we're out of time. cnn newsroom with carol costello begins right now. >> hey, soledad. thank you. happening right now, flight scare. sewing needles, yes, needles,

found in sandwiches on delta planes flying into america. one passenger was hurt. this morning, find out what the airline is doing about it. big bus. two continents, three tons of cocaine, and 200 pounds of marijuana. it's happening right now. cnn will take you aboard that ship. caught on tape. a breathtaking rescue as a 7-year-old dancing on a third floor window air conditioning unit trips and falls. hear from the guy who caught her. and how would you like to lose a few pounds? a new weight loss pill is about to be approved. average weight loss, 23 pounds. we'll tell you who it's for and why there was such a fight to get it to your drug store. "newsroom" begins right now. and good morning. thank you so much for joining us this morning. i'm carol costello. we begin with an ongoing investigation. after a food safety scare at 30,000 feet. we're talking about sewing

needles found in sandwiches served on four separate delta flights. the planes were heading from amsterdam to minneapolis and seattle. and also on two flights into atlanta. one passenger aboard the minneapolis flight was hurt by a needle, but did not need medical attention after the plane landed. so is all of this coincidence or is it something more? sandra endo is in washington to tell us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. that's certainly something authorities are looking into. the fbi and local law enforcement in the netherlands are trying to find out how those needles got into those turkey sandwiches. two of the needles were found by passengers, and one was discovered by an air marshal. when delta found out about the needles in the food, the airline says it notified all 18 flights from amsterdam to stop serving the sandwiches. here's what one passenger who got one of the contaminated sandwiches said when he spoke to station kstp. >> i bit down on it so that i wasn't biting down on the sharp

side but on the flat side. it could have been, you know, a bad injury. orally. but had i taken a big swallow and swallowed that down, i would have a needle inside. and that would be very concerning to me. >> gate gourmet is the company that provided the sandwiches, and a spokesman for the company says that the sandwiches were prepared in amsterdam. she goes on to say, this is a terribly upsetting situation. first and foremost is the safety of the traveling public. there's nothing more important to us at all than the safety of the passengers and crews. now the transportation security administration says it's closely monitoring the investigation into what happened as well as the security protocols being conducted by the air carrier and the airport authority. carol? >> so the company that makes the sandwiches says it also provides food to other airlines. is there a concern about food on those other flights? >> yeah. that's a good question.

gate gourmet says it's fully cooperating with the fbi and local authorities in the netherlands and also conducting its own full-scale investigation. now the company says it does provide food to other airlines but have received no other reports or complaints. >> let's hope they don't. sandra endo live from washington this morning. also this morning, no sign of two missing iowa girls. one family member says it's as though they disappeared into thin air in broad daylight. 8-year-old elizabeth collins and 10-year-old lyric cook are cousins, and they have not been seen since going on a bike ride on thursday. their bicycles were found by a lake, but the mother of one of the girls doubts they would have gone there on their own. >> it's not an area that they frequented. they didn't go far from home, either of the girls. they mainly stayed around the evansdale area that my sister lives in. so it's just not kind of like them to go that far. >> definitely out of their character. >> cnn's jim spellman is

covering the search effort in eva evansdale, iowa. any luck yet? >> reporter: unfortunately, no, carol. take a look at this lake, it's called myers lake. they began draining it yesterday. they think perhaps by late tomorrow or thursday, they'll have all the water drained out of here into the river. it's really grasping at straws, though. i spoke to an investigator a few minutes ago who told me it's like these girls evaporated. they don't have any sign of foul play. they had about a thousand volunteers over the weekend searching through fields and trails, everything they can think of around here, with absolutely no sign of the girls except the two bikes and a purse found near the biekes. no sign of struggle near there. they want to drain the lake just in case -- they don't think they'll find anything else in here. but without much to do, that's the focus today, carol. >> so no witnesses saw the girls on their bicycles getting off at the lake, or no clues like that?

>> reporter: no clues like that at all. take a look at this, carol. this far corner of the lake over here is where the girls were. and it's such an unlikely spot for somebody to be abducted from. there's a bike path that runs along the edge of the lake, and you can see an interstate just on the other side of it. you can clearly see most of the bike path from the interstate. and just along the side of the lake here are people's homes. and there's people all around here. if you were to take somebody from that wooded area where the bikes were found, you would have to walk about 15 minutes just to be able to get out of this area. and so it's just a very unlikely scenario that somebody would be able to just, say, snatch them off of the bikes. so they're looking for a new way to approach this case. but without any clues to go on, it's going to be tough. they have brought the fbi in to try to bring their resources to bear and try to make some sort of progress, carol. >> jim spellman live in evans doll evansdale, iowa, this morning. george zimmerman facing new

allegations. he is already charged with second degree murder of trayvon martin. now a woman claims that he sexually abused her for about a decade and says the abuse started when the two were children. a florida judge has released an audiotape of her accusation. >> it started when i was 6. he's almost two years older than i am. he would reach under the blankets and try to do things. and i would try to push him off, but he was bigger and stronger and older. it was in front of everybody. and i don't know how i didn't say anything. but i just didn't know any better. >> the woman identified as witness number nine said the abuse went on for years. cnn has reached out to her father, who said the family would not be speaking to the media. in the meantime, zimmerman's attorney, mark o'marra, spoke exclusively to cnn's piers morgan. >> on the face of it, you're

right, they seem damaging. of course, as you mentioned, my frustration is that they are absolutely not relevant to anything that is at hand in the true case. they are not admissible. they can't get it into a courtroom or before a judge in any way. so the frustration that i have is these allegations which george contends are untrue. now we need to spend our resources and time rebutting them, and actually we're in a difficult if not delicate position of deciding how much we attack the source of this story, or just leave it be and move on to what really counts. >> the judge says zimmerman can disclose the nature of his relationship with witness number nine, but her identity cannot be publicly revealed. the actress jada pinkett smith is on a personal mission to give voice to victims of human trafficking and sex slavery. in about 20 minutes, she'll be testifying about the problem on capitol hill. she says she used to think of it as an over the problem,

wherever there is. but her daughter willow saw the kone 2012 video about a ugandan warlord, did some research, and then she told her mom that the trafficking problem is also happening here. she's right. the state department says as many as 27 million people are enslaved worldwide, and the fbi estimates that 15,000 to 18,000 of them are right here in the united states. the senate foreign relations committee is holding the hearing. the panel wants to develop a strategy to try to stop human trafficking over the next 10 years. pinkett smith went on cnn's "starting point" before she headed to capitol hill. >> i think at this point it is about educating yourself, and realizing how it exists. and today we'll be talking about the tvpa, the trafficking victims protection act, which has not been reauthorized on a federal level quite yet. and so we want to push to make that happen. and then of course we have the case act in california for this

