Transcripts For HLN Morning Express With Robin Meade 20091208

good morning. 6:00, straight up. there goes your alarm clock. we are ready for ya. i'm robin meade. morn i morning sunshine. a deadly snowstorm is bearing down. snow and slick roads are creating dangerous conditions. you'll see where more snow and ice is expected. it's nothing to fool with. and this -- >> i believe this court did not have the courage to say not guilty. >> their daughter faces decades in prison in a country far away. they are speaking out of amanda knox was convicted of murder. guys, this is no magic diet. you'll hear about a skyrocketing demand for men's girdles. a storm is gaining strength as it moves forward. people in six states are under blizzard conditions now. this car went into a ditch in ohio yesterday. no one was hurt in the crash. at least three people were killed in accidents in other parts of the country. >> it's terrible out here. going up the grade on the back roads, especially if it hasn't been salted. you come to a stop and start sliding into the guardrail. >> check this out from one of our i-reporters out of flagstaff, arizona. officials are expecting whiteout conditions there. schools are closed. this photo was sent in. we have another one from southern colorado. another i-reporter showed how deep the snow is there. more than 8 inches. it's still falling. he's prepare d for a power outage. bonnie snyder is in for bob. good morning. it's moved. has it gotten more powerful? >> absolutely. that's what happens with the storms, they wind up and explode in intensity. now, the area affected is much larger than this time yesterday. across the map, we have blizzard conditions for a good portion of the western states. then, we are watching for the storm to work to the north and east. it brings snowy conditions and frigid arctic air. temperatures, by the end of the week down to ten to 20 degrees below zero as far as st. louis. i'll have more coming up. >> tell us what you are experiencing weatherwise. go to our facebook page, cnn.com/robin. five car bombs exploded in less than an hour. smoke is drifting over baghdad. 200 people are hurt. the attacks come as iraqi officials prepare to announce the date of next year's electio elections. vindication for mr. squiggles. the zhu zhu pet is safe for your kids. jennifer westhoven is here with more. >> he's clear. the little brown guy did nothing wrong. you can safely snuggle him. isn't this different than two years ago when talking about the toxic toys from china. here, we have an allegation and it turns out safe. they said the brown one had unsafe levels of one chemical. here is the toy makers, cepia. they want the product. they want their kids to have it. zhu zhu pets are 100% safe. >> you can tell something was different yesterday. the maker of the toy said look, i'm a dad. i would never put out a product that wasn't safe. basically, the good guy website said we were comparing apples to oranges. >> really? >> they put the wrong test up against the wrong test. >> so it looks like everything is good. thank you very much. defense secretary robert gates is in afs to say americans are committed to winning the war over there. karzai said it would be 15 years before afghanistan would be able to maintain security forces. it's gates first visit since president obama announced 30,000 more troops will be deployed to afghanistan. a former cast member from "family ties." brian bonsall hit a friend with a part of a broken stool. he was drinking and doesn't remember what he did. he plays michael j. fox's little brother on "family ties." fewer americans are dying from cancer. thank goodness for that. there was a drop in all ethnic groups. they believe better screening and treatment is the reason. the biggest success story has been in the battle of colon cancer. you have got to see this. a woman's purse got stuck in the door of a moving train. she may sue boston's transportation authority. look at the video. you can see her clinging to her purse, then, here she is, she's running along with the train, trying to get out and slams into the wall. boom! she says she has migraines still and missed weeks of work. they fired the train attendant and suspended the operator for ten days. blizzard warnings in six states today. let's get down to the nitty gritty of a bad winter storm. >> that's right. areas in the red that extend from arizona to parts of minnesota, those are all warnings. that means inically mat weather is on the way. very serious situations. some are blizzard warnings. not only are we going to see heavy snow, the mountains of colorado, 30 inches. minnesota and wisconsin, eight to 14 inches. we are going to see intense blowing wind that blows about the snow. they could get down to zero at times. check this out. now, the storm is spreading east. we look for snow and rain to mix it up there pennsylvania and even in northern virginia. i'm expecting ice in washington, d.c. an baltimore. if you are heading to work, leave early this afternoon, the roads will be bad for the evening commute. chicago is getting slammed with snow. it's going to be bad in rockford through davenport. the heaviest snow today. temperatures are very cold. notice the numbers in the 20s. this is the beginning of a big chill out. it's going to get colder. >> it's not a one-day affair here. >> all week. >> it's moving and not losing steam. that's the scary part. tell us what you are experiencing weather wise. go to our facebook page. sorry, my bangs are driving me crazy. school officials think no decorations make it better for the kids. plus, good news in the bad economy, your 401(k) may have more money coming in. yeah. we love to salute the troops. today's is salute is for donald angle. this is from his mother-in-law. she's sending out a shout out for her daughter and kids. they are in italy, waiting for him to come home. >> caller: good morning, this is dor thi burnett. i would like to do a shout out to my daughter in italy and her husband who is deployed in afghanistan. we love you all and ask that you stay safe, donny and to michelle, it can't be easy to be away from your husband and whole family this time of year. we are here and love you. we love you all. >> that's the best message. thank you so much. if you have somebody in the service, we'd like to help you salute them, too. cnn.com/rob win. a school in connecticut doesn't want to decorate. no christmas trees, no santa claus, no classroom celebrations. >> kind of silly, when it's every place else. they have been raised with it forever. >> i haven't heard a parent complain about anything. i don't know where it came from. >> the city of water burry wants things to be all inclusive because students come from different backgrounds. close the deal on a health care reform comp pliz. it's from iowa senator. it means dropping a public option from the bill. more people could use medicare and medicaid. some would provide health insurance for a profit. if you are holiday shopping for the pilot with everything, you can bid on the item from the pilot from the most famous landing of all time. new for you, in 20 minutes. president obama is putting the focus on jobs amid how to lower the 10% jobless rate. in a few hours, he's expected to suggest some of the money we saved from the bailout goes to create jobs. remember jennifer westhoven told you yesterday, the bank bailout cost $20 billion less. now, we know what they are going to do with the money. >> it's $141 billion. it's a lot of leftover green. now, some people say don't spend it at all, keep the deficit in check. white house officials tell cnn the president would like to spend the money on jobs. he's going to talk about it today. taking the leftover money, putting it in the the jobs. a high-level democrat said it would be a $70 billion program for infrastructure like building roads and bridges that create immediate jobs. it could include weatherizing your home. more programs, so if you put in insulation, you get more money back and create jobs as well. lending to small businesses and here's an important one, helping, maybe your state, keep full staffing for firefighters and police officers. that's something a lot of cities and states have been struggling with. here's a popular comeback story. more companies are bringing back the 401(k) match. that's good. jp morgan chase and black and decker are some of them. times are changing. when the company is losing money, they may drop it then bring it back when the company is doing well, again. >> okay. >> yeah. >> we have this story coming up. you have to be around when we talk about men's control wear. it's very popular right now. fair is fair. all right. you know who is really loving the tiger woods story, the late night shows. here's david letterman. looks like tiger woods is having trouble, huh? >> i was thinking if this happened three months ago, i would have material for a year. i wish he would stop calling me for advice. >> on a serious note, there are new reports about the car accident, tiger woods car crash. they said he had been drinking before he crashed into a tree. find out who that information is supposedly coming from. the o bbama administration weighing in on a story we brought you last week. they say it's silly, a winner has to take down his u.s. flag. a homeowners association told the world war ii vet the flag pole violates the guidelines. president obama's press secretary said special allowances should be made because of the vet's service. oh. new details this morning from a police report about tiger woods car crash. police say he may, we have to stress, may have been drinking before the accident. we have more on the story. >> possibly more damming details with tiger with the story that will not go away. according to this release monday, a witness told police tiger had been drinking earlier. it's not clear when. it could have been 12 hours earlier. they department identify the witness, but said it was the same person who pulled tiger from the wrecked suv. tig tiger's wife elin said she use add golf club to help pull him out. a request was rejected. there were details of tiger's use of prescription drugs. >> the tooif finalists for the most prestigious medal, tim tebow is the only one to be invited three times. his dad played in the nfl. while other kids were playing video games, his dad had him working out. she's expect ed ed to go first the draft. his first name means house of spears. >> that's neat. danica pratt rick is coming to nascar. the most recognizable woman reached a deal with j.r. motor sports. she's going to race indycars as well. she's going to be a very busy racer. last sunday, christmas came early in maine. the skiing santas taking the slopes up there to benefit a local charity to give gifts to kids. there's snow boarding santas as well. the nice thing is, if you have padding in your suit, it doesn't hurt as much when you fall. th thanks. >> thank you. tiger, celeb scandals, balloon boy, white house party crashers, on and on it goes. what is it that seems to obsess this country. let's talk about it. sunday, turner sports stars, i'm going to be hosting, with all due respect. nobody in that group is shy with their opinions. we'd like to have your opinions when it comes to your celebrity obsession. go to cnn.com/robin. u.s. immigration and customs enforcement says the car was seized in california because it violates customs and u.s. environmental laws. the owners claim it was only worth $125,000 when they brought it into the country. authorities want to sell it at auction. people at a hospital in portland, oregon wanted to do something special to raise awareness of breast cancer. they put together this great video. take a look. ♪ >> it's cute. the thing is really popular now. get it, baby. 4 million clicks. it's today's viral video. we dug it up for you on youtube. even got the folks in the cafeteria. hopefully the message isn't lost in there. bonnie has the travel update. she's in for bob. it's a bad day if you have flights that go into, out of the midwest, right? >> right. denver will see delays. most delays are caused by snow. don't be surprised if wind is a factor. we have planes in the air know. most the activity in the eastern half of the country. it's still early in the west. let's go to the delays map. i want to show you what's going on and what to expect. chicago, des moines, one hour or more. lewisvil lewisville. oklahoma city, freezing rain and wind in indianapolis. so much of the country affected by this one storm. >> definitely. six states under blizzard warnings today. greenhouse gases could be hazardous to your health. how hazardous is it to your wallet? i love it, big time. >> this is something you are looking forward to. >> yes, i am. >> that snowplow driver is one of the few people looking forward to a blast of snow and bitter cold temps in the midwest. six states are under blizzard warning today. it's expected to gain strength as it moves toward the northeast and mid-west. breaking news, five car bombs exploded in less than an hour in baghdad. more than 100 people killed and 200 others hurt. it toppled at least one building. crews are searching for survivors. charges will not be filed for a owner of a chimpanzee. the chimp's owner wasn't guilty of the crime because she didn't know how dangerous it could be. creditors are hoping you manage your debt better next year. they expect more of us to pay or credit card payments on time. unemployment will still hurt people trying to get back on their feet. those are some of our headlines. i just want to check on you. you are tired on a tuesday. welcome sunshine. amanda knox's parents say their daughter is ready to fight. they told larry king amanda was crushed, but ready to start the appeals process. >> i was expecting an innocent verdict far beyond a reasonable doubt. for them to come up with guilty, it angered me beyond all belief. >> her ex-boyfriend was sentenced to 25 years in prison. it could be a year before knox's appeal reaches a court docket. new details are released in tiger woods accident, including the alleged use of prescription drugs. wow. >> wow is right. this comes from a report from the florida highway patrol. it was just released. according to a witness, tiger was per scribed ambien and vick din. it's not clear exactly when, but the witness was not identified by police. it was the same person who pulled tiger from the vehicle. elin told police she used a golf club to smash a window to break him out. tiger was on the ground snoring after the crash. >> it made us all go really? snoring after the crash? thank you very much. if you are looking to get the swine flu vaccine, restrictions may be lifted in some states. in illinois, vaccines for the h1n1 may be available to the general public by friday. arizona is trying to open up its stocks. cdc says there are 73 million vaccine doses available. all right, the pilot who landed on the hudson river is selling the hat he was wearing when he landed the plane in the emergency. his pr firm says the money raised will go