hey, good morning. right in the middle of the week. it's a busy one. morning sunshine, i'm robin meade. for some of our viewers, it's like, do i really want to get out of bed. a rough and dangerous storm is slamming a good part of the country. seven states under blizzard warning. why is the swine flu so deadly. some scientists think they figured it out. >> what spilled the beans on people who cheated? their cell phones are giving them away. >> i know you are worried about the latest on the blizzard in the midwest. this is the most serious airport

security breech since 9/11. the government posted, on the web, the secret guide of how do get pags security. they call the information outdated. the critics are not buying it. >> it gives up everything. it's a playbook for anything you want to know to get through the screening process with the iding systems, who gets exempted, certain screening procedures. it has way too much information on there. >> one example describes the corners they can cut during the peak travel times. every page has a warning that says it may not be disclosed to people who are not need to know. posting it online is so bad that criminal charges should be considered. >> a nasty snowstorm is kicking

up blizzard warnings in seven states today in the midwest. here is a live look at madison, wisconsin. i don't know about you, but i'm surprised to see travel lights there on the highway. the governor declared an emergency. the conditions are next to impossible to drive in the midwest. a group of hunters stopped in minnesota after spending 600 bucks on car repairs. they stopped. >> we went in the ditch, we're spending the night. the wives told us not to go any further. >> wind gusts near 100 miles an hour to texas. this shows a roof flying off a business in el paso. nobody was hurt, but it hit several cars. one man saw it all go down. >> this is the worst i've ever

seen right here. i have never seen it like this seeing trash cans and roofs fly off. >> as much as two-thirds of the one triwill be affected by the wintery blast. we have a look right now. i'm amazed, you got seven states with blizzard warnings. don't forget the south, too. >> absolutely. there's many facets of the storm system. there was a tornado warning, it's expired, it was for lawrence county. it turns to snow for areas in new york state and the blizzard warnings are in wisconsin and iowa. gusting winds, poor visibility. look at the watches in eastern north carolina. another watch for just about all of south central georgia. zoom in to see if we have

tornado warnings. i don't think we see any, which is good news. it's going to be rough for the next couple hours. >> when you say blizzard, the thing about blizzard is, sure, you have snowfalling, but it's the wind, right? >> it's the wind. it has to be 35 miles per hour or more for three hours. >> it's biting. thank you. >> yep. a bomb hidden in a trash can killed at least two people in baghdad this morning. they say it went off on a busy street and wounded seven others. yesterday, a series of bomb explosions caused a blood bath. almost 130 people died and 400 wounded. the attackers want to under mine upcoming elections. the public option could disappear. two democratic sources say a deal reached last night includes a proposal to replace it with a

nonprofit private insurance plan, it's similar to the health care plan offered to federal workers. a government agency would oversee the plan. we're getting new insight into why it is the swine flu really affects people in a deadly way. scientists look at autopsy reports in 34 swine flu related deaths. they found the h1n1 virus penetrated deep into their lungs, causing widespread damage. another striking finding obesity was a factor in 70% of the h1n1 deaths. that's a new finding. the couple accused of crashing a white house party refused to testify in front of congress. they will invoke the fifth amendment. the homeland security is set to decide whether to subpoena the couple. a federal investigation is

underway. it is a doozy of a weather system that we have to talk about today. i know, at this time of the hour, we have a lot of mid-westerners up and you are in the bulls eye. high, bob. >> just howling with the wind and snow and all that. you can see the midwest. that's wisconsin covered up with snow. the center of low pressure is around chicago. that's the real storm there. behind it, all the wind wrapping around. the blizzard warnings are out there in the areas shaded in pink. parts of lower minnesota toward nebraska and kansas. northern missouri, all these areas, not because of the heavy snow, but because of the wind and poor visibility due to the snow blowing around. look at the snow over 48 hours. it's piling up in central wisconsin and northern michigan. the darker shade of blue is six to eight inches of snow.

des moines ten to 15 inches of sn snow. watch for another additional two to four. get to the northeast. here is what it looks like. vermont, new hampshire, maine, boston to the west. let me take you live there. you can see what it looks like. the snow is clearly coming down. watch it for a half foot or more especially as you get north of there. that's west of boston, it's wooster, massachusetts. >> thank you. making your home more energy efficient saves money on the power bill. it could get you up to $12,000 from the government, nice. four officers killed in the line of duty get an emotional send off yesterday. look at the outpouring support. the message the families had for the nearly 20,000 people who paid respects.

all right. time for our salute to the troopings. today is from bob barton to his son justice and his wife jenna. they were maried six months ago and p wants to salute both of them for their sacrifice. >> good morning. my salute goes to my son justice barton. his strength and sense of humor are extremely missed during this time of year. we love him and his wife so much. we are so proud of you. please be safe and protect our country. >> if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them, go to cnn.com/robin. the population growth in u.s. prisons is slowing down. it grew by less than 1% last year. it's the smallest increase in a decade. the total number of inmates dropped in new york, georgia and

michigan. one out of every 133 people in the united states was in prison or jail at the end of last year. actor john stamos was at an extortion plot. a couple tried to blackmail him for $680,000 for pictures they planned to sell to the tabloids. he says it's of him posing with fans. the couple was arrested after an undercover sting, but released on bond. what would you wear if you were to meet the queen of england? lady gaga met queen elizabeth. you are going to see more of the queen's reactions in a minute. i like that the queen stopped to talk to her for a little bit there. >> hello. my, how do those gloves feel. >> exactly. you might get thousands of dollars of free money from the

government to make your home for energy efficient. jennifer is here with more. >> we have to put the money out first, then we get it back? >> yes. then you get it back in your tax return. i don't know all the details, yet. i don't know if they are that specific. i don't think it comes back right away. it's something to think about. the president wants to give you up to $12,000 back to fix up your home to save energy and create jobs in the process. he thinks it could come back from the t.a.r.p. money. to get the 12 grand, you have to spend $24,000. some of the things would be getting a home energy audit, then whatever you choose. again, still just a proposal. if you have a baby hammock, stop using it. 24,000 of these were sold online

in 2003. a baby can roll and be trapped against the fabric or mattress pad. >> i've never seen one of those. it looks just like a hammock. >> i haven't either. they have a repair kit. >> thank you for the warning on that. is tiger woods wife moving out? there are reports elin woods bought a new house outside the country and -- would you, a woman shoots and kills a man she claims the breaking into her house. hear more of the dramatic 911 call.

so, the field of candidates to take over the senate seat left by ted kennedy is down to

two. martha coakley. if she's elected, she would be the first female senator from massachusetts. the largest memorial was held for four police officers gunned down at a coffee shot. you have to see this video. a sea of cars. most were fellow officers from across the united states and canada. greg richards youngest son thanked everyone for coming. >> i know my dad is proud and honored by what he sees here today. it shows how strong the bond is between men and women in uniform and how wide it spreads. we love you all because you all love him. thank you. >> three of the officers will be buried today. look how many different people were there in the law enforcement fields. so moving. the u.s. is taking center

stage in denmark. jackson will be a key speaker at the meeting "taking action at home." 192 countries are coming up with an agreement about cutting greenhouse gases. experts blame them for global warming. here is what some i-reporters think. >> we can't maintain status quo because of the fact the population is growing. as it grows, it requires more energy. it's in our best interest to come up with alternative resources. renewable resources. so, that way, we can continue growing as a population. growing as an economy. >> do i think the sky is going to burn up tomorrow and the earth is going to melt? no, i don't think that at all. do i think in the long, long term, it's posing a serious problem? absolutely. >> president obama gos to the conference next week. all right. we have an update on video we

showed you yesterday of somebody being taken to the hospital on a stretcher from tiger woods home. we now know it was tiger woods mother-in-law. we have an update on how she's doing, what was the condition and why she was taken there. >> good morning to you, robin. she's okay. in stable condition. barbro holmberg was hospitalized for stomach pain. this is the video we're talking about. paramedics responded to a frantic 911 call made from tiger's home at 2:30. a woman tells her she collapsed in the bathroom. the dispatcher calmed the caller down. she's a government official and flew to florida to be with her daughter in the wake of woods admitted transgressions which have become numerous. >> oh, boy. >> it's been a fall from grace. they have said wife elin and her twin sister purchased a

multimillion dollar home in sweden. it was finalized december 1. chad ochocinco was fined mucho. he donned a sombrero and poncho. >> because he doesn't get enough attention. >> exactly. $30,000 is how much he was fined. this comes a month after he was fined 20 grand for pretending to bribe an official with $1. $50,000 for being silly. this is silly. utah owner sent a jordan lookalike around town and took video of it and put it on the internet and people bought it.

7500 fans bought tickets thinking mj was going to be playing. >> the guy must have looked like him. >> the good news is, he obviously has a career now as a lookalike. >> alleged scandals, balloon boy, party crashers. what is it that seems to freeze us in our spots and go -- we're going to talk about it sunday december 20 with celebs in their own right. i'm going to be hosting "with all due respect." nobody is shy with their fns, don't you be, either. a devine bovine. take a look at why. the calf was born with a white cross on its forehead. plain as day. neighborhood kids named him moses.

they say he's a good listener. >> he's affectionate and he looks at you when you talk to him. he has that look in his eye. >> experts say a white marking on a cow's forehead is common, but the cross shape, that's unique. bob has a better idea about what to call him. >> how about mooses. >> instead of moses. >> at the airports, it's already miserable in new york city. let me take you live to nyc. the wind is up, the rain is up, the snow to the west. we have an hour delay in laguardia. deicing around the great lakes. these are the stronger ones. we have -- i'm only showing the lengthy ones now. boston, philly, d.c., charlotte,

atlanta and detroit. all seeing at least hour delays. more on that in a half hour. >> thank you. are you breast examed the right way. information you need to know to save your life or someone you love.

somebody just gave away the secrets that were supposed to keep you and me safe to fly. the tsa is investigating how its manual ended up on the internet. officials insist it's an old version, but critics say it's a huge mistake. l.a. is supposed to vote on disspencing marijuana. they are pushing marijuana store fronts out of neighborhoods and into industrial areas. the elections are seen as a critical step toward the withdrawal of u.s. troops. the u.s. military said it will keep current levels in iraq

until 60 days after the elections, then start pulling out combat troops. good morning. 30 minutes past the hour. a lot of you want to stay in bed. morning sunshine, i'm robin meade. we have keeping an eye on live pictures out of wooster, massachusetts. the midwest deals with a blizzard. live picture there. police in topeka, kansas say the icy conditions caused 31 accidents in seven hours yesterday. all around the country, weather is to blame for five deaths. the storm is moving eastward. seven states under blizzard warnings now. >> it's the blizzard warnings, the winter weather warnings for the great lakes. the warm air is located and you have the tornado watches.

