and make sure you don't miss the debut of ali's new show on monday morning, "wake-up call" with ali velshi. all you have to do is set your alarm for 5:00 a.m. that's right. 5:00 a.m. monday morning. i'll be watching. and he'll be watching for you. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello. i'm fredricka whitfield. topping our news this news hour, first to the flooding in minot, north dakota. the souris river is cresting. it may be another week or so before a lot of people could actually get back into their homes. cnn's jim spellman is standing on the edge of the once flooded out neighborhood. jim, it still looks like it's very much flooded out. how are things? >> reporter: yeah, indeed, it's crested. people are happy it's not going to come up any higher. but believe me, it's done plenty

of damage. just take a look around here. it goes on for blocks and block. we're right at the edge, so these houses only have water up to about their first floor line. even just a few houses down the block, it's higher and higher. it just goes on and on for blocks and blocks. fredricka, this is what you need to get around this neighborhood right now is a boat. it's really the only way to get around. we just went out for a little trip on this boat a few blocks away. some neighbors are here saying can you check on my house and giving us their address. we make it down there and have to bring them back bad news. everyone somehow hopes theirs is the one house that somehow made it. but it just goes on and on with this devastation. it's really heartbreaking for these people who are coming back here to try to get peace. fre fredric fredricka. >> where are the majority of people staying since so many folks can't be in their homes right now? >> this is a really close-knit neighborhood. people say that all the time

about their communities. there's 12,000 people evacuated and less than 300 people at the shelter here. everyone's been taken in by neighbors, family members, wherever they can find a place. people have been so welcoming. just in this neighborhood people are coming up here and they're staying with a friend a block or two away. they know if things were a little different it could be them that needs help. you see the best of people so often in these kind of disasters. so they're making due. fred? >> you mentioned fema is already very much present there, the national guard has made its presence known, even the red cross. in what ways are a lot of these agencies able to come to the aid of people? >> reporter: well, the most important thing short term is making sure everybody's fed, has water and shelter. fortunately, like i said, most people have just been absorbed with their friends and neighbors. the next real step is going to be what's going to happen to all these houses. most people here don't have flood insurance. they were told they're not on a floodplain. this is what they call a 500-year flood. which sounds impressive.

if you're living in one of those years, every 500 years, it's bad. fema's here. they've been approved to give direct assistance to people. that's a long way off before they start receding. it's going to be at least a week before the water is down below the historic flood level and months before the city is really bouncing back. >> jim spellman, appreciate that. across the southern u.s. now, quite the opposite. it's hot and dry and wildfires are burning. in arizona, the monument fire is about 75% contained. it has been burning for two weeks now. north dakota's governor has declared a state of emergency in 29 counties there. wildfires there have burned more than 70,000 acres. then on the alabama, a fire burning in gulf state park is nearly contained. as a precaution, the governor has banned outdoor burning everywhere in the state until further notice. alexandra steele, meteorologist, is right now in the weather center. extreme. oh, my good ness.

can't get any further apart. >> the untri has been so divided weatherwise really for about a year and a half now. northern tier of the country has incredible rain and snow pack. that's how we got to this flooding scenario. of course, what we saw, last spring's rain, this spring's rain, of course, also, the record snow we had through the winter as well. southern tier of the country parched and dry. temperatures even know about 10 to 15 degrees above average and they're in a drought situation. so the dichotomy in the country is really quite vast. all right. back to north dakota and the flooding. i just got word that the last four straight hours we've taken readings of the water, and it has slowly, the numbers, albeit 1/100 of an inch, we've seen those numbers begin to fall. it did reach 1,561.72 feet. four feet above the record. it was two feet below their earlier projections. weeks before, though, it will be

weeks until we really see this begin to recede. even as we head into the july fourth holiday it's really going to be quite a long time until that muddy debris kind of lowers and you see what's left. unfortunately, really no rest for the weary. more rain coming in. we're going to see the rain today and tonight. tomorrow minot begins to dry out with sunshine. take a look at the radar. heaviest rain to the east and south. as we put this into motion and show you the forecast for the rain, this timestamped until tomorrow. then tuesday at 4:00 in the afternoon, minot. one big look at the big picture for today. of course, here's where the storms will be. biggest storms isolated tornado, perhaps, but wind. especially tomorrow and tuesday. we'll talk about the severe potential. it is steamy across the south. there again, fred, lies that dichotomy in the country weatherwise we have seen and continue to see. >> thanks so much. appreciate that. now to the federal budget.

