rise and shine. i know the monday after a holiday, you're like, you've got to be kidding me, all right. i'm christi paul. we're so glad you're with us. we do want to get straight to the news, though. we've got a lot to talk about. specifically airports on high alert after the alleged terror plot on the u.s. plane. we have new details about the explosive and what this could mean for your next flight. holiday sales were up from last year. and we're seeing what you spent your money on. plus, it was a record-breaking weekend at the box office. "avatar" tried to stay on top, but did "sherlock holmes" manage to knock it off its perch? thank you so much for being

here. i'm christi paul in for robin meade. we have brand new details regarding the terror suspect accused of trying to blow up a northwest airlines plane on christmas day. and another scare on a flight with the exact same itinerary. that was yesterday. but first, a source tells our sister network, cnn umar farouk abdulmutallab had enough explosives to blow a hole in the plane's side. he allegedly tried to set off the explosives as the plane was making its final approach to detroit. the passengers say they heard a popping sound and saw fire in the man's seat. a dutch passenger says he grabbed the suspect. >> and without any hesitation, i jumped over all of the seats and jumped to the suspect. and because i was thinking he's trying to blow up the plane. >> prosecutors will try to get dna samples from the suspect today. now the nigerian man is out of the hospital after being treated for burns.

h he was on a broad security watch list, was not the no-fly list. his family says he disappeared while studying abroad. a senior administration official says the suspect's father recently warned the u.s. embassy in nigeria saying his son had become radicalized and might be planning something. we got this photo from the first bank of nigeria's website, this is the man's father. meanwhile, we have new details regarding another security scare in detroit on a northwest plane with the same route and flight number, mind you. officials say yesterday's incident is not related to possible terrorism. but they say a man spent a long time in the plane's bathroom because he was sick. he was released from custody and got on another flight. and the passengers talked about the scare. >> we were kept on the airplane for a while. and they would not the plane -- let the passengers off the plane. and when we got to the customs

control, we entered the country normally and waited about an hour for luggage. that's all we know. >> and because of all of this, you may be facing tighter airport security on your next trip. the homeland security department says more federal air marshals are on planes. security agents may pat the soles of your feet and run a wand across your body. some security lines are longer. >> we come in, they -- we had to make sure we were seated and had nothing on our laps, no pillows or blankets. a bit strange, i thought, but i think precaution for them. >> the only thing that was different was that coming into the plane in mexico city they search all of our bags individually. the security guys. and then they searched us, like a body search each one of us. >> so we want to know, are you okay with more screening? even possible patdowns at the

airport? we posted this question on our facebook page before the show. bobby wrote to us saying anything to get to my destination safely. he's for it. but john says no thanks. i think i'll find other transportation. it's already a hassle to fly now. so go to our facebook page, tell us what you think. there's a link at cnn.com/robin. we love to hear from you. so please do. massachusetts officials are investigating a string of suspicious fires, one of which killed two people. at least five buildings and four cars burned early sunday morning. all the fires were within 1/2 mile of each other in downtown north hampton. the d.a. says the two victims were found on the first floor of the house. two people who lived upstairs were able to get out safely. there are reports of at least eight people killed in some of the bloodiest anti-government protests in iran in recent months. cnn can't independently verify the death toll given by iran's national security counsel. more than 300 protesteors were

arrested yesterday. since june they've rallied against the disputed presidential election. one of the most successful coaches in college football made that shocking announcement that he was stepping down. and then he changed his mind. rafer weigel, what's going on here? >> it's been a whirlwind 24 hours, christi paul. irwin myer shocked everybody when saturday said he was walking away. less than a day later the 45-year-old says he will not step down. instead he's going to take an indefinite leave of absence. meyer cited health reasons for wanting to retire after chest pains sent him to the hospital december 6th. he told the "new york times" his daughter said "now i get my daddy back." but after watching his team practice sunday, meyer had a change of heart. >> we had that heck of a run. a run we're very proud of. and when you sat back and watch those young guys go at it and the coaching staff and the program we've built to not try

would be not the right thing to do. >> so what does this mean? well, meyer's going to coach the gators for the sugar bowl, and he expects to be back with the team when the 2010 season starts. christi? >> thank you so much, rafer. let's talk about your weather right now. i know that a lot of you have seen exorbitant amounts of snow. bob van dillen, is there a risk to all of that melting at this point? >> i don't think so. temperatures are pretty cold. above freezing towards new york state, buffalo, below freezing as that cold front comes on by. but you can see a big shot of snow now across central and right down through p.a. and new york city, we're going to get light snow showers here for the day. breezy conditions coming back. all the white is all snow. the blue is light rain and south jersey, all snow for you, u.p. of michigan, northern michigan too. you see about 3 to 6 inches of snow today. you can see a nice little shot

of snow around essex county, it's all going to slide in towards new york city, down through long island. not too much, but it's going to be out there for the morning commute. watch out for that. light snow in towards albany, most of it down the mohawk valley. a little lake enhancement off of erie and ontario. this would be bona fide lake effect. you're going to see snow pile up there in areas shaded in red. talking about syracuse and erie, pennsylvania. that's about 6 to 12 inches of snow. maybe a little bit more. big news, also snow in towards new england. about 3 to 6 towards northern maine. and new hampshire a little bit less. then when you get to the temperatures, it's going to cool down for you. currently 42 in new york, that's the high for the day. by tomorrow, your high only 29 as that cold air over the great lakes begins to move on through. look at some of these readings, 15 in bismarck, 12 in billings. cold air on the move, going through the great lakes into the northeast.

full details on that plus look down in florida, showers out there for key west. that's it, though. tranquil day in the northeast. >> you are at least watching it, not in it. >> i woke up ten minutes ago, turns out i've been here for two hours already. >> thank you. well, homeland security right now is trying to figure out how explosives got on to the plane in the alleged airline terror plot. what president obama wants the agency to do to better protect you. wait until you see how stores faired this holiday season.

well, security experts say machines, bomb-sniffing dogs, or a manual swab test could've detected the explosives in friday's bomb scare. despite being on a broad watch list, but the homeland security secretary said the system still

worked because the suspect was stopped before he could pull off the attack. >> one of the things i think we will be doing over the next weeks is really looking at those watch list procedures in light of this occurring and say, okay, do those need to be changed? they've been in place for a number of years. do they need to be adjusted in light of this event? just as we will look at a our screening and screening technology. once we know for sure what he had and what he had access to. to see whether any of that needs to be changed. >> now, we're getting a pretty frightening picture of what might have happened had those explosives worked. a preliminary analysis identified the substance as petn, that is the same explosive used by the so-called shoe-bomber, richard reid, remember that? well, passengers heard popping sounds, but watch this demonstration. a source told our sister network cnn that the suspect had enough

petn to blow a hole in that plane. all right. did you spend a little bit more for holiday gifts this year? well, you're in good company. the first numbers look pretty good for retailers. jennifer westhoven is here. i don't know about you, but i went a little over budget. >> you did? >> it always happens. how about you? >> make your budget a little bigger then you can plan for it. >> then i can i say stay within budget. >> i usually do presents mostly for kids. but this is one of the lovely things about atlanta. a lot of people surprises me and there was a lot -- so it's good, it's really nice. all right. but overall, there was an extra shopping day, so that really helped with the spending. it was a little higher. that's some good news in the bad economy for the economy. consumer spending so important. mastercard spending sales were up about 3%. so what did you get? what were the popular gifts for

you or your family this year? consumer electronics and shoes got a lot more traffic. there was less spending on luxury items or clothes. and fewer people bought gift cards. and that is going to be yet another challenge for the stores. because, you know, in january, they count on you coming in, redeeming that gift card and then while you're there seeing something else that's on sale and paying for that too. now, we're getting to the end of the year. let's talk about the duelling outlooks of the economy for 2010. first, three very accurate economists say slow recovery. that's their forecast. bloomberg says these three guys are the most accurate this year at predicting the economy's behavior. so they've got a good track record. but then comes influential pimco to spoil the party for you. i'm just kidding, but it is the negative outlook. they're saying they're not so sure the recovery is going to stick around. the ceo says -- maybe you can relate to this if you've got kids. he says the economy is like a 6-year-old on a sugar high.

not all the government spending and low interest rates. and he says it's just not very sustainable. christi, back to you. >> he thinks it's going to stay how it is, but it's going to dip down again? >> yes, it's called the double dip. >> the double dip. and we know that's not good. in any way, shape, or form. double-dipping's not good. thank you, jen. if you think you work with a bunch of stiffs, hold the phone. stephanie elam tells us about a company dealing with real dummies in this small business success. >> judy henderson townsend is no dummy, but she works with them. she owns mannequin madness, a company that rents and sells used mannequins. >> we certainly have a lot of students. we also have people who are coming here because they're doing a trade show. i'd say the biggest majority are event planners.

>> the oakland, california, based company gets a leg up online. >> i would not be in business right now if i didn't have the internet. >> reporter: the company's business model helps the environments. buying used mannequins. >> we recycle about 100,000 pounds of mannequins a year. mannequins that normally would've gone into the landfill. >> reporter: she admits the economic downturn has hurt business, but shouldn't stop entrepreneurs. >> when i started this business in 2001, it was right after the dot com meltdown and 9/11. a difficult time, not unlike now. but there was still an opportunity. >> now, if you are a small business owner, we'd love to see your success story. go to cnn.com/robin, upload a video i-report of your business and share your tips. and if we really like what we see, then, you can be featured on morning express. we are learning more today about the man accused of trying to bring down a u.s. airline.

now experts talk about this as a possible copy cat crime. plus, charlie sheen got arrested on christmas day for domestic violence. and we new details about that alleged incident.

thank you so much for being with us. homeland security is investigating whether al qaeda was behind the attack on the plane on christmas day. the suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab told officials he got the explosive in yemen. terrorism analyst peter bergen says an attack on saudi arabia's security chief earlier this year was traced to al qaeda to a cell there in yemen. and it involved the same explosives. >> i think it's quite plausible that the same al qaeda cell in yemen did both attacks. and in fact, according to a saudi arabian official, he thinks that the widespread publicity about the way this attack was done and the fact that it could be done in an airport was something that the al qaeda affiliate in yemen

actually then implemented. >> right now, homeland security says there are no signs that the attempt was part of any larger international plot. but airport screenings are being beefed up. and there are a lot more air marshals on flights now. we are learning more about actor charlie sheen's arrest. tmz.com is reporting it was a knife. sheen spent part of christmas day in jail in aspen, colorado. he was staying at a house with his wife when police responded to a 911 call. sheen hasn't been charged, but he has to return to court on february 8th. some fans in indianapolis are furious with their team. the colts pulled their stars from the game and they lost. rafer weigel? >> the age old question. >> what's more important, right? >> exactly. health of the team, or chasing history. every other year it seems like we're in this position. now, the colts, they were the last undefeated team in the

league. in sunday's game against new york, they're already in the playoffs. so the question was how long would peyton manning stay in the game? the answer, up to the third quarter. they were up by five, comes in, he fumbles, and the jets score. it was like a scene right out of a movie. and peyton wanted to get back in the game. you could see him on the sidelines, he was kind of lobbying, they lose. jeff saturday's near tears. they're still in the playoffs. we're asking you guys, what do you feel about this? fans are upset, players are upset. they wanted to play in the game. but if someone gets hurt, you've got a problem. do you fault the team for pulling the starters? or was it better to play it safe? go to cnn.com/robin and hit the icon. meanwhile, the saints suffered a heart-breaking loss to tampa bay. tied at 17 with five seconds left. saints owner was like it's good,

it's good -- it's not good, tom. what? no, it's not good, tom. i thought it was good. >> the bucks -- does deliver. the bucks win their third game of the year, what a big one it was, saints, though, still in the playoffs. and the new york giants playing in the last game in the old stadium before they move to the new one next year. unfortunately they collapsed before their building. the g-men were embarrassed by the carolina panthers 41-9 and eliminated from the playoffs. uncharacteristically unclimactic ending on a new york stage. sarah thomas became the first woman to officiate a bowl game between marshall and ohio. the married mother of two young boys became the first woman to officiate a major college game two years ago. and she's on the nfl's list of officiating prospects. that is sports. how cool would it be if your mom was a referee? >> no kidding. they've got bragging rights there. rafer, thank you.

it's christmas. you're out of milk, run out to the supermarket, hoping it's actually open. so what happens when the sign says closed? but, the unlocked door welcomes you right in? liday.

but police say what's really surprising here is that no one stole anything. >> the customer from inside the store said there was a lot of customers in the store. we went over there, there was actually a report of customers leaving money on the counter, purchasing merchandise. >> a safeway spokeswoman says a lock malfunction left the doors open at both stores. all right, we've been talking about how security is going to be tighter at the airports. bob van dillen, people probably might not have a lot of time to get through security if they're running a little bit late. >> yeah. it's -- give yourself a little extra time to get through those lines, christi, i think they're taking extra care now. also weather, it's going to be the winds across the northeast. here's how it looks in new york

city, back in towards vermont, new hampshire, maine. that's all snow, rochester and buffalo. light snow towards cleveland. we're going to get delays out of this. so far, nothing, it's early, they are de-icing in buffalo. that'll slow you down in a couple of minutes. looking about half hour to hour long delays. boston, new york city, d.c., philadelphia, gusty winds, detroit, chicago, gusty winds about 30 minutes to one-hour delays. then the winds plus the showers later this afternoon. watch for that to bring down the visibilities. cleveland and buffalo, it's going to be snow. san francisco, low clouds and a little bit of light rain too. should be less than an hour delay there. no huge storm makers, which is good. the lake effect snow pops up in intensity tonight. >> all right, bob. thank you. pioneering civil rights attorney percy sutton has died. as a lawyer, sutton represented malcolm x and handled the cases of hundreds of people arrested during civil rights marches.