warnings popping up. the red there are the watch boxes. zoom toward the area of columbia and south of rock hill. we had a tornado warning earlier. it's still there. it's moving to the east at 30. we'll look at that and the blizzard warnings in a couple minutes. >> that's huge. thank you. today, the house will vote on whether to extend tax breaks. what cost $31 billion. to pay for it, they want to raise the taxes on wall street investment managers. i may have a hard time passing in the senate. >> 5 million people die from tobacco every year. now, it goes on to say 600,000 die from secondhand smoke. the report says more must be done to protect people from smoke. 95% of the world has no protection. who says smoking is linked to

poverty in developing countries. dozens of people showed up at the book signing of former illinois governor, rob blagojevich. he got lots of laughs when he said he believed in grade inflation. one person said the book is a great gift. >> i think it would be a great gift for my dad. we are both political junkies. we found the story unsurprising. it will be a great gag gift for him. >> one person said they just like his hair. are you kidding me? they said that. the senate rejected an amendment yesterday to tighten restrictions on federal funding on abortions. the health care bill includes similar restrictions. it has to be resolved if the senate passes the bill. the nasty weather we have heard about for days now had bad

conditions made for perfect conditions for surfing in hawaii. it's known as the eddie. it takes place when waves are 20 feet how. yesterday, thousands watched as the surfers took on swells that topped 30 feet. oh, my goodness. look at them. i think i saw somebody fly off the waves. >> it's only one in three years you see it. >> when you see it on tv, you think it can't be possible. when you are here and see it, it's mind blowing. >> i bet it is. on the complete opposite end of the scale. let's talk about blizzards in the northeast. you are not scott-free from this weather system. >> some waves peaked at 45 feet. i was watching it yesterday. here is what it looks like with the snow. the upper level low and surface low is in the similar vicinity.

wisconsin through iowa. let's go live to madison, wisconsin. blizzard warnings. gusts over 35 miles per hour. poor visibility. here is what it looks like. visibility of less than a quarter mile. you have the blizzard warning on top of the wind. you can see the camera jostling around a bit. you are looking at the blizzard warning in western parts of michigan. the pink shaded areas blizzard conditions. detroit, let's go live to dtw. windy conditions all day long. the wind and rain. let me show you how much snow over the next 48 hours. the darker shade of blue is 8 inches of snow. the pink is ten inches. northern michigan ten to 12 inches of snow. it's across the northeast. more on that in about a half

hour. >> what a morning. >> it's tough. forget lipstick on the collar. text messaging is the way people are finding out about cheating spouses. >> more divorce attorneys are having their clients provide text messages. how to use electronic evidence. text messages outnumber regular cell phone calls 3-1 and they leave a trail. senators came to an agreement last night.

okay, let's check the

morning papers. a $3.4 billion settlement. accused the department of interior of holding on to billions of oil, gas and other land leases. a usa today investigation showed millions of pounds of beef wouldn't meet the standard of fast food restaurants. 177,000 people in california haven't gotten their unemployment checks because their computers don't recognize the latest extension. new this morning, senators say the public option may be gone from the health care reform bill. you could face changes in how you receive and pay for medical care. jennifer westhoven looking out for you. good morning. >> good morning. the latest is to get people with no insurance coverage and for people who have insurance, make it more affordable.

senators reportedly abandoned the public option. you have heard much about the government run alternative. they are looking at a more private plan that's overseen by the same agency that oversees government employee benefits now. medicare, instead of starting at 65, you are eligible at 55. that could help a lot of people. you may have heard of the chip program to help kids with no insurance. that would be extended for another six years. if you have insurance, companies would not be able to dump you for pre-existing conditions. this is the senate bill. it still has tomas up with the house's bill before anything makes law. the woman whose job is to oversee the t.a.r.p., head of the panel, is going in front of congress today. she says it's succeeded.

it was part of this huge government response that stopped the panic in the markets, stabilized the banking system and brought confidence back. but, it's failed on other counts. we still have the too big to fail problem. banks are too huge. if they fail, we have to bail them out. and, it hasn't done anything to help with the foreclosure crisis. >> thanks for the updates. a biocheck chemist turned fashion designer. we have the story. >> reporter: the world watched america inaugurate the 44th president in january. for a detroit based business, it was all about the hat. >> it's aretha franklin. she's been shopping with us for about 20 years. i heard she was going to sing for the inaugural. she called us and wanted a hat.

>> it gave luke song international recognition. the family run hat shop was a staple for area detroit shoppers for years. >> my parented open t it up in 1982. it's when we first moved to the country. when i came back from college, i took over the operations. >> reporter: she studied biochemistry. he says it gave him a boost. he has loyal customers. >> my customers originally started with african-american church going women. they were my original supporters. they back me all the way through thick and thin. so, if you are a small business owner, we would like to see your success story. go to cnn.com/robin and you

could be featured here on "morning express." in the fight over a 90-year-old medal of honor recipient's flag pole is over. it's a story that got national attention.

♪ you know what, math scores are going up. the department of education said this year's scores for eighth graders were better this year than 2007. they said they are great, but they need to improve more for better success in college. for travelers today, air

travelers, in the midwest, blizzard warning. there's problems. good morning. >> there's winter storm warnings. we have massive delays piling up. la ga laguardia, one-hour delay. minneapolis/st. paul, three hour delays because of the snow and wind. charlotte on a ground delay. here is what we have the rest of the day, boston an hour or more. new york city an hour or more delay there. atlanta an hour or more because of wind. chicago, an hour or more because of wind, rain and snow. other areas of the great lakes, the same. call ahead to see if your flight is on time or going. more o half hour. >> thank you. talk about a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

the hubble telescope photographed them 13 galaxies away. scientists believe the big bang explosion led to the creation of the universe. it's kind of like, how far is 13 billion light years? congress is attacking the bcs today. they are involved in a football championship? uh-oh. hi. >> that's right. it's going to take an act of congress. there's a big controversy. there's no playoff. now, computers and polls determine who plays. a house panel is considering a proposal that bans the bcs from calling it a national championship without a playoff system. the six major conferences share a monopoly. it violates trust calls.

an official says congress has bigger things to worry about. alabama students, faculty and staff won't have to worry about missing class for the game. classes were cancelled from january 6 to the 8th in pasad a pasadena. >> you are tell iing me, for a game -- >> a game. >> they have cancelled classes in college. >> officials say they will have to make up for the lost class time. they don't just disappear. >> three days worth. >> three days off. this video was tiger woods mother-in-law being wheeled to the hospital. barbro holmberg was taken to the hospital. she's in stable condition. tiger's wife elin could be moving out. more on that in a half hour. one of boston's minor league teams sending an invite to the

party crashers in the wake of their alumni dinner. they want to avoid controversy or confusion. they invited them to attend. they don't want confusion over the e-mails or voice mails. you are invited. you don't have to show up. you are invited to this dinner. >> they are not really. they just funny. >> good. you think you know everything about roseanne barr. she talks about marriage and how she was physically abusive to her husbands. >> you have had an interesting life. this tiger woods story, let me ask you about it. how far down the drive way would he have gotten if you were married to him. >> there was a time in my life where i was physically abuse iive to my husbands, hit them

while they were sleeping and put things in their food like ex-lax. >> tom arnold? >> domestic violence isn't right when women or men do it. >> that's right. >> like, it wasn't right that i threw things at any of them. >> no, that wasn't right. >> no. >> catch the joy behar show tonight at 9:00 p.m. on hln and meet the seasons winner of the biggest loser. so, you have seen the price of gold shoot through the roof. how can you cash in? hln money expert clark howard tells you how to get a fair deal. >> have you heard the pitches on the web or radio or tv for how you can make a lot of money by selling your old jewelry? people are buying it for the gold because the value of gold has gone up and up and up.

well, consumer report did undercover shopping where they tested the online and advertised gold service to see if you were getting paid a fair deal for the gold. no. most of the time, people were getting paid only about ten cents on the dollar to 25 cents on the dollar of what their gold was worth. think about that. yeah, you're going to score quick cash, but if it's only one tenth of what you should get, it's not a deal at all. what is the right way for you to find out what your jewelry is worth? i can help you with that on my website. my website, cnn.com/clark howard. >> you can watch clark on the weekends at noon eastern. she's worn a bird's nest on her face, now, she's meeting the queen of england. what is the deal with your outfit, miss lady gaga?

we're tracking a deadly storm with blizzard warnings up in eight states. find out which state just got added to the list. ççwooçicñ

hey, good morning to you. it is 7:00 eastern as i get my hair all straight. i'm robin meade. good morning on wednesday. good to you have with us. hope the coffee's going down well. this is what's going on. >> i think this is the most serious security breach that tsa has been involved in since 9/11 and since tsa's inception in 2002. it is really incredible. >> what? well that security expert is stalking about the airport screeners' manual that's been leaked on to the web. shays how-to about keeping you safe and now it's out there for anybody to see. why exactly is the swine flu so deadly? scientists think they figured it out. plus we know what spilled the beans on people who cheated.

it is their cell phone giving them away. first, though, a storm that has killed five people is barreling through the midwest today as a blizzard. eight states are under blizzard warnings with the winds expected to gust up to 50 miles an hour at times. a foot or more of snow is expected in parts of new england. here's a live picture. this is massachusetts, and i would think that in the boston area that you would probably be pretty good at removing snow, but you can see the traffic is going very slowly this morning. doesn't look too windy there, yet. that's in the northeast. now the midwest. this is with uss withis is wits. which state was added saying they would have blizzard warn g warnings, too? >> south dakota. blizzard warnings for a big chunk of the northwest. south dakota, missouri, in towards kansas. the snowmaker, where the

blizzard warnings are located and poor visibility. winter storm warnings crossing new york state, vermont, new hampshire, massachusetts, in towards maine. the northern part. the southern part, severe thunderstorms. watches posted the last couple of hours. a new one across south carolina. no tornado warnings now. which means no immediate threat of a tornado, not in the last two minutes. pop up here, see if in pop up. just a batch of thunderstorms rolling off to the east at about 30 miles per hour. lots of wind with this. south of macon in towards, towards savannah shortly once it gets down i-16. something we're watching. snowmaker. blizzard warnings all around here. who has the blizzard warnings, how much snow and where it's headed in a couple moments. >> a biggy. we are not done with it. new this morning, called the most serious security breach since 9/11. tsa's secret guide for screening

passengers. tsa says it's outdated. critics say, not buying it. >> a full investigation of this. not by tsa internally but the inspector general and one person or people found responsible have to be held accountable, fired and if the negligence is so gross, perhaps criminal charges can be considered because this cannot be allowed to happen again. >> one example what's in that manual describes what corners the screeners can cut during peak travel times. this was not supposed to get out. each page includes a warning saying no part of this manual can be disclosed to people who are not need-to-know. and booted from the senate health care bill, the senate option could disappear. two democratic sources say a deal reached last night includes a proposal to replace the public option with a nonprofit private insurance plan. >> this is a consensus that will

help ensure the american people win in a couple different ways. one, insurance companies most certainly have more competition and, two, the american people will certainly have more choices. >> well, the nonprofit plan would be similar to the health care plan offered to federal workers. the largest memorial service in washington state history held for four officers gunned down at a coffee shop. look at this video. look how much far cars in yesterday's funeral procession. most were fellow officers from across the united states and canada. inside the memorial, officer greg richards' youngest son thanked everybody for coming. >> i know my dad is proud and honored by what he sees here today. it shows us how strong the bond is between men and women in uniform, and how wide it spreads, and we love you all, because you all love him. thank you. >> three of the officers willing buried today. the couple accused of

crashing a white house party may refuse to testify before congress. they don't like that invitation. the attorney for tareq and michaele salahi says the couple will invoke the fifth amendment to avoid self-incrimination. they're voting on whether to subpoena the couple at 2:00 p.m. a federal investigation into the security breach is underway. 5 million people die every year from tobacco according to a new report from the world health organization saying another 600,000 died from secondhand smoke. the report says more must be done to protect people from smoking claiming nearly 95% of the world la no protection. it's five minutes after the hour. producers tell me where this is a live shot out of today. this is madison, wisconsin. had you saw those lights go by, when you saw the car lights, then you could really see how much snow is still sticking to the roads this morning. why? well, the midwest is basically blanketed under a blizzard

