Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom 20101123

rough going if you're driving through this for your thanksgiving holiday. almost 13 inches of snow stacking up at a pace of almost an inch per hour. and mark your calendar for a royal wedding. prince william and kate middleton will get married april 29th at westminster abbey. it is one of the most anticipated events of 2011 and the day will be declared a british national holiday. and this just in this morning. good news. good new that is we all want to here about the economy. it grew faster than we thought in the third quarter. our carter evans will be joining us live from the new york stock exchange to talk about the significance of that growth in just a second. but developing right now out of korea this morning, the north has launched military strikes against the south near a disputed border in the yellow sea. the north reportedly bombarded a south korean island with dozens, maybe hundreds of artillery rounds killing at least two soldiers and injuring many more. that's according to the south's defense ministry and talking about power shells, not just gun fire. a seaside village was on fire. south korea fired back and scrambled f-16 fighter jets. the south is on high alert calling an emergency meeting of the security ministers. fire fight broke out at the time sold south korea's military conducting routine military drills in the waters there. we'll go to the pentagon now with chris lawrence joining us with more on this story. so chris, a lot of people asking why now? >> reporter: well, there's been a lot of tension, obviously, in that part of the world recently, kyra. you know, of course, independent american nuclear -- or scientists recently confirmed that north korea's nuclear program is much further along than maybe was previously believed so in fact the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mike mullen called them a very dangerous country, saying they were acting in a belligerent bay and now this latest attack obviously comes as north korea had been maneuvering, trying to get the sanctions lifted. the obama administration not lifting those sanctions. some of the folks that i have talked to say it's another example of north korea trying to bully and force its will to get back to the negotiated table under the terms it wants. listen to what white house press secretary robert gibbs said in response to this attack. he said, the united states strongly condemns this attack and calls on north korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the armistice agreement. the united states is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the republic of korea and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability. i spoke with a defense official this morning that said he hopes that this is basically just an isolated incident and not a radical change in north korea's military posture. he said the u.s. military right now is closely monitoring the situation but as of right now he believed that there was no u.s. forces in the area that was attacked. some were part of that exercise that south korea was conducting but he didn't think that there were any u.s. military involved in the area where that was attacked by north korea. >> we'll follow it. thanks so much. fast forward to this afternoon when natalee holloway's family could finally get answers of what happened when the alabama teen disappeared in aruba five years ago. a few hours from now, prosecutors are expected to reveal whether a jawbone found at a beach resort belongs to holloway. martin savage is live where the teen was last seen leaving a nightclub in the early hours of may 30th, 2005. marty, what are we expecting today? >> reporter: kyra, we are standing in front of the prosecutor's office here and it is from this office to get some sort of information today. in fact, we had a conversation as head of the prosecutor's office showed up at work this morning and it was interesting what he had to say. he said that so far he had not received any information from the hague pertaining to whatever scientific evaluation had been made of this bone. that's interesting for a couple of reasons. number one, you would expect he would have an insight by now that that would imply in the netherlands they're holding on to the information and transmit it this information or that bone is still under study and could raise the question of whether we'll get some sort of answers today. authorities say if they receive that information, they will reveal all they know. let's go back to when this bone was found and that was on november 12th. it was found by tourists on the beach out if front of the hotel. they then in turn took the bone to the front desk and they called authorities. authorities turned it over to a local expert determining it it was in fact a jawbone of a human being and a young woman. that raised a lot of speculation because of the natalee holloway case and her disappearance. then sent on to the hague and where the evaluation is being done and that's what we're all anxiously waiting for. tim miller who's texas e question search was on nancy grace and talking about dave holloway and how he's handling the anxious hours. >> i talked to dave today. i said, dave, how are you really doing? he says, you know what? i don't know. he said no matter what the news is, it is disappointing. if it comes back that it's not natalee but another roller coaster ride and he wants it to come to an end. if it comes back it is natalee, then you know the reality hits that, you know, that miracle's not going to happen. natalee really is deceased and then they really have to face that. >> reporter: that's part of the problem here. this case for five and a half years i have been following it had so many of these moments of expectation only to discover that they're false leads and false hope. it's frustrating for journalists. you can imagine what it is for the holloway family. it could be a breakthrough or a false lead. we have to wait and see. the announcement expected this afternoon. kyra? >> all right. marty, thanks so much. let's get back to the good news about the economy, shall we? growing faster than we thought in the third quarter. carter evans, finally good news. how significant is the growth, though? >> reporter: well, you know, it kind of depends on how you look at it, kyra. yes, we saw some growth but not significant enough to bring down unemployment. they revise gdp every couple of months and the third quarter second revised upward to 2.5%. that is what was expected. the original estimate, the first estimate was around 2%. 3% is considered a normal pace of growth and that is what we need. basically to keep unemployment where it is. so we need to get up to at least that 3% level and perhaps even higher to begin to bring down the unemployment rate. here's the thing. this gdp report is significant because it's the broadest look at economic activity in our country. our country is growing again. it is improving. it is headed in the right direction. we're just not quite where we need to be just yet. although the markets today, kyra, everyone is focusing on what's going overseas with the banking troubles in ireland and the latest conflict in north korea. back to you. >> thanks. well, vel ma hart was the heart of disappointed voters this fall. she got national attention when she told the president she feared for her financial future and expected more from him. >> quite frankly, i'm exhausted. i'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration. defending the mantle of change that i voted for and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. my husband and i joked for years we thought we were beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives but it is starting to knock on the door and ring true that might be where we're headed again. i need you to answer this honestly. is this my new reality? >> well, unfortunately, hart's fears were well founded. she's been laid off from the job as chief financial officer for a nonprofit veterans services organization. she was called a good employee and cut because of hard times. david plough, joining the white house staff. he's being brought on in january working alongside david axelrod before he moves on to help run mr. obama's re-election campaign. cnn senior white house correspondent is reporting axelrod may leave in late january, just ahead of schedule. alaska candidate joe miller filed a lawsuit challenging the way write-in votes were counted in the alaska senate race. he says votes with the