remember the victims of the ft. hood shooting rampage. the first funerals are bld being held throughout the country today. iran is calling in the cyber police to fight what it calls insults and lies. why others say it is just another effort to crack down on the opposition. and at a high school football game, a wall collapses. we will bring you the latest on the hospitalized students. you are watching hln news and views. thanks for watching. funerals are being held across the country today for some of

the victims of the ft. hood shootings. friends and families are saying good-bye to john gaffaney. a funeral is also under way for staff sergeant justin decrow. a funeral is being eld inthth for aaron nemelka. and a private funeral for staff sergeant amy krueger. she was remembered last night in a memorial. >> i was her first commander. we went to afghanistan in 2003 and 2004. i think the one thing that you recognize as you serve with people for any period of time just like any family, what gets you through incredibly difficult

events is coming together as a family. >> the funeral for private first class michael pearson will be held in illinois and also are funeral planned for jason hunt. 13 people were killed and dozens others wounded. the only suspect, major thjor n hasan is still hospitalized. president says that the police and military officials need to get a chance to do their job and finish up the work on the shooting. the workup has already been done on ma major nidal hasan. >> we must compile every bit of information we have on the

gunman and learn what was done with the information. if there was a failure to take appropriate action before the shootings, there must be accountabili accountability. beyond that we must quickly and thoroughly address any flaws in the system so we can prevent a similar breach from happening again. our government must be able to act swiftly and surely when it has threatening information. i know there will also be inquiries by congress but all of us should resist the temptation to turn this into a political event. the stakes are far too high. the one responsibility that i weigh most heavily is my duty as commander in chief to our men and women. their character and bravery were on full display in that processing center when so many scrambled to help their wounded comrades. their dig any ti and decency has been on display since then.

leading the charge for congressional investigations into the ft. hood shootings, joe lieberman. president obama is meeting with leaders of apec. before he left japan he said the u.s. needs to work more closely with asia because it could create jobs. he also says there are other tough things to deal with. >> this is a place where a nuclear arms race threatens the security of a wider world and where extremists planned attacks on both of our continents. there can be no solution to our climate challenge wouz the rising powers and developing nations of the asia pacific. to meet these common challenges, the united states looks to strengthen old alliances and build new partnerships with the nations of this region.

>> while in singapore, he plans to meet with the russian president as well. there is strong reaction to bringing a 9/11 trial to new york city. there was a decision to be tried in civilian court. the suspects include cleed shake moham -- khalid sheikh mohammed. members are sharply divided over the prospect of a civilian trial. >> to bring it back here it is tasteless, insensitive and those scars which have never been healed are going be opened again. i am not comfort wbl this call. >> i think it speaks to the heart of who we are, not only as new yorkers but as american citizens. if a crime is committed on our

oil, you will be given a trial, you will be given access to an attorney. >> it is not just the families of the 9/11 victims sharply divided over the idea of a civilian trial. some say it is dangerous because any evidence obtained against the defendant under duress cannot be used in trial. >> i do not understand why a war criminal should be able to have the same rights as a common criminal. i think the american people will be very unhappy about this decision. they should be and they should reverse this decision. they should be tried in military tribunals. >> this may be an opportunity for some people to get some of the justice they have been looking for for a long time and may show that the civilian court system can succeed in sucertain where the evidence is overwhelming and you don't need

to use the secret evidence or on obtained through the torture under the bush administration. they made the decision on the fact that the suspects were mostly civilians and the attacks took place on u.s. soil. and a new cyber police unit to crack down on internet kriks. the new force will monitor websites looker for what one official calls fraud, insult, and the spreading of lies. the opposition relies heavily on the web to spread its message. most websites have been banned but new sites spring up within days. they have not said how they will carry out internet surveillance.

vital signs looks at the world of medicine all around the world. we share the story of a woman fighting widespread misunderstanding of a disease that most pop don't want to talk about. >> cancer has four stages of disease. the majority of our black people come for treatment when we are already at stage three or four, very close to death. it is your education that will save your life. >> this woman in south africa is the embodiment of hope and vitality in the face of cancer. she is a breast cancer survivor, which is a rarity in south afri africa, which is a rarity. today she is speaking to school children -- both girls and boys. in a country where women often

defer their health care decisions to their husbands, she wants to empour women down the road. you love to read about exciting advances in medicine, we have the site for you.

the final remnants of ida are moving out. for three days the storm hammered the east coast. it is blamed for at least six deaths, caused flooding, damaged buildings and eroded beaches. there is still threat for flooding. an ireporter sent us these

images. the wind was tremendous. at times, nearly knocked by 200 pound frame off my feet. anderson loves wild weather and dreems of being a storm chaser. nasa crashed a probe on to the moon and discovered water. and not just a few drops here. >> reporter: there can be water anywhere in the entire solar system in the universe. it means we are not the only place that is going to have this and they proved it. this is the vehicle they crash landed. they crashed this into the moon. way on the bottom of the moon in a plaes that is always dark. it will be that black spot right there? why did they want to do it on the dark spot? because that spot never warms up. 200 degrees below zero.

they wanted to know in this crater that this sun -- this warm air never reached it, the water would never have evaporated from here so they were watching this part of the moon. here's what happened. they crashed this thing into the moon. there goes the probe, right into a very dark crater. it splashed up some dust. and the dust as this flu through it was collected by a spectrometer. that is a representation of the spe spectrometer. the color was wrong. all the scientists said it doesn't look like that. what are these big dips in what we expect the color to be?

right through here, the dips indicated water vapor in that dust. not a lot of water, just vapor. when this thing hit it created a crater in the moon. the crater got to 700 degrees so that ice under the surface evaporated and that second vehicle flew right through it. >> okay. so that was from cnn. now buzz aldrin is weighing in. he says he was pleased with n a nasa's discovery but he thinks the u.s. should focus on k colonizing mars. a runner collapses after a marathon. he had no pulse and doctors brought him back to life.

fbi agents are digging through the house where an

alleged serial killer lived. he is in jail now, charged with five counts of aggravated murder as well as a rape charge for allegedly assaulting a woman who survived and notified police. sowell used drugs and alcohol to lure women to his home and then strangled him. agents searched for possible bodies at the house neck door yesterday. a lawmaker caught hiding $90,000 in his freezer has been sentenced to 13 years behind bars. william jefferson was convicted. prosecutors said he took about half a million dollars in bribes and was trying to get more. 13 years is the toughest sentence ever for a u.s. congressman on bribery charges. jefferson says he will appeal. police have arrested a sixth member of a missouri family

suspected of sexually abusing kids for year. daryl was arrested at his current home in florida. he is the brother of the father in the case who was arrested with his four sons charged with rape and child sex abuse. more charges could come next week. six alleged victims told investigators that they were sexually abused by the suspects when they were kids. i want to warn you that the pictures you are about to see can be disturbing. a police chief says he was just trying to keep people safe. northeast arkansas for animals show the police chief shooting seven or eight dogs to death at the pound. that is not the normal procedure. animals are usually unitized by a vet. but there were signs that the dogs had rabies. >> i went down there and i seen

them foaming and all messed up, fighting one another in the ben. >> do you think you did wrong? >> i done it in good faith and thought i was probably helping the dogs. >> the mayor says that a local vet told him to have the dogs unitized. the only vet told tv she was never contacted by city officials until after the dogs were put down. investigators are trying to figure out who shot and killed five people,y8

authorities say sowell used drugs and alcohol to lure women to his home and then strangle them. yesterday they used thermal imaging equipment to search for possible bodies at the house next door. a lawmaker caught hiding $90,000 in his freezer sentenced to 13 years behind bars.

you may remember william jefferson was convicted of bribery, racketeering. prosecutors said he took a half million dollars in bribes and tried to get millions more in order to strike business deals in africa. 13 years is the toughest sentence ever for a u.s. congressman on bribery charges. jefferson says he will appeal. police have arrested a sixth member of a missouri family suspected of sexually abusing kids for years. police say darryl mohler was arrested at his current home in florida. he's the brother of the father in the case arrested on tuesday with his four sons. charged with rape and child sex abuse, a sheriff says more charges could come next week. six alleged victims, now adults, told investigators they were sexually abused by the suspects when they were kids. i want to warn you that the pictures you're about to see could be disturbing.

a police chief in arkansas says he was just trying to keep people safe. northeast arkansas says photos show the police chief shooting seven or eight dogs to death at the pound. on animals are normally euthanized by a vet. they had rainies and he was acted on the doctor's orders. >> i saw them foaming, all messed up, fighting and batting one another. >> do you think did you wrong? >> i done it in good faith. >> the mayor says that a local vet told him to have the dogs euthanized. he didn't want to get the vet hurt. the only vet told local tv she was never contacted by city officials until after the dogs were put down. the huge arizona mansion destroyed by fire yesterday was set to be auctioned next

february. the arizona republic reports the owner has been trying to sell the property for months, even slashing the price from $4 million to $3.5 million. the owner was home when the fire started. he got out safely. the 8,000 square foot house is a total loss. it had a spripg her system but no sprinklers in the attic where it looks like the fire started. amazing medical story. a runner collapsed after running a marathon in arkansas. he had a heart attack after crossing the finish line. he had no pulse for 40 minutes. incredibly, doctors were able to revive him. they used a new procedure called therapeutic hypothermia. they lowered his body temperature and protected his brain cells. >> i didn't think he would probably wake up. at 45 minutes, it's just an extremely long time. >> if this incident had happened during the race at mile nine or

mile 20 or so where there was no medical care, i would have died. because they couldn't have gotten to me soon enough. >> that's amazing. the 67-year-old should be released today from the hospital. frightening moments for high school students at a football game when a wall collapsed. the cheers quickly turned to horror when a concrete stadium wall gave way. students that were leaning against the wall fell six feet to the ground. a dozen of them were taken to the hospital. thankfully, the good news is nobody had life-threatening injuries. local media reports that authorities think the collapse could have come from heavy rains in the area recently. so forget counting the cars on the new jersey turnpike. you better watch out fort turkey. >> i'm going to have my own reality show. >> that is tammy the turkey. how the bird is causing quite a

stir two weeks before thanksgiving. what exit is she at?

