well. and they don't overwork them. i think if we paid our teachers better, we didn't overwork them and we valued them more, the marketplace would work out the other issues. >> that is the son of a teacher. tomorrow on "starting point" as we mark the 11th anniversary of september 11th. we'll be joined by former new york mayor, rudy giuliani, current mayor michael bloomberg and homeland security chairman peter king. "cnn newsroom" with carol costello begins now. happening in the newsroom, on strike. tens of thousands of teach rs on the picket line this morning. some 400,000 students impacted. parents scrambling to find care for their kids. shifting message. the romney camp walking back comments over obama care. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. of course. there are a number of things i like in health care reform that i'm going to put in place. >> so we're asking, should romney bend on obama care? arctic battle. just off the northern coast of

alaska, oil giant shell starting to drill into the sea. environmentalists concerned about a repeat of bp's gulf oil disaster. he's had four neck surgeries and missed the entire 2011 football season. that does not matter for peyton manning. the denver broncos quarterback looks like the manning of old. looks like the manning of old. "newsroom" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. happy monday to you. i'm carol casostello. thank you so much for joining us this morning. it's 8:00 a.m. in chicago. but on this school day teachers are out of the classroom and on the picket line. nearly 30,000 union members are now on strike. their goeshs negotiations broke last night.

cnn's casey wian is live outside an elementary school. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. this is the sight parents in chicago did not want to see. teachers not in their classrooms. instead, outside of their schools walking the picket line. that started about 6:30 a.m. local time this morning after, as you mentioned, those talks broke down last night. those talks were described over the weekend as very intense, very productive. the two sides have said that they're very close on the issue of teacher pay. they're offering a 16% raise over four years for the average teacher. but the school board says they basically cannot offer anymore. they did all they could. here's what the school board president had to say. >> the mayor said last night that this was a strike of choice, choice by the teachers. teachers' union. that it was avoidable, and it was. for the last several days, we have been negotiating intensely.

we've made over 20 proposals to improve this offer. apparently we were making proposals at the time they were out walking out on strike. >> reporter: now, some of the teachers we've spoken with this morning here, also the teachers union, saying that there are other issues that they are striking over. and the chief of those issues remain the working conditions that the teachers have in the schools, specifically a new way of evaluating these teachers that are tied to test scores. the teachers union says that could result in the dismissal of up to 6,000 teachers over the next one or two years. they're also very concerned about health benefits. they say they do not want changes to their existing health programs. in the meantime, carol, what this means for parents, they're scrambling. working parents scrambling to find arrangements for child care for their school age children. schools like this have been opened for four hours this morning, starting in about a half hour.

that's a temporary fix. it's not a full day. and it remains to be seen how many parents are actually going to be willing to drop off their kids for a temporary arrangement. have those kids actually have to cross this picket line, carol. >> tough. casey wian reporting live from chicago this morning. a controversial drilling project in alaska now under way. shell oil is building an offshore oil well in a sea 90 miles off the north slope between the united states and russia. just the possibility of a disaster like the one in the gulf back in 2010 has people in alaska very concerned. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. this project has been in the work for six years now? >> there has been. there's even been a two-year delay for more safety testing because of the bp disaster that happened in the gulf of mexico. i want to give you an idea just what this project looks like. this is the animation from shell oil of the site we're talking about. what's happened here is the obama administration, it gave

the go ahead to start what it calls limited preparatory activities. that includes installing a blowout preventer. we all learned that term two years ago when pb's blowout preventer failed in the gulf of mexico and launched the biggest oil disaster. that prompted a moratorium on all offshore drilling on new projects. the u.s. geological survey estimates we may be able to get more than 90 billion barrels of oil, carol, from this part of the world. that's about a 13-year supply based on how much crude americans use every day. carol? >> shell says it could handle a big oil spill. environmentalists are not so sure. why? >> oh, yeah. you know this. environmentalists, gosh, they've really fought for this for decades. first of all, they don't want drilling to disrupt the fragile wildlife habitat there. second, there are big safety concerns with bp still very fresh on their minds. shell insists, though, it's taken every precaution. sierra club disagrees, saying approving this project is,

quote, like building -- like a building inspector letting a developer start construction on a skyscraper on shaky ground before the safety plans are even complete. loek cals are also worried abou what a potential problem would do to animals in the region that residents depend on for survival. again, carol, the government has put shell through the wringer on this. it took six years to get approval. the project is going forward. everybody's just hoping for the best. carol? >> alison cottkosik, thank you. congress is getting back to work today after a five-week recess. live picture of capitol hill. looks lonely yet. that's because nobody, as in lawmakers, arriving just yet because the gavel doesn't come down until 2:00 p.m. eastern. they'll start arriving then. question is, will law mamakers actually accomplish anything when the gavel does come down? gallup poll shows only 10% of americans approve of what congress is doing.