he put up the money needed to save the ioapollo theater back 1981. time for this special edition of "showbiz tonight." the flashback of long lost interviewer interviews, including brad pitt, milyeliley cyrus. about 125 whales died after becoming stranded on beaches in new zealand. hundreds of people worked over the weekend to rescue them. they were able to get 43 of the whales back out to sea. >> we've been here probably 3 1/2 to four hours and we've just been listening to instructions and, yeah, trying to keep them as wet as possible. >> good people there. about 105 stranded whales, though, died saturday in a different area. large numbers of whales die each summer on their way to breed. airline security is already so different because of that

apparent terrorist plot on christmas day. we'll tell you about the new measures.

a nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane near detroit is not expected to be at a court hearing at 2:00 p.m. eastern today. prosecutors will try, however, to get dna samples from umar farouk abdulmutallab today. his family says he disappeared while studying abroad. two people were killed in what's being called a suspicious house fire in massachusetts. it was one of at least nine fires yesterday morning, all within 1/2 mile of each other in downtown north hampton. at least five buildings burned along with several cars. and before you check your freezer for contaminated beef, an omaha company is recalling in six states, colorado, iowa, kansas, michigan, south dakota,

and washington state. the agriculture department says all have reported illnesses involving e. coli bacteria. go to cnn.com/robin, look on the important websites to get more details there. via time square, crystal ball will ring in 2010. a little added sparkle this new year's eve. nearly 300 water crystal triangles will be replaced with new ones. they represent this year's theme, let there be courage. pretty cool theme this year. thank you so much for being here. i'm christi paul, those are the headlines. i'm in for robin meade today. we want to get back to our top stories. we have brand new details regarding a terror suspect trying to blow up a northwest airlines flight on christmas day. a source tells our sister network cnn, umar farouk abdulmutallab had enough explosives to blow a hole in the plane's side. now, investigators are trying to figure out how he allegedly smuggled explosives on that plane headed for detroit.

police in london searched his last known apartment there in london. meanwhile, a senator is calling for changes to airport security. >> when you think about the minimal intrusion on privacy as against the ability to stop somebody who is trying to get on a plane to kill hundreds or if not thousands of people, we ought to be using more of those whole body scanners. >> president obama's administration has ordered a sweeping review of aviation security. and meanwhile, you could face more airport security on your next trip. international passengers talked about tighter security measures in the u.s. >> it was quite the -- more than usual. >> and the last hour of the flight, we -- nobody could even go to the restroom. so new security procedures.

>> and jennifer westhoven is looking out for you with more details on the new security restrictions. jen, what have you found? >> hey, christi, thanks. yeah. everybody, international, domestic, is being told to arrive at the airport earlier because you may have to stay in that line for a longer amount of time than you're expecting. so the old rules, an hour for domestic, hour and a half for international, you may have to add on to that. so then there's what you can see and what you can't see. what you're going to see if you fly is the guards at the screening points being a lot more careful when you go through. there's a much higher chance they're going to pat you down or open up your bags. and christi, i flew yesterday, my bag went through that thing three to four times. they were checking everything out. on the planes, you won't see them, but they're there, more undercover air marshals will be out in force on those airplanes. christi? >> we've been asking people too. are you okay with more screening? even possible pat-downs at the u.s. airport.

eric wrote to us, people are going to complain no matter what. so i say the tsa should do what they think is best for the general public safety. if you can't stand it, catch a bus. and richelle writes, what's next, a strip search? go to our facebook page, we'd love to hear from you. there's a link cnn.com/robin to get you there. a 5-year-old girl was rescued from her alleged kidnapper after a police officer spotted the suspect's truck. phoenix police say a 45-year-old man took her while she was playing outside her aunt's apartment on christmas day. seven hours later, he was in the middle of a car chase with the cops. >> as i went past him, i was able to see that there was a child and that male in the car. and once i came to a stop at the crosswalk, he wouldn't pull up next to me. i didn't want to hit him because it didn't look like the girl was restrained in the vehicle. so i didn't want to cause her any injury. >> police say the girl was molested. but she is back home with her

family, thank goodness. the pilot of the american airlines flight that overshot a runway in jamaica was back home in florida for christmas. captain brian cole says he's bruised up. he also praised his flight crew for their work during the incident. >> thankful to be home with my family. and i have the highest gratitude for my first officer and the flight attendants that were with us on that flight to be able to get everybody home to their families. >> cole didn't comment on the crash because it's still under investigation, but all 154 people on board survived. the jet had actually cracked open in about three places. this weekend was the biggest box office weekend ever. the guys -- you guys spent more than $278 million at the movies. and for the second week in a row

"avatar" hold it is top spot. second was "sherlock holmes." and third, "chipmunks." i don't know, with the weather, it was probably a good idea to stay in. >> yeah, if you could get out in it. >> that's true too. >> yeah, things are quieting down. for the time being now, still another storm by thursday. and friday for the northeast, a good four or five days to watch that. right now, it's a weak area of low pressure. it's really the front edge of a trough moving in to the northeast. we'll zoom on into the area. white know around new york city, jersey city. but it picks up a little bit back in towards albany. so we're getting light snow out there. back off to the west, it's a little heavier. lake enhancement off of ontario, lake erie, starting to see a little bit of lake effect snow,

mainly south of buffalo. buffalo, itself, 1 to 3 inches between today and tomorrow morning. but the heaviest down towards your south and also down toward your east. syracuse, going to get slammed with heavy lake effect snow overnight tonight, through tomorrow, looking for about a foot to a foot and a half. red-shaded areas. blue-shaded areas are all advisories for more snow today. warning for northern and central parts of maine. the dark-shaded blue is just about 8 inches, but i think you start seeing south of buffalo, purposes popping up there, foot to foot and a half of snow. includes erie, detroit, going to get light lake effect snows. 32 in albany, but 42 in new york. here's the cold front, nyc, 40 today, by tomorrow, 29 degrees. the west a little farther, you can see where the cold air is located, 18, 14, in sioux falls, 25 in des moines, still 24 in chicago, but feels like about the teens with that real windy condition popping up later today. down south in atlanta, if you

are traveling out towards the east coast, things should be pretty decent weather wise from about i'd say north carolina southward. a little bit of a breeze out there for atlanta today, the high about 45 to 50. tomorrow about 50. so it should be dry. more on that in a bit. how about this weekend snow? look at these pictures from south dakota. two kids playing in aberdeen, south carolina, shoveling on out. the second pick is a picture of a woman sledding with a dog. >> my dog? my boxer, he's about 10 now, so probably not. but the golden retriever. >> that's sweet. >> south dakota, more snow coming in for you later in the week, but won't be as heavy. no blizzard conditions, more on that in a little bit. the u.s. seems to be opening an entire new battle front against al qaeda. you're going to hear about a new operation kept hush-hush until this point. and donald trump's ex-wife kicked off an airline flight.

why flight attendants thought she crossed the line.

well, three american hikers detained in iran got a new attorney to try to get them released. their families said yesterday they hired a prominent iranian lawyer. and the families are still hoping to have them freed on humanetarian grounds. but they also want to prepare to fight espionage charges against those hikers. the family says the hikers mistakenly crossed iran's unmarked border with iraq back in july. you know, if you invested money in the stock market last spring, you had a pretty good year. set to finish the year with big gains in 2009. jennifer westhoven is here. this is good news as we round out the year. >> yeah, it is that time of

year. so you kind of want to look back and say what happened? what can i take away from this? there was a huge rebound for stocks this year. i know we didn't get back to where we were, but in a way, this is a lot of evidence for that argument that it never pays to sell during the full-fledged panic. and really, it felt a lot like that for so many people. even if you don't own stock personally, if you've got a pension or anything like that that you count on, you do. you indirectly hold stocks. so there's the dow starting around 9,000, then came the plunge in march to 6,500. and i'll tell you, a lot of investors went, am i supposed to sell everything at that point? we came back up and closed out. and this morning opening from 10,520. so the highest levels of the year. nasdaq 2,285, that rallied more than 45% for the year. so overall, we're not quite closed yet. but some very big gains, very big comeback. you don't see that very often.

that kind of move in the stock market. fortunately, maybe some people would say. since we went down to 6,500. apple is also opening high. this is all about buzz around the tablet computer. did you hear anybody talking about this? >> i didn't, but i'm aware of it. >> i had people at the christmas party asking me. have you heard about this? what is it going to be? and people think they can count on apple for game-changing products. kind of a cross between a lap to be and a smartphone. probably a pretty high price tag. by the way, that's not a picture of it because we don't have anything to show you because there's not a peep about this coming from apple. >> secretive. >> yeah, they are so secretive. but what happens is, all the chinese companies that make the products, leaks come out of there sometimes. we know they have an expected announcement about something, we don't know what, january 26th. so right now all the headlines

online about this are basically all just speculation. just like i just said. with don't know, but we think it's going to be big. >> well, hope so. hopefully january 26th will have something. something to get people to quiet down a little bit about it. thanks again. well, homeland security is reacting to the recent terrorist scare by putting more air marshals on planes. what else some fliers say they're seeing with security screenings. one of the most successful coaches in college football having a change of heart now.

there is a good chance that you're going to have an armed air marshal on your next flight. a homeland security official says the department's beefing up the ranking after friday's failed terror attack on the northwest airlines flight. what else can you expect when you fly? the department of homeland security says it's varying security measures at each airport to keep things predictable. give yourself extra time. one of the most successful

coaches in college football shocked audiences twice. >> brett favre has nothing on this man. and what a roller coaster ride it's been for his family and for his fans. but yes, florida coach urban meyer. saturday meyer said he was stepping down as the head of the team because of health concerns and to spend more time with his family. he was hospitalized over chest pains last month. well, then, sunday, after watching his team practice, changed his mind. says he's going to take an indefinite leave of absence after the sugar bowl game january 1st and expects to be back with the team at the start of the 2010 season. you're going to hear from meyer in about 20 minutes. the indianapolis colts will not be making history. already in the playoffs, the colts pulled peyton manning against the jets. here's his backup kurtis peyner. dinsy suffers the first loss of the season. manning looks upset, as were his

other players. fans were furious, why did you take them out? here's what they've been saying, you take them out so they don't get hurt. an undefeated season is nice, but the playoffs are more important. however, it does give the coaches a chance to see how the backups perform. they got an eyeful. that's from jeff. leonard wrote, for the fans, they should have played to win. in sports, that's what you get paid for. go to cnn.com/robin, hit the icon, we'll read your comments all morning long. doesn't like the call and accidentally hits the ref in the hand right here. well, that high-five got him an automatic ejection. and battled back to tie it at 27, but the eagles' david acres gives philly the win. they'll play dallas for the division title next week. yes, dallas, they won another game in december playing their rivals the washington redskins in front of almost 90,000 people

at fedex field and they did not mail it in. america's team normally has trouble winning this month. but they're in the playoffs, getting hot at the right time. ♪ summer loving had me a blast ♪ summer loving happened so fast ♪ >> that is tony parker and wife eva longoria singing -- >> "summer loving." >> well, they want people to send in your videos for a chance to win spurs tickets. >> i'm going to give him credit. he's not shy about looking silly. >> but he's married to eva longoria. >> pretty much can do whatever he wants. >> she's as cute as they come. >> you can go to tony's website. >> thanks, rafer. police say ivana trump was taken off a plane after she got angry about some children who were running and screaming in the aisle. the ex-wife of donald trump was

flying from palm beach, florida, to new york. authorities say she cursed at a the children and became more aggravated when flight attendants tried to calm her down. no charges were filed. got calm charges were filed. let's take a look at today's morning papers for you in case you haven't had a chance yet. the new york times is reporting the u.s. seems to be quietly opening a new front against al qaeda. the newspaper says the cia has sent fuel agents to yemen and cites they've been training in military tactics. they've been succeeding at keeping u.s. drug violence from creeping across the border. border violence dropped in the first half of 2009. santa fe, new mexico reports that more artists are having to take a second job to support

themselves. a survey finds two-thirds made less than $40,000 in 2008, and a third of that number made less than $20,000. let's check the air travel update. we've been talking about how there's going to be additional security, so delays might help some people in this case if they're running late. >> that's a good point. you're going to get some. you have a burst of wind in new york city. d.c, gusty winds out there, too, and that's going to be the same for dpil did he feephiladelphia. 30-minute delays for there. cleveland, deidenti-icing right too. half hour to hour delay with snow coming in. when it gets to the west, we'll talk about that in just a bit. air passengers who witnessed

that alleged terror attack say they know they're lucky to be alive, but one woman is counting her blessings two times over because of who she had on that plane with her. lly

shop for your medical care where you put doctors and providers in the competition with each other to provide your medical care. now, medicine kicking and screaming is going to be brought in the next five years into the era of actually having to post prices. it should have happened a long time ago. but if you need to know what something is going to cost now, this is a way to do if. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to protect your wallet, go to c thi cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark is going to teach you how to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturday and sunday right here on hln. a family who had just adopted two children were on that christmas day flight where authorities say a man wanted to blow up the plane.

