drew griffin in for our suzanne malveaux, working on that terrible piece, a different approach to looking at this anniversary. >> should be interesting as we work our way toward the tenth anniversary. >> you always find the unique stories, that's for sure. >> thanks. we will continue with the breaks news. i am drew griffin in for suzanne. let's get you up to speed on september 6th. more parched earth. wildfires raging. the worst near austin. 500 homes have been destroyed, at least 5,000 people forced to evacuate, some with just minutes. i don't know, maybe, maybe my animals. oh, my god. >> we left our house, and about 30 minutes later we couldn't

even get back to it. it's moving probably 8, 10 miles an hour across the ground. so, you know, god help us. that's all. that's all we can do right now. [ sirens ] a whole different story in the east. remnants of tropical storm lee sweeping through the area. the storm left one person dead in mississippi, knocking out power to thousands all across the south. stocks deep in the red. the dow fell more than 250 points just after the opening bell. right now still hanging down. new concerns about europe's debt cries and the global economy weighing on investors. u.s. stocks plunged friday after a disappointing report showed no growth in jobs in august. two convoys of libyans allegedly loyal to gadhafi have fled to niger.

a source says six high-ranking libyan officials were in one of those convoys. still no sign of gadhafi themselves. nato officials say it's to keep the libyan people safe an not to target the regime leaders. it's the first dahl day of the new job for general petraeus. he's now taking the reins at the kriismt o. cia. he says it will be an exciting new journey. and mitt romney says he has a plan to get america working again. romney will unveil his jobs plan later today. he says it includes 59 specific proposals to help the economy. the plan calls for tax cuts, scaling back regulation, and a system for retraining workers. we'll bring you that event live. it's scheduled to start at 3:30 eastern time today. president obama spells out his plan for job growth before

congress. that happens thursday. at a labor day rally, he told the crowd, he will work to restore the middle class in america, challenging republicans to support the plans he has yet to outline. >> there is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. labor is on board, business is on board. we just need congress to get on board. >> of course, cnn's special compage of the president's address begins thursday at 6:00 eastern time. back to the wildfires racing out of control out of texas. more than 25,000 acres scorched. jim spellman is there. what are you hearing about containment today? are they made headwind? >> no containment at all. winds are good today, calm, much cooler, allow firefighters to try to get some containment.

>> i want to introduce you to shara and her daughter. they were forced to evacuate. what was it like? >> we just got a call from our neighbor that we needed to get out, and claire also was getting calls from friends who live on the street, saying we had to get out. and we just threw kids and dog in the car and left. >> reporter: and your home? >> it's gone. we hear from a neighbor who snuck back in -- we're not allowed to go back, probably for a few more days to see, but a neighbor said that he saw our house and it was gone. >> claire, what's it like to go through that? what does it feel like? >> well, right now you just can't think anything about it. everybody else is in the same

situations. there's no self-pity. we'll be better off than most, but the fact that half of our town is homeless, you can't really think of yourself right now. >> reporter: what are you going to do? >> we don't know. we're trying to form late short-term plan, midterm plan. we're just wandering around stunned, and just aimless. figuring out what to do next. >> reporter: drew, a lot of people in the same position. this is the command center for this fire, trying to pick up a few supplies, water, even toilet paper. about 500 home destroyed that we know of already. these are literally refugees, and as you well know, you go back from a wildfire, there is literally nothing left.

>> reporter: claire's husband had to try to get a new driver's license, cash, stuff you don't even think of, just destroyed. that's just not waterlogged. that's just gone. it's a lot of rebuilding. i'm not sure i can't do the same, drew. >> thanks for bringing that. here's a rundown. first a global sell-off. it's got investors jittery. we're live at the new york stock exchange, as we always are. then the president is set to unveil his plan to get america back to work, but republican presidential candidates have ideas of their own. we're going to break those down for you. a group of teens rips out a page of mississippi's troubled past, allegedly killing a man for one reason -- he was black. you'll hear from that man's family. and this -- >> they just said be prepared to shoot down the next hijack track. then they came back and said, do you have a problem with that? when i got my medicare card,

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aspercreme breaks the grip, with maximum-strength medicine and no embarrassing odor. break the grip of pain with aspercreme. a look at the markets in just a moment, but first some choices for today's "choose the news." text for the story you want to see. what are the choices? how about this one? a young world. a global conference brings together more than 1,600 youthing. hear from some of the celebrity guests, and also the teens participating to see how they would plan to change the world. second, produce patrol. thing of a healthy version of an ice cream truck. we'll take you inside this renovated bus bringing fruits and vegetables to neighborhoods called foot deserts. and testing the fiat. it bought chrysler, hoping a car with a fresh new italian feel

may help. see if the fiat 5700 takes the agreed. vote by texting to 22360. 1, 2 or 3. the winning story airs next hour. at cnnmoney.com, you can see the big story. it's one big story, because it's one big skid. you can see the markets are still pretty far down. let's see why this is happening. >> the same old problems, the economic. worries about it spreading to italy and spain. here at home, the economy is barely moving. so that hangs over everything from consumer spending to business spending, the housing market and sentiment. so the negative sentiment is still hanging over it, and the dow has fallen.

what we are seeing is a flight to safety. the yield on a ten-year treasury bond has hit a record low. >> we also had the terrible, terrible jobs report on friday. we know the market was closed on labor day yesterday. is this some of the carryover? >> that was a real reality check. the street really expected nothing good out of that employment report, but at least 1, 2, 3 jobs added. we haven't seen that added since the second world war. and mainly all bad news since then. the world bank president saying the u.s. is going through a period of high unemployment, and the news that bank of america may have to cut workers. and financial firms with just a big question mark. they're getting hit with more and more lawsuits which could lead to cutbacks. >> thank you, karina. the family of a man allegedly murdered in a hate crime speaking out this hour.

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looking ahead, you know, a lot is riding on president obama's big speech on jobs. he's going to outline his plans before a joint session of congress on thursday. republicans who want to replace him are coming out with their own plans for creating jobs. and we're going to break them down for you. former massachusetts governor mitt romney unvalues his plan later today. it's going to call for creating a, quote, reagan economic zones, a partnership among countries committed to fair trade. romney says that would open more

markets. let's bring in christine romans to talk about this idea. how would this be different from what the world trade organization already does. >> it's interesting, because it puts a new point on the plan. much of the republicans economic plans are kind of similar. this is a reagan -- a special reagan trade zone, and it would be used -- a mechanism he says to confront china which are flowing trade rules and laws, and getting preferential treatment in the global marketplace. he says that's how that would create jobs. we'll be getting more details about this reagan economic zone when he gives details of his economic plan later this afternoon, certainly something that's piquing interest this morning. >> also michele bachmann's idea. she would cut the corporate tax rate of 20%, eliminate regulation, she says, that has stifle economic growth. how is that going to stack up in

