and more cynical and showed me the true colors of those around me. so many people use 9/11 as a platform to push their own views of religion, big theory and social conformity onto others. as a brown person i feel distance between myself and other races created just because of my skin color. sometimes people look at me with suspicion just because i am brown. i do not like it when people judge me by the color of my skin. the accent i have or the beliefs i follow. i think 9/11 has messed things up for brown people like me. this from gil. it has changed every one of us whether we admit it or not. it's impossible to remember what life was like before 9/11 but i know we went about our days without the magazining feeling something could go wrong at any second. thanks for sharing. if you want to continue the conversation, facebook.com/americanmorning. "cnn newsroom" begins right now with kyra phillips. days before the tenth

anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, u.s. intelligence officials are uncovered a new terror threat and describe it as specific credible, but unconfirmed information about a potential al qaeda plot. it's believed to involve three individuals and explosives such as a truck or a car bomb. washington and new york are cited as possible targets. we are covering this from all angles. fran townsend is in washington and susan candiotti in new york and barbara starr at the pentagon. fran, let's start with you. specific, credible, but unconfirmed? tell us exactly what that means. >> i think it's most important to work backwards. unconfirmed is the key thing and driving all of the intelligence and law enforcement community. specific that you're hearing that word because, yes, they think it's a car bomb in either new york or washington. they do have some information that three individuals entered one being united states sit he send. they believe. the credible goes to where the

source of the information is. they are not telling us whether that is human intelligence or technical intelligence. but they believe based on how they got that information that it is plausible and could, in fact, be an accurate reporting of the threat. so back to the unconfirmed part. right now, law enforcement intelligence officials are not only going through their own databases and files but gone around the world to their allies particularly we understand they have gone to the pakistanis. they are cooperating with the u.s. officials. and try to see if they can't get additional information that will allow them to identify these individuals they believe are in the united states. this is no small task because if one of them is a united states citizen the fact that a u.s. citizen crosses the borders doesn't tell you much about where they may be. so they have asked for the help of not only the american people but also state and locals. we saw commissioner ray kelly talk about the nypd's response.

>> we are able to talk specifics here and reports saying the cia gained these specifics in particular this vehicle-borne attack. what does this tell us about the cia and its new leader general david petraeus? this is his first week on the job. >> yeah, absolutely. a busy first week for general petraeus but let's be honest. he has been through many of these types of threats, just in a different seed. general petraeus, although his first week, this is not a new business for him. let's remember, you know, over the course of ten years, we have increased the resources of the cia. they have a far more robust capability to collect intelligence around the world. their relationships with our allies are far improved. and even with pakistan. remember, mortani captured in the past week and a huge capture for the pakistanis and they are cooperating with the u.s. and a

good. >> and let's not forget the take-down of osama bin laden and the cia involvement there. a reminder of how seriously authorities are taking this threat. from this morning, police officers stopping and searching balk trucks as they approach the george washington bridge over the hudson river. a hundred million vehicles cross this bridge every year. susan candiotti is live with us in new york. what else is going on in the city with regard to amped up security? >> reporter: you can imagine about anything you can possibly think of. you will see, for example, more of these random searches. many were already planned because this is the 9/11 tenth anniversary weekend. but you'll also see an increased police presence around, for example, landmarks and train stations, subways, tunnels, bridges, as you saw. and perhaps more random searches of purses, bags, backpacks, that kind of thing.

even more security as the mayor said around religious buildings. so all of that goes into it. now, we had to show the importance and concern over this. a late night news conference last night talking about this. take a look. >> the nypd is deploying kishl additional resources around the city some of which you may notice and some you may not notice. there is no reason for any of the rest of us to change anything in our daily routines. >> reporter: and that is the main thing. people shouldn't panic about this. on the other hand, they want people to be on the lookout as they always do and they use the term if you see something, please say something. and with good reason. for example you remember it was a little over a year and a half ago that the times square attempted car bombing was thwarted because someone saw some smoke coming out of a car. so that is why they want to engage the public as much as

while they try to pin down whether this really is a threat that they can corroborate. >> we will continue to talk about it with you, susan. keep us updated. out west the power is back on for many people but 5 million people went without power and frustrating and for leave those folks it was kind of scary. now imagine how the guy that caused this massive outage is feeling this morning. that's right. one guy. 5 million people affected. let's get straight to our casey wian in san diego. case iy, what exactly did this one guy in arizona do? >> reporter: well, the best we know, kyra, right now, the authorities stress that they don't know exactly what happened and they will be investigating how power was gone for up to 5 million people throughout parts of southern california and into the border of mexico yesterday. to the best of our knowledge, what happened, a worker working on a substation near yuma,

arizona. something went wrong when he was working on some equipment and it knocked out power to several thousand residents in that area. other workers tried to restore power. something else went wrong there as they restored power to the small group of people and the power outage spread on one of the two transmission lines that connects the san diego area to the wider grid. that is coming from arizona to the east. now, to the north of here is another power plant. the power plant from the east somehow spread to that plant as well. as a precautionary measure, it shut down and knocked out power to this entire region. what is incredible is the fact that san diego gas and electric now says they have restored power to everyone in their service area that lost power in just 12 hours, they were able to restore more than 100 substations and more than a thousand different distribution points. so the picture is going to be a lot different for san diego area residents this morning than it

was yesterday when there was gridlock throughout the area in the rush hour commute home. businesses were shut down. we talked to one owner of a convenience store here who lost a thousand dollars in inventory in four of his stores. so a major inconvenience for a lot of people but they will be getting back to business today and the power grid they hope will hold up as long as people don't all turn on their air-conditioners at the same time this morning. >> high temps there today. casey, thanks. head to the other coast where people in eastern pennsylvania and southern new york and maryland are overwhelmed by record floodwaters. three people died and homes under water and people forced to evacuate because of tropical storm lee dumping rain on a saturated region. binghamton, new york, soaked with more than 10 inches of rain. president obama has signed disaster declarations for the northeast flooding. in an address before a joint session of congress, president

obama laid out his new plan to put more of us to work but not everyone heard the broad details of it last night. some republicans boycotted the speech. and the president addressed that. >> this idea came from a bill written by a texas republican and a massachusetts democrat. the idea for a big boost in construction is supported by america's largest business organization and america's largest labor organization. it's the kind of proposal has been supported in the past by democrats and republicans alike. you should pass it right away. >> now, selling this job plan doesn't stop at a speech. president obama is traveling to virginia where he will deliver remarks at the university of richmond, hometown to the republican majority leader eric cantor. next week the president visits columbus, ohio. state hid hard by the sour economy and could be decisive in his re-election bid.

