good morning. happy thanksgiving. you must be up because you're the cook in the house. i'm robin meade. grateful to have you no matter the reason. here's what's going on. >> mr. and mrs. salehi. >> they made a grand entrance. the only problem is the couple was not on the guest list. they crashed president obama's first state dinner and went on to brag about it. a bounty is put on the head of anyone who shoots and kills a child in one city. the reward is there on the billboard. why one reverend says this had to be done. plus -- >> well, i'm here for two laptops and a plasma tv. >> even before the turkey is even in the oven, bargain hunters are already in line to

cash in on black friday. is this crazy or what? first, though, you want to talk about crazy, the secret service is trying to figure out how a couple crashed tuesday's state dinner. the reality show wannabes were reportedly not on the guest list but somehow got in. agents say the couple went through scanners and that president obama was never in danger but a former white house security adviser says the couple could face some serious charges for lying to federal officials. >> this is a pretty serious crime not to mention as you say it's a threat. they would have been screened and not had weapons on them but of course once you're into the state dinner, there are knifes and forks and cutlery and literally we've seen pictures where this couple have their arms around -- posing for pictures with rahm emanuel and the vice president of the united states. >> it's just unbelievable to me. the couple posted pictures of themselves on facebook hanging out with the vice president.

and the white house chief of staff rahm emanuel. a woman describing herself as the publicist for this couple says that they were fully cleared to attend the event. oh, honey, we have a lot more to talk about than just that. so who are the salehis? richard lui takes a closer look in about ten minutes. you may be up earlier than normal to do the cooking and baking today. others are up early to stake their place in new york. 31 balloons including snoopy and spongebob square pants have been inflated for the macy's thanksgiving day parade. thousands of people are expected at this morning's parade including santa claus. yesterday you know was a busy travel day but many people avoided the airports. aaa reports air travel could be down by more than 6% this year. check out the crowds at penn station in new york yesterday. many people chose to go by train, be bus or car. apparently because it is cheaper. >> buses, cars, it just takes forever. the train is fast and gets me

right where i need to go. >> i think it's worth it if you can see your family and really spend time with the people you don't see during the course of the year. >> we are putting extra trains out and extra cars on trains to accommodate all these people. >> well, president obama kept up the president pardon for a thanksgiving turkey. >> all right. is there an official gesture. bird -- >> wait, wait. it gets better. >> you are hereby pardoned. >> and then the daughters came up, too. he said do you want to pet it? i'll show you what happened there when malia tried to pet the turkey. the turkey named courage was given full immunity and will be at disneyland. oh, he just tried to scare his own daughter. it's a large chicken, she said. this chicken -- this turkey is

going to be at disneyland today, the grand marshal of the thanksgiving day parade. a second turkey named carolina was also pardoned in case courage could not fulfill the duties. kind of like miss california, you could say. just joking. the h1n1 virus is apparently leading to an increase in pneumonia. the cdc has found spikes around the country in the denver area nearly three times the usual number of pneumonia cases last month. the bacterial infection is also hitting younger people just like the h1n1 flu. the cdc wants high-risk adults like smokers to get the h1n1 and pneumonia vaccines. what a horrific story. while were you sleeping a 26-year-old person trapped upside-down in a cave in utah died while the rescuers struggled to free him. john jones was stuck in a hole 18 inches wide and 10 inches high for more than a day. rescuers tried to chip away at the opening and at one point he was freed only to slide back in

the hole. how horrifying. check out a chicago billboard. it warns that if you shoot and kill children, a bounty will be put on your head and it offers a $5,000 reward to catch and prosecute a suspect. a church that put this up -- a church -- says it's aggressive approach aimed at curbing youth violence. >> we want to send a message that you cannot shoot our children and think you're going to get away with it. bounty is definitely a strong word, a word i'm uncomfortable using because it is old wild west. right now this is like the old wild west when our children are dying. well, this week 20 of the billboards are going up throughout chicago. 20. a man who gave the cop the middle finger during a parking dispute won $50,000 in a lawsuit settlement. he said his right to free speech was violated when he was given a ticket for disorderly conduct. now he says a lawsuit was about change not about money.

>> i heard a voice outside the car say don't do that. that frustrated me, too, so i flipped that person off, a city of pittsburgh police officer. i said it was constitutionally protected what i did. he didn't want to hear it and gave me a citation. >> he will only get $10,000 of the money, though, the rest split between his lawyers and the aclu. >> growing up in jersey, the middle finger replaced the car horn years ago. >> yeah, but, a cop. you know? i just don't think -- i would like to see how the cop tried to explain it in the police report. >> flipped off. >> six minutes after the hour. >> happy thanksgiving to you, robin. >> happy thanksgiving. i'm very thankful to work with you all these years. >> like year 34, right? seems like. >> something like that. >> a couple areas of low

pressure, one off the coast, one around chicago. you get some light rain by midway. it's 37 degrees and rain, but there is some snow wrapped up there, too. northern parts of illinois, the lower sections of wisconsin. it's going to be there for the morning. by this afternoon moves on into central parts of michigan and northern indiana but here is chicago's radar. you can see the rain is over you right now. that's o'hare. there's midway. we'll get some delays in the michael jord morning. not as much the rain and light snow. rain into eastern wisconsin. you can pull that picture away farther. down to the south we had heavy rain across south florida for the last day, day and a half. light scattered showers now. a little bit of video. some of the streets were flooded 0 out in boca raton. one thunderstorm that went on by. remember yesterday it shut down the airport in miami for about 45 minutes. today you will see some scattered showers all the way up to ft. lauderdale and boca

raton. >> thank you. got your stretchy pants on yet? >> oh, no, not until after i'm done here. all right. you can get a jump on your holiday shopping today. we're going to give you the rundown of stores. believe it or not, that are open on thanksgiving. and director roman polanski is about to be a free man.

time now for a salute to the troops. army staff sergeant chryistophe fulg ton, now listen, he's been separated from his son for over 20 years and they were recently reunited online with the help of relatives. he's looking forward to his son's return and meeting the family that he has made for himself. if you ever somebody in the service do go to cnn.com/robin so we can salute them. more details now on a crazy top story, party crashers at the

president's first state dinner. the secret service says that tareq and michaele salahi were not on the guest list so, richard lui, not only did they show up, they were announced like they were supposed to be there. how could they have possibly made it past security? you're talking about secret service, aren't you? >> the whole kit and caboodle. they admit someone at their checkpoint did not follow proper procedure. there are more than 300 invited guests, as you know, one of them dr. sanjay gupta from our sister network, cnn, and he says he could see how there might have been a bit of confusion. >> it was pretty crowded right outside the east gate. that's where everyone entered at that time. some people were driving up. some people were walking up and it was just a lot of people all clustered around. so there was only one person scratching names off the clipboard at that point. >> and they made it past that, i guess. he also says that salahi

probably didn't make it to the president's receiving line because he needed to have a card to do that and told "the washington post" they were never seated at a table for dinner, robin. they didn't make it all the way. almost, though. >> but they were hanging around, taking pictures with people. >> oh, yeah. >> they didn't have the dinner but i would suppose there's a lot of meet and greet beforehand. who are these people? we said before that they're reality show wannabes. tell me more about that. >> the story goes deeper, my friend. "the washington post" reports they were finalists for a new version of the real housewives franchise on bravo to be set in d.c. cameras have followed the couple to several parties including the america's polo cup, part of a series of polo tournaments they found add few years ago. bravo declined to comment. however, they did not. she even comments about that polo tournament on her facebook page. >> wow. richard, i think there will be a little more to discuss about this for sure. some baby squirrels without a mom have found their patron saint.

>> they need to be -- they're wild animals, they need to be wild. >> but one of the orphans just won't leave. wait until you hear what he did when her family went on vacation new for you in the next 30 minutes. so cute. everyone's like, aw. all right, the black friday deals get started earlier than ever. believe it or not some people are lining up to get the best deals. this sounds crazy to me. that means they're not going to be home for thanksgiving. no, i guess snuggled up in their sleeping bags and hovering in their tenlts waiting to get great deal tomorrow morning. some people have been in line already for more than 24 hours like these people here outside of best buy. this is in california. the door buster deals, however, are not available until tomorrow morning at 5:00 in the morning. here is one of the deals, an hp laptop retail price almost triple that. this is at jcpenney, selling a

dinner wear set for $60 after a $20 mail-in rebate. >> that's a good price if somebody is going to be getting married. >> a good idea. for more deals go to cnn.com/robin and click on the icon that says important websites. and you don't have to wait to get started on your holiday shopping until tomorrow morning. a handful of stores will be open today. most walmarts will be open around the clock although the door busters won't become available until 5:00 in the morning f. you're in the store you're one. the first ones there. most kmart stores will open in an hour and stay open. some of the western states they are also open for business today. it is going to be more difficult to get a mortgage going forward. the mortgage finance company fannie mae will be toughening up lending standards. borrowers who make a 20% down payment will have to have a credit score of at least 620.

that is up from 580 previously. also, if more than 45% of your gross income goes to paying debts, no mortgage. >> a different equation than the past few years. millions of people who are out of work are hoping next thanksgiving will be better. the president and the gop have two very different messages for them today. plus, a church has a pretty good idea why it was hit by a thief thanks to a note from the very robber.

♪ such a funky song. i love it. what are you thankful for in these tough times? president obama wants to make sure that by next thanksgiving a lot of people will be giving thanks for a new job. it was the focus of an early edition of his weekly radio and web be address.

>> next week i'll be meeting with owners of large and small business, labor leaders and nonfor profit leaders from across the country to talk about the additional steps we can take to help spur job creation. i'll work with congress to enact those proposals quickly. and it's my fervent hope and my heartfelt expectation that next thanksgiving we will be able to celebrate the fact that many of those who have lost their jobs are back at work. >> the g 0 op fired back its own web address. chairman mike penn blasted them for their handling of the economy. >> the american people know we can't borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy. the obama administration and the democratic majority in congress have taken our economy from bad to worse with their failed economic agenda and big government plans. as if all of this wasn't enough, democrats in washington continue to push for government-run insurance. a government takeover of health

care will do nothing to lower the cost of health insurance and will place further burdens on small business owners and working families. >> well that job summit president obama mentioned will happen on tuesday. so there's a lot of turkey and you know there's a lot of football today even though some of it is bad football. >> there's no way to cover it up. >> in for rafer. at least they're not playing the browns. >> they haven't won a title if more than half a century. they've never been to a super bowl but detroit has won two games this year. hey, that's two more than all of last season. things are looking up, right? i guess. overall draft pick matthew stafford may not play today. he separated his nonthrowing shoulder in the win over the browns, a game in which he set an nfl pass iing record for mos yards in a game by a rookie. now the lions host the packers who are in the thick of the playoff chase in the nfc. later in the day a good look at the new billion-dollar-plus

cathedral in dallas. the cowboys, the other half of the football tradition, they host the raiders. two-time pro bowl quarterback tony romo will play despite back problems that have hampered play lately. okay, watch closely. watch this. watch this spot shadow. that is pasqual leclair of the senators getting hit by a puck while sitting on the bench. he suffered a fractured cheekbone and will be out for a month. >> isn't there usually some glass right there or not in front of the players? >> it's the one open spot. it could have been much, much worse. he was out because of a slight groin injury, so the guy just -- >> poor thing. ever heard of waves too big to surf? an annual surfing contest off hawaii's big island was postponed yesterday because the waves were too treacherous.

they reached up to 40 feet. look at this. some people still took them on with emergency personnel standing by just in case the waves won and so far looks like they didn't. >> that looks ferocious. >> it does. film director roman poe llai could be leaving a swiss jail soon. a judge set his bail at $4.5 million. polanski is released, he'll be under swiss house arrest. now authorities are deciding whether to extradite him to l.a. he pled guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 but he fled before his sentencing. have you ever wondered what former first lady jackie kennedy wore during the holidays? well, she wore a sleeveless silk designer dress during the second christmas season when the kennedys were in the white house. beautiful. the dress is now on display at the kennedy presidential museum in boston. volunteer groups across the country have been giving out free meals for thanksgiving. why many people are especially

grateful for the grocery giveaway.

