good morning to you. this is your a.m. wakeup call for thursday, november 17th. from the time warner center in new york, i'm carol costello. here are this morning's top stories. new questions about what police knew and what they knew about it in the penn state child abuse sex scandal. a coach who's taken a lot of heat for witnessing the alleged sexual assault on a little boy and not reporting it says he went to the cops years ago. but two law enforcement agencies are now saying that's not true. the secret service catching up to the man accused of shooting at the white house with an ak-47 that he left at the scene. one bullet was lodged in a bulletproof window facing the south lawn. and severe weather that ripped across the southeast has killed at least four people. the concern now there could be more victims beneath the rubble of some homes. let's check in with meteorologist reynolds wolf. >> the southeast getting pounded the last 24 hours. a very intense line of storms that went through parts of alabama, georgia, and the carolinas. one fatality that we know of in parts of georgia, swanee, georgia, to be more specific. a guy driving his suv and got hit by a branch from a falling tree due to strong winds. three more fatalities in parts of south carolina, rock hill, to be more precise. again, as the sun goes up. more daylight and possibly more fatalities. a tips line. the storm is now moving through parts of central florida. if you happen to be tuning in from orlando or gainesville, florida, you can hear the boom of thunder. the front is going to come through. the back end of the system is going to be residual moisture. the shot of cold air is going to come in and give you snow in the highest elevations. coming up, we're going to talk about how that's going to affect your travel not only along parts of the eastern sea board and the central plains. looks like another big storm ramping up in the central and northern rockies and the central northwest. carol, more on that in a few moments. let's send it back to you. >> thank you, reynolds. lots of new developments in the penn state sex abuse scandal. more questions surrounding the man who's become a lightning rod in the case. it's not jerry sandusky. right now it's coach mike mcqueary. he reportedly sent an e-mail to a friend saying he tried to stop sandusky when he allegedly saw him sexually assaulting a little boy in the shower and he also went to the cops. but that's not what the grand jury report says. and now two law enforcement agencies, penn state's campus police and state college police, say they have no record of it. legal contributor sunny hostin from "insession" on our sister network trutv, says it's still possible mcqueary is telling the truth, not just trying to clear his name. >> perhaps, mark, it's possible, because there's been such a cover-up, no report was filed. no report was taken. >> right. three police departments decided to deep six the reports. >> there's no transcript out there for the grand jury yet because, of course, grand jury proceedings are secret. all we have is this presentment, which is basically a summary report. so it's quite possible that in front of the grand jury he did discuss his police encounter. >> in the meantime, a new judge has been assigned to the sandusky case. the first judge who set bail for sandusky and allowed him to return home right across from a school, it was revealed she had connections to sandusky's second mile charity. and this morning the mother of victim number one in the grand jury report is speaking out. he was the first brave child, now a man, to break his silence. his mother says he's now afraid jerry sandusky will walk free and she was pressured by her son's school to keep quiet. >> the principal said, oh, you know, jerry has a heart of gold. and i said, listen, i was very upset at this point. i was extremely upset, and i was basically yelling at them that they needed to call the police. i said, i want you to call the police. i said, i want you to call the police right now. i said it three times, call the police right now. they said, no. they said, i needed to think about the ramifications of what was happening if i did that. i want jerry sandusky to go to jail for the rest of his life. i don't even know, to tell you the truth, at this point, i don't even know. >> that was the mother, and her voice has been altered. they broke the story that the university was allowed to keep secret documents that are typically public record just about everywhere else. he went directly to police and officials for answers. he has the latest from state college this morning. >> reporter: carol, instead of continuing our look for the records, which we've been told we cannot get, we decided to go searching for the people, the officials who should have known and most likely did know about the allegations, the investigations, and why nothing had been done for so long once these investigations were launched. the former university president graham spannier, the former university counsel, his name is wendell courtney, and the former university police chief, a guy named tom hartman. according to the grand jury report, all three of these officials most likely knew a heck of a lot was going on with jerry sandusky and these allegations as far back as 1998. in fact, after that mother accused sandusky of showering with her son naked in 1998, the former police chief had an investigation going on, but somehow, we're told from that grand jury report, tom harmon reportedly stopped that investigation. tom harmon now works for an architectural firm that has a business very near the campus, and they do business with the campus. this is what happened when we went and tried to find him. >> is mr. harmon