One way parents can do this is by instilling essential study habits that can allow their child to cope with-and excel at-academic requirements. Below are four that your kid should adopt before college.
behind regulatory reform. mr. obama lashed out on what he called reckless speculation and short-sightedness during comments to a democratic fund-raiser last night in new york. the administration is increasingly focusing on the apparent disconnect between the rebound on wall street and the continued recession on main street. newly released documents show that it was swiss authorities who set in motion the arrest of roman polanski last month. a series of e-mails obtained by the associated press show the swiss tipped off their counterparts in the u.s. that polanski would be arriving in zurich. the 76-year-old film director is back in prison today after undergoing some medical tests at a hospital. new york city s former police commissioner bernard kerik in the jail this morning after a judge revoked his bail. kerik led the city s police force during the 9/11 attacks and he was former president bush s pick to head the department of homeland security before withdrawing. he goes on trial on monday on corruption charges. a judge revoked his bail yesterday for revealing information about the case. all right, time for your wednesday weather. a wet day today in the plains, the upper midwest and around the great lakes. rain and flooding in seven states from texas to minnesota. up to a foot of snow from new mexico to nebraska. late-day showers and freezing rain in northern new england. boston and new york climb into the 60s. it s 86 in miami. 80 in new orleans. 75 in dallas. 58 in omaha. 71 in detroit. 69 in kansas city. albuquerque hits 55 degrees. boise 62. portland 60. well, a louisiana woman may have gotten her hands on an original by one of the greatest artests ever. taisha mcneil bought this painting at a garage sale, a painting you re about to see, for just $2. she was about to hang it in her mobile home when she noticed the side of the picture had pablo picasso s name on it. oh my gosh. after doing an internet search for stolen picassos she called the fbi. officials now trying to determine if it s real. mcneil says if it is she ll definitely sell it. who could blame her for that. assistance getting around their homes. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you. stay tuned for this important medicare benefit information and free scooter guarantee. imagine. one scooter or power chair that could improve your may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen . your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. why should you call the scooter store today? because their mobility experts are also medicare experts. and that means the scooter store is your best shot at qualifying for a scooter that costs you little to nothing. hi i m doug harrison. pay little to nothing out of pocket. how do we do it? we know what it takes to get you your power chair it s our strength. it s our mission. and we back it up with the scooter store guarantee. if we qualify you and medicare denies your claim for a new powerchair or scooter, i ll give it to you absolutely free. i paid into medicare all my life, and when i needed it the benefit was there for me. the scooter store made it so easy. i didn t pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. the scooter store got me back out in the world again. talk to. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you. the intense search for a missing florida girl resumes this morning. somer thompson was last seen on school monday afternoon. on this morning s american landscape coverage from jacksonville. this is a first coast news special report. the search for somer. good evening. i m shannon ogden. i m donna deegan. a day of intense searching has turned up nothing in the search for the missing 7-year-old somer thompson. an amber alert remains in effect for the little girl from orange park who has been missing more than 24 hours. police do not have any suspects and they do suspect foul play. for the first time, somer s mother is breaking her silence and making an emotional plea for her daughter s safe return. thank you, everybody. for helping me look for my baby. and please pray for her. that she comes home. and if anybody has her, just please let her go. dina thompson attended a candle light vigil held tonight for somer in their neighborhood. she was surrounded by family and friends. ryan duffy joins us live from the scene. that is tough to watch. reporter: it really is. and that vigil was right out here in front of somer s home. it was somewhat unexpected but we did hear from somer s mom dina and she just wanted to come out here and express her gratitude to all these people helping search for her daughter. neighbors and volunteers hoped their vigil would give strength to those losing hope. and they all would support somer s mother, who somehow was able to share her grief. thank you, everybody. for helping me look for my baby. and please pray for her. that she comes home. and if anybody has her, just please let her go. i was hoping everybody would just come out and show their love and support. let dina know everything we ve done for her. we love her and we re thinking of her. reporter: family friend lisa organized the vigil for her and somer s family it has been a heartbreaking day of passing out fliers with an army of volunteers helping. i think this has been great. we couldn t have asked for more. we didn t expect this many people to begin with. total strangers are passing this out as well as neighbors. and while these are getting passed out many are going by foot, looking for any sign of that little girl. guided by a flashlight and armed with a stack of fliers, these friends walk the same path where somer thompson was last seen. any and whomever, windshields, it doesn t matter. someone s going to get a flyer. that picture of that little girl, all of them, need to be out. reporter: before night fell, two moms braved afternoon traffic in orange park to give passing drivers a flyer. mr. thompson joins us live tonight from graham, north carolina. thanks for your time. we re certainly very sorry for this situation. when you spoke with police, when you have spoken with police, did you give them any leads, did you give them anyone you thought they should talk to, any places you thought they should look? you know, there wasn t really anybody that came to mind that i would have thought would have been suspicious in this matter. you know, there were a few people discussed. but, you know, the fbi was here earlier today and they re going to follow those leads out and just see what they come up with. if they keep talking to more people, more names will come up. and we re going to find somer. can you share with us those names discussed? say again? can you talk to us about those names you discussed with the fbi? no, sir. you know, just just know that they re doing everything that they can to find somer. and that we thank you. and phraraise the lord for everybody who s been out