besides this one in brooklyn. >> the goal is very simple, to increase the sales by making our customers hungry. satisfied, happy. everybody will be happy. >> for the folks at net cost market, they have already seen results with sales up about 5% in the last three months, and that adds up to the sweet scent of success. >> good idea. i would go for the bacon. if your choice did not win or you want to check out the runners up, go to facebook.com/suzannecnn. randi kaye continues with "cnn newsroom." >> i would go for the bacon, too. too much water and too much drought, we begin this hour with the on going impact of irene. in new jersey, they are still doing round the clock rescues around the surging passaic river. hundreds in all picked up by

first responders in rafts. in vermont, you're looking at i-report photos with the ground washed out from under the tracks. floods wiped out almost three roads and bridges in vermont alone, isolating 13 communities. as of this morning, relief workers on four wheel drive vehicles made their way into four of them. from north carolina to maine nearly 1.8 million homes and businesses are still waiting for the power to come back. and that's down from more than $6 million on sunday. 43 deaths now blamed on the hurricane and tropical storm. one was a survivor of the holocaust. i want to get back to new jersey where they cannot think about recovery while they are still doing rescues and evacuations. chris knolls is in little falls, a name that no longer fits. the passaic river is at record

levels. any sign at all it's on its way down? >> reporter: this thing has not moved an inch for nine hours or so. it is swollen with record rainfall in august and then hit with another ten inches of rain from the hurricane, and all the tributaries and branches of other rivers. nine others in new jersey now way above record flood stage, and just rolling at this hour. it will take days for this thing to move at all. i think perhaps by friday morning we could begin to see some relief, and some recession of the passaic, and the other rivers in this portion of new jersey. and that can't come too soon for the people who have been here out of their homes and right now have their homes surrounded by water. on their way here to this site, we passed many streets blocked by police and emergency crews and the houses and businesses

and restaurants throwing away thousands of dollars of food every day, and still getting deliveries of food they can't use or have any thought of serving. and then there is the power outages. there is probably right now still almost a quarter of a million people without power in the state of new jersey alone. many more in connecticut and up in vermont. it's a situation that instead of shrinking seems to be getting bigger by the day. >> seems that way, chris. i want to ask you about the rescue efforts. are the rescue teams actively looking for people are waiting for distress calls to come in? how does it work? >> reporter: in patterson right now they are waiting for calls. they have the boats on standby, and the mayor and fire department say when they are receiving a call they're ready to go right there. when somebody calls, hate to say it, it's almost too late.

the waters rise so fast and so quickly, the reaction time has to be in seconds. >> is there still room in the shelters? where are they taking all these people? >> reporter: that's the other thing, randi. they are all stuck for the most part in schools. schools that are set to open for students next week. and some of them have already been flooded. there's a local high school here that we mentioned a little bit earlier, and they have instruments floating in the music room, and the cafeteria have several inches of water there. all the schools serving as shelters won't be opening on time next week. >> thank you and appreciate that update. from one extreme to the other, and they would pay a lot in texas these days where drought conditions range from extreme to exceptional. they are battling wildfires in

palo pinto county. and we'll speak to an ae evacuee coming up. and then the wildfires in oklahoma that we first told you about yesterday. the church in this picture and a dozen homes along with more than 600 acres were burned by the wind-driven fires. residents and several other homes were forced to evacuate. three firefighters were treated for minor injuries. the fires broke out early in the afternoon and officials say they were contained late last night. in the atlantic, tropical storm katia could become a hurricane today. it's about 1,000 miles west of the cape verde islands. the national hurricane center says katia is expected to become a major hurricane by sunday. forecasters say it's too early to know if it will pose a threat

to land. and another tropical disturbance making its way towards the gulf of mexico right now. jack y jacqui jeras is here to tell us about that. >> somebody definitely will get torrential downpours, but we're not sure who that will be just yet. we want to give aheads up, because so many people going towards the beaches, and this could impact so many people. this is the cluster we're talking about here. the big blob of thunderstorms and showers. now, this thing is going to be drifting up towards the north and moving into the gulf over the next two days. some of the computer models are developing the low out to the west, and others bringing a closure into the north right now. we have a blob in eastern florida, and it could be a huge moisture maker. look at the water temperatures. we're talking 90 degrees up here

near the coast. this is bathwater ripe for potential development to support something, so we could see a tropical storm, and most of the modals are developing that, but not consistent on where they are going. it could go towards texas and make a lot of people happy. we're talking six inches of rain easy over the next 48 hours. we'll keep an eye on that for you, of course. president obama saying the nation faces unprecedented economic challenges is requesting time to address his long-awaited jobs speech. in a letter to the speaker of the house and senate ma jority leader said he would like to do it in primetime. he will layout proposals that lawmakers could act on immediately to rebuild the economy. he said his plan could

strengthen small businesses and put more money in the paychecks of middle class and working americans and his plan would still reduce the deficit. the justice department suing to block at&t's deal to buy t mobile. the merger would increase costs. the deputy attorney said the merger would result in tens of millions of consumers facing higher prices and fewer choices and lower quality in products. at&t said the deal is needed to compete with verizon. a trio of wildfires is keeping firefighters in three states awfully business. and one town is forced to evacuate their homes again. we'll talk to one family next. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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three states now trying to get the upper hand on flames that are burning through thousands of acres. check out the marsh fire in louisiana. the situation is so bad that a state of emergency has been declared in new orleans. national guard helicopters are dropping water on the fire to get it under control. and now let's go to oklahoma city where this wildfire has burned more than a dozen homes and 600 acres in just a matter of hours. firefighters are blaming drought conditions and strong winds help helping spread the flames. and now to north texas where a massive fire is burning out of troll in palo pinto county. the fast-moving wildfire has yet to be contained.

