i'm suzanne malveaux and this hour in the "cnn newsroom," mitt romney says he will make the country energy independent in eight years. we are looking at that plan. we are look at the path of isaac in the caribbean and following why the fbi is worried about anarchists to disrupt the republican convention in tampa. right to it. mitt romney on the campaign trail in hobbs, new mexico, and his focus is energy today, and in a speech moments ago, romney spelled out the energy plan and it calls for more drilling, fewer regulations and what he say says will make this country energy independent in eight years. >> if i'm the president of the united states in a few months here, i will set a national -- [ applause ] -- i will set a national goal of america and north america, north american energy independence by

2020. north american energy independence by 2020 and that means that we produce all of the energy we need in north america. >> mitt romney is calling for more drilling and fewer regulations when it comes to the u.s. policy and saying that it will make the kun tcountry ener independent by 2020. let's bring in alison kosik of the new york stock exchange and talking about it, not surprising talking about virginia and north carolina and two important battleground states where drilling is important. he is talking about more drilling and less regulations here. is it possibler olikely when he says that we need to be energy independent and he can make it happen by 2020? >> well, it is achievable so he is not so far off of the mark. but one analyst told us, s suzanne, that we are already well on the way to weaning ourselves off of mideast oil already, because you look at what has been happening here in the country in the past six years or so, the domestic production here of oil right here at home has gone up while

the oil we import has gone down. today, half of the oil we use is produced right here in the u.s. and in fact, half of the oil that we import comes from the western hemisphere, from canada, mexico, venezuela and the caribbean and 22% of the oil that we import actually comes from the mideast. we spoke with frank bara str osho who is at the national policy for strategic energy, and he says that mitt romney's splan too simplistic and he says what you need to do to get us truly independent is increased production and new energy standards and alternative energy. what romney is saying is that by getting america off of foreign oil, it would bring in new government revenue up to $1 trillion worth which is something that the congressional budget office is disputing. suzanne? >> and we know, alison, the

former president bush always talked about weaning ourselves off of this addiction he used to call it of foreign oil, but the obama administration is focusing on the solar and wind and other fuel. what is the president talking about? >> yes, the president is talking about all of the above approach, and using alternative energy like wind and solar and natural gas and biofuels and nuclear. he's also, believe it or not, many may not know this, little to restrict are the fracking which is a controversial practice of extracting oil from ground, and it is controversial because it may contaminate ground water. he has indicate head will issue permits in the arctic, but he has increased environmental safety standards for offshore drilling and issued fewer permits for drilling and part of the reason is that moratorium

after the bp spill in 2010. suzanne. >> it is a hot political issue. thank you, alison. this is not a political storm, but a tropical storm isaac could threaten the republican con sflengs florida and some forecast maps taking the storm on a path that could hit the convention. that begins mopday in tampa. and the state's governor said they are prepare and they will coordinate with the convention organizers. >> lowle cal times will make the evacuation plans for the areas depend ping what happens and the convention will make the own decision, but the goal is by having everybody together will have the same infortion so that we can coordinate our efforts and work together. >> the actual site of the convention is in a mandatory evacuation zone, so if isaac is a catego 2 hurricane, they will certainly take a look at the possibilities. now it is not in the forecast right now, but if the storm hits nearby, flooding could be a big problem. here is brian todd.

>> reporter: this was only about eight weeks ago in tampa, bay shore boulevard, a main drag underwater. this is no hurricane, but tropical storm debby which delivered significant flooding to downtown tampa, just a few blocks from the tampa bay forum where the republican national convention will be held. if isaac turns into a category 2, there could be problems in the days coming. >> with a hurricane of category 1, anywhere of three to six feet of flooding could impact the area. >> reporter: brian lamarre with the weather service branch in tampa says that the level is at sea level in some places and above it in others. tampa's mayor says if the storm comes that way, public safety trumps politics. >> if question had to make a decision to cancel or postpone or move the kconvention, we wil do it full well knowing that the city and the obligation of the state is to move people out of

harm's way. >> reporter: it would be the second straight republican convention affected by a big storm. >> actually all of the program tonight has been cancelled. >> reporter: in 2008 much of the night of the first night of the gop convention was tossed out in st. paul, but the officials didn't like the optics of opening up a glitzy event while a storm raged in tampa. >> and a category 3 strength comes around shore here in tampa is being monitored, but because it turns in the northern atmosphere, they say it could drive water from mexico up to tampa bay, and then drive the water up to the convention center and push the water over here making st. petersburg an island. it has happened, but not more than 90 years. in october of 1921, a category 3 hurricane slammed into that

point in tampa, and back then this region was less populated. isaac is not projected to be that strong and may not hit tampa, but if it does lamarre says that storm surge is the number one killer. >> people live and work along the water and a lot of people need to make sure they get out in time before the hurricane comes their way. >> reporter: tampa officials insist they are ready with the solid evacuation routes planned, but a challenge around the convention are the 50,000 or so added people in the downtown tampa area, and most of them out of town, so getting them evacuated may be problematic. brian todd, cnn, washington. tropical storm isaac is getting stronger and expected to hit several caribbean nations before closing in on the u.s. coast. i want to bring in chad myers about what we are expecting in the next couple of days and how soon it could hit here. >> the next place to be hit significantly would be the dominican re p dominican republic and 10 to 15 inches of rainfall there that

could cause flood. and wind in santo domingo 60 to 70, and then to haiti. if it goes over port-au-prince with all of those hundreds of thousands of people living in tents, because of the hurricane long ago, that is the next place where it is really under the gun. i really appreciate all of this focus on tampa, and all of this other stuff, but let me tell you that this storm cod go all of the way to south carolina and it could still go all of the way to new orleans. so don't take your eyes off of the prize. if you live in any of those areas, don't think that we are just talking about tampa, because it could be a big storm, and it would be a bigger storm and bigger event if the storm stay stays south of the islands a and in the warm water, because that would cause the storm to be significantly stronger than what the forecast is right now and let me get to the forecast, because i can show it to you. there is tropical storm isaac, off of the coast of puerto rico and forecast to g over puerto rico and port-au-prince, and

into the caribbean. this is one side and this is the potential side. this would be catastrophic for somebody in the gulf coast area, because at this point in time, we have a 3 in the middle of the hurricane, and that would be a big hurricane if thatp hashgs because it stays in the water, and the water is warm and it makes the storms get bigger. if it stays over cuba, dead storm. and cuba would take the stuffing out of it, because it is over land and land kills the hurricane for a while and so do the mountains, but then back up here and stronger, and that is the forecast distance of error for this time. this is five days away from where we are now, and you to understand that this may go well, badly, and i tell you that the first thing i can only guarantee you about this storm is that we are going to change our mind before it gets somewhe somewhere, because the models have been changing their mind all day long and they are now no the west of florida and not to east like some of them were, and so that is sort of packed in here in the gulf of mexico and well far enough west of tampa it will not become an issue for