improving jobs? >> a lot of folks -- all of the republican candidates would like to cut corporate taxes. they would like to cut regulation. they'd like to end the president's health care reform. the idea being that if companies aren't paying so much in taxes here, we're going to be reinvesting that money and growing their business, but you've got to cut corporate taxes, many others say, by getting rid of the loopholes. printed corporate income tack rate, right, drew? they're paying much less than that. that's where tax reform comes into play. >> yeah, and i think that's why the "wall street journal" endorsed jon huntsman, his plan to overhaul the tax code and create this bracket system, including home mortgage deduction -- >> that's right. >> i'm not sure that would politically fly, but would it

help job growth? >> if your federal job income were dropped, maybe depending on who you are, you would give up your mortgage interest deduction if you were paying lower taxes on the other end. he would kill the alternative minimum tax and pare down the side of government, regulations and would repeal president obama's health care reform law. so that's one of the reasons -- or many of the reasons why the "wall street journal" has endorsed his plan in particular. >> we should point out other cunning don't have that mortgage detux. they have the same house ownership that we do, i believe. >> y5e. many people saying that mortgage interest deduction was a incentive to buy more than they could afford and a big transfer of wealth, quite frankly. billions goes right out of taxes and right back into pockets of taxpayers, maybe lower home prices would be better in the first place. >> republicans have this other idea about repealing this health

care reform bill. not so much from republicans, but from small business owners deciding whether or not to hire people, i hear this a lot. they don't know what's coming with, quote/unquote, obamacare and they're afraid to make a move. >> and they're listenling to a lot of information from the radio and friends and colleagues, and some people have been saying it will be onerous for them. in general republicans are pushing this sort of -- this story line that there's too much regulation that's killing jobs, that, quote/unquote is killing jobs. economists say, the truth lies somewhere in between here. it's not too much regulations that killed jobs, it's a financial crisis that killed jobs and they're just now rolling out health care reform.

i'll tell you where there's been a cottage industry, consultants going around trying to take a look, and telling them how they're going to have to, you know, get up to health care reform standards and the like. so we'll watch that space as well. that is every single one of these candidates is saying kilo'bamacare. >> christine, thanks, good conversation there, and a reminder, president obama will lay out his plan for job growth thursday night before a joint session of congress. don't miss the live coverage. it begins at 6:00 eastern time. in jackson mississippi this hour, we're hearing from the family attorney of a man who was allegedly murdered for one reason -- he was black. his names, james craig anderson. his family members have just filed a wrongful death suit against seven white teenagers they say kind anderson because of the color of his skin. prosecutors have labeled this a hate crime, but so far just two of the teenagers involved have been charged, excluding the

19-year-old who prosecutors say deliberately ran down the autoworker. the lawsuit filed by his family seeks a jury trial and damages. >> the lawsuit makes various allegations against all seven individuals that were present that night. we allege all seven too part in what we call a joint venture to seek out and do harm to a person of color in this particular instance it was james craig anderson, a black individual whom they did murder. we are seeing damages again offense caught on tape. the details include disturbing language and images. darrell desmond is thin, short, with straggling blond hair, accused of leading a group of white teenage revellers to find

and beat up anyone who is black. on june 26th, a group of white teens, seven in all, leaving annual all-night party in the enclave of rancon county, mississippi, in search of a black person to, quote, mess with. >> out of hate. >> out of hate. >> no doubt in your mind this was a racially motivated, hate motivated, let's go kill a black guy crime. >> absolutely, no doubt. they were looking for a black victim to assault. and even kill in this instance. >> reporter: they drove 16 miles on a freeway heading west. at 5:00 a.m., they took the ellis avenue off-ramp leading to a predominantly black section of jackson. just as they exited, an unsuspecting 49 years old auto worker was stand i about by his car at this local motel, and he

was black. so literally they found the first black person they could find. that black person was in this parking lot? >> and so that was the first person that was apparently out here and vulnerable. >> reporter: according to witness statements at first james craig anderson was beaten and taunted with racial slurs. surveillance video shows white teens going back and forth in what prosecutors say was a continuous beating of the victim. as one of the teens walks back to the cars after beating anderson, he pumps his fist in the air and shouts "white power" according to a motel security guard. some of the teens got in a white suv and drove away, leading anderson beaten and lying on the ground. darrell dedmon apparently wasn't through. he had two girls in his truck as

he was leaving this parking lot, a big f-250 pickup truck. james craig ander sown was stumbling down this curb. that's when police say he hit the gas, jumped the curb, and ran right over his victim, smashing him. what he didn't know was the entire episode was being caught on a surveillance camera on the corner of this hotel. here you see james craig anderson in a hotel parking lot, as he first comes into view in the lower right corner of the screen. this is after he was beaten according to law enforcement vehicles. he staggers into the headlights. the truck backs up and surging forward suddenly running right over the defenseless man. according to police, dedmond with two teenage girls, drove to

a local mcdonald's meeting up with the rest of the group. is there, according to witnesses interviewed by police he said, i ran that nigger over." >> he was not remorseful. he was laughing. laughing about the killing. the second teenager, charged with simple assault, they have yet to enter pleas. calls have not been returned to cnn, but last month said this is not a racial crime. they were on the front lines of a dark day in american history. i talked to a fighter pilot who was called into service to shoot down one of the hijacked planes. have i got a surprise for you!

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up next, the order that no u.s. pilot had heard before september 11th or hopes to ever hear again. shoot down a commercial plane. the fighter pilots tell mess his story. then the big shake-up in michele bachmann's presidential campaign. later, almost 500 homes gutted. we're going to take you to the

scene live. well, this sunday marks the tenth anniversary of the september 11th attacks, for many like tim duffy, who tried to intercept a hijacked plane, their lives were changed forever. i spoke with duffy about the dark day when he was called into service. tim duffy was working his second job, on alert as a fighter pilot with the massachusetts air national guard. the order for duffy and his wingman, take off from this now deserted airfield. >> i have a scramble f-15s climbing. >> under orders to find and

intercept american flight 11. >> so these were the two hangars. >> yeah, cells 3 and 4. they would have jets in all of them, depends on what jets -- these were armed up, so we had hot missiles, armed guns, so all armed up. >> reporter: he will be asked if he's prepared to use those missiles to bring down u.s. passenger jets. that meant he might be shooting down a plane carrying his united airlines colleagues. >> they just said be prepared to shoot it down. roger and they came back, do you have a problem with that? that kind of ticked me off. that's sticks in my memory. if i wasn't ready to do whatever i was called for, i was the wrong person in that seat. >> reporter: breaking the sound barrier, tim duffy is barreling toward manhattan, still under orders to intercept a plane, but which plane? his conversation with air travel

control shows how fast events were moving that chaotic morning. >> i understand you're going to look for american 11. is that correct? okay. i just got information that the air krafl has been crashed into the world trade center, so i'm not quite sure what your intentions are, whether you head that way or you want to talk to your operations. >> reporter: then 17 minutes after american airlines flight 11 slams into the world trade center's north tower. at 9:03 a.m., 175 hits the south tower. >> we're about 60 miles from kennedy, about 80 miles or so from manhattan. that's when they told me the second aircraft hit the world trade center. i thought i was still chasing american flight 11, and they told me about a second aircraft, which i didn't know about. i saw smoke out of both towers.