remembering the victims of the ft. hood shooting rampage. the first funeral for those who gave their all being held across the country throughout the day. iran is pulling into cyber police to fight insults and lies. why others call the attempt to police the internet just another effort to crack down on the government opposition. unexpected scare at a high school football game. a wall collapses sending people tumbling to the ground. the latest on the hospitalized students. you're watching hln news and views. funerals are being held across the country for some of the victims of the ft. hood

shootings. friends and family are saying good-bye to captain john gannaney. a funeral is also under way for st. sergeant justin decrow. a funeral being held today for private first class aaron nemelka. a private funeral for staff sergeant amy krueger. >> i was amy's first commander. is and we actually went to afghanistan together in 2003 and 2004. and i think the one thing that you recognize as you serve with people for any period of time, just like any family, what gets you through incredibly difficult events and coming together as a

family. >> the funeral for private first class michael pearson will be in indiana later today. and jason dean hunt. the only suspect major nidal hasan remains hospitalized. he's been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder. president obama is asking congress to slow down on ft. hood. he said lawmakers shouldn't be focused on possible intelligence failures until police and military officials get a chance to do their job and finish up the work on the shooting. the president already ordered his own intelligence review of the accused gunman major nidal hasan. >> we must couple pile every piece of information about the gunman and learn what was done with that information. once we learn those facts, we

must act upon them. if there was failure to take appropriate action before the shootings, there must be accountability. we must quickly and thoroughly evaluate and address any flaws in the system so we can prevent a similar breach from happening again. our government must be able to act swiftly and surely when it has threatening information. and our troops must have the security that they deserve. i know there will also be inquiries by congress, and there should. but all of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater that sometimes dominates the discussion in washington. the stakes are far too high. from all the responsibilities of the presidency, the one that i weigh must heavily is my duty as commander in chief to our splendid servicemen and women. their character and bravery were on full display in that processing center at ford hood when so many scrambled under fire to help their wounded comrades and their great dignity and decency has been on display

as the ft. hood community has rallied together. leading the charge, senator joe lieberman. as the fighting in afghanistan increase, it's hurting morale among u.s. troops there. comparing the morale in afghanistan and in iraq. in iraq, morale is up. fighting has tapered off there. in afghanistan, morale is dropping as the u.s. has intensified its push against the taliban. the army's overall suicide rate has jumped. the army says it's working to get more mental health workers to help soldiers cope. that report comes as president obama sends more troops into afghanistan. president obama is now in singapo singapore, the second stop on his asia tour, meeting with the members of apec. before he left japan, he said the u.s. needs to work more with asia because it could create

jobs back at home. >> this is a place where the risks of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world and where extremists who defile a great religion plan attacks on both our congress. and there can be no solution to our energy security and our climate challenge without the rising powers and developing powers of the asia pacific. to meet these common challenges, the united states looks to strengthen aligns and build new partnerships with the nations of this region. >> while in singapore, the president is due to talk with russian president about replacing the nuclear agreement which expires next month. strong reaction to bring a 9/11 trial to new york city. attorney general eric holder said five suspects with alleged ties to the attacks will be tried in civilian court in manhattan, just blocks away from ground zero. the suspects include khalid

shaikh mohammed and four other detainees from guantanamo bay. family members of the victim are sharply divided over the prospect of a civilian trial. >> bring it back here, me, my feelings, it's tasteless. it's insensitive. and those scars which have never been healed are just going to be opened again. so i am not comfortable one eye owe ta with this call. >> i think, again, it speaks to the very heart of who we are, not only as new yorkers but as american citizens. you know, if a crime is committed on our soil, you are going to be given a trial. you will be given access to an attorney. >> it's not just the families of the 9/11 victims sharply divide over the idea of a civilian trial. some say it's dangerous. because any evidence obtained against the defendant under duress, such as waterboarding, cannot be used in the trial. >> i do not understand why a war criminal should be able to have

the same rights as a common criminal. i think the american people will be very unhappy about this decision. they should be. and they should reverse this decision. and they should be tried in military tribunals. >> this may turn out to be an opportunity for some people to get some of the justice they've been looking for for a long time and may show that the civilian court system can succeed in certain cases where the evidence is clear, it's overwhelming and where you don't need to use all this secret evidence or evidence that's been obtained through the torture program of the bush administration. >> u.s. attorney general eric holder says he made the choice to try the suspects in civilian court for several reasons. because of the strength of the evidence against them, the facts that the 9 slr 11 victims were mostly civilian and the attacks took place on u.s. soil. iran is creating a new cyber police unit to crack down on internet crime.

iranian newspapers say the new fort will monitor web sites looking for what one official calls fraud, insults and the spreading of lies. it's seen as a move against the opposition of iran which relies heavily on the web to spread its message. authorities banned most web sites even linked to the opposition but off new sites spring up within days. they haven't said how the cyber police will carry out their internet surveillance. a series of powerful explosions ripped through this russian army munitions depo and set up a fire that burned for hours yesterday. officials say the blast killed two firefighters and hurt seven people in the military. people could see and hear the blast from nine miles away. 3,000 people who lived nearby had to evacuate. the russian defense ministry said the explosions apparently happened when workers were disposing of ammunition. surviving the storm. remnants of tropical storm ida hammered virginia beach.

and one of our own ireporters were right there on the scene to capture it all.

the final remnants of tropical storm ida are finally moving away and out to sea. they're leaving a real mess behind, though. for three days, the storm hammered the east coast from the carolinas up to new jersey. it's blamed for six deaths, caused flooding, damaged buildings and eroded beaches. there's still a danger of coastal flooding in the northeast, partly due to persistent winds coming in from the atlantic. i-reporter tazz anderson sent us these images of the nor'easter hitting virginia beach. he was pretty light-hearted about it. he said no gazebos were hurt in the filming of this video. he said the wind was tremendous and at times, quote, nearly knocked my 200-pound frame off my feet. he loves wild weather and dreams of being a storm chaser. thank you, tazz.

frightening moments for high school students at a football game, when a wall collapsed. take a look at this. the cheers and the game in south carolina quickly turned to horror when a concrete stadium wall gave way. students that were leaning against the wall fell about six feet to the ground. a dozen of them were taken to the hospital. but thankfully, the good news is, nobody has life-threatening injuries. local media report that authorities think the collapse could have come because of heavy rains in the area recently. this is an mazing medical story. a runner collapsed right after running a marathon in arkansas. he had no pulse for 40 minutes. and incredibly, doctors were able to revive him. they used a new procedure called therapeutic hypothermia. they lowered his body temperature and protected his brain cells. >> i didn't think he would probably wake up. or if he did, he would probably

be limited. at 45 minutes, it's just an extremely long time. >> if this event had happened like at during the race, at mile nine or mile 20 or so, where there was no medical care -- i would have died. because they couldn't have gotten to me soon enough. >> that's amazing. the 67-year-old should be released today from the hospital. cnn's vital signs looks at medicine from around the world. a woman fighting widespread misunderstanding of a disease that most people don't even want to talk about. >> four stages of the disease. we come for treatment when we are already at stage 3 or stage 4, very close to death. sit your education that will save your life.

>> batzi is the embodiment of hope and vitality in the face of cancer. she's a local breast cancer survivor, a rarity of south africa's community. it is a major taboo subject. today she's speaking to secondary schoolchildren. both girls and boys. in a country where women often defer their health care to their house, she hopes to support support for women down the road. >> you love to read about exciting advances in medicine. we've got the site for you. cnn.com/vit cnn.com/vitalsigns.

fbi agents used thermal images devices and plain-old rakes and shovels to see if

anymore bodies might be in the backyard of the house where an alleged serial killer lived in cleveland. they were there four hours. the remains of 11 women have been found at the home of convicted sex offender anthony sowell. five counts of aggravated murder, as well as a rape charge for allegedly assaulting a woman who survived and notified police. authorities say sowell used drugs and alcohol to lure women to his home, then strangled him. yesterday fbi agents used the thermal imaging equipment to search for possible bodies at the house next door. i want to warn you the pictures you're about to see could be disturbing and they certainly got an animal rights activist outraged. a police chief in arkansas said he was just trying to keep people safe, northeast arkansas for animals says, that photos show police chief jim groenings shooting seven or eight dogs to death at the pound. that is not the normal procedure. animals are normally euthanized by a vet.

the sheriff said there were signs the dogs had rabies and he was acting on the mayor's orders. >> i went down there and saw them foaming and all messed up and fighting and batting each other in the pen and decided that was the best thing to do with them. >> do you think you did wrong? >> no, i don't think i did wrong. i did it in good faith and thought i was helping the dogs for the shape they were in. >> the mayor says a local vet told him to have the dogs euthanized. the only vet told local tv she was never contacted by city officials until after the dogs were put down. the huge arizona mansion destroyed by fire yesterday was set to be auctioned next february. the arizona republic reports the owner has been trying to sell the scottsdale property for months, even slashing the price from $4 million, to $3.5 million. the owner was home when the fire started. and he got out safely. fire crews say the 8,000 square-foot house is a total loss. it had a sprinkler system, but

there were no sprinklers in the attic, where it looks like the fire started. it's a watershed event for nasa. nasa crashed a probe onto the moon and discovered water. and we're not just talking about a few drops. chad myers from our sister network, cnn tells us what it means. >> there can be water anywhere now in the entire solar system. in the universe. it really just means we're not the only place that is going to have this. and they proved it. remember this? this is the vehicle they crash-landed. they broke this part off and crashed it into the moon, way on the bottom of a moon in a place that is always dark. it will be that little black spot right there. why did they want to do it on the dark spot? because that spot never warms up. 200 degrees below zero where this thing crashed. and that was important, because they wanted to know in this crater, they wanted to know that this sun, this warm air never reached this. and the water would never have evaporated from here.

so they were watching this part of the moon. here's what happened. they crashed this thing into the moon. there goes the probe. right into a very dark crater on the southern pole of the moon. it splashed up some dust. and the dust, as it flew through it, was collected by a spectrometer in the second vehicle. the vehicle picked all those things up and it said, okay, here's what i found. that right there is a representation of the spectrometer. if it was just gray dirt, it should, the line should have looked like that. the line did not look like that. the line was like this. so the color was wrong. all the scientists went -- aqua doesn't look like that. what's this? what's this here? what are these big dips in what we expect the color to be? well right through here and in here and in here, those dips indicated especially here, water vapor in that dust. not a lot of water.

just vapor, because when this thing hit, it created a dent, obviously a crater in the moon. the crater got to 700 degrees, so that ice that was under the surface evaporated. vaporized, basically and the second vehicle flew right through it. okay, so that was chad myers from our sister network, cnn. well now astronaut buzz aldrin, the second person to set foot on the moon, is weighing in. he said he was pleased with nasa's discovery, but he thinks the u.s. should focus on colonizing mars. so forget counting the cars on the new jersey turnpike. you better watch out for the turkey. >> that is tammy the turkey. how she is causing quite a stir two weeks before thanksgiving. what exit is she at?

