all right. you made it to friday. it's really early. yeah, i have to shake the sleep out of your eyes a bit. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on today. >> he's sad to see her go but good to see her do something better. >> i don't believe it. it would be such a great loss. >> oprah is just hours away from making it official. she is giving up her show. and fans and skeptics are asking the same question, why? plus, some new allegations that could blow the lid off the ft. hood shooting investigation. why a security expert says she is convinced the alleged gunman could have been stopped and that

the victims did not have to die. and you might have already gotten a shot that will help protect you from the swine flu. even if you haven't had the new hard-to-find vaccine. interesting. all right. oprah winfrey is going to make her biggest announcement ever -- it is big e than book club, bigger than her car giveaway. she is ending her daily talk show. the show's partners were told the show will end september 9, 2011. people say oprah was a trail blazer and is. >> i don't think anyone can fill oprah's shoes. she has maintained such incredible integrity. she hasn't allowed herself to deviate and i'm proud of her for that. >> oprah isn't going to retire. she's launching a cable network that will make its premiere in january of 2011, so a big story

today. you know, there is another new set of testing guidelines for women, this time for cervical cancer. it is said most women in their 20s only need a pap smear every two years instead of every year. the group says women don't need their first one until they're 21. now unlike the controversial new mammogram guidelines the american cancer society supports these recommendations. the man charged with kidnapping a 5-year-old north carolina girl will also be charged with murder and rape. mario mcneill will be in court today. they say he was the last person to see shaniya davis alive. her mother reported her missing. they think she was actually prostituting her child. well, they found the little girl's body on monday. yesterday her aunt spoke with reporters. >> the last time i saw shaniya was four weeks ago on a friday. i went to visit her mother.

i packed away two days' worth of clothes. i got her out of the car and i kissed her good-bye and told her to be a good girl. she turned back to me and said, i love you, aunt carrie, and see you later. i have to go. i'm sorry. ♪ >> last night about 100 people gathered to remember shaniya at a vigil near her mother's home. police still are not sure where she was killed. preliminary autopsy results suggest that she was suffocated. a security expert says that the pentagon ignored a report that could have prevented the ft. hood shooting. shannon says she worked on the 2008 study to help the military spot people like major nidal hasan.

>> the report was written from the military perspective. it was for them to have tools to spot different criteria that showed lines of radicalization and how to spot and identify them and from there be able to head the problem off and so we can avoid anything from materializing. >> well, she says she contacted the military after the ft. hood shootings to see why no one had mentioned the report. she was told it is now classified. pentagon officials declined to comment. yesterday defense secretary robert gates announced an extensive review of policies. he said the 45-day review will look at the military screening programs and security at u.s. bases. senators are cutting their thanksgiving vacation short to vote on your health care reform.

in a rare move, the senate meets tomorrow to decide whether to open the debate on the democrats' plan which could extend coverage to at least 30 million people. the estimated cost $848 billion over ten years. now republicans are against the bill's provision to provide a government-run insurance option. new this morning a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle killed at least 13 people and wounded nearly 30 more in a town square. police in afghanistan tried shouting at him to stop. they say that several children were hurt in the blast. it happened nerp the country's border with iran. violence has been soaring there as the taliban expands its turf. soon you could skip the customs line when flying home from overseas. homeland security wants to expand an experimental program for prescreening travelers so if you pay a one-time $100 fee and you undergo a background check, you can report your arrival and make declarations at computerized kiosks. now customs officials say it's

cut the average wait time from ten minutes to three. through customs in ten minutes? please. the second installment of the "twilight" series. this time around bella is tangling with more than just the undead. >> too late now. >> bella, get back. >> paul, paul, get back now. >> you know what, critics don't love this one. they say it lacks spark and even the special effects aren't so great but it really doesn't matter what they think. look at the crowds of people waiting for the premiere in the east village last night. around here people are attending them like at 6:30, 9:30, 11:30,