tampa, but if it changes,ly certainly tell you. how does this work? i show you the lines all of the time, but i don't get to show you the model, the forecast, itself. there we go. there is the model, itself, predicting what it thinks that the storm will do every six hours. this is still a long way away, and let me tell you that the models are wrong all of the time. this is one, but the people of the panhandle of florida possibly all over to louisiana with this scenario would get hit very hard, and maybe even touching the florida keys and key west, but it would stay far enough away from tampa th we would not have to worry about it, suzanne. >> and i understand, chad, more trouble brewing in the atlantic and possibly another tropical storm? >> well, there are others out there, and i can show you on the computer model, this is joyce, j-o-y-c-e, it came from the central atlantic and made a big turn almost off of the map and misses bermuda and another bit of storminess coming off of the african coast. september 10th, is the peak of

hurricane season. i have not looked at the c calendar, but we are close. d two weeks or so away from that and honestly we could have one or two named storms in the water for the entire time for the next month. >> well, it is right around the corner, and the peak, a couple of weeks away. >> yes. >> thank you, chad. ned federal agencies are wag of another potential threat to the republican national convention. they are warning of a threat by anarchists, and there is a bulletin that the extremist mace try to close down the bridges in the tampa bay area, and they may try to use ieds or bombs as well. security will be tight in tampa and charlotte, but the feds say that there are things that the state and the local agencies should be on the lookout for. so what are they? they include anarchists getting their hands on explosive materials and taking firearm training and extremists preparing for violence with

groups that they oppose. and sunday, on the eve of the republican convention, cnn's coverage kicks off at 8:00 p.m. eastern with a profile of the pres presumptive presidential nominee, mitt romney, and watch "romney revealed, family and faith and the road to power" followed by a preview of to convention and that is going to be monday with live coverage of the rnc at 7:00 p.m. eastern on cn. this is what we are working on this hour. the u.s. is known around the world for a big middle-class, but a new report says it is shrinking fast. we will look at the numbers. penn state's former president is defending himself from accusations of covering up child sexual abuse in the jerry sandusky case. watch our interview with graham spanier. and a study finds a link between a child's link of autism and the age of the father. hosp. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark,

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good eye. the news 1 is not good for america's middle-class and according to a new report from the pew. back in 1970, the middle-class accounted for 62% of the u.s. income and in 2010, the middle-class accounts for 45% of the u.s. income while upper class income rosethe 46 p%.

i want to bring in paul taylor who is the executive director of the pew research center, and when you look at the numbers at loan, it looks like people are struggling. this is a middle-class who has lost a great deal of net worth and you say 2001, you take a look at the middle-class family and that is $130,000 and in 2010, we are talking about $93,000. what is going on? >> well, it has been a terrible decade for almost everybody, but particularly the middle-class. we had a shallow recession at the beginning and a deep recession toward the end of the decade from which we have not fully recovered. the housing market collapsed and most of the middle-class wealth is tied up in the house. we have of course sh, the high unemployment, and you add it it all up and this is the first decade in the modern era since world war two where the middle class has less income at the end of the decade than they have at the beginning and as you noted much less wealth. they have lost 30% of the wealth most of it is the value of the home. >> paul, how do you get it back?

how do you rekocover? >> well, that is better left for the folks who are going to be in tampa and charlotte in the next couple of weeks, and that is what the presidential campaign is all about, and this report is designed to say, here we are now, and this is how deep the hurt has been and we asked people if you have recovered from the recession and three years now officially that the recession is over and nearly half say no, i haven't recovered say the middle-class and we ask how long it will take, and almost half of them say at least five years and a small share, 10% say i will never recover. and this country is hurting and the middle-class in particular is hurting. >> anything that you found surprising by this survey that was revealed? >> well, the numbers that you showed at the beginning are actually sort of interesting. one of the things that has happened to the middle-class is that it has actually gotten smaller. we asked people in the survey what class do you consider yourself in, and about 49% say i think of myself as middle-class. we asked the same question four years ago and 53%, and that is

not a big decline, but it is in sync with the same findings that we have when we look at the census data and look at the group in the middle, and what we find today is that 51% of the country is in what we can statistically define as the middle-cla middle-class, 2/3 to double the national income medium which is $40,000 to under $120,000 for a family of three. so about half in the statistical middle and you go become and adjust for inflation, it has decreased from 60%. and as the first chart pointed out all of e money has gone up, and the middle-class has a smaller slice of a shrinking pie, and that is one of the reasons why it is in such a onery mood as the election goes into the final weeks. >> i understand that. and people, how are they feeling about the 401(k)s and the retirement plans and the futures?

>> we have declining confidence and we have asked the question over the past several years, do you have enough money and confident to have enough money to last through the retirement, and fewer and few people say they are con fident and the people who are least are the not the retired but the people on the cusp of the retirement, because the 401(k)s became 201ks, but they are feeling vulnerable. >> well, paul taylor, not a lot of good news here, but you bring up a good point which is to watch the conventions, the democrats and e reblicans that you believe will turn it around for the mild class. thank you, paul. >> thank you for having me. "fosh forbes" calls them the most power fful women in the world. the oldest is queen elizabeth at 86 and lady gaga is youngest at

26 and oprah winfrey finish ed n the top ten coming in 11. and new york times executive editor jill abramson is at the five spot, and four is melinda gates, and number three is dilma rousseff, and then according to "forbes" the most powerful woman in the world is angela merkel. and classes get started for this fall and some as early as this week and i will drop off my niece this week. and now, some of the freshmen have onlyb known women to have powerful positions, the secretaries of state in their lifetime have been madeleine albright, and condoleezza rice and hillary clinton. and some other things that they talk about the class of 2016.

caller i.d.s and gps systems always available. gas stations, and never fixed a flat, but they do serve cappuccino and coke and pepsi always sold in recycled plastic bottles. the list is meant to remind the professors about the cultural influences in their students' lives. penn state's former president says he is another victim in the sandusky scandal claiming that he has been falsely accused of covering up child sexual abuse. hear his sidef of the story. [ male announcer ] this is rudy.

