this hour on "msnbc saturday," slip-sliding in the south. the eastern two-thirds of the nation is in the grips of an arctic blast, and guess what? there's a second wave coming. plus --

>> that was the train from hell! >> you're going to find out what happened there and why it took three days to get from los angeles to chicago. plus, the man whose actions caused thousands of passengers to be stranded at newark airport for hours gets arrested and then released. 85,000 jobs lost in december. what does it mean for the president's approval rating? we'll have more ahead on that. and tv goes to a whole new level, but do you really want to wear those glasses at home? a good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. we have all those stories and much more ahead here on "msnbc saturday," including how scrap aluminum cans may provide the key to a couple's wedding day bliss. we're going to explain that for you. but first, we begin with this week's record-breaking low temperatures. cold weather certainly not uncommon during winter, but extreme temperatures are being recorded from the plains to the south, including single digits for parts of alabama and tennessee. snow and ice were a dangerous combination there in atlanta. yeah, we just can't get enough of this video. look at that.

yep, impact. there will be another one coming along in just a moment, and it's right there. can you imagine traveling on a sheet of black ice like that downhill? there's not much you can do to spot. we have good news to say that despite the many slick streets, there were few injuries to report, just grernd benders. dozens of car crashes have been reported. let's get the latest now from nbc's ron mott. cold there still? let's see, breathe. yeah, i see the emissions that are coming out of your mouth. it's cold! >> reporter: it is cold, indeed, alex, but it's warmed up to a balmy 15 degrees here in atlanta with a windchill of about 2. and as you can imagine, in a place that they've nicknamed hot-lan hot-lanta, things can get a little dicey when it gets icy, and that's exactly what happened here yesterday and far beyond. >> look out! >> reporter: the dangerous, frosty weather stretched from coast to coast, menacing planes, trains and automobiles. in the south, bumper cars minus the amusement as icy conditions

turned many roadways into slippery slopes, triggering wreck after wreck, like this 27-vehicle pileup friday morning in atlanta. >> there's nothing we can do to stop the cars, and you just watch one, boom. it comes up, you see the next one. and you see it coming. and there's another one and there's another one. >> reporter: no one died here, though a handful of weather-related fatalities were reported elsewhere. in the pacific northwest, wind was the big culprit. >> with the windchill, it is just painful. >> reporter: with hurricane-force wind gusts reaching 100 miles per hour along the columbia river gorge sending a tv reporter and colleague tumbling. >> i'm going to miss my mother's funeral. >> reporter: in chicago, amtrak passengers emerged from the station irate and 18 hours late after numerous delays, including snow drifts in nebraska hampered a cross-country trip. >> we're on this train eight hours sitting in the yard waiting on the snow blower to come. that was the train from hell. that was a nightmare. >> reporter: similar frustration affected the not-so-friendly

skies as hundreds of flights were cancer yelled since thursday. back on the ground in milwaukee, residents had their hands and shovels full cleaning up from a storm system that dumped a record ten inches of snow on some neighborhoods. what might have been a nuisance for homeowners is good, quick business for work crews. >> we do anywhere from 10 to 20 houses when it snows. this driveway right here behind us, it took me about five minutes to do, you know, with the proper equipment. >> reporter: now, here in atlanta, it's not the snow that you see behind me that we need removed, it's the ice underneath it. this is a real problem here in atlanta. you saw all those accidents yesterday. fortunately, today they've got most of this ice out of the way, but the problem is, because it's well below 22 degrees, that salt mixture they put out melts the conditions and then it quickly just refreezes. so, there's still some problem areas here in town. we've heard about some accidents already today. fortunately, it's the weekend, a lot of people are staying home. to put this arctic blast in perspective for you, in miami

this morning it was a relative mild 60 degrees. it's in the mid-40s today with windchills in the 30s, in miami, alex. >> there's something just so not right about this, but what can you do? ron mott, thank you. >> reporter: terrible, exactly. >> coverage of the arctic blast of winter continues online for you. there you'll find information on the low temperature records expected this weekend across southern florida and the forecast from msnbc meteorologist bill karins is also just ahead for you. new this morning, a pakistani television station is airing a video of a man that it claims is the double agent who killed cia employees in afghanistan. al jazeera says this footage shows humanan al balawi standing alongside the leader of the taliban in pakistan and telling jihadists to avenge the death of the pakistan's previous chief killed in august by a cia missile strike. nbc news has not confirmed that the speaker is indeed al balawi, though that is the man who blew himself up inside a cia facility two weeks ago, being al balawi.