hello. i'm gerri willis, and this is "your bottom line," the show that saves you money. make money right now. we have a list of ways to pump up your income right away and get out of town without breaking the bank. deals and steals on airfare for you and your family. and save big cash with small improvements around the house this weekend. the show that saves money starts right now. the stock market is back up, hitting a 13-month high this week for lots of folks, that means a big sigh of relief. as the value of their investments start to build back

up. when you stepped it up or jumped ship, our next guest is here to tell you what you need to know to make the best of your investments. rick, great to see you again. >> you too, gerri. always a pleasure. >> everybody in the building is asking me, okay, we have seen what happens v what happened with stocks. let's throw money. is it now the time to invest? >> it is absolutely the time to invest provided you have the proper perspective. if you think you're going to get rich quick you might be sorely disappointed. if you have a five-or ten-year outlook, this might be a good time to invest. >> what's interesting what's going on is last year everybody got so scared in the market selloff. they got out of stocks, some of them taking heavy losses. and many of them, many of them, rick, have never gotten back in. so they completely missed the rally this year. what would you tell those folks? >> to get over it. when you make investment decisions based on your

emotions, you're almost always going to be the wrong thing at the wrong time. you're right, gerri. a lot of folks bailed out through last spring because they were scared because of the 60% rally, 70% rally we have enjoyed since march 9. they have reinvested in bonds and bond funds. and those investments are poised for big losses in the next couple years. >> bonds funds are poised for losses? >> they really are. it's ironic because people are investing in bonds out of desire for safety. what they don't understand is bond prices are affected by interest rates. if interest rates rise, bond values fall. most people don't understand this. >> well, that's a good warning to folks out there. what about if you stuck with your investments. you stuck to your guns, saw the market falling last year and said, hey, i'm going to keep hanging on and more, i'm going to throw money at this. should they take their gains, move on? >> i have one word for you.

congratulations. your fortitude has been vindicated. you have proven that you were able to stick it out, you were able to stand away from the headlines and the fear factor that was encouraging so many folks to do the wrong thing. and by continuing to invest in your 401(k) at work or mutual funds or ira, you have actually made money. most people who have continued to invest over the last two years have more money today than they did two years ago because they had the fortitude to stick it out. keep doing what you're doing because you've got the magic answer. >> another question, should individuals invest, buy stocks, mutual funds? what about the etfs that are so cheap, so inexpensive to buy. what is your favorite thing? >> very clearly etfs, exchange traded funds. the days of buying individual stocks are over. when you can have the biggest companies in america and the world go broke, whether looking at general motors or aig or

lehman brothers or bear stearns or freddie and fannie. when the biggest and the best in the industry can go broke, that shows the days of buying individual stocks are gone. you need instead to buy baskets of stocks. that's what a fund is. don't buy retail mutual funds. buy exchange traded funds. as you pointed out, gerri, they are dirt cheap. you can buy them for practically nothing. and it's the way to go. >> okay, rick, one word answer. is the stock market going to end the year higher or lower? >> yes. >> higher? >> we're very optimistic that the stock market is going to continue to do well. >> okay. rick, thank you. appreciate your help today. >> any time, gerri. now, investing isn't the only way to grow your money. if you're looking for extra cash, there's things you can do right now to pump up your income. don donna, great to see you again. >> great to see you, gerri. >> you had really interesting ideas here. one of course is go to class. teach a class. but what does that take? >> well, you know, often either

a lot of life work experience and possibly a master's degree. but there's a huge demand for education. you can teach at a to-year college, four-year college, vocational school. continuing education. there's a big demand for that. >> how much money would i make? >> community college, $1,000 per class. it takes a lot of time to prepare for classes. you can teach courses online. you have to balance that out. but it's also a great diversifier for your career and a lot of satisfaction for the people who are doing teaching. >> not a bad thing to put on your resume. one of the old-fashioned things you would do is rent out part of your house to somebody, right? but can you make money doing that? i mean, really. >> a lot of things, you need a little bit of elbow grease. but if you have a room in your home with a privatentrance and private bath, those will fetch the most money. you know, it's not a bad way to tenor some unused space into extra income. >> i read somewhere the average

studio goes for $947 a month. that's not chump change out there. >> of course you want to vet the people going to be in your house and living with you. if you find the right person and it's already unused space it can bring in extra income. check your local zoning board to make sure it's allowed though. >> i'm a cook. can i make a little extra dough on the side as a private chef? >> you could give cooking lessons. someone who loves to plan parties could be an event planner. i have a very good friend who is a soccer nut. you know what he does on the weekends, he's a ref for a local league. >> doing something he likes. >> do something you like. you have to do your due diligence. you don't want to kill your passion for what you enjoy. but you can make money and enjoy what you're doing. >> the usual thing i think people decide they want to do is consult. >> that's right. >> everybody and their mother is consulting right now because the

job market is so bad. >> that's right. it's actually a little easier if you have a job to do some consulting on the side. you're deploying some of your expertise. go to previous employers. and the big key with that, of course, is you don't want to have a conflict with your current job. >> tell your boss. >> check with your boss. you don't want to work for a competitor. if you're a graphic designer, do things on the simptd marketing skills, you might want to develop a website or social media plan. for a noncompetitor. there's lots of things you can do on the side and bring in good dough, too. >> i love that. of course it does take a lot of preparation if you were already involved in that kind of work to begin with. >> that's right. >> it's just finding the people out there who need the services. >> go to former employers. to find out what is in demand go to guru.com. >> donna rosato, thank you very much. it's times like these where some folks will do just about anything to get by, that

includes trying to take advantage of you. up next, fighting fraud and how to protect yourself.

lights are on but nobody is home. about one in seven houses was empty in the third quarter. that is the highest reading since the government began

tracking the number 45 years ago. now, the total house vacancy rate standing at 14.5% right now. foreclosures are partially to blame. and strapped borrowers can't make their mortgage payments. in october, foreclosure filings dropped 3% from the previous month but are up 19% from this month last year. realitytrac, the company that puts together the foreclosure numbers, they say three consecutive monthly declines is unprecedented for their report and may be an indication that the foreclosure tide is turning. and there's more, house prices, it seems, may be finally bottoming out. good news. the national price was $177,900 in the third quarter. that's up 7,000 bucks from the previous quarter. however, that is still down more than 11% from the third quarter of last year. vacancies, foreclosures, home prices. with all this news sadly, mortgage fraud is still on the rise. scammers got a whole new bag of tricks. we'll tell you the signs when

that offer of help may be a scheme. and the vice president exposed mortgage fraud in her own neighborhood. and she joins us now from washington. ann, great to see you again. >> great to see you, too, gerri. >> let's start with the idea that mortgage fraud is still going up. why? and what are the new types out there? >> fraud seems to thrive in unstable markets whether prices are rising or falling. as always, schemes work to take advantage of basic live market opportunities. right now there's an awful lot of houses on the market in terms of foreclosures, vacancies. so they have more offed to take advantage of that situation. >> let's talk about where these are. we have a great map to show people. color codeded, heat-sensitive map. you can see where this fraud is occurring. it's really the usual suspects here. california, nevada, florida. the places where we've really seen home prices plum e. why is

the fraud concentrated there? >> well, interestingly enough, it turns out because fraud oftentimes leads to foreclosure, they were leading in mortgage fraud cases during the boom. now those houses are leading in foreclosu foreclosure. that's where the fraud is happening today because that, again, is where the market opportunity is. >> ann, if i have a vacant house in my neighborhood, so i be worried? are scammers coming in to take advantage of us? >> potentially. there's a lot of things to be worried about when you have vacant houses, especially if there's a lot of vacant houses or more than one. the department of justice and criminologies will tell you they're magnets for property crimes and are responsible or associated with violent crimes against persons as well. >> wow. >> in some cases and some cities there are organized movements to put spotters in these homes f. no one is providing gas or electricity to heat the home, you have a higher risk of fire.

so we see a lot of arson or fires involved with vacant houses. >> so there's lots of problems, just not one. i want to take with short sales for a moment. you say this is one of the new scams out there. there are short sale specialists. what is a short sale and how are the scammers getting involved? >> well, a short sale basically means that the bank agrees to let you sell your home for less than the amount of the mortgage owed. short sales are the hot new thing now. foreclosures are so bad on your credit record. a short sale is not quite so bad. it's an easier, cheaper way for banks to get rid of the properties because they obviously have a huge backlog and they don't want to be landlords. you'll see the get-rich quick investment gurus are touting short sales as a way to quick riches. that's, again, because of the market opportunities. there's a huge supply of distressed borrowers and it's

easy to take advantage of them. >> ann, quickly, i want to get to a couple places to go if you think you're in trouble. where do you go if you need help? >> report your concerns to the local police, the fbi. another great place now is to report it to your state attorneys general. they are very concerned about short sales and rescue schemes. a lot of states have task forces willing to come in and help. >> ann, great info. thanks for helping us out today. >> you're welcome. next, your weekend project. get your home ready for the winter months before it's too late. and save some big bucks.

winter will be here before you know it. and that means it's time for tips to save you some heat and some cash this winter. earlier i spoke with lou, home improvement expert at&ace hardware's helpful hardware man. this is important, because the weather is getting cold. i want to start with windows. windows, a mess. >> windows and doors are your areas of greatest loss in the home. even after you put brand-new windows in it's natural obviously because of the glass. if it's in the budget replacing

your windows 80s a terrific time because of the federal tax credit. >> oh, free money to be had? >> all kinds of that. it's up to $1,500. you need to stick with major manufacturers. because not all of them qualify. there's certain criteria the windows have to have in order to meet it. you can't just go out. it's the u factor. >> that's what i'm looking for? >> a .30 u factory, the solar heat loss. >> i assume they're advertising that. >> they are. and the solar heat, .30. you have to work with manufacturers. if windows are not at your budget, you want to do something to cut the drafts. i prepped this particular window. this is a brand-new window. you could never do this with this one. but forsake of argument, i put double-sided tape and i'm putting on a window film. this is basically creating -- >> you're putting like plastic wrap on your window. >> this plastic wrap -- now, i

know it doesn't look like much right now. but once you tape this on and you use a hair dryer -- >> let me get the higher dryer. >> get the hair dryer for me. i need it over here. you turn the hair dryer on. what's going to happen is it's going to shrink this so you don't see it. it's going to tighten up so much that you'll be able to trim around the edges. listen to this. by cutting the drafts in your windows, you can increase the energy efficiency by up to 70%. >> wow. that's huge. >> this is a place where you will really lower your cost. the problem is the look and the operation. if they don't operate -- if you're using a spoon to keep them open, you might want to put it in your budget. >> what about doors? >> same thing. weather stripping you can buy that go around windows and doors. they make window kits larger for patio doors. when you do this and you put it over the door, you're not going to be able to open the door.

i don't want anybody to worry about that. caulking is another thing. >> old-fashion said but it works and it's cheap. >> the greatest product in the new mill lessen yes, ma'am. it's one of the most effective ways to eliminate drafts in your home. >> i wish we could get some but urge we can't today. so let's talk about filters, furnace filters. again, this is a cheap way to make sure your furnace is operating as efficiently as possible. these things just not a lot of money. >> i don't want you to spend the money on this. this is a 99 cent filter. they don't do anything for the indoor air quality for your home. so you want to upgrade to pleated filters. then you can go higher. there's a 3m filter, ace. they do a nice job tracking particulates in the air. >> right. you have to change them regularly. when they get clogged the furnace works harder and use more energy. it's important to have your furnace inspected and cleaned by a licensed professional on an

annual basis. it will cost $100. but you will have the peace of mind over the winter months it's not going to conk out on you in february. >> it's been an issue this year. i know there's things i can do that will make it better next spring. what would that be? >> the winter and the fall is the best time to take care of your lawn. you're going to rake the leaves and get rid of the thatch. then you're going to put a winterizing fertilizer. there's several different ones out there that go on. >> i see it right there. >> there's a big bag there. it's a natural product full of iron. it comes from walk county sewage. >> you don't have to buy things in an earthy environment. >> by doing the fertilization in the fall it will promote healthy root growth. in the spring your lawn will come back more healthy. then you do spot seeding and start the four-step program.

you'll be the envy of the neighborhood. >> lou, thank so much. >> my pleasure. chances are your thanksgiving travel plans are all set, but there's some end of the year bargains for you. cheap air fathers for you and your family coming right up.

