for netflix users. take a look at this. netflix stock plunging as stars end contract. you see, starz is one of those content providers for netflix content. the thing about starz is it allowed access to streaming customers for relatively new titles. now starz wants more money and it pulled the deal. the contract ends this year. licensing for netflix, carol, in 2010 cost $180 million and could go up to $2 billion in 2012. th from $10 to $16 a month. >> thanks, debbie downer. >> happy friday. >> happy friday. thanks, carter. "american morning" continues right now. i'm christine romans. a tropical depression in the gulf of mexico has new orleans in its sights. the governor of louisiana declaring a state of emergency before the first drop of rain

even falls, with forecasters predicting potentially catastrophic flooding. >> i'm al wli velshi. raging floodwaters from hurricane irene washed him away, but a new jersey man lived and now telling us how he survived mother nature's wrath. in just a few hours the government's new jobs report. will it be welcome news for you, your job, and the recovery? we'll break it down on this "american morning." good morning, everyone. it is friday, september 2nd. jobs day, september 2nd. welcome to "american morning." it's our super bowl, carol. >> it is. >> we're going to stick jobs news in between weather news. >> weather and jobs. that's right. >> it continues. weather reports, weather issues it continue to dominate our news. getting uneasy in the big easy this morning. we're taking a look at what's causing all of the stress. it's a tropical depression that is forming in the gulf of

mexico. and new orleans could be in for a very rough weekend. flooding in new orleans. never want to have to say those things again. oil giants like exxon have evacuated their workers from offshore rigs, sent choppers to bring everyone home. the national hurricane center is issuing a tropical storm warnings with ten inches of rain expected over the next few days. >> what i want to tell folks is what we do know, there is high wind, there is a lot of rain and it's going slow. that's not a good prescription for the city of new orleans. >> it's mayor mitch landrieu. louisiana governor jindal has declared a state of emergency. it was six years ago this week when hurricane katrina came roaring through that city. boy, we've got pictures to show you what it looks like but i don't think anybody is going to forget that. >> i don't want to see that picture anymore. no good memories from that. >> jennifer delgado tracking this system, live from the extreme weather center in

atlanta. what's it looking like? i saw you giving these forecasts a little earlier with carol and it looks -- never seen a storm forecast like that. >> yeah. you know, the problem is we don't have any steering winds to push tropical depression number 13 anywhere and over the last several hours it's really been kind of basically stationary. you can start to see more convection popping towards the south and southeastern portion of the storm. you can't pick out a center of circulation. the rain working into parts of louisiana, gusts up to 45 miles per hour, sustained winds at 39 or should say 35 miles per hour. now as i show you the trek, ali, this what is you were asking about, it's not going to be moving very much. notice by sunday, 2:00 a.m., approaching the southern coastline, louisiana, and then by monday, 2:00 a.m., still in that southern part of louisiana. what this is going to be doing, it's going to be causing a strong storm surge, we're also going to be talking about extremely heavy rainfall as it sits and spin, it pulls in all

that moisture from the gulf and look at the rainfall totals, we're talking 10 to 15 inches and even some of the localized areas could see roughly 20 inches of rainfall. that is going to lead to some problems with flooding across parts of louisiana and even as well into parts of mississippi. now, for your forecast today, if you're going to be going down to the gulf of mexico, a lot of people planning to go to the beaches, not a good weekend for them by any means. elsewhere across the u.s., we are going to see some severe storms popping up. you can see for areas including michigan and then over towards the northeast as well as new england, we're going to see temperatures increasing as well as the relative humidity levels starting to rise. i point that out because we're also going to look at the chance for a few isolated storms to pop up. i know so many people are cleaning up after hurricane irene and the weather conditions will start to go downhill as we go through the weekend. ali, back over to you. >> thanks very much. we'll be keeping a close eye on this with you and your team in atlanta. >> they could use some of that rain in texas this weekend.

the lone star state in the midst of a historic drought and dealing with several major wildfires. the largest not far from dallas has destroyed dozens of homes but crews may finally be getting the upper hand as we head into the weekend. cnn's jim spellman live in possum kingdom lake, it texas. good morning. are they closer to getting this thing under control? >> yeah, they are, christine. the first thing we noticed this morning, we're no longer smelling smoke and seeing ash come down. that's definitely a good sign. yesterday all day they hit this fire with helicopter drops and plane drops of retardant, be helicopter drops of water, and plane drops of retardant to get any hot spots out and keep it from spreading and as contained as possible. little help from the winds, the fire blew back on to it itself earlier in the day and they were able to make a lot of progress. still 50% contained. we expect that to go up today. some residents are allowed to go back home, putting together plans to get the rest of the people to come back to the

heavily damaged areas and this is a big tourist area, and the economy here relies on that to try to get tourists back for this weekend for the last labor day weekend here of the summer and try to get some help there. one thing people have been asking us all week here is, is that system in the gulf going to give us rain here. unfortunately, not again. these drought conditions are going to remain until they get significant rain. therefore, could have more fires for weeks, months to come here, christine. >> jim spellman in possum kingdom lake, such a texas name. i have to find -- dig into the origin of that. >> evidently it's the resort town. a lot of big, huge, beautiful homes there, vacation homes, are located there. >> no disrespect to texas or possum kingdom lake, but i told carol as you were talking to jim, i bet like a bunch of reporters went there and said let's just mess with our networks and tell them we're in possum kingdom lake. i know i'm going to get tweets from people, i'm sure it's a great place.

some of the areas hardist hit by irene are getting relief from the white house. president obama declaring a disaster in vermont. rescue crews finally able to reach the town of rochester, vermont, which was cut off when roads into and out of the town were washed away by floodwaters. the national guard is resupplying a number of landlocked towns that became islands overnight. disaster declarations issued in north carolina, new york and new jersey. the governor will tour patterson, new jersey, which has been swamped. the water has begun to recede and residents are concerned that potential health risks from what's left behind, that might be the next cause of trouble for them. firefighters exposed to toxic dust after the world trade center towers collapsed ten years ago, are much more likely to develop cancer. that is the finding of a new study headed up by the chief medical officer of the new york city fire department. here's the headline, firefighters at ground zero face a 19% greater risk of cancer

than firefighters who were not at ground zero. that finding comes as a source of relief for many of the big apple's bravest. >> it's nice to start hearing that there's studies that are backing what we're -- what many firefighters and rescue workers and construction workers are suffering with, and it's about time that these studies coming out of the federal government are challenged and challenged quickly and decisively. >> right now the 9/11 health and compensation act passed by congress last summer does not cover cancer treatment for first responders. the national institute for occupational safety and health says the position will next be reevaluated in 2012. they had just reevaluated and said they don't have enough evidence that cancer is caused by 9/11 should be covered. still not going to get reevaluated until next year. >> families of first responders

don't want to wait another year. they say it's simply not fair. >> sanjay will be talking about this later as well at 7:30. >> switching to peru, authorities bringing murder charges against joran van der sloot. the prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence for the death of stephany flores, a peruvian woman found dead in his lima hotel room in may of last year. van der sloot was once the prime suspect in the disappearance of alabama teenager natalee holloway in aruba. he was never charged had in her murder. the u.s. government reportedly set to sue some of the nation's biggest banks. according to the "new york times" the agency that oversees fannie mae and freddie mac looking to recoup billions of dollars lost after the height of the housing bubble. the lawsuits are expected to claim the banks misrepresented the quality of the mortgage securities. >> they weren't high quality, darn. >> why did it take so long? >> yeah. >>. the cleanup after this mess has been ugly and --

>> my guess as to why it takes so long, we have seen so many examples of regulators going after financial companies in the past that haven't succeeded and i think people get frustrated with that. my guess is that they wanted to get it right, take as long as -- >> they're building their case. >> yeah. >> issued subpoenas last year. i think they're running out of time. there's legal deadlines coming up. they have to act now because they will run out of time. >> for most americans the economic indicator that matters the most is their job. this morning, the government releases its august jobs report. we get that once a week, it's the first friday of the new month. this report is expected by economists to show that we added 75,000 jobs in august. that is far less than the 200,000 jobs or so that we would need to see consistently month after month, to lower the nation's unemployment rate. although many economists say in this kind of economy, that's pie in the sky. yesterday, white house press secretary jay carney made it

clear, americans want action not political bickering over what day the president is going to speak about his jobs plan. >> what the american people expect the president to do, what the american people expect their senators and congressmen and women to do is listen to them, and take action. they do not give a lick about what day next week the president speaks before congress. >> you can see president obama's jobs speech next thursday at 7:00 p.m., eastern time, right here on cnn and that, carol, is before the kickoff, right? >> yes. >> so happy about that. >> full 90 minutes. big night at carol's house. popcorn, couple of beers. still to come, cars stretch as far as the eye can see in parts of libya. dan rivers is going to find out why for us. >> and a potentially frightening new report, thousands of guns missing from their manufacturers and there may be no way to find them. we'll have details on that coming up next. >> anger over chaz bono joining

"dancing with the stars." here's what some folks are saying on how the show is responding. we'll tell you about that after the break. it's our talk back question of the morning. [ cherie ] i always had a job, ever since i was fourteen. i could not make working and going to school work. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunits that i had at the university of phoenix,

dealing wh profesonals teaching things that they were doing every day, got me to where i am today. i'm mayor cherie wood, i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one.

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a voice said to be former libyan leader moammar gadhafi taunting the world, despite the intense manhunt for him. in the message the voice declares th declares that libya's capital has been moved from tripoli to sirte. the voice also called on libyans to continue the fight against the west. you're looking at video right now of nato targeti ining bar r in a desert town. that's where some reports say gadhafi may be hiding. tripoli this morning is a city dangerously close to running out of water. it is believed that gadhafi loyalists cut the water supply near its main source which is south of the capital in an area that's not controlled by the

rebel government. the first relief shipments have begun to arrive in tripoli's harbor, but much more water, much more water will be needed to meet demand across the city. libya, as you know, is also a major oil producing country, but right now, it's got a gasoline shortage. dan rivers waited in one of the long gas lines that are plaguing the city. >> reporter: the fuel situation in tripoli is still pretty bad. there are still incredibly long cues. it's better than it used to be, but check it out. this is the back of the cue for gas. i want to show you just how long it is. this cue just goes on and on and on. it's ironic because libya actually has the largest oil supply in the whole of africa, the ninth largest in the world. experts say it has some 23 years of oil reserves. and before the war, it used to pump about 1.3 million barrels a

day. but now, all the people in this cue care about is when these petrol cues are going to subside. some of them say they've been waiting in the scorching heat for hours. and finally, this is the front of the cue. the coastal road is open so it means some supplies are coming in, but you get the idea of just what an agonizing wait it is simply to fill up your car. dan rivers, cnn, tripoli. >> wow. >> usually in the news business -- they tell you to cut it up and give different shots. that was one of those things where one shot -- >> unbelievable. you could run out of gas waiting in line. >> when you have gas and water shortages doesn't matter sometimes you've overcome a dictator that denuded your country for decades, people need the basics and agitating. >> you have a country sitting on the largest oil reserves in africa but all these people waiting in line to get gas. >> not that they saw many

