paid by the wealthiest in america. >> my end point is i'm tired of bumper stickers. if your position on something can fit on a bumper sticker, you need to do a little bit more research. "cnn newsroom" with carol costello starts right now. good morning. on the attack, the showdown is in iowa this morning as rnc chair priebus goes after the white house, showing up in cedar rapids hours before the president. his goal, to promote the republicans' new website out just today slamming obama saying that the president shipped the recovery overseas. the war on drugs. it's a failure. chris christie mincing no words, saying his state is warehousing addicts every day and giving them no treatment. the governor and the gestapo. maine's republican governor walking back comments he made comparing the irs to the nazi secret police. this morning we hear from

governor paul la page. and records smashed from the midwest to the east coast. and now a new record. this past year has been the warmest ever for america. so turn up the ac, grab a cold drunk. "cnn newsroom" begins right now. good morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. i'm carol costello. right now, president obama is just about to head to the heartland. he is visiting the battle ground state of iowa and reaching out to middle class voters. that's who would most benefit from his plan to extend the bush era tax cuts. >> here's what's going to change. basically if we don't do anything, everybody's taxes go up at the end of this year. now, understand what i'm proposing is 98% of america, 98% of american families, won't see their taxes go up according to my plaque. -- plan.

the only folks who would see their taxes go up would be the top 2%, folks like me who don't need those tax breaks, are doing just fine without them. >> republicans will seize the spotlight first in cedar rapids. just before the obama event, they will unveil this website to take one of obama's arguments and turn it against him. outsourcing. that's what it's about. weeks after the obama campaign first accused mr. romney, the businessman, of sending american jobs overseas, republicans return fire. they say that the president did the same thing, using your taxpayer money in the stimulus projects that helped green projects overseas. >> that electric car company in finland where we sent half a billion dollars over there. never came back here. they never opened the plant in delaware. this is not the first day we have talked about this. i talked about this six months ago, and so has mitt romney. and we have talked about battery companies in south korea,

l.e.d.s in china, windmills in denmark. >> dan lothian is at the white house following all of this. so now it's outsourcing. >> reporter: that's right. and, you know, it's the republicans really countering this attack that has been coming from the obama campaign that mitt romney invested in companies that benefited from sending jobs oversees to places like india and china, that mitt romney could have stopped outsourcing when he was the governor of massachusetts but didn't. and responding to these latest attacks now from the romney campaign, the obama campaign, saying, quote, we understand that the romney campaign wants us to share in their outsourcing misery, but the record doesn't support their attacks. president obama out there on the campaign trail has been saying that he is pushing for insourcing, as he likes to call it, providing these tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas for them to

bring those jobs back here to the united states. that is what they say their message has been, completely pushing back on this notion from republicans that the president is the outsourcer in chief. >> interesting. dan lothian, thanks so much. new poll out this morning shows the presidential race deadlocked. the abc news/"washington post" survey asked registered voters who they'd choose if the election were held today. 47% say they'd vote for obama. 47% chose romney. today, mr. romney takes his tax argument to the swing state of colorado. this afternoon, he holds a town hall meeting in grand junction. he is warning that the president's tax policies play on class warfare and will hurt all of us by weakening the economy. >> small businesses are overwhelmingly being taxed not at a corporate rate but at the individual tax rate so successful small businesses will see their taxes go up dramatically, and that will kill jobs. that will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in america.

>> another topic drawing a more heated exchange between th two camps is romney's tax returns. so far, mr. romney has released one year's completed marijuapap. the obama campaign is saying his lack of refusal to do so shows a lack of transparency. and a break over the nation's war on drugs. new jersey's governor chris christie says the war on drugs has been a dismal failure. listen to this harsh assessment at the brookings institution. >> the war on drugs while well intentioned has been a failure. we are warehousing addicted people every day in state prisons in new jersey, giving them no treatment, sending them back out on the street after their term of incarceration, and wondering why re-sid vimp rates don't get better and why they commit crimes again.

they commit crimes to support their addiction. >> he says lawmakers in new jersey are getting it right. they recently mandated a year of treatment for first-time nonviolent offenders. christie says the inpatient care costs less than half of imprisonment. turning now to the weather. after about a week of scorching heat, a lot of us are finally seeing at least a little bit of relief today. but not the case in the southwest. excessive heat warnings are in effect for parts of arizona and california through tomorrow. meteorologist alexandra steele is here. i guess it's their turn. >> that's right. but it was all our turns because new climate data just in from noaa saying this last 12 months has been the hottest in the lower 48 since record keeping began in 1895. just incredibly steamy, and we felt it, right ? but even with that last 12 months that doesn't include this last july. so the heat has certainly been on and it continues to be. of course, we have seen it so much in the east.

vegas, 113 yesterday. boise, 108 yesterday. so we'll see the cool air come down, and as we have, it's brought of course the stationary front. but now with this front it's the lifting mechanism firing off showers and storms in the mid-atlantic. so once again today virginia and north carolina the potential for some flooding. of course that was the front that cooled things off. but now it's of course bringing some potential flooding. so here is the temperatures. 84 in memphis. 92 in kansas city. again, the heat now in the southwest. places like phoenix and las vegas and palm springs, temperatures between 110 and 120 degrees. so it is now out west. but all in all, like in summation for the year, off the charts, carol. >> you're not kidding. alexandra, thanks so much. >> sure. the drama surrounding tomkat is over. hollywood power couple tom cruise and katie holmes have come to an amicable divorce settlement. the couple released a joint statement that reads, quote, we are committed to working together as parents to

accomplishing what is in our daughter suri's best interests. we want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each others' commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents. team holmes released a second statement saying, there were numerous inaccurate reports about the confidential terms of the agreement, but of course we want to know more. so let's go to showbiz correspondent nischelle turner in los angeles. what do you know? >> well, unfortunately, carol, i'll give you some tidbits. but the fact that they are trying to keep this confidential, i'm not sure how much more we're going to learn. but both sides telling "showbiz tonight" they are pleased with the settlement. although i think they may just be grateful to wrap it up as quickly and quietly as they did. because for awful the attention they had for this, they wrapped up from announcement to settlement in less than two weeks. officially, carol, the details are not coming out because both

sides have agreed to keep the terms confidential. but according to an "us weekly" report, katie did get full physical custody of suri and will raise her in new york city. they are also saying that while tom will be able to spend a lot of time with his daughter. and there were a lot of questions surrounding did this have anything to do with scientology. for the first time the church of scientology is responding to questions about the split if only to say they consider this a private matter. the church also said that they believe some of their former members are exploiting this private matter to further their own agendas. but, carol, there are two things here that everyone thinks happened here. that katie executed a brilliant legal strategy to end the divorce. and the other thing here that is starting to grow is that it seems to be this undercurrent starting to grow that maybe tom cruise is being painted unfairly here, and that he is getting a bit of a bad rap. because at the end of the day, what actually happened is it seems like they both put their daughter's interests first and

decided, you know what, for the best interest of suri, we're going to take care of this. be responsible adults. and get this done. >> that's so un-american. >> i know. who would have thought there would be two responsible thinking adults and do something to put the best interest of the child first. who would have thought? >> i don't know. but i sure hope it's true. nischelle turner, thanks so much. >> exactly. the new york yankees are not big fans of one of their own. that would be hall of famer reggie jackson. why they're asking reggie to stay away. now you can apply sunblock to your kids' wet skin. neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®.