we're obviously under attack. one of the footnotes of 9/11, to hear more from the americans who were on the front lines of the morn of september 11th. it airs tonight at 11:00 eastern. text 22360 for the story you want see. test 1 for one young world, a global conference bringing together more than 1,600 youths from 160 countries trying to change the world. 2 for produce patrol. go aboard a renovated bus bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to chicago neighborhoods that some consider food deserts. and text 3 for testing the fiat. we're going to kick the tires of a car that company leaders are hoping will change the chrysler brand. the winning story airs next hour. well, a businessman in indiana makes as unusual move, because he can't afford to pay his property taxes.

you'll see it, on ebay. we also have this story, the u.s. postal service is low on cash. if congress doesn't act soon, it could shut down? that's devastating news for millions who still rely on mail carriers for service. we thought we would ask, how many pieces of mail do you think the postal service handles every year. 57 billion? 167 billion? 300 billion? what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and powerful devices like the motorola photon 4g. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com.

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before the break, we asked if you could guess how many pieces of mail the postal service handled every year? the answer, b-bhb. 167 billion, most of it landing in my recycle bin. no one knows more about the financial crisis facing the united states postal service than the nation's postmaster

general. he says the agency is $9 billion in the hole. he's going to capitol hill to stress the need for congress to take emergency action. >> on september 30th, if we do not have relief from that fund, we will not be able to make a payment to the federal government. we will pay our employees, and we will pay our suppliers, because we're going to continue to deliver mail. >> if we do nothing, the postal service could literally close. they're bouncing up against the credit limit. if we do nothing, they'll run out of money. >> so what's to do? done ahow says he wants to cut costs by getting permission to stop saturday mail, close more than 3,000 post office locations and lay off 120,000 postal workers. breaking news on the weather front. more remnants of lee and tornado warrants. rob? >> good morning. remember yesterday we had a number of tornadoes and rough weather. now the system is drifting off.

this is near the chapel hill area. this is moving off to the north. fast movers, as is typical. these will have typically small tornadoes, but they can do some damage. because of that reason we have severity tornado watching posted across north carolina, right on through the asp. a lot of moisture here, a lot of spin as well. that's the reason we see this is tornadoes pop up from time to time. the other threat we're going to have with the leftovers of lee, as it reacts with this front that's across the east coast is a decent amount of rainfall. we've already seen flieding across parts of mississippi. now with the saturated soil, of course, and high rivers, we stand a threat of sees more in the way of flooding. we could see 1 to 2 inches in just the cities alone. north and west we'll probably

see more dhan that, so that will be an ongoing concern. how about hurricane katia? this thing is 120-mile-an-hour category 3 storm. it looks like it's going through a replacement cycle. it's heading toward the u.s., but we've got a decent amount of confidence because of the front off the coastline, it should recurve out to sea, but big swells and rip currents for the next couple days, so that's to be on the lookout. this is way out there, drew, but this looks healthy, could be our next tropical depression. that one may take a shot at the u.s. next week as well. >> man, there's always something cooking this time of year. >> it is primetime, yes. >> thank you, rob. >> all right, drew. here's some of the stories our affiliates are covered. he's putting the buildings up for sale. asks price, $4.5 billion for all

three, also appealing his problem tax bill. california tore up this family's toyota prius after taking it for a ride. they saw the black better crawling through the wind, apparently hit the gearshift into neutral. it rolled down the driverway and several boulders before slamming into a neighbor's front porch. and some volunteer chefs at the university of massachusetts went to the record of the largest stir-fry ever. 800 pounds of checkingen and 200 pounds of canola oil. just a few weeks ago michele bachmann was on top of the world. now hurting in the polls and just lost a campaign manager. what does it mean for her presidential run? we'll tell you in the cnn political track. [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement. it's the first of more than 6,000 sunrises the average retiree will see.

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there's a court hearing later today in jackson, mississippi, involving a hate crime according to a prosecutor. a black watto worker killed for one reason, he was black, killed allegedly by one man along with six other white teenagers who on a saturday evening went out and sought to kill a man just because he was black. the family of that victim's attorney is joining us now. winston thompson, the family has also filed a lawsuit today, a civil lawsuit today why did the family choose to go this route and file a lawsuit? >> well, the family was waiting on the criminal investigation to

be complete, but another thing available is a civil lawsuit. a civil lawsuit, you get money damages, but also it will allow us to do some discovery, take some depositions, and see if we can find out from all seven of these individuals exactly what took place on june 26th. they allegedly partied that night and went to jackson, mississippi, some 16 miles away, searching for anyone to beat up. the surveillance video shows that attack, yet one person has been charged with the crime of murder i know the family has been somewhat critical of the is the family still upsit that prosecutors have not filed charges?

>> the family is still waiting. >> you said you can take depositions now that you have filed this lawsuit. have you had any access to any of the people involved in this crime? >> no, i haven't, not at this point, i have not. >> dedmond's tornado said this was not racially motivated. what's your answer to that? >> well, i think it speaks for itself. every indication to me and i think the prosecutors is that this was a hate crime, that it was a racially motivated crime, and that these individuals set out that night to come to jackson to find a black person to do harm to him. i think that's what it shows,

and i think that's what it is. >> mr. thompson, having reported on this crime. i think i expressed my surprise at the lack of outrage. now that the news has gotten out about some of the facts in this case, do you feel that this crime has not gotten the attention from the various communities there in mississippi that it deserves? i think some people took a wait-and-see approach, but the outpouring of support from within heinz county and actually people from rankin county has been tremendous. we've had a number of groups that came forward and said they want to help. they denounce this kind of

action, and they want to make sure this never happens again. so the family has been very encouraged with the outpouring of support from the community. >> winston thompson, thank you for joining us live this day. they have filed a lawsuit against the seven teenagers involved in this murder, according to the prosecutor. thank you, sir. into big changes for michele bachmann's inner circle. mark preston, part of the best political team on television. i love saying that, mark. just a couple weeks ago considered a front-runner, now changes in the campaign team, and drop in poll? >> after the iowa straw poll, you would have expected michele bachmann would have gotten a huge jump, seeing the fact she won this early critical contest. but rick perry announced he was running for president on the same day and deflated the air

out of that. ed rollins we learned last night has left the campaign, as has the deputy campaign manager. ed last night said he is leaving because of health reasons. he said he had a stroke about a year and a half ago, he's 68 years old and the rigors of daily campaigning was too much on him. but the fact is michele bachmann is really the third candidates, and i have to say this is what ed rollins said last night, she's the third candidates in the ways, and right now this race is between rick perry and mitt romney. >> rick perry has decided to take it to mitt romney, who was the front-runner. polls shows that rick perry is leading the pack. he was supposed to appear at a forum yesterday. he had to head back to texas

because of the devastating fires, however, he was critical of romney. this election is all about the economy. in fact, drew, this is what he said about mitt romney -- there's one in particular that created jobs all over the world. while he was governor of massachusetts, he didn't create very many jobs, so before he left to get back to texas, he decided to take a poke at mitt romney. drew? >> mark preston, a lot of moving and shaking going on. thank you, mark. for the latest political news, you know where to go. cnnpolitics.com. the mother of all muscle spasms, rafael nadal, and jeanne moos was watching. [ male announcer ] you won't find the toughness of a ram 1500 combined with the legendary power of a hemi v8 in any other truck.