candidate of lisa murkowski's name misspelled should not be counted. the victory is scheduled to be certified next week. the suit could push that date back. all right. check out this out of -- pretty air sight in northern illinois. a tornado ripped through boone county damaging the homes and power lines and turning a school bus on its side. five students and bus driver escaped serious injury. rob marciano watching all kinds of this type of action. i guess. across the country but it's kind of late in the season for a tornado, yes? >> we get two seasons. spring season, the stronger one, the more of this more infamous and then the fall season we get tornadoes, as well. what's odd about this batch is that behind this system is yet another system that's going to create havoc. here's the front that brought that severe weather across parts of northern illinois and southern wisconsin. it's weakened and sliding off to the east. the southern part with more of heavier rainfall back through huntsville, as well. nothing severe here and heavy rain and some gusty winds. bumping into warm air. a record-breaking high temperatures on the east coast and meanwhile record-breaking cold temperatures from the northwest into the inner mountain west and heavy snow right now across parts of the sierras here. lake tahoe, some of the ski resorts over five feet already this season and this will pile on maybe another two potentially three more feet. not only multiple states over a dozen of them that have winter weather advisories, even a couple of blizzard warnings. parts of washington state and southern idaho. also much of utah and western parts of colorado under a blizzard warning. blizzard conditions, blowing snow sideways. seen winds gusting over 30 miles per hour for about 24 hours now across salt lake city and this storm hasn't really gotten into the full brunt of what we expect to see from it. blizzard warning in effect there. what we expect this storm system to do tomorrow is push off towards the north and east and get it into minneapolis but the warm side of the storm will remain from chicago to detroit to new york. all the i-95 cities. getting precip it will be in the form of rain but the backside of this chilly and everybody thanksgiving weekend will at least feel the brunt of cold air by saturday and sunday. kyra, back up to you. >> thanks. turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, full body scanners and pat downs is part of thanksgiving 2010. a lot to give thanks for. a new poll shows what americans think of the security measures and an inventor said he made the perfect underwear if you're too shy for the tsa. a hat trick for santa. we'll tell you when's behind the grand display of festive head gear. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! 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000. ll caating...ase? ooh! 000. sw: five fifty! 550 bucks?! do50ents.fifty! minus redeeming char leavin50 cents. say wh? happy time! what kind of pgram is this? ter rerds? itcho over. america'number 1 cash rds progr. it pays to discover. less than 24 hours to the busiest travel day of the year. and if you think the noise over tsa security is loud now it could be deafening as the new measures touch more people. let's talk about it. this poll from "the washington post" and abc. two thirds say they're okay with the fully body scanners. an inventor in colorado selling underwear that's lined with tong tungston. he said it shield it is privates from tsa eyes and protects your body from radiation. >> going to -- well-known that x rays and ionizing radiation in general are hazardous to cellular life and dna and whatnot. >> well, the tsa says that the scanners won't zap you with unhealthy dozes of radiation. the inventor said he soed thousands of pairs and an internet movement calling on passengers to ask for the pat downs. well, the white house is defending the new security measures and the head of the tsa says there won't be changes and trying to sell nonbelievers on the security measures. let's talk about more about this with deb feyerick. what do you think? >> it's consistent and steady. on almost any show to do because he has to get the message out that this is important and then right now this is the best they have got and what they're going to go ahead with and flying public has to deal with that, really. >> so but at the end of the day you really are just reacting to, well, are we reacting to past threats or are we preventing the next big attack? because critics have said, you know, the tsa agents, they're basically law enforcement officials but they haven't made any my jar arrests. >> it is a little bit of both. in terms of getting the security out there. they're trying to prevent the next attack. trying to prevent somebody who the underwear bomber from getting on board a plane with a device. the problem is that in the words of an expert, we are always reacting to the last plot. it's really looking forward. looking ahead. trying to outthink the terrorists. i read something where it says al qaeda wants to make sure the guys don't break for three days because within three days they can completely change what they're doing and how quickly to react. takes so much time to put in place this system. $170 million of security money spent on these scanners. there's really an issue of respect and respecting people's privacy and how they feel about having their naked images out there. having their, you know, bodies touched so it's a dual reality. >> so inconsistent. you and i have talked about this, going to the different airports, one is always stricter than another. less strict than another. more friendly than another. never the same system. >> it's not. the screening in general, they try to keep things as consistent as they can but it all depends on the attitude of the tsa agent. who's doing the screening? how they're doing the screening. have they had a bad day? have you had a bad day? adding hours to travel. you are already ains with the terror threats out there. people are nervous. now you add this on top of it and all those feelings that you have to begin with are simply exacerbated according to a behavioral expert. once we get used to this, the way we got used to the routine pat downs, it is interesting that this national opt-out day, subject yourself to the more enhanced pat down measures. well, you know, we're going to be longing for the days with the routine pat down measures because they're getting so sophisticated. maybe changing the behavior to get used to this, accommodate it. got to be mutual respect. passengers have to understand the tsa has an i don't know to do and understand that the people that they're screening are not criminals. you can't treat everybody like equal suspects because what that does is -- you go in really sort of confrontation alto begin with. >> creates confrontation. >> absolutely. >> deb, thanks so much. >> of course. >> happy traveling. >> thank you. i'll be heading home. >> okay. well, one man, a bladder cancer survivor, had a really bad tsa pat down experience in detroit. we talked about it yesterday. an agent who clearly didn't know what he was doing got way too rough with this man's urostomy bag. it actually leaked. and it was humiliating for him. well, after tom sawyer shared the story with cnn he heard from the tsa chief and we're going to hear more about that in a few minutes. >> now if you eve been flying this week, tell us how your security lines were and how your screening or pat down went and if the rules made you change your plans. share you commer comments with there's been a royal announcement. we now know when and where the wedding of prince william and kate middleton will be. we're live in london. 