drama unfolding in washington. president obama and vice president biden meet separately tomorrow with senate leaders from both parties. their goal to get negotiations on the debt ceiling back on track. the u.s. treasury department says congress has until august 2nd to raid the ceiling or the u.s. will start defaulting on its loans. bipartisan talks to address the growing deficit broke down last week after republicans refused to consider tax hikes. as u.s. congress debates ways to reduce the deficit, many members are giving their staff bonuses. the checks are as high as $17,000. cnn's lisa day jar dan discovers the payments after taking a hard look at congressional expense reports. >> reporter: remember the government shutdown debate? >> let them shut the government down. shut it down! >> reporter: behind all that drama, the news conferences, the

federal workers scare, was a battle over spending cuts. >> washington needs to cut spending. >> that's congressman steve austria. he called for spending cuts, and as he and others debated a government shutdown, cnn has discovered both of them and dozen of other house members reported giving bonuses to their staff. our three-week long analysis of the latest house expense reports shows up to 6$6.1 million in house staff bonuses. >> $6 million in the big scheme of things isn't a lot of money. at the same token these are congressional staff, they're going to need bonuses. while a lot of the constituents of the lawmakers are looking for jobs much less not getting bonuses. >> reporter: those bonuses were not easy to find. inside this house expense report we found items called other compensation. a broad term that could be a bonus or not. so we contacted over 115 offices to ask. then we weeded out anything that

looked like vacation or sick pay. the result? up to $6.1 million in bonuses reported between january and march. $908,000 by republicans. $3.1 million by democrats. the rest from committees. >> congressional staffers earn significantly less than their peers in the private sector. >> in a statement, my staff worked extremely hard including all nighters and weekends. i rewarded them with an end of the year bonus. these bonuses come at a time when budget cuts involve debate. dennis ross of florida actually held a hearing on it. >> our taxpayers can no long be asked to foot the bill for these federal employees while watching their own salaries remain flat and their benefits erode. >> reporter: that same month congressman ross gave his staff a documented $8,750 that looks

like bonuses. his staff did not return our request for a clarification. those bonuses came even from the budget focused tea party caucus and also from some in the liberal progressive kcaucus. >> thanks so much. thousands of people turned out in birmingham last night to protest alabama's new immigration law. organizers said they were pleased by the size and diversity of the crowd. the alabama statute is considered the stutoughest immigration law in the country. >> we believe there should be a national uniform immigration reform. >> the laws that they're trying to pass in alabama are just not right. we need to show solidarity with our brothers. we shouldn't be splitting up families. it's just not the right law.

it's setting alabama back, not forward. >> critics say the law could criminalize basic activities such as providing food, transportation or housing assistance to the needy if they are in the country illegally. authorities now say at least six people died when an 18-wheeler smashed into an amtrak train in nevada. that number could rise again. some people listed as passengers still have not been located. listen to people from the train try to get fellow passengers to safety. >> she's out there. she's out there. tell her to hang and -- there's somebody over there. >> amtrak california was on its way to chicago from the san francisco area friday when it was hit by a tractor trailer at a crossing near reno. another complaint about those tsa airport patdowns. this one comes from a florida woman who is angry over how her elderly mother was treated at

the airport serving for walton beach and destin, florida. the woman says her 95-year-old mother who was in a wheelchair was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a full patdown search. jean webber says her mother was detained for 45 minutes. the pair was on their way to michigan so webber's mother could be with family during the final stages of her battle with leukemia. we received a statement from tsa. it reads, quote, while every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, tsa works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and senttisen sensitive manner. we have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined our officers acted professionally and according to to proper procedure. the woman's daughter, jean webber, will join us 5:30's trn time to talk about what happened at the airport and why she is carrying on with her complaint to homeland security.

