good morning. it has been a heck of a long week, hasn't it? i'm robin meade. welcome to friday. hi, sunshine. here is what's going on. plus, loads of haitian orphans are trying to get to the united states. their stories do not all epd the same. you will see emotional reunions of kids who cannot leave the island, yet. do you drive a toyota? they are recalling 2 million cars and trucks. they don't have a fix, yet for the potentially deadly problem. a big improvement may be seen in haiti if two-way traffic

starts moving at the south pier. it's critical to getting aid to the 3 million quake survivors. delayed relief supplies have head to five deaths. they are using vodka for sterilization when they don't have rubbing alcohol. c nr cnn cameras were rolling when another aftershock hit port-au-prince last night. >> there was just an aftershock. >> can you imagine? carl and anderson cooper were taking a quick break from reporting when it happened. it was not as strong as others since last tuesday. some have reached as high as 5.9 manager tud. >> oh, my baby. >> look at that little face. hulgs and kisses as some orphans in haiti start a new life.

last night, 16 landed in florida and joined their new american families as sons and daughters. some families had not seen their children since before the quake. >> it was heart breaking. she's my daughter, you know. >> amazing, right? pretty amazing. >> i'm so relieved. ever since the earthquake happened, we have been so worried and just to have him home. >> can't imagine. many orphans, this is a piece of tape that made me stop in my tracks this morning. many are being held back. you are looking at dozens of kids jammed and squeezed on to a sweltering bus. they thought they were getting visa's to the united states. look at the babies taking care of babies. that bus had to turn around. the state department is allowing children with adoptions in

process, already, to get temporary visas. officials will not accept kids if they cannot verify their paperwork is in order. such desperation. california is getting another beating from the weather today. there's a state of emergency in parts of the state. hundreds are wait iing for evacuations to be lifted after the mud slides. in san diego, the longer the rain came down, the worse things got. >> this was a river. it was a river. it literally was a river. >> it was draining very well, even in the heavy rain. the pumps -- something must have stopped or part of them. the rain stopped and the water started backing up. >> conditions are bad now, but you may get a break from the rain soon. bob van dillen is keeping an eye

on things. good morning. >> good morning. i want to start with the big picture. a couple storms are out there. the one from yesterday is back inland around idaho and nevada. you can see the frontal boundary as it extended to the rocky mountains. behind it, a couple impulses. not much going on back there. you're going to start drying out in california starting tomorrow afternoon. rain comes back monday night and tuesday. blue is all green and white is snow. blizzard warnings. we have them up there. that's not the only bad spot in the country, the east coast is bad, too. we'll get to that. >> thank you. a plot to hijack a plane. in india, an official says flights are targeted. they are on high-alert. they are deploying air marshalls. al qaeda linked groups are trying to have a new war between india and pakistan.

do you have a toyota? there's a major recall of millions of its cars. it has to do with the gas pedal sticking. jennifer westhoven is watching out for you. >> this is a huge recall. 2 million cars and vehicles. it's the same problem. the gas pedal is getting jammed. it's very serious. people have died in crashes related to this. 4 million toyotas have already been recalled. they are talking the avalon, camry and tundra. we have the different makes and models there. it's on the website, too. what's so unusual about this, toyota doesn't have the answer, yet. you can get the details on cnn.com/robin, go to looking out for you. >> thank you. people who quit smoking after getting diagnosed with lung cancer.

they have a 30% chance of surviving five years. if you quit smoking, a 70% chance of being alive after five years. that's from a british medical journal. >> if you grew up listening to tornado sirens like that, it's an ominous sign and sight of a tornado. this is in huntsville, alabama yesterday. the mayor said a tornado caused significant damage downtown. some fences were flattened and cars crushed by falling trees. 10,000 people lost power. no reports of serious injury. let's start with weather on the east coast now. who's got the rain this friday morning? for some of us, it's been, i would rather see snow than rain and freezing rain. how about you? it's like warm weather. >> freezing rain is the worst. that's what they are getting in

the appalachians. the storm from huntsville, alabama is moving up. here is the upper level low around kentucky. it's spawning out freezing rain for you for the afternoon. the winter storm warnings are up there from charlottesville to the spine of 81 and north carolina mountains. advisories in the blue-green area. the tail end of the cold front is around northern florida. zero in to orlando and a thunderstorm complex has been rolling down to the south. a tornado warning with one thunderstorm around cape canaveral. no warnings since then. in tampa, a nice line over tampa and heading toward st. pete. that's the morning. later today, it gos to southern parts of florida. miami might get thunderstorms later. more on that in a bit. >> thanks. there may be an added bonus for donating money to haiti.

plus, ring the wedding bells, but don't expect the fireworks to last forever. we may expect too much from marriage. come on.

good morning. let's salute our troops. today's salute comes from the jones family. ronald l. jones. this is his first deployment with the florida national guard. his mom, kids and wife say they love him and miss him so, so much. if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin and we'll salute them. the u.s. started a new program to give haitians living here a chance to stay in the country and get work permits. richard lui is here. on day one, we saw how much of an impact this could be. >> good morning. the idea behind this is, if they work here and send money back

home, it will help them with their families and rebuild the country. yesterday, lots of scenes like this one in miami. people lined up out the door to apply. this is temporary, we want to note. about 18 months. don't expect the u.s. to back off the strict immigration policies now. secretary of state, hillary clinton, saying haitians trying to come here by boat will be stops. the fear is, frightening scenes like this one, overfilled boats ap sizing in the ocean. every year, they stop 1600 haitians on boats headed for florida and sends them home. >> i used to work in miami and it's constantly going on. it's been going on for years. does the u.s. have a new plan in place in case they try to migrate that way? >> this is an interesting one. it might be a shock. it's guantanamo bay that's a possibility. it's 200 miles from haiti. we think of it as a place where

the u.s. holds terrorists. the army base is huge. about two miles away, on base, they are setting up tents, beds, toilets, just in case. now, it's only precautionary. there's no signs the beds will be needed in the end. >> thank you. we now know why a flight to kentucky made an emergency landing in philly. the plane's crew thought something was a security threat and it was a huge misunderstanding. new for you in 30 minutes. your donations to haiti now, in 2010 can help your tax bill for 2009. jennifer westhoven is here. good morning. >> good morning. thanks, robin. big move in washington to deduct your donations to haiti relief in this year's tax returns, even though you are giving it in 2010. these are the taxes for 2009. congress passed this bill to deduct it from your 2009 taxes

as long as you make that donation by the end of february. president obama is expected to sign it. the red cross already collected more than $127 million in donations. if you donated by text message, you may be thinking i can't print out the text, how do i prove that? yuds your phone bill to document the gift. it will list the charity, date and amount of donation. that's what you need. if you want to help the quake victims, go the cnn.com/robin. if you go through the impact link, you can see lists of charities to donate or go to cnn.com/impact. there are all kind of charities there and on the ground that can take your money and turn it into direct relief. robin. >> thank you very much. good guidelines here. there's a new basketball league in the works. there's a hitch. you have to be white. >> there's a way to get your

taxes done for free.

♪ what's the worldcoming to ♪ what they say isn't. you know, if you are going on vacation, would you feel right going to haiti enjoying the caribbean knowing people are suffering, dying in port-au-prince. royal caribbean has a stop in haiti.

they done want to abandon them and they are delivering supplies. it's natural to feel outrage d f you are a passenger, but it urges them to consider the tourism benefits of haiti. how would you feel if you were on that cruise or what thoughts do you have about whether it should be happening or not? go to cnn.com/robin and click on facebook or contact us if you want to do a straight e-mail. we do it that way, too. an atlanta man is forming a new basketball league. to play, you have to be white and born in the united states. here is rafer with more on that. what gives? >> yeah. it's ridiculous on so many different levels, robin. the name of the guy is don "moose" lewis. he calls it the all-american basketball league. you have to be caucasian and

both your parents born in america. he doesn't quote hate people of color. he just wants a league where they play fundamental basketball rather than street ball. he said it's not racist, it's entertainment. for whom? who is going to watch them play if they are not good enough to play in the league or in europe bs, gou to the ymca at noon. there are rumors it's a hoax. we have seen nothing to suggest it's a hoax. it seems real to us. whether it happens or not remains to be seen. 25 grand for yelling foul language at a fan in detroit. he was getting heckled by detroit fans when he snapped and yell yelled something back. i have been to the palace in auburn hills. the fans can be boisterous. you can't lose your cool and yell back. he yelled back.

>> praying that god fakes away his desire to play football. he's thinking about retirement. he told espn he's torn. he's loved it so long. he needs god to take that away. >> what's his name? >> kurt warner. it's hard to walk away. >> apparently, we saw brett favre come back. >> exactly. >> i was watching him. people call him the old man because he's older, too. for football. >> 38 years. he's two years younger than brett favre. >> that was a heck of a hit. a tv station is saying sorry for a reporter trying to grab him. he's not too happy. he's in milan he was doing an interview when this nut job woman moves in. he was surprised but called it harmless fun.

there's her afterwards. that passes for television in italy. >> i'm giggling at your choice of words. why would people think this is okay. if a man did that to a woman, he would be slammed to the ground 57bd arrested. >> there was no double entra da when i referred to her as loony. i apologize, it was not intentional. >> some of you may recognize best selling author, elizabeth gilbert who wrote, "eat, pray, love." she is out with a new book called committed after making peace with marriage. we recently spoke with her about managing our expectations in a relationship in this live better now. one of the things in "committed" that you talk about is your expectation for marriage. >> right. >> previous to marriage.

>> right. >> you travel around the world and talk to people of different cultures and were surprised to find what? >> americans put the highest level of expectations on their relationships of anybody on earth. >> i love you. you complete me. >> it's a lot to ask of somebody who completes you on every level of your being. >> what do other cultures expect of marriage? >> it's more pragmatic. they look for virtues. it is a decent, honest, respectable person. we look for shivers down our spine. fireworks. >> there's nothing wrong with fireworks, but you have to look ahead to the questions of whether you can expect this is somebody you can if i would a decades long relationship with. >> people might say that's a big buzz kill. are you telling me to settle? >> no, i'm not telling you to settle. statistics show americans that

report themselves happiest in marriage waited until they were older. had children later in life and didn't run into the fantasy that somebody was going to bring that to them. they made a life, then found a partner to go on their journey with. >> now, bob, one of the most interesting things she said. she traveled around and found american women, we expect more out of a marriage than other cultures. >> really? hey, that's cool. >> i'm sorry, but i expect you to be faithful. >> that's right. >> i expect you to be my friend and contribute. >> i took from her, pressure is off if you're married to her. >> yeah, it's okay. trying to get in and out of the southeast, it's going to be foggy. an hour or more delay because of this. more delays in phoenix, las vegas as well. phoenix and hour or more, like

yesterday. also, las vegas. we'll have this coming up in a minute. l.a., san diego, an hour or more. the werks more in san francisco an hour delay. more on that in a bit.

all right. haitian authorities hope to get the traffic moving in both directionings at port-au-prince's south pier. it's going to get aid to 3 million survivors. medical teams had to use over the counter medicine and vodka for sterilization if they don't have rubbing alcohol. the trial of a man who admitted to killing a kansas abortion provider. he was one of four doctors who performed late-term abortions. the suspect says the murder was justified. he was trying to save unborn children. house speaker nancy pelosi says the democrats won't rubber stamp a health care bill.

