good morning, sunshine. come on in the room on a monday. i'm robin meade. and as always, it's great to see you. here's what's going on today. a powerful earthquake, another one, slammed a different country this morning. some people in turkey may be trapped alive under collapsed homes and buildings. and it was a night of firsts at the oscars. you're going to hear about the first woman to win an academy award for best director. plus a look at the oscar fashions on the red carpet. and you can tell from that clip, that mo'nique one, something. now, this is a lot of bull. people screamed and panicked when a bull ran wild in a

parking lot. what would you do? you'll hear how it got loose in the first place. first, though, a new earthquake has brought death and destruction to another part of the world. the quake hit overnight in southeastern turkey. and at least 51 people are dead. more might be trapped alive under some of the collapsed buildings. dozens of aftershocks hit during the rescues. people were carrying the injured to hospitals doing what they can. the 5.8 magnitude quake was not nearly as strong as the ones that hit chile and haiti recently. you've probably noticed that you are paying more at the pump. and the worst thing is that it's probably not over yet. jennifer westhoven is here to tell us that it might getorse and maybe when. >> it's been a long time since we've done gas news. they've been calm for so long. you've probably been seeing that unwelcome news. the average price up nearly 10 cents a gallon just in the latest two weeks. self-serve is averaging about $2.75 a gallon if you're pumping it yourself. that is about 80 cents more than

what we were paying a year ago according to aaa. things were very low back then. you can blame this in a spike in crude oil prices and it's the annual spring run-up. they have start making different blends for the gas. they cost a little bit more. here's the bad part. some analysts say it could go to $3 a gallon by the time spring's over. hawaii is paying the most, $3.34. >> $3.34! >> it costs a lot to get everything out there. >> everything is more expensive in hawaii. missouri, $2.58. >> which is why when i went there i ate at costco most times. the man known as american al qaeda has really bee arrested. two senior officials tell u.s. officials adam gadahn was caught yet. anotr pakistani official says a different u.s. suspect was arrested. gadahn appeared in many al qaeda

videos and is facing treason charges in the united states. for the first time ever, a woman has won the oscar for best director. kathryn bigelow. "the hurt locker" also won best picture. sandra bullock won for "the blind side." and she got emotional as she thanked her mom. >> if i cld take this moment to thank helga for not letting me ride in cars with boys till i was 18 because she was right. i would have done what she said i was going to do. >> didn't she look great, by the wa and there were two hosts for the first time in 23 years. here's a taste of steve martin and alec baldwin. >> there's that damn helen mirren. >> steve, that dame helen mirren. >> oh, sorry. >> that's awesome. we've got more to show you,

though, from the 82nd academy awards. that is coming up. of course, we'll talk fashion. you know, it is three minutes after the hour right now. authorities say that the remains found north of san diego on saturday are those of missing 14-year-old amber dubois. she vanished more than a year ago walking to school. it was about ten miles from where 17-year-old chelsea king disappeared last month. police are now looking into whether king's accused killer is linked to dubois. john gardner has pleaded not guilt to murdering king. votes are being counted in iraq, but 38 people were killed in dozens of election-day attacks. well, a u.s. official estimates that voter turnout may hit 55%. pretty healthy. president obama says that the u.s. supports the iraqis' right to elect their own government. >> today's voting makes it clear that the future of iraq belongs to the people of iraq. >> well, the u.n. says that preliminary results arexpected by wednesday. up to 3 million iraqis are

expected to vote in other countries. and you know what? nashville is one of nine u.s. cities where iraqis could cast a ballot. zblool but it's really nice to see the young ones also have love for the country because most of them weren't raised here. and to see them still have pride in their country and come out here and vote, it's really big for us. >> iraqis also voted in 15 other countries. last year super bowl-winning quarterback ben roethlisberger is facing a second accusation that he sexually assaulted a woman. here's rafer with more on that story. good morning. >> good morning. the quarterback is making headlines, this time in a small rural town in georgia. roethlisberger is accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student at a nightclub there. now, police have not charged him, but they are investigating. and according to tmz, they say the alleged victim was hysterical when she spoke with them. now, this pic was taken the night of the allegations.

but at a different location. now, roethlisberger's agent says it's all false but they are cooperating. he is currently named in a civil suit of allegations he sexually assaulted a nevada woman in 2008. more sports in a bit. >> yeah, i was reading, a lot of different accounts over the weekend. apparently he was a big hit in this college town until the accusations, obviously. rafer, thank you. six minutes after the hour. for a lot ofyou, you may have your kids on spring break and you're thinking, huh, what are we going to do with the kids? let's find out. bonnie schneider is in for bob. he must have a spring break. looks like fog. >> very foggy, milwaukee, chicago, des moines, iowa. take it slow this morning because dense fog advisories are posted because visibility is less than a quarter of a mile. now, this will continue for places like minneapolis till about 9:00 in the morning. and then as we get through the morning, it will persist into chicago. in fact, the dense fog advisory there goes till 11:00 this morning. that's kind of a long time

through the morning hours to deal with poor visibility. you can see the low clouds coming in on our satellite imagery. as we look further off to the east, notice it looks a little bit, i'd say, great for the northeast. we don't usually see that. it's always been stormy and nasty this season. you'll see gorgeous weather in boston, philadelphia and washington. temperatures not too bad, in the 40s. that's not bad, with high pressure dominating. we'll see fair conditions for northeast and the southeast as well. we're finally looking a nice weather where temperatures will be into the 60s. in atlanta, for example, in the 70s and florida. buthen back out to the west, we are tracking some wintry weather. watch out for it into new mexico, in the mountains of arizona. lower sections of utah and colorado. this is a vigorous storm system, so we do have winter storm warnings posted. and notice the realtime flashes of lightning right now happening in amarillo, texas. that's part of a larger storm system that will bring rain to houston and dallas later today. so far, so good. check out these hh

temperatures. this is more like it. it's march. it's supposed to be milder. we're looking at 58 in new york city. 61 in washington. 68 in atlanta. 63 in las vegas. but watch out for windy weather there particularly tonight. we could see winds getting as high as 50. i'll talk more about that and how it will affect your travel. did you get enough sleep to jump start your week? well, your answer might have to do with your race, your background. and get this. tiger woods is saying no to a $75 million endorsement deal?

today's salute is for construction man andrew clayton of the u.s. navy. now, he's in the first few weeks of his first did he ploim deplo. his wife sent in this salute. >> this salute is for my husband in the u.s. navy. i want to say happy birthday and happy anniversary in advance. i miss you and i love you. and i can't wait for you to come home. stay strong, honey. >> thank you so much. and if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin. african-americans apparently get the least amount of sleep. in a new study, the ntional sleep foundation found that african-americans reported needing less sleep each night to be at their best the next day. it may sound harmless, but researchers point out that inadequate sleep is linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes, diseases that are more prevalent among african-americans. you know, a lot of movie

fans may have been shouting, where are my oscars! she missed part of it because of a fight between their cable company and abc. our money expert, jennifer westhoven, is here. good morning. >> thanks, robin. here we're talking about some people missed the oscars. if anybody's going to be upset about missing the pre-oscars show, it's going to be the fashionistas in new york. >> that's true! exciting. >> all right. oscar stuff aside, 3 million cablevision subscribers in new york who missed the first 15 minutes of the oscars because of a fight between tv companies. >> ladies and gentlemen, this year's nominees for actor and actress in a leading role. >> i mean, that's what most ople saw. but everybody in new york missed all that. they missed all the red carpet stuff. because disney pulled the signal that broadcast abc to cablevision viewers at midnight. it's a big fight that's been going on between not just abc but all the broadcast networks.

so abc, cbs, nbc and the cable companies because they want cablevision to pay for the abc shows. basically all the networks are saying, you know, for years we've been making money on ads. it's not enough anymore. we want to get paid just like the cable providers do. blevision was, like, hey, we shouldn't have to pay you for what's always been free. this is something that's been playing out. it means that you may end up facing kind of a blackout for a little while during these kinds of fights on some of your favorite cable shows if you have cable tv, and i assume you do, because that's where you're watching us now, most likely. >> well, there are other means. >> there are. toyota taking on a critic this week. we'll see later today, the company says it's going to debunk the claims of one professor at the university of illinois. this professor says it wasn't the gas pedals, but it was the electronics. so they're going to great pains to debunk this.

and remember, toyota has said it's not the electronics but the mechanics. but also toyota has said it's not 100% sure it knows what's caused the problem. i don't know. what do you think? should toyota be spending its time on this, debunking a report, defending itself? should it be finding the root cause? do you think it already has the root cause? lots of questions unanswered here, robin. >> yeah. when you have complaints from people who say i got my car fixed supposedly and it's still having sudden acceleration problems. jen, thank you. from high heels to combat boots, one small business owner is taking people to the front lines of fitness. stephanie elam has this week's "small business success." >> feet by your hands! one, two, three. >> reporter: lauren wants you to be all that you can be. she says her company pure power boot camp offers a true military-style indoor obstacle course. >> i base pure power boot camp on different elements or different obstacles of the armed

foes over at ft. knox in louisville, kentucky. >> reporter: this is not your average class. clients are whipped into shape by former marines, but not everything is done like the military. >> the military breaks you down to build you up. we're all about building you up from the onset. >> reporter: bryner worked on wall street seven years before starting her company in 2003. she combined her passion for sports, entertainment and business and turned it into her profession. >> there was no other program that i could have emulated in me way. so there was nothing like -- it was a brand-new concept it was let's throw it on the wall and see if it sticks, and it's it, knock on wood. >> so if you're a small business owner, we'd like to see your success story. go to cnn.com/robin. you might be featured here on "morning express." it's 15 minutes past the

hour. paramedics raced to the scene of a deadly crash, but they needed help from an injured boy to save lives. plus, everyone was seeing red at an nba game. how many people were wearing the snuggies? oh, no, you didn't.

well, tiger woods has lost a few sponsors, but it appears he's not hurting becse he just turned down a $75 llion sponsorship. but i ask for what, rafer? >> and that's the reason why, robin. >> that's the catch. >> yeah, a gambling outfit. and let's be honest. tiger woods trying to rebuild his image partnering with a gambling outfit? probably not a good idea. but nevertheless the company, patdy power, ireland's biggest bookmaker, says they are upping the ante to get their man, to try to get woods as their spokesman. the original includes $5 million a year for five years with a $1 million bonus for major tournaments. but get this. just the mention of woods possibly partnering with this company, their stock rose 8 cents. they say it's not a publicity stunt. he's not going to be partnering with this site. you've heard of the jamaican bobsledding team. now meet a jamaican dogsledder.

marshall is the first fm jamaica to participate in saturday's iditarod. he practiced with stray mutts pulling a sled on wheels in his hometown. look at that. but now because jimmy buffett is his sponsor, he's running with some of the best dogs available in this race. it is still a mystery as to why detroit pistons guard rodney stuckey collapsed during a game friday in clooef land. being held up there by his trainer. his coach says he's still being tested by doctors. he was taken to the hospital by ambulance. there he is being wheeled out. last year he missed two games after experiencing dizziss at halftime. cleveland fans set a world record for the largest gathering of people wearing snuggies. genius, cleveland fans. in the 20,000-plus fans in atte attendance, there was a snuggie on their seat. their asked to put it on for five minutes. look at that. >> even the cheerleaders wore them. those were the sexiest snuggies

i ever saw. >> they were, they were low-cut snuggies. very impressive, guys. >> hysterical. there was a massive crash in sunday's nascar race. why some say it was intentional. more on that. >> oh, my gosh. look the way the car flew up. >> the car flew up and almost -- looks like it was going to go into the stands. we'll have that in 30. >> thank you very much. how are my wake-up calls going for you? what? you haven't signed up? i tell you what, they are free, silly. call one time to 1-888-robin-hln. it will ask you what time you want to wake up monday through friday. that's it. it's going to be me on the line waking me up and telling you what's going on for the show. you can leave a message if you want after the call. first you are raun's president made controversy over remarks about the holocaust, and now he claims to know why the 9/11 terror attacks happened.

an earthquake has killed at least 51 people in southeastern turkey. the 5.8 magnitude quake scared a lot of people out of bed overnight, and it wasn't nearly as strong as recent quakes in chile and haiti. but it was enough to bring down some homes and buildings to the ground. vice president joe biden is headed for the middle east this morning for a five-day visit. he's going to meet officials in israel, jordan and the palestinian territories. his wife, jill, will visit hospitals in that region. >> what is this? >> it's a who, majesty. this is, um --

