collective bargaining rights. the judge also criticized state officials for ignoring her earlier orders not to publish the law. republicans pushed it through anyway earlier this month after democratic lawmakers left the state to avoid voting on it. the nation's highest court is now mulling over a major labor case. at issue is whether a massive lawsuit against walmart by female employees can go ahead as a class action. the 10-year-old lawsuit argued in lively exchanges at the court claims walmart favors men over women in pay and promotions. the women also claim walmart fosters a sexist environment. are. >> before i got promoted when i was asking what i needed to do, i was told to blow the cob webs off my makeup and doll up. >> what's wrong with this place is three plaintiffs are trying to represent more than 1.5 million associates. >> now, several of the more conservative justices appealed to -- appeared to agree, rather, with walmart, that even subjecting the company to a trial would be unfair.

despite all the progress towards gender equality, women still don't make as much as men. women earn 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns in the very same job. but that is not the case everywhere. sharyn alfonsi found some companies that actually pay men and women equally. >> reporter: carly started working for patagonia in 1977 as a sales associate. did you think you'd still be working here more than ten years later? >> i thought i'd do it for a year. >> reporter: now a mom of two has been promoted over and over again. >> sales associate, store manager, regional manager and now district manager. >> reporter: not bad. patagonia is celebrated as one of the best companies to work for. they offer no cost health insurance, even to those who work just 20 hours a week. almost everyone works a flexible schedule.

in fact, leaving to attend your kids' soccer game is encouraged. the result, women stay and excel. 62% of the company's top executives are women. it's not just good for the women, it's good for business. >> there's a huge return on investment for companies that invest in their female employees, and that investment pays off by having talented people who stay. >> reporter: marriott extends its hospitality to all employees, offering perks like flex time and training to everyone, from front desk workers to house keepers. they promote from within. today 5 of the company's 12 vice presidents are women. at mcdonald's part-time employees can apply for the 401(k) program and purchase insurance, go back to school, the company will reimburse you. 64% of store managers are women, and most started flipping burgers. that girl who asked you if you want a super size today has a real shot of being the company's ceo tomorrow. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new

york. some police officers in suburban milwaukee made a very unusual arrest over the weekend. it was all captured on kam are. you can just see the suspect hanging onto that suv before he got there the alleged drunk driver had caused an accident. well, he jumped onto the side of the suv when it slowed down to avoid hitting him on the freeway. needless to say, that man was arrested. we are getting our closest look ever at the planet mercury. guess what? looks a lot like the moon. this picture was sent from fess sa's messenger probe. america r mercury has no atmosphere, a lot of craters. nasa will release more photos later today. >> very cool. technology is amazing. some rough weather in your old neck of the woods last night. strong winds pounded new orleans bringing strong winds, hail and a possible tornado. caused damage and snapped electrical lines and caused a

couple of power outages. >> as long as it clears up by friday when i fly back for a little vacation. >> you'll make it. here's a look at your weather in the middle of the country. from canada down to the gulf, severe storms threaten the southeast and heavy rain will drench the northwest. >> taking a look at upper 50s in seattle, portland and salt lake city. low 50s in the northeast. and upper 40s from minneapolis to baltimore. closer to average in the southern plains, about 63 degrees in dallas. well, may have only been the end of string training but one guy at the ballpark in tampa was already in midseason form. >> check out that guy right there. the paramedic making that catch in the stands at the tigers/yankees game. he didn't even need a glove, which is pretty impressive. of course the fans around him had nothing but high-fives and praise for that. >> like any good fan, he kept the ball. of course you have to. >> i don't need a glove.

who needs a glove? >> more "world news now" after the break. ♪ i'm ready to play today ♪ put me in coach ♪

[ male announcer ] every day thousands of people

are switching from tylenol to advil. to learn more and get your special offer, go to takeadvil.com. take action. take advil. welcome back, everybody. well, 30 years ago today the country was shocked when news broke that president ronald reagan had been shot outside of a washington, d.c. hotel. >> the president was seriously injured that day a long with three others. for more now let's go to the abc news vault to march 30, 1981. >> this is abc news "nightline." reporting from washington, ted koppel. >> good evening. the latest news, all things considered, is reasonably good.

president reagan is resting comfortably at george washington hospital here in the capital. his press secretary james brady shot through the head during the same assassination attempt this afternoon. brady has now come out of 4 1/2 hours of surgery and the surgeon says brady's prognosis is certainly better than it was earlier this afternoon. secret service agent tim mccarthy also shot is in good condition. district of columbia preliminary officer delahanty is in serious but stable condition. the videotape. watch it and listen to it. >> president reagan! >> get him out! get him out! gem him out! now! >> get him out!

