is it me or is this week really going slowly? i'm robin meade. you make it go quicker, though, spending time with you. here is what's going on. aid is getting to haiti. many earthquake victims are doing what they can to get out, to go anywhere. as missing americans beg u.s. families to help. many are wondering, where has tiger been? now, we have what could be the first pictures of him, since his car accident thanksgiving weekend. whether it's dangerous in california. flooding and mud slides. thousands of haitians are

putting their lives at risk to get out of port-au-prince. look at the tiny row boats packed with people. anytime a ferry comes into the port, it's overwhelmed by people trying to climb on board. >> we are trying to get out. it's impossible. i asked the police several times. they said there won't be a boat for hours. >> won't be able to control the crowd. a new amazing rescue. look at this 5-year-old. he was found under his collapsed home yesterday, alive. he cried out over and over again, i'm thirsty. anderson cooper was at the hospital when the boy's uncle brought him in. >> we are getting fluids. he's dehydrated. >> that's it? >> that's it.

no broken bones, no apparent injuries, what so ever. >> isn't that a miracle? some families with missing americans in haiti have been pleaing with officials for help. they believe students from lynn university may still be alive. eight students escaped and came home. four are still missing. one of the parents talked with us on hln prime news. >> our government abandoned us over there. they have not shown up until six days in, that night, to help these americans. they have americans, soldiers, missionaries, lots of family members. there still could be hope. finally, with senator kerry, jack kingston, the congressman from georgia. he finally got snake cameras in there yesterday. >> u.s. officials say they are doing all they can to help in a

tough situation. we don't know how many americans are missing in haiti. at least 28 americans are confirmed dead. tomorrow night, another chance for you to get involved at 8:00 p.m. eastern. the hope for haiti now global telethon. anderson cooper and dr. sanjay gupta will be part of the star studded event. a first trip to d.c. as senator elect. scott brown plans to meet with senators john mccain and mitch mccon el. it's not clear when he'll be sworn in. president obama said democrats should wait until then to move forward on health care reform. >> here is one thing i know. i want to make sure this is off the table. the senate shouldn't try to jam anything through until scott brown is seated. people in massachusetts spoke. he's got to be part of that

process. i would advise we try to move quickly to get around the elements of the package people agree on. >> so, what parts of the bill is the president talking about? in the next half hour, you are going to hear what the dems may have to give up to get any form of health care reform passed. big change. >> how do you feel about it getting scaled back? if there is a scaled back version, what must it have for you when it comes to your health coverage. go to c nrnn.com/robin. hit facebook if you want to do that. hit contact us if you want to do a straight e-mail. new pictures show tiger woods outside a mississippi addiction clinic. rafer has the latest for us. we have not seen him since thanksgiving weekend. >> that's right. these new pictures from the "national inquirer" would be the

first since the friday after thanksgiving. the photos reportedly show woods walking behind the center in mississippi. an associated press reporter was looking for woods in the town over the weekend. could not track him down. wjtv says woods is at the treatment center. they tell our affiliate, it cannot confirm or deny whether woods is a patient. this new information, today, from wjtv, they are building new fences around their building and draping them with tarps. robin. >> huh. peculiar. >> it is. >> thank you so much. wow, we haven't seen him since that time. we know three teenagers and a 4-year-old boy were among the eight people killed.

christoph christopher spite co-owned the home. days of torrential downpour flooded streets in southern california. honey, it is not over, yet. another major storm is slamming the area. 500 homes have been evacuated. l.a. has the swift water rescue teams on stand by. one woman says people living in the area should expect this kind of thing. >> the town is in a flood zone. everybody knows it's in a flood zone. the new emergency comes and moves into the town and beat on the town counsel, which has no money, anymore than any municipality has in california. it's like somebody moving to las vegas and being upset because it's hot. >> now, she has a point. sb absolutely. >> it's something that i tell

you right now, mid-westerners and east coasters say all the time. >> why do you live there. >> i know. every four to six years, it's el nino, it gets flooded out. now, we have the severe weather in california and texas yesterday. now, it's working through the panhandle of florida. it's for holmes, walton and washington county. it's moving at 45 miles an hour. the entire region is under a watch. it's pushing the unsettled water. now, stretching into georgia, tennessee, gets into the carolinas later today. here is the radar picture. montgomery, west of tallahassee. there's where the tornado watch is located. heavy rain in birmingham now. look at this feature. a beau shape.

watch for winds here. it could be gusting. as the rain moves to the colder atmosphere, freezing rain, snow and sleet. that's what we have. winter storm warnings in red, advisories in blue and green. a watch to the mason-dixon line. one across seattle. two from later today through tomorrow moves ashore. all the heavy rain is out there. saturday afternoon, the all-clear is given for california. have to get through the next 36 hours. >> thank you. cindy mccain is taking a stand, but some republicans may not like this. conan o'brien may have sealed the deal with nbc, but the attacks on his boss keep oncoming.

time for us to salute our troops. today's salute comes fro mona to her husband, jeffry of the u.s. army.

she says they have six kids. the whole family misses him so much. even though he's not there with him, they are thinking about him every day. if you have somebody in the service you love, why don't you salute them? it's free. cnn.com slash robin. john mccain's wife is for same-sex marriage. her daughter appears in photos for the group. senator mccain's office says they respect the views of the family, but he remains opposed to same-sex marriage. third graders appear split up according to their appearance. >> if you are light skinned, you are at the back of the line. >> the teacher segregated them. what the kids say they learn ed in just two days.

your bank may face tough new rules about how it handles your money. today, president obama is set to propose new limits on the size and risk taken by some of the biggest banks. here is jennifer westhoven. good morning. >> good morning. a lot of people say that is what caused the financial crisis and it's still a problem. the banks are so huge, they put so much on the line. they are the masters of the universe. they were risking the entire economy. that was the argument for why we all ended up shelling out billions of dollars to bail them out. that problem is still there. it's not been fixed. it's called individualized profit, socialized gain. it means when times are good, they get huge bonuses, when times are bad, we all have to help. one of the great lessons of the great depression was, we learned it the hard way, you don't cake the wall street guys, it's in

their nature to be risky and bet it all and put them in charge of bank assets. we put up a fire wall between trading and banks. in the '90s, it was about growth. they took the wall down, the president may look to put it back. where are you going to see your next movie? maybe youtube? starting tomorrow, you can rent movies from youtube. it's a change for them. you can watch it on your computer for $4. they start small with movies at the film festival in utah. google wants to make sure they make money. they are the new corporate lords of youtube. >> oh, my gosh, net flicks must be having convulsions. you know how long it takes my computer to down load a ten

second video. treadmills for horses. keeping the horses in place makes it easier to monitor their injuries or braeting problems that only show up when running. they plan to expand it to dogs, pigs and camels. that's one thing you don't want falling off the treadmill, a horse. you know? just off of haiti's coast, the "u surks ns comfort" is on shore. we are going to take you on board a floating hospital to see how it works.

children aren't the only ones left helpless in haiti right now. the elderly are among the 1 million homeless. richard lui is here looking at that angle and the situation they are facing. good morning. >> that's right. we are talking assisted living with almost no assistance now. we found a senior center in port-au-prince completely destroyed. now, the survivors are homeless. they are sleeping outside in soiled mattresses. many have dementia. they don't know what to do with them. >> translator: they have no food, no drinking water, they

have absolutely nothing. if they don't get medical care or food, it's absolutely certain they will die. >> robin, doctors showed up yesterday for the first time since the quake to check on them. he had aspirin and bandages. >> it's so pitiful looking. all these people who need help and they are outside on dirty mattresses. we know more help keeps coming each day. the "usns comfort" arrived offshore. >> a cnn crew got to go on board the hospitalship. it's got 1,000 beds there. patients are air lifted on board. five operating rooms are there already. one of the doctors grew up in haiti and he's understandably stunned. listen. >> i can't explain. never seen anything like this

before. never. >> doctors on the "comfort" expect to see thousands of patients. on a ship this big, they are going to run out of rooms fast. there's as many beds as johns hopkins. it's a big ship. >> it is. are there facilities from other countries that could come in as well. >> right. >> richard, thank you. >> sure. some olympic athletes could have to go through more testing in the future. gender testing. here is rafer with more on that. help me understand. it's not that we don't know if they are male or female, is it a mix of hormones? >> it's just that complicated, robin. it could be a case on that, it could be a case of mixed hormones. >> it's fascinating, it is. >> it's on the heels of the controversy surrounding caster semenya whose gender is still

being investigated since august. they are suggesting setting up genter testing centers and putting rules in place so if their gender is questioned, they can determine it. the olympics used to do gender testing because the screening process was considered unethical and unscientific. this is going to be better? >> not to mention an invasion of privacy. but it's fascinating scientific issue. >> also scientific issue, not enough snow. temperatures are unusually warm in vancouver. olympic organizers are planning to bring in snow by trucks and helicopters from higher elevations. they may bring in straw and wood for the base of the course. don't fall, it will hurt. our video of the day, speaking of games. a wardrobe malfunction.

she's going to be on the right side of the screen. it opens, exposing her bum. we blurred it out in slow mo here. the kids are laughing at it. >> that was a cold ride, wasn't it. >> reportedly, she didn't notice. we have the tiger woods photo. you decide. >> we are immature. i love it. nbc could announce a final deal with conan o'brien. wall street journal reports he signed a deal with his former bosses a few hours ago expected to include a proinvestigation to barco nan from talking bad about nbc. >> i have been having a hard time explaning the whole situation to my kids because they are still very young. yeah, so i had a doll made of

myself. now, i can show my kids exactly where nbc touched daddy. >> it includes more than 30 million bucks for o'brien and $12 million for his staff. the manager told the journal they plan to supplement their severance out of his own pocket. to quote bob van dillen, i'd rather be mariah carey's life coach than fly today. >> that was for you only. i don't want to make fun of her on air. we have plenty of fog and rain. out of atlanta, the major city on the east coast. this is downtown. lots of fog and rain. what about the delays? so far, it's early. we are talking atlanta with an hour delay, phoenix with an hour or more. las vegas an hour or more, los

angeles san francisco. >> you're saying i'm a butte today. >> xwaktly. how are you feeling about health care reform. 

