new details of the child sex abuse scandal at syracuse. one of bernie fine's accusers taking him to court after the d.a. says no criminal charges will be filed. occupy san francisco raided, tents torn down, dozens hauled away, camps cleared out of every major city on the west coast and payback plan today. ex-press, proud papa, bill clinton sit downs with alina cho and talks about chelsea's evolution from first daughter to scholar to reporter. this is your "am: wakeup call."

and good morning to you. this is your "am: wakeup call" for thursday, december 8th. from the time warner center in new york, i'm carol costello. here are the top stories. one of bernie fine's accusers is expected to announce he's filing a lawsuit in civil court. zam tom selly accused the former basketball coach of sexually abusing him in a pittsburgh hotel room in 2002. the fda hearing evidence about whether the birth control pill is dangerous. the government looking at side effects including claims about an increased risk of blood clots. there are allegations the drugmaker bayer hid evident of risk. heavy rain and wet snow coming down in the eastern united states. check on your flights to. let's get a check on today's weather. jacqui jeras is in atlanta. good morning, jacqui. >> good morning, carol. the good news is, things are looking a lot better in about five hours. so as we progress throughout the

day things will be improving but it will be a slow go of it. the radar picture, we're looking at about prove dense towards boston and northward, the rain and a little freezing mix and the snow into the interior parts of the northeast. dried up in new york city. d.c., things are looking better. you're dealing which the cold conditions. five to nine inches total, the heaviest snowfall accumulations and, of course, i-95 eastward, everybody dealing with some of that rainfall. and we've got a secondary cold front which is making its way behind this thing. that means a reinforcing shot of cold air, just what you wanted to hear, right? 37 today in chicago, 21 in minneapolis and the 40s in the northeast, carol, that's pretty much where you are right now. the temperatures will be falling this afternoon. >> well, i knew reality would hit sooner or later. >> this has been a long time coming. >> it has. thank you, jacqui. >> sure. just hours after the d.a. announced he will not charge

ex-syracuse basketball coach bernie fine for alleged sex abuse of young boys one of his accusers is expected to announce he is filing a lawsuit in civil court. zach tomaselli has accused fine of sexually abusing him in a hotel room in 2002. tomaselli, 13 at the time of the alleged incident, is expected to speak at a news conference later today. yesterday, prosecutors said bernie fine cannot be charged in criminal court only because the statute of limitations in new york state has run out, not because there isn't enough evidence. the d.a. spoke to our gary tuchman in an interview and said an au pare in the fine household had no doubt something was going on between fine and his first accuser bobby davis. >> did your impression that au pair is convinced that bernie fine had a sexual relationship with bobby davis while at the snous. >> no question. she didn't witness any molestation, but clearly body

language, affect, wait they talked to each other, the way they acted around each other, the conversations she had with lori fine, no question that -- >> for example, when it came to bernie, what did she say about the way bernie fine acted that made her know they were having a sexual -- >> the way they would do things, watch it tv, the way they would suddenly disappear together. >> and what did lori fine say to her? >> lori fine had numerous conversations with her, and the gist of the conversations were, i don't have the right parts for bernie. clearly indicating and you recognize the hearsay implications of this, but clearly recognizing that lori fine was of the opinion that bernie fine was gay and they were leading two separate lives under the same house. >> the au pair that worked there said lori fine talked to her, a 16-year-old girl, about how she didn't have the parts for her husband? >> it was difficult to listen to, but that's exactly right.

