i tell you what, tgif, right. ? friday always looks good on you. if you are pregnant, a new report about whether you are getting the kind of medical care you need. plus, tiger woods isn't saying when he's coming back, but a lot of other people are. it could be soon. other reports of drivers losing control of a toyota prius. this time, police are not sure if they will buy the story. new this morning, it's

called a pregnancy crisis. two women die in the united states giving birth because of a complication during or after their pregnancy. government stats showed deaths doubled over the last 20 years despite all the progress you see in medicine. half of deaths could be helped. if you discount, they will come. even the threat of run away cars are not stopping people from buying toyotas. they say the u.s. sales are up 50% from a year ago. even after the recalls. toyota isbeing aggressive with incentives, zero financing, lower lease rates. i thought you would find that surprising this morning. check out the mess left

behind in florida. the storm tore the roof off a mobile home and damaged several others. one womanfeels lucky to be alive. >> i thought it was an earthquake. i could hear all the stuff in my bedroom falling offhe walls and smashing. if i had to guess, i would say i lust everything. >> a tornado touched down in florida yesterday. no one is hurt. we'll have the severe weather outlook today. there are a lot of rumors about when tiger woods is going to return to golf. we have heard directly from tiger's agent. rafer has more on that. >> after a day of speculation about his return, he told cnn no decisions have been made yet. >> drum roll, please. >> nothing.

it contradicts an associated press report that says he was coming backin april. before that, they said march 25th at the arnold palmer. it's the only tournament where the media is restrekted. >> it would be trickier for him. >> the reports he's hired former house press secretary. >> he would not confirm or deny that from the new york post. >> again, not much. they were going over a a strategy for how to handle his return to the around palmer. he was hired by mark mcguire and before that, the green bay packers t help with the brett

favre fall out. >>hank you very much. thousands of workers with health problems after the 9/11 attacks could get settlements. the judge is going to review that today. the money goes to the rescuers and researchers, firefighters police officers and control untiers. they have breathing problems. >> every program has seen the same thing. problems with the upper airway, the nose, sinuses and throat. asthma, cough, persistent heart burn. they come together. we are seeing post-traumatic disorder or symptoms, anxiety and depression. >> the deal has been years in the making. some could end up with $1 million depending on their condition. it will come from a fema grant.

a former aid of john edwards has until noon to turn over a tape. he faces jail time if he doesn't turn it over. rielle hunter claim it belongs to her. he says he turned over all the material. after weeks of auditions, "american idol" is up to the top 12. they seemed like a big happy family at the start of the show last night. ♪ ♪ you'll make me worse till we work it out ♪ then i promise you i'll give so much more than get. >> that didn't last long tugh. two women got the bad news they were headed home. >> after the nationwide vote, paige you have made it into the

top 12. we say good-bye to -- >> the final seat in the top 12 belongs to katie. she's the 16-year-old on the left. it was a shocker. judge randy jackson compareder performance to karaoke. the girl next to her was good. find out which fellows didn't make the cut in the next half hour. six minutes past the hour. weather wise, what do we have in store for the weekend. bonnie is in for bob. what do we have. >> i wish i could say it's going to be a beautiful weekend. florida up to the mid-atlantic, new york city, boston, you'll need your umbrella. it's going to be windy as well. we have a thunderstorm watch. severe thunderstorm watch for parts of alabama now.

tus ka loo sa, you are getting hammered. wind gusts 68 miles per hour. hail 3/4 inch diamete it's coming into huntsville now. the cities have severe thunderstorm warnings. check out florida. heavy rain from tampa through orlando. you are going to see that as well. early this morning, a flash flood warning for west palm beach. it's continuing now. heavy rain is flooding the streets. i'll have more on that and what to expect for the weekend coming up. the economy is taking a huge toll on state and loc governments. the ones really paying for it are the children. plus one of the eatest college football players found out he's not good at the wonder lick. what is the wonder lick? i don't know. sounds wrong.

it's a big deal to football players.

time now to salute our troops. today's salute is from a father who has two sons serving in the military. john, go ahead and tell us about your kids. >> hi, robin. my name is john. i would like to salute both my sons in the military. john and joseph dahlcka. thank you for your service to our country. very proud of you. can't wait until you get home and miss you very much. love dad. >> if you have someone in the service, we would tlouf hear from you. parents are watching their

children's schools disappear. a school district in kansas city, missouri is closing half its public schools before going broke. listen to the outrage. >> now, it's getting personal. i have a boarded up school on my block. >> i'm sad. >> i deserve a right to make a rational choice based on facts. >> thousands of kids are going to be shuffled around. i understand, it's about money. why is it happening, exactly? >> it's going to be tough for many children. many school districts scraping the lint out of their pockets. kansas cy school officials offered not a lot of details at the moment in terms of how they plan to shut down at least 26 schools by next fall. it's a lot to do. the transition plan could cost $25 million. >> no one likes closing schools. it's hard.

it's tough on families and it's certainly tough on our community. closing schools and making the remaining schools stronger academically is unquestionably the right thing to do. we are operating far too many schools. >> the superintendent saying the district would be bankrupt in 18 months without the cuts he wanted. >> they say they are operating too many schools. what does he mean about that? >> sounds like a healthy problem. fewer students, enrollment numbers falling off the cliff. they have too much capacity. less than 18,000 schools enlisted in kansas city. it's half the enrollment they had a decade ago. many students left public schools to go to private schools or publicly funded charter schools or they moved to the suburbs. in 20 minutes, we'll talk about the school closings in detroit

and other areas. not just kansas city. we'll dig into it further. >> thank you very much. police say an elementary school bus driver dropped off the kids and failed every sobriety test they gave her. she admitted to police after her dui arrest. hey, you know what? you might want to check your sandwich when you leave the drive-through. your tomato may not be there. this is a follow up story to what you warned us awhile ago. >> are tomato lovers upset or tomato haters happy? i think i know more tomato haters. >> i want to eat my italian meals. >> that's a different story. if you want tomato on your burger, you may have to ask for

it. a lot of fast food restaurants are out of them. burger king called them tomato outages. it's because of the deep freeze in florida that wiped out most of the crop. a 25 pound box of tomatoes that used to cost 7 bucks now costs 30 bucks. wendy's says tough ask there. >> it's been two years since the banking crisis began. even though we say we hate the bailout, nothing has really changed in washington. it could happen, again. we have the conditions there. the senate is set to release the financial overhaul plan. chris dodd says he's moving forward. the aim of the bill, we'll watch closely, has an agency to watch out for you. it's to make sure the bail out and financial collapse doesn't

happen again. >> thank you. a science teacher and former football player is making history today. what makes her so special to her students. also, a former u.s. nuclear power plant worker is being investigated by the fbi. what does an arrest in yemen have to do wha test ris investigation.

♪ someone like me public school students in

western state can still recite the pledge of allegiance in schools. what state did they sue about one nation under god? it's a patriotic exercise. it applys to seven western states. the parents may appeal. a high school in washington, d.c., will name a woman as the head varsity football coach this morning. believe it or not, they think it's a first in the united states. i can't believe this is the year 2010 andit's never happened before. >> there are reports of assistant coaches, but head coaches, they ar calling it historic. they are not aware of a woman being head varsity coach. let's give it up for natalie randolph. today, she's a science teacher.

there's an article about her. she was a wide receiver with the d.c. divas and an assistant coach for another high school for two years. nfl star quarterback ben roethlisberger has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman. investigators from his legal team are trying to clear his name. police want a dna sample from roethlisberger. where does that stand? we'll have it in five minutes. one of the best college football players ever may have a shot to his image. tim tebow scored below average at an intelligence test. he scored a 22 out of 50. it's designed to test your ability to think quickly. the average score for a quarterback is 24. brett favre scored a 22 and dan

marino scored a 15. >> it's common. 's a common test. >> we have guys who score 50 who played in the nfl for a short time. >> one of the questions was what is the eighth month of the year? >> i don't like to lose sleep. don't fight me on my sleep. spring is coming. we make the switch today light savings time. most of you set your clock ahead an hour. hawaii and arizona don't do this. ♪ make me crazy. >> those are the only states people feel normal. i feel so tired because of the time change.

>> i love the extra hour of daylight. >> that's a good way to think of it. >> speaking of staying positive, today is going to be challenging. we have at least 1500 planes in the air now. look for delays. in minneapolis, early dense fog could slow you down. atlanta, it's rainy and foggy. what a mess. stormy in west palm. certainly in miami. washington d.c., you have rain as well as san francisco. robin. a 6-year-old boy woke up and found himself all alone on the school bus. what happens next has his mom angry and the school asking serious questions.

the number of women in the united states who die from complications of pregnancy has doubled over the last 20 years. ha is going on there? it's from amnesty international that calls it a health care crisis. half of the deaths could be prevented with better access to health care. a man accused of killing chelsea king violated parole in 2007 by living too close to a school. it's from the associated press. state officials let him stay. the department of corrections is looking into whether his parole was handled properly.

the wife and daughter of a congressman are recovering. reid's wife has a broken neck, back and nose. the daughter's injuries were nt as severe and she is out of the hospital. these are a few of the goings on. good morning sunshine, welcome to friday. >> i'm robin meade. the fbi is investigating a former power plant worker in new jersey. he's urnds arrest in yemen. police say he went on a deadly rampage at a hospital. he was arsted along with ten al qaeda suspects earlier this month. the fbi said he did maintenance work at u.s. nuclear poweren plants from 2002 to 2008. he cleared federal background checks as recently as 2008. the number of people dying

on the u.s. is the lowest in years. better safety features, seatbelt features and programs against drunk-driving are credited for the drop. police are sweeping a nightclub in georgia for clues in the ben roethlisberger assault case. i suspect police were in there, but this is a bigger agency, i'm thinking. >> basically csi. we have the georgia bureau of investigations combing the nightclub. also, two pittsburgh affiliates are saying the woman fell and hit her head in the club. investigators from roethlisberger's legal team are trying to clear him. police say they requested a dna sample from roethlisberger, but they have not been provided with one. they have taken the surveillance

tapes. they confirmed where it took place, but they would not say what was on the tapes. we'll give you all the developments. >> we're watching it. thank you. a school bus driver is accused of driving dunk with 50 kids on board. her blood alcohol was three times the limit. she admitted to drinking vodka and o.j. before the trip. the supervisor is concerned about one thing. >> that the children were safe. that the children were safe. um -- i'll leave it at that. >> well, the district says another driver tipped them off that the woman smelled like alcohol. we have not heard from her yet. the dream is over for four "american idol" contestants. we showed you the women. here are the guys results.

the person who continues on the show -- is lee. congratulations, you made it. the last spot for the guys goes to andrew garcia. congratulations. >> now, alex, who was on -- well, this is alex. he said he was able to come out of his show. ellen said never stop believing in himself. next week, they take in the rolling stones and work their magic. least theare hoping to. 34 minutes after the hour. the weend cometh. the timing is impeccable. good morning. >> we are looking at a stormy weekend across the southeastern sea board. the flood threat continues for florida.

this is all moving northward for the weekend. you had beautiful weather in new york. it's coming to an end. now, severe thunderstorm watch continues across alabama. these are intense thunderstorms producing strong hail, downpours, flashing strikes of lightning. look what's happening in florida. drenches from ft. lauderdale to jacksonville. this is important. a flash flood warning is extended for eastern palm beach county. this includes west palm beach. we are getting reports of flooding. if you are a commuter, you are looking at very high water. be careful driving. the fog continues in the midwest. i'll have more on the storms, coming up. thank you very much. did you crawl out of bed on time this morning? there was lateness on the

morning show. all you have to do is call one time to 888-robin-hln. it says what me you want to wake up and it's me calling you saying good morning. that's it. toyota gas pedal problems could mean changes for every new car in the future. if tiger woods had a master plan for his life, the last few months have not followed it. we are hearing of rumors of the mastzers plan. what?

