okay. so, back with you here on, is it thursday? is that true? how can that be? well, thursday is connected to friday. i'm robin meade. here is what's going on. a new jersey father what fought for five years to get custody of his little boy is on a plane to pick him up. could another court date get in the way? legal or illegal. what kids say is the drug of their choice and what parents need to know. 13,000 this morning, then 9,000. so far, 20,000 letters.

>> the busiest post office going. why is so many letters flooding this tiny town? first, an american father is flying to brazil to reunite with his kidnapped son in a custody battle. david goldman should get back his 9-year-old son sean. sean's mother kidnapped him in 2004 and took him to brazil. she died last year, but his step-father fought to keep him. cnn is traveling with david goldman and took these pictures on the plane. he called anderson cooper and said he hopes it's his last trip to brazil. >> i can only do the best i can. follow the advice of my attorneys, follow the rule of law and hopefully, everything else will, this time, work out. the rule of law, god, nature, will be followed and sean will

come home to reunite with me, his only parent. >> i can't imagine how anxious he must feel. brazil supreme court would hear the case today. it's possible he can come to the united states while it makes a decision. president obama lost sleep over deciding to send 30,000 more troops to afghanistan. he described the trouble yesterday and talked about an emotional turning point for him. >> probably the most powerful moment of my year is when i traveled up to dover. not only met with the families who were there in the middle of the night waiting for their loved ones to come home in caskets, but walking up the ramp of the transport plane, by myself and seeing the caskets. it's indescribable.

>> president obama said he was reminded of the extraordinary sacrifices they make. his decision was based on national security. your teenager thinks it's less dangerous to get high on pills in your medicine cabinet. they used ox cot tin and vicodin last year. researchers warned even precipitation medications could be gateway drugs to things like heroin. a basketball player is in bad shape after having a fight with his fiance. how awful. >> shocking stuff. according to his agent is battling for his life after he fell out of the back of a pick up truck. police say henry was involved in a domestic dispute when he fell

wednesday. police say he jumped into the bed of the truck as she drove away. he was found on the road about a half mile from the home where the dispute began, near charlotte. he's had a history of off the field problems, but seemingly just turned his life around. i'll go into more later on the show. robin. >> absurd and horrible. let's hope he's doing better this morning. we are now hearing from the other white house party crashers. harvey and paula darden showed up for a white house tour a day early. instead of being turned away, the secret service did background checks. a white house aid took them to an invite only breakfast with the president. >> he said, now, you are officially the representative of the vfw post and my advice to you is to go with the flow.

>> how about that. they are still waiting to get the pictures they took at the white house. the search for two hikers on mt. hood has been called off. a recovery operation will be started when weather clears. nolan's father says he's at peace about his daughter. a third hiker was found dead saturday. getting the h1n1 vaccine may be less of a hassle. vaccine restrictions are being lifted in many areas. health officials in 24 states are saying everyone can get the vaccine, not just high-risk people. the cdc estimates one out of every six americans got sick from the h1n1 virus. now, i have said all along, if they get it here at work, i'll get it. now that they have it here, i haven't gotten it.

i'm saying, yeah, go ahead. >> you're going to get it? >> yeah. >> good for you. >> you're like you. go for it. >> i just don't trust them. let me show you what's going on with the big area of high pressure sitting over the northeast. here is the high over into canada. below it, a storm across houston. we're talking heavy snow. 19 in boston, 10 in portland 28 in new york city. windchill is a little worse minus 19 in caribou. minus 18 in montreal. 16 in new york. let me take you live to nyc. another breezy afternoon. winds gusting to about 30 miles per hour. not that bad right now. temperatures, again, on the cool side with a windchill in the teens. how about the lake-effect snow?

we have it around buffalo. it's on the light side. down south, here is the developing storm off the coast of corpus christi. wrapping up just outside new orleans. here is the radar out of new orleans. it's all rain now. the frontal boundary in florida is still there. we have thunderstorms potentially there, orlando and the keys. the flood watches are shaded in dark green. the warnings and all the rain is headed to the northeast. we're going to get snow out of it friday and saturday. more on that in a half hour. >> thank you. a huge bonus, if you are doing your holiday shopping online. about 700 sites, today, are offering free shipping if you buy today. we are going to point out a few of those. investigators suspect foul play. a mother missing for more than a week. why they are turning the investigation closer to home.

let's salute the troops. today tommy to a special group of soldiers celebrating a special anniversary. >> i am tommy from the u.s. army. in today's salute, we like to honor our assistance on our 100-year anniversary. we celebrate history of professional servant service to a great nation to our soldiers and their families. happy 100th anniversary. >> that was really sweet. if you have somebody in the service you want to go ahead and salute them, we want to help you. cnn.com/robin. republicans picked an

unusual tactic to stall the debate. tom coll burn suggested the amendment be read aloud in its entirety. they called it an outrage. they decided to withdrawal it rather than let business grind to a halt. they said the health care debate needs to slow down. the northwest pilots who overshot their landing by more than 100 miles. they tell the investigators he let his guard down and there's no good excuse. he admitted putting the passengers at risk. the pilots were out of contact for more than an hour. he said he accidentally erased text messages from the air traffic controllers. you drop off your keys, and trust the valet with your cars. youtube shows what they are

doing with your cars. joyriding! inside look is new for you in about 30 minute us. hey procrastinators. i'm right there with you this year. it's fre shipping day. buy online and you pay nothing for shipping. jennifer westhoven is here with the sights. >> it's a trick. you could have gotten free shipping, but if you're a last-minute person, it's an ad by retailers to remind you, if you want free shipping, this is the last day to do it. there are more than 700 sights jin joining into the gimmick. most of the retailers have minimum requirements like they have had until now. it's pretty much, after a few days, you are going to have to start paying through the nose. the full list is on our website. nike and levi's are among the

sites with free shipping with no strings attached. millions of americans getting through the recession. there are millions of people saying what's going on with unemployment. this bill extends unemployment, again. it extends food stamps, cobra, to help you keep your insurance. they have a measure for jobs, too. it allocates billions of dollars for roads, bridges, mass transit and the money from bail outs to keep cops, firefighters and teachers on the job. it's so important in communities where they are strapped for taxes now. >> okay. thank you. have you noticed that i have been out the past few days. i've been on assignment, not on the beach. it's because i had a chance to sit down with charles barkley. we talked about the country's obsession with celebrity. they say the president is part

of that culture now. >> i do believe we have a president now who is as much a celebrity as he is a president. he's become that and he's transcended that. we expect so much. we expect something from him. there's a group in this country that expects him to fail, wants him to fail and wishes him to fail because he's a black man. we have to live with that. we do. >> you can get another taes of what's to come on "with all due respect." when kyle petty joins me live at 9:00. all the people sitting on the piano, i'm going to ask kyle what he didn't have a chance to say. tune in. catch the special sunday at 10:00 p.m. on hln. a snow border triggered an avalanche and lived to tell about it. hear him describe the moment the snow collapsed on him, plus --

>> it was all the money i had. every penny was in that envelope. to me, i had to find it. >> a desperate mother lost an envelope filled with cash. ♪ pushing my buttons.

authorities expect foul play in the disappearance of a utah mother. her disappearance is so out of character, they are treating it as a criminal investigation. josh provided a dna sample. he's helping police in the search. he's given little valuable information. >> a strong interest is all i should say. >> he's made comments to the media that he doesn't know where she is. as far as specific comments to the police department other than

general questions that would help us identify her, if she was found, we have been unable to be specific with him about those details. >> the 28-year-old mother was reported missing december 7. josh told police he took their two sons camping. when they returned the next day, she was gone. a crane made more than 50 years ago is on display at the world trade center visitor center. 10,000 cranes made by friends and families of japanese victims of 9/11 surrounds hers in new york. sheriff's officials say aleck meyer triggered an avalanche when he went snow boarding in loveland pass, colorado. snow buried him up to his waist. >> it felt soft, like the ground

was falling away. everything starting moving at once. i called my mom. i lost it. i started crying right then and the there. >> wow. the woman skiing with him dug him out. it was a mistake not to bring an avalanche kit or beacon. the items were already on his christmas list. >> i didn't know there was an avalanche kit. >> like a flat tire kit? >> where do you put it? a doctor that helped tiger woods recover from knee surgery has been charged with having illegal drugs. >> fair or not, this will fuel speculation. a lot of people turning on tiger. they say this no way means he took performance enhancing drugs. after surgery, this man treated him four times using platelet

therapy. he's been charged with conspireing to import a drug th that's extracted. tiger did get good news. he was named the associated press athlete of the decade. his vote about the performance on the golf course as more than half the votes were after his car crash. he won 64 tournaments including 12 majors. lance armstrong was a distant second. a bat was killed that flew into the arena. we are going to show you actually killing the bat. the bat flew around until two players used their hockey sticks here. >> was it during a game? >> during a game. the coach was concerned for the players and fans safety.

others say it was inhumane. >> i can see arguments on both sides. bats are known to carry rabies. >> it's a tough call. what do you do? >> i can see that happening. >> the san antonio spurs, same thing. >> i can see both sides of the argument. that's my job. a woman flashing people in the middle of the street distracted one driver so much he ran her over. a woman tried to run from the car, but couldn't avoid getting hit. she's okay now. she's been fined by disorderly conduct. >> some rush-hour traffic in l.a. came to a halt by a five story high waterspout. this is it. this is what happened when a hydrant got clipped. it took crews awhile to stop the water after they blocked off nearby streets. sorry, i'm still thinking

about the lady flashing drivers and getting run over.

