cannot be enforced this november because it discriminates against minorities and that is the latest on that. there are still other states that will be following a similar court proceedings. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> you're in the cnn kwt newsroom." i'm fred ricka whitfield, president obama fired up and ramping up on the campaign trail. >> mitt romney on the trail as well. s s a isaac is now a tropical depression. let's begin with president barack obama hitting the campaign trail hard. he was in urbandale, iowa, just outside des moines for a rally this afternoon just moments ago, in fact. our athena jones was there. >> reporter: hi, fred. president obama is making two

stops here in iowa today as this campaign launches what they're calling the road to charlotte tour. that's the road for the democratic national convention next week in charlotte. this is the president's seventh trip to iowa just this year alone and his third trip in the past three weeks and it shows how important it is to his campaign to keep this state in the democratic, and he only has six electoral vote which is isn't that many, but in a close race every little bit matters and of course, this is the state that really launched the state's candidacy back in 2008. as you'd expect he'll continue to draw contrast between his plans to help the mdle class and what he said his opponents will do. let's listen to what he had to say. >> when governor romney had his chance to let you in on his secret, he did not offer a single new idea. yes, we had the same old policies that have been sticking it to the middle class for years. they talked a lot about me. they talked a lot about him, but

they didn't say much about you. >> reporter: the president's next stop today is in sioux city, iowa, and tomorrow he'll speak in boulder, colorado. back to you, fred. >> thanks so much, athena jones. cnn's live coverage of the democratic national convention from charlotte, north carolina, beginning tuesday eening at 7:00 p.m. eastern time, anderson cooper, erin burnett and candy crowley will be joining wolf blitzer for coverage. hoping to build momentum from the republican national convention. the presidential nominee is holding rallies in two battle ground states today, this morning in ohio and then in about an hour he'll be taking to the stage with runningmate paul ryan in florida. jim acosta joining me live in jacksonville where the crowd has gathered, a pretty sizeable crowd there in advance of the two arriving. >> reporter: yea. they'll have a big crowd in jacksonville and they had a very big crowd up in cincinnati,

ohio, today. mitt romney and paul ryan were in the battleground state of ohio. paul ryan went to ohio state university and a miami university of ohio football game as is paul ryan's alma mater so it would make sense that he would go to that game and the campaign trail has been chock full of sports funds today and lots of sports references from the republican ticket and mitt romney put his pitch to voters in cincinnati this way, dropping a college football reference to that crowd earlier today. here's what he had to say. >> one of the speeches i read was the convention speech of barack obama. he was not one of the ones that i wanted to draw from except i could not resist a couple of things he said because he made a lot of promises, and i noted that he didn't keep a lot of promises. one of the promises he made was he was going create more jobs and today 23 million people are out of work or stopped looking for work or are underemployed. let me tell you, if you have a

coach that's 0 and 23 million you'd say it's time to get a new coach. >> reporter: so there you go. it's college football kickoff today since there are so many games on the schedule and they figure we might as well make football references. earlier today the romney campaign did confirm that mitt romney will be doing some debate prep during the democratic convention. he will be in vermont, not a battleground state. it's across the state line from where he'll be staying in new hampshire, but he's going to be doing debate prep with ron portman playing the role of barack obama at the home of carey healy, and the debate prep will be going on tuesday, wednesday and thursday. so you can tell they're definitely gearing up for that one-on-one matchup with the president coming up in the fall, fredericka? >> and clearly studying the presentation of the president

during that convention later on this week as well and probably trying to incorporate that into debate practices. >> jim acosta, thanks so much. >> isaac is now a tropical depression and it's pushed its way out of the south where the extreme summer heat is back, and the lower mississippi river has reopened to barge traffic, but across much of the south, louisiana, the disaster is only starting to fade. some coastal towns are still flooded and isaac has left lingering power outages. almo almost and louisiana will be in the dark for two more days. >> isaac is dumping much-needed rain in missouri and illinois and farmers there have been dealing with a severe drought for months. in fact, it is those drought conditions that are being blamed at least in part for the cost of food being up a whopping 10%. that's according to a new report

from the world bank. national correspondent susan candiotti has a look at the reality right now in some of those fields. >> reporter: with cornstalks crunching under his feet, richard dietrich goes to harvest, but thanks to this summer's drought his field corn in farmington, missouri, is fried to a crisp. in blistering, 90-degree heat, not much else to do, but climb into his combine and mow down the stalks. >> i mean, you put a lot of money, time and effort into it and then you see no return. it's a hard thing to do. >> reporter: hard for every farmer in the midwest whose crops are virtually a total loss. this is so brittle. what is left in here? what is left in here? >> there's simply nothing.