♪ i'd like to make myself believe ♪ former teen idol, corey haim may have had an enlarged hart

filled with water when he died. that's what the autopsy shows. the coroner won't show what killed him until the toxicology reports return. his ex-fiance sid he once really struggled with pills. >> at the time i knew him, he was ingesting 40 some odd pill as day. >> 40 or 50 vicodin value yum. >> all of them combined. you know, there would be moment where he would sit there and want to be sober and get off it and talkabout it and go to specialists. the specialists would prescribe absurd things. i was like how is this helping you get off this. >> they found prescription meds, but no illegal drugs at his

home. your next car could have a black box in it, kind of like the ones in airplanes. other changes could be coming to make your cars safer as well. jennifer westhoven is watching out for u. is this the toyota effect? >> yeah. i never thought about it. all cars may have to be built differently in the coming years. the head of the nhtsa says all new cars may be required to have brake override systems to keep you safe so in the event of a run away car, any kind of car, the brake pedal, always, always, overrules the gas pedal. they are looking for cars in the event of the crash they can go back and better see what really happened, what went wrong. they may ask congress for a greater authority when it comes

to investigating auto defects. >> remember the cable fights? some people couldn't watch the first 15 minutes of the oscars and red carpet stuff. people were afraid the sugar bowl would be canceled because of fighting. the federal government may step in and blow the whistle so you don't get caught with black on your screen. the fcc heard an earful from you and they take a bigger role. >> thank you. thousands of troops are not only coming home with life changing injuries, they are facing an unforgiving economy. one man is trying to give them a head start. it makes dan our hero of the week. >> baghdad ended up being a hell of a ride. i sustained a severe blast injury. my life came to a complete halt.

>> how are you doing? you look sharp today. >> i have been building custom homes for 30 yes. one of the most important things for a family is a home. i want you to read the sign for me. >> future home of alexander reyes, u.s. army. >> congratulations. >> oh, my god. >> it means the world. >> just thank you. that's all i can say. >> my name is dan wallrath. i had a friend call me. his son was injured in iraq. >> this is a day after he graduate frd boot camp. his son was a big, strapping marine, then a picture of him in the hospital. it broke my heart. stephen was wheelchair bound. we were going to have to remodel. i had no idea how i was going to pay for it. dan said we are going to take care of it. >> we remodelled the home. i said this is not an isolated case. i went back to my builder buddies and said we have to do

something. we built homes for returning heroes from iraq and afghanistan. >> the houses are mortgage free. it changes the family's life. it gives them a new start so they can move fward. they are doing this for you and me. how can i not help them sfl? >> to learn more about the organization or to nominate someone that you think is a hero, go to cnn.com/robin and click on the hero's link. a san diego man said his prius went out of control, but police are not sure. why there's a discrepancy and what's making them suspicious. trend watchers say something is coming back thanks to a tv show. ♪

you know, another san diego driver says that his prius started speeding out of control. this time, investigators are suspicious. they say the guys story and the evidence are not matching up. the driver says his car

accelerated on its own as he approached a highway onramp. >> he says his vehicle accelerated to approximately 15 to 20 miles per hour on its own. >> well, the man says he used the emergency brake to stop and asked to be taken to the hospital for neck, back and shoulder injuries. the officer says there was no abrupt stop. our affiliate tried to check on the man at the hospital and hefsz not there. parents are watching schools disappear. there are deep budgets in the schools across the united states. people in detroit are expecting a plan to close 40 schools. wow. >> yeah. big number there, robin. we were talking kansas city earlier saying 40. a large number of schools in a different city. they are voting to ask to reme the man pushing to close the 40

schools. detroit public schools public manager. he's under fire here. the detroit free press is reporting they are voting on whether to abolish the school board in november and allow deoit's mayor to be responsible for the schools, imagine that. less than 4,000 signatures are needed to get it on the ballot. a group is pushing to make it happen, robin. why are so many schools facing huge financial problems. obviously, the economy. what led up to it. >> yeah. we're looking at detroit and kansas city. many of the nation's schools could be faszing a funding cliff. falling over it. they are running out of federal stimulus money used to plug big budgetholes. "the new york times" reporting th. congress gave about $100 billion for schools in last yer's stimulus plan. it was the largest one-time infusion of federal money into schools in the nation's history.

but, 20 states said they intended to spend all their education money within two years. it could leave reserves almost at zero. >> thank you so much. it's a story we have to follow, obviously. ♪ >> that's a song to get you going, isn't it? friday and i'm afraid some of us have plenty of time to listen to music at the airports. >> that's right. on your facebook page that's what people are commenting on. on a friday, this kind of weather, we are seeing it. the eastern half of the country specifically. early dense fog in minneapolis. atlanta you are flooding on the streets. miami, flooding as well. nally, out west, it's early in san francisco, but rain is in the forecast, again. so is fog. delays in the morning hours. >> thank you. democrats are moving ahead

with health care reform whether the republicans like it or not. they are starting a process called reck sill yag. dems are expected to make changes in the bill. a final vote could come next wee week. a texas couple went to haiti. they came back to raise two newly adopted daughters. that story in a half hour. the tiger woods rumors are ramping up here. we have heard from his people about it. here is rafer with more on that. how much have you heard from his people? >> when we went off the air yesterday, it was a whirlwind. so much information we were going crazy. first, woo is coming back for the arnold palmer.

then the associated press says he's coming back but not until the masters in april.cnn, no de been made yet. >> put the brakes on. >> put the brakes on. if he goes to the masters first, to me that's more about media access than anything else. i'll explaint the top of the hour. also, he has fired a wo former white house press secretary. big guns. there is former president bill clinton taking in two college basketball games at mad san square garden. showed up for the notre dame win over pitt. and the cincinnati game. he was in office when arkansas won the national championship. i'll never forget his interview. what happens if there is a national security issue. i'm focused only on this game. and the most colorful baseball coach in the game, ozzy guyen. >> no. >> his website for his own personal website shot down b the team. he got a twitter page, a

facebook account, but when he wanted his own website, they went no, no, no, no. no mas for guyen. so far all his tweets are what he had for dinner, where he's going this afternoon. i don't know what he has to say on a facebook page. i love ozzy, but -- anyway. >> thank you. there is a scandal over how an engineering firm rebuilding new orleans is accused of spending its government money, and theoad rodeo bull that got away got his time in the ring. you've got to hear in this one. snoelths ♪ snoelths ♪ msnoelths ♪ snoelths ♪ snoelths ♪

good morning, sunshine! and it is friday, and that's a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. i'm robin meade. you know, if you're pregnant you want to hear this story. a new report has a big warning about whether you're getting the kind of dical care that you need. tying. tiger woods is not saying when he's going to come back, but a lot of people are speculating it could be soon. also for the second time this week a southern california driver reports losing control of a prius. but this time the police aren't exactly buying into that story. first, though, brand-new this morning, the number of women in th united states who die from complications of pregnancy has doubled over the past 20 years. what gives? well, a new amnesty

international report calls it a pregnancy crisis and says two women die every day giving birth or during or after the pregnancy in the united states. it's despite all the progress here in medicine. experts say that giving birth in the united states is very safe. if you discount, they will come. apparently even e threat of recalls and run-away cars is not stopping people from buying up, just snapping up new toyotas. our money expert, jennifer westhoven is here. this is surprising. reporter: yeah, and you can't say that you don't know that you're stepping into something where there is some uncertainties. but those deep discounts and zero percent financing, enough to make many drivers say, i'll buy a toyota. despite all the headlines of high-speed crashes and recalls. but sales of toyotas in the u.s. rose nearly 50% in the first eight days of the month. that's overlast year's number. it eight days but they're seeing a spike according to toyota and edmunds. in general, car sales have been

at strongest levels in a year. he had munds says toyota's aggressive sales are working in terms of sales. there are deals for both buying and leasing. they last until april 5 if you're interested. so it's not one of those if you don't like the car you can bring it back type of deals. but it must be really cheaper prices. >> yes and the zero-percent financing can save you thousands of dollars over buying a car. >> thank you. thousands of workers with health problems after the 9/11 attacks could get a settlement worth more than $650 million. a judge is going to review that plan today. the money would go to rescue and clean-up workers who were at grand zero. that includes firefighters, police officers and volunteers. many of them have had breathing problems. >> every program has seen the same thing. that's problems with the upper airway, the nose, the sinuses, the throat, the lower airway. asthma. reactive airways, cough. persistent heartburn that's just very difficult to treat. doesn't go away. often those three diseases come

together. we're seeing people with post traumatic stress disorder or post traumatic stress symptoms. anxiety, depression. >> well, the deal has been years in the making. some workers say up to a million dollars, depending on their condition. the money would come from a fema grant. people in florida think a tornado did this. one woman says she feels lucky to even be alive. >> i thought it was an earthquake, because i didn't know you got that feeling from a tornado. i could hear all of the stuff in my bedroom falling off the bureaus and the walls and smashing. if i had to guess, i would say i've lost everything. >> the poor thing. police say that a tornado did touch down in haynes city, florida yesterday. thankfully, no one was hurt. coming up, we'll have an outlook that includes some severe weather for the weekend. talk about timing, right?