125 homes have been evacuated. at least 20 homes so far have been lost. this is the second time this year that people living in palo pinto county texas are dealing with fires. several families lost their homes and almost the entire city had to evacuate. now people are frustrated and worried they may lose everything all over again. joining me now on the phone is sylvia and jerry overton who had to evacuate their home in possum kingdom lake. injur jerry, when did you have to leave your home? >> we had to leave the home probably about 4:00 or 5:00 yesterday afternoon when the fire got away from the firemen and was continuing on to the north setting houses on fire, and so the escape route we had at that time was the marina, and most of us went down to it and

got on our boats taking other people that did not have boats and evacuating over to the harbor inn, which is across the lake from us. >> how close was the fire? did you feel like you had enough warning? >> well, it went fast. when i heard about it, i was in graham, texas. i got a phone call saying there was a large fire on ranch 101, which was on the south side of 16, and so i came home dreblgtly and called my wife on the way and asked her what she was seeing, and she said there was a large amount of smoke and fire. that was about 2:00 in the afternoon. when i went down i got in touch with some of our people that run the brush fire -- the truck, and saw that it was moving pretty fast. i then went back to the house and alerted my wife who gathered up stuff and the dogs and told

her to be alerted to it, and then i went back with another friend and as we have done with the past fire in april, we then started looking to see what we could do to put out small fires. it just got away. we went back at that time and got the family and went to the marina, and went out in the water and stayed there, watching the smoke and fire consume houses and etc., and then went on over across the lake to the harbor in. >> you did have to evacuate then back in april? >> they had us to evacuate back in april. i, along with another man, stayed at the cliffs. it wasn't at that time directly you know in our line. it did get close-up to the edge of the cliff's resort area, but at that time, yes, everybody was evacuated except for two of us fellas. >> if you can hand the phone to

your wife i would like to ask her a question as well. >> sure, here she is. >> hello? >> sorry to hear you're going through this once again. do you have an idea of the condition of your home? >> our home, my husband just got back from it, and it's okay. it probably has smoke damage inside and the windows were pretty tight. we closed everything and turned off the electricity. there may be smoke damage but it's okay. when i left yesterday and left the house the smoke was black and thick and you had to drive through it. >> tell me about that. how scary of a moment was that for you? >> well, the first fires back in april was scary, but this was horrific. this time i really felt that we would lose everything. what i was concerned about was our lives and our friends' lives, and our pets. you don't think about what you

will take, but i just threw things in and i don't know what i have in the car right now. i just threw things in and grabbed the dogs and put them in. when i was driving through the smoke, it was so glblack, as i pulled out of the drive i couldn't see. but i made it through and was following my husband and made it through where we could get to the arena. >> any idea when you can return home and where will you stay until that? >> well, the guys were there this morning, but the electricity will be out for two or three weeks. so it will be at least that, with the heat as hot as it is down in texas, it will be two or three weeks before we can get back in our house and get everything going again. the utility company is wonderful and working great, and the harbor here offered us rooms if we would like, and friends called offering us their places. it's wonderful living here and it's a beautiful place, but it

really looks horrific right now. hopefully some rain will come and things will green up, who knows. >> let's hope so. i am sure it's difficult to see it burn. we certainly appreciate you taking the time at such a tough time for you to speak with us. and best of you can getting back into your home as soon as possible. coming up, we will check in with our own jim spellman that is making his way to the frontlines of that fire. banks are dropping fees. that in just two minutes.

welcome back. a bit of good news in today's your money. some of the largest banks giving hurricane irene victims a break. jp morgan chase and wells fargo are waiving fees for customers affected by irene, and some desperate for cash will be able to make withdrawals on certificates without a charge. you might want to check with your bank to see if they are doing something similar. and the department of justice filed a lawsuit to block a at&t's proposed acquisition of t mobile. and we have much more on this. what prompted this lawsuit today? >> >> basically this has to do with competition.

the department of justice wants to make sure competition stays in the marketplace. here is why, a combined at&t and t mobile would have more consumers. >> the department filed its lawsuit because we feel the combination of at&t and t mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the united states facing higher prices, fewer choices, and lower quality products for their mobile wireless services. >> so it's not just about price competition, though. the fcc says competition breeds innovation. basically it forces companies to stay on top of their game, and t mobile has been one of the greatest innovators out there,

and if it merged it may not be inv as innovating as in the past. >> does it mean it's dead? >> no, they could still work it and have a deal go through. in april this same thing happened with google when it wanted to buy an airline search company. the government opposed it, and today's news conference, the government said the door is open for at&t to propose remedies to the deal. ma bell said it would bring back call center jobs to the states. but the legal battle could drag on for years, and frankly it has been dragging on sometime as it is. >> thank you. high achieving college applicants are paying admission

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getting into college isn't easy with the plik process getting increasingly competitive, so to get an edge some students are paying for an admission consultant. is it worth it, and more importantly, is it fair? alison kosik gets answers. >> reporter: when he applied to college he had his heart set encoon cornell. hoping to stand out from a growing pool of top notch applicants, daniel and his family hired a college admissions consultant. >> i applied to ten or 11 colleges, and it took the stress off knowing i did not have to research on my own and figure it out. a professional was there to

guide me. >> the reality is a lot of his coapplicants and friends were all getting assistance in that regard, and to some extent you feel as if we're not doing that as well, he is potentially somewhat disadvantaged. >> the cornell university received over 36,000 applications to fill 6,500 slots for the incoming class. consultants say that's what they provide. >> it's like helping a student tease out what their brand is, just really conveying who they are as a personal, and the kind of talent and skills they will bring to the school. >> and the consultants give an unfair advantage. >> if they are spending an extra $2,000 or $3,000 on our

business, it seems like a good start. >> my advice would be to stick with schedules, and there's no much going on with your friends, and you really need time to focus. >> luckily for daniel, his focus paid off and he got into his dream school. >> all of a sudden i did hear a yell and he came to tell me, and it was a terrific moment. >> it was amazing. the best feeling. since returning to golf, tiger woods has not had the stellar performances. and woods talked about being picked to be put on the team for the president's cup in australia, and he says he just needs to keep playing. >> this is a matter of me

getting the reps in now. hitting thousands of balls, and obviously playing competitive rounds and building the confidence and eventually winning golf tournaments. >> woods next tournament is the frys.com. and the stanley cup trophy takes a tumble.

it's about half past the hour and here's a look at the headlines and other news you may have missed. the man that served as the top u.s. commander in iraq and afghanistan has stepped down to take the head position at the ceo. at a ceremony earlier today david petraeus ended his military career. william lynn sang petraeus' praises. >> it's rare to have what it takes to lead a war, and david petraeus has distinguished himself. in a letter sent to leaders

of the house and senate, president obama has requested a joint session of congress on september 7th for his long awaited jobs speech. the president says he intends to laying out a series on proposals to help strengthen the economy. he called on congress to act quickly to renew the transportation bill. >> if we allow the transportation bill to expire over 4,000 workers will be immediately furloughed without pay. if it's delayed for just ten days, it will lose nearly $1 billion in highway funding. that's money we can never get back. >> the current bill expires at the end of september. a maryland man held in connection with the disappearance of a american woman in aruba appeared in court again, and the judge is is that corrected to make a decision on