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>> penn state's head football coach and the university president both lost their jobs at the same time and the explosive allegations of sexual abuse emerged from the school. coach paterno died in january and until then the former president of penn state graham spanier has not said anything, jerry sandusky tor scandal that cost him his career.

well, he is now speaking and gave an interview to our own jeffrey toobin, our cnn legal analyst and he is in new york right now. and jeff, explain to us why he is speaking up now and what is the main message? >> well, i think that he is just an angry frustrated person. he's been a public person in his life and he feels like he has been wronged. he does not think that he did anything wrong, and he spoke to me. i should say that the people want to read it, it is available at new yorker.com, and it was done for the "new yorker" m magazine. >> what is the main point? he disagrees with the legal investigation? >> yes sh, he believes that the freeh investigation that implicated him, and we all agree that jerry sandusky is a complete psychopath, but what spanier says i did not conceal

anything or cover anything up and i should not be penalized because i was never informed that he was in fact behaving this place. this is a tape of what he said about the freeh report. >> the freeh report is wrong. it's unfair. it's deeply flawed. it has many errors and omissions. i know they have had a lot of very good people on the team wo working on this and they interviewed over they say 430 people, and many of the folks have spoken to me about their interviews. and many of them described those interviews to me as a witch-hunt. >> you know, that is strong language, and i'm not sure i agree wit all, but it gives you some sense of how angry spanier is. >> and weren't there e-mails within that investigation that did disclose that he at least new what was happening? >> well, there are two incidents that he is accused of knowing

something about and failing to do the right thing. the first is 1998. he was only copied on e-mails there. he says that he does not remember anything about it, and it is worth pointing out that in 1998, those allegations were in fact passed to the police and state college, and that investigation was closed without any charges. 2001 is a much more problematic situation for spanier, because that is the time when many people will remember that mike mcqueary, the red-haired graduate s a sassistant saw wha appeared to be a rape going on between sandusky and a young boy in the shou es at penn state. spanier's version of that is that by the time that the story reached him, all he heard was that sandusky was involved in horseplay. that is the word he heard and not any sexual assault and certainly not any rape. and he said given the fact that

at this point that sandusky was not even an employee of penn state, and all he heard was that this is horseplay and how he handled it was telling second mile that sandusky couldn't do this kind of thing anymore was an appropriate reaction under the circumstances. >> jeff, the investigation aside here, does he have any personal feelings about what happened to the young boys? >> well, here's the tape. here's the excerpt from the tape of how he feels about that question. >> there are times when i am in a mode of substantial grief about what happened to those kids and then i switch into times of grieving for myself, and my colleagues and the paterno family, who i know so well, and the community that's suffering here. we always talked about the penn state family. and that is how this place feels and how we operate. everybody knows everybody and everybody is connected. this is a trauma in so many ways

in so many levels. >> this is, you know, really something that i think that people will really have mixed feelings about and comparing his grief to the grief of the people who are abused by jerry sandusky, but if you believe that spanier lost his job unjustly, you can see why he feels grief for himself as well as for the victims. >> and jeff, i have to wrap it here, but is he doing anything? what is he doing? >> well, he is a tenured professor and a sociologist at penn state and doing work apparently for the federal government, but let's be clear, his career is ruined and this is the thing that he will be remembered for, for the rest of his life and beyond. >> all right. jeff, thank you. good interview. gun violence inhicago i now so bad that cook county's trauma unit is full. we are talking about evident ri night. we want the show you firsthand we want the show you firsthand what it is like at the e.r. tm tt ylet.

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chicago's homicide rate is surging. this month alone 38 homicides and ted rowlands shows us that many of the victims show up in the cook county trauma unit where the hospital is really stretched thin. >> reporter: 12:30 a.m., a 22-yeaold gut victim arrives at the cook county trauma unit. >> what is hurting the most? >> reporter: he's in pain, but stle and able to speak. >> my arms. my arms. >> we just want you to slow down and relax. >> reporter: after he is rolled over to the side, the doctors start to count the bullet holes. >> what were you doing when this happened to you? >> i was walking. >> reporter: they find 13 bullet holes and each one is bandaged until the doctors can see the x-rays and then they need a plan to save this man's life. meanwhile, two more patients

have just arrived adding to what feels like chaos, but to the staff -- >> i'm dr. dennis. >> reporter: including the attending physician, dr. andrew dennis, it is another normal day in a chicago trauma unit. >> well, the patients keep coming and coming and you can expect this to happen every single night. >> reporter: like the city of chicago's homicide rate, the cook county trauma unit patient rate is up 30% this year. and on this night, seven shotgun victims and two stabbing victims in addition to 18 others involved in battery cases or motor vehicle accidents. upstairs in the operating room, a 29-year-old gunshot victim is in surgery. doctors opened up this man's stomk ma an-- stomach and remov this 9 millimeter bullet and he has damage to the stomach a tailbone, but he is expected to survive. they treat everyone from start to finish and surgery and care if needed and follow-up but

unfortunately some of the patients come back. >> what happened to the leg here? >> reporter: new wounds reveal old ones. the x-ray for the gunshot victim in bed two show gunshot pellets from a previous shooting. >> so now i have metal all over and i don't know what is new and what is old. >> reporter: and this man's scar shows point blank range last year where he was shot, and dr. dennis had that case. and there are patients to be difficult to deal with, this man was stabbed by his girlfriend in the back. >> i'm going the stay fresh until the day i die. what's up, boo. >> reporter: security is high, and some have police officers with them as they try to get treated, and one victim showed up with 13 bullet holes who according to the x-rays may have a major problem. how did this get here is my question? >> got you.

>> ooeither this way or up to t arm. >> reporter: a bullet from the shoulder may have travelled through chest which is maybe life threatening so dr. dennis orders more x-rays. dying is common here, and the death pacts for families are sitting out on the table ready to use. >> there is a lot of death that happens here and it is unfortunate. not all of it is violence. but a good portion of it is violence. >> reporter: it is after 2:00 a.m. when the x-rays come back and the 22-year-old with 13 bullet holes is in the clear. the bullet that was a concern came through his arm. he was sent home the next morning leaving with bed open for the next person who unfortunately will be arriving soon. ted rowlands, cnn, chicago. as election draws closer, former president bill clinton is stepping up the support for president obama's re-election with a new campaign ad.

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president obama and mitt romney running neck and neck in

some of the crucial battleground states. so in a new quinnipiac/cbs/new york times poll, president obama leading mitt romney 49% to 46% in ohio, and -- that was in florida and in ohio, it is 50% to 44%, obama ahead of romney, and in wisconsin, you have the know that it is 49% and 47% for obama and romney and you have to know that all of the polls are within the margin of error. and now former president bil cl bill clin ton is starring in a ad, and it is called clear choice and it is going to air in several battleground states. >> this election to me is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. this is a clear choice. the republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income taxes and go back the deregulation, which got us in trouble in the first place. president obama has a plan to rebuild america from the ground up.

