screaming loudly. >> that's the difference between generations. turn on the camera, exactly. >> wouldn't think of it. >> but no. >> she is and she's fine. everybody's fine, including the shark. >> all good. >> all's well that ends well. coming up, the moment you have to see from a father surprised by his son's report card. a mysterious blue-eyed girl named maria getting worldwide attention. what investigators uncovered about her and the couple that claim to be her parents. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by colonial penn life insurance. uncovered about her and her parents. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by colonial penn life insurance.

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♪ maria >> her name is maria. she's at the center of a deepening mystery that caught the attention of the world. she's 4 years old and found at a camp of gypsies in greece with a couple who claim to be her parents. >> that's where the mystery starts. the latest from athens.

>> reporter: it is her distinctive blond hair and blue eyes that may have saved her. her young face seen around the world. it began when police raided the camp of gypsies, known as roama, coming across a girl believed to be 5 or 6 years old known simply as little maria. here she is in a haunting home video. little dancing girl who looks out of step in her own world. police thought she looked nothing like the couple that claim to be her parents. a dna test proved she was not theirs. they charged this gypsy couple of abducting her and falsifying paperwork for seven of their 14 children. and they are trying to figure out who their parents maybe. they argue the mother gave the young girl to them and they adopted her. as word of maria spread, authorities in greece say they were inundated with 8,000 calls around the world, including the united states.

many from desperate family members searching for their missing children. little maria was found living in the world of the roma. this is her home, tiny pink sneakers by the door. ten million strong, today many live as nomads throughout europe and they are often accused of being used as pickpockets, targeting tourists at some of the great attractions. now it's a race against time to figure out who this little dancing girl is. maria already becoming a global beacon of hope for families of missing children like maddie mccann in the u.k. who say even though this is not maddie it gives them and so many others reason not to give up. alex perez, abc news, athens, greece. >> what a mystery. the big thing is to find out who the girl belongs to. and the other thing, the parents will be in trouble regardless of the little girl. they have registered 14 kids for welfare and ten of them are unaccounted for. they registered all 14 of these

kids in three different cities, getting multiple checks. >> they were getting more than $3,000 a month for these kids and the mom claims she had six kids in ten months. >> yes. that would be a guinness book of world records. you would be an alien if you could pull that off. >> maria is in the hospital, eating well, talking to psychologists, playing with toys, communicating. hopefully we can resolve this. >> and the couple said they loved her like a daughter. and treated her well. hope so. coming up, how to look like a princess on a shoestring budget. >> how to get your hands on fancy fashion even if it is just one evening. ahead, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. what is it about this woman's hair that got her fired from hooters? you are watching "world news now." >> announcer: world news now continues after this from our abc stations. woman's hair that got her fired from hooters? you are

you know, from a young age. i definitely want to major in political science. become the mayor or something. make the situation better for other people. my name is justin, and i am your dividend.

♪ >> many of us would love to live the glamorous life but unfortunately most of us can't afford it. particularly when it comes to high fashion. >> now the ladies are taking a hint from the guys who for generations have gotten around the formal wear affordability problem by renting it. >> reporter: they are the eye-popping, glamorous red rent the runway.com has a store inside of henry -- in new york city. >> welcome to our dream closet. >> i love it. >> reporter: i got to check it out with the company's cofounders.

>> you can now rent a designer dress that you otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. >> they go to the runway shows and pick out the top styles they love. >> reporter: our own amy rented their dress s from the site for the emmys. but they say going from virtual to actual makes the experience even better. >> you get to feel how great the fabric is. see how it shines in the light and how it fits your body. >> williams rented this for 100 bucks. a sexy white and yellow off the shoulder for $65. and this $150 with one special bonus. >> i found out by reading your comments that katy perry had worn the dress. >> one point where people were hiding the fact they were renting their clothes to all of a sudden advertising it. >> so often you will be at a party, hey, i love your dress and our customers are saying, "thanks, i rented it at the runway."

it is my turn to play cinderella. this is the tough part of my job happening right now. ♪ >> reporter: michelle obama dress. feeling very presidential and floral. >> sophia vergara dress. va va voom. the carrie underwood dress. va va vegas. jennifer lawrence dress. what do you think? i liked this one so much, i wore at an event over the weekend. full price glam for a fraction of the cost. >> check it out. >> good idea, right? >> that is an excellent idea. you know what i want to come up with, same service for maternity clothes. >> great idea, too. >> you wear it once for a couple of months. >> hello. >> holy moly, who's body is that? >> whose body is that? at least the face stands up on the body. >> thank you. >> you have to put that on your

facebook page. holy mackerel. >> people aren't going to buy it. no matter how much i try -- >> i never knew. wow! i'm impressed. it. >> i never knew. wow! i'm impressed.

welcome to "the mix." we start with an incredible start with an incredible reaction to a kid getting a really good grade on his math test. we don't have a lot of information but it is a great clip. the dad helps the kid study for a math test and the kid nails it. then he sets up a secret camera so when he presents his test scores to dad, he can capture the reaction. dad not knowing. check it out. are you sure. >> is that real? >> yes. >> is that real? >> yes. >> oh, my god! [ laughter ] >> are you sure? >> yes. >> complete and total freak-out.

>> look at him. he doesn't know what to do with himself. >> i have a couple of questions, number one, how poor ly was the son doing beforehand that the dad got so excited? i want to know what the test score was. doesn't matter. >> i would think the son wants another reaction like that. that could get addictive. bring home a lot of as, and the dad gives you that reaction. good to go, dad. talk about the rapping granny. it is courtesy of the daily mail. she is 63 from michigan and takes to you tube to entertain her grandson who lives away. and lately she's been rapping about elves, cursing, and talking about bowel movements. >> oh, gosh. ♪ oh lord did your hair turn gray ♪ ♪ did your teeth fall out ♪ hey my mama didn't tell me but that's what it's all about ♪

>> i am telling you she needs her own radio show. rapping retiree has been making videos since april. she misses her grandson, two hours away in chicago and has become a viral sensation. >> so check this out. this is a utah family that gets a kick out of essentially becoming movie stars, movie characters for halloween. >> cool. >> three years ago, this is in salt lake city, three years ago the family decided they wanted to be all the characters, every single character in "beetle juice." here's a clip of the movie to remind you. this is -- the people in the attic with the scary faces an -- and then after this you're going to see the wedding. that's the red wedding dress. check out a picture of the family. there they all are. the little girl is lydia, the parents with the freaky faces and the little boy is beetle juice. they didn't stop there. the next year they decided they wanted to go with edward scissor hands. so they -- the little boy. >> wow. >> and the girl is queen of hearts from alice in wonderland. >> terrific.

this morning on "world news now" fatal rampage. a middle school student who opened fire killing a teacher this morning on "world news now" fatal rampage. a middle school student who opened fire killing a teacher before taking his own life. what classmates are saying about the student's state of mind. sensitive dispute over a murdered army sergeant's gravestone and her love of spongebob squarepants. the family's anger over a loved one's wish. deeply distracted and deeply sorry. one mother's apology to her family and the world after she paid more attention to her e-mail than a child in the bathtub. her scary story and why she's sharing it. shocker on stage. a "dancing with the stars" first and why no one was voted off the stage last night. details in "the skinny" on this tuesday, october 22nd. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now" with

john muller and diana perez. also in "the skinny," by the way, some breaking kim and kanye news. >> interesting. this is a doozy. >> oh, yes. >> we will bring it to you in a bit. another tragedy to report. a small community reeling from a deadly shooting at a school. this incident unfolded in sparks, nevada, near reno. the teacher is now dead. the student took his own life and two students are injured. we have the latest deals. good morning, brandi. >> reporter: good morning, john and diana. we are learning more about the victims in the shooting spree. two young boys are expected to survive but a beloved math teacher was killed when he tried to step in and protect the students. >> reporter: shots were fired at sparks middle school in reno, nevada, just after 7 a.m. >> active shooter. sparks middle school. at least two down. >> reporter: as the s.w.a.t. team rushed to the scene, students watched a

