a wildfire spreading across eastern arizona threatening homes near new mexico now. mile after mile of earth just scorched while thousands have been forced to leave their homes and this enormous fire could get a lot bigger before fire fighters get a handle on it. >> i'm christine romans. deafening silence from democrats in defense of anthony weiner. the congressman fighting for survival on his own on this "american morning."

and good morning to you. welcome to "american morning." wednesday, june 8th. hard to sort of explain just on television the scope of this fire that's burning right now in arizona but they say you can actually see it from space. >> that's right. the second biggest fire in arizona's history. up first, it's so large, nearly 500 square miles of eastern arizona scorched this morning. blackened by an enormous wildfire threatening two mountain towns near new mexico. things is, as i said, the second largest fire to hit arizona. it's so large, so intense, it's visible here from a nasa satellite. the flames already forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. it's scary. the smoke over there is thick and dark and you can see at night you can see the light. we are prepared. we have the facilities all set up for two more shelters if we need them. >> jim spellman is live in springerville, arizona, this

morning. jim, the national weather service has issued a red flag warning because of the possibility of rapid and erratic fire growth. tell us what that means. >> yeah. that's red flag warning. low humidity, high winds and that's what's been feeding this storm. yesterday a firefighter described it to me as a monster. there's been a good side to this monster fire, so far it's hit mostly unpopulated areas and a huge national forest. that could change in springerville and eager a community of 7,000 fipeople. residents have been told leave if you can, be ready to go, they wa last thing they want to do is evacuate people in the middle of the night. here's what the incident commander told us about that yesterday. >> the further ear vac wayses will come from if this does not hold tonight and we get something started down in -- down lower or we have a run that starts up in here and hits our

original trigger point. and it hits it hard or it's running real hard when it gets there. >> reporter: so this is fast becoming a battle for springerville and eager. they're trying to create a buffer zone intentionally burning areas along some of the highways here to starve this fire fuel when it gets here, but as you said the red flag warning, low humidity, high winds, creating very difficult conditions for the fire fighters here. still zero percent contained despite having 2500 fire fighters from all over the country here fighting this blaze. kiran? >> all right. jim spellman, thanks. this morning there is growing pressure on anthony weiner, the congressman, to step down. more women are now coming out and they're talking about some of the racy pictures and on-line chats that they engaged in with the congressman. some claim that they were sent on the people's time. republican house majority leader eric cantor is saying it is time for weiner to quit and weiner is not finding a lot of support from fellow democrats either.

>> i think it is up to congressman weiner and his constituents to make that decision. i don't condone his activity. i think he should resignp. >> whether you thought congressman weiner should resign? >> i'm not here to defend weiner. >> what do you think he should do? >> that's all i'm going to say. >> what advice would you give him if he asked you? >> call somebody else. >> still, anthony weiner says he's here to stay. we caught up with him yesterday at the front door of his apartment. >> he's entitled to his viewpoint. careful. >> would you consider it? >> i'm not resigning, no. >> congressman -- >> weiner and the house nancy pelosi sent a member to the ranking members of the house ethics committee. they released a statement --.

>> coming up at 7:10 eastern, we'll speak to democratic strategist robert zimmerman and cnn political contributor james carville. can congressman weiner come back from this scandal and revive his political career. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says this year growth in the economy has been, quote, somewhat slower than expected and he called the job market far from normal. speaking yesterday bernanke says he is still optimistic, though, the recovery will pick up in coming months. >> growth seems likely to pick up somewhat in the second half of the year. overall, the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a race uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of under employed workers. >> uneven and frustrating slow. despite an onabsolute of weaker

than expected reports, president obama says he's not concerned about the economy sinking into another recession. >> i'm not concerned about a double dip recession. i am concerned about the fact that the recovery we're on is not producing jobs as quickly as i want it to happen. >> president obama says the administration doesn't know yet whether last month's disappointing jobs report was a one month episode or the start of something more troubling. and it brings us to this morning's question of the day. what is it going to take to turn this economy around. >> send us a tweet, e-mail, post on our blog, we'll read some of your comments later in the program. rebel fighters in control of a key city in yemen over 400 tribal gunmen taking over the town of taiz. it's a big setback for government forces loyal to saleh. he's in saudi arabia recovering from wounds he suffered last week during a raid on his compound. and also new this morning, it is believed the deadly outbreak of e. coli is limited to an area around the german city of hamburg.

a top eu official says there's no reason for european wide bands on products. health officials suspected that bean sprouts were to blame for the outbreak which has killed now 23 people, but so far, test results have proven to be inconclusive. and in california the state wants to send its low-level offenders to county jails as a way to reduce overcrowding in its prison. the inmate population would be cut by 33,000. still needs approval from the state legislature and vote years what happens in vegas stays in the family. carolyn goodman wife of las vegas mayor oscar goodman won a election to replace her husband. she did it with 60% of the votes. the incumbent has served three terms but couldn't run for a fourth because of term limits. >> i guess he can stay on as an informal adviser. nba finals, noted at two wins apiece and the mavericks beat the miami heat 86-83 last

night to tie the best of seven series. for basketball fans this has been pretty exciting. it was another comeback vick fri from the mavs. they trailed as many as nine points in the fourth quarter and dirk nowitzki scored 21 points and played game with a 101 fever and said he had a sleepless night and the night before the game, game five, is tomorrow night in dallas. so hopefully he'll feel better. >> hopefully sleeping well today. >> having the fever helps. >> tiger woods will not win the u.s. open this week. he can't win because he won't be playing. he pulled out of the tournament because of injuries to his knees and achilles. the doctors told him he risked further injury if he tried to play and he needs more time to heal. he's promising it to return for the final two majors of the season, the british open and the pga championship. no party crashers, no controversies just a show of unity between the u.s. and germany at the white house dinner last night. president obama hosted a state dinner honoring german

chancellor angela merkel awarding her the top civilian honor the presidential medal of freedom. they agreed that libyan dictator moammar gadhafi has to go and pledged cooperation on issues like the economy and the war in afghanistan. >> all right. up next on "american morning," libya's leader is defiant, despite massive new air strikes. we're going to be live in tripoli with the latest. >> why your next trip to amsterdam may be a little less fun. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to ...get in the way. not anymore. ink introduces jot. a real time expense app that lets you track and categorize expenses on the go. so you can get back to the business you love.

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as yesterday a barrage of daytime strikes really among the strongest we've seen against gadhafi positions? >> yeah. yesterday was without doubt the most intensive day of air strikes as the nato campaign began. nato telling us they flew 66 strike sordes yesterday on the 7th of june in tripoli. they say they hit command and control centers, vehicle storage facilities, self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and radar and we were certainly hearing that all around. the hotel where we are, colonel gadhafi's compound was hit. they're claiming there were civilian casualties. that's something we haven't been able to confirm independently, but it does seem and feel like the pressure has been ratcheted up significantly from yesterday, which was colonel gadhafi's 69th

birthday. >> dan rivers thank you so much. clearly the pictures show the pressure has been ratcheted up and it has been many weeks of putting intense pressure on him to step down. thanks, dan. >> signed letter by adolf hitler believed to be his first written comments on exterminating jews was unveiled in new york. he calls it one of the most important documents concerning the third it reich. the center paid $150,000 for the letter written in 1919. it will go on permanent display next month at the museum's display of tolerance. heavy rains have triggered mudslides in southwest china. tens of thousands of people forced to leave their homes. >> mexican drug cartels have tanks. mexican soldiers found two of them in a warehouse. they say they have an inch thick armor that can stop a 50 caliber machine gun bullet. only anti-gun weapons can

penetrate them and they can hold 20 gunmen to fire through sniper holes. >> we've only seen machine gun mounted trucks, suvs and the likes. >> advancements in tunnels, submarriages. >> but tanks ratchets up the armaments of the drug cartels. the party is over, tourists may be banned from buying pot in amsterd amsterdam's famous weed cafes. drug tourists are causing too much of a nuisance. critics of the ban say it is tourist suicide. even the mayor of amsterdam is vowing to fight the measure. week three in the casey anthony murder trial. a dog could be key to the prosecution's case. we'll explain. >> with gas prices just below $4 a gallon, find out if americans are still in love with their muscle cars. 15 minutes after the hour. too much on your plate?

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it's 19 minutes past the hour. minding your business, stocks finishing lower for a fifth day in a row. the dow was down 19 points, the nasdaq and s&p 500 were both down just about a point. the declines following comments from fed chairman ben

bernanke, speaking yesterday, bernanke said the recovery has lost some momentum and he also predicts the economy should improve, though, later this year. the 12 opec nations are meeting today in vienna. top of the agenda, whether to raise the oil production ceiling to ease prices lower worldwide. the announcement is expected at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. oil futures were down tuesday ahead of today's meeting. despite pain at the pump americans bought more muscle cars like the ford mustang while more muscle cars than hybrids last month according to edmon edmonds.com. production of popular hybrids like the toyota prius has been down since the earthquake and tsunami hit japan. and it's another chapter closed in the bernie madoff scandal. the u.s. marshall service auctioned off more than $3 million in madoff at sets in miami beach, florida. included his shoes, paintings and dish ware. nintendo unveiling its new system called the wiiu. comes with a touch screen

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right now tens of thousands of small businesses in america are facing a financial crisis in part because of high gas prices. on this morning's listening tour we're headed to new jersey where it's no bed of roses for the

bottom line of one local flower shop. >> thank you. nice to meet you. >> reporter: it's busy season for family run clover garden flori florist. the new jersey store has been in business four years. paula is making every effort to keep prices in check, but it's not easy. high gas prices have led her flower suppliers to increase costs. >> they have put their freight up as far as like it used to be $8, $10, now it's up to $13, $15. >> reporter: on top of that, paula pays $80 every time she fills up the gas tank. money that adds up for a business dependent on deliveries. >> when you're running a small business like this, i mean gas prices they hit you coming in and they hit you when you're trying to go out too. >> yes. and it's a little difficult because people don't understand that it's affecting all of us. >> reporter: one solution, team up with the competition. paula is part of a flower pool. every day she links up with 12 other florists in a central

location, swap orders, taking on deliveries closest to their neighborhoods, helping their profit margins by saving on gas. >> we're seeing more flower shops going out of business. they can't compete. they can't afford to, you know, pay the gas prices and put up with what they have to put up with to get their product delivered. >> without this pool, pooling together resources with other nurseries and floral delivery places, would you have to raise your prices do you think? >> if i did not -- was not on the pool system, then i would say yes, i would probably have to raise our prices. >> be got everything. let's get out of here. >> let's go. >> reporter: by collaborating the small business competitors deliver the goods. and here's the concern for everyone. no one wants to raise their prices because the consumer is skittish. their prices are getting raised but they don't want to pass those price increases on. the florist pool covers a 25-quar mile area. one florist told us his business has to think twice about delivering to areas not covered by that pool.