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12 minutes past the hour. this just in. kind of disturbing news. four large russian ships with marines onboard are now heading to the syrian port of tartous. a russian military source says the squadron's move has nothing whatsoever to do with the syrian crisis, but does it? let's get more on the story from mohammed jam june in abu dhabi. what do you make of this? >> reporter: this was a military diplomatic source that told the russian news agency about the four ships that have left the north sea, that they are on the way to syria right now. again, he stressed that the squadron's journey is part of the navy's combat raining plans. that it has nothing to do with the crisis in syria. and they are headed to the port of tartous.

there's a russian base there's been there for years and years in syria. so on the face of it, there has not yet been any kind of condemnation from any international bodies. it doesn't seem that the u.s. or any other powers have commented yet and objected to this. so on the face of it, it looks like it is just for routine training missions. but there has been so much speculation as to what russia intends to do when it comes to syria, because they are one of the few backers that syria still has. this comes on the heels of news yesterday that russia won't deliver any new weapons to syria as long as the situation in that country is unstable. an official with the body in charge of monitoring russia's arms trade told state media on monday that russia is concerned about the situation in syria, that they are not going to arm any new supplies to that country until the situation stabilizes. but it wasn't clear whether the official was saying that russia

would discontinue the delivery of all arms or whether it was stopping just the supply of new weapons. and that's where the concern is right now. there has been condemnation of russia's backing of the syrian regime, of their continued supply of weapons there. the russians clearly concerned as well about how this all appears. they want to see an end to the crisis. so what this -- these ships leaving today for the port of tartous means in the bigger picture yet to be determined. but still a lot of questions at this hour. >> thank you so much. checking our other top stories, house republicans gearing up to do battle over obama care. in the next hour, they'll start holding hearings to repeal it since the supreme court upheld the law last month. a vote could come tomorrow. but the effort is not expected to go anywhere in the democratic controlled senate. now to some pictures that are getting a lot of attention. watch closely. you'll see a teenager jumping 35

feet from this sky ride and landing on a beach. our affiliate reports that the teenager says she freaked out when her chair lift stopped as a violent storm approached. the girl was celebrating her 17th birthday. she says she was more concerned about getting struck by lightning out there in the air. she jumped onto that beach and she was not seriously hurt. in money news, the launch of windows 8 is just a few months away. microsoft says its new operating system will hit store shelves in late october. it will be the software giant's biggest update to windows in nearly two decades. they are also releasing surface, their first tablet, around the same ti. yankees legend ridgy jackson is being told to stay away from the team. in a "sports illustrated" article last week, jackson questioned alex rodriguez's home run numbers after rodriguez admitted to doping. jackson told "usa today," quote, the yankees think that the timing is not right for me to be around the team. when the yankees feel the timing is proper, i will return. end quote.

in weather news, check out these lightning flare-ups in atlanta. this was the view from the cnn center roof cam last night. it was a spectacular show, wasn't it? in north carolina, flash flooding dumped up to five inches of rain on downtown greensboro. the heavy downpour left between 20 and 30 cars stranded on a nearby interstate. every day we ask you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. is it class warfare or paying your fair share? we want you to weigh in on whether president obama's proposed tax cuts are enough to get your vote. summer is here.ncer ] and so too is the summer event. now get an incredible offer on the powerful c250 sport sedan. but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends july 31s but what about your wrinkles? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. its retinol formula visibly reduces wrinkles

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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, mr. obama's proposed tax cuts. will they make you fall in love again? here we go again. if you're a republican, it's class warfare. if you're a democrat, it's paying your fair share. whatever you believe, the president is going there again. he wants to extend the bush tax cuts but only for those making less than $250,000 a year. and if congress votes to extend the bush tax cuts to all americans, regardless of income, mr. obama will whip out the presidential pen. >> i would veto it. and here's why. what i'm proposing is that we give a tax break, that we make sure the taxes don't go up, on 98% of americans. 98%. but to extend tax breaks for that top 2% of wealthiest americans would cost us $1 trillion over the next decade.

>> mitt romney, who signed grover norquist's no tax pledge, insisted that mr. obama's tax plan would crush small business people. >> small businesses are overwhelmingly being taxed not at a corporate rate but at the individual tax rate so successful small businesses will see their taxes go up dramatically, and that will kill jobs. that will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in america. >> except only 3% of small businesses actually make above $250,000 a year. and even if mr. obama's tax plan flies through congress, it would only raise $968 billion over 10 years. so the talk back question for you today, obama's proposed tax cuts: will they make you fall in love again? facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses later on in this hour. some new rules could soon be put into place to protect

homeowners from risky mortgages. we'll fill you in. [ male announcer ] how do you trade?

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that's changing. and now depending on where you live, it will cost you. >> how about an organic green iced tea? >> reporter: if you buy anything from a restaurant in washington, d.c., the sales tax is 10%. >> you can see the sales tax, 41 cents. >> reporter: but if you bought something online from a business that doesn't have a physical presence in d.c., the retailer wouldn't ask you to pay a sales tax at all. neal austin is with the national conference of state legislatures. he says that's costing states $23 billion this year. >> look at california. california has a great deal of problems. this would mean $4.1 billion in revenue for california that they don't have right now. that could mean more teachers. it could mean more police, more firemen. >> reporter: he says more and more states are passing laws that would require consumers to pay sales tax on all internet purchases. but so far, online sales

companies have been able to get around that because of a 1992 supreme court ruling on mail-order purchases. that decision said if a retailer doesn't have an actual physical location in the state, the retailer doesn't have to collect sales tax. legislation in congress would change that. so say you are in washington, d.c., and you buy a $20 shirt online from an out of state company. who happens to be in california. well, as of now, you pay zero dollars in taxes. but if this federal bill became law, you would have to pay d.c.'s 6% sales tax, and that shirt would cost you $21.20. by the way, taxes go to the state that the item is being delivered, not where it's sold. bricks and mortar retailers say the new federal proposal is only fair. >> all we're asking for is for the government to close this loophole, level the playing field, and let everybody compete on price in a free market. >> reporter: but a coalition of internet companies, including ebay and overstock, are lobbying

against the federal legislation saying this is going to hit mom and pop operations. >> nothing could be less fair to america's small businesses than forcing them to collect and remit and file sales taxes for nearly 10,000 different jurisdictions across the country. >> reporter: a clause in the senate bill exempts relatively small retailers, with less than $500,000 in annual sales. and what do consumers think? ian karen says he buys everything from clothing to dish soap online. >> as a consumer, i wouldn't be super excited. but i also wouldn't be shocked if that happens. >> reporter: lisa sylvester, cnn, washington. the consumer financial protection bureau wants to put new rules into place to keep you from getting stuck in a mortgage you cannot afford. wouldn't that be nice? alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. seriously? >> seriously. part of the reason, carol, that the cfpd was set up in the first place is to try to help

americans, keep them from getting into the big mortgage mess that got us into the recession in the first place. what the watch dog group is now trying to do is expand its definition as what qualifies as a high cost mortgage. it is trying to bring more home buyering under its protection. so it looks to prohibit certain features of risky loans. for one, it bans these balloon payments, and that's where you pay the principle in a big lump sum at the end of the loan. it also gets rid of a lot of prepayment fees, the modification fees, and it even caps late fees. borrowers also have to get homeownership counseling before taking out risky loans much. but these people still have the right to be protected and informed. these rules are set to be finalized in about six months. carol? >> but what's really confusing to people is all the paperwork that you have to read through to buy a house. and a lot of people don't understand the language. >> you said it.

