good morning. okay. so it's time for you to get up and at em and what you're going to wear. i'm robin meade. we have a lot of news happening this wednesday morning. the doctor who gave michael jackson a powerful anesthetic is in l.a. wait iing for a phone cl from police. al qaeda is hatching a new plot against the united states. the message, count on an attempted attack very soon. if you think you know which super bowl team might score first, get ready to place your

bets. it's not the only gamble you can take. there are real dooze sis. first, michael jackson's doctor could turn himself in to face charges in the pop star's death. he will surrender as soon as l.a. authorities file the charges. the involuntary manslaughter is most likely because he told police he gave jackson propofol and other drugs to help him sleep. the coroner ruled that's what killed jackson. >> we know it's a substance you can't get yourself. you can't get it outside a hospital setting, yet michael jackson had it in his home. you don't give it to yourself. murray reported he gave propofol to michael jackson. you have the actions of one person, which are illegal, basically, and certainly not according to medical standards contributing to michael jackson's death.

>> according to a police affidavit, dr. murray said he gave jackson three anti-anxiety drugs. he left the room for two minutes and came back to find jackson not breathing. al qaeda is planning to attack the united states in the next three to six months that's the warning from top intelligence officials. they also warned the terror group is changing tactics to rely on individuals without background in terrorism. >> the biggest threat i see is not so much that we face another attack similar to 9/11. i think the greater threat is that al qaeda is adapting their methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect. >> he said the man who tried to blow up the plane on christmas day was alone.

he's now giving information to officials. he flew two of his relatives to nigeria to get him to cooperate. they think the information could stop future attacks. we have new pictures of the american church group accused of child trafficking. a local judge began questioning them. they were stopped trying to leave haiti with a bus load of kids they thought were orphans. they never got permission from the government. >> they said that they have paper, legal paper that they can take it to the republic. but, they don't have it for haiti. so, they met a police guy and tell them that he could help. >> i saw him in -- that was on

tuesday. on thursday, i saw him at dominican embassy. >>ew details about the children. an official said a clergy man went door to door asking the people if they wanted to give away their children. 20 were with their families. many decided the kids would be better off if they gave them away. they said they had good intentions. >> i know their heart was to help these people. it very much hurts me that they are being accused of this. i know they are working very hard to take care of these children, even where they are now, they are concerned about them. >> haiti's prime minister suggests they could be tried in the united states.

haiti's legal system was all but destroyed. a u.s. official says it's haiti's case for now. officially retracted. the medical journal published a study about 12 years ago. the findings led a lot of parents to not vaccinate their kids. there are allegations they acted unethically and the patient selection was unbiased. the study released a statement saying the allegations are unfounded and unjust. the work did not confirm a link between autism and the vaccine. research into a possible connection is still going on. a bomb attack killed two u.s. service members in afghanistan. they tell the associated press it happened yesterday. we won't know more until the troops families are notified. last month, 30 u.s. troops died

in afghanistan. sarah palin is the the new headliner for the tea party. she's the keynote speaker this weekend. she is planning to speak at the kick off for the nationwide bus tour in search light, nevada. palin says she's getting involved because the grass roots organization shares her commitment to limited government. "american idol" auditions went to denver. ♪ it's not a sentimental moment ♪ ♪ it's not the stone before the call snoet this is a deep and dying breath ♪ ♪ this love we have been working on. >> very nice. some of the judges wanted him to show a little more. >> i'm willing to do anything i need to do. >> really? >> anything. >> what about unbuttoning your shirt a little bit. >> take it off. >> victoria, don't you want to

see it? >> what are we doing? >> i say yes. personally, i say yes. >> i say yes because i think he's got a good voice. >> randy. >> golly. he was singing john mayer. undress if you want. i want to know what you are singing. ♪ i bought a toothbrush ♪ some toothpaste. >> nice. when asked to tell something interesting about himself, he said he liked cheese. he got four yes votes and he's on his way to hollywood, too. remember last season's bikini girl? now, we have bikini guy. we'll tell you about that in 30

minutes. sure, you ask some people to take off their clothes, then you get a bikini and you don't like it. >> anything to deflect your vice might not be that great. we have a storm that was over the mid-atlantic states. pulling away from jersey, the snow is coming with it. behind it, lake-effect snow. let me show you what it looks like now. we have a winter weather advisory until 7:00 this morning. light snow affecting the jersey shore. it's getting toward long island and pulling away. it's there for the first part of the morning, then sunshine for philly. here is the snow around the jersey shoreline down toward the ac. you have the lake-effect snow behind it. on the light side for central michigan, ohio, p.a. and other states, too. freezing fog in oklahoma, kansas and texas.

big rain in texas. you could see four inches of rain near corpus christi. >> it's one of those times of year. bob says it's the most wonderful time of year. >> i hate february. >> four more weeks we can say it's march. >>all >> allergieallergies. the government is stepping in. why they are digging deeper to see if toyota dropped the ball. then think? >> i didn't think they were that fast. >> a day at the zoo turns into a bloody wrestling match. what a man did to save his daughter from a vicious raccoon.

in our salute to the troops, sue stephens wants to salute her husband who returned home from a seven month deployment to afghanistan.

>> caller: good morning. i would like to send a salute to doug stephens. i'm so proud of you for what you have achieved, what you stand for and who you are. you make me proud every day. i know we are newlyweds, but you inspire me more and more. i'm happy to have my best friend home, again. >> i'm glad he's home. if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin to salute them. police do not know where gabriel johnson is. police say tammy smith's attempts to get gabriel were so extreme. she says she's innocent. gabriel's mother is charged with kidnapping and child abuse. the boy has not been seen for months. look at this. they hid in the freezer when where you know robber went after them. you are going to see more scarey video.

what would you do? you're going to see more in 25 minutes. oh, my gosh. isn't it enough to take the money? why do you have to go after the people. there are allegations toyota had to be pushed into recalling millions of calls. now, allegations they were made to do it. >> yeah. you could see the stuff behind the scenes. now, we are seeing the safety agency step up and say, they had to push. they had to fly to january pan to convince them it was time to recall the cars. they keep on insisting they take it seriously. ray lahood said it took an enormous effort. i have been watching these agencies and how they play with corporate america. they have been in the backseat. it's rare you see a response like this. toyota said we took the advice seriously and instituted the recall. they also said the government

talking to them kind of is one of the thing that is was the catalyst for actually doing it. they are considering civil penalties for toyota. we're going to find out more on this later today. ray lahood is on capitol hill. they weren't originally scheduled to talk to toyota. they are now. >> bad timing for him. >> bar tetender. i know it's early for this. i'll have another. make it a well drink. you know, the cheap stuff. americans drank more last year, but drank more at home and bought cheaper boos. one of the people said they are buying cheap tequila and mixing it before everybody comes over. >> or buy the kind that's already mixed in there. thank you. the crazy publicity push before the super bowl is cranking up now. you have to see who and, well,

what showed up for media day. plus, you know who those are. the double dippers who stick the chips in the salsa twice. double dipping in some dips is worse than others. oh, the germs stick in some.

a woman who was friends with a lottery winner who was found dead last week is charged as an accessory to his murder.

authorities say doris moor was looking to pay somebody to take the rap for his death and trying to make it look like he was still alive. she says she was trying to help him manage the money. a high-ranking government official thinks it's time to legal ilz marijuana. the foreign minister says if the united states and mexico legalize marijuana, it breaks the power of the mexican drug cartels. it's ridiculous for mexico to stop it from entering the yilts when it's sold legally for medical purposes in california. a man and his little girl had to fight off a vicious raccoon at the zoo. it came out of nowhere and bit his daughter's leg. he ripped off his shoe, gnawed his finger down to the bone. i thought i'm going to wear it

out. i used my hand to push it down between my legs. >> the man was given 20 rabies shots. zoo officials euthanized the raccoon. they say it escaped earlier in the day. a wild and fun time. rafer has the video. it's fun to see who is let in to ask questions. >> everybody is let in to ask questions. everybody can get it. you get a super bowl credential. you have a blog, it doesn't matter. media day is more ridiculous every single year. thousands of reporters, i use the term loosely, descended on the players. there's will smith being interviewed by a puppet while someone holds a cut out next to him. a dude with a rain stick and

sunglasses. then super bowl idol. they show off their skills. >> at least the players seem to be pretty good game about it. >> that is true. as much as i'm old guy raining on the parade, they are enjoying it. >> it's got to get old. >> in other news, there was a scary moment last night. a stage collapsed. four people injured. two were air lifted to a local hospital. the other two were taken by ambulance. the injuries are not considered life threatening. the stage was being set up for rehearsal for the halftime show. are you winded going up a few flights of stairs? how about 86 of them. it cracked me up how they run to get to the stairs. >> you have to squeeze in. 1500 plus steps to the top. the men's competition won by germany's thomas.

40-year-old melissa won it for new zealand. that's it for sports. >> thank you very much. super bowl parties this weekend could have people asking, again, is it safe to double dip a chip. i think not. we go beyond the surface to find out. >> you often hear at parties people worried about double dip ing a chip. it transfers bacteria from the chip. bacteria will be transferred. we know this because people have done studies. the number of dips results in tens of thousands of bacteria transferred to a bowl. different types of dip transfer different bacteria. salsa or a looser dip holds bacteria. thicker dips seal in the bacteria on the chip. it's not a huge danger in general, but if you wouldn't think about kissing the other people in the mouth, don't

double dip. >> gross! okay, you know what one of my pet peeves is, bob? you go out with people who get a flavored drink and they go i hate yours. >> the lipstick mark on the side, too. >> i don't want to taste your drink and i don't want to you to taste mine. it's rude. i say i don't like it, you can have it. disgusting. >> the chip face-off. don't care for that myself. we had snow pulling through the middle part of the country. mid-atlantic. here is new york, they are de-icing in philly and dallas because of the light snow and temperatures. here is what we have for the day. everybody ought to be less than an hour or delays. new york 30 minutes boston the same thing. charlotte, the fog. dallas rain moving in this afternoon. same with house toon.

could be lengthy delays in house toon. >> i'm still wretching over people saying here, have mine. the pentagon is prepare iin for the possibility of gays serving openly in the military. more on that. erererererererererr

police in l.a. could file criminal charges against mnl's doctor anytime now. dr. conrad murray's lawyer says he will turn himself in. we just heard it will happen tomorrow or friday. after jackson's death he told police he gave jackson a cocktail of drugs to help him sleep. this is the american church group held in jail cells in haiti.

a judge is questioning them about what happened. they say they were trying to help orphans after last month's earthquake. the prime minister said many of the kids had families. investigators are blaming pilot error for a plane crash. they also raised questions about safety standards. the continental connection flight stalled in mid-air killing 50 people. they are working on pilot fatigue and better training. for a wednesday, we have a lot of new stories going on now. good morning to you. welcome back. i'm robin meade. illinois voters decided who is battling for president obama's old senate seat. democrats chose alexi gi giannoulias. he's on the left. he will take on republican congressman mark kirk. kirk has a good chance because he's a moderate in a blue state. he's upset conservative activists. he supports gun control and

abortion rights. we have new details in the search for a playboy's killer. this man left a miami club with paula sladewski hours before her body was found burned in a dumpster. her boyfriend, kevin, immediately recognized the face because he was kicked out of the club for arguing with this guy over paula. >> the reason my man said that to us is simply because he seen him. he seen him. he stepped in between him. that's why he got throwed out. that's why he was escorted, trying to separate them two. >> wait. this is new information. >> there's a lot you don't know. sure. kechb separated him from paula. that's why he was escorted out. >> she lived in california. she was visiting miami with her boyfriend when she was killed. police are waiting for forensic test results on her body.