what's awesome is these are small business owners who can't wait for congress, can't wait for the economy, can't wait for opec to change oil prices, they have to figure it out for themselves and they're coming up with creative ways to try to keep their costs in check so they don't have to raise costs for you. >> they stay in business and make a profit. >> maybe this is -- they've found a solution in tough times that can work in good times. even when things get better and gas prices go down, which they very well may in the next couple months they will be making more money. >> but things are going -- they haven't had to raise their prices and that's the most important thing for them. best of luck to them. >> good. >> it's 27 minutes past the hour. a look at our top stories and we're following this wildfire that is still raging out of control right now torched nearly 500 square miles of eastern arizona. it's been burning out of control for ten days. thousands of people have been forced from their homes as the flames close in on two mountain towns near new mexico this morning. also, embattled leader

moammar gadhafi is vowing he will not surrender. even as powerful explosions earlier today rocked the area surrounding his compound in tripoli. the blast coming just hours after nato launched one of its fiercest strikes yet. war planes carrying out some 60 attacks. top stories also, congressman anthony weiner under growing pressure to step down. house majority leader republican eric cantor now says weiner should resign. no democrats have come to his defense and now more women are coming out saying they exchanged sexual pictures and instant chat messages with the congressman. in the casey anthony murder trial, a dog could turn out to be a critical for the prosecution's case, specifically german shepard named gareis. a trained cadaver dog who smelled human remains in the young mother's car and her backyard. >> reporter: casey anthony looked emotionally detached during this day of court testimony except when her eyes focused laser like on the prosecutor as she approached the defense table to hand over a

document. the prosecutor who believes casey anthony deserves the death penalty. the prose kultser who called this man to the stand. >> were you called to assist in an investigation regarding the disappearance of caylee marie anthony? >> yes, i was. >> reporter: orange county florida sheriff deputy is a canine handler hp his dog trained to sniff for ka davers and has become a player in this high-profile trial. >> reporter:. after caylee disappeared but before her body was found gare ris was brought to the sunfire which had been inpoumdsed. >> comes out of the trunk with his front paws to the right rear passenger taillights bumper area and gives me a final trend alert. he goes into a down position. >> reporter: and that's the signal the dog gives when it's detected the scent of a dead body. gare ris was brought to the antho anthonys' backyard where the same thing happened. >> is this the area that you

were describing where you got the alert? >> yes, ma'am. >> trained final alert. >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: casey anthony's jury wa attorney wanted the jury to doubt the dog's alert? >> yes. >> dogs are not infallible. >> they are not perfect. >> reporter: he had his own alert when examining casey anthony's car. >> i smelled it clear as day. >> reporter: what's notable about this testimony is that ultimately it may not contradict the defense's case. during opening statements casey anthony's attorney said that caylee anthony accidentally drowned in the backyard pool. and even though he's not supposed to deliver his closing arguments until the end of the trial, we may have heard a bit of that argument today. >> i don't believe a dead body in the backyard is a disputed issue in this case. >> just a second. >> sustained. >> reporter: defense attorney jose baez continued to attack the credibility of deputy forge and his dog.

gary tuchman, cnn, orlando, florida. also new this morning joran van der sloot scheduled to appear in peru this morning, charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 21-year-old woman. her body found in his hotel room in lima last year. his lawyers will try to convince a jury to consider a lesser sentence saying it was a crime of passion and not premeditated. he's the prime suspect in the disappearance of alabama teen natalee holloway in aruba. here's how a baltimore teenager's driving lesson ended with the family minivan in the lake. the girl, her aunt, aunt's mother were rescued. police say the aunt was giving the 14-year-old a lesson when she unintentionally accelerated, breaking through a barrier and going into the water. when young drivers have accidents that's almost always what happens. they think they're putting their foot on the brake and they gas it. >> we have ten years before we have to worry about that. >> that's right. >> still smarting from learning how to drive let alone teaching someone to learn how to drive.

volunteers scrambling to build up levees along the swollen missouri rivers. in pierre they've swamped dozens of homes and businesses. iowa, missouri and nebraska are bracing for flooding. a family in seminole county, florida, found a bear who decided to take a dip in their hot tub. it's a bear that fish and wildlife officials have been trying to trap for weeks. she brought her cubs into the area for a visit. neighbors are complaining that they're messing with the dogs and hauging the jacuzzi. the woman who took the still said there's four in the area and this one came right in to take a dip in the hot tub. >> that's hilarious. coming up on "american morning," how snoring could be a sign, perhaps, that your kid may be prone to bullying. the connection between sleep deprivation and behavioral problems. >> interesting. a facebook knows what you look like. the social network is rolling out facial recognition

technology. we'll tell you about it and the privacy concerns associated with it. it's 32 minutes after the hour. [ woman speaking chinese ] thank you. do you have an english menu? no english. [ speaking chinese ] [ gasps, speaks chinese ] do you guys like dumplings? i love dumplings. working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual -- let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

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the government pulling rat poisen from the shelves saying too many children and pets are accidentally getting sick. the ban affects pellet rat and mouse poisons sold by decon, victor and hot shot. at least two of those companies are planning an appeal. the epa said as many as 15,000 children under 6 years old are exposed to rat and mouse poisons each year. it's interesting, a new study out published in "sleep medicine" when they look at elementary school kids those who bully or have behavioral problems are twice as likely to suffer sleep problems than more well-behaved piers. they say some bullies are not getting enough sleep and link that lack of sleep to bad behavior in elementary school kids. a lot could be sleep apnea, snoring or not getting to bed soon enough. the study's lead author quick to say it is not the sole cause of bullying. this week we're taking the pulse of the people

criss-crossing the country on the cnn listening tour. >> we're in florida getting an earful about politics, about the economy, about how what goes on in washington impacts people's daily lives. cnn's david mattingly joins us from the villages, a retirement community in florida. hi, david. >> good morning. when you look at all the economic indicators that we're familiar with like unemployment, bankruptcies, foreclosures, they've all hit the sunshine state very hard, bringing a lot of economic gloom here. and just about everyone i've talked to over the past couple of days says that they believe that washington is -- >> reporter: people from four different walks of life, all feeling the pain of a down economy. in kissimmee, the mortgage crisis hit her. >> i purchased the house for 255 and right now the house is for $87,000. >> reporter: the biggest investment of her life, withering away in a market chilled by one of the nation's

highest rates of foreclosure. >> i'm stressed out because i need a house for my kids and for me and i'm trying to work with the bank and the bank doesn't want to work with me. >> reporter: strawberry carl in plant city knows what that feels like. >> i'm like most folks. i feel it in the pocketbook. >> reporter: rising costs of everything from labor to fuel has him thinking there's a disconnect in d.c. >> i don't think they got a clue. they've never walked in the shoe of the common person, never been down here at the level, never had to wonder what they're going to eat tomorrow or where they're going to live or how they're going to get their fuel tank filled up. >> reporter: donna thomas of the villages worries about that all the time. >> we basically had to give up our regular insurance and go to an hmo and we've had to cut back on everything. >> reporter: when her real estate company of 40 years went under during the mortgage crisis she lost everything she was saving for retirement.

herald williams can't think that far ahead. >> you don't want your family to be without. they look upon you to be the strong leader. i don't want to let them down. >> reporter: in two months this former orlando math teacher has had just two interviews. williams says the job market will affect his next vote for president. >> i don't want him to have sympathy for me, but empathy. >> he's a teacher. that's the thing we've been saying, education and health care, the places where there's jobs, but seen so many layoffs from school districts even teachers are concerned about the economy for themselves and that's something that will clearly be reflected. >> one of my really good friends, has just a stellar resume and looking for a teaching job and said she applied for this one opening in the third grade class in her town and there was about 400 other applicants vying for one job and it was not the highest paying job. >> right. that was david mattingly

reporting on our cnn listening tour from florida. if you can google it, cut it. that's part of republican hopeful tim pawlenty's fix. speaking yesterday pawlenty said if you can find a service on the internet, google it, it's offered by private sector firms. the government doesn't need to be doing it. among the services he'd cut, amtrak, the u.s. postal service, fannie mae and freddie mac and the government printing office. >> and talked about eliminating every tax bracket except for two, 10%, 25% and slash business corporate tax rates to 15%. very interesting what his proposal is. and how it will be received once, as you said, the number crunchers get to it. >> you can google disaster relief, something the government does now, google -- >> nuclear waste disposal. >> that's something the government does. we'll see how that flies. seriously, he would like to cut a lot of government regulations out. it might be time to check your facebook privacy settings. the site about to roll out its

facial recognition technology. it suggests the names of the people who appear in the images. if you prefer the software not identify you opt out by going to your privacy settings page. something i quite don't understand. the daughter of the billionaire founder of paul mitchell hair products but alexis is not your girly girl. she's making a living on the racetrack. alina cho will be introducing us to her. >> the question of the day, off the comments that the economy has lost some of its momentum recently and the president doesn't think we're going to have another recession. what's it going to take to turn this economy around? send us a tweet, e-mail, post on our blog, more of your comments later in the program. 42 minutes past the hour. i have astigmatism. so my old contact lenses would sometimes move out of place and blur my vision. my eye doctor said there's great news for people with astigmatism. acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. he said it's the only lens of its kind designed to realign naturally with every blink and created with hydraclear® plus. i'm seeing more clearly, crisply, comfortably,

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45 minutes past the hour. here's a look at your top stories this morning. we start in arizona where nearly 500 square miles of the eastern part of the state is on fire. the state's second largest wildfire ever still burning. thousands of people have been evacuated as these flames come closer to two mountain towns near new mexico. rebel fighters have taken controlling of a key city in yemen. more than 400 tribal gunmen taking over the town of taiz. this is in southwest yemen. a big setback for government forces loyal to president saleh. congressman anthony weiner facing calls to resign over the sexing scandal. some democrats are giving

campaign contributions to charity that they got from congressman weiner. ben bernanke acknowledging the economy has lost steam recently. speaking yesterday he said he remains optimistic that the recovery will pick up again in the second half of the year. ohio state quarterback terrelle pryor will not be playing for the buckeyes. he is leaving the school and will likely enter the nfl's supplemental draft this summer. he's one of five players suspended for violating ncaa rules for selling team memorabilia to the owner of a columbus tattoo parlor. president obama awarding angela merkel the presidential medal of freedom at a white house dinner. the two vowed to cooperate on economic issues and agreed that libyan leader moammar gadhafi must go. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" will be back after a quick break.

