and a very good thursday morning to you. i'm richard lui in for robin meade. she is off today. first off for you what we're watching is some hurricane katrina victims have won a case. and then if you are getting by on unemployment benefits, brace yourself. you are among a million people who could lose this and time is running out to stop that. plus, a father lost his child in a dwi wreck and turned his grief into some action. now drunk drivers in one state face some very stiff penalties. first off for you this hour, the federal government could face billions of dollars in lawsuits regarding hurricane katrina

after a judge ruled the army corps of engineers' negligence led to the problem. they did not properly maintain the shipping channel linking new orleans to the gulf of mexico. people in new orleans recognized the importance of this ruling. >> it's a major, major win, a vindication for st. bernard parish and our residents and so many people who for the last years have fought to make this known that the mrgo was continuing to be a threat and was going to eventually result in the devastation of st. bernard parish so we're pleased in that sense, but it's very hard to celebrate that the destruction was something that had to take place to get this point made. >> all right. the mrgo that he mentioned there is the mississippi river gulf outlet. the judge issued his ruling in a lawsuit brought by six people affected by hurricane katrina. they were awarded damages ranging from $100,000 to

$317,000. one attorney says the ruling will also help 100,000 homes and businesses in st. bernard parish and the lower ninth ward get some compensation. katrina killed more than 1,800 people and flooded nearly 300,000 out of their homes. defense secretary robert gates is expected to announce a major review of military procedures that could help avoid another incident like the ft. hood shooting spree. that's from a senior pentagon official. meanwhile, it looks like the accused shooter's residency may have been troubled at walter reed medical center. national public radio obtaining a copy of a memo written by major nidal hasan's supervisor. in it says the faculty had concern about his work ethic. we could not reach the supervisor for a comment yet. so about a million folks across the united states will see their benefits expire in january unless congress moves quickly. money expert jennifer westhoven

is here. that's a staggering number. this may be taking a lot of lawmakers by surprise a. new report says -- you remember just two weeks ago, we've been talking about this, the new law passed giving 14 to 20 weeks more. very helpful for a lot of families to get through the holidays. but according to this report, maybe some lawmakers didn't read the fine print. they were doing all these extensions, drafting them on to a bill that expires december 31st. and the new report says that expiration date still holds true so unless congress does something fast all the benefits would run out on january 1st. the timing pretty awful for every job, richard, there are six people out there job hunting. back to you. >> at least. and so i guess is it hopeful they will probably pass that extension we hope, i guess. >> this is a group so we have to see what congress makes of this as well. >> right. it will be quite a debate.

no doubt. jennifer westhoven, thank you very much. plenty of fireworks over the health care reform bill that senate democrats unveiled. republicans promised to fight it saying it will mean higher premiums and more taxes. but senate majority leader harry reid says for the first time almost all folks across the united states are going to be covered. >> 98% of the american people, medicare will be included in that cover, will have health insurance. and we'll make sure that 30 million more americans who don't have health insurance today will soon have it. i want to repeat, we not only protect medicare, we're making it stronger. >> all right. senate democrats saying their plan will cost about $850 billion over the course of ten years. they would pay for it with fees on insurance, drug and medical companies along with higher taxes on the wealthy. there would be cuts to medicare and medicaid and other fees and taxes as well. it is estimated to cost about

$350 billion less than the house version that was passed a couple weeks ago. it also calls for medicare and medicaid cuts and new fees and taxes. lots of details. a suicide bomber killed at least 17 people outside a courthouse. it happened this morning in northwestern pakistan. this attack wounded at least 45 people and this is the seventh deadly attack in and around the very same area in less than two weeks. taliban commanders have claimed responsibility for several of those attacks so far. and then in about three hours nasa plans the first of three space walks at the international space station. astronauts will install a spare antenna and some new cables. it will be the first space walk for dr. robert satcher jr. who is also the first orthopedic surgeon in space. we'll have live coverage all this morning on "morning express" so stay with us. we'll take you straight to it. so why do people hate one another? a researcher at gonzaga university is leading an effort

