for "nightline," i'm jim avila, abc news. >> okay.rtnership with consumer reports, "20/20" is producing a series on infomercials, starting right here tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. and thanks to jim avila for that look at that noise maker. tomorrow night on "nightline," we go behind the scenes of the most expensive musical in broadway history. cynthia mcfadden meepts the high flying actor whose 40-mile-an-hour accident almost brought this show down. four months after a death defying drop, he's back in the air. and she speaks exclusively with u2's bono and the edge for the first time since the show opened in previews. >> reporter: so, i have never read quite so horrific reviews. things like "the new york times," it may rank among the worst musicals ever made. "the washington post," schill, a mess. what did you think when you read these? >> that's the sort of things we were saying backstage. i mean, seriously. >> reporter: is it fixed? >> good question. >> well, you can find out tomorrow night, only on "nightline." >>> and thanks for watc

here is jim avila on the mississippi. >> reporter: we headed out on the mighty mississippi just hours after she crested and began to fall. the river was just shy of an all time high. our guide, brian miller of the coast guard. he knows the waters well. what is the thing you notice the most with the differences in the river now? >> i would say right now, the velocity is faster than is typical. a lot of the landmarks we are used to seeing are not here. >> reporter: he said that something extraordinary is happening here. >> typically we luld pick up speed here. i'm going to keep it slow and keep my wake down so i don't take the back porch of the houses here. >> reporter: the river hit its highest point. but the city was spared the major flooding that many feared the water has seeped in damaging many homes. and the dangers lurk in the water. bacteria and snakes in the residential areas. but the river itself she's moved on. as man as 4 million people in her path smoch he follow her flow to tunica mississippi. this neighborhood known for fishing is known as the tunica cut off. now the resid

jim avila reports, now, from morgan city, louisiana. >> reporter: the heart of the flood zone.ville, louisiana. and the children of the only elementary school here are moving their classes to higher ground. >> i got you, three. >> reporter: the clock is ticking for working-class stevensville. >> we're told, it's going to be one for the books. and if that's the case, we have to take every precautions to protect our desks, chairs and children, too. >> reporter:tephensville is one of several towns that could be swept away. it's a position the army corps could make to save the bigger cities of new orleans and baton rouge down the river. >> i know it's necessary they do what they've got to do. but still, i guess in a way, i am a little angry. >> reporter: we're circling over the floodgates right now. there's 125 individual gates. if and when the army corps of engineers decides to open them, wattser will spill from there, on to farmland. leaving a devastating footprint. but if the gates stay closed, levees along the mississippi may not be able to take the re. pressure. leading to bre

thank you, jim avila. >>> and now we turn to a big day in politics for the republican the polls show poses the biggest challenge to president obama, former massachusetts governor mitt romney. and here are the latest numbers. romney is leading the field by eight points. but he has been taking heat for being the architect of health care reform in massachusetts, very much like president obama's plan. and john berman has what romney said about that today. >> reporter: as he took the stage in a michigan classroom, mitt romney tried to take on the biggest threat to his presidential ambitions, himself. >> a lot of pundits around the nation are saying that i should just stand up and say this whole thing was a mistake. >> reporter: specifically, the massachusetts health care plan he signed into law in 2006 with ted kennedy at his side. it did help deliver insurance to more than 450,000 uninsured people. it also helped paint romney into a political corner. >> i agree with mitt romney. proud of what he accomplished on health care in massachusetts. >> reporter: tough words to take if you want to

and so jim avila went out to find some answers. >> reporter: shocked and awed by nature. >> this is crazyu know, this is like a war zone. >> reporter: tony evans is helping his friend clean up today in minneapolis after yet another destructive tornado in this, the deadliest season in 58 years. >> we've been taking the earth for granted, you know. now i guess it's paying us back. >> reporter: hit by the big three tornado outbreaks of 2011. first mid-april. 24 people die in north carolina. then tuscaloosa, alabama, later that month, ground zero for a line of tornadoes that killed more than 300. and now at least 116 dead in joplin. are we imagining it or are their actually more tornadoes this year? the answer is a dramatic yes. 1,000 and counting so far. compared to 500 in an average year. and these are of the deadly variety. 50 killer tornadoes so far this year, more than double the normal 20. >> this year has really been just the perfect year for tornadoes. >> reporter: climatologist heidi cullen writes about global warming and says while climate change has increased humanity humidity leve