if the speaker is balawi, it would prove the taliban's claim for the deadly attack. the man accused of trying to blow up a detroit-bound plane on christmas says he is not guilty. yesterday in detroit, umar abdulmutallab pleaded not guilty to attempted murder as well as the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction to bring down a plane. the hearing drew a peaceful demonstration from the local muslim community protesting against the violence of radicals. >> i feel like it's so important for us muslim americans to send out the message that we do not condone terrorism. we do not support terrorism in any way, and terrorism is not a part of our religion whatsoever. >> al qaeda in the arabian peninsula claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing. legal experts say, given the number of witnesses on the plane and the alleged admissions the suspect has made, that case is unlikely to make it all the way

to trial. new jersey officials say a man accused of causing a security breach at newark liberty international airport is facing a trespassing charge and a fine. 28-year-old doctoral student jong jiang snuck past a checkpoint to embrace a woman said to be his girlfriend who was on her way to catch a flight, and that prompted an evacuation of the terminal, causing major delays. new jersey senator frank lautenberg pressed for the surveillance video to be released and says the arrest sends a message. >> there is a message that goes out there, said don't try it. don't try it because if you will, we're going to catch you. >> if convicted, jiang could spend up to 30 days in jail as well as pay a $500 fine. and this latest incident is adding to the concerns about aviation security. this after the tsa ordered more full-body scanners to be deployed at airports across the

country. along with president obama this week calling on homeland security and the energy department to develop better screening technology. joining me live now is clark kent irvin with the aspen institute and former inspector general at the department of homeland security. good morning again to you. >> good morning, alex. >> so, given these new parameters that the president called upon for janet napolitano and homeland security to put in place, do you think enough is being done right now in terms of aviation security? >> well, it's a step in the right direction, alex. certainly we need to redouble our efforts to deploy technology like whole-body imageers that can see through clothing and spot concealed guns and knives and explosives. had those machines been used on this suspect, mr. abdulmutallab, that device would have been discovered. we also need trace explosive detection machines, because obviously, explosives are the weapon of choice for terrorists. we need these threat image projection screens as a training tool for screeners. because to be fair to them, it's mind-numbing work, and there's a

limit to the human mind's ability to concentrate for prolonged periods of time. and so, it's a step in the right direction. it's not an antidote, though. there are a number of layers to airport security. we need to redouble the number of air marshals. there are too few, and that's going to happen as well as a result of the president's initiative. so, it's unfortunate that an incident like this, a near miss, was necessary in order to concentrate the mind on the need still to close gaps in aviation security, but we're moving in the right direction. >> yeah. you know, clark, you talk about the full-body scanner technology, you also talk about the technology needed to scan for explosives in terms of the content from the types of explosives. is there one machine that can do it all? and if not yet, how long's it going to take to find one that can? >> right. no, there is no one machine that can do it all. these whole-body imageers at least could have noticed, would have seen there was something anomalous taped to this passenger's leg and there would have been a physical patdown to find the explosive and determine

it was an explosive. there is also technology being developed, being deployed to actually identify explosives, but we need to have these technologies working in parallel. and that's why it's good that, as you mentioned, the president announced that they're going to be working -- they, the tsa, the department of homeland security with the department of energy, with our labs to redouble our efforts to develop next-generation technologies. you know, our country put a man on the moon, we developed the manhattan project and the nuclear arms race. so, we are technologically capable of doing things like this, of finding technologies as close to a silver bullet as one can find, but there hasn't been political will on this in the past, and this incident, as i say, can serve to concentrate the government's mind and the national mind on the imperative of doing this. >> clark kent ervin, thank you for wafth weighing in. >> thank you. now to the latest on the economy. many analysts say the latest jobs report is disappointing to say the least. the economy shed at least ten times more jobs than expected in december, and the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 10%.