his release later today. the pararooir arrived in aruba together. after being hospitalized last week in critical condition, warren jeffs' condition has been upgraded. he fell ill after fasting. prison officials did not consider it a hunger strike since he was eating but not as much as he should. and weighing more than 30 pounds was no problem for the man to hoist up the trophy, but the table being used to display it, as you can see, gave way. maybe it was the table or maybe

the strong breeze. who knows. either way the table was set up again, and a bystander casually remarked, first ding of the day. and then paralyzed by drug violence. you will be surprised what group is taking things into its own hands. the latest on that in 75 seconds 37

kidnappings, murders, extortion, and shootings and mass graves, and that's the reality that rocked the resort town of acapulco, mexico. it's a gruesome fight to survive. now the violence is hitting

schools. what is happening there? it's now hitting schools? >> exactly. it started a couple weeks ago as a rumor, kind of an urban myth, somebody saying that masked men were going to schools and threatening teachers that if they did not give them money, those making more than $500 or more were going to get targeted, killed, and their schools were going to be attacked. at the time it was just a rumor, but now more and more reports have surfaced and finally education officials went to acapulco to find out what was happening, and as many as 100 schools have closed because teachers say we don't want to go unless you guarantee our safety. 70 to 80 schools are now closed. they were asking police to do something about it, and today was supposed to be the day in which they would launch a huge operation and it didn't happen, and many teachers refuse to go

back to school unless they get a guarantee that they will not get attacked. >> it's understandable that they are concerned, because this is not anything new, right. there has been a wave of violence there? >> yeah, and to put it into perspective, those schools involve the outskirts of acapulco. however, there has been an increase of violence inside acapulco itself. there have been shoot-outs there, so the concern is definitely there. >> what are they doing? any type of increased security there to make people feel safer? >> the federal government -- i was there in march and i saw a strong presence of federal police and also military there patrolling the streets, but it seems like turf wars between cartels operating in that area are way too powerful and everywhere, and it's a violence difficult to control. >> as you know, this is a big tourists destination for people

from the united states, so are travelers safe there in acapulco? >> so far no tourists or foreigner has been attacked, but there have been shoot-outs in some of the tourists areas, and the potential to be caught in the cross fire is there. but as far as we know, no foreigner has been targeted. >> the last thing you want to do is go on vacation and feel like you can't leave your hotel room. we appreciate that update. and an alarming situation and time is of the essence, and the libyan people are not the only once at risk.

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liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? in libya the hunt continues for moammar gadhafi, and his whereabouts still a mystery. and the rebels are gearing up for a battle if the regime doesn't surrender. tripoli still faces a long road to recovery. the u.n. says the capitol faces an alarming situation due to the fact that 60% of the city is without water and sanitation. residents also face food shortages. and nic robertson there. what is the latest you have on the water and food situation

there? >> reporter: well, the water situation is the most pressing. the city normally, according to the u.n., needs about 4.5 million tons of water a day. it's an emergency situation. 1.5 million tons a day should cover emergency needs. tomorrow they hope to bring in half a million tons. by the end of the week, 3 million tons. all of this comes in liter bottles of water. that gives you an idea how desperate the situation is. tomorrow they hope to have one third of the emergency requirement, nothing close to the normal requirement. the city is very, very short of water. water tanks are available in some areas of the city that have been water pumped from private wells. the gadhafi forces have been believed to have destroyed or

immobilized the wells hundreds and hundreds miles south in the desert, and immobilized the wells there so the city is starving for water. food is not quite such a tough situation. some of the local farms are getting juice to the markets here, but it's far, far short of what the city is initiused to. >> nic, maybe can you set us straight on this, is there any truth that rebels rejected an offer from the u.n. peacekeepers to help fix this? >> reporter: what the rebels are saying is they don't want u.n. peacekeepers on the ground. that has been their position throughout all of this. they don't want to get, you know, u.n. soldiers on the ground. what they do want is the u.n. to help with a humanitarian side, not the security side. they say they can give the rebels advice on security, but don't want the troops on the mound in the so-called blue

helmets. yes, the humanitarian aid, but no to troops on the ground. >> is there any possibility at all gadhafi will come forward and possibly surrender? >> reporter: it seems really unlikely. i have been in e-mail communication with one of his sons, and he was considering the idea of coming to tripoli to negotiate a cease-fire, and the rebels talked about a surrender, and i asked if he was talking about a surrender, and he said absolutely not. he said the rebels have destroyed the country and he's not about to surrender to them. it's clear, he and his father and other brothers are in a increasingly tough position, and they have nowhere to go and apparently nowhere to run to, and the rebels are not going to negotiate, and will only accept their surrender. >> you have been watching not

only the food and water shortages, but you also checked on the zoo animals there in tripoli. what is the situation for them? >> reporter: you know, for the animals at the zoo, the situation is, if you will, worst than the people. the people understand what is happening and can go out and try to do something about it. we have just come into tripoli's main zoo. the gates were locked and we were told it had been under renovation for the last three years and there were not any animals here. we're getting a look around, and i can see a huge vulture up there. as i am looking at it, we hear a lion roaring. it's an eerie feeling walking around here, because you don't know what you are going to bump into. most of the cages seem empty. we're trying to follow the sound of the roaring. there he is. there he is. a tig '.

tiger. he's seen us. just looking at him you can see how thin he is, and the way he's walking, the back thighs are so skinny, and it looks like he is going in there to get shades. then we see the lions, and the male particularly skinny with a deep star on his head. nobody is here to tell us how often they are being fed. we don't know if there is a vet here to look after them. all we have seen is the food left for the giant tortoises. the lions look like they are not getting enough to eat. suddenly we get answers. the zoo keeper just arrived, and we'll ask him about the animals. how are you? >> fine. >> reporter: what about the animals, are they getting enough food? the lions? the tigers? he tells me for seven to ten days the animals got nothing and now the staff has returned and

they are trying to feed the animals and the cats get half the food they need, and the biggest problem is the water, and he takes us to see the hippos. of all the animals, they seem the most forelorned. he tried to get the water in there, and it didn't work. they are left with the rank water that they don't seem to even want to go into. so many animals to feed, hyena, and monkeys, and bears, and it's the big cats, the meat eaters, they can't feed enough. and really, it's the water, and it's the most pressing thing. the keepers feel if the animals don't get enough water they will continue to dehydrate and the

suffering will continue there, randi. >> i found that story so disturbing to see the animals suffering that way. is there any more they can do? any help on the way for them? >> well, the keepers hope that more keepers will come back to work. obviously, they are competing for food in the market places. they don't have money to go out and buy food for the animals. again, the system is broken down. certainly there are international organizations that would like to come to libya and help and they are getting in touch with libyan authorities to see if they can bring in the drugs and medication for animals and make sure that the libyan authorities, the national transitional council want them to come in and help, and i think the only indications are that at a humanitarian level the government is open to that kind of assistance, and it will take days at the earliest before the help can get here, randi. >> nic robertson, that story

just breaks my heart. thank you for bringing that to us. take a look at this tiny flying drone. we will tell you how it can accelerate growth for a billion people. cabe taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ to help move business... forward. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts

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every day on this show, we do a segment called the big i, it's about ideas, innovations and solutions to problems. we're looking at a device today. the creators believe it could help the billion-plus people in poverty today. when you hear the word drone, you may think of this. unmanned aerial vehicles working

as our military's eyes from above. even able to take out enemies. sing later university started a project to develop a different kind of drone. a prototype now, it's being built to "alleviate poverty and accelerate economic growth pi transporting goods to regions with no infrastructure." these guys could bring food and medicine to all areas of the world. inaccessible villages in africa, perhaps those stranded in disasters like hurricane irene. the prototype can carry a little over two pounds for nearly two miles. the target to is to carry four and a half pounds for at least six miles. that would be something. for more about the drone project, check out my facebook page at facebook.com/randi kaye cnn. poet maya angelou ace an inscription on the new martin luther king memorial needs to be

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poet mayaangelou has a problem with the quote on the new martin luther king memorial. two months before he was assassinated. dr. martin luther king, jr. gave a sermon said if you want to say i was a drum major, say that i was a drum major for peace,

righteousness and all of the other shallow things will not matter. because of lack of space, the quote on the monument was pair phrased to say this: i was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. angelou says the shortened inscription is misleading and changes the meaning completely. the if clause left out is silent. leaving it out changes the meaning completely. it makes him seem an ego tis. he would have never said that of himself. angelou is listed on the council picked to select subscriptions, but did not attend the meetings. now let's continue in washington, shall we? i want to check in with jim acosta watching owl things on the political ticker. i understand rick perry leading in yet another poll. >> yeah. randi, it might be time to call him the front ruper in the gop field. one poll can say is an outlier of political speak. two polls, that's part of a

trend. this new poll that just came out today shows that rick perry has a pretty sizable lead right now. take a look at this. i want to show you the numbers from this. it's interesting to see rick perry at 24%, mitt romney, who everybody was calling the front-runner until a few days ago, at 18%. sarah palin at 11% and she hasn't decided whether or not she's going to get into the race or hasn't said so publicly. this is shaping up as a two-man contest, if you look at this poland the cnn orc poll that came out earlier this week. it might be time to start calling rick perry the front-runner in this field. because of that, randi, it's no surprise to see romney tinker with his campaign strategy. he had been, up until this point, keeping the tea party at arm's length as he goes for the gop nomination. now he seems to be giving them a pretty tight bear hug. this weekend, mitt romney is going to be up in new hampshire

on sunday evening for a tea party express event. they have the bus going across the country right now. they'll be coe hosting a debate with cnn on september 12th. mitt romney will be talking to the tea party express on sunday monday and monday going to a forum hosted by the senator from south carolina. that will happen down in south carolina. demint as you know, randi, is a big tea party organizer, godfather, if you will. governor romney is certainly changing his strategy when it comes to appealing to tea party voters. i just spoke with a representative from a major tea party group in washington called freedom works. they have actually bailed from the tea party express bus tour. they had a person riding along with the tea party express bus earlier that week. that person actually bailed in the bus because of freedom works having a serious disagreement with the tea party express over whether or not mitt romney

should even speak to a tea party group. they're saying that some freedom works activists and tea party activists will be protesting against mitt romney at this tea party event on sunday evening. so it is starting to get interesting. it's another example that the tea party is going to be a big dominant force in this upcoming fight for the gop nomination, randi. >> maybe the dominant force. what about sarah palin. we've heard so many times she was close to making a decision. any word on when she might decide or what she's up to? >> well, she is supposed to attend at least at this point we think she's going to attend a tea party rally out in iowa over labor day weekend. there's been some confusion over there. because at one point it's been reported that she is going. and then there are some reports that come out that say she's not going. some of this might have to do with the fact that christine o'donnell was supposed to share the stage with her at this tea party event in iowa.

and sarah palin being in and being out at that event seems to be coinciding with christine o'donnell being invited and disinvited from the same event. it's interesting to watch that. we don't know what to make of it. >> sarah palin said she's probably not going to announce this weekend. that that will come later in september. she obviously, is a factor in this. she may be the x factor in all of this. whether she jumps in could change this all over again. >> giuliani, is he off the table? >> rudy giuliani, that's an interesting question. i've read reports that he has said that he's not going to make any kind of a noun announcement on this until after the anniversary of the september 11th attacks. as you know, the tenth anniversary is coming up. rudy giuliani will be very visible during that time. as you remember, he was walking the streets of lower manhattan that morning of september 11th. so i think the giuliani folks would like to see that anniversary pass before they

make that final decision. it's going to be interesting to note, randi, that coming up in september in just about a week from now, there's that big debate that's happening in los angeles. a republican debate that's happening that will be rick perry's first debate as a matter of fact. and as you heard earlier today, president obama has scheduled this big address to congress. >> right. >> you know, he's asked for this joint address to congress to talk about his jobs plan. it's supposed to happen on the very same night as that gop debate. never a dull moment. >> no. certainly not. we covered a lot of territory there, jim. thank you very much. good to see you. good to see you. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com floods from irene and fires from a devastating drought. we begin with the floods. in new jersey, they're still doing rescues along the surging passaic river. people, families, pets.

picked up a few at a time. hundreds in all. in vermont, they're still trying to reach entire towns. you're looking at reports of railroad tracks near the town of braintree where the ground washed out from under them. >> floods washed out roads in vermont. as of this morning, relief workers on four-wheel drive vehicles have made their way into 112 areas. homes and businesses waiting for the power to come back. that's down from six million on sunday. 43 deaths are now blamed on the hurricane turned tropical storm. one victim was a holocaust survivor. 82 years old. at least two people died trying to rescue others. from one extreme to the other. they'd pay a lot for a good hard rain in texas these days. drought conditions range from extreme to exceptional. right now, they're battle a wildfire that destroyed at least 20 homes and threatens many more. it's near possum kingdom lake in

palo pinto county due west of dallas. jim spellman is there now and joins us live. tell us ha you're seeing. >> reporter: well, the first thing you notice is the smell of the smoke when you pull into this area. this is a resort area. a lot of second homes here around a beautiful lake. there's thick smoke. not a lot of it. but thick smoke off of the fire. they feel they have it well under control pretty much right now. officially 25% contained. not a lot of active fire right now. we just got an update saying the flames are kicking up as it gets hotter in the afternoon. what we heard from firefighters here earlier is that this really happened in the worst possible place. out in the dry conditions near a populated area with the lake on one side which limits their options for coming in to respond to it. just really the worst possible spot to have a fire like this with such dry conditions. >> how are evacuations going, jim? >> reporter: about 125 people currently are evacuated.