another station talked to them when they were about to get blown up in a plane. >> god was protecting us and it was a true miracle. >> michelle keatman was headed home with two children. >> it was when they ran to get the fire extinguishers that we all saw the terror in their eyes and knew, this was it. >> they all held hands and began to pray for a safe return. moments later, they landed unharmed. >> it really is a christmas miracle, because the fact that -- i think the intent of this man was to blow up the plane. >> the keepmans are happy to be home, not only because they avoided a possible terrorist

attack, but they also brought home two very special christmas gifts. this is eight-year-old tuberic and his six-year-old arsema. the keepmans had just adopted them from ethiopia and were bringing them home for the first time. when the flight attendant came by, i told them it was a joke and they thought it was funny. >> and they're still playing for the first time in their lives, making snow angels. and their family believes during that flight home, they had an angel of their own. >> it's a dream, and i could cry talking about it, because this is what i hoped and prayed for. >> again, our thanks to jay olstad from the affiliate wtmj for that story. what an experience. you could be in for a long wait this morning if you're flying, too. what we're learning now about

that suspect.

it feels so good to be with you on a monday morning. i'm christi paul today for robin meade. i know it's hard to get up and get at it after maybe a long weekend for you, but let's do this together, come on. we're talking about airports and how they're on high alert after that alleged terrorist plot. we do have news about explosives and what this could mean for your next flight. plus, holiday spending was up this year and see what you spent your money on. reports say a weapon may have been involved in the charlie sheen arrest. we'll fill you in. we have details of a

terrorist suspect trying to blow up an american airlines flight. a source tells our sister network umar farouk abdulmutallab had enough explosives to blow a hole in the plane's side. he allegedly tried to set off an explosive. paengsz say they heard a popping sound and saw fire in the man's seat. a dutch passenger says he grabbed the suspect. >> with faith, of course, and without any hesitation, i just jumped over all the seats and jumped to the suspect because i was thinking he's trying to blow up the plane. >> prosecutors are going to try to get dna samples from the suspect today. the nigerian man is out of the hospital after being treated for burns. he was on a broad security watch list, but not on the no-fly list. his family says he disappeared while studying abroad, and a senior administration official says the suspect's father, whom you see here, recently warned the u.s. embassy in nigeria that

his son had become radicalized and he might be planning something. we got this photo from the bank of nigeria's web site because his father was the chairman until he recently retired. we had another security stair in detroit. it was on a northwest plane, same route, same flight number. officials now say yesterday's incident is not related to possible terrorism. they say a man spent a long time in the plane's restroom because he was sick. he was released from custody and got on another flight. and passengers talked about the scare. >> we were kept on the airplane for a while and the boarding guard would not let the plane -- let paengssengers off the plane. and when we got to the customs control, we went into the country normally and waited for about an hour for luggage. that's all we know. >> because of all this, you may face tighter airport security on your next trip. just so you know. the homeland security department

says more federal air martials are on planes. you might not be able to get up during the last hour of international flights, either, to usa today is reporting security agents may pat the soles of your feet, they may run a waund across your body, skpia inde indeed, the lines may be longer. >> i think it was a precaution for them. >> the only thing that was different was coming into the plane in mexico city, they searched all of our bags individually, the security guys, and then they searched us like a body search, each one of us. >> so we want to know, are you okay with more screening, even possible pat-downs at the airport? here's what one wrote to us.

thank you all so much for commenting. go to our facebook page and tell us what you think. we'd love to hear from you. there is a link at cnn.com slash r --/robin to make it easier. the head of homeland security explains how a man suspended of having ties to terrorists made it on board the flight to begin with. also, an alarming look at what kind of damage those explosives authorities say were found on board could have caused. we're going to get on to some other news here, massachusetts officials are investigating a stream of suspicious fires, one of which killed two people. at least five buildings and four cars burned sunday morning. all the cars were within a half mile of each other in downtown northhampton. >> i hope they catch them. that's horrible.

that's horrible for this community. >> they said they were found on the first floor of the house. and others were able to make it out safely. cnn can't confirm independently the death toll given by iran's supreme national security council. officials say more than 300 protestors were arrested yesterday, and the police chief insists nobody was killed by security forces. some experts suggest a clashing may signal a turning point. >> one of the things i was struck by watching many of these clips on the internet today was the number of clips in which the protestors overwhelmed the security forces and the security forces voluntarily surrendered and joined the protestors. we didn't see that, at least not in these numbers back in the summer. and it may be an indication that things are changing. >> these are more dramatic

photos of the protests here. a web site linked to the opposition movement says security forces stormed the offices of some anti-government activists this morning and rounded them up. since june they have rallied around these commotions. coach urban meyer said he was stepping down and then had a change of heart. >> change of heart because of his heart, christi. he shocked us all when on friday he said he was walking away. less than a day later, the 45-year-old said he will not step down as head of florida's football program. instead he said he would take an indefinite leave of absence. chest pains sent him to the hospital. his daughter was ecstatic saying, quote, now i get my daddy back. but after watching his he estee practice on sunday, he had a

change of heart. >> when you sit back and watch those young guys go at it in the coaching staff and the program we've built, to not try would not be the right thing to do. >> meyer will coach the sugar bowl on january 21st and he hopes to be back on the team when the next srn starteason st he expects to be back by then. >> i'm sure a sigh of relief. check your freezer for possible contaminated beef. the usda is recalling thousands of pounds of beef in six states. colorado, wyoming, washington state. go to cnn.com r/robin. you can go to the important web sites listed there. nearly 300 of itsz wonderful

crystal triangles will be replaced with new ones that have an interlocking ribbon pattern. it represents this year's theme, let there be courage. the ball drop goes all the way back to 1907. of course, bob looking at the weather thinking, you wouldn't want to be out there right now. >> let there be snow on thursday and friday in new york. more snow headed that direction is what it looks like now. we have four or five days to watch that. we have a couple cold fronts. one is a weak low moving through central new york. the other one is a real arctic boundary. behind that temperatures are very cold right now. single digits and teens in parts of north dakota and minnesota with wind chills well below that. the blue is all rain. you get in towards nyc and it is basically just a little light snow overhead. it's working its way to new jersey, in towards long island. the darker is loose and heavier bursts of snow. later today you'll see more

sunshine come out but the winds will be there, and the high temperature in new york only 29. off towards the west, it is buffalo getting some snow out there. some lake effect snow in south towns today. western new york, erie, pennsylvania, back in towards central ny, including syracuse, too. so a foot to a foot and a half is out there. 41 in new york. it's 37 degrees in d.c. take you live to washington. thls the w this is the way it looks. winds will be gusting to 30 miles per hour. it's going to feel like the low 20s for most of the day thanks to that wind chill. we'll get a better look at the northeast coming up in about half an hour. christi? >> bob, thank you. homeland security is trying to figure out how explosives got on a plane during that alleged terror plot. what president obama wants the agency to do to better protect you. things have been tight this

year, we all know that, but we're seeing how stores fared this holiday season. it might surprise you.

okay, security experts say puffer machines, bomb-sniffing dogs or manual swab tests could have detected the explosives used in friday's plane bombing. how did he get the substance past security despite being on the watch list? it still worked because the suspect was pulled off before he could complete the attack. >> one of the things i think we'll be doing over the next weeks is really looking at those watch list procedures in light of this occurring and saying, okay, do those need to be changed? they've been in place for a number of years, do they need to be adjusted in light of this event? just as we will look at our screening and screening technology once we know for sure

what he had, what he had access to, to see whether any of that needs to be changed. >> now, independent senator joe lieberman joined others in criticizing security. >> he was able to break through our homeland security. if it were not for our good fortune, grace of god that the explosive did not go off, 300 people and many others on the ground in michigan probably would have been killed. >> it's amazing that an individual like this who sent out so many signals could get on a plane going to the u.s. >> janet napolitano says there wasn't enough specific and credible evidence to bar him from traveling to the u.s. they are as much a staple in the big apple as the empire state building. we're talking the taxis. now hundreds of u.s. cabs are about to get a mini makeover. what's changing about the taxis

and why the change won't actually last very long. >> i'm intrigued. >> our own new yorker here, gener jennifer westhoven. i spent more on my holiday gifts than i budgeted. >> i didn't make a budget. i just tried to keep it down. >> at least you kept it realistic. >> spending this year, it was a little higher, and that is a turnaround from last year. that's good news in a bad economy. last year we had sales losses, but this year mastercard's spending poll said sales rose a little more than 3.5%. that's even with the huge snowstorm. they say it's a sign that last year the economy was in critical condition, then this year it's in stable condition. consumer electronics, shoes were very popular, but sale of gift cards appeared to be weak so that may be a challenge coming into january. they're hoping you'll come in, use your gift card and buy a

littles more. speaking of the economy, three of the most accurate economists, they say 2010 is going to bring a slow recovery, low levels of growth. bloomberg says these three have been the most accurate this year at predicting the economy's behavior, so they've got a good track record of how the economy has been lately, but then they say they think this recovery is going to disappear, that it's on a sugar high from the low rates and government influx. well, let's hope not. if your traveling this morning, well, you're probably going to see tighter restrictions at the airport, but what is the weather going to bring you? hi, bob. >> let me show you flight information real quick. here's syracuse, rochester here. the blue is all snow. then in boston a form of rain there today. for the taafternoon, they are currently de-icing in

pittsburgh. how much damage could have been been done by that explosive? you need to see video of what may have happened if the bomb had gone off. charlie sheen arrested for violence and we have new details about the alleged incident.

homeland security is vefltivefl

investigating weather al qaeda was behind that attack on christmas day. the suspect, umar farouk abdulmutallab, says he got that explosive from yemen. an attack earlier this year in saudi arabia was also traced to a cell in yemen and it was also an explosive. >> i think it's a coincidence that a cell in yemen did both attacks. according to a sawed i arabian official, he thinks the widespread publicity about the way this attack was done and the fact it could have been done in an airport, he thinks it is something al qaeda in yemen could have officiated. >> there is no proof the al qaeda did it, but they will beef up security. we get a picture of what might

have happened had those explosives worked on that american airlines flight. they identified the substance as petn. that is the same substance used by shoe bomber richard reid. remember, the passengers heard popping sounds, but watch this demonstration. okay, so here's the thing. a source told our sister network cnn that the suspect had enough petn to blow a hole in that plane. well, the indianapolis colts, they were chasing perfection. decided to play it safe, though, and some fans are furious about this one. hey, rafer. so it's all a matter of what's more important to you, right? >> the coaches were pretty much in a lose-lose situation, christi. the colts were the last undefeated team in the league. before sunday's game in new york, they were already in the big playoffs. so how long should peyton manning stay in the game? third quarter, that's when they

pulled him. his back-up comes in, fumbles it, the jets recover, the jets score, the colts lose the game. peyton is upset, others seemingly upset, the colts going to the playoffs but the chance at perfection is gone. what's more important, health or history? that's the question we're asking you guys. joe wrote -- romero wrote -- meanwhile, there was a shocker in the superdome. the new orleans stanaints takinn tampa bay. they miss the field goal, but tom thinks it's good. what, it's not good?

tom, it's not good. no, it's not good. in overtime, it is good. the bucs win only their third game of the year but it's a big one for them. they're still very much in the playoffs exami playoffs and still very much alive. the new york giants are not. they collapsed before their building did. they were embarrassed by the panthers eliminated by the playoffs. lastly, history was made by the pizza bowl. sara thomas very impressive. she became the first woman to officiate a bowl game. she became the first woman to officiate a college game two years ago and she's on the nfl's list of officiating prospects, so we could see her again. >> very cool. thank you, rafer. well, passengers thought a

man on their plane might have been a terror threat. how his in-flight entertainment mistakenly made them nervous. also, police say a high-speed chase helped them stop a kidnapper and reunite a five-year-old girl with her family on christmas. eeeee.

two hotel towers are said to open on the las vegas strip today. two additional rooms will be available at the hollywood resort and hard rock hotel. but this comes after the opening of that 4,000-room hotel. two whales died after being stranded. they were able to get 43 of those pilot whales back to sea. >> we've been here probably 3.5 to 4 hours, and we're just listening to instructions and trying to keep them as wet as possible. >> good people there. in a different area, though, on saturday more than 100 standed whales died. large numbers of whales die each

summer on their way from antarctic waters to breed. the pilot in the american airlines flitd thght that overs runway in virginia was back home for the holidays. he's pretty banged up, had some bruises but no broken bones, though. he praised his flight crew for this incident. >> i'm thankful to be home with my family. and i have the highest gratitude for my first officer and the flight attendants that were with us on that flight to be able to get everybody home to their families. >> he didn't comment on the crash because it's still under investigation, but all 154 people on board survived. that jet, though, had cracked open in three places. a massachusetts couple got three christmas presents they're never going to forget, a set of triplets. the two girls and a boy were delivered on christmas eve. the new parents had been trying in vitro fertilization for years

before she got pregnant. >> this was maybe try eight, and it was our very last try -- our la last attempt we were going to do at ivf until we moved on to maybe adoption. >> you have the hopes of being a parent, and when that fails, you know, you have your downs but you have to keep yourself going and we did. >> bless their hearts. congratulations to them. the mom had been on bed rest since early november. the triplets are expected to go home in a few weeks. beautiful family there. this weekend was the biggest box office opening ever! weekend, i should point out. you guys spent more than $278 million at the movies, and for the second weekend in a row, avatar holds the top spot. and the chip amongst, "the

squeakquel" was number two. we're going to tell you what's happening with airline security in a moment. stay close.

