We've been asking you all week to nominate people you thing are "True Champions." People using sport or sportsmanship to make the world a better place... well you sent in some GREAT ONES! Thank you! We're looking forward to featuring as many as we can on Morning Express with Robin Meade.

Today we're featuring Myra Anderson's nominee, Ed Taylor. Myra's son Justin is on a baseball team in San Antonio, Texas for adults who have special needs. It was started by Ed whose grandson is also disabled. Take a look at the video above to see how Ed and the Lonestar Play Ball baseball league is making a huge difference in so many lives!

For more info on Lonestar, check out their facebook profile –>HERE<–

Then tell us about YOUR "True Champion." Send an email to morningexpress@cnn.com (put the words True Champion in the subject line) and tell us all about the person in your life who is making a difference through sport!

Posted by: Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel
Filed under: Baseball • Sports • True Champions

Hey everybody. Now that Halloween is here I can see the finish line for the Las Vegas Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in December. It’s all for a good cause, the Crohn’s and colitis Foundation of America. Check out my link.

Here is the running schedule for the week, and it is ramping up. Keep in mind I hate running. I’m a hockey player. Sprint, stop. Sprint, stop. I would rather be Brett Farve’s P.R. person than do the long, drawn-out torture that is distance running. But I digress.

Here is the training schedule for the next week:
Saturday: 4 mile run at an 8:10 pace (then I take my kids to Chuck E. Cheese's for a b-day party. You wish you were me, right!?!)
Sunday: 9 mile slow run
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4.5 mile run
Wednesday: 40 minute tempo run
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 5 mile run at 8:10 pace
Sunday: 10 mile run

Don’t forget about my fund raising happy hour at Ri Ra Irish Pub in Atlanta on Nov. 19th.

Also if you are in town, another great chance to party for a cause:
Bottoms Up on November 12th at the Foundry at Puritan Mill. The ticket price is $65 and will include:
Food
Open Bar
Live music (from the Commitaphobics).
Silent Auction
50/50 raffle
To purchase tickets, go to bottomsupforccfa.org

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Bob Van Dillen • Bob's Training blog • Crohn's and colitis Foundation of America • Extras • Halloween • Morning Express crew • Rock and Roll Marathon

They're already shouting, BLACK FRIDAY, to try and push sales up! It's traditionally not until the day after Thanksgiving, but some stores are starting them now – while its still October:

Sears has "Black Friday now" sales today and tomorrow.

Amazon is marking down electronics prices starting tomorrow.

Toys-R-Us begins it's Christmas discounts on Sunday.

Plenty of others, Walmart, Target and JCPenney are starting sales before Thanksgiving too.

Happy shopping!

*source New York Times

Posted by: Business Correspondent Jennifer Westhoven
Filed under: Black Friday • looking out for you

As a meteorologist and regular guy, there are two things I want to see go away: hurricane season and Brett Farve. So far, that isn’t happening. Tropical storm Shary formed last night south of Bermuda, and is headed in that direction. The winds are sustained around 40 mph, but it may strengthen a bit over the next few hours before it gets absorbed into the Westerlies and dies. Bermuda is under a tropical storm warning, and they will get some wind starting tonight.

Back home. No severe weather is expected today, after a week of tornadoes and fast winds. It will still be breezy in the NE with a weak cold front moving through. Some short travel delays are possible in NYC, Philly, and Boston today.

It’s a cold start this morning in the MW with frost advisories/freeze warnings underneath a cool High pressure region, and the rain is back in CA. I think San Francisco will get major delays because of the rain, and that slodes into the Pacific NW. I’ll have that for you too.

Have a good Halloween weekend everybody. My son is going as Darth Vader, my daughter as Cinderella, and my Boxer as Yoda. No. I won’t be donning an outfit… I still think it’s creepy for parents to dress up and walk around with their kids. Right?

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Freeze • Frost Advisories • Halloween • Rain • Shary • tropical storm • Weather

Finally, a little movement with the massive storm in the North. That deep low pressure area is now squarely over Hudson’s Bay, Canada, but the wind is still blowing to about 30-40 mph over the Upper MW and Great Lakes. I still think travel delays are possible in the area, just not as long as yesterday or Tuesday.

Storms are still firing in the deep south and mid Atlantic, but there aren’t any watches up this morning. I’m still monitoring the area just in case, and I’ll show you the radar around LA, MS, AL, GA, NC and SC.

It has been a terrible couple of days, with almost 50 tornado reports all around the country. For once this morning I don’t have an urgent tornado warning to get out there. I actually had a chance to grab a coffee and make sure my fly was zipped up before the show this mornig.

It’s a cold start in the Plains and Rockies, with hard freeze warnings in NM, and there is also a new storm coming ashore in CA. This one will spread heavy rain north of San Francisco, but delays are still possible there. I’ll have that update.

I only have to run 3 miles today, so it’s a good one for training. I’ll fill you in on the schedule later today. All for a good cause!