. there are a lot of rumors about when tiger woods is going to return to golf. but now we have heard directly from his agent so rafer weigel is giving that to us this morning. >> tiger woods wants to come back, he's going to be coming back soon. but when? after a day of rampant speculation about his return, woods' agent told our sister network, cnn, quote, no decisions have been made yet. this contradicts a report that he was coming back for the masters in april. but before that, there is the report that he would be coming back at the arnold palmer invitational on march 25th. here's the thing. the masters is the only tournament where the media is restricted, not allowed inside the ropes. it makes no sense for him to play a major first from a golf standpoint. you've got to come out and play another tournament first. if they want him to do the masters first, it tells me they're trying to control the media around him. >> good point. what about the reports that he has hired ari fleischer, the

former u.s. white house press secretary. >> he would not confirm or deny. it's said they are going over a strategy for how to handle his return for the invitational. fleischer was just hired by mark mcgwire on his steroid admission, and by the packers to help with the brett favre fallout. personally i'm not sure what he did for the packers. aaron rodgers did more by playing well when he left. >> arrest wry fleischer getting sports experience. kids in the western states can still recite the pledge of allegiance in class. a federal court ruled against parents who sued over the phrase "one nation under god." the court says it's a patriotic exercise. the parents may appeal. after weeks of auditions, "american idol" is down to its

coveted top twelve. the contestants seem like a big happy family at the start of the show last night. ♪ >> okay. is it just me, or are those opening numbers way too good? they've got to be canned. they have to be recorded. that's not live, is it? but that could not last forever. the happiness and smiles and stuff. later, two women got the bad news they were headed home. >> after the nationwide vote, page, you have made it into the top 12. congratulations. we say goodbye to kate. the final seat in our top twelve. belos to katie! >> yeah. this one is surprising. so 16-year-old katie is on the left, and she is sticking around. but the judges, like randy

jackson compared her performance to karaoke. it's all about the voting. find out which fellas did not make the cut in the next half hour. six minutes after the hour. so what are you going to do this weekend inside? because for a lot of us, you're not going to be outside. here is bonnie in for bob. >> good morning, robin. it's a rainy-day weekend across much of the south and the east and we have got some powerful thunderstorms. look at this map. severe weather is hitting alabama right now, very hard. i want to show you some incredible pictures, flashes of lightning, that you have to see to believe. ok at this. wow. that is intense. hopefully everybody is safe and i didn't know doors in birmingham, becau right now birmingham at this moment is being hit with very damaging storms. you can see it here. severe thunderstorm warnings. watches are posted as well across much of alabama. and this is advancing to the east. so we will hear the thunder outside and see the flashes of lightning as well. into nashville, also seeing storms. florida getting really hit hard. we have flooding in urban areas

of eastern palm beach county, and that includes west palm. and look what's ahead for the weekend for the northeast. you know -- you know, dodge the bullet most of the week with beautiful weather. but that's all coming to an end. heavy rain and strong winds hitting washington today. new york tonight and boston on saturday. it is going to be a mess out there this weekend. i want to show you where the rain is right now. it is coming into the region. plus in advance of it, flash flood watches posted all the way into connecticut because the storm will work its way into new england. finally, robin, fog across the midwest today. at least in the morning. >> golly. one of those weekends, apparently, it's going to be. thank you. i've never been a fan of losing an hour of sleep for any reason, but you may be a fan that it's a signal that spring is coming. we do make the switch this weekend at 2:00 a.m. sunday so it means you're going to set your clock ahead an hour to 3:00 a.m. now, hawaii and arizona, most of it, and several u.s. territories don't follow this rule, though. so they'll be the once who won't be going i feel so tired next

week. who is paying the huge price in a down economy? apparently kids. we look at the crisis that a number of public schools are having. one of the greatest college footba players ever didn't do well on a big test. but by the nfl teams. does it really mean that he wouldn't be great in the pros, though?

it is 11 minutes past the hour. today's salute is from a father who has two sons serving in the military, so he's going to tell you about his kids right now. go ahead. >> hi, robin. my name is john. i would like to salute both my sons in the united states military. lance corporal logan del backa, and joseph dell backa. i would like to say thank you for your service to our country, very proud of you. can't wait until you guys get

home. and miss you very much. love, dad. >> great job, john. if you have somebody in the service, we would be honored to help you hon them. go to cnn.com/robin. parents and children are watching their schools just kind of disappear over here, over there. the economy left a lot of deep holes in a number of school budgets all across the united states. for example, we told you about a school district in kansas city, missouri. that's closing nearly half of its schools. correspondent richard lui has the new details on that district's plan to reshuffle thousands of students. good morning. >> good morning. thousands of students, robin. you hear half the schools. it just doesn't sound right. but the superintendent says kansas city schools will go bankrupt in 18 months if he doesn't do this. he describes here his tough decision. >> no one likes closing schools. it's hard. it's tough on families, and it's certainly tough on our community. closing schools and making the remaining schools much stronger

academically is unquestionably the right thing to do. we were operating far too many schools. >> all right. well, he says it's the right thing to do. details that he's laid out about this plan. some school buildings, they're going to sell them, including the headquarters of the school district. he's going to stagger class times from middle school students sharing schools with high school students. and robin, he estimates the closures will cost $25 million, $25 million he does not have. and one state education expert even says his fall deadline, just not doable. >> so it doesn't sound like there is a whole lot of agreement here. and the superintendent is also saying they just have too many schools going on for too few students. yeah. you know, we all kind of remember those days in those packed classes. but robin, in kansas city, evidently not. using an estimate from the university of missouri kansas city's dean of education, that district has over four times the capacity that it needs. and the enrollment has been dropping. many parents sent their kids to

private, parochial or charter schools, and in some cases, robin, just moved to the burbs. >> thank you very much. we have to keep track of that. okay. check your sandwich when you leave the drive-through window today,ecause the tomato you're used to seeing might be missing now. jennifer westhoven hasfollow up to a warning earlr. >> yeah, and if you drive fast enough, you might want to throw one at the drive-through window. people love their tomatoes. and now it turns out fast food restaurants especially may be out of them. burger king has been calling it a tomato outage. so if you love tomatoes on your burger or fast food sandwich, you ght have to ask for it. and you know this is all because of that deep freeze in florida. it wiped out most of the tomato crop, 60%. it's been hitting the oranges, too. we were talking about that yesterday. but a 25-pound box of tomatoes for a restaurant normally would cost 7 bucks. it cost 30 bucks now. so you can see why they are

hoarding their tomato slices. at wendy's, you'll have to ask. other places, if you love them, just ask, but they might even be out of them. all right. two years ago, the banking crisis began ending in this mega billion-dollar bailout. and yet with all the outrage about that, nothing has really beenone to change the conditions. that could actually happen again, because we haven't changed anything. well, the senate is now set to release a plan to overhaul its financial regulation, to make sure this doesn't happen again. the committee chairman, chris dodd, says democrats are going to have to move forward without republican support. the two sides couldn't seem to agree. the bill is aimed at preventing future bailouts. republicans say the federal reserve could lose some power, but the bill is expected to include something to look out for you. a consumer protection agency within the fed. a science teacher who is a former football player is making history today. what makes her so special to her students? ♪

♪ i'm rafer weigel with sports. a high school in washington, d.c. will name a woman as the head varsity football coach. and some high school football officials are saying they've never heard of this happening before. but natalie randolph will be introduced as the head coach at coolidge high, where she is a science teacher. and there is a great article on n.com about her. the 29-year-old randolph was a

wide receiver withhe women's pro team, the d.c. divas, an assistant coach with another high school football team for two years. hard to imagine this day and age, this could be the first won ever as a head varsity high school football coach. th georgia bureau of investigation is searching the nightclub where nfl scar quarterback ben roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault. police have already searched there, but now you're looking at basically csi going in there. investigators from roethlisberger's legal team are doing the same thing, trying to clear him. by the way, two stations are saying that police say the woman fell and hit her head. we have not been able to confirm that report. police still want a dna sample om roethlisberger. where that stands in ten minutes. and t tebow may have suffered a bit of a shot to his image. he is knownot not only for his play, but his smarts, well but he scored below average on an intelligence test at the nfl combine. >> i can't beeve that. >> he scored a 22 out of a possible 50 on the wonder lick

test. that's what it's called. the average score for a qb is 24. but here is the thing. brett favre also scored a 22. dan mer reno, only a 15. one of the questions is what's e eith month out of the year, robin. >> seriously. august, ye. and all of those rumors, it means nothing. >> we don't know that's some of the ones he missed. >> yeah, he probably got that one. all of the rumors about tiger, tiger, tiger. we finally heard from his agent about his return. what is he saying? we'll have that in the next half hour. >> thank you. a former aide to john edwards has until this afternoon to turn over a purported sex tape involving edwards. andrew young faces jail time if he doesn't tu over the tape and other materials. now, edwards' former mistress, rielle hunter, claims the tape belongs to her. ung ys he's turned over all of the material. he wrote a tell-all book about edwards' affair. ♪

>> i don't know why. bonnie snyder has your travel update. >> i love it. >> i feel like a satellite. >> it kind of relaxes you, because it's one of those days at the airport u robin. this is the first time this week we already have delays over an hour in philadelphia, laguardia, and watching for atlanta, as well. let's show you the delays today. west palm beach and atlanta, you'll be facing fog and storms. we're also looking at stormy weather in washington, d.c. san francisco, you are facing some rain this morning. robi is. >> thank you. you know, this is -- this time last year, a texas family had one child. by the time they came home yesterday, they had four. hear about the new family members they brought home from haiti. ♪

get this. the number of women in the united states who die of complications from pregnancy has doubled in the last 20 years. it's going the wrong way. that's from amnesty international, which calls this situation a health care crisis. now experts say that half of the deaths could be prevented with better access to health care. the wife and adult daughter of senate majority leader harry reid, recovering from a bad chain reaction crash. it happened in virginia yesterday. reid's wife has a broken neck, back and nose. now, she is not expected to need surgery. the daughter's injuries were less severe, and she is already out of the hospital. two months after the earthquake, the situation in haiti is still dire. that is the word from president

obama. he sd people desperately need food, medicine and shelter. about 40,000 people are believed to be living in just one tent city. they needy cent shelters before haiti's rainy season really starts in a couple weeks re. those are some of our headlines we're following this morning. want to say good morning to you sleepy, head, i'm robin meade and here's what's going on. the number of people dying on u.s. high highways is the lowest in 56 years. believe it or not, it has something to do with the economy. usually in a shaky economy, fewer people are on the road. now, you saw that t in the early '80s and '90s. better safet features, seatbelt usage and programs against drunk driving are also credited for that drop. crime scene investigators, the csi folks, are reportedly sweeping a georgia nightclub, lookinfor clues in the ben roethlisberger sexual assault case. here's rafer with the latest angle we have on this story. now, police, i'm sure, went clue that club a long time ago. >> that's right, robin. but now a state agency, the

georgia bureau of investigation versus, essentially csi, now combing that nightclub. also, two pittsburgh affiliates are quoting sources saying roethlisberger told police the woman fell and hit her head in the club. we have not been able to confirm that. also, apparently investigators hired by roethlisbeer's lawyers are also searching this club, trying to clear his name. meanwhile, through all this, police say they have asked for a dna sample from roethlisberger, but they say so far they have not been given one. well, they did get the surveillance tapes from the club, but they're not saying what was on those tapes. obviously, those will be key. but robin, every sign points to them taking this investigation extremely seriously. >> all right, rafer. thanks for the update. a school bus driver is accused of driving drunk with 50 kids on board! police in illinois say that her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit. prosecutors say she admitted to drinking vodka and orange juice before she started work. the superintendent is just relieved about one thing. >> that the children were safe.

