Get these problems solved so people can go ahead and have a prosperous future. Hallelujah is what im trying to say. Debris with that. Thank you. Nice of you. Cnn newsroom with Carol Costello right now. Condition critical, hospitals take emergency measures to deal with a severe strain of flu and overflow of patients. Plus shoot him again, shoot him. Oh, no. Moments of terror, a hero mother on the phone with her husband, while a burglar hunts down her family. Hear the 911 tape as she hides in the attic with her 9yearold twins. Breaking his silence, Lance Armstrong agreeing to sit down with Oprah Winfrey. The downfall and the doping accusations, will we hear a confession from the once cycling great . And he climbed all the way to the top of a stormsoaked roller coaster to plant an american flag. Later youll hear why he did it and what happened to him. Newsroom starts now. Good morning to you, thank you so much for being with us. Im carols cou s coulcostello. We begin with a story that might be in your home, you dont know it or not, the outbreak of the flu, this year exceptionally early and unusually rampant. At least 43 states reports widespread cases and hospitals are starting to feel the strain, in chicago, jam packed, Emergency Rooms are telling ambulances to go elsewhere. Wls reports at least six hospitals were forced to divert at rifles because their ers were overflowing with flu patients. The numbers suggest this could be the worst flu season in a decade. In allentown, pennsylvania, theres little doubt, Lehigh Valley hospital pitched a tent to treat the milder cases of the flu. They cant cram all the patients into the emergency room. If you think youre safe because youve had the vaccine, think again. I came to work today and as the day went on i felt progressively worse. This is the worst, this is the worst, yeah, and i did get the flu shot and some of our other patients, too, that are testing positive did get the flu shot. The flu is spreading so fast and quickly that many schools in the Central United states have had to close down, from michigan to tennessee, ailing teachers and bus drivers have left schools shortstaffed, but this years strain, severe strain, is more than just an inconvenience. It can be downright dangerous. Across the country, the flu is being blamed for the deaths of at least 18 children. The government doesnt keep track of adult deaths blamed on the flu. More than 2,200 people have been sickened by the bug. So sick theyve been admitted to the hospital. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us by phone from louisville, texas. We have you on the phone because we know youre working on a flu story about kids. Give us a preview. Its a terrible story of a completely healthy 17yearold boy who got the flu, you know, kids get the flu, it happens, but it did not, he got very sick, very quickly and unfortunately, he ended up passing away, and this is what sometimes happens with kids. Kids can look completely fine, and in less than 24 hours, or about 24 hours later that child is on a respirator in the intensive care unit, and a lot of these kids are just completely healthy kids with no Underlying Health problems and we dont know why most kids are okay with the flu. Theyre sick for a little while and get better. Some of them die, we just dont know why. Is it too late to get a flu vaccine to protect our kids, to protect ourselves . It isnt too late. Thats one of two things ill tell parents to do, to be empowered parents. This is so crucial. One, get your child the flu shot. We heard that people are still getting the flu with the flu shot and thats absolutely true, that does happen but it decreases the chance that you or your child are going to get the flu if you get a flu shot. It is not too late. You can still get it. The second thing, and this ones harder, when your child has the flu, be really vigilant, subtle changes can mean your child will be one of the ones that crashes. If your child is very, very lethargic, for example, doesnt want to drink anything, doesnt want to do anything except sleep, that is a sign that perhaps your child is going into a scary time. Elizabeth cohen thanks so much. You can see more about the dangers of the flu and how it can kill a healthy teenager on the situation room with wolf blitzer. The planning behind that colorado theater shooting that killed 12 people last year, as day three of james holmes preliminary hearing begins this morning, investigators say the accused gunman and former College Student started shopping for guns more than two months before the july 20th shooting. Nearly 6,300 rounds of ammunition, four guns, and two canisters of tear gas were all purchased online or in stores and holmes passed all appropriate background checks. He passed them all. Casey wian joins us from outside the courthouse in centennial, colorado. The 911 tapes were played in court yesterday and to say they were emotional is an understatement. Reporter thats right, carol, there were 41 911 calls made the night of the shooting. Prosecution played two of them in court yesterday. The first one they played was the very first 911 call that was made. It only lasted for 27 seconds. It was very difficult to hear what the 911 operator was saying, what the person who made the call from inside that theater was saying, but unmistakable, the sound of more than 30 gunshots within 27 seconds, hearing that tape, family members in the courtroom became very emotional, heres what the father of one victim had to say about that experience of listening to that call. It was awful. I mean, just any one of those shots could have been the one that killed alex and if it wasnt, it hurt somebody else or it killed, you know, one of the