is it's a really challenging situation for an institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> it mattered because of the situation that you put them in. close quarters. frnchts the nation street corners to the hall of congress, the debate is on again. should gays and lesbians serve openly in the military? a grim drama about soldiers in iraq that wasn't done at the box office. could the intense reality of the hurt locker beat "avatar" on oscar night. and how teenagers learn about sex may determine whether they

have s what a controversial new study claims about the just say no approach. i just want to say hello to you. welcome. i'm christi paul. defense secretary robert gates is launching a process that should allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. but not any time soon. here are live pictures as he testifies before a senate committee right now. he's outlining his plans for ending the current don't ask, don't tell policy. the pentagon review could take more than a year. in the meantime, gates intends to revise the rules on discharging gay service members, he'll place a heavier burden of proof on a commander that wants to force someone out of the arms services. don't ask, don't tell, making its come back, of course, also in conversations since president obama mentioned it in the state of the union address. so our joe carter asked and you told him how you feel about gays in the military. >> reporter: i'm joe carter. this is hln's "views from the street." we're talking to people about issues, issues affecting their

lives. are you familiar with the policy in the military don't ask, don't tell? >> uh-huh. >> i have two cousins that are in the arms forces. >> reporter: do you think it matters? >> i don't think it matters at all. >> it shouldn't matter. >> it should be open. >> it often presents a really challenging situation for an institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> well, i think it matters because of the situations that you put them in, the close quarters and i think sometimes that would promote something that might not happen ordinarily. >> there are a lot of close minded people everywhere in the world. i'm sure it would have an effect even though i would like to ideally think that it wouldn't. >> probably some folks in the military would be very challenged by that. but, you know -- >> reporter: does it matter to you personally? >> it doesn't matter to me. >> it's almost like saying you're allowed to die for us but you're not allowed to do what you want. >> reporter: do you think it

matters, exto matters, sexual orientation in the snilt. >> it doesn't matter. >> doesn't matter. >> he's a former marine. >> that's right. >> i was never asked. >> everything's so open now. i think it creates a lot of problems. >> reporter: you think it should remain? >> yes. >> there are more awkward moments in the military than if it's just out there. >> who is it to say that, you know, that you can't be gay and be in the army or do -- or do what you feel? it's your boat, you know? paddle it however you want. >> i think if you put your life on the line for the country, your sexual orientation should have nothing to do with that. >> i'm joe carter. >> thank you to joe carter. thank you to all of you who are sharing your views with him. we're going to continue to do so. congressman john murtha is back in the hospital. he is in intensive care due to complications from a gallbladder surgery he had last week. the 77-year-old pennsylvania democrat is at a virginia

hospital senter in arlington. murtha was hospitalized in december with gallbladder problems. we're going to keep you posted, of course, on his condition. it does not look good right now for ten americans arrested for trying to take 33 kids out of haiti without permission. the u.s. state department says the case rests in the hands of haitian officials. now haiti's prime minister says it's clear the group of baptists were trying to take a bus load of children across the border into the deminute can republic without papers. he says it is also clear that some of those kids do have living parents and he says the group knew what they were doing was wrong. now they're not charged with anything. but haiti wants the case to send a message against human trafficking. the pastor of their church says they were acting out of love. >> i understand that a lot of uproar is caused by information that is not, you know, conveying the right message about our people. they believe they had the permission that they needed to do what they were doing. and i will stand by that.

>> it certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response. we like everyone else saw the incredible devastation and we knew we had resource that's could help. so that's why we responded. >> the kids are now in the care of an orphanage in port-au-prince. adoption advocates are calling for a temporary ban on any new adoptions from haiti right now. a haitian dad has come forward to say his two daughters were on that bus headed to the dominican republic. now they want their kids back. the mother put her daughter on the bus hoping to give her a better life. >> translator: i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute and i kissed them both good-bye and told them don't forget daddy. >> translator: i told her to call me once in a while just so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was fine. >> now in a jailhouse interview, the americans told our sister

network cnn they believed all the children they attempted to bus into the dominican republic were orphans or had been abandoned. so have you heard the new remake of "we are the world"? dozens of stars recorded it last night in the same hollywood studio where the original was done 25 years ago. this one, of course, will raise money for that haiti earthquake relief. we're going to let you hear more of it a little bit later. you spend much time in airports, you may be in shock. a new report claims thousands of passengers take off every year aboard planes that should be grounded. find out why they're allowed to fly.

well you along with millions of others may have flown on planes that never should have taken off. a usa today investigation finds that since 2003, at least 65,000

u.s. flights took off with maintenance problems that should have kept them grounded. the investigation blames lax oversight and repair work that is outsourced or uncertified. the faa and airline industry say they enforce the highest possible safety standards. the usa today investigation, though, almost comes a full year after the air disaster in buffalo that killed 50 people. a just release the report found not only safety lapses in that crash but other serious shortcomings involving pilot training, fatigue, long commutes and low wages. so we want you to weigh in on this. richelle carey is with us with "your views." the question is does this change people's views about flying? >> the reviews that we've been getting are kind of mixed. as soon as they start coming in, we start reading them right away and airing out what people are thinking. first people were kind of concerned about terrorism. now this. we want to know, are you now even more worried to fly?

so let's talk about this on the phones. terrell is calling us from north dakota. you are an aircraft maintenance technician in the air force. so we're really interested in your perspective on this. how are you processing all of this information? >> caller: yes. being an aircraft maintenance professional, i see the abuse they take day in and day out. it's crazy. the amount of maintenance for a one-hour flight is nowhere near as much it would take for as much as the flying hours that the commercial aircraft take. it's amazing. you know, like a landing, for instance, it's a controlled crash. and the amount of stress on the airplane is ridiculous with the amount of flights and hours that these -- that's taking for them to just make money. >> okay. and having said that, do you feel just from the numbers that we're telling you that we put out there, we said 65,000 flights that took off perhaps without the proper maintenance. now to be fair, that appears to be a drop in the bucket compared

to the millions of flights that take off. are you okay with that percentage? >> you know, it terrifies me every time i fly a commercial jet, traveling a lot being in the military. every time i get into an airplane, i see things that most people don't catch. and it really terrifies me. >> is that a risk that we just have to take to get from point a to point b? or is that something we should be jumping up and down screaming about? >> caller: i think jumping up and down and screaming about. >> okay. thanks for the conversation and for your perspective. we really appreciate it. >> caller: you're welcome. >> okay, jerry is calling us from mobile, alabama. jerry, how you are processing this information? do you think we should be scared? do you think, you know what? just calm down, people and we need a different perspective. what do you think? >> caller: well i think they shouldn't be playing russian roulette with our lives. >> okay.

>> caller: if the safety feature is so important in flying and people are putting their trust in the pilot and mechanics, we want to have the assurance they've done everything they can to make sure it's a safe flight. i understand that people all want cheaper flights. but we can't do it at the risk of forfeiting safety. >> is this going to change your flying habits at all? >> caller: i fly not as frequently as a lot of people. but every year i'm going somewhere. i am concerned about the fact that they haven't taken all the precautions. i understand there's lots and lots of flights that take off every day. you kind of pay the price for it once in a while. but once we go ahead and allow them to take a short cut and they'll take more and more. it will cause more accidents. >> jerry, appreciate for the talk. i appreciate it. got a lot of comments on facebook. let's share those now.

>> so do you feel safe when you fly? we want your views on airline safety. how nervous are you? call us right now at call us at 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. you can also text us, views plus your comments and name to hlntv. standard text rates apply. we'll be airing your responses throughout the day. i see you over there looking at your facebook page. you have a comment? >> yeah. hafrpg wrote, no, it's still the safest mode to travel as far as he's concerned. >> a lot of people say.

that. >> it is. statistics show that it is. >> all right. thank you, richelle. go ahead and facebook us. you know, if you've -- you've got $325,000, who doesn't, right? you can try the new underwater plane. you have seen this yet? it's the latest luxury venture from richard branson. and it's at his island retreat in the virgin islands. it's a winged submarine. it goes down more than 100 feet giving passenger who's are outfitted in scuba equipment a clear view from the open cock t cockpit. a week stay at the private island costs $300,000. the underwater plain is for an additional $25,000. that's the cost breakdown. this year there are double the number of nominees for the best picture oscar. en that is one of them, "the hurt locker". it is tied with "avatar." we're breaking down the oscar nods for you next.

a 3-d movie and reality of warfare leads this year's oscar contenders. the academy awards have been announced. "avatar" and "hurt locker" got nine nods including best picture. the former husband and wife are up against each other for best director. tom o'neal writes for the "l.a. times" awards website. he joins us from l.a. right now. it's always so good to see you. thank you. >> same here. >> let me read through best

picture. so up for best picture this year, tlaen are ten again instead of the usual five. >> what's your take? surprised by anything? >> yeah, the "blindside" getting in blindsided us oscar experts. we thought that slot would go to "hangover" or "star trek." there's a feeling that is too much like lifetime movie of the week. >> and that's surprising. isn't she up for best actor? actress, i should say? >> yes. it was a very close race up until right now between her and meryl streep. i think by the fact that "blindside" got into the best picture race shows us that the oscar voters take it seriously. that probably pushes her forward to win that race. >> what about other avatar." being well received at the box

office doesn't always equate to an oscar. >> no, it doesn't. but in this case, it's james cameron who is king of the oscars. this is a guy that won 11 academy awards for "titanic." the problem is it is sci-fi. no sci-fi picture has ever won before. today with the ten best picture nominees, two are nominated, two more, this and "district nine." as you were saying earlier, this is a race between cameron's "avatar" and hissism wife's "the hurt locker." it's a classic david and goliath race in hollywood. >> all righty. let's get to the actors. we have actor and leading in a role is jeff bridges for "crazy heart." >> what do you portend? >> it's a slam dunk for jeff bridges here. they love the big performances in this category. recently we saw daniel day lewis

win for "there will be blood" and forest whitaker for king of scotland. here he sum btumbles around dru for two hours. so he can't really lose. >> that's great. let's get to leading actress right now. >> sidibe is so striking for people because she's never acted before this really, has she? >> no, she hasn't. she had been in a school play once. she's terrific in "precious." but, you know, if "precious" gets any award it will be in supporting category. there is a race between meryl streep and sandra bullock.

meryl streep is at 16 nominations. sandra bullock's never been nominated. it's all about her this year. meryl streep, you know, it's been 27 years since she's won. a lot of people in hollywood are rooting for her. >> all righty. tom o'neal, writer for the "l.a. times" awards site "the envelope.com. we always appreciate your insight. thank you. you know, this may be the perfect time to find a new place to live. hln money expert clark howard says you will not believe the deals out there for buyers and renters. >> i want you to know that this year 2010 will be a fantastic year for opportunity for housing. for renters and for buyers. the housing market is not ready for recovery. it's going to take a while. there are a couple reasons. one, number one, most important, we have far, far, far too many housing units that were built in the united states of all types.

number two, until the job market recovers, a lot of people who might have gone out and bought their own place or rented a place are doubling up or tripling up or move back with family. so right now if you're a renter, when your lease comes up, you barring bargain, bargain, bargain. if you're looking for a place to buy, you will not believe what a buyer's market it remains and will continue to be far into the future f you want a vacation home, those are the biggest steals of all right now. i'm clark howard. for more ways to save go, to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> you know can you get great consumer advice from clark every saturday and sunday here on hln. he'll help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. the music world is used to remakes, right? this one is pretty unique. artists get together on a new version of "we are the world." how you can get into the video. e

defense secretary robert gates is launching a process that should allow gays and lesbians to seven openly in the military. that is admiral mull een. this won't happen any time soon. gates is also testifying. this is before a senate committee today. these are the live pictures coming to us right now. gates will end his plans for the current don't ask, don't tell policy. the pentagon review could take more than a year. so in the meantime, gates reportedly intends to revise the rules on discharging gay and lesbian service members. he'll place a heavier burden of proof on a commander who wants

to force someone out of the arm armed forces. a former army intelligence officer is applauding the move. alex nicholson was discharged in 2002 after members of his unit discovered he was gay. >> i knew i was gay going in. i knew about don't ask, don't tell. it sounds very reasonable. it sounds like nobody will inquiry to sexual orientation as long as you don't throw it in anyone's face, you won't have a problem. after i got in, i realized it is much more all inclusive. it was more don't ask don't tell, don't happen to be found out any time, anyplace, in any way. so after about a year, i was outed within my unit. a couple people started finding out. that information spread. the command was forced into a corner and in which they had to discharge me because the information that i was gay had leaked out to the rest of the unit. >> and nicholson is the executive director of service members united. it's an organization for gay and lesbian active duty troops and

veterans. doesn't look good right now for ten americans arrested for trying to take 33 kids out of haiti without permission. the u.s. state department says the case rests in the hands of haitian officials. now haiti's prime minister says it is clear the group of baptists were trying to take a bus load of children across the boarder into the dominican republic without papers. he says it's also clear some of those kids do have living parents. and he says the group knew what they were doing was wrong. now they're not charged with anything. but haiti wants the case to send a message against human trafficking. the pastor of their church says they were acting out of love. >> i understand that a lot of uproar is caused by information that is not, you know, conveying the right message about our people. they believe they had the permission that they needed to do what they were doing. and i will stand by that. certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response. we, like everyone else, saw the incredible devastation and we knew that we had resource that's could help. so that's why we responded.

