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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  September 3, 2011 7:00pm-8:00pm PDT

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>> that's not a denial mr. governor. >> nor is it an answer. >> tantalizing. i would read that if you were a politician saying that about a policy, i'd say it's definitely going to happen. >> we'll see. >> would it be a nice ending to the saga for you? >> i think so. >> you haven't popped the question yet? >> no, you're going into -- again, that personal sphere that i out of my respect for my boys -- >> it wouldn't be the most shocking thing we'd read or hear? >> we'll see. >> it's been a pleasure. >> it's been a pleasure. good luck with everything. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com > happening right now. that p that that is tropi
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batterip battering the gulf. powerfp powerful winds is, rap rarain threatening the us. a county republican party looks to raffle off a handgun very similar to the one used in the shooting that wounded gabrielle giffords. documents found in libya that could prove damaging to the u.s. >> instead of saying gadhafi all the time especially to avoid attracting attention, between ourselves, we called him daddy. >> one of moammar gadhafi's former nurses shares details about her life with the deposed leader only to cnn and this. >> there's something anti-mexican about what i said, then i apologize for the anti-mexicanness of it. >> was that an apology. comeedate katt williams tries to
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explain his rant targeting mexicans. i'm sue and hendricks at cnn world headquarters in atlanta in tonight for don lemon. you are in the "cnn newsroom." >> wow, look at that. this is tropical storm lee as it slams into the mississippi coast. a group of people tried to keep that boat from being battered to pieces against the pier. it was a losing battle. the waves were just too rough, too big. by morning the vessel was upside down with huge holes in the bottom but the men are okay, the men who tried to save the boat. tropical storm lee is slightly weaker tonight, top winds about 50 miles hour. it is packing a lot of rain, hardly moving at all. right now, it's hovering over the coastline of louisiana and mississippi. nearly 40,000 customers were without power earlier on saturday. but about two-thirds of them have electricity again.
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the governors of louisiana and mississippi have declared states of emergency for several parishes and counties. parts of jefferson parish near new orleans are under a mandatory evacuation order because of the flooding threat. the mayor of new orleans has warned residents to brace for a long ordeal from this storm, up to 20 inches of rain could overwhelm the area. an i-reporter who lives on lake ponchartrain sent us this video as the storm engulfed that area. >> here on the shores of lake ponchartrain and mandeville louisiana, you can see that the water is overtopping the seawall and the yards are starting to flood, especially in the low-lying areas. of course, everybody along this stretch of lake anticipates flooding of this kind. so all the houses are raised about 15 feet above sea level. the houses will be safe but the yards and streets are starting to flood. >> that is what we expect to hear a lot of over the next day or so. water and lots of it flooding.
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cnn's ed lavandera has been tracking the storm's impact in a town that was almost wiped off the map by hurricane katrina. >> residents in waveland, mississippi kind of feel like they have taken on the worst of tropical storm lee. we're here on the beachfront. this is the gulf of mexico. you can see how choppy and churned up has made the water. that's obviously still a dangerous and treacherous situation in those waters. emergency officials urging people to stay out of the water. but you can see just how powerful the storm surge was just a few hours ago. this is the beachfront road. all of this sand was on the beach pushed up by the tide several hours ago. one of the good things we've seen in the low-lying areas where we've seen floodwater gathering is the waters are quickly dissipating. we were in the town of bay st. louis where we saw -- we were
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told thigh high water had reached in some places under some people's homes. over the course of time, that dissipated. this is a slow-moving storm. anytime you talk about these storms coming through the gulf coast, it's a very emotional thing. this is waveland, mississippi where we were was absolutely devastate the almost six years ago to the day, hurricane katrina threw through here. several residents are he will it go us only about a third of the population returned back to waveland after hurricane katrina. in the grand scheme of things, they also know this storm is nowhere close to the power and fury that katrina brought here. they're taking all of this in stride. they made preparations but just considering this storm just a big rainmaker, and that rain continues to push its way inland. emergency officials say that the threat for more flash flooding still very much exists over the course of the next 24 hours further inland, not, up further
