jason at rebar, now gone. we are at least doing what we can to salvage what we can. >> couples were contacting me asking me for help and asking me questions. >> and you're helping them for free? >> yeah. >> but you don't have a job. >> this is true but we feel a moral obligation. >> reporter: meanwhile the new york attorney general is investigating the wedding complaints. remember that sign, claiming rebar was bankrupt. well it turns out, stevens has not filed any bankruptcy papers. amazingly, these issues happen all the time. and it's why some insurance companies help you insure your wedding plans. for example, a $250 premium will insure a $25,000 wedding. abby and ryan didn't have that insurance. but still have love and hope. >> he doesn't get to steal our day. >> you're getting married anyway? >> we are. we just don't know where. >> reporter: for "nightline," gio benitez in new york. >>> next, the latest v.a. controversy underscores the need to take care of those who served. tonight we bring you inside the

abby and ryan got engaged and picked this happening new york wedding spot, rebar.hey thought they'd get a deal. 5% discount for all upfront payments? >> yeah. >> reporter: so they wrote a check for more than $13,000 and gave it to rebar's owner, jason stevens. just months later, this -- "closed and bankrupt." where was stevens? well, just days ago, a bizarre twist. he turned himself in, but for completely unrelated charges of criminal tax fraud and grand larceny. we went searching where we knew he'd be, court. >> no comment now. >> reporter: we want to talk about all those couples that are left scrambling now for a new wedding venue. are you going to give them their money back? he pleaded guilty to those charges, but those angry brides weren't having it. >> you've got over $800,000 from 160 couples. >> reporter: and now, wedding planners who worked for stevens are speaking out. even though this place was closing on friday, he wasn't coming to you and saying, don't take any more checks? >> nope. >> reporter: so what can we learn? well, some insurance companies help

that's what the rebar's all about. whereas if you go to an israeli town, you'll see a lot of roofs that are red tile, you know, california-type of sloped roofs. so elie says look at that palestinian up to, there's a red-tiled roof, there's another one, i see half a dozen without even looking. he says what that tells me is that people are prosperous enough that the son can get married and buy his own house. and he said nobody's going to be a suicide bomber who lives in a house with a red tile roof. so, again, that's kind of oversimplified, but there may be some hope there somewhere. >> so building on your, the idea of letting go of the expectation of what happens once your book is published, what usually happens after you write a book? do you get like a post-publication depression until your next project? >> yes, yes. >> have you started on the next project? what is it? >> yeah. that's definitely true. when i first came out here many moons ago, i've been in the movie business. if i had a movie that was coming out, anyth

. >> say they land down on to the rebar on the foundation you saw and then we're all going to ask ourselves, why didn't we go ahead with the order of abatement and not have this on our hands. i want my hands to be washed of this so that if an accident happens we don't [inaudible]. that's where i stand on this. >> let me ask you then, how do we deal with situations where we issue permits for replacing front stairs? >> when we issue a permit there's a timeline and the property owner is encouraged to meet that timeline and get the work done and get it inspected. if they miss a deadline there's a provision to give and if the permit expires they can come back at a later date and renew it but this is going right back to 1987. >> i understand. but when we issue permits for people to replace their stairs, do we require them to have a temporary solution for egress? >> there is another egress. >> right now we have two expired permits for this building so without a valid permit in place that's signed off, i can't speak to what's legal and illegal in that house. i have to consider everything involved i

some more shots of the decking the rebar started last week and as i said before there's a pore anticipated at the end of the month or early june and rebracing also continues a little further east of the lower con course decking work and in the far eastern zone there was a slab pore pore number 11 and pore number 12 will be at the end of this month and this is the reinforcing steel for pore number 12 one of the highlights of that area it's the foundation for the main light column in the middle of the project there and those are the anchor bolts you might recall the slab there is 5 feet thick you can see the anchor bolts are 6 to 7 feet long. the geothermal work finished up and the subgrade preparation before the mud slab and the mud slab going in and the waterproofing continuing on the eastern zone so on the cast nodes we're working through the first full release the first 3 columns the very first column denoteses the total number of cast notes being fabric ated and in process and cast machining columns but there's a total of 56 and a total of fifty have been shipped to the steel fabric ate