november. we'll be pushing to make sure that that bill gets passed. it will be the toughest anti-trafficking law in this country. and so those will be our two actions. >> you can see her daughter, willow, beside her. we'll bring you some of pinkett smith's testimony live. we expect to hear from her in just about 20 minutes. we are all suffering through record heat this summer, and a drought is already gripping more than half the country. the end result, fewer crops making it to harvest, and awful us likely will be paying high food prices. higher food prices, i should say. the agriculture department says only 46% of iowa's corn crops are in good condition. compare that to 82% just a year ago. this problem is front and center in iowa. in less than an hour, iowa's governor, terry branstad, will meet with several agencies. chris welsh is joining us by phone in mt. pleasant, iowa. tell us what it looks like

there. >> reporter: well, carol, a lot of people, primarily farmers, are on edge of their seat. it's that heat in combination with that drought, making for very poor conditions for crop. farmers hope to have more information about what state and federal agencies are doing after this meeting that will take place this morning. now, as for the drought, experts are calling it the largest drought since 1956. it's almost unbelievable. almost 3/4 of the country is abnormally dry or worst as of june. and we really haven't seen much rain since june. so the numbers, experts feel, will keep getting worse. many states here in the midwest, especially here in iowa, farmers are really already seeing signs of damaged crops. >> so, chris, can the crops be saved? are we past the point of now return? >> reporter: you know, most farmers i spoke to in iowa say all is not lost. i spoke to one who said, you know, in a good year, he can

get, say, 200 bushels of corn per acre. this year, he still thinks he'll have a harvest but will be reduced by about 25%. and that hurts him in a new ways. take a listen. >> this is our personal business. it's right out our back door. as soon as we walk out of our house, we see our investment. and when it goes downhill, it does take a toll out. you know, when the hardest part about this is you can do everything just right, work hard at putting in a good crop, have a good stand established, and when mother nature works against you, then it all seems like it was for nothing. >> and that farmer, derek mullins' saving grace is the fact that he has crop insurance. but he says that really only goes so far. >> chris welch live from iowa. thank you. cronyism. that's mitt romney's new attack against president obama. but would mitt romney bar donors

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15 minutes after the hour. officials are expressing condolences after a navy supply ship fired at a small boat in the persian gulf, killing one person and wounding three others. the united arab emirates says the dead were indian fishermen. at least one warning shot was fired before other shots

disabled the boat, described as a small white pleasure craft. the american civil liberties union of michigan is suing a school district accusing them of failing to teach students to read for an appropriate grade level. a spokeswoman for the governor responded, saying the state is working to improve the situation. in money news, one of google's top executives, marissa mayer, is now the new ceo at yahoo. mayer replaces ross levynson, making her yahoo's fourth chief executive in less than four years. the newest crew of the international space station is checking out their new home this morning. just a few hours ago, a russian spacecraft docked with the orbiting station. the three crew members includes an american astronaut and they will work at the international space station until november. president obama is looking to big money donors in texas today to help bolster his re-election war chest. he is scheduled to visit two

cities. his first stop will be san antonio, where the president will attend two separate events, including a fundraiser hosted by actress eva longoria and the city's mayor. later, mr. obama heads to austin to pick up more campaign cash at another pair of events. sources close to the president say the total haul could set a new record as the obama camp continues to turn up the heat against republican rival mitt romney with this new ad. >> tax havens, offshore accounts, carried interest. mitt romney has used every trick in the book. romney admits that over the last two years he's paid less than 15% in taxes on $43 million in income. makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. we don't know because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns. and won't release anything before 2010. >> you know what? i put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> joining me now is barbara comstock, the co-chair for the romney campaign in virginia. welcome. >> good morning.

good to be with you, carol. >> thanks for being here. first off, let's talk about that new obama ad. i know mr. romney said he would only release two years of tax returns. but is that his final, final word? >> yeah. he's gone beyond the law, and he's going to be releasing his tax returns from 2011. and it's hundreds and hundreds of pages. and he's done what's required by law and beyond. this is a distraction because this president doesn't want to talk about the truth of his sorry economic record, as well as the fact that he has been outsourcing our jobs overseas, and he's been giving it to friends and family, as in the inspector general who looked into his department of education loans, and the solar loans. >> before we get to the cronyism charges, and -- >> well, there's a lot of kronyism. >> i want to ask about the tax returns because some people are fixated on this. some voters are. so why not just deflate mr. obama's accusations and release more tax returns and be done with it?

>> well, see, carol, one nice thing since i'm a local legislator, i actually talk to real voters and get out there. they are not fixated on this. i talk to them every day. they are fixated on the tax increases that barack obama will put on them come january 1. i live in northern virginia, where we'll be ground zero for the president's tax increases and those 21 tax increases in obama care. so people are upset about that. they are upset that their tax dollars have been wasted, thrown away by this administration. over at the department of energy, where they gave $500 million to solyndra. flushed down the toilet. given to cronies of the president who raised millions for him so he got millions in green from these donors. then the donors and their friends in turn got millions for their companies that are now failing on our tax dollars. that's outrageous. and there's all kinds of abc -- i don't know why the president has been asking about it. abc has done stories on this. >> you know, the romney camp does accuse obama of crony

capitalism, which is rewarding people who donated to his campaign. >> yeah. >> so what policy would mr. romney put into effect to prevent such corruption? what would he do? >> we're not going to be picking winners and losers in the economy and handing out millions in tax dollars to anybody's friends. we're going to allow the entrepreneurs in america to get out there, to keep more of their own money, to invest and to grow jobs in this economy. this president has failed for three years -- >> but would mr. romney put into place a policy that says i will not appoint lobbyists or donors to my administration or give them money to create their own companies out there, et cetera, et cetera. will mr. romney put in a policy to prevent that? >> well, the policy of this president is to have his bundlers in charge of handing out tax dollars to other bundlers and other cronies and friends. no. we will have a policy that's nothing like that. we will do nothing of the sort. that's outrageous to be giving our tax dollars out to friends and family.

so, no, we will have nothing like that whatsoever, because it's failed. you want to have private investors having incentives to invest in these companies. 23 of the 27 companies that got money from the department of energy were junk bond status. you had people who had been bundlers for barack obama who were putting money into junk. and it was for their friends. >> i want to go back to my original question. just to the point on day one of a romney administration, will he say, i will not, and this is my policy, i will not name any cabinet members who donated to my political campaign, i will not name any lobbyist to my cabinet? >> no, you're missing -- >> he will say that? >> you're missing the point on. day one, he willal totally chan the way we distribute american tax dollars and choose winners

and losers. romney believes in the private sector, and this president fundamentally doesn't understand it which is why he's run the economy into the ground. this president never ran anything before he was president. now he has run the economy into the ground. an american middle class is suffering while he is giving payoffs to his big donors while middle class is getting layoffs. it's an outrage. and that will certainly change on day one of a romney administration. >> ok. before you go, i have to ask you about the vp pick. because it's all the rage right now. so a lot of people think it's going to be rob portman. is it? >> i don't have any inside information. what i'm thrilled about is we have so many talented people for governor romney to pick from. and i know he's going to have a great pick, who again believes in making jobs job number one. this president hasn't done that for four years. and we're going to have a president and vice president who will turn around this country, put us back to work, and create prosperity again so we can actually have -- this

president -- obama can't run on his record because he doesn't have one. at this point, ronald reagan was talking about -- >> let me go back to the vp question so i can needle you on that one. will mr. romney announce his pick this week, do you think? >> that's up to him. i don't have any inside information on that. but i'm confident that any of the picks that you've been hearing about are stellar picks, and will be a lot better than joe biden who again is another person who never worked in the private sector and doesn't get it. we need people who will focus on jobs as job number one. we'll have a romney team that is going to be fabulous on that score. mitt romney has always been a huge success on turning things around. and boy, do we need a turn-around in this country today. >> barbara comstock, thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. billions of dollars for drug cartels and terror groups coming and going unchecked. that's what senate investigators are saying happened at the global bank hsbc.

