but the question of the day you're talking about, is there a double standard in sports when it comes

to punishment for men versus women?

a potential carjacking was stopped in west virginia by a 9-year-old. the boy pulled the keys out of the ignition when the suspect aldly jumped into the car. he was in the car with his three brothers while his mom was in a store. >> somebody just came and opened the door and tried to -- he told me to get out, but i didn't get out and i yanked the keys out of the ignition and i had them like this and then he tried to get it

and he banged my head against the door and got out and started running across the street. >> the suspect is facing several charges including kip nadding and auto theft. there is a new update on the female soccer player who got physical on the field but was caught on camera multiple times. >> i can't believe she wasn't caught on the field, but after the fact, now that this video's been everywhere, elizabeth lambert has been suspended indefinitely. she says she's sorry and that this was out of her character and unlike her. now, the season is likely over, but as a junior, her suspension could carry overnext year. meanwhile, there's the ponytail taketown. this guy who got suspended,

he was the one who lengthened his own suspension to a full game. the question here, the guy gets one game, girl gets indefinite. debbie says -- palmere says -- you agree, disagree? cnn.com/robin, click the facebook icon. the tampa bay bucs cream sickle unis seem to be good luck because they got their first win of the season. when they wore those uniforms, they were the laughing stock of the nfl. 18 losing seasons. good for them. a washington player wants an

opposing coach investigated for allegedly starting a fight. williams says this guy, mike smith, got in his face after a late hit. looks like he almost elbows him in the jaw. smith says he was just trying to restore order. and jimmie johnson's hope for a title took a big hit with this crash. he was fine after he hit the wall, finished 38. still in first place in the standings. kyle busch was dominating the entire race, but ran out of gas and that allowed his brother, kurt, to pass him and win. lastly, one new york city office worker got carried away and tossed out banking data and court files instead of confetti. a financial firm told the ap they rep remanded the employee.

>> just dumping the trash out. here's bobby. >> let's through the 1040s out, 401(k), who cares. let me show you what's happening at the capitol. actually, let's look at the -- yeah, this weather is brought to you by orbitz. i'm glad they are sponsoring us. if you're traveling, here's d.c. pretty decent up to the north, but look at that rain shield. that's hurricane ida. you can see the wraparound moisture. that's going to fill into the panhandle in towards atlanta. i think we're going to get about a half hour delay because of the wind. boston, that's a cold front. orlando, tampa, miami, new orleans, same thing. 30-minute to one hour delays. seattle, decent rain.

it's a pretty big deal. we'll get to that in about ten minutes. next time you hear a baby, see it if sounds different based on how it's parents talk.

the new york stock exchange has opened for business now and even though we got bad news about unemployment last week, the stocks -- if i can only speak, the stocks could be headed for a solid start. live report in a minute. first though, the first hurricane to threaten the united states this year is due to hit the gulf coast tomorrow morning. forecasters say that hurricane ida could cause flooding, rough surf and tornadoes from eastern mississippi to the florida panhandle. right now, it's a category 1 storm with 80 mile-an-hour winds. no mandatory evacuation orders have been made f. one of the beltway snipers

is about to be executed. john allen muhammad shot at least 20 people. ten victims died. he's due to be put to death at 9:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow. five votes is how narrowly the house passed its health care reform bill. one republican voted for the bill which includes a public option and requires everyone to have health insurance. the senate has not scheduled a vote. those are some of our top stories. good morning. little tired on a monday, are you? i don't blame you. welcome. the accused ft. hood gunman, major nidal hasan, is it critical, but stable condition. this morning, there are growing signs he may have been embracing extremist ideas. some complained about his anti-american views. joe lieberman says he will start

an investigation. >> in the u.s. army, this is not a matter of constitutional freedom of speech. if he was saying to people that he had become an islamist extremist, he should have been gone. >> memorial service is planned for tomorrow and the president and mrs. obama are expected to attend. the city's mass transit strike is over. they agreed to a new contract. workers walked off the job last tuesday over a dispute about pension benefits. a recent e. coli outbreak may have killed two people and made dozens sick in 11 states. well now, a congressman wants to government to make sure none of that beef got into school lunches. remember the big peanut butter recall in january? in a report, government