now, the dems last. scaling back the legislation would be a better option. federal agents are putting cigarettes out on the streets. b but, they are doing it to catch smugglers. an associated press says federal officers put more than 250 million cigarettes on the black market. they lead them to organized crime rings and cut off money to terrorists. fascinating. those are some of our top stories on friday. i had to think about what day it was. friday. i'm robin meade. welcome. the port is not the only place in haiti's capital open for business. richard lui is here. let's not say life is not returning normal. let's not try to say life is returning to normal, but little things are cropping up indicating people are trying to

get back to normal. >> you are talking about the simple things. these people in line in front of a bank. gripping the bars and waiting for the bank to open. it did open for the first time since the earthquake. people need their money, obviously. makeshift markets set up. people buying vegetables, bread and sugar. things are very expensive. gas is going for as much as $26 a gallon. this, in a country where most people make less than $10 a day, robin. one item in high demand is coffins. >> yeah, it's unfortunate. >> yeah. >> for many of the children there, life will never be the same. it's hard to fathom how many of them lost their parents in the quake. there are hundreds of thousands of orphans before. what about after? >> i have staggering numbers. this was a huge problem before the quake, as you know. in a country of 9 million, they

had 380,000 orphans, now, the u.n. estimating that number would be 1 million. one in nine people in haiti. on our sister network, a nurse told anderson cooper how tough it is now. >> we have nothing for the kids. it's like they are forgotten, almost. >> it's like they are forgotten. >> yeah. we are doing the best we can. it's frustrating. i'm overwhelmed. >> robin, dominique says she walks away because she starts crying and doesn't want to do that in front of the kids she's trying to help. >> if they see you are worried and upset, they get worried and upset. there's another chance for you to get involved and help out. the hope for haiti global telethon, anderson cooper and sanjay gupta are going to be part of the star-studded event. >> conan o'brien has his final

show. he sign add deal to leave the "tonight show." it's worth 45 million. he joked last night. >> we hammered out an agreement for wrapping up my time as moho of the "tonight show." the internet picks up things and runs with it. the general terms of the contract are all over the internet. there are some provisions in the contract you may not know about. i want to tell you about them now. i'm prohibited from coming within 500 yards of 11:30. i'm not allowed to make fun of the programming, i have to let the programming speak for itself. >> o'brien's deal would let him start at another network in september. jay leno is expected to return on march 1. the us airway's jet that landed in the hudson river is up for auction. now, it's in a salvage yard.

it will come as is. it's auctions by the insurance. no word on whether captain sully sullenberger would want to bid on it. he's aware of the auction. >> if i was the owner of an aviation museum, i would be all over that. >> or cut it up in a bunch of pieces and let people bid on that. >> i got my brother a foul pole from the yankee stadium. then i realized he wasn't a yankee fan. >> it sounds like family talk to me. good morning. >> here is the cold front from yesterday's action. a tornado touched down north of the city. big thunderstorms arriving south of orlando. get toward the radar picture. a nice squaw line toward orlando and kissimmee.

it's toward cocoa beach, too. gusty winds, no warnings out of these. lightning, we have that as well. to the west, you can see what it looks like in tampa. st. petersberg goes over the bay, loses steam and you will get the showers. miami and the keys overnight tonight. rain and snow and sleet across the appalachians. the areas shaded in red from charlottesville to the north carolina mountains. looking at rain, sleet and snow. i-81 goes to western p.a., too. california storms, the last one in today. one comes back tuesday. let's get an i-report now. check this out. california weather from steele beach, this is outside long beach. check this guy out. roads are flooded. >> no, people are not right. >> that's a hard bottom.

surfing off the back of a pick up truck. >> i don't recommend it. >> no, i don't recommend that. >> here are the stories we are busy with. a march is planned in d.c. to mark the 30th anniversary of roev. wade. president obama will be in ohio to talk about jobs. and angelica houston is the latest actress to get her star on the hollywood walk of fame. it happens at 2:30 p.m. eastern. new details about a u.s. diverted airways plane. it started with the understanding of a religious ritual. some people are going on vacation in haiti while millions are suffering. you'll hear the pros and cons of promoting tourism in haiti, now.

good morning. i know you want to read the paper, so we did it for you. you don't have to go outside in your robe. majority of americans want to go back to the drawing board on health care reform. 55% want the current bill scrapped. 39% say keep it. a federal judge ordered new york city to make up for years of using a plan for screening people for firefighter jobs. they have to hire 300 african-american and hispanic candidates and give them retro active pay. chicago is the only city

that doesn't disinfect its sewage. they say disinfecting sewage could be bad for the environment. it could boost emissions. authorities diverted a flight bound for louisville yesterday because an orthodox jewish teenager was trying to play. he caught others attention because he was showing a box with biblical passages. >> they had a warning flight. my grandson didn't have a chance to pray. they are religious kids. they say their morning prayers. >> people don't know about them so much, so i guess i understand a little bit. >> the airline says the plane made an emergency land iing in philly as a security precaution. what's that jen?

>> now everybody can learn about it. nothing to be afraid of. >> your 401(k) probably took a hit yesterday. the stocks plunged add president obama got tough with the banks. >> so, the stock market took a hit not just because of the president, but that was a big part of it. he announced proposals that would limit the size of banks and how much of their capital, which is your money. your money in the bank that they are allowed to put on the line. his idea is if one bank fails, they don't want it to risk the entire financial system. it knocked the wind out of the banking stocks. the dow is starting at 10,389. it's down 213 last night. it's down more than 300 in the last two days.

it's because of a slowdown in lending in china. the big ticketed retail has been about the discount. it hasn't been good to be a shopper, recently. bloomingdale's recognized that. they are going to open their first four outlet stores. >> outlet? whew! >> they are going to be on the east coast, two in florida, one in new jersey and virginia. they say more are coming. you know, stores that only cater to the well heeled aren't doing so well. >> sachs fifth avenue. neiman marcus has theirs. it makes sense bloomingdales would have theirs, too. despite the devastation and death. haitians are showing the world their strength and ability to survive and defie the odds. our story this week is the

earthquake survivors in haiti. >> reporter: one of the worst ever disasters in the western hemisphere couldn't have picked a worse spot. people dig through rubble search ing for trapped relatives and rescuing neighbors. >> she's alive. is she okay. >> yeah. >> reporter: survivors share food and water. in random moments, a new cell. hope. >> i'm not asleep. i'm not asleep. god is with me. >> reporter: in the midst of tragedy, they remain hopeful, embracing life and each other.

♪

you know, if you are going on vacation, would you feel right going to haiti, enjoying the caribbean knowing people are suffering and dying in port-au-prince? royal caribbean is going to stop in haiti. they don't want to abandon them in their time of need and they are delivering supplies. it's natural to feel outraged, but urged them to feel the tourist benefits. we are taking your comments. colleen from ohio said joe writes -- tell me what you think. maybe you have a different opinion. e-mail us by going to cnn.com/robin and hit the contact us button.

facebook us. or you can start on cnn.com/robin. lawyers fighting to overturn california's ban an same-sex marriage will wrap up their case today. a hostile witness gave his view that they are more likely to become pedophiles. attorneys for the other side say the witness had little to do with the prop 8 campaign. get away day friday. bob, is it good? >> it's going to be like yesterday. sky harbor and phoenix a mess. we are going to see more of that action, again. heavy rain for central arizona. delays for phoenix. it will be phoenix, over an hour, los angeles, l.a.x. over an hour delay because of the rain and fog. wind out there later this afternoon. san diego, heavy rain. an inch and a half for you. san francisco, low level

cloudiness. we'll see more delays. those will be the longest. more in a bit. thank you. we now know john edwards is the father of his mistresses child. that's new next hour. a college football player returned to the practice for the first time since getting treated for cancer. how is he? >> fantastic. it's a great store iry. he went from being a first round nfl draft pick to a cancer survivor in eight months time. he's the true champion today. he led a pedestrian practice by football standards, but a huge deal by life standards. he battled a rare form of bone cancer. he's now cancer free. he has a rod in his leg to strengthen the area affected by

the disease. he's growing his hair back. i'm rooting for this guy. to the scene of his crime. vic returns to where he operated his dog fighting ring and helped drown or hang dogs. he spoke candidly and wondered how he got wrapped up in dog fighting. to his credit, he does take full responsibility and says it was all his fault. that premiers in february. speaking of february, get ready to see more crashes possibly in nascar. officials are telling drivers, boys have at it. be more aggressive and show more emotion. >> the emotion i understand because they have all these cameras in the car and you can hear what the team is saying, but be more aggressive, i don't know that that sounds right. >> they're relaxing the rules. they put a lot of rules on certain races. they said if you ain't rubbing, you ain't racing. exact quote. they're taking off the restricter plates and letting

these guys go at it. it's the result of the sport becoming too watered down. drivers and fans were both complaining. daytona opens next month. if you guys want it, fine. conan o'brien has his walking papers and a big check from nbc. joy behar is wondering who is the big winner here. >> 32 million is a lot of money, is conan having the last laugh here? >> i think conan comes out looking real good at the end, because first of all, if i were to have 32 million, let's say he goes to another network, i will use my own money to use advertising space on "the tonight show" to promote myself. >> what do you think about that idea? do you think that's a good idea? >> i'd love to see them get that past the nbc censors. >> you can see "the joy behar

show" tonight. a 7-year-old boy spent seven days trapped in the rubble. you will hear and see the story behind this incredible piece of video.

okay. good morning. it's friday. maybe a little uplifting for you here as you get ready for work. i'm robin meade. let's get you informed at the same time. here's what's going on. >> oh, my baby. >> more than a dozen haitian children finally made it to the arms of their new parents, but there is not a happy ending for every orphan trying to get to the united states. drive a toyota, well the car maker is recalling 2 million cars and trucks and they don't have a fix for the potentially deadly problem. smaller cities could soon get their own pro basketball teams, but this league is for whites only?

haiti's 3 million quake survivors could start getting aid quicker today. they want to clear two way traffic on the pier. meanwhile hope is fading of finding more survivors in the rubble. search and rescue teams packed up their dogs and gear yesterday. people are waiting hours in line for money. some wire services and banks are reopening. survivors need cash to buy even the very basics like food. >> oh, my baby. >> look at that little one smile. hugs and kisses as orphans from haiti start a new life. last night 16 orphans landed in florida and they joined the new american families. a chartered flight brought the orphans to ft. lauderdale. some families had not seen the children since before the quake. >> it was heartbreaking. she's my daughter, you know. leaving your daughter.