until it officially opened at midnight, i guess. >> how about that? the special effects looked pretty good, a giant wolf chasing somebody. it's great. >> uh-huh. >> it's not my cup of tea but it's all right. hi, bob, how is the weekend shaping up? >> we're watching two new storms, one across the west, run generating storms in texas. another has uproot it had self and is now anchored across ontario. look at the cold front and that's generating heavy downpours now for northern parts of new england all the way down in toward new york city. there's radar here. the rain is now stretching into long island, rhode island and connecticut. you see the line moving on through. boston your drive, low clouds are out there. the rain stretches over the morning hours. by later this afternoon it gets out of there but the winds will pick up again. look at the heavy rain being generated now right around the gulf coast of texas. zero in to the houston radar. most of the action is down south here that will continue to pull

over the city. we have flash flood watches for you. the rains and thunderstorms are caught up with a weak cold front over the ft. worth area so the thunderstorms are ahead of that near dallas going down i-20 getting into the red river valley as well so the rain showers are out there. a lot of flooding is a potent l potential. plus a look out west in just a little bit, robin. good to see you on a friday. >> what do you think about oprah ending her show in 2011? >> do you think they would want a guy like me to fill in at 4:00? better hours. >> you cannot go, no. you're stuck with us. we have new video of what looks like a woman cutting in line at walmart and you can see her moving somebody else's stuff but what happened next is a big controversy. that's when things allegedly turned violent. and whether you have bad credit or good credit you could get hurt. the warning signs more people are about to lose their homes.

time for us to salute our troops. sarah wants to salute her fiance of the u.s. army. she says that he's in iraq and will return in july of next year. she says he joined the army right after high school and he loves what he does and that he's all that she has ever wanted in her life. if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin. newly released video is now at the center of a racially charged incident at a missouri walmart. surveillance tape shows a woman repeatedly moving another customer's items off of the conveyor belt. witnesses say that heather ellis cut in line and was swearing. but ellis says her cousin had saved her place. the manager says ellis brought race into the scuffle. >> she looked at me and told me that i wasn't anything but a

stupid, white, uneducated walmart employee and she called betsy an old gray headed lady, the cashier and that's when i said, just a minute. i said, you don't know me and i don't know you. >> officers say she kicked and hit them. she says she was assaulted but it's not shown on the tape. the jury could get the case today. she faces 15 years in prison if found guilty. >> there are so many people out there that are tired of putting money in an envelope. it's so boring. this way this is a nice gift for the givers. >> the flowers in these cash bouquets might never wilt but they probably won't last that long either. that is new for you in about 20 minutes. fascinating idea. we're on that. a new warning this morning

that more foreclosures could be on the way. jennifer westhoven, who is joining us now, we heard the worst might be over, that things might be on the way up. so how did this turn around? >> well -- be. >> it sounds different than the stories of late. >> we're talking about home sales that are rebounding. foreclosures, though, there's very much been a dark cloud over here. so it is something that is still threatening. i think even when we do talk about -- you're right, when we talk about home sales and home prices getting better, you often hear the caveat in the background, well, yeah, but what about all the foreclosures? basically the mortgage bankers association is worried saying, look, we're seeing one in seven homeowners are either in foreclosure or behind in their payments. often that's a big red flag that they may be in danger of getting to foreclosure. and a lot of the people in trouble, too, in fixed rate mortgage. a lot of that has to do with the

inclement situation. let me get you some good news because we've been talking about how there's a lot of concern that all that boost from the government that they've been giving to the housing market, that it might not be able to have a sticking effect. so here comes some good news. you might be able to get a decent raise next year. that's some good news in a bad economy. last year the average raise, a measly 1.8%. and as you may remember, most of the headlines we were talking about were how companies were cutting pay, reducing hours and firing workers. it it was quite a holiday season for jobs. the human resources company hewitt says this year the average raise will be around 2.5%. back to you. >> okay. well, yes, that is good news in a bad economy, isn't it? good morning. thanks. a round of botox could take wrinkles off your face and a few more dollars out of your pocket. why congress is looking at plastic surgery as a way to fund health care.

taxing our vanity. plus -- >> obviously nobody has superpowers. i can't fly. >> okay. but that's not stopping him from trying to be a real-life hero, and he's not alone.