>> clinton has been a top surrogate for president obama this year, and in campaign speeches, president obama gives credit to president clinton and the strong economies of the 90s. clinton says that romney does not care about the class sizes in the school, but does the president's comments pass the test? tom foreman with the fact check. >> reporter: class size and what it means to how kids learn has been a long and hotly contested issue. president obama and many educators clearly believe that smaller classes with fewer students per teacher are the way to go. so, the latest ad tries to school mitt romney on that subject. >> some of our children's greatest experiences have been in the smaller classrooms. >> but mitt romney says that class sizes don't matter and he supports paul ryan's plan to cut

class sizes. >> reporter: let's dig into that. is that what he said? >> well, if you had a class of five, great, but 50, it is impossible. >> reporter: and they show that schools with small classes fail, and big classes succeed, and therefore he says that the class size should not be given excessive weight in trying to make our schools better. certainly the president's educational advisers would not agree or would they? in a 2010 speech to the education institute education s secretary arne duncan said that class size may matter up to the third grade. >> but in is ekd dare schools it may save money and not hurt the students by allowing modest and targeted increases in class size. and sometimes in asia, they believe that a broad distribution of skill levels can

help to accelerate the student learning across the board by larger class sizes. >>er the truth is that while education might suffer under a ryan budget, how much and where to cut is not clear so that the grade for for the ad i'm tempted for an f for false, but it is m for misleading. tom forman, cnn, washington. this is a headline that caught our attention today from the daily beast website. it says that yoga teachers love obama. this article breaksdown the political contributions to the president and mitt romney by profession. here is what we are looking at. president obama has more contributions from lawyers, ceos and teachers and firefighters than romney. he also leads among rab bye-- rabbis and catholic priests and yoga instructors. r romney is supported by stock trader, wealth managers, entrepreneurs, farmers and

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putting us in control of our energy future, now. for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. good news and bad news coming from the congressional budget office today. massive u.s. spending cuts and tax hikes will shrink the u.s. deficit, but it will send the country into recession and raise the unemployment rate. i want to bring in alison kosik

from the new york stock exchange to talk about this. they release this report, but congress divided on which way to go on this. and alison, let's play this out if we can, if congress doesn't do anything, and people are talking about going over the fiscal cliff. >> exactly. if congress does nothing, and that means that the enormous amount of tax hikes and across the board spending cuts would all happen at once, and here is what the cbo, the congressional budget office, is predicting would happen. g gdp, meaning economic growth in the u.s. would shrink from a half a percent from the end of this year to the end of next year. we have not seen that is shrink since 2009. that would really slam the brakes on the recovery. and if we go over the fiscal cliff, it would cause the unemployment to go back up to 9%, and if congress steps in to do something before january 1st

to stop one or both of the policy changes, the cbo says that the e kconomy would create million more jobs and unemployment rate would stay at 8:00, but there is a cost to that as well if congress does step in. >> alison, talk about the debt, the idea of the spending cuts to reduce the debt. would that actually happen? >> yeah, so, the whole point of the spending cuts, suzanne, is to reduce the national debt and the deficit. and now the cbo is projecting that the spending cuts would bring down the debt of 73% of gdp to 58.5% in ten years. without the spending cuts to go into effect, the cbo projects that the gdp debt would skyrocket to 73%, and if that happens, it would improve the budget deficit to 4% gdp, and now if the cuts don't take effect, the deficit will hit a $1 trillion in 2013.

but here in lies the -- and part of the reason why you are seeing the congress frozen on this issue, because it is a decision of whether or not doing nothing could cause a recession here in the u.s., or doing something or possibly getting a handle on the deficit and the debt. it is kind of a double-edged sword and nobody wants to touch this hot potato issue in the middle of an election season. >> yes, true. and alison, the stocks, how are they doing? >> not well. the dow is down 117 points and lackluster picture on the jobs picture. unemployment claims first time that the jobless claims rose last week to 372 th,000, so youe seeing the layoffs still treading water and not giving much incentive for the investors to buy in today. suzanne. >> thank you, alison. a new study shows that the older a man gets, the higher the chance he will father a child with

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autism rates have increased almost 80% in the past five

years. a new study says the age of fathers may be part of the reason why. elizabeth cohen, tell us a little bit why this is the case. what does the study show? >> it's so interesting. this was a study out of iceland, and they took 78 families. so mom, dad, child. when they looked really closely at the genes, they found the mom was not the reason. the mom was not associated with any increased risk for autism. they also looked at schizophrenia. it was the dads. the dads were much more likely to have these random mutations linked to autism as they got older. so the numbers really tell the whole story. when they looked at the child -- i'm sorry, at the father. a 20-year-old father, that child would have 25 random mutations. so at age -- 20-year-old father, 25 mutations. a 40-year-old father, the child would have 65 random mutations. again, mutations associated with autism or schizophrenia. and i mean, i guess the bottom line, you know, eggs get old. as women, we hear that all the time. go have those babies before your

eggs get too old. well, sperm get old too. >> same the true. what if you're somebody who wants to be a father, you're an older man, is there anything you can do to limit the chances of these mutations? >> no, there's nothing you can do. they just happen naturally. but i want to add, if there's any 40-year-old men watching us who plan on conceiving a child tonight, it is okay, go ahead and conceive that child. nobody is saying don't do it. in fact, as a 40-year-old man, the risk of fathering a child with autism or schizophrenia, it's 2% at most. so the risk is still very, very small, but it's interesting, the difference as you get older. >> it's more of a risk as you get older, but the risk is still very small. >> you asked about what men with do. there is a discussion in this article in "nature" that maybe men should think about banking their sperm at age 20. that way, if you don't get married and have a child until you're, say, 50, you can always go back to that 20-year-old sperm that you left in the bank. no one's actively eoura is,ut it i an intesting

question. intestingebat thanks, izabeth. >> tnk encouragement for all the outhere. >> all the 40-year-old men watching us who want to conceive a child tonight. >> all right. >> thank you. the mars rover has completed its very first test drive. we'll show you the pictures. and he believes there's no such thing as disabilities, only bad technology. he is thneis" enamorsign of the human body, its elegance. nature has often these very powerful principles, that if captured in a technology, in a device, can be very, very extraordinary in their capacity to help people move again. so it's -- that's the basic thesis of our work. we steal from the cookie jar of nature, we apply that and we build synthetic constructs that emulates that functionality.

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not a mars rover if it doesn't rove, right? it's another high five moment for the nasa team operating the rover curiosity. 350 million miles away on mars, the machine took a little test drive this week. you can actually see the wheel tracks in the martian dust. pretty cool. curiosity roved forward, backed up a little bit, took some cool pictures. nasa plans to soon send the rover on to trips up to 100 miles a day. pretty cool. now here's don lemon. curiosity is on the move and so is tropical storm isaac. i'm don lemon. brooke is off. tropical storm isaac threatening to unleash disaster. it is dumping heavy rain in the caribbean right now and people throughout florida fear it could hit them next. that includes cities like tampa, where the republican national convention kicks off on monday. but right now, an already-vulnerable haiti is in the storm's path. it could devastate thousands of people who are still living in tents after the deadly

earthquake in 2010. cnn's gary tuchman in port-au-prince right now for us. gary, how are people preparing, should the storm hit? >> don, a lot of concern here, and there should be a lot of concern, mainly because there are still an estimated 400,000 people who live in tents after the catastrophic earthquake 2 1/2 years ago. so you have all these people who are just living outside. a lot of them have no knowledge whatsoever that either a tropical storm or a hurricane is expected to hit here tomorrow. they don't have tvs, they don't have the internet. most don't have radios. so there are people who we're talking to are saying, what? there's a storm coming? it's actually beautiful and sunny right now, and that's something we see time and time again when we cover these storms. but that's a concern. this is a country that's been devastated by tropical storms over the decades, but there hasn't been a major tropical storm or hurricane since the earthquake that killed 300,000 people. so a lot of concern here in haiti, as isaac starts coming close to this nation. >> gary, you're talking about the people there. what about officials?