benefits from it anyway. >> that's a good point. new this morning, 16,000 guns have gone missing from their manufacturers since 2009. that's according to a new report from the brady center, an anti-gun violence group. claims that some of these guns don't have a serial number which means they might be impossible to trace. some gun industry advocates are disputing those findings. a referee tackled and beaten at a high school football game in sarasota, florida. it started with a ref and a coach arguing over a call. the ref tries to walk away, but several coaches rush the field. moments later, a player, a player tackles the ref, coaches and players are facing felony battery charges. >> just unbelievable. >> now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question for you this morning, is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair. even if you're not a fan of abc's "dancing with the stars," i'm sure you've heard, hundreds of viewers are not happy about

chaz bono's invite. >> i hope that, you know, fair, open-minded people take the opportunity to get to know me week by week and realize that, you know, there's nothing scary about me and transgender people are, you know, just people like everybody else. >> but the hopes of acceptance are not apparent yet. on abc's message board there were angry comments hundreds like this one -- this isn't the first time a tv show has been accused of pushing an agenda. in 1992, vice presidential candidate dan quail blasted the values of the single and pregnant murphy brown. >> it doesn't help matters when prime time tv has murphy brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly-paid professional woman, mocking the importance of

fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice. >> today, there are more than 11 million single mothers in america. can you imagine an outcry about murphy brown today? granted, transgender is depicted on mainstream television are more controversial but "dancing with the stars" executive producer conrad green told "the hollywood reporter" we don't have an agenda of any sort. i think of the 120 celebrities we've put on the show, we've had i think now three transgender or gay contestants. if that's a homosexual agenda, we're not doing very well at it. the talk back question this morning, is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. >> looking forward to it. coming up on "american morning" -- >> i thought i would be out in the street and literally done and be dead.

and i guess an angel or somebody was watching me get to where i had to go. >> you have to hear this guy's story, how he survived hurricane irene after staying too long in his house in new jersey. we'll have that for you on the other side. it's 21 minutes after the hour. where do you go to find a super business? you know, the ones who do a super job? superpages.com®. for local maps, reviews and videos & it's the only local search site with the superguarantee®. so next time, let the good guys save the day. get the superguarantee®, only at superpages®. in the book, on your phone or at superpages.com®.

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minding your business this morning. that jobs report comes out about two hours from now. the most important economic indicator in the world, economists forecast the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 9.1%. how many jobs were created in

august? economists say 75,000 jobs is what they are expecting. if it's worse than that, it could be trouble for the markets today. the white house forecasting sluggish economic growth next year, white house says it will be a slower recovery than first thought. in its latest budget office report the administration says unemployment will remain high, not coming down to pre-recession levels until at least the year 2017. that report and frankly concerns about a weak jobs market pushing u.s. markets lower yesterday. the dow, s&p 500, nasdaq closing about 1% lower. this morning stock futures down 2. you have losses in asian and european markets as people wait for that big jobs report and brace for disappointment. the u.s. government reportedly set to sue at least a dozen of the nation's largest banks. according to the "new york times" the agency that oversees fannie mae and freddie mac wants to recoup billions lost after the height of the housing bubble. bank of america, goldman sachs,

some of the banks named in the suit according to "the times." goldman and jp morgan declined our request for comment. amazon offering to bring 7,000 jobs to california opening two new distribution centers there. there's a catch, it's only if lawmakers temporarily stop trying to force the retailer to collect state sales tax for on-line purchases. and the irs is giving a break to hurricane irene victims. if you live in one of the disaster areas and you filed for an extension on your tax returns back in april, you now have until october 31st instead of october 17th to get the taxes done. "american morning" will be right back after this quick break. my name is robin.

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[ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. 6:30 eastern time. happy friday to you. time for this morning's top stories. new orleans under a tropical storm warning.

a tropical depression now forming in the gulf of mexico could drop 10 inches of rain or more on the big easy over the next few days. the governor of louisiana has declared a state of michael jackson with new orleans facing the threat of catastrophic flooding. wildfires have destroyed dozens of homes, they're threatening hundreds of others. heat and severe drought conditions fueling the fires. cooling weather may give firefighters a helping hand. two hours another kind of forecast the august jobs report will be released. forecast of the health of the labor market. economists predicted the economy created 75,000 jobs in august. they expect the unemployment rate to remain at 9.1%. this is cnn breaking news. news developing right now, a growing rift in the once close relationship between israel and

turkey. the turkish foreign minister announcing this morning his government has suspended its military agreements and lowered its diplomatic relationships with the jewish state giving them until the end of wednesday to get out of the country. ivan watson live in istanbul, turkey. this is part of growing tensions going on leading to the united nations general assembly in about three weeks from now where we are expecting the palestinians to declare unilaterally their quest for statehood. tell us what has happened. >> the relations have been deteriorating between the two once close middle eastern allies for about two years now, but just moments ago the turkish foreign minister fired a diplomatic broadside at israel saying basically, that israel's diplomats here in turkey, everybody above the level of second secretary, that means ambassador, console general,

they have until wednesday to pack their bags and leave. they're also formally suspending any military agreements between these two countries and turkey's announcing it does not recognize the gaza blockade that israel has imposed for years now. it's pretty dramatic. anybody who hoped these allies would start to repair their relations, that's not happening right now. turkey is standing firm, demanding an apology from israel for the shooting deaths of eight turks and a turkish american passenger on board that bloody night of may 31st in the eastern mediterranean, demanding compensation and wants that blockade lifted from gaza. israel -- ali? >> all right. ivan, we'll follow this carefully. something israel didn't want to happen because its relations with turkey are important as well as relations with egypt as we head into the declaration

we're expecting to hear from the palestinians. thank you very much. we'll keep in touch with you on this story. this weekend president obama will get a firsthand look at some of the damage from hurricane irene. he'll tour the flood damaged areas of new jersey, including, of course, the town of patterson, which has been absolutely ravaged by flooding from the passaic river. >> amid all of the devastation there is a story of survival. susan candiotti has that for us, live in canford, new jersey. tell us what it's about? >> hi, ali and carol. good morning to you. you know, here in canford the floodwaters have receded but there's still a huge mess to clean up. a lot of personal belongings line many sidewalks and many neighborhoods. you have washingthave washing m furniture. some lost the foundations of their homes. one man almost and could have lost his life. he panicked when the river started to rise and instead of staying on the second floor, second story of his house, instead he ran downstairs,

opened the front door and dove into chest high water. >> reporter: the river is right in your backyard. you're watching the water go up and then you see your kids' play set in the back of the tree. what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking it's very dangerous and time to leave this place. >> as you're looking outside, what is the storm looking like and what's going on in your head? >> the house is surrounded by water and i thought about eventually leaving, 3:30, 4:00 in the afternoon on sunday. i grabbed my credit card and my keys. i opened the door, the water rushed in. >> show me where you went. >> i started walking down here did one of these, i got here and the water is up to here. i walked, i walked. literally the water is splashing in my face. i walk up here. this is the lowest point to come up. i walk up and it goes to higher ground and i literally grabbed on to the railing here and my neighbor pumping the water out very well -- >> what did you say to him? >> i got to get the heck out of here. he said are you nuts?

auto i said i'm swimming out of here. >> i'm swimming. hold on to branches. pushed over here. grab on to the pole over here. let go and get thrown all the way over here. >> i lost sight of him at the front door and so i decided to come over here. he said keep an eye on me. this is a great view. walked over here, looked out the window, and i saw him rest on top of that wooden fence. and he started doing a back stroke. >> back swam to the bhushs over there and then i see him in the window and gave him a thumb's up. >> did you think your life was on the line? >> absolutely. i thought i would be out in the street and literally done and be dead. i guess an angel or somebody or sal was watching me get to where i had to go. but it was not a point of -- i just had to do it. i have four kids and i'm on my own and i have to get out. >> you made the decision and you were going for it? >> yeah. i brought my credit card and car

keys. >> reporter: so he kept that credit card in his mouth and swam away. his wife and kids were somewhere else. they didn't know about his plan ahead of time. found out afterwards. weren't happy about it, but obviously very happy that he made it out okay. back to you, ali. >> susan, i'm not getting, why did the -- was the neighbor's house unaffected and why did his neighbor stay in the house? >> yeah. his neighbor wasn't going anywhere. they were under an evacuation order. the neighbor stayed put and that's right, he was in a slightly higher ground. but he let his neighbor go for it and there was no one to call, 911 wasn't working. the phones were down. so his neighbor decided to swim for it. >> and the other guy decided to stay in the house. they were both really lucky. >> that's right. >> wow. sure is a neighborhood story. >> absolutely. >> susan, thank you. up next on "american morning," the president is preparing to go public with his jobs plan, but the presidential republican presidential candidates are also coming up

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in about two hours the biggest x factor in this country's economic recovery will be released. we're talking about the monthly jobs report from the labor department. it is expected by economists to show that 75,000 jobs were created in the month of august and if that's true, it's not great news. we really need way more than that. some say up to 200,000 jobs a month, just to start to put a dent in our unemployment rate. far more than that if we want to bring it down. that's why the president is gearing up to deliver a major speech on jobs next week. joining me right now, my good friend deputy political director paul steinhauser. you come armed with brand new numbers. >> i shire sure do, ali. we know the economy is the top issue with americans. want more proof check this out a new cnn/orc poll out, look at this, 68% say the most important thing for the obama administration is to create jobs. only 30% say most important

thing is to reduce the budget deficit. the federal budget deficit. there is a partisan divide here. check out the next number, democrats say yes, create jobs, 83%. two third of independents agree. 54% of republicans and only 48% of people who say they are tea party supporters say creating jobs is more important than lowering the deficit. a partisan divide there, ali. >> for at least a couple of gop candidates, paul, they're coming out with things that look a little bit like the beginnings of job creation plans. >> yeah. let's talk about mitt romney, the former massachusetts governor making a second bid for the white house on tuesday in nevada, he will lay out his plan two days before the president. this morning in about two hours before he speaks before a hispanic florida group he will give a sneak preview. i will make business taxes competitive with other nations, and support america's workers instead of its union bosses. i will promote exploration of our own natural resources which will create countless jobs. he goes on to say i will cut

federal spending, cap it at 20% or less of the gdp and finally finally balance our budget. now, jon huntsman, former utah governor came out with his plan, didn't wait until next week, he did that on wednesday at a speech in new hampshire. seems "the wall street journal" likes what he said saying that the huntsman plan seems to be far far better than some of the frontrunners in the race like romney and perry. here's what they say in their editorial, perhaps mr. huntman should be asked to give the republican response to the president's job speech next week, the two views of what makes an economy grow could not be more different. the wall street journal influential among fiscal conservatives. >> interesting numbers. paul steinhauser joining us from washington. believe we're taking a quick break, is that right? christine, why take a break, when we can talk to christine? >> i have a quiz for you. we're talking about jobs with paul. what is the single biggest insulator against unemployment? >> a good education. >> that's right. when you look at some of the statistics, some of the statistics about the different levels of unemployment in this

country. these are numbers from last year, 2010, the whole year's average, so right now, we're talking about a 9.1% unemployment rate on average in this country. last year, on average, you had about a 8 or 9% unemployment rate. a high school diploma, the unemployment rate 14.9%. associate degree, cut that in half, 7%. a bachelor's degree, last year the average unemployment rate for someone with a bachelor's degree was 5.4%. i mean, less than half of somebody who doesn't have one. masters 4%. professional degree, 2.4%. doctor rate 1.9%. we know when you look at the past when you see these low unemployment rates it's more education. what about pay? it also stands true for pay. look at this, somebody with a -- less than a high school diploma, makes last year, $444 a week. that's barely enough to live on, right? somebody with an associate's degree $300 more a week. pump it up to a bachelor's degree, about $1,000 a week to

year two, a professional degree which pays more than a doctorate, $1600. there's this big discussion about is college worth it, is more education worth it in this economy? so many know somebody who is out of work. when you look at higher up the education ladder, those people have better insulation against this terrible economy than people further down, ali. >> and you know that you're going to get tweets about this and i am from people who say i know people with masters degrees who don't have jobs but the statistics, wherever you look at them from, whether the labor department, private studies, universities, they bear out exactly the same message, higher education insulates you better against unemployment. >> it shows there's two americas. we've been talking about these two americas. in that big -- the america making more money, those people have a higher education. >> question is how do you pay for it? >> can i ask you a question, christine. there is a sense if you're paying something like $30,000 a year for your kid's education, does it balance out in the end?

