was taken to a local hospital for a mental evaluation. one of the president's top legislative priorities appears headed for victory on capitol hill. today senators are expected to approve that nuclear treaty with russia. it would cap nuclear warheads for both countries and restart on-site weapons inspections. the senate is also set for a key test vote on that 9/11 health bill. democrats say they do have the voes to pass it but time in this lame duck session may be running out. it's been awhile since we filled out the forms but the counting is now finally done and the census bureau is rolling out the new census. >> the 2010 census gives us a new portrait of the population and what it means politically. >> t.j. winick has been going inside those numbers. he joins us now with all the details. >> reporter: good morning rob and vinita. a decades long trend continued. that is, population losses in the northeast and midwest and gains all across the south. the 2010 census results show who we are as americans and where we live is changing. 308 million now call the country home. a growth of 9.7%. that's the slowest growth rate since the great depression. >> this is the very first decade in our country's history that the west region is more populous than the midwest. >> reporter: california is the most popular state. wyoming the least. only one state, michigan, lost residents. while texas grew the fastest. eight states are gaining seats in the house of representatives. texas is gaining the most, four. ten states are losing seats, including new york and ohio, losing two each. >> the trend is a growth in seats for western and southern states. and a tendency to lose seats in the midwest and the northeastern states. in fact, since 1940, there's been a net shift of 79 seats to the south and west. >> reporter: much of the growth occurred in republican-leaning states controlled by republican legislatures which should give that party an advantage in upcoming congressional and presidential elections. but the gop shouldn't be celebrating just yet. >> the southern states and the southwestern states, a lot of these southern states have to redraw lines. the department of justice has to sign off on these plans. >> reporter: the census results are also used to distribute more than $400 billion in annual federal aid. rob and vinita? well, if you thought the octomom had a full house check out this new mother in germany. >> it's so cute. an african hunting dog north of berlin has just given birth to 17 puppies. and even more amazingly, the entire litter survived. and they are just adorable. they're now 3 months old, they're rhodesian ridgebacks. nine boys, eight girls. they are just now making their public debut. the owner who happens to be a dog psychiatrist says they had to bottle feed them five times a day because, pretty obvious here, mom couldn't produce enough milk for all these babies. >> the mom's first litter was a standard eight puppies. this makes her a mother of 25. hope she had a good epidural. we'll be right back. for those of you who use online dating you know some people tend to fudge the facts a little bit. they add a few inches to their height or shave a few years off their age. >> how do you know the potential date you're checking out isn't lying about something else like a criminal past? becky worley shows us how to broke ourselves. >> reporter: she thought she'd met someone nice on eharmony.com. until they agreed to meet in person. >> he became sexually aggressive. and i tried to fight him off. and at that point i knew i was in trouble. >> reporter: dustin trickett is a convicted sex offender. she only found that out after the attack. i was basically prey for him. >> reporter: jeffrey marsalis. dozens of women met him on match.com but he ended up being a convicted serial rapist who found his prey online. there are more than 1,500 online dating sites and over 20 million americans use them. that's double the amount of users from just five years ago. so there's a growing demand for online detectives to suss out who's looking for love and who's looking for victims. >> my match checker really comes into play to add a little bit more of the trust but verify idea behind online dating. >> reporter: robert buchholz runs mymatchchecker.com. they'll run a background check on anyone you meet online. >> some of the thing taz we can find really is from misdemeanors to felonies to a listing on the national section offender registry. >> reporter: true.com, a dating site that requires a background check before users can become active. if you want to check up on someone while you're away from your computer, maybe on that first date, pull out your smartphone. there's an app for that. like date check. type in a name and state and for $14.95 get a criminal background check, property search, even social network profile. but a background check doesn't put a potential match completely in the clear. >> we feel like there's a lot of inaccuracies and incomplete data in these databases and that they provide a false sense of security. >> reporter: for rebecca, even a little bit of information about her attacker would have been welcomed. >> if somebody seems too good to be true they probably are. >> reporter: for abc news, i'm becky worley. >> wow. it's so funny with those sites, they're so hugely popular. what you gain in convenience you may lose in safety features. it's scary. >> it says a lot about us now we have to run background checks on anyone we might meet. some of the websites that don't condone this, they say they don't want to give people a false sense of security, in other words, tell them everyone you could possibly meet is going to be 100% safe. they want people to have a healthy dose of fear. >> makes sense too, common sense, right? when we return, something to savor from a shepherd who bakes like nobody's business. >> holiday creations you have to see and of course taste. we'll be right back. besides the presents the second greatest thing about the holidays for many of us, all the cookies. we had some at our holiday party here tonight. these are the few left over. >> our john berman got the coveted assignment of heading into the kitchen of one of america's beloved chefs and learning the secret to her homemade sweet christmas. >> reporter: if christmas has a global food headquarters, headquarters with a sweet kitchen and an italian accent, it might be here. >> bonjourno. >> welcome to my home. >> reporter: the new york home of lydia bostionich. >> you've got to be comfortable in the kitchen. >> reporter: she's a celebrated chef, cookbook author, restaurateur, and the italian grandmother i never knew i had. >> you've got the touch. >> reporter: she had me over to help cook. >> okay. one of our favorites is crostoli. >> reporter: and to talk about her new children's book and pbs