awkward when the newest member goes to capitol hill. republican scott brown destroyed the democrats supermajority. he's meeting john kerry and paul kirk, jr., the man who held ted kennedy's seat since he passed away. lawyers expected to file a motion today, he's under house arrest in switzerland, polanski is. he left the united states for sentencing. people who escaped the haiti earthquake are risking their

lives to get out of port-au-prince. look at all the row boats. they are trying to get to ferries to take them to the other side of the country. such desperation. those are some of the headlines today. i wanted to say good morning to you as the alarm goes off. it's thursday, connected to friday. i'm robin meade. check out this new video of the moment the earthquake hit port-au-prince. >> my house is going to fall. it's shaking. here is another one. >> wow. i can hear the panic in that man's voice, can't you? that was amateur video overlooking the city. a pediatrician said what she is seeing is heart breaking. richard lui is here. so many kids are badly hurt. saving their lives means tough choices for them. >> that's right. sometimes, the only alternative is amputation for them. it's not an easy choice for

haiti. artificial limbs are rare there. the only manufacturer in the entire country was destroyed in the quake. these children here just want to do the simple things in life. >> translator: what i fear is that if i can't walk, i can't go to school and i can't go to church. >> they desperately need to have a future. they need to have prosthetics. i think there's going to need to be a major campaign like what happened in cambodia with the land mines. this is our 20th amputation. ten of them are children. these kids are not going to be able to sustain themselves. >> very difficult to understand what's happening there. it's also hard to believe. some parents are saying no to the amputations. one doctor put it in stark terms, those children will probably die as they look at the inflictions there. as we look at the buildings, the

manufacturer of the prosthetics. we'll look at that. >> i imagine the kids will die because gain green sets in, infection, basically. thank you. forget textbooks. a third grade teacher taught his class about segregation by dividing the groups by skin color. one group had to stay in for recess and sit separately at lunchtime. the kids say it was tough, but they learned a lot. >> it was unfair we didn't get a chance to do a lot of things. >> don't call them names. >> have you done that in the past? >> you have? you're not going to do it anymore? >> the next day, they swapped rolls. the teacher said they wanted them to learn why it's important to respect everyone. more rain could cause

dangerous mud slides in california. the ground is saturated and another storm hitting today. more than 500 homes evacuated so far. the communities hit by the wildfires are most at risk. not everyone plans to pack up and leave. >> are you staying or going? >> i'm going to stay and stick it out. >> we cannot guarantee we can get to you. we don't want to have a situation where this is not a search and rescue, but a body recovery. i don't think i would play around with mother nature. we are asking people, no, we're not asking, we're telling them, get out. >> it sounds dangerous to be waiting around. 34 minutes past the hour. let me show you other places getting rain this morning. where you going to start? >> florida. it breezed through texas and louisiana yesterday. 14 tornadoes between those two states. now, it's picking up in the gulf coast.

no active tornado warnings. i have it zeroed in on the area that got slammed a couple hours ago. tornado watch until 10:00 a.m. eastern. it's evident white. here is the low out of california. it's dropping a cold front out of the gulf of mexico. check out the yellows, greens and reds. it's heavy rain action. it's between the warm front and cold front. it's sparking more thunderstorms. severe weather is a possibility. it's all in the areas shaded with the watch box. toward birmingham, heavy rain in the south. it's indication of the stiff winds behind the rain. to the north, it will eventually fall into cooler air. winter storm warnings, a little freezing rain, sleet then snow. now, california, we thad one storm coming. the front stretches down through nevada.

that's yesterday's action. rain ahead of today's action is out at the coast. heavy downpours, two to three inches in l.a. to san diego. let me show a little video we have from long beach. we had flooded roads. five inches of rain at a long beach airport. people breezing through like there's no problem. don't even be on the roads. look how deep that is. do not try to cross that. more in a bit. a man who says he spent four years in prison for robbing a bank with a b.b. gun is going to hollywood. he would youed the "american idol" judges. ♪ trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been dogging my soul since the day i was born ♪ ♪ yeah, yeah. >> very, very nice.

simon said lawrence was brilliant. another guy who covered his face in feathers and mirrors belted out pat benefit tar. ♪ ♪ you're a heart breaker, love maker dream taker. >> they said no, no, no. the judges said no. >> he looked like the terminator. >> he looks like lady gaga. he said he wanted to win so he could open up a corporate salon. the next stop goes to los angeles. >> good luck you guys. >> it was original. >> absolutely. >> all that time spent hashing out a health care reform plan. now, the playing field is changing on capitol hill. some lawmakers want to start from scratch. the next senator from massachusetts is like a lot of you. he finds unique ways to embarrass his kids.

♪ stayed up with you all night ♪ had i known how to save a life ♪ president obama doesn't want the democrats to ram through a health care reform bill before republican scott brown is seated. the senate democrats are scrambling to save the bill now that they lost the supermajority. they are drafting a new bill that only includes certain things. republicans say they should start completely from scratch. a lot of you are talking about this on the facebook page. >> barbara says --

rick writes -- i know you have your thoughts on this one. go to cnn.com/robin. facebook us or do the e-mail thing. were those from the facebook page. let's not forget the e-mailers, we have those going, too. so, the day -- you love that, jen. >> i do. >> all right, children across the country may have gotten painful dental procedures they didn't need. a dental company is settling allegations of unnecessary and dangerous dentistry. jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. something tells me money has to

do with this? >> these are allegations being settled. you can't say it happened or didn't happen. one assistant attorney general said it's disgusting. a chain of dental clinics is going to pay $24 million to settle the allegations that some of their dentists gave kids unnecessary procedures, sometimes substandard like pulling teeth, giving baby root canals and charging medicaid, charging taxpayers for it. kids from mostly low income families. they are in 21 states. the company says they are going to keep the clinics open and improve what's happening. some of the dentists, themss, individually are still under investigation. you say to your kid, you know, you have to trust the dentist, this is good for you. it will hurt a little, but it's for your health. you hear stuff like thchlt.

>> i can't get over the baby root canal. >> how painful for a little kid. so. anyway. being settled. glad they are looking out for that. it's not something you could take care of yourself. you can't get a second opinion, it's expensive. democrats plans for a big jobs bills. it could be dead after the republicans won the massachusetts senate seat. republicans can filibuster any bills. a stimulus bill aimed at jobs may be kaput. mitch mcconnell says americans are not interested in expanding gove government. >> thank you. we have new photos that appear to be tiger woods. they are adding to the speculation of what he's been up to. plus, the couple accused of crashing a white house dinner has done tv interviews. you have to see what happened when they refused to talk to lawmakers. ♪ playing my song

♪ nodding my head like yeah.

♪ this used to be a friend's

house ♪ ♪ but now it's full of evil. the couple accused of crashing the white house dinner took the fifth yesterday in front of a committee. they refused to answer questions on the advice of their attorney. committee members were not amuse ed or impressed. >> let me ask you a question, did you wear a tuxedo that night? are you going to take the fifth on that. >> were you there? >> are you here today? are you here right now? you have to get an answer from your attorney on that? >> oh, my gosh. that got embarrassing. the homeland security wants to know how they got past the security and how they got that close to the president without an invite. the lawyer says they will be

glad to come back and testify once the criminal investigation is over. >> they got more answers out of frank in the "godfather ii" than this. we have two storms, one in california and one in the east coast. de-ice i de-icing in manchester. an hour or more in phoenix. the clouds are in atlanta, too. atlanta, one hour or more, closer to two. phoenix, same with you. los angeles, heavy rain, again. fso, count on a two-hour delay. thunderstorms around the region around san diego. more on that in a half hour. we have new pictures allegedly showing tiger woods out a mississippi addiction clinic. rafer had the latest on this. this is big because we have not seen him since thanksgiving

weekend. >> not seen him or heard from him. this is fueling the speculation. these pictures from the "na "national inquirer" would be his first appearance since the friday after thanksgiving. this reportedly shows woods walking outside the addiction center in mississippi. you be the judge. it's tough to tell. he's got the scarf around his head. a reporter was looking for woods in town and could not track him down. sources tell him woods is at the treatment center. the facility said it cannot confirm or deny weather woods is a patient. hln contacted them and they wouldn't comment. wjtv reports the facility is building new fences around the building and draping them with tarps. >> that's peculiar. >> it is. >> jeff says tiger needs to talk before returning to the course

out of respect to the other golfers and diffuse the circus. he's right. he and charles barkley is saying the same thing. he's a brand that made him the richest ever. it's taken a hit. if he wants to restore that brand, he has to address it. he's contaminated cookie dough right now. >> contaminated cookie dough. one of brett favre's biggest critics. a star of "that's incredible" from the '70s. he says favre is playing remarkable, but coming back to the vikings is despicable. he's proven every critic, including me, wrong. he's the reason they got this far. he's a grumpy old man. favre is looking hot.

they have a chance at winning the super bowl. >> they do. all right. all right. a man only two months away brutal attack. 100 years old. >> he knocked me between the eyes and hit me in the nose. >> his alleged attacker wasn't exactly a spring chicken either. wait until you hear about what this was all about. new for you in our next half hour. if you have an older car, you may have to start paying more attention at the gas pump. hln money expert clark howard explains the changes coming to the fuel industry and you. >> if you and i don't have enough to worry about, i got one more nuisance coming into your life. it's going to be at the gas pump. there's a federal requirement that is going to boost the amount of ethanol in gasoline to as much as 15%. right now, think about when you go to the pump, there will be a notice that says may contain up

to 10% ethanol as you pump. older cars have trouble running on ethanol, as to boats and lawn mowers. believe it or not, if you have a 2001 or older car or you got a boat or any kind of thing that has a small engine to it, you're going to need to actually seek out pumps that don't meet the new federal standards of 15% ethanol. hope is we go to pumps that we go to 5% for things with older vehicles and 15 for newer cars. i'm clark howard. for more of my ideas go to cnn.com/clark howard. >> so he's the dude to teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him on the weekends at hln at noon. a little boy pulled from the wreckage of his home in haiti just yesterday was dehydrated but uninjured after eight days.

you're going to hear from the nurses who treated him. scott brown is senator elect of massachusetts but his daughters are getting lots of attention from dad. he's embarrassing them.

good morning. thursday is connected to friday. maybe that's a little something you need to get your morning going. here's what's going on. >> these are our children. these are our families. this could have been your daughter. this could be your son. >> families of missing americans in haiti are begging u.s. officials for help. it comes as many of the earthquake victims are doing whatever they can to get out of port-au-prince. so many people are wondering where tiger woods has been, but now we may have what could be the first pictures of him since his car accident thanksgiving weekend. hundreds of people are fleeing their homes because of possible flooding and mud slides. this is part of a dangerous

weather system that is still coming at southern california. first though thousands of haitians are putting their lives at risk trying to get out of port-au-prince any way they can. look at this tape. people are packing the tiny row boats to take them to ferries on the other side of the island. any time a ferry comes in it's overwhelmed by people trying to climb on board. >> we are trying ourself to control the crowd but it's impossible. i asked the police several times. they said they won't be able to control the crowd. >> one ferry owner says his ferry's license to carry 600 people but on one trip he had 3,000 people on board. there is a new rescue to tell you about. a 5-year-old was found under his collapsed home yesterday as friends and family pulled him from the rubble. he cried out i'm thirsty.

anderson cooper was at the hospital when the boy's uncle brought him in. >> we're giving fluids because he's dehydrated and he's hungry, which is a very good thing. >> does he have broken bones? >> no broken bones, no aparent injuries whatsoever. >> look at a 15-day-old baby rescued tuesday in port-au-prince. a team was demolishing the house where she lived thinking there was no chance of finding anyone alive. rescuers found her in the same bed she was napping when the earthquake hit. she has been reunited with her mother. i can't fathom the math on how many days a tiny baby was able to survive. i don't know how. tomorrow night another chance for you to get involved. at 8:00 p.m., the hope for haiti now telethon. anderson cooper and dr. sanjay

gupta will be part of the event. torrential rains have hit california. another major storm is slamming that area today. more than 500 homes have been evacuated. one woman may be saying what some people are thinking, that people living in the area should expect this kind of thing. >> the town is in a flood zone. everybody knows it's in a flood zone, so the new merchants who come and move into the town and beat on the town council which has no money, anymore than any municipality has in california, who moves in is like something moving into las vegas and complaining because it's hot. >> she has a point. it's beautiful in southern california. how many times have you heard people go how do people live there with the mud slides and earthquakes. home is home.