there looking for her. and just i can t tell you how blessed we are to have everybody, you guys and everybody in the nation here, who s trying to help find my daughter. mr. thompson, you made a comment earlier when you were interviewed earlier this afternoon. i s watching that videotape. we have no credible evidence of what s happened to her one way or the other, obviously. but you made a comment that she is extremely close to her twin brother and her sisters, but especially her twin brother, so close that you really do not think she would be away from him this long. no, sir. i can t believe, you know even if she ran off mad and stayed a the a friend s house and realized that she was in trouble, i can t see her being away from her family and her siblings this long. heartbreaking coverage in this morning s american landscape. one of the first things investigators do in these situations is check up on sex offend hoarse live in the area. there s no easy undertaking. there s 87 known sex offenders in the orange park area. somer s mom will be making an appearance on good morning america. hopefully we ll have resolution. sad story. still ahead, fighting childhood obesity. the lifestyle lessons for student and an eye-opener for administrators watching every penny. vo: in the event of a car crash, three t of four kids are not asece as they shoulde bec their seats are not usedorrectly. buthe latch sysm mes it easier get rig and to hold your kids tight. anchortether. latch. learnore safercar.gov. the institute of medicine is calling on school cafeterias to serve less fat and more fresh produces to students. a healthier menu costs more. administrators are watching the food budget lately. a school district making a delicious difference. reporter: this probably isn t the lasagna you were served. vegetarian. with whole wheat flour pasta. broccoli, mix the veg, fresh fruit. reporter: it s meatless monday at lake clifton high school where tony is leading a school lunch revolution. our kids are on this collision course of bad health. and it has a lot to do with what they eat. reporter: there are nearly 84,000 students in baltimore public schools. three of every four get free or reduced lunch. one-third of all students are overweight. he puts part of the blame on the traditional school lunch menu. processed foods loaded with empty calories and little nutritional value. in the last 20 years the national rate of childhood obesity has tripled. he s revamped school lunches in one of the nation s toughest urban areas with one restriction he couldn t spend a penny more to do it. he added more fresh produce from local growers, cutting transportation costs. he introduced meatless mondays in all 218 schools. a first for a u.s. public school system. every day was pizza and chicken pattys. so this year, our food s a whole lot better. reporter: he says it s not just about the food on the tray. he wants to change kids relationship with food. does everybody have their gloves on? reporter: now the school has three greenhouses where kids do everything from planting seeds to harvesting produce. last week, a preschool class planted baby collared greens. then there is the 33-acre farm donated to the school system. a sort of learning lab and test kitchen for kids. do the kids plant this? kids planted everything here. reporter: is it working? yes, he says. but take it from the students themselves. i started going homemaking salads and smoothies. reporter: better food creating better habits. a simple recipe that can be made anywhere. i did it! reporter: dr. richard besser, abc news, baltimore, maryland. if you re looking for some guidelines, according to that report middle school students should not have more than 650 calories during lunch. high school students should have less than 850 calories. funny to hear these kids saying, i m going homemaking salads and smoothies. i was drinking big guns and having pretty toes. encouraging stuff. brings back a lot of memories of bad school cafeteria food. pizza. i still don t know what that was. up next, how a guy walking around his house naked got in big trouble. [ female announcer ] new swiffer wet jet cleans so deep, your old mop will just have to get over it. [ engine rattles ] [ man ] love stinks! love stinks! yeah! yeah! [ female announcer ] new swiffer wet jet is redesigned. it cleans deep in corners. its solution penetrates layers of dirt and its absorbent pad locks it away to clean better than a mop. the newly redesigned swiffer wet jet. love stinks! fefdfdd world news now delivers your morning papers. it is morning paper time. is this a special day in any way? is this a big, important day somebody told you. i know who it was. i heard something about this. it s linsey davis birthday. it s my birthday. how about that. happy birthday, girl! we love to celebrate. the problem is i didn t bring in a cake. we ll do a make-good on the cake. not a problem at all. i ll try to remember to bring it in tomorrow. happy birthday. still an early start to the day. what better way to celebrate than with us in the middle of the night. i couldn t have thought of a better way. i can think of several for you. well, speaking of birthdays, actually good transition here. this is a first. a virginia man is now facing charges for being in his birthday suit in his house while just trying to make a little morning joe. he was in his kitchen minding his own business. this 29-year-old eric williamson, you see him on your screen, was home alone monday when he walked into the kitchen naked to make coffee at 5:30 a.m. police say an unidentified woman walking with a 7-year-old boy spotted him through a window and reported the scene to police. and then a fairfax county police spokesman said williamson was arrested because investigators believe he wanted to be seen by the public in his birthday suit. so now he faces up to a year in jail and potentially a $2,000 fine, which sounds like a pretty stiff penalty to me. you are full of jokes on your birthday. hey, a little piece of advice. if you re going to go on a police chase and then bail afterwards, make sure the vehicle is put in park. makes sense. or there could be repercussions. a police chase ended after a crash with the driver being run over by hitsd own vehicle. happened a few days back. a white truck taking off from police that pulled it over for speeding and driving erratically, chase up to 90 miles an hour, then they get out, crash, guy forgets to put it in park. don t you hate when that happens? that stinks. he is alive and he is facing charges as you might imagine. okay, well sex obviously sells. they use it for fast cars, they use it for beer, scantily clad women all the time. one german group of farmers said, hey, could work for us. so they have a new calendar out of kind of pin-up girls. we are going to show this. some racy pics. they said forget about the homely, typical farm women, we want to produce more farmers. and this is the way to get them. by showing some landscapes out there. get them back on the farm. a lot of bounty on that farm, it would appear. wow. i m coming