♪ ♪ i will never accept defeat! i will never quit! i am an american soldier! after our country was viciously attacked in september of 2001, i enlisted in my state

guard, the georgia state defense force, and i proudly served for more than eight years. but i am proud today to serve on the team with hln's robin meade, we have traveled to the national infantry museum near fort benning, georgia, to answer the questions of soldiers and their families about their wallets. why? so they can be as savvy about money as you are. i want to tell you something that is obvious to you, the country is in a really tough spot financially. we are in some difficult trouble with our economy. but i want to tell you something crazy. for those of you as young soldiers and families of young soldiers, today's economy actually gives you more opportunity than people who came before you. because everything that you need to do in order to build a financial future for yourself is cheaper now than it used to be.

and the greatest thing is as american fighting men and women, you have access to the nation's best long-term savings plan, the thrift savings plan. i want you to know that even though a lot of your relatives in civilian life and friends in civilian life are having a very difficult time financially, you are in a position to have an absolutely fantastic financial future. >> we have lieutenant jose elizabeth, right? >> yeah. >> and he wants to know about how much money you can save selling your house. what makes you ask that? >> today i'm seeing they're saying that soldiers were getting discounts on selling their houses. >> there's a special program for soldiers that if you are, you are issued new orders for new

duty station, and this was signed by president obama this past winter, and you are transferred and you have a home that you can't sell for what you owe on it, the feds will absorb a portion of those losses. and depending on the amount that you would be upside-down on when you sell your home, the feds would either end up covering all of it or a substantial portion of your upside-down amount. and here we go, lieutenant, i have the actual, see my executive producer is so swift. the actual law is called the military home owners assistance program. and it was signed into law on february 17th. there are specific rules about who is eligible for compensation under the program. but its cutoff date at sunset is duty station transfers through 2012. so it is there specifically so that you in service to our

country do not suffer hardship by, you don't choose to go to a new duty station. hey, i think i want to move -- you're told. and so you shouldn't suffer financial harm because of that. >> right behind him is staff sergeant derrick halabash. and somebody contacted him. when people contact you -- i don't know, my radar goes up. what do you mean they contacted you? what were they telling you about relief? >> they were saying they could refinance my home to about 4.8%, about 1/3 off, sir. do you advise going with this? >> it's within reason that you could get a 30-year refinance from 4.75%, so about 5.25%, if you have solid credit for a 15-year refi right now, from just under 4%, maybe 3.875, to about 4.25. the question is never, can somebody really write you a loan at 4.75. the question is, what fees are they going to charge you, in

order to refi that loan. and what you want to do, if you get a quote from them, you just don't take a quote from them. you need quotes from others as well. and you want to divide them into three parts. part one is the interest rate that's all that anybody ever tells you about. second part is if they charge you what is known as points. each point is 1% of the amount of money you're borrowing. you know how many points you should pay on a refi? none. the third category is closing costs, closing costs go from here to here. and that's where a lot of lenders will say, they're like picking your pocket. while they're smiling at you. because they'll tell you, we're giving this great rate. but they charge you so much in closing costs, it's really not a great rate. so you need all three from anybody you get a quote from. but is it true you could get 4.75 right now? yes, it is. >> next on "clark howard" --

>> we have a brand new, 2008 truck, that has a very high interest rate in the near 20's, 20%. >> you don't! >> it just touches my heart because you know, we know that the men and women in the uniform sacrificed so much. but sometimes we don't really hear about the family stories and they sacrificed just as much.

all right, so senior officer jeff torres is a candidate. you want to talk about investing in a certain plan. so let's ask about that. >> since becoming parents in the last year, my wife and i have

been concerned with the forecast for higher education in about 17 years. now they're forecasting about $300,000 we'll have to shell out. so what i've done for the first year is invested in my state's 529 plan. i was wondering what your thoughts are about 529 plans or other state plans that i don't know about. >> what is the 529 plan? >> it's a college savings plan, you put money into it all the money grows tax free as long as the money is used for college. all the earnings are tax-free. so it is the absolute best vehicle to save for college. and so you're doing the right thing. what state plan are you in? >> virginia. and actually, we made a conscious decision to remain a virginia resident exclusively for their education benefits. >> let me tell you something about virginia. virginia is one of the states that has multiple 529 plans. and there are good 529 plans in virginia and bad ones. so i have a guide on my website which is clarkhoward.com, where

you can do the hyperlink and make sure that the virginia plan you're in is the good one. not one of the bad ones. >> this is colonel hal-boyer, she's retiring from the reserve about five years from now and has a question about retirement. >> good afternoon, sir. i'm actually going to be retiring from the army reserve next year sometime. and will retire from my civilian job. i'm projecting five or six years from then. >> when do you rest? >> right now, i'm resting. >> this is it, she's resting. >> i just got back from afghanistan and i'm on my way home. and this is a little rest stop here. but i have about five more working years that i'm going to invest. i don't get my reserve retirement until i'm 59 1/2. and but we'll still have extra money to invest during that

time. what would be the best thing to look into for end of career type investments? >> okay. let me ask you a tough question. if you quit working at 59 1/2, you know the odds are, you'll live maybe another 30 years or so. are you confident that you're going to have enough money five years from now, that you will be able to carry yourself the rest of your life? >> pending the market crash or, unless there's a market crash, i expect to have enough by the time i hit 60. >> so you feel comfortable that you are going to be able to bag work at 60, boom, you're done? >> well, i might not want to quit work. i still like to work. >> do you understand why i'm asking you the question? because i want to make sure that you are in a position and although i was talking with the young soldier about doing a roth account, for you, doing a roth is even better. because you're allowed to do

what's known as catch-up. you can do an extra $1,000 a year, at $6,000 each year into a roth account. and i would do that for these next five years. when military personnel are deployed overseas, often they leave behind a spouse and children who suddenly are having to deal with money issues stateside. i had the privilege of sitting down with one couple that's getting ready for an imminent overseas deployment. >> my name is private kevin lights and this is my beautiful wife, amanda lights, and this is our 2-week-old son, hunter lights. i'm facing a deployment in about two weeks. >> how can i be of service to the two of you? >> i have a question. i know with the way the economy is and banks sort of changing the rules as far as things go. are there any banks still participating in the soldiers and sailors relief act? >> they don't have a choice.

they have to. now why is that relevant in your case? >> my husband is deploying to north iraq in the next two weeks. so -- and we have a brand-new, 2008 truck that has a very high interest rate in the near 20's. 20%. >> you don't. what were you thinking? >> we were young when we got it and just we haven't refinanced yet. >> well you have two options because under the soldier and sailors relief act while you're deployed that will go down to 6%, you have to petition for it. the other thing is your credit is good? >> uh-huh. >> why don't you refi. >> we're looking at refi. >> ask them. they may require that you do some down payment, reduction in the loan balance in order for them to do it. but they'll mark it down if your credit's good. >> and i have one more question

for you. i have two credit cards but i've been very leery with them if i put anything on by the time i get the statement, as soon as i get the statement i pay it off. how is that affecting my credit score. >> making it great. >> that's the right thing to do. >> okay. >> learn from her. >> yes, sir. >> next on "clark howard" -- >> you're an example that you don't have to be someone toting a gun to be able to serve. >> would you want me toting a gun? let's take a vote.

we were at an army post to show gratitude to the young men and women who put their lives on the line for our country. and to answer their questions and also those of retired military personnel about their

wallets. but i am joined by "new york times" bestselling author, robin >> hi, clark, how are you? >> it feels pretty good to be on "the new york times" best selling list. >> ever since that happened, i've been telling everybody i'm on the "new york times" bestselling list. >> i remember i was a habitat for humanity build. and i got a phone call that "the new york times" bestseller list had come out and i was on it. and it was amazing, let me tell you, i didn't do very well in english in high school and to be on the "new york times" bestseller list was quite a shock. >> i wonder, i was going to ask clark we just saw a group of soldiers march by and i wondered what was going on. >> we've just had a graduation ceremony for a new group of recruits and i was at the ceremony earlier today. and i want you to know, there's a massive grandstand that was

100% full with family and friends. and they were standees, a couple of hundred standees because there was no more room for them. they were there to express their pride. their pride in a young soldier, a young family member who has chosen to put on the uniform of the united states army. >> nothing like it. >> and you have a long history of expressing gratitude to soldiers that is not based on some kind of pr puff thing. >> on the morning show on hln, "morning express with robin meade" every day we salute somebody. >> who is she? >> exactly. well, she's on "the new york times" bestseller list. >> exactly. every morning we do a salute to the troops, it's once an hour. and generally it can be somebody who is in the military. but you know who it generally is?

it's family members who are generally missing their loved one, they might be deployed overseas, or at another base where they can't be. >> i cannot tell you how much i miss my son. he had to leave his baby daughter, two weeks old to go and serve his country. >> he is the best husband, the best father. i tell him sometime i wish he was my dad. >> i love my husband so much. because he's able to put smiles on my children's faces. >> he is such an amazing husband and father, our 9-month-old daughter, kiley, misses her father so much. please be careful and come home safe. we love you so much. >> it touches my heart. we know that the men and women in uniform sacrifice so much. but we don't hear about the family stories and they sacrifice just as much. because for months at a time you're deployed. for months at a time someone back here is running the household. so my heart goes out to all

sides of the family, whether they're in uniform or not. >> you've been to a number of army posts, fort bragg, fort sam houston, fort campbell. >> doing different stories there. salute to troops in another form. fort sam houston, we were visiting amputees, people who were obviously in the service and then had something happen where they were amputees, that's a great facility there. fort bragg we were there doing a memorial day special. fort campbell we were there doing a veterans day special. >> and the soldiers are pretty excited to see you. >> really? >> yes. no one's asked me why i'm in uniform. i saw you looking at my uniform and you couldn't figure out -- >> i was told, are you in the reserves? what do you do? >> i'm in the state guard. >> what does a state guardsman do? >> thank you for asking. there are 27 of the 50 states have state guards that are usually part of the same military structure as the national guard. and where national guardsmen deploy here in the united states

or overseas. state guardsmen only deploy within the 50 states. >> what job do you do? >> they have me do public affairs. >> you talk, don't you? >> i enlisted right after the terrorist attacks. someone told me about the state guard and i was like, wow. i'm too old to go into regular army reserves or national guard. but this gave me an opportunity to serve. >> you look great. you look great and -- >> i would like on my website at clarkhoward.com i have a guide to all the states that have state guards. and how people can volunteer and enlist. >> but you're an example that you don't have to be someone toting a gun to be able to serve. >> would you want me toting a gun? let's take a vote who wants me carrying a gun? who wants me not carrying a gun? okay. not much faith in me carrying a gun.