now they are holding the executives' feet to the fire. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now.

now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories

of the day. the question for you this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs? here is a pop quiz for you. what is the longest war america has ever rained? it's not iraq or afghanistan. it would be the drug war. for 40 years, america has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting illegal drugs. the obama administration believes in a balanced approach to fighting drugs, working on prevention and treatment but also partnering with countries like mexico to stem the flow. yet in 2009, of the $39 billion spent fighting the drug war only 1/3 of that money went to drug treatment. the bulk of the money spent on things like patrols and confiscation and closing drug tunnels. some like new jersey governor chris christie says the real focus should be on the users and the addicts. >> the war on drugs, while well intentioned, has been a failure. that we're warehousing addicted

people every day in state prisons in new jersey, giving them no treatment, sending them back on the street after their term of incarceration, and wondering why recidivism rates go up, and why they don't get better. why they commit crimes again. well, they commit crimes to support their addiction. >> many think we're wasting money prosecuting people caught with small amounts of drugs. already, 14 states and cities have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. and some experts on addiction say the relentless focus on illegal drugs ignores another rapidly owing epidemic, the abuse of prescription painkillers. of course, all of this leads to our tough question this morning. what's the best way to win the war on drugs? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your responses later this hour.

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good morning. thanks for being with us. i'm carol costello. this next story will make you very angry. the bad behavior for some big banks getting worse. this morning, we're learning global giant hsbc did nothing to stop billions of dollars in transfers linked to drug cartels and terrorist groups. those are the alarming findings of a newly released report. bank executives are facing the music on capitol hill right now, and they plan to say, i'm sorry, to the senate. alison kosik is live in new york. these are really serious charges. how can you just sit there and say, oh, i'm sorry, that we let drug money flow through our bank? >> well, it makes you wonder. and if these allegations come out to be true, there could be

big time fines here. so it may not -- i am sorry may not be enough in this. what's happened here is the senate says hsbc missed billions of dollars in questionable transactions from mexico, saudi arabia, bangladesh, and iran. among the biggest allegations, a $7 billion transfer from the bank's mexico unit to the u.s. the senate's report on the investigation says that the number could only reach that size if it includes proceeds from illegal drugs. now hsbc is one of the biggest companies in the world. number six on the forbes global 2000 in 2011, so you can bet the senate has a lot of questions this morning. >> what about the terror allegations? >> interestingly enough, the terror allegations make up the bulk of the charges, and there are five key allegations on top of the mexican drug charge. hsbc is accused of going around the rules that were put in place to prevent doing business with dangerous regimes. now the senate says hsbc ignored links to terror financing while doing business in saudi arabia and bangladesh.

the subcommittee found hsbc worked extensively with saudi arabia's el rajni bank, and there's evidence that one of the founders of an early benefactor of al qaeda. >> so besides i'm sorry, what s hsbc said? >> the senate says that hsbc has fully been cooperating in the investigation. the justice department is also conducting an investigation as well. hsbc said this. it takes compliance with the law wherever it operates very seriously, saying we will acknowledge that in the past we have sometimes failed to meet the standards that regulators and customers expect. now the bank says it's also beefed up its oversight over the past year. carol? >> it just makes you wonder if this is typical behavior or they just got caught. >> well, it does make you wonder. other banks had paid fines. aig has paid millions in fines. wells fargo, a long time ago.

wachovia yaualso had to pay millions after authorities found similar transition actions. >> trading on wall street started moments ago. the opening bell rang just at 9:30. stocks are up just minutes into the day. more banking news released. citigroup outperformed expectations, announcing second quarter earnings of 95 cents a share. and shares of goldman sachs jumped after the investment bank reported second quarter earnings that topped forecasts. america's first couple is making news this morning after a basketball game last night. but it's not for anything political. they were caught on the kiss cam. ♪ i'm making my money do more. ♪ i'm consolidating my assets. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade.

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comedian george lopez has

insulted the controversial arizona sheriff joe arpaio. now sheriff joe wants to meet lopez if, quote, he has the guts. "showbiz tonight's" aj hammer is joining us. ok, so what happened, aj? >> a little summertime show biz showdown here. arpaio was the target of a propane rant by lopez the other night. the comedian doesn't seem to think very much of the shiff's policies on immigration. it premiered on saturday night, and i'd play you what he said but all you'd hear is bleeps. but the sheriff saw it. and he's not laughing. he threw out a challenge to lopez during a local tv interview, and here's what he said. >> get some guts. come down here and meet me face-to-face. let's see how you act then. >> well, we reached out to lopez to see if he was going to get some guts and go down and meet him face-to-face or had any response at all to arpaio's

invitation. his rep would only tell us no comment, but i don't expect lopez to back down either. this is exactly the kind of feud that only brings good publicity for george lopez. and the crowd during his show just went crazy with cheers as he went on his attack. and if the sheriff takes the bait, i'm thinking so much better for lopez. also i'm thinking, carol, i do not really see a face-to-face happening anytime soon. i can't imagine those two getting in a room together. but you never know. >> what would they do? like a fist fight? duel at 20 paces? >> i don't think so. >> i hope not. now to larry king. something much happier. he has a new show. >> our old friend and good colleague is back. launching a new show on hula called "larry king now it." and he'll be interviewing a mix of celebrities, global leaders and politicians. episodes will become available early in the evening monday through thursday. in the first episode, it features seth mcfarland. that's already online. the next guests will be matthew

mcconaughey. carol, it's the return of the king. >> larry is back. i never could -- that was my larry impression, in case you didn't catch that. >> nice. thank you, aj. we'll see you next time. >> carol, thanks. >> that's so much better. aj will be back with us next hour with comedian dana carvy's presidential impersonations of obama and republican candidate mitt romney. the men's usa basketball team won their game against brazil monday night, but that's not what most people are talking about this morning. sasha saying, go for it! president obama and the first lady puckering up for the kiss cam at the verizon center. as youan see, the crowd went wild. not a surprise. the first couple have never been shy about expressing their affection for one another. they did need some prodding from their daughter for this one, though. [ lane ] your anti-wrinkle cream is gone.