they don't have any more pending evacuations and they hope to get a handle on this, this particular fire that broke out yesterday. but i tell you, the real problem is, we have a thermometer near our satellite truck. it's reading 103. the grass that you walk on is crunching. it's so dry here. the drought is so extreme and widespread throughout this huge state. what happened across the lake yesterday could happen pretty much anywhere in the state at any time. so even if they get this fire under control, this particular fire, this could literally happen anywhere in the state. it's going to be a continuing issue until the weather conditions change. >> jim spellman there watching the flames for us. jim, thank you. now i want to turn back to vermont. my colleague amber lyon is in wilmington. tell us how the roads are there. what's it like getting around? >> reporter: well, randi, i got to tell you, it's very difficult to get to some of these small mountain communities in vermont. they are mountain communities. a lot of them had roads that

were wiped out by the flooding waters. just to get here, we had to take a small side gravel road, dirt road up the side of a mountain to get in and access this community. so right now, emergency relief crews are out there trying to open these roads as quickly as they can so people can easily travel between communities in vermont. here in the middle of wilmington, vermont, this is a town of about 1800 people, and look at this. today out here randi, it looks like some type of a bomb went off in this city. all of these shop keepers are pulling out their flooded inventory, into the streets to try to salvage these buildings anyway they can. i'm right in front of a bookstore. there's about a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of books that are just covered in mud and damaged. the owners had to pull them out of the store to try to dry out the inside and the inside was also covered in water.

the water came up to about five feet. throughout the town, people are very busy. you see a national guard soldier right there helping a volunteer and helping residents pull different types of supplies out into the street. they've had dump trucks coming up and down the road collecting this flood damaged -- these flood damaged tables, chairs, books as we saw earlier. there's a county store down there where they have food supplies and another interesting thing we found is that if you see right behind these volunteers, there's that slab of cement right by that red barn. that used to be an artist's gallery. but the entire gallery filled with the artist's work just flowed completely down this road and landed had front of a gas station. we also have seen some people here that do not have flood insurance. they say they've been hit pretty hard by the rough economy. we spoke with one woman who owns a carpet and tile shop that got

flooded, and she says that she lost about 75% of her business, of her revenue in the past two years due to the rough economy. she thought this year business would pick up and now her place is flooded and she did not have flood insurance. i want to introduce you to someone real quick. this is lisa sullivan. lisa owns the bookstore. lisa, what is it like to see your entire inventory just ruined out in front of your store? >> obviously, it's devastating to see this. to see the tragedy for us. for this entire town as well. to see so many businesses ruined and so many people who lived in the town as well who have been displaced to shelter. >> you guys were lucky enough to have flood insurance. i was talking with your husband earlier. he said that a lot of these shop keepers don't. >> no. a lot of people don't have flood insurance. flood insurance is very expensive and is a luxury that a lot of people do not have. so we're really concerned about

how people are going to be able to rebuild their businesses. because access to funding and capital is going to be crucial for that. so we're looking forever way we can to help these businesses get back open. >> thank you very much, lisa. so sorry for your loss, again. just four months ago lisa's bookstore in another area of town had burnt down. they just renovated that store. obviously, earlier, you saw the damage going on there. we're also seeing construction equipment coming through to try to clear this road to make a clear path for cars to get in and out of town. there was a point right after the rains hit where this town of 1800 was essentially isolated because both roads leading in and out of town were destroyed. they now have one of roads open and traffic is able to come through. >> amber lyon. a lot of people pulling together to try and right that situation. thank you. in just a few minutes, we'll head to the town of woodstock, vermont. i'll skype with a vermonter who opened his homes to his neighbors who have nowhere else

to go. i also want to update you on the tropical storm in the atlantic. it could become a hurricane today. it has winds of 65 miles per hour. it's about 1,000 miles west of the cape verde islands. the national hurricane center says katiy is expected to have winds above 110 miles per hour by sunday. forecasters say it's too early to know if it will pose real threat to land. president obama is saying the nation faces unprecedented economic val challenges. requesting time to deliver his long awaited jobs speech to a joint session of congress. in a letter to the speaker of the house and senate majority leader mr. obama said he would like to do it in prime time one week from today at 8:00 p.m. eastern. he'll lay out proposals that lawmakers could act on immediately to continue to rebuild the economy. he says the plans would strengthen small businesses, help the unemployed get back to work and put more money in the paychecks of middle class and working americans. he says his plans would still

reduce the deficit. his speech couldn't come at a better time. take a look at this. thousands of people lining up for a jobs fair in los angeles today. all of these people are waiting to get into an event organized by the congressional black caucus which offers help to unemployed members of the african-american community. one of the hardest hit groups in this down economy. the justice department is suing to block at&t's deal to buy t-mobile. the government says the proposed $39 billion merger would substantially reduce competition and increase costs. deputy attorney general james cole says the merger would result in tens of millions of consumers facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality product for mobile wireless services. they say it's needed to compete with verizon. it's been days since irene hit. but families are still stranded. their towns still cut off from supplies. we'll talk to a resident in vermont about the situation there, next. ♪

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ruthless, especially in vermont. 800 residents are stranded. since this weekend, we've watched scenes like this play out across the streets. floods are -- emergency and road crews are scrambling to patch up key access points. still several vermont towns are inaccessible to supplies and aid residents need. one of the towns ravaged by flooding is woodstock, vermont. that's where jim joins us. he's at his home via skype. thanks for coming on the show. i know you're having a tough

time. you also sent pretty dramatic pictures. as we look at those, describe the scene around your neighborhood. we understand that it's pretty tough to get around there with the main route washed out. >> the main route heading west is washed out right now. it is possible to get out to the east. unknown whether you can get out to the north or to the south. woodstock is actually faring much better, i think, right now than some of the other smaller communities in the picturesque valleys north and south of us. including towns like stock bridge and gaysville where we have friends stranded. you've taken people into your home? how many people do you have there? how desperate are they? >> this is kind of a katrina deja vu. it was ironic it happened on the anniversary of. during katrina my family from new orleans came in and we had 20 people then. right now, we're the only town -- only house in town, i believe, that has running water. we have two wells on our property and we've been allowing