our paul steinhauser is here with us. let me take a guess, paul, they hated it? >> reporter: a pretty good guess. no doubt about it. not a positive review. two thumbs up definitely not. rick perry the texas governor the front-runner in most of the polls in the battle for the nomination. he says this. as for mitt romney, yeah, he put out a statement but he also went one step further. he put up a website called obama isn't working.com. i think from the name of that website you get the idea that mitt romney doesn't like the president's plans on jobs. michele bachman, the congresswoman from minnesota had a news conference on capitol hill after the speech. take a listen to what she had to say. >> not only should congress not pass his plan, i say, mr. president, stop. your last plan hasn't worked and it's hurting the american

economy. >> reporter: a similar message from every other republican presidential candidate. hear more from them monday because there is another debate. >> and why you're in tampa. the big debate on monday night and see it live on cnn. christine romans with the business side of the president's job plan. let's break it down. >> reporter: put the politics aside and not talk about what parts could get through. the payroll tax cut for 98% of businesses. mark zandi calls it a creative way to take the payroll cut to businesses. a tax credit for companies that high unemployed veterans. you know that employed veterans the unemployment rate is rising to dangerous levels and something needed there and both parties agree on that. improvement for about 35,000 public schools. this is part of the infrastructure component of

this. we have unemployment rate for construction people anywhere from 13% to 16%. this would be modernizing 35,000 public schools and getting people back to work in that arena. also a tax credit for firms that hire the long-term unemployed. we know that a record number of people have been out of work for six months or longer. it's a real problem for families getting the long-term unemployed some kind of help so a tax credit there. also it would let more americans refinance their mortgages at these near 4% interest rates that are available now. you've heard complaints from me and many others the low interest rates and so many people under water on their loans and don't qualify to refinance on these low levels. the president has things to handle that. there are a lot of different elements in here. when you look at the scoring this morning of what it would mean for jobs, gene spurling a white house economic adviser pointing me to analysis from mark zandi create 9.1 million

jobs and cut one percentage point off the unemployment rate. the white house saying they agree with that analysis. >> christine romans, thanks so much for breaking it down for us. something special this hour at the new york stock exchange. hillary clinton, rudy giuliani and several others will be ringing the opening bell to re-create this moment. the stock exchange opening for the first time after the september 11th attacks. our alison kosik will be interviewing hillary clinton and rudy giuliani in a few moments. first, alison, let's talk about what is happening on the floor right now. >> reporter: you know what? it's one of those somber reflective mornings. many traders that are here today, they were also here on 9/11. you know, the nyse is a few blocks away from ground zero. everybody is remembering that day like it was yesterday. you can walk around anywhere on the floor here and just about everyone here knows somebody who died in those attacks. it's no wonder why one woman coming into the nyse yelled out

i hate this day! because it marks 9/11 every year and it's a tough day and ten-year anniversary is even more poignant. a lot of ceremony going on in a few minutes. a moment of silence at 9:25. a marine will sing "god bless america." at the opening bell, ringing the opening bell will be secretary of state hillary clinton, she was a senator from new york back in 2001. former new york city mayor rudy giuliani, he'll be ringing the bell as well. they were all here on september 17th, 2001, to ring the bell when the market opened up again after closed almost a week with no trading. they will be joins by former nyscc dick grasso and new york city police commissioner and other dignitaries to ring the opening bell today. >> 15 minutes away. our alison kosik is there and have a live interview with hillary clinton. alison, we look forward to it and you let us know when you're ready to go. coming up, get afghan ready to take over security in their country.

our suzanne malveaux is there. >> seeing and understanding afghanistan from above is critical to security. trying to get supplies to those remote bases. helicopter is essential! >> we are going live to afghanistan and hear more from suzanne after the break. more on the new terror threat. barbara starr at the pentagon working her sources and she joins us at the bottom of the hour. ♪ [ male announcer ] each of these photos was taken by someone on the first morning of their retirement.

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it's been ten years since u.s. troops began fighting the wore on terror in afghanistan and just as long trying to train the afghan army to be able to take over its own security.

now our suzanne malveaux is there with an inside look. >> reporter: getting around afghanistan is tough. it's the size of texas but has poor roads, extreme weather, and rugged terrain. travelers are often the target of insurgent attacks. seeing an understanding afghanistan from above is critical to its security. the mountains and trying to get supplies to those remote bases. the helicopter is essential. and is the -- we were taking on a train exercise aboard a russian mi-17 often used for battlefield operations. we flew over a lake 20 miles east of kabul. a desperate area but strateg strategically important for those fighting the taliban. unbelievable. 30 minutes or so, there this

helicopter ride across afghanistan and we are here in the middle of nowhere. tell me a little bit about the mission, americans alongside the afghans flying these things. >> it's not only just the americans and the afghans. it's americans and our squadron, folks from the czech republic and hungary. the ride of my life. >> mine too! >> but it's just been a phenomenal job. >> we saw some pretty rough terrain. explain how important it is to have the helicopters in and out. like the best way to learn the mountains and supply the routes. >> the options that you have a donkey possibly or a helicopter. a lot of times, again, as you can see with the rough terrain, especially the northeast of where we are, it just gets

worse. >> reporter: how important is it to make sure the afghans are able to fly not only the helicopters but more advanced aircraft too? >> well, it's a fairly expensive asset. it's $12 million. each one of those helicopters that we have out there. they need to make sure and the leadership of afghanistan wants to ensure the people we have flying can handle that $12 million asset. >> reporter: 19-year-old afghan sophia is training to become one of afghanistan's few female pilots. this is her first time ever on a plane. it's a c-27. she tells me she is excited. american master sergeant aaron manually opens the rear ramp. sophia gets to sit with the pilots. a bump and ride makes her queasy but she quickly recovers. on landing, she tells me she is not deterred. she feels great. her american mentor is proud. >> it's great that you get to

take this and run with it and build a foundation for future females in afghanistan. >> suzanne is joining us live from kabul. let's talk about the various challenges that make creating this afghan force so complica d complicated. >> reporter: kyra, you saw the best of the best there. they have about 200 afghan pilots and want to more than double that number for four years or so. what we are talking about here is the basics. the afghan army you have u.s. and nato troops that are trying to train right now. that is the biggest challenge because, you know, you can't have people flying planes unless they can read and write and about 86%, if you can believe this, of the afghan recruits that try to join the army cannot read or write. i met some of them who can't even count. sounds surprising and amazing that you got u.s. and nato forces involved some sort of literacy campaign but that is happening here and really the

focus to get the guys up to speed. you're talking about just the ability to be able to read like a serial number on a weapon or to call in if you're in trouble to read a map. really simple skills like that. those are the simple skills that the afghans, they just don't have. it's been 30 years of war and it's a lost generation and folks just don't have an education so that is the primary focus. it seems like a lot of people on board with that because essentially the quicker, the faster they can get afghans to take over security that is the faster with can get out of aelveg. they are looking at a goal at the end of 2014. that is the focus now. >> as we saw you point out in your piece too how women are being treated and empowered. how many stories have we done about how there are no rights for women in that country. so seeing what you did with regard to these missions, teaming up with the military is

incredibly progress iive. >> reporter: kyra, such a small number of afghan women, when we interviewed and we actually met that young woman who is training to be a pilot she has been doing it for fee months now. it was unusual just to see the sergeant master aboard that plane who is actually acting as her mentor but she is just one of a handful of folks. just five females who are actually in the united states who are training to become pilots and they are trying to up that number and increase that number. it is highly unusual and really rare. we spoke to her and she has the blessing of her parents but that is not often the case and they have got a long way to go on that score, but, still, the military, nato officials, soldiers here on the ground, they believe that is the way to go, to train the females as well as the males to make sure they can take care of their own country. >> our suzanne malveaux in afghanistan, thanks. you can join us for our special 9/11 continue years later. live coverage of remembrance events begins sunday at 8:00 a.m. eastern on cnn. still to come, homes under

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checking stories across the country. plumes of smoke still billowing over texas. firefighters gained some ground in the battle against dozens of wildfires there. near san antonio, 50% contained now. the 34,000 acre fire near austin destroyed nearly 1,400 homes and two people died there. in san francisco yesterday a b.a.r.t. train station shut down as 20 demonstrators were

arrested there. nasa plane launch today of a research mission. bad weather is the reason. shoot for tomorrow now. the mission called grail will hopefully, study how the moon was formed. ahead, barbara starr is at the pentagon and working her sources on the terror threat. hillary clinton is there at the new york stock exchange to honor the silence of the knife victims. live shot straight from the floor. our interview with the secretary of state straight ahead. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler?