>> absolutely. you talk about el nino pattern, that's what this is, every four to six years, they get slammed with heavy rain, because the jet stream is overhead and it carries the energy from the pacific ocean to southern california. it trains it through louisiana. one storm, this is actually the same storm that was over california, three days ago, so it's finally moved towards the east coast. look at all the heavy rain. tornado watch in effect for lower alabama, parts of the florida panhandle. i don't see active warnings now. look at the squall line into georgia. here's the tallahassee radar picks up all that action pretty well. nice line moves down i 10, shot of rain around birmingham with a bow echo. that's an indication of strong winds behind that. yods a tornado warning or severe thunderstorm warning either, but the winds are going to be up with the heavy rain.

all the rain moves into the appalachians. what about the west? i'll tell you about that in about a half hour. >>. >> that's fun in the mountains. >> that's going to be a tough commute. >> the massachusetts republican who just turned washington on its head makes his first trip to d.c. as senator elect today. he plans to meet with senators john mccain and john kerry and mitch mcconnell. in an abc interview, president obama said that democrats should wait until then to move forward on the health care reform. >> here's one thing i know, and i just want to make sure this is off the table. the senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until scott brown is seated. people in massachusetts spoke. he's got to be part of that process. i would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on.

>> so what parts of the bill is the president talking about? next half hour, we're going to hear what the democrats may have to give up to get health care reform passed this year. you tell me. we want to know what you think about the whole health care debate thing. daryl says if our leaders are willing to use what they force on citizens then i will say that that was their best effort. joan says i believe americans should choose their own health care not to be told what, when and where. >> the question, if they do have to scale back health care, what do you think you must have in it for you to be happy with it? keep the comments coming. e-mail us at cnn.com/robin. you hit the contact us. we have a facebook page and it is active this morning. new pictures allegedly show tiger woods outside a mississippi addiction clinic. rafer weigel is here with the latest on this. we have not seen him since the big accident? >> that's right. no sighting of tiger. these new pictures from the

"national enquirer" would be the first sighting since the accident which was the friday after thanksgiving. they purportedly show woods walking outside the pine grove behavioral health and addiction services center in mississippi. it's tough to make out. he has a starve around his head. an associated press reporter was looking for woods in the town over the weekend. but wjtv says sources say woods is in fact at the treatment facility, but the facility would not confirm or deny that to our affiliate. hln contacted spokes people for tiger woods. they wouldn't comment on the report or the photo shown here. this new information today from wjtv, the facility is building new fences around the building, and get this, draping them with tarps. there you go, robin. >> peculiar. new this morning, yemen is about to stop allowing visitors to enter the country without visas.

it's an effort to stop terrorists from getting in. it's after al qaeda took responsibility for the botched effort to blow up a ugs jet on christmas day. until now most people flying into yemen were simply given a visa at the airport. can we demonstrate for you why the west coast is having so much weather related problems. >> you can see when i put the big picture up, it's about storm after storm rolling into oregon and washington state. here's the current situation. this is the radar. here's storm number one from yesterday, storm number two coming in for this afternoon through tomorrow. it's still offshore, but once saturday comes around, notice the dryer air, that's an indication of colder air going over the warmer water, so it's dryer, you're going to see the dryer air move in for the weekend. monday and tuesday, another shot of rain comes in. rain into los angeles and phoenix, it's really heavy over

central arizona. san diego, the rain is out here and it's offshore. it's going to roll to the east so watch for 2 to 4 inches of rain for you in san diego and places like death valley in las vegas and phoenix. here's the way it looks with the phoenix radar picture, most of it snow, above 5 to 6,000 feet, they have blizzard warnings for southeastern sections of arizona. the pink shaded counties, blizzard warnings, part of arizona and utah. the red shaded counties, those are all winter storm warnings, 2 to 4 feet of snow between today and tomorrow night. flash flood watches and advisories, the duller shade of green. northern sections of arizona, so the rain continues to pile on. next 48 hours, notice the yellow coming in, 3 inches of rain. the purple near san diego, that's about 8 inches of rain in the next 48 hours.

that's what the computer model is thinking. pretty much on track so far. we will see you in a half hour. >> there is another way to watch movies at home and you can start with the very latest stuff from sun dance. then cindy mccain is taking a stand, but some republicans may not like this.

salute to the troops right now. today it comes from mona tramonte to her husband jeffrey of the u.s. army. she says they have six kids and the whole family misses him terribly. they are thinking about him everyday. maybe you have somebody you love in the military and they're away right now. why don't you salute them? cnn.com/robin. this just in this morning. apparently, nbc is going to be announcing that conan o'brien is

set to exit "the tonight show." obviously this was a major dustup that you were seeing on the late night shows. it's report been happening, but now we understand nbc is going to be announcing an official announcement today that he will be leaving the network. we had a report earlier this morning, for him to leave, it was going to be a multi million dollar deal that he could not bad mouth nbc and that some of the money would take care of his staff, because you're talking like a staff of more than 100 people, i believe. so get you more on that as it comes in. a man who is only two months away from turning 100 says he was attacked over a parking spot. >> he knocked me between the eyes and cut me in the nose. >> but get this, his alleged attacker wasn't exactly a spring chicken either. that story is new in the next 35 minutes. your bank may face tough rules on how it handles your

money. today president obama is set to propose new limits on the size and risks take taken by the biggest banks. here is jennifer westhoven? >> it's kind of part of the whole how come when banks do great they get gigantic bonuses, but when they do poorly, suddenly we've got to help. banks got so huge and they bet so much money, they put so much on the line that they were essentially putting the economy on the line, not just their bank and the money in their bank, so that's why we had to bail them out. nothing about that has changed at this point. we still have the problem. one of the big lessons of the great depression back in the 30s was lets put up a fire wall between the wall street guys who who it's in their blood to trade and risk it all, a fire wall between them and the major bank assets where you need a more steady as she goes hand.

we kept that for many years, but back in the 90ss when things were about growth, lawmakers took down the wall and the president may be looking to put that back in. and limit how much banks could bet. where are you going to see your next movie? youtube? youtube is going to start renting videos. it costs about $4. they are starting small. only about five films part of the sun dance film festival. the deal is, this is the case with so many internet sites right now. they may be a great place to go, but how do they make money off that and google recently bought it. they want to make sure that they get some money back for that big investment they made. if you're traveling, let's find out how it goes. >> if you're going to stand online today, you probably have a shorter time being a democrat from massachusetts then standing

in line trying to get to an airport today. let me show you on saber flight explorer, if you're doing traveling out of the southeast, here is the alabama area towards georgia. this is atlanta. look at the big squall line headed in. planes getting in and out so far so good. fog is out there and rain. over an hour delay. probably get close to two. phoenix, one hour or more. big delays around las vegas, looking for an inch of rain, san francisco, an hour or more delay, same with l.a. and san diego too. more on that in just a bit. just off haiti's coast the uns comfort is offering comfort to doctors on shore. one year after giving birth to octuplets nadya suleman has her prebaby body back. she is sporting a buy keyny.

children are not the only ones left helpless in haiti. the elderly there are among the 1 million people who are homeless. correspondent richard lui has a look at their plight. we have seen a lot about children and families, but what about the old? >> we're talking about the elderly. we're looking at assisted living with almost no assistance right now. we found a senior center in port-au-prince destroyed.

now the survivors are homeless. these pictures, they are sleeping outside on soiled mattresses. many have dementia and the manager doesn't know what to do with them. >> they have no food. they have no drinking water. they have absolutely nothing. if they don't get any medical care, if they don't get any food, it's absolutely certain they will die. >> and how about this as an indicator for lack of progress? a doctor showing up yesterday for the first time since the quake to check on them, and he only had aspirin and bandages. >> that is awful. that was the extent of the medical help they were getting. we do know more help keeps coming everyday. yesterday, the "usns comfort" arrived offshore. what kind of help can it give? >> big help. a cnn crew got to get on board that ship. the hospital ship has 1,000 beds. patients are being air lifted on board.

five operating rooms up and running. one of the sailors translating for the doctors grew up in haiti and understandably, he's stunned. >> i can't explain it. i've never seen anything like this before, never. >> the doctors on the comfort expect to see thousands of patients filling the beds but of course that means even on a big ship like that as the comfort, you're going to run out of room fast. >> the need is still there. i wonder if other countries have a similar ship that they can send to help out as well. thank you, richard. listen to this. some bloke athletes could have to go through more testing in the future, gender testing. are they a man or woman? here's rafer with more on that. >> robin, it comes on the heels of the controversy surrounding caster semenya whose gender has been under investigation since august. olympic officials met for two days. they want to set up gender

testing centers at future games and put rules in place so if an athlete's gender is questioned, them determine their eligibility on a case by case basis. if it's taking this long to do this investigation, why would we think it would be easier in future games. they stopped testing ten years ago because the screening process was considered unethical and unscientific. a potential problem for the upcoming winter games, not enough snow. temperatures are unusually warm in vancouver. they are planning to bring in snow using trucks and maybe helicopters. they may bring in straw and wood for the base of the course. that's wild, suspects it? >> sounds dangerous. >> our video of the day, speaking of the winter games, a wardrobe malfunction that has been an internet sensation. british bob sledder, jillian is on the right and the poor girl suit splits showing off her bum.

>> that was a cold ride down there, wasn't it? people are still being found alive under the rubble in haiti, but some parents of missing american students are worried that enough is not being done to find them. 

breaking news today. just minutes ago nbc confirmed that it has reached a deal with conan o'brien to leave "the tonight show." that paves the way for jay leno to take over his old show again. the "wall street journal" reports that it's expected to include a provision that bars conan from bad mouthing nbc. that was not signed before he did last night's monologue. >> it's been reported that before i agree with to a final settlement with the network, i want to make sure nbc takes care of my staff. that's right. at first, i guess at first i thought it was really juliable, they said the staff would be taken to a big farm where they would be allowed to run free

forever. i should have known something was up when nbc sent me the 2010 calendar that only went up to january. >> this deal reportedly includes more than 30 million bucks for o'brien and another 12 million for his staff. his manager tells the "wall street journal," the comedian plans to supplement their severance out of his own pocket. 31 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. welcome to thursday. i'm robin meade. let's jump right back into our stories. this is exclusive new video of the moment the earthquake hit in port-au-prince, haiti. >> my house is like -- my house is going to fall. here is another one. it's shaking again. >> you can hear the panic in his voice, can't you? that was amateur video shot overlooking the city as the earthquake hit. a pediatrician in haiti says what saes seeing is heartbreaking. richard lui is here. so many children are hurt and

saving their lives often means tough choices like what? >> we're talking about amputations. sometimes that's the only alternative for these children. that's not an easy choice in haiti for these parents. artificial limbs are rare and the only manufacturer in the entire country was destroyed in the quake. these children now just want to do the simple things in life. listen. >> what i fear is that if i can't walk, i can't go to school and i can't go to church. >> they desperately need to have a future. they're going to need to have prosthetics. i think there needs to be a major campaign like what happened in cambodia with the land mines. this is our 20th amputation and 10 of them are children. these kids are not going to be able to sustain themselves. >> it's hard to believe, but parents are saying no to the amputations. one doctor put the decision in

start terms, with gangrene setting in, those children will probably die. >> that is so heartbreaking. places like the factory are gone. are there plans to rebuild? >> it's going to have to start with money. the international monetary fund is already stepping in and throwing in $100 million free of interest to start the rebuilding. they want to plan to rebuild -- it means enforcing building codes and changing expectations too. >> no. no code? >> no. >> no regulation? >> no. >> speaking with jason carroll there, from our sister network cnn. u.s. inspectors what they're trying to do is inspect ten buildings a day, giving them thumbs up and thumbs down looking for rebar. those buildings getting thumbs down getting torn down by unlicensed workers, the same type that probably put them up.