inspectors say the schools were never told about ilt. the morehouse college marching band is back in step after a bus crash. nice. some band members even showed up on crutches for a special performance on saturday. just a week ago, dozens of them were injured when one of their buses crashed on the way to a football game. >> my heart about stopped when we saw the bus on its side. honestly, we didn't think this would be possible on that day. >> i remember when the bus swerved, when it flipped. >> local high schools donated instruments to the band. that's great. taylor swift poked fun at kanye west on "saturday night live." she won for best female video and he stormed on stage. >> you might be expecting me to

say something bad about kanye and how he ran up on the stage and ruined by vma monologue. "but there's nothing more to stay because everything's okay because i've got security lining the stage ♪ >> west has apologized for the incident, by the way. she did a great job, actually. >> she did. >> and who didn't have anything to do on a saturday night? apparently everybody on this team. >> did you see it? i'm worse than you. i feel asleep before it even came on. this organized blob behind you is what we call hurricane ida. >> this is the leading edge and you can see the rain itself. i also plotted the winds and

these are the sustained winds. indian pass, up to 24. those are only going to increase. but i want to take you live to dolphin island. the west now beginning to get covered up with water as the winds come to the east. they're advising if you're going to leave dolphin island, do it now. let me show you the big picture of where the hurricane's located. still less than 330 miles away from pensacola, florida. looks pretty disorganized. it's running over cooler sea surface water, so good news there. looks like it's going to continue to weaken tonight. so what about the path? here's what it looks like over the next 24 to 36 hours. continuing on that northerly track, then hits around the pensacola area towards mobile,

possibly as a category 1. then it's going to bend to the right and throw a lot of rain at you. areas in blue, but windy conditions as far south as miami. winds gusting at 28 miles per hour. we'll talk about this in about a half hour. there's miami. good morning to you. hurricane winds. not that bad though, which is good. only up to about 40 miles per hour, the most today. >> thank you. the dow gained more than 300 points last week, snapping a two-week losing streak. for a look at what's in store now, here is susan lisovicz. >> good morning. we've got a nice open. lots of green arrows, following a rally overseas. officials from g-20 countries agreed to keep stimulus measures in place to keep the economy on track for recovery. that's sending the dollar down

though. it's expensive when you go to europe. kraft making another hostile bid for cadbury. kraft makes oreo cookies and offered more than $18 billion for cadbury, which makes british sweets. the bid is less than a few months ago, which cadbury promptly rejected saying that while kraft may need cadbury, cadbury does not need kraft. i try my best. to bring some drama. ge and comcast agreeing to value nbc universal at about 30 billion bucks. a more than 50% stake in the film and tv units. the two have been in talks for some time about such a deal. finally, so many of us are recycling this holiday season. no, i'm not talking about

plastic bottles or newspapers, but regifting. 36% of consumers say they would regift this year. that is up from last year. times being what they are, regifting losing some of its stigma. >> well, if something is brand new and you didn't use it and you think it's perfect for the next person, what's the problem? >> give it to me, robin. >> you got it. you know, there's -- one of the stories coming up first here, i want to talk about is apparently, people can sneak child porn on to your computer and you not even know about it. also this one. you got your supermodel in my chocolate, or maybe you got your chocolate and my supermodel. wait until you see those clothes made out of candy.

you know that cnn.com and oprah are teaming up for the biggest book club event ever. read or watch the blogs. plus, register for the book club event happening tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. we have just learned that iran will charge three u.s. hikers who crossed into the country legally with es uponage. yesterday was their 100th day in custody. their families organized vigils around the world. >> they're feeling very, very

lonely at this point. they're feeling lack of information, you know, they really don't know what the rest of the world is thinking or doing. >> the hikers' families released this video of them goofing around hoping to prove to iran they're innocent and crossed the border by mistake. computer versus have made some innocent people look like child porn collectors. an investigation found that pedophiles can affect your computer and store their images or people framing you can make it look like you're surfing the porn sites. the ap talked to one man who says he spent $250,000 to prove his innocence. wow. michael jackson's father is asking for money from the late singer's estate. his attorney filed court documents friday. michael jackson's will didn't

say anything about his dad. michael said his father was abusive, but joe jackson denies it. we want you the take -- we want to take you down to a memorial known as the healing fields. this is in california and they're placing one u.s. flag for each of the service members who have died in the war on terror. here is a mom who lost her son in battle. >> my son was like 510 or 513 and here we are over 5,000. it still hurts and every year, it doesn't really get better, it goes deeper. >> people listened for more than five hours of the game of the fallen service members being read aloud. cnn has learned that major hasan, the suspected shooter in the attack, is conscious, he's awake and talking. that's according to to a public affairs person at the army center in san antonio.