in? >> he's not. >> reporter: he's not? >> he worbgds out of his home. >> reporter: oh, he works out of his home? >> yes. >> reporter: all right. so does he have an office number. does he have a number if somebody wants to -- >> we can't provide that information. sorry. >> reporter: you can't provide that information? >> no. >> reporter: the former police chief did send us an e-mail, carol, saying he could not discuss this because of a pending investigation. we went to the university counsel's office, wendell courtney. he was the university counsel back in 1998. in fact, he gave his blessing back in '98 for the investigation of sandusky. he is not talking either. in fact, when we went into his office, they actually had an attorney come out and tell us to leave the property all together. graham spanier -- now, he was forced to resign as the penn state university president, but he still lives here, lives in the mansion, lives down a private road. he is not talking, not answering any questions. so continuing silence here at penn state university. many people continue to look for answers as to who knew what when and where. carol? >> thank you, drew. another mystery surrounding this case. "the new york times" reporting this morning that three years worth of files are missing from the charity sandusky founded for troubled kids. investigators are worried that that may limit their ability to find out whether sandusky used charity resources to buy his alleged victims' silence. new york this morning bracing for what could be an action packed day on wall street. they've threatened to shut down lower manhattan in just a few hours. they plan to take their protest to the subways and then march to the brooklyn bridge at 5:00 p.m. eastern. they're filled with a little extra anger after being kicked out of their home base in zuccotti park earlier this week. and the eviction of occupy dallas is now under way. police going tent to tent telling people to get out and tearing the tents down. in san francisco police arrested dozens of wall street protesters after they occupied a bank of america branch in the city's financial district. he's surging in the polls, but now newt gingrich's involvement with freddie mac is threatening to stop that momentum. he said some politicians should go to jail for ties to the troubled mortgage giant, but it turns out newt gingrich made some big time cash during his stint there. cnn's brian todd is digging deeper on this story. >> reporter: newt gingrich has had some harsh words recently for politicians who dealt with troubled mortgage companies. listen to his comments at a washington post/bloomberg news debate. >> if you want to put people in jail, you ought to start with barney frank and chris dodd, and let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the environment, and the politicians who put this country in trouble. >> clearly not saying they should go to jail. >> in chris dodd's case, go back and look at the countryside deals. in barney frank's case, go back and look at the lobbyists he was close to at freddie mac. >> reporter: take a look at gingrich's own ties at freddie m mac. cnn has discovered that gingrich was paid between $1.6 million and $1.8 million for two separate stints at freddie mac, from 1999, when he left congress, to 2002. and from 2006 to 2008. asked if the money figure was accurate. >> i don't know. we're going back to check. >> reporter: what did the republican presidential hopeful did for freddie mac? gingrich said at one point he offered advice as a quote, historian, telling freddie mac officials that lending to people with no credit history was a mistake. he later said he was a strategic adviser. according to cnn, four people that worked for freddie mac while gingrich was there disagreed with his characterization he was a historian. his role was more strategic, specifically political strategy. officials familiar with gingrich's work in 2006 said the former house speaker was asked to build bridges to capitol hill republicans. i spoke with bob edgar of the liberal group common cause, which advocates more transparency in government. >> what does that seem like to you? >> when you're paying over $1 million to build bridges with capitol hill, you're buying a lobbyist, you're buying somebody with your money that can connect you with members of congress. you don't hire a historian to do that. you don't hire someone just to give you polite advice. you hire somebody who makes those relationships work, and that's lobbying. whether you're registered or not, that's hard-core lobbying, and that's what newt gingrich was doing. >> reporter: a characterization gingrich firmly denies. >> no lobbying of any kind. that's all i've got to say about it. >> reporter: it would not have been illegal for gingrich to lobby for freddie mac unless he did it the last year he was employed by them, 1999 to 2000. asked if he would make public the records of his work for freddie mac, gingrich said he would to the degree he can. we checked federal records and found nothing indicating gingrich was a lobbyist. gingrich said nothing but he was a consultant but did not lobby for them. search teams are in high gear after a string of deadly storms hit the southeast. and benetton creating controversy once again. some are saying it went way too far with this new campaign ad. wait until you see it. when we come back, find out if your airport made the daily beast's list of the worst airports in america. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] some people just know how to build things well. give you and your loved ones an expertly engineered mercedes-benz... ho ho ho! ...at the winter event going on now. but hurry -- the offer ends soon. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? 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[ chuckles ] it's amazing. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now very well qualified lessees can sign and drive a 2012 cruze ls for around $199 a month. ♪ it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. it is 50 minutes past the hour. new developments in the penn state sex abuse scandal. in an e-mail, assistant coach mike mcqueary said he filed a police report moments after allegedly witnessing jerry sandusky abusing a boy in the shower. but two police departments say they have no record of the report. police talked oscar ortega hernandez to a hotel in western pennsylvania. he is suspected of firing an ak-47 at the white house on friday. two bullets were discovered, one stuck in bulletproof glass, the other on the outside of the mansion. no one was hurt. and turkey day is almost here. that means we're getting into the holiday travel season. if you plan to use chicago's o'hair airport, be prepared for major league headaches. the daily beast ranks it as the worst airport in america. that's based on delays, comfort and security, and wait time. rounding out the top five, newark liberty in new jersey, jfk in new york, william hobby in houston, and laguardia, also in new york city. let's get a check of today's weather. let's head to atlanta and check in with reynolds wolf. we're keeping a sharp eye on delays around the country. looks like there's going to be plenty along the eastern seaboard. as you take a look at the maps, you'll see a lot of delays stack up in new york and philadelphia, delays possibly over an hour. in boston and washington, d.c., showers and low clouds might keep you grounded. in atlanta, the rain is moving out. however, we've got issues with low clouds. the wind is actually expected to pick up in the afternoon. temperatures some 20, even 30 degrees cooler in parts of the southeast. tampa, orlando, and miami, they're dealing with thunderstorms as we speak and will through a good part of the morning, hence the delays. in the west, san francisco, we're talking about low cloud activity. central coast california southward to l.a., you may have i shassues with the marine laye. before all is said and done, we may have to low l.a. in the mix. in terms of the forecast, that long frontal boundary extending down to the northeast to the gulf of mexico to drift its way towards the east. right behind it, low pressure building in. with it, just a big shot of cool air that's really going to drop the temperatures down. as that moves out, we've got a big storm coming in from the gulf of alaska, it's going to be a rain maker and a snow maker in parts of the rockies. could see several feet of snow before the weekend gives out. 61 in san francisco. 43 in seattle. 56 in el paso. 52 in memphis. 65 in the big easy, new orleans. miami with 85. new york, 48, your expected high for the day today. wish i had better news about those potential delays f you're heading out to any of the major airports in new york or even over towards jersey and newark, be patient. it's going to be a long wait. >> at least you've warned us. we'll be ready. >> isn't knowledge half of the battle? now you're prepared, you're good to go. >> that will make things so much easier. thank you, reynolds. we appreciate it. early morning gunfire in syria's capital comes as leaders put pressure on syria's president to stop the crackdown against protesters. this could mean a turn for the worse in syria. until now, most of those protests have been peaceful. let's head round the world and bring in zain verjee live in london. tell us about the situation in syria, zain. >> good morning, carol. the focus is on the situation where the arab league has told syria we're going to give you three more days. stop and end this brutal crack down. otherwise, there will be consequences. they want to kick syria out temporarily from the arab league. and what they're saying is they want to put something like 500 observers from that organization on the ground in syria to determine exactly what is going on. we keep getting pictures like this, but it's very difficult for cnn and other news organizations to verify the reports that we're getting because syria has not allowed western and international news organizations, or arab television chanchannels, for th matter, on the ground. the other situation is today there were explosions in the capital of damascus reportedly followed by gunfire. we're trying to figure out exactly what's going on. definitely, there's a lot more pressure on syria right now. the question is what will bashar al assad do. carol? >> the world is watching. let's talk about benetton and its latest advertising campaign. it's made the vatican mad. >> it really made the vatican livid. this picture just says it all. take a look at it. there were a few with various world leaders there kissing one another. you've got sarkozy smooching merkel. you've got hu jintao and obama. this is really what outraged the vatican. pope benedict xvi kissing an imam from egypt. the vatican has demanded that benetton pull the ad. the vatican said this was an unacceptable use of the holy father's image. benetton said they're sorry for being offensive, and they'll pull the pope-imam kissing ad. the point is this has already flashed around the world, and benetton, as it always does, pushing the envelope. >> i like how you said these pictures doctored -- yeah. all righty then. thank you, zain. we appreciate it. still ahead on "a.m. wakeup call," we're getting a real sum of what it will cost if new gas mileage rules go into effect for new cars. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. 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