Transcripts For HLN Morning Express With Robin Meade 20100129

good morning. friday and it looks good on you, doll. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on now. toyota reports it now has a way to fix millions of dangerous gas pedals. why it could take weeks to make cars safe. >> it is our heavenly father's. he is our creator. he gives and takes life. it's nl up to man to take a life, only in self-defense or for others. >> the man accused of killing a person who performs abortions has no -- a john edwards sex tape. what his former aid has to say about that. my word! first, a story that impacts all of us. there's a possible fix for millions o f recalls toyotas and a break in what led to the problems. a small indiana company calls cts. all the vehicles in the accelerator recall have cts pedals. they said they built it to toyota's specifications. meanwhile, toyota is not selling cars and the owners are angry and worried. >> what's going happen when someone is at a stop sign or going through and the gas goes like that and they don't know to put it in neutral or lose control. >> they cannot expect us, as consumers to drive a car they are no longer willing to sell. >> yes. toyota is not selling the cars involved in the recall. this affects all of us. if you are on the road, it affects you. the person behind you could have the same problem. >> if you have run away cars on the road, everyone is in danger. the l.a. times said 19 people have died in crashes or incidents linked to this. your dealer could have a fix to this. it's according to the wall street journal. the paper says a shim would be added to that pedal to keep it from sticking and of course that's what's happening when the cars are going out of control. that's for the 2 million cars affected here. the paper says toyota is hoping the government will give it approval. they want to get it out asap. toyota said some replacement parts are being made. toy toyota is saying something, but we can't tell what they mean by it. it's not helpful. it's run beyond toyota. ford stopped making vehicles too, because they used some of the parts from cts as well. for the details, if you want to know if your car is affected, check out cnn.com/robin, looking out for you. if you hit the brakes, hit them hard and hold them down, don't pump the brake. >> dear old dad taught you to pump the brakes. >> not in this case. we told you this storm is coming. here is what it looked like in texas. some parts of that state got a foot of snow. in arizona the snowstorm would be great for businesses that rely on ski traffic. the severe weather caused a road closure and it's driving away the customers. >> it's been a rough week. >> when we have empty spots in front of the store, it's not good. >> please come visit us, we need the viz. >> bob van dillen is keeping an eye on the storm because it's moving eastward and means trouble along the line of the northeast and southeast, right? in a few minutes, he'll have everything you need to know plus the latest watches and warnings. no talking or texting on driving has no impact on our safety? it's the gist of a new study. new york, connecticut, california and d.c. found crash rates didn't change after the bans took effect. the man who admits killing a doctor who performed abortions testified he has no regrets about what he did. closing arguments begin today. he said he shot dr. george tiller to save unborn children. the jury can't consider that during deliberations. >> i got up at that moment and followed him out and into the foyer area and -- i -- i did what i thought was needed to be done to protect the children. i shot him. >> doctor george tiller was known for performing late term abortions. he shot him in the church because it was the only window of opportunity he had. s john edwards former aids found something shocking when he was cleaning his house. it was a video of him having sex with a pregnant woman. young and hunter shared a home briefly. the tape was made a couple month before the 2007 iowa caucuses. he's got a book coming out tomorrow about the scandal and his role covering it up during the campaign. hln reached out to edwards and hunt hunter for the claim. elizabeth edwards has comments on the book. we have that in about 30 minutes. i was making plans this weekend to go to nk nrk. i don't think it's going to happen now because of the winter storm. >> glad you didn't go. it's going to get rough. if you left now, from atlanta to charlotte or vice versa, now is the time to go. we are watching the beginning stages of it in the mississippi valley. it's going to be a heck of a snow maker. you talk about that stuff going in. >> happy friday. you are just being yourself. you know what? it is a heck of a snowstorm. >> it is. i don't care at this point. a little freezing rain in memphis and little rock as well. look at dallas. you're all rain. snow is coming down kansas city. not that much of a snow maker for you guys. northern parts of kentucky in towarden tennessee. this red-shaded area is the winter storm warnings. sleet and snow. snow is going to pile up to a foot to foot and a half in central virginia and north carolina. we had a tornado warning north of houston. not anymore. the high is still liquid. it's not freezing. north, we are getting the snow and freezing rain for oklahoma. moving to little rock and arkansas then the northern parts of tennessee. the light snow beginning to come through. give it time and it's going to move by. it's not just here. maine, ice jam flooding. this is what happens when the ice breaks up a little bit and acts like a natural dam. hey, two curse words in one weather report. yeah. that's what it looks like above maine. >> of course, you didn't mean to do it and you cleaned it upright away. >> whatever. i don't know what you're talking act. jay leno hasn't talked to conan o'brien since taking over the "late night show." he didn't think it was a bad thing to do. >> you said you haven't called him? >> it's not the right time. i'm not sure what i would say now. let some time pass. i would hope we can talk, again. >> has leno aged through this? why insiders think it could be a good move for leno. you know, many people in the entertainment world think it was a good idea for jay leno to go on the oprah show. a publicist talked to joy behar about it. >> it looks as though jay is in full damage control here. how is he doing with it. >> i think it was a great move to go on oprah. he needed a forum. she had him on for an hour. it wasn't a sound byte. he told his side of the story. it was misunderstood prior to him doing this. we'll see how the papers play it, but going in, i don't think it was going to be worse for jay leno. i think he's going to convert his fans back to his side. >> he'll return to "the tonight show" march 1. you can catch the joy behar show here on hln. jorge has been deployed four times in the last five years. now, he's in haiti helping out after the earthquake there. >> i'm barbara. i'm saluting my husband of the united states marine corps. my husband just returned in december from his last deployment and had to leave 17 days later to go to haiti. we haven't seen him for more than 17 days since april of last year. we are awaiting his return. we love you and miss you and can't wait for you to come home. >> you can hear it in your voice. go to cnn.com/rob bib. a guy in florida thought he struck it rich. his cash windfall bit the dust. that story is new for you in 30 minutes. >> what? >> she's laughing. that isn't nice. all right, you probably know someone looking for work. today, the president is going to propose a tax credit to get more companies on the hiring side. here is jennifer westhoven. hey. >> hey. he had jobs as a big theme during the speech. today, the president is going to propose an idea that for every -- for a small company, for every new worker they hire, they will get $5,000. they can get it up to a maximum of $500,000. at some point, you wouldn't be a small company, anymore. the white house expects 1 million businesses to benefit from the credit. they hope it's part of long term growth, not for a short time. if it's approved by congress, it's retro active to the beginning of the year. starting this morning, one of the biggest gauges we get about the economy is coming up. gross domestic product. it's about to show the economy grew. you're going grew? yeah. more than 4% in the fourth quarter. it may not be what you see. the way we see the economy, the number one way all of us participate in the economy is with our job. the job market is still in tough shape. unemployment 10%. usually, the way it works is the job market takes longer to heal than some of the economic numbers like gdp. officials will say the economy is technically growing. they don't boast about it. they know things don't necessarily feel like that for you. robin. >> thank you. >> it was a long explanation, huh? i hope you get it, though. >> appreciate it. we are talking today about a winter storm that's probably going to affect your travel plans. more on that. also, we are going to talk about toyota's fix, reportedly, with the problems for their cars. it was every man for himself as more aid arrived in the streets of haiti. haitian government workers threw bags of rice, beans and oil down to the crowd. people started swarming up the sides of the truck. there were only 200,000 bags of rations. the women had to fight over scraps. it's a pitiful sight. we have an update on a 16-year-old girl pulled from the rubble. she was too weak to say her name when she was rescued. she's stabilized now. she was trapped near the bathroom of her house, so they think she had access to water. people going back to work. this clothing factory is one of several buildings built well enough to with stand the quake. about half of the 1300 workers returned, making clothes for mostly u.s. retailers. >> translator: we are the ones who survived. working is a good thing. it's a positive step to go back to work. we need to exist economically even if we are grieving the loss of our family and friends. >> yeah. if you want to help the quake victims, head to cnn.com/robin and click on the impact link. you are going to find a list of local and international groups providing aid. we could note next week what the pentagon's plan is to repeal a don't ask, don't tell policy. defense secretary robert gates is expected to talk about the plan. now, the 1993 law bars them from revealing their sexual orientation. what do you think? is it time for don't ask, don't tell to end? we are getting comments on facebook. stacia writes, there are way too many issues to work out. prif si, sexual harassment. if it's not broke, don't fix it. laura writes, i think our country is moving in the direction of accepting alternative lifestyles. it's time the military does the same. >> i know you have an opinion. go to cnn.com/robin and hit the contact us button or facebook us. oh, you can text, too. 45688, the keyword is robin, ok okay? death threats and hate mail. joe court arter is in for rafer more on the story. is this the same skater with a reality show, too. >> this is johnny weir. the cost tomb is causing controversy. death threats and hate mail would be enough to change my minld. he showed up with a piece of fox fur on his body suit. it angered the animal rights groups. he got death threats and hate mail. now, he's going to swap it out with fake fox fur. he said he didn't want something as silly as his costume disrupting his chance at an olympic medal. does the punishment fit the crime. lebron james kicked a water bottle during a game and was fined $25,000. the same night, an nhl player used a helmet to hit another player on the ice he was only fined $2500 for that. what's worse? okay, should new orleans schools shut down after the super bowl? that's the question administrators are pondering. some schools are planning to cancel classes by using an emergency day, a day built into the calendar. other schools haven't made the decision. when the saints won, one pair said more than 8000 kids were not in their seats in school compared to 3500 on a typical day. the question is, do you give them the day off? >> i have heard some of the football players there in new orleans say how much the town is just crazy for them and how a lot of people will miss work. like, it's almost cultural people will miss work on a great day after the football game. >> it's a national holiday. give them the day off. >> the educators are online 3. bob is here with an update. good morning. >> good morning, it's not just the storm in the country, it's the northeast. it's only 6:21 in the eastern time zone. atlanta, rain. it's not until later tonight. dallas, one hour or more. watch for the rain there. this morning, san francisco rain and fog. more in a bit. >> thank you. you know, do you want to stay young looking? no, i want to age all i can. how about you? >> absolutely. >> we have help in the kitchen. [ music ] >> welcome to comcast local edition, i'm donna richardson, and my guest this hour is leslie prewitt, director of external operations, opportunity builders. good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> can you tell the viewers about opportunity builders incorporated and what exactly the organization does? >> absolutely. we have been around for 47. we were started in 1962. we provokessa provide training d rehabilitation. >> what are the services you offer your clients? >> there are 170 that stay in our warehouse that do packaging then we have 180 individuals that go out and work for local employer. >> you have the employers who are helping out and also having the contracts to give those, like you said, in the warehouse employment possibilities. >> absolutely. we're always looking to new contracts to fulfill, inside of our warehouse and then outside we're always looking for new employers to hire our adults. >> now all of this, i know it takes funding, and you've got a fund-raiser coming up. >> right. >> so tell us about your mardi gras. >> well, hence the beads so you know why i'm wearing beads. we are very proud of our 12th annual mardi gras. we have live music, we have a casino, an auction, great food, beer, wine, and ice cream and it's a great night and a lot of fun. >> it does sound like a lot of fun. how much are the tickets to be able to enjoy all this fun? >> the tickets are $50 each. >> very, very reasonable, and it sounds like you're getting a huge value with the opportunity of the casinos and the great food and the auctions and the dancing. >> uh-huh. >> so with this, because i know it takes a lot of dollars in order to run the program, how do you plan to use the proceeds? >> the proceeds will help with our operating expenses, especially with the downturn in the economy and budget cuts, we will be using it to assist the organization. >> leslie, i do have a question. how do your clients become a part of opportunity builders? >> they are funded for the developmental disability administration. if someone is interested, if a