>> your weapon is your information with finances and you help us. >> oh, very good. there you go. tes

i will never accept defeat! i will never quit! i am an american soldier! welcome back to the national infantry museum in columbus, georgia, we're here with our brave fighting men and women who i appreciate so much putting their lives on the line for our nation's freedom.

we're here to take their questions about better ways to handle their dough. >> i'm way over here with staff sergeant isaac rios, thank you for your service. and he heard you talk about tsp. and he wants to know about some other good investments for like what? >> any other investment that you recommend to just get a little bit more money. >> if you have more money than -- >> let's say you already have the tsp. >> what other investments that you know about. >> i got it. >> all right. you got $5,000 for me right now? >> yeah. >> okay. good. because you can do -- >> everybody's head swivelled, they're like, ooh, where? >> you can do up to $5,000 each calendar year in an account called a roth. roth is my favorite savings vehicle. you put in this money, up to

$5,000. and if you're married, you can do five and five. you don't have to do five, that's just a ceiling. you put money into it, and listen to this, you never get taxed on that money. everything you earn on it, tax-free. when you spend it, you spend it tax-free. you can take money you got in savings, whatever it is, and put it into a roth account. and the tax-free advantage over time is gigantic. now when are you allowed to spend the money? when would you guess i'm going to let you spend the money? >> that was my next question. what can i spend -- >> 59 1/2. how old are you now? >> 33. >> so you would put this money into a roth, and you got to leave it in there for 26 years. but then everything that you have is your money to spend, dollar for dollar, government's

out of your life on taxing it. >> chrissie landmeter i'm sitting right beside her and you guys are doing some overseas psc move to germany. you only have two months to prepare. what question do you have financially? >> i wanted to know, there's some extra costs that are going to be incurring for an overseas move that will not be covered with our allowance. shipping our pet, things with our cars, multiple things we're coming across that we have to do. i was wondering instead of dipping into our savings, which do you think would be best way to cover these costs since we only have two months to prepare and we have to start doing that now? >> well actually this is the kind of circumstance that dipping into savings is appropriate. but that's what it's there for. but you said cars, shipping cars to germany? >> well we're shipping one, but like we have to do, there's things we have to do to the car before. new tires, all of these different things. our pet -- >> and you're having to pay for the shipping of the car?

>> we're not paying for the shipping, but the maintenance that needs to be done. the shipping of the pet. we're going over the $1,000 mark and of course, i don't have that budgeted into the monthly budget. >> but you do have savings. >> see, because you have savings you're making the people right behind you very happy. because you actually have a pay to pay for those expenses for relocation that are not covered. >> this is how much this guy loves saving money. and he's going to share a little bit of that with you. he uses one razor every six months. i'm not joking.

i'll be remiss if i didn't

tell you this. my father in law and my father are both huge fans, any time we ask them any sort of financial advice -- they always say, well clark howard says -- so we hear that a lot. so we had to tell you, they're huge fans and they really like what you do. >> thank you. >> on my way back from iraq just before i redeployed to the states, i bought a harley. and i paid half off, i paid the nine grand, i decided to take a loan out for the other nine to build my credit. i was wondering, would it be smart of me to refinance my, the loan? or just let it ride out and keep paying payments, i'm not having any problems paying it off. >> what interest rate is the harley loan at? >> the interest rate is 4.69%. >> there's no refi i would really do. that's a fantastic rate. is that subsidized by harley? or is that from the credit union? >> andrews federal credit union. >> smart man. before we go on, i need a show of hands, who has already joined the credit union? >> all right now want to tell

you something -- i need next time i come here, whatever duty station you're at and i ask that question, i want that hand up in the air. because you're missing a real opportunity. you heard that 4.69%. credit unions are so great at virtually every military installation, that you could be assigned to. you're going to have access to a credit union. if you're not familiar with why it's so great to be in one, if you go to a bank and open an account, you are helping to fund the profits for the stockholders of that bank. on the other hand, if you go to a credit union and open an account, you become an owner of the credit union, and everything they do and everything they offer, is so that you get a better deal on loans, savings and checking. so -- by the time we're done today, i hope that everybody will raise their hands and say they're a credit union member. >> all right. specialist greg frye is right here.

and he has a question about something that i have seen on the commercials again and again. >> clark, what is the best way to invest in gold? >> other than turning in your wife's jewelry and stuff like that? >> yeah. >> first, any of those ads you see on tv from all of these people who buy your jewelry and all that? run away. run away, not to them. second, buying gold is tough. because when you buy actual gold, you have to pay a commission to buy it, you have to pay a commission to sell it. and then let's say you put real money into gold. let's say you take all your savings and you put it into gold. gold is something people want to steal. so then you got to pay to lock it up. so there isn't anything i like about buying actual gold. but there's a trick way to buy it that's easy and cheap if gold

is you what you want to have. you can buy ownership in gold like you buy a stock. and it's called an etf, an exchange-traded fund, which sounds complicated, but it's not. and you pay a company to buy gold for you. they store it for you in a vault. and then when you choose to sell it, you can sell it right away at whatever market price is. it's really, really easy to do. and it saves you a fortune. and you have the same thing owning gold. >> one of the most difficult transitions for military personnel is reassignment to a new duty location. well, there are lot of money issues that come up with that. and i visited with one couple that had a lot of questions for me. >> hi, i'm captain john burns and this is my beautiful wife may. >> hi. >> i've been in the army for about three years now, 3 1/2 years and i've had one deployment to baghdad, iraq for 15 months during the surge in 2007-2008.

>> we're trying to buy a house in the near future. maybe a year or two, two years. >> and are going to be deployed where in america? >> maybe stationed in fort bragg in about the next six months after i get done here at benning. that's like a permanent duty -- >> yes. >> what questions do you have about buying a house? >> should we wait maybe a year, rent for a while and put a decent-sized savings away that we can put a down payment on the home? >> there is no right answer to that. if you buy a home pretty quickly under a va loan, the advantage to that side of it is that the housing market won't have recovered by six months from now. let's say you waited 18 months, 24 months to have substantial downpayment. there may have started to be a meaningful recovery to the housing market. even though i love people to pay substantial down payment, in your circumstance, when you get to bragg, i would like at buying a home there before the market

recovers. but especially if you find one that's a real deal. next on "clark howard" -- >> nobody knows how to get a bargain at sam's club, are you serious? >> i mean you can actually ask for a bargain? >> no, there's something you look for.

around the country, people want know how you can be of help to the victims of the fort hood shootings.

if you go to my website at cnn.com/clarkhoward, you can see how this weekend you can make a difference in the aftermath of this attack. sergeant first class kevin ♪ sergeant first class kevin simpson, if you don't mind standing up here. really this must be a good time for him to ask this question, yeah. >> how you doing, clark? >> great, thank you. >> the question i have is, i'm thinking about buying a house, i'm retiring in about seven years and the question about buying a house is either buying a house or building a house. and i'm thinking about buying land. trying to figure out what's the best way to invest in buying in

land. >> i would prefer if you will consider buying a house instead of buying land. and here's why -- in the real estate slump, what's happened is that houses are selling for less than replacement cost. which means that what you pay to buy a house right now is cheaper than it costs sticks-up to build. so it might get a real deal on the land. but then you decide to build your own house now or later, if you were to build the house now, at least you'd get good prices from builders and better prices on materials, because the market's not in great shape. but your best deal is buying a house that somebody has just got to sell, because you can buy it at a fraction of what it would cost to make. >> marie brooks might be your favorite person here today. she said what's the best way to be debt-free before retiring. when are you going to be retiring? >> two years from the army reserve and two to five years

from civil service. >> so the question is what kind of debts do you have that you're trying to get your arms around? >> i want to get around to paying off the house and having just house and utilities by the time i retire. >> well, paying off your home mortgage is not always a priority. the big priority is paying off any unsecured debt. personal loans, credit cards, then next would be car loans. but home mortgage debt is not a high priority with me. it's more important that you beef up your savings than it is to be mortgage debt-free. it's psychological for people to want to be mortgage debt-free on the day they retire. i'm not that much into that because your house isn't going to feed you money. you're going to feed yourself from the money that you have saved. >> clark, what about -- i've heard other financial analysts who aren't half as good as you, may i just add.

when they say, yeah, that you're paying off your mortgage should be a priority because that way you're never homeless. >> well that is a good point. but i'm more concerned about people who retire, don't have enough money, don't have enough cash to pay for everyday things and they, it's an empty victory that they own their house free and clear. >> this is how much this guy loves saving money. and he's going to share a little bit of that with you. he uses one razor every six months. i'm not joking. and he is has figured out how you make that razor last. so maybe in the field this will help you. >> the secret to making a blade last that long is yours for free if you buy robin meade's new "new york times" bestselling book. no, the secret is believe it or not, whether you use a mach iii, a turbo, whatever, whatever blade you use, dry it after you

use it. a blade does not deteriorate from shaving you. it does not deteriorate from a guy's beard or shaving a woman's leg. it only deteriorates from the moisture. so if you dry a blade, you're fine. now just before i found out about this, i had gone to a warehouse club and they had 35 packs of razors on clearance. i have 70 of these things i bought, now, i used two blades a year. so that means i have a 35-year supply of razors. i got to make it to 89 years old before i need to buy my next one. >> now that's saving money. >> anybody know the secret pricing codes at sam's club? >> really? does it have to do with what level card you are? >> no. nobody knows how to get a bargain at sam's club? are you serious? >> you mean you can actually ask

for a bargain? >> no, there's something you look for. when you're walking around sam's, anything that ends in one cent has been marked down. they don't do sales because they don't want anybody to wait for things to be reduced in price. so for internal use, if you see something that ends in $52.31. that means before it may have been $89.99. when i walk around sam's -- i was in sam's yesterday. and i walked the floor. and i go aisle to aisle, looking at the merchandise. i look to see what's ending in one penny. and then i look to see if i want it. and that's how i shop there. >> how did you learn that? how did you find that out? >> it's my job to know stuff like that. everybody been in a costco wholesale? >> yeah. >> nobody's been in a costco? >> oh, honey, i live there.

>> costco, anybody know the system at costco? they have a similar thing. didn't know that either. 97 cents. anything that ends in 97 cents has been marked down below cost. so those are the times you're c. so those are the times you're getting something that's a real, real, real deal. i have with me officer candidate neal shubert and his wife laura. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> laura, who do you have in your arms here? >> this is aubrey. >> who's in your arms? >> who are you? >> bella. >> bella, how are you, honey? how old are you? >> 4. >> i understand that you might be going to harvard some day and that's expensive. >> yeah. >> that is what you want to know about, right? is how you're going to pay for these two in college. >> exactly. >> tell me what you've been thinking. what you've been trying to process what you're going to do here because pretty expensive for two of them in college.

