making news in america this morning -- >> state of emergency. areas hard-hit by tornadoes, as the waterlogged northeast braces for more rain later today. new outrage in wisconsin. after three weeks of protests, lawmakers plan to strip union rights. rich and famous. the new list of america's billionaires. mark zuckerberg's fortune triples. but he's not the youngest anymore. good morning. it is another sopping wet day here in the northeast, where rivers are dangerously swollen

from last week's storm. >> drenching rain is expected to come down all day long, from the mid-atlantic states here in new york. and new jersey is expected to bare the brunt of it. >> this is part of the same system that just slammed the deep south with as many as two dozen twisters. more, now, from emily schmidt. >> reporter: storm chasers knew they were watching something big develop in the southeast. >> there's the rotation. >> you can see the swell. >> that one's nasty. >> reporter: storm chasers were right. winds whipped into tornadoes near mobile, alabama. tearing off a gas station awning. and hitting the pickup, john young, was stuck inside. >> all kinds of debris started crashing into my car. tin and stuff. it was ungodly. hail. it was big, old hail. it was the scariest thing i've seen in my life come through a while ago. >> reporter: paul reid was in his house when it collapsed.

>> once it settled, it pushed the debris on top of us. got to my daughter. and got out of the house as quick as we could. >> reporter: alabama and louisiana's governors declared states of emergency. in florida, the storm sucked nearly all furniture out of one home. and another possible tornado destroyed eight more. the rain came into the gospel baptist temple church when a tree crashed through the roof. flood watches extend from new york to carolina. >> the ground is saturated. anymore that we get, especially the deluge we're going to be getting is very, very dangerous. >> reporter: and before this storm finally heads out to sea, more than 100 million americans will have felt its power. it's not done yet. rain is expected to continue well into tomorrow. rob and peggy? >> the last thing that we need. that's for sure. emily schmidt this morning. thank you so much. let's get the latest on this storm, which is menacing much of

the east coast. >> accuweather meteorologist, ava dinges is here to bring us all up to date. >> good morning, rob and peggy. a volatile weather pattern along the east coast. a powerful weather pattern is still a threat, from north carolina back into virginia. even into southern maryland, where a few storms could produce isolated tornadoes, high winds and the potential for hail. alongside of that, we're going to be tracking extremely heavy rain. and this is a slow-moving storm system. this rain will be stuck in place all the way into friday morning. some places in the northeast in the dark shading of green, another three to four inches of rain. back to you, rob and peggy. >> thanks, ava. and sam champion will have more on the storm coming up later today on "good morning america." that budget stalemate at the wisconsin statehouse appears to be over this morning. but a new controversy, of course, is just beginning. republicans actually passed a bill, now, stripping workers of their right to bargain.

>> after the vote, protesters came into the capitol building. they are vowing to stay until the senate votes on the bill today. here's brendan conway, from our milwaukee station. >> reporter: senate republicans introduced a modified budget bill, separating the collective bargaining measure from the rest of the governor's cuts. during a conference committee, republicans announced their plan to move forward, with restrictions on collective bargaining. >> excuse me. there's a question. the rules are being violated. >> reporter: assembly minority leader, the only democrat in the room, objectioned a number of times. saying the republicans were violating the open meeting law. but minutes after the meeting started, the five-person committee voted. >> chairman, this is a violation of law. >> reporter: moments after the bill passed in committee, senators met in chambers, and with no debate, all but one

republican, they passed the bill. the senators were rushed out of chambers under heavy police protection. the republicans' move caught assembly democrats off guard, who say they plan legal action. >> this action is just unprecedented. i can't find words strong enough for what they've done. >> this is repugnant, the actions that happened here today. we're going to take every measure possible to make sure we are able to challenge what happened. it's clearly illegal. >> that was brendan conway. now, the governor has promised to sign the bill after the assembly passes it. stopping the violence in libya is the subject of a nato meeting today. defense secretary gates will be in attendance there. on the ground, opposition fighters say moammar gadhafi's forces are now intentionally targeting some oil facilities in the country. several of them burned yesterday, dealing another blow to libya's energy industry.

gadhafi's troops have now stopped every opposition advance. meanwhile, bbc journalists are safe after being detained for almost a day by gadhafi loyalists. they were accused of being spies while being beaten and even subjected to a mock execution. they say they saw some rebel prisoners while they were being held. for the first time jared loughner has come face-to-face with some of the victims he's accused of shooting in tucson in january. it happened in a courtroom where loughner pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal charges. like in other jail photos, he was smiling when he entered the courtroom. loughner will be back in court to may for a hearing to determine if he is competent to stand trial. it will take days and at least $100,000 to clean up all of the dead fish from a los angeles area marina. workers have scooped up 35 tons of the stinky mess. a lp toh up to 18 inches thick covers the bottom of the marina. and it's not just the smell that

has them hurrying up. the rotting sardines can destroy vital oxygen, killing other fish. you can only imagine how that smells. >> that's wrong. never seeing sardines the same way again. coming up next, move over mark zuckerberg. someone else is america's youngest billionaire. also, the walmart makeover. maybe smaller is better. and the brazen burglars, who repelled into a car dealer, taking a tv star's $200,000 sports car. we'll be back with that.