>> in the meantime jerry sandusky could be let out of jail again today. excuse me. police arrested the ex-penn state coach yesterday on sexual assault charges involving two new accusers, one who says his cries for help were ignored. sandusky faces a preliminary hearing on tuesday where his lawyer will have the chance to question some of his accusers. florida a&m band director julien white will keep his job for now. the school is holding off on a decision to fire him until an investigation is completed into the suspected hazing death of drum major robert champion. white is now on administrative leave with pay. the school is also taking back the dismissals of four students. investigators in georgia say a suspected child killer is off the streets this morning. 20-year-old ryan brunn will be arraigned on charges he sexually assaulted, stabbed and beat a 7-year-old girl to death. investigators say he's a maintenance worker at an apartment complex where jorelys

rivera lived and apparently was killed 40 miles north of atlanta. her body was found nearby in a trash bin. investigators had suspected her killer either lived in or had access to the building and they had good reason for that. holley firfer has been covering the story and joined erin burnett last night with new detailsp. >> it was a tip from somebody in the apartment complex that actually led them to ryan brunn. now remember back on friday when they started canvassing the apartment, law enforcement told us they were focusing on somebody they thought who lived or had access to the apartment complex. a couple of things which transpired when they found out on monday where they found her body in a trash compacter. first of all you need a key to use the trash compangtser. the only people that had keys were maintenance people. secondly, there was evidence, blood and a mattress found in an empty apartment building next door to where jorelys lived.

who would know about that, somebody who lived there or had access to the apartments. they canvassed the neighborhood, asked residents for anything they saw and someone came forward and said there was a maintenance guy that started about a month ago. he start on november 7th. he supposedly was living in the apartment complex with somebody else. we're told by a neighbor, the property manager's son. and that he was very friendly, he was seen around, but they didn't really know him that well. so when gbi and the fbi and the sheriff's department were asking around, a lot of people were mentioning this guy, ryan brunn, so his name kept coming you. >> when you're saying he's only worked there a month, it's possible people really didn't have a sense of whether he appeared to be off or looking at children or behaving around children inappropriately. do you know whether he had to go through any kind of a background check before he was hired? >> yes. as a matter of fact, moments ago, we got a statement i want to read to you from the company that manages the apartment complex where jorelys rivera was killed. it says, quote, he was put

through an extensive background check that included a criminal and sexual predator background check and he passed. he had to undergo this for both his employment and residency. and according to law enforcement officials, they did not find any criminal record in his past, but they do say they're going to check out every county, every state he's lived to see if there are unsolved crimes or whether maybe it was a sexual crime that wasn't reported. but they suspect there might be something in his past that they just didn't know about. >> investigators say they're now digging through brunn's past to see if he could be connected to other crimes but the suspect's brother told a local tv station his arrest is a big mistake. a deadly chopper crash 30 miles from the las vegas strip. the national park service says five people died when the helicopter went down in the mountains near lake mead during a tour of the hoover dam. sundance helicopters owned the chopper. wall street protesters in san francisco reeling after police took apart their camp and

arrested dozens of people. protesters were warned several times to pick up their tents and leave over the past several weeks. authorities took down over 100 tents and were removing shopping carts full of debris from the camp. former illinois governor rod blagojevich sentenced to 14 years for trying to sell president obama's old senate seat. blagojevich said he was sorry in court yesterday, but the judge said that his apology sounded more like one, a politician or lawyer would give. former president bill clinton had a very active and charitable post-presidency. the only person with more on her plate may be his daughter. alina cho sat down with clinton as part of her big stars, big giving holiday special. clinton talks about how chelsea has really hit her stride. >> chelsea, be she's taking an increasingly public role. not just with your foundation, with secretary clinton as well, and now she's at nbc. how does that feel? >> i'm proud of her.

i don't know how she's going to do all this. she's teaching at columbia, still involved with nyu where she worked to help them set up their university in the middle east and she's the chairman of the board of the biggest interfaith group co-headed by a rabbi and immam and doing this tv thing and thinking about writing a thesis to get a ph.d. at -- from her old alma mater oxford. i'm really proud of her because she's found her rhythm in life. she likes what she's doing. she believes in it. and that's a good thing. that's what we all want for our children. >> we'll have more of alina's sit down with president clinton throughout the morning on "american morning" that starts at 6:00 eastern time. still to come, set to be a wet and snowy morning along the east coast. we're tracking this latest wintry storm. and controversy over the morning after pill. who should have access to it. we'll tell you who had the final word on this debate.