>> isn't that frightening? richard, thank you. breaking news right now. former presidential candidate john edwards just admitted that he's the father of his former mistress's daughter. we have video of the little girl and her mother. edwards -- that's not her. there you go. edwards just released a statement a few minutes ago saying that it was wrong of him to ever deny that she was his daughter and that hopefully one day she will forgive him. edwards says he has provided and will continue to provide financial support for the little girl. apparently he's confirming that yes, he did father the child. breaking news this morning. forget about textbooks. a third grade teacher in texas taught his students about segregation by dividing them into groups by skin color. one group had to stay inside did you during recess and stand in the back of the line and sit separately during lunch. the kids say it was tough but

they learned a lot. >> it was really unfair that we didn't get a chance to do a lot of things. >> we were called names. >> have you ever done that in the past? you have? are you going to do it anymore? >> huh-uh. >> the next day the groups swauped roles. he wanted the kirds to learn why it's important to respect everyone. the couple accused of the white house dinner. tarek and makele salahi refused to answer questions from the committee. some members were not amused or impressed. >> let me ask you, mr. salahi, did you wear a tuxedo that night? are you going to take the fifth on that. let me ask you a question, were you there? >> on the advice of counsel -- >> are you here today, mr. salahi?

are you here right now? you got to get an answer from your attorney on that? >> oh, my gosh. the homeland security committee wants to know how this couple got past secret service into the state dinner and how they got that close to the president without an invite. the salahis say they're willing to return to congress and testify once the criminal investigation is over. awkward. brutal storms in the west are snarling traffic and forcing people to pack up and leave. in southern california, days of torrential downpours have flooded some of the freeways there. it's not over yet. here comes another major storm slamming the area today. more than 500 homes have been evak waited. in texas an 18 wheeler was overturned in the city of canton. authorities blame a possible

tornado. >> i came off the ground so fast, i didn't know i was off the ground. i was spinning and metal was flying everywhere. >> there was stuff flying and hitting us in the head. it blowed 9 continue across and took the trailer and flipped the trailer across down over there. >> let's talk about weather today. bob, are you ready? >> on the advice of counsel. >> bob, are you our with weather man? >> on the advice of counsel. >> is there rain? >> on the advice of counsel. let me show you what's happening now. storms again, it's the same region from yesterday's. california getting slammed with one shot today. the shot came in on the last three days, it went through texas yesterday, it's now setting up shop in memphis. here's your cold front dropping down through new orleans and ahead of that, that's where we're watching the severe weather. the tornado watch is for the

entire panhandle and western section of georgia. look at the lightning data, stroke after stroke come in. here is the tallahassee radar. i don't see active tornado warnings now, but the watch lasts until about 10:00 this morning. up the line around birmingham, the heaviest rain is pulling out heading towards atlanta. already have a ground stop at ato. get away from that, more rain moving through the appalachians, once it hits the colder air, it's going to turn .into snow, sleet and freezing rain. we have warnings around the appalachian mountains including western parts of virginia, parts of the north carolina mountains going to the mason dixon line. we have full details in a couple minutes. >> stay right there, a man who says he spent four years in prison for robbing a bank with a beebee gun. he would youed the american idle

doll judges yesterday. ♪ trouble trouble trouble trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been dogging my soul since the day i was born ♪ >> that's nice. good. she's in love. i love it. simon said lawrence was brilliant. i think he said it just like atlanta. here's another guy who covered his face with feathers and mirrors. kind of reminded me of lady gaga and belted out pat benatar. ♪ you're a heartbreaker dream maker don't you mess around ♪ >> wow. >> you know what, i don't think they said no, no, no. by the way. i didn't think that he needed the costume. his voice was fine. >> to you, it's lady gaga. to me it's a terminator taking a

shot in the face with the shotgun, right? >> he wanted to win so he could open a corporate salon. the next stop for idol auditions, los angeles. all the time spent hashing out a health care reform plan and now the playing field is changing big time on capitol hill. lawmakers want to start from scratch.

♪ president obama doesn't want democrats to ram through a health care reform bill before republican scott brown is seated. senate democrats are scrambling to save the bill now that they lost their supermajority. one option is drafting an entirely new bill that only

includes popular provisions like getting rid of discrimination based on preexisting conditions. republicans say they should start from scratch, but how do you feel about health care reform possibly getting scaled back or started over? if it is scaled back, what is a must for you? >> dean says i wish i knew what was in the bill. we the people are kept in the dark once more. politics as usual. theresa says health care needs to be put on the back burner. obama needs to focus on jobs and then people could get health care. keep your comments coming. if you're an e-mailer, go to cnn.com/robin. go to cnn.com/robin. children across the country may have gotten painful dental procedures they didn't even need. the justice department says a dental company is settling allegations of unnecessary and potentially dangerous dentistry.

>> it's kids from poor families where it's not necessarily where the mom could say let's get a second opinion about this. pretty scary stuff. an assistant attorney general called the allegations disgusting. it's a chain of dental clinics. they're going to pay $24 million. that means they are settling allegations. they are not saying they did it they are not saying they didn't do it, but the allegations are that some of the dentists pulled kids' teeth or gaef them baby root canals so they could bill medicaid for it, your taxpayer money. the company that runs the small smiles clinic say the clinics will stay open and will improve them. they have them in 21 states. the justice department says some of the dentists are still under investigation. you just heard robin talking about how this election in massachusetts has changed all

the democrats' plan for health care. it is also changing their plans for a big jobs bill. that bill may be dead after the republicans won the massachusetts senate seat, meaning republicans have the power. they've got the votes to filibuster any big bills they don't want. mitch mcconnell says americans are not interested in expanding government. robin, back to you. i wonder if people will feel differently about health care compared to how they feel about the government creating, when it comes to jobs. >> thank you. appreciate it. good point. all right. you know what? we have a huge admission. new this morning from former senator john edwards about pennsylvania conce

breaking news this morning. former presidential candidate john edwards just admitted that he is the father of his former mistress's daughter. this is video of a little girl and her mom. edwards released a statement a few minutes ago saying it was wrong of him to ever deny that

she was his daughter and that hopefully one day she'll forgive him. edwards says he has provided and will continue to provide financial support for the little girl. big deal. you might remember that it was a big deal when news about this leaked because the senator is married to a wife who is battling cancer. we have new pictures allegedly showing tiger woods outside a mississippi addiction clinic. rafer weigel has the latest. >> from one scandal to another. >> this is a scandal that has more or less gone into hiding. this is the first pictures we have seen of woods since the friday after thanksgiving. these are photos from the "national enquirer," reportedly showing woods walking outside of this clinic in mississippi. tough to make out if it's really him. an associated press reporter was looking for him and could not track him down.

cnn affiliate says woods is in fact at that treatment facility, although the facility would not confirm or deny that to our facility. hln contacted spokes people for tiger. they wouldn't comment on the report or these photos. here's r here's what is new today. wjtv is reporting the facility is building new fences around the building and draping them with tarps. interesting. australian golfer geoff ogilvy has to talk before he returns to the course out of respect to other golfers. ogilvy one of the few to touch this subject. he's totally right. from a business standpoint, tiger need to address this. he's a brand. the brand made him rich. the brand has been destroyed. if he wants to rebuild the brand, he needs to address it. if he wants our business, he's got to make it our business. >> i follow you. >> one of brett favre's biggest

critics is still hammering him. fran tarkenton told blookburg h favre. tarkenton said favre coming back is despicable. fran, you sound like a grumpy old man. >> i don't care. it's just that when you say you're retired, that's why i make fun. >> that's what we were having fun on. the indecision. >> this guy sounds jealous a little bit. that's sports. if you have an older car, you may have to start paying a little more attention at the pump. clark howard explains the changes coming to the fuel industry. if you and i don't have enough to worry about, i got one more nuisance and that's at the gas pump. there's a federal requirement that's going to boost the amount of ethanol in gasoline to as

much as 15%. right now think about when you go to the pump there is a legal notice that says macon taken up to 10% ethanol as you pump. older cars have trouble running on ethanol as do boats and lawn mowers and things like that. so believe it or not, if you have a 2001 or older car or you got a boat or any kind of thing that has a small engine to it, you're going to need to actually seek out pumps that don't meet the new federal standards of 15% ethanol. my hope is that we go pumps that have 5% ethanol for older vehicles and things with small motors and do 15 for newer cars. we would still save fuel. i'm clark howard. for more of my ideas go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. why else should you love him so much like we do. watch him on saturdays at noon and 4:00 on hln.

pants on the ground. pants on the ground. everybody is talking about the pants on the ground. we hear from a woman who said the man from behind the song has been singing for it for months. ♪

. good morning. we are very busy this morning but, i know you are as well. i'm robin meade. let's get you to the news in the fast lane. this is a bombshell. john edwards, former senator, former presidential candidate is now admitting he's the father of his ex-mistresses child. plus, california is getting slammed again. we are talking pounding waves, heavy rain, and dangerous mudslides. also coming up here. some kids are learning about discrimination by actually experiencing it. from their teacher pap segregated classroom. it's an unforgettable lesson is what is it. first, though, breaking news.

former presidential candidates john edwards admitted he's the father of his former mistresses daughter. he released a statement this morning saying it was wrong for him to ever deny it was his daughter and hopefully one day she will forgive him. edwards says he has provided and will continue to provide financial support for the little girl. this is a video coming here of the baby and the mom. remember two years ago edwards admitted having an affair when she was a campaign aid. he says the affair ended in 2006. but as recently as last summer he denied faring hunter's child. new this morning nbc confirmed it has reached a deal with conan o'brien for him to officially leave the "tonight show." tomorrow night will be conan's last day and then jay leno will take the reins of that show march 1st. the "wall street journal" says the agreement is expected to include a provision that would bar conan from bad mouthing nbc. that obviously had not been

signed by last night. >> now it's been reported that before i agree to a final settlement with the network, i want to make sure that nbc takes care of my staff. that's right. [ applause ] i guess at first i thought it was really gullible they said the staff would be taken to a big farm where they would be allowed to run free forever. >> nbc told the associated press that o'brien will get more than $33 million and another 12 million will go to his staff. he'll be free to start a new tv job as soon as september. thousands of haitians are putting their lives at risk trying to get out of port-au-prince. look at all these people packed on tiny row boats trying to get to ferries to take them to the other side of the island. any time a big ferry comes into the port it's overwhelmed by people trying to clamor on board.