special, "nonna, tell me a story." about her holidays growing up in italy. >> you didn't have lights or tinsels and all of that. and my grandparents, they grew everything. dried figs, dried apricots, dried prunes, nuts, all for the winter, store for the winter. when christmas came around that's how we decorated. >> reporter: for her, christmas isn't about presents but food and family. >> i'm surrounded by marvelous women here. >> this is julia, one of my grand daughters. this is julia. >> reporter: 90 years old, and across cultures. >> my goodness. >> how many christmases have you cooked for? >> since childhood. >> italian? >> sure. >> did you teach lydia how to cook like this? >> i certainly did. >> everything she knows? >> a couple of years ago, a lot of years ago. >> one's culture, who you are, your identity. it's really expressed by food. there's certain dishes that always come out for the holidays. that means your family. and in today's world, sort of we're all kind of running and who are we and what are we doing, i think continuing this tradition is so special. >> we didn't have fancy colored lights back then. we made all the decorations ourselves. they were strung out of dried figs and bay leaves, and fresh fruit as well. >> did you okay? >> perfect, perfect. you can come to cook again. >> thank you very much. >> so we will finish and then we'll decorate the tree. do you want to decorate the tree? >> i'd love to help. >> wow. ooh-la-la. do you want some more? >> reporter: everything from cooking to decorating, a delicious experience. >> so where should we put these on the tree? >> one right there. >> right here. very nice. >> grandma. >> yes? >> when you were a little girl, what did you hang on your tree? >> anything that grew around the house. >> anything that grew around the house? >> because we didn't have money to go shopping so make everything natural. >> reporter: natural and totally yummy. >> how do you say merry christmas in italian? >> speaking [ speaking italian ] >> i'm john berman in new york. >> once you say something intelligent i'm going to eat. >> you might have seen her on pbs. a master chef thing with julia childs. it's an interesting story. she said she came to the u.s. when she was 12 years old. her mom worked long hours at a bakery. as a child from 12 years on she was responsible for getting dinner on the table and that's why she's a wonderful chef. hó [ male announcer ] a red, raw nose can feel really sore. achoo! [ male announcer ] and common tissue can make it burn even more. new puffs plus lotion is more soothing than common tissue and delivers twice the moisturizers to your nose versus the next leading lotion tissue. and finally this half hour, with christmas now just a few days away many college students are of course home for the holidays and away from the rat race of college life. >> but at a university in nebraska the term rat race took on a much more literal meaning right before the holiday break. abc news on campus reporter teresa low stroe reports. >> reporter: there was nothing unusual about having rats in a psychology class. >> this is ella trick. >> this is nala. >> my rat's name is dog food. >> reporter: but what these students do with the rats are a bit bizarre. >> it just comes naturally to her. she grabs on with all her claws. >> reporter: yes, that's a tightrope. the students train the rats to climb up on a tightrope, leap between platforms and jump hurdles. >> everybody knows of pavlov's dogs. we do something similar with that right away. >> reporter: they first taught the rats to associate a click with receiving food or affection. after the rats learned that those sounds meant good job, the students used the same cues to train the rots to jump or climb on command. >> we had a traditional laboratory with little boxes where rats approached levers and pigeons pecked keys and that's where you would teach the fundamentals of learning motivation. i thought, this could be boring after a while. >> reporter: that's when professor kline created the extreme rat challenge. the class is a quirky, end of the year showcase. in this event the rats pull the lever as many times as boss nibble three minutes. the rope and rail climbs. tightropes. and hurdles are timed events. and the long jump, of course, is one of distance. 37 1/2 inches. >> once we had a time limit i didn't know if she'd actually jump. she ended up jumping so that's all i could ask for. >> reporter: she pot positive reinforcement of her own. extra credit points and a new pet. for abc news on campus, teresa lostro, lincoln, nebraska. >> nothing like a girl with a rat on her shoulder. >> yeah, come to new york. because should the university of nebraska ever need to round up some rats, this is the place to be. >> right in the subways. oh, man. that's the news for this half hour. remember to follow us on facebook. remember to follow us on facebook. >> wnnfans.com. i touched the ball before it went out, coach. come on, alex, the ref did not call that! i touched, it's their ball. don't foul them when they inbound. team! alex! good call. made a commitment to protect us and our freedoms. many will come home with missing limbs, severe burns, or traumatic brain injuries. the wounded warrior project was created to help and support these injured heroes through programs and services that help make their recoveries easier. regardless of your position on the war, our injured veterans deserve our support. to learn more, call... or visit woundedwarriorproject.org. dangerous deluge. life-threatening situations in california's floodwaters. this morning's state of emergency. risky ride. minivans with a deadly defect. >> ford had many, many opportunities to remedy this problem. >> so what took so long to recall these cars? and, elaborate extras at shopping malls. will skating lead to more spending? it's wednesday, december 22nd. >> from abc news, this is "world news now." >> we of course know that a lot of young new parents are out there watching this show so if you haven't heard about this minivan recall it's certainly a story you'll want to stick around to see. the results of this examination the government conducted, they're really shocking. >> the timing too is very interesting too when the story came out. stay tuned for that story for sure. >> good morning and thanks for being with us on this wednesday. i'm vinita nair. >> i'm rob nelson. it is enough to dampen anyone's holiday spirits. six straight days of heavy rains in california. >> hundreds of homes in the la canada, flintridge and la crescenta are evacuated because of the flood threat. mike von fremd reports. >> reporter: this 29-year-old woman was driving her pickup truck across a swollen creek 50 miles east of los angeles when her truck was simply swept away. >> she's lucky. when she went off the edge i thought