a team of doctors and nurses are back from haiti and sharing stories. they spent two weeks working round the clock. one nurse said he treated a boy who had nothing left. >> all he had was a match boxcar he was clutching in his hand and, you know, you just brought him in and gave him an i.v. and sedation. he was able to calm down. it was amazing. it struck me what need there is. >> the team worked 20 hour days with little in the way of supplies. a new bread recipe may help fight prostate cancer. they are comparing a soy almond bread and they say the almonds have an enzyme that helps your body absorb a special part of the soy bean. researchers think it may fight some types of cancer.

it's cool. some restaurant workers tried to hide during an armed robbery. they caught four men. the employees ran. a robber went after them. watch this. they then locked themselves in a freezer right before he's able to see where in the world they went. the robber still made off with cash. how scary is that? why do you have to go after the people. >> yeah, holy cow. 34 minutes past the hour. good morning. i know, it's february. it's going to be cold where you are. let's find out from bob van dillen what he's watching off the coast. >> it's almost gone now. totally gone off the shoreline of jersey toward new england. it's the snow maker over the mid-atlantic states. it dropped three to six inches of snow on the ground. you can see the last pulling up

the jersey shore in new england, too. washington, d.c., this is the way it looks now. clearing skies by this afternoon. a freshly fallen snow there. looking at three to six inches of snow. this is the way it looked 12 hours ago. big difference. i happened mostly overnight. traveling through washington and boston area, should be okay by late this morning. big, fat flakes. three to six inches of snow. behind that, it's lake-effect snow. light snow possible in northern michigan and toward ohio. cleveland light flurries. again, nothing more than a couple inches of snow for you. down south, freezing fog for oklahoma, missouri and parts of illinois. louisiana, arkansas, freezing fog is a possibility this morning, early. rain pulling out of texas. two to four inches of rain is what you are going to get across southern texas. we'll talk about that, again in about a half hour.

>> thank you. >> you got it. ten movies, you may have noticed were nominated for the best picture. it had a lot of the late night funny men talking. we got a dramatic 911 call from a 5-year-old whose mom was having a siezure. >> well, obviously the boy didn't know his exact address. in a minute, you're going to hear what she said, the mom, when she later realized what the young boy did.

♪ calling all angels we just told you about a little 5-year-old boy who dialed 911 when his mom was having a siezure. the ambulance got there quickly. this was the mom's reaction. i said, how did you guys get here. they were like, tyler called. i was like what? i think a 5-year-old could do something like that. i'm ecstatic. i'm so proud of him. speechless. >> remember the little boy didn't know his own address. a firefighter who knew the family heard the call and figured it out. a roadside bomb killed three

soldiers in pakistan. seven people killed and 70 hurt. the three americans were part of a group helping to train pakistan security forces. the school was reopening after it was destroyed by militants. didn't they learn the first time around, it's bonus time at aig and yes, some of them are going to that department. jennifer westhoven i, i think i see steam coming out the ears. >> they are saying we agreed to this before the financial collapse. so, sorry. yeah, it's the same folks. these are the guys who put so much of the insurance companies tush on the line it nearly torpedoed the company, but the stock market for all of us. they are getting their bonuses now. aig is going to give out $100 million to that financial products division and that's why it had to be bailed out.

aig says it's bound by contract, signed back in 2007 from before the collapse. you know, there's some people who say, hey, the same people who made the dangerous mistakes are the only ones who understand them enough to undo them. all right. that's an argument. two more car problems to tell you about this morning. toyota, as if they don't have enough problems now, it's been ordered by the japanese government to look into complaints with the prius hybrid than the brakes aren't working. toyota is looking into it. if you drive a chevy cobalt, there's a review. we're talking 900,000 of them. regulators have gotten more than 1,000 complaints it power steering could fail. >> it's brand-new. >> all the way up to 2009

cobalts. we'll get the details on that. >> thank you. one woman turned her culture and love of jewelry into assets. we have how she did it in the small business success. >> reporter: she was a corporate lawyer. her interest in jewelry sparked a career change. >> one wonderful thing about creating jewelry gives me a creative outlook. i think the legal degree translates into an ability to write and communicate effectively. incredibly efficient and organized. >> her culture still influences her. >> this wonderful challenge i have taken on allows me to reconnect with my roots by going back to india and doing business in india. >> reporter: the jewelry is made in india, but the designs are hers. >> the beautiful thing i try to do is take these pieces of art and transform them into

something that's wearable. i put a modern twist on it. you have to have fundamentals, the desire to work hard. advocate on behalf of yourself. >> if you are a small business owner, we would love to see your success story. go to cnn.com/robin. you might be featured here on "morning express." a high school game of basketball turned into a brawl. police pulled out their tasers. now, it has some people taking sides. a mother and father have been waiting for this moment for months. they have their 1-year-old daughter back. a nun they trusted, a nun is behind bars.

♪ cause i get a thousand hugs

from 10,000 lightning bugs. a 1-year-old was kidnapped and taken to argentina by a nun. the none befriended them in 2007. they took the child in july when they had another baby. she refused to give her back. the nun was arrested when she returned to the united states. the child arrived separately. we are not sure where she had been. sarah palin is the new headliner for the tea party movement. she's the keynote speaker at the convention this weekend. she's planning to speak for the bus tour in searchlight, nevada. palin says she's getting involg ved because the grass roots organization shares her commitment to limited government. this is kenney. he described himself as the male

mary j. blige. snoet call the radio if you can't be without me, baby. >> oh. all right. kenny got four no votes. simon told him he sounded like he was being punched. he said his singing was a public service to others. there! then we got this, after the "idol" hit with bikini girl we got bikini boy. ♪ you can they will my arms to go back to the form. >> don't move your hips like that. it's not a good look. >> that's kind of rude. >> they act like, these people who come in like this they act shocked the judges are leaving. they said he should not move his hips like that. all though, i think it's unfair. the male judges were all gaga

for the bikini girl last year. >> that's right. the guy was wearing rouge. end of story. let me show you what's going on. i'm looking at the cam. the low clouds are there. a delay for the first part of the day. the storm moved off the coast. four mile visibility. light snow moving away from you. what about the rest of the region? boston, snow for the next hour or so. it should be a half hour. then all rain around dallas and houston by the afternoon. a half hour to hour long delays. could be lepgtier later tonight. satellite, rainshowers coming back. more details in a half hour. >> thank you. end of story. >> end of story. at least one student was tasered after a brawl broke out at a high school basketball game. here is rafer with more on the video. i'm sure there are allegations about whether it was needed torrent. >> there's people arguing for both sides. it's jarring video. some are questioning whether police went too far.

school officials are defending their actions. eight people were cited. cameras caught one of the students being tasered here. listen. now, the district attorney is looking into weather the officers acted inappropriately. the student spoke to our affiliate. he said cops went too far. school officials say they did not. >> once we came around the corner, i shouldn't have snapped out like that, but he was trying to taze me. he was trying to make me look like the bad guy. there was all those people fighting. >> he kept running from the police officer. he got into an altercation with one of the school administrators trying to keep him from going into the gym. he refused. so, the police officer was going

to escort him out of the building. >> we'll keep you updated on developments out of that story. rex ryan fined 50 grand for being caught on camera flipping the bird. after the pic made the rounds he was at an a mix mixed. what he did was stupid and inappropriate, but he did not say it like rod blagojevich. a further sign that the super bowl has become a national holiday. schools in indianapolis are opening two hours later after the big game. they say it's not for the kids but the bus drivers to recover because a lot of them called in sick after the colts' last super bowl appearance a couple years ago when they beat the bears. you can bet on anything, not just who wins. one website is taking wagers on how many times cameras will show kim kardashian, how many timeses

announcers will mention katrina, and if the who smashes a guitar during halftime show, what will it hit first, floor, speaker or microphone. i'm not kidding. that's sports. >> that's funny. >> that's the tip of the iceberg. it goes on and on. here are some of the stories we're keeping an eye on this morning. at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the library of congress unveils its new online exhibit honoring the naacp. around noon in the nation's capitol, senator john mccain and other lawmakers are going to talk about new laws designed to improve the fda's laws to improve diet supplements. this afternoon the president and vice president will sit down with a group of bipartisan governors to talk about energy policy. every year super bowl fans go out and by new tvs to watch their favorite team. you should make sure you take

steps to keep thieves away from your new tv.

♪ >> 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."

good morning. i think i hear your alarm clock. i'm robin meade. morning, sunshine. the doctor who gave michael jackson a powerful anesthetic before he died is in l.a. right now. he is waiting for a phone call from police. also this morning. intel experts say al qaeda is hatching a new plot against the united states. the message count on an attempted attack soon. what is this? things got really rowdy at a high school basketball game, but there's an investigation of how the police reacted because of the tape that you're seeing.

first though, michael jackson's doctor will turn himself in to face charges in the pop star's death. dr. conrad murray's lawyer say the l.a. police could file those as soon as today. but a reporter from the legal show in session says that murray will not surrender until tomorrow or friday. legal experts say the most likely charge is involuntary manslaughter because murray told police he gave jackson propofol and other drugs to help him sleep. the coroner ruled are those drugs are what killed jackson. >> we know that propofol is a substance that you can't get yourself. you can't get outside of a clinic or hospital setting yet michael jackson had it in his home. you know you don't give it to yourself and murray has reportedly admitted that he gave it to michael jackson. you have the actions of one person which are illegal basically and certainly not according to any medical standards possibly contributing to or causing michael jackson's death. >> well, according to a police

affidavit, dr. murray said he was worried that jackson was becoming addicted to propofol and tried to wean him off of it. he told police two nights before jackson's death he put together combinations of other drugs to help jackson sleep. al qaeda is planning to attack the united states in the next three to six months. that is the warning from top officials. they also warned a senate committee yesterday that the terror group is changing its tactics to rely on individuals without any background in terrorism. >> the biggest threat i see is not so much that we face another attack similar to 9/11. i think the greater threat is that al qaeda is adapting their methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect. >> now panetta pointed out how the man accused of trying to blow up a plane on christmas day was alone. the white house says that man is giving information to officials.