>> it's impossible. i ask police several times they said they won't be able to patrol. >> an amazing new rescue. this 5-year-old found under his collapsed home yesterday as friends and family pulled him from the rubble. he cried out over and over again on thursday. anderson cooper was at the hospital when the boy's uncle brought him in. >> we're giving fluids because he's dehydrated noop that's it? >> and he's hungry which is a very good sign. >> does he have broken bone? >> no broken bones. no apparent injuries. >> isn't it amazing? tomorrow night another chance for you to get involved. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on our sister network, cnn there's a star studded event, "hope for

haiti now." scott brown plans to meet with senators john mccain, john kerry and minority leader mitch mcconnell. it's not clear when brown will be sworn in. in an interview with abc president obama said democrats should wait until then to move forward on health care reform. >> here's one thing i know and i just want to make sure that this is off the table. the senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until scott brown is seated. the people of massachusetts spoke. he's got to be part of that process. i would advise that we try to move quickly to move around the package that people agree on. >> what part of the bill is the president talking about? in the next half hour you will hear what the democrats may have to give up. days of torrential downpours flooded some of southern california's busiest freeway. it's not over. another major storm is slamming

the state today. l.a. has had swift water rescue eams on stand one woman says people living in this area should expect this kind of thing. >> the town is in a flood zone. everybody knows it's in a flood zone. so the new ones come and move into the town and beat on the town council which doesn't have any money, who moves in it's like somebody moving into las vegas and being upset because it's hot. >> well, i mean some people say you have a point. still, meteorologist bob van dillen is tracking what's happening out west. >> you're teasing me. >> yes, bob is covering up in a few minutes here. >> excellent. >> i get by with a little help from my friends. i wish you could see what he's doing over here. he's chewing on a tooth pick.

we have new pictures, allegedly showing -- >> over there on the side. >> listen, here's a big story. this is why we could not go to bob right now. we have new pictures showing tiger woods outside of a mississippi addiction clinic and rafer has more on it. >> me first. the big question has been where's tiger. these new pictures from the national enquirer would be the first of him since his accident the friday after thanksgiving. they show woods walking outside the pine grove behavioral health and addiction services center in hattiesburg, mississippi. he has the scarf over his head. an associated press reporter was looking for woods in town over the weekend. couldn't track him down. but woods is at that treatment facility but the facility told our affiliate it would not confirm or deny whether woods is a patient. hln contacted spokes people for woods and they wouldn't comment. this new information today from

wjtv, the facility is building new fences around their building and get this, draping them with tarps. >> i wonder who is paying for that. i'm just saying. good question. rafer, thank you. >> no, thank you. >> now, everybody, we have bob van dillen with the weather. >> i hate doing it to you. you had the look on your face like pulling the dog dish away from your dog. probably the final round that we'll see for a couple of days. dry out over the weekend for california. here's that storm from yesterday off the coast of oregon, slides in later today. your storm for this afternoon and tomorrow still off in the pacific. that rolls in later this afternoon and tonight. watching for that. either way steady stream of rain coming right up the pacific through the california coast and gets into arizona where you're going to see about six inches of rain just outside of phoenix for the next 24 to 48 hours. let me show you the radar picture out of san diego.

the rain has been pretty heavy. streaming in off the ocean. you see the reds and yellows working ashore. between l.a. and san diego that's getting the heaviest rain for the time being, more coming in. phoenix your radar picture just as rough. let me show you some video out of the long beach area. in the last three days they have seen five inches of rain plus at the airport. more today and saturday. dry out saturday afternoon, sunday and monday and more rain moves in on tuesday. that's the forecast for the west. okay. can you imagine if your grandparents were just wandering the streets unable to fend for themselves. that might give you and idea what's going on with haiti's elderly after the quake.

let's salute our troops. today's salute comes from mona to her husband, jeffrey of the

u.s. army. she says they have six kids. the whole family misses him so much. even though he's not there with him, they are thinking about him every day. if you have somebody in the military go to cnn.com/robin. correspond richard lui is looking into what seniors are facing in haiti. assisted living but no assistance. the survivors are homeless sleeping outside on soiled mattresses. many have dementia and the manager just doesn't know what to do with them right now. >> translator: they have no food. they have no drinking water. they have absolutely nothing. if they don't get any medical care, if they don't get any food, it's absolutely certain they will die. this is a difficulty they are facing.

doctors showing up yesterday for the very first time since the quake to check on them. and he only had aspirin and bandages. >> you see these folks. they are obviously in need. richard do, we know, we do know that more help keeps coming and yesterday it was in the form of the usns comfort which was offshore and is offshore. let's talk about the help that hospital ship can provide. >> big help. cnn crew got to get on board that ship. the hospital has 1,000 beds. parishes are being airlifted on board that ship. five operating rooms are up and running already. one of the sailors translating for doctors grew up in haiti and understandably he's stunned. >> it's -- never seen anything like this. >> doctors on the comfort, by the way, expect to see thousands of patients and of course that means even a ship as big as the

comfort with 1,000 beds they will run out of room fast. >> if other countries have a similar hospital ship they can send as well. the need is there. richard, thank you. your bank may face some new tough rules about how it handles your money. today president obama is said to propose new limits on the size and the risk taken by the country's biggest banks. our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out four. good morning. >> good morning. i'm really going to try to not use all the financial terms here because you want to know exactly what's happening wouldn't using words like capital requirements. basically, you know, the big banks, the big wall street firms they got so big and they were out there putting so much on the line, so. at risk these guys were supposed to be masters of the universe, they just weren't betting their money, they were betting your money. they were putting the economy on the line. that's the big problem there. that problem is still with us. you know, the financial collapse

itself may be mostly behind us. but that still the structure out there. one of the things we learned in the great depression, after that, you know, they put up a fire wall between sort of the wall street and the trader types. and the major bank assets. think about it. the wall street trader types it's in their blood to risk it all, to gamble. you don't want them betting everything. but in the 1990s, you know, things were all about growth. lawmakers took down that fire wall and left us in that position where you had a lot of people gambling with the big bank assets. the president may be looking to put that wall back. your next movie you'll see it on youtube starting tomorrow youtube will start renting out movies. pay $4 watch it on your computer. they are starting shawl. they don't have a big library. just five films. but they are new films, part of the sundance film festival.

april lot of us, this is the challenge that many internet companies are facing. you go to these places, you want to see funny cat videos. they want to figure out how to make some money. >> there you go. funny cat videos. thank you. we have a breaking news bombshell you have to hear. former presidential hopeful john edwards is fessing up to faring his ex-mistresses child. what he has to say about the admission.

breaking news. former presidential candidates john edwards admits that he is the father of his former mistresses daughter. the video on your left is the girl and her mom. edwards released a statement about an hour ago admitting that it was wrong of him to ever deny that she was his daughter. and that hopefully one day she, the little girl will forgive him. edwards says he'll continue to provide for her financially. some olympic athletes could have to go through more testing in the future. gender testing. fascinating. rafer weigel with more on that. >> i'm skeptical. i understand there's a need for it given we've had some controversy but how will this work.

that's the big question. >> it's not cut and dry? must be about hormones? >> so many different factors. case in point this is coming on the heels of the controversy surrounding south african sprinter. she's been under, her gender has been under investigation since august. they still have not ruled. olympic officials metaphor a couple of days. they want to set up these gender testing centers at future games and they also want to put rules in place if an athlete's gender is questioned they can determine on a case by case basis. the olympics used to do gender testing but they stopped it ten years ago because the process was considered unethical and unscientific and a little intrusive. speaking of the olympics for the upcoming winter games, not enough snow. temperatures are unusually cool in vancouver. organizers are planning to bring in snow using trucks and maybe even helicopters. that would be wild. they may also put in straw and

wood for the base of the course. ouch. dangerous. our video of the day sticking with this theme, a wardrobe malfunction. british bobsleddery lie an cook, look what happens to her poor suit as she's getting ready. it splits and shows remember bum. >> that to be a cold ride down. >> reportedly she didn't notice and kept on going. this really caters to our childish sense of humor and our apologies. that's a look at sports. >> the camera had to be right there. president obama's push to overhaul your health care could be luck in big trouble. right now democrats are re-examining their reforms after losing their supermajority in the senate. here's your view of it from the street. >> i'm joe carter and this is view from street. we're talking about a little bit of everything, from politics to sports to health care. do you have an opinion? do you have a strong opinion? we want to hear from you.

health care. you think it should be an open option, public option. would you like more taxes taken out of your check to make sure everybody else gets taken care of? >> yes that sound good. >> i'm not sure how i feel about public health care. it scares me a little bit. >> why? >> having to pay more and more. >> you don't make much? >> i don't make anything. >> i believe it should be universal health care. >> i want to see some type of public option. >> you willing to pay more taxes? >> i don't think so. >> i don't know about paying more taxes for anything. i think that is just the kiss of death. >> the government has a few basic things that it should do. should protect us and should make sure that we have a basic floor of health care. >> it could be a good thing. if it was done properly.

i just question whether they can do a good job at it. >> seriously, what do you do? you know, just go down to the free clinic and do the best i can. >> it's very serious like between the age of 23 to 30. i've met people who have gone without health insurance for six years. >> there are people that are less fortunate that can't get out and do things. mentally ill, physically ill and people handy capped. >> if people smoke cigarettes and purposely go to the store and get junk food, they should be made to pay for it. those are the people are costing the rest of us all this money. >> there's no easy solution to this. but, ultimately, it is one of the few things that government really should do. >> i'm joe carter and i'll see you on the street. how do you feel about health care reform possibly getting scaled back? if there is a scaled back version or they start from

scratch what is a must have four? go to cnn.com/robin. hit the facebook icon. hit contact us if you're a little bit more private and you want the e-mail. that means only i can read it.

former presidential candidate john edwards is admitting he fathered a child with a former mistress. even said his affair with his campaign aide ended in 2006 but her baby was born in 2008 inindicating the child was conserved middle of 2007. more rain could cause dangerous mudslides in southern california. the ground is already saturated and another storm is hitting today. 500 homes have been evacuated. authorities say communities hit by last year's wildfires could be the most at arriving. the victim in the roman polanski

sex case is asking to sentence him to time served. he pleaded guilty to sex charges in 1967 but left the states before sentencing. those are some of our headlines. good morning. come in here and spend a little time with us. we would like to do news in the fast lane. let's get to some of the news. check this out video of the moment that the earthquake hit in port-au-prince, haiti. >> here's another one. >> i think you can hear the panic in that guy's voice. that was a mature video shot over looking the city as the quick hit. there's amazing sfifining survi stories. >> i cannot explain like medically or physically how it's

happened. maybe it's a miracle. someone upstairs love them very much. >> the kids' aunt could hear them crying but could not reach them. rescuers from new york worked for three hours to get the kids out. thank goodness they were able to save them. we were telling you about the break news that john edwards has admitted he's the father of his ex-mistresses daughter. correspondent richard lui joins me now. he says, the former senator is saying it was wrong foreign relations him to have ever denied it. former senator and former presidential candidate i should point out. >> very good point. out of nowhere, edwards releasing a statement this morning saying quote, i am quinn's father. the mother was a campaign aide during edwards failed presidential bid two years ago. she was paid over $100,000 by his political action committee for a video she shot. edwards acknowledged there's a federal investigation as to

whether he used campaign finances to cover up this affair. >> this was the allegation that blew the lid off of his reputation basically for a lot of people. richard, the last time when he was seen as a top white house contender. imagine if things had gone differently during the campaign and he could be luck in the white house and dealing with this now. so now the big question is why now? why the admission now? >> that's what everybody is wondering. in his statement this morning edwards said this. he said, quote, i've been providing financial support for quinn and reached an agreement with her mother to continue providing support in the future. so perhaps here, robin, that's part of the timing question here. also for you, a top campaign aide saying edwards' wife elizabeth wanted him to admit this publicly. they are now reportedly separated and she continues to battle cancer. robin, it's worth looking at the last line of the statement. edwards does not name names but he says to all those i have disappointed and hurt, these words will never be enough but