new york city held its gay pride parade today. and there was something extra to celebrate. we'll take you there. also ahead, we brought in an expert to get you up to speed on the new internet dos and don'ts. you need to know these because don'ts could cost you a job. right now, go to priceline for a sneak peek at recent winning and better than ever! hotel bids to find where you n save up to 60% on hotels. * we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline.

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two days after new york's democratic governor andrew cuomo signed a law allowing same-sex marriage -- >> i stand by the proposition that marriage is between a man and woman. i think what we know we have all the various laws in the various states. there'll a conflict if someone from new york moves to a state where marriage is between a man and woman. will this marriage be recognized? ultimately it will go to the courts. >> i am not a fan of same-sex marriage. it is not something i support. i believe marriage should be between one man and one woman. that's my view. i wouldn't sign a bill like the one that was in new york. >> under the new law gays and lesbians will be able to get married in nye thew york state starting july 24th. the passage of the new law last week added to the

enthusiasm at today's annual gay pride parade in new york city. david, have you seen a lot of people dressed as -- dressed getting ready for what could be a big ceremony? >> reporter: that seems to be the driving theme here, fred. lots of costumes. lots of flamboyant behavior here. but people need to be reminded from what some analysts describe to us, this is not only just a parade here. this comes on the heels of what is very ironic in terms of what happened friday. that was the passage of this same-sex bill in terms of providing legislation. we spoke to individuals that talked about more in terms of the civil rights context. >> the point of civil rights laws is to protect everybody. but the people who look like us and who we relate to and the people who don't.

and the point of a parade that celebrates gay pride is to make room for all people who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. >> reporter: we're getting quite a bit of revelry here in terms of what we see on the streets here. there was some opposition as well. religious leaders and others have provided argument that this might, indeed, cause unintended consequences. arch bishop timothy dolan addressed an audience just this morning. >> i was sad. i'm just sad because i think it's not good for the -- it's not good for the monogocommon g. that's what we've been arguing. i think it's a society of cultures at its peril. if we presume to tamper with what has been settled and given and taught us and cherished throughout the history of

civilization. >> reporter: what's important to keep in mind here is that new york is the most -- take in effect in about 30 days. that actually, in fact, doubles the amount of americans who are said to be living under same-sex laws. fred? >> thanks so much from new york. appreciate that. all right. june is gay pride month. and there were other pride celebrations this weekend. take a look. so this is what it looked like at a street fair in san francisco's civil plaza yesterday. today's events included san francisco's 41st annual parade. another parade in st. petersburg, florida. said to be the largest gay pride celebration in florida. anything you write or post online just might be used against you. especially if it pertains to a

job search. we brought in an expert to get you in the know on new internet dos and don'ts. and if you are already in the job market as many people are, here's a question for you. which of these four traits can help turn a temporary job into a permanent one? rework your resume to be detailed oriented? get to know every area at your job? be specific about what you want to be paid? overqualified? talk about it with your boss. after a break, we'll tell you which three out of the four tips actually work. the motorola expert from sprint. its powerful tools help you work faster and smarter so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it lets you access business forms on the go, fire off e-mails with the qwerty keypad, and work securely around the world so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it's the android-powered phone that mixes business with pleasure. so let's get our work done, america, so we can all get back to playing "angry birds." the motorola expert from sprint. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com.

