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persons for you to impersonate? well, you know, oprah's the crackerjack, tippery top, anything. >> ok. word, do you have one?

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72 in omaha. and 74 in albuquerque. 54 degrees in seattle. 55 in portland. well, with easter just a week and a half away now, a southern california woman has found a religious experience in a flower. we've all seen these stories. >> liz bullock says she took the photographs of the desert and when she got home and examined those photos, something caught her eye. what do you see in this poppy? >> a dark spot among the petals of a two-tone poppy looks to her like an image of jesus. she says she's preserving the flower for posterity. >> see, there's been jesus in toast, jesus in a tree trunk. >> i saw him in the subway coming in. all right, we'll be back with more "world news now" after this. >> it is new york. you've got o, so individualize with exact eyelights eye brightening mascara, liner, and shadow collections

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next monday is the dreaded tax day, as you know. if you don't pay your taxes, well, expect to have a little knock at the door from someone who wants to get your tax money. >> everybody loves the irs, but how far will the government go to get their money? one woman found out the hard way. she says the i.r.s. took the money twice. chris cuomo investigates. >> reporter: heather is fed up with the internal revenue service. >> they're just driving me crazy. i don't understand. i've paid it. >> reporter: heather owed $3,400 and she paid it in full. she says she even has the paperwork to prove it. problem is the irs disagreed and filed a lien against her, which gave them the power to go into heather's bank account and take out another $5,500. the original amount, plus interest for good measure. >> you have the money, in fact, you have it twice. nobody can find the money. >> reporter: but the irs didn't stop there. they got personal. >> they start interrogating my husband.

>> reporter: she says an irs agent actually came to her home still looking for that payment. this time wanting $7,000. >> their harassment wouldn't stop. they kept calling me. they'd show up at my house. they would send me these letters saying i owe money. >> reporter: heather's tax lawyer paul spizzirri says these tactics are heavy-handed and unfair. >> the irs is a bully. and they're a bully that is pushing around a young, you know, a mom. >> reporter: so heather went to the government agency that helps taxpayers when they have a dispute with the irs. >> come on. >> reporter: they examined heather's case and decided she was right but the irs still won't pay heather back. >> if you do not know how to claim your rights, it can feel like you're being run over. >> reporter: so why is this happening? we figure the politicians who oversee the irs would jump at

the chance to protect the taxpayers, but we were wrong. representative dave camp, no comment. representative charles boustany, no comment. maybe third time's a charm with senator carl levin, no comment. we got this from senator max baucus, "this is certainly an issue senator baucus will look at closely." we also went to the irs, and they gave us a statement saying, we have referred this case to our independent inspector general and that if an irs employee took any inappropriate actions and if those actions caused harm to this taxpayer in any way, we sincerely apologize." heather doesn't want an apology. she wants her $5,500 back and she's not alone in complaining about the irs. 300,000 people went and complained to that tax advocate just last year. now, critics say the problem is the irs has the ability to take your money first and ask questions second.

well, now we're asking the questions and we're staying on the irs to help heather get her money back. chris cuomo, abc news, new york. >> it's good to know and a great story, too. well, when we return, sugar ray loses his fight to compete on "dancing with the stars." >> and the singer who's putting some extra skin into "the skinny" this morning, we can "barely" wait. stay with us. >> oh, boy, that's a bad. >> that was bad. ab @p@p

♪ skinny ♪ so skinny oh, boy. >> yes, indeed. >> the things that happen around here. all right. now to the skinny. i'm sure a lot of people saw this last night and could not believe what we're talking about. "dancing with the stars" and sugar ray, saying good-bye. this was so sad. as sugar ray was eliminated, sort of the first elimination that sort of hurt. >> yeah. >> because he was really a good dancer. but he was ko'ed sort of speak and he put up a good party fight. >> he exited gracefully. >> i thought that he would definitely hang in there a bit. but he's out of it. side note on "dancing with the stars", kirstie alley says it's

a conspiracy. >> the shoe falling off. >> the whole shoegate, she says that she's convinced that petra nemcova tampered with her shoes. and i'm getting on the bandwagon. i'm right there, kirstie. i think it was behind the scenes. >> she's tongue in cheek. >> she's a great sport. great personality. she bounces back. >> yep. making a new movie about famed new york mob boss john gotti but guess who will play gotti in the movie? the one and only, john travolta. so, yeah, mr. saturday night fever is coming out to play the new york organized crime boss here, but the interesting word on this one too is that guess who is in talks to play his daughter, possibly, in the movie, lindsay lohan may be in the movie, too, which could be very, very interesting here. the movie's going to start shooting in october from the same director who did "blow" and "the notebook." and gotti himself died back in 2002 at age of 61. take a look here of what john said about the role. >> he had such a commitment to his moral code of the gangster life that that -- that was an obsession of his that he lived till the very moment that he left and it would be very

interesting to play that kind of real-life character that's done that. >> the movie is called "gotti: the three generations." >> you see him there with the gotti family. lindsay looks a little like the gotti family. mariah carey is expecting twins like any minute right now. >> yeah, she's about to pop. >> take a look at the picture on the cover of "ok!" magazine. we know demi moore did it a while. the annie liebowitz thing. on the cover of "vanity fair." and nick canon is also participating in the photo. >> such a lovely loving couple. >> lovely there mariah. slightly risque. it'll be in the grocery stores all around the country. >> you'll be able to see it. >> she looks beautiful. >> she does. and nick looks happy too. >> he does look happy. >> a risque picture. get to this, of course. >> yes, lady gaga. the video says it all here. singing in houston singing a show "you and i" and took a tumble when she tried to jump off of the piano. take a look at the video.

gaga took a spill and miraculous thing she kept on performing. didn't acknowledge it, got right back up, started to sing like nothing happened. >> i'm thinking that that bikini couldn't have provided all that much cushion. >> the danger of stilettos, ladies. just another case in point. >> she keeps going like it didn't happen. another case in point. you go next if you had a here woud hoveround power chair? the statue of liberty? the grand canyon? it's all possible ith a hoveround., tom: hi i'm tom kruse, inventor rand founder of hoveround., when we say you're free to see the world, we mean it. call today and get a free overound information kit, that includes a video and full color brochure.

