here's abc's neal karlinsky. >> got any pennies today? >> reporter: you hardly need a penny for joe henry's thoughts. >> are these good ones? yes. >> any dimes? >> reporter: he's on a first-name basis with bank tellers in med foford, oregon, scouring banks with one thing on his mind. pennies. buying some, changing others back in for cash. it all seems a little weird. but he's no collector. and he's not alone. he's what's known as a penny hoarder. from the orange tubs that hold an astonishing 200,000 pennies in a shed next to his house, to the hours spent sorting, it's no joke. he's really into pennies. but not just any pennies. only those that are from 1982 or earlier. because those aren't just spare change. they're med of copper, and get this, a copper penny is worth more than a penny. it worth 2.4 cents. >> the copper has such a different sound than zinc pennies. real money has a definite sound of money and if you listen to a modern zinc penny, they don't sound the same. they sound sort of tinny. >> reporter: here's the thing, copper's

neal karlinsky for "nightline" in washington. >> ah, the toughest sport on wolf.ood morning

neal karlinsky for "nightline" in washington. >> ah, the toughest sport on wolf.ood morning america." they're working while you're sleeping a

but now it turns out in an unexpected literal way sin city is an adult playground and here's neal karlinskyt's "sign of the times." >> reporter: as childhood dreams go they don't get much more down and dirty than this. >> go ahead and turn that key to the right. >> reporter: oh, yeah. >> there you go. >> reporter: i'm behind the controls of a $100,000 excavator, you know the kind you've had all the time at construction sites. the kind you may have had a toy version of to play around the sandbox when you were little. this is no tonka toy but it is what they call an adult-sized sandbox. >> i can remember tonka toys when i was little and would dig holes in my front yard. >> reporter: rich is a chief engineer at an aerospace company. >> he is in charge of 500 people and all he wants to do is dig a hole. >> reporter: full disclosure, i am a child. but it turns out lots of other grown-ups are too which is why new zealand transplant ed mum created in unique playground on a vacant lot in las vegas. what does it cost to set this up? >> over a million dollars in my last four years. we get a lot of li

neal karlinsky, abc news, seattle. >> thieves

neal karlinsky explains. ♪ you're a foul one mr.inch >> reporter: as the story goes, it's the grinch that stole christmas. ♪ mr. grinch >> reporter: but this year on front doorsteps coast-to-coast, surveillance cameras have the proof. there's a new kind of grinch in town. in utah, this guy walked up. stole a complete stranger's waiting package. and walked away. in san diego, this man peeked through the front door to make sure the coast was clear before making off with a freshly-delivered box. >> at least now i have a suspect. >> reporter: in seattle, there was the hooded porch pirates whose big haul turned out to be a shipment of cat urine deodorizer. but much bigger ticket items are at risk of pilfering. estimates 16.5 billion packages will be shipped in the month before christmas. everything from computers to gift certificates. as we learned, it's not too hard to find waiting packages just sitting on porches. often for hours or even days. this one sat outside all morning before the owner opened her door. would you do something dif

for "good morning america," neal karlinsky, abc news, hollywood. >>> speaking of hollywood, the nation'stunt. first, bo obama was spotted on a shopping trip with the president in washington. then, he was seen in hawaii, where the rest of the obamas were on vacation. >> it all had tongues wagging. is there a doggy doppelganger? here's abc's yunji de nies. >> reporter: it's been quite a week for the first pooch. bo has been everywhere. his likeness featured around the white house for the holidays. button bo. trash bag bo. marshmallow and licorice bo. pom-pom bo. and a 4 1/2-foot-tall felt bo. the first lady told abc's barbara walters, bo has an enviable life, saying she wouldn't mind being reincarnated as the family pet in her next life. >> i would want to be bo. he has a great life. >> reporter: bo made the obamas' holiday card, much to the chagrin of sarah palin who wondered aloud on fox news radio, why the card didn't accentuate family, faith and freedom. he's so ubiquitous, bo is now the center of the ultimate canine conspiracy. >> i'm ready. this is holiday, bo. >> reporter: on wednes

abc's neal karlinsky explains. ♪ you're a foul one mr.tole christmas. ♪ mr. grinch >> reporter: but this year on front doorsteps coast to coast surveillance cameras have the proof there is a new kind of grinch in town. in utah this guy just walked up, stole a complete stranger's waiting package and walked away. in san diego, this man peeked through the front door to make sure the coast was clear before making off with a freshly delivered box. >> at least now i have a suspect. >> reporter: in seattle there was the hooded porch pirate whose big haul turned out to be cat urine deodorizer. the postal service estimates 16.5 billion cards and packages shipped in the month before christmas, computers to gift certificates. as we learned it's not too hard to find waiting packages just sitting on porches often for hours or even days. in fact this one sat outside all morning before the owner opened her door. would you do something different out of concern that people are taking packages? >> if i knew it was going to be taken i probably would be more

neal karlinsky, abc news. >> scary story, too.chase, doing a stint in seattle produced the piece. brandon. probably asleep. good for him. what scares me too, i wonder if surveillance cameras like that here at abc. you know what i mean -- that guy. >> i would hate to think so -- what? >> what? what is this? >> who are they? >> watching a crime in progress in the snack room at abc news. >> i went in there looking for some snacks and nothing was there. >> who are these hungry fools? >> i don't recognize them. >> i don't know who they are. y'all have the wrong -- i don't know. you guys have the wrong. i don't know who they are. >> we are going to have to bring in some investigators for that. >> i don't know what was going on there. i have never seen. somebody would go in and steal all that wilted salad and old stale snacks. i am appalled. we'll get to the bottom of that immediately. >> i'll help investigate that. >> i'm appalled. >>> coming up, the actress earning 65,000 bucks for just four hours of work. >>> and who did alec baldwin