foreclosure activity slowed sharply last month. more than 225,000 homes received some type of foreclosure notice in february. that is actually down 27% from a year ago. and the lowest level in three years. now, the slowdown was primarily due to lenders delaying action because of government investigations into questionable paperwork. the fate of blockbuster could be decided today. a federal bankruptcy judge is expected to rule on whether the movie rental chain stays in business or is liquidated. liquidation means shutting down nearly 5,000 stores. walmart is thinking small. bloomberg news reports that next week it will started bying stores one-tenth the size of an average supercenter. 40 will open this year. concern about the fighting in libya has stocks down across the board this morning.

tokyo's nikkei average tumbled 1.5% today. hong kong's hang seng fell 0.8%. in london, the ftse opened lower. and on wall street, the dow ticked down one point yesterday. the nasdaq, falling 14. the world's richest people got even richer in the last year. and welcomed a number of new members to their club. according to "forbes" annual list, there's 1,210 billionaires. that's 199 more than last year. who are some of the very rich folks? carlos slim is number one for the second year in a row, with a net worth now of $74 billion. that's almost $20 billion more than bill gates. most of his fortune comes from his holdings in latin america's largest phone company. moving up the ranks is facebook founder mark zuckerberg, who had the fastest-growing net worth, who tripled at $13.5 billion. landing him at 52. and another facebooker made his debut at the youngest member on

the list. dustin maskovitz is worth $2.7 billion. >> should have taken that job at facebook. when we come back, the first new drug in a half-century to fight lupis. and for the third time in just a week, a teenage athlete dies on the field. >> unbelievable. also, the a-lister who will play sarah palin in a new tv movie. and it's not tina fey. ♪ there are milestones that no parent wants to miss. let's see, there's first steps. first words. first time riding a bike without training wheels. and the first vacation memory that will last till roughly... forever. now, there's a first. tell us what you've always wanted to do, on facebook. [ ship horn blows ] but sometimes i wonder...

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northern rockies. >> and if you are flying today, airport delays can be expected in san francisco, boston, new york, philly, d.c., charlotte and miami. a lot of east coast destinations. >> oh, yeah. a wet one. well, security is being stepped up on capitol hill, ahead of a hearing today, into muslim radicals. >> new york congressman peter king has come under intense criticism for holding these hearings. john hendren reports, now, from washington. >> reporter: muslim-americans say this is the new mccarthyism. >> mohammed was a child molester. mohammed was a pervert. >> reporter: outside a fund-raiser for muslim charities in california's conservative orange county, protesters targeted muslims, as pundits were targeted by congressional leaders in the 1950s. muslim-american leaders say this is the new senator mccarthy, new york congressman peter king. he's chairing a thursday hearing entitled radicalization in the muslim-american community in the house. >> a body that, let's be fair,

has done this before. the house on american activities committee was a central ingredient in the mccarthyism, that representative king now aims to replicate. >> reporter: king is unapologetic. >> when the major threat to the united states today is coming from al qaeda and al qaeda is attempting to recruit in this country. >> reporter: king says american-muslims generally do not cooperate with law enforcement. and he uses tactics and statistics that his critics say near mccarthy's. like saying 80% to 85% of american-muslim leaders are extremists. john hendren, abc news, washington. a central pennsylvania community is said to be coming to the aid of a family that's been devastated by a fatal fire. seven of the family's eight children were killed in a tuesday night blaze. an initial investigation indicates that the fire may have been caused by a space heater, which one of the kids may have been playing with. and another high school athlete has collapsed and died. the third in just two weeks. 17-year-old sarah landauer passed away yesterday, two days

after she collapsed after track practice. it happened in gainesville, florida. it's not clear what caused her death. but relatives say she collapsed two weeks ago. doctors had cleared her to return to sports. >> a scary trend. there's new hope this morning for thousands who suffer from lupus. for the first time in 50 years, the fda has approved a new drug to treat the debilitating immune system disorder. called benlysta, the injectsible drug is designed to relieve flare-ups and pain caused by lupus. a celebrity chef has a problem he can't cook up a solution for. you may know guy fieri from the food network. he owns a lamborghini like this one. i'm not a car person myself. it's worth over $200,000. the problem is, someone stole the car from a dealership. and the thieves repelled in from the roof, using mountain climbing gear. some of which was left behind at the scene. the door lock was cut. and the car was driven away. really hide that wel

