congress needs to pass a smaller part of the jobs bill it can agree on, and he wants that action this week. race fans are heart broken. a horrific crash takes the life of dan wheldon, a driver who won the indianapolis 500 twice. now the pileup happened during the las vegas indy 300, a shorter track, where speeds can top 200 miles per hour. 15 cars went airborne, collided or burst into flames. it was just awful. some drivers had questioned the safety of the track because of its small size. we can see there drivers returned to the track for a five-lap salute to wheldon. amazing grace played in the background. fans at the indianapolis motor speedway also paid respects. >> people come to this place because they love this sport and they love this race. and they love this series.

dan wheldon exemplified everything about this series and about why people continue to come to this place, this is the racing capital of the world. >> two other drivers spent the night in las vegas hospitals for observation. dan wheldon leaves behind a wife and two sons. the occupy wall street movement is marking one month of protests today. a campsite in lower manhattan group says they have raised $300,000 and received hundreds of boxes of food and medicine from supporters. protestors are angry over the widening payout between corporate executives and every day americans. over the weekend protests in solidarity with occupy wall street spanned cities around the globe. cornell west was among 19 people arrested at the u.s. supreme court on sunday. the authorities say that the group refused to leave the court grounds and weston and the others were protesting corporate

influence in politics. three families are asking israel's supreme court to stop the release of 1,000 palestinian prisoners. they lost loved ones to terrorist attacks. now israel has agreed to free the first batch of those prisoners tomorrow in exchange hamas will release an israeli soldier captured in 2006. the president now says because of martin luther king jr. the nation is more fair, more free and more just. the president celebrities, veterans and those from the civil rights movement dedicated the martin luther king jr. memorial on sunday. it towers three stories above the washington mall. >> let us remember that change has never been quick, change has never been simple or without controversy, change depends on persistence. he kept on pushing, he kept on speaking, he kept on marching

until change final claim. finally came. ♪ precious lord take my hand >> atree that franklin there singing "precious lord." the fbi is investigating a disturbing situation in philadelphia. a landlord discovered four mentally disabled people being held captive in a basement apartment. that's right. police say kidnappers were stealing these victims' social security checks and the four appeared malnourished. >> it looks like a dungeon. these people were stored like surplus meat in the basement. >> awful. three people are in custody charged with kidnapping, assault and false imprisonment. the group moved from texas to florida before relocating to philadelphia. well, after eight weeks

stranded at the south pole, if you can imagine that, a stroke patient finally makes it to civilization for medical treatment. now researcher renee nicole left aboard a plane bound for antarctica. it made it impossible to evacuate the area until today, the cold conditions, that is. doctors say the south pole base didn't have the equipment or expertise to treat her. "sesame street's" channel on youtube is down after hackers broke into the site on sunday. kids who wanted to watch the characters got pornography instead. that's right. youtube says it took down the site as soon as it figured out what was going on. so does your cell phone bill look like it is going to surprise you? the fcc is announcing a deal with carriers today to end what is called bill shock. it requires companies to alert

you when you are nearing your monthly limit for texts, voice or data. that's important as tablets like ipad explode in popularity. now if you are charged for going over the limit, at least you know it is coming. president obama won north carolina back in 2008 eking it out by less than 15,000 votes out of 4 million cast. well, he returned today on the bus tour to drum up support for his jobs plan. this time the state is struggling with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. karina huber is here to break down the numbers for us. the job situation in north carolina is not a really good situation for the president in what he's facing. >> reporter: not at all, susan. north carolina is one of the hardest-hit states. number six looking nationwide with the unemployment rate of 10.4% in august compared to the national average of 9.1%. you can see how dire the

situation there is. and unfortunately the situation has been getting worse lately. currently half a million people are out of work right now. one big issue is that north carolina is a big migration state, so a lot of you are coming to the state, moving in there and there's been a 20% jump in the population over the past ten years. the problem is all these people are moving there with not enough jobs to go around. >> and is north carolina unique in that way? >> reporter: well, yes and no. like most states, north carolina has major industries that were really hit hard during the recession, notably mining and logging, construction and manufacturing. the slow down is going on nationwide. of course, mining and construction are tied to the housing market. and a drop in global demand hit manufacturing during the recession. so that's not unique to north carolina, but at the same time, it is a financial services center with bank of america headquartered there. and we all know thousands of job

cuts are there when it comes to bank of america and analysts are talking about more layoffs in banking. you put this together in a state struggling. of course, obama is there talking of his jobs plan, this is an issue to resonate strongly with north carolinans like the rest of the country. >> we know this is a critical stop for the president because it is such an important swing state. thank you, karina. here's a rundown of the stories ahead. first, the indy 300 ends in tragedy. a two-time indy winner dies in a fiery 15-car pileup. and counting down to the big gop debate in las vegas right here on cnn tomorrow, we've got a preview for you. plus, a janitor finds four mentally disabled people in chains. that's right. this was inside a philadelphia dungeon. we have details on the people allegedly cashing in on their disability. plus, a big part of president obama's health care plan is pulled now from the

program. why the administration decided it was necessary to scratch it off. and all the single ladies, do you really care if they don't put a ring on it? we have someone taking men to task. [ male announcer ] there's just something about werther's caramel that makes a chocolate so smooth and creamy, you don't just taste it, you feel it. ♪ do you believe in magic? ♪ ♪ it's magic ♪ [ male announcer ] it's a comfort that comes from the only caramel

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of this moment his whole life. the 52-year-old was paired with a much younger fighter but won by unanimous decision. he was freed two years ago after spending half his life in prison for a murder he did not commit. after the fight he said, dreams do happen if you never give up hope. and here's one for the record books, i love this guy. 100 years old. fauja singh takes eight hours to cross the finish line in a marathon. he took to running to cope with the deaths of his wife and son. you go! the countdown is on with the stage set for tomorrow night. the republicans are going to duke it out in the cnn presidential debate happening in las vegas. we'll take a look at the race for the campaign cash as well coming up. [ applause ] [ jackhammer ]

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tragic end ingto the indy 300 this weekend in las vegas. a crash involving 15 cars took the life of one of the race irs this weekend. dan wheldon, two-time indy winner, died from unsurvivalable injuries. he never had a chance after his car careened off another car, it caught fire and slammed into a crash fence. he was going more than 200 miles an hour. hln anchor carlos diaz is live in vas las vegas. first of all, could this have been avoided? could he have avoided this crash?