>> pretty amazing, right? >> i am so relieved. ever since the earthquake happened, we've all been so worried, and just to have him home. >> this is a piece of tape that just made me stop in my tracks this morning, because many orphans are being held back. you're looking at dozens of kids that were jammed on to a sweltering bus. they believe that they were getting visas to the united states, but then had to turn around. >> they want to go to america. they have been asking me every two minutes when do we leave, and they're very disappointed that we're turning back. >> the state department is allowing children with adoptions in the process to get temporary visas so they can leave, but officials will not accept kids if they cannot verify that all their paperwork is in order.

cnn cameras were rolling when another aftershock rattled port-au-prince last night. >> there was just an aftershock. >> cnn's karl penhaul and anderson cooper were take a quick break. people say it was not as strong as several others. some aftershocks have reached as high as 5.9 in magnitude. tonight there's another chance for you to get involved, the hope for haiti now global telethon. california is getting another beating from the weather. there's a state of emergency in some parts of the state. hundreds are waiting for evacuations to be lifted after threats of mud slide. some areas have gotten more than a foot of rain this week. in san diego, the longer the rain came down, the worse things got. >> this was a river. it was a river. it literally was a river.

>> it was draining very well and even in the heavy rain, and the pump -- something must have stopped, at least part of them did, because the rain stopped and the water started backing up. >> conditions are bad right now, but you may get a break from the rain soon. we'll start on the west coast with bob van dillen? >> it's been blast after blast of heavy downpour action across southern california, rolling into the lower part of the four corners. here's the last storm in the line. this one just off the coast actually drifts northward and fades apart. tuesday, another storm approaches the west coast. look at the rain. heavy at times just offshore from san francisco going all the way down the line into l.a. stretches to las vegas and clearly into central arizona of the we have blizzard warnings for southeastern sections of arizona above 5,000 feet. winter storm warnings all the way around at looking at heavy snow in the morning around the spine of the sierra.

let me take you live to l.a. it does come back. it's a beautiful shot of the city but rain today, you're dry for the weekend. rain on monday night and tuesday. east, florida getting slammed right now. have more in three minutes. opening statements are expected later this morning in the trial of a man who admits to killing a kansas abortion provider. scott roeder says that he was justified in killing dr. george tiller because he was trying to save lives. tiller was one of four doctors in the united states who performed late term abortions. do you have a toyota. there is a major recall. it has to do with the gas pedal sticking. jennifer westhoven is here? >> this is not good for toyota, because if you drive one, you've got to be nervous if you could have this potentially deadly problem. this recall, more than 2 million. for the same problem where the gas pedal can get jammed.

the car can wildly accelerate out of nowhere. it's been linked to deadly crashes. 4 million toyotas have already been recalled for this, but now toyota is saying it's also the avalon, the camry, the tundra and others. we have the full list on the website of the what is so unusual about this recall, they don't even really know what's going on. at first they thought it was the floor mat. now they're not sure if it's the floor mat because it's been happening without the floor mat. they are working on it. if you drive one of these, if you want more information, it's at cnn.com/robin. >> let me get this straight, they don't have a solution for it, so there's a recall, so if you're driving one of these, what are they going to do for you? s that's why this is so unusual. >> they're not going to give you a new car? what if that's your only car? thank you. problem. six minutes after the hour. weather wise, we have a problem,

not huge, but wet rain. obviously it's wet. >> also a brand new tornado warning too just now. this is right around cocoa beach, satellite beach, in between the two cities. you can see the quality line with individual thunderstorms breaking off and rotating around. whenever you see a squall line and break up and turn into thunderstorms themselves. could be a supercell right there. we have a bob ilt of a tornado dropping down moving to the east at 35 miles an hour. that expires in eight minutes. that goes all the way down the line from kissimmee towards bart o the tampa radar picture picking it up well, over the next couple of hours begins to lose a little energy as it approaches southern florida, most of the energy ought to be to the north. i don't think severe weather is going to be a huge threat this afternoon. maybe an occasional thunderstorm

from miami in towards orlando. back to the north it's all cold air, across the mountains of the alleghenys. they stretch into areas of western virginia, into the early afternoon, for the areas shaded in red, freezing rain, sleet snow, that's all in this area. out west, here's the way it looks, big storm moving in. behind it, dryer air, but it's only going to last until monday night. tuesday, more rain coming in. okay. so conan has his final show on nbc tonight. he signed the deal to leave "the tonight show." reportedly it's worth 45 million there are dollar. so he joked about it last night. >> nbc and i have finally reached a separation agreement. that is true. i knew it was official this morning when nbc dropped off all my cds and picked up its lava lamp. tomorrow is our last show here.

so i would like to apologize for the guests scheduled for next week, president barack obama, the pope, the queen of england and elvis presley was stopping by. apparently he's alive. >> o'brien's deal will let him start at another network in september. jay leno is expect today return to the tonight show on march 1st. some people are going on vacation in haiti while people are suffering and dying. you're going to hear about the cruise line taking tourists back to haiti. plus a state with a big independent streak is thinking about lowering the drinking age. where you might be able to get a beer at 18.

let's salute our troops. today's salute comes from the jones family. they want to salute ronald l. jones this is his first deployment with the florida national guard. his wife and kids love him very

much and miss him. if you have someone in the service go to cnn.com/robin. if you're going on vacation, would you feel right going to haiti to enjoy the caribbean knowing people are suffering and dying in port of for instance. royal caribbean has already resumed a stop in haiti. the company says it doesn't want to abandon haitians right now and it is also delivering supplies. some experts also urged people to consider the benefit of tourism, but what do you think about this? we're taking your e-mails and your facebook comments. gary e-mailed from hawaii. are the cruise ships kraes? the haitians are suffering through a devastate something tragedy. there is nothing to see there. the haitians should board the cruise ship and quench their thirst and hunger. why not plan a mission trip cruise where all the people who take it are interested in helping. >> how would you feel about taking a cruise that stops in

haiti? e-mail us. send us your thoughts on facebook. if you think that the whole twitter trend has really gotten out of hand, listen, you and your dog can tweet. that story is new for you in 40 minutes. >> what would my cat say? >> that's right. cats first. >> fire hydrant was cold this morning. lol. >> your donations to haiti in 2010 can help your tax bill in 2009. jennifer westhoven. >> this is the way that washington is hoping to encourage people to give. it means you can deduct your donations to haiti in this year's tax return, which is the 2009 tax return that you're putting together in the next few months. normally you wouldn't be able to do it until next year. congress passed this bill to let you deduct it in your 2009 taxes as long as you make that

donation by the end of february. the president is expected to sign it soon. the red cross has collected $127 million. if you have given or you're thinking about giving through that text message campaign, the 90999, you can use your phone bill as your receipt in your taxes. it will list the charity, the date and the amount of the donation. if you want to help the quake victims go to cnn.com/robin. go through the impact link, or go to cnn.com/impact. we've got a list of dozens of relief groups that are already on the ground in haiti trying to take your money and turn it into direct relief right away. mortgages back below 5%. a 30 year fixed rate mortgage now 4.99%. it's about a quarter point above its all time lows. if you're watching us, do i need my umbrella today?

here is bob. >> i don't think they put it down since last sunday around the west. it's been rough. it's going to be like that again today. specifically getting into phoenix, san francisco, l.a., san diego, all going to see problems. here's what we have on saber flight explorer. most of the action i've got zeroed in towards san francisco, scattered light showers. the rain goes all the way down to l.a. and san diego. you can see the snow across the sierra. here's the way it goes, phoenix a mess at sky harbor. anticipate more hour long delays today. more delays when you get west of there, cal, places like san diego, getting to l.a., san francisco, more delays for you. half hour delays for d.c., that would be rain and sleet, atlanta and miami, dense fog. orlando and tampa, looking at thunderstorms. there's apparently a new basketball league in the works. there's a hitch. you have to have white skin. there's a plan to help hundreds of thousands of people left homeless in haiti's

earthquake.

there is new intelligence to share with you this morning about a plot to hijack a plane. indian officials say flights for india are targeted so they are on high alert. they've stepped up security and are deploying air marshals. the u.s. defense secretary warned al qaeda linked groups are trying to incite a new war

between india and pakistan ichlt. haitians have a chance to stay in this country and get work permits. richard lui is here. on day one, we saw just how much of an impact that could make? >> hopefully it will help the folks in haiti. if they work here, then they get to send money back home to help their families and help them rebuild their country. yesterday, lots of scenes like this one. people lining up outside the door to apply for this program. this is just temporary. 18 months. we cannot expect the united states to back off its strict immigration laws in place right now. secretary of state hillary clinton saying haitians trying to come here by boat, they will be stopped. the fear is, robin, frightening scenes like this, overloaded boats capsizing. the coast guard says it stops about 1600 haitians on flimsy with boats headed for florida. >> that's very tough to watch. it's been going on for years.

does the u.s. have a new plan in place in case a lot of haitians try to migrate? >> i have an interesting option that's being considered. guantanamo bay is 200 miles from haiti. we think of that as the place where u.s. holds suspected terrorists. the army base is huge and about two miles away they are setting up tents, beds, toilets just in case. it's right now precautionary. there's no signs that the beds will be needed. >> interesting thought. >> it is. >> an atlanta man says that he is forming a new basketball league, but to play in it, you have to be white and born in the united states. what is he thinking? hi, rafer. >> that's a big question, what is he thinking. this guy name don moose lewis, cause calls his league the all american basketball league. you got to be caucasian and both parents born in the usa.

he told the augusta chronicle, they want to play fundamental basketball. he told fox atlanta, it's not racist, it's entertainment. for whom? if these guys are not good enough to play in the nba, who is going to watch them. he wants it to be a pro league. some in the blogosphere think it's a hoax. we have no reason to believe it's a hoax. >> the nba fined buy big baby davis for yelling foul language. davis was getting heckled in the palace of auburn hills, when he snapped. they know they can get under his skin, so don't do that. arizona quarterback kurt warner is praying god takes away his desire to play football. the 38-year-old is contemplating retirement understandable after watching this hit. he told espn he's torn.

he loves the game. he needs god to take that love away so he can comfortably walk away. >> are we talking about kurt warner? >> yes. it's hard for them to walk away. >> we can see what happened with brett favre. he retired and immediately came back. kurt is not doing as well as brett this year. >> not this year. >> an italian tv channel is saying i'm sorry for a stupid 3r56r7k where a female anger tries to grab david beckle in the man region. she's doing an interview when this woman moves in and while he says he was surprised, he thought it was harmless fun. there's her reaction afterwards. this passes for television in italy. >> i guy would never be able to do that to a female. he would be beat down. why would she think it would be any different for her. one woman has been waiting at the armt in haiti for days. officials are refusing to let

her get on a flight. can you see the bible reference on this rifle? that's a controversy in the military.