still, thousands have simply stopped looking for work. and president obama has announced $2.3 billion in tax credits designated to create green jobs here in the u.s. the president says the credit will create 17,000 well-paying jobs that can't be outsourced. the announcement is being read as an attempt to shift the talk in washington back to the economy and away from that christmas day terror attempt. nbc's mike viqueira joins us live from the white house. good morning to you, mike. >> reporter: good morning, alex. >> how effective do you think it will be for the president to shift away from terror and on to the economy? listen, both these things, while different in tone, they're both imperative. >> reporter: absolutely, and there's a political imperative here in washington as well, and that is because every member of the house of representatives is going up for re-election this year, 2010, and a third of the senate. there's considerable pressure from democratic allies in congress to do something about jobs. a second stimulus bill already passed the house in december, alex, pending in the senate, but the world keeps intruding here

at the white house. of course, the attempted bombing on christmas day has focused the attention here. two weeks the review took from homeland security and intelligence officials here. the president with the big announcement earlier this week and then shifting gears. they had hoped to do that a little bit earlier upon the president's return from hawaii, but the president did come out on the same day that we learned that the unemployment rate was stuck in double digits at 10%, did announce the awarding of $2.3 billion in bids. that money comes from the stimulus package, but the process is now finished. some 180 companies. and the white house says it will result in at least 17,000 jobs. and when private capital kicks in, they say tens of thousands of more. it's a drop in the bucket when you consider the fact that there are millions of people out of work who want work right now, alex, but they are doing everything that they can here to make sure that the public knows that they are working hard on the jobs front. as the economy begins to turn around, this does not turn into a jobless recovery, alex. >> yeah. i don't even know what a jobless

recovery looks like. i think that's some bizarre misnomer, but anyway. no, really, you know? mike viqueira, thank you very much for that. see you next hour. making headlines this hour, rudy giuliani said it was a slip of the tongue when he said friday there have been no terror attacks on the american soil during the bush administration. he said president obama needs to follow the former president's lead on how to take on terrorism. vice president joe biden's mom has died. jean biden fell ill in recent days but died in delaware surrounded by the vice president and the rest of her family at the age of 92. and governor arnold schwarzenegger has declared a budget emergency in california. the golden state not so golden now. it has a $19.9 billion budget deficit. coming up, did the president move fast enough after news of the attempted christmas day attack broke? if his detractors are right, how could it hurt his administration? we'll talk it over with my boys, pat buchanan and peter fenn, after this. plus, the wild ride caught on camera. the guy who drove his car while sticking his head out of a sun

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a federal grand jury is investigating whether the so-called white house party crashers lied to a government official. two stylists that worked on michaele and tareq salahi have been subpoenaed in the case. they spent hours with the salahis on the day the would-be reality stars allegedly gate-crashed the white house state dinner for india. those stylists are set to testify tuesday. a new political ad is taking aim at the president and his handling of the christmas day terror attempt. the ad is paid for by the group keep america safe, which counts liz cheney among its board members, and it takes an hour-by-hour look at the

president's response to the bomb attempt in the style of the tv show "24." check it out. >> but what already is apparent is there was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security. >> how long did it take you to realize the system failed? >> i'm joined now live from washington by my boys, msnbc political analyst pat buchanan and democratic strategist peter fenn. hi, guys! >> hi, alex, how are you? >> good morning, alex. >> happy new year. nothing like rushing into the year on a pretty intense, full-speed note, right? pat, nothing gets people going like seeing the president swinging a golf club during a perceived time of national crisis, but isn't it a little inflammatory to use these images in the ad? >> i'm not sure it's in the proper order, frankly. but sure, it's inflammatory, but it's not the republican party,

it's another group. the truth is, alex, the president's been hurt badly by this for a variety of reasons. one, it was the seemingly slow, nonchalant initial reaction to what happened out there and then when the president got angry about 12 days later and got exercised, he said i'm responsible, the buck stops here, but there's been no accountability. and the third problem is, you've got a number of these people -- apparently, the cia head and the head of the ctu, you know, the jack bauer of this operation -- he's out skiing with his kids. and so, i think he's been hurt very badly in terms of his perception as a leader in the war on terror, the war on al qaeda. >> the skiing, i think you're referring to mr. leiter. a lot of people have called for heads to roll, which has not happened. peter, "the washington post" criticizes the president for not taking questions from reporters after the bombing. the editorial reads in part, "the american people are understandably concerned about the intelligence failings that mr. obama outlined.