are they prepared for this? >> you know, they set up shelters, they're doing the best they can. and i have to make it very clear, i've been here i think 12 times since the earthquake. things are looking much better in haiti right now. a lot of construction's been done. there's certainly still a lot of debris. there are people who live in the streets -- there used to be 1 million people who live in the streets. now it's 400,000. things look a lot better. nevertheless, there's no possible way of having enough shelters for the people who need shelters. so there's a lot of concern that this could be a very devastating event, even if if it's just a strong tropical storm, it could be devastating. keep in mind, the hurricane was 7.0. in most places with, a 7.0 earthquake wouldn't cause the devastation that it caused here. but because things aren't built well here, because there's lots of potential for an infrastructure that's just not developed, that's why in earthquakes, that's why in hurricanes you have this devastation here. >> absolutely. we'll keep watch. thank you very much, gary tuchman. let's go now to our severe weather expert, chad myers. he's also tracking this for us. chad, this can become a hurricane soon.

>> probably tonight. >> tonight? >> yeah, it's in very warm water, it's getting more organized. it's only 40 miles per hour, so it has a long way to go, almost double the strength to get here. here's haiti. here's the dr, the dominican republic, haiti and port-au-prince. fly you right into port-au-prince and i'm going to show you these tent cities, because i don't think you'll believe what you see. here is regular google earth. here's the palace. these are all people. all of as these dots, blue, white, or whatever color, that's a tent that's either canvas or plastic. keep moving, we have so much longer to go. there are 415,000 people still living in canvas or plastic. and that's a small one. this is one of the larger ones. this is one of the one that sean penn visits all the time. you see him on tv all the time. this looks like a regular neighborhood. these are only about 8 x 10 foot tents. you think, oh, that's big -- it goes from here to here. almost every public place has a tent up, somehow. every public park, every soccer field, tent city, just like th.

>> and of course, the models are only for how long. we don't know if it's going to hit tampa or haiti, but it's tracking towards haiti now, but it may not hit tampa. >> because we're so close to haiti, it's going to hit something. that cone isn't very large here in haiti. it may go over the dr border, may go a little bit south, but that's really bad for haiti anyway, because the winds will be coming this way, right over the mountain and right towards port ah minutes. as you get farther away, that cone gets larger and that tampa name has been thrown around so much. middle of this line, about 100 miles away from tampa, could be in the gulf of mexico, headed towards new orleans. could be in the atlantic headed towards north carolina. that's how many days we are away. five more days to talk about this. just keep watching. be ready. it's all bad news. >> thank you very much, chad myers. we appreciate it. you know, he just talked about tampa, with isaac threatening to hit florida, folks are preparing for the very worst. like this one you're about to see in miami, already in for a slew of customers who will be stocking up on the essentials

that they need. and we're just four days away from the republican convention in tampa, and florida governor rick scott taking no chances when it comes to protection and security. >> florida has a lot of experience dealing with hurricanes. we're going to be prepared for isaac in the event it does impact our state, in the event it does become a hurricane. isaac's a unique storm in this regard. it has the potential to threaten a major convention, designate it a special national security event. that's why i have convened local, state, federal, and convention officials for a twice-daily briefing. >> in addition to keeping folks aware of the situation, police on guard, as the feds worn anarchists could try to use explosives to block roads and uh shut down the transit system. of course, cnn will have live coverage of the republican national convention. it will begin monday in tampa, florida. anderson cooper, aaron burnett, candy crowley will join wolf blitzer to lead coverage each

evening, starting at 7:00 eastern, right here on cnn. more news developing this hour, so roll it! >> a mysterious disease baffling doctors. aids-like symptoms, but no hiv. and the infection targets one specific group. it's been called the forgotten war. as the pentagon reminds americans, more than 80,000 troops are still in afghanistan. from the candidates -- crickets. and did you know the white house brews its own beer? and now some are demanding the obama administration share its secret. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal.

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you know people, i know people, we all know people who may have been comfortable once upon a time, but are now struggling to make ends meet, clinging to their middle class lifestyles. today the numbers are out to prove that america's middle class is shrinking. take a look, my friends. here it is, 1971, the middle class constituted 61% of

america. 61%. now fast forward to 2011. the middle class had shrunk to barely half the population. 51%, middle class defined in this study by the pew research center has incomes ranging between $29,000 a year to $118,000 a year for a family of three. we'll talk about this in just a moment. what does this mean for america? are we truly becoming a nation of haves or have-nots? we'll have that conversation. first, i want to briefly share one american story. a woman trying to claw her way into the middle class as so many americans have before her. a woman in new york city. let's watch and listen. >> i watch children inside of my home. actually making $26 a day, because i watch two kids. daily rate is $13. right now, i'm in need of anything, so to me, $561 could help me. >> i get paid once a month.

it feels like a lot when i get it, but it's gone within the second or third day. my american dream, being wealthy one day. lavish houses, cars. that's it. seeing my child do good in life. >> since that video was shot, nia bishop left her apartment in the bronx with her 4-year-old child. she was facing eviction. joining us now from new york, rick newman of "u.s. news & world report." and we call upon rick to talk about all things money. so, rick, welcome. this study, though, shouldn't surprise anybody. don't we all have a sense that the middle class is shrinking? >> you're right, don. this study basically puts in one place a lot of details we've been hearing about in piecemeal fashion for the last three or four years, and confirms what a lot of americans already know. a lot of people know they're underwater on their mortgage and eir net h has . they know th it' getting

theynow th their incomesre down. they know that they're falling behind in terms of inflation. so we now have a lot of data, all in one place saying, if you're feeling this way, you're not imagining things, you're absolutely right. >> you know, both presidential candidates, rick, have made the middle class a focus of their campaigns. i want to listen to both of them, but first let's listen to president obama, speaking this month in orlando. >> four years ago, i promised to cut middle classes. that's exactly what i did. by a total of about $3,600 for the typical family. now i want to keep income taxes exactly where they are on the first $250,000 of everybody's income tax. so if you're a family that makes under $250,000 a year, like 98% of american families do, you

won't see your income taxes increase by a single dime next year. >> all right. you heard him, rick. taxes, income taxes, he said the words a number of times. so the president's pitch to the middle class is centered, is it not, on taxes? >> it's centered on taxes and just on trying to make everybody feel a little bit better, i think. taxes clearly are a big battle in this election, and the middle class, polls show that obama has a big edge among middle class voters. but he also has a problem. this recent report from pew and other reports have pointed out, everybody fell behind a little bit during the recession. that's no surprise, but the recession ended in 2009, and middle class people have continued to fall even further behind during the so-called recovery. so that's a big problem for obama, because he has to explain to voters why people really have not been doing much better under his policies, even though the recession supposedly ended three years ago. >> okay. let's listen to mitt romney,