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[trumpet playing "reveille" fades to silence] all right. just in to cnn, after a week of speculation, the royal family just announced where and when the wedding of prince william and kate middleton will take place. dan rivers live in london with all the scoop. hey, dan. >> reporter: -- >> go ahead, dan. >> reporter: well, we now know the venue and the date here. the venue is westminster abbey behind me, steeped in more than a thousand years of history and royal connections. the date is friday, the 29th of april. a lot of speculation to be in march. and some people were saying it was going to be later but they have had to navigate their way through a number of potential clashes with different events, for example, local elections, a referendum in may and then of course easter and lent and couldn't be seen for the wedding to happen during that period so they've settled on the 29th of april which we're told is the feast of st. katherine of sienna and the day that william and catherine will walk up the aisle here. it will be a massive worldwide event here. hundreds of thousands probably lining the streets but we're told by clarence house it will be less lavish than prince charles' wedding to diana in 1981. the couple are mindful of the economic situation that the country is in and will reflect that somewhat. although clearly it's not going to be a small affair. they're talking about cramming 6,000 people into westminster abbey behind me. >> so dan, any significance with the date? >> reporter: i don't think so. i mean, it's -- i think it was just a question of having to negotiate those different potential clashes with different public events much we were being told they wanted a spring wedding. that still is right in the middle of spring. it is late enough that perhaps the weather will be kind on them. but, you know, the main thing is sorting out the other things. don't forget the whole of the royal family will be there and events booked years in advance and they have to negotiate around state visits and even the announcement today was difficult to orchestrate. the queen is leaving tomorrow on a state visit to the gulf and wanted to get it out before she left and they felt they couldn't announce it once she wasn't in the country and a nightmare for them to try to sort this out but the venue i think was always going to be westminster abbey. kate middleton was here last week. >> your life is a nightmare, too. hard for you to schedule events, as well. dan rivers, live in london. >> reporter: sometimes. >> thanks, dan. well, tom sawyer had a pretty humiliating encounter with a tsa agent and shared it with cnn yesterday. guess what. he's gotten an apology from the man at the top. still snot ready to fly. not after what he went through. we don't blame him. we'll tell you why in just a few minutes. for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. which meant she continued to have the means to live on... even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure." 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[ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. all right. we are continuing with the events of forces trading fire along the disputed korean border and the tension having an affect on the financial markets. carter evans at the new york stock exchange, so what are you seeing as we watch the numbers, dow industrials down 106, carter? >> seeing what we expected, kyra. stocks around the world were down today, tensions of any kind tend to rattle markets. more uncertainty. just what investors hate. let's look at the numbers right now. the dow down about 102 points. happened pretty quick off the opening bell. it comes on top of the ongoing fears about ireland's debt problems, as well. however, i want to highlight good news today. whenever we can, we like to talk about this and may keep losses at bay. the u.s. economy is growing than first thought. it's a rit of 2.5%. better than the first estimate which was 2%. here's why. we had stronger exports and we saw more consumer spending. that's great news. here's the problem. normal growth about 3%. so we're headed in the right direction. we're just not there yet. some analysts say we need a 4% to 5% gdp growth rate to bring down the unemployment rate 1% to 2% every year. at this rate, we are not there yet. we are headed in the right direction and the fact revised higher is generally seen as very good news an probably what's keeping the losses at bay today. >> keep the good news coming. thanks, carter. we are seeing new pictures out of caledonia, illinois. storms swept through the area last night. these are chopper pictures from affiliate wgn and you can see the impact these storms are having on the country, specific today in the morning in illinois. our rob marciano is of course following that for us. thanks to wgn for those pictures coming to us from their chopper. some other story that is have us talking this morning. we talked about the tensions on the korean peninsula. the south says that the north fired artillery on one of its islands killing two marines and wounding 15 others. south responded with its own artillery fire. the u.s. says it strongly condemns the attack by north korea. we are also waiting to hear if a jawbone found on the island of aruba belongs to missing and the natalee holloway. we'll bring you the latest. also seems like voters aren't the only ones that want change. four democrats in the alabama house switched to the republican party. that move gives republicans in that chamber a big enough majority to pass any bill they want. tornadoes, ice, snow. even record high temps. all a part of the nation's weather picture. more pictures of that tornado that hit northern illinois. boone county, actually, damaging the homes here and bringing down power lines. actually turning a school bus on its side, as well. so serious injuries were reported, though, thank goodness. in seattle, several traffic accidents after a cold front brought snow and ice to the region. temperatures in the single digits. live pictures now from salt lake city, utah. a blizzard and high wind warnings in effect throughout the morning and travel could get real dicey later today.qui jera travel desk. people looking to get on the road for the holiday. what do you think about the travel weather? >> i think we will have a lot of problems today on the interstates and the roadways, especially across parts of the west. now, as we get into the latter part of the day, we'll see more troubles in the east. so far, the best news to tell you is that the airports are looking good, all the major airports running on time for the most part. we have minor delays here. minneapolis/st. paul and seattle and deicing delaysali s at 15 o minutes. the clouds in the east starting to develop here in the atlanta area. a live picture of the downtown area, 60 degrees and expected rain showers later today. a list of where we expect to see delays in the afternoon and the evening. the new york city metros, boston, philadelphia, washington, d.c. it's this afternoon with a low clouds and some occasional rain showers. atlanta, same thing. maybe 15 to 30-minute delays and out west, san francisco over an hour due to low clouds and winds and salt lake city blizzard warnings for later today. fly.faa.gov, an excellent site for latest on airport delays. some of the various airports have information on their own website showing you the security wait time. main check point, less than ten minutes so things are really moving right now in that area. let's talk about traffic just a little bit. nashville, you have been seeing some showers and thundershowers this morning. this website traffic.com. look at this. you can see all of the red on the right-hand side of the screen. shows you major areas with problems. i-24, trouble from highway 840 to i-40. the jam factor, one to ten they put it. a jam factor of eight. not looking good in nashville. kyra? >> appreciate it. >> all right. let's hope that no one else has a tsa experience like tom sawyer. he told us his story yesterday. here it is quickly. the back story. mr. sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor and he has to wear a urostomy bag to collect his urine. he asked for a private pat down at the airport in detroit because of his medical device. clearly, the agent didn't know or didn't even care about saw r sawyer's situation. >> when he got to my chest area, he used his open palm and doing down my chest quite near and if he got near the bag, there was a possibility of pulling the seal off it. and i said, at that point, you need to go slower and you need to go softer or you will pull the urostomy bag off. i said go softer and he got to it. i happen to have one of the bags here to show you and pulled the seal kind of half off it. and amongst that happened, it was kind of like pulling the seal off -- half off of a battle of orange juice and tipping it upside down. the urine came out to my bag and down my pants. >> and then just sounds like -- >> and sounds like a horrendous experience, tom. >> it was embarrassing, very embarrassing. it's been three years for now. so i'm used to my urostomy now but not something i like to show the world. >> sure. >> i think one of the biggest fears for all patients is that we'll have a leak in public. let alone an airport. >> so this was your worst night mare. >> and didn't