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north into the louisiana and mississippi, as well. susan? >> ed lavandera, thanks so much. jake i jeras at the cnn weather center with what this is expected to do overnight. as ed said, it's a big rainmaker. >> it is. it's not moving a lot. that's been our biggest struggle and makes it hard to forecast and pinpoint where some of the worst conditions are. most of it has been offshore at least in terms of the heavy downpours. we've had several areas right in the lower mississippi river valley where we've had incredible amounts of rain. there's been dry air moving into the storm all day long coming in from texas. and that's what's been weaken the storm today soon. the winds are down a little bit. 50 miles per hour. still a tropical storm. it is expected to continue to drift slowly northward and start to take a turn towards the northeast. it's going to take a couple days before it gets out of the lower mississippi river valley and then heads up into the appalachians. we've been waiting on a keyed front and it looks like the
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timing might not be great. this may go behind the cold front which would make it kind of sit there once again and not move a heck of a lot out of the southeast. let's talk about some of the rainfall reports because they have been incredible today. pass ca ghoul la, mississippi, nearly ten inches of rain. new orleans and carrollton, it was almost nine here and gulfport, mississippi, 6.78 inches. this is a forecast animation showing you how much more rain we could expect on top of that. that big purple and white area we're talking about six to ten inches potentially. still a lot more rain to come. the threat of tornadoes continues in that right quadrant with the storm and the cold front should be sliding through. all this moisture is going to get into the northeast. we're worried about additional flooding in upstate new york as well as vermont that have already been so devastated from irene. they could get another one to three inches of and i from this cold front. we'll have to kind of wait and see what happens with lee as some of that moisture starts. >> they don't need it there.
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president obama will be in new jersey tomorrow because of irene. appreciate it. now a cnn exclusive. the collapse of moammar gadhafi's regime is revealing libya's secrets to the world, including supposed agreements to accept prisoners from the u.s. and uk for interrogation. libyan authorities left stacks of files behind when rebels forced them out of tripoli. ben wedeman has looked at these documents. he explains what he saw. >> reporter: they didn't have the much time to shred many documents in the headquarters of libya's main spy agency. in fact, most of the contents of the building are intact. it all amounts to a treasure trove of information about the shadowy world of cooperation between the world's spies. we're in the basement of the libyan external intelligence agency. it's like being in the basement of the cia. and here we've got access to all sorts of documents. letters, faxes and other communications between the cia
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and its libyan counterparts. top secret documents, secret documents with names and dates and all sort of details that some people probably don't want to be made public. and that relationship was, it appears, cozy. peter bukart photographs hundreds of documents from external intelligence run for years by moussa koussa who fled libya last spring. >> moussa koussa was on a first name basis with the cia and mi-6. there's christmas greetings in here. there's documents saying thanks for the oranges you sent. >> the u.s. and libya were at odds for years, but relations warmed dramatically after libya renounced its program for weapons of mass destruction in late 2003. when cue sa started corresponding with then cia director porter goss. libya eagerly signed up for the
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u.s. global war on terror. but just how eager is made clear by the documents uncovered in tripoli. >> they established conclusively what we've been saying for a long time, that the cia was capturing and rendering people to libya so they could be interrogated by libyan security. we even have the cia questions they send to be asked to these suspects that they rendered to libya. >> one of those sent by u.s. officials to libya was alleged libyan islamic militant abdul. according to documents provided by human rights watch, in 2004, the u.s. detained bill honestly, then handed him over to libya. bell hodge now heads the rebel military counsel in tripoli. rights groups and the u.s. state department regularly accused libyan security services of the systemic use of torture.
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bashir shareef was not part of the extraordinary rendition program, but he experienced that torture firsthand. he showed us how he was beaten to his knees in tripoli's infamous prison where he was held from 1984 to 2001. a cia spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of the documents in tripoli but did add that "it can't come as a surprise that the central intelligence agency, would with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly thre threats." among spies there's no such thing, it seems, as a strange bedfellow. ben wedeman, cnn, tripoli. >> and our thanks to ben for that exclusive report. coming up, gop presidential contenders hit the trail this
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weekend, along with a former governor who is not officially in the race but sure knows how to draw a crowd. we're talking sarah palin. but first, a handgun ralph that has a lot of people upset. we'll tell you why. that's next. 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. o0 c1 naturals from delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life.
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if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. aren't getting enough whole grain. but actually, it's never been easier to get the whole grain you want from your favorite big g cereals.
