from, you have to drink a pint of guiness the moment you're born. >> absolutely. i think my momma might have had a 40 ounce or two. >> i'm glad it's all sorted out. >> thank you. >> no problem. good morning. what an agonizing wait right now for people in southern louisiana. after the army corps of engineers makes the difficult decision to open floodgates. some cities will be saved, others will not. a grammy winner, an oscar winner, a hall of famer, and me. who doesn't belong in this room?

i get carlos santana, morgan freeman, ernie banks in the same room and try to get them to stop selling themselves short. documenting a terrorist takedown. those s.e.a.l.s who went in after osama bin laden had high-tech cameras. we have new details for you. welcome to this "cnn sunday morning." i'm t.j. holmes. as always a special good morning to our military men and women watching us on the armed forces network. thank you for being here and thank you for what you do. we need to start with what's happening in louisiana, an intentional flooding that's taking place. look at this here, one floodgate is opened now at the morganza spillway. more gates could be opened later today. the whole point is to try to relieve some pressure on the swollen mississippi river. the army corps of engineers opened the spillway potentially flooding hundreds of homes in order to protect larger cities

like baton rouge and new orleans down river. listen to ed lavandera. >> you you can see the water gushing out the spillway. there are 125 gates. for now only one has been opened. officials say they will continue to open up more in the coming days. right now they're trying to slow down the process. you can see the water making its way into this area that was just a big grassy area. the reason they're doing it slowly is to give the wildlife and animals a chance to adjust to the vast amount of water that will be pouring through. just through the one gate the amount of water that is gushing through. >> two. so exactly how much water are we talking about here? by the end of this hour of "cnn sunday morning," some 269 million gallons will have flown through that spillway, heading down the floodplain in central

louisiana toward evacuated communities. >> right here in the boatland for the last four days in and out you have people coming, going to their camps getting everything they own because they won't have a camp left. >> we purchased the property because we love the river, it's been a part of our lives and if the river destroys property that's what has to be. >> keep in mind here, not all of the communities along the floodplain are going to be washed away here. a lot are protected by a system of levees to keep the high water from coming in. however, these are levees that have never been tested by this much water. rachel frost from affiliate wbrz reports this is leading to someage short moments. >> you'll probably have on the order of a couple feet of water. >> reporter: it's not expected to go near mary robillard's home but she's not taking chances. >> i have to have a flashlight,

life jacket, water, my pets, and a pistol. >> reporter: she'll take those things with her into the attic if the water rises. >> i live in the oldest house in morganza. it was built in about 1860. it survived the '27 flood. >> if you look at the history from 1927 if these levees and reservoirs and floodways had not been in there, there was an 80-mile width of water covering five states. >> reporter: that's why the army corps of engineers will monitor the levee and spillways for days to come. good morning to our buddy reynolds wolf this morning. we talk about this stuff on the way, the water on the way. >> right. >> it will take a few days to get to some of the communities. a tough wait. >> it's ridiculous. when we saw the images ed lavandera was showing through

us. that was a torrent going through. one gate and we're talking 280 million gallons? >> 269 million gallons. >> unbelievable. >> by the end of this hour that's how much. >> by the end of three days some people will be under 20, 25 feet of water. even though we have that water today, tomorrow, tuesday, roughly three days for the water to make its way to morgan city. it's preventative measure to make it go between the levee system, flooding an area of 3,000 square miles. we're going that measure, diverting the water so it will not flood baton rouge where we have a couple of i-reports, one of the best ways to share the story, show you the viewer contributions, jason prell, historic flooden even with the diversionary measure.

edwin g. robinson has never seen anything like this. you can see the water piling up, a never-ending stream, due to the heavy snowmelt. all streaming down the mississippi river and of course with that passing moving in between that area with all the levees it will be moving toward morgan city in the coming days. let's talk about the record flooding and the feet above flood stage. we check out the map on the screen, vicksburg major flooding, still expected to reach this point of 14.5 feet above major flood stage so yes this is going to be just insane. also may 22nd, red river landing, 16.5 above flood stage. baton rouge ten feet not quite as high and same story in new orleans, minor flooding. we'll be talking about the

national forecast coming up in a few moments, we'll get to that very soon. >> reynolds, appreciate it. president obama is headed to memphis tomorrow to see some of the flooding firsthand and scheduled to give the commencement address at a local high school that won the white house race to the top measure there. the president is expected to meet the families affected by the flooding in shelby county. they are eligible for aid from the government. another story from overnight a story with international implications here, the arrest of the head of the international monetary fund. dominick strauss-kahn was pulled off of a plane from new york to paris before takeoff, charged with a criminal sexual act and attempted rape of a maid at a luxury hotel where he was