that the children were safe. i'll leave it at that. >> we have not heard from the driver yet. the district says that another driver tipped them off that the woman smelled like aohol. we told you about the high school that cancelled its prom rather than let a lesbian student bring a girlfriend. now the student is suing to force the school to reinstate the dance. the aclu filed the suit on behalf of 18-year-old constance mcmillen. she wants to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. here is what reporter's told hln's prime news last night. >> we're fighting for all of the students to go to the prom and be themselves. it's really the students' memories, it's not the superintendents' memories, the teachers' memories. the prom is for them. and we are working tooth and nail to make sure that the prom happens. there are cases thatsupport constance and her right to bring

same-sex date to the prom. >> well, the school board has argued that hosting the prom would cause a distraction now. the timing of mother nature is impeccable. seems like every weekend here comes some type of a disturbance. this one is spring-like in nature and going make for a wet weekend, bonnie. >> you're right. wet and windy one. this weather is brought to you by sudafed, triple action. let's show you the huge storms hitting the southeast right now. down in florida, up across much of the mid atlantic states. these are intense thunderstorms. no doubt about it. we're getting sere weather popping up right here in alabama. huntsville, you're getting hammered with thunderstorms at this time. i want to show you what it looks like in atlanta, because it is very overcast and foggy. take it slow out there. we have a dense fog advisory in place for atlanta. the storms are rolling through the south. atlanta, you're likely to get hit with storms. let's go back to the maps and i can show you thunderstorms

riding up into nashville. but the northeast, you dodged the bullet this week. things are all changing. we are looking at heavy downpours in florida. the potential continues for more flooding in west palm beach, particularly in eastern palm beach county. the urban areas of west palm getting hit with flooding. and look at this. rain across new jersey, washington, d.c. all headed for new york, boston, philadelphia facing wet weather. now, this means for your weekend, we are looking atwet and windy weather with the wind battering the coastline. the strong winds will be intense. and that will go all the way up into newngland for the entire weekend. so this is going to be a real washouof a weekend. make your travel plans ahead of time, robin. i'm going to talk more about travel coming up. i can tell you the delays are already getting lengthy, even early in the morning. >> it's going to be a baseball cap kind of weekend. thank you. the dream is over for four "american idol" wannabes. we showed you last half hour which two females got the boot yesterday. here are the guys' results. >> the person who continues on

the show is lee. congratulations. you made it. [ cheers and applause ] >> the last spot for the guys goes to andrew garcia. congratulations. of [ cheers and applause ] >> so alex there on the left said he wish he had been able to come out of his show earlier on the show. allen told him never stop believing in yourself. next week, the coveted top twelve take on songs by the rolling stones and i think they move on to a bigger stage, too. toyota gas pedal problems could mean major changes for every new car in the near future. also, the first major golf tournament of the year is only a couple weeks away, and a lot of people are wondering, will tiger woods be there?

♪ former teen idol corey haim may have had an enlarged heart and lungs filled with water when he died. that's what his manager is saying the autopsy is showing. but the coroner won't determine what killed him until the toxicology results are ready. haim's manager says there is no sign that haim overdosed. his ex-fiance told jane velez-mitchell that he ce really struggled with pills. >> at the time when i knew him, you know, was ingesting 40 some-odd pills a day. >> how many? >> 40? 50? . >> 40, 50, vicodin, valium? >> all combined, an absurd

amount. and there would be moments where he would sit there and he seemed to want to get sober and seemed to want to get off of it, and talk about it and go to different specialists. and, you know, you guys are right. these specialists would prescribe absurd things. and i'm going, how is this helping you get off of this? >> well, investigators say they found prescription meds, but no illegal drugs at haim's home. his manager says that his doctors pretty much weaned him off any meds. parents and children are watching their schools disappear! this sputtering economy has left deep holes in many schools' budgets, and it's all across the united states it's happening. correspondent richard lui joins us now. for example, in detroit, people are expecting a plan to close 40 of its schools there. talk about a shake-up. >> yeah, talk about a shake-up robin. this is a bread and butter issue. teachers voting to ask the governor to remove the man expected to push to close those 40 schools. that man is robert bob, a detroit public schools emergency financial manager, you said fire big-time right now.

the "detroit free press" rerting people could be voting on whether to abolish the school board in november. that's how bad it's gotten and allow detroit's mayor to be responsible for all of those schools. now less than 4,000 signatures are needed to get that question on the ballot. and robin, the group is pushing to make that happen. >> so let's look at the big picture here. you're hearing about proposed school closings in georgia, wisconsin, kansas city. obviously, you would think it's the economy. but why is it so immediate all of a sudden? >> you know, robin, that's a good points. many schools could be facing what officials are calling a funding cliff. they're running out of stimulus money used to plug those big budget holes. the "new york times" reporting that congress gave about $100 billion for schools in last year's stimulus plan. it was the largest one-time infusion of federal money into schools in the nation's history. but 20 states say they intended to spend all of their education money, robin, within two years, which could leave reserves almost at zero.

>> obviously this is controversial and you have a lot of disappointed parents and kids, richard. thank you for the follow-up. how do you feel about this? your next car could have a black box in it kind of like airanes do. of other changes could be coming to make your carsafer, as well. and jennifer westhoven, dare i y it's toyota problems. >> well, that's probably what's keying off it, this fiasc o these run-away toyotas, millions of cars recalled, but it could make the roads safer for all of us. a top u.s. safety official says all cars may have to be built differentlin the u.s. in the coming years. and one of the potential changes? blac boxes. they can capture all kinds of data about how fast you're going, h hard you are hitting the brakes, and all kinds of other details, which could be vital if there is a crash. and they're trying to reconstruct what happened. the agency is also considering a rule so that all cars may have to have a brake override stem. almost seems like common sense, right? so that no matter what you

hitting the brakes would always override the gas pedal. and the agency may also ask congress for greater authority when it comes to investigating auto defects. i think the one question, though, robin, is how much of those black boxes going to cost? is it going to end up making the cars cost more? and that's something we don't know yet. remember all those cable fights some people, you know, just last week couldn't see the first 15 minutes of t osrs of back on new year's, a lot of people were afraid they weren't going to be able to watch the sugar bowl all because of squabbling between tv companies, cable providers. the federal government says it may step in and blow the whistle so you don't get caught missing out on your favorite shows. the "new york times" says after the s.e.c. got an earful from you, people who wrote in and said this is ridiculous, they may start to take a bigger role in making sure that it doesn't impact you as the consumer. robin? >> let's hear it for the people! jen, thank you. if you're running late, like

i'm not going to say around here, but -- [ laughter ] >> okay. >> no, you weren't the only one. it was an epidemic. i think it was friday and there were gremlins in the system, m caras were not working. it was friday. so if you're running late, maybe i can help you. call from my wake-up call which is free. she told on herself. dial 1-888-robin hln, say what time you want to wake up monday through friday, and me on the other end of the line wakingou up and saying good morning. if you want you can leave a shoutout after the wake-up calls, but if you don't want to, you don't have to. >> i think i need it as a back-up. >> all right. reports are flooding in that tiger woods is returning to golf, and soon. well, now we're finally hearing from his agent about his possible comeback plan. ♪

♪ okay. el 9 tiger woods comeback rumors are heating up. rafer weigel, we asked them straight out. what's going on. >> and true to form, his agent says no decisions have been made.

but here's the thing, robin. actions suggest otherwise. first, the cup which does not allow any media has suddenly told employees you're getting less passes this year, a request reportedly from tig's people. that is according to tmz. i've got to point out, we have not been able to confirm it, but the associated press says he's coming back for the masters in april. not the arnold palmer invitational right before that. both the masters and tavitstock can control what happens to him. he has also fired a former white house press secretary. that at the top of the hour. you think march madness is a big deal? former president bill clinton taking in two college basketball games in the big east tournament. again, this is the tournament leading up to the big tournament. that's how excited people are. clinton i a big college hoops fan. i remember when arkansas was in the national championship and he was in office and they said, if there is a national disaster, will you be on the scene, and he was like "i'm staying here until

the end of this game." he was joking u of course. white sox manager ozzie guillen had his pernal website shut down by the team. >> wait, the team as in the players? >> no, as in management, bosses. no, no, no website for you. but he will get to keep his twitter and facebook page. but no web page. his latest tweet while he was in traffic, he tweeted, i wish i have my bike in this moment. tweeting in traffic, ozzie guillen, i love him. i'm just -- you know. >> yeah. all right, an engineering firm hired to oversee the rebuilding of new orleans from hurricane katrina i accused of wasting money and time. a watchdog group says the firm is overbilling the city, and spt money on things like theater tickets and christmas gifts. are you kidding me? the firm says it has completed several projects, and is working on about 600 others. all right. who couldn't use a money coach,

right? well, hln money expert clark howard takes a listen to damian's story, and sees what advice he needs. >> hi, clark. i'm damian from austin, texas. and my question is, i this economy, should we lease or buy a new car? my wife wants to lease and i want to buy. leasing gives you more flexibility. getting, you know -- holding on to the the car for less time, trading it in. moving on to something different. versus having to resell your car and pay off the note. i like buying. i like owning the vehicle. and not being able to -- worried about what's going to happen when we have to do -- when we do have to turn it in. we're looking to spend aut $35,000. and we usually drive the car for six to eight years. and based on thiseconomy, would it be more financially prudent to pay less money and lease a car versus buy it? anhold it long-term? money coach, can you help ? >> damien, i'm so glad you asked me this question fore you made

the purchase or lease decision. should you buy or lease? you should buy! now, i'm excited that you want to excited that you want to keep the vehicle for six or seven years. the longer you ep a vehicle the less it costs you in depreciation each year. if you can really learn to love this car i would like you to stretch it from six or seven years to ten years, but why do i say don't lease? that's simple. leasing is a recipe for financial disaster. leasing costs a fortune. you have all the disadvantages of ownership without any of the advantages and with a lease you're responsible for everything about that vehicle. if you want to have a car for just a short while, two years or less, leasing's okay, but if you want to own a car, the smart way for your wallet, buy it. clark can be your money coach, too. clark will teach you to save

more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern. another guy in san diego says his tote on prius went out of control. police aren't so sure about this one. why they're a little bit suspicious.

good morning. i know it's friday. you're probably sleepy, but it's friday. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on. never mind the recalls. people are lining up to buy toyotas. i kid you not. the world is waiting for tiger woods to say when he's returning to golf and what his agent, though, is saying about a possible comeback. libbed see lohan is getting an earful from the business that she is supposedly suing. how e.trade is firing back at her claims that one of its ads was making fun of her. first, though, if you discount, they will come and even the threat of recalls and runaway cars is not stopping people, apparently, from buying new toyotas.

a toyota exec and edmonds.com says u.s. sales this month are up about 50% from a year ago. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. makes you go, what? >> yeah. people are really buying despite some of those headlines. edmunds tracks sales trends and it is all about the big discounts in the dealership and it says toyota's market share jumped in the first eight days of the month compared to last year because the discounts were enough to make people bite even with a lot of people very nervous about buying their tote as. these are the most aggressive discounts in toyota's history. there are deals for buying and leasing tote as and they last until april 5th. >> thank you. surprising, but okay. new this morning, surprising, too, the number of women in the united states who die from complications of pregnancy has doubled over the last 20 years in the united states. a new amnesty international report calls it a pregnancy

crisis. it says two women die every day in the united states, giving birth or during or after their pregnancy despite all of the progress that you see in medicine. experts say giving birth in the united states is very safe. >> thousands of workers with health problems after 9/11 attacks could get a settlement of more than $650 million. a judge will review that plan today. obviously that's collective. the money will go to rescue and clean up workers who were at ground zero and that includes firefighters, police officers and volunteers. many of them have ended up with breathing problems. >> every program has seen the same thing, that's problems with the upperairway, the nose, the sign uses, the throat, the lower airway, asthma, reactive airways, cough, persistent heartburn that's just very difficult to treat and doesn't go away. often those three diseases come together. we're seeing people with post traumatic stress disorder or

post traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, depression. >> that has been years in the making. some workers got paid up to $1 million depending on their condition. most of the money will come from a $1 billion fema grant. there are a lot of rumors about when tiger woods will return to golf, but right now we've heard directly from his agent. rafer weigel, what did he give you? ? after a day of rampant speculation about his return, tiger woods, his agent told our sister network, cnn, that no decisions have been made yet. this contradicts an associated press report saying he was definitely coming back for the masters in april. that followed a report he was coming back to the arnold palmer invitational in march. the masters is the only pga tournament where the media is restricted. we can't get past the ropes to the golfers. they've closed the media credentials list for this year. in other words, this year's masters, no tmzs, no radar

onlines and no national enquirers will be getting into that tournament. >> i'm saying, that's the tournament he's going to play. >> look for that. thank you. what about the reports that he's hired, ooh, ari fleischer, former white house press secretary. >> it's not that outlandish to think given fleischer's new career path. fleischer would not confirm or deny the report from "the new york post," they were going over a strategy on how to handle the return, specifically to the arnold palmer invitational. mark mcgwire hired him for the steroid admission and that steroids did not help him hit home runs. with all due respect to mr. fleischer, he could do a little better than that. >> rafer, thank you so much. lawmakers in massachusetts are going after bullies. the state senate yesterday unanimously passed a bill that would prohibit bullies at schools and crack down on bullying online. principals would be required to take action.