we've learned that the fbi secretly flew two of his relatives from nigeria to the united states to get him to cooperate. officials think the information could stop future attacks. a study linking autism to the measles, mumps and rubella shots have been officially retracted. the medical journal published the study about 12 years ago and those findings led to many parents to not vaccinate their kids. there are allegations that the lead author acted unethically and his patient selection was biased. some parents and autism groups including actress jenny mccarthy are backing him. the author released a statement saying the allegations are unfounded and unjust. he said his work did not confirm a link between autism and the vaccine and research into the possible connection is still going on. we have new pictures of the american church group accused of child trafficking. a local judge began questioning

them yesterday. they were stopped trying to leave haiti with a bus load of children that they said were orphans. interpreters for the group said they were getting help from a man that they thought was a haitian police officer but they never got permission from the government. >> tell me what is going on? >> we don't have full details yet. we're waiting to know. all we know is god is going to bring this to a positive closure. >> is there an apology to be made by you to this government. >> we are meeting with the government officials and talking with them. everything is going very well. new details about the children. haitian official says a clerjy man went door to door asking if they wanted to give their children away. we learned 20 were with families but many decided that the kids would be better off if they gave them up. >> i know that their heart was to help these people and it very much hurts me that they are being accused of this.

i know that they are working very hard to take care of these children, even where they are right now. they are concerned about them. >> haiti's prime minister suggests that the americans could be tried in the united states because haiti's legal system was all but destroyed by last month's quake. a u.s. official says it is haiti's case for now. film makers have a way around a broadcast blackout of the federal trial on california same sex marriage ban. they are using court transcripts and professional actors to produce a reenactment. it's being posted on youtube. you may recognize some of the actors because they have been in some movies and shows like csi. >> high caliber actors. five minutes after the hour. what kind of weather are we going to have? i'm ready for a change. how about you? called june. >> july. good morning. we had a nice shot of snow go

across the mid atlantic yesterday pulling through delaware and south jersey, philadelphia area. now it's moving offshore. lake effect snow behind that. you can see what it looks like here. trying to get in or out of new york city, we have a little clouds, but that's going to be short lived. it all moves off the shore later this morning. get a little sunshine in philly. backside of that is lake effect snow. 1 to 2 to 2 inches. look at the big storm right around mexico and texas, back in new mexico too. it's all rain. it's going to be heavy at times, especially from san antonio through houston down into corpus christi. here's the rain, dallas, fort worth you guys are still dry. the rain filters in and you'll get delays at the airport. lower parts of texas, corpus christi, heaviest rain is to the north.

here is san antonio, the greens, the blues, heavy downpours. you're going to find that most of the day. how about the next 48 hours? it moves to the east and affects the lower part of the southeast. let me take you live to atlanta. we're going to get the rain here but not until tomorrow afternoon. today looks nice. mid 50s today, but tomorrow, heavy rain. you want to see cool videos? it's not exactly aspen, cole contr they had a heavy snowstorm over the weekend. they are enjoying it. at least somebody is enjoying it because it's not me. millions of toyota owners have to get their cars fixed. the government is stepping in and why they are digging deeper to see if toyota dropped the ball. here's a super bowl question, what color will the gatorade be that is being dumped

on the coach of the winning team?

let's salute or troops. sue stevens wants to salute her husband who just got home from a seven month deployment in afghanistan. >> good morning, robin. i would like to send a salute to my husband, tech sergeant doug stevens. i want you to know i'm so proud of you. you make me very proud everyday and i'm honored to be your wife. i know we are still newlyweds. you inspire me more and more. i'm happy to have my best friend home again. >> we're glad that he's hope. if you have somebody in the service go to cnn.com/robin. new this morning, a road side bomb killed three american soldiers today on their way to a girls' school opening in pakistan. the ap reports dozens of school girls were hurt and the school

was flattened. the school was just reopening after it was destroyed by mill tantds. the american soldiers were helping to train the pakistan security forces. you see people texting and driving and think stay away from me. there could be a way to block those drivers from doing both. that's new for you in the next half hour. 11 minutes past the hour. if you are on your way to the airport, hold up for a second. >> give you a little heads up. charlotte is in a half hour to hour long delay. poor visibility, less than a mile visibility because of the fog. that's going to be the same for raleigh. across the northeast, we have heavy snow over the belt way, over baltimore, philly and new york. counting on delays i think they are going to develop shortly, especially for new york and philadelphia. >> charlotte delay, you have deicing around the mid atlantic,

new york, half hour to hour, boston, same thing, watching for half hour delay. charlotte, you have the morning fog delay, dallas, rain headed in your vicinity, heavy at times, same with houston, half hour to hour long delay. san francisco, half hour delay. there are allegations that toyota had to be pushed into recalling millions of cars. jen is here with that story? >> yes. a lot of people affected by this. we're talking about the agency flying to japan, the federal safety agency to convince toyota management to insist that the automaker issue the recall. ray lahood said unfortunately it took an enormous effort to get to this point to get toyota to -- you rarely see this kind of statement from regulators. they usually let the company take the lead. this has been a case where the agency and toyota have not seen eye to eye. toyota said we took his advice seriously and instituted a

recall. the nhtsa is considering civil penalties for toyota. it's going to review other toyota products. we're going to be finding out more about that today because ray lahood is going to be on capitol hill. several major companies say they are seeing sales growth. top line growth. that could be a sign that the economy is healing. it would be good news in a bad economy. when companies think they're expanding, that's when they think about hiring again. whirlpool, dow chemical, they are among companies saying they're seeing their sales get better. people are changing their drinking habits a bit with the recession. a new survey says that while we are drinking more, we're drinking cheaper stuff, and we're also drinking more at home, so not necessarily so good for the bars and restaurants. one tip that i saw in this article, one expert said you can buy a cheap kind of tequila, mixup your marguaritetas before

everybody comes over. >> if you could have your dream job, what would it be and where would you work? fortune has its rankings of the hundred best companies to work for. see if you can guess the next one. >> reporter: this business has it in the bag. what company keeps smiles on employees' faces with an upbeat work environment, we'll tell you after the break.

>> reporter: what company keeps its employees happy with a fun place to work? grocery store chain stu 11 ards. the family owned business operates four stores in the northeast. the company offers a program when moms work while their kids are in school. >> it's important to be with my family and children but coming here is part of a family. >> reporter: the company rewards its employs employees with a profit sharing plan. stew leonards is number 64 on the 100 best companies to work for. >> the woman who wanted to adopt a missing baby boy was arrested in arizona but police still do

not know where gabriel johnson is. tammy smith's attempts to get gabriel were so extreme shes is charged with custodial interference. her attorney says she is innocent. >> >> where they do have a basis for getting some kind of minor charge, that that will cause her to crack and give them all this information they think maybe she has. as far as we know, she has no information. she's told them everything she knows. >> gabriel's mother is charged with kidnapping and child abuse. the boy has not been seen for more than a month. some restaurant workers tried to hide during a robbery attempt. the four robbers walk into a restaurant in milwaukee. this was thursday. the employees ran, but a robber went after them and watch. they end up locking themselves in the freezer just before the robber can see where it is they went. the robbers made off with some cash. how frightening would that be?

well, at least one student was tasered after a brawl broke out at a high school basketball game and we have the tape and it's pretty up close to see what happened. >> some of it, we probably should warn people, this will arrest you watching this video. some people are questioning whether police went too far, but school officials they are defending police action. the fight broke out between two pittsburgh area high schools. cameras caught one of the students being tasered. here it is. now, the district attorney says he is looking into whether the officers acted inappropriately or not. one student spoke to our affiliate and says police went too far while officials say no they didn't. >> once we came around the corner, i shouldn't have snapped out like that, but he was still trying to tase me. i was so embarrassed how they put me in handcuffs in front of all those people and trying to make me look like the bad guy.

there's all those people fighting and you don't see them in hand cuffs. >> he did get into an altercation with one of our school administrators who was trying to keep him from going into the gym, and he refused, so the police officer had, you know, was going to escort him out of the building. >> authorities say eight people were given citations from this brawl. there was a scary moment at the site of the super bowl. a stage collapsed outside of sun life stadium, that's the site of super bowl xliv. two were airlifted to the hospital. the other two were taken by ambulance. the injuries are not considered life threatening. the stage was being set up for a rehearsal for the halftime show. >> it is time for our true champion of the week. this guy has a great store. jeremy bloom walked away from a chance to compete in the olympics. he had a good chance of making the team to devote his time to

his charity called wish of a lifetime. it grants wishes to low income seniors. he has helped so many people. he helped a woman buy a special seat for her van so she could take her husband to doctor's appointments before they were having to take buses. another woman, he helped her visit her cancer stricken daughter in another site. wish of a lifetime is based out of denver. are you placing a wager on this year's super bowl, because you can bet on anything. >> give me an example. >> how many times cameras will show kim kardashian dating reggie bush, what color top she will wear, whether she and reggie bush will be engaged by july or january. >> there's more than that? >> if the who smashes a guitar during halftime, what will it hit first, the .floor, speaker, fan or microphone. >> are these big wage bets? >> you want to put 100, 1,000,

you can bet as much as you want. i'm taking the saints to beat the spread. >> people from around the world were in denver for "american idol" auditions. nicky flew all the way from italy. >> what are you going to sing today? >> girls allow something kind of ew. ♪ something inside of me wants part of you ♪ >> she wowed the judges. victoria beckham says you have beautiful skin. >> when you go they're not going to sound good, they belt out a song like mark did. ♪ how about a tooth brush, some toothpaste, new shoes and a case ♪ >> nice. when asked to tell something interesting about him, mark said he likes cheese. he got four yes votes and he's on his way to hollywood. >> a man is accused of using a gun to kidnap a woman and put her on a plane to the

philippines. wait until you hear how he got past airport security. a day at the zoo turned into a bloody wrestling match with a raccoon. 

police in l.a. could file criminal charges against michael jackson's doctor any time now. dr. conrad murray was the last person to see jackson alive. his lawyers say he will turn himself in, but a reporter for the legal show in session says that won't happen until tomorrow or friday. look at this. this is the american church group accused of child trafficking being held in jail cells in haiti. now, a judge is questioning them about what happened. they say that they were trying to help orphans after last month's earthquake, but haiti prime minister said many of the children had families. long time pennsylvania

congressman john measure that is in intensive care this morning. the 77-year-old is suffering from complications related to gallbladder surgery. the 19 term democrat was the first vietnam. you know, we have new details in the search for a playboy model's killer. police released this sketch yesterday. this man left a miami club with paula sladewski hours before her burned body was found in a dumpster. paula's brother told jane va easy mitchell kevin immediately recognized the face because he was kicked out of the club for arguing with this guy over paula. >> the reason my man said that to us is simply because he seen him. he seen him. he stepped in between him and that's why he got thrown out. that's why he was escorted

trying to separate them two. >> this is new information. thomas, you're saying -- >> there's a lot you don't know. i'm saying kevin separated him from paula. that's why he was escorted out. >> sladewski lived in california. she was visiting miami with her boyfriend when she was killed january 3rd. police are waiting for forensic test results on her body. a bomb attack killed two u.s. service members in southern afghanistan. nato forces tell the associated press the attack happened yesterday, we don't know more until the troop's families are notified. last month, 30 u.s. troops died in afghanistan. more than 70,000 homes and businesses in oklahoma have been without power for six days. many people have been staying at churches and shelters since the winter storm last week. utility officials say they may not get the lights back on until next week. i've been there since

thursday. >> each day, we keep hoping it will come back, but it hasn't so far. >> parts of oklahoma are expected to get more bad weather today. bob will get to that, but first he may be starting with your backyard. how are you? other than cranky. >> it's february, the most fun month of the year. let me show you what's going on. you're talking about oklahoma before, they're getting freezing fog. this weather brought to you by tylenol flu. here's what it looks like across the middle of the country and southwest. look at this developing storm system below new mexico. look at the rain by el paso, switching to snow for central parts of new mexico. now the rain pulling off the gulf of mexico. it's heavy at times. south of fort are the worth and aust austin. freezing fog is there, we have advisories around oklahoma, parts of arkansas, missouri,

lower parts of kansas. freezing to fog for the morning. that should burn off later this morning. look at the heavy shield of rain pulling towards san antonio and austin. here's the corpus christi radar. most of the rain is inland. you can see the rain around san antonio and austin, all said and done, i'm thinking the next 48 hours, this red shade off the coast is 8 inches of rain. the yellow is 3 to 4. that's what you're going to get in san antonio, laredo and brownsville too. southern texas, be prepared for heavy rain. it all moves into the lower part of the you gulf coast. what's going on right now across the northeast? snow move on through over the last couple of hours moving away from you. light snow around new york state. lake effect stuff near ohio and western pennsylvania. blanketing areas around the eastern tip of long island, cape cod. here's boston. light snow over head.

take you live to bean town. poor visibility. logan may see delays at the airport because of this, maybe about a half hour or so. snow heavy at times, breaks away with flurries this afternoon. high of around 33 or 34. good morning, boston. love that town. >> police say more people could face charges for the murder of a florida lottery winner, but they have made their first arrest and it is a woman who was friends with him. also ahead, a new software that could force you to stop texting and driving.