reporter: one architect recommends a gym with outer walls that are 12 inches and reinforced steel rebar, a four-inch concrete roof over a layer of metal and steel doors with three-point anchors. the school is being built with a safe room but retro fitting every school in oklahoma would cost nearly a billion dollars, money the state says it doesn't have. neither oklahoma nor the seven other states in the part of the country the government calls tornado alley requires storm shelters in new schools, leaving millions of students exposed. >> the chances are, we're going to have another f-5 and are we going to be prepared? the answer is no. >> reporter: the governor insists voters in local school districts should decide whether to build shelters and raise property taxes in order to pay for them. with half a million kids potentially at risk, is this not a state priority? >> the better way to do it is allow local control like we build local schools because they know what is needed in the community itself. >> reporter: another elementary school in moore does have a tornado shelter, steel doors,

so, we did it. >> reporter: their salesman, jason stevens, rebar's owner.who was standing right in front of you, and telling you, your wedding is going to happen right here? >> oh, yeah. >> he was a great guy. nice guy. i liked him a lot. >> reporter: but just months after giving stevens that check, a shocker. rebar's front door chained up with this sign reading closed and bankrupt. you thought it was a joke. >> i couldn't believe it. >> reporter: but it was no joke. the couple says stevens was missing in action. nowhere to be found. and just last week, stevens turns himself in to cops. but not for stiffing couples. prosecutors charged him with something completely unrelated. criminal tax fraud and grand larceny. we knew he would be at a court appearance thursday. so "gma" investigates was waiting. mr. stevens, gio with "good morning america." >>no comment. >> reporter: we want to talk about the couples that are scrambling for a new wedding venue. are you going to give them their money back? we found couples outside, with the amounts they say they lost. $34

he said the steel rebar in the school's cinder block walls was inadequate, only overlapping 6 to 8 inches in some spots when it should have overlapped at least 24. >> this wall should not have been able to come apart. >> reporter: he also found one support beam was not properly connected to the wall. the findings are now being peer reviewed by the american society of civil engineers, which has not issued its final report on its investigation and would not comment. was briarwood built up to code? >> absolutely. >> reporter: jamie flemming is the spokesman for moore public schools. >> it was built to the standards of that day. >> reporter: after decades of focusing on hurricane-prone regions, researchers are pushing to strengthen building codes throughout tornado alley to withstand low-level twisters. among the suggestions, metal straps holding a building's roof to its walls and the walls to the foundation. >> i think it's going to catch on across the country in tornado-prone areas. >> reporter: just last month, moore became the first city in the country to pass new stronger residential bui

a worker cutting rebar with a blowtorch ignited a section of the bridge on monday. traffic was backed up for 20 miles. >>> a different scene in sacramento, as officers chased a small dog. check that out. no one was fast enough to get ahold of him. eventually, it ran off the road into a neighborhood. >> what a quick, little guy. all right. >>> looking at your wednesday weather. clear along the west coast. but snowshowers in the northern rockies. a band of severe storms extends from the great lakes into the plains. >> temperatures heating up to the 80s across most of the midwest and south. it's still chilly across the northern plains. and it will be mild along the west coast. >>> coming up, the surprising, new menu addition at subway. >>> and monica lewinsky breaking years of silence about her affair with president bill clinton. even talking about the beret and famous blue dress. >>> and lion clubs are getting lessons in swimming. and it's adorable. >>> welcome back. major retailers are announcing a new round of store closures. office depot says it will be closing at