>> "alice in wonderland" is freaky, and it's on top of the weekend box office. it earned re than $116 million for its opening. in the number two slot, "brooklyn's finest" with $13.5 million. leo dicaprio's "shutter island" came in third with $13 million, so still staying strong. the taban is being blamed for a suicide blast that killed at least 11 people. more than 60 others were injured today. authorities say that some of the victims were women taking children to school. the bomber apparently targeted a building used by police to interrogate high-level suspects. those are just a few of our headlines. but i wanted to stop and say good morning, rock star. how you feeling? it's 31 minutes past the hour. you're, like, that's how i'm feeling, very early. i'm robin meade. you know, police have solved part of the mystery surrounding a california girl who vanished more than a year ago. they say that remains found north of san diego saturday are those of missing 14-year-old amber dubois.

she disappeared while walking to school. and her parents did not say much about what police told them. but they recogze the volunteers who helped search for their daughter. >> first of all, we'd like to thank everybody involved in the search for amber. the entire community, everybody who helped out in our search efforts, and above all, our huge volunteer corps. they were the most dedicated people you could ever imagine. without them, we couldn't have done anything. >> police are looking into whether accused killer john gardner is linked to dubois. she vanished about ten miles from where 17-year-old chelsea king disappeared last month. gardner has pleaded not guilty to murdering king. president obama will take his push for health care reform on the road to philly today. you can expect to ask for him to ask the public to support his plan which has been stalled in congress. >> we have to pass a budget. you have to move things forward. that's what i hear from americans all over the country. they want something to be done.

they want things to move to the next step. and i think that's why the president now has called on congress to have an up or down vote on health reform. >> the american people aren't going to put up with it. 58% of the american people are opposed to it. this isn't really a battle between democrats and republicans. it's between democrats and the american public at large. >> well, democrats say that they believe that they have enough votes to pass the bill without gop support. meeting the president's mid-march deadline. stand-up comedian mo'nique got a standing ovation last night as she won the oscar for best supporting actress. it's for her role as aabusive parent in "precious." >> first, i would like to thank the academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics. i want to thank -- >> now, the gardenia in her hair was a tribute to hattie

mcdaniel. she wore a gardenia when she became the first african-american to win an academy award for her role in "gone with the wind" in 1939. now, mo'nique also thanked oprah winfrey and tyler perry who helped get the independent film produced. and perry was a presenter last night. >> or i could show you what the hosts are doing backstage right now. i wanted to get even because alec baldwin keeps walking up to me saying, "man, i loved you in the blind side." that wasn't me. >> perry said he wanted to support "precious" because he grew up in an abusive household like the one in the movie. best actor went to jeff bridges for "crazy het." it was his fifth nomination but his first win. and don't i remember reading that he actually did the singing in the movie? yeah. as, you know, kind of an old, washed-up country star.

every senior at a special high school is going to college. chicago's urban prep academy is the city's l-mail african-american high school. mayor richard daley congratulated them. >> you are the future. you're going to be standing up here. you're going to be someplace in the world making an effect on somebody else's life. >> the school has a strict code of conduct and a high success rate. the school's website says that most students come from ecomically disadvantaged families. i'm fascinated that their graduation was in march. >> yeah, i've heard them in january, but not march. >> yeah, that's unusual. 35 minutes past the hour. ♪ fog that's my best imitation of a foghorn. bonnie's in for bob. good morning. >> we're not even having it on the harbor like a foghorn you picture. this is inland. the fog is all the way into wisconsin, illinois and indiana. so this morning, take it slow on the roads. these fog advisories will go in

chicago, for example, all the way to 11:00 this morning. that's pretty late. visibility will be less than a quarter mile. give yourself a little extra time this morning. you'll need it. you can see the low clouds on our satellite perspective across the midwest and ohio valley. it's looking really good. temperatures this morning in boston, 42 degrees. outside right now in washington, d.c., it is 38 degrees. that's nothing. wait till you see how nice it's going to get today. we can show you a live picture of washington, d.c., our nation's capitol. there's the capitol. it looks great. so nice to see it without the snow. if there's any snow on the ground, it's not going to last because temperatures will hit about 60 degrees in washington. that is nice. just a few weeks ahead of the cherry blossom festival which will begin march 27th. it's a great time of year to visit washington. high pressure across the southeast. watch out for stormy conditions into texas. only a couple shower popping up right now. but beware, this is going to get

worse as that low makes its way to the east. we are going to see stronger storms develop right here into dallas and houston today. and even into louisiana towards shreveport, we could see storms break out. so just be prepared if you're driving. now, further westward, especially the higher elevations, it's snow. it is still very much winter in albuquerque and in the mountains of arizona. even further west. winter weather advisories will actually go from today straight through tuesday because this is a slow-moving storm system. and it's reaching into colorado. denver, you have snow in your forecast later this week. but look at these numbers, robin. beautiful weather. 53 in boston. 75 in miami. finally feeling almost like spring in the eastern half of the country. >> finally, i guess so. i was seeing some flower festivals are coming up. i'm, like, yeah, poking out of the snow. that still remains. thank you very much. i'm glad that we have warmer temperatures. hi, robin, this is steve.

and my brother, dave. we're here in atlanta, just moved from ohio. keep up the great work, too, sunshine. >> you're my sunshine, too. so can i call you? it is your wake-up call to get out of bed on time. and it is free. you set it up by dialing one time to 888-robin-hln. it will ask you what time and you can leave a shouted-out. help might be on the way for people who can no longer afford to stay in their homes but can't sell them either. and it's cold, hard cash. more on that story. plus, this video is no bull. it caused a panic outside a rodeo.

a ceo is apologizing for

sending out an e-mail comparing michelle obama to a chimp. walt baker is the head of tennessee's hospitality association. he forwarded an e-mail that he had received comparing the first lady to tarzan's sidekick. now, baker says that it was meant as political humor. >> i have ner considered myself bigoted or racially incensensitive or a racist. >> well, the nashville convention and visitors bureau has since dropped its contract with baker's marketing firm. you know, first many gm dealers were told to close their doors forever, and now hundreds of them are getting a second chance. our money expert, jennifer west hoec westhoven is here. what a turnaround. >> it's part of the legal club. >> i don't know if your microphone is on yet. hold on. don't speak yet.

signs? how about signs? >> okay. >> gotcha. now go. >> all right. so more than 600 dealers, yeah, they'll be opening up again. and they are glad to be getting back to work. here's one of them. >> we're back in the buick business. i'm going to sign up for 60 cars. like rig now. bring me the inventory. let's go. >> let's go. that's a buick dealer in minnesota who's glado be starting again. 2,000 gm dealers were told to close their doors back in october. basically by letting some of them open again, gm is saving itself the time and money of putting up a big fight in court. many of those dealers said they were not going to just close up shop and go away quietly. they were going to fight it. the white house has a new program that aims to help the housing market not by helping you keep your home but by helping some people get out of their homes. especially if they're in a too-expensive home. a lot of people are fighting every month trying to come up with the money to make that monthly payment. they fee like it's very stressful. but they don't feel like they can leave because with housing

prices where they are, they wouldn't cover their mortgage. you might owe tens of thousands of dollars to the bank. under this new plan, lenders would have to accept a reasonable market price and not come chasing after you for all that extra money. plus you'd get $1500 thrown in to help you with the move. that's supposed to help avoid a lot of extra foreclosures out there on the market. >> i'de interested to hear how many people are actually going to get that option. we talk about a lot of help from homeowners. you feel like who got it? jen, thank you. a lot of bickering after a major nascar crash. but was it done on purpose? the crash? and then a brazen robbery at a poker game. check out the commotion in the backgrnd as heavily armed men stormed the place.

♪ an 11-year-old boy is being called a hero for helping the paramedics after a deadly bus crash. the bus was on its way from mexico to l.a. when it rear-ended a pickup outside phoenix on friday.

oscar rodriguez noticed paramedics had trouble helping the victims who mostly spoke spanish. so even though he was hurt, oscar started translating. emergency workers say he made a big difference. >> i just remember my legs were flying all over the place. >> that's when my little brother flew out the window. good thing he survived. >> with no formal training at 11 years old, this kid stayed more calm and more brave than a lot the veterans i've seen. >> wow! the crash killed six people. the department of transportation says that the bus company was operating illegally, and it was ordered to shut down immediately. we've not heard from the company's owner yet. the civil rights march from selma to montgomery, alabama, was recreated 45 years later. yesterday hundreds of people took to the streets to mark the 45th anniversary of bloody sunday. on that day in 1965, several hundred people in a voting rights march were met by state troopers using billy clubs and

tear gas. >> it's the most moving thing, to see that here we're back where 45 years ago the troopers were attacking. and now the troopers are here to protect. and we've overcome so much. but it's still a lot more that we have to d >> president obama praised those who endured the beatings, calling them heroes. he says that more needs to be done despite the civil rights progress that's happened since that landmark voting rights march. country music star brad paisley is recovering after he fell on stage. this youtube video shows him tripping and falling -- yikes! -- at saturday's concert in charleston. well, the poor thing, he bounced back up, and he finished the show. but then he went to the hospital. so you know he was hurting. paisley has some bad bruises. but otherwise he's okay, we're told. the hospital released him yesterday.

he wrote a twitter message, asking fans to send videos of his fall. kind of like they're out there. may as well call for them. that was big of him. poor thing. well the was a nasty crash kind of like the car version of what brad paisley did in nascar's race on sunday. and some say may have been intentionally caused, though. rafer weigel has more on this video. >> yeah. another friend of the show in carl edwards. yeah, nascar, as you remember, told the drivers to have at it, mix it up this season. it appears that's what we ve here. this was at atlanta motor speedway. friend of the show carl edwards and brad keselowski, they've got a rivalry going. edwards clips keselowski, and he goes airborne, turns over. he was okay but very upset. here's another look at the crash. very, very scary stuff. now, these two got into a crash last year at talladega. so it looked like maybe edwards was trying to settle the score. keselowski going off. there's keselowski going into

the ambulance. edwards, though, had to go talk to nascar officials. he says he didn't exct keselowski to go into the stands. kurt busch, by the way, wonthe race for the second year in a row. tiger woods may have lost a few sponsors, but he recently turned down a potentially $75 million sponsorship deal but it was from a gambling power. paddy power, worth over $1.5 billion, says they'll up the ante to go and get him. >> they're going to give him even more money? >> they're going toffer even more money. don't hold your breath. just mentioning the possibility of their partnership raised their stock by 8 cents. scandal and all, this guy has major marketing power still. >> obviously, he turned it down because he's trying to -- >> rebuild his image. wouldn't be a smart business news. watch this brutal hit on the ice. boston's marc savard gets blinided right here. boom. by pittsburgh's matt cooke. he was down on the ice for several minutes, did not move. he was being attended to by

doctors. very scary stuff. eventually he was carried off. he could move his limbs. his coach says he suffered a concussion. there was no penalty called, but his coach call it had a dirty hit. laker star ron artest has a. that's crazy. a blonde one with "defense" written in different languages e.'s been compared to dennis rodman. it didn't help his team. lastly, crazy video from the honda classic tournament. look at this hawk, decides he wants the microphone. give me that. look at the hawk as it gets, like, mad. come here. i'm doing to take this. >> i think he has a crush. >> i think he does. wants it for the nest or something. the winner of the tournament was vagego from colombia. >> thank you very much. ten minutes to the hour. hi, travelers. i know if you're a business

traveler today, monday, you have to get back out there and mix it up. here's bonnie schneider. fog is the problem, huh? >> absolutely. that will slow you down in many locations. not just one area facing fog. into milwaukee we're looking at dense fog th could slow you down 30 minutes to an hour. chicago, the advisories continue until 11:00 this morning for dense fog. des moes, iowa, the same thing. watch out for delays. in houston, dallas, you're looking at thunderstorms, more in the latter part of the day. san francisco, fog, in, wind. it's happening all day and delays will be up to an hour, robin. we're watching for that on this busy monday. >> thank you very much. more news after this.