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the risk is real. take the next step. call today. some stories to watch today here are some stories to watch today on abc news. president obama outlines his plans to reduce the nation's debt today. he may call for eliminating those bush-era tax cuts again as well as curbing some of the costs of medicaid and medicare. the gop opposes, though, any plans to increase taxes. also international leaders address the fighting in libya today during some meetings set to take place in the mideast. some criticize the u.s. military for not taking a more active role in ending the fighting there. and property owners in hawaii cleaning up last month's tsunami damage are now getting some extra help. low interest federal loans are now available to help cover their costs.

and we do love this story around here. they say that with age comes wisdom. so imagine how wise the teacher at the center of our next story must be, she's 97. >> the new jersey woman is literally the oldest teacher in the country, and she enjoys nothing more, of course, than to see the smiling faces of her students. here is wabc's toni yates. >> i think that she's the best cook in the whole world. >> reporter: 97-year-old agnus zeleznick is baking banana bread with her preschoolers for a very good reason. >> because it's "n" week. now next week it's "g" week and we'll make good as gold gingersnaps. >> reporter: to the kids, the teachers, to everyone, agnus is granny and the sundance school is happy it's got her. >> when you see someone that you looked forward to seeing, someone who inspired you, someone who touches all of the children that you love, wouldn't you feel like the luckiest person in the world? >> it's the energy that you

have. taking care of children is worth it. >> reporter: even at 97. >> anybody would work at 97 if they're able to, and i'm able. >> reporter: granny started to work at sundance 15 years ago after joe, her husband of 61 years, passed away. >> everybody wants to be close to her and that's why i think it feeds both ways. i think they give her energy and she gives us love. >> she never lets anyone like -- one person get something and the other group gets something else. >> reporter: granny is here at the school monday through friday teaching classes from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, and on some days she even teaches after-school classes. >> you love them. and you so want to please them somehow and make them want to come and learn. >> reporter: in north plainfield, toni yates, channel 7, eyewitness news. >> i love it, monday through friday and then she teaches after-school classes. >> impressive. >> incredible, totally incredible. >> she actually quit school at

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this morning on "world news now," safety questions at busy airports after a gigantic plane, the largest in the world, hits a commuter jet. the tremendous impact from the accident and concerns now about these new double-decker jets at older congested airports. it's wednesday, april 13th. good morning. i'm peggy bunker. >> and i'm rob nelson. well, the collision on the taxiway and also those reports about air traffic controllers

falling asleep on the job, it's no wonder so many people are afraid to fly these days. we climb into an airplane simulator today help ease some of those fears. >> i hope they can do that. also coming up, is he running for president or not? you'll hear what former minnesota governor tim pawlenty said on tv last night and how quickly he ate his words. whoops. >> and later the czech president's theft, his explanation after this hi high-profile pilfering. something we've all done one time or another but just not with the cameras rolls. >> don't want to miss that story. but first jumbo fears about giant jets are aging airports in the u.s. ready to handle these oversized planes? >> there are no concerns this morning about the question following monday's mishap at one of the nation's busiest airports. t.j. winick reports now from new york. >> reporter: for the 62 passengers on board this comair regional jet, you would think their safety was no longer in doubt. their short flight from boston was over. they were heading to their arrival gate at new york's jfk airport at 8:00 monday night. and then this --

an air france a380 passes. its left wing clips the comair tail and spins it a full 90 degrees. the air france flight bound for paris with about 500 on board was taxiing from the terminal to the runway for takeoff when the two planes got too close. >> roll the emergency trucks to mike. we've been hit by air france. >> who was that? >> comair 553. >> comair 553. okay, we are calling them. >> attention all emergency equipment, call 33. taxiway alpha and mike. >> the giant double-decker plane has a wingspan of 260 feet. in fact, it's so large, not many airports can handle it. sebastian pinel was on board the regional jet. >> the plane shake very, very violently and then the next thing we knew we were told to hurry off the plane. >> reporte

. >> reporter: -- leaving the tail exposes, according to the faa there were no injuries. both planes were towed from the scene of the collision and are being inspected and an investigation is under way. t.j. winnik, abc news, new york. >> okay, now a little demonstration now. we want to show you just how hard it is for a jumbo jet to land on those old runways. take a look at our studio. it's about 65 feet from end to end. jfk airport only 75 feet wide. just ten feet more than where we are sitting now. it's only ten feet wider of course. >> right. >> so imagine trying to land a plane in a space that's the same size as this studio widthwise we're talking. >> it's crazy. right, exactly. they say the wingspan of that jumbo jet is just shorter than a football field. some perspective how tight of a landing that has to be. >> a lot of people saying how did the pilot not see that little plane? but they're up so high that that their's no way for him to have seen it. >> like a suv looking down at a miata. >> don't land a plane in here, please. >> yeah, please. >> despite worries about the

jumbo plane and their landing problems, it's still actually very safe to fly, but still some people of course get worried at the thought of just boarding a plane. jim avila has a look at the science though behind the fear. >> reporter: more than one in ten americans say they're afraid to fly, and when they feel that first jolt of turbulence in midair, that often is what sets their heart and their body a shaking. most know it's an irrational fear, unsupported by the facts. as m.i.t. airplane safety expert arnold barnett lectures about constantly. >> the jet operations of these airlines are operated at an enormous degree of safety. >> reporter: in fact, his study on airline safety found the chance of dying on a scheduled flight from prop planes to jetliners in the united states is 1 in 14 million. what does that mean? at that rate, you would have to fly every day for 38,000 years before succumbing to a fatal accident. >> riding on a commercial airplane has about the same amount of risk as flying on an

escalator. >> reporter: and flying is 23 times safe as driving. still, all it takes is a series of close calls to rile up that emotional fear. the simulator is now taking us down a taxiway and this could be the same kind of jolt that was felt by those on the crg plane. that would get your attention. the ntsb says 76% of passengers do survive the most serious of crashes. the faa's tips, sit within five rows of an exit, make a mental note of how far away you are from the exit, sit on an aisle, and don't sleep during takeoff and landing. >> most accidents occur during the approach and landing phase. >> okay, so that's when i want to be alert, not sleeping? >> exactly. >> so why we are so afraid? professor barnett says it's the media that's to blame. he studied "the new york times" headlines and found that for every 1,000 murders, they printed only two stories. but for every 1,000 plane

fatalities, they printed 183 stories. jim avila, abc news. >> okay, and from that story to this one. there are renewed hopes that the mistery behind an air france off the coast of brazil may finally be solved. the rear section of that plane is relatively intact deep on the ocean floor. well, that raises the possibility that the black boxes may still be attached to the wreckage. all 228 people on board that plane were killed when it crashed two years ago. >> reconcile those two stories, however you will, right? >> i tried. well, some new questions will being asked this morning about how much security is too much at the airport. they stem from this video. take a look. a 6-year-old girl, again, 6 years old, she's being invasively patted down by a tsa agent. the video was posted over the weekend. and we still don't know the airport where this was shot. now, when the woman who is believed to be the girl's mother asked if the child can be rescanned, she was told no.