♪ hello. a new software program could stop you from texting while driving. it activates when your car reaches a certain speed. if you can't, that cell phone locks up. the software has not been approved by the fcc. i see a problem with it. i see people paying more attention to the phone and getting the numbers right to type in there so they can keep doing it. california has released at least a thousand prison inmates early. it's to balance the budget, but many people are upset about it. you got drug dealers, car thieves, drunk drivers. one sheriff says this probably won't be a one time thing. >> i think people in the state of california should be prepared for a lot more of this. i think you're going to see this happening in greater numbers.

>> the state is expect today let more than 6,000 inmates out early under that program. didn't they learn the first time around? it is bonus time at aig and our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. i'm thinking a lot of people will be steamed. it's the same company and same department that was kind of blamed for kind of -- >> a lot of people are upset about this. here you have these guys who torpedoed this company so much so we had to bail them out to the tune of $180 billion. here they are collecting bonuses. it doesn't seem right. this is the same unit, just what she said, what robin said. today, according to several reports aig is going to give out $100 million to that financial products division, yeah. and one of the arguments is we have to keep these guys because they're the only people who know

what kind of a mess we're in. what aig officially says is, you know, we signed these contracts back in 2007 before the financial collapse, so we're legally bound to pay them, but, you know, it brings up the topic of pay for performance. should companies be agreeing to give people millions and millions of dollars when they don't know what their results are going to be? maybe they should have some kind of clause so if they nearly ruin the company, we and the company doesn't have to pay them. we've got two more car problems to tell you about in addition to all the headlines about toyota this morning. gm says federal regulators are investigating more than 1,000 complaints in chevy cobalts that the power steering can fail. this is not an official recall. it's a review. we're talking about 900,000 cars. some of them almost new. we're working on getting that story on the website. "the new york times" says toyota, in addition to what we're hearing with all the

companies and floor mats and pedals, it's been ordered to investigate that the brakes are slipping on the popular prius hybrid. toyota says it's looking into the situation. i don't always bring you the little recalls. there's a lot of them happening all at once. >> no wonder people get frustrated when you buy a new car and it's never cheap. something goes wrong with it. obviously you want a recall when something goes wrong, but it's time out of your schedule. thank you very much. ♪ this ain't no place for the weary kind ♪ >> that is the weary kind from country singer ryan bingham. it's the theme song from the movie "crazy heart." the song was nominated for an academy. jeff bridges got nominated for best actor. investigators have charged a florida woman in a death of a man who won a lottery. doris moore is charged as an

accessory to murder. she's accused of trying to hide abraham shakespeare's death. his body was found buried at a home near tampa. investigators say that moore also tried to pay someone to dig up the body and take the rap for the killing. she denies the charges. here's some of the stories we're keeping an eye on in the "morning express" planner. at ten achl the library of congress unveils its new online exhibit honoring the naacp. around noon in the nation's capital, senator john mccain are going to talk about new laws designed to improve the fda's law of the over the countser diet supplements. the president an vice president will sit down with bye partisan governors to talk about energy policy. a scanndal has erupted abou what cops may have done with naked photos found during an investigation. plus you have to hear how calm a little 5-year-old boy was

when his mom's life was in danger.

morning. quarter to the hour. hope you're doing well. the tsa is investigating how a man allegedly got past airport security with a kidnapped pregnant woman while he posed as a u.s. marshal. greg denny jr. flashed a fake badge and gun and took his wife. they say they took her to the airport forcing her on a flight for the philippines. her husband had only met this guy twice before. he later found out that denny was no agent. >> he walked through the airport, you know, just flashed a badge, have a gun, walk right through security. never asked a question. how can someone, anybody can just do that? >> that's frightening. the man's wife ended up in the philippines. we do not know if she came back to the united states. he denies kidnapping her. he said his father said she was in the country illegally and the

couple was having problems at home. ♪ >> i'm rafer weigel with sports. it is the big circus before the big show. media day at the super bowl with all the whackiness that has become of it. thousands of reporters descended on players from both teams. joe carter live in south florida. how are you doing? >> good morning to you. monday, big time rainstorms forced us inside on media day. it's the first time since we can remember that media day wasn't on the football field, but we're not complaining because weep in the posh quarters of the luxury club level inside sun life stadium. it didn't dampen anybody's spirits. we were all there taking part in what is the spectacle called super bowl media day. we saw the players, coaches. we also got a chance to meet all the characters. i met a couple of priests who

said they might be the strangest people there. a lady dressed like an angel said she was there to protect the colts. a man with a zen pole was to push away the bad luck. we met sweaty guy, by far the most interesting guy. he's just sweaty. >> how do all these people get media credentials. i know why you got one, but how do they all get access to this? >> great question. that's what i kept asking myself yesterday, but they're actually working media. they're just there, part of the whole festivities, adding a little color. it's the first day and only day all week that players let their guard down and do funny things, like dance for the camera, do pushups. it's where everybody lets their hair down before the big game on sunday.

they are credentialed and they are working media. >> all right. i'm just the old guy here. the fun part has been wrapped up. i guess it's time to get down to business, yeah? >> we're going to get down to business. we're going to talk to players a little later on today. we'll ask more questions. we'll meet them again tomorrow and ask the same questions. we'll get the coaches on friday. we'll break away from each other on saturday and we'll meet on sunday for the big game that kicks off at 6:40 eastern time. >> thank you. we got some other news. sticking with the nfl, new york jets head coach rex ryan fined 50 grand for being caught doing this, this gesture. the one fingered salute. this pick made the rounds on the internet. he was at a mixed martial arts event was apparently addressing dolphin fans. he was in miami. he did later apologize and said what he did was stupid and inappropriate. very costly. that's sports.

>> thank you. >> i just smirk, because of course there are cameras around. take to check the morning papers for you. from "the new york times" some homeowners are saying forget about it. they are walking away from their mortgages even if they can afford to pay it. the reason, the homes are worth far less than they owe on the loan. from the santa fe of the, some cops could be in trouble for allegedly displaying ub pictures of a naked woman. the woman filed a domestic abuse complaint and the pictures were seized during the investigation. she's threatening to sue. many states are cutting spending on environmental projects. it means they may not meet clean air and water standards. that's a quick check of what you'll find in the newspapers today. nevada lawmakers had snake eyes when it came to president obama's remarks on las vegas.

he will do everything he can to get 9 president out of office. it would not be an "american idol" audition without some suspect singing. this is kenny who described himself as the male mary j. blige. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> kenny got four no votes and simon told him he sounded like he was getting purchased. he said his singing was a pub look service to others. so there! after last year's idol hit with bikini girl, you now have bikini boy. ♪ you can tell my arms >> i'm going back to los angeles. >> bikini boy. >> don't move your hip the like that, honey. it's not a good look. >> bikini boy only got a few words of achy breaky heart out before the judges are, like, we are so out of here.

>> that's a little unfair because they really loved bikini girl. at least the guy judges did. is that fair? >> it's fair. you saw the dude. scary. he had rouge on. yeah, it's fair. >> his singing voice wasn't that great. >> if you're trying to get toward miami, super bowl on sunday, here's what it looks like, nice day today. you've got the low clouds and it burns away. partly sunny skies and 73. you can get a media pass by just having a blog and writing on the stalls of a men's room wall somewhere. if you got that, salud. looking at some delays especially around boost op. right now we don't have anything and looking at delays is the possibility of dallas and that's with the heavy rain. seattle, more rain as well. currently, philadelphia, 47-minute delay and because of the low clouds, and it will last until noon. more on that in just a bit. >> thank you.

>> oh, look there. i think it's time for a break. thank you. >> no, really. >> no, you.

♪ >> 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."

good morning, sunshine! it's your turn to make the coffee, isn't it? well, i'm here to keep you company and keep you informed so you have all of the right things to say at the water cooler this morning. i'm robin meade, here we go. right now we're waiting to hear about charges in michael jackson's death and the pop star's personal doctor is waiting for a phone call from the police. plus, we have an urgent warning about a possible al qaeda plot against the united states. why intel expert says that an attempted attack could happen very soon. >> and then this floating palace has a nightclub, a casino and

even a movie theater, but it is not a cruise ship. it is a private yacht, possibly the world's biggest. my, my, my. all right. michael jackson's doctor will turn himself in to face charges in the pop star's death. dr. conrad murray's lawyers expect police in l.a. to file those as soon as today, but a reporter for the legal show "in session" says murray will not surrender until tomorrow or friday. legal experts say the most likely charge is involuntary manslaughter because murray told police he gave jackson propofol and other sleeping aids. the coroner ruled that those drugs are what killed jackson. >> i don't care if somebody says i want propofol, you can't give it to them. first of all, you need certain medical equipment to ensure that their breathing is stable, for someone to monitor their vital signs. they didn't have the equipment there. there was no anesthesiologist there. it was all up to dr. conrad

murray. >> well, according to a police affidavit, he was worried jackson was becoming addicted of propofol and tried to wean him off of it and he put together some com bose of other drugs to help jackson sleep. we have new pictures of the american church group accused of child trafficking and the pictures are from inside a haitian jail. a local judge began questioning the group yesterday. they were stuck trying to leave hate wi a busload of children that they said were orphans. interpreters for the group say they were getting help from a man that they thought was a haitian police officer, but they never actually got permission from the government. >> tell me, what is going on? we are waiting to know -- all we know is they'll bring us to a positive closure and we're waiting for that answer. >> is there an apology to be made to the government? everything is going very well.