17 minutes past the hour. the army says it will give the media some access to sarah palin's visit to ft. bragg on monday. she's going there to promote her new book. it was previously said it wouldn't let crews in because the event might turn into political grandstanding against president obama. still, reporters won't be able to ask palin or her supporters questions. a big hike in tuition is not going over well in california. police arrested dozens of students at the university of california and davis after they occupied an administration building.

hundreds more marched at ucla. now the increase will cost students about $2,000 more in the next two years. they pass add 32% increase even after deep cuts to spending. the students want to help. >> you pass this increase today, when i go home tonight to san diego, i will have to drop all my classes because i cannot afford this anymore. you are not making this university affordable. >> the regents have promised more aid to help lower income students. they will meet with concerned students today to talk about the increases. a former nba star appears to be heading to prison. larry smith has the details this morning. good morning. >> yeah, good morning. it's been almost eight years of the fatal shooting of the limousine driver. big trial back then. now the former new jersey nets star is expected to plead guilty to aggravated assault in that shooting and serve up to three years in prison. he was acquitted of aggravated

manslaughter in a high-profile trial in 2004 but convicted of covering up the shooting. williams was facing a retile on that manslaughter charge in january. >> the ku klux klan will rally in protest outside the ole miss game over a song. that's what a memphis newspaper is reporting. they banned "dixie with love" after they chanted the south will rise again. they say it's decisive. they sabaning the song is, quote, an attack on our southern heritage and culture, end quote. georgia bulldog mascot uga vii has died. now this is a really big deal in the south. it's huge. the english bulldog was just completing his second season on the job when he died of heart problems. his spot on the sidelines will be empty this weekend. >> only 4 years old. >> only 4. wasn't old at all. sad.

have you seen the clip of the 5-year-old who can recite herb brooks' famous locker room speech before the miracle on ice in 1980? >> that's what you earned here tonight. >> the minnesota wild has invited the national youngster to tonight's game to help fire up the crowd. he learned the speech while watching the movie "miracle" with his dad 100 times. the movie depicts brooks and the underdog team at the 1980 winter olympics. >> so is he going to say that speech to the crowd tonight? >> yeah, before the event. isn't that awesome? he has the suit just like herb. >> you pay taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol. now lawmakers are looking to tax our vanity. it's called the bo-tax. a tax on elective cosmetic surgeries like implants or face lifts. it would raise money to pay for

the health care overhaul. drug makers and plastic surgeons really don't like this. they say it would hurt people of every income level. but i'm thinking people will still get it done. >> as long as they don't start taxing gas and beer, we'll be fine. >> yeah, right. >> what? >> this just in. >> that's it. i'm out of here. let me show you what's going on right now. we have potentially available a lot of delays but not like yesterday with that glitch. you weren't here yesterday. what a mess. we had all kinds of glitches with the faa's flight pattern system. it was a mess. today it's just weather and it's a big line right now. it's central massachusetts in towards vermont, new hampshire, down to connecticut and long island, too, heading to boston and new york. here is what we have the rest of the day, one hour or more. san francisco rain and wind. more coming in across the west, too. seattle, boston, rain in philly. morning clouds.

more on that glitch in a bit. all right. are you thinking about doing some repairs on your home? if you are, you might want to do it now. how those home equity lines of credit may be drying up but what you can do about it. 

did the pentagon ignore a report that could have stopped the alleged ft. hood shooter? a security expert says that the 2008 study detailed ways the military could spot soldiers who had become radicalized. she says that the military told her it is now a classified document. the pentagon has declined to comment. the man who police say secretly taped espn reporter erin andrews in her hotel room has his first court appearance, accused of filming her through the peephole in her door as she changes her clothes. he faces up to five years in federal prison. one space walk down, two to go.