anyone who's ever bought a home knows the paperwork is extremely overwhelming, to say the least. so the cfpb is hoping to whittle the mortgage documents down to just a few pages. it's on a mission to do this. it named the program that it's doing the know before you owe project. so it's cutting the loan estimate form from seven pages down to three. this is a form that lays out the cost and the risks of your mortgage. it's also cutting the closing disclosure form from nine pages to five. and this form contains all of your closing costs. of course the goal in all of this is to make sure that borrowers know exactly what they are getting into. so that should hopefully help out a little bit. carol? >> i hope so. alison kosik live from the new york stock exchange this morning. 30 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. i'm carol costello. other stories we're watching right now in the newsroom, president obama hitting the road to push his plan to keep only middle class tax cuts for those who make up to $250,000 a year. the president will be in iowa

today visiting a cedar rapids family who he says will benefit if the plan gets the green light. republicans say the rich should be included too. despite the jerry sandusky child sexual abuse scandal, penn state did not lose the support of its alumni. the university reports the school received close to $209 million in donations in the last fiscal year. it is the second highest annual amount in penn state's history. more new evidence will soon be released in the trayvon martin shooting investigation. we're learning that this will happen on thursday. the orlando sentinel is reporting it will include shooter george zimmerman's prior calls to police and his application for a concealed weapon permit. zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in the case. a governor's weekly radio address has sent shock waves far beyond the state's border. republican paul la page of maine had this to say about the u.s. supreme court upholding the

president's health law. he said, quote, you must pay up or face the gestapo. b he has apologized, but the buzz persis persists. >> reporter: can we ask about your comments from saturday? >> no, you can't. >> reporter: governor la page didn't want to talk about the outrage he sparked when he compared the irs to the gestapo of the nazi secret police. but when pushed for comment, here's what he said. >> it was never intended to offend anyone. and if someone is offended, then they ought to be god [ bleep ] mad at the federal government. >> reporter: the governor made the gestapo remark during his weekly radio address this past saturday. it was part of remarks slamming president obama's health care reforms. >> we the people have been told there is no choice. you must buy health insurance or pay the new gestapo, the irs. >> and making sure that the language you use -- >> reporter: emily is the

executive director of portland's jewish community alliance, just one of the groups that called for the governor to apologize. >> to compare a modern day united states government to a genocidal regime is just -- just crosses all boundaries. >> reporter: the governor's communications director says she's the one who wrote the majority of saturday's statement, but she says governor la page added the word "gestapo." >> it is added for effect. he did say the new gestapo. he was not referring to the old gestapo. that's important to note. >> reporter: she said the governor has called her to say he's sorry. >> in an election year, it's important to raise the level of civil discourse and use information to educate rather than to be inflammatory or to polarize. >> it's the new gestapo, not the old gestapo. the governor may be sorry about the gestapo comment, but he is

still mad at the president. in his apology, he said, quote, with every step that obama care moves forward our individual freedoms are being stripped away by the federal government. end quote. now for a quick reality check. middle class workers will be paying more next year regardless of what happens to the bush era tax cuts. the president of optimum capital management is joining us from our new york bureau to explain why. good morning. >> how are you doing? >> i'm good. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you for being here. let's start with the bush era tax cuts. president obama wants to eliminate them or extend them for people making $250,000 or less. will that really do much to reduce our deficit? >> well, essentially, it might do a whole lot more, but for confidence as well. the middle class really needs certainty right now in terms of making sure that they know exactly for the next year or hopefully even longer than that that their taxes are going to be right where they are. and we have to celebrate this because we actually have 98% agreement in the congress right

now. the right side agrees that middle class needs to keep their tax cuts the same. and the left side agrees that the middle class needs to keep their tax cuts the same. but it's the top 2% where there's a discrepancy. >> let's talk about that discrepancy. because what you said, shouldn't that apply to wealthier americans too? shouldn't they feel comfortable about the tax rates saying the same in the midst of this economic downturn? >> from my perspective, a lot of individuals can afford to pay a whole lot more. we do a lot of traveling across the country, talking to middle class individuals, working poor and even impoverished communities. if you ask them to pay another $100 to $50 a month, that will impact their lives a whole lot more than someone making over $1 million a year, in terms of making sure they have to get their taxes risen to the point where thduring the clinton year we did pretty well. we have to look in terms of proportionally what level of impact it causes in that

individual's household, and can they afford it or not. from a business owner myself -- >> let me just stop you for a moment. whether you have lots of money or not, you're still loathe to spend it because of the way our economy is right now. >> well, you know what? no one likes to pay taxes. at the end of the day, you have to pay taxes. and from a business owner myself, i'm not going to stop working hard because my taxes are increased. i'm not going to stop going and putting additional effort in and keeping my employees on the payroll. >> are you going to hit bloomingdale's and buy a bunch of stuff there? >> well, you might not do as much in terms of spending. but at the end of the day, we not spending now. the consumer spending is not as high as it was, and a lot of businesses are keeping their money -- we have over $2 trillion of surplus on the sidelines as we speak. with the tax cuts lower we are not doing any spending. so we are missing out on revenue that can go into stimulating the economy and putting money back. the biggest spender in the economy right now is the government, that is keeping this economy afloat. let's switch gears and talk

about the payroll tax deduction, because like it or not, everybody's taxes, middle class taxes, are going to go up regardless of what happens with the bush tax cuts. >> yeah. well, the payroll tax cut is the underlying that no one is talking about. it's about 2% of the first $110,000 of income. so that is essentially used to fund social security. so we have had a 2% cut where that costs about $120 million that the government right now as opposed to taking it out of security, it's taking it out of the national debt. so we can't continue to have that tax cut unless we find someplace to fund it. for someone making about $50,000 a year, it means $83 a month. that's actually some hefty dollars for individuals to come out their pockets if this payroll is increased after december 31. no one is really talking about

it right now, but it should be a huge issue for working class and middle class families. that's a grocery bill. that's food for your children. that's going back -- you can do school shopping for about a quarter of that price for someone earning $50,000 a year. it will be heavy impacted for middle class families. >> i suspect not many politicians will be trumpeting that. >> right. >> yeah. ryan mack, thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you for having me. one of the nation's most visited landmarks still closed to the public. the washington monument. we will tell you how long it will be until you can go to the top and look at the beautiful view of washington, d.c. we'll be right back. [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days.

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this morning in egypt, a reminder of just how divided that region remains after the arab uprising. this morning, protesters gathered in cairo to support the new president and his active defiance. the president had called parliament back into session, a direct rebuff of military leaders and the country's highest court. they had dissolved the legislature and are refusing to budge in from that decision today. ivan watson is in cairo. fill us in.

>> reporter: carol, nobody really knew what was going to happen today. the president said parliament should meet. the highest court and the ruling military generals said the parliament shouldn't meet, that it was illegal. in the end, lawmakers gathered in the parliament chambers for the first time in nearly a month. and some of them had mixed feelings about getting their old jobs back. take a listen to what one lawmaker said to us. was this a good day today, that parliament met again? >> well, it's -- yes and no, because there is such a big confusion within the egyptians, because of all those who are always or against this decree. some say it's not legitimate. some of them say no, we have the full right. >> reporter: important thing is they were able to gather peacefully. there were no clashes, no protests at the parliament. a very different scene at one of the main courthouses in cairo.

there, there were angry demonstrators supporting the muslim brotherhood president mohamed morsi, who was facing no less than 27 court cases against him because he chose to conseen parliament again. the crowd was getting angry. we saw them throwing bottles and insulting one man who left the courthouse. and then suddenly the judges decided to postpone the verdict a week. and everybody dissolved peacefully. the mob separated. and that just shows you how fluid the politics are right now. and how much competing political groups are using brinksmanship right now in their power struggle over who's going to really run this country next. carol? >> ivan watson live in cairo for us. we're back in a moment. the medicare debate continues in washington...