to his daughter's high school. bidding goes until december 14. a bad day. daniel powder was announced the biggest one-hit wonder of the day. ♪ >> of course you know this song. billboards picked him because with the bad day" was on the charts for five weeks. he never broke the top 25 again. "butterfly" helps round out the top three. >> it's going to be a bad day for travelers and people traveling by road in like six different states, at least. bonn any schneider is in for bob and updating us. >> yes, it was the story yesterday and still is today. good morning. >> good morning, robin. it's going to be explosive for me people. the storm is moving east and stretching out. we run the risk for the blizzard conditions in the midwest and plains. severe storms will build in the southeast. you can't catch a break. then, here is what's going to happen. the windchills drop from ten to 20 degrees below zero. we're talking southern missouri and areas of kentucky. it's going to be cold. check out what we are expecting for washington, d.c. this is important to note, for those of you heading out to work today. so far, so good. a calm, quiet morning. rain is building into the forecast. tonight, when the sunsets, watch out. the rain will change over to ice. we are looking at freezing rain in the forecast for washington d.c. and the surrounding areas. it's more difficult to travel when it's freezing rain than snow, if you have had experience with that. today, eight to 14 inches of snow. blizzard conditions expected from illinois, minnesota and further toward kansas, nebraska and out to the mountains of colorado. that's where we are looking at 30 inches of snow. it's a huge storm that will continue throughout the week. >> that's just half the story. you are talking very deadly windchills. >> very cold. >> thank you. we'll keep on top of that. thank you, folks. you may have heard about levi johnton's layout in "playgirl." he has a huge fan base. on "the joy behar show" he says he's comfortable with his fans. >> you come from a conservative background, right? >> right. >> alaska is not the most liberal state. you are comfortable being a gay icon. >> it is. i never seen a gay guy -- >> you never saw a gay guy. >> once i started doing all these tours and everything, you know, they are people, too. i just, you know -- it doesn't matter to me. just, you know, more fans, it's great. catch more of what he says and what joy is saying about the tiger woods story at 9:00 eastern on hln. okay, for anybody who has been trying to suck in the belly. here is help for the guys. you have to see the guy's men's girdle that's flying off the shelves. well, hello, hello, hello, if you are just waking up. you hit the snooze, button, didn't you? no surprise, in l.a., the weather is dominating the front page. snow and weather there. it's causing problems in the midwest. are you among the millions of people drinking dirty water? 20% of water treatment systems are in violation of the safe drinking act. they had one-time offenses but many others are in violation for years. students demonstrating in iran. thousands were outside universities demonstrating against the government and disputed presidential elections. that's a look at some of the papers. a group of marines heading to afghanistan are getting ready to leave now. they are spending their last days with their family before they ship out. by the end of the month, they will be gone. there. >> we're thankful he's going to be with us for christmas. so, we are just trying to enjoy the time we have together. i think, when we actually say good -- it's going to be hard. but, we'll get through it. >> the marines will be deployed to helmand province. >> check out this video of a purse snatching. he grabbed a woman's handbag and dragged her along the ground. she was pulled ten feet. the poor thing, police say the two suspects are still on the loose. ♪ it's your birthday. >> happy birthday. if it's your birthday, you share it with teri hatcher. she's 45. when she was in high school, she was the dancer of the featherettes. >> sounds very vegas. >> exactly. that had to be hard to move around in. would you like to see high ere interest rates on your money accounts? they say it's not going to happen anytime soon. what gives. >> they thought higher rates were going to come. nobody likes them, but it comes when the economy gets better. after the much better looking jobs report, there was hope that things were going to get better because of the economic improvemen improvements. benefit bernanke said, it's probably not going to happen anytime soon. he was very low key. not gloomy, but close. he was speaking to the economic club of washington. he said rates are going to stay near zero for a long time. he said it's too soon to know if the recovery will last. what it means is, there's concern about a double dip. come back to me for a second. basically, the economy went down, it's coming up, a little bit. a lot of times, you get a second dip back down. that's what the worry is about. >> i'm calling spanks for men. you know about the trend for the shape wear for ladies. did you know guys are buying them, too. this is equimen, it's a t-shirt that shapes you. they have it on sale from sachs. if your belly is so big, it has its own name, it will not help you. it's only if you are a little over. they originally said that men who love men bought them the most. now, businessmen and sports figures are buying them to make themselves look younger and thinner. >> men have to wear so many layers. women do, too. he has on that t-shirt with the slick middle. when you put on your dress shirt, it's going to slide in better. when you wear cotton undershirts and under pants, it won't get caught. go men. go for the girdles. why not. we have control top panty hos. i'm not going to say i don't wear them. >> i can't breathe as we speak. >> that's right. everybody share your secrets here. some of the stories we're watching at 9:30 a.m. eastern. stan li mcchrystal will be talking to the committee about how he plans to use 30,000 more troops being sent. the funeral begins in tacoma, washington for the four police officers gunned down in a coffee shop. 1500 law enforcement and fire vehicles will be taking part in the procession. a huge crowd turned out to get their book signed by the former alaska governor, sarah palin. 2,000 people lined up to see her at the mall of america. one person showed up wearing t-shirt with a bulldog wearing lipstick. not everybody was happy. all right. so, we were just talking about this beg turn out for the sarah palin book signing in minnesota. one person was arrested after throwing a tomato at the former governor. the suspect was charged with assault on a police officer and disorderly conduct. this decade will be the warmest on record. they made that announcement today at the climate conference in denmark. they hope to come up with a plan to deal with global warming. delegates welcome today's annoyancement by the obama administration. our big story today is the weather. it's affecting so many different people. blizzard warnings, it could be freezing rain where you are. what it boils down to for you in the terminals is a stinky flight, i think. hi, bonnie. >> so far, we don't have delays, but it's still early in the morning. a lot of flights haven't left yet. up to an hour delays in chicago. it's snowing in chicago now. it could bring delays up to an hour. oklahoma city, freezing rain there. that means ice accumulation. milwauk milwaukee, wisconsin. snow and wind up to an hour. i'll have more on the storm, windchills and how much snow to expect. >> thank you. busy day weather wise. monday night football was ugly. we have more on eye. >> do the cheer. >> u-g-l-y. >> there was fumbles, penalties, turn overs, the green bay packers were hosting baltimore. a combined seven turn overs in this game. seven. the ravens fumbles. aaron rogers was intercepted twice. they committed so many penalties, the last time we saw more was 58 years ago. that's how far back you had to go. the pack did manage to come out on top and win and keep their playoff hopes alive. >> my, my, my, my. >> alan iverson, after signing with philadelphia, his first night was an emotional one. he's kissing the ground during introductio introductions. enough number 3 jerseys to fill a stand. they faced another team of his, denver. they won the game. dallas mavericks owner, mark cubin got into the wwe ring. this is what he did to mark. slammed him through a table. he has plenty of money. i'm sure he's got a lot of free time. with free time. with all due respect, why would he have to get slammed into a table? and this just in. the orlando orlando sun sentinel, reporting that a person was taken from tiger's home to the hospital this morning. this is new video, we are just getting this in minutes ago. we do not know the identity of this person, but a person was taken, according to both these news outlets, authorities, paramedics, went to tiger's home and took this person to the hospital. this is brand new video. >> hold it, i want to see that video. >> this is the video right here. we cannot make out who this person is, if it's male or female. wesh is giving us this video and the atlanta sun sentinel both reporting that paramedics went to tiger's home and answered a 9 911 call and took this person to the hospital. as we get more information, we'll tell you. it's tough to make out who the person is. it does not appear to be tiger woods. >> we have tiny monitors in here, but if i had a bigger monitor. does it look like the person has light hair? >> it does look like the person has blond hair, and the media reported that the person did have blond hair. >> thank you. we'll keep on top of that this morning. breaking story. every tuesday music comes out in stores and on line. chris brown is trying to get his fans to move past his legal troubles and give him a chance as a pop singer again. his new album is called "graffi "graffiti." that's his latest song, "crawl," brown singz about love troubles, but it's not clear how much of the album is really about rihanna. critics are really not liking this one much. good morning. we are very busy this morning with your news, and wait till you hear what's going on. a deadly snowstorm is breathing down millions of people's necks right now. snow and ice is creating very slick conditions. you'll see where more is today. a rescue squad took someone from tiger woods' home to the hospital this morning. and that is the video. so we'll start with the weather. wintry storm is gaining strength as it moves east and people in six states are under blizzard warnings today. you can see the white-out conditions in big bear, california yesterday. parts of i-5 had to be shutd down. in southern california, though, it was coming down as rain. the real threat there is mudslides and places that were already scorched by the wildfires. >> this is really something. it seems like it never ends. >> check out this from one of our ireporters in reno. jeff jones says he was snowed in at his apartment yesterday and classes were canceled, for good reason. here's another report in michigan. it is good news for paul anderson. he says he owns a lodge there and this is their busiest time of year. nobody is going to be leaving, at least, today. meteorologist bonnie snider is in for bob and she's tracking the snow. we have six states under blizzard warnings today. >> that's right, and some are places that haven't seen a massive snowfall yet this season. check out illinois. parts of that state will see over a foot of snow. if you're just heading out to chicago, it is snowing, but the snow is going to accumulate to about three inches. des moines is really facing the cold weather as well. temperatures are fairly warm to the south. it's raining in memphis at 44. kansas city, 26. this is really just the beginning of a bitter blast of arctic air. so all of this that you see here in the northern plains, it's all moving east. so expect wind chill factors to really plummet in the days to come. today and tomorrow dropping down 10 to 20 degrees below zero across parts of the midwest, and tonight ice for washington, d.c. this is a real huge storm affecting so many people. >> and it's our lead story for possibly a week, basically, because it's hanging around that long. we have new video of a person who reports say was taken from tiger woods' home this morning to the hospital. now, rafer weigel has more on what we're being told about it. >> robin, we have been able to confirm that orange county fire and rescue responded to a medical call on deacon circle, the street where tiger woods' residence is located. one person was transported to the hospital. this footage shows what appears to be a blond person on the stretcher. authorities were called to a home around 2:30 in the morning. now, we have not identified that person on the stretcher, whether it's his wife elin or somebody else, but you can see for yourself, it does not appear to be tiger woods. it appears to be somebody with blond hair. we are still working on trying to confirm the person's identity. also a new police report came out that alleges tiger may have been taking prescription drugs and may have been drinking before the crash. we're going to have more on that in a few minutes. >> so that is breaking news that authorities were taking somebody -- medical authorities were taking somebody in from tiger woods' home to the hospital today. thank you. another breaking news story, five car bombs have exploded in less than an hour, killing more than 100 people. snow from the attacks is drifting over baghdad. almost 200 others are hurt. two car bombs exploded near the government sites. the attack comes as iraqi officials prepare to announce the date of next year's elections. this decade will likely be the warmest on record. the u.n. weather agency made that announcement today at the climate conference in denmark where negotiators hope to come up with a plan to deal with global warming. they made yesterday's announcement claiming greenhouse gas is a risk for public health. amanda knox plans to fight the verdict. she and her ex-boyfriend were found guilty of killing her roommate. they say knox was treated unfairly because she's an american, but knox's father says he's not sure that's the case. >> i'd like to believe there's not any of that, but after listening to what took place in the court of law and, you know, the huge mistake that was made and the result of this, you know, i frankly don't know what to believe. >> well, knox's ex-boyfriend was sentenced to 25 years and they have to pay 5 million euros to meredith kircher's family. it could be a year before knox's case reaches a court docket. researchers at the national cancer institute found a drop in death rates for men and women in almost all ethnic groups between 1999 and 2006. they believe better screening and treatment is the reason why. the biggest success story has been in the battle of colon cancer where death rate has dropped roughly 20%. information from mr. squiggles. they now say the little pet is safe for your kids. >> maybe you're a parent and you bought one to tuck in little johnny's stocking. it's okay. here's the toy's maker. >> they love the product, they want their kids to have it, their kids are dying to have it, so just getting the message out there that zhu zhu piets are completely safe. defense secretary robert gates is in afghanistan reassuring people that the u.s. is committed to winning the war there. he arrived in kabul overnight and met with president karzai. karzai said it would be 15 years before afghanistan would be able to retain community forces. whoa, nellie. we are still dealing with blizzard conditions, and that's not all for many of our viewers today. bonnie snider in for bob of the she's going to tell you where the storms are. >> i think many people would be affected by the storm whether you're in arizona or minnesota. it's such a large storm system sweeping across the u.s. that we'll even see severe thunderstorms breaking out in parts of the novrtheast from th same system. low pressure over the southern rockies quickly working its way over the northwest, frigid arctic air and heavy snow. chicago will see three inches today, and heavy snow over kansas and nebraska as well, but by the end ftd week, the wind chill factors will be negative 10 or negative 20. look at all the advisories posted. year looking at very heavy snow, particularly in the mountains of colorado. 