family is interested in having family members participate in an opportunity with opportunity builders, they would call and then we would direct them to our director of employment that would start them through the process of the program. >> once they're in the program, do you also provide training before the clients either work in the warehouse or go out to work with your partner businesses? >> absolutely. in the warehouse, we do have an instructor to assist individuals with each contract, and as far as the individuals who go out into the community and work, we do training for those individuals. they have a one on one coach so we'll make sure the individual knows how to do the job before we have them working on their own. >> in going back to mardi gras, do you need any volunteers to help out, because that's a big undertaking you have so many different activities going on? >> absolutely. we can always use volunteers, but we can always use the ticket sales, and that's really a big emphasis for us, ticket sales and sponsorships. >> exactly. so there are sponsorship opportunities available? >> absolutely. >> how can they reach you if they want to buy tickets or become a sponsor? they can call our office. >> perfect. well, leslie, thanks so much for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> our guest this hour is less by prior to director of external operations at opportunity builders. for comcast local edition, i'm donna richardson. [ music ]eeeeeeeeeeee toyota reports it now has a way to fix millions of dangerous gas pedals. ford stopped making some cars because it uses some of the same pedals. a shim, apparently, would be added to keep the pedestrianal from sticking in the 2 million cars affected. two of michael jackson's children plan to take the stage. paris and prince michael will accept an award in his honor. it will be the first public appearance since his death in july. bans on texting and driving don't keep you safer. they said the crash rate didn't change in three states in d.c. after the bans were in effect. laws targeting one distraction are ineffective because drivers face way too many distractions. good morning. as the alarm clock goes off, you can do it one more morning. i'm robin meade. the storm bringing ice and snow in the midwest is bringing dangerous conditions. this is texas. high winds tore the roof off the nursing home in ft. worth. nobody was hurt. >> 60-mile-an-hour winds came through and took a piece of the roof off. sounded like a truck hit the roof. a big bam. boom. you hear that with metal. >> it brought the first heavy rainfall to abilene, texas. oklahoma is getting a lot of snow from the storm and the system is moving eastward. in a few minutes, bob van dillen is going to tell you who's weekend plans are fouled up. elizabethedwards. she's talking about a boom from a former john edwards aid. a spokesperson for elizabeth edwards sent out this statement. an 11-month-old boy who police say was abducted in california was found in new mexico unharmed. his mother flew to abker key to get him. >> there you go, ma'am. >> well, police say the boy's father did not put up a fight when he was caught. he was planning to drive to missouri with him. scott brown joked around with jay leno. he asked him about posing nude, again, if he decided to run for president. >> would you consider doing it again to get female voters? >> it's a good question. the only reason i did it in 1982 is because you were unavailable. obviously, 30 years later, i would have to do it for mature, senior, aarp magazine. it's a little different now. >> he told leno he thought he could beat president obama at hoops. i kind of like somebody who owns it. right? he's not saying no, i didn't do it. yeah, i did it. >> big whoop. >> good morning, bob. look at the storm. it's going to foul up plans for the weekend. >> we have warn iings from new mexico to the carolinas and v va. here is what it looks like now. the center circulation is around dallas and houston. the colder air mass, all freezing rain and snow. the freezing rain, sleet, in the pink shaded areas. it's the northern sections of arkansas, western tennessee and kentucky. it's around kansas city and st. louis. an inch or two of snow there. it's found in the belt around northern arkansas, tennessee and the carolinas and northern georgia. also lower parts of virginia. what about the severe weather threat? we had some out there this morning. this line is north of houston. winds gusting to 60 miles per hour. this morning, about an hour and a half ago there was a tornado warning attaches. it's expired. the heavy rain is out there for dallas. the temperatures are above freezing. it's plain old liquid. not true around little rock. light freezing rain is switching to snow for you. then light snow in kentucky with all the snow moving through. as much as a foot to foot and a half in north carolina and virginia. let's go live to nyc. the arctic air is clearly in place. the high is 27. you finally crack the freezing mark with a high of 34. beautiful shot. there's the umpire state building m. >> it's pretty. thank you. yep. paper time. i'm going to do the work for you. you sit back and drink the coffee like you're drinking the paper. new york times or new york city may not host the civilian trial for the accused 9/11 master mind. they are concerns about the cost and security. the obama administration is considering other sites for the trial. an alarming story about soldiers and suicide. eight soldiers committed suicide in as many days this year. army commanders are told the tell soldiers how much their suicides are valued. in california, want to claim a piece of the moon? the l.a. times says the state is trying to register a ban in equipment as a resource. that's interesting. that's a check of the papers. you might think you are saving a buck when you bay an knock-off brand of perfume. it could be toxic. >> it's crash and burn time at the x-games. an oregon couple testified about why they did not take their dying son to a doctor. they believe in faith healing instead of medical treatment. they are charged with homicide in the 2008 death of their son, neil. she believed her son had a cold or the flu. >> i think, for me, the feeling is the belief of knowing that god can heal. i didn't believe he was going to die. [ inaudible ] . >> her son had a urinary tract infection that could have been easily treated. closing remarks are expected today. okay, who doesn't love a bargain? if you buy cheap, knock-off bottles of perfume, you could make yourself sick. jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. some brands, they cal themselves imposture brands. >> it's not what you see in a drugstore that says if you like this then you'll love. it's think chinatown, new york city. they found antifreeze, toxic chemicals and urine. >> eww! disgusting. >> this months, "harpers bizarre." they are looking at the officials going after them. they say they looked at the perfume sold on street corners, the internet. because it gets absorbed into your skin, it can hurt you, you can get a rash. look closely at the bottle. if the color isn't the same as the real one, if the label is crooked or misspelled, it could be fake. officials are saying you are better off not buying perfume from street venders. they say it can support all kind of black market materials. ben bernanke is staying for a second term. the vote was 70 to 30. the president had lobbied hard to keep the chairman in office. is this a job you really want to keep for another four years? >> man! thank you so much. a georgia man was work iingn his car when he found a bag containing 200,000 bucks in the backseat. the loot is counterfeit. that didn't stop all the initial excitement. >> i looked at it and said, i won't say what i said, but, look here. we're rich. these are $100 bills. >> bless his heart. the car was new to him. it was impounded in a drug bust. authorities are trying to figure out who it may have belonged to. >> we honor an every day person doing extraordinary work. this week, it's tom henderson and his disaster relief organization. he's bringing supplies and hope to thousands of haitians struggling after the earthquake. >> reporter: more than 1 million people have been left homeless. that's one in nine haitians. hundreds of thousands now live in makeshift camps, in at the present times built with whatever they can find. many don't have that. that's what motivates tom henderson and his shelter box team. since 2001, they have helped thousands of disaster victims. >> it's shelter in a box. prepackaged aid delivered in a box. blanke blankets, a ten-person tent. >> 12 minutes after the earthquake, the crew sprang into action. >> the plan is to move as many boxes to haiti as we can. >> the challenge of getting the boxes from here to haiti have been a nightmare. infrastructure is nonexistent. >> when boxes arrived last week, the impact was immediate. for henderson, that's the idea. >> if you have lost everything, it's about shelter, warmth, comfort and dignity. >> reporter: by the end of january, more than 7,000 boxes will be in haiti, housing 70,000 people. there's much more to be done. >> there are thousands of people dying every day. that's what drives us forward. this is not a job for us. it's a passion. >> shelter box. such a great idea. for more information on how you can help in haiti, go to cnn.com/robin. a former nba player from haiti. do not miss an emotional reunion. we could hear pivotal temperature from a minister who counseled drew peterson's wife. morning. quarter to the hour. a minister who counseled drew peterson's fourth wife, stacey is set to go testify. he faces charges of murdering his third wife, kathleen savio. stacey warned her sister two days before disappearing, if anything happened to her, peterson was involved. >> she hates drew. you know, i think she always hated drew. >> does she have such an ax to grind with drew she would falsify the testimony? >> no. >> kathleen savio was killed in 2004. the testimony from the minister is important. peterson's fourth wife has been missing since 2007. he's a suspect in the case, but hasn't been charged. a man set himself on fire in a city street. a police officer accidentally sprayed him with pepper spray. how it happened is new for you in about 30 minutes. you probably heard saints fans saying who dat. who owns that phrase? is nfl thinks they do. >> good job on that. people who own stores and selling the merchandise is the people's phrase. the nfl says nope, we own that. stores have been ordered to stop printing it. the nfl says the phrase is a violation of the saints trademark rights. it allows a third party a free ride. the people who recorded the aaron nevill song when the saints go marching in ses they own it. who knows. >> it might come down to who took the time to underwrite it. >> do you love carry underwood? >> yes. >> she's going to sing at the super bowl. she's not going to be alone. she's going to sing the national anthem. queen latifah is singing "america the beautiful" and the who are playing at halftime. former nba player got a great gift from dr. phil. he was on the talk show talking about how he's coping with 12 family members missing in haiti after the earthquake. then came the surprise. dr. phil flew his father, who was in port-au-prince during the earthquake where he surprised his son. >> was that standing behind him and he didn't know it? >> look at his reaction. >> i wonder if he knew his father was alive? >> he knew. he had no idea he was port-au-prince. great surprise. >> the x-games are under way so bring on the crazy tricks. that's kaleb moore. he pulls off the snowmobile mid 360 trick. that's the trick that won. that's justin hoyer. he does the heel kicker back flip. >> you know you're going to mess up. that's expensive every time you mess up. >> they jump into big things of foam when they practice. >> so that thing can land on you. >> thank you. some debt collectors are taking it just too far and they may have you afraid to even pick up your phone. hln money expert clark howard tells you what to do to stop the bill collectors from harassing you. >> do you owe money? you know what? when you're on your feet, i want you to pay your past due debts but i also want you to know what your rights are. there are collectors who do everything as they should by the books, but there are others who play fast and loose with the laws. here's one of the common things people will be told. they'll be told they're going to go to jail if they don't pay their bills. untrue. there have been extreme cases, i've had the calls come to me, the if they don't pay the bills, their children are going to be taken away from them. if you owe a bill and a collector is paying you, you have no way to pay it, and they're harassing you, you have the right to write them a drop dead letter. once they receive it, they can never contact you again about the debt, at least it gives you time to clear your head. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to take cole control, go to cnn.com/clark howard. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays on hln. bob is trying very hard not to curse about the weather today because he's feeling your pain. seriously, i think a lot of people are frustrated about their weekend plans based on the weather system. more on that. i'm robin meade here's what's going on. it could be weeks before toyota can actually fix millions of dangerous gas pedals. what needs to be done to make the vehicle safe. they now have a fix reportedly. a former aide to john edwards is giving details about a possible sex tape involving the former presidential candidate. what a new book says about that. people in haiti having to fight for food and only one group seemed to get what they needed. pitiful. first though, a winter storm that has already made headaches for millions may foul up your plans. look at texas. some parts got a foot of snow. flights were cancelled out of amarillo. ice and snow combined to make roads very dangerous. the storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. meteorologist bob van dillen is tracking that storm for us. >> it is hard not to curse. you're fighting day care. you got a winter storm bearing down on you. here's your low between dallas and houston. that's the storm. rain coming up out of the gulf of mexico, all rain and turning to all snow for areas around north carolina and virginia overnight tonight through tomorrow. winter storm mornings as far east as the outer banks. that goes through tennessee, through arkansas and oklahoma. heavy snow is out there. we'll tell you where it's going and who's going to get it first coming up in a few minutes. brand new this morning, there is a possible fix for millions of recalled toyotas and now concerns have spread to another, make that to an american car maker. jennifer westhoven has been all over this story this week. the new item is there could be a fix? >> yes, maybe even in the next two weeks, at least according to the "wall street journal." that's good news for people who are worried about their cars. the fix seems to be a shim that would be added to keep the pedal from sticking down and having the car suddenly turn into a run away car. we're talking about 2 million cars. the paper says toyota is hoping to get quick government approval of the shim so they can send it out asap to the dealers. toyota hasn't con pirmed that report. the recall has spread beyond toyota. ford said it would stop making vehicles. it's a very small number relative to what's happening at toyota. remember in much of the auto industry, there are types when you may think you're buying a ford or toyota, but sometimes they use the same suppliers. that's the case here. for all the details on the recall, if you want to know if your car is affected, because the recall did expand, check out our website cnn.com/robin. john edwards said he found something shocking when he was cleaning his house. it was a video of edwards having sex with a visibly pregnant woman, presumably rielle hunter. young and hunter shared a home briefly and young says the tape was made a couple months before the 2007 iowa caucuses. he's got a book coming out tomorrow about the sex scandal and his role covering it up during the presidential campaign. hln has reached out to edwards and hunteder about the claim and are waiting for the comment. elizabeth edwards has come out swinging against two other points in young's book. the man who admits killing a doctor who performed abortions testified that he has no regrets about what he did. closing arguments in scott roeder's murmur trial begin today. he says he shot dr. george tiller to save unborn children, but the judge told the jury that they cannot consider that during deliberations. tiller's family cried as roeder described what happened. >> i got up at that moment and followed him out and into the foyer area and i did what i thought was needed to be done to protect the children. i shot him. >> dr. george tiller was known for late term abortions. he used an armored car and usually wore bulletproof vests. roeder says he shot him in the church because it was the only window of opportunity he had. it was every man for himself as more aid arrived on the streets of haiti. haitian government workers threw bags of rice, beans and oil down to the crowd, but people quickly started swarming up the sides of the truck. there were only 2,000 rations available. you can see the stronger men got what they needed while some of the women fought over the scraps. we also have an update on a 16-year-old girl who was pulled from the rubble after 15 days. she was too weak to say her name when they found her, but hospital officials say she is stabilized now. rescuers say she was trapped near the bathroom of her house so they think shae may have had access to water. jay leno has not spoken to conan o'brien since greeg to take back "the tonight show." he told oprah winfrey that he did not think it was a selfish move but a matter of ratings. leno said it wasn't appropriate to talk to o'brien at this point. >> it's not the right time i'm not sure what i would say. let some time pass and i would hope we could talk again. >> this interview has a lot of people talking. in about 30 minutes why some of the insiders think it was a good move for leno. he's kind of been made to be the bad guy in a situation where nobody wins. i think conan o'brien did okay with 30 million bucks. >> wow. not bad. >> let me show you what's going on. >> major winter storm coming. >> it's gaining more strength as it moves to the east because it's tapping into gulf of mexico moisture. big thunderstorms rolling around dallas and houston. arkansas, missouri, here is central missouri, all snow for you for the morning, rolls to the east. it's going to be rain around the gulf coast. let me take you live to atlanta. concern about weather coming later today. i think it's going to be all rain. overnight tonight it switches into sleet, if you're having travel concerns down here, it's going to be rain around atlanta with winter storm warnings across north georgia mountains. the weather will be in georgia but that would be the northern part of the mountains. look at houston right now. big squall line overhead. huge rain maker. i don't see any tornado warnings. we had some earlier this morningment they have expired. back across the way, it's dallas, it's all rain. not anticipating much in the way of travel problems with ice, you get to the north of here, little rock radar, covered up with freezing rain, sleet and snow. snow aup across the northern parts of arkansas. the whole band will be moving across tennessee and question question. a foot or more of snow in purple. the bull's eye looks like around virginia around the appalachians. lower parts of north carolina. outer banks. it does clear the big cities, philly, new york you're not going to get it. let me show you some maine ice jam jamming. this is the river. it breaks up and collects around the notches. forms a natural it dam and the water spreads out around it. look at that. it's the kanbeck river. so much for the laws that keep you off the cell phone when you're driving. a new study shows they may not make you safer on the road. a louisiana woman has to get the award for the most understanding bribing. she agreed to change her wedding and money moon plans to follow the saints to the super bowl. today's salute to our troops is for jorge gaona. he has been deployed four times in the last five years. he's in haiti helping out after the earthquake. >> hi, robin. my name is barbara gaona. i'm saluting my husband, sergeant jorge gaona. my husband just returned in december from this past deployment and had to leave 17 days later to go to haiti. we haven't seen him for more than 17 days since april of last year. we are awaiting his return and we love you and miss you and can't wait for you to come home. >> barbara, i certainly understand how you're feeling in that you just miss this person so much. if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin so we can salute them. laws that basically say no talking or texting on your hand-held while you're driving have no impact on your safety. that seems to be the gist of a new study, the highway law institute compared accidents in new york, connecticut and d.c. and find the crash rate did not change. there was no change compared to other places without bans. experts are surprised by these studies. earlier studies found your risk was four times higher when you're using a cell phone. some studies that the risk of hands free phone use while driving isn't much different from using the hand-held type. the institute spokesperson said laws targeting certain distractions might not work because drivers have so many distractions. a portland man set himself on fire in the middle of downtown. that's not the weirdest part of the story. new in 30 minutes. how things went from bad to worse when a police officer stepped in to help. you're probably very familiar with somebody working for work. today the president will propose a tax credit to get companies to hire more. our money expert jennifer westhoven. is it targeted towards small businesses? >> small businesses. he talked a lot about jobs in the speech so he's following that up with action. the president's proposals would reward companies for hiring. it would give small companies a $5,000 tax credit for every worker. if they give out pay raises or increase worker hours, they'll get tax incentives for that. congress would have to approve the plans which would, by the way, cost you about $33 billion. later this morning we're going to get one of the biggest gauges on how the economy is doing. it's expected to show technically, the economy is growing. well, technically, that would be goot news in a bad economy. fourth quarter gdp is expected to be up more than 4%. the job market traditionally takes a lot longer to heal than the gdp number. you're looking for ways to save money for you and your family. millions of americans are using coupons again. coupon use up 27% last year. if you know me, i'm not necessarily partial to duncan doughnuts but i'll take. 3.3 billion coupons were used last year, ten coupons for every person in the country. that's 50 coupons for every mom. if you're traveling, it's a mess. >> you just showed me that now. too late. monday. >> let me show you what's happening. i have saber flight explorer. no delays due to weather, at least nothing more than 15 to 30 minutes. here's the mid mississippi valley. sas r that's texas, you can see the rainfalling. pink, freezing rain is there. here's what we have for the day. major winter storm wrapping up for the lower half of the country, lower half to the southeast. calling for half hour to hour when you get towards boston. that's because of the wind, 40 miles an hour. atlanta, dallas, one hour or more delays, that's because of the rain. looking at more action around san francisco, low clouds and the rain is coming back across the bay area. memphis, snow, an hour or more, charlotte watch for the rain and sleet to come in, half hour delays possible. st. louis, same with the snow in the morning. has all you're going to find except for houston. half hour. the search for a missing lottery winner may be over. and the clues may be linked to somebody in the case. police believe that the remains found under a concrete slab are those of abraham shakespeare who won a $30 million florida lottery back in 2006. local media report that the house where they were found belongs to the boyfriend of somebody linked to the case. >> prior to us meeting with you, we dispatched deputies to abraham shakespeare's mother's house to tell her we had found human remains. somebody has obviously put him there and we're going to get to the bottom of it. it's a complicated investigation. >> his family reported him missing back in november. we could know next week what what the pentagon's plan is to repeal the don't ask don't tell plan. robert gates is expected to talk about it next tuesday. the 1993 laws bars troops from revealing their sexual orientation. we want to know what you think though, is it time for don't ask don't tell to end? why or why not in your opinion. travis says there are gay people everywhere. i think people need to get over it and live their lives. jeff writes think how much it would cost to create separate showers, restrooms and bare racks to give all sides of sexual orientation their priefs. go to cnn.com/robin. hit the contact us button there if you want to e-mail, hit the facebook icon if you want to facebook. text us if you're a texter and running arn with your phone. text 45688. you have to start your message with robin. death threats and hate mail are forcing a figure skater to change his costume for the olympics. joe carter is in for rafer with more on what all the fuss is about. >> johnny weir, the guy with the great costumes, he wore something with fox fur on his uniform, his body suit during the u.s. figure skating championships in early january. that angered animal rights people so now he's shifting his plab, he says because he received death threats and hate mail which pressured him to change his plan, he's not going to wear the fox fur in vancouver. he's swapping it with fake fox tur fur. he's in his practice outfit. this guy has crazy outfits. weir said he didn't want something disrupts his chance to win the olympics. a frustrated lebron james knocks a water bottle into the crowd during a game. he was fined $25,000 for this by the nba. on the same night nhl player mark fistrick used a helmet to hit another player over the head. he was fined $2500. what's worse? what deserves the bigger fine? >> i think probably the difference here is that the water bottle went to the audience, so if he probably would have hit a water bottle to someone else in the nba, that would have been different. >> fighting is part of hockey. >> should new orleans' schools shut down the day after the super bowl. some schools are actually planning to cancel classes the monday following the super bowl by using an emergency day. others haven't made the decision. this past monday after the saints won the afc championship game, 8500 kids were not in school compared to 3800 on a typical day. six years ago a new orleans couple would marry if three things happened, if the red socks win, snow in new orleans. two of three is pretty good, but now the saints are in the super bowl so the couple has cancelled their plans to spend their honeymoon in australia. the couple is going to get married tomorrow in miami and they're going to watch their saints. >> i wish them well. they'll probably have more fun than a wedding where aunty this and uncle this have to come. >> south beach is good. >> how to protect the environment without breaking the bank. that is the hot topic at the world economic forum today. government leaders, big businesses and activists are discussing climate change in switzerland. global warming experts are pointing to new revelations about a climate report. it warned that the himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2035, it turns off it was off by hundreds of years. anti-freeze, contaminated alcohol, not part of a recall, but stuff found in knock-off perfu perfume. toyota may now have a way to fix millions of dangerous gas pedals. the "wall street journal" reports that your toyota dealer could have the fix in the next two weeks. a shim will be added to keep the pedal from sticking in the 2 million cars affected. toyota still has to wait for the government approval. . >> it is our heavenly father' he is our creator. he gives and takes life. it's never up to man to take life, only in cases of self-defense or defense of others. >> the man who admits to killing a doctor who performed abortions testified that scott roeder has no regrets about what he did. roeder says he shot dr. george tiller to save unborn children. the judge told the jury they cannot consider that during deliberations. the closing arguments begin today. regime change played a role in iraq. that's what former british prime min ter tony brar said. he said britain felt press today go to war because of sa.com hussein's aims for weapons of mass destruction. >> morning sunshine, i'm robin meade. we're following breaking news about the trial of the alleged master mind of the 9/11 attacks. senior administration .officials have confirmed our sister network krb that the white house is considering moving the trial from new york city. the that's if the justice department thinks it's a good move. new york mayor michael bloomberg is among those who have expressed concerns about the cost and security of having the trial in the city. one of our big stories today is this major winter storm. it's a problem right now to the mid section and the south part of the united states, but it is also moving eastward and south ward as well, but the problem is, it's getting bigger along the way? >> it's going to affect more people as it does. i have to show you this. as of 11:30 last night, oklahoma reported 37,000 folks without power. one and a half inches of freezing rain. that lives on the problem. oklahoma city, three quarters of an inch of freezing rain. dumas, texas. 