>> all right. stay back. get back. get the ambulance! >> i got one hand. >> go, go! >> everybody out of the way. >> with us now here in our washington studios is chuck advance, a veteran of 14 years with the secret service who was assigned to the detail that guarded president ford and who is now a partner in a private company specializing in a personal security issue. chuck, i know you wanted me to make the point that you are not here as a spokesman for the secret service but it is, obviously clear that spokesmen for the secret service don't appear on fwigs and you are a man who has spent many years with the service. we would like to take a look with you of that same piece of

videotape that we saw just a moment ago. this time we're going to look at it in slow motion. i would appreciate, chuck, if you would give us the benefit of explaining to us what went right and what went wrong. in fact, some thing were done right but there must have been some things that went terribly wrong. let's take a look at the videotape and would you comment. >> i think you're looking at it from just about the viewpoint of the assailant. you're watching from his direction. the president came out. he's waving to the crowd, as he usually did. the agents around him, staff around him. all of a sudden gunshot, two agents pushed him, pushed him into the armored limousine and agent in front was shot and went down. the agents on the side and the police officers then went to the assailant, pushed him down, took control of him, took custody of him, in fact, protected him while he was there on the ground. >> chuck, was there anything

that -- was there nismy takes you could see or was this the kind of thing against which no amount of safeguarding can actually protect a president? >> well, ted, not only were there no mistakes i think it's miraculous they reacted as quickly as they did. if anybody's been in a situation where you've heard a long bang, number of bangs your first pons is to recoil rather than to move as they did. i think it shows their expertise and training. the problem is it's one of those situations secret service agents have nightmares about. it's -- it's a situation that our society has been -- because it's a democratic society and because politicians and people of that nature have to move through it, as they do and want to do it, that we're prone to. >> what a scary day. >> incredible. we were just talking about the other people that were shot and injured there. james brady, of course, dedicated his life following the assassination attempt to antigun control and trying to, you know, get that changed.

also permanently disabled. >> and interesting thing, too, in reagan's museum they actually have the blue pinstriped suit he was wearing. they have the bullet show and x-ray showing that bull he was was half an inch from his heart. all in the library. scary. >> the president are saying, are we all republicans before the surgery started at the hospital, you know, kind of -- reagan always highlighting the funnier side of things kept his sense of humor. coming up next, officers in st. petersburg, florida, got creative in a very slow motion police pursuit. >> instead of high powered horsepower cars this involves golf carts, a suspect on a bike.

foelgts at st. pete grand prix in florida got quite the site last weekend.

they showed up to see fast cars race but ended up getting the world's worst high-speed chase ever. >> if you can call it a high-speed chase. it involved police, golf carts, horses and a bicycle. here's our affiliate wfts with more. >> reporter: the indy cars racing through the streets of st. pete at close to 100 miles an hour got all the headlines. but in the hours before the official race began, st. pete police were also racing through the crowded streets. at an incredible speed. what speeds did they reach? >> well, probably no more than 15, 20 miles an hour. >> reporter: the low-speed chase began when they say police saw this man vandalizing a police golf cart with a marker. >> he's straddling on the bike and he gets on the bike and starts to run -- or starts to drive the bike away. >> reporter: because of the crowds police couldn't chase the suspect with a squad car so they used what was available. two officers on horseback and

another driving a golf cart. >> he was cut off at the corner of second avenue and second street. >> reporter: two horseback guys are chasing a guy on the schwin and then the golf cart? >> yes. >> reporter: the schwin lost. will kuntz went to jail. he wasn't home but his mom was. does that seem like something william would do. >> no, no. >> reporter: just not him? >> no, he's never been in trouble. >> reporter: until he brought a bicycle to az horse race. we talked to talked to will after he bonded out of jail. we spoke to him on the jail and he said he wouldn't talk on camera. he just wants to put this behind him. >> hard to put it behind you on a ten-speed. the only thing missing are the streamers off the handlebars. >> the horn, basket, maybe. >> beep beep. >> they got those hardened marker vandals off the streets. >> that's right.

>> i'm fur if we were down there we could have caught the guy. >> wouldn't you ditch the bike and start running? >> yeah, have you to be faster on foot. >> i look drunk and jim looks like himself. become dull...ver tim. and lose their luster because washing in the bargain brand can leave dirt from the wash on your clothes causing your whites to get dingy. new improved tide plus bleach helps to remove the dirt in one wash to bring your whites back to bright. turning white-ish to...wow. tide plus bleach. style is an option. clean is not. also try tide stain release, the in-wash booster from tide.