>> what we don't have right now is a comprehensive plan. we have community by community, school district by school district trying to handle this issue and we want to set state standards just like we do with the curriculum, let's do it with anti-bullying as well. >> lawmakers say they were motivated by the recent suicides by two students and their families say they were bullied. check out the mess left behind by a storm in florida. the people who live there think a tornado did this yesterday. it tore the roof off of a home ask damaged others. been woman just feels lucky to be alive. >> i thght it was an earthquake because i didn't know you could get tat feeling from a tornado. i could hear the stuff in my bedroom falling off and the bureaus and the walls and smashing. if i had to guess i would say i've lost everything. >> the poor thing. we do have some severe weather that's reallyoing to bring a lot of rain, a lot of precipitation. do you think it will be as severe as that, bonny?

>> think there is a possibility. we have a severe thunderstorm watch for alabama. that ste is getting hit hard. we also have a lot of flooding with this system. you can see low pressure creating the opportunity for more severe sorms to fire up throughout the day today. it will be a stormy one all weekend long. here's what i'm talking about in alabama. look at the severe weather hitting huntsville. we're seeing frequent flashes of lightning and heavy downpours of rain and gusty winds as well. this is also a problem in tennessee. look at nashville, you're getting hit with storms right now as well as into bowling green, kentucky. florida, can't catch a break. you saw the woman facing severe, possible tornadic weather. we are getting flooding in west palm beach particularly in urban areas and the flood warning continues until 10:30 this morning. police officials have said that some of the water as much as five inches on the ro. if you see the water covering the roads turn around and don't try to pass it. you don't know how deep it is.

it takes a few inches of water to dislodge an suv. it's working its way to the north and east. you had beautiful weather over the past week and it is all coming to an end. this vigorous system will continue to work the way up into new england and we're not just talking about heavy downpours. a whipping wind will hit the coastline really hard. this will likely cause beach erosion as we're expecting the winds to batter the coast all of the way up to maine. speaking o winds, behind the storm system to the south we're also tracking windy weather down in texas, so we'll watch for the flood threat ithe northeast and dry weather in dallas. i want to show you thesun coming up there. windy conditions behind that sun. we'll be looking for very dry weather for today in texas with temperatures that will be comfortable in the 60s and the wind again will make it feel stronger. looking at the sky across minneapolis, robin, as you can see here, a dense fog advisory continues here as well as in atlanta. we have one in the region until 9:00 this morning. >> big-time for our travelers.

>> that's for sure. >> i'll fight you on it, but you may be a fan of the signal that spring is coming. we make the switch to daylight savings time this weekend. at 2:00 a.m. sunday most people will need to set their clocks ahead to 3:00 a.m., by an hour. hawaii, most of arizona and several u.s. territories don't do this, though, so they're the ones that won't be complaining about being sleepy next week. >> there might be something missing from your lunch today. no b for the blt. why tomatoes are more scarce. police say a bus driver dropped off 50 kids and then failed field sobriety tests. you'll have to hear what sheid admit to police.

time right now to salute our troops. today's salute is from a father who has two sons in the military. he will tell us about his kids. go ahead. >> hi, robin. my name is john. i'd like toalute both my sons

in the united states military. lance corporal logan dahlbacka and airman first class joseph dahlbacka. i would like to say thank you for your service to our country, i'm very proud of you and can't wait until you get home and miss you very much. love, dad. >> great job, john. if you have someone in the service crowe can salute them as well. cnn.com/robin. a former aide to john edwards has until this afternoon to turn over a purported sex tape involving edwards. andrew young faces jail time if he doesn't turn in the tape and other materials. rielle hunter claims the tape belongs to her. young says he's turned over all of the material and he wrote a tell-a book about edwards' affair. e.trade is firing back after lindsay lohan slapped the company with a $100 million lawsuit. she claimed that the ad about the e.trade babies was about her. >> and that milkaholic lindsay

wasn't over. >> lindsay? >> milk a what? >> her lawyers was an injunction to stop e.trade from running the ad anmore. lohans do not have merit. live pictures here just in this morning. it will be a tough commute near milwaukee because an oil tanker with 7,000 gallons of gas has turned over and it stopped traffic. oil tanker or gas tanker? this is about 40 miles south of milwaukee. it's a tanker, no matter what it's carrying here it will not be fun for those drivers. it looks like every single lane is stopped this morning and obviously that's going to be a problem for those drivers, but we'll continue to check in. those are live pictures there. how many different -- it looks like it has -- it was carrying something on the back and then a tanker, too. that's interesting. parents and their children are watching their schools

seemingly disappear here and there. the sputtering economy has left some deep holes in budgets in schools across the united states. for example, we talked about a school district in kansas city, missouri, that's closing nearly half of the public schools and correspondent richard lui has more on the district's plan to reshuffle thousands of kids. you close up the building and transfer the kids. >> the superintendent saying that kansas city schools will go bankrupt in 18 months if he doesn't do this. here he is describing his tough decision. >> no one likes closing schools. it's hard. it's tough on families and it's certainly tough on our community. closing schools and making the remaining schools much stronger academically is unquestionably the right thing to do. we were operating far too many schools. >> so the question is how is he going to do it. he says some school buildings will be sold including the

district headquarters where he's at. he will stagger some class times for middle school students and sharing schools with high school students and he estimates the closures will cost $25 million, but robin, that is 25 million he does not have. >> you're trying to save money but in the end it will cost you money, too. >> big catch. >> the supertendt says there's too many schools in operation and too few kids in them. when was the change? is. >> robin, when was the change? when we think back to when they were in schools they were packed classes and evidently not the case in kansas city. using an estimate from the university of missouri's dean of education, that district has over four times the capacity that it needs and the enrollment has been dropping still. some parents have evidently been sending their kids to private, parochial or publicly-funded charter schools and then in other cases families move to the suburbs. robin, in about 20 minutes we'll talk about schoo closing in detroit or other areas, too.

>> it's a phenomenon that's happened in many different places around the country. thank you so much. check your sandwich when you leave the drive-through window at lunch because to the nato maybe you're used to seeing in there might not be there. >> our money expert, jennifer westhoven. you have a follow up to a warning you had fo us about tomatoes. >> everybody in florida has been freezing and they know this is coming because it's ruined the orange and tomato crops and that means for you, if you like to get a fast foodburger and sandwich with tomato on it, you may be out of luck. if you want to natos you may have to ask. the deep freeze wiped out most of the tomato crops, 60% of them. here why it's costing a restaurant so much. a 25-pound bucks of tomatoes, $7 bucks, and now $30 bucks.

at wendy's you have to ask for a tomato and subway said they were cutting them up smaller or something so it would look like you had tomato. >> i swear they already do that with the you ccucumbers. i have to ask for four rows. >> who's running the economy? ben bernanke, there hasn't been a number two, though and now there are reports that the white house has made t pick that it will be janet yell ii iinyellin right now she runs the san francisco fed and she is seen as an authority on unemployment and she is also seen as a proponent of low interest rates. robin, back to you. >> jen, thank you. i'm happy about this, curves are making a comeback. what do you think, jen? >> yeah. >> trendwatchers think that thanks to a tv show, well, which one. >> i know which. >> plus bonn of the greatest college football players ever didn't do well on a big test by the nfl teams.

does it mean he wouldn't be a great player in the pros? come on!

a high school in washington, d.c., is going to name a woman as the head varsity football coach this morning. i can't believe it, apparently this is historical. this has never happened in the united states before? in 2010! >> in 2010 they know of no woman as a head football varsity coach. they know of women as assistant varsity football coach, but today natalie randolph appears to be the first-ever to be introduc as a head coach at coolidge high. that's where she's a science teacher. there's a great article about her at cnn.com. the 29-year-old was a wide receiver with the women's pro team, the d. c. diff as and an assistant coach for two years. congrats to her. >> you know what else? to be head football coach at 29. >> extly. at 29. >> the georgia bureau of investigation searched the nightclub where nfl star quarterback ben roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault.

also investigators from the legal team are searching it. two pittsburgh stations are reporting that he told police the woman fell and hit her head. we have not been able to confirm that. cops are still asking for a dna sample and haven't gotten it and we'll have more on that in the next ten minutes. heisman trophy wnner tim tebow may have suffered a shot to his image. tebow scored a below-average score on an ielligence test at the nfl combine. >> it makes you wonder if he was really trying or if he was distracting. >> he tries at everything. 22 out of a possible 50, brett favre scored a 22, dan marino scored a 15. it means nothing. >> it's kind of funny. thank you so much. tom hanks and steven spielberg stopped by for movie night at the white house. eeee

even the threat of recalls and runaway cars is not stopping us from buying up toyotas, apparently. sales in the united states rose nearly 50% in the first days of this month over last year's numbers. that's likely due to an offer of 0% financing and deep discounts. >> music producer phil specter is appealing his murder conviction. his lawyers say the judge made several errors and that specter was denied a fair trial. specter is now serving a sentence of 19 years to life for the murder of actress lana clarkson. the wife and adult daughter of senate majority leader harry reid are recovering from a bad chain reactionaccident.