13 and a half inches of snow. we're following it all day long. here's the major part of the storm, it's between dallas and houston, it's beginning to expand out, more snow, more freezing rain headed towards the mid atlantic. >> thank you. looks like a strinker. an 11-month-old boy who police say was abducted was found in new mexico unharmed and his mom flew to albuquerque to get him. >> there you go, ma'am. >> police say the dad picked up the little boy for a visit but never came back. they say he was heading to missouri with him when he was caught. another sign of the incredible spirit of the haitian people. a huge crowd broke into song on the streets of port-au-prince last night. ♪ >> that is just so moving to say how just faithful they are that things will get better and are trying to uplift each other with song. it's kind of like what else do they have. if you want to help, head to cnn.com click on the impact link. you're going to find a list of local and international groups providing aid. >> senator elect scott brown spent some time joking around with jay leno on his show last night. on his show jay leno asked him why he thought he could beat him at hoops? had. >> the only time i spoke to him was election night and i did challenge him to pick his best and i'll take my daughter who plays for boston college. i think we would have the upper hand. >> really? you heard it. that is a challenge going out tonight? >> yes, absolutely. >> you heard it. >> brown also joked about some steamy photos that he posed for about 28 years ago. he said he would do it again sometime, maybe though for the aarp magazine. >> you know what? they don't pay that well. they keep coming to me. i'm like i'm not even 40 yet. >> sure. bob, major winter storm and it's a real pain. >> it's going to be one of the days where it's tough to travel. this brought to you by tylenol flu. let me show you the latest. the warnings are in red. that's the areas you see the sleet changing over to snow and it's going to be heavy at times, especially overnight tonight for the appalachians and eastern north carolina. parts of the outer banks gets 3 to 4 inches of snow. the heavy snow is around northern arkansas. you can see it coming down. the pink shading, that's all freezing rain and sleet mixing in with snow. the blue and yellow is heavy rain. that's moving through louisiana. you get to the winter weather, it's from st. louis back to kc, stretches to northern arkansas and moves in through areas like tennessee and kentucky. kentucky, you get about a half a foot to 12 inches of snow, especially the lower half of the state. thunderstorm line around houston, big thunderstorms have been popping all morning. this is shiftsing to the east. dallas, it's all liquid, all rain. temperatures are above freezing, but it's been like that for the last couple of hours. now to the snow and freezing rain are around little rock. sleet where you see the bright banding areas of reds and yellows, an indication of sleet. sleet has a high reflectivity of the radar beams basically north of i-40. as you move down the line, next 48 hours, bull's high heaviest snow is in the purple shaded areas, foot to foot enough and that's for western areas of virginia for the weekend. if you do look up to the north, it steers clear of washington and baltimore. philly should be clear of the snow, same with new york and boston. this is abilene, texas. you are on the warm side of the storm. look at the runoff from the heavy rain. over an inch of rain in this area. now the rain is shifting to the east into dallas and houston. street flooding in abilene, texas yesterday. more on this in a little bit. >> that's the tip of the iceberg for what the storm is doing. >> a police officer was trying to help a man who set himself on fire right in the street, but instead of a fire extinguisher, she grabbed a pepper spray can. ♪ i love those guys. they're from ohio state. hundreds of haitians are going back to work despite losing their loved ones in the quake. a clothing factory was a building built well enough to withstand the shaking. about 13 hundred workers have returned now. >> translator: we are the ones who survived. working is a good thing. it's a positive step to go back to work. we need to subsist economically, even if we are still grieving the loss of our family and friends. the author whose book, the "catcher in the rye" inspired generations of young we believes has died. j.d. sallinger dies. its frank language prompted one school to ban the book. sallinger died at the age of 91. a couple of stories we're already watching in today's "morning express" planner. 11:00 a.m. eastern. nasa is going to remember its fallen colleagues with a ceremony. a day of remembrance remembers the crew of apollo one and space shuttle the columbia. the coalition to stand with haiti is going to hold a candle light march for those affected by the quake. at fi p.m., the haitians are supposed to walk across the brooklyn bridge. who doesn't love a bargain, but if you buy the cheap knock-off bottles of perfume, you could make yourself sick. we're talking about the kind that comes across as chanel or whatever it is. >> we're not talking about -- remember they used to say if you love obsession, you'll love wisp or whatever it was. that's not what we're talking about. we're talking about the kind of stuff you would find on the street. so think about like china town, for example, or just somebody with a table somewhere. investigators, anti-counterat this time investigators said they fount anti-freeze and toxic chemicals, even urine in some of the perfume bottles we're talking about. there's a story in this month's harper's bazaar. because perfume is absorbed by your skin, it means you could get sick. some of the people who were talking to the magazine about the story, another thing you want to think about, when you buy on the street, you're money is going to support beganing and organized crime. is that where you want your money to go. it could be on the internet as well. look closely. see if the colors match. see if anything is off, like if the label is off or if there's a misspelling. >> some of the junk they found in it. that's disgusting. >> it is really gross. you should know the people who found that were investigators but in some cases they were paid by the perfume companies who want to sell the little bottles for 100 bucks. the head of the he he federal reserve will stay on the the senate confirmed ben bernanke by a 70-30 vote yesterday. it was kind of dramatic. usually fed chairmen, there's a little bit of discuss and they get rubber stamped right through. there was high drama about whether he would keep his job. >> lots of people talking about oprah winfrey's interview with jay leno. one publicist says it was a good move for leno. dr. phil gave a former nba player the surprise of his life. you don't want to miss an emotional reunion. gangs. ever since i was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. >> this sunday, michael jackson's daughter will make her first public appearance since her emotional speech at her dad's memorial service. paris will accept a lifetime achievement award. we have been asking for your comments on the president's plan to allow gays to serve openly in the military. troy e-mailed saying in my experience, if a service member comes out of the closet, it just causes problems. too much tests to roen and pride floating around. gary said by what logic did we deny a personal freedom to individuals who protect this country's freedoms. i know you have a thought. we give the news. you give the views. you can e-mail us by going to cnn.com/robin. hit the contact us button. you can facebook us by hitting the facebook icon. you heard saints fans going who dat?. somebody wants to know who owns that phrase. the nfl thinks it does. >> store owners say it's free game. it's the people's phrase. it's not owned by the nfl. it's not owned by anybody. the nfl says we own who dat?. stores selling stuff with the famous phrase have been ordered to stop printing t shirts and get rid of inventory with the word who dat? on it. using the phrase is the violation of the saints' trademark rights. now the people who recorded the aaron neville song, they say they own it, who dat? who owns it? who knows? carry underwood is going to open at the super bowl. she will sing the national anthem. actress and singer queen latifah will perform america the beautiful and the who will play at half time. they are going to sing we won't get fooled again. i'm not sure if that's a big at brett favre or not. a former nba player got a big surprise from dr. phil. olden polynice. he was talking about his 12 family members missing in haiti. then came the big surprise. his father standing behind him was flown from port-au-prince to the show and surprised his son. look at his reaction. >> he knew his dad was alive. he didn't know he was there to reach out and hug? >> they're there to support each other. the x-games are under way in aspen. kaleb moore pulls off a mid air 360. this was a trick good enough to win gold. this is a heel clicker back flip. justin hoyer won the x-games gold in snowmobile freestyle. >> you know how strong you would have to be to lurch that thing around you. >> they have no fear. >> mad skills. >> elizabeth edwards is refuting points in a new tell all book. the book is by a former aide to her husband. andrew young claims that elizabeth tried to use her cancer for her husband's political gain while he was running for president. the book addresses when elizabeth found out her husband fathered a child with his mistress. >> based on the limited portions of the book voo have been made available, it it is clear it contains falsehoods. she would like to set the record straight on two key points, first the allegation that she sought to politicize her cancer is unconscionable, hurtful and patently false. second she believed andrew young to be the father of this child until her husband confessed his patternty to her this past summer. she will have nothing further to say. how would you like to have your own personal money coach. listen to clark howard's advice to joyce about extra interest on credit cards you've already paid off. >> hi, my name is joyce and i need a money coach. i have creditcoach. i have credit cards that i have been paying off one by one. every time i pay one off i get a statement in the mail the following month with additional interest charges. i've called the credit card companies to ask if this charge can be removed. the answer has always been the same. there's really nothing that they can do about it and so, in frustration, i just pay it off to get it out of the way. my question is why do credit card company it is charge us additional interest even after we've paid off our balance in full? money coach, i need your help. >> joyce, you're going to hate me, but remember, i'm just the messenger. the deal is when you have a credit card bill that comes to you the interest is computed daily. they send you a bill with the balance that is there on that day they send you the bill and then every day after that you're charged interest. so when you send them a payment you still owe them the interest from the days from when they bill you until the day they receive your payment. i know it's rotten, but it's how it works. now how do you avoid this? think about this, once you get current with a credit card, by current i mean paying the balance in full every month it reverses. you get the charge privilege interest-free. that's right. you get the grace period. >> clark can be your money coach, too. cool! he'll teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at 4:00 and noon eastern on hln on the weekends. a wife found out her husband had sexual encounters with men and she's not divorcing him. gale haggard is talking about why she's staying with her husband pastor ted haggard. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. bright and early on a friday. i have thanked you lately? thank you. i'm robin meade. it's 8:00 eastern. away we go. you might want to rethink your plans for the weekend because a major winter storm has been causing problems across the country. what you can expect for your forecast. also ahead, toyota says it may have found a way to fix the problem that has led to millions of recalls or millions of cars being recalled, but it could be weeks before it's available to you, and could be a sex tape of former presidential candidate of john edwards? what a former aide has to say about that. all of those stories upcoming, but first, breaking news this morning. the white house is considering moving the trial of the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. senior administration officials confirmed or our sister network cnn that the trial of khalid shaikh mohammad could be moved out of new york city, but the governor of new york have said that they hope the trial is moved. >> any time there's a loud noise during the two years of those trials will frighten people and new yorkers have been through enough. >> it would be great that the federal government could find a site that didn't cost a billion dollars. it is up to the federal government what kind of trial they'll have, whether it's a military or selfian trial. it's up to the government to decide where. attorney general holder called me and said can you provide security. i said to him, yes, we can. it's going to cost a lot of money. >> senior administration officials say the trial move is hinged on whether the justice department thinks it's a good idea. oh, boy, a winter storm that's already making headaches for thousands may foul up your weekend plans. this is texas. some parts of that state got a foot of snow yesterday. major road his to be closed and flights were canceled out of lubbock and amarillo. icy snow combined to make snow for oklahoma. it knocked out power for customers. the thing has grown in strength and size. meet yrologist bob van dillen. hi. >> good morning, robin. i want to tell you where it's located right now. 142,000 homes and businesses in oklahoma without power. that's because of the icing. here's what we have right now. right around dallas and houston, it is driving to the east and it will tap into the gulf of mexico moisture all day long through tonight into tomorrow. it will throw a big band of snow at you from memphis through nashville and lower parts of virginia and we're watching the winter storm warnings spread to the east and as things progress eastward so are the warnings and text techs and new mexico, and the warnings, robin, 5 to 10 inches possible for nashville and each more for central virginia and north carolina. >> look how far it stretches. >> it will be due eastward and bring a lot of moisture from the south and those two