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all right. a special day at the new york stock exchange this morning as you can see. we had a moment of silence just a few minutes ago honoring the victims of 9/11. now as you can see, a number of dignitaries on hand for the opening bell as you can see

right there. secretary of state hillary clinton, also you can see rudy giuliani. the police commissioner ray kelly there in the background. our alison kosik is going to have a live interview with hillary clinton and rudy giuliani coming up this hour so stay with us for that. you can see members, obviously, of the new york police department and fire department that responded on that horrible day. just days before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, u.s. intelligence officials have now uncovered a new terror threat. a senior administration official calls it specific, credible, bun unconfirmed threat. it's believed to involve three people and explosives. washington and new york cited as possible targets. barbara starr is working hr her sources at the pentagon. if you live in d.c. or new york, do you stay home this weekend?

>> reporter: government officials say no. . go about your daily lives. be vigilant and keep an eye out and isn't what they have said to us the last ten years, very sadly? that is what life has become. you might ask yourself, kyra, what is really different about this threat that they are looking into? and officials tell us it really focuses on that word unconfirmed. it is specific. it is credible. but unconfirmed. they are now looking for corroboration of this information. whatever the sources, whatever the origin of the information is about this potential threat, it is significant enough that it is led to this warning, but they are looking for the corroboration. they do believe the working assumption is that at least three individuals may have entered the united states. one of them a u.s. citizen from abroad coming from pakistan and coming with al qaeda sympathies, if you will, potentially even members of al qaeda, looking for

some kind of car bomb attack in new york or washington. so all of that is what they are working against trying to find the corroboration so they can pin it down and either deal with it or dismiss is where they are right now. >> and, barbara, you and i have talked about the fact this is david petraeus first week on the job at the cia. what a peek for him and what does it tell us about the cia leading the charge here? >> reporter: well, you know, for petraeus, this is, as you know, kyra, this is not anything he hasn't dealt with before in his military career in afghanistan leading the war there at the u.s. central command, dealing with the threat of terrorism. the cia, in recent years, along with the rest of the intelligence community, has really stepped up its counterterrorist efforts. all hands on deck this weekend. cia, the director of national intelligence, the department of homeland security. because, of course, it will be dhs, homeland security that deals with the threat as it

exists in the united states. it will be petraeus and others looking abroad, looking to pakistan, looking outside the united states to see what they can figure out about corroborating this threat and who exactly may be involved. kyra? >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks. moments ago, a moment of silence at the new york stock exchange. secretary of state hillary clinton is there. she is going joan us live next. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser

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want to take you live to the the new york stock exchange. this is pretty -- i want to point out awesome access we have here today. our photographer is down there on the floor with our alison kosik. we are waiting for secretary of state hillary clinton to come up to alison where we will be able to get the first interview as we are approaching the anniversary of 9/11. a number of dignitaries that were there at the time ten years

ago have come back. you saw them ring the opening bell just about seven minutes ago. and now we are going to get a chance to hear from the secretary of state on a number of issues, including the terror threat that we have been talking about within the past -- close to 4 hours. we want to welcome our international viewers as well joining us here as we wait to hear from secretary of state hillary clinton there on the floor of the new york stock exchange. it was minutes before the new york stock exchange was set to open ten years ago on september 11th that we saw those two planes slam into the world trade center and the market shut down and it stayed that way for almost a week. traders on the floor will never forget that day. >> good morning and welcome back to the greatest market on the face of the earth!

>> you could smell death really. it was just permeating in the air. you could smell the fires were still burning over there at the time even though it was a week later. >> everyone described these people like short insurance stocks and doing things that were not right. i remember roux fusing to take those orders. it was -- it was a tough emotional time. >> the markets reopened. that was the right thing to do and no question about it. >> we awe felt we were doing something patriotic when we came back. >> i don't think any of us will forget that moment on 9/11. it wasn't just the new york stock exchange that shut down. but, boy, the entire country was stunned, in addition to the traders there you just heard from. we saw how we were devastated financially, emotional, personally, and now ten years later, a number of the leaders in our country, including

hillary clinton right there who is actually walking up to our alison kosik and when i get the word, guys, that we are good to go, we will do a live interview in seconds here with our alison kosik there on the floor with the new york stock exchange with secretary of state hillary clinton as she mikes up. we are getting the first chance to talk to the secretary of state. not only remembering 9/11, a decade ago, but also the terror threat that came through later in the day yesterday, a terror threat coming to us from -- okay, let's go. alison kosik, take it away. >> reporter: secretary clinton joins me now. secretary, i want to talk about this threat that came in yesterday. cnn is reporting that the threat information came from the pakistan/afghanistan border areas. have the pakistanis been helping the u.s. track it down or helping in the threat of it. >> let me say there is a

specific, credible, but unconfirmed threat report. we take is seriously as we always do and particularly because we learned from the raid on bin laden's headquarters and going through all of the material that al qaeda was still determined to attack around anniversaries and particularly new york and washington. so we are, obviously, working with everybody to try to find as much information as possible. >> what specifically about this threat, though, really you sensed it last night. officials really took notice. >> you know, i can't go into any of the details of the intelligence. obviously, i and other top officials were briefed on it yesterday. but it was sufficient to have us have a public statement, obviously, to alert local and state law enforcement. you saw mayor bloomberg, ray kelly, and others out talking about additional steps to be taken here in new york. we aelvevaluate lots of threats

the time. one of the great advances is the way our intelligence community is integrated. >> reporter: secretary, should people here feel safe? >> yes. look. the reason i am here on the floor today is i was senator on 9/11 of new york and i worked with a lot of people here to get the city back going and rebuild. you have to go on with your life. i mean, the goal of terrorism is to terrorize. it is to sew intimidation and fear. the reason that america and this great city has shown such resilience is because we refuse to be intimidated but that doesn't mean we are stupid. we will keep our eyes open and be vigilant. part of the reason to go specific with this threat information is tell people go on with your lives and keep your eyes open and let us know if you see anything suspicious. remember, the times square bomber was stopped by a food vendor who saw something suspicious, reported it and thank goodness. >> switching gears. does the u.s. know where moammar gadhafi is right now?

>> no, but we are closing in on his remaining forces. we have a very concerted effort going on with support for the tnz and the rebels and it's a matter of time. the cities that are still held by loyalists will eventually either peacefully transition or be taken over. >> reporter: let's switch to politics for a moment. what is the likelihood you're going to challenge president obama in the primary? you've got dick cheney in your court. >> oh, yeah, it's below zero! >> reporter: what do you think about dick cheney said you would have made a better president than president obama? >> one of the great things of being secretary of state. i am out of politics and i am not interested in being drawn back in it by anybody. i have an honor representing our country. >> reporter: would you get back into politics again if you leave this position? >> i don't think so. i think i'm going to stay focused on doing what i can to make sure that we continue to lead the world. there's a lot of tough decisions we have to make at home in order

to us to be positioned to demonstrate the kind of leadership i think is in our best interests. >> reporter: final question. how important is it to come back here as you did on september 17th and ring this opening bell? why is it important for you to do this? >> on a personal level, it's deeply important to me because it was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life to be a senator when we were attacked and then to devote as much time and effort as i could to working with all of the people you see here to try to make sure we came back stronger than ever. but also it's a good signal. i mean, it is -- it's not you know, let's remember the past because we have to be smart and vigilant but let's look toward the future and show some confidence and optimism and get the bells ringing and get some activity going. we are the greatest nation in the world and we need to get up and start acting like it.