it happened in virginia yesterday. reid's wife has a broken neck, back and nose. she is not expected to need surgery. the daughter's injuries were not as severe and she i already out of the hospital. a quick check of some of the headlines and let me pause and say good morning, sunshine. it's friday and i'm so glad to know you're part of the early morning club. the fbi is investigating a power plant worker from new jersey. sharif mobley is under arrest in yemen and police there say he went on a deadly rampage at a hospital. he was arrested with ten al qaeda suspects earlier this month. the fbi says mobley did maintenance work in u.s. plants from 2002 to 2008 and he cleared federal background checks as recently as 2008. crime scene investigators are reportedly sweeping a georgia nightclub and it's for clues in the ben roethlisberger sexual assault case and rafer is joining us with new developments. i would think police went through there, but this is another agency. >> this is a state agency,

basically csi, the georgia bureau of investigation reportedly going through this nightclub and also investigators hired by roethlisberger's attorneys also reportedly searching that club as well. that according to "the atlanta journal constitution." two pittsburgh affiliates are also quoting sources that roethlisberger told police that the woman fell and hit her head in the club and that's why she got hurt again, we have not been able to confirm that. meantime, the police are requesting a dna sample from roethlisberger, but they say so far they haven't been given one. cops also have the surveillance tape from this club, but they're not saying what are on those tapes. bottom line, robin, they're taking this investigation very seriously. >> it's interesting about the tapes. thank you so much. aatural gas pipeline exploded sending flames hundreds of feet into the air and it happened near oklahoma city yesterday. the explosion caused, the crews are finally able to turn off the gas flow and get that fire under

control. napa wineries are under attack. the european grapevine moss is threatening to napa grapes. they might pass those costs along to you as well. it would damage the quality of the grapes. this is another hit to the wineries. they've also seen a 15% drop in sales because of the economy. pele were going for the cheaper stuff. parents and children are watching their schools disappear, it seems like. the sputtering economy has left deep holes in school budgets across the united states and what they're having to do is drasc. correspondent richard lui, we were talking about in detroit, for example, they're expectation plan to close, like, 40 skooms. >> that's right. 40 schools, robin. weere talking about kansas city and it's not just one place in the country. the teacher's union voting yesterday to ask the governor to remove the man expected to push close 40 schools there.

they're outraged. it is robert bob. the financial manager is under big fire big time at this moment. the detroit-free press reporting people there could be voting on whether to abolish the school board in november. it's gotten that bad. also to allow detroit's mayor to be responsible for all of the schools. less than 4,000 signatures are needed to get that question on the ballot and a group is pushing hard to make that happen. >> richard, what about the big picture here not just for one city and we're hearing about proposed school closings in georgia, wisconsin, kansas city obviously because of the economy and why so sudden? >> many schools, they may be facing what officls are calling a funding cliff. that may be why it's so sudden and they're running out of stimulus money used to pass big budget holes in the past. congress gave about $100 billion in last year's stimulus plan. it was one of the largest one-time infusions of federal

money into schools in the nation's history, however, 20 states saying they intended to spend all of their education money just within two years which, robin, could leave reserves almost at zero. a big egg. >> richard, thank you very much. tom hanks and steven spielberg stopped by the white house to show their first family their new hbo sees about world war ii called the pacific and hanks stopped by the briefing room to check on the espresso machine he bought reporters. >> there a nice coffee cups. they use the pods. you know, you are supposed to clean this after every use. you're supposed to wipe that off. look at the buildup on that. >> hanks and spielberg nored some of the vets who inspired the series and they attended a cereny at the national world war ii memorial with 250 veterans. you know what? if you have kids, you have some

plans and some things you can do inside because the weekend is a rain out for at least half of our viewers. i'll put it that way. >> that's right. time to get out the spring raincoat and hold your umbrella tight because the wind will be whipping. . this weather is brought to you by red lobster. look at this sysm, is bringing heavy rain to the mid atlantic and downpours in florida and if that's not enough, right now we are tracking severe weather in alabama. you've got to see these pictures. they're intense with the flashes of lightning over the skies of birmingham, alabama, flash, there it goes and it's t over yet. we've got thunderstorms firing up over huntsville and check out the radar picture and you'll see the flashes of red and yellow and indicate where we have the heavy downpours and these storms contain small hail as well and be prepared. in nashville, bowling green, paducah, you're getting a soggy commute and also windy and this does contain intense thunderstorms and you've got to

see what's going on in florida, west palm beach, urban areas and in and around the city with five inches of water on the ground and it's still raining. so the flood warnings will go to eastern palm beach county and that goes until 10:30 this morning and maybe longer because the rain is not letting up and it's just beginning in the northeast. look at all of the water coming in virginia, delaware, new york, connecticut, massachusetts, it's all headed your way. what this means is we are getting ready for a wet and windy weekend across th northeast and mid atlantic. this storm system will sit here for friday, saturday and sunday and really whip the winds. robin, it will be tough out there for travellers and i'll have more on that in a few minutes. >> that's not fun for takeoffs and landings. thank you. the squabble over cable fees blocked out part of the oscars for some of our viewers and now the government may step in to fight for you because so many people complained. and how did teen idol corey haim die? his manager says he has the answer.

good morning. before you go outside and try to dig the paper out from the snow or the kids' toys, wherever you keep it, we already did the work for you. here's what's in the paper. in "the wall street journal," the number of families defaulting on mortgages might actually boost the economy. the default have left more people with more money to save and spend. never looked at that time that way. ladies i think you'll love this one, heck, i think the guys will love it too. curves are making a comeback.

bring on the va, va, voom. things like shows like madmen and a demand for padded flaws are designed to help you flaunt it instead of squeezing you in a straight and narrow that 14-year-olds might wear. i'm adding that part. in "usa today" movie theaters are giving us away to get away from it all. dine-in theaters and adults-only options and cozy seating options. that's a check of the papers. i haven't beeninto one of the dine-in theaters. what a great idea. >> right. go ahead. she doesn't want to shar >> i've made a few theaters dine-in options that weren't. school bus drivers are accused of driving drunk with 50 kids onboard. police in illinoisay that her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal lit and prosecutors say that she admitted drinking vod and orange juice before her shift. the superintendent is relieved about one thing. >> that the children were safe.

that the children were safe. i -- i'll leave it at that. >> we have not heard from the driver yet. the district says that another driver tipped them off that the woman smelled like a brewery, basically. is that perfume? >> eau debrewery. other changes could be coming to make your car safer. jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. we're not just talking about one make of car here. >> right. we're talking about all of them. the government says how can we make sure that this never happens again, even if we don't know the solution, what can we do to preprevent it. after the if i afk of millions of tote as being recalled and cars speeding out of control. the head of the nhtsa says all cars built in the united states may be built differently in the

coming years and they may have black boxes. that's right. just like a plane that can capture all kinds of dat about how fast you're going and how hard you hit the brakes and all other details that can be very vital when they tried to reconstruction an accident after it happened to see what went wrong. the agency is considering a rile so all new cars can have a brake override. meaning no matter what, your brakes would always override your gas pedal. that seems to ke common sense because that's something we're looking for. all right. this just in, breaking news a bit. people were shopping through the snow in the late of the month. retail sales up 0.3% in february, and if you take ought cars, they were up 0.8%. that's a lot of percents, but basically that's a pretty good sign that people are out and spending again. a bit of good news in a bad economy that people are out there and spending. maybe that will help the recovery. >> i wonder if it had anything to do with online sales, because

you're right. there was a lot of snow and it would surprise me that people would trudge o to the mall. it echoes something that the stores said, too, though. the stores at the mall said sales were strong despite the snow. so it was surprising. we'll see. okay, you may remember the cable fights around the oscars. some people couldn't see the runway stuff and the first 15 minutes of the show. new year's people were afraid they couldn't watch the sugar bowl at home because of a big fight with the tv companies, the cable wars, we'realling them. the federal government says it may step in and blow the whistle to make sure that you don't end up missing your favorite shows. "the new york times" says after the sec heard an earful from you, from american citizens, they may have to start taking a bigger role as a referee, so maybe that will prevent those companies in their fight who they threaten to pull the plug on is us. >> i like that people mplained. >> yeah. it works. tyra banks started as a

fashion model, but has turned into a role modelor many women. her friend celina breed explains in this breakthrough women. >> hi, i'm selena breed. i'm a fashion model. i'm the first african-american woman to receive a contract from lan comb, cosmetics. tyra is a breakthrough woman because she has gone far beyond the expectations of fashion model. tyra has been so many things with her career. she was the first african-american woman to be on the cover of "sports illustrated." she has her own reality television show. she has her own talk show and she's a philanthropist in so many ways. she maintains an organization where she helps and mentors young girls. tyra has inspired me to strive for more. i think her career exemplifies at how you do not have to stop at the limitations that other people may place on you and

there's such a social responsibility that can come with being a model and tyra has just shown me that you can do that with grace and charm and beauty. >> well, are you a breakthrough woman? or do you feel like you know someone who is? you can send us your idea to cnn.com/robin and maybe we'll feature that person. for the second time this week a southern california driver reports losing control of a prius, but this time the police aren't sure if they're buying this story.

former teen idol corey haim may have had an enlarged heart and lungs filled with water when he died. that's what his manager says the autopsy shows, but the coroner's office says it won't determine what killed him exactly until toxicology results are in, but haim's manager says there is no sign that haim o.d.ed. his ex-fiancee told hln's jane velez-mitchell that he once did struggle with pills. >> at the time that i knew him

he was ingesting 40 some odd pills a day. >> how many? >> 40, 50. >> 40, 50, vicodin, valium? >> all of them combined, an absurd amount and there woulbe moments where he'd sit there and he seemed to want to get sober and seemed to want to get off of it and talk about it and goto different specialists and, you know, you guys are right. these specialists would prescribe absurd things and ll say how is this helping you get off of this? >> so sad. investigators found prescription meds and no illegal drugs at haim's home. the doctors had pretty much weaned him off of any meds. the tiger woods comeback rumors are heating up, but now we've heard from his camp. >> his people. >> our people called his people and his people are notorious our people very, very little. >> people, back off! >> his agent sa and i quote, no decisions have been made. well, action might suggest otherwise. first, let's talk the tavistock

cup which doesn't allow media inside. i have a feeling that's where he'll come back to. suddenly they told all of a sudden they told their employees they're getting less passes this year. now, the associated press says he's definitely coming back for the masters in ril. here's the thing with the masters, it's the only tournament that restricts media access. tmz and the tabloidsould not be allowed to get in. so, that makes a lot of sense. also, reports he hired a former white house press secretary, that at the top of the show. the excitement for march madness is growing and i have proof. former president bill clinton taking inwo college basketball games at madison square garden for the big east tournament. so, a tournament leading up to the big tournament. he is a big college hoops fan, like our current president. i remember once when he was in office when arkansas won the national championship and he was interviewed and they said if there is a natural disaster, what would you do? would you run out of here? i'm going to stay here until the

end of the game. he was kidding, of course. i love my basketball. we have some very cool video to show you. old yankee stadium being torn down and let's blow stuff up. >> that's heartbreaking for yankee fans. >> they have a brand-new shiny new stadium that is 100 times better. they will tear this down piece by piece. they will have it completely erased by june and why take so long? it's in a residential neighborhood, we have to be careful. >> i suppose they had to take out the seats and anything they could sell. guys, how much are you paying for a clean shave? you're spending lot for razors, apparently. a guy celebrated his 100th birthday with belly dancers. you rascal, you.

gnchlsh morning, sunshine! come on in the room and sit down if you have the time. if not, i know you like news in the fast lane, we'll just accompany you as you get ready for the day. i'm robin meade, here is what is going on this hour. startling new numbers, the numbers are going up. plus, tiger woods are not saying when he will come back, but a lot of other people are and, according to them, it could be soon. first, though, new this morning. the number of women in the united states who die from complications of pregnancy has doubled over the last 20 years. a new amnesty international

report calls it a pregnancy crisis. it says that two women die every day giving birth or during or after the pregnancy. that's despite all the progress we made in medicine. giving birth in the united states is very safe, though. you know, if you discount, they will come. apparently, even t threat of recalls in a run away cars is not stopping people from buying up new toyotas. toyota exec say that u.s. sales this month are up about 50% from a year ago. wow. money expertennifer westhoven. >> wow. exactly. yeah. edmonds tracks auto sales trends and it says it is all about the big discounts at the dealerships. toyota dealership jumped because the discounts were enough to make people buy a toyota despite all the headlines about run away cars. these are the most aggressive discounts and deals for buying and leasing. they last until april 5th.