>> announcer: "world news now" delivers your "morning papers." welcome back, everybody. you've all heard dangerous, poison yous snake -- >> on the loose. >> on the loose from the bronx zoo. we keep checking. since saturday. well, you have to love the folks out there with a good sense of humor and twitter because someone has set up a twitter account bronxzooscobra with up to the minute with what the

this morning on "world news now" -- walmart's women. the complaints of more than a million female workers are now presented to the u.s. supreme court. >> it's the biggest discrimination lawsuit ever and it also could have a widespread impact on the entire american work force. it's wednesday, march 30th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." and good morning, everybody. i'm rob nelson. >> and i'm peggy bunker. it was quite a dynamic debate in the supreme court with three female justices asking tough questions about this very emotional case. >> bringing up a lot of issues about men and women in the american work force. very -- >> don't get me started.

come on. also ahead, it is no man's land in northeast japan. we'll take you to the evacuation zone. some people are refusing to leave. >> mind-boggling. coming up a bit later, the technology many car buyers now demand. we'll help you keep track of high-tech computers hitting new car show rooms. some of these cars you need a manual constantly. >> it's not the muffler, carburetor it's the microchip. >> yes, very smart these cars. the nation's highest court looks ready to block a massive sex discrimination suit against walmart. >> several justices suggested the suit was unfair. both to walmart and to the women who are now suing. t.j. winick joining us with details on the landmark case. >> reporter: good morning. the case before the supreme court focuses on how an iconic american retailer allegedly treats its female employees. the plaintiffs accuse walmart of

passing them over for promotions, paying them less than men and foster an environment where sexism is pervasive. >> before i got promoted, when i was asking what i needed to do, i was told to blow the cob webs off my makeup and doll up. >> reporter: the supreme court must decide whether they should be allowed to bring the biggest class-action lawsuit ever against america's largest private employer. >> what's wrong with in case is three plaintiffs are trying to represent more than 1.5 million associates. >> reporter: the three women on the court appeared to be the most sympathetic to the plaintiffs' case. ruth bader ginsburg asked, isn't there some responsibility on the company to say, is gender discrimination at work? if there is, isn't there an obligation to stop it? but justice scalia couldn't reconcile the idea that managers handled hiring. which is it? it's either individual supervisors who are left on their own or there's a strong

corporate culture which tells you what to do. if the lawsuit is allowed to proceed, it could involve as many as 1.5 million female employees seeking back pay that could amount to billions of dollars. >> they rule against us, the fight has just begun. just begun. >> reporter: the suit was originally filed in 2001 and lower courts have ruled the case should proceed. a decision from the supreme court is expected in early summer. rob and peggy in. in another major labor case is on hold in wisconsin. this is a law that would have stripped state employees of their collective bargaining rights and now being reviewed by a judge. republican lawmakers pushed through passages of the law earlier this month, despite massive protests that drew up to 85,000 people to the state capital. despite legal challengings, other states are following wisconsin's lead. they could vote on a bill that could limit union rights for 350,000 public workers in that

state. firefighters were among the public employees protesting the measure as they rallied at the capital yesterday. and now to japan's nuclear crisis. also word this morning of yet another setback. this time the president of the utility company that owns the stricken fukushima nuclear plant has been hospitalized. word is he is suffering from high blood pressure and dizziness. mean while, the u.s. is now sending robots to the facility. they will provide video, readings and other data from areas of the facility that are inaccessible to humans. those robots are heading into the nuclear danger zone but there are some citizens living there who simply never left. our neal karlinksy tells us their story. >> reporter: it is a roadblock few have dared to cross. the sign says, "danger" and, it is the edge of the restricted zone, 20 kilometers, about 12 miles, from the nuclear plant. a japanese team has ventured in to check on whether anyone has refused to evacuate. they find a rice farmer, who

seems to have ignored pleas to leave and all commonsense about the radiation filling this place. there aren't many goods available, he says. there aren't many shops that are open. there are a lot of farmers in the area, though, so we have vegetables. this, he says, is his neighbor's farm. the cow have been left on their own. in the streets, dogs left behind by their panicked owners, now roam aimlessly. how long will it last, this man says? more people will die. more bad things will happen. this going to get tougher. not far from here the assault to save the fukushima reactors is in full gear. the power company has put up a "help wanted" sign for what could be the most dangerous job on earth. $5,000 a day to be a front-line geiger counter operator. checking areas for radiation ahead of clean-up workers. whatever what happens with

reactors, the tolls are already mounting. what they're calling the first fukushima fallout victim, a farmer who lived inside the raid's zone and said he couldn't take it anymore. he took his own life. neal karlinksy, abc news, tokyo. and a lot of questions are now being asked this morning in alabama following a string of patient deaths at hospitals there. at least nine people have died, all who were treated with contaminated iv bags. the supplier of the bags has stopped production and is now cooperating with investigates. we should say the nine patients were critically ill before receiving those ivs. well, what's love got to do with it? everything, apparently. a new medical study finds those aches and pains you might feel when you're falling in love or even out of it aren't just psychosomatic, they are real. abc's stephanie sy has the story. >> reporter: a team of researchers headed by the university of michigan studied 40 people who had experienced an unwanted romantic breakup within the past six weeks.