>> you don't have to pay $30,000 a year for a kid's education first of all. i mean i hope that people who can't afford that think i'm not going to send my kid to school because i can't afford it. the average student debt coming out of school is 24, $25,000 a year. think of it. if you choose the right major relevant major in a growing part of the economy, you're going to be able to pay back those loans eventually, right? the big question that we need to be talking about in this country is how do you make a good, quality education affordable for everyone? so that you're not bankrupting your family to send a kid to school. >> right. >> that's what kills me. community colleges, they're great community colleges, state schools you look at the return on your investment to a state school, it's pretty good. >> much higher. >> it's really good. there are important financial decisions for families to be making, but bottom line the unemployment rate is lower if you have a college education and earnings higher, period. >> thank you, christine. >> you're welcome. >> we got it. it's 45 minutes past the hour. top stories after the break, including the blackmail scandal

involving the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi. >> gibson guitars is the target of a federal investigation. it is 45 minutes after the hour. ♪ [ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over.

47 minutes past the hour. here's what you need to know to start your day. following breaking news, turkey says it is expelling the israeli ambassador and cutting military ties with its close ally israel.

the decision follows israel's refusal to apologize for last year's deadly raid on a flotilla headed to gaza strip. new orleans facing a tropical storm warning and the prospect of massive flooding this weekend. tropical depression now forming in the gulf of mexico. it's expected to drop at least 10 inches of rain on the big easy in the next few days. crews on fire lines in texas could get a boost from cooler weather and calmer temperatures, but no rain. a major wildfire near dallas has burned 40 homes. it's now 50% contained. the state is suffering through a record ongoing drought. the august jobs report is out at 8:30 a.m. we find out how many jobs were gained and lost last month. we'll bring you the report the minute it's released. we'll have a great conversation with harvard economist ken rowgof. rome business man and his wife arrested for allegedly blackmailing italian prime minister silvio berlusconi. the businessman accused of paying escorts to attend parties with the prime minister before taking over $700,000 from

berlusconi to keep silent. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" back after this break.

legendary rockers swear by their gibson guitars. now it appears the feds are wailing on the company with claims that gibson is illegally importing wood for those guitars, armed agents raided gibson's factories and headquarters last week and it's not the first time. cnn's david mattingly tells us the company's ceo is not happy about being the target of a federal investigation. >> reporter: good morning. it's a case of a classic made in

america product at odds with uncle sam over how u.s. law is enforced. ♪ >> reporter: he makes guitars that make america sound cool, but gibson's ceo henry juscough is ordered to change his tune. >> sounds almost a little ironic you're playing the blues right now. >> i got the blues. >> reporter: that's because in late august, armed federal agents raided his tennessee factories for the second time in two years, alleging the illegal importation of rare protected wood. in this case, ebony and rose wood from india. an affidavit filed by the u.s. fish and wildlife service alleges gibson falsely labeled the wood shipment to make it sound legal and suspiciously omitted the company's name as the recipient. but so far, no charges have been filed. it almost sounds like this company was engaged in smuggling these raw materials into the

country. >> well, we were not engaged in smuggling. we have been buying fingerboard stock on a regular basis from india for 17 years. >> reporter: on the neck of a guitar, the tropical hardwood is prized for its look and durability but subject to a law called the lacey act, aimed at fighting black market trade and protected animal parts and plants and anything made from them. >> but the material that came in the box from india looks just like this. >> looks very similar. >> reporter: he says the fingerboards gibson imported from india were confiscated as illegal wood by the federal government. >> the law says that if a guitar or instrument of any kind crosses a boarder, you have to know the specie of wood that every component is made of and where it came from. >> reporter: if this is true, could hundreds of international stars like paul mccartney and bb

king risk seeing their gibson's confiscated at the border. >> michele obama gave a gibson guitar to the wife of the pshs or prime minister of france a year snig the first lady may have broken the klaw? >> yes. >> reporter: the lacey act does give federal agents broad authority to pursue smugglers. but if you own a gibson don't worry. we asked the u.s. fish and wildlife service for clarification it released this brief statement -- and right now, in spite of his strong claim of innocence, gibson is a target. >> nightmare. it's a nightmare. >> reporter: it took almost a week before gibson got back into full operation, but the damage had already been done. just the shutdown of that one

day with the materials that were taken, cost the company over a million dollars. and now, the maker of the guitars that have commanded the spotlight for over 100 years has no choice but to play on, and wait for its day in court. ♪ >> reporter: no word from u.s. fish and wildlife service, department of interior or the department of justice about when or if charges might be filed. back to you. >> david mattingly reporting, thank you. we asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair. this from jessica -- >> this from james --

and this from heather -- keep the conversation going. facebook.com/americanmorning. i just thought it was about the dancing. >> yeah. >> silly you, christine. >> i'm fascinating how controversial things can become. >> watching people get shin splints. it's been six years since hurricane katrina and new orleans finds itself preparing for another potentially deadly storm. it's 55 minutes after the hour. a network of possibilities... ♪

in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. the gulf coast is on alert this morning. bracing for as much as 20 inches

of rain. louisiana already under a state of emergency. >> from north carolina to new england, finally some relief after hurricane irene left its devastating mark on both people and property. texas fire crews appear to be getting the upper hand in their battle against a major wildfire that's now burned dozens of homes near dallas. and it's taken ten years to confirm what many 9/11 new york city firefighters say they already knew. america's heros facing a higher risk of getting cancer on this "american morning." all right. good morning. friday, september 2nd, 2011. welcome to "american morning." it's friday. >> that's the best thing about this day, it's friday. up first we have to talk about the weather. new orleans and the gulf coast bracing for big trouble this weekend. tropical depression 13 in the gulf of mexico could become tropical storm lee. it could dump up to 20 inches of

rain in the area, a state of emergency already in effect in louisiana. flooding, the biggest concern there. >> i want to tell folks here, though, is what we do know is that there's high wind, there is a lot of rain, and it's going slow. that's not a good prescription for the city of new orleans. >> oil giants like exxon have already evacuated their workers sending choppers out to those big oil rigs in the middle of the gulf of mexico to bring everyone home just in case. meteorologist jennifer delgado is tracking the storm in the extreme weather center in atlanta. so, 20 inches of rain, sfll. >> isolated areas, we could see that much rainfall. that will cause problems with flooding, certainly through southern parts of louisiana as well as even for areas including mississippi. here's the satellite imagery. you're seeing a little bit of an increased convection over the last several hours. you can see the rain working into southern parts of louisiana. as i show you the winds, the winds right now sustained at 35

miles per hour, gusts up to 45. and right now it's located about 240 kilometers to the south of the mouth of the mississippi. you can't pick out a center of circulation, so getting its act together. very likely to become a tropical storm as we head later into the day. now, as i show you this track, want to point out to you, getting close to that southern coastline of louisiana. sunday, right around 2:00 a.m. with winds at 60 miles per hour. and then if you notice, even on monday, still winds at 60 miles per hour and then it starts to exit out of louisiana area as we head through tuesday morning. the system is moving slow and there's nothing really going to steer it out of there. but the other problem, too, there's a lot of uncertainty with the track. this is a spaghetti model and showing you the different forecast professional tracks. you can see all over the place. really focusing on the track is not the big deal right now. you really want to worry about the potential for heavy rainfall. we're talking rain is going to continue to climb as we go over

the next five days. you can see the scattered showers and thunderstorms working into lower parts of louisiana and it's going to continue to increase. watch this clock we go from friday into sunday into monday. we're talking 10 inches of rainfall. look at this bull's eye for areas down toward the south. we're talking potentially 15 to 20 inches of rainfall. this is going to be a big problem with the floodings and then you add in the storm surge, certainly louisiana needs to be paying close attention to tropical depression number 13. now again, i want to update you on tropical storm katia. notice on the satellite imagery it is starting to look a little better. right now it's a tropical storm. it looks like it's going to become a major hurricane as we head into the middle of the week. so we will continue to follow those storms. right now, tropical depression number 13 is our main priority and rightfully so with all the rain that's going to be heading in that direction. keep in mind, you know, it's labor day weekend. a lot of people wanted to go to the beach and it's going to

affect parts of texas to florida. >> although texas probably will welcome the rain, but we'll keep an eye on that tropical storm. thanks so much, jennifer. >> you're welcome. >> nearly a week after hurricane irene president obama has issued a disaster declaration for vermont where rochester suddenly became islands after floodwaters washed away roads. rescue crews are getting supplies to people who have been without food, water electricity for days. in north carolina residents of hatteras island will be allowed to return to their homes beginning sunday. utilities and other infrastructure that took a major hit from irene are being restored. in new jersey, the storm swollen passaic river is finally beginning to recede. the president will get a firsthand look at the flooding in new jersey when he visits on sunday. a number of people were wondering why it's taken so long for that disaster declaration in vermont. something to remember is that these states do have to file a certain amount of paperwork to get that. and that is sometimes to fend off critics who say, you know, people take advantage of disasters. the governor told us the other

day they were filing those reports and expected to get -- >> the good part about that the fema people were in vermont already pre-storm ready to help. >> help them justify getting the aid. >> i read in the "l.a. times" there are only 3600 flood insurance contracts in the entire state of vermont. >> oh. think of that. >> never floods there like that. >> people -- so there's going to be a coverage issue and taxpayers through different vehicles of government, emergency vehicles, will be the one who is foot the bill for the storm. if you were not hit by this storm you were hit by this storm. one guy in new jersey was in his house when the floodwaters reached his living room. what happened next is a story. susan candiotti is live in canford, new jersey, with the details. good morning, susan. >> good morning. in fact, this area still hundreds and hundreds of people are without power. and so many people are trying to clean up after the mess. the floodwaters are gone here, but look at the stuff lined up along nearly every sidewalk here.

some people even lost the foundations of their homes and one man, as you indicated, could have lost his life. now he flat out panicked when the river started to rise. he defied an evacuation order and stayed inside his house. he could have gone up and stayed on the second floor and could have ridden out the storm, but instead, he decided he was going to take a chance. because he couldn't take it anymore, he went downstairs, opened the front door in chest high water and decided to swim to escape. >> reporter: the river is right in your backyard. you're watching the water go up and then you see your kids' play set in the back of the tree. what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking it's very dangerous and time to leave this place. >> as you're looking outside, what is the storm looking like and what's going on in your head? >> the house is surrounded by water and i thought about eventually leaving, 3:30, 4:00 in the afternoon on sunday. i grabbed my credit card and my keys. i opened the door, the water rushed in. >> show me where you went. >> i started walking down here

did one of these, i got here and the water is up to here. i walked, i walked. literally the water is splashing in my face. i walk up here. i know this is the lowest point to come up. i walk up and it goes to higher ground and i literally grabbed on to the railing here and my neighbor pumping the water out very well -- >> what did you say to him? >> i said, i got to get the heck out of here. he said are you nuts? i said i'm swimming out of here. >> i'm swimming. hold on to branches. i get pushed over here. i grab on to the pole here, let go, and get thrown all the way over here. >> i lost sight of him at the front door and so i decided to come over here. he said keep an eye on me. this is a great view. walked over here, looked out the window, and i saw him rest on top of that wooden fence. and he started doing a back stroke. >> back swam to the bushes over there and then i see him in the window and gave him a thumb's up.