♪ welcome to comcast local edition. i am donna richardson and my guest this hour is colonel george f. johnson iv superintendent of the maryland natural resources police. colonel, thank you for joining me. >> great to be here with you. >> in addition to being with the maryland natural resources you are president of the maryland police chief association, and who in addition to chief are your members? and who is working with you? >> it is comprised mostly of chief of police from all over the state and state government and law enforcement chiefs and county and municipalities that exist in all of the state of maryland. >> i know as a group i know

there are several initiatives taking place. there is a new one. checkpoint strike force. >> yes, it is a research based-multi-state situation where we pick and we go out there and we look for drivers that are impaired and work to get them off of the road and we do that through our sobriarity checkpoints and our saturation patrols. >> and so, which jerse - jurisdiction, one specific area or all of the jurisdictions now involved? >> all throughout maryland, the chiefs of police have signed on. every jurisdiction signed on in some way shape or form to participate in the checkpoint strike force. >> and so do you find that the checkpoints are helpful in hopefully lowering traffic fatalities? >> absolutely.

fatalities have been reduced 20 percent in the areas where we are doing the checkpoints . it proves to be extremely beneficial to us in many different ways. >> and do you find that the residents are supporting the checkpoints and do you have partner necessary this effort? >> yes, we do. as you know, it is a powerful organization of mothers against drunk drivers. we work with them chosely in this endeavor and other organizations. their surveys indicate 85 to 90 percent of the people they talked to support the checkpoints. >> do you do these at specific times of year or are the checkpoints ongoing initiative. >> they are ongoing initiatives. they will be taking place every week and everywhere and where you think that it is the best possible opportunity to deploy the work force and effective use

knowledge of our people in this endeavor. >> as you are having the checkpoints and i know initially you are looking for impaired drivers, but are you finding other things when you are pulling over the impaired drivers? >> oh, yes. people are very surprised what we run into on the checkpoints. the main focus is to get the impaired drivers that use alcohol off of the streets and identify them. but we are running into people who have warrants on them. their licenses are suspended, some people have drugs in the vehicle this we were able to detect and find. there is a whole gamut of things and seat belt usage. it helps us with the seat belt initiatives and child safety seat. we are able to make different observations and of course, we put a lot of emphasis on the

seat belt usage and child safety seat as well >> i know some jurisdiction or most of the them, there is zero tolerance if you don't have your seat belt on, it is amazing that people are still driving without them. >> it is with the seat belt usage, if you are involved in an accident with the impaired drivers that use alcohol that gives you that much more of a chance to survive. >> how can citizens assist with the checkpoint strike force? >> we need them to be our eyes and ears out there. as with many thing necessary law enforcement and we ask citizens to do. if they see a person driving erratically or aggressively and feel they are under the influence of alcohol. pick up the cell phone and dial the number 911 or what ever it is that they feel comfortable in using. >> thank you, colonel for joining me. >> donna thank you for helping

us. >> thank you for watching comcast local edition. i am donna richason.

president obama will announce his troop strategy for the war on afghanistan next tuesday night from west point. a white house spokesperson says the president will make it clear that he doesn't want u.s. forces there long term. military officials say that they've been told to prepare for sending 34,000 more troops. a caver trapped upside-down in a cave in utah died earlier this morning while rescuers struggled to free him. 26-year-old john jones was stuck in a hole 18 inches wide and 10 inches high for more than a day. rescuers were trying to chip away at the opening but there wasn't much room to work. how awful. in the philippines the son of a governor has turned himself in for questioning in the massacre of at least 57 people.

gunmen stopped a convoy. supporters for a local politician monday and kidnapped and killed many of them. the governor's son has not been named a suspect, but local media reportedly are saying that he is. astronauts on the space shuttle "atlantis" are spending their thanksgiving holiday checking their ship for the ride home. "atlantis" is expected to land tomorrow morning. they will eat beef for their thanksgiving meal. the turkey too big to get up there. those are some of the headlines. good morning on thanksgiving day. i'm thankful you're watching today. i'm robin meade. you have to take a look at these photos from this week's state dinner at the white house. nothing out of the ordinary, right? until you find out that a couple of these people weren't even invited. correspondent richard lui apparently the secret service didn't realize that the couple and the lady in red and the man on the other side of joe biden, crashed the party.

they didn't realize this until the pictures went up on facebook. scary. and, robin, this is not private. it's public. you're right. reporters saw these two people and started asking questions. now the secret service and the white house, they have launched separate investigations. of course security is pretty tight at these events. the former homeland security adviser to president bush explained how it's supposed to work. >> at the perimeter security, the very first checkpoint you come to there's usually both armed secret service agents who have a computer system where you have to be put in and if there are occasions on which someone who isn't in that system, for that reason also at that first checkpoint is a member of the social secretary staff literally with a paper clipboard and they check that. >> obviously something broke down in that process. the secret service released a statement saying, quote, it is important to note these

individuals went through magnetometers. wow. >> still, it's crazy. >> yeah, right. >> the people in the photos, they have been identified as tareq and mikee salahi. any chance they may have known someone at the white house? >> "the washington post" saying they've been in a messy feud with his parents over control of the family winery in virginia and last year tareq accused his mother's attorney of punching him. the attorney was found not guilty. they are also well-known in polo circles. they're being sued by a caterer who says they did not pay for services at a tournament the salahis hosted. they have been in a lot of different places if you take a look at the pictures. they know a lot of people. >> it's interesting. "the washington post" reporter who apparently was there, kind of looked up -- i heard her talk on the air -- looked up and said, what are they doing here? so interesting, richard.

thank you. a grieving mother and father are urging other parents to get their children the swine flu vaccine. in june 3-year-old joshua came down with a fever and just a day later he died. the h1n1 vaccine wasn't available then. his parents say that they're sharing what happened because they know that a lot of people are uneasy about the vaccine. >> i go from playing with him on a wednesday to opening up the obituaries and seeing my son's face and seeing a person who passed away at 75, at 101, a person who passed away at 85, and then the number 3 next to my son. that's beyond comprehension. >> how awful. the cdc is having a hard time with precise numbers but it estimates that about 3,900 people in the united states have died from the h1n1 virus this

year. the guest list is taking shape for next month's climate summit in copenhagen. today china said its premier will be there. we learned president obama plans to go. the president will promise to cut heat trapping pollution in the united states by about 17% by the year 2020. a turkey in boston went out of its way to make sure it wasn't on the thanksgiving day table. somehow it got on the roof of a three-story house. it took nearly ten hours to get it down. residents say the bird flew up to the roof after people tried to feed it some bread. it's like, yeah, you can feed me some bread but you're not fattening me up. oh, no. >> such an ugly -- >> is that a turkey or like a wild turkey/vulture? >> a turkey/vulture, that's a it turkey. you can tell by the plumage on the back. there you go. >> they can be very social

creatures. >> they're nice but, golly, are they you ugly, with the head th just skin. >> bob, some people -- >> that's my opinion. >> but they taste good. some people wait until today to do the traveling. i don't know if that was smart. >> it's a good point because that upper level low, the same storm that was there yesterday, trying to get out of there, you still have the light rain and light snow out there now. again, it's on the light side. no flooding damage right here. just a nuisance and the temperatures are pretty cool, too. 37 degrees right now at midway so it's being reported as rain but that rain sticks around for the morning and it slides in towards michigan, northern indiana into ohio later on today. down to the south, remember the heavy rain across florida? still a couple showers across southern florida. miami down to the keys, a chance for some showers today. not as much of a chance to orlando. not that far north. that area of low pressure is right up the shores of cape

hatteras moving up to the north but inland with that wet ground, the cool temperatures, and the calm winds, dense fog advisory. look at all the areas shaded in black from pennsylvania all the way down to d.c., raleigh and through charlotte. dense fog, visibility less than a quarter mile and also the thanksgiving day parade, i don't think wind will be a factor. only 1-mile-per-hour winds, so that's it. >> and we're waiting for the cameras on the parade route to go up live so we can show the preps. it's traditional for so many people. it boggles my mind that people will get up early, stake out their claim on the parade route. who is at home cooking? >> 10 to 12 people deep, you have to get there early especially in times square. >> there's a brand-new route this year and it has the balloon carriers. they have to go through like five different turns instead of three. fun, fun. >> at least the wind won't be a factor. bill murray put all of his jokes aside just to chat with hln's joy behar. all right.

hear what he says he had to be a guest on her show. >> this is great. >> i've enjoyed it very much. >> i wanted to come here. >> is that why? >> i thought, that looks wholesome or something. >> it looks wholesome? >> i don't know. maybe that's a disgusting word. >> no. >> it looked friendly and it looked like it was -- people weren't dying over it. >> it's a friendly show and you have time to talk. >> is it just me or is it like so us frfrustrating when comedi are like really serious when they come on somebody's show? i'm like, no, make me laugh. check out "the joy behar show" marathon from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. eastern today. thousands of pager messages show how frightened people were as the september 11th attacks unfolded, but who is publishing these? and what do police say about them? also ahead, some good news in a bad economy. how some home buyers stand to save big tile money.

this is strange. an activist group has been posting pager messages it says were sent on 9/11. the messages range from exchanges from new york police officers to computers reporting, many from frantic people trying to reach their loved ones. here is a reading of some of those messages. new york's police and fire

department said they couldn't confirm whether any of the messages actually came from their departments. the group posting the messages says that it's putting the leaked documents on line to promote transparency. one pager company says that intercepting and disclosing these messages is illegal. so if you're looking to buy a home, mortgage rates are at an all-time low. melissa long is in for jennifer. that would be good news in a bad economy. >> very good news especially if you've been dreaming of having the american dream. in addition to the tax credit now we have really low mortgage rates, historically low, it will save home buyers a lot of money in addition, again, to the home buyer tax credit. according to freddie mac, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage stands at about 4.78%. just back in june when rates were hovering around 5.5%.

sandwiched between previews of upcoming films and turning often your cell phone, some will get financial advice as well. the associate press is reporting the federal reserve will run spots for one week starting on blook friday. reminders like pay your bills on time to avoid late fees and stay below your allotted credit limit to avoid fees and higher interest rates. now this is not something new. earlier this year some theaters played clips from the federal reserve warning people to be wary of foreclosure scams. creative. i hope people are listening. the few theaters that will be running these spots. >> and they'll certainly need an escape quickly in the form of the movie. melissa, thank you. >> that's the reason we all go to movies, isn't it? you don't have to spend a fortune on holiday gifts this year. bargains are everywhere. if you know where to look, it is the year of the deal.

all skate now. you might be planning to spend less this holiday season and that's okay, from toys to books to electronics. you're going to find some great deals. maybe the best deals ever. money expert jennifer westhoven shows you why this is the year of the deal. retailers started slashing prices well before halloween this year. stores are facing an uphill battle, americans are paying off their debt so they're not spending as much and banks are cutting everyone's credit. so, parents, or if you have a little kid on your list this year, this is the great year when it comes to toys. the bargains are amazing. kb toys went out of business and now all of these other stores are fighting to try to get your dollar. what about toys for adults? compared to last year, you're going to save a lot on gadgets. flat screen tvs, last year $900

this year about $630. laptops with microsoft on them, last year a little under $700. this year closer to $550. netbooks, last year $500. this year more like $300. $350. so got a book lover on your list? you can get really good prices here at the store but i tell you it's the internet where you'll find amazing deals this year. that's because there is a melee going on between amazon, target, and walmart. and i'm not talking about the cheap books. i'm talking popular hard cover books that are just coming out now. it may be the year of the deal. it's not the year to wait until the last minute. retailers had their credit crunch, too, so they couldn't afford to overbuy and have stuff left over on the shelves. that means on christmas eve there could be very slim pickings out there.

as always, save your receipts. >> all right. you can see more of jen's holiday shopping tips in the weeks leading up to christmas. on the "clark howard show" on hln. a florida woman thought she was doing a nice thing when she saved a dozen orphan squirrels. you know the saying no good deed goes unpunished. 11 have returned to the wild but this one just won't leave. >> he's stuck to the screens of the playroom and looking in waiting to get in. i'll open the door, he comes around, he comes in. he'll have a snack and he hops in his box and he'll go to bed for the night. >> she says it is so attached when the family went on a road trip he hid beneath their suv and hitched a ride. >> come on. >> smart animal. >> oh, my gosh. now that's attachment, all right. hi, bob. >> he's like my brother. you feed him, he never leaves.