this very corner here, you see the post there that's been sheered off basically, the concrete and the rebar. right below that on what really is the first floor. >> reporter: it flooded here yesterday. >> all the way up to ceiling. >> reporter: it flooded all the way up to the ceiling. >> all the way up to the ceiling. >> of the first floor. >> are there gas lines here. >> there are. the explosion was quite intense. right above that, straight across is where we know that there are two inmate bodies right now just in the next floor up here. we have not recovered those two bodies yet because the fire marshall and the a.t.f. have not cleared the building. >> reporter: this surveillance video shows the moment of the blast. 600 people were inside the jail. 184 guard and inmates were loaded on to ambulances and buses and taken to five area hospitals. >> nobody can tell me anything about my son. >> reporter: sheila travis confronted sheriff morgan outside the jail. she spoke to her son, inmate kevin johnson, four hours before the explosion. >> the inmates were complaining of a gas smell and getting

oklahoma architect recommends using a gym for a safe room with 12-inch outer walls and reinforced steel rebarfour-inch concrete roof over a reinforced layer of metal and steel doors with three-point anchors. the new school is being built with a safe room but retrofitting every school in oklahoma would cost nearly a billion dollars. money the state says it doesn't have. neither oklahoma nor the seven other states in the part of the country the government calls tornado alley requires storm shelters in new schools. leaving millions of students exposed. >> the chances are we are going to have another f-5 tornado and are we going to be prepared? the answer is, no. >> reporter: the governor insists voters in local school districts should decide whether to build shelters and raise their property taxes to pay for them. >> with 500,000 kids potentially at risk, is this not a state priority? >> i think the better way to do it is allow once again the local control like we build our local schools right now because they know what is needed in the community itself. >> reporter: another elementary school in

one architect recommends using a gym for the safe room and using the reinforced rebar, and the concrete room over a reinforced use of metal and three-point anchors, but the problem is that retro fitting every school in oklahoma with a storm shelter would cost more than $1 billion and the state legislature cannot agree on how the pay for it. moore, oklahoma, was the first city in america to pass new stronger rez dsidential codes s that the homes can withstand winds of 135-mile-an-hour, and for years of concentrating on the hurricane areas, there is emphasis on tornado alley. some of the suggestions are the new reinforced straps to connect the walls to the roof, and the roof to the foundation. this may not save a home from ef-5 tornado, but it could minimize the damage from the lower level like ef-1 or ef-2, and meanwhile, here in moore, as we look at ttaat the remembranc ceremony, people are realizing that they have come a long way from one year ago here in moore, oklahoma. >> thank you, gabe. our thoughts and players are with the people as they hold that remembrance. >>> anger is growin

we represent the work es that are going to make rebar. the last winter in the pipes in the new england states big enough the natural glass in new england. we had to make the decision to shut down paper mills or keep people warm in the winter. we got 2.5 million miles of pipe in america that is more than 60 years old. you go to you are our schools. more than half of our schools are older than 60 years old. . most of our public buildings are older than 75 years old. there's jobs here by the millions. if the congress would work with president obama, he brings forward infrastructure bills, he brings forward the highway trust bill. he brings forward bills to do the infrastructure, jobs bills. like you said, they would rather see people out of work than to give this president a victim vi. >> what is $302 million package do? that's what they're asking for. >> the $302 billion package is really the highway trust bill. and it's not enough. i mean, what we've got to do, ed, is not just fund this for one year or two years. we've got to have a five,

that's when crews tell us that a construction worker using a blow torch trying to cut some rebar set some wood on fire next to it and the fire has been burning continuously since. obviously the 15 was shut down there as cars could not get through in either direction. we're told the backup, upwards of 20 miles and had folks sitting on this freeway for hours. >> 30 to 40 miles of traffic congestion. >> should have got off at the last exit down there. now i'm stuck here all night. >> now i'm stuck on the side of the road. i want to go back down the hill and go back to work. >> reporter: what exactly is the timeline to getting all this cleaned up and drivers back on the road? well, it could be quite some time. first they have to contain the fire. then they have to tear this bridge down completely, remove all the debris off the 15 and make sure there's no structural damage to the 15 freeway itself. then they can reopen. optimistically, charlie, they're looking at one side of the freeway opening by rush hour tonight. the other side hopefully by tomorrow morning, but that still remains to b