apologize. didn't do anything. well, i probably -- there are worse nightmares but it was a horrible nightmare. >> yeah. >> and i had to walk out in the airport, trying to get cleaned up. >> you know, i heard that yesterday and my heart sunk and i hear it today and it brings tears to my eyes. just -- how it got choked up. you got to talk to him again today, john. the tsa, john pistole, the head of tsa called him to apologize. we herd about the stories but this is just absolutely unacceptable. >> the tsa saw him on "american morning" yesterday and said how do we get in touch with him? you can imagine what he went through. he was trying to explain to the screener, i have a medical condition. you need to know about it before you pat me down knowing that the appliance was there and the guy just didn't seem to care too much about it. but the tsa administrator john pistole did care about it, to his credit. telephoned thomas yesterday. they talked at length and shared some light banter back and forth. how's your day been? not too busy. mine either. then they got down to the nuts and boltsof it. he was very apologetic and thomas even suggested maybe he had something to teach to the tsa. let's listen to a little of what he told me this morning. >> he went on to apologize to me on behalf of the tsa and had some things to say. i had to do a little correcting. he had a part of the story mixed up which a lot of people do right now and we did that. and then he asked me what i thought because i kept talking about training. what i thought. so i talked to him that i really don't believe that they've been trained as well as -- to handle medical conditions, various medical conditions is what many of the tsa postings have been saying. and he said he had -- was going to be talking at 3:00 yesterday afternoon to his supervisors. and the whole thing was going to be discussed and there was going to be a larger meeting. i offered to actually attend the meeting and i would demonstrate and talk with them about the world of urostomies, insulin pumps and what else and help educate the agents if he was so moved. he said i might take you up on that. >> so i wonder if he'll go to the meeting. my guess is he sure as hell won't fly. >> i don't think -- >> unless he has a private plane from the tsa aye i don't think he'll go to that meeting but wouldn't it be a good idea for sensitivity training and education to hear from people out there and their real stories opposed to a clinical explanation, hear from somebody and say here's what it feels like on my end of it. he is not planning on flying any time soon. if he were, he would think twice about it. he says that the screeners don't have the level of training they need to be sensitive to people with medical conditions. this is one of many out there that they should be aware of. >> sure. >> he didn't go so far as to say that these enhanced pat downs should stop altogether. >> yeah. he's support of security saying know what the hell you're doing -- >> he says. >> amy good american. the airline security is paramount importance but they need to dial it back a little bit until thank you're adequately trained. >> he has a good heart. >> sure does. >> doing a great job -- >> to go through what he hent through. he had to go through the airport, get on the aircraft, wasn't until it was in the air that he put on a fresh shirt. >> we'll follow the story and see what happens. would be great to see him speak to the agents. thanks, john. taking the next step in robotic technology to the competitive level. we'll show you some of the carry-over of japan's annual robot challenge. join the jaguar platinum celebration ! come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. at the walmart in marinette, wisconsin. that first job launched my career. since i've been with the company, i've been promoted ten times over the span of 11 years. today, i'm a divisional learning and development manager. we can actually help people develop in their own careers. my job allows me to make a difference in the lives of almost 100,000 associates in the northeast. if you think about it, that's almost 8 times the size of my hometown. my name is nick and i work at walmart. ♪ ♪ it's the moment of truth tonight for bristol palin. the season finale of "dancing with the stars" after underwhelming the judges once again tonight, she trails jennifer grey and kyle massey n't don't count her out just yet. the fans consistently voted for her in huge numbers so anything could happen. the appearance provoked negative reactions. last week it was inspired a wisconsin man to shoot his tv. well, it's three weeks after the election and we finally have a decision. mark preston joins us from the cnnpolitic cnnpolitics.com desk. i don't think anyone shoots the tv because of you. >> i don't think so. my kids thinks that. probably most of my friends think that and the bosses probably think that because i'm talking about it. >> we have to get mark preston some therapy, folks! >> i need lots of it. as you said, we are still -- we still have outstanding house and senate races to this day. the midterms earlier this month. we vice president got resolution on four house races and one senate race but we did get a resolution on a texas race. representative ortis conceded late last night. you know, ortiz has been in congress since 1983. kyra, however, he lost his re-election bid this november. he conceded last night. and this district is the corpus christi/brownsville area. a republican taking over that seat and as i said, four house seats up for grabs and the alaska saga continues on between joe miller and lisa murkowski. they're fighting over that seat. looking at this scoop from ed henry last night. david plouffe, cam pan manager for barack obama's very successful 2008 presidential campaign is moving into the white house. david axelrod, a senior adviser is going to be moving back to chicago to take over the campaign. we'd always heard that plouffe would return to the white house at some point and didn't know when. ed broke the story last night saying he is going in this january and some overlap between plouffe and axelrod. plouffe known for being a very organized individual and the white house has to deal with a new congress and new organization at the congress and changes at the white house, kyra. >> all right. speaking of obama confidants, you know, his former chief of staff rahm emanuel got competition in the race to be mayor of chicago. >> he does. a former senator has decided to run for mayor of chicago. she was the first african-american woman ever elected to the senate, served one term. not re-elected in 1998. she was appointed as ambassador to new zealand in the clinton administration and will be in the race. right now, 20 candidates running for mayor. emanuel is considered the front-runner. this just came in. rolland burris, the senator leaving right now, appointed to fill the seat that president obama held. he was appointed by rod blagojevich. very controversial. he is now considering runni inn right now. there was a write-in campaign to get him on the ballot. i got off the phone with a top aide and even though the office not behind the whole idea, they said we might see roland burris trying to run for mayor as well. >> that will definitely be interesting. that's for sure. >> we will have your next political update in an hour. a reminder, you can always go to our website cnnpolitics.com. a flock of rare fallons grounded before takeoff. why these birds' owner might be singing the splulgers' blues. 