back, baby! willis wants to hel rob, what s up? how s it going? how s it going? guys, this is my cousin rob from michigan. whazzup! he s a teenager. totally. hey, what s up? rob: all right. whoa. hey, you wanna slow down? no. really? huh. hey! do you know what a beautiful animal is? a horse. a horse. yeah. beautiful mane. unbelievable muscle tone. when it runs, it looks like poetry in motion. it s the most beautiful thing on earth. and sometimes when you feed a horse, its lips will tickle your hand. just, just tickle it just a little bit. it makes me giggle sometimes. i don t know. i guess what i m trying to say is, if you don t slow down, i m going to bite into your head like an apple. and thanks, guys, for listening to my horse stories. i could talk about ponies all day long. at risk. hospitals overwhelmed with young children suffering from swine flu. the big concern for health officials. then, crown controversy. a white student wins the homecoming queen contest at a historically black university. why she s apologizing. and, build a child. the fertility clinic offering parents a chance to have children who could look like a star. it can be the shape of the eyes, the nose, the mouth, any specific feature. it s wednesday, october 21st. from abc news, this is world news now. your child really could look like a celebrity and they don t have to be a-listers. i mean, there s a long list of celebrity look-alikes on this thing. including stiffler and erkel. and some other there could be a donor named jeremy hubbard for all we know. god forbid. it s a possibility. good morning, everyone, i m linsey davis. i m jeremy hubbard. we ll get to that story later this half hour. the nation s response to swine flu is being highlighted on capitol hill. top administration officials go before a key senate committee. this comes as parents of young children are being strongly warned about the risks of h1n1. john hendren joins us from washington. good morning, john. reporter: good morning, jeremy and linsey. today the senate homeland security committee holds a hearing on the nation s response to swine flu. and yesterday, federal scientists gave them some sobering new information. it s now clearer than ever. swine flu is targeting children. this h1n1 virus is disproportionately affecting the young, and of course that s one of the reasons that they ve been a target population for the vaccination effort. reporter: a new study by the centers for disease control found a dramatic contrast to the seasonal flu, which disproportionately strikes the elderly. of those hospitalized with h1n1, just 7% are 65 and older. 39% are 25 to 64. compare that to a striking 53% of those under 25. we have an opportunity right now to try to limit the disease we re seeing now. reporter: limit the disease through vaccination. but there s a catch. there just isn t enough vaccine. many regions like fairfax, virginia, had to cancel vaccinations. we just don t have control over how much vaccine is going to be coming to our health departments or to our states on a week by week basis. reporter: that leaves more children at risk of suffering, like 8-year-old grace silva rivera, now fighting for her life. it s the worst feeling. i ve never felt so scared about anything. reporter: just 12 million doses have been made available so far out of the 250 million doses the government has ordered. the white house says president obama is leading by example. yesterday, he received his seasonal flu shot. now, he s waiting in line behind the most vulnerable for his swine flu vaccination. jeremy and linsey? john hendren in washington. turning to health care reform a so-called public option plays a major role in a new version of a bill being pushed by house democrats. a new estimate puts the cost of the bill at $871 billion. that is down from its original cost of over $1 trillion. since the final version of a government insurance plan hasn t been decided yet the estimates are really just that, estimates. in afghanistan, a runoff election between president hamid karzai and his biggest rival abdullah abdullah is set for november 7th. president obama will get an update on the situation today when he meets with senator john kerry. kerry met with karzai as the afghan leader was dropping his opposition to a runoff. our new abc news poll shows just 45% of americans approve of mr. obama s handling of afghanistan, down from 63% in april. with more on yesterday s political drama, here s nick schifrin in kabul. reporter: under extraordinary international pressure, president hamid karzai did what he promised he would never do. we consider the decision for a second round legal and right, he says. it strengthens our country s democracy. but abc news learned president karzai was close to rejecting a second-round vote. only after he and senator john kerry took a walk and visited a mosque on the presidential compound did he drop his objections to a runoff. unfortunately, the election has been given a bad name, he says. it s not about who won now, it s about the legitimacy of the vote. this is a reflection of a commitment to rule of law. and an insistence that the afghan people s will should be done. reporter: the u.s. hopes that a second round can bring some legitimacy to a tainted first round. some people here agree with that. but most afghans will tell you that they think karzai will remain in power no matter what the u.s. does, and most people are resigned to the fact that their government will remain corrupt. and a second round will not be easy. hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent to deliver ballots to remote villages and secure polling stations in areas controlled by the taliban. there is no guarantee the vote will be free of fraud. if you give somebody a second chance to steal something, they will make sure they re not caught. reporter: there are also fears turnout will be low. abjub gul sells phone cards and is sick of corruption. none of the politicians are honest, he says. it is better not to vote at least i will have a clear conscience. despite the problems, the u.s. and afghanistan are relieved that the election is at least heading toward a conclusion. nick schifrin, abc news, kabul. one other voting noteworth mentioning, seems nicaragua s president, daniel ortega, will run for re-election in 2011. a special panel of the supreme court overturned a ban on serving more than two terms. ortega s opponents called it a power grab by the sandinista party. a june in canada had released dramatic video evidence in a terror case. which grabbed international headlines. one of the surveillance tapes shows a suspect testing a bomb detonator triggered by a cell phone. the so-called toronto 18 were arrested on charges of plotting to cause panic and bloodshed in canada. two american suspects are also connected to the group. the prison camp at guantanamo bay, cuba, is one step closer to being closed this morning. the senate has passed a bill allowing detainees to be sent to the u.s. for prosecution only. it now goes to the white house for the president s signature. a massive hunt is under way in north florida for a little girl who vanished on her way home from school on monday. more than 100 law officers have joined in the search for 7-year-old somer thompson. authorities suspect foul play after the child failed to return home. the faa has opened its own investigation into last week s so-called balloon boy hoax. the helium balloon that launched from the heene family s backyard in ft. collins, colorado, traveled 50 miles last thursday. it briefly delayed some flights at denver international airport. of course as we know it was a hoax. the heenes 6-year-old son was not in the balloon and they are expected to be charged in the case next week. hard to believe nearly a week has passed since the hoax that we all fell for. it will be interesting to see what their punishment is. here s a look at wednesday s weather. stormy from texas to minneapolis. heavy rain and flooding in the southern plains. up to 1 foot of snow from new mexico to nebraska. late-day showers and freezing rain in northern new england. breezy with scattered showers in southern florida. 