we were doing a body recovery. >> reporter: it was a day full of rescues across the golden state. in the tijuana river by san diego, three undocumented workers were trapped by high water and a team of lifeguards pulled them to safety. and the normally dry canyons in orange county, four young hikers reported missing were spotted by helicopters. a family reunion they will not forget. >> it was a sleepless night. i'm just glad that everybody was here to help them and they're okay. >> reporter: near riverside the water was four feet and rising before these 37 horses could be let out of their locked stables and led to higher ground. from the air you can see abandoned vehicles swept away, dangling on the edge of disaster. this is southern california. hardly what vacationers here were expecting. >> we heard l.a. was perfect weather every day. >> now it's nasty. >> this rainy period we're going through now on the west coast rivals any of the ones we've seen the last 30 to 40 years. >> reporter: and it's all moving east. three inches of rain in las vegas. surviving the next 48 hours is the true test. we're expecting as much as 10 inches of rain in just seven hours. and there are reports from the mountaintops that some of the earth is beginning to give way. mike von fremd, abc news, los angeles. and that powerful weather system could affect holiday travel as it now moves east. >> accuweather's ava dinges has the storm track. good morning, ava. >> good morning, rob and vinita. this has been a very serious situation across all of california as they have been pounded by the heavy rain over the past six or seven days. especially since saturday we've seen all that rain along the coast, and especially into southern california, over the past couple of days. it's been a very thin band of moisture pressing in, and eventually that is going to end at least as we get into wednesday night. at least throughout much of the day we're seeing our last caboose of this storm move into the central tier of california and also heading into southern california on top of the half foot of rain that los angeles has already seen, any additional rain is going to lead to some major flooding and even a concern of mud slides. as you head out towards the mountains this will translate into very heavy snow into the sierras and building back into utah. eventually this is going to be ending, mostly wednesday night. it starts to dry out into california. you look into the plains, thursday is going to be a messy day along i-80 and parts of i-70 for christmas eve. that could slow down holiday travelers. now back to you, rob and vinita. >> all right, thanks a lot, ava. here's a look at the rest of your weather now. avalanche warnings are posted in colorado because of the heavy snow in the rockies. several inches of snow in the cascades and scattered showers from seattle to portland. up to 6 inches of snow in maine. >> 39 in boston. 36 in new york. upper 60s in new orleans. just 59 in dallas. 20 degrees cooler than just yesterday. 30s from kansas city to detroit. 41 in boise. 55 in sacramento. there are all kinds of questions being asked this morning as weather-related travel turmoil enters its fifth day across northern europe. authorities in london's heathrow airport say full service will not be restored until tomorrow. delays and cancelations there have caused problems now literally around the world. the infuriating situation has european officials now threatening tougher regulations. >> the main message to airport providers is that airports must get serious about planning for this kind of severe weather conditions. >> that severe weather condition she mentioned was the five inches of snow that fell last saturday. heathrow's management was offered assistance from the british military yesterday but declined to accept it. this morning's commute is back to normal after a bomb scare in the rome subway system yesterday. a suspicious package full of wires and powder was found in an underground train. but investigators say the device could not have exploded. they're still trying to figure out exactly who left it. rome has been hit with a series of violent anti-government protests in the past few weeks. the south korean military is preparing for its largest ever live fire drill tomorrow. the military exercise will take place near the border with north korea and south korea has renewed an annual tradition of lighting a giant steel christmas tree visible to the north. the tradition was suspended seven years ago when it appeared relations between the two countries was improving. a woman who caused quite a stir at charlotte's abc station is now undergoing a mental evaluation. she was wheeled out of wsoc-tv on a stretcher after wielding an unloaded gun inside the station for more than an hour. the 51-year-old woman was reportedly upset about her finances. no one was hurt in the incident and it's still unclear if charges will be filed. one of bernie madoff's former secretaries is back behind bars this morning. a judge revoked 62-year-old annette bonjourno's bail tuesday after it was determined she had access to large amounts of money which made her a threat to flee. she was arrested last month and is facing conspiracy and other charges in connection with madoff's ponzi scheme. more than 17 years after it was first put in place, president obama today is signing a repeal of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. the controversial law had banned of course gays and lesbians from serving openly. since it was enacted, at least 13,000 people have been expelled from the armed forces for violating its rules. one of them, activist dan choi, will attend today's signing ceremony at the invitation of the president. mr. obama appears on the verge of another major legislative victory. this one dealing with foreign policy. the senate today is expected to approve the nuclear treaty with russia. jake tapper has the latest development. >> reporter: the president is closing in on one of his top priorities. nuclear disarmament with russia. >> every minute we drag our feet is a minute that we have no inspectors on the ground at those russian nuclear sites. >> reporter: the s.t.a.r.t. treaty will reduce the number of nuclear warheads each nation has by one-third. cut the number of long-range missile launchers and heavy bombers in half. and require inspections and monitoring of these dangerous stockpiles. the treaty took more than a year to negotiate. >> it took patience, it took perseverance, but we never gave up. >> reporter: negotiations with republicans have proven almost as tough. republican senators point to language in the preamble to the treaty that they say would tie america's hands, stopping the u.s. from developing missile defense in europe. >> i really am concerned that the russians are going to make conditions that