neal karlinsky has the story. >> reporter: watching 2-year-old caleb today, it is hard to imagine the than two weeks ago. >> i got a phone call. and it was my daughter. she said daddy, caleb is dead. >> reporter: his breathing and his heart stopped. >> he had no life in him. he was not breathing. his heart was not beating. >> i cannot tell you what went through my mind in those moments. your nervous system just shuts down. >> reporter: amazingly, paramedics were able to get him breathing again. but doctors warned them, their son would likely never be the same again. >> you're being hold that he's going to have all sorts of issues. and he is going to have disability. it's just inevitable. >> reporter: doctors put caleb into something called therapeutic hypothermia, putting his body into hibernation when his heart was restarted. days later, he opened his eyes, began to move. and to their surprise, showed no lingering problems at all. >> that's amazing. he defied the odds. he's going to be 100% normal. >> reporter: caleb rode his bake around the hospital, to the amazement of the first re

neal karlinsky shows how they are doubling their money. >> reporter: you hardly need a penny for joe like to buy a bag, please. >> reporter: he's on a first-name basis with bank tellers across his hometown of medford, oregon, with one thing on his mind. pennies. >> frank, let's see what you've got. are these good ones? >> yes. >> reporter: he took around bags of pennies. buying some. changing others back in for cash. but he's no collector. and he's not alone. he's what's known as a penny hoarder. with an astonishing 2,000 pennies in his shed next to his house, he spends hours sorting roll after roll, looking for pennies from 1982 or earlier because those pennies are made of copper. and get this, a copper penny is worth more than a penny. it's worth 2.4 cents. he even has a $500 home counting machine to separate the copper ones. >> when the penny drops through, it decides if it's zync or copper. >> reporter: look at ebay and you'll find a slew of listings for pennies in bulk. it's a strange business adam young had perfected. he runs a massive penny sorting operation. what kind of mone

abc's neal karlinsky has the backstory. the scene was chaos. a woman hit and pinned under a bus. you see first respondering rushing in, pounding in woodblocks to prop it up. one cop did something else. >> as i walked up to the bus, i could see her foot or her shoe, sticking out from underneath. >> reporter: vest valley utah police officer kevin peck found a terrified woman. 24-year-old aryann smith, bleeding but conscious. >> she wasn't able to move. but she could still breathe. >> reporter: he did the only thing he could. he held her hand and told her, he wouldn't leave until she did. >> just squeezed my hand and told me not to let go. and i wasn't going anywhere. >> reporter: her legs were badly hurt. he says she was afraid she would die. so, with half his body under the bus, he held on tight. >> i had to reassure her we had paramedics and firefighters and other people coming to help. >> reporter: there, in their only little world together, peck says he remembered that the street felt cold. and the weight, while only minutes, seemed like forever. >> i could hear people working

abc's neal karlinsky checks out the competition. >> reporter: the battle of the titans. coke versus pepsi. mcdonald's versus burger king. jolie versus jolie. wait a minute. not the real angelina jolie. but in this hollywood wax war, her likeness is the first barrage in an all-out battle in who has the best wax figures. on one side, madame tussaud's. the gold standard on the world of wax. on the other, the scrappy long-time run, hollywood wax museum. valerie wang is from tussaud's. >> you think the competition stink, right? >> i think some of their figures need work. >> reporter: madame tussaud's is launching this campaign, from jolie to jim carrey. comparing their versions on the left. lucille ball, jackie chan. comparing their versions on the left to less than perfect versions from the hollywood wax museum on the right. they've also included a few online critiques. lucille ball looks like a meth addict. the hollywood wax people are not amused. >> it says the case of a big bully, multi national corporation, you know, trying to push the little guy around. >> they're reall

but as neal karlinsky reports, one you can avoid. ♪ you're a vile one, mr. as the story goes, it's the grinch who stole christmas. but this year, on front doorsteps, coast-to-coast, surveillance cameras have the proof. there's a new kind of grinch in town. in utah, this guy just walked up, stole a complete stranger's waiting package, and walked away. in san diego, this man peeked through the front door to make sure the coast was clear before making off with a freshly delivered box. >> at least now i have a suspect. >> reporter: in seattle, there was the hooded porch pirate whose haul turned out to be a shipment of cat urine deodorizer. but others are at risk of porchside pilfering. packages will be shipped before christmas. everything from computers. and as we learned, it's not too hard to find waiting packages just sitting on porches. often for hours or even days. in fact, this one sat outside all morning before the owner opened her door. would you doing in different, if you were concerned of someone taking the package? >> yeah. i probably would be more car

abc's neal karlinsky checks out the competition. >> reporter: the battle of the titans.rsus pepsi. mcdonald's versus burger king. jolie versus jolie. wait a minute. not the real angelina jolie. but in this hollywood wax war, her likeness is the first barrage in an all-out battle in who has the best wax figures. on one side, madame tussaud's. the world standard in the world of wax. on the other, the scrappy long-time run, hollywood wax museum. valerie wang is from tussaud's. >> i think some of them need work. >> reporter: madame tussaud's is launching this campaign, from jolie to jim carrey. comparing their versions on the left. from at times, less than perfect versions from the hollywood wax museum on the right. they've also included a few online critiques. lucille ball looks like a meth addict. the hollywood wax people are not amused. >> it says, they're being bullied. they get multinational corporation. you know, trying to push the little guy around. >> they're really not trying to bully them. we're trying to show the difference between us and them. >> reporter: in hol