staying. more about him and imf in a second. susan candiotti sets the stage. >> it was a saturday afternoon in the times square area of manhattan. the chambermaid had come into the room of dominick khan. she said he was completely naked when she walked in and the police said that he attempted to force himself on her sexually. she was able to break away. she ran to the hotel staff. when the police arrived on the scene mr. khan had already left the hotel. he was said to leave on an afternoon flight from new york stock exchange to paris, before they closed the door police went on board, they said he was seated in the first class section of the flight, of the pleen. he did not offer any resistance

but they did lead him off the plane and turn him over to the new york police department. you might not be familiar with his name, kahn, might not be that familiar with the imf. he's the head of the imf, the world savings and loan if you will, got about $360 billion to lend, gathered from nearly 300 member countries, the u.s., a member contributes around $70 billion to that fund. strauss-kahn is the head of the imf and been there since 2007 and considered a contender for the presidency in next year's election. that however was certainly before this incident. let's turn to egypt, more violence in that neighborhood of cairo involving cop tick christians. egyptian state tv reporting two people dead, 60 more hurt. this is a sit-in at the state tv

building, the group demanding greater rights for the religious minority when they were attacked by several men in plain clothes. he's a man atop the polls who republicans favor for next year, mike huckabee. he's going to take a pass. this is what he said last night on his fox news show. >> all the factors say go, but my heart says no. and that's the decision that i've made, and in it, i finally found some resolution. >> that's some of the factors say no, once some people say he's making money, doing pretty well. we have the poll up for you, doing in the recent cnn opinion research, the majority of supporters would turn to mitt romney or maybe even donald trump as the repace the

candidate. new developments not going to be helping relations between the u.s. and pakistan after the arrest of two muslim clerics in south florida. apparently the feds have funneled thousands and thousands to help terrorists abroad. e thi. now aveeno brings all five factors of radiance together with positively radiant spf 30. with active naturals soy, it's now proven to visibly transform all five factors of radiance; tone, texture, blotchiness, dullness and brown spots. so now the definition of radiant skin... you're looking at it. [ female announcer ] positively radiant. and try skin brightening daily scrub, only from aveeno. discover the power of active naturals.

12 minutes past the hour now. follow the money. that's what federal investigators said they did prior to the arrest of yesterday's arrest of two muslim clerics in south florida, both accused of funnels cash to pakistan taliban authorities. >> reporter: miami fbi agents swoop ed swooped in after morning prayers to arrest an imam at his mosque. hafize muhammad khan is acused

of sending $53 to the pakistani taliban. prosecutors show it is the tip of the iceberg. >> we'll show they transferred a lot more than $53,000 to pakistan for the specific purpose that is t reechds the pakistani taliban. >> reporter: also arrested two of khan's son. three more people are charged in pa pakistan, two of them are khan's relatives. the fbi and prosecutors say some of the money was sent to help buy gnds for the taliban and funding in islamic schools that the elder elam founded in pakistan allegedly used to shelter terrorists and to teach children to join the movement. >> it's important to note that we disrupted a funding it terrorist activity overseas. >> reporter: three years ago agents began tracking suspicious money transfers from miami to

pakistan, averaging from $1,000 to $10,000 each. the mosques themselves are not targeted. the president of one of the mosques is surprised by the allegations and condemned every possible wrongdoing. we'd like to know most do not support terrorism. this is a forbidden act in islam. >> a key question, who are the donors? for now investigators won't say. susan candiotti, cnn, new york. what is it that can bring together an oscar winner, a grammy winner, and a hall of famer all in the same room? well, we had them in all the same room last night, including that man, mr. ernie banks, a candid conversation with him, morgan freeman and carlos santana. hear from them in 90 seconds.

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aaron broke babe ruth's home run record. also mablgor league baseball hands out beacon awards for special achievements. some honorees, morgan freeman, carlos santana and ernie banks. all three got awards and i got to sit down with all three in the same room at the same time and of all they've accomplished in their careers it was hard to get them to admit that they've done anything. i'll start with you mr. banks. we were just sitting here, everybody was laughing and you said you've done nothing. >> what am i doing here. >> what do you mean? you've done nothing what are you talking about? >> i've been chasing to find out what can i do? >> i know what you mean. wait a minute? service to who?