>> reporter: well, dan wheldon did what he could to avoid the crash. he went low as most drivers are told to do when you see a crash of this magnitude. and i have been around racing all my life and never have seen a crash like this. drivers were saying the same thing. danica patrick said it was like out of a movie set. i've interviewed people here who said it looked like a bomb that went off. there are three race cars that get airborne in the matter of two seconds. and seeing one race car get that kind of air is unbelievable. three cars in the same turn when completely airborne, and you have 15 cars with the wreckage strewn all over the track. a car was basely on fire coming down the back straightaway. so as far as dan wheldon being able to avoid the wreck, impossible. basically, the entire track caught fire, and one person told me a moment ago it was like a bomb that went off. >> can you explain to us how

this happened? i understand it is a smaller track than what drivers are used to and more cars than normal, did the organizers in some way put these guys at risk? >> reporter: well, in hindsight it is always -- you can always point fingers, but a lot of the drivers were saying before the race that you have a large field, 34 cars, that's more cars than in the indianapolis 500. the indianapolis 500 motor speedway is 2 1/2 miles, so it is a bigger track. this is a mile and a half oval, a much smaller track but a wide track where cars can get four wide, which means you have a smaller area where considering cars can get compact, a lot of the drivers were saying there was a capacity for there to be a wreck like this before the race. so they are really going to look into whether or not this track should be run in the future, and it being the last race of the season, they have to live with this through the rest of the offseason. >> carlos, you bring up a good point there, the fact that it was so compact, there were a lot

of cars there, why do we suppose that happened? are people beginning to wonder if they just wanted an audience, a big show, a better show to decide they would do it this way? >> reporter: yeah, well, dan wheldon said before the race it would be exciting. he started from the back of the pack and was working his way to the front of the field. and that's the thing about racing, the more exciting they try to make racing the more risk comes into it. and you have a very small track with cars doing 220, open cockpits with these cars, with these drivers, and it is a recipe for disaster. with that, we saw that yesterday. the sad thing is dan wheldon, one of the most nicest, charismatic drivers you want to meet. when you saw the tears at the track, those were heartfelt tears because dan wheldon, a two-time indy champion, one of the greatest guys you would meet in racing. >> carlos, what happened after that crash? did they continue with the race, was there some sort of tribute?

>> reporter: no. you know, the track was immediately red flagged. they airlifted dan wheldon to a hospital. there were some reports he was doing okay and then, of course, the report came down that he was, in fact, gone. he was dead. and the drivers -- they could have easily said we are going to just walk away from this, but instead the drivers got together and said, we want to take a five-lap tribute to dan wheldon. all the drivers got back in their cars and did five laps as a tribute to dan wheldon. a very heartfelt moment. not a dry eye in the crowd here. >> carlos, thank you. our condolences to his family. in the republican race for campaign cash, it is now a two-man show. federal election commission says that texas governor rick perry has $15.1 million in cash on hand. mitt romney close behind with $14.7 million. our jim acosta is in vegas with more on the money race. so, jim, give us a sense, how

significant are these numbers early on when you have this kind of cash to work with? >> reporter: they are very significant numbers. this is the reason why rick perry and his campaign are not that worried despite what the poll numbers are showing because of those figures you just put out there a few moments ago. he is right there neck and neck with mitt romney in the money race, and it is really going to give rick perry a lot of ammunition going into the early voting contests. republicans in places like iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, florida, they fully expect rick perry to unleash just an onslaught of negative attack ads hitting mitt romney getting closer to the primary dates. he'll have the money to do it. you look at somebody like herman cain who only got $3 million in the last quarter. it shows you that even though he's doing well in the polls he is still putting together a campaign at this point that is capable of raising a lot of money to compete as the days go on. >> he's getting the big headlines but not the big bucks

here. what do we suppose, jim, will be the issues to pop tomorrow night? >> reporter: well, i think herman cain will be the center of attention once again at this debate. that's partly because of very controversial comments he made over the weekend. you saw that he was campaigning in tennessee, and at a couple of events, at least one event, he said to a crowd that on the issue of illegal immigration that he would build an electric fence to have a sign on it saying if you cross this fence it will kill you. he went on to say on one of the sunday talk shows yesterday he was just kidding and that americans need to get a sense of humor. obviously, that is not going to to play well with a lot of republican hispanics and being out here in nevada, that is a key voting block. just last year we saw the midterm elections. harry reid going against sharon angle. reid won out here primarily because of the latino vote.

herman cain is going to arizona later today to meet with the sheriff joe alpiro, who is sheriff trump in the republican party. he is the sheriff, he's the law enforcement figure on the issue of illegal immigration that republicans have been flocking to. michele bachmann has talked to sheriff alpiro, mitt romney and rick perry both called the sheriff, so immigration will be a big subject of discussion at this debate tomorrow night. in addition, i think taxes and the economy, obviously, will be a big issue here. the nevada economy is struggling. it's unemployment rate is well above the national average. >> i spoke with sheriff alpiro on a number of occasions and he represents the get-tough approach when it comes to immigration. it will be interesting to see what herman cain brings when he gets out of that meeting and the stance he takes. joe acosta, we look forward to seeing you at the debate tomorrow. don't forget, tomorrow night is the republican presidential debate live from las vegas. anderson cooper is going to mood

moderate at 8:00 p.m. here on cnn. locked in a basement with no food and a bucket. a story behind a group of mentally channeled adults being left in a basement and the alleged motive. starting my progresso soup for lunch plan, huh. nope, just having some tender chicken and some tasty noodles. let's see...south western vegetables...60 calories. ya' know those jeans look nice. they do? yup. so you were checking me out? yup. [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover.

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here's a rundown of the stories ahead. up next, a disturbing discovery inside a dungeon in philadelphia. four mentally-ill people in chains being ripped off by their disability checks. then we look into why the obama administration is slashing a key part off the new health care program. and later an article suggesting more women are embracing the single life. is it by choice or circumstance? the writer will join me later to explain. but first, this outrageous story, a landlord finds a group of mentally disturbed, disabled people, rather, locked in a basement in philadelphia malnourished and injured. police believe the people who locked them in there stole their social security checks. sarah hoy is following this story from philadelphia. sarah, this is disturbing when you hear about this and the details we are learning today.

understanding you have new information now about some of thementises suspects? >> reporter: that's right. two of those arrests over the weekend are being held to the tune of $2.5 million. the third, linda ann weston, who is somewhat known as the ring leader, is still being processed. so we don't know what her bail status is at the moment. however, over the weekend things here were a little chaotic. you heard from the neighbors and the landlord what they found here was disturbing, and i think we have the sound from that. >> i am the one who cut the cha chain. >> reporter: what were they saying to you in did they say thank you or help? >> they didn't say anything. >> reporter: susan, the landlord

first just intended to find somebody storing a dog in the building. what drew him to the room was a neighbor, known as the block captain here in philadelphia, who noticed suspicious activity and gail gave him a call and saw a dog in the basement. he thought somebody was hiding a pet here that wasn't supposed to be here. unfortunately to his surprise is when he opens the subbasement door, a 15 by 15 room, and he found four people inside. he was scared and called 911 and the rest is history. >> sarah, do we know what kind of condition they were in when found? >> reporter: according to police, speaking with the neighbors, speaking with the landlord, they seemed malnourished, beaten if not run down, they didn't speak very much, and the landlord described it as talking to 10-year-olds or young children because when he asked them questions, who are you? where are you from? how did you get here? they had little to no response. so there's definitely some

confusion as to who they were even as people, where they were from and what they were doing here. so all around just sad. >> sarah, do we know how long they were actually locked this this basement? do we have any idea? do police snow in. >> reporter: police are guessing possibly a week or so. and if you think about it, it is a 15 by 15 room in a a subbasement, you need a key to get to the basement, which according to the landlord is just for storage. if you didn't have a key or something stored in the basement you wouldn't go down there nor would you go to the subbasement door. so you could easily, as they did, hide people in this back room. they were extremely quiet. the landlord, like i said, the only reason he thought to look in the back door is because he heard a dog barking. >> i understand they set bond for the suspects, is that right? >> reporter: that's right. the suspects, two of the suspects are being held on $2.5

million bail each. and the third, known as the ring leader, linda weston, she is still being processed. we don't have her information yet as she is still going through the system. >> sarah hoye, that's a disturbing story. we appreciate it. a trial in michael jackson's personal doctor is on hold. the prosecution was supposed to wrap up their case today, but the father of the financial witness died over the weekend. the state's expert on propofol still has to be cross-examined by the defense. more americans are choosing not to tie the north these days. my next guest says there are not a lot of good men out there. we'll talk to her next. rk... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ my sunglasses.