>> good morning, sunshine. come on in and sit down while you have your coffee. if you have time. if not, i'll accompany you as you run around the house and get ready. it will be me, like running after you. hey, did you know this is happening? i'm robin meade. here's what's happening. a powerful earthquake slammed another country this morning. rescuers in teshg ki are now scrambling to find people who may be coapsed under the homes and buildings. it was a night of firsts at the oscars. you'll hear about the first woman to win an academy aard for best director. plus, a look oscar fashions on the red carpet.

first, a new earthquake brought death and destruction to another part. world overnight. the quake killed at least 57 people in southeastern turkey. officials do not believe that anyone is still trapped. people were carrying the injured to the hospital. some homes were destroyed, but the buildings like schools were spared. the 5.8 magnitude quake was not nearly as strong as the ones that hit chile and haiti recently. for the first time ever, a woman has won the oscar for best director >> this really is -- there's no other way to describe it. it's the moment of alifetime. >> katherine bigelow won for "the hurlocker." she beat her ex-husband, james cameron. "the hurt locker" also won best picture. sandra bullock won best actress for "the blind side." she played a woman who adopted a boy who becomes a football star, and she got emotional as she

thanked her own mom. >> if i can take this moment to thank lga bee for not letting me ride in cars with boys until i was 18 because she was right. >> we've got more about the winners and the big moments. hosts as well, had two post hosts well. don't forget the fashion from the academy awards all coming up. we're awaiting to hear if the man known as american al qaeda has been rested. two officials tell hln that this man was caught yesterday. u.s. intelligence officials say it may not be true. another pakistani officials say a different u.s. suspect was arrested. he appeared in many auld auld videos. he's facing treason charges in the united states. it's two minutes after the hour. authorities say remains found north of san diego on sarday are those of missing 14-year-old amber dubois. she vanished more than a year ago walking to school.

her parents didn't say much about what the police told them, but they recognized the volunteers who helped search for their daughter. >> first of all, we'd like to thank everybody involved in the search for amber. the entire community, everybody who helped out in our search efforts, and, above all, our huge volunteer corps. they were the most dedicated people you could ever imagine. without them, we couldn't have done anything. >> police are looking into whether accused killer john gardner is linked to dubois. she disappeared ten miles from are where chelsea king disappeared last month. votes are being counted in iraq, but 38 people were killed in dozs of election-day attacks. u.s. officials estimates that the voter turnout may hit 55%. president obama says americans support the iraqis' right to elect their own government. >> today's voting makes it clear that the future of iraq belongs

to the people of iraq. >> the u.n. says that preliminary results are expected by wednesday. up to 3 million iraqis were expected to vote in other countries, michigan is one of nine locations in the united states where iraqis can cast a ballot. >> i'm american citizen. i live here, but i still -- i feel i still -- i'm iraqi, too, you know? and i'm happy to come here today and vote. >> well, iraqis also voted in 15 other country aies. beth roethlisberger is facing a second accusation that he sexually assault a woman. here's rafer weigel with more on the story, this investigation. apparently the allegations came early friday morning. >> that's right, robin. the investigation is ongoing. the pittsburgh steelers quarterback roethlisberger making headlines in a small rural town in georgia. cused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student at a nightclub. he's not been charged.

as ied said, they are investigating. according to tmz, police say the alleged victim was hysterical when she went to them. we've not been able to confirm that. we do have a picture that was taken the night of the allegations, but at a different location. roethlisberger's agent says he's skeptical of the motive but they're cooperating. he is currently named in a civil suit of allegations he sexually assaulted a nevada woman in 2008. robin? >> thank you so much. we're watching to seehat developments come out of that investigation. possibly as early as today. a scrawny, toothless, mohawk little pooch is now the ugliest dog, at least has the title. poor little "rascal." he won the annual ugly dog contest yesterday in san diego some of these are so ugly they're cute. rascal's owner says he is the most handsome d he's ever seen, so there. he admits his dog is the best at what he does. what does rascal do? he's been kown to lift his leg

on the judges. get a load of the dog riding the motorcycle or trisickle. five minutes past the hour. fog is a big problem for our midwestern viewers. bonnie is here for bob. >> really, if you're in chicago, milwaukee, madison, it doesn't matter, you're facing the fog. right now, it will continue straight through most of the morning. so whether you're just taking a trip because it's spring break for a lot of folks or heading to work in chicago, for example, that fog won't lift until later this morning. 10:00, possibly 11:00 a.m., visibility limited to a quarter of a miler less. so use the low beams, be careful. you can see t low clouds coming up from the southwest, really creating the problem in terms of visibility. now, as we head to the east, just to talk about something a little more happy, we've got great weather. it was a beautiful day in the northeast yesterday. everybody was talking about it. boston's temperature, 42 degrees right now. so is new york city.

you will will see highs in the mid-50s, washington, d.c., up to 60 today. that sounds great, very springlike. high pressure across the southeast, a nice day in atlanta as well, florida, 75 in miami, more like it, right? then back off further as we head westward it gets stormy. in texas and in louisiana, the low pressure center coming out of the four corners states, will tap into gulf moisture. that means thunderstorms. so watch out for that into houston and dallas today. even into amarillo we're looking at lightning popping up, even right now. the low clouds in place, houston about to get hit with storms moving from san antonio. a lot of that will slide into the southwestern parishes of louisiana later on today. now, here it is, the rain in amarillo and some of that rain working its way up into southern sections of colorado. the higher elevations you'll see snow. even denver, it's still winter for you. you'll get a chance of snow as we go into the next few days. today, though, you should be dry. let's look at high temperatures. they are looking fantastic along the eastern half of the country.

53 in boston, we'll see a high of 71 in memphis, tennessee. in tampa, florida, 71 as well. houston, a little stormy, 64. in california after the oscars when it was raining for a good portion of the first part of the ceremony, 62 today. the rain is sliding to the east. west coast is looking pretty good. we'll have more on that as we go through the morning. robin? >> thank you. have you signed up for my wake-up calls? maybe one piece of insurance that you get to work on time? you call one time to 888-robin-hln. it will say, what time do you want to wake up? one time youall and then every day after that monday through friday it will be me on the other end of the line telling you to wake up. your dream summer vacation might be more affordable than you think now. we're talki about places like europe even. get this. tiger woods is saying no to a $75 million endorsement deal.

good morning. we love to salute the troops. today is for construction man andrew clayton of the u.s. navy. he's in the first few weeks of his first deployment. his wife sent in this salute via webcam. >> this salute is for my husband constructionman clayton of the u.s. navy. i want to say happy birthday and happy anniversary in advance. i miss you and i love you and i can't wait for you to come home. stay strong, honey. >> i hope he gets to see that message. wouldn't that be great? if you have somebody you want to salute, go to cnn.com/robin. an 11-year-old boy is being call a hero for helping paramedics after a deadly bus crash. that bus was on its way from mexico to l.a. when it rear-ended a pickup outside phoenix on friday. oscar rodriguez noticed

paramedics had trouble helping the victims who mostly spoke spanish. even though he was hurt, oscar started translating. the emergency workers say that he made a huge difference. >> i just remembered my legs, flying all over the place. >> my little brother got to fly out the window. good thing he survived. >> no formal training at 11 years old, he stayed calm and brave, more than the veterans i've seen. >> the crash killed six people. the department of transportation says the bus company was operating illegally and it was ordered to the shut down immediately. we've not heard from the company's owner yet. here's how some states are dealing with their budget problems. they're keeping your tax refund a little bit longer. jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. but you know what? people are kind of bking on their tax refund. >> well, the state doesn't want to gbankrupt either. sometimes by law they're allowed to get away with it. i'm saying, take this as an

incentive to do your taxes early so you can get your refund on time. it's frustrating to send that in and not get your money. more americans and businesses may be having to wait a longer time for that refund because states are so strapped for cash they are taking their time when it comes to sending those checks out. that's to both individuals and businesses. with so many people out of work and so many homes in foreclosure, all together we don't owe as mh in taxes so the states are in big trouble. right now north carolinand hawaii say that they are delaying payouts and a local new york paper says that that state is considering delaying tax refunds as well. how about 3 million new yorkers also missed all of the red carpet festivities and the first 15 minutes of the oscars because of a cable tv fight. >> ladies and gentlemen, this year's nominees for actor and actress in a leading role. >> that's what most people watched the oscars say saw when the oscars began, but not those cable visiosubsibers in new york.

this is something that's happening there right now, but this can happen to any of us if you get your tv through cable. basically, in this case, disney pulled the plug on their broadcast signal for a while, but a lot of networks are trng to get money out of the cable distributors. if you are planning a trip to europe, hln money expert clark howard has some tips on stretching your travel dollar during your visit. >> the last couple of years really hasn't smiled on people who wanted to travel to urope, but this year is america's year to head to europe. why? well, number one, the value of your european currencies has collapsed. the value of the euro versus the dollar has dropped so much that your dollar goeso much further. you want to go to great britain? same issue with the pound. every pound you spend, every euro you spend, is going to go further, especially with hotels. wow, i've been shopping for hotels's recently in europe, i can't believe how much cheaper

they are than what they used to be. that's because of the drop in the value of european currencies and the fact that the hotels don't have ough people checking in. what about airfare? airfare to europe has been really expensive in recent years, but the big deal for airfare to europe is to use frequent flyer miles, especially if you have enough to sit in the front of the plane. that's ateal of a deal. but if you have to buy a ticket, well, that's not that easy. but for springtime, expect to pay from the eastern half of the country, if you find a good deal, under $700 round trip including all junkfees, from the western half of the country, under $800 includeringll junk fees. for more ways for you to stretch your are travel dollar, go to cnn.com/clark howard. >> strategies like that and a whole lot more, the clark howard show airs satday and sunday at noon right here on hln. a country music star is recovering from a big fall. you'll see brad paisley tumble

on stage. plus, you'llhear from the wife of the man accused of flying his plane into an irs building.

well, kres more highlights from last night's tag-team monolog coming up. plus, you can't talk oscars without talking about the fashion, right? or the oh, no she did not red carpet looks. that's coming up. u.s. troops who have been helping haiti's quake victims are headed back home now. many of them wrapped up their operations this weekend, even though many haitians want them to stay. they're afraid that other troops cannot keep up security and international aid may diminish if the american troops leave. u.s. officials denied that. a top u.s. commander says that a small number of troops is needed there, actually. tiger woods lost a few sponsors, right, in his big scandal, but it appears that he must not be hurting because he just turned down a $75 million sponsorship offer. here's rafer with more on that. wouldn't you say, thank you very

much, and you'll never see me again? >> yeah, exactly. but what i love about this story is that the company is not giving up. they're still trying to go after tiger. don't hold your breath, folks. it's a gambling outfit. the name of the company, patty power, ireland's biggest book maker, says they'll up the anty to try to get woods as their spokesman, the original offer $5 million a year over five years with $1 million bonuses for tournament wins. just the mention of the possibility of sponsoring with woods caused their stock to rise eight cents. you've heard of the jamaican bob shredding team. now there's a jamaican dogsledding team. newten marshall, the first jamaican to participate in iditarod. he trained with stray dogs pulling him on a sled on wheels. now jimmy buffet sponsored him. he has a souped-up sled, top of the line dogs being ddogs.