they did not know when hasan started talking. they could not say whether he has been speaking with the army investigators about the shooting. the berlin wall fell 20 years ago today. people around the world are celebrating the day. it's one of the stories that richard lui's working on in the next half hour. about 1,000 giant dominos are a part of today's celebration. find out who will tip the first domino and send the display tumbling down. plus, the possibility of your airline pilot taking a nap at 35,000 feet sounds pretty scary, but you've got to hear about a push now for controlled napped for pilots inside the cockpit. and these people walking on a fake piano. it's making some noise, too. this fake piano keyboard is part of the so-called fun theory. we'll explain how it's supposed to improve people's behavior.

>> playing the white keys, the black keys. thanks. well, here's a new meaning to taste in fashion. this is a show in new york where every dress and outfit was made out of chocolate. everything? what about the sparkly part? that can't be chocolate. some were made to honor the 70th anniversary of the "wizard of oz." >> the colored parts are colored white chocolate and the hat is tempered white chocolate. >> all i've got to say is the temperature better have been cool in there. it took 200 hours to make one jacket. a college soccer player got the boot for what she did on the field. but the question a lot of you talk about today is there a double standard in sports when

it comes to punishment between men and women.

good times in new orleans as

their team, the saints, they are the talk of the nfl. here's rafer with more on that. >> you know what? it's very exciting for the people of new orleans, robin, who have something genuine to cheer about. saints fever is running through that entire area as the saints have won their eighth straight game. they're having the best year in the franchise's 43-year history and now, they're talking super bowl. the saints have never been to one even though their dome has been host to many. and the colts were up with a second left, the texans with one last chance -- >> and it is no good! he missed it! he missed it! colts win, colts win! >> chris brown misses. i got some scary video i've got to show you, might be disturbing to some of you.

but the good news, he's out of the hospital after this fall and his team's loss to oregon state. the poor kid, you can see there, knocked unconscious. he suffered a concussion and was carried away on a stresh. andre agassi told "60 minutes" his hair was falling out when he was 17 and for the french open, war a wig. before the match, it started to fall apart. >> the first time i ever really prayed for anything as it related to a result, i was praying not for the wind, but for my hair to stay on. >> were you scared it was going to fly off? >> scared the heck out of me. >> that would have been very awkward. remember this young woman with her ponytail take down?

suspended indefinitely. their season's likely over, but the suspension could carry over until next year. meanwhile, you've got this guy, trying to gouge out gouge out a. he got suspended half a game. then they extended his suspension again because he asked for it. a lost people don't think this is equitable. you've got a guy with half a game, a girl indefinitely. robin has more on that. >> we asked our folks watching today do you think there's a double standard when it comes to punishment between men and women? theresa wrote "i don't think it's a double standard. he finally got a whole-game suspension for getting caught doing one thing he shouldn't have. she spent an entire game laying like a punk -- playing like a punk, i think, and should be treat add cordingly." sylvia says "most definitely a double standard, but that girl is pretty tough. maybe she should be playing pro football." we love hearing from you. if you don't know how to get to our facebook page, you can start out by going to cnn.com/robin.

there's an f, you know, a facebook icon. you just click on it, and voila. your thoughts, bob? >> a lot of anger in that gal because we keep on showing it. she didn't look like she was happy playing that sport. anyway, what's -- >> she did apologize. >> that's good for her. that's great. let me tell you what's going on right now. hurricane ida, now a tropical storm. so it's weakening. that's good news. just in. more on that coming up at the top of the next hour, but let me show you the delays we're anticipating out of ida. the wind's going to be out there for places like atlanta gusting out of the east today to near 30 miles per hour. orlando same thing. tampa half hour delays. in new orleans obviously tropical storm warning, wind and rain in your forecast. more on that, robin, in a half hour. >> i know that you know the news, you are all over it because you watch this show. so wanted to play the cnn challenge online, challenge yourself, challenge a friend, show them how smart you are. and you can pick your favorite anchor to be your new best friend. >> you know, i would love to be your host.

i hope you choose me. i mean, not to put any pressure on you, but choose me. pick me. love me. >> play now at cnnchallenge.com. people lined up for a free and early thanksgiving meal from a tv cooking star. rachael ray did her best to give a boost to a town hit hard. @@@