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all the single ladies, not just a beyonce song, but more upper women in their 30s and 40s

are not getting married. over the last 50 years the marriage rate for women has dropped 50%. under women not getting married, they are living with their partners or getting married later in life. my next guest is writing a personal account of why this is called "all the single ladies." she says it is time for society to acknowledge the end of traditional marriage. kate polack, great to see you, first of all. we love that song. your article has generated a lot of discussion with our production team. a lot of folks -- this is all we are talking about this morning. the women in my team, i was kind of surprised, but they wanted to give you a little bit of pushback on this. they are suggesting that maybe you're taking this angle to make yourself and other single women feel better for being single, that you would actually like to be hitched. yes? >> that's funny. of course a lot of people are responding that way or saying that i have written this to justify my single state.

it is a little in between, that when i hit my mid-30s, up until then i thought i would get married and looked at my relationships that way. then i realized i wasn't and was completely happy. i wouldn't mind it, it is just a change of emphasis, i guess. it is not something i'm thinking about in a way that i was -- in as focused of a way as i was when younger. >> not as important, yes? >> exactly, not as important. so, sure, i wouldn't mind it if i found the right person, but i'm happy that i never married the wrong person, which a lot of people do. we hold on to the idea that marriage is something we have to do. and that's what has changed a lot is that we don't have to marry the way that we once did. so we can spend a lot more time single in looking for the right person. and so that's a subtle difference. i'm still looking but it is not a frantic looking for mr. right.

>> sure. fair enough. i'm going to bring that back to my team to see what they think about that. you also say women no longer need husbands to have children, that adoption and ivf are changing the stigma of being a single mom. do you think that's a good thing for the kids? >> again, that's a very complicated issue. i'm not championing single motherhood as the way to go over two-parent families, but it is increasingly common. and, again, it is more than i think we need to be acknowledging the realities of how change is happening right in front of us instead of holding on to old ideas how things should be. the fact is there are more single mothers than ever before, so how do we support them, how do we make that a more positive experience for the child and the mother? >> sure. and one of the reasons you cite in your article for women not getting married is the lack of good men, basically. you say increasingly her choice is between deadbeats whose

numbers are rising and playboys whose power is growing. do you think that women aren't getting married so much because the quality of men is dropping in the united states? >> i actually don't think that. that's another subtle point i'm trying to make that i think that it could be increasingly the case, it is not the case now. i don't think that accounts for why i personally am single. there are a lot of really great men out there, but there are certain demographic realities that if they continue on the way that they are, that will become increasingly the norm. that is true. >> how have your readers responded to your article? >> oh, it has been incredible. i knew it would hit a nerve with a lot of single women out there, but i have getting e-mails from men and women of all ages all over the globe telling me their personal stories about marriage and divorce, someone just e-mailed this morning offering to set me up with his sons. so it has been -- it has been really, really interesting and

really fun to hear people talking about this. >> that's great. i want to play a clip for you from the "golden girls." we want to ask you something similar. take a listen. >> we are divorced because stanley cheated on me. he's a repullsive creature and pretending to be married to him makes me ill. >> fine, but i'm still staying for dinner. >> i'm cut you out of the will! >> i don't care. how bad can it be, it is just for the day. >> i don't know if you follow "the golden girls," but dorothy got remarred years later. do you think you may change your mind or tune a little bit? >> oh, and get married? of course. i think, you know, we are always in flux, and i'm talking about seeing things like this right now. i don't think there's one way of doing things. if anything, i'm saying there

are so many ways to do all of this that we shouldn't be prioritizing one arrangement over all others. >> kate, thank you. your article has created quite the buzz there. i'm going to bring this back to the newsroom to see what the folks think about it all. thank you, i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> good luck to you. one of the promises of the new health care bill was extra help for a long-term care, but the administration dropped that from the plan. we'll tell you why next. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic. when it comes to relieving your arthritis pain,

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all right. a little bit of late night humor. the gop debates are providing a lot of fresh material for the

crew at "snl." here's the take on herman cain. >> if america is looking for catchy, unworkable solutions to complicated problems, herman cain will keep them coming. how to fight terrorism, my 5-5-5 plane. five airplanes, five soldiers and five of the dogs that caught osama bin a din. how to fix health care, the 3-3-3 plan. every time you get sick, three pills, three days off and three chicken noodle soups. >> that's great. seven of the eight republican contenders including cain will be rolling the dice in vegas. that's right. during tomorrow night's debate cnn deputy political director paul steinhouser is in vegas for the big one. paul, we'll start off with herman cain backing off on some controversial comments that he made over the weekend. do we think that's even two i think to help? >> reporter: yeah, he was in the

spotlight all weekend, not just on "saturday night live." but we'll talk about the immigration stuff. he made the comments on the campaign trail in tennessee. take a listen. >> when i'm in charge of the fence, we are going to have a fence 20 feet high. it will have barbed wire on the top. it is going to be electrified. and there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you. >> reporter: well, cain was on the sunday talk shows yesterday saying, listen, that was a joke. he was backtracking from the comments, but today he's in neighboring arizona and meeting with sheriff joe alpiro of maricopa county, somebody known as being pretty tough on immigration and border laws. so today right behind me at the venetian where the cnn western republican presidential debate is going to happen, you can bank

that immigration and border security is coming up. the other thing he got in trouble on was the 9-9-9 tax plan. take a listen to what he said about the tax plan. >> some people will pay more, but most people will pay less is my argument. >> who will pay more? >> who will pay more? the people who spend more money on new goods. >> reporter: well, a lot of people pay money on new goods, that's a lot of us in this country. more candidates are going after herman cain on that plan. you saw him jumping in the polls. when you rise in the polls, more scrutiny comes to you on what you are saying and proposing. >> i understand ron paul is proposing to cut a trillion dollars from the federal budget today. can you explain? >> reporter: yea, ron paul right behind me today is going to make a major announcement on his tax plan, economic plan for country. he's proposing cuts of $1 trillion in his first year if elected president. and along with that he says he

would eliminate five federal cabinet departments, the department of energy, housing and urban development, commerce, interior, education and he said he would scrap the transportation security administration. so ron paul proposing very, very large cuts later today. >> all right. we'll be watching closely. looking forward to the debate, paul. appreciate it. don't forget, tomorrow night cnn hosts the western republican presidential debate live from vegas. anderson cooper is going to moderate at 8:00 p.m. eastern time right here on cnn. the obama administration is now suspending a major initiative in the new health care reform law before it gets off the ground. the voluntary insurance program was supposed to help people pay for long-term medical care in their home or a nursing home. well now the administration says the program would be too costly. i want to bring in elizabeth cohen to explain this. how expensive do we think this program would have been? >> the problem is that real people were supposed to pay for

this. i mean, you and i and all sorts of young people who are working were supposed to put in like, $200, $300 or $400 a month. we pay premiums for years and years and use it when we get older in the nursing home. people in their 30s, 40s and 50 ez don't want to do that to take something out of your paycheck for something you may need when you're older. especially in this economy people are not enthusiastic about doing that. >> on the other end, how does that work? >> you put money in for a period of time every month, just like any other insurance premium. then when you needed it, it would help you pay for nursing home and home health care. when you look at the numbers you'll see why people need help. you need to be fabulously wealthy not to need help. a nursing home is $75,000 a year. people spend years in a nursing home, home health care has someone come to your home to take care of you being $18,000 a

year. you are not earning much of an income, so that's why it is a huge problem in this country. even the middle class or upper middle class people can't do this. >> the fallout from this so far -- are people angry or upset about it and think, okay, this really was too expensive? >> the republicans are sort of secretly gleeful saying i told you so, i told you this was not going to work, and it appears it won't. aarp says to give it another chance, maybe this will work. they know this is a huge problem. this is one of the very biggest problems in health care today is that you can't afford to get old and sick. so maybe this isn't the solution, but someone needs to come up with a solution. >> they have to look for somebody. >> you have to look for something. >> thank you, elizabeth. one presidential candidate thought it was a pizza price. another candidate linked it to the devil. what's the real 411 on herman cain's 9-9-9 plan? first, if you are looking for a job, there are almost a