[ 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 ]

haitian authorities hope to get traffic moving in both directions at port-au-prince's south pier today. it's going to help get critical aid to 3 million quake survivors quicker. medical teams said they had to use over-the-counter meds and vodka for sterilization. we have the mug shot of missing per florida girl ronald cummings was arrested in a drug sting. authorities say an undercover detective bought nearly 4 grand worth of prescription drugs from them. croslin was baby sitting when she disappeared. house speaker nancy pelosi won't rubber stamp the health

care bill. now that the dems have lost the superer majority in the senate. pelosi is changing course to say scaling back the legislation would be a better option. good morning. 31 minutes past the hour as you sit down get a drink of coffee in you. i'm robin meade. the port in port-au-prince isn't the only place in the capital of haiti that is back open for business. richard lui is here. we're starting to see bits and pieces of some activity. >> we're looking for progress here. look at these pictures we're seeing right here, people lining up outside the bank. the bank opening yesterday for the first time since the earthquake, so again, a little bit of progress. people need their money. also makeshift markets, they have been set up, people buying and selling vegetables, bread and sugar. a little commerce going on. gas is going for as much as $26 a gallon.

robin, most folks earn about $10 each day. >> let's talk about the children here. there was there wasn't too many haitian children that didn't have parents before the earthquake. >> worse than it was before is what you're saying. a huge problem. in a country of just 9 million, haiti had 380,000 orphans. but now, the u.n. estimating that number could be a million, one in nine people in that country absolutely staggering. cnn, a u.s. nurse told anderson cooper just how tough it is right now. >> we have nothing for the kids. it's like the kids are forgotten almost? >> it's like the kids are forgotten. >> yeah. we're doing the best we can. i mean, it's frustrating. i'm overwhelmed. >> dominique saying she

sometimes walks away because she starts crying. she doesn't want to do it in front of the kids. >> if the kids see you upset, they get upset too. thank you, richard. 33 minutes past the hour. john edwards confession that he fathered a child with a former staffer may not be the end of the story. federal prosecutors are investigating whether he used any campaign money to cover up the affair. one of edwards' former advisers says he has mixed feelings about yesterday's admission. >> there are a lot of us who feel tremendous disappointment over what's happened, and there's certainly those, elizabeth, the family and others who have been hurt. i think john edwards is very serious in expressing his remorse. for some, that will never be enough. for me, i'm grateful he has done that, but there's still tremendous disappointment that we will always have. >> elizabeth edwards says the whole family is relieved that

the secret is out. lawyers fighting to overturn california's ban on same sex marriage will wrap up their case today. yesterday they called a hostile witness who defended his view that gay people are more likely to be pedophiles. the lawyers were trying to prove that plop significance 8 69s fueled by a bias against gays. attorneys for the other side said the witness had little to do with prop 8 campaign. severe weather is causing a lot of problems. state of emergency in parts of california. days of boundsing rain has left areas at risk for flooding and mud slides. the same storm is dumping snow in phoenix, arizona. in the southeast, a storm kicked up a huge funnel cloud over huntsville, alabama. the problem starts in florida where bob was watching done addic activity. >> i haven't seen any warning for the last half hour. we're going to see strong

thunderstorms slide down through the peninsula of florida. it's the same weather system that brought the severe weather across northern alabama, georgia and the cliens. you zoom in, i'm trying to see if we have tornado warnings, it looked like there was one at the beach. that's set to expire. a nice line stretching down through the middle of florida to south of st. petersburg. the individual thunderstorms along the line moving to the east at about 35 miles an hour. lots of lightning and rain. up the line a little farther, look at this area of low pressure, one at the surface off the coast. another one upper levels. it's going to fall into the colder air mass. cold air trapped in the mountains. winter storm warning it's falling as freezing rain, sleet and snow. one from charlottesville to north carolina. slick roads, sleet and freezing rain in areas shaded in blue.

the west coast still a mess. the last storm in a series is moving towards idaho. you can see clear skies trying to get through. one upper level low trying to get away from you. dry for the weekend. give it until monday night and tuesday, the rain comes back. look at the rain. wooerl zero into the areas. it's around san francisco. when it gets to the mountains, it all turns into snow. winter storm warnings and blizzard warnings for sections of arizona and utah. you can see a nice shower right over the radar moving to the east. the rain is going to be out there for thebe long beach, you guys are dry. not dry yesterday. let me show you an amazing i-report. this is seal beach. 5, of h 6 inches of rain. how about surfing off the back

of a pickup truck? that's what you can do when it's that deep. >> i don't know that i would have thought of that. >> i don't know that i would have done it. >> more in a bit. >> new details about a diverted u.s. airways plane. apparently it started with a misunderstanding about a religious ritual. plus people are going on vacation in haiti while millions are suffering. we're hearing from you about this.

♪ authorities diverted a flight bound for louisville yesterday. apparently it was because an orthodox jewish teenager was trying to pray. they say the teen caught other

passengers' attention because he was carrying tefillin. here is the boy's grandmother. >> they had a flight. my grandson didn't have a chance to pray. they are legitimacy kids. they say their morning prayers and they use this tefillin. >> people don't know about them so much. i guess i understand a little bit. >> the airline says the plane made an emergency landing in philly just as a security precaution. if you are going on vacation, would you feel right going to haiti to enjoy the caribbean knowing that people are suffering and dying in port-au-prince. royal caribbean has already resumed a stop in haiti. it is about 100 miles from the quake site. the company says it doesn't want to abandon haitians right now. it's also delivering supplies. experts urge people to consider the benefits of tourism for that country. what do you think? we're taking your e-mails and

facebook comments. merle says passengers spend a day at a beach very far from port-au-prince, but the government gains income and a small number of haitian employees work there and earn a very welcome income. sara writes i would not enjoy frol licking on the beach while others suffer. if the cruise was bringing food and water, i would support that. >> go to cnn.com/robin. hit the facebook button for the facebook. or 401(k) probably took a hit yesterday as the stocks plunged as president obama got tough on the banks. jennifer westhoven is here with more on that. he really did get tough? >> the stocks went down for it, but it's kind of what's good for the banks, how do you feel about that in terms of the whole economy. big bank stocks fell after the president said he has proposals

that would limit their size and how much of their capital, remember, their capital is your money, the money you put in the bank that they can risk, so if one bank fails, it doesn't risk the entire financial system and require a bailout as happened with leeman brothers and aig. after the slide, the dow will start this morning almost 10,400. it was down 213 last night. the past two days, more than 300 points down. it's not just about the banks. there's also concern if they're not lending in china, china says they're not going to be lending for a bit, that could hit the world economy. the big ticket economy has been discounts. bloomingdale's is realizing that. it's four first retail outlets stores will open soon. more will come next year. a lot of stores that only indicator to the more well healed shoppers are having a

hard time. burger king is has opened up a whopper bar. i heard that and i thought, you can put on your own tomato. that's like roy rogers. >> we mean alcohol. >> it's going to be more hip than the regular burger kings. they are only going to open a few. not all burger kings are going to change this way. the first one is scheduled to open in miami, according to "usa today" and they can open other ones, if it flies in new york, l.a. and vegas. >> drunk people eat a lot of fast food. >> my producer put on the website. and it was like sexy club music. >> really? on their website advertising this? >> yes. he also threw in in japan, you can get a whiskey highball with your whopper and fries. >> that's fascinating. you wonder if that model is

going to work and if more fast food joints will go that way. >> would you want to bring your kids? they have a kids rule at burger king. >> it's what you get when you cross social networking and your dog. a look at what's being called puppy tweets. some smokers now have a new incentive to quit. what scientists found when certain smokers kicked the habit.

people who quit smoking after developing early lung cancer may drastically improve their survival rate. a new study finds that those who kept smoking had up to a 33% chance of surviving five years, but those who quit had up to a 70% chance of being alive five years later. studies in the british medical journal. a college or pro football player. >> college. >> returned to practice for the first time since getting treatment for cancer, and rafer weigel has some inspiring video. >> it's such an inspiring story, a guy you have to root for.

boston college linebacker mark herzlich went from being a first round draft pick to a cancer survivor in eight months. he is our true champion. he was back at practice for the first time since undergoing chemotherapy and surgery. he missed all of last season battling a rare form of bone cancer, but he is now cancer free. doctors put a rod in his leg to strgten the area weakened by the disease. he says it felt great to be out there. a very inspiring guy. >> he went as a first round draft pick? >> he was projected to be a first round nfl draft pick. cancer derailed his season. he was ready to make millions this year. had to sit out and now he's back. >> convicted dog fighter michael vick returned to the scene of his crime. part of the bet dock u series. vic visits the site of his dog fighting ring where he helped drawn or hang dogs. he spoke very candidly wondering

how he got involved in dog fighting at all. he said it was all his fault. a minor league st. paul saints are removing the saints from their name. her called the paul. the paul. >> for how long? >> until sunday. >> get ready to see some more crashes in nascar. possibly officials are telling drivers have at it, boys. be more aggressive. show us more emotion. we are relaxing rules to let you drive faster. drivers and fans complained there were too many restrictions and the restrictions were put in place to cut down on crashes. some felt the sport had become too watered down. >> are the drivers behind this? >> they are behind this 100%. >> even though they could crash more? >> yes, especially in daytona where the season opens next month. they're behind this. >> fascinating. your dog could send you twitter updates.

a new product called puppy tweets has a sensor that attaches to your dog's collar. it sends prerecorded tweets triggered by your dog's activity, if he's making a ruckus and barking, the tweet with would say yahoo. some days you got to get your bark on. this would not be out until fall. >> jennifer, i can hear you. can you hear her laughing? what's that, bob? >> i've got your new rug right here. lmao. >> if you prerecorded the tweets, that's what it would say. >> morning, bob. bob swears his dog could give him the middle finger? >> yes. we have fog around the deep southeast, storms too. low clouds around miami. haven't seen a delay, but you're going to get showers this afternoon. more details in just a bit. >> sorry, did we cut your time? >> a little bit. >> these days, we could use our

own money coach like clark howard. listen to todd's story. >> my hi, my name is todd, and need a money coach. my personal financial situation is pretty good. i have a good job, and i have no debt. i've been looking for ways of saving money and investing my money and one of the ways that has been presented to me is to buy whole life insurance. some people think it's a very smart way to lock in a long-term rate. my question for the money coach is whether or not home life insurance is a good home life vehicle with my 401(k). >> no debt, lots of savings and earning a good income and now you want to save more. best way in 2010, this is a year that even with your high income you're eligible for a roth account. that would take five grand off

the table into what's ultimately a tax-free account saving for retirement. after the roth, the thing that i would love for you to look at is doing index funds. favorite one to start with the total stock market index where you own little tiny slices of thousands of companies in american capitalism. why do i like it? there's almost no tax problem even for a high income earner in you being in one of these. other alternative, tax-managed portfol portfolios. this is a special program where your money is invested in a way that you avoid tax until you sell your holdings. favorite company for that? vanguard. >> clark can be your morning coach, too, he can teach you how to save more, spend less and catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays on hln.

good morning. is that the alarm clock i hear? surely you don't want to hit the snooze button, do you? i'm robin meade. good morning, sunshine and here's what's going on. ♪ ♪ >> busloads of haitianor fans squeezed in together and are trying to get to the united states, but their stories do not all end the same. you are going to see emotional reunions and the heartbreaking stories of the children who cannot leave the island yet. plus smaller cities can soon get their own pro basketball teams, but it's for whites only? huh? >>. a classic is making a comeback. check out a brand new version of the old $69 camaro.

one thing that's different is the price tag. first, though, a big improvement may be seen today in haiti if two-way traffic starts to move in the south pier at port-au-prince. that would be critical to getting live-saving aid to 3 million survivors. doctors without borders say delayed relief supplies have led to five deaths. they've resorted to using vodka to sterilize equipment when they don't have stuff like rubbing alcohol. >> my baby! hugs and kisses as some orphans from haiti start a new life. last night, 16or fans landed in florida and joined their new american families. a chartered flight brought the orphans to fort lauderdale. some have not seen the children since before the quake. >> it was heartbreaking. she's my daughter, you know? this living your daughter. >> pretty amazing. >> i am so relieved.