>> we know you're getting beacon awards, i've got an oscar winner, grammy winner and hall of famer here. surely you all don't believe what you're saying. >> yes. >> let me ask you, do you feel that same sentiment? >> they're nothing, to everybody it's everything. most people who are from aerial view they don't necessarily trip on what they do. they do it by breathing. people around them, we understand just by them being alive they have brought a change, very vital, significant, most meaningful change. >> we have to write this down, carlos is a philosopher. >> mr. banks, a lot of people look at you as a trailblazer in baseball. for you at the time, were you simply a guy who wanted to play baseball and the other stuff

just came? >> that's right. and i played the game as if nobody was there but me. it's amazing, isn't it? >> it is. >> amazing. people went to the park. i didn't know that. i walked past my kids, i didn't recognize them. i was so enticed and focused on that game, huh? >> focused. >> focused on that game. it's amazing how it controlled my life. >> when you look back at it now, do you understand why some might view you as that trailblazer? do you understand it better as you got out of it and got older that wow! you were doing something special at the time and may not realize what you were in the midst of? >> i didn't realize that. somebody said you did this and that? what, hit a home run there? you did this and this? i didn't realize it. >> i'm sure you're aware the numbers of african-american players has been going down in

major league baseball, 8.5% this year. 10% last year, 90s it was around 18%. where is major league baseball facing in that regard. how do we get young african-american kids to be into baseball? >> it's difficult. they feel baseball is a white man's game so they change to basketball and football if they're big enough so it's a long, hard road to get more black kids playing baseball and i was talking to hank the other night about the atlanta braves. they only have one black player and he had to talk to the commissioner to see what can be done about this. we're all thinking about it and working on it but we're dumbfounded by where we go with this, the commissioner, major league baseball or who do we go to, to get some support to get more black kids playing baseball. >> i see you shaking your head?

how does major league baseball or the black community or the country suffer if we see fewer black players in baseball? >> i don't know. i was shaking my head and thinking about the cyclic nature of things. you said they're moving into other sports. basketball is a big draw. they're not disappearing. you look at any nba team what do you see? who dominates? so it's not like there's a loss. it's just a shift. >> we are just getting started this morning with these three. you will be hearing a whole lot more coming up next hour including, and they didn't mince words, talking about who was directly responsible for president obama being president of the united states. you don't want to miss that. also take a look at this picture, you remember this one? we saw this after we heard that

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25 minutes past the hour now. that mission to get bin laden in real time. we heard the president, his staff watch the whole thing as it all went down. here's one way they got to see it. some of the navy s.e.a.l.s that raided the compound were wearing helmet mounted digital cameras that recorded the mission. chris lawrence reports. >> reporter: take a look at this army training video, and the view from a helmet cam. now imagine it's pitch black in a confined space and you've got some idea of what the navy s.e.a.l.s' cameras were

recording. as this animation of the assault on bin laden's compound shows the s.e.a.l.s are in constant motion. the digital video is fast and violent. the s.e.a.l.s are moving their heads constantly so any glimpses of bin laden would be quick. the source says it's not like the s.e.a.l.s would be staring at any one thing for long. it's likely no one at the compound new they were being recorded. >> it would look like a pin dot on a piece of paper. >> reporter: chris has worn a version of a helmet cam and said it started out as a training tool. >> the feedback we got and could give to each other was immensely valuable so we said we're going to look into putting these on real situations and an operation like this being as huge as it is sirnl warranted these types of systems to be on the operators' bodies. >> reporter: whether the public

will see actual video from helmets like this is up in the air especially considering the need to protect how they operate and this air identities. >> they expressed a concern about that and with respect to their families. >> defense secretary robert gates says there's an effort under way to increase that layer of security around the s.e.a.l.s' identities and their families. as for the footage it helps the s.e.a.l.s remember what they saw in the heat of the moment and currently military refischels are reviewing it as part of the post mission analysis. chris lawrence, cnn, the pentagon. the hunt for osama bin laden spanned three terms or the terms of three presidents. why was the u.s. finally able to track him down? cnn investigating how the plan was conceived, planned and carried out. who were the architects of the

resounding success? "getting bin laden" 7:00 eastern time. we were telling you about the head of the imf plucked off of a plane in new york trying to leave for paris, now under arrest and charged with sexual assault. we'll head live to paris in three minutes. which provided for their every financial need. [ thunder rumbling ] [ thunder crashing ] and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. ♪ and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. kids today have superheroes that lift buildings. and superheroes that fly. but what if we could go to a place where real superheroes lived. ones who moved mountains. lifted an entire people. and taught the whole world how to fly.