allow us never to develop missile defense. i'm not making this up. >> reporter: but the white house, pentagon, and even former republican foreign policy officials say that's just not true. while the president has been vigorously lobbying republican senators on s.t.a.r.t., he has not been doing the same for the 9/11 health care bill for first responders. >> what happened that our president can't come out and support heroes? somebody please answer this. >> reporter: the president's public silence on the matter was criticized. >> mr. president, please step up to the mound for those who worked on the pile. >> reporter: the white house says the issue is not who president obama is calling to lobby on the 9/11 health bill, but who republican leaders are, given that all 42 republican senators blocked the bill last time it came up for a vote. it looks as though it will come up for another vote on wednesday after the final vote on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. jake tapper, abc news, the white house. a historic sports milestone this morning in hartford. it was close for about two minutes and then the university of connecticut women blew out florida state last night. for those counting it was uconn's 89th straight victory. >> that is the longest winning streak in ncaa basketball history. one better than the men from ucla, who did it from 1971 to 1974. the last time the uconn team lost was april 6th, 2008. they have been so dominant that during the streak, the team has only trailed for 134 minutes. >> that's absolutely incredible, congratulation ladies, good to see them getting their just attention just like the men do. >> during a press conference one of the coaches said at one point he thinks there would have been a lot more attention had it been men this close to the record. now i think they're finally getting their just deserts. >> nicely done. we'll be back with more after this. fortunately, there's new crest pro-health clinical gum protection toothpaste. it helps eliminate plaque at the gumline, helping prevent gingivitis. and it's even been clinically proven to help reverse it in just four weeks. new crest pro-health clinical toothpaste. welcome back. now to an abc news exclusive that involves a popular brand of minivans. a brand that many families rely on. >> ford has recalled 612,000 ford winstars due to a deadly defect. did the recall happen after it was too late? brian ross investigates. >> reporter: ford marketed its winstar van for families. citing a five-star safety rating with big bird helping to make the pitch. but there was a serious hidden problem with the winstar van and the rear axle bar that turns the wheels. a problem ford took years to do anything about. because of a design defect, the rear axle in the 1998 to 2003 models can snap in half, unexpectedly, leading to more than 800 reported incidents, including this fatal accident outside boston just two months ago. the driver, 28-year-old sean bowman, was killed. about to go pick up his children. >> they asked, when's dad going to get here to get us? it was heart-breaking. it was screams and crying for hours. >> reporter: one week later, the ford recall notice arrived at bowman's home. >> if he had that recall sooner he would have got it into the shop. >> reporter: until federal safety officials conducted this test in june, ford had maintained there was little chance of an accident with a broken axle and no need for an expensive recall. but, at 35 miles per hour, once the axle breaks in this simulation -- only the side stability bars seem to keep the van from tipping over, even with a professional driver behind the wheel. the federal tests were conducted only after a critical article in the "new york times," despite hundreds of incidents in the government's own database. >> i just don't understand how an agency that claims to be reviewing all of these complaints would have missed something like that. >> reporter: safety experts also question why it took ford so long to act. >> ford had many, many opportunities to remedy this problem for years. now we see a tragic death that could have been prevented had ford acted sooner. >> reporter: this will be the first christmas for bowman's family without dad. >> having my oldest daughter come to me and tell me, i just want to hug him. and i can't. it's not right. it could have been prevented. >> reporter: this is an expensive recall for ford. it has had to manufacture hundreds of thousands of new axles and they won't even be ready until next year. so far, only about 15% of the windstar vans in involved in the recall have been brought in to be fixed, meaning there are hundreds of thousands of potentially dangerous vans on the road now. brian ross, abc news, new york. >> as brian mentioned there's going to be a long wait for those customers who have to get the axles replaced. in the meantime, ford is apparently saying they'll either pay for rental vehicles for customers who own the windstar or in some instances buy the minivan back. in a lot of cases they're really old and they're not worth much. >> it's been a year of recalls. whether it's been cars or medicines. you wonder in this particular case why it took ford so long to own up to some of the problems they were aware of. scary. if you own one of those cars, get it checked and be careful. when we come back, serious trouble for lindsay lohan yet again. >> hints of what's ahead in the third season of vinita's favorite show "the jersey shore." we'll be right back, it's "the skinny," baby. 4 let's turn over this log. yeah! both: whoa! i like the big black ones. i like the brown wiggly ones. mmm. i like the green crunchy ones myself. whoa. explore nature. there are surprises everywhere. go to discovertheforest.org. well, feels like it's been a few weeks since we talked about lindsay lohan last time. she's making news again. this is a bizarre story. apparently she's in the betty ford clinic, she's been there since late september. all her alcohol troubles. apparently there was an incident on december the 12th where she got into a tussle with one of the technicians at the clinic. apparently she actually sneaked out of the facility around the 12th. as she was trying to come back by climbing a back wall after going out drinking with two other girls, she got into an altercation with a chemical technician named dawn holland who works there. so much so, the woman had to get treated for some kind of injury to her wrist. they say she snatched a phone from the woman as she tried to call police. some kind of physical confrontation. the woman ends up, the worker, giving an interview to tmz, saying lindsay was out of control, she snuck out, she was drinking. went through all the details of the case. betty ford says, look, you violated the agreement here. they fired the nurse because she broke the