>> kyra? >> that was our alison kosik. great job, alison. now she is mixed in the shuffle there around the security around secretary of state hillary clinton. and alison is not finished. rudy giuliani is also there on the floor. we will never forget his leadership as well during 9/11. alison is going to connect with him and we will have an interview with the former mayor of new york just ahead. stay with us. oh, i've just got major medical... major medical. ...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! [ quack ] oh yeah? what about your family? ♪ we added aflac, so we get cash! it's like our safety net... ♪ to help with the mortgage or whatever we need! so my family doesn't feel the pain too. ha! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!!

monday night, tampa,

florida, hosts the cnn tea party republican depate. the tea party express bus is on its way to tampa where our don lemon already is. don, it's their night. what a tea party members what do they want to hear from the candidates? >> reporter: hey, listen, on its way? there it is over my shoulder! you see the bus got lear! >> i should say all of the candidates on their way! >> oh, the candidates, yes, you are right, they are on their way. >> reporter: we did speak to some of the tea party members we spoke to the head of the tampa tea party here and some of the other members and you know what, kyra? what is on their mind is in the same thing that the president talked about last night. jobs, jobs, jobs. the recent poll shows that people care a lot more about jobs, jobs, jobs and the any than spending. do you think you're on the right track with the spending and you don't want to hear jobs coming out of their mouth how they will create jobs? >> they go hand in glove. if you take a dollar out of the private sector to do something government with it, first of

all, it's an absolute fal lassie to hear anyone say that the government is going to create jobs. it just simply doesn't happen. when you remove a dollar from the private sector to have the government redistribute that dollar somewhere else, then it's going to -- it has an immediate impact. i own a small business. i'm not hiring anyone else until i can forecast not 12 months, not even 24 months. i need to be able to look down the road, because my commitment for borrowing is a five-year or a seven-year commitment. i don't want to hear about what we are going give you a one-year break on this that or the other. that is not going to get it done. i'm actually a job creator. not hillsboro county government. >> reporter: you're not creating jobs. >> i'm not because associated with the spending. why i say they go land in glove.

they are inseparable entities. job creation and spending. >> reporter: so, kyra, we didn't just let the guy do all of the talking. you see the ladies around him. the blond lady there to the left is the head of the tampa tea party and hear from them later on about their concerns and what they hope to hear from the candidates on stage monday night. the fairgrounds are busy and getting ready for a brad paisley concert on monday night. >> we will be tuning in, don. you don't want to miss it. cnn and tea party members co-host the republican debate. don lemon will be the 2012 republican national convention. the cnn tea party republican debate monday night 8:00 eastern. now just a few minutes ago live from the new york stock exchange this happened on the podium. new york public figures former

and current remembering 9/11 and the day the markets reopened. we talked to the secretary of state hillary clinton who was a senator at that time. next she'll talk to the former mayor of new york, rudolph guiliani.

lots of developments in the next hour of cnn newsroom. let's check in first with barbara starr live at the pentagon. >> reporter: we are a couple days away from the anniversary of 9/11 and another terrorist threat. i'll have the latest, coming up. >> reporter: i'm casey wian in san diego where power has been restored after a massive blackout affecting up to 5 million people.

i'll have details at the top of the hour. >> reporter: i'm mary snow in pennsylvania where the raging susquehanna river is swallowing homes and bridges. we'll have the very latest at the top of the hour. >> all right. thank you so much, guys. i'm just getting word that we are going to have our interview with former mayor rudolph guiliani. we're live at the new york stock exchange just two days away from the tenth anniversary of 9/11. she's getting a chance to talk to the key leaders of that moment, how they feel, what they're talking about ten years later. you heard her talk with hillary clinton. she was a senator at the time. now secretary of state. you're about to talk to rudolph guiliani who was mayor on that fateful day. >> reporter: exactly. rudolph guiliani is joining me now. you rang the opening bell just as you did on september 17th. why was it so important for you to come back and show this and do this? >> well that was a very significant milestone in the

comeback of the city and the country. the stock exchange is at the core of our economy. it went down. couldn't function for a period of time. dick rosso and the people here through heroic efforts were able to get it back. i don't think anybody will ever understand how complicated that was and it only happened because dick rosso and the stock exchange did more preparing for the possibility of a terrorist attack than just about any business in the city. so they got it back. no one knew for sure it was going to work. so when i came in and opened with everyone else on the 17th of september i didn't know it was going to work. we were saying our prayers and crossing our fingers. >> and you led this city through some of its darkest days. now just days before the ten-year anniversary we're getting another very stark and stunning threat. >> right. >> how worried should we be? because this is an interesting one. this one really caught everybody's attention and we see the checkpoints on the bridges this morning. we see them on the subways.

it's in our faces. what is so difference about this one? >> i don't know the exact intelligence but i can sort of interpret it from the experience i had getting that information. they must be pretty convinced this is a real one. that doesn't mean it's going to happen. it doesn't mean they aren't able to intercept it. we've got much better methods in place now for picking these things up than we did before september 11. i'm pretty confident the new york city police department will be able to prevent this. but people should be a little more alert. they shouldn't change their way of life. they shouldn't let this affect them too much psychologically. this should be a reminder that the tenth anniversary of september 11 doesn't mean we can put all this behind us. these people who came here to kill us on september 11, 2001, want to come here to kill us over and over again. this threat of islamic extremist terrorism exists today. it is at least as great. and we need to be very alert. we need to have in place the kinds of things president bush put in place. president obama has continued

most of those after campaigning against them. we need these things in place and we need a military presence in the middle east to protect us. this is not over. we'd like to get it over and we're impatient but the islamic terrorist threat exists against this country and it is going to be real for quite sometime. >> reporter: when are you going to decide whether you're going to run for president in 2012? i know you're thinking about it. what are you waiting for? >> well, i'm waiting to see who emerges and i realize how difficult it would be for me to get nominated given some of the positions that i have that i'm not willing to change. i want to see if there is a really good candidate who can take this country in a different direction and if i find that candidate then i won't be tempted to run. >> reporter: how much do you want the job? >> i'd love to do the job. i can't imagine any american at a time of challenge who wouldn't want to be president particularly the kind of work done in the past but i'm also realistic enough to know it would be very difficult for me to be nominated and i don't want to see my party put into some kind of turmoil. i think it's important

particularly for the economy that we have a new president starting in a year and a half. >> reporter: what would you do to fix the economy? >> probably just the opposite of what president obama has done. i think last night was a perfect indication. the market's reaction today. i don't think he has a clue. i like him. think he's a nice man. i think with regard to our economy he's working on a model that's about 50 years old and out dated. last night's recommendations, warmed over spit. we've done them before. and they haven't worked. we've had a payroll tax reduction in place for a year. hasn't worked. we're going to continue it. great. we're going too continue unemployment insurance. how does that produce jobs? he hasn't done the things that are necessary to give confidence to the american economy that it's going to grow. he is so far off the mark it's startlingly. >> reporter: you say it would be tough to get the gop nomination. what about running as an independent? >> i'm a republican. i believe in the republican party. i think they're really required now. republican fiscal conservativism is totally required to save our

economy. to the extent we haven't been fiscal conservatives like in the mid part of the beginning of the century we've created some of these problems ourselves so we need a restoration of reagan-like republican fiscal conservati conservativism. >> reporter: thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> there you have it. back to you. >> okay. thank you so much. as you saw, there on the floor of the new york stock exchange. she is part of our cnn money team now part of our best political team on television. you got a chance to hear her not only interview secretary of state hillary clinton but also rudolph guiliani who was the mayor at the time during 9/11. obviously hillary clinton the senator there. a very special opening bell this morning. they were there to ring the bell. we'll continue to follow the impact on the numbers today ten years since 9/11. you can join us for our

special 9/11 ten years later coverage. it begins sunday, 8:00 a.m. eastern right here on cnn. we sure hope that you'll tune in. stories making news later today, 11:30 eastern time this morning president obama is speaking at the university of richmond selling that jobs plan. then later this afternoon house majority leader eric canter will speak at a richmond, virginia business. then at 8:00 p.m. eastern in washington a concert to honor 9/11 victims has been moved from the national cathedral to the john f. kennedy epicenter for the performing arts. we begin with coverage of the new terror threat. intel officials describing it as quote specific, credible terror threat. but unconfirmed information about a potential al qaeda plot. well it's believed to involve three individuals and explosives such as a truck or a car bomb. washington and new york are cited as possible targets.