before the break we asked which one of these four traits can help turn a temporary job into a permanent one. take a look again. here are the correct answers. rework your resume to be detail oriented. be specific about what you want to be paid. and, lastly, overqualified? if it's a problem, talk about it with your boss. so if you are looking for a job or you're worried about keeping wro your job and you have some questionable postings on social media, you need to listen up. according to fortune.com the federal trade commission is now allowing a background check company to screen job applicants based oen their behr ninternet postings. not only does it monitor online activities but reportedly saving these records for up to seven years.

be careful what you post. let's review the social media dos and don'ts. all right. you don't want to post embarrassing photos. don't post offensive comments and don't trash previous employers or co-work rs. in today's reclaim your career, we thought we should look at the dos and how they might be able to help you. valori burton is author of "where will you go from here?" joining us from d.c. today on your national book tour, out with yet another book. i've lost count of how many you have. you're amazing. >> this is number six. i'm excited. >> oh, just so coy. just six. one of the things you can do because everyone is on social media, everyone is on facebook or twitter and they may be looking for a job, but they don't want to put something on there that may eventually come back to haunt them. what's allowed? >> well, you know what, you can

follow a very simple rule of thumb. if you wouldn't want to see it broadcast on cnn tomorrow, don't post-it. that's really, really easy. there are a lot of people out there that have lost their jobs and somehow ended up on the news with something they thought was just going to their friends. that's the easy rule for what you shouldn't put on social immedia media. what shouldn't you put? a lot of people know what they shouldn't do. number one, use it as a pr tool. if you think about it, everybody today is a public figure. it's very different than it was even ten years ago. you need to manage your profile like a public figure. you want to think about what's the image i'm trying to project? what do the photos say about me? what does all the stuff i'm putting online say about my communication skills? that's really important and one of the biggest things your online profile shows to an employer or potential employer. >> and then you say stay abreast of industry trends. you actually want to talk about that while you're at these social sites, social networking sites? >> depending on what your goal is. if you're looking for a job or

you're looking to transition career or transition into a new job, you want to be able to show that you're on top of trends within your industry. that you have knowledge. so every once in a while if you see articles that are interesting, retweet those articles or put them on facebook or on linkedin. you don't have to do it with every post but you may do it every so often. >> then you say be intentional about who you let into your network. >> that's right. especially if you're networking specifically for your career, you don't want to let everybody in. first of all, you've got some really important contacts that are in there. if you don't know people you're letting into your network, you don't know what they're going to say or who they're going to try to reach out to that's in your network. be very protective. a lot of people don't like to have certain people within a network because they will tag photos that end up showing up. maybe you were doing something personal and didn't want it in your online profile. be willing to ask people to untag those or untag them yourself. if people continue to be disrespectful don't be shy about

unfriending people or not letting certain people into your network. >> this goes along with being selective about photos you're going to put on there. you say you really need to think about your social presence just like you do your credit report. >> that's right. when you think about this ruling, that they really can keep your social media profile for up to seven years even if you scrub your online presence and it looks good now, you want to make sure that that report, whatever that report looks like to an employer, is the best possible recommendatipresentati. it's about judgment. they're looking at what kind of a risk you are. are you a good risk or bad risk? if you're going to be online with social media you want to be sure your profile that shows up when employers are looking at you show you to be a good risk. >> valori burton, thanks so much. always making us smarter as we try to reclaim our careers. thank you. >> thanks, fredricka. their house is gone. their families, who knows where they might be. dogs and cats, hundred of them, are homeless after tornadoes tore through the town. well, lots of people are going

into new homes this weekend. we'll explain. restrained driver... sir, can you hear me? just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck.