they want to hear from him beyond canned statements. it is puzzling and disturbing that he would choose to not answer questions about one of the biggest events of his young presidency." what's your reaction to that? should the president be answering questions? >> look, the president is going to answer questions as this goes along. he's had many more press conferences, many more interviews, free-willing interviews with the press than george bush ever had, somethin like three times as many the first year. so i'm not too concerned about that, alex. i think the most important here is let's solve the problem, let's fix it. the watch list has clearly been -- is a mess. it has been a mess. you know, and they criticize this president for waiting. he came out right away with a statement. he was getting the facts pulled together. i mean, you know, the bush/cheney administration took six days before they said anything on the shoebomber. so, you know, i think there's a little too much hand-wringing here, little too much politics,

a little too much craziness, because it's up to obama and his team to solve the problems that they inherited, to be perfectly blunt. >> i'm glad peter didn't introduce politics here. it was seven seconds into his answer before bush's name come up and about 29 until bush/cheney arrived. but the truth is, let me speak as a former communications director. i understand why the president of the united states did not take questions yet. a very tough statement, i thought it was pretty impressive. i think logically it was weak at the end, but if he had taken questions, alex, his whole statement would have been blown out, he would have had one tough question and the president may be on the defensive. every cable network, news network would have run with that particular statement, and the president's trying to control the message. he did to a degree, but i'll tell you this, i don't think the follow-ups with janet napolitano, you know, with the system worked and even brennan, i don't think that came off very well. >> huh. >> i agree with pat on that. i mean, i think the initial

response that sunday, the 27th -- i mean, i don't know why you'd say the system worked. it was clear the system didn't work. and she was talking i think about, well, it didn't blow up the airplane, but you know, you have to say, look, something happened. we're getting to the bottom of it. we're going to investigate it. and when we find out where the holes are, we're going to fix it. the other point here, alex, is the same argument about connecting the dots they were not talking about. come on, we haven't been connecting the dots very well for eight years, which is sort of scary to me. >> can i ask you something, and call myself naive if you want to or wanting to look at things with a silver lining, but when it comes to terrorism, shouldn't that be political? isn't that a baseline concern of every single american, every single person on the planet, regardless of where your political allegiance lies? i mean, you know? >> alex, that's exactly right.

and that is why, frankly, look, when we woke up, i mean, when the christmas -- that was a friday -- and then you heard these remarks on sunday. early by saturday and sunday, a lot of us, what in the devil happened? we almost had another lockerbie. this guy is not the jackal. he's a 23-year-old guy that pays cash, gets on a plane. people are upset! we almost had all these people die and that's when you got the reaction to, well, the system worked and the president, this is an isolated incident and i've got to get out on the first tee. so, that's why you got the reaction you did, and frankly, that's why you got the conspiracy consequent reaction of obama -- people are saying, you've got to be tougher, sir, than you've been on this, because people are worried nationally and it's not just republicans. >> peter, last word? >> well, i would just say that emotionally, pat is absolutely correct. i mean, people, you know, on the one hand, they like obama's deliberate, cool, calm approach. he did it with the economy, he did it with this, but you know, at some point, people, they're

angry, they want to see emotion, they want to see some sense of anger, but you know, obama is a cool, calm and collected guy and he's not -- he's not a mt. very cuevas out there. so, i think in terms of government that probably governs better. >> like a adlai stevenson, right. >> well, adalay stevenson, yeah, there's a name. okay, guys, see you next hour. thank you very much. coming up, new numbers for the unemployment lines and scary statistics about how many people are so frustrated, they simply stopped looking for work. and later, how five tons of cans may provide one couple with what they need for their special day. ♪ each day is too much ♪ you can never, never, never get enough ♪ [ female announcer ] our bodies need water... and women who drink crystal light drink 20% more of it.

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so, howl's this for crazy? richard anthony forrest jr. was arrested in florida on two counts of reckless driving and one count of speeding. not only was he allegedly driving over 90 miles per hour,

as you can see in this video, the reckless part is because he was also driving while standing through his open sun roof. well, let's get more now on the job numbers. not all is lost. there is hiring going on, even if it is only temporary. joining me live, nbc financial analyst vera gibbons. >> good morning, alex. >> good morning to you. before that part, i want to talk about the 500,000 people who simply stopped looking for work. they see the numbers, hear our discussions, they're out knocking on doors and not getting any answers. >> they're not even knocking on doors anymore. they've given up completely. they're not even on the job sites anymore and they know the statistics. i mean, if you look at the average duration of unemployment, 29 weeks, and that's the highest since the government actually started tracking it back in 1948. so, people are discouraged, they're not on monster.com, they're not even bothering. they're just sitting back and waiting for things to actually recover. >> yeah. what about this on wall street? how's it been felt? >> it was not good. 85,000 jobs lost. analysts were expecting to see