we're covering all angles of the story. we've got the former adviser to president bush. let's talk about this, quote, specific, credible, but unconfirmed. tell us what it means. >> the specific is exactly what you outlined, a potential car or truck bomb, washington or new york may be targets. three potential individuals. one may be a u.s. citizen. that is the specific. the credible goes to where they got this information from. they're not telling us that whether it was human intelligence or technical intelligence, whether it was derived from the cia themselves or whether they got it from a foreign ally. we don't know the source. but obviously the source to those in the u.s. government is a credible source. but we need to focus on the unconfirmed. i mean, we get lots of information that meets the first two. what they're looking for now it is an all hands on deck effort. the law enforcement intelligence and diplomatic communities around the world, we're trying to find, the u.s. government is

trying to find information to corroborate in some way and give them additional lead information so they can identify either the cars or the trucks, so they can identify the individuals in question or take them into custody. >> and, you know, we talked about this last hour, the fact that we are reading about and talking about real specifics here. i mean, actually launching some type of vehicle bomb threat here. what does that tell us about the cia, the flow of information, its new boss general petraeus, his first week here on the job? >> right. i don't think this is going to be anything new to general david petraeus, who for all his experience has seen the u.s. government at work trying to counter these sorts of threats but it does tell us about a very much well resourced and trained cia that developed the information for the abada bad kmou compound raid that killed osama bin laden. another al qaeda leader was taken into custody by the

pakistanis several days ago. and so we've seen a much more robust intelligence gathering capability and this is clear now we know when we need additional information to involve the state and local law enforcement and the american people to aid this effort. >> well, you've just put it out there. you remember ten years ago one of the biggest problems, lack of communication among the key agencies. >> right. >> what we're seeing now, is this an example of how that's changed, the gaps have been filled and our agencies are communicating properly? >> i think it's an indication that they're doing it much better. remember, it was december of 2009 the attempted christmas day bomber where president obama came out. he was not happy. information had not been shared and he had his counterterrorism adviser john brennan go back and look at how that happened. i talked to john brennan earlier this week and he reaffirmed that as a result of that they went back and strengthened those information sharing mechanisms among the agencies. >> so bottom line, if you're in new york or d.c. do you stay home this weekend?

do you stay away from soft targets or just go on? i have a feeling i know what you're going to say. >> yeah. >> go on and live your life as normally as you can? >> that's right. you cannot -- you can't change your life and your activities based on unconfirmed threats. if that was the case we would never go out of the house. so you got to wait to see if there is additional information. authorities are going to let you know that and if it is confirmed, then you can think about how you want to alter your activities. >> fran, thanks. >> sure. >> barbara star has been working our sources at the pentagon. what are you finding out? >> well, there is a growing sense officials say that this threat is emanating from pakistan, from the pakistan/afghan border region from al qaeda. what they call al qaeda central. not one of the affiliate organizations in another country in somalia or yemen but al qaeda right in pakistan. and they are looking at the possibility they tell us that other groups in pakistan, the pakistani taliban known as the

ttp, the l.e.t. that was involved in the mumbai, india attacks, that they are also involved in this. so when they see this sort of super of al qaeda operatives and sympathizers what they are looking for is what fran was talking about, corroboration, a second source. someone to tell them, okay. this threat is for real. you have to move against it or if nobody out there is hearing anything about it, does that mean they can dismiss it? this is the calculation going on right now. this is why the u.s. counterterrorism and intelligence community and u.s. military intelligence is operating at full tilt along with the fbi, department of homeland security. they know what their sources of information are telling them. they're looking for corroboration. they're looking for more specificity. >> all right. barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks. in an address before a joint session of congress president obama laid out his new plan to put more of us to work.

and today he's hitting the road to sell his ideas to the american public. we go live now to richmond, virginia where he's getting ready to make a speech. >> reporter: we're awaiting the president. in about an hour and a half he'll be speaking here selling the plan he outlined last night. the two really big chunks of his jobs plan about $250 billion for extending and expanding a payroll tax cut for employees making it bigger than they're already receiving and extending it for employers for small businesses and also about $150 billion for infrastructure spending, highways, railways, schools, that kind of thing. new energy that you sort of saw the president have last night, it was sort of in contrast to what we've seen recently. he's taking that on the road. he will be in ohio next week selling this plan and today he will be here at the university of richmond trying to appeal to

voters and show them that he is trying to do something and that essentially if he can't do it, it's congress that is standing in his way. interesting to note, this is actually eric canter's district where the president is speaking today and white house officials tell me that is nothing to do with why the president is here. this is a venue not far from washington, d.c., about an hour and a half or two hours' drive for us as we made it. so not that far. but you can see there are going to be competing messages because at 3:00 p.m. eastern today eric canter will also be talking jobs as well and so even though you've seen house republicans be more conciliatory talking about wanting to kind of take some avenues to jobs creation, and not really pushing back as far as they could -- really as far as they could have against the president last night make no mistake there is a battle for the message here. >> okay. we will follow that battle for the message. meanwhile we're talking about historic flooding in the

northeast as well. nearly 100,000 people ordered to evacuate from maryland to pennsylvania to new york, homes are under water, rivers are cresting all because of tropical storm lee dumping rain on an already saturated region. at least three people have died there. some places got drenched with almost 15 inches of rain. our mary snow is actually in the city of wyoming one of the hardest hit flood areas in pennsylvania. mary, set the scene and tell us how pad it is. >> you know, kyra, there are so many people that have just come over here and say they have never seen anything like it and they've been living here their entire lives. we're right along the susquehanna river on the 8th street bridge. part of the bridge is under water. you can see all this debris that has been slamming this bridge. the river did crest but it is still about 16 feet above flood stages and about three miles north is where mike butera lives. you said you were forced out of

your home by the water yesterday. what's happened to your house? >> right now the house is flooded to within a foot and a half of the ceiling. it's a one-story ranch home flooded to within a foot and a half of the ceiling. >> you have a family home that's been in your family since 1949. have you ever seen anything like this? >> no. in 1972, which was -- which still is the biggest flood in history, the highest the river has ever been, we only had a foot and a half on our main floor. we're at about 7 1/2 feet. it's about 6 feet higher than it was in '72 as far as the flooding. >> where do you go from here? >> you wait until the river goes down. you clean up. then you rebuild. you rebuild. >> reporter: can you salvage anything? >> hopefully the structure. can't salvage anything in there but hopefully we can salvage the structure. hopefully there is no structural damage. >> our condolences to you. sorry about what you're going

through, mike. thank you for your time. you hear these stories over and over again. it is just so incredible to see the force of this raging river. >> mary snow. we'll follow developments out of there, mary. thanks. a massive power outage in california. the lights went out for more than 5 million people in san diego and also parts of arizona, even mexico all because of the actions of one utility worker. the reason that america and this great city has shown such resilience is because we refuse to be intimidated. that doesn't mean we're stupid. we'll keep our eyes open. >> secretary of state hillary clinton talks about the terror threats reportedly aimed at the ten-year anniversary of september 11. ♪