now, rick, august 11th in norfolk, virginia. roll it. >> to strengthen the middle class, we'll provide our workers and our children with the skills to succeed. we'll cut the deficit, have trade that works for america, and champion small business and finally, we'll unleash our energy resources to achieve north american energy independence. >> so, rick, compare and contrast the two men's approach for us now. >> well, we heard some generalities there from mitt romney. i don't think those ideas are getting a lot of traction with voters. foll the polls show that those ideas are not really catching on and that's why we're seeing romney run against obama's policy, and even more than that, running against obama's record. and paul ryan in particular has been saying that for a long time, and now he's saying, look, he's put together a budget that is different, and he says better than obama's, so that's an alternative plan. we're finally at least getting some alternatives to the obama

policies, which we haven't really had up until now. so that's somhing voters can think about. but i think a lot of people are scratching their heads here, don, saying, you know, we actually had policies similar to romney's under president bush more eight years, and now we've had obama's policies, and nothing seems to be working. so maybe this isn't really a political problem. maybe this is a problem that's more endemic to the nature of the economy and what's happening in the world right now. and maybe this is somewhat beyond the ability of any president to fix. >> well, but, maybe there's room in there for the two candidates to hone their messages and actually do something. 52%, 42%, nobody has an overwhelming majority. so -- >> yeah, that's right. >> so some see that half full, half empty. rick newman, appreciate it, sir. thank you. >> yeah, thanks. a mysterious disease with aids-like symptoms baffling doctors and impacting a specific group of people. we'll investigate, next. [ female announcer ] nature valley protein bars.

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a new kind of aids baffling health officials, and when i say aids, i mean just what it standards for. acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. now, this mystery illness weakens immune systems just like the disease we all know about, but there's no virus, there's no

hiv. the other huge difference here, it is not contagious. and right now doctors have mainly seen it in asian people. the "new england journal of medicine" reports on what it calls adult onset immunodeficiency in its latest issue. i'll turn now to the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, which collaborated in researching this phenomenon. doctor, welcome. does this mystery -- what does this do? this mystery illness. and it looks like hiv, but it's not. >> well, the similarity to hiv is that the people who are afflicted with this disorder get these complicating infections that are very similar to some of the infections that people whose body's defenses are destroyed by hiv get. so that's where the similarity is. the difference is that it is not caused by an underlying virus like hiv. it's a very interesting phenomenon, that was a puzzle for a while, but then

investigators at the nih and elsewhere were able to study these individuals and find out thatintesngei agtry important in tiod protecting you and me from infections. and the body makes it for reasons we don't understand. it's called auto-immunity. namely making an inappropriate response against a protein that you need to protect yourself against infection. and that's the reason why these individuals who were studied in thailand and in taiwan are actually getting these infections that very closely resemble the complicating infections of hiv -- >> okay, doctor, taiwan in thailand, and it's been mostly asian people, but that's not a certainty? >> no, it's not. i mean, this is where the cases were first recognized. and because it was such a puzzle, we were asked here at

nih, some of our scientists, we were asked to help study those individuals. it's pretty well confined to asian people in those countries, even though most of the people in those countries obviously are of asian background. so there's a strong likelihood that this is a combination of a genetic component as well as an environmental component. the next thing to study, obviously, is asian people who live in other countries. so there has to be something about that area of the world. >> haven't there been people in the u.s., asians here? >> oh, we have many, many asians, obviously. we have not seen this in this country. that doesn't mean that it might not occur. it likely will be not -- certainly not a public health phenomenon in the threat that hiv was. this is acquired, it's not transmissible and it's not an infection. >> but doctor, there have been no cases here -- am i wrong, i thought there were at least a

couple of cases of asian americans. no? not at all? >> well, they have not been reported in that study. so the question is, if there are in this country, we need to investigate them in the same way that we investigated the people who were, in fact, from taiwan and from thailand. >> gotcha. >> okay, so, listen, then, should there be some concern about it, you know, people getting it from other countries and it coming in, cross-communication or what have you? is there any concern with that, that it's going to spread beyond asia? >> no, there's not any concern that this is a communicable disease that would spread the way an infectious disease would spread. this is an acquired disease that is not infectious and not communicable. so at this point in time, there's no reason to believe that this is going to be a threat, certainly not in the united states. we want to monitor and see if asian american people who live in the united states wind up with cases like this, but that

currently is not a threat at all and we don't anticipate it to be a threat. >> i have to run, but you have no clear number on the people who have died, right? >> no, no. no clear number. >> dr. anthony, thank you so much. appreciate your time. president barack obama touts a green energy plan early in his administration, he met bill keith, who has a small business making solar fans. now keith needs help from the white house and all he's hearing is silence. a cnn investigation is next. plp b

here's a story that's both maddening no matter which side of the political aisle that you're on. any day now, bill keith could lose his small indiana business. how he got here, after being something of a poster boy for the white house and its green energy policy, well, it's a story of politics and international intrigue. here's cnn's drew griffin. >> basically, we're in your garage. >> right. yeah, this is where i started. >> reporter: bill keith was just a roofer ten years ago when he

got the idea for this. a solar-powered attic fan, that he dreamed up and actually made in this northwest indiana garage. >> that just pumps hot air out of your -- it just pumps hot air out of your attic. so if i take it out in the sun. >> let's do this. >> as soon as it starts sensing sunlight -- so it doesn't even have to be right in the direct sunlight. as soon as it starts sensing it, it starts going. >> reporter: drawing hot air out of your attic, lowering your cooling bills, and using only the sun's energy to do it. sales have been good, obviously? >> yeah, i think my first year, we did $39,000 in sales. and it wasn't enough to cover all the expenses, and it kind of grew to where, you know, we probably our peak was a little over $2 million. >> reporter: he's one of those small business all-american stories, developing green energy jobs that a new administration pushing green energy just couldn't resist. >> i got a call from the guy

from the white house on a saturday night at 7:00 on my cell phone saying, you know, this is greg nelson from the white house. and i was like, yeah right. who is it really, you know? and he said, no, we'd like to invite you to obama's town hall meeting. >> that's where you asked a question? >> yeah, when i asked the question -- >> thank you, president obama. i'm bill keith from sunrise solar. i manufacture a solar-powered attic fan right here in indiana. >> reporter: with that one town hall appearance, bill keith became a white house solar superstar. >> you come to washington, you come to philadelphia, vice president biden is doing this. >> reporter: each time asked to talk about his green energy business. but now the half-dozen jobs bill keith created out of this garage are about to be lost. >> this is the good stuff here. >> uh-huh. and this has been working for how long for you? >> five-plus years now. >> this is the customized solar

