making news in america this morning. >> more good-byes today in tucson as the congresswoman makes a major leap forward. doctors even expect her to sit up today. deadly flooding. incredible rescues and now searching for the missing in brazil. >> and a close call for sheriff's deputies in a dangerous highway chase. good morning. less than six days ago a bullet raced through congresswoman gabby giffords' brain. doctors now say she could be out of bed today and sitting in a chair. >> as investigators now zero in on the events surrounding saturday's massacre, the first

of those died are now being laid to rest. emily schmidt has the latest details. >> reporter: good morning. they're dealing with the extremes of good-byes and good news struggling to balance the sorrowful funerals with the hope of a congresswoman's recovery. newly released radio transmission shows the first response to saturday's shooting. >> shooting at the safeway, a man with a semiautomatic weapon units responding, advise. >> reporter: nearly one week later another response, the first funeral for six people killed that day. judge john roll will be remembered today. yesterday 2,000 people honored the youngest victim just 9 years old. >> christina taylor green has called us together. this is her celebration. >> reporter: at the funeral commander mark kelly, whose wife congresswoman gabrielle giffords, is showing remarkable signs of progress. >> a lot of medicine is outside of our control and we're wise to acknowledge miracles. >> reporter: doctors say

giffords now opens her eyes and when they held her upright yesterday with legs off the hospital bed she could move them. >> gabrielle, lift your legs up and she would lift both legs up. straighten both of them up. >> reporter: the congresswoman's shootings did >> reporter: the shootings did stall work in congress this week but republicans say next week it's back to business as usual. they will focus again on repealing health care. vinita and rob. >> emily, doctors pretty much admitting this has been a miraculous recovery so far. what is next for gabby? >> reporter: rob, one of the things they had been worried about was paralysis so when they saw both of her legs moving over the side of the bed a really positive sign. they say another positive sign is they think the fact that her eyes are trying to track movement around her. the next step is removing the tube that is helping her breathe. >> emily, thank you. as emily mentioned, those newly released recordings of police radio transmissions provide crilling new details of saturday's shooting rampage.

as pierre thomas reports, even the most seasoned dispatchers were stunned by what was happening. >> reporter: from the first radio transmissions it was clear something horrific was unfolding. >> shooting at the safeway. a man with a semiautomatic weapon, units responding advise. >> reporter: soon it becomes clear that a congresswoman has been shot. >> we have a caller who believes that gabrielle giffords was shot. it's multiple victims. it sounds like many people were shot. >> we have at least seven, eight, maybe sen gunshot wounds here. we're going to need -- we have as well and i believe -- >> reporter: moments later an army of law enforcement and rescue personnel are racing to the scene. >> start multiple med units. people down. i'm counting at least ten. >> and how many victims do we have? >> there are multiple victims. we need a lot more units here. >> i need robbery and assault detectives called out. please advise them multiple, multiple victims. >> reporter: loughner was arrested at the scene. >> customers have tackled the

suspect. they are holding him down at the safeway. >> reporter: at the command center for the loughner investigation, the hunt for clues continue. a possible break. a young man walking a dog found a black bag near the loughner house. >> he's telling us that in the bag is what appears to be ammunition and some items from what he described to us from a local walmart. >> reporter: on the morning of the shooting, loughner's father saw him with a black bag. police also know loughner bought ammunition from walmart on the morning of the shooting. >> this is one critical piece of evidence that we've been looking for. >> reporter: if it is the same bag, police are hoping it will provide an answer to the nagging question, why did loughner want to kill congresswoman giffords? pierre thomas, abc news, tucson, arizona. >> one of congresswoman's giffords staffers wounded in the shooting rampage left his hospital room for the first time. ron barber was greeted by hugs and shouts of support as he was wheeled by that growing memorial there on the hospital lawn. family members say barber remembers everything about