>> the kids are now in the care of an orphanage in port-au-prince. some adoption advocates are calling for a temporary ban on new adoptions from haiti. a haitian dad, meanwhile, has come forward to say his two daughters were on that bus headed to the dominican republic. now he and his wife want their kids back. they say they put their daughters on the bus hoping to give them a better life. >> translator: i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute. then i kissed them both good-bye and told them don't forget daddy. >> translator: i told her to call me once in a while just so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was fine. >> in a jailhouse interview, the americans told our sister network cnn they believed all the children they attempted to bus into the dominican republic were orphans or had been abandoned. a new york lawmaker says

child rapists should not be allowed free access to people's homes. he wants to ban high risk sex offenders from holding jobs such as building superintendents or rent collectors. he says he's outraged by the case particularly of william barnison. the 57-year-old is a level three sex owe fenlder who is in charge of three buildings on new york city's upper west side. so the "post" says multiple women have complained he sexually harassed them and pressured them to have sex with them in exchange for rent breaks. his father's family is hitting the road to try to find any sign of little gabriel johnson. the 8-month-old has been missing since christmas. here's his picture. his mother says she took the arizona boy to texas and gave him away to strangers. but elizabeth johnson claimed she killed gabriel. now his father hopes that this isn't true. so he and some of his relatives are retracing johnson's path from arizona to san antonio in

the hopes of finding any clue they can. they're asking for everyone's help to find his son. >> we want everybody around the world and around the united states to be looking out. he could be anywhere. not only san antonio, he could be anywhere by now. and we just want everybody to be aware and keep a look out. >> authorities in san antonio cordoned off a section of a land mile 12 miles from the motel where gabriel was last seen. they haven't started searching there yet. elizabeth johnson is behind bars in arizona charged with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial inthe feerns. and six weeks after he vanished in broad daylight, police still don't know what has happened to 4-year-old mark bookal. mark's mother's boyfriend, corey byrd, was watching the little boy the day he vanished. byrd found mark gone and a door left open. now byrd has been jailed on

charges of endangering the welfare of a child and parole violation. so far he's been uncooperate whiff police and refused a polygraph test. but mark's father is still suspicious of byrd. i asked whether he believes byrd's version of events there. >> no, i don't -- that's the thing. i don't buy it. i really don't believe his story. and he's not taking a polygraph test. i know he has something to do with it. but he needs to talk. you know? so i can have closure to this. if you know something, please call the newburghpolice or tell somebody if you're scared. i need to have some closure. if he's alive, i need to have him back so i can move on in my life. but this is really killing me. >> again, if you know anything about this little boy that can help bring him back and give yul

bookal some idea of what is going on, call the newburgh police. and can you always learn more about this story at www.missingkids.com. tomorrow we'll hear more from yul as he searches for his little boy. thank you so much for paying attention to the pictures. james cameron's latest blockbuster has earned more money than any other movie ever. will it earn a best picture oscar, too? nominations for the academy awards next.

a 3-d fantasy and a thriller

about modern warfare lead this year's oscar contenders. james cameron's "avatar" and "the hurt locker" both got nine nods including best picture. the former husband and wife are up against each other now for best director. for the first time since 1943, rather than five, there are ten best picture contenders. last summer the academy decided to expand the category in hopes of including worthy popular movies and getting a bigger audience for the oscar telecast. "up" is the second nominated film up for best picture. jeff bridges is considered the one to beat in the best actor category. and this is the 12th time meryl streep has been nominated for best actress. helen mirren is a past oscar winner, too. sandra bullock is the one expected to take the oscar for

"the blindside." a former campaign worker is making new claims about the affair between john edwards and rielle hunter. andrew young says the former candidate asked him to claim he fathered the woman's child because edwards said his wife was dying. now young's version of events is in a new book that includes a description of how edwards talked him and his wife into letting hunter live in their home until the child was born. sherry young recounted that part of the story on abc's "good morning america." >> i listened in on a conversation that he and rielle had with john edwards. and he told us that this would be short term. that he was going to come clean either after he won or lost the election or after elizabeth passed. he told us elizabeth was very, very sick and he did not want her to die knowing this. >> and remember last month edwards admitted that the 2-year-old girl is indeed his

daughter. i'm jane valez-mitchell. just when you thought the john edwards sex scandal couldn't get any sleazier, it does. now there's rumors and reports of not one but possibly two alleged sex tapes. his former aide andrew young claims he has a sex tape featuring edwards and a visibly pregnant woman that he believes is edwards' then mistress rielle hunter. meanwhile, rielle hunter admits she made a very private, very personal tape with edwards back in 2006 and wants it back. the problem is hunter had her baby in 2008. she obviously wasn't pregnant for two years. so are they talking about two different personal private tapes? if these sex tapes do exist, edwards was being even more wildly self destructive. so why stop at just one tape? don't even think of doing a sex tape if you're running for president is asking to be caught. that's my issue. >> find out what else jane has

on her mind. watch "issues with jane valez-mitchell" on hln. a study finds an abstinence only sex education class may delay middle schoolers from having sex. some say this proves teaching abstinence works. others call it unrealistic and only a short term solution. your views on this in a moment.

an experimental abstinence only program may delay young teens from having sex. this one does not tell kids to wait until marriage or frown on contraception. it focuses on the draw backs of sixth and seven graders having sex. a new study finds one-third of students who took the class started having sex in two years. but nearly half of those who took other sex education classes became sexually active in two years. so our question to you is do you think teaching kids about abstinence actually works? richelle carey is here with "your views." take it away. >> all right. you kind of just broke down the

numbers for us on basically the study was done between 2001 and 2004 involving those middle school students. we want to break down your response to this. basically, do you think that abstinence only programs work? ready for the phone calls? are we going to go to facebook comments first? all right. let's do facebook comments first. nicole wrote this --

>> troy is calling us. what do you think about this? troy is actually a facebook comment. we're trying to pull things together here. troy says -- >> actually, we don't have any phone calls right now. sometimes that happens. when it's time for the actual segment, we can always find christi paul though. do you have comments you're ready to share? >> you know, edwin wrote, classes can't overcome hormones. ain't going to happen. just plain and simple. he says it ain't going to happen. >> that might be the comment of the day so far. >> i know. >> if you want to top that one, please reach out to us. we want to know, can abstinence only education work call us. call us at 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. you can also text us, text views

plus comments and name to hlntv. standard text rates apply. join the conversation on facebook as well. search for richelle carey hln. we'll be airing your responses throughout the day. when it's time for your big moment to talk on tv, make sure we can find you. how about that? >> yes. yes. we will find them. i know people have a lot to say about it. they're saying it on the facebook pages. we know you're there. join us. thank you so much. >> sure. have you heard congressman john murtha is back in the hospital? a spokesman says the veteran lawmaker is in intensive care. the 77-year-old pennsylvania democrat is at virginia hospital center in arlington. murtha was also hospitalized in december with gallbladder problems. we'll obviously keep you posted on what's happening with him. now we're also keeping an eye on illinois today. it's the first state this year to hold a midterm primary. president obama's old senate seat up is for grabs. voters there are also choosing candidates for the governor's race. remember, though, the last time

they voted for governor four years ago, they chose rob blagojevich. we're watching. repairs for your recalled toyotas could start as early as today. toyota czys tsays the parts sho start arriving today and tomorrow. the company estimates the problem should take a half hour to fix. some safety experts have raised concerns electronic problems may be behind this gas pedal sticking, electronic i said. so toyota says it is confident that has found the cause here. but a louisville man is in intensive care after crashing his 2010 toyota cam ray over a cliff and into a creek. the camry is one of eight models involved in the toyota recall. paula allen says her husband was driving with three friends saturday when the car took off at a high speed. he tried to brake with both feet but it wouldn't stop. >> he said the car just accelerated. and when it did, they flew off the cliff and into the creek. the car flipped over and they

felt water coming up in the car. >> now all four men were rushed to the hospital. allen may have a spinal cord injury. apparently he's lost feeling in his legs. you along with millions of others, may have flown on planes that never should have taken off. a usa today investigation finds since 200365,000 u.s. flights took off with maintenance problem that say should have kept them grounded. they blame lax oversight and repair work that's outsourced or uncertified. they say they enforce the highest possible safety standards, but we want to know if you feel safe when you fly at this point. share your views with us on airline safety. 1-877-tell-hln is the number. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. next the word "views" plus your kaul comments and name to hlntv or facebook us, richelle carey hln,

chuck roberts has a page as well and we'll air some of your responds. have you seen this wild police pursuit. officers say three robbery suspects were in that car that just crashed. look at the guy jump out and take off running. keep watching because another patrol car, that one there, is going to run right into him. look at him flip over the hood and he still gets up and keeps running. police say he made it all the way into a mall to hide but the canine unit eventually sniffed him out and he was arrested. a man is accused of stealing shoes for decades and storing them in his home. police say they tracked him down after he targeted a frat house in delaware and stole shoes and photos. look at this. a flatbed truck made three trips to haul away all these shoes. by the way, the frat brothers said, you know what, just keep those. we don't want those shoes back. well, last night dozens of stars gathered together in hollywood.

it wasn't the promise of glitz or awards that got them there, though. the last time this happened was 25 years ago. we'll see if they struck the right note here. stay close. also, we asked and you told us. >> do you think sexual orientation in the military matters? >> it shouldn't matter. >> i think everything is so open now. whwhwhwhwhwhwhwhwhwhwhwhwhwh

change is apparently on the way at the pentagon. how the secretary of defense is moving to end don't ask, don't tell. it often presents a really challenging situation for an institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> it matters because of the situations that you put them in, the close quarters. >> from the nation's street corners to the halls of congress the debate about gays in the the military is raging again. and -- >> you have 45 seconds. >> go! >> a grim drama about soldiers in iraq that wasn't exactly

dynamite at the box office. can the intense reality flick "the hurt locker" beat everything, including the high-flying fantasy "avatar" come oscar night? hi, everybody, big tuesday. i'm chuck roberts. welcome on the 2nd of february. defense secretary robert gates is launching a process that would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, providing congress repeels the current ban. gates is telling a senate committee today how he would go about edgnding the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> the question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change but how we best prepare for it. we received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly. however, we can also take this process only so far, as the ultimate decision rests with you, the congress. >> the secretary is ordering the pentagon to complete its review of don't ask, don't tell by the end of this year. joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen supports ending the

ban on gay service members. he told the armed services committee it would be the right thing to do. don't ask, don't tell has become the focus of conversation since the president mentioned it in our state of the union address so our joe carter asked and you told him about how you feel about gays serving openly in the military. >> reporter: i'm joe carter and this is hln's "views from the street." we're talking to people about issues. issues affecting their lives. >> are you familiar with the policy in the military, don't ask, don't tell? >> mm-hmm. >> i have two cousins that are in the army. >> do you think it matters? do you think sexual orientation in the military matters? >> i don't think it matters at all. >> it shouldn't matter. >> it should be open. >> it often presents a really challenging situation for an institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> well, i think it matters because of the situations that you put them in. the close quarters and i think sometimes that would promote something that might not happen

ordinarily. >> there are a lot of close-minded people everywhere in the world so i'm sure it would have an effect even though i would like to ideally think that it wouldn't. >> probably some folks in the military would be very challenged by that. >> reporter: does it matter to you personally? >> it doesn't matter to me. >> it's almost like saying you are allowed to die for us, but you're not allowed to do what you want. >> reporter: do you think it matters, sexual orientation in the military? no? does not matter? >> does not matter. >> he's a former marine. >> everything is so open now and i think it creates a lot of the problems. >> it creates more awkward moments in the military than just get it out there. >> who is it to say that you can't be gay and be in the army or do -- or do what you feel. it's your boat, you know. you paddle it however you want. >> i think if you're going to put your line on the country, that your sexual orientation

should have nothing to do with that. >> reporter: i'm joe carter and i'll see you on the industry. >> so look for him, joe carter, a regular feature right here on the street. it doesn't look good right now for ten americans, the ones arrested in haiti trying to take 33 kids out of the country without documents or permission. the state department says that group's organization, the new life children's refuge, is not listed on their list of international adoption agencies. haiti's prime ministers says it's clear the group was trying to take a busload of children across the border into the dominican republic without papers. it's clear some of those kids have living parents and the group knew what they were doing was wrong. they're not charged with anything, but haiti wants to send a message against human trafficking. the pastor of their church said they were acting out of love. >> i understand a lot of uproar is caused by information that is not conveying the right message about our people. they believed they had the

permission they needed to do what they were doing, and i will stand by that. it certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response, because we like everyone else saw the incredible devastation and knew that we had resources that could help. that's why we responded. >> some of the kids were badly malnourished. they're now in the care of an australian based orphanage in port-au-prince. a haitian dad has come forward to say his two daughters were on the bus headed to the dominican republic. now the couple wants her kids back. she put her daughter on the bus hoping to give her a better life. >> reporter: i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute, then i kissed them both goodbye and told them don't forget daddy. i told her to call me once in a while, just so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was

fine. >> in a jailhouse interview the americans told our sister network cnn they believed all the kids they attempted to bus into the dominican republic were orphans or had been abandoned. his father's family is hitting the road to try to find any sign of little gabriel johnson. the 8-month-old has been missing since christmas. his mother said she took the arizona boy to texas and gave him away to strangers in san antonio. but elizabeth johnson has also claimed that she killed little gabriel. his father, logan mcqueary, hopes that's not true so he and some of his relatives are retracing johnson's path from arizona to san antonio in hopes of finding any clues they can. he is asking for everyones help to find his son. >> we want everybody around the world and around the united states to be looking out. he could be anywhere. not only san antonio, he could be anywhere by now. we just want everybody to be aware and keep a lookout. >> the authorities in san antonio have cord onned off a

jekz section of a landfill 12 miles from where gabriel was last seen. elizabeth johnson is still behind bars in arizona charged with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference. six weeks after he vanished in broad daylight, police still do not know what happened to 4-year-old mark bookall. christi paul brings us an update. the one person who should know, who might know isn't telling anything to police. >> we're talking about the boyfriend of mark's mother. his name is cory byrd. he was watching mark the day he vanished. there is cory byrd. he said he entered a room and found mark gone and a door left open. byrd has been jailed on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and a parole violation. so far he's really not cooperated at all with police and refused a polygraph test. so mark's father is still suspicious of byrd. i asked whether he believes byrd's version of events.

>> no, i don't -- that's the thing, i don't buy it, i really don't believe his story. he's not taken a polygraph test. i know he had something to do with it. but he needs to talk, you know, so i could have closure to this. if you know something, please call the newburg police or tell somebody if you're scared, call the police. i need to have some closure to this. if he's alive, i need to have him back so i can move on with my life. but this is really killing me. >> so again we want to help here. if you know anything that help bring yul bookal the closure that he is aching for, there is mark's picture again. please keep your eyes open and call the newburgh, new york, police, 845-561-3131. you can always learn more about this story at

www.missingkids.com. tomorrow we'll hear more from an emotional yul bookal as searches for his little boy's sudden disappearance continue. it's just heart breaking to him. >> i hope we resolve this soon. newburgh is north of new york. >> it is, north of the hudson. if you spend a lot of time in airports, you may be in for a shock because a report out claims thousands of passengers take off every year on planes that should be grounded. find out why they're allowed to fly.

you along with millions of others may have flown on a plane that should never have taken off. a usa today investigation finds since 2003, 65,000 u.s. flights took off with maintenance problems that should have kept them grounded. the investigation blames lax oversight an repair work that was outsourced or uncertified. the faa and airline industry say they do enforce the highest

possible safety standards. the investigation comes almost exactly a year after the colgan air disaster in buffalo. on that snowy night, 50 people died, including one on the ground. a just released report found not only safety lapses in the crash but other serious short cummings involving pilot training, rest periods, fatigue, commutes and low wages. richelle carey is here with your views. what have you heard so far? >> some people are saying, you know what, this still beats driving. i'm going to keep flying and put this in the back of my mind and go about my business. other people are very, very concerned pause they were already a little nervous with terrorism and now this. we want to know are you more worried to fly. regina is calling us. i understand you're calling us from kentucky. you just flew recently for the first time. let me ask you, were you nervous about that? >> caller: yes, ma'am. >> but you made it through, right? >> caller: yes.