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45 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now, lawmakers in washington are getting another chance to repeal obama care. in just a few minutes, the u.s. house will start hearings for the first time since the u.s. supreme court upheld the affordable care act. a vote could come tomorrow. in money news, starbucks is jumping on the energy drink train. starting today, the coffee giant will offer several versions of its refreshers energy drinks in its stores. and on friday afternoon, starbucks stores will give customers a free drink just so you can try it out.

in in weather news, hurricane emilia is gaining strength. but it is not expected to make landfall. it could start weakening later today. lawyers for seven-time tour de france winner lance armstrong have less than three weeks to refile their lawsuit against the u.s. doping agency. the original lawsuit was thrown out. armstrong is accused of doping despite never failing more than 500 drug tests during his career. you're going to have to wait a while to get that majestic view from the top of the nation's capital. the washington monument will remain closed to visitors for another year, and maybe until 2014. it has been shut down since an earthquake hit d.c. last august. our sandra endo is following the story. that's a bummer. >> reporter: yeah, carol, it is a big bummer.

we actually spoke to some tourists who are out here on the national mall today. and they say they are disappointed that the washington monument is closed. as you mentioned, it has been shut down since last august's 5.8 earthquake that struck this area. and clearly they have a lot of work to do, because after a very lengthy assessment, engineers say that the washington monument has to endure extensive internal and external repairs. we are talking about sealing cracks and removing loose stones, replacing them, reinforcing internal beams. and that will take a lot of time. because the national parks service says the real challenge is that they have to build a lot of scaffolding. keep in mind the washington monument stands 555 feet tall, and a lot of the damage was endured at the top of the monument. so they have to do a lot of work to get up there, carol. >> ok. so how much is this all going to cost? and will taxpayers foot part of the bill? >> reporter: yeah, partially.

but the washington monument has a big fan out there. and his name is the co-founder actually of the carlyle group, who forked over $7.5 million for these renovations. and the total cost is an estimated $15 million. so some taxpayer money in there, but of course some donations as well. >> just looking at these pictures of the earthquake as it happened, sandra. that's just incredible. so you can see how it would cause that much damage. i mean, it actually sunk a little bit too, didn't it? >> reporter: yeah. they want to be real careful in the terminology of sinking. it has sunk two millimeters. so when it's engineers saying that, it's a lot. but they all say it's structurally sound, and the repairs will start in the fall. and of course tourists want to get in there as soon as possible. the national parks service says 700,000 tourists go up there every year. so clearly that's a lot of

people that won't be able to go until the latest 2014. that's when they expect this monument to reopen. carol? >> well, it's still beautiful to look at from the outside too. sandra endo, thank you so much. we asked you to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question for you this morning, obama's proposed tax cuts. will they make you fall in love? your responses, next. nt kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you.

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we asked you to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question for you this morning. obama's proposed tax cuts. will they make you fall in love? steve says ask the millions out of work if they would rather have a tax cut or a job. a tax cut won't help you if you have no income, now, will it? this from brian. when the rich do it, it's called business. when the people do it, it's called class warfare. this from nemesis. regardless of what the president does it won't please everyone. there is no middle ground. bill says i have no affiliation with any party, but it's time for the wealthy to pay their fair share. keep the conversation flowing. facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll have more of your responses in the next hour of "newsroom." did you watch the home run derby last night? booze rained down on robinson cano at the all-star game home run derby. the boos got into his head. he did not get a single home run. we'll discuss. [ kimi ] atti and i had always called oregon home.

until i got a job in the big apple. adjusting to city life was hard for me. and becoming a fulltime indoor cat wasn't easy for atti. but we had each other and he had purina cat chow indoor. he absolutely loved it. and i knew he was getting everything he needed to stay healthy indoors. and after a couple of weeks, i knew we were finally home! [ female announcer ] purina cat chow indoor. always there for you. 100% natural ingredients like roasted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark chocolate flavor. plus, 10 grams of protein. so it's energy straight from nature to you. nature valley protein bars.

last night's home run derby had something shocking for baseball's all-star game event, booing. the hometown fans at kansas city's kauffman stadium jeered a.l. derby captain robinson cano, first with boos when he was announced. after all he's a new york yankee, and then cheers when he failed to hit a home run.

fans were upset the second baseman did not pick the royals only all-star selection, designated hitter billy butler, for his team. this is the first time the defending derby champ has failed to hit one out. the boos got into his head. lots of cheering for this man. mark trumbo's ball hit the roof of the stadium and projected to land on the ground 475 feet from the home run plate but the 2012 home run derby winner is tigers first baseman prince fielder. he launched 28 shots out of the park, including a pair measuring 476 feet. ah, there he is with the trophy. it is the second time that fielder has won the contest. go, tigers. let's talk about pitchers for tonight's all-star game. fielder's tiger teammate justin verlander will start for the a.l. steam team. vernlder is a 9-5 and 2.5 e.r.a. and starting for the n.l. is

matt cain who threw a one-hitter in april and a perfect game. roger federer has paid off a dead man's debt, after federer won his first wimbledon a british fan placed a new bet. he wagered almost $1,000 that federer would won seven wimbledon crowns by the year 2015. that's a look at sports. no doubt you've heard of ""fifty shades of grey," you know that erotic book. now there's the youtube musical. as cnn's cnn maas reports it will leave you tapping your toes. >> reporter: "fifty shades of grey" has gone from mommy porn to musical, but at least the musical won't make you blush 50 shades. it's relatively clean.

♪ fifty shades of gray ♪ how could i refuse in a boring live as a house wife ♪ ♪ i can dream of being sexually abused ♪ >> reporter: musical pits a reader who loves the book against a reader who hates it. ♪ every page i read mike my eyeballs bleed ♪ . >> reporter: the maker of this video is brothers. >> i saw all women reading it on the subway, literally teenage girls to grandmothers. ♪ this the so well written ♪ who the [ bleep ] who write this ♪ >> reporter: eventually a gay character makes his ent try. ♪ fifty shades of gray i pray that no one realizes that i am loving it, every bit ♪ >> reporter: there have been other musical tributes to this lady porn fetom none, turning the words into music.