astronauts on the shuttle "atlant "atlantis" finished their work. today they're going to move more supplies onto the station. nasa also says that a close inspection of the shuttle revealed no launch damage. oprah will announce today that she is ending her talk show. she's going to tell her studio audience in just a couple of hours. winfrey's last show will be september of 2011 which means the show will have been on the air for more than 25 years. >> she is a chicago icon, on the level of a michael jordan, and what that means to chicago is for 25 years a lot of eyeballs on our city and you can't put a price tag on that. well, those are some of the headlines we are following for you this morning. welcome back. good morning. i'm robin meade. let's jump right back into the news stories. the u.s. military may scale back the number of jets to protect against an air attack. after 9/11 the government dedicated dozens of warplanes to

that mission. "the new york times" reports they have order add review of the costly system. senior officers say that if the chances of air attacks have decreased, the military could free up those crews for other missions. three teens have pled not guilty to setting a 15-year-old florida boy on fire. all three are charged with attempted murder. prosecutors say that they poured rubbing alcohol on michael brewer and then set him on fire last month. apparently it was a dispute over 40 bucks, a video game and a bike. brewer is in guarded condition with burns over 65% of his body. >> i know i couldn't do what he's doing. if this had happened to me, i probably wouldn't want to be here. he's incredibly strong and he's my hero. he really is. i tell him every day. >> the other day he wanted to talk to his uncle danny and i let him put the phone up to his ear. hey, dan, i got burned. i'm in the hospital.

>> witnesses told police that one of the boys set fire to brewer while the other two encouraged the attack. brewer jumped into the apartment swimming pool to put out the flames. people got a vaccine for the regular flu last year may have gotten some protection against the swine flu. that is according to a military study in "usa today." now it found people ages 17-24 and 40 and older were protected from h1n1 the most but health care experts say that the h1n1 vaccine is still the best protection against that swine flu. treasury secretary timothy geithner says the white house wants to shut down the $700 billion bank bailout pronto. money expert jennifer westhoven is here. so some of the lawmakers were really rough on him. >> yeah, robin. this is one of the meetings where the mud was flying. some of the house members say they wanted him to quit. they're in a meeting of the joint committee today. some lawmakers almost seemed to blame geithner for the bailout

or rescue depending on your point 0 of view. if you remember, geithner didn't office this. that came from hank paulson. it started before obama was even in office. so it was very overtly political. keep in mind all of us may hate the idea of the bailout but geithner pointed out that it likely saved the financial markets and the economy from other collapse. geithner says treasury is working to close out that program as soon as possible. robin? jen, thank you. people who plead no contest or guilty to minor offenses are going to be asked to provide $25 in groceries instead of a $25 fine for court costs. >> i think a little bit of charity, they learn there are other needy people out there. sometimes we have people in court that i'm telling them to do this. you can go to the food bank and get some food because it sounds like you probably need it.

>> it makes more of a point than just paying $25 that goes to waste. >> the court has been doing this for the past 11 years. they say it has been a big success. soon, you could skip the customs line when you fly home from overseas. homeland security wants to expand an experimental program for prescreened travelers. so if you pay a one-time $100 fee and you go through a background check, you can report your arrival and make declarations at computerized kiosks. customs officials say it will cut the average wait time from ten minutes to three. a group of volunteers is now stepping forward to help answer letters to santa. yesterday we talked to you about the u.s. post office is stopping its service of answering letters sent to the north pole. well, now "usa today" says that a group is working with local officials to get the service back up and running. one main challenge is keeping children's names and addresses private.