warning. here's meteorologist bob van dillen to tell you a little more about that. by the way, bob, the government declared a pre-emptive state of emergency because they got 15 inches of snow in the forecast. you can update me on that. >> already seen 15 inches, and more on top of what thiv already seen across wisconsin. >> the storm brought wind gusts mere 100 miles an hour to texas and new mexico yesterday. let's see. that's minnesota. now we have video of roofs flying off a business in el paso. nobody was hurt, but it was hitting several cars. one man who works nearby saw this happen. do you see that? >> this is the worst i've ever seen right here. like i've never steen like this, seeing trash cans, roofs flying off. i ain't never seen a roof fly off next to me. >> yikes. now to fwob get you the latest on blizzard warnings in eight states and then the northeast isn't scot-free either. are they getting rain or snow

today? >> both really. if you live across northern new england a foot to a foot and a half of snow. vermont, new hampshire, maine, massachusetts, a lot of snow there, all for ny dplchlt boston, looks like it's basically rain. the heavy snow where all the swind located in the poor visibility across central wisconsin back in towards iowa parts of minnesota. northern sections of iowa in towards missouri, too. blizzard warnings. here's what it looks like all the areas i've put in pink. when it pops up you can see it, michigan, wisconsin, lower parts of minnesota, iowa, a chunk in south dakota, nebraska, too. all the pink shaded areas, blizzard warnings. that means moderate snow, poor visibility, less than a quarter mile viz and we have the definition being met right now for a blizzard, and more snow son the way. all the area you you see in shaded dark blue, six inches of snow. the pink shaded areas, 10 ten

inches on top of what you've already seen. heavy down pour action, jersey, lower parts of long island. all snow for central new york. cleveland, on the warmer side. getting rain, but the wind will be out there. live to cleveland, trying to get in or out of this city by air, a bumpy ride. winds gusting to 60 miles per hour. that's cleveland. rain off and on. no touch of snow until late tonight. winter storm warnings, the northeast, all the areas shaded in red. looking for a half or foot or more places like portland through boston north of the city of boston in towards maine. we'll look at this in a bit. lots of areas affected by winter weather, great lakes, northeast and deep south all severe weather. more in about a half hounchts nice choice on the color for the maps. we're not going to miss that. >> no. i made it as bright as i could for you this monk. >> we need it today. thank you. making your home more energy efficient saves you money on the power bill. soon it could get you money. up to $12,000.

yeah. plus a 93-year-old man just adopted a son, and you're going to have to hear why he wanted the 64-year-old to become part of his family.

all right. so we always salute the troops. today's salute is from bob barton, his son and wife, he says they were married six months ago and he wants to salute both of them for their sacrifice. >> good morning, rob, this is brob barton, my salute goes out to my son sergeant barton. his strength and -- and sense of humor really are extremely missed during this time of year, and we love him and his wife so much. we're so proud of you. and, please, be safe.

and protect our country. >> sweet message. if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them go to cnn.com/robin. the u.s. takes center stage at the international climate conference in denmark. epa chief lisa jackson is the key speaker at a meeting called "taking action at home." 192 countries are trying to um up with aagreement about cutting green house gases. experts blamed those for global warming. here's what some i-reporters think. >> we can't say because of the fact that population is growing, and as it grows it requires more energy. therefore, it's in our best troefts come up with ultimate resources. renewable resources. so that way we can continue growing as a population, growing as an economy. >> i think the sky's going to burn out tomorrow and the earth melt? no. i don't think that at all. do i think that in long, long, long term this is posing a

serious problem? absolutely. >> well, president obama goes to that conference next week, by the way. actor john stamos was at the center of a failed extortion plot investigated by the fbi. a couple allegedly tried to blackmail him for $680,000 for pictures they planned to sell to the tabloids. stamos spokesperson says the pictures are of him posing with fans. the couple were arrested after an undercover sting but were released on bond. you could get thousands of dollars in free money from the government to make your home more energy efficient. how about cash for colkers. >> yeah. the president wants to give you an incentive to fix up your home to save energy. you would get half of what you spend back. so up to $12,000 on projects like new windows or insulation. here's the president. >> i'm calling on congress to

consider a new program to provide incentives for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient. which we know creates jobs, saves money for families and reduces the pollution that threatens our environment. >> some of the estimates are it would cost about $10 billion but there's a lot we don't know. would you get any help up front? would you have to wait months to get the money back in your tax return? we'll see thousand looks as it gets through congress. if you own a baby hammock, stop using it. recalled after two babies suffocated in them. the baby could be trapped against the mattress pad. for more information, go to our website, cnn.com/robin. it's under important websites. is tiger woods' wife moving out? there are new reports that elin woods bought a new house, and that she's leaving the country, and -- >> hurry. dear god, hurry.

i haven't shot yet. hurry. >> shoots and kill as man she claims was trying to break into her house. hear more of the dramatic 911 call.

all right. 17 minutes past the hour. hello. those of you sipping your coffee today. you know the stuff we were talking about yesterday. the video that had just come in and people were saying, this is some rescue squad's from tiger woods' house. we now know that was tiger woods' mother-in-law. what was the deal? rafer has an update on how she is. >> fortunately she is doing fine. barbara holmberg is the mother of tiger woods' wife elin. she went to the hospital with

stomach pains. released hours later. a 911 call response. the caller presumably either elin or her twin sister told the dispatcher frantically holmberg collapsed in the bathroom. holmberg is a government official in sweden who reportedly flew to florida to be with hur daughter in the midst of woods' transgressions, media reports now say have become numerous. in other news, chad ocho sin sink owe was fined for a rather odd tv celebration sunday when they beat detroit and he donned a sombrero and poncho. >> premedicated. >> tweeted and knew he was going to be fined. 30 grand. that's how much it will cost him. this fine comes a month after he was fined $20,000 and reprimanded by the league and trying to bribe the official with a dollar. and apologizing for fooling fans thinking michael jordan will

play at a charity game at their opener. >> that is mean. >> a little ingenious. sent a jordan look-alike, posted it on the internept bought more than $7 is 500 tickets. now offering refunds. >> won the fans or lost on the fans. tiger, scandal, without party crashers, and on it goes. what is it about celebrity that makes us snop our tracks and go, huh? we'll talk about it. our obsession with celebrity, sunday, december 20th, with celebs in their own right. charles barkley, dennis eckers liz and kyle petty. i'll host with all due respect. let's just say nobody's going to be shy with thin opinions. what's your opinion? go to cnn.com/robin. taking over the seat left by ted kennedy is down to two in massachusetts. stat attorney general martha coakley won the nomination from the democratic side going up

against republican state senator scott brown in january. if coakley is elected, the first female senator from massachusetts. a near mishap at one of sarah palin's book tour stops is giving new material for the late-nighters. for example, here is jimmy kimmel. >> a man was arrested at the mall of america yesterday for throwing tomatoes at sarah palin. or as sarah palin calls them, italian apples. the man -- showed up at her book signing. threw two tomatoes. none came close to hitting her. instead they hit a cop and now he may be charged with assault. they released the picture. cannot figure out where he is from. >> great. okay. let's have a laugh, because 2 you're traveling by air today what is in the air, a blizzard, is going to give you big-time problems. hi, bob. >> good morning, robin. wind, too, across cleveland and

in towards new york. live to new york city metro. already a delay, it's rather early. look at lens on top of columbus circle there, the heavy rain is out there. wind out there, too. let me show you saver flight explorer, from the ground. wrap about above? blue is heavy. towards northern new england and northern michigan, iowa, parts of missouri, too. boston, nyc, philly, one hour. d.c., charlotte, atlanta, one hour. cleveland and cincinnati and detroit, one hour. and there's a three-hour delay currently at minneapolis-st. paul, msp because of wind, snow and poor visibility. an awful day to travel. a full update in a little bit. >> thank you. when you meet the picture, or autograph. one restaurant is hanging on to

the president's leftovers. his

leftovers. what? the owner says it's a special thing for him. >> it's a memorial thing for you. it's an honor to have the president over here. you know? it's once in a lifetime. you know? so i would like to save them. you know, for our customers, for our records, for everything. you know. >> wow.

he says he's going to take pictures of the food and save the plate and the silverware. the wife of south carolina governor mark sanford is sharing a bit of what she's gone through since admitting to an affair. in a special on abc tonight, jenny sanford says he never asked her to stand with him when he publicly confessed but she would have said no and said the affair hurt her but did not rob her of her self-esteem. strong lady. wow. we know cheaters have a price to pay when they get caught, but the person they get caught cheating with could pay in ways more than one. talking lawsuit. new in 30 minutes. and a woman who shot a man who broke into her home will not face jackson. donna jackson on the phone with 911 as a guy was using a patio table to smash through her door. >> they freed to hurry. he's going to break this thing open. >> the 911 dispatcher told the

woman she had the right to defend her property, and the district attorney ruled the shooting was justified. open up and let people see what you're doing. that's the white house's message to the entire federal government. the white house announced the open government directive yesterday. it gives every federal department and agency 45 days to public high-value data on the internet. the plan emphasizes transparency, participation and collaboration. some republicans say president obama's white house needs to be more transparent. a 93-year-old man is a new dad after he adopted a 64-year-old son. lee bevelhymer started taking care of him in 1959 as his foster dad. the 93-year-old said he wanted to make his son officially part of the family before he died. >> it's good. i like it. i like it this way. >> i said, it's always been a real deal. the only difference now, like he just said, it's on paper. >> the man also said he and his

late wife took care of more than 300 foster kids.

somebody just gave away the secrets that were supposed to keep you and me safe when we fly. the tsa says it's investigating how it's manual for screening airport passengers ended up on the internet. officials insist it's an old vegs, but critics are calling this a huge mistake. suspected serial killer anthony solless due in court. a gag order that would keep lawyers and police from talking publicly about that case. he is charged with killing 11 women and hiding their bodies around this home in cleveland, ohio. he's pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. and losing a battle in the senate overall bill.

the senate rejected an amendment yesterday tightens restrictions on abortions. the differences would have to be resolved if the senate passes its bill. 30 minutes past the hour. good morning. come on in the room, spend a little time as you get the coffeemaker going. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on in your day -- we are watching pictures out of wooster, massachusetts this morning. the winter storm warnings are in effect in the northeast, but listen. the midwest is dealing with blizzard warnings. people in, make that police in topeka, kansas, say the icy conditions there caused 31 accidents in seven hours. around the country the weather is blamed for at least five deaths. we also have a live shot out of madison, wisconsin, and snow drifts in that part of the country could be as high as 15 feet today. now, that means major headaches if you're going to be traveling. some people were stranded at the airport in milwaukee yesterday.

the real troubles were in chicago. more than 300 flights were cancelled. well, what's the deal today? this thing has not lost steam. just moving a little eastward every day. bob, where's it sitting right now? >> the storm itself is over the great lakes. but a lot of action with it. the northern side, all the snow. the southern side, watching severe weather break out. a tomorrow of strong thunderstorms and the possibility of tornados. from the carolinas in towards georgia and alabama. all the red watch boxes, tornado watchs for the morning. looking to see if there are warnings popping up. haven't seen one in the last half hour. a heavy stretch's rain through north carolina, south carolina, back into georgia where it turns into stronger stuff, especially around i-16 south of macon. no candidate warnings current. obviously, great news. watching for a possibility this morning. then the top side where you had the blizzard warnings for wisconsin, iowa and a handful of other states, all the white. talk about that coming up, robin, in about a half hour.

