Good to have Ray D'Alessio guest blogging today! Ray is filling in for Morning Express Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel.

I have to be honest, I’m not the blogging type and usually I keep my sports opinions to myself. However, after seeing the story of Redskins Defensive End Albert Haynesworth failing his fitness test for the second day in a row,
I just couldn’t resist.

Dude!! You’re one of the best players in the game. The Redskins threw the bank at you with a 7-year deal worth $100-million dollars, $41-million in GUARANTEED money. Are you freaking KIDDING ME? Hire a personal trainer; push yourself back from the training table – Anything! to show how much you appreciate what the Redskins did for you.

Oh! My bad, I forgot. You're unhappy with Mike Shanahan’s new defensive scheme. So much so, you boycotted mini-camps and off-season workouts and demanded a trade. Fast forward to this week. "Hey, Hey, Hey… it’s Fat Albert."

Dude, with all due respect, it’s still just a game and something that millions of guys would do for free if given the opportunity. You’re getting paid millions and playing for a coach that has won two Super Bowls. Never mind the fact he’s fellow Eastern Illinois University football alum.

"Man Up" Albert – get in shape and for the love of god earn your money.

Posted by: Guest Blogger Ray D'Alessio
Filed under: Albert Haynesworth • NFL • Sports

Hi guys! My name is AJ, I’m one of the floor directors on Morning Express. People always ask me what it’s like to work on such a cool show, so I thought I’d give you all a taste of our world behind the scenes. Check back every so often for the dirt on your favorite morning crew and some show secrets, too.

I’m kind of glad you can’t hear a lot of the stuff we yell in the commercial breaks. I’m sure we sound like crazy people, because there’s a lot of weird terminology for stuff around the studio. The big screen that Bob does most of his weather from is actually a giant projector called a Christie, named after the manufacturer. We’re pretty sure our bosses would get mad at us, but it’s kind of tempting to want to pop through the middle of the screen while wearing a feather boa and singing Happy Birthday Mister President (hey, a girl can dream).

Carlos, Jen & Ryan use the main anchor desk a lot, but we call it "the biscuit," because if you look closely, it’s shaped like a biscuit. Not a yummy buttery biscuit, more like a joiner biscuit that a carpenter might use to connect two pieces of wood.

Robin’s main desk is called "the bar," because well, it looks kinda like a bar. And just like a real bar, it’s a super fun place to be. It’s also acceptable to hang out there early in the morning. Which is usually not okay in a real bar.

Posted by: Morning Express Floor Director AJ
Filed under: Behind the Scenes • Bob Van Dillen • Carlos Diaz • Extras • Floor Director AJ • Jennifer Westhoven • Morning Express crew • Robin Meade • Ryan Smith

It’s 5 am and I’m sweatin’ already. Compared to the rest of the ‘cool crew’ I work with, I stand out like a cow bell in the middle of a harp solo. How do they keep from beading up on the air? I have no idea. Anyway, it’s Friday, and the heat is kicking it up a notch. There are excessive heat warnings in the south today, and the heat index is going to be wicked high. The temperatures will climb to near 102 for Savannah today, and when the sea breeze moves through in the afternoon, it will inject more humidity into the air, making it feel hotter. The heat index today will climb to 121 for a few hours in the low country and Empire coast. That is the highest I have seen it that region, so take measures to stay indoors there today!

It’ll be hot in Little rock, New Orleans, Tulsa too but not quit as bad. Only 105-110 with the heat index.

There are some storms going now as well, in IA, MN, SD, ND, and NE. These guys are mainly heavy rain makers and should keep rolling through the morning, I’ll have the radar for you. More rain from the monsoon in the desert SW, and there are some flood warnings/watches for NM and AZ right now. Those are the main weather stories, but at least traveling by air should be fine. All the major US cities will be delay-free, but there are a few smaller cities that may catch a slow-down. I’ll have that too.

Later!

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Heat • Hot • Weather

It was so hot yesterday I ran on inside on the treadmill, listening to Christmas songs on my iPod. I figured it would make me believe it was cold. Nope. Made me feel like it was a Christmas in July sale, like Crazy Eddie used to have back in the day in the NY/NJ area.

Thursday morning is starting out with some rain headed into the major airports of the NE. NYC, Philly, Boston, and even DC will probably collect the showers and a few delays, I’ll have the update. It’s a cold front moving through, and if you hate heat, you’ll like the results. How about 83 for NYC this Saturday? It’ll be 80 and nice in Chicago today.

But if you live south of, say, VA, it’ll be smoking hot again. Heat advisories for the SC/GA area, and storms will fire up along the East coast.

The mid south will have the rain too, so more storms in Memphis, Nashville, and that will carry down to MS and AL.

Monsoon moisture will feed heavy rain makers for CO and UT today, so there are flash flood watches posted for the day. Watch for some mud/rock slides in western CO.

Foggy start in San Francisco, but the interior regions of CA will heat up to the upper 90s today near the fire spots. The winds will be light, but the temps run to 100 by Saturday there.

I’ll have the latest radar screens up and going by 6 am. Latah.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Weather

HLN sports producer Dan sent this out to the Morning Express team yesterday, as soon as we saw it we knew it would be on the show today! They must have spent as much time practicing their goal celebration as they did just plain "practicing!" If you liked the video as much as sports producer Dan and the rest of us did, click here and leave a message on the video! Make sure to tell 'em "Morning Express with Robin Meade" on HLN sent you!