saturday's shooting. and in the wake of the tucson tragedy, a move now to rearrange shooting at the upcoming state of the union address is gaining momentum. instead of being separated by party affiliations as usual, lawmakers from both sides now are pushing for a mixed seating plan to show solidarity. a decision is still pending. from the senate, news that moderate texas republican senator kay bailey hutchison won't seek re-election next year. the 67-year-old hutchison says she is ready to retire and spend more time with her two young adopted daughters. she was first elected to the senate back in 1993. and late ambassador richard holbrooke will be honored with a memorial service this afternoon in washington. he was the obama administration's point man for afghanistan and pakistan before he died last month. president obama, vice president biden and plenty of others from official washington will attend. a bird strike forced an american airlines jet to make an emergency landing in miami last

night. the 757 landed safely though after a flight from honduras. there were 185 people on board that plane, it's believed that the bird struck the plane's wing shortly after it took off when the pilot was told about it, he declared the emergency and then landed safely. in wichita, kansas, a close call for a couple of deputies and it was all captured on camera. newly released dash cams show a speeding suv whizzing by before slamming into the guardrail and flipping over twice. the driver is now expected to make a full recovery, but he could be in trouble if tests show he was under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. and now let's take a look at this morning's weather from around the country. a stormy day in the northwest with rain along the coast from seattle to portland. heavy snow in the cascades and northern rockies. freezing rain in the idaho and montana valleys. 1 to 4 inches of snow from the dakotas to wisconsin. lake-effect snow in the ohio valley and upstate new york.

it's 20 degrees this boston and 25 here in new york. a chili 41 in atlanta and 51 in new orleans. 20s from omaha to detroit and just 15 in minneapolis. 46 in boise, 63 in sacramento and a warm 71 in phoenix. and when we come back on this friday morning, certain postal rates are going up yet again. we'll have the latest details. plus, life-saving rescues in brazil. areas devastated by floodwaters. why all the rain this week? and a computer goes up against "jeopardy"'s brightest brains. who do you think will win? brains. who do you think will win?

federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says he is more optimistic about the economy than he was just a few months ago. bernanke is now predicting the economy will grow as much as 4% this year. he also said there were signs the job market is improving, but it will still take a long time to bring down unemployment. overseas markets are mixed to close out the week. tokyo's nikkei average fell 0.9%. hong kong's hang seng finished higher. in london the ftse opened slightly lower. on wall street the dow lost 20 points, the nasdaq ticked down 2 points. well, postal rates are going up again this april. it actually won't cost you any more to send a letter. that will remain 44 cents but each ounce after the first one is rising from 17 cents to 20. the government is testing a program that could bring an

end to paper tax refund checks. 600,000 low-income americans will be offered the option to receive their money on a prepaid debit card. in today's "usa today" tech report, a shopping at apple's new mac app store. it opened last week with about 1,000 free and paid apps. the idea is similar to the iphone app store only it's for a computer. "usa today's" ed baig says it simplifies buying and installing software. >> i love the fact that when you buy something, it just installs, there's really no hassle there. i think the mac faithful will be pleased having the convenience of that store right there on their operating system. >> you can read ed's full review on usatoday.com. if you are worried about a day when machines will be smarter than man, it may have come true. an ibm computer program to play "jeopardy" beat two of its best champions ever thursday. it was a warm-up for a tournament that will be televised next month. the computer called watson has access to 200 million pages of information including

encyclopedias, books and movie scripts. >> scary, huh. if you want to check out the tell viced broadcast of that episode of "jeopardy," february 14th through 16th to watch the end of mankind. >> yeah. coming up next on this friday morning, camelot goes online. rarely seen photos and papers from the kennedy era for everyone to see. and subway scare as a rat runs loose on the number 4 train. my name is rachel robinson. i am a banker with quicken loans. this is kathy, who i helped do her first home loan, and this is her sister tina, who i also helped do her first home loan. it was unbelievable how well it all fell together. kathy said, "well, let me give you rachel's number." easy. easy. easy. the whole loan process was simple and convenient! that's why i love quicken loans! [ male announcer ] and you'll be glad to know j.d. power and associates ranks quicken loans "highest in customer satisfaction." to learn more call 800-quicken