i'm truly sorry. end quote. >> that's why a lot of people found it so distasteful, his wife is battling cancer. we know three teenagers and a 4-year-old boy were among the eight people killed in a shooting in virginia. police say the suspect, christopher spate co-owned a home where seven of the victims were found. they won't say how they were related or what the motive was. spate is being held without bond after turning himself in yesterday. a man who said he spent four years in prison for robbing a bank with a b.b. gun is going to hollywood. matt lawrence would youed the "american idol" judges in orlando. here's his audition. ♪ trouble trouble trouble trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been doggone my soul since the day i was born ♪ >> that's nice. simon, in fact, said it's brilliant. here's another guy, though, who tried his hand at "amaszing

grace" ♪ amazing grace how sweet a sound ♪ ♪ that -- what does he sound like? a cross between tom petty, bob van dillen -- not bob van dillen, bob dillon and the chimpmu chimpmunks. he got agitated at their reaction and refused to leave so security ended up handcuffing him and take him off the problem. next stop for auditions is los angeles. that's when you know you're probably not idol material if they have to take you away in handcuffs. hi, bob. >> good morning. this weather brought to you by

cheerios. got a lot to talk about. west coast going to get slammed. couple areas of low pressure. here's what it looks like. storm number one from yesterday, right off the coast of washington state. storm number two and the last one for a couple days still off towards the pacific ocean, channelling in a lot of moisture. how much rain over the next two days? here's what we're calling for. same old thing. plenty of rain mainly right around southern california into arizona, those red shaded areas that's looking at about eight inches of rain as a possibility. that's what you'll get from l.a. down to phoenix. what about the weather right now? i want to show you the radar picture. the rain is stiff. big plume moving into phoenix. a lot of dynamics, a lot of energy. more in the way of severe weather as a possibility. look at the radar picture out of san diego. big thunderstorm moving in south along long beach. more rain also around phoenix, central arizona today calling for about three, maybe six

inches ever rain. up to the north further when you get to las vegas i want to show you a picture right now. live shot coming out of las vegas. it's still dark. heavy rain is in and out approximately calling for an inch, maybe inch and a half of rain across lower parts of las vegas. temperatures today in the 50s. full details in a half hour. >> very good. can i show you something here. folks in our studio we have people who look -- who are looking at bob like he's a god right now. because they are meterology students. >> from my college. we brought them in. if you want a tour you have to go to my college. >> that's not true. we do a tour on thursdays. there's a vip tour. this just in, jobless claims, unfortunately, went up last week. the government says that there were 482,000 new claims for

jobless benefits. you know our money expert jennifer westhoven is crunching those numbers right now and will give us a little bit of context about how we should look at these although i'm sure it's not in a positive light. we'll have more in that in a few minutes. a teacher divided grade schoolers into groups based on the color of their skin. the kids say it was part valof valuable lesson.

♪

the university of south florida held a candlelight vigil last night for earthquake victims in haiti. members of the local haitian community were involved. families were asked to bring photos of their loved ones who are either missing or died in the quake. donations were taken for aid. president obama doesn't want democrats to ram through a health care reform bill before republican scott brown. house democrats are scrambling to save the bill. one option is draft agnew bill that only includes the popular provisions. republicans say they should start completely from scratch. >> i believe that the american people at this point want to see a check and balance under a one party rule in washington that has not produced the kind of hope and change that was promise ad year ago. >> the election in massachusetts changes the math in the senate. easy math, pretty simple math

but doesn't change the fact that people are ouring. that election hasn't changed one thing in that regard. >> how do you feel about health care reform possibly either getting scaled back or starting from scratch here? if there is a scale backed version what is a must have for you? judy says that health care must include illness prevention education, and regular exams for people who are well. jeff writes the government must stay out of my life. i'm a fully grown man and i don't need big brother to take care of he had from the cradle to the grave. keep sending your comments. you can do it on our facebook page or go to our web page, cnn.com/robin. a third grade teacher in texas taught his students about segregation by dividing them into groups by their skin color. one group had to stay inside during recess, do the other kids' work for them, stand in the back of the line and sit separately at lunch. kids say it was toughed but they

learned a lot. >> it was really unfair that we didn't get a chance to do a lot of things. >> have you ever done that in the past? you have. you going to do it any more? >> sound like it was a learning opportunity. the next day the groups swapped roles. the teacher says he wanted the kids to learn why it was important to respect everyone. okay. so we just got the jobless numbers from last week. these numbers went up wards. jennifer had a few seconds to crunch these numbers. >> like you said, these are not good numbers. this was a number that had been getting better and better very slowly. now it got worse. the bottom line is that in this latest snapshot of how the job market is doing, the most up-to-the minute look we had things got worse. this number had been very slowly coming down. it was coming down below half a

million jobs every week down to 450,000. but then this week it really did a u turn jumping higher to 482,000. that's people who are going to the unemployment office for the first time to sign up for benefits. they may be doing it online or on the phone but it tells you that companies, american companies are still firing people, still giving out pink slips, people are still losing their jobs so it dashes some hopes that the job market of getting a little bit better. now, in a similar vein, democrats had been planning a big push in washington for a jobs bill, a kind of second stimulus aimed at creating jobs. so it's creating jobs but, of course, it would be very expensive so that's one of the arguments against it. but now with the recent developments in massachusetts, the democrats may not have the power to do that after the republicans won that senate seat, republicans say, top republicans say americans aren't interested in expanding government right now.

robin. >> thank you very much. the couple accused of crashing president obama's first state dinner took fifth at a hearing on capitol hill. some lawmakers had a lot to say about their silence.

the couple accused of crashing the white house state dinner took the fifth yesterday in front of the congressional committee. the tareq and michaele salahi refused to answer questions on advice of their attorney. it got down right uncomfortable. >> let me ask you a question mr. salhi. did you wear a tuxedo that night? are your going to take a fifth on that. let me ask you a question. were you there? >> on advice of counsel. >> were you here today, mr. salhi. are you here right now?

you got to get an answer from your attorney on that? >> awkward. >> homeland security committee wants to know how the couple got past the secret service in november's state dinner and into that state dinner and how they got that close to the president without unanimous activity. the salahis say they are willing to return to congress to testify once the criminal investigation is over. they are going about it all wrong. they can sell their story and make it into a movie with vince vaughn. you know. >> make it a comedy. >> exactly. sell their story, make millions. >> we have new pictures showing tiger woods outside a mississippi addiction clinic and rafer weigel has the latest on this. this is a big story today because you had not seen anything of him since thanksgiving weekend. >> where is tiger. these photos from the national enquirer purportedly show woods walking outside of the pine groves behavioral center. you be the judge. tough to make out.

an associated press reporter was looking for woods in town over the weekend, couldn't track him down. our affiliate, wjtv reports sources tell them that woods is at the treatment facility, however the facility would not confirm or deny whether woods is a patient to cnn. hln contacted spokes people for woods, they would not comment on the report or photos. this is interesting. new information. this facility is building new fences around their building, and draping them with tarps. which i find interesting. australian golfer jeff ogleby says tiger needs to talk and to diffuse the circus. ogleby one of a handful of people touching the subject. does have a point. from a business stop tiger needs to address this. he is a brand which made him the richest athlete ever and that brand has been destroyed. if he wants to rebuild that brand he needs to address it. he's contaminated cookie dough.

if he doesn't want our business it's a business he done have to talk about. bret favre's biggest still hamm viking. he told bloomberg news even though favre has been playing well it is despicable he is a viking. fran, you sound like a grumpy, old man. robin and i need to criticize, we were only criticizing his indecision and wishy-washiness. >> he cried on national tv and then he came back. >> he came back and leze he's playing well, god bless him. that's a look at sports. >> thank you. >> once you cry, it's over. stop it, bob. >> that's incredible. >> he was with cathy lee crosby. >> i forgot that. >> let me show you what is happening now, one delay right now in san francisco, hour and a half delay and also one that is shorter, charlotte. here's what we're going for for

the rest of the day. east, west coast slammed with heavy rain and watch for over hour delays to pop up here and when you get farther out to the west, phoenix more showers and thunderstorms and los angeles same thing and san francisco watching for showerses and thunderstorms and big delays. full details on that, robin, in just a little bit. live to new york and probably the only nice spot in the country, there it is. the empire state building looking nice. clear today and nice for the weekend. pants on the ground, pants on the ground, everybody is talking about pants on the grund but you'll hear from a woman who says that's not a new song. >> one, two, three. ♪ pants on the ground pants on the ground ♪ ♪ looking like a fool with your pants on the ground ♪ ♪ pants hit the ground call yourself a cool cat ♪ ♪ walking downtown with your pants on the ground ♪

[ music ] >> welcome to comcast local edition, i'm donna richardson, and my guest this hour is leslie prewitt, director of external operations, opportunity builders. good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> can you tell the viewers about opportunity builders incorporated and what exactly the organization does? >> absolutely. we have been around for 47. we were started in 1962. we provokessa provide training d rehabilitation. >> what are the services you

offer your clients? >> there are 170 that stay in our warehouse that do packaging then we have 180 individuals that go out and work for local employer. >> you have the employers who are helping out and also having the contracts to give those, like you said, in the warehouse employment possibilities. >> absolutely. we're always looking to new contracts to fulfill, inside of our warehouse and then outside we're always looking for new employers to hire our adults. >> now all of this, i know it takes funding, and you've got a fund-raiser coming up. >> right. >> so tell us about your mardi gras. >> well, hence the beads so you know why i'm wearing beads. we are very proud of our 12th annual mardi gras. we have live music, we have a

casino, an auction, great food, beer, wine, and ice cream and it's a great night and a lot of fun. >> it does sound like a lot of fun. how much are the tickets to be able to enjoy all this fun? >> the tickets are $50 each. >> very, very reasonable, and it sounds like you're getting a huge value with the opportunity of the casinos and the great food and the auctions and the dancing. >> uh-huh. >> so with this, because i know it takes a lot of dollars in order to run the program, how do you plan to use the proceeds? >> the proceeds will help with our operating expenses, especially with the downturn in the economy and budget cuts, we will be using it to assist the organization. >> leslie, i do have a question.

how do your clients become a part of opportunity builders? >> they are funded for the developmental disability administration. if someone is interested, if a family is interested in having family members participate in an opportunity with opportunity builders, they would call and then we would direct them to our director of employment that would start them through the process of the program. >> once they're in the program, do you also provide training before the clients either work in the warehouse or go out to work with your partner businesses? >> absolutely. in the warehouse, we do have an instructor to assist individuals with each contract, and as far as the individuals who go out into the community and work, we do training for those individuals. they have a one on one coach so we'll make sure the individual knows how to do the job before we have them working on their own. >> in going back to mardi gras, do you need any volunteers to

help out, because that's a big undertaking you have so many different activities going on? >> absolutely. we can always use volunteers, but we can always use the ticket sales, and that's really a big emphasis for us, ticket sales and sponsorships. >> exactly. so there are sponsorship opportunities available? >> absolutely. >> how can they reach you if they want to buy tickets or become a sponsor? they can call our office. >> perfect. well, leslie, thanks so much for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> our guest this hour is less by prior to director of external operations at opportunity builders. for comcast local edition, i'm donna richardson. [ music ]

good morning and top of the day to you. 9:00 eastern. see you out there working out on the treadpolitical or getting your coffee ready and we're going to get you news in the fast lane. i'm robin meade and here's what's going on. it is a bombshell, john edwards is admitting that he is the father of his ex-mistress' child. we are digging deeper into a stunning revelation at this hour. i don't think i'd play around with mother nature. we're telling people, get out. >> that is a warning that hundreds of families are waking up to in southern california right now because of a mudslide threat. we have the latest on the severe weather pounding the west coast.