nascar drivers joe low ghani a know and loeffler are used to answering questions. >> i've got a couple questions coming from viewers. and one is, what do the drivers today know of its heritage? >> i think a lot of them do. i think it's come up more recently since the hall of fame opened up and you pay more attention to it. it's easy to have television and

focus on exactly what you're doing. but it's, you know, i was a fan of the sport before i was a driver. you like to know the heritage and where it started and how it started and hear all the stories. it's really cool to see. >> jason? >> same here. i'm a fan of auto racing. so i like to think i know a lot about the history of all types of racing. especially nascar. so to come here to the hall of fame and check these cars out, it's pretty cool. every fan should come here and look at where it all began. >> it is a beautiful place. it's so inspiring, too. jason, you first. how do you condition yourself to drive that many laps, and how do you maintain and stay in the right lane when cars are turning? >> on the racetrack? >> yeah. >> you just react. but condition, i workout every day at home. i got a trainer.

work out hard. there's really no conditioning for racing other than driving, it's the best conditioning. but, you know, as far as staying in the lane, i don't know. i didn't know there was a proper lane. some guys you just got to watch out for. some guys you've got to expect the unexpected. >> maybe they mean not wiping out. staying on the track. what would be your thought on physical training? do you have a routine or do you try to maintain that same kind of stamina? >> same with jason here. you work out every time you're home. being in the car is the most important thing. you can't do that every day. there's no way it's possible. it costs so much money to go test with these cars these days. you have tires and flying your teams to a racetrack and spending a day there testing, renting the track out. it's not possible to be able to do that. that's why you do all this other

stuff to mentally prepare yourself and try to prepare yourself for as much as you possibly can for when you get to the racetrack. like i said, you can't drive a race car every single day. something i do a lot, i have a simulator. i feel like that's the closest thing i can do to do that. every once in a while you get the bug. i'll go to the go-cart track and mess around with my friends. you want to go racing and stuff like that. i think all that actually helps, i really think. >> face to face, jason leffler and joey low logano. in the next hour, they tell me the keys to their success. fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums

a look at our top stories right now. people in minot, north dakota, are hoping the floodwaters start dropping in just a few hours. the river that runs through the city is cresting at the highest level ever. between 3,000 and 4,000 homes have been flooded. steve nab who had to evacuate calls it disheartening. there was extra cause for celebration at new york city's annual gay pride parade today. the event came just two days after governor andrew cuomo signed a new law legalizing same-sex marriage in new york, effective july 24th. cuomo talked about the new law

during today's celebration. >> i believe new york has sent a message to this nation loud and clear. it is time for marriage equality all across this country. new york for many years -- new york for many, many years has served as the progressive beacon for this country. and passing marriage equality, i think, advances the entire discussion in term of social justice. and i was so proud and honored to be the governor of this state signing this law into effect. >> comedian margaret cho is an outspoken supporter of gay rights. face to face she told me her thoughts on the new york law. >> i think it's time. i think it's time that people realize -- people realize now, i think conservatives realize that

they cannot legislate morality. and they cannot continue to discriminate against a group of people in order to kind of fulfill their political agenda. that discrimination can no longer be part of your political agenda. i think this is what conservatives now are getting. and that's why things are changing. >> and do you suppose that with gay marriage, with same-sex marriage being allowed in new yorking with being the sixth state now, that this is going to be much more impassable than the previous five and the district of columbia's? >> i feel like new york is -- new york culturally, politically, it's really -- it's really something that affects the rest of the world. not just the rest of the country. >> more face to face with the star of "drop dead diva" on lifetime, actress, author,

margaret cho next month in the "newsroom." are you a saver or a spender? coming up in today's financial fix, find out why it's important to figure out which one you are.

all right. cnn has been shining a spotlight on modern day slavery this week. oscar winning actress mira sorvino is a u.s. goodwill ambassador fighting trafficking. she talks about her work now in

impact your world. >> a lot of what i've learned about human trafficking has been through direct conversations with victim. i've interviewed many, many victims in several different countries in different situations, different age ranges. almost all the victims i've spoken to have been women. most of them have been in sexual exploitation. some of it is so shocking it almost, like, ruins you for a few weeks. like, you can't actually escape the horrendousness of what people are telling you and the pain that they have lived through. i met a little girl at a shelter and she was showing me her homework. it was her addiction and subtraction. she was very proud. then they took me aside and said her father murdered her mother in front of her and then she dropped her off with some relatives in cancun and they sold her to a brothel at age 4. 4 to 7 she was working in a brothel doing things that she did not even know how to describe except that she knew they were incorrecto. incorrect. wrong. then somehow she was liberated and ended up in this shelter.

