randi kaye goes in depth with us.er: when you think about american troops coming home from fighting overseas you probably have this picture in your head, not this. american veterans in court, arrested on any number of charges. and that's exactly what happened to this man, manny welch. >> i come from a very good family, and my father gave me a choice. he said, you either go to college, you get a job, or you go to the service. and so i took the naval exam and went to the navy. >> reporter: welch was stationed in alameda, california. he worked aboard the "uss coral sea" aircraft carrier from 1975 to 1979, right after the vietnam war ended. >> we were sort of in the peacetime, you know, so there was a lot of partying going on, a lot of celebrating going on, a lot of drugs going on. >> reporter: after the service, welch's addiction took over. >> i was addicted to cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, you know. they talk about drugs of choice, but whatever was available i used. >> reporter: he was arrested more times than he can rem

randi kaye, cnn, atlanta. >> thank you. >>> as many of you get ready to hit the roads and skies, bigput a curveball in those plans. but we believe in helping people take steps to keep them every single day. that's why every day we help people across the country get into their first homes. prepare for a comfortable retirement and protect the people and things that matter most. at genworth we believe every day is the right day to take a step toward tomorrow. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. [ knock on door ] cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice. between those boxes and this place, i'm totally staying sane this year. do i smell snickerdoodles? maybe. [ timer dings ] got to go

i'm randi kaye. you up to speed. >>> the political landscape is shifting for the republican presidential candidates just five days before the iowa caucuses. a new cnn/time/occ poll shows rick santorum rising. now third with 16%, gingrich at 14%. >>> he may be the front-runner but mitt romney isn't predicting how he'll do in the iowa caucuses. romney started the day in cedar falls talking about jobs and the economy. in an interwith wolf blitzer he responded to complaints from newt gingrich. >> i don't know why he's so angry. this is a campaign about the things we believe in. i believe the country's being led in a very unfortunate and destructive way by a president that doesn't really understand our economy or understand america. i can get america working again. that's why i'm running. >>> activists say this video posted on youtube shows syrian security forces firing on protesters in a damascus suburb today. cnn cannot verify the authenticity of the video. we spoke to one journalist there who says syri

. >>> cnn newsroom continues right now with randi kaye. >> president obama is calling on a republican predecessor to help him pass an extension of payroll tax cuts. he is due to speak this hour, site of the 1910 address by roosevelt. you're looking at the live picture of the podium where the president will speak. the sticking point with republicans is how to pay for them. you'll hear the president live at 1:55 eastern time right here on cnn. >>> overseas the pressure on the eu eurozone is growing, ahead of another summit, standard and porr's is threatening to down grade the credit ratings, including france and germany that now plan to call for enforcement caps on deficits. greek bonds are already junk. >>> gop presidential front-runner mitt romney has more than newt gingrich on his back. according to a report, the former massachusetts govern ers's office spent $100,000 in state funds to remove records from his four years in office. the money was used to replace computers in his office months before romney launched his unsuccessful campaign for the nomination back in 2008. in addition,

. >>> i'm natalie allen in today for randi kaye. it's 1:00. >>> newt gingrich's campaign for president is standing by its claim that it was gingrich's first wife jackie who requested the couple's divorce back in 1980. so what? well, for decades gingrich has been hounded by this story of having served his wife with divorce papers while she was on a sick bed with cancer. lately, the couple's daughter has been denying that story forcefully. but cnn obtained the actual papers from the carroll county courthouse here in georgia. they show newt did the filing claiming the marriage was irretrievably broken. jackie gingrich opposed the petition. we will get much more on this in our next segment, moments from now. >>> overseas a large delegation from the arab league is due in syria today. it is supposed to observe, and therefore, discourage the government's brutal crackdown on its own people. a crackdown that seems to be in full force despite a promise to the arab league just last week. this is amateur video reportedly from the flash point ci

. >> randi kaye talking about this man, former rutgers student accused of streaming live video of hitz roommate's sexual encounter with another man. today da resume rauby turned down a plea deal that would allow him to avoid jail time. his roommate tiler clemente killed himself. >>> a woman who doused black friday shoppers in california will not be facing felony charges. >> my eyes are burning! >> their eyes are burning, they're screaming. firefighters had to treat ten people who had been pepper trayed spraied there. the los angeles city attorney's office will consider possible misdemeanor charges now. >>> and have you heard about this woman who police say tried to mix up a batch of meth in the middle of a walmart store? police arrested this woman in tulsa, oklahoma, yesterday, some alert employees apparently noticed this woman mixing different cleaning supplies in a bottle in the store? so what do they do? call police. one police officer suffered minor chemical burns as he took the bottle out of the store. >>> and country singer mindy mccready speaking out today saying she did absolut