>> that is disturbing. >> it is. >> it's really upsetting a lot of folks to see that video. more fallout now for toyota in the wake of the japanese earthquake and tsunami. this morning the world's number one automaker says it's going to suspend production in europe for eight days. well, that's because a shortage of parts, their production was halted or interrupted by the disaster. toyota's also cutting back production here in the u.s. this month also because of parts shortage. this morning in japan, the government has downgraded the country's economic outlook because of the ongoing crisis. >> it said japan's economy is showing weakness because of a drop in consumer spending as well as other factors. >> and for more on the recovery effort now, we're joined in los angeles by diana alvear. good morning, diana. >> reporter: rob and peggy, good morning. just as it seems that things are finally starting to stabilize at the fukushima nuclear facility they raised the threat level to the highest level possible. it's now at a level 7. and that is only adding to the frustration of the japanese.

you're watching chi hasagawa's livelihood pour out of a tank and wash away. that's all that he can do with the milk from his dairy farm. a farm located near japan's fukushima nuclear facility. the government has forbidden him from selling the milk from his cows. the animals cannot even graze because the soil is contaminated. he tells abc news, "i'm absolutely sickened. i hate those nuclear plants." and the news from the plant is getting worse. on tuesday, the official threat level was raised from a level 5 to a level 7, a major accident. that's the same level as the 1986 chernobyl disaster. japanese authorities say food harvested near the facility is safe. the chief cabinet secretary even sampled the tomato. and tepco officials insist they're making progress in stabilizing their nuclear reactors. but aftershocks, more than 100 so far, continue to complicate the process. relief and recovery efforts also continue. 14,000 u.s. troops are digging

through the rubble in the disaster zone. they're clearing mud and debris from schools and other buildings. >> this is not going to be complete in another week or another month. the devastation in this area, it will take years to really get it totally cleaned up. >> reporter: but the troops and the villagers have found ways to connect, through the crack of a bat, the baseball field was cleared, allowing for a few moments of fun after weeks of misery. japanese authorities estimate the total amount of radiation released so far in japan is equal to 1/10 the amount released in chernobyl. rob, peggy? switching gears now politics and some backtracking by a possible presidential candidate, tim pawlenty. is he or is he not running for the white house? the republican, the former governor of minnesota was interviewed about his low standing in the polls. he was asked if he would consider as running as a number two on the ticket with donald trump. >> i'm running for president,

i'm not putting my head in the ring rhetorically or ultimately for vice president, so i'm focused on running for president. >> but his campaign quickly said that comment was taken out of context and that a formal announcement is forthcoming. you got to watch what you say every second in politics. >> all of the games of politics, here we go. >> yes. now to your wednesday forecast. a wet day, all day in the northeast and pacific northwest. there might even be some snow in higher elevations of northern new england and the pacific, northwest, that is. and showers in south florida. light rain in parts of dakotas and minnesota. warm and dry in the southeast and along the gulf coast. >> a soggy 54 in seattle and 55 in portland. 61 in sacramento and baltimore. 65 in the windy city. 66 in indianapolis. 86 in miami. 83 in dallas. 84 in phoenix. well, if you're a musician, musician, you know that there's a lot of pressure, but sometimes mistakes can happen, but some of the performances have to be perfect. >> so the fanfare trumpets of the central band of the royal

air force are practicing hard for, yeah, that's right, the royal wedding later this month. >> now the musicians say they're not that nervous, this is what they're trained to do. at the wedding they'll be performing a piece written for the occasion titled "valiant and brave." that's the motto for prince william's air force squadron. very cool. >> and that team will play four separate times during the wedding ceremony but it's all very secret. so till the day. >> it's coming up, right around the corner. we'll be right back, everyone, "world news now."

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now to the car of the future. all right, now to a car of the future. 50 years ago they thought that we'd be flying our cars by now, not driving them. >> no, we're not quite there just yet but the cars of tomorrow, can do some pretty cool stuff like putting the power of the sun into the car. daniel sieberg checks it out. >> reporter: nestled near the

brooklyn bridge these two shipping containers don't look like much but they may represent the future of the electric vehicle charging stations. so this is like a pop-up solar-charging station? >> it is a pop-up solar-charging station. in fact, we built this sustainably using the shipping containers. what we find out is that after ten years the decommission shipping containers, they've got millions of them all over the world. you can get them for 1,500 bucks each. it's a great base for a solar unit. it's very strong. it's sturdy. and it's sustainable because we're reusing it. >> reporter: the area here is actually part of the brooklyn bridge park, which is designed to be green from the ground up. making it a perfect fit for the solar-charging station. >> we designed this initially to show new yorkers that you could collect enough energy right here in the brooklyn waterfront to charge electric vehicles. and then we started to work with the park as one of the few sustainable parks in the world by design. you'll see around here all of the benches are made from wood

that they reclaim from buildings that they took down. there's a water recycling system. they've restored a lot of the wet ones here. you know, it's a great sustainable park and we worked with them because they decided that they wanted to build an electric fleet for their security and maintenance vehicles. >> reporter: the park workers use the station daily to recharge their small but relatively powerful little electric trucks. topping up during the day or a full charge overnight, and the whole project from solar panels to batteries is surprisingly diy. talk to me about the technology involved here. conceivably, could anyone put anything like this together? >> state-of-the-art technology but we designed it so that anyone can put this together using technology that they can order from the internet. so the way it works is very simple. we start out at the top of the containers. we have an array up there which is comprised of 24 sharp 235-watt monocrystal panels and it collects electrons coming from the sun like a great day

today. >> getting lots of sun today. >> getting lots of sun today and they go down into a large storage bag on the bottom and we have 40 trojan renewable energy cells on the bottom that store that gt energy. it goes from there into an inverter system and actually changes it into ac. and from there it goes into the actual car chargers. >> reporter: an electric mini cooper is on hand to help demonstrate the technology which is provided by the beautiful earth group. naturally it's beneficial to the environment, but it's also part of the company's pr campaign. >> our company is a utility scale sustainable energy developer. so for us that means solar, wind and hydro. we build large solar farms. and our customers are utilities. so we sell those electrons to utilities, and they disperse them on the grid. in the future we'd like to see particularly ev drivers choosing our clean, green electricity over traditional

grid electricity, and we want to get that to them through these electric vehicle charging systems. >> reporter: new york may not be the best home since the city has so few electric vehicles but there are plans to put the concept out there elsewhere. so the future of these is not necessarily in somebody's backyard but maybe used in a park setting, in a commercial setting? >> exactly. the whole ev charging infrastructure market is really taking off right now, and a lot of manufacturers are putting out different types of ev chargers. almost to a fault there hooked up to the grid. so we either want to be able to provide our clean electricity through the grid through those chargers or just to do it directly off of the grid like this. also this is very handy for places where there have been disasters. haiti, japan, places like that and lesser developed countries. >> reporter: the solar-charging station is expected to save thousands of dollars in gas and electricity costs. of course, it has a long way to

go before it is more mainstream. still new york has set a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 30% by 2030, and this would certainly help that. rob and peggy, back to you. >> and cool footnote to this story. this week walgreen launched what it said was the nation's first privately funded and comprehensive ev charging network. you see some of them popping up and has an niinitial station at a walgreens store in dallas. >> and roll out to others. >> eventually will roll out, that's right. >> very cool. when we return a high-profile theft caught on camera. it's now turned into a viral video. >> a fun story coming up when we come right back. fun story coming up when we come right back.

let's be honest, folks, we've all stolen a pen before, but typically the thief is not a world leader, and the pen isn't bejeweled. >> that's right.