a father and his son could be reunited today after an international custody battle that's dragged on for years. a brazilian court ruled david goldman should get back his 9-year-old son. his mom kidnapped him in 2004. his father has been fighting to regain custody. a shooter has been moved out of intensive care. he's accused of killing 13 people and wounding dozens others in last month's shooting. he's paralyze frd the waist down. president obama is about to wade into the debate of climate

change. a danish official says hope is running out for a climate deal because negotiations between rich and poor companies are deadlocked. the numbers to ring in new year have arrived in time care. petty cabs delivered the 1 and the 0 that will be part of the sign at the ball drop. they will be on display as an example of energy efficiency. they are made of l.e.d. bulbs. i'm sure they are a pretty white blue. everybody's christmas tree is l.e.d. it's look -- good morning, welcome back. i'm robin meade. the mother of a 10-year-old boy wrongly remove frd a school bus said she begged texas constables not to hand him over to the father. he tricked the judge into believing he had custody of the son. in this tape, it's heart

breaking. the boy john paul, is telling the constable his father hits him. the mother says, they should have listened. >> of course, it was the last time i saw my kid. i begged the police, please stop them. we can do nothing. sorry. they could save my kid from, you know, being abducted. and they didn't because they were following orders and not bringing up common sense. >> it's heart breaking. the mother blames the attorneys and judge who issued the court order. john paul has been missing since october. they have warrants accusing him of kidnapping and perjury. the cholesterol pill might lower your risk of heart attack. they are deciding if they should

recommend it for patients who don't have heart disease. they are asking for expanded labeling. the fda is studying the safety, including risk of diabetes. okay. the resort and casino is the centerpiece of an $8.5 billion complex called city center. it will put 12,000 people to work at a time the economic downturn hit vegas hard. a circumstance desoliai show will be there. >> that thing is so big. it's right there. i'm like, oh, yeah. >> city center? >> yeah. i look up ten minutes later and

i'm still not there. >> i'm trying to think of the costumes for the elvis inspired show. >> good morning. good to see you back. we are starting out on a cold note. look at the temperature readings. 14 in albany. 10 in portland. get to caribou, maine, minus 3. 26 in cincinnati. warmer in chicago, 23. yesterday morning, your temperatures were down in the single digits. as for the windchill, we have a windchill advisory for northern maine, new hampshire and vermont. minus 18 in montreal. as for the lake-effect snow, it's not as much but it's still out there around western new york. another storm off the coast of texas. look at the rain. the rain itself, the leading

edge is just outside new orleans. it's going to spread in lake pontchartrain and fills in across the rest of alabama and georgia later on. flash flood watches and warnings along the gulf coast. as the rain moves to the colder atmosphere and tomorrow, it turns to snow and it's going to be heavy at times in the north carolina mountains and virginia mountains. how about a foot or more of snow? >> how about no. >> how about it's christmas. that's one thing we can look at. shoppers are not liking this stuff. >> i'm giving you a hard time. >> fair enough. the tiger woods saga is the topic on the "joy behar show." she talks with rachel ray about what's going on. >> the sisterhood needs to be stronger. we can't find people's husbands and take them over. it's not going to work. it's not going to work for the

feminist woman. a man who cheats on you will cheat on someone else. >> i think it cease really sad for such a young family, too. hindsight is 20/20. i'm sure he's like i can't believe this is my life, how did i do this? i really feel for all the families attached to that brand. i mean tiger isn't just tiger. >> a lot of people could lose their jobs. >> a lot of families make their living off that brand. i was watching the business news. that whole division of nike didn't exist prior to tiger. it's an $800 million business. if it goes away, it's not, knock on wood, i don't wish that on anyone. >> watch tonight, it airs at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. if it ain't broke, don't fix it. why a fast food chain is throwing that rule and some of

the recipes out of the window. christmas, florida. a small town with a big mission and ever approaching deadline.

okay, a couple stories making headlines now in the papers around the nation. iran insurgents have been able to hack into feeds of u.s. military drones. they are doing it with a $26 computer program. 26 bucks that you can buy on the internet. u.s. officials say there's no evidence any of the flights were actually compromised. in the new york times, an in-depth look at the nation's water supply and the dangers we

face. today's report focuses on laws designed to find contaminants. the laws may be outdated with the use of more and more che chemicals, today. look at the papers. all right, your teenager might think it's less dangerous using something to get high that's in the medicine cabinet. it's from 8th to 12th graders. more teens reported using oxycontin and vicodin. researchers warn, even prescription drugs are gateways to things like heroin. person of the year, ben bernanke as the nation's top money man. it comes up for a vote today. jennifer westhoven is here. it's a good time for him. >> i just found out it's his

bi birthday, too. it's a heck of a week. today is the day the senate banking committee has the official nominating vote, then it goes to the full senate. yesterday, the fed met and pledged to keep interest rates near record lows. the federal reserve said the economy is growing but very slowly, as we all know. still extremely hard to get a job or a loan these days. what do you think about this? hot pizza at your house. dominos is changing their pizza recipe. it's risky to change the recipe of your main product. it is like when coke tried out new coke? it's like a textbook of a corporate blunder. dominos says the tomato sauz is going to be sweeter, crust seasoned with garlic. why are they making the change?

revenues have been falling in the last year and a half. the new recipe is going to be in stores by the end of the month. >> not necessarily dominos, but any pizza i buy from a mass marketer, the sauce is so dang salty, i come up with a sodium bloat the next day. your rings can't get on. my hope is they have less sodium in the sauce. >> when i think of dominos, i think of i'll get hot pizza to my house fast, i don't think of the taste. maybe it's not a big risk. >> okay. we shall see. she wants her pizza fast, doesn't care what it tastes like. >> i like it good, but, that's their pitch. one of the giant drug cartels may have lost their leader. what happened in a shoot out across the border.

the alleged leader of one of mexico's top drug cartels is dead. he was killed in a shoot out last night with the mexican navy. his brother and four other members died in a gun battle. it's one of the most violent and feared drug organizations in mexico. congress is investigating whether your tax dollars are ending up in the hands of the taliban. they told staff security guards are paying war lords and taliban leaders to make sure u.s. convoys get into afghanistan safely. if it's true, they say the u.s. would be indirectly financing the enemy. the defense department had no immediate response. a mom who faked a kidnapping could get out of jail in two months. a judge said bonnie sweeten must spend six months in jail before house arrest.

she's been in jail since august. in may, she called 911 claiming she and her daughter were kidnapped, they were later found at disney world. here's a little kitten that thought it was time to show an old dog a new rule. the cat gets the couch. the kitty won. >> what a nice couch it is. >> that cat used to be white, a couple months ago. >> that's today's viral video. it's a mean little kitty. the back is all perked up. >> do you know who i am? i'm the owner of this couch. >> a lot of people are clicking on this one. we dug it up for you on youtube.

what did you say, jen? why can't they both be on the couch? >> you know, get off. no, nice dog. what's up? if you are traveling today, it's going to be a windy blustery day. new york city metro, watch for an hour delay because of the wind. 30 miles per hour gusts. it will be true at boston, too. watch for close to an hour delay there. new orleans, watch for big delays as a possibility. san francisco, calling for an hour delay because of fog. more on that in about a half hour. >> thank you. what a development this morning. a pro-football player is battling for his life after he fell out of the bed of a pick-up truck. was it is bed of the truck or the pick-up itself? >> the bed. the big question is will he be

able to play football, again. he seemed to have turned his life arnold. chris henry credited his fiance with turning his life around. now, he has life-threatening injuries after falling out of the back of the pick-up truck after a domestic dispute. he jumped in the back of the truck as his fiance was driving away. he's in serious condition. a man accused of stabbing a connecticut football player to death pled not guilty to murder. he doesn't believe the state has enough evidence. jasper howard was stabbed after an altercation at a school dance. it was emotional for teammates and his family. >> kobe bryant is amazing. he scored 39 points including the game-winning shot.

three, two, one -- swish. with a broken finger. i'm sorry, i find it very impressive, so we wanted to highlight that. >> i can imagine how it did not feel good, but yet did. thank you. are you always losing your keys and don't have anywhere to hide an extra set? you can do away with the extra keys and make your house more secure. clark howard unlocks the secret. >> okay, i have a question for you. how many times have you locked yourself out of your own house? maybe you say none. well, something you may not know about me, is i am flakey as they come. repeatedly, i'm like fred flintstones where he gets locked out of the house by the dog. i'm the one that locks myself out of the house. oops, i don't have any keys. there's a new invention that's popping up in hardware stores that i think is going to make a big difference. it's a dead bolt for your house

that reads your thumbprint. that's right. if you lock yourself out of the house or down the want to fumble around with keys. for 150 bucks, install one, press the thumbprint and you are in. this is something that's good for people who aren't flakey like me. for xamping, a woman coming home at night, alone. instead of fumbling for keys, think about it. i'm clark howard for more ways to keep you and your wallet safe, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. clark will teach you to save more, spend less and keep you from getting ripped off. a tiny post office in central florida is crazy businessy. it's because it's christmas, florida. they usually get 100 letters a day. now, it could be 20,000 letters just for the postmark. >> it's 80 degrees out here, you

don't have snow, but you have the great post office. >> i made sure in every card, i wrote check out your poets marks. >> there are five cities named christmas. no word on how busy they are. in fight with a texas school because his long hair doesn't meet the dress code. an inschool suspension. this appeared in the "dallas morning news." his parents say the school is more concerned about his hair than education. he's still doing school work. students need to adhere to the conduct hod. getting the h1n1 flu vaccine may be less of a hassle. restrictions are lifted in many places. health officials in 24 states say everybody can get the vaccine, not just the high-risk folks. the cdc estimates one out of six americans got sick from the h1n1

virus. it's not something you do normally. you hand your car keys to a complete stranger, but you do it to a valet. after you see this story, you may think twice about using the valet. ♪ ?e

good morning, sunshine. come on in, sit down. we're going to do some news here. i'm robin meade. a new jersey father who fought for years to get custody of his little boy is on a plane to brazil to pick him up, but could a court date get in the way? a huge bonus for shopping online. 700 sites have free shipping if you buy today. more details on that. right now though an american father is flying to brazil to reunite with his kidnapped son after a custody battle that's dragged on for years of. yesterday, a brazilian court ruled that david goldman should get back his 9-year-old son

sean. sean's mother kidnapped him in 2004 and took him to brazil. she died last year, but sean's brazilian step-father fought to keep him. these pictures were taken on the plane. goldman called anderson cooper before take-off and said he hopes it had been his last trip to brazil. >> i can only do the best i can, follow the advice of my attorneys, follow the rule of law and hopefully everything else will, this time, work out that the rule of law, god, nature, human decency will be followed and sean will reunite with me, his only parent and his family. >> if the boy's step-father files another appeal though brazil supreme court would hear the case today. it is possible sean could come to the united states with his dad while it makes the decision. authorities suspect foul play in the disappearance of a utah mother. they say susan powell's

disappearance is so out of character they are treating it as a criminal investigation. poul's husband josh has provided a dna sample. he's helping police in their search, but authorities say he's giving them little valuable information. >> a strong interest is probably all i should say. >> he's made comments to the media that he doesn't know where she is, but as far as making specific comments to the police department as far as just general questions to help us identify her if she was found, we have been unable to be specific with him about those kinds of details. >> the 28-year-old mother was reported missing december 7. at that time josh powell said he had taken their sons camping around midnight the night before and when they returned the next day she was gone. a cincinnati bengals player is in bad shape after police say he had a fight with his fiance.