jimmy fallon featured "fifty shades of grey" karaoke. seriously, that's from page 277. honest, comedians mockly vie to record the audio book version, from gilbert gottfried. >> he scrunches my panties. >> reporter: to ellen degeneres, though ellen chose to paraphrase the overheated prose. >> he guides his hand across my secret garden. i'm going to add some sound effects if that's okay because i think -- apologize. >> reporter: what's been whipped up are sales. the "wall street journal" reports the "fifty shades" trilogy has sold almost 20 million copies in the u.s. in five months. it took "the dragon tattoo" books three years to accomplish that, and while some couples say the book has done wonders for their love life. >> we don't have a big bed, but we sure get around it. >> reporter: musical has it both ways. ♪ this degrading fluff, i've had enough ♪ >> reporter: so they have written their mini musical but

have they read the book? >> i did not read the whole book. >> reporter: and you read just a little bit? >> passages here and there. >> it's really -- some of it is awful. >> reporter: no shades of gray in that book review. ♪ fifty shades of grey >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> i don't know if i can go on, but i must, to the next hour of cnn "newsroom" that starts right now. good morning to you. i'm carol costello. happening right now in the newsroom. fast and furious in the night of an american agent's death. new details from the border and what really happened to agent brian terry. a cnn exclusive. dr. sanjay gupta on the ground in cambodia investigating a mysterious illness that's killing children. >> see how busy this is. even as we're talking how the doctor got cold away to see

another child gone into shock. >> reporter: >> we're at the hospital while doctors try to save lives. and arizona governor jan brewer going to the supreme court again. she wants to eliminate health care benefits for state employees same-sex partners. this hour we'll talk to one of the people suing the state. a new jersey jumper jumps 35 feet when she got freaked out by an approaching thunderstorm. the unbelievable video straight ahead. but we start with this happening right now on capitol hill. republicans launch their first big attack on obamacare since the supreme court upheld the sweeping reforms. lawmakers will hear from doctors, patients and, of course, each other as they begin hours of debate. the vote to repeal could come as soon as tomorrow, but the outcome may be more about symbolism than substance. congressional correspondent kate balduan is live on capitol hill. seems like deja vu all over

again, won't it? >> reporter: took the words right out of my mouth, carol. that's absolutely right. what we're looking at today is the real leadup to the expected vote to repeal the president's health care law in the house. that's expected tomorrow afternoon, but today we're talking about five hours of expected debate on the house floor, three house hearings about the -- about the implications and the impact of the health care law, and, of course, i think we actually are hearing from house republican leaders. they are going to microphones right now following a meeting with rank and file members. we'll be hearing from them this morning as well. this is all leading up to this vote, but the results of this vote is a foregone conclusion. house republicans are very much expected to pass this repeal of the president's health care law in the house, but it's not going anywhere in the democratic-controlled senate, carol, as you know, and even if it did the president would veto any repeal of the health care law if it made to his desk but the result in the alternate universe that's capitol hill the

result of this vote isn't really even the point. point is political messaging and scoring political points in an election year. republicans showing their base, showing their voters that they are going to do what they have promised to do. as house speaker john boehner told cbs last weekend or so, he said we've got to pull this out by the roots, and that's exactly what republicans will be doing today and tomorrow. they are trying to score political points. we know that an overwhelming majority of republican voters oppose the mandate, the crux of this law, as well as 55%, a small majority of independent voters. republicans looking to try to grab support from independent voters in an election year as well, carol. so political theater but with important political implications. >> well, you have five hours of fun ahead of you. thanks, kate balduan. >> reporter: you know it. been more than a year and a half since a u.s. border patrol agent was killed in a fire fight. two guns from the fast and furious gun tracking operation were found at the scene. now, the fbi has unsealed an indictment charging five men

with the crime and offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to four of their arrests. agent terry was filed in a fire fight in arizona in september of 2010. one suspect was arrested. he was arrested on the night of terry's murder. the government first hand down an indictment in the case late last year. four others charged in the murder do remain at large. hence, the big reward. agent terry was killed by a single gunshot in the attack, and he died at the scene. that's what happened in a nutshell, but there are plenty of people who want to know exactly how this operation went down. to help us tom fuentes, a former fbi assistant director and cnn contributor, he joins us now. good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> so tom, this happened in arizona in an area used by drug runners. border patrol agents including agent terry were on a hill. two others were nearby to observe traffic. what were they trying to do? >> well, they were trying to

apprehend any drug dealers or weapons traffickers or other illegals coming in there through that particular area, and i guess that pass is a very popular transportation area, so they had ground sensors set up. they had surveillance set up, and they were just in waiting for the people to show up, the bad guys to arrive. >> and this is a particularly dangerous area, because the people they were waiting for, these people hold up the drug runners so they can rob themming right? >> there are many dangerous people who are trying to do a number of illegal things in these border crossing areas so it's not unusual that the subjects would be heavily armed and ready to shoot, if necessary. >> you mentioned ground sensors. a ground sensor alerted agents that people were in the area, and the agents announced their presence, but the drug runners raised their weapons, and agents returned fire with non-lethal beanbag guns.

why didn't the agents use real guns? >> well, obviously they were trying not to kill the suspects and just take them into custody. that kind of decision-making at this point is still under review and investigation, and you have separate investigations of an inspector general's office investigation into the overall fast and furious operation, but now you have an fbi investigation because the u.s. federal law enforcement officer was killed in this operation or in this particular incident, so that's the question. why did they do that? why were they trying to give dangerous subjects the benefit of the doubt or the opportunity to surrender by shooting a non-lethal weapon first? i think in hindsight the agents at that scene wished that they had used lethal force to step the individuals from shooting back. >> and now the fbi in their big presser yesterday, they didn't say whether agent terry was killed with a weapon provided to the drug runners by the atf. can you read between the lines

for us, tom? >> no. i think the evidence is unclear as to which weapon was responsible for the fatal bullet that struck him, and the indications are that the actual weapon that was recovered that had been part of fast and furious was probably not, but it was at the scene, and it was in the hands of these individuals who it could have been easily the gun that killed him. >> okay. so you're a former fbi agent. the fbi is investigating this. this has become so politicized, and people might think that the fbi is also tainted by politics in this investigation. is it? >> no, it's not, and the fbi, you know, if anything, gets criticized for not revealing information during an ongoing information, for not playing politics with this issue. the issue for the fbi is that a u.s. federal agent was killed in the line of duty. that's the subject of their investigation. that's what they are trying to determine. how was he killed? who killed him? who is responsible, and how can

they be brought to justice? and the four subjects that were not apprehended, one subject was wounded and apprehended at the scene. the four others who are fugitives, they have been the subject of an intense investigation by the fbi as well as fbi counterparts in mexico trying to locate these individuals, the other four, so that part of the investigation is really irrelevant to the things ongoing on the hill as far as the documents and as far as the holding the attorney general in contempt. the fbi investigation is completely separate. if i could add one more thing. i think that the odds are very good because of the attention on this case, there's a good possibility that those four subjects are already dead and would have been killed by the cartels to silence them so that they could not be apprehended and could not discuss the nature of the firearm trafficking or the other drug trafficking and illegal activities so there's a very strong possibility that these subjects are not alive

anymore, and that that would have been reason enough for the u.s. attorney's office in conjunction with the fbi in arizona to go ahead and unseal the indictment and make it public and offer a reward and say, okay. the efforts to covertly find them have not worked over these -- these months, since 2011. we'll go ahead and enlist the support of the public, but i think -- i would be very surprised if any of these subjects are ever found alive. >> interesting. tom fuentes, thanks for helping us understand. we appreciate it. >> thank you, carol. also this morning, president obama and mitt romney take their tax fight to the people. both are stumping out west, and both want to extend the bush-era tax cut. the agreement ends there. republicans want the wealthy to get the tax breaks. democrats, only the middle class. >> here's what's going to change is basically if we don't do anything, then everybody's taxes go up at the end of this year. now understand what i'm proposing is 98% of america, 98%

of american families won't see their taxes go up, according to my plan. the only folks who would see their taxes go up would be the top 2%, folks like me who don't need those -- those tax breaks or are doing just fine without them. >> small businesses are overwhelmingly being taxed not at a corporate rate but at the individual tax rate so successful small businesses will see their taxes go up dramatically, and that will kill jobs. that will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in america. in the meantime, a new poll is out this morning, and it shows the presidential race deadlocked. the abc news/"washington post" survey asked registered voters who they would choose if the election were held today. 47% said they would vote for obama. 47% chose romney. mitt romney, by the way, is holding a town hall in grand junction, colorado today. sure, taxes are the most likely topic, but if conservatives have

their way, romney will play hardball ever since rupert murdoch, the media mogul behind the "wall street journal" and fox news said romney lacked stomach and heart conservatives have rallied around the cause. listen to what rush limbaugh has to say. >> romney has to start treating observe math same way he did newt and santorum, folks. he's going to have to deal with that. we are dealing -- romney has got to realize that running a campaign on traditional american values is not enough, sad to say. that's the hard cold reality. simply running around and telling people he's going to fix the economy. what are you going to do with the economy? >> and you thought campaign was already nasty. silly you. john avlon is a cnn contributor and also writes for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." and he's here to discuss. good morning.