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we've all had agonizing leg cramps but apparently not as bad as some tennis stars. rafael nadel proved that at a news conference at the u.s. open. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: when tennis star rafael nadel sank lower and lower and lower in the middle of a press conference, it was unlike anything we had seen before, unlike the time marie osmond just fainted on "dancing with the stars." people are always fainting in public, from a spelling bee finalist to a guest on glenn beck's old show. to audience members lulled into unconsciousness by politicians. >> that everybody agrees -- >> reporter: but nadel didn't pass out. he cramped up, grimacing. covering his face with his arm. and repeatedly sighing. he did ask someone to call the

trainers. forget tennis elbow. nadel has set a new standard of pain for the leg cramp. you know that thing most of us have at night in bed? >> let me walk this off. let me walk this off. >> reporter: except nadel couldn't even walk. went to the floor with his right hamstring and sighed, cramping. after almost ten minutes of massage, ice packs and gatorade, nadel was fine. he told cbs sports that the humidity during the match he had just won was probably to blame, and said he gets cramps often. >> yeah. lot of times, yeah. nothing new. but not during the press conference. >> reporter: there was more spastic muscle cramping at the u.s. open. oh, wait, that's dancing. spectator in the stands was

imitated on the court. the two later danced together. of course, rafael nadel's tennis cramp could have happened at an even worse time. what if his leg stiffened during one of his armani underwear ad shoots? tennis fans posted remedies. yellow mustard helps, one spoonful every night has stopped cramps for me. the people's pharmacy noted some people keep mustard packets at their bedside to eat, not rub. >> is it cramped up? >> reporter: maybe rafael nadel could improve his serve, serving mustard. jeanne moos, cnn. new york. up next, a hacking scandal that shut down a newspaper sent shock waves through a media empire. how far does it go and what does it mean for rupert murdoch's company? we'll go live to london to find out.

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still time for you to choose the news. you can text us for the story you want. one is for a story called one young world, which is a global conference bringing together more than 1600 youths from a bunch of countries trying to change the world. text 2 for produce patrol, a renovated bus bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to chicago neighborhoods that are considered food deserts.

text 3 for a story about fiat. we are kicking the tires of a car company that is hoping to change the chrysler brand. the winning story airs next hour. britain is reeling from this hacking scandal at the tabloid newspaper "news of the world" and reporters there were allegedly listening in on a voice mail message of everyone from actor hugh grant to the royal family. the paper has since closed its doors but today, parliament is grilling its top editors to find out just how far this scandal went. atika, it's been going on for months now. what's the focus of the investigation today? >> reporter: well, the big question today is what did james murdoch know about phone hacking and when did he know it. you might recall that just a few weeks ago, he told members of parliament that he had no evidence at the time that phone hacking scandal was any more than one rogue reporter who had done that phone hacking. that, however, contradicts what

several executives told members of parliament today. they say that they had a 15-minute discussion with james murdoch several years ago where they showed him a particular e-mail that had a transcript of a hacked voice mail message. that voice mail message was supposed to go to "news of the world's" top reporter. it certainly seems to indicate that hacking was much more widespread than one single reporter at the newspaper and it does seem that james murdoch discussed that with them. now the question is are members of parliament going to recall james murdoch and make him testify before parliament again. >> i guess the other big question is does it go beyond "news of the world." james murdoch and his father rupert murdoch own news corp, they run this mega company. any effect this will have on the bigger company? >> reporter: we have to wait and see but yes. as you know there are several investigations under way, not just the parliamentary

investigation. there is also judicial inquiry and that wider inquiry will be looking to see whether or not other newspapers, other media, may have been involved with the phone hacking. remember, news international also owns "the sun" which is the most widely read daily newspaper in britain. so there will be a lot of scrutiny now on not just news international but all british media, just to see how endemic was this culture of phone hacking. >> is the business done today over there? have they decided what's next in the case, deciding whether or not to call james or not? >> reporter: not quite yet. the parliamentary hearing has finished and they are still deciding whether or not to call james murdoch but we are actually waiting to hear from prime minister cameron. he at the moment is taking questions from another committee in parliament and he is expected to address the hacking scandal. we're just waiting to see when he gets a question on that. >> atika, we'll wait for that. thanks.

now coming up on the top of the hour, i'm drew griffin. let's get you up to speed on the news. so many wildfires are burning right now in texas. it's difficult for fire crews to keep up there. almost 500 homes burned in the southeast part of austin. another in east texas has killed a mother and her child and more than 60 new fires started just over the weekend. they are forcing thousands of people to leave their homes. >> we left our house and about 30 minutes later, we couldn't even get back to it. so it's moving probably eight or ten miles an hour across the ground. so you know, god help us. that's all. that's all we can do right now. >> entirely different problem in the southeast, where the remnants of tropical storm lee spawned a series of tornadoes. in one atlanta suburb, as many as 100 homes were damaged. >> i didn't see it because the doors were kind of shaking and we have a bathroom, we kind of

ran to it, you know, the best we could. >> there's a storm on wall street, a brutal day. stocks deep in the red across the board today. the dow fell more than 260 points right at the opening bell. right now, i'm kind of looking behind there and it's still down pretty much, new concerns about europe's debt crisis and the global economy are weighing on investors. u.s. stocks plunged friday after that disappointing report showed absolutely no growth in jobs in august. two convoys of libyans apparently loyal to moammar gadhafi have fled to niger, a country south of libya. a source in the interior ministry says six high-ranking libyan officials were in one of the convoys. still no sign of gadhafi himself, though. nato officials say their job is to keep the libyan people safe, not to go after and target these fleeing regime leaders. republican presidential candidate mitt romney says he has a plan to get america working again. romney will unveil his jobs plan

later today. he says it includes 59 specific proposals to help the economy. the plan calling for tax cuts and tax reform, scaling back regulations and a system for retraining workers. we will bring you romney's speech. that happens later today at 3:30 eastern time. president obama spells out his plan for job growth before congress. that happens on thursday. but at a labor day rally with union members, he told the crowd he will work to restore the middle class in america and he challenged republicans in congress to support his plan. >> there is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. labor's on board. business is on board. we just need congress to get on board. >> cnn's coverage of the president's address on jobs growth begins thursday at 6:00 eastern. there has been a shake-up in michele bachmann's presidential campaign. her manager, ed rollins, is