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from cheerios to lucky charms, there's whole grain in every box. make sure to look for the white check. welcome back. an uproar in arizona over the raffle of a handgun. it is very similar to the model used in the mass shooting that killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl and wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords and 12 other people. the glock handgun rifle is at a raffle for pima keep the republicans but democrats call the idea sensitive. a gop leader told randi kaye people should be focused on the
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accused gunman and not on the weapon. >> first of all, it was the actions of jared loughner that happened on during the tucson shootings. so he's the one who is responsible. he could have used any type of weapon, and he chose to use a glock. i think it was a glock 19. we're raffling a glock 23, a slightly different weapon. >> but they look very similar. the same republican official insists the raffle will go forward as planned. but he also told our affiliate if he had known the event would stir such a strong reaction, he would have taken that into consideration before holding that raffle. the last time we saw congresswoman gabrielle giffords, she made a surprise appearance at that important house vote to keep the government from defaulting. remember this? getting a standing ovation. much deserved. now she is traveling some more, spending the labor day weekend at home with family in tucson. gabby giffords has been living in houston while recovering from the near natal shooting in
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january. let's talk presidential politics. new republican front-runner rick perry is forging ahead with his surging campaign. the texas governor spoke to potential supporters at a house party today in new hampshire. the latest cnn poll gives him the lead among the gop hopefuls. he told listeners a match-up between himself and president obama would offer voters an obvious choice. >> as we consider this economic misery spread across this country by the obama administration, we don't need a nominee who's going to blur the differences between themselves and barack obama. we're going to have a nominee who draws a clear contrast. >> republican jon huntsman is also in new hampshire trying to light a fire under his campaign, so to speak, in the state that hosts the first presidential primary. that is him in concord this morning working the crowd at a gun show. cnn's poll shows he trails rick perry and most other gop
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hopefuls by a wide margin. and that brings us to the republican with the real star power and she's not even a presidential candidate. at least not yet. sarah palin was the main attraction today at an iowa tea party rally. she went after some familiar political targets but also took a veiled shot at her own party's new front-runner. peter hambe was there. >> former alaska governor sarah palin delivered a series of sharp attacks against president obama and her potential republican presidential rivals here at a tea party rally on saturday. and while she did not declare a presidential bid and not expected to till the end of september, she did draw a sharp line in the sand against one potential opponent, republican front-runner texas governor rick perry. >> some gop candidates, they also raise mammoth amounts of cash and we need to ask them too, what, if anything, do their donors expect in return for their investments. we need to know this because our
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country can't afford more trillion dollar thank you notes to campaign backers. >> perry is a prolific fund-raiser who has long been criticized by political opponents of rewarding campaign donors and political allies with government jobs and contracts. palin repeatedly attacked, quote unquote, crony capitalism making clear she's not going to cede any ground to republican rivals if she decides to run for president. she tried to position herself as a leader of the tea party movement. we'll watch her today as we campaigns in new hampshire and speaks to another tea party rally and possibly drops more clues what her message might be if she does decide to run for president. peter hamby, cnn, indianola, iowa. >> when we know, we'll let you know. there is no question former libyan leader moammar gadhafi lived a life of luxury. now we are hearing from a former nurse about her time working for
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the ousted leader. the story in her own words next. with a verizon mobile hotspot, you can connect up to 5 wifi devices to the internet with lightning-fast verizon 4g lte speed. a gaming device. ereader. mp3 player. connect any 5 for wifi on the go. get the 4g lte mobile hotspot now for only $49.99. verizon is the place with the largest selection of 4g lte devices. on america's fastest, most advanced 4g network. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car iance. ♪ geic
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in libya. much has been said about the fallen leader's odd ten answers including surrounding himself with all female teams of bodyguards and nurses. now one of those nurses is revealing details about her life with gadhafi. in an exclusive conversation with cnn's maxine tick chen co. >> translator: we were the personal nurses of gadhafi and his large family with all his children and grandchildren and we always accompanied him on his foreign trips.