other people who weve become friends with. So it was horrific. Reporter the second 911 call that was played lasted much longer, four minutes. It was made by a 13yearold girl, also from inside the theater, it was also very difficult to hear much of what was being said, because of the chaos, the screaming, the shouting, the crying. The little girl was trying to communicate with the 911 operator because two, she was there with two cousins, both of them had been shot. The 911 operator was trying to get her to perform cpr on her young cousin, who ended up dying. The little girl couldnt understand what the 911 operator had to say. After four agonizing minutes, the little girl finally told the operator that the police were there, and he said, stay with the police, and she said thank you. That call then ended, very dramatic moment for those families of the victims in the courtroom yesterday, carol. Casey wian reporting live for us this morning. From tense 911 calls in aurora to town halls across america, americans are making their voices heard on the issue of gun control. For you to sit there and try to limit and encourage people to limit our constitution is just appalling. As a gun owner and a hunter, i dont think they do us any good. I think its a cloud over our heads and i dont think they should be on our communities and i dont think they should be on our streets. I know im going to get booed but when i listen to the leadership of the nra saying we need more guns in the schools, i could vomit. Those kids might have been alive if this meeting was in the city of vampa, california, wine country. Many called for better access to Mental Health care as well. As you saw the debate over gun violence reaches far and wide from town halls to the white house. Vice president joe bidens Gun Violence Task force meeting facetoface this week with the National Rifle association, the nra. Vice president s team also going to sit down with top executives in the Entertainment Industry and the video Game Industry. Retail giant walmart was also invited but walmart is not going to show up. In a statement walmart said we were invited to attend the meeting on thursday, and we had scheduling conflicts. Were going to continue to stay engaged in this topic Going Forward. Cnn reached out to walmart this morning, and it said, not attending the meeting should not be interpreted as a slight or a diss. Walmart would not confirm reports theyre the largest retailer of the worlds guns and ammunition, even though they had 44 billion in total sales last year alone. Christine romans joins us now, so i dont know, its mind boggling no one from walmart would bother to go to this meeting and that they wont release their sales figures on guns, why . Whats the reason behind that . Let me take the second part of that first. They dont release their product breakouts for any individual category, they will not release how many guns or how many ammo they sell every year but its clear, carol, they are a world leader in selling everything, so Industry Analysts say they are likely the largest seller of guns and ammunition in the country. Now thats why walmart is a stakeholder in the discussion about the conversation Going Forward about gun control. In terms of why theyre not at the meeting tooled at the Vice President s office, walmart spokesman telling me they talked to the Vice President s office, the staff earlier this week, they had monthly meetings that have been scheduled for months, that this invitation from the white house came just a few days ago and so because of scheduling issues they wouldnt have anybody there but they had already talked to the Vice President s office, they say to make too much of not being at this meeting would be blowing the story out of proportion, but ill tell you, washington insiders like jenntasdtsaki, ry lizza say when you have something of this magnitude, the visuals of who is on the attendance list and who is there, people who follow washington say they think that somebody from walmart should be there, should be one person there even though lets parse this out further, christine. So walmart says it has previous commitments, so only one person can attend this meeting, and its not like it was a surprise this meeting was coming up, right . If theyve been talking to the white house they knew exactly when the Task Force Meetings were scheduled. I pushed them on this. They said we dont need to be there. We talked to them this week. I pointed out this is a conversation between all different kinds of opinions about guns in america and gun violence in america. Its not necessarily just talking one way with the Vice President s office. Its hearing what the other groups have to say but he said we had a scheduling conflict, our executives are in bentonville for monthly meetings, we dont have anybody there. We already talked to the Vice President s office earlier this week. Did they release how many tvs they sell at christmastime . They will not break out product categories for competitive reasons. They dont want their competitors to know what volume they do. I can look at how much their overall sales are last year, it was 444 billion. Theyre the biggest seller carol of everything in the world, largest private retailer, 2. 