i would say santa needs a little help answering those letters. >> tons of help, yeah. 35 minutes past the hour. what do we want to have on tap? here's meteorologist bob van dillen. >> i wish that was the case for everybody but i don't think so. one batch of rain. it's the old storm that was right across the midwest for the last four days finally has moved into ontario. the clouds are out there but the rain is here, too. the rain is actually light around central michigan. gets in towards new york where it picks up right around areas like vermont, new hampshire getting some heavy downpours now. here is that boston radar picking up the big rain line going all the way through to connecticut, moving into the city shortly here. below this a cool start. it will be foggy, too. let me show you what it looks like in charlotte. if you're trying to travel on down to the queen city, that's north carolina, looks like it will be on the cloudy side and temperatures to the mid-60s later on today. heavyhouston. rock port, texas, which is close

to corpus christi over the last couple of hours they've seen a lot of rain total wise. they've seen about eight inches since yesterday afternoon. the heavy rain now sliding to the city. more showers, more thunderstorms driving on in towards dallas. you can see it there. it's coming out of ft. worth but the heavy line is moving through i-20. if you look to the pacific northwest, it's a train of storms. we've had a couple this week already. one is right over washington state. now saturday's storms coming in for tomorrow afternoon. there is where it's located south of alaska. now that drives on into the east. take you live to d.c. traveling here low clouds are out there for the morning. looking at partly sunny skies to mostly sunny by the afternoon. not much of a travel delay there but you get it across new england and talk about that in a bit. there's a look at the capitol looking very lovely this morning. >> it is pretty. >> more details in a bit. >> i know that you know the news because you watch this show. so why don't you prove it to yourself. take the cnn challenge. challenge your friends, yourself, test your knowledge. you can pick your favorite

anchor. so is hln's richelle carey. play now at cnn.com. two sisters have a business that is right on the money. see how they're using cold, hard cash to make special flower arrangements. also ahead, you may soon have to pick up the tab for the afghanistan war. who is proposing a tax to cover the costs?

a window washer is okay after falling eight stories. this happened in seattle. the man was on top of the building when he fell. he hit a window on the way down. his safety rope actually broke

his fall before he hit the ground. now the fire department says he was hurt but has nonlife threatening injuries thankfully. two sisters make some flower arrangements that are not flowers. they are real money. look! clients pay the amount they want to give to loved ones plus the cost of the arrangement and the sisters turn the bills and petals into leaves. and petals. >> they want money for birthdays and weddings is traditionally money. even funerals we've had people buy it. you send it to the house and that way the people if they want to use the money to donate they can and if not they can use it for expenses. >> it's pretty, too. the business is based in canada but they make arrangements this u.s. dollars as well. you can check them out at moneycreationsbysandy.com. >> it's helpful they have all those colorful bills in canada. >> exactly. what are you going to do with ours? make petals because they're green? >> use them for the leaves and construction paper for the

petals? >> what a great idea. kind of the fruit that looks like a flower arrangement but you can sit there and eat it. we told you about the safest new cars on the road. that got us thinking which are the least safe then? you'd want to know that, too. >> now this is out of the safe cars so none of these are unsafe cars. we just thought sometimes safety is a really big deal. it could be the number one reason you're looking for a car. this is the insurance industry looking for all of these cars in the suv category in a roll over, the ford escape hybrid and the hyundai tucson did the worst. in the side smach yub the jeep wrangler and kia sorrento. the hyundai accent and the kia rio and the pt cruiser all didn't do so well when they were hit from the career. and we'll talk about some other kinds of cars in the next hour. and, again, they just did poorly in this part of the test. procter & gamble is recalling about 120,000 bottles of vicks

nasal spray. the manufacturer says that in routine testing they found bacteria in some of the samples and bacteria could hurt somebody who maybe has chronic lung problems or if you had a weak immune system. the company says this is just a precaution. they have no reports of anybody being hurt or getting sick plus you'll want to keep it that way. >> yeah, you spray it right up your nose. >> thank you. sarah palin is causing quite a buzz in hollywood. it is one story that "showbiz tonight" is working on. brooke anderson is tracking that, too. good morning. we'll be kicking off at 11:00 a.m. eastern. hollywood at war over sarah palin. why hollywood is drawing a line in the sand over whether to support sarah. plus, is levi johnston actually a bigger celebrity than sarah? the great debate after johnny depp was named "people's" sexiest man alive. the shocking results of our "showbiz tonight" poll.