storn. a nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane in troitd is not expected to be in court today, but they will try to get dna samples from umar farouk abdulmutallab. his family says he disappeared while studying abroad. there are reports iran has launched new security forces in a crackdown of protests. a web site linked to it said several officers were rounded up this morning after their officers were stormed. at least eight people died in weekend clashes. heavy snow caused major

problems for you drivers in indiana overnight. roads were slick, it was hard to see, and the forecast is for more rough conditions. please do take care when you're out there. we want you all to be safe. those are some of the headlines we're following this morning. welcome back. thanks for keeping us company here. i'm christi paul in for robin meade. we're going to get back to our top story here. brand new details of a suspect accused of trying to blow up an american airlines flight on christmas day. they banned umar farouk abdulmutallab after he was turned down for a visa in may. they put him on a watch list. they searched his apartment over the weekend. he studied in london at a london university, we know. homeland security has

ordered a sweeping security following the scare. you could face more security on yur next trip, in fact. some passengers talked about some tighter security they saw in the u.s. >> it was more than usual, yes. >> the last hour of the flight, nobody could raise even to go to the restroom, so it's new security procedures. >> jennifer westhoven is looking out for you with more details on the new security restrictions. you just flew in from philadelphia. did you experience anything different? >> yeah, so a lot of people were saying, what was it like, what's going to happen? i think when you're going to notice this is if you're flying internationally. i was flying domestic just from philadelphia to here, so what you see that way, then, is increased screening. so they're being really careful with the bags. more people were having their bags searched, the guards were being more careful, more pat-downs. that's the kind of thing you're likely to see if you're flying

domestic. what you won't see if you're flying domestic but it's different is a lot more air martials. there are more air martials on the plane, and that's something you won't see. if you're flying international, you can expect a lot more restrictions. that guy we heard on the sound, he said about an hour before you land, you're told to put all electronics away, you can't touch any of your carry-ones, you have to stay in the bathroom. those are the kind of things you'll see in an international flight, but for most of us, just more bag searching and body serc searches. back to you. >> we're posing this question to our facebook fans here. are you okay with more screening, possibly even more possible pat-downs at the airport? marty wrote -- ed wrote -- and jeff wrote -- when do we say

enough? i know you want to chime in on this and we'd love for you to do so. just go to the facebook page, tell us what you think. there is a link at cnn.com/robin. a five-year-old girl was rescued from her alleged kidnapper after a police officer spotted the suspect's truck. phoenix police say a 45-year-old man took her after she was playing outside her aunt's apartment christmas day. seven hours later, he was in the middle of a car chase with a cop. >> as i went past him, i was able to see that there was a child and a male in the car, and once i came to a stop at the crosswalk, he wouldn't pull up next to me. i didn't want to hit him because it didn't look like the girl was restrained in the vehicle, so i didn't want to cause her any injury by having a head-on crash with him. >> the sad thing here, too, is police say the girl was molested, but she is back home with her family now, thank goodness. three american hikers detained in iran got a new attorney to try to get them

released. the family said yesterday they hired a prominent iranian lawyer. the families are still hoping to have him freed on humanitarian grounds, but they also want to prepare to fight espionage charges against those hikers. the hikers say they accidentally crossed iran's unmarked border with iraq in july. iran has seen an extreme case of drug-resistant tuberculosis. the case was detected in florida in 2007. the man survived after almost two years of treatment. there were similar cases in peru and china. only a handful of people in the world is believed to have this drug-resistant strain. investigators are trying to figure out what caused a massive fire in rhode island. take a look at these flames here. this is an empty four-story house. by the time firefighters arrived christmas night, flames were already all over the roof.

so firefighters evacuated nearby homes as a precaution. thankfully no one was hurt. obviously a lot of damage to that house, though. you might see something different on new york city cabs next month. about 500 taxi cabs will trade in ads for art. you'll get to see art by celebrities, including yoko ono. the project will cost the cabs about $100,000 in lost revenue. >> hey, big boy, what do you think of that? >> i think it's a good idea. my last experience on a cab, i left two pieces of pizza there. some travel problems. this weather brought to you by tylenol. feel better. here's what it looks like now. big area of low pressure. it's right across the great lakes. couple cold fronts. one is across pennsylvania, another one back towards michigan.

the one in hish mimichigan real the cold air behind. new york city, temperature around 41 degrees. that little shot of rain is working its way down toward long island and connecticut, too. then you get towards mohawk valley, the hudson valley, watching for it all to be snow for you this morning. back towards out ka, stretching towards syracuse, too. buffalo, so far, some light snow. the heavy snow south of buffalo itself. here's what it looks like in buffalo. trying to get in and out of the city here, currently de-icing. you can see the snow on the ground. so far it looks like the traffic is moving fine, but later this afternoon, the snow will pick up. look for six to 12 inches by tomorrow morning. we'll have more on that in just a little bit, but that's buffalo there. temperatures only in the teens. look at the winter and lake effect warnings. those are the areas shaded in red for syracuse and rochester. getting closer to buffalo.

looking for a foot to a foot and a half today. 15 in bismarck, 11 when you get in towards billings. more on that in just a little bit. >> yikes. i don't miss that. bob, thank you. the u.s. seems to be opening an entire new battle front against al qaeda. you're going to hear about a new operation that up until this point has been kept very hush hush. get this, donald trump's ex-wife kicked off an airline flight. why flight attendants thought ivana trump crossed the line.

let's take a look at what's in today's morning newspapers. the new york times is reporting that the u.s. seems to be quietly opening a new front against al qaeda. the newspaper says the cia has sent field agents with counter-terrorism experience to yemen. it says the american commandos have been training in counter-terrorism tactics. usa today reports u.s. efforts are succeeding in keeping drug violence from spilling across the border. murders in u.s. border cities dropped in the first half of 2009. in a santa fe, new mexico report, more artists are having to take a second job to support themselves. a survey of 5300 artists worldwide says two-thirds made less than $40,000 and a third of them made less than $20,000.

hopefully they invested in the stock market in the spring, because if you had done so, you had a pretty good year. stocks are said to finish the year with some pretty big gains for 2009. our money expert jennifer westhoven is on this. i think a lot of people hear that and they're surprised because they think, well, it might have been a good year, but we're really just crawling our way to the top, arnen't we? >> they're down, and if you had savings at the high, you're probably looking at them going -- the dow is down to about 6500, so in some ways this is a little bit of evidence that supports that argument that you never want to sell during the worst, during the panic. so the dow starting at 9,000. we had that gut-wrenching turn down to 6500 when people were going, where is this thing going? it came back up and closing out near the highs of the year, 10,520. that gives us about a 10% return

on the dow of the year. the nasdaq rallying at about 40% for the year. and speaking of tech, we had a big bounce-back. apple about $209 a share with all the buzz about a potential new apple tablet computer. nobody knows anything about it because apple is being very secreti secretive, but we know they have an announcement scheduled for january 26. think of a cross fweenbetween a laptop and a smart phone. christi, back to you. >> jen, thank you so much. we want to talk about homeland security because they're reacting to the latest potential scare by putting more air martials on planes. what they say they're seeing with security screens. two safeway doors were unlocked after hours. what happened when people started filling their carts?

there is a good chance you'll have an armed air martial on your next flight. the department is beefing up the

ranks of air martials after the terrorist plot. what else can you expect when you fly? >> when we came in, we had to make sure we were seated, had nothing on our laps like pillows or blankets. >> the only thing that was different was coming into the plane in mexico city, they searched all of our bags individually, the security guys, and then they searched us and like a body search, each one of us. >> and the department of homeland security says it's varying security measures at each airport to keep things unpredictable. one of the most successful coaches in college football shocked everyone twice in less than 24 hours. here's rafer white. >> speaking of unpredictable. this was a big story and we're all getting ready to write that it's completely switched again. this guy is one of the best college football coaches in the game.

well, saturday he says he's stepping down as the head of the team because of health concerns. he wanted to spend more time with his family. he was hospitalized, he said, over chest pains last month. but then sunday, watching his team practice changed his mind. he is now taking an indefinite leave of an sense after the sugar bowl game january 1st. he expects to be back with the team for the 2010 season. you'll hear from meyer in about 20 minutes. the indianapolis colts, undefeated run almost over. curtis painter showed why he was a back-up. the guy fumbles, the jets score. the colts were up by five at the time, so the jets go on to win. manning suffered his first loss of the season. manning was upset. he wanted to play but the coaches didn't want him to get hurt. fans are upset. what does coach herman edwards think? >> hello! you play to win the game. you don't play to just play it. >> you don't play to just play it. jen, what do you guys think

about it on our facebook page? john wrote, i can't remember who won super bowl 22 or 34 or 16, butd i do remember the only undefeated team, the giants, go down in history. randy, meanwhile, wrote, health of the players is most important. that is true, too. we want to know what you guys think. go to cnn.com/robin. that was from a long time ago, that quote. >> oh, thanks for clarifying because it was pretty good. >> playing their bitter rivals, the redskins, in front of almost 90,000 at fedex field, the boys did not reel it in. they play the eagles for the division title on sunday. ♪ summer loving, had me a blast ♪ ♪ summer loving, happened so fast ♪ >> i didn't really recognize eva longoria in the blond wig, but

that is tony parker of the san antonio spurs, and as you know, he's married to the star. if you can beat that, folks, film yourself singing something lackey. >> they're not really singing, either. >> their lip syncing. >> says a true fan of the movie, apparently. did 2009 make you laugh, cry or rip your hair out? you're going to see a parody of this year's highlights from jibjab.com. they are always entertaining. we're getting a new reaction from the obama administration bp an attempted attack on a christmas flight from amsterdam. janet napolitano spoke to our sister network moments ago and she tried to clarify when she meant when she said the department's system worked smoothly. >> what i said is moving

forward, meaning once the incident happened, we were able to immediately notify the 128 flights in the air as well as airports on the groundinternati. our law enforcement partners, our other allies instituted immediate safety procedures to make sure this could not happen on other flights. >> p obama ordered a vie how a man on a watch list allegedly managed to get explosives past airport security. before you go to the doctor, pay to shop and compare medical charges. clark howard tells you about a website that can help you save on those costly procedures. >> one of my big beef was medicine is how hard it is for to you figure out what somebody is going to charge you for medical care before you actually receive it. so what's a person to do? well, if you were someone that does not have health insurance or you have big out of pocket with health insurance, maybe you are in the high deductible plan

or -- let's say you have a deductible and you have to meet every year, and it really matters what you are going to be charged for stuff, there's a website called pricedoc.com. you can go there and you can actually shop for your medical care. where you put doctors and providers into competition with each other to provide your medical care. medicine kicking and scream sing going to be brought in the next five years into the era of actually having to post prices. should have happened a long time ago. if you need to know what something is going to cost now, this is way for to you do it. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to protect your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you thousand save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. catch it at noon eastern on saturday and sunday right here on hln. air passengers that witnessed the alleged terror attack say they know they are lucky to be alive but one

woman's counting her blessings two times over. because of who she had on that plane with her.

closed. wait a minute. the front doors are unlocked. customers discovered that at two safeway stores. kevin rigs of kcra reports, what happened after that is what stunned police. >> reporter: customers outside the roseville safety store couldn't quite believe it. >> the doors were open. >> that's crazy. how would they forget to lock the store up? >> oh, wow. that's -- that's shocking, actually. >> reporter: the doors were unlocked. did you know that? >> get out here. >> reporter: according to roseville police they were unlocked on christmas afternoon and that wasn't the only surprise when they arrived. >> customer from inside the store said there were a lot of customers in the store. we went tloefr and there was actual lay report of customers leaving money on the counter.

purchasing merchandise. >> reporter: that's right. no looting. no they have. >> surprised they would leave money, you know. yeah. i'm surprised they didn't get completely ripped off. >> reporter: people were in there getting groceries and leaving money at the register because there was nobody to take the money. >> that's the christmas spirit. >> reporter: the story gets stranger before. the story before, a christmas eve, another safeway store a few miles away was also found unlocked with no thefts. in both cases, company's spokeswoman blamed the problem on a lock malfunction. 24-hour stores, she says, so they are not locked a lot. she calls the outbreak of honesty a display of christmas spirit and shoppers today were saying it is the only thing that makes sense. >> that's awesome. i can't wait to get home and tell the family. >> i will be darned. that was very nice christmas gestures. >> spirit still alive. thanks to kevin rigs of kcra. ivana trump was taken off a plane because they say she got angry about some children who

were running and screaming in the aisles. the ex-wife of billionaire donald trump was flying from palm beach, florida, to new york. authorities say she cursed at the children and then became even more aggravated when flight attendants tried to calm her down. there were no charges, though, filed. bob van dillen. >> welcome to coach like the rest of us. welcome to coach. >> i can't believe she was flying coach. do you? >> yeah. like the rest of us. i hope so. i'm thinking she was in first class. the little kids probably going tout curtain came in, who knows. good morning to you. let me show you what's happening. so far no delays due to the weather except for de-icing at buffalo, pittsburgh and cleveland. that's just short delay. later today, half hour or more, new york city metro because of the gusty wind. d.c. metro's gusty winds as well. buffalo, white snow. cleveland, snow, too. community is really on edge now as police are looking for who may have started some deadly

fires. what authorities are learning as they sift through the charred remains of destroyed buildings now.