this one has -- it basically died right before reproduction. >> it's like dust, practically. >> he'll salvage what little he can, maybe five bushels per acre compared to the 120. >> i'll turn the cows into this field in the next few days and they can eat some leaves and stuff like that, but they won't get much, but it will keep them alive for a few more days. >> here in missouri, rain is 9 to 15 inches below normal. even if isaac delivers three to five inches of rain as predicted it won't wipe out the drought, but every little drop will help. isaac's rain is coming too late to help some ranches who already threw in the towel. >> it really hurts when you see a producer is come up to the counter who came in and said i just sold my cattle today and he would be crying there at the counter. is there any help out there? there's nothing we can do. >> reporter: no rain means no grazing on pastures. no rain means the price of meat

has skyrocketed and ranchers are giving cows hay now way before they usually do in the fall. his son won't let hard times get to him. he's fifth generation. farming's in his blood. >> this is just farming. that's the way it is so you take the good with the bad. >> so what's your message to isaac? >> come take a visit. i'll grill. i'll have some drinks in the cooler. come on. set up shop. >>. >> reporter: you've been staring at that sun all summer long. the rains are coming. what do you think? >> great. i can't wait. just to walk in the rain once. >> just to feel it. >> just to feel it come down. >> and start walking in greener pastures. >> susan candiotti now joining me from farmington, missouri. so the rain, has it been significant? has it made a difference at all what little bit tey've received? >> well, i tell you, i'm wearing all of this rain gear, but we've

barely had a couple of showers and that's been it. i'm standing on the spot where i can illustrate three parts of the problem. all of these rows of hay have had the farmers dipping into it early and normally they'll wait until the fall and winter, but because the pastures have dried up, that's the problem. behind me you see the brown fields, that's where they had to chop down the corn. that's a loss no matter how much rain they got now, and over here, the soybean fields. they will survive this drought and they're getting a little bit of rain and this additional rain they'll get this weekend will help, but some of the stockses are half as big as they should be and above me, fred, we're seeing a lot of dark clouds, but they seem to keep rolling by. they are posed to get more rain tonight. >> only if it would drop a lot of rain. thanks so much. susan candiotti, appreciate that. let's find out what else can be expected. karen maginnis, should they have

more hope that more rain will be on the way? >> fredericka, the computer models are suggesting perhaps the eastern edge of missouri could see some significant rainfall. this is a slow, lumbering system, but it is losing a lot of its punch, but it is potentially going to trigger some storms across illinois, the central mississippi river valley and the ohio valley, but look at who got most of the rainfall. in louisiana on the seventh anniversary of katrina it made landfall in louisiana with 20-plus inches of rainfall in new orleans and just about 450,000 people still without power in southeastern louisiana. the temperature right there right now 90 degrees and that's a hot temperature if you're doing without air-conditioning, but this is what it feels like with that heat index. it feels like it's 103 degrees and it could take several more days before the electricity gets turned back on. we have two tornado watches. this one across south central

portions of illinois and into kentucky as well as missouri goes into 9:00 local time. here ate back side and the remnants of what is left of isaac and this will continue to swirl around and make its way toward the east and there's not a whole lot of punch left with this unless you're in line across the southern edge of this where some of the thunderstorms are firing up. if you do see tornadoes they should be short lived and there's the slight risk from illinois all of the way down toward little rock. fred, back to you. >> thanks so much, karen. appreciate that. a drugmaker's product caused thousands of babies to be born with disabilities and now issues an apology. survivors are speaking out. ntgo abigail higgins had...

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big news overseas today. just take a look at the top stories right now. two suicide bombers hit a joint u.s.-afghan military base killing 13 people. 78 others were hurt. among the dead, a child, two women and four policemen. the taliban claiming responsibility. an outrage in south africa after police arrest 270 miners for the murders of 34 fellow miners. those miners were actually shot by police. south africa's justice minister

is demanding an explanation. and it's been 50 years, but a german manufacturer has now apologized to the survivors of thalidomide. the drug taken by pregnant women caused thousands of babies to be born with shortened arms and legs and in some cases no limbs at all. for years, victims have demanded justice staging protests around the world. jonathan mannman is following the story and joining me now on this. decades after the fact with an apolo apology. >> this is the astonishing thing. depending on your age you either never heard of thalidomide or it's the name of a nightmare because of these birth defects. >> yea. we've known about this for years. it was clear in the years that women were taking the drug, why not 50 years later? in germany, it's a small statue as a memorial to the victims of thalidomide and the manufactu r manufacturer, the chief executive officer, in the speech he apologized for the first time. why did it take 50 years?