combinations, boom, big snow. >> as bob -- yeah, go ahead and talk you areio trip. to me personally, he said don't do it. she's trying to drive to nashville, don't do it. there is a possible for fix for millions of recalled tote as. jennifer westhoven has been on this story all week. you hope. >> you could even get it, robin, in the next two weeks if you drive one of these cars you would get it at your toyota dealer. they're not going to be in direct contact with you necessarily. that's according to this morning's "wall street journal." the newspaper said that the idea is a shym that they add to keep the pedal from sticking and that's 2 million cars we're talking about here. toyota's got to get government approval for this first, so they're hoping that they can get it really fast, faster than normal so they can get the part out for you. toyota has not again, confirmed that report, but congress wants to hear more about what happened. a hearing is scheduled for next month. for all of the details on the recall check out our website, cnn.com/robin and it's under "looking out for you." another recall, and there were two recalls and just know if you're affected. >> basically, there's nothing to do right now about getting a fix. we've got to wait, right? okay. thank you. it was every man for himself after more aid arrived in the streets of haiti. what a scene. >> haitian government workers threw bags of rice, beans and oil down to the crowd, but people quickly started swarming up the sides of the trucks. there were 2,000 rations available and the stronger men got what they needed and that left the women to fight over scraps. it was such a pitiful situation. we have an update on a 16-year-old girl who was pulled from the rubble after 15 days. she was too weak to even say her name, but hospital officials say she's stabilized now. the rescuers say she was trapped near the bathroom of a house so she had access to water, they think. the man who admits killing a doctor who performed abortions testified that he has no regrets about what he did. closing arguments begin today and he says he shot dr. george till tore save unborn children, but the judge told the children they cannot consider that during deliberations. tiller's family cried as roeder described what happened. >> i got up at that moment and followed him out and -- into the foyer area and -- um, i -- i did what i thought needed to be done to protect the children. i shot him. >> dr. george tiller was known for performing late-term abortions. he used an armored car and usually wore bulletproof vests. roeder shot him in the church because it was the only window of opportunity he had. two of michael jackson's children plan to take the stage at the grammys sunday night. paris and prince michael will accept a lifetime achievement award in his honor. it will be their first public appearance since jackson's memorial service in july. so far jackson's youngest son blanket is not scheduled to be there. >> i'm sure that will be an emotional moment. the little girl just stole people's hearts. six minutes after the hour. we have a major winter storm that seems to be more people's problem as the minutes go by. just when you go oh, not me. oh, no, here it comes. >> that's a good way to put it, too. now it gets into more populated areas of the carolinas and more parts of virginia later on today through tomorrow. here's the way it looks now. you talk about the population getting slammed. just big thunderstorms around houston and then you get into the colder air mass and it's setting up shop. it's antarctic air mass. it's rain, freezing rain and sleet in the areas shaded in pink, that includes memphis, but all of the white-shaded regions, that's where the snow is coming down ask it's heavy from missouri to northern arkansas ready to stretch into tennessee. look at that squall line going all of the way in toward the gulf. that's just edging to the east. so lots of rain over the next couple of hours from houston to the gulf and that will be there for the next couple of hours as it it moves into louisiana. back to the west, here's dallas and it's all rain with the possibility of it changing into sleet before it ends for you around fort worth, maybe dallas, too. you get delays with the rain in the morning specifically with dfw, the airport right there. some bright banding indication of freezing rain and just sleet when you see the bright banding areas and the snow is to the north and that's all moving over toward the east. how much snow? look at the projection. the bull's-eye, the area shaded in purple and that's a foot to a foot and a half of snow. if you look to the north it falls just shy of washington, d.c. i think d.c. gets light snow overnight through tomorrow, but that's about it. take you live to d.c. and no question if you do see anything it will be snow because your highs are well below the freezing mark. we have pictures of an ice jam flooding. it acts like a natural dam. the water builds behind it and spreads out, flooding nearby areas. that's what you have with an ice jam flooding in augusta, maine. more on that, robin in about a half hour. >> look at that storm behind him. >> that's the projection. part of john edwards' affair may have been recorded? an ex-aide says he found a sex tape starring john edwards and his former mft res. plus some states ban people from touching their cell phones while driving, right? those drivers may not be any safe or the road. well, hello. today's salute for marine sergeant jorge gayona. hooz been deployed four times in the past five years and right now he's in haiti helping out after the earth wake there. >> hi, robin. my name is barbara gayona and i'm saluting my husband, sergeant jorge gayona of the united states marine corps. my husband just return in december from the past deployment and had to leave 17 days later so we haven't seen him for more than 17 days since april for of last year. we're awaiting his return and jorge, we love you, miss you and can't wait for you to come home. >> barbara, i can just hear it in your voice. if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute him, too. go to cnn.com/robin. john edwards' former aide says he found something shocking wh when he was cleaning his house. it was a video of edwards having sex with a visibly pregnant woman, presumably rielle hunter. young and hunter shared a home briefly. young says the tape was made a couple of months before the 2007 iowa caucuses. he's got a book coming out tomorrow about the sex scandal and his role covering it up during the presidential campaign. hln has reached out to edwards and hunter about the claim and are waiting for their comment. elizabeth edwards has come out swinging against two other points in that book. we've got that in about 30 minutes. you probably know somebody looking for work or maybe you're able to watch today because you're looking for work. today the president will propose a tax credit to get more companies to hire. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. so this is for the small businesses who hire so many of our people. >> yeah. in fact, they're responsible for often most of the job growth when you're in a recession, when you're talking about the recession coming out of a -- talking about the growth coming out of recession. today the president's proposals would reward companies for hiring. so the plan is $5,000 for every new worker that a small company hires and then tax incentives, too, if they give pay raises or they increase their workers' hours, trying to help them out a bit. especially some of the small companies, look with the credit crunch we're having a hard time borrowing to grow, too. congress would have to approve the plans. they would cost about $33 billion. in about 50 minutes we'll get one of the biggest that we'll see about the economy and it's expected to show that technically, the economy is growing. technically, some good news in a bad economy. fourth quarter gdp is expected to rise more than 4% and remember, if you're thinking how can that be growing when things don't look good where i see them, it's because the job market traditionally takes longer to heal than the gdp numbers do. and you're looking to save money. well, a lot of people are using coupons. millions of americans trying them out. coupon use up 27% last year according to industry tracker. that is 3.3 billion coupon, about ten for every person in america. the ladies in the makeup room handed me this. >> it's huge. it certainly catches your eye and all kinds of coupons in there. >> there's obviously a dunkin' donuts in this building. >> anything that has caffeine, i would be showing off. >> i love coupons. i'm good for saving them and then i'm bad for using them and i go to the restaurant and i request oh, i forgot the two-for-one coupon. >> meanwhile your purse is stuffed full of paper. >> thank you. some of the wrinkle reducers might be in the kitchen. that's where we're headed with beauty and skin expert dr. perricone, new york times best-selling author about what to eat and what not to eat. >> all of us has vices when it comes to food and you have substitutes for us for food to stop us from aging. >> we love our coffee. >> green tea is a great source of caffeine, but it also contains antioxidants. if you switch from coffee to green tea, lose six pounds with doing nothing. >> tell me of low-fat dressing, why would you put it on the list of things to arc void. low fat was good. >> it's the result of an epidemic of diabetes. the good voice is olive oil ask lemon. >> we can have fruit. i am surprised by your other choice. >> we assume that cantaloupe's good for us, but people say chocolate's not good for us. if you have 70% cocoa or higher it's protective of the cardiovascular system and your brain. you can lose weight by having a stark piece of chocolate as opposed to desserts. >> chocolate makes us younger and skinnier and the crowd goes wild, dr. perricone. a louisiana woman has to get the award for the most understanding bride. she agreed to change her wedding honeymoon plans so they could follow the saints to the super bowl. bill gates is throwing down serious money hear about his $10 billion donation. jay leno has not spoken to conan o'brien since agreeing to take back "the tonight show." he told oprah winfrey he did not think that going back was a selfish move, just a matter of ratings. leno also said it wasn't appropriate to talk to o'brien at this point. >> you said earlier you haven't called him? >> it's not the right time because i'm not sure what i would say right now. let some time pass, and i would hope we can talk again. >> well, this interview has people talking and in just a few minutes why the insiders think this was a good move for leno. >> we could know next week what the plan is for the don't ask, don't tell policy. robert gates is expected to talk about this plan in a senate hearing on tuesday. right now the 1993 law bars gay or lesbian troops from revealing their sexual orientation. president obama hopes to change the law this year. but what do you think? is it time for don't ask, don't tell to end? why or not why? >> i believe god intended marriage to take place between man and a woman, however sexual preference has nothing to do with one's ability to serve this nation with genuine commitment and excellence. but michael says why throw this controversy into the middle of fighting two wars? e-mail us by going to cnn.com/robin and hitting the contact us button or you can also hit the facebook page or still better yet, you can text if you're just sitting there and you've got your phone. text to 45688, the key word to start with is robin. thanks. we're checking all of it. death threats and hate mail are forcing a figure skate tore change his costume for the olympics. joe carter is in for rafer and he has more on this story. >> johnny weir, the guy with the reality show, the crazy figure skating costume, sort of the "blades of glory." oh, yes. >> the costume he showed at the u.s. figure skating championship his a piece of fox fur on his shoulder which was on his body suit. that angered animal rights groups. weir said after the competition he started receiving death threats and hate mail which pressured him to scrap the plan for fox for vancouver. he'll swap the fox fur. he didn't want something as silly as a costume disrupting his chance at an olympic medal. well, think about this, does the punishment fit the crime? a frustrated lebron james kicks a water bottle during the game and he was fined $25,000 by the nba. while on the same night nhl player mark fistrick used a helmet to hit another player over the fight and he was fined $2500. what's worse? what deserves a bigger fine? kicking a water bottle or hitting a guy over the head with a helmet? i don't know, fighting's -- >> i think because it affected the crowd, a bigger crowd. and lebron makes much more, that's probably why. this next story is great. six years ago a new orleans couple said they'd marry if three things happened. the red sox go to the, and the saints go to the super bowl. check. the couple plans to marry this saturday and they've cancered their money moon plans to australia to watch the super bowl and support their saints. those guys are sports fans. >> now everybody loves his wife. they're, like, she's so cool. toyota may now have a way to fix millions of dangerous gas pedals. "the wall street journal" reports your toyota dealer could have the fix for you in the next two weeks. a shym will be added to keep the pedal sticking in the 2 million cars affected. toyota has to wait for government approval. microsoft co founder and bill gates and his wife are donating $10 billion for vaccine research. that money will be doled out over ten years. the idea is to find new vaccines and get them to the world's poorest countries. the gates made their announcement today at the world economic forum in switzerland. the author whose book "the catcher in the rye" inspired generation of young rebels has died. j.d. salinger was about the teenage anti-hero during the cold war era. salinger died at his home in new hampshire at the age of 9. those are a few of the headlines today. it's friday. it looks good on you, i'm telling you. i'm robin meade. good morning, sunshine. let's go into a new story today. the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks may not be tried in new york city after all. senior administration officials confirmed to our sister network cnn that the white house is considering moving the trial of khalid shaikh mohammad from manhattan. new york mayor's michael bloomberg is among those who expressed concerns about the cost and security of having the trial in that city. elizabeth edwards is refuting some points in a new tell-all book due out tomorrow. the book is by a former aide to her husband john edwards. andrew young claims that elizabeth tried to use her cancer for her husband's political gain while he ran for president. the book also addresses when elizabeth found out that her husband had fathered a