2 million employees. Walmart is a stakeholder in this because it is a very big seller of guns and ammunition in america. Christine romans live in new york. Dan lothian is at the white house today. Dan, who is going to be accomplished at these meetings today . Reporter its a chance for the Vice President and his team to sit down with the various groups, victims groups, gun safety organizations, the nra, entertainment groups, video Game Industry to get their ideas about preventing gun violence in the future. Already they are pushing congress to act on things that can get done now, such as reinstatement of that ban on assault weapons, closing in on some of those loopholes, those background checked loopholes and in addition limiting the high capacity clips, magazine clips, those are things that the Administration Says you know, lawmakers can move on very quickly but they believe that there are other options out there, good options that can also be put on the table, turned into policy proposals. That can prevent gun violence in the future and of course the president has tasked this group with coming up with those proposals by the end of the month, carol. Dan lothian reporting live from the white house this morning. More than two months after Superstorm Sandy hit the northeast there are so many families still struggling to survive. Sheila and dominic trayna are a good example. Weve been bringing you their story since sandy hit in october. As they fight with their insurance company, allstate they learned their damaged home is part of a new Television Ad for allstate. Not surprising the traynas are upset. Allstate tells the New York Post theyll remove the ad and i forgot to mention this important detail, allstate did not pay the familys claim because they say the damage was caused by storm surge and not the storm itself. Robert griffin iii going under the knife this morning. Espn reporting the Washington Redskins physician and famed orthopedist dr. James andrews is operating on the teams franchise quarterback. Rg3 is having total Reconstructive Surgery on his knee, reinjured during sundays playoff game, and is expected to recover in time, at least we hope so, for the 2013 season. Espn now apologizing for Brent Musburgers remarks about Katherine Webb during the bcs title game monday. Webb as you well know by now is the girlfriend of alabama quarterback a. J. Mccarron. Musburger gushed over webbs beauty, a shot of her from the stands. Espn tweeted always try to capture interesting storylines and and the relationship between an auburn grad who is miss alabama and the current alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However the commentary went too far and brent understands that. They say politics shouldnt be a popularity contest but oh man if it were congress would not be doing so hot. According to the Public Policy polling group, when americans were asked their opinions of the United States congress, they tended to have a more favorable opinion of, oh, root canals, the rock band nickel back, genghis khan and cockroaches. The survey found congress was more popular that telemarketers, lindsay lohan, north korea and the ebola virus, they have that. Oprah winfrey lands the first tv interview with Lance Armstrong since he lost his Tour De France titles. Will she be the one who finally gets to the bottom of the cheating scandal . 18 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now a white house official tells cnn all u. S. Troops could leave afghanistan by the end of next year, thats one possibility that will depend on whether Afghan Security forces are fully trained and whether afghanistan gives legal cover to any u. S. Troops after the nato mission ends. Other possibility was for 6,000 to 15,000 u. S. Troops to remain after 2014, a final decision could be months away. In the wake of the Connecticut School shooting a vermont town is looking to ban assault weapons. Burlington town leaders are considering changing the charter to eliminate assault rifles and high capacity maing scenes. Voters would need to weigh in before all of that could become law. For the first time one of our nations most prominent churches will hold samesex weddings. This year the ceremonies will be permitted inside Washingtons National cathedral. The church is episcopalian that allows each bishop whether to allow samesex weddings in their church. The d. C. Bishop decided to allow the weddings which are legal in the Nations Capital and nearby state of maryland. If Lance Armstrong admits to doping it could be Oprah Winfrey to gets the confession out of him. The queen of talk has landed the first tv interview with armstrong since he was stripped of his Tour De France titles airs next thursday night on oprahs tv network. Diet drinks may satisfy your sweet tooth but people who drink at least four cans of soda a day are at much as 50 more likely to be diagnosed with depression. Scientists who studied more than 260,000 people said their findings dont show that diet drinks cause depression, only that there is a link between the two. And if youre one of about 5 Million People who still get a paper check for Social Security or other federal benefits you have until march 1st to sign up to have your money deposited into a bank or debit card account. Paper payments wont stop march 1st but the government will start hounding you if you miss the deadline. To sign up godirect. Org. Aig, you, me, all of us bail out the troubled insurance giant to the tune of 182 billion. We saved aig and it seemed grateful, it even went the extra mile and released a thank you video. Weve repaid every dollar america lent us. Everything plus a profit of more than 22 billion for the american people. Thank you, america. What happened next . Aig paid its executives massive bonuses and today, aig might join a lawsuit over the terms of the bailout, because the deal that saved its bottom line cheated shareholders. Alison kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. Seriously . Seriously, yes. Thanks for nothing, right . So the former ceo of aig, his name is Hank Greenburg spearheading the lawsuit against the u. S. He alleges the companys value was alluded in 2008. Greenbur