ever since the earthquake happened we've all just been so worried and just to have him home. everybody sing! ♪ hallelujah ♪ >> many orphans are being held back. you're looking at orphans on a bus trip who believe they were getting visas to the united states and then had to turn around. a doctor spoke with soledad o'brien from cnn. >> all of the kids are malnourished and all of them were dehydrated. and they're going to spread the rest of the illness so all of them will get worse off than they are now. >> we don't know yet orphans returned back exactly, but the state department is allowing with children with adoptions in process to get temporary visas so they can leave, but officials cannot, if they can't verify all of the paperwork is in order and

paperwork is the problem. we have just now learned that there has been another aftershock in haiti. we have not learned just yet how strong the magnitude was. it was only two days ago that we had a 5.9 magnitude aftershock. the strength of that aftershock is frightening enough and then you have just repeated aftershocks over and over. so new word this morning that we've just had another one in haiti. tonight there's another chance for you to get involved. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on our network, the "hope for haiti now" telethon. sanjay gupta will be part of the star-studded event. california is getting another beating from weather. there is a state of emergency in some parts of the state. hundreds are waiting for the evacuation orders to be lifted after threats of mud slides. some areas have gotten more than a foot of rain this week. in san diego, the longer the rain came down the worse things

got. this was a river. it was a river. it literally was a river. >> it was draining very well and even in the heavy rain the pumps -- something must have stopped, at least part of them did because the rain stopped and the water started backing up. conditions are bad right now, but you might get a break from the rain soon. so meteorologist bob van dillen is keeping an eye on things for that. good morning. >> finally getting a breather. you had light rain and some light snow and you saw half as much of rain as you saw yesterday in lower california and back in arizona, but if you look behind it. no circulation evidence and that's good news. a little dry out and this is across saths and just up to the north and by monday night into tuesday, another storm works into northern california most of the rain is around l.a., into san francisco, blizzard warnings for southeast and arizona. more details coming up there in

just a couple of minutes. >> thank you. a man accused of firing shots into the air apparently wanted to meet with the senate aid. another staff member says the aid refused to meet with the man privately and the staff called security. minutes later he allegedly started shooting on the capital steps. >> we had just done a capital tour and walked over to the visitors center and as we walked over we heard five distinctive pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. i looked over and said what the heck is going on. >> state troopers tackled the guy and no one was hurt. do you drive a toyota? there is a recall of millions ofst cars and it has to do with the brake sticking. there is no cure for what ails the car yet. >> this is part two of a huge recall already under way at toyota. this time more than 2 million cars being recalled for the same problem you heard in the news,

the gas pedal can get jammed. that means the car can wildly accelerate and some crashes and deaths have been linked to this. 4 million toyotas have already been recalled, but now they're recalling the avalon, the camry and the tundra and many others. check our website for the details on this, but you can see a lot of different models there, but what is so unusual about this is this isn't a simple case where they say come on in and we'll replace the part. they haven't figured out what was going on. it happened a few times even when people had removed the floor mats. pretty scary stuff, but get in touch with your dealer and you want to make sure that you're on the list so that when they have some kind of a solution you get it right away and a lot more information, cnn.com/robin and it's under looking out for you. ? i'm not sure what are you supposed to do when you're driving one of the recalls and it's your only car? >> you get in touch with them so

when they have one you you find out immediately. >> i know it's not for you to give the answer for the company. i'm not putting you on the spot. i'm just saying, wow. conan o'brien has his final show tonight on nbc. he signed a deal to do the tonight show. conan joked about it as his last appearance on the show last night. >> as you all know by now. this is weird. tomorrow is our last show here. yeah. so i would like to apologize to the guests who were scheduled for next week. president barack obama, the pope, the queen of england and our good friend elvis presley was stopping by. i've been with nbc for a really long time, a really long time. remember the cosby show? i was rudy. >> o'brien's deal would let him star on another network in september. jay leno is expected to return to "the tonight show" march 1st. let's be honest here, if

you're given $32 million to leave your job you would never see me again. >> you wouldn't even smell me again. no question about it. >> i would be like, see you. as much as i love everybody and love getting up at 2:30. yeah, you love beaches even better. >> absolutely. i love the clothing optional package of hosting at home, know what i mean? >> if you're doing that traveling out there, l.a. again and rain moving in, it's heavier out to the west and watch for the steady downpours and air traffic delays and we'll get them at lax and san diego this morning. san diego, a pocket of rain and sliding to the east and mud slides were a problem, and we'll see them through the weekend and still the flash flood watches and warnings and the warnings are the areas in green and that includes arizona. you've also seen plenty of reason and a lot of snow, too. as the storm moves over to the east it's going to start condensing out as heavy snow

around montana, north dakota and south dakota and there's a winter storm watch for northern sections of minnesota. one to three feet of snow for the entire weekend across central montana. here's the cold front and you can see down across florida, to see if we have tornado warnings. good news here and you have big lines of thunder showers stretching all of the way. we'll have more details in just a half hour. ringing the wedding bells? don't expect fireworks to last forever. what a buzz kill! a best-selling author says we as americans may expect too much from marriage. i beg your pardon!

in our "salute to the troops," today's salute comes from the jones family. they want to salute specialist ronald l. jones. this is his first deployment

with the air national guard. his wife and kids love him and miss him very much. maybe you have someone in the service that you want to salute. we want to help you. cnn.com/robin. if you're going on vacation would you feel right going to haiti to enjoy the caribbean knowing that people are suffering and dying in port-au-prince? royal caribbean has already resumed a stop in haiti about 100 miles from the quake site. the company says it doesn't want to abandon haitians right now and it's also delivering supplies. some experts also urge people to consider the benefits of tourism, but what do you think? well, go to our facebook page, cnn.com/robin. we'll take you there and you can also e-mail us by hitting the contact us button. what? didn't we get our e-mails and facebook comments this time around? we're going to. okay. hold your horses, i guess. in other words, oops! all right. your donations in haiti for 2010

could help in 2009. that's a good incentive for people to give now. >> yeah. i think they just want to make you feel like you can give something back right away to encourage you to give money. so you can deduct your donations to haiti relief in this year's tax return which is the one due this april. normally, you could only include anything that you donated up to december 31st, but in washington they passed a bill to let you deduct it as long as you made that donation by the end of the february. the red cross has donated more than $127 million in donations. maybe you tried out the whole new kind of giving, the text message campaign where you send to 90999 where it's $10. and how am i going to get a reebt? save the bill, it will have the date you sent it. if you want to help quake

victims cnn.com/robin and click through the impact link and that will take you to the big list of dozens of charts and you can also go straight there, cnn.com/impact and these are all charities and relief organizations that are already on the ground in haiti. so they can take that money and turn it right away into relief. mortgages back below 5%. that's good news if you're buying or selling a home of a 30-year picked rate mortgage. the yield is averaging 4.99%. so if you've got a good credit score and a big down payment you can do better than that and it's a quarter-point cut below the all-time lows. >> looking good. some of you may recognize elizabeth gilbert who wrote "eat, pray, love" and it chronicled her divorce. and she has a new book out called "making peace with marriage." about her managing expectations in a relationship. this is "live better now."

>> one of the things in "committed" that you talk about is your expectation for marriage. >> right. >> previous to marriage. >> right. you traveled around the world and you talked to people of different cultures and you were surprised to find, what? >> that americans put the highest level of upon expectation on their relationships of anybody on earth. >> i love you. you complete me. >> it's a lot to ask of somebody that they complete you as in the jerry mcgwire fantasy. >> what do other cultures expect. >> they look for virtues. is this a decent, honest, reliable, respectable person. we look for tingles down our spine. >> fireworks. >> i'm a big fan of firework, but you have to look ahead to whether this is someone that you can build a decades long relationship with.

>> people may look at that and say this a big buzz kill. are you telling me to settle? >> no, i am not telling you to settle. that again and again, those who waited until they were older until they were married had their careers had financial auto me and didn't run into the fantasy that someone was going to bring someone to them they made their life ask then found a partner to go on their journey with. you know, there's apparently a new basketball league in the works. there are a few hitches, though. among those, you have to be white?

newly lkted senator from massachusetts is taking washington d.c. by storm. a huge crowd followed scott brown during a day of photo-opes

on capitol hill. he met with republican senator john mccain first. even the democrats were very cordial. this picture was taken the day i was sworn into the united states senate and ted kennedy wrote me. he said as humphrey bogart would have said, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. you have to work across the aisle here to make things happen. >> senate majority leader harry reid said they found one thing in common. they both have kids who are college athletes. the u.s. has started a new program to give haitians already living here a chance to stay in the country and get work permits. correspondent richard lui is here with more on that. >> on day one we found how this could help out. >> a lot of people are very interested in this program. >> if you make money you send money back to haiti and yesterday, lots of scenes like this one in miami. people lining up out the door to apply for this program.

we shouldn't expect that the united states will back offst immigration laws as they stand right now. haitians coming here by boat will be stopped. the fear is frightening scenes like this, robin. every year the u.s. coast guard stops haitians on flimsy boats headed for florida. >> does the u.s. have a new plan in place so in case a lot of haitians try to get here that way? >> this is interesting. guantanamo bay, cuba, is being considered 200 miles away. we all think of knit mow -- they are setting up tents, beds and toilets glut case. right now it's only precautionary. there are no signs that those beds will be needed. >> richard, thank you. really, thank you. an atlanta man says he's forming a new basketball league, but to play, you're going to have to be white and born in the united states.

what? hi, rafer. >> good morning, robin. this story is just bizarre for so many reasons. the man starting it, don "moose" lewis calls the league the all-american basketball alliance. the boxing promoter says caucasian and american-born only, but he's not a racist. he told the "august chronicle." he wants a fundamental basketball, instead of the street ball played by people of color. it's niche entertainment. who will watch this league? some bloggers think it's a hoax. he's on the record saying it's real. >> arizona quarterback kurt warner is praying god takes away his desire to play football. he is contemplating retirement. he told espn he's torn, he loves the game so he needs god to take that away so he can comfortably walk away. it's hard for these guys to walk away. >> we see people come back, a la brett favre although he had a

better year than kurt did. >> we have a tv channel apologizing for a crank? i guess we do not. this is an italian tv anchor grabbing david beckham.