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well at the bottom of the hour here on this smrngd. welcome back. i'm t.j. holmes. we've been telling but this story at the top of the hour that the head of the international monetary fund dominique strauss-kahn is under arrest on charges of attempted rape after a housekeeper claims she was attacked at a hotel in times square. you may not be familiar with the inf or his name in particular. we give you perspective from jim bittermann live in paris. hello to you. he was plucked off a plane in new york headed for paris. give our viewers perspective. this is the man many thought

could or would be the next president of france. >> reporter: absolutely, t.j. he was certainly the front-runner in the run-up to the elections that are going to take place in may of 2012. he has walked off of a plane ten minutes to take off from jfk and now sitting so we're told in the slammer in new york city. he's a very important person not only from the domestic political standpoint, he was also the director of the international monetary fund. he had big meetings in brussels this week over the big debt crisis. who knows what happens with that. as one person said they'll find out in the next few days, the police agenda doesn't move at the same speed as the political agenda. >> how is this being received, the news there in paris, around france? >> reporter: well, on the political side it's just a

bombshell, nothing short of, there's very little to compare it to because there's never been anything quite like that happen on the political front. he was the front-runner by far and able to in the opinion polls beat president sarkozy in a run-up to the 2012 collections. some of his leagues, also competitors on the left we're going to withhold judgment but the hefd the socialist party was astounded at this and et cetera a thunder bolt out of the blue. one of his opponents or competitors in 2007 f royale said she was staggered by all of this. one person who didn't was the leader of the far right party, marine lapenne and she said quite clearly she wasn't that surprised because of the rumors that surrounded mr. strauss-kahn, in 2008 more than

just a rumor he was accused of sexual harassment for his affair with one of his subordinates at the international monetary fund. he was later cleared but he had to apologize to the imf and on kind of a probation. >> you talked about his personal life, his issues and what about his personal life now. is he married right now? >> reporter: he is march rid, has four children and his wife, ann sinclair is a high profile person, on television and after the 2008 affair she was sticking by him and they had turned the page and moved on. as an open question as to whether she'll have the same attitude this time around. >> jim fitter man on a story with international amp indications. thanks so much. country music superstars are rallying for storm systems in

the south. robin meade co-hosted a concert and they he will on this to raise funds for disaster relief. we'll check in, in a moment. to those who'd climb mountains or sail across seas for the perfect vanilla or honey from bees. to the lovers of orchards where simple is grown, who treat every bite as a world of its own. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real from we who believe we know just how you feel. haagen-dazs. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans.

that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. 35 minutes past the hour. we bring reynolds wolf back in, keeping an eye on the flood er. more flood gates could be opene. no more rain to deal with, right? >> you're right. it's the opposite. a dry spell for much of the gulf coast which is exactly what they need. something else to keep in mind this is a slow-moving process. it's not like a quick strike like a tornado, it will take a while, three days to get to morgan city? >> is there an upside or downside? it gives them more time to get ready or is there a downside to

do it this way and all it picks up along the way. >> it's like standing at the bottom of a mountain and looking at a high peak and seeing everything in slow motion. this will sound very crude, this area is supposed to be dealing with flooding. thousands upon thousands they've been flooding in this part of the world, now you've got 25,000 call that area home, it will be under possibly 20 feet of water in some places. the weather will cooperate today at least. the bad thing you've got the gladwaters moving through that part of the world. heavy rain across the world in parts of south florida. strong thunderstorms, heavy rain parts of i-75 and i-4. two parts of the northeast, heavy rain from pittsburgh, back over to new york, washington, d.c., and philadelphia. to the west, combination of rain

in the san joaquin valley, up to the foot of snow in the 8,000 mix of sierra nevada. across the nation in 81 degrees for houston later this afternoon, atlanta 68 degrees, new york with 70 degrees and miami with 87, so as far as the flood zone is concerned, awful news in terms of what's coming but we're not adding to it with more rainfall. >> that's something at least. reynolds we appreciate it. thousands of people as many as seven states still in limbo after deadly tornado slammed the south last month, left behind the path of destruction. they need help, so country music's finest came together to raise money for the efforts, the event co-hosted by hln anchor robin meade. >> by the time you're watching, this the stage is coming down at

the grand ole opry house for the special, the telethon that ran on cmt. it's hard to imagine this entire special for all of your fellow viewers who were affected by the recent storms and the flooding came together in seven days. hank williams jr. had a huge part in that, apparently he made the first call and here's what he said about it. >> i've got to do something but don't want to do a benefit in a football stadium. we need to raise a lot of money. i never know it was going to turn into this and people had really helped this happen. >> seven days. that was some of the reasoning hank williams made the call. it's interesting to listen to sarah evans who now lives in alabama and she walked through some of the devastation. >> it's one thing to see it on television, but it's an entirely different thing to go and witness it all in person.