>> you made it through because we're talking to you. now we're telling you about this new study, these new figures. now how are you processing this? >> caller: i'm just glad my flight's over. it was my first time flying, hopefully my last. the way i look at it, there's a reason god put wings on birds and not on us. >> but miss regina, do you have kids, grandkids, family in other places? >> caller: yes. >> and surely you're going to want to see them. something in the future may call for you to get on a plane again. >> caller: it would have to be an extreme case. someone very ill. i will drive or take greyhound. i flew to texas. the irony is i flew to texas to see my son graduate from the air force. >> from the air force. so he flies a lot, i take it. >> caller: yes, yes. >> hasn't he sat you down, regina, and said, mom, flying

generally is safe. hasn't he had this talk with you? >> caller: well, he told me, he said it wasn't that bad. he says you'll be all right. he paid for it so i had no say. that's how i raised my kids. i don't have to cross water, i'm not flying. >> thank you for the conversation. i hate to think of you being that nervous but we're glad you made it on your flight okay. if driving is what you feel comfortable doing, more power to you. >> caller: now, the people, the employees were absolutely wonderful. they were great. >> thank you, regina. john is calling us from california. you're a commercial pilot and you take a little exception to this information coming out from usa today. how so? >> caller: well, i think that there's two sides to this, and i think people need to really understand that there's professional pilots in the front of these airplanes that are flying them. and we have routines before every flight that we have to go

through and making sure that the airplane has been inspected, that there's certain things that have been taken care of before we can fly that airplane. we're looking it over, we're making sure that all the systems are operating correctly. to just say that a pilot is going to jump in there and take an airplane and fly it unsafely, an unair worthy airplane is just not the case. >> john, that makes perfect sense, absolutely. you wouldn't want to get on anything that isn't safe either. can i ask you this, would you always know everything about the plane from top to bottom? >> caller: no, we're not going to know about everything from top to bottom. but you know, you're looking at people that have experience, 25, 30 years of flying. you know, there's a lot of things, there's certain sounds, certain vibrations that you pick up on the ground before you even get airborne. people need to understand that we have families, we have children at home and we're going to get paid either way, so why would we intentionally fly an

airplane that we know is not safe. >> john, that makes perfect sense. >> caller: we're sitting in there with everybody else. we don't want to end our life, we want to continue flying and have a prosperous career and that's what we're doing. we're making sure it's safe. this is our livelihood and what we take serious every day that we get on that aircraft. >> john, thank you for the call. i think some people can benefit from what you had to say. carly wrote this, i have never flown before but this definitely makes me want to drive instead of fly and i worry about the safety of all the other people who have to fly planes to get to their jobs. and tammy said this, it's safer in the sky, less drunk drivers and revoked drivers. i guess she means people driving with revoked driver's licenses. so do you feel safe when you fly? share your views on airline safety or respond to one of the callers or comments you heard. call us at 1-877-tell-hln. the email address is cnn.com/hln

or next the word "views" plus your comments and name to hlntv. we will continue to have this discussion throughout the day. we think it's a discussion worth having, especially if pilots call in with their perspective. the job market is pretty tight but if you're looking for work, why not check out the best. "fortune" magazine out with its list of 100 best companies to work for. see if you can guess this next company. >> it's a bear business that's gone to the dogs. what company lets you work side by side with your four-legged friend? find out after the break.

what company lets employees bring their dog to work? build-a-bear workshop, and kids are welcome too. >> i feel so well taken care of here because of the family environment that we have. >> at the toy store's headquarters in st. louis, employees can opt for a compressed workweek. but other benefits also make working more bear bull. on-sight oil changes and fido can be picked up for doggy day care. build-a-bear workshop is 80th on

the list of 100 best companies to work for. repairs for your recalled toyotas could begin as soon as today. toyota says the parts to stop gas pedals from sticking are expected to arrive at dealerships today and tomorrow. the company estimates the problem should take about a half hour to remedy. some safety experts have raised concerns that electronic problems, though, may be behind the gas pedal stick. toyota says it's confident it's found the cause and the remedy for it. check out this wild police pursuit in glendale, california. officers said three robbery suspects were in the car that crashed. one jumps out and takes off running. keep watching. another patrol car runs right into him. but that doesn't stop him. he flips over, keeps on running. police say he made it all the way into a mall to hide, but a canine unit was deployed and eventually sniffed him out and placed him under arrest.

a 3-d futuristic fantasy and a gritty thriller about warfare were contenders for the 82nd annual academy awards. they were announced at 5:30 pacific time. "avatar" and "the hurt locker" both got nine nods, including best picture. the former husband and wife are up against each other for best director. for the first time since 1943, instead of five, there are ten best picture contenders. last summer the academy decided to expand the category in hopes of including worthy popular movies and perhaps get a bigger audience for the telecast in march. "up" is only the second animated film nominated. jeff bridges is considered the one to beat in the lead actor category. he's up against george clooney, morgan freeman, collin firt and jeremy renner for his role in "the hurt locker." it is the 12th time meryl streep has been nominated best actress. helen mirren is up again.

first time for carey mulligan and gab oary syd be. the music world is used to making remakes, but this one is pretty unique. artists get together in a new version of "we are the world." how you can get into the video.

[ 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 ]

the secretary of defense, robert gates, launching a process that would allow 58s and lesbians to serve openly in the armed services. that's secretary -- that is chairman levin and there's secretary gates on the left and the chairman of the joint chiefs on the right. gates told a senate committee how he would go about ending don't ask, don't tell. >> the question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it. we have received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly. however, we can also take this process only so far as the

ultimate decision rests with you, the congress. >> the secretary is ordering the pentagon to complete its review of don't ask, don't tell by the end of the year. the joint chiefs chairman, admiral mike mullen supports edged the ban. he told the armed services committee it would be the right thing to do. a former army intelligence officer is applauding the pentagon's move away from don't ask, don't tell. alex nicholson was discharged in 2002 after members of his unit discovered he was gay. >> i knew i was gay going in and i knew about don't ask, don't tell. but that's a sound bite that sounds very reasonable. it sounds like nobody will inquire as long as you don't throw it in anyone's face, you won't have a problem. after i got in, i realized that it was much more all inclusive and encompassing. it was like don't ask, don't tell, don't happen to be find out. so after a year i was outed within my unit. that information spread and the command was forced into a corner in which they had to discharge

me because the information that i was gay had leaked out to the rest of the unit. >> he is now executive director of service members united, a group for gay and lesbian active duty service troops and veterans. results of a two-year study are pretty interesting and may in fact help decide how your school teaches sex ed. the study found fewer teenagers had sex after an experimental abstinence only class. id involved hundreds of african-american sixth and seventh graders in philadelphia. it showed the drawbacks the having sex. it did not preach saving sex for marriage. two years later a third of the abstinence only kids said they had sex. nearly half of the kid from the other sex ed classes said they'd had sex. none of the classes seemed to change whether the kids had unprotected sex but it's a fascinating topic. it's your your views subject of the day. >> it is a fat na-- fascinating

topic. we want to know what you think about this. do you think that abstinence only problems can work if they're tweaked a little bit? shimmy wrote this. you can teach it all you want, but if a kid wants to do it, they are going to do it. all you can do is hope that they are safe while doing it. let's talk about this now. shea is calling from us dallas. shea, you have six kids. oh, good luck with that. six kids, including teenagers. you think abstinence only can work. how so? >> caller: well, i have six children and i was taught by my parents, you know, be safe and be protected. and my husband and i, we did end up getting married, but we used -- we used the condom and it broke. and my oldest son, they know that.

they know that they were conceived with so-called safe sex and we teach abstinence. but along with that, we believe that you have to teach children to be independent thinkers, that their choices that they make, are they willing to pay a consequence or gain a reward. and if you teach them that at an early age, they will be able to make a logical decision, you know, and so on. when the day comes with our small children when we're ready to teach them about sex, they'll know to make a logical decision and -- >> shay, let me ask you this. you say you're trying to teach your kids abstinence only. are you teaching them to wait until marriage or are you just teaching them to wait until they're at least an adult or old enough to make the right decision? >> caller: we definitely teach them to wait until marriage.

yeah, we do. we believe that sometimes we'll be sitting around at dinner and we'll say i wonder what your husband or your wife is doing right now. are they doing their homework. and they know. they know that there is someone waiting for them out there. when they do make a decision or pressured into a compromising situation another. >> thank you for the conversation, i appreciate it. i have to move on but thank you for the conversation. robin is calling us from hawaii. robin, what's your take? >> caller: i believe that abstinence education can work in the schools, but it has to start at home. if you have a household that hands out condoms, the child is going to do what he's going to do. >> so you think everyone basically has to be on the same page for it to work. >> caller: absolutely. i think too many parents rely on the school systems to parent their children. it really has to start at home. >> robin, we've had a lot of comments to that effect that say, you know what, i'm not opposed to abstinence only but

it has to be coming from a lot of different places. he's a facebook comment. if it takes a village to raise a child, then school is not the only place kids should be taught about abstinence. parents, the community and the church should talk about abstinence. this is the only way kids will learn if they see how much people care for them. yes, talking about abstinence does work because it worked for me. >> i've got a lot of comments. here's one from teresa who writes why do we keep discussing abstinence? it just doesn't work. i say preach abstinence at home but make sure they have access to birth control. anything else is stupid. >> she makes a point the reason we're talking about it so much this time is because this appears to be the first study to say maybe in the right context it might work but we do seem to talk about it a lot. i think people are looking for answers when it comes to their kids. the question is can abstinence-only education work. call us right now at

1-877-tell-hln. the email address is cnn.com/hln. text to hlntv, standard text rates apply or join the conversation on my facebook page. chuck and christi have pages as well. chuck, maybe it's not the right fit for everyone as well. you've got to know your kid. >> this one started in sixth and seventh grade too. that's a distinction too. ninth grade may be too late to start this. this year there are double the number of nominees for best picture oscar and this is one of them. "the hurt locker" is tied with "avatar" for the most nominations. we're breaking down the oscar nods just ahead.

a congressman of whom it can be said holds the pentagon's purse strings is in icu at a suburban virginia hospital. he has complications from a gallbladder surgery. the 77-year-old chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee had his gallbladder removed last week. he was the first vietnam veteran elected to congress. doesn't look good for ten americans arrested for trying to take 33 haitian kids out of the country without permission. the state department says the group's organization, the new life children's refuge, is not on their list of international adoption agencies. haiti's prime minister says it's clear the group of baptists were trying to take a busload of children across the border into the dominican republic without papers. he said it's clear some of those kids do have living parents and he said the group knew what they were doing is wrong. haiti wants this case to send a message against human

trafficking. the pastor of their church said they were acting out of love. >> i understand that a lot of uproar is caused by information that is not, you know, conveying the right message about our people. they believed they had the permission that they needed to do what they were doing. and i will stand by that. it certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response, because we like everyone else saw the incredible devastation and we knew that we had resources that could help, so that's why we responded. >> the kids are now in the care of an orphanage. some adoption advocates are calling on a temporary ban on new daupgsz from haiti. a dad has come forward saying his two daughters were on the bus headed to the dominican republic. one woman says she put her daughter on the bus hoping to give her a better life. >> i butt them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute and then kissed them

all goodbye and told them don't forget daddy. i told her to call me once in a while, just so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was fine. >> in a jailhouse interview the americans told cnn they believed all the children they tried to bus into the dominican republic were orphans or had had been abandoned. the thriller about a reality of modern warfare and 3-d movie are contenders. nominees were announced bright and early this morning. james cameron's "avatar" and kathryn bigelow's "the hurt locker" each got nine nods. for the first time since 1943 instead of five, there are ten best picture contenders. last summer the academy decided to expand the category in the hopes of including more worthy popular movies and perhaps getting a bigger audience for the oscar telecast itself.

"up" is the second animated feature nominate as best picture. jeff bridges is considered the one to beat in the lead actor category. he's up against george clooney, morgan freeman, colin firth and jeremy renner for his multiple role in "the hurt locker." it is the 12th time meryl streep has been nominated as best actress. helden mirren is a -- helen mirren is a past oscar winner. the first time for carey mulligan and gabourey sidibe. sandra bullock is expected to take home the oscar for "the blind side." this is a "showbiz tonight" news break exclusively on hln and this is the buzz today. cbs rejected a super bowl ad for mancrunch.com. the man behind the site is calling that decision unfair. >> we were faced with discrimination by the network. they lied to us about the availability of ad space for sale. for two weeks they told us it

was not available and it was. they refused to provide feedback on the actual commercial spot submitted. and was just not returning phone calls. >> supporters have the site say that the network has a double standard after it accepted a anti-abortion ad with tim tebow while refusing their ad showing two men kissing. jersey shore outrage. mtv's hit reality shore is coming back for a second season. the national italian american foundation is slamming that decision. the group says the show glorifies the guido culture that portrays harmful stereotypes of italian americans. the new "we are the world." we are getting a first look at the history-making remake of the 1980s charity song. more than 80 celebrities, including barbra streisand and kanye west gathered to record the song for haiti. the video will air for the first time during the winter olympics. that's your exclusive "showbiz

tonight" news break. i'm a.j. hammer. make sure you join us at 11:00 p.m. eastern and pacific tonight for "showbiz tonight," tv's most provocative entertainment news show.

this just in from miami police. they have released a sketch now of the man seen with 26-year-old paula sadusky the playboy model just hours before her body was found in a trash bin. she was last seen at a miami nightclub around 7:00 in the morning. she was leaving the club with a man following right behind her. they hope, police do, that someone will recognize the man from this sketch. her charred body was found in a dumpster in north miami last month. a $15,000 reward has been offered for any information leading to an arrest. a former campaign worker is making new claims about the affair between john edwards and rielle hunter. andrew young says the former presidential candidate asked him to claim that he fathered the woman's child because edwards said his wife was dying. young's version of events is in a new book that includes a description of how edwards talked him and his wife into letting rielle hunter living in his home until the child was young.

