not going to be kept private, obviously at this point and they're speaking out this morning. >> that's right. we've got new details on the confession from schwarzenegger that he fathered a child, a long time family staff member more than a decade ago. today's "new york times" reports the child is a boy, about 14 years old, and his mother is working in the schwarzenegger's home while she was pregnant. at the same time the paper says schwarzenegger's wife maria shriver was with the youngest four children. >> released a statement saying this is a painful and heartbreaking time. as a mother my concern is for the children. i ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and i try to rebuild our lives and heal. i will have no further comment. >> isolating herself appeared at the taping of oprah winfrey's farewell show in chicago. jessica yellen has been following the story and she talks about shriver's empowered woman who knows what she wants next. >> reporte . >> there's a lot of talk lately, once she announced the split, the youtube video where she looked emotionally raw and talked about transitions and the people close to her say this is who she is, planning to pursue a journalism activism career next step when she opens up and talks about raw emotions like this and this is what we should expect from her. >> the couple's 17-year-old son patrick opened up with this tweet, some days you feel like the s world, some days you want to quit and be normal for a bit. yet i love my family till death do us part. that signed patrick shriver, not schwarzenegger. >> leads us to the question of the day, what do you think of the way that arnold and maria have publicly handled the situation, as it relates to the kids? >> e-mail us, tweet us, go to our blog, find us on facebook. we'll be reading your comments later in the hour. >> the pressure is building on the head of the international monetary fund to step down after his arrest on charges of trying to rape a hotel made. >> dominique strauss-kahn remains in a new york jail cell where guards are taking extra precautions. deb feyerick is here with more on suicide watch we're told. may not necessarily mean he's trying to commit suicide. >> exactly. he's not suicidal per se. that's not why they did it. this is a precaution they take with high-profile people at rikers island. that's why officials did that. dominique strauss-kahn on a suicide watch. this is a precaution because this is a man when should be meeting with presidents, prime ministers, power brokers and he's alone, isolated. every 15 minutes, again, not necessarily because he's on suicide watch, that's just the way they do it in this way of rikers. he has received one visit. it's not clear whether it's the wi wife. >> there wasn't any aspect of this encounter which in any way could be construds as consensual or anything other than physical and sexual assault of this young woman. she's frightened, totally frightened. this is a person who assaulted her, raped her, and any television program she turns on, he's picture on it. she has to relive this. it's a nightmare that keeps recycling in her mind and she can't escape from it. >> what more are we learning about the alleged victim at the center of this case. >> she is a 32-year-old from guinea, has a 15-year-old daughter. been working legally at the sofitel for 2 1/2 years. her lawyer describes her as dignified, intelligence, no pretense, somebody who gets along well with her supervisors and co-workers. on the day of the alleged assault the housekeeper entered the suite around noon, thought it was empty, that's when dominique strauss-kahn supposedly shut the door and the alleged sexual assault took place. she's afraid to go home, to go to work, doesn't know what her future is. >> has she testified about this before a grand jury? >> she has not. her lawyer says she is ready to testify, willing to testify, and that this is sort of the first step. i also asked, why a private lawyer? why does somebody need a private lawyer when you have these prosecutors at the district attorney's office working with a specialized unit and he said that right now, he's just there to protect her, trying to get her through this ordeal, through this difficult time. you have to imagine the scrutiny is intense. she showed up at her home -- >> considering a civil suit? >> he wouldn't go that far. he wouldn't go that far yet. >> deb feyerick, thank you. more surgery for arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords, possibly as early as today. just days after giffords traveled from rehab in houston to the kennedy space center to see the space shuttle "endeavour" launch with her husband mark kelly in command. >> senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen spoke to the doctor who's going to perform this surgery. elizabeth joins us from atlanta right now. when we talk about this, is this almost the final piece of the puzzle in terms of her recovery when it comes to the actual brain injury? >> right. this surgery sort of marks the beginning of the end, if you will. i sat down exclusively with her neurosurgeon, named dr. don kim, and he is the chair of the department of neurosurgery at the university of texas. and he showed me something, very interesting. let's take a look. it's a model of a skull and there's a hole in it. that hole is the hole, as you can see right there, that they took out of her skull, because they wanted to leave room for swelling, and then what they do, if you see that blue piece on the table, that actually fits right into that hole. they screw it in with screws and plates. you can see it doing it right there. it is not her real bone. she's not going to get that back we're told. it's actually an implant. it's synthetic. that's often done in cases like this. it's sort of the beginning of a new stage of recovery. once someone has that piece of their skull back, they can possibly even leave rehab pretty quickly and go and do their rehab as an outpatient. >> and that's amazing. do we know anything else about further procedures she'll need and also what her psychological recovery is at this point? i mean in terms of her capabilities. >> dr. kim