>> thank you. today the house will vote on whether extensive popular tax breaks that are scheduled to end on december 31st. now it would cost $31 billion. so to pay for it they want to raise taxes on wall street investment managers. that might have a hard time passing the senate. new insight into what may be causing some people with the swine flu to die. so in other words, why this thing is so deadly. scientists looked at the autopsy reports and microscopic slides in 34 deaths and they found the h1n1 virus penetrated deep into those people's lungs, and caused widespread damage. now, another striking finding. that obesity was a factor in 72% of the h1n1 deaths. the nasty weather that we've had for the past few day, the same system made for great conditions for surfing in hawaii. this is known as the eddy, and it only takes place when the waves are at least 20 feet high and it hasn't happened in five

years. this certain type of competition. yesterday thousands watched as really good surfers -- dude -- went on the swells that topped 30 feet. >> you don't get to see this sight every day. like, 20, 30-foot. only once in a few years you get to see an eddy. a real special day. >> when you see it on tv, that can't be possible. you know? but when you're here and you actually see it, it just is mind-blowing. >> yeah. that's way up there. so, yeah. fun for them, but the same system, not so much fun now that it's landed in the midwest and the northeast. here's bob with the blizzard warnings today and winter snow warnings. >> good morning. that storm carved out a big swath of destruction with snow, wind and rain and i'll show thaw in a second. this weather brought to you by tylenol. feel better. what's happening now. center of circulation is right around sick. so the wind is whipping around pretty well. wind on the top side, all cold. drawing that cold air down to the south and it's going to be windy for everybody in the plains. take you live to actually -- get

you to kansas city in a bit. the snow coming up through the region. severe thunderstorm warnings down south. blizzard warnings up north. look at all the counties under a blizzard warning. i put that in bright pink so you can't miss it. the entire state of the iowa almost. parts of minnesota, missouri, in towards illinois towards michigan. so the wind is going to be a ct factor. poor visibility. why blizzard warnings for the morning into the afternoon hours and even the evening hours for central parts of iowa. the northeast. real cold air sitting right over the northern part of new york state and/or adirondacks slammed with heavy snow. the snow blasting in towards northern new england, too. boston, a rain/snow mix changing all the rain. seer know towards the warnings. all areas shaded in red. winter storm warnings calling for as much as 6 to 12 even 18 inches of snow in the highest elevations in new england. blue shaded counties, all the win the weather advisories. less amount of snow but still out there in the morning, windy conditions, too.

high wind warnings in all the areas shaded in red. winds easily gusting to 60 miles per hour including cleveland, detroit, inclunds cincinnati and a good chunk of kentucky. live to washington, d.c. not a wind advisory but the heavy rain is out there. flash flood watch and gray skies out there. look at the flag, though. not really moving pap good sign, but the raheavy rain will be around. watch for the entire chesapeake region. talk about that in a half hour. a mess from the great lakes to florida. every getting slammed especially airports. that update in a couple minutes a. story we're staying on top of today because it affects so many of our slewers. >> millions, yeah. apparently lipstick on the collar is passe when it comes to evidence you've cheated on your spouse. you'll hear how cell phones are the new way that people are like, uh-huh!

don't hit the snooze butten. y50u8 be so mad when you're late. i do it every day. all right. mass scores going up at big city schools. the department of education says this year's scores for eighth graders were better than in 2007. education secretary arne duncan says the improvements are great, but they have to improve even more if the kids are going to succeed in college. forget lipstick on the collar. text messaging is the new way people are finding out their spouse is cheating. according to the "new york times," more divorce lawyer, having their clients provide

text messages as proof of infidelity and the american bar association offers classes on how to use electronic evidence. text messaging now outnumber cell phone calls by 3-1. >> yikes. plus, i bet people are more willing to say things in a text message that maybe you wouldn't vocalize. you know? >> yes. >> that you would be too embarrassed. >> you think about it, and then -- you know? senators say the public option may be gone from the health care reform bill, but you could face some changes in how you receive and pay for medical services. jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. >> i don't have a price tag on this yet. just talking about the senate bill at this point. it has too get together with the house bill, but the focus would be to get people with no insurance, get them covered and for people who already have insuran insurance, make it more affordable. senators abandoned the government-run insurance option and in its place a more limited private plan that would be

overseen by the government, though, by the same agency that looks at government employee health benefits. a big change could come in medicare. instead of you being eligible at 65, you could be eligible at 55 years old, an then the c.h.i.p. program that helps kids with no insurance would be extended another six years. if you have insurance companies would not be allowed to dump you for pre-existing conditions. we've heard terrible stories than in the news. the senate bill still has to match up with the house bill before anything becomes law or gets voted on. we'll see. all right. there may be plenty of holiday cheer at the office. not so much when it comes to the holiday bonus. only one in three company, giving bonuses and those are smaller than last year, according to a new survey, and about half of companies are still giving holiday parties, but i don't know if you had the old days, if you worked in a big company, big hotels and lavish catered dos and big bands, those

are gone. one in ten companies cancelled the party altogether. in new york, a lot of talk, scary talk saying there's no goldman-sachs party and they're not allow to gather in groups of more than 12. >> because it looks bad. >> they don't want to be on page 6 story there's. again, just reported stuff there. >> don't stand around together on the corner. get outta here! really. that's harsh. >> yes. you think you know everything about actress and comedienne roseanne barr. on hln "the joy behar show," roseann talks about marriage and how she was abusive to her husbands. >> you had an interesting life, though. this tiger woods story. let me ask you about it. how far down the driveway would he have gotten if you were married to him? >> well, you know, joy, there was a time in my life where i was physically abusive to my husbands and a few things happened while they were asleep and put things in their food, ex-lax and stuff like that. >> really? which husband was that? any ones that we know?

tom arnold? >> yeah, all of them. then i realized, domestic violence is not right when women do it or men do it, so, you know -- >> that's right. >> i mean, like, it wasn't right that i threw things at any of them. >> no. that wasn't right. >> no. >> catch "the joy behar show" tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on hln, plus meet this season's winner of "the biggest loser." dozens of people turned out for a book signing of forrer governor rob blagojevich. blago got plenty of lafrs from the crowd, especially when he told them he believed in grade inflation. the book's a great present. >> a great gift for my dad. book junkies, both found the story, both unsurprising but hilarious in its own way and i think it will about great gag gift for him. >> another person just really liked blago's hair. got a lot of it. he's worn a bird's nest on her face, busted bottles playing a piano on fire.

now she's meeting the queen of england. what did you wear, when she met the queen of england. would that be it? lady ga-ga. oh.

i see what you're wearing. you don't want to go outside in that. a $3.4 billion settlement over royalties owed to native americans. accusing the department of interior of holding on to billions of land leases. and beef and chicken provided by the u.s. government to schools wouldn't meet the quality of standards of many fast food restaurants.

now, the "l.a. times" says that 177,000 californians have not gotten their unemployment checks for a month, because the state's computers aren't programmed to recognize the latest extension. the state says it hopes to start issues checks starting late next week. congress and football. congress is tackling the controversy surrounding the bcs today. rafer, i'm not sure i feel that confident about that. >> no. >> about either of them. bcs or congress looking into it. >> a lot of people share your opinion. for selfish reason, i want them to tackle it, but i understand, health care and other deals. right now computers and polls determine who plays for the national championship, which this year it's alabama and texas. well, a house panel is considering a proposal that would ban the bcs from actually calling it that, a national championship game, without a playoff. a playoff? now critics argue the six major

conferences share a monopoly and they have a point given that college football is a multibillion dollar business, it could violate antitrust laws. an official for the bcs says, more important things going on. meanwhile, alabama students faculty and staff will not have to worry about missing class during the bcs national championship game. class was cancelled from january 6th to the 8th for the january 7th game in pasadena. >> let me get it straight. they've shut down classs for a football game? >> a long way from alabama to pasadena. which i think is a country western song. but they'll make the days up later on. >> who are they playing? >> texas. >> is texas cancels classes? only seems fair. that's what i'm saying. why, i mean -- >> where's the phone? i'm calling texas. where's the phone? >> it would give alabama an advantage if their students and fans didn't have to be in class. >> what kind of advantage? midterms?

attendance advantage, true. a story we brought you yesterday, update. the video of tiger woods' mother-in-law take ton a hospital on a stretcher. barbra holmberg released 12 hours after being admitted for stomach pain. authorities responded to a franltic 911 call made by a woman at woods' home early in the morning. more on sports in the next half hour. you bring up a good point, go call texas right now and see what they're up to. >> i would like to see alabama do well. not what i'm saying, but fair's fair. thank you. and -- no doubt you've seen the price of gold go through the roof. how do you cash in? hln money expert clark howard tells you thousand get a fair deal. >> have you heard all of these pitches on the web or on radio or on tv for how you can make a lot of money by selling your old jewelry? people are buying it for the gold, because the value of gold has gone up and up and up.

well, "consumer report" did undercover shopping where they tested a lot of the online and advertised gold services to see if you really were getting paid a fair deal for the intrinsic value of the gold and no. most of the time people were getting paid only about 10 cents on the dollar to 25 cents on the dollar of what their gold was actually worth. now think about that. yeah, you're going to score some quick cash, but if it's only 0 . 1 of what you should get, that's not a deal at all. what is the right way to find out how much your jewelry is worth? i can help you with that on my website, cnn.com/clarkhoward. clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. bob, what do you think about alabama canceling classes for the game? >> you what? they're not going to attend

anyway so they might as well push it back. i think it's a good idea. >> don't you think it would be fair for texas to do the same? >> probably. >> facebookers, go to it. can't wait to hear what you're saying. >> let me show you real quickly, atlanta because just put to a ground stop the atlanta hartsfield airport. there's a live look at the uptown part of atlanta. let me show you chicago. you guys are put into a delay as well. the wind, the rain and it will be out there the entire day. some snow, too. it's a tough day no matter where you are. here's what it looks like for the rest of the delay. new york city you'll see an hour more delay and laguardia has an hour and ten-minute delay also. atlanta, you're in a ground stop delay 30d. chicago metro you will see delays also and minneapolis, st. paul comes in with an hour delay. more on that blizzard, robin n

just a little bit. all he wanted to do was honor his country and now the fight over a 90-year-old medal recipient's flag pole is over. why exactly is the swine flu so deadly? some scientists think they finally figured it out. madonna?

classy black. that settles it. latex and fishnets. >> watch the queen give lady gaga the once over. lady gaga curtsies, they maintain eye contact when you're looking into eyes painted like a panda's, but at least lady gaga

didn't get down on the floor and crawl or fall as she did recently performing in montreal and to think michelle obama got flack from some who thought she was too casually dressed when meeting the queen and for touching her highness. >> she stuck her neck out, actually. >> on the website you can see the elizabethan collar she wore when performing for the benefit. queens are nothing new for lady gaga. they impersonate her all of the time. when she performed at the human rights campaign she even got a shout out from the president. >> it is a privilege to be here tonight to open for lady gaga. >> now she's here with the queen, it's like someone from star wars meeting someone from earth. she looked like a tube of lipstick said another. she opted not to wear her famous

bird nest some mocked as alien wear. >> at loest she didn't dare to wear her fire-shooting bosom. that could have left the queen with third-degree burns. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> all right. that's quite the get up, wasn't it? a 90-year-old war vet will be allowed to keep his flag up after all. a homeowner's association had threatened legal action over his 25-foot flag pole, actually. he's a retired army colonel and the recipient of the medal of honor. congressman and senators came to his defense. >> what you're doing is saying thanks to an individual to colonel who has served our country in three wars who has stood up to enemies defending our freedom. >> the homeowner's association said it didn't mind the flag, it opposed the flag pole. it is called the biggest

security breach since 9/11.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com rise and shine, my friend. it is 8:00 eastern on a busy weather day. good morning to you. i'm robin meade. you may want to stay in bed this morning if it looks outside and looks like a blizzard, it could be. it really is rough and a storm is slamming a good part of the country. who is in the path today? a secret manual for airport screeners was leaked on the web. it's about protecting us in the air and now it is out there for anybody to read. plus we know what spilled the beans on people who cheat. their cell phones are giving them away. first, though, a storm that has killed five people already is barreling through the midwest today as a blizzard. eight states are under blizzard warnings right now.