86 in miami. 73 in atlanta. 67 in new york. 44 in fargo. 46 in minneapolis. 69 in kansas city. a wet 57 for seattle. 62 in boise. 74 in sacramento. lots of dogs have a few tricks up their sleeves. there s one in new york that s up there with houdini. pharaoh, the german shepherd, was supposed to be recovering from surgery but he wanted out of that animal hospital. so he made a clean break. security cameras captured pharaoh s great escape as he turned a round doorknob. then he somehow maneuvered a deadbolt. once outside, he pushed the lever to open a giant fence and he was off. luckily someone spotted pharaoh in a nearby park and he was reunited with his family. i guess he said, put me in the doghouse, i don t care, i want out of this hospital. i wonder if he had just been neutered. that would make sense. get me out of here, after that, who could blame him. male dog, of course. we ll be back with more world news now. well, students at four-year public colleges are feeling the pinch of the recession once again. the average university tuition nationwide jumped 6.5%. that means students this fall are paying an average of $430 more for annual tuition. the cost of going to private colleges also went up by nearly 4.5% as schools struggle to meet higher costs. the winner of a college beauty pageant in virginia will be coronated today but not everyone s happy about it. for the first time a white woman won the miss hampton university title at the historically black university. reporter: with her crown, sash, and smile, nicole churchill looks like any other beauty queen. but this miss hampton university is a first. the only nonblack woman at the historically black college to ever hold the title. it s actually an amazing feeling because i feel that we have come so far that no one really looks at color anymore. reporter: but not all students think churchill, who does not attend the main campus, should be the face of this majority black school. quite a few of them feel that because she goes to the satellite campus in virginia beach she can t adequately represent us because she s not around us. the fact that she s white also upsets them pretty much too. i can t believe that you go to hampton university and your queen is not black. i ve been trying to stay away from it. it s a major issue on campus. reporter: churchill is aware of the controversy and even reached out to president obama, asking him to visit the campus and speak about race relations. she has the support of at least one person a former miss hampton university. i was very shocked. probably like most people. but then i thought it was wonderful. because it just shows how diverse hampton university really is. and it s historic. reporter: the university says the beauty queen s race is not an issue. churchill has since apologized for writing the letter to the president, saying she took the comments of a few and blew it out of proportion. all she wants now is to get on with representing her fellow students. now, interestingly, she s not the first nonwhite student to become homecoming queen at a historically black college. just in april, kentucky state university elected their first. some students apparently are upset she doesn t attend the main campus, so that s another issue. we want to know what you think about all of this. weigh in on our facebook page. facebook.com, search for world news now and give us your opinion now. if you re not a fan, join the fan page, it s real easy to do. we have more than 9,000 fans if you can believe it. impressive. when we return, delivering only good-looking kids with a special star quality. it is the promise of a fertility specialist who wants your newborn to have hollywood car starts and speeds off car crash are you going to kill someone tonight? drunk drivers do every night. area police are stopping drunk drivers in your community with sobriety checkpoints and intense patrols. it s checkpoint strikeforce. drunk driving. over the limit. under arrest. visit checkpointstrikeforce.net for more information. welcome back. there s a new scientific option for parents to be who hope to have a happy, healthy and beautiful baby. a california fertility clinic takes an extra step by offering donor sperm from men with celebrity good looks. reporter: what if you could birth it like beckham? deliver a baby boy who d grow up with the chiseled good looks of the soccer star? the matinee idol visage of ben affleck or a baby boy who one day resembled the rock? celebrity worship it seems has gone in utero. with the help of this fertility clinic your child might look like your favorite star. it can be the shape of the eyes, the nose, the mouth, any specific feature. it can be the shape of the head. it can be the complexion. it can be even the hairstyle. reporter: california cryobank created a website where you can scroll through a long list of celebrity look-alike donors, click on your favorite star, and the anonymous sperm donor s profile pops up. your celeb baby look-alike is clicks away. right now the top guys on our list are paul walker who was in the fast and the furious. ben affleck is very popular. scott caan is popular. brett favre is pretty popular. jeremy shockey is on the top ten list. a pretty wide range of guys. reporter: it may seem a bit goofy. before you write off this idea maybe you should meet alice. it humanizes the entire experience. reporter: this whole idea started with alice and it was nothing to laugh about. we re lost. reporter: this was her at the hospital in california in april of last year. the morning she had a double mastectomy. i feel kind of woozy. reporter: she d been diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, breast cancer, at 31 years old. my first chemo day. my whole family doesn t know that it s today. reporter: she would lose her breasts, her hair, and she feared losing something else, her chance at motherhood. these chemo treatments, she knew, might leave her sterile. she made a split-second decision, spending $15,000 to have her embryos frozen. she combed through