>> very good, thank you very much. thousands of workers with health problems after te 9/11 attacks could get a share of a settlement. worth more than $650 million and a judge will review that plan today. now, the money will go to rescue and clean-up workers who were at ground zero. that includes firefighters, police officers and volunteers. many of them ended up with breathing problems. >> i'm 52 years old and they told me i have lungs of a 90-year-old n. >> well, the deal has been years in the making. some workers could get up to $1 million, depending on how they are. well, most of the money will come from $1 billion fema grant. there are a lot of rumors about when tiger woods is going to come back to the game of golf, but now we've directly heard from his agent, so, spill it, rafer. >> one of the craziest days. just aay of rampant speculation about tiger woods' return. amid all the speculation, no

decisionhave been made yet. now, this contrudicts an associated press report that says he's definitely coming back for the masters in april. that followed a report he was retuing r the arnold palmer invitational in march. here's the thing, the masters, more restrictive of media credentials than any other major. the only tournament where the media is not allowed inside the ropes. the arnold palmer invitational is not like that. at the masters no tmz getting in to that tournament. >> okay. so, we'll have to watch it. what about these reports that tiger has hired former white house press secretary ari fleischer, talk about bringing out the big gu. >> definitely, robin. fleischer would not confirm but also not deny the report by "new york post." fleischer has a new career in the sports world. the reports say that tiger and fleischer are going over a tratgy on how to handle his return, specifically to the arnold palmer invitatiol. but fleischer is working with a lot of sports figures, he has

helped rebuild the image of mark mcgwire who coached him on his steroid admission and the green bay packers used him for the brett favre fallout. this just in this morning the associated press says that president obama is delaying his trip to asia. he is now leaving on march 21st so he can stay here and work on health care, huge issue for his administration. he was supposed to leave on march 18th. we'll have more details as they come in this morning. check out the mess left behind by a storm in florida. people who live here think a tornado did this. one woman says she's just lucky to be alive. >> i thought it was an earthquake because i didn't get the feeling from a tornado. i could hear all the stuff in my bedroom falling off the bureaus and the walls an smashin if i had to guess, i would have to say i lost everything. >> we do have more storms today

and i'll ask bonnie schneider right now if we think it has potential for violent storms like that. >> i absolutely think so, robin. we have the risk, the slight risk issued by the storm prediction center. now, don't let the word slight fool you. we could see tornadic activity come out of severe weather and the areas looking at the most severe storms are high lilted here, south florida as well as parts of alabama and into georgia and north florida even in the panhandle. we'll watch those areas very closely. i want to show you what is happening right now. wait till you see this, you can't catch a break here in west palm beach. it has been raining and raining and raining. how much rain? some areas are estimated to see over five inches of rain on the ground. you can't handle that much water, so flash flood warnings continue, at least for another hour and a half particularly west palm beach. if you're driving there in the urban areas, you will see flooding. lots of rain and thunderstorms bowling green, nashville, chattanooga at this hour.

and up north, not really severe weather, but when you have rain repeated rain over and over again you're looking at a flood threat and that's what we're going to see here in northern virginia, washington, new jersey and this is all headed for the northeast. i want to show you new york city at this hour and let's go right now to a live picture and it's getting worse there. very foggy and rainy. the wind will pick up and it is going to be a nasty weekend in new york city. heavy downpours and thunderstorms that will get stronger tomorrow and tomorrow night. so, get all your errands done early, if you can, the weather will go from bad to worse there. also as you can see on our maps, we're looking at the weather to be terrible through the weekend through new england because not only the rain, but the strong wind to batter the coastline. wind gusts as high as 30 miles per hour and that is very strong and bring wind-swept rain to the region and extend up to connecticut with this storm system because that's a slow mover. >> so, it's not really going to

let up for the weekend, basically. not at all. how could you have a blt when you don't have the t. why reaurants are scrambling to get tomatoes. one of the greatest college football players ever did not do so hot on a test by the nfl.

time for our salut to the troops. today's salute is from a father who has two sons serving in the military. so, here he is, going to tell you about his kids. >> hi, robin, my name is john. i'd like to salute both my sons in the united stes military lance corporal dahlbacka and airman first class joseph dahlbacka. thank you for your service to our country, i'm very proud of you. i can't wait until you guys get home. miss you very much, love, dad. >> if you have somebody in the service, we'd love to help you

salute them. go to cnn.com/robin. a former aide to two-time presidential candidate john edwards has until this afternoon to turn over a purported sex tape. young faces jailtime if he does not turn in the tape. hunter claims the tape belongs to her. young says he turned over all the materials. he wrote a tell-all book about edwards' affair. so, check your sandwich when you leave the drive through window. the tomato that you're used to seeing might not be there. our money expert jennifer westhoven about a tomato shortage. good morning. >> good morning, robin. a lot of fast food restaurants out of your tomato. burger king calling it a tomato outage. if you love tomatoes, you may have to specifically ask and say, hey, on the burger can i get the tomatoes because the deep freeze in florida wiped out most of the crop there. 60% of florida tomatoes and also wiped out a lot of the oranges, too.

this is what the restaurants are facing. 25-pound box of tomatoes used to be 7 bucks and now it's 30 bucks. that is why they are hording them. wendy's you may have to ask. and other places are chopping them up smaller but you're getting less and others say they might just be out. be prepared for that. this morning, new news. this in just the last hour or so, people were out shopping last month, even with fierce blizzards. that set snow storm records in philadelphia and new york city. it crippled the east coast for days. still, though, retail sales were higher. so, that's a little bit of good news in a bad economynd surprising it backs up some of the things we saw earlier that sales were doing better. that's what the mall said. this is the number that comes from the federal government. good news for the economy. tofu dogs, black bean

burgers, soy chicken patties. not a typical dit for most teens, but in milborro, georgia, the kids don't seem to care. >> i like the vegetarian chicken nuggets and corn dogs. >> i eat the grilled cheese sandwiches and the apple and sometimes the vegy burger. >> one school that offers vegetarian options in the lunch line and the kids are voting vetari at an alarming rate. >> 8% of teens are vegetarian, which is around 5,000 students for us. >> some of the kids eat vegetarian for religious reasons, but many choose it for health reasons. >> i went to the doctor and i was ten pounds overweight and the doctor said that could be more a faster weight when i grow up i could die faster and my mom started making me healthy food and actually made me lose those ten pounds.

>> i want to stay healthy and have a healthy life. >> all in all, they have served close to 5,000 vegetarian meals in this last year alone and karen crawford hopes the habits they learn now will stay with th for a lifetime. >> we know nutrition profoundly affects kids' ability to learn and grow and maintain a healthy lifestyle and it's important to keach them these lessons when they're young. >> dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting.

parents and children are watching their schools just disappear, it seems like. the spiraling economy has left deep holes in school budgets across the united states and what they're having to do is drastic. correspondent richard lui, in detroit, for example, they're expecting a plan to close like 40 schools. >> that's right, 40 schools, robin. we were talking about kansas city earlier. not just one place in the country. asking the governor to remove

the man expected to push to close 40 schools there. they're outraged. it is robert bob, that's who we're talking about. emergency financial manager, he is under big fire, big time at this moment. the detroit free press reporting people there could be voting on whether to abolish the school board in november. it's gotten that bad. also, to allow detroit's mayor to be responsible for all of the schools. less than 4,000 signatures are needed to get that question on the ballot and, robin everyone is pushing. >> all right, richard, thank you. > i don't want you running late when you join us for the show, so get your free wakeup call. dial 1-88-robin-hln and say what time you want to wake up monday through friday and i'll be there on the phone waking you up. i don't bug you on the weekends, though. a high school in washington, d.c., is going to name a woman as its head varsity football coach this morning. and can you believe the year 2010 apparently this is something historic.

hi, rafer. >> hi, robin. that's right, some high school officials say they do not know of any other woman every being the head football coach. today natalie randolph will be introduced as the first, the head coach at coolidge high where she is a science teacher. great article about her on cnn.com. she's only 29 years old and she was a wide receiver with the women's proteam the d.c. divas. there she is with her dad. she was assistant coach with another high school football team for two years. good success story. thegeorgia bureau of investigation apparently searched the nightclub where nfl star quarterback ben roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault, this after police already did. also investigators from roethlisberger's legal team are looking in there, as well. two pittsburgh stations are also reporting that roethlisberge told cops that the woman hurt herself because she fell and hit her head. we have not been able to confirm that.

either way, cops are asking for a dna sample from roethlisberger. apparently, they have not gotten it yet. more on that in ten minutes. heisman trophy winner tim tebow may have suffered a shot to his image. the reason why, he is known for his smarts, as well as his play. he scored below average on an intelligence test done at the nfl combine >> didn't know they did that test. >> the wonder lick test and he scored 22 out of a possible 50, but the average score foa quarterback is 24. here's the thing, brett favre also scored 22, didn't hurt him. dan marino only scored a 15. but the questions are like, you know, what's the eighth month out of the year. august. and all of those rumors about tiger, tiger, tiger. we finally heard from his agent about his return. what is he saying? that in the next half hour. your kids may face peer pressure to do more than smoke or drink. what about huffing, which is getting high on inhalants like

paint, glue or shoe polish. almost 7% of 12 year olds have puffed and it can be fatal. many inhalants can be easily found right there in your house. i'm never a fan of you losing an hour of sleep, but you may be a fan of the signal that spring is coming. we make the switcho daylight-saving time this weekend, don't forget about it. 2:00 a.m. on sunday, you need to set your clock ahead, it will be 3:00 a.m. several territories don't do this. they are the ones not as cranky the next week. after weeks of auditions, "american idol" has its coveted top 12 and the contestants seem like a big, happy family at the start of the show last night. ♪ ♪ and i promise you i'll give so much than i got ♪ >> somebody told me this morning

that this reminded them of the partridge family. it couldn't last forever. o women got the bad news that they were headed home. >> aer the nationwide vote, paimg, you have made it into the top 12, congratulations. the final seat at our top 12 belongs to katie. >> yeah. the 16-year-old katie who is on the left is sticking around. kind of a shocker because randy jackson compared her performance to karaoke and, frankly, the blond hair girl was very good. find out what boys, fellows, did not make the cut in the next half hour. get ready for conan o'brien's comeback. legally, he can't have a show yet, but he found another way to have the funny.