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as we approach the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks we wanted a sampling of how concerned people are these days. not very according to the cnn poll taken a couple weeks ago which shows nearly 2 of 3 americans felt they had little reason personally to be afraid of terrorist threats. worth noting the poll was taken before the government issued this latest bulletin. let's talk about that and the story we're all talking about this morning the latest terror threat. our next guest is privy to more terror intelligence than many of us would want to know. new york congressman peter king chairs the homeland security committee and also is on the

intelligence committee and the only member of both. he is joining us live from capitol hill. what can you tell us? how did you get the information and how are you taking it? >> i was briefed yesterday morning by the fbi and department of homeland security and the national counterterrorism center and last evening by john brennan the president's special homeland security adviser. the facts are very specific as to the type of threat, how it would be carried out, the number of people involved, all of that. it's credible in that there is a plausible plot. there are some holes. but it has not been confirmed with any other source other than we got the information one way. we've not been able to confirm it the other way. but it is taken very seriously one because it is so specific and with the 9/11 commemorations coming up we know al qaeda does look toward anniversaries and symbolism and for icons.

>> so here we are ten years later since the attacks that devastated our country. these specifics, these threats, what you know, what we all know now, how have we done in the past ten years to prevent another 9/11? how would you rate what we're finding out? >> we're doing very well. we haven't been successfully attacked in ten years. that is a very significant victory. this we have found out which we probably wouldn't have prior to september 11 of 2001. we still don't know if this is a real plot but this type of information we wouldn't have gotten. if we had it may have gotten pigeon holed or put aside. instead i can tell you the moment this information came in every federal agency was heavily involved, the fbi, cia, all of them. nsa. dni. it was immediately also given to the nypd and the washington, d.c. police department.

last evening fwas sent out to police departments all over the country. we've made a lot of progress. more has to be done. we need more as far as communication for first responders, cops and firefighters. >> let me ask you about that, congressman. you've been very vocal about certain gaps that still exist. and one of the main ones are first responders and how well equipped they are if something were to happen. so if this plot ends up being credible and something does happen, are our first responders ready? particularly there in new york? if not, what are you trying to do to prepare all of them? >> first responders are ready in almost every way but one and that is they do not have the type of dedicated communications that they need. that is still a problem and that can be resolved. we just allocate the d block, make it available only to police and firefighters for emergencies such as this.

that is still a weak link, the lack of proper communications interoperableability. that is i think extremely important. i am pushing senator joe lieberman and i, senator rockefeller, most members of the homeland security committee, the secretary of homeland security both republican and democrat feel very strongly about this. the 9/11 commission. that is one gap that has not yet been filled. >> got it. i know you'll be fighting to fill that gap continuously. appreciate your time today. >> thank you very much. >> you bet. just about ten minutes from now we'll go live to afghanistan where the intel supposedly originated. nick roberts is working that angle and will join us live from kabul. ♪ there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder to help

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taking stories across country sweating out the blackout that left millions of people in the southwestern u.s. yesterday powerless. >> it was so damn hot in the house. the air is off. my dogs are running around, you know, what's going on? i said the only thing we can do is just get out of the house. >> the outage made rush hour a bigger headache than usual not to mention the lack of air conditioning for people weather in temperatures that hit triple digits. the source of the failure was a power sub station near yuma, arizona. >> i wasn't expecting it to be as widespread. i went to 16th street and traffic was backed up for blocks. >> which made for more traffic woes at the height of the outage

arizona power officials say more than 50,000 customers wept without electricity. that number and accompanying problems were much larger across the california border where as many as 5 million customers went without power at the height of the blackout. now imagine being the guy that caused the massive outage and how he is feeling this morning. one guy we're told affecting 5 million people. let's get straight to our casey wian in san diego. we've been talking about this one unite filth worktility work saying there is more to the story. >> reporter: there is. i just spoke with aps the power company in arizona that's involved. they're of course still investigating this situation. there was one worker in a substation near yuma working on a piece of equipment that somehow malfunctioned and at that point the spokesman for the company says no one should have lost power but ten minutes later power was out in the area of yuma and then it eventually

spread as you mentioned to southern orange county, san diego county and across the border into mexico. they don't know what of those actions if any caused the outage. they'll be investigating that over the next several weeks. here in san diego people are relieved because officials were warning that power was going to be out perhaps through today and maybe even into the weekend. about 13 hours after the massive out anlg yesterday san diego gas and electric officials say they have power restored to all of their customers about 3.5 million folks. we're starting to see traffic beginning to flow, traffic lights here need to be put back into service in some areas but in terms of the morning commute it's a lot smoother this morning than yesterday when lots and lots of folks were just stuck in traffic, businesses were closed. it was a major a headache. >> that's good things are getting better, casey. thanks. a business err day than

usual on the floor of the stock exchange. several new york public figures were there to honor the victims of 9/11. one of them former new york mayor rudolph guiliani. alison kosic had a chance to speak with guiliani about 9/11 security a few moments ago. alison? >> reporter: hi. the former new york city mayor came back today to ring the opening bell. as he did, back on september 17th, 2001. he said you know what? it was important to come back here to mark that day when the markets reopened after being closed almost a week. he said this is a huge symbol of capitalism and the nation's financial system and guiliani said getting the nyse back up and running was a difficult job but an important job and he led us through the worst terror attacks on u.s. soil so he knows what he's talking about. i want you to hear what he had to say about the current terror threat we heard about yesterday. >> i don't know the exact

intelligence but i can sort of interpret from all the experience i had getting that information. they must be pretty convinced this is a real one. that doesn't mean it is going to happen or they aren't able to intercept it. we have much better methods now for picking these things up than we did before september 11. i'm confident the new york city police department will be able to prevent this. people should be more alert but they shouldn't let this affect them too much psychologically or change their way of life. this should be a reminder that the tenth anniversary doesn't mean we can put all this behind us. these people who came to kill us on september 11, 2001 want to come and kill us over and over again. >> reporter: after this terror threat that we heard about yesterday new york is no doubt on high alert. we saw checkpoints at bridges today on the subways here in new york city so it's clear that action is being taken to keep an eye on what is going on. i also talked about politics

with rudolph guiliani. he told me he hasn't decided if he is going to run yet and is waiting to see who emerges from the republican camp. he acknowledges it would be difficult for him to be nominated but didn't rule it out. >> not only part of our best money team but now best political team on television, alison, you did a great job. we'll talk about your interview with secretary of state hillary clinton coming up in just about 15 minutes or so as well. thanks so much. also coming up how much does 9/11 still play into our national politics? our political panel will weigh in next. ♪