people in iowa are waking up to at least a foot of snow and wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour. let me take you on a look see here. this is des moines, iowa. you can see obviously it's still dark, but you can see a little bit of what looks like in the air some snow falling. a foot or more is expected today in new england. can i show you right now? to kansas city, i know, you're talking so much of a widespread geographical area. kansas city, looks like they've gotten the roads cleared for the moment anyway. so the weather that we're talking about isn't just one or two states. it is the storm that's been around for days and is now covering the midwest, moving into the northeast. it brought wind gusts up to 100 miles an hour in texas and new mexico yesterday. this surveillance video shows the roof flying off a business in el paso. thank goodness, nobody was hurt, but it did hit several cars. one guy nearby saw it happen. >> this is the worst i've ever seen right here. like, i've never seen it like

this, seen trash cans, roofs flying off. i ain't never seen a roof fly off next to me. >> well, let's talk about what's going to be happening right now in your backyard. bobby and dylan has a look at storm warnings in the northwest and the northeast. take a breath, bud. >> i know, seriously. the big extent of the storm first right off the bat and show you how many people are affected. here's your low pressure center right around chicago. heavy snow from michigan, the u.p. all of the way to wisconsin where it turns into a blizzard warning. also heavy at times moving into new england and on the bottom side, that's what we're concerned with at the moment. those are the tornado watches. i haven't seen a tornado warning from a half an hour to an hour and the cold front is right back across charlotte and you can see it along that. >> it was just north of colombia south carolina. i don't see any warnings right now. the orange box is a severe thunderstorm warning because it is bow-shaped right there. winds gusting to 60 miles per

hour in that vicinity and southern parts of georgia. we have that line going down also with severe thunderstorm warnings as well. >> then it is all snow and it is blasting away right now, wisconsin, to minh see the and northern parts of illinois stretching toward chicago and all of the blizzard warnings are posted up there. i'll show you those in a couple of minutes, robin. >> thank you. >> the government may have given terrorists a blueprint for getting past airport security. the tsa posted on the web. its secret guide for screening airport passengers. the agency is promising an internal investigation, but it calls the information outdated. the critics are not buying it. >> this is the most serious security breach that tsa has been involved in since 9/11 and since tsa's inception in 2002. it is really incredible. >> it gives up everything. it's a playbook for everything you want to know to get through the screening possess with the i.d.ing systems, the explosive trace systems, who gets exempted

certain screening procedureproc. it just has way too much information on there. >> even though it was a mistake, posting this online is so bad that criminal charges should be considered. one example of what's in the manual. it describes what corners screeners can cut during peak travel times and every page includes a warning that says no part of this manual may be disclosed to people who are not need to know. new this morning, a possible dealbreaker may be booted from the senate health care bill. two democratic sources say a deal reached last night includes a proposal to replace the public option with a private nonprofit insurance plan. senators olympia snowe and joe lieberman who opposed the public option say they're open to this new idea. the couple accused of crashing a white house party have refused to testify before congress. they don't like that invite. the couple will invoke the fifth

amendment to avoid self-incrimination. the house homeland security committee are set to vote on whether to subpoena the couple at 2:00 p.m. eastern today. a federal investigation into a security breach is under way. suddenly they can't talk. five minutes after the hour. blizzard warn negligence eight states today. that is a massive storm. why is this thing not losing steam? let us show you where it is. can't miss that. >> i put the blizzard warning in pink so it jumps off the page. i want to show you what it locks like. it's in wisconsin, back toward the u.p. of michigan. you know it's a dynamic system when it's snow and lightning at the sam time. you have snow coming down at a rate of one to two inches per hour. the reason yet blizzard warning is posted is not just the heavy snow and moderate snow. it's the winds gusting to over 35 miles per hour and also visibility down to a quarter

mile or less because of the snow. that's the definition of a blizzard and it's clearly being met right now across parts of the midwest. look at the northeast. here's your secondary cold front and the first one moving up toward the north and ahead of that you can see the warm air being booted away and you have the adirondacks and the hudson valley getting all of the way to northern new england. we can see a half a foot to 18 inches of snow for the northern six of new england and the blue shaded areas under advisories for snow, less in the way of amounts and it will still be happening and you can see the thunder around cleveland popping up. high wind warnings. you can see the areas shaded in red and take you live to kansas city and it will be a breezy day for you guys and winds gusting to 35 miles per hour. the snow is done and it will be whipping the snow around on the ground. so a ground blizzard is a possibility. boston just early, you had the heavy rain moving through the city and the snow. this is snow just outside of boston. so you can see right there in

half a foot of snow as you get toward the mass turnpike. that's just a couple of minutes ago near boston. >> how fast people will drive. >> new englanders are used to it. this is the first powerhouse system, you might have to get your orientation before you step on the accelerator. >> it might one of those, i remember when i was home during the blizzard of '09. actor john stamos was at the center of a failed extortion plot. a couple tried to blackmail him for $680,000 for pictures they planned to sell to a tabloid. the pictures are of him just posing with fans. the couple was arrested after an undercover sting, but were released on bond. making your home more energy-efficient saves you money on your power bill, soon it can save you money, up to $12,000. four police officers killed in the line of duty got a hero's sendoff yesterday.

it's an incredible moving story. look how many people were in line in the funeral procession. you will hear the messages that their family had for the 20,000 people who paid respects.

in our salute to troops. today's salute from bob barton to his son sergeant justin barton and his wife jena. they were married six months ago and he wants to salute both of them for their sacrifice. >> good morning, robin. this is bob barton and my salute goes out to my son sergeant justin barton. his strength and sense of humor really are extremely missed during this time of year and we love him and his wife so much. we are so proud of you and please be safe and protect our country. >> heartfelt message. bob, thank you. if you have someone in the service why don't we salute

them? cnn.com/robin. >> what make the swine flu so deadly? scientists looked at the autopsy reports and microscopic slides in 34 deaths and they found the h1n1 vier hues penetrated deep into the people's lungs and caused widespread damage. more than half of the victims died of bacterial pneumonia. another strike in finding obesity was a factor in 72% of the h1n1 deaths. free money! you love that. you might get thousands of dollars in free money from the government if you make your home more energy efficient. so our money expert jennifer westhoven will tell you how it works. i would imagine that you probably have to put out the cash first and then get refunded? >> we don't know all of the details yet, but that could be a big deal because if you're talking about new windows. that could be $10,000. a lot of people don't have the money to put up front. the neck name for it is cash for caulkers, you'd get half of what

you spent back all of the way up to $12,000 on projects like windows or insulation. here's the president. >> i'm calling on congress to consider a new program to provide incentives for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient which we know creates jobs, saves money for families and reduces the pollution that threatens our environment program. >> that's what he thinks we know, but here's what we don't know what robin was talking about. are you going to get the money upon up front? are you going to have to wait a month later and get it back in your tax return? so we'll see as it makes its way into congress. home prices. you know they stabilized in the last six months of the year. thankfully, for many homeowners, but overall for 2009 american homeowners lost, hold on to your hat, nearly $500 billion in the value of all of our homes. zilo said some of the biggest losses came l.a., chicago, new

york city, but as things have smoothed out toward the end of the year, we'll see if that hold, but some spots are even managing to eke out little gains. boston, denver and providence, rhode island. back to you. >> good, okay. thank you. omg, it looks like text messaging is be becoming the new way to catch a cheating spouse.

>> the field of candidates to take over the senate seat left by ted kennedy is down to two in

massachusetts. state attorney general martha cokely won the nomination from the democratic party yesterday. she'll come up against republican state senator scott brown in january. if cokely's elected she'll be the first female senator from massachusetts. the largest memorial service in washington state history was held for four police officers gunned down at a coffee shop. take a look at the sea of cars in yesterday's funeral procession. that alone is so moving. most were fellow officers from across the united states and canada and then inside the memorial, officer greg richards' youngest son thanked everybody who came there. >> i know my dad is proud and honored by what he sees here today. it shows us how strong a bond is between men and women in uniform and how wide it spreads and we love you all because you all love him. thank you. >> three of the officers will be buried today. you can see a lot of the law enforcement walking up there.

forget lipsticks on the collar, text messaging is the new way to catch people cheating on their marriage. according to "the new york times" more divorce lawyers are having their clients provide text messages as proof that their spouse is cheating. and the american bar association is having classes how to use electronic messages. text messages outnumber cell phone calls by three to one. then again, there is the voicemail. which leads me to talk about tiger woods and his mother-in-law is out of the hospital and in stable condition. now this was yesterday. >> right. >> during the show we were showing you new video that we just got in of somebody being taken into the hospital from tiger's home, now we know it was his mother-in-law. how is she? >> she's doing better, robin, but yeah. it was a media frenzy and we were getting the information piecemeal throughout the morning. now we know woods' mother-in-law, barbara holmburg

was taken to the hospital for stomach pain. they responded to a 911 by a panicked woods saying her mother in collapsed and you can hear a child crying in the background. holmburg is a government official and she was in town to be with her daughter elin in the wake of woodsie admitted transgressions which have become, let's just say, numerous. chad ochocinco was fined mucho dinero when he donned a sombrero and a pon cho and he knew he would get fined. $30,000 and this comes a month after he's fined 20 grand for pretending to bribe an official with a dollar. >> i think he thinks it's funny. >> have you seen the video of john daly. this is before, over 100 pounds since getting lap band surgery.

you probably notice he wears these flashy outfits that he matches with his girlfriend anna? well now that -- there she is. look at how thin that guy is. now that he says he's turned his life around he wants to turn his life into a movie and he says that kevin james should play the before. he wants matt damon to play the after. sorry, buddy, you look good, but not that good. >> don't we all! >> i'm really sorry, he fooled a whole bunch of people into thinking michael jordan would be playing at their opener. utah flash owner brad anderson took some video of a jordan look alike that he sent around town and put the video on the internet and everybody went nuts and bought 7500 tickets thinking m.j. was going play and now he'll offer them refunds. >> oopsie! might have lost a few fans there. the population growth in the united states prisons is slowing

down. that is the smallest increase in a decade. the total number of inmates dropped in 20 states including new york, georgia and michigan. one out of every 133 people in the u.s. was in prison or jail at the end of last year. wow! tiger, celeb scandals, balloon boy. what about the white house party crashers? what is it about celebrity that seems to obsess this country or cause them to do crazy things? we're going to talk about it sunday, december 20th with celebs in their own right. turner sports stars charles barkeley, kyle petty and denniseccersly. i'll be hosting "with all due respect." you want to talk about it cnn.com/robin. okay. 20 minutes past the hour. bad, bad flying today in a lot of different places stemming from one general area. >> hello, robin. it will be the great lakes to the northeast and down to the southeast. let me show you what it looks like on flight explorer.

the blue and green is all the rain. all of the planes into detroit, cleveland, back toward pittsburgh, jersey, philadelphia. it's a mess. let me show you what we have for the day. we're calling for the longest delays looking for an hour or more. new york, boston, laguardia is in an hour delay. d.c., metros, charlotte, atlanta, watch for over hour delays. cleveland, since natty and detroit over an hour also. the longest one is minneapolis, st. paul, msp, three-hour delay. >> thank you. a woman pleads with a 911 operator as a man smashes his way into her house. >> ma'am? hurry, dear god, hurry. i haven't shot yet, hurry. we've got more of that dramatic 911 call and how she survived.