>> did you think your life was on the line? >> absolutely. i thought i would be out in the street and literally done and be dead. i guess an angel or somebody or sal was watching me get to where i had to go. but it was not a point of -- i just had to do it. i have four kids and i'm on my own and i have to get out. >> you made the decision and you were going for it? >> yeah. i brought my credit card and car keys. >> so he swam away with the credit card stuck between his teeth. he is one very lucky man. ali? >> all right. susan candiotti, thanks very much. as we reported the rivers -- the passaic river in particular starting to -- it's crested and starting to recede. drought in texas. texas and oklahoma starved for rain these days. right now they're dealing with wildfires that have burned dozens of homes. the biggest of the fires in north texas near dallas. it's 50% contained. authorities say some residents who were forced to leave their homes may be allowed to return

today. and for that, they are certainly grateful. jim spellman is following developments live in the resort area of possum kingdom lake, texas. what will they find when they come home? >> well, the people who lost their homes, it's utter devastation. i mean there's sometimes just a chimney standing. these are large substantial brick resort homes. very nice places. those areas are devastated. a lot of the areas around this lake are fine, already yesterday some people were getting their boats into the water. overnight firefighters here got just the kind of conditions they like. very cool and there's no wind at all. that's the two things they really need to get ahead of this fire. all morning, they're going to really go at it, use helicopters and big air tankers to try to get this really under control before the midday heat and wind picks up. their goal is to finish everything up today and even get the mop up down so that this area can be opened for the tourists to come back through labor day weekend, christine.

>> all right. jim spellman in possum kingdom lake, texas, thank you, jim. this is cnn breaking news. >> a lot of earthquakes going on. we've got brand new news about an earthquake, 7.1 striking the aleutian islands off the coast of alaska. it does appear the epicenter of this was on fox island. now fox island to give you a sense of it, its closest point to alaska to the mainland is about 120 miles. it's closer to 1700 miles from anchorage. it's right out between -- it's in the berring strait between alaska and russia. jennifer delgado is following this in our weather center. what are you hearing about this? >> we do know that right now we do actually have a tsunami warning in effect and that includes the coastal areas of alaska. it looks like it's an area about 80 miles northeast of dutch harbor and it's also -- you're

going to have to forgive me, i don't know how to pronounce this, looks like amchika pass alaska, about 125 miles west. we know it is a 7.1. want to point out, it looks like it's shallow. we're getting in the initial reports, but the depth is actually at 24.2 miles. now you have to keep in mind, when you have a tsunami warning out there, these waves can actually wrap around islands. so certainly this is an area that we're going to be paying close attention to with a 7.1, you keep in mind, the earthquake and strength of the one in japan, roughly back in march, so this is rightfully something to be certainly aware of and there is a possibility, certainly, with the assume warnitsunami wa out there, we're trying to get this information in, this can travel at speeds and areas quite far away. we will try to pull more information up and hopefully have a graphic up for you as we go over to our google earth. over here with a producer right

now with monica. i'm going to click on this for you. maybe you might be able to zoom into the area. looks like actually i might have -- >> how far from dutch harbor? >> looks like roughly it is 80 miles northeast of dutch harbor. >> while you'rechecking what you're checking. anybody who watches "the deadliest catch" dutch harbor is the starting point. the aleutian islands what some think is the old land bridge over the bearing strait between the united states and russia and a number of the people who live there are indigenous. they are what a lot of people think of people who came over and it is a very lucrative fishing area. you can see how it stretches out from mainland alaska. look where the dot is, almost halfway between russia and mainland alaska. >> absolutely. >> dutch harbor, vicious waters. these are hearty people to start with, but an earthquake is devastating. >> with that tsunami warning in place, as i kind of go over the graphic for you, maybe i might be able to show this to you.

we know it's a 7.1. anywhere along this area we're talking north of the epicenter or to the south, the waves could actually wrap around this so that's going to be a problem. and, of course, we're worried about the western coastline of possibly the northwestern part of the u.s., southern part of alaska, and even the possibility if you spread it all the way over towards the west, cross over the pacific there. certainly this is something that we're going to need to dig a little farther into and we're going to try to get more information. again, i can tell you, a very shallow earthquake, it is quite strong, 7.1. if memory serves me correct, i think the one in japan back in march was a 7.0. i have to go back and look and see for more information. this one not quite as shallow but you do know when we have that, there are reports, of course, of high waves spreading all the way across the pacific even became deadly along the coastline western coastline of the u.s. >> thank you for that. and stay on it. if you have anything new let us

know we'll get it on tv. jennifer delgado in our weather center reporting on a 7.1 earthquake in the aleutian islands off -- between russia and alaska. in other news, in less than 90 minutes the jobs report for august will be released. about whether people are finding work so they can spend money and keep the recovery going. and president obama will speak about his jobs plan before a joint session of congress on thursday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. see that speech live right here on cnn. and according to a new cnn/orc poll the president will be speaking to the nation that is nervous about the economy. when asked if we are in a recession, 82% said yes. 18% said no. and when asked what the most important issue is for the administration, 68% said creating jobs, 30% said reducing the deficit. >> a technical definition of a recession and how people feel and their instincts. >> nobody believed the recession was over even though economists said it was. >> way before it was named that there was a recession people

knew they were in a recession. a rupture in the once close relationship with israel and turkey. earlier this morning, turkey announced it's expelling the israeli ambassador and cutting military ties with the jewish state. the move follows israel's refusal to apologize for last year's deadly raid on a flotilla headed to gaza last year. now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question for you this morning, is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair? even if you're not a fan of abc's "dancing with the stars," i'm sure you've heard, hundreds of viewers are not happy about chaz bono's invite. >> i hope that, you know, fair, open-minded people take the opportunity to get to know me week by week and realize that, you know, there's nothing scary about me and transgender people are, you know, just people like everybody else. >> but the hopes of acceptance are not apparent yet. on abc's message board there were hundreds of angry comments

like this one and i'll quote it -- >> this isn't the first time a tv show has been accused of pushing an agenda. in 1992 vice presidential candidate dan quayle blasted the values of the single and pregnant murphy brown. >> it doesn't help matters when prime time tv has murphy brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly-paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice. >> today, there are more than 11 million single mothers in america. can you even imagine an outcry about murphy brown today? granted, transgender is depicted on mainstream television are more controversial but "dancing with the stars" executive producer conrad [ inaudible ]

told "the hollywood reporter" -- so the talk back question this morning, is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. >> still to come, moammar gadhafi is on the run, but still defiant as ever. vowing to fight. we are going it live to tripoli with a new message believed to be from the ousted libyan leader. >> dr. sanjay gupta on a new study that says firefighters at ground zero on 9/11 face an increased risk of cakancancer. does rick perry make the grade when it comes to education. critics accuse him of under funding texas schools. we'll have the facts in a live report, that's just ahead. it's 16 minutes past the hour. we're cracking down on medicare fraud.

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18 minutes past the hour. new and defiant rants apparently from libya's former le eer lead moammar gadhafi. broadcast on a syrian tv network? >> that message among other things the voice declares libyalibya capital has been moved from tripoli to sirte. dan rivers is live. the voice of moammar gadhafi we think? >> we think so. i mean it's pretty difficult to tell, but sounds like it could be him. and as you say, a message of defiance that he was broadcasting. we don't know when that message was taped f it was taped or live. it gave the impression of being live but it's difficult to say. we don't know where he was crucially when he made that message, whether he was in libya somewhere, was he in neighboring algeria, was he in sirte or still somewhere in tripoli? we don't know.

the message was the same, carry on fighting, urging his loyalists to go on the offensive against the rebels who now have the vast majority of the coastal strip here, that crucial coastal area including of course the former capital tripoli some say it is still the capital. >> for the people in tripoli, libya, are these messages from gadhafi resonating or they've moved on and know he is no longer the leader of this country? >> i think it depends which town and which people. there are still significant pockets of loyalism to colonel gadhafi and this will be a great boost to them to hear the voice of the man they are fighting for, saying, you know, clearly saying he's still alive to keep fighting, keep on the struggle. for the people that are behind the rebels i think they will shrug this off, play this down, suggest he's yesterday man, they're moving ahead with drawing up constitutions, with

looking at trying to organize elections and so on and so forth. the timing of this message was interesting as well, coming exactly as world leaders were gathering with leading members of the ntc in paris, almost just as soon as hillary clinton was shaking hands with chairman galil this came out. >> the optics are of embracing the new leadership of this country and trying to minimize the fact that moammar gadhafi has not been found. thank you very much, dan. i would say given the story from dan a little while ago for people lining up for gas the issue on most libyan's minds isn't whether the new capital is in tripoli or sirte. still to come, 9/11 firefighters at risk, study says they are more likely to develop cancer if they were at ground zero. 2012 gop contender rick perry under fire for slashing education spending. critics say he's under funding educati education.