30 inches there. blizzard conditions through areas you see highlighted in red, so not chicago seeing a blizzard, but further off to the north and west. minneapolis you'll see snow today. temperatures won't get out of the 20s today. here's what's happening right now. milwaukee, chicago, getting hit hard with snow making for a tough morning commute, no doubt about it. the accumulations will be heavy in rochester, for example, well over a foot, so we're watching for that as well. looking for heavy snow there and also heavy snow in places like kansas and nebraska. kansas city, 26 degrees, and memphis is in the 40s, but that cold air will drop as far south as memphis in the days to come. outside in green bay, it's 21 degrees. the wind chill factor makes it feel colder and that bitter arctic air going south and east, but tomorrow it will feel like it's about 8 degrees this time tomorrow. the big picture, just to show you we are looking at this expansive storm, robin, nevada, new mexico, up to minnesota and even northern michigan. that's just for today. tomorrow we'll be talking about the mid-atlantic and the northeast. >> that is just today. wow. thank you very much. and folks, obviously, try to take care of yourself and be sure to guard against the winds when you're going outside, because that is so deadly on your skin. we're keeping an eye on a developing story this morning, huge. new reports are in that a rescue squad just took someone from tiger woods' home to the hospital this morning. a connecticut school is not allowing any christmas decorations in the classroom. why school officials think that makes it better for the kids. some good news in a bad economy. your 401(k) may still have some more money coming in. time for our salute to the troops. today's salute is for sergeant donald angle. he's in afghanistan. this is from his wife. they're stationed in italy, waiting for donald to come home. his mother, i'm sorry. >> i would like to do a shout-out to my daughter in italy and her husband donny who is deployed in afghanistan. we love you all and we ask that you stay safe, donny, and to michelle, that it can't be easy to be away from your husband and your whole family this time of year, but we want you to know that we're here and we love you. we love you all. >> that is the sweetest message. if you have somebody in the service, why don't you salute them. go to cnn.com/robin. a former member of "family ties" has been charged with assaulting a friend. child star brian bonsall hit his friend with a broken metal stool. we're told by officers he was drinking and doesn't remember what happened. bonsall played michael j. fox's little brother on "family ties" and he's due in court today. he sure looks different. one school doesn't want anything to do with christmas decorating. no christmas trees, no santa clauses, no christmas celebrations. >> i haven't heard a parent complain about anything, so i don't know where this came from. >> well, the city of waterbury want the school to be all-inclusive because the students come from different backgrounds. you know the money we supposedly saved in the bank bailout? we know where the money could be going now, to jobs creation. it sounds like a good idea, money expert jennifer west hoefen. >> thanks, robin. the white house tells cnn the president is going to focus on this today. he's speaking at the brookings institution, and some say he should take the left over t.a.r.p. money and redirect it into programs that create jobs. one would be a $7 billion program for infrastructure needs, like building roads and bridges. it could also include weatherizing your home. we talked about that. if they had more plarograms for that, it could create work, and helping states keep full staffing for firefighters and police officers. a lot of them have been struggling. remember, it was originally the $700 billion t.a.r.p., and now it's down to $41 billion was being spent on that. more companies are bringing back the 401(k) match. that's good news in a bad economy. many of them had cut it when times were tough. j.m. morgan, black & decker bringing it back in recent weeks. the match may have a little trend with it. in good times you get the match, in bad times they may take it away. google has a new product. you use your phone, take a picture of something, say, robin meade or a restaurant that you're outside of, then you google the picture and all kinds of information comes up about that, so that's interesting. i'm a little skeptical, we'll have to see when we try it out, but right now it only works on phones that run google's android operating system. we continue new developments on the tiger woods story. this is pictures of a patient being taken to a hospital, and all indications are this is after an ambulance went to the golfer's mansion in florida. we're going to update the story. breaking news today. we have new video of a person who reports say was taken from tiger woods' home this morning to the hospital. rafer is going to show you that video and tell you what we have confirmed. >> good morning to you, robin. it's very startling stuff and we just got this video in moments ago of a person being taken on a stretcher to the hospital. orlando fire rescue has confirmed to cnn that they responded to a medical call on deacon circle where tiger woods lives. that happened around 2:30 this morning and that a patient was transferred to the hospital. it looks like a blond woman on the stretcher. now, tiger's wife is blond, we also have reports that elin's mother is also in town. we haven't confirmed that as of now, but also there is a new police report that came out that alleges that tiger may have been drinking before his accident. we don't know exactly when, but cops say they tried to subpoena tiger's medical records to find out, but they were denied by a prosecutor, and there is more on this as far as allegations of prescription drugs which we will have later on in the show, robin. >> and some people were asking questions about what may have been in his system because there were allegations, right, that he had fallen asleep after the accident. >> there was a witness interviewed that said tiger was snoring on the ground after the accident. we have some other news to tell you. the five finalists for the most prestigious award is alleged to be tim tebow. this guy, nebraska lineman, suh, he is expected to be the first pick in the draft. his first name means house of spears. toby gearhart and mccoy are the others. we'll bring you this in a few minutes. somebody was taken in for medical care from tiger woods' home this morning. thank you so much, rafer. travel today could be another breaking story because we have blizzard warnings in six different states, some of them where we have the most travel in the united states. hello, bonnie. >> hi, robin. some of those states are in a blizzard right now. right now everything is flying smoothly, we don't have delays at this hour. we're anticipating them across the country. i want to show you today that we're expecting snow, wind, rain, everything to slow you down today. chicago, des moines, it looks like an hour or more possibly. it's snowing in chicago at this hour, three inches expected. kentucky and also oklahoma city facing freezing rain today, one-hour delays. indianapolis has a high wind watch. so does pretty much the whole state of indiana, blustery there. in the washington, d.c. area, freezing rain tonight. that's the toughest thing to drive in more than anything else is ice as opposed to snow. >> it's deceptive for sure. a woman tried to grab a train, but the train grabbed her purse. you're going to find out what happened when the train started moving and her purse was stuck in the door. a request to get access to tiger woods' medical records after his car crashed has been denied. the florida highway patrol said investigators thought woods may have been drinking before the accident, but the state attorney's office said there was not enough info to justify their request. but there is a breaking news today. five car bombs exploded in less than an hour in baghdad. more than 100 people were killed and almost 200 others are hurt. the blast toppled at least one building. crews are searching through the rubble for survivors. creditors are hoping you manage your debt better next year. transunion says it expects more of us to make our credit card payments on time through next year, but unemployment will still hurt people trying to get back on their feet. those are some of our headlines this morning. let me check in with you, make sure you're on time. it's 30 minutes past the hour. a snowstorm is barrelling across the country, and it's making roads dangerous for many of the viewers. there was an accident in ohio. no one was killed, but it's made things treacherous for many people. >> going up the grade, especially on the back roads and it hasn't been saltd. you come to a stop and you hit the guardrail. >> people in iowa were shoveling yesterday. blizzard warnings are in effect there, and in five other states today, too. in just a few minutes here, bonnie snider is in for bob, and she has more on where to expect the big snowstorm today. first, though, breaking news. we have new video of a person who was taken from tiger woods' mansion to a hospital early this morning. rafer has more on what we've been learning. >> yeah, robin, we're piecing everything together. our affiliate is reporting that orange county fire and rescue units responded to a medical call at tiger woods' orlando home. fire crews were in the neighborhood and transported a person to the hospital. authorities say this is that person being taken in on a stretcher. we have not identified the person. it is a person that appears to have blond hair. the orlando sentinel and uch say paramedics were called to the home around 2:30 in the morning. >> that's kind of a new angle on that. wii blown it up a little bit bigger, and you can really say that person appears to have blond hair. >> appears to have blond hair, doesn't appear to be tiger woods. this is where woods was taken after his one-car accident, and police are saying the escalade followed the ambulance to the hospital, an escalade similar to the one woods crashed as well. we have more details from a recently released report of allegations of prescription use by tiger before the accident in about ten minutes. so more developments keep coming on this story, robin. >> yeah, the story seems to keep unraveling. a chimpanzee owner will not be charged after it blinded and mauled a woman. the chimp's owner wasn't guilty of a crime because she didn't know how dangerous it could be. >> this does not in any way minimize the horror that we all feel with what occurred and with the horrendous injuries suffered. our prayers go out to the family and to the victim. >> well, the victim has filed lawsuits against the chimp owner and the state. she wants millions of dollars in damages. greenhouse gases are a threat to your health, and the people made that report yesterday before the meeting in copenhagen. the new rules could cause companies tens of billions of dollars, likely making cars and power more expensive. >> we hope that today's announcement serves as another incentive for far-reaching accords in our meetings this week. in taking action now, in recognizing this threat now, we join the hundreds of other countries, thousands of leading scientists, tens of thousands of in innovators and entrepreneurs who have seen the overwhelming evidence and call for action on climate change. >> the obama administration hopes the new policy shows the world that the u.s. is serious about global warming. the second day the climate conference is under way. president obama will attend next week. if you're looking to get the h1n1 vaccine but you're not really in a high risk group. next week vaccinations may be available to the public by friday. arizona, for instance, is trying to open up its vaccine stock. there are now 73 million vaccine doses available. a group of hearing impaired kids got to tell santa their wish list. one of santa's helpers made a stop to pass out presents and he used sign language in georgia. san santa's helper says he loves sharing gifts. >> they're really excited that santa knows how to sign and that makes them feel connected. >> i bet it does. one of the kids who was there said having a signing santa was like magic. 