48 minutes past the hour. rebel fighters taking control of a key city in yemen. >> it's a big setback for government forces loyal to president saleh. joining us from abu dhabi cnn's mohammed jamjoon. what's the latest on this? >> we heard yesterday last night that government forces. >> the government forces had been clashing with anti-government gunmen in the city of taiz in the southwest part of the country. gunmen had gone into that city to protect the anti-government demonstrators out and about in that city. they have been for the last several months. what happened yesterday we heard from eyewitnesses and residents that anti-government gunmen had started clashing with the government forces there, over 400 had taken over the city,

driven the security forces outside the city and then there was a lot of worry in the overnight hours and it's still tense right now, as to what's going happen next. many people there i'm speaking with convinced that government forces will try to retake that city, try to re-enter the city and there will be heavier clashes later in the day. a lot of concern as to what's going to happen there. the government is denying this happened. the government is denying their troops were driven out. but more and more people, more and more anti-government demonstrators, eyewitnesses and residents in the city of taiz, the epicenter for the anti-government movement, people coming out for the past four months, more telling us the anti-government gunmen did take over that city, they're securing the city and the forces have been driven out. >> we'll continue to follow that with you this morning. mohammed jamjoon thanks so much. her father made a fortune selling spirits and shampoo but couldn't fulfill the need that has driven alexis, the need for speed. >> alina cho has her story. >> reporter: at 2300 pounds,

these cars are built for speed. so is alexis. >> speed demon. looking for the ultimate thrill. >> reporter: 0 to 260 miles per hour in less than six seconds, that's how long it takes to get from start to finish. >> you don't ever get scared? >> you can't be scared in these cars. then you're taking a back seat and that's the dangerous spot to be in. >> reporter: if her name doesn't sound familiar her father's company will. she's the daughter of john paul dejora, co-founder of the paul mitchell hair care line and pa troen ta key la. a man who forbes says is worth $4 billion. there wasn't a moment he said to you, alexis. >> yeah. yeah. he did. he definitely did. when he saw where you sit in these cars, he said -- >> oh, no, no. that's over 250 miles an hour and, you know, less than six seconds. no way. >> reporter: dad eventually came

around. alexis, a 33-year-old mother, has been drag racing professionally for six years and in a sport dominated by men, in her class, dejora's car is the second fastest in the nation. >> there's nothing compared to this. you have to be perfect. you have to do it right here, right now. >> what about the sound? it's so loud. >> it's like it's an earthquake in your soul. >> reporter: but does the hair care heiress ever worry about her hair? >> yeah. expect me to whip the helmet off and have the perfectly coifed hair. >> paul mitchell hair. >> yeah. i wish it was like that, but no. >> i don't have to give my daughter advice on how to keep hair in great shape. she uses paul mitchell. >> reporter: paving her own name on the racetrack. >> it's like this huge mountain you climbed to the top and landled it. it's great feeling.

>> in fact, later this summer, dejora will move up to the next level of driving called nitro. her car will be running with rocket fuel and the top speed is 320 miles per hour in less than four seconds. >> that's amazing. you mention in the piece she had, you know, been drag racing professionally for a while. what got her into this again? >> she said she was always a thrill seeker, loved snowboarding, sky diving and her father sort of raced cars in a casual way if you can do it in a casual way, but she said you know she actually tried the family business of being in hair care. worked her way through, you know, started as an intern and so forth and did marketing. then she realized she wasn't passionate about it and wanted to find her own way if you will and also said, i asked her, you could be sitting on a beach, doing anything, she said there's no self-worth in that. i wasn't raised to be like that. she was raised with good, solid values and wants to blaze her

own trail on the racetrack. >> gives new meaning feeling the wind through her hair. not the corporate world she's interested in. it's the wind in her hair. >> man, i would be scared to death in that car. >> me too. >> if you're scared you're in the back seat. you can't be driving. thanks, alina. >> ben bernanke says the economy has lost some of its momentum but optimistic the economy will pick up in the second half of the year. what is it going to take to turn the economy around. we have interesting comments from you this morning. joe martinez writes to us from facebook -- >> on twitter says -- they can't even agree on like $60 billion in cuts. >> sarah on facebook writes --

>> and twitter says -- keep your comments coming. send us an e-mail, tweet or tell us on facebook, we're going to read more of your comments later in the program. after a week of dodging, denying and stonewalling congressman anthony weiner faced the press head on yesterday. >> jeanne moos takes a look at the humbling ordeal. >> reporter: fully clothed, we know anthony weiner is a nerdy, lanky congressman, but when his shirt dropped, so did jaws. >> the guys my age and he is totally cut. >> he's ripped. >> his chiselled torso. see that. look at that. >> hard not to tweet a photo like that. that is why i have made the moral choice to let myself go. >> reporter: even headless folks were able to identify him. >> the weinergate man.

>> reporter: these days there are so many half naked congressmen you would be forgive for getting them mixed up from the illinois representative with the six-pack abs on the cover of "men's health" to the craigslist congressman who resigned after putting this picture on-line to the massachusetts senator who posed for "cosmo" in his youth and let's not forget russia's vladimir putin an aging rambo who seems like he's always stripping. the naked truth can be disconcerted. >> this looks weird. why is this separated so much. >> why would you think that would be attractive with all these hanging here? >> i'm saying. he has a little bit of -- >> when i saw this photo i was like is that me? >> that is some cleavage. can we zoom in on that any chance. is there any way? >> i'm in the canyon! >> reporter: it used to be we only see naked congressmen in movies. >> i'm a congressman. >> are you kidding? >> no.

i'm absolutely serious. i'm charter wilson. i represent the texas second congress a.m. -- >> reporter: they're staring at us from newspapers on our laps or laptops. forget the politician's war chest, it's his chest hair being analyzed. >> it's a shaved chest which tells me that psychologically he was putting some real effort into trying to make this thing as sexual as possible. >> he's also like waxing himself all over. it seems oddly hairless. >> reporter: for some female anchors weiner's naked torso was too much for the naked eye. >> i think we all understand, you know, i don't think we need to see that. >> i do think that there is a -- >> turn it off. i don't want to keep seeing that. >> congressman weiner got his guilt off his chest leaving us with his chest and his drawers. jeanne moos, cnn. >> would you want this chest? >> if you can get a little tanner maybe. >> reporter: new york.

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eastern arizona blackened and the flames are moving fast toward two towns near new mexico threatening lives and homes on this "american morning." and welcome to "american morning." it is wednesday, june 8th. ali velshi has the day off today. >> that's right. up first, a wildfire so spectacular, so enormous, you can see it from space. nearly 500 square miles scorched this morning in eastern arizona. all of that property torched by a fire that's forced thousands of people to leave their homes and now two mountain towns near new mexico are threatened. this is the second largest fire ever to hit arizona and there's a look from space. it's so large that the flames and the flames so intense, that it is actually visible from a nasa satellite. jim spellman is live in springerville, arizona, this morning. so the national weather service issuing this red flag warning because of the possibility that this could quickly grow rapidly and erratically as they're describing it.

have most people gotten out of harm's way? >> some people have gotten out but there's still a lot of people here in springerville ready to go, though, should conditions get worse. fire fighters here trying to get a handle on this fire, but these bad conditions are making it nearly impossible. >> reporter: it's a fire bigger than new york city. and so far, it's 0% contained. >> the wind is our enemy right now. as soon as the winds die down and give us a handle on the fire that's what we're waiting for. >> reporter: it could be days before a break in the high winds. until then the nearly 3,000 fire fighters battling the blaze are doing what they can to try to get ahead of the flames. >> right now we just completed at least part of our buffer that we're creating, just before the fire front hits here. we're trying to maintain and hold it here on this road. >> reporter: on this side of the road they've created an intentional fire to stop the fire in moving this way. crews are monitoring this side of the road to be sure no ember

comes across and start a new fire on this side of the highway. this team has come from iowa and california to fight the fire. 12 hours days in stifling heat but you won't hear any of these fire fighters complaining. >> it's a lot of work. you just take it one piece at a time. there's a lot going on out there. we just focus on your job. >> we go anywhere, anywhere anybody needs help and we're just here to do our part. >> reporter: it may be a while before they can return home. winds are expected to pick up through the week. so they hope to use those buffer zones to send the fire around these community of springerville and eager, spare the 7,000 or so residents damage or injury. back to you, kiran. >> all right. jim, thanks so much. we'll check in with you later. meanwhile, summer is nearly two weeks away but it's going to feel like summer is here. a heat wave that broiled the midwest is gripping the eastern half of the country. >> memphis, the temperature has been dealing with, you know, record-setting heat.

they could top, gosh, 100 degrees today. rob marciano tracking extreme weather at piedmont park in atlanta. it is early june and across the country they will be well into the 90s. in fact, people might not even be prepared. check on your neighbors, the bit that you're usually talking about in august is something we need to be aware of today. >> that's the thing. we're getting right now what is we would see during the dog days of summer, early and mid part of august. it's a shock to the system and it's been going on for a week and a half, almost two weeks, especially for the southeast. it's beyond a novelty at this point. it's a full on one and a half, two-week heat wave. check out the numbers. this expands up to the north where, you know, temperatures, they seem now, are really unheard of. minneapolis, 103 degrees yesterday. record high. dodge city, 102. rochester, minnesota, seeing a temperature of 101 degrees today -- yesterday. unbelievable heat there.

and the heat is on as far as the bigger cities off toward the north and east. we have excessive heat watches and warnings posted for some of the bigger cities, including philadelphia, d.c., and detroit where temperatures will easily get into the 90s with the humidity, it will feel well over 100 degrees. good advice as to check on your neighbors, especially the elderly neighbors and here at piedmont park where boot camps and early morning workouts normally happen this time of day, we haven't seen a ton of that going on, at least definitely less than usual. back to you. >> that means people are thinking because i know, you know, you like to power through it, but you have to do it inside on days like this. it too risky. >> you don't have to tell me more than once you shouldn't work out when it's warm. >> i didn't say don't work out. hit the treadmill rather than the parks. >> all right. see ya. rebel fighters have control of the key city in yemen. 400 gunmen taking over the town of taiz. it is a big setback for

government forces loyal to president saleh who, as we know, is still in saudi arabia right now recovering from burns and wounds that he suffered last week during a raid on his compound. >> and nato stepping up air strikes against libyan dictator moammar gadhafi's regime this morning. powerful explosions rocking the area around gadhafi's residence in tripoli, but despite more than 60 air strikes in tripoli yesterday, gadhafi is still vowing he will not surrender. no party crashers, no controversy, just a show of unity between the u.s. and germany at the white house last night. president obama hosting a state dinner honoring german chancellor angela merkel awarding her the presidential medal of freedom. the two leaders agreeing that libyan dictator moammar gadhafi has to go, pledging cooperation on issues like the economy and the war in afghanistan. nba finals tied at two games apiece after the dallas mavericks beat the miami heat 86-83 last night. another comeback victory for the

mavs. they trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter. their star player dirk nowitzki fought off the heat and also his own internal heat. he had a 101 degree fever last night when he was playing. he scored 21 points. the pivotal fifth game of the series will be tomorrow night in dallas. ahead on "american morning," can anthony weiner survive his six sexting scandal? we'll find out what he has to do to keep his job. it's six minutes after the hour. [ thinking ] oh, gourmet deliciousness...

