it's a beautiful, caribbean island. but it's also where superrich keep vast amounts of wealth. a special "nightline" investigation. why does presidential candidate mitt romney? >>> good evening. i'm bill weir. thank you for checking in tonight. we have a first, haunting glimpse inside the mangled sea wreck off the coast of italy, that just days ago was a proud ocean liner. and here in the u.s., the tragedy has just begun to hit home, with one midwestern couple among the souls still missing. and doubts are intensifying about the captain's story of what exactly happened onboard. from italy tonight, here's abc's lama hasan. >> reporter: today, new video from inside the doomed "costa concordia" cruise ship, shows the treacherous conditions the divers have been working under. rooms on their side. chandeliers and floating debris blocking the way. for what has now become a recovery effort for the bodies of the missing was suspended this morning, after the ship shifted position on its precarious perch, making it too risky. 11 bodies have been recovered so far. and today, the first was

holloway, an alabama teen disappeared during a high school graduation trip to the caribbean island of aruba. where van der sloot grew up. >>> two years ago today, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck haiti, sending an already struggling nation into a tailspin. organizations estimate more than 3,000 people were injured, nearly 5,000 schools damaged or destroyed and 1.5 million people left homeless, according to u.s. aid the quake affected 1/3 of the country's population. >>> the housing crisis remains one of the largest issues this morning for the still plagued haiti. several thousand people marched through the capital port-au-prince wednesday protesting against what they say is a lack of new housing. the marchers chanted and waved signs for faster building and more local development and control. one in four have the health care and food many think they need. >>> there's talk of another sales tax increase coming up in annapolis. i'm sherrie johnson, a look at how much you could be paying coming up. >> i'm corrine redmond. a housekeeper in bethesda is assaulted after a home invasion. two sus

she arrived on the caribbean island of st. martin about a year and a day after she set sail. decker is only 16 years and four months old, six months younger than the previous record setter. a little wild and dangerous out there. though she is the unofficial record holder, guiness world records and the speed records council says they will not verify the claim. they say it's an effort now to discourage dangerous attempts by children. they get younger and younger. the excitement, the viral stuff, people trying to get that attention gets young kids to try things. that's life threatening. >> exactly. i don't think i would send my kids out. not yet. 4:56 right now. >> still ahead on "today in the bay," good-bye to the latest round of storms, get out of here. but they certainly left their mark. how an oakland neighborhood is cleaning up. >> for all of your news, weather and traffic updates check us out on facebook. >> new this morning san jose police getting ready to answer questions about a deadly officer-involved shooting. >> reporter: the rain may be tapering off later today but

and then they headed west from morocco to the caribbean island of barbados when the vote capsized. they still had 520 miles to go. experienced athletes pursuing a dream, but their last online posting described a struggle to grow at night against swells from every direction. after losing the vessel, the captain told me they drifted for 14 hours. then i tell me what struck you. >> the overwhelming feeling was relief. we had gone through a traumatic event. then the mother of crewmember simon brown says now she can relax. >> about 3:00 this morning, i just hope they had been picked up by a cargo ship. i had not slept since he left actually. >> the six are being taken to drop her. they tried to make history. they were lucky to survive. >> that makes me want to stay firmly at home, but continuing with the water theme, it took 5 miles a ski votes more than 140 people, and a whole lot of skills to pull off this next feet -- it was a world record attempt at the highest number of water skiers to be pulled behind one vote in australia. all of them remained upright for a full nautical mile. th

dry land over the weekend and departed from the netherlands in august of 2010 and arrived at a caribbean island on saturday. and she was born on her parent's boat and spent the first four years of her life at sea. >> 16, are you kidding me? >> not a chance for me. >>> 4:56. now coming up, the arrest of a bay area prosecutor. accused of domestic violence. we will have the latest. >>> a crushing defeat for the san francisco 49ers. the violence off the field and why police used pepper spray. >>> the rain causing some chaos on the local roadways this morning. heavy flooding doing damage on one of our freeways. we will tell you which freeway we're talking about and what caltrans did to fix the problem. the crushing >>> and the giants are going back to the super bowl. >> and the niners are staying right here at home. sadly. the crushing loss last night as the giants play spoiler to any hopes of the super bowl championship. >>> the rain is coming down. it has damaged one of our freeways. we will tell you which freeway had to be patched up this morning, coming up. >>> our high def doppler is getting a

prince william and his wife kate on the caribbean island of mystique.re holding a late 30th birthday celebration for the duchess. the island is privately owned and very popular with the royals and other celebrities that prefer to avoid the limelight. >>> a 7-year-old prodigy recently took carnegie hall by storm. his name is adrian romoff. what comes out of his fingers is only as remarkable as what comes out of his mouth. matt pearl has the story. ♪ >> it's kind of like mozart. and you know vladimir? you may be ready for beethoven, but he's not ready for you. albert einstein got the nobel peace prize. you don't have to admire them because they got the nobel peace prirksz but you can. >> reporter: the other thing with einstein he wasn't just a great scientist, he was also a great musician. adrian already has that part down. yeah, he dazzles in his living room. last month he performed at carnegie hall. winning first prize in an international child competition. >> this is my first concert where i was never nervous. all of those easy concerts i was nervous,

they're on a caribbean island.klands for duty. >>> the indiana pacers mascot brought down the back board last night, shattering the backboard in a halftime performance. look at that. >> what a rush he must have after that. >> are they going to make him pay for the damage? >> i'm going to look into that and let you know tomorrow. >>> and now to ginger, in a snowy times square. >> that is correct. the first time times square has been snowy since halloween. a lot of other folks in the northeast getting their first of the season. who gets what when? ask someone in minneapolis, there were 650 crashes there yesterday, they were on the fringe of the storm. 1 to 3 inches for philadelphia. new york city, 3 to 5. boston, one of the fringe areas, 1 to 3. snow in the west, too. mostly in the mountains. but areas like mt. hood have seen up to seven feet of snow already this week. more snow on top of that. good for the ski areas. today's outlook. abc 7's steve morning, reezing rn changes over to later this morning into hours, 32

also, kate middleton and her family embark on a vacation to the posh caribbean island of mystique. we're hearing prince william is going to join them. we'll have details on that coming up. >> all right. let us begin this morning with breaking political news. the overnight release of mitt romney's tax returns. nbc's peter alexander is in tampa. good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning. as you noted this morning governor romney has been facing increasing pressure to release his tax returns. he put out his 2010 tax returns and an estimate of the 2011 returns. we'll put that information now up on your screen. they reveal that he made a combined income in two years of nearly $43 million. he paid more to charity than he did to the irs paying out $6.2 million in taxes over two years. his charitable giving was $7 million. finally that adds up to a tax rate of 14%. the debate last night was a role reversal with mitt romney on the offensive against newt gingrich referring to him often as an influence peddler. >> i think this is going to come down to a question of leadership. >> r

they're on a caribbean island.art of his air force duet. >>> the indiana pacers mascot brought down the back board last night, shattering the backboard in a halftime performance. go, man, go! second half of the game had to be played in an auxiliary gym. look that. >> what a rush he must have after that. >> are they going to make him pay for the damage? >> i'm going to look into that and let you know tomorrow. absolutely. >>> and now to ginger, in a snowy times square. >> that is correct. the first time times square has been snowy since halloween. we haven't had a measurable snowfall since then. a lot of other folks in the northeast getting their first of the winter season, too. who gets what when? ask someone in minneapolis, there were 650 crashes there yesterday, they were on the fringe of the storm. doesn't take much to make the roads an absolute disaster. 1 to 3 inches for philadelphia. new york city, 3 to 5. hartford, 4 to 6. boston, one of the fringe areas, 1 to 3. snow in the west, too. mostly in the mountain

the duchess of cambridge and her family are vacationing on the privately owned caribbean island. guests at both of the island's hotel vs. reportedly been -- hotels have reportedly been questioned by security while walking on the beach. officers are taking extra measures to make sure there are no pictures taken of kate middleton or her family. prince william is expected to join them later this week once he finishes his tour of duty with the royal air force in north wales. everybody's got to vacation someplace. >> that's right. there you go. >> sounds like a nice place. >>> time is 5:26. coming up, another night of nastiness. the barbs mitt romney and newt gingrich exchanged in the latest splun presidential debates. >>> plus, discovering new problems with the nation's military cemeteries. >>> we have congressmen who also say that you came and lobbied them -- >> i didn't lobby them. not true. >> you have congressmen who say that you lobbied them with regards to -- >> another night of attacks as newt gingrich and mitt romney go after each other in the latest republican presidential de

depos at this time sits to fund a lifestyle, including you yachts a threat of jets and private caribbean island>>> second largest company in the u.s., exxonmobil, due out with results after last week's con know co-co-and chevron. with weak inspects north american market, what should we expect? we experts to talk about that good to see you both, thank you for joining us. get to you, steve, off hold on exxon. what's the problem? >> i think that when you take a look at what the likely report here tomorrow morning, i think that you could see a slight earnings shortfall for the quarter. i think you mentioned earlier that 197 for the quarter. you could see that come in a few pennies like due to the weaker refining margins we saw referenced last week by chevron. >> good info there, weak retyping margins is what we want to focus here in terms of exxon. bill what's your take? >> agree with steve numbers will come in light relative to expectation. looking at $1.84, missed on the downstream that should be known by now. if you see margins in the fourth quarter, a pretty good recovery. exxon still looks ine

it is the story of a dominican who came from the islands, and the caribbean islands in the 1790s and he spent many years here, kept copious journals. many went back to france, he turned the struggles into this two volume work and it was a wonderful, wonderful source of information about the caribbean and the people who live there, and the animals and the florida, all kinds of things. and that is one of the reasons it is important to us because it is about the history of our region. but it isn't a mess because it has what appear to be less batters on it. and you can see some of them here. and they are the same note written on here that does the maha and it is stated to tourists, the 14th of july. it was president at the murder of sean paul maroc, who was an infamous full frontal luge and eric, who was in fact and is very assassination that happened the third 10th of july. the basu is they are apparently wrote this note in the book. it is a great story. we have no way of knowing whether it's true or not, but the book has an interesting probe announced. it came to us from the wife of jt

it is the story of a dominican friar who came to the islands, the caribbean islands in the 1790s, and he spent many years here keeping copious journals, and when he went back to france, he turned the journals into this two volume work, and it was a wonderful, wonderful source of information about the caribbean and the people who lived there, the animals, the flowers, all kind of things, and that's why it's important to us because it's the history of our region, but it has what appears to be blood spatters on it, and you can see some of them here, there is a note that's written on here that says -- signed and dated the 14th of july. voss was president at the murder of john paul who was an infamous revolutionary during the french revolution, who was, in fact, killed in a very famous assassination that happened the 13th of july, but who was there apparently wrote this note in the book. it's a great story. we have no way of knowing whether it's true or not, but the book has a very interesting prominence. it came to us from the wife the jtbourney, a famous family here in louisiana, and she

. >> she departed from the netherlands in october of 2010 and arrived at the caribbean islands on saturday. and decker born on her parent's boat and spent the first four years of her life at sea. i heard from my director mark bruce and i guess they don't put it in the guinness book of world records because they don't want to promote kids to do this sort of thing because it is so dangerous. >> we're underachievers. >>> the san francisco sheriff is back in court. what a judge will decide on, coming up. >>> what would a football game be without arrests made? coming up, we will tell you about why one man had to be pepper sprayed. >>> a windy, rainy start to your monday morning mute. we will show you the conditions on the bay bridge, and tell you about a wind advisory. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free c

investigation reveals the presidential candidate is stashing his money in accounts on a beautiful caribbean islandrsday january 19th. >>> good thursday morning, everybody. i'm rob nelson. >> we're almost to the weekend, aren't we? >> counting down. here we go. >> i'm paula faris. many super rich americans avoid big tax bills by stashing their money in offshore accounts. as mitt romney faces huge questions about his income and the taxes he doesn't pay, this latest revelation may be hurting his presidential campaign and a lot of the other hopeful candidates want him to -- full disclosure. >> they're pushing for his -- to see those tax returns. he's saying not till april, till most of the primaries are over. his lead in south carolina is now down to ten. newt gingrich has apparently cut that in half almost. we could be looking at an interesting battle shaping up in south carolina and how this plays out could have an impact. >> and gingrich wants perry and santorum to just go bye-bye and then who knows, maybe it will be tied. >> mano a mano. also ahead a 65-year-old airline passenger says she simply f

may 30th, 2010, exactly five years after alabama teenager natalee holloway disappeared in the caribbean islandr spending time with van der sloot. though arrested as a suspect in holloway's death, van der sloot, then 17, was never charged due to lack of evidence. in peru, van der sloot initially confessed to killing flores, but he later recanted. his attorneys say he was not given a translator during his interrogation. when asked for a plea by the presiding judge in the peruvian court friday, van der sloot said in spanish he wanted to give a sincere confession. going on to say he did not agree with all of the charges against him. when the judge asked for clarification, he said he needed more time to decide his plea. van der sloot is being tried, along with three peruvian nationals. all three are accused of helping him escape to chile after the killing. besides the flores murder trial, van der sloot faces extradition to the united states. a grand jury in alabama indicted him on charges of wire fraud and extortion after allegations surfaced that he tried to extort $250,000 from holloway's mother.

. >> in caribbean the island of saint martin. voyage around the world. and laura decker covered 27,000 miles in her boat named guppy. >> and the moment that i was li like-- what i was doing out here. i never want today stop. it's a dream and i wanted to do it. >> and china, the year of the dragon, celebrations sparking the beginning of the chinese new year and fireworks ward off evil spirits and that's a wrap on this fox trip around the world in 80 seconds. well, if you ask any parent, they'll probably tell you raising a kid is pretty expensive and now we're seeing the signs of a struggling economy and how they're forcing some people to rethink parenthood altogether. plus, bonnie and collide, two of the most infamous criminals in american history. now, their weapons are worth a whole lot of money. how much would you pay? ♪ bonnie and clyde, we're pretty looking people ♪ ♪ and we were the devil's children ♪ ♪ bonnie and clyde value award, we were delighted. ♪ when it received a 5-star overall safety ring, we were ecstatic. and whe

morning, kate middleton, the duchess of cambridge, is on vacation with her family on a posh caribbean islandsts say their own trip has been ruined. also, "today" professionals are here to weigh in on the most talked about headlines and studies. >> they look ready to go. >> as always. >> we begin with a guilty plea in the case of a dancer. good morning. >> good morning, matt. laura garza's family was in court as the man who killed her described how he did it. he' he's behind bars and will be for decades but the family said justice hasn't been served. laura garza came to new york city from texas. her dream was to become a dancer. a dream that ended december 3, 2008, the night she visited this trendy manhattan nightclub and met handsome michael mele. unbeknownst to her a convicted sex offender. >> can you say anything about laura? >> no comment. >> reporter: three years ago mele didn't have much to say. on monday he confessed in detail to killing laura garza as part of a controversial plea bargain. according to court transcripts mele told the judge he brought laura home from the nightclub to hi

of dollars of romney's personal wealth is in investment funds, set up in the cayman islands, the notorious caribbeanhaven, where secrecy is the rule. nothing in romney's financial disclosure statement reveals his connection to the caymans. but we tracked ten of the accounts he lists, set up by his former company, bain capital, and involving as much as $30 million, tracked all to an address in the caymans. a post office box at the central post office. this is the bain capital address right here. post office box 908. such offshore accounts allows u.s. taxpayers to tax loopholes, and keeps secret where the money is invested. as we learned from bain's lawyers. you can't talk about that? >> unfortunately not. >> reporter: nothing at all? >> nothing at all. >> reporter: the romney campaign says the candidate would pay the same taxes if the accounts were not in the caymans. >> and if there's an opportunity to save taxes, we, like in anybody else in this country, will follow that opportunity. >> reporter: but a larger issue involves how bain and others use such offshore accounts to allow foreign investors t

the murder took place five years after holloway vanished during a vacation on the caribbean island ofbstantial reduction in the 30-year sentence his client is facing. police divers will search a river today for signs of ayla reynolds the maine toddler reported missing from her father's home a month ago. the father is hopeful his 20-month-old daughter is still alive. ayla's mother, in substance abuse rehab at the time isn't getting the whole truth about what happened night ayla disappeared. >>> hostess browns,makers of twinkies and wonder bread filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. the reorganization is necessary to deal with high labor costs. and if you're just not a morning person, well, this ingenious machine featured in a this mach a youtube video may be just what you need if you have time on your hands, a conveniently placed hire dryer and a hamster. a sip of coffee triggers a chain reaction that helps you read the paper when you're too tired to turn the page. a lot of effort to turn the page. al roker, unbelievable what people come up with. right? >> i've got to get me one of those. >

they left england on thursday and are staying on an island in the caribbean called mustique. exclusive. the whole island is privately owned so there's no chance of photographers getting anywhere near. in fact william's aunt margaret, the queen's sister, once owned a villa here so the other residents are used to having royalty in their midst. this family vacation comes after a good start to the year for kate, with evidence her sense of style has boosted interest in british fashion. and what she wears is swiftly copied. at her film premier she attended on the eve of her 30th birthday. no doubt she'll also be celebrating that landmark with her family on this holiday. william will be joining kate, but she's gone on ahead while he finishes work. lester? >> we understand they will be separated for a few weeks soon because of his work, right? >> that's right. yes. they'll spend six weeks apart. and that's because in february william is going to the falkland islands, a british territory in the south atlantic, all part of his job as a search and rescue helicopter pie lot. this will be

mustique is a privately owned island in the caribbean.nce william is expected to join them later this week once he finishes his shift in north wales. >>> for the first time a clinical trial of human embryonic stem cells has shown success. it was used on patients that suffer from macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. the cells helped to partially restore sight in both patients. one no longer news a magnifying glass to read and another can go shopping on her own. scientists said they were dealing with near perfect conditions, and that the results are only preliminary. >>> ahead, why occupy d.c.'s days in mcpherson square could be numbered. >>> and a street that could have doubled as an ice rink. >>> end of the occupation. well, this morning a critical hearing gets underway as local protesters are not taking it lying down. >>> good morning, welcome back to "news4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. this morning, we are keeping a close eye on the fog. if you look outside, you may be saying, what fog. here's

island. a well known tax haven in the caribbean. a spokeswoman says this. y's investments in funds established in the cayman islands are taxed in the very same way if the funds were established in the u.s. these are not tax havens. she says the assets are managed on a blind basis. they do not control the investments of these assets. romney was already under fire from his republican rival that he pays a tax rate about 15% because his income comes from investments than paycheck. he's under pressure to release the tax returns. michael, the spokesperson from the romneys' makes the point it's not illegal for people to put money in the cayman islands but more is being revealed and it's the hesitation of mitt romney to talk about it that continues to cause the light to run red. >> exactly. i've been talking to republican supporters, fundraisers who have been active in the campaign today and they are all baffled by how the romney folks have allowed there to unfold, allow this to become such an issue because it was clear from the beginning that demonstracrats w going

they were hoping to enjoy the sights along the coast of roatan an island in the caribbean off hondurasd flown in the same plane two months before. >> it was an awesome, fun ride. great views and great pictures. a slow flying plane that felt very stable. >> reporter: but last week with his wife jenny and 4-year-old son logan along for the same ride something went terribly wrong. >> we crashed. we lost an engine is what i was told and we crashed into the ocean and flipped over. we were stuck under water. >> all out. >> reporter: larry forseth was on a nearby boat when he saw the crash. his son, paul, captured video of the dramatic rescue. >> we all dove in and swam just as quickly as we could. the timing was impeccable. we were just at the right place at the right time. >> reporter: only moments before the plane's pilot had helped andy get to the surface. but there was no sign of andy's wife or son. >> i dove back under looking for them and didn't find them the first time. came back, got air. went immediately back down and i just came up and i had logan in my arms. and by the time i got

. >> right now they're all on an exclusive island in the caribbean. some r&r before a six-week -- ooh, six-week deployment in the south atlantic. abc's nick watt has the details. >> reporter: even on mystique, where locals are blase about the likes of j. lo and jagger, the middleton security around their villa is arching eyebrows. other vacationers' movements are restricted, and no one's allowed to ride on golf carts. >> it's really to deter the long lenses. and there are a lot of them about. >> reporter: a couple of years ago don't forget the middletons were just a regular family. very regular. then kate wore a prince, pippa wore that dress, and now the middletons are neo royalty. the girls have been snapped bikini clad in these waters before, but now kate's the queen of england to be. a repeat of past snaps like these just would not be seemly. >> she'd love to be seen as a demure future queen, and bikini shots possibly aren't in keeping with that. >> reporter: any day now william will join the in-laws in the caribbean for some family times before he

for brazil which was portuguese, all of central america, a number of islands, important islands in the caribbean and then bigging parts of north america -- florida, what's now texas -- all of the southwestern part of the unite, california, all of this was spanish. mexico, of course. and be all of this wuss collapsing because napoleon had ensaided -- invaded spain, and that war went on for a number of years, and the colonies were breaking free. and england was interested in acquiring them or at least having an expanded trade there. so it wasn't, it was all the things that you mentioned that they were interested in, but all of this as well. so they, they were bound to come in conflict with the united states because we didn't want them to have control of these areas because we were next. we were not going to be able to withstand a power that had this much control all around us. so, yeah, absolutely, they were interested in that. yeah. >> would you say that the u.s. navy's success in the war of 1812 was due to an overall command strategy, or was it the individual actions and individual initiatives o

a look at the island paradise where kate awaits the arrival of her prince william and they are going on a caribbeanard to get through? unclear. after these messages. as a researcher, i refer to her as "that woman with the great gums." because great gums are a foundation of a healthy smile. so she uses crest pro-health clinical gum protection toothpaste. it helps eliminate plaque at the gum line, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. and it protects these other areas dentists check most. crest pro-health clinical gum protection. because healthy smiles are built on healthy gums. life opens up when you do. mom, we're dying. no you're not, you're just hungry. make some totino's pizza rolls. we don't have any! front... left, totino's. [ male announcer ] well done mom! less drama, more fun! totino's pizza rolls. to save money, i did my taxes online. a lot of the questions you just guesstimate...fun! and hope you don't get audited. [ man announcing ] protect yourself with h&r block at home. the only software with both free audit support and free tax pr

mitt romney has personal wealth and investment wealth funds set up in the cayman islands a notorious caribbean tax haven. they say -- his spokespersons say he follows all laws. if you're interested, go to abc news and read the whole thing. boston globe on their front page this morning has this article that few americans pay full tax rate. you can see here todd of the globe staff writes in fact nearly half of u.s. taxpayers will probably pay no taxes at all for 2011 including $24,000 in the top 1% of income according to the tax policy center. eureka springs, arkansas. back to your calls on the president's decision on the pipeline, what do you think? caller: well, thank you, c-span, for taking my call. i would like to remind all my good american citizens that reside in the states that would be affected by this proposed pipeline to think of this one fact, the number one economic business most profitable has been the oil industry. and my reminder is that exxon valdez, the people up in alaska have still not been paid for the damages, so the most precious resource we have is our water, and that aqua

william will join the in-laws in the caribbean for family time before he heads to the south atlantic for a six-week tour as a rescue pilot in the faulkland islandslone on her first valenti valentine's day as a duchess. luckily, little sister has tips for valentine's day. "spread the love. make it fun and throw a valentine-themed party." charles and camilla have plans to spend time with them while william is away. meanwhile, i'm sure, i reckon hanging around that pair may send kate deeper into a love-lorn melancholy. kate is enjoying winter sun. robin, if you've ever spent time in london in january, you'll know how wonderful that can be. >> oh come, i'd love to go to holiday there this time of year. good to see you, nick. thanks so much. and, josh, coming up, has the play of the day. and we go inside the final days of john kennedy jr. and carolyn bessette. who is closest to the family, what she's revealing now. she's revealing now. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from