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yup. so you were checking me out? yup. [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. checking top stories president obama hitting the road to push his $447 billion american jobs act. the package includes taxes incentives for hiring and spending on construction work. parts of new york and pennsylvania dealing with near record flooding once linked to tropical storm lee. tens of thousands of people have

been told to evacuate. and u.s. intel officials confirm a credible but unconfirmed threat linked to the tenth anniversary of 9/11. they believe the plot involves three people, explosives, and possible targets in new york and washington. the information for the latest terror threat originated apparently in the tribal area between pakistan and afghanistan. that's according to a federal official who spoke exclusively to cnn. in afghanistan that intel is being downplayed. our nick robertson is on it in kabul. what exactly are your sources telling you? >> reporter: well, here in afghanistan the minister responsible for the border region says that he doesn't have any information about this. perhaps that is not surprising because he is unlikely to know what the pakistanis would know across the border which is where the al qaeda camps are and there is certainly a track record of al qaeda people being recruited,

going to those training camps in pakistan being picked up by top al qaeda officials and told no don't go into afghanistan and attack u.s. troops there but go back to your home countries and perpetrate attacks there and one person responsible for doing exactly that with young troops was picked up in pakistan just a week ago. >> reporting to us from afghanistan, nick, appreciate it. now your political buzz. a look at the biggest political topics of the day. we have three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. playing today the founder of citizen jane politics, patricia murphy, and talk show host dana losch. all right. first question. did the president's big jobs speech give him the momentum he'll need o get anything substantial accomplished here? mar maria? >> i think he did. he hit it out of the park. it was tremendous. the right tone, right message, right specifics. tax cuts for small businesses, tax cuts for middle class and working class families, an

infrastructure bank supported by labor and the u.s. chamber of commerce all paid for, all of these proposals have had bipartisan support in the past and you ready for this? i applaud john boehner for having said that he would -- this merits consideration, that he didn't dismiss it out of hand. i hope he can show leadership and talk about that to his tea party caucus who it's my way or the highway attitude. hopefully they can put that aside. >> dana is smiling. go ahead. >> i could have sworn i heard this speech before back in february of 2009 when we had the $800 billion stimulus. it is half a trillion dollars of stuff already pitched a rehash of the stimulus '09 speech and it is not all paid for and he didn't lay out, a, not only did he never say how much it cost during the speech but, b, all he said was we'll have the committee decide the cuts. this is the exact same committee he does not control that he is going to be expecting to make the cuts necessary to pay for this. the cuts as it stands aren't

there. he's talking about $400 billion and a couple million cuts here and there. done that up. >> patricia? >> i'll say no. the president can't do anything without congress and congress can't do anything these days. i didn't hear anything in the speech that is going to change that dynamic. to dana's point the president said this is all paid for. it's not. he wants the super committee to pay for this but the super committee doesn't know they can get the work done already on their plate. it's like going shopping and telling your friend i paid for it because you're going to pay for it for me. don't worry about it. there is no bill for me. i'm fine. he didn't do anything last night to change that dynamic. congress is tied in knots and nothing he said last night will change that. >> dick cheney says hillary clinton should maybe run for president in 2012. alison kosic had a chance to ask the secretary of state what she thought of that comment. >> reporter: what's the likelihood that you're going to challenge president obama in the primary? you know, you've got dick cheney in your court. >> oh, yeah.

below zero. >> what do you think about what dick cheney said that you would have made a better president than president obama? >> one of the great things about being secretary of state is i am out of politics. i am not interested in being drawn back into it by anybody. i have a big job and i'm honored to do it every day representing our country. >> would you ever get back into politics again if you leave this position? >> i don't think so. >> do you think hillary clinton is really permanently out of politics, ladies? dana? >> i'll take her at her word. i've seen other stories that say as soon as she is finished with her tenure as secretary of state she is going to retire. though i think she would do a tremendously better job than the cur enlt president i think i'm going to take her at her word and think she is done. after she is finished with secretary of state. >> maria? >> the last person in the world that she is going to listen to is dick cheney. i also take her at her word. i haven't talked to her recently but she has said many times she

is enjoying her job as secretary of state, doing a tremendous job at being the country's top diplomat. but if you mean by politics continuing to have a voice in what is passionate to her and that means giving voice to what makes this country great to talking about what is good for middle class families, workers, women, children, she will continue to do that until her dying days. >> patricia? >> i don't see hillary clinton doing it but i wish she would. as a reporter i'd give anything for a replay of the 2008 election but i just don't see her doing it. she is strongly driven by loyalty even to this president. i have to say there are members of congress who would like to see a challenge to this president, democratic members of congress. he is very vulnerable. could any democrat really knock him off? i don't think so. if anybody could i think it would be hillary clinton. we know she responds to the call of history but i don't think she will do it this time. >> 20 seconds each. right now there is a quote credible threat tied to the 9/11

anniversary ten years later. how much do you think it plays into our national politics? >> i don't think it plays into our politics very much right now. i think that is a shame. i was in washington on 9/11 and the days afterward when congress really came together and politics was so irrelevant. i think our country is in a lot of the same problems today as we were back then but members of congress, the president, nobody seems to be coming together as they were before. >> maria? >> i think it plays into our national politics. it is not the number one issue by any means. we know what that is. jobs, jobs. let's pass the bill that the president is going to give to congress next week. we need it urgently. but it is always in the consciousness. you know? it is something that will affect us. we'll be thinking about it all weekend especially people in washington and new york. i am a little bit nervous. but it is not going to be the number one issue. >> dana? >> to maria's point you can't pass something that doesn't exist. there is not even a piece of legislation next week, honey. >> he was suppose today have a

working vacation. what did he do? it's not paid for. >> he wrote the bill. >> i don't think that it, it really does play into politics as much tas did in the years following 9/11. it seems the unit anywashington, d.c. doesn't exist anymore and people have grown complacent again. except for tsa. tsa is crazy. >> hold that thought. we'll get to it on monday. have a great weekend. fighting wildfires "new york times" just one but dozens. some deadly. the latest from texas is next. and president obama's jobs plan. talking billions of dollars and possibly thousands of jobs. poppy harlow explains coming up. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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checking stories across the country now plumes of smoke still billowing over texas.

firefighters have gained some ground in the battle against dozens of wildfires. the fire near san antonio is more than 50% contained now. meanwhile the 34,000 acre bastrop fire near austin has destroyed nearly 1400 homes. two people have died there. in san francisco a b.a.r.t. train station was shut down for a couple hours as police arrested more than 20 demonstrators protesting against the bay area rapid transit authority's police force. and nasa delaying its planned launch today of a moon research mission. bad weather is the reason. they'll now shoot for tomorrow. that mission, called grail, will study how the moon was formed. you may be surprised just how many jobs could be recreated by rehabilitating old buildings such as schools and foreclosed homes. the president talked about it in his jobs plan last night. cnn money's poppy harlow will give us a few more details. >> it's interesting hearing the president last night. then the white house sent us the outline of the proposal. we'll get the specific american jobs act legislation next week.

but in what we have from the white house so far it talks about project rebuild. that includes modernizing about 35,000 schools. it also talks about revamping if you will a number of vacant buildings and homes across america. we wanted to see what this was like, if this is really happening. the empire state building, they are doing it right now. we had a chance to tour it. the numbers are astonishing. in the empire state building where they're doing this huge energy retrofitting they've created hundreds of jobs, $20 million project expensive up front but they think it is going to save almost $4.5 million a year, a 38% cut in energy spending. take a listen to the guy heading the project. he gets into how big this industry could be across america and what it could mean for american jobs. >> there are new jobs in old buildings, a lot of work to do. there is payback with it.

if you look at the private sector we believe it is up to a $12 billion incremental industry that could be created to capture the savings in these old buildings. the estimate we see for the overall private sector buildings would be a $12 billion a year industry. we think that would translate to anywhere between 120,000 and 240,000 jobs. ranging from engineers and consulting work down to maintenance and construction jobs that would go with that. >> so construction workers who may have lost work in other sectors could technically come work in this environment in retrofitting? >> absolutely. in fact, most of it is very consistent with work they've done in the past. it's just working on different types of things. >> reporter: and now here is what is key. i asked him, all right. how much training is it going to take? do people have to go through years of training to get these jobs? that doesn't help the situation we're in now. he said absolutely not. we're talking weeks, maybe a month of training here. when you look at construction workers in this country right now the president talked about it last night, they face more than 16% unemployment, almost

double the national average. they're in a very bad state and they can get jobs just like this. we see it playing out on a mass scale at the empire state building but this is what the president would like to see across the country. >> we'll talk more about it next week when you get the whole plan, poppy. thanks. peyton manning has had his third neck surgery in less than two years. our dr. sanjay gupta joins us to talk about the recovery for the colts quarterback, next. er, and he's... not so much. well, for a driver like you, i would recommend our new snapshot discount. this little baby keeps track of your great driving habits, so you can save money. [sighs] amazing. it's like an extra bonus savings. [ cackling ] he's my ride home. how much can the snapshot discount save you? call or click today. what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards?