to start answering that question or try to. the ultimate goal is to create a new academic field of paint studies. the university even offered its first class on hatred last spring. it was taught by five professors from different disciplines. and new this morning for you, president obama saying u.s. allies are discussing ways to punish iran for rejecting a nuclear deal. he made that comment in south korea on the very last day of his asian tour. eight days long. he says there will likely be sanctions over the next several weeks. yesterday iran defined a deal designed to ease international fears that iran plans to build nuclear weapons which it does deny. the wild turkey we've been telling you about has been running around new jersey, the new jersey turnpike toll booth for months, now often the road. they finally caught her yesterday. there she is. toll booth work eers have been call her tammy the turnpike turkey. they like to ill lit rate. they adopted her but doctors are

complaining so they set up to catch her. the first attempt did not go so well. >> well, i was a little concerned, afraid we were going to see tammy two, turnpike zero. >> she is going to a zoo and we understand she will soon share a home with a male turkey named gobbles. which is funny because sometimes i call bob bobbles. >> i appreciate that. >> it is a turkey from new jersey. >> a jersey turkey. nothing more crass. a gobble bleeping gobble over here. i'm strutting. >> the best imitation of a turkey i've ever heard. how's the weather looking? it's the same old storm, richard, and it's a big wrapping around the clouds going on right across the great lakes. underneath the clouds you see the rain, too. that frontal boundary down to the carolina coastline so north carolina getting the rain. in to virginia and stretching into the d.c. metro area, too, this morning. low clouds are there.

they're stretching in to philadelphia, too. watch for delays at the airports in d.c., baltimore, into philadelphia this morning. later on this afternoon that rain will work in to the new york metro area. heaviest downpour action right around buffalo, back in towards jamestown all stretching to ontar ontario. here is your big line of storms just blowing in the clouds. the wind, the rain and the snow. it has been extremely heavy at times over the last couple of days. look at the rain right now. that's all the blue, all the white is snow. snow levels right around 2,500 feet rise to about 4,000 feet today. we're going to get as much as three feet of snow across the cascades and parts of the olympics. more on that in a bit. let me show you some video. this is right around the oregon coastline. video of cannon beach. winds gusting to about 40 as a high-wind warning in the area for today. winds gusting this afternoon to 60 and above. so the wind is back, the rain is back as promised. a better look at that coming up, robin -- robin? >> hey, i --

>> did robin think today was thanksgiving? kind of odd to just take off a thursday. >> it is kind of odd actually. probably just having a good day. all right, thanks, bob. we told you about a new mammogram guideline but new the health and human services says there's something even more important than the new recommendations. a woman held hostage at t.j. maxx says she prayed and prayed while hiding from gunmen. what she did to make sure they did not find her during that ordeal.

keep talk iing to your doct. that's the big message from health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. this week a federal advisory board said women in their 40s should avoid routine exams. the american cancer society disagrees with this. sebelius says programs like medicaid will keep paying for the exams and stressed guidelines are recommendations

not government policy. >> we want women to have a doctor take the information and have that conversation about your own health history, what the risks are of having a mammogram versus the benefits and make a determination based on an informed decision. so these new guidelines have caused a lot of controversy and the advisory board which recommended them says those recommendations have been misunderstood. one member again stressed here that they're talking about routine exams for women in their 40s. afghan president hamid karzai is officially starting his second term this morning. he was sworn in at an inauguration ceremony. he promised to fight corruption and drug trafficking. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton had a front row seat to that inauguration. president obama is deciding right now whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to afghanistan. your iphone could surf the web, balance your checkbook and, soon, it might even drive your car. >> it's a little bumpy.

>> well, new for you in 20 minutes, how an experimental app lets you steer without even touching the screen. did you see that? >> the whole car. >> one state is making some televisions illegal. this sounds hard to believe. which states are doing this? i have an idea. >> you know it's the state that's out there many times when it comes to new energy rules and saving energy. we're talking about california. just so you know, where you're seeing us right now, your tv is safe so don't be scared. this is only about tvs in the future. california is saying that they want the companies to build them to use a lot less energy than they do now. basically most flat screen tvs use a lot more energy than the older versions of the sets. california even said, look, people's bills have gone up and they might not even know that's why. their energy commission voted unanimously to become the first state ever to set energy