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[ male announcer ] get the plan that gives you all this and more. aarp medicarerx plans. insured through unitedhealthcare. call today. ♪ well, scanning our morning passport. we go to moscow where animal welfare activists say ate endangered falcons were recovered. they were swaddled in pillowcases bound for syria. they are the breed that is the world's largest true falcon and they demand big bucks on the black market. tokyo, to the city's annual robot contest. this one is carrying human cargo in the back. one in particular catching our attention, a reindeer robot carrying three people but no santa. a lot of developments coming up in the newsroom. let's start with chris lawrence. >> reporter: for more than an hour, north korea and south korea fired hundreds of rounds of artillery at each other, and when it was over, two south korean marines were dead. what's this mean for the tens of thousands of american troops stationed right along the border? i'll tell you that coming up at the top of the hour. >> reporter: i'm martin savage in aruba. could we find out today what happened to natalee holloway. i'm jacqui jeras at the cnn travel desk monitoring hour things are going in the airways and interstates. prince william may be royalty but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to have a good time. an american rapper tops the list to perform at the royal engagement party. we'll have the details coming up. [ male announcer ] in the past, landing an airplane was complicated, with a series of stepped altitude changes. [ air traffic controller ] okay, 245, proceed to your next cleared altitude. [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] today, truecourse flight management systems from ge allow for fuel savings, lower emissions and less noise... ♪ ...making the old way of doing things... [ air traffic controller ] 245, you are cleared to land. [ male announcer ] ...seem less than graceful. ♪ >> hey, kyra, kyra, in new york. >> what happened to the muse jik. >> i don't know. what happened? how are you? i don't see you in the split. where are you? hey you? >> what happened to our big open. there we go. do you want to redo it. ♪ i've been all around the world ♪ >> who is that? >> who is that? >> i am a pfunk guy. i'm a funkateer. >> you can't do the dougie to that. you can do the shopping cart to that. here we go. now we're talking, dimple. >> in the tease, you give me snoop dogg and i come on the air and we're doing pure prairie league. >> see what happens when i'm not with you. all hell breaks loose. >> come on back, kyra. >> let's talk monday night football. >> phillip rivers. he was terrific last night, kyra. >> this is just the chargers, my hometown, san diego, california. we go back to the days of dan fouts. >> well, phillip rivers was amazing last night. it wasn't that he threw for a ton of yards, but a career best four touchdowns for him. it's like monday night football now is becoming a platform for folks to enter the conversation for the mvp award. last week it was michael vick. phillip rivers last night. he played a terrific ball game, but it's an average team. i guess they're 5-5. in the west, on the path they're on, that might be good enough to get them to the playoffs. he, that guy right there in particular, looked fantastic. he will end up throwing for more yards that anyone in history at the end of this year. that's how good he's playing. got another story for you, kyra. did you see the smackdown over the weekend. >> oakland raiders? >> the oakland pittsburgh game. >> no suspension what's up with that? >> so suspension but a hefty fine. an open-hand slap. roethlisberger on the ground rolling around like a big old baby, man baby. quarterbacks stay out of the way. stay out of the scrum. so seymour gets a $25,000 fine. look at roethlisberger. >> what was up with that? why did he slap them. >> there was a scrum, and roethlisberger came in and decided to play peacemaker. it's tinternational football league. so that's what happened there. >> jacqui jeras, a big minnesota vikings fan, grew up there, and her vikings having a very difficult season. finally, this comes as no surprise, they fired the head coach, brad childress. the team is playing miserably. brett favre is playing miserably, and they are 3-7 and they fired chill drez after a humiliating loss to the packers. a huge rivalry there. >> no sympathy for me because i'm a green bay packers fan. that's my old market. >> am i out of time? no time for tony parker and the spurs? tony parker and the spurs, 11-game winning streak, playing amazing ball right now. tony parker playing the best ball of his career. as you know, he's going through a divorce from eva longoria, the actress. i'm not saying he's playing great ball because of it. i'm just saying he's playing great ball. >> what is it with these men? the texting. >> get rid of the sim card. >> he screwed up. that's all i'm saying. . >> see you, lady. ♪ i'm not going to take it it's 10:02 on the east coast. here's the stories we are talking ability. ten people under arrest in a european anti-terrorist sweep, across belgium, netherlands and germany. all facing a judge today. the busiest travel day of the year less than 24 hours away. it's a whole different ball game with the tsa security measures. two-thirds of people are okay with the full-body scanners, and only half think the pat-downs are justified. prince william and kate middleton getting married april 29th at westminster abbey. the day will now be declared a british national holiday. >> north korea launched military strikes against south korea in the yellow city. the north reportedly bombarded a south korean island with dozens of artillery rounds killing two soldiers and injuring a lot more. we are talking about powerful artillery shells. both south korea fired back and f-16 fighter jets. chris lawrence has the latest. >> reporter: the latest is, you know, you're getting international condemnation of north korea's actions from around the world, including right here in wash with the white house issuing a fairly strong statement against north korean actions. let's take a look at it now. this is from press second robert gibbs. he said the united states strongly condemns this attack and calls on north korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the armistice agreement. the united states is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the republican of korea, into the main tense of regional peace and stability. i just spoke with a senior defense official who said right now, u.s. officials in that area are consulting with their south korean allies, taking stock of the situation, but there seems to be no movement right now to further escalate what happened here. the two sides, south korea and north korea, traded artillery blasts for about an hour, hour and a half. two south korean marines were killed, several injured, and several civilians injured as well on the aisle. the defense spokesman says no u.s. forces or weaponry were involved in this artillery exchange. we do believe, though, that some u.s. forces were involved in the general traping exercise, assisting with that, that was going on at the time. the training exercise was scheduled for sometime, and the defense official says south korea warned and informed north korea before it fired its first artillery blast as part of this training. they says there was no reason that north korea should have been surprised by what happened. >> all right, chris lawrence, appreciate it. let's fast forward to this afternoon. natalee holloway's family could finally get some answers about what happened when she disappeared in aruba five years ago just a few hours from now. prosecutors are expected to reveal whether a jaw bone found at a beach resort belongs to holloway. martin savidge is covering the story for us, and is just outside the courtroom there in aruba, the exact place where natalee holloway was seen leaving a night club in the early hours of may 2005. what are we expecting to see today? we just lost our connection with marty. we'll work on getting him back up live and get an update on the case. snowfall in seattle, a rare sight and causing lots of problems for commuters. accidents, abandoned cars, drivers stuck for hours. a cargo jet slipped off the runway there. nobody was hurt luckily. the hospital pilot for our affiliate kiro, what are the conditions like right now? >> reporter: as far as the weather goes, it's beautiful. sun coming up, not a cloud in the sky, but you can see as we bull out from the space needle, looking to the north, that's queen anne's hill. that is part of the problem, with all of the hills here and the deep freeze we're experiencing. i'm looking at 16 degrees in high cockpit right now. awful, awful cold. real snow blast through here yesterday and all of that has turned to pretty much ice. that's the east side of seattle, another hill here, capital hill, and the same story, people trying to get up and down. lots of people staying home. i checked out bus barns and the runways at the airport. they are reporting fair breaking conditions, pretty rare for this area once again. the freeway traffic is pretty light this time of morning for what we would expect because, again, people are staying home. cars abandoned just about everywhere you look. we've seen spin outs. just before we went on air, i had a spinout below me. just a mess here. once again, i think a lot of people are taking the opportunity to stay home by a warm fire. it is real interesting and we'll call it sporty driving up here. back to you, kyra. >> you say real interesting, clark. pretty rare for seattle? >> reporter: yes, it is rare. i have lived here virtually all of my life. we are panning north. this is interstate 5. everybody is familiar with interstate 5. this is a very light volume of traffic. this would be normally in the mill of your commute. we had an accident to the north of where we are right now, up by the university of washington, well before the commuting hour and it involved a number of semitrucks. many ended up sideways in the middle of the southbound lane. they are still cleaning that up. i don't have to look very far to find major problems. >> clark stall, a helicopter pilot out of our affiliate kiro. prince william may be royalty but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to are have a good time. an american rapper tops the list to perform at the engagement party. we asked people all over america where the best potatoes come from. the best potatoes? idaho. idaho! idaho. and how do you know you're getting idaho potatoes? well...uh... uhm... heh.. (sighs) not all potatoes come from idaho. so if you want the best, you have to do one important thing. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i knew that. i knew that. look for the grown in idaho seal. i graduated from west point, then i did a tour of duty in iraq. when i was transitioning from active duty, i went to a military officer hiring conference. it was kind of like speed dating. there were 12 companies that i was pre-matched with, but walmart turned out to be the best for me. sam walton was in the military, and he understood the importance of developing your people. it's an honor to be in a position of leadership at walmart. i'm captain tracey lloyd, and i work at walmart. ♪ come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. had a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit, which provided for their every financial need. 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what are you saying about the queen? are you saying she's too formal for something like that. let me fill you in. according to reports in uk tabloids and hip hop websites, snoop dogg is in talks to perform form prince william and kate middleton at her engagement party. what could prince william have to do with snoop dogg? >> exactly. >> let me connect the dots for you. . i should say that it is prince harry who is planning the party which will have a decided hip hop theme. harry wants snoop dogg and a brit rapper to perform and in addition to being the better known partier, harry has never hidden his love of hip hop. he has been out on the ton with hip hop people like diddy. he shot a video with uk artist goldy and ms. dynamite for the bbc. there was a concert in wembley stadium in honor of their mother, and harry brought kanye west to the performance. not such a huge surprise, and hugh knew for a lot of people that these things go hand in hand. royalty and hip hop. >> gotten pretty hip, huh? >> i guess. i actually would like to see the queen. diddy serenading the queen. >> like the moment where lady ga ga shook the hand of the queen, and everybody thought, that had to be an awkward moment. i would love to see how this whole party goes down. >> we probably will. >> a lot of people watching "dancing with the stars" to see how that's going here. i got you into a little trouble saying, okay, a lot of people are saying bristol palin can't dance. >> we can't ignore what people are saying. >> it's getting political, shall we say. >> last night was no different. bristol palin landed in last place by the judge's scores as they work their way to tonight's finale, but the viewers votes haven't been counted, and showbiz was there after they performed, and they had a few choice words for everyone who is so outraged that she is still in this thing. >> people complain regardless. when you have nick coal in the final, medical b., kristi yamaguchi, people say, that's not fair, they have dancing experience. i want to have someone with zero dance experience.but still, that's not fair. >> stop complaining. you're never going to win. >> be prepared, bristol could win it all. the viewer votes count as 50% of the score. she's been in last place with the judges before. we did ask in our poll, if bristol winning "dancing with the stars" would actually hurt the show, you know, because it does have some degree of credibility as far as a dancing competition. 77% of the viewers say, yes. 23% said no. we were debating it on the show last night, and people say it has already shifted from being a dancing competition to being a popularity contest. people love to tune in and see people grow as dancers and see the best dancer win. it doesn't always happen, kind of like "american idol." >> with "dancing with the stars," when i ask people what it is about it, it comes down to the dancing. it's not necessarily the people they're watching, although they have interesting contestants. it's the dancing and music. >> nothing against bristol who has come so far in the competition. >> she admitted she couldn't dance in the beginning. >> it's amazing what she has done. is she the best dancer no? >> the show has gotten a lot of attention because of her. >> people talking a about it every day. >> welcome to new york. >> thank you so much. if you want information about everything breaking in the entertainment world, watch a.j. hammer every night, showbiz tonight every night at 5:00 p.m. with all of the news about the tsa's new security rules, here's what we wanted to know. who are these people with both our security and our dignity in their hans? we'll give you the background check after the break. we're hours away from the busiest travel day of the year and if you think the noise over tsa security is loud now, wait until the holiday is over, after the new measures touch more people, shall we say. right now, the outrage doesn't seem to be boiling over, but check out this new poll from "the washington post" and abc. interesting. respondents are split on the enhanced pat-downs. half say they don't think they're justified but about two-thirds say they think the full-body scanners are okay. one inventor in colorado isn't among the 64%, though. he is selling underwear lined with metal. he says it will shield your privates from tsa eyes and protect your body from radiation. >> it's been well known that x-rays and ionizing radiation in general are hazardous to cellular life and dna. >> they say you won't get zapped with unhealthy amounts of radiation. there is a call to boycott the body scan for tomorrow and ask for pat-downs. last hour, we told you how the head of the tsa, john pistole, actually called a bladder cancer survivor to apologize for his nightmare pat-down. a tsa agent in detroit didn't know or didn't care about tom sawyer's urostomy bag. he ended up tearing off the seal and urine spilled on mr. sawyer. it was a humiliating experience, and he says agents need more training to handle passengers just like him. we're going to talk more about tsa and the background with a public service professor here in new york. he's written several books on government and bureaucracy. i have so many questions about why somebody can be so -- i'm going to lay it out there -- ignorant when dealing with a passenger who said i have an issue here, please be careful. you hear about the story and it is so embarrassing, and the head of the tsa calls to apologize. where is the disconnect in the nine years? >> we've had nine years but we had 25% turnover in that agency. >> why is that? >> not a great job. a little over $13 an hour, tough working conditions. you're standing all day, very cramped quarters in many, many airports. >> paul, these are guys, women and men, that are supposed to track terrorists. they're law enforcement officials. so why such a -- why such low pay, such a low standard, for something that an incident that devastated our country and our lives ever since it happened? >> well, when the tsa was first stood up, as they call it, republicans were really quite opposed to the notion of having federal government employees in those jobs. they wanted contractors to stay on the jobs, and the contractors had failed miserably, as you'll recall, in 2001. so part of the legislation was to keep the pay low, not allow for unions, and, you know, i'm in agreement with that general position, but, you know, it was created as an agency that kind of had a chip on its shoulder. now, the first heads of the agencies really cared about customer service. they brought in marriott, they brought