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we would regularly measure his blood pressure, take blood samples and treat him. we gave him pills and vitamins. we were divided in shifts, the five of us. we drew our timetable ourselves and decided who worked when. as well as who traveled with him. everyone gets sick once in awhile, but generally he was in excellent health. i wish everyone had the kind of health taca daf if i had. i don't know who created this image of his nurses and his female bodyguards. how could anyone in their right mind assume that we could have any intimate relationship with gadhafi? his wife, children, grandchildren, officials, they were around him all the time. none of us had ever been one-on-one with him. rules were sfrikt. we dressed formally and wore no flashy makeup or lipstick going
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to his house. likewise, he never made any passes at us. gadhafi was quite considerate. i don't know much about how the nannies were treated in his family but as for us, he treated us very well. he never shouted at us, was always calm and friendly. every year on september 1st, he presented us with souvenirs like this metalon with his picture and this watch with his picture, too. he gave those presents not only to his nurses but to everyone who worked in his inner circle. instead of saying gadhafi all the time, especially to avoid attracting attention from local libyans, between ourselves, we called him daddy. daddy gave us jobs, money, a good life. we would love to be able to return to libya whether it's ruled by gadhafi or someone else.
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but we were there for one reason and one reason only. simply to make money. compared with libya, life here in ukraine is very difficult. >> coming up, with sexual assault charges against him dropped, dominique strauss-kahn takes flight. where is he headed now. and rumors of a new iphone wouldn't be complete without the prototype being left in a bar. yes, it happened again. we're back in two minutes. (announcer) everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. but it's our job to make them say something interesting. so how about this weekend we learn some new tricks of the trade... then break out our doing clothes and get rolling. let's use some paint that helps us get the job done in record time and makes a statement when we're finished. let's find ourselves a new favorite color. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get five dollars off gallon cans of our top paint brands,
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president barack obama will travel to new jersey tomorrow to see firsthand the damage caused by the remnants of hurricane irene. the president will visit paterson, new jersey, which was slammed by the storm. the passaic river which runs through the city reached the highest level in more than a century. mayor says 6,000 residents were affected by the flood. he wants to hear how the white house will help. dominique strauss-kahn is headed home to paris, two months after he was hauled off a plane and charged with attempted rape. the former imf director's flight comes just days after new york prosecutors dropped sexual assault charges against him. he has denied those allegations which may have ended his ambitions of becoming france's next president. a minor league baseball team is paying tribute to service members killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan august 6th. they wore camouflage uniforms yesterday with each jersey bearing the name of a fallen soldier, sailor or airmen.
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they were given to the families in appreciation of their loved one's sacrifice. 38 service members died in the crash. police now admit they allowed apple investigators to join the search of a private home and rumor has it they were looking for the lost prototype for the iphone 5. they came away empty handed from this home in san francisco. c-net reports an apple employee apparently left the prototype in a bar and get this, it's not the iffers time this has happened. last year an apple employee accidentally left an iphone 47 prototype in another california bar. sounds like a joke? it is not. tropical storm lee is slightly weaker tonight. top winds about 50 miles per hour. wow, look at that. don't be fooled. this is what it looks like as the storm is slamming into the mississippi coast. several people tried to keep that boat from being battered to pieces against the pier. a no go. the storm won that tug of war,
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by morning, the vessel looked like this upside down with holes in the bottom. the folks who tried to save it are okay. lee is hardly moving. both governors have declared states of emergency for several parishes and counties. nearly 40,000 customers lost electricity. power has been restored to about two-thirds of them. parts of jefferson parish near new orleans are under a mandatory evacuation order because of the flooding threat. the mayor of new orleans warned residents 0 brace for a long ordeal. up to 20 inches of rain could overwhelm that area. mother nature was in no mood to play nice on college football's opening weekend. iowa's game against tennessee tech was just one game delayed by foul weather today. the threat of lightning led officials to clear the stadium. the story was the same in south bend, indiana, for notre dame, south florida, and in knoxville for tennessee-montana. fans in and arbor didn't get to
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see the fourth quarter. michigan's match-up was called off because of lightning. the teams agreed to end the game with the wolverines up dean obeidallah-10. not something fans want to see. jacqui jeras is at the weather center. we know how football fans are. they are into the game. this is opening weekend. better to be safe, right? >> absolutely. it was great to see they actually evacuated some of these stadiums to keep people safe throughout the storm. bummer for football fans. tomorrow is another day. hopefully next weekend we'll get great games in. we are tracking storms still moving across the midwest at this hour. a sliver of a severe thunderstorm watch which includes the det tro metro area. you guys have been pounded with heavy rain, lots of lightning. we've seen strong gusty winds to go along with it. this is the cold front helping to drive all of our weather systems right now across the u.s. this is heading into the eastern great lakes by tomorrow and could be having somewhat of an impact on tropical storm lee.