the czech president vaclav klaus has become an internet sensation after being busted, pocketing a pen this during a meeting with the chilean president. check it out. [ speaking a foreign language ] [ speaking a foreign language ] >> all right, so we do want to come to his defense of vaclav klaus, that's right. i'm watching it. he said that the spokesman for the chilean president says actually that president's

guests are encouraged -- you can have that. that's a bic. it's like 99 cents. if it was a montblanc -- >> i'm taking it, i'm taking it! >> where is rob's pen. anyway she says that they can take the pens. it's no big deal. coming up if you want your kids enrolling in a marijuana state university, we've got the scoop. [ female announcer ] sometimes you need tomorrow

to finish what you started today.

for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. motrin pm. >> announcer: "world news now" delivers your morning papers. all right, welcome back, everybody. a little story here from the "portland press herald." there's a guy in portland named ray logan, who's been growing marijuana for the past 30 years. so he said -- obviously a large part of that. >> he's an expert. >> he's an expert. it's illegal obviously with the medical marijuana movement growing into the country. he's launched something called marijuana state university. a little higher learning for you on this wednesday morning. >> that's bad. >> that's really bad. i had nothing to do with it, now come on now. now offering three-hour workshops for people who want to learn how to grow high-quality marijuana in their home. he launched the university or

workshops earlier this month. about 15 men attended. mostly are medical marijuana users who want to grow their own drugs instead of having to pay for them and the class costs about 79 bucks and ray logan will show you how to grow the good stuff in the comfort of your own home or backyard or whatever people do. >> enrollment at capacity. >> so it's a really good class, man. you should check it out. >> okay, check it out, man. moving on now. >> yes. >> we want to talk about this guy who went to the sands casino which is going to be very ironic here in just a very quick moment. he was busted for marking the cards with sandpaper. i was very interested in exactly how this works. i was wondering how people did this. he marked cards in the upper left-hand corner with the sandpaper that was on his finger and the marks descended on the back of the card depending on the value of the card. >> so he knew when the card came out, he knew what the value was because it was marked? >> right. he read the back of the card and the surveillance picked this up and busted out of of the sands casino, so, yeah, he's in a bit of a bindery there. >> that's smart though. >> isn't that smart? >> yeah. >> good idea. >> people find all kinds of ways

and not quite "ocean's eleven" but smart nonetheless. oh, man. funny story here, too. we've all heard about the male/female, you know, wage gap in this country. >> heard about it, experienced it. >> tuesday was equal pay day. >> uh-huh. >> the day -- it falls on april 12th, get this, because feminist groups say that women have to work that far into a calendar year before they earn what men have already earned the year before, however, though, 2010 study of single childless urban workers between 22 and 30 found that women earned an average of 8% more than their male counterparts, so there's now a little dispute about if that wage gap is real or not. >> wouldn't you say that the pivotal word there is childless? >> childless, yes. >> a lot women take time to get work off to raise their kids. >> it's food for thought. ever wanted someone to pay to take you out on the first date? >> yes. >> well, it turns out you can do that now. you can surf to see who is going on first dates. it's call eed whatisyourprice.c.

a generous person sets a price on how much they are willing to pay to take you out on a date which you and i were saying, we heard this before and back then it was called prprprprprprprprpr

this morning on "world news now," new safety worries after a super jumbo jet that's as tall as an eight-story building. >> now, this is after the airbus 380 collided with the commuter jet at new york's jfk airport. it's wednesday, april 13th. and good morning, everybody. i'm rob nelson. >> and i'm peggy bunker. the impact of that collision on the tarmac was caught on camera. the small commuter jet spun around like a little toy. >> wow. >> now, this morning, there are new concerns about the size of that airbus and whether airports can actually accommodate aircraft so large. >> that thing has the wingspan

of like almost as long as a football field. crazy. >> it's pretty unbelievable. one of the biggest planes that you could possibly fly on. >> huge. also ahead in this half hour, the long-term concerns about nfl players and their health. we'll tell you what hall of famer terry bradshaw is now admitting after suffering so many concussions on the football field. one of the greats there coming out there saying it takes a toll on your body. >> oh, boy. he's not the only one. that's a pretty hot topic around the nfl. also later how kate middleton is getting extra chummy around her future in-laws this all before the big royal wedding. her and camilla apparently bffs, we've got the scoop on that. >> all right. but first we get to those new worries about passenger safety as u.s. airports begin handling a new generation of those giant jets. >> yeah, the problem became a frighteningly clear problem when an air france airbus clipped a much smaller plane at jfk monday night. well, now there are questions about whether the airport run ways are big enough for those monster planes. lisa stark reports. >> reporter: it was a dramatic collision between the world's

largest passenger plane, the airbus a380, and the small regional jet. it happened on a taxiway right here at jfk airport. the wing of that large jet struck the tail of the small plane and literally spun it around like a top. >> roll the emergency trucks we've been hit by air france. >> and who was that? >> comair 553. >> comair 553. okay, we are calling them. >> reporter: it happened at night. it was dark out. the regional jet had just landed from boston. it was taxiing to its gate. apparently it stopped short, not pulling all the way forward, possibly because a truck had passed in front of the small plane. at the same time, coming down an intersecting taxiway, that giant airbus a380, an air france flight bound for paris. that is when it clipped the small plane spinning it around. on board they say the plane shook violently and were told to get off immediately.

>> the plane shake very, very violently and then the next thing we knew we were told to her/o hurry out of the plane. >> reporter: luckily no one was injured. an investigation is under way. one of the questions will be about the width of that taxiway. is it wide enough, 75 feet wide? but that was narrower than airports were supposed to have who accommodate the a380. jfk and some other parts got a waiver and the taxiways were never widened. lisa stark, abc news, ask airport. lisa stark, jfk airport. >> on top of that a new video is now raising questions about how much is too much when it comes to security at the airport. take a look at this. a 6-year-old girl being invasively patted down by a tsa agent, 6 years old again. the video was posted over the weekend. we don't know the airport where it was shot. and when the woman who is believed to be the girl's mother asked if the child can just be rescanned, she was told, no. >> that is tough to watch. well, the search is now on in georgia for another missing mother of five. wazineh suleiman hasn't been seen since last friday when she

went out to rent movies and never returned. her husband says that she sent a text message on friday night that said she was throwing out her cell phone, throwing it out the window. her car was found in an empty lot yesterday more than ten miles away from the family home. a kentucky state lawmaker who is also a high school teacher is now clinging to life this morning after breaking up a cafeteria fight. dewayne bunch was punched in the head and then fell to the floor hitting his head on the tile. the two boys involved in that fight, ages 15 and 16, have now been charged and taken to juvenile detention. top u.s. diplomats are meeting in the capital of qatar today for talks about the worsening situation in libya. three weeks of air strikes have failed to turn the tide against moammar gadhafi, and now the u.s. is being pressured to take a larger role. and now also libya's opposition force are facing new challenges as terry moran reports from benghazi. >> reporter: gadhafi's big guns pounded away again shelling rebel positions outside of the