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welcome back to "american morning." calls for congressman anthony weiner's resignation are growing louder this morning. washington and politics in general has had its share of scandals with mixed outcomes. some lawmakers have been able to take the pressure and keep their jobs. others have disappeared. let's take a look at some of the

most recent examples. first congressman chris lee. he is also from new york. he resigned in february after it was revealed he sent shirtless photos of himself to a woman he met on craigslist. the congressman resigned. let's take a look at democratic congressman eric massa from new york. in march of last year he admitted to inappropriate behavior with congressional aides. he, too, ended up resigning. what about those who have kept their jobs? take a look here. this is senator david vitter, a republican out of louisiana. back in july of 2007 the senator's phone number was discovered among a list of clients of the so-called d.c. madam. the republican vitter held a televised news conference, his wife by his side, he asked for forgiveness, refused to step down and, in fact, went on to win re-election and is still in office today. charlie rangel, congressman rangel, even though the house ethics committee found the 20 term democrat guilty on 11

counts including failing to pay taxes on a vacation home in the dominican republic. censured by the full house, forced to step down as chairman of the house wanes and means committee but he did keep his job. how about democratic congressman barney frank. take a look at him. back in the 1980s questions arose about frank's relationship with a hired male prostitute. he, too, was eventually censured by the house, but he, too, also remains in office and is a powerful member of the democratic house leadership. ironically one of those who called for frank's resignation back in the '80s was senator larry craig. in june of 2008 craig was arrested at the minneapolis-st. paul airport on suspicion of lewd behavior accused of soliciting an undercover male police officer for sex. he ended up resigning from office three months later. three democrat, three republicans, three kept their seat and three ended up resigning due to scandal. >> which column will anthony weiner end up in? joining us democratic strategist

robert zimmerman and in new orleans james carville. welcome to the program. >> good morning. >> i want to talk about you have been in crisis communications for some 20 years and democratic strategist. clearly this was handled badly from the beginning, going out and lying about all of this and trying to clear it -- now what? can he repair that week of lying and stalling and calling a producer trying to get the facts a jackass, can he get over that? >> look, the one rule in crisis communication, to get your story out there, because if you don't someone else will write the story. you can't get away with lying and insulting the media for not believing your lies. for anthony weiner it's about showing true remorse and removing politics from the calculation. he's got to get through the hurdles of the ethics committee, he has to then not just worry about his constituents but worry about whether he'll have a district to run for. realistically for anthony weiner his next steps have to be showing real remorse, focusing on his work as a congressman, and also demonstrating a commitment to public service not just politics and sound bites.

>> james, let's listen to what eric cantor now the first sort of republican to come out and say he should go, and deafening silence from his own party about what he should do. listen. >> i think it is up to the -- congressman weiner and his constituents to make that decision. i don't condone his activity. i think he should resign. >> i'm not here to defend weiner. >> what do you think he should do? >> that's all i'm going to say. >> what advice would you give him if he asked you? >> call somebody else. >> james, can he repair his relationship with his fellow democrats? >> well, first of all, i think there are a couple things unique about this. the times in which it happened. we're in a really, really terrible economic situation right now. that says trouble. number two, is congressman weiner a bright guy but never been that popular a member of the caucus and he was going to lead the congress and up front

about his intent to run for mayor of new york. they don't view him as one of their own if you will. the third thing, his wife is very popular in washington, very popular in democratic circles and people are mad at him for that. he's got a little bit of a perfect storm brewing against him. having said that, people have certainly done worse things and survived and i don't -- his big problem right now is, you know, they might be more than this out there. generally people that engage in this behavior they're not limited to six times or whatever he says it is. he's got that hanging over his head. his computer is going to be -- i'm sure the house ethics committee will get it. he may decide he wants to punt for reasons other than just legal reasons. i'm not sure. but the economic -- the political climate and the economic downturn is not good in washington. >> why do you think the economy makes it worse for him? >> you know what, some people tweeting something and other

people have a job, to some extent it's kind of funny. now it's a huge distraction and people say look at what these clowns are doing and doesn't sit as well with people. and it -- when these congressmen go home, people start screaming at them at town meetings and people not happy in a country right now. >> it's a valid point, james, in this climate certainly it frustrates his colleagues who he's not close to in the first place. the bottom line is to be immersed in the scandal is bad enough. to lie about it and harass the press makes it even more difficult to dig his way out of this. >> they're calling the producer a jackass might help with some people. >> that's a very good point. listen, we have to leave it there. robert zimmerman and james carville, cnn political contributor, thanks, guys. we'll see if it -- time heals this and it goes away or if he finds this drum beat of opposition continues and he finds himself having to step down. thanks, guys. >> okay.

floods, tornadoes, heat waves, wildfires, 2011 has been a year of extreme weather and there are many who ask, why? but is there a scientific reason? we're going to be talking with the director of the national weather service, jack hayes. he joins us in a few moments. ♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

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19 minutes past the hour. minding your business. stocks finished lower for a fifth day in a row. the market the dropped after federal reserve chairman ben bernanke said the job market remains far from normal. he acknowledged that the economy is weak. the dow is off 19 points, the nasdaq and s&p 500 were both down by about a point. the 12 opec nations are meeting in vienna.

top of the agenda, whether to boost oil production it push prices down worldwide. announcement expected at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. oil futures down ahead of today's meeting. more concerning news for the u.s. economy. a recent treasury report shows that national debt will exceed the size of the u.s. economy this year, earlier than expected. and that's a first since world war ii. a new study shows ceo pay is on the rise. a report says that cash bonuses for ceos is back up too. cash bonuses for the highest paid ceos three times prerecession levels. graduation season, many students and teachers may be heading into the summer without the school yearbook. many schools nationwide are doing away with the keepsakes as part of state budget cuts. how is this for global rankings not talking about gdp. the u.s. the world's most hilarious company. a poll says according to this poll, germany is the least funny

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good morning, washington, d.c. cloudy, 73 degrees. later mostly sunny, maybe 97. nearly 500 square miles of arizona are burning this morning and a heat wave choking the eastern half of the country right now. we're not halfway through 2011 and it's been a wild year for weather.

starting with intense winter snow storms. remember this? at one point in january, there was snow on the ground in 49 of 50 states. everywhere except for florida. then came the tornadoes. the past record for april was set back in 1957, 407 tornadoes. this year, 875 of them touched down. next, was flooding. this is memphis, folks. before and after the mississippi swelled over its banks. look how narrow the mississippi river is. after this record flooding unbelievable this is what the river looked like. now it's just hot. between sunday and tuesday, close to 500 high temperature records have been broken seen here with the little red dots. heat that has worsened the drought in southern parts of the united states. this is where you're seeing drought. the driest areas in red, like springerville in arizona where a wildfire has burned some 486 square miles of pine forest forcing thousands to flee their

homes. >> thanks. we talk about this and you showed us many great examples of this extreme weather we've been dealing with. seems this year we can't catch a break. joining me to discuss why we're experiencing wild swings, jack hayes, the director of the national weather service, live from our washington bureau. thanks for being with us this morning, jack. >> thank you, kiran, for the invitation. >> we talked about this historic flooding, record number of tornadoes and today we're following the wildfires in arizona and record heat across the country. is all of this related somehow? >> i think so. i think we've seen intense weather since at least the christmas time with the snowstorms, followed by the tornadoes and floods that we've experienced this winter. i think that the intensity we've seen, it's a very active year. we've seen active years in the past and certainly this is one of the more active and intense weather years. >> this is called a la nina year and how they define it is a cooler than normal sea surface temperatures in the central and

eastern tropical pacific ocean, more complicated than that but affects weather patterns. this was the quote from one scientist saying it's near record-breaking la nina year, near record-breaking in its intensity. what do they mean by that? >> i think the active weather that we've seen over the united states is approaching record limits. i think if you look at the number of tornadoes we've had already this year, we're on a path to exceed the number of tornadoes we had in 2009 which was about 1800 tornadoes. if you look at the hurricane season we put out an outlook just a few weeks ago, that says that we should expect 18 named storms, 10 hurricanes, six major hurricanes. last year was the third most active hurricane season on record and it had one more named storm than we're predicting for this year. >> yes, exactly. above average hurricane season on the horizon for us, at least those are the predictions.