. >> hello everyone, i'm randi kaye. anyo rob blagojevich is being sentenced in chicago and prosecutors are asking for 15 years. the defense is asking for mercy while admitting for the first time that blago broke the law. he said, and i'm quoting here, i'm incredibly sorry. he will be the second illinois governor to go jail if he is sentenced. we will let you know as soon as the sentence comes down. >> the new york district attorney investigating claims against former associate basketball coach bernie fine says the allegations are credible but no charges will be filed because the statute of limitations has expired. two boys accused fine of molesting them 20 years ago. bobby davis told the district attorney in 2002 that fine had molested him. fine denies all allegations. >> gave a rare tv interview to walters on tv where he said that some troops may have gone too far. >> nobody killed -- no government in the world kill its people unless it's led by crazy person. i became president because of the public support. it's impos

i want to go to randi kaye who has a little bit more information about this. randi? >> suzanne, what i can tell you as we pick it up from here, as you know, that campus is on lockdown. they are suggesting that anyone on campus or near campus seek shelter, stay in place, stay right where you are. you're looking there at virginia tech website. they're saying on that website that transit service has been suspended until further notice. as we were saying, they are trying to do a better job of communicating to people when something like this is happening following that tragedy that shooting that took place on april 16th of 2007. virginia tech posting on their website the campus is in lockdown. this is because there were shots fired on campus. we don't know by whom but we do know by the website the suspect is described as a white male wearing gray sweat pants, a gray hat with a neon brim and some type of maroon hoodie and also carrying a pack back. apparently the suspect is on foot. we don't know how many shots were fired. but as you know, virginia tech certainly on high a

cnn newsroom continues with randi kaye. >> hi, natalie, thank you very much. >>> lets's get straight to the news from urban dale in the early morning to boone at night the gop presidential hopefuls are carrying as much ground as they possibly can in a state that could make or break them six days from today. iowa's caucuses will generate in-flows of crash and street cred for the winner. three major contenders running bus towards, all with the exception of jon huntsman are there. ron paul, mitt romney, michele bachmann and rick santorum have events this hour. we'll dip into the events and delve into the latest campaign intrigues in our fair game segment just about a half an hour or so from now. >>> remember all that fuss about raising the nation's debt ceiling? well, guess what? it is time to ask for the final installment in a series of debt hikes authorized back in august. when we came within just days of a government default. this one is worth about $1.2 trillion, pushing the legal debt limit to $16.4 trillion, and this time the fuss should be less, but not non-existent. the increase

i'm natalie allen in for randi kaye. again we are waiting to hear from president obama. we expect him to be stepping out at any moment to comment on the tax cut deal and we'll take you there when it happens. >>> let's get right to the news. can you rest easy about your paychecks, taxes and benefits at least for the next two months. president obama set to speak about the payroll tax cut. that's because congress finally passed a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut after an ugly political standoff. this basically means the average person will get to keep $40 a paycheck rather than pay that much more in taxes. it also extend emergency unemployment benefits and delays scheduled pay cuts to doctors who treat medicare patients. congress immediately sent the extension to the president for his signature but there's now the issue of extending those benefits for a full year. the senate has agreed to appoint a conference committee to hammer that out with the house after the new year. >>> once he's done in washington the president is heading off to hawaii where he was born and

i'm joe johns in today for randi kaye. it's 1:00 on the east coast. >>> straight to other news. mention holiday this week in congress and you won't see many jolly faces. that's because time is running out to pass an extension of a payroll tax holiday that's benefited everybody who draws a paycheck all year long. top republicans are promising a deal will get done and they're trying again tomorrow in the house. both parties agree on one thing. they'd really like to wrap things up by friday and start their holiday recess. >>> tonight is the deadline reportedly set by syria for anti-government protesters in the city of hom to get back in line or else. an opposition group called the free syrian army fears a massacre if residents fail to turn in their weapons and give up military defectors as damascus is demanding. activists say security forces have killed 20 people nationwide today alone. officials haven't publicly acknowledged the deadline and have denied opposition claims that the city's being cut off from water, electricity and food. >>> as we just heard, live from the courthouse,

. >> cnn newsroom continues right now with randi kaye. >> hello everyone, it is 1:00 on the east coast. let's get straight to the news. your paycheck and benefits may be cut and your taxes may go up all because congress can't agree on another very important issue, that is payroll tax cuts. >>> congress is in a political standoff right now. the senate passed a two-month extension a moment ago. house republicans rejected that in a procedural vote and are pushing a one year extension. keep in mind payroll tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits expire in less than two weeks. >> our members do not want to just punt and do a two-month short term fix where we have to come back and do this again. we're here, we're willing to work. >> it's just a radical tea party republicans who are holding up this tax cut for the american people and jeopardizing our economic growth. >> but what's the real problem? we'll talk to republican strategist ron christy to get answers. if you're heading west, check the forecast. people in a number of states are dealing with, yes, this, blizzard warnings are in ef