town of ajdabiya which has been fought over for weeks. the rebels have taken prisoners. this is cell phone video of the interrogation of an alleged algerian mercenary captured fighting for gadhafi. but out on the battlefield, they are so outgunned, this ragtag army, this is what passes for their weapons industry. tinkerers at a military base scavenging old russian and chinese guns and rockets and jury-rigging them onto pickup trucks. this is the doorbell. >> yes. >> reporter: the doorbell and -- >> yes. >> reporter: you attach this? you attach this to the rocket? >> yes. >> reporter: and then you're using the doorbells to fire the rockets. >> to fire. >> yes. >> yes. >> reporter: homemade, that's amazing. these are the guns of freedom here. but they dream of so much more as their top general told us. so you would like attack helicopters, like apache helicopters? >> yes, of course. >> reporter: they're fighting

for survival out in this desert. but survival isn't enough. there is this life, their life they fight for. the fish market has reopened in benghazi, a city that looks out on to the sparkling mediterranean sea. people are out shopping again, and as we learned at a peaceful rally in town this week, there is something else. >> this is the first time we taste freedom. it's beautiful. it's really delicious, tasteful, you know. >> reporter: the children will know. that is the hope here. terry moran, abc news, benghazi, libya. in other news now, four-time super bowl winner terry bradshaw is now revealing a personal health battle. he says he's now feeling the effects of all of the concussions he suffered during his career. bradshaw who is now on fox's nfl broadcast says he's been having short-term memory loss and has also experienced a loss of

hand/eye coordination. bradshaw says he's now in rehab. >> one of the questions obviously is how many clear-cut concussions have you had? and i'm trying to think. you know, clear-cut totally ko'd, my entire career, i could name six, six that, you know, that i could remember. >> bradshaw also said he suffered an unknown number of blows to the head that required him to, quote, clear the cobwebs. once he did that, he said that he went straight back into the game. he says he's speaking out now so people know the consequences of head injuries. you hear so many players have come out. all these studies saying how traumatic an effect that the game has on those athletes. >> that one football player said that he wanted his brain studied after he committed suicide because he believed that a lot of the hits that he took had impacted -- he had depression and other health problems. >> something to think about as you cheer for your team on sunday.

>> there you go. solemn ceremonies are taking place across the country this week marking one of the most painful times in our history. it was 150 years ago that the civil war began. >> and some of the lessons from that conflict still resonate today. t.j. winick joins us now with more. good morning, t.j. >> reporter: good morning, rob and peggy. 150 years ago yesterday, the first shots were fired in america's civil war. even today it remains the bloodiest conflict in our country's history, and incredibly it remains relevant. >> fire. >> if you don't know where you came from and how it happened, how can you go forward? >> reporter: to commemorate the war's anniversary, re-enactors are camped at historic battle sites including ft. sumpter where confederate troops fired on april 12th, 1861. for vernon terry, the war's history and family history is one in the same. >> he surrendered at appomattox. so he went through the whole

war, my grandfather did. >> reporter: over 600,000 americans died in the civil war. that's more than both world wars combined, but ask americans why the war was fought and the answer is less than clear. >> i actually don't know. >> the states' rights. >> slavery. >> various reasons. i'm embarrassed not to know. >> states' rights. >> reporter: kathleen hulser is the public historian at the new york historical society. >> if you say the civil war is about states' rights, you're really just using a worr that's code for saying, it's the state's right to own a slave. >> reporter: the issue of states' rights still resonates. just last year a handful of governors fought to have their states exempt from president obama's health care reform. and then there's the issue of race. >> people don't understand the impact that waging a war has on the government. how we were torn apart and how long it took to build up the nation and knit it back together. >> reporter: witness a pittsburgh high school last week posthumously awarding the class of 1936 valedictorian award to fanetta nelson gordon originally denied that distinction because of her skin color.

proof that while the civil war began 150 years ago, some of its battles are still being fought even today. and civil rights groups have actually commended the national park service on taking a thoughtful approach to the anniversary events. rob and peggy. >> all right, thank you. well, officials of a rhode island city have a supersize combo problem on their hands. parts of cranston smells like french fries. apparently five-gallon barrels of soybean oil fell off a truck and broke open, and it appears or smells like the cooking oil had been used. police are now searching for the driver, but meanwhile there is a big mess to clean up, and it smells like fries. >> who does not love the smell of french fries? i'm just saying. >> it's all over the city and you can't get rid of it. >> there are worst smells. i'm just saying. now a look at today's weather. some morning showers in baltimore and washington with rain all the way up the coast. mild with some showers from sioux falls to minneapolis. the next big storm is already in the pacific northwest with rain down to san francisco. >> average temperatures in the northeast, a little bit chilly

around boston, and it will be warmer than usual in the central plains. also hot and dry in west texas where they are still battling those wildfires. well, three bird eggs are safe in florida. they're in a nature center now, but this was not before a scrambling contractor tried to help them. >> that's right. a nest containing the osprey eggs was found atop a crane last week in the port of tampa. the osprey is actually a protected species. the crane owner wanted to do the right thing, so he contacted authorities and then waited for federal permission to move the nest. he is still waiting, but last night he and a member of the audubon society relocated the eggs anyway. good for him. >> yeah, they'll do all right. >> yeah. >> we're going to take a quick break and be right back with more of "world news now". ♪

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welcome back. >> cheers. >> cheers. >> there you go. >> when we were young chocolate milk of course was always a special treat, but now is it actually making kids fat? >> yeah. what do you think of this?

some schools are now banning chocolate milk blaming it for attributing to the obesity epidemic in america. here is deborah roberts. >> reporter: it was once the sunny spot in a kid's dreary day. >> the wonderful chocolaty taste. >> reporter: ah, the magic of chocolate milk. that was then, this is now. with close to a third of u.s. kids overweight, nutritionists, parents and even the first lady with her let's move campaign -- >> they're good. >> reporter: -- are waging a war on childhood obesity. and the latest battle is in school lunch rooms over chocolate milk. >> as far as i'm concerned, chocolate milk is soda in drag. >> reporter: dietary experts like ann cooper say forget claims about vitamins and calcium. 70% of milk sold in most school cafeterias is flavored and loaded with sugar and fat. >> it's just like saying, listen, kids don't have enough fruit. they don't like apples, feed them apple pie. >> reporter: in an effort to reach a truce, some schools are turning to new versions of the old favorite such as chocolate milk made with less fat and less

sugar made by dean foods. instead of high fructose corn syrup, it has sucrose made from beets and sugarcane. compared to a typical half pint of chocolate milk, which has 170 calories and 28 grams of sugar, the new kind has just 150 calories and 22 grams of sugar. why don't you both try this milk. but how does it taste? we asked some chocolate milk experts to tell us. >> this one. >> you like the one in the middle better? why don't you like this one? >> because it's too like watery. >> would you drink it? >> if they only have this, i would. >> and the winner is. >> this one. >> reporter: the one that has all the sugar and all the calories. the reduction in calories and fat will add up over time but one nutritionist says she's far more concerned about processed foods and fatty foods than chocolate milk, which at least has some nutritional value. deborah roberts, abc news, new york. >> how about water? >> how about water? >> give them some water. >> still better than soda.