cheri young recounted that part of the story on "good morning america." >> i listened in on a conversation that he and rye el had with john edwards. he said this was going to be short term. he was going to come clean after he won or lost the election or after elizabeth passed. he told us elizabeth was very, very sick and he did not want her to die knowing this. >> last month john edwards admitted the 2-year-old girl was his daughter. i'm jane velez-mitchell and here's my issue. just when you thought that john edwards' sex scandal couldn't get any sleazier, it does. now there's rumors and reports are are not one but possibly two alleged sex tapes. his former aide, andrew young, claims he has a sex tape featuring edwards and a visibly pregnant woman that he believes is edwards' then mistress rielle hunter. meanwhile rielle admits she made a very private, very personal tape with edwards back in 2006

and wants it back. the problem is, hunter had her baby in 2008. she obviously wasn't pregnant for two years, so are they talking about two different personal private tapes? if these sex tapes do exist, edwards was being even more wildly self-destructive than we first thought. so why stop at just one tape? to even think of doing a sex tape when you're running for president is asking to be caught. i'm jane velez-mitchell and that's my issue. >> find out what else jane has on her mind. don't miss issues with jane velez-mitchell tonight and every week night at 7:00 eastern right here on hln. a new york lawmaker says child rapists should not be allowed free access to people's homes. he wants to ban high-risk sex offenders from jobs like building superintendents or rent collectors. he's outraged by the case. the man is a sex offender in charge of three buildings on the upper west side of manhattan. the post said multiple women

have complained that he sexually harassed them and pressured them to have sex with him in exchange for rent breaks. a french court is looking into who's to blame for the air france2000. five people and continental airlines are charged with involuntary manslaughter with the crash of flight 4590. three people were responsible for the concord's design. it crashed just after takeoff as it was just lifting off from charles de gaulle airport in paris. a tire blew off when it struck a strip of metal on the runway. the titanium strip had blown off just moments earlier. it sparked a deadly fire that killed 113 people. nearly a year after the plane crash near buffalo killed 50 people, the chair of the ntsb said the pilots made critical errors that resulted in catastrophe. the panel is meeting today to make safety recommendations. all 49 people onboard and one on the ground were killed in the

february 12th, 2009, crash of continental connection flight 3407. this crash raised concerns about whether pilots with low-fare airlines are vulnerable to fatigue, long-distance commutes and inadequate training. a "usa today" investigation finds 65,000 flights took off with maintenance issues that should have kept them grounded. both the faa and airline industry say they do enforce the highest possible safety standards. but do you feel safe when you board the plaeb? share your views on airline safety after looking over these statistics in this study. call us toll-free 1-877-tell-hln. or cnn.com/hln. or text views, plus your comment and name to hlntv. standard text rates apply. we will air your responses shortly and throughout the day.

we're not really sure if we want the shoes back. we'll take the pictures back. >> an alleged shoe bandit targeting a frat house. he may have started stealing shoes before these frat boys were born. not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

last month, this woman wasn't even able to get around inside of her own home. they chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store! if you or a loved one live with limited mobility call the scooter store! no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to guarantee your complete satisfaction. if we pre-qualify you for a new power chair or scooter and your claim isn't approved, the scooter store will give you your power chair or scooter free. that's our guarantee. they were so helpful and nice. they filed all the paperwork, and medicare and my insurance covered the cost. we can work directly with medicare or with your insurance company. we can even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it!

so don't wait any longer, call the scooter store today. we have new information we want to share with you just coming in in the case of missing 8-month-old baby gabriel. an arizona woman whom you see here who wanted to adopt the baby has been arrested. that's tammi smith. she was arrested today at her scottsdale home on charges of custodial interference, conspiracy to commit custodial interference and forgery. smith and her husband, jack, again, who you saw there, have been considered persons of interest for weeks in this investigation, into the disappearance of gabriel johnson. gabriel's mother 23-year-old elizabeth johnson was arrested in december. she's charged with kidnapping,

child abuse, and custodial interference. but again, an arrest now being made in that case. we're going to try to get the latest as it comes in from arizona and bring it to you. meanwhile, miami police have just released a sketch of a man seen with a model hours before her body was found in a trash bin. please take a good look at this. 26-year-old paula sladewski was last seen in late january at a nightclub in miami. she was seen leaving the club with a man following behind her. they hope someone will recognize that man from this sketch. sladews sladewski's charred body was found in a dumpster hours later. there's a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest there. florida police say a 43-year-old lottery winner who disappeared nine months ago was indeed the victim of a homicide. abraham shack spear's body was found last week buried under a concrete slab behind a hillsboro

county home. he won $30 million in the florida lottery back in 2006. he was last seen in april, but wasn't reported missing until november. so far, police have not arrested anyone in his death. defense isn't robert gates is launching a process that would allow guys and lesbians to serve openly in the military providing congress repeals the ban. he told a senate committee today how he would go about ending the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> the question is not whether the military prepares to make this challenge, but how we best prepare it. we've received our orders from the commander in chief, and we are moving out accordingly. however, we can also take this process only so far, as the ultimate decision rests with you, the congress. >> gates is ordering the pentagon to complete its are view of don't ask, don't tell by the end of the year. admiral mike mullen reports ending the ban on gay service

members. he told the armed services committee it would be "the right thing to do." so, don't ask, don't tell. obviously making a comeback in conversations. also, since president obama mentioned it in the state of the union address. so our joe carter asked how you -- and you told him really how you feel about gays in the military. >> reporter: i'm joe carter, and this is hln's "views from the street." we're talking to people about issues, issues affecting their lives. are you familiar with the policy in the military, don't ask, don't tell? >> mm-hmm. >> i have two cousins that are in the army. >> reporter: do you think sexual orientation in the military matters? >> it doesn't matter at all. >> it shouldn't matter. >> it should be open. >> it often presents a challenging situation for an institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> well, i think it matters because of the situations that you put them in. the close quarters, and i think sometimes that would promote something that might not happen ordinarily.

>> there are a lot of closed-minded people everywhere in the world. i'm sure it would have an effect even though i would like to ideally think it wouldn't. >> some folks in the military would be very challenged by that. but, you know -- >> reporter: does it matter to you personally? >> it doesn't matter to me. >> it's almost like saying, you're allowed to die for us, but you're not allowed to do what you want. >> reporter: do you think it matters, sexual orientation in the military? does not matter? >> it does not matter. >> he's a former marine. >> we never asked. >> we never asked him, he never told. >> everything's so open now. i think it creates a lot of the problems. >> reporter: you think it should remain? >> yeah. >> creates more awkward moments in the military than if it's just -- >> reporter: get it out there? >> yeah. >> who is it to say this you can't be gay and be in the army or do what feel. it's your boat. paddle it however you want. >> i think if you're going to put your life on the line for

the country, sexual orientation should have nothing to do with that. >> reporter: i'm joe carter, and i'll see you on the street. let's talk about haiti, the whole haiti situation there. it doesn't look good at the moment for about ten americans who were arrested for trying to take 33 kids out of haiti without permission. the u.s. state department said that group's organization, the new life children's refuge, isn't on their list of international adoption agencies. haiti's prime minister says it's clear the group of baptists were trying to take a bus load of children across the border into the dominican republic without papers. he goes on to say, some of those kids have living parents, and he says the group knew what they were doing was wrong. they're not charged with anything, but haiti wants the case to send a message against human trafficking. the kids are now in the care of an orphanage in port-au-prince, and some adoption advocates are calling for a temporary ban on new adoptions from haiti. if you spend much time in

airports, listen to this shocker. a new report claims thousands of passengers take off every year aboard planes that should be grounded. find out why they're still allowed to fly.

well, i know you, along with millions of others, may have flown on planes that never should have taken off. a "usa today" investigation finds since 2003, at least 65,000 u.s. flights took off with maintenance problems that should have kept them grounded. the investigation blames lax oversight and repair work that was either outsourced or uncertified. the faa and airline industry say they do enforce the highest possible safety standards. the "usa today" investigation comes almost a full year after the disaster in buffalo that killed 50 people. a just-released ntsb report

found not only safety lapses in that crash, but other serious shortcomings involving pilot training, fatigue, long commutes and low wages. we want you to weigh in on this. richelle carey is here with what you're saying about it, basically we're asking, gosh, are you afraid to fly at this point? >> some people are, christi. other people say, you know what, you just have to move on with your life. we want to know, are you more worried than ever to fly? we've had a lot of pilots responding to this information. let's get on the phones and talk to some. ben is a pilot, retired airline pilot calling from florida. that's a great place to retire. and ben, where do you think we should be focusing our concerns? >> caller: it's two parts. the large major carriers flying big jet equipment like boeing airplanes, i so much agree with the other pilots calling in. there's no problems there. the mechanics, you know, when you have a concern and you call

about maintenance, the mechanic comes to the airplane, he has to put his name on that sheet that he's addressed the problem. every time he does that, he puts his job and his life at risk. so, you know, they're very conscientious. >> and you would personally put any of your family members on those airlines at any time? >> caller: any major carrier. but here's the problem. the affiliate commuter airlines that have, you know, people buy a ticket and they think they're getting on a major airline because the name is written all over the airplane. like colgan, it's not the same. >> like the plane that went down in buffalo? >> caller: right. you don't have the experience level in the pilots, you don't have the experience level in the mechanics. as hard as they try to make it the same level of safety, everybody involved, it's just not. it can't be. >> are those the regional carriers, are those the ones where the pilots get your experience because you have to start somewhere? >> caller: exactly. that's an entry into mid-level jobs, and that's where they get

their experience and usually move on to the majors. but when they go to the majors, they start at the bottom. the co-pilot is at the bottom of the list. by the time you get to be a captain you've got thousands and thousands of hours and lots of experience. but you don't have that in the little commuters. they're just starting. >> in light of what happened with the colgan plane that went down, are you confident that anything is going to change now that a light has been shed on some of the concerns that you have? >> caller: oh, sure. i'm sure that -- and don't get me wrong, i'm not saying people involved don't try hard. >> right, absolutely. >> caller: the faa does the absolute best they can. and those are sterling people that take their jobs very seriously. but they're very shorthanded. their emphasis spread out over the whole industry. so it's not the fault of the individual inspectors, it's just that, you know, we have this huge airline system now, and we don't have the people that we

need. >> ben, thank you for that conversation. i appreciate it. got another pilot who also wants to get in on the conversation. greg also in florida. greg, you're with a major carrier. what are your concerns? >> caller: one of the -- ben is right on, first of all, i'd like to say. he expressed the issues from a retiring pilot's perspective. me as more of an up and coming, of course, i've been with the airlines about 20 years. my view is that the mechanical issues have been solved at the major airlines. but the -- it's the pilot issues, the human factor that has been totally left out of the airline safety equation. you know, there's a lot of pilot issues -- i mean, we're working with 1950s technology for our manuals in the cockpit, when, you know, most people have more information on their iphone than we get in the cockpit. >> okay. all right. how do you get problems like that fixed? >> caller: well, we bring these

issues to the airline managements, and it's a money issue for them a lot of times. a lot of the issues are where the airlines have tried to cut costs. they've -- this is the area that they've left out, you know? the pilot is doing more things to try to make the airlines safer. >> greg, let me ask you this before we run out of time. how should that make us passengers feel? >> caller: well, just know that know that your pilots are there working hard. but i don't -- they need to get the airlines involved to try to help the pilots do their job, you know? do a better job. >> greg, thanks for calling in. we're really glad. we need the feedback from the pilots on this for sure. we want feedback from the passengers as well. rene wrote this. you are more likely to get struck by lightning twice than be in a plane crash. my answer is, no, i'm not worried. michael said this. faulty mechanics, pilots apparently not paying attention

and overshooting their destinations by hundreds of miles. michael says he'll pass. do you feel safe when you fly? maybe what you just heard from some of the pilots, maybe that helped you out some. share your views on airline safety. call us right now at 1-877-tell-hln. you can always send us an e-mail, we read though, too, cnn.com/hln. or text us to hlntv. standard text rates apply. we'll keep having this discussion throughout the day. a discussion absolutely worth having. >> isn't it though. thank you so much, richelle. >> reporter: sure. there's another discussion that's been going on a lot lately. the toyota recall. we've been talking about that. it has already had a major impact on owners, many who are concerned about the safety of their vehicles. what will the impact be on the company's bottom line is this really, are buyers fleeing the one-time automaker. >> that's a great question,

because what we just got in the last ten minutes, christi, is evidence that buyers are fleeing toyota. at least they did in january. the numbers from january, u.s. sales for toyota were down 16% from a year ago. that is far worse than the 12% decrease that was expected by auto tracker. a large reason for this because on january 26th, they suspended all the sales of eight of their models, including their very popular toyota camry. that accounts for 60% of their inventory. so no surprise that their sales were hit dramatically in the month of january. compare that to some of their to mess tick competitors and it's an even more grim story. look at ford, ford sales were up 24% in january. gm sales were up 14%. nissan sales were higher. but chrysler and honda fell, but it's toyota that's the big story. consumers very frustrated with the state of toyota right now. ford, however, benefiting from that, picking up some of their market share. we went into the streets of new

york and asked people around here, how are you feeling about toyota? do you know about the recall? what do you think this means for the company? take a listen to what they told us. >> well, it's going to be a lot of cars and people are probably not going to have the respect for toyota as they once maybe perhaps had. >> my parents have decided they will not be getting another toyota. ever. >> toyota always seemed like a brand you could trust. it almost makes me feel like an american car. and that's the way things used to be. the japanese cars were always cleaner, better, easier to run. >> things happen. they'll fix it. they'll be fine. things have happened in the automotive business like this all the time. they'll fix it. i'm sure they'll rectify it. it's a great company. >> we'll see what it means for toyota. but if you're one of the people with the recalled cars, you want to know how to deal with it, you can go to this story on fortune.com, cnn money.com, where toyota went wrong. again, the preliminary numbers out of toyota not good news at

all for their sales. >> poppy, thank you so much for the update. good to see you. this year, there are double the number of nominees for the best picture oscar. the oscar nominations made this morning. not without a couple of surprises. "showbiz tonight's" brooke anderson has her take.

it is back to ten movies in the best picture category for the oscars. "showbiz tonight's" brooke anderson is there. what struck you most?