seventh grader shoot several rounds. >> he shoots my friend and goes sparks middle school in reno, the s.w.a.t. team rushed to the team. students watch 7th grader shoot several rounds. >> he shoots my friend and goes to the teacher and says, "back up," and he pulled the trigger. >> more shots were fired from a semiautomatic handgun. >> saw a kid holding a gun. >> running and screaming and i started running and we heard another gunshot. >> we are inside the cafeteria. that's where the students have been huddled. they are safe here. we are looking for the shooter now. >> reporter: a former u.s. marine and air national guardsman was killed. the gunman also shot and injured two 12-year-old students before turning the weapon on himself. >> one shot through the shoulder. the other shot in the abdomen. both sustained non-life-threatening injuries. >> reporter: as word spread to the white house -- >> we are here aware of this shooting. >> reporter: the children were evacuated and reunited with their parents. >> i find out he is a witness. i didn't know he was a witness. >> emotional roller coaster right now. >> reporter: several students

tried to save mr. lansbury who is hailed a hero. >> we picked him up, carried him a little bit and we left him because our vice principal said go, go, go. get to safety. get to safety. >> reporter: as officers investigate a motive, they say the young gunman was bullied. >> thank you. breaking news from down under this morning. firefighters in australia are making progress battling dozens of brush fires. they have managed to merge two of the blazes in way that makes them easier to control. the fire threat is nowhere near being over. the weather conditions are expected to get worse in the next couple of days. in an area near sydney, more than 300 homes have been damaged or destroyed. secretary of state john kerry is in paris where he faces growing anger from the french over the alleged u.s. spying. a leaked report claiming the nsa collected more than 70 million french phone records over a month. kerry called france one of the oldest allies in the world and said protecting people's security in today's world is a

complicated, challenging task. president obama spoke to the president of france about the nsa's activity. president obama was on the defensive over the problem-plagued rollout of the health care website. abc's jonathan karl reports on the damage control. >> reporter: listening to the president, you might think the health care rollout has been a smashing success. >> thousands of people are signing up and saving money as we speak. >> reporter: he acknowledged after three weeks, problems with the website continue. >> there's no sugar coating it. the website has been too slow and there's no excuse for the problems. >> reporter: the president suggested applying by phone saying it would take those looking for an individual plan only about 25 minutes. so far, robert shlora is having no luck. >> you would be able to take the application over the phone? >> reporter: he was on the phone an hour and a half. a total of 4.5 hours since october 1st. he also has spent five hours on the website and live chatted

with a representative for three hours. after all of that -- >> i have no idea whether or not i will be offered a better plan. whether or not the government will help to subsidize it. >> the white house is promising a tech surge, reaching out to who they are calling the best and the brightest. but who? we asked hhs, and so far, no answer. the website problems have some in congress calling for a delay in the mandate requiring everybody have health insurance by march 31st. >> given the problems we have seen with people trying to enroll in this program, is the white house going to delay the mandate? >> that's not at all what i was saying. >> if the website is not fixed, will people still have to pay the fine? >> we are way still early in the process. let's be clear about that. we are three weeks into this. >> reporter: some republicans are calling on the president to

fire health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, but senior white house officials say that's not going to happen. the president isn't looking to fire anybody. he's looking to get the problem fixed. jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. the government shutdown sent the congressional approval rating to the lowest level in 40 years. a brand new abc news poll just released shows 85% of americans disapprove of congress. the approval rating 12%. 81% disapprove of the government shutdown. 22% said they were personally inconvenienced. as for the president, 43% approve of his role in the budget talks. more than half don't like the job he's doing. a controversy in cincinnati between a cemetery and grieving family over a sponge bob gravestone. army sergeant kimberly walker was murdered by her boyfriend on valentine's day. her family had a spongebob squarepants-themed monument created. the cemetery took it down saying the worker who approved that design made an error in judgment, offering to replace the marker

at their expense. but the family isn't buying it. >> we don't need a reimbursement for the headstones. all we want is the headstones put back up and the original drawing back. >> they insist it is the only proper way to memorialize kimberly since she loved the character from childhood to adulthood. the dispute is at an impasse. >> she loved it so much, everything in her life was sponge bob. her bathroom, bedroom, decorated with sponge bob. the family is planning to meet with cemetery officials to discuss what options there may be. >> i don't see how you somehow give the family approval and then say no. >> right. >> this might be one of those things where you have to say from here on in. >> from here on in no more but right, you can't take it away. by the way, it's hard to say what will happen here but this family has paid for six plots at the cemetery at the expense of $29,000. that's an incredible amount of money the cemetery has gotten from this family. this might be one of those like, okay, we'll let this one stay.

>> you have to feel bad for the family for their loss and now this kind of battle. >> like livelihoods losing her twice. now on to this. two scout leaders seen toppling an ancient rock formation in utah are no longer part of the scouts. the two men have been stripped of their leadership position after this video surfaced. glenn taylor and dave hall claim they thought the rock was loose and posed a danger to other hikers. they could face criminal charges. >> boy, that video makes me mad. >> oh, yeah. here's a look at the weather. scattered showers across much of the northeast today. along the east coast of florida, the upper midwest will see rain mixed with snow and accumulations up to four inches. pleasant and dry west of the rockies. temperatures along the west coast ten degrees above normal. in the 40s for the upper midwest, seasonal along the east coast. wouldn't be a tuesday morning here on "world news now" without another good animal story. that's why this is our "favorite story of the day." say hello to the new additions being welcomed in the zoo in richmond, virginia. >> five new baby cheetahs.

three males, two females. listen to them. the parents are first-time parents at the cheetah breeding center. >> oh, my goodness. breeding cheetahs in captivity is considered challenging so every new litter is important. [ purring ] >> this is just the first group of baby cheetahs born in the u.s. this year, and they mean business. >> what a sound they make. is that a roar? whatever it is, as cute as they look. adorable. look at that face. >> i know. >> my goodness. coming up, the celebrity sex and drug scandal that is rocking reality tv and hollywood. and the hooters waitress who was under orders to change her hairdo or else. you are watching "world news now." ♪ i wave my hair back and forth ♪ >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care. ave my hair back and forth ♪ >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united i' nice long life ahead. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care.

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♪ i'm sorry ♪ so sorry a mother in connecticut is >> a mother in connecticut is finding it very difficult to forgive herself for something just about all of us has done at one point or another. >> these days with phone calls, e-mails and texts coming at us from all directions, it is easy to get distracted from the task at hand. >> this mom says an e-mail almost killed her daughter. here's abc's linzie janis. last week i almost killed my daughter. >> reporter: it is the blog grabbing the attention of tens

of thousands of readers online. >> i could have been responsible for her drowning. >> reporter: her article about the moment she left her 3-year-old daughter alone in the bath while she went to check an e-mail has hit a nerve. >> i put her in the tub, started to fill it up. went to find my son to put him in the shower. saw the ipad, a ding, e-mail from a friend. i felt compelled to respond to it. i left her alone in the tub about two minutes. >> reporter: by the time she got back to the bathroom, ruby had fallen fast asleep against the side of the tub. >> i felt like i couldn't breathe. if i had taken the time to answer one more e-mail or squeeze in one more thing, it really did haunt me to think of what could have happened. >> reporter: luckily ruby was just fine, but she says it was a wake-up call. she's pregnant with her third child. she says that she has become too distracted by social media and multitasking in general. >> how many e-mails can i send? can i get a shower, what else can i get done. almost incapable of single

tasking. the ability to do one thing well or even two things well, and two things that matter well, that is where i feel like i have been struggling lately. >> reporter: the outpouring online suggests she's not alone. one person writing, "thank you for writing this. so very brave." another, "we all made it to slow down." >> 2/3 of the accidental drownings actually take place in a bathtub. so parents don't realize how common this can actually be. i think jennifer's story is a great cautionary tale. >> reporter: and it's not just bathtime. she says she's making a effort to focus less on her devices any time she's with her kids. linzie janis, abc news, hartford, connecticut. now to our facebook question of the day. what advice do you have for people who cannot avoid distractions from e-mail or text messaging? let us know what you think at wnnfans.com. >> even if you don't put anyone in danger, you are missing out on life, your kids, your

friends. now and then, unplug. >> yeah. this is a gut-wrenching story to think two minutes could have made a difference. >> oh, yeah. >> think of it, she was slumped to the side. what if she slipped right under. she wouldn't have made a peep. that would have been the end of that. >> no doubt about that. scary stuff. >> yeah. i read that blog before we did the story, not knowing we were going to do the story and immediately had my husband read it. like we got to -- >> very brave woman to write the blog. >> absolutely. very eye opening. coming up, sex and drugs and a celebrity couple. and breaking news from the kardashian family. coming up next in