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[ female announcer ] roc® we keep our promises. heavy equipment is on the move outside of boston tackling more than a foot and a half of snow before sunday's big playoff game between the pats and the jets. bulldozers and backhoes are clearing the parking lot at gill let stadium with military

precisi precision. inside the stadium they're using pure manpower. good old-fashioned shoveling better them than us. well, now for a look at your morning road conditions. wet on i-5 from seattle to portland. snow covered on i-90 and 84. and from bismarck to the twin cities, and on i-70 from indianapolis to pittsburgh and roads are still slippery in the southeast. and if you're flying today, you can expect airport delays in seattle, salt lake city and indianapolis. as you noticed, extreme weather has been battering towns across the globe with drenching rains and killer floods. >> this week alone raging waters and mud slides have claimed more than 500 lives from australia to brazil where homes were literally swept away and entire families buried alive as they slept. more now from abc's jeffrey kofman. >> reporter: with her house collapsing around her in the raging floodwaters, rescuers threw a life line to this woman in the mountains north of rio de janeiro.

she grabbed her dog and plunged into the surging waters. the rope held, but she couldn't hold on to the dog. as neighbors urged her on, she was raised to safety. not far away firefighters cheered as a baby boy was rescued from the mud. two bright moments in what has been a grim week of floods around the world. you've probably heard of la nina, that periodic cooling of the waters of the pacific. it can cause chaos in australia and asia, and right now it is. officially 15 people are dead. but soldiers combed the mud of flash floods to look for dozens more who are missing. this is the swollen brisbane river this week. that is a floating beer garden or was. boats didn't fare much better.

the only good news, the river didn't crest as high as expected and now it is going down. and for some, that was reason for a celebration, australian style. scientists tell us it is too soon to know if the past year's extreme weather has been an aberration, but they add there is increasing evidence that this is the climate of years to come. i'm jeffrey kofman in london. people in hawaii are getting their fair share of rough weather. heavy rains have triggered flash flooding in maui and other areas and it brought down a bridge forcing some families to evacuate their homes. two teenage girls in florida are in big trouble after being arrested for bullying another girl using facebook. mckenzie barker and taylor wynn set up a fake facebook account and posted phony naked pictures of the girl.'re now being they're now being charged with aggravated stalking of a minor which is a felony. the page has now been taken down. former hall of fame linebacker lawrence taylor will soon be listed as a registered sex offender.

taylor pleaded guilty yesterday to patronizing a prostitute who turned out to be underage. in addition to being a sex offender, he will have to serve six years probation but no jail time. more easy access this morning to the kennedy white house. the nation's first online presidential archive was unveiled yesterday. it features digitized documents, photographs and recordings from president kennedy's days in office. users can even see how kennedy tinkered with his famous ask not what your country can do for you speech. michael douglas says he is feeling good after waging a successful battle with throat cancer. he received a lifetime achievement award last night at a film festival in palm springs, california. douglas also said his cancer has given him a new outlook on life. >> great news for him. in sports news the nfl playoffs get going again beginning tomorrow afternoon. as for last night's hoops action, here's adnan virk at espn news. good morning. the miami heat have been unstoppable on the road until they met the clippers and blake

griffin but lebron james taking on carmelo. second quarter. ty lawson gets the layup. on the inbounds, he comes up with a steal. misses the shot, gets his own rebound and he will kick it out to j.r. smith who drains the three. lawson putting in a yeoman's effort. nuggets go up, 44-33. under two to go in the third. denver by 30. 'melo. easy dunk as he embarrassed them 130-102 in favor of the nuggets. hoops, minnesota taking on purdue. trevor mbakwe not playing after being arrested monday. two minutes to go. jajuan johnson and purdue trail at the half. second half, down by one. al nolan, steal, easy dunk, minnesota up by one. later in the half purdue down one, it'll be johnson gets the feed down low tough layup and the foul. purdue up by one. johnson, 29 on the night. later in the second half, purdue up by two.

loose ball, e'twain moore gets the feed down low. purdue is up by four. under 6 to go, tied at 61. nolan comes up with the rebound. feeding rodney williams, layup and one. he missed the free throw but minnesota is up by four. blake swings it to nolan who buries the trey and minnesota is up by three. under ten seconds to go. purdue one last chance, he misses the three. fires up a desperation free and shot way off. minnesota wins it, 70-67. don't forget all your highlights on the highlight express on espn news. back to you in new york. well, is simply put the most shriek-inducing video of the week, maybe even the month. >> check this one out. that is one of new york's fame always rats causing problems inside a subway car. get this, it ran around and then right up the leg of a sleeping man. poor guy, oh.