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a lot of you trying to get out and enjoy the holiday weekend. but showers and thunderstorms the rule again across parts of the east from the great lakes to the gulf coast. severe thunderstorms expected here and then as well into that right quadrant from tropical storm lee, windy conditions across texas means the fire threat increases once again. if you're looking for a great place to enjoy the holiday weekend, that's going to be out west. the one good thing about this cold front, it's bringing in cooler temperatures. minneapolis tomorrow only 68 degrees. dallas staying below 90, looking for a high around 81 in washington, d.c. and our frontal system kind of stalling out here as we head into monday. your labor day. expecting a lot of wet weather once again. we will see some showers and thundershowers pop up in the four corners. most of the rest of the west looks okay. then you can see the temperatures that cool air advancing further to the east by monday. how about 77 for you in the memphis area. the latest on tropical storm lee, in case you missed it earlier, 50 miles per hour.
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we've had dry air moving into this storm all day long and that's been weakening it down a little bit. we still have had an incredible amount of rain with this, as much as ten inches in some areas. and that storm will slowly track up towards the north and east. that's going to be sticking with us right through the middle probably even the latter part of the east. we'll have to watch what's going to happen with the impact of lee and all the systems moving into the northeast with all the flooding on going there. >> moving very slow as you mentioned, bringing a lot of rain. jacqui jeras, thanks so much. we mentioned football as jacqui did. remember the tornadoes that ripped through alabama a few months ago? it left many communities in shambles. next, how the university of alabama's football team is helping its hometown of tuscaloosa bounce back. in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside.
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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. it's a lifetime. gone. we'll make it right, john. when the unthinkable happens, we're right there with you to help you get your life back on track. nationwide is on your side.
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the university of alabama football team opened the season today with a victory over kent state. the game meant more than usual to the school and the town of tuscaloosa. it was the first since the tornado ripped through april 27th killing 50 people, including six students. as lars anderson reports, one player saw his life change forever in a few moments. ♪
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>> a deadly tornado twisted and turned through tuscaloosa, alabama, on april 27th and changed things forever. the destruction left behind was unfathomable and touched nearly every residents in this town of 90,000. four months later, the community continues to rebuild. >> in layman's terms, it's like taking the stadium and filling up eb did bris from the football field to the lights three times. we still have another brian denny stadium left to go before we're finally cleared of what happened on april 27th. >> that afternoon, carson was in his house with his girlfriend ashley harrison. the house was in the direct line of the tornado whether he the tornado hit the house, both ashley and carson were thrown 50 yards into a field across the street. it happened to be one of carson's favorite places. just hours earlier, he had been hitting golf balls in that field. ashley did not survive. he suffered minor injuries.
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>> i woke up that morning, it was just another day. and i mean, it wasn't even raining outside. you know? and just like that, i mean, everything changed. >> just being in his presence is just, you know, it gets you through tough times because i mean, you definitely could experience worse things and he definitely did, and he's kind of an example of you know, coming back and being strong and having a positive attitude every day. >> since april 27th, the football players have been on the front lines helping to rebuild the community, rebuilding houses, picking up debris and there to listen to people tell their stories, their stories of loss and tragedy. this is had a positive impact on tuscaloosa. >> we have to be a team, not just in the best of teams when we're playing games and there's 100,000 people supporting us but in the worst of times when the people who support us need our help. i was really, really pleased with the way our players have responded to that and continue
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to respond to it. >> the images don't do justice to the breadth and scope that the damage and destruction the tornado left behind in its wake. so when people come here for the first time for the home opener against kent state, nick saban is hoping it will generate awareness and therefore, more resources will pour into tuscaloosa to help rebid the city. >> we've got a lot of weight on our shoulders. by us being a huge part of this community, they're looking for us to come out and give a little more back to the town of tuscaloosa. so i can't wait. it's a long time coming. >> we are coming back and that is very exciting and very uplifting for those who come and you know, they look at this town and the forest lake community, there is nothing there. and there's just banners that say we're coming back. we're coming back. for me, i just got a chill right now talking about it. >> they certainly came back with
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a win over kent state. that football game meant so much to so many. if you live in baltimore, don't be alarmed if you hear a lot of noise and see cars speeding through your streets on sunday. racing toward an economic boost for the city in two minutes. peoe i wasn't going to do anything. and i just decided i have more to offer than that. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better,