taking on an advisory role. he had a stroke about a year and a half ago and says his decision is about health reasons, not because of any kind of disagreements with bachmann. it's the first day on the job for david petraeus. his new job, the man who was once the top commander in iraq and afghanistan is at the cia. that's after almost four decades in service in the military. petraeus says the career change will be an exciting new journey. the fire crisis in texas can hardly be overstated. this is the worst fire season in that state's history. three and a half million acres, an area roughly the size of connecticut, have burned since last november. over the weekend, the situation intensified with 60 new wildfires. take a look at this google earth map, showing active fires that are less than 90% contained. it's forced thousands of people from their homes. evacuee shannon lily joins us. i know you had minutes to flee

with your family. tell us what that was like. >> my mom, we were having a dinner party and my mom ran out to get some groceries and came back. on her way back in, the policemen told her you've got five minutes to get your family and get out. she came in and let us know and we scrambled. we knew the fire was a little far away so we were okay, but i kind of panicked and stood in the middle of my house wondering what do i do, what do i take. so i gathered up photo albums and my computers and some important documents, and a few treasured items and we kind of scrammed. my 6-year-old came up to me with a bag in his hand and he had big alligator tears and had a favorite toy in there. he handed me the bag wanting me to put in his treasured items, too. that was kind of heartbreaking. you try and stay strong for them, then you get in the corner by yourself and kind of lose it. it was a pretty frightening moment. thankfully, we're in the back of the neighborhood. we knew we were safe and we had plenty of time to get out.

>> do you know your home is okay right now? >> i mean, we're allowed to get in today at noon. yeah. it's fine. i think we're deep enough in the neighborhood that it didn't get back there. it affected more the people up in the front of the neighborhood. >> you mentioned your son. i think a 6-year-old son, touching moment. he had to grab whatever he could to get out of his room. tell us again what he took. >> he took, he had his favorite toy, remote control helicopter in the bag already, and we grabbed his, he's a baseball fanatic so we grabbed his uniforms and his trophies and some pictures of his teammates and his home run baseballs. pretty much all his baseball stuff from his house and then his favorite little hunting necklace. >> how are the kids holding up? this has got to be -- you said it was scary for you. it must be equally scary if not worse for these little kids. you've got three of them. >> yeah, it was frightening. we travel a lot so the kids were

excited to go to a hotel and swim in the pool and sleep in the big bed so they weren't, you know, once we were away from the house, they were fine. they really don't get what's going on. they have been fine. my son's kind of excited that school is canceled today. they're enjoying it. they're doing fine. >> shannon, we wish you the best as you get back into your home. hopefully later today. thanks again for joining us. >> thank you. here's a rundown on some of the stories we're covering over this next hour. first, escaping libya. the latest on these convoys said to include some of gadhafi's high-ranking officials crossing the border into neighboring niger. then he was allegedly killed for being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time. today, the family of that man is speaking out, filing a lawsuit. plus some well-known restaurants want to accept food stamps. then, aging baby boomers tell their children hey, you're on your own. you're not getting any of our money. i like that one.

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for all of us. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. here are the choices for today's choose the news segment. text 22360 for the story you want to see. first one is one young world. this is a global conference with 1600 youths from all over the world. here are some of the celebrity guests and also the teens who are participating. their goal is to change the world, make it better. second, produce patrol. this is a bus driving through areas of chicago bringing fruits and vegetables like the ice cream truck, only they're bringing good food into these neighborhoods called food deserts. the third one is testing the

fiat. the italian automaker bought chrysler and is hoping a car with a fresh new italian feel is going to change the chrysler brand. see if the new fiat 500 makes the grade. you can text by voting 22360, text 1 for the young world, 2 for produce patrol, or 3 for the fiat. the winning story airs later this hour. this sunday, i don't have to tell you this, marking the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. for some people involved in that terrible day, it has taken ten years to finally tell their stories. one of them is a united airlines worker who spoke to the pilots of flight 93 just minutes before that flight was hijacked. >> reporter: for six years, ed ballinger has been sailing away from his memories. his refuge, this boat named "the

great old broad." he's been afloat with his wife trying to escape the memory of a few brief words, beware cockpit intrusion. >> lock the so and so door, so i said hijacking alert, hijacking. so they said a possible hijacking. >> reporter: he is footnote 69. ten years ago on september 11th, he was a dispatcher for united airlines in chicago, handling 16 flights leaving the east coast and heading west. including united's flights 175 out of boston and 93 from newark. >> all i know is that there was trouble and i wanted to warn everybody. >> reporter: one of those flights, ballinger tried to warn by the airline's version of an e-mail, united flight 93. >> i was sending out messages one after the other.

i think i sent 122 messages in a short time, an hour or two, i don't know what it was. it's like screaming on the keyboard. at that time, the huge tvs that we have came on with cnn. >> this just in. you are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. that is the world trade center. >> i saw the second airplane which i didn't know at the time was my airplane, 175 hit the second tower. i thought the most succinct method of doing it, the least amount of words, beware, cockpit intrusion. i sent it to all my 16 flights. before i got that one out, 93 called up and said they [ inaudible ]. >> at that moment, 93 was routine? >> routine. >> you sent out your note and you know they got that. >> they came back, confirm. i confirmed back telling him two planes hit the world trade center which i sent to all the other flights. >> reporter: but the

confirmation came too late. investigators say two minutes after flight 93's pilot, jason dahl, requested clarification, hijackers stormed his cockpit. >> beware cockpit intrusion say it all? can you say it faster? quicker? i wanted to quickly get the message out. >> it's ten years later. you're still thinking that. >> yeah. yeah. people wrote a dissertation and sent it to everybody. i did the quickest, fastest thing i could. i could ask you how could you do it faster. i keep asking myself that question. >> isn't that the real reason you're out on this boat? >> it could be. yeah. >> ballinger is just one of the footnotes of 9/11, people whose

stories were only footnotes in the 9/11 commission's report. hear from more people on the front lines of that dark day. watch our footnotes of 9/11 special which airs tonight at 11:00 eastern right here on cnn. escaping libya. the latest on the convoys said to include some of gadhafi's high-ranking officials crossing the border into niger. 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. yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right?

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six high-ranking libyan officials who were in moammar gadhafi's government have just shown up in neighboring niger, but there's still no sign of gadhafi himself. ben wedeman joins us from libya. who are those guys and who are they traveling with?