>> absolutely. right now we're just kind of looking at just saving as much as we can but we're trying to figure out what options are out there to, you know, save more to get the most bang for our buck. >> well, the big thing is that i always want to make sure that the two of you are saving for yourselves, first. >> okay. >> so your first step is to put up to $5,000 for each of you into a roth each year. if you still have more money you want to save, then you can open one of the college 529 plans, the 529 savings plans, but you start by saving for yourself, because the roth has the double flexibility that if they end up getting scholarships or whatever it is, you don't need any of the money for college but you still need it for retirement. perfect. >> okay. >> does that make sense? >> absolutely. that's fantastic. thank you so much. >> sure. >> thank you. >> next on "clark howard" --

>> you want the car that your neighbors and your friends are laughing at you about. because then some day you're going to be saying, am i going to go play golf over there or over there? and they're getting in their car and they're going to work.

remembering the victims of the fort hood shooting rampage. the first funerals for those who gave their all are being held across the country throughout the day. iran is calling in cyber police to fight what it calls insults and lies what others call the attempts to police the internet just another effort to crack down on the government opposition. an unexpected scare at a high school football game. a wall collapses sending people tumbling to the ground. we'll bring you the latest on the hospitalized students. you're watching hln "news and views." thanks for joining us. i'm jennifer westhoven. funerals were held across the country today for some of the victims of the fort hood

shootings. hundreds lined the streets of plymouth, indiana this afternoon to pay their final respects to staff sergeant justin decrow, a formal military escort carrying his body through the streets. most folks didn't even know him but they still wanted to come out and say good-bye. decrow leaves behind a wife and child. friends and family are also saying good-bye to captain john gaffaney a psychiatric nurse from the san diego area. he will be buried at the fort rosecrans national cemetery. a funeral is also being held today for private first class aaron nemelka in utah. members of utah's congressional delegation are expected to attend. and a private funeral for staff sergeant amy krueger was held this morning in illinois. she was remembered last night at a memorial. >> i was amy's first commander, and we actually went to afghanistan together in 2003 and 2004 and i think the one thing that you recognize as you serve

with people for any period of time just like any family what gets you through incredibly difficult events is coming together as a family. >> the funeral for private first class michael pearson will be held late toward in midway, illinois. there's also a funeral planned for specialist jason hunt of frederick, oklahoma. 13 people were killed and more wounded after the attacks last week. the only suspect major nidal hasan remains hospitalized. he's been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder. president obama is asking congress to slow down on fort hood. he says lawmakers shouldn't be focusing on possible intelligence failures until the police and military officials get a chance to do their jobs and finish up the work on the shooting. the president already ordered his own intelligence review of the accused gunman major nidal

hasan. >> the purpose of this review is clear. we must compile every piece of information that was known about the gunman and we must learn what was done with that information. once we have those facts we must act upon them. if there was a failure to take appropriate action before the shootings there must be accountability. beyond that, and most importantly, we must quickly and thoroughly evaluate and address any flaws in the system so that we can prevent a similar breach from happening again. our government must act quickly and surely when it has threatening information and our troops must have the security they deserve. i know there will also be inquiries by congress and there should but all of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater that sometimes dominates the discussion here in washington. the stakes are far too high. of all the responsibilities of the presidency, the one that i weigh most heavily is my duty as commander in chief to our splendid serviceman and women. their character and bravery were

on full display in that processing center in fort hood when so many scrambled under fire to help wounded comrades and the great dignity and decency has been on display in the days since as the fort hood community has rallied together. >> leading the charge for congressional investigations into the fort hood shootings, independent senator joe lieberman. as the fighting in afghanistan increases, it's hurting morale among u.s. troops there. the u.s. army released a new report comparing morale in afghanistan and in iraq. in iraq morale is up. fighting has tapered off there. in afghanistan morale is dropping as the u.s. has intensified its push against the taliban. the surveys also show the army's overall suicide rate has jumped. the army says it's working to get more mental health workers to help soldiers cope. the report comes as president obama considers sending more troops into afghanistan. president obama is now in singapore, the second stop on his asia tour, meeting with

leaders of the asia pacific economic cooperation forum. before he left japan the president said the u.s. needs to work more closely with asia because it could create jobs back home. he also said there are other tough things to deal with. >> this is a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world and where extremists who defile a great religion plan attacks on both our continents. there can be no solution to our energy security and our climate challenge without the rising powers of developing nations of the asia pacific. to meet these common challenges the united states looks to strengthen old alliances and build new partnerships with the nations of this region. >> while in singapore, the president is due to talk with russia president about replacing the stark 2 nuclear agreement which expires next month. there is strong reaction to the decision to bring a 9/11 trial to new york city. attorney general eric holder says five suspects with alleged

ties to the attacks will be tried in civilian court in manhattan just blocks away from ground zero. the suspects include khalid shaikh mohammed who has confessed to being the mastermind behind 9/11 and four other detainees from guantanamo bay. family members of the victims are sharply divided over the prospect of a civilian trial. >> to bring it back here, my feelings, it's tasteless, insensitive, and those scars which have never been heelaled e going to be opened again. i am not comfortable one iota with this call. >> i think it speaks to the very heart of who we are not only as new yorkers but as american citizens, you know, if a crime is commit owned our soil, you are going to be given a trial. you will be given access to an attorney. >> it's not just the families of the 9/11 victims sharply divided over the idea of a civilian trial. some say it's dangerous because

any evidence of taint against the defendants under duress such as waterboarding cannot be used in the trial. >> i do not understand why a war criminal should be able to have the same rights as a common criminal. i think the american people will be very unhappy about this decision. they should be. and they should reverse this decision and they should be tried in military tribunals. >> this may turn out to be an opportunity for some people to get some of the justice they've been looking for for a long time and may show that the civilian court system can succeed in certain cases where the evidence is clear, overwhelming, and where you don't need to use all the secret evidence or evidence that's been obtained through the torture program of the bush administration. >> u.s. attorney general eric holder says he made the choice to try the suspects in civilian court for several reasons -- because of the strength of the evidence against them, the fact that the 9/11 victims were

mostly civilians, and the attacks took place on u.s. soil. iran is creating a new cyber police unit to crack down on internet crimes. iranian newspapers report the new force will monitor websites looking for what one official calls fraud, insults, and the spreading of lies. it's seen as a move against the opposition in iran which relies heavily on the web to spread its message. now, authorities banned both websites that were even linked to the opposition but often new sites spring up within days. iran hasn't said how the cyber police will carry out their internet surveillance. boston is a well known city. if you haven't been there you've probably seen it as the setting for many tv shows. there are still some hidden treasures in beantown in this week's my city, my secret. >> hi. i'm barry marshall. i was born and raised here in boston. i'm going to tell you about some

of my favorite places. this is the cozy corner on the north end. a great place during the day for breakfast and lunch but i particularly like the brazilian food at night. one of my favorites is the brazilian fish stew. i think the book shop is fabulous. it does have a lot of good bargain, cheap deals, but all the way up the scales to very, very valuable, rare, first editions and old books. when i was here doing some browsing i looked up and a 1929 boston phone book, my grandmother's phone number, and i found it. here's our last stop. looney tunes. it's a music store. i'm a musician myself so a lot of the great music i learned to play i learned off records that i bought here. >> looney tunes also has a lot of really rare vinyl. this is a classic album from 1967, the rolling stones satanic majesty requested with the 3-d cover. if you move it around it does a little 3-d thing. now you know some of my favorite places. let's see some of yours.

go to i-report.com/my city my secret.

the final remnants of tropical storm ida are finally moving away and out to sea leaving a real mess behind though. for three days the storm hammered the east coast from the carolinas up to new jersey. it's blamed for at least six deaths and caused flooding, damaged buildings, and eroded beaches. there is still a danger of coastal flooding in the northeast today. that's partly due to persistent winds from the atlantic. i-reporter taz anderson sent us these images of the nor'easter hitting virginia beach. he was pretty light hearted and said no gaz eastboundos were hurt in the building of this video. he also said the wind was tremendous and at times, quote, nearly knocked my 200-pound frame off my feet. anderson loves wild weather and dreams of being a storm chaser. thank you, tazz. frightening moments for high school students at a football game when a wall collapsed.

take a look. the cheers in the game in south carolina quickly turned to horror when a concrete stadium wall gave way. students that were leaning against the wall fell about six feet to the ground. a dozen were taken to the hospital but, thankfully, the good news is nobody has life threatening injuries. local media report that authorities think the collapse could have come because of heavy rains in the area recently. this is an amazing medical story. a runner collapsed right after running a marathon in arkansas. he had a heart attack right after he crossed the finish line. he had no pulse for 40 minutes and incredibly doctors were able to revive him. they used a new procedure called therapeutic hypothermia. they lowered his body temperature and protected his brain cells. >> i didn't think he would probably wake up or if he did he'd be limited. but at 45 minutes it's just an extremely long time.

>> if this had happened during the race like at mile 9 or mile 20 or so where there was no medical care, i would have died. because they couldn't have gotten to me soon enough. >> that's amazing. the 67-year-old should be released today from the hospital. this is a miracle at the finish line. a runner collapses after a grueling marathon for nearly an hour and he has no pulse. how doctors brought him back to life. i'm robin meade. today's salute is for private first class aaron william from his mom. she misses him and he is missed at home. >> hi, robin. i'm robin gregory and my salute is going out to my wonderful son private first class aaron oxonford. i'm sure he'll pick on me by the end of this because i am going to cry but, aaron, we're all

very proud of you. we want you to be safe. please know that we love you and we can't wait for you to come home. i might not understand why you have joined the army fully but i'm very proud of what you're doing. >> robin, thank you for the message. if you have somebody in the service why don't you go to cnn.com/robin and watch for the salutes every morning on "morning express with robin meade" from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. eastern.

a lawmaker caught hiding $90,000 in his freezer has been sentenced to 13 years behind bars. you may remember louisiana congressman william jefferson. he was convicted of bribery and racketeering. prosecutors said he took about $500,000 in bribes and tried to get millions more in exchange for his influence to strike business deals in africa.