because they fought all kinds of legal battles from victims and the conclusion of those legal battles was tiny amounts of compensation and no admission of error or guilt by the company. they came forward and said yes, it is finally time for us to apologize and apologize they did. >> they were given thalidomide, why? >> it doesn't sound like any of them were terribly sick. thalidomide was supposed to help them with nausea, sleeplessness and the kind of things that pregnant women have been doing fine with ever since human beings have been walking the face of the earth. there is this drug that they discovered in short order did horrendous, horror movie kinds of things to their children. most of the children or many of the children were too deformed to even survive. those who did survive have faced a lifetime of coping with limbs that are missing, limbs that are shrunken and just trying to get by on the the small

compensation. >> so now decades later, some of these victims or even their surviving family members are saying why now with this apology? >> the thing is it's not enough. let's listen up. >> i have read the speech or so-called apology. it's the sort of apology you do when you're not really sorry. shock is having your precious child born without arms and legs. it's accepting that your child is not going have that life that you wanted for her. >> gosh, that's heartbreaking. >> it is because they're not children anymore. some of these as you can see, the parents are elderly and the children are now middle-aged people and becoming elderly themselves. >> who have had life times of struggles. >> the compensation in germany was $1200 a month or $1500 a month and it's barely enough to

live on if you're an able-bodied person and if you need specialized care it's horrible. horrible story. >> it is tragic. >> the drug was widely distributed but not ever approved in the united states. an extraordinary thing, the fda looked at it, studied it and one particular scientist, a courageous woman said no, we can't do this they put enormous pressure her. john kennedy gave her a medal because that lady's determination kept thalidomide from being approved in the united states and it was widely used in clinical trials and they gave it to their patients and those women, their children are still trying to get reimbursed. >> incredible. in this day and age no one is prescribing it, louie. we hope no one is prescribing thalidomide to mothers who are mothers to-be and are feeling nauseous. it is being used but to treat other things. >> the fda didn't approve it in

1961 and they did approve it for leprosy and bone marrow cancer and it is a successful drug and is being used but it cannot escape the shadow of that horror of the early '60s. it's a lesson to us all about how careful we all have to be. >> john mann, appreciate that. a former store manager for the national clothing chain wet seal says she was fired because of her race. we'll have details on her discrimination charge and we'll introduce you to a cnn hero that helps the thousands of concern who are caregivers for their parents. busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank.

>> as children across the country head back to school, behind closed doors more than a million of them are caring for ill, disabled or aging family members. nearly a third of them are under the age of 12. this week's cnn hero is helping those children. >> are you okay? here, let me help you. >> my mom has been sick for as long as i can remember. >> you need more methadone. helping her out is a bigger priority than going to school because i don't know what with i would do if something happened to her.

i wouldn't be able to really live. >> in the united states there are at least 1.3 million children caring for someone who is ill, injured or elderly or disabled. they can become isolated. there are physical effects, the stresses of it. >> thank you, baby. thank you so much. >> but these children, people who don't know they exist. >> i'm connie. i am bringing this precious population into the light to transform their lives so that they can stay in school. >> i offer each child a home visit. has the rent been helpful? >> we look at what we can provide to meet the need. >> we go into the schools with appear support group and we offer out of school activities that give the child a break. >> this is so relaxing.

>> so they know that they're not alone. >> we give them hope for their teacher. >> now i'm getting as and bs, and i feel more confident. >> but we have a long way to go. there are so many more children that need the support. >> oh, my goodness. heartbreaking. connie's group has provided support to more than 500 kids in florida. to learn more about her, visit cnnheroes.com ask in a few short weeks we will be announcing the top ten cnn heroes for 2012. are you okay, babe? i'm fine. ♪ ♪

♪ with a subaru you can always find a way. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. 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, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you?