efficiency standards for tvs. again, it means you don't have to give up your tv. it's the future tvs, but they are saying some of the tvs on the shelves right now, those wouldn't be able to be sold in two years. they are upset saying this will mean higher prices for you. the state says it will save a billion dollars a year in energy costs. >> california. >> in california, exactly. pumpkin. >> you like pumpkins. >> the flavor of the season. watch out. apparently there was a lot of rain this year, ruined a lot of the pumpkin crops. some stores are already running out of canned pumpkin and nestle, which you may not know, owns libby's so they're the big name in canned pumpkin, they say there may not be any left after thanksgiving so if you like a little pumpkin pie at christmas, go on in there and buy a few. i'm a hoarder. i always have some emergency

pumpkin. >> in your house, jen, we'll see a lot of pumpkin pies as well as a lot of eggos. >> i brought one in this morning, richard. >> oh, good. jen, thank you so much. when a father lost his child to a tragic car accident, he vowed to fight for tougher dwi laws and now it's paid off. some of the toughest drunk driving penalties on the book.

a woman held hostage at t.j. maxx store says she hid in the dark fitting room for three hours with no idea what was going on and police in florida, they're still looking for two men who went into the store tuesday night with guns taking six people hostage then. one hostage was face-to-face with one of the suspects. take a listen. >> before i knew it, the gunman was in our face and he asked me to get on the floor and put my hands behind my back.

and proceeded to tie my hands together. >> police now think the suspects were already gone by the time units arrived on the scene. none of the hostages was seriously hurt. they did not get a good description, though, since the gunmen were wearing masks, hoods and gloves. so it's now a felony to drive drunk or under the influence of drugs with a child in the car in new york. the state toughened its dwi law after a crusade by a grieving father. his 11-year-old daughter was killed in an alleged drunk driving accident last month. he cried as the child passenger protection act named after his daughter was signed into law. >> october 11th i lost my only child as a single parent. she was my heart, my soul and my best friend. and the day after i made a decision i didn't want to see a parent or grandparent lose their child the way i lost my child to

someone who was very reckless. >> you might remember this case. a mother was driving her daughter and friend to a slumber party. the car flipped. police say the mother was drunk and under this new law a drunk driver who causes the death of a child could get up to 25 years in prison. the soccer bully who was caught on tape beating up her opponent says she doesn't recognize herself in that video. larry smith is here with more. that wasn't me. that wasn't my hair. >> somebody else. >> it was a stand-in. >> i just lost my mind. i don't know what i was doing. she says she will regret this for the rest of home run life and it's been blown out of proportion because she's a woman. the university of new mexico junior was suspended after yanking an opponent by her ponytail and punching another foe in a one-loss to brigham young. it's expected for men to play rough but the not so nice play in women's soccer may be misunderstood by casual fans.

the pregame tailgate to go curb drunk and unruly fans isn't setting well with some. "usa today" interviewed a jets' season ticket holder who says he may give up his seats in the future because he views the new edict as a way to buy more beer once inside the game and that way the team can make money. a league audit shows only 2 of 32 teams are complying with the rule. should the nfl put a limit on how long fans can party outside a stadium before a game or is this the wrong thing to do? click on the facebook logo and leave us a comment. don't adjust your tv sets. this is not 1984. i swear to you. the world's biggest one-on-one breakians contest in new york last night. i've got to be honest, showing my age, didn't know break dancing was still an art. had no idea. >> what? >> i had no idea. >> it's still going, my friend. big resurgence. >> i didn't know.

look at him. >> actually our studio floor would be great for break dancing. >> it would. i was never a break dancing fan because i couldn't do it. my sister would do it as a teenager. >> what you do is master one move and that's all you do and everybody thinks, oh, you know how to do it. >> clearly somebody who knows. >> i'll talk to you later. a woman known as big mama is trying to get 20,000 turkeys to give to the less fortunate in south florida. donation have is been coming in but the amount has dropped this year. big mama says she still has faith. >> we still need quite a few turkeys. >> i need turkeys, derek, right now. and i will be up for the next two days. no sleep. come anytime. >> go big mama. if you'd like to help her out go to cnn.com/robin. scroll down to our important website there. happy birthday if you're celebrating today. you celebrate your special day with gymnast kerri strug, the olympic gold medalist turns 32 today. according to her website strug now lives in washington, d.c.,

and enjoys running marathons. happy birthday. sarah palin hit the road to promote her brand-new memoir and what she could have done to prevent the ft. hood shootings. 