13 years is the toughest sentence ever for a u.s. congressman on bribery charges. jefferson says he will appeal. police have arrested a sixth member of a missouri family suspected of sexually abusing kids for years. police say darryl mohler was arrested at his current home in florida. he is the brother of the father in the case arrested on tuesday with his four sons charged with rape and child sexual abuse. a sheriff says more charges could come next week. six alleged victims now adults told investigators that they were sexually abused by the suspects when they were kids. i want to warn you that the pictures you're about to see could be disturbing and they've certainly got animal rights activists outraged. a police chief in corning, arkansas says he was just trying to keep people safe. northeast arkansas for animals says the photos show police chief jim roanings shooting

seven or eight dogs to death at the pound. that is not the normal procedure. animals are normally euthanize bide a vet. he says there were signs the dogs had rabies and he was acting on the mayor's orders. >> i went down there and looked at them and i seen these foaming and all messed up and fighting and batting one another in that pen and decided that was the best thing to do with them. >> do you think did you wrong? >> no, i don't think i did wrong. i done it in good faith and thought i was probably helping the dogs for the shape they were in. >> the mayor says a local vet told him to have the dogs euthanized. he didn't want the vet to get hurt. corning's only vet told local tv she was never contacted by city officials until after the dogs were put down. the huge arizona mansion destroyed by fire yesterday was set to be auctioned next february. the arizona republic reports the owner has been trying to sell the scottsdale property for months, even slashing the price from about $4 million to $3.5 million. the owner was home when the fire

started. he got out safely. fire crews say the 8,000 square foot house is a total loss. it had a sprinkler system but there were no sprinklers in the attic where it looks like the fire started. this is an amazing medical story. a runner collapsed right after running a marathon in arkansas. he had a heart attack right after he crossed the finish line. he had no pulse for 40 minutes and incredibly doctors were able to revive him. they used a new procedure called therapeutic hypothermia. they lowered his body temperature and protected his brain cells. >> i didn't think he would probably wake up or if he did he'd be limited. but at 45 minutes it's an extremely long time. >> if this event had happened at, like during the race at mile 9 or mile 20 or so where there was no medical care, i would have died. because they couldn't have gotten to me soon enough. >> that's amazing.

the 67-year-old should be released today from the hospital. frightening moments for high school students at a football game when a wall collapsed. take a look at this. the cheers at the game in south carolina quickly turned to horror when a concrete stadium wall gave way. students leading against the wall fell about six feet to the ground. a dozen of them were taken to the hospital but, thankfully, the good news is nobody has life threatening injuries. local media report that authorities think the collapse could have come because of heavy rains in the area recently. forget counting the cars on the new jersey turnpike. you better watch out for the turkey. >> on the reality show and we'll still be here collecting tolls. >> that is tennie the turkey. how the bird is causing quite a stir just two weeks before thanksgiving. what exit is she at?

remembering the victims of the fort hood shooting rampage. the first funerals for those who gave their all are being held across the country throughout the day. iran is calling in cyber police to fight what it calls insults and lies. why others call the attempt to police the internet just another effort to crack down on the government opposition. an unexpected scare at a high school football game. a wall collapses, sending people tumbling to the ground. we'll bring you the latest on the hospitalized students. you're watching hln "news and views." thanks for joining us. i'm jennifer westhoven. funerals were held across the country today for some of the victims of the fort hood

shootings. hundreds lined the streets of plymouth, indiana this afternoon to pay their final respects to staff sergeant justin decrow, a formal military escort carrying his body through the streets. most folks didn't even know him but they still wanted to come out and say good-bye. decrow leaves behind a wife and child. friends and family are also saying good-bye to captain john gaffaney, a psychiatric nurse from the san diego area. he's going to be buried at the fort rosecrans national cemetery. a funeral is also being held today for private first class aaron nemelka in utah. members of utah's congressional delegation are expected to attend. a private funeral for staff sergeant amy krueger was held this morning in illinois. she was remembered last night at a memorial. >> i was amy's first commander and we actually went to afghanistan together in 2003 and 2004. i think the one thing that you recognize as you serve with

people for any period of time, just like any family, what gets you through incredibly difficult events is coming together as a family. >> the funeral for private first class michael pearson will be held later today in midway, illinois. there's also a funeral planned for specialist jason hunt of frederick, oklahoma. 13 people were killed and dozens more wounded after the attacks last week. the only suspect, major nidal hasan, remains hospitalized. he's been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder. president obama is asking congress to slow down on fort hood. he says lawmakers shouldn't be focusing on possible intelligence failures until the police and military officials get a chance to do their job and finish up the work on the shooting. the president already ordered his own intelligence review of the accused gunman, major nidal

hasan. >> the purpose of this review is clear. we must compile every piece of information that was known about the gunman and we must learn what was done with that information. once we have those facts we must act upon them. if there was a failure to take appropriate action before the shootings, there must be accountability. beyond that, most importantly, we must quickly and thoroughly evaluate and address any flaws in the system so that we can prevent a similar breach from happening again. our government must be able to act swiftly and surely when it has threatening nsinformation a our troops must have the security they deserve. i know there will be inquiries by congress and there should but all of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater that sometimes dominates the discussion here in washington. the stakes are far too high. of all the responsibilities of the presidency the one that i weigh most heavily is my duty as commander in chief to our splendid serviceman and women. their character and bravery were

on full display in that processing center at fort hood when so many scrambled under fire to help their wounded comrades. and their great dignity and decency has been on display in the days since as the fort hood community has rallied together. >> leading the charge for congressional investigations into the fort hood shootings, independent senator joe lieberman. as the fighting in afghanistan increases, it's hurting morale among u.s. troops there. the u.s. army released a new report comparing morale in afghanistan and in iraq. in iraq morale is up. fighting has tapered off there. in afghanistan, morale is dropping as the u.s. has intensified its push against the taliban. the surveys also show the army's overall suicide rate has jumped. the army says it's working to get more mental health workers to help soldiers cope. the report comes as president obama considers sending more troops into afghanistan. president obama is now in singapore, the second stop on his asia tour, meeting with

leaders of apec the asia pacific economic cooperation forum. before he left japan the president said the u.s. needs to work more closely with asia because it could create jobs back home. he also said there are other tough things to deal with. >> this is a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world and where extremists who defile a great religion plan attacks on both our continents. there can be no solution to our energy security and our climate challenge without the rising powers and developing nations of the asia pacific. to meet these common challenges, the united states looks to strengthen old alliances and build new partnerships with the nations of this region. >> while in singapore the president is due to talk with the russian president about replacing the stark ii nuclear agreement which expires next month. there is strong reaction to the decision to bring a 9/11 trial to new york city. attorney general eric holder says five suspects with alleged

ties to the attacks will be tried in civilian court in manhattan just blocks away from ground zero. the suspects include khalid shaikh mohammed who has confessed to being the mastermind behind 9/11 and four other detainees from guantanamo bay. family members of the victims are sharply divided over the prospect of a civilian trial. >> to bring it back here, to me, my feelings, it's tasteless. it's insensitive. those scars, which have never been healed, are just going to be opened again. i am not comfortable one iota with this call. >> i think, again, it speaks to the very heart of who we are not only as new yorkers but as american citizens. you know, if a crime is committed on our soil, you are going to be given a trial. you will be given access to an attorney. >> it's not just the families of the 9/11 victims sharply divided over the idea of a civilian trial. some say it's dangerous because

any evidence obtained against the defendants under duress such as waterboarding cannot be used in the trial. >> i do not understand why a war criminal should be able to have the same rights as a common criminal. i think the american people will be very unhappy about this decision. they should be. they should reverse this decision and they should be tried in military tribunals. >> this may turn out to be an opportunity for some people to get some of the justice they've been looking for for a long time and may show that the civilian court system can succeed in certain cases where the evidence is clear, is overwhelming, and where you don't need to use all this secret evidence or evidence that's been obtained through the torture program of the bush administration. >> u.s. attorney general eric holder says he made the choice to try the suspects in civilian court for several reasons. because of the strength of the evidence against them, the fact that the 9/11 victims were

mostly civilians, and the attacks took place on u.s. soil. iran is creating a new cyber police unit to crack down on internet crimes. iranian newspapers report the new force will monitor websites looking for what one official calls fraud, insults, and the spreading of lies. it's seen as a move against the opposition in iran which relies heavily on the web to spread its message. now, authorities banned most websites that were even linked to the opposition but often new sites spring up within days. iran hasn't said how the cyber police will carry out their internet surveillance. a series of powerful explosions ripped through this russian army munitions depot and set off a fire that burned for hours yesterday. officials say the blast killed two firefighters and hurt seven people in the military. people could see and hear the blast from nine miles away. 3,000 people who live nearby had to evacuate. the russian defense ministry

says the explosions apparently happened when workers were disposing of ammunition. cnn's "vital signs" looks at the world of medicine all around the world. dr. sanjay gupta shares the story of a woman fighting widespread misunderstanding of a disease that most people don't even want to talk about. >> cancer has four stages of disease. the majority of people come for treatment when they are already at stage three or stage four, very close to death. it is your education that will save your life. to stand up -- >> mobatsi or botsi as she likes to be called, is the embod emmitt of hope and vitality in the face of cancer. she is a vocal breast cancer survivor, a rarity in south

africa's community where breast disease is a major taboo subject. today she is speaking to secondary school children, both girls and boys. in a country where women often defer health care choices to their husbands, botsi feels including boys will promote support for women down the road. >> if you love to read about exciting advances in medicine we've got the site for you. cnn.com/vital signs. so boston is a very well known city. if you haven't been there you've probably seen it as the setting for many tv shows but there are still some hidden treasures in beantown in this week's "my city, my secret."

the final remnants of tropical storm ida are finally moving away and out to sea leaving a real mess behind though. for three days the storm hammered the east coast from the carolinas up to new jersey. it's blamed for at least six deaths and caused flooding, damaged buildings, and eroded beaches. there is still a danger of coastal flooding in the northeast today. that's partly due to persistent winds from the atlantic. i-reporter tazz anderson sent these images of that nor'easter hitting virginia beach. he was light hearted and said no gazebos were hurt in the filming of this video. he also said the wind was tremendous and at times, quote, nearly knocked my 200-pound frame off my feet. anderson loves wild weather and dreams of being a storm chaser. thank you, tazz. a newly discovered dinosaur could explain why some were so

big. scientists unearthed these bones in south africa. they belonged to a new species ardonics. these guys were big, about 20 feet long. they roamed the earth about 200 million years ago. most dinosaurs then walked only on two legs on their hind legs. dinosaurs on all fours came much later but arrdonyx could walk on both its hind legs, two legs, and on all fours. scientists think the fossil could hold important clues to trace the evolution. >> if i tilt it toward you, you can see those same processes that you see in the solar pod dinosaurs and that allows this radius bone to be locked in place so that the arm can't twist on itself. it shows that this animal was bearing weight on its foreleg from time to time. that was a big tipoff that, hey, we have an animal that while it may not walk on all fours all

the time, certainly it was capable of doing it. certainly it was capable of dropping down onto its all fours and walking. >> ardonnyx weighed more than a thousand pounds but he ate only plants. this is a miracle at the finish line. a runner collapses after a grueling marathon and for nearly an hour has no pulse. how doctors brought him back to life.

a lawmaker caught hiding $90,000 in his freezer has been sentenced to 13 years behind bars.