rules by giving a public interview about lindsay. it's a sad case here. this is what the woman said. >> i did not touch the woman. i am not willing to risk my job over any patient. >> now, had she been drinking when you saw her? >> yes, she had alcohol on her breath. >> there's more trouble here. she snuck out, she was getting drunk again, got in a physical altercation with the woman, the woman's been fired. this can land her back in jail. this can be a violation of her probation. so lindsay just -- another tough time for her. >> it just keeps getting worse for her. >> yeah, yeah. >> so "jersey shore." it's shocking to hear, considering people hated the show. they're doing a season three and they are out with the latest trailer, take a look. >> jersey shore! jersey shore! >> last summer was crazy on "the jersey shore." i actually missed the boardwalk, missed the clubs. but we are absolutely going to top that summer. >> party's here! >> i brought a new friend named dina. she's 4 feet tall. >> short little people exactly like them. >> there it is, that is the third season trailer. it's going to debut 10:00 p.m., january 6th. of course still on mtv. and like you saw, there's a new housemate, her name is dina. apparently on this season we get to see sammy beat up ronnie, sammy beat up jwoww, we get to see snooki's drunken arrest. so keep in mind, this show really didn't have a big following until the famous clip of snooki getting punched out in that bar scene. so of course with the new trailer comes new added interest and they cut these so well you almost want to see the train wreck. >> that's exactly what it is, and expensive, what all those kids are getting paid. say what you want but they're doing their thing. anyway now. something funny from kevin bacon. doing one of those aol spoofs. matt damon did one. take a look at the latest one kevin bacon put out. >> i've done the acting thing. i've done the rock 'n' roll thing. but i'm going to make a career change right now. i want to rap. first, you've got to make sure you have the right size paper. place the item you want to wrap -- >> no, kevin bacon's not becoming a rapper. a little holiday spoof. from kevin bacon. that was well-played, kind of funny. i thought that was fun. a little spoof there from mr. six degrees. he used to do -- six degrees of separation. check out the website. >> and that new commercial where he's an older kevin bacon. if your racing thoughts keep you awake... sleep is here, on the wings of lunesta. and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here, on the wings of lunesta. lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. get lunesta for a $0 co-pay at lunesta.com. sleep well, on the wings of lunesta. here are some stories to watch today on abc news. the u.n. security council discusses the war in afghanistan today. the secretary-general was hoping for political reconciliation to end the afghan conflict. more runways closed from saturday's snow storm should be open today at london's heathrow airport. disrupted rail service between many european cities which also improve, helping ease a holiday travel backup. key numbers on the american real estate are released today. figures on october home prices and november sales will provide a new gauge for the market. finally this half hour, as christmas approaches mall managers across the country are doing what they can to bring in all you last-minute shoppers. >> some of them are even getting a little creative and turning the mall into a winter wonderland. abc news on campus reporter olivia stacey has more. >> reporter: the spins. lifts. and jumps. it's what you would expect to see on tv. but it's actually live, right in the middle of a tampa mall. >> you're bringing in national names that are recognized throughout the community as top figure skaters in the nation. and everybody wants to see them. >> reporter: it's something new the mall is doing to set themselves apart. >> this year they were thinking of a new way to bring some business back into the mall around the holidays and thought maybe it would be fun if we could work together. and so they were able to find some money in their budget in order to be able to do that. >> reporter: the holiday shopping season started strong. customers came out, even in bad weather. like the ones at this mall in raleigh, north carolina. >> the weather's awful. but at least i don't feel guilty about being inside. >> reporter: just recently, both the national retail federation and research from shopper track provide their holiday sales predictions. shopper track is projecting a 4% increase in sales. as you can see from the crowd behind me, people are spending. that's why retailers are coming up with creative ways to keep them away from the competition. this wesley chapel mall, also in florida, now has a light show every night. even an outdoor skating rink, built just for the holiday season. in this gainesville mall, it's snowing. and as for the westfield countryside mall -- >> it's great. it's a really good turnout. obviously they've only got a limited amount of space and it seemed pretty full. it's nice to see that. >> reporter: nice for retailers and customers too. >> there was all kinds of people here. it felt like a christmas festival. i think it's one of the best things that's happened in the mall in a long time. >> reporter: for abc news on campus, olivia stacey, tampa, florida. >> shopping is an experience this time of year in more ways than one. >> it's cool that you get to see a free - when you stay connected to your kids, they'll stay connected to you. the boys town national hotline can help. call the boys town national hotline at 1-800-448-3000 (tdd#1-800-448-1433) ...or visit us on the web at parenting dot org. political progress. important measures up for vote today on capitol hill. why they're victories for the president. frightening floods and the daring rescues in california. >> she's lucky. when she went off the edge i thought we were going to be doing a body recovery. she was very fortunate. >> the terrible storm and today's emergency. and actor's accident. another real-life scare on a broadway stage. it's wednesday, december 22nd. >> from abc news, this is "world news now." >> "spider-man" in new york staying in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. a $65 million production, but it's been beset by i think four injuries. four actors who got hurt monday nightfalling 40 feet into a pit. scary. >> u2 is involved in it, bono has played a big role in producing it all. it's terrifying when you see the video. >> we'll see if the show gets off the ground in february or not. good morning, everybody, i'm rob nelson. >> i'm vinita nair. president obama leaves for his hawaiian day on a high note. almost all his top legislative priorities have been approved by congress. >> and that nuclear treaty with russia now appears headed for approval in the senate as well today. brad wheelis has more. >> reporter: the senate appears poised to ratify the new start agreement. the treaty needs a two-thirds majority. 