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unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. baltimore is like so many u.s. cities, struggling with a sagging economy and rising unemployment. but tomorrow, the city hopes to get a boost from an auto race and the money spent by fans who
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come to watch it. athena jones has the story. >> baltimore is about to get noisy. this labor day weekend, the place affectionately known as charm city is hosting a fast paced race through the streets with hair pin turns and 90 degree angles reaching speeds of up to 160 miles per hour. >> they run exactly the place your car is running on everyday from 9:00 to 5:00, you're going downtown to work but you're going 35 to 40 mile-an-hour. we're going the same place 160 mile-an-hour. that's why it's so cool. >> it's the baltimore grand prix, the inaugural event in a five-year indy car series the mayor expects to bring more than $5 million into city coffers. >> we're talking about hotels, restaurants, any estimate how much money is brought in in a larger way? >> we're hoping it will be well over $100 million. >> organizers expect more than
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100,000 people to descend on the two-mile downtown loop this weekend. >> the city of baltimore is hoping this event will put it on the map for racing fans worldwide, attracting tourists and giving the economy a much needed boost. unemployment in baltimore is above the national average at about 11%. spectators can watch the indy cars race as well as the sports cars like ferraris and jaguars. we went to watch practice runs and qualifying rounds. and to talk to participants like lemans driver chris ddyson. >> you're pushing these buttons, you're reading things? >> yeah, you've got to be a human computer driving. you have to be clinical about what you're doing. >> both the city and the sponsors have a lot riding on the event. >> it's important to build brand and exposure by bringing on new cities like this. >> and drivers like helio crass toe nev vas who has been racing
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for team penske for 12 years are excited. >> this is going to be a good show. >> athena jones, cnn, baltimore. >> comedian katt williams already in hot water creates more controversy during his remarks to us. it's a cnn exclusive you don't want to miss. but first, as millions of americans is brace for the arrival of hurricane irene, this week's cnn hero was standing by to help the victims. 77-year-old wilma mellville and her search dog organization have helped save lives at major disasters for the past 15 years. take a look. >> 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?
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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 than a dog's nose to find a live human. >> attaboy. get out of there, search dog. >> we've been to the world trade center, japan, joplin, missouri, and haiti. >> in haiti, on the fourth day there, we made contact with a 10-year-old girl. we would ask her to acknowledge us with a tap. and around the sixth or seventh hour she stopped tapping.
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>> finding live people is our goal. but providing hope for the onlooker and a place to begin work for the firefighter, those are meaningful, meaningful objectives. >> she is doing amazing things. placing shelter dogs with firefighters wilma and her organization have trained 131 rescue teams for free. you can learn more about the search dog foundation or make a donation at cnnheroes.com. be sure to join the conversation on cnn heroes facebook and twitter pages. stay with us. we were so blessed when we had triplets. if by blessed you mean freaked out about money. well, we suddenly noticed that everything was getting more expensive,
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castroneves. comedian katt williams is backtracking a bit on an apology for a recent on stage rant. here's part of what he said in phoenix. >> do you remember when white people used to say, go back to africa? we have to tell them we don't want to. so if you love mexico [ bleep ] get the [ bleep ] over there. we were slaves. you all just work like that at
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the landscapers. >> he got into it with a mexican member of his audience after the man heckled him. the comedian angered many in the hispanic community with those comments. williams' publicist released an apology. the comedian says i didn't approve it and said i'm not sorry. here's what he said exclusively to t.j. holmes. >> if a person starts their heckling with f america, then that gives me the right to defend my country. i couldn't be anti-mexican. my mexican fan base is largely responsible for me even existing. so between them and the black community, it's really all i have. but i don't think i need to apologize for being pro-american. the guy said that all of this is still mexico. i was just giving him geography. this is america, greatest country in the world. >> help us understand. so do you not apologize for
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anything? we showed like a 50-second clip there. it's like 11 or eight minutes. go ahead. >> i apologize for the fact that the word anti-mexican is being said to a black guy in america. >> but you don't apologize for what you said in that standup? >> i'm not allowed to as a standup, the only thing that i sell is unsense scored thought. so i'm only selling them the way i think uncensored. i'm not allowed to come back the next day and apologize. that's for the tracy morgans of the world. i meant what i said and i said what i meant. i'm apologizing if somebody thought i was trying to be anti-mexican. they're my friends. >> katt, why it somebody put out an apology on your behalf then. >> they put out a cd called nine lives without my permission when i was in jail.