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the packers' randall cog returned to kick off 108 yards for a touch doup. oh, yeah. look at him go. he ties the nfl record for the longest return ever. he also caught a touchdown pass against the saints. green bay held on to beat new orleans 42-34. yes. you're the man. all right. indianapolis colts quarterback peyton manning's 13-year starting streak is coming to an end. he'll be on the sidelines after having more neck surgery. dr. sanjay gupta is here to tell us about that surgery. yes this is the football from the packers/saints game. he actually taught me how to throw but that is a whole nother story. this is not good for one of the greatest football players. >> a lot of people paying close attention. this is the third operation now in his neck. let me just show you here. he's had operations on the neck from going from the back of the neck before so going from over here and taking some pressure off of nerves. we hear now he had an operation

from the front of his neck to try and take an entire disk out over here, replace it with another substance and paut titanium plate across that to form what is called a spine fusion. a bigger operation, commonly done one, but as you said -- >> why does someone get this type of surgery? >> it's interesting. we have some details, what the colts are telling us, usually it is because someone has a nerve that's pinched and the disk is doing the pinching. what he had done before was sort of a less aggressive therapy to try and take some of the pressure off. it doesn't sound like it worked the first time. may have worked for a little while. second time it came back. they tried once more. this time they said we're going to take the entire disk out so you can't have that problem anymore but it's a bigger operation that does require those bones to be fused together so the disk is not moving around. >> tell us about the recovery. how soon he could be back on the field. this is an operation commonly performed. usually five to ten days before someone is feeling more like

themselves again. for someone like him to get back to the gym to start rehabbing muscle groups that would affect your triceps by the way that particular level where he had that operation done so think about a football player and the triceps. he has to get that muscle group back into shape. they say 8 to 12 weeks. worst case scenario is the nerve is pinched so dramatically that he doesn't get the strength back from his playing standpoint. certainly any time do you the operation you can get infection, have leakage of fluid around the spinal cord, bleeding. sounds like the operation went well so the biggest thing now i imagine in the next week we'll hear about peyton being back in the gym working on try seps exercises specifically in addition to other stuff and trying to get that throwing arm back in place. from a mechanics standpoint swiveling the neck he should be able to do that. even with this fusion. it does fuse one part of the spine but all of that sort of movement, the up and down, that should remain. >> got it.

all right. >> we brought it. >> you fwot it. to break. there we go. up next hillary clinton has actually talked to our alison kosic on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you will see the full interview but here is a small clip. >> let's not, you know, remember the past because we have to be smart and vigilant but let's look toward the future and show some confidence and optimism. let's get the bells ringing and some activity going. have i got a surprise for you! [ barks ] yeah, it's new beneful healthy fiesta.

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tomorrow is a special day on the floor of the new york stock exchange. new york leaders former and current honoring victims of 9/11. alison kosic also had a chance to ask about security in light

of the threat that we've been talking about since yesterday afternoon. you were able to grab the secretary of state, hillary clinton, for a one on one, alison. tell us about it. >> reporter: yes i did. i did bring up security because that is really what is on everybody's mind this morning after we heard of this possible terror plot targeted against new york and d.c. and new york is definitely on alert. we saw that this morning on our commute in and we're seeing it at the train stations. more people in uniforms, more dogs, check points on bridges and the subways. it is likely to continue through the weekend. i asked secretary clinton what the latest is, if this was expected, if this threat was expected and how concerned we should be. listen to what she had to say. >> first, there is a specific, credible, but unconfirmed threat report. we take it seriously as we always do and particularly because we learned from the raid on bin laden's headquarters and

going through all the material that al qaeda was still determined to attack around anniversaries and particularly new york and washington. we are obviously working with everybody to try to find as much information as possible. >> and she said if 9/11 taught us anything it's that our spirit is strong. we can band together and make it through the tough times. we saw that spirit at the opening bell back on september 17th, 2001 when the market reopened after being closed for almost a week. we saw the same spirit again today. there was a huge crowd out there today, huge applause when this opening bell rang. there were a lot of tears too. it is very sobering. a lot of emotion. go around and ask anybody here on the floor and they know of somebody who was killed in the attacks. we're showing we can get through these tough times. secretary clinton spoke about that resiliency and the we're in it together attitude.

>> alison, thanks. other stories making news later today 11:30 eastern time this morning president obama speaks to the university of richmond selling his jobs plan. later this afternoon house majority leader eric canter speaks at a richmond, virginia business. at 8:00 p.m. eastern in washington a concert to honor 9/11 victims has been moved from the national cathedral to the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts. every tuesday morning since the 2001 terrorist attacks the freeport flag ladies have waved the american flag at motorists in freeport, maine. elaine green, joann miller and carman footer say they're showing support for their country and elaine remembers the very first time they waved that flag just three days after 9/11. >> i decided to come up here and i brought my flag with me. this was a heavy time for everybody. i didn't know if it was proper to raise the flag or not but finally i did and when i did people beeped their horns and yelled "god bless america" and we'll get through this and that

dark, heavy feeling around every one of us just lifted and i said, this is what i need to be doing. >> well, join us for our special 9/11 ten years later. live coverage begins sunday 8:00 a.m. eastern time right here on cnn. look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, espresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, though. i mean shipping is a hassle.

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as expected white house candidates are slamming president obama's jobs plan. our senior political editor mark preston is in tampa just ahead of cnn's republican tea party debate getting all the feedback. mark, what are they saying? >> you know what? you're right. no surprise for republican candidates coming out very critical of president obama last night. we saw michele bachmann leave the campaign trail, go to capitol hill and deliver her own response. not only did she talk about it but so did mitt romney. let's take a look at this video. >> i am sending this congress a plan that you should pass right away. it's called the american jobs act. >> and there you go. mitt romney actually didn't say anything in that web video but decided to use the president's own words and the fact he said the president has waited too

long to act. while he did that rick perry the texas governor decided to go the old fashioned way and put a statement out. let's take a look. in the statement rick perry says basically, you can't spend your way out of the problems that we're in right now, which is a very strong republican talking point. in fact he says president obama's call for nearly half a trillion more in government stimulus when america has $14 trillion in debt is guided by the mistaken belief we can spend our way to prosperity. probably my most favorite statement that came out last night came from herman kaine. there is something to be said that brevity is a virtue. let's take a look. last night in very short words, we waited 30 months for this? so republicans on the attack. no surprise here. >> what do you think, mark? the president's speech probably going to become an issue in cnn's republican tea party debate on monday? >> they'll certainly use it to try to attack the prid