>> couric: good evening, everyone. we've come here for the wedding of prince william and kate middleton. we'll have more about that later. but first, the big story back home: dangerous weather. heavy rain today caused a southwest airlines flight from denver to skid off the runway in chicago. there were 139 people on board; no one was hurt. the same could not be said for people caught in the path of a tornado and flooding in arkansas. at least ten deaths are reported. and there's more bad weather in the forecast. tornado warnings were up today from north texas all the way to michigan. and after days of rain, flash flood warnings were up across more than a dozen states. we have reports tonight from don teague and cynthia bowers. first, cynthia in poplar bluff, missouri. cynthia, i understand a major levee there has started to give way. >> reporter: that's right, katie. i'm standing in downtown poplar bluff, and i'm actually in water from the black river, which has torn through the levee here and overtaken the town. linda hooker has lived along the black river her whole life-- 70 years. this was the first time she's left, and it wasn't by choice. >> my family told me that i was their precious jewel. ( laughs ) they wanted me out. >> reporter: 92-year-old gertrude simpson could only look on nervously as her home of 50 years was overcome by floodwaters. >> oh, it's been terrible. terrible just to watch the water come up. >> reporter: her son roger waded in to gather anything he could carry out. on a scale of one to ten, how would you categorize this? >> well, this is probably about a nine. >> reporter: butler county sheriff mark dodd says six inches of rain last night sunk entire neighborhoods, causing more than 30 breaches in the local levee. >> makes you scratch your head and wonder if it's not time to build an ark. >> reporter: in oklahoma, an ark might be the only means of transportation as bridges were washed over and out while residents beat a path to dry land. >> my dad said it was flooding, but i didn't realize it was this bad. >> reporter: in johnson, arkansas, water rescue teams had to wade through neck-deep water to save the lives of mobile home residents and their pets. >> been around here all my life, and this is the first time i've ever seen the water up like that. >> reporter: the storm system is vast and is dumping rain on states from oklahoma to new york. nearly 20 inches of rain has fallen in the last four days in springdale, arkansas, 14 inches in fayetteville and here in poplar bluff, missouri. and the misery's not over yet. more rain is forecast in coming days. >> reporter: this is don teague in vilonia, arkansas, where all across this town of 3,500 people, you'll find homes and businesses ripped apart, cars overturned and stunned residents thankful to be alive. >> my kids are here. >> reporter: richard bass had just finished dinner with his three children when he felt the air pressure change and knew it was time to take cover. he and his family made it into this specially reinforced closet just seconds before the tornado hit. >> i had them in this arm, and i put this foot on the wall and just pulled with everything i had. >> reporter: his home was destroyed but the family survived. still, tornadoes killed four in this town, including two who tried to ride out the storm in the detached trailer of a big rig truck. the governor of arkansas credits early warning with preventing even more loss of life here. residents on this street say they knew bad weather was coming, and, when the tornado hit, the sirens had been wailing for at least 15 minutes. >> i mean, this was my life, what you see right here. >> reporter: amanda russell had just bought her first home four months ago. today, there's nothing left of it but four walls and the bathtub that saved her life. >> i'm just trying to hold it together. i'm a strong person, and i just want to hold it together. >> reporter: the tornadoes that destroyed these homes may have passed, but this part of the country isn't out of the woods yet. forecasters say there's a high risk of even more tornadoes throughout this region overnight. don teague, cbs news, vilonia, arkansas. >> couric: to the economy now. the u.s. housing market is still struggling. a report out today shows home prices in the 20 biggest cities have dropped more than 3% in the past year. they're now back where they were in 2003. another economic concern for many americans is the rising cost of medical care. congressman paul ryan has a plan that would change medicare as we know it and require future generations of seniors to pay a greater share of their health care costs. nancy cordes reports ryan is holding a series of town meetings, and not everyone's buying what he's selling. ( applause ) >> hey, everybody! how are you doing? >> reporter: congressman paul ryan's town meetings in this mostly rural district are normally intimate affairs... >> unfortunately, they are at capacity. >> reporter: ...but this week, constituents from twin lakes to kenosha are being turned away as capacity crowds inside come to praise or condemn the plan ryan likes to call "the path to prosperity." >> your plan screws the next two generations. >> reporter: ryan, who chairs the house budget committee, is trying to convince these mostly older audiences that medicare for future generations should be replaced with subsidies that would partly pay for private insurance. >> we're going over $10 trillion