the subjects were shown a photo of their ex-partner and al qaeda how they felt during the breakup. they were then stimulated by a device that produces a response similar to holding a hot cup of coffee. all the time the subject's brains were observed on a special mri machine that i will lums areas where the brain is active. researchers found the same brain censors were illuminated in both cases. the implication is social rejection and physical pain have a common physiological basis. yes, sometimes in the medical sense love does really hurt. >> oh, doesn't it, though? great story from stephanie sy. >> ever had a painful breakup like that? >> are you kidding me? if you haven't had a painful break up, you haven't lived. the first one is always the hardest. >> i only had one but that's because she punched me. >> i'm sure it was well deserved. >> kind of, yeah. taking a look at your weather, even showers in washington, d.c. also severe storms in northern florida.

heavy rain and flooding in the pacific northwest. to fair in the middle of the country. >> right in the milling of my nose. that hurt. >> i'm going to get punched. >> closer to average temperature in the midwest and northeast. cooler than usual in the southern plains and warmer in the southwest. >> hopefully no heart break or breakups because we've been hearing about prince william, whose we hadding is next month. his brother harry -- harry is the wilder one. >> yes. >> the prince is taking part in a charity hike to the north pole to raise money for british vetera veterans' charities. >> he went to for way for training after the bachelor party he threw for his brother. he wouldn't be able to stay for the entire trip. he admits he hasn't had much time to get ready for the big trek. i saw the enter vow. i think he said it was like negative 40. you know -- >> looks brutal. they're looking to raise $3.2 million for veteran causes. >> well done, harry. more "world news now" coming up. ♪ you're as cold as ice

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gorgeous shot there. well, this week president obama addressed the nation saying the u.s. had to act in libya. on tuesday he continued to push that message when he sat down with abc's diane sawyer. >> the two talked about where things now stand in that civil war-torn country as well as the future of its dictator, moammar gadhafi. >> reporter: as of this moment, any sign gadhafi wants out? >> well, i think what we're seeing is that the circle around gadhafi understands that the noose is tightening, that their days are probably numbered, and they're going to have to think through what their next steps are. >> we are hearing tonight, it's fierce fighting. the u.s. must send munitions. how long would it take to get there? >> well, you know, i wouldn't speculate on that. i think that it's fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into libya we probably could.

we're looking at all our options at this point. but keep in mind what we've accomplished. we have instituted no-fly zone that can be sustained for quite some time because it's an international effort. >> reporter: i want to try to clarify what you're saying today to the people of syria. we specifically asked the president, is he saying to the protesters in syria that if they meet the five criteria he laid out last night, are you saying to them, we will be there for you as we were there in libya? >> i'm not saying that. what i am saying is that those are the criteria i consider in making a very difficult decision about whether to apply military force. i don't know if those circumstances could be duplicated anyplace else. those are the kinds of criteria i examine but i'm not going to start as we're in a very complex operation in libya, start projecting out about all the

other countries in which this would apply. >> reporter: even if these paper criteria are met? >> as i said, diane, i think in each situation i've got to examine how does this measure up in items of our interest, the international community's interest, what exactly would military intervention, understanding there are significant costs and and our military is overstretched. >> that's a central question for a lot of americans, should we be the police for the rest of the world? under what circumstances do we go in? already we're stretched economically and militarily. >> 26 million people watched that speech. obviously, people concerned this sort of attitude could stretch to other countries, as diane was asking about. >> that's worrisome for a lot of people. no easy answers. coming up next, remember when power windows and look locks were the high-tech luxury items to have in your car?

>> now computers are in big demand. the changes you'll see behind the wheel.

and now for a look at the cars of the future that are already on the road today. some come with the state-of-the-art technology that helps us get around. >> we love our bells and whistles. others may help us save from the recent pain at the push. daniel sieberg took some of these cool cars out for a test drive to tech them out. >> reporter: these days your car is like an office or living room on wheels. that's not to mention the innovations under the hood as well as in the dash. >> these days the dashboard in a

car looks a little bit like the dash in a cockpit. i mean, there are -- >> it sure does. where we're going with that is to help all of us not only drive safely and efficiently but also to allow us to be better drives. >> reporter: before taking the wheel of ford, alan mulally was ceo at boeing so the plane/car comparison is appropriate. it means using some apps on your smartphone while on the car. how seamless do you want it to be? you're connected. >> i think you want to enhance the driver's ability to use what we're really good at. if you're organizing information you need to do it in a way that's natural for us. that's why we adopted consumer electronics approach for the. >> reporter: but the debate continues. >> please say a command. >> reporter: whether these technologies seven as beneficial for detrimental.