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digits for a little while, explain to us how real they are. >> reporter: well, they are certainly real for cain as a huge part of his platform, but skeptics are not convinced this plan will actually work. essentially, it is an overhaul of the to simplify it, to bring basically a flat tax of 9%. a 9% income tax, 9% corporate tax and a 9% national sales tax where there currently isn't one out there right now. it would also get rid of the payroll tax that funds social security. it also gets rid of a lot of deductions which a lot of people won't be pleased to see. some say though it is too simple and that the poor will end up paying more than they do right now. but others say the time is right with all of the economic problems, change is more likely. we'll see what happens. >> it sounds like it is a less complicated taxing system but there does seem to be, some people believe at least, a catch. >> yeah. there are a couple of catches. first of all, excise taxes.

those are those extra taxes or add-ones, taxes for specific things. under cain's plan you will not get around them. thaus that's because the government has to make money to run. these excise taxes are a big money maker, about $90 billion was collected last year. also that 9% national sales tax is on top of individual states' sales taxes. that could substantially make it higher if you put the two together. that concerns some people. >> those are things you'll still end up paying for, i suppose. when you talk to economic analysts what do they say overall about this plan? do they think that it actually is worthy, that it would work? >> most skeptics do not feel that it would work. a lot of them are saying that it is too simple and in fact that it is not really feasible. so the word on the street is that we need more details. i mean it is an interesting nice catch phrase, that 999, it is definitely getting a lot of buzz but a lot of economists respect sure this could actually tackle

the problem long term. >> how are the markets reacting to all this today? >> not a great day. we're definitely snapping our wins from last week with the dow down 157 points. that's down by about 1.3%. there was some optimism after the g-20 meeting in paris this weekend when financial leaders said that they were going to come up with a plan by october 23rd to tackle the sovereign debt problems in europe. but then we hear from the german finance minister who says that the plan on the 23rd will not definitively take care of the problem, sort of tempering some of the optimism we've had. that's why we are seeing the market sell off right now and some of the banks as well, wells fargo down by 6% after their earnings came in below estimates. citigroup handed in their report card. they are up by .5%. they beat whether it comes to profits but some cautionary words coming out of the ceo of the bank. he said that we're in difficult times. sort of echoing what we heard last week from the ceo of jpmorgan chase.

so the banks -- it's a mix today but still a lot of kenks whether it comes to financials. >> karina huber, thanks so much. up next, a risky rescue mission to the south pole. we'll update you on efforts to evacuate a woman who believes she suffered a stroke while working at a research station there. i wish you guys had layaway --

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after weeks of waiting, an american researcher has been evacuated from the south pole. she believes she suffered a stroke in august after suddenly having trouble speaking and seeing. doctors say that she said a tumor may have caused the problems but it is winter mao in the south pole. officials who run the research center say it has been too dangerous to send a rescue plane. our own chad meyers at the weather center taking us through this rescue mission. it was such a fascinating story to see. do we know how that rescue mission unfolded and how she's doing? >> well, it still was well below the threshold where they wanted it. they wanted it at 50 degrees below zero and no colder and they landed that plane at 72 below. they didn't want to do that because they didn't want the fuel to turn to jelly and then all of a sudden that's a risk. this plane took out of chile, landed not without problems, there was wind everywhere, they couldn't hardly see but then

they couldn't pressurize the cabin either because there wasn't enough pressure around it, the air is so cold, so low. they had to fly this plane very low to the ground to get her, then finally on the way to new zealand 2,400 miles later but she finally landed. let's go through it. this is truly something. i remember this story from last week how everyone was saying it has to be this, it has to be this. well it never got to that. i guess they can fly when they want to. think about this now. the sun is always up because it is getting to be spring in antarctica. take your fist, hold it away from you and the horizon from the bottom of your fist to the top of your fist, that's how high the sun is now all the way around. the sun actually goes all the way around the south pole. no twilight. the sun is always up. it is a little eerie feeling. they they wanted it to be 50 degrees below zero. they're still having winter temperatures, 70 degrees below zero and there is the current temperature -- 72 degrees below zero. it's still a risky flight. this research station is at the

south pole. not the one that's a little bit closer to the edge of the ice shelf which is the mcmurdo station up here. this was the first stop as she came out of the south pole to mcmurdo, then back in the plane and up in the sky for 2,400 miles all the way to christ church, new zealand. if you remember that name from someplace, they had two major earthquakes this year, right under christ church. this is the closest location for a significant hospital to get there. this is the problem. because she doesn't really even know if they she had the stroke or not. they'll have to do blood tests to see if those chemicals are in her system or not. i was worried when i heard some of the doctors today say something about it could have been a tumor that did the same thing. you think about that, even a benign tumor can get on your ocular nerve back here and blur your vision. i know she can get very good care there in christ church. >> we are sure glad she was

airlifted out of there but it sounds like still a very risky venture. >> it was. the winds were only 10 miles per hour is the reason they went in and it wasn't really kicking up the dust, kicking up the snow. it just wasn't going everywhere. they had good visibility so they landed there. this is the exact day 12 years ago, october 16th, that the last rescue mission happened. remember where the researcher had breast cancer and she was treating herself for months and months. finally -- but this is the date they scheduled the plane. there was nothing else scheduled for her to get a research plane to the south pole and then back because for a long time, now for six months, it's been dark. no lights on the runway. no lights in the freezing snow. >> i wonder if she had any medical assistance on the plane, too. >> she did. >> she wanted a doctor or nurse on-board to help her in her transport over there. >> there was a medical physician on board there, yes, absolutely. and the fact that they couldn't go higher to fly the plane faster, they had to stay down near the surface because there was no way that that plane at those temperatures, 72 below,

could pressurize the cabin so they couldn't pressurize the cabin so they had to stay down very close to the surface, couldn't fly 8,000, 10,000 feet high to get her there a little bit faster but now she is there and getting treatment now. >> good for her. fascinating story. thank you, chad. top of the hour, i'm suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed. investigators may look at track design to see whether it played a role in this horrific crash. the las vegas indy 300. a chain reaction wreck killed dan wheldon, a driver who has won the indianapolis 500 twice. 15 -- that's right -- 15 cars collided, burst into flames or went airborne. now before the race there was some drivers who were complaining that the track was too short, too compact, leaving no room for error. >> i lost one of my best friends, one of my greatest teammates and i don't know what to say.