>> reporter: you know, i was a little bit surprised, christi, by the inclusion of some of the films and exclusion of others in that newly expanded best picture category. take, for example "the blind side" a wonderful drama starring sandra bullock. it did make room which is wonderful, because this movie has a lot of commercial appeal. it's already made more than $200 million at the box office. the academy hoping to broaden the appeal of the oscars, get some more eyeballs, hopefully boost those ratings. this movie "the blind side" and sandra bullock who was also nominated for an individual oscar might just do that. many thought last summer's sleeper hit the hangover might squeeze into that best picture category. but it was not to be. it did win the golden globe. it has raked in nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. but alas, it was not nominated.

christi, "star trek" was another film discussed as having a shot at best picture contention. but it also was shut out. and obviously many of the oscar voters just did not think these movies were of oscar caliber. >> one other thing i thought was interesting in the director category, i think it is, one husband and his ex-wife battling it out in that category? >> reporter: they are battling it out. james cameron trectd "avatar" and his ex-wife directed "the hurt locker." including best picture, also best director. katherine went on the "today" show this morning and actually said, they fully support one another. they root for one another. so the competition is friendly between the two of them. which is great. they're going to be seeing a lot of one another in the next few weeks leading up to the oscars at different events. i'm sure everybody's going to play nice in the acting categories as well. there are some very familiar faces.

you've got meryl streep who has been nominated for her 16th oscar. george clooney. and the man to beat is this guy, jeff bridges, for his portrayal as a down-and-out country singing. he won the golden globe and sag ag award for that portrayal. we'll have more on the oscar surprises tonight on "showbiz tonight." plus, j. lo's big battle, listen to this, jennifer lopez's ex-husband is launching a brand-new fight threatening to expose the star's private moments. you want to join us tonight on "showbiz tonight." tv's most provocative entertainment news show 11:00 p.m. eastern and spsk right here on hln. >> real quickly, that involved video, if i read correctly? >> reporter: yes, it does. >> just making sure we were on the same page here. brooke, thank you so much. >> reporter: thanks, christi. some activists are suting a new color scheme for rebuilding

the devastation in haiti. it's green. why they advocate remaking port-au-prince as an earth-friendly city. and can it happen with everything they're dealing with there? stay close.

a woman who wanted to adopt an arizona baby missing for more than a month now has been arrested. we're talking about tammi smith, who's charged with custodial interference and forgery. police kept a close eye on the woman and her husband. the family of the baby's biological father also right now hitting the road to try to find any sign of the baby. he's been missing since christmas. his mother says she took the arizona boy to texas and gave him away to strangers. but elizabeth johnson, that mother, has also claimed she killed gabriel. his father, logan mcquery hopes

that's not true. some of he and his relatives are tracing elizabeth's path trying to find any clue they can. mcquery's asking everyone to help find his son. >> we want everyone around the world and the united states to be looking out. he could be anywhere. we just want everybody to be aware and keep a lookout. >> authorities in san antonio have cordoned off a section of a landfall 12 miles from the motel where gabriel was last seen. they haven't started searching there, but elizabeth johnson is behind bars in arizona charged with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference. florida police say a 43-year-old lottery winner who disappeared nine months ago was the victim of a homicide. abraham shakespeare's body was found last week buried behind a concrete slab. shakespeare won $30 million back in 2006 in the lottery. he was last seen in april. but wasn't reported missing

until november. so far, police have not arrested anyone in connection with his death. miami police have just released a sketch of a man seen with a model hours before her body was found in a trash bin. 26-year-old paula sladewski was last seen in early january in a nightclub. sladewski's charred body was found in a dumpster hours later. there's a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. a new york lawmaker easy child rapists should not be allowed free access to people's homes. he wants to ban high-risk sex offenders from holding jobs such as building superintendents, or rent collectors. he says he's outraged by the case specifically of a 57-year-old william barneson. the "new york post" reports he's

a level 3 sex offender in charge of three buildings on the city's upper west side. women say he sexually harassed them and pressured them to have sex with him in ex change for represent breaks. >> and i said, you want me -- if i had sex with you is what you're saying? he said, not just once. >> after the convictions and after the jail time and after all these years, he's still violating boundaries. he's still acting in an inappropriate manner. >> he served 14 years in prison for a series of sexual attacks. some of the victims were as young as 5 years old. charges are on the way for ten americans arrested for trying to take 33 kids out of haiti without per miss. we've just learned haitian officials are about to officially charge the group and send them before a tribunal. haiti's prime minister said it's clear the group of baptists were trying to take a bus load of children across the border into the dominican republic without papers.

he says it's clear, too, that some of those kids have living parents. and that the group knew what they were doing was wrong. they're not charged with anything, but haiti wants the case to send a message against human trafficking. the pastor of their church says they were acting out of love. >> i understand that a lot of uproar was caused by information that not, you know, conveying the right message about our people. they believe they had the permission that they needed to do what they were doing. and i will stand by that. that certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response, because we as like everyone else saw the incredible devastation and we knew we had resources that could help. that's why we responded. >> the kids are now in the care of an orphanage in the port-au-prince orphanage. advocates are calling for a temporary ban for new adoptions from haiti. a haitian dad came forward to say his two daughters were on the bus headed to the dominican republic.

now they want their kids back. she said she put her daughter on the bus hoping to give her a better life. >> translator: i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute. and then i kissed them both g d good-b good-bye, and told them don't forget daddy. i told her to call me once in a while just so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was fine. >> the americans told our sister network cnn they believed all the children they attempted to bus into the dominican republic were orphans or had been abandoned. it is, of course, the middle of winter. height of snow skiing season. medical researchers are urging everyone, use your heads when you hit the ski trail. susan hendricks shows us why. >> reporter: going out to the slopes? don't forget your helmet. a new study published in the canadian medical association

journal finds helmets can reduce the risk of head injuries by 35% in skiers and snowboarders. according to researchers, head injuries account for up to 19% of neck injuries, and up to 4% of all injuries reported by ski patrols and rescue teams worldwide. traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death and serious injury in snowboarders and skiers. for example, you may remember actress natasha richardson died from a head injury while on the slopes last year. she was not wearing a helmet. investigators looked at 12 studies conducted in north america, europe and asia on helmet use and injuries. they found helmets to be helpful when used in recreational activities. study researchers noted between 2 and 5 out of every 10 head injuries could have been prevented if a helmet is worn. they're encouraging helmets in outdoor winter sports no matter what the age and ability of the

athlete. >> a new study finds an abstinence-only sex education class may delay middle schoolers from having sex. some say this teaches ab sti nen works. your views on this in a moment. stay close.

results from a two-year study may help to decide how your school teaches sex ed. it found fewer teenagers had sex after an experimental

abstinence-only class. the abstinence course showed the kids the drawbacks of having sex. it did not preach saving sex for marriage. two years after the classes, though, a third of the abstinence-only kids said they had sex. nearly half the kids from the other sex ed classes said they had sex. none of the classes seemed to change whether the kids had unprotected sex, but this is one of our "your views" stories. richelle carey is, let's say getting an earful from all of us, shall i say? >> people are frustrated. people want to know what is the right way to talk to kids about sex. everybody is looking for the right way. we want to know, do you think that an abstinence-only program is the way to go? got this comment from leslie on my facebook page. she says although i feel that more than abstinence should be taut, any sex education is better than none. and a lot of people that have been responding today say they're not opposed to abstinence only, but think it may not be enough.

let's talk this out now. kathy is calling from des moines, iowa. kathy, you like the idea of abstinence education, yeah? >> caller: yes, i do. i raised three daughters as a single parent. i now have five grandchildren, four of which are teenagers. and i really believe that if they would have concentrated more on focusing a little bit more on the abstinence part of sex education, i think that would have been a big help instead of, you know, telling them about -- so much about the condoms and birth control and all that. let's preach the abstinence part of it a little bit more. and again, i agree with some of the other people that have spoke that it's got to be instilled at home. >> sure. >> caller: they can't say one thing at home and see another thing at school. >> apparently what was different about this abstinence-only program compared to others is,

it didn't necessarily tell the kids that they had to wait for marriage. the kids may get that message at home, of course. but that wasn't what the school necessarily taught them. it just focused more on telling them to at least wait. how do you feel about that? >> caller: oh, i agree. i agree. >> it just kind of -- it left out the morality part of it. i guess what you're saying is, you think if it's going to come from home anyway, maybe that's the part that would come from home. >> caller: yeah. and like i said, you know, when you have your boy/girl movies at school, and all that stuff, you think, you know, instead of focusing so much on how you have sex, and what happens when you have sex, i think they need to put in more about the abstinence and the things that can happen motion alli. you know, the offcast of that. it's up to us as adults to do that. >> kathy, thank you for your phone call.

ruthie, you taught sex education, and i suspect, and i don't want to put words in your mouth, but i suspect you might disagree a little bit with kathy? >> caller: i tend to see things from a logical perspective, not ethereal and religious one. you used a wonderful survey they used in philadelphia and you left out the most important fact is that those 569 children were not just children in the philadelphia schools, but rather african-american students. already, right there, i don't trust the results. >> why is that? >> caller: philadelphia doesn't only have african-american children. if we're going to do the program correctly, and the study, let's use all the children in the philadelphia school system. not just african-americans. i'm looking at the survey, so i know exactly what you're talking about. >> i understand that, too, but we also felt race wasn't necessarily relevant to this particular study. >> caller: yes, it is. it's relevant. >> explain.

>> caller: children have to see what is more logical. if you explain to them the medical problems, if you explain to them how aids develops, then they will have more logic involved in their decision-making. >> but you didn't still explain how race was relevant to the study, but you haven't explained -- >> caller: the children said they had had done this, the children said they had done that. teenagers won't tell you when they're even sexually active, they won't tell you the truth. that can't possibly be a logical result. children that were taught how to have self-esteem and how to work, and i taught them technology, those kids were able to go on and get actual jobs and get off welfare. that eliminated their want to get pregnant. they found pregnancy an inconvenience, so they were more interested in working and seen by the community as trusting and participating members of the community versus welfare recipients. and teaching them technology

allowed me to raise their self-esteem level. >> i understand -- >> caller: they didn't -- >> i understand you're saying abstinence doesn't work, and i'm not sure still where you're going with the race issue. nikki wrote this. i believe it is the parents' obligation to teach the moral implications of sexual activity and the school's obligation to teach the science of it. she says more information is better than no information. got this from margaret. teaching abstinence will only raise their curiosity. other comments have agreed with margaret on that. we want to know, do you think abstinence-only education can work? why, or why not? call us at 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. you can also jump to the conversation in the facebook world, just search richelle carey and hln and chuck and christi have great discussions on their pages as well. >> richelle, thank you. this year, there are double the number of nominees for the best picture oscar, and this is

one of them. "the her locker" tied with "avatar" for most nominations. we're breaking down the oscar nods for you next.

a 3-d fantasy and gritty thriller about the reality of modern warfare lead to the oscar contenders. nominees have been announced. james cameron's "avatar" and "the hurt locker" both got nine nods. tom o'neill joins us from l.a. right now. so good to see you. thank you. >> same here, christi. >> let me read through best picture. up for best picture here, there are ten instead of the usual five, avatar, the blind side, drist 9, an education, the hurt locker, "inglourious basterds," precious, a serious man, up, and up in the air. what's your take? surprised by anything? >> yeah, the blind side blindsided the oscar experts because we thought that

slot would go to invictus. maybe we thought it was too much like the lifetime movie of the week. >> that's surprising. isn't she up for best actor? actress, i should say? >> yes. and it was a very close race up until right now between her and meryl streep. i think by the fact that the "blind side" got into the best picture race show the oscar voters take it seriously. that probably pushes sandra to the forward in that race. >> "avatar" has done so well at the box office. but that doesn't always equate to an oscar. >> no, it doesn't. but in this case, it's james cameron who's king of the oscars. this is the guy who won 11 academy awards for "titanic." the problem with the movie is it's sci-fi and no sci-fi movie has ever won best picture before. today with the ten best picture nominees, two more were nominated. as you were saying earlier this is really a race between

cameron's "avatar" and his ex-wife's "the hurt locker." it's a classic david and goliath race here in hollywood. >> let's get to the actors. we have actor in a leading role, jeff bridges for "crazy crazy . george clooney for up in the air. collin firth for a single man. morgan freeman for invictus, and jeremy renner for "the hurt locker." >> it's a slam dunk for jeff bridges here. they love the big bombastic performances. recently we saw daniel day-lewis win and forest whitaker for last king of scotland. and here he stumbles around drunk for two hours. that will always get you an oscar. so he can't really lose. >> that's great. let's get to leading actress. we have sandra bullock in the blind side. helen mirren, the last station.

carey mulligan, an education. help me out with this gabourey sidibe for precious and meryl streep, julie & julia. sidibe is so striking for people because she's never acted before this, has she? >> no, she hasn't. she had been in a school play once and she's terrific. this is a race between sandra bullock and meryl streep. meryl streep just set a new record for the most nominations. she is at 16. sandra bullock has never been nominated and it's all this year about her, but meryl streep, it's been 27 years since she's won and a lot of people in hollywood are rooting for her. >> tom o'neil, writer for the l.a. times award sight theenvelope.com. thank you. one of the military's most controversial policies is on the

table. what pentagon brass are saying about don't ask, don't tell. not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

last month, this woman wasn't even able to get around inside of her own home. they chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store! if you or a loved one live with limited mobility call the scooter store! no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to guarantee your complete satisfaction. if we pre-qualify you for a new power chair or scooter and your claim isn't approved, the scooter store will give you your power chair or scooter free. that's our guarantee. they were so helpful and nice. they filed all the paperwork, and medicare and my insurance covered the cost. we can work directly with medicare or with your insurance company. we can even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it!

so don't wait any longer, call the scooter store today. baby gabriel now missing more than a month. police have arrested a woman who wanted to adopt him. presents a really challenging situations for an institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> it matters because of the situations that you put them in,s close quarters. >> from the nation's street corners to the halls of congress, the debate continues about gais in the military. it's raging anew. >> you have 45 seconds sand born. go! >> a grim drama about solders in the heat of battle in iraq.