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a new weight loss pill could soon hit the market. it is called kunexa, and the government is expected to sign off on the drug later today. the decision on the heels of another weight loss pill approved last month. senior medical corporate elizabeth cohen is here. let's talk about qnexa. how does it work? >> it's a combination of two drugs. it's a combination of phentermine and then an anti-seizure medication that people use for migraines and epilepsy. one is an appetite suppressant and the other one sort of works on the brain to change appetite centers. >> once you take it, it suppresses your appetite and does it work? >> yeah. you know, i talked to someone who took it and she sai it was pretty amazing. she had to remind herself to eat. usually she loves chocolate chip cookies. and when she was on the pill, she could go, ah, i'll pass on

it. i personally have never said ah, to a chocolate chip cookie, but that's what she said it felt like. and now let me give you the numbers. on average, the people who they studied weighed 227 pounds. when they were on it, they lost weight down to 204 pounds. that's a 23-pound loss. and they kept it off for two years. >> how long did they take it? >> the people on it took it for two years. you take it every day. >> so we know how phenphenturned out. not so good, right? >> not so good. >> what makes us think this will turn out different? >> well, phen-phenis what everybody wants to avoid. there are potential side effects with this drug. for example, for some patients, it increased heart rate. there's a concern that could be damaging over time. also, appears to have been linked to some cognitive problems, confusion, language issues.

and also women who take topiramate in the past have had children with birth defects. most of them not, but still a higher rate than you'd expect. so getting now to phen/phen. one of the reasons why that got out of control, remember those pill mills in strip malls where you could just walk in, and they would just sell it to you right there. they sold it in bulk. and the company that's making qnexa says in the beginning you have to get it by mail-order. physicians just can't hang out a shingle and start passing it out. you have to actually get it through the mail. >> so when can you start getting this drug? >> if it's approved, and there's a possibility that the fda will say no, it's expected to go on the market pretty quickly. it could just be a matter of a month or months. >> ok. i can understand why you wouldn't want to run out and buy it because it's difficult to lose weight. >> it is. but people should definitely keep in mind that for some people they'll have to take it

for the rest of their lives because when you stop taking it, your appetite comes back. it's worth asking that question. >> elizabeth cohen, thank you. >> thanks. the fda has also approved a drug to reduce theisk of hiv. on monday, the fda approved truvada which has been used to control the hiv virus. studies show the drug can help lower the possibility of transmitting the virus. we asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs? lots of responses from you. i'll read some of them after the break. hois this possible? proper tire inflation, by using proper grades of oil, your car runs more efficiently, saves gas. you could be doing this right now? yes i could, mike. i'm slowing you down? yes you are. my bad. the works fuel saver package. just $29.95 or less after rebate. only at your ford dealer. so, to sum up, you take care of that, you take care of these, you save a bunch of this. that works.

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we asked you to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question for you this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs? this from doug. start with legalizing and taxing pot. americans are as a whole weak minded individuals and curing

them will take a while. we need to stop the supply. from gary, decriminalize them or give them away or sell them to anyone who's been through an education program and still wants them. take the profit out of dealing drugs. if we can use drones in the middle east why can't we destroy the drug crops and growers using the same technology. if someone has an addiction she will find a way to get drugs. what we should do is focus on education, prevention and rehabilitation. facebo facebook.com/carolcnn. continue the conversation. more of your responses in the next hour of "newsroom." it is a controversial film trailer that begins," dear white people." >> forget hollywood and forget tyler perry. >> we get a movie with characters instead of stereotypes. >> we will talk to the man behind the satire, "dear white people" about race and stereotypes in the united states. with lean cuisine stea.

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team usa men's basketball squad had a tougher time in their second tune-up before the london games. before usa's defense stiffened the brazilians turned the ball over a dozen times in the second quarter and the usa outscored them in that time frame 20-5. team usa wins 80-69. lebron james led the way with 30 points, kevin durant had 11. team usa heads to europe for its final three exhibition games against great britain. oh, yeah, former red sox hero kevin youklis returned to fenway park for the first time since being traded. look at him. the fenway faithful cheered and yelled yauch for the guy with the most unorthodox batting stance. boston's adrian gonzalez had the

biggest hit of the night, yeah, three run blast into the monster seats that won the game. david ortiz, though, threw a scare into red sox nation. when he appeared to injure his achilles tendon running around the bases ahead of the gonzalez homer. that would have been embarrassing. big papi will have an mri today. the life of a minor league mascot can be tough. check out the rip tide. oh! he takes a tumble. he was riding that atv but look at him. he's going to hop right back up. you can't be thrashing around in pain while the kids are watching. here's hoping he slow downs before the next game, though. that's a look at sports this morning. a freeway passing lane takes on a new meaning after a few laker fans welcomed the team's new star with a beer pass. don't you know it was all caught on camera. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: just because it's called thepassing lane, doesn't mean someone should pass you a beer.

that's just what an suv full of los angeles lakers fans did when they spotted the lakers' newest star, steve nash, in a taxi, on freeway 110. >> nash! >> reporter: the guy shooting this is none other than point guard steve nash himself. when they finally completed the handoff -- nash just swung the camera around and added a comment. >> fans are pretty good so far. >> reporter: nash later tweeted out the video saying thanks for the warm welcome. we're hoping the can of keystone light was cold. the rowdy fans opened their own twitter account calling themselves l.a. beer bros and they posted video of the view from their suv, then the celebration following the handoff. >> yeah! >> reporter: the l.a. beer bros tweeted they were on the way to th dodgers game. guy in back says that's steve nash.

slow down to check. sure enough. one guy posted to youtube that the video would be a great commercial. keystone light, good enough to make steve nash open his window. but the makers of keystone light seemed to distance themselves telling cnn we had nothing to do with this video. some on-line distanced themselves from keystone light. not exactly a premium beer. nash should have realized wit az keystone and thrown it back, insisted one. of course there could have been more razzle dazing. >> hey, pass me a beer. >> reporter: like the two guys who made an entertaining video catapulting a beer, kicking a beer, skateboarding a beer and bouncing one. ♪ >> reporter: but nearly passing a beer between cars whizzing along the freeh is already unsafe and illegal, though so far there have been no charges. we haven't seen a product handoff like this since grey pew

upon. >> pardon me would you have any grey poupon? >> of course. >> reporter: these two would have pewuponed their pants if they did this at 60 miles an hour. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> what would we do without youb? the next hour of cnn "newsroom" starts right now. good morning to you. welcome to the "newsroom." i'm carol costello. just ahead, big drug busts. two continents, three tons of cocaine, 200 pounds of marijuana, aajor historical haul by the coast guard and the navy and it's happening right now. cnn will take you on board the coast guard ship. flight scare, sewing needles, needles found in turkey sand wichbs on four separate delta planes flying into the united states. one passenger hurt. this morning, find out what the airline is doing about it. plus this -- >> forget hollywood and forget