heers here's more on the story. >> chris henry is battling for his life. he fell out of the bed of a pickup truck. police say henry was involved in a dispute with his fiance when he fell on wednesday. police say he jumped into the bed and was found about half a mile from the home where the dispute began near charlotte. henry has had a history of off-the-field problems but had seemingly turned his life around. i'll get into that more later in the show. president obama lost sleep over deciding to send more troops to afghanistan. he talked about an emotional turning point for him yesterday. >> probably the most powerful moment of my year was when i traveled up to dover and not only met with the families who were there in the middle of the night waiting for their loved

ones to come home in caskets, but walking up the ramp of the transport plane by myself and seeing those caskets. it's indescribable. >> president obama said he was reminded of the extraordinary sacrifice the soldiers make and that his decision to commit more troops was based on national security. your teenager may think it's less dangerous to get high using pills in the medicine cabinet. that's from a university of michigan survey of 8th through 12th graders. more teens using vicodin and oxycontin. some using adderall recreationally. experts say even prescriptions can be gateway drugs to things like heroin. sylvio berlusconi is out of the hospital days after an attack at a political rally. he waved at the crowds and

appeared to be pressing a white bandage to his face. he has a fractured nose, broken teeth. he was hit with a small statue on sunday. four minutes past the hour. so what do you have planned today? i wonder if snow will get in the way. here's bob. good morning. >> good morning. lake effect snow to start the day around new york city state. on friday and saturday, snow through north carolina into the mountains, virginia, too. i'll show you why. this is the big high pressure region. that's cold air, an arctic air mass. lots of cold temperatures being reported. below it, here's the low pressure center. that's going to throw moisture inside the cold dome so you can get the snow across areas by north carolina. 13 in albany. 17 in boston. 25 in philly. new york city, 27 degrees. wind chill in boston, -3. it's dropped down with gusty

winds and a wind chill advisory posted for new england. lake effect snow going. no warnings right now. a couple of advisories near binghamton. the heavy rain is now developing once again in the same spot as yesterday, namely the texas gulf coast. brownsville to galveston to houston. more showers to new orleans falling short of the city itself. you're going to get the rain. give it a couple hours and it will pick up later this afternoon through the evening. south of florida you have a cold front across the region. it's more of a stationary boundary. hasn't moved far in the last 24 hours. showers offshore from miami beach bleed in later on. more activity this afternoon. flood watches -- areas in dark green because of the rain out of the gulf of mexico over the next couple of days, the green shaded areas are flood warnings. notice atlanta not in any kind of watch or warng. here's what it looks like at

atl. below freezing in the early part of the day, getting up to 50. rains heavy at times. horrible tomorrow. if you're traveling in or out of atlanta tomorrow will be rough. heavy rain and lots of wind. the rain is moving north and it will turn to snow, especially around the north carolina mountains pivoting into virginia. as much as a foot to maybe more snow especially around the virginia mountains. next 48 hours most of the snow falls near the north carolina/virginia border. charlotte could see snow develop tomorrow. more details in a little bit. rob? >> thank you. which viral videos were the most popular of the year? that will be fun to think about and show you. and family members react as rescuers call off the search for two missing hikers.

time to salute the troops. today's comes from sergeant major tommy marrero to a special group of soldiers celebrating a special anniversary. >> i am sergeant major tommy marrerro from the u.s. army. we would like to honor our chaplain. we celebrate a rich history of selfless professional service to our great nation and for our soldiers and their families, happy 100th anniversary chaplain assistants. >> that was sweet. if you have somebody in the service go to cnn.com/robin. oklahoma senator tom coburn insisted a 767-page amendment be read aloud in its entirety.

bernie sanders called it an outrage and decided to withdraw the amendment. coburn said the health care debate needs to slow down. the search for two hikers on mount hood has been called off. a recovery operation will start when the weather clears. threats of an avalanche closed the window on the search for katie nolan and anthony vietti. nolan's father said he is at peace about his daughter. a third hiker was found dead on saturday. did you hear scientists found a planet they call super earth? new in 30 minutes it could solve the mystery of whether life exists on other planets. >> super-earth! >> super-earth. okay, procrastinators, i am with you this year. if i order stuff today off line, will it get to my loved ones on time in ohio?

this is your last chance to get free shipping if you have waited like i did. jennifer has the details. >> thanks, robin. a lot of stores have been offering free shipping but say, hey, look, this is it. this is the last chance you get. that's good news in a bad economy. after today you have to pay a lot more for fast shipping. more than 700 retailers call it free shipping day. apple, kohl's, target. there is a minimum purchase. it will run out. we have the list at cnn.com/robin. scroll down to "important websites." in washington a bill passed the house yesterday to add to the safety net. so many of you call, write in and say, what's going on with unemployment, the extension. this has been helpi ining milli of americans. the bill would extend it again,

extend food stamps, cobra for people trying to keep health insurance and also billions of dollars for roads, bridges, mass transit. it would also borrow $75 billion from the bank bailout plan to keep firefighters, teachers and cops on the job. the bill goes to the senate and of course the debate is safety net but also the big cost. all right, this story is temporary, but it means thousands of families can stay in their homes at least through the holidays. they don't have to worry about being thrown out when the kids are waiting for santa. citibank will suspend foreche s foreclosures for 30 days. maybe other banks will follow suit. we'll watch that. many did that last year. of course it's not a solution. it can help a lot of families get through the holidays. you cannot believe this story. a snowboarder triggered an

avalanche and lived to tell about it. he surfed the avalanche. hear him describe the moment when the snow collapsed underneath him. plus -- >> it was all the money i had. every penny to my name was in that envelope. so to me that was just like -- i had to find it. >> a desperate mom lost an envelope full of cash. wait until you hear who saved their christmas.

i'm rafer weiger with sports. a doctor who treated tiger woods has been charged with trying to smuggle drugs into the united states. he treated woods four times using platelet therapy. he's now charged with conspiring to bring hgh into the country along with active vegan.

he said the treatment was widely accepted therapy and that tiger has never taken hgh. with all of the bad news around, woods got good news. he was named associated press athlete of the decade. the vote, clearly about his performance on the golf course which was dominant as more than half of the votes were cast after the car crash. lance armstrong a distant second. a junior hockey team is under fire for killing a bat. this video may upset some of you. the bat flew around throughout the stadium during the game until two players did what we are showing you here, took the bat out with hockey sticks. the coach said he was concerned for players and fans' safety. others are criticizing them saying it was inhumane.

>> there are two sides to the story. can't bats carry rabies? on the other hand, i don't want to see that. >> reporter: and ginobli hit a bat, got a rabies shot. that's a tough call. >> thanks. an avalanche survivor is speaking out. sheriff's officials say alek meyer triggered an avalanche in colorado. snow buried him up to the waist. >> it felt like soft, like the ground was falling away from you. everything around me started moving at once. i called my mom and i lost it. it hit me like a ton of bricks what happened. i started crying then and there. >> a woman with him dug him out. he said it was a mistake not to bring an avalanche kit or beacon. those items were on his christmas list. an origami crane made 50 years ago by the survivor of

hiroshima is on display. the young girl started folding them in the hospital before she died in 1955. 10,000 cranes made of friendses and families of chinese victims of 9/11 surround hers in new york. you may have noticed i have been out for a few days to tape a special with turner sports stars charles barkley, kyle petty and director spike lee. we talked about this country's obsession with celebrity. you know tiger woods' sex scandal came up. >> you have to go back and take advice like charles said. you have to take advice from someone who's been there or understands the pressure. his handlers don't understand. his handlers don't. >> they're worried about trying to stop losing more money. >> it's all about the buck at that point. he put himself in a position with the handlers. he needs to call his friends, just as you say charles. he needs to call friends and

say, what do i do next? how do i handle this? how do icon front this? >> i feel duped by tiger woods. i feel like a sucker. i played into him being -- >> wholesome, perfect. >> obviously he's human. he came out and said it which i took offense to. we know you're human. but i bought into it. i thought he was different. shocked? no. but i was disappointed. >> that's the kind of frank talk you will get on "with all due respect." and by the way, another taste of what's coming up on the special. today, kyle petty joins me to talk about -- and i'm going to ask him. because there were so many people and a lot of talk, what didn't he get to say? kyle petty live at 9:00 a.m. catch the entire special "with all due respect" sunday at 10:00 p.m. eastern on hln. rush hour traffic in l.a. a came to a halt by a a five-story

high water spout. it got clipped in a traffic wreck sending a gush into the air. it took crews a while to stop it after blocking off the nearby streets. when you said water spout i was like in downtown l.a., oh -- >> it catches on my tongue every way. that's not the right way to say it. a gush! water main break. >> let me show you what's happening trying to travel in and out. it's bumpy in the northeast. an arctic high is still there. look at the lake effect snow streamers in the poconos. the wind is still a factor. new york city metro, boston. more rain developing across the gulf coast. more on that in a half hour, robin. >> thank you. we told you about the second couple to dine with the president without an invitation. you hear from them about their big surprise. plus, are you smarter than a

fifth grader? of course you are. are you a faster typer than this fifth grader?

a father and son could be e reunited today after an international custody battle that has dragged on for years. a brazilian court ruled yesterday that american david goldman should give back his 9-year-old son sean. sean's mom kidnap him in 2004. his dad has been fighting to regain custody. the accused ft. hood shooter has been moved out of intensive care. hasan's lawyer is working to get him into rehab. he's accused of killing 13 and wounding dozens more last month. it ended when police shot him. he's paralyzed from the waist down. south carolina lawmakers voted to censure governor mark sanford saying he brought dishonor and

shame to the state with the use of state planes to see his argentina mistress. last month his wife jenny filed for divorce. good morning. it's thursday already. it's great to have you around drinking your coffee. the mother of a 10-year-old boy removed from a school bus said she begged texas constables not to give him to his father. the man allegedly tricked a judge into believing he had custody of his son. the judge issued a court order and in this heart breaking tape the boy tells the constables that his father hits him. >> they could do something, of course. it was the last time i saw my kid. i begged the police, please stop them. "we can't do nothing, sorry". >> they could save my kid from, you know, being abducted.