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25 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. the big jobs report comes out if about an hour from now. economists forecast the unemployment rate to remain unchanged, 9.1%. they're calling for 75,000 jobs to have been added to the economy in august. a lot are wondering whether it will be that high. the white house forecasting sluggish economic growth next year and a slower recovery than first thought. in its latest budget office report the administration says unemployment will remain high,

not coming down to pre-recession levels until 2017. that white house report helped push u.s. markets lower yesterday. the dow, s&p and nasdaq closed about a percent lower. stock futures are down, everyone waiting for the big jobs report i was telling you about. the u.s. government set to sue at least a dozen of the nation's largest banks. according to the "new york times" the agency that oversees fannie mae and freddie mac is looking to recoup billions of dollars lost after the height of the housing bubble. bank of america, goldman sachs, jp morgan and deutsch some of the banks named in the suit according to the "new york times." goldman and jp morgan declined comments. don't forget for the latest news about your money check out the new cnnmoney.com. "american morning" back right after this break. ♪ i've been waiting

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which means it's time to bring you top stories this morning. new orleans under a tropical storm warning. a tropical depression in the gulf of mexico could drop up to 20 inches of rain on the big easy over the next few days. the governor of louisiana already declared a state of emergency with new orleans facing the threat of catastrophic flooding on the sixth anniversary of hurricane katrina. we're following breaking news in alaska right now, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hitting the aleutian islands, the area home to major commercial fishing enterprises. our meteorologist jennifer delgado says a tsunami warning has just lifted a short time ago. we'll watch that for you. the crews may have the upper hand on a major wildfire in north texas. officials say it is now 50% contained and 14 some of the people who had to evac be wait may be allowed to return to their homes today. firefighters exposed to toxic dust after the world trade center towers collapsed ten years ago are much more likely to develop cancer. that is the finding of a new study headed by the chief

medical officer of the new york city fire department. here's the headline, firefighters at ground zero face a 19% greater chance of cancer, risk of getting cancer, than firefighters who weren't there. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins us live with more on this study. sanjay, this would seem to indicate that dust produced by the collapse of the twin towers is responsible for making some of the first responders sick. this falls, you know, against some other research that was done that isn't allowing them to collect health benefits. give us a sense of what's going on here. >> the real issue here, ali, is the cancer connection. they've known for some time that there are various other maladies that are connected to the deaths, mainly respiratory illnesses as you know, ali, but, you know, with regard to the connection to cancer it's been a back and forth, a contentious controversial issue, even this last summer it came up again where there was a study that showed no connection. this is a large study, nearly 10,000 firefighters studied over the seven years following 9/11

and what they found as you said, exactly what you said, 19% increased risk of getting cancer if you were a first responder, a fire department worker, working on the pile. now, they also said that, you know, as part of this study they were going to exclude cansers that seemed to appear too soon after 9/11, could they have been brewing before 9/11/2001. if you added those in the increased risk was 32%. the doctor is the chief medical officer of the fire department of new york, and i spoke to him in advance of the embargo being lifted on the study. take a listen to what he had to say. >> we start seeing cancers, we want to answer their questions, is cancer increased. i will have to tell you my initial buy bias was for the first ten or 15 years we would not see an increase. that's another reason why i think our findings are so strong, because i thought we would find the opposite. >> you were surprised? >> very much so.

whether we can say cancer is increased in other responders or area residents we have no idea. this is a study about firefighters. their exposure is so unique. 85% of the exposed were present in the first 48 hours of the collapse when the exposure was massive. that is a very unique exposure. >> firefighters watching, they have the lingering question, why did i get this cancer and was it related to the dust? and you would say what? >> for most instances it was world trade center related. >> very strong statement there as you listen to that. a couple carve ve ats. first of all he said he was surprised at these findings in part because even though it's been ten years since 9/11 that's considered early, as far as cancer studies go. sometimes it takes 15, 20, 30 years for cancers to develop. again, he just is talking about fire workers, you know, first responders. he's not generalizing to the

population of lower manhattan or other first responders. he makes some specific caveats there with the study. >> the congressional bill, that deals with that, that extends to more workers at ground zero and they have said that they'll reevaluate this in 2012. doesn't help in terms of the benefits for those people. i listen to him and he said the exposure of firefighters was unique in that 85% of the ones that they were studying had been there within 48 hours when the dust was at its most severe. talk to me about the dust. there's a question about whether it's carcinogenic or toxic. how does it hurt people who inhaled it? >> it was a wholly unique situation in that you had amalgamation of chemicals you've never seen thrust together. benzene, asbestos, put together and then sort of clinging to dust that hung like a mist over the city. people were sort of breathing in these chemicals, strange combinations of chemicals, over time. particularly in that 48-hour period he talked about. the other thing i found

interesting and significant, there were a lot of volatile compounds in the air right after 9/11. so for the first couple of days, these gaseous mixtures was something being breathed in by people but then it just sort of evaporated into the atmosphere. it was never able to be collected, never able to be analyzed like the dust was. the point is there are things that people were breathing in at the time that we'll never know exactly what it was. when you get the dust into your system, the obvious concern it can cause respiratory problems but we know it set off an inflammation in some people's bodies, ali, could have been the again na sis of these cancers that the doctor is talking about. >> for the rest of the 9/11, the people trying to get covered for their cancers, as a result of the 9/11 bill that was passed in congress, they were denied earlier this year. they said that commission will look at it again next year. does this offer any hope of change in their ruling? >> you know, it's interesting. i asked the same question, the

doctor, he knows the process and they have to wait another year for this study to be a part of the consideration. i mean, i think a lot of people think this study should be evaluated sooner. this is at odds with what was decided in july that there was no connection. this study suggests there is a connection and that connection we're just seeing the beginning, 15, 20 years it could be worse and the doctor and others think that, you know, this study should be looked at sooner. >> sanjay, thanks very much. we'll talk to you in a little over an hour about your special, "the last heart attack" and some of that food you've been making me ingest to try to make me a healthier guy. >> you look better. >> our friendship is on shaky ground right now, but i'll talk to you in a little over an hour. sanjay, check out his full investigation of the health fallout from 9/11 and rare never-before-seen footage, "terror in the dust" this wednesday, which i guess is next wednesday, at 11:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. >> never collect that first

gaseous moments after the first couple days and everyone in manhattan, there was a smell. >> right. nobody could tell what it was. >> nobody ever smelled it again. that is that unique combination, i'm sure, of all of these chemicals and toxins. new this morning scary stat, 16,000 guns have gone missing, just missing, from their manufacturers. 16,000 since 2009. that's according to a new report from the brady center. anti-gun violence group. it claims that some of these missing guns don't have a serial number. that means they're impossible to trace. some gun industry advocates are disputing the findings, but you know, a gun with no serial number, that is the wholly grail for organized crime. >> although the atf has its ways of looking for those things. a fund-raiser causing controversy. the pima county republican party is offering a handgun represented by gabrielle giffords who not even eight months ago was the victim of a mass shooting.

the gun is being raffled same make as the one allegedly used in the shooting. local democrats say the raffle will upset the community. republicans say it's a long-standing tradition. authorities in peru bringing murder charges against joran van der sloot. prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence for the death of stephany flores, a peruvian woman found dead in van der sloot's lima hotel room in may of last year. still to come this morning, no tea pore mitt romney. a major tea party group is protesting the republican party candidate's appearance at a tea party rally. we'll find out why. [ woman ] we take it a day at a time.

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it is 40 minutes past the hour. for the first time mitt romney will headline a major national tea party rally that will happen this sunday in new hampshire. while the republican presidential candidate is trying to embrace this powerful voting block, not everyone in the tea party is ready to embrace mitt romney. joining me now is most kibby, president and ceo of freedom works. welcome. >> thanks, carol. >> your group freedom works is angry mitt romney is speaking at this tea party express tour top

and some of your members are protesting. why? >> well, we really object to the false perception that mitt romney on the issues that really matter to the tea party, is good with the men and women of the tea party movement. i think he's been standoffish up until now and suddenly he's in trouble with the polls and wants to create this perception. this is not a dispute about mitt romney, it's about mitt romney's record, particularly on health care, on regulation of carbon, on wall street bailouts. he's been wrong on the key issues that tea partiers care about. >> while mitt romney is speaking at this rally, what do your members propose to do? >> well, the protests in new hampshire is really being organized by andrew hemingway, one of the tea party leaders from the state, and we're going to be talking about mitt romney's record. we're going to be talking about romney care, we're going to be talking about his report for individual mandate. >> will they allow mr. romney to

speak or be very vocal during the speech he's giving? >> i don't think -- there's a misperception about tea partiers. we were're not disruptive but wl set the record state. we would love to hear him take a stand on some of the issues but make sure that people know showing up a tea party rally is not the same thing as being right on the issues. >> this is from the tea party express, the organization that's hosting mitt romney. i just want to read you a statement from them. they say we've been very clear that this presidential tour is open to presidential candidates who want to speaks to the tea party. we don't think it's right to tell the tea party who they can and can't listen to. a top down isolationist approach isn't constructive to the political process. why not invite mitt romney to speak and let tea party members decide for themselves? >> well, of course, we've been in this debate for quite some time now, listening to governor romney, hoping to hear him step

away from his support for government run health care, hoping to hear where he's going to be on some of our key issues. he hasn't been there yet and again, this is about policy and if governor romney wants to step up on some of these key issues i think we are willing to listen. but again, this is about the perception that just showing up at a tea party rally makes it okay that mitt romney is good with the tea party and he's not. i've talked to tea partiers all over the country. >> some might perceive you don't even want to listen to mitt romney to see if he's changed his positions or see if some of your members would embrace what he says? >> i don't think that's what's going on here. i think this is a photo op. and what we're looking for is substance and if we hear that from governor romney, we'll give him credit where credit is due. >> okay. i would like to move on to michele bachmann. she won iowa's straw poll. she's the face -- the head of the tea party caucus. she's been the face of the tea party caucus. yet she's slipping badly in the polls. why do you think that is?

>> well, i don't think there's any single candidate that represents the tea party movement. i think we're looking at all of the candidates on these same issues we're looking at governor romney on, and what we hope to see is a -- an alternative to mitt romney emerge, someone that stands tall on spending, on the budget, on opposition to over epa regulation, all these issues that we care about so much. >> that does sound like michele bachmann's agenda. i just found it interesting that fox news did this poll and 10% of tea party members felt that michele bachmann's views were extreme. what are they talking about? >> well, i think there's two criteria that tea partiers look at for any can tate. one is where they stand on the issues and the other is their electability. i've heard some tea partiers tell me they don't think michele bachmann is electable. keep in mind the goal here is to defeat barack obama. that's our goal and we're

looking for that candidate that can do that. >> that brings me back to mitt romney, because if you look at -- depends on which poll you're looking at, i understand that, but most republican voters seem to think that mitt romney still has the best chance of beating barack obama. >> yeah. there's a tradition in the republican establishment to simply choose the next guy in line. we did that with bob dole, did that with john mccain. these guys hardly succeeded in their bids for the presidency. and i believe that the reason that establishment republicans like mitt romney will not win is that they turn off independent voters like tea partiers that care about issues. they're not going to vote on a partisan basis. they're going to vote on things like health care, things like the federal budget, on like tax reform and that's where mitt romney falls short. >> matt, thanks so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and don't forget on monday, september 12th, cnn along with the tea party express and several other tea party groups,

will co-host a debate with republican candidates in tampa, florida, and "american morning" will be live in tampa the day after the debate for all the morning after analysis. >> i'm going to be there, the day before too. we can talk ability its day before, the day after. >> lot of fun in new hampshire, a lot of fun in florida. time for today's roman's numeral. >> 1038. >> the price of gold. >> here's a hint. it's not the price of gold and it's not how much you'll be spending on gas this labor day. $1,038. >> what it is. >> "american morning" back after this break. [ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over.