hundreds of potential donors. she had only five to seven days to decide who would help create the best baby. it was getting close to the wire. i got it down to two men and i was struggling with these two. the differences were one was taller than the other. and honestly, that s the only thing that i can remember right now that was different. reporter: so, with time running out scott brown and his team came up with an idea for putting faces, sort of, on the anonymous potential fathers on her list. one of the things we try to do is sit down and create lists of celebrities that looked like the donors who alice narrowed her choices down to. it worked really well. she was really happy and it was helpful for her making that decision. reporter: and that is how this all got started. this celebrity look-alike service. and it has been popular ever since. web traffic is up 600% in the weeks since it launched. but this man, dr. daniel solmacy, isn t over the moon about it. as a bioethicist at university of chicago he studies this sort of thing and likens it to shopping at the supermarket for the perfect child. new york city, there s a place that specializes in scandinavian sperm and they give the parents a card when the child is born and say, congratulations, it s a viking. and this sort of stuff, while it seems funny, really ought to make us very frightened as we try to select people who have blond hair and blue eyes and are smarter and taller. reporter: selective breeding is what he calls it. fertility clinics have long recruited donors based on brains and brawn. but when they concentrate on beauty, like how much the offspring might look like a handsome actor, it s no joke. there are, he says, serious repercussions. the people who are already well-off, who are wealthy, are going to get the sperm that are going to be more perfect, have the children that are stronger, smarter, faster, and more beautiful. and be even more advantaged within society. reporter: and what, he wonders, should happen if your baby doesn t end up looking like your favorite movie star? maybe the child is supposed to look like harrison ford. and if they come out looking not quite as handsome as harrison ford, what does that do to the relationship between the parents and the child? are they terribly disappointed? because it s not perfect. genetics is still, even with something like this, a bit of a lottery. this is not like waiting in line at the supermarket and coming up to the counter and making an impulse buy. it doesn t work that way. that s not ow people operate. there s no guarantees. we re not promising your child is going to look like these celebrities. these celebrities children don t necessarily look like them. genetics is a tricky business. all we can do is try to humanize and personalize the process and make it as easy for our clients as possible. reporter: the bank is quick to point out, this is not entirely superficial. not everyone on their list of donor look-alikes is exactly a hunky leading man. remember super bad. doesn t even have a first name. reporter: there s a donor who looks like him. and there s an erkel. i m seeing dots! reporter: and a stiffler and a jon gosselin, too. i know there s going to be people out there who might think, you should just leave it to god or you should adopt. those people just don t get it. reporter: obviously you re wondering, what will alice s baby look like? she hasn t had one yet. her embryos are still frozen. but she narrowed her celebrity look-alikes down to one man who actually resembles three stars. a combination of oscar de la hoya s complexion, david cassidy s nose, and lips and eyes of freddie prinze, jr., a real hollywood hybrid in the making. now looking at all the new options on the clinic website she s having second thoughts. i would have probably looked for joey lawrence. because he was my crush. reporter: looks like choosing a donor isn t as easy as it might seem. call me a skeptic but how do we know that these donors really look like who they say they look like? they say they have a committee, california cryobank sits down, look at the pictures, and they have to be unanimous in their decision that, yes, this one looks like joey lawrence. if one person disagrees then they re off the list. confronting empd hardships by pushing themselves. the next day too? d when you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. remember 2-layer ambien cr. the first layer helps you fall asleep quickly. and unlike other sleep aids, a second helps you stay asleep. when taking ambien cr, don t drive or operate machinery. sleepwalking, and eating or driving while not fully awake with memory loss for the event as well as abnormal behaviors such as being more outgoing or aggressive than normal, confusion, agitation, and hallucinations may occur. don t take it with alcohol as it may increase these behaviors. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath, swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and in rare cases may be fatal. side effects may include next-day drowsiness, dizziness, and headache. in patients with depression, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide may occur. if you experience any of these behaviors or reactions contact your doctor immediately. wake up ready for your day- ask your healthcare provider for 2-layer ambien cr. fefdfddask your healthcare provider finally from us this half hour, young athletes overcoming obstacles in their disadvantaged neighborhoods by grabbing a paddle and climbing into a boat. they ve joined a rowing team. a sport usually associated with the wealthy. here s leo karlinksy. reporter: 14-year-old kiara riggins spends a lot of time riding the bus. her neighborhood can be a tough one and her mother is on disability. yet five days a week kiara puts herself through a grueling workout for a sport she says she never even heard of until recently. no, i when i heard of rowing i didn t know what it was. i thought it was probably canoeing. up the shoulder, ready up. reporter: rowing is a sport steeped in tradition. a sport of stamina, strength, and in most cases, money. coach karla landis, who spent the last six years coaching college teams, got together with a group called rainier valley rowing to change that. push that right hand forward. reporter: with the help of donations they ve started a program to put disadvantaged kids into these boats and make them part of a sport coach landis believes can teach them a lot about teamwork and discipline. rowing is not something that would fit into their life if rainier valley rowing didn t exist. it s too expensive, it s too hard to get to practice, there s too many components that are unfamiliar. reporter: ken mohammad comes from a big family with little money. he spends hours on three city buses every day just to get here. this sport, it takes a lot. it s a lot of control, balance, patience and teamwork. reporter: the fact that none of these kids had any experience going in is a given. but some of them are so unfamiliar on the water they don t even know how to swim and are getting lessons as part