and they didn't. because they were only following orders and not bringing up common sense. >> heart breaking. the mother says she blames la comb's attorneys and the judge. la comb and jean paul have been missing since october. prosecutors issued warrants ausing lacombe of kidnapping and purgery. congress is investigating whether your tax dollars are ending up in the hands of the taliban. informants told staff security guards are paying warlords and taliban leaders to make sure u.s. convoys get into afghanistan safely. if true, they say they would be financing the enemy. the defense department had no immediate response. getting the h1n1 flu vaccine may be less of a hassle now. after weeks of shortages restrictions are being lifted. they are saying everyone can get the vaccine, not just those in

high risk groups. 95 million doses are available. the cdc estimates one of every six americans got sick from the swine flu. a mom who faked a kidnapping could get out of jail in two months. a judge says bonnie sweeten must spend six months of her sentence oh in jail before house arrest. she called 9-1-1 claiming she and her daughter were kidnapped. they were later found at disneyworld. uh-huh. brand new details about the northwest pilots who overshot their landing by a hundred miles. captain cheney said he let his guard down and there is no good excuse. he admitted putting passengers at risk. the pilots were out of contract for more than an hour. after realizing the mistake the po pilot said he accidentally erased text messages from air traffic controllers. you are about to see youtube's

number one video of the year. ♪ i dreamed a dream ♪ in time gone by [ cheers and applause ] >> yep. nobody's come close to outshining susan boyle on youtube. her "britain's got talent" video has close to 120 million views. >> okay, now -- okay, now i -- i have two fingers. >> good. >> four fingers. >> four fingers? >> that's mean. >> no, no, no. >> the groggy 7-year-old from the dentist came in second. it had 37 million views. little david wonders if he will ever feel normal again. >> do you feel good? >> i can't see anything. >> yes, you can. >> wasn't that mean of dad to tape that? >> if dad's an indication, he

won't be normal. who would film their kid in that state? terrible. >> bob's a father to a son and a daughter. >> brought to you by tylenol, feel better. what's going on in the deep southeast? more rain. it's been like this for months. shot after shot of rain and the rainmaker is out there. it's out in mexico the path of the action is low past new orleans into the carolinas over the weekend through a good deal of snow. here's what it looks like this morning. houston getting light rain. heavier rain in green. rain spilling into new orleans. right now, nola looking at moderate conditions, but the rain is off to the west. that will rotate in this morning. rain offshore from miami. couple breakaway showers. it's flash flood warnings from the last week's rainfall event.

those are all the light shaded green areas. dark green, flash flood watch for lower georgia looking for two inches of rain starting overnight tonight lasting into saturday morning sometimes. it's going to be a big rainmaker. as rain moves into the colder atmosphere it will be snow. that's true for georgia. notice storm watch. live to charlotte. temperatures are cold right now starting up below freezing. blue skies, but i tell you, you're going to see snow develop tomorrow afternoon around mid-day or so. then it will mix in with rain and get back to snow. two to four inches on the ground by saturday morning. wcnt, good morning, you guys. i used to work there. >> pretty skies. >> love that shot. so the saying goes, if it ain't broke, why fix it? well, a pizza joint is throwing out the rule and throwing out some recipes.

also, christmas, florida is a small town with a big mission and an ever approaching deadline.

couple stories making headlines in the papers. a report in the wall street journal claims iranian-backed insurgents have hacked into video feeds of u.s. military drones and they are doing it with a $26 computer program you can buy on the internet. according to the report, u.s. officials say there is no evidence that any of the flights were compromised. in the new york times an in-depth look at the nation's

water supply and the dangers we face with our drinking water. today's report focuses on federal laws designed to regulate contaminants in the tap water. the report says the laws may be outdated with the use of more and more chemicals today. some day care workers are being sued after accusations they gave kids m kids melatonin to make them sleep. police say the church is cooperating with the investigators. melatonin is believed to help treat sleep problems. it is not considered a major danger to children, but zstill. a woman flashing people in the street distracted a driver so much he ran her down. the woman tried to run from the car but couldn't avoid getting hit. she's okay but has been fined for disorderly conduct. she said she was egged on by friends to give the driver a look-see.

and he ran her over. >> i can't even -- what was she doing -- in front of the car? >> what was she thinking? a big day for time magazine's person of the year. ben bernanke's renomination as the nation's top money man comes up for vote today and jennifer westhoven is here. good morning. >> good morning, robin. it's happening in washington, d.c. he is expected to get the nod again although there has been a lot of criticism. right? when the economy is in tough times nobody says, oh, you did great, but he will keep his job for another four years. there is the nominating vote and then it goes to the full senate. there he is. the professor. super nerd they called him in time magazine. yesterday the fed pledged to keep interest rates low to support the economy and job market. the fed says the economy is growing but very slowly.

we all know it's still very hard to get a job or a loan these days. domino's the pizza company changing its recipe? what do you think of that? is this going to turn out like when coke tried new coke? that was one of the biggest corporate blunders in modern times. if you think about coke, that's about the taste. domino's doesn't promise taste. they say the new sauce will be sweeter, the crust will be seasoned with garlic. blumberg says domino's revenues have been falling for 18 months. you can taste the new one by the end of the month. >> we'll see. how can you go wrong with more garlic? please, i hope the sauce isn't as salty as most delivery-type pizzas are. that's my piece right there. >> maybe with sugar you won't taste it as much. >> that's a good point. the tiger woods saga is a hot topic on the joy behar show.

tonight joy talks with rachel ray about this. >> the sisterhood needs to be stronger. we can't be finding people's husbands and taking them over. that's not going to work. it's not working for the feminist movement. >> yeah. >> eventually, a man who cheats on you -- i mean cheats with someone else will cheat on that person, too. >> i think it's really sad for such a young family, too. hindsight is always 20/20. i'm sure he's like, oh, my god, i can't believe this is my life. how did i do this? do you know what else i feel for? i feel for all the families attached to the brand. tiger isn't just tiger. >> a lot of people could lose jobs. >> a lot of families make their living literally off the brand. i mean, i was watching the business news and that whole division of nike didn't exist prior to tiger. it's like $800 million business. if that goes away and knock on

wood, it's not. i don't wish that on anyone. >> watch the joy behar show tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. i got too excited about the lady getting run over that was a flasher. i yelled and now my voice is shot. one of the most violent drug cartels in mexico may have lost its leader in a shootout across the border. and then this service dog did his part in 9/11 and now is getting the thanks he deserves.

the alleged leader of one of mexico's top drug cartels is dead. state-run news reports that arturo beltran leyva was killed in a shoot out with the mexican navy.

his brother and four other alleged cartel members died in the drug battle. the cartel is one of the most feared drug organizations in mexico. a tooiny post office in florida is crazy busy because it's christmas, florida. they normally get a hundred letters a day, but now it could be 20,000 letters just for the post mark. >> it's 80 degrees out here and you don't have snow, but at least you have the great post office. >> i made sure on every card i wrote "check out your postmarks." >> there are at least four cities in the united states named christmas. no word how busy they are. what a story here. a cincinnati bengals player is fighting for his life after falling out of the bed of a pickup truck during a fight, no less. here's rafer with more on that. >> good morning, robin. it's shocking stuff. police say chris henry and his fiance got into a domestic dispute at their home and henry

apparently jumped into the back of the truck as she drove away and he fell out. they found the poor guy on the ground a half mile from the home where police say the dispute happened. his injuries are considered life-threatening, but he is alive. it is not known if he can play football again. he wasn't with the team because he was injured last month in a game. a man accused of stabbing a connecticut football player to death has pleaded not guilty to murder. the attorney for john lomax, iii, says he doesn't believe they have evidence to prove he stabbed everyone. jasper howard was stabbed in october. very emotional for howard's teammates and family. since you will be on inside the nba tonight, robin, you need nba news. >> my cheat sheet. >> kobe bryant, in spite of a broken finger, scored 38 points and the game windowsineing shot.

and duke university gives us great moments in cinema history. our favorite, nolan smith doing his kate winslet from "titanic." listen. ♪ >> perfect. >> that is a brave man. that's a look at sports. >> awesome. thank you. people are so creative. are are you always losing your keys, don't have anywhere to hide an extra set? now you can do away with the extra keys and make your home more secure. hln's clark howard unlocks the secret. >> i have a question for you. how many times have you locked yourself out of your own house? maybe you say none. well, something you may not know about me is i am flaky as they come. and repeatedly, i'm like fred flint stone where he's locked out of the house by the dog and trying to get back in. i'm the one that locks my own self out of the house and realizes, oops, i don't have

keys. there is a new invention popping up in hardware stores that i think will make a big difference in my life. it is a deadbolt for your house that reads your thumb print. that's right. so if you lock yourself out of your house or if you just don't want to fumble around for keys, for $150 bucks you can install one of these babies, press that thumb print and you're in. this is something that's good for people who aren't flaky like me. for example, a woman coming home at night alone. instead of fumbling for keys being able to pop that thumb print and get into your house. think about it. i'm clark howard for more ways to keep you and your wallet safe go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. you can get much more advice to help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. saturdays, sundays noon and at 4:00 p.m. here on hln. did you hear clark howard just call himself flaky? >> yeah, i did.

>> i don't think he is. every time i talk to him he's great. >> hi, bob. >> good morning. so far one delay to tell you about. it's a wind-related delay in atlanta. ground stop for the next 25 minutes. that's what it looks like rid now. here's how it goes for the rest of the day. watch for an hour or more delay right there. boston, you will get the wind delays as well. new orleans, the rain is just on your doorstep and moves to the gulf coast, half hour to hour-long delays. yesterday it was a 65-minute delay and the ground stop in atlanta for the next 25 minutes. more on that in just a bit. >> thank you. you know, it's not something that you do normally. something that you do normally, you hand your car to a complete stranger, the key, anywheay, wh it's valet time. a video may make you think twice about that. ♪ ♪ ♪

good morning. just taking notes here on you. just joking. i'm robin meade. good morning, sunshine. here's what's going on. a new jersey father who has fought for five years to get custody of his little boy is on a plane to brazil right now to pick him up, but could another court date today get in the way? and insurgents hacked into a key weapon in the wars in iraq and afghanistan and they supposedly got into it with some cheap-o software. also ahead. >> 13,000 this morning and 9,000. so far today 20,000-some letters. >> if you're looking to ship out stuff to your family today, you might want to avoid this post

office. why it is getting a huge holiday rush. all right. so right now an american father is flying to brazil to reunite with his kidnapped son. david goldman's custody battle has dragged on for years, but yesterday a brazilian court ruled that he should get his son back,-year-old sean. sean's mother kidnapped him and took him to brazil. she died last year, but sean's brazilian stepfather fought to keep him. there have been over 40 appeals in the case. goldman says that he's hopeful that this will finally be the end. >> it's been tragic that it's gone on this long and i'm hopeful that -- that now that the rule of law was appearing to be followed that the rule of god, the rule of nature, the rule of human dyessency and my son will come home with me. >> if the boy's stepfather files another appeal, though, brazil's

supreme court would hear the case today. it is possible that sean could still come to the united states with his dad while it makes a decision. >> the search for two hike eros mt. hood has been called off. a recovery operation will start when the weather clears. the sheriff's office says threats of an avalanche closed the window on the search for anthony vieri and katie nolan. nolan's father says he's at peace about his daughter. a third hiker was found dead on saturday. >> authorities suspect foul play in the disappearance of a utah mom. susan powell's disappearance is so out of character that they're treating it like a criminal investigation. powell's husband josh has provided a dna sample as have other family members. josh powell's lawyer says he's helping police in the search, but authorities say he's given them little valuable information. >> a strong interest is probably all i probably should say. >> he's made comments to the media that he doesn't know where she is that as far as making specific comments to the police