it's heartstopping and you just oh my gosh, i can't believe this actually happened but it really did happen to alabama and like i said just being there and it's devastating. i feel so bad for the people and praying day and night for comfort for them in any way. >> we're going to be running on hln, re-air the telethon sunday night, account p.m. eastern. the need doesn't go away. telethons end but the need is still there. the red cross is still planning the phones because they need so much to help all the people who are at a loss of what to do now because of storms and flooding. so that's at 9:00 p.m. eastern. i'm going to take you behind the scenes so you can see how the telethon came together. that's going to be after the telethon on sunday night. the bottom line it's all about helping your fellow viewers. even now if you want to call

1-800-red-cross you can. >> thanks to robin meade and thanks to a woman out in barack obama helping out in our own way and using social media to do so. patty boullian. starts to connect items with owners. president obama, people questioning where he was born. some say he was born in kenya, not true. he was born in hawaii. now he's an irish man? if the president admitted he had irish roots, reportedly planning a visit later this month. the village has gone wild! takea with fruit juice. what? yeah, it's on the label. really? here, there's nothing about juice on the zyrtec® label. what? labels are meant to be read. i'd be lost without you. i knew you weren't allergic to me.

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43 minutes past the hour. i bring in nadia bilchik. don't start a new controversy. we just got past this with the president and birth certificate and donald trump and he was born in hawaii. now you're going to throw ireland into the mix? >> let's hear from the president himself about his irish ancestry. >> okay. >> in ireland where my great, great, great, great, great grandfather came from so i'm looking forward to going there and having a pint. >> his great, great, great, great, great grandfather came from ireland and the 17th of march, st. patrick's day, the day they say everybody's irish on st. paddy's day. president obama said i am coming to ireland before i go to england on the group of eight summit.

apparently monday he's going to be visiting the island. the great, great, great grandfather are so excited they wrote a song for him and you have to hear this, it will put you in a great morning mood. let's hear "tip cough" with their obama song. ♪ come on barack obama, in washington and new york and california, too ♪ ♪ now you are the president and the white house ♪ ♪ now you are the president in the white house you are resident ♪ don't you love it? there is cornelius, in the white house you are resident. it's called "tipped off." yesterday i spoke to cornelius ryan and he said i was watching the video of obama's grandmother in kenya.

he need to celebrate his irish ancestry. what's beautiful if you go to tipoff.com the money from the song goes to an orphanage in kenya. >> did they know this before or was it when he made that admission? >> only when he made the admission and they discussed it, they were so discussed it he came from moneygall, there are obama busts in moneygall and i'm so hoping he visited the prime minister, he takes the half-hour helicopter ride to moneygall. i hope so. they want him to hear the song. >> i wonder if he's heard it already. we'll play it again this morning. nadia, thank you so much. we'll turn to some politics. mike huckabee is out before he even got in. newt gingrich and ron paul said

they are in, talking about the republican presidential field for 2012 may be starting to take shape. other gop contenders, deputy political director paul steinhauser has that and more. >> rahm emanuel and congressman sworn in as chicago's new mayor. monday newt gingrich kicks off a 17 city and town tour of iowa. he just announced aify days ago he's running for the republican presidential nomination. it's a week of raising money. former massachusetts governor myth romney mans it in las vegas and the man they want to beat, president barack obama had a fund-raiser in bonston for his re-election campaign. jon huntsman looks more and more like a presidential candidate this week, he meets

and greets voters in new hampshire thursday and friday. the state holds the first primary on the presidential calendar. thursday donald trump is in south carolina. he'll decide by june if he'll run for the white house. t.j.? >> thanks to our paul steinhaus steinhauser. we're 12 minutes to the top of the hour. this weekend major league baseball is celebrating baseball's pioneers. among them, hammerin' hank, the home run king, some will tell you is still home run hank, the game's future and why he's not so optimistic. but think about it. how can you make one of the most amazing phones the world has ever seen even more amazing? make it $49. yep. that'll work. the iphone 3gs. now at a price that changes everything, too.

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major league baseball having its fifth annual civil rights game today and it's happening in our backyard and the backyard of one of baseball's greatest stars, hank aaron. got a chance to sit down with him this weekend, certainly had to talk a little baseball but there is so much more to him and to his legacy than just baseball. talked to him about the change from this day to today.

the election of a black president in this country. >> uhm him. >> compare that if you can, if you will to jackie reasoninson breaking into major league baseball and what you did in major league baseball as far as your chase history. how do they compare when it comes to those types of events being catalysts for change in this country? we might not know until later what the election of barack obama did for the country but as far as catalysts for change how would you compare the two? >> it's a whole lot different than what president obama is up against now. you know, the change in fact him being president of the united states, i don't know how i could compare that to anything other than to say that if dr. king

were living today he would have said well done, son, we've made a tremendous change, moved in the right direction. >> you said riding on the shoulders of dr. king, jackie robinson. a lot of people would put you in that same vein of jackie robinson, martin luther king jr., ambassador young and others. you still hold those guys to a higher esteem. i do. i told them much higher than i do. they were great in more ways than one. not only because of what they stood for but what they stood for to bring to the civil rights table for other blacks to chew on and ride on. >> what is the state of baseball these days? how is it doing today? is it its popularity waning at all? >> it could be a lot better. we don't have as many african-americans playing baseball as we used to have.