>> not too many places in this country that you can have a two-time indy 500 champion walk in the streets along with you. >> after officials canceled the race, drivers returned to the track for a five-lap salute to dan wheldon. two other drivers who were injured spent the night in a las vegas hospital for observation. president obama's trying to fire up americans over jobs. he's beginning day three of his bus tour in asheville, north carolina today. he's reminding voters with 14 million americans out of work, he says it was republicans who killed his bill to create new jobs. >> if they're serious about creating jobs, i'm ready to go. i don't think anybody doubts that i have gone out of my way to try to find areas of cooperation with these republica republicans. in fact, some of you have been

mad at me for trying too hard to cooperate with him, haven't you? >> the president is demanding that congress vote on individual elements of the jobs bill this week. philadelphia police are calling it pure evil. they have charged three suspects with kidnapping four mentally disabled adults in order to steal their social security checks. police say at least one captive was chained to a radiator in the basement apartment. authorities describe all four as malnourished. iran's foreign minister is challenging the united states to show the evidence. now he's referring to an alleged plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the u.s. the u.s. says that iran's elite military unit, the qods force, was behind it. iranian-american living in texas now is in custody accused of planning to carry out the hit. but the obama administration says it's already had direct contact with iran about this plot and iran says that's not

true. a fierce battle for sirte, libya. it is dragging on now. troops are trying to crush fighters holding out for former leader moammar gadhafi. the battles are so fierce, many are fleeing, including families of former libyan regime officials. cnn's dan rivers is in sirte and says the city now looks like a ghost town. >> reporter: sirte used to be a city of some 100,000 people. but now it's difficult to find just one. the handful that we have encountered have been here just to salvage a few more possessions from the wrecks of their loems ahomes and all the the fighting is continuing. >> libya's new political leaders say they won't declare the country liberated until they take sirte. now the city is gadhafi's hometown. the occupy wall street movement marking one month of protests today at a campsite in lower manhattan. the group says it has raised

$300,000. and received hundreds of boxes of food, blankets and medicine from supporters. protesters are angry over the widening pay gap between corporate executives and every day americans. the world series begins wednesday and it is going to be the st. louis cardinals representing the national league. they beat the milwaukee brewers last night to earn a spot in the fall classic. the cardinals face the american league champs, the texas rangers. well nasa will hitch a ride to the edge of space. the agency has signed a deal to charter three flights aboard burgeoning galactic spaceship two. the plane can put eight people and some science experiments into suborbit. contract could be worth $500,000. the end of the program means nasa is now turning to private contractors for help. so there are new poll numbers that show two-thirds of

us haven't made up our minds yet for the 2012 presidential race. wolf blitzer is here with the new poll numbers. so wolf, of the gop folks, gop contenders, who's at the head of the pack? >> well, right now it is very, very close between mitt romney and herman cain. take a look at these brand-new cnn/orc poll numbers just being released right now among republicans. republicans only. their choice nationwide for the presidential nominee, romney with 26%, cain 25%, perry at 13%, ron paul 9%, newt gingrich 8%, bachmann 6%, santorum at 2%, huntsman who's not here in nevada for tomorrow night's debate at 1%. nationally. but take a look at this number, suzanne. it is among those who have definitely made up their mind among republicans. we're not talking about democrats. just talking about republicans in this new cnn/orc poll. only 33% say they definitely will support the candidate they have already selected.

67%, two-thirds, say they might still change their mind. but here's another number in this brand-new poll among all voters. these are democrats, republicans, independents, that's very disconcerting. should be very -- of deep concern to the democrats. are you extremely or very enthusiastic about voting in the next election? 64% of the republicans said they were. only 43% of the democrats say they are either very or extremely enthusiastic about voting in the next election. that is not good news for the democrats right now. similar numbers in 2010 showed a lopsided republican victory. as you know, suzanne, the democrats were much more enthusiastic in 2006 and 2008 and that's why they won in those contests. this time, at least as of right now, this is a snapshot, as you know, the republicans are a lot more enthusiastic about 2012 than the democrats are. suzanne. >> big concern for the president, president obama, whether or not people are going to turn out and vote, whether or not they're going to work really

hard for him this go-round. wolf, i know that you'll be there for the debate tomorrow night. "saturday night live" had a little fun with the seating chart. we want to check out the seating chart. check this out as well. >> in a locked janitor's closet with congressman michele bachmann and congressman from a bygone era, newt gingrich. out in the parking lot is texas congressman ron paul. and live from a crowded gay bar in the castro district of san francisco, rick santorum. >> very funny! >> in all reality, seriousness here, the seating chart is arranged based on the most popular the person who has the strongest standing closest in that circle. is that the way it is going to be arranged tomorrow? >> yes. i think we have a seating chart. i want to dpsh we dput it up on

screen. from left to right, the two ends are the lowest poll numbers. all the way to the left santorum, all the way to the right michele bachmann. huntsman would have been at the end but he's boycotting this debate here in nevada for other reasons. but as you go from left to right, santorum, then paul, cain, romney's right in the middle, he's atop our latest poll, then perry, gingrich and bachmann. we do that in all of the polls. we have the front-runners in the middle and then some of those who are not doing that great in the polls on the outside. it was like that when i moderated the debate in tampa. it is going to be like that tomorrow night here in las vegas. anderson cooper will moderate our debate tomorrow night. but we're here in vegas and in this particular case, suzanne, what happens in vegas won't stay in vegas. the whole world will be able to watch the debate tomorrow night. >> nobody's going to be out in the parking lot, that's right, wolf. right? >> right. i liked that "snl" skit on the

marriott hotel tv channel debate. it was very cute. >> it was a lot of fun. all right, wolf. thanks. look forward to seeing you. don't forget tomorrow night, cnn hosts the western presidential republican debate live from vegas. anderson cooper will moderate. 8:00 p.m. eastern time right here on cnn. here's a rundown of some of the stories ahead. first, horror an tragedy in las vegas. we look at the indy 300 crash this weekend that killed one of the most talented drivers on the tracks. and they call him the tur n turbanned tornado. you'll meet the 100-year-old that just broke the record running a marathon -- that's right -- and he is 100 years old. we love him. then 20 years ago she forced the country to focus on sexual harassment in the work place. anita hill still pursuing women's issues. she's joining me to talk about her new book. and plus, when politicians speak.

truth-o-meter always listening today. we're calling out herman cain and mitt romney. and super model tyra banks talks about her new life as a student at harvard business school. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker... whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ way to go, coach. ♪ more and more folks are trying out snapshot from progressive.

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a horrific 15-car crash at the indy 300 in las vegas has ened the life of one of race car driving's brightest stars. the video is disturbing. dan wheldon was killed after his car careened off another launching it into the air. it caught fire before slamming into a crash fence. wheldon was airlifted to a hospital but doctors said he had unsurvivable injuries. don riddell joins us live from our london bureau.

wheldon's death is a huge loss for race car driving but he was also british and i assume that the mood there is just really -- i mean people must be devastated. >> well, absolutely. it is a curious one though, suzanne. he was british. he grew up in the sport here but of course he moved to the united states in 1999. he achieved great things in indy car. the general public here in great britain doesn't really know who dan wheldon is or was. it is only now tragically today that they are learning about how successful he was, what a great talent he was and how hugely popular he was. but certainly within the motorsport community in britain, the mood is one of absolute devastation and an awful lot of people knew him in britain over the last 20 years and it seems as though he touched the lives of many drivers and inspired a lot of young drivers, too. >> don, you have covered this sport extensively. do you think when you see that video and learn of some of the details that this could have been avoided in any way?

