AJ is a floor director for HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade". She has been obsessed with this season of Idol, and takes notes to share with the Morning Express writers and producers. The opinions below are AJ’s alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of "Morning Express with Robin Meade" or HLN. These are her impressions of last night:

"This is what real talent looks like," said Ryan, as jazzy carebear Casey prepared to sing himself off the show. Indeed. Was last night's result a surprise? No, not really, even though it seemed like it took forever to get to it. With the herd as thin as it is, the Idol people are inventing new and creative ways to waste time, like rehashing, in excruciating detail, Wednesday's performances and peppering us with Iovine wisdom. Pass.

There were the usual traditions of course, we started with a group sing. Also a pass, except for Lauren and Haley’s snippet of "One Fine Day". They certainly do sound nice together, and I can’t remember hearing their voices exclusively before. Then there was a Ford music video which reminded me of a children’s book I used to read…Harold and the Big Purple Crayon? Anyways, this kid had this magical crayon and he could draw things into existence. It was pretty deep, yeah, but I wish I could draw a version of this show that didn’t include hastily produced music videos.

Season 9 runner-up Crystal Bowersox rocked out with her new hokey dokey, love-yer-neighbor-n-stuff song "Riding With the Radio". She looks very pretty in her own way, and was probably the best Idol alum, besides Kelly Clarkson, of course, to hit the stage this season. Bruno Mars also dropped by, and he and his nouveau Buena Vista Social club buddies sang "The Lazy Song". I don’t really condone that song title unless it is played on a kazoo or the buttons on a telephone. Now that's lazy.

Ryan took his sweet time plucking individuals out of the clump of contestants, talking lazily about their performances and sending them away again. Oh Ryan, how you toy with me. Eventually, the only people left to learn their fate were Jacob, Casey and...Scotty? Well this is different. Until I remembered that the results last night were in random order, which would have made the moment between Scotty and Casey much easier to predict. And to think for a moment my little dumpling was in danger of going home! Never. The season will be over and Scotty will still be singing on that stage.

And so America’s gavel came down and Casey was the chosen (or least chosen) one. His party-worthy "I Put A Spell On You" was a perfect ending, what with the kisses, the dancing, some more kisses and an awkward hug with some regions of Jennifer Lopez best left untouched. I have to admit, I loved Casey, but I understand it was his time to go. Do you agree? Are you still bitter he got the judge's save over Pia? (if so, shame on you!) Do you like Haley a little bit more now that she swore on national television?

Filed under: American Idol • Crystal Bowersox • Extras • Kelly Clarkson • Mommasox • Ryan Seacrest

Here’s the forecast for us Colonists, and I bring much better news. The horrible tornado week has finally come to a close. The final number of actual twisters for the month of April is up for debate; but it is at least 200+. I have chased tornado warnings down every day for the past 10 days, and I’m happy to say there wont be any today. Here’s what we will see:

A breezy day for the MW and SW. There are wind advisories for the Plains also, and the snow is cranking out in MT. A new shot of energy is rolling past the West coast and into the Rockies, so expect some showers and snow in NV, CO, UT, WY, and MT. I’ll have the forecast.

It’s also the last time we will see the space shuttle Endeavour fire off from FL. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:47PM today, but I think it may be a bit breezy. The rain should be gone by then, so we may see this thing light up.

***UPDATE – The launch has been scrubbed for today.

A bunch of clouds are wrapped up around the Great Lakes today, with wind and a few showers left up with the cooler air in the wake of the powerful cold front yesterday. We may see a few delays up there at the airports, tune in to see the updates.

Fire weather turns worse for the SW today and this weekend. We are talking high winds, dry conditions, and warm temps from southern CA to TX. I’ll show you the red flag warnings.

Other than that, I can’t wait to see this Kate Middleton. If she is considered a 'commoner' in England, I would love to see an 'exceptioner' or whatever they call those folks. All I know is they probably aren’t going to be drinking beer out of a can at the reception.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Weather

Watch the wedding and get all the day's news with Robin Meade on HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade" Friday, April 29 from 6am till Noon.

Filed under: Royal Wedding • YouTube

AJ is a floor director for HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade". She has been obsessed with this season of Idol, and takes notes to share with the Morning Express writers and producers. The opinions below are AJ’s alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of "Morning Express with Robin Meade" or HLN. These are her impressions of last night:

Idol watchers, meet Carole King, a legendary singer/songwriter who has penned many a tune for many a star. And if you didn’t know her before, well gosh, you got to know her last night as our Idols sang their way through her songbook.