♪ skinny ♪ so skinny this just in to report in the skinny. breaking news to report in the skinny. it happened a few hours ago. >> i can't wait for you to tell me what it is. >> kanye proposes to kim. >> fell off my seat. >> i got this tidbit from e! entertainment but he gave her a like a bowling ball on top of a ring setting. anyway, it happened a few hours ago. he threw a big party for kim's birthday. it was in the park where the giants baseball team plays. he rented it out. there was orchestra and fireworks according to e! and he

popped the question. family and friends were there. it must have been quite a shin itsdig -- shindig, and she got the 15-carat rock. we don't know the date yet, but they are official. there you go. they are engaged and official. >> the kardashians and everyone involved with them don't do anything quietly. >> no. he splurged. >> apparently keeping up with the jones and the kardashians. the ring is made by a designer that made beyonce and jay-z's ring. but that ring was 20 car yarts. kanye -- >> there you go. five carats short. my goodness. five more carats than most people. >> he is kanye but not jay-z in more ways than one. another big one. ceelo green charged right now, a breaking story in a way. his name is thomas decarlo calloway. he was charged yesterday -- he's famous for being on "the voice" as a judge and charged with furnishing a controlled substance. they allege he slipped a woman ecstasy while out at a restaurant in july. they went back to the hotel

room. stuff happened there. not enough evidence to say there was rape or forced sex but enough to charge him with slipping her ecstasy presumably without her knowing. he will face those charges. >> incredible. all right. now to this, "dancing with the stars" big news of the night is who was eliminated on "dancing with the stars"? you don't have to plug your ears. the answer is no one. >> really? >> absolutely. somebody from the show tweeted out there were technical difficulties. and because of that, because of major problems with the polls last week, everyone gets to stay and dance another night. there you have it. according to tom, the host, he said that last week's votes have been discarded, and the judges' scores from last night will continue in to next week. quickly highlights and low lights. amber riley got 32, they were a the top of the bunch. everybody came in between and

corbin blue 27 and bill with 24. there you have it. and came down to jeff and bill. they maybe at the bottom next week. we will have to see. this comes courtesy of readit. arnold schwarzenegger promoting a new movie called "escape plan." it will hit -- actually it hit theaters yesterday. he makes rounds and goes on the interview shows and everyone is sayi saying, "arnold, give us your lines. your favorite lines." and he said, "lemeet gut all my favorite lines out of the way because my fans are driving me nuts." listen in. >> it's not a tumor. put the cookie down, now! who's your daddy, and what does he do? as a gift to all of you, i can promise you, i'll be back. >> so reddit scored that one. >> yeah. what's your favorite arnold? >> i'll be back. >> it's not a tumor is pretty good, too. >> i have to admit. there's no question in my

mind -- >> arnold looks good, by the way. >> he looks amazing. how old is he, in his 60s. >> no kidding. he does look good. we'll be right back. he does look good. 0s. l be right back. >> no kidding. he does look good. we'll be right back.

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in sparkling health. for shining results, finish dishwasher cleaner. ♪ i wave my hair back and forth ♪ oh, my gosh. that song. >> do you wave your hair back and forth? >> all the time. >> i have seen him do it actually. there's much ado about a baltimore woman who says she lost her job over her hair at hooters over her hair. >> she says it was the color of her hair and now she is fighting back. jeff hager of our baltimore station has more. >> reporter: outside the hooters restaurant near the inner harbor, you can see images of

the pretty waitresses that have become the chain's trademark. behind closed doors, it appears their beauty is in the eye of the beholder. >> i started to notice there was an issue when other african-american employees tried to come in to work wearing their hair curly and they would get in trouble by management and tell them you can't come back unless you straighten your hair. >> reporter: 25-year-old saran johnson ran in to trouble of her own when she showed up with blond highlights in her hair. she claims her managers told her to change it or else. >> i didn't think it would be a big issue because there were a lot of other employees working at the restaurant of other races putting color in their hair. asian girls with red hair, caucasian girls with black hair and blond streaks. i didn't think it would be an issue to put a little piece of blond in my hair. >> reporter: balancing school

with her work on a limited budget, johnson said she couldn't afford to return to the hair salon to change it. a few months later she was fired for what the company deemed as her improper image. she since filed a co >> the law is clear that the employers can't have two separate unequal sets of rules. one for african-american employees and one r e else. that is exactly what hooters did here in firing miss johnson, an african-american employee, solely because she was african-american. told her to leave, they targeted r be >> interestngd. wmar-tv asked the company, hooters, about the case. and they responded saying that it will not comment on any pending litigatithis litin'ty lws hoere is a lawsuit agai an employee was forced to quit after refusing to wear a wig that scraped a scar she ha

good morning. i'm john muller. >> i'm diana perez. here's the top headlines on "world news now." a teacher is dead after a student gunman opened fire at a school near reno, nevada. the student then killed himself. we will hear more about the heroics in the school coming up. the trains should be running in this san francisco bay area after a tentative agreement was reached last night ending the four-day-old b.a.r.t. strike. it comes as the ntsb finds there was a trainee at the helm of the train that struck and killed two workers over the weekend. ceelo green, the star of the hit show "the voice" pleaded not guilty to a federal drug charge but will not face a rape charge. green is accused of spiking a woman's drink with ecstasy before the two went back to her las vegas

hotel. two scout leaders seen knocking over a rock have been dismissed from the scouts. those are some of our top stories on this tuesday, october 22nd. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now" with john muller and diana perez. >> all right. good tuesday morning, everyone. we will begin this half-hour with the president's defense of the affordable care act. mr. obama admitting on the website it's just not working the way it should be and he says a reform plan is solid and they are working on it. >> abc's karen travers is joining us from washington with the latest. good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, john. good morning, diana. yesterday, the white house said yes, there are problems with healthcare.gov and yes, we are trying to fix it. we did not hear what the technical glitches are and how quickly they will be resolved.

it was supposed to be so easy. health care coverage at your fingertips with a few clicks of the mouse. since the online exchange opened october 1st, there have been major technical problems. >> i really have no idea whether or not i will be offered a better plan, whether or not the government will help to subsidize it. >> reporter: with 19 million people who have logged on to find confusing error messages, broken calculators, wrong information on medicaid eligibility and long delays and time-outs. the department of health and human services spent $500 million to build the site. critics say it is a complete failure. >> a visit to the website is like a trip to the department of motor vehicles in your state. >> reporter: president obama says some of the nation's top i.t. talent has been brought in to help. the website glitches aren't indicative of a broader problem. >> the health insurance that's being provided is good. it's high quality, and it's

affordable. >> reporter: according to a new abc news "washington post" poll, a majority of americans disagree. still, 2/3 said they are willing to keep the law and see how it works out instead of repealing it. the white house stressed that this is week three of a six-month enrollment. hhs secretary kathleen sebelius is expected to testify before congress next week. john and diana, she is likely to face a grilling about the problems with this rollout. >> all right, karen. thank you. the government shutdown sent the congressional approval rating to the lowest level in 40 years. a brand new abc news poll just released shows 85% of americans disapprove of congress. the approval rating is just 12%. 81% of those polled disapprove of the government shutdown. 22% said they were personally inconvenienced. as for the president, more than half of those polled said they don't like the job he is doing with the budget talks. a middle school in sparks, nevada, closed after a deadly