>> jimmy buffest and iditarod. confusing. it's still a mystery as to why dney stucky collapsed and passed out during a game in cleaved. his coach is being tsted by doctors. you can see him leaning up against his trainer. >> poor thing. my gosh, it looks serious. >> here's the thing much he missed two games last season after experiencing dizzinesdizz. from that same game, cveland fans set a record for largest fans using snuggie. they asked everyone to put a snuggie on during time-outs. >> the cheerleaders wore sexy snuggies. didn't now you could order those. a massive crash in nascar's race on sunday, why some say it was intentional.

there are now at least 57 people dead after an earthquake in southeastern turkey. how the 5.8 magnitude quake scared people out of bed ernight. not nearly as strong as the recent quakes in haiti and chile, but it was enough to bring homes to the ground. vice president joe biden is headed to the middle east for' five-day visit, going to meet officials in many countries. his wife, dr. jill widbiden is o going to visit hostals and schools in the region. and what is that? >> it's a "who," ma jessty.

this is -- >> "alice in wonderland" is wt that is, on top of the weekend box office. it earned more than 116 million bucks in the biggest opening weekend for a 3d movie, beating "avata "avatar." in the number two slot was "brooklyn's finest," leo dicapr dicaprio's "shutter island" came in third with about 13 million. those are some of our headlines. how are you feeling? very monday, i'm robin meade. you've probably noticed you are paying more at the pump. the worst is probably not over yet. jennifer westhoven is here to ll you why we're seeing the spike in the prices. dp morning. >> good morning. thank s robin. for ahile the headlines for gas prices weregreat. they came down and stayed down for a while. this morning, the news is bt annual spring run-up. gas jumped nearly ten cents a gallon, now talking about $2.75 for a gallon of gas, regular,

pump it yourself, 80 cents more than you paid a year ago according to aaa. there was a spike in crude oil prices recently. analysts say brace yourselves. it could be going up to $3 a gallon. hawaii, he $3.43, missouri the lowest, $2.58. if you want to tell us what your gas price is, go to our facebook page. here is another oscar first from last neat. >> and the oscar goes to -- jeff bridges. >> it was the fifth nomination, but his first oscar. now his father was actor lloyd bridges, his mother actress dorothy bridges. and his brother beau is an actor as well. stand-up comedian mo'nique won the oscar for the be supporting actress. >> to my amazing husband sydney, thank you for showing me that

sometimes you have to forgo doing what's popular in order to do what's right. and, baby, you were so right. >> mo'nique won for her role as an abuve parent in the movie "precious". one of the top votes at the oscars happened before the big show. check out the fashion on the red carpet. general ajennifer lopez got hig for her choice, sdra bullock looking golden and went on to win. reviews were mixed for charlize theron. i don't know what that was. but it wasn't all pretty. one of the most awkward moments of the night is coming up. some people are calling it a kanye mome. fist, though, president obama will take his push for health care reform on the road to philly today. you can expect him to ask the public to support his plan, which has been stalled in congress. >> we have to pass a budget.

you have to move things forward. that's what i hear from americans all over the country. they want something to be done, they want things to move to the next step. and i think that's why are the president now has called on congress to have an upor down vote on health reform. >> the american people aren't going to put up with it. 58% of the american people are totally opposed to it. this isn't a battle between democrats and republicans. it's between democrats and the american public at large. >> democrats say that they believe that they do have enough votes to pass the bill without gop support, meeting the president's mid-march deadline. four men armed with pistols and a machete robbed a televised poker tournament, right there on camera. watch the poker player look over his shoulder. that was the suspects making their getaway from the hotel in berlin on saturday. police say that seven people got hurt as they tried to get out of there. the suspects dropped a bag of money when they fled. talk about brazen.

cameras were right there. how can you have a poker face with that happening. 34 minutes past te hour. fog is a big problem today. bonnie is in for bob to tell you where it is. >> good morni. definitely across the midwest. this weather update isrought to you by sudafed triple action. right to the fog advisories in place this morning across not just minneapolis but all the way chicago and then to indianapolis. this is the type of morning where you really have to take it slow on the ros. visibility is less than a quarter of a mile in some places. use low beams, give yourself an extra 20 minute at least to get to work. you can see the low clouds riding on in as places as far east as west virginia. we're getting a little bit of rain but a lot of that is not hitting the ground. i wanted to show you where the severe weather is right now, it's happening in north texas as well as southwest colorado. we are seeing some strong thunderstorms rolling in, and what's happening in amarillo will work its way eastward today to dallas and to houston.

you can see some storms just now firing up along i-10 between san antonio and houston at this hour. also new orleans getting a little wet this morning as well as jackson, mississippi, texarkana. nothing really too strong, but as t afternoon persists we'll be watching for heavy downpours, frequent lightning and possibly even small hail. now, further off to the southwest, it is very much winter, a winter storm taking shape. a winter storm warnings in effect for today straight through tomorrow. this includes new mexico all the way down through arizona. we could see some measurable heavy snow in the higher elevations. you can see elsewhere most of the temperatures are warm, but where it's warm we could se those thunderstorms popping up as we go through a good portion of the day. still some very cold weather in northern michigan, marquette right now at 27 degrees. but for the northeast, after a very stormy winter, so far we're finally getting the first monday in a long time where the weather is toing to be quite comfortable. today in washington, robin, we'll see a high of 60 degrees.

>> thank you very much. you know, help might be on the way for people who can't afford to stay in their homes but can't sell them either. more on that story. this bull caused quite a panic outside a rodeo. what would you do if you saw that in the parking lot?

a civil rights march from selma to montgomery, alabama, was recreated 45 years later. yesterday hundreds of people took to the streets to mark the 45th anniversary of bloody sunday. on that day in 1965 several

hundred people on a voting rights march were met by state troopers using billy clubs and tear gas. >> it's the most moving thing to see that here we're back where 45 years ago the troopers were attackg and now the troopers are here to protect and we've overcome so much, but it's still a lot more that we have to do. >> this was the violent scene 45 years ago. president obama praised those who endured the beatings calling them heroes. he says more needs to be done despite the progress happened since the landmark voting rights march. first, many gm dealers were told to close up sp forever. well, now hundreds of them are getting a big second chance. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here with that. good morning. >> good morning. about 600 of them are going to get to open again. i think a lot of them are

watching the mail. they'll be getting letters from gm -- >> telling which ones. >> yes. saying they can open their doors and get back to the business of selling cars. >> we're back in the buick buness. >> i'm going to sign ing ting t cars right now. bring me the inventory. let's go. >> that is a buick dealer in minnesota. back in october gm said it would close 2,000 dealerships. many of those dealerships said they weren't going to t inin ii lying down. they would go to court to stay open. gm will save the money of the court battle, but to stay open, they say they'll have to meet criteria, first financial requirements and then they'll have to get good customer satisfaction reviews, which i say is probably good for all car buyers, right? because sometimes there are dealerships out there that don't get such great reviews. the white house has a plan for the housing market, not just to help people keep their homes but to help people get out of their homes. even people who say, i know i'm

in over my head, but i just can't get out, you know, home prices are so low you can't necessarily cover your loan all the time. then you've got the bank chasing after you for tens of thousands of dollars. well, under this white house plan, lenders, the banks, would have to accept, if they get a reasonable mket price, and not come after you for the extra money. we're talking about short sales that could avoid foreclosures. by the way, you would get $1500 cash to boot to try to help you with some of your moving costs. robin, back to you. >> wow. okay. little bit of help for the homeown homeowners. sometimes i wonder who's going to get it. >> right. the other plan hasn't gone over so well. e wife of a man accused of flying his lane into an irs building is speaking out. pilot joe stack died last month in the crash, an irs worker killed. stack's wife offered condolences to those killed or hurt in the attack. >> i do not believe in violence are, not even as a last resort.

i do not believe in retaliation or vengeance of any kind. i believe in peace in life, in god's goodness. >> well, a long statement on a web site registered to stack railed against the irs and the government. authorities say that stack burned down his family's home before the attack. his wife spoke at a church fund-raiser held for her and her daughter. every senior at a very special high school is going to colle. chicago's urban prep academy is the city's only public all-male african-american high school. the mayor convict dpr convict g students on saturday. >> you are the future. >> the school has a strict code of conduct and a high success rate. the school's web site says that most students come from economically disadvantaged

families. hi, robin. this is tracy from livingston. i'm so glad that you will be my morning wake-up call since i usually sleep past my first one. you guys are just wonderful. i love listening to you every morning, and i hope you all have a wonderful day. >> thank you for the shout-out. appreciate you. can i call you? it's all to get you out of bed on time. i'll be happy to be your wake-up call monday through fray. dial 1-888-robin-hlnt. is free. you can leave a shout-out if you want to. a ceo is back-pedaling after comparing michelle obama to a chimp. a lot of bickering after a major nascar crash. but was it done on purpose?

there are's that damn helen mirren. >> that's dame helen mirren. >> oh, sorry. >> wait a minute now. is that the director of "avatar," james cameron?

oh, yes. >> over here is the "inglourious basterds" section. >> and over here are the people who made the movie. >> we've been showing you some of the best moments from the oscars all morning. coming up, these get a little awkward. wait until you see what happened during one of the acceptance speeches. it was awkward. a c he o is apologizing for sending out an e-mail comparing michelle obama, first lady, to a chimp. walt baker is the head of tennessee's hospitality association. he forwarded an e-mail that he had received comparing the first lady to tar zan's sidekick. baker said it was meant as political humor. >> i have never considered myself bigoted or racially insensitive or a racist. >> he has lost a contract. there was a nasty crash are

at nascar's race on sunday and some say it may have been intentional. here's rafer with more and the video. >> good morning to you, robin. nascar wanted the drivers to mix it up. that's what thier doing. carl edwards and brand kos lou 60 have a rivalry going. edwards in the back clips cass lou 60. there's the number 12 car, going airborne into the wall. here it is again. edwards in the 99 car. there he goes in the red. he was okay, but furious. edwards was given a talking to by officials. now, here's the deal. these two got into a crash at talladega last year. maybe they were settling the score or edwards were. kurt busch won for the second year in a row. tiger woods recently turned down a $75 million sponsorship deal, but here's the thing. it was from a gambling company. patty are power, ireland's biggest book maker. never heard of them, but they're

worth a billion dollars. they're still going to try to get woods. >> they're going to give him more than 75 mil, offer him. >> yes. >> speaking of image, lakers star ron artest has a new ''do, "defense" written in different languages on his head there. worse than rodman. he has been compared to the afor mentioned dennis rodman by his coach. now he looks like him. video from the honda classic golf tournament. you've heard for chipping in for birdie? this birdie wants a microphone. the mike wasn't having it, but the bird wasn't giving up. look how mad he appears to get when he can't take it away. >> i think he has a crush. >> i think so. that's a look at sports.

thank you. defense secretary robert gates is in afghanistan this morning making a surprise visit. he's scheduled for talks stanle mcchrystal. gates says he wants an update on the ongoing offensive in afghanistan and future military operations. business travelers, thinking about you right now. how disappointed you will be. i think you will be late for your meetings today. >> i just checked the latest conditions and right now we don't have delays. we are likely to see them in many places. let's go ahead and show you where. in milwaukee, watch out for early dense fog. that could delay you up to an hour. chicago, visibility at this hour is a mile and a half. and early dense fog will persist throughout the morning. des moines, iowa, same thing. dense fog, 30 minutes, up to an hour. dallas, houston, thunrstorms could get strong later today. 30 minutes to an hour. finally, san francisco, fog,

rain, wind. our del -- hour-delays are possible. about two months of hard work has paid off for an ohio family. they now have the biggest snowman that, i guess, you can build. the five brothers and sisters finally finished the three-story snowman. people were driving by the house to see the 20-footer. the baileys say building their snowman gave them quality time together. >> we said yeah, we are going to make it. we worked hard. after we got out of school, we would get on the job and work hard. work as a team and get it done. >> i never thought we would actually be able to make something so big. when you stand back and look at it, you are like wow, did we actually do this? >> the snowman honors the u.s. military. when it starts to get warmer they will turn night a slide for sledding obviously. rodeo goers really got up close with a bull after it escaped from the pen.

good morning. how are you doing? i'm robin meade. i'm doing better now that i know you are awake and with us. here is what's going on. 2010 has already proven to be an awful year with earthquakes and now turkey is digging out after a deadly one overnight. plus -- >> "the hurt locker." >> the oscar goes to -- well, a big night at the oscars for that little movie. a history making night for the woman who directed it. a roche stormed into a middle of a televised pushinger tournament wi pistols and machete.

police say yeah, they weren't bluffing. new overnight. a new earthquake brought death and destruction to another part of the world. the quake killed at least 57 people in southeastern turkey. officials don't believe that anybody is trapped still. people were carrying the injured to hospitals. hopessome homes were destroyed. buildings like schools were spared. the 5.8 magnitude quake was not nearly as strong it is a ones that hit chile and haiti. two pakistan officials are denying that the man known as the american al qaeda has been arrested. they are telling the associated press a different such militant suspect was captured. they say that suspect's name is similar to an alias used by adam gadahn. the similarity led some officials say gadahn was arrested. gadahn appeared in many al qaeda videos and wanted for treason. you are probably going to notice you are paying more at the pump. and the worst is probably not

over yet. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here to tell you why it is that we are paying more at the gas pump. if it is going to get worse. good morning. >> good morning. it is monday. it is tough news sometimes. it is tough to talk sometimes and tough for the gas pumps. you noticed this yourself when you have been driving to school, to work lately. prices have been creeping up. yeah. just the past two weeks, up nearly ten cents a gallon. so right now, the average across the country is $2.75, gallon of regular you pump yourself. you know, it is up 80 cents more an year ago according to aaa. part of this is -- crude oil prices are up. that's -- i'm betting world economy may get better. we have the spring run-up happening. this is the time of year, too, when they also start putting different blends into the fuel so it is bette for the environment because we tend to drive more. analysts say gas could go to $3 a gallon. yes. something to look out for. think about. brace yourselves for it.