67 votes. that's almost assured after at least ten republicans indicated they're on board, including lamar alexander of tennessee. >> i'm convinced that americans are safer and more secure with the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty than without it. >> reporter: after a year of negotiations, president obama and russian president dmitry medvedev signed the s.t.a.r.t. treaty in april. >> it took perseverance but we never gave up. >> reporter: it requires both countries to reduce nuke warheads 30%, from 2200 to 1550 each. cut long-range missiles and heavy bombers by 50%. and establish monitoring and verification for these weapons. some republicans expressed reservations that the preamble to the treaty could restrict u.s. development of a missile defense system in europe. >> i really am concerned that the russians are going to make conditions that allow us never to develop missile defense. i'm not making this up. >> reporter: nuclear disarmament with russia is one of president obama's top priorities. some americans criticize the president for not being as supportive of the 9/11 health care bill for first responders. >> mr. president, please step up to the mound for those who worked on the pile. >> reporter: the senate is expected to vote on that bill after the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. brad wheelis, abc news. some members of the military who were dismissed under the don't ask, don't tell policy will be at the white house today. they are guests of the president, who today will sign an official repeal of that policy. it was put into place back in 1993 to ban gays and lesbians from serving openly. the pentagon must now issue some new rules, including how and when gays who were dismissed can be allowed back into the u.s. military. well, it now appears the federal government has enough money to stay in business until march. that's because the house followed the senate's lead last night, passing a bill to keep funding every government agency into the spring. it was necessary because congress failed to pass a single one of a dozen spending bills required to fund day-to-day government operations. southern nevada's in a state of emergency now after flooded creeks closed some roads in the las vegas area this morning. it's all from that vicious storm that has dumped heavy rain on the west since friday. higher elevations are still digging out from all the snow. on top of that, hundreds of homes and businesses have no power and may not have service restored until the weekend. we are just getting in some pretty amazing pictures of a home being washed away in northern arizona. take a look at this. it was one of several homes in a littlefield retirement community destroyed by raging floodwaters. it appeared the house wasn't occupied at the time. inspectors believe dozens of other homes in the area are still in danger since even more rain is still expected. six southern california counties are now under state of emergency this morning because of all those storms. kabc's rob mcmillan reports on the dramatic rescues from those dangerous floodwaters. >> reporter: for many drivers, signs apparently don't mean anything. despite the fact that lytle creek road was closed because of the swift-moving water, residents like neil johns went through anyway. it wasn't too dangerous driving through the water there? >> right there, no. i came through it when it was right here. it was about a foot deep last night. >> reporter: but that was all it took for one driver to get swept away in swift water. rescue teams were able to pull her to safety with only minor injuries. >> she's lucky. when she went off the edge i thought we were going to be doing a body recovery. she was very fortunate. >> reporter: up at mt. baldy there's major damage to the road through town. about a mile north of the baldy village. you can see what mother nature has done to the road up here to mt. baldy. because of that, the only way for some 50 to 60 people to get up to their homes is to walk. what are they going to do? >> that's a good question. >> they're stuck. >> they're stuck. yeah. they're absolutely stuck. >> reporter: speaking of stuck. 37 horses in norco were trapped in 4 1/2 feet of water but they were all brought out safe. >> we're loading them in trailers and taking them to angle park to get them food, water them. i think there's more storms coming. >> reporter: rob mcmillan for abc news. those same storms are dumping an additional 3 feet of snow in the mountains of northern california. with so much fresh snow, business is booming at ski resorts along the sierra range and that is welcome news after some rough years during recession. the rockies are also getting buried. skiers in utah and colorado are looking forward to several more feet of snow today, but the roads just to get up to the mountains are treacherous and many drivers are getting stuck on their way to the slopes. avalanche warnings have been posted in some areas. i've been stuck so many times going up to the mountains in colorado, there's nothing you can do, just cry in your car and hope some man comes by to help you. a major storm from the pacific blows east today. even texas should feel it. >> accuweather meteorologist ava dinges has the latest. good morning, ava. >> good morning, rob and vinita. cooler weather tracking in across the central tier of the country after we hit some record highs in texas yesterday. houston was at 82 degrees. that was a record for them. now they're starting to see at least temperatures drop down away from those record highs. 75 for their afternoon high. 80 in brownsville. it's already cooler in dallas, 60. and oklahoma city barely into the mid 40s. and that colder weather will eventually move into south texas as well. the west, the big story has been the heavy rain and heavy mountain snow. unfortunately that is still a concern as we progress throughout today. the caboose of this train of storms is just starting to make its way into california and heading into southern california throughout much of the day. flooding will still be a major concern along with the mud slides because some areas have seen about a half foot of rain over the last couple of days. that's the case in los angeles, into long beach. any additional rain is going to lead to additional problems. but this storm will eventually move out of california by the nighttime hours, heading into the plains, making for messy travel for the christmas holiday. now back to you, rob and vinita. >> ava, thanks. now here's the rest of your wednesday weather. it's not that pretty. a half foot of snow in the cascades. scattered showers in the pacific northwest from seattle to portland. on the east coast, several inches of snow in maine and snow showers in boston, vermont, and new hampshire. may be a white christmas for a lot of folks. >> half the country i think. mostly 30s in the northeast. 