somebody just gave away the secrets that were supposed to keep you and me safe when we fly. the tsa says it is investigating how its manual for screening airport passengers ended up on the internet. officials insist it's an old version, but critics call this a huge mistake. this morning l.a. is set to vote on guide lines for dispensing marijuana. medical marijuana is legal in that state, but l.a. hasn't done much to regulate it. the now rules are aimed at pushing marijuana storefronts out of neighborhoods and into industrial areas. anyone ever notice we always use the same videotape of the same people lighting up. 30 minutes past the hour. good morning. i'm robin meade. it is busy. i know you're busy so let's get right to it here.

a storm has shut down schools in four states today. this is what it looked like in massachusetts. winter storm warnings are in effect while the midwest deals with a blizzard. police in topeka, kansas, say the icy conditions there caused 31 accidents in just serve hours yesterday. all around the country, the weather is blamed for at least five deaths. meteorologist bob van dillon is back with us today and he'll show where yous the storm is as it moves in the east and in the midwest. >> want to show you the parent storm itself. the actual low pressure center is right near chicago. it's got a couple of cold fronts jacked out in front of that. the one getting severe weather spiked up from georgia and the carolinas and just offshore of virginia and the topside. that's where all of the heavy snow is falling. blizzard warnings for a great chunk of the midwest and i'll show you those in a couple of minutes. >> here's the cold front getting trite atlanta now. the tornado watch still in effect for a good portion of south carolina and a good portion of southern parts of georgia.

no warnings as of 30 seconds ago and we could see severe weather sparked up again over the next couple of hours before the whole line finally moves offshore and then it's all snow, heavy at times. already 15 inches of snow on the ground as of 4:00 this morning eastern time in madison, wisconsin. the winds are going to end. where is it going? i'll have that for you in a couple of minute, robin. >> thank you. new this morning abortion opponents lost a battle in the overhaul bill. the senate rejected an amendment yesterday to tighten restrictions on federal funding for abortions. the house health care bill does include similar restrictions. so those differences would have to be resolved if the senate passes its bill. you may be one of the people getting aggressive, abusive calls from debt collectors. prime news' mike galanos found out what is allowed under the law. >> if people are getting these harassing phone calls where it's causing that stress, what rights do people have? what can they do? >> it's really important to remember the fair debt collection practices act governs

all of the options that you do have. these collectors they are not allowed to use abusive or profane languages. those are clearly violations we heard in the tapes. they're not allowed to contact you late at night or early in the morning and they're not allowed to call your neighbors or at work. it's important that you know your rights and not allow yourself to be persecuted by these calls. get the latest on hot topics on "prime news" with mike galanos. it starts at 5:00 eastern on hln. dozens of people showed up for the book signing of rod blagojevich. old blago got plenty of laughs from the crowd when he told the students he believed in grade inflation. >> i think it would be a great gift for my dad. we're both political junkies. we found the story both unsurprising and hill airius in its own way and it would be a great gag gift for him.

>> another person said they really like blago's hair. today the house will vote on whether to extend popular tax breaks that are scheduled to end on december 31st. it would cost $31 billion, so to pay for it they want to raise taxes on wall street investment managers, but that may have a hard time passing the senate. the nasty weather we've had for the past few days here have made conditions perfect for competitions in hawaii. that's made for waves 20 feet high. yesterday they watched as they topped 30 feet. >> you don't get to see this sight every day. 20, 30-foot. it's only once in a few years. it's a really special day. >> when you see it on tv you think it can't be possible, but when you're here and you actually see it, it is just mind blowing. i know, how do you win, right? i guess if you stay upright? 34 minutes past the hour, a big

winter storm has moved into the midwest and in the nest and is covering a large area, some of which is under a blizzard warning. hi, bob. >> i've been crunching the number, too. looking at the area behind it issue it is cooling down and cracking down below freezing. some of the advisories are out there across the midwest. some of the values are between minus 20 and minus 30 fahrenheit. that's coming in from minnesota, to wyoming and denver. all of this is heavy snow, the bright white shading on the radar, indication of extremely heavy snow right across central wisconsin in toward northern parts of michigan. let me show you the blizzard warnings in detail and i put it out in pink. you can't miss it, blizzard warnings. it's because of the winds over 35 miles per hour, and also the visibility is down less than a quarter mile because of the blowing snow. so blizzard warnings for the morning into the evening hours. central iowa, stretching through wisconsin. let me show you some of the numbers we got, too, and this is what it looks like in

minneapolis. a couple of inches on the ground now. the low clouds and the winds will pick up again to 40, 45 miles per hour. tough go. at minneapolis not a paul, art port reporting throw hour delays on average. what about the snowfall so far? here's what it looks like. madison, wisconsin, 15 inches so far as of 4:00 a.m. this morning eastern. cedar rapids about 10 inches. look for an additional one to two for central iowa and four to six when you get in toward central wisconsin, but the snow will be heavy at times also for the northeast. here's your other arm of the storm. it's moving through northern parts of new york state and massachusetts getting it, too. the pink shading's a mixer between rain, snow and freezing rain. look at the winter storm warnings. we have them all posted out there for you for mostly northern new england. those are the areas shaded in bright red that call for as much as three to six inches of snow followed by more snow overnight tonight. the dark shade of purple for the

adironda adirondacks. that's over two feet of snow, and that's what it's being projected as moving into northern parts of maine, looking for 16, maybe 20 total. more on that coming up, robin n just a half hour. >> now that's a map. do you think you know everything about comedian roseanne barr? on hln roseanne talks about marriage and how she was abusive to her husbands. >> you've had an interesting life, though. this tiger woods story, let me ask you about it. how far down the driveway would he have gotten if you were married to him? >> you know, joy, was there a time in my life when i was physically abusive to my husbands and threw things at them while they were asleep and put things in their food, ex-lax and stuff like that. >> really? which husbands are those? any one we know? >> tom arnold? >> yeah, but then i realized domestic violence is not right when women do it or men do it. >> that's right. >> you know, like, it wasn't right that i threw things at any

of them. >> no, that wasn't right. >> no. >> catch the joy behar show tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on hln and meet the season's winner of "the big of the loser." you may have extra options for your health insurance. the senatorsor the same page on the health care reform bill. okay. why this could make a big difference for people looking for coverage. excitement is growing for the bcs national championship. so much so that a school is canceling classes to go to the game.

good morning. 20 minutes to the hour before you shuffle outside in that robe. let's get the papers for you already. from "the new york times," the

government has proposed a $3.4 billion settlement over royalties owed to native americans. a class action lawsuit accused the department of the interior of holding on to billions in oil, gas and other land leases. a "usa today" investigation found millions of pounds of beef and chicken provided by the u.s. government to schools wouldn't meet the quality and safety standards of many fast food restaurants. and the "l.a. times" says 177,000 californians haven't gotten their unemployment checks for a month because the state's computers are now programmed to recognize the latest extension. the state says it hopes to start issuing checks starting late next week. that's a look at the papers. senators say that the public option may be gone from the health care reform bill, but you could face some changes in how you receive and pay for medical services. jennifer westhoven, as always, is looking out for you. >> they dropped that option, the public option that was so controversial that had some

senators saying i won't vote for it if it's not in there, but they dropped it, so the focus, of course, the overall target is to try to get more people who have no insurance, some coverage and for people who don't have insurance to make it more affordable, but they abandoned the government-run option and what they're looking at instead is a limited version of that, a private plan that would be supervised by the agency that overseas government employee health benefits. there's also a big change when it comes to medicare and this could be costly. you'd be eligible starting at 55 years old instead of 65 years old, but a lot of people who have lost their jobs later on, having a very hard time trying to wait until 65. so we'll see that. you might have heard of the chip program. it helps children with no insurance whose parents can't afford it. that would be extended for another six years. if you do have insurance, the insurance companies would not be allowed to dump people for pre-existing conditions. this is just the senate bill.

so it will still have to be sort of mashed up, so to speak, with the house bill before anything becomes law, but it looks like something's coming out of the senate. back to you. oh! okay. >> wait, do we have another story? >> i have two different people saying two different things. back to you. >> are you sure those are real people talking to you? recent mammogram studies may leave you with more questions than answers. why don't we go beyond the surface to found out the right way to do a self-breast exam. we've taught women in the past that the best way to do a breast self examination is in the shower. that isn't the case. people who have done research is the best way to do a self-breast examination. it spreads the breast tissue out into a thinner layer and it's easier to feel things, particularly things located deep in the breast tissue. the second thing is to put your

hands firmly on your hips to tighten the chest wall. that's where you can look for dimpling on the skin or rashes on the skin. the third part is to check the underarm area to feel if there are lumps in that area. the american cancer society has a website with lots of good information about breast cancer. all right. good info. the wintry mess moving across the country is causing some major travel headaches for a lot of you this morning. hundreds of flights were canceled in the midwest yesterday. so meteorologist bob van dillon is staying on top of where the trouble spots are today.

a quarter to the hour. the department of education is saying this year's scores for eighth graders were better than

they were in 2007. education secretary arnie duncan says the improvements are great, but they have to improve even more if the kids are going to do well in college. open opera fan, get a fresh hanky. "as the world turns" is going off the air. cbs announced yesterday that it is canceling the 54-year-old show. the last episode will be in september. the company that produces "as the world turns" says it is trying to find another outlet for the show and hasn't had any luck yet! >> and scene. >> nice job. congress is tackling the controversy surrounding the bcs. are you kidding me? like they don't have enough to do. >> there's a war, right? there's two and then healthcare. >> the t.a.r.p. >> hi, rafer. >> good morning, robin. the controversy, as you know there's not a playoff system in college football. there's computers and polls and

lots of guys determining in offices who plays for it all. the house panel is considering a proposal that would ban them from calling it a national championship altogether without calling it a playoff. krtices say the six major conferences share a monopoly. college football is a multibillion-dollar business, and it could violate some antitrust laws, an official for the bcs says this there are other things that you might want to focus on. in the meantime, alabama students, faculty and staff won't have to worry about focusing on class during the game because they were canceled. classes from january 6th through the 8th for the january 7th game in pasadena are not happening. however, officials say they will have to make up for the lost class time and texas, we found out, their classes don't begin until january 19th. >> i understand now, it makes it more even. both people can travel and it's a long way from tuscaloosa to pasadena. we've been taking your thoughts

on this and oh, my goodness, you have great comments. >> ideally people go to college for an education and not attend sporting events. what messages are being sent by canceling classes for a football game? >> you want to disagree in go post a comment there. we have an update on this video we brought you yesterday. this is tiger woods' mother-in-law being taken to a hospital on a stretcher. barbara holmberg was admitted after being released for stomach pai pains. she's in stable condition. officials responded to a frantic 911 call made by someone in woods' home early this morning. one of the teams is sending an invite to the infamous white house party crashes for the prestigious alumni dinner. they flat out said the salahis, you're invited. no confusion over the e-mails and the voice mails because wasn't that their excuse like they didn't get an e-mail or voice mail or something?