department other than just general questions that would help us identify her if she was found, we've been unable to be specific with him about those kinds of details. >> the 28-year-old mother was reported missing december 7th. at that time josh powell told police he had taken their two sons camping around midnight the night before and when they returned the next day she was gone. >> a holiday gift for thousands of families struggling to keep their homes. a banking giant is suspending foreclosures for now. our money expert jennifer westhoven. what kind of foreclosures here? it can't be just everybody. >> it's just temporary, robin, but it means these families could stay in their homes through the holiday season and you don't have to worry about the knock on the door and putting a lock and you being thrown out. this is for a small amount of people. it's citibank and they're suspending foreclosures for 30 days during the holidays and only for the loans that the bank owns itself. what we might see is that other banks do the same thing. of course, it's not a solution,

but it could help people through the holidays, but many banks did this last year so we'll see. robin? >> thank you. president obama leaves tonight for copenhagen where he's going to weigh into the debate about global warming at the u.n. climate conference. now earlier today secretary of state hillary clinton announced that the united states is prepared to help raise $100 billion annually to help poorer countries cope with global warming. she said the offer will only stand if the conference reaches a broader climate deal. the accused ft. hood shooter has been moved out of intensive care. nadal hasan's lawyer is working to get him in a rehab facility. he's accused of bundikilling 13 people and wounding dozens others. here paralyzed from the waist down. what a soppy morning in the houston area. let's show you where. here's meteorologist bob van

dillen. good morning. >> this is the beginning stages of a storm that will take precedent over the next couple of days as the gulf coast into the carolinas as a major snowmaker for north carolina and south carolina mountains and in toward virginia. low pressure center, look at that shield of rain getting thrown to just outside of san anton antonio, austin into houston and also moving in toward new orleans. the track of this thing looks like it will take a beeline to the northeast so you will get rain across alabama, mississippi, the panhandle of florida into the carolinas as well. there's a weak boundary into florida, showers and thunderstorms off the coast of miami. i've seen a couple drift on in and fall apart over the next couple of hurs. you will see more of that action begin to move in. once the rain moves in and the colder air mass will condense out as snow and it will be heavy at times, all of the areas in white, charlotte, greenville, spartanberg, too, wenter storm

watch that goes to the north including roanoke. the major amount of snow will start tomorrow around midday in charlotte and gets in toward the mountains and spreads some toward virginia over the next couple of days. notice how much snow in the purple-shaded area and that's a foot or more of snow basically falling in the western part of virginia and moving in toward the mason dickon line by saturday night into sunday morning and it could hammer away cape cod and nantucket. that's something else we're looking at. the big story, the temperatures, it's 11 in albany, it's 16 degrees in boston. check out the windchill, though, feels like minus 4 in boston, minus 8 in portland and caribou, maine, minus 21 and it feels 16 degrees when it gets toward washington. you can see light snow and freezing rain north of minneapolis, moving into wisconsin and the u.p., not a big deal for you, but out west, another storm for the weekend. the first couple have been

falling arc part for places like oregon and seattle. the rain showers for the most part have been on the up side, but the fog will be out there for the bay area. we'll take you live to san francisco. travel problems, we'll see them shaping up. so far, no fog. it's about 5:00 and it will start to roll on in shortly. visibilities reduce at sfo at the airport and we'll catch an hour delay and full details on the airport delays. >> it's mesmerizing. >> each though it's rickety at times in the last couple of months it's still lovely. >> thank you. are you scrambling to buy holiday presents. honey, i'm so with you! it is shipping day for hundreds of retailers. that's good news in a bad economy and a snowboarder triggered an avalanche and he describes the moment the snow collapsed beneath him.

time right now to salute the troops. today's salute comes from sergeant major tommy moreno and it's to a group of special soldiers celebrating a special anniversary. i am sergeant major tommy marero. in today's salute we would like to honor our chaplain assistants in our 100th anniversary. we celebrate our rich history of selfless, professional service to our great nation and for our soldiers and their families, happy 100th anniversary chaplain assistants. >> awesome. if you have someone in the service, why not salute them? cnn.com/robin. new this morning. ity low's prime minister silvio berlusconi is out of hospital days after he was attacked at the rally. he waved atted crowds before the

motorcade drove away. berlusconi has a fractured nose and broken teeth. he was hit with a small statue on sunday. >> today vermont's supreme court will begin deciding what your pet's love is worth. a couple wants the right to sue for emotional damages over the 2003 shooting death of their dog. their neighbor pleaded guilty to animal cruelty saying he only meant to scare the dog away. he paid them $4,000 for lost property, but the owners say shadow's death was like losing a family member. a procrastinators, i'm right there with you. this is about your last day to get in some free shipping to get your holiday gifts to the person that you love. our money expert, jennifer westhoven is here. i don't know what's happened to me this year. aunt rob going to get the christmas presents there early? now i'm going to be scrambling. >> on your mark, get set, click! this is a good reminder, too, because, you know, you kind of procrastinate, but if you don't

get it in today you know how the price can rocket up because you have to pay it for fast shipping to get it under the tree. a lot of sources had been offering free shipping, but this, today may be the final round in a lot of them so that will save you money and that's good news in a bad economy after today it gets steep. more than 700 retailers are banning together. they're calling it free shipping day. the retailers include apple, kohl's, kiehls, target. we have the whole list for you and details on our website, cnn.com/robin and you have to scroll down to the section where you see either me or important websites to find some of that stuff. if you're one of the 53 million people who use bank of america, your bank account has a new overlord. the board chose new ceo brian moynihan. he's an insider to help heal the bank after the merrill lynch takeover mess, very rough seas, though, to be leading a bank. one of the reasons that bank of america has lost so much money

in the past six months is because so many of us consumers can't pay our debts, like so many banks, it lent out too much and a lot of people can't pay it back. quickly, uncle sam has said it wants to get out of citibank. it doesn't want to own or control the bank, but citi's stock is so low the government says we can't do it yet because we would lose money which is, of course, our money, your money. if it's sold now, it would take a loss so it may take a little bit longer than expected. robin, we'll see, but a lot of people are, like, get the government out of business, but it's taking a little while. >> thank you. you may have noticed i've been away a couple of days this week and that was because we were taping a special, turner sports stars, charles barkeley, kyle petty and dennis eckersley. we were talking about the country's obsession with celebrity. are they real or manufactured. for example, listen to what sir charles had to say about former alaska governor sarah palin.

>> why are we so obsessed with mrs. palin? >> she's attractive. >> excellent answer. >> yes, that's what they call it. >> we are fascinated by sarah palin. i wouldn't vote for her, but i think america is fascinated because, first of all, she's a hockey mom, she's got five kids and she's attractive. i mean, that's the real reason. the reason you know that's true. >> yeah? >> because a year ago we didn't even know she was alive. and then within a swift thing of getting nominated for vice president by mr. mccain she has become a rock star. >> get another taste of what's to come "with all dou respect" when kyle petty joins me live today. you can see it must have been hard to get a word in edge wise. there were so many people with opinion. so dial, what did you not have to say that you wanted to get acro across. be sure to watch that entire

special this sunday at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. teens are getting access to drug, but they're not getting them from dealers. many of them are looking right into your medicine cabinet. and -- >> it was all the money i had. every penny to my name was in that envelope and so to me that was just like i had to find it. >> a desperate mother lost an envelope filled with cash. wait until you hear who saved her struggling family's christmas.

ooh! fireworks lit up the vegas strip last night to celebrate the newest jewel, the aria resort and casino is the center piece of an $8.5 billion complex called city center. it will put 12,000 people to work at a time when the downturn has hit vegas hard and an elvis-themed cirque de soleil show debuts in february. can't wait to see the costumes all which will be about as big as his sideburns. tiny little costumes. your teenager might think it's dangerous to get high using pills in the medicine cabinet. that is a survey of eighth through 12th graders. more teens reported using painkillers oxycontin than vicodin than last year. 5% they used the attention deficit drug adrol recreationally. a cook saved a struggling family's christmas.

a new hampshire mom cash herd paycheck and took her kids to the diner. later she realized she lost the envelope filled with cash. it was the money for their christmas. the cook says that he put on gloves and dove straight into three garbage bags. >> this is the barrel they found it in looking for the place mats, looking for coloring, and looking for a whiten vel open and the envelope was right there. >> am overwhelmed by it. i really am. when i stop and think about how somebody would go that far for someone they've never met before, he's a wonderful man. >> and get this, the cook refused her reward offer. the smile on her face is enough. >> love those stories. ooh! a doctor who helped tiger woods recover from knee surgery has been charged with trying to smuggle human growth hormone into the united states. here's rafer. of course, people are going to go, oh, well what about tiger then? >> and it's guilty by association and some major columnists have come out and said oh, yaes, tiger was doping.

this in no way implies that woods ever took performance enhancers, but here's the deal, injecting woodsover own blood into the area to speed the healing and it is not illegal. tiger's agent told cnn the treatment is widely accepted therapy and added that tiger's never taken hgh. galea is charged with taking hgh from canada to the u.s. however woods did get some good news. he was named the associated press athlete of the decade. a very prestigious award and it was more about his performance on the golf course than the salacious headlines because more than half of the votes were cast after the infamous car crash. in ten years nobody ruled his sport like tiger. 64 tournament wins including ten majors and lance armstrong was a distant second. all right. we showed you a bit of this last hour. duke university's basketball

gives us great moments in cinema history. last time it was the titanic and here it is, the godfather, you may remember this scene, robin. what's under there? >> no! that was supposed to be the horse's head. the duke devil. one of my favorites, "gladiator." >> he couldn't even get two horns? >> who is this doing it? >> this is from gladiator. >> no, it's duke university basketball, that is oleic. i have to say the acting skills aren't half bad. keeping their face straight and they're good basketball players, too. that's sports. >> were they in drama class? i don't know. >> hi, bob. i don't know what to say about it. >> i've got nothing, beautiful, rafer. drama class, he calls it. if you're traveling out today the northeast looks rough and bumpy conditions because of the

wind and that's the way it will be. miami down south we're looking at showers coming in and thunderstorms. take you live to miami mia. we'll probably get showers moving on in and otherwise we'll get a delay because of the win in the northeast. more "morning express" in just a bit. ñ

a father and son could be reunited later on today after an international custody battle that has dragged on for years. a brazilian court ruled yesterday that american david goldman should get back his 9-year-old son sean. sean's mom kidnapped him in 2004. his dad has been fighting to regain custody. the first of 30,000 additional troops being sent of aing to afghanistan have already arrived. a marine battalion has boots on the ground and the whole unit will be in afghanistan before christmas. the goal is to have all 30,000 troops in place by the end of summer. roy disney, the nephew of walt disney has died. he worked as an editor,