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14 minutes past the hour. here's what we're following this morning. one of the alleged sex abuse victims of bernie fine is expected to announce he's filing a lawsuit against the former coach today. zach tomaselli claims fine molested him in 2002. as far as criminal charges go, fine is in the clear. the local d.a. says the statute of limitations has run out. the morning after pill will stay prescription only for girls 16 and under. the secretary of health and human services overruled an fda recommendation blocking plan b emergency contraception from being made available over the counter to young teens.

right now it's available without a prescription for women 17 and older. in money news, yahoo! awarded $610 million in damages for a lottery scam run by thai and nigerian swindellers. they say they used ya who's logo to dupe people. they stole passwords and other information. ya who may not see the millions because none of the defendants have responded to the complaint. in sports, baseball's big spender. the miami marlins dishing out millions. the club committing nearly $200 million to sign on mark buehrle, jose reyes and health bell and have a big offer to one more player. that is insane, jacqui. >> that would field my whole team. >> it's insane. nobody goes to see their games, so this is their big pitch as they come out, we have stars. >> people like baseball in florida. think of the people that go

there for spring break and spring training. >> but they don't go to the pro games, they don't go to tampa either. >> maybe this will do it. >> maybe. >> perhaps. baseball seems so far off, doesn't it? >> man, it's cold out there. boys of summer. i'm daydreaming. we're looking at the strong storm system, carol, continues to move across the northeast. we're really just looking primarily at new england for the rain and snow yet this morning. it's from boston on northward. everybody should be done by noon. unfortunately, we're starting out of the gate this morning with likely travel delays because we've got overcast conditions and the winds are really strong. so major delays over an hour possible new york, boston, philadelphia. delays probably under an hour in chicago, detroit and miami, there's your florida city, with some breezy winds expected there as well. but i think those will be pretty minor throughout the day today. outside of our feature in the northeast it's pretty quiet today. a clipper moving through the upper midwest that will bring

some light snow showers from omaha to des moines but bring in cold air more than anything else. this cold air will stick around until the weekend. >> i guess it will feel more like christmas. >> get out the if youy coats and boots. >> enjoy that. >> i missed the 61 degree temperatures. >> already. >> it's gone. >> thank you, jacqui. >> you're welcome. >> shamed and disowned by her family, now a bollywood actress plans to sue a men's magazine in india for using allegedly doctored photos of her in a racy cover photo. here's actress veen mallic posting for fhm magazine with a tattoo on her arm with the initials isi, stands for pakistan's interservices intelligence agency. she says she did pose topless, but certainly not nude. >> were you topless? >> si. actually i was, but i was not nude.

there's a big difference between topless and being nude. you will see various shoots in the industry that actresses went topless but they were covered like the way i was. there are various examples. i did not go nude. si. >> you had bottoms on? >> bottoms on, i had. and they removed those bottoms by, you know, getting morphed or removed or whatever the technology used. >> fhm says malik new the terms and approved the shoot. pakistan, outraged by the photos. reza sayah has the live in islamabad. such a scandal there in a different way than in the united states. >> yeah. and you know what, i wouldn't say there's outrage here. i think the biggest concern for this actress is the reaction from the family. they're not too happy, but i think it's important to keep it real for our viewers out there. i don't think many people knew about this story here.

they cared about it until the pakistani media got ahold of it and then the indian media got ahold of it and the international media got ahold of it and once the racy pictures started appearing on air that's when the buzz was generated, very much generated by the media. there is no widespread outrage here. some people are disappointed here that a muslim woman would take these pictures. others are supporting her. here's a taste of some of the reaction in pakistan. >> she make mistake go there, but i don't think she can do that. as a pakistani. i'm a proud pakistani and i believe as a pakistani she can do it. i think so, this is like a propaganda, but she needs to stay in pakistan. >> so there you get a little taste of the reaction here. again, despite what some people may think, there is no widespread anger, outrage. frankly, most people in pakistan, 180 million people, are hungry, poor, they have a