>> jen, thank you. last night's big winner for the oscars was "the hurt locker." it got six oscars. >> you have 45 seconds! >> go! >> everybody! get back! >> there is a snippet of the movie. for the first time ever, a woman won the bests on -- oscar for the best director. kathryn bigelow beat her ex-husband james cameron who directed "avatar." >> there's no other way to describe it as the moment of a lifetime. first of all, this is -- so extraordinary to be in the company such power -- my fellow nominees, such powerful filmmakers who have inspired me and i have admired for some of whom for decades. >> i just like this. she was kind of breathless about it. how about you? another first from last night. ♪ ♪ i don't know where we stand

♪ so long ago >> jeff bridges won best actor for "crazy heart." that was his fifth nomination, his first oscar. >> i would like to thank my mom. they loved showbiz so much. i remember my mom getting all of us kids to entertain at the parties. my dad sitting me on his bed and teaching me all of the basics of acting. sea hunt. >> that's nice to hear their speeches. for sandra bulk on, it was good news and bad news. one weekend she was named the best actress and worst actress. one weekend. she owned up to them both. coming up. new details on the air traffic controller acsed of letting list would kids direct pilots on a work radio. now, a source tells our sister network cnn an internal memo caused the controller's conduct unauthorized and unprofessional. the faa says that the incidents

happened last month at jfk. the controller and a supervisor are on administrative leave during the investigation. last year super bowl winning quarterback ben roethlisberger is facing a second accusation that he sexually assault ad woman. here's rafer with more on that story. >> good morning. police are still investigating the allegations. we could hear something from them as early as today. the pittsburgh steeler quarterback accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student at nightclub in a small town in rural georgia. as i said, he has not been charged. according to tmz, pole say the alleged victim was, quote, hysterical when she met with them. we have not been able to confirm that. this picture was taken the night of the allegations but at a differ location. roethlisberger's agent said he is skeptical of the motive but are cooperating. he is named in a civil suit alleging he sexually ai salted a nevada woman in 2008. no charges were ever filed in that. more sports in a bit. robin? >> all right. thank you very much.

powerful storms have left parts of eastern australia under water. look at how high the water got on roads and n melbourne. hail and high winds also did some serious damage to some roofs. the hail was up to four inches in diameter. that's going to hurt. that's bigger than baseball. is it? i thought a baseball was bigger than that. let me think about that. you mo, i have done a lot of pitching in my time. six minutes past the hour. fog will be the problem today for a lot of you. when you are trying to get to work, whether you are driving or flying. hi, bonnie. >> what's interest being the fog situation is that it is long lasting. the advisories for chicago, for example, go all the way to 11:00 central time. so that means you will be facing this for the next few hours. fog from chicago to milwaukee, all the way back to minneapolis and down through indiana. muncie, indianapolis. we are watching out for that thick fog. we are seeing it on the radar picture as well. and if that's not enough, we are also tracking severe weather in texas as well as parts of

colorado and into areas of utah and arizona. look at these strong storms on i-40 in amarillo. they are just about to hammer you if you are driving in this area. take cover. these are powerful thunderstorms that could contain hail what's happening in south texas is interesting because we are watching these thunderstorms flare up. they are coming in now as modete rain into houston. by the time we reach the 30 minutes from now the rain will get heavier in houston and work its way across i-10, into places like lake charles, louisiana. so we will be seeing heavy downpours there. it is overcast throughout much of the gulf coast. a closer look shows you some of these cells are tins. you can see the bright red. that indicates the highest cloud tops with where we are getting heaviest downpours and frequent lightning strikes with these storms as well. where it is colder, the same storm system is bringing wintry weather, winter storm warnings in place for today. straight through tomorrow morning. for new mexico, utah, colorado, and arizona.

winter storms continue and you can see the rotation as the this goes counterclockwise bringing snow to the region. mild weather in the east but in the southwest, it is still very much winter. >> very much so. thank you very much. some airlines are now charging you extra to let you pick your seat. i don't even mean, you know, up in the fancy business section. we have some tips about how to avoid paying for that and still sit where you want to sit. tiger woods is saying no to a $75 million endorse many deal.

today's salute is for a construction man, andrew clayton, of the u.s. navy. he is in his first few weeks of his first deployment. his wife said in the salute via web cam. >> salute is for my husband of

the u.s. navy, kayla clayton. happy birthday and happy anniversary in advance. i miss you and love you and i can't wait for to you come home. >> if you have somebody in the seice and want to salute them we would be happy to salute you. country music star brad paisley is recover thing morning from an on-stage tumble. this video shows tripping and falling big-time. ouch. saturday's concert in charleston. the poor thing, bound right back up and finished his show. then, though, he went to the hospital. even though he is doing a show, you know he was hurting. bruises. otherwise we are told he is okay. the hospital released him yesterday. pasley then wrote a twitter message asking fans to send in the video of his fall. that's smart of him. you may as well just send thome me. here is how some states are dealing with their budget problems. they are keeping your tax refund a little while longer.

jennifer wegenerajennifer westh out for you. but it is my money. >> frustrating. you are only getting refund because you overpaid them and they are taking their sweet time bringing the money back to you. more americans and businesses will be waiting for a while as some states take their time to send those checks out. this is from both individuals and businesses. why? because -- the states are short on cash, too. you know,ith so many people out of work, so many homes in foreclosure, we are not paying as much in in taxes. so states are in big trouble moneywise. north carolina and hawaii confirmed they are delaying payouts. a local new york paper says that state is considering it. and in the past, when we looked as a matter of fact states that have done this, they have said do your taxes early if you send in your reap fund first, have you a much better chance of getting it right away. being in the pool of people waiting. that's an incentive. the days picking out a nice

seat on the plane for free may be numbered. many airlines are charging now for the good seatsin coach. i'm talking about united, air tran, jet blue, continental. you may have to pay a little more if you want an aisle or a window. you may have to pay a lot more if you want those choice seats in the exit row or bulkhead seat. more room there. if you want to get the seat that you want without paying more, here's some things you can do. one, risk it and fly off peak. hope that maybe some of the seats are empty. you can just move into them once you get into the air. also, if you check in online, if you do it 24 hours before the flight goes, sometime those premium seats nobody bought, they release them. you can get them for free then. and if you just want to get that empty middle seat next to you, your best bet, you don't know if can you, but is to choose an aisle seat near the back because usually those are the middle seats that fill up last. >> i can't believe -- i can believe it. but how rotten is it we are being charged just to pick a

sneet coach? >> ye >> not like they are premium seats. you are still going to be like this, squished. how about they make a chair that fits people? all right. rescue crews needed help when they got to the scene after deadly bus crash. they were not expecting to get that help from an 11-year-old boy who was also injured. everybody was seeing red at this nba game. how many people were wearing snuggies?

an 11-year-old boy is being called a hero for helping paramedics after a deadly bus crashed. that bus was on its way from mexico to l.a. when it rear ended a pickup outside of phoenix on friday. oscar rodriguez noticed paramedics had trouble helping the victims who mostly spoke spanish. even though he, too, was hurt, oscar started transting. emergency workers say that he made a huge difference.

>> i remember my legs were flying all over the place. >>fully out the window. good thing he survived. >> with no formal training at 11 years old this kid stayed more calm and more brave than a lot of veterans i have seen. >> the crash killed six people. the department of transportation says that the bus company was operating illegally and it was ordered to shut down immediately. we have not heard from the company's owner yet. i wonder how much tiger woods is hurting. i know he lost a few sponsors but just turned down a $75 million sponsship offer. hi, rafer. >> hi, robin. when you first hear it you are like what? then when you hear what kind of company it is, you go oh yeah. probably wouldn't the smartest idea. the company, gambling outfit called patty power. they are ireland's biggest bookmaker. woods turned them down. $75 million. they will up the ante to try to get him as their spokesman. don't hold your breath.

the original offer included $5 million a year over a five-year period with million dollar bonuses for tournament wins. get this. just mentioning the possibility of a partnership with woods, the company's stock rose eight cents. just mentioning the possibility of it. so this man still has marketing power. you heard of the jamaican bobsledding team. meet the jamaican dog sledder. first of his kind of first jamaican to race in the iditarod. most grueling dog sled race in the world. he trained with strays from his country's humane society, pulling a sled on wheels. as we showed tew. now with jimmy buffett as his sponsor, cheeseburger in paradise, jimmy buffett, is his sponsor. some of the best dogs available to him in that race. still a mystery as to why the detroit pistons guard collapsed during a game in cleveland. his coach -- holng on to his trainer, still being tested about doctors. they took him to a hospital and n an ambulance. he was -- >> looks scary.

>> very scary. this happened to him last season. he missed two games after he experienced dizziness at halftime of a game. from that same game, cleveland fans, i love you. you set a world record for the largest gathering of people in snuggies. >> snuggies! even the cheerleaders were wearing snuggies. >> 20,000 plus in attendance with snuggies. put it on during a time-out for five minutes. there it is. >> special stuff on the front. >> one of the greatest things i have ever seen at an nba arena. congrats to them. well done. massive crash in sunday's nascar race. why this is being called intentional. fortunately that guy is okay. look at the crazy video. that in 30 minutes look at the way it goes airborne. thank you. african-americans apparently get the least amount of sleep. new study the national sleep foundation found that african-americans reported needing less sleep each night to be at their best the next day.

it sounds harmless but the researchers point out inadequate sleep leading to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. diseases that are me prevalent among african-americans. how are the wakeup calls working for you? they are free. all you have to do is call 1-888-robin-hln. lit ask you what time you want to wake up monday through friday. and that is it. you are all set. it is going to be me on the other end of the line. telling you wake up, and here's the fun alert. you can leave a message for me after the call, too. you don't have to but i like hearing your elmer fudd voice that time of the morning. oscar winning actss tnks the academy and her mom. we cant talk oscars without talking fashion. the oh, no, she did not red carpet looks coming up in about 12 minutes.

there are at least 57 people dead after an earthquake in southeastern turkey. 5.9 magnitude quake scared people out of bed overnight and it was than nearly as strong as the quakes in chile and haiti. it was strong enough to bring buildings down to the ground. taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide blast that killed at least 11 people. more than 60 others were injured today. authorities say that some of the ctimwere women taking their children to school. the bomber apparently targeted a building used by police to interrogate high-level suspects. vice president joe biden is headed for the middle east this morning for a five-day visit.

he is going to meet officials in israel, jordan, palestinian territories. his wife, jill biden, is also going and will visit schools and hospitals in that region. what is this? >> it is a who, image tri. this is -- >> "alice in wonderland" is on the top of the box office this weekend. earning more than $160 million wow. biggest opening for aovie for a 3-d movie beating "avatar." in the number two slot, brooklyn's finest with $a13.5 million. "shutter island" came in third. sleepy monday. it is tough to get back in the swing of things. i'm robin meade. welcome. votes are being counted in iraq but 38 people were killed and dozens of election day attacks. a sum official estimates that voter turnout may hit 55%. the u.n. says preliminary results are expected by wednesday. up to 3 million iraqis were

expected to vote in other countries. did you know nashville is one of nine u.s. cities where iraqi could cast a ballot? >> but it is really nice to see the young ones also have love for the country because most of them were raised here. and to see them still have pride in their country and come out here to vote, that's really big for us. >> iraqis also voted in 15 other countries. sandra bullock won best actress for "the blind side" last night. >> all the pro-athletes use futons if they can't find a bed bienough so i got one of them. the frame was heinous. not about to let that in my house. >> bulk on played a woman who adopt ad boy who becomes a football star. she go emotional as she thanked her mom. >> if i can take this, i would like to thank my mom for not letting me ring in cars with boys until 18. she was right, i would have done what she didn't want me to do.

make me practice every day, piano, ballet, whatever i wanted to be. she said to be an artist you had to practice every day. reminding her daughters there is no race, no religion, no class system, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else. >> there was a lot of kidding around last night. here is co-host steve martin and alec baldwin in a spoof of "paranormal activity." we have a lot more on the fashions from the 82nd academy awards coming up this morning. president obama will take his push for health care reform on the road to philly today. you can expect him to ask the -- support his plan which has been stalled in congress. >> we have to pass a budget. you have to move things forward. that's what i hear from americans all over the country. they want something to be done. they want things to move to the

next step. i think that's why the president now has called on congress to have them vote up or down on health care. >> 58% of the american people are totally opposed to this. this isn't a battle between democrats and republicans. it is between democrats and the american public at large. >> democrats say they believe they have enough votes to pass the bill without gop support. meeting the president's mid march deadline. the wife of a man accused of flying his plane into a irs build sing now speaking out. do you remember pilot joe stack died in last month's crash? an irs worker was killed. stack's wife offered condolences to thoseilled or hurt. >> i do not believe in violence. not even as last resort. i do not believe in raliaon or vengeance of any kind. i believe in peace, life, god's goodness. >> authorities say that stack burned down his family's home before the attack.