when people talk about extreme weather, and they talk about climate change, they're related but they're not the same. explain that. >> i think climate change is an end state. i think what we've seen over the past two decades is increasingly warm temperatures, warmer nights, more widespread and intense heat waves, one of the reasons that noaa has proposed a climate service is to bring the expertise that we have to delve more deeply into the questions in partnership with other federal agencies and with the academic community. >> there's a stanford university study that came out, a report that is really troubling. it basically says that temperatures will rise irreversibly within the next 20 to 60 years and talk about the fact that this will have enormous consequences for human beings. they point out that 40,000 people killed in the 2003 heat wave in europe but concerns when it comes to growing our world's

food. how concerned are we about irreversible changes in our temperature? >> well, i think all americans and -- are concerned with irreversible changes to temperature. all the more reason that we need to invest in climate surfaces where we can begin to probe and bring to bear the power of science to find the answers to questions necessary to plot the nati nation's future. >> it's political, that's the interesting part. why is there a big political element in this that sometimes seems to get in the way of just looking at it objectively? >> as a scientist, i tend to focus on the objective pieces and i think science is apolitical. i guess i wouldn't feel comfortable offering an opinion on why the politics enter into it. my -- i think my earlier comment, the nation needs to invest in the necessary research so we can bring to bear the power of science, to meet the

nation's need. >> all right. jack hayes, good talking to you, director of noaa. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. 29 minutes after the hour. time for top stories. rebel fighters taking control of a key city in yemen. more than 400 tribal gunmen taking over the town of taiz. it's a big setback for government forces loyal to president saleh. he's still in saudi arabia, recovering from burns and shrapnel wounds suffered during an attack on his compound last week. president obama will be holding a video conference with afghan president hamid karzai today. the president met with his national security team for two hours on monday to discuss the war in afghanistan and the situation in pakistan. the administration is reportedly working on a timetable to begin pulling troops out of the region. the aircraft carrier that buried osama bin laden at sea is back in the u.s. the ""uss carl vinson"" arrived in hawaii, the ship's first stop on u.s. soil in six months. it was a personal mission for the commander of the strike group that includes the "carl

vinson". he told reporters he was at the pentagon on 9/11. ben bernanke is saying what most are feeling growing frustration about the economy. the recovery has been painfully slow for millions unemployed and more who feel underemployed. >> the cnn listening tour takes us to central florida, an earful about politics and the economy. joins us from the villages retirement community. good morning, david. >> good morning. central florida is always known as a very deep well of independent voters and for any candidate to appeal to them, he's going to have to first appeal to their wallets. >> reporter: four different people from four different walks of life, all feeling the pain of a down economy. in kissimmee, the mortgage crisis hit her. >> i purchased the house for 255 and right now the house is for $87,000. >> reporter: the biggest investment of her life, withering away in a market chilled by one of the nation's

highest rates of foreclosure. >> i'm stressed out because i need a house for my kids and for me and i'm trying to work with the bank and the bank doesn't want to work with me. >> reporter: strawberry farmer carl grooms in plant city knows what that feels like. >> i'm like most folks. i feel it in the pocketbook. >> reporter: rising costs of everything from labor to fuel has him thinking there's a disconnect in d.c. >> i don't think they got a clue. they've never walked in the shoe of the common person, never been down here at the level, never had to wonder what they're going to eat tomorrow or where they're going to live or how they're going to get their fuel tank filled up. >> reporter: donna thomas of the villages worries about that all the time. >> we basically had to give up our regular insurance and go to an hmo and we've had to cut back on everything. >> reporter: when her real estate company of 40 years went under during the mortgage crisis she lost everything she was saving for retirement.

her rolled herald williams can't think that far ahead. >> you don't want your family to be without. they look upon you to be the strong leader. i don't want to let them down. >> reporter: in two months this former orlando math teacher has had just two interviews. williams says the job market will affect his next vote for president. >> i don't want him to have sympathy for me, but empathy. >> reporter: and it could take a lot of empathy from a candidate because the unemployment rate here is 10.8%, more than a point above the national average. >> all right. david mattingly in florida, thanks. so a lot of people are asking what would be the solution to turning the economy around? a lot of people have ideas. it's our question of the day. here's some of your responses. twitter writes --

brad taylor on facebook writes -- vickedy on facebook says -- frankly after immediate gratification for credit for 10 or 15 years. joshua on facebook says -- i've heard that point before as well. interesting. speaking of the economy, republican presidential hopeful tim pawlenty is out with his fix. he says if you can google it you can cut it. speaking yesterday pawlenty said if you can find a service on the internet offered by a private sector firms and the government doesn't need to be doing it. among the services amtrak, the u.s. postal service, fannie mae and freddie mac and the government printing office. >> proposing major changes to

the tax structure including corporate and personal and individual taxes. >> eliminating an awful lot of federal regulation had he's got a sweeping but very conservative view of what to do with big government. >> be sure to join cnn next monday night hear from him and the other seven gop candidates for president debating, monday night, 8:00 p.m. eastern live from new hampshire only on cnn. meantime we're going to talk next up with the naacp suing new york city to stop 134 some school closings. why they're weighing in on this, why keep these failing schools open and what it is that they're hoping for right after the break. [ man ] ♪ trouble ♪ trouble, trouble trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been doggin' my soul ♪ since the day i was born ♪ worry ♪ oh, worry, worry worry, worry ♪

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he's passionate about education issues and this week, a cnn contributor steve perry fired up about the naacp's decision to join a new york city's teacher union in a lawsuit to stop new york city from closing some of its worst performing schools and open the building space to new charter schools. listen. >> the naacp has become a jobs program. what they're doing is they've come into bed with the teachers union for one purpose to protect teachers jobs, not the children, but the teachers making $70,000 a year on average, and they have a masters degree, it's them they're protecting not the children. >> kim keenan could not disagree more, joining us to respond to perry's take, the general council for the naacp. tell me, why did you join with the teachers to protest or try to stop these failing schools from being closed? >> well, what happened is we went to court and we got a court order that said that they had to

comply with new york state law, which required that they create, fund and implement plans to change these schools. and that didn't happen and we tried to work with people, we tried to talk, we went to hearingings and at the end of the day nothing happened. we're hoping that the new chancellor is listening and watching and that he will take the steps to follow the law. we won twice. >> gave up on these schools? >> well, you know, it's easy to have the luxury for some people to stay we're going to give up, but having a lottery and letting 4% of the kids get the resources that every child should have, is not the answer. the answer is to comply with the law which new york has great law on these issues and here we are 96% of the 1 million plus students in new york are under the public school system. and they are not getting the

resources and the effort put into making sure that they have an equitable education. we have two cities and one building. some kids have computers, some kids do not. >> that's when the charter schools have space in these buildings you're saying? >> when they're colocated they get the best spaces and they get the most resources. so what happens is -- >> how do we elevate it for everyone. the point of a public school education is it's supposed to be the great equalizer for all kids, no matter what. they come into the school, given the tools to get this standard education and take it off into the american way of life and build something with it but that's just not happening. fixing it is so frustrating, isn't it? >> fixing it is frustrating but you know what, not fixing it is not an option. and continuing on the way it is, ignoring the law, put -- squishing all those student in together into the same building where some of them are having classes on stages and in

hallways, is not the answer. they have a new chancellor in new york and a new opportunity. we filed that lawsuit so they can focus and prioritize, getting these schools in a way where they are the great equalizer. children are watching and if they're looking across the hall and people have computers and access to labs and they don't, they're learning a lesson that she shouldn't be learning at school. >> four models under federal guidelines for failing schools to improve them. transformation, turnaround, restarts and closure. these 20 were targeted for closure. in this case you would like to see these schools transformed, how? >> first of all, in order to close them in new york, there's a process that, you know, in new york, they involve parents and that wasn't done here, it wasn't done properly, it didn't comply with the law and as a result, it would be like, you know, they just send you a note one day, oh the school that your child goes

to no longer exists. without going through any of basically the safeguards that were put into place, so yes, we would like to see them create the plan they're supposed to create, fund it and implement it so these children have the opportunity to get that equitable education that is the foundation for the american way. >> people like steve perry will say that's just throwing good money after bad, that these are failing schools and taxpayer dollars should not be going into schools that, you know, maybe cannot be helped, they need to be closed and started over, charters or the kids move to school districts that are working. what do you say to that? >> they need to start them over in the schools that they're in. there isn't enough space to just move them off. they're talking about sending kids an hour and a half away in new york to schools. it would seem that if we can colocate a charter school in that school, we can transform a school within that school. and again, this is about they're pitting parents against parents.

where at the end of the day all the naacp is for is making sure that every child gets the equitable education that the law promises. >> all right. kim keenan, general council of the naacp. thank you for joining us and have a nice day today. >> you too. >> 44 minutes past the hour. a heat wave reaches the northeast. we're going to have more on our morning headlines this morning. >> and dr. sanjay gupta, does your food make you sick? did you know that salmonella poisoning is on the rise? we'll tell you why. and how you can protect yourself and your family. >> also, some foods that have historically been off limits for babies. no nos for pediatricians such as introducing honey or nuts at an early age. when is it okay? new revised recommendations.

46 minutes past the hour. a look at your headlines. nearly 500 square miles of eastern arizona on fire. an enormous wildfire threatening two towns near new mexico as well. thousands forced to evacuate their homes. meantime on the eastern half of america, they're on alert for a heat wave. temperatures expected to shatter records today, soaring 20 degrees above normal in places like delaware, new jersey, new york, and pennsylvania. expected to hit 96 degrees in philadelphia and they could hit the century mark on thursday. it appears the markets may continue their losing streak. right now, we're looking at futures, the dow, nasdaq, and s&p futures all pointing down this morning. facebook is about to change the way you tag friends in photos and yourself. the system will scan every image on facebook and try to figure out who's in the picture. you can opt out of this facial

recognition if you prefer not to. have it used on you. the mavericks beat the miami heat 86-83, to tie the nba finals at two. it was another comeback victory for the mavs who trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter. star dirk nowitzki managed to score 21 points, even though suffering from a 101 degree fever. game five tomorrow night in dallas. ohio state quarterback terrelle pryor won't be playing for the buckeyes this year. he's leaving the school and says he'll likely enter the nfl supplemental draft this summer. pryer is one of five ohio state football players suspended for selling team memorabilia to the owner after columbus tattoo parlor. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" will be back after a quick break. nges right . two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create