people to come in and encouraging them to take showers and fill up their buckets. the last two nights we've had potluck dinners for neighbors whose refrigerators were not connected to electricity. it was actually a real good community building event. we're happy to be able to do that here. >> every town needs a jim bryant. that sounds pretty nice of you. is it possible at all for you to show us around there? is there anything to see? i know you've been struggling a bit with water there. i want to hear about that. can you show us anything? >> there really isn't a lot to show from here. mount thomas is behind me. the river which flooded and contained the propane tanks is located across the street over there. >> tell me about the water situation. how tough is it to get clean water there? >> that's undetermined right now. the people in town are probably

a bit more anxious about that than anything else. electricity came back on for moes of the town last night. but the water situation is a big unknown. as you can imagine, the water is maintained by a small company. it's probably maintained it for a hundred years. i think they're struggling to come to grips with a situation they may not have anticipated. >> so how are the rescue efforts going for people there in terms of getting them supplies and getting them out? >> that's a good question. the first step was trying to assess what the needs were. there were a group of very engaged citizens who stepped forward and went door to door asking if people needed help. there are people with special needs, there's a need for volunteers. there is also a compelling need for a group to organize volunteers. we've had requests from all over the country from people who are trying to help out in one way or another. they just need to find a way to be directed and to have their

efforts land on the right doorstep. >> you mentioned these propane tanks. is that one of your biggest concerns and what else is a big challenge there? >> right. i mean, the propane tanks were -- it's amazing that none of them took out our bridges. but there were probably a thousand propane tanks that washed down river. some of them hissing propane and oil. we were given orders to evacuate at one point because of a gas cloud that had formed over -- between the river and the mountain. many of the tanks still remain in our neighbors' backyards. the name of the company that was -- that was responsible for this is aptly named dead river. >> we're watching, we're looking at the pictures you sent us of the propane tanks just floating there in the flooded waters. are town officials o or state officials helping there? you getting what you need do you think? >> well, there's a town meeting this evening. we haven't seen any state or

federal vehicles here in town. you i believe the local town officials today came together and tried to assess the situation, specifically the water. i know they're working hard on trying to get the water back on-line and i think they -- there are people in the world who could help out if they could only get in touch with the people who are going to solve the problem for us. >> dos this feel like katrina to you? you said that earlier. in terms of being cut off and not getting what you need? >> it sure does. there's a -- in katrina, we -- there were a lot of things that we realized that could be changed with our local, state and federal government. in terms of getting information to people right away. the startling thing here is that up until yesterday afternoon, there really was no communication from, direct communication from the local or state government that was reaching people at least in my neighborhood.

and there are opportunities today with the social media, you imagine twitter and skype, those work great internationally on reporting. but we weren't getting the word -- word wasn't getting out. yesterday afternoon, though, some volunteers came by with hand printed list of numbers that people could call if they needed clothing or needed medical help or special needs. so it's a grassroots community effort. >> at least something is being done. certainly, you're helping by opening up your home. very admirable of you to do that. jim bryant. thank you. we're going to check back in with you. let us know how you're doing. how the supplies are coming and if any folks have permanently moved into your home. thank you very much. >> great. bye bye. up next, well-known superheroes are getting some new costumes today. we'll let you mow what they look like.

declining sales. d.c. comics, which is owned by cnn's parent company, time warner, is unveiling new costumes or iconic characters and boosting its internet presence. felicia taylor speaks with publisher and artist jim lee as well as some of d.c.'s diehard fans. >> i'm in midtown manhattan where many folks have been lining up since tuesday morning for the release at midnight of this comic book. i got my hands-on one. what's important, it's going on the web. that's going to attract a whole new line of readers for the justice league and other comic books by d.c. comics. it's a multihundred dollar business about to expand. i'm with a real fan. he's actually tattooed himself all over with different characters. how many do you have?

>> about nine tattoos. >> nine? >> yes. here's batman. i got the cat woman down here. >> that's my favorite. i like the cat woman. >> i have a ninja turtles on my legs. >> tell me how long you've been out here. >> my husband and i arrived around noon today. >> you're going to stay here until midnight tonight. >> we are, yes. >> why are you such avid fans of comic books? >> i can't say that i'm a fan. but my husband is a huge d.c. comics fan. especially jin lee. he needed a companion to run and get his food and relieve him. >> you're the gopher? >> kind of am, yeah. >> this is huge. comics readership isn't going down. people aren't buying comics as much. they're not happy with the story or -- so this is do or die. this is either change or the industry could collapse. >> large comic stores like this one have been on the decline over the last few years with

only about 2,000 left across the entire united states. it's that lost audience, in addition to a new audience, that d.c. comics is hoping to capture on the web. >> it's the first book of a huge initiative that we're doing in september. it's 52 books we're relaunching, with new costumes and story lines. >> do you think this will revolutionize the comic book industry? >> i think it definitely is going to change things. it's a game changer. not only are we changing the content but also the delivery. doing digital day and date. you can download this digitally the same day you can go into a shop and buy it in print. that's a big change for us. it allows us to tap into new markets. hopefully find new readers. we want the comic books to reflect the world we live in. we have lesbian and gay characters members of a team called storm watch. a lot of different ethnicities. we're trying to mix things up and keep things as fresh and modern as possible. >> if you were to draw me as a

superhero, what would it look like? >> it would be on the spot woman, right? that would be her power. >> that would be my power, yes. felicia, taylor, cnn, new york. looking pretty good there. with the skyrocketing cost of college and the dim job market, is college worth the money? cnn goes in-depth next. everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn.

it is that time of year when students head off to college. cnn is taking an in-depth look at higher education. enrollment is up at schools across the country. but so is tuition. with unemployment over 9%, college grads have fewer job opportunities after they get their degrees. carl azus joins us now. >> it's the $24,000 question, randi. that's the average student loan debt. the folks at the pugh research center did a survey asking more than 2,000 americans what they thought about the value of college. there were interesting things that came out of that survey. a majority of the people asked