that flat or adds to the jobs. the market sort of took it in stride. they've seen these numbers before. they sort of blew them off, if you will, and focused on the positives, and the dow ended up for the week about 11 points. and about 2% for the week. so, we're off to a pretty good start as far as the market goes. >> do you see anything in the jobs report that points to a potential u.s. economic recovery? >> well, the positive is you see more temporary jobs being added on to the economy, and that's a sign -- that's what generally happens before a full-blown recovery. so, that's a good thing. and if you are happy -- or are fortunate, i should say, enough to find some part-time work, freelance work, take it, because you're in there, you've got your foot in the door, and if companies actually see that this recovery is sustainable, you're on their radar. >> can i just ask you, are you worried that would become the new norm, the temporary, part-time, freelance -- >> it is the norm. for now, it is the new norm. i have friends that have three or four jobs just to make ends meet and not even necessarily in industries they want to be in. >> yeah, okay. well, you're speaking the truth. that's what it's like out there. >> that's what it's like out

there, yeah. thanks, alex. two-thirds of the nation in a deep freeze, but it's not over yet. the latest forecast from nbc meteorologist bill karins ahead for you. plus, a desperate search for a 8-month-old baby boy and the couple who's become persons of interest in his disappearance. ime being at thirty thousand feet with a plane full of kids.

and you have a heart attack. that's what happened to me. they said the quick thinking of chewing an aspirin probably kept me alive while i was on the plane. i'm on an aspirin regimen now. my doctor told me it's the easiest preventative thing you can do.

[ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. to take care of yourself, to take care of your heart, see your doctor. simple. [ male announcer ] learn more about protecting your heart at iamproheart.com. welcome back to "msnbc saturday." i'm alex witt and here's what's making headlines this hour. much of the nation is under a deep freeze. windchills as low as 25 below have whipped across the plains while already hard-hit crops in florida are expected to be further hindered by freezing temps. the nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a u.s.-bound flight on christmas day has pleaded not guilty. he appeared before a judge in detroit on friday. and outside that courthouse, about 50 detroit-area muslims marched to denounce terrorism. they chanted "we are americans" and carried u.s. flags and signs with messages such as "knock in the name of islam." new jersey officials say a

man accused of causing a security breach at newark liberty international airport is facing a trespassing charge and a fine. the 28-year-old doctoral student was arrested last night and released shortly after midnight. he allegedly took advantage of a tsa agent's absence last sunday there by sneaking past a checkpoint to embrace a woman said to be his girlfriend, on her way out to catch a flight, prompting an evacuation of terminal c and causing some pretty major delays. joining me live now from washington, d.c., tom blank, former head of tsa policy, currently with wexler and walker, public policy associates. good morning again, tom. >> good morning, alex. >> okay, so, the arrest in the case, what did you think when you heard the news? >> well, that's really a very positive thing, and i think the authorities ought to throw the book at this guy, because what he did cost the airline industry literally tens of millions of dollars a year in these kinds of terminal dumps, not to mention

the inconvenience to the traveling public, but across the system he really made a really serious mess of things. >> okay. let's talk about the security breach itself. you know, put it into perspective for us. when you say causing a mess of things -- here's a guy who runs past the terminal, shuts it down, but talk about the domino effect there. >> well, the domino effect is that you're going to have mishandled bags because flights are delayed, you're going to have missed connections for people, you're going to have to go through an awful lot of rebookings and handle a lot of logistical issues that, you know, cause flight crews to have to be rerouted and reassigned. so, it's a domino effect of things that really causes serious problems, and it doesn't sort itself out for some time, several days. >> okay. there you did a good job in sorting that out in ways i hadn't anticipated. looking inside the tsa, the administration for which you worked for some time, the tsa

agent was not at his post, now facing disciplinary charges. what happened there and how does that need to be corrected? >> well, they'd better get right on conducting an internal review, because that system there failed on several fronts. first of all, terminal dumps were a pretty typical event in the early days of tsa. literally, tens of millions of dollars have been spent to get surveillance cameras out there so that if there is a breach of security, you can identify the individual, not dump the terminal, and go find the person. but whenever an airport is in active operation, flights going in and out, that exit lane has to be staffed by tsa personnel. there can't be any excuse for a lapse or for an absence. and i think that there's some accountability in that airport management that's got to be looked into there. >> okay. all right, tom blank, thank you very much for laying it out for us. appreciate that. >> thank you. nice to be with you. >> thank you. snowfall's expected in the