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and form a layer called biofilm so strong it survives brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula penetrates biofilm, kills germs and protects your mouth for hours. fight biofilm with listerine®. 49 minutes past the hour. the government pulling rat poison from the shelves saying that too many children and pets are accidentally getting sick. the ban affects pellet rat and mouse poison sold by decon, victor and hot shot. at least two of those companies are planning to appeal. the epa says as many as 15,000 children under 6 years old are exposed to rat and mice poisons

each year. >> pets can knock the canisters off in the garage or something because it smells good or taste good and go after it and it can poison them. protecting future generations of athletes, the nfl and ncaa are asking states to make laws to predesign and prevent . . a new study is saying it is okay to feed your baby certain allergy foods before they are a year old. they say hold off on the peanut

bitter before they are a year old. they say it doesn't necessarily change whether a child will develop allergies, excema or asthma. >> parents weigh all of these and say, wait a minute. >> it is hard, because the research is constantly changing, because no child is alike. >> the cdc releasing its latest report showing a number of foodborne infections. it is down. but there is one illness, at least, that is up. >> chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta joins us live. first, start with the good news. we talk about how many foodborne illnesses are on the decline. >> there has been some progress here. this report was surprising to me, because we were reporting on these food outbreaks for so many years now. there has been some progress made. let me give you some good news first. overall, take a look at the top six causes of foodborne

illnesses. salma nel la is at the top of the list. all these other areas, including e. coli, we have been talking about quite a bit over the last few days, has come down significantly. you have several other bacteria that have surpassed it causing foodborne illnesses. 82, salmonella, only 42 of one of the worst kinds of e. coli. with regards to e. coli, they are making some gains over the last 15 years. >> can you hear me, sanjay? >> i missed that. >> the bad news is that salma salmanella is on the rise. >> you go to the grocery store and buy food.

still 1,000 plus outbreaks every single year. 48 million people get sick. you may wonder, how do 48 million people get sick? 1 in 6 americans getting sick. these are estimates based on these confirmed cases. this he predict how many people got sick. keep in mind most people won't go to the hospital. they are not going to get really sick but they are still getting these particular bacteria in their food and having problems. 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths as a result of this. that is the same number of people who died from lung cancer who are nonsmokers. that gives you a little bit of context. >> when it comes to salmonella, why is it at the top? i think of uncooked chicken, the way you handle raw chicken and raw eggs. >> this may surprise you then. even processed foods, eggs, certainly, all kinds of beef, certain vegetables. there are so many different types of food that can carry

salmonella. therein lies part of the problem. i am still stunned at how rudimentary the process is to try and trace an outbreak. it is a real medical mystery to have to go back to each step of the process from the farm where it is grown all wait to the fork, when it gets tower table and figure out when the bacteria was introduced. in a lot of these outbreaks, they never exactly pinpoint it. it also relies in part because it can affect so many different foods. you are relying on people's memories as far as what they ate several weeks in the past. that can be a challenge. that's a reason they have had a hard time nailing it down. >> there is only so much we can do to avoid cross contamination. we can wash our hands and cook our food properly and the right cutting board. it comes down to the farm, to the truck, to the people moving the food, to the processing of the food. what more can be done to prevent people from getting sick? >> i was sort of amazed that even up until this past year,

the fda or usda did not have the regulatory authority to go in and make a mandatory shutdown of a particular plant if there was a concern. they could only make the recommendation. so much of the attention was focused on dealing with an outbreak after it had already occurred and on the prevention side. that's changed as a result of the food safety modernization act. it gives more authority to say, we can inspect this plant. we think it is a concern. the cooling or heating temperatures aren't correct. you could have an outbreak as a result. i think prophylax sis, prevention, is going to be key here. it is done in many countries across the world. the united states was slow to catch up. i think we seal some decrease as a result of that. >> we hope so for sure. on the other side, your top stories including the latest on the wild fire in arizona and this heat wave for the east coast. backed by the highest possible ratings for financial strength.

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join cnn on a listening tour, traveling across america to talk to voters about their struggles and the slumping economy and search for solutions on this "american morning." >> go good morning, everybody, it is wednesday, june 8th. our friend, ali velshi, is off today. >> we start, though, with these wildfires that have really been growing out of control right now in eastern arizona. so far, more than 5,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes thichlts an area that borders in new mexico. an enormous wild fire scorching over 500,000 square miles of land. it is going called the second largest fire in arizona's history. it could get bigger, because the weather is not cooperating. winds are whipping up. it has remained hot and dry. the flames are heading straight for two mountain towns in new mexico. >> first, the mississippi river and then flooding across the missouri river. they are building levees and

embrace forg an an slaug embracing for an onslaught of water. they are sending more water into cities where residents are hoping sandbags will save their homes. a heat wave is scorching the eastern half of america from texas to new england. you are looking at a live picture of washington, d.c. where the forecast is calling for a high of 97 degrees today. perhaps even hotter throughout the week. speaking of hot, look at this spectacular solar storm. it erupted yesterday on the sun raising up a massive cloud of magnetic plasma. nasa has registered the event as a class m-2 solar flare are a medium class sun storm that shouldn't threaten any satellites here on the earth. >> it is going to feel as hot as that looks in many parts. rob marciano is in piedmont park, in atlanta. we are talking about the extremely hot weather making its

way east. well, it is here. >> reporter: it is. it has been here on and off for a couple of weeks. ten or so days ago, we were talking about, how, be careful out there. the first time you get that excessive heat in june, your body is not used to it. there is a bit of a shock to the system. we haven't cooled down a whole lot since then, especially across the southeast. the wild fire situation, obviously, the hot, dry weather out there is causing issues. quick check on that. we have red flag warnings posted for the same areas as the past couple of days. not a lot of relief in sight. no substantial rains expected until the monsoons set in. look at these record high temperatures, though. as far north as minneapolis, minnesota. 103 degrees. dodge city, kansas, 102 and rochester, minnesota, 101 degrees for a high temperature yesterday. all this heat is moving farther to the east. some of the larger cities on the east coast, including atlanta, detroit, philadelphia, d.c., all have at least heat advisories or excessive heat warnings.

philadelphia in the pink there, we will see heat indices, up and over the 100-degree mark. that's as measured in the shade. do take care of yourself and some of your neighbors out there. as far as what we can expect for temperatures across other spots in the southeast and the eastern corridor, a lot of bright colors on the map there. 99 expected for a heat index in st. louis. 95 degrees expected in nashville. 90s across the board and 100 or better potentially across d.c. and farther up towards the north. we don't expect to see a lot of relief with this. certainly, across the southeast. there will be some cool fronts that try to come through like chicago, upstate new york, over the next couple of days. it is not going to make it very far south. here is the forecast showing that the big dome of high pressure that's been keeping the dry air in place and the heat baking kind of just sits there and all the front that will bring it cooler and some rain to the north will stay that way.

so certainly unusual for this time of year. we are not even officially on the first day of summer by calendar standards. as far as the exercising, that happens a lot here at piedmont park, especially this time of day. there are some folks that are trying to get their workout out early in the morning. later on this afternoon and evening, it is going to get a little bit steamy. the bigger city was the ozone, air quality is not going to be healthy. guys, back to you. >> all spring, there was all this rain. people that worked outside in construction and other jobs, they had all these delays on job sites and now it is so hot. they are going to be working earlier, taking the middle of the day off. it has been so frustrating for people who are trying to make a living outdoors. that's for sure. >> good point. ghei the guys that are going to be working, the road crews in the heat of the day, give them a break as you drive and walk past them. >> rob, we are not giving you a break. you have to stand outside and do

shoutouts for us. two years after air france flight 447 officials say they are finished looking for bodies. a french team says they have recovered all salvageable remains from the flight. the black boxes were recovered last month. they showed the plane flying from rio to paris fell 38,000 feet in under four minutes killing all 228 people on board. they didn't lay blame on a single cause. important new developments in yemen this morning where rebels have now taken control of taiz, a key city in the southwest part of the country. >> a big setback for forces loyal to president saleh. mohammed jamjoom joins us this morning. how significant is this? >> it is a very big and significant development. taiz is a city in the southwest of yemen, one of the epicenters of the anti-government movement

the past several months. hundreds of thousands of people are demonstrating and calling for the ousting of the president. a lot of clashes between anti-government demonstrators and government security forces. a lot of international condemnation thrown at the yemeni government. in the past week, tribesmen, armed tribesmen that were trying to protect the demonstrators starting coming into taiz. they started clashing with government security forces there. yesterday, according to eyewitnesses and residents, they were able to drive the forces out of the city. the fact you have armed tribesmen in the city adds much more concern as to what will happen. will the troops move back? the yemeni government denies this is happening. there is another city in yemen where people are concerned there could be raging street battles. does that mean the country is

closer to civil war? that's the question at this hour. christine. >> this is kiran. in other parts of yemen, with he know there is a concern, of course, regarding al qaeda taking part in the fighting as well. what are you hearing about what's going on elsewhere? >> kiran, this is another big point of worry for u.s., for regional neighbors of yemen, because there is a city in the south of yemen called zinzibar in a province that is known to be a hot bed for al qaeda, overtaken by islamic militants. there have been clashes but the militants still very much in control of the city. the yemeni government said they were able to kill at least 30 members in the city. the fact islamic militants were able to take this over and seize it, it is a big point of concern in a country where there is a huge al qaeda problem. it adds much more worry that al qaeda will try to take advantage of all the strife and violence.

>> mohammed jam june for us this morning, thanks so much. libya leader, moammar gadhafi, vowing to stay in libya and fight to the death as nato air strikes bombard his residence. coming a day after nato-led airplanes carried out numerous strikes. one of the most delicate missions in the u.s. military, burying osama bin laden at sea. the crew of the "uss carl vinson" is back on u.s. soil. it pulled into hawaii on its way to san diego. they were out at sea for six months. it was a very personal mugs for the commander of the strike group that includes the carl vinson. he was telling reporters that he was at the pentagon on 9/11. >> with bin laden out of the picture, a timetable to begin troop withdrawals. president obama will be speaking with afghan president, hamid car

za. it is time for america to start relinquishing some of its responsibilities. >> with respect to afghanistan, i will be making announcements soon. this summer is a summer of transition where we start handing over more responsibility for the security of afghanistan to the afghan government. i intend to follow through on that commitment i made to the american people by us killing osama bin laden, getting al qaeda back on its heels, it is now time for us to recognize we have accomplished a big chunk of our mission. it's time for the afghans to take more responsibility. president obama met with his national security team for two hours to discuss the war in afghanistan. no party crashers, no con tro versus, just a show of unity between the u.s. and germany at the white house last night. president obama hosted a state dinner on who aring german

chancellor, angela merkel. the first lady also was decked out in a really pretty gown by kahn. an ivory v-neck column neck. we just saw diane sawyer and nancy pelosi. michelle obama, there it is. beading on it. it was very beautiful. >> no wonder everyone was in such a good mood at the white house dinner. the president, the chancellor and over 200 guests dined on tuna tartar with rooi crisps, pickled carrots and mustard oil. shaved ham and ginger snaps and petite fell lay with mary land ravioli and topping off it with desert, apple strewedle. deafening silence for democrats in defense of anthony wiener. the congressman fighting for survival after admitting he

sexted with six women, none being his wife. >> senator harry reid virtually turned his back on him. >>colo it is up to congressman wiener to make that decision. i don't condone his activity. >> you didn't say whether you thought congressman wiener should design? >> i am not here to defend wean are. >> what do you think he should do? >> that's all i would say. >> what advice would you give him if he asked you? >> call somebody else. >> wiener says he is here to stay. we caught up with him yesterday at the front door of his apartment. >> he is entitled to his viewpoint. >> careful. >> i am not resigning, no. >> how did you feel when you woke up this morning? >> thanks, guys. appreciate your patience. >> how did you feel when you woke up this morning?