35 minutes past the hour. six states is under a blizzard warning today. is yours one of them? let's find out from bonnie snider who is in for bob. this is the same storm that gave us a kick in the pants yesterday and it's doing the same today. >> we even have snow in modesto, california. that's not a place where we would typically see snow, but this storm has the power to do almost anything, snow, wind, even freezing rain which i think is the most dangerous if you have to travel. let's take a look at the big picture. extreme weather across the country. right now you can see the storm working its way across to the east. later this week it will bring wind chills all the way down to negative 20. that's how cold it's going to feel outside in parts of the heartland and across the great lakes, frigid arctic air plummetting down. we'll be watching for that as well. in the meantime, i want to show you where the advisories are and we're seeing them popping up pretty much across the country. new york city is not going to see this wintry mix, at least not yet. we'll get rain in the next day or so. but i want to mention if you're traveling in the new york area, there will be ice and freezing rain. beautiful sunrise there over manhattan at this time. nice and dry after some wet weather, but we are looking at the threat for extreme weather to the north ftd city. come back and you'll see we have freezing rain, heavy mix, freezing rain in minnesota, possibly up to 14 inches of snow. it's snowing right now in chicago. watch out, three inches expected for you. but if you're traveling outside of chicago, wow, robbchester, 1 inches, des moines,iowa, almost ten inches. and you'll need the shovel to get out of your driveway. >> so it's going to be kind of a pain today and throughout the rest of the week, basically, for most of our viewers. >> absolutely. >> thank you. some of the stories we are watching in the "morning express" planner, as we call it, general stanley mcchrystal, the u.s. general in afghanistan, will be talking to the houses committee how he plans to use 30,000 troops being sent there. a funeral service for four police officers gunned down in a coffee shop. as many as 1500 firefighters and law enforcement is taking part in this procession. if you're trying to suck in that belly, it's okay. help is here. you have to see the men's girdle that apparently is flying off the shelves. then, looking for a christmas present for the pilot that has everything? you can go on line and get a piece of sully, so to speak. there may be a break in the case of a georgia woman who has been missing for nearly four months. authorities say the man in this sketch coming here tried to kidnap a different woman just 25 miles from where christi co cornwell disappeared. that witness said a car scared him off. christi's father is saying he hopes that will lead him to him. >> we're not giving up, we keep looking. >> they auctioned off their lakeside home to raise money to continue the search. captain sullenberger is selling the hat that he was wearing when he successfully landed the plane during the emergency. he's selling it on ebay, the hat, anyway. the money is going to go to his daughter's high school. bidding goes until december 14. buried into debt with no way out? many of you are getting abusive phone calls from the debt collectors. we have a few example and you won't believe how abusive! our money expert jennifer we westhov westhoven. >> yes, some of them we can't even play. that's not right. they're not supposed to be doing that. imagine how you would feel if you got a call like this. >> there are all kinds of accounts like this. diane mccloud told cnn that she and her husband got hundreds of calls like that. she believes that they are partly to blame for her husband's death. she is suing. attorneys say if you get harassing messages that cross the line, do what the mccloud family did: save the tapes. i'm calling this new product spanks for men. you probably know about the super popular trend for shape wear. it's kind of like the old school girdles. >> they're back. >> not just for the ladies. they're making one called equimen. it's basically a t-shirt. you can't see it there, but he is sucking in his gut. they say if you've got a really big gut, you can't hide that. but if you've got just a little bit, you can sneak this into your pants. executives are buying them now, and sports figures, to try to look younger and fitter. >> i am all for that, why not? we've had control top paentyhos for years, they should have something. >> men say it could help your golf swing. >> fair is fair, right? new jersey got one step closer to becoming the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage. a bill cleared a state senate committee last night and it is headed for a full senate vote on thursday. supporters want the bill signed before the senator looefsz office. one little boy had no idea his daddy was coming home from the war in iraq yesterday. you're going to see their touching reunion after a year and a half apart. all right, checking some of the headlines this morning in the papers, no surprise that in l.a. the weather is what's dominating the front page. snow and rain have caused some big problems across california. heck, it's probably caused problems in your state, too, this morning. are you among the millions of people drinking dirty water in the united states? the new york times reports that 20% of the nation's water treatment systems are in violation of the safe drinking water act. according to the paper, some water systems had one-time offenses, but many others have been in violation for years. front and center in the wall street journal, students demonstrating in iran. thousands were outside universities yesterday demonstrating against iran's government and the disputed presidential election. a dad and a son have both had their holiday wish come true. the little boy wanted his daddy home from iraq for christmas, and yesterday, steve barger surprised his son cole in his classroom. >> i don't know if i was crying first or he was. it's amazing. and to actually be home and make it back from hell. >> steve barger has been in iraq for a year and a half. but he won't have too much time in home. he'll most likely be going back to iraq in january. yeah, him. billboard said it picked powder because "you had a bad day" was on the pop chart for five weeks. all right, breaking news. reports that paramedics this morning have taken somebody from tiger woods' home by ambulance to the hospital. here's rafer with any of these new developments. things are coming in, but there's very little confirmation. >> right, little bits coming from here, little bits coming from there. what we can tell you is our affiliates from orlando are saying that orlando fire and rescue units responded to his home about 2:30 in the morning. fire crews were on woods' street and did transport somebody to the hospital, but our affiliates say this is that person being taken to the hospital. there are conflicting reports out there, one that it is a woman. it does appear the person has blond hair. this is the same hospital -- there we go, we're freezing the video for you right there to take a look at it. clearly it is not tiger woods, but who it is, we just do not know. this is the same hospital where woods was treated for his injuries in his car crash. still working to get more information on this story. we'll bring it to you as we get it. but we also have new information on a police report that was just released by florida's attorney general. apparently a witness told florida troopers that woods had been prescribed ambien and vicodin. the witness was not identified, but it was the same person who said woods was pulled from the vehicle. remember, a neighbor told police that tiger was found on the ground snoring after the crash. >> tiger was found snoring. >> it was pretty bizarre stuff. there is this football game, but you want to probably forget it if you watched it because it's one of the ugliest i've ever seen. there were a combined seven turnovers. it was so sloppy. the ravens fumbled. their quarterback joe flacko was intercepted three times, but the pack eventually came out victorious. remember alan iverson? >> his first night on the court was emotional. here he is kissing the ground during introductions. there was a video tribute and enough jerseys to fill a few merchandise stands and they also faced a team that he was traded to, denver. he was actually traded from philadelphia to denver. now he's playing on philadelphia against denver and that's a look at sports. >> thank you. all right. bonnie's here working on another breaking news story and that is about a horrible weather storm. it's a winter storm impacting more states than not. so what does that mean for our travelers, bonnie? >> this just in. we are now getting airport delays in chicago and atlanta. so far away from each other and the same storm system bringing delays of an hour with snow and ice into atlanta. cleveland ohio, another place where snow is in the forecast and wind. look for delays an hour or more. oklahoma city faces freezing rain on top of the snow already on the ground. hour delays expected and milwaukee, wisconsin, snow and wind. so many places affected by this one storm and even though it's not snowing or we're not getting sleet right now in washington, d.c., watch out, robin because we do have ice in the forecast tonight from northern virginia and into maryland. >> bonnie, thank you very much. a person thought someone was trying to bust into his house and it turned out it was a bunch of cows hungry for paint? okay. good morning on a busy, busy tuesday morning. glad to have you with us, though. good morning, sunshine! i'm robin meade. we'll have to start with breaking news this morning. an ambulance has been called to tiger woods' home any a woman from there was taken to the hospital. this is video. we'll share the details. several people across the country are digging out after a snowstorm, but, honey, it is not done by any means. it is a part of your forecast today. and then if you want the swine flu vaccine, you may not have to wait very much longer. some states are thinking about easing the restrictions. all right. breaking news. cnn has just confirmed a person was taken from tiger woods' home to the hospital early this morning. rafer weigel is working this story and watching the details. >> we have just confirmed, cnn has that 911 crews or that orange county fire and rescue crews did respond to a call at woods' orlando home. now our affiliates say this is that person being taken in on a stretcher. we have not identified the person yet. it appears to be somebody with blond hair. we do not know if it's male or female. the orlando sentinel and wesh say it was around 2:36 in the morning when they went to woods' home. wftv steve barry is at the hospital and he has some more details for us. >> the woman that we saw being taken into the hospital is a woman that is older. there's been some sort of speculation it may have been tiger woods' mother-in-law, elin's mom, but we don't know that for sure. with all of the rules and regulations around medical information, very difficult to get information and of course, this story itself is even more difficult. a lot of people clamming up around here. >> robin, you just heard he said it was a woman on a stretcher. we have not confirmed necessarily that it was a woman that was on the stretcher but you did see the person have blond hair. we have details about a recently released report about allegations of drinking, woods possibly drinking before the accident in about ten minutes. >> wow. thank you so much, appreciate it. another breaking story is a winter storm. it is gaining strength as it is moving eastward. people in six states are under blizzard warnings. you can see the white-out conditions in big bear, california, yesterday. parts of i-5 had to be shut down. in southern california it is going to be rain and that could trigger mudslides in places that were scorched by the wildfires. >> this stuff is really something. it seems like it will never end. >> the banks of the los angeles river surged quickly yesterday in the heavy rain. fire crews were called to help a man who got stranded on a small island, but he wouldn't leave his bike behind, so firefighters had to give up on a helicopter rescue. one of them swam across the raging water to reach him and nobody was hurt. now the story still has a lot of leg today. meteorologist bonnie schneider is in for bob and this storm is now a big story for the plains in the midwest as well as others. good morning. >> good morning, robin. it will be a big story as we go through the day today and tonight. some places are starting out okay, boy, are things going to change as this storm winds up and pushes eastward. it's pulling down much colder air. for folks in the midwest expect big temperature drops into the low 30s tonight. this time tomorrow the numbers will be in the single digits feeling colder. this storm is tapping into frigid, arctic air and sweeping it across the country. the windchill factor over the next two to three days will drop by ten to 20 degrees and some below zero and it will bring stormy conditions to the southeast. some very heavy snow expected from minnesota, michigan and through new mexico and arizona. we have reports of a couple of feet of snow in the mountains of arizona and for the northeast, a wintry mix not so much for new york city, but for washington, d.c., you will see ice and it can accumulate so there could be power outages. the snow will get heavier tonight and then the temperatures will plummet to eight degrees by tomorrow morning. that will feel like negative ten degrees. a tough commute tonight and especially tomorrow. >> it sounds so bitter for the people in chicago and elsewhere this morning. do take care of yourselves and we'll go back to that story for more updates. i know. we're so full of breaking news today and we are. five car bombs exploded in less than an hour killing more than 100 people. the attacks in baghdad happened hours before iraqi officials announced the date of upcoming elections. iraq's interior ministry says more than 400 people are hurt. three car bombs targeted government sites. meanwhile, elections will be held on march 6th. officials postponed a scheduled vote in january. amanda knox's parents say their daughter was crushed when she was found guilty of murder in italy, but that she's determined to fight her verdict. on friday the american student and her exboifr were sentenced for killing knox's roommate meredith kercher in 2007. while knox's mom says she knows kercher's family is suffering their daughter isn't the only victim. we can't even imagine their loss and the pain that they must feel, but we would also tell them that we know that absolutely that amanda had nothing to do with this and meredith was her friend and this is, you know, there's a couple of new victims in this whole mess and that's amanda and raffaele. >> senator maria kantwell is from knox's home state of washington and she wants to bring her concerns on whether anti-americanism tiented knox's trial to the secretary of state hillary clinton. we plan to make sure the state department and the secretary of state understand that it's important to make sure that when there is a u.s. citizen abroad and they're in legal trouble that we advocate for a fair trial by an impartial tribunal. i would hope that the italian government would advocate for the same things if one of their residents were here in the united states. >> secretary clinton says she has not yet looked into the case. new this morning defense secretary robert gates is in afghanistan reassuring people that the u.s. is committed to winning the war there. he went to kabul overnight and met with karzai. karzai said it would be 15 years before afghanistan can be able to maintain security forces. it's gates' first visit since president obama announced 30,000 more troops will be deployed to afghanistan. vindication for mr. squiggles. the government says the furry little zhu zhu hamster pet toy is safe for your kid. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. good morning. >> if you bought one of these, if you managed to, they're so popular to tuck under a stocking or put under a tree you can still do it, he has been clear by toy safety regulators. here's the toy maker. >> they love the product. they want their kids to have it. their kids are dying to have it, so just getting the message out there that zhu zhu pets are 100% safe. this all came up after a consumer website raised questions about mr. squiggles. good guy, that's the website, they larth basically said we made a mistake in the methodology. they were comparing apples to oranges in the testing. >> oops, i guess? >> that's a big oops especially for a toy that is so popular or that parents might have bought and kids are already playing with and then safety concerns, this is pretty frightful. this decade will likely be the warmest on record. they made that announcement in denmark. negotiators hope to come up with a plan to deal with global warming during two-week conference. yesterday the obama administration declared greenhouse gasses are a risk to public health. delegates in denmark welcomed that announcement. ♪ ♪ a big weather story today. a big snowstorm can be deadly and it is affecting more states than not. here's bonnie schneider in for bob. good morning. >> unbelievable amounts recorded with this snow. we had two feet in parts of nevada and california, but the storm is not done at all. you can see it's moving across the country sweeping blizzard conditions through places like wisconsin and minnesota today. back out to nebraska and kansas as well. as the storm moves its way across the country it will bring the threat of severe thunderstorms throughout alabama, mississippi and in atlanta. the winds have really picked up. there are delays right now at the airport not due to anything except for the low clouds and the wind. we certainly do have some nasty weather and it's only going to get worse. head back up to the north and you'll see by the end of the week. the windchill factor will drop down 10 to 20 degrees and let's come back to the maps. you'll find that dropped down 10 to 20 degrees below zero. big changes across the country with the frigid arctic air plunging southward and then look what's happening across the northeast into burlington, vermont and new hampshire. into syracuse, new york, you'll see wintry weather terms of a rain/snow mix and that will happen for washington, d.c. and baltimore, we expect the rain to change over to freezing rain as temperatures drop down and get much colder. you can see the snow is will falling in chicago and milwaukee up into wisconsin. some of the snowfall totals are into parts of minnesota and des moines. omaha, nebraska, as well. these will be some cold place fess you're heading in that direction. temperatures are definitely plummeting. in memphis, it's raining and we have 44 degrees and to the north in kansas city, the temperature is 27 degrees and look at this, outside right now zero across much of wyoming. the windchill factor getting much worse, robin. usually we sailed the northern plains no problem. it's working its way around the country and it will turn bitterly cold in many places. >> thank you very much, that is certainly something that we'll need to guard against because you're talking about temperatures that will freeze your skin in a matter of 15 seconds. >> cnn has just confirmed that a person was taken from tiger woods' home to the hospital this morning. we do not know who it was, just that it was someone from inside tiger woods' home. this is the video. we're working to get more details. also, we have good news for you in a bad economy. your 401(k) may soon have more money coming in and you're going to hear why. look at this, one woman's purse got stuck in a moving train, but she would not let go. all ri. let's salute our troops. today's salute is for sergeant david angel who is in -- i'm sorry, donald angel who is in afghanistan. it's from his mother-in-law. she's also sending a shoutout to her daughter and their three kids. they're stationed in italy waiting for donny to come home. >> good morning, robin. this is dorothy burnett, and i would like to do a shout out to my daughter in italy and her husband donny who is deployed to afghanistan. we love you all and we ask that you stay safe, donny. and to michelle, that it can't be easy to be away from your husband and your whole family at this time of year, but we want you to know that we're here and we love you. we love you all. >> dorothy, what a sweet message. thank you. >> if you have someone in the service go to cnn.com/robin. okay. you know the money that supposedly we've saved on the bank bailout, like, it's not going to be that expensive now. well, we now know where that could be going, to jobs creation and our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. good morning. >> good morning. it was supposed to be 700 billion and now it's $141 billion so that's a lot of money left over. white house officials tell cnn the president is going to focus this today when he speaks at the brookings institution and his idea is to redirect some of that leftover t.a.r.p. money into programs that create jobs. one high-level democrat told cnn that there would be a centerpiece, $70 billion program for infrastructure. so think about things like building roads and bridges. it could include weatherizing your home to reduce energy bills, right? we talked about that, if they had more incentives for that that would provide more work, more jobs. also lending to small businesses so that they can hire people and helping states try and keep their full staff for firefighters and police officers in many cities, there are a lot of communities struggling with that with tax revenues down. they've had to lay a lot of people off. there's a comeback story then. more companies are bringing back the 401(k) match. that is good for your retirement. in recent weeks the list includes j.p. morgan, black & decker. the study finds that many companies are saying we're not going too make it permanent. we'll probably do this if the company is doing okay, but when we're not okay we'll pull back the match. robin, back to you. >> thank you. head's up on that one. for all you guys who are trying to suck it in, suck in the belly, now, you know what? you get something that the women have had for a long time and that would be a girdle. a men's girdle flying off the shelf! breaking news this morning, we're following reports that an ambulance was called to tiger woods' home overnight, plus new details about his car accident. reports say he had been drinking before the crash into a tree. ♪ ♪ ♪ senate democrats could close a deal today on a health care reform compromise that would have enough votes to pass. that is from iowa senator tom harkin. he and other democrats say it would mean dropping a public option from the bill, but as a compromise more people could use medicare and medicaid and some providers would sell health insurance for a smaller profit. majority leader harry reid ha angered some republicans with his speech. >> if you think you've heard the same excuse you're right. in this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery. there were those who dug in their heels and said slow down. >> the republican party chairman michael steel wants reid to apologize. you've got to see this. a woman's purse got stuck in the door of a moving train. betty velasquez was clinging to her purse and then she gets slammed into a wall. now she may sue the transportation authority. she has migraines still and has missed weeks of work. boston's transportation authority fired the train attendant and suspended the train operator for ten days. big breaking story here. cnn has confirmed a person was taken from tiger woods' home to the hospital earlier this morning and rafer has more on what we're learning about who it was. >> yeah, robin and that's the difficult thing because with privacy laws, hospitals don't have to say who was admitted or why, but what we do know, what we have confirm side that paramedics did respond to a 911 call at woods' home overnight. our affiliates are reporting that this is that person being taken in on a stretcher. we have not identified that person, wftv reports it's a middle-aged woman. clearly you can see it is someone with blond hair. by the way, property tax records show the house is owned by woods' wife. also a new police report that just came out alleges tiger may have been drinking before his accident. we don't know exactly when, but they tried to subpoena his medical records to find out, but they were denied. they said there wasn't enough evidence to go and pursue it. we'll have more on that a little bit later on. and the five final firsts for the most prestigious award in college football, the iceman trophy were announced. tim tebow to be invited to be a finalist three times. the front-runner, this man, mark ingram, his dad played in the nfl and while kids were inside playing video garjs ingram's dead had him working out and nebraska lineman suh, he's expected to be the top pick of the nfl draft. his father is in cameroon and his first name means house of spears and he'll graduate with honors, i'm told. >> wow. >> toby ger hart are the other two and danica patrick is coming to nascar. it's been a lot of speculation, but the most recognizable woman in racing according to the a.p. will announce a deal that to race in the nationwide series. this woman will basically not be getting out of the car all of next summer. >> because those are the same season, basically? >> pretty much. >> thank you. so today we talked about tiger, celeb scandals and what about the story of balloon boy and the white house party crashers? what is it about celebrity that seems to obsess this country as viewers or as people motivated to be stars? we're going to talk about it sunday december 20th with celebs in their own right. turner sports stars charles barkeley, kyle petty and denniseccersley. i'll be reporting with no due respect. cnn.com/robin. ñ i love it. big time. >> this is something you're looking forward to. >> the more the better. >> you bet. >> the snowplow is one of the a few people looking forward to a blast of snow and bitter cold in the midwest and actually more parts than that. six states are under blizzard warnings today. the deadly storm is dropping several inches of snow in the west right now. it is expected to gain strength as it moves to the northeast. greenhouse gasses are a threat to your health. the new policy means the epa can regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the clean air act. new rules could cost companies tense of billions of dollars, likely making cars and electricity more expensive. a u.s. envoy will be in north korea today to try to get a nuclear disarmament talks back on track. north korea walked away from similar talks earlier this year. pyongyang started to dismantle its nuclear program last year, but stopped within months. so that's just a few of the headlines. we are very busy with them. we know you're always busy so thank you for choosing us as a source of morning news. we like to do news in the fast lane here. i'm robin meade. let's get to it. a snowstorm is making roads dangerous for a lot of your fellow viewers, if not you. icy conditions sent this car into a ditch yesterday. three people were killed in accidents in other parts of the country. >> it's terrible out here. going up the grade on the back roads e special if it hasn't been salted and you come to a stop and you just start sliding into the guardrail. >> people in iowa were already shoveling their driveways yesterday. blizzard warnings are if effect there and in five other states today. meteorologist bonnie schneider is in for bob and she has more on what to expect no matter where you're watching us from. breaking news, we have confirmed that rescue crews took somebody from tiger woods' home to the hospital. hi, rafer. >> good morning, robin. we've been looking that the video all morning long. we have now confirmed that orange county fire and rescue crews responded to a 911 call to woods' home overnight. this is video of the person being taken into a stretcher. we have not identified this person yet, but wftv says it's a middle-aged woman. we can see that the person does have blond hair, and as we go in tighter there you can see the person on the stretcher and we know this is the same hospital where woods was taken after his car crash. we also have more details from a recently released police report about allegations of prescription drug use by woods before that accident. we'll have that in about ten minutes. >> wow. such a story and so many layers already. thank you so much. appreciate it. an american has been charged for his alleged role in raft year's terrorist attacks in mumbai, yaindia. today the justice department said david headley helped plan. he office his way back to india to plan another attack when he was arrested in chicago in october. if you're looking to get the swine flu vaccine, but you're not in a high-risk group, restrictions may soon be lifted in some states. in illinois vaccines for the h1n1 may be available to the general public by friday. arizona is trying to open up their vaccine stocks. the cdc says there are now 73 million vaccine doses available. there may be a break in the case of a georgia woman who has been missing for nearly four months. authorities say the man in the sketch tried to kidnap a different woman just 25 miles from where christy cornwell disappeared. that woman says a car dared him off. cornwell's dad is hoping this new info will lead them to his daughter. >> it's tough getting out looking for your daughter, you know? now the weather's getting colder and we're not going to quit. we're going to keep looking and what we need is to bring her home. >> cornwell's family auctioned their lake-front vacation home to raise money to continue the search. remember the northwest pilots who overshot their landing site big time? they're pointing fingers at the air traffic controllers. documents filed with the ntsb show that richard cole who you see here and timothy cheney say that air traffic controllers did not follow faa rules and practices, and did not coordinate effectively dispatchers. so they're appealing after the faa revoked their licenses. big time weather concerns and it has to deal more with a wintry storm than anything. bonnie schneider is in for bob to show you who is getting a wallop today. good morning. >> good morning, robin. we're tracking a winter storm from arizona to michigan. that's an expansive area for one storm. not only are we looking at wintry conditions, extreme cold and heavy snow, but also severe thunderstorms are popping up in the southeast. as the storm works its way across new england, we'll see the frigid air plunge further to the south bringing windchills down to negative 10 or negative 20 as well. so it will be bitterly cold this week. be prepared for when that blast arrives. parts of minnesota a wintry mix into new england later on tomorrow, but tonight, watch out in