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don't wait. the tempur ergo savings event ends october 14th. and five-year special financing ends september 5th. visit tempurpedic.com now. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. new orleans escaped the worst of hurricane isaac with help from a massive new flood protection system that cost more than $14 billion. most of it paid by taxpayers all over the country. our josh levs is here to show us where that money went and how effective it appeared to be. >> fred, i want to tell you what we've been seeing in recent days is billions of taxpayer dollars at work and that's what we saw in new orleans. last hour i was telling you about the biggest project to protect this city and folks, this right here is the biggest project on the west side to protect the city. this has called the west closure complex that allows this to be closed and what i want to do is take you to a map.

let's go to that because i want you to see how significant this is for the entire country and for new orleans. here's the key for the massive complex that cost $1 million. what we have here is harvey canal and algiers canal that come together. this was an area that was flooded during hurricane katrina and right below where they come together you have the west closure complex. that is a critical location and that's why nearly $1 billion went there. officials say it did its job, but while that site was getting a lot of attention there are pump stations all over the new orleans area going to work and they're a huge part of that $14.5 billion in spending. let's go to this animation now because i want you to see something that's happened at pump stations all over new orleans. what they needed to do was strengthen them because a lot of these were inundated during hurricane katrina and this is what many of them looked like. 20 of them had this done which was called fronting protection and what you have is these drainage pipes that need to get

rid of the water before it can get over and into the city. so, they needed to make it much stronger and build these out much farther away so that the water could not overwhelm, the water could not flood out these pumping stations and they built all of this and let's skip ahead in the video. what you will see is these pipes were brought way out so that this could not get overwhelmed and the concrete t wall coming up from the ground kept the drainage pipes in place and part of this multibillion-dollar project is help prevent the pump stations from being overwhelmed and we're able to see the specifics right here once that concrete wall was up and it all stayed put and let me jump to one last video here. another thing that happened during hurricane katrina was that the generators that run these pump stations got drowned. so they stopped working. obviously, what they did here was strengthen them, raised them and raised the generators and raised the electrical systems that was here and they made all these changes and with all of

this in place they feel confident now. this is part of what they're calling the 100-year flood level protection and they asked the army corps of engineers. what does that mean? any given year, there's a 1% chance that can overwhelm this whole new system. i was a shop owner in new orleans who feels strongly that they've not done enough and a lot more needs to be done and there are those who feel that way, but there's no question that these steps are a giant step forward past where we were during katrina. >> wow! fantastic animation to underscore how that system works. thanks so much, josh. >> you got it, fred. thanks. there's a new way to book a room when you travel out of town. the last time the democrats gathered for the convention and i'll tell you how it works. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options

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the democratic national convention getting started tuesday in charlotte and lots of people attending the conference still actually might be looking for a place to stay. i understand a lot of the hotels, however, booked solid. how about a home sharing start-up called air b and b, taking advantage of the need at the 2008 dnc in denver. fast forward four years later air b & b is now worth a billion dollars. what is it? lori segal is here to tell us about this start-up. so we're talking about air b & b being able to help you find a place to stay and it's not necessary's a hotel room. >> it sounds sketchy having a stranger stay in your home. four years later this company has a lot of people booking

hotel rooms on it or booking rooms on it so essentially how it works, you go on air b & b site and enter in your check-in day and enter the check out day and it will show you listings all across the world. air b & b is in 192 countries. it's in 26,000 cities. so you put these listings in and there are a lot of options and what it will show you is it will show you all different types of pictures, places and hosts and you think these people could be completely random, but the idea for air b & b is people have to sign up through facebook and you put in your twitter handle and phone number and all types of things that seem very legitimate and that's all private, of course, but it makes it seem like you're not completely taking a place from a stranger. a lot of people are using it and another thing that's interesting about airbnb is the types of listings. it's not just a couch somewhere or an apartment somewhere. it's homes, apartments and also you can rent a treehouse in

california. >> i know. you can rent a boat in new zealant. you can rent a castle in italy. a lot of hosts are willing to put their properties on here and a lot of people are booking and it's come a long way, fredericka. >> you get a sense of being more at home even when you're on the road. i actually did that. i rented an apartment instead of a hotel and it was comfortable and great so i understand why a lot of people are doing it. take us back then to do a little history. how is it the dnc or at least that event in 2008 actually helped launch this company? >> so there's a classic entrepreneurship tale here and it's really funny because i was speaking with brian last weekend at their headquarters and you know, this founder had $1,000 in the bank before this got started. he had this crazy idea to have people rent out their homes and he said people will want to do this and they'll see a need for this and everyone thought he was crazy and no one took him seriously and he was waiting for the game-changing moment. listen to what he had to say

about that moment and when it came to the dnc. >> president obama was about to be moved from a 20,000-seat arena in the pepsi center to an 80,000 -seat stadium and there was a sign that said where will they stay? and a light bulb went off and it's hard to know where airbnb would be today. >> essentially that was the moment they'd been waiting for and they left and they went to denver. they rented places on airbnb and they're such hustlers that no one would fund them at this point, but they sold cereal called obama os to help fund their start up. he definitely has more than $4,000 in the bank account and the company is worth $1 billion. so they did something right. >> lori segal, thanks so much and appreciate that information. for more high-tech news and reviews go to

cnn.money.com/technology and look for gaming and gadgets, the tab there. three women sue the popular teen clothing store wet seal and it has nothing to do with the clothes. to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! ntgomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable.