tyler perry. >> [ bleep ]. >> we get a movie with, you know, characters in them instead of stereotypes. >> and it's not even a movie yet, only a film trailer, but it has social media buzzing from youtube to twitter. the man behind the satire "dear white people." he'll join me live this hour to talk about race and identity. but we begin this morning with a food safety scare at 30,000 feet. we're talking about sewing needles found in turkey sandwiches served on four separate delta flights. the planes were heading from amsterdam to minneapolis and seattle, and also on two flights into atlanta. one passenger on the minneapolis flight bit down on the needle, he was hurt by the needle. luckily he did not need medical attention but the other passengers were they were understandably scared and upset. is this coincidence or something more? sandra endo is in washington. good morning. >> good morning, carol. that's certainly what authorities are trying to find out right now. the fbi and local authorities in the netherlands are trying to

figure out how these needle got into these turkey sandwiches. two of the needles were found by passengers and one was dofr discovered by an air marshall. when delta found out about the needles in the food the airline says it notified all 18 flights from amsterdam to stop serving the sandwiches. here's what one passenger who got one of the contaminated sandwiches said when he spoke with station kstp. >> i bit down on it so that i wasn't biting down on the sharp side, but on the flat side. it could have been, you know, a bad injury orally, but had i taken a big swallow and swallowed that down, i would have a needle inside, that would be very concerning to me. >> gate gourmet is the company which provided the sandwiches to delta and a spokesman for that company says the sandwiches were prepared in amsterdam and in a statement she goes on to say, that this is a terribly upsetting situation. first and foremost, is the

safety of the traveling public. there's nothing more important to us at all than the safety of the passengers and crews. now the transportation security administration says it's also closely monitoring the investigation into what happened, as well as the security protocols being conducted by the air carrier and the airport authority. carol? >> so this company that makes these sandwiches, it also provides food to other airlines. i realize that these sandwiches were made in amsterdam but is there a concern about the food on other flights? >> yeah. that's a good question. gate gourmet says it's fully operating with the fbi and local authorities in the netherlands and it's even conducting its own full-scale investigation and the company says it does provide food to other airlines, but has not yet received any reports or any other complaints. >> sandra endo, live in washington. also this morning, still no sign of two missing iowa girls. one family member says it's as though they disappeared into thin air in broad daylight.

8-year-old elizabeth collins and 10-year-old lyric cook are cousins and have not been seen since going on a bike ride friday. the bicycles were found by a lake but the mother of one of the girls doubts those girls would have gone there on their own. >> it's not an area that they frequented. they didn't go far from home either of the girls. they mainly stayed around the evansdale area that my sister lives in. it's just not kind of like them to go that far. >> definitely out of their character. >> cnn's jim spellman is discovering the search in evansdale, iowa. good morning, jim. >> good morning to you, carol. theye really approaching this case from two different fronts. one, they're draining this lake right here, the girls' bicycles were found on the other side of this lake. they've examined this lake for a couple days. they don't think they're going to be find anything, but to be totally sure, they're draining this lake as we speak. the other approach is from a law

enforcement approach. the fbi has been brought in and we now know that they've brought two scent dogs to assist in this investigation. and yesterday, they were able to take scents from pairs of the girls shoes and we do know that they were able to pick up some sort of trail. we don't know where that trail led or ultimately how useful it is to the investigation. they're going at this from all fronts, but carol, i spoke to an investigator an hour or so ago who told me it's like the girls evaporated. very frustrating for investigators and, of course, for their family as well. >> i know that the bike trail ends at that lake. it goes through some woods and ends at the lake. but on the other side of the woods is a highway. what does that say to investigators? >> yeah. take a look -- take a look at this this is really baffling to investigators. this lake here on this side of the lake, people live here. their backyards are right back up to this lake. on the other side there's a trail that goes between the bank and the interstate. this wooded section where they were found, where you can see

some people are manning this operation here to drain the lake, where they were found is just about the least likely spot for any kind of abduction scenario. it's a ten-minute walk at least to get from this corner to any kind of road to get out of here. even though it's right next to the freeway, it's unlikely that you could somehow get over this fence and get away with two girls. that's what investigator out there at that location today where the bikes were found told me. really baffling to them. they're trying to expand not only the geographic search but how they're approaching the case. that's why they brought in those dogs to try to get any kind of traction to help find these girls. carol? >> jim spellman, reporting live from evansdale, iowa this morning. president obama is looking to big money donors in texas today to help bolster his re-election war chest. he's scheduled to visit two cities. first up will be san antonio where he'll attend two separate events including a fund-raiser hosted by the actress eva longoria and the city's mayor and later mr. obama heads to usaen to pick up more campaign

cash at another pair of events. sources close to the president say the total haul could set a new record as the obama camp continues to turn up the heat against republican rival mitt romney in a new ad. >> tax havens, offshore account, carried interest. mitt romney has used every trick in the book. romney admits that over the last two years he's paid less than 15% in taxes on $43 million in income. makes you wonder if some years he pai any taxes at all. we don't know because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010. >> you know what, i've put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> last hour i talked to one of romney's representatives about his campaign's new line of attack against president obama. oh and about the tax returns, she told me that mr. romney's firm only two years of tax returns are going to be released and then she accused president obama of capital cronyism. accusing him of handing out

political favors to big money donors and even appointing them into this administration. just how would romney do things differently if he were elected? >> the policy of this president is to have his bundlers in charge of handing out tax dollars to other bundlers and cronies and friends. we will have a policy nothing like that. we will do nothing of the sort. that's outrageous to be giving our tax dollars out to friends and family. no, we will have nothing like that. >> romney turned up the heat on obama's record after a week of bitter back and forth over the republican's departure from bain capital. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke is in the spotlight on capitol hill right now. he's beginning two days of testimony from lawmakers about the state of the economy. these are live pictures into that hearing. a senate panel are grilling bernanke. now part of this will focus on whether the economy is nearing a fiscal cliff due to pending major tax hikes and spending cuts.

some democrats are threatening to walk off this cliff, rather than renew busch era tax cuts for the wealthy as republicans want. >> if we can't get a good deal, a balanced deal, that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then i will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus. >> the democrats are proposing today is an entirely avoidable, high stakes game of chicken. with the single-minded goal of taking more money from those who earn it for government to waste. >> our chief business correspondent ali velshi is here to take the politics out of this and tell us how all of this -- i know, is that possible? but i do want to know how this all affects, you know, all of us. >> yeah. >> so if the democrats are serious, ali, without legislative action, we will fall off this fiscal cliff, that

means tax increases, large domestic and military spending cuts and the expiration of the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefit wills go away, all of this takes effect january 1st. what will do this to the economy? >> i have a better chance of growing hair than taking the politics out of it. the danger we were he on a knife sedge of this economy. the perception of what's going on in this economy changes. in june when gas prices started high and then went low, people changed their whole opinion about whether the economy looks good or bad. how tight are we a 25 cent change in a gallon of gas affect yours outlook. that's where we are. we have a massive recession in europe, slowdowns in india and china, it those hit us eventually and these are entirely avoidable pieces of nonsense that congress is engaging in. bottom line right now is what we need more than a tax cut, is certainty. there are lots of opinions on whether or not we should have a tax cut or not. fareed zakaria of the camp no

tax cut for anybody, pay down the debt. republicans of the view everybody should get a tax cut. the bottom line here, probably a tax cut is useful because it gives you a little certainty while gas prices are high and not sure where jobs are going, but what is worse than not having a tax cut is this nonsense that will go right down to the wire about that fiscal cliff. if we go into january of 2013, with that uncertainty, with those what they call sec question stration, across-the-board cuts because they couldn't agree on a debt ceiling limit, that will happen december 31st, we could put our economy into a recession and that is something that at this point is possibly avoidable. i will tell you, i will be screaming from the rooftops if we end up in a recession six months from now, because of nonsense coming out of congress. >> well, dick cheney is on the hill this morning. he's talking strategy with republicans because if senator patty murray carries through with her threat, roughly $110 billion in pentagon and nondefense spending cuts will take effect.