actually they're defusing some mines. dynamite at the box office. can this intense reality "the hurt locker" beat out the high flying fantasy "avatar" on oscar night? hi everybody. i'm chuck roberts. we're following breaking news in arizona in the matter of an arrest in the case of missing 8-month-old gabriel johnson. tammi smith on the right, the arizona woman who tried to adopt the baby, is in custody arrested today on charges of custodial interference, conspiracy to commit custodial interference, and forgery. she and her husband have been considered persons of interest for weeks. gabriel's mother, 23-year-old elizabeth johnson, was arrested in december. she's charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and custodial interference. johnson has changed her story a number of times about what she did with the baby boy. miami police have released a sketch of a man seen with a model just hours before her body was found in a trash bin. 26-year-old paula sladewski was

last seen at a nightclub in miami at 7:00 in the morning. surveillance cameras captured her leaving the club with a man following close behind. police say they hope someone will recognize the man. sladewski's charred body was found in a dumpster in north miami hours later. there's a $15,000 reward for information leading to an a arrest. defense secretary robert gates is launching a process that would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military providing congress repeals the current ban. gates told a senate committee how he would go about ending the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> the question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it. we have received our orders from the commander in chief, and we are moving out accordingly. however, we can also take this process only so far as the ultimate decision rests with you, the congress. >> the secretary is ordering the

pentagon to complete its review of don't ask, don't tell by the end of the year. joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen supports end the ban. he told the armed services committee it would be the right thing to do. don't ask, don't tell is indeed making a comeback in the conversation since president obama mentioned it in the state of the union address. our joe carter asked and you told him how you feel about gays in the military. >> i'm joe carter and this is hln's "views from the street." we're talking to people about issues, issues affecting their lives. are you familiar with the policy in the military don't ask don't tell. >> uh-huh. >> i have two cousins that are in the army. >> do you think it matters? do you think sexual orientation in the army matters? >> i don't think it matters at all approximate. >> it shouldn't matter. >> it should be open. >> it often presents a really challenging situation for an institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> well, i think it matters because of the situations that you put them in, the close quarters and i think sometimes

that would promote something that might not happen ordinarily. >> there are a lot of close-minded people everywhere in the world, so i'm sure it would have an affect even though i would like to ideally think that it wouldn't. >> probably some folks in the military would be very challenged by that, but, you know -- >> does it matter to you personally? >> it doesn't matter to me. >> it's almost like saying you're allowed to die for us, but you're not allowed to do what you want. >> do you think it matters sexual orientation in the milita military? >> no? does not matter. >> he's a former marine. >> we never asked and he's never told. >> everything is so open now, i think it creates a lot of problems. >> so you think it should remain? >> yes. >> it creates more awkward moments i think in the military. >> just get it out there. >> yeah. >> who is it to say that you can't be gay and be in the army or do what you feel. you know, it's your boat, you

know. paddle is however you want. >> i think if you're going to put your life on the line for the country, your sexual orientation should have nothing to do with that. >> i'm joe carter. >> wisdom from the street. joe carter is out there every day trying to get opinions from you, our viewers. thanks to him. ten americans went before a judge in haiti who will decide what charges they'll face for trying to take 33 kids out of the country without permission. we've just learned the judge will hand a list of charges to a tribunal jurist who will in turn try the group. haiti wants the case to send a strong message against human trafficking. an idaho pastor involved with the group's effort insists they were acting out of love. >> i understand that a lot of uproar is caused by information that is not, you know, conveying the right message about our people. they believed they had the permission that they needed to do what they were doing, and i will stand by that. it certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response

because we like everyone else saw the incredible devastation and we knew that we had resources that could help, so that's why we responded. >> right now the kiz ads are in orphanage in port-au-prince. a haitian dad has come forward to say his two daughters were on the bus headed to the dominican republic. now lele and adriem want their kids back. she said she put her kids on the bus hoping to give them a better life. >> translator: i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute, then i kissed them both good-bye and told them don't forget daddy. >> i told her to call me once in a while just so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was fine. >> in a jailhouse interview, the americans told our sister network cnn they believed all the children they attempted to bus into the dominican republic were either orphans or had been

abandoned. if you spend much time in an airport you may be in for a shock because a brand new report claims thousands of passengers take off every year aboard planes that should be grounded. find out why they're allowed to fly.

a french court is looking into who is to plame 230r -- blame for the concord crash in 2000. three of the people were responsible for the concord's design. the supersonic jet crashed just after takeoff from charles de gaulle airport in pairs. a tire blew on takeoff when it struck a strip of metal. the strip allegedly fell off a continental plane moments easterly year. it sent debris in the wing causing the fuel tank to rupture and sparking a deadly fire. almost exactly a year after a plane crashed into a home in buffalo, the ntsb is meeting to

determine what caused the crash and to make safety recommendations. all 49 people on board and one man on the ground in his house were killed in the february 12th, 2009, crash of continental connection flight 3407. that crash raised concerns about whether pilots with low fare airlines are vulnerable to fatigue, long distance commutes, and inadequate training. and you along with millions of others may have flown on a plane that never should have taken off. an investigation found since 2003 at least 65,000 u.s. flights took off with maintenance issue that is should have kept them grounded. the investigation blames lax oversight and repair work that's outsourced or uncertified. the faa and airline industry say they enforce the highest possible safety standards. well, you probably know where we're going with this. the investigation comes about a year after the colgan air

disaster in buffalo. 50 people died. this latest report finds not only safety lapses in that kroosh b crash, but serious shortcomings. richelle carey is here with "your views." a lot of angst out there. >> very much so, chuck. we've had passengers weighing in, also pilots weighing in. they've been calling, wanting to talk about this, wanting people to hear where they're coming from, and you talked about low wages. our first caller is craig. you are -- craig, you're a pilot, correct? >> caller: yes, i am. >> you want to talk about the low wages. how does that factor in? >> caller: well, in the regional airlines a lot of the jobs are being taken by young guys coming up that will accept the job working for $18,000 a year. an experienced pilot wouldn't take the job. they need to do something about the wages to make this job better for the people doing it. a lot of the guys that have several thousands of hours, like

myself, would never take the job. >> okay. so are you saying it's a matter of you get what you pay for? >> caller: not necessarily. i don't want to sound, you know, bitter towards regional pilots, not at all, i have flown with a lot of them. they're great pilots. the problem is though you do not want to -- you want to get somebody in the cockpit that's experienced. you want somebody that knows what they're doing. in order to do that, you're going to have to pay more than 18000 as year. >> but also at some point pilots got their experience from somewhere. >> caller: definitely, definitely. that's the thing. a lot of guys taking those jobs are just starting out. they have to start out somewhere. like i said, a lot of them, they're fantastic pilots. >> you don't want to paint everyone with a broad brush. >> caller: exactly, exactly. but saying that if you need more experienced pilots and that's what you're looking for, you're

going to have to pay more. >> and that's what these investigations have found is exactly what you're saying. craig, thank you for your phone call and stay safe in the air. we got another pilot calling from florida, and michael, i guess you have been watching, you have been listening. we had a caller earlier who really pointed a finger at some of the regional airlines. you took exception to some of that. >> caller: yes, yes, i do, richelle. thank you for having me. the last caller you had in your last segment, the first caller, i believe he was also from florida. a lot of us from florida. he made a comment about the lack of experience at the regional carriers and traditionally he was absolutely correct. the path of evolution, so to speak, was the fact you would start out at the regional carriers and then move on or graduate to the major airlines. >> right. >> caller: and that nowadays is actually not really accurate anymore. there's been a paradigm shift

happen, and, of course, the airline industry as a whole is largely driven upon economics, as are a lot of other industries, and a lot of the major carriers are not hiring as much as they used to or in the numbers they used to, and so as a result a lot of these pilots with the experience are being retained by the regional carriers. >> so what you're saying a lot of experienced pilots that maybe in the past would be flying the bigger planes are actually flying the smaller regional planes. is that what you're saying? >> caller: they are. they're staying at the regional carries and it has to do with a lot of things, number one, the major carriers aren't really hiring as much as they used to, and another driving factor is that, you know, people's catch phrase is quality of life. they have been at the regional carriers for five or seven years now. they're senior enough to hold the type of schedules they want to hold and they're content with staying there. >> michael, let me ask you something. when we're telling people the stories like this "usa today"

investigation about how some of the planes are going up in the air that shouldn't, and to be fair it's a very small fraction of the millions of flights that have gone up in the past six years, but, you know, what would you tell me, what would you tell people that are listening, should they be scared? >> caller: absolutely not. that's one of the things we want to communicate to the folks out there flying, whether it be folks going to disneyland on vacation or the veteran seasoned flyer who flies three or four days a week is when your mechanic comes out to the airplane and you express an interest or a concern with that aircraft, as a pilot and that mek mick puchanic puts his or h signature in that logbook, they are not only putting their career but their license and they're certifications through the faa on the line. so you can rest assured that if they have a problem with it, they're definitely going to speak up. >> all right. michael, thank you for the conversation and the

information. appreciate it very much. yeah, it would be nice to be in florida with all the pilots. pretty cool. all right. people are chiming in on facebook as well. ondino wrote this, there's always room for improvement p.m. i'm far less afraid of flying than i am of traveling long distances in the car p.m. amber wrote, i have never liked flying and never will, but i just have to have faith when i get on board that god will keep me safe and if it's my time to leave this earth, it is just my time. do you feel safe? call us right now at 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. you can always text, text the word views plus your comment and name to hlntv. we'll continue this discussion throughout the day.

president obama will meet with the dalai lama weather china likes it or not. china is warning the white house any meeting will damage u.s./china relations. the daily llama arrives in the country late they are month. repairs for your recalled toyotas could begin as soon as today. toyota said the parts to stop gas pedals from sticking should arrive at dealerships today and tomorrow. the company estimates the problem should take about a half hour to fix. there's a lot of them to fix. some safety experts have raised concerns that electronics problems may be behind the gas pedal sticking. toyota says it's confident its found the cause. a louisville man is in intensive care crashing his 2010

toyota camry over a cliff and into a creek. that camry is one of the eight models involved in the recall. paula allen said her husband was driving with three friends saturday when the car suddenly took off at a high speed. she said he tried to brake with both feet but it wouldn't stop. >> he said the car just accelerated, and when it did, they flew off the cliff into the creek. the car flipped over, and they felt water coming up in the car. >> all four men were rushed to a hospital. allen may have a spinal cord injury. he's lost feeling in his legs. time now for the help desk where we get you answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour, greg mcbride is an analyst with bankrate.com. manisha is a financial author. ryan asks my wife and i are buying a new home. the closing is the firtist weekf february.

we qualify for the $6,500 tax credit. can we claim our new home on our 2009 taxes. this tax credit complicated. what should they do? >> they can claim the tax credit on the 2009 taxes. if they have already filed their taxes for 2009 by the time the closing takes place, they can still claim the credit by filing an amended return. you do have to file form 5405 and keep in mind you're going to have to show that you actually qualify for the credit so be sure to include a copy of your settlement statement as well as proof of that home that they owned previously. so things like property tax records, mortgage interest statements for at least five of the last eight years. >> i don't think a lot of people realize how many people qualify for this credit. it's a benefit to many people, not just people who are buying for the very first time ever. ann marie from toronto asks, my daughter was given u.s. savings bond when she was born. she's now 22 years old and would like to know how she can cash them in. this is something your grandma always gives you. >> it's true, and god bless grandma for that. so if i understand this question

correctly, both the mom and the daughter right now are in canada. three step process. go to the u.s. embassy or consulate to get your signature notified. there's one not easily available you can use form pd-1522 and you make copies of all your documents. you will mail it into the bureau of public debt, which is in parkersburg, west virginia, and if this is mumbo jumbo, you can go to google and type in u.s. embassy canada savings bonds. you will get all the information there or go to savingsbond.gov. >> treasury.gov a great place to go. the help desk is all about getting you answers. send me an e-mail to gerri a gerri@cnn.com. you can also pick up the latest issue of "money" magazine. this year there are double the number of nominees for best picture oscar and this is one of them. "the hurt locker."

it's tied with "avatar" for most nominations. wem bre we will break down the oscar nods next.

♪ >> welcome to comcast local edition. i'm donna richardson. and my guest this hour is doug gansler, maryland attorney general. thank you so much for coming in. >> good to be here. thanks. >> we have issues with how we elect our judges, and it's really problematic, so explain to everyone how we can at least address this issue. >> it is problematic. what happens is the governor appoints somebody to be a judge, and then they are on the ball let the very next election, and the problem with that is three-fold.

one is we are polite sizing people that ought not to be politesized. second, and the supreme court just had a case about this last year, which called in to question, the very nature of campaign contributions to judges. the supreme court said in that particular case, the judge had toe recuse himself because he received money from one of the lawyers that was appearing before him. they didn't say where the line is, but it really points out the problem of these people running for judge, and the first people they call -- in fact the only people they can call are the people that know they are the judge, which are the people that appear before them. and the third problem we have is minorities on the bench. we have 24 jurisdictions in maryland. two are ma joerty/minority.

[ technical difficulty. ] >> this problem has a problem, but it's not in that contested election format. >> excellent. moving along the chesapeake bay is under attack from so many different areas. explain the no discharge zone. >> every year i have one sort of priority bill environment, and we passed the last three, and they have all had different impacts. this year we are trying to deal with human waist. so that they dump holding takens in to the water. it's not the big problem, but it does contribute 1% of all of the nitrogen. most boaters have tanks that bring in to the arena, and it goes in to the wastewater treatment system. look, you wouldn't want to be in

the bathtub with 1% of human waste, or be in the pool, so we want to make sure the whole chesapeake bay is a no discharge zone. >> making salvia illegal. >> that's a drug they sell in ocean city and college campuses. it is illegal in all of the states. kids have died from using it. if you type it in on youtube, you will see kids filming each other using it. today it is legal to be sold in maryland to 9-year-old, 8-year-old kids, and they do buy it. so we want to make that illegal for at least for juveniles here in the state of maryland. >> excellent. unfortunately we have run out of time, but thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> if you are interested in what

comcast is doing community, go to on-demand and click go to on-demand and click "get local."

we're following breaking news out of arizona. there's been a an arrest in the matter of baby gabriel. tammi smith, the arizona woman who wanted to adopt that baby, is in custody on charges of custodial interference, conspiracy to commit custodial interference and forgery. she and her husband jack have been considered persons of interest since the investigation began. gabriel's mother, 23-year-old elizabeth johnson, was arrested in december. she's charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and custodial interference. she's changed her story a couple of times about what she did with

gabriel. miami police have released this sketch of a man seen with a model hours before her body turned up in a trash bin. 26-year-old paula sladewski was last seen in early january early in the morning at a nightclub in miami. surveillance cameras captured her leaving the club at 7:00 in the morning with a man following closely behind. police say they hope somebody will recognize the man from this sketch. sladewski's charred body was found in a dumpster in north miami hours later. there's a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. ten americans went before a judge in haiti today who will decide what charges they'll face for trying to take 33 kids out of the country without permission. we have just learned that the judge will hand a list of charges to a tribunal judge who will in turn try the group. haiti wants this case to send a strong message against human trafficking. an idaho pastor involved with the group's effort insists they were acting out of love. >> i understand that a lot of uproar is caused by information

that is not, you know, conveying the right message about our people. they believe they had the permission they needed to do what they were doing, and i will stand by that. it certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response because we, like everybody else, saw the incredible devastation and we knew that we had resources that could help. so that's why we responded. >> right now the kids are in the care of an orphanage in port-au-prince. some adoption advocates are calling for a temporary ban on new adoptions from haiti. a haitian dad has come forward to say his two daughters were on the bus headed to the dominican republic and now they want their kids back. she put her daughter on the bus hoping to give her a better life. >> translator: i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute, then i kissed them both good-bye and told them don't forget daddy.