If you were in The Southern U.S. like me, you might have had an extra viewing buddy – the Idol warbling was interrupted several times by a concerned-looking local weather man telling me I was about to get run over by a tornado. Scary stuff. We were lucky in Atlanta but many communites were not... click here to find out how you can help those affected by last night's historic storms. Now on with the warblilng:

Best: Scotty "The Body" McCreery (Why Ryan, why?). He should really be The Face, though. Homeboy either has impeccable genes or is a Maybelline man because his skin looks like a newborn cherub. I digress! After weeks of running round and round the same country track, Scotty hopped off for a tender, effective rendition of "You've Got a Friend". It is good to know that buttery voice of his holds fast outside his genre. Also, his performance was refreshingly free of weird tics, or maybe they just stapled his behind to the stage. Either way, he looked and sang like a normal person. Our country boy is growing up! It seems the soft touch had it last night. The unaccompanied beginning of Durbin's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" was a vulnerable, gutsy move, though it quickly devolved into his usual Idol-rock fare. Is it just me, or has James' voice gotten significantly better? I recall a time when he couldn’t carry a tune if it wasn’t screeching through the stratosphere, and now, as an overenthusiastic Randy reminded us, the Durbs could win it all.

Worst: Jacob. I'll admit, it was nice to hear him loosen up and have fun on "Oh No, Not My Baby", but he still ended the song with his trademark "10 on the illustrated scale of pain at the doctor’s office" face. Perhaps he realized he doesn’t have the vocal chops of dearly departed Pia or the showmanship of James, so he’s forced to bop and wobble in aggressively plaid outfits to distract from his shortcomings. Oh, woe is Jacob!

Should Get Married and Go On Tour Together Immediately: Haley and Casey. How cute are these two? After a bang-up job on "Moanin'" a few weeks ago, the growling, scatting duo continued the awesomeness with "I Feel the Earth Move". Despite Casey being arguably the better performer, Haley outshone him here, which is testament to the fact they really bring out the best in each other's style. She tones him down, and he gives her more to work with. I know the duets didn't technically count, but I dare you to dislike either of them after watching this.

Admittedly, last night was not the most exciting, toe-tapping round of performances, but the difficult theme forced a lot of our favorites to show their mettle. Which brings us to the important questions: What is a mettle? Why do we want to see it? And who’s going home tonight? We may never know, but we probably will. And it will probably be Jacob or Casey.

Posted by: Morning Express Floor Director AJ
Filed under: American Idol • Extras

Another day where the severe weather parameters are close to being off the charts. Today will feature two distinct rounds of severe weather: one this morning, and another one developing in the mid afternoon hours over the same region. Check out the High Risk Area from the Storm Prediction Center out of Norman:

Currently the tornado watches and warnings are in the Deep south. AL, TN, and up to KY are seeing the brunt of this action. These are the storms from yesterday continuing, and hopefully they die down a bit later this morning. The same situation exists for the afternoon though, with a very strong shot of energy, humid atmosphere, strong jet stream and a cold front acting like a trigger sliding east in the region. Watch for strong, long-tracked tornadoes on the ground in northern AL, lower TN, and NW GA later today. I’ll have all the updates and active watches/warnings on the show.

Flooding rain will be the other story out of this, with 2-4” falling around the MS Valley up to the OH Valley. That will make the rivers rise all over the place, flood warnings are up. Man, what a day. I’ll keep it short, but like a leprechaun at a urinal I’m going to have to keep on my toes this morning.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Flood • High winds • Severe Weather • Tornado • Weather

At your doc's office you may have seen CNN Chief Medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta & I doing segments together on the "Accent Health" channel. Well, if smiles are medicine, you should see what a pill it can be behind the scenes! See what happens in between takes here.

Posted by: Anchor Robin Meade, Dr. Sanjay Gu
Filed under: Accent Health • Behind the Scenes • Dr. Sanjay Gupta • Extras

Today’s weather has more going on than a Linsday Lohan police file. The severe weather re-fires this afternoon, and in the same spots as yesterday. More energy is rounding a trough over the SW and edging through the MW and South, and that means another round of large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. Check out the map:

There were 38 tornado reports over a wide area in the MW yesterday, and I expect just about the same thing to happen today. The timeline looks like this: Storms from this morning roll through the South and Mid South, and lose strength. In the wake of this action, a little sunshine will heat things up and cause more instability over TX, OK, and AR. Storms will really start to pop over the Mid MS Valley late this afternoon, and carry over through tonight. Again, tornadoes, large hail will be a factor.