shooting. police say a shooting at that school use semiautomatic handgun to wound two students, kill a teacher, and then killed himself. the teacher tried to head off more violence by asking the shooter to put down his gun. andrew thompson tried to help. >> picked him up, carried him a little bit and left him because our vice principal came along and said, go, go, go, get to safety. get to safety. >> the dead student has not been identified. there are reports that he was a victim of bullying. th> new details in the case of a lynn spaldig's s discovered in a h l tksatred in a h a hospital orderly to have twice stepped an unconscious woman inthe stairwell a week earlie miss spalding's family is stunned at this latest report. >> i think what this tells us is what didn't happen at the hospital. what should have happened? immediate care and assistance for someone who's laying on a stairwell. >> the orderly reportedly told a

nurse who informed the sheriff's department. the sheriff's department will not comment on this case. >> this is fascinating. listen to this. it is unclear whether spalding was alive when she o fou her. he stepped over her on october o her body was found on october 8th. >> her faer she had a condition that made her disoriented when she got to the hospital and she was on an every 15-minute watch. she somehow got up and left and taken to a stairwell and for two weeks no one found her in this hospital. how is this possible? >> i say it all the time. that's why police, juries, and investigations -- what do we know sitting at the desk here? but how do you not step over somebody and not report it? whether it was reported and nobody followed up on it. >> there is a woman in the stairwell. >> how did that happen? >> right.

moving on to this now, boston commuters, please be careful on subway platforms. we say that after seeing this video from yesterday's rush hour. watch as the woman falls to the tracks after walking with straight off the platform. it was a minute before others came to her help. she suffered only minor injuries. and of course, it reminded us of another incident in boston. it happened last week. another woman fell on the track we showed you that video yesterday. she was checked out in both cases transn dar of being hit by a train. there's a health alert in china where the air pollution is so bad the smog soared to 40 times higher than international standard. >> reporter: it is air so toxic, so thick with pollution it is hard to make out the person next to you. harbin, china, a home to more people than live in the entire state of new jersey, frozen in a soup. on the roads it is hard to make out red from green traffic lights. warnings to stay indoors. for those venturing out, mask is the only defense. winter is the start of smog

season in china. some measurements from the smog are five times as bad as bakersfield, california, america's smoggiest spot. in beijing, headlines last january. smog so bad it was hard to see the sun. your eyes itched and throat burned. watch me wipe a thin layer that accumulated on cars. that is soot and grime. this is my own air purifier. watch this. that is what we are breathing in beijing. one expert told me it is like becoming an instant smoker. in china today, a mind-blowing 1.2 million premature deaths are blamed on air pollution. it is called airpocalypse. and with winter setting in, the forecast is only for more smog. gloria rivera, abc news, beijing. >> stunning. the usually sunny pacific coast of mexico will get a healthy dose of rain today thanks to hurricane raymond. the storm is stationary with

winds 120 miles an hour. raymond dropped off rain to cause street flooding in acapulco and beach communities the real fear is about a possible landslide in various areas that get heavy torrential rains. here's a look at your weather now. a cold front brings snow to the upper midwest. expect up to four inches. scattered rain showers along the east coast from maine all the way down to florida. clear across most of the western half of the u.s. >> temperature thes in the east will be seasonal. summer-like in orlando, upper 80s. chilly across the midwest and warmer than normal along the west coast. some business headlines this morning. we start with the tablet wars getting underway. apple expected to unveil its new line of ipads. speculation is they will have a new high-resolution display and thinner, lighter design and not to be outdone, nokia is rolling

out its version. all just in time for early holiday season shoppers. shares of netflix poised to hit all-time highs today thanks to the success it has had in bringing in new subscribers. they added 1.3 million streaming customers in the u.s. between july and september. it has 30 million subscribers in america for the first time. netflix is reporting earnings quadrupled from the same time last year. something less serious and more seasonal. you know it is halloween season when the zombie bike ride rolls through the streets of key west. >> like that idea. organizers say about 7,500 people dressed in some sort of zombie outfit and got on their bikes for the ride. some honored diana nyad with the swimsuit she wore from cuba to key west. >> it is part of the fest that runs through this sunday. >> i want to live in a place where your big responsibility that day is to dress up like a zombie. >> and ride a bike. oh, man --

by the way, diana nyad will be back in key west on saturday night acting as the grand marshall of the fantasy fest parade. >> she looked a little zombie-like when she got out of that water and she deserved it. bit by jellyfish. all kinds of things. all right. coming up. the courtroom drama involving a dead beauty queen, her facelift and bathtub. also, after scandals, reality tv, and childbirth, you will see how snooki reinvented herself by dancing. a 17-year-old whiz kid with a rare condition that makes him age rapidly. how his discovery is rocking the world of science. you are watching "world news now." ♪ forever young >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought you

♪ welcome back. today the trial of martin macneill, a doctor and father of eight, continues in provo, utah. >> he is charged with the murder of his wife michelle somers who died in their bathtub heavily medicated after he insisted she have a facelift in 2007. >> reporter: opening arguments began last week in this epic family fight pitting macneill against his own children. his daughters say their father killed their mother and they believe the motive was another woman. a gaunt yet stoic martin macneill has been in court for days, fighting for his freedom as his own daughters crusade to put him behind bars for the murder of their beauty queen mother. >> the defendant told this witness that it would be hard

to prove murder because authorities could conclude that his wife took too many medications and possibly fell asleep in the tub. >> they say the motive was this wamp r woman -- this woman, gypsy willis. the two were having an affair in 2007, the same time his wife died. alexis says after meeting gypsy her father forced her mother to get a facelift. while recovering from the surgery, michele suddenly died in the bathtub. >> that was my first instinct, he killed her. >> reporter: a frantic-sounding macneill called 911. >> my wife has fallen in the bathtub. >> is she conscious? >> she's not. i'm a physician. >> reporter: but he hung up on the operator three times and couldn't provide an audible address, costing crucial time that may have saved michele's wife. then he said he couldn't lift his own dying wife out of the water. >> can you get her out of the water. >> i can't. i will let the water out. >> reporter: prosecutors say

macneill, a doctor, killed his wife with a deadly dose of post surgery pills, but the defense says she accidentally drowned. >> we shouldn't let emotions cloud our judgment. you may think he is a total jerk and that's natural. it's critical during this trial that you set aside your emotions and you evaluate this case based upon the facts. >> it is when alexis dug in to her father's past, searching his phone records, that she discovered his affair with gypsy willis, a possible motive. but it was her mom's troubling words before she died that raised the alarm. >> she said, "if anything happens to me, make sure it wasn't your dad." and i said, "mom, what do you mean? what are you saying?" >> reporter: alexis and gypsy willis are both expected to testify for the prosecution. a verdict is expected in the next month. >> talk about martin's behavior. how much will that play in to the case? >> we know he had multiple affairs and asked the doctor to give her higher dose of

medication after her surgery. and we heard testimony from neighbors at the scene after martin called 911, saying he wasn't giving her cpr, they were, and he was acting oddly. none of this helps him. >> it seems a grown man can't lift a woman out of a bathtub who's dying. >> or that a physician wouldn't know what to do in these crucial moments. >> that's what the jury decides. wow. what a case. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. we have much more coming up. >> up next, the story of a remarkable boy with a debilitating disorder that is literally putting his life on fast forward. the lesson he can teach all of us when we return. >> announcer: "world news now" continues after this from our abc stations ♪ forever young

sfroets forever young ♪ who doesn't want to who doesn't want to remain forever young? the search for the fountain of youth has been going on for centuries. >> the search has become a race against time for the family of one teenager suffering from a debilitating genetic condition. here's abc's david muir with his story. >> reporter: the sleepy walk down the hallway. sam burns is getting ready for school. >> can you hold my book while i brush my teeth? >> reporter: for sam, there is more. the medicine, trying to slow down the aging. sam has progeria, a disease that ages children far faster than the rest of us. so rare, fewer than 250 children