any time we have an economic struggle in this country, we, we, the blacks, are going to feel the pinch quicker than anybody and baseball is a very expensive game. >> kids can turn on tv and see that immediate, instant fame or whatnot from basketball or football. >> i don't believe baseball has sold itself as much in the black area as it should have. somehow football was done a terrific job and basketball another terrific job and selling its sports in the areas. you look at it deep enough if that young kid who is 7, 10, 12 years ago, growing up, wants to play baseball and by the time he gets it to 18 where he can get to college, here comes the football coach. the football coach says we have a four-year scholarship and looking somewhere else because we have not made the progress in baseball that we needed to make,

that black kit can look up and say hank aaron is part owner of a ball club. baseball has owners and this black kid and the black mother, father can look out and see that that kid, if he makes it, he's got a chance to go on to greater things. >> you're going to be hearing more from my conversation with hank aaron, find out who helped him achieve his success. a reminder, you'll hear from them again. morgan freeman, carlos santana, and also earn knee banks. you'll hear from them. coming up a single mother fighting to keep her home. she got so desperate she even asked the president for help. in two and a half minutes, find out what she's doing next.

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owing more on a home than it's actually worth. unfortunately that has been a reoccurring nightmare for homeowners the past few years, not ending any time soon but as

sandra endo reports, there are a few reasons to be optimistic. >> reporter: this is what nancy loguen is fighting for, a big backyard and a room to read in with her daughter, carly. the place in northern virginia they've called home for 12 years. >> i owe more on the house than it's worth so that's my situation. it's kind of scary and stressful to have the financial pressure. >> reporter: logan found out her job is being eliminated and mortgage is going up $1,000 a month in january after her loan modification terms expire. three years ago she had to be inventive just to get her lender to hear her out. >> i sent a picture of my daughter and i to the mortgage company in front of the house and said we're not just a loan number. please help me because i wasn't getting any response. >> reporter: this time she took her plight to president obama asking for his help at a cbs news town hall forum.

>> do you have any plans to help improving the housing market so hard working americans like myself don't lose their homes. >> we've got more work to do, to expand the program to reach more people. >> reporter: thlz are underwater in their properties. a new survey from zillo.com shows first quarter home prices declined 3%, the sharpe esest d since 2008. the administration helped grant nearly 4 million loan modifications but admits the market remains fragile. >> there are encouraging signs and also signs of caution. we've got accelerating job growth and that should help the housing market lift. the issue is that there was so much damage done in the crisis. >> reporter: some housing experts are trying to look at the silver lining. >> the decline that is occurring

at the moment is in the single digits. this is not a major decline and in some markets based upon the local economy the prices are firming up. >> reporter: optimism logan is hanging on to. >> i'm hopeful. i am a survivor. >> reporter: sandra endo, virginia. good morning. they have made the difficult decision to open the floodgates. this was yesterday the army corps of engineers making that decision. more could be opened today. some cities will now be saved but others won't. also a grammy winter, an oscar winner and hall of famer and me. who doesn't belong in this picture? morgan freeman, ernie banks, carlos santana spending some time from me and hear what they say is directly responsible for

president obama being in the white house. welcome to you all, top of the hour here on this "american morning." i'm t.j. holmes. we start with intentional flooding in louisiana. one flood gate is opened on the morganza spillway. the whole purpose is to try to relieve pressure on that swollen mississippi river. army corps of engineers opened that spillway to save baton rouge and new orleans by diverting a lot of the water. in doing so it's going to head towards other low-lying areas in louisiana, and possibility flood hundreds and hundreds of homes. >> when you have an evacuation order from a local elected official or local armed enforcement official you need to understand what's important to you, pack up a few important things, get your family and heed their advice. >> those pictures of that water gushing out, exactly, it's hard

to get a good idea of how much water we're taunging about here. by the end of this hour, $269 million gallons will flow through there. how much is that? sounds like a lot. here's perspective for you. the water flowing out of that one gate is half of what's flowing over niagara falls right now. if they opened all the gates that spillway will generate the same flow in one hour that my rag rah falls does all day long. you get that? all of this headed down the flood plain in central louisiana towards evacuate the communities. >> right here the boat i've been using for the last four days in and out, people going to their camps getting everything they own because they probably won't have a camp yet. >> we love the river. it's always been a part of our lives and if the river destroys