>> stunningly enough he just shakes it off and then goes right back to sleep. the rat keeps running around. we warned you, it's shriek inducing. >> that's the worst alarm clock i've ever seen. >> a lot of people are now considering how clean it was could that have been a stage or stunt rat? >> either way i feel bad for him. vities form between teeth, in places you can't even see? aquafresh iso-active whitening is a breakthrough gel that transforms into an active foam. its active fluoride formula penetrates deep, surrounding and protecting the whole tooth against cavities -- front, back and in-between. for strong, healthy teeth for a lifetime, try triple protection iso-active whitening from aquafresh. amazing. that's why there's lubriderm® daily moisture. it contains the same nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. skin absorbs it better and it lasts for 24 hours. later gator.

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funeral for federal judge john roll is set for today. judge roll is one of six people shot to death in saturday's massacre. as many as 100 judges from around the country are expected to attend. doctors say they hope to have congresswoman gabby giffords sitting up in a chair later today less than six days after a bullet pierced her brain. they're calling it nothing short of miraculous. president obama meets the president of pakistan who is washington for richard holbrooke's funeral today. secretary of state hillary clinton outlines new plans for china ahead of a major address to the chinese president's visit to washington next week. the vatican could announce as early as today that the late john paul ii is up for beatification that puts him in line for sainthood. coming up later, exclusive access to one of the nation's hottest new celebrities as he bears all for robin roberts. >> lucky lady. he is a cute guy. for some of you your local news

is next. for everyone else, your zodiac sign may have changed. details coming up. yeah. um, i thought this was going well for a first date. it is. look at your suckometer. oh, i just quit smoking, and the craving's really suck after a meal. okay. ding! [ male announcer ] quitting sucks. nicorette makes it suck less, doubling your chances of success. [ female announcer ] and now, winter skin can be too. discover relief from dry, uncomfortable skin with skin relief moisturizing lotion. only aveeno has an active naturals triple oat and shea butter formula that soothes, nourishes and restores moisture.

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think you are, well, yes. the zodiac signs have actually changed. all the star shift means we have to bring back the 13th sign, so

if you were born between november 29th and december 17th, you're getting a new zodiac sign. i know. this is weird. isn't it? the new sign is called ophiuchus. i didn't make it up. that's what's it called. why can't they come up with a good name, ophiuchus. something people would want like sexitarius or something. >> he wasn't that far off. the alternate for a new sign is serpentarius. a newspaper article was published that said astrongers and astrologiers were debating it and the tilt of the earth's axis has shifted, and that means zodiac dates determined in ancient times have slightly shifted, as well. >> people are kind of freaked out about it and thought their sign had changed and people are so into astrology. they base some of their characteristics on what sign you are, so they were worried they they were not who they were thought they were and who they read they were. >> you can see those are the new zodiac dates. a lot of people took to twitter

and other blog websites commenting i'm a gemini. now i'm a cancer. i'm a picses, now i'm an aquarius. but keep in mind, all of these stem from something charging. a lot of times they use it to basically decide when to harvest and plant, so they were using those signs initially rather than how we use them to day to determine what our day will be for horoscopes. they were using those to provide food for their families. >> it's incredible history behind it and point out that the article that came out thursday that had people freaked out has been debunked. one polar astrologer in the country susan miller says it's important that the planets play a role, not the constellations. so there's a scientific explanation as to why. don't panic. if you woke up as a gemini, you'll go to bed as a gemini. it's okay. it's been debunked. >> yes shgs a, and lest you think people still don't believe in that a quarter of americans do. 70% i don't know what to think about it. a lot were up in arms. kind of a big debate between the astrologiers and astronomers. but it's now been solved. >> very nice and from this gemini and this pisces