in the world with it. a hug at the school bus. about to start her day, too. a doctor now spends her every waking moment searching for a cure. >> what do you say about your mom? she doesn't have a normal job. >> yeah. i kind of just want my mom to be done with progeria for her sake because my mom will work forever until progeria is cured. >> reporter: at school he is just sam. no one looks at his hands and legs anymore. through the nears as sam has engineered his own inventions, his mother engineering something else, a group of scientists and searcher and they made a bold discovery -- an abnormal protein in children like sam. >> we all have that protein but they're teeming with it, and it accelerates everything. >> reporter: her team developed the first drug, the first trials with children as far away as india and the result showing promise, slowing the

progression. doctors once told them children like sam live until 13. he turns 17 this week. >> you believe so many of us take time for granted. >> every time i see sam, sort of a moment he gets off the bus. it's a moment, and i treasure it. >> there's a lot going on around us that you can easily miss. >> i really think that, you know, i lucked out on the parent lottery. >> we lucked out on the son lottery. >> yes. >> reporter: david muir, abc news, new york. >> wow. that puts it in perspective, right. >> the condition occurs only in one per eight million live births worldwide. >> the genetic mutation is rarely inherited, though. >> right. >> that's very interesting. what a kid. here he is, battling this and he is worried about his mom. >> worried about his mom not having to deal with his condition anymore. that's incredible. they said it best at the end, though. they said we won the lottery with each other. >> they were meant for each

other. >> yes, they were. we'll be right back. though. they said we won the lottery with each other. >> they were meant for each other. >> yes, they were. we'll be right back.

♪ it's the official halfway point on "dancing with the stars." millions tuned in last night to see who would get eliminated but instead they got a surprise. >> no up with was booted off the stage. the hosts explained due to a mixup in phone numbers for the viewer votes last week, there would be no elimination this week. >> interesting. among the many dramas playing out on "dancing with the stars," perhaps the most interesting one is revolving around snooki. >> viewers are tuning in to check out the jersey girl all grown up and cutting the rug. >> reporter: she's been burning up the dance floor on "dancing with the stars." and remarkably frank about the old snooki. >> having my son basically

changed my whole entire life. should have known me before. i was terrible. you probably wouldn't even like me. >> reporter: parties on the "jersey shore" and looking pretty different these days. the 25-year-old mom swears the hard-partying days are a thing of the past. >> i do not miss hangovers. now i just feel a happier person. >> coming out. >> reporter: "gma" went behind the scenes watching as reality cameras rolled on the third season of "snooki and jwow" that has a more family friendly feel. it is no "jersey shore" kind of fun. >> no. i feel like people grow up from partying and getting drunk. so over that. >> reporter: in fact, both of these besties are soon to be brides and busy planning their weddings. >> oh, my gosh.

>> reporter: how would you describe nicole's taste? >> very traditional. >> reporter: how would you describe her wedding plans? >> vegas, strippers, animals. >> reporter: strippers at the wedding? while they admit that baby lorenzo, who's now just over a year old, may have slowed them down a bit -- >> used to want to go to the bar and now i want to be with lorenzo and go to babies 'r' us. >> reporter: there's no way of taking the jersey shore out of snooki, i mean nicole. abc news, seaside heights, new jersey. >> everything changes when you become a mom. >> yeah for the better. hey. you are the one that whipped her into shape. >> that's not a bad picture. usually i look pretty lame but i will take that one. >> she lost a lot of weight. she looks great and doing great with her kid. >> way to go, snooki. that's our news this half-hour. looks great and doing great with her kid. >> way to go, snooki.

this morning on "world news now," nightmare in nevada. the shooting rampage inside of a middle school. the hero teacher killed, and the parents and students in fear. >> active shooter, sparks middle school, at least two down. the unforgettable mayhem and what investigators are uncovering. celebrity scandal. rapper and reality tv judge ceelo green had his day in court. the serious accusations from los angeles police involving sex and drugs. plus, serious fashions, and they are not for sale. they are for rent. it is one way to look rich and famous without spending a fortune. >> so often you will be at a party and say, "i love your dress." and our customers are saying "thanks, rent from the runway."

>> how to get today's look without regretting it tomorrow. it is tuesday, october 22nd. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now" with john muller and diana perez. >> good tuesday morning. a beloved math teacher who served two tours in afghanistan is being remembered as a hero this morning after that shooting at a nevada middle school. >> the teacher tried to get a student to put down his gun before he was shot and killed, but he likely saved other lives. cecilia vega reports from sparks. >> reporter: just as the school week was about to begin, the sound of gunshots. students and teachers at sparks middle school east of reno, nevada, under fire. >> they have at least two down. >> reporter: it started at the basketball court. students watched their 7th grade classmate fire rounds from a

semiautomatic handgun. >> he pulls out a gun and shoots my friend and walks up to a teacher and says, "back up." the teacher started to back up, and he pulled the trigger. >> michael lansbury, a math teacher, former marine and member of the nevada national guard hailed a hero, fatally shot while trying to stop the rampage. it has been ten months since the sandy hook elementary school shooting. this year alone, 13 school shootings so far. investigators say the suspected gunman also shot one 12-year-old in the shoulder another in the abdomen. both injuries are nonlife-threatening. then he turned the weapon on himself. 20 to 30 students witnessed it all, both outside and inside the building. >> people are running and screaming. we heard another gunshot. >> reporter: as worried parents rushed to the scene. >> the news said it before the school did and anybody else. that's not fair. our kids are at stake. >> reporter: so far, police have not provided a motive. counseling is available, but

the school will remain closed for the rest of the week. cecilia vega, abc news, sparks, nevada. new details on the florida prisoners who used forged documents to escape. the two convicted murderers have refused to speak to investigators about how they carried out the plot and who may have helped them. they were recaptured over the weekend, and now florida prison investigators say there have been seven attempts to use forged documents to cut short sentences. three were successful. the two who were recaptured an another inmate out just one day. >> amazing. seven times. what is interesting, when they caught them at the hotel room, no weapons or cell phone on them and authorities believe they had must have had a cell phone at some point. they want to find phone records because they believe it will help to figure out who helped them out. they want to check land lines that they had access to and think that might be the best way to find people involved with the forgery aspect. >> they also didn't find weapons. they went obviously expecting the worst of the worst. these are two convicted murderers on the loose, not

because they deserved to be out, they were expecting weapons and all kinds of things. >> when they walked in the room, they were lying face down on the floor. they knew their time was up. breaking news from northern california. bay area commuters will get sweet relief this morning. smile if you live in the bay area. transit union officials announcing the end to the four-day-old b.a.r.t. strike. the strike forced 400,000 passengers off the trains. that created commuting nightmares for everyone involved on the freeways, even on the water and ferries. investigators say the operator of the out-of-control b.a.r.t. train that crashed over the weekend was a trainee. the ntsb says it was traveling on auto pilot at 70 miles an hour when it struck and killed two workers on the tracks. bart said it would train them to operate trains during the strike. frightening moments on a u.s. airways flight after a threatening note was found on board. it was discovered as the jet sat the taxiway at the charlotte, north carolina, airport. the plane was taken to a remote area where passengers were deplaned and put on buses. >> we were told not to panic and to be patient with the process.

