Tornadoes touch down in louisiana, water levels keep rising and more rain on the way. A packed show for you this morning. Talk to cnn chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta, dr. Anthony fauci, from the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases. Former new mexico give nor Bill Richardson, illinois congresswoman january, and tboz will be joining us. Starting point begins right now. Welcome, everybody. Our starting point is kind of gross. The flu. A nasty strain running rampant across the country. Thousands hospitalized and dozens of people have died. In just a few hours, the cdc will release new numbers on how widespread the flu is. Cnns medical unit got an early look and one expert says were at epidemic levels. Dr. Sanjay gupta is in atlanta. What are you expecting to hear . Elizabeth cohen has been working through the night on getting these numbers. One number, which is important and what we expected. Widespread outbreak of the flu. 47 states, up from 41 states with an outbreak of the flu. Some good news. The number of states with high levels of activity has gone down from 29 now to 24. Two additional deaths in young people, from 18 to 20. But there may be some relief as you say in sight. We are at epidemic threshold. That basically means we are seeing more cases than we expected to see at this time year. Big question . Will those cases stay elevated or will they start to come down across the country . We keep hearing, get a flu shot, get a flu shot. Some got our flu shots early. Yes, im gloating. If you havent gotten your flu shot yet, is there enough vaccine . I think so. I crunched some numbers on this overnight. May be some spot shortages, but general numbers, take aook at how many of these vaccines were specifically manufactured, 135 million, bottom number, 112 million vaccinated. Not bad. Fits with what we tip ukly see this time of the year. 16 million doses out there, distributed in stores and pharmacies across the country and another 7 million ready to go. And also that flu mist that we talk about, the nasal spray, 300,000 doses ready to go. They expire at the end of next month. There may be enough. May not be in the usual pharmacy. Thank you, sanjay. Appreciate it. You got it. Important meetings at the white house to tell you about today. President obama welcomes afghanistans President Hamid karzai. The two will discuss the nature of the troop presence in afghanistan after 2014, which is when the nato combat mission is declared over. The Obama Administration floated the idea of removing american troops all together. President karzai met with secretary of state clinton last night over dinner. And joe biden plans to deliver recommendations from the Gun Control Task force to the president on tuesday. Yesterday, the Vice President met with representatives on various sides of the issue. The former head of a movie Industry Group argued movies arent behind the violence. The nra step ahead way from discussions and said they were in attack of Second Amendment. Dan lothian has been following developments for us this morning. Sol folks said they see some consensus in some areas. When you listen to what the nra said, they sounded very disappointed with the meetings. Thats right. We sort of expect thad coming in. It wasnt a very big, bold expectation from the nra, saying they were coming to simply listen to what the administration had to put out there. The Vice President did talk about some things floating to the top. Not recommendations that come from him, but recommendations he said coming from all the various groups he has been meeting with. At the top of the list is a total universal background check, including private sales of guns, second on that list, a ban on highcapacity ammunition clips and also talked about the need for the federal government to get more research. Get their hands on more information that he believes will prevent more gun violence in the future. Pushback from the nra saying that they were troubled by the fact that this discussions had less to do with protecting children and more to do with an attack on the Second Amendment. Take a listen. The Vice President said wed do with this on an open mind. And there wont be an agreement. In a sense, they were checking a box. We met with the nra, with the people who were strong Second Amendment supporters. One thing we didnt hear the Vice President talk about is this push recently of lawmakers up on the hill to reinstate the assault weapons ban. White house aides saying the president , the Vice President , still support this, perhaps a recommendation, though, that it will be difficult to make it through congress, so they are focused on other elements that can get bipartisan support. A couple of things, walmart finally changes its schedule to meet with the Vice President after much discussion about that, and the Vice President cant change his schedule to meet with walmart what that was about . I know. I think what happened was, you know, walmart at the last minute decided to come to washington after a big dustup. Initially they said they were busy, they had a scheduling conflict and could not come and also pointed out that they had some discussions with the white house by phone. At the last minute, they sent a representative to meet with officials, not the Vice President. He was not able to get them in on the schedule. Nonetheless, they are part of the discussions on this issue, according to walmart. They said they want to be part of the solution on this