Posted by: HLN TV/Web producer Grayson
Filed under: Soccer • Sports • Viral Video of the Day • YouTube

I've been with The Morning Express team for a few years now, and I can't think of any stories we've ever done involving singer Tom Jones. So it was unusual to be showing his latest music video on the show yesterday. In fact when I said I was a Tom Jones fan, one of our editors laughed in my face... right in the middle of the newsroom! Maybe because when you think of Tom Jones you think of his hit songs that go best with a wink-and-a-nod, like "What's New Pussycat?", "She's A Lady," "Sexbomb," and his cover of Prince's "Kiss."

But his new album is a big step away from those types of brassy songs. "Praise & Blame" is a serious collection of stripped-down songs meant to capture the spirituality and depth of human emotion. There's a good mix of gospel, traditional country, and blues on the album. Also in the mix are a couple of up-tempo rockers, like "Lord Help" and "Don't Knock" that have a White Stripes-kind of sound to give them some edge.

But the album is at its best with the slower, more thoughtful songs. My favorite is his cover of Bob Dylan's "What Good Am I?" His voice is raw, but powerful, giving soul to the self-introspective lyrics.

I also liked "If I Give My Soul" which has an ethereal quality, along with direct confessional lyrics. It sounds like an attempt to do a U2-sounding song, and it works.

As I listened to the album, I kept thinking, for a man who turns 70 this year, his voice is amazingly strong. Hopefully that will mean more great records in the future and that he'll still be on the road doing the fun stuff he's known for.

Posted by: Writer Mike Fink
Filed under: New Music Tuesday

Hey everybody. This weather note brought to you by Heat Stroke.

At least that’s what I’m feeling right now, with day after day of temperatures feeling like 100 or more. I’m dragging and my voice sounds like a 90-year-old who has been smoking for 80 years. Anyway, there are a few stories I’m following in the weather today. Number one is the California fire weather. Looks like another hot day in southern CA with temps around 95, but the winds will be light. Looks like the temps warm into the upper 90s by the weekend, that’s not good.

Big storms are dying from the overnight in the Midwest, but will reform today over Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Detroit. Some of these storms will pack damaging winds, so heads up in the MW.

Hot in Indy and St. Louis, with the heat index around 105, the same in the Carolina Low Country and South GA too.

Monsoonal rains in the Rockies and four corners, and TX has a persistent upper level low that will spark of rain and storms over the state.

Hey, it’s Wednesday. Almost there.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Fire • Heat • Hot • Weather

The storms that produced a killer tornado in Montana are now moving through ND and MN. They are ahead of a sharp cold front moving into the upper MW today, and I expect to see them bear down into the UP of MI, WI, MN, and trail into SD later today. Some of those storms will be capable of producing tornadoes again, along with large hail and damaging winds. I’m currently making up that map to show you on the show. On another note, it was a tornado with 100 mph winds that hurt some people in the Bronx (NYC) on Sunday. It’s only the second one in the Bronx since 1974. I have the video of the storm and some damage to show you on the program.

The heat is back in the Carolinas/GA, and so is the threat for severe storms this afternoon. If you are trying to catch a flight in or out of ATL, you may get delayed.

The NE looks good, as does the West coast. But more rain is headed into TX from the Gulf, and monsoon rains will be around the four corners today. Some more good news: no tropical activity for today. No storms on the horizon, but we are starting to get into the heart of the Season. On the average, we see our first Atlantic hurricane on August 10th (we already had one this year, Alex, so we are a little ahead) and the peak day of hurricane season is Sept. 10.

It’s end of July now, and my son goes back to school in like 2 weeks. What?! My first day of school was always the Wednesday after Labor Day. But we are a little different in Jersey, I guess.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Hail • Heat • High winds • Hot • Hurricane • Rain • Severe Weather • Tornado • Weather

Monday morning, and no break from the heat in the South. Temps today in Charleston, SC will feel like 115-117 when you add in the humidity. That is dangerously hot, so there is an excessive heat warning in the SC low country. Heat advisories are peppered throughout the South, and I’ll show you that on the big program. There will be storms and pockets of rain from SC all the way out to NV, but the severe weather threat is not high today.

At least the heat has broken in the NE and MW for the most part, but the flood warnings continue for parts of IA and outside of Chicago too. That’s from the weekend rains and dam burst, but at least there is no rain in the forecast until Wednesday afternoon.

Some more good news: no tropical storms or hurricanes to worry about today. Bonnie fizzled, there are some storms in the gulf that are not organized, but it looks pretty good in the tropics today.

Monsoonal rains are still around the four corners, but that is typical for late July.

The heat, that is slowly driving me bat-crazy, will hang around for the week, mainly in the south and west. See you out there on a sleepy Monday.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Bonnie • Heat • Severe Weather • tropical storm • Weather

A huge "Thanks" to all of you who have clicked the "like" button on the "Morning Express with Robin Meade" Facebook page.

Now, if you were up REALLY early facebooking with us today, you MAY have seen this exchange between two of your fellow viewers:

Patricia E.
Robin, you make my day better when you say, "good morning sunshine!" Thanks for that!

Bernice M.
Do you know if she is addressing someone in particular? I have often wondered. I like Robin.

Well Bernice, here's Robin with the answer:

I say "morning sunshine" to you the viewer. All viewers. Its something I've always said. I got it from my father who used to bellow, "morning sunshine" when we were kids trying to wake us up for school. "Morning sunshine," one time, and if you didn’t get up after that, he’d rip off the covers and the brisk Ohio air would get your hiney moving and getting ready for school. So for me, that’s the origin of the greeting "morning sunshine," but it's directed toward all viewers.

Posted by: HLN TV/Web producer Grayson
Filed under: Morning Sunshine • Robin Meade