child with his mistress. now a spokesperson for elizabeth ed wars sent out this statement. based on the the limited portions of the book that have been made available, it is clear it contains many falsehoods and exaggerations. she will not engage in a dialogue on each of the false charges, but would like to set the record straight on two key points. first, the allegation that she sought to politicize her qaa her cancer is unconscionable, hurtful and patently false. second, she believed andrew young to be the father of this child until her husband confessed his paternity to her this past summer. she will have nothing further to say. a minister who counselled drew peterson's fourth wife stacy is set to testify at a pre-trial hearing today. the hearing is to determine what hearsay evidence can be used in peterson's upcoming trial. he faces charges of murdering his third wife, kathleen savio. yesterday peterson's sister-in-law said that stacy warned her two days before she disappeared that if anything happened to her, peterson was involved. >> there's no question cassandra has an axe to grind. she hates drew. i think she always hated drew. >> if she has such an axe to grind with drew that you would falsify anything in her testimony? ? no. she's not looking to do anything to drew. she's looking to find answers of what happened to stacy. >> kathleen savio was killed in 2004. today's testimony from the minister is significant because reports say that stacy told the minister that peterson told her he killed savio. peterson's fourth wife stacy has been missing since 2007. he's a suspect in that case, but has not been charged. former british prime minister tony blare is testifying before an independent inquiry about iraq today and he said that regime change in iraq played a role, but wasn't the only reason that britain decided to go to war in 2003. >> september the 11th happened. i never regarded september 11th as an attack on america. i regard it as an attack on us, and i said we would stand shoulder to shoulder with them. we did in afghanistan, and i was determined to do that again. >> well, he said britain also felt pressed to go to war because of saddam hussein's aims for weapons of mass destruction. you know what? the same storm system bringing ice and snow in the midwest and the south is creating some dangerous conditions in other places. look that the. this is texas. the high winds tore the roof off of a nursing home near fort worth. two dozen people were evacuated. thankfully, nobody was hurt. >> about 60 mile an hour winds came through and just took a piece of the roof off. it sounded like a truck hit the roof, you know? just big, big bang, boom, you hear that with metal. >> big, bam, boom, all right. 34 minutes past the hour. some places that are just not used to having to deal with wintry weather. nashville, you're one. asheville, you're another. you are in line for this thing. hi there. >> good morning, robin. it's headed through memphis and it will get to the carolinas overnight tonight in virginia as well, but i want to show you what's happening right now. here's your low. it's south of dallas and on the move due eastward. look at where it goes, right down toward the gulf of mexico and throws it at that cold atmosphere already in place and the snow will extend eastward. let me show you how much snow will be around the next 48 hours and the bull's-eye will be overnight tonight through tomorrow afternoon for central parts of virginia, but check out to the west, oklahoma city and another four inches of snow before it finally wraps up and move it is away from you and you call from eight to ten in northern secs of arkansas through tennessee and kentucky and in toward north carolina and you have a foot of snow as far to the east by tomorrow night. winter storm warnings and let me show you the spot's put in red, lower miss our ney toward kansas and tennessee and parts of georgia and south carolina, winter storm warnings stretching to the east. look at the snow. kansas city, wrapping down in toward oklahoma and let me take you live there. here's the way it goes in okc. you already have just a little less than an inch of ice on the ground and that's from yesterday and now everything is wrapping around and turning into snow and it is miserablmiserable. calling for 140,000 homes and businesses without power and that's the reason why, it's ice. a little farther to the east. st. louis, flurries and that's all you're calling for for the morning, but look at the thunderstorms just rocking and rolling outside of houston, ground stoppage at iah, houston's george bush and that's because of the lines immediately to the east ask all of that is being thrown to the areas like arkansas which will be thrown to rain, sleet and snow. dallas might mix in with more sleet by fort worth. dynamic storm system and it's headed eastward. >> that's a good way to put it. dynamic, large growing. all right. fake perfume can make you sick. you have to hear what investigators found in some of these knock off, fake fragrances. a wife found out her husband had sexual encounters with men. gail and ted haggard are talking about their marriage and how they stayed together. former pastor ted haggard said he was shocked that his wife did want leave him after she learned about his sexual encounters with men. a former male prostitute outed haggard in 2006. later he admitted a relationship with a 20-year-old male church volunteer. ted and gail ha haggard spoke to larry king on our sister network, cnn. >> did you consider divorce? >> i never considered divorce. >> does that shock you, ted? >> it does, because i was absolutely convinced that she and the children would be better off without me. in an unusual situation in our case, because of the way i'd lived my life with the church and everything, they would be better off financially and certainly better off reputation wise if it they had separated from me. for gale and the children to stay with me meant that they -- i told them, we'll probably be in abject poverty the rest of our life and we will never recover from the shame. >> his wife has a new book out call "why i stayed." breaking news in to hln. the economy grew in the last three months of '09. yay. our money expert jennifer westhoven is telling us about the gross domestic product and what these numbers mean. >> this is the biggest measure of our economy and how it's doing. it was up nearly 6% according to the federal numbers, but that's two quarters in a row of growth. the most in 2003. that means that under the old definition of what a recession is, technically, we're out of recession. now, just so you know, that's not how they do it officially so you won't hear anybody saying that because the job market still has a long way to go. it's still some of its worst levels and we'll see if this is a harbinger of things to come. maybe you love bargains and maybe not so much when it comes to perfume after you hear this. first of all, i'm not talking about the cheap drugstore stuff or the stuff you would find on the streets somewhere. none of that, if you love chanel, you'll love this. i'm talking about stuff on the street or at a really super cheap price that you see online like say $5 for chanel should make you go, huh? in a store in "harper's bazaar" it says investigators who specialize in counterfeits say they found antifreeze, toxic chemicals and even urine in fake perfume. >> urine? that's disgusting! >> it is. they pointed out that perfume is absorbed by your skin so you could get a rash by this. if you'll buy anything like that look very carefully at the label and if anything is off like maybe the color of the perfume isn't right, the label's on crooked or it's misspelled they say it's probably fake. a customs official tell us the magazine when you buy off the street you're supporting a whole plaque market, like gangs and drugs. who knows where that money is going. it could be going back to another country. >> being a woman in a male-dominated profession like law enforcement is no easy task, but i reporter david lilard explains how one woman shattered the glass s.e.a.l.ing in her town in today's "break through women." my name is dave willard. i'm assistant chief of police with the des moines iowa, police department and my colleague judy bradshaw is a breakthrough woman because she was the first chief of police in the department. this job was not handed to her. i watched her overcome many obstacles to reach her goal. when she started there were very few women in police work and she had to face what i call the good old boys system, but through all this she persevered and kept pushing forward and she reached her ultimate goal to become the chief of police. >> i think judy has inspired young women in a variety of ways and a lot of young women today have watched her move up and have seen it as an inspiration. her success has inspired others to reach their own goals and have provided them the courage to do that. >> these are really, really great breakthrough women stories from you, the viewer. nice job. dr. phil gave a former nba player the surprise of his life. he reunited him with his dad. wait until you hear where the father had been. a police officer was trying to help a man who set himself on fire in the street, but instead of the fire extinguisher, she accidentally grabbed the pepper spray can. you know, we can know next week what the pentagon's plan is to repeal the don't ask, don't tell policy. defense secretary robert gates is expected to talk about his plan at a senate hearing on tuesday. right now the 1993 law bars gay or lesbian troops from revealing their sexual orientation. president obama hopes to change the law this year, but we want to know, what do you think? scott e-mailed us to say, speaking as a retired u.s. submarine veteran, serving with an openly gay man in the confines of a submarine would affect crew performance. another viewer texted us with this. there have been gays serving honorably, get over it and allow all americans to serve openly. we give the news, but you give your views. you can e-mail us, go to cnn.com/robin. there's a contact us robin. there is also a link to our facebook page and have at it. you've heard the who dat, right? if you're a saints fan, but who owns dat phrase? the nfl thinks it owns the phrase "who dat." joe carter with more on that. >> they a gray area. >> i'm kind of flabbergasted by that. >> i don't think any store owner especially a local merchant does not want to get into a legal. that's a boat you do not want to rock. the people selling this stuff say it's free game. it's the people's phrase and not owned by anybody and the nfl says no, wait a second. we own who dat. the famous phrase had been ordered by the nfl to stop printing t-shirts and to get rid of the inventory with the words who dat on it. the nfl says using this phrase is a violation of the saints' trademark rights because it allows a third party a free ride. the people that recorded the aaron neville song when the saint goes marching in, they say they own it, too because that's what people started the say. >> who applied for a trademark and was granted it, basically. >> the nfl with all their legal and money, they'll win the battle every day. "american idol" winner carrie underwood will open at the super bowl next southbound. the four-time grammy winner will sing the national anthem and she won't be alone. actress and singer queen latifah will perform "america the beautiful" and the who will play at halftime. they'll have a nice mix of songs there. a former nba player got a big surprise from tv's dr. phil. odon polniece is the one in the chair and he was there to talk about his 12 family members missing in haiti. then came the big surprise. his father who survived the earthquake was flown in from port-au-prince to the show where he surprised his son and you can see by his reaction. he's completely shocked. he knew his dad was alive and he didn't know that he was there to hug and that he was there to help each other through, basically. >> he knew his father was alive after the earthquake, but he didn't know he was able to get out and they can lean on each other as they try to find the 12 missing family members. the x games are under way in aspen, so bring on the crazy tricks. this is justin hoyer and he pulls off a heel clicker back flip and that wins him the x games gold medal in snow mobile freestyle. that's freaking cool. >> i can't imagine how heavy those machines are and you have to learn how to flip them and -- >> who thinks of that. >> and let them fall on you sometimes. >> i want to flip a 3,000 pound machine over my head and then you have to learn it. >> thank you. learn it. mistakes and all. some debt collectors are taking it too far, apparently. they may have you afraid to pick up the phone. clark howard tells you what to do to stop bill collectors from harassing you. >> do you owe money? you're past due on something. a collectser calling you. you know, when you're on your feet financially, i want you to pay your past due debts and i want you to know what your rights are. collectors out there do everything they should by the books and others who play fast and loose with the balls and, in fact, break them many times. here's one of the common things people will be told. they will go to jail if they're unpaid, untrue. someone has been told by a collector if they don't pay a bill their children will be taken away from them by the state. now, here's a key right you have. if you owe a bill and a collector is calling you, you have no way to pay it and they are harassing you, you have a right to write them a drop dead letter. once they receive it, they can never contact you again about the debt. at least it gives you time to clear your head. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to take control, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturday and sundays right here on hln. two days of anxiety had a happy ending for a mom whose baby went missing. he told police he had plans for the little boy.  good morning, it's friday and a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down for you. i'm robin meade and here's what we're working on in this hour. first -- there is a possible fix for the millions of recalled toyotas and there could be a possible backlash from buyers. what's new is how some companies in the auto industry are sticking together. and new this hour, video just in showing a fierce winter storm battering places like oklahoma. we have the latest warnings for you and where that storm is headed next. first, a winter storm. let's start with that. already making headaches for thousands and maybe foul up your weekend plans. look what it did to texas. some parts of that state got a foot of snow yesterday and some major roads had to be closed and flights were canceled out of lubbock and amarillo. snow and ice combined to make roads very dangerous in oklahoma. the storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers and we're told no flights are coming in or landing in oklahoma city. the storm is moving eastward and as it moves eastward it is getting bigger and it is getting stronger. our meteorologist bob van dillen is keeping an eye on it for you and in a few minutes he'll have everything you need to know. brand-new this morning, a possible fix for millions of recalled toyotas. jennifer westhoven all over the story this week and you might go, i don't drive a toyota. but if you're driving in front of someone who does, this is a story that impacts you. >> if there's unsafe cars on the road, we're hearing through "the wall street journal" not through toyota that your toyota dealer may have some kind of a fix for you in the next two weeks. it's reporting that a shim would be added to keep your pedal from sticking in the 2 million cars or so that are affected. the newspaper says that toyota is basically waiting on and hoping for quick government approval. they have to get approval from the federal government first and then they could ship these parts out to the dealers as soon as they can. again, toyota hasn't confirmed that but congress wants to hear more about the recall so they can make their choice about whether or not think it was handled well and a hearing for that scheduled for next month. if you want all the details about this recall and find out if your car is affected or what to do if you drive one of these cars and suddenly something happens, check out our website, cnn.com/robin and it's under looking out for you. >> a step-by-step guide there for you. thank you. the white house is considering moving the trial of the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. senior administration official os confirmed to our sister network cnn that the trial of khalid shake muhammad could be moved out of new york city. they have expressed concerns about the cost and security concerns of the trial. a man who admits killing a man who commits abortions. he said he shot dr. george tiller to save unborn children but the judge told the jury they can't consider that during deliberations. tiller's family cried as roeder explained what happened. >> i got up at that moment and followed him out in the foyer area and i, i did what i thought was needed to be done to protect the children. i shot him. >> dr. george tiller was known for performing late-term abortions. he used an armored car and usually wore a bulletproof vest. roeder shot him in his church because it was the only window of opportunity he had. new this morning, britain foreign prime minister said regime change played a role in iraq but not the only reason britain decided to go to a war in iraq in 2003. he's testifying before an independent inquiry today. earlier blair told the panel that possible weapons of mass destruction got britain to get involved. >> if september 11th didn't happen, any possibility of him reconstituting his programs would not have been the same. but after september the 11th, if you'd like me to now, i will explain to what difference that made to the thinking. after september 11th, our view and the american view changed dramatically. >> well, blair added that giving iraq more time to comply with u.n. sanctions would not have avoided war. john edwards' former aide said he found something shocking when he was cleaning his house. andrew young told abc news it was a video of edwards having sex with a visibly pregnant woman. young and hunter shared a home briefly. young says that tape was made a couple months before the 2007 iowa caucuses. he has a book coming out tomorrow about the sex scandal and his role covering it up during the presidential campaign. hln has reached out to edwards and hunter about the claim and are waiting for their comment. elizabeth edwards has come out swinging against two other points in that book. we have those in 30 minutes here. a florida beach has been closed for two days aft after d of sharks were spotted in the water. life guards say those are mostly spinner sharks but every year about this time all kind of sharks follow migrating fish along the coast. the danger is the greatest in the morning and late afternoon when they would normally feed. >> i don't know, those waves look pretty good, i'd take my chances. >> you've lost your mind. >> you can walk on the backs of those things, there's so many. look, you can walk on those. >> you're kidding, right? >> yeah, no way. >> i'm just testing you back there. >> what's up? >> the weather system we're looking at here could cause many people to lose their mind, so to speak. if you're in an area that doesn't normally have snow removal trucks, you're about to get hit. >> that's the case, you're talking about northern arkansas, western parts of tennessee and stretching into lower missouri and lower parts of illinois and kentucky, too. you zoom into the area where the winter weather is all located around arkansas, oklahoma, kansas, missouri and the whole thing is making a b-line over to the east. all heavy rain and all thunderstorm action around the gulf coast and texas that's moving to louisiana, too. the pink-shaded areas, that's freezing rain. that will switch over to snow and once it does, watch it for four to eight inches of snow for you. look at the winter storm warnings for you. all the areas shaded in red into the north carolina mountains and same as south carolina and back to virginia, as well. all that action moves off the coast some time on saturday afternoon. let's look at the individual radar pictures because heavy rain right now all around houston and now moving and edging towards lower louisiana and up the line, rain once again around dallas mixing in with a little bit of sleet and freezing rain to the west. take you live to dallas. tower cam. rain overhead and five mile visibility at the airport and that's the way it looks in downtown. kind of ugly. that's the way it is for the day today. back up the line a little farther into the little rock area and you see the light shades of green and light freezing rain is up to the north. video quickly coming in and pictures out of oklahoma city and one of our producers from cnn he took these pictures from yesterday. look at that. this is why there are over 140,000 businesses and homes without power in oklahoma. that's oklahoma city, sign says it the best. freeze warning. >> look at the sign. >> more on this in just a bit, robin. >> thank you. you may be planning your sick call for the monday after super bowl, but schools in new orleans may make it official. so much for the laws that keep drivers off their cell phone supposedly for your safety. why they may not make you any safer on the road. love to salute our troops. today it is for marine sergeant jorge. now he has been deployed five times in the last four years and right now he is in haiti helping out after the earthquake there. >> hi, robin, my name is barbara gaona and i am supporting my husband sergeant jorge gaona of the united states supreme court corps. he had to leave 17 days later to go to haiti. so, we haven't really seen him for more than 17 days since april of last year. we are awaiting his return and we love you and miss you and can't wait for you to come home. >> look at the little boys pictures. those are so sweet. if you have somebody in the service, please go to cnn.com/robin so we can salute them. laws that basically say no talking or texting on your handheld while you're driving have no impact on oour safety. now, the highway data institute compared los angeles, new york, connecticut and d.c. and crash rates didn't change. there was no change compared to other places without the bands. experts are surprised by the findings because earlier studies found that your risk of a crash was four times higher while using a cell phone. the use of hands-free phones while driving is not much different than using handheld phones. the institute spokesperson says that laws targeting certain distractions may not work because drivers have so many distractions. >> lunch, lipstick. children. what are you going to do? no children in the cars! maybe or someone you know is looking for work. who doesn't know somebody and if it's not you, it's probably somebody you know. today, the president will propose a tax credit to get more companies to hire. so, our money expert jennifer westhoven explains how this is targeted towards the smaller businesses. >> right after his speech where he talked so much about job, the president is due to announce some proposals to help with job creation. the plan would give small companies a $5,000 tax credit for every new worker and also give out tax incentives to give pay raises or increase worker hours. it would have to be approved by congress and it would cost about $33 billion. now, you may remember as we have been talking so much this week about the massive recall and the problems that toyota that yesterday both gm and ford, they immediately jumped on this and said, hey, we'll give you $1,000 or other incentives if you trade in your toyota for a gm vehicle. well, a very different way of handling this coming from honda, even though toyota is its biggest rival in japan, honda said we will not undertake any sales activity that target toyota customers. nissan also japanese said pretty much the same thing. so, very interesting to see that they're kind of saying, we're not, we're not going to kick each other when we're down. you're looking to save money for you and your family any way you can. coupons up 27% last year. that means 3.3 billion coupons. so, that is ten coupons, roughly, just do the rough math, for every man, woman and child in this country. i think that is some people who aren't used many of them. are you eating breakfast while you watch this morning? take another look at what's on your plate because dr. sanjay gupta has the best foods for your heart in this week's fit nation. >> time to cut through all the clutter about what is really good for your heart. the biggest key, says registered dietici dietician paige love is reducing inflammati inflammation. >> the disease is cultivating and often there are foods that can actually help do the opposite in the body. >> what are the super foods? >> cheeries, particularly tart cheries, red grapes, tomatoes. >> blue berries and strawberries as do leafy greens like spinach, even oatmeal. >> quite a bit of evidence that the fiber in oatmeal helps lower cholesterol. one of the key disease fighting breakfast foods. >> if you're looking for a good snack food, try a good can of nuts. >> healthy fat source. >> avocados are full of healthy, unsaturated fats that could help boost good cholesterol. oily fish like salmon are lowering omega 3s which could reduce the risk of clotting. then, everybody's favorite, chocolate. >> the cocoa is full of compounds called flavanols and reduce a lot of benefits. relaxing blood vessels and reducing blood clotting and improving blood flow. >> despite the benefits of chowing down on chocolates -- >> keep sweets to extra foods to 10% of your calories per day. >> here's to your heart health. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. morning. 17 minutes past the hour. we can know next week what the pentagon's plan is to reveal the don't ask, don't tell policy. robert gates is expected to talk about his plan at a senate hearing tuesday. right now the law bars gay or lesbian troops from revealing their sexual orientation. president obama hopes to change the law this year. what do you think? is it time for don't ask, don't tell to end? if they're willing to fight for my security, freedom and safety, i don't care if they're gay, straight or transgender. jennifer writes, i'm not sure about this. you could end up in close quarters like the showers or bunking with a gay or lesbian attracted to you. you can e-mail us right now. go to cnn.com/robin and hit the contact us button or go to our facebook page, as well. that's kind of neat, as well. you can see other people's comments. death threats and hate mail are forcing a figure skater to change his costume for the olympics. joe carter is in for rafer and now we have pictures. >> give you an idea of this guy's flamboyant outfits. well, recently he wore fur, well, fox fur on the corner of his body suits. he did it in the u.s. figure skating championships in early january. afterwards he started receiving death threats and hate mail which scrapped his plan to wir it in the winter games in vancouver and he's swapping it with fake fox fur now. he didn't want something as silly as his costume disrupting his chance at winning a gold medal. the next story brings up the question, does the punishment fit the crime. a frustrated lebron james kicks a water bottle into the stands during a game and fined $25,000 by the nba while mark fistric was only find $2,500. what do you think is worse? what do you think deserves a bigger fine? kicking a water bottle or hitting a guy over the head with the helmet? >> i love lebron james as a player and i think he deserved the higher fine. am i wrong? because it went into the crowd, that's why. >> i like that, fair enough. should schools in new orleans cancel classes the day after the super bowl? that's the question administrators are pondering right now. some schools have gone ahead and canceled classes the monday following super bowl because they will use an emergency day built into the calendar. now, this past monday after the saints won the nfc championship game more than 8,000 kids were absent from class compared to 3,500 on a typical day. tack on a day at the end of the year or something like that. >> i have heard the football players on the saints team say how many people miss out on work the next day so on super bowl, yeah. >> a lot of people miss work on super bowl. a national holiday. now moved to 6:40 eastern, end so late in the day. the national educator association is on the phone if you. >> tell them to take a message. >> anything else? >> no, i'm good. bobby, winter storm is going to be impacting a lot of our flights and i wonder how it's going today. >> live to oklahoma city because you have the ice yesterday and currently getting the snow. here's what it looks like right now. okc, here is the traffic cam and things moving along pretty well but ice build up on the middle of the road and just a bad situation for you around this region and extend all the way to the carolinas by overnight tonight. delays an hour or so, that's what you get around boston and new york because of wind, not winter weather. dallas one hour or more delay because of the rain coming on through. san francisco watch for an hour because of the rain coming through and the snow and the ice pile up. currently at a ground stop in houston because of thunderstorms and denver a fog ground stop for the next 45 minutes. more on that in a bit, robin. a mess in texas, a winter storm dumped a foot of snow and we'll show you some of the tape else where. ooooooooooo cow bells, i think. not cow bells. this is, well, the new york stock exchange is open. this is not the new york stock exchan exchange. these folks are in