can't really hide that well. >> no. hate when i lose my lamborghini. 13 teams have now claimed some automatic bids to the ncaa men's college basketball tournament. some major conference tournaments get under way later today. the acc, s.e.c. and the big ten. as for yesterday's highlights, here is espn news. >> good morning. i'm steve bunin with this espn news update. it may feel a little bit early. but we had some march madness yesterday at madison square garden in new york city. st. john's in white. rutgers in red. rutgers down one. ten seconds left. contact inside. no foul called. all right. going to let the players play. looks like a foul. maybe offensive. maybe defensive. okay, fine. we'll let it go. st. john's, now, a chance to ice the game with free throws. no good. contact underneath again. no call. the ball appears to go off rutgers. mike rice, the head coach, can't believe it. rutgers with the hail mary. that doesn't work. st. john's steals the ball.

then, it looks like justin brownlee walks out of bounds. walks with the ball. committed a foul to get the ball. no call on any three of the options. with 1.7 left, he is out of bounds. nearly bumps into st. john's coach. the referee didn't see it. didn't call it. lets the time run out. and rutgers' season is over, just like that. rough day for the officials at the big east tournament. two teams punched their ticket to the big dance yesterday. in the big sky, northern colorado. the northeast, n.e.c. jamal olasewere had 31 points for long island. the red raiders wearing white, playing at home. taking on two-time defending conference champions robert morris. and it's liu surviving a scare in overtime. but advancing to the ncaa tournament for the first time since 1997, with a three-point win. i'm steve bunin. that does it for this espn news update. tina fey may be a dead-ringer. but the gig goes to actress julianne moore.

moore will play sarah palin in an upcoming hbo movie. the film "game change" is based on the best-selling book of the same name. a great book about the campaign. it covers john mccain's 2008 presidential campaign, from the time he picks palin as his running mate. fascinating political book. great book. >> the bangs and the whole thing. despite charlie sheen's wacky ways, droves of people are still lining up to work for charlie. >> get this. 74,000 people have applied for an internship position posted monday by sheen. in the internship.com ad, sheen promises to pay someone to help leverage his social media network. >> i would love to see that job description. what do you that entails? >> couldn't ask for a calmer boss. sheen's also been turned into a musician of sorts. >> his latest interview with abc news, is the latest auto tunes sensation. ♪ i was banging 7 gram rocks that's how i roll ♪ ♪ winning

i have one gear ♪ ♪ go ♪ are you bipolar? ♪ bi-winning win here ♪ ♪ win there ♪ what's not to love it's made better ♪ >> very good. >> got to love it. >> the video is closing in on 3 million views on youtube. everybody loves it. the sheenster. >> man. charlie's had a wild two weeks, huh? now, a music star. winning, winning all over the place. more coming up after this. stay with us, everybody. while a body in motion tends to stn motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arths, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide our relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies,

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now, a look ahead at the stories we'll be watching this thursday. more flooding is in store for the east coast today, as a new storm dumps up to four inches of rain, from washington, d.c. to new york. a state of emergency is in effect in already-flooded new jersey. the state assembly in wisconsin is expected to pass a bill that strips public employees of the right of collective bargaining. thousands of protesters rushed the capitol after the senate passed that bill yesterday, maneuvering around the absent democrats. and there will be extra-tight security on capitol hill, as new york congressman, peter king, opens up hearings on muslim radicals. king has come under intense criticism for holding the hearings. president and mrs. obama kick off a white house conference today on the growing problem of bullying. and also, lindsay lohan, due in a los angeles court today. this is where the actress will reportedly not accept a plea deal on charges that she stole a necklace from a store. had she accepted it, she would

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more unintended drama for the most expensive musical ever. >> the "spider-man" director is out in the show. we get the latest from wabc jess gates. >> reporter: spiter-man is drawing big crowds on broadway. this show may be a lot different than opening night, which is slated for some time this summer. there's been another delay, the sixth. the show's producer announced that "spider-man: turn off the dark" will get a makeover that will include script revisions. but perhaps the biggest change, co-writer and director, julie taymor, won't be in the day-to-day operations. the producers blame scheduling conflict for taymor's reduced rule of the show. quote, julie taymor is not leaving the creative team. julie's previous commitments mean that past march 15th, she

cannot work 24/7 to make the changes necessary for the production to be ready for opening. the $65 million show is the most expensive and ambitious broadway production ever. and perhaps the most mishap-prone. previews have been plagued with problems. there's been a series of injuries, including the 30-foot fall that landed stunt double chris tierney in the hospital. this show continues to rake in money. this week on broadway, it was the second-highest grossing show. in times square, channel 7 eyewitness news. >> one thing after the another. coming up on "good morning america," it's a challenge that one mom in detroit wants to know. can you fit into your old prom dress? the puffy sleeves. the tulle. >> looking good, peggy sue. juju chang will have that story.