the problem, though, with all of these groups trying to figure out what the best options are. Everyone recognizes what the big problem is here, but what the option and solution is is much more difficult. Maybe step one is when they get on your calendar, make sure that you can get on the calendar as well. Dan lothian, thank you. Appreciate it. If jack lew, nominee of secretary of the treasury actually gets that gig, this is the signature that could we on our money. Yesterday, president obama assured the world that the american dollar is safe, even with that. I never noticed jacks signature. When this was highlighted in the press, kconsidered rescinding m offer to appoint him. Jack assures me he is going to work to make at least one letter legible. In order not to debase our currency should he be confirmed as secretary of the treasury. This is what his signature would look like on a dollar bill if it all goes through. Looks like what my boys do. People have studied this. He has the same number of loops each time he does it. Tim geithner says one of the first things he had to do when he became treasury secretary, was make it a little more legible. It suddenly matters. Other stories making news this morning. John has that for us. The 16yearold who opened fire and critically wounded a High School Classmate claims he was bullied. He was tar getting two boys at Taft High School in balkersfield, california. The suspect may have had a hit list. Teacher ryan heber and kim lee fields, counselor, getting high praise for convincing the shooter to put the shotgun down. This teacher and counselor stood face to face not knowi ii whether he would turn the gun on them. They have seen the news meadow, probably expected the worst and hoped for the best, gave students a chance to escape and conversed and it worked. For now, the suspect will be charged as a juvenile with attempted murder it will be up to prosecutors to decide if he will be eventually charged as an adult. Some americans are believed to be among the dead in a hotel fire in the northern philippines. It happened at the dryden hotel in oulangopo city. The fire destroyed seven rooms, some offices, a Communications Center and a computer room. Investigators trying to nail down the cause. Initial signs suggest it may have been an electrical fire. It is now official. James holmes will be tried for murder in colorado for the Movie Theater rampage. That ruling from the judge, who presided over his threeday evidence hearing this week. Holmes will be arraigned today on 166 counts connected to the massacre, including first degree murder. Hes accused of opening fire in an auror gentleman, colora oo o theater. The charges could carry the death penalty. Three tornado touchdowns, Surveillance Video of one of the twisters. One town, eunice in southwestern louisiana, has been drenched with more than a foot of rain in three days. Seven parrishes have widespread flooding, causing governor bobby jindal to declare a state of emergency. More rain forecast for this weekend. A really big change in Major League Baseballs drug testing program. They will drug test Human Growth Hormone in season starting next season. This announcement, one day after baseball whiffed on the hall of fame class. None were elected. I have covered steroids in sports for over ten years are, it would have been unimaginable to have inseason blood testing. Players said they would never allow it. They didnt know how taking blood might affect their performance on the field. What . They said if you take blood just before a game, the clubhouse or locker room, they were concerned it might affect the way they play the game. How much blood . You may think thats ridiculous. I do think its ridiculous. Having given a lot of blood over the years, how is that possible . To allow the tests, a major concession, major progress in testing in sports. Because it makes so nens. How much blood to you have to give . They are relatively news, and a lot of progress. You are not giving a liter of blood. Look, i agree. But these players have held a firm line for years and years and years. And its a big step. What are you going to do . Have another class where no one is elected into the hall of fame. Up next on starting point, how did the meetings go between Vice President joe biden and the nra. Richard feldman, president of the independent firearm owners association. He was there. What he thought of the meetings. Business news as well, christine. Business of the flu. Taking its toll on your health. But what the sick days are doing to our economy. And worse, those of you who arent taking sick days, the cost of that. Youre watching starting point. 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And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. Welcome back, everybody. Showdown in washington, d. C. To some degree. Vice President Joe Biden will deliver recommendations on gun control to the president on tuesday, after meeting with gun advocacy groups like the nra and National Shooting sports foundation. Here is a portion of what to expect in those recommendations. Theres an emerging set of recommendations, not coming from me. But coming from the groups weve met with. One is that there was a surprising so far a surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks. Not just close the gun show loophole, but total universal background check, including private sales. The nra says they wont support that and the whole meeting was an attack on the Second Amendment. Richard feldman