>> some democrats are now even giving campaign contributions to charity, ones they have got from congressman wiener. mexican drug trafficers have monster narco tanks in their drug war. facebook, a new facial recognition program you could call it that they have sort of been testing. a little bit of concern over privacy when it comes to this. now, they are saying people can opt out but it is here to stay. >> you can always opt out but i never know how to use those settings very well. meanwhile, why are we the no-vacation nation. why do we leave all the vacation days left unused? i will tell you why.

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jooerk. in less than two hours, joran van der sloot is expected to be in a court in peru. today, his lawyers will try to convince a judge to commit a lessor sentence, claiming it was a crime of passion, not premedicated. he is the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of alabama teen, natalee holloway in aruba. police and texas rangers rush to a home in texas yesterday after a tip of a mass grave with children buried inside. it turns out it didn't exist. the investigation is turning to the tipster. authorities saying it was from a woman claim tok a psychic. police in miami beach responding to a witness who they say smashed his cell phone after he taped them opening fire. here is a look.

>> again, that was a cell phone video recorded of the incident which happened over memorial day weekend. it was taken from a roof showing police firing shots at a suspect, ended up killing the man. one witness who was taping from the street claims that cops pointed a gun at him, cuffed him, crushed his phone and demanded the video. police have now released a picture that they say is the phone in question. they say it was slightly damaged but that it still worked. >> in the casey anthony murder trial, a dog turned out to be critical to the prosecution's case, specifically a german shepherd named gare ras. a trained cadaver dog that smelled human remains in the young mother's car and in the backyard and alerted. the dog's handlers took the stand and recalled the day when he and his four-legged partner were checking out casey's car. >> he turned down the rear of the trunk. the trunk was open. gares jumped up into the trunk.

>> his whole body? >> no, front end, front end, stuck his head in there and of course i was overwhelmed at that point, because, same thing. i am hitting it the same time he is. i move around, continued to walk. garas comes out of the trunk with his front paws, comes out of his trunk to the right rear passenger taillight bumper area and gives me a final trained alert. he goes into a down position. >> she is facing the death penalty for allegedly killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee, back in 2008. mexican drug cartels now have tanks, mexican soldiers finding two of them in a warehouse. they described them as having inch thick armor, capable of stopping a 50-caliber machine bullet. only anti-tank weapons could penetrate them. they are concerned they could hold 20 gunmen that can still fire through sniper holds.

changes on facebook. why the social networking site is going to automatically scan the faces of the people in the pictures that you post and what they are going to do with those? >> why are we the no-vacation nation? it seems the rest of the world knows how to relax where as the u.s. only knows how to stress. we will talk more about that with our travel expert coming up. 18 minutes past the hour. host: what, do you live under a rock? man: no way! man: hey rick check this out! anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save 15% or more on car insurance.

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21 minutes after the hour. minding your business, the fed chairman, ben bernanke acknowledged the recovery lost some momentum. this he said yesterday during a speech. twice he said the job market is far from normal. he said the economy should improve later this year. right now, the dow, nasdaq and

s&p 500 foote yours are down ahead of the opening bell. the markets dropped yesterday after those comments. facebook rolling out its new facial recognition technology. the feature scans every picture and suggests to you the names of people who appear in these images. the privacy concerns among some users, because this new technology is turned on by default. you can opt out by going to your privacy settings page. >> general motors, ceo dan acorson is calling for a $1 gas tax hike. in an interview, he argued that the hike could be a way to encourage people to buy more fuel efficient cars. if the tax hike replaced tight fuel economy standards, it might help the auto industry. cnn is listening to our take of the polls of the people. right now, a lot of pain in the economy, especially gas prices. a problem for small companies and small business. we are going to show you how some of them are outsmarting high gas prices to survive. "american morning" is back right after the break. i will send this to shelley. yeah.

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>> 26 minutes past the hour. a steamy central park. it is going to get hot. 76 now, going up to 96. that heat wave is staying in place. >> whether it starts to get warm, it reminds you of vacation season, right? apparently, americans are all work and no play. 57% of u.s. workers use all of their vacation days.

do you use all of yours? >> oh, no. >> i use every last one of mine. >> in france, the percentage of workers that use all of their vacation days, nearly 90%. very similar in other places in europe and latin-american. other places on the globe. why do americans take so few vacation days. joining us is mark orwalled. we take some vacations or you wouldn't be in business. >> it is pretty pitiful to begin with. most people who get vacation only get two or three weeks. compare that with around the world. >> six weeks in germany. >> plus federal holidays. the fact we don't get that many and don't use them all is a sad state of affairs. >> this is a country built by immigrants who worked very, very hard. we have a very strong work ethic. we love our job. we define ourselves by jobs. people like me giving advice, you need to be an office

warrior. there are a lot of people that it is not a great job market. is that one of the reasons? >> did our parents say, take it easy. no, they said, work hard. with he don't have the same kind of job security that they do in other parts of the worl. a lot of us are concerned if we are away from the office too much, our job might be at risk. vacations are expensive and especially in the last few years. people may say, i can't afford to take a vacation. the managers in most of our corporations, they encourage people to come in early, to work late. we have heard bosses sometimes say, you need a vacation. technically, a well-rested, less stressed out employee who has been able to unplug is probably more productive or more pleasant to be around. >> a forward-looking company is going to say the benefits arpt just for the employee but the company itself. we have all worked with people who have been experiencing

burnout or we have experienced it ourselves. they are distracted, irritable, not productive colleagues. there are health benefits. literally, you get on vacation, an extra hour of sleep but more important, you get an additional three hours of that productive, restorative sleep that really rejuvenates you. that wears off after a while. you will have to take another vacation. there is research called vigilance test where they test people before and after vacation. it shows mental accuity and sharpness increases by as much as 25%. you are a better worker, healthier, sharper, you have built up the bonds with your family, the social support that you need to get through tough times at work. >> you convinced us. >> so you are a beach guy. >> yeah, i am. >> it is going to be more expensive to fly there. hotel prices, you have to hunt for them. what do you recommend for americans domestically if they want a little vacation? >> we have all heard about the

staycation idea where you make a vacation at home. that's okay but i really encourage you, as much as you can, get out there, use those vacation days. nobody ever said at the end of their lives, i wish i had spent more time at the office. you want to build up that bond with your family, spend the time with them. you are going to build up your health. you are going to be a better worker. >> are there deals to be had right now? >> there are deals but you have to scrounge for them. look on airfare watch dot come, travel and leisure where i work, they have deals posted on there. you have to do your research. >> you have to get in the car, drive to the beach, drive to the lake, just get out for a day or two. >> you don't have to go far to find a great vacation destination. it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg and you are never going to regret the time that you spent with your family away from the office. leave the blackberry at home. >> she has three little ones and i have two little ones so maybe you are not speaking to us. we need a vacation from our vacation. >> a vacation for us is a lot of

work. >> i have been there, done that. top stories, rebel fighters have taken control of a key city in yemen. more than 400 tribal gunmen taking over the town of taiz. he is is still in saudi arabia recovering from an attack on his compound last week. the president met with hamid karzai and he met with his team to discuss the war and the situation in pakistan. they are working on a timetable to begin pulling troops out of the region. the aircraft carrier that buried osama bin laden at sea is back in the u.s. the the "uss carl vinson" arrived yesterd yesterday. osama bin laden's body was

placed on a board and tipped into the sea. thousands of small businesses in america are facing a financial crisis because of the high gas prices. >> a local flower shop owner in new jersey found a clever way to outsmart a tough economy. >> thank you, thank you. nice to meet you. >> reporter: it is busy season for family run clover garden florist. they have been in business four years. paula is making every effort to keep prices in check. it is not easy. high gas prices have led her flower suppliers to increase costs. >> they have put the freight up from $8, $10 to $13, $15. >> reporter: on top of that, paula pays $80 every time she fills up the gas tank, money that builds up. >> reporter: gas prices, they hit you coming in and when you are trying to go out too. >> yes, yes. it is a little difficult, because people don't understand

that it is aftfecting all of us. >> reporter: one solution. team up with the competition. paula is part of a flower pool. she links up with 12 other florists in a central location. they swap orders taking on deliveries closest to their neighborhoods, helping their profit margins by saving on gas. >> we are seeing a lot more flower shops going out of business. they can't compete, can't afford to pay the gas prices and put up with what they have to put up with to get their product delivered. >> reporter: without this pool pooling together resources with other nurseries and floral delivery places, would you have to raise your prices, do you think? >> if i was not on the pool system, then, yes, i probably would have to raise our prices. >> we got everything done? let's get out of here. >> let's go. >> see you, bud. >> see you, bud. >> reporter: by collaborating, these small business competitors deliver the goods. >> that pool covers a 25-square mile area.

one florist told us his business has to think twice about delivering to areas that around covered by the pool. it shows you how small business owners across the country take these uncertainties in the economy and have to figure out ways to outsmart it. they can't wait for washington or opec to help lower oil prices. they can't wait for all of these. they can't wait for somebody else to do it for them. that's what's so excited. >> they have an improved business model when things get better, because they are saving on gas, pooling their resources. so maybe they have something figured out. >> they don't want it -- paula does not want to raise prices for her customers. when you this i about flowers, that's a luxury item, not necessarily a necessity. she doesn't want to pass on her higher prices. she has to find ways to squeeze it out elsewhere. what could turn the economy around? it is our question of the day. there are some responses that are pretty interesting. >> peter b says, stop the drive to cut the government spending. it was attempted in the mid 1930s and worsened the great

depression. does anyone in congress ever read a history book. >> a lot of clever and thoughtful responses on the blog and facebook and twitter. if you can google it, cut it, that's part of tim pawlenty's fix. if you can find a service on the internet, it is offered by private sector firms and the government doesn't need to be doing it. >> among the services he cut, he said amtrak, the u.s. postal service, fannie mae, freddie

mac, as well as the government printing office. >> be sure to join cnn next monday night. seven candidates will debate, monday night, 8:00 p.m., live from new hampshire only on cnn. we will start bright and early monday morning with announcements and a lead-up to that. you will be surprised how many college kids are not prepared for the real world. we are going to talk about problems and solutions with steven perry in perry's principles coming up. 36 minutes past the hour. we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. ♪

somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. took some wild risks when i was young. but i was still taking a risk with my cholesterol.

anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more, and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol, stop. along with diet, lipitor has been shown to lower bad cholesterol 39 to 60 percent. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. lets go... haha. if you have high cholesterol, you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don't kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about lipitor.