>> good morning, carol. >> so is rush limbaugh right? are we dealing with something new in 2012? >> well, i don't think there's anything new under the sun in politics, but what rush limbaugh is alluding to this race is going to get uglier and more nasty and when he says romney needs to do to obama what he previously did to gingrich and santorum. that's a specific prescription. for example, in florida, when romney was trying to beat back newt gingrich's surge in south carolina, he outspent him 5-1. and 92% of the ads in the last week were negative. that's what rush limbaugh is encouraging mitt romney to do, to go negative and to use a financial advantage to try, to you know, look, politics ain't beanbag but that's the prescription rush limbaugh is saying mitt romney needs to follow. i think additionally, you know, it's not just an issue of going negative. i think mitt romney needs to lay out a compelling vision for what he would do as president, not simple police attack president

obama. the -- the sort of, you know, attack and distract is insufficient. i think romney's got to lay out a compelling vision for what he would actually do as president to really help built on this dead heat >> i think that's part of it, too, because some conservatives are angry that romney is not getting out in front of issues like taxes and allowing mr. obama to define him as this clueless rich guy. are they right? >> yeah. well, look, running a prevent defense at this stage of the campaign is never a good idea. you know, the best defense is a good offense, and when candidates try not to lose, they invariably do lose, so i do think mitt romney runs a risk of letting the other team, in this case the obama campaign, define hi. a lot of the -- of the criticisms and narratives that we see the obama campaign using in this to date are exactly what republican candidates and competitors did to mitt romney previously, talking about offshore bank accounts, talking about outsourcing, so it's a resuscitation of attacks we've seen, and they really do need a

strong pushback. otherwise you fall into that trap of being defined by your opponent before defining yourself to the american people. >> the obama camp tried to paint obama as an outsorcerer and the republican national committee chairman is on his way to iowa. priebus is going to accuse the president of outsourcing tax dollars. what? >> yeah. you've got to love this. this is the -- this is the i'm rubber, you're glue strategy. you say our guy is an outsorcerer. you know who is the real outsorcerer, it's you. that's what they are trying here, and, you know, the thing is it does strain credulity. this big offensive by the rnc rips off a series of ads that were launched by americans for prosperity back in may arguing that the stimulus money went to overseas firms in effect. that fact-checked by our friends at politifact and found to be false or pants on fire in many cases, so i don't think this is

necessarily -- this isn't breaking news, as the rnc would maybe have us believe. this isn't a brand new offensive. it's a recycling of another attack designed to try to blunt the obama's criticism of mitt romney's record at bain. >> john avlon, thanks so much for being with us. >> thanks, carol. in new jersey a young girl on a sky ride gave beach-goers a show, oh, they will not soon forget. we'll show you. here at the hutchison household. but one dark stormy evening... there were two things i could tell: she needed a good meal and a good fami. so we gave her what our other cats love, purina cat chow complete. it's the best because it has something for all of our cats! and after a couple of weeks she was healthy, happy, and definitely part of the family. we're so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. always there for you.

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x: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering and i found myself in the middle of this paradeeet, x: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering honoring america's troops. sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering which is actually in tquite fitting becauseadeeet, x: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering geico has been serving e military for over 75 years. aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. right, but i don't look like that. who can i write a letter to about this? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. 17 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now. right now republicans are launching their first effort to kill obamacare since the u.s.

supreme court upheld that sweeping reform. lawmakers will hear from doctors and patients during several hours of debate, five to be exact. the house votes to repeal and could come as soon as tomorrow, but move will, of course, never get past the senate because it's controlled by democrats. despite the jerry sandusky sexual abuse scandal penn state did not lose the support of alumni. the university reports the school received close to $209 million in donations in the last fiscal year. it is the second highest annual amount in penn state's history. now to a picture that's getting a lot of attention. oh, you see that. that was a teenager jumping 35 feet from a sky ride. she landed on a new jersey beach. our affiliate reports the teenager said she was freaked out when the ride stopped as a storm approached. she didn't want to get struck by lightning. the girl was celebrating her 17th birthday, and she decided to jump to safety. she was not seriously injured. in money news, be careful

what you download. pop-up ads on your smartphone can change your settings and take contact information without your permission. that's according to a new study released yesterday. as many as 5% of free mobile apps use an aggressive ad network to make money. if you thought it was a milder winter and a warmer spring, you're right. in fact, the past 12 months were the hottest ever recorded in the united states according to the national data center, and it doesn't even take into account the heat wave over the last few weeks. all right. we're getting a bit more information on this story we broke just a couple of minutes ago. the pentagon now confirming that four large russian ships with marines on board are headed to the syrian port of tartous. the ships have been closely watched the last few weeks by u.s. intelligence. all of this is evidence that russia may be distancing itself from syria. a source with close ties told

cnn's christiane amanpour said moscow would not risk a military intervention in syria. >> a top-level delegation hosted by the center for the national interest. it included senior russian officials being there in an official capacity and working with private dinner, the situation was raised, and the answer was very clear. russia would not welcome such an intervention. russia would in the approve such an intervention. it would not resist such an intervention, and this intervention would not become a major issue in the u.s.-russian relationship. >> another sign that russia is distanting itself. state media reports machine will not deliver any new weapons to syria as long as the situation in that country sun stable. mohammed jamjoom is following developments from abu dhabi. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: well, carol, interesting these two reports that have emerged so far today about the ships. you have interfax, the russian

news agency, saying there's four ships headed to the port of tartous where the russians have had a base for a very long time. the russians saying it has nothing to do with the conflict in syria. they are training exercises and russian marines are on board. the u.s. is saying there are two ships headed through the dardanelle strait and they are on the way to tartous on their way to the black seaport. it's interesting to see if the two ships the u.s. is talking about are actually part of the float latt russians are talking about, and we're trying to get more information. >> do i still have you, moment? >> his signal froze up, as they say in the biz. we'll try to get him back next hour. mohammed jamjoom reporting from abu dhabi. we asked you to talk about on one of the big issues of the day. the question this morning, obama's tax cuts. are they enough to make you fall in love again?

facebook.com/carolcnn. comments later this hour. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪

now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for think morning. obama's proposed tax cuts. will they make you fall in love? oh, here we go again. if you're a republican, it's class warfare. if you're a democrat it's paying your fair share. whatever you believe, the president is going there again. he wants to extend the bush tax cuts but only for those making less than $250,000 a year, and if congress votes to extend the bush tax cuts to all americans, regardless of income, mr. obama will whip out the presidential

pen. >> i would veto it, and here's why. what i'm proposing is that we give a tax break, that we make sure that taxes don't go up on 98% of americans. 98%, but to extend tax breaks for that top 2% of wealthiest americans would cost us $1 trillion over the next decade. >> mitt romney who signed grover norquist's no tax pledge insisted mr. obama's tax plan would crush small business people. >> smaug businesses are overwhelmingly being taxed not at a corporate rate but at the individual tax rate, so successful small businesses will see their taxes go up dramatically, and that will kill jobs. that will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in america. >> except only 3% of small businesses actually make above $250,000, and even if mr. obama's tax plan flies

through congress, it would only raise $968 billion over ten years. so the "talk back" question today. obama's proposed tax cuts. will they make you fall in love? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. we are following the heart wrenching story of the mysterious illness killing children in cambodia. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is there trying to figure this out. he'll join from us cambodia.