is joining us now. Thank you. Give us the sense of how it went as someone inside the room. The nra was disappointed. They felt they had been invited so people could see they were there, but there wasnt an intention to hear them out. Did you agree with that . I thought we had a real conversation, and it wasnt just a lecture. We had some different positions on some issues, but really a lot more agreement on many of the multifaceted aspects of the problem than really sometimes come out in the media. When i spoke as i do in colleges and conferences around this country. I talk about how important it is on this issue to focus correctly on the language. If you ask the question and focus on guns, if we ask the question, in whose hands were the guns, we find were in a lot of agreement. We talked about civil commitment laws. We talked about the need for greater penalties for gun running. We talked about the problems that the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms with giving Law Enforcement agencies the tools to do their job, such as the niban program. I believe the Vice President was very supportive of adding moneys to allow a Law Enforcement to do the job that the tasked with doing and doing it correctly. It sounds much more positive than some who came out after these meetings, you think it will come out of this meeting real change that will ultimately protect people from the kinds of violence weve seen . You know, if we focus correctly on the problems, we stand a real chance of doing something and having solutions that are going to work. But if we go back to the bumper stickers of the past, and the two sides just yelling past each other, and really not even talking about the same issue at the same time, then, no, we wont solve anything. Here is what the nra said specifically after the meeting. We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with ab agenda to attack the Second Amendment. Do you think they had a point on that . Anyone who came to that meeting and thought minds would be turned around 180 degrees isnt a player. We got to air our positions. The National Rifle association was very effective in stating their beliefs. As was the nssf. Most of the discussion was a very adultlike discussion. We found lots of areas of agreement. I didnt think it was a bad discussion at all. I hope we continue that dialog, but, of course, so much of this activity is going to focus after next week on capital hill. And thats where we in a democracy really play that out. This is going to be a legislative issue, not so much executive one. Universal background checks, would you support that . Is that a good idea . Our organization our organization believes strongly that at gun shows there, ought to be background checks on the transfer of a firearm at a gun show, right now, dealers have to make that transfer, but private citizens dont. That doesnt make much sense to us, because essentially you are putting yourself in the same position as a dealer. You are open to the public. But when we talk about universal checks, people may not understand what that means. That means when you give a gun to your child, or to your spouse, or you sell a gun to a friend or a neighbor, there is an important distinction there. You know who you sold the gun to. And ive never heard anyone say there is some big problem with criminals getting guns from people that own them lawfully and sold it to them. The problem, soledad, there are 500,000 guns stolen of yore in th every year in this country. So why not have a universal check. People would report that their gun was stolen. People would have to say i gave it to my spouse, i gave it to my child, i gave it to my friend, so you could track if that person gave it to somebody else. Why would that be a bad thing . And how would it interfere with the Second Amendment . It creates problems where there is no problem today. No one has alleged that there is a problem there. Obviously, in the horrible situation in newtown, the son stole the guns, and the problem was that the guns were not kept secured from unauthorized users. But strawman purchases are a huge problem. But the idea of knowing who you who ultimately gets the gun seems to me not only to be practical, but wouldnt infringe on everybodys Second Amendment right. Soledad, everybody in the room yesterday, nra included, was all in favor of enhanced penalties for strawman purchases. A lot of agreement in the room yesterday. There will be disagreement on a couple of key issues and thats why we have a congress and this issue isnt coming to an end next tuesday. There will be hearings on the hill and this is going to be a big fight. Richard feldman, president of the independent firearms owners association. Thank you for your time, soledad. You bet. You bet. What are these Gun Task Force meetings doing to gun stocks . Christine romans breaks it down next. And our starting point team heads in to talk about that and much more. Good morning. Welcome back to starting point. Im Christine Romans minding your business. S p 500 hit a five year high. Closing at the highest level since december 2007. U. S. Stock futures are flat this morning. Wells fargo reports Fourth Quarter earnings before the bell. The massive flu outbreak costing the economy about 83 billion, according to statistics based on 2011. Thats the direct costs. Indirect costs from lost productive, 6. 2 billion annually. 17 million work days are lost due to flurelated illness. Nycs new yorks comptroller have called for businesses to g