rebar today what conference you been. conferences are like commodities . what other revenues of will be generated midweek weekend playoffs. explain. a handful of students, how you will be aired and how you will get this during your career. fear of -- it distinguishes between scholarship athletes and other athletes and likely would get a scholarship if the school were actually allowed to exercise individual choice. instead is a cap that prevents it. that -- directly to your point the way i like to think about the claim that schools are poor in their athletic departments is that it is similar to a wall street banker who brings in a million-dollar salary "but but but. once he is done paying for those things there is not a lot of money left. >> at think that is the point. the knight commission, there is not enough money to help the other sports. as they pointed out psst, creating an unsustainable group of athletic expenses. the $3 million. i recognize that is the exception. more and more people are joining at fraternity. you can't quite take care of your athle

to make them feel right at home -- >> we built this out of steel, rebar and steel mesh that we then shoto stone unturned. rep replicating their natural habitat is all the handy work of a team of artisans who planned, constructed and then painted this landscape over the last two years. >> they're professional artists. they have creative lives outside of the zoo and they just love the work. >> we caught up with them and exhibit director, gary smith, last august. >> it's really challenging. it uses a lot of imagination. >> do the lizards really notice all that you're putting into this? >> places for them to hide places for them to search for food. it's a very exciting space for the animals to be in. >> there is attention to every pain staking detail, using models built to scale before any ground breaking began. then came the hard part. duplicating their ideas in the real world. >> they're replicating a real place. this is the island off the coast of indonesia. >> to the extent of making sure that each shade of gray or beige is to perfection. >> yeah, the soil in here is matched the soil on

this story before with chinese currency manipulation and state subsidies that have crushed our tin, rebar, and rolled steel. among others. the i.t.c. must have the tools to protect our small businesses and this amendment is a step in the right direction. let's be clear, madam chairman. do we want to keep talking about jobs or do we want to do something about it? supporting this amendment will be an immense help for small employers in fighting back against unfair trade. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from west virginia yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. wolf: strike the requisite number of words. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. wolf: i rise in strong support of this amendment. the gentleman from west virginia is exactly right. one of the frustrating things many of these chinese state-owned companies, keep in mind in china there are 24 catholic bishops under house arrest. nobody seems to care. big law firms in washington that represent the chinese government. nobody seems to care. t

investigators say the bridge caught fire on monday afternoon after a worker cutting rebar with a blow nearly 20 miles. >>> major developments this morning. about v. stiviano. starting with an extortion investigation. the l.a. district attorney looking into an allegation that stiviano was trying to get money from l.a. clippers owner donald sterling in return for the remaining hours of audiotape she has of him. part of a recording is what prompted the lifetime ban from the nba. tmz is reporting that she has been arrested four times, and has used six different aliases in the last dozen years. another report suggests she's becoming the foster mother to two boys she has known for years. >>> l.a. clippers president is taking an indefinite leave from the team. this comes as the nba seeks a new ceo to oversee that team. >>> as for the nba playoffs, the clippers play game two against oklahoma city tonight. last night in miami, it was the two-time defending champion heat shaking off eight days of rest and beating the brooklyn nets 107-86. that gives lebron james and the heat a one-game to none

proportion in many areas are very very unreliable they also have root rot at least currall and new rebar going to the station and smaller bowls and higher labor costs a whole list of things we can go wrong i personally didn't investigation in the asking the broadness who did the first hand investigation who did the analysis and they confirmed that the bt cotton will sometimes perform well and sometimes the disaster in fact the government of india the state governments have condemned mud said those cotton and in some cases take them out of the state saying that it was causing massive failure so when the government says so when independent agronomist say so and farmers themselves at one point the farmers in one village actually. attacked the month santos seed company pulled out its side burkett had a big rally and another time they kidnapped a lot of fans a representative and how there could be released by the police so the farmers the government and independent agronomist agree but monsanto what they want to promote the higher marketing companies who are all for state results by much as a