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a popular teen clothing store, wet seal, is in some hot water. three former store managers are suing the store chain for racial bias claiming wet seal had a policy of firing and denying pay increases and promotions to african-american employees because they didn't, quote, fit the brand. cnn's kyung lau has the story. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> young, hip and trendy, this is the image of teen retailer wet seal. an image that nicole cogdel did not fit at least that's what she said management said to her. >> being terminated because you're african-american is something totally different. >> fired says cogdell because she's plaque. in 2008 she was a manager at this wet seal in this mall in pennsylvania. a mall where there are more black customers. she did so well at her jock that

the district manager promoted her in the higher end mall, the king of prussia. most of the customers there are white. the vice president of the company came to inspect the store and that's when cogdell said she heard this. >> she literally looked to my district manager and said that's the store manager? i wanted someone with blond hair and blue eyes. four days later cogdell was fired. cogdell said her replace am at the king of prussia mall was a white manager with less experience and poor performance record, but paid more. >> there have been cases like this against the fashion industry before what makes this one so different is lawyers say they can trace a discrimination to the vice president at wet seal with an e-mail. >> the e-mail was forwarded to cogdell. she says it's from the very same vice president who said she wanted a blond manager with blue eyes. the e-mail from the vp who has since left wet seal says, quote. need diversity, african-american

dominate, huge issue. >> when you read that, what did you think? >> i thought, this is the essential smoking gun. the lawyer represents cogdell and two other former wet seal managers who were fired, denied pay raises or promotions as part of an unwritten, but unforced corporate policy because black employees don't fit the brand image. it is a window into the ugly secret of retail. >> in retail in particular, people are accustomed to making judgments on people based on their looks and i think they lose track of the fact that under the law, you may not make decisions about employees based on their race. they're asking a federal court in california to declare this a class action lawsuit on behalf of 250 current and former black managers at wet seal. wet seal would not speak to cnn on camera, but released this statement. we do not discriminate on the basis of race or any other category.

weir confident that when all of the facts come out on this matter, the public and our customers will see that african-americans are valued members of our employee base including our management. wet seal's image campaign does include an african-american model. cogdell who no longer works in retail believes this like much of fashion, is just an image. kyung lau, cnn, los angeles. and the woman in that piece who said she was fired for being black will join gary tuchman for an interview. tune in for that tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios >> earlier this year we brought you the story of a little leaguer that was playing at the top of his game despite his circumstances. dr. sanjay gupta has an update. chipper jones, third baseman for the atlanta braves saw the story and wanted to meet this remarkable young fan. >> he can hit.

throw the ball, even slide into home plate. and all of the way around the base. 6-year-old reese holloway wants to play in the big leagues just like his idol chipper jones who plays third base for the atlanta braves. when reese was born his parents were shocked to discover he didn't have a left hand and baseball was the furthest thing from their minds. they weren't sure if he'd learn to crawl without a success hand so they got him a prosthesis, but little reese didn't want it. he did learn to crawl and walk and then something remarkable happened. reese taught himself how to hit a ball. he was just 2. >> he got plastic balls and he would hold them under his chin and drop it and swing the bat and he would hit the ball, no problem. he's a natural and has been playing on a team since he was 3 years old. as far as the holloways are concerned, reese doesn't have a disability. >> i was born like that.

>> and they try to never hold him back. >> so far the only thing he can't do is tie his shoes. >> anything he wanted to do, we had the him try it. there was no saying no you can't do that because you only have one hand. >> his parents aren't the only ones rooting for reese. when chipper jones saw the story about him he invited the little leaguer and his family to see the braves play the marlins in atlanta. first came batting practice. >> nice to meet you, reese. and autographs. >> there you go, bro. >> and then a private meeting with his hero. >> he signed my glove and my ball. he signed my banner, too. >> he was squirming the whole time. >> then it was time to play ball. >> go, chipper! >> it meant a lot to him. he'll remember this for the rest of his life. >> after this experience, reese is more determined to follow in chipper's foot steps and make it to the big leagues. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> what an inspiration. chipper jones told his loyal fan

to try hard, do his best no matter what life throws his way. young reese is even more enthusiastic now about playing baseball.