you may remember louisiana congressman william jefferson, convicted of bribery and racketeering. prosecutors said he took about $500,000 in bribes and tried to get millions more in exchange for his influence to strike business deals in africa. 13 years is the toughest sentence ever for a u.s. congressman on bribery charges. jefferson says he will appeal. police have arrested a sixth member of a missouri family suspected of sexually abusing kids for years. police say darryl mohler was arrested at his current home in florida. he's the brother of the father in the case who was arrested on tuesday with his four sons, charged with rape and child sexual abuse. a sheriff says more charges could come next week. six alleged victims, now adults, told investigators that they were sexually abused by the suspects when they were kids. i want to warn you that the pictures you're about to see could be disturbing and they've certainly got animal rights activists outraged. a police chief in corning,

arkansas says he was just trying to keep people safe. northeast arkansas for animals says the photos show police chief jim groning shooting seven or eight dogs to death at the pound. that is not the normal procedure. animals are normally euthanized by a vet. groning says there were signs the dogs had rabies and he was acting on the mayor's orders. >> i went down there and looked at them and seen these foaming and all messed up and fighting and batting one another in that pen and decided that was the best thing to do with them. >> do you think you did wrong? >> no, i don't. i done it in good faith and thought i was probably helping the dogs for the shape that they were in. >> the mayor says a local vet told him to have the dogs euthanized. he didn't want the vet to get hurt. corning's only vet told local tv she was never contacted by city officials until after the dogs were put down. the huge arizona mansion destroyed by fire yesterday was set to be auctioned next

february. the arizona republic reports the owner has been trying to sell the scottsdale property for months, even slashing the price from about $4 million to $3.5 million. the owner was home when the fire started and he got out safely. fire crews say the 8,000 square foot house is a total loss. it had a sprinkler system but there were no sprinklers in the attic where it looks like the fire started. this is an amazing medical story. a runner collapsed right after running a marathon in arkansas. head a heart attack right after crossing the finish line. he had no pulse for 40 minutes, and, incredibly, doctors were able to revive him. they used a new procedure called therapeutic hypothermia. they lowered his body temperature and protected his brain cells. >> i didn't think he would probably wake up or if he did he would be limited. but at 45 minutes it's an extremely long time. >> if this event had happened at

like during the race at mile 9 or mile 20 or so where there was no medical care, i would have died. because they couldn't have gotten to me soon enough. >> that's amazing. the 67-year-old should be released today from the hospital. frightening moments for high school students at a football game when a wall clams ollapsed. the cheers in the game in south carolina quickly turned to horror when a concrete stadium wall gave way. students that were leaning against the wall fell about six feet to the ground. a dozen of them were taken to the hospital but thankfully the good news is nobody has life threatening injuries. local media report that authorities think the collapse could have come because of heavy rains in the area recently. so forget counting the cars on the new jersey turnpike. you better watch out for the turkey. >> on a reality show and we're still going to be out here collecting tolls. >> that is tammy the turkey. how the bird is causing quite a

stir just two weeks before thanksgiving. what exit is she at? @@@@@@

a heinous crime. a group of teens accused of turning a helpless boy into a human torch, setting him on fire over money for a video game, 40 bucks. new on the story, three boys charged as adults with attempted murder as the 15-year-old victim fights for his life. plus an incredible story. teenager, a kid off the streets of memphis abandoned, homeless, yet he overcomes amazing odds. the family takes him in. he goes from homeless to being an nfl star. now his life is a hollywood movie. we'll have the honor of talking to pro offensive tackle michael orr, an exclusive interview,

emotional, inspiring, and will make us all stop and take a good long, hard look at our own life. controversy, opinion, your point of view. this is "prime news." welcome. i'm mike galanos. first this. what a horrifying visual. a 15-year-old boy doused with rubbing alcohol and set on fire. michael brewer is in critical condition at a hospital in miami. he has burns over 65% of his body. he can't really talk well. there are bandages that have to be changed daily and the process takes about four hours. five teens were accused of turning him into a human torch, to quote from the judge. now three of them are charged as adults with attempted murder. earlier this week i spoke with a criminal defense attorney elizabeth kelly and, john, let's start with the charges. we've got three teens, three of the five charged as adults facing attempted murder charges. how did the prosecution lay this out that they should be charged as adults? >> well, actually they went

through some psychological counseling, a couple of them, and based on the results of some of that psychological counseling as well as the, you know, interviews with the defendants in the case three of the five were charged late yesterday with attempted murder in the second degree. they appeared in bond court. you can see that there today. the three that appeared in bond court, that's mike, matthew bent, jason mendez, and denver jarvis there on the right. so those three in court today. and the judge saying that given the horrific nature of what they had allegedly done that there would be no bond in the case. now, there is some good news today to report. we had a long, extensive interview with the doctor at the jackson memorial hospital burn center yesterday afternoon. he was saying that, you know, very slowly they have been

trying to wean michael off of the ventilator. well, late this afternoon they -- we got word from the hospital that, in fact, he is off the ventilator. that's good news but couch it by what the doctor also told us, that, in fact, things can turn from good to bad and bad to good very quickly. >> so his survival is not assured, right, john? >> no. it's absolutely not. in fact, you know, the doctor told us that, look. we are hoping that he survives. we are heading in that direction. but at the same time, he said, it would not surprise him if michael brewer did not survive. remember, 2/3 of his skin, and as the doctor put it, 2/3 of the largest organ in the body, the skin, is gone. and he also said that hollywood has never come up with anything as gruesome as this and he hopes they never do.

>> we can come in each day or get a phone call at any time that things are getting a lot worse or getting a tiny bit better. people get sick real fast. they get better slowly. and right now with him we're getting a tiny bit better every day. >> there you have the doctor saying that, in fact, getting a tiny bit better every day, but understand we're not talking about someone who is going to be out of the intensive care unit, you know, in a week or two weeks. months of intensive care followed by, you know, months of therapy. another piece of the good news is that fortunately for him according to the doctor there that his hands appear to be spared for the most part of the burns as does his face. so he will not be -- have facial disfigurement. certainly that is good news. >> okay. a couple good pieces there but it's sobering news, john, when you also find out, hey, things could take a quick turn. let's bring in elizabeth kelly on this, criminal defense attorney.

i'm going to read a facebook comment, kind of a question from michelle writing how can you try a child with a child's brain as an adult? try the parents. they have a huge part to play in this. try hollywood who feeds our children violence like this. it gets to the point. what factors lead into charging a teen as an adult here? >> well, michelle's question or michelle's point is absolutely right. these are kids. they have kid-sized brains. this is a medical fact. this is a fact that the u.s. supreme court has acknowledged and they should be tried as kids. if they are tried as adults and convicted as adults and punished as adults, then you are going to ruin two more lives and two more families. nothing is going to restore mr. brewer but ruining additional lives and additional families will not help the situation. >> what's proper punishment, elizabeth? can the juvenile system dole out enough punishment for the heinous act they're alleged to have done?

>> certainly so. that's what our juvenile system was designed to do. it was designed well over a hundred years ago with the idea that kids are different, that they are capable of being rehabilitated, and the best way to rehabilitate them is to give them hope that one day they will get out of jail or prison and lead productive and law-abiding lives. >> john, basically what we have here is allegedly matthew bent told denver jarvis to pour the alcohol on michael brewer and then jesus mendez lit him on fire. so they're the three main players here. have their families spoken at all, the suspects' families? >> jarvis' family has spoken and, remember, he has a younger brother, also, denver's younger brother who is one of the two juveniles who's not been charged as an adult. and his mother did speak last week saying how deeply, deeply saddened they were by all of this. that's the only family that has

actually spoken of those that are facing these terrible charges. interesting note, michael, that when we talked to the forensic psychologist who conducted the interviews, with the two jarvis brothers, he said that these kids, and they had -- right now, i mean, they are absolutely just devastated. they have no real conception of how deeply -- how much trouble they are in. they just never realized it would get to this point. they're standing in court there and in orange jumpsuits in a daze. >> wow. we have to leave it there, guys. thank you so much. coming up, my exclusive interview with michael orr the ravens offensive tackle and the real inspiration for the new hollywood movie "the blind side." he was homeless, rough childhood, and i had a chance to talk to him about the odds of his life turning out like this. >> it was tough for me.

a lot of people don't make it out. i'm the only one that i know that made it out. so to get an opportunity and -- like i got, you know, i had to take advantage of it. >> all right. we will hear what gave him the strength to persevere. this inspiring interview, you have to stick around and wachl.

someone told you they were getting a degree in hip hop, what would you think? is it a legitimate degree? the college of music in st.

paul, minnesota thinks so and is offering the country's first college level diploma program. >> we can study its impact on society, on people's lives. where does this music come from? when it's angry, what are people trying to say? >> joining me now dr. james peterson professor at bucknell university and the self-proclaimed hip hop scholar. who better to talk about this? all right, dr. peterson. is this a legitimate diploma? >> of course it's legitimate. i took a look at it online to see what courses they're offering. there's a couple different tracks. it's absolutely legitimate. it's legitimate in a couple different ways. on the one hand, there are courses of study you can take in terms of learning the production of the music and the creation of the music which is just like creating and producing any other form of music but they also have courses that investigate the inland, the busine industry, the business side and i study the more poetic side.

>> i know you also researched making this happen at other schools. what were your concerns when you started to broach the idea about a hip hop diploma? i know you know people are going to think what are you talking about? >> sure. well, the main resistance is related to the perception of hip hop culture in general. what people see in the main stream, a lot of violence and a lot of consumerism on mtv and bet and sometimes equate that with hip hop culture when actually that's literally the tip of the iceberg. under the surface there is a tremendous amount of cultural energy, intellectual energy, and educational potential. the biggest thing we have to contend with is the public perception of main stream hip hop, kind of taking it out of contention for academic consideration. >> what kind of student would be interested in this? >> all students are interested in this. when i teach a hip hop course at bucknell university and i've taught at other universities, these are the first classes to fill up, the most diverse classes. and students are absolutely

engaged. that's just purely on the academic level. what's going on in minnesota is a little different, which is they're actually allowing artists and kids who are interested in becoming artists within hip hop culture to perfect their craft. so there's multiple ways of getting hip hop culture into the curriculum. i'm very happy to see programs like this happening around the kournl country. >> okay. so what can someone do with this diploma, this degree, once they have it? what do you do with it? >> sure. can i also say that people often ask what do you do with an english degree? >> fair enough. >> but what you can do with this minnesota program is you can create music. and i know that's sort of a pipe dream to be an artist but there are young people out there committed to that as a dream. the program allows them to learn to use different aspects of technology, how to actually make songs, how to produce songs. you know, the production within hip hop culture has been democratized. you can make a hip hop song with a computer software program essentially but you still have to learn how to do that.

you need to learn the craft. when you come out of this program you'll be able to do some of those things. i applaud it and i think it's a great idea. >> thank you for your insight. you are the hip hop scholar. who else are we going to call? james peterson, thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> for more of what matters check out the december issue of "essence" magazine or log on to cnn.com/what matters. all right. coming up a georgia teacher says she was forced to resign over photos and an expletive on her facebook page. pictures showing her holding a glass of beer, a glass of wine on a trip to europe. that's enough to make you resign? the principal says a parent complained. we'll go into that one. plus, you do not want to miss this incredible story. i had the honor to talk with ravens offensive tackle michael oher, the guy featured in the new sandra bullock movie "the blind side." as a teen kid abandoned, homeless in the streets of memphis, he overcame those amazing odds with the help of a family. this guy goes from homeless to nfl star. now his life is a hollywood