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after the big bailout

american automakers have bounced back, and now they are revving up for more. check out chrysler's high-octane add for its new dodge dart. i thought it had words in it. it does, really, and at the end tom brady pops up. chrysler isn't the only impressive comeback kid. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange, but alison, before we get into chrysler's increased profits, let's start off on capitol hill because there's this big hearing on the auto bailout today. why? >> yeah. and with this hearing, carol, that's happening in washington this morning, it really is bringing back tough memories for a lot of people. have you to remember delphi was general motors' biggest supplier toe the big issue is how pensions were treated between delphi's hourly and sal read workers as the industry was falling to pieces. now when delphi went bankrupt

back in 2009, it terminated the pensions of 70,000 workers, and the government wound up stepping in to refund a majority of those plans, but the big problem with this, according to "the detroit news," is that gm itself took over the pensions of most of delphi's hourly workers. now, many hourly workers are in the uawunion. as you know, this union is a huge force in the industry which gm negotiates its contracts with. now salaried employees didn't get the same treatment and salaried workers say they are not getting as much money as they should be. lawmakers have a lot of questions. they want to know how the decision was made. people in the former auto industry task force have refused to answer questions up until now. carol? >> interesting. so there's still some controversy lingering from the bailout, but overall automakers have been doing pretty good, right? >> reporter: they really have. all three of the big u.s. automakers, they have been doing much better since gm and chrysler took their bailouts. all three are making money, and just a few days ago each

reported strong june sales. chrysler has done especially well. you know, you mentioned about the dodge dart commercial last night. it made its first small vehicle in seven years as the dart. it's viewed as the most important car that chrysler is going to launch this year, but the thing, is ese companies are not totally out of the woods. ford recently warned that the problems in europe would cut into its profits and a few days ago there was a report on manufacturing overall that showed the first contraction in three years so it's not a slam dunk just yet. we'll see how things flush out as the months go on. carol? >> alison kosik reporting live from the new york stock exchange. 31 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now. right now president barack obama is heading to the battleground state of ohio. his focus, pushing tax cuts for the middle class. he's hold a roundtable discussion in cedar rapids, and republicans will hold events there as well. the fbi has unsuld an indictment charging five men in the murder of u.s. border patrol

agent brian terry. the agency is offering up to $1 million for information leading to four of their arrests. one man is already in custody. two guns from the government's fast and furious gun tracking operation were found at scene. in cairo, egypt, it's be a act of defiance by law enforcement in parliament. they met today despite the fact that they were dissolved by the ruling military. riot police were in full force. barriers were set up outside, but so far no violence. children, sick with a mysterious illness and dying within a day of reaching the hospital. yesterday we told you about doctors in cambodia struggling to find the source of the illness that's killed 64 children so far. our own chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is in phnom penh in cambodia where he has exclusive video for instance side the hospital where these children are being treated. show us, sanjay. >> reporter: we did take a look inside the hospital, not only to

give you an idea of just how crowded these hospitals are on a regular basis, but also inside the intensive care unit where so many of the children have been treated, and the doctor, one in particular works has been caring for them all along. take a look. >> by no means are we at the conclusion of our investigation. >> reporter: an investigation into the mystery of what's killing some of cambodia's children at a frightening pace. >> the majority of these cases, and mostly those under the age of 3, were seriously ill, and many of them had died within 24 hours of admission. >> i mean, that's pretty frightening, i think, for people to hear. >> absolutely. >> there is there's a lot of diseases in this part of the world, many parts of the world, but to kill that quickly. >> reporter: the backdrop is important here. this hospital treats thousands of children suffering from dengue fever, malaria, and tuberculosis every week. and remember, this is a part of

the world where bird flu and sars originated. stilling right away this doctor knew this was different. >> it's a new picture for us. we never see this in cambodia before. >> reporter: he is the head of the hospital, and he allowed us into the icu where the patience are treated. to give you an idea of how busy this is. even as we were talking, the doctor got called away to see another young child in shock. that's what we're going to see right now. the doctor says 66% of children came to this hospital with the mystery illness. for 64 of them it was 24 hours of hell before they died. you heard right. all but two died. for many of these children, it started off rather mild, a mild fever, but then things progressed quickly from there. for example, in this child's case who is 1 years old, we don't know what's causing his encephalitis, but this is typically what happens, the

fontanel starts to bulge and the eyes become dis-conjugate and from there it goes merciless, from the head, to the brain to the lungs. >> you see this, and here that's five hours late sneer in the last two hours of life the unknown illness completely destroyed the child's lungs, and there was no way to stop it. >> you've never seen anything like this before? >> this, this is the first time at the end of april, and this kes us worried. >> reporter: something called entroe virus 71. typically associated with hand, foot and mouth disease was found in more than a dozen patients, but that's only adding to the mystery. would the entero virus lead to this? >> never, never, i don't think so, but we must look for. >> reporter: and that's where the investigation goes next. cam bodyio health officials and

the w.h.o. say they are looking into whether expired medication, the wrong medication or inappropriate medications such asteroids could be to blame. steroids can also make a relatively harmless infection something much more severe. >> yes. that is definitely a possibility. >> so sanjay, a question for you. expired drugs may be causing this? how can they determine if those drugs were indeed the cause? >> it's very hard to do. they talk about laboratory testing, but it's very hard to find, first of all, the presence of the medication and to confirm in any way that it was an expired medication or a bad batch of medications as well, so, carol, i mean, they real very to do an investigation here. they go to the places where these children lived, try and figure out what medications they were taking or had been prescribed, and then see if there's something in common here, investigate those medications and see if it's

common amongst all the children, so it's hard work, but it's a real medical investigation, carol. >> it's a global world. people travel a lot. i mean, how worried should they be if they are traveling to cambodia, let's say? >> well, you know, looking into this, i would say probably not that worried, and here's why. it's a little bit of a puzzle as well. with this particular virus, it typically is contagious, so if you're living in a household, for example, another child in that household, another person, more likely to get it. in communities, they call that clustering, but we haven't seen that at all over here. it's seemingly very sporadic, so i think while it's a mystery it's also a bit of good news. probably not contagious, probably not at risk for people living outside those areas or certainly for people visiting either. >> dr. sanjay gupta reporting live from cambodia this morning, thank you. back at home. arizona governor jan brewer wants the supreme court to strike down domestic partners benefits in her state.