washington, d.c., the suburbs through northern virginia. you will see ice tonight. freezing rain there and 30 inches of snow for the mountains of colorado. let's talk about the snow right now. we've been explaining about the snow in chicago and it's not only in chicago. we're looking at heavy snow to the north and west. minneapolis will see 11 inches of snow. omaha, nebraska, 9.4. we are also tracking snow on the way even though it hasn't gotten to any place yet. cleveland at 30 degrees and the temperature will plummet in cleveland tonight getting much, much colder and the windchill factor will be colder and the snow is on the way here. cincinnati, ohio. you'll have 35 degrees and we'll see a wintry mix. >> down south, the same storm system is bringing drenching rain to southern mississippi, into alabama, montgomery, you're about to get slammed with thunderstorms. as well as atlanta, georgia will see intermittent rain. ground stop in the atlanta airport due to weather and as we head further to the east, you're in the 20s, but the windchill factor that you'll see off to the west, robin this, is all headed eastward and while it might be bearable and chilly in some places. get ready, the cold is coming. >> and bitter in just a matter of hours. thank you. we were just asking our folks if you're on facebook where don't you tell us what you're going through whether wise. great coverage on the winter storm, but i gotta ask. how come you guys ignored new mexico? right now there are blizzard conditions outside my window. we didn't get in video from new mexico. why don't you send us the i-report so we can show everybody what new mexico is going through. thank you for your comments. by the way, if you'd like to have similar comments and tell us about the weather that you're experiencing in the storm, find outside facebook page. don't know thou get there? go to cnn.com/rob in. there's a link right there. thanks. captain sully is cashing in. you can buy part of the outfit that sully wore the day he landed a plane on the hudson. plus, gentlemen, there is a new way to hide any, you know, any flab that you might have. it can soon be just your little secret. all right. almost caught me in a yawn there. i think i just caught you in a yawn. let's checkout some of the headlines in the papers today. no surprise in l.a. that weather is what's dominating the front page here. snow and rain are causing big problems across california. heck, across much of the nation today. are you among the millions of people drinking dirty water in the united states? "the new york times" reports that 20% of the nation's water systems are in violation of the safe drinking water act. according to the paper some water system his one-time offenses, but many others have been in violation for years. front and center on "the wall street journal" students are demonstrating in iran. thousands were outside universities yesterday demonstrating against iran's government and the disputed presidential election. the pilot who guided a plane to a landing on the hudson river is using his new found fame to raise money. captain chesley sullenberger is selling the hat that he was wearing when he successfully landed the plane obey. he didn't land the plane on ebay, he's selling the hat he wore on ebay. bidding goes on until december 14th. you know, have you -- if you have any debt problem, have you been getting some phone calls from debt collectors that are way beyond pushy? you will not believe some of the calls that some folks say they're getting. our money expert jennifer west hovind has some to share. >> you already know they'll call your morgue, your brother, anybody with your last name basically in the world to try and get you, but you can't believe what they're saying in some of these calls, too program imagine how you would feel if you got a call like this. >> when i see you i'm going [ bleep ] you up. i want my money, and i want it now. you haven't heard the last of me and if it takes me a year or takes me two, believe me, i will find you. diane mcleod says she and her husband got hundreds of calls like that and, yeah, it is scary. they're over the top and she thinks that they went so far, she thinks they were partly to blame for her husband's death. she's suing. attorneys say if you get harassing messages like that, you have to do what the mcleod family did, you have to save the tapes and record them so you've got some proof. >> wow. a debt collector called their home and the husband said i'm being airlifted to the hospital and he was and the debt collector said have the helicopter drop off the money. >> get real, like that's even going to work. that's just stupid. >> you can't imagine that they hear all kind of excuses, but when they go too far. they get in trouble. that's not allowed. a new product from google called google goggles. made me think of beer goggles. it's not the same thing. instead of googling a freeze you google the picture. so i can take a picture of you, google it and learn all about you or take a picture of a restaurant or decide if i want to go in and i can gooing teleand read the reviews. right now they only run on google's an droid system. >> it's face nating, though. >> i guess you have to zoom in on the thing to figure it out, but that's neat. >> this one i'm calling spanx for men. >> girdles for men! girdles. girdles are so much gentler. well, men want them, too. they're not just popular for women. check this out. we've got some picture, equimen on sale at saks. >> the off brands will be coming soon enough. he's got on a t-shirt, a shaper t-shirt. he's pulling his bell toe show. >> i can see how fellows have to wear so many layers. you've got your t-shirt, your suit shirt and your suit over that and if it's just wearing a regular t-shirt would bulk you up. they would slide right over you. >> no pooches coming out. >> and they say, you know, it's not going to -- if you've got a belly that's so big it's got its own name it will not hide that. >> joey's over on your side. >> the rest of us can't breathe, why should guys be able to breathe? all right. thank you. we're keeping an eye on a new medical emergency at tiger woods' home. we're hearing that somebody called 911 a few hours ago and one person, this person was taken to the hospital. breaking news today. paramedics have taken somebody from tiger woods' home this morning by ambulance to the hospital. rafer has more on the bits of information that are kind of seeping in here. good morning. >> good morning, robin. we've got more information from the last time i actually saw you and spoke to you. authorities now confirmed that paramedics responded to a 911 call at woods' complex at 2:37 in the morning and they stayed there until 3:13 in the morning. our affiliates say this is that person in this video. we have not identified who this person is, but our affiliate wftv says it's a middle-aged woman. other reports say the person at first refused to be taken to the hospital. cnn has not confirmed that. also, property tax records show the home that rescue crews went to belongs to woods' wife elin. also according to a new police report just released by attorney general, woods had been prescribed ambien and vicodin. the witness was not identified but it was the person who pulled tiger from the vehicle, tiger's wife elin told cops she smashed a window to break him out and a neighbor told police woods was on the ground snoring after the crash. >> right. monday night football was just plain ugly. ugly, was there no alibi for the green bay packers and the baltimore ravens. there were a combined seven turnovers in this game. the two teams also committed 23 penalties. the last time we saw more penalties in an nfl game, 58 years ago. the pack did manage to come out on top and win to keep playoff hopes alive. and alan iverson, remember he broke down when he came out of retirement to resign with philadelphia. his first night on the court was emotional. he kissed the ground during intros and there was a video tribute and so many number 3 jerses in the stands they could have opened their own merchandise shop. they faced denver who unfortunately for them spoiled the party by winning the game. that's a look at sports. >> you're busy, aren't you? thank you. talk about a bad day, singer daniel powter was named the biggest one-hit wonder of the decade. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ you had a bad day ♪ ♪ >> billboard says it picked powder because that song "bad day" was on the pop charts in 2006 and there was no big follow up. lean back by terror squad and raisy town round out the top three. some of the stories we're busy working on. the u.s. commander in afghanistan will be talking to the house arms services committee about how he plans to use 30,000 more troops being sent there and then at 1:00 p.m. eastern the funeral procession begins in that coma, washington, for four police officers who were gunned down in a coffee shop. 20,000 people are expected to attend and as many as 1500 law enforcement and fire departments taking part in the procession. the news has to do with a huge winter storm. stretching from the west coast all of the way up to the midwest. for example, this is des is de, iowa. they are being blanketed in already 5 inches of snow. the thing is, if you're not impacted by this weather system right now, chances are by the end of the week you will be. it is huge. it is massive. and it's really not losing much of its steam. just wanted to show you an example there. they're expecting 5 inches in des moines. they don't have it yet. it's enough to stick, isn't it? enough to be on the roads. now, if you're in the market for a new car, you want something reliable. hln money expert clark howard tells you which cars did the best in a new reliability survey. >> if you are going to spend big bucks buying a car, don't you want it to be reliable? doesn't matter what all the image advertising is. what really matters is over time how does that vehicle drive? how often is it in the shop? consumer reports has just published data that is extensive reliability info on vehicles. on brands and then specific models. it's too much to get into all the individual models. but if you're in the market for a car, it's a good idea for you to go to the library and look at the data or pay money at consumerreports.com to see the list of the most reliable and least reliable vehicles before you before. the overall leader in terms of quality, in terms of reliability, is the toyota youth grand scion. second was honda. then in third place, toyota. the kid beat the daddy. i'm clark howard. for more info on how to protect your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> all right. clark will teach you to save more, spend less, avoid getting ripped off. one of santa's helpers is giving a group of kids a voice this christmas. it was a special day for kids with hearing impairments. hello. we're kind of busy this morning. i know that you are as well. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. the time is 9:00 straight up. here's what's going on. first off, breaking news, an ambulance was called to tiger woods' home. a patient went to the hospital. new details on the breaking story this morning. a massive snowstorm is breathing down the necks of millions of people. maybe you. you're going to see where slick roads and ice are creating dangerous conditions. guys, you can hide your food baby on your belly. this is no magic diet. this is a boytle. gertle for boys. rescuers responded to a 911 call at tiger woods' home this morning. rafer has more details still coming in right now and the video of that person. good morning. >> good morning to you, robin. we just learned moments ago our affiliate saying tiger woods' life elin was seen leaving the hospital early this morning. we have not confirmed that. what we have confirmed is orange county fire and rescue crews responded to a medical call at woods home in orlando at 2:37 p.m. and stayed there until 3:15 a.m. this is that person being taken in on a stretcher. we have not identified that person yet. it appears to be somebody with blond hair. >> the woman that we saw being taken into the hospital is a woman that is older, there's been some sort of speculation it may have been tiger woods' mother-in-law, elin's mom. but we don't know that for sure. of course, with all the rules and regulations around medical information, very difficult to get information. and, of course, this story itself is even more difficult. a lot of people clamming up around here. >> again, robin, wesh is reporting tiger's wife elin was seen leaving the hospital. the same hospital, by the way, where tiger was treated after his one-car accident. we do have more details from a recently released police report about allegations of prescription drug use by woods before the accident. a wintry storm is right now gaining strength as it moves eastward. and it's not going to be letting up any time soon. people in six states are under blizzard warnings. see the white house conditions in big bear, california, yesterday. part of i-5 is shut down. for the people who came to ski, they think it's pretty good news. >> it's pretty cool, pretty snowy. it's kind of like a blizzard. >> this is beautiful. it's absolutely amazing. >> it's super fun. i love it! >> check this out from one of our i-reporters in flagstaff, arizona. the snow there has actually gotten much worse since this was sent in yesterday. the schools were closed. this morning state officials closed parts of two interstates. also an i-report from southern colorado. the snow is more than 8 inches deep there. it's still falling. that person says he stocked up on food and firewood just in case the power goes out. let's talk about where the storm is at this hour. meteorologist bonnie schneider is in for bob. this baby is huge. >> absolutely. you mentioned flagstaff, arizona. there's 2 feet of snow on the ground and it's still snowing. it's winding up and pushing eastward. blizzard conditions kansas, nebraska, minnesota, wisconsin. all places that will not only see heavy snow, but blustery winds. the storm is on the move producing windchills negative 10 to negative 20. that will occur later this week. even in chicago tomorrow morning you'll be waking up to a low temperature of 8 degrees. quite the drop out there, robin. that's just one place we're watching. this storm is affecting so much of the country. i'll have more coming up. >> all right. thank you. breaking news this morning. five car bombs exploded in less than an hour killing more than 100 people. the attacks in baghdad happened just hours before iraqi officials announced the date of upcoming elections. iraq's interior ministry says more than 400 people are hurt. three car bombs targeted government sites. meanwhile, elections will be held on march 6th. officials postponed the scheduled vote in january. greenhouse gases are a threat to your health, epa chief lisa jackson made that historic announcement yesterday just before heading to the climate conference in copenhagen. the new policy would mean the epa can regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the clean air act. new rules could cost companies tens of billions of dollars, likely making your cars and your power more expensive. >> we hope that today's announcement serves as another incentive for far reaching accords in our meetings this week. taking action now and recognizing this threat now, we join the hundreds of other countries, thousands of leading scientists, tens of thousands of inknow inveinovators and private companies, millions of americans and billions of global citizens who have seen the overwhelming evidence and called for action on climate change. >> the obama administration hopes that the new policy shows the world that the u.s. is serious about global warming. the second day of the climate conference is under way today. president obama will attend next week. vindication for mr. kwig ls. the government says the furry little zhu zhu pet hamster looking toy is safe for your kids. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. good morning. >> we were talking about this yesterday. there was a website raising some concerns. if you bought one of these for a gift for somebody, breathe a sigh of relief. the little brown guy has been cleared by toy safety regulators. here's the toy maker. >> they love the product. they want their kids to have it. their kids are dying to have it. so, again, just getting the message out there that zhu zhu pets are 100% safe. >> if you can get one. they're very popular. this all came up after a consumer website raised some questions. good guide later said they made a mistake. they were making the wrong comparisons in the tests. they said it was their fault. >> it was big of them to say it was a mistake. but oopsy. >> i'll tell you, i was a little surprised. i feel like you almost had some clues about how the story was going to go. the ceo of the toy maker said i'm a dad. i've been in the toy business for 35 years. i would never let an unsafe product go out. i'm happy to share the data. that kind of being open and accountable, very rare. >> all right. hey, thank you for the update. new this morning, defense secretary robert gates is in afghanistan reassuring people that the u.s. is committed to winning the war there. now, he arrived in kabul overnight and met with president hamid karzai. karzai said it would be 15 years before afghanistan will be able to maintain security forces. its gates' first visit since president obama announced 30,000 more troops will be deployed to afghanistan. fewer americans are dying from cancer. researchers at the national cancer institute found a drop in death rates for men and women. almost all ethnic groups between 1999 and 2006. they believe better screening and treatment is the reason why. the biggest success story has been in the battle against colon cancer where the death rate has dropped roughly 20%. big time weather concerns today. a big storm has not gone away. it has moved from mostly west coast to be mostly in the middle of the country. good morning, bonnie. >> good morning, robin. eventually eastward. we'll be talking about new england and the mid-atlantic into tonight and tomorrow. advisories posted all the way from vermont across the country to new mexico and arizona. not everybody will be seeing the same thing with this storm. some places will get blizzard conditions. others just strong winds. some freezing rain. and then to the south, heavy thunderstorms. but it's snow right now for chicago. we're seeing a lot of heavy snow there. up into milwaukee, wisconsin, madison, and then back towards davenport, iowa, the snow comes down. farther to the south, south to indianapolis the temperatures are warm enough. we're not seeing in terms of heavy snow, we are seeing rain and a wintry mix. here's the forecast snowfall totals. for those of you in the upper midwest, you're wondering how much will you get. rochester, 12.4 inches. minneapolis, 11 inches. really cold in minneapolis now. colder tomorrow. milwaukee and chicago a little bit less. then the suburbs north and west of chicago you'll see heavier accumulations than the city itself. heavy snow into omaha, nebraska. a little farther east, i want to show you temperatures. 30 degrees in cleveland. it'll be the single digits tomorrow morning with a windchill factor below zero. rain mixing with snow at times in cincinnati. since we're covering extreme weather across the country, i have to show you what's going on in hawaii. we're watching for big sur f hitting the shores in hawaii. 30 to 40, even 50 a possibility along the north facing shores of hawaii. the surf combined with high tides could cause coastal flooding and damage. good news for you in a bad economy. your 401(k) may soon have a little bit more money coming in. then look at this. one woman's purse got stuck in a moving train. but she wouldn't let it go. youfr got to see this. a woman's purse got stuck in the door of a moving train. she was trying to get it out. you can see her clinging to her purse and then slamming into a wall. now she may sue boston's transportation authority. she says she still has migraines and has missed weeks of work. boston's transportation authority fired the train attendant and suspended the train. i know a lot of people are saying why didn't she just let go of the purse? you want to try to get it out. >> they're supposed to look, though, for people stuck in the doors. >> yeah. it's not her fault that this happened to her. what i'm saying is, some people are saying just let the purse go so that you're okay. you know, it's in the moment. you understand. you're trying to get that out of there. >> thank goodness it wasn't her arm. time for our military salute. today's salute is for sergeant donald angel in afghanistan. it's from his mother-in-law. she's also sending a shout out to her daughter and their three kids. they're stationed in italy waiting for donny to come home. >> good morning, robin. this is dorothy burnett. i would like to do a shoutout to my daughter in italy and her husband donny who is deployed to afghanistan. we love you all. and we ask that you stay safe, donny, and to michelle that it can't be easy to be away from your husband and your whole family this time of year, but we want you to know that we're here and we love you. we love you all. >> all right. maybe you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them. we'd be happy to help. cnn.com/robin. the money we supposedly saved in the bank bailout, because it's way cheaper than anybody thought it would be, well, we know where that money could be going. to create jobs for you. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. >> that's what the president wants to do. you know there's going to be a tug of war. some people want money for job creation. some say don't use the money. pay down the deficit. originally it was a $700 billion bailout for banks and wall street. really the price tag only about $141 billion. white house officials tell cnn the president would like to redirect some of that money to jobs. he'll focus on that today when he speaks at the brookings institution. some of that money going into programs. the center piece is expected to be a $70 billion program for infrastructure like building roads and bridges. it could also include weatherizing homes to reduce energy bills, and lending to small businesses. small businesses could then hire. they could also use it to help states keep up with their staffing for firefighters and police officers. a lot of communities have been in trouble with that and have had to have layoffs just because they got to keep their budgets balanced. you know, sometimes those are places where you really don't want to be thinly staffed with cops and firefighters. here's the comeback story. more companies bringing back the 401(k) match. good news in a bad economy for your retirement. in recent weeks jp morgan, black and decker among the companies who brought it back. a survey finds that many of the companies are saying it's probably a good idea that when times are tough, we may have to sus spend it temporarily if the company's not making money. i'm calling it spanx for men. they have them for guys, too, now. this is ecumen on sale at sac's. it's supposed to give you a more streamlined look. apparently it's become very popular with businessmen and sports figures, too. look younger and fitter. josh wrote on our facebook page, who needs shape ware? that's nothing a little marine corps boot camp can't fix. craig says men should either care and then go and lose the weight or not care and be confident on who or what we are. all right. if you would like to weigh in on that, what do you think about the boytel, gertle for boys? bonnie schneider in for bob today. we are keeping you busy. there's a lot going on, bonnie. >> we have delays right now in chicago, atlanta and houston, texas, all related to the same storm system. let's go ahead and show you what's going on weather wise and travelwise. a lot of activity. over 3,000 planes in the air at this hour. some delays i mentioned. more is to come throughout the day. take a look at we'll show you what's going on. watch out for delays that may last greater than an hour in chicago and des moines due to snow. salt lake city, louisville, kentucky, cleveland, ohio, not snowing now but it will be tonight. freezing rain in oklahoma city and wind and eventually snow in indianapolis. looking for a christmas present for the pilot who has everything? how about a piece of aviation history? find out what the hero of the hudson is offering on an online auction. the pilot who got a plane to a landing on the hudson river is using his newfound fame to raise money. captain sullenberger is selling his pilot's hat on ebay. he says the money raised is going to go to his daughter's high school and a nearby elementary school. bidding goes on until december 14th. here is a big story today. we're getting more details about the breaking news at tiger woods' home overnight. a person was taken from the home early this morning to the hospital. and rafer is watching to see what is coming in about this. good morning. >> good morning to you, robin. we're finding out the home, according to tax records, actually belongs to woods' wife, elin. we also now know that paramedics have confirmed they have arrived at this home at 2:37 a.m. they stayed for about 45 minutes. now, our affiliates are reporting this is the person that was taken from that home. we have not identified this person on a stretcher. reports are it is a middle-aged woman, clearly it is someone with blond hair. because of privacy laws hospitals don't need to say exactly who it is. this is a closer look. our affiliate now is reporting that tiger's wife elin was seen leaving this hospital early this morning. >> meaning she wouldn't be the person who was -- >> it's very unlikely she would be that person on the stretcher if, in fact, it is true. also a new police report that just came out alleging tiger may have been drinking before his accident. now, we don't know exactly when. but police say that they tried to subpoena tiger's medical records to find out, but they were denied by prosecutors. there's also allegations of prescription drug use by woods. more on that a little bit later in the show. there are a couple other things going on, by the way. the five finalists for the most prestee jous award in college football, the heisman trophy, were announced. tebow, this this man, the front-runner, alabama running back mark ingram whose dad played in the nfl. then this guy, nebraska lineman suh expected to be the top pick in the next draft. his dad is from cameroon, and his first name means house of spears. texas quarterback mccoy and gerhart are the others. >> thank you. i know you're busy today. appreciate it. a former cast member of family ties has been charged with assaulting a friend. boulder, colorado, police say on saturday brian bonsall hit his friend with part of a broken wooden stool. he allegedly told officers he was not drinking -- i'm sorry. he was drinking and didn't remember what happened. he played michael j. fox's little brother andy on "family ties." there he is so cute on the left. whoa, on the right. he's due in court tomorrow. a connecticut school is not allowing any christmas decorations in the classroom. why officials think that makes it better for the kids. okay, everybody. yawn. they're applauding you as you yawn. look at that. teasing. the trading day just started on wall street. the stocks may slump today. you're going to hear about a big selloff in the markets around the globe and how it could impact the investors here. a live report from new york is less than ten minutes away. i love to plow snow. >> this is something you're looking forward to? >> you bet. >> that snowplow driver has got to be one of the very few people looking forward to a blast of snow and bitter cold temperatures in the midwest. six states are under blizzard warnings right now. the deadly storm is dropping several inches of snow in the west at this moment. it is expected to gain strength as it moves to the north and the east. here's a live picture right now from omaha, nebraska. i think they're going a little too fast for the type of weather i'm seeing. they're getting part of this system as well. it is a huge storm system that is going to be one of the headlines not only today, but through the rest of the week as well as it moves a little bit eastward. it's not moving fast, though. there's omaha. for the first time in nearly half a century voters in massachusetts are going to the polls without a kennedy on the ballot. today's party primaries will decide who will ultimately replace the late senator ted kennedy. he died of cancer in august after serving 47 years in the senate. four democrats and two republicans are running in today's primaries. a u.s. envoy will be in north korea today to try to get nuclear disarmament talks back on track. north korea walked away from similar talks earlier this year. pyongyang started to dismantle its nuclear program last year but stopped within months. good morning on a sleepy tuesday, huh? i'm robin meade. appreciate you being up so early and choosing us for news in the fast lane. i'm robin meade. i did say that. breaking news, paramedics have taken somebody from tiger woods' home to the hospital. rafer's been tracking the latest details. >> first of all, i have to make a clarification. ten minutes ago i said that the home was in woods' wife elin's name. we now know that the home is, in fact, in both woods' and elin's name. paramedics were called to that home at 2:37 a.m. this morning. our affiliates say this is video of that person being taken to the hospital. we have not confirmed it. but local report says it's a middle-aged woman. you can see from the video that clearly the person does have blond hair. now, our affiliate wesh says tiger's wife, elin, was seen leaving the hospital this morning. if that is true, it is unlikely that she would be the one on the stretcher. we will