>> it's good. >> that's right. >> we'll be right back, everyone. >> where is my bailey's! everyone. >> where is my bailey's! ow

for many brides getting along with the future in-laws can be pretty tough but not for kate middleton. >> that's right. in fact, she's become bffs with her hubby-to-be's stepmother. here is nick watt. >> reporter: kate middleton is marrying the man she loves, but she's also signing up for a life we cannot imagine. she's joining the firm. every move scrutinized. her life a soap opera. >> hello. >> reporter: her image, public property. >> kate? kate, over here, please. >> i know that i'm very fortunate. i have the support of my family and friends. i do a job i enjoy and i have catherine. >> reporter: she's getting

training and friendship from a perhaps unlikely source -- camilla. >> i think there's kind of an almost sort of maternal bond between camilla and the soon-to-be princess catherine. and there's a genuine friendship there. i don't think it's put on. >> reporter: when william was away in new zealand, charles and camilla invited kate to the ballet. recently they were spotting lunching together. a very long lunch. one fellow diner heard someone say, trumpets, the ceiling is too high. >> camilla obviously knows what it's like to be thrown into the sort of spotlight. i mean, who better to get advice from, frankly, than camilla. >> reporter: because camilla has seen all sides. remember when she was reviled as the woman who broke up charles and diana's marriage, she was dubbed the rottweiler, but she's played her royal role perfectly. she's won the public's affection with flickers of fun, like her reaction to the engagement. >> it's the most brilliant news.

i'm just so happy for both of them. they are so happy. and it's wicked. >> reporter: prince charles, we hear, is also very fond of his son's love. >> i was quite nervous about meeting william's father, but, no, he's very, very welcoming and very friendly, so, yeah, i couldn't have -- it couldn't have gone easier really for me. >> reporter: he's even helping kate with wedding planning. >> he's over the moon, actually. and he's had a lot to do with the wedding which is really, really nice and, you know, he's so unbelievably busy and yet he's managed to make time to sort of help kate out with the music and stuff like that. ♪ >> reporter: kate seems like she was born for this. she loves shooting, fishing, horse riding, the kind of things that windsor clan like to do together. >> she's very at ease when she's at the royal palaces. she's relaxed at clarence house. she's relaxed at balmoral, all of the things that i think diana wasn't. >> reporter: for kate the firm is friendly and her closest

confidante and it is a mouthful is camilla, her stepmother inlaw-to-be. nick watt, abc news, london. >> we'll be right back. very nice. london. >> we'll be right back. >> cheerio. ♪ ♪ i got troubles, oh ♪ but not today

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as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts # medicare, call this toll-free number now. ♪ i'm watching i'm watching i'm watching american television i'm watching i'm watching ♪ ♪ i'm watching american television ♪ finally this half hour, a controversial claim from an award-winning filmmaker. he says he might have found the actual nails used in the crucifixion of jesus christ. >> can you imagine where of course there are a lot of speculations about this and the legitimacy of the nails, as well as the filmmaker's motive. here's alex marquardt with the story. >> reporter: jesus' crown of thorns. the pieces of his cross. the cloth that covered his body when he died. for years the world has wondered, are they holy relics

or fragments of a faithful imagination? now added to that list is a new story being spun by this man, an award-winning israeli filmmaker, simcha jacobovici. he believes there's strong evidence that the nails that pinned jesus to the cross have survived. he makes the case in a documentary which he sold to the history channel. how sure are you that these are the nails used in jesus' crucifixion? >> what i'm sure about is that they're significant. they were found in the tomb of a man known to history for one thing and one thing only and that is sending jesus to pontius pilate who sends him to the cross. >> reporter: he says the two roman-made nails were found a tomb believed by some to be the final resting place of kyfus. a jewish high priest that the gospels say gave jesus up to the romans. israel's antiquities authority says the tomb could have very well belonged to someone else

and that nails are commonly found in coffins from the period used to inscribe the names of the deceased. he argues the evidence is strong that these nails were for a crucifixion. >> they're bent, which suggests that they were bent so you can't pull your hand out of the wood. the head is big enough and of course it corresponds perfectly to the only nail for sure that we know for sure was used in the crucifixion. >> reporter: a leap of faith. >> i think that the story here is nails of the cross found, question mark, but it's a damn important question. >> reporter: certainly an intriguing one. alex marquardt, abc news, tel aviv. >> i'm sure that may spark just a touch of debate. just a little debate, yeah. >> apparently there were thousands of crucifixions done in the holy land. so not a logical link as to why these nails would be specifically for jesus. that's one counterargument. >> he says he's not coming out saying these are definitely it but he says there is strong basically circumstantial

evidence that should be explored further. that's his way of kind of tempering the claim a little bit. >> let the discussion begin.mb

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like he said... ♪ this morning on "world news this morning on "world news now," airport anxiety after the biggest jumbo jet in the world collides with a much smaller commuter plane. >> and now there are serious questions about these huge planes, the design of congested airports, as well as passenger safety. it's wednesday, april 13th. and good morning to you. i'm peggy bunker. >> and i'm rob nelson. the impact from that collision at new york's jfk airport was caught on camera, dramatic footage, take a look at that. as you can imagine, the passengers inside of that smaller plane got quite a scare. now investigators are scrambling to come up with a plan before something like that happens again.

>> isn't that amazing? imagine being on that plane, what a jolt that would be. >> i can't imagine. also coming up as nasa retires its fleet of space shuttles, three of the rocket ships will be getting new homes at museums. and this big decision was announced on an important anniversary. we'll fill you in there. >> and this could be my favorite story of the day here. later we're going to introduce you to the old eest teacher in the country. get this, she's 97 years old. and, of course, as you can imagine, she has some real lessons of wisdom for her students. >> 97 is the new 87! >> yes. >> she doesn't even look young -- >> she's got years to go. >> or look old. she looks great, she looks very young. before we get to that, we have new questions this morning about whether older airports can handle those giant new planes. >> of course, those dangers were highlighted this week when an air france airbus hit a much smaller plane. lisa stark reports now from jfk airport where the accident happened. >> reporter: this was no small tap. the impact caught on videotape. watch what happens when the wing of the world's largest passenger jet rams the tail of the small regional plane.

the small plane and the 66 on board are whipped around. >> roll the emergency trucks. we've been hit by air france. >> and who was that? >> comair 553. >> comair 553, okay. we are calling them. >> the plane shake very, very violently, and then the next thing we knew, we were told to hurry out of the plane. >> reporter: those on the air france jumbo jet, nearly 500 passengers, also knew something was wrong. >> we felt like this. >> and then we seemed to just stop as if the pilot was putting the brakes on a bit too quick. >> reporter: the regional plane, a delta connection flight from boston, had just landed and was heading down a taxiway to its gate. sources tell abc news the pilot apparently stopped short not pulling far enough forward possibly to avoid a pickup passing in front. at precisely the same time, the giant air france a380 was heading down an intersecting taxiway, and that's when its left wing clipped the small

plane's tail. >> i understand he believes he hit the regional jet, and i understand they're evacuating the regional jets. >> reporter: the airbus a380 is the largest passenger plane in the world, standing nearly eight stories high. the wings stretch 260 feet, nearly the length of a football field, something that may have played a role in this collision with the small jet. >> the aircraft may have not been pulled in far enough, that if it was anything other than the world's largest aircraft taxiing behind him would have been okay. >> reporter: one area of investigation may be the width of that taxiway. 75 feet wide. airports that handle the airbus a380 were told to widen their taxiways to 100 feet. but jfk and some other airports got exemptions. the question now, was that taxiway wide enough? lisa stark, abc news, jfk airport. we are learning overnight about a terrible family tragedy not too far here from new york city.