with 58 days to the election, are they expected to do anything to turn that around? senior congressional correspondent dana bash joins us now. what can we expect on the hill today? >> reporter: well, let me put up on the screen for you what we really expect between now and the election. i'm not sure if you can consider one item a list. let's look at it. fund the government. it is congress's basic function to make sure that the government is funded. the real job is to pass about a dozen spending bills. none of that has happened. they all understand that it is politically dicy, to say the least, for both parties to allow the government to shut down. they're going to make sure it's funded for six months. there are some things that may get done between now and the election. i emphasize "may." the first on that list is helping victims of this summer's drought. particularly the farmers. of course, victims of the hurricane. underneath that is a farm bill. that is going to be a pretty heavy lift if they can get it done. farm bill is done for five

years. it is a trillion dollars in spending. and it does some reforms, but there are some major party and regional differences over how to get that done, carol. >> okay. we saw the first list. what are some of the things that congress will not be working on? >> i know this is going to shock you. that list is a lot longer. the things they're not going to get done before the election. first and foremost, the so-called fiscal cliff. now, this is the whole idea that congress -- excuse me- that the government will have to cut spending. that's the law right now. and that those bush-era tax cuts will expire by the end of the year. now, most people here realize that is going to be the number one issue that congress is going to work on after the election, because they have to between now and the end of the year. but there are other things that are really important that are likely going to fall by the w waysi wayside. cyber security legislation. many in the intelligence community say is absolutely critical for national security. the violence against women act,

the law of the land, that is going to expire. and postal reform. may not sound like that big of a deal, but it really is a big deal for those of us who really still rely on snail mail. >> dana bash reporting live from capitol hill this morning. oh, let's talk sports. the fun kind. it had been 611 days since peyton manning played a meaningful football game. after last night it looked like he'd never been gone. manning and the denver broncos beat the pittsburgh steelers 31-19. manning's first touchdown throw a 71-yard bomb. that was also record breaking. he becomes the fastest quarterback to throw 400 touchdowns quicker than dan marino or brett favre. >> dan marino and brett favre are two of my favorite players of all time. two of the best quarterbacks of all time. i don't really feel comfortable being in that company. but to be mentioned amongst

them, it's truly humbling and quite an honor. and it's not one that i take lightly. >> opening weekend ends tonight with a double header. cincinnati bengals travel to baltimore ravens. then the san diego charges visit the black hole for a date with the oakland raiderraiders, 10:1 eastern. serena williams keeps on winning. the olympic gold medalist took home her fourth u.s. open title. williams fought off two match points to beat victoria azarenka. i think she was happy. on the men's side andy murray will try to keep his hot streak alive. the men's olympic gold medalist takes on novak djokovic this afternoon. the president gets a boost in the polls and in the pizza shop. we'll have more on the man who literally gave obama a lift. i have a cold, and i took nyquil,

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you know, ronny... folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? i'd say happier than a bodybuilder directing traffic. he does look happy. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. this just into cnn. the fbi says it has now arrested the mayor of trenton, new jersey. tony mac faces a public

corruption charge after a two-year investigation. feds have scheduled a noon news conference to explain the case against him. we're making phone kaucalls and will bring you more details as we get them in. new polls show president obama leading his republican rival mitt romney by the largest margin since early july. a gallup poll has the president in the lead by five percentage points with 49% versus romney's 44%. president got a bounce in the numbers in the days after the democratic national convention. at 4:00 p.m. eastern today we'll release our own post-convention, post-job numbers poll. that's not the only lift president obama has gotten lately. >> i can't even -- come on, man. >> look at that. >> man, i'm so excited. >> are you a power lifter or