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tom cruise and katie holmes are taking the high road on their split coming to an amicable divorce settlement. what's that? i know. it sounds like a foreign term. let's send it to los angeles and send it to "shobiz"

correspondent nischelle turner. >> that's a novel idea. both sides telling "showbiz tonight" that they are actually pleased with the settlement that they came to. i think they may be grateful just to wrap this whole thing up as quickly and as quietly as i did, and i say that quietly because for all of the attention that this split got, they really can wrap it up from announcement to settlement in less than two weeks. it was like 10 or 11 days, and it actually looks like that they meant what they said when they announced this settlement yesterday. they said that they are coitted to their daughter's best interest and to keep the matter between the family private, and they are keeping things very quiet, carol. now the settlement is confidential. the details in this agreement are not going to be officially released, and although he didn't go into specifics, katie holmes' attorney is telling cnn that most of the reporting out there right now about the settlement details sin accurate. >> most of it? what does that mean? >> unfortunately, exactly. well, the thing i was saying is you're right, what does that

mean because the only thing that we actually know is that there was a settlement, so i don't know what else is going on, but he says the stuff that you're hearing, the little tidbits, most of it is -- >> oh, like the scientology stuff. >> probably that kind of stuff. when people are speculating about custody and all of that, they are saying don't speculate because we're not going to tell you, so whatever you think, don't worry about it. >> okay. point taken. you know how much i love football, and it's never too early to talk about the super bowl, and i'm not the only one, right? >> right, and you know what? i love the whole pageantry of the super bowl. the game and the halftime show. we're talking about the halftime show here, and we're talking about maybe van halen, you know. david lee roth isn't always the most direct person, and this next story is an example of his kind of round about way of communicating. he released an open letter in which he called rampant rumors that van halen would be playing the super bowl halftime show.

he wrote in saying thank you for people saying that van halen would do it but roger goodell isn't really on board with van halen, but he went on to say we're really happy you put our name out there. they cancelled some tour dates recently. i think they want to show they can play the halftime show and want everybody to know that we're not done basically. so he'kind of lobbying and not lobbying at the same time. it's a van halen way. >> okay. so if van halen does the halftime show, i'd faint. i'd -- i don't know. >> might as well jump, baby. might as well jump. >> that's a good one. nischelle turner, thanks so much. >> bye, carol. >> bye. today may or may not be a day of historical significance. we could be celebrating the anniversary of aliens visiting our planet. just depends on who you believe. [ kimi ] atti and i had always called oregon home.

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checking this morning's top stories. house republicans gearing up to battle obamacare. a hearing happening right now to help repeal the health care law. as you know, the supreme court upheld that law last month. a vote in the house could come tomorrow, but, of course, the vote isn't really expected to go anywhere because it will then go to the senate which is controlled by democrats. the clock is ticking for

directv and viacom to make a deal. if they fail to reach one by midnight tonight, some directv customers may lose popular channels like comedy central, mtv and nickelodeon. this is no ordinary take your dad to work visit. prince william showed his dad prince charles around when he stopped by his search-and-rescue base in wales yesterday. william flies a bright yellow seaking chopper which he showed off to his proud pap a. their meeting was delayed several minutes because william was on standby for an emergency call. a same-sex benefits dispute may turn up on the supreme court docket in the coming session. at issue, health coverage for same-sex domestic partners for arizona state and university workers. the arizona republican governor jan brewer asked the supreme court to hear the case. in 2009 she signed a law eliminating the same-sex benefits. the law has been challenged and

so far the federal law says arizona must continue to provide benefits to same-sex partners but here is what the state is saying. it is not allowable for same-sex partners to have benefits under the state law because the state constitution defines a spouse as someone of the opposite gender. that statement from doug nick of the attorney general's office in arizona. keith humphry is a plaintiff in the case. he's fighting against it. tara borelli, a staff attorney. welcome to you both. >> good morning, carol. >> thank you, carol. >> good morning. keith, first of all, tell us why it's so important for gay couples to have same-sex health benefits. >> i think that same-sex couples deserve the same opportunity to provide the love and care for their families that our heterosexual colleagues have. for me it's a simple issue of equal pay for equal work that i do for the state of arizona. >> and do you have -- you live with your partner, right, and

there are special circumstances. >> i do. >> and you need these benefits to -- tell us, to what? >> sure. my partner is a stay-at-home dad. he cares for the two children that we adopted out of the foster system several years ago. in about 2009 he was, unfortunately, had a torn carotid artery inside his brain which requires pretty significant medical care, and having these health care benefits from the state was quite a blessing to make sure that we could provide care for him without public assistance. >> and so tara, i turn to you. is there something in the arizona state constitution that would really prevent gay couples from having health benefits? >> not at all. in fact, arizona has been providing these benefits now since 2008, and in fact reported on one of its state websites that the program was working well. there's simply no reason to tear down this important health

coverage that's such an important safety net for these families. arizona hasn't been age to produce a good reason, and every court that has decided this case so far has agreed that there simply is no excuse for this kind of discrimination. >> yet the case may wind up in the u.s. supreme court. what do you suppose will happen? >> i think it's highly unlikely that the u.s. supreme court would be interested in taking this case. it's at a very preliminary stage. arizona began appealing the case very early on, and, in fact, before it even introduced a shred of evidence about many of its defenses, including, for example, cost. there's negligible costs to this program. arizona argues differently, but they have never put in a scintilla of evidence. they should be put to the test in the trial court, and i think that's an important thing to happen before the supreme court would consider taking this case. >> keith, why did you decide to get involved in this? >> well, for me it -- it's an issue of just simple fairness and equality in our society,

something that i feel like i had the time, space and willingness to do to fight for equality for my fellow gay and lesbian employees in the state of arizona. >> and tara, anti-gay legislation has been cropping up across the country. it's a slow chipping away of rights that gay and lesbian couples have won. is this a concerted effort by some across the country to chip away at the gains that gays and lesbians have achieved? >> i think we have seen that in many places in a whole realm of important spheres, including the amending of state constitutions to strip same-sex couples of the basic right to marry the person they love, and some of these discriminatory laws are actually giving rise to cases that might be far more interesting to the supreme court than this one. for example, there are now two requests to the supreme court to hear cases about the constitutionality of the

so-called federal defense of marriage act, including a lamda legal case. i suspect that the supreme court will be interested in those kinds of cases which present far more important issues of national importance. >> keith and tara, thanks so much for being with us this morning. >> thank you, carol. >> thank you. 65 years ago, our planet had some very unusual visitors. really? still ahead, celebrating one of our most enduring mysteries on earth. are we really alone? i don't spend money on gasoline. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪

in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪

it's an alien anniversary, or is it? 65 years ago rosswell, new mexico famously entered into folklore. july 8th, 1947, that's when reports started coming in a ufo crash a couple miles outside of new mexico city. for years the government has maintained it was a weather balloon. skeptics though say it was a flying saucer with dead and alive aliens on board. about 15 years ago, in its bid to put the matter to bed once and for all, the government released its comprehensive 231-page report on exactly what happened, and it came to the same conclusion. an air force research balloon was responsible for that famous crash, but even today there are many who believe it was an alien

accident. so the mystery endures. happy anniversary, rosswell. for today's daily dose we have a recall to tell you about. the produce company pacific international has announced a voluntary recall of its 19 cases of bulk romaine lettuce. the produce may possibly be contaminated with salmonella. it was sold at vons and pavilion stores in nevada and sold in bulk produce bins from july 2nd to july 4th. no produce sold this cartons or bags are infected. don't forget for your chance to talk back on our questions of question of the day. obama's proposed tax cuts, will they make you fall in love? facebook.com/carolcnn. responses next. now you can apply sunblock to your kids' wet skin. neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier

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we asked you to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question for you this morning. obama's proposed tax cuts. will they make you fall in love this. from pamela, yes? it would make me fall in love. it helps the 98%, it's the right thing to do because they are the ones who really need the help. >> tax cuts? obama? surely you gest. tax hikes? tax everything that moves or sits still. this from mary. only $968 billion? we've got to start somewhere? why not there? if i