>> reporter: we understand that one of them was responsible for gadhafi's personal security. somebody obviously very close to the former libyan leader and somebody who probably has a pretty good idea about where gadhafi might be. now, we did hear from ibrahim, the spokesman for the former regime, who said on a damascus-based pro-libyan television channel that gadhafi is in excellent health inside libya and planning to liberate the country. however, it does appear that many of those people who were around him have left and certainly, we know we're outside this town, we were told saif al islam, the son of moammar

gadhafi, was here but apparently he has left. it does appear that gradually many top leaders of the country are on their way out, not surprisingly. >> ben, are the rebels happy that they are leaving to get rid of them, or are they actually trying to stop them, arrest these people and eventually bring them to justice? >> reporter: certainly they are eager to get their hands on all of these people, particularly moammar gadhafi but also many of his top aides. they want to take them to justice. some of them say they want to give them over to the international criminal court, although speaking to some of the guys here, some of the gunmen, they are more interested in a swifter form of justice. i asked one of the fighters, he pulled out his bayonet and pulled it across his throat and said that's what we want to do to gadhafi if we find him. a bit of rough justice may be in the works here. >> explains why we're not seeing

gadhafi anywhere. libya's national transitional council meeting with tribal leaders right now to start this rebuilding of a peaceful government. can you bring us up to speed, ben, on what is happening with the actual new governance of libya? >> reporter: it's a work in progress. many of the leaders of the ntc are still in benghazi. they haven't come to tripoli yet. so there is an attempt, for instance, to get life moving again. yesterday an sms or rather, day before yesterday, an sms went out that all government workers should report to their places of work. there's an attempt to get the schools open again, possibly by the middle of september. the water seems to be working again. but actually, the actual functioning of a government does not appear to really be up and running yet. so as i said, a work in progress. given the fact that there's not

really much of a state in tripoli, it's surprisingly peaceful and quiet despite the evenings when there's a lot of celebratory gunfire. but people would like to see a reestablishment of law and order, but that may take awhile. >> especially judging by your background there. ben wedeman live in libya, thank you, sir. ten years after the 9/11 attacks prompted the u.s. to go to war in afghanistan, wanted to check in with how that mission is going. well, suzanne malveaux, who i'm sitting in for today, isn't here because she is heading to afghanistan. she flew from atlanta to washington yesterday, then from washington to dubai. she's on her way to kabul but we catch up with her in dubai. suzanne, what is your first assignment in afghanistan? >> reporter: good to hear from you, drew. we just got off a 13-hour flight, united flight into dubai. it's about 93 degrees here

fahrenheit. i don't know how hot it is there in atlanta but it's about 8:20 local time in the evening here. it's dark. we're at the airport. we're about eight hours ahead of you and when we get to kabul, we'll be 8 1/2 hours ahead of eastern time. we've got about a six-hour layover here and one of the things we'll be doing is we'll take off about 3:30 in the morning or so, hit the ground running in kabul and one of the first places we are going to set up is camp eggers, a base where they do training of the afghans and it's one of the main missions of nato as well as the united states is to get the afghans up to speed so that they can take over their security within a couple of years or so. you might recall, drew, it's just a couple months we had general william cogwell on the show. he's the one in charge of

training the afghans and it's a big, big job. he doesn't have a lot of time. he's been doing it for about 21 months or so. the idea is that you're going to have hundreds -- you're going to have hundreds and thousands of u.s. soldiers leaving in the next two years, by the end of 2014 and the afghans have to be up to speed to take over their security. there's a lot of criticism about whether or not they are actually going to be able to do this. there's a lot of questions about whether or not this is just a numbers game and you've got the kind of folks that are really qualified to do that and whether or not afghanistan is going to devolve into a civil war once we leave. those are just some of the things we'll be doing, talking to the afghans themselves to see how their training's going, talking to the men and women on the ground, our u.s. soldiers, do they feel like this mission has been worth it, what were their memories of 9/11 ten years ago, and whether or not they think it's time to move on and

to get out. >> suzanne, this is your first time there and i'm sure you've reported about it, you've asked people about it who were there, you've certainly had live shots on from afghanistan. but what are you most curious about seeing once you land in afghanistan? >> reporter: i'm really curious about the young men and women, the american soldiers who are 18 and 19 years old, maybe 20 years old. what were their memories of 9/11. they were just kids, 10 years old. they were in elementary school. how did that shape their perception of the attacks and of the war that we've been in for the last ten years. do they understand, really, what the mission is and do they believe in that mission. that's something i'm very curious about. because we all remember where we were on september 11th and really, i think it galvanized a whole generation and certainly, certainly a war that's lasted ten years, lot of people questioning what is the mission

now. we understand what it was going into it initially, should we still be there. what are those young men and women on the ground, how do they feel about it and what are their recollections of that tragic day. >> suzanne malveaux, in dubai on her way to kabul, afghanistan. thanks, suzanne. we'll be following you, of course. she'll be reporting live from afghanistan all day starting friday through sunday, september 11th. the family of a man killed in a horrific way in mississippi is seeking justice for his death and they're speaking out today.

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met an old man at the top asked him if he had a secret and the old man stopped and thought and said: free 'cause that's how it ought to be my brother credit 'cause you'll need a loan for one thing or another score 'cause they break it down to one simple number that you can use dot to take a break because the name is kinda long com in honor of the internet that it's on put it all together at the end of the song it gives you freecreditscore-dot-com, and i'm gone... offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com

here's a rundown of some of the stories we're working on. next we'll have the family of a man beaten, then run over and killed by a pickup truck. they are seeking justice in the state of mississippi. then hundreds of homes destroyed by the worst wildfires on record in texas. what is causing this situation? later, restaurants fight to take food stamps with a growing number of americans that are relying on them. the family of a man who was allegedly murdered because he was black, today that family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. james craig anderson's family is

seeking a jury trial and damages against seven white teenagers they say killed james anderson because of the color of his skin. prosecutors in jackson, mississippi have labeled it a hate crime but so far, just two of the teenagers have been charged, including the 19-year-old who prosecutors say deliberately ran down the 49-year-old auto worker. last hour, i spoke to the family's attorney. >> i think initially, people were in shock and they wanted -- some people took a wait and see approach, but the outpouring of support that we've received, the family's received from within the county has been tremendous. we've had a number of groups, civic organizations have come forward and said they want to help. they denounce this kind of action and they want to make sure this never happens again. so the family's been very encouraged with the outpouring of support from the community, and we just hope that it continues. >> the attack on james anderson

was caught on surveillance tape. the details include very disturbing language and images. >> derryl dedmon is thin, short with straggly blond hair, accused of leading a group of white teenaged revelers on a mission to find and beat up anyone who is black. on june 26th, a group of white teens, seven in all, leaving an all-night party in the white middle class enclave of rankin county, mississippi, in search of a black person to quote, mess with. >> out of hate. >> out of hate. that's exactly -- >> no doubt in your mind this was a racially motivated, hate motivated, let's go kill a black guy crime. >> absolutely. there's no doubt. they were looking for a black victim. to assault and even kill, in this instance. >> reporter: they drove 16 miles on a freeway heading west. at 5:00 a.m. that sunday

morning, the teens in two vehicles took the ellis avenue off-ramp leading to a predominantly black section of jackson. just as they were exiting, an unsuspecting 49-year-old auto worker named james craig anderson was standing by his car at this local motel, and he was black. >> so literally, they found the first black person they could find and that black person was in this parking lot. >> well, yes. this is the first business that you get to coming off of the highway, and so that was the first person that apparently was out here and vulnerable. >> reporter: according to witness statements, at first james craig anderson was beaten and taunted with racial slurs. surveillance video shows white teens going back and forth in what prosecutors say was a continuous beating of the victim. as one of the teens walks back to the cars after beating anderson, he pumps his fist in the air and shouts "white power"