have more details if, in fact, that is the person from woods' home. we have more details from a recently released police report about allegations of prescription drug use also by woods before his car accident. that in about ten minutes. >> all right. thank you. amanda knox's parents say their daughter was crushed when she was found guilty of murder in italy. but that she's determined to fight her verdict. on friday the american student and her ex-boyfriend were sentenced for the killing of knox's roommate, meredith kercher. while knox's mom says she knows kercher's family is suffering, their daughter isn't the only victim. >> we can't even imagine their loss and the pain that they must feel. but we would also tell them that we know that absolutely that amanda had nothing to do with this. and meredith was her friend. and this is -- you know, there's a couple new victims in this whole mess, and that's amanda and rafael. >> senator maria cantwell is from knox's home state of washington. she wants to bring her concerns about whether anti-americanism tainted knox's trial. she wants to bring those concerns to hillary clinton. >> we plan to make sure the state department and the secretary of state understand that it's important to make sure when there is a u.s. citizen abroad and they're in legal trouble, that we advocate for a fair trial by an impartial tribunal. i would hope that the italian government would advocate for the same things if one of their residents was here in the united states. >> secretary clinton says she has not yet looked into that case. the u.s. is facing international pressure to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions. at the 192-nation climate conference, right now european countries are considering a 30% cut in emissions from 1990 levels. the u.s. is proposing a much smaller reduction. a u.s. announcement yesterday making greenhouse gases a public health risk was welcomed at the conference. senate dems could close the deal today. he and other democrats say it would mean dropping a public option from the bill. as a compromise more people could use medicare and medicaid and some providers would sell health insurance for a smaller profit. majority leader harry reid angered some republicans yesterday when he compared health care opponents to those who opposed ending slavery. >> you think you've heard -- when this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery. there were those who dug in their heels and said, slow down. it's too early. let's wait. >> republican party chairman michael steele wants reid to apologize. an american has been charged for his alleged role in last year easter ris's terrorist att mumbai, india. a source tells cnn headley was on his way back to india to plan another attack when he was arrested in chicago in october. when it comes to the best-selling artist of the decade, slim shady beat out the fab four. eminem sold over 32 million albums. big time weather concerns for almost everybody who's watching the show right now. meteorologist bonnie schneider is in for bob van dillen. she's going to show you who has big-time snow totals coming their way and deadly temperatures. >> we're tracking very heavy snowfall for places like kansas, nebraska, new mexico and northern arizona today. as we go through the evening hours we'll see the snow work its way into minneapolis. it's already snowing in chicago. you're not going to see that much snow. about 3 inch. but definitely causing some slowdowns. we have airport delays there. head farther to the north into northern minnesota, northern wisconsin, up to a foot of snow. not that far away that the snowfalls will be affecting you, even if you're in the city. as we spread things out across the great lakes, notice to the south of indianapolis it's mostly rain. but it will mix with ice and times. be extra careful on the roadways. particularly on bridges and overpasses. what happens there is the wind wraps around the bridges so the temperatures could be let's say into the mid-30s. then when you have that cold blast of air it can freeze over to ice quickly. heavy noefl totals to the north and the upper midwest in the plains states. omaha, nebraska, we're showing some pictures for you. look for temperatures in the 20s. a total of about 9 inches of snow. i agree with robin. looks like they're moving a little too quickly on that road. visibility is poor. we're expecting visibility to decrease throughout the day. cincinnati, ohio, 35 degrees, intermittent rain mixing with snow at times. cleveland at 31. northbrook, illinois, just north of chicago, 27 degrees. tomorrow morning in chicago it will be 8 degrees. big change is coming. i wanted to show you that the same storm system is not only bringing blizzard conditions to much of the country, but heavy rain and thunderstorms hammering alabama right now. montgomery slammed with storms, mobile as well. that's all headed to atlanta, georgia, where we've had some airport delays earlier this morn ing. also heavy rain in tn tennessee and in charlotte where there's airport delays at this time. this is all headed your way. the windchills negative 10, negative 20 degrees below zero. the advisories will also spread farther to the east in the days to come. that's why we're watching temperatures that you see here in the 20s and 30s to drop by 10 to 15 degrees tomorrow, bringing us up to high temperatures as you can see into minneapolis, for example, to only 13 degrees tomorrow from 23 today. robin, lows tonight will get even colder. >> so watch out for that. yikes. thank you very much. let's see how the dow is doing right now. it's 38 minutes past the hour. any record -- any record? any report on how they're doing? >> well, it's down more than 100 points in just a few minutes of trading. we're looking to get you a live report from the new york stock exchange. a world war ii veteran is fighting to keep the flag hanging in front of his house. and now the white house is weighing in on that. also ahead, one of santa's helpers is giving a group of special kids a voice this morning. on wall street stocks are sinking to the downside after kind of falling flat yesterday. felicia taylor is at the new york stock exchange. good morning. >> we're seeing some pretty massive early losses here on wall street due to some new concerns about the credit worthiness of greece and continued fears about dubai. fedex shares, however, are higher after the shipping giant says it expects earnings from next quarter to be more than 10% higher than previously thought. many investors see a rebound in shipping volume as a strong sign of recovery for the overall economy. at mcdonald's u.s. sales fell in november. that's the second straight monthly decline. the news is disappointing analysts who actually thought the decline in sales that began in october would be short lived. finally, robin, another fashion story for you today. budget conscious shoe shoppers are trying affordability on for size. the ceo of collective brands which operates nearly 4,000 payless stores in the u.s. tells the "financial times" consumers are staying away from shiny leather boots and this season going for the soft and cozy boots instead. they are looking for more practical, multipurpose boots. which means i need to go out and buy some fuzzy boots. robin? >> thank you so much. the obama administration is weighing in on a story that we actually talked about with you last week. the white house says it is silly that a man awarded the congressional medal of honor has to take down his u.s. flag. a homeowners association told the 90-year-oxc-year-old world t that his flag pole violates guidelines. yet president obama's press secretary says special alliances should be made because of the vet's service. you've heard of toys for tots. how about toys for tats. a tattoo parlor in san antonio, texas, is offering a free tattoo for people who bring in a toy worth $30 and more. check out live pictures from omaha, nebraska. they are in part of the states that are really dealing with a w wallop of winter today. it is part of a big storm system that's impacting more states than not today. you've heard a lot recently about the couple who managed to crash the white house state dinner. new for you in about a half hour, a new document reveals a surprising number of security breaches over the years. a dad and his son have both had their holiday wish come true. the boy wanted his daddy home from iraq in time for christmas. and you're seeing that happen right there. yesterday steve barber surprised his son, cole, in his classroom at school. >> i don't know if i was crying first or he was. it's amazing to actually be home. and to make it back from hell. >> steve barger has been in iraq for a year and a half. but he won't have very much time at home. he will likely be deployed to afghanistan in january. we are keeping an eye on a new incident just overnight at tiger woods' home. now, we're hearing that someone called 911 a few hours ago and that one person was taken away on a stretcher. one family is using facebook to look for a suspect in a thanksgiving day shooting in florida. paul merhige. the lthis is surveillance video of the suspect at an atm the day before the attack. the first group of marines heading to afghanistan as part of president obama's troop increasing with they're getting ready to leave already. now, they're spending their last few days with their family members before shipping out, and their orders say that by the end of the month, they will be ready to be deployed. >> we're thankful that he's going to be with us for christmas. so we're just trying to enjoy the time we have together. i think when we actually say good -- it's going to be hard. we'll get through it. >> i can't imagine how hard. the marines will be deployed to the heavily contested helmand province. all right. if you are just tuning in, you're like, i wonder what's happening today. one of the big storys that paramedics this morning took somebody from tiger woods' home by ambulance to the hospital. what gives? hi, rafer. >> good morning, robin. unfortunately we're still no close tore finding out exactly who was in this video. we're trying to give you guys another look at it and see if maybe, i don't know, you can get a clearer look on it. it seems to show a woman with blond hair being wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher. our affiliates say this woman was taken from tiger woods' home this morning. there it is frozen. it clearly is somebody with blond hair. now, we have confirmed, paramedics did in fact answer a 911 call at oowoods' home at 2: a.m. have not confirmed the person's identity. our affiliate is reporting woods' wife elin was seen leaving this hospital this morning. also, according to a police report just released by the florida's attorney general, a witness told troopers woods had been prescribed ambien and vicodin prior to his car accident. tiger's wife elin told cops she used a golf club to smash the window to break him out. you also may remember a neighbor told police tiger was on the ground snoring after the crash. in other news, monday night football was downright ugly. the greenbay packers were hosting baltimore. there were a combined seven turnovers in this game. and the teams also committed 23 penalties, the last time we saw more penalties in an nfl game was 58 years ago. >> wow. >> the pack did manage to come out on top to keep their playoff hopes alive. allen iverson, remember, this guy had a very moving breakdown when he announced he was retirement to resign with philadelphia. his first night back was emotional. they gave him a video tribute and lots and lots of people wearing his number 3 jersey. they faced another former team of his, denver. but denver spoiled the party by winning the game. that's a look at sports. >> i have a just in. apparently bryant gumbel announced he has cancer. for years and years he was on the "today" show and i think he does a lot of shows with hbo. he said he had cancer surgery two months ago to remove a tumor on his lung. he kept the surgery private and part of his lung was removed in the surgery, but he and his doctor hope the treatment is comple completed. so we wish him well. let's check in with bonnie schneider. travel is just a stinker today because of a massive storm system. hi there. >> that's right, robin. for our viewers in salt lake city this morning, you're waking up to snow and now just in, airport delays. 45 minute delays for arriving flights in salt lake city, utah, do you to inclement weather. look for delays in chicago, cleveland, snow and wind slowing you down. oklahoma city, freezing rain. milwaukee, wisconsin, is facing snow and wind today. it's snowing now. and we're looking at the chance for freezing rain tonight for those of you that are driving. keep that in mind in the washington, d.c., and baltimore area. robin? >> thank you. happy birthday, teri hatcher. the desperate housewife is 45 today and she's fabulous. here is a fun fact to impress your co-workers. when she was back in hoigh school, he was captain of the dancers. there's a chance you are dealing with heavy snow and cold temperatures and we're sharing your ireports from the first snowstorm of the season. that's a cute picture. ççwoo

Related Keywords

Nevada ,United States ,Alabama ,Milwaukee ,Wisconsin ,Helmand ,Afghanistan ,Manhattan ,New York ,Kansas City ,Kansas ,Connecticut ,Arizona ,Massachusetts ,Iowa ,Chicago ,Illinois ,Copenhagen ,Køavn ,Denmark ,Missouri ,Atlanta ,Georgia ,Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania ,Indiana ,Virginia ,Northern Plains ,India General ,India ,Reno ,San Antonio ,Texas ,Oregon ,Michigan ,Cincinnati ,Ohio ,Iraq ,Salt Lake City ,Utah ,New Jersey ,Cameroon ,Green Bay ,Burlington ,Maryland ,North Korea ,North City ,Washington ,Dubai ,Dubayy ,United Arab Emirates ,Hudson River ,Alaska ,China ,Minnesota ,California ,New Mexico ,Kabul ,Kabol ,District Of Columbia ,Reunion ,Des Moines ,Mumbai ,Maharashtra ,Tacoma ,Wyoming ,Modesto ,Jersey ,Greece ,Rochester ,Pyongyang ,P Yongyang Si ,New Hampshire ,Iran ,Kentucky ,Cleveland ,Boston ,Florida ,Los Angeles River ,Bonn ,Nordrhein Westfalen ,Germany ,Mississippi ,Denver ,Colorado ,Maine ,Tennessee ,Baghdad ,Nebraska ,Dallas ,Northbrook ,Italy ,Italian ,Americans ,America ,Iraqi ,American ,David Angel ,Christy Cornwell ,Bonnie Schneider ,Meredith Kircher ,Steve Barger ,Bryant Gumbel ,Larry King Amanda ,Orlando Sun ,Betty Velasquez ,Aaron Rogers ,Tiger ,Diane Mccloud ,Dorothy Burnett ,Tim Tebow ,Clark Howard ,Tom Harkin ,Diane Mcleod ,Maria Cantwell ,Michael J Fox ,Toby Gearhart ,Chesley Sullenberger ,Stanley Mcchrystal ,Richard Cole ,Amanda Knox ,Bob Van Dillen ,Santa Claus ,Timothy Cheney ,Allen Iverson ,Donald Angel ,Meredith Kercher ,Paul Anderson ,Danica Patrick ,Lewisville ,David Letterman ,Harry Reid ,Alan Iverson ,Stan Li Mcchrystal ,Bonnie Snider ,David Headley ,Sarah Palin ,Michael Steele ,Danica Pratt Rick ,Zhu ,Jeff Jones ,Bonnie Snyder ,Teri Hatcher ,Santa ,Robin Meade ,Hillary Clinton ,Ted Kennedy ,Chris Brown ,