what? >> the president got a giant bear hug from an enthusiastic pizza owner. it reminded us of this picture in july when an olympic wrestler picked up the first lady michelle obama. what is it with picking up the obamas? cnn political director mark preston joins me now. >> what do you think the secret service was thinking when that gentleman decided to pick the president up like that? >> i don't know. what is it? it's so bizarre. that pizza shop owner, i guess, was a republican, right? >> he was overcome with a little bit of excitement. who wouldn't be excited, i guess, if the president showed up at your pizza shop. >> he said as a republican he voted for obama in the last election. i take it he's going to vote for him again this time. mark, let's talk about this latest poll and the latest fundraising figures for the president. he has a lot to be happy about. >> he sure does. he's certainly seen a bump from what we've seen from this gallup poll. as you said, we'll have our own poll in just a few hours that

will really gauge where we are in the race after both conventions are over. he has good news when it comes to fundraising. in the month of june, in the month of july president obama was outraised by the republican national committee and mitt romney. but now, however, carol, in the month of august he has outraised mitt romney by a few million dollars. if you look at these in your opinions right now, it shows that president obama raised $114 million in the month of august. mitt romney raised $111.6 million. only a couple million dollars more. but i think in many ways that has got to be a big victory for the obama campaign, which had lost the two previous fundraising cycles there. as we all know, money is the fuel that is going to really generate what happens in this election, carol. >> it was a pretty good weekend for obama. but not a great weekend for the romney/ryan team. yesterday paul ryan appeared on "this week with george stephanopoulos." he had a hard time saying

exactly which tax loopholes mr. romney would close. listen. >> based on your experience, i think the best way to do this is to show the framework, show the youth lines of these plans then to work with congress to do this. that's how you get things done. >> isn't that a secret plan? >> no, no. no, no. what we don't want is a secret plan. what we don't want to do is cut some back room deal like obama care and then hatch it to the country. >> why not specify the loophole now? why not say right now? >> because we want to do this -- we want to have this -- george, because we want to have this debate in the public. >> but he's talking about after the election. and right now the public has no idea which tax loopholes that governor romney wants to close to make up for these tax cuts that he wants to put into place for the wealthiest americans. >> you have to wonder if they even know what those tax loopholes are themselves right now, carol. in politics there's something to be said about not being very specific about what you want to do but to talk in broad platitudes. i think that's what we're seeing now from the romney/ryan ticket.

they would also argue that what they've seen from president obama and from vice president biden is going back to old solutions and, in fact, they don't have the plan. this could potentially hurt them when it comes to the debates. i don't think it's going to hurt them right now. i don't think the american public are zeroed in on the specific point by point proposals. but i think when we get to the debates, when we see president obama up against mitt romney and president obama asks him for specifics to his plan, and if mitt romney doesn't have an answer then, that's when i think this could be problematic for the romney ticket. carol? >> mark preston reporting live from washington, thanks. mitt romney also made interesting comments on the president's health care plan saying he actually likes some health care reform. that's the focus of today's talk back, next. [ female announcer ] roam like the gnome this fall.

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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, should mitt romney bend on obama care? strange question, yes, since mitt romney has long vowed to kill the bill. >> and i'll tell you one thing, we're going to have to have a president, and i'm that one, that's going to get rid of obama care. we're going to stop it on day one! >> now we're not quite so sure.

on nbc's "meet the press" romney seemed to waffle. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform, of course. there are a number of things that i like in health care reform that i'm going to put in place. >> romney said he wants to keep provisions requiring insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay longer on their parents' plan. the romney camp says their candidate has consistently endorsed these positions. keep in mind, romney is not embracing the individual mandate, the requirement that we all buy insurance, the one that health experts say will pay for all of that expanded coverage. and, yes, governor romney says he will still repeal obama care. but do his latest comments make you more likely to vote for him? so the talk back question this morning, should romney bend on obama care? facebook.com/carolcnn. facebook.com/carolcnn. comments later this hour. out of the classroom and on the picket line. teachers strike against the nation's third largest school

system. a veteran educator, a teacher, explains why. [ woman ] dear chex cereal, you've done the impossible. made gluten-free cereals in a bunch of yummy flavors. like cinnamon chex, honey nut chex, and chocolate chex... we're in cereal heaven. so thanks. from the mcgregors, 'cause we love chex.