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Crohn's and colitis Foundation of America • Extras • High winds • Rock and Roll Marathon • Severe Weather • Tornado • Weather

Every morning (well, every WEEKDAY morning) Robin Meade personally writes a note to let everyone know what's going to be on "Morning Express" that day. It's a quick look at some of the stories she is excited about, the headlines you need to know (even before the show starts) and some fun "behind the scenes" things too. Here's a snippet:

Pretty cool, right?

If you would like to get Robin's email every day, it is super simple to sign up:

1 – Go to CNN.com/Profile

2 – sign up (click the "Sign up" link in the upper right hand corner of the screen... follow the instructions). You can use your Facebook log-in or just create a CNN.com login. Make sure you use the email address where you would like to receive Robin's email.

If you are already signed up, then...

3 – click "Log in" (you can log in using your facebook account or just log in with CNN.com).

4 – once you are signed up and logged in scroll down till you see "My Newsletters."

5 – if you are not signed up for any yet you'll just see the "featured newsletters."

6 – to see ALL the newsletters, including the Morning Express with Robin Meade newsletter, click "View all newsletters."

7 – then you'll see a list of all the HLN and CNN shows that send out a daily email.

8 – click the subscribe button for any of the newsletters you'd like to receive.

9 – click unsubscribe for any newsletters you don't want to get anymore.

10 – put your feet up and wait to hear whatever noise your computer makes when you've got mail!

Posted by: HLN TV/Web producer Grayson
Filed under: Extras

It’s a clean-up Wednesday. After chasing tornado warnings all morning yesterday, it’s time to see what damage may have been caused. The threat isn’t completely gone either, there’s a tornado watch for a good chunk of SC, NC, and VA this morning. I’ll have any active warnings on the show.

This monster storm is going to cause major headaches today in the form of wind, storms, and heavy snow. Blizzard warnings are still in ND and MT, and winter storm warnings are in northern MN this morning. The wind will play havoc at the airports from ND to OH and everybody in between. If you are flying to the MW today, it’ll be a "3-bagger" on the "BVD Yack" Scale for air-turbulence (the scale goes to 4). Delays will be in NYC, Philly, and all the way down to ATL b/c of the rain, so today’s travel may be ultimately worse than yesterday. I hope not.

Wait until you see the snow coming down in ND,SD, MN and WI. It’s intense, and it will last all day. This storm is a major tail-kicker (methodologically speaking), and I’ll have the numbers for you on the show.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Blizzard • High winds • Snow • Tornado • Weather

What is it with little kids and musical instruments? They have been blowing up the viral video charts lately. Look out adorable kittens... talented human children are chipping away at your internet video dominance.

Take Lance here for example... "What a Wonderful World" is already so inspiring and uplifting... to hear it performed by a little guy who doesn't have the life experience to question all that optimism yet... well if you don't get a little choked-up you should probably see someone about an empathy transplant, STAT!

If you like Lance's performance, be sure to leave him a comment on his YouTube page and let him know you saw him on HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade!"

Filed under: Viral Video of the Day • YouTube

Wow – that’s all I can say about the severe weather threat in the Midwest this afternoon, it will be a horrible day. A very strong storm is centered over MN right now, with a cold front driving down through Il and into TX. A line of severe storms is rocketing through MO and IL early this morning, with embedded tornadoes.

The tornado threat picks up today into IN, MI, KY, down to MS and over to PA later today/tonight. I’ll have all the warnings and watches on the show.

Whenever the Storm Prediction Center issues a High Risk Area, everybody in the region should be prepared for severe storms. They only put out High Risk Areas 2-3 times a year. Today it’s in IN and OH. See the map:

Wind will be a huge deal today as well. Flights will be impacted in a major way from NY to the Dakotas. High wind warnings or advisories encompass 26 states, all in the MD, SE, and Mid Atlantic.

There’s more snow and rain on the way for the Pacific NW, don’t want to leave you out. I’ll have that too.

Ok, gonna tighten up my belt and chase these tornado warnings all morning. Stay safe!

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: High Risk Area • High winds • Rain • Severe Weather • Weather

It’s Monday and we have it all going on in the weather department (well, it’s just me in the weather department). That line of severe weather that rocked through TX yesterday with tornadoes is now headed through the SE. A tornado watch is up for GA and AL, and the storms are headed East. I’ll have the latest watches and warnings for you.

Light showers are moving through the MW and into the NE today too, so travel delays will be plentiful all around the area today. I’ll have that.

A Big storm over the Rockies is starting to gather some strength this morning too, with winter storm warnings in parts of CO, UT, WY, MT and ID. I’ll have that on the show too. As that storm rolls into the Plains, the wind will really pick up tonight from the MW all the way out to the Four Corners, and continue for about 2-3 days.

Another storm is headed to the Pacific NW too, so the rain, snow, and wind is back. I’ll have that. That’s about it… oh except for Tropical Storm Richard over Central America. Lots of rain, 65 mph winds over the region. It’s a busy one today, so I have to keep this short. Check out the Richard path though:

Ran a 10 K yesterday on the treadmill. I have a major cold, so it was torture. I hate running with a passion, but it’s all for a good cause: Las Vegas Rock and Roll marathon and half-marathon.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Richard • Tornado • tropical storm • Weather • Winter Storm Warning