>> right. >> you have to wonder what will that do to our national security. >> think about it this way. it's not just -- okay. that's great point, carol. national security. that's a very valid point. it's also a point that where do you think this money goes? it is people's jobs. so we can't afford the estimates have been anywhere from a million or more jobs that will be lost. some people say 3 million jobs. we have 16 million officially unemployed. we can't pop that up to $19 million. that will put us into a depression. lots of good arguments about how you handle these things. we have too much debt. we should hangle it long term. the immaturity of taking extreme positions, that is not what we elect congress to do that is going to put us into recession. normally you and me can sit back and say congress can be irrelevant in most people's lives. right now, they are not irrelevant so this is dangerous. you're going to see ben bernanke on the hill today as well as testifying to congress they're going to be tough on him asking him if he's prepared to put stimulus, federal reserve stimulus into the economy, i think he's going to look right back at them and say why don't

you do your part, why don't you not make things worse and i'll do my part and together we can try to muddle through this. we don't have a great, strong economy, but congress could make this a lot worse. if those cuts that dick cheney is talking about do happen, that's serious. what a world we're in, where there's all this unemployment and we're worried about defense contractors because it matters to us. >> it's pathetic, isn't it? >> did that sound like it with az bit of a rant? i didn't mean to take two minutes of your show. >> i enjoy a rant. i do. the american civil liberties union of michigan say some students in the states are not being taught to read. now the aclu is suing. to help those kids fight for the education it says they deserve. ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party.

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fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. it is 16 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now. u.s. officials are expressing condolences this morning after a navy fuel supply ship fired, opened fire, on a small boat in the persian gulf killing one person and wounding three others. the united arab emirates said the dead were indian fishermen. the u.s. military says one warning shot was fired before other shots disabled the boat

described as a small white pleasure craft. the american civil liberties union of michigan suing the state, its education department and one detroit area school district accusing them of failing to teach students to read at an appropriate grade level. spokeswoman for the governor responded to the class-action lawsuit saying the state is working to improve the situation. in money news, marissa mayer is the new ceo at yahoo!. she's leaving as one of google's top executives to replace interim boss ross levinsohn. this makes her yahoo!'s fourth chief executive in less than four years. the newest crew of the international space station is checking out their new home this morning. just a few hours ago a russian spacecraft docked with the orbiting station. the three crew members includes an american astronaut named sunny williams. they'll work at the international space station until november. american drug agents are calling it a victory, a major haul, thanks to a joint

operation involving the u.s. coast guard and the navy. these are new images of three tons of confiscated cocaine and 240 pounds of pot. these drugs were bound for the united states. they were seized and they're being -- they were seized in the waters off the coast of florida and now being unloaded right now in jacksonville, florida. the drugs were confiscated aboard ships coming from nicaragua and colombia. part of the obama's administration so-called balanced approach in the war on drugs. many critics say it's not enough to win that war. in 2009, the federal government spent $31 billion on drug control. but only one third of tha money on drug treatment. our prisons, well, bears that out. in 2011 more than half of the inmates in federal prisons were serving time for drug offenses. critics say those figes mean defeat. the big question remains, though, how do you win the war on drugs?

let's talk about that. kevin sebet, an assistant professor at the university of florida and a former senior drug policy adviser for the obama administration. and ethan nadalman, the executive director of the drug policy alliance, an organization that promotes alternatives to the war on drugs. welcome to both of you. >> thank you, carol. >> thanks, carol. >> the republican governor of new jersey, chris christie, calls the war on drugs a failure. is he right, eaten? >> well, he's clearly right. if you look at a trillion dollars this country has spent over the last 40 years and we still have significant levels of drug abuse, overdose fatalities are at an all time my hi. the seizure is just a blip. what's significant about governor christie saying what he's saying, he's really the first major republican figure nationally, current and feature leader in the republican party, saying this sort of stuff and he's also been supportive of reducing the prison population in new jersey. he supported the state's medical

marijuana program. his health department is supporting needle exchange programs to reduce hiv and hepatitis c. we're beginning to see some bipartisan consensus that this war on drugs has failed and we need to dramatically shift resources from interdiction enforcement to treatment preeshgs vengs, helping people, focusing on reducing the harms of drugs, rather than locking up millions of americans. >> so it's kind of starting at a state level. new jersey just passed a law that institutes a year of mandatory treatment instead of jail time. so kevin, why not suggest federal legislation requiring the same thing? >> well, we've had federal legislation mandating treatment instead of jail for a long time in the form of things like drug courts which actually use the power of the criminal justice system to get people to treatment and if they successfully complete treatment, they don't end up going to jail or having a criminal record. we see this in hawaii with projects like project hope which is working with protein base

system. i mean, focusing on the federal level may not be the best place since most drug offenses happen on the state level and you're seeing state innovations from texas to washington to hawaii which are all about reducing incarceration but also protecting public safety and reducing drug use. so i agree with ethan we need to focus on prevention and treatment and rehabilitation but going towards legalization probably isn't the way to do it. >> there's $31 billion spent on fighting drugs in this country, only a third of that federal money is used for treatment programs. so why not use more of the money to treat dug abusers instead of spending it so much on the big hauls of drugs that don't seem to make a dent in the drug war? >> well, actually, there has been a recent shift over the last few years to a public health balanced approach. again, most dollars you're looking at federal budgets, but most treatment and prevention dollars are actually spent at the state and local levels. we need to be also careful what statistics we're looking at. i'm all in favor of treating this like a disease, looking at

addiction as a health issue, but going towards legalization isn't the way to do it. chris christie is right, the war on drugs is a horrible analogy, an analogy the government hasn't used for years. i think the last thing governor christie would want is legalization, however, because we see prescription drugs today are legal and they're available, alcohol is legal, available and so is tobacco and we're doing a pretty bad job of preventing and treating those three legal drugs. they're available and promoted and commercialized. that's the last thing we want to see for any other drug. >> you're in favor of legalizing mare na and seems like that's catching on. 15 states have passed laws decriminalizing pot, but would this help us win the war on drugs? >> well, i'll tell you, carol, it is moving very rapidly. according to the gallup polls the percent of americans who favor legalizing marijuana has jumped from 36% six years to 50% now. the country's basically evenly