panel keith needs to power his fans, but they are put together in hong kong. it is only part of this fan that is not made in the usa. the plastic is from indiana, the motor is from chicago, the wires are new jersey, the steel brackets. they're made just down the street. >> south bend. see, even my boxes are made here. and, you know, i -- the only thing that i can't get made here, and i've tried for ten years, but the only thing is is the panel. >> reporter: and that is suddenly a big problem. his customized solar panel assembled in hong kong is now part of a big business, big-time trade dispute between the u.s. and china. the obama administration is trying to protect big u.s. solar panel companies from having to compete with cheaper solar panels made in china, and president obama has placed a 250% tax on the very solar panels bill keith needs to keep his fans and his business running. this notice from u.s. customs

advised him the solar panels he imported in may will face the full import tariff. >> let's just take the small one, let's say 250%, right? so 2.5 -- that's $270,000 that i would have to come up with out of my pocket to pay customs and border. these guys are going to put me out of business. and i don't have any help. i've been trying to get help -- no one will help me. >> reporter: last month, keith decided to play his political card, writing to what he thought was his personal contact at the white house, greg nelson at the office of public engagement under the subject line "hanging on for life here," keith asked, "can you help me before i have to close my doors and let everyone go? please. i'm pleading with you." the response from gregory negativeson at the white house office of public engagement. thanks for bringing it to my attention, i don't know what is possible, but let me talk to a few folks asap.

we'll circle back soon. it's been nearly a month. late this afternoon, cnn did receive this e-mail from the white house basically stating the tariff highlights the degree to which solar panel manufacturers have faced unfair competition from countries like china and the president's move to impose a tax on chinese-made goods is a way to establish a level playing field with china for american businesses and workers. the e-mail did not address how the it was going to help obama's former solar superstar to save his business. >> this is the kicker. >> yeah. >> you were the star? >> i know. it's a little disheartening. actually, it's hard for me to look at it. i thought about taking it down. i got swept up into this parade around washington, d.c., invited multiple times. i was like, why am i getting invited? i'll show you tickets i get, invited to events, i get white house christmas cards, and i don't have my glasses on, but

what does that say? >> please stay in touch with suggestions that will help us, help you win the future. that's the guy, i think, that hasn't talked to you in a month. >> yeah. um, yh. disheartening. >> keith says he once believed president obama was on the side of small business and understood what it took to keep garages like his open. now on the brink of having to close his doors, lay off a half dozen or so workers, he can't even get anyone in the white house to answer an e-mail. >> there he is, drew griffin joins me now. why can't bill keith, that's his name, right? why can't he get those panels made here in the u.s.? >> you know, he's tried. tried time and again. in fact, when he started out his business, don, he had a maker in michigan. but that solar panel maker said, bill, we're not going to make these small custom jobs anywhere, go elsewhere. so he went to new york, got a company in new york. they were garbage. he couldn't keep the fans working. so he eventually got hooked up with this company in hong kong, which for five years has been

making just what he needs, and they work. >> why can't he import it without taxes? >> well, that's what we're caught up in. the obama administration wants to make a fair playing field, right, for the large solar panel manufacturers here in the u.s. the government feels like we're unfairly competing with china, which is subsidizing the market, flooding the market, has cheap labor costs over there. oba adm trying to give the american big solar panel market a leg up. the problem is, the big solar panel market isn't what we're talking about. he needs this one little part to put the power on his 95% american-made product, so he can finish it. and he just can't find anyone to make it shehere. >> and of course these days when you talk about solar energy or green energy, you know what comes to mind. >> solyndra. >> solyndra. >> but unlike solyndra, he wasn't getting any government loans or grants. >> and that's what is so frustrating.

here's a guy who basically mortgaged his house, got the business going, he gets no subsidy, no tax break, and his tax rate is about 40%. he sees solyndra, a company that gets a $500 million government loan and takes the money and goes under, and it infuriates him. he wants to be left alone, let him import his little product that no one in the u.s. will make, so he can continue to be this small business. >> we just talked about the middle class shrinking, helping the middle class, may want to start there. thank you, drew griffin. appreciate it. let's move on and talk about florida, because this is about politics. the state of florida on alert as a tropical storm comes barreling north. chad myers, where do we stand now? what's the latest? >> the latest, don, is that it's still a 40-mile-per-hour storm and it is not getting more organized, yet. it's in very warm water, not much shear, which means not a lot of wind blowing it apart and it will get bigger tonight and will make a run for haiti for tomorrow. and that is a city, a town, a

country that's in ruin from an earthquake. 400,000 people still living in the streets in tents, plastic and canvas. there's port-au-prince right there. moving west-northwest at 15 miles per hour, lit continue in that direction and directionally turn over cuba, and days away, don, i understand, but the cone centered over probably the keys and that eventually anywhere from the carolinas back over towards louisiana, that's a number one. that means a category 1 hurricane. if, in fact, this storm does not spend so much time over land down here, especially cuba, this will be a much bigger than category 1 hurricane as it makes its approach to the u.s. >> and of course, we're keeping an eye on haiti and tampa, but haiti, of course, more vulnerable. thank you, chad myers. we appreciate that. just a short time ago, mitt romney talked about his energy plan. >> i will set a national goal of america and north america, north american energy independence by

2020. north american energy independence by 2020. >> how he plans to do it? well, that is next. plus, fan ddango, the internet seller that sells movie tickets says the top seller right now is a movie that president obama's probably not going to like. (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. you expect something $40in return. billionaire oil tycoons charles and david koch and their special- interest friends are spending $400 million to buy this year's elections and advance their agenda. what's their payback? politicians who will pass laws that benefit special interests, but hurt the middle class;

more tax cuts for the rich, eliminate the minimum wage, big cuts to our schools, but big subsidies for oil companies, learn what you can do at...

mitt romney, out on the campaign trail today, offering a few hours ago in new mexico. romney revealed his plan for energy independence, but i want you to listen closely. this isn't the for u.s. independence, it's for north america energy independence. >> number three, i'm going to establish an energy partnership with canada and mexico. we need to work together with these guys, work collaboratively. and we need to have a fast track process to make sure that infrastructure projects are approved, and particularly we're going to get that keystone pipeline built as one of those first infrastructure projects to take advantage of their resources. >> romney's plan has little in

terms of renewable fuels, like wind and solar, which are a major part of president obama's energy policy. ofourse,e know the convention is coming up. cnn will kick off its coverage of the republican national convention sunday night, 8:00 p.m. eastern, with a profile of the presumptive presidential nominee, "romney reveal: family, faith, and the road to power," will be followed by a preview of the convention itself at 9:30 p.m., and on monday, live coverage of the florida republican national convention begins at 7:00 p.m. let's talk fandango, the website where you can buy tickets. why mention movie tickets in our political block? because right now fandango's top seller is a conservative documentary critical of president obama. it's beating out action dramas and animated flicks for that top spot. if the president wins a second term, where will we be in 2016,

the movie's tag line. >> for a long time, i sat between the two graves and wept. the pai i the sins of colonialism be set faer right and america be downsized. >> all right, so as of this afternoon, "2016" was 35%, 35% of fandango's ticket sales. and one place with a reported huge turnout is new york city. so why am i mentioning that? because that makes some industry watchers wonder if people are mistakenly thinking they're seeing a pro-obama film, since they're assuming that new yorkers are pro-obama, i guess. insider attacks on the rise in afghanistan, and the pentagon giving some troops advice on being ready to fight. plus, a man who turned his knee to get around into a