>> your brother is not awake, is he? >> no, not yet. let me show you what's happening. a lighter travel day volume wise today but the weather is still going to be a factor for you especially around the great lakes and into the northeast. chicago metro, still think you're going to get a delay out of the light rain and snow. this afternoon looks better so that's good news for you and new york city metro, some dense fog out there early. some light showers this afternoon. philadelphia, dense fog as well especially this morning. and then you're looking at seattle with rain all day, about a half hour delay for you. we'll talk about the weather coming up in a little bit. >> thank you. still talking about the squirrel who hitched a ride. one nba star is thankful for having plenty of free time. allen iverson is apparently retiring. larry smith is here with the latest. good morning. some hope he'll play again, retiring, i'm back. >> michael jordan. >> the 34-year-old former league mvp does appear to be calling it

quits though he may play somewhere. telling columnist steve smith of his desire to spend more time with his family. the more time with his family. a top pick in in the 196 and delivered one of the best news conferences rch. >> i'm supposed to be a franchise player and we in here talking about practice. i mean, listen, we talking about practice xxxvii not a game. not a gym. not a game. we talking about practice. >> by the way, go to youtube and put in press rap. they made into a song. not much to be thankful for in you're the new jersey nets. another loss. 0-15 starts. yesterday guard chris dougly roberts tweeted worse time in my life depressed and miserable. >> ah. they have feelings, too. >> yeah. too bad. >> on the right wings looking the center takes the shot. smothered, pup funnelbles it. >> what sounds different about this game? the announce sir a woman.

sherry ross becomes the first to do play-by-play in a game in english. last year an all-female team called a game in french. those vulgar treats from the new york receiver weren't actually from him. someone hacked his account. earlier this season, clowney said he was unhappy about playing time and that drew a suspension from his coach. and heaping helpings of mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie may not be as bad as you're led to believe. according to cornell, the calories of thanksgiving tables dropped over the years. people are using healthier ingredients. reminder, counter count goes out the window when you go for seconds and thirds.

tell you the truth, our portion, way bigger than they were in the '50s and '60s they say. and better watch out. they could try to steal your home. y8

good morning, sunshine, i'm robin meade and so grateful you are with us this morning. even if it is had you to get up early and get the meal ready. good morning. here's what's going on -- >> this is a law hmrs. salahi. >> a grand entrance but they weren't on the guest list of the white house state dinner. they crashed the dinner and bragged about it. director roman polanski could soon get out of jail. new sex tapes may come back to haunt him, plus -- >> i'm here for a plasma tv. >> eve brn the turksy in the oven, bargain hunters are lining up to catch cash in on black

friday. doesn't seem right. how you going to eat your thanksgiving kneel you're throughout. the secret service is trying to fig are ow a couple crashed tuesday's white house state dinner. i kid you not. reportedly not on the guest list but somehow got in. agents say the couple went through scanners and that president obama was never in danger. a former white house security adviser says the couple could face serious charges for lying to federal officials. >> this is a pretty serious crime. not to mention, as you say, tom, it's a threat. after all, they would have been screened through magnetometers and not have weapons on them. once you're into the state dinner, there's knives and forks and cutlery and literally we've seen pictures where this couple have their arms around, posing for pictures with people like rahm emanuel and the vice president of the united states. >> classic. the couple post the pictures of themselves on facebook hanging out with the vice president and the white house chief of staff,

rahm emanuel. a woman describing herself as a publicist says they were fully cleared to attend the event. don't know what that means. there are also reports that this couple is a candidate for a reality tv show. of course. correspondent richard lui has more on that in about ten minutes. you might be up earlier than normal to do the cooking and baking today. live picture here, because other folks are up early to stake out their place on the parade route in new york. for the very first time, the macy's day parade will bypass broadway. a physics professor says because of the new route, the balloon handlers have to be very careful. they have to go around more corners now. live picture. menty of people out there. what do you do all that time? >> freeze. >> yesterday was a busy travel day. many people avoided the airports, aaa reports that air travel could be down by more than 6% this year, but check out the crowds at new york's penn station yesterday. apparently many people went by train, bus or car, because it cheaper.

>> buses, cars, just takes forever. train is fast and gets me right where i need to go. >> i think it's worth it, if you can see your family and you can really spend time with the people you don't see during the course of the year. >> we were putting extra trains out and extra cars on trains to accommodate all these people. >> president obama kept up the tradition of a presidential pardon for the thanksgiving turkey. >> hey! all right. >> he's like a large chicken, like a large chicken she said. >> the turkey was given full immunity and at disney to be the grand marshal at the thanksgiving day parade. a second turkey named carolina was also pardoned. a man who gave the cop a middle finger during a parking dispute won $50,000 in a lawsuit settlement. the man said his right to free speech was violated when give an

ticket for disorderly conduct. he says a lawsuit was about change, not about the money. >> i heard a voice outside the car say, don't do that. that frustrate immediate. spoe i flipped that person off and that's was a city of pittsburgh police officer. i tried to say it was protected what i did. he didn't want to hear t. the guy who flipped the bird will only get $10,000 of the money. the rest split between lawyers and the aclu. >> $10,000 for flipping the bird. >> you could -- you could just picture it, right? like -- yeah. and here's for you. and you look at him -- you're like. that's a cop. >> $10,000 he got tore it. >> he got for it. >> if everybody did that, jersey would be billionaires. i just know from looking at them. >> macy's day parade, changed a little. >> going down seventh.

>> parts of blocked to vehicular traffic. what you going to do if you got a float? >> right. leaking at the shot, 72nd street, that's the da coat da building. about five blocks to the right is where they're actually inflating balloons and they're you already. it starts about five blocks up. 77. >> cool. >> the weather, it's going to be difficult traveling in or out of the great lakes again today. look the at the rain wrapping up around michigan, in towards northern michigan, too. the white is all snow. coming down harder in towards northern illinois nap should turn all back into rain later this morning as temperatures begin to warm up a bit. your chicago temperature, about 37 degrees. cold rain. be there for most of the morning. keep that in mind. later today, a bit of a breeze. the heaviest rain gets out of there. florida, drying out. good news. three to four inches of rain in some areas, doppler radars indicated south florida, miami, ft. lauderdale and west palm. that's gone. and off cape hatteras moving in towards it's northeast tomorrow

pap nor'easter forming. a rain and windmaker. right now it's dense fog that's really going to slow you down op the roends and at the airports. dense fog advisories central pennsylvania down through maryland into virginia. parts of north carolina, parts of south carolina. that is a live look at the white house. visibility clearly down. >> wow. >> clearly down. >> i know what you're saying. >> what it looks like at the capitol too. not much better. dough lays at the airport. temperatures cool, mid-50s. that plus the parade weather. at least the wind will be pretty did goode. right now winds calm, one to two miles per hour in new york. 42 degrees in central manhattan right by the park. more in a half hour. >> thank. a jump on your holiday shopping. the stores that are open today, a rundown. and director roman polanski is about to be a free man.

time to salute our troops. do that even on thanksgiving. of course, we've giving thanks for them. frank rockerson wants to salute his son, army staff sergeant christopher saying he's been separated from his son over 20 years now and they were recently reunited online with help from relatives. he says he's looking forward to his son's return and meeting the family that he has made for himself. if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them, go to cnn.com/robin. we would be honored to help you. while sleeping, a 26 carver trapped upside down in a cave in utah died while russ cuesers str strugging t struggled to free him.

rescuers tried to rescue him. at one point he was free only to slide back into the hole. that's terrible. can't imagine. it's never too late to make it right. new for new about 15 minutes. how someone is trying to make up for a theft 55 years ago. first, though, what a story. more details on our top story. some party crashers at president obama's first state dinner. the secret service says that tareq and michaele salahi were not on the guest list but got in, correspondent richard lui. how could they possibly make it past security ji you're talking secret service. >> right, robin. a lot of people asking that question. secret service admitting someone at their checkpoint did not follow proper procedures. there were more than 300 invited guests, as you nope one of them, our dr. sanjay gupta, you saw from her sister network, cnn. he could see why there might have been some confusion. >> it was pretty crowded right outside the east gate. where everyone entered at that time.

some people were driving up, some people walking up. it was just a lot of people all cluftered around in respect was really one person sort of scratching names off the clipboard at that point. >> he also says the salahi's probably did not make to the president's receiving line because you needed a name card to do that. the white house official told the "washington post" wp they were never seated at a table for dinner. who are the salahi's? "the washington post" saying finalists for the version of "the housewives" by bravo. couples have followed several parties including the america's polo cup. more on the story in a little bit for you. tomorrow's the day. the deals get started earlier this year. some people already lining up.

melissa in for jen. >> a lot of people lining up to get the deals at the crack of dawn. not really available, best buy, until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. check out the video. as you're sitting at home, some people have been lined up more than 24 hours already. outside of a california best buy giving their thanksgiving deal, perhaps, a shot. they are trying to get the deal tomorrow morning by lining up today. one of the deals is an hd laptop for $197. here are some the of more black friday deals you can find out there. if you top that go to kohl's, on sale, a cashmere sweater for $35. and old navy, a free video game. lego rock band with a $20 purchase. nap is while supplies last. read that fine print whenever shopping, "while supplies last." more black friday deals online. click on the link that says important websites. don't have to wait to get

started on holiday shopping. some stores open today. most walmart open around the clocks. the door busters don't become available until tomorrow. most kmart are open for until 9:00 tonight. many old navy store, gap, radio shack and open for business if you find yourself there. it will soon be more challenging to get a mortgage. next month mortgage finance company fannie mae will toughen up its lending standards. borrowers who make a 20% down payment will still have to have a credit score of at least 6 20shgs up sig lent from 580. if more than 45% of your gross income goes towards paying down debts, you're not going to be able to access a mortgage. millions of people who are out of work are hoping next thanksgiving will be better than this one. the president, gop, two very different messages for them today. plus, you've got see what this guy tried to do with the

jet-powered wing strapped to his back. the key word there is "tried."