and then -- >> there is no way to put it in words, really. >> you'll hear more about what it is actually like for the rescue people working in the rubble in haiti. first, though, we start with breaking news. formal presidential candidate john edwards just admitted that he is the father of his former daughter's mistress. he was saying it was wrong to ever deny she was his daughter and hopefully one day she will forgive him. he has provided and will continue to provide financial support for the little girl. this is video of the baby and her mom. edwards admitted having an affair with hunter when she was a campaign aide and edwards and his wife were married 32 years and she has been battling incurable cancer for nearly three years. richard lui will look at the question, why now? why make an admission of now? if you're just waking up on the west coast you may want to brace yourself for a duzy of a

commute. days of torrential downpours have flooded freeways. more than 500 homes evacuated because of mudslide fears. one woman says that people living in the area should expect this kind of thing. >> the town is in a flood zone, everybody knows it's in a flood zone. so they come and move into the town and then beat on the town council which has no money, no more than any municipality in california. somebody moving into las vegas and then being upset it is hot. >> i'm sure it doesn't lessen what they're feeling today. which is frustration that here comes another band of this thing. >> there is light at the end of the tunnel and they dry out within the next 36 hours. you need to get through today and tomorrow afternoon first. yesterday's storm across northern parts of the northwest, talking about washington state and oregon. the second and last storm until

next tuesday still off shore and see it around the western parts of california. in through san francisco and los angeles and extends to central arizona and look at that radar right out of san diego. heavy downpours in towards san diego and then moving all the way eastward through central arizona and it will be windy, poor visibility and heavy snow. plus, tornado weather for the panhandle of florida, that's just a couple minutes away. thousands of haitians putting their lives at risk trying to get out of port-au-prince. people are packing tiny row boats to get to the other side of the island. any time one of the bigger ferries come to port it is overwhelmed by people clamoring to get on board. >> it's impossible.

i ask the police several times. >> an amazing rescue that we should share with you here, a 5-year-old, this 5-year-old was found under his collapsed home yesterday when friends and family pulled him from the rubble he cried out over and over again, i'm thirsty. anderson cooper from our sister network cnn was at the hospital when the boy's uncle brought him in. >> we're giving him flus would and he's hungry, which is a good sign. >> any broken boneses? >> no apparent injuries, whatsoever. >> so amazing the little boy was found and no broken bones, thank goodness he is going to be okay, you hope. 8:00 p.m. eastern on our sister network cnn the hope for haiti now global telethon. anderson cooper and dr. sanjay gupta will be part of the star-studded event.

he is on capitol hill today. this is new video of senator elect scott brown leaving boston for d.c. this morning. he has meetings planned with john mccain, john kerry and mitch mcconnell. in an abc interview, president obama said that democrats should wait until then to move forward on health care reform. >> here's one thing i know and i just want to make sure this is off the table, the senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until scott brown is seated. people in massachusetts spoke. he is going to be part of that process. i would advise that we try to move quick ly to go around thos elements of the package that people agree on. >> what parts of the bill is the president talking about. what the dems may have to give up to get health care reform passed this year. what about you?

how are you feeling about health care reform. what is a must-have for you. here is gregory right now on our facebook page, i believe. i hope they scale back the health care plan and make sure there is no pork barrel in it. reco writes, if they are going to scale it back there needs to be a public option for all of us who have jobs that don't offer health insurance. we're always interested in your opinion. if you're an e-mailler. either way, you can go to cnn.com/robben and hit the f for the facebook. we have new pictures allegedly showing tiger woods outside an addiction clinic in mississippi. rafer weigel with more on this. this is a big one. >> this man has basically managed to disappear from the media since that car accident the day after thanksgiving. so, these new pictures from "the national enquirer" purportedly showing woods walking outside

the pine grove addiction center in hatiesbering, mississippi. an associated press reporter was looking for woods in town over the weekend and could not track him down but our affiliate reports sources tell them that woods is, in fact, that treatment facility. something that the facility would not confirm or deny to cnn. hln, we contacted spokespeople for woods and they would not comment. this new information also has a new twist to it. the facility is actually building new fences around that building with tarps draping them with tarps. >> which would seem to indicate that someone there is very concerned about privacy. >> there you go. >> thank you so much. a man who said he spent four years in prison for robbing a bank with a bb gun is going to hollywood. here's his audition on "american idol." ♪ trouble, trouble, trouble

trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ been dogging my soul since the day i was born ♪ >> that is awesome. simon said lawrence was brilliant. here's another guy who tried his hands at "amazing grace." ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ >> that's bobcat -- >> i want to sing this song. >> for him to sing "amazing grace." yeah. the judges did not like jarrod norrell. he got agitated when and refused to leave. here you go, security comes out and you make a scene, okay, because that's a normal reaction. the next stop for "idol"

auditions is in l.a. >> party until the cops come in. >> that's what he sings best. eight minutes past the hour. okay, now, because a lot of you are waking up this hour a little bit further on the west coast, early hour there and big problems, again. i don't know how many more days do we have to put up with it? >> by saturday afternoon things will start to dry out but a long two days here as the rain continues to cycle in off the pacific ocean and condense out of snow across the higher elevations. the red all winter storm warnings and advisories and less snow and notice the pink-shaded areas. southwestern colorado into the southeastern sections of arizona. blizzard warnings because of the wind, poor visibility and the moderately falling snow. check out all the flash flood watches, too. flood watches for all of arizona and get back towards central parts of california and advisory because of all the rain we've already seen and the stuff that

will come in over the next two days. rainfall over the next 48 hours and that bullseye of red just outside of san diego, four to six inches of rain. that's between today and getting in towards friday night. by saturday, hopefully, you get the all-clear but then you have another storm coming in on tuesday. live to san francisco, if you're traveling out there. low clouds in place and they're going to be there for most of the day. the bay bridge looks pretty good, but real soggy here shortly. get a look at that coming up in a bit. talk about that, robin, in a couple minutes. cindy mccain, senator john mccain's wife, is taking a stand but some republicans may not like this. conan o'brien has just now sealed the deal, officially, to leave nbc.

lert.

in our salute to the troops, this is from mona to her husband sergeant jeffrey trammonte. the whole family misses him so much, even though he is not physically right there, they're thinking about him every day. go to cnn.com/robin and we'd be so happy to help you salute them. john mccain's wife is endorsing same-sex marriage in california. the group's name is on her cheek. now, the tape is because it is a silent protest. her daughter, megan, also posed for the group. senator mccain's office says it respects their views but he remains opposed to same-sex marriage. your bank may face some tough new rules about how it handles your money. now, in just over two hours president obama is set to propose new limits on the size and the risks taken by the country's biggest banks. now, here is our money expert

jennifer westhoven. morning. >> hey, thank you, robin. i mean, one of the things that we kind of learned the hard way during the financial collapse is that banks had gotten so big and they were not just putting their money on the line any more. they started putting your money on the line. bank assets and that put the entire economy on the line. i mean, that's why we eventually had to bail them out during the financial collapse. since then, yes, things have stabilized but nothing is different when it comes to the size of those banks and the fact that they can bet the farm. one thing we learned the hardaway in the 1930s in the great depression was putting a firewall between those wall street traders who, you know, it's in their blood to take a lot of risks. that's what they do. they bet the farm putting up a firewall between them and most of the banks' big assets to protect those assets. in the 1990s things got so great and it was all about growth that

wall makers took down that wall and the president may be looking to put that back and limit just how much they could bet. a georgia coffee house has found a way by linking up with a professional cycling team. stephanie elam has the story in our small business success. >> jittery joe's coffee is fuelling the people of florida and has since 1994. they attribute some of the success to the brand itself. >> i would describe it as fun and nonpretentious, but quality. the whole idea is to be sort of southern impositive rshed chic. you feel you can stay a while. >> a unique element is an unlikely marketing method. a professional cycling team. >> for the franchising was tied to our sponsorship of our cycling team. one of our cyclists beat lance armstrong on one of the stages in the tour degeorgia and after

that a lot of nationwide coverage. >> the athens-based company grew from one store to 12 and now they have a web store. michael posed to charlie muster as a crucial part of the winning formula. >> he is a master at his craft. the product shines through because of who roasts the coffee. if you don't have good staff, you don't have a good business. >> oh, maybe you're looking at the pictureses of the coffee beans going, i'd like some coffee. maybe you have a small business and you think that was great, but i want my business on "the morning express." shoot a video i report and upload it and if we like what we see, you could be next.

we were just telling you about the breaking news this morning. john edwards has admitted that

he is the father of his ex-mistress' daughter. now, he says, this is the former senator saying it was wrong for him to have ever denied it. former senator and presidential candidate, i should point out. >> very good point, robin. seemingly out of no where. edwards releasing a statement this morning saying "i am quinn's father." the mother was a campaign aide during edwards' failed presidential bid and she was paid over $100,000 by his political action committee for video she shot of his campaign. there is a federal investigation, robin, into whether he used campaign finances to cover up that affair. >> this was the allegation that just blew the lid off of his reputation, basically. for a lot of people. richard, there was a time when he was seen as a top white house contender. imagine if things had gone differently during the campaign and he could be in the white house and dealing with this now. now, the big question is, why now?

why the admission this morning? >> that is what everyone is wondering. edwards said this in his statement "i have been providing financial support for quinn and have reached an agreement with her mother to continue providing support in the future." perhaps that's part of the timing question here. also for you, a top campaign aide saying edwards' wife, elizabeth, has wanted him to admit this publicly. they' the edwards does not name names but he says "to all those i have disappointed and hurt, these words will never be enough, but i am truly sorry." >> i think that's why a lot of people found this so distasteful because his wife is battling cancer. richard, thank you so much. new this morning, yemen is about to stop allowing visitors to enter that country without a visa. it's an effort to keep terrorists from getting in. that's after they took responsibility for the blotched

effort to blow up a jet on christmas day. until then most people flying into yemen was give an visa at the airport. nbc has confirmed that it has reached a deal with conan o'brien for him to leave "the tonight show" tomorrow night is going to be his last day on that show and jay leno is going to take the reigns on march 1st. the agreement will include a provision to bar conan from badmouthing nbc. that was not signed when he went on stage last night. >> now, it's been reported before i agree to a final settlement with the network i want to make sure that nbc takes care of my staff. that's right. i guess at first i was really gullible. the staff would be taken to a big farm and run free forever. >> nbc told the associated press

o'brien will goat $33 million and another $12 million for his staff and he'll be free to start another tv job as soon as september. mark sanford is back in the news and he said something yesterday that you may never hear him say again. 

the new york stock exchange is just open for business and stocks may not have momentm today because investors are worried about unemployment. we'll talk about why in a few minutes here. first, though, former presidential candidate john edwards admits that he fathered a child with his former mistress. the former senator said that his affair with his campaign aide ended in 2006, but the baby was born in february 2008 ndicating that the child was conceived in the middle of 2007. more rain could cause dangerous mudslides in southern california. the ground is saturated there and another storm is hitting today. more than 500 homes evacuated

today. authorities say that communities hit by last year's wildfires could be the most at risk. earthquake victims are now risking their lives to get out of port-au-prince. look at all these boats, they're crowding on to these small row boats to get to larger ferries to take them to the other side of the island. such a desperate situation. good morning, i'm robin meade and morning sunshine, as always. we have an interview with a u.s. coast guard team who rescued a woman found alive in the rubble in haiti a week after the earthquake there and they talked about how tricky the rescue was. >> an amazing effort of coordination between our district command center in miami and also volunteers on the ground using e-mail and text messages. it's amazing coordination effort. we were able to pinpoint her location near the palace and had to make a nighttime landing there in front of the palace to get her loaded up and get her airlifted out.