>> well, it is interesting. i mean you look at a crash like that and you think i have never seen a crash like that before. people a lot older than me who have been following motorsport for many more years than me say they have never seen anything like it either. it was absolutely horrendous. 15 cars, many of them airborne. many of them bursting into flames. absolutely terrible. i think there will be some quite serious questions asked now, suzanne. i want to compare it to formula one which is a sport very similar to indy car which had a real problem in the 1960s and '70s. if you races in that sport then and you raced for five years, there was a 2 in 3 chance you were going to be killed. some of the drivers then stood up and said we have to do something to make this sport safer. they did. since 1993, no one has died. the cars are safer, the tracks are safer, everything is safer to deal with formula one. you look at indy car and within the last 15 years we've had four drivers killed and when you look at how many cars were on the

track, how small the track was, how fast the cars were going, the fact that you've got this wall and fence in very close proximity to the cars, i mean it is perhaps a wonder that more people aren't killed in indy car. >> don, do we think these organizers really were putting these guys at risk? or too ambitious? >> well personally -- i mean i'm not the one to say it. i think there will be some very serious questions asked. i think a big question will be, why were there so many cars in the field. a lot of the drivers before this race took place were voicing those concerns publicly and saying, something could go wrong here. and the way indy car is set up, suzanne, when an accident happens, it usually goes very badly wrong because the speeds of the cars, there's nowhere to go. you are in an enclosed space. it is very difficult to get out of the way even when you see an accident ahead of you about to occur. many of these drivers yesterday just went straight into it. >> don, thank you for your perspective. i want to bring in chad meyers

to explain a little bit about what don was saying. do we think because there were so many cars and it was such a compact track that this was just too dangerous for these guys to be racing like this? >> it was too dangerous to be racing at lap 10 like this. a lot more racing to go and these guys were shuffling back and forth and there was a wheel rub -- two tires rubbed ahead of dan and that started a chain reaction. the problem here i believe we're going to see by next year a complete redesign of that catch fence. the fence is attached to big metal poles. those big metal poles don't give very much. if you look at how this car was into the catch fence -- it didn't hit the safer barrier. this track actually has gone through a significant renovation. there is almost like a double-wide piece of white there where the wall is. that's actually a safer barrier made out of the university of nebraska. they call it a soft wall but it is not really that soft. dan missed that wall. he flew over that wall and into the catch fence. that is the car, because it is

an open cockpit car, you don't have any protection over yourself. had this happened in a nascar zsh those nascars typically don't fly like this -- nothing would have happened. the top of the car and roll cage would have protected the driver. but in an open cockpit car like an indy car, it is very difficult to be safe at any oval. i've said this a long time. most of you don't know this i used to do nascar racing for the nashville network many, many years ago. here's las vegas, here's the motor speedway on up to the north. people are saying is it too fast? were they going too fast? this is no smaller, no slower than texas motor speedway. new hampshire they go a little bit slower but still, you have to understand that nascar does drive on this track. they go 176 in qualifying. ricky rudd. that's the fastest there's ever been a nascar on this track. these cars were going 220. was it too small? it is a mile and half, but there are smaller. here's indy. you try and compare it to indy. indy has basically two big

straight-aways, then you put your brakes on, you turn left, you turn left, you turn left and you do left. they don't do that. you go back to las vegas motor speedway, it is almost one continuous turn. there is a slight straight here. but by the time you make your turn here, you're still turning, you're still turning, you're still turning here. there's not much chance here, not much real room to back off, slow down, let things kind of coagulate here out in front of you. when you're in a banked turn and you're in this car, your helmet is right here. you can't see in the banking where the next car is. dan never saw this wreck coming because he was in the car looking at the track but the wreck was up ahead of him. he didn't have time to brake. he ran over pault tracy. dan wheldon was launched into the air and literally went into these poles, that's the catch fence. i believe the fence will look different in the coming years. the pole will be here. somehow the fence will just dangle and connect to the wall and there will be no metal bar,

no metal pole that this fence attacheses to anymore. it will actually be a softer fence if something like this happens again. >> all right, chad. thank you. appreciate it. 100 years old, still running strong in marathons. hear this man's secret to good health. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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here are stories from affiliates across the country. a gay high school student in south central texas says he was kick off the cheerleading squad and suspended after kissing another male student. it was caught on a school surveillance camera and the cheerleader does not want to be identified says a lot of sturnts

kiss on camp students kiss on campus. he wants back on the che cheerleading squad. dewey won by unanimous decision. bozella was freed two years ago after spending half his life in prison for a murder he did not commit. after saturday's fight, he said -- these are his words -- dreams do happen if you never give up hope. good for him. here's one for the record books. 100 years old. he runs a marathon. took him eight hours to reach the finish line. he says he took up running when he was 89 to help him cope with the death of his wife and son. he is nicknamed the turbanned tornado. he completed the 26.2 miles in eight hours. he is the oldest person to complete a marathon. so how did he do it? how can he still be running strong at age 100?

we asked elizabeth cohen, our senior medical correspondent, to look into all of this for us. i run marathons, i love it. but 100 years old? how did this guy do this? i don't get it! what happened? >> i think you'll be doing them at 100. he says that his secret is that he doesn't drink alcohol, he doesn't smoke, he has a vegetarian diet, and he drinks ginger tea. he says those are his secrets. >> those are great. that's very healthy living. now explain to us this one thing to run a marathon, it is another thing to just be alive, be healthy at 100. >> that's what most of us aspire to, with or without the marathon. we were speaking with someone who studies centenarians. they've come up with an acronym when they are asked how people live to be 100. aging is the acronym. a is for attitude. that is -- i don't mean this to soundishpolyan nichlt i sh, but

is again fix. he exercises. as you understand like all of his life he was getting daily exer pis. "i" is interest. what they mean is that your brain is occupied. if you retire at 65 and check out of life, it is not good for your brain and if it is not good for your brain, it is not good for your body. so interesting an interest in life. "n" is nutrition, basic good nutrition. it doesn't have to be ginger tea. it doesn't have to be vegetarian but we all know sort of the basics of whole grains and low fat. last "g" is for getting rid of smoking. >> i suppose you can live to be 100 but it is pretty unlikely. that's all good advice. the attitude part of it, diana nyad, the long distance swimmer who tried to swim from cuba to miami. she did not succeed but here's what she told us earlier. >> i think the message is, be your best self.

i think that's the message. you live your life with passion. you know? you show your will. you feel proud of yourself when you go to bed at night. you don't have to do epic things. just raise your children well. whatever you're doing. do your job well. >> we love her. >> that's a great message. we do love her and i had the pleasure of middle easting her. just when you meet her standing next to her, she exudes that kind of positive attitude that we were talking about. >> how important does health care play into that? obviously positive attitude is really important but i imagine just taking good care of yourself. >> yes. having enough health care -- in other words having easy access to a doctor and that kind of stuff, is good. having too much health care is bad. what i mean by that is that there is this growing recognition that doctors sometimes do too much to elderly people. for example, if a 90-year-old gets cancer, the right answer might be we're doing nothing, because sometimes the treatment will kill that 90-year-old person sooner than the cancer will. so i know it sounds funny to leave cancer alone, but sometimes at that age the less a

doctor does to you, the better. i think as americans we have a hard time with that because we think more is better. but remember for grandma or grandpa, sometimes less is better than more. >> interesting. all right. well, elizabeth, you and i, marathon next year? >> no. 50 years from now. not next year. i won't be ready. >> 50-plus. >> okay. >> thanks. 20 years ago anita hill brought the issue of sexual harassment into focus. find out what issues she's tackling now. anita hill joins me next. ( phone ringing )