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if there's something anti-mexican about what i said, i apologize for the anti-mexicanness of it. >> you understand at least some people hearing that, and you were talking to one guy. it's clear that other people in the crowd were laughing at what you were saying to him even as you were going off on the one guy. >> mexicans, i wouldn't have been able to get out of there alive sir, with all due respect. >> katt williams saying i'm not sorry. one activist is trying to organize a boycott of his act. tropical storm lee dumps heavy rain over the gulf states. new info on lee's strength and path. attention all geeks. dragoncon is here. it is your favorites after the break. (announcer) everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn.
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this year, as we open the 9/11 memorial in new york city, we ask that you join us to honor, remember, and reunite. to learn more or to reserve your visit, go to 911memorial.org. tropical storm lee is tearing up the gulf coast tonight with drenching rain. let's go back to meteorologist jacqui jeras at the cnn weather center for an update on this. >> we just got the 11:00 advisory in a little bit early. lee is basically holding status quo in terms of intensity. maximum winds 50 miles per hour. it's kind of been meandering off the louisiana coast all day long and having a hard time forming and reforming that center of circulation. this is an updated track for you now. really no big changes here. still very slowly making its way through the lower mississippi river valley through monday and then it won't be till late
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tuesday when this starts to move into tennessee and across parts of the appalachians. we also have a new tornado watch which has been issued and extended, beak the same area that's been under a watch all day but now this goes till early tomorrow morning. that threat of tornadoes on going tonight. we have one warning right now in effect that includes waveland, mississippi and bay st. louis. take cover now in an interior room at the lowest level of your home. we'll continue see the little spinners, flooding rain a problem through the overnight hours and throughout the day tomorrow. this is a slow-moving storm that will isn't going away soon. we have an update on katia, looking at winds of 70 miles per hour here out in the middle of the atlantic, not bothering anybody. it is going to be bringing in some waves though to the reward and windward islands. the track brings it towards the u.s. late in the week. and still too soon to tell whether or not we're going to get that perfect curve up to the north or this is going to get
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guided in and hug along that coast. we'll continue to track both storms. >> lee slow-moving but very powerful. jacqui, thank you. you would think maybe lee might bring some relief for the fires in texas or oklahoma. not so. wildfires in those two states have left a trail of misery as you know. fires in oklahoma city has destroyed more than two dozen homes. in texas, the state forest service reports 14 large fires have burned more than 20,000 acres. winds from tropical storm lee would make it harder to fight the fires. it is the wind. nearly four months after he was accused of attempted rape, dominique strauss-kahn is heading home. the former imf chief boarded a plane to paris tonight. charges have all but ended his ambition to become france's next president. prosecutors were forced to drop the charges because of questions about his accuser's credibility. southwest airlines apparently doesn't care if you are a big rock star.
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pull up your pants or get off the plane. it happened to billy joe armstrong from green day. armstrong tweeted after the fact he couldn't believe he got the boot from the plane. according to time.com, once news spread about the diss southwest said we're sorry and booked him on the next flight. if you are going to celebrate hot wings, you have to do it in buffalo. the city is hosting the tenth annual national buffalo wing festival this weekend. with more than 35 restaurants serving up their best wings seasoned in more than 100 different flavors. get this, more than 200 tons of wings have been consumed at the event over the last decade. 200 tons. whose counting. it has brought in over $200,000 for charity. a great thing. i'm susan hendricks at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. i'll see you back here tomorrow night. before we go, we have your all access pass to the event where all the trekkies and superheros
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are xwathering this weekend, the fantasy celebration dragon con happening in atlanta. check out this crazy parade. >> hey, i'm on camera. >> dragoncon is the nerd super bowl and the parade is the shining event of the nerd super bowl. it is the most fun a nerd could have all year. >>. >> what's so special about dragoncon, is that it is the largest fan-based run science fiction multimedia convention in the world. >> stand back. we need to make sure you're safe. this not hurt. this one. >> comic-con is bigger, but it's all corporate. this is fan-based run. so you have a l

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