his wife spoke at a church fund-raiser that was held for her and her daughter. 34 minutes past the hour. as you are getting out and moving today, the fog might be a problem. i am wondering what time you think it will lift. >> i think it will lift at 11:00 in chicago. but right in next hour, for areas further west. have a little more patience. i think we will see improvements as we go through the next few hours. it is not quite there yet. i can prove it to you. take a look at our tower cam, icago, 36 degrees. overcast skies. outside right now. you can see some haze in the distance in the downtown area. just take it slow on the roads because even though this area looks a little bit more visible than others, sometime it is fog can condense in certain pockets and you can suddenly come into an area that's more foggy than other areas. just be careful this morning. let's take a look at the maps and show you the low clouds rolling into chicago, working their way into indiana. leaving st. louis. we had fog there this morning.

we are also tracking severe weather. look at the thunderstorms rolling into amarillo, texas. i-40. these are really heavy downpours storms and i'm going to zoom into i-10 from san antonio. if you are heading to houston, texas. the rain will be coming down heavy and hard. it is moving in straight from the west and we are have a chance for houston and dallas all day today. winter weather also exists into new mexico. colorado and arizona. winter storm warn rings in place for today and tomorrow. notice the counterclockwise rotation of the storm. you can really see it clearly on the radar loop. plus if that's not enough, with the snow, we have windy weather. the areas highlighted in yellow are wind advisories. so the winds are strong now and, robin, later today will see the winds gust up to 30 miles per hour. it is going to be very blustery in this part of the southern plains. >> thankou for the heads-up. you know, authorities have found the remains of a girl missing for more an year. they want to know if this case

is linked to another missing teen murdered. this is a lot of bull. people screamed and panicked when a bull ran in a parking lot. it got loose.

good morning. i know part of your morning routine is probably to look at the papers. two stories are dominating the front pages. first, historic voting in iraq. check out the picture here in "the new york times." two women waiting to vote in fallujah despite the fact that there were reports of at least 20 explosions. "the washington post" echoes that sentiment with a headline "a day of votes and violence." the other top story from "the chicago tribune's" headline, too, a lock on the oscars.

"the hurt locker" became the lowest grossing film to win best picture. it took in like $14 million at the box office. "l.a. times" has great snapshot of "the hurt locker" director kathryn bigelow calling the win the moment of a lifetime. that's a check of the papers. police solved part of the mystery surrouing a california girl who vanished more than a year ago. they say that remains found north of san diego are those of missping 14-year-old amber dubo dubois. she her parents did not say much about what police told them but they recognize that the volunteers who helped search for it that daughter. >> first of all, we would like to thank everybody involved in the search for amber. the entire community, everybody who helped out in our search efforts. above all, our huge volunteer corps. most dedicated people you could ever imagine. without them we couldn't have done anything. >> police are looking into whether accused killer john gardner is linked to dubois.

she vanished about ten miles from where 17-year-old chelsea king disappeared last month. gardner pleaded not guilty to murdering king. there were terrifying moelts at a rodeo when the bull got loose in the parking lot. this was in houston yesterday. rodeo officials say the bull got through a broken gate. the officer tried to use a stun gun but just made the bull upset. wranglers were able to corral it. officials are reviewing the security procedures to make sure that it doesn't happen again. you think? >> hi, robin. we are here in atlanta. just moved here from ohio. we love watching your show in the morning. keep up the good work. have a great week, too, sunshine. >> you got it, sunshine. so can i call you at your house? or wherever you are going to be in the morning? it is all to get you out of bed on time. i'm going to be happy to be your wakeup call if you dial 1-888-robin-hln. it will say what time do you want to wake up monday through

friday. that's it. it will be me on the other end of the line. it is free, by the way. shoutouts are free, too. i love that they said morning sunshine to you. that was great. >> that was sweet. >> all right. first, many gm dealers were told to close their doors forever but now hundreds of them are getting a second chance. a big one. our money expert jennifer westhoven. hi, sun line more than 600 dealers are looking for a sunshine letter from gm because that letter could say they can open their doors again and maybe get back to the business of selling cars. >> we are back in the buick business. i'm going to sign up for 60 new cars. bring me the inventory. >> that's a buick dealer in minnesota. you may remember back in october, gm said it had too many dealerships. it needed to close 2,000 of them. many of them threatened that they would be willing to take it could court and weren't just going to take it lying down. for gm, allowing as a matter of fact dealerships to stay open saves them the time and money of a court fight. but they say to stay open, these dealerships are going to have to

meet new criteria. first, there is's going to have to be financial requirements ther and they are going to have to get good customer satisfaction reviews. white house has a new plan for the housing market. this time it is not just about helping people keep their homes. yoabout helping some people get out of their homes if they want to, if their home is too expensive for them. there are a lot of peoplehat they know maybe they lost a job, they lost a significant am of income. you may know i'm in over my head here. you may be struggling every month to make the payment. but you can't just sell because home prices are so low. it may not cover the kovs your loan. in this situation, you know, these people even if they would like to sell, they could end up owing the bank tens of thousands of dollars. under the white house plan the lenders would have to accept that market price if it was reasonable. not come after you for the difference in a short sale. plus, you would get $1,500 to boot to help you move. the entire thing is seen as helping avoid foreclosures. if y have people scrambling every month to hold on, it puts

them at high risk of being put in trouble. we know the big winners at the oscars last night in terms of the movies. we are also going to look at who had the winning looks. best gowns on the red carpet.

. there was a nasty crash in nascar on sunday. and some are saying it could be intentional. come on. >> good morning. now nascar has this new philosophy, you know, go ahead, boys, mix it up. now what are they going do? clrly this one was intentional. this is carl edwards and brad keselowski at atlanta motor speedway. edwards, who had already been clipped by keselowski earlier in the race, this is payback. clips him. keselowski goes airborne and into the wall. edwards in the back. keselowski getting up in some air there. he was okay. but like i said, he knocked edwards out of the race earlier and did the same thing to edwards in talladega. edwards said he didn't mean important the guy to get airborne. he was okay. edwards had a bit of a talking to by the officials.

by the way, kurt busch won the race for a second year in a row. tiger woods may have lost a few sponsors. but he ain't hurting. just turned down a $75 million sponsorship deal but it fwras a gambling company. patty power. ire land's biggest bookmaker. worth over $1.5 billion. they were turned down and will try to up the ante to go get him. i wouldn't hold your breath. partnering with a gambling site would not be a good idea for a guy trying to rebuild his image. lakers star ron artest has a new do. that's why a blond with blue letters say say defense in different languages. >> artistic. >> very artistic. he has been compared to dennis rodman by his coach. kind of looks like him now. didn't help his team win, though. lakers lost their third straightless night to orlando. change your hair back, ron. keep your eye on the birdie.

a hawk tries to make off with a microphone at the honda classic. look at him. he is like i'm take thing with me. come on. >> it is a hawk? >> a hawk. i think it is a hawk. or falcon. it is a bird of prey. >> yes. definitely. wi that beak. >> it is preying on the microphone and the microphone was not having it. he looked pretty mad. the tournament -- >> don't mess with my talons. he was not having it. >> thank you. every senior at a very special high school is going to college. chicago's urban prep academy is the city's only public all-male african-american high school. mayor daly congratulated the students during a special assembly saturday. >> you are the future. you are going to be standing up here you are going to be someplace in the world making an effect on somebody else's life. >> the school has a strict code of conduct. a high success rate. the school's website says most students come from economically disadvantaged families. some of the biggest moments

at the oscars happen before the show on the red carpet. check out the fashion on the red carpet where hollywood's biggest names showed off. let's see. miley cyrus, oscar nominee. let's see. that was maggie gyllenhaal. their dress removed them of starry starry night. this is sandra bullock who people were saying she is dressing like she will win a golden statue. dressing in gold. >> i love she knew who it was before it got to her face. >> i'm not so sure about the -- dress that was kind of red and really frilly, like it was a lot of frills, i forget who was wearing it. >> george clooney's girlfriend. he will have a new one in two weeks. >> no, not that. have a little more faith in george. would you? hi, bonnie. >> good morning, robin. we are looking at the possibity of delays in many

locations due to fog. you guessed it. overcast out there. the midwest, let's take a look. milwaukee early dense fog could slow you down. 30 minutes to an hour. same for chicago. fog advisories are still in effect right now. now. des moines, iowa, also look for dense fog, 30 minutes to an hour and dallas and ouston. houston right now getting thunderstorms, that could slow you down and in san francisco, it's overcast. we'll see fog, rn and wind. up to an hour for delays there. not the best monday for travel. robin? >> thank you. u.s. troops who have been haiti's quake victims are headed home now many wrapped up their operations over the weend even though many of the haitians want them to stay longer. ey're afraid other troops won't be able to keep up with security. now, u.s. officials deny that. a top u.s. commander says that a small number of troops is needed there. the civil rights march fraunl selma to montgomery, alabama, was re-created 45 years later. yesterday hundreds of people

took to the streets to mark bloody sunday. several hundred people in a voting rights march were met by state troopers using billy clubs and tear gas. >> the most moving thing to see that here we're back where 45 years ago the troopers were atcking and now they're here to protect and we've overcome so much and still a lot more that we have to do. >> this was a violent scene45 years ago. president obama praised those who endured the beatings calling them heroes. he said more needs to be done since the landmarkoting rights march. sure, once in a while you see surveillance video of an armed robbery, but what about during a show on tv cameras?ee

well, good morning. it's 9:00 eastern. good morning, sunshine. come and spend some time here even if you want your news in the fast lane. we'll certainly give that to you and give you some of the other headlines, as well. i'm robin meade. call it the best of times and worst of times for actress sandra bullock, she wins big for good and bad acting. plus -- >> anything to protect me when i get on a plane and protect my wife is fine with me. are you ready for your close-up at the airport? rolling out full-body scanners but how will they ensure your

privacy? those stories and much more in a minute. first a deadly earthquake rocked people out of bed in southeastern turkey overnight. officials do not believe that anyone is still trapped. people were carrying the injured to the hospitals. some homes were destroyed, but buildings like schools were spared. the 5.9 magnitude quake was not nearly as strong as the ones that hit chile and haiti recently. you've probably noticed that you're paying more at the gas pump and the worst is probably not here yet. jennifer westhoven is here now. >> good morning, robin. who wants to hear this on a monday morning. the gas news has been so good for so long, it is starting to go up. the average price of gas up a dime a gallon in the latest two weeks. that's the increase you have probably seen, but the average across the country is $2.75 a gallon, according to aaa. 80 cents more than you were paying a year ago.

spike in crude prices and the spring run up and some analysts say you can see gas at $3 a gallon by the time spring h played out. hawaii is paying the most right now, $3.43 and missouri is paying the least, $2.58. if you think you can beat that, put it on our facebook page. last night's big winner at the oscars was "the hurt locker." it won six statues. >> you have 45 seconds. >> go! >> everybody get ready. >> for the first time ever a woman won best director for this film. she beat her ex-husband, james cameron, who directed "avatar." >> no other way to describe it, it's the moment of a lifetime. first of all, this is so extraordinary to be in the company of such power, my fellow nominees, such powerful filmmakers who have inspired me and i have admired some of whom

fo decades. >> i love how breathless she was about it. obviously, very excited to win. there were two hosts for the firstimen 23 years. here's a taste of steve martin and alec baldwin. >> there's that damn helen mirren. >> that's dame helen mirren. >> sandra bullock was a big winner, but that was hours after she was a big loser. there are new details on the air traffic controller accused of letting his two kids direct pilots on a work radio. a source told our sister network cnn that an internal memo called it unauthorized and unprofessional. the faa said the incidents happened last month at jfk. the controller and a supervisor are on administrative leave during the investigation. the remains found south of san diego on satury were those

of amber dubois. her parents did not say much about what the police told them, but they thanked the volunteers who helped search for their daughter. >> we want to thank everybody involved in the search for amber. the entire community and everybody who helped out in our search efforts and, above all, our huge volunteer corps. they were the most dedicated people you could ever imagine. without them we couldn't have done anything. >> police are looking into weather accused killer john gardner is linked to dubois. she disappeared 17 miles from where chelsea king disappeared last month. last year's super bowl winning quarterback ben roethlisberger is facing a second accusation that she sexually assaulted a woman. here's rafer with more on that story. >> good morning, robin. police are still investigating these claims, but we could hear something from them as early as today. the pittsburgh steelers

quarterback acsed of sexually assaulting a college student at a small town in georgia. the accusation to turn that small town upside down and police right now as of now have not charged roethlisberger according to tmz the alleged victim was hysterical when she came to them. we have a picture that was taken the night of the allegations. this was at a different location from where the alleged assault took place. skeptical of the motive, but they are cooperating. he is named in a civil suit named he sexually assaulted a nevada woman. no charges filed in that case. >> no charges filed in this one. >> that's correct. the bus company involved in a deadly crash outside of phoenix was ordered to shut down immediately. six people died. i mean, look at the scene. the department of transportation says the company did not have a

license to take people across state lines or into another country. we've not heard from the owner yet. one of the youngest survivors of that crash is being called a hero. in a few minutes, you'll see why the paramedics say he made a huge difference. five minutes after the hour. our west coasters are waking up this morning. how are you? let me tell you how your monday is going to shape up weatherwise. bonnie schneider is in for bob. >> good morning, robin. yesterday for the academy awards people in the west coast were waking up to downpours on the red carpet and this morning it's not pouringbut we have clouds and showers as far south as san diego. be prepared. not the most beautiful morning out there, but it will get better. in san francisco, you have some rain in the bay area and we'll see more of that and the winds will pick up. but much more stormy in texas, amarillo right now getting hit with heavy downpours and gusty winds and you can also see on the back side of this system, snow into northern arizona.