jim avila spent the day talking to the experts about that. >> reporter: the space needle in seattle today. plenty of tourists, but the eagle family from ft. worth, texas, did have to calm their son's fear before the trip. >> he saw the news, he asked, what that sort of meant for us, would it mean that somebody else was going to try to hurt us? >> reporter: police across the country are on heightened alert. new york mayor michael bloomberg today. >> the person sitting next to you may be an undercover cop. you never know. >> reporter: but what about the warnings from america's mayor, rudy giuliani? telling diane -- >> in the short-term, i think we have to worry about lots of repercussions from this. >> reporter: and former vice president dick cheney telling jon karl -- >> there's every reason to believe there will be further attacks attempted against the united states. >> reporter: plus the official worldwide alert from the state department, telling overseas travelers about an enhanced potential for anti-american violence. there are no specific credible threats, no heightened alerts at the

jim avila, abc news, new york. >>> and coming up, join in on the debate. does heaven exist?world famous physicist versus the boy who says he has proof. to keep in balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has gingko for memory and concentration plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. i see you're flatulent in three languages. graduated op of your gas. [ male announcer ] got gas on your mind? your son rip is on line toot. [ male announcer ] try gas-x. powerful relief # from pressure and bloating in a fast-acting chewable. gas-x. pressure's off. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris. to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nosebleed and sore throat. [ inhales deeply ] i nipped my allergy symptoms in the bud. omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal alle

jim avila, abc news, new york. >>> wow, the role of genetics, wow. >> it is.something to do with genetics. do a breakdown on sandwiches at mcdonald's. if you are talking about the big mac, we heard jim say, 540 calories. how about -- the angus chrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl >>> this morning on "world news now" -- breaking news in the dominique strauss-kahn case, he's the head of the imf accused of that sexual assault here in new york. >> overnight he resigns his powerful job as he prepares to head back to court today. it's thursday, may 19th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." >>> good morning, everybody. i'm rob nelson. >> i'm peggy bunker. strauss-kahn spending the last few nights in a new york, notorious rikers island jail cell, and he is also going to court to make a deal for bail, as we learn more about the sexual abuse victim. >>> also in this half-hour, maria shriver's decision to hire a divorce attorney as we reveal more details about arnold schwarzenegger's secret affair with a housekeeper and of course the love child that came out of the

jim avila found one of them and he starts us off tonight. good evening, jim. >> reporter: good evening, george. those big fours you've been seeing may be soon back in storage. crude oil prices are down for the second day in a row, and analysts say that could mean a drop in gas prices up to 20 cents a gallon very soon. and gas buddy.com says it's already begun, with prices dropping nearly a penny since midnight. a gas war. yes, you heard right. prices are already going down in some parts of the country. this is milton, florida, on the panhandle, where regular unleaded dropped from the $3.80's to $3.55 in one day. >> what was the price? >> cheaper than down the street. >> reporter: oil prices fell for the second day in a row. look at this chart. a steady rise from $75 in may of last year to more than $110 last week. and now boom, the second biggest drop in history. down to $97 a barrel. if pump prices continue to settle, seattle's cheryl sanders might actually drive her new car to the mall and spend some more. she was out of work for seven mont

but let us begin with jim avila, who spent the day barrelling along in the water toward the south. the 414 miles from memphis to new orleans, riding the rapids of the river, in effect, to the next big town. he's in tunica, mississippi, tonight. good evening, jim. >> reporter: good evening, diane. behind me, you can see the real power of this river. the huge current going by me and through those closed casinos of mississippi now, as the threat of catastrophic flooding moves south to the delta region. the rugged mississippi, often meandering, is now surging towards the delta. moving at more than double its normal speed. america's mightiest river is home to coast guard lieutenant brian miller, and the mississippi he sees today is more ferocious than ever. >> you can see all the swirls and flows. that's really an anomaly, for this particular area. >> reporter: the flood walls and levees held in memphis, sparing one of the largest cities along the river. but now, the flood surge is upon tunica, mississippi, where some families are now in shelter, evacuated as the river swallows the town