a judge has ruled that the army corps of engineers' negligence led to the flooding during hurricane katrina. he issued his ruling in a lawsuit brought by six people who survived that storm. he said the corps did not properly maintain the shipping channel linking new orleans to the gulf of mexico. the certificate for more human remains has been called off at a cleveland home where the bodies of 11 women were found the investigators say no more remains were found. people on the scene had been digging by hand to try and find more evidence. and then the cia wants to recruit more arab americans. there's a new ad set to debut the next few months. the cia is trying to reach out

to communities it sees as critical to reducing the threat to it terrorism in the united states. those are some of the stories we're following for you this morning. i'm richard lui and, again, robin will be back tomorrow. there were fireworks on capitol hill over the plan to try five 9/11 suspects including khalid shaikh mohammed. a woman confronted eric hold er after he defended the decision yesterday. take a listen. >> you are very conversant with the law. i am not. i think i can speak for many 9/11 families when i say that we are heart sick and weary of the delays and the machinations, and i am afraid that the theatrics are going to take over at this point and i very much regret that. >> well, think of this, though, for how long have these cases been pending? i've been attorney general for eight or nine months and we've taken the first steps towards

resolving these matters. we are going to go through a process. they will undoubtedly try to do things in court as they did in the military commission. >> now if you're watching this hearing yesterday in the senate judiciary committee, he was hammered, the attorney general was. some family members of 9/11 victims broke into applause as republican senator grilled attorney general holder for leaving justice up to a judge and jury. holder insists that a civilian trial will not give the suspects any more of an advantage than the military commission. he promised to seek the death penalty in these cases. two people were killed when their tour bus ran off an interstate in minnesota and overturned in a ditch. the bus was returning from a casino in iowa. 23 people, all of them suffered injuries ranging from minor to critical. some passengers got trapped inside the bus and rescuers had to smash the windshield to get to them. the cause of this moment is under investigation. the suspected ft. hood

shooter had a bumpy start to his medical career. national public raid crow got a copy of a memo reportedly written by major nidal hasan's supervisor at army reid and it says hasan demonstrated a pattern of poor judgment and was counselled for inappropriately discussing religious topics with patients. >> put his islamic obsession aside. put aside hasan's apparently extremist islamic views. what this memo is saying, it's right there in the army's official credentials file as saying this psychiatrist could be reckless for his patients. he could be a danger to them, yet he kept getting promoted and as we all know he was sent to ft. hood to treat some of the most vulnerable soldiers in the army. cnn could not corroborate the authenticity of the memo or reach the supervisor who had signed that. hasan's supervisor at ft. hood said hasan's past evaluations did not raise red flags about a potential for violence.

it doesn't look good for california's money problems. a nonpartisan budget analyst predicts the state will face a $20 billion dech sit for at least the next five years. even so, governor arnold schwarzenegger says he has no plans to raise taxes there. the analysts suggest california lawmakers to make even more long-term cuts to state programs immediately. so how would you like to be able to drive your car using your iphone as a remote control? engineers in austin, texas, did just that, using a rigged car and an experimental app that uses the iphone's internal sensors, all sitting on top of the car, too, evidently. so to steer you just turn the phone. touch screen sliders control the gas and brake as well. >> when we're driving with the iphone, we like to drive on the roof of the car. that seems to be the most fun or the hood or something like that. get the wind blowing in your hair, that type of thing. that's a lot of fun. >> the engineers say they've driven the car up to 30 miles per hour.

it's always the engineer who is do some fun stuff, bob van dillen. it's like real-time nintendo wii. >> amazing stuff. i know you're watching a bunch of storms in the northwest. we have to watch in the northeast. >> in the northeast we will see the first delays because of this. if you're trying to travel in and around the great lakes this morning, you will see some wet roads and that will be specific for illinois, back into michigan, too. look at that frontal boundary down to pennsylvania. the rain out there for that state. getting it across virginia, too, all the way down to north carolina as well. here's the radar coming out from sterling, virginia. look at the rain just western side of virginia in towards maryland, stretching to western p.a., the buffalo radar picture just awash with showers especially the west side of that state. you can see rochester. you're dry. same with syracuse and the finger lakes where you see the rain bleeding in later on this afternoon. something we're definitely watching. as for the rest of the region, the rain really starts to develop around the gulf coast and texas and that slides into