according to a motel security guard. then some of the teens got in the white suv and drove away. leaving anderson beaten and lying on the ground. dedmon apparently wasn't through. he had two girls in his truck as he was leaving this parking lot, a big f-250 pickup truck. james craig anderson, the man who was beaten almost to a pulp was stumbling down this curb. that's when police say dedmon hit the gas, jumped the curb and ran right over his victim. smashing him. what he didn't know was the entire episode was being caught on a surveillance camera on the corner of this hotel. here, you see james craig anderson in a hotel parking lot as he first comes into view in the lower right corner of the screen. this is after he was beaten, according to law enforcement

officials. he staggers into the headlights of mr. dedmon's truck, the truck backs up and surges forward suddenly, running right over the defenseless man. according to police, dedmon with two teenaged girls as his passengers drove to a local mcdonald's, meeting up with the rest of the group. there, according to witnesses interviewed by police, he said i r i ran that -- over. >> he wasn't remorseful. he was laughing. laughing about the killing. >> dedmon and the second teenager charged with simple assault, by the way, have yet to enter pleas. the attorney has not returned cnn's calls but said in court last month this is not a racial crime. texas wildfires destroy everything in their path, including hundreds of homes. we will talk with chad myers about the worst wildfires in texas history. at bayer, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief.

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a reminder for today's choose the news winner. you can still do it. text 22360 for the story you want to see. text 1 for one young world, a global conference bringing together more than 1600 youths from 160 countries trying to change the world. text 2 for the produce patrol. go aboard a renovated bus bringing fruits and vegetables to chicago neighborhoods considered food deserts. or text 3 for testing the fiat. we will actually kick the tires of a car company that hopes to change the chrysler brand. the winning story airs later this hour. boy, folks in texas are hoping for a change here. parched earth, flames all across that state. in fact, you can see this mapped out from space in some cases. more than 60 new fires are starting over the weekend, the worst near austin.

500 homes, almost 500 homes destroyed, 5,000 people forced to evacuate. chad myers is here watching this all. incredible drought that's facing texas. >> that's the first problem. then we had tropical storm lee. where did lee go? where did lee make rainfall? in the southeast, not in texas. what did lee do in texas? it just made wind. and wind and fire and drought never go together. here's what it looks like. satellite picture of what lee did, came onshore in louisiana, moved right over mississippi and now on up into the northeast, spreading very nice rainfall, nice spread, just nice calm slow rainfall. we did have a couple tornadoes, i understand, and there's still that potential across parts of the carolinas even up to d.c., but there is texas. you got nothing except the back side of the wind. as i show you what the wind did, there's austin, georgetown, that would be i-35 up toward dallas, you can see the smoke from the satellite and nasa just gave us some great pictures.

they flew over this from the iss and there you see the pictures. the smoke still coming out, containment near zero. the firefighters doing their best. the winds have calmed down today, down to about five or ten miles per hour, where yesterday winds were gusting to almost 30 miles per hour. i know we're talking about that one fire and everybody else around texas is going wait a minute, there are 58 other fires that we're watching here. this is where we're seeing them all the way from texarcana to san antonio. any time you get one little spark, you are going to see the potential for that fire to pop up. so far, the winds haven't been bad. dallas down to the south, that's about waco, six miles per hour or so. the winds are over to the northeast and that's where they are going to be for most of the day as lee moves away. there is potential for another tropical system to develop in the gulf of mexico. looks like it will spread its rain to mexico, not into texas, but it's too early for that. couple days from now, we could see rain in texas. that would be helpful. drew? >> let's all hope for that. thank you. retailers fighting for

permission to accept food stamps. we will tell you about a growing list of places where people can use them. it's not just grocery stores. the number of americans receiving food stamps reached a record level in may. how many? we'll answer that in a moment. [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac borrowed technology from ferrari to develop its suspension system? or what if we told you that ferrari borrowed technology from cadillac to develop its suspension system? magnetic ride control -- pioneered by cadillac,

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we told you the number of americans receiving food stamps reached a record in may so what is it? the number increased to more than 45 million according to the agricultural department. that's 15% of the population getting these food stamps. republicans running for the white house blame the president for the growing number of americans relying on help to buy

food. at a forum in south carolina, the former house speaker, newt gingrich, said it's the president's fault the economy just isn't improving. >> he's the most effective food stamp president in american history. and if you think about it, that's actually a tragedy. that means that millions of jobs have been killed unnecessarily and we should all understand, this economy is in grave danger of getting worse, not getting better. >> with a growing number of americans relying on food stamps, guess what? more and more retailers are pushing for permission to accept them. we're not just talking about grocery stores. who wants in on the food stamp business? >> we're pretty much talking about anyone that sells food from convenience stores to bakeries, even farmers markets are taking food stamps, up nearly 300% last year. the agriculture department is working overtime to approve applications from farmers markets, because there's a push to get people access to healthier food options. take a look at this chart.

it shows the overall surge. the number of retailers taking stamps jumped 34% over the past five years. the usda says this is unprecedented growth. why? because we've got a record number of americans who are now on food stamps. basically, retailers see an opportunity, they want to cash in on this huge underserved market. >> that's the reason behind it, right? these are like handing out food credit cards to people and businesses want in on the cash. >> absolutely. they want to increase their revenue. money is driving the push to accept the food stamps. we are talking about nearly $65 billion in food stamps on the table. that's what was spent last year. that's up from $30 billion five years ago. so that's more than doubled. the amount is likely to keep growing. this is because the usda expects more and more americans to apply for food stamps and unfortunately, it's a sign of the times. >> they have been spreading that program pretty big, too. hey, the markets really started out horrendous today again. have things improved at all? >> well, they have improved

slightly. we did see session lows around 250. that's down for the dow. now we're down by 210 points so slight improvement from today's lows. however, the fear indicator is soaring. that indicates a lot of worry in the market. we spoke to a couple traders, concerns about european sovereign debt and issues spreading to italy as well as spain. there doesn't seem to be a lot of optimism as we head into obama's jobs speech on thursday. investors want to see a cut in corporate taxes but that's not likely to happen. >> karina, thanks. here are some of the other stories our affiliates are covering across the country. take a look at these buildings. a man who owns them in indiana says he can't afford to pay $200,000 in taxes so guess what? they're up for sale right now on ebay. all three for a mere $4.5 million. the owner is also appealing his property tax bill. a bear in lake tahoe,

california, tore up this family's toyota prius after taking it for a ride. the family saw the black bear crawl through the window. apparently he hit the gear shift into neutral and the car was rolling down the driveway with the bear inside, going over several boulders before slamming into a neighbor's front porch. volunteer chefs at the university of massachusetts went for the record of the largest, can you guess what that is? stir fry. 800 pounds of chicken, 2,000 pounds of vegetables, 200 pounds of canola oil. guess they did it. apple employees lead police to a man's home after his top-secret company prototype goes missing in a bar. we go live to silicon valley to find out what is going on out there. can i have some ice cream, please ?