really multi-facetted system where we have winter storm systems up in the higher elevations for heavy snow and strong wind, as well. by contrast, very overcast conditions in the midwest. some of the fog advisories starting to lift, but we have them in place for minapsilous, chicago and down through bloomington and into indiana. be careful, visibility is poor there. you can see the overcast conditions and notice how the fog shuts off once you get close to virginia. well, l's take a closer look at washington, d.c., because, wow, we're looking at a fantastic day there. 60 degrees and the sky is clear and blue. look at that capital and look at the blue sky behind it. just a few weeks away from the cherry blossom festival. >> hopefully there is a break in the weather so that the cherry blossoms can actually grow and blossom. have you signed up for my wake-up calls yet? what are you waiting for? they are free. just another piece of insurance that you get to work on time. call 1-888-robin-hln and it will

say what time do you want to wake up and monday through friday me on the other end of the line saying morning, sunshine and what is coming up on the show. your dream summer vacation may be more affordable than you think. we're even talking about places in europe. tiger woods is saying no to a $75 million endorsement deal.

today's salute is for construction man andrew clayton of the u.s. navy. now, he's in his first few weeks of his first deployment and his wife sent in this salute via web cam. >> this salute is for my husband andrew clayton of the u.s. navy. happy anniversary and happy

birthday in advance. i love you and i miss you and i can't wait for you to come home. stay strong, honey. >> if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them go to cnn.com/robin. country music star brad paisley is recovering now from a tumble on stage. this youtube video shows him tripping and falling at saturday's concert in charston. he bounced right back up and finished the show, but, you know he had to be in pain because he went to the hospital. he has bad bruises but otherwise he's okay. the hospital released him yesterday and then he wrote a twitter message asking fans to go ahead and send the video in of his fall. hollywood is buzzing abo the oscars this morning, but a lot of people are also talking about the late farrah fawcett. new for you in the next hour, richard lui is going to tell you why one mie critic says that the academy has some explaining to do. richard lui here?

>> he is somewhere here. >> i haven't seen him in so long. how many vacation days do you get, man? here's how some states are deal with their budget problems. they're keeping your tax refunds a little longer. >> you're keeping my money? yeah, that's what they're doing. hanging on to it for even longer. if you're wondering on the calendar, where is it? some states are in so much cash trouble that they are taking their time sending you back refund checks for individuals and for businesses. and it's pretty easy to figure out, a lot of people out of work and people paying taxes in and they are really strapped when it comes to their budget. north carolina and hawaii say they're doing it and a local new york paper says that state is doing it. one thing that may help, if you can file your taxes early you have a better chance of getting it back sooner before the crunch is on. little more than 15 minutes that bell is going to wring at the new york stock exchange and

stocks will kick off from some of the best levels for the dow in a month and a half starts at 10566. but that nasdaq, 2300, that is its best in a year and a half. it got a big lift from apple. they are going to start selling the ipad. the number four company in the united states by a market cap. still, that's big for apple, yeah. >> all right, thank you. if you're planning a trip to europe, hln money expert clark howard has tips for stretching your travel dollar during your visit. >> the last couple years hasn't really smiled on people who wanted to travel to europe, but this year is america's year to head to europe. why? number one, the value of european cureancies has collapsed. the value of the euros the dollars s dropped so much that your dollar goes so much further. you want to go to great britain,

same issue with the pound. so, every pound you spend, every euro you spend is going to go further. especially with hotels. wow. i've been shopping for hotels recently in europe, i can't believe how much cheaper they are than what they used to be. that's because of the drop of the value in european currencies and the fact that hotels don't have enough people checking in. now, how about getting your airfare. airfare to europe has been really expensive in recent years, but the big deal for airfare to europe iso use frequent flier miles, especially if you have enough to sit in the front of the plane. that's a steal of a deal. but if you have to buy a ticket, well, that's not that easy. but for springtime, expect to pay from t eastern half of the country, if you find a good deal under 700 round trip including all junk fees and the western half of the country under 800, including all junk fees. for more ways for you to stretch your travel dollar, go to

cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> and you can get more advice evy week from clark. the clark howard show airs saturday and sundays right here at noon. he will help you save more, spend le and avoid getting ripped off. everybody was seeing red at one nba game. how many people were wearing snugies and setting a world record?

you know, sandra bullock had a big weekend. she was named the best actress and the worst actress. here's the good news first. >> and the winner is -- sandra bullock and "the blind side." >> i like how she kind of sat there for a second, what do i do? she played a woman who adopted a football star and she got emotional as she thanked her own mom. >> if i could thank this moment to thank her for not riding in cars with boys until i was 18 because i would have done what she said i would have done. for making me practice every day when i got home, ballet or piano. for reminding her daughters there is no race, no religion, no color, no sexual orientation

that makes us better than anybody else. >> here is bullock the day before accepting the razzie for worst performsance for her role in "all about steve." the buzz isn't just about thwinners but about the fashion. more about the red carpet look in about 30 minutes. see, i say the reason we get involved in that because we, the real people, get the knockoffs about three months later. >> the real people. i love that. >> seriously. apparently he's not hurting because just turned down a $75 million sponsorship offer. 75 million bucks. >> i guess it's chump change for him. this guy will be back when it comes to sponsorship. this one, not really sure. they are ireland's biggest bookmaker. they are a gambling company and he said no, but they're not

going to give up. they will up the ante. the offer included $5 million a year over a five-year period with miion dollar bonuses for tournament wins. get this, even though they didn't land him, just mentioning a possible partnership with woods caused their stock to rise 8 cents. they insist it's not a publicity stunt. they pfited either way. first the jamaican bobsledding team and now the jamaican bobsledder. newton marshall the first to race in iditarod. he trained withtrays pulling a sled on wheels. jimmy buffett stepped in and sponsored him. now racing with some of the best dogs. it is controversial, but i respect this man is following a very unorthodox dream. still a mystery as to why detroit pistons guard stuckey passed out and collapsed during a game on friday. his coach said he is still being tested.

>> it looks scary. >> he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and released now, from that same gae, cleveland fans set a world record for the largest gathering of people in snuggies. 2000 people showed up. a snuggie on their seat. put it on for five minutes. >> look like it had embroidery like cavs on the front. how fun is that? masve crash in nascar's race on sunday. why this is being called intenti intentional.

>> the temperatures may be frigid, but the atmosphere here is red hot. welcome to comcast on the red carpet. i'm at the 14th annual maryland state police polar bear plunge, maryland's premier winter event. >> this is my kind of weather. >> perfect day for a plunge. >> you got to get in. >> this is a huge event. it's amazing. we started back in '96 and it was probably like hundreds of people, and now it's just thousands. it's turned into a major standout event for the state of maryland. >> this is the it first time we've had a snow like this and

it really does tell who this is all about. it's raising money for a special group of people and they're coming no matter what the weather is. >> how do you do this? >> why? because i love the energy. >> the show must go on. the polar bear plunge, great benefit for special olympics, one of the great charities in maryland, and a ton of people out here. everybody is warm and in the spirit of giving, so it will be a great day. >> for one of the rookie soup sr plunger, this was an item on his life to do list. >> i've never done it. you've heard of the movie the bucket list. this was on my bucket list of things to do. i've accomplished it and can check it off my list. it was a great, great opportunity. >> this is the most amazing group of people i've ever worked with. for those of you who have not been here before, you'll leave here with life long friends. >> as a first time plunger, it's not what you expect. i never expected to cry, but i

did yesterday and today because the super plungers were so much. to hear the stories are heart-felt. >> i was a first time super plunger in freezing cold water. >> what's the water temperature? >> cold. >> my first time, i could never do it. this this year, i was like, alright, i'm here, i'm going to do it. we're in little costumes. it's cold out there. nothing compares to how cold it is out here. >> it's rewarding because of the smiles you put on the athletes faces and the camaraderie you get to be with the parents, then the family atmosphere that keeps drawing everybody back. >> are you ready? are you ready? >> it gets better every time. >> this is serious business. >> every year i challenge all of the delegates and the house delegates to come out and plunge f they are not going to plunge, they should give us money for

the special olympics. >> it's a wonderful cause, special people, and an important segment of our society, and we have to step up and be there for them. >> for law enforcement, it's a special, unique connection with the spec olympics. police officers love to be out there among the crowd, and they love to be around everyone, the young and the old. >> the 2010 marked the inaugural year, a special plunge on friday for maryland's elementary and high school students. >> we had about 2,000 students out here yesterday. the energy was amazing. these kids embraced the concept. for them to do something bigger than themselves and be active, it's awesome. >> it's for the special olympians. we live for, go for, die for, is to give them an opportunity to participate if the games. >> our athletes are children and adults. we have athletes in their 70's.

they can choose from 28 different sports all year long. we're not a one-time a year attraction event. everyday of the year an athlete is benefits from the funds raise. >> with over $3 million raised from the efforts this year, some may wonder where the money goes? >> it goes straight to the athletes like myself and show that athletes with disabilities can do anything that they put their minds to. >> think about it t you can sit there as a child and see kids playing tennis, basketball, football, running track. now as a kid because somebody looked at you as having some type of disability, you don't have a disability. this allows you to go out there and do everything that everybody else can do. you're just like everybody else. >> the bay may be chilly, but you see the steam off of me. that's the warm from our hearts. >> this is what you call freezing for a reason. to learn how you can contribute to special olympics maryland,

check out smoddot organize. go to on demand and click get local for what's going on in your community. for comcast red carpet,

the new york stock exchange is open for business. stocks may rise this morning. you'll hear about an aig deal that could boost stocks today. a live report from new york is less than ten minutes away. first, more than 50 people are dead after an earthquake in southeastern turkey. the 5.9 magnitude quake scared a lot of people out of bed overnight or worse. it wasn't nearly as strong as the recent quakes that you've seen inhile or haiti but enough to bring down some homes to the ground. collapse them. vice president joe biden is headed to the middle east this morning for a five-day visit that will meet officials in

israel, jordannd the palestinian territories. his wife, jill biden, is also going and she'll visit schools and hospitals in the region. >> and what is this? >> it's a who, majesty. this is -- >> looks freaky. "alice in wonderland" is on top of the weekend box office. earned more than 116 million bucks in the biggest opening weekend for a 3d weekend beating "avatar," wow. brooklyn's finest with $13.5 million. and those are our top stories. we like news in the fast lane and we can tell you do, too. votes are being counted in iraq right now, but 38 people were killed in dozens of election day attacks. now, a u.s. official estimates that voter turnout may hit 55%. the u.n. says that preliminary results are expected by wednesday. up to 3 million iraqis were expectedo vote in other

countries. naville, did you know, one of nine u.s. cities where iraqis can cast a ballot. >> but it's really nice to see the young ones have love for the country because most of them were raised here and to see them, see them still have pride in their country and come out and vote is reallyig for us. >> iraqis also voted in 15 other countries. here's another first from oscar night. jeff bridges won for best actor. ♪ bridges played a down and out country singer in "crazy heart." fifth nomination, but first oscar. >> my mom and dad loved show biz so much i remember my mom getting all of us kids to entertain at parties. you know, my dad sitting me on his bed and teaching me all of the basics of acting for a role