>> i was a happy man when they got us off the plane on to the buses. >> after interviews with passengers and crew, the threat was determined to be unfounded. the star of the nbc hit show "the voice" facing a federal drug charge for allegedly spiking a woman's drink with ecstasy. ceelo green plead not guilty to one felony count of furnishing a controlled substance. kabc's miriam hernandez has more. >> reporter: the singer/rapper who calls himself ceelo green was addressed by his given name. thomas calloway. he is charged with furnishing a controlled substance, ecstasy, to a female at a bar. the celebrity artist is best known for his appearances in the tv talent show, "the voice." green sitting as judge to hopeful stars. >> great job. no average artist can perform at that pace with that much

intensity. >> reporter: in court he pleaded not guilty. according to the district attorney, after calloway provided the ecstasy, he and the 34-year-old alleged victim then went to the hotel. for nearly a year, lapd's robbery division has been trying to determine if he sexually assaulted the woman. ultimately, the d.a. declined to file a rape charge because it is unclear how inebriated she was. in documents, the d.a. stated that, "there is insufficient evidence to prove that the level of the defendant's intoxication deprived the victim of the capacity to give consent. second, there is insufficient evidence to show that the defendant knew or should have known the victim lacked the capacity to consent to have sex with him as required by law." calloway's lawyer, celebrity attorney blair burke, made arrangements for him to post bail. >> $30,000, mr. calloway, you are ordered to remain seated in the courtroom until the bond is posted. once the bond is actually posted, you are free to leave.

until that bond is posted, you must remain seated in the courtroom. >> this is miriam hernandez reporting for abc news. new details surfacing this morning. accusations of alleged cover-up in the sexual assault case of a 14-year-old girl. special prosecutor has been appointed to reinvestigate allegations by the girl that was sexually assaulted by a 17-year-old boy. those are allegations after he plied her with alcohol. the girl and her mother said prosecutors were influenced by prominent community members to drop the charges last year. the president is doing damaged control over the failed rollout of the health care reform website. the president admitted the site was slow and plagued by problems. he suggested people sign up by phone but so far many applicants are having little luck. >> i really have no idea whether or not i'll be offered a better plan, whether or not the government will help me subsidize it. >> there's no sugarcoating it. the website has been too slow. people have been getting stuck during the application process.

>> the website problems have some in congress calling for a delay in the mandate requiring everybody have health insurance by march 31st. perhaps the most memorable moment of the president's speech is when a pregnant woman standing behind him nearly fainted. you can see her sway a little bit before being caught. she later tweeted she is fine. she said in addition to being 20 weeks pregnant she had not had anything to drink and she suffers from diabetes. >> standing behind the president and that's the moment. just the way it goes sometimes. i have think they all handle it pretty well. news for the folicly challenged adyents. researchers reporting big news in the fight against hair loss. why are you pointing at our stage director noll. they have found a way to grow real hair, are you listening? columbia researchers claim it is a short step away from a testing technique to actual human trials. even so, it will be years before the final studies are completed. sorry, nole. >> his ears perked up. >> he wrote it all down.

new york giants fans have been pulling out their hair this season. big blue fell behind the vikings on monday night football on an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown there. the juggernaut that is the giants finally got in gear. eli manning threw the touchdown pass. building their lead from there, the giants get their first win of the season and beat minnesota 23-7. all right. time for a look at something no surfer ever wants to see. there she is, erica henderson who was surfing off the coast of california saw a fin in the water and grabbed her camera. >> whoa. that is when she saw lurking down there an estimated shark that was at least seven feet long and some of his buddies. thankfully it swam away quickly and she made it back to shore to share the video and show it to the rest of us. >> it's funny, she saw a fin, and the first thing she thought to do is grab her camera. first thing i would do is swim as fast as i can in the opposite direction.

screaming loudly. >> that's the difference between generations. turn on the camera, exactly. >> wouldn't think of it. >> but no. >> she is and she's fine. everybody's fine, including the shark. >> all good. >> all's well that ends well. coming up, the moment you have to see from a father surprised by his son's report card. and a mysterious blue-eyed girl named maria getting worldwide attention. what investigators uncovered about her and the couple that claim to be her parents. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by colonial penn life insurance. uncovered about her and her parents. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by colonial penn life insurance.

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♪ maria her name is maria. she's at the center of a deepening mystery that caught the attention of the world. she's 4 years old and found at a camp of gypsies in greece with a couple who claim to be her parents. >> that's where the mystery starts.

the latest from athens. >> reporter: it is her distinctive blond hair and blue eyes that may have saved her. her young face seen around the world. it began when police raided the camp of gypsies, known as roma, coming across a girl believed to be 5 or 6 years old known simply as little maria. here she is in a haunting home video. little dancing girl who looks out of step in her own world. police thought she looked nothing like the couple that claim to be her parents. a dna test proved she was not theirs. they charged this gypsy couple with abducting her and falsifying paperwork for seven of their 14 children. and they are trying to figure out who their parents maybe. they argue the mother gave the young girl to them and they adopted her. as word of maria spread, authorities in greece say they were inundated with 8,000 calls around the world, including the united states.

many from desperate family members searching for their missing children. little maria was found living in the world of the roma. this is her home, tiny pink sneakers by the door. ten million strong, today many live as nomads throughout europe and they are often accused of being used as pickpockets, targeting tourists at some of the great attractions. now it's a race against time to figure out who this little dancing girl is. maria already becoming a global beacon of hope for families of missing children like maddie mccann in the u.k. who say even though this is not maddie it gives them and so many others reason not to give up. alex perez, abc news, athens, greece. >> what a mystery. the big thing is to find out who the girl belongs to. and the other thing, the parents will be in trouble regardless of the little girl. they have registered 14 kids for welfare and ten of them are

unaccounted for. they registered all 14 of these kids in three different cities, getting multiple checks. >> they were getting more than $3,000 a month for these kids and the mom claims she had six kids in ten months. >> yes. that would be a "guinness book of world records." you would be an alien if you could pull that off. >> maria is in the hospital, eating well, talking to psychologists, playing with toys, communicating. hopefully we can resolve this. >> and the couple said they loved her like a daughter. and treated her well. hope so. coming up, how to look like a princess on a shoestring budget. >> how to get your hands on fancy fashion even if it is just one evening. ahead, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. what is it about this woman's hair that got her fired from hooters? you are watching "world news now." >> announcer: world news now continues after this from our abc stations. woman's hair that got her fired from hooters? you are

♪ when you recognize something isn't right, make the call to the veterans crisis line at 1-800-273-8255 and press 1.

♪ ♪ many of us would love to live the glamorous life, but unfortunately, most of us just can't afford it. particularly when it comes to high fashion. >> now, though, the ladies are finally taking a hint from the guys who, for generations, have gotten around the formalwear affordability problem by renting it. here's more. >> reporter: they are the eye-popping glamorous red carpet looks made for the stars. a new way to get dresses for less now. the popular web site rent the runway.com has a store inside of henry bendel in new york city. >> welcome to our dream closet. >> reporter: i love it. i got to check it out with the company's cofounders. >> you can now rent a designer dress that you otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford.

>> they go to the runway shows and pick out the top styles they love. >> reporter: our own amy robach and melissa rycroft rented their dress s from the site for the emmys. but they say going from virtual to actual makes the experience even better. see how it shines in the light and see how it fits your body. >> reporter: williams rented this for $100. a sexy white and yellow off the shoulder for $65. and this $150 with one special bonus. >> i found out by reading your comments that katy perry had worn the dress. >> reporter: at one point people were hiding the fact that they were renting their clothes to all of a sudden advertising it. >> so often you will be at a party, "hey, i love your dress," and our customers are saying "thanks, i rented it at the

runway." >> reporter: it is my turn to play. ♪ >> reporter: michelle obama dress. feeling very presidential and floral. >> sophia vergara dress. va va voom. the carrie underwood dress. va va vegas. jennifer lawrence dress. what do you think? i liked this one so much, i wore at an event over the weekend. full price glam for a fraction of the cost. abc news, new york. >> check it out. >> good idea, right? >> that is an excellent idea. you know what i want to come up with, same service for maternity clothes. >> great idea, too. >> you wear it once for a couple of months. >> hello. >> holy moly, who's body is that? >> whose body is that? at least the face stands up on the body. >> thank you. >> you have to put that on your facebook page.

holy mackerel. >> people aren't going to buy it. no matter how much i try -- >> i never knew. wow! i'm impressed. it. >> i never knew. wow! i'm impressed.

welcome to "the mix." we start with an incredible start with an incredible reaction to a kid getting a really good grade on his math test. we don't have a lot of information but it is a great clip. the dad helps the kid study for a math test and the kid nails it. then he sets up a secret camera so when he presents his test scores to dad, he can capture the reaction. dad not knowing. check it out. >> is that real? >> yes. >> is that real? >> yes. >> oh, my god! [ laughter ] >> are you sure? >> yes. >> complete and total freak-out.