"showbiz tonight" starts at 11:00 a.m. here on hln. robin, back over to you. anyone who has ever been to one knows city council meetings are a little bit dull. here is a way to liven things up. just what was this chicken doing?

you may have to share some of the cost cans of the war on afghanistan if some house democrats get their way. yesterday they proposed the sacrifice act. it would raise income taxes to pay for the war and take some of the pressure off of the government to keep borrowing money. an aide says there would be different rate levels depending on how much they make. a big hike in tuition is not going over well in california. police arrested dozens of students at the university of california davis after they occupied an administration building. hundreds more marched at ucla.

now the increases will cost students about $2,000 in the next two years. execs passed a 32% increase even after deep cuts to spending. the students say they want help. >> you pass this increase today, when i go home to san diego i will have to drop all my classes because i cannot afford this anymore. you are not making this university affordable. >> well, the regents have promised more aid to help lower income students. they will meet with concerned students today to talk about the increases. you can just hear the jokes about ruffling feathers at city hall. somebody crashed a meeting of the durango, colorado, city council. they are voting on an ordinance for people to keep fowl in their backyard. i like the reaction even better. the person walked around just flapping his other her wings, even laying an egg. councilmembers thought it was

great. council chambers are not very well attended, are they? >> poor security, too. >> they will be now, i can tell you that. >> there is even a sign, i give you a ten. >> laid an egg. that took planning and thought. >> where did he hide it, too? >> good morning, bob. we're going to see some delay this is morning right off the bat. we haven't seen them yet but i anticipate them around new york. there are low clouds and then the wind picks up. about an hour delay on to of the volume. remember into that holiday week so you're going to see a lot of volume. dallas, heavy showers over you right now. some thunderstorms, too. watch for an hour or more delay. houston the rain is all day long. watch for an hour or more delay. san francisco, it comes in but probably about midday or so for you. windy conditions, lots of rain, more on that coming up in about a half hour. >> okay. who in your opinion is the biggest sports cheat ever? well, one magazine's answer might surprise you. oh, yeah? hi, larry.

>> how are you? some of us might think the 1919 chicago white sox, heard about the scandal in the world series back then. you were in chicago briefly, right? >> hopefully not in 1909. >> hopefully not back then. you hearded story, though. they think henri's hand ball led to the win. it has cause add global controversy. there it is. the irish were stunned and asked for the game to be replayed. soccer's governing body ruled against it. even henry later said, he admitted to it but said i'm not the referee. just a few years ago ricky williams walked away from football and the miami dolphins. 32 years old and he is like a star for the dolphins. we forget what a star he was back in college. touchdowns last night. three touchdowns for the dolphins. they beat carolina 24-17. hard to believe that a man born

without legs would have had an advantage in a race. the two sicientists have researched the effect he does hope to compete in the 2012 olympics. one of the great stories. today's true champion, our man ricky sanchez. he got a local businessman to buy special new york yankees caps and plans to send them overseas to his brother who is serving in afghanistan with the 82nd airborne division. there is daniel sanchez. certainly unique souvenirs for a very special group. our true champion. love that. >> i love your stories aren't all sports related. i mean, it's kind of related but he's a true champion even though he's not someone competing. >> trying to prodden the

horizons. the house is trying to make sure the house doesn't lose money on a medicare. it stopped a 21% cut next year. republicans say it's payback for getting doctors' help for health carry reform. you never know what might happen when you get two comedians together. check out what comedian george lopez told joy behar last night about former president george bush. >> other people during the bush administration, myself included, took many shots at george bush for being dumb. okay, the truth hourturts, but still. >> wiell, i think bush is latin because he lived in a house that wasn't his and english wasn't his first language. >> see, that's my point. >> catch joy behar at 9:00 testimony p.m.

it seems like sarah palin's new book has had a life of its own since it came out this week. so what would "going rogue" say if it had a voice of its own?