deeper in the hole every year if we don't do something to fix this situation. >> reporter: and he's trying to make an even harder sell; that in an era of growing income disparity, taxes for corporations and wealthy americans should be lowered. >> we do tax the top. it's... ( audience boos ) >> reporter: it's a clash playing out in town meetings across the country this week. >> not one senior citizen is harmed by this budget. >> what? >> you're a liar! ( audience boos ) >> reporter: do you think that you would be getting more support out there if you didn't include this big tax cut for the wealthy? >> we're not doing that. we're not... we're not agreeing with the president's tax increases. so the new definition... >> well, 35% to 25% is a big cut. >> in exchange for losing their tax shelters. >> hands off medicare! >> reporter: but the protests here and there don't bother ryan. for every detractor, there's more than one constituent thanking him for trying to tackle the deficit. and this debate will be front and center when they get back to washington next week because republicans have made it clear they will not vote to raise the debt limit unless deficit reduction is part of the deal. katie? >> couric: nancy cordes in wisconsin tonight. nancy, thanks so much. turning now to the middle east, the situation in syria is growing more dangerous by the day. today, the state department advised all americans except for essential embassy workers to leave. in the southern city of dara, witnesses say syria's army continued to attack civilians. more than 400 syrians have been killed since antigovernment protests broke out last month. in libya, video released today shows british jets taking out libyan armored vehicles and rocket launchers. defense secretary robert gates said moammar qaddafi's command centers are legitimate targets, suggesting the longer qaddafi holds out, the more he puts himself at risk. now to the story that has brought us to london, the wedding this week of prince william and kate middleton behind me at westminster abbey. the british culture secretary estimates as many as two billion people around the world will be watching on television. but mark phillips reports only a chosen few will be attending in person. >> reporter: it's probably the most sought-after invitation since noah chose his animals for the ark. but this being a royal event, they don't just send you one of these, they call you first. >> i got phoned up two weeks before, and they said, "john, kate would like to invite you to a wedding. would you like to go?" i said, "what date is it? i'm not sure what i'm doing that day." >> reporter: john runs kate's local pub. a few lucky locals have received the call. the postman, the family butcher. >> we're very, very excited. each day gets closer we get more and more excited. >> reporter: the couple who run the convenience store-- 13 years from immigrant to royal wedding guest. >> we appreciate it. ( laughs ) >> reporter: land of opportunity. >> absolutely. absolutely, yes. >> reporter: this is supposed to be the "not the charles and diana wedding," when the bride's family were allowed only 30 guests. william and kate, we're told, have been trying to keep a personal grip on their own day and have invited more than 70 friends and a clump of celebrities including elton john, and soccer star david and posh spice victoria beckham. like his mother, william has championed charities, and the couple have made room for a woman named shozna, who william met when she was homeless, and for lance corporal martin compton, a soldier who was terribly wounded in afghanistan. but inevitably, a royal wedding must have foreign royals, and 46 were invited. but one won't show up; bahrain's crown prince khalifa is too busy suppressing an uprising at home. but king mswati, iii, of swaziland will attend. he knows about marriage, having 14 wives. there are only 1,900 places in the abbey, choices have to be made, sometimes curious choices. tony blair and gordon brown, two former prime ministers from the labour party, lukewarm to royalty, have not been invited. but two former conservative prime ministers-- john major and margaret thatcher-- have been. sarah ferguson, the disgraced former wife of william's uncle prince andrew is off the list, but kate's three-times-divorced black sheep uncle gary goldsmith is on-- with a warning. >> i understand anyway that that particular uncle is going to be invited, and i'm sure he'll behave extremely well and appropriately on the day. >> reporter: or he'll hear from his favorite niece, the one who's about to become a future queen. mark phillips, cbs news, london. >> couric: and later here on the "cbs evening news," what it takes to plan the wedding of the decade. but coming up next: java jumping-- from beans to cups, coffee prices surge. i knew for years before i quit that i needed to quit, and i went online to find a way. ♪ chantix -- it's a non-nicotine pill. i didn't want nicotine to give up nicotine. while you're taking the medication, for the first week, you can go ahead and smoke. 