in "sea hunt." >> nice speech. stand up comedian mo'nique won best supporting actress. she won for her role as an abusive parent in "precious." the flower in her hair was a tr tribute to mcdaniel. now, you can't talk about oscars without checking out the red carpet fashion, that's coming up in about 12 minutes. the wife of a man accused of flying his plane into an irs buding is speaking out. remember pilot joe stack died in la month's crash. an irs worker was killed. stack's wife offered condolences to those killed or hurt. >> i do not believe in violence, not even as a last resort. i do not believe in retaliation or vengeance of any kind. i believe in peace and life and

god's goodness. >> while authorities say that stack burned down his own family's home before that attack and his wife was speaking at a church fund-raiser held for her and her daughter. president obama will make his push for health care reform on the road in philly today. now, you can expect him to ask the public to support his plan, which has been stalled in congress. >> we have to pass a budget, you have to move things forward. that's what i hear from americans all over the country. they want something to be done. they want things to move to the next step and that's why the president now has called on congress to have an up or down vote on health reform. >> the american people aren't going to put up with it. 58% of the american people are totally opposed to it. between democratand e american public at large. >> well, democrats say that they believe they have enough votes to pass the bill without gop support meeting the president's mid-march deadline. the taliban is claiming responsibility for a suicide blast that killed at least 11

people. more than 60 others were injured today. now, authorities say that some of the victims were women taking children to school. the bomber apparently targeted a building used by police to interrogate high-level suspects. scientists have found new evidence that a giant asteroid killed off dinosaurs 65million years ago. they tell the journal "science" that it supports the single impact theory which was proposed in 1980. it says the asteroids slam under to the gulf of mexico causing a mass extinction. the new conclusion is based on rock analysis at the impact site. fascinating. you know what, it seems like sometimes, texas, you have some of the noisiest mornings going in your morning sh. here is bonnie schneider to fill you in on what's going on today. >> texas is the hot spot for

thunderstorms today. rolling on in and houston it's coming down heavy and hard there. take you to dallas. live piketure to show you. right now outside it looks overcast and, yes, it is raining. the rain is going to come in om the south and bring some heavier downpours as we go through the day and we'll be watching for the risk of even some strong, gusty winds. that's not the only place where it's overcast and kind of soggy. check out the west coast, san francisco and the bay area and monterey you're getting soggy there with overcast conditions and we do have airport delays anticipated for san franciscos as a result. we're also looking for some fog popping up in orange county just south of los angeles north of san diego and overcast conditions not as bad as yesterday. los angeles we woke up yesterd morning to drenching downpours on the red carpet. they had to put awnings up to protect the red carpet, but, now, that's over with. the rain working its way up into parts of colorado and, interestingly enough, spking of colorado, we'll see some snow

there, even into denver this week. but the snow coming down in the higher elevations of new mexico and arizona and winter storm warnings are in place for measurable snow and strong winds for those of you traveling to that region. speaking of travel, use the low beams this morning in the midwest. the fog advisories are not over yet. so, even if it's clear where you are, if you're driving, robin, suddenly an area of patchy fog that pops up with no warng so be careful out there. >> okay, thank you. okay, so, stock market rally going to keep going? the stocks climbed last week and the nasdaq closed at its highest level of the year. stephanie elam is in new york with those details. good morning. >> good morning, robin. yeah, we take a look at last week the dow gaining 2% and nasdaq closed at its best level in 18 months but with no major news due out today not make any big bets. a new round of deal ming could help, though. aig selling to metlife for more

than $15 billion. aig's second major asset sale this month this marks. aig will use a big chunk of the profit to repay some of its massive debt to u.s. taxpayers. mcdonald's said sales jumped nearly 5% in february, more than double what was expected. they got a big boost from overseas and sales rose more than 5% in europe and more than 11% in the rest of the world. and after some corporate drama, three million cablevision subscribers in new york, new jersey and connecticut did get to see last night's academy awards but they miss the first 15 minutes of the broadcast. but the two sides reached a tentative agreement and programming was restored after, as they say, the show was already going on. the show must go on, robin. >> it came down to that so last minute. >> way too last minute for some people. they missed all the fun. >> thank you very much. a racing feud could be getting out of control. two drivers who have a story of run-ins were involved in this

spect spectacular crash. a robber stormed in the middle of a televised poker tournament with pistols and a machete.

from selma to montgomery, alabama, was re-created 45 years later. yesterday hundreds of people took to the streets to mark the 45th anniversary of bloody sunday. on that day in 1965, several hundred people in a voting rights march was met by state troopers usi billy clubs and tear gas. >> the most moving thing to see that. here we're back where 45 years ago the troopers were attacked and now the troopers are here to protect and we've overcome so

much, but still a lot more that have to do. >> thiswas the violence 45 years ago. president obama praised those who endured the beatings calling them heroes. he says more needs to be done despite the civil rights progress thatappened since the landmark voting rights march. casey anthony's attorneys are asking for help to pay the defense cost. it says the lawyers want help paying for travel costs and hiring experts. they say the costs have gone up since florida has the death penalty. north korea says it's ready to blow up the united states. richard lui is working on this one in the next hour what is this about? >> north korea is not happy with something the united states and its ally is doing.

the country is on high alert and making threats about its nuclear program. that, plus a catholic school turning away a preschooler because the child's parents are lesbians. now, some other parents and students are furious about that. plus, how do you feel about really, really big snakes? well, south florida wildlife officials do not want these pythons around either, so starting today, robin, they're asking for some brave volunteers. we'll have that in about 15 minutes. >> i'm guessing these are the snacks that are not native to the everglades. >> more on that story, richard, thank you. >> you bet. fog is a big problem for today, especially on a day when a lot of our business travelers have to get back out there and get back on flights and go to meeti meetings. this is in the nation's midsection and bonnie is in for bob to tell you how our travel is going to be. >> i'll tell you, robin, we're looking at nice weather. a live picture of central park

and what a spectacular day there. highs in the upper 50s and beautiful weather yesterday, too. if you're heading to new york, enjoy it. it doesn't last long. looking at rain this week. let's talk about the delays. we have them in phoenix and icago. let's show you where else we can expect the delays. milwaukee early, dense fog. chicago those delays will continue due to the same reason. also foggy in iowa, des moines, look for early, dense fog and dallas and houston, thunderstorms in the forecast. 30 minutes to an hour. san francisco you're looking at fog, rain and wind and that's happening right now. stay tuned we'll have more coming up on "morning express with robin meade" right after this.

you know, one couple spent so much time on an internet game that they reportedly let their baby starve to death. what a horrible story.

police in south korea say this couple spent hours and hours playing a game about raising a virtual baby and fed their real newborn once a day only. the real father apologized for letting his daughter get so sick. so far no word from their attorneys. what is the deal? four men armed with pistols and a machete robd a televised poker tournament. watch this poker player turn over his shoeld whr he heard the commotion behind him. that was the suspects making their get away. seven people got hurt as they tried to get out of there. the suspects dropped a bag of money as they fled. a televised poker tournament, let's go rob the ace. no bluffing. hi, robin. this is tracy from livingston and i'm so glad that you will be my morning wake-up call since i usually sleep past my first one. i hope you all have a wonderful day.

>> tracy, i will not let you sleep in. folks at home, if you'd like to get a wake-up call, trust me. it's free. 1-888-robin-hln. it will ask you what time you want to wake up monday through friday and it will be me on the other end of the line. a nasty race in nascar on sunday and some are accusing, some of the drivers, i'm not sure who's making the accusations. but some saying it was intentional. >> the driver himself more or less admitted it was intentional, he did it on his facebook page. these guys have been mixing it up for a whileow. they were mixing it up on the track atlanta motor speedway. first, early in the race keselowski knocked him out and edwards decides he will get a little payback. keselowski gets airborne and

edwards did say more or less he was trying to clip him, but he dinot expect him to get airborne. keselowski very upset, but he was okay. edwards was called in immediately to talk with officials. we'll see if there is disciplinary action. tiger woods lost a few sponsors, but he's not hurting. he just turned down a 75 million sponsorship deal but it was from a gambling company. paddy powder, worth over $1.5 billion. but tiger turned them down so they'll try to sweeten the offer again. laker star ron artest has a new do, a blonde one. with the word defense written in different languages in blue. he was compared to dennis rodman by his coach. they lost their third straight last night against orlando. lastly, some crazy video.

watch the birdie, keep your eye on the bird. look at this bird of prey try to ey on a microphone. i love that the guy who is in charge of the mike was just let him try to take it. those are expensive.re expensiv >> he looks ticked off. >> there was a winner of tourner from colombia. his feathers are ruffled. >> ben stiller tk the ava tar look to a new level when he presented the academy award for best makeup. >> that means, this seemed like a better idea in rehearsal. >> the movie "star trek" won for

best makeup. "avatar" won for best visual effects. before the big show, let's check out the fashion on the red carpet. this is j.lo, what doubt? this is sandra bullock, just in time to pick up a gold statue. and charize, nobody is quite sure about the tulips. i think this is channel, very nice. queen latifa, looking very nice. folks at "showbiz tonight" are all over the hollywood road to gold. brooke anderson and a.j. hammer will have the hits and misses today at 11:00 a.m. eastern.

>> the temperatures may be frigid, but the atmosphere here is red hot. welcome to comcast on the red carpet. i'm at the 14th annual maryland state police polar bear plunge, maryland's premier winter event. >> this is my kind of weather. >> perfect day for a plunge. >> you got to get in. >> this is a huge event.

it's amazing. we started back in '96 and it was probably like hundreds of people, and now it's just thousands. it's turned into a major standout event for the state of maryland. >> this is the it first time we've had a snow like this and it really does tell who this is all about. it's raising money for a special group of people and they're coming no matter what the weather is. >> how do you do this? >> why? because i love the energy. >> the show must go on. the polar bear plunge, great benefit for special olympics, one of the great charities in maryland, and a ton of people out here. everybody is warm and in the spirit of giving, so it will be a great day. >> for one of the rookie soup sr plunger, this was an item on his life to do list. >> i've never done it. you've heard of the movie the bucket list. this was on my bucket list of things to do. i've accomplished it and can check it off my list. it was a great, great

opportunity. >> this is the most amazing group of people i've ever worked with. for those of you who have not been here before, you'll leave here with life long friends. >> as a first time plunger, it's not what you expect. i never expected to cry, but i did yesterday and today because the super plungers were so much. to hear the stories are heart-felt. >> i was a first time super plunger in freezing cold water. >> what's the water temperature? >> cold. >> my first time, i could never do it. this this year, i was like, alright, i'm here, i'm going to do it. we're in little costumes. it's cold out there. nothing compares to how cold it is out here. >> it's rewarding because of the smiles you put on the athletes faces and the camaraderie you get to be with the parents, then the family atmosphere that keeps drawing everybody back. >> are you ready? are you ready?

>> it gets better every time. >> this is serious business. >> every year i challenge all of the delegates and the house delegates to come out and plunge f they are not going to plunge, they should give us money for the special olympics. >> it's a wonderful cause, special people, and an important segment of our society, and we have to step up and be there for them. >> for law enforcement, it's a special, unique connection with the spec olympics. police officers love to be out there among the crowd, and they love to be around everyone, the young and the old. >> the 2010 marked the inaugural year, a special plunge on friday for maryland's elementary and high school students. >> we had about 2,000 students out here yesterday. the energy was amazing. these kids embraced the concept. for them to do something bigger than themselves and be active,

it's awesome. >> it's for the special olympians. we live for, go for, die for, is to give them an opportunity to participate if the games. >> our athletes are children and adults. we have athletes in their 70's. they can choose from 28 different sports all year long. we're not a one-time a year attraction event. everyday of the year an athlete is benefits from the funds raise. >> with over $3 million raised from the efforts this year, some may wonder where the money goes? >> it goes straight to the athletes like myself and show that athletes with disabilities can do anything that they put their minds to. >> think about it t you can sit there as a child and see kids playing tennis, basketball, football, running track. now as a kid because somebody looked at you as having some type of disability, you don't have a disability. this allows you to go out there and do everything that everybody

else can do. you're just like everybody else. >> the bay may be chilly, but you see the steam off of me. that's the warm from our hearts. >> this is what you call freezing for a reason. to learn how you can contribute to special olympics maryland, check out smoddot organize. go to on demand and click get local for what's going on in your community. for comcast red carpet,