is somebody looking to get an aircraft carrier? the navy has a deal for them. they're planning to give away the retired "uss john f. kennedy" aircraft carrier for free. the catch is the group that gets the carrier has to promise to use the ship as a memorial or a museum. what are you thankful for in tough times? president obama wants to make sure that by next thanksgiving many more people will say that they're grateful for a new job. it was the focus of an early edition of pes weekly radio and web address. >> next week i'll be meeting with owners of large and small businesses, labor leaders and non-for profit lead frers across the country to talk about the

additional steps we can take to help spur job creation. i'll work with congress to enact those proposals quickly. and it's my fervent hope and my heartfelt expectation that next thanksgiving we will be able to celebrate the fact that many of those who lost their jobs are back at work. >> the gop fired back in its thanksgiving web address. house republican conference chairman mike pence blasted the white house and dems for their handling of the economy. >> the american people know we can't borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy. the obama administration and the democratic majority in congress have taken our economy from bad to worse with their failed economic agenda and big government plans. if all this wasn't enough, democrats in washington continue to push for government-run insurance. a government takeover of health care will do nothing to lower the cost of health insurance, and will place further burdens on small business owners and working families. >> that job summit president obama mentioned will happen on tuesday.

the h1n1 virus apparently is leading to an increase in pneumonia cases. the cdc found spikes around the country. in the denver area, nearly three times the usual number of pneumonia cases last month. the back material infection is also hitting younger people just like the h1n1 virus. the cdc wants high-risk adults like smokers to get the h1n1 and pneumonia vaccine. a daredevil pilot is okay after trying not successfully to fly between two continents wearing a jet-powered wing suit. yeah. he was trying to go from morocco to spain, but he hit turbulence and thick clouds and couldn't tell up from down. so he deployed his shoot and ditched in the atlantic poepgs he said he got a little wet, but wants to try it again at the grand canyon. lots of turkey and a lot of football today, even though some will be bad football.

hope you -- hi, larry. >> a tradition even though the lions haven't won the nfl title in more than half a century and never been to a super bowl but detroit has won two game. two more than won all of last season pap good thing, right? number one draft pick stafford may not play for detroit after separating his shoulder in last sunday's win over cleveland. a passing record. later today a good look at the new billion-dollar plus cathedral. dallas hosting the raiders. first place in the nfc east. two-time pro bowl quarterback tony roam oh will pay despite back problems hamp erg his play. watch closely. watch the spot shadow here. the ottawa senators starting goalie hit by the puck in a face while sitting on the bench. he was already out with an

injury. thankfully looking away from the action, suffered only a fractured cheekbone. could be much worse, and he'll be out for a month. >> terrible. and too big to surf? imagine thatan annual surfing contest off hawaii's big island postponed because the waves were too treacherous. they were 40 feet high. some still took them on with emergency personnel standing by in case the waves won. see some guys losing it. woop. there you go. they'll try it again. that's sports, robin. >> pretty wild. no thank you. you ever wonder what was first lady jackie kennedy wearing during the holidays? a sleeveless silkk designer dress during the second christmas season the kennedys were in the white house. that dress is now in display at the kennedy presidential museum in boston. back to the surfing, what bob wants to talk about. >> hello. >> waves too big. when i went out to surf, waves

too big and they were half that size. trying to get out thursday morning, thanksgiving morning. live to miami, florida. the fog is in. remember the heavy rain yesterday? three miles visibility at the airport pap good look at city itself. low clouds hanging in there. clouds off and on today. scattered showers, too. light rain earlier around the city. that will be like that most of the day. if you're trying to get out of the chicago metro area, the blue area, northern illinois, o'hare, light snow. light rain. watch for delays first thing in the morning, otherwise i think it will be okay for the afternoon. chicago, one hour this morning. boston, new york, philly, morning fog. 30-minute delays. fog possibility around d.c. metro, too. showers in seattle. more on that in a bit. >> thank you. >> all right. volunteers across the country have been giving out free meals this thanksgiving. why many of these people are es suburbly grateful for the grocery giveaway. -------x

a caver trapped upside down in a cave in utah died early this morning while rescuers struggled to free him. 26-year-old john jones was stuck in a hole 18 inches wide, 10 inches high for more than day. rescuers were trying to chip away at the opening but there wasn't too much room to work. president obama announces troop strategy for the war in afghanistan next tuesday night from west point. a white house spokesperson says that the president will make it clear that he doesn't want u.s. forces there long term. military officials say that they've been told to prepare for sending 34,000 more troops. thousands of people are grabbing their spot this morning to get the best view for the annual macy's thanksgiving day parade pap live picture. look closely and see all the people lineed up.

this will be the first year the parade route actually doesn't go over broadway. did you know the first macy's parade balloon was felix the cat back in 1927. just a few of our headlines this morning. you must be up early, because you're the one preparing the food in the house. i'm robin meade. welcome. take a look at these photos, would you, from the white house state dinner. nothing out of the ordinary it seems. until you find out that the woman in the red dress and her husband beside her, they weren't even invited. apparently reporters were the only one whose got in. strange that tareq and michaele salahi showed up. >> not at all political. to see them walk in there i thought, goodness, how did they snag an invitation to the most exclusive state dinner? and the first of the obama administration. >> that's the question. so correspondent richard lui, they had not snagged an invitation, but when did the secret service figure it out? >> robin when they saw the

pictures on the facebook page, still public now. not a private page. now they've launched and investigation and the white house has done the same thing pap former homeland security adviser explained how security is supposed to work at these events. >> at the perimeter security, the very first checkpoint you come to, there's usually both armed secret service agent whose have a computer system where you have to be put in, and if there are occasions on which someone who isn't an invited guest isn't in that system, for that reason also at the first checkpoint is a member of the social staff literally way clibboard and they check that. >> obviously something broke down in that process, but the secret service released a statement saying, "it important to note these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of security as did all guests attending the dinner." >> other people, i believe it was her, fran townsend, said basically i think her, once you get through the magnetometers,

so what. you still have utensils, knives around dinner. we mentioned some of the reporters recognized them from around washington, d.c. let's talk about that. >> sure, robin. they've been in the d.c. papers before, but not for particularly good reasons. for instance, "the washington post" says they've been in a messy feud with tareq's parents over control of the family winery in virginia. last year tareq accused his mother's attorney of punching him. the attorney was found not guilt any that. the salahi's are well known in polo circles, being sued by a caterer who says they did not pay for services at a tournament they hosted. from the facebook site. here she is with matt damon's in celebrity circles before. she's a model, evidently, she says. taken in paris. and so -- if you go to the website you see all sorts of -- their facebook page specifically. see all these sorts of pictures. >> the best part, the thing you

grab on to is, apparently they are reality show wannabes. >> right. >> something like finalists maybe for a new version of what is it? "real housewives." >> yes. in d.c. >> yeah. okay. >> there you go. >> all right. new this morning, troops overseas are gobbling up their thanksgiving day food. turkey, stuffing, all the fixings prepared for troops in baghdad. the troops say being away gives them new appreciation for the family gathering back home. >> i think everybody back home should really appreciate what they have, because you don't realize what you have until -- you don't have it anymore. >> the food is here, but there's not the -- it's not grandma's cooking and there's not the family atmosphere, but it's the new family of guys that i've been to play with over these last months, and you know, what more could you ask for? >> president obama is urging americans to think of the troops serving far from home. a 15-year-old florida boy

set on fire allegedly by a group of teens is going through excruciating physical therapy. michael brewer's parents spoke to our sister network cnn yesterday and said michael suffers through showers and exercises so rough that he has to take painkillers for them. >> in the beginning, because he was coming out of anesthesia, he would have bouts of anger. he doesn't anymore. he's very focused on his recovery. he wants to get better, and he just makes me proud. i'm so proud of him. >> rocker ozzy osbourne sent michael a cd. he plays it to take his mind off of the pain had he showers. astronauts on a space shuttle "atlantis" are spending their thanksgiving holiday checking their ship for the ride home. "atlantis" is expected to land tomorrow morning. meanwhile, the astronauts will eat beef brick it and chicken fajitas for their thanksgiving meal. something tells me it's not like

the beef bris kitt yket you mig having on earth. >> pardoning the turkey. did you see that? what he did to his daughter malia when she went to pet the turkey. >> hey -- >> oh. >> she says -- hey, looks like a large chicken. well, the turkey that was pardoned will be at disneyland today to be the grand martishalt parade. >> yeah. going down to disney world. >> the president was funny about it. of all the great things i thought about i would be doing as the president, this is not one of them. basically something along those lines. >> funny. 36ments past the hour. it's going to take you five hours to cook your turkey. >> is that right? per pound? >> it's a long time, if you have a big one. >> i asked, because i know you

don't cook. >> you're right. i called up and i -- one of those, like, gourmet stores. you know? they'll fix it for you. i pick it up between 11:00 and 12:00 today. >> why not? i'd dot same thing. you're a working woman. >> busted me out. this weather brought to you by tylenol. oh, feel better. what's happening now. tell you, the weather really is going to be a little rough for you if you live around the great lakes. specifically right around northern michigan, western michigan and then wrapping down through chicago. in towards the metro. light rain throughout for the morning. it will basically move over to the east over the next couple of hours and thin out. chicago. o'hare and midway. rain overhead. paepting delays with the rain, poor visibility and low clouds later this afternoon. heavier downpours in towards sheboygan. south of green bay and down south, for the most part, rain is gone. light showers near miami. most moved off into the ocean but i expect to see a little more of this activity pop up. live to miami right now. the way it goes.

temperatures about 81 degrees, the high. low clouds and officially three-mile visibility at the airport now miami. may catch a delay later part of the day. passing showers does it for you there. and you can see d.c., you're fogged in. dense fog for the mid-atlantic. we'll get to that in a half hour. yeah, that's d.c. >> wow. >> trust me it is. >> thinking about the turkey that's cooking in the grocery store. >> there you go. the parents of a little boy who passed away of the h1n1 flu are speaking out. wrap they are saying to other parents across the country. and good news in a bad economy. how home buyers stand to save big time.

a grieving mother and father are urging firnts get they are children the h1n1 vaccine. in june, joshua neves came down way fever and died a day later. the h1n1 vaccine wasn't available then. the parents are sharing what happened because they know a lot of people are uneasy about the vaccine. >> i went with him on a wednesday to opening up the obituaries and seeing my son's face. and seeing a person who passed away at 75. a person who passed away at 101, a person who passed away at 85. and then number 3 next to my

son's name beyond kprcomprehens. three, two, one -- >> pretty. with that, chicago kicked off its christmas season and it went back to the tradition of one big tree. for the past 50 year, the city built a giant tree from smaller ones but this year a local family donated a five ton blue spruce in the spirit of the holiday. if you're looking to bay home, mortgage rates are at an all-time low. melissa long is in for jennifer westhoven. good news in a bad economy t. is. saving home buy oers a lot of money. and this is on top of the home buyer tax credit, the $8,000 still available several months into 2010 now. according to freddie mac,

standing at 4.75%. pay about $100 less per month on a $200,000 mortgage. then back in june when rates were at, well, 5.5%. electric cars. they're safe for the environment, brut what about for pedestrians and people riding bikes? "usa today" reports general motors is working for the national federation for the blind so the near silent cars won't be dangers on it's roadways. advocates for the vision impaired have been concerned about electric and hybrid vehicles sneaking up on unsuspecting people pap report showed walkers and bikers are hit at a greater rate by hybrids than conventional car, and they are very, very quiet. i don't know if you've driven one, i drove one once and couldn't tell was even on. >> i haven't driven one before. >> great cars but, again, is this car on? >> what? put a noisemaker on it?

i don't know. thank you. thousands show how frightened people were when 9/11 was reported. who's publishing these? what do police have to say about them. and a woman wanted to help out a baby squirrel. she got more than they bargained for. this squirrel loves them.

an activist group has been posting pager messages -- i'm sorry pup know what? forgot we were doing this. look. it's the live picture of the setup for the macy's thanksgiving day parade. look how many people. 234is is mind-boggling. only 7:46 in the morning, and the route is like lined with people. five rows deep, and this is the way they're spending their thanksgiving, making sure they get a seat for the thanksgiving day parade. how cold is it, bob? >> 49 right now. >> whew, baby! >> could be worse. >> thought you'd like to see that. back to what i was talking about. an activist group is posting messages it says were sent on 9/11. the messages range from exchanges from new york police officers to computers reporting faults. many appear to be from frantic

people trying to reach their loved ones. here's a reading of some of those messages. >> new york's police and fire department said they could not confirm whether any of those messages really came from their departments. the group posting the messages says that it's putting the leak documents on line to promote transparency. one pager company says intercepting and disclosing these messages is illegal. a florida woman thought she was doing a nice thing when she saved a dozen orphaned baby squirrels. i never knew they made such noises. no good deed goes unpunished. 11 returned to the wild, this one refuses to leave.