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[ inhales deeply ] i nipped my allergy symptoms in the bud. omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com. >> cou >> couric: all around the world, people drink well over two billion cups of coffee everyday, and the cost of that coffee is rising rapidly. in today's trading, raw beans averaged nearly $3 a pound, just pennies below the peak price back in 1977. as bill whitaker reports, that's bitter news for coffee lovers and sellers. >> reporter: at city bean coffee in los angeles, arabica beans are roasting, but the price of the beans is sizzling. city bean pays more than $4 a pound. >> our price has nearly doubled in the last ten months, so we've seen an increase to us of over $2 a pound. >> reporter: coffee beans are up-- way up-- across the board. in 2000, popular colombian mild cost $1.03 a pound. over the next ten years, the price rose more than a dollar, in just the last year, it jumped almost a dollar more. with prices rising relentlessly, salzer was getting burned, losing money every month. he says he had no choice but to pass some of those higher prices on to his customers. big coffee sellers are, too. folgers and dunkin' donuts raised the price of packaged coffee 10% to $7 a pound. at the biggest of them all, starbucks, packaged coffee is up some 12%, boosting a 12-ounce package from $8.99 to $9.99. >> coffee is very expensive. so i don't drink it as much as i used to. >> reporter: restaurant owner brad kent is trying to spare his customers the jolt of high prices, but... >> my staff is feeling the pinch because i'm cutting back on their hours, working more hours myself. >> reporter: why the high prices? booming economies mean millions of indians, chinese and brazilians now enjoy the coffee habit, and millions of investors are trying to profit off the rising market. >> commodities market is just like a stock in the stock market, and as investors go in and purchase more of that stock, the price subsequently will rise. >> the days of the 25-cent bottomless cup are long gone. >> reporter: intelligentsia coffee wants customers to view good coffee like fine wine. >> i don't expect it to ever be below $2 a pound, and it could potentially rise to $5 or more. >> reporter: and that could have customers steaming. bill whitaker, cbs news, los angeles. >> couric: helped by strong sales of new fuel-efficient cars, ford today reported its best first-quarter profit in 13 years. ford earned more than $2.5 billion, 22% more than the same period last year, and that helped push stock prices sharply higher. the dow gained 115 points to close at a new high for the year. when we come back, getting to the head of the class in preschool education. with miracle-gro shake 'n feed plus weed preventer. just a few shakes stops weeds before they start. plants grow twice as big. with almost no weeds. even in your vegetable garden. want three months of feeding, without all the weeding? 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gone. finito. zegerid otc. two ingredients... ...one mission. heartburn solved. the morning after the big move starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now... and maybe up to 4 in a day. or, choose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. smart move. ♪ smart move. you can turn ordinary chicken into luscious, delicious, and scrumptious. with recipes from campbellskitchen.com, and campbell's cream of chicken soup. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ >> couric: fewer american children are getting an early start on their education. a study out today says states cut nearly $30 million in funding to preschools last year. that left only a quarter of four-year-olds enrolled in pre-k programs. jim axelrod shows us an investment in early education can pay big dividends. >> good morning, boys and girls. >> good morning, miss megan! >> reporter: serving a low income, under-educated population in new jersey, the ignacio cruz early childhood center is beating long odds... >> that's a big word, pollution. who knows what that means? >> reporter: ...by performing above the national averages for pre-k programs. >> when you come into my classroom, you would probably say that children are playing. and i would argue that they're not playing, they're learning. >> reporter: you know what that button says? >> it says "open." >> reporter: meghan lawton has a point. her four and five-year-olds already seem to be a step ahead with their numbers... what number is that? >> zero. >> reporter: that's zero. >> reporter: ...and their letters. what letter is that? >> d, i... >> reporter: and even on the computer. >> the evidence is clear, preschool makes a big difference. by itself, it can cut school failure in half. >> reporter: one study found high school graduation rates 17 percentage points higher for kids who had pre-k. but not every state has enough money to pay for what the evidence suggests is worthwhile. ten states cut pre-k funds this year, ten more don't have pre-k at all. the economic downturn has been felt across the country in classrooms like these as many states scale back funds for pre- k education. but here in new jersey, spending is actually up, and the evidence suggests that's money well spent. new jersey is laying out more than $11,000 per child this year, nearly $400 more than last year. the result? the number of kids who repeat first grade has been cut in half in poor districts that offer two years of pre-k. >> investments in preschool increase achievement, decrease crime and delinquency. those kinds of things result in higher incomes later on. >> reporter: it seems like the proof is in perth amboy... >> they're sponges at this age, so the earlier i get them the better they are in the future. >> reporter: ...even if other places aren't learning their lesson. jim