>> new details about the children and the haitian official says a clergyman went door to door for the americans asking people if they wanted to give up their children and of the 33 kid, we've learned that 20 were with families, but many decided the kids would be bett off if they gave them away. the missionary's relatives say they had good intentions. >> and i know that their heart was to help these people, and it very much hurts me that they are being accused of this. i know that they are working very hard to take care of these children and even where they are right now they are concerned about them. >> haiti's prime minister suggests that the americans could be tried in the united states because haiti's legal system is all, but destroyed, but a u.s. official says it is haiti's case for now. al qaeda is planning to attack the united states in the next three to six months. that is the warning, at least, from top intel officials and

they also warned a senate committee yesterday that the terror group is changing its tactics to rely on individuals without any background in terrorism. >> the biggest threat i see is not so much that we face another attack similar to 9/11. i think the greater threat is that al qaeda is adapting their methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect. >> pan ate pointed out that the plan accused of trying to blow up a plane christmas day was alone. that man is giving info to officials. we now know the fbi secretly flew two relatives from nigeria to the united states to help get him to cooperate. the info could stop future attacks. investigators are blaming pilot error for a plane crash near buffalo last year. that is what the ntsb said in its report yesterday. it also raised questions about safety standards at regional

airports or make that airlines. the agency criticized the faa for being too slow to fix the problems found in this investigation. >> history is repeating itself. we are seeing issues come up in this accident that we've seen before, training. pilot performance, record keeping, fatigue, sterile cockpit. these are issues that we've seen time and time again. >> there was no reason why this should have happened. had he been properly trained, the pilot had been properly trained and the co-pilot had been properly trained they would be alive today. they cannot bring my son back. >> they're working on rules to address pilot fatigue and private training. private marvin renslow and rebecca shaw were among the people killed in the crash last year. their continental connection flight stalled before it went down. >> time check. it is five minutes after the

hour. let's see, as you're heading outside today, bob's going to focus an area that always seems to get the rain this time of the morning. it's always around texas, doesn't it seem like it? >> yeah. it's an el nino year. that's typical. >> yeah. yeah, folks. >> let me show you what's happening. big area of low pressure coming off the pacific storm, now emerging back across the lower part of the rockies in the four corners and get into the lower part of texas and look at clouds go all of the way toward the north and freezing fog we have it for just about the entire state when you get to oklahoma, same for kansas, arkansas and missouri and freezing fog in the morning. san antonio to austin and not quite in to dallas or fort worth. you can see it stretching north of houston, too. more rain on the back side of that, but as the rain gets across the higher elevations and cooler temperatures, it's condensing out in snow. you have new mexico that could pile to half a foot or more. there are advisories just because of the snow. here's brownsville and you can

see what it looks like for corpus christi. west of you by laredo. the big shield of rain is pulling through san antonio, on the way to austin and next 48 hours. look at the path, as it goes exactly the same way they have, due eastward, and mississippi, alabama, and ultimately georgia and the carolinas as the snow maker for virginia, north carolina by saturday afternoon. so you had snow yesterday and you had snow over the weekend and you have snow coming up again on saturday. the other big storm system and still around areas like washington, taking you live to d.c., the heavy snow has gone. there's the weiss. look at those two guys on top of the roof. see them right there? i think it's your turn to shovel the driveway. >> that's fascinating. >> did it last week. whatever. >> i don't know that i've ever spotted that during a live shot. >> how about last night? let me show you the different scenario.

heavy sfoe coming down from about midnight last night. i'm just glad that's not happening right now because that morning commute would be a nightmare around the beltway. we have them because of low clouds and it's stretching up toward new york, too. the guys were a real part of the storm. i don't want see anybody there. more on that in a half hour. >> are they still there? >> go back to live. >> let me see. >> i think it's your turn to shovel the driveway. i just adore you. more in just a bit. "american idol" hit denver looking for the next big star and one of the singers that made the judges happy was haley. ♪ today i woke up thinking elvis somewhere, vegas, i'm not sure ♪ ♪ how i got here or how this ring on my left hand just appeared ♪ . >> she called herself a miracle

child and she was born premature and only weighed two pounds. randy called her infectious and she is going to hollywood. just when you go, oh, are they going to sound good they belt out a song just like mark did. ♪ i bought a toothbrush, toothpaste ♪ ♪ pajamas new shoes and a case >> nice. when asked to tell something interest about himself, mark said he liked cheese. he got four yes votes on the way to hollywood. american journal says it was wrong to publish a study linking vaccines to autism and it now says the research was misleading. new this hour, president obama made comments about vegas and now the mayor is calling him out. >> i want the president to restaurant this out. if not, he's want welcome to my city as far as i'm concerned.

>> we love to salute the troops. sue stephens wants to salute her husband who just returned home from a seven-month deployment to afghanistan. >> good morning, robin. i would like to send a salute to my husband tech sergeant doug stephens. doug, i just want to let you know that i'm so proud of you for what you've achieved, what you stand for and who you are. you make me proud every day and i'm honored to be your wife. you inspire me more and more and the feels just doesn't go away. i'm so happy to have my best friend home again. >> she's so happy he's home. if you have someone in the service you want to salute go to cnn.com/robin. a study linking autism to the measles, mumps and rubella shot has been retracting. the medical journal published the study years ago. well are allegations the lead

author acted unethically and his patient selection of bias, but still some parents and autism groups including actress jenny mccarthy are backing him. the study's author released a statement saying that the allegations are unfounded and unjust. he says that the work did not confirm a link between autism and the vaccine and research into a possible connection is still going on. new allegations today that toyota had to be pushed into recalling those millions of cars. jennifer westhoven is here. good morning. >> thanks, robin. you don't normally hear much from the safety agency. you don't hear them kind of coming out and saying we had to do a lot of work here and we're talking they had to fly to japan talking to toyota management at headquarters there, insisting the automaker issued the recall. unfortunately it took an enormous effort to wake toyota up. you rarely see that. usually you see the company if the driving seat and toyota

seemed to agree. we took the advice seriously and instituted the recall. the nhtsa which that, of course, is the federal agency that looks out for safety, says it's considering civil penalties for the carmaker and they're also looking at further reviews of other toyota products. we're going to find out more about the toyota story later on today when the transportation chief ray la hood is on capitol hill. >> several major companies say they're seeing sales growth. that's actually something that in the business world when you see that, it could be a sign that the economy is healing, that people are buying more, spending more on goods or services. so that would be good news in a bad economy because when companies start to see growth, if they plan for it, that could mean more jobs. whirlpool, dow chemical and d.r. horton, those are among the companies that see top-line revenue growth lately. all right. maybe people are self-medicating

to deal with the recession. a new survey found that americans drank more last year. i'm talking about liquor here, but to save money they weren't out necessarily doing it in bars and restaurants. they drank more at home and when they did buy booze they tended to buy cheaper booze. cheaper liquor like popov vodka and stuff like gray goose, not so much. one of the tips in there, they had somebody say sometimes what people do is they'll buy a cheaper tequila, but not for sipping e like for margaret as and make it before people come over. it's all in there. >> it's mixed up with sugar anyway. they're not going to taste it. >> you can't buy the expensive stuff. >> you can buy already mixed, too, and then you don't have to do any of the work. >> there's been an arrest in the baby gabriel case. police are hoping it will lead them to the baby boy who has been missing for more than a month now. a fight at a high school basketball game apparently led

to this. police breaking out the tasers.

lawmakers in nevada want an apology from president obama after remarks that he made about las vegas. the president talked about sin city during a recent speech about making tough choices in the current economy. >> when times are tough you tighten your belts. you don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. you don't blow a bunch of cash on vegas when you're trying to save for college. you prioritize and make tough choices. >> the president's comment got people in nevada because they think the comments could hurt the vegas tourism industry. the mayor of las vegas says he will no longer welcome the president if he visits president. >> he's got a problem with us. i don't know about nevada, but las vegas is not our friend. i have to tell you the way it

is. this president is a real slow learner. >> president obama responded to the comment. the president said he was trying to make a point that people should spend their vacation dollars in las vegas and not their kids' college tuition money. >> that one got kind of ugly, didn't it? a student was tasered after a fight broke out at a school basketball game. talk about something that got ugly fast. you can see what happened to one student. >> yeah. and that is the subject of a big debate right now, robin. some people are saying that they're questioning whether police went too far while school officials say cops were in the right for what they did. this was a fight that broke out at halftime between two pittsburgh area schools and cameras caught one student being tasered here. let's listen. >> pretty arresting stuff. the district attorney's office says they're reviewing the tape

to see if the officer's action were inappropriate or not. the student who was tased spoke to our affiliate says he didn't deserve it. school officials said cops were doing their job. >> once we came around the corner i shouldn't have snapped out like that, but he was still trying to tase me and i was so embarrassed that he put me in handcuffs in front of all those people trying to make me look like the bad guy. >> yes, he was running from the police officer and he did get into an altercation with one of the school administrators who was trying to keep him from going into the gym and he refused so the police officer was going to escort him out of the building. >> authorities say that eight people in all were given citations. let's give you an upbeat story. our true champion of the week was former olympic skater jeremy bloom. he walked away from a very good chance to compete in the

olympics and he didn't try out because he wants to devote his time, all of his time to his charity called wish of a life time. it grants wishes to low-income seniors. he helped a woman buy a special seat for her van that cost around $8,000 so she could take her husband to doctor's appointments instead of taking the bus. he helped a woman visit her daughter in a cancer-stricken state. >> he's a good skier. you can bet on anything, speaking of vegas, a few minutes ago. not just the wins. one website is taking wagers on what color gatorade will be dunked on the winning coach. how many pete townsend will do his windmill guitar move and who the super bowl mvp will thank first after the game, god, family, teammates, coach or nobody. none of the above. >> it's always god, don't you think so? >> usually it's god, sometimes i want to thank my coach. it will be in that order.

i want to thank god for making you lose. because that's in essence what you're saying. >> we are hearing new details about south carolina mark sanford who admitted cheating on his wife. how his inclination to cheat came out to his wife even before they got married?

all right. police in l.a. could file criminal charges against michael jackson's doctor any time now. dr. conrad murray was the last person to see jackson alive. his lawyers say he will turn himself in, but a reporter for the legal show "in session" says that won't happen until tomorrow or friday. a roadside bomb killed three american soldiers today on their way to the opening of a girls school in pakistan. the a.p. report says dozens of school girls were hurt and the same school was reopened after it was detroyed by militants.