>> 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, dddd

good morning, the new york stock exchange is now open for business and the stocks are expected to bump up. the optimism is fueled by the retail sales from last month. they made surprising gains and we have a le report for you in a few minutes. the wife and adult daughter of senate majority leader harry reid are recovering from a bad chain reaction crash that happened in virginia yesterday. reid's wife has a broken back, neck and nose. she is n expted to need surgery. the daughter's injuries are not as severe. the number of women who die from complications of pregnancy has doubled in the last 20 years.

it is going the wrong way. amnesty international calls it a health care crisis. half of the deaths could be prevented with better access to health care. even the recall of run aways cars are not stopping people from buying up new toyotas. sales in the united states rose near lly 50% in the first eight days of this month over last year's numbers. that is likely due to an offer of 0% financing and deep discounts. so, you see, a lot going on, probably is in your world, too. i'm robin meade. morning, sunshine. you get ready for the day and i'll accompany you here. an ohio man charged with hittihi hitting children at a walmart store. the boy's mother -- >> he hit him in the back of the head and i took his hat off and i see he's bleeding.

i'm hysterial. >> the man admitted doing this since january and he told them he found it exciting to hit a child with his parents standing right there. what is wrong with people? the number of people dying on u.s. highways is at its lowest in 56 years and it may have something to do with the economy. here's why. in a shaky economy less people out on the road. you saw that too in the early '80s and '90s, better safety features, seat belt usage and programs against drunk driving are also credited for the drop this time. crime scene investigators are reportedly sweeping a nightclub in georgia. they're looking for clues in the ben roethlisberger sexual assault case. now, rafer weigel, it's been a while, i would think police were through there already. >> we're basically looking at csi. the georgia bureau of investigation reportedly also went through the club, that according to the ajc. also, investigators hired by roethlisberger's lawyers are searching the club, as well,

trying to clear him. police have taken surveillance tapes from the club. they are not saying what is on those tapes. they have also requested a dna sample from roethlisberger, but they say they haven't been given one yet. meanwhile, two pittsburgh affiliates are quoting sources saying roethlisberger told the police that the woman fell and hit her head in the club, which is why she got hurt. we, though, have not been able to confirm that. robin? >> you're watching all the developments and i thank you for that. former teen idol corey haim may have had an enlarged heart and lungs filled with water when he died. that's what his manager is saying what an autopsy shows. it will not determine what killed him until the toxicology results are ady. haim's manager said there is no sign he overdosed. his ex-fiancee said that he once did really struggle with pills. >> the time when i knew him, you know, 40 some odd pills a day. >> how many?

>> 40, 50. >> 40, 50, vicodin, valium? >> all of them combined. an absurd amount. there would be moments where he would sit there and seem to want to get sober and seem to want to get off of it and talk about it and go t different specialists and, you know, you guys are right. these specialists would prescribe absurd things and i'm going, how is this helping you get off of this? >> now investigators say they found prescription meds but no illegal drugs at haim's hoe. his doctors had pretty much weaned him off of any meds. we got some nasty weather for at least half of our viewers for this weekend. let's get you through friday, hi, bonnie, who is in for bob. >> very stormy weather causing travel delays and all sorts of problems out there. low pressure coming in from two places and it will really cause wet and windy conditions all weekend long. we are watching, unfortunately, severe weather working it w through florida. now, this is really just the benning. look what's off in the gulf of

mexico. for those of you on spring break in florida, this is the day to go to a movie or rent a movie at home because the weather is going to go from bad to worse in miami. not raining right now, but i am anticipating those storms to get intense later this afternoon. already coming down so hard in west palm beach that the flood warnings continue there for another hour. look for urban flooding in the city of west palm beach. moderate to heavy rain in kentucky and tennessee at this time as well as northern north carolina. rain is light in new york ty, but is going to wind up and bring deluges of rain across the region. low pressure coming through and not only trigger the wind swept rain but cause beach erosion throughout this region the entire weekend and the storms will grow more intense in northern new england saturday night for cities like boston and portland. in advance of all the rain that is expected. we are looking at a lot flood watches posted because we will

see ponding on the road fog a concern across parts of the midwest, but if you're waking up in san francisco this morning, i want to show you what it looks like. a time lapse of the sunrise, courtesy of our affiliate kgo out on the west coast, san francisco. some low clouds coming up and that's typical for san francisco and look for the sun coming out and showers are in your forecast over there in the bay area. that's all going to come across northern california for today, robin. but looks like a pretty morning. >> really cool-looking time lapse, isn't it? thank you. your shopping habits are givinghe stocks a boost. we saw strong numbers in retail sales this morning. a lot of people found it surprising because it was for the month of february when there were all kinds of snows. stephanie elam is in new york with a look at what's happening. good morning. >> good morning, robin. stocks oepened to the upside and increase in retail sales shows a few blizzards didn't keep

shoppers at home last month. taking a look at charlotte, north carolina, where 825 manufacturing jobs are on their way to the city. siemens a german industrial company plans to build a new plant in the city and that's where the jobs are coming from. if you're flying british airways the week before easter, you could be in for some delays. the cabin crew placed a strike for seven days leading up to easter. talks with management for pay broke down and the airline is training 1,000 workers to stand in for cabin crew members. finally, robin, the wait is over for all you appl fanatics. the ipad can now be preordered online. but do not expect to have the device in your hand until april 3rd, because that's the day that it actually goes onsale in the apple stores. i have to say, there's a lot of intrigue. might have to go check it out. >> there's some people complaining about it, too. just a bigger version of at they already have. the s driver dropped off

50 kids but then failed a field sobriety test. what she admitted to police. tmr. moviephone will tell yu if it's worth your time and money.

if you're running late, you must not have signed up yet for my wake-up call. it is free, dear. call 1-888-robin-hln. you just indicate what time do you want to wake up monday through friday and you'll have a little bit of help from me. a school bus driver is accused of driving drunk with 50

kids on board. police in illinois say that her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit and prosecutors say she admitted to drinking vodka and oj before her shift. the superintendent is just relieved about one thing. >> that the children were safe. that the children were safe. i'll leave it at that. >> we have not heard from the iver yet. the district says another driver tipped them off that the woman smelled like a brewery, basically. pope benedict xvi is meeting with catholic officials concerning sexual and physical abuse. richard lui is working on that story and others for the next hour. >> that story raising a lot of eyebrows. in fact, we'll tell you why the pope's brother is now accused of hitting a child, a woman is ao accused of driving her car into a burger king on purpose.

what an employee told her th reportedly set her off to do that. all right, watch out. certain tattoos are giving them, robin, magical superman powers and also making interesting noises. >> this i got to see. >> i was like, what is happening there? >> magical tattoos. you might not give very much thought to the cost of shaving, but it can add up and hln money expert, one of his favorite tips is how shaving and saving go hand in hand. >> okay, they're back at it. the razor wars. schick and gillette which dominate the razor business in the united states. coming out with their latest, greatest razors that cost zillion dollars. the proglide, that costs about $4 a cartridge, not to be outdone, schick has come out with the hydro and it supposedly controls skin bulging while shaving whatever that means. now, here's what i want you to

know. there's one way for you to make that blade go further. after every use dry the blade. that's right, you may never have thought about this. razor blades don't deteariatate from shaving, but from moisture. if you dry it off after you use it, that blade will last and last and last maybe six months. i'm clark howard. for more ways to make your wallet grow, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> that's just an incredible tip to make your razor last six months. he will teach you to save money. mae more interesting point is that he adheres to it but i hear that his wife refuses. bonnie schneider is in for our travel updates. good morning. >> understandable. all right, we are looking at some travel delays across many areas and they are lengthy.

really dense fog could delay you up to an hour and atlanta facing delays right now due to fog and rain and that will continue. heads up, florida, big-time storms west palm beach and miami and delays will be lengthy there and it's coming down in washington and get worse today and tonight. look for storms. san francisco, delays are long due to fog and rain. this weekend will be a mess in the northeast, robin. we'll have a complete update at 10:00. lindsay lohan is getting an earful. her claims that an ad was making fun of her.

get this, a guy who worked at a u.s. nuclear power plant is now a suspect in a terror investigation. now, the fbi is investigating shareef mobly. he's under arrest in ymen and police there say he was arrested with ten al qaeda suspects. the fbi says that mobley did maintenance work at u.s. nuclear power plants from 2002 to 2008 and he cleared federal

background checks as recently as 2008. e-trade is filing back after lindsay lohan had a lawsuit. >> and that milkaholoic wasn't over? >> lindsay? >> lohan is known for some stints in rehab, sure, but her lawyers want an injunction to stop e-trade from running the ad. lohan's claims have no merit. most women are guilty of feeling guilty. psychologists in spain studied men and women in three age groups and they found internalized feeling of guilt were more intense in women. men, however, were found to be guilt deficient and lacked interpersonal sensitivity. >> oh, come on. spanish men maybe. >> older men were found to be more sensitive which suggests that empathy and guilt can be

learned. >> i carry guilt with me everywhere i go. stuff i didn't even do. >> you're a sensitive type, i guess. >> and older. >> maybe that's it. >> that fits into the study. >> tiger woods, leave the guilt thing out of it. the rumors about him coming back are popping up, but we've actually heard from some of his people about that. >> good morning, robin. his people are saying no decisions have been made andium i don't know if i'm buying that because the actions might suggest otherwise. first, the tavistock cup, i've been saying that is where he is going to come back. it doesn't allow media inside. they told their employees you're getting less passes this year and that is a request made by tiger's people. this is according to tmz. we haven't been able to confirm it yet. the other thing, associated press saying he's coming back for the masters in april. from a golf standpoint, doesn't make sense to come back cold to a major tournament, but it could

shutout the tmz and the tabloids and keep us from getting anywhere near him. also a report that he hired a former white house press secretary. that at the top of the show. you don't think the excitement for march madness is growing, look who is in the audience for a couple college games at madison square garden. bill clinton. this is the tournent leading up to the tournament. also denzel washington is there, as well. clinton is a big college basketball fan. when arkansas won the national championship in 1994 and he was at the game, what if is a war and russia invades and he was like, i'll wait until after the game to do that. >> great imitation. he was kidding, i think. look at this video, our ireport of the day. old yankee stadium being torn apart. >> so many fans are like, no. >> it is kind of cool to blow stuff up. does that speak to my lack of sensitivi sensitivity. >> they will have it totally erased by june.

>> they ar getting a brand-new, sparkling -- >> they did already. it's very pretty. we high school that cancele its prom rather than laet lesbian student bring her girlfriend. the student is suing to force the school to reinstate the dance. the aclu filed the suit. this morning mcmillan talked about the backlash she's been facing. >> what was it like when you went back to school? >> it was -- it was hostile. but it was, like, silent. i mean, a lot of people -- i had a few people comeo me and say stuff to me. >> like what? >> well, like, you've ruined my senior year and stuff like that. but i mean, you're going to have people that are going to be like that. >> what's that like for you to hear? >> i mea it hurts, but there's nothing i can do about it. all i can do is, like, hope they'll understand that was never my intention and now it is

like i'm fighting for prom for everybody now. >> do you ever wish you hadn't asked? >> no, i don't. >> well, the school board argued that hosting the prom could causa distraction. napa wineries are under attack. the moth is threatening to eat acres of grapes. a shortage would force prices to go up. if they use pesticides, they might pass the costs to you, as well. they're worried that it would damage the quality of the grapes. wineries seen a % drop in sales because of the economy. matt damon is looking for wmds in the new riller about iraq and we'll ask, is it worth your money?