the deep southeast starting over the weekend but let me take you live to new york. if you're traveling up there today that one impulse down to your south will affect you later this afternoon. look at the low clouds already in place. the temperature right now in central park, 48 degrees. the high today about 56. now that pacific northwest storm, richard, it's a big time rain/wind snow maker. we'll get to that in a half hour. >> a beautiful shot you have there. >> looks nice. it's on the cool side, 40. >> you think you know the news? prove it. take the cnn challenge. challenge your friends, yourself, test your knowledge along the way. you can pick your favorite anchor like our very own robin meade or click on richelle carey. play now at cnnchallenge.com and they actually talk to you. some important information as you begin shopping for the holidays. find out what made the list of toys that could be dangerous for your kids. also ahead, think you have the best idea to help cut government spending? well, one state wants to hear them.

south carolina governor mark sanford will face charges that he violated state laws. the state ethics commission says he'll have a hearing early next year. it looked at his use of state, commercial, and private airplanes and campaign finances. there's no word on specific charges or whether they'll be civil or criminal. sanford's attorney says they're just minor technical matters. questions about his travel came up after he admitted he was in argentina last june visiting his mistress. hundreds of families can now visit their loved ones' graves for the first time in months at a cemetery that shut down because of a scandal. the burr oak cemetery reopens

today. this is the cemetery where workers are accused of digging up graves to resell the plots. visitors for now need a ticket to get in there, shows where their loved ones are buried. oh, those holidays are knocking on the door. a nonprofit safety group has released its annual ten worst toys list. jen westhoven is looking out for you. they say these toys could potentially be dangerous. i want to you keep in mind this isn't the consumer products safety commission. this isn't a recall. this is nothing like this. this is just a watchdog group and this is their opinion, but they put this list out every year. the group is called w.a.t.c.h., the two most common worries are choking hazards and could cause eye injuries so my guess is that

the company is right there on the box they say, yeah, that could be a potential risk but this group is trying to take it a list further. some of the big names, a wolverine action figure. you can see him showing that there and the pixar disney walle foam rocket launcher. the companies have not yet had a chance to respond. we will be looking closely for that. all right, this thanksgiving what can you expect if you're traveling? more drivers but fewer flyers. that's what you can look out for. fewer americans traveling for turkey compared to recent years. now last year thanksgiving travel sank 25%. you know what happened, right? suddenly you had financial markets to worry about. it looked like the economy might be imploding. americans reacted very fast to the recession so it was down 25%. aaa says this year travel is only going to rise about a percent from that low level. we are still, richard, putting our financial security first and when you look at who is

traveling, most people, by far, are driving and it certainly helps the gas prices are, i think, 50 cents a gallon cheaper than last year. back to you. >> driving is americana. that's what we do. we like to drive. some celebrities are speaking out about the new recommendation that women get mammograms after age 50. last night on hln's "the joy behar show" olivia newton-john said early detection may have saved her life. >> you were in your 40s when you were diagnosed with breast cancer. >> yes. >> how did you detect it? >> i found the lumme p myself. that's why i'm so up in arms why would they not advocate we do regular self-breast exams. it's common sense to do. if you find something that isn't right, you go get it checked out which is something that i did. >> right. we're going to get to that with a doctor. i just wanted to hear your story. did you follow it up with a mammogram? >> i did. the mammogram was negative, which is unusual. i don't say that to scare

people. i instinctively felt something was wrong and so did the doctor. they did a needle biopsy which was negative but still didn't feel it was right. i'd had lumps before and i wasn't feeling my best so he did a surgical biopsy and then found the cancer so i was very fortunate. >> okay. you can catch "the joy behar show" at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. tonight's guest will be comedian and late night show host george lopez. nothing says football tailgating like beer and brats. what you are saying about the nfl wanting to cut back on pregame parties.

two weeks after the shooting on ft. hood people have strong feelings about those attacks. a cnn/opinion research poll finds 64% thought law enforcement or the u.s. military could have prevented those attacks. but people are split over whether the attacks constituted an act of terrorism.