120 people were wounded in the blast. long time congressman john murtha is in intensive care. the 77-year-old is suffering from complications related to gall bladder surgery he had last week. the 19-term democrat was the first vietnam vet elected to congress. i know you're laying there in the bed thinking oh, i could do 15 more minutes of sleep, but then you'll issue behind. you'll be mad. come on. i'm robin meade. good morning, sunshine. here's what else is going on. voters in illinois have decided who will battle for the president's old senate seat and yesterday's primary democrats chose state fresh rur alexi giannoulias, kirk is a moderate in a blue state and he upset conservative activists because he supports gun control and abortion rights. we have new details in the search for a playboy model's

killer. police released a sketch and they say a man in the sketch left a miami club with paula sladewski. paula's brother immediately recognized the face because he was kicked out of the club for arguing with this guy over paula. >> the reason my man said that to us is simply because he's seen him. he stepped in between them and that's why he got thrown out. that's why he was escorted and trying to separate them two. >> i'm not saying -- >> this is new information. thomas, there's a lot you don't know. sure, yeah. kevin was separating him from paula, and that's why he was escorted out. sla due ski lived in california. police are still waiting for forensic test results. sarah palin is the new

headlines for the tea party movement and she's keynote speaker at the convention and she confirmed she's planning to speak at the kickoff for the nationwide bus tour. it is in nevada, the hometown of senate majority leader harry reid. the grassroots organization shares her commitment to limited government. >> it would not be an "american idol" night without suspects singing. this is kenny and he described himself as the male version of mary j. blige. ♪ ♪ >> wow! kenny got no, four nos. simon sounded he sounded like he was being punched and kenny said his singing is a public service to others. after last year's bikini girl, this year you got bikini boy. >>. ♪ you can tell my arms to go back to the farm ♪

>> i'm going back to los angeles. >> don't move like that honey, it's not a good look. >> that's kind of rude. i think you should, like, stay. cara, please stay. >> please stay. bikini boy only got a few words of achy breaky heart before the judges said i'm out of here. time for a break. >> yeah. they are leaving. the wife of south carolina governor mark sanford says she married him even though he refused to promise to be faithful. he insisted the words be removed from their vows about being faithful. she said she questioned it, but got past it and in her new book that comes out friday, sanford says that he asked her for advice about how to handle his extra marital affair with the media. okay. i didn't read that very well, but you get the point here. in other words, he would not say

to be faithful in the vows before they got married and she still married him. that's a clue right there, don't you think, ladies? >> he asked her, how do i handle this with the media. i got an idea go tell them you were hiking the appalachian trail, that will throw them off. >> i'm doubting that was her. >> you don't think that was her idea. >> what's up, robin. >> hi, bob. >> this weather brought to you by red lobster. it's the deep south and southwest. clouds coming in across the south and rain heavy at times right across texas. you can see the blues and the greens and it's a solid sheet of rain coming through right up the rio grande stretching up to fort worth and closing in on dallas. so heavy rain is going to be here. this whole thing moves to the east just like the last three or four storms have and blanket the entire gulf coast with a lot of rain. when you start seeing the yellow shades pop up, that's three to four inches of sxran that includes the galveston area to

brownsville and over toward lower louisiana and parts of mississippi and alabama and it breezes through georgia and watching for snow, verge virj and north carolina by saturday afternoon. be prepared. more snow headed your way. corpus christi radar. up the line a little bit farther and san antonio and showers are here. you can see the rain as it spreads on by. it is snow, though, it's right across areas by new mexico. also, getting a little bit of snow and western pennsylvania into northern sections of ohio. lake effect is out there and it will be there for most of the day. full details coming out. i want to show you this out of north carolina. good stuff. it is good stuff. >> you think? must not be. >> there it is. there it is. >> this is out of greensboro, north carolina. they've got two shots of snow and one over the weekend and one yesterday. >> they built a snowboard park,

but it's northern, north carolina and believe me, i used to work in charlotte and you don't see this every day. >> i have to go back to mark sanford, and in the book she talks about he was cheap. he drew her a picture of a half of a bike and gave her a $25 used bike. >> he spent all of his money going to argentina. no, he didn't. that was taxpayer mono pep. >> fascinating allegations. >> we got a dramatic 911 from a 5-year-old boy whose mom was in a seizure. listen. >> ask your mother what the address is. >> she can't. >> she doesn't talk to you? >> no. she can't talk right now. she's got some kind of seizure. she can't do anything. this happened a long time ago.

>> the boy called on a cell phone and he did not know his own address. help did arrive. in a minute you will hear what the mom said when she realized later what the little boy had done.

♪ ♪ ♪ we just told you about a 5-year-old boy who dialled 911 when his mom was having a seizure. the ambulance got there quickly and this was her reaction. >> i said, you know, how did you

guys get here. they said tyler called. i'm, like, what? i didn't even think a 5-year-old could do something like that. i'm ecstatic. i'm so proud of him. i -- i'm speechless. >> remember the little boy didn't know his address, but a firefighter who knew the family heard the call and figured it out. >> some restaurant workers tried to hide during an armed robbery in their shop. here is the surveillance tape. it caught four robbers walking into a restaurant in mill walk owe thursday. the employees ran, but a robber went after them. now, they lock -- on the workers hurry and lock themselves in the freezer just before a robber see where they went and the robbers made off with some cash, but my word. >> didn't they learn the first time around it's bonus time at aig. >> at aig? our money expert jennifer westhoven is here and this is

something that brings steam to your ears. >> aig is something that makes people go -- when lucy gets the football out. you hear the stories over and over, and it's the same money they're fighting about. basically the same folks that worked at aig in the one department where they were, like, let's just play around with money and bet all of this. we're going to make a lot. they bet so much of aig and they put so much of that insurance's company -- on the line that they not only took the company down. you know what happened. they nearly took down the markets and the economy. we all had to bail them out $180 billion and now you're hearing about them getting these bonuses. according to several reports today aig will give out about $100 million to people in its financial products division, the business that started all the trouble while it had to be bailed out. aig says it legally has to do this because it signed contracts with these people back in 2007

that said, you know, if you agree to stay for this long we'll give you this many million dollars and that was before the financial collapse. so one of the arguments that's also been made, too, is we need people to steadily unwind these dangerous and complicated positions. these are the guys that been it and a lot of people also think, you know, do we really want to be setting up contracts to pay people when you haven't seen their kind of performance. what, will you ask, robin, will they be buying with this money? >> do tell. >> i'm just making fun. they really don't, but check this out. this is only in production. this isn't the actual thing. this is only an idea. the world's biggest yacht. this company, emotion, has set up these plans. emocean, is as long as two football fields. >> very sleek-looking. >> do you need a swimming pool in the yacht? all right. i'm just saying, robin, in my

career i have met people who have made a lot, a lot of money. they don't buy things like that. i don't know who would. >> it's gotst own helicopter pad on it? wow! what's the price? >> $500 million to $900 million. even together the aigs couldn't afford it. but anyway. you my remember an episode of seinfeld when they tack about double dipping. super bowl partiers this weekend, you can ask people is it safe to double-dip a chip. well, we go beyond the surface to find out. >> you will often hear at parties people who are worried about double dipping chips because it will transfer bacteria from the chip. bacteria will be transferred and we know this because people have done studies to show that it's true. a number of dips can result in tens of thousands of bacteria being transferred to a bowl. different types of dips will

hold different amounts of bacteria. a salsa or looser dip will hold bacteria because thicker dips will seal bacteria on the chip. it's probably not a huge problem in general. we say if you don't want to kiss the other people on the mouth, you don't want to double dip. >> the super bowl is getting close and that means everyone, not just the players and coaches is making some final preps. we will take you live to miami to see what is up today.

i'm rafer weigel with sports. super bowl xliv, the big game just a few dayses away ask tuesday was the big spectacle before the big game, that of

course, being media day where thousands of reporter descend on players. one of those reporters happens to be our joe carter live in south florida. joe, was it as wacky as we thought it was from our end? >> pretty wacky, rafer, pretty wacky indeed. it's the one day during the week where the players and the coaches sort of let their guard down and that's what i like best about media day. you've got all of the players and you've got all of the coaches and you've got the world media there and then you've got this cast of characters that give it the wackiness. the players and coaches are willing to do just about anything and they talk about just about anything and you have them asking questions like people the guy with the puppet yesterday and we also saw a couple of priests and we even saw a sweaty guy who pretty much keeps himself sweaty. that's his shtick and all these characters have a mission in mind.

this is a -- >> okay. i guess we don't have the sound from the guy, but i tell you we ran into a guy with the zen stick and said he would keep away the rain. it's been raining since we got there. there was a lady there dressed like an angel and said she there was to protect the saints from the big, bad colts. they are colorful and working media, but they're only credentialed for media day. you won't see the lady dressed like an angel working super bowl sunday, rafer. >> what is sweaty guy right for? does he have the sweaty blog? is that his -- on. i'm just being the curmudgeony old guy. a can't appreciate how fun media day has become and i understand you're working on another story, an incredible story for this afternoon about a saints player. is that right? >> yeah, that's right, rafer. defensive tackle anthony hargrove. the guy hit rock bottom in 2008 when he was suspended from the

nfl for violating the drug policy ask one year ago he watched the super bowl from a drug rehab center in south florida. he cleaned himself up and got back into the nfl and is playing with the saints and now he returns to south a player in the super bowl, a great story for you later on today on hln. rafer? >> we'll come back to you later on throughout the morning. we got some other news. a scary moment happened at the super bowl site. a stage collapsed outside of sun life stadium. four people were injured and two airlifted to a hospital, the other two taken by ambulance. the good news is their injuries are not considered life threatening, but the stage was being set up for a rehearsal for the half-time show and god knows we hope nothing like that happens certainly during the half-time show. >> you better believe it. thank you, rafer. a man and his little girl had to fight off a vicious raccoon at a zoo.

the raccoon ripped off the man's shoe and gnawed his finger right down to the bone and then went for his face. >> i will wear it out and it will give up. unfortunately, the opposite happened. i used my hand to push it back down between my legs. >> wow, well, the man was given 20 raby shots. zoo official husband to euthanize the raccoon. a new bread recipe may help fight prostate cancer. researchers that ohio state university are considering them to recipes without almonds and the almonds have an enzyme which helps your body absorb a special part of the soybean. it has been shown to lower cholesterol and researchers think it may fight some types of cancers. iran's leader is willing to make a deal to send back three american hikers being held in tehran.

president ahmadinejad said the u.s. should release several iranians who have been jailed for years in the united states. thithe hikers have been held since july when their family says they accidentally crossed the border into iran. a gun is accused of using a gun to kidnap a woman and put on a plane to the philippines. ererr

good morning! yism i'm glad that you're with us today. it looks like you got a little bit of rest, never enough, i'm sure. look what's coming up in this next hour. a medical bombshell has shattered the idea that childhood vax seens could cause osism but a side of the story you have never seen. parents who have no answers to explain their children's condition. plus, for the first time we're hearing what it could take for americans accused of child trafficking in haiti to avoid doing hard time. more on that story.

our top story today michael jackson's doctor will turn himself in to face charges in the singer's death. dr. conrad murray's lawyers say l.a. police could file those as soon as today. but a law enforcement source told the legal show "in session" that murray will not surrender until tomorrow or friday. legal experts say the most likely charge is involuntary manslaughter because he told jackson he gave propofol and other sleep aids. >> we know that propofol is a substance that you can't get yourself, you can't get it outside of a clinic or hospital setting and yet michael jackson had it in his home. you know you don't give it to yourself. murray has admitted he has given propofol to michael jackson. the actions of one person that are illegal and not according to any medical standards possibly contributing to or causing michael jackson's death. >> now, according to a police

affidavit dr. murray said he was worried that michael jackson was becoming addicted to propofol and trying to wean him off of it. the two night before jackson's death he put together comb combinations of other drugs to help jackson sleep. alcade saw planning to attack in the next three to six months. they also warned that the terror group is changing its tactics to rely on individuals without any background in terrorism. >> the biggest threat i see is not so much that we face another attack similar to 9/11, i think the greater threat is that al qaeda is adapting their methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect. >> now, he pointed out how the man accused of trying to blow up a plane on christmas day was alone. the white house says that that man is giving information to fl os.