screenwriter and producer at disney, but he will be remembered most for is love of animation. he took over disney's animation department and helped make "the little mermaid," "beauty and the beast" and the lion king. those are some of our headlines. i want to check in with you. good morning. come on in while you're making your coffee there. i'm robin meade. good morning, sunshine. president obama deciding to send 30,000 more troops it afghanistan. he described the struggle during an interview with abc and talked about an emotional turning point for him. >> probably the most powerful moment of my year was when i traveled up to dover, and not only met with the families who were there in the middle of the night waiting for their loved ones to come home in caskets, but walking up the ramp of the transport plane by myself and seeing those caskets -- it's --

it's indescribable. >> president obama said that he was reminded of the extraordinary sacrifices soldiers make and that his decision to commit more troops was based on national security. the mother of a 10-year-old boy wrongly removed from a school bus says she begged authorities to not hand him over to his father. john philippe allegedly tricked a judge into believing he had custody of his son. the judge issued a court order and in this tape, the boy, sean paul tells the constables that his father hits him. the boy's mother said they should have listened to him. >> they could did something, of course, it was the last time i saw my kid. i begged the police to stop them. we can do nothing. sorry. they could save my kid from being abducted and they didn't because they were only following orders and not bringing up

common sense. >> so awful. the mother says she also blames la comb's attorneys and the judge who issued the order. la comb and john paul have been missing since october. prosecutors have issued warrants accusing lacomb of kidnapping and perjury. senate republicans picked a tactic to stall the health care debate. tomko burn insisted that a 767-page amendment be read in its entirety. it called it an outrage and he decided to withdraw the amendment. coburn said the health care debate needs to slow down. a cincinnati bengals player is in very bad shape this morning after police say he had a fight with his fiancee. rafer with more on the story and by bad shape we mean critical condition? >> serious condition. >> chris henry according to his agent is, quote, battling for his life.

he fell out of the back of a pickup truck. police say henry had a domestic dispute with his fiancee. he jumped into the bed of the pickup as she drove away. he was found on the road about a half mile on the ground from the home where police say the dispute began. this is near charlotte. henry has had a history of off the field problems, but has seemingly just turned his life around. just a bad story and bad timing, just bad all around, robin. >> so sad. we certainly wish him well and hope he gets better. the cholesterol pill crestor my lower your risk of a heart attack or stroke even if you don't have high cholesterol. that's a review of the drugmaker's study. it's deciding whether to recommend crestor for patients who don't have the usual risk factors for heart disease. >> astra zefrng qaa is asking for expanded labeling including a possible increased risk of diabetes.

if you're not going to do your online shopping today, maybe you're doing the real kind, well, not that it's not real, trudging around with the shopping bags and bob will tell you if the weather will be on the way. >> i have been terrible this yore. so it will have to be online. >> you have a lot going on. you've been doing a lot of stuff. >> it is the last week end to do your shopping before christmas and i want to show you what's going on because a major winter storm is gathering strength. right now it's rain, but headed over the mid atlantic states. high pressure over the entire eastern seaboard. it's a cold air mass no matter which way you look at it. temperatures, single digits over the northern parts of the country. here's your low pressure center now developing around houston and that moves into the colder air mass that will throw a lot of snow at you starting tomorrow afternoon. the bull's-eye at this point seems to be around the virginia mountains. i'm thinking about a foot or more snow right there.

most of the snow should fall later this afternoon, actually tomorrow afternoon in through the weekend and by saturday it should be moving up toward the northeast and it will get a lot of snow near boston in toward cape cod and nantucket. the 12-inch bull's-eye. winter storm watches, they are up. let mow show you the winter storm watches and all of the regions shaded in white. the piedmont including charlotte, the foothills and the mountains stretching toward virginia. winter storm watch and again, mostly for snow. that's what it looks like. as for the snow itself, stretching in toward new orleans and more rain getting into miami and thunderstorms just offshore and that will be off and on for most of the day, but it looks like most of the snow again as it moves up to the north it will be falling apart once it gets to the northern part of the country. reason why, it's colder and dryer. look as the temperature t. right now, 27 in new york and boston. the temperature right now, 16, you add the winds and it feels

like minus 4. you can see the camera jostling around. you will see delays at logan because of this. right now winds gusting to close to 30 miles per hour. if you didn't know any better it doesn't look like it's minus four with the windchill. >> oh, gosh. >> you might get snow starting sunday morning but better chance around cape cod. get this, domino's is tinkering with its res poe. how it plans to sweeten things up. there's a report that insurgents hacked into video feeds of u.s. drones in iran maybe in the middle of it.

a couple of the stories making headlines in papers this morning. a report in "the wall street

journal" claims iranian-backed insurgents have been able to hack into video feeds of u.s. drones. they're doing it with a $26 computer program you can get on the internet. according to the report, u.s. officials say there's no evidence that any of the flights were actually compromised. in "the new york times" an in-depth look at the nation's water supply and the dangers we face with our drinking water. today's report focusses on federal laws designed to regulate contaminants in tap water. the report says those laws may be outdated where they use more and more chemicals. so look at the papers. brand new details about the northwest pilot who overshot by more than 100 miles. he let his guard down and that there's no good excuse. he admitted putting passengers at risk. the pilots were out of contact for more than an hour and after realizing their mistake the co-pilot said he accidentally erased text messages from the air traffic controllers.

just minutes ago the weekly unemployment numbers came out. jennifer westhoven is here to break them down for us. where did they land? thanks, robin, they came in the same level as they were last week. they were up a little bit, but the main thing is we're just seeing the job market in trouble. the good news is this is four weeks now where we're below the 5,000 mark, but still almost that number of people going to the unemployment number for the first time. i want to give you the good news about this and i don't want to get too matthey on you, but basically, i'm letting you know that there's a trend in this chart that smooths out the rocky action unless you know what's kind of happening and it does show that the job market still very terrible, but doing the best since last year. lehman brothers collapsing and then went to credit markets and the stock market and the job market.

so we'll see, it is still showing this trend of improving, but so slowly. >> do you like on order pizza at home? domino's is changing the pizza recipe. what do you think of that? do you love the taste of domino's pizza or is it when coca-cola tried out new coke. that didn't go too well. my dad still orders classic coke. he doesn't order coke. >> he doesn't want to take chances. >> to the nato sauce will be sweeter, the crust will be seasoned with garlic. their revenues have been falling in the past year and a half according to reports. now, robin? >> yeah. >> you said i don't care about the taste, get rid of the salt. >> any one of those type of pizza delivery places, you eat a piece of pays and you cannot put your rings on the next morning. >> and a lot of prepared foods. sara lee says they'll help you cut the salt. they're pledging to cut the sodium in some of their foods 20% over the next five years and

they say they'll do it very gradually so you will not bite into your hot dog and go -- where's the taste? hot dogs, lunch meat and bread? >> that's a new one on me. >> i didn't know bread was so salty. >> me neither. >> campbell's said they would cut the salt in soup and spaghettios. >> soup is the main culprit. have you ever looked on the back? >> i call it sodium bloat. martha stewart's style is getting the once over from the competition. tonight on "the joy behar show" joy talks with rachael ray about how she differs from the dining diva. >> the two of you have such a different way of approaching what you do just on television. yours is sort of a fun, ebulent and, you know, very friendly and hers. i've been on her show many times and she's right straight ahead, she focuses. you can say i have six months to live and she'll say put more

glue on the paper mache puppet. that's where she's at. >> she's very, very focused. >> she's focused, but i think that that's a very legitimate, fantastic way of teaching. it is the opposite end of how i teach. i like to go at it from, hey, if i can do it, believe me anybody can because for me that's my truth. >> hers is the opposite. hers is you can't do this. hers is this is perfect and come as close as you can, which is legitimate. >> so you've got to see the rest of this interview and it airs tonight with rachael ray "the joy behar show" at 9:00 eastern on hln. it takes talent to be this year's most popular youtube video. then a little dog was a big help at 9/11, and now he's getting a chance to hear all the praise people have been giving him for years.

>> an aging therapy dog is back on his game thanks to a new hearing aid. timmy the dog has been helping people ever since 9/11. he gave workers at ground zero a break from the grim task of recovery. surgeons in cincinnati gave the basset hound something in return. >> timmy has given so much to the community and they have given back to us and so we just want that to, you know, give something back to him because he's just always given to people, to neil as a service dog and therapy dog to the community and we want to do something back to him to make the rest of his life good. >> timmy's handler can now speak directly in his ear with a wireless microphone. a junior hockey team in wisconsin is under fire for killing a bat that flew into the arena during a game. rafer weigel, i don't know if they can win on this one. >> you had a no-win situation.

yeah. >> folks may remember the infamous story and the same thing happened in san antonio with man you ginobili. i have to warn you guys, this video might be upsetting because the same thing happened. it was during a game and the bat started flying around the rink. there it is, flying very, very low. so a coach told his players to take it out with their sticks and he was worried about the players and the fan's safety where they kill the bat right here. what if it had rabies? so i'm not saying any which way was right. pretty much a no-win situation. >> a man accused of stabbing a connecticut football player to death has pled not guilty to murder. the attorney for john lomax ii, says he does not believe the state has enough evidence to claim that lomax stabbed anyone. howard was stabbed after a school dance and the killing very emotional for howard's tome mates and his family.

since robin will ob "inside the nba." >> tonight. >> tonight you will be on. talk about kobe bryant because he, with a broken finger, three, two, one in overtime, swish! the game-winning shot, 39 points with a broken finger on his shoot hand. that's in a win over milwaukee. it was unbelievable. and this was unbelievable. duke university's basketball program gives us great moments from cinema history. our favorite from "titanic." nolan smith doing his best kate winslet. see? i think we should let the video speak for itself. >> only my eyes. >> i'm sorry. it's wrong for so many reasons. ? how can they do that with a straight face? >> that's not bad acting. there's the portrait. they did this in conjunction with the duke university improv group. >> that's awesome. thank you. people are so talented. all right. are you always losing your keys

and you don't have anywhere to hide an extra set in now you can do away with the extra keys and make your house more secure. hln money expert clark howard unlocks the secret. >> okay. got a question for you. how many times have you locked yourself out of your own house? maybe you say none? well, something you may not know about me is i am flaky as they come. repeatedly i'm like fred flintstone where he gets locked out of the house by the dog, i'm the one that locks myself out of the house. there's a new invention that's popping up in hardware stores that i think will make a big difference in my life. it's a deadbolt for your house that reads your thumbprint, so if you lock yourself out or you don't want to fumble around for the keys, for $150 you can install one of these babies, press that thumbprint and you're

in. this is something for good for people who aren't flaky like me, for example, a woman coming home at night alone. think about it. i'm clark howard. for more ways to keep you and your wallet safe, go to cnn.com/clashhoward. clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. chuck barry could soon be immortalized in brojz. a group in his hometown is raising money for an 8-foot statue of berry with the guitar. chuck berry's 83 and still perform ps every month at the blueberry hill restaurant in st. louis. that's awesome. the face of the united states isn't quite changing as fast as originally thought. why it could take longer for minorities to become the majority.