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the year was 1991. clarence thomas had been nominated to the supreme court and among those testifying in a senate hearing, a then-35-year-old lawyer who had worked for him, anita hill. she accused thomas of making harassing sexual statements which he denied. until then most women did not talk about such things. since then, hill has led a relatively quiet life in massachusetts. she teaches social policy law and women's studies still looking to make a difference. her second book is entitled

"reimagining equality." professor hill, very good to see you here. how d i had a chance to read your book over the weekend and in it you talk about the importance of home ownership as a way of achieving the american dream and how difficult that is now when so many people are out of their homes, the housing crisis, feeling displaced in their own country. and you write, it is hard to imagine a more critical domestic concern than the search for a home in america. what do you think is the single most important thing the president needs to do to address the crisis? >> well, one of the things that i proposed in "reimagining equality" is a home summit. because i don't think there is any one single approach or policy that is going to create the kind of environment that we need to create so that everyone really is able to find a home in america that provides them access to all opportunities that this country has to offer.

>> do you -- >> the summit i think -- >> sure, go ahead. >> the summit i think would absolutely give us a chance to have a conversation to talk about the overlapping policies that have been created to get us in the situation where we are today and that will be needed in the future to move us forward. >> have you met the president and his wife? do you know them personally? would you feel comfortable presenting your ideas to the president, to the administration? >> well, if i had five minutes with the president, i would love it. that would be the first thing i would talk about, of course. i have not met the president personally. of course i know people who do know him in the cambridge community. i have not met mrs. obama either, but i would love to have a chance to talk with them about the issues that i have been working on and how important i think they are to the future of america, especially a generation of young people who i come into contact with regularly as a

professor. >> well, professor, hopefully they're watching, either obama family or the administration. you also write in your book that you received more than 25,000 letters from the public. that's really quite amazing -- since the clarence thomas hearings and that that has given you a sense of community and a sense of home. you write about this. are you surprised that those hearings 20 years ago still resonate with so many people? >> i'm absolutely surprised. i've been at conferences over the last couple of weeks where many women have talked about what was in fact unintended consequences of the hearing. this morning in fact i heard from a woman named jo ann smith who is working with young women in new york city. she met me over the weekend and just the kind of advocacy, as well as the kind of work that women are doing, especially

women -- women and men -- that are -- women who are working to help raise the voices of young women and girls so that another generation does not have to experience sexual harassment as many of the women my age have. >> sure. and we have some numbers. i'd just like to put them up there on the screen so folks can actually see that that number has dramatically increased, that there are more young women who have come forward with these allegations of sexual harassment and had their voices heard. was it surprising to you last october when clarence thomas' wife, jeanie, reopened this issue and perhaps even attention over it when she sent you that voice mail message requesting you to apologize for your testimony? >> that was quite a surprise. i had no expectation that i would ever hear from mrs. thomas, or mr. thomas, for that matter -- justice thomas. but what i realized at the time once that message was public,

was that it was an issue that resonated with so many people. the hearings were not something that had just happened 20 years ago and remained static. it was something that happened 20 years ago and that we had evolved quite significantly since then. and out of that whole episode with the voice mail message came the idea that we shall think about, on the 20th anniversary of the hearing, what the hearings stood for, how we have moved forward in the wake of the hearings, and what we can do in the future to keep moving us toward equality for women, not only for women, but i hear from people, from all ethnicities, all races, both genders, people from different backgrounds, whether it's socioeconomic backgrounds, and they say that the hearings were significant to

them as well. >> and we understand you did not offer any kind of apology to justice thomas or to his wife. that's correct. >> absolutely. i won't be apologizing. i told the truth and that i stand by and i will not be apologizing. >> all right. professor hill, thank you very much. it is so good to see you and it was a good read over the weekend with your new book. really appreciate it. >> i'm so glad you enjoyed it. and thank you for having me. >> sure. hopefully you'll sit down with the obamas soon. appreciate it. >> yes. from your mouth to their ears. >> all right. thanks, professor. well, from beacon of hope for energy independence, a spectacular collapse now. the house investigates solar technology firm solyndra. we'll take a closer look as well. but first, mortgage rates are the lowest now in decades. so should you refinance? well, our christine romans takes a look in this week's ""smart is

the new rich."" >> if you have a mortgage with an interest rate above 5%, 5.5% or higher you need to check into refinancing that mortgage. rock-bottom rates can spell huge saving for homeowners. how big? consider a house with a $200,000 mortgage. three years ago, a 6% mortgage rate was common and the payment excluding property tax would be $1,199 a month. that same home refinanced at 5.5% a year ago would cost you about $1,135 a month. refinance today at a low 4.2%? the mortgage payment is only $978 a month. that's $2,650 a year less than the same loan at 6%. a lower monthly payment you would save $79,000 in interest over the life of that loan. the math is clear. so why aren't thousands of people running out to refinance? it takes money. home appraisals can run upwards of $400 and closing costs could

reach a couple of thousand dollars at a minimum. takes time and patient and paperwork. if you bought a year or two ago and your home has lost value or your credit score has dropped, you are likely frozen out. >> the single biggest impediment to refinancing and taking advantage of these low rates is the lack of equity that many homeowners have. what it really takes to qualify and get these low rates is good credit, proof of income, and some equity in the home. it's that lack of equity that's really the main obstacle for so many homeowners. >> for everyone else who plans to stay in their house a few years, mortgage brokers say do it. >> the good thing about lower interest rates with people refinancing, it puts more cash in the consumer's pocket and hopefully that will help people start spending and get this economy to recover. >> while the 30-year fixed mortgage remains popular, the advantages for a 15-year, you'll own your house in half the time, you build equity faster and you pay thousands less in interest.

the downside -- your monthly payments are higher than what the 30-year fixed loan. for more on saving money in your housing expenses, check out "smart is the new rich." christine romans, cnn, new york. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪

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close look at solar technology company solyndra's demise and the federal government's investment in it. taxpayers could be on the hook for half a billion dollars. today, a bankruptcy judge could decide on appointing a trustee after solyndra's ceo and cfo both pleaded the fifth. our carl azus is here with more on how it all went down. carl, first explain what is behind this deal as we know solyndra. >> solyndra, suzanne, in a nutshell was a bad investment

from the get-go. the company made solar panels. it is based out in california. from the early days of the obama administration, it was held as a shining example of a company that supported renewable energy. president obama spoke there, vice president joe biden spoke via satellite at one point. so it had support from the top of the government. you see it encouraged green energy and it became one of the first companies -- in fact, under the stimulus package, it was the first renewable energy company to get a loan guarantee from the federal government. that loan guarantee was worth $55 million. $535 million. >> what's wrong with the plan? >> for one thing, solyndra never turned a profit. from the beginning there were people in the office of budget and department of energy who were questioning the riskiness of this. they were saying this company has cash problems, the department of energy, an e-mail said the company had problems making money and they also said that solyndra's business model back in 2009 showed that it could run out of cash by september of 2011. now that turned out to be