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this could be an annoying case of deja vu for apple. for the second time, an iphone prototype has reportedly fallen into the wrong hands before it gets launched. cnn silicon valley correspondent dan simon joins us live from san francisco. dan, this is embarrassing once again for apple. >> reporter: well, drew, there's a lot of secrecy around these products and you can understand why. what we know is that based on product cycles, apple is poised to release the next generation of its iphone. this would be the fifth

generation. now there are questions about whether an employee actually lost a prototype at this bar behind me at apple's alleged handling of the incident. take a look. a new not yet for sale iphone would be considered priceless if it ever got into the hands of apple competitors who would love to take it apart and find out what's inside. so if reports that an apple employee lost an iphone 5 prototype are true, then whoever found it probably had no idea what he or she had stumbled upon. >> there was an ad that appeared on craigslist offering the phone for $200. so we think that's where it ended up. >> reporter: the technology website cnet reported that an apple employee lost the iphone at a bar in san francisco. >> this appears to be just, you have a few too many drinks perhaps and leave it behind. >> reporter: apple wouldn't confirm the story but the san francisco police department put out a press release friday evening that says apple requested assistance in tracking

down a lost item. police say four officers accompanied two apple employees to a san francisco home and those employees went into the house to look for the lost item. none was recovered. but then the publication sf weekly reported that it had interviewed a man who consented to having his home searched for a phone last month after being confronted by people he presumed were police officers. no one in the group identified themselves as apple employees. again, no comment from apple. this whole story may seem a bit familiar. >> iphone 4. >> reporter: steve jobs joked about whether anyone had seen it in advance. >> stop me if you've already seen this. >> reporter: that's because many had. >> this is the new iphone. >> reporter: an iphone 4 prototype was lost in a bar and wound up in the hands of a tech blog which paid $5,000 for the device.

when that happened, you might recall there was all kinds of speculation that there was some kind of publicity stunt at play but you had two people arrested, charged with criminal misdemeanors so it seemed doubtful. drew, it seems pretty doubtful this case as well because once again, you have police involved. >> but who actually searched this guy's home? he told a publication nobody identified themselves as apple employees. were they the police? who is doing this? >> reporter: by the way, we have police here in the neighborhood. well, there are really serious questions about this, because you have six people who came to this guy's door. his name is sergio calderon, 22 years old, lives in san francisco. he presumed that people who came to his door were all police officers. now he's under the impression that a couple of those people were actually apple employees. in fact, police said they were apple employees. so he's a bit confused.

he said if they weren't police officers, they shouldn't have been in his house. he would not have let them in his house. bottom line here is no prototype was ever found. it was on craigslist supposedly for a couple hundred dollars. i can tell you this. the world will get to see the next generation of iphone 5 probably in a few weeks. hang on. >> if not at that bar behind you, dan. stick around for a second to hear this next story. turns out a lot of baby boomers don't plan to leave their children an inheritance. in a survey of millionaire baby boomers, the investment firm u.s. trust found that only 49% said it was important to leave their children money after they die. they say they've given their kids enough plan to spend the money on themselves. i'm sure that's what my father would say if he had millions of dollars, dan. i don't know about yours. >> reporter: well, it's interesting. you see people like warren buffett, he doesn't believe in leaving a lot of money to his children, so warren buffett,

second richest man in the world, that's his philosophy. probably good for other people as well. >> we'll see what happens. there's a lot of people who may be counting on that, especially as their 401(k)s take a dive. see you later. thanks for that story. the u.s. postal service is low on cash and if congress doesn't act soon, some say it could shut down. devastating news for millions of americans relying on mail carriers. we thought we would ask, how many pieces of mail do you think the postal service handles every year? here's your choices. 57 billion, 167 billion or 300 billion. we'll tell you soon. first, here's free money advice from the cnn help desk. >> time for the help desk, where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour, lynnette cox and stacy francis, a certified financial planner and the president of francis financial. thanks for being here. stacy, anthony, 21-year-old, wants to get in the market,

wants to invest, wants to know what his best options are. cds, bonds, stocks. pretty young. he can be risky here, right? >> exactly. kudos to him starting off at 21. wish i knew back then. but the best way to get started is go ahead and use the mutual funds. the mutual funds are a great way for diversification. choose a mutual fund that has an even split between stocks and bonds. he wants to be a little more aggressive, maybe have the stock exposure up to 70%, depending on how he feels. but it's a great first step is using the mutual funds. >> interesting market to get into, that's for sure. lynnette, this question comes from brandon. he has to do a short sale on his two family home and he's wondering how he can prepare to rebuild his credit after that short sale. >> right. you can isolate the damage that's caused to your credit by a short sale or foreclosure by paying all your other bills on time, only taking on new forms of credit when you really and truly need it. don't have a lot of inquiries generated on your credit reports and keep your credit card balances low. all of that can help him rebuild his credit.

>> do the best you can everywhere else in life. that's the message. thank you, ladies, so much. if you have a question, send us an e-mail any time to cnn help desk@cnn.com. 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. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done.

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we asked if you could guess how many pieces of mail the postal service handles every year. 57, 167 or 300 billion. the answer is b, 167 billion, three billion pieces of mail every week. you also told us what you wanted to see. time for your choose the news

winner. it is the italian automaker fiat recently acquiring chrysler, hoping to bring the almost bankrupt american brand into the 21st century with stylish models like the fiat 500 subcompact. ali velshi put the car to the test. >> reporter: we have seen what this car can do if you want to drive it that way. most people are probably not going to drive it that way. this is where dave hands the car over to me. let's see what it handles like when we're driving around like regular folk. i'd say it qualifies as easy to drive. what's your sense of it? what's your sense of this car? >> it's an okay car. it looks cute. it's fun to drive. but would i want to live with it on a day-to-day basis? >> is this going to be a big part of the comeback strategy for chrysler and is it going to work? >> i think it will be a young demographic in. i think it will bring somebody that wasn't looking at a chrysler to actually come into a

chrysler showroom. from that point of view, it's going to be a little bit of a halo car. it will bring a totally different consumer into chrysler. >> bouncing a little on this road. >> this doesn't score as well as something else in this price category, other cars in this category. do you think it's likely to improve or this is the car they're offering? >> no. a lot of the factors that make it score poorly is the rear seat room, the ride that isn't particularly good and also the overall fuel economy is not brilliant for its size. >> what kind of mileage does this get? >> this gets 34 to the gallon. which that's okay. >> what's your evaluation of this from a safety perspective? >> well, it comes with all the safety features, side airbags, front airbags, electronic stability control. it does well in crash tests that we've seen so far. this is a relatively small car. a big