57% said college provided only a fair or poor value for the money paid. it was 40% that said it was a good or excellent value. then following up, they asked is college too expensive? does it place a burden on american families? 75% overwhelming majority saying yes. but even with those two things established, that most people don't it's a great value, 94% of the parents surveyed said my kid is still going and 86% of college students said it was a good value. >> in terms of the earning potential, is there a payoff to go to college? >> about a $20,000 payoff per year. it's generally thought if you have a college dee, you'll make $20,000 more per year. the u.s. census bureau confirms that. the advantage seems to spill over into unemployment. i want to take you back exactly one year, august 2010 when the unemployment rate a little higher than it is now. it was 9.6% then. at that time, american workers who were 25 years old or older

with a college degree had an unemployment rate of significantly lower. only 4.6% versus those who just had a high school diploma. look at the number for them. so.3%. unemployment duration, it paralleled these numbers. unemployment duration for people who had that college degree, 18.4 weeks. it was significantly longer for people who just had a high school diploma. the general take away being, a college degree, a trade associate degree, any form of higher education is still valuable. but it makes sense why people are asking about that value at a time of high unemployment and student loans, student loan debt on the up and up, randi. >> money is tight and the job market isn't very good. big question. thank you for sorting it out for us. appreciate that. at&t says its merger with t-mobile is great news for the consumer, but the justice department says not so fast. we'll tell you why, next. but first, guitars have been around for centuries. musicians have been trying to keep them in tune for just as

long. now a new invention is saving time and saving your ears. reynolds wolf has more in this week's technovations. ♪ guitars are one of the most loved instruments in modern music, unless, of course, they're out of tune. >> in music the tuning is very important. anybody can tune a guitar, but keeping it in tune is the problem. all of a sudden you're dancing in front of the audience, you're like hey, how is everybody doing? okay, i'm tuning. how is the world? it's a process that can take away from the rhythm of the show. >> a device will keep your guitar in tune forever. >> in some ways it's a simple design? >> it's all mechanical, based on a spring technology and constant tension. we're not adding bells and whistles and blinking lights to a guitar. >> the ever tune is being used by some of the biggest names on stage.

it's just the beginning. >> so we're talking pianos, vie lins, bass, everything. >> any string strung between two points works on the same principals. if there's a spring, we can keep it in tune. >> which means you've run out of excuses for why you're off key. technovations brought to you by exxon-mobil. taking on the world's toughest energy challenges. y. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. have i got at exxonmoba surprise for you! challeyeah, it's newmportant [ barks beneful healthy fiesta.

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it is about 34 minutes past the hour. time to update headlines and other news that you may have missed. in a letter sent to leaders of the house and senate, president obama has requested a joint session of congress on september 7th for his long awaited jobs speech. the president says he intends to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals to help strengthen the american economy. the president goes on to say, the plan includes strengthening

small businesses, helping americans get back to work and putting more money in the paychecks of the middle class and still reducing the deficit. the u.s. department of justice filed a lawsuit against at&t today in an effort to block its $39 billion merger with t-mobile. at&t says the merger is necessary to expand its 4 g network to compete with verizon. but the justice department doesn't buy it. they say if the merger goes ahead, consumers would feel "higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for wireless services." the man who served as the top u.s. kmapder in iraq and afghanistan, is taking the head position at the cia. general david petraeus ended his military career. he sang praises to him during that ceremony. >> it is rare for a leader to have both the endurance and charis charisma, to lead troops in war and the force of mind to shape the strategy for that war.

but david petraeus has distinguished himself at each. >> petraeus assumes his new role at the cia on september 6th. the start of college football season is just around the corner. but texas a anti-m university is seeking a new conference. it will conditionally withdraw from the big 12 conference if they're able to join the s.e.c. for the 2012 season. officials reached out to the s.e.c. in late july and met with them a week later. as for who replaces a and m, notre dame and arkansas were mentioned. the libyan rebels call them gadhafi's hired guns. now held at pow's, they tell a different story. a live report from nick robertson you do not want to miss coming up next. how to be an effective leader.g [ cherie ] you're dealing with professionals, teaching things that they were doing every day. [ kimberly ] i manage a network of over a thousand nurses.

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don't surrender by saturday. for the first time in more than 40 years shall the libyan people are celebrating the end of the muslim holy month free from gadhafi's one-man rule. we're hearing stories of the war from those now held at pows. they're accused of being gadhafi's mercenaries, cnn's nick robertson spoke to some of them. >> reporter: they're frightened. up to 15 crammed to a cell. stifling heat amplifying their fear. they are libya's new despised african migrants rounded up in their droves, accused of being gadhafi loyalists. in this rebel jail, they have disproportionately represented the vast majority of 300 inmates. this prisoner says he was on the his to his day laboring job when he was picked up. >> they say we are walk with gadhafi. we are not working with gadhafi.

we are here struggling to get money. and go back to our country. >>. >> reporter: they all have similar stories. >> look at my voice. i cried. i don't want -- it is not fair. prisoners, we are like animals. >> to a nigerian says her husband was arrested a week ago and she was picked up because she went out to buy food. >> this is everything for nothing. they took everything from us. i had my money in my palm. they removed the money. they take everything from us. >> the man in charge of the jail, a computer science graduate, with no experience at managing inmates admits half the prisoners are probably admits. >> i'm not allowed to -- i didn't bring them here. someone else bring them here and he signed for this.

so that's the one is responsible about -- >> a few hours later he's replaced by professional jailers. the prisoners say nothing else changes. the situation here is symptomatic of the chaotic transfer of power across the country. but amidst it, there is an undercurrent of retribution that runs rife. many believe the mercenaries were in reality hundreds of thousands in the country before the war working as simple day laborers. you only have to look at how the libyans are being treated to see the difference. their conditions, almost luxurious by comparison. fewer to a cell. more space to move around. better access to the scant water supplies. this libyan prisoner picked up when he went to see his family. >> right now it's good.

but some people call us names. you work for gadhafi or something. most of us don't. >> what unites the prisoners here, however, is fear. >> i don't have that -- i don't know what's going to happen. they might shoot me. i don't know what's going on. >> their jailers promise justice. but amidst the appearance of prejudice, it may be hard to find. >> nick robertson joins us now from tripoli. nick, what do you make of what these prisoners told you in. >> reporter: well, it very much seems to be -- the prison borders were saying as well. the vast majority being turned over to them, accused of being gadhafi loyalists are africans, people from maly, nigeria, other north african nations who just because they're black and just because there were so many rumors and reports that gadhafi was hiring mercenaries from these countries, that's why they're being arrested there

certainly is evidence, i've talked to other prisoners who have admitted to being from a -- actually a chad ian and sudanese who admitted. it's not untrue that some were. there's so much panic, fear and now a chance at retribution here that they're being so so so many of them are being picked up. i went to the embassy, the caretaker doesn't go out in the shop. he believes that there are thousands of other africans who are literally hunkering down like him and hiding in the city. it's a very real situation. >> very quickly. what do you think ultimately will happen to them? >> you know, i think eventually, the rebels will begin to sort of move the wheels on their justice system. i suspect a lot of people will be released over a period of time. but the rebels have so many other things going on. this is sort of low down on the list of priorities. the prisoners, however, told me today that they were going to go