prophetic it was on december 26th of 2011 solyndra filed for bankruptcy protection and just last week the ceo resigned. >> what's the fall-out beyond the resignation? this has really caught a lot of people's interest. >> first you have a huge fallout in that 1,000 solyndra employees lost their jobs but now a number of investigations are taking place. for one of them, the fbi is looking into whether solyndra misled the u.s. government in thinking this company would be a good investment. congress is also investigating. they want to know why solyndra officials testified earlier this summer that the company was on the upswing when all the while it was losing money. then another part of the congressional investigation as to why this company was sort of held as a shining example, why it was fast tracked for a government loan when it always had problems from the get-go. so there are a number of questions taking place and under the lessons learned category, some people are saying this is also about the riskiness of the government investing in private

companies, because private investors invest in private companies that go under, private investors lose their money. in the government does it or in this case use stimulus funds, the taxpayers are the ones on the hook for half a billion. >> losing out on this. all right, carl. thank you. herman cain's 999 tax plan. he says is will help americans making only $50,000 a year. well, we want you to keep it here, see what the truth-o-meter says. ♪ [ multiple snds ng melodic tune ] ♪ [ malennounc ] at northrop grumman,

makthworld a feplace. th's value performance. northr gruan.

every week it seems a different republican is leading in the race for the white house. every week candidates say something that's got us

wondering, is it even true? well, angie is putting some of the comments to the test. let's start with this one from rick perry. texas governor says, romneycare has killed 8,000 massachusetts jobs. what do we know about this? true? false? >> we rated this one mostly false. the massachusetts health care plan started in 2006. this statement makes it sound like 18,000 people lost their jobs. that's not what happened. this is based on an economic study that said increased business costs means 18,000 jobs weren't created that might have been created otherwise. a single study. but the statement takes it too far. we rated it mostly false. >> what about this one from herman cain -- he says that someone earning $50,000 a year will fare better under his 999 plan than under the current tax

system. >> this one got a mostly false, too. the 999 plan is 9% income tax, 9% corporate tax, and the new 9% sales tax. now the accountants we talk to said a single person who makes $50,000 and has no deductions or exemptions would pay less under cain's plan, but everybody else would pay more, especially families that get those child tax credits. so this one got a mostly false. >> mostly false. finally, mitt romney took a jab at president obama when he said that the national labor relations board said it "can't build a factory in a non-union state." yeah? >> this one got a false, too. we get into the details on our website. but the issue is not about where a factory could be built. the issue is about moving work between factories that already exist and whether it's

permissible to move this work based on the current law. so that's not the dispute that's going on and it got a false. >> angie, we hope they'll be a little more truthful for the cnn debate tomorrow night. we'll see how this goes. angie, thanks again. appreciate it. >> we're looking forward to it. >> likewise. she's everything from super model to super mogul. this business woman wears many different hats. we talked to tyra banks about the latest chapter of her life. she's going back to school. these dogs wake up too early! you know what else is early? medicare open enrollment.

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tyra banks, super model, television host, actress, best-selling author. of course she seems to have it all, but she would like a little bit more. poppy harlow from cnn money talked with banks about her new life as a student at harvard

business school. >> what is it like for you at harvard business school? are you one of the students? do you stand out? >> i'm one of the students. i'd like to think that i don't stand out. in the beginning, sure. you know? my classmates are like, what the heck? you look just like her. i'm like, yeah, i know. i kind of know her well. but, second term, it's just me. and it's funny. when i speak -- i can speak to a crowd of thousands, or in television, to millions and i have no problem doing that or an arena or a stadium. 60,000 people. i can speak. i can be strong. and confident. we had an exercise at harvard, at school, where we had to pitch a new concept or a new idea for our own personal business. my group chose a concept that i came up with and i had to pitch it to my classmates. and i was shaking like a leaf. now i know how to cover it but the last time i shook like that

was when i interviewed president obama. so that's how nervous i was to pitch this to my classmates because it was peers. you know? these are people that are billionaires and had these businesses and like that i feel humbled by. so i felt like, oh, my god, they're judging me. i was like -- now they didn't know i was shaking but i was. >> talk to me about your view on the middle class. >> i'm from the middle class. probably lower middle class i think. my parents divorced when i was 6 years old and then my mother was on her own and child support back in those days wasn't as fair as it is now. so my dad did what the law said, you know? he still put me through private school and all that but he did what the law said which wasn't a lot for my mother so i got to see that struggle so i understand what that middle class struggle is and it is real. it is very, very real. >> so poppy harlow joins us live. poppy, i've interviewed tyra banks as well and she is really quite a fascinating person. really nice, down to earth.

but, okay, come on. she has her own media company. why go to business school now? >> it is a great question, suzanne. i agree with you on all those attributes. i was really struck by her. you heard at the end of that interview she was talking about the middle class and how she grew up in the middle class, the struggles that her mother went through working multiple jobs. she told me, i was taught to never rely on a man for anything. so this is why she's going to harvard. it is all about excelling at her business and taking it to the next level. i said are you going to harvard to get that degree, that gravitas that maybe a super model maybe wouldn't necessarily get from the public? she said absolutely not. it is about the fact that i want to be able to run the numbers. i want to be able to hire the managers from marketing to finance to accounting and i want to know who you should hire. i don't want to rely on other people and just delegate. so it is about her taking her business to the next level and i think it is fascinating to watch as she's grown so incredibly successful after her modeling career in the media industry, now as a best-selling author

talking about making that book a film. she wants to be able to do the business side of it and do it the best that she can. so, she's going to one of the best for it. she's going to harvard. >> all the power to her from one harvard gal to another. wish her very well. thank you, poppy. the fcc coming down hard on cell phone companies to make life a little easier for you. we're going to find out how next. my name is robin. i'm a wife, i'm a mom... and chantix worked for me. it's a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking.

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so the fcc wants to make sure when you see your cell phone bill, you know exactly

what you're going to be charged for. instead of paying hundreds of dollars for those extra texts, you'll soon receive an alert when you're about to go over your limit. karina huber is standing by the a the new york stock exchange. so what will we notice that's actually different here? >> okay, suzanne. what's different is the alerts are going to be automatic unless you opt out. the wireless companies will be sending you a voicemail or a text message to let you know when you're near your data limit or when you're about to incur roaming charges. then they'll alert you again when you go over the limit or hit the roaming charge. the goal is to get rid of what the fcc calls bill shock. that's using too many minutes or too much data without knowing it, then get a big, fat, whopping bill and those alerts start late next year. >> we've all gotten some of those big, fat whopping bills. now some of the carriers, to be fair, don't they already provide something like this already that you can just check online? >> yeah, they do. but the problem is a lot of people don't actually sign up for it or they don't check

online. so now the alerts will be free and they will be automatic, of course, unless you opt out. this is something that affects a lot of people. the fcc estimates that 30 million americans have experienced bill shock. that is maybe one-tenth of the u.s. population. for many people the shock can mean an extra $100 on the monthly bill but the fcc got a complaint about a $68,000 charge for going over minutes. now i thought i liked to talk, but this person seriously has got to get to the gas. serious thing seems to be data, gobbling up more data with more ipads and tablets out on the market so that really seems to be the problem there. >> we like to talk, too. tell us about the markets. we saw a sizable sell-off, then it is picking up steam. what's motivating this here? >> well, we're still looking pretty bad, pretty sharply in the red, down 193 points on the dow. that's a drop of 1.6%. a couple of things are at play. first, mixed earnings from citigroup and