to think that there is a sex tourism demand for children of the age of 4 is one of the most stomach turning things that i could possibly imagine as a mother. if all of us rise up and all of us fight this, it will end. this is going to change. because it is morally intolerable. >> there are many ways to impact your world. go to cnn.com/impact and see the various organizations that will accept your donations. right now, go to priceline for a sneak peek at recent winning hotel bids to find where you can save up to 60% on hotels. * we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline.

some experts say your adult spending habits were probably shaped by your childhood. if your spending habits need to be fixed, you must first figure out if you are a spender or a saver. financial planner karen li explains in today's financial fix. >> on the one side we've got people who are the big spender. they are typically living way beyond their means. possibly drowning in debt. fred, we've got a whole other side of the spectrum there. people who are fearful that there'll never be enough money. either way it's a dysfunctional relationship with money. it can cause problems in relationships. if a spender is married to a saver, it can be very contentious. ask yourself the first question. most people can answer this. are you a spender or a saver. i'm a saver. >> everyone knows. >> how about you? >> i think i'm both. >> do you get help with wroyour

money or do you keep it private? the next question would be, what does money really mean to you? what does it do for you? the next time you're about to make a purchase, if you're a spender or you've got debt, ask yourself, how am i going to feel? why am i doing this? >> i guess what constitutes the spending? because what you have to spend on your day-to-day living, does that count? >> i call it luxury versus necessity. >> okay. >> wants versus needs. there are certain things that we must have. >> right. >> but do we always have to have the most expensive one of those? that's how you can sort of look at spending and is it realistic spending that needs to happen, or is it overspending. >> okay. then once you have that understanding about, you know, money or you're a spender or a saver, you know, how do you need to -- i guess, how do you begin that kind of reform? >> right. it's just the first step. you make a great point. it's not just going to transform you to understand.

deep-seeded thoughts and processes. like most great life challenges, if you're an overeater and trying to lose weight, maybe you drink too much and you're trying to stop drinking, it helps if you ask yourself why do i take that drink? why do i overeat? why do i resist exercise? so awareness is the first step. it's not going to solve it, but it is crucially important to your financial success and happiness. >> karen lee, and you can get your financial fix every saturday 2:00 p.m. eastern and then again on sundays at 4:00 p.m. right here on cnn. 't alwaye to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help lower a1c. glucerna products help me keep everything balanced. [ golf clubs clanking ] [ husband ] i'm good! well, almost everything. [ male announcer ] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars. helping people with diabetes find balance.

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the health of a south american president tops international headlines. venezuel venezuela's government denies reports had the hugo chavez is in critical condition. a spanish newspaper in the u.s. cites intelligence sources that chavez has prostate cancer. 35 people now reported dead from a suicide attack in eastern afghanistan. many of those killed are women and babies because a truck packed with explosives detonated near the maternity ward of a hospital.

the president of afghanistan spoke to cnn's fareed zakaria. he says the key to his country's success is money. lots of it. but it must be focused on projects that will help afghans in the long run. >> the money where it was invested -- the united states has been -- the united states has been -- but the united states has not invested in major infrastructure for us like dams and electricity that we can produce. we have an argument about that. afghanistan has made its point of view very, very clear. for example, a project in kandahar for the production of electricity where the u.s. government spent $250 million on providing generators, we disagree with. we felt this money could be spent better by building a dam in this region.