>> translator: i told her to call me once in a while just so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was fine. >> in a jailhouse interview, the americans told our sister network cnn they believed all the children they attempted to bus into the dominican republic were orphans or had been abandoned. the defense secretary robert gates has launched a process that will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military providing congress repeals the current ban. he told a senate committee today how he would go about ending the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> a guiding principle of our efforts will be to minimize disruption and polarization within the ranks with special attention paid to those serving on the front lines. i am confident this can be achieved. >> gates is ordering the pentagon to complete its review of don't ask, don't tell by the end of the year, and the joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen supports ending the ban on gay service members. he told the armed services committee it would be the right thing to do. and the congressman who

holds the pentagon's purse strings is in a suburban virginia hospital. a spokesman says pennsylvania democrat john murtha is in the intensive care unit for treatment of complications following a fairly routine surgery. the 77-year-old chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee had his gal bladder removed last week by laparoscopic surgery, usually it's an uncomplicated process. murtha was the first vietnam veteran elected to congress. president obama will meet with the dalai lama whether china like it is or not. china is warning the white house it will damage u.s./china relations. he's not scheduled a meeting with the president. washington, d.c., a little greener because a five cent tax on plastic bags is proving effective. retailers get a small cut of the taxes raised, but most of the money is going to efforts to clean up the river. another benefit, more people are carrying their groceries out of the store in reusable containers, if they remember to

bring them. >> i have the bags in the car, but i always leave it in the car so i'm stuck when i get here. >> i think it's a great idea. >> i don't know why people are so unhappy about it. >> those plastic bags just pile up. nice not to waste those. >> officials say the number of bags used has dropped by half in just a month. an abstinence only sex education may delay middle schoolers from having sex p.m. some call it unrealistic and only a short-term solution. we'll hear "your views" on this next.

a former campaign worker is

making new claims about the affair between john edwards and rielle hunter. andrew young says the former presidential candidate asked him to claim that he fathered the woman's child because edwards said his wife was dying. young's version of events is in a new book that includes a description of how edwards talked him and his wife into letting hunter live in their home until the child was born. shari young recounted that part of the story on abc's "good morning america." >> i listened in on a conversation that he and rielle had with john edwards, and he told us that this would be short-term, that he was going to come clean either after he won or lost the election or after elizabeth passed because he expected -- he told us elizabeth was very, very sick and he did not want her to dinoing this. >> last month john edwards admitted the 2-year-old girl was his daughter. i'm jane velez michel and here's my issue. just when you thought that john edwards sex scandal couldn't get

any sleazier, it does. now there's reports of not one but possibly two alleged sex tapes. his former aide andrew young claims he has a sex tape featuring edwards and a visibly pregnant woman that he believes is edwards' then mistress rielle hunter. hunter admits she made a very private, very personal tape with edwards back in 2006 and wants it back. the problem is hunter had her baby in 2008. she obviously wasn't pregnant for two years. so are they talking about two different personal, private tapes? if these sex tapes do exist, edwards was being even more wildly self-destructive than we first thought. why stop at just one tape? to even think of doing a sex tape when you are running for president is asking to be caught. i'm jane velez michel, and that's my issue. >> don't miss "issues tonight" 7:00 eastern right here on hln. results from a two-year

study may help decide how your school teaches sex ed. it found fewer teens had sex after an experimentally abstinence-only class. the be a sabstinence class show drawbacks of having sex. two years after the classes, a third of the kids said they had sex. nearly half the kids from the other sex ed classes admitted they had sex. none of the classes seemed to change whether kids had unprotected sex. so we've been up and running with this question all day. what do you think of the study results. is it kind of surprising to you? do you think abstinence-only programs really work? ingrid had this to say. show them how much it costs to raise a kid. that will stop them cold. let's go to the phones. penny is on the line in ft. wayne. hey, penny, do you agree with

that comment? >> caller: i kind of do. instead of focusing on the abstinence or using protection, my husband and i enforced the teg n negative impact of teen pregnancy. we told her if she's still riding a back, can't understand high school math, he's not worth derailing your life with problems that comes from stds and pregnancies and he's moving on to girl number 15 and you're left with all these problems. we introduced her to sex very early on, not her personally but, you know, we just explained to her it's a good thing but you wait for those things that are really good in life and you'll enjoy them so much more. >> kids live in the moment they, don't they? >> absolutely. we would take her shopping and point out, you know, just think you can get this now, but if you had a baby, you'd have to choose, diapers or formula. what do you want? >> you're a great mom. debbie is on the line in

cincinnati. do you think abstinence-only programs work? >> caller: abstinence-only is absolutely absurd. if we think teaching our kids math is more important than teaching our children about their own bodies, their own spiritu spirituality, if we don't teach our kids how to protect themselves, all about the diseases, the emotional and spiritual aspect also, and i'll tell what you, chuck, a lot of the adults don't even know it themselves. they need to get their butt into a class, a sex education class. i bet most of them aren't even aware of half of the stuff out there. and the reason that the kids lie is because their parents aren't truthful to them. we've either got parents that are too conservative or too lackadaisical. they're the ones with the kids with a lot of problems. and the girl always loses. so if we're not to give sex education to kids, at least let's teach it to the girls because the girls lose. they get stuck with the baby that they probably didn't want but their parents want.

they don't have a boy. they have this difficult life and whatever their dream was as a young child -- >> it's gone. >> kids don't think of any of that. >> it's a lot more than plumbing, too. >> exactly. parents can't talk to their kids. they should be taught -- i have two daughters, a 24-year-old and a 15-year-old daughter. they're both very different, and if you raise kids well -- that's the biggest thing. parents don't know their kids well. they don't know how to talk to them. >> all kids are different. >> they don't know about their own bodies. >> thank you. comment from facebook. kayla writes, i think this could work for some kids, not all kids. they can learn about abstinence all day at school, but when they get home it's up to the parents to keep the ball rolling. grant writes, it doesn't work to contain the spread of hiv in subsaharan africa. hopefully this study won't be

used as a substitute for teaching the practice of proven birth control techniques to our children. >> we'd love to know what you think. call us toll free, e-mail at cnn.com/hln. we have to make this website address a little colder. you can join the conversation on facebook. you can dive in. it has been a rough week for toyota. the automaker long known for reliability has been tested sorely. will buyers come back after a series of massive recalls?

florida police say a 43-year-old lottery win mother went missing nine months ago was the victim of a homicide p.. abraham shakespeare's body was found buried beneath a concrete slab. he was last seen in april of '09 but he wasn't reported missing until november. so far police have not arrested anyone in his death. check out a wild police chase in glendale, california, at the eastern end of the valley. officers say three robbery

suspects were in a car that crashed and then one of them jumped out, took off running. police in another patrol car managed to run him down, literally run him down. watch this. he just flips over, keeps on running. police said he made it all the way into the mall nearby. he had i had there until the k-9 unit sniffed him out and efforts arrested. a french court is looking into who is to blame for the air france concord crash back in 2000. five people and continental airlines are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the crash of air france flight 4590. three of the people were responsible for the concord's original design. the supersonic jet crashed just after takeoff from charles de gaulle airport in paris. investigators say a tire blew on takeoff when it struck a strip of medal on the runway and that titanium strip penetrated part of the wing and, of course, there's fuel in the wing. it sent debris into that fuel tank, it ruptured, and sparked a deadly fire that killed 113 people. nearly a year after the

crash near buffalo that killed 50 people, the chair of the ntsb says the pilots made critical errors that resulted in ka tas t trophy. all 49 on board and one man in a house were killed february 12th last year in the crash of continental connection flight 3407. the crash raised concerns about whether pilots with low fare airlines are vulnerable to fatigue, long distance commutes, and inadequate training. you along with millions of others may have flown on a plane that should never have taken off. usa today has found in its investigation that since 2003 65,000 u.s. flights took off with maintenance problems that should have kept them grounded. the investigation blames lax oversight and repair work that's either outsourced or uncertified. both the faa and the airline industry say though they enforce the highest possible safety standards. do you agree? do you feel safe when you fly? does a report like this upset you? share us your overall views on airline safety. call us right now toll free

877-tell-hln. e-mail cnn.com/hln. here is the text address, hlntv. standard text rates apply. the toyota recall is still a major story and it's had a major impact on owners, many of whom are concerned about the safety of their vehicles, but what will the impact be on toyota's bottom line? are buyers fleeing the automaker. poppy harlow is in new york with the latest. >> chuck, we're continuing to follow this story, especially today because what came out just an hour or so ago is the u.s. sales numbers for all the major automakers. toyota surprised to the downside with even worse than expected january sales numbers, down 16% from a year ago looking at the numbers. that is worse than expected. and this comes after on january 26th toyota stopped selling eight of its models and those eight models make up 60% of their inventory. so they're huge for toyota and

that's what's weighing on them. this bad news comes for toyota as good news comes for its competitors. you have general motors coming out saying their sales in january were up 14% from a year ago. ford doing even better with sales up 24% from a year ago. also, nissan sales higher. so all of this pushing the market share for toyota down in the u.s. market. that is bad, bad news, but when you head out news. when you head to the streets and talk to customers, they know about the recall and have different views on it. listen to what people told us. >> well, it's going to be a lot of cars. people are not going to have the refect for toyota they once had. >> my parnlts decided they will not get another toyota, ever. >> it seemed like a brand you could trust. almost makes me feel like it's an american car. that's the way things used to be. the japanese cars were cleaner, better, easier to run.

>> things happen. they will fix it. things will be fine. things happen in the automotive business all the time. it's a great company. >> a lot of different feelings on where toyota stands. a lot of questions for people who had cars recalled. i want to point you to the story of where it went wrong. a huge hit for toyota on that snum ber today. >> hundred day and kia are doing well, aren't they? >> honda and chrysler saw their sales fall. asian competitors and domestic are doing better. how long is this going to last for them. >> exactly. thanks. appreciate it. >> you got it. rising home sales are pushing stocks higher today. they have been in triple digits almost the entire session. the housing market continued to recover.

it's put wall street into a buying mood. about ten minutes, actually 8:30 before the end of the day. military should not have to lie about who they are to defend their country. >> i don't think it matters at all. >> it shouldn't matter. >> everything is so open now. it creates a lot of problems.

an arrest in connection with the missing 8-month-old boy. the most important question, still, it's still not answered, where is gabriel johnson. >> it's a chal a eveninging situation for a institution that's so conservative for so long. >> it matters because of the situation you put them in. the close borders. >> from the nation's corners to the halls of congress to the debate about gays in the military is raging again. and -- >> 45 seconds. you have 45 seconds sanborn.

>> an intense drama about soldiers in iraq. it wasn't a hit at the box office. reality of "the hurt locker" beat "avatar" on oscar night. an arrest in the case of missing 8-month-old gabriel john southern. tammy smith, the arizona woman who wanted to adopt him is now in custody. she was arrested in scotts dale on charges of kus toadial interference. they were considered persons of interest for weeks. police try to figure out where she is. the mother, 23-year-old elizabeth johnson was arrested in december. johnson has changed her story several times about what she did with gabriel and police still do

not know where the child is. miami police released a sketch of a man seen with a model hours before her body was found in a trash bin. paul was last seen early last january at a nightclub in miami. surveillance cameras captured her leaving a club with that man following behind her. they hope someone will recognize this man from the sketch seen there. her body was found in a dumpster hours later. there's a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arr t arrest. more breaking news out of washington, d.c. the heads of the intelligence agent expect terrorists to try to attack the united states in the next three to six months. the heads of the cia, fbi and other agencies testified about it today. they said al qaeda remains the top security threat to the u.s. they also warned of a growing

cyber security threat as well. something to think about. defense secretary robert gates is allowing gays to serve publicly. he told how he would end the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> the question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this, but how we best prepare for it. we received our orders from the commander and chief and we are moving out accordingly. we can take it only so far as the ultimate decision rests with y you, the congress. >> secretary gates is ordering the pentagon to complete the review of don't ask, don't tell at the end of this year. they support ending the ban of gay service members. they said it's the right thing

to do. ever since president obama brought up don't ask, don't tell in the state of the union, it's been a hot topic. joe carter asked and you told him how you feel about gays in the military. >> we are talking about issues affecting their lives. are you familiar with the policy, don't ask don't kell? tell. >> i have two cousins in the military. >> it shouldn't matter. >> it should be open. >> it's a challenging situation for a institution that's been so conservative for so long. >> it matters because of the situations they are put in. the close quarters and i think that would promote something that might not happen ordinarily. >> there are a lot of closed minded people everywhere in the world. i'm sure it would have an effect. i would like to think it wouldn't.