hello. good morning to you. we are so glad to have you onboard with us today. i know it is monday. we have to get going here. let's do it together. we are talking about the airlines and airports because they are on high alert this morning. we have new details on that suspect accused of trying to blow up the northwest flight. what i means for your next flight. holiday sales were up from last year. we are seeing what you spent your money on. and also, we have something that will laugh about here, this year's highlights from the folks at jibjab.com. they are so creative. we want to get you some of the new details we are learning about regarding the terror suspect accused of trying to

blow up a northwest airlines plane christmas day. and another scare, too, on a flight with the exact same e itinerary yesterday. but first, a source tells us a sister network, cnn umar farouk adulmutallab had enough explosives to blow a hole in the plane's side. he allegedly tried to set off an explosive as the plane made its final approach to detroit. passengers say they heard a popping sound and saw fire in the man's seat. a double play passenger says he grabbed the suspect. >> without any hesitation i jumped over all the seats and just jumped to the suspect and because i was thinking [ bleep ] like he's trying to blow up the plane. >> prosecutors will try to get dna samples from that suspect today. the nigerian man is out of the hospital after being treated for burns. he was on a broad security watch list, though. not on the no-fly list. his family, though, says he disappeared while studying abroad. a senior administration official says that the suspect's father

recently warned the u.s. embassy in nigeria that his son had become radicalized and might be planning something. this is a photo of the father from the first bank of nigeria's website. he was the bank's chairman until he retired. we have new details regarding another security scare in detroit. on a northwest plane we are talking the same route, same flight number. a source told cnn no federal air marshalls were on that flight. officials say yesterday's incident is not related to possible terrorism, though. they say a man spent a long time in the plane's restroom because he was sick. he was released from custody and got on another flight. but passengers talked about what it was like for them. >> we were kept on the airplane a while. quoted -- the guards would not let the plane -- passengers off the plane. when we got to the customs control, we waited for about an

hour for luggage. that's all we know. >> because of all of this, you may face tighter airport security on your next trip. the homeland security department says that more federal air marshals are on planes now. you may not be able to get up during the last hour of international flights. security agents may pat the soles of your feet and run a wand across your body. travelers say yes, some security lines are indeed longer. >> the last hour we come in, we have to make sure we were seated. and had nothing on our lap. no pillows or blankets. strange i thought but precaution for them. >> the only thing that was different was that coming into the plane, in mexico city, they searched all of our bags individually. the secure guys. and then they searched us, like a body search, each one of us. >> we want to know are you okay with more screening, even possible pat-downs at the airport. katie wrote to us saying i don't mind the extra screening if it

keeps us safe. we heard from christina who says i think with all the technology we have, there surely could be a more thorough and efficient way to screen without treating the masses like criminals. we are going to invite to you go to our facebook page and tell us what you think. there is a link at cnn.com/robin to make it easy for you. massachusetts officials are investigating a string of suspicious fires. one of which killed two people. at least five buildings and four cars burned over sunday morning and the fires were within a- mile of each other in downtown northhampton. the d.a. says the two victims were found on the first floor of a house. two people who lived upstairs were able to make it out safely. there are reports iran's security forces launched a new crackdown in response to yesterday's bloody anti-government protests. several leading activists were rounded up this morning after their offices were stormed. iran says at least eight people died in yesterday's protests. some experts suggested that the clashes may signal a turning point.

>> one of the things that i was struck by watching many of the clips on the internet today was the number of clips in which the protesters overwhelmed the security forces and the security forces voluntarily surrendered and joined the protesters. we didn't see that. at least not in these numbers back in the summer. it may be an indication that things are changing. >> i want to show you some of the more dramatic photos we are seeing of the protests. the police chief insist no, sir one was killed by security forces but one opposition leader says his nephew was shot to death. since june activists have rallied against iran's disputed presidential elections. one of the most successful coaches in college football made one heck of an announcement. said he was stepping down. then he changed his mind. rafer weigel, kept the sports department running all over the place. >> this was shocking.

first announcement and then the second one. florida coach irvin meyer said saturday that walking away from the game. we are talking about one of, if not the best coach of college football. citing health concerns. he was hospitalized after experiencing major chest pains earlier this month. he told "the new york times" that his daughter said, quote, now i get my family back or rather i get my daddy back. he said he wanted to spend more time with his family. after watching his team practice sunday, meyer now says he's taking an indefinite leave of absence after the team's sugar bowl game friday. >> i'm a person of faith. i want to make sure i have my priorities straight and a lot of times coaches do not have their priorities straight. you put business before god and family. you have problem. >> he expects to be back with the team when the 2010 season starts. as far as how long he take off remains to be seen. >> all right. thank you. did you ever see the movie

"the wrestlingler" with ricky rourke? >> no. >> same exact scenario. chest pains but goes back to his profession. same thing. >> their careers were so similar. >> very similar. >> sorry, missed it. >> it is kind of like it. >> oh, bobby. >> what's going on? good morning to you. starting out on monday after christmas. people trying to get back into the swing of things. here is what it looks like. big area of low pressure. major trough. swinging through the great lakes, east coast now. cold front down into carolinas. windy behind it with white lake-effect snow. real story behind that also is the temperatures and how they will drop. 39 in new york city right now. right now it is about 33 in boston. temperatures rise up to the 40s for boston. by tomorrow, that cold air rockets in over the great lakes. you see where it is headed from. 12 in fargo. 23, minneapolis. cold air comes in. drop the temperatures 10 to is a degrees areas across the northeast. live look at boston. before that happens, clouds will con to stream in from the south. and watch them with rain in the forecast.

breezy. live look at logan now. you can see a little bit of a jostling with the cameras. winds gusting today to about 25 miles per hour. poor visibility due to rain. gusty winds, watch for half-hour delays in boston. get away from there, heart of the cold air across the rocky mountains. 13 degrees currently in denver. 17 in cheyenne. 14 in rapid city. minus 11 in jackson, wyoming. there's your real cold air. lit break up and move up towards the north and east. before that happens the temperatures will be cold the next couple of days. up to the west coast, lot of clouds right off of california. light rain possible for the bay area. it won't be heavy at all. let me show you photos we have from this weekend. snowstorm around illinois. peoria, suv rolled over an icy road saturday. you can see what happened there. also, springfield, illinois, look at that picture. fantastic. illinois yesterday. >> you got to make it fun. it is the only way to deal with it. >> the first week of winter. you have to make it fun. >> even after that, it gets old, doesn't it? >> that's right. >> thank you, bob. stick around for this one. we know we are getting ready to

say good-bye to 2009. as usual the folks at jibjab.com are back. they have a fun look at the big news stories that had people talking this year. we just got this in for you. take a look at it. ♪ there has never been one like '09 ♪ ♪ out the door ♪ 44 is darker than before ♪ brought in through afghanistan ♪ ♪ a twitter revolt in iran ♪ don't forget jon and kate ♪ there was never a year like '09 ♪ >> check it out. >> we are not even up to tiger woods yet. >> okay, my gosh, i know. bill clinton still making it, though. >> he is like the star. >> letterman. >> i know. we will keep showing it to you throughout the day. thank you. homeland security is trying to figure out how explosives got on to a plane in the alleged

terror plot. what president obama wants the agency to do to better protect you. also, things have been tight, we know, for so many of us this year. now we are seeing how stores fared this holiday season. you may be surprised.

security experts say bomb-sniffing dogs could have detected the explosives used friday. president obama ordered a review of how the suspect got the substance past security despite being on a broad watch list. this morning the homeland security secretary explained what she meant when she said the system worked smoothly. >> what i said is moving forward i -- meaning once the incident happened, we were able to immediately notify the 128 flights in the air and as well as airports on the ground domestically, internationally. our law enforcement partners,

our other allies, institute immediate safety procedures to make sure that this could not happen on other flights. >> we are getting frightening picture of what might have happened had those explosives worked. a preliminary analysis identified the substance of petn, the same explosive used by the so-called shoe bomber, richard reid. passengers heard popping sounds. watch this demonstration. a source told our sister network, cnn, that the suspect had enough petn to blow a hole in that plane. want to warn you to check your freezer for possible contaminated beef. an oklahoma company is recalling 248,000 pounds of beef products in six states. we are talking colorado, iowa, kansas, michigan, and south dakota and washington state. the agriculture department says that all have reported illnesses involving the e. coli bacteria.

cnn.com/robin and look under the important websites to get more details. that's all there for you. the u.s. has seen its first case of an extremely drug-res t drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. this is from the associated press. the case was detected in florida in 2007. the man survived the almost two years of treatment. his strain was linked to similar ones, though, in pursue and china. a tb expert said a handful of people in the world are believed to have this drug-resistant strain. let me ask you, did you -- overspend a little bit. spend a little more for your holiday gifts this year. you are in good company if that makes you feel any better. the first numbers look good for retailers. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. not always good for our credit cards but not so much for the stores. it means good news for them. >> hopefully there are so many people that are dealing with this kind of new economic reality that people tried to keep their budgets in check. one of the big themes was people

are buying things for lower price points. overall spending was a little higher. that is a turnaround from last year's sales losses. and it is good news in a bad economy. it is good for the whole economy when this happens. mastercard says sales were up up 3.5% even with the huge snowstorm that hit the northeast and parts of the midwest. just as we were getting right into the thick of christmas shopping. the author of the study says it is a sign that the economy has gone from being in critical condition from last year. this year they are saying it is like it is in stable condition. popular consumer electronics and shoes, gift card sales usually a big winner, quite weak. that could be a challenge for them in january. let's talk about travel trends. we have yet another huge opening to talk in las vegas. that's despite the troubled economy. people are talking about this at my christmas parties. two new hotel towers are going to be opening in las vegas today. hollywood was hundred called ph

to youers and the hard rock has the hrh towers with a nightclub called vanity and the new hard rock rooms can go for as low as $119. a lot of these projects were planned back before the real stae market collapsed. back to you. >> i'm betting that room is a lot more than $119. >> look at that bed. >> maybe that's one of the penthouse rooms or something they are showing. $119 is pretty cheap. they are hurting out there. they have all of these rooms. they can't afford to have them sitting there empty. they have to get some money. >> they rather have something than nothing. jen, thank you. so much for making history. a perfect season went up in smoke and lots of folks smoking mad about it. plus, charlie sheen got arrested on christmas day for domestic violence. we have new details for you regarding the alleged incident.

homeland security is investigating whether al qaeda was behind that alleged attack on passenger plane christmas day. a federal security bulletin said the suspect, umar farouk adulmutallab, has told officials that he got the explosive in yemen. terrorism analyst peter bergen says an attack earlier this year in saudi arabia was also traced to an al qaeda cell in yemen and it involved the same explosive. >> i think it is quite possible that the same al qaeda cell in yemen did both attacks. in fact, according to a saudi arabian official, he thinks that the widespread publicity about the -- way this attack was done and the fact it could be done in an airport was something that the al qaeda and yemen implemented. >> right now homeland security says that there are no signs that the attempt was part of any larger international plot but airport screen rings being beefed up and there are a lot more air marshals on flights.

all right. the indianapolis colts, they were chasing perfection, people. decided to play it safe and some fans are none too happy about it. rafer? >> looks like we are not going on have an undefeated team this year. the new york jets spoiled the party. the indianapolis colts, last undefeated team in the league. before the game in new york, already in the playoffs. big question was how long would peyton manning sty in the game. third quarter. they were up by five points. and his backup comes in and promptly fumble it is ball and the jets recover. that would lead to a score. colts would lose the game. peyton is upset. the players are upset. even though indy is still going to the playoffs, chance for perfection is gone. what's more important, health or history? here is what you are say being it on facebook. michael wrote -- keith wrote --

we want to know what you think. cnn.com/robin. we will read your comments on the air tlfrmts was a shocker in the superdome. new orleans saints taking on tampa bay. tied at 17. five seconds left. garrett hartley misses badly. the saints owner thinks it is good. for some reason, he can't see. no, no, it wasn't good. what? no. in overtime the bucs kicker garth delivers. the bucs win only their third game of the year. it is a big one. saints are still in the playoffs, though. history was made at the pizza bowl. sarah thomas became the first woman to officiate a bowl game at the little caesars bowl. became the first to officiate a major college game two years ago. she could soon be in the nfl

officiating. >> a strong woman. it is christmas. you are out of milk. run to the supermarket hoping it is open. but it is closed but the doors are unlocked. ♪ unlocked.

customers discovered that at two california safeway stores over the christmas holiday. police say that what's even more surprising is that nobody stole anything. >> a customer from inside the store said there was a lot of customers in the store. there was a report of customers leaving money on 2 the counter. purchasing merchandise. >> that's good to know. safeway spokesperson said there was a lock malfunction. using disinfecttant could cause bacteria to grow. new research published in "the journal bike row biology" says some were able the resist die lighted disinfectants and became resistant to antibiotics. scientists say the super bugs could have serious implications

for how infections are spread. we have been talking about how there is going to be more security at the airport. i'm wondering if maybe delays might help some of those people. >> add extra time getting through the security. >> yeah. you might need it. >> you still don't want to see delays. we are going to see a couple pop up. de-icing going on right now around buffalo, cleveland and pittsburgh. lake-effect snow coming in late. heavy at times. here is what it looks like. cold front around rochester. ahead of that, good shot of snow for central and vermont. stretching into new hampshire. western mass and con. all rain so far around new york city. it will be raining in boston, too. here's what we have. so far no major delays. this will probably change. half hour now, hour. new york city metro, d.c., gusty winds today. philadelphia, same thing. detroit and chicago gusty winds and snow thrown in for detroit. boston showers later this afternoon. cleveland and buffalo, it will be snow. that will be off and on. mainly in the afternoon. san francisco, morning clouds.

little light rain for the bay area. could slow down to an hour. that's some areas we will be watching. full details on that in just a bit. >> bobby, thank you. a massachusetts couple got three christmas presents that they are never going to forget. they got a set of tripleting. two girls and a boy delivered christmas eve. the new parents had been trying in vitro fertilization for years before they got pregnant. >> it didn't happen on the first or second try. this was like maybe try eight. yeah. it was our very last try that we were -- our last attempt we were going to do at ivf before we moved on to maybe adoption. >> you have the hopes of being abe parent. and when that fails, you know, you -- have you your downs but you have to keep yourself going. we did. >> bless their hearts. the mom had been on bed rest since early november. the triplets are expected to go home in a few weeks. congratulations to them. airline security is already very different because of that apparent terrorist plot christmas day. we will tell you what's happening.

a nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane near detroit is not expected to be at a court hearing at 2:00 p.m. today. they will try to get dna samples of umar farouk adulmutallab today. two people were killed in what's being called a suspicious house fire in massachusetts. it was one of at least nine fires yesterday morning. all within a half mile of each other in downtown north hampton. at least five buildings burned along with several cars. this weekend was the biggest box office weekend ever. people spent $278 million at the movies for the second week in a row.