divided on this issue and opinions are changing very quickly. but clearly it would help. i mean the marijuana arrests do not account for the majority of people behind bars but account for half of all the drug arrests in the united states, over 800,000 arrested a year for possessing a little bit of marijuana. if we were to tax, control and regulate marijuana like alcohol instead of insisting with this policy, state and local governments would save 10, 20, maybe more billion dollars a year. twak in 10 to $20 billion a year. and quite frankly, in terms of the risks, given how widely available marijuana is already, i think the risks of moving in that direction are dramatically less than the benefits. >> kevin, would you -- although i read the obama administration's drug policy and this is what it says about marijuana use. month to month it's going up, marijuana use among teenagers. it says marijuana is very much a gateway drug because the perception of marijuana these days, it's not a dangerous drug so you smoke marijuana and move

on to harder stuff. i'll let ethan address that. >> i would say that the gateway theory about marijuana is an ounce of truth embedded in a pound of bull. on the one hand the large -- most people who use heroin and cocaine use marijuana first. the vast majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use harder drugs. if you look at the netherlands they more or less legalized marijuana 30 years ago. they did not see any dramatic jump in marijuana use. their rates of marijuana use are less than in the united states. meanwhile, there's almost no had heroin addiction left in the netherlands. not really that much of a relationship between marijuana use and the other drugs. >> kevin, last word. >> i don't -- yeah, i don't necessarily disagree with the first part but the netherlands that country is totally reversing their policy because they have seen increases in marijuana use among their kids. when drugs are legal they're cheaper, more available and then promoted as we've seen for alcohol. i think alcohol would be the last model we would want to look at for marijuana.

more people are arrested for alcohol offenses than all drugs combined because more people use alcohol and it's much more prevalent. i'm not saying we need to arrest and jail marijuana users for long amounts of time but having some kind of stigma on the use itself while also getting treatment and intervening on early use and by the way, getting medical professionals involved. the number one drug problem today is overdoses due to prescription drugs. we need to educe the medical profession, have them intervene early and truly treat this like a public health issue. >> we shouldn't be arresting marijuana users at all, kevin. >> i have enjoyed this discussionp with we have to leave it there. kevin and ethan, thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you, carol. we most definitely want to know what you think about this. what is the best way to win the war on drugs? legalizing marijuana? facebook.com/carolcnn. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk.

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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question, what's the best way to win the war on drugs? here's a pop quiz for you.

what is the longest war america has ever waged? it's not iraq, afghanistan, nope? it would be the drug war. for 40 years america has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting illegal drugs. the obama administration believes in a balance aid proech to fighting drugs, working on prevention and treatment, but also partnering with countries like mexico to stem the flow. yet, in 2009, of the $31 billion spent fighting the drug war only one third of that money went to drug treatment. the bulk of the money is spent on things like patrols, confitcation and closing drug tunnels, some like new jersey's governor chris christie says the real focus should be on the user and addicts. >> the war on drugs, while well intentioned, has been a failure. and we're warehousing addicted people every day in state prison in new jersey, giving them no treatment, sending them back out on the street after their

incarceration and wondering why recidivism goes up and why they commit crimes again, commit crimes to support their addiction. >> many think we're wasting money prosecuting people caught with small amounts of drugs. 14 states and cities have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana and some experts say the relentless focus on illegal drugs ignores another rapidly growing epide c epidemic. abuse of prescription painkillers. this leads to our tough question this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs? facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses later this hour. it is 30 minutes past the hour. good morning. i'm carol costello. top stories we're following in the "newsroom." the fbi is investigating a dangerous surprise on four delta airline flights from amsterdam into the united states. four sewing needles were found

in turkey sandwiches served on flights headed to minneapolis, seattle and atlanta. one passenger on the minneapolis-bound flight was injured but he declined medical treatment. police searching right now for a man accused of shooting 17 people early this morning at a bar in tuscaloosa, alabama. one person critically injured, three others in serious condition. police released this security footage of the shooting rampage. it shows a man wearing a cap in a parking lot and carrying a gun. a penn state student group says it's time to return focus to the team and that's why they have renamed paternoville to nittaniville, the name for an area outside beaver stadium where students hope to score better tickets to penn state football games. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly. [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on.

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[ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. a bomb shell to tell you about this morning involving the obama administration. treasury department employees have been cited for soliciting prostitutes, accepting gifts from corporate executives and other unethical and possibly criminal 3w45i6 behavior. a rare look of the results of an internal investigation. here's cnn's lisa sylvester. >> reporter: in august of 2010 a treasury department employee accessed the website craigslist to arrange sexual encounters with prostitutes. he used a government issued computer to set up the trysts and later used his government-issued travel credit card to purchase hotel rooms. that employee worked at at

department's office of thrift supervision. after being confronted with the allegations, he retired. the 80-plus pages were released by the treasury department's office of inspector general after a freedom of information request by a government watchdog group. government addict.org. among the other allegations, one employee allegedly provided information on government contracts to her husband's business. another, a national bank examiner in the office of the crompp troller of the currency accepted golf fees and meals from the very bank he was reviewing. >> raises deeper questions about a cultural problem in the agency when folks wonder why the regulators didn't do a better job of stopping the problems that led to the financial crisis or wondering why occ didn't spot the huge trading loss at jpmorgan this year. i think part of the issue is that the examiners were just too close to the folks they were supposed to be examining. >> reporter: there are 11 reports of investigations conducted in the last three years by the inspector general's

office. six of them were subsubstantiat. a treasury spokesman says the cases involve only a handful of individuals in a department with more than 100,000 employees saying, quote, treasury has a strong ethics policy that we expect all of our employees to follow and the overwhelming majority of them do. as with any large organization, issues of misconduct occasionally arise. when that happens at treasury, we act promptly and decisively to address them. melanie sloan with the citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington says, while embarrassing, the documents show the ig's office took immediate action. >> they're going to be people who break the rules and do terrible things. there are always bad apples. the big question is what does treasury do about it did they handle it as they should, aggressively target this conduct and in this case seems they did. >> reporter: most of the incidents were brought to the inspector general's attention from bureau management. in some instances like the prostitution, that case was referred to authorities and the golfing incident the matter was

referred for possible administrative action. lisa sylvester, cnn, washington. there is a battle brewing between comedian george lopez and arizona sheriff joe arpaio. lopez makes fun of arpaio on his hbo show and the sheriff has invited the comedian to come say it to his face. ♪ you can't wish your way onto the podium. ♪ you can't buy it or hope for it. ♪ it's not enough to dream about it. ♪ luck didn't get me to london. i swam here. ♪