75 in miami. 69 in new orleans. chicago 34. omaha 25. fargo 16. mostly 40s from seattle to colorado springs. 57 in albuquerque. lucky folks in phoenix there at 70. some entertainment news this morning. lindsay lohan is back in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. the troubled star is being investigated for battery on a female staffer at the betty ford rehab clinic in california. the staffer has since been fired from the clinic because she did an interview with tmz about the incident. lohan is said to have slipped out of the clinic to go drinking and the altercation happened upon her return. the recession may be to blame for the plunging birth rate among america's teens. federal numbers show the number of babies born to teen mothers dropped 6% last year. that's a record low. the overall birth rate for mothers of all ages was down 3%. analysts link the downward trend to the economy and the drop in immigration nationwide. at long last we finally have an updated count of how many people actually live here in the u.s. >> the first census results have been released and dictate how the congressional map must now be redrawn. t.j. winick has been crunching the numbers. good morning, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. the actual redrawing of the house map won't begin for a few months, when the census bureau releases data at the county level. the 2010 census results show who we are as a americans and where we live is changing. 308 million americans now call the country home. a growth of 9.7%. that's the slowest growth rate since the great depression. >> this is the very first decade in our country's history that the west region is more populous than the midwest. >> reporter: california's the most populous state. wyoming the least. only one state, michigan, lost residents. texas grew the fastest. eight states are gaining seats in the house of representatives. texas is gaining the most, four. ten states are losing seats including new york and ohio, losing two each. >> the trend is the growth in seats for western and southern states. and a tendency to lose seats from the midwest and northeastern states. in fact, since 1940 there's been a net shift of 79 seats to the south and west. >> reporter: much of the growth occurred in republican-leaning states controlled by republican legislatures. which should give that party an advantage in upcoming congressional and presidential elections. >> there are some experts who are looking at this data and saying, based on what they see now, republicans could add ten more seats to their total. >> reporter: the census results will also change each state's vote for the electoral college beginning in the 2012 presidential election. rob and vinita? talk about an early christmas gift. this one thanks to the golden arches. >> jonathan kehoe is a newly minted millionaire. after winning mcdonald's annual monopoly game. it's a good story. he's unemployed and only went to mickey d.'s drive-through because his godson said he had to go. >> smart kid. kehoe's game ticket he got with his mcrib combo meal was the grand prize winner. he says he'll pay off some bills and some debt and then he wants to buy some property. smart guy, maybe boardwalk and park place would be some good investments. >> on his soda. he peeled it on his soda. right then he knew. lucky guy. >> all the luck, man. >> we'll be right back. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement nsurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to " 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying .up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp p 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medicare, call this toll-free number now. covergirl trublend has skin twin technology. other makeup can sit on your skin, so it looks like...makeup. but trublend has skin twin technology to actually merge with your skin. how easy breezy beautiful is that? trublend...from covergirl. welcome back. when you think of those affected by adhd or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder you probably think of young kids. >> but there are actually millions of adults out there who struggle with the same disorder. some don't even know they have it. juju chang reports. >> it was life-defining. because suddenly my whole life made sense. >> i had given up trying to figure out why i was the way i was and just accepted it and i was just, this is me. >> reporter: ashley mcdermott and john daly are among the 5% of american adults, 8 million living with adhd. both busy working parents got diagnosed because one of their kids got diagnosed. john's daughter kay began showing signs of adhd and john realized it was like looking in the mirror. >> when i was reading i saw not only kay our daughter but i saw myself. >> reporter: a doctor confirmed his suspicions and at age 36, john was diagnosed the very same day as his then 3-year-old daughter. >> it was a big relief, actually. it gave us -- it gave us a name. >> reporter: his three other kids are on the spectrum as well. but less severely. married authors matt and sue hallowell say adult women are underdiagnosed. >> women manifest differently. often -- this isn't true across the board, but many women are more the day-dreamy, inattentive types. >> adhd is genetically transmitted. there is no doubt about it. there are some cases you can acquire but 95% of cases you acquire through the genes of your parents and grandparents. >> reporter: as it turns out when my close friend ashley mcdermott was researching her son's adhd, she was astonished to find she was reading about herself. >> closed the book of the second chapter and started to cry. i said, this is my whole life. i can't believe this is me. >> reporter: ashley struggled in school and her lack of focus followed her into adulthood. >> every single report card my entire childhood said the same thing. which is, ashley could be a very good student if she could calm down and stop talking and pay attention and focus. >> reporter: john's academic struggles grew into career struggles. >> i'd always hit walls in terms of trying to climb the job ladder and move on to bigger and better things. a lot of it was because i couldn't get organized. >> reporter: a combination of medication and behavioral therapies made john super-productive at work. bonuses followed. >> i think the first year on the medication, we blew our numbers out of the water and i got about a 145% bonus. it was absolutely enormous. we've never seen that much money in one big fell