opening statements are expected this morning in the trial of a man who admits to killing a kansas abortion provider. dr. george tiller was one of four doctors in the united states who did late-term abortions. the suspect, scott roeder, says the murder was justified because he was trying to save unborn children. house speaker nancy pelosi says democrats won't rubber-stamp the senate version of the health care bill. that came as an option to get a reform passed now that the demes have lost a super majority in the senate. policy is changing course to say scaling back the legislation would be a better option. today a judge will hear arguments to determine if roman polanski could be sentenced for his decades-old sex case even though he's not in the united states. the director pleaded guilty to

having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. he's under house arrest in switzerland, but may be forced to appear in a california court. those were some of our headlines and hello, good morning. 30 minutes past the hour. i see your bed head. i'm robin meade, and here's what's going on. there was just an aftershock. cnn cameras were rolling when another aftershock rattled port-au-prince last night. carl penhaul and anderson cooper were taking a quick break from reporting when it happened. people say it wasn't as strong as several others since last tuesday's major earthquake and some aftershocks have reached as high as 5.9 magnitude. well, the port is not the only place in haiti's capital. we're talking about the port, the water port, that is back open for business. correspondent richard lui is here. richard, we're starting to see

bits and pieces of activity in the capital city there. >> a bit of progress here, robin. look that the picture that we have for you here, shortly. people lining up outside a bank. that might be indication of some progress. they're gripping the bars and waiting to get into the bank. it opened yesterday for the first time since the earthquake and people, they just simply need their money. also, they'll use that money for makeshift markets that have been set up. people buying and selling vegetables, bread and sugar. we're seeing elements of that, too. some things are now very expensive. gas is going for as much as $26 a gallon in a country where most folks make less than $10 a day. >> for many of the kids though, the haitian children, there were so many orphans to begin with and now because so many men and women, parents have died, there are many more, i would imagine. >> this was already a huge problem that you're talking about before the quake. the country has about 9 million people. haiti had 380,000 orphans before

the quake, but now the u.n. estimates that number could now be one in nine people in the country that are orphans. on our sister network cnn, a u.s. nurse taking care of orphans told and soon cooper just how tough the situation is. >> we have nothing for the kids. it's like the kids are forgotten almost. >> like the kids are forgotten. >> so we're just doing the best we can. i mean, it's frustrating. i'm overwhelmed. >> dominique overwhelmed saying she sometimes walks away, robin, because she starts to cry and she doesn't want to do it in front of the kids and she wants to stay strong. >> the kid look to the adults for hope and if they're upset then the kids get upset. john edwards' wife says she is glad the truth is out about her husband's affair with a former staffer. that affair happened while she, elizabeth, was battling cancer. yesterday john edwards confessed he had a daughter by his former mist rerielle hunter.

mike galanos talked to a reporter who was close to the story. ? you spoke to elizabeth edwards and her reaction after these revelations? >> relief. she pushed for her husband to do this. she is now separated from her husband and she also said that john edwards is finally able to return to one of his passion which is is fighting poverty. in terms of her health, her health has stabilized a little bit. it's not better or worse, but she's feeling good. get the latest on any developments of that story with "prime news" with mike galanos and starts right here on hln been. there is new intelligence about a plot to hijack a plane. an official in india says flights from india are targeted so they're on high alert. they stepped up security and deploying air marshalls. just days ago the u.s. defense secretary warned that al qaeda-linked groups are trying toen cite a new war between india and pakistan. your dog can send you twitter updates. a new product called puppy

tweets has a sensor that attaches to your dog's collar. it connects to a computer and sends pre-recorded tweets depending on whatever it is your dog's doing. if the dog is making a ruckus, it says yahoo! , some days you just have to get your bark on. this will not be out until fall. but i think about some of the activities that my dog -- i don't know what tweets would correspond, know what i mean? >> i wish mine was that benign. mine would be, i've got your new carpet right here. or bring on your done us. he raids everything. it's been storm after storm, blast after blast across the sierras into arizona. the lower four corners getting hammered right now. look behind that. here's your circulation. behind this, there's one by seattle and that falls apart and then you begin to dry out for the weekend, but then monday

night and tuesday, another storm brings more rain and more snow through tuesday into wednesday. let me show you how much snow we're calling for. you see the dark shade of purple around western colorado, into utah, strefrping into wyoming. blizzard warnings for southwestern colorado and also for southeastern arizona as the winds will be out there over 35 miles per hour and the visibility, of course, will be down. let me show you what we have for those winter storm warnings. the purple shaded areas, the blizzard warnings once again. the red shaded areas all of the winter storm warnings and the blue green. not as much snow, but look at the rain now. it's right out of l.a. and it's directly overhead stretching eastward and you're looking at rain near san diego. you will see more of this coming back through. the showers will be heavy at times and we'll have the flood watches and warnings and they're

the areas shaded bright green for the winter storm warnings. this is near the long beach area. seal beach just to the each of long beach. what are you going to do? you'll attach the surf board to the back of the pickup truck. please, if you're going to do that kind of thing wear a helmet and elbow pads. how do you think of that. >> more on the back side. the us air weis jet that landed in the hudson river is up for auction. it is at a salvage yard and will come as is. it is being auctioned by the airline. all his rep is saying is that he is aware of the auction. we now know what a flight to kentucky made an emergency landing about in philadelphia yesterday. what the plane's crew believed was a security threat turns out to be a big misunderstanding.

>> all righty. if your routine in the morning is to look at the morning paper. i've got it for you. a majority of americans want to go back to the drawing board on health care reform. a "usa today" gallup poll show 5s 5% what the current bill scrapped. 39% say keep it. a federal judge has ordered new york city to make up for years of using a discriminatory exam to screen candidates for firefighter jobs. "the new york times" reports the city now has to hire 300 african-american and hispanic candidates and give them retroactive pay. did you know chicago is the only major u.s. city that does not disinfect its sewage?

the chicago tribune reports that the city's waste water agency says that disinfecting the sewage could be bad for the environment. it says the process could boost emissions. that is a look at the newspapers. authorities diverted a flight bound for louisville yesterday and apparently we now know it was because an orthodox jewish teenager was trying to pray. the teen caught other passengers' attention because he was carrying what's called a tefilin, a set of boxes that hold biblical passages. here is the boy's grandmother. >> they had a flight. my grandson didn't have a chance to pray. they're religious kids and they say a morning prayer. >> people don't know about them so much, so i guess i understand a little bit. >> the airline says the plane made an emergency landing in philly just as a security precaution. you know, when you hear the description of a tafilin, you

think it might be some huge box strapped together with leather, but it's not. it's tiny. >> it's got little biblical passages. your 401(k) probably took a hit yesterday. the stock plunged because the president was coming down hard on the banks, yeah, jen? >> it's probable they and for the world economy. that was a big difference and it hit the bank stocks and they fell partly after these proposals that would limit the size of banks and how much of their money which, of course, is your money that they can put out there on the line, that they can risk. that way if one bank fails you don't risk the entire financial system and need a mega billion bailout as what happened to us, lehman brothers and aig and that's his idea. there are thoughts that they can't make enough in profits. after the slide it starts from about 10,400 and came down to 213 points last night and in the past two days it dropped 300

points and there are also fears about what happened in the job market and the slowdown in lending in china. two fun stories. burger king first. they want to open some whopper bars. like the sneeze bar. >> no, they mean alcohol snfrment. >> no, this is a straight restaurant with alcohol. the first burger king that serves beer going to open in miami beach next month. if it does well more being follow like new york, l.a. and vegas. i found out that in japan you can get booze at your burger king. >> the hard liquor. >> you get whiskey for the words yes and no is different in many languages and whiskey is the same in japanese. >> go figure. a lot of drunk people like fast food. right? what do you need when you've had too much? right.

sorry. the blast from the past a st. louis company is making a brand new version of the old '69 camaro. the staff has built three of them. there are changes from the classic version, though. the new ones have 800 horse power and they sell for $150,000. back in '69, the originals went for about three grand. let's see, would you rather have a mortgage or a car. thoort kind of what it is. multiple deployments to iraq or afghanistan can take a toll on u.s. troops, but when they receive a package from mary convoy, their day gets brighter. she's today's breakthrough woman. >> it came from her son adam, a marine from iraq. >> he asked if i could send clean sheets. they would be nice. >> he asked for 40, enough for his entire unit. >> he laughed at my response and

he said get operation bedding going, mom. >> five days later, adam was killed. in lieu of flowers we asked for donations to fulfill his last request and just to send that shipment. almost four years and over 10 thousand boxes later, operation bedding is still marching on. convoy quit her job to run the non-profit relying on donations and fund raisers to send troops everything from sheets s ts to to sleep on. >> that's good stuff, man. really helpful stuff. baby wipes when we didn't have running water. we really appreciate it it. >> thank you! >> my reward is knowing that somebody else's son got a nice pillow to lay on and maybe he wasn't having such a requested day or lost a buddy that day. i feel adam smiling down every time we do it. as if racing weren't dangerous enough, how nascar could mayes make it easier for crashes on the track. some people are going on

vacation to haiti while millions suffer. we'll hear the pros and the cons of the thinking behind this.

if you are going on vacation will you feel right going to haiti to enjoy the caribbean knowing that people are suffering in port-au-prince? royal caribbean has already resumed a stop in haiti about 100 miles from the capital city. the company says it doesn't want to abandon haitians right now and it's also delivering supplies. some experts also urge people to consider the benefits of tourism. what do you think about it? what if you were going to be taking that cruise, how would you feel? drop off the pallets and move on, show a little respect. kyle e-mailed us from san anton dwro saying it is a great move for royal caribbean to drop off supply, but how great would it be if multiple cruise lines would dock if hate and i housest

people? tell us what you think. e-mail us by going to cnn.com/robin. hit the contact us or facebook icons there. remind me. didn't something like that happen after hurricane katrina? wasn't there a cruise ship to used to house people? >> i believe so. >> think there was. >> okay. thank you. all right. a college football player returned to practice for the first time since getting cancer treatment and rafer weigel, he looks really good. >> it's amazing, robin. this guy was expected to be an nfl first-round pick. mike herzlick from boston college. our true champion eight months later after sitting out all of that season, he is now cancer-free and back on the practice field for the first time on thursday, resuming his college career. doctors put a rod in his leg to strengthen the area that was weakened by the disease, but he says it felt great to be out there and he looked great out there. a guy to root for. you could be seeing more crashes

in nascar. officials are telling drivers, guys have at it and give me a little more emotion and by the way, we're relaxing the rules to let you drive even faster upon. complaining that it was too watered down. >> an italian tv channel has been apologizing for a female anchor grabbing david beckham in the man region. they said it was just a prank and doing an interview when the woman moves in and says, hey, lady! pretty classless stuff. he was surprised and he thought it was harmless fun and there's the reaction. >> it's -- if a male reporter did that to a female athlete he would have been on the ground, handcuffed and out of there. why would it be different for her? it's stupid.

double standards in italian tv. a minnesota native prince wrote a fight song. the name of the purple and gold for the championship game against the saints. i say that with all due respect to the vikings. i don't know, what do you think, rob snin it doesn't -- he's singing it? it doesn't sound like he's singing it. >> i can't make it out. so fuzzy in my earpiece. if he were singing it on. >> why not just purple rain -- >> is that what he means? do the vikings colors have anything to do with purple rain? no. a with is thinking of lowering the drinking age and where you might be able to get a beer at the age of 18.

there might be a place to get your taxes done for free.