in disney, to help the agency figure out how to put the smile on the face and welcome the fliers to what was going to be a distracting and delaying process, but, you know, nine years later, we have a little bit of amnesia, complacency about terrorism, and the agency ain't smiling, high rates of absenteeism and this turnover problem. >> why is that? is it because they don't have enough incentives to be happy about their job in addition to every single day they are dealing with passengers who are becoming more frustrated with them? is it that simple, that cut and dry? >> i think so. you go through the counter for your airline, and pay $25 to $50 for your bags, and you're anxious about sitting in the airplane, which is going to be as crowded as a sardine can, and you walk down and see the checkpoint and focus your fire on those federal bureaucrats. let's face it, federal bureaucrats aren't that popular and some tsa screeners are abusive. they don't know how to smile. they take their law enforcement responsibilities very, very seriously, and it's like, hey, this is a law enforcement kind of job. i don't have to be friendly, and tsa has forgotten how to be friendly and it's forgotten how to be friendly with the public. nobody knew this was coming. >> in the books you have written, and you have studied this for a number of years now, what would be your advice now, if you could sit down with john pistole the head of tsa? what would you say, this is what you have to do? one, two, three, this is what you have to do to get started? >> first thing, these are your customers. they're not, you know, criminals, so you have to get that mindset from the beginning. the person who greets them, comes out, has to know how to smile and know how to deal with the flying public as almost entirely decent people who just want to get lieu the screening area so they can get ready for what is going to be an anxious flying experience. bring in marriott again and the top customer relations companies again and get that right and get past the constant haranguing of catching the criminals because they don't. >> they vent arresteds any big time criminals. >> not that we know of. the point is deterrence. if they're doing the job, the terrorists don't show up. they need to explain to the traveller what they're doing. the inconsistencies are designed to create incertainties among terrorists so they don't know what happens to the air airport. >> that's interesting. people say, i fly through san diego, they're one way, i fly through laguardia, they're one way. you're saying there is a message behind that madness? >> there is a little bit. some of it is rank incompetence. some is planned so you can't go to boston and say, this is what the screener station is going to, whoic in san francisco. you don't want that. you want to keep the terrorists off-balance. so that's the point. again, it's a problem at tsa of explaining that to the flying public. you can get liquids through in denver, and orlando, but you can't get them through at laguardia, but you can get them through at jfk. the flying public says, whatsz up with this? are these a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats. some is planned. some of it is this new blood they are bringing in all of the time, trying to keep them up to speed and do the job well. it's a darn tough job and very few people say thanks at the end of the line. >> true. maybe the message is when you do get that good agent, thank them and wish them a happy thanksgiving. >> fill out a comment card. that's the only way they get credit. >> thank you. blizzard warnings, nasty storms, keeping an eye on it all before you hit the road or head to the airport. we're going to check in with the cnn travel dask. ♪ she's got a ticket to ride a developing news bit out of korea. the north launched military strikes against the south. the north bombarded a south korean island with dozens of artillery rounds killing two soldiers and injuring a number more. that's according to the south's defense ministry. we are talking about not just gun fire. cell phone video shows the sea side video on fire after that show of force. south korea did fire back and even scrambled f-16 fighter jets. the south is on high alert calling an emergency meeting of security ministers. that fire fight broke out near i don't know i don't know. stan grant is right near that south korean island where the attack happened. stan, what are you seeing? >> reporter: we have had some people come ashore here. we're about 70 kilometers, 30, 40 miles, from the island itself. some people have been evacuated after the gun fire, the shelling of the island today, and we are talking about people still in a state of shock. these are elderly people brought assure in wheelchairs. they are saying they are sad, shocked and angry. one old lady told us she had to leave all of her possessions on the island. this is already a very, very volatile place, and obviously, it is now really a flash point. we have seen the south korean leadership bunker down, not wanting to provoke the situation or escalate it in any way, but listen to the language coming from north korea, calling the sauth korea a puppet group of the united states. they're talking about a merciless military situation if south korea continues to in north korea's words provoke it. it does not just involve south korea. it involves japan, china and the united states. we have a envoy in the region right now in high level talks in beijing, and there are 30,000 u.s. service men in south korea. >> when we look at what's taking place here between these two nations and the pictures that we've gotten in, would you say that this is definitely the most serious incident or actions, shall we say, since the korean war ended in 1953? because i have been reading, actually, that that's what people are writing, and if that's true, why now? >> reporter: it's all about context, kyra. there have been flash points like this in the past.earlier this year there was an attack on a ship, 46 sailors were killed then. in the past week, north korea unveiling this you're rain jim enrichment program. they have carried out two atomic tests and are developing a nuclear bomb. they have walked away from negotiations involving the united states and regional powers to give up and abandon its nuclear program. what makes this attack particularly different is they have attacked civilians. in the past there has been confrontation between the military, but here civilians were involved. two military service men in south korea have been killed. a number of other people injured. but you're right, it's about context and the fact that north korea is stepping up its actions at that. it is a rogue state, stepping up its nuclear power, and kim jong-il has been sick and talking about handing over power to his son. it is a volatile picture and one that we're trying to get and figure out how south korea and how china may react and how the united states may react. >> stan grant, keep us updated. tornadoes, ice, snow, all part of the nation's weather pilkts. take a look at this tornado in boone county in northern illinois. turned a school bus on its side, brought down power lines. no serious injuries reported. video in from seattle, several traffic accidents there due to snow and ice, which rarely happens by the way. live pictures from salt lake city, utah, a blizzard and high wind warnings in effect through the morning. this video coming to us from kutv. it could you travel could get dicey later today. jacqui jeras is at the wall. that's sort of a desk there. >> sort of it. >> i'll be at the desk next hour. >> we have a desk set up and you're monitoring but it's easier to show us on the washington. >> we are at the u-touch to show you. we have the traffic problems out west. salt lake city is going to be a nightmare later today and into tomorrow morning, but sheer volume -- this time of year, there are millions of people trying to travel and sometimes just volume is enough to cause problems. that's exactly what's happening out there. more than 5,000 planes in the air as we speak. there are too many trying to get in and out of bwi, baltimore swells sharcharlotte. go ahead and log on and find out if your airport is having a problem. 