axelrod, cbs news, perth amboy, new jersey. >> couric: in other news, one of the biggest online security breaches in history. sony says a hacker stole credit card information for as many as 75 million people who have accounts on its playstation network-- names, addresses, even passwords. last week, sony shut down the network which connects players from all over the world as it investigates how the theft happened. and coming up next from london, the ultimate wedding planner planning the ultimate wedding. from cbs news world [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic low back pain. imagine living your life with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a non-narcotic treatment that's fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing of the skin or eyes. talk with your doctor about your medicines, including those for migraine, or if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles, to address a possible life-threatening condition. tell your doctor about alcohol use, liver disease, and before you reduce or stop taking cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. side effects include nausea, dry mouth, and constipation. 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[ female announcer ] wake up to sweetness with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy. creating backlash. next on cbs 5 a bay area company's search for >> couric: back now from windy london. remember the movie "mary poppins," the song the very stern mr. banks sings to his young kids: "a british bank is run with precision, a british home requires nothing less." and a british wedding in the house of windsor? michelle miller tells us that requires precision the likes of which we've rarely seen. >> reporter: the whole operation works like a well-oiled machine. as soon as the engagement was announced, buckingham palace switched into high gear. and the polishing began, from the brass on the royal carriages to the brass band of the household cavalry. everything is being sliced and diced to perfection as the palace staff preps for a wedding reception for 600. >> canapes and champagne for 600 isn't a big deal for buckingham palace. >> reporter: really? >> no, not a big deal. >> reporter: not for sir malcolm ross-- lieutenant colonel sir malcolm ross-- who began working for the royal family in 1987. now a consultant, he planned three royal weddings, including prince charles and camilla's. he also planned princess diana's funeral and the queen's golden jubilee. are you glad you have a military background? >> it's terribly useful, yes, because it teaches you to think in a straightforward way, and you plan and plan and plan. >> reporter: an army of thousands has been planning every detail. the timetable for the morning of the wedding is set to the minute. at 10:10 a.m., princes william and harry leave for the church. at 10:38, prince charles and camilla depart. at 10:40, the queen and prince phillip are on their way. all timed to make sure the bride gets to the church on time, precisely at 11:00 a.m. afterwards, prince william and his wife will lead a procession of coaches carrying the royal family, just as his parents did. enormous crowds are expected along the route. this is going to be wall-to-wall people. >> this will be wall-to-wall people. the atmosphere will be marvelous. and then once the carriages are down, they allow the people to go down to the palace and wait for the couple to appear on the balcony. >> reporter: most of the guests will take buses to this side entrance of the palace, where the reception in the magnificent staterooms is designed to make sure the hostess-- the queen-- is pleased with the result. all according to lady elizabeth anson, who's organizing it. >> she cares very much about how her party is going and that people are getting drinks and people are getting food and there aren't too many queues at buffets and things like that. she notices all of that. >> reporter: and her majesty is very much part of the planning. the queen actually decides, "hmm, i'll do this china?" >> yes, the queen is very, very hands-on as a hostess, and she would say, "yes, we'll have that one." >> reporter: in the evening, prince charles will throw a dinner for 300, and we've learned a little bit about the menu, katie. dishes will represent all-- all- - of great britain, scotland, wales, merry old england, meat and fish from there, and organic produce from highgrove. >> couric: sounds good. michelle, thank you. that's the "cbs evening news." we'll be reporting from london all this week. on friday our coverage of the wedding begins at 4:00 a.m. eastern. i'm katie couric. thanks for watching. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs we . you're watching cbs 5 eyewitness news in high definition. [ music ] we have a phone with at&t and it has been nothing but problems. >> that complaint we've all heard countless times. why some say the public is now being asked to pay to fix at&t's notorious signal problems. >> this doesn't have to do with ufos or alien abductions. we are actually looking for someone else's technology. >> a search that inspired imaginations is called off. what comes next for one of the bay area's most ambitious and far out projects. we're not that far apart with the unions proposals and our proposals. >> a new mayor facing a looming pension disaster. new signs tonight a deal may be close. good evening i'm allen martin. >> i'm dana king. it see