lot more important things to worry about than this issue and despite what some people may think, pakistan/india relations aren't impacted. i think the real story here is that commercial it tv and commercial magazines are thriving even in this region and one way to give viewers and readers is to put an attractive, scantily clad woman on air, in magazine, and people will watch, people will tune in and that's what's happening in this region as well. >> that is one sure way. as far as her family is concerned, we've heard that they've disowned her. >> well, that's what she said. they're not talking at this point, and i think in the grand scheme of things, that seems to be the biggest worry for her, is that her family, obviously, seems like she didn't consult with them, her family is not happy, they're in pakistan, she's in india, they don't appear to be talking and it's not clear where that

relationship is headed. >> all right. reza say yea, thanks so much, live for us this morning. the deadline is ticking to extend the payroll tax cuts. still ahead, hear what exactly will happen if lawmakers cannot reach an agreement. it's 20 minutes past the hour. this is your "am: wakeup call." the employee of the month isss... the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet?

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the countdown is on. the payroll tax cut is set to

expire at the end of the year and if congress doesn't reach an agreement on its extension it could impact your paycheck in a big way. what are the payroll tax cuts you ask and how much do they add or take away from your paycheck? christine romans explains it all. >> reporter: if these tax cuts are not extended by the end of the year, your paycheck will get smaller. well, in your paycheck, you pay a part of your earnings to the government in a payroll tax and that tax, among other things, goes to fund social security, right? 6.2% of your income is what you pay to the government in that particular payroll tax. well, in the stimulus last year, there was a holiday, a reprieve for one year, that you would only pay 4.2% and that extra little tiny bit, that extra 2% of your paycheck on average, comes out to i think 50 some dollars a pay period and comes out to somewhere between $900 and $1,000 a year extra in your

paycheck. the tax cut applies for 1 60 million working americans and applies to the first $106,000 of your income. that means somebody making more than $106,000, is not going to get a bigger tax break than everybody else, quite frankly. some economists say yes, it did stimulate some spending. there's no question when you so many workers living right on the edge, they're spending every dollar of their paycheck, if you put a few more dollars in their paycheck they'll spend it in the economy and it's one reason why now you're seeing bipartisan support for extending this holiday another year, because republicans and democrats have agreed that a little more money in the average worker's pocket is something they're probably going to spend. why does anyone want to end it?

because it doesn't come for free. because it costs about $200 billion and we live in a world where we can't spend money we don't have anymore. democrats and republicans finally agree on something and that is, that the payroll tax holiday should be extended. they disagree strongly on how to pay for it. what republicans don't want, they don't want to raise taxes on millionaires to pay for lower taxes for working americans. they say that there are too many small business owners, and small businesses, and job creators who don't want to see higher taxes so that you can keep this temporary payroll tax holiday going. democrats would like to see a sur tax of almost 2% on millionaires on their income, and they would like to roll back some tax breaks for the oil industry to help pay for it as well. they have until the end of the year and there's another measure that goes with this, a lot of people are talking about, the extension of emergency unemployment benefits, something

else that expires. if congress can do nothing, if congress is stalemated and no extension of this or some of the other provisions that were meant to help families over the last year, you'll see potentially 5 million people lose their unemployment benefits by the end of the year and another 160 million will not have extra money in their paycheck come january 1st. >> thank you, be christine. fascinating. still ahead, a showdown in san francisco between occupy protesters and police. how it all ended just ahead. it's set to be a wet and snowy day in parts of the eastern united states. flight delays, yeah. reality sits in. 27 minutes past the hour. this is your "am: wakeup call." we all have internal plumbing. but for some of us with overactive bladder, our pipes just don't work as well as they should. sometimes, i worry my pipes might leak. but i learned there's something more i can do. now, i take care with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder

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occupy san francisco raided. tents torn down. their stuff cleared out. dozens of people hauled away. this is your "am: wakeup call." and good morning to you. this is your "am: wakeup call" for thursday, december 8th. from the time warner center in new york, i'm carol costello. 30 minutes past the hour. here are your morning's top stories. former coach bernie fine will not face state charges for alleged sexual misconduct against young boys. that's because the statute of limitations has expired, but he may be -- he he may not be off the hook. he could face federal charges and a civil lawsuit will be announced today in pittsburgh. the birth control pill yaz is under the microscope. the fda is hearing about safety concerns, in particular, increased risk of blood clots and also allegations the dr

drugmaker bayer hid evidence of risk. december, the time of season's cheer and snow. i know, some like it and some don't, but it's part of life. the latest storm sweeping up through the south to the northeast. if you don't like snow it's moving out rather quickly, leaving a big batch of cold air in its wake. let's head to the weather center in atlanta and jacqui jeras. i'm telling you, yesterday was still warm here in new york. maybe about 50 degrees. and this morning i went out and thought i was going to die. >> it's not going to get much better. the winds will be strong today, carol, making it feel colder than the temperature, so yeah, even with highs in the 40s it's going to feel colder than that. a fair amount of snow that really stayed in the interior part. it's going to help keep it slow going unfortunately for you this morning. we found six, almost 7 inches in tracy creek, new york. see binghamton shy of 4 inches. rain what is we saw really i-95 in east of there and it's moving

quickly. by noon today, everybody is over and done with this. the cold is going to keep its grip and going to stay chilly at least into the weekend. temperatures about 15 degrees below average across the nation's midsection. only about 5 below where you should be this time of the year, carol, in the northeast. >> i guess i don't miss the rain. i'll look at it that way. >> it's dreary. not fun. >> we're a cheery bunch this morning, aren't we? >> i'm working on it. haven't had my coffee. next time, super chipper, travel delays, you'll love it. >> extra shot of espresso or maybe two for you. >> i'm in. >> thanks, jacqui. hours after the d.a. announced he will not charge ex-syracuse basketball coach bernie fine for alleged sex abuse of young boys one of his accusers is expected to announce he is filing a lawsuit in civil court. zach tomaselli accused fine of sexually abused him in a pittsburgh hotel in 2002. tomaselli was 13 at the time of the alleged incident. he's expected to speak at a news

conference later today. yesterday prosecutors said bernie fine cannot be charged in criminal court, only because the statute of limitations in new york state has run out, not because there's not enough evidence. the d.a. spoke to our gary tuchman in an interview and said an au pair in the fine house had no doubt that something was going on between fine and his first accuser, bobby davis. >> your impression that the au pair is convinced that bernie fine had a sexual relationship with bobby davis while she was that house? >> no question about it. all kinds of things. she didn't physically witness any molestation, but clearly body language, affect, the way they talked to each other, the way they acted around each other, the conversations she had with laurie fine, no question that -- >> for example, when it came to bernie, what did she say about the way bernie fine acted that made her know they were having a sexual -- >> the way they would do things, the way they would watch tv, the way they would eat food

together, the way they would suddenly disappear together. >> what did laurie fine say to her? >> laurie fine had numerous conversations with her, and the gist of the conversations were, i don't have the right parts for bernie. and clearly indicating and you recognize that the hearsay implications of this, but clearly recognizing that laurie fine was of the opinion that bernie fine was gay and that they were leading two separate lives under the same house. >> the au pair who worked there said laurie fine talked to her, a 16-year-old girl, about how she didn't have the parts for her husband? >> you know, it was -- it was difficult to listen to, but that's exactly right. >> in the meantime jerry sandusky, he could be let out of jail again today. police arrested the ex-penn state coach yesterday on sexual assault charges involving two new accusers, one who says his cries for help were ignored. sandusky faces a preliminary hearing on tuesday, where his lawyer will have the chance to question some of sandusky's