midwest as well as in the northeast. an estimated 60% of this country is dealing with some sort of extreme winter weather conditions today, and then across the south, one of the big issues is the ice, as you can see for yourself. that's atlanta, by the way. nbc meteorologist bill karins is joining me right now. wow. i mean, you look -- let's just keep looking at this video. it's extraordinary. but how low's it supposed to go? >> just depends where you are. negative 35 windchills in north dakota and currently 32 degrees in orlando. i mean, it's just encompassing so much of the country, but today is it. after this, we start the big warm-up. the worst of it, as i mentioned, bismarck to minneapolis. your temperature is in the negative teens. and we factor in a light wind, we are minus 35 in bismarck. windchill in oklahoma city is still 2, birmingham, it's 9. in new orleans, new orleans has a windchill of 13 this morning. forecast highs today, we're still not going to get above freezing in oklahoma, all of st. louis and chicago. it is the duration of this event which has been so incredible.

we have not gone above 32 degrees, the freezing mark, in nine days now in chicago. also nine days in st. louis and indianapolis. that means that none of the snow, none of the ice is melting. we expect that in minneapolis, but not in st. louis, where the average high should be around 37 this time of year. later on tonight this will be the danger zone. 26 is the forecast low there in orlan orlando, so, a lot of the oranges and strawberries are just south of orlando and tampa. those areas will be below freezing for an extended period of time and the most damage will be done tonight. if you noticed, orange juice prices already up about a dollar just in the last week. >> oh, yeah. >> so, this cold tonight is going to cause a ripple effect across the country. you know, a lot of people are complaining the heating bills have gone up especially. >> yep. >> now the orange juice. and the good news is that all next week, we do the big warm-up. we get a little january thaw. >> yeah. all that going on also during an economic recession, yeah. >> you don't like paying $4.50 for orange juice? >> no, thanks.

only have half a glass. thank you, bill karins. coming up, a report from minnesota where the high is expected to be 12 degrees. bill karins walked away. he wants no part of that, let me tell you. meantime, a desperate search for an 8-month-old baby boy last seen in december. arizona police say they are hopeful that little gabriel johnson is alive and they've named two people persons of interest in the boy's disappearance. we have details now from former fbi profiler clint van zandt, author of "facing down evil." with a good morning to you again, clint -- >> alex. >> some bizarre twists here. can we start with the persons of interest in this case, this couple? who are they? >> yeah, this is a couple that allegedly the birth mother once was attempting to give the child up for adoption, and then the birth father didn't want to be any part of this, you know. now, did he want to be part of the child's life? we don't know that. but somehow, the law enforcement believed this couple knows something. but alex, let's go back to home. the mother, the birth mother,

the woman who had care, custody and control of this child, she knows what happened to that baby. come on, it's 8 months old. tell the police. save the child. >> right. and let's get to that mother having been arrested last week. where does she fit into the investigation? i mean, starting from the argument she had with her -- with the baby's father, and then going on and texting some pretty heinous things. >> yeah, she did. now, this texting, i think she was attempting to psychologically punish the birth father. i mean, she sent him a text message saying i've killed the baby. my god, can you imagine as a parent, as a grandparent, the ripple effect that has? it goes through you like a knife through hot butter. but law enforcement knows that the child has been seen since she sent that text message, but the question is, alex, as you just talked about, it's cold all across this country. who's taking care of that 8-month-old baby while the mother sits there with her arms folded and says, you know, i'm not going to tell the exact truth, or she makes up this story, i gave it to some people

i met in the park. what people, lady? where's that baby? >> yeah, exactly. what about the problem of it being just an 8-month-old baby as opposed to a child who could speak up for itself or actually be more easily recognized? >> yeah, well, that's the challenge, too, is who's taking care of this child? does the baby have any special medical needs? the plethora of needs that most of us as parents are right there every second to meet for a child. here we're not exactly sure. she talks about giving the child up, killing the child. and you've got this wild card couple who, in theory, was going to stand up and take custody of it. the birth party had rejected it. where do they fit in? this is a challenge for police. a number of people who have had their hand on this baby, but alex, who's taking care of baby gabriel right now? >> right. that's the question police want answered. clint van zandt, thanks so much. >> thank you. coming up, a very different kind of warning for those driving across canada. that story ahead. plus, amid the freezing cold