. >>> i'm natalie allen in for randi kaye. >>> the death of north korea's kim jong-il and its impact are far reaching and go beyond just the man. the 69-year-old reclusive dictator reportedly died of a heart attack saturday. but now questions revolve around north korea's future and the region's security. north korea fired a short-range missile today but officials say it was just routine. >>> meantime, south korea's cabinet held an emergency meeting and put its forces on high alert. we are keeping our eye on that developing situation. more on that and north korea's new potential successor in a few minutes with former u.s. assistant secretary of state james ruben. don't miss that. we'll talk with him. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton will be making a statement at any moment now about north korea and kim jong-il's death. this is a live picture from the state department. clinton is just wrapping up a meeting with the japanese foreign minister at the department of state. a joint statement is expected to follow shortly. earlier president obama called south korea's president to re-aff

. >> cnn newsroom continues right now with randi kaye. >> hello. it's 1:00 eastern. let's get straight to the news. a week ahead of the. >> with a caucuses ron paul's campaign is blasting allegations of a former aid that paul opposed the war in afghanistan is personally uncomfortable around gays and thinks israel is more trouble than its worth. in an online essay he says he is not anti-semitic and not homophobic. he'll join me on the phone in the next segment and ask the tough questions. >>> with one week to the way caucuses, it is an easy guess where they are today. five in fact crisscrossing the hawkeye state right now or will be later today, including perry, gingrich, bachmann and romney. on the ground right now in iowa, sanatorium at the gop headquarters in fort dodge. romney was on the stump in new hampshire this morning but is expected in iowa later today. next tuesday's bat sl the first contest in the race for the republican nomination for those living in iowa you can expect an explosion of campaign television and radio commercials. latest american he verge gr

randi kaye is off. let's get right to the news today. >>> president obama is taking comfort and even, yes, a little credit for a brand-new jobs report that shows movement in the right direction. november saw a net gain in jobs of 120,000. also a surprising drop in the jobless rate from 9% to 8.6%. we'll get into the numbers more here shortly. but at an event promoting energy efficiency, the president noted 21 consecutive months of private sector job creation and pledged to keep the growth going. to that end he wants congress to work through the holidays if they need to to pass an extension of a payroll tax cut. all year long americans have paid just 4.2% on their paychecks into social security as opposed to the usual 6.2%. that's due to end at the end of this month. democrats want the cut deepened to 3.1% with a new tax on millionaires to pay for it. republicans say they could live with extending the current rate, but only if spending cuts offset it. last night in the senate both parties' plans were vot

i'm isha sesay in for randi kaye. >>> with your paycheck, taxes and benefits on the line, president barack obama is intensifying the pressure on house republicans to pass a short-term extension on the payroll tax cut. the president just spoke about this moments ago. his comments followed this twitter campaign launched by the white house that asks what people would do with $40. the amount they stand to lose each week. the president was tciting dozen of tweeters that responded. >> nearly every democrat in the senate voted for that compromise. nearly every republican in the senate voted noor compromise. democrats and even some republicans in the house voted for that compromise. i am ready to sign that compromise into law the second it lands on my desk. so far the only reason it hasn't landed on my desk -- the only reason -- is because a faction of house republicans have refused to support this compromise. >> senate republicans also putting pressure on the house. if congress doesn't act, the payroll tax cut and emergency unemployment benefits expire on december 31st. >>> the weather is becomin

randi kaye is off. let's get right to the news today. >>> president obama is taking comfort and evye

holmes in for randi kaye today. let's keep an eye on the markets. shall we? heck of a day yesterday. the strongest rally on wall street in more than 2 1/2 years. traders and investors wonder if we can keep this up. not quite keeping it up. for the most part the dow has been flat to slightly lower all day. right now you see it about 70 points down. yesterday a gain of 490 points was the biggest by far of this year. percentage wise the biggest since march of 2009. where are things happening today? hong kong, share prices there up more than 5.5%. we won't be going to for a away from the story on the markets. also today, world aids today. the world is marking 30 years since hiv was discovered. leaders, researchers and activists are pushing a very big goal -- ending aids forever. president obama today announced a $50 million boost in funding for hiv prevention and treatment in america. and also a goal of helping 6 million people access life saving treatments worldwide. much more on this in our face time segments moments from now. >>> 160 million americans may not

i'm in for randi kaye for the next hour or so. inside a month before the iowa caucuses, the gop race for president is getting more interesting now. the current front-runner, former house speaker newt gingrich, due to brief reporters in new york city this hour. his 50-state strategy is the topic. earlier today gingrich met with donald trump who flirted with his own white house run, and who now plans to host a republican debate, after christmas. >>> then there is ex-candidate herman cain whose endorsement could go to gingrich eventually. though he now says he's going to take his time. stay with us, we'll bring you those comments live at 1:45 eastern time. >>> also, president obama, we are told, is going to have some sort of statement or briefing in the briefing room of the white house. the subject is going to be taxes. a lot of talk of that up on capitol hill. we'll hear what the president has to say this hour. >>> and what does first class mean to you? to the debt-laden u.s. postal service it would mean two to five days instead of