45% of people questioned say it was terrorism. 47% say no. a truck driver died when he crashed his semitruck into a house in arizona. that semitruck, authorities say, that the driver was driving, somehow lost control of the truck, veered off the freeway and then slammed through a fence and into a house. two people in the yard were hurt after that crash. the crash did not cause any closures on the freeway. okay, it's the day before many of you are about to get away. bob van dillen is here with our travel update and i know you have some delays to tell us about. >> yeah, we will. right now it's still early. we don't have any to speak of yet but this will change. i think we're going to start out across the west coast with some big delays around seattle. lots of wind, lots of rain and snow in the upper levels of the atmosphere. it's all going to give you poor visibility so an hour or more there. new york city metro, low clouds rolling in currently with some rain to follow. half hour to hour long delays.

philadelphia the same thing, rain showers out there about a half hour. d.c. about a half hour, maybe an hour or more in some spots around there. but that's about it so far. nothing current. these are all forecasts. more in just a bit. >> forecasts, okay. thanks, bob. the governor of idaho is looking for ideas to cut the state's budget and he's asking residents for some help here. the state has set up a website to get suggestions on how to save money. so far the governor's office has received more than 100 e-mails with ideas. >> this citizen has this suggestion about going this different or doing this different in health and welfare. what do you think? can we implement that kind of an idea and save money? the governor's office says it plans to release the e-mails sometime in the near future. got some breaking news right now. that south african runner whose gender has been questioned will keep her gold medal. larry smith has the latest on that. that was a long running story. >> yeah. what a firestorm the last couple

of months. caster will remain the championship and on top of that the results of her gender test will remain confidential. a day before the organization was expected to announce its findings. the south african teenager was questioned amid questions about her physical build. the gold medal winner won back in beijing has been stripped for testing positive for doping. you wonder why it took so long? officials keep athletes' samples and then run those test it is against new doping tests as they are developed. run those samples, i should say. the star from bahrain says he will appeal the ruling. >> it's 6:48. >> it's early. getting the cobwebs out. the nfl is trying to cut down on bad behavior by inebriated fans. some say it's a ploy to get them to spend more on beer inside the

stadium. in european football they have lifetime bans for unruly behavior by fans. american sports need to take a look at such a rule. carl says i don't think it will make a difference. fans will tailgate and drink elsewhere. keep them coming. we'll read these throughout the morning. check out this video from a swedish hockey league. you have to see this. anderson scoring the very nice goal and then he's going to go celebrate. watch this. the goal is in. and then the celebration. up against -- hello. >> boy, that's not supposed to break. >> that's not supposed to happen like that. imagine his surprise. wahoo! ah. >> i hate when that happens. >> i do, too. remember did you that one time? it was awful. i felt bad for you. the stitches healed and you're okay now. >> new head. thanks a lot, larry. a woman known as big mama trying to get 20,000 turkeys to give to the less fortunate in south florida. donation have is been coming in but the amount has dropped this

year. she counts them. big mama says she still has some faith here. >> we still need quite a few turkeys. >> i need i need turkeys, right. geri will be up with no sleep. come any time. >> you heard her. she needs turkeys. if you want to help her, go to cnn.com/robin. even though a dollar sdoedot get you what it used to, here's clark howard. he's got the scoop as always. >> what i'm about to tell you is no surprise. in this rough economy, dollar stores are booming. as everybody else is closing their doors, dollar stores are opening up in every town all over the country. so here's the question. if you go to a dollar store, are you actually saving money? according to consumer reports, overwhelmingly, yes.

although there are some product categories they're not so excited about, in most things they checked, you're saving a ton. in fact, in comparing dollar stores to the corner drugstores, as you know, the drugstore chains have been growing and growing and growing around the country, they both are similar size stores, they both offer convenience. prices at a lot of goods at the dollar stores are a tiny fraction for what you'd pay at a similar item at the drugstore, so you'll save time. i'm clark howard. for more ways to save, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> thanks, clark. he'll teach you how to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. you can catch him on saturdays and sundays at noon on hln. a michigan man clinched the championship for paper, rock,

scisso scissors. 512 people were competing there and having a good time, too. remember that stunning video of a soccer player who pulled the opponent to the ground by her ponytail? she's finally talking about what happened. @@@@@@@@@@@@