>> he's stuck to the screens of the playroom, and looking in, waiting to get in. i'll open the door. he comes around. he comes in. he'll have a snack and he hops in his box, and he'll go to bed for the night. >> she says this little squirrel is so attached when they went on a road trip last weekend that little smart squirrel hid beneath their suv and hitch add ride, wanting to be with them so badly. ♪ got a game my team is better, practice ♪ >> we're talking about practice. practice. one former nba superstar is thankful this morning probably for a little bit more free time. allen iverson is apparently retiring, but larry's here with the latest on this story. >> don't you tlauv? >> why we love when allen iverson is in the news. >> thankful for no more practice, i guess. although some think he'll play

again somewhere, the 34-year-old mvp appears to be calling it quits nap song you can find on youtube type in press rap, put to music. his desire, spend more time with his family. a top pick in 1996. >> i supposed to be a franchise player and we in here talking about practice. i mean, listen, we talking about practice. not a game. not a game. not a game. we talking about practice. >> seven years later i still laugh at that every time. >> isn't that long? >> yeah. during the playoff season, too. acknowledged the nets lost again. tied the nba record for worst start to a season. an guard chris tweeted, worst game of my life. i'm miserable.

that's a look at sports. well, a terrible way to end it. >> sorry. >> hey, it's thanksgiving.it's . have some turkey, lighten up. do you you own your own home? are you sure? it may be in danger from a new breed of criminal. clark howard tells you how to protect your biggest investment. >> well, we've got a lot going on in our mortgage nashmarket ie united states. a lot of confusion, a lot of people in default and a lot of banks failing. so nobody is really watching things right now. there's a new crime that is apparently growing quickly where people steal the value of your home. follow this. there are lots of people who even in today's market own their homes free and clear. when nobody's looking, criminals forge documents and then they actually pretend they're the owner, take out a new mortgage on your property, cash that out, and then they're gone with the

wind. next thing you know the house that you have owned fraudulently is stolen from you and you could be foreclosed on. how's that for fear? well, there's a way that you can actually check up to make sure nobody is playing games with you. go to epropertywatch.com and register your home. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect your wallet, go to kcn cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> catch clark on the weekends noon eastern saturdays and sundays. bobby, you got your are stretch pants ready? >> oh, i got the maternity pants my wife saved with the big stretchy panel. thanksgiving. trying to get out, we have delays popping up because of fog. bwi, baltimore, 8:30, a ground stop because of fog. dulles, 8:30, ground stoppage, charlotte, reagan national,

9:00, fog. chicago, the rain. new york city metros, light rain, philadelphia, same, philadelphia, showers all day long. more "morning express" in just a couple of minutes.

good morning! you're either maybe up early to get all the food ready for today or maybe you got to sleep in because you didn't have to work today. whatever the reason is you're up at this hour, i'm grateful for it. morning sunshine, i'm robin meade. get this. a couple made a grand entrance into the dinner at the white house, a state dinner. the only problem, they weren't on the guest list. they were crashers. how they crashed the dinner and bragged about it. thousands of people are trying to claim their spot for the macy's thanksgiving day parade. find out how a new route could make it tricky for the people toting those huge balloons. then director roman polanski could get out of jail soon, but old charges may come back to haunt him. what a story, huh?

the secret service is trying to figure out how in the world a couple crashed tuesday's white house state dinner. they were reportedly not on the guest list, but somehow got in. this is them. agents say that the couple went through scanners and that the president was never in any real danger, but a former white house security adviser says this is a serious breach. >> it may be sort of at some level funny they were able to do it, but in the end remember there are bad guys around the world watching this, learning from it, and understanding it. you can be sure that when somebody gets that close -- after all, while they were screened for weapons and they did have security personnel in the tend -- there are knives and forks and certainly somebody could have done harm to the president or the first lady, god forbid. >> yeah. well, the reality show wanna bes posted pictures on facebook hanging out with the vice president and white house chief of staff. the woman describing herself as the publicist for the couple

said they were fully cleared to attend the event. not sure what that means. correspond end richard lui has more on the reality show angle in ten minutes. troops overseas are already gobbling up their thanksgiving day meals. these soldiers in baghdad are from the 32nd infantry brigade made up from members from the mississippi national guard. according to the air force's website, the military prepared 63,000 pounds of ham along with 193,000 pounds of turkey for service members in iraq and afghanistan. yesterday was a very busy travel day. if you were out there, you knew it. but many people avoided the airports. aaa reports that air travel could be down by more than 6% this year. check out the crowds, though, at penn station in new york. many people say they chose to go by train, bus, or car because it's cheaper. >> buses, cars, just takes forever. train is fast and gets me right where i need to go. >> i think it's worth it if you

can see your family and really spend time with the people you don't see during the course of the year. >> we're putting extra trains out and extra cars on trains to accommodate all these people. >> president obama kept up the tradition of a presidential pardon for a thanksgiving turkey. >> i hereby -- you are hereby pardoned. you will live. in disneylanded. >> the turkey named "courage" was given full immunity and will be at dmizland to be the grand marshal of the parade. a second turkey was pardoned in case "courage" could not fulfill his duties. stay tuned. it's cute when s . the h1n1 virus is apparently leading to an increase in pneumonia. in the denver area, there were nearly three times the usual number of pneumonia cases last

month. the infection is also hitting younger people just like the h1n1 flu. the cdc wants high-risk adults like smokers to get the h1n1 and pneumonia vaccines. early this morning a 26-year-old caver trapped upside down in a cave in utah died while rescuers struggled to free him. john jones was stuck in a hole 18 inches for more than a day. rescuers tried to chip away at the opening. at one point he was freed only to slide back into the hole. that's awful. 55 years is a long time to feel guilt. somebody sent anonymous letter to clarke college in iowa and admitteded to stealing a radio in 1954. whoever it was said that they've regretted it ever since and wanteded to make full restitution so they spent five crisp $100 bills. >> we hope that this person, whoever they may be, knows that they're forgiven for it and certainly we appreciate the generosity of their gift. >> the letter writer asked that

the money be used for the college's faculty. thanksgiving. you guys do a pickup game of football after you eat this afternoon? let's find out if the weather will be good for that. five minutes after the hour. hi, bob. >> typical in chicago, michigan, back into northern ohio, indiana. light rain, going to be cool, temperatures up there to about the low 40ss. before that happens, lower parts of wisconsin, northern sections of illinois, central illinois, getting light snow mixed in as well. you have that to deal with. typical thanksgiving day. down to the south, here's miami, the heavy rain from yesterday is gone. scattered showers out there remaining around for the rest of the morning into the afternoon. again, the heavy stuff away from you, up the coast in north carolina. that's a developing area of low pressure. this goes out to the ocean and bends back in by tomorrow afternoon. it will set up shop around the new england coast by friday afternoon late, meaning you'll get a lot of wind up there in the northeast, a lot of rain,

too. not a snow-maker at this point, a heavy rain-maker starting tomorrow lasting through saturday. dense fog out there, central pennsylvania down toward maryland, through d.c. gets in towards virginia, north carolina, south carolina as well. dense fog advisory until 9:00. areas shaded in black, less than a quarter visibility. then it should burn off by this afternoon. still getting some cloud cover out there in the mid-levels. what about the macy's thanksgiving day parade? here's the latest. manhattan right here, central park where the green is. 48 degrees currently when you get toward lower new york, 49, 48. winds not a factor today. good news there. only about one to two-mile-per-hour winds. don't have to worry about the balloons being down today because of the wind. more in a little bit, rob. >> that's good because i was reading the people handling balloons because of the new route, more turns to make. >> you yeah. instead of broadway, it's going down 7th. >> exactly. if you're a fan of the parade, let me show you some of the live

setups. for the first time, the parade is going to bypass brand broadway. spiderman is ready. because parts of the area are now closed to traffic so the new route includes five corners. a physics professor says that because of that balloon handlers will have to be careful today. but bob adds, no wind really. >> wind should not be a factor. >> very good. you can get your jm jump on holiday p shopping today. we have stores open on thanksgiving. and a church is using an aggressive message that everyone can see. why it's putting a bounty on somebody's head.

time for us to salute the troops. frank wilkerson wants to salute his son, christopher fullington.

he says he's been separated from his son for more than 20 years and they recently reunited online. he says he's looking forward to his son's return and meeting the family that he's made for himself. do you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them? we want to help you. cnn.com/robin. what a story. more details here. party crashers at president obama's first state dinner. the secret service says that the two were not even on the guest list, but here they are getting announced just like they were supposed to be there. correspond end richard lui xbro joins us now. how could they have possibly made it past security? we're talking secret service. >> robin, the secret service is admitting somebody at their check point did not follow proper procedures. there were more than 300 invited guests, one of them, dr. sanjay gupta, from our sister network cnn, he says he could see how there might have been some confusion.

>> it was pretty crowded right outside the east gate. that's where everyone entered at that time. some people were driving up, some walking p up. it was just a lot of people all clustered around. there was really one person sort of scratching nai scratching names off the clip board. >> sanjay says the couple probably did not make it to the president's receiving line because you need a name card to do that. a white house official told "the washington post" they were never seated at a table for dinner, robin. >> still, they were with rubbing elbows, the pictures to prove it. who are these two people? we talked about they were reality show wanna bes. >> of course. >> "the washington post" reports that the couple were finalists for a new version of "the real house wives" franchise on bravo, set in d.c. this time. cameras have already followed this couple to several parties including the america's polo cup part of a series of polo tournaments the couple founded a few years ago. bravo declined to comment on what has happened so far.