>> we are connected. there are connected devices. people have their mobile phones, music. they will bring them into the vehicle. so, at ford we consider ourselves as part of a solution. part of the solution for us means enabling use of those devices in a safe way. >> reporter: meanwhile, companies like qn xcht are working with carmakers like bmw to tailor the look and feel. we got a virtual test drive. bmw has used a protocol called message axis we enable. essentially it then allows for your entire, e-mail, calendar, tasks, to be viewed -- >> reporter: as read out. >> -- read out to you. what we're trying to showcase is

that there's a ton of different things you can now do with these. you take the applications that's running on the device and you make it a car-friendly look and feel on the actual display surface. >> reporter: easy to use without a lot of distraction? >> exactly. >> reporter: then there are the electric vehicles coming onto the road. some are mostly electric. the chevy volt is neither a hybrid or a truly seoully electric vehicle because there's also a gas engine. chey is calling it an extended range electric vehicle. that's exactly what it does. basically the electric motor will work for about 50 miles or sore. after that point, the gas engine is designed to kick in and give you a lot more miles. like every other electric vehicle, it's quiet, a fairly smooth ride. it's actually a pretty fun ride. now, the redoubts on displays

here, there are some techie stuff going on. you can is see how much of the battery is left, whether you're in an efficient driver, pushing too much on an accelerator. have type of clean energy vehicle you can imagine is coming out these days. it's a real trend for cars. going forward we'll have to see what lies down the road. that cool technology in cars has to be balanced with safety. even hands-free and voice activation stuff can be a mental distrakdz if not a medical one. so remember to keep your mind on the road and master awe the controls before you head out. rob and peggy, back to you. >> very interesting. you know, everybody talks about the cost of these cars. the volt is about $40,000 but you get the $7,000 tax credit. the leaf, physician san leaf, they say, is 32,000. still, you're getting up into the bmw, audi range. >> the coolest thing i had a chance.

. there's an i fife phone app you can set the temperature. so on the cold winter nights you can set the temperature from your bedroom. you get in there, it's warm and toasty. >> i like that. >> amazing technology.

♪ looking at who's watching what out there. as you know, i'm the mother of twins. you know this because i never shut up about it. poor guy. sometimes you see the twins together and they really seem like they have their own language all to themselves, very cool. >> very cool. that bring us to our next story right now. it's about another set of twin babies caught on tape practically proving the theory that twins do have their own language. here's linsey davis.

>> reporter: watch these 17-month-old twin brothers explorers in human communication. that's sam holding the fridge and wren with mismatched socks. they're fraternal twins which seem to be making small talk. the head shake. one threatens to turn and walk away but stays to try to talk things out. expert say it's more than just babble. >> it's a quite remarkable rich intercontaining. they're communicating with each other about each other. >> reporter: in early childhood, 40% of multiples have a secret way of communicating. listen to the difficulty sextuplets who broke into a tune all their own. a spontaneous jazz riff. we once watched these quadruplets who seemed to be speaking in code. there's even a name for it.

idioglossia, babies trying to communicate by mimicking each other, clearly coherent. so they're not talking about something but communicating, nonetheless. >> exactly. they're communicating about, perhaps, the fun of having a conversation. they're, perhaps, imitating what they see conversations look like. >> reporter: within the walls of abc news, no subtitles were necessary. >> right now they're talking final four basketball. >> i'm taller. to, i'm taller. i told you. >> see, it's about the sock. >> it's definitely about the sock. >> reporter: some twins never outgrow it. like marcus and markeefe who play for kansas, they've had what they describe as a weird communication that may even give them an edge on the court. perhaps it started out something like this, with a good old eye poke and hearty laugh. followed, of course, by a synchronized couch climb. linsey davis, abc news, new york. >> i love their conversation is

so real but the other thing very real are the diapers and socks. you can't even get outfits on twins. you can't even get outfits on twins. that's good enough. they just don't know it's theirs. if you made less than $48,000 in 2010, see if you qualify for the eitc -- the earned income tax credit. some people can get t as much s $5,600 extra back from the irs. it's so close, you can almost touch it. visit www.irs.gov/eitc.

this morning on "world news now" -- women versus walmart. the huge class-action suit over pay, benefits and promotions at the nation's largest retailer goes to the supreme court. >> more than a million walmart workers are involved in this huge fight. it is thursday, march 30 thd. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." good morning, i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm rob nelson. the case could have a far-reaching impact on american women in the workplace. you'll see how this case led to a very spirited debate among men and women justices on the nation's high court. >> all eyes watching that situation, that's for sure.

also coming up, a florida woman who stepped out into her yard and into a sinkhole that nearly swallowed her. you'll hear her 911 call, from the deep, she had her phone with her. and this is not the first time this has happened. later in this half hour, planning a wedding meal for an ordinary wedding is quite a challenge. now we'll take you inside the kitchen preparing for a wedding fit for royalty. you can guess who we're talking about again. >> you only have a little longer to get through. it's coming up. >> less than a month now. just get to this wedding, please. first, we wanted to talk about the situation with the case against walmart. the supreme court is now considering whether a huge discrimination suit brought on by female employees can go forward. >> billions of dollars are at stake if the high court rules in favor of those employees, but as terry moran reports, that does not appear likely. >> reporter: on the plaza of the supreme court, a few protesters