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lot going on. here's what you need to know to start your day. preparing for a tropical depression in the gulf of mexico could trigger massive flooding in new orleans this weekend. up to 20 inches of rain in the forecast. the governor of louisiana has already declared a state of emergency. this weekend president obama will survey the flood damage in new jersey from hurricane irene. he plans to visit the state on sunday. the president has issued disaster declarations for new jersey, for new york, north carolina and now vermont. firefighters in texas now getting the upperhand on a wildfire that's destroyed dozens of homes. some of the people evacuated, they are now returning to their homes. officials say the fire is 50% contained. crews are racing to get the national cathedral back open in time for 9/11 prayer services. it was partially damaged during

last week's earthquake. it's been closed ever since. president barack obama is scheduled to give an address at the national cathedral on 9/11. did you know in florida, it's illegal for couples to live together if they're not married? one florida congressman is trying to repeal that law. right now more than 540,000 floridians are in violation. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" is back in 60 seconds.

2012 gop contender rick perry is under fire. this time from critics who say the texas governor is underfunding schools.

perry signed off on $4 billion in education cuts. his supporters say he is spending less while improving the quality of education. which is it? cnn's ed lavandera joins us with the facts. ed? >> reporter: this is actually a really interesting time, because rick perry announcement he is running for governor came after a very contentious legislative session in texas and putting his education record right in the spotlight. ♪ >> reporter: texas educators have the country time blues. hee haw style. ♪ >> reporter: these dallas area school officials are lampooning perry for approves $4 billion in education cuts, almost 10% of the state's education budget. critics like allen weeks head of

save texas schools group say the governor is gutting education. >> he is talking about doing things on the cheap and cutting and cutting and cutting and again, we are going to face another round of $5 to $10 billion in cuts two years from now. so, you know, i think, yeah, we do feel abandoned and i think we feel shocked. >> reporter: rick perry aides say the fear over education budget cuts are overblown. are you saying essentially it's not going to be as bad as people think it is? >> i do think it's not going to be as bad as people think it is. >> reporter: robert scott is the man perry appointed to lead the texas education agency. he argues education is a top priority and says the governor created programs to improve math, science and engineering and during perry 11 years as governor students score around average in math, science, reading and writing. perry's administration says it's spending less and getting better results. >> i think a strong sentiment across the state we need to live within our means and keeping some money in the bank for the

future seemed like a pretty wise idea for many folks. >> reporter: what is most troubling for education experts is that national assessment scores for fourth and eighth graders have been stagnant the last five years. at the same time, texas ranks 44th in the country on the amount of education money it spends on each child. texas also has one of the worst high school dropout rates in the country. >> so we are going to have lots and lots of children in this state left behind and if that is what happens, if that is the model for america, i don't think we will be able to compete globally. this is not something i think america wants. >> we will get our country working. >> reporter: rick perry's critics say he is out of tune on education and the debate will only intensify on the campaign trail. ali, one of the other debates and i think most people around the country with when they hear of texas education with little they have heard are these debates how evolution and should be taught in science classes and intelligent design, some people

think it's a code word for creationism. those are the kind of debates some people here in texas say have made the state a laughing stock. the perry administration has always welcomed these debates and says everyone deserves a seat at the table and say everyone's point of view should be debated but, obviously, the governor's critics say this isn't the kind of debate you want to take to a national level. >> bring up the fact we see the debates you mentioned. texas has a very large influential and contentious education system and made some strides that other states haven't made so this is a complex issue. thanks for that, ed. good to talk to you. >> reporter: you got it. thanks. we asked you to talk back on one of the stories of the day. asked you this question this morning. is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair? rebecca says our country is moving from the godly values on which it was built. many nations who do this have crashed and burned eventually.

this from linda. how many lgbt people does god have to make before people figure out that he likes them? how is it to invite a person such as chaz bono to dance? no other contested has been questioned about their sexual orientation. gary says more proof that anything is becoming acceptable. shame. mary, for heaven sake how silly is all of this fuss. my christian values you accept everyone for who they are. by being so critical of people different you could be missing out on a great friend. good luck to chaz. i hope he has a great time on the show. end of story. keep the comments coming. >> god, obviously, loves diversity. that was great. >> not according to the first person who wrote in. the nation is going to crash and burn. i'm worried now. >> speaking of crashing and burning.

rome -- just kidding. roman's numeral is $1038. >> i say price of gold. >> it's not that. bruce guessed it correctly. it's a college graduate's median weekly earnings in 2010. why does this matter? it's 40% more than someone with just a high school diploma. we keep hearing the stuff does the education count or matter? i can't afford all of this debt. you earn 40% more than by getting a bachelor's degree. the unemployment rate for people who do have a bachelor's degree is half of the people who don't. there you go. >> this is a precurser in half an hour, we will get the unemployment number for july -- for august. i heard you saying it is really one of the most important economic numbers in the world right now while we are waiting for a recovery. >> the most important economic number in the world because the american middle class is the most important consumer and the

most important economic driver in the world. the american middle class is hurting and why the whole world wants to know. >> we heard the world markets are crashing because of it and it isn't even out yet. a tropical storm is heading towards new orleans. a state of emergency is up for that area. when you're on the rd to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge! whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement.

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[ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding.

drive sober, or get pulled over. new orleans bracing for a bruising weekend. a tropical storm depression is formalitying in the gulf. 20 inches of rain could fall on that city the next few days and could trigger catastrophic flooding exactly six years after katrina. a slower burn in texas. i'm carol costello. firefighters getting the upper happened on a major wildfire near dallas that is now destroyed dozens of homes. who is hiring? i'm ali velshi. we are just 30 minutes away from the monthly jobs report. one of the most closely watched and most important indicators that we have. what it means for america's recovery on this "american morning." ♪

good morning, everyone! it's friday! so happy it's friday! it's september 2nd, twv2011. welcome to "american morning." in less than 30 minutes we will get the august jobs report, the numbers for job creation in this economy in august. expected to show 70,000 jobs were created. we have 300 and some million people in this country. that is far less than the 200,000 jobs many say we need to even make a dent in the unemployment rate. it's why the president is gearing up to deliver a major speech on jobs next week. >> the president will come forward with specific proposals that by any objective measure would add to growth and job creation in the short term. >> joining me now is our deputy political director paul steinhauser. paul, good morning. when jay carney was asked does

the president think his plan is going to create jobs. jay carney said, yes, it will create jobs, by any measure. they gave us a measure before in stimulus. if we pass the stimulus we will have unemployment rate at 8%. that didn't happen. >> it didn't happen and in the spotlight next thursday night when the president goes before congress. the country is out of recession over two years now but americans don't feel that way. brand-new numbers. we just put them out this morning. look at that. 82% say yes, the economy is in a recession. only 18% say no. americans i guess, don't agree with the economists. jobs by far the most important economic number. want more proof? look at this number right here from our same poll. we asked americans what is more important for the obama administration to do? create jobs or reduce the deficit? by more than 2-1 margin 68% say create jobs and only 3 in 10 reduce the deficit. >> presidential candidates are out with their own job plans and trying to look presidential. mitt romney may give hints about

his own plan. what do you know about? >> he will speak on a hispanic group in film and what he will say tuesday in nevada when he lays out his plan. he calls for making business taxes competitive with other nations and eliminate what he calls burdensome regulations and bureaucracy. jon huntsman, he didn't wait until next week. spelling out his plan on wednesday in new hampshire. the "the wall street journal" loves it. they are praising him this morning and his plan and, of course, "the wall street journal" very influential among fiscal conservatives. >> you are right. thanks so much. president obama will speak about his jobs plan before a joint session of congress as paul said on thursday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. you will be able to see that speech live right here on cnn. right now, new orleans and the gulf coast bracing for big trouble this weekend. tropical storm depression 13 is in the gulf of mexico. it could become tropical storm

lee. it could drop up to 20 inches of rain in the area. state of emergency is already in effect in louisiana. floog flooding the biggest concern right now. >> what i want to tell folks here, though, is what we do know is that there is high wind. there is a lot of rain and it's going slow. that's not a good prescription for the city of new orleans. >> oil giants including exxon have already evacuated their workers sending choppers out to their rigs to bring everyone home until this is all done. jennifer is tracking the storm in the severe weather center. unusual in normally we have a few lines that show where this thing is going. this is a little bit more uncertain. >> yeah, it's all over the place, ali. that is why everybody really needs not to focus on the track of the system. they need to realize this is going to be a big rain-maker and also talking about a storm surge and this is going to lead to a flooding threat. as i show you the updated information, the maximum winds

right now sustained at 35 miles per hour. we lost the gust so hopefully we will get that later on. i want to point out to you the movement to the north. we talk so much about the forward speed of a storm system and this basically doesn't have one. it's been virtually just standing still over the last several hours. you can still see a bit more convection coming out of that. the rain working in through southern parts of louisiana. now to give you an idea of the track, and, again, don't just focus on the track. i want you to really focus on how it's going to be moving so slowly and pointing out to you as we go through sunday morning or i should say sunday morning right around 2:00 a.m., it is approaching looks like that coastline of louisiana and then by tuesday, we are still talking 2:00 a.m., just finally starting to exit out of louisiana. so what is this going to mean? as i said, incredible rain amounts are going to be coming down. right now, you can see the storms moving in. some of those bands working in through louisiana. can't forget about mississippi and alabama, they also will be

dealing with the heavier rainfall. as i put this into motion and take it out through next week, look at the totals there. anywhere in white talking more than 10 inches. we are talking 10 to 15 inches and some localized areas could pick up about 20 inches of rainfall. so this is going to be really bad news in the sense flooding and, of course, we always worry about louisiana, of course, with the levee system across region. i also want to update you on the travel forecast for today. of course, we have tropical depression 13 and if it develops into a tropical storm later on it will be lee. i want to point out a chance for severe storms in the upper midwest and hot dealing with the fire threat still for areas including the south and over towards the rockies and then for the northeast, it looks like we are going to be dealing with temperatures starting to warm up and also going to be increasing the humidity as we go through the upcoming weekend. i want to point out to you september 10th is the statistical peak for hurricane

season for the atlanta and we are just days away from that. hard to believe it's already september the 2nd. >> you and your team are going to be busy for the next several days. >> yes, we will. >> jennifer, keep us posted. jennifer delgado in our extreme weather center. in texas, a little water would go a long way there. crews are battling a major wildfire not far from dallas and actually making good progress this morning. jim spelman is live at possum kingdom lake, texas. things are looking up? >> reporter: indeed, carol. the sun just come up here so the crews will be able to get out and assess how much progress they made overnight. conditions really good for them overnight here. it's nice and cool. no wind at all and what they need to try to get ahead of this fire and get this put out. you know they can't take any chances because of the severe drought conditions. 90% of the whole state of texas under severe drought conditions. high heat. high winds pick up in the afternoon and all takes a spark and an ember to fly behind the