jim avila is on the story. >> reporter: it's cleanup day across the south. a saturday workday as city after city begins the comeback. >> although we have been ravaged beyond comprehension, we still remain the shiny city on the hill. >> reporter: the line of tornados tore through 15 states in 24 hours. today the president added mississippi and georgia to alabama's official designation as a disaster area. alabama remains the hardest hit. 113,000 still without power. 1700 injured, 254 dead in alabama alone, including little edgar vazquez, just 9 years old. >> he's with his family. >> the town of phil campbell hit so hard, it may never recover. 18 people died here. >> i don't know if it will ever come back. it's so much damage. i don't know if anybody would have the heart. >> reporter: francis' family survived in a center hallway as the home fell down around them. >> the tornado that big, it doesn't matter if you're in a trailer or brick home or whatever, if you're in the path of it, it's going. >> reporter: to prove her point, a trailer park, where pansy's mobi

jim avila looks at this rough season. >> reporter: twisting winds. thunderous rains. snow piled high and rising flood waters. a meteorological drubbing for the u.s. this year, five separate billion dollar storms and floods already. 2011 severe weather nearly biblical plague in scale, began in january with the monster midwest blizzard that paralyzed chicago and then moved to the northeast, with $1 billion in damage. the spring perils began in april, certainly this year's cruelest month, with thunderstorms and tornadoes in the midwest and plains states. more than $2 billion in damage. just the following week, an even bigger swath of destruction. tornadoes this time in iowa and wisconsin, price tag, $2.25 billion. the next plague to hit the u.s. this year? a full week of april flooding. the notorious red river spilled its banks into north dakota and minnesota, for a grim total of $20 million in destruction. then onto texas, hit with wildfires that destroyed 310 structures and endless acres of brush and tumble weed at a cost of $200 million. and then the skies opened up i

. >> and now let's go straight down the river to jim avila. he is there where the water is at this moment pounding those levees tonight. jim. >> reporter: diane, this 15-foot high floodwall, mighty mississippi right behind it, was built just after the double whammy of floods in 1927 and 1937. and despite the ominous leak here, the army corps of engineers says the levee system is holding. this is the biggest threat to the massive levee system protecting memphis. ground zero for the army corps of engineers. >> this is a sand boil. >> reporter: a sand boil, a fountain of bubbling water on the dry side of the levee. a danger sign that the mississippi is finding its way beneath the levee system. >> we think that this is probably one of the most significant threats to the levee. >> this is just basically nothing. i mean, it's not even a puddle down at the bottom. >> reporter: they're looking for four distinct threats to a levee and floodwall system like the one keeping the mississippi out of the streets of memphis. first, overtopping. that's lapping

jim avila is out in the park tonight with a colleague of that dog. he's been piecing together the clues all day. jim? >> reporter: diane, we've seen them protect us, sniff out danger for us. in fact, hero works the train stations in manhattan. and one of his brethren in the military may have helped kill osama bin laden, the most wanted terrorist in the world. they do remarkable things. parachuting out of military aircraft with and without their partners. super dogs. and now abc news has confirmed that among the 24 super secret navy s.e.a.l. commandos team who swept into northern pakistan and killed osama bin laden, was one super secret four-legged warrior. this war dog at the training center at lackland air force base outside san antonio is one of nearly 3,000 four-legged warriors trained by the military. but a handful of those 3,000 are even more special. and just like the human special forces teams they join, details about the breed, the specific role or names of these super dogs are not being disclosed. >> no, sir, i cannot. i don't know where thos

here's jim avila. >> reporter: game-changer, momentum shift, say the economists. and just as important, american workers are boldly showing their own jump in confidence. >> it makes me feel like there's going to be more hiring and more people will start going back to work. >> reporter: more jobs in 39 states, and look where they are. a consumer-driven surge. retailers hiring 57,000 new workers. white collar jobs up 51,000. 46,000 new waiters, bartenders and hotel clerks. a jump in health care workers and even in good-paying manufacturing jobs. >> what we're looking at is some type of discretionary spending moving throughout the economy, especially retail jobs. that tells you the american consumer is back. >> reporter: silvia says the job gains are widespread and significant, with no qualifiers. 32 states now have unemployment rates below the national norm. america's industrial core on the rebound. places like fenton, missouri, where unemployment is down because of companies like hitchcock-butterfield, which brought its mirror-making company back from china to the