switzerland. the mayor is ringing it. that's where the world economic forum is going on. we'll discuss our economy. toyota may now have a way to fix millions of dangerous gas pedals. and now it's apparently just waiting on government approval. now "the wall street journal" reports that your toyota dealer could have a fix in the next two weeks. a shim will be added to keep the pedal from sticking in the 2 million cars affected. microsoft co-founder and his wife are donating $10 billion to vaccine research. find new vaccines and get them to the world's poorest countries. they made their announcement today at the world economic summit in switzerland. texting and not using your cell phone while driving does not keep you safer. the crash rate didn't change after the bans were enacted. it allows targeting specific distractions because drivers have so many distractions. those are some of our top stories. i'm here to distract you if you're on the treadmill or you're trying to get your brain going. i'm robin meade. people are talking about toyota's future as they handle a massive recall. some experts say the longer the recall last, the more toyota's competitors may benefit. toyota is managing the kris cri well and making all the right moves. >> they didn't really try and cover up this problem. once they realized they had it they jumped on it and immediately stopped producing the cars affected which is an unprecedented move because they didn't want any more cars going on the road that possibly have this problem. they're really being proactive in this very difficult situation. >> well, for all the details on the toyota recall, check out our website, cnn.com/robin. elizabeth edwards is refuting some points in a new tell-all book due out tomorrow. the book is by a former aide to her husband, john edwards. elizabeth tried to use her cancer for her husband's political gain while he ran for president. the book also addresses when elizabeth found out that her husband had fathered a child with his mistress. and a spokesperson for elizabeth edwards sent out this statement. based on the limited portions of the book that have been made available, it is clear it contains many falsehoods and exaggerations. she will not engage in a dialogue on each of the false charges but would like to set the record straight on two points. first, the allegation that she sought to polites is her cancer is unconscionable, hurtful and second she believed andrew young to be the father of this child until her husband confessed his paternity to her this past summer. she will have nothing further to say. bringing ice and snow in the midwest is creating dangerous conditions in other places. in texas, high winds tore the roof off of a nursing home. this is near ft. worth. two dozen people were evacuated and no one was hurt. >> about 60-mile-an-hour winds came through and just took a piece of the roof off. sounded like a truck hit the roof, you know. just big, bang, boom. you hear that with metal. >> the storm brought the first heavy rainfall of the year to abilene, texas, and that touched off street flooding and road closures. oklahoma getting a lot of snow from the storm. power knocked out to thousands of customers and it is one heck of a snowy commute this morning from there. >> amarillo about ten inches and outside of that, 13 inches of snow. >> like we're just touching on it, basically. the problem is you have snow, sure. you have these cities not used to doing snow removal and that is who is going to get hit. >> especially tomorrow into tomorrow evening as that snow works in the eastern north carolina. it's going to be a problem. your set up goes like this. here's your arctic high. temperatures very cold up across the northern sections and minus 20s around michigan and there's your cold air and below that, here's your warm snow system trying to get up to the north and it falls right through the snow and cold air turns into freezing rain and sleet and snow. everything moving over to the east. let me show you what we're calling for over the next 24 hours. it is going to continue to wrap up through the mid south and mid-atlantic by overnight tonight and you see the purple-shaded areas. bullseye in northern arizona and the smokies getting into the north carolina mountains. that's a foot of snow. i think that's pretty accurate, too. you'll see that continue to pile up today, tonight and tomorrow. the big cities, not going to get it. new york, philly and d.c., not going to get it. near st. louis, coming in around springfield and northern arkansas and stretching into western tennessee and kentucky and over a foot of snow is a possibility in some of these spots and zero into the areas with the winter storm warnings and as the storm moves eastward, so are the warnings. strong showers and strong thunderstorms when you get just outside of houston. big squall line and northeast you're not out of the bad weather either. live to new york city. windy day today. hold on to your robes, lady, 40-mile-per-hour gusts in the harbor. some white caps right now. camera shaking around a little bit. more details in a half hour, robin. >> thank you. the u.s. is prepared to back efforts to reintegrate taliban fighters and that's what the secretary of state hillary clinton said during an exclusive interview with jill doherty. clinton just wrapped up a summit focused on a plan to create jobs and housing for the taliban. but the fighters would have to renounce violence. >> i think that this is the way peace usually gets made. you send out feelers and you see who's willing to lay down their arms and abide by the conditions you see how far up that will go. i don't expect omar and those people to be at all interested in this. in fact, they've made it very clear that they're not. >> well, during an interview on pbs, clinton said she's not sure she would want to stick around for another term as the secretary of state. she added it is a 24-hour job and doing eight years would be very challenging, but she won't make any predictions. on wall street, investors are hoping to bounce back from yesterday's triple-digit loss, which was the fifth in the last nine sessions for the dow. susan lisovicz, show me the green for friday, huh? >> we got some green. we got some green. it will not erase what we saw in the five triple-digit selloffs. the senate finally reconfirmed ben bernanke and good corporate earnings and the u.s. economy showed big growth in the fourth quarter. the first reading of fourth quarter gdp shows the economy grew 5.7%. that's the best economic growth in six years. the number bolsters hopes that the recovery is gaining strength and, well, it's definitely helping the bulls get to work this morning. also helping out, amazon.com the online retailer said profits soared more than 70% thanks to the best holiday shopping season in its history and the success of the kindle. they are selling six kindle books for every ten regular books it sells. we'll see what the ipad does to that. one book that is certainly climbing the amazon best selling list "the catcher in the rye" the author died yesterday at the age of 91. his most famous book now number five on amazon and number three at barns aebarnes&noble.com. >> one day and the sales were sky rocketing. susan, before you go, we just want to say we're going to miss you. today is her last day with us and we want to wish her lots of luck. >> right back at you, robin. you know, a lot of the viewers don't realize we do three live shots back-to-back the opening bell at our sister network cnn and then right after you cnn international our other sister network and you guys came in last and we said you have to take us at 9:37 a.m. every morning and you guys are tight, you're focused, you're fun. it's been a joy to work with all of you. >> thank you so much, susan. and the same to you. you're astounding. just really great. >> thank you, robin. >> all right, bye. fake perfume -- seemed weird to say good-bye to her. she's such a sweetie. fake perfume can make you sick. you have to hear about toxic chemicals found in some knockoff fragrances. >> daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. >> this sunday at the grammy awards michael jackson's daughter will make her first public appearance since her emotional speech at her dad's memorial service. paris and prips michael will accept a livetime achievement award in his honor. so far jackson's youngest son, blanket, is not scheduled to appear. an 11-month-old boy who police say was abducted in california by his father was found in new mexico unharmed and his mom flew right to albuquerque to get him. >> here you go, ma'am. >> police say that the dad picked up the little boy for a visit but never came back. they say he was heading to missouri with him when he was caught. jay leno has not spoken to conan o'brien since agreeing to take back "the tonight show." he told oprah that going back was a selfish move but just a matter of ratings. it was not appropriate to talk with o'brien at this point. >> you said earlier you haven't called him. >> it's not the right time because i'm not sure what i would say right now. let some time pass and i would hope we could talk again. >> well, leno is scheduled to return to "the tonight show" on march 1st. the man who confessed to killing a doctor who performed abortions. what is next for scott roeder. susan hen driks is working on that and others. >> he killed the doctor to save unborn children but the judge says that george tiller did not pose an imminent threat. we'll see how that affects closing arguments this morning. a disturbing video shows two teenage girls beating each other up and there was something else on that tape that grows attention. a new look at marijuana mega story you don't want to miss that, robin. >> thank you. some debt collectors are apparently taking it too far and they may be afraid to have you pick up your phone. hln money expert clark howard tells you what to do to stop bill collectors from harassing you. >> a collector is calling you? you know when you're on your feet financially i want you to pay your past due debts but i also want you to know what your rights are. now, there are collectors out there who do everything exactly as they should by the books. there are others who play fast and loose with the balls, in fact, break the attempt. here is one of the common things people will be told. they'll be told they will go to jail if they don't pay their bills. untrue. there have even been extreme cases, i had the calls come to me where someone was told by a collector if they don't pay a bill, their children will be taken away from them by the state. now, come on. here's a key right you have. if you owe a bill and a collector is calling you, you have no way to pay it and they're harassing you, you have the right to write them a drop dead letter. with the drop dead letter, once they receive it, they can never contact you again about the debt. at least it gives you time to clear your head. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to take control. go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on the weekends on hln. here's a question, how do you practice doing flips on a snowmobile anyway? wait until you see some of the crazy tricks from the winter x-games. are you on time today? itd about 47 minutes past the hour. what the pentagon's plan is to reveal the don't ask, don't tell policy. defense secretary robert gates is expected to talk about his plan at a senate hearing on tuesday. right now the 1993 law bars gays and lesbian troops from revealing their sexual orientation. president obama says he hopes to change the law this year. what do you think about it? is it time for the don't ask don't tell to end? one viewer texted us to say, gay people have just as much right to defend the country in which they live as anyone. patriotism has no sexual orientation. katrina e-mailed us with this, the army already has its fair share of sexual harassment problems. now, every homophobe in the service is going to jump at the chance to say, he looked at me wrong. you can e-mail us right now by going to cnn.com/robin and hit the contact us button or also go to our facebook page. you love bargains, but if you buy cheap, knockoff bottles of perfume and they say it's the real thing you could make yourself sick. investigators who specialize have found antifreeze, urine in fake perfume. perfume is absorbed by your skin so you can get a rash or a welt. here's the deal, we're not talking about the things you would maybe find in a drugstore that say if you like this, it's going to smell like ths one. we're talking about the ones that come off like trying to be the real thing like on the streets or flee market. look at the bottle, if anything looks off, it could be fake. all right, you probably heard the new orleans saints fans going who dat well who owns that phrase? the nfl swears that it does. hi, joe. >> that's what they say and i don't know who wants to go into a battle who owns it and who doesn't against the nfl. these local store owners who sell merchandise with who dat say it's free game and it's the people's phrase and the nfl says, hold on a second, we own whodat. those same stores have been ordered to stop printing t-shirts and get rid of inventory with the words whodat on it. it allows a third party a free ride neville song when the saints go marching in, they say they own it. there's a lot of gray area. "american idol" winner carry underwood is going to be the opening act at the super bowl. she will sing the national anthem. actress and singer queen latifah will perform america the beautiful and the who will play at half time. a former nba player got a big surprise from tv's dr. fill. olden polynice is the one in the chair. he was there to talk about his 12 missing family members. his father was flown in from port-au-prince to go on to the show and surprise his son. as you see there, he keeled over in shock and happiness. couldn't believe his father made it from port-au-prince. the x-games are under way in aspen. here comes the crazy tricks. justin hoyer pulse off a heel clicker flip. you know the trick all the kids are doing. >> definitely don't try that one at home. how do you learn that? amazing. you got to be so strong. >> lots of practice. >> thank you. >> do you know how heavy one of those is? >> yeah. wow. i could do that trick maybe once and then i would be paralyzed and never do it again. that thing is so heavy. it takes a lot of skill. you're traveling, some delays, freezing fog delay in denver. you're talking about an eighth of a mile visibility. that's all below zero. freezing fog. they're deicing on top of the possible visibility in denver. what about the rest of the country? new york city metro an hour or more delay because of the wind. atlanta, rain tonight. an hour or more, dallas, rain right now, memphis rain and snow. more in a bit. >> tell me if you heard this before. mel gibson plays an angry father set on revenge.

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