police in newburgh say that a mother drove her minivan loaded with her three children into the hudson river killing everybody on board. the mother left her 10-year-old son on the shore. he frantically ran to a nearby firehouse to tell them what happened. by the time the firefighters arrived, everybody in the minivan had drowned. >> that's a heartbreaking story. well, we've seen this kind of story before, too. a central florida mother took matters into her own hands when she found out her daughter was being bullied. all of it caught on tape. steve barrett of our orlando station wftv has the story. >> reporter: laura booker told police she was only trying to protect her daughter from bullying when this on board camera captured her confronting a bus driver. booker would not talk on camera but told channel 9 she wants to put the incident behind her. in the video you can see police arrive at the scene. on the bus the situation got so heated, an officer told her she would be tased if she did not get off of the bus. >> get off of the bus. >> they're recording you. >> get off the bus. >> she went about it the wrong way.

she went to the school, didn't check in at the front office which you are required to do. went back to the school bus. got on that school bus. technically at that point she was trespassing. >> reporter: eventually booker stepped off of the bus and the incident came to a dramatic end as she was arrested and charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. >> get off of me. get off of me. >> put her down. put her down. >> and that report from steve barrett of wftv. now laura booker says her daughter first started being bullied back in august. school district administrators are now looking into the allegations and the bus driver's actions. new questions are being raised about the murder convictions of famed music producer phil specter. his attorneys say it's enough to get him a new trial. in an l.a. appeals court yesterday, they complained about how evidence and testimony was handled during specter's 2009 trial for the murder of actress lana clarkson. the court will issue a ruling on that appeal within three months. the white house says it's true, president obama and the first lady will appear on one of the last episodes of "the oprah winfrey show," and now we know

that the commercials in her final show will not be cheap. advertisers are expected to shell out a million dollars or more for a 30-second ad. that is considered a staggering amount of money for a daytime show. but it is actually about half of what advertisers paid for the "friends" finale back in 2004. oprah has set the date for the final broadcast. it will air may the 25th. but that ad rate is actually similar to both what they paid for cynthia mcfadden finale and the "everybody loves raymond" for daytime. >> it's money well spent. everybody will be watching that show. you and i are both sort of bummed. >> i have tremendous respect for the queen. that's all that i am saying. nasa has announced the retirement of the shuttle fleet. more than 20 museums had competed for the honoring of the shuttle. >> the final decision came on an especially emotional day for the space agency. john hendren is joining us now from washington with more. hi, john. >> reporter: good morning, rob and peggy. the nation shuttle fleet is about to become a relic of space travel and for three shuttle

craft and one prototype, they're all about to get new homes. >> booster ignition and the final liftoff of "discovery." >> reporter: for the space shuttles, the final frontier, retirement. >> they've served the nation well. >> reporter: 21 museums wanted to be home to the world's first reusable space vehicles. just four erupted in cheers when nasa's chief announced the winners. >> we'll showcase my old friend "atlantis." the california science center in los angeles will be the new home of the shuttle on the launchpad and new york's city's intrepid sea, air and space museum will get "enterprise." the smith sewn yeah national air and space museum will get "discovery," our most traveled orbiter. >> reporter: they were ushered into retirement on the ground -- >> it will serve to motivate and inspire millions of young people. >> reporter: -- and fittingly from space. >> the retirement of the shuttle fleet should not be seen as an end. it represents the next step in extending humanity's reach further into space. >> there should have been two more shuttles, nasa built six.

"challenger" broke apart 73 seconds into its flight. "columbia" disintegrated on re-entry over texas. all 14 crew members aboard both were killed. >> we'll never forget the crews of "challenger" and "columbia." >> reporter: nasa announced the news on the 30th anniversary of the first flight of the shuttle. the 50th anniversary of man's first journey into space. as crowds half a world away celebrated that mission manned in 1961 by russian cosmonaut yuri gagarin. after 135 missions there are just one or two left. "atlantis" is set to take off in june but federal funding is in doubt, and that could make "endeavour" set to blast off april 29th, the last shuttle to boldly go where few have gone before. rob and peggy. >> before we get into this next story, we should tell all of you cat lovers out there that the cat is okay. now check out max from santa cruz, california. he was missing all last weekend during which time he was shot through the head with an arrow. a vet removed that 12-inch arrow

on sunday, and max has been fine ever since except for a little hole in his ear. max is okay though. >> that is the headliner. you know what they say, nine lives, right? >> nine lives, there you go, max. >> there you go. there are hopeful signs that the worst may be over in the flood-prone red river valley in north dakota. it appears that the river and its tributaries are now cresting or near cresting, and fields, homes and roadways have already been flooded so hopefully no more. more than 30 miles of interstate 29 are closed north of fargo. many residents are cut off unable to leave their homes or go to work. >> it's the third year in a row they've seen tough times in that part of the country. >> this terrible flooding, it's just getting worse. >> brutal. a look ahead to your wednesday weather. watch out for some rain on the east and west coast. also in the upper midwest. and that's bad news along the red river valley. expect showers from sioux falls to the twin cities, otherwise it'll be mild and quite pleasant in the middle of the country. >> and temperatures will be about average for this time of year. 60 in new york and detroit, 83 degrees in dallas. 75 in kansas city. 72 in omaha.

and 74 in albuquerque. 54 degrees in seattle. 55 in portland. well, with easter just a week and a half away now, a southern california woman has found a religious experience in a flower. >> of course, she has, why not. >> we've all seen these stories. >> liz bullock says she took the photographs of the desert and when she got home and examined those photos, something caught her eye. what do you see in this poppy? >> a dark spot among the petals of a two-tone poppy looks to her like an image of jesus. she says she's preserving the flower for posterity. >> see, there's been jesus in toast there's been jesus in the tree trunk. >> i saw him in the subway coming in. all right, we'll be back with more "world news now" after this. >> it is new york. you've got o, so individualize with exact eyelights eye brightening mascara, liner, and shadow collections

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next monday is the dreaded tax day, as you know. if you don't pay your taxes, well, expect to have a little knock at the door from a nice little guy that wants to get your tax money. >> everybody loves the irs, but how far will the government go to get their money? one woman found out the hard way. she says the irs just took the money twice. chris cuomo investigates. >> reporter: heather binboodle is fed up with the internal revenue service. >> they're just driving me crazy. i don't understand. i've paid it. >> reporter: heather owed $3,400 and she paid it in full. she says she even has the paperwork to prove it. problem is the irs disagreed and filed a lien against her, which gave them the power to go into heather's bank account and take out another $5,500. the original amount, plus interest for good measure. >> you have the money, in fact, you have it twice. nobody can find the money. >> reporter: but the irs didn't stop there. they got personal. >> they start interrogating my husband.