>> well, we told you about the elderly woman yesterday. she got a broken leg when the church that she was in fell down around her. we hear that she is doing well and is expected to recover. look at this 15-day-old baby rescued tuesday in port-au-prince. a baby. a team was demolishing the house where she lived and thinking there was no chance anybody could be alive. rescuers found her in the same bed that she was napping when the earthquake hit last week. she has been reunite would her mother. that is miraculous. check out this exclusive video of the moment the earthquake hit in port-au-prince. >> serious shaking. my house is going to fall. here is another one. >> how frightening. you could hear the panic in his voice. this is amateur video shot overlooking the city as the earthquake hit. this just in this morning, a plane traveling from new york's laguardia's airport to louisville has been diverted to

philadelphia international airport this morning. live pictures here of laguardia, probably. is this laguardia? no, this is in philly, i'm sorry, philly. a spokesperson says it was done as a security precaution. we don't know what happened on the plane at this time. big point there, it landed safely and the passengers have been evacuated. so, a plane diverted for some kind of security reason to philadelphia and it has been evacuated and it landed first and evacuated safely. forget textbooks, a third grade teacher in texas taught her students by segregation by dividing them into groups by their skin color. one group had to stay inside during recess and stand in the back of the line and sit separately during lunch. the kids say it was tough, but they learned a lot. >> it was really unfair that we didn't get a chance to do a lot of things.

>> have you ever done that in the past? you have-not going to do it any more. >> the next day the group swapped roles and he wanted the kids to learn why it was so important to respect everyone. we just learned about a major advancement in stem cell research. a man with lou gehrig's disease is the first person in the united states to have stem cells directly injected into his spinal cord. he is 1 of 12 patients expected to take place in a clinical trial. they're not the kind that destroy the fetus when they're removed. it's been a busy day newswise. i know it's busy in your kitchen this morning, i'm sure. meteorologist bob van dillen says it's busy, again on the west coast. >> where does all the energy go from the west coast and goes through texas and louisiana and ultimately to the southeast and the northeast. more on that in just a couple seconds. i want to show you the story for california because you really

have been slammed over the last four to five days and yesterday storm off the coast of oregon and today's storm just west of there and see it just out across the pacific. moves in late tonight and through tomorrow and all clear through the weekend and tuesday more rain for you around southern california and northern california, too. heaviest rain right now just south of san francisco and gets in through los angeles and san diego. check out that san diego radar picking up the light rain and then picking up in intensity across areas by arizona. that's what it looks like in phoenix. heavy rain north of the city and three to six inches of rain you'll find totaled up and central arizona on in towards the northern parts. look at all the winter storm warnings and parts of colorado and arizona. let me show you how much rain we're calling for over the next 24 hours. this is a huge story. see the yellow shades pop up, three inches of rain. the bullseye of red right across southern california to arizona and even purples right by phoenix and that is five to ten inches of rain and that's what

this computer model is thinking and even if you have that, that is a ton of rain. a dulluge, coming back in for you. again for the rest of the region, heaviest rain is going to be found. what about the east coast? live to new york city, if you're traveling up there, you'll get the rain coming up and you'll be just fine today. look at the hudson, pretty nice. jersey palisades on the left. rain for the weekend, though. >> all right, thank you. well, it's been a roller coaster ride on wall street recently. the dow has posted triple-digit moves in each of the past three trading days and susan lisovicz is at the new york stock exchange with a look at what's in store today. i'm interested to see they're in the positive territory even after a jobless report. >> a whole lot else going on including big profits from a big bank and we also have a big speech, robin, for president obama set to announce new limits on banks and the president wants to keep financial companies from becoming so big that they pose a

risk to the entire economy and this comes as goldman sachs reports a quarterly profit of $5 billion. that is for one three-month period. the firm cut back on its employee compensation after a public outcry. a surprise profit, meanwhile, for continental and a narrowed loss for american highlight the first wave of earnings reports from the airline industry. consensus is that business travel is slowly coming back and rising fuel costs will be a major concern this year. finally, robin, you might think of your cell phone as a fashion accessory. italian fashion house versachi agrees. they'll launch a luxury cell phone in may for a growing trend. dior has had a luxury phone on the market since 2008 that retails for $5,000. the price of the versace phone will reportedly top that. so, you really -- yes, you don't

want to lose it, you don't want to drop it into the sink and you don't want to lend it out. >> now, tell me, does it make you rude and look like you're very mad, just like the models here walking. >> give me that phone. we want that phone. >> thank you, appreciate it. >> you're welcome. getting a note from an "american idol" judge wasn't the end for one performer. here is what happened to the pants on the ground guy since the show has aired. the couple accused of crashing a white house dinner had some lawmakers furious and sparks started flying when they refused to talk on capitol hill.

president obama doesn't want democrats to ram through a health care reform bill before

republican scott brown is seated. now, senate democrats are scrambling to save the bill now that they lost their super majority. one option is drafting a brand-new bill that only includes the popular provisions like based on your pre-existing conditions. republicans say they should start completely from scratch. you tell me how you feel about health care reform possibly getting scaled back. if it is scaled back, what is a must-have for you? c from texas e-mails, please start over. use the kiss principal. don't give into the lobbyists. this doesn't take a 2,100-page overhaul. tyna said start from scratch. you can press f for facebook or contact us for e-mail. if you have an older car you might want to start paying more attention at the gas pump. hln expert clark howard explains the changes coming to the fuel

industry. >> if you and i don't have enough to worry about, i got one more nuisance coming into your life and it's going to be at the gas pump. there's a federal requirement that is going to boost the number of ethanol in gasoline to as much as 15%. right now, think about when you go to the pump there will be a legal notice that will say may contain up to 10% ethanol as you pump, well, older cars have trouble running on ethanol as do boat, lawn mowers and things like that. so, believe it or not, if you have a 2001 or older car or you got a boat or any kind of thing that has a small engine to it, you're going to need to actually seek out pumps that don't meet the new federal standard of 15% ethanol. my hope is we go to pumps with 5% ethanol and for things with small motors and do 15 for newer cars.

we'd still save fuel. i'm clark howard and for more of my ideas, go to cnn.com/cla cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> so catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. many of the children who survived haiti's earthquake must now face another challenge, amputation. richard lui is working on that and other news stories in the next hour. >> good morning. amputation will save many of these children's lives but also makes it very difficult for them going forward because they have to walk wherever they go. you'll get to meet some of the little boys and girls, as well as viz that hospital and have that for you in the next 15 minutes. also, a 300-pound woman accused of sitting on her boyfriend and then killing him is sentenced. why some people are not happy about this case. plus, could the most famous address in the united states be losing its property value? hear how the market slump is

affecting 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> all right, interesting. all right, thank you. >> sure. >> one, two, three -- ♪ pants on the ground pl pants on the ground ♪ ♪ looking like a fool with your pants on the ground ♪ ♪ pants hit the ground call yourself a cool cat ♪ ♪ walking downtown with your pants on the ground ♪ >> everybody seems to recognize larry platt's song "pants on the ground" you may have seen it on youtube or played on the radio. one woman videotaped him singing it back in november. >> why not? i think i'm a lilt tired of seeing dudes with their pants on the ground. >> one of the themes is about how young men should pull their pants up. >> pull their pants up, pull your pants up, pull your pants up. ♪ pants on the ground pants on the ground ♪

>> platt was in new york on martin luther king day to perform his song on tv. getting a lot of attention for it. we have some new photos which may be of tiger woods and adding to the speculation about where he has been since his sex scandal broke.

all right, the couple accused of crashing the white house state dinner took the fifth in front of congressional committee and refuse to answer questions on the advice of their attorney. some of the committee members were not very pleased. >> let me ask you a question, mr. salahi, did you wear a tuxedo that night? will you take the fifth? were you there? are you here today, mr. salahi? are you here right now? you got to get an answer from your attorney on that. >> he looks scared to me. the homeland security committee

wunts to know how in the world the couple got past the secret service and got that close to the president without an invite. they're willing to return to congress and testify once the criminal investigation is over. all right, we've just learned that an unruly passenger caused a flight from new york's laguardia's airport to louisville to be diverted this morning. the plane has landed safely in philadelphia and a live look you're seeing here is in philadelphia. this is tape, though. the tsa says agents met the plane, questioned the passenger and swept the plane and found nothing. the tsa says the flight is taxiing to the gate. i know, unruly at this time of day. all right, not that you should ever be. >> i'd be so mad. >> sometimes it's alcohol related and in the morning. new pictures showing tiger woods outside a mississippi addiction clinic. rafer has the latest on this.

we have not seen him since thanksgiving weekend. >> he is the most hunted man by the media for the past two months. everyone is trying to find tiger woods. possibly his first sighting and you guys be the judge. these photos from "the national enquirer" show woods walking outside the pine grove center in mississippi. it looks like him, tough to tell with the scarf. an associated press was looking for woods in town over the weekend, could not track him down, but affiliate wjtv tells them that woods is, however, at the treatment center but they cannot confirm or deny he is a patient. they would not comment on the report or the photos. wjtv also reporting the facility is building new fences around the building and draping them with tarps. interesting. australian golfer jeff

ogilvy saying tiger woods needs to speak before returning to the course out of respect to the ga. to diffuse the circus. i agree with ogilvy. charles barkley says the same thing. here's the deal. from a business stand point, tiger woods needs to get out and address this from a business standpoint. he is a brand that made him the richest athlete in the world. if he doesn't want our business, then it's none of our business. he can't keep it to ourselves. fran tarkenton who led minnesota to three super bowls but never won, he said even though favre is playing well, him coming back as a describing being is despicable. fran, favre has proven every critic wrong. he is the reason they've gotten this far. he sounds like a grumpy old man. that's a look at sports. >> sounds a little jealous.

i'm not saying he is, but it sounds like it. >> rotten kids. running backs, shotgun arms. rock and roll music. that's fran tarkenton. >> good morning. live shot out of southern california. i want to take you there because the heavy rain is going to be out. it's turning to snow for the higher elevations. that's a beautiful shot. what about the delays that we do have? you can see the camera rocking around, not only the rain, but the wind. we have an 82 minute delay at san francisco because of the low clouds, rain and wind. ground stop in atlanta right now, that's because of the heavy squall line. phoenix, you're going to see an hour or more delay, same with los angeles and san francisco. more in a half hour. we have breaking news. former presidential hopeful john edwards is fessing up for

fathering his mistress's child. it was wrong for him to ever deny it.