on hunger strike if things didn't improve for them as early as tomorrow. their conditions, really are just appalling. to get close to those cells, you really have to take a deep breath. it's unsanitary conditions there, randi. in tripoli, nick robertson, nick, appreciate it. thank you. to syria now, where a bloody crackdown against anti-government protestors shows no sign of ending. if anything, it's getting worse. based on accounts by witnesses and human rights groups in syria, the brutality is beyond comprehension. in a report released today, amnesty international paints a horrifying picture of what it says is routine torture carried out by the government of president bashar al assad. some of the victims are as young as 13. a researchers says it's like hell on earth. watson following -- he's in istanbul, turkey. he joins us now. ivan, what do you make of this

amnesty report? >> reporter: it's a gruesome revelation randi, coming from amnesty international. it describes at least 88 syrian males who have died over the last five months after being taken into detention by syrian security forces. 52 of the cases that amnesty documented, these victims showed signs of torture. take a listen to what one amnesty researcher had to say about the conclusions here. i have to warn the viewers that this includes a graphic description of genital mutilation. >> the kind of incidence of torture which have been seen and the injuries which are visible on the bodies, including bruises, electrocution, including of genitalia, severed penises in several cases. suspected broken next. incredible bruising all over the body from severe beatings from

fists, planks, cables and so on. i mean, i've seen 45 videos of corpses over the last couple of months working on this report. it is beyond belief. it's absolutely disgusting. >> reporter: randi, at least ten of the 88 cases that amnesty described here involve children, some as young as 13 years old. what's also important here is some of the conclusions dovetail with the reports from the united nations who have documented what they say is widespread systematic abuse carried out by the syrian security forces that could amount to crimes against humanity. randi? >> ivan, what about the pressure that seems to be mounting on president bashar al assad. does any of it seem to be having an effect? >> reporter: hard to tell from our vantage point since we're not allowed into the country. what is clear is that the u.s.

treshly department added three more names to the list of syrian officials facing sanctions. some of these are the faces of the regime, the foreign minister, the presidential advisor, immediate advisor who appeared in interviews with cnn. her name is shabban. there's a cold war inside damascus between the syrian government and the u.s. embassy on the ground there. look at this state tv report from last week. it shows supporters of the government chasing the u.s. ambassador to damascus. robert ford down the street. he had to runaway with help from his security guards and jump into his car as people tried to hang portraits on his back syrian state alleging that he was trying to foment protests against the syrian government. the french president, nicolas sarkozy came out today and said that bashar al assad and his

crimes have done irreparable damage with relations to the west. >> ivan watson watching from istanbul, turkey. thank you. for years fema has spelled disaster relief. one of the leading champions thinks fema does more harm than good. we'll hear from ron paul when we come back. i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition.

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hurricanes and earthquakes, tornadoes and fires, when disasters strike america, fema is there. like all federal agencies, it has only so much money and so many people. like all federal agencies, it has plenty of critics. ron paul for one. in the wake of irene, the long

time texas congressman and republican presidential candidate says we'd all be better off if fema never exis d existed. paul spoke with my colleague anderson cooper last night. >> create more hazard by saying, well the government, you pay this and the government will be there. they'll always be there to take care of you and pay your bills, well, they're broke they can't pay their bills. the worst part is an economic consequence of saying, well, i can't afford my insurance. these are usually -- a lot of middle class people with beach houses. they don't -- they can't get their insurance because it's costly. so the government guarantees it. they give it a reason for people to do dumb things. they build into places that the market says don't build here. it's too dangerous. >> so you don't think there's any role for the federal government in disaster response, or do you? >> rescue operations, i think so. as a matter of fact, my approach i think was a very modest and reasonable approach when they came for funds.

even today or back in the -- when we got hit at galveston. i said, i will vote for the funds, but you got to cut it. we're broke. the economic condition in this country is dire. you cut $2 billion from overseas. put a billion dollars against the deficit. put a billion dollars into helping the people we taught to be dependent on the federal government. i think that's very reasonable. to say it's analysts, the government will take care of it and we're broke and in the midst of this economic crisis, which is going to get worse and not be concerned about it and say oh, well the people need it. i mean from the start of fema being involved and taking over land control and over the management, they aren't very efficient. >> well, you won't be surprised to hear that's not a popular view in the northeast this week. the governor of connecticut was on. here's what dan malloy thinks of ron paul. >> i think he's an idiot. >> that's blunt.

you're saying you need -- >> let me -- we're spending $900 million a week in wars and he's arguing about whether we should spend some amount of money. fema has currently $900 million budget available to it. this is a ridiculous conversation. really, don't understand what he's talking about. i'm not sure he does. >> for the record, fema says it is running short on money after disaster-filled year but won't skimp on aid to victims of irene. it will delay long-term rebuilding plans in places hit by the earlier disasters. michael bloomberg has new followers on twitter. sort of. he's gaining popularity, so to speak, because of his attempts to speak spanish. we'll explain next. ♪

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during all of hurricane irene coverage, you may have heard new york city mayor michael bloomberg warning residents of the upcoming storm in both english and spanish. listen. [ speaking spanish ] okay. so not the best spanish that we've heard. his broken spanish caught the attention of a woman who created a lighthearted twitter handle. she takes the spanglish to a new level. this was the first tweet that

she sent out. hola newo yorko! that's only the beginning. there are more than 17,000 followers and has caught the attention of mayor bloomberg himself. listen to what he has to say about this. >> my spanish skills. [ speaking spanish ] >> all right. basically he said his spanish is getting better. little by little. he says he's 69 years old and it's difficult for him to learn a new language. he thanked the firefighters for their help and asked, is that enough? mayor bloomberg, we'll let you slide by with your marginal spanish and thank you for trying. i think personally it's fab u

low so. lisa, i'm not going to try to toss to you in spanish. let's talk about sarah palin. i understand her trip to new hampshire is back on. >> i should say hola now. i speak russian. not spanish. let's go to sarah palin. is she in or out? we don't know if she's running for president or not. we know she'll be in iowa this weekend. the first in a nation caucus. she'll speak at a tea party event. we got that information in a little while ago. it's interesting because there are a lot of viewers, she'll be in new hampshire for labor day speaking at a different tea party event. she's certainly getting out there. also want to talk about the bigger event, though. this week for republicans. it's going to be the republican presidential debate, right? that's on wednesday. now, this debate has been planned for a while. for the reagan library in california. it's going to be interesting. this will be the first time we'll see rick perry goi