>> richard, thank you very much. the black friday deals get started earlier every year, don't they? well, some people are already lining up to get the best deals. that's where they'll spend thanksgiving. hi, melissa long. >> good morning. happy thanksgiving. the door buster deals not going to be available at many stores until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow, still shoppers are spending thanksgiving in line hoping to bag a bargain. video of people who have been in line for 24 hours already. some hopeful bargain shoppers outside a store in california, the best buy. one with of the deals they may be searching for, an hp laptop for $130. target has a tv for $246, that is almost $200 in savings. then perhaps you have somebody around the house you want to buy for who likes to tinker. at ace hardware you can get a black and decker cordless deal for just 20 bucks after a rebate. less than half price. for more black friday deals, go

to cnn.com/robin and click on the icon, important websites. you don't have to wait until tomorrow morning to start your holiday shopping. a handful of stores are open today. walmart is open around the clock. the door busters won't become available until 5:00 a.m. friday. kmart opening at 7:00 a.m. local time today until 9:00 p.m. tonight. many old navy stores will be open at noon for a few hours along with many of the gap stores and radio shack stores in western states are open for business. it's going to be harder to get a mortgage very soon. next month mortgage finance company fannie mae is going to be tough being up lending standards. "the washington post" is reporting that borrowers who make a 20% down payment still going to have to have a credit score of at least 620. that is up from 580. also, if more than 45% of your gross income goes toward paying down your debts, you're not going to have access to a mortgage. robin? >> a lot different than maybe

five years ago. >> drastic. how's this for a thanksgiving present? more than half million dollars worth of debt being washed away. find out about a judge who helped one family keep their house. somebody who robbed a church says i'm sorry. hear what the reverend has to say about that.

hi. i want to send a special holiday greeting, happy thanksgiving, to my parents and all my family and friends living in st. petersburg and tampa, florida. i love y'all. >> very nice. thank you so much. hello to all of our troops. hope you have a great thanksgiving.

a long island judge got so angry at a bank that it slapped it pretty hard. judge jeffrey spinner completely forgave a couple's $500,000 mortgage. they were having trouble making payments but the judge said one bank's foreclosure against them was shocking. he said the bank refused to work out a deal, mislead him and treated the couple badly. here's their daughter. >> it wasn't like my parents were just deadbeats so i'm happy that the judge finally said that poor business practices won't be condoned. my parents are smart, good people. i feel bad they had very poor luck and i'm happy it's been changed. >> one west bank says, we respectfully disagree with the lower court's ruling and we expect that it will be overturned on appeal. the son of a provincial governor has been charged in murder in the massacre of at least 57 people in the philippines. dozens of gunmen stopped a convoy of journalists and supporters for a local politician and then kidnapped and killed many of them. the governor's son is also a

mayor and his family has close ties to the philippines' president. check out a new billboard in chicago. it warns if you shoot and kill children a bounty will be placed on your head. it offers a $5,000 reward to catch and prosecute a suspect. get this. a church that put this up you says it's an aggressive approach aimed at curbing youth violence. >> we want to send a strong message that you cannot shoot our children and think you're going to get away with it. bounty is definitely a strong word, a word with i'm uncomfortable using. because it is old wild west. but you know what? right now this is like the old wild west when with our children are dying. >> this week 20 of those billboards are going up throughout chicago. all right. for most people, lots of turkey is on the menu today as well as a lot of football. even though we have to say some of it is going to be bad football. hi, larry. maybe it could be great. you're saying there's a chance.

>> exactly. just maybe. lions aren't a great team. haven't won a title in more than half a century, never been to a super bowl. they have won two games this career, more than last year. bad news for them. number one draft pick matthew stafford may not pay for the lions. he separated a non-throwing soldier injury. the lions host the packers. they are good. a new tradition is the thanksgiving night game for those who have nfl network. this year the giants and broncos, both teams started strong but followed with four-game losing streaks. both need a win to stay in the playoff chase, open at dallas. watch closely, the spot shadow. that is the goalie for the ottawa senators already on the bench with an injury getting hit with a puck in the face while sitting on the bench. luckily he was looking away from

the action. otherwise, it could have been much worse. he suffered a fractured cheekbone and will be out for a month. imagine waves too big to surf. an annual surfing contest off hawaii's big island was postp e postponed because the waves were too treacherous, reached up to 40 feet high. some took them ones as you can see. emergency personnel standing by in case the waves won. that's a big fall on top of >> thanks. if you're traveling today it's because you maybe were, like, i'm not getting out there yesterday. why don't you go get this for me? i'm not going to get in that traffic, hi, bob. >> volume-wise, you made a good decision. will fog across the mid-atlantic, you're in a ground stop in both reagan national and dulles until 9:00. another 40 minutes. because of fog. also, charlotte in a ground stop because of fog until 9:00 and also looking at bwi, baltimore

for the next ten minutes all because of fog. look at the rain over o'hare and midway, most of the day. it will be light. enough to slow you down. here are the delays for the afternoon. remember the stoppages across the mid-atlantic now. chicago, boston, new york metros, philly, 30 minutes to one hour. down the line, showers, deloitte, cleveland and seattle, showers, too. more in a bit. >> thank you. an angry driver gave a police officer the bird and that one finger has touched off a huge three-year legal battle. but it could end up paying off for the driver? --------

president obama will announce his troop strategy for the war in afghanistan next tuesday night from west point. a white house spokesperson says that the president will make it clear that he doesn't want u.s. forces there long term. military officials say that they've been told to prepare for sending 34,000 more troops. there are sommer ceremonies across india today in memory of 160 people killed in terrorist attacks a year ago. the country is increased security after criticism that its police were poorly trained for the situation. ten pakistani gunmen attacked luxury hotels and a train station last year in a siege that lasted three days. astronauts on the space shuttle "atlantis" are spending thanksgiving checking the ship for the ride home.

"atlantis" is expected to land tomorrow morning. meanwhile, astronauts will eat beef and chicken for their thanksgiving meal. maybe not traditional. but okay. 30 minutes past the hour. you're probably up early because you're the person getting the meal later for today. welcome and we're so glad to have you. i'm robin meade. come take a look at these photos. they're from the white house state dinner. nothing out of the ordinary until you find out that the woman in the red dress and her husband weren't even invited. that's right. apparently reporters were the only ones who thought it was strange that the two showed up. >> they're not at all political so to see them walk in there i thought to myself, oh, my goodness, i wonder how they snagged an an visinan invitatio >> richard lui, when did the secret service find out? apparently not before they were

officially announced for the whole crowd. >> listen to this. only after the pictures were posted on facebook, that's how they found out. now they've launched an investigation. the white house has done so as well. a former homeland security adviser explained how security is supposed to work at these events. >> at the perimeter security, the very first check point you come to, there's usually both armed secret service agent who have a computer system where you have to be put in and if there are occasions in which someone who is an invited guest isn't in that system. for that reason, also is a member of the social secretary's staff literally with a paper clipboard and they check that. >> obviously here something broke down in the process. but the secret service released a statement saying "it is important to note that these individuals went through magna tom ters and other levels of xurlt as did all guests attending the dinner". >> but she also pointed out, when you have dinner floating around, you have utensils

floating around as well. we mentioned some of the reporters recognized this couple. why is that? >> well, robin, they've been in the d.c. papers evidently before, but not for particularly good reasons here. "the washington post," for instance, reporting they've been in a messy feud with tariq's parents over control of the family winery in virginia. last year tariq accused his mother's attorney of punching him. the attorney was found not guilty. they wiare well known in polo circles, being sued by a caterer that they didn't pay for a tournament they hosted. if you go to her facebook page, it's public. they've got pictures of them obviously in celebrity situations, one with matt damon, for instance, a picture there, also of her modeling. she says she's a modeling and also with the virginia governor and the dnc chair. >> richard, thank you. a 15-year-old florida boy set on fire allegedly by a group

of teens is going through excruciating physical therapy. michael brewer's parents spoke to our sister network cnn yesterday. they said that michael suffers through showers and exercises so rough that he has to take painkillers for it. >> in the beginning, because he was coming out of the anesthesia, he had bouts of anger. he doesn't anymore. he's very focused on his recovery. he wants to get better, and he just makes me proud. i'm so proud of him. >> ozzie osborn sent michael a cd and he plays it to take his mind off the pain when he showers. the guest list is taking shape for next month's climate summit in taucopenhagen. yesterday we learned president obama plans to go. the white house says that the president will promise to cut heat trapping pollution in the united states by about 17% by the year 2020. a man was arrested after he

allegedly left his 5-year-old son in his truck while he was drinking at a strip club. police in indianapolis say they found the little boy watching tv inside the semi. the man reportedly told cops that his truck was stolen and his kid missing. because of that, he was busted. 35 minutes past the hour. okay, you might have maybe a pickup football game planned later in the day. we have the macy's thanksgiving day parade getting ready to step off in 25 minutes. bob, how is the weather today? >> tons of traditions going on. strap on the leather helmets, one with of those games, in the front yard. what's going on? the eastern half of the nation, a lot of clouds, fog, too. out west, pacific northwest, heavy downpours there. let me show you what's going on. light rain and snow getting mixed in in chicago. another coastal storm developing in north carolina. in between it's all fog. let me show you the fog

advisories we have posted. these last until about 9:00 this morning. dense fog advisories, all the areas you see shaded in the charcoal color, central p.a., parts of new york state, mid-atlantic to south carolina. ground stoppage at charlotte at the airport because of the fog. that's until 9:00. also at reagan national and dulles as well, ground stoppages there. more details in the air travel. what about the rest of the rain? rain showers in chicago, light snow orn green pay. rain also around the miami area early this morning, but look at the rain offshore from north carolina. that's your coastal low. that kind of goes back into the atlantic and then gets pushged back to the north and northwest. another coastal storm for new england tomorrow. a lot of rain, wind out of that. macy's thanksgiving day parade. local conditions right now, 49 degrees in new york metros. look at the wind out of the northeast at about one you to two miles per hour. wind not a factor today. finally i think they'll get the balloons going without any problems at all. out across the pacific northwest

you can see what it looks like there. there's the beginning stages of our parade. i guess that's central park west. >> look how crowded that is. >> looks nice. there's a museum on the left. spiderman coming on down. 77th street where it starts, about 9:00. new path, right, rob? not broadway this time. >> yeah. now they have more turns, a little harder for the people doing the balloons. >> at least the wind won't be a big deal. west coast, a lot of rain for you around seattle. we'll talk about that in about a half hour. >> thank you. bill murray put all of his jokes aside apparently to chat with joy behar. hear why he says he had to be a guest on our show. >> this is great. i saw the show. that's why i wanted to come here. >> is that why? >> i thought, that looks wholesome or something. >> it looks wholesome. >> well, it looked eed -- mayb that's a disgusting word. it looked friendly and people weren't dying over it. no bloodshed.