>> look at him. he doesn't know what to do with himself. >> i have a couple of questions, number one, how poor ly was the son doing beforehand that the dad got so excited? i want to know what the test score was. doesn't matter. >> i would think the son wants another reaction like that. that could get addictive. bring home a lot of as, and the dad gives you that reaction. good to go, dad. talk about the rapping granny. courtesy of "the daily mail." marion brown, she is 63, from michigan, and takes to youtube to entertain her grandson who lives away. and lately she's been rapping about elves, cursing, and talking about bowel movements. >> oh, gosh. ♪ oh lord did your hair turn gray ♪ ♪ did your teeth fall out ♪ hey my mama didn't tell me but that's what it's all about ♪ >> i am telling you she needs her own radio show.

rapping retiree has been making videos since april. she misses her grandson, two hours away in chicago and has become a viral sensation. >> so check this out. this is a utah family that gets a kick out of essentially becoming movie stars, movie characters for halloween. >> cool. >> three years ago, this is in salt lake city, three years ago the family decided they wanted to be all the characters, every single character in "beetle juice." here's a clip of the movie to remind you. this is -- the people in the attic with the scary faces an -- and then after this you're going to see the wedding. that's the red wedding dress. check out a picture of the family. there they all are. the little girl is lydia, the parents with the freaky faces and the little boy is beetle juice. they didn't stop there. the next year they decided they wanted to go with edward scissor hands. so they -- the little boy. >> wow. >> and the girl is queen of

this morning on "world news now" fatal rampage. a middle school student who opened fire killing a teacher before taking his own life. what classmates are saying about the student's state of mind. sensitive dispute over a murdered army sergeant's gravestone and her love of spongebob squarepants. the family's anger over a loved one's wish. deeply distracted and deeply sorry. one mother's apology to her family and the world after she paid more attention to her e-mail than a child in the bathtub. her scary story and why she's sharing it. shocker on stage. >> interesting. this is a doozy.

>> oh, yes. >> we will bring it to you in a bit. another tragedy to report. a small community reeling from a deadly shooting at a school. this incident unfolded in sparks, nevada, near reno. the teacher is now dead. the student took his own life and two students are injured. we have the latest deals. good morning, brandi. >> reporter: good morning, john and diana. we are learning more about the victims in the shooting spree. two young boys are expected to survive but a beloved math teacher was killed when he tried to step in and protect the students. >> reporter: shots were fired at sparks middle school in reno, nevada, just after 7 a.m. >> active shooter. sparks middle school. at least two down. >> reporter: as the s.w.a.t. team rushed to the scene, students watched a seventh grader shoot several rounds. >> he shoots my friend and goes to the teacher and says, "back up," and he pulled the trigger. >> more shots were fired from a semiautomatic handgun. >> saw a kid holding a gun. >> running and screaming and i started running and we heard another gunshot.

>> we are inside the cafeteria. that's where the students have been huddled. they are safe here. we are looking for the shooter now. >> reporter: a former u.s. marine and air national guardsman was killed. the gunman also shot and injured two 12-year-old students before turning the weapon on himself. >> one shot through the shoulder. the other shot in the abdomen. both sustained non-life-threatening injuries. >> reporter: as word spread to the white house -- >> we are here aware of this shooting. >> reporter: the children were evacuated and reunited with their parents. >> i find out he is a witness. i didn't know he was a witness. >> emotional roller coaster right now. >> reporter: several students tried to save mr. lansbury who is hailed a hero. >> we picked him up, carried him a little bit and we left him because our vice principal said go, go, go. get to safety. get to safety. >> reporter: as officers investigate a motive, they say

the young gunman was bullied. >> thank you. breaking news from down under this morning. firefighters in australia are making progress battling dozens of brush fires. they have managed to merge two of the blazes in way that makes them easier to control. the fire threat is nowhere near being over. the weather conditions are expected to get worse in the next couple of days. in an area near sydney, more than 300 homes have been damaged or destroyed. secretary of state john kerry is in paris where he faces growing anger from the french over the alleged u.s. spying. a leaked report claiming the nsa collected more than 70 million french phone records over a month. kerry called france one of the oldest allies in the world and said protecting people's security in today's world is a complicated, challenging task. president obama spoke to the president of france about the nsa's activity. president obama was on the defensive over the problem-plagued rollout of the

health care website. abc's jonathan karl reports on the damage control. >> reporter: listening to the president, you might think the health care rollout has been a smashing success. >> thousands of people are signing up and saving money as we speak. >> reporter: he acknowledged after three weeks, problems with the website continue. >> there's no sugar coating it. the website has been too slow and there's no excuse for the problems. >> reporter: the president suggested applying by phone saying it would take those looking for an individual plan only about 25 minutes. so far, robert shlora is having no luck. >> you would be able to take the application over the phone? >> reporter: he was on the phone an hour and a half. a total of 4.5 hours since october 1st. he also has spent five hours on the website and live chatted with a representative for three hours. after all of that -- >> i have no idea whether or not i will be offered a better plan. whether or not the government will help to subsidize it. >> the white house is promising a tech surge, reaching out to who they are calling the best

and the brightest. but who? we asked hhs, and so far, no answer. the website problems have some in congress calling for a delay in the mandate requiring everybody have health insurance by march 31st. >> given the problems we have seen with people trying to enroll in this program, is the white house going to delay the mandate? >> that's not at all what i was saying. >> if the website is not fixed, will people still have to pay the fine? >> we are way still early in the process. let's be clear about that. we are three weeks into this. >> reporter: some republicans are calling on the president to fire health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, but senior white house officials say that's not going to happen. the president isn't looking to fire anybody. he's looking to get the problem fixed. jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. the government shutdown sent

the congressional approval rating to the lowest level in 40 years. a brand new abc news poll just released shows 85% of americans disapprove of congress. the approval rating 12%. 81% disapprove of the government shutdown. 22% said they were personally inconvenienced. as for the president, 43% approve of his role in the budget talks. more than half don't like the job he's doing. a controversy in cincinnati between a cemetery and grieving family over a sponge bob gravestone. army sergeant kimberly walker was murdered by her boyfriend on valentine's day. her family had a spongebob squarepants-themed monument created. the cemetery took it down saying the worker who approved that design made an error in judgment, offering to replace the marker at their expense. but the family isn't buying it. >> we don't need a reimbursement for the headstones. all we want is the headstones put back up and the original drawing back. >> they insist it is the only proper way to memorialize

kimberly since she loved the character from childhood to adulthood. the dispute is at an impasse. >> she loved it so much, everything in her life was sponge bob. her bathroom, bedroom, decorated with sponge bob. the family is planning to meet with cemetery officials to discuss what options there may be. >> i don't see how you somehow give the family approval and then say no. >> right. >> this might be one of those things where you have to say from here on in. >> from here on in no more but right, you can't take it away. by the way, it's hard to say what will happen here but this family has paid for six plots at the cemetery at the expense of $29,000. that's an incredible amount of money the cemetery has gotten from this family. this might be one of those like, okay, we'll let this one stay. >> you have to feel bad for the family for their loss and now this kind of battle. >> like losing her twice. now on to this. two scout leaders seen toppling an ancient rock formation in utah are no longer part of the scouts. the two men have been stripped of their leadership position after this video surfaced.

glenn taylor and dave hall claim they thought the rock was loose and posed a danger to other hikers. they could face criminal charges. >> boy, that video makes me mad. >> oh, yeah. here's a look at the weather. scattered showers across much of the northeast today. along the east coast of florida, the upper midwest will see rain mixed with snow and accumulations up to four inches. pleasant and dry west of the rockies. temperatures along the west coast ten degrees above normal. in the 40s for the upper midwest, seasonal along the east coast. wouldn't be a tuesday morning here on "world news now" without another good animal story. that's why this is our "favorite story of the day." say hello to the new additions being welcomed in the zoo in richmond, virginia. >> five new baby cheetahs. three males, two females. listen to them. the parents are first-time parents at the cheetah breeding center. >> oh, my goodness. breeding cheetahs in captivity is considered challenging so every new litter is important. [ purring ]