tells me often in these situations they have to do another procedure and it's called an internal shunt. here's what's going on. when people have an injury like hers, they often get something called hydro sef fa his, a buildup of fluid in the brain. and you can't walk around with that for long. that needs to go somewhere. the fluid has to go somewhere. so what they do is an internal shunt that's actually a tubing, that blue is tubing, that will go into her abdomen and the excess fluid will travel through that tubing and get dumped in her abdomen and she'll walk around with that for the people walk around with that for the rest of their life. when he does this to patients they sort of forget about it at a certain point. you mentioned psychologically, we're told she's doing very well, that she's very positive, and that is a huge, important part of recovery. the patient's attitude is really key. >> all right. we certainly wish her all the best. this is a big surgery not to be taken lightly, but hopefully as you said, the beginning of a new chapter for her. thanks, elizabeth. >> thanks. two doctors who evaluated jared lee loughner, the man accused of shooting gabrielle giffords, will not have to testify at a compe tennessee hearing next week. >> the prosecution and defense have agreed not to dispute the findings on whether loughner is mentally fit to stand trial. the 22-year-old charged with shooting six people and killing them, wounding 12 others, including giffords, in tucson back in january. oklahoma republican senator tom coburn is quitting the gang of six, the bipartisan group of senators working on deficit reduction. he says the discussions between the three democrats and three republicans have reached an impasse. >> that's right. the white house meantime hitting back at charges that the latest round of health care reform waivers are, quote, corrupt. conservatives take issue with the fact that nearly 20% of these waivers granted last month went to businesses and house minority leader nancy pelosi's district. the administration says it's been completely transparent about the process and that more than 90% of all waiver requests have been approved and these particular california businesses simply applied for a waiver to prevent premium increases or a loss of coverage. doctors now saying men should get the hpv vaccine too. the human pamplona virus is the sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer in women recommended for women under 26 years old. this vaccine. but researchers say it can also help prevent certain cancers in men and that boys should also be vaccinated. the fda approved the first hpv vaccine back in 2006. he is fast foods iron man. this is don gorske. i don't know if we should say congratulations or did you get a checkup lately. the 57-year-old wisconsin man ate his 25,000th big mac. he says he's had at least one a day for the past 39 years. and it takes him exactly 16 bites every time. he also keeps all of the -- oh, go gosh, boxes stacked in the basement. wonder if he dated back to when they were in styrofoam. >> i don't think that's their slogan anymore. >> he is eclectic. isn't overweight. always gets good cholesterol numbers. guinness recognized the feat three years ago, three years and 2,000 big macs ago. i can put away some, but 25,000. >> i like fast food but not to that degree. a quick check of the weather headlines, jacqui jeras in the extreme weather headlines, i bet she was once a quarter big mac consumer. >> i don't hate the big mac. is that the only thing he eats all day. he's this big. >> the fact that he saves the boxes in the basement, i guess that was in case guinness wanted to count. >> maybe. >> how much space would that take up, right? >> a lot. >> like the entire basement! speaking of basements, hate to use that as a transition, people are concerned about their basements in the northeast and mid-atlantic. residential areas that have flooding into the northeast as well as coastal flooding. we've got this area of low pressure that's been sitting there, guys, really since the weekend, and this thing just hasn't been budging. we're not going to see a lot of progress with it until later in the week. so in the meantime expect more heavy downpours. it's going to be periods of rain today. kind of on and off. you're definitely going to be needing that umbrella. flood watches and warnings are stacked up across much of the northeastern corridor. washington, d.c., philadelphia, new york city, and into western parts of massachusetts, all included here. so watch for that throughout the day today. use caution out there driving. the nation's midsection, starting to kick in with stormy conditions. we've got showers and thundershowers this morning from nebraska down into parts of missouri. we think these will fire back up again later this afternoon and a few of those storms could be severe and also the west coast still dealing with all that heavy snow into the sierra, that should be winding down by tomorrow, but really cold temperatures, guys. it's cold in the west, cold in the east, only the southern plains seeing those warm temperatures. it is not feeling like may. lots of record lows yesterday morning, probably see a few of those as well. >> all right. it's been raining cats and dogs around here. we sandbagged around our house. >> you did? >> my husband was hauling 500 pounds. i don't know if it will be enough. we have to see. it's been a tough time for, as we've seen across the country. meanwhile, in denver, about to dock at the international space station, not even two days ago, the hard work begins we'll give you the latest on that. >> sugar ray leonard, a new book out and he makes a stunning admission about being sexually abus abused when he was a young boxer. >> oprah winfrey, her fans lightning up for a seat at one of the final shows at the united center in chicago. a lot of people there and some pretty amazing tearful moments. we'll bring them to you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ alarm buzzing ] another victim of frequent flyer red tape. 