>> reporter: she says an irs agent actually came to her home still looking for that payment. this time wanting $7,000. >> their harassment wouldn't stop. they kept calling me. they'd show up at my house. they would send me these letters saying i owe money. >> reporter: heather's tax lawyer paul spizzirri says these tactics are heavy-handed and unfair. >> the irs is a bully. and they're a bully that is pushing around a young, you know, a mom. >> reporter: so heather went to the government agency that helps taxpayers when they have a dispute with the irs. >> come on. >> reporter: they examined heather's case and decided she was right but the irs still won't pay heather back. >> if you do not know how to claim your rights, it can feel like you're being run over. >> reporter: so why is this happening? we figure the politicians who oversee the irs would jump at

the chance to protect the taxpayers, but we were wrong. representative dave camp, no comment. representative charles boustany, no comment. maybe third time's a charm with senator carl levin, no comment. we got this from senator max baucus, "this is certainly an issue senator baucus will look at closely." we also went to the irs, and they gave us a statement saying, we have referred this case to our independent inspector general and that if an irs employee took any inappropriate actions and if those actions caused harm to this taxpayer in any way, we sincerely apologize." heather doesn't want an apology. she wants her $5,500 back and she's not alone in complaining about the irs. 300,000 people went and complained to that tax advocate just last year. now, critics say the problem is the irs has the ability to take your money first and ask questions second. well, now we're asking the questions and we're staying on

the irs to help heather get her money back. chris cuomo, abc news, new york. >> it's good to know and a great story, too. well, when we return, sugar ray loses his fight to compete on "dancing with the stars." >> and the singer who's putting some extra skin into "the skinny" this morning, we can "barely" wait. stay with us. >> oh, boy, that's bad. >> that was bad. fdfdfdfdfd@p@p@p

♪ skinny ♪ so skinny oh, boy. >> yes, indeed. >> the things that happen around here. all right. now to the skinny. i'm sure a lot of people saw this last night and could not believe what we're talking about. "dancing with the stars" and sugar ray saying good-bye. this was so sad. as sugar ray was eliminated, this was sort of the first elimination that hurt because people really like him and he was a good dancer. but he was ko'ed, sort of speak, and he put up a good party fight. >> he exited gracefully. >> i thought that he would definitely hang in there a bit. but he's out of it.

side note on "dancing with the stars", kirstie alley says it's a conspiracy. >> the shoe falling off. >> the whole shoegate, she says that she's convinced that petra nemcova tampered with her shoes, and i'm getting on the bandwagon. i'm right there, kirstie. i think it was something behind the scenes. >> she was like tongue in cheek. >> she was joking. that's why we love her. >> she's a great sport. great personality. she bounces back. >> yep. making a new movie about famed new york mob boss john gotti but guess who will play gotti in the movie? the one and only, john travolta. so, yeah, mr. saturday night fever is coming out to play the new york organized crime boss here, but the interesting word on this one too is that guess who is in talks to play his daughter, possibly, in the movie, lindsay lohan may be in the movie, too, which could be very, very interesting here. the movie's going to start shooting in october from the same director who did the film "blow" as well as "the notebook." and gotti himself died back in 2002 at age of 61. take a look here of what john said about the role. >> he had such a commitment to his moral code of the gangster life that that was an obsession

of his that he lived till the very moment that he left and it would be very interesting to play that kind of real-life character that's done that. >> the movie is called "gotti: the three generations." >> you see him there with the gotti family. lindsay looks a little like victoria gotti. mariah carey is expecting twins like any minute right now. >> yeah, she's about to pop. >> take a look at this picture on the cover of "ok!" magazine. we know demi moore did it a while -- you know the annie liebowitz thing. on the cover of "vanity fair." and nick canon is also participating in the photo. >> such a lovely loving couple. >> family photo there. slightly risque. in fact, we were discussing if we could even show it but it'll be in the grocery stores all around the country. >> you'll be able to see it. >> she looks beautiful. >> she does. and nick looks happy too. >> he does look happy. >> a risky picture there. >> yes, lady gaga. the video says it all here. she was doing a show in houston singing a song called "you and i" and took a tumble when she tried to jump off of the piano. take a look at the video.

gaga took a spill and miraculous thing she kept on performing. didn't acknowledge it, got right back up, started to sing like nothing happened. >> i'm thinking that that bikini could not have provided all that much cushion. >> the danger of stilettos, ladies. just another case in point. >> she keeps going like it didn't happen. you go next if you had a here would hoveround power chair? the statue of liberty? the grand canyon? it's all possible ith a hoveround., tom: hi i'm tom kruse, inventor rand founder of hoveround., when we say you're free to see the world, we mean it. call today and get a free overound information kit, that includes a video and full color brochure.

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the risk is real. take the next step. call today. here are some stories to watch today on abc news. president obama outlines his plans to reduce the nation's debt today. he may call for eliminating those bush-era tax cuts again as well as curbing some of the costs of medicaid and medicare. the gop opposes, though, any plans to increase taxes. also international leaders address the fighting in libya today during some meetings set to take place in the mideast. some criticize the u.s. military for not taking a more active role in ending the fighting there. and property owners in hawaii cleaning up last month's tsunami damage are now getting some extra help. low interest federal loans are now available to help cover their costs. and we do love this story around here. they say that with age comes

wisdom. so imagine how wise the teacher at the center of our next story must be, she's 97. >> the new jersey woman is literally the oldest teacher in the country, and she enjoys nothing more, of course, than to see the smiling faces of her students. here is wabc's toni yates. >> i think that she's the best cook in the whole world. >> reporter: 97-year-old agnes zhelesnik is baking banana bread with her preschoolers for a very good reason. >> because it's "n" week. now next week it's "g" week, and we'll make good as gold gingersnaps. >> reporter: to the kids, the teachers, to everyone, agnes is granny and the sundance school is happy it's got her. >> so when you looked forward to someone who inspired you, someone who touches all of the children that you love, wouldn't you feel like the luckiest person in the world? >> it's the energy that you have. taking care of children is worth it. >> reporter: even at 97.

>> anybody would work at 97 if they're able to, and i'm able. >> reporter: granny started working at sundance 15 years ago after joe, her husband of 61 years, passed away. >> everybody wants to be close to her, and that's why i think it feeds both ways. i think they give her energy, and she gives us love. >> she never lets anyone like -- one person get something, and the other person -- the other group gets something else. >> reporter: granny is here at the school monday through friday teaching classes from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, and on some days she even teaches after-school classes. >> you love them. and you so want to please them somehow and make them want to come and learn. >> reporter: in north plainfield, toni yates, channel 7, eyewitness news. >> i love it, monday through friday and then she teaches after-school classes. >> oh, that's impressive. >> incredible, totally incredible.

>> she actually quit school at the age of 16 during the depression. to take a job at the american can company just making $16 a rpea