>> this is just the first group of baby cheetahs born in the u.s. this year, and they mean business. >> what a sound they make. is that a roar? whatever it is, as cute as they look. adorable. look at that face. >> i know. >> my goodness. coming up, the celebrity sex and drug scandal that is rocking reality tv and hollywood. and the hooters waitress who was under orders to change her hairdo or else. you are watching "world news now." ♪ i wave my hair back and forth ♪ >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care. ♪ >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united i' nice long life ahead. >> announcer: "world news now" weather brought to you by united health care. medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, youer you

♪ i'm sorry ♪ i'm sorry ♪ so sorry a mother in connecticut is >> a mother in connecticut is finding it very difficult to forgive herself for something just about all of us has done at one point or another. >> these days with phone calls, e-mails and texts coming at us from all directions, it is easy to get distracted from the task at hand. >> this mom says an e-mail almost killed her daughter. here's abc's linzie janis. last week i almost killed my daughter. >> reporter: it is the blog grabbing the attention of tens of thousands of readers online. >> i could have been responsible for her drowning. >> reporter: her article about the moment she left her 3-year-old daughter alone in the bath while she went to check an e-mail has hit a nerve. >> i put her in the tub, started to fill it up. went to find my son to put him in the shower. saw the ipad, a ding, e-mail

from a friend. i felt compelled to respond to it. i left her alone in the tub about two minutes. >> reporter: by the time she got back to the bathroom, ruby had fallen fast asleep against the side of the tub. >> i felt like i couldn't breathe. if i had taken the time to answer one more e-mail or squeeze in one more thing, it really did haunt me to think of what could have happened. >> reporter: luckily ruby was just fine, but she says it was a wake-up call. she's pregnant with her third child. she says that she has become too distracted by social media and multitasking in general. >> how many e-mails can i send? can i get a shower, what else can i get done. almost incapable of single tasking. the ability to do one thing well or even two things well, and two things that matter well, that is where i feel like i have been struggling lately. >> reporter: the outpouring online suggests she's not alone.

one person writing, "thank you for writing this. so very brave." another, "we all made it to slow down." >> 2/3 of the accidental drownings actually take place in a bathtub. so parents don't realize how common this can actually be. i think jennifer's story is a great cautionary tale. >> reporter: and it's not just bathtime. she says she's making a effort to focus less on her devices any time she's with her kids. linzie janis, abc news, hartford, connecticut. now to our facebook question of the day. what advice do you have for people who cannot avoid distractions from e-mail or text messaging? let us know what you think at wnnfans.com. >> even if you don't put anyone in danger, you are missing out on life, your kids, your friends. now and then, unplug. >> yeah. this is a gut-wrenching story to think two minutes could have made a difference. >> oh, yeah. >> think of it, she was slumped to the side. what if she slipped right under.

she wouldn't have made a peep. that would have been the end of that. >> no doubt about that. scary stuff. >> yeah. i read that blog before we did the story, not knowing we were going to do the story and immediately had my husband read it. like we got to -- >> very brave woman to write the blog. >> absolutely. very eye opening. coming up, sex and drugs and a celebrity couple. and breaking news from the kardashian family. coming up next in "the skinny." >> announcer: "world news now" continues after this from our abc stations. and breaking news from the kardashian family. coming up next in "the skinny."

♪ skinny ♪ so skinny this just in to report in the skinny. breaking news to report in the skinny. breaking news in the skinny. it happened a few hours ago. kanye proposes it kim. >> i fell off my seat. >> i'll go right to the good stuff. i got this tidbit from eentertainment, gave her a 15-carat ring. like a bowling ball on top of a ring setting. anyway, it happened a few hours ago. he threw a big party for kim's birthday. it was in the park where the giants baseball team plays. he rented it out. there was orchestra and fireworks according to e! and he popped the question. family and friends were there. it must have been quite a shindig, and she got the 15-carat rock. we don't know the date yet, but they are official. there you go. they are engaged and official.

>> the kardashians and everyone involved with them don't do anything quietly. >> no. he splurged. >> apparently keeping up with the jones and the kardashians. the ring is made by a designer that made beyonce and jay-z's ring. but that ring was 20 carats. kanye -- >> there you go. five carats short. my goodness. five more carats than most people. >> he is kanye but not jay-z in more ways than one. another big one. ceelo green charged right now, a breaking story in a way. his name is thomas decarlo calloway. he was charged yesterday -- he's famous for being on "the voice" as a judge and charged with furnishing a controlled substance. they allege he slipped a woman ecstasy while out at a restaurant in july. they went back to the hotel room. stuff happened there. not enough evidence to say there was rape or forced sex but enough to charge him with slipping her ecstasy presumably without her knowing. he will face those charges. >> incredible. all right. now to this, "dancing with the

stars" big news of the night is who was eliminated on "dancing with the stars"? you don't have to plug your ears. the answer is no one. >> really? >> absolutely. somebody from the show tweeted out there were technical difficulties. and because of that, because of major problems with the polls last week, everyone gets to stay and dance another night. there you have it. according to tom, the host, he said that last week's votes have been discarded, and the judges' scores from last night will continue in to next week. quickly highlights and low lights. amber riley got 32, they were a the top of the bunch. everybody came in between and corbin blue 27 and bill with 24. there you have it. and came down to jeff and bill. they maybe at the bottom next week. we will have to see. this comes courtesy of

readit. arnold schwarzenegger promoting a new movie called "escape plan." it will hit -- actually it hit theaters yesterday. he makes rounds and goes on the interview shows and everyone is saying, "arnold, give us your lines. your favorite lines." and he said, "let me get out all my favorite lines out of the way because my fans are driving me nuts." listen in. >> it's not a tumor. put the cookie down, now! who's your daddy, and what does he do? as a gift to all of you, i can promise you, i'll be back. >> so reddit scored that one. >> yeah. what's your favorite arnold? >> i'll be back. >> it's not a tumor is pretty good, too. >> i have to admit. there's no question in my mind -- >> arnold looks good, by the way. >> he looks amazing. how old is he, in his 60s. >> no kidding. he does look good. we'll be right back. he does look good. we'll be right back. he does look good. 0s. l be right back. >> no kidding. he does look good. we'll be right back.

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♪ i wave my hair back and forth ♪ oh, my gosh. that song. >> do you wave your hair back and forth? >> all the time. >> i have seen him do it actually. there's much ado about a baltimore woman who says she lost her job over her hair at hooters over her hair. >> she says it was the color of her hair and now she is fighting back. jeff hager of our baltimore station has more. >> reporter: outside the hooters restaurant near the inner harbor, you can see images of the pretty waitresses that have become the chain's trademark. behind closed doors, it appears their beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

>> i started to notice there was an issue when other african-american employees tried to come in to work wearing their hair curly and they would get in trouble by management and tell them you can't come back unless you straighten your hair. >> reporter: 25-year-old saran johnson ran in to trouble of her own when she showed up with blond highlights in her hair. she claims her managers told her to change it or else. >> i didn't think it would be a big issue because there were a lot of other employees working at the restaurant of other races putting color in their hair. asian girls with red hair, cau girlack i dk itan with her work on a couldn't afford1 o a few months later s for what tompad s her imprope she since filed a charge of discrimination. >> the law is clear that the employers can't have two r acan rs can't have two

employees and one for everybody e that is exactly what hooters did here in firing miss johnson, an african-american employee, solely because she was african-american. told her to leave, they targeted her because of her hair solely because o heace. >> jef restd. wmar-tv asked the comany, hooters, about the case. and thpond it will not comment on any pending litigation at this time. >> this isn't the only lawsuit out there. there is a lawsuit against hooters in missouri. an employee was forced to quit after refusing to wear a w thascrpr

live, from the kgo broadcast center, this is abc 7 news.

good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm matt keller. >> and i'm kristen. the b.a.r.t. strike is over as they reached a tentative deal late last night. the service lk limited in this afternoon. live at the park with the latest. cornell? >> reporter: yeah, good morning. the strike is over. and this b.a.r.t. station here will be open to commuters in just a few minutes. trains will be running with limited service this morning. it should be up and running by this afternoon's commute. the four-day strike ended last night with a tentative agreement between b.a.r.t. and its unions. they would not releaseet