gathered, while inside the highest court in the land, some of the women of walmart, the plaintiffs here, watched from the gallery. on the bench for the first time in a gender discrimination case, three women justices sat to hear their plea. and all three tore into the case. justice ruth bader ginsburg, who more than any other lawyer in america, advanced the cause of women's rights before she became a judge. grilled walmart's lawyers about revealing internal statistics. the company gets reports month after month, she said, showing that women are disproportionately passed over for promotion and there is a pay gap. isn't there some responsibility on the company? walmart's lawyer said the statistics were misleading. it does not show there were gender gaps at the stores among comparable people. but several of the male justices were sharply skeptical. justice kennedy -- it's not clear to me. what is the unlawful policy that walmart has adopted?

and justice scalia told walmart's own management training materials included the statement that men are more aggressive in seeking advancement, blurted out, if you have an aggressive woman, promote her. outside a walmart executive echoed the company's argument, that the experiences of just a handful of women, even if true, are just not typical of what happened to more than a million other women who worked at walmart and so cannot be the basis for this gigantic class identify action against the company. >> what's wrong with this case is three plaintiffs are trying to represent more than 1.5 million associates. i've had a very positive experience at walmart, like thousands of other women. >> reporter: betty dukes, one of the women trying to bring this case on behalf of so many others was undaunted. >> if they rule against us, the fight has just begun. just begun. >> reporter: this court has generally been a pro-business court and so it will be a real uphill fight for the women who

brought this case to win it, even with three women justices. terry moran, abc news, new york. just days after an air traffic controller in washington admitted to sleeping on the job, there is yet another controversy in the skies. in central florida an air traffic supervisor has now been suspended after a southwest airline jet and a small plane flew too close to each other. faa investigators say the suspended supervisor had asked that southwest crew for help in looking for a private plane that had been out of radio contact for about an hour. the faa says the planes were dangerously close but will not say how close they really were. also, the fbi is trying to figure out how a bullet hole got in the fuselage of a us airways plane. a pilot noticed the hole monday during a preflight inspection at the charlotte, north carolina, airport. the boeing 737 had just arrived on a flight from philly. that hole never penetrated, though, the cabin of the plane. weird. >> can you imagine? >> airline news.

>> hopefully the pilots are looking out for that sort of thing. turning to libya where a major debate is unfolding this morning in washington over whether to provide rebels with weapons. >> this all comes as a top nato commander reveals it's possible al qaeda members are now among those anti-gadhafi forces. john hendren is joining us from washington with the latest. hi, john. >> reporter: good morning, rob and peggy. with moammar gadhafi's regime apparently on the ropes, world leaders are plotting an end game. president obama says moammar gadhafi's regime is showing signs they want out. >> well, i think what we're seeing is that the circle around gadhafi understands that the noose is tightening, that their days are probably numbered, and they're going to have to think through what their next steps are. >> reporter: secretary of state hillary clinton met in london with libyan opposition leaders and the heads of 30 nations. >> what we are seeing in libya is a strengthening of the opposition. unfortunately, we are also

seeing a continuing pressure on the rebels, on his people. >> reporter: as gadhafi's regime apparently teeters, british prime minister david cameron is already looking to a post-gadhafi libya, saying the international coalition needs to help the libyan people plan for their future. gathered in london with clinton and cameron were the leaders of that opposition. while on capitol hill the top american commander in europe said there had been intelligence reports that some members of that opposition are members also of al qaeda and hezbollah. as opposition members sought international support, gadhafi's forces held strong, blocking a rebel assault on his hometown of sirte and driving back rebel army with rocket tank fire. in ras lanuf rebels were in full retreat. for the past few nights they say surface-to-air missles have targeted coalition aircraft making even the skies above libya still very dangerous. rob and peggy? in japan the president of the utility that runs the fukushima nuclear plant is now

in a hospital suffering from high blood pressure and dizziness. meanwhile japan's government is making a grave admission. it says safety measures meant to protect nuclear plants from earthquakes were not sufficient. u.s. is sending robots to japan. they will enter areas in that crippled plant where radiation levels are just too high for humans. in northern california, communities are tallying up the cost of damage from a series of recent rain storms. one of the most hard hit places, hercules in the san francisco bay area. an unstable hillside has doomed several homes and others are now in jeopardy. families are being told to get out and get out fast. kgo's wayne freedman reports. >> reporter: this is the hill that soaked up the water that streams into gutters. if that was the end of it, a hercules neighborhood and barbara and billy would not be in a state of crisis. >> this has cast a lot of doubt over the direction of my future. >> this is our home. this is our family. i don't want to leave this