of the program. kiara s mother says she never imagined having a rower in the family. i definitely didn t think we could be a part of this sport. it seems for a rich kid to do something like this. have your whole port side take one stroke. reporter: on these boats, money and background don t count for much. to be a teammate here you must work hard. but most importantly, row as one. leo karlinksy, abc news, seattle. great that they re not only learning how to row but how to swim. perfect. it shows you it s not about your wallet, it s about your work ethic. i think a lot of us have preconceived ideas about sports. i ve talked on this show about how i hate tennis. maybe if i just gave it anot do over. the president of afghanistan agrees to a runoff election. but will it bring credibility to a government viewed as corrupt? then, poverty in america. alarming new statistics about how many of your neighbors are barely making ends meet. and, meals on wheels. chefs serve up their culinary creations on a street corner near you and redefine fine dining. it s like tweet of mouth versus word of mouth. it s just faster, it s instant. it s wednesday, october 21st. from abc news, this is world news now. you wouldn t describe yourself as a germofhobe but you like fad that s fancy, that s convenient and healthy, we have the story for you. it s a big deal in new york. every year they have a top chef of food carts to decide who s the best. and long lines. people, they go for those carts. we ll tell you about that coming up this half hour, stick around. good morning, i m jeremy hubbard. i m linsey davis. as president obama deliberates his next move in afghanistan a new abc news poll finds support among americans has dropped significantly. 45% approve of his handling of afghanistan, down dramatically from 63% in april. americans are evenly divided whether the president should send more troops there. 49% say he should not, 47% say he should. the results come one day after afghan president hamid karzai agreed to a runoff election. for more on that we re joined by nick schifrin in kabul. good morning to you, nick. reporter: good morning, jeremy. what we ve seen this morning is president karzai s chief rival, dr. abdullah abdullah, agreed with the president s sentiment. he said to a group of reporters, actually he s still speaking to a group of reporters, that he wants the second round to be fair, to be free. he hopes to be free of violence and free of any kind of ethnic tension. he denied vociferously that the u.s. had put any kind of pressure on him to create some kind of coalition government. now, the ambiguity that we see among americans to send troops here is shared by afghans. afghans are deeply disappointed by the state of their country. in part because of the corruption of this government. and they hope that this election can bring some level of change. but they re deeply doubtful that american forces or international forces, 40,000 more, for example, could actually make any difference. many people s lives here simply have not improved in the last eight years. and obviously, they hope that the new u.s. policy and the second round as well can change that for the future. all right, nick schifrin in kabul. a lot of cynicism among voters and a lot riding on this second round. we ll see what happens. thanks to you, nick. today is shaping up to be a make or break day for talks on iran s nuclear ambitions. negotiations hit something of a snag yesterday after iran balked about having france involved in the entire process. even so, u.s. and iranian representatives met face to face. international mediators say despite slow progress a deal is still possible. president obama is calling on the financial industry to get behind some regulatory reform proposals. at democratic party fund-raisers in new york last night the president scolded the big wall street firms for resisting tighter rules and accused them of not doing enough to boost lending to struggling small businesses. when i hear stories about small businesses and medium-sized businesses not being able to get loans, despite wall street being back very profitable, that tells me people aren t thinking about their obligations. our mutual obligations to each other. the fact that we re in this together. the president also said that a level playing field will be good for the nation and the financial industry in the long run. today the president will unveil a set of proposals that would increase credit to small businesses. top administration officials will be on capitol hill today talking about the nation s response to the swine flu. a new cdc report confirms h1n1 is a young person s disease. 53% of those hospitalized with swine flu have been under 25. about a quarter of those deaths were in that same age group. health officials are urging parents to have their children vaccinated but as of right now there s still not enough vaccine to go around. college students and parents are digging deeper to deal with tuition increases. the college port says average tuition at four-year public colleges climbed 6.5% this fall to an average of $7,020. at private schools up nearly 4.5% to over $26,000. there is a disturbing new portrait about the financial difficulties faced by a growing number of our neighbors. a new report estimates 47.4 million americans live in poverty. that s a number much higher than the official figures from the census bureau. david muir explains. reporter: the new numbers paint a grim portrait. one in six americans now in poverty. 7 million more than the government s official number. we haven t had poverty rates this high, especially for certain groups, for 25 or 30 years. reporter: 18% of americans 65 and older, nearly 7.1 million, in poverty. 3 million more than earlier estimates. 27 million people 18 to 64 now below the poverty line. and children, 13.3 million of them, in poverty. the u.s. census sets the poverty line at $22,050 a year for a family of four. but this report looked at family spending, health care, child care. and they looked at where you live. in big cities, your money doesn t go as far. at the union rescue mission in los angeles it s come to this. converting nearly every room, even their offices, into shelter space. a year ago l.a. county had 5,700 homeless families. today, 8,100. you guys doing okay? as much as we re hearing a lot of really trying to turn the economy around, i think beneath the surface we re still seeing unemployment, foreclosure, really bringing forth this new face of homelessness. reporter: colin should know. it was just last spring we first met him and his family when they moved here after losing everything. so hard to explain to his 3-year-old. what s the biggest part you miss about your home? well, my dollies. reporter: six months later colin now works here. helping other families like his. monique simms and her husband lost jobs in construction and retail. with a new baby and a 12-year-old son. she never thought she d be homeless. it s really, really, really hard. especially having to look at my son, knowing that, you know, i can t give him what he normally has. reporter: so we asked the experts what s causing this? they told us, of course, the key component is unemployment. as unemployment continues to rise and they collect data for next year s report there is a real fear that report will be even worse than what we saw this week. david muir, abc news, new york. time to take a look at your wednesday forecast. wintry and wet in the middle of the country today. rain from dallas to minneapolis. 