we now know that the fbi flew two relatives from nigeria to the united states to help get them cooperate. united states thinks the info could stop future attacks. new pictures of the american church group accused of child trafficking inside a haitian jail. a local judge began questioning them yesterday. now, they were stopped trying to leave haiti with a bus load of children that they said were orphans but they admit they didn't have permission from the government to do it. new this hour, we're hearing from an international kidnapping expert and he says they need legal help and fast. >> they really need to get legal council in haiti. there were indications yesterday and reports that they are being interviewed without legal representation, i think that's very problematic. there's real problems with haiti trying to even prosecute and if they successfully prosecuted these individuals to jail them. where would they jail them since so many of their jails have been

destroyed. >> well, new details about the children. a haitian official says that a clergyman went door to door for the americans asking people if they wanted to give their children away. of the 33 kids, we've learned that 20 were with their families but many decided the kids might be better off if they gave them to the americans. the missionaries relatives say they meant well. >> and i know that their heart was to help these people and it very much hurts me that they are being accused of this. i know that they are working very hard to take care of these children and even where they are right now, they are concerned about them. >> well, haiti's prime minister suggests that the americans could be tried in the united states because haiti's legal system was basically destroyed in the quake, but a u.s. official says it is haiti's case for now. hello, west coasters. you're up early, aren't you?

i'm so impressed with you. it is 6:04, for you. >> little onshore flow. wind coming off the pacific from northern california into oregon and also around washington state, as well. light clouds and showers out there from seattle to portland. that is a new pacific storm and that rolls in tomorrow through the end of the week and going to bring a lot of rain for areas of northern california, oregon and turns into snow for the higher elevations and that leads into nevada and idaho, too. right now light rain in northern cali and then like-effect snow in the middle of the country. grand rapids light snow and that stretches down towards detroit and with the fetch coming right over the waters of lake erie getting lake enhancement, too. light snow is out there and out there for most of the day. the big story, though, the developing storm coming right out of mexico into lower texas and new mexico and freezing fog out ahead of that and real dry atmosphere over the last couple

days and stretching in towards areas of oklahoma and freezing temperatures drop down pretty quickly and forms fog and freezing fog. rain heavy times from san antonio to austin and now getting into houston, too. el paso, all rain, six inches of snow over the next couple hours that is the highest elevations near albuquerque. heavy downpours corpus christi back down towards brownsville and going all the way into austin and the next 48 hours really tells the tale. same track as the last couple storms mainly due eastward. the yellow shades, lower parts of mississippi, alabama and ultimately into georgia and the carolinas. atlanta, try to get down here today and things look pretty good, thinking about low 50s for your high today. heavy rain, once again, for thursday afternoon and through thursday night into friday and good news here, doesn't appear to be freezing rain and for the

carolinas up to virginia by saturday. so, very progressive weather pattern. more on that in just a bit, robin. "american idol" was in denver last night. one of the singers that made the judges happy was hayly. ♪ how i got here or how this ring on my left hand just appeared ♪ >> simon called her infectious and, yup, she is going to hollywood. just when you go, oh, can everybody sound good? they go and belt out a song like mark did and it was good ♪ i bought a toothbrush some toothpaste ♪ ♪ pajamas and a hair brush new shoes and a case ♪ >> when asked to tell something interesting about himself mark said he likes cheese. he got four yes votes and on his way to hollywood. millions of toyota owners have to get their cars fixed.

the government is stepping in. while they're digging to see if toyota dropped the ball about safety. here's a super bowl question. how long do you think it will take carrie underwood to sing the "national anthem."

it's time right now for a salute to the troops. sue stevens wants to salute her husband who just returned home from a seven-month deployment in afghanistan. >> good morning, robin. i would like to send a salute to my husband doug stevens. doug, i am so proud of you for what you have achieved and what you stand for and for who you are. you make me very proud every day and i am proud to be your wife. every day you inspire me more and more. i'm so happy to have my best friend home again. >> if you have somebody in the service, why don't you go to

cnn.com/robin so we can salute them. a study linking autism to the meseles, mumps and rubella shot has been rejected. now, the findings led many parents to not vaccinate their kids and now medical authority show that the lead researcher acted. the parents of one ostiautistic child said it is time to find the real cause. >> something has affected david and that is the reason why he is why he is. it isn't vaccines. >> the shame of this is what this does is divert resources and people's time and autism research towards something that's not the answer. we've wasted a whole lot of time chasing down vaccine theories that have been proven to be wrong. >> the study's author released a statement saying the allegations are unfounded and unjust. he said his work did not confirm

a link between autism and the vaccine and that research is still going on. things went too far at a sledding party. a man who hosts them is known for doing some outrageous stunts, but new for you in the next hour, what happened when he decided to include gun powder in his run. i bet it's one of the stories that makes you go, i am normal, i am smart. well, of course, you are. there are allegations that toyota had to be push under to recalling millions of cars, maybes yours. jennifer westhoven is here with more. >> we don't hear this often and we heard throughout the story that toyota and regulators aren't seeing eye to eye and now regulators are speaking up which is very rare and they flew to japan to talk to toyota management to convince them that this was a big deal. ray lahood said unfortunately it took an enormous effort to wake toyota up.

there had been for some time complaints about runaway toyotas. it took an enormous effort to get to this point. toyota said we took that seriously and instituted the recall. the ntnsa that looks out for its safety says it's considering civil penalties for the carmaker. in about an hour, we'll hear more when agency chief ray lahood is on capitol hill. you don't have to read earnings reports because i do that for you. come on, it would take you forever. here's some of the things we're seeing. some big companies are seeing growth in sales. called topline growth, revenues. it is a good sign, it could be a sign the economy is healing if companies thinks that keeps going, they hire. that would be good news in a bad economy. for now whirlpool and home building dr horton say they're

seeing that top line growth so that could be a good trend. here's another trend, i don't know if it's good. maybe people are self-medicating to deal with the recession. a new survey found we drank more liquor but we're saving money. people are drinking more at home and buying cheaper stuff. well, you know, the fancy top shelf stuff, not so much. maybe you're on your way to the airport and you're traveling somewhere this morning and you want to know how long it will take me. good morning, bob. >> we do have some delays right around philadelphia and back down towards charlotte because of the clouds. zeroed in towards the biggest delay and it's philadelphia. phl, you can see the planes getting in and out and the low clouds still hanging in tough. four to seven-minute delays that is the average in philadelphia and that will last through noon this morning. now, new york city metros low clouds are there and haven't seen the delay yet, 30-minute

delay still possible. boston looking at 30-minute delay because of light clouds and fog. charlotte you have a fog delay. dallas rain headed in. dfw, count on delays today. same with houston, 30-minute delays are a good possibility. san francisco, light clouds and rain. more on that in a bit. a fight at a high school basketball game apparently led to this. police are breaking out their tasers and now an investigation is under way.

doctors may have solved the mystery of sudden infant death syndrome. a study in "usa today" says babies that died from sids had a lower serotonin level that is a brain chemical that regulates breathing, sleeping and other functions. it cues babies to wake up and move their heads if carbon dioxide levels are high. voters have decided who is going to be battling for president obama's old senate seat. in yesterday's primaries democrats chose state treasure alexi giannoulias and he will take on mark kirk. kirk has a good chance because he is a moderate in a blue

state. he has upset activists because he supports gun control and abortion rights. tape we just got in of a 35-car pileup in oklahoma city. you know, bob has been talking about the freezing fog there and officials are wondering if this isn't the result of that. we're told that 20 people are injured and our affiliate kwtv reports that at least 15 other wrecks have happened in oklahoma city area. this morning, wow. that many this morning. so, 15 other wrecks in that one, too. at least one student was tasered after a brawl broke out at a high school boobl game. >> it sparked a debate which is happening on our facebook page. the debate whether cops went too far or just doing their job. let's show you the video again. a fight that broke hadout at

half-time between two pittsburgh-area schools. one student was tasered right in front of the lens. take a look at it and listen right here. pretty stuff. the district attorney's office said they're reviewing the tape. the student that was tased said he did not deserve but school officials say cops were in the right. >> once we came around the corner i shouldn't have snapped out like that. he shouldn't have tased me. he put me in handcuffs in front of all those people. there were all those people fighting and you don't see them handcuffed. >> he kept running from the police officer and did get into the altercation with one of our school administrators who was trying to keep him from going into the gym and he refused so the police officer, you know, was going to escort him out of the building. >> again, eight people were cited in the brawl and the

d.a.'s office still reviewing the tape. in other news, a further sign that the super bowl is a national holiday. some schools in indianapolis will open two hours later on monday the day after the big game. now, here's the funny part, to me, anyway. not realfry the kids, per se. but because the bus drivers. they want to give them enough time to recover the next day. when the colts beat the bears in the super bowl a few years ago a whole bunch of bus drivers called in sick the next day. you have two more hours to sleep it off. if you're placing a wager on the super bowl, guess what, you can bet on anything, i'm talking anything on this one website. for instance, how long will it take carrie underwood to sing the "national anthem." what color top will kim kardashian wear, black, white or another color. and how many times the announcers will talk about

katrina and will reggie bush and kim kardashian be engaged by a certain month? you can bet as much as you want on these ridiculous things. >> that's funny. >> i'm taking the saints to beat the spread. >> she will wear a white shirt. a u.s. court ruled that a woman born as a man should have been able to list her sex change operation as a tax deduction. the woman sued the irs after it rejected her $5,000 medical expense claim. they said the surgery was not medically necessary. the ruling could affect thousands of people who had similar surgeries. the woman who wanted to adopt a missing baby boy was arrested but police still do not know where little gabriel johnson is. tammy smith's attempts were so extreme that she is charged with custodial interference. she is innocent. gabriel's mom said she gave the baby to someone else but he has

not been seen for more than a month. the mayor of vegas said the president owes him an explanation, or else. >> he is not welcomed to my city, as far as i'm concerned. >> you will hear what the president said that has that mayor so ticked off.