16 to 50 minute delays. you are having gate hold issues. sometimes it's not the weather. sometimes it's accidents. that's what's going on in chicago. rush hour traffic usually congested but we have an accident. one of the big ones on the kennedy express way. traffic only moving 18 miles per hour. this is from traffic.com. jam factor of eight on a scale of one to ten. let's talk about what's going on out west. from the washington department of transportation, with all of the snow over the weekend, you can log onto traffic conditions, check the mountain passes and check the cameras and click on the area, and it will give you a picture and show you the conditions. our ireporters have been out there, too. this is from kyle in seattle. 2.2 inches of snowfall, record there yesterday. icy conditions will continue. we want you to be a part of the cnn travel team. there are a couple ways where you can access information. cnn.com/holidaytravel. we have everything you want to know. on twitter, you can follow us or tweet u.s. at cnn travel. as always, we are tracking it all throughout the holiday season. >> thanks, jacqui. one concussion is bad, but did you know two concussions can kill? 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[ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. people of all shapes, sides, colors and creeds, victimized by violent hate crimes but the southern poverty law center says the most common minority target is gay people. there are ways to help out and reach to all victims of hate crimes. i have to show you the numbers. they're stunning. in an analysis of 14 years of fbi stats found that gay people or those who are thought to be gay are twice as likely to be attacked in a violent hate crime than african-americans or jewish people. listen to this. they're four times more likely to be attacked than muslims, and 14 more times as likely than latinos. that's why messages like these from the "it gets better project" really resonate. >> i don't know what it's like to be picked on for being gay, but i do know what it's like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don't belong. it's tough. >> don't worry about being gay. that's who you are. that's how god created you. he created me as a jew and he created me as a gay person. >> i seem to be the only gay muslim i know of. but i know that with 1.5 billion people in the world, i can't possibly be the only one. >> an entire community of people banding together to show support for the gay community and the victims of gay bullying. it's part of dan satisfy ridge's "it gets better project." you know, dan, when you saw this report from the southern poverty law center, what are your thoughts? we were just astounded by these numbers. >> it is shocking. there is a tremendous amount of violence directed at members of the lgbt community by people who feel they have license to bully and be violent because of the rhetoric that sloshes around our community. they promote the idea that gays and lesbians are a threat to the family and the institution of marriage. they even claim, u.s. senators have claimed, that gays and lesbians are a threat to the survival of the planet and climate change. when you have that kind of hateful apocalyptic demagogic rhetoric, people will act on it and feel they have license to physically abuse the gay and lesbian people they encounter. >> here's what i have a hard time understanding with numbers like this. we've come so far, our society has. look at don't ask don't tell about to be repealed. gay marriage going all of the way to supreme court. ellen, one of the most popular gay celebrities of our time. we love her talk show. even tvs and movies and gay characters that are totally accepted and it's hard to understand while we're being so progressive why the numbers are so high. >> it is for gays and lesbians a best of times worse of times moment culturally for us. we have never been free and more open and by rights protected in more and more places yet at the same time we have made a tremendous amount of progress, there has been a tremendous amount of backlash, and the backlash is exacting a price in the lives of gays and lesbians who are being abused or targeted for violence, and we can't -- those of us who live in places like seattle, and new york, and atlanta, large tolerant places, we can't ignore that in the boonenys and in the cities there are crimes. we can't lose sight that there are haters out there and it has to be addressed and really the root causes of the hatred and the justifications of the hatred which unfortunately often have a religious justification, have to be confronted and addressed. >> it's difficult to say what would be a solution, but can we start with more hate crime legislation, where bullies are prosecuted more severely? >> we can start with that. we can also start -- really, yes need a cultural reckoning among gay and lesbian issues. there was once two sides to the debate you could go and argue for segregation, against interracial marriage and extending votes rights to african-americans and that was treated as one side -- one legitimate side of a pressing national debate and it isn't anymore. we are reaching that point with gay and lesbian issues. there are not two sides to the issues about gay and lesbian rights. one side is really using dehumanizing rhetoric. the southern poverty law center labels these as hate groups but people like tony perkins are invited onto cnn, and similarly hateful people targeting jews or people of color would not be welcome to spew their bile on networks like cnn. we really have to start there with that kind of cultural reckoning. >> dan savidge, good talking to you. john lenin album is going on sale for $850,000. not just any album. one he autographed for his killer. things started changing immediately. then i wrote a letter to the food stamp office. "thank you very much, i don't need your help any more." you know now, i can actually say i bought my home. i knew that the more i dedicated... the harder i worked, the more it was going to benefit my family. this my son, mario and he now works at walmart. i believe mario is following in my footsteps. my name is noemi, and i work at walmart. ♪ seems like voters aren't the only ones who want a change in politics. four law makers in alabama switching parties. paul steinhauser is joining us. what's up with the switch, paul? >> four state house lawmakers in alabama, not federal, state. they are switching. they say they're following their hearts and switching from democrats to republicans. they say they vote with the republicans most of the time and they're just following their hearts. we'll keep an eye on congress as well because there are still conservative and moderate democrats in the house and we'll keep our eyes to see if any of them swap from democrat to republican. let's talk about alaska, that senate battle up there. it's been three weeks since the election. joe miller, the republican momny beat lisa murkowski, the incumbent senator in the primaries with a lot of tea party support and soerpt from sarah palin. she is now leading. she is leading by about 10,000 votes. he is taking it to state court, suing the state of alaska saying they shouldn't have counted votes that went to murkowski because they broke the law by intent that you didn't have 0 spell her name correctly to vote for her. state officials said if you had the intent and came close to spelling it collectly, it counted. that race still far from over. we want to get to marty savidge in aruba. we have word that there might be a press release or news conference concerning natalee holloway and her death. >> reporter: we are standing outside what would be the prosecutor's office here in aruba, and we are anticipating that an announcement would come this afternoon. it is five minutes to noon, and that would mean that the window would open that we anticipate we would hear someone giving a statement as to this bone fragment that has been found and sent to the netherlands for forensic, scientific study and we anticipate to hear first, one, is it human and, two, is it in any way tied to natalee holloway. we are expecting momentarily to begin to hear from authorities as to what their scientists found. >> we will check in with you as soon as that happens. once again, we are awaiting some type of announcement on the natalee holloway case. as you know, and as marty just mentioned, a jaw bone was found there on the shores of abraruba and there is speculation that could be the jaw bone of natalee holloway who went missing back in 2005, a case we were following since the very beginning. as soon as we get news and developments, we will bring that to you live. that does it for us. see you back here tomorrow. almost the top of the hour. tony harris with more in the cnn newsroom after a quick break.

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