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it is 26 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. i'm carol costello. thanks for joining us today. stories we're watching right now in the "newsroom," we're a couple of ways away from the opening bell. investors looking ahead to see what the federal reserve will do when it meets this week. the central bank's two-day meeting begins on wednesday. the opening bell, by the way, will be rung by representatives from some top businesses in colombia. in south florida police are investigating a crash that killed one of their own while escorting president obama in a motorcade. the 20-year veteran died yesterday after a truck hit his motorcycle. the white house says the president did not see the crash. the president has expressed his condolences to the officer's family. in new york people are still cleaning up after two tornadoes touched down over the weekend. the first one hit a queens

neighborhood. moments later another one with winds around 110 miles per hour slammed into brooklyn. the storm knocked down trees, power lines and damaged buildings. no one was hurt. this morning in chicago most public schools are empty. and the classrooms silent. teachers are now on strike. nearly 30,000 union members are off the job after months of negotiations finally broke down last night. the main sticking points? pay raises and a new way to evaluate teachers. that means some 400,000 public school students are out of class indefinitely. >> i am disappointed that we have come to this point, given that all the other parties acknowledge how close we are. because this is a strike of choice. and because of how close we are, it is a strike that is unnecessary. >> let's talk to a veteran educator who will join the picket line today. josephine hamilton perry has spent 30 years in the classroom.

most of it as a teacher for the chicago public school system. welcome. >> good morning. >> i want to ask you first about what mayor rahm emanuel said. if you are so close in negotiations, why decide to strike? >> well, i want to say that i would not believe that. because if we were that close, we would not even have spent as many hours and months that we have spent talking about this contract. >> there are many people in america without jobs right now. they would say, are you crazy? you teachers should be grateful you have a job. >> well, we are. that, we are. but we also want those people that are with jobs to know how hard we work every day. how hard we work for those students that will one day go into the workforce. it's our responsibility to put those students in the workforce and to prepare them to work. >> some people might ask, though, how you're doing that when you're not in the classroom. you know, you're in charge of

our nation's children and yet you're on strike and the kids kind of have no place togo. >> well, chicago here, we are survivors. and we would not say that that would be a major issue. because we are a city with huge snowstorms, and our parents survive. and we are a city of rich resources. and we are a city where we lend a helping hand. so that will not be a major concern. >> so you're saying that parents will easily find child care? >> i am sure that they will. matter of fact, i spoke with children this morning. and they're here because of lack of having something to do, but not because there's no one to take care of them. >> one of the sticks points is over teacher evaluations. tell me why teachers don't like what the school board and the mayor are proposing.

>> well, because the evaluation system can be very biased. it can be very biased to older teachers. it can be very biased to inexperienced teachers. and it can also be very biased to those teachers that's in the middle of their career. having said that, it's not the most effective tool that should govern one's career. >> but i think that the other side would say that the goal here is to get rid of bad teachers. so what is the union proposing to get rid of bad teachers? >> i'm sorry. would you clarify that for me? >> the other side would say -- >> we have a little noise in the background. >> i know. a lot of beeps in support. the other side would say these new evaluations would get rid of bad teacher. how does the union propose to do this? it's not -- go ahead. >> the whole evaluation system is -- has a lot of flaws there. if they could come up with a

tool that could effectively evaluate the tenured teacher, the new teachers, the teachers in the middle of their career, we would be at a junction where we would be satisfied with that. but the lack of having that tool is a serious issue for us. >> how long are teachers prepared to strike? >> you know, i cannot say that at this moment. i'm going to say as long as it takes and whatever it takes. we have haenough. and we are tired of being tired. >> josephine hamilton perry, thank you so much for being with us this morning. >> thank you. paul mccartney announces four more concerts in north america to round out his on the run tour. see if he's coming to a town near you. quaker yogurt granola. they're whole grain good... and yummy good. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola bars.