6 to 12 inches of snow in parts of colorado, new mexico, kansas, and nebraska. light rain in the seattle area. evening showers and freezing rain in northern new england. a high of 62 degrees in boston and 67 in new york. it s 71 degrees in detroit and indianapolis. 66 in chicago. a cold 41 degrees in colorado springs. 85 in phoenix. 61 in salt lake city. if you re zoning out or starting to fall asleep, don t. wake up. you have to see this piece of video. dramatic brush with death caught on tape. a man rushing to cross the street had no idea he was on a collision course with a runaway bus. he somehow managed to scurry out of the way just in the nick of time coming within inches of getting flattened. officials say the bus was parked on the hill when the brakes failed. it rolled downhill for five blocks smashing 20 cars along the way. oh my gosh, the pedestrian believe it or not not injured at all. one more time, there it is. thank goodness for peripheral vision. i think i saw that video on a movie called speed. right, exactly. fortunately no one hurt there. assistance getting around their homes. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you. stay tuned for this important medicare benefit information and free scooter guarantee. imagine. one scooter or power chair that could improve your may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen . your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. why should you call the scooter store today? because their mobility experts are also medicare experts. and that means the scooter store is your best shot at qualifying for a scooter that costs you little to nothing. hi i m doug harrison. pay little to nothing out of pocket. how do we do it? we know what it takes to get you your power chair it s our strength. it s our mission. and we back it up with the scooter store guarantee. if we qualify you and medicare denies your claim for a new powerchair or scooter, i ll give it to you absolutely free. i paid into medicare all my life, and when i needed it the benefit was there for me. the scooter store made it so easy. i didn t pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. the scooter store got me back out in the world again. talk to. there is a medicare benefit that may qualify you for a new power chair or scooter at little to no cost to you. welcome back. jurors sent to decide the john travolta extortion case in the bahamas and the alleged blackmail plot against david letterman. it seems more and more stars are targets. you don t have to be a celebrity to become a victim of extortion as brian rooney reports. one way or another i m reasonably assured of coming into a significant amount of money. reporter: rarely is a case of extortion ever so clear as it was with dr. howard levine. a seattle physician who tried to take a $500,000 bite out of a national fast food chain over what he claimed was a spoiled chicken sandwich. yes, it s grossly unfair. the fact is, i have a very clear, newsworthy story that if i were to give that to the papers, they would love it. reporter: dr. levine had claimed that he bought a jack in the box chicken sandwich, like this one mini buffalo ranch chicken sandwich reporter: tainted with e.coli bacteria. the company took it seriously and called the fbi. in this secretly videotaped meeting, agents played the part of company officials. it s a great story. the media would love it. the stock would go down. and i d buy puts before i sold. the thing is i d rather not do that. i would rather settle quietly with you. there s no reason for you to pay your advertising agency many, many more dollars than you would ever give me to to make this go away. and that s that s the presentation. reporter: basically, levine said, pay me money or i ll do the company great harm. he said this, and i will become a very rich man. so that fits all the criteria you need. that s extortion. that s extortion. reporter: erin denzenhall is a crisis management consultant who advises the targets of extortion and semi-legal grabs for money. a vast majority of what i see are corporate shake-downs. they re challenging cases basically because who feels sorry for a corporation? if you are a $10 billion company and some shake-down artist wants $100,000 to go away, it s usually paid. reporter: then there s your classic extortion. okay. this is january. 1, 2, three, 4, 5, fiction, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. that s february. reporter: here s a chicago porn shop owner counting out protection money to a local mobster. and he s a little late. it s due every month on the 15th. according to the way you set it up, right? if it don t come on the first part of the month it hurts me. reporter: that s the real thing. there was little doubt when the fbi nailed howard levine. well, that s me sitting here. reporter: retired agent don allen ran the meeting with levine. and you re playing a company executive? i am the company executive who was given the opportunity, or given the responsibility, of making a decision as to whether or not to issue this guy a check. it will be in the paper. the stock will go down. and i will make money. reporter: you think at one point you almost blew it? i did. reporter: you did blow it? i came very close to blowing it. and your concern at this point is what? i have no concern now. my concern now is the fact that i have an opportunity in a somewhat strange way. to extort us? no. reporter: you pushed a little too far? i pushed a little too far. right now, you can t see it, but i m about to jump out of my chair. now the heart rate is going back down. reporter: he sits right back down. he sits back down. that s when i know that he s serious about this thing. he wants the money. i am going to sign the check over to you for $500,000. i m impressed. reporter: you just told him, we re going to pay you the money. yeah, he just got very pleased. reporter: the agent slid the check across the table. and moments later, levine reveals that he never had any proof that the chicken sandwich was tainted. he didn t have proof he ever bought a chicken sandwich. i regret to tell you that i do not have the original photocopy of that lab report. you do not have it? i do not have it. i mean, like, i do not have it. do you have a copy? i had was a lab consulted in this matter? no. so we ve been scammed? no, sir. absolutely not. reporter: levine was a little indignant to be accused of extortion. but it got much worse for him. mr. levine, you need to stand. we re with the fbi and you re under arrest. reporter: a good arrest too. dr. howard levine was convicted of extortion and spent 21 months in prison. this is brian