fire lines and this can take off again. so even though they have got 50% containment now, not taking it lightly and hitting on all fronts to get this thing out once and for all here today because they know they can't risk the slightest spark to start a new round of fires here. carol? >> i know that's a popular tourist spot. how is it impacting tourism where you are? >> reporter: yeah, well, the economy here relies on tourism and it's already tough enough, you know, in these economic times. so losing the final week of summer is big here so their real goal is to get everything reopened for tomorrow for labor day weekend. feel pretty good about it. parts of the lake are already reopened and want to get efg done here today so people can come for the final week. a lot of small businesses here, cafes and gas stations are relying on that last round of income here before things taper down in the fall. so they are optimistic about it. it's really important for them to get it open because on top of

the fire damage, the economic hit is just something they don't need here. >> jim spelman, many thanks. >> one of the early settlers in that area was the fur business and some of his best possums came from around there. >> there is the legend of possum kingdom lake. >> did you google? >> i did. maybe i got snookered but that is what it said in google. 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocking the alouion islands. it's the dutch harbor is where that starts. our meteorologist jennifer delgado says a tsunami warning was issued and lifted a short time ago. firefighters at the world trade center when the towers collapsed ten years ago face increased risk for cancer. a finding of a new study headed up by the chief medical officer of the new york city fire department. study conclusion firefighters exposed to toxic dust at ground

zero face 19% greater risk of cancer than firefighters who were not there. casey anthony may be back in court this morning. she is fighting against paying a stack of fines totals more than $350,000. these fines represent the cost of the investigation into caylee anthony's disappearance and death. caylee is her 2-year-old doubt. prosecutors filed a motion to stick casey with the tab. authorities said she had lied so many times during the investigation that it led to all kinds of time and manpower spent on fruitless efforts to find this little girl. >> now is your chance to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair? even if you're not a fan of the show, i'm sure you've heard hundreds of viewers are not so happy about chaz bow knows' invite. >> i hope that, you know, fair,

open-minded people take the opportunity to get to know me week-by-week and realize that, you know, nothing scary about me and transgender people are just people like everybody else. >> but hopes of acceptance are not apparent yet on abc's message board. hundreds of angry comments like this one and i'll quote it. i am sick and tired of the homosexual agenda shoved in my face. i will not be watching and boycotting "dancing with the stars" sponsors. not the first time a tv show has been accused of pushing agenda. in 1992 dan quayle blasted the values of single and pregnant murphy brown. >> it doesn't help matters when prime time tv has murphy brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent highly paid professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another

lifestyle choice. >> today, there are more than 11 million single mothers in america. can you even imagine an outcry about murphy brown today? genders on television are more controversial granted, but conrad green told the hollywood reporter we don't have an agenda of any sorts. i think of the 120 celebrities we have put on the show we have had now, i think, three transgender or gay contestants. if that's a homosexual agenda, we're not doing very well at it. the talkback question this morning is the criticism against chaz bono and abc fair? facebook.com/americanmorning. >> i thought it was just the dancing -- i didn't know. >> dancing with the stars and politics, who knew? still to come a river runs through it. . talking about a new jersey man's living room. you may not believe how he

escaped the raging floodwaters and survived. plus, who has got it easier? a college grad or a grandmother? we will talk to both to find out. dr. sanjay gupta will have some tips on how to heart attack proof your diet. you're watching "american morning." it's 13 minutes past the hour.

blame it "ren. another day of waking up in the dark for more than a million people who are still without power from north carolina to maine. president obama issuing a disaster declaration for the state of vermont. rescue and relief efforts have resumed in communities like rochester, vermont, places literally cut off by floodwaters. >> residents in hatteras long island will be allowed to return to their homes today. president obama will see the flood damage areas in new jersey for himself this weekend and expected to visit on sunday. one man in new jersey was in his house when floodwaters arrived in his living room.

what happened next is quite the story. cnn's susan candiotti is live in cranford, new jersey. this is a story you should not do in a flood. >> reporter: carol, a lot of people are talking about what happened to this man. richard bond temple in cranford. a lot of his neighbors think he is crazy. he would tend to disagree but what happened clearly here he panicked with water gushing into his house and instead of staying inside on the second story he went outside and dove into the water to try to escape! right in your backyard. you're watching the water go up and then you see your kids play set right in the back of the tree. what are you thinking? >> i'm thinking that it's very dangerous and it's time to leave this place. >> as you're looking outside, what is the storm looking like and what is going on in your head? >> the house is surrounded by water. i thought about eventually

leaving 3:30, 4:00 in the afternoon on sunday so i grabbed my credit card and my keys. i literally opened the door, the water rushed in. >> reporter: show me where you went. >> i started walking down here and i did one of these. i got here and the water is up to here. i walked, i walked. literally the water is splashing in my face. i walk up here. i know this is the lowest point to up. i literally walked up and it goes higher ground and i literally grabbed on to the railing here in my neighbor is pumping the water out very well. i said i got to get the heck out of here. i said i'm swimming out of here, i'm getting out of here. >> reporter: are you walking? >> no, i hold on to branches and i get pushed over here. i grab on to the pole here and let go and i get thrown all the way over here. when i lost sight of him at the front door and so i decided to come over here. he said keep an eye on me. this is a great view. so i walked over here, looked out the window. and i saw him rest on top of

that wooden fence and he started doing a backstroke. >> back swam to the bushes over this and then i see him in the window and i gave him a thumb's up. >> reporter: did you think your life was on the line? >> oh, absolutely. i thought i would be out in the street and literally done and be dead. i guess an angel or somebody saw me watching to where i had to get to go. i had to do it. i have four kids and i'm literally on my own and i have to get out. >> reporter: you made the decision you're going for it? >> yeah. i brought my credit card and my car keys. yeah. >> reporter: that's right. he kept the credit card in his teeth. he's a very fortunate man when you think about it, carol, because he could have impaled himself on anything. look at all of the debris out here now. who knows what was floating under the water that he wasn't able to see. >> susan, just so i know and in case my neighborhood is ever flooded, i should have gone to the second story of my house and wait for help to come?

not like you could call 911. the service is out. >> reporter: that's right. he could not have done that. he actually wasn't supposed to stay there nor were his neighbors because they were under an evacuation order, so, quite frankly, if something happened to him, as you know, authorities can't go out in the middle of a storm and try to save anybody. the conditions are far too dangerous. so, you know, he took his chances and, fortunately for him, he was lucky. >> so the advice here is when there is an evacuation order, get the hell out of there. thank you, susan candiotti reporting live from new jersey this morning. still to come this morning, who are the companies that are hiring and who are companies hiring? is it the college grad or the more mature american with years of experience? we are going to find out. granny or grad, who gets the job? can you cure heart disease with food? our own sanjay gupta spent the last year looking into that very question very specifically. he joins us ahead with answers that could save you or someone

you know. answers about eating and heart disease on the other side. 21 minutes after the hour. 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.

"minding your business." the big jobs report out in a few minutes about 5 1/2 it minutes. economists forecast the unemployment rate unchanged at 9.1% and they expect 75,000 jobs were added to the economy. in august. but, quite frankly, markets worldwide are bracing for a disappointment here. the white house forecasting sluggish economic growth next year and slower recovery than first thought. in latest budget office report the white house says unemployment will remain high not coming down to pre-recession levels until at least 2017. white house report helped push u.s. markets lower yesterday. dow, s&p 500 and nasdaq down 1% each and stock futures are down this morning too. waiting for the big jobs report and worried it will show the most powerful middle class in the world doesn't have enough jobs yet. the u.s. government reportedly set to sue at least a

dozen of the nation's largest banks. according to "the new york times" the agency that oversees fannie mae and freddie mac is looking to recoup billions of dollars lost after the height of the housing bubble. bank of america, goldman sacks and other banks are named in the suits according to "the new york times." goldman sachs and j.p. morgan declined our request for the comment and the other banks have not responded to our calls so far. august sales for new cars and light trucks rose 7.5% last month according to research by auto date a corps. chrysler and general motors said their sales up for individuals buying vehicles as opposed to fleet sales. a good sign perhaps for consumer and the broader economy. "american morning" back with the jobs report after this. oh, we call it

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we're just minutes away from getting the august jobs report. economists are expecting that

the united states economy added about 75,000 jobs in august, but when it comes to actually landing one of those jobs, what exactly are employers looking for? is it a college grad? or someone with years of experience? here is sandra ento. >> how can a young college graduate. >> reporter: two years after graduating from college, 25-year-old tony fletcher has yet to put his business administration degree to use. >> i'm doing a lot of odd and end jobs, doing security at a nightclub at night, so anything i can do right now to keep food on the table. >> reporter: 60-year-old denise jones is also looking for a job. she said she was laid off 16 months ago after her position as a medical clerk was outsourced to india. >> i have spent out so many resumes. online. everything is online. i haven't gotten one response. >> reporter: unable to afford living on her own, this grandmother moved in with her daughter and being a senior citizen in this job market makes

it even tougher. >> i'm experienced. how many people -- how many companies really will utilize that experience and at least pay you a decent wage? >> reporter: fletcher and jones may be at opposite end of their careers but both are scouring job fairs and fighting for work in a market perhaps too small to straddle generations. >> the sweet spot of the labor market right now is probably if you're, you know, 28 to 45. you're old enough to have a record of job experience and young enough to understand some of the new technologies. >> reporter: so who is more marketable? the granny or the grad? energy and youth skills versus wisdom and experience. this tough job market is pitting every generation against each other but it really comes down to what each person brings to the table. >> in terms of job search, it comes down to how proactive you are in your job semp. >> reporter: so don't give up? >> don't give up.

persist and be proactive. >> reporter: good advice since experts say seniors and grads are two groups most likely to give up and drop out of the job market. sandra endo, cnn, los angeles. here are your top stories. new orleans under a tropical storm warning. the governor of louisiana already declaring a state of emergency with new orleans facing the threat of catastrophic flooding on the sixth year anniversary. hurricane katrina. progress on the fire lines in texas, though, crews battling a major wildfire near dallas say it's 50% contained. blaze has destroyed dozens of homes and some of those that are to evacuate are now returning home in north texas. rupture in the once close between israeli and turkey. they are cutting military ties with the jewish state and

follows israeli's refusal to apologize on a flotilla headed to gaza last year. >> august jobs report has just been released. let's go to christine romans. >> zero. we didn't create any jobs in august. and that is we have seen economists lowering their expectations over the past day or two and they were right. zero. the unemployment rate was steady at 9.1% but no jobs were created so it looks like that for you here. this is the forecast for 75,000 jobs created. instead, it was nothing. 17,000 jobs cut by the government. 17,000 jobs created in the private sector but this is a labor market that's doing nothing essentially. i want to show you the president's -- since the president took office because this is a huge political story as you know. this is what it was like when the president first took office. we were losing hundreds of

thousands of jobs every month. related activity related to the stimulus and a little bit of momentum here. now, as i said, you've got nothing here again. oops sorry. you can't see that. nothing here again. it's a disappointment. it really is a disappointment. i will say that market have been anticipating this. they have thought that this is the most powerful middle class in the world, right? and they are not seeing the signs of economic activity that they would have liked. they are not seeing the confidence among businesses and consumers that many people think at this stage of our recovery we should have companies sitting on 2 trillion in cash and not hiring people and frankly people putting money in their bank and their pockets because they are still uncertain what going to happen next. there you go. 9.1% and the worse since 2010 the worse for jobs creation since september. >> come over and join me. we will talk to ken about this. health care did go up in august. 30,000 new jobs. the government is counting 45,000 verizon workers who were

offer and some question as to whether or not they would be counted so they have been included in this and they are back and that strike is over so a bit of an anomaly. manufacturing essentially unchanged. kind of flat. ken rogoff joins us now. good to see you, ken. we're in this weird place where we don't have these strong reactions to these job reports because we all get we are kind of stagnating. >> i think that has happened especially the last couple of months where a lot of the numbers have come in soft and those forecasters who thought we were going to bounce out of this at the end are now saying this is going to be a long time all of the growth numbers are getting lower and i'm afraid this isn't that surprising. it is discouraging but it's not that surprising. >> is there analysis, right, that companies are holding on to their catch and people holding on it their cash and paying a lot of depth. six months down the road whether you're running your household budget or your company.