Heavy rain will continue today too. The atmosphere is very rich in moisture and will be able to produce huge rainfalls out of the storms, so spots that have already seen flooding rains in IL, MO, KY, TN, IN, for example will get more. I’ll have the flood warnings for you on the show.

The showers and storms will reach the NE later, and some snow is still falling around the Central Rockies. Rain is hitting OR and WA, but I don’t expect many problems out of that.

Posted by: Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen
Filed under: Flood • Hail • Rain • Severe Weather • Tornado • Weather

Hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husbands because the last week of April is going to feature more severe weather, including strong tornadoes through Wednesday.

Here’s the setup: a powerful jet stream is dipping down into TX, and that is helping to transport energy through the MW and South. A developing storm over OK will also have a frontal boundary separating warm/humid air from cool/dry air, so storms are going to remain a constant in the area, check out the outlook map!

The pattern only slightly shifts Eastward tomorrow, so more severe weather is in store for the lower/mid MS Valley region, and by Wednesday it should make it to AL/TN/GA.

Heavy rain will fall all around this complex weather area, so flood warnings and watches are posted for just about everybody in the MW. I’ll have that map.

Steady rain is edging out of the OH Valley to the NE today, so air travel will be affected as well!

The West coast has a lot of rain and wind around too, with a brand new storm moving into the area. Wind advisories and warnings are up for big chunks of the Western mountain ranges, with gusts to 80 mph possible through the passes. Red flag warnings for NM/TX are is place b/c of the dry air, windy conditions, and warm temps. Same as last week.

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

We got several emails from viewers on Friday last week suggesting we get this video into the show... but it was too late to make space in an already crowded newscast. Flash forward two days and now this group of guys and girls in uniform lip synching to "Hold it Against Me" by Britney Spears has over 2 MILLION hits on YouTube. It's really well done and pretty funny. Senior Producer Susan and I especially love the shot of 2 the guys on the hill dancing... very cool. Even Britney herself tweeted that she is "in LOVE" with the clip.

If you got a kick out of seeing our military men and women, "somewhere deep in the heart of Afghanistan" having a little fun on their downtime... click over to youtube and show them some comment love! Be sure to tell them that you saw their moves on "Morning Express with Robin Meade" on HLN.

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

AJ is a floor director for HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade". She has been obsessed with this season of Idol, and takes notes to share with the Morning Express writers and producers. The opinions below are AJ’s alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of "Morning Express with Robin Meade" or HLN. These are her impressions of last night:

Well, it finally happened. After weeks of perching in the stools of doom, Stefano was shuffled off the Idol coil. I think we all saw it coming, but the show-closing spinning bear hug from bestie James will easily rank in the show’s cutest/ saddest moments.

What was sadder was the opening set of the night. Tired of playing matchmaker, the Idol people clumped the contestants together in random groups, first with Lauren, Haley, Stefano and Jacob stumbling through Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister.” The way they sing ain’t fair, you know? Scotty, Casey and James fared slightly better with Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”, especially Scotty. Who knew? Maybe he should change-up his game after all.

And then the Idol-lings talked about the unexpected trappings of their newfound fame, and they all sound pretty awesome. Scotty’s hometown named a cupcake after him, a Butterscotch Scotty, natch. Casey procured a delightfully bizarre painting depicting him and his dog on a cello, or was it an upright bass? Casey, who sets the standard for organic weirdness, seemed to be truly stymied by this piece of fan art. At this rate it’s only a matter of time before the human hair dolls and noodle portrait collages start pouring in.

As far as guest singers, David Cook of Season 7 fame and Katy Perry featuring Kanye West and his best fluffy pelt vest gave solidly okay performances. I’ve never been a sailor on the David Cook boat and I was too distracted by the lasers and blinking lights to notice anything special about Katy. Eh.

At the bottom of the show, we were presented with a familiar sight: Jacob, Haley and Stefano made encore appearances in the bottom three, before Ryan whispered “You’re safe” and Haley got to scamper back to the watermelon patch from whence she came. See? Ryan can be nice sometimes. And so, with the lights dimmed, America, Stefano was called out. Truthfully, it looked as if his last performance was one long, excellent sigh of relief. He has never sounded better. Was it his time, or would you rather have seen someone else out the door?

Posted by: Morning Express Floor Director AJ
Filed under: American Idol • David Cook • Extras