that will give a lasting sustainable economic environment to the people of the region. >> this week the president of the united states and france both announced troop numbers and timetables for their military withdrawals from afghanistan. that makes a refugee group working there even more worried about the fate of thousands of afghan people too afraid to go home. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr reports. >> reporter: so many afghan children still in terrible poverty. living conditions clearly show the despair. and as the u.s. military prepares to wind down its troop presence in afghanistan, these are the people left behind. during a recent tour of afghan camps housing a growing number of displaced persons, the advocacy group refugees international shot this video. >> this year in the first five months of 2011 we have more than

91,000 people fleeing their homes. this is in comparison for last year over the same time period where there were 42,000. so we're talking about double. >> reporter: refugees international says afghans continue to be driven out by coalition air strikes and special forces raids. general david petraeus has long said the military tries to be as careful as it can. but there are growing questions if often corrupt afghan security forces, including local police, are now driving afghans from their homes. >> we talked to displaced people who said the afghan local police which are supported by u.s. military through an afghan government program are extorting money from people, demanding taxes, using their power to abuse civilians. they've also been implicated in allegations of murder and torture as well in these communities. >> reporter: providing afghan security village by village has always been key to the u.s.

strategy for leaving afghanistan. >> we have been involved very closely with the afghans in this local sort of a neighborhood watch program, if you will. and much of the focus of our effort with the afghans has been involved in ensuring good human rights standards, anti-corruption standards, good identification, good connections to other security elements, you know, the more formal police structures and military structures. >> reporter: afghan government officials have often said they are already trying to improve their security forces. but refugees international says many of those critical local police units are now so corrupt that congress should stop funding them until strict recruiting and discipline standards are met. barbara starr, cnn, washington. the latest candidate to throw a hat into the ring for u.s. presidency. a lot of times, things are right underneath our feet,

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time for a cnn equals politics up at a time. we're keeping an eye on all the latest. congresswoman michele bachmann

will formally declare for presidential candidacy tomorrow in waterloo, iowa. she's kick off a three day swing through new hampshire and north carolina. while congress debates ways to reduce the deficit many lawmakers are giving bonuses to staff members. cnn discovered the bonuses during an analysis of congressional expense reports. those payments range from a few hundred dollars to up to $17,000 in bonus payments. and for the latest political news you know exactly where to go. cnnpolitics.com. controversy over a proposed new specialty license plate in texas bearing the confederate flag.

♪ 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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a few stories we're watching this hour. a proposed license plate is dividing communities in texas. the state is yet to approve this specialty plate design. it features the confederate flag. the texas sons of confederate veterans designed it. they say it honors texans who died in the civil war. there are many people who've expressed they are offended by the symbol. in joplin, missouri, it's a pet adoption drive like no other. about 600 cats and dogs were

left without homes and families when tornadoes ripped apart the joplin area last month. the humane society there says some people drove hundreds of miles to give these tornado pets a new home this weekend. all the animals were spade, neutered and/or microchipped for free. it's now three weeks since lauren speier disappeared. she's a 20-year-old indiana university student last seen leaving a bar in bloomington. yesterday was find lauren day with hundreds of volunteers fanning out in the area that she was last seen. so what had been planned as an extended weekend of testimony in the casey anthony murder trial ended before it even began saturday morning. after meeting with attorneys from both sides yesterday, the judge abruptly recessed the trial citing an unspecified legal issue. >> as both sides concur that a legal issue has arisen unrelated to the issue that we talked about first thing this morning

dealing with the doctor, that would necessitate us recessing for today. >> yesterday i talked with our legal guys. i asked them why they thought the judge, judge perry, decided to cancel saturday's session. >> that's is $64,000 question. my belief is there was certain evidence that the prosecution could have turned over. it goes to a material question of what the expert was about to say. and, therefore, because it's a legal issue, we'll never know until the case goes to an appeal which it will. the bottom line is i've heard wild ideas about incompetence on the part of counsel, a whole bunch of different reasons on why the judge stopped it today. the bottom line, fredricka, is that it probably had something to do with the failure to turn over some evidence in an effort to rectify. the case will proceed 8:30 a.m. monday. >> it also means