>> it's a friendly show and you have time to talk. >> it's kind of unfair that we expect people to be funny all the time. i just want to yell to bill murray, wake up! >> be more funny! >> be sure to check out our thanksgiving day joy behar show marathon, 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. eastern today. now might be a better time than ever to buy a home. why getting a mortgage could mean more cash in your pocket. i have no intentions of keeping any of them. they're wild animals. they need to be wild. >> well, one of these orphan squirrels that she is raising is so attached to them it's a little too used to its creature comforts. smoo

hi. i'm here at camp victory in baghdad, iraq. i'd like to say thanksgiving to my wife and children in omaha, nebraska. see you soon. >> happy thanksgiving back to you. a male nurse is accused of assaulting patients while they were under anesthesia and videotaping it. police in atlanta have arrested this man twice in a week. new charges against him include aggravated child molestation and sexual battery. he worked at a dental and medical office across the city. police say they found hundreds of videos at his house with potential victims. a florida woman thought she was doing a nice thing when she saved a dozen orphan baby squirrels. >> come here. >> oh, it just loves being petted. 11 of the squirrels have returned to the wild, but the problem is this one refuses to leave. >> he's stuck to the screens of

the playroom and looking in waiting to get in. i'll open the door, he comes around, comes in, he'll have a snack and he hops in his box. and he'll go to bed for the night. >> she says this little squirrel is so attached that when they went on a road trip last weekend he hid beneath their suv and hitched a ride. now, that is attachment. in more ways than one it's an attachment. >> he plays in the dollhouse. there's video of him in the scooter. it's precious. >> perfect size for him. where i come from, that's good eating! >> what? >> never mind. great news if you're looking -- i said, where i come from, that's good eating. great news if you're looking to buy a home. apparently good rates. >> yes. very, very good rates. you could save a lot of money if you happen to be in the market right now for a new home because on top of the home buyer tax credit that's sill available you have really low rates.

according to freddie mac, the rate is about 4.75% on a 30-year. you would pay about $100 less per month on a $200,000 mortgage. back in june when the rates were about 5.5%. electric cars we know they're safe for the environment. what about safe for people riding bikes or pedestrians? "usa today" says general motors is working with the national federation of the blind so these near-silent vehicles woeptd be dangerous. the vision impaired have long been concerned about electric and hybrid vehicles sneaking up on unsuspecting people. also the national highway traffic safety administration released a report showing that walkers and bikers are hit at a greater rate by hybrids than with conventional cars. we'll keep you posted on that story. thousands of pager messages show how frightened people obviously were as 9/11 was unfolding. who is publishing these and what the police have to say about it.

low on cash? no problem. find out how you can get the most for your dollar, the year of the deal.

among the things i'm thankful will for today is your viewersh viewership. thank you. an activist group has been posting pager messages that it says are from 9/11. it ranges from exchanges between new york police officers to computers reporting faults. many appear to be from frantic people trying to reach their loved ones. here is a reading of some of those messages. >> morning's police and fire department said they could not confirm whether any of those messages actually came from their departments. the group posting the messages says that it is putting up leaked documents online to promote transparency. one pager company says that

intercepting and disclosing those messages is illegal. you you might be planning to spend less this holiday season, but you might get more. money expert jennifer westhoven says this is the year of the deal. >> retailers started slashing prices well before halloween this year. stores are facing an uphill battle. americans are paying off their debts so they're not spending as much and banks are cutting everyone's credit. so parents or if you've got a little kid on your list this year, this is the great year when it comes to toys. the bargains are amazing. kb toys went out of business and now all of these other stores are fighting to try and get your dollar. what about toys for adults? compareded to last year, you're going to save a lot on gadgets. flat-screen tvs, last year about 900, this year about $630. laptops with microsoft on them, last year, little under 700,

this year closer to 550. netbooks, last year $500. this year, more than 300, 350. so got a book lover on your list? you can get really good prices here at the store, but i tell you it's the internet where you're going to find amazing deals this year. that's because there is a melee going on between amazon, target, and walmart, buying books online. i'm not talking about the cheapo books. i'm talking popular, hardcover books that are just coming out now. it may be the year of the deal, it's not the year to wait until the last minute. look, retailers had their credit crunched, too, so they couldn't afford to overbuy and have stuff left over on the shelves. that means on christmas eve there could be very slim pickings out there. as always, save your receipts. >> you can see more of jen's holiday shopping tips in the weeks leading up to christmas on the clark howard show saturdays

and sundays on hln. one former nba superstar is probably thankful this morning for a little bit more free time. allen iverson is apparently retiring. we're not talking about practice. larry smith with more on that. retiring for real. >> yes. no more xmraints about practice. some coaches think he'll maybe do a jordan and unretire. we'll see if that happens. for now the 34-year-old former league most valuable player appears to be calling it quits. iverson told stephen a smith of his desire to spend more time with his family after he was cut by the grizzlies. hes was the top overall pick in 1996 and delivered 1 of the best news conferences ever. >> i spoized to be the franchise player and we in here talking about practice. i mean, listen, we talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game. we talking about practice.

>> seven years later, he went on for like 40 minutes in that yen for 40 minutes in that rant. not much to be thankful for if you're the nets. yesterday, chris douglas roberts tweeded, worst time in my life, depressed and miserable. >> poor thing. >> he takes the shot -- >> what sounds different about this game? the announcer is a woman. sherry ross becoming the first woman to do play-by-play when she called the game last night. last year, an all-female team called a game, but it was in french. those tweets from clowney, they

weren't from him. >> imposter. thank you. >> three, two, one. pretty. chicago kicked off its christmas season with that. it went back to the tradition of a really big tree. this year, a local family donated this five-ton blue spruce in the spirit of the holiday. >> christmas is about giving and this is what i've been trying to teach my children. when you give, you receive through the kindness in your heart. >> it's going to feel kind of empty here for a little while because it will be gone. >> i'm going to miss it. >> chicago has had an official christmas true for almost a century. volunteer groups across the

country have been giving out free meals through the season. let me show you a live picture of a thanksgiving day parade in detroit.

all the chefs in the kitchen right now, you got your hands in the stuffing over here. unite. we know why you're here today. i'm grateful for you. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on today. get this. a couple made a grand entrance to the dinner at the white house. the only problem, they weren't on the guest list. how they crashed the dinner and bragged about it. and thousands are trying to claim their spots for the macy's thanksgiving day parade. find out how a new route could make it tricky. >> two laptops and the plasma

tv. >> how are you supposed to have thanksgiving if you're in line. the secret service is trying to figure out how a couple crashed the state dinner. the white house says they were not on the guest list. they even got in and announced to the crowd. agents say president obama was never in any danger. they say the breach is serious. >> it may be at some level funny that they were able to do it, but remember, there are bad guys around the world, watching this and learning from it and understanding it. although they were screened for weapons, there are knives and forks and somebody could have done harm to the president or first lady, god forbid. >> it's a scary thought. they posed pictures of

themselves on facebook. a woman describing herself as a publy cyst says they were fully cleared. you heard me say reality tv show. richard lui has more on that. the macy's thanksgiving day parade is underway right now. get ready for a new look. this is not the beginning of the parade, but for the first time, the parade will bypass broadway. if you know anything about new york. that's because parts of that area are closed to traffic. the new route includes five corners. can you imagine? for those balloon handlers? they'll have to be very careful. yesterday was a busy travel day, but many avoided the airports any way. aaa reports that air travel could be done by more than 6% this year. check out the crowds at penn station in new york.

many people say they chose to go by train, bus or car because it's cheaper. >> buses, cars, just takes forever. train is fast and gets me where i need to go. >> i think it's worth it if you can see your family. >> we're putting extra trains out and extra cars on trains to accommodate all these people. >> president obama kept up the tradition of a presidential pardon for a thanksgiving turkey. >> all right. is there -- bird, you are here by pardoned. you will live in disneyland. >> oh, wait. that was the good part right

there. when you watch as the girls come over to pet the turkey, the president jerked, like scared him and one said, oh, it's like a large chicken. the turkey named courage was given full immunity and will be at disneyland today for the parade. a second turkey was available if courage couldn't fulfill his duti duties. a federal investigation of chinese dry wall is expanding and some u.s. dry wall may be tainted as well. there are several thousand co complain complaints, about 25 involve american-made material. there are somber ceremonies across india today. there were candle light vigils in mumbai, for the people killed in terrorist attacks a year ago. ten pakistani gunman attacked luxury hotels and a train

station. it took police three days to end the standoff. a man who gave a cop the middle finger during a dispute won 50,000 bucks. he said his spree dom of speech was violated. he says the lawsuit was about change, not the money. >> i heard a voice outside the car say, don't do that. that frustrated, me, too. i flipped that person out of. it was a police officer. >> police are not commenting on the case. the guy who flipped the bird will get about 10,000 bucks. here is one door buster deal you won't have to wait for. tetris for your i-phone. you can download the game for 40% off during the black friday weekend.

you use your touch screen to rotate and slide the pieces into place. it will cost you about 2.99. i must never played that game. >> tetris? it's a huge time killer. >> i don't think i've ever done that game. bob, so you're started on the west coast. we have a lot of people waking up to put the turkey in the oven, but plenty of shots of parades going on. >> remember we were showing surfing video before? the reason why is because we have huge areas of low pressure. you can see honolulu. here's a cold front. it's going to bring a trail of clouds to the pacific. here's your metro radar. the greens, yellows, that's where the heaviest rain is falling now. it's sliding to the east and down the coast, too. we have flash flood watches, all the areas in dark green, from

bellingham to seattle and almost the state line with oregon. the heavy rain will be out there today through tonight. then for the rest of the country, it's a storm center over the great lakes. another offshore. this one is going to go up to the north and form a coastal nor'easter by friday afternoon and saturday. that's going to bring a lot of rain and wind for new england. light snow mixing in around southern wisconsin and central illinois, but not that heavy. look how much rain fell in southern florida. that was yesterday. today, different story. much drier. more on that in a bit. >> still trying to figure out what tetris is. >> it's where the shapes come down, you have to spin it. >> was it on game boy forever

and a day ago? >> 1923. >> i never had free time in the '90s. you can jump on your holiday shopping today. we'll give you a run-down of the stores open today. and he's about to be a free man.

time for us to salute our troops. frank wilkerson wants to salute his son, christopher. he's been separated from his son for more than 20 years and they were recently reunited online. if you have somebody you want to salute, cnn.com/robin.

the h1n1 virus is leading to an increase in pneumonia. there have been spikes around the country. in the denver area, there were nearly three times the number of cases last month. the bacterial infection is also hitting younger people. the cdc wants high-risk adults to get the h1n1 and pneumonia vaccines. every year, doesn't it seem like the black friday deals start earlier and earlier? some are already lining up to get the deals. >> yes, people are waiting at line at one store in particular and they are trying to get deals that won't be available tomorrow morning. perhaps this is surprising, but these are bargain shoppers and really want to get the best deals. the stores really not going to have those available until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow.

this is in elk grove, california. some of ther you, from home dep a drill and circular saw kit. here's another. j.c. pen any is selling a four-piece dinner ware set. for more deals, go online to cnn.com/robin. you do not have to wait until tomorrow to short shopping. a handful of stores are open today. most walmarts are going to be open around the clock although their door busters won't be available until tomorrow. k-mart open today. many old navy stores, gap stores, will be opening around lunch today. now, if the price of fine

art is out of reach for you, there's a florida artist that may have a solution. he offers a way to take your doors, walls and ceilings to a whole new level. stephanie elam explains. >> reporter: jeff huckabee is an artist. but instead of a canvas, he paints on doors, walls and ceilings. >> i've always drawn, painted and sketched. >> reporter: before jeff started his business in 1996, he worked at disney world. >> i was in the entertainment department. >> reporter: transitioning from the wonderful word of disney was a challenge. his business has evolved into the specialized business of painting. >> the product i'm selling is

faux paints. it kind of steps into art work. >> reporter: and so far, the slow economy hasn't painted a bleak picture for jeff's business. >> my product is certainly not a necessity in someone's home, but i'm really pleasantly surprised that it's been business as usual. i'm very grateful for that. >> if you are a small business owner, we'd love to see your success story. there, you can upload a video i-report of your business and if we look what we see, you could be featured on "morning express."

happy thanksgiving and the thanksgiving day parade has started. can you imagine being one of the people? well, it takes a lot more than one. this year, they have more corners to negotiate because they changed the parade route. i just love looking at the marching bands and cheerleaders. more marching bands! all right. what a story. more details here on party crashers at president obama's first state dinner. the secret service says that tareq and michelle weren't even on the guest list. richard lui joins us now.