place. this is my home and this is my children's home. >> reporter: and now it has a yellow tag on it, one that goes along with four red tags on houses next door and up the street. it's all due to a rotating slide 150 feet deep and 300 feet across. a monster in the mountain that city engineers believe will consume these homes. somehow before they were built, it eluded the hercules planning department. if they knew about the rotation, how did they get away with building it in the first place? >> you're asking the wrong -- they didn't know about the rotation when they -- when they built this, because they haven't gone the depth. they didn't know there was a slide here. >> reporter: meantime the city wants these homes bulldozed but even that means complications. >> it appears the homes are actually serving as the retaining wall. >> reporter: its not a pretty picture. a neighborhood on the move but in all the wrong directions. and another family in a yellow-tagged house on the brink of loss. >> to tell the truth, i slept in my house. i'm not going to leave my house. i'm going to stay and fight

this. >> reporter: to see the hill from here the damage looks fairly superficial but remember it goes down 150 feet. we took a walk on that hill. it is wet. in places you will sink in to your knees. from hercules, california, wayne freedman for abc news. now, here's a look at your weather around the country on this wednesday. downpours in seattle and portland. heavy snow in the cascades. another storm is moving into the northeast. the east coast later on. rainy in the southeast and into central florida. >> enough is enough, right? we're looking at low 50s in the northeast. mid-40s from minneapolis to chicago. a balmy nice temperature there looking like 87 in phoenix. and also miami looks good at 87. nice. >> i'll take that any day. lgd well, this is a fish story about the one that did not get away. in fact, the eight-foot mako shark caught itself. the crew of this commercial fishing boat was dumping bait in the gulf of mexico hoping to catch a little red snapper.

>> the shark apparently smelled food and could not wait. it leaped into the back of the boat. the crew could not get close to the thrashing 375-pound shark to push it back into the water. they tried. when they got to shore they needed a forklift to unload the shark. >> i would have had a heart attack. >> can you imagine? >> as soon as that jumped in the boat. >> regular jaws right there. >> look at those teeth. oh, man. >> we'll be right back with more "world news now." so he says... [ inner monologue ] ahhh, my scalp itches. should i scratch it? he's so cute, scratching would just turn him off. maybe i'll...oops. [ scratching ] that's better. [ female announcer ] there's a better way to relieve an itchy scalp. new head and shoulders itchy scalp care shampoo and conditioner, with eucalyptus. its formula immediately soothes and delivers long-lasting protection between washes. leaving hair manageable. new head and shoulders itchy scalp care with eucalyptus.

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versus the next leading lotion tissue. this next story is pretty scary because it could happen to anyone. imagine walking through your own backyard when the earth swallows you up. >> incredible. just crazy. it happened to a woman in the tampa area. always weird news out of florida. don't know what it is about the sunshine state.

this woman fell into a sinkhole seven feet deep. how did she get out? >> reporter: let us take you down right into the sinkhole. this cavern, a broken frame of top soil, sand and clay. that sat on top of limestone until that gave way and swallowed carla chapman. >> 911 emergency. do you need police, fire or ambulance? >> i'm in the ground! >> you're in the ground? >> somebody help me! >> reporter: that 911 call was one of several desperate calls carla made as she sank deeper into the hole. >> there's globs of sand, just this clay mixture that's falling down in different places and it's just hitting you. it just -- face, doesn't matter. it has no respect for what part of the body it lands on. >> reporter: it was a call to her husband, though, that may have made all the different. >> she was screaming "help" over and over again.

initially i didn't understand. and then the words came to me "in the ground" and that's when i understood she was saying "help" and i heard the word "sinking" and i immediately called 911. >> i have an emergency at my house. my wife fell in a sinkhole. >> reporter: her husband passed on their address and the officer arrived on the scene. >> all right, sweetheart. all right. i've got you. >> he took these two marine hands and grasped my arms together at the wrist. >> reporter: do you give thanks she's alive? >> absolutely. i know that the officer said a prayer while he was holding her in the hole. he told her he wasn't going to let his angel go. >> reporter: a day after, and you might think it seems surreal now. not so much as witnessed by carla's mud-stained clothes sitting in the garage and the fact that this is not the first time this has happened to carla. these cracks here? >> yes. tease are cracks that formed -- >> reporter: right here.

>> -- in 2009 and this had us file a sinkhole claim. a couple months afterward she fell in the sinkhole, was in there for two hours. on one side of the home. >> reporter: that side of the house, right there, another sinkhole, trapped twice. where do you even begin to say thank you? >> i'm alive. i'm thankful. >> this is in her own backyard. >> scary. >> the second time. they say they've been trying to get the insurance company to take care of this issue but as you can see, obviously it's not been rectified. how terrifying. she can't even go outside. >> maybe the insurance company sees this story and maybe some action. good luck. coming up next, a very serious act for george clooney. a command performance in court. also, the number five has a very special ring for kevin federline. keep it here for "the skinny." federline. keep it here for "the skinny."