all righty. good morning to you. get away day friday for a lot of you. we'll talk about travel. most of all, it's friday and i hope that's good for you. i'm robin meade, here's what's going on this morning. >> we don't have an obligation to leave if we feel we're comfortable and safe. some of the folks who are joining us right now from out west decided that you are going to stick it out worth a week's worth of rain and flooding. we're waking up to nasty weather this morning, but the end could soon be in sight. more than a dozen haitian orphans finally made it into the arms of their new parents. their emotional reunions plus

new this hour, a big-name celebrity has a plan to help the quake victims. we first told you yesterday about a flight diverted to philly, turns out it was a misunderstanding about a religious ritual. first, though, a state of emergency right now in some parts of california. a lot of our viewers are waking up on the west coast right now. this is because of pounding rain and it has gotten this week just a lot of this rain. hundreds of people are waiting for evacuation orders to be lifted after the threats of mudslides and flooding. some areas have gotten more than a foot of rain in a few days. in san diego, the longer the rain came down, the worst things got, obviously. what's rain on the beach is snow in the mountains. parts were going to get 10 to 20 incheses of snow yesterday. shut down i-5 yesterday for several hours. they had to escort many drivers out. big headaches for some and fine for people with a four-wheel

drive. >> i wonder if there is any snow up there so i decided to come up. >> everyone in the world is trying to get away and you're trying to get here. >> it's nice, there's no people here now. if you're waking up on the west coast, let's talk about this. one more weather beating today and then it's done for a while, yes, bob? >> i hate to put it like that. but one more blast today and shot right in the mouth, no doubt about it. look at the rain coming around san francisco and down to los angeles and notice out across the pacific, no looming low pressure region anywhere in the vucontinuity and one just off the coast of washington state and that's just to the north. dry out over the next two, three days but by monday night into tuesday more rain slides into northern california and down the coast. here's the way it goes with the rain. los angeles covered up with showers off and on and winter storm warnings all the areas shaded in red and notice the blizzard warnings because of the high winds and poor visibility. southeastern corner of arizona

and parts of utah, blizzard warning. how much snow, how much rain? we'll talk about that, robin, in just a couple minutes. >> thank you. life-saving aid could get to haiti's survivors if two-way traffic starts moving today at the port-au-prince south pier. the pier reopened yesterday. doctors without borders say relief supplies have led to five deaths. medical teams have resorted to using vodka to sterilize equipment when they don't have stuff like rubbing alcohol. hugs and kisseses as some of the orphans from haiti start a new life. last night 16 orphans landed in florida and joined their new american familieses and a chartered flight brought the orphans to ft. lauderdale. some have not seen their children since before the quake. >> it was heartbreaking. she's my daughter. you know, just leaving your daughter.

>> pretty amazing, right? pretty amazing. >> i am so relieved. ever since the earthquake happened we have all just been so worried and just to have him home. >> everybody sing! but many orphans are being held back. you're looking at dozens of kids jammed on to a sweltering bus. they believed they were getting visas to the united states and then had to turn around. >> they want to go to america. they have been asking me every two minutes when dee do we leave when do we leave and they are disappointed we're turning back. >> we don't know why the orphans were turned back. the state department is allowing kids with adoptions already in the process to get temporary visas to leave but they will not accept kids if they cannot verify all the paperwork is in order. do you have a toy etta? there is a major recall and it all has to do with the gas pedal

sticking. yikes. jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. >> this is really like a part two of the massive toyota recall we were talking about. one of the biggest car recall in u.s. history and now another 2 million t million toyotas being recalled. you can get a run away car on your hands and these have been linked to crashes where people have died. very serious. this time some of the models are the avalon, the camry and the tundra but for a full list go to our website. what is so usunusual about thiss they don't have a fix. previously they thought it was the floor mats getting stuck. but they have had incidents where the floor mats were in the trunk. it may be a design problem. if you drive one, you want to read more and find out some tips

for slowing down the car in case it happens and how to get in touch with your dealer. it's all under looking out for you. >> all right, thank you. newborns in the united states are arriving smaller and it's baffling to researchers. harvard university studied nearly 37 million births. now, it found that the average newborn in 2005 was just under 7 1/2 pounds. that's almost two ounces than in 1990 and researchers are surprised because the u.s. oobesity rates are soaring and heavier mothers tend to have bigger babies. that will wake you up. check out this funnel cloud looming over a mountaintop in huntsville, alabama yesterday. the mayor says a tornado caused significant damage near downtown. you can see debris in the yards and streets. some fences were flattened and cars crushed by falling trees. at one point, as many as 10,000 people lost power and no reports of serious injuries.

west coast, we're thinking about you right now before you step out the door. boy, you go out early, don't you? here's bob, good morning. >> the los angeles radar area, you've seen three to five inches of rain just over the last couple days and long beach up to l.a. and stretching down to san diego. the blue is the darker shade right there, the heavier rain and coming right in through san fernando and drifting towards the east and pockets of showers all day long. by overnight tonight into tomorrow, you'll begin to dry out and that will last for los angeles until early tuesday morning before that rain heads back on in. little bit down to the south, light showers off shore and all rolling over to the east. th result today heaviest stuff has ashore already. watch for half the rain you saw yesterday today. as for the flood watches and warnings, the flash flood warnings area shaded right around phoenix and the bright shaded green and plenty of green

and more today and you get over towards the west a little bit farther and that's an advisory for the entire basin and more rain today and it will pile up in the next 48 hours. that's where you see the green shade socoming in and everythin moving over towards the east. where is it all headed? it's all headed to the northern plain states and winter storm warnings for areas around montana and north and south dakota and all the way through to monday morning and that's what you will see pile up and heavy snow working to the midwest and the northern plains. cold front showers and thunderstorms out ahead of this mainly getting in towards palm bay and couple tornado warnings earlier this morning and that activity has stopped. more on that, robin, coming up in a half hour. 850 people were interviewed for a new tell-all book about oprah winfrey. oprah wasn't one of them. celebrity biographer katie kelly

said she spent three years researching the book and winfrey's production company had no comment on the unauthorized biography. that 544-page book? yikes. comes out in april. that's a big book. haiti hardly seems like a vacation spot right now, but one cruise line says it has a good reason for taking tourists to the earthquake hit island. plus, smaller cities could soon get their own pro basketball team, but this league is for whites only?

did the music stop in your ear, too? hey, you know what, it's friday, roll with it, baby. today's salute comes from jones family here. they want to salute specialist ronald l. jones. his first deployment with the florida national guard and his mom, wife and kids say they love him and they miss him so, so

much. if you share similar sentiment about the person you love in the military, why don't you salute them? cnn.com/robin. have you heard the worst prostidude. a brothel in nevada now employs the first legal male prostidude. some female prostitutes are not happy. why not? that story is new for you in the next half hour. there's new intelligence to share with you this morning about a plot to hijack a plane. an indian official says that flights from india are targeted so that they're on higher alert now. they've stepped up security, they are deploying air marshalses. just days ago the u.s. defense secretary warned that al qaeda linked groups are trying to insight a new war between india and pakistan. your donations in haiti in

2010, this year, can help your tax bill from last year. here's our money expert jennifer westhoven. >> hi, robin, thanks. you can. this is the way washington is basically saying, hey, we want to give you some kind of encouragement to donate. you can get a return and not wait for next year for it. so in this year's tax return you can add haiti and it's been passed by both houses and the president is expected to sign it very soon. the red cross has collected more than $127 million in donations. maybe you tried out this whole new way of giving that really we saw the biggest this time that was by text where you tex that word haiti to 90999 and it went to the red cross, you don't have a receipt if you do that. all you have to do is keep the bill that will come at the end of the month and that should have the charity, the date and the donation. be all legal. if you want to help the quake victims, you can go to cnn.com/robin. if you go through the impact

link, you'll find a list of dozens of charities and also get there straight by going to cnn.com/impact and find all these relief organizations that are already on the ground that can take your donations and turn that directly into relief right away. mortgages are back below 5%, hey, that's some good news in a bad economy if you're looking to buy or sell a home. for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage that is mostly all we talk about these days. 4.99%. just a quarter point above the all-time low. looking pretty good there. we live our lives online these days buying plane tickets and paying bills and why not fitness? we ask robert dotherd to look at the online fitness tools. a real live fitness trainer online. >> i love the fact that you can pick the type of activity level

you're in whether you have a desk job or frequent traveler. >> your first orbit trainer can adjust your fitness goals on a daily basis. if nutrition is more your focus, check out a new online meal tool. >> users have the options from choosing from fast food, homemade meals and each of those meal type options there is an emphasis on healthy food choices. >> recipes, shopping lists and a cost per meal calculator. but if all you need is a little inspiration, healthy mondays e-mail may be your one stop shop. >> overall healthy mondays is a great program when used in conjunction with with other health initiatives. >> they do come with membership fees. i'm dr. sanjay gupta. it's so secret that college students drink underage. but some lawmakers want to make that legal.

get this, people who quit smoking after developing early lung cancer may drastically improve their survival rate. a new study found that those who kept splomoking had up to a 33% chance of surviving five years. those who quit had a 75% chance to survive five years. if you're going on vacation, how would you feel right now about going to haiti to enjoy the caribbean, but knowing that people are suffering in port-au-prince? well, royal caribbean cruises already resumed a stop in haiti about 100 miles from the quake site. the company says it doesn't want to abandon haitians right now and it's also delivering supplies. some experts urge people who are upset about this about the benefits of tourism. what if you were on the cruise, how would you feel?

carrie from alabama e-mailed us saying the people who work these resort townses unch a living from these shipses and what are they going to do if they stop coming? this is a sick form of rubber necking. these same people can donate to the red cross and let these people have their dignity and privacy. you can e-mail us or facebook us and it all can be had at cnn.com/robin. an atlanta man says he's forming a new basketball league. okay. but to play you're going to have to be white and born in the united states. what? here's rafer. >> and he says he's not a racist. you got to be born in the united states, but, no, definitely not a racist. do you see the tongue in the cheek there. this is called the all american basketball alliance. the guy creating it is a promoter and he says he doesn't have anything against black people, he just wants a more fundamental league. he said fundamental basketball

instead of street ball played by people of color is what he's looking for. he told fox atlanta it's intersanement and it's not racism. entertainment for whom? who is going to watch this? if they're not good enough to play in the nba or overseas, why would we want to watch these guys play basketball? he is on the record saying it's real. the nba fined boston celtics big baby davis for yelling at a fan in detroit. he apparently snapped and yelled some curse words back. very loud and boisterous in the balas of auburn hills, but you can't yell back. >> then guy got ya. kurt warner is praying that god takes away his desire to play football. the 38-year-old is contemplating playing football. that brutal hit against the saints. he's still torn. he loves the game and he needs god to take that love away so he

can comfortably walk away. it is hard for the guys to walk away from the game they love so much. an italian tv channel is saying for a prank where a woman grabs david beckham's man region. look at his reaction. did you just do that? he's doing this interview when this woman comes up and i have no idea what she was thinking and there is her reaction afterwards. this passes for television in italy. >> stupid. >> it is stupid. beck says it was just harmless fun. just being a good sport, basically, because it really wasn't harmless. >> the prank was stupid. i'm not saying all of italian tv. why didn't she get in more trouble? if a man did it to a female athlete, he would have been booked right there. lawmakers in vermont are considering a bill to lower the drinking age to 18. college students are already drinking and making it legal would make them be able to do it in a safe environment.

opponents say it would put thousands of lives in danger. you might know that a federal law says that any state lowering the drinking age could lose 10% of their transportation funding. 