>> once you're called to testify in congress they could probably make money doing that. just going to parties >> and they could make a movie starring -- >> i mean, paris hilton does it. or did it. what happened to paris hilton? has she fallen off the face of the earth? >> not since the tape. no doubt you have been seeing the price of gold go through the roof. how you can cash in right now, here's hln money expert clark howard. >> have you heard all these pitches on the web or on radio or on tv for how you can make a lot of money by selling your old jewelry. people are buying it for the gold because the value of gold has gone up and up and up. well, consumer report did undercover shopping where they tested a lot of the online and advertise gold services. to see if you really were getting paid a fair deal for the

intrinsic value of the gold and, no. most of the time people were getting paid only about 10 cents on the dollar to 25 cents on the dollar of what their gold was actually worth. now, think about that. you're going to score some quick cash, but if it's only one tenth of what you should get, that's not a deal at all. what is the right way for you to find out what your jewelry is actually worth? i can help you with that at my website, cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. watch him at noon and 4:00 eastern. four police officers killed in the line of duty got a hero send off yesterday. hear the message that their families had for the nearly 20,000 people, look at that, who paid their respects.

hey, good morning. a busy morning, especially if you're living in areas hit by this winter storm. hard pressed to find someone who is not. good morning, i'm robin meade. your winter gear could come in handy today a really rough storm is slamming a good part of the country. we'll tell you who's in the path right now. >> i think this is the most serious security breach that tsa has been involved in since 9/11. it is really incredible. that security expert is talking about the airport screener's manual that was leaked on to the web. this is about how keeping you safe and now it's out there for anybody to see. we know what spilled the

beans on people who cheated, it was their cell phones giving them away. all right, big story here. a nasty, nasty winter storm is kicking up blizzard warnings in eight midwestern states today. you can see how deep the snow was in omaha, nebraska. one woman reportedly died there after being hit by snow plow as she got out of her car. the heavy snow and ice caused several accidents in missouri, including a ten-car pileup. troopers shut down parts of i-29 last night after six inches of snow there. this weather is also making a mess in the northeast and the midwest together so bob is looking that storm warnings that are happening right now. >> good morning, robin. i want to show you the bigged a advance of the storm system because it is huge. chicago, here is your low pressure region. it's all moving over towards the east and below it severe thunderstorms and even a couple tornado warnings early. not seen a tornado warning in quite some time, that is good

news. now you focus on the snow and blizzard warnings are out there from wisconsin down through iowa. as you can see the snow continues to swirl on around and the areas that i put in pink the blizzard-warn areas. visibility less than a quarter mile and moderately blowing snow. more on that, rob, coming up in a couple minutes. the most serious airport security breach since 9/11 the government posted on the web its manual. the tsa calls the information outdated but critics are not buying it. it's like a playbook for beating airport security. >> there has to be a full investigation of this, i hope it's done not by tsa internally but the independent specter general and people who are found to be responsible for this have to be held accountable, they have to be fired. if the negligence is so gross, perhaps criminal charges should be considered because this cannot be allowed to happen again. >> one example of what is in

that manual, it describes what corner screeners can cut during peak travel times. it was clear this was never supposed to get out. no part of the manual may be disclosed to people who do not need to know. new this morning, a possible deal breaker may be booted from the senate health care bill. two democratic sources say deal reached last night includes a proposal to replace the public option with a private nonprofit insurance plan. they say that they're open to this new idea. the largest memorial service in washington state history was held for four police officers gunned down at a coffee shop. take a look at the sea of cars in the funeral procession. inside the memorial, officer craig richard's youngest son thanked everyone for coming. >> i know my dad is proud and honored by what he sees here

today. it shows how strong the bond is between men and women in uniform and how wide it spreads and we love you all because you all love him, thank you. three of the officers will be buried today. the couple accused of crashing a white house party may refused to testify before congress. the attorney for him says that the couple will invoke the fifth amendment to avoid self-incrimination. the house homeland committee will vote to subpoena the couple at 2:00 p.m. eastern today. a federal investigation into the security breach is under way. the u.s. takes center stage at the conference in denmark. epa chief lisa jackson is the key speaker of taking action at home. 192 countries are trying to come up with an agreement about cutting greenhouse gases. exporous have blamed the gases for global warming, but still debate about what is causing it.

here's former vice president al gore. >> the majority of it is caused by human activity and cutting edge study now quantifies the causes of global warming, about 43% or almost half is from co2 and 27%, a little more than a quarter is from methane and then there is black carbon also referred to as soot which in some areas of the world is a very pronounced cause and then carbon monoxide but the largest single source is manmade co2. >> president obama goes to the conference next week. a 12-year-old arizona girl helped light the capitol christmas tree. she joined nancy pelosi to light the 85-foot tree last night. the blue spruce tree came from the arizona forest. people in arizona made about 5,000 ornaments to decorate the tree. very nice. do you remember the picture for what was it, santa claus is

coming to town, the claimation and the wind blew and all the outside ornaments blew off the trees, that's today. >> if you're not getting a taste of the heavy snow, you're getting some heavy wind and rain in pockets, too. i showed you the midwest, too, where all the blizzard warnings were located and get in towards northern new york state and new hampshire and back into maine, too. the blue and the green and the yellow. the pink right there, you're looking at a mixture of rain and snow. winter storm warnings all the areas shaded in red looking for a foot to foot and a half of snow and fall this morning to the overnight hours and stretching in towards the northern part of new england and getting into quebec and lake huron and you get away from that and wind warnings, too. winds gusting to over 60 miles per hour around cleveland and detroit stretching all the way down to kentucky and the carolinas and north of atlanta. we're not going to get the wind out there, but delays because of

that something we're definitely watching. details on that coming up in about a half hour from now, robin. >> thank you. making your home more efficient could save you money and soon it could get you up to $12,000, that's $12,000 from the government. an entire town is mourning after somebody shot and killed a small deer. this wasn't just any small deer.

all right. time right now to salute the troops. today's salute is from bob barton, this is to his son sergeant justin barton and his wife, jenna. they were married six months ago and wants to salute both of them for their sacrifice. >> good morning, robin. this is bob barten and my salute goes out to my son sergeant justin barton. his strength and sense of humor really are extremely missed during this time of year and we,

we love him and his wife so much we're so proud of you. and, please, be safe and protect our country. >> now, if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them, go ahead cnn.com/robin. 5 million people die every year from tobacco. according to a new report from the world health organization. now, it goes on to say that another 600,000 die from second-hand smoke. the report says that more must be done to protect people. now, it claims nearly 95% of the world has no protection. he starred in a popular tv kid's show before he got arrested. new for you in the next half hour, saturday morning staple ames for acomeback. you might get thousands of dollars in free money, free money from the government to make your home more energy efficient. our money expert jennifer westhoven has more about that. >> the nickname for the program

is cash for caulkers. this time the president's idea is you fix your home to save energy and you get half the cost back. that's up to $12,000. that would be projects like new windows or insulation and that could mean jobs. heres prr preside's president o >> i'm calling on congress to consider a new program to provide incentives for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient, which we knows creates jobs and saves money for families and reduces the pollution that threatens our environment. >> we also know it could cost a lot. one estimate is $10 billion and we really don't have any details yet about what it would mean for you. for instance, we don't know, are you going to get any help up front. to do your windows could cost thousands of dollars or would you have to wait months to get it back in your tax return? we'll see, we'll get you more details as this proposed shapes up. a report card comes out on

the financial bailout. the woman whose job is to watch over the t.a.r.p. is going before congress today and she's been out and about all morning. and she said it succeeded. part of a huge government response that stopped the financial panic and stopped the market from plunging and stabilized the banking system and she also said it has failed on some other counts. for example, we still have the too big to fail problem that banks could take on too much risk and know that the taxpayer could help them and also said it hasn't done anything to help with the foreclosure crisis. if you're traveling this morning, a lot of snow to look out for and wind. >> jen, it's terrible. delays all over the great lakes and the northeast. let me start out live from the outside areas of chicago. wgn showing a nice little snowy scene. the snow continues to fall. look for additional inch around that region and also get a glimpse at the winds every now and again. here's what it looks like on

saber flight explorer. here's the bird's eye view. heavier snow across wisconsin into michigan and more snow across new england. here's what we're going for for the day. just enough to wet your beak. boston, new york, philly, d.c., charlotte, atlanta, cleveland and detroit. minneapolis st. paul at three hours and philadelphia at an hour and those will climb as the winds get higher. more on that in just a bit. you have to hear about an actor targeted in a extortion plot. he used to appear on "e.r.."

a city in georgia is mourning after one family's pet deer was shot and killed. the family took in the deer about two years ago. they found bambi as they called it wandering the street after its mother had been killed now they're devastated by its death. >> the cats and the dogs would just love on her and she would love on them and they would leak her ears. she was just a family pet. lily would ride her a little bit. lily was riding on her sometimes and she would walk around the block with you and stuff. we loved her to death. >> well, police say they have a suspect and plan to charge him with two disdemeanors. if you're gearing up to fly for the holidays, i hope you're not in a hurry because fewer flights are arriving on time. a government report says that the 19 biggest u.s. carriers got there when they were supposed to only 77% of the time. this was october.

but that is a 10% drop from the previous month and from this time last year. soap opera fans get a fresh hanky "as the world turns" is going off the air. >> no! >> that was our best and scene. cbs announced yesterday that they are canceling the 54-year-old show. the last episode will air in september. the company that produces "as the world turns" is trying to find an outlet for the show but has not had any luck yet. we have an update right now on some of the video that we first showed you yesterday on the show of a women being taken to the hospital on a stretcher, but we learned it was tiger woods' mother-in-law, how is she, rafer? >> she is doing fine, robin. very jarring video. she was taken to the hospital,

they're telling us for stomach pain. this is the video we're referring to. rescue crews responded to a 911 call at 2:36 in the morning and the caller was saying her mother had collapsed and was saying, oh, my god, hurry up. you could hear a child crying in the background. government official in sweden and released 12 hours after admitted and reportedly in town to be with her daughter, elin, in the wake of woods' transgressions. and chad oechocinco was fined numerous dinero for his odd td celebration on sunday. when after he scored this he dawned a sombreero and a poncho. that cost him $30,000. this came after a month being fined $20,000. for that kind of money he could

buy a tv commercial. >> and get more attention. have you seen the new and improved john daly. you may remember this guy, one of golfers' colorful characters he lost over 100 pounds since getting lap band surgery. his golf game is improving. we are showing you parts of the after. this is a video from last week with his girlfriend, anna. he wants to turn his life into a movie and wants kevin james to play the before and matt damon to play the after. >> don't we all. and owner of an nba minor league team is saying, you know, i'm really sorry because he fooled a bunch of fans to thinking that michael jordan would play at the opener. they had an m.j. lookalike around town. they put this video on the internet and everybody went

nuts. 7,500 fans went nuts thinking m.j. was going to play. >> i don't know how he didn't think this wasn't going to turn out badly. >> i want to know where you find an m.j. lookalike and is he available for parties? >> i bet. what a way to make a living, right? all right, actor john stamos was that center of a failed extortion plot investigated by the fbi. a couple tried to blackmail him for $680,000 for pictures they plan to sell to the tabloids. stamos spokesperson said pictures are just of him posing with fans. the couple was arrested after an undercover sting. talk about a galaxy far, far away. they are about 13 billion light years away. a new camera photographed thousands of galaxies formed 600 million years ago after the big

bang, say scientists. you know, scientists believe that the big bang explosion led to the creation of the universe. a mere mishap was giving new material for the late nighters. for example, here's jimmy kimmel. >> a man was arrested at the maul of america yesterday for throwing tomatoes at sarah palin or as sarah palin calls them, italian apples. the man showed up for a book signing and threw two tomatoes and neither came close to hitting her and instead he hit a cop and might be charged with assaulting a police officer. they released his mug shot today. he looks familiar. i cannot figure out where or from. >> cute. tiger, celeb scandals, balloon boy, what is it about celebrities that seems to obsess people. we will talk about it sunday december 20th with celebs in their own right. i'm going to be hosting with all

due respect. why don't you give us your opinions about it. cnn.com/robin. moving on here, go ahead -- why exactly is the swine flu so deadly?