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[ male announcer ] join rapid rewards and enjoy unlimited reward seats, no blackout dates, and no red tape. ♪ no blackout dates, and no red tape. we search, browse, and shop from anywhere. we live in a social world. isn't time we had a social currency to match? membership reward points from american express. use them to get the things you love on amazom.com. there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes. and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. now use the best suncare recommended most by dermatologists. neutrogena®, with technologies like helioplex... it provides the highest average spf and unsurpassed uva protection. neutrogena®. get the best. now to the epic flooding causing so much misery in the south. the coast guard now reopening a 15-mile stretch of the mississippi river near natchez, parts further south, though, are still closed here as this big water move downs the river. >> vital shipping channel as well, troublesome that had to be shut down, parts reopened. it's estimated more than 9,000 people in louisiana and mississippi have been forced from their homes in an effort to get away from these floodwaters. >> officials are warning everyone to watch out for snakes when they return to their flooded homes. i can't even look at these pictures. 23 different species, three venomous, displaced from their habitats by the floodwaters. officials are looki in ing -- s they are looking for some place dry. >> i know. as if it's not bad enough you're going back to your house, if you have a house to go back to, don't know how much damage, and then concerned about poisonous snakes. >> we heard last week about the some folks have taken drastic action to do that. outside the seawall, outside the levee protection, these are the folks that we've been talking to that for one reason or another, be it their house was built well before that flood protection was built or because that's where they lived their entire life, they are having to move to higher ground. there are 22 shelters ready to be opened in louisiana. not one has been opened yet. there hasn't been that much of a demand not because people haven't left but because this is the kind of state if you know you're going to be out of house for a couple weeks, you have friends, you have family, you call them up and you just move in with them. so the red cross is ready to go, as far as housing some of these people, but it's also kind of a wait and see attitude because this water is moving relatively slowly. they're kind of, you know, moving out slowly but surely. back to you. >> rob, thanks so much. right now the space shuttle "endeavour" is doing something it's never going to do again, right? docking for the last time with the international space station. this is a live feed from nasa. this is the 36th and next to last link up between a shuttle and the space station. there's another launch in july of the "atlantis"" i believe. nasa calls it the terminal initiation burn. the engine fire will propel "endeavour" into its final phase. the crew will install radio communication sal lights, a coolant tank, high pressure gas tank and spare arm for dexter, the station's two armed robot. the live picture there, is happening right now, history in the making here for "endeavour." >> closing the history books on this chapter. that's the sad part. some stunning revelations from boxing legend sugar ray leonard in his biography. according to an excerpt in t"th new york times" he claims he was sexually abuseded a a young fighter by a prominent olympic boxing coach. his book "the big fight my life in and out of the ring" will be published next month. a fight no one would have believed a generation ago. queen elizabeth ii laying a wreath at a monument to ireland's fallen. this morning we're wondering how queen elizabeth might take the news she's related to a pirate. "the daily mail" is reporting donnie depp is the queen's -- johnny depp is the queen's distant cousin. they share the same blood line that goes back to 15th century aristocr aristocrats. up next on "american morning," inside bernie madoff's liquor cabinet. would you like to buy a bottle of his fine wine. >> i never get this. who wants that. >> his logo bags. the government selling off every last piece of this guy's fake empire to pay back his victims. the madoff liquor cabinet is next. >> live from chicago, an inside look at the two final tapings of oprah. talk about an end of an era. thousands came out to bid the queen of daytime talk farewell. 23 minutes past the hour. what's this option? that's new. personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside. 26 minutes past the hour. minding your business this morning. treasury secretary tim geithner warning congress failing to raise the debt ceiling is simply, quote, not an option. speaking last night geithner said he is optimistic lawmakers will reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling and reign in deficits and spending. big oil keeps its tax breaks for now. the senate blocking a democratic measure that would have stripped oil companies of about $20 billion in tax subsidies over the next ten years. those savings would have been used to pay down the deficit. the white house calls the vote disappointing. here's your chance to get a bottle of alcohol from bernie madoff's collection. on-line bidding begins today on nearly 300 bottles of wine and liquor from his former mansion in palm beach, florida. all proceeds, of course, go to a fund for victims of his ponzi scheme. linked in about to become the first social network to go public, expected to be trading this week with a value of $4.3 billion. and if you're doing some spring cleaning, don't toss out the old flip flops. instead, take them to old navy. the retailer is collecting flip flops and recycling them into play ground equipment. you have until saturday. "american morning" will be back after the break. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. let's raise a glass to cookies just out of the oven. to the morning bowl of cereal. and to lactaid® milk. easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. 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