property, then that's what has to be. >> this is heartbreaking reynolds and the decision they have to make, the army corps of engineers. i understand as well folks who have lived in those areas where that water is headed get a heads up every near. they know it's a possibility. >> you're right, a difficult decision to make. cutting off your thumb to save your hand. there are no winners. some more fortunate than others. let's go to the map. it's a very frightening thing to see but despite all the water moving out of the morganza floodgates it's amazing how long it will take to get to the city. it will take it a way to get through here late sunday, midway by monday and tuesday the water

should be approaching morganza city. when you have the level yee systems, many have been untested. they'll be tested over the next several days no question about that. although some 3,000 square miles in homes, some 25,000 people, 11,000 structures, a lot of it as much as 25 feet of water in some spots, lower flood issues along parts of the mississippi river, including baton rouge. the feed above flood stage, vicksburg 14.5 feet above major flood stage as of may 19th. baston rouge 10 feet due in part because of the rerouting, water moving off far to the west and in new orleans minor flooding because of the measure being

made today. certainly frustrating. the weather will cooperate, not expecting heavy precipitation in parts of the mississippi delta. >> we appreciate you as always. we'll check in with renold throughout the morning. five past the hour. president obama headed to memphis tomorrow, we'll some of the flooding firsthand and expected to give a commencement address at a high school that won a competition. new details about the arrest of the head of the international monetary fund. you might not be that familiar, but this is sig tanificansignif dominique strauss-kahn, in new york city in his hotel room

accused of attempting to rape a maid who was there to clean his times square hotel room. he was then pulled off of a plane, he was headed from new york to pouris moments before it took off. they did get him off that many. he's under arrest. in france he is considered the front-runner or was considered the front-runner for next year's french presidential election. also he was supposed to meet with chancellor merical as well. he is married, has four children, investigated by the imf for an alleged affair with a sbard national in 2008, called that an ear roar in judgment at the time. we'll be checking in life from paris in the next hour. violence in an cairo, involving coptic christians. at least two people are dead, 60 more hurt, the violence adopted

during a pro-coptic sit-in. the group was demanding greater rights when we were attacked by men in plain clothes. mike huckabee says he is not running despite the fact he is at the top of the number of polls, he made the announcement on the fox news show. >> all the factors say go but my heart says no and that's the decision that i have made it and in it i finally found some resolution. also, this morning, got some new photos of pop star michael jackson to show you. these are from 33 years ago. michael jackson was 19 years old at the time, the pictures taken by rege demand garcia, an inventor now selling the 130

previously unpublished photo to launch an electric motor he claims generates more electricity than it used. >> also the devastating tornado, one woman started a facebook page for people to reclaim photos and other keepsakes founds hundreds of miles away. ♪ intellichoice proclaims that lexus has the best overall value of any brand. ♪ and j.d. power and associates ranks lexus the highest in customer satisfaction. no wonder more people have chosen lexus over any other luxury brand 11 years in a row. see your lexus dealer.

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12 minutes past the hour now. after the devastating southern tornadoes an alabama woman found photos that had blown into her yard from hundreds of miles away. she just had to down the owners and get them back to the owners. she started a facebook page and so far it has been an overwhelming success. take a listen. >> we're very fortunate in our home. it went over but we didn't have any damage. when i went outside there was an ultrasound picture laying in the yard and my children and a husband found six or seven pictures and doesn't imagine holding on to the preciousing you tra sound picture and not finding a way to get it back to its owner? >> were you able to. >> we have possibly made an identification on it. a lot of the storm survivors

don't have permanent homes, spotty getting on the internet. i have had a lady contact me to say it's hers but hasn't made complete contact there. >> we'll see if it ends up being the right person. we'd love to follow up about that. also what else stands out to you? what are one or two that really jumped out at you? >> actually one that really jumped out at me belonged to a church in smithfield, mississippi, a little over 150 miles away, a deacons slip, it had a place to write in where you wanted to nam nate and posted it on the facebook page, and minutes it was from the smithfield baptist church. it's going back down to there. a little bit of history they

didn't have. >> it was a prom picture do i have that right? >> yes there was a prom picture. a friend of mine returned that one, the first one posted on the facebook page that i didn't personally post, she lives down the road from us and that has a swing twist. my uncle found a child's work book page writing about a hat. belongs to the same little girl, belongs in college now but did this in the third grade. >> can you estimate you have been able to return? >> around the 1,000 mark. a couple days ago a little over 500. it's amazing how fast they've been claimed. i post i'd, i posted a picture and when they're finding out