accusers. florida a&m band director julien white will keep his job for now. the school is holding off on a decision to fire him until an investigation is completed into the suspected hazing death of a drum major robert champion. white is on administrative leave with pay. the school is also taking back the dismissals of four students. investigators in georgia say a suspected child killer is off the streets this morning. 20-year-old ryan brunn will be arraigned today on charges he sexually assaulted, stabbed and beat 7-year-old girl. investigators say he's a maintenance worker at the apartment complex in atlanta, near atlanta, i should say, where jorelys rivera lived and was apparently killed. her body was found in a trash bin. the management company that runs the apartment complex says all employees and residents must pass background checks before being hired or moving in and that brunn did clear those checks. a deadly chopper crash just 30 miles from the las vegas strip. the national park service says five people died when the

helicopter went down in the mountains near lake mead during a tour of the hoover dam. sundance helicopters owned the chopper. still not clear why it went down. wall street protesters in san francisco reeling after police took apart their camp and arrested dozens of people. protesters were warned several times to pack up their tents and leave over the past few weeks. authorities took down more than 100 tents and were removing shopping carts full of debris from the camp. it's looking good for gop presidential candidate newt gingrich. four early voting states, he tops a cnn/orc/time poll and closing in on his closest rival mitt romney in the other. let's talk about with this senior politico writer maggie mayberman who joins us by phone. good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm great this morning. we've been talking about -- i am, actually. it's one day until friday. we've been talking about -- >> okay. >> we've been talking -- i know. we've been talking about newt

gingrich's surge for the last several days. everybody wondering if it's real and i wonder that because when you look closer at these polls, you see that voters aren't really excited about their choice, even though they seem to be choosing newt gingrich. >> i think you're getting on a really important point. i think that the gingrich surge is coming in part because of the cain collapse and this group of voters that did not want mitt romney, that has been jumping from candidate to candidate, started with donald trump and then michele bachmann and then rick perry and herman cain and newt gingrich. i think people can plausibly see newt gingrich as the nominee and in their mind as president in a way, perhaps, they couldn't with the others because he is a very famous former house speaker, because, you know, he's [ inaudible ] does sound authoritative and combative and that's what voters want to see right now. i think you point to a very important issue, which is that the support is very soft and newt gingrich's support is about

to get tested, especially in iowa where ron paul is airing negative ads against him and his opponents are starting to hit him much harder. the question is, does he survive this next week and a half stretch? i think if he does, he's going to be very tough to beat. >> it's hard to believe he could survive when so many prominent republicans who have worked with newt gingrich are coming forward and saying, this is a terrible guy to work with. i mean, newt gingrich should not be president. these are fellow republicans and prominent ones saying this. >> right. i do think that if you start to see newt gingrich solidifying his support a little more, you will see even more of that. the question is, do voters care? there's an anti-establishment feeling among voters right now, does this actually impact voters who make them think or cause more backlash and make voters say, i don't want to be told who to vote for. that's really the only question. >> maggie mayberman from politico, thanks for joining us. former president bill clinton has had an active and

post-charitable post-presidency. the only person with more on her plate may be his daughter. alina cho sat down with clinton as part of her holiday special and talked with clinton about chelsea and how she's really hit her stride. >> chelsea, she's taking an increasingly public role, not just with your foundation, with secretary clinton as well and now she's at nbc. how's that feel? >> i'm proud of her. i don't know how she's going to do all this. she's teaching at columbia, she's still involved with nyu where she helped to work with them to set up their university in the middle east, she's the chairman of the board of the biggest interfaith group coheaded by a rabbi and immam and doing this tv thing and thinking about writing a thesis to get her ph.d. from her old alma mater ox ford. so i don't know how she's going to do it all, but i'm really proud of her, because she's found her rhythm in life. she likes what she's doing. she believes in it.

and that's a good thing. that's what we all want for our children. >> we'll have more of alina's special sit down with president clinton throughout the morning on "american morning" that starts at 6:00 eastern time. well, it is 40 minutes past the hour. let's get a check on what else is coming up at the top of the hour on "american morning." alina cho joins us now. good morning, alina. >> good morning. thanks for the plug, carol. >> any time. >> coming up in about 20 minutes -- all right, good. i'll see you in 20 minutes on "american morning." coming up, a major development in the search for a missing sex worker and a possible serial killer on long island. the woman's cell phone found on a desolate stretch of beach where ten other bodies turned up. we'll have the latest on that. and we're on the dangerous road out of iraq with the 82nd airborne as the final few thousand u.s. troops try to carefully make it home by christmas. what would you do at your job without e-mail? one company is about to find out. we're going to be talking to a ceo who wants every inbox and