stocks may bounce back this morning after yesterday's tumble. a live report from the new york stock exchange less than ten minutes away. somebody just gave away the secrets that were supposed to keep you and me safe when we fly. the tsa says it's investigating how its manual for screening airport passengers ended up on the internet. officials insist it's an old version but critics call this a huge mistake. suspected serial killer anthony sowell is in court today. he is charged with killing 11 women and hiding their bodies

around his cleveland ohio home. all aboard, amtrak set a record over thanksgiving for number of passengers. 685,000 people chose to take the train that week. that is up 4% from the thanksgiving last year. amtrak had to add extra trains to accommodate everybody. 31 minutes past the hour. good morning. how are you? wednesday, that's how you are, right? i'm robin meade jumping right back into the stories. looking outside your windows. a dangerous winter storm has shut down many schools in the northwest today. this is what it looked like in massachusetts earlier today. winter storm warnings in effect there while eight midwestern states are under blizzard warnings. police in topeka, kansas, said the icy conditions caused several accidents. meteorologist bob van dillen will show you this massive storm as it kind of inches eastward,

it's still lingering, big time, though, where it has been. hi, bob. >> good morning, robin. slow mover, no doubt about it and a lot of arms to this storm. the top part from northern new england stretching around the horn down in to iowa and missouri getting snow, too. that's where the heavier snow is going to be for the morning. blizzard warnings for wisconsin and parts of minnesota and in towards northern illinois, too. all that snow moving over towards the east, very slowly and notice how that pivots around central wisconsin. madison, so far, has seen 15 inches of snow and it continues and i'll tell you how long and where are those blizzard warnings. i'll point them out to you in just a couple minutes. >> all right, thank you. iran top prosecutors is telling opposition protesters and any further unrest will not be tolerated tens of thousands of protesters clash with security forces again this week. at least 200 people were arrested. protests have been gathering

steam since a disputed presidential vote in july. on monday, students burned pictures of iran's supreme leader. new this morning, abortion opponents lost a battle in the senate health care overhaul bill. tighten restrictions on federal funding for abortions. the house health care bill does include similar restrictions, so those differences would have to be resolved if the senate passes its bill. well, no more lipstick on the collar, it is text messaging that is the way the to tell if your person is cheating on your marriage, your spouse. according to "the new york times" more divorce lawyers are having clients provide text messages that their spouse allegedly sent to somebody as proof of infidelity and the american bar association offers classes on how to use electronic evidence. text messages now outnumber cell phone calls, anyway, by 3 to 1. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan says he's comfortable with president

obama's new war strategy and the 30,000 troops he is sending there. general stanley mcchrystal was on capitol hill yesterday. he assured lawmakers that he would not need more troops and begin pulling out troops by 2011. mcchrystal said that defeating al qaeda and capturing osama bin laden is essential to ending the war. >> i believe he is an iconic figure at this point whose survival emboldens al qaeda as a franchising organization across the world. i don't think it would make, it would not defeat al qaeda to have him captured or killed, but i don't think we can finally defeat al qaeda until he is captured or killed. >> mcchrystal says his first objective is to reverse the momentum that the taliban gained in afghanistan in recent years. 34 minutes past the hour. a big-time storm, it is still one of our top stories and now

it is in the more populated areas of the midwest and the northeast and lost no steam, bob. >> in fact it picked some up. energy getting sucked into the rotation and that's really strengthening up that low and wind whipping around this thing at 50, 60 miles per hour and translate eastward. blizzard warnings are up. all the areas shaded in pink and now we're talking about central wisconsin, iowa into parts of nebraska back into northern missouri and portions of illinois and into the u.p. in central michigan. heavy snow, lots of wind and poor visibility. let me take you back a couple hours. video out of omaha, nebraska, where they are reported 12 inches of snow that came down overnight through this morning. the snow has ended but the wind will pick up. to the tune of 40, maybe 50 miles per hour. wind chill advisories out there, as well. let me show you some of the wind chill numbers. something we haven't touched on yet. extremely cold air in place. the coldest air we have seen in

quite some time. dragging down out of canada and whipping around with the wind. minus 17 in pierre and minus 34 now in denver. we have wind chill advisories for this entire area and warms up just a bit when you get towards milwaukee at 28 and minus 9 is the way it feels right now in kansas city and those temperatures will not warm up today. it is going to be very cold. across the northeast, all your snow. all the area shaded in white and vermont, new hampshire and inmaine and parts of massachusetts. all rain when you get in through new york and the jersey shore and stretching back in through the mid-atlantic. winter storm warnings for the northeast. same storm, different arm. winter storm warnings and the wind is not a big factor here, not as much across the midwest. you're still going to see six inches to 18 inches of snow especially across the higher elevations of the adirondacks and where most of the snow falls over the next 12 to 24 hours. what a storm.

more coming up in just a bit, rob. >> you can't miss it, can you? >> no, you can't. let's head over to wall street. the dow is attempting to bounce back from yesterday's triple-digit declines. felicia taylor is joining us from the new york stock exchange. >> it's dreadful here. it's like a flood is pouring, pouring rain and frankly pouring rain on stocks. we were expecting a higher open this morning, but, frankly, things are trending to the downside and with little news on the economic calendar, pretty quiet day ahead of us, we think. oil prices are headed higher and crude has fallen for five straight days and it's bouncing back today on weakness in the dollar. the movement now comes ahead of the latest weekly report on oil spliz. most energy experts predict inventories rose as they have in seven of the last ten weeks. citigroup and bank of america are trying to eke out some gains. citigroup is having better luck

than bank of america. tim geithner is planning to authorize an extension of t.a.r.p. and has done that and sent the letter to congress extending that to the end of next year. finally, robin, hot dogs have never been exactly the food of the sophisticated elite, although i had some terrific pigs in a blanket last night, they were really good. but a ritz-carlton in florida may be changing that image. the ap reports the sarasota rits has opened a hamburger and hot dog shop charging $6 to $9 for the munchies, that is cheap for a luxury resort where it could frankly cost $14 for a soup and grilled cheese. the move shouldn't come as a huge surprise, though. luxury hotels hit pretty hard in a recession and doing anything they can to attract customers back. >> hot dogs, okay, thank you. a women pleaded with 911 as a man was smashing his way into her house. >> ma'am? hurry, dear god, hurry.

i haven't shot yet, hurry. >> more of that dramatic 911 call and how she survived. two officers were supposed to be checking up on a store, instead, supervisors say they were caught red handed.

an oklahoma woman who shot and killed a man who broke into her home will not face any charges. donna jackson was on the phone with 911 as the man was using a patio table to smash through her door. >> i don't know they need to hurry. he's going to break this thing open. when he does, i'll have to kill him, ma'am, i don't want to kill him. >> the 911 dispatcher told the woman that she had the right to

defend her property and the d.a. ruled the shooting was justified. dozens of people turned out at a college in chicago for theback signing of rod blagojevich the former governor. he told the students he believed in grade inflation. one person said the book is a great present. >> great gift for my dad. we're both political junkies and we both found the story unsurprising but hilarious in its own way and a great gag gift for him. remember we told you about the dangerous inmate who was caught days after he managed to pull off an unbelievable escape. he pretended to always need a wheelchair, but then stood up and overpowered the guards. well, now, we're learning new details about the possibility that he had help from the inside. new for you in about 30 minutes. so, have you seen the price

of gold go through the roof? how can you cash in? hln money expert clark howard tells you how to get a fair deal. >> have you heard all these pitches on the web or on radio or on tv for how you can make a lot of money by selling your old jewelry. people are buying it for the gold because the value of gold has gone up and up and up. well, consumer report did undercover shopping where they tested a lot of the online and advertised gold services to see if you really were getting paid a fair deal for the intrinsic value of the gold and, no, most of the time people were getting paid 10 cents on the dollar to 25 cents on the dollar of what their gold was actually worth. now, think about that. yeah, you're going to score some quick cash, but if it's only one-tenth of what you should get, that's not a deal at all. so, what is the right way for

you to find out what your jewelry is actually worth? i can help you with that on my website. my website cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> well, clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturday and sundays right here on hln. math scores are going up at big city schools. the department of education said this year score for the eighth graders were better than they were in 2007. arne duncan says the improvements are great but they have to improve even more if the kids are going to be successful in college. tonight president obama leaves the white house and heads to norway to get the nobel peace prize and the ceremony is tomorrow. the president receives a check for $1.4 million, a gold medal and a diploma. a university is calling off classes for three days so the students can go to a football game!

two police officers are suspended and they face some serious charges suspected of robbing a store. officers. this video is from a phone store in paris, france, and it shows two men with police arm bands rummaging through the cash register and grabbing money and phone cards. the store owner chased them down and caught them. preliminary charges have been filed. dusting off the gray suit and the red bow tie and bringing back pee-wee herman. >> incredible show, live action, costumes, a mrauplot, music, it incredible. multi-million dollar production. >> man, his look hasn't changed at all, right? he hasn't even aged. a new live pee-wee herman show

will debut. cherry, genie and -- >> it was the chair. >> who is conky? >> i don't remember. >> after his arrest at an adult theater in 1991. congress is tackling the controversy surrounding the bcs today. so, let me just lay this out for you, congress -- >> congress. >> wants to talk about football. hi, rafer. >> are you surprised? >> yes and no. >> yeah, no, i know, you have to be diplomatic. it will take an act of congress to change this darn system because right now computers and polls determine who play for it all bcs national championship. this year alabama is taking on texas. a house panel is considering a proposal that would ban them from calling it a national championship game without a playoff.

now, critics argue the six major conferences share a monopoly and given that college football is a multi-billion dollar business and it violates anti-trust laws. an official for the bcs says congress does have other things to worry about like health care and they have a point, too. alabama students, by the way, along with faculty and staff will not have to worry about missing any class. classes were canceled from january 6th to the 8th for the january 7th game in pasadena. but officials say they will have to make up for the lost class time. it's not like they just lose those days. texas classes don't begin until january 19th, so they can go. what do you guys think about this? i am sure a lot of people have opinions on this. it's okay if students miss a couple of days to attend a football game. we live in a society where it's who you know not what you know that gets you ahead. you cynical, cynical man.

cnn.com/robin hit on the little agree or disagree. hospital on a stretcher. this was video we showed you yesterday. this is barbara holmerg. she's in stable condition. authorities responded to a frantic 911 call. many people wondered how would this scandal affect woods financially. advertisements featuring woods have disappeared according to data from the nielsen company. the last time a major spot with woods in it november 29th, two days after the accident. that's sports. >> thank you. obviously big news with today's big weather going on. hi, bob. >> the reason why is easy.

lots of wind and lots of snow and rain. video out of wisconsin. we just got this from a couple minutes ago. this is one trying to get by on the roads. look how bad it looks on those roads. this dude is flying. i wouldn't suggest going this fast if you don't have to. what about rest of the delays? this is what we're calling for. boston, an hour or more delay mainly wind and rain first part of the day light snow, too. also new york city metros, you have delays out there. newark, jfk, laguardia, an hour to an hour and a half right now. looking at more delays when you get down toward atlanta later this afternoon with wind and delays in chicago. an auction of audry hepburn memorabilia included the gone she wore to her 1952 wedding. after of the proceeds will go to

aubrey hepburn fund. she busted bottles while playing a piano on fire. now she met the queen of england. look at that outfit. ççwooçi