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roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep? (sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. comedian george lopez has ticked off arizona's most controversial sheriff joe arpaio and now the sheriff is firing back. "showbiz tonight" a.j. hammer joins us to explain the controversy. >> carol the comedian is not a fan of the sheriff's policy on immigration and never one to hold back his feelings. lopez launched into a profanity laced rant on arpaio which premiered saturday night. the whole rant pretty much all swearing, so i can't play it for you here. the crowd ate it up but the

sheriff saw it and was not amused. watch the challenge the sheriff threw out to lopez during a local tv interview. >> get some guts, come down here and meet me face to face. let's see how you act then. >> well, we reached out to lopez to see if he had any response to arpaio's invitation. all his rep would tell us, no comment. sheriff arpaio may be 80 years old, carol, but he always seems willing to mix it up with his critics. >> he's a tough guy. it's true. let's talk about something fun. "saturday night live's" church lady, i love the church lady and dana carvey who played the church lady, has impersonations of mitt romney and president obama. >> he was on "the tonight show" and talked politics and called obama a zen master of speaking and said he thought romney was sincere but a little jumpy. take a look. >> i like to set people on fire. what? i mean i like to fire people. don't provide me services.

okay. that's the thing about obama. romney is -- and obama knows how to let things settle down. and if someone tries to interrupt him, no, no, no, let let let -- >> usual carvey. pretty funny to watch. he did run through his impressions of all the living presidents. i still think he is the masterf both president bushes. he did a little regis philbin and i'm thinking maybe we can reach out to him to help you with your larry king impression. >> i need a lot of help. i'll never do that again on the air or even in private. thanks so much. >> you got it. >> want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? check out "showbiz tonight" at 11:00 eastern on hln. what's it like to be a black person at a predominantly white university? one filmmaker is trying to bring that story to life and if social media is any indicator his project could turn out to be a

blockbuster. i'll talk to the man behind "dear white people." if you are one of the millions of men

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find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. 45 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now, discouraging news for job seekers. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke just a few minutes ago on capitol hill said that jobs recovery is still frustratingly slow. in his semiannual monetary policy report to congress, he says the federal reserve is forecasting the unemployment rate will stay at 7% or higher through 2014. two americans kidnapped in egypt have been reunited with their families. the reunion took place a few hours ago in northern israel. the americans were abducted friday in the sinai region where kidnappings and armed robberies have spiked since former president mubarak was overthrown. charlie sheen is helping out injured u.s. military personnel and their families.

sheen says he'll donate 1% of the profits from his tv show "anger management" to the uso and he guarantees the donation will be at least $1 million. and watch closely. you will see what some people in new york are calling an incredible save. a 7-year-old girl dancing on an air conditioning unit outside -- look at her falling. oh. that was from the third floor. she lost her balance. a st. bernard, same name as the rescue guadog, was there to cat her. >> i ran over there hoping she wouldn't fall and when i got there she was still standing there. i just like positioned myself, hopefully i would catch her. >> so calm. little girl was not hurt. st. bernard who says he's no hero, did suffer an arm injury in making her fall. he says he's going to be a-okay. "dear white people," have you heard of it yet? it is trending high on social media sites with more than

713,000 hits on youtube alone. this satire explores the issue of race and identities from the viewpoints of four black students at a fictitious predominantly white school. here's a clip. >> dear white people, breaking news the amount of black friends required to not seem racist has now been raised to two. sorry. your tyrone does not count. >> dear white people please stop touching my hair. does this look like a petting zoo to you. >> your hair is so cute. is it weaved. >> dear white people, listening to flo ridea does not make you practically black. >> what are you doing here? >> i wish you could see the whole thing. it's good. i'm joined by jussen simien, the man behind "dear white people." welcome. >> thank you so much for having me. >> 713,000 views on youtube. did you ever think? >> i did not think.

i mean, i remember sending an e-mail saying do you think we'll ever get to 100,000. there was a time when i -- i mean, the fact that so many people have watched it and so many people have donated to our campaign is -- blows me away. it's amazing. >> let's talk about your campaign. you set out to raise $25,000 because you want to bring this film to the theaters. you exceeded your goal in three days. in the process, you've created a lot of buzz. what are you trying to say? >> well, i'm trying to bring, you know, a new story to the screen. i'm trying to say something new about the black experience that i don't think is really out there. and, you know, i think it's important. i think it's important for the culture to bring new stories, so yeah, that's what i'm doing. >> okay. >> tyler perry has a new movie coming out. do you think he's bringing the right kind of story to american theaters? >> you know, i think that tyler perry has a completely valid voice. i think he is bringing stories to the screen that lots of people want to see. i don't have a personal problem

with tyler perry. i don't know tyler perry. but i do kind of have a problem with the system where only one kind of depiction of black people is out there. i think that we have a lot of stories to tell and i think our point of view is actually interesting and can be universal. >> let's talk about tyler perry because in the trailer, you kind of poke fun at tyler perry. what view is tyler perry bringing of black america to the masses? >> i think that tyler perry is bringing a very broad comedic view that appeals to a lot of people. unfortunately, when i see a tyler perry movie, i don't necessarily see myself on the screen, which was, you know, a major impetus for making this film for me. >> when i was watching your trailer -- >> i deal with movies like -- >> go ahead. >> i grew up with movies like "school days" and "do the right thin and "hollywood shuffle." that was the hayday for me. you know, hopefully this film can be a part of bringing that

back. >> i was just going to say when i was watching the trailer it sort of reminded me of "do the right thing" because you have the deejay-type person and she's broadcasting thoughts throughout and the movie takes place around that. why name it "dear white people"? because at first glance, maybe some white people would be kind of insulted. >> well, you know the point of a movie title is to get butts in seats. it's supposed to be provocative and exciting. the character, sam white, who starts the radio show "dear white people" in the film, she causes quite a stir on her campus and so, you know, because that is one of the main conflicts that fuels the movie, i just felt it was a great title. >> okay. so you're well on your way to raising this money. how much of a chance do you think that this film will end up in theaters nationwide? >> i have to say, it's been so validating to me to read the comments on our indy page as well as ou on our youtube

account, twitter, facebook, all those places, i feel super confident we're going to get this movie to theaters. there's obviously an audience for it. i always suspected that to be true, but i really feel like it is. >> justin simien, thanks so much for being here this morning. >> thank you so much. really appreciate it. >> sure. we'll be right back. ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing.

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no doubt your mom told you carrots are good for your eyes and spinach will make you stronger. some food can make you look younger. for today's daily dose, here's dr. nicolas perry cone with his three-day face lift in a fridge plan. you know we can get a beautiful raidence without going in the sun and it's as simple with the foods we can eat and not eat. i'm recommending salmon. make it any way you like, poach it, broil it. i want you to have it twice a day. with that have a green salad with olive oil and lemon and for

dessert, look for berries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. more color means greater raidence. your breakfast like an egg white omelet with slow cooked oatmeal. sugar is a bad guy. make your skin dull, pores large and rapidly age you. try the three-day face lift in a fridge. always works unless you're cheating. 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®. the wife. hey, babe. got the jetta. i wiped the floor with the guy! not really. i would've been fine with 0% for 36 months, but i demanded 60. no...i didn't do that. it was like taking candy from a baby.

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talk back question this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs? this from lor des, america's tlirs for illegal drugs needs to be addressed through education and prevention. this from lee --