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it is 45 mince past the hour. here's what we're following this morning. one of the alleged sex abuse victims of bernie fine is expected to announce he's filing a civil suit against the former coach today. zach tomaselli claims fine molested him in 2002. as far as criminal charges the local d.a. says fine is in the clear because the statute of limitations has run out. could be a break in the case of a missing orlando mother. police have found michele parker's iphone. she vanished almost three weeks ago on the same day she appeared on "people's court" with her ex-fiancee, dale smith jr. they were arguing over a $5,000 engagement ring. smith is considered a suspect,

although not been charged. yahoo! awarded $610 million in damages for a lottery scam run by thai and nigerian swindlers. investigators say they used yahoo!'s name and logo to dupe people into believing they had won a bogus lottery. instead they stole passwords and other personal information. more than 11 million hoax e-mails were sent out. in sports baseball's big spender, the miami marlins. can you believe this? dishing out millions of dollars. the baseball club committing nearly $200 million to sign on mark buehrle, jose reyes and heath bell and another offer to one more player. can't wait to see who that is. let's head to the weather center and jacqui jeras. >> what recession? >> i know. exactly. it's insane, isn't it? >> it is insane. the weather is a little insane too, by the way. a lot of people not loving this. >> yes, it is. >> it is moving so fast -- i know, i know. we're not doing debbie downer

this hit. it's like yeah, it's moving out really fast. at the top of the hour, carol, it was raining in boston. right now, it stopped. it's moving out quickly. by noon, everybody should be feeling a lot better. one of the big things is, is that the winds are going to stick around and stay really strong and that could cause some delays at the airport. looking for major delays potentially today, in new york, boston and philadelphia, delays, though, under an hour for you in chicago and detroit and miami. maybe 15 to 30 minutes because of the winds that are coming through with this cold front and it's really affecting the eastern two-thirds of the country and a secondary shot of cold air moving through the midwest today. you're only going to make it up to 21 minutes degrees in minneapolis, 44 in new york. add in the wind and it's going to be feeling more like upper 30s. >> oh. but we've been spoiled for too long. >> it's dry. >> that's true. because it was nasty yesterday with all the rain. >> it was. >> thank you, jacqui jeras. the u.s. citizen behind bars in thailand sentenced to 2 1/2

years in prison for insulting the king. all the details long in bangkok. what did he say about the king? >> carol, as you say, joe gordon, a u.s. citizen, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years jail here in bangkok because he insulted the king. now his crime, he translated a band biography and posted the link on-line. we can't repeat his remarks or what was said in this particular book because we will be charged with breaking the law. this, carol, is only 2 1/2 years. he was facing 20 years in jail, but because he pleaded guilty and cooperated with authorities, they reduced his sentence to 2 1/2 years. he spoke to his lawyer after the verdict and he said they will be applying for a royal pardon. carol? >> is it likely he'll get one? >> well, he, the king, has

granted royal pardons in the past. i want to tell you about these laws, because they're quite unusual to the rest of the world. the laws protect the monarchy and countries that have monarchies, most of them have actually phased out these particular laws, but thailand has the harshest laws in the world. now if you insult, criticize or threaten the king, the monarchy or any members of it, you will be be punished with imprisonment and that is what has happened to u.s. citizen joe gordon. there's been a great deal of international outrage from the united states, the european union, to human rights groups. they'll called these laws draconian and that they suppress the rights or freedom of speech. but it doesn't look like they will be going away any time soon. the thai government under prime minister ying luck shin na was ta set up a committee to clamp down on websites that criticize the king.