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u.s. troops have a paper weapon to help defend themselves against insider attacks from afghan security forces, those so-called green-on-blue attacks. it's a pamphlet called "inside the wire threats:afghanistan green and blue" according to a defense department official, the pamphlet advises u.s. and coalition troops to keep their weapons within arms' reach at all time. unarmed troops at meetings or

dining halls have been vulnerable in the past. also, it says troops under attack should not wake for backup, just resolve the situation. general john alan talked about green-on-blue attacks in today's afghanistan briefing. >> we think the reasons for these attacks are complex. some of them, we do believe, are about infiltration, impersonation, coercion. but some of them, and we think that's about 25% or so. but some of them are about disagreements, animosity which may have grown between the individual shooter and our forces in general or a particular grievance. >> department officials says the u.s. believes 40% of recent attacks by afghan security forces are due by afghan members' own combat or emotional stress. 15% stem from insurgency recruiting or intimidation. the civil war in syria is as

bloody as ever today. another 155 people were killed as syrians fight against a government that's shown the world it will murder its own people to stay in power. most of the deaths, 68, took place if damascus, the capital. and to the north, five people died in the violence in the suburbs of hama. >> anti-government fighters blew up several tanks and armored carriers after attacking a military base. cnn can not confirm the authenticity of this video. the uprising against the assad government is now in its 18th month. in today's human factors, a true made-in-america success story. ralph braun was told he wouldn't live past his teen years. well, he defied those odds, started his own company in his

hometown, and today has clients all over the world. dr. sanjay gupta has his story. >> reporter: each day you'll find ralph braun at the headquarters of the company he founded in the 1970s. the braun corporation. he's been in business 40 years and he has clients around the groeb. but such a successful future seemed unlikely when he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in 1946. >> my parents were told that i would probably not live past my teens. >> braun grew up in rural winnemock, indiana. he says back then there were no sidewalks and people like braun were not welcomed. >> the disabled people were looked at in the '40s and early '50s or whatever, as most the time they should just be sitting in a closet or whatever. >> reporter: his way of becoming successful was born out of necessity. by that time, braun was unable to walk, but he needed to be able to get to and from work. so he tapped his love of engineering, cobbled together

random parts, and created a scooter so he could get on the road. the year was 1963. >> the scooters you see today in the supermarkets and whereever were not -- there wasn't such a thing. so i built the first four-wheeler, which i call frankenstein, then i built the second one, which was the three-wheeler, which was the bride of. >> reporter: today his company manufactures several thousand wheelchair-accessible vehicles and lifts every year and braun is improving the lives of many people just like him, all over the world. dr. sanjayuptacnn, reing. reuecrews wor qckly when heavy rains cause flash flooding. and the president has a secret and some people are demanding some answers. they want to know what it is. one clue that has to do with beer. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol

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going to tell you what's happening around the country. right now, heavy rain pounded arizona that caused heavy flooding that swept this van right off the road this morning. that's scottsdale, arizona. two people were trapped inside that van. water continued to rise after rescuers arrived, reaching 3 feet high. look at that. they're in a backhoe, getting people out. emergency crews used a cherry picker to reach the driver and disabled passenger and pull them out of a window, luckily, to safety. that's a lot of water. and there's a giant mess on the interstate in louisiana. whoa! baton rouge fire crews deliberately set off that explosion to deal with a tanker leaking flammable liquid. it sent a huge fireball right into the air. the controlled burn was a success. all lanes of interstate 10 now reopened after being shut down

for almost 24 hours. rush hour in florida ends with a small plane turning a highway into an emergency runway. actually, the median of that highway. the single-engine plane was carrying three people when it started losing altitude over hillsborough, county. the plane was losing oil pressure and the pilot couldn't do anything but put it down along interstate 75. guess what? nobody was hurt. nobody. all right. remember president obama's beer summit? now the commander in chief has his own brew, and some are the demanding that the white house cough up the top-secret recipe. i want to know. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts.

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imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. is this a national security secret? not sure, but the white house has a secret beer recipe. and thousands of people want the brewer in chief to give it up!

the home brew is called white house honey ale. the white house honey ale. president obama reportedly first served it as his 2011 super bowl party. several groups have filed freedom of information requests, demanding the white house release the recipe. so the brew controversy bubbled up during today's white house briefing. take a listen. >> do you have any plans to release its beer recipes? >> not that i'm aware of. it's true that, uh -- it's true i don't always bring water out here. i'm not aware of any plans at this time to divulge the -- >> the freedom of information act filed on this issue. >> i'll have to take the question, examine it, taste it. >> mr. obama, the people demand some answers. so white house correspondent brianna keilar, we sent her to

find some. she has more now on this brewing controversy. >> reporter: the white house, president obama has thrown back more than a few beers. there was the infamous white house brew summit, with a harvard professor and the police officer who arrested him, a visit to a pub in obama's ancestral hometown of moneygall, ireland. >> i am very impressed. it is delicious. >> reporter: this past st. patrick's day in washington. >> cheers! >> reporter: and most recently -- >> bud lights all the way around. >> reporter: -- at the iowa state fair. prompting the crowd to alter the normal four more years chant to this -- >> four more beers! >> it is ice cold and tasty. >> reporter: on that trip to iowa, the president told a voter his campaign bus is stocked with a special beer brewed at the white house. now beer enthusiasts want the recipe. they're urging its release on

the white house website and one blog has even filed a freedom of information act request to get it. do you think the white house should release its recipe? >> oh, definitely. >> reporter: jay irazari is cofounder of one of the microbreweries in washington, located just 3.5 miles from the white house. >> what does that mean if the recipe is released? what happens? >> people will probably clone it, which will be fine. everybody will be like, hey, mr. obama, look what i'm drinking. your honey ale or whatever he's drinking, i guess. >> reporter: there are three kinds of beer brewed at the white house, according to this blog, obama foodorama, white house honey ale, white house honey blond, and white house honey porter. made with honey from the beehives on the south lawn. all this hoisting of suds is good politics too. it's supposed to make the president easier for voters to relate to. >> it's good to see him drinking beer. you know like president bush hunting, that relates to a lot

of people this the one's pretty much across the board. from washington state to florida, maine to california, everyone's drinking beer. >> reporter: but not everyone's drinking the white house beer. and as the effort to uncover the recipes heats up, even the white house press corps has weighed in. >> white hops isn't bad. if it was a white beer, maybe he should go looking into more of a wheat beer style, because then he could have bit house or something like that. that would be cool. >> so standing right -- she's not on the white house lawn, but at the white house nowit