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canada declares war? well, really, canada's national parks have declare war on moose. there is apparently a moose population explosion in the eastern part of the nation. moose collisions with vehicles in two national parks are happening more frequently, so officials say they are going to thin the herd. a washington state couple's found a green way to save some green for their wedding. they are collecting aluminum cans and saving the recycling fees to pay for their ceremony. the bride-to-be is andrea parrish, the groom-to-be is peter gryer. they live in spokane, washington, and together, they are saving every can to see how much they can pay for their july wedding. andrea parrish, bride-to-be, joins us on the phone. good morning to you. >> caller: good morning. >> and best wishes on your

wedding. that's wonderful. >> caller: thank you. >> you say you need four tons of cans to meet your goal. $4,000 you need for the wedding. so far, you've collected 20,381 cans, having donations equal to 27,727 cans. that's a total of 48,108 cans. that's a lot of cans there. but you have over 350,000 to go. do you think you're going to get there? >> i certainly hope so. >> i'll bet you do, because you want to pay for this wedding. what kind of wedding are you planning? >> well, we're planning a wedding where we celebrate the friends and the family that brought us together and our union and to have basically a big party where a wedding happens to happen in the middle of it. >> okay. what gave you the idea of going green to do this, to help get the finances raised? >> well, we've always been kind of a green couple. our front yard is an organic garden and all of the neighbors think we're crazy for it. we've always recycled cans. peter has an art hobby that involves melting down aluminum,

so we had 40 pounds in our backyard when the project started. >> oh, that's pretty great. is this something that you think other people can get going? i mean, are you starting to think of yourselves as examples that you hope others will follow? and if so, why? >> well, i certainly hope other people follow our example, if for nothing else to help save the environment. i mean, aluminum saves 95% of the energy it takes to create a can from new materials when you recycle it. i mean, it's seven kilo was the hours for every can recycled. it's just amazingly useful and really easy. >> yeah. so, andrea, if someone wants to help out and donate, do they have to be in your area there? >> no, they don't. we're asking people across the country to recycle their cans locally. there's a recycling center almost anywhere in the country. and take themselves out for a coffee or beer and throw some of the remaining proceeds our way. >> ah, that's how they can do it.

how about the folks in spokane? are they stepping up? have you gotten a lot of coverage? >> they are doing amazingly well. we just got 110 pounds picked up last night from a couple of donors, and it looks like we've got someone with over 300 pounds of cans in their basement that we're talking to. >> oh, that is awesome. so, after the wedding, do you know where the honeymoon's going to be? because all i can think of right now is going to a beach somewhere and being warm. i don't know what it's like in spokane, but let me look at the map. oh, it's not so great. you guys are having a chilly time, too. >> yeah, it's pretty cold. in fact, there's snow on the ground out here. we aren't actually planning a honeymoon yet. we wanted to make sure we could pay for the wedding and give our friends and family a fun celebration before we worry about taking a vacation. >> that is really generous of you. so, i hope everyone has a great time at the wedding and that people contribute a lot of cans, because you guys deserve to have a smash-up great time. it's a great idea. thank you for talking with us, andrea parrish, and best of luck to you and peter. >> thank you so much, alex. have a great morning. >> you, too! well, nadya suleman has won her latest court battle.

a california judge ruled the so-called octomom does not need an independent garden to monitor her children's finances. the judge called the petition a meritless effort by a stranger, that being paul peterson, former child star and children rights advocate who filed the petition saying that suleman's children were vulnerable. from the plains to the midwest, extreme weather conditions today. blowing snow making it difficult for motorists in minnesota. several highways were shut down overnight due to poor visibility. and it feels like minus 32 degrees in waterville, minnesota, today where the weather channel's janel klein is. janel, i can't believe you still look great. you haven't put on some kind of north jacket and the coat and whole thing, you know, hood. have you experienced cold weather like this before? >> reporter: oh, absolutely, alex. i'm minnesota born and raised, so, i hate to say it, but this is not even close to the worst i've felt. and like you said, it's great that 22 below, but no windchill, and that really has made the difference here today. if we had had that wind, it

would be a whole different story. 40-mile-an-hour gusts in some places in minnesota this week and really throughout the upper midwest. this weather system has hit the plains very hard. in international falls, minnesota, last weekend negative 37. the ice box of the nation setting a new record that was previously set 30 years ago. tod today, south dakota, another very cold spot in the nation, in between, as you said, tough travel conditions, blowing snow, storms hitting the plains. in fact, so bad that governor tim pawlenty activated the minnesota national guard to be on standby in case of possible emergency situations. thankfully, this weather is getting better, but this cold remains, and a lot of people out here are having to brave these cold temperatures. here in waterville, minnesota, you can see some of the ice fishermen who are out. and yet, they're glad for the cold weather because it means this lake is frozen over well. two feet of ice, alex. so, they are able to drive their pickups on this ice now. >> i know, i told you i was