the parents of a former u.s. marine who was jailed in iran for allegedly spying for the cia are pleading to get him out. >> he couldn't stop crying. he was crying and then -- and he was asking, mom, i don't know

why i'm here. >> he was arrested a year ago. the u.s. denies he ever worked for the cia. on to pakistan now. intelligence officials tells cnn the suspected u.s. drone strike has killed four was fired into a house and a vehicle and it all took place in a tribal region bordering afghanistan. officials say the area was a militant hideout. the u.s. denies the cia run drone program is responsible for the deaths of a high number of civilians. in syria activists say 89 people were killed today. the death toll this week reached a record 1,600 people. even for those who can escape the violence living conditions are worsening dramatically. unicef says access to shelter, clean water, and sanitation is a serious issue. >> unicef is concerned deeply that in syria and the surrounding region we may be or

are looking at one of the biggest humanitarian emergencies in the last decades when you consider so many factors involved in this crisis. my colleague just mentioned one may seem trivial but it's not, the back to school. children are meant going to be going back to school in a few weeks. is that going to happen? i doubt it. so they're going to be stuck in refugee camps or idps in syria. >> the opposition tells us rebel forces have captured a military airforce base to prevent air strike and shelling of victims. thousands of fans are standing up for penn state. we'll take you to the nittany lions' first game since the devastating child sexual abuse scandal. itary, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military

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like demolition derbies. and drive thru weddings. so if you're one of those people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. college football had a new era kick off today at penn state. it wasn't what fans were hoping for. after all they've been through with the sexual abuse scandal fans hoped for a win on the first game but the nittany lions were defeated. you know, that's the way sports goes. you win some. you lose some. is there a feeling, joe, people felt like they lost this game because they've lost nine players or is it just that the competition was just that good? >> you know, ohio university is a very under estimated team,

fredricka. they won ten games last year, won a bowl game, returned a lot more starters than penn state did. on paper people said penn state was supposed to win this game but as you said, it's ban long, agonizing ten months for the university, for the town of state college, and today the focus was finally back on football and as the fans file out of the stadium they leave with a disappointing loss. the day started with so much emotion, so much promise. there was a nice moment just before the game started. it was a moment of reflection for all the sexual abuse vick timgs out there and then after that they had the student body arm in arm swing back and forth singing the alma mater. for the first time in 46 years these fans, these very, very devoted fans are seeing a new football, head football coach usher the team out on to the football field. it's the bill o'brien era. with the new head coach comes new tradition. he has the name on the back of the jerseys now for the players. he wanted to recognize each

individual that decided to stay on this team and not jump ship and transfer to another school. bill o'brien, fredricka, has had so many challenges in his first eight months in the job, he just has another one added to the list and that is keeping the spirit up among these players. and keeping the hope in these fans as well. >> joe, did the fans say it felt any different in that stadium given all that they have been through, that, you know, that first game just had a different air about it? >> yeah. you know, being here last night, talking to a few fans at the pep rally held in beaver stadium, there are 21,000 people that came out for that, i got the sense they're excited for this new chapter, excited for a new season, a fresh start. but they feel really exhausted and beaten up with the media coverage and with all that has gone on the last ten months. they are kind of looking forward to that fresh start and, unfortunately, in sports you win some as you said and you lose some and this one ends up with a loss. definitely looking for a fresh start.

>> i'm sure their hope is they can only go in one direction from this point, right? from a loss to maybe eventually a win. all right. joe carter, thanks so much. appreciate it. all right. our crew in selma, louisiana is back from a boat tour of damage left behind by tropical storm isaac. we'll show you what they found. go-gurt? yep...doh. [ boy ] slurpably fun and a good source of calcium. dads who get it, get go-gurt. you want to make sure it goes up and stays up. [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here. that's why i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. [ chirp ] and the fastest push-to-talk nationwide. [ male announcer ] upgrade to the new "done." [ chirp ] with access to the fastest push to talk, three times the coverage, and android productivity apps. now when you buy one motorola admiral rugged smartphone, for ninety nine ninety nine, you'll get one free. visit a sprint store, or call eight five five, eight seven eight, four biz.

all right. welcome back. you're in the cnn newsroom. i'm fredricka whitfield. republican nominee mitt romney is preparing for his second so-called victory rally today in a battleground state. he'll speak to supporters in jacksonville, florida in about 30 minutes or so from ow