to answer that question here is jim avila. >> reporter: shocked and awed by nature. >> this is crazy, >> reporter: tony evans is helping his friend clean up in minneapolis after yet another destructive tornado, in this, the deadliest season in 58 years. >> we have been taking earth for granted. and now i guess it is paying us back. >> reporter: hit by the big three tornado outbreaks of 2011. first, mid april. 24 people die in north carolina. then tuscaloosa, alabama, later that month. ground zero for a line of tornados that killed more than 300 and now at least 116 dead in joplin. are we imagining it or are there more tornados this year? the answer a dramatic yes. 1,000 and counting so far compared to 500 in an average year. and these are the deadly variety, 50 killer tornados so far this year, more than double the normal 20. >> this year has really been just the perfect year for tornados. >> reporter: climatologist heidi cullen, writes about global warming and says while climate change has increased humidity levels and can be blamed for general increase in weather, science cannot spe

jim avila.phis. >>> as the flood fears head south of memphis, now of course we will stay on top of this potential disaster. our coverage of the mississippi river floods will continue later on "america this morning" and look for more live reporting from diane sawyer later today on "good morning america." >>> moving on now to developments this morning from pakistan. u.s. officials say that pakistan will allow them to interview the wives of osama bin laden. the three women were taken into custody when the al qaeda leader was killed. but so far bin laden's compound remains off-limits. john hendren has more. >> reporter: the night navy s.e.a.l.s secretly raided osama bin laden's compound and ended his reign of terror, no one asked for permission. >> we also do not apologize for the action that we took. >> reporter: since then, the obama administration has been politely requesting the right to return. this time with investigators. pakistan is now responding. equally unapologetically. no. >> we've had

jim avila tells us more. >> reporter: they do remarkable things.partners. superdogs. and now abc news has confirmed that among the 24 super secret navy s.e.a.l. commandos team who swept into northern pakistan and killed osama bin laden was one supersecret four-legged warrior. >> crawl. >> reporter: this war dog at the training center at lackland air force base outside of san antonio is one of nearly 3 the,000 four-legged warriors trained by the military. but a handful of those 3,000 are even more special. and just like the human special forces teams they joined, details about the breed, the specific role or names of these superdogs are not being disclosed. >> no, sir, i cannot. i don't know where those dogs came from. >> reporter: here's what we do know. this year, special operations command in tampa solicited private contractors to train 80 to 100 students and 70 to 100 canines per year. among other duties, pursue, track, patrol and bite/hold fleeing subjects. >> a lot of it is under wraps and undercover. >> reporter: these superdogs must be the b

jim avila, abc news, tunica, mississippi. >>> the canadian mom who survived nearly two months in rugged a hospital in idaho. doctors say rita chretien will continue her recovery closer to her home in british columbia. she somehow managed to survive by rationing trail mix and hard candy for weeks. crews are hoping better weather today will allow them to resume the search for her husband. >> that is amazing. >>> and the u.s. is still waiting to question osama bin laden's three widows now being held in pakistan. but another family member, bin laden's fourth oldest son, is speaking out about the deadly raid. omar bin laden called the killing of his father criminal. also said that his burial at sea humiliated the family. >>> meanwhile, president obama has turned his focus to immigration. visiting the border with mexico to inspect increased security there. the president said new systems are working but that fundamental changes are still needed. karen travers has more. >> reporter: president obama came to the u.s./mexico border to see firsthand the stepped up security measures and send a messa

jim avila now reports on this tough choice ahead from stephansville, louisiana. >> reporter: the heart their classes to higher ground. >> i got you three. >> reporter: the clock is ticking for working-class stephansville. >> we've been told it's going to be one for the books. and if that's the case we've got take every precaution, to protect all our desks, chairs and our children, too so -- >> reporter: if the corps of engineers opens the spillway stephansville is just one of several towns that could be swept away. it's a decision the army corps could make in order to save the bigger cities of new orleans and baton rouge down river. >> i know it's necessary that they do what they've got to do, but still, i guess in a way i am a little angry. >> reporter: we're circling over the floodgates right now. there are 125 individual gates. if and when the army corps of engineers decides to open them, water will spill from there and on to the farmland, leaving a devastating footprint. but if the gates say closed, levees along the mississippi may not be able to take the pressure. leading to breac