nervous about that. any cause for concern? i mean, there's nothing to say it's going to warm up a little bit and then some car could go, plop? >> reporter: not a chance of that. we are just out in one of the fish houses and it's unbelievably thick. but boy, i'll tell you, this cold weather, that does the trick. so, no worries here. >> okay. well, that's good. i want to keep everyone safe and sound and bundled up. janel klein from the weather channel, thank you. it is not just the u.s. that's under a bitter cold blanket. heavy snow and high winds have wreaked havoc across much of europe. germans are being told to stock up as that nation braces for a blizzard. snow is even falling south of the border. for some children in mexico city, it was their first time seeing snow ever. it is chilly in china as well. temperatures in beijing have hit near zero. heavy snow has covered much of the chinese capital. meanwhile, a much different picture in israel. the residents in tel aviv have been on the beach enjoying sunny weather and temperatures in the 70s. kind of feeling jealous right

now. meantime, in chicago, plenty of frustration with winter as amtrak's california zephyr train pulled into union station 19 hours late and passengers are calling it the train ride from hell. it took the zephyr three days to get from california to chicago, and along the way it ran into massive snow drifts near hastings, nebraska, and then clearing all that snow burned up time. but the nightmare was far from over. the train then hit a pickup truck in asum was, iowa. and by the time it arrived yesterday, passengers were fuming. amtrak suspended service through the area at least through today. coming up, tv goes 3d, but do you need it, really? it's tough to reach that five servings a day if you don't always like the taste of vegetables. i'll be right back. ok. good thing v8 v-fusion juice gives you a serving

of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit. v8. what's your number? get a $1.00 coupon for v8 v-fusion juice at tryv8.com.

tech junkies are buzzing about the world's largest consumer electronics show under way this week in las vegas. it's where the latest and greatest in everything from smartphones and even 3d

televisions are being unveiled. joining me now via skype from las vegas is molly wood, executive editor for cnet.com. good morning, molly. >> good morning. >> okay, what's the top stuff you're covering there at the show? >> you know, i almost wish there was something other than 3d tvs to talk about. that is like the number one trend at the show today. >> okay, 3d has been around for decades, though, in the movies. what makes the creators of these kinds of electronics think they're going to actually be around for everyday use in the home? >> well, you know, i think that's the big challenge to me. i walk around and they're saying, you know, we've got these really fabulous televisions, it's not going to cost significantly more to add 3d to regular tv, but i think they still have that big problem to overcome, which is, are people going to want to wear those glasses when they're sitting around the house? >> and do you see 2d ever becoming obsolete, 2d tv? i mean, would everything phase into 3d? >> i mean, i guess there's a possibility, but i honestly do have a hard time believing that

people are willing to wear glasses to watch television at home. so, i think if it does happen, it's going to be a long time coming and it's not going to be until we have the technology to make sure we don't have to wear glasses, or maybe, you know, maybe 2d goes away when we finally get holographic tv, but until then, i'm skeptical. >> molly, i'm thinking, i know espn is going to launch a 3d channel in june, at least part the time in 3d. and maybe sports fans in sports bars, you have a big super bowl game or world series games, you want to look in 3d, but that still means you've got to get all the glasses on the people that are paying the big bucks to get in there. i mean, is this going to work? >> i know. it's going to be really rough if you do want to have a party at your house for one of those special events. do you have to have ten pairs of 3d glasses or does that go in the e--vites? there are logistical hurdles, but it does look really good and sports in 3d is very compelling to people. i can imagine for certain high-profile events or certain types of programming, i think people will be willing to do it,

but it's not going to be how you watch tv every day. >> okay. molly, even though i'm out of time, quickly, what's the top other gadget that you've been seeing that piques your interest? >> e-book readers are huge. everybody is doing an e-book to compete with the kindle. i think you're seeing books go digital pretty fast. >> okay. molly wood, cnet.com executive editor. thanks! >> thank you. plus, coming up, the man whose actions shut down one of the nation's busiest airports for six hours. he's getting arrested and then released. really? well, his story's ahead. later, you've heard so much bad news about the effects of cell phone raidiation, but ther might be benefits as well. personally, i thought i was invincible. once it happened, i realized it's a different story. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i was the guy who was doing everything right. i was wrong. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of.

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