the new york stock exchange is open. stocks may slide again after yesterday's big tumble. investors had the worst day in months yesterday on wall street. you'll see how the market reacts today. a live report from new york is less than ten minutes away. haitian authorities hope to get traffic moving in both directions at port-au-prince's south pier as soon as possible. it will help get critical aid to 3 million survivors. some medical teams say that they still have had to used over-the-counter medicines and vodka for sterilization. he was arrested in a drug

sting along with his ex-wife. a detective bought 4 grand worth of prescription drugs from them. croslin was babysitting haley when she disappeared. mcconnell will deliver response to obama. those are our top stories and good morning. 31 minutes past the hour and it is friday, so, i hope that brings a little bit of brightness to your day. i'm robin meade. you know, we have a unique look at a building being destroyed during the earthquake in haiti last week. here you go with three time lapse photos taken when the quake hit port-au-prince. you can see haiti's taxation office tumbling to the ground. it was, obviously, destroyed. a connecticut woman is stuck in haiti and has not been allowed to come home. she has permanent green card statuses but is not actually united states citizen. at the airport, she's being told

citizens come first. her sons are worried sick. >> she has veterans she raised. couple in the army, one in the air force and there's nothing we can do. our mother, our mom. >> her family has contacted senator chris dodd and their local congressman for help. both say that they are trying to help. john edwards' wife says that she's glad that her husband finally admitted he fathered a child with a former staffer. yesterday john edwards confessed he had a daughter with a former mistre mistress. that affair happened while elizabeth edwards was battling cancer. one of his advisors talked last night on larry king live. >> a lot of us who feel tremendous disappointment over what happened and certainly those, elizabeth, the family and others who have been hurt. you know, i think john edwards is very, very serious in expressing his remorse.

for some, that will never be enough. for me, i'm grateful that he has done that. but there is still tremendous disappointment that we will always have. >> elizabeth edwards says the whole family is relieved that the secret is out. conan o'brien has his final show on nbc tonight. he signed a deal to leave "the tonight show" reportedly worth $45 million. well, conan joked about his appearance last night or his final appearance. >> you all know by now, this is weird, tomorrow is our last show here. yeah. so, i'd like to apologize to the guests that were scheduled for next week, president barack obama, the pope, the queen of england and our good friend elvis presley was stopping by. i have been with nbc for a really long time, a really long time. yeah, that's right, remember "the cosby show"? i was rudy. >> jay leno is expected to return to "the tonight show" on march 1st.

snowfall in the mountains of california may have contributed to this accident in the high sierra on i-80. now, one truck caught fire, several big rigs and cars slid into each other. amazingly, no one was hurt. the highway was closed for eight hours. check out the snow in arizona. the navajoinati nation has decla state of emergency because of the storm. all right, 34 minutes past the hour. making plans for the weekend, i hope you are. here is bob with a little bit more on that. good morning. >> good morning, robin. how about a nice-looking new york city. every time we read the e-mails inevitably somebody calls me a guerilla i always want to get this shot and climb and yell. what the heck, i might as well. new york city actually looks pretty good right now. 42 degrees the high today and the rain does head in. won't be until sunday afternoon but look what's down to your south. washington, d.c., rain coming in across northern sections of virginia and all snow and sleet

and freezing rain across central pa. the winter storm warnings are here mainly because of the upper level of impulse that came out of the deep south yesterday riding towards the mid-atlantic states. then it's out west and we're looking for a little break in the action. couple waves came in over the last couple days and heavy at times and if you look immediately to the west, not much going on out here. three to four days to finally dry out and by late monday night into tuesday, rain starts stretching back down the california coast and ultimately to the lower four corners by middle of next week. heaviest rain near phoenix and getting towards tucson and the highest elevations all getting snow and windy, too. southeastern sections ofaseses a in towards southwestern arizona, too. looking for an additional six inches with a foot total since midnight last night and advisory areas shaded in blue. here's what it looks like around l.a. rains sweeping on through the lower parts of california and not as heavy as yesterday but

it's out there and, again, a break overnight again tonight into the weekend and monday night it comes into tuesday, too. all stretch into the east and all turns into snow. it could be heavy at times. flash flood watches and warnings. how about the snow? here's what it looks like in the next 48 hours. blizzard warnings for southwestern colorado. sierra most of the snow an additional 6 to 12 inches and in towards montana more heavy snow there with winter storm warnings. great for the skiers, if you can finally get there. more on that, robin, in about a half hour. >> all right, thank you. the stocks on wall street are in a slump. now, new proposals by the administration to rain in the banking industry sparked a big selloff yesterday. what about today? susan lisovicz is in new york. good morning. >> we're not done yet. the dow has lost over 300 points in two days and under some pressure again, despite upbeat

earnings from two widely held companies. general electric beat wall street estimates even though its profits fell near 20%. the conglomerate is trying to shrink its financial unit which continues to be a strangle around its neck. ge also took a 30% hit from nbc universal, which has had its own unique problems of late. mcdonald's posted higher profit. where did that strength come from? well, overseas. offset the weakness here at home. they have shown vulnerability because of high unemployment and steep price competition from its rivals, rivals like burger king. it's been nipping at mcdonald's with cheap cheeseburgers and now it's adding beer to the menu. >> burgers and beer. >> make you eat it more, probably. >> bk plans to sell beer at its whopper bar in south beach. if it works out, more whopper

bars could be coming to burger kings near you. burger, fries and a beer will set you back about eight bucks. they will have the toppings theater, robin, and a whopper restock will repair your custom made burger for you to be washed down with that ice cold beer. >> they're using fancy words, too? thank you. new details about a diverted usairways plane. apparently it started with a misnoodzing about a religious ritual. some people are going on vacation in haiti while millions there are suffering. we're hearing a lot about the pros and the cons about this one.

yesterday at this hour we told you about a kentucky-bound flight that was diverted to philly. apparently, it was because an orthodox jewish teenager was trying to pray. the teen caught other passenger's attention because he was carrying what's called. >> my grandson didn't have a chance to pray. they're religious kids. they say their morning prayers and they use this tafilin. >> people don't really know about them so much and i guess i understand a little bit. >> well, the airline says that the plane made an emergency landing in philly as a security precaution. if you were going on vacation, how would you feel about going to haiti to enjoy the caribbean and know that people are suffering in port-au-prince. royal caribbean has already resumed a stop in haiti about 100 miles from the quake site.

the company says it doesn't want to abandon haitians right now and that it's also delivering supplies. some experts also urge people who are upset about it to consider the benefits of tourism for the area. what do you think about it? we're taking your facebook comments and your e-mail questions. dr. pat from maryland writes, we just returned from one of those cruises. it warmed our hearts to see over $1 million worth of food, water and supplies from our navigator of the seas being carted off our ship in haiti for the earthquake victims. renee from pennsylvania e-mails, the poverty and misery and the need has always been there. why havant we cared before? hit the contact us button or, for that matter, hit the facebook button, as well. it will take you there, as well. so, how much are you paying to file your taxes because hln

money expert clark howard says you may be able to file for free. >> so much fuss made just recently about how the irs won't even answer your phone call a lot of the time and then even if they do answer the phone call, they might not be able to give you the right info and they're not responsible for giving you the wrong info anyway. after all that bashing of the irs, let me tell you something positive. the irs has a program called free file. it's where most taxpayers can go to a special link on the irs' website and you have access to software that you can prepare your income taxes for free and file electronically for free. now, i said most taxpayers. because under the irs program there are income limits to who can qualify for the free filing. but enough competitors out there that if you try one provider software and you don't like it, go try somebody else's because there is no risk for you other than the extra time trying one program and then going and using

another one. and it's free. i'm clark howard. for more money saving tips, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern right here on hln. the man accused of killing a soldier outside a military recruitment center wants to change his plea. correspondent richard lui is following that story new for you in the next hour. >> good morning, robin. this guy made a request in a letter he sent to the judge and what he revealed in that message. plus, battle of the titans. china versus google. even hillary clinton is weighing in on that one. a fake cop got in the way of a real cop trying to do her job as she posed as a prostitute. how that undercover bust went bad.

>> sounds like a mess. as if racing was not dangerous enough, how new nascar rules could make for more crashes out on the track. what is the saying? if you're not loving you're not racing.

lawyers fighting to overturn california's ban on same-sex marriage will wrap up their case today. now, yesterday they called a hostile witness who defended his view that people are more likely to be pedophiles. the lawyers were trying to prove that proposition 8 was fueled by a bias against gays. attorneys for the other side they had lit tool dowith the proposition 8 campaign. simon cowell is putting together a song to raise money for the quake victims of haiti. he was asked by prime minister gordon brown to put something together. >> i'm literally making this up as we go along. we'll see what comes in over the next two to three days. i don't know who is available, but i will get a record out within seven to ten days. >> well, "the sun" reports that

the song will be a cover of r.e.m.'s "everybody hurts." they have agreed to waive royalties and that will be exempt from british sales tax. a college football player is back on the field after beating cancer. he looks amazing, too. very healthy looking. good morning. >> good morning. by all accounts, a very pedestrian practice, but not for this guy. boston college linebacker mark was expected to be a first round nfl draft pick but cancer derailed those plans. our true champion after he sat out all of last season is cancer free and back on the practice field on thursday set to resume his college career and there he is. he looks good. doctors put a rod in his leg to strengthen the area weakened by the disease. he said it felt great to be out there. michael vick returned to the scene of his crime part of the

b.e.t.docu series and in it vick visits the site of his dog fighting ring where he would hangdogs that didn't perform well. he reportedly spoke candidly and how he got involved in dog fighting at all and he said it was all his fault. a minor league team in minnesota the st. paul saints removed the s-word from their name in support of the vikings. that's not it. there it is. they're now just known as the paul, instead of the st. paul saints. that is through sunday until the game is over. get ready to possibly see more crashes in nascar, really, officials are telling drivers, guys, have at it. be more aggressive and show more emotion and we're relaxing the rules to let you drive faster. now, this comes after both drivers and fans complained the sport had become "too vanilla." too many restrictions and the restrictions were there to cut

down on crashes and now they're done. no more restrictions. daytona is known for the crashe they are now lifted. >> drivers like this? >> the drivers like it. the fans like it. let's hope everything turns out for the best. morning, bob. get away day friday. >> yeah, it is. after a tough week to travel from the west all the way to the east, i think today may be a touch better at least out to the west. let me take you live to l.a. l.a.x. here's the way it goes. so far a little bit of low cloudiness with a passing light shower. i haven't seen any huge squalls go overhead. it looks pretty good right now. no delays at l.a.x. san francisco, 45 minute delay, that is because of the rain and the low cloudiness. here's what we're going for the rest of the day. rain stretches through arizona, an hour or more possible around phoenix. yesterday sky harbor was a mess, hour delay a possibility. l.a.x. watching for an hour long

delay. san diego, watching for showers and thunderstorms too. san francisco, it's about an hour delay. that's what you get because of the rain and thunderstorms. more on that in a bit. your dog can send you twitter updates. a new product called puppy tweets has a sensor that attaches to your dog's collar, it sends prerecorded tweets triggered by what your dog is doing. if your dog is barking, it would say yahoo, some days you got to get your bark on. it's not going to be available until fall. duane johnson is the tooth fairy. >> i'm embracing the very spirit, all right, but i'm doing it. my way. >> mr. moviefone takes a look at that, and harrison ford's new film to see if it's worth your time.