good morning! opening bell one of the stars of "modern family" on abc just rang the bell. in a few minutes it could affect stocks today. first, though, police in l.a. could file criminal charges against michael jackson's doctor any time now. dr. conrad murray was the last person to see jackson alive and his lawyers say that he will turn himself in, but a law enforcement source told "in session's" beth karas that won't happen until tomorrow or friday. a roadside bomb killed three

soldiers on their way to an opening of a girl's school. the school is flattened now. that school was reopening after it was destroyed by militants. we're hearing that 120 people were wounded in that blast. long-time pennsylvania congressman john murtha is in intensive care. the spokesperson says the 77-year-old is suffering from complications related to gallbladder surgery last week. the 19th termed democrat. that's just a look at the few of the top stories we have. we're busy and i know that you are, too, on a wednesday. there are new details in the search for a playboy model's killer. police released this sketch yesterday and they say this man left a miami club hours before her burned body was found in a dumpster. paula's brother told hln jane vulez mitchell that her boyfriend recognized the face because he was kicked out of the

club for arguing with this guy over paula. >> the reason my man said that is simply because he seen him and he stepped in between them and that's why he got thrown out. why he was escorted trying to separate those two. >> look, this is new information. thomas, you're saying -- >> there's a lot you know. separated him from paula, that's why he was escorted out. >> she was visiting miami with her boyfriend when she was killed january 3rd. police are still waiting for forensic test results. some kids at a elementary school in queens feels like the earthquake in haiti hit them at home. 80% of the students are from haitian families and teachers are taking breaks from the regular curriculum to let the classes talk about how they're feeling. >> my mom got in contact with my uncle and he said everybody is okay and the house didn't fall down next and the next day the

house collapsed. we're still trying to find one person, he is my little stepbrother. >> they were pretty much in shock. they were very quiet, very quiet. however, the parents were crying in the halls. >> some classes that school are doing projects to raise money to help the victims. investigators are blaming pilot airer for a plane crash near buffalo last year. that is what the ntsb said in its report and also raised questions about safety standards. the agency criticized the faa for being too slow to fix the problems found in this investigation. >> history is repeating itself. we are seeing issues come up in this accident that we've seen before. training, pilot performance, recordkeeping, fatigue, sterile cockpit. these are issues that we have seen time and time again. >> there was no reason why this should have happened, had he

been properly trained, had the pilot been properly trained or the co-pilot been properly trained, my son would be alive today. >> working on rules to address pilot fatigue and better training. they were among 50 people killed in the crash last year. their continental connection flight stalled in mid-air before it went down. a high-ranking government official thinks it's time to legalize marijuana. mexico's foreign minister said if the united states and mexico legalize marijuana it would break the power of the mexican drug cartels and he also says it's ridiculous for mexico to stop marijuana being sold or entering the united states since it's being sold legally for medical purposes. an "american idol" audition without some suspect singing. this is kenny and he described himself as the male version of mary j. blige. ♪

>> the thing is, he reached the notes, but it just wasn't pleasant. he got no votes, four of them. simon said it was like he was being punched. kenny said his singing is a public service to others. after last year's hit with bikini girl, this year you got bikini guy. ♪ you can tell my arms >> i'm going back to los angeles. >> don't move your hips like that, honey, it's not a good lo look. >> that's kind of rude. kara, please, stay. >> bikini boy only got a few words of achy breaky heart out before the judges were like, we're out of here. >> i love simon, he says i'm going back to los angeles. you never see anything like that in l.a. >> is that fair, they didn't

walk out on bikini girl like that. >> nothing like that in l.a., simon, you should be fine. gee, bob, why don't you watch "american idol"? there you go. >> freezing fog. we had some big-time problems in oklahoma city this morning because of freezing fog. >> it's been the area of concern for the last really four to five hours and we had it up there earlier. freezing fog just blanketing around oklahoma in kansas and into arkansas and lower parts of missouri. look at oklahoma city the picture and you had an eighth of a mile visibility and the only problem it's fog and the temperature is 29. that's freezing fog and that coats the ground, streets and bridges with a thin layer of ice. all kind of accidents being reported in oklahoma city and tulsa getting problems with that, too. what about the rain? san antonio into austin and then stretching back into new mexico and el paso getting some rain now and higher elevations and that is where we'll start seeing it turn to all snow and especially areas when you turn to northern new mexico for the morning.

where is the rain headed? eastward, just like the last couple storms. here is what we're calling for. next 48 hours, real elpheneio pattern and storms develop across texases in the lower parts of the four corners and stretch through the gulf coast bringing heavy rain. houston through jackson, mississippi, into birmingham three to four inches of rain over the next two days. in texas today and back into areas by the lower gulf coast by overnight tonight through tomorrow. what about the radar picture? look at corpuses christy. rain heavy at times by san antonio, too. let me take you live to houston, texas. as they say, swallowed up with rain. there's houston. we'll see delays there. maybe an hour or more because of the rain headed in. houston looking for two to three inches of rain between today and tomorrow. more on that coming up, rob, in just a little bit. >> thank you, thank you. only wednesday, but it's already been quite the week on wall street. now, the dow has jumped by more

than 100 points on monday and tuesday and here's stephanie elam with how it might do today. not a good, solid start yet. >> monday we had an upbeat manufacturing report and yesterday was a solid housing report and today we have better than expected jobs numbers but not enough to lift the market because the dow has already gained 132 points over the last two days. payroll processing firm adp says employers shed 22,000 jobs last month, that's still a loss, but a lot better than the 61,000 cut in december and the smallest decline in a year and the labor department is, in fact, moving in the right direction. one company that is not moving in the right direction, toyota. as its problems continue to deepen, complaints on the toyota prius. this all comes just a day after toyota said its u.s. sales fell 16% in january because of the massive recall and stopped production. meanwhile, ford gained market

share in toyota as the number two automaker in the united states. both gm and ford reported double-digit sales growth for january. we're off to a mildly weaker start right now, robin. >> stephanie, thank you. police say that more people could face charges for the death of a florida lottery winner. now, they made their first arrest and it's a woman who was friends with the victim. also ahead, a woman is accused of robbing a bank and cops say a train stopped her from getting away.

a woman who was friends with a lottery winner found dead last week is now charged as an accessory to his murder. authorities in florida say that

she wanted to pay somebody to take the rath for abraham shakespeare's death and make it look like he was still alive. moore denies hurting him and says she was trying to help him manage his money. a woman was arrested after she allegedly robbed a bank and a freight train stopped her from getting away. the train seals off part of the city when it goes by. the suspect had no where to go. authorities spotted her by the train and arrested her. the website that gives you all the free tv shows and movies might decide to start charging you. melissa long, that could be a big change. >> hulu streamed more than 1 billion videos last month. also this morning a man in police custody wearing handcuffs took off in a police car in illinois. how did that happen? we'll find out. four women sentenced for taking revenge on a man they thought was cheating.

you may recall this story. they glued his, you know what to his stomach using nail glue, robin. >> so, the cheater revenge. wow. all right. some doctors at johns hopkins children's center went to haiti to help the victims and now that they're back they're still helping. they organized a drive to send thousands of pairs of crutches to haiti. people also donated their canes and walkers and tens of thousands of people suffered broken bones in the quake. >> we're giving from our hearts and people can't contribute money, we use physical. >> it is going to be amazing for them. this is definitely something so simple that is really going to help them out. >> well, the doctors say that crutches are basically nonexistent in haiti. california has released at least 1,000 prison inmates early to balance the budget, but many people are really upset about it, car dealers, drunk drivers and spouse abusers are among those now out. one sheriff says this probably

won't be a one-time thing. >> i think people in the state of california should be prepared for a lot more of this. i think you'll see this happening in greater numbers as time goes by. >> well, the state is expected to let more than 6,000 inmates out under this program. a new software program could stop you from texting while you're driving. it activates when your car reaches a certain speed and then if you do want to text on your cell phone, you have to type in a random series of letters. if you cannot, the cell phone gets locked up. so far the cell phone has not been approved by the fcc. the super bowl is really getting close and that means a lot of people are making final preps and we'll take you live to miami to see it.

you know the u.s. military plans to go after a big taliban stronghold in afghanistan. a u.s. marine commander says that the next major u.s. op will be in southern afghanistan. the target is considered key to breaking the taliban's influence there. the commander did not give any time frame, but the operation

will include both u.s. and afghan troops. i'm rafer weigel with sports. it is the sporting event that has become a national holiday. super bowl 44 just a few days away and before every super bowl is the circus before the game. it has come and gone but our own joe carter is in south florida. joe, how was it? >> it was great, rafer. and you explain it exactly right. circus spectacle, media day is one of a kind' the one day during super bowl week where the players and coaches let their guard down. they are willing to have fun, be playful with the media. we saw both the saints and the colts trying out for super bolide ol, a knockoff to "american idol." we saw them testing out there karaoke skills. all the different types of media that come to media day.

some guys talk to players with puppets. now, we talked to a saints player that didn't want to talk about the game, he wanted to talk about his unique hairstyle. >> that is a great look you got going. what do you call that on top of your head? >> the mohawk. it's a frohawk today because of this weather, but, forgive me. if i knew all you guys were going to be here, i would prep better. >> you didn't know about media day? >> just found out. >> just found out it was media day? what is he living in a vacuum for the past few years. that was a funny interview. >> he has a lot on his mind. it's the biggest game of the year, rafer, and those guys still willing to joke around a little bit with us but now the silliness is over and all back to business as we get ready to prepare for the game on sunday. >> joe, i hear that you've got this incredible story that you're working on about one saints player that you'll have later this afternoon. tell us a little bit about this. >> his name is anthony hargrove

and great comeback story in 2008 he hit rock bottom and in a drug rehabilitation center right here in south florida and one year later he is back in the nfl playing with the saints and he returns to south florida, this time, though, he is playing for a super bowl title. a great story we'll have for you later on in the day on hln. rafer? >> we'll check in with you later in the morning, appreciate it. also some other news, well, not a bit, but there was a scary moment at the super bowl site. a stage actually collapsed outside sun life stadium. four people were hurt and two airlifted to a local hospital and the other two taken by ambulance. the good news is the injuries are not considered life threatening, but the stage was being set up for a rehearsal for the half-time show. we hope that does not actually happen during the half-time show. >> you have seen how elaborate some of these stages are for the shows and how many people get up on them.

all right, thank you. they've had freezing fog in oklahoma city this morning, so i'm wondering what kind of flights we're going to see today. hi, bob. >> oklahoma city definitely getting that glazing right now. eighth of a visibility in okc and all temperatures below freezing at about 29 right now. that will be a problem. another problem, low clouds. northeast, mid atlantic. let me take you live to nyc. new delay, laguardia averaging 15 to 30 minute delays. that's the reason why. you can see the low clouds. light snow. not a big deal with snow, but poor visibility always a problem. expecting more delays around boston. about a half hour or so. also expect delays around dallas. that's going to be shortly with the rain moving in. houston currently raining now. watch for short delays in seattle. same thing rain showers coming in. philadelphia, 47 minute delay. that will last until noon. low clouds. charlotte still socked in with the fog. 45 minute delays. more in a bit. >> listen, the wife of south

carolina governor mark sanford says she married him even though he refused to promise to be faithful. i'm talking in their vows. in an interview with abc, she says she insisted that -- he insisted that that clause be removed from their vows. she said she questioned it, but then got passed it. in her new book that comes out on friday, sanford says he asked her for advice about how to handle his extramarital affair with the media. a man and his little girl had to fight off a vicious raccoon at the zoo. a man said it came out of nowhere and bit his daughter's leg. the raccoon ripped off the man's shoe and went for his face. >> i thought okay. i'm going to wear it out and it's going to give up. unfortunately, the opposite happened. it wore me out. i used my hand to push it back down between my legs. >> well, the man was given 20 rabies shots. zoo officials euthanized the

raccoon. every year super bowl fans go out and buy a big new screen to watch the game. you should make sure you take steps to keep thieves away from your new tv.

[ 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 ]