how could they have made it past security? >> the secret service is admitting that someone at their check point did not follow proper procedures. there were more than 300 invited guests and one of them, dr. sanjay gupta, he says he could see how there might have been some confusion. >> it was pretty crowded right outside the east gate. that's where everyone entered at that time. some people were driving and washingtoni i walking up. there was really one person scratching names off the clipboard. >> he also says the salahis didn't make it to the president's receiving line and they were never seated at a table for dinner. >> but still, they were rubbing elbo elbows. who were these people? we talked about that they were

reality show wanna bes. >> they were from a franchise of "real housewives" and cameras have followed this couple to several parties. one, a series of polo tournaments. bravo declined to comment. >> thank you very much. this has been a thanksgiving day staple since 1934. an nfl game in detroit. but could the tradition be coming to an end? larry, don't say it. >> there's been some speculation of allowing someone else to host a game on thanksgiving. the lions just have not be very competitive. but for today, the games will kick off in downtown detroit. the lions have won two games this season after going win. >> alana: last year.

matthew stafford may not play after separating his left shoulder. a new tradition is a thanksgiving night game for those who have nfl network. this year, it's the giants and broncos. both teams started strong, but then followed with four-game losing streaks and both need to win to stay in the playoff chase. oakland at dallas is the afternoon game today. watch closely. left of your screen. that's the starting goalie of the ottawa senators. already on the bench because of an injury, getting hit in the face by a puck. he suffered a fractured cheekbone and will be out a month, but it could have been worse. waves too big to surf? yeah. an annual surfing contest off hawaii's big island was postponed because waves were too

treacherous. emergency personnel were standing by. looks like they did okay. >> i guess it's only fun if it's dangerous. thank you. roman polanski could be leaving a swiss jail soon. a judge set his bail at $4.5 million. when he is released, he's going to be under house arrest at a swiss chalet. he pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a girl in 1977. some baby squirrels without a mom have found a patron saint. >> i have no intentions of keeping them. they're wild animals. they need to be wild. >> one of the orphans, this one, won't leave. in fact, he just risked his life to be where ever she is. and happy thanksgiving and a thanksgiving day parade in new york is underway. we'll mix news in with your

thanksgiving as well. that's pretty. r

he doesn't want u.s. forces there long-term. military officials say they've been told to prepare for sending 34,000 more troops. astronauts on "atlantis" are spending their thanksgiving checking their ship for the ride home. "atlantis" is expected to land tomorrow morning. look at the live pictures. the astronauts are going to be eating beef brisket and chicken for their meal. people around the country are watching the annual macy's thanksgiving day parade right now.

actually, people there in new york, too, as well as as you. there's a live look. hello, ronald. it is the first year the route doesn't go over broadway, if you're familiar with new york city. did you know that the first macy's balloon was felix the cat in 1927? now you can know that for when you play who wants to be a millionaire. good morning, sunshine. i'm grateful for your viewer ship. take a look at these photos from the white house state dinner. the woman in the red dress and her husband weren't even invited. apparentry, reporters were the only ones who thought it was strange they showed up. >> they're not at all political, so to see them, oh, my goodness, how did they snag an invitation. >> she recognized the salahis

from around town and because they're finalists for a reality show set in d.c. they only found out who they were after michaele posted the pictures on facebook -- now, the secret service and the white house are doing separate investigations. a 15-year-old boy set on fire by a group of teens is going through excruciating physical therapy. his parents spoke to cnn yesterday and say michael suffers through showers and exercises so rough that he takes painkillers. >> in the beginning, he would have bouts of anger. he doesn't anymore. he's very focused. on his recovery. he wants to get better and he just makes me proud. i'm so proud of him.

>> ozzy osbourn e sent him a cd. what are you thankful for? president obama wants people to be thankful for a new job. it was the focus on his web address. >> next week, i'll be meeting with owners of large and small businesses to talk about the additional steps we can take to help spur job creation. i'll work with congress to enact those proposals quickly and it's my fervent hope and my heartfelt expectation, that next thanksgivi thanksgiving, we will celebrate the fact that many of those without jobs will be back at work. >> the gop fired back. mike pence blasted the white house and democrats for their handles of the economy. >> the american people know we

can't borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy. the obama administration has taken our economy from bad to worse with their failed agenda and big government plans. if this wasn't enough, democrats in washington continue to push for government-run insurance. a government takeover of health care will do nothing to lower the cost of health insurance and will place further burdens of small business owners and working families. >> that jobs summit that president obama mentioned will happen on thursday. the son of a governor has been charged with a murder in the massacre of at least 57 people in the philippines. dozens of gunmen stopped a convoy of journalists monday and kidnapped and killed many of them. the governor's son is also a mayor and his family has close ties to the philippines president. bill murray put aside the jokes and chatted with joy

behar. >> this is going great. >> i'm enjoying it. >> when i saw the show, i wanted to come here. i thought, that looks wholesome or something. >> it looks wholesome. >> maybe that's a disgusting word, but it looked friendly and like people weren't dying over it. >> it's a friendly show and you have time to talk. >> i just don't know if i like bill murray being all serious and stuff. wake up, mister. >> what's he talking about? >> be sure to check out the thanksgiving day joy behar marathon today. troops overseas are already gobbling up their thanksgiving day meals. these are from the 37th infintry brigade combat team from the wisconsin national guard. according to u.s. air force's

website, the military prepared 63,000 pounds of ham and turkey for the service members in iraq and afghanistan. the least we could do, right? so the big story today is about this couple who apparently crashed the state dinner. if you go on our facebook page right now, if you can -- don't know how to get there, go to cnn.c cnn.com, one viewer says he provided dj services. he was a dj for them. >> when i heard there was a couple that crashed, i saw a picture of dr. sanjay gupta, i was like, you crashed it. it was you. one of the big stories today is how is the weather shaping up. you have a pick-up game of football or something. >> strap on the leather helmets, go to the parade.

you've got to new york city one, one in detroit, one in chicago. it is typical thanksgiving weather. the cold air is there. light showers in towards chicago and michigan. northern indiana, light rain, too. first, i want to show you what it looks like in central manhattan right now. i've got plotted temperatures and wind speeds for you. winds right now are calm to about 3 miles per hour. we have some live pictures, too. oh, spongebob squarepants. my son's favorite right there. that is the dakota building on the left. if you go down central parks west, it's really the beginning of it. the weather looks good. obviously, the balloon's not rocking. good news right there. no wind to deal with today. as for the rest of the great lakes, here's the rain. you have rain from wisconsin through illinois.

showers, no thunderstorms, but a little bit of snow trying to mix in. the rain is going to be a nuisance and it slides eastward today. details on that and more rain for seattle, that's in just a couple of minutes. now might be a better time than ever to buy a home. why getting a mortgage now could mean more cash in your pocket. plus, a church has a good idea why it was hit by a chief because the robber left a note.

this is lacy lee in kabul, afghanistan. i want to wish my family and friends in georgia a happy thanksgiving. i love you and miss you.

>> sweet. thank you so much. a man was arrested after he left his 5-year-old son in his truck while he was drinking at the strip club. police in indianapolis found the little boy watching tv inside the semi. the taliban is gaining momentum. that coming from a nato official. a brigadier general from canada. he also says that militants are well aware of their progress and are trying to undermine the afghan government. taliban leaders are trying to convince the afghan people to cut ties with president karzai's government. great news if you're looking to buy a home. apparently, the mortgage rates are at an all-time low. melissa long is in for jennifer. >> good morning. this could save home buyers a lot of money. this is on top of the home buyer

tax credit. korkt freddie mac, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is about 4.78%. electric cars, we know they're safe for the environment, but wabt people? advocates have long been concerned about electric and hybrid vehicles sneaking up on people. there's a government report showing that walkers and bikers are hit at a greater rate than conventional cars. >> isn't that something? just because they're so quiet. >> they're silent. there's no hum. >> yeah. >> thank you. today in india, they are honoring the more than 160 people killed in a terror attack on mumbai exactly one year ago. that's one of the stories that richard's working on. >> good morning.

some amazing and emotional stories from survivors. we get to hear them, included a nanny who rescued the boy she was caring for after his parents were killed. >> be strong, and that's it. put everything in god's hands. >> more on that next hour, plus, we told you about the man who everyone thought was in a vegetative state for 23 years, but was in an unconscious state. and then, we go to all these thanksgiving dinners. we might pack on a couple of pounds. we'll tell you how many we never lose after the dinner. >> that's a scary thought. thank you. come here and look at this. this 2-year-old girl is a big taylor swift fan. check out her "you belong to me." ♪ she wears short skirts

♪ looking for can't you see that i the one send you ♪ >> adorable. we found it on youtube. how's this for a thanksgiving present. find out about a judge who helped a family keep their house.

good morning. happy thanksgiving. hello, snoopy. i know a lot of people are watching this parade. they're like five rows deep or something in new york city. we wish you a wonderful thanksgiving. a long island judge got so angry with a bank, he completely forgave a couple's half million dollar mortgage. they were having trouble making payments, but the judge said that one west east foreclosure against them was shocking. he said the bank refused to work

out a deal, misled them and treated them badly. here's their daughter. >> wasn't like they were just dead beats, so i'm happy the judge said that poor business practices won't be condoned. my parents are good people, they're smart people. i'm happy it's been changed. >> the bank says it disagrees with the lower court's ruling and pektss it to be overturned on appeal. one former nba superstar is thankful this morning for having extra time. allen iverson is apparently retiring. not from practice. >> happy thanksgiving. >> thank you. i'm grateful to be here. >> some think he'll play again, but the 34-year-old appears to be calling it quits. he told steven a. smith of his desire to spend more time with his family. he was cut last week.

the guard was a top overall pick in 1996 and delivered personally, one of my fair news conferences ever. >> i'm supposed to be a franchise player and we in here talking about practice. i mean, listen. we talking about practice. not a game. not a game. not a game. we talking about practice. >> iverson skipped a practice, during the playoffs, i might add. not much to be thankful for if you're the nets. you lost again last night. 0-15 start, two sthy of tieing the record for worst of the season. >> looking to center, takes the shot. it's smothered. >> what sounds different about this game? the announcer is a woman. sherry ross, become the first

woman to do play-by-play when she called the game last night. last year, an all-female team did a game, but in french. those tweets from david clowney, they weren't from him. earlier in the season, he did tweet he was unhappy about his playing time and that drew a one-game suspension from the coach. got to be careful. >> so it was an imposter. >> wasn't me. >> thanks. somebody does the same thing to me on not facebook, what's the other one? >> myspace. >> they pretend they're me and send out bad messages. hi, bob. sure, it's not me. we have some delays, ground stop being extended for the washington, d.c. metros, including baltimore, until 10:30

because of the fog. charlotte, until metro's rain a. going to see a couple delays out of that. more delays when we get to the east. talking about new york city metro because of low clouds and new york possibility because of the clouds to the west. more on that in a little bit. >> do you own your home? >> it might be in danger from a new breed of criminal, though. hln money expert, clark howard, tells you how to protect your biggest money investment. >> we have a lot going on in our mortgage market in the united states. a lot of confusion and people in default a. lot of banks failing. nobody's really watching things right now. there's a new crime apparently is growing pretty quickly, where people steal the value of your home. follow this. there are lots of people who, even in today's market, own their homes free and clear.

while nobody's looking, criminals forge documents, and then they actually pretend that they're the owner, take out a new mortgage on your property, cash that out, and then they're gone with the wind. next thing you know, the house that you have owned, fraudulently is stolen from you, and you could be foreclosed on. how's that for fear? there's a way you can actually checkup to make sure nobody is playing games with you. go to epropertywatch.com and register your home. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect your wallet go, to cnn do cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> so he's the dude you want to watch on the weekends he'll teach you to spend less and avoid getting ripped off. you do not have to spend a fortune on holiday gifts this year, the bargains seem to be everywhere, if you know where to look. the year of the deal. they have changed up the

macy's thanksgiving day parade a little bit. the route is a little bit different. the wind's good today! y8