>> some folks in the military would be challenged by that. but, you know -- >> does it matter to you personally? >> it doesn't matter to me. >> it's like saying you are allowed to die for us, but you are not allowed to do what you want. >> do you think sexual orientation in the military matters? >> no. >> it does not matter? >> it does not matter. i'm a former marine. >> he's never asked and never told. >> everything is so open now. it creates a lot of problems. >> you think it should remain? >> yes. >> it creates more awkward moments in the military. just get it out there. >> who is to say you can't be gay and be in the army and do what you feel? it's your boat. you can paddle it however you want. >> put your life on the line for your country, your sexual orientation should have nuting to do with that. >> i'm joe carter and i'll see you on the street. >> you will see him.

when you do, tell him what you think about things. he'll ask you. ten americans went before a judge in haiti who will decide the charges they will face for trying to take 33 kids out of the country without permission. the judge will hand a list of charges to a tribunal judge who will try the group. haiti wants to send a strong message against human trafficking. a pastor insists they were acting out of love. >> i understand that a lot of uproar is cause d by informatio that is not, you know, conveying the right message about our people. they believe they had the permission to do what they were doing. i'll stand by that. >> it certainly is our faith that led us to this kind of response. we, like everyone else, saw the incredible devastation. we knew we had resource that is responded. >> they are in the care of an could help that's why we

orphanage in port-au-prince. they are calling for a temporary ban on all new adoptions in haiti. a haitian dad came forward saying his daughters were on the bus headed to dominican republic. now, they want their kids back. she put her daughter on the bus hoping, hope iing to give her a better life. >> translator: i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. ou played with them up to the last minute, then kissed them good-bye and told them, don't forget daddy. >> translator: i told her to call me once in awhile so i know how she's doing so i would know if she was fine. in a jailhouse interview, the americans told cnn they believe all the children were orphans or had been abandoned. if you spend much time in airports, you might be in for a shock. thousands of passengers take off

every year aboard plane that is should be grounded. find out why they are allowed to fly.

a french court is looking into who is to blame for the air france concord crash that happened back in 2000. five people and continental airlines are charged with voluntary manslaughter. three of the people were responsible for the design of the concord. the super sonic jet crashed shortly after take off in paris. investigators say a tire blew on take off when it hit a strip of metal. it fell off the plane moments before. the blown tire sent debris into the wing and sparked a deadly fire. it killed 113 people. nearly a year after a plane crashed into a home near buffalo, new york, the ntfb is meeting to determine what caused

the crash and make safety determinations. all people on board and one man in the house were killed in the february 12, 2009 crash on flight 3407. the crash raised concerns whether pilots are vol nerable to fatigue and inadequate training. >> i absolutely agree. >> talking about airline safety, you along with millions of others may have flown on planes that never should have taken off. we are taking about the investigation that found since 2003, at least 65,000 u.s. flights took off with maintenance problem that is should have kept them grounded. they lack oversight in repair work that was outsourced. they enforce the highest possible safety standards. there's a small fraction with about 63 million flights that

took off during that time. the investigation comes a full year after the disaster in buffalo that killed 50 people, the one we were just telling you about. there were safety plapss in the crash and shortcomings with pilot training and fatigue. we wanted you to weigh in on this with terror concerns and safety concerns. are you more worried than ever about flying? we got a lot of calls from pilots who wanted to give us their perspective. jason from arizona. what are some of the factors we need to know about to have a full picture of what's going on? >> you know, some of the big issues with airline pay and safety really comes down to the way the airlines have done business in recent years. especially after post-deregulation. now, major airlines are contracting out more and more of

their work. by definition, they aren't regional, anymore. you have airplane that is carry 80 plus passengers from memphis to phoenix. those are jobs that main line pilots used to do. >> let me ask you, we had a pilot earlier that thought it was a misconception that the regional and you are saying the regional planes necessarily meant less experienced pilot. in fact, a lot of pilots with a lot of experience can't get on with big planes and they are flying some of the smaller planes. is that true? >> it's true. we have people who have been here for 15, 20 years. if you look at companies like american eagle, a good portion of their pilots are people who were downgraded from the major airline. what it's really come down to is the majors have set up a system for a two-tier pay and benefits system. >> does any of this make our

viewers, passengers be concerned about safety? any of what you are saying? >> no. no. i don't think there's a real concern for safety. what needs to be addressed is rest issues. n ntsb has been calling for years for there to be better work rules. >> okay. >> you know, hopefully, all the pilots are keeping their fingers crossed they are going to side on the side of safety. >> thank you for the conversation. that's very key to this type of discussi discussion. robert is calling us from michigan. he used to work as a mechanic for a major carrier. the perspective of a mechanic is key. we are talking act things that happened with the flight in buffalo. is there reason to be uneasy? >> yes. i would rather drive anywhere in

the country than fly after seeing what i have seen. a lot of it can be put on sub contractors and outsourcing resources to unskilled labor. i have seen it myself in a repair shop i worked in. most of the people were not certified. only a few people oversee the labor and sign offs of the work being accomplished. >> who can do something about that? who? >> i don't know. i met with the faa, they come and do their walk throughs. i don't think -- i think it's going to have to be at the hands of the xwean themselvess to tighten up the reigns. i don't think there's enough eyes on what's going on. >> let me ask you a different way, would you put your family on a plane? >> i would not. >> really? >> i would like to go to hawaii, but unless i can do it by canoe, it ain't happening. >> i'm going to say thank you. i'm a little nervous. i know you are unemployed.

hope you find a job. >> thank you. >> thanks, robert. let me show you facebook comments. >> oh, dear. monica says -- >> i guess she means one that's not safe. michael said -- >> all right. do you feel safe when you fly? we want to keep this conversation going on facebook. go to hln and leave your comment. respond to one of the pilots of what robert the mechanic had to say. oh, dear. police say it was a borderline ri riot. that happened. you can see the basketball court, if you can make that out.

a high school rivalry got out of hand.

wow. police were actually ready for this. for what you are seeing. this is a high school basketball game. it was supposed to be. this was outside pittsburgh. there was extra security. there's a ravelry between these two schools. it happened when two girls were

fighting in the lobby. it escalated. police say it was a borderline riot. there were hundreds of students involved. the players got involved. the officers had to taser one student. only four people were charged with disorderly conduct. i'm sure there had to be suspensions and kids got grounded, hopefully. a florida police say a 43-year-old lottery winner was the victim of a homicide. abraham shakespeare's body was found. he won the lottery in 2006. he was last seen in april and wasn't reported missing until november. so far, police haven't arrested anyone in his death. a 3-d fantasy and thriller

of modern warfare. nominees for the academy awards were nominated. "avatar" and "the hurt locker" got nine nods. the former husband and wife, yes, they used to be married are against each other for director. there are ten best picture contenders. last summer, they decided to expand the category because they were hoping maybe more popular pictures would get in and make more of us watch the oscar telecast. "up" is the second animated film nominate d for best picture. good news on the economy and corporate earnings. health stocks rallies. we have at the new york stock exchange with the details. >> hi. we had good news on the housing front. the association of realtors

reported a 1% increase in home sales. they may be stabilizing as we head into the springtime buying season. the dow rose 111 points, ending at 10,296. nasdaq at less than 1%. s&p 500 at 1.3%. toyota said sales fell as it froze sales of several key models following the huge recall. the home builder, dr horton posted the first quarterly profits since 2007. that stock was up almost 11%. u.p.s. earned more than $750,000 the first quarter. it's triple what it made last year. it's a good indicator of the overall economy. the results boaster investor confidence overall. we've had a pretty good week.

we'll try to keep it up tomorrow. >> thank you. it's been almost two months since susan powell vanished. we're going to talk to jane velez-mitchell about the latest developments in the case, next.

breaking news to tell you about. you have been following this story. we are talking about an arrest in the case of missing 8-month-old gabriel johnson. tammy smith, the woman there, wanted to adopt the baby. she's in custody. she was arrested on conspiracy to commit custodial interference and forgery. police have been keeping a close eye on smith and her husband, who was sitting next to her. they have been keeping an eye on them for weeks in the investigation. her mother, elizabeth johnson, was arrested in december. she's charged with kidnapping,

child abuse and custodial interference. she's changed the story several times about what she did with gabriel. we have no news about where the child is. miami police released the sketch of a man seen with the model hours before her body was found in a trash bin. paula was last seen in early january at a nightclub in miami. surveillance cameras captured her leaving the club with a man following behind her. police hope someone will recognize her. her charred body was found in a dumpster hours later. there's a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. police in florida say a 43-year-old lottery winner who went missing nine months ago was the victim of a homicide. his body was found last week buried under a concrete slab behind a home in hillsborough county. he won the lottery back in 2006.

he was last seen in april. he wasn't reported missing until november. the heads of the major us intelligence agency says the u.s. is certain to experience an attempted terrorist attack in three to six monltds. we are talking to cia, fbi. they all testified. leon panetta said they are deploying operatives to the u.s. to carry out new attacks from inside the country. the assessment provided no startling new terror trends, just growing concerns since the christmas day attempted attack on the plane. robert gates is launching a process that would allow gays and leez bee yans to serve openly in the u.s. military. we knew it was coming since the president talked about it last

week. he told how he would end the don't ask, don't tell policy. >> the question is not whether the military does it but how we best prepare for it. we received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly. we can take the process only so far as the ultimate decision rests with you, the congress. >> gates is ordering the pentagon to complete its come review of don't ask don't tell by the end of the year. they support ending the ban on gay and lesbian services. they were told it's the right thing to do. the pentagon pursestrings is in a hospital in virginia. he's in intensive care for complications from a recent surgery. he's 77 years old.

he has his gallbladder removed. he was the first vietnam veteran elected to congress. results from a two-year study may help decide how your school teaches sex ed. it found fewer teenagers had sex after an abstinence class. the abstinence course showed kids the draw barks of having sex. two years, one-third of the abstinence only kids had sex. nearly half of the kids in the other classes said they had sex. not one seems to change whether they had unprotected sex. >> i absolutely agree. >> it's going to be a huge story. one of our viewers topics. this is an interesting debate whether or not abstinence works. we are looking at answers on how

to talk to kids about sex. we're going to share a few with you. marilyn wrote this -- >> nikki wrote this -- >> javier said -- >> thanks. okay. amanda agrees with that.

>> right, amanda. great discuss all day today. keep talking about it. people are talking about it on facebook. you have to check this out. police say it's a borderline riot. they are not exaggerating, take a look. that is a high school basketball court. how a rivalry got out of hand.

well, police were actually prepared for this.

this is supposed to be a high school basketball game. this happened outside of pittsburgh. you can see the ridiculous fights broke out. there was extra security because things tend to get out of hand at this game. it started with two girls fighting in the lobby. then other people joined in in the hallways and inside the gym. that was the result of it. police say it was a borderline riot. it involved several human nature students. all this was over, believe it or not, only four people were charged with disorderly conduct. that's it. well, repairs for your recalled toyota's could start as early as today. the parts should arrive at dealerships today and tomorrow. the company estimates the problem should take maybe a half hour to fix. safety experts raised concerns

electronic problems may be behind it. toyota says they are confident they have found the problem. a louisville man crashed his 2010 camry over a cliff and in a creek. it's one of the eight models involved in the recall. he was driving with three friends when it took off at a high speed. he tried to brake with both feet, but it wouldn't stop. >> he said the car accelerated and when it did, they flew off the cliff into the creek. the car flipped over and they felt water coming up into the car. >> it sounds terrifying. all four men were rushed to the hospital. he may have a spinal cord injury. he's lost feeling in his leg. i have breaking news to get to you out of los angeles. michael jackson's doctor, conrad

murray is expected to surrender to police in the next 24 to 48 hours. police called dr. murray a person of interest many michael jackson's death. ted rollins joins us by phone with the latest. it's been so long since we had an update. it seemed like the investigation stalled, but clearly, it had not. >> in the case where there's a lot of things to follow up on. it appears as though the los angeles district attorney's office is going to make a move in the case. according to dr. murray's lawyers, he's in los angeles and ready to surrender. they are not sure where and how it's going to take place. they expect it in the next 24 to 48 hours. his lawyer told me, basically, they are ready for it. they were hoping it wouldn't happen. he's more than ready to surrender and answer to charges

that are filed. it will be involuntary manslaughter. after more than six months of investigation, authorities are ready to make a move in the death of michael jackson charging dr. conrad murray. >> we realize we don't know what the charges are, but the focus has been, it seems what drugs doctor conrad murray gave michael jackson. let's remind people of that. >> well, dr. murray is from the out set admitted to everything to investigators. he said he did give michael jackson propofol, the powerful sedative that's normally used in a clinical situation or hospital situation when you put a patient under for minor surgery. it's a sleep aid in jackson's mansion. but, he's often admitted to give ing other things leading up to

his death. the big question is it will be hammered out in court. at this point, it appears the district attorney says yes and is going to charge him. >> this is a huge development. thank you for the update on this. michael jackson's doctor will surrender. we don't know what the charges are. we will certainly keep you up to the minute on that. appreciate it. >> some activists are suggesting a color scheme for rebuilding the devastation parts of haiti. it's green. why they advocate remaking port-au-prince as an earth friendly city.

a former campaign worker is miking new claims about the affair between john edwards and rielle hunter. he was asked to claim he fathered the woman's child because his wife was dying. it includes the description of how he talked her into letting her live in their home until the

child was born. >> i listened in on a conversation that he and rielle had with john edwards. he told us that this would be short term. that he was going to come clean, either after he won or lost the election or after elizabeth passed. he said elizabeth is very, very sick and did not want her to dinoing this. >> wow. last month edwards admitted the 2-year-old was his daughter. coming up on prime news, if you can hang in there. let's talk to mike now and get a preview of what's coming up at the top of the hour. huge interest in where 8-month-old gabriel johnson is. we still don't know that, but big developments. >> tammy smith, the stories are

so confusing. they wanted to adopt the baby and knew elizabeth and the baby over a year. they had him for roughly ten days in december. basically, she's been arrested because police believe she knows more than she's letting on. she may know where the little guy is. t. >> it may be the good news. >> they claimed they don't know anything more. then, again, she's talked to elizabeth johnson in jail. we will lay it out for you. the press conference is coming up in ten to 15 minutes. another sad story, a 12-year-old girl, we are finding out, lived in a closet. her parents have three other kids, three boys. they didn't do anything to them. they let her out to go to school. when she came home, back in the closet. they gave her food in there. horrific, the details of this.

finally, one of the brothers said something to school officials. that's how it all came to be found out. 877-tell-hln. a study concerning abstinence only. it can be effective and a good number, 20% difference from the kids who took the abstinence only and the kids who took safer sex courses. they did not have sex. we'll talk about it. what do you think? is it the way to go? does it make you think twice? or, you still think it's not the way to go. >> it's an interesting discussion. this program was refined a little bit from other programs. >> seemed to be. >> this didn't teach you you had to wait until marriage, or moral overtones, it taught the kids to wait until you feel comfortable making this decision. it was a little bit of a change

from the way these programs are usually taught. >> what were the viewers? split? >> more of a split than usual. most of the time they say no way. there were a few people open to it. they said maybe. a lot of people said if you are taking abstinence only, it has to be across the board. the kids have to get it at home as well. thank you, mike. all right, we have been following this story for you. ten americans went before a judge in haiti today. the judge will decide what charges they are going to face for trying to take 33 kids out of the country without permission. the judge is going to forward the list of charges and going to try the group. they want this case to send a strong message about human trafficking. a pastor insists they were act ing out of love. vice president joe biden believes them but doesn't agree

with their methods. >> we have to have a process so they are not trafficked and taken advantage of. i believe they are well hearted. >> some adoption advocates are calling for a temporary ban on all adoptions in haiti. a haitian dad said his daughters were on the bus headed to the t. she says she put her daughter on the bus hoping to give her a better life. >>. >> translator: i put them on the bus with the americans my own hands, i played with them up until the last minute and kissed them good-bye and told them don't forget daddy. i. >> translator: i told her to call me once in a while so i knew how she was doing. >> a jailhouse interview the

americaning told our sister network cnn they believed all the children they were trying to bus into the dominican republic were orphans. a miami herald editorial by a former congressman this says is a chance for them to create a true 21st century country and that green products should be components. another editorial recently the entire cityscape should be reconfigured. habitat for humanity is working with the green building council to promote green construction practices and energy-efficient features for new homes and businesses. washington, d.c. is a little bit greener because of five-cent tax on plastic bags is proving effective. retailers get a small cut of taxes raised but most money going to efforts to clean up the river. another benefit is most people are carrying their groceries out

of the store in reusable containers. officials say the number of bags used dropped by half in a month since the tax went into effect. two two months since susan powell vanished. we'll talk to the host of "issues about that, jane ve l t velez-mitchell.