♪ skinny so skinny ♪ ♪ skinny so skinny ♪ time now for "the skinny." we've got some good skinny on this whole scandal going down,

not across the pond, per se, but we're talking about italy with silvio berlusconi. >> very controversial. >> very controversial for very obvious reasons. he used to have these parties he called -- alleged sex parties, but he called them the bunga bunga parties. apparently, george clooney allegedly attended one of these with his girlfriend, elisabetta, that brunette babe he's always with these days. turns out he may have to testify in court with his ongoing situation with berlusconi because they're saying he had sex with underage women at these parties and perhaps george clooney was a witness to this. he says, i have nothing to do with this. i met the guy once. he's trying to distance himself from this but george has the house on lake como. they're saying he might be involved. >> george may have seen some things. >> yes. >> all right, georgie. well, you guys may have heard -- obviously we did a lot of promotion. britney spears was on "gma" yesterday.

they did a big concert in san francisco. >> did you see the sparkly -- >> yeah, she had the whole thing out there. thousands of folks lined up because her album "femme fatale" came out yesterday and as part of the show britney had a big announcement to make. take a listen. >> we hear you have a special announcement. what is it? >> we're going on tour with enrique iglesias in june. >> yea, yea! not quite, because just after that announcement, enrique's people released a statement saying, no, not really. >> not so much. >> we're not going to a tour wi britney spears. he was very nice. he says, enrique has great respect for britney, a long-time fan of her work. sorry for the confusion. apparently he's doing his own show to promote his latest album called "euphoria" so he doesn't have time to go on tour with britney right now. there was obviously severe miscommunication on that end. why she would make a big announcement on national tv and enrique releases a statement saying, no.

it's kind of weird. plus -- >> so quickly after her performance, which is raising eyebrows. >> i thought the show was great. britney was not -- >> she wasn't her usual self. she was a little -- maybe she's easing back into it. who knows. speaking of this britney story, we have another level of this. we're talking about k. federline, and, oops, he did it again. looks like he's expecting a baby, fifth child with his third -- the third baby mommy. >> today's password is fertile. man. >> will not be making any visits to the fertility clinic for k. fed. he has no problems in that department. he is going to be having a baby with his girlfriend victoria prince. she's noticeably pregnant at the moment. you're looking at footage of him from "the fit club". remember that when he got -- >> he got big, yeah. >> people called him k. fat, which was just mean. >> k. fertile. >> right. how to make five kids for k. fertile. >> "dancing with the stars" last night, the one who got kicked out, mike was the first one,

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[ male announcer ] every day thousands of people are switching from tylenol to advil. to learn more and get your special offer, go to takeadvil.com. take action. take advil. here are some stories to watch today on abc news. nasa releases more images of the planet mercury today. the first picture sent from a space probe in orbit shows terrain never seen before. the orca whale that killed a seaworld trainer last year appears in public today for the first time since the drowning. seaworld is fighting federal complaints about trainer safety. and prince harry is joining wounded war veterans for a charity hike to the north pole. he'll train for a few days before embarking on that trek. >> a cold trek. >> very cold trek. almost as cold as it is in here. according to the official "world news now" royal wedding clock the big day is now a month away. >> just a month.

>> thank you, lord. >> yes, hang in there. buckingham palace is shifting into high gear, also including the kitchen which will be whipping up a special breakfast. here's the bbc. >> reporter: the kitchens of buckingham palace, well used to preparing food for big occasions, from private meals for the queen to formal dinners for visiting heads of state. every year these kitchens serve up food for something like 50,000 guests. on the kitchen shelves are pots and pans which the royal chefs have used to cook for kings and queens for generations. most of the food they prepare in palace kitchens is straightforward, based on the best of british produce. most of it is delicate work, preparing those for the type of reception taking place here on the day of the royal wedding. for the queen's chef and his team, the wedding reception is just one of the major events at the palace this year.

>> whether it's for the visit of mr. obama or 90th birthday, royal wedding, they're all chance in a lifetime events. >> reporter: 600 guests who have been invited to the wedding reception will gather in palace's main state rooms where they will mingle with the newly married couple who will have come by carriage from westminster abbey. wedding cake will be on display in the long picture gallery alongside some of the palace's art treasures. palace officials responsible for organizing the day, it will be a culmination of months of planning. >> there's an awful lot of detail to go into, the planning of all events we do at the palace, which will involve the event planning itself, the invitations, working out the menus, working out all of the details of the drinks. >> reporter: one month to go now to the royal wedding and in the kitchens of buckingham palace,

everything, it seems, is ready. bbc news. >> such precision. >> hope they have some pigs in a blanket. that's my favorite. that's what i really like. that's my favorite. that's what i really like. >> hors d'oeuvres there for you. [voice of alicia keys] over 1000 babi are born every day with hiv. and half will die before their second birthday. but the plain truth is this can all be prevented. we can reach the goal of no child born with hiv by 2015. go to one dot org. together we can stop the sprea. we're not asking for your money.. we're asking for your voice. go to one dot org and join us today.