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good morning, come on in, it's okay, you're in your jammies, i know. here's what's making the news today. a new jersey father who has fought for five years for custody of his little boy is on his way to brazil right now to pick him up, but could another court hearing today get in the way? are you another of those people who have waited until the last minute? today may be the day you shop. and it is that time of year again, awards seasons for hollywood. we'll find out in a few moments, the nominees for the s.a.g. awards. right now an american father is flying to brazil to reunite

with his kidnapped son. the custody battle has dragged on for years, but yesterday a brazilian court ruled he should get his son, 9-year-old sean, back. his mother died last years, but sean's brazilian stepfather fought to keep him. these pictures were taken on the plane. he also called anderson cooper before he took off and hopes this will be the last trip. >> i can only do the best i can, and hopefully everything else will this time work out, that the rule of law, god, nature, human decency, will be followed and sean will come home to reunite with me, his only parent, and his family. >> if the boy's stepfather files another appeal, brazil's supreme court would hear the case today, but it's possible shaunl could

still come to the united states while it its decision. he described his struggle during an interview with abc, and he talked about an emotional turning point for him. >> probably the most powerful moment of my year was when i traveled up to dover and not only met with the families who were there in the middle of the night waiting for their loved ones to come home in caskets, but walking up the ramp of the transport plane by myself and seeing those caskets, it's indescribable. >> president obama said he was reminded of the extraordinary sacrifice that soldiers make and that his decision to commit more troops was based on national security. your teenager might think it's less dangerous to get highs using pills in the medicine

cabinet, from a university of michigan survey of 8th through 12th graders. more teens reported uses the painkillers more than last year. and they used the attention deficit disorder drugs recreationally. now the nominations are being announced in l.a. they're usually a good preview of some oscar-worthile films. >> the nominees for outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series are alex baldwin, "30 rock." steve carrel "the office. larry david "curb your enthusiasm." tony shalhoub, "monk." charlie sheen" two and a half

men." >> "30 rock" i'm not surprised. "curb your enthusiasm" i'm not surprised. "glee" i've not seen this, but everyone plays the show. we'll keep dipping in and see how the nominations are coming along this morning. an nfl player is in the hospital after police say that he fell out of the back of a pickup truck. rafer wigle with more on this story. good morning. >> good morning. bengals' receiver chris henry is battling for his life, quote. police found him on a north carolina road. they say the dispute began at a home near charlotte, and henry jumped into the bed of the pickup as she drove away. he was away from his team after he broke his arm. he had been arrested several times, but it seemed he had turned his life around, robin,

just a bad story all around. >> it surely sounds like it. let's hope he recovers well. we're hearing from the other white house party crashers. yesterday we told you that harvey and paula darden mistakenly showed up for a tour a day early. instead, secret service said they did background checks, the white house took them to an invite-only breakfast for the veterans where the president appeared. >> he said now you're officially the representative of the dfw post, and my advice is to go with the flow. >> the dardens say they're still waiting to receive the pictures they took that day at the white house. when i was reading some of the wire copy of this story, it's so cute. they said they were kind of being shuffles along and being taken here. he said as he sat down to this invite-only breakfast, he had the sinking feeling of i don't think we're supposed to be here.

>> i don't have a golden ticket here, so, yeah, you put me in the wrong spot. >> hi, bob. >> let's start with the west coast. another storm for the weekend. the parent low is still off in the pacific. you'll see the clouds get thicker overnight. it will throw some rain and snow at you once again. if you look under the clouds right now, not much is falling, the blue is all rain, get across the higher elevations, the other by snow maker, believe it or not, it's going to be across the carolinas. here's why. high pressure dominating across the entire east coast. notice this low, lots of rain coming out of the gulf, towards louisiana, that whole mass of rain gets through georgia and into the carolinas by tomorrow afternoon. all no for the mountains, snow and rain mixed when you get towards peetment, two inches of no a possibility around

charlotte, with a foot or more through the carolina and virginia mountains. so how about the rarch right now? the heaviest is around corpus christi. the darkest shade of blue is moderate rainfall, towards new orleans, ultimately towards mississippi, alabama, georgia, too. look at the thunderstorms around a tail end of a cold front across florida. a look at the snow for the weekend, friday through saturday about a foot or more, kind of unheralded this time of year. how about new york city? we'll get some delays because of the wind, currently windchill in the 20s. that's your forecast. more in just a little bit. >> okay. thanks. >> you got it. you may have noticed that i have been out the past few days. i swear i was on assignment. it was to tape a special with turner sports stars charles barkley, kyle petty, and dennis eckersley.

we talked about the obsession with celebrity, either real or manufactured, and here's charles barkley weighing in on levi johnston's plan to pose for "playgirl." levi johnston was paid $25,000 to disrobe for "playgirl." how much for you? how much? >> it all depends. the fat charles barkley or the skinny? >> nobody wants to see the fat charles barkley. >> so we talked a lot about a lot of heavy subjects here, and then we also talked some fun like that. you can get a taste of what's to come "with all due respect" when kyle petty joins me live. we were just yammering on. be sure to catch the entire special this sunday at 10:00 p.m. right here on hln. don't you hate when you shop

online, you get a great deal, and then the final price sky rockets because they added in shipping? we're going to hear about how places will help you keep money in your pocket, but not for long.

all right. it's time for us to "salute the troops." it's to a special group of soldiers celebrating a special anniversary. >> i am sergeant major tommy marrero from the u.s. army. we'd like to honor or chaplain assistants on our 100th anniversary. we celebrate the selfless history, and for our soldiers and their families, happy 100th

anniversary chaplain assistants. >> thank you. if you want somebody you want to salu salute, go to cnn.com/robin. if you're making a getaway today, it's early, because it's only thursday. hello, bob. >> let me show you a live look at atlanta right now. things are just fine. you'll get the rain in overnight. tomorrow a different scenario. look at the high clouds ahead of our next storm system. we'll see a lot of rain and wind tomorrow in atlanta, but at least today, traveling should be just fine. the way it looks, new york metro, boston, a lot of wind, you can still see the snow stream off lake ontario. you know what that means, a lot of wind. here's what we're calling for. buffalo with de-icing delays, but they're there. and then you're looking at rain filling in through the gulf coast. in new orleans about a laugh hour to hour-long delay,

houston, we'll get it there as well. san francisco will be morning fog. this could be your last chance to get free shippings if you're buying holiday gift. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here to tell us that. >> i'm not done. >> i just start started yesterday. you haven't gotten my thing yesterday. >> but there's a lot of people i think who aren't done. if you have something left, maybe you were thinking i'll find it online. well, get on the stick. many stories have been offering free shipping, but this could be the final round. after today, you may have to pay a lot more to get it under the tree in time. more than 700 retails are calling it free shipping today, but names including apple, kohl's, keel's, target, there's a minimum purchase at some, but the price will go way up if you get close to the 25th. we have the whole list at cnn.com, just control down a bit to where it says "important web

sites." the head of the federal reserve, will he keep his job? his nomination comes up for a vote this morning in washington. bettrnanke is expected to get t job for the next four years, and they'll begin its meeting in a few minutes. yesterday the fed did pledge to keep interest rates near record lows to try to help support the weak economy. low rates help out the economy. the fed says the economy is growing, but very slowly. still so hard to find a job or get a loan. a businesswoman in washington, d.c. turned her love for shoes into a new job. stephanie elam takes a walk in our "small business success." >> cassie rimple has soul, as a former cpa, it made sense to follow her passion -- shoes. >> i started with a 1-800 number in my dining room, surrounded by

shoes. five years later we're a multimillion dollar business. >> she founded simply soles in 2004, first with a catalog, and then a website. >> i knew what i wanted to do, i wanted to start a catalog, but where do you go to print it? all these questions that i had to rely on the generosity of strangers to help me figure out how to create this dream. >> in 2008, simply soles opened its first retail store in washington, d.c., where customers get a one on one experience. >> we focus a lot on customer service. every customer receives a handwritten thank-you note. the response has just been unexpected. i think most successful businesses know that it's not about the first sale, it's about repeat business. all right. maybe you're thinking that's

nice, but my spaul business is even better. well, we want to see your success story. put your store right on our show. send us a video i-report, share some tips, you could be next on "morning express." it's the only hollywoods award show that the actors get to pick the picture. find out which ones got the nod.

authorities suspect foul play in the disappearance of a utah mom. they say that susan powell's disappearance is so out of character that they're treating it as a criminal investigation. powell's husband josh has provided a dna sample, as have other family members. josh powell's lawyer says that he's helping police in their search, but authorities say he's given them little valuable information. >> a strong interest is probably all i should say. >> he's made comments to the media that he doesn't know where she is, but as far as making specific comments to the police department other than just general questions that would help us identify her if she was found, we've been unable to be specific with him about those kinds of details. >> the 28-year-old mother was reported missing december 7th. at that time he told police he had taking their two sons

camping the night before, and with they returned the next day, she was gone. it's like the story that just keeping giving. now a doctor who helped tiger woods recover from knee surgery has been charged with trying to smuggle human growth hormone into the united states. so because there's a connection to tiger woods, people are like -- >> people are already piling on. >> whether it's warranted or not. >> fair nufl. the "los angeles times" columnist wrote a column accusing tiger woods of doping. people say in no way does this imply that he took performance enhancers, but after the knee surgery. dr. galea injected his own blood into the area, saying. so -- however, woods did get

some good news. he was named the associated press athlete of the decade, a very prominent award, obviously more about his performance on the golf course. more than half the votes were cast after the car crash. in ten years, nobody ruled his sport like tiger. like everything else, it was a landslide victory. lance armstrong was a distance second. lastly, a junior hockey team is under fire for killing a bad that flew into its arena. i have to warn some of you this video may upset you. as the bat flew around until two players finally killed it with their hockey sticks. the coach says they were concerned about the players' and fans' safety. >> that's just a tough position. x

the dow took a little dip yet. can stocks get back on the right track? we'll have a report live in a few minutes here. first, though, a father and son could be reunited today after an international custody battle that has dragged on for years. a brazilian court ruled yesterday that american david goldman should get back his 9-year-old son sean. his mom kidnapped him in 2004. in a dal hasan it ended with

police shot hasan. he is paralyzed from the waist down. the numbers to ring in the new year's have arrived. pedi-cabs delivered the "1" and the "0." you see they are made of led bulbs that use only nine watts each. good morning. come on in while we do some news. the nominees for the screen actors guild awards were just announced. let me get you caught up on those. george clooney, vera farmiga. and more for "up in the air." and "invictus," and the best cast film went to "precious."