"avatar" holds the top stop. "sherlock holmes" was in second spot. there you have your headlines. i hope you are getting off to a good start today. i'm christi paul in for robin meade. i want to get back to the top story. we are learning more about a man accused of trying to blow up a northwest airlines flight christmas day. the associated press is reporting that british officials banned umar farouk adulmutallab from entering the uk after turned down for a student visa in may. britain's home secretary says that officials suspected he had applied to fake school and that they put his name on a watch list. police in london searched his last known apartment there over the weekend. meanwhile, a u.s. senator is calling for changes to airport security. >> when you think about the minimal intrusion on privacy, as against the ability to stop somebody who is trying to get on

a plane to kill hundreds or if not thousands of people, we ought to be using more of those whole body scanners. >> president obama's administration has ordered a sweeping review of aviation security in response to the scare. and you can face more airport security on your next trip. international passengers talked about the tighter security measures in the u.s. they saw. >> it was quite -- yes, more than usual. >> the last hour of the flight, nobody could race even to go to the restroom. new security procedures. >> jennifer westhoven is looking out for you with more details on the new security restricts. what should we expect here? >> yeah. one thing i want -- we just heard from international flyers on what you are seeing. what you will see if you are on a domestic flight as most of you might be doing. that's probably the case scenario most probable. one thing is, firstful all,

everybody is being told to get to the airport earlier than you normally would. for a domestic flight, an hour. maybe a little bit longer if you are checking baggage. probably want to put in more time than that. there's what you can see -- what you can't see. what you will see is the guards at the checkpoints. probably being more careful when you go through the security line. there's a higher chance they will pa you down. or open up your bags to look for anything suspicious. as we were talking, i was flying just yesterday so just after this, and they were going through bags more. mine went through four times. took things out and rerunning them. be real careful. here is what you won't see but it is happening more undercover air marshals out in front on the planes but you will not know who is the marshal. >> got you. which isty way it is supposed to be. jennifer, thank you so much. we want to know how you feel about this. are you okay with more screening? even possible patdowns at the airport? jeffrey wrote to us saying --

jim write wrote -- brian chimed in, too, saying -- we thank you so much for letting us know how you feel. go to our facebook page. we want to give thank you invitation to tell us what you think. there is a link to make it easy for you. what a story here. 5-year-old girl was rescued from her alleged kidnapper after a police officer spotted the suspect's truck. phoenix police say a 45-year-old man took her while she was playing outside of her aunt's apartment on christmas day. seven hours later, he was in the middle of a car chase with a police officer. >> as i went past him, i was able to see that there was a child, male in the car. and once i came to a stop, the cross walk, he wouldn't pull up next to me. i didn't want to hit him because

it didn't look like the girl was restrained in the vehicle. i didn't want to cause her any injury by having a head-on crash with him. >> the thing is police say the girl was molested. but thankfully she is back home with her family now. the pilot of the american airlines flight that overshot a runway in jamaica was back home in florida for christmas. captain brian cole says he's banged up with bruises but doesn't have any broken bones. he praised his flight crew for their work during the incident. >> thankful to be home with my family. and i have the highest gratitude for my first officer and my flight attendants withous that flight. to be able to get everybody home to their families. >> cole didn't comment on the crash itself because it is still under investigation. but all 154 people onboard survived. the jet actually cracked open in three places. investigators are trying to figure out what caused a massive house fire in rhode island.

take a look at these flames here. an empty four-story house there. by the time the firefighters arrived on christmas night the flames were already all over the roof. fire crews evacuated nearby homes and of course, as a precaution thankfully no one was hurt. someone trashed reality tv star john gosselin's new york apartment. his lawyer says someone smashed his furniture, stole other items, and says a note was pinned to his dresser with a butcher knife. they won't say what the note said. gosselin was on the show "jon & kate plus 8." he was with his kids in pennsylvania when this all happened. already. get ready to bundle up. even longer, of course. bobby, how does it look? we are heading into new year's. >> yeah. first full week of winter. two stories behind that. number one, snow. number two, cold temperatures back behind that. here's the way it looks on the radar picture. all the white is snow.

blue is all rain around new york city to jersey shore. stretches towards connecticut with rain. that's going to get in towards boston shortly. the snow behind it is going to start to pile up. let me show you how much we are calling for over the next two days. 48-hour map for you now. where you see the light shade of white, that's about one to three inches of snow this morning. central pennsylvania and new york state, northern new england. purple shaded areas, lake-effect snow and will kick inensly later this afternoon. pile up to a foot and a half or more. mainly around syracuse and south of buffalo. light snow around cleveland and detroit. in towards erie. not something we are watching over the next two days. let me show thank you radar picture in or out of machine hat an. area around there. light rain showers around that region. coming out of bergen county, essex county, too. light shower activity going to long island. up the way farther, though, all snow. especially around the mohawk valley, utica, i-90. seeing snow off and on. that's piling up quickly now. south of buffalo. that's where it is going to be for most of the afternoon. pull that picture out farther. winter storm watches and warnings.

warnings are now in red. blue shaded areas, those are the advisories. lake-effect snow. northern parts of pennsylvania. getting towards the northern parts of new england, snow for today. three to six inches across central maine. other big story, the temperatures. look at it now. 39 in new york. behind that, it is only 24 in buffalo. that cold air riding through the great lakes. gets into the northeast by tomorrow afternoon. high in new york tomorrow only in the upper 20s. look look where it is coming from. rocky mountain temperatures cold now. 11 in colorado springs. there's your call there for wint winter. more in just a bit. >> all right. thank you, bobby. here's one of your favorites coming up, bob. donald trump's ex. what no one wants to hear on a flight. flight attendants saying "please leave the plane." why they thought ivana trump crossed the lines. >> ivana.

three american hikers detained in iran got a new attorney to try to get them released. their families said yesterday they hired a prominent lawyer. the families are still hoping to have them freed on humanitarian grounds. they also want to prepare to fight espionage charges against the hikers. their families say the hikers mistakenly marked iran's border in july. you might see something a little different on some new york city cabs next month about 500 kaksy cards will trade in ads for art. you are going to get to see works by three artists including yoko ono. the company that usually sells ad space on cabs says it wants to give something back to the city. the project will cost the company about $100,000 in lost revenue. you know, i wonder if this is

the time people aren't buying ad space. >> there has to be more to it than just good will. >> they are making it a gift. that probably would be in a good economy. yes. that's what i'm wondering. i'm just wondering. >> we are just curious. that's all. if you invested money in the stock market last spring, you probably had a good year. stocks are said to finish the year with big gains for 2009. jennifer westhoven, money expert, is here. what strikes me here is the fact that we are still climbing up from -- >> right. >> pretty low. >> it is great based on where we are coming from. based on the whole climbing out of. exactly what you are saying. it is not great if you think how we were doing a few years back. it means the stocks are headed to close the year on a high note. it is rare we are talking about a high note for stocks lately. so far this year, though, the dow is up by p about 20%. what a year. going from 9,000 rolling down to about 6500 in march. a lot of people feeling sick and

disgusted about that. back up, though, to 9 thousand. it was good if you didn't sell near the bottom. we are starting, the dow from 10,520. some of the best levels of the year for 2009 overall we said the dow was 20%. s&p is a little better. 25%. and the nasdaq, 40%. this is going to be short trading week because the markets are closed friday for new year's. apple stock is also closing an all-time high. $209 a share because of all the buzz going on about its new tablet computer. that people say it is going to be another game changer. i can't tell you any official details about this. because april sl doing what it always does. they are staying completely mum about what's happening. they are basically not giving out any details at all as they often do. a lot of times coming out from the supply chain, make parts of it in china. but think of it as a cross between a laptop and a

smartphone. expected announcement about something, we don't know what, is january 26th. back to you. >> they have us intrigued anyway. jen, thank you. homeland security is reacting to the recent terror scare by putting more air marshals on planes. what else they are seeing with new security screenings. also, one of most successful coach necessary college football is having a charge of heart.

you know, there is a good chance that you are going to have an armed air marshal our next flight. a homeland security official says the department is beefing up the ranks after friday's failed terror attack on a northwest airlines flight. what else can you expect when you fly? >> last hour we came in, we had to make sure we were seated and had nothing on our lap. no pillows or blankets. bit strange, i thought.

but precaution for them. >> the only thing that was different was that coming into the plane, mexico city, they search all of our bags individually. the secure guys. and then they searched us, like a body search, each one of us. >> the department of homeland security says that it is varying security measures at each airport to try to keep things unpredictable. one of the most successful coaches in college football shocked everyone twice in less than 24 hours. rafer has his head on straight now. >> yeah. >> after all the spinning going on. >> it did. this really did shock the college football world in two different directions. i mean, first of all florida, coach irvin meyer had more success in a short time he has been coaching than anybody in the game. so everybody was shocked when saturday he said he is stepping down because of health concerns. he was hospitalized with major chest pains a few weeks ago. then less than 24 hours later changed his mind and instead of saying he will take an

indefinite leave of absence after the sugar bowl game january 1st. expects to back with the team the start of next season. you will hear from meyer in 20 minutes. indianapolis colts' pursuit of perfection over. however, their playoff run is going to set to begin in a couple of weeks. they are railroad in the playoffs and pulled peyton manning against the jets. he fumbles. jets recover. score. they would win the game. indy suffers its first loss of the season. you can see it on the colts' playerfaces. what does herm edwards think? >> you play to win the game! hello! you play to win the game! >> one of our favorite quotes of all time. on our facebook page, sandy wrote --

we want to know what you think. we will read your comments on the air. dallas wins another game in december. why is that big news? because they generally lose in december. they were playing the rivals, washington redskins. in front of 88,000 at fedexfield. they did not mail it in. america's team normally has trouble winning this mop they have now won two in a row and are in the playoffs and play the eagles for the division time sunday. ♪ i tell you ♪ summer loving ♪ had me a blast ♪ summer loving ♪ happened so fast >> that's san antonio star tony parker with eva longoria. you were singing now as we were playing this. they want people to send in your videos for a chance to win spurs tickets. i can't believe i thought for a second that was actually them

singing. >> the track is from "grease." >> i have not seen the movie as often as some of my female contemporaries. >> yeah. you can spot that's john contemporaries. >> tony parker's voice is not that good. >> you never know. hey, before you go to the doctor, it may pay to shop and compare medical charges. clark howard tells you about a website to help you save on the costly procedures. >> one of my big beefs with medicine is how to figure out what someone is going to charge you for medical care before you actually receive it. what is a person to do? if you are someone who does not have health insurance or big out of pocket with health insurance. maybe you're in the high deductible plan or you have a deductible you have to meet every year and it really matters what you're going to be charged for stuff, there's a website called pricedoc.com. you can go there and you can

actually shop for your medical care where you put doctors and providers into competition with each other to provide your medical care. now, medicine kicking ask screaming is brought in the next five years into the era of actually having to post prices. should have happened a long time ago. if you need to know what someone is going to cost now, this is a way to do it. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> you can catch him at noon eastern saturday and sundays right here on hln. bobby v. how does it look for our friends in the airports right now? >> much better than last weekend. no huge snowmakers out there. some wind and snow to slow you down a little bit. deicing around new york and

cleave lpd. let me show you what it looks like live in central park. not so bad. little ice skating going on. temperatures tomorrow 29. watch for temperatures there. d.c. metros, gusty winds. cleveland some snow, as well. full details. "morning express" will be back.