carol? >> anna reporting live from thailand this morning, thank you so much. here's what we're working on. the results of a new cnn/time poll showing a double digit surge in the polls for presidential hopeful newt gingrich. it isn't too late to book the last-minute holiday getaway. stick around for available deals. yes deals. we'll have a travel expert in. 50 minutes past the hour. this is your "am: wakeup call." t this useless telephone ♪ ♪ my hair is gone ♪ cheap cologne ♪ motor home ♪ i'm the rocket man! [ both ] ♪ rocket man ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone? ahh. [ male announcer ] crystal clear fender premium audio. one of many premium features available on the all-new volkswagen passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ and i think it's gonna be a long, long time ♪

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it looks like former illinois governor rod blagojevich could not avoid prison time for trying to sell president obama's old senate seat. to make matters worse he couldn't dodge the punch lines from the late night comedians either. >> big travel season, big holiday travel season. for example, rod blagojevich is going away. yes. yes, he is. 14 years in prison. 14. know what i'm talking about, former governor of illinois. anybody here from illinois? did you vote for the guy? well, he's gone. 14 years. his barber got the death penalty. whoa. >> he was convicted for trying to sell barack obama's vacant senate seat. i'm like if you had waited a couple years, you could probably sell it back to barack obama. >> you never know. alec baldwin apologizes,

sort of, in a letter the actor said sorry to passengers on a flight that was delayed after he refused to stop playing words with friends and was booted off the plane. baldwin went on to rant about the airline industry, in his apology level. he said air travel is inelegant, comparing it to, quote, a greyhound bus experience. if you haven't booked your flight yet for christmas or new year's no need to fret. senior ed dor of travelzoo.com is here to help. i can't believe there are still deals out there. >> they're not all that many deals out there, and procrastinators i feel your pain if you're still trying to book the holiday getaway. there are still sales to be had. airtran and american airlines have sales that end today, start at about 59 buck, traveling particularly to new york city, chicago, boston, atlanta and new orleans. virgin america has a sale for travel in january starting at about $49 each way. so they're out there, but really, they're slim pickings.

i would get to booking right about now. >> okay. let's say that you're going to do something daring and different this holiday season and thinking oh maybe traveling to europe. any deals to travel there? >> yeah. well the thing is, this is actually the least expensive time to travel to europe between now and march, maybe early april, is when we see the rock bottom pricing in airfare and in hotels. now the anomaly to that is going to be the exception to that is going to be december 20th or january 4th, christmas and new year's holiday. outside of that, some pretty dramatic savings. some of the bigger airlines like love tan za and american are doing sales to europe, in some cases under $600 round trip with taxes out of the east coast and some of the biggest values in your four star hotels and large cities like paris, london and rome. we've published deals this week at about 100 to $120 for four-star hotels with upgrades to things like breakfast in the large european cities.

polices during the summer months will charge three or four times that kind of money. it's cooler and, you know, a little gloomier out there this time of year. the crowds are thinner and the pricing is as good as it's going to get all year long. >> not bad. a lot of people, they only travel one time a year, at christmas time, so if you're that kind of person and you're traveling now, are there things you need to keep in mind? apparently particularly in light of the alec baldwin situation? >> well, listen, i can vouch for how addictive words with friends can be, so i get it. bottom line, there's basic rules here, basic rules of etiquette as well. keep in mind, when that cabin door closes the rule is you've got to turn off all your electronic equipment, the cell phone, ipad, anything that has an on and off switch has got to go off. in fact, you can't turn them back on until you're above 10,000 feet. the same thing happens when you're on your descent. be prepared to put away the

electronic equipment as soon as the cabin door is closed and even if many minutes pass before you pull back from the gate. it if you're traveling with kids, kids under 15 cannot sit in exit rows. those are attractive to grownups but traveling with little ones you cannot have them in that exit row if they're under 15. and if you're sitting in a bulkhead seat be prepared to put your carry-ons on the overhead compartments, nothing at your feet. >> good advice. thank you for joining us. happy holidays. that's it for this thursday edition of "am: wakeup call." "american morning" continues right after a break. you make it a great day.