rooney in los angeles. that videotape seems so brazen it makes you wonder, you often hear about, i found a bloody finger in my hamburger. you wonder when these stories pop up if these businesses, restaurants, go straight to the fbi like jack in the box did. what s to stop somebody from saying this any time? guess what i found in my hamburger, you ve got to pay me. it seems like you need some protection. but there is a stiff penalty for people. because if you remember the bill cosby case 12 years ago where a woman was claiming she was the mother of his illegitimate child, he was a deadbeat dad, she wanted $40 million, she went to jail for five years. so there is punishment. sounds like deservedly so. when we return the reality tv show champ that s facing some serious charges. and the so-called octomom s crush on a notorious reality tv star. @ lots of reality shows in the news in the skinny this morning. have you thought about if you want a reality show, you brought $1 million home, what you d do with the money? i wouldn t spend it like this guy. i don t think i would either. so this is the guy that won big brother last year. his name was adam jajinski. he was the big winner just a year ago. what did he do with the $500,000 prize? authorities say he used it to buy drugs and then sell them on the east coast. thousands of oxycodone pills according to authorities. he has confessed to it apparently. he s 31 years old, he s from delray beach, florida. he s charged with attempting to sell 2,000 pills in massachusetts to a government witness. he was brought in a few days ago. this is a powerful painkiller, popular street drug. apparently it all went down at a strip mall in massachusetts where the undercover cops came at him and he struggled. there was a sock that had all these drugs in them apparently. he threw the sock under a car that was parked nearby, according to an affidavit filed in court. again, they re saying he spent that prize money buying drugs to resell them. i think $1 million potentially in fines. that s double what he won. once he gets out of prison he ll have to go on another reality show to try to win that money. win twice. so we have a little more reality for you here. consider this reality tv show meets love connection. so you know nadya suleman. octomom. she says she has a crush on jon gosselin of jon and kate plus 8. could we have picked worse pictures of either one? i know, right. that s horrible. okay. so anyway. she says she thinks he s hot. let s imagine dinnertime for all of them with their kids, you know. she has 14 kids. he has eight. we re talking about 22 kids plus two adults. but she says that it s harmless, she doesn t plan on dating until her kids get older. i guess it makes sense. who could relate to her situation more than jon gosselin, right? and they for sure if the two of them got together could get a reality tv show. he s off. it s now just kate plus 8. i might even have to watch that one. i might. you know, being a news anchor it s tougher than it looks. it s not just sitting up here and trying to articulate sentences without messing up. it s hard work for hours of live television every day. new york anchors are finding out the hard way. we told you about the one in nbc in new york that dropped the f-bomb and the local fox anchor who dropped the f-bomb, and now our beloved bill ritter, abc-7 in new york, has made a similar faux pas on the air. we d be remiss if we didn t tell you about it. we have to be fair. last night on the news he was trying to say the word cop. tonight new york city s former top [ muted ] poor bill. he kept a straight face about it, corrected himself right away. he said, i stumbled, it was a mistake, i corrected it immediately. we had to tell you about it because we told you about fox and nbc too. got to be fair. he was quick with the cleanup too. that s right. are you a fan of dancing with the stars ? no. yes, of course. it s on abc, i love it. kelly osborn was dancing monday night. had a little problem at the end of her performance. her foot hurt. she went right to the emergency room. but she s said to be okay. she did do a little dance. here s some stories to watch on abc news. the federal government s response to the swine flu threat will be discussed in detail today during senate hearings on capitol hill. the search for a missing 7-year-old girl resumes in clay county, florida, this morning. somer thompson disappeared monday afternoon on her way home from school. and, president obama announces new incentives today for small banks and businesses using federal bailout money. tonight, the president attends a fund-raiser in new jersey. the federal government promises to crack down on food companies that put controversial labels on them. those labels have identified sweetened breakfast cereals such as froot loops as a smart choice. the fda is sending warning labels to companies using such labels promising a full investigation. speaking of food, finally this half hour, healthier cuisine curbside served from trucks. chow wagons make the rounds often serving cheap and greasy meals. now there s a menu makeover. carla wohl reports. reporter: the old roach coaches being redefined in cities across the country. there s a burger and french fries. reporter: in seattle trucks offering grass-fed beef. in new york, a dessert truck. can i have a caramelized pear and vanilla creme brulee. reporter: in los angeles, the ultimate ice cream sandwich. it s a red wine reduction ice cream. i can t pronounce the name of it for the life of me. reporter: there are vietnamese and korean barbecue trucks. i went with the kimchi quesadilla. reporter: pulled pork is the specialty at the barbecue truck. where s your hands? dinner s ready. reporter: he had been planning to open a restaurant until the economy tanked. instead, he took to the road for a fraction of the cost. the axiom in the restaurant business is location, location, location. with this, if we re in a bad location we simply put it in drive. reporter: the food is winning rave reviews. mm! really good. reporter: it s not just about the food. it s about the experience. these trucks move around. and you have to follow them on twitter to find them. once the tweet goes out, designating the time and location, people line up. often late into the night. for a tasty $2 taco. it s like tweet of mouth versus word of mouth. it s just faster. it s just instant. reporter: perfect for anyone in search of a movable feast. carla wohl, abc news, los angeles. i ve got to go to l.a. and get my hands on that ice cream sandwich. you d get it even though they don t have the sink necessarily in the truck? we talked about germophobia. hopefully they loaded up on purell. i don t know. great concept. i love the idea that, yeah, if it s a bad location we ll just i love the idea that, yeah, if it s a bad location we ll just move the truck and pothole: oh, did i do that? here, let me get my cellular out - call ya a wrecker. .oh shoot.i got no phone .cuz i m a pothole.so..k, bye! anncr: accidents are bad. anncr: but geico s good. with emergency road service. ding!