that number made less than $20,000. well, a wisconsin family who just adopted two children were on that flight where authorities say a man tried to blow up a plane. they were coming back to the u.s. after adopting an 8-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister from ethiopia. they heard screams and smelled smoke. >> when they ran to get the fire extinguishers we saw the terror in their eyes and knew this was it. >> i did not want them to know what was going to happen. i told them it was a joke and laughed and they thought it was funny. >> things are back to normal. the kids spent their first full day in the u.s. playing in the snow there for the first time. look at them having a ball. mississippi is the most religious state, this is

according to a pew research center survey. 82% of people polled there said religion is important in their lives. southern states rounded out the top five. alabama was number two followed by arkansas, louisiana and tennessee, vermont and new hampshire are at the bottom of the list. police say ivna trump was taken off a plane. the ex-wife of billionaire donald trump was flying from palm beach, florida, to new york, but the plane hadn't even taken off yet. she became more aggravated when flight attendants tried to calm her down. people eating at a soup kitchen in rome got one surprise. pope benedict xvi showed up. he ate there and gave christmas presents to about 30 kids. this was his first appearance outside the vatican since being tackled at the vatican by a woman. he was not hurt, but it raised

security concerns. time to go in the way back machine during this morning's special edition of of "showbiz tonight." long lost interviews from stars including brad pitt and miley cyrus. see them all right here at 11:00 a.m. eastern. about 125 whales died after becoming stranded, but hundreds of people worked over the weekend to get 43 back out to sea. >> we've been here for three and a half, four hours and keep them as wet as possible. >> good people there. in a different area on saturday, more than 100 stranded whales died. large numbers of whales die every year on their way to brooed. you can be in for a longer wait this morning if you're traveling. airport security is on high

alert after this weekend's terror plot. what we're learning about the suspect.

hello and happy monday to you, i'm christi paul in today for robin meade. we're so glad you're with us and sharing your time. let's get right to the headlines together here. there's a lot to talk about today. the airports are on high alert right now, in fact. brand-new details on the suspect trying to blow opflight into detroit and what it means for your next flight. also, holiday sales were up from last year. we're seeing what you spent your money on and we some laughs for you. this year's highlights from the folks at jibjab.com. they are so creative. i'll show you more in a moment. we want to start with these brand-new details coming out of

the terror suspect trying to blow up a northwest mraeps christmas day. another scare with the same itinerary yesterday. first our source tells cnn that he had enough explosives to blow a hole in the plane's side. he tried to set off an explosive as the plane made a final descent into detroit. they heard a popping sound and saw fire in the man's seat. a dutch suspect said he grabbed the suspect. >> i saw the suspect was getting on fire and i freaked, of course. without any agitation i just jumped over all the seats. >> prosecutors will try to get dna samples from the suspect today. the nigerian man is out of the hospital after being treated for burns but he was on a watch list and however not on the no fly list. his family contend he disappeared while studying abroad and the suspect's father

recently warned the u.s. embassy and nigeria that his son had become radicalized and might be planning something. this was a photo we received from his father from the first bank of nigeria's website. meanwhile, we do have brand-new reaction to another security scare in detroit on a northwest plane. we're talk same route, same flight number here. remember officials say yesterday's incident is not related to possible terrorism, but listen to a passenger describe the panic. >> about an hour and a half before we came in they said everybody has to sit down and no standing up. so, after all that, we just said, okay. i figured it just came from december 25th thing that happened. when they said they got somebody, they're going to take somebody off, that was a little panicky, that's just great. then when i saw the police outside the window, i said,

uh-huh. >> he was released from custody and got on another flight. no federal air marshals were on the flight. because of all this, you might face tighter airport security on your next trip. more federal air marshals are on planes. you may not be able to get up during the last hour of international nights and "usa today" reports they may pat the soles of your feet and pat a wand across your body. travelers say, indeed, some lines are longer. >> we came in and we had to make sure we were seated and had nothing on our lap. no pillows or blankets and just, i think, precaution for them. >> the only thing that was different was that coming into the plane in mexico city, they search all of our bags individualally, the security guys. and then a body search each one

of us. >> we're curious to know, are you okay with more screening and even possible pat downs at the airport. curtis wrote to us said anybody who is not okay with this should not fly. we complain it's too much but after something happens we complain there isn't enough security. i would rathder us be too cautious. jennifer says the problem is not with the u.s. airports but other country's airports. they need the tighter screenings. we'd like you to join the conversation. go to our facebook page there is a link at cnn.com/robin to make it easy for you. massachusetts officials are investigating a string of suspicious fires. at least five buildings and four cars burned early sunday morning. all the fires were within a half mile of each other. the d.a. says the two victims were found on the first floor of that house. two people who lived upstairs, though, were able to make it out safely. there are reports iran security forces launched a new crackdown in response to

yesterday's bloody anti-government protest. several leading activists were rounded up this morningp iran says at least eight people died yesterday. i want to share with you some of the more dramatic photos we're getting of the protests. the police chief insists no one was killed by security forces but one opposition leader says his nephew was shot to death. since june activists rallied against iran's disputed elections. one of the most successful coaches in college football made a shocking announcement he was stepping down and then kind of had a change of heart. rafer weigel is solidly on two feet after spinning around with this one. >> a lot of people were just being confused by the whole thing. urban meyer shocked the college football world when he said he was walking away on saturday. he said health concerns were the reason. he was hospitalize would chest pains a few weeks ago and he said he wanted to spend more time with his family and told

"the new york times" his daughter said "now i get my daddy back." less than 24 hours later after he watched his team practice meyer had a change of heart only taking an indefinite absence now. >> i wanted to have my priorities straight and a lot of times coaches do not have their priority straight. you put business before god and family, you have a problem. >> he will coach the gators in their upcoming sugar goal game and exfeekts be back with the team when the 2010 season starts. jamaican authorities help the data recorder will help figure out what caused the plane to skid off the runway. now, the plane cracked open in several places and stopped just short of the caribbean sea last week. it was raining pretty hard at the time, too. but all 154 people onboard did survive. the crystal ball will ring

in 2010 with added sparkle this christmas eve. they will have an interlocking ribbon pattern. they represent this year's theme, let there be courage. the ball drop tradition goes back to 1907. i am betting a pretty cold one, bobby. you're focusing on the west coast right now? >> i was looking at the extended forecast for you around new york city, another storm coming in. basically the energy is right around the pacific. by thursday night, looks like there might be a snow storm in the mid-atlantic spreading rain and snow across new york city for new eve's eve. look at the clouds coming in and a little light rain when you get in towards the bay area right now. that is there for the morning and later on this afternoon, cloud cover is all you're going to find. albeit cold, another cold front

dropping on through. another burst towards central new york and stretches in towards western parts of mississippi just light snow now looking for one to three inches of snow and in towards new york city, too. poor visibility because of the light showers and get out of there this afternoon and snow hanging around into the hudson valley and then back out to the west, it's all snow and lake-effect and heavy at times specifically south of boston and near syracuse. winter storm warnings are there. mid-atlantic going to be a problem for you if you're getting towards the airports. here's what it looks like in washington, d.c., trying to get in and out of that city, little wind out there. feels like the 20s with that wind chill and even colder tomorrow. there's a look at the white house, sunshine in full force, though. >> bobby, thank you. brand-new comments this morning from the homeland security secretary. what she says she wants

president obama to do to better protect you. things have been tight for so many of us this year, i know. we'll see how stored faired this holiday season. this might surprise you.

well, security experts say puffer machines, bomb sniffing dogs or manual swab test could have detected the explosives used in friday's failed plane bombing. president obama ordered a review of how he got the substance past security despite being on a watch list. the security system failed, but she also explained what did work. >> with all of the procedures we now have in place, we instituted new procedures moving forward and we were able, immediately upon the passenger's apprehending this individual to institute procedures even for the planes that were already in the air so that moving forward

we could provide additional safety in the air environment. but we need to go back now and the president has asked us to to do a thorough review. these are procedures that have been in place since the shoe bomber in 2006. what needs to be upgraded to see that this doesn't happen again. >> we're getting a frightening picture of what might have happened had those explosives worked. described it as petn. the same explosive used by richard reid. passengers heard popping sounds. watch this demonstration. a source told our sister network, cnn, the suspect had enough petn to blow a hole in that plane. so, did you spend a little bit more for holiday gifts this year? you are in good company, so don't feel bad. the first numbers are looking pretty good for retailers.

money expert jennifer westhoven is here. when you look back at where we were last year, certainly more optimism at this point. >> certainly better than where we were last year and a lot of people have gotten used to this new economic reality and said, let's stop buying presents for everybody or lits limit it. spending a little bit higher, that is a turn around from last year's sale losses. it is good news in a bad economy because how much you and i spend for christmas, you know, it's more important to you, personally, your personal economy, but it makes a big difference to the overall economy, too. mastercard sales were up little more than 3.5% even with the snow storms and bad weather that hit many parts of the country. the study's author says, if you thought of the economy in critical condition last year, this year it would be in stable

condition. popular electronics, shoe, i was just reading a report that says the ipod touch was very popular among teenagers, but gift card sales appear to have been weak. las vegas, we got yet another huge opening to tell you about. you've probably seen some of these recently. a lot of people scratching their head saying is this the best time to epoen up all these rooms. two new towers opened in sin city. one is ph towers and the other is the hard rock's. nightclubs, you know, penthouses, all of that. they planned a lot of this back when things were hot. the new hard rock rooms. as cristi puts it, i don't know if this goes for $119. some rooms are $119 and they were planned when things were booming and so much demand. in the meantime, some other places in las vegas have been closing. binions which is the famed

original home of poker has closed their hotel. >> i was just there, come on. as long as the casino is still open. >> the casino is still open. >> if you ever go there, you have to go to binions. the real trouble area around the great lakes and the northeast. so far so good. deicing in buffalo in towards pittsburgh and also cleveland. light lake-effect snow and that is going to pick up and the blue across central a good burst of snow that gets in towards boston as rain later today. here's what it looks like for the rest of the afternoon. short delays looking for half hour to hour-long delays and philadelphia, same thing. gusty winds. everybody should be less than an hour delay but then the rain around boston, cleveland and buffalo snow. san francisco low snow and more on that in a bit. charlie sheen got arrested on christmas day and we have new

details of the alleged incident.

homeland security is investigating whether al qaeda was behind that alleged attack

on a passenger jet christmas day. the suspect has told officials he got the explosives in yemen. terrorism analyst peter bergen says an attack earlier this year in saudi arabia was traced to an al qaeda cell in yemen and it involved the same explosive. >> i think it's quite possible that the same al qaeda cell in yemen did both attacks. and, in fact, according to saudi arabian official, he thinks that the widespread publicity about the way this attack was done and the fact that it could be done in an airport was something that the al qaeda then implemented. >> right now homeland security says there's no signs that the attempt was part of any larger international plot, but airport screenings are being beefed up and a lot more air marshals will be on flights. the indianapolis colts were chasing perfection. they decided to play it safe,

though, and the fans, at least some of them, are really over the edge about this. >> yeah, they wanted their place in history. only one other team, one team has gone completely undefeated and won the super bowl. the miami dolphins in 197. colts the last undefeated team, so, the big question is how long would you keep peyton manning in the game? they pulled him in the third quarter and in comes his backup and he fumbles and they score and peyton is upset and other players are upset and the colts still going to the playoffs but the perfect season is gone. here's the question, what is more important? health or history? john wrote on our facebook page, i can't remember who won super bowl 22 or 34 or 16, but i do remember the only undefeated team, the dolphins. go down in history. bad move, colts. >> health of the players is most important. an undefeated regular season is

no good if you don't win the super bowl. two most cohesive arguments for both sides. we love what you guys wrote. go to cnn.com/robin. new orleans saints taking on tampa bay. kick this and they win. but he misses the short field goal but tom benson thinks it's good, it's good. no, it's not good. no, tom, it's not good. you mean, we didn't -- no. the bucks win only their third day of the year and a big one in overtime. the saints still in the playoffs. meanwhile, new york, not in the playoffs. giants playing in the last game in their old stadium. unfortunately, they collapsed before their building. the g-men were embarrassed by the panthers and their back-up quarterback. 41-9.

anticlimatic ending on a new york state. and history was made at the pizza bowl. sarah thomas the first woman to oofficiate a bowl game between marshal and ohio. the married mother of two young boys became the first woman to officiate a college game two years ago and also on the nfl's list of officiating prospects. how cool would it be for your mother was on official. >> she is one tough woman. >> she is tough. >> to be raising two boys -- >> this is only a part-time job for her. she has a full-time job doing something else. >> good for her. >>. we're learning more about actor charlie sheen's arrest today. police say he used a weapon in an alleged case of domestic violence. tmz.com is reporting it is a knife. spent part of christmas day in jail in aspen, colorado. sheen has not been charged, but he does have to return to court

february 8th. passengers thought a man on their plane might have been a terror threat. how his in-flight entertainment mistakenly made them nervous. police say a high-speed chase helped them stop a kidn kidnapper and reunite a 5-year-old girl with her family. resistant case of tuberculosis.

the man survived the almost two years of treatments. his strain was linked to similar ones in peru and china. a tv expert says only a handful of people in the world are believed to have this drug-resistant strain. of course, we're getting ready to say good-bye to 2009. take a fun look at the big news story that had so many people talking this year. we just got this in. check this out.