the winners will be announced january 23rd. the mother of a 10-year-old boy wrongly removed from a school bus said she begged authorities not to hand him over to his father. he allegedly tricked a judge into believing he had custody. the judge issued a court order. in the surveillance tape, the little boy tells the constables that his father hits him. the boy's mother says they should have listened. >> they could have done something. of course, it was the last time i saw my kid. i begged the police to stop them, we can do nothing, sorry. they could have saved my kid from being abducted, and they didn't, because they were only following orders and not bringing up common sense. >> how awful. the mother says that she also

blames his attorneys and the judge who issued the court order. they have been missing since october. prosecutors have issued warrants accusing la comb of kidnapping and perjury. crestor might lower your risk of a heart attack or stroke, even if you don't have high cholesterol. that's from an fda review. it's deciding if it should recommend crest ore for patients who don't have the usual risk factors. the drug's maker astrazeneca is asking for expanded labeling. the the fda is still investigating, including a possible increased risk of diabetes. so in a few minutes we'll have nascar legend kyle petty on, because we'll be talking about the things he could not say during the taping of our special. >> i'm a huge fan. >> don't miss it. you like kyle? >> absolutely. >> he is so intelligent, really great, in-depth views.

>> i can't wait to hear. >> hi, bobby. >> the make snow-maker that's about to develop for the carolina mountains back through the northern parts of virginia. it's a real cold mass here. the rain developing across the coast of texas now stretching twa louisiana, and the path is taking it right into the carolinas. let me show you how much snow we're anticipating. it really is going to start in essence by tomorrow afternoon, mid kay in charlotte, and then rolling into virginia friday night into saturday. 12 inches or more, you'll find that across western parts of virginia, including roanoke. winter storm watching have been posted. stretching all way back down to charlotte, and down toward greenville and spartan burg. it's a mixture of rain and snow around piedmont. look at the heavy rain right now

out of corpus christi in towards houston. lots of rain swallowing up the entire region, going back into new orleans, right out of lower louisiana, stretching over to the east farther. check out miami, showers, thunderstorms rolling in off the atlantic. here's the way it looks off the tower cam. you'll see showers and thunderstorms developing here and there, temperatures into the 80s, so kind of warm for this time of year. more details in about a half hour. >> kind of scary and pretty at the same time. >> beautiful miami. it's always majestic. an avalanche survivor is speaking out. sheriff's officials say alec mire triggered an avalanche tuesday when he went snowboarding near loveland pass, colorado. >> it felt soft, like the ground is falling away from you. everything around me started moving at once. i lost it, it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks. i just started crying then and

there. >> a woman skiing with him dug him out. he says it was a mistake not to bring an avalanche kit or bea n beacon, and guess what, those things are a his christmas list. on wall street stocks retreated yesterday after the fed said the economy would remain weak for some time. susan lisovicz, who predicted it pretty well. good morning. >> good morning. i'm not going to say it's an avalanche of selling, but we are seeing a decisive drop for citigroup. its shares are down 8%. the treasury department backing out of plans to sell its stake in citi. the move comes after investors priced more than 5 billion shares lower than what the government originally paid for them. investors are still worried, also it means the government would have taken a loss had it sold its stake in citi, so it's

going to wait. that's good for us, because we're the ones behind it. another big bank in the news, bank of america has a new chief executive. the company uss brian moynihan will take over. despite that, the shipping giant issued a weak forecast for the currents quarter, but gives good news for fedex employees. the company will resume 401(k) matching and merit salary increases in 2010. a merry christmas to those folks, because they certainly are working hard this time of year. robin. >> can you imagine? you must be sweating it the few days before christmas. >> this is it, easter, halloween, everything all rolled up into one when you're working for a shipping company. >> hey, thanks, good to see you. >> likewise. the prime minister of italy is finally out of the hospital.

you'll see how he's doing after an attack.

you know what, every now and then we select, only on thurs, a few vip viewers to come on in and watch the show from here on the set. are any of you supposed to be at work right now? i hope not. they just showed you on tv. call your mama. you can sign up for the tour right there. new this morning, italy's prime minister silvio berlusconi is out of a hospital just days after he was attacked. now berlusconi has a fractured

nose, some broken teeth, he was hit with a small statue on sunday. insurgents have reportedly hacked into a key weapon the united states is using in iraq and afghanistan. that's one of the stories that richard lui is working on for the next hour. good morning. >> yes. good morning. according to the "wall street journal" they hacked into drone planes. >> plus after 35 years in prin, a dna test shows the man did not convict the crime he was convicted of. >> all right. thank you. >> people need to see tiger. >> that's the first thing i said. you can't just blog about it. especially when you apologize, you can't do it on a blog. >> yeah, when you ask charles barkley and spike lee for an opinion, they don't hold back.

they're just two of the stars interviewed for an upcoming special this sunday. kyle petty was also part of the panel, which is focused on the country's obsession with celebrity. he joins us live from nashville. thank you for appears with me even after all the questions i asked you for sunday's special. you're statement for the whole tiger thing might be better if it were handled differently? >> charles said it best, he needed to hit it head-on right off the bat, charles and spike both. i defer to them on this one, okay, because obviously they have a relationship with tiger and they understood that. but basically they said his handlers got in i way, charles said he hadn't spoken with him. i thought that was an interesting take on that. we all form pin opinions on different things, but when you talk to somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody that's right to the situation,

that's a little bit different. >> what is it about human nature that it's hard for us to turn away from this story. i mean, you want to say, oh, that's his private life, not his golf game, but there's something about human nature that you just watch this story. >> you know, and there is something, and i don't have a clue what it is. i drove around in circles my life, how do i know? but it's not only tiger's story, it's jon and kate plus 8, it's the octomom, the michael jackson story, you know, i love the positive side. i said it on the show, i love the positive side of the michael jackson story. i hated the negative side of the michael jackson story, all about the doctor, all about the drugs, all about all this stuff. michael jackson was such a talented person, let's celebrate his life, and that's the same with tiger. with you look at what he's done on the golf course, let's celebrate it for a little bit.

he did wrong, let 'move on. whether one woman comes out or 100 women, it's still wrong, and i think that's what charles was saying. he should have hit it head-on. >> should would kcoulda, den nis eckersley said he felt kind of duped. >> i think that's the image that tiger portrayed, that's who he wanted america to believe he was, and that's okay. if you live up to that and can continue that, that's great. if you can't and you fall off the peak, that's not great. america is the greatest country in the world to build somebody up and then want to drag them back down. the only way tiger is going to get around this is to come out, play golf and kick everybody's butt like he did, and eventually it will go away. we look at the scanned always in

the past to other celebrities, other well-known figures. after they get back into the swing of doing what they do and what they do best, the private side of their life falls away. >> yet we still have yet to see him. kyle is going to tell you what he did not get to stay at the show, because we had a lot of people talking, and he also sounds off about bernie madoff on this show on sunday night. for example. >> when you look at this crime, obviously it was a pyramid scheme, but the people who committed sue size, people whose health has gone down the tubes, the future of so many kids and other people, it's not like this, it's not i took your money, but it's your money and the next four generations of your family's money. >> he's an intelligent guy with serious opinions, and he also has a few things to say about levi johnston.

oh, okay. when we come back.

so we're back with kyle petty, one of our panelists on the special sunday night called "all due respect." when you say "with all due respect" or "i don't mean to be ugly" it's immediately followed by being ugly. it negates everything. what do you think the appeal is for them of the show? >> i think the appeal was, and i've said this a million times. when celebrities or personalities start giving their opinion, i can't care less, i form my own pin, but sitting and listening to charles, eric, spike, and some of the things and dennis and some of the things that went on, i looked at it and i thought, you know, they changed my opinion on certain things, because they have a totally different perspective. charles barkley is the celebrity, so when he says something about what tiger feels or about a certain situation, it changed my opinion on it.

you know, from my perspective, watching the show will give you a little bit more insight into how some guys look at life, and how, if you were in that same position, you may see it different. >> and i can say that a lot of the things that were said, i think a lot of us think thinks things, but we're afraid to say it, and the people on the panel are not afraid to say things. for example, i want to show you this next piece of the show. we talked about celebrity, real or manufactured. the we was, did star power help get the president elected? here's what is kyle said. >> i do believe that we have a president now who is as much a celebrity as he is a president, and he's become that, and he's transcended that. we expect so much -- we expect something from him. there is a group in this country that expects him to fail, wants him to fail and wishes him to faw bea he is a black man,

that's how simple it is, and we have to live with that. >> you put it out there. levi johnston, is how would we even would be different when you were growing up. tell me about that. >> i think for me and i say this on the show, when i was in school, the worst thing that could happen is you would have to come home and tell your family that your girlfriend is pregnant. that's the worst thing to happen for you and worst thing to happen for her and almost the worst thing that can happen for the child in the long run. i know if i had to do it, i would have had my rear end busted big time. i wouldn't have been posted in "playgirl." i wouldn't be the celebrity that makes 25 grand for doing this. this guy is getting paid because what? he was sarah palin's almost son-in-law? he changed these lives? you know, i can't believe we as americans and we in this country want to follow that stuff. >> it is amazing sometimes. especially when he sits down. he's not even really a good guest. he can't talk. speaking of talking, what did you not get to say or maybe

focus on during this special because it was so hard to get a word in? say it now, my friend. >> you know, that's a good question. we had some topics that were thrown out from the audience that a lot of us didn't get to expand on. dennis and i talked about it when it was over with. it was hard to get a word in. when you have spike lee and charles barkley there, i'm in awe listening to what they have to say. when we talked about michael jackson and the president, we got into race a bit and how one side sees it and how the black side sees it and how we see it, how the white side sees it. when you look at it, there's a divide in this country. you would think all we've been through and these guys fighting for us right now, red, yellow, black and white, makes no difference, you would think we would be past it in this country and it surprises me that divide. wish we could have gotten into that more. before we go off here, i got to thank you for the snuggie. that was nice. >> i'm so glad you brought it

up. i know for a fact that kyle petty, charles barkley and spike lee all have snuggies. hln snuggies. you wear it well. that's how we should have done the show. it's sunday night on hln. 10:00 p.m. eastern. kyle, thank you.