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it's a dirty job.

all new parents have to do it. but beyonce and jay-z apparently do not turn up their noses at all those stinky diaper. they love it. "showbiz tonight's" a.j. hammer has the scoop. really? >> say it. >> no, i'm not going to say it. i can't believe they love to change diapers, though. >> yes. well, listen. i've got the dirt on this story for you, carol. that's what i'm here for this morning. according to beyonce she and jay-z share the load when it comes to changing baby blue ivy's diapers. anderson cooper just interviewed beyonce for his talk show. she says she and her husband actually love, yes she used the word "love" to change diapers. her words, i love it. i love every moment of it. it's so beautiful. and i'm sure there is a lot of love there. i think most parents would agree, maybe not a whole lot of beauty to changing a diaper, but she also tells anderson that she makes sure to sing to blue ivy. i bet that's a whole lot more beautiful than her diaper duty. she says she sings nursery

rhymes to her including some she makes up. this entire interview will air on anderson's talk show as he fires up his new season later today. >> she loves being a new mom. we certainly understand that. paul mccartnccartney. more energy than just about anybody i know. >> great news. paul mccartney's added some dates in the united states. he's going to show up in st. louis and houston in addition to the dates he's already playing. he's also playing new dates in canada. edmonton and vancouver. this is the same show that drew an estimated quarter of a million fans to a free concert in mexico city. these new shows are happening in november. these are rare cities for paul mccartney. the last time he played a concert in vancouver, he was a part of the beatles. beatles played there in 1964. 48 years ago. mccartney hasn't been back since. this will also be his first ever concert in edmonton, canada. one final bit of paul mccartney

trivia for you this morning, carol. i'm going to put you on the spot. this week in 1971 he had his very first number one hit without the beatles this week. what do you think? >> it was from the band on the run album. right? >> and the song was? >> we are so sorry. uncle albert. along with linda mccartney. >> i remember getting that album when i was 10 years old. >> 10, hold on, i got to do the math. >> no, don't. please don't. everybody knows anyway. thank you, a.j. >> you got it. >> a.j. will be back with us next hour for more showbiz headlines including a major award for "american idol" and all around diva mariah carey. cnn is taking an in-depth look at president obama and mitt romney. today we're going to tell you how they compare when it comes to creating jobs.

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it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. and get outstanding deals with the travelocity fall hotel sale. you can save up to 40% on select hotels. so book your hotel now and save up to 40%. hurry, offer ends soon. book now at travelocity. you hear plenty of noise and plots of spin on the campaign trail around the big issues. so cnn will be helping you to figure out where the candidates stand as we size up issue by issue over the next three weeks. today we look at jobs creation. christine romans is here to cut through the noise, break down the plans, good morning, christine. >> good morning. these plans, carol, basically represent two very different world views about how to get out

of this mess. >> reporter: over 8% unemployment. 5 million without work for six months or longer. more than # million only working part time. if there's one thing mitt romney and barack obama can agree on, the economy, and more specifically, the jobs crisis in america is the issue of this race. mitt romney's philosophy, let the private sector create new jobs. president obama agrees, but thinks the federal government must play a larger role by investing in programs that may pay off in the future. >> i have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. >> reporter: romney advisers also claim their plans will add another 7 million jobs over the decade. >> government doesn't create jobs. it's the private sector that creates jobs. >> reporter: so what's in this romney plan? first, romney wants to overhaul the tax code by cutting marginal tax rates 20% across the board. he argues that people have more money in their pockets to buy things, in turn more jobs will be created to meet the demand

for goods and services. romney also claims regulatns cost private business about $1.75 trillion a year. so he says he's repeal obama care and dodd/frank financial regulation, much of which is still yet to be implemented. he also plans to reform the regulatory system to make sure it balances the benefit to society with its cost to business. finally by balancing the budget, romney plans to inject confidence into the business environment. however, capping federal spending, it means hundreds of thousands fewer government jobs at the federal, state and local levels. supporters of romney's plan say it'll create 12 million jobs conservatively. but no president has accomplished it in a single term since the data was first collected in the 1940s. now for president obama's plans to get more americans back to work. >> jobs must be our number one focus in 2010. and that's why i'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight. >> that jobs bill never panned out. neither did the $477 billion effort he promoted last year,

both essentially blocked by congress. what does mr. obama want to do moving forward? similar to what he's proposed in the past. >> we noeed to create more jobs faster. we need to fill the hole left by this recession faster. we need to come out of this crisis stronger. >> reporter: he wants to create jobs in manufacturing and green energy through tax incentives and investment. more spending on infrastructure. the president signed a more than $100 billion transportation bill in july. extends mostly current programs through 2014. the president also proposed spending $35 billion for school, police and fire department payrolls along with another $130 billion to shore up state budgