dystrophy. >> reporter: darren's mother is here. tell us what you think about this convenient helping children like your son? >> i think it's a great event. and i am so happy that darryl came into our lives and we are able to participate in the event and darren is excited. i am sure you know a lot of the kids who are going to be be in the event are excited as well. >> reporter: all right. thanks so much and as you can see we have a lot of artwork and you can hear the wonderful music in the background here. all of this is going to take place on sunday february 12th and the door is open at 2 p.m. and the event goes from 3 to 6 p.m. reporting here at the gordan center for performing arts sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. >> coming, how scammers are trying to get your cash. our scam alert. what they are doing working through the mail. >>> and mother nature brings a bridge tumbling down in japan. how the buildup of snow which is unusual right now may have brought the bridge down. >> it brou

hi, darren. >> hi. i'm trying to give the sense of the lin-sanity here. 62 jerseys were sold in an hour and a half. and this dispute with time warner has been going on since january 1st. there's really been nothing that gets people to really complain. knicks are like a .500 team. but this could be it. i mean, if this guy -- this economics major from harvard who's played three incredible games in a row playing kobe tonight at the garden, this could get people to either -- you know, tell people hey i got to switch here. or put pressure on time warner to do a deal with msg. time warner saying they don't want to deal with the 53% price hike. msg says that's not really true. and msg despite having the revenue decline on the sports part of their business because of the lockout hitting highs today. so 52 week highs. so it's going to be an interesting question. this is like the basketball version of tebow. and it's pretty crazy right now. i can tell you that. >> darren, quick question. to me it seems like the n

i can tell you that. >> darren, quick question. to me it seems like the nba's big dropoff in viewership. but still when you look at espn and disney being the biggest thing there is in cable. 44% margins. here you're dealing with the largest sports market, it would seem to me. don't you think that will put more pressure on? >> there's big potential here. and obviously espn's making their money because they run highlight after highlight. they pay for that. but it's the cheapest programming in all of tv. the amount of times that espn runs those highlights. i think there's going to be pressure to get something done here. at least in new york and time warner. >> thanks for coming out to new york city. you can see more of darren tonight on cnbc sports biz. new york giant victor cruz talks about his sudden rise to stardom. that's tonight on the nbc sports network. >>> let's hit the final call. >> vix up 20%. it's not too late to buy protection. >> the gap touching 500 next week. >> and the protection you want to buy is the put spread in n

ron matz has more on darren at waters' evolution of people. musical monument to african american life. >> i like a lot of gersh win. ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: a funny thing happened to darren atwater on his way to becoming an accountant. he became an accomplished musician instead. first playing the piano by ear. >> i grew up playing in church. so when you go to church, you kind of hear, they're playing -- ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: his soulful symphony plays to sold-out audiences. now, darren's evolution of people will be performed friday night. >> just a soundtrack for our lives. we all listen to country, or rock and roll or hip-hop or jazz. so why not create a cannon of music that speaks directly to our time. >> reporter: it's a high-energy show. >> unlike the symphony. it was quiet. our audiences can clap, stand up. sometimes they dance in the aisles. so that energy and that calm response from the audience, back on stage, it's something that is so unique, so special. >> reporter: you could say the same about darren. >> i think of it as a celeb

darren williams is just a little bit better.stop the nets, lose to new jersey 100-92. carmelo anthony said he was just trying to stay involved in the offense, help the team do what it had been doing. he finished in single digits. their next game on the road against atlanta. >>> strange finish between the nuggets and timberwolves. overtime, just over five seconds remaining, nuggets have the ball. inbound pass, webster steals the ball. let's freeze the video. the score is 102-99. minnesota down three points with two seconds left. clearly they need a three-pointer. webster going to kick it out for the three. let's see if he gets the open look. roll it back now. oh, he went in for a tomahawk dunk. hey, you were down three. webster throws down to secure the defeat. his teammates are stunned. they don't know what to do. look at that hair. i don't know what's going on. after the game when asked, webster said if i had to do it over again, i'd probably pull up for a jump shot. that's good. he learned his lesson. the response on twitter,

robin and darren, stick with us.o talk specifically about the politics that were engaged here. robin, you made this film during a time when then senator obama was running for the u.s. presidency. i want to talk about this legacy of barber shops not only in civil right era but today and then i'm going to explain my theory about black male republicans and haircut. we'll be right back. susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast speeds. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. how about some facts? the chevy volt was one of the most awarded cars in 2011. the volt's battery has been tested for more than 395,000 hours.

darren rovell is on the scene covering this cavalcade. darren, what's the mood on the streets? out for a work day to celebrate the giants. >> yeah, we spoke to people hopefully they didn't on monday yeah, the feeling down here is day. from the world cup that we got int to. super bowl championship, is worth $40 to $50, you know, in terms of economic impact. are they from new jersey or new york? that probably lessens things a bit. interesting note, though, the mayor's office will not tell us how much this cost. in 2008 the last time the giants $331,000 1986 didn't have a parade in 1991 because of the gulf war 1986 mayor ed koch would not have a parade for the giants because he said that the giants foreigners because they had their stadium in new jersey. american express offered to pay the cost at that time and he still said no. so no ticker tape. of course we don't use that anymore. there might be up to 50 tons of recycled paper being thrown out the win doughs today. >> darren, when we talk about the weather, it couldn't be any nicer for people that are roughly 50 degrees, blue s

. >> reporter: in the prime of his life darren conrad's life was slipping away.ducing this once-active six-foot-tall husband and father to just 120 pounds. >> i was scared. you know, i'll admit that there's a lot of things that go through your mind. >> reporter: would he ever ride his harley again, play ball with his children? >> i want to be there for my kids when they grow up. i want to be a good dad, a good husband. >> when you see the love of your life going through something like this, and you know, you just want to do anything and everything possible to help. >> reporter: his doctors warned without a liver transplant he would not survive. so darren's wife bared her soul in an emotional letter. >> "i struggle to put into words what i am feeling. i don't want to lose him. the children and i need him." >> reporter: her desperate plea to friends and family rang out across this quiet subdivision. what they needed, a perfectly healthy person with the same blood type to agree to risky surgery that would cut out half their liver and give it to darren. with any luck

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: the best news in the december employment report is the trend. from a low of 112,000 in october, job growth has been steadily moving higher. the average of the last three months comes in at a healthy 200,000 jobs a month. >> if that continues, that's a very positive story for the labor market. >> reporter: labor market expert harry holzer says the economic recovery has been a frustrating two-step-- one step forward, then one back. that pattern may, finally, be about to change. >> we've seen that movie. we keep expecting that movie to keep running, and so when one month's positive numbers are succeeded by another month that is even better, we're pleasantly surprised by that. >> reporter: the economy now appears to have entered the new year by gaining momentum. and that strength appears to be at odds with the modest expectations for growth put forward by federal reserve chairman ben bernanke and his colleagues last month. if the good news continues, university of maryland economist phill swagel says markets will have to rethink whether the federal

darren gersh begins our reporting from washington. >> reporter: up to now, most of the efforts to help underwater homeowners have focused on reducing their interest payments. but consumer advocates like ira rheingold hope the robo-signing settlement will focus action on the real problem-- reducing the debt burden for homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth. >> my hope is that, once we begin to see that principal reduction actually makes a difference, that these homeowners who could have been in default are no longer in default with their payments. it will move some of the actors in our marketplace who are being unbelievably recalcitrant in terms of principal reduction, in terms of allowing homeowners to save their homes will move in that direction. >> reporter: the biggest piece of the robo-signing settlement is aimed at principle reduction. some $17 billion is expected to be set aside to reduce the amount that homeowners owe their banks. the deal will also offer a check for roughly $1,700 to victims of robo-signing. there will be some money to help borrowers refinance, and

darren gersh takes a look. >> reporter: by now, it's not much of a surprise the president wants to raise some taxes. >> we don't need to be providing additional tax cuts for folks who are doing really, really, really well. >> reporter: so will taxes go up on the wealthiest americans? >> no, not a thing. almost all of those provisions have been proposed and rejected before. >> reporter: long-time budget watcher stan collender says the president's 2013 spending plan is all about getting to th november election. >> it gives the president the ability to say "this is what i want to do," not necessarily to guarantee this is what's going to get done. >> reporter: building more roads is one thing the president would like to get done. he's proposed using savings from winding down war spending to pay for some new infrastructure. but that's like waving a red flag in front of a budgeteer like collender. >> you are proposing to use money you were not going to spend for something else anyway. so it probably won't work and won't fly and republicans have said they are not going to do it. >> another big

as darren gash reports, it's something that can be both empowering and risky. >> reporter: generally,video of a pile of cash does not make for exciting television. but if you are one of the millions of people who could be offered a big pile of cash this year, this picture gets pretty interesting. in the pension world, a big pile of cash is called a lump sum. a lump sum is a check for the current value of a stream of pension payments promised over many years. >> lump sums provide an opportunity for plan sponsors to give those assets to participants, and have the participants share the gain and losses and risks attached to those investments. >> reporter: we're talking about lump-sum payments now because congress changed the pension rules back in 2006 to make it cheaper for employers to offer former workers a lump-sum pay- out instead of keeping them in a pension plan. those rules were phased in and took full effect this year. one out of ten employers already offer a lump-sum payment as a way to reduce their pension risks. and five in ten say they are somewhat or very likely to offer lum

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: sure, growth is about average now and unemployment is falling faster than the federal reserve expected, but federal reserve chairman ben bernanke was not about to take his foot off the gas. he defended his drive to support the economy. and credit suisse economist dana saporta argues bernanke has plenty of company. >> all major developed countries are being very easy right now because they're concerned that this recovery from the great recession is going to falter otherwise. >> reporter: saporta expects the fed will deliver another boost to the economy. it should come later this year as the economic benefit from good weather fades and higher gas prices hit consumer pockets. but bernanke today gave no hints and showed few worries. >> gasoline prices have moved up, primarily reflecting higher global oil prices-- a development that is likely to push up inflation temporarily while reducing consumer's purchasing power. >> reporter: in case you missed it, the key word there was temporarily. looking at jobs, bernanke called the labor market far from normal, th

but, as darren gersh reports one of the administration's most controversial ideas is a minimum tax on the profits u.s. companies make overseas. the white house argues the president's push for a minimum tax on overseas corporate profits will help level the international playing field, leading to a tax code that supports manufacturing at home. >> that takes away the incentive to relocate overseas and reverses that and creates incentives for companies to insource again in the united states-- a trend that the president believes is very important to our economic future. >> reporter: under current law u.s. companies can put off paying taxes on their overseas profits until they bring that money back to the united states. in practice, that means a lot of the overseas profits u.s. companies make are never taxed. even so, alex brill, an economist at the american enterprise institute, thinks the minimum tax is a mistake. he says the tax code should make it easy for businesses to invest wherever they need to, at home or abroad. if u.s. businesses succeed overseas, brill says they will have more r

and as darren gersh reports, the deficit dilemma is an increasingly tight fit. >> reporter: if we cut the deficit right away-- eliminating the bush tax cuts and slashing defense and other spending-- the deficit will drop dramatically, but the economy will stall out. >> taken together, these policies will generate a sharp fiscal contraction. >> reporter: if we wait to cut the deficit, that will boost the economy in the next few years, but as more baby boomers retire, the cost of social security, medicare, and other health care spending will almost double over the next ten years as a share of our economy. and that could send the national debt skyrocketing to more than $23 trillion. >> the longer that we wait, as a country, to make the sort of choices that we have to make, the harder it will be to make them because more debt will have accumulated. >> reporter: most budget wonks agree we should keep growing the economy now, but make cuts in the medium to long run, a policy that sounds good on paper, but has been hard to put into action politically. darren gersh, "nightly business report,"

darren gersh reports from washington. >> reporter: m.f. global's former chief risk officer says the futures broker had ample warning. well before m.f. global failed, michael roseman says he had cautioned former c.e.o. jon corzine about the risk the firm was taking on in buying european debt. >> the sovereign positions and the associated risk with those positions were very well- communicated, very transparent within the organization, and to mr. corzine and to the board. >> reporter: if m.f. global had not taken a huge $6 billion bet on european debt, roseman says, the company would still be here. roseman says his warnings helped cost him his job. michael stockman replaced roseman as chief risk officer, but said he was not hired to be a yes man. stockman insists he grew concerned last summer about the risk m.f. global was taking on. >> i found that the risks and rewards were acceptable, and then in july, i had a change of view. >> reporter: the ratings firms were next to feel the heat of congressional outrage. lawmakers demanded to know why

washington bureau chief darren gersh looks beyond the deal's face value, and breaks down how much, or how little, today's foreclosure deal could impact the housing market. >> reporter: when you hear analysts talking about people being "underwater" in their homes, they should be saying "buried in debt" instead. $700 billion is the amount that mortgage debt exceeds the value of all houses that have negative equity. this housing settlement shaves $10 billion to $30 billion off that amount, a tiny slice. >> so, about 1.5% of the negative equity problem in the united states is addressed by this settlement. it's really a drop in the bucket. >> reporter: while many analysts doubt this settlement will do much, some are more hopeful. economist mark zandi isn't focused on that $700 billion figure. he says what matters is breaking the momentum of distressed sales driving down home prices. and this settlement could help do that if it nudges the number of distressed sales in the right direction. >> once that share is moving south, house prices will stabilize and start to rise, and once hou prices

as darren gersh reports, these homes may go fast. >> reporter: warren buffett is not alone. money-making ideas love company and large investors and private equity types already have hundreds of millions, maybe billions of dollars, on hand to buy up foreclosed homes and rent them out. at carrington mortgage rick sharga says the company is ready to buy 30,000 to 40,000 homes. >> i think we all agree with warren buffet. if we could buy millions of homes, we'd be doing that right now. there is a lot of capital that's very interested in participating in a program like this. >> reporter: like this, meaning a pilot program announced by federal regulators who took charge of the troubled mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac when the companies were placed under government control. the federal housing finance agency today announced a test sale of 2,500 homes around the country. focusing on areas from los angeles to nevada and florida where the housing fell hardest. but this is a tiny fraction of the 700,000 or so foreclosed homes now on the books of financial institutions. and he

darren gersh reports. >> reporter: it's a pretty common greek expression-- "life is difficult." and political economist matthias matthijs says the hard times in greece are being felt today around the world. >> it's astonishing in many ways that a small country the size of 2% of the eurozone can have this big of an impact. i mean, how long have we and a problem with greece now, i mean two years now. and still it doesn't' seem to get solved. >> reporter: markets around the world thought the greek debt deal was all but done and they could take the risk of a greek default off the table. but today the prime minister warned of chaos if a new austerity measure and debt deal is defeated in parliament this weekend. matthijs says there are renewed fears a greek default could hurt banks that emerged from the financial crisis larger and more inter-connected than ever. >> especially french and german banks are heavily exposed to this. if they have to take a dramatic hit from this, then this will affect the american financial system too. because we are so integrated-- wall street, london. >>