swoop. >> reporter: ashley is about to publish a novel, a feat unimaginable before going on medication. >> my a.d.d. literally got so bad that i couldn't even read a book. you have that constant noise in the back of your head and suddenly it takes your a.d.d. remote and somebody turned the radio off. >> reporter: john has new strategies to cope with adhd. >> if i know i have a deadline i shut myself away from everybody and focus on that, a nice, quiet room. typically from my home office, as opposed to going into the office. once i'm in the office, i'm talking to people. >> juju chang reporting. i have a friend in new orleans who suffered from it and it was amazing the difference medication made. a lot of remedies too but the meds work for a lot of folks. >> you heard in the piece they kept saying adhd and a.d.d. there are three different types. when you reference them now people tend to think a.d.d., adhd are one in the same. >> and they are. >> right, exactly. >> gotcha. coming up next, the series of accidents and a long-awaited and very expensive broadway show. >> the safety concerns after another actor is injured onstage. you're watching "world news now." the upcoming broadway show "spider-man" is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year. >> unfortunately, after another accident onstage, the show is now on pace to become the biggest bust of the year. john berman has the latest now from new york's times square. >> reporter: what does $65 million buy you? stunning sets. jaw-dropping turns. burglarying tunes from bono and the edge. also trouble. big trouble. the latest calamity to hit spider-man, a harrowing fall. you see actor christopher tierney at the end of the bridge. something happens to the cable holding him. he plummets into the pit below. a fall estimated at 30 feet. >> you could hear the screaming. i mean, the whole theater could hear it. >> reporter: tierney, who reportedly suffered broken ribs, the fourth actor injured in this show which is still in previews. the opening had already been pushed back one month to work out the kinks. it would be easy to think this show had been cursed from the start. including the sudden death of the first producer. >> on the day that we were signing the deal to do it, tony passed away in his apartment, sadly. >> reporter: but the show will go on. producers met with state officials and agreed to new safety measures. so spider-man will be back onstage and in the air. >> throughout the show everything was pretty incredible. insane. >> reporter: insane. the producers no doubt hope that doesn't end up describing their investment. john berman, abc news, new york. >> the date has been pushed back i think. initially it was to open early january. now it's been pushed back to february 11. some are wondering will they even make that date, possibly? setback after setback. >> i know one reporter who was interested in the story as well, that was you, doing this for "gma" yesterday. >> right. >> were there people talking about this out there? >> people saw the cameras saying, what was going on? we said -- i said, well, spider-man was hurt. everybody had the same reaction. again? again? they've heard all the reports about all the injuries on this show. it was funny. hopefully early february it will get off the ground. >> we remember the story of the evil love interest, the woman, she got hit in the head with a rope and had a concussion. the stories keep coming out. ♪ there are no sick days. vicks dayquil defeats 5 cold and flu symptoms. ♪ [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] in the nfl, you can't win tomorrow if a cold keeps you up tonight. vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine. 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[ male announcer ] outlast lipstain. from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. world news now delivers your "morning papers." >> well, if you've ever played a round of golf you certainly know when and where you would yell fore. you obviously yell it right before you hit a crazy shot. i yell it every time i play on every hole. >> i yell it during putt-putt at the mall. >> this is a really interesting court case about two guys out on the golf course, it was two doctors. the first doctor hits a ball that goes crazy and hits the other doctor in the eye. he was totally blind in one eye and ends up taking the other surgeon, who was his playing partner, to court. he says, i can no longer perform my job as a surgeon, i'm blind, i can't see. the court had to issue a verdict and they now say it is not illegal to not yell fore in a situation like this. i want to give you the exact ruling. they said, being hit without being warned by a shanked ball reflects a commonly appreciated risk of golf. you accept that risk when you step on the links. while yelling fore is nice, failure to do so does not constitute intentional or reckless conduct. so nerd, you don't have to yell fore before hitting someone in the head with a golf ball. >> this surgeon lost his career, tough luck, you play golf so that's the risk you took? >> you have to wonder if now he's doing a lecture series or using his credentials in some other manner. as a surgeon his career is ended, legally blind in one eye. >> oh, wow, crazy. >> ended the friendship though too, sad to hear as well. >> oh, man. i thought this was a funny story but it actually does have a little twist at the end here. this comes from the "star ledger," the big newspaper in north jersey here. about santa. apparently this woman has this big santa on her porch. neighbors complained, they said from 8:30 in the morning to 10:00, 11:00 at night, santa sings and waves, makes all this noise. this booming kind of voice. how about a song to get you in the holiday spirit. sings all day, makes all this noise. neighbors are like, can you turn it down? it gets annoying. 12, 13 hours a day. back on december 11th a cop came to her house, ticketed her for a noise violation. i can see that would be annoying. but again, there's always a story behind the story. this was the last gift that her husband gave to her before he passed away suddenly in 2007. the age of 44. from a massive stroke. they'd seen it together, she said no, too expensive, i can't afford it, surprised her with it later the year before he passed away. a very sentimental gift for her even though it's bothering her neighbors. kind of a mixed holiday story there. >> let's end it on a good note. this one actually has a good ending. a poor little puppy in malibu, california, basically got stuck 30 feet down a well. you can see the firefighters and the rescuers, they got there, they were able to fish the lucky dog out of the hole and the best part of this story, uninjured. >> you've got tears. >> i'm just choking. he was taken to the veterinarian just to make sure. there