i don't really know. i'm not confident enough about the outlook to make any big decisions. >> i don't think any question about that that there is a big overhang of debt in the economy. we have not left the recession. i mean, i think that is the point most americans understand. and the thing holding us back from a normal recovery is not just the government debt that everybody worries about but all of the private debt, the mortgages, it's -- >> it's all still there. >> yeah, yeah. >> here we go into next week, where the president has a much vaunted speech. what can i possibly say that could provide any relief to anybody? >> confidence. people and companies need confidence it's going to turn around. >> the set fact what happened this summer with the debt debacle. people thought there isn't going to be anything in washington. we will see paralysis another year. even if president obama puts forth a great idea, could he get

it done? if he were him i would put forward my idea, this is what i want to do. i would not ask what can i get done and what is politically feasible at this point. where i want to be the next decade and state it. >> what would you tell him? tax cuts. >> i think flnks is a good idea. anybody travels around the united states know we have problems and there are subtle ones like our electric grid and unemployed construction workers. you can't be paying three times going rate for the jobs you're creating. nobody wants that. certainly not sharply raising taxes right now. i think it's pretty clear. i suppose he'll announce that. so, you know, these are reasonable things. but, otherwise, you just got to look at the fundamentals. education, investment. there is no quick fix. >> earlier in the program we were talking about the unemployment rates for people with a college degree and the average weekly earnings for people with a college degree. is that still a buffer, more

education and a relevant education if we are going to be in an environment, he is a professor, of course. i have a feeling i know the answer. you have a particular vent on this. what i mean is people who look at this report are discouraged every time they hear us talk about jobs. what can a family do? >> well, i certainly think that education is going to be important in the long run. that's not going to change but it's not helping necessarily right now. i can't tell you how many kids are getting out of college and they can't find a job after one year, after two years. they have a really high unemployment rate. there isn't anything kick and, you know, you could be more flexible about what you'll take, being willing to move which, of course, is hard for some americans because of their housing. >> ken is so practical. how do we turn it around? we had a debt crisis and financial crisis and it takes years for these things to work out. >> if there were a silver bullet somebody would have fired it by now. this is going take a while.

>> i think the main message, we never left the recession. we are in a great contraction. not as bad as the great depression and give washington a little bit of credit for that, it could have been worse but it's not where we are racing out of this. >> when people feel bad about their economic circumstances they take it out on their politics and leaders. >> i like to think whoever wins the presidentially will be able to trump a recovery at the end of that. it it is going to happen. so whoever wins will say, "i did great." >> our new poll, 8 out of 10 americans think we are in a recession. jim courier is in the studios to talk about tennis.

who is your pick to win the u.s. open? we have already seen venus williams drop out of the ladies side with auto immune disease. on the men's side, many americans can't stand up to the

style and skill of the international stars so let's talk about that and the u.s. open. our next guest is former world and number one player, jim courier, who is now a tv analyst for cbs sports. thanks so much for coming in. >> good morning. great to be here. >> let's talk about the american players first off. there is no big star any more. i think that shows in a lack of apparent enthusiasm for the u.s. open this year. >> i think i disagree with that because serena williams is one of the biggest stars in the game. >> aside from the williams sisters. >> we have andy roddick who is a top ten player the last decade. >> he is up and down but not somebody like andre agassi or jimmy connor. >> mardi fish is number one. we have spoiled our fans and been lucky in this country and, look. the game has gone really

international. we are in an era in the men's game which may never see again where we have three arguably the best players if djokovic continues his climb. rafael nadal in that conversation will hold the crush for now. i know you spoke with him. and djokovic with season of the ages right now. how do you break through? >> a woman from new jersey who carries an american flag in her tennis gear just to say, you know, america is represented and i'm here. >> listen. we have good young players in both the boys and the girls side. christina mckale is a good one. sloan stevens had a great win yesterday and could play serena if they both win tomorrow which would be really cool and jack sock who plays andy roddick tonight on the stadium court who is our u.s. boys champion. and he has a lot of potential. i will keep throwing names out.

we are working at it. >> you're saying, who, who? >> venus made headlines this week. she has an auto immune disease she has. how was that received in the tennis world? >> i think with agasp initially because venus means so much to the sport and up with of our leading lights and she really is particularly in the women's game, sort of the voice of reason on that side. for her to have potential career threatening issues like that which we don't know much about it. we are just learning about it. i think it took us all aback for a second and now finding out more about sjo grrks rgren's sy. she is 31 and maybe not much runway on the back end as there was on the front and we have gotten a lot of great memories from venus and it's not a life-threatening, it's just a life altering.

>> watching serena play yesterday. her opponent was a much lesser opponent. serena was just serving. serena was just like this if her opponent did fight back. >> the game has changed, hasn't it? >> technology has moved the game forward, but also the general athleticism of the sport is really increased. if you look at the average height in the men's and women's game over the past 20 years, these athletes have now grown probably three to four inches on average. martina navratilova was considered a hulk. she is 5'7" and basically a smaller player in the women's game now. serena who is 5'10" and sharpova is 62. if she wears heels, sharpova looks like she is in the nba. >> they play a more finesse game? >> i don't think that is necessarily the case. one the things we are trying to do in our country is get them at

a younger age to play more on clay courts. when you talk about the finesse game and a little bit more strategy, clay is a real great tutor for a younger player and something we haven't probably done enough of and i grew up on clay. i'm from florida originally and we have a lot of clay courts down there. if you grew up in california like a pete sampras, you never saw a clay court. look around the business world. it's competitive out there. the world is a tough place and tennis is a great living. it's a bigger sport internationally than it is in the u.s. so a lot of the better athletes overseas gravitate to it. we divide ours up amongst the other sports that are popular here in the states. >> thank you for coming in. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> it was great meeting you. a plant. based diet can do your body good, apparently. reducing your risk of cancer, diabetes and the biggest killer, heart disease. dr. sanjay gupta looks at the

critical connection between food and heart disease and how you can reverse the damage you may have done on the other side of this break. naturals from purina cat chow. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life.

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when the oklahoma city bombing happened, i saw the size of that building on television. i had a hobby of learning to train a disaster search dog. i was deployed to oklahoma city. i did wonder can we really do this? can we really find live people? when i got home, i said, "what is this nation doing with approximately 15 fema certified dogs?" this one building alone requires far more than 15. my name is wilma melville. our organization trains rescue dogs and firefighter handlers to save lives after a disaster. right turn. we like to use shelter dogs. it's a humane thing to do. there is nothing better a dog's nose to find a live human.

that a boy! get out of there, search dog! >> we have been to the world trade center, japan, joplin, missouri, and haiti. >> in haiti, on our fourth day there, we made contact with a 10-year-old girl. we would ask her to acknowledge us with a tap. around the ix sixth or seventh hour, she stopped tapping. >> finding live people is our goal, but providing hope for the on-looker and a place to begin work for the firefighter, those are many fold, many fold objectives.

what can do you to prevent a heart attack? i've been eating kale chips and cambutch juice. how critical is your diet? sanjay gupta has spent the last year exploring the ling between food and heart disease for a special you can see this weekend. he joins me now from atlanta. sanjay, i think fair to say a lot of doctors don't make the same link, they don't tell somebody who may have had damage to their heart or artery clogging that go to a plant-based diet, you can reverse it. >> right. . but they probably should do more of that. a lot of doctors need to drag their patients kicking and screaming like i am with you, ali, into the world of what we have known to be true for some time with regard to our diet. ali, in full disclosure, no nutrition class offered at my medical school.

so there is still a lot of people who just don't know much about nutrition. i learned much of what i know just by myself. there's a lot of studies out there. a study called the china study. you may have heard about this, showing 8,000 different statistical associations between diet and disease. we have known about these associations for some time. what is interesting this is hard to study the plant-based diet i've been encouraging you to try a couple of days because there is not populations of people who just eat that as much as they used to. this is china's study. they looked at world china. they had 10% of the animal rotate that we do here in the united states. you see the two on the screen there, they wrote the study. three times the fiber and what they found, ali, was that if you compare the united states average diet to the chinese world diet, the rate of death from cardiovascular disease 6 times higher among women and 16

times higher among men. the diet was the big difference in these populations. so we don't know what the mechanism is, we don't know exactly how it works but there are health benefits potentially from eating this sort of diet. let me say because i know you've had some concerns, ali, yourself specifically from how the stuff tastes. i will say your taste buds a acclimate overtime. give if a few days and you might enjoy the food i sent you. >> i sent a very pretty basket of food and it looked deceivingly delicious and then i started eating and drinking stuff from there. n i don't look like you but i'll keep on going. >> water. >> a lot of people influenced by this and i encourage people to watch the special. thanks so much. you can see the special "the last heart attack" this weekend saturday night at 8:00. cancel a plan honestly and change what you're doing. you want to watch this.

you may not like the food either but it will change your life. >> i'm still laughing! >> it is gross. >> the delicious remark. coming up next, our talkback question of the day. we will read through some of your responses. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about 40 percent less than gasoline, so why aren't we using it even more? start a conversation about using more natural gas vehicles in your community.

good morning, new york city. central park there outside of

our window. looks like it's going to be a nice day. >> yes. we were talking to tennis great james curious. jim is still playing and competing against like andre agassi and other greats. the championship series begins on september 22nd. we asked you this question this morning on our talkback question of the day. the question was is criticism against chaz bono's appearance and "dancing with the stars" fair enough? >> you seem all choked up about it. >> i think i need a drink of water. this from lana. this from richard. this is still america. people have the freedom to live any personal lifestyle they choose. just as you have the freedom to change the tch channel. when did america become so intolerant of other's personal choices? the majority of our responses. we had nearly 200, were positive

in favor of chaz bono. a tough week for the president. he calls an unwillingness for congress to deal in bipartisan fashion with the country's economic problems. he is not getting any love from the talk show hosts either. >> the white house says it will switch the date of president obama's speech on jobs from next wednesday to next thursday because the republicans have their big debate scheduled for wednesday. so, apparently, debate nobody is going to watch carries more weight than his speech nobody is going to believe. >> ouch. >> all right. before we go today, a little something different happening at "american morning." the last six years, kelly has been our director. >> he is the man in mission control and makes everything fly. there he is. >> there he is right there. >> you can see him. >> there he is. kelly is a lot like me because we both have consistency in