about it, they're searching it, on two or three times looking for new knick turs that might be there. >> what is the name of the site. how can they find it? >> it is just simply pictures and documents found after the april 27th 2 tornadoed. i wanted to name it exactly what it was so it wasn't hard to find. >> how far away? you described bun from a church but how many items are you finding not just from up the street or around the block or across the town? >> the majority of items claimed are over 100 miles away. a lady claimed a picture from a little over 300 miles away. that's amazing. >> ma'am you decided to take it upon yourself to do this and i'm sure patty appreciate it. patty pool withian i'll post it out here and send it to folks on

twit enand facebook. good to see you. >> thank you very much. you might remember a couple weeks ago, i told you that commercial airline pilots have the most stressful job out there. newscasters number five but i'm cool this morning. careercast has come out with a list of the least stressful jobs. wu would you believe dental hygienist number five, number four, computer programmer.

18 minutes past the hour. career cast with their list of least stressful jobs. dental hygienist, computer programmer and software engineers not stressed. dietitians not stressed and number one on the list, audiologists. these are the people who diagnose and treat hearing problems. expect an income around d$63,00 a year. a $2 million research project focusing on student nutrition coming under fire in texas, a calorie camera. it snaps the picture of a lunch tray and the computer analyzes what the student eats. critics say the money would be better spent on improving teacher salaries. the school will vote on the calorie cam later this month. we want the best for our kids

but parents can't be everywhere at all times. it's a good idea to teach children more than just how to kyle 911. here is elizabeth cohen. >> if there were an emergency in your house would your child know how to jump into action? we don't think of kids as being emts but they can learn how to handle emergencies when they're quite young. tristan was outside with his it 2-year-old sister, brooke, when she fell into the pool. the adults ran to call 911 and tristan started doing cpr and got her breathing again. how did he know cpr? his parents had taught him. teach your child what to do in these five emergencies. let's look at choking. teach your child about blows to the back and thrusts. in case of bleeding teach them to apply pressure.

if someone is dying drowning, how to keep them afloat and the basics of cpr. for all of the basics go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient. there are videos there you can watch with your child. for "empowered patient" i'm elizabeth cohen. boy, i'm glad we got aflac huh. aflac! oh, i've just got major medical... major medical. ...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! [ quack ] oh yeah? what about your family? ♪ we added aflac, so we get cash! it's like our safety net... ♪ to help with the mortgage or whatever we need! so my family doesn't feel the pain too. ha! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!!

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23 minutes past the hour. major league baseball celebrating this weekend, celebrating civil rights, including here in atlanta, honoring the past and looking ahead to the future. there was a youth summit yesterday, today they're playing the fifth annual civil rights

game between the philadelphia phillies and as part of the celebrations major league celebrations are handing out the beacon awards. among the recipients, morgan freeman, carlos santana and ernie banks. i was able to get all three of the guys in the same room. listen to them as we talk about a pair of historic firsts. mr. banks could you imagine, there was a time you couldn't imagine there being a black player in major league baseball. now there's a black president. what was your thought? >> it was you know very unique. i didn't ever think it was going to be a black manager or black general manager and jackie said this 1972, he said he felt that baseball had to reach this pinnacle, unless you see a black man standing on that third base

coaching so it begins with him, back with him. jackie was really a pioneer. i think he is responsible for barack obama being the president of the united states, going way back then, before the civil rights movement. jackie was a person who lived up to all of that and helped change that superiority and inferiority to -- >> more of an equality. >> what? >> more of an equality. >> that was a profound statement. jackie robinson is responsible for barack obama being in the white house? you think people forget that sometimes and put it in the category because it was sports? >> it's a long string, but every now and then somebody comes along connects both ends so they can see it clearly again. i don't know if we forget it. >> we're not done with these

legends this morning. a lot more of my conversation with them next hour talking about civil rights struggle, immigration as well and with the word minority, what it really means in this country. you will hear that next hour. yesterday a well respected financier in line for the french presidency. today he's behind bars in new york. so folks, for tomorrow's weather, it's gonna be unseasonably cold on both coasts. blazing hot in the center of the country and on this island. jack! it doesn't matter what the weatherman says if you have a symmetrical all-wheel drive subaru

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the head of the international monetary fund under arrest on charges including attempting or attempted rape. 62-year-old dock neek strauss-kahn was pulled off an air france flight just before he left jfk after a hotel maid claims he sexually assaulted her. the imf is reserving comment at this point. let's try this again nasa giving a thumbs up for the launch of "endeavour." the april 29th date launch was scrubbed. mark kelly's wife, gabrielle giffords, is expected to watch from the thousands at the