>> they really are clever, aren't they? let's take a look at what's in your morning papers. "the new york times" says the u.s. is quietly opening a new front against al qaeda. the cia sent field agents to yemen. it cites senior military officers as saying american special operation commandos have been training in many security forces and counterterrorism tactics. "usa today" reports that u.s.

efforts are succeeding and keeping mexican drug violence from spilling across the border. murder in u.s. border cities dropped in the first half of 2009. "the santa fe new mexican" reports more artists are having a tough time and may have to get a second job to support themselves. two-thirds made less than $40,000 in 2008 and a third of that number made less than $20,000. using disinfectants can cause bacteria to grow. a new research published in the journal "microbiology" say some microbes in hospitals became resistant to antibiotics. these super bugs could have serious implications for how infections are spread. homeland security are reacting to the recent terror scare by putting more air marshals on board. what they're seeing with new security screenings. snow and ice causing so many

problems for drivers out there. we'll tell you if that will let up any time soon.

all right. there they are. the new york jets dance team ringing the opening bell at the new york stock exchange. take you live to the trading floor in minutes to see if your 401(k) will give you something to cheer about today. we're hoping that is the case. let's talk about what everyone is talking about this morning. a nigerian man trying to blow up a plane near detroit will not be at hearing this afternoon but prosecutors will try to get dna samples from umar farouk abdullmutallab. two people were killed in what is called a suspicious house fire in massachusetts.

at least five buildings and several cars were burned. at least 25 people were killed when a suicide bombing hit a religious procession in pakistan today. the explosion wounded 50 other people, this is according to police who are marking a shiite anversity. and those are the top stories headlining at this hour. i'm christi paul in for robin meade. let's get back to our top story here, shall we? we're learning more about the man accused of trying to blow up a northwest airlines flight christmas day. the suspect paid nearly $3,000 cash for his plane ticket from nigeria to detroit going through amsterdam. british officials banned murx, a r farouk abdullmutallb and police searched his last-known apartment there over the

weekend. a u.s. senator is outraged by this close call. >> the truth is, he was able to break through all our homeland security. if it was not for our good fortune, grace of god that the explosive did not go off, 300 people and many more on the ground probably in michigan would have been killed. >> president obama's administration ordard sweeping review of aviation security because of the scare and you could face more airport security on your next trip. tighter security measures that they're seeing in the u.s. >> yes, more than usual. >> and the last hour of the flight we, nobody could raise, even to go to the restroom. so, it's new security proermshs. >> we're curious to your opinion on this. are you okay with more screening and even possible patdowns at the airport. i wonder how many of you fly all

that often. for regular travelers, it's very inconvenient and accomplishes very little. and then ann said, i have a pacemaker and get patted downarve time i fly, not a big deal. leslie wrote to us saying i work for the tsa and i appreciate the passengers who come through and tell myself and my co-workers to do whatever we need to make sure their plane is safe. i want to invite you to go to our facebook page. there is a link, we'd love to hear from you. you might want to check your freezer for possible contaminated beef. the poultry company in oklahoma is recalling 248,000 pounds of beef products in six states. we're talking colorado, iowa, kansas, michigan, south dakota and washington state. now, the agriculture department said all those states reported illnesses involving the e. coli bacteria. go to cnn.com/robin and look

under important websites. a 5-year-old girl was rescued from her alleged kidnapper after a police officer spotted the suspect's truck. a 45-year-old man took her while she was playing outside her aunt's apartment on christmas day. seven hours later he was in the middle of a car chase with a cop. >> as i went past him, i was able to see there was a child and a male in the car and once i came to a stop at the croswalk, he wouldn't pull up next to me. i didn't want to hit him because it didn't look like the girl was restrained in the vehicle. >> the thing is, the girl, police say, was molested. the good news is, of course, she is back home with her family and can start to heal. someone trashed john gosselin's new york apartment. someone smashed his furniture and stole other items. he also says a note was pinned to his dresser with a butcher knife. they won't reveal what that note

said but gosselin was on the show "jon & kate plus eight" when he was with his kids in pennsylvania when this happened. state police say that roads in pennsylvania were slick overnight and it was hard to see and some drivers were apparently going too fast. >> the car in front of me slowed down and i slowed down so i didn't hit that guy and i started wobbling a little bit and once i started wobbling i wasn't able to straightten out and ran into the other fellow and i went off on this road and he went off on the other side. >> the forecast is for more rough conditions, as well. look for new snow on top of those icy roads and poor visibility. please take good care out there. we're just now, i know, into our first full week of winter. bobby, is this any indication of what to expect for the whole season? >> in towards illinois and iowa, they're pulling their hair out.

enough is enough. let me show you the snow from yesterday, say in towards vermont and new york and that rain will get up towards boston later today and definitely going to give you delays at the airport. what about the snow in the next two days. here's what it looks like. computer model picking up the snow for later today. northern vermont and new hampshire and maine where it picks up a little bit more. south of buffalo over syracuse and ontario and lake erie for buffalo and first and a half near syracuse and south of buffalo, too. u.p. of michigan, northern michigan near detroit, one to three inches. rain going on right now. around new york city and i'll show you this because it's tough to get in and out of the city when this happens. jfk, newark, laguardia, all on time right now. up towards the north a little further, light rain and snow getting in towards the

berkshires and off to the west a little further and all snow coming off of lake erie. the real lake-effect stuff comes out later today and gusts to 40 miles per hour. lake-effect warnings and erie, pennsylvania, syracuse and snow warnings for central parts of maine. look at the temperatures, 25 in buffalo, and 21 in detroit. colder air pushing to the east. 39 degrees in new york city today and down to the 20s as a high for you tomorrow. 9 in fargo, and 16 now in pierre and 1 in grand junction and minus 11 in jackson, wyoming. 13 in caspar and denver with a temperature of 14. still getting pictures from this weekend's snow storm, too. pictures out of illinois. this is peoria. suv rolled over on the icy roads on saturday. then in springfield, illinois, yesterday little bit of fun coming in. girl going down the hill with the snow. more snow for central new york

today and then another potential big snowmaker near new york city for new year's. we'll get a look at that over the next couple days. >> snow on new year's, it could be worse. i say cool because i'm not in new york. people in new york are going, yeah, whatever, christi. i'm from ohio, so, you know, i miss the snow. how does it look on wall street today? >> right now we are starting the morning slightly higher as we come off the long holiday weekend. we had a bit of a winning streak. all three of the major averages have managed to finish to the upside for five sessions in a row. we are expecting very light volume this week, though, as many traders have closed their bookz on '09 and want to focus on protecting the year's gains. the tech sector has been the real standout with the nasdaq gaining 50% over the last 12 months. the focus today remains on the

data. shoppers opened up their walls at little more this year with holiday spending increasing by more than 3.5% from last year, but that's compared to a very weak 2008 when holiday sales fell. look like people were shopping for electronics and jewelry while apparel struggled. close watch on airline stocks the day after those two weekend security. travelers may have, right now, investors will look past the incidents. others worry that business passengers who produce the most proft for the airlines could hurt the carriers and drag on stock prices just as the industry was beginning to recover. we'll keep an eye on those stocks for you. back to you. >> good to see you this morning, alison, thanks. >> good to see you. i'm leaving, no, i'm not. one of the most successful coaches in college football had a change of heart here. flight attendants brought donald trump's ex-down to earth.

there's a good chance you're going to have an armed air marshal on your next flight. the department's beefing up the ranks of air marshals after friday's failed terror attack on that northwest airlines flight. what else can you expect when you fly? >> we come in and we have to make sure we were seated and have nothing on our lap, no clothes or blankets. there's exchange and just a precaution for them. >> the only thing that was different was that coming into the plane in mexico city, they search all of our bags individually. the security guys andthone they

searched us and like a body search each one of us. >> the department of homeland security says it's varying security measures at each airport to try to keep things unpredictable. three people in iran got a new attorney. they hired a prominent iranian lawyer. the families are still hoping to have them freed on humanitarian grounds but also want to prepare to fight possible espionage charges. their families say the hikers mistakenly crossed the unmarked border back in july. states that already have programs to expand health care coverage are pushing back against capitol hill right now. "the new york times" says 20 states including arizona and new york argue the senate health care bill is unfair. they say it would force them to pay for states that haven't done anything to expand coverage. about 125 whales died after becoming stranded on beaches in new zealand. hundreds of people, though, worked over the weekend to try

to rescue thel. they were able to get 43 of those pilot whales back out to sea. >> we've been here probably three and a half, four hours and we've just been listening to directions and keep them as wet as possible. >> what good people they are. in a different area on saturday more than 100 stranded whales died. large numbers of whales die every year on their way from antarctic waters to breed. we're telling you about a program that helps iraq's widows defy tradition to search for new partners. well, the pilot of the american airlines flight that overshot a runway in jamaica was back home in florida for christmas. we're talking about captain brian cole who is pretty banged up but no bruises and no broken bones. he praised his flight crew for their work during this incident. >> thankful to be home with my family.

and that i have the highest gratitude for my first officer and the flight attendants that were with us on that flight to be able to get everybody home to their families. >> cole didn't comment on the crash because it's still under investigation. all, i should say, 154 people onboard did survive, but that jet had cracked open in three places. okay, imagine it, it's christmas and you run out of milk and run to the super market hoping it is open. what happens when the sign says closed but the unlocked door welcomes you right in.

you geto the grocery store to find out it's closed, but, wait a minute, the front door is unlocked. customers discovered that at two california safeway stores over the christmas holiday. police say what's even more surprising is that no one stole a thing. >> a customer from inside the store said there were a lot of customers inside the store and we went over there and a report

of customers leaving money on the counter purchasing merchandise. >> a safeway spokeswoman said a lock malfunction left the doors open at both stores. >> good holiday story. >> there are good people in this world, darn it. one of them is the most successful college football coaches because he shocked everyone twice in less than 24 hours. i have to believe florida fans panicked and then this nice, big sigh of relief. >> still some concern. i mean, the guy's got some health concerns. the architect of the spread offense possibly spread too thin but urban meyer who said he was stepping down because he was hospitalize would major chest pains on saturday. less than 24 hours later he said he changed his mind. he is going to take an indefinite leave of absence. he's going to coach the team in the upcoming sugar bowl game against cincinnati.

he is one very successful coach. you'll hear from him in about 20 minutes. the indianapolis colts pursuit of perfection is over. now they're already in the playoffs. peyton manning pulled against the jets and his backup looked like a backup. the jets fumbled and scored and manning suffered his first loss of the season. the coach didn't want manning to get hurt and some fans are upset. what does the head coach edwards think? >> you play to win the game. you don't play to just play it. >> that's one of our favorite quotes from all time. now, what are you saying about it on our facebook page. robert wrote, it shows no respect for the fans that love their team and have supported them. fans that might have spent a small fortune for tickets. susie wrote, keep the players healthy for playoffs and super

bowl, you get a nice, fat bonus when you win the super bowl. we want to know what you guys think. we'll read your won another game in december. that's a big deal. playing their rivals, washington redskins in front of 90,000 people at fedex field. normally they have trouble winning this month. they have won 2009 a row and they will be playing -- they are in the playoffs and play the eagles for the division title on sunday. >> i tell you, some loving had me a blast. >> that is san antonio star tony parker with wife eva longoria. you may not recognize her in the blonde wig. i don't remember "grease." this is from "grease." >> it's not their voices. it's john travolta and olivia

newton john. >> eva longoria is on the screen. what your going to do? >> she's lovely. no doubt about it. >> nice way to say it. >> so far so good. couple deicing delays. buffalo, cincinnati, cleveland getting in towards pittsburgh. later today winds go on through the northeast watch for half hour to hour long delays. d.c. metro will start seeing winds pick up there too. buffalo, some snow. watch for that. then cleveland more snow as well. see them popping up behind me a rough day for the northeast. >> police say ivana trump was taken off a plane. they say she got angry from children who were running and screaming in the ails. the ex-wife of billionaire donald trump was flying from palm beach, florida to new york. authorities say the plane wasn't even off the ground but she cursed at the children and became even more aggravate when the flight attendants tried to

calm her down. no charges were filed. air passengers who witnessed that alleged terror attack say they know they are lucky to be alive but one woman is counting her blessings two times over because of who she had on the plane with her.

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doctors and providers into competition with each other to provide your medical care. now, medicine kicking and screaming will be brought in the next five years into the era of actually having to post prices. should have happened a long time ago. but if you need to know what something is going to cost now this is a way for you to do it. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to protect your wallet go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> he'll teach you how to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. a family who just adopted two children were on that christmas day flight where authorities say a man wanted to blow up the plane. our affiliate talked to them about what they saw.

>> reporter: at this house the mood is much different than it was 24 hours ago. >> god was protecting us and it was a true miracle. >> reporter: they were flying home about to land in detroit when they heard what sounded like a balloon pop. >> all of a sudden we heard screams from the front of the plane because we were way back. >> reporter: a partition blocked their view but they began to smell smoke and continued to hear people screaming. that's when they saw flight attendants run to the front of the plane. >> it's when they ran to get the fire extinguishers we saw the terror in their eyes and knew this is it. >> reporter: they all held hands and began to pray for a safe return. moments later they landed unharmed. >> it really is a christmas miracle because the intent of this man is to blow up this

plane. >> reporter: they avoided a terrorist attack but brought home two very special christmas gifts. this is the children who were on the plane too. the family just adopted them and were bringing them home for the first time. >> when the flight attendant was running by i told them it was a joke and it was funny. >> reporter: today they played in the snow for the first time in their lives, making snow angels and their family believes on that flight home they had an angel of their own. >>it's a dream. this is what i hoped and prayed for. >> again, our thanks from our affiliate tmj with that story. you could be luck in for a long await this morning if you're travel go to. airport security is on high alert after that alleged terror plot. what we're learning now about that suspect.