♪ denver has to be the place to be today. right now, it is fair and 58 degrees. later, mostly sunny and 79. the eastern half of the country is dealing with a heat wave. it is beautiful today in the mile high city. reports suggest that nearly one-third of high school students that are entering college need recommend medial help to take their education to

the next level. joining us from hartford, connecticut, steve perry, founder of the capital preparatory magnet school in hart for. we are not talking about any of your kids. good morning. i don't find it that odd. sometimes for certain kids, you are doing what you have to do to make it through the subjects that you are not that strong in. you head to college and your not really prepared. >> the problem, kiran, here is that these students were given the promise when they were given a diploma that said they were, in fact, prepared fort next level for whatever the rights and privileges are that come with receiving a high school diploma. it is a pretty big problem, a multi-billion dollar program. children and families are having to pay more money to send their child to college than they should have to. that's not cool. >> what is the solution here? in some ways is recommend medial

a dirty word. do you need to brush up on mat, ree math, reading and some of the basics. >> you shouldn't have to. a 12th grade education should prepare you for the next level, college. you can play a role in preparing your child in the basics. as early as possible, get them involved in reading anything. get them reading. one of the things that we as americans don't do very often is focus on math. get in there. get your children exposed to math. one of my favorite websites is the kahnacademy. it is free. you can get up there and use it. children can learn whatever you can't teach them but does need to happen. finally, we need you to help your child work on study skills. by getting the child focused on how to study, it prepares them for college. the dirty secret is not that the high schools are failing us about you that our elementary schools are failing us. children start off in elementary

schools in america in the top half in terms of industrialized nations in terms of performance. by the time they reach high school, they have fallen down to the bottom quarter. that's not because of the children getting less intelligent or the parents are becoming worse parents. it is because our school systems are not meeting the specific needs of our children. as a result, we as a country are suffering. >> if he are one of these kids and you are not sure as you are leaving high school and headed into college, you have a lot to worry about already. math was not my strong suit. i remember trying to take it, get that credit out of the way and take it at a community college before heading into college so i would be able to focus on that one thing. that costs money and that costs time. >> it does. that's a great strategy, by the way. one of the things you can do as a student going on to college. if you think there us a course or a set of courses that you want to bone up on, you can go to your local community college. they are not free. the truth remains that we as the public, we as educators, all

agree that the expectations put upon us as educators to prepare children for college, when we go to elite public schools in urban or other areas that are college preparatory schools, that's their sole focus. they are designed to make sure children are prepared for college. they make them do two sports. they understand the colleges are looking forward to that. what they do is have a college preparatory curriculum. they are designed to do that. these big high schools we see in most neighborhoods are failing our country. we must put our children in schools that are designed to produce a positive result. in this case, preparation for college. >> the other question too is, how early on should children be focusing on what they may want to do? >> as opposed to just saying, i'm just going to figure it out. i don't know really what i want to be. i don't really know where my strengths are. i will find that out in college. >> i believe that the purpose of a college education is to

develop mind, body, and spirit. majoring in something, double majoring in something, very often should be driven by what you love. i have a friend who is a back surgeon. he was a theater major at an elite liberal arts school. you decide to study what you love. you will do well in it because you love it. then, you will decide what your career is going to be based upon your options. the higher your gpa, the more likely you will be able to get into the graduate school you want to go to or in terms of getting a job. >> are we sugar-coating it for the kids? >> where the jobs are as we have said 1 million times is science, technology, engineering and math. a theater major that becomes a engineer is probably an anomaly. >> we know for a fact as a result of what we study, we can improve our probability of getting into a better graduate school or getting a better job. if you want to enter into a specialized field, you need to

study that. many think that in order to go to medical school, they need to do premed. that's not the case. there are certain specific courses that medical schools want. there are certain specific courses that law schools want and on and on and on. if i were to go through cnn and ask people what they majored in, there are quite a few people who didn't major in media. >> that is probably trues awell. >> steve perry, founder of capital prep magnet school. good to talk to you as always. >> my pleasure. >> 45 minutes past the hour. we will be right back.

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46 minutes after the hour. more than 5,000 people have been evacuated in 500 square miles of eastern arizona scorched by an enormous wild fire. right now, the flames are headed toward two mountain towns near new mexico. the eastern half of america on alert for a heat wave today. temperatures are expected to shatter records. soaring 20 degrees above normal in delaware, new jersey, and pennsylvania. it is expected to hit 96 degrees in philadelphia and they could hit the century mark there on thursday. the markets open in 45 minutes from now. right now, it looks like the markets may continue their losing streak.

the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are lower. some democrats are giving campaign contributions to charity. those were contributions they received from congressman wiener. you are caught up on the day's headlines. american morning back after this break.

beautiful day if you like it hot. right now, it is sunny and 76. a bit later, a high of 92 degrees in atlanta.

>> rob marciano tracking the extreme weather from piedmont park. you are going to have temperatures 20 degrees above normal today? >> we are hotter than you guys. >> reporter: the sheeps and the goats have just hijacked my life shot. what happens when it gets hot, it puts a lot of stress on your lawn. you get a lot of wheat and these little var mitts do a great job of weed control. weed control with a cute face. it is all green. they will even leave a little bit of green behind. pete, the border collie, is keeping them in control here in piedmont park. >> so that's organic weed control, is that what you said? >> with a cute face. >> they are just walking around the park? >> reporter: these guys were doing a live shot with a local affiliate on the other side of the park.

they happened to be walking through. so we whistled them over. here they are taking care of business on this end of piedmont park. you think central park has all the nutty, coo-coo people here. there is more weeds to go around. later on, we north the only city that's enduring this. cities as far north as up to the canadian border scene, record temperatures. minneapolis saw temps over 100 degrees. that does not include humidity. dodge city, rochester, sioux city seeing similar numbers as well. what can we expect going forward? a lot of more heat heading off to the east. places like detroit, philadelphia, d.c., new york city, heat advisories or heat warnings in effect meaning that

with the humidity in the heat of the day, it is going to feel more like 100, 105 degrees. it is the first real heat wave of the summer. your body is not quite used to it just yet. here is what we expect. there is a cool front that's going to flirt with the upper great lakes and chicago and new york at some point. the cold front is not getting down here. i know that upsets you. me too. temps here across the southeast are going to stay in the mid to upper 90s. stay hydrated. eat your roughage. you want to eat wider, a little grass and some weeds. live from piedmont park with the goats and sheep and they are in all their wisdom walking away from me. back at you, guys. all right. >> they are so cute. >> reporter: that wraps up our live broadcast for "american morning." >> what a way to end it. it has gone to the sheep. >> dogs and kids they say steel your live shot. sheep, goats. >> how about gators? >> you are used to gators in

florida. i don't know if you are so used to bears. one family found a bear in their hot tub. a bear that the fish and wildlife officials have been trying to trap and move back to better places. she brought her cubs looking for food. neighbors are complaining that these bears are messing with the dogs and now hogging the jacuzzi. you would think with all the bear fur and everything, we need it. . >> the party is over for tourists who may be banned for buying pot in amsterdam's famous weed cafes. the dutch government says this move is necessary because drug tourists are causing too much of a nuisance. critics of the ban say this is tourism suicide. the mayor of amsterdam is vowing to fight the measure. the dutch government is getting tired of foreigners that don't know how to behave properly. building up american, bowling pin company trying to bring offshore jobs back home even if it means paying higher

wages. tom foreman will give us a look. 53 minutes past the hour. we're going to head on into the interview. evan, sandy . . . evan .. what pushed you toward the explorer? it was less expensive. better technology inside. there was stuff that we have in our car that i didn't even know existed. how does your music gear fit in there? it fits perfectly. i mean, i got a keyboard, acoustic guitar, merchandise, cds to sell and it all just fits like a nice game of tetras. what would you say to a friend who's skeptical about buying a ford. do you want to borrow my keys. ♪

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people are bidding for a private lunch with billionaire investor warren buffet. so far, the bidding has reached over $2 million. buffet says the first financial tip he will give the winner is, try not to spend $2 million on lunch. >> i bet he is right. >> it goes to show you how valued his wisdom is. has anyone gotten a job? >> if you get $2.5 million to spend for lunch at warren buffet, you probably don't need a job. maybe you want him to look into your company as an investor. >> maybe you want a job for your son. >> speaking of an old-fashioned sentimental thing, bowling. we have all been bowling. you ever wonder where those pins come from? >> me either. thanks to one company in kentucky, they are being made in the usa again. tom foreman joins us today with his building up america report.

>> reporter: there are 7,000 places you can bowl in america. they buy almost a quarter million sets of bowling wins each year. so in hopkinsville, one company is betting big on bringing bowling pin manufacturing back to the states at ebb bonn night, the ceo is randy shikert. >> it always happens the other way around. we really felt with moving the product here, we would have much better control over our manufacturing, our quality and our cost structure. >> reporter: when ebonite bought this factory, it was in mexico ploying 27 people. the labor was cheaper. company officials believe they can move the equipment here and apply the labor saving techniques and a dozen american workers could produce just as much. >> we pay them more but our actual dollars of labor per pin is less here in hopkinsville.

>> the wood for these bowling pins comes primarily from pennsylvania and ohio. the move cut shipping expenses and by bringing the factory under closer supervision, they have also improved their ability to make sure each pin is precisely like the next one. that's critical. >> you can't have different reacting pins on different lanes in the same bowling center. that brings in inconsistency in the score ability of the pins. >> reporter: ebonite which has long been a giant in the manufacture of bowling balls, expects to may 150,000 american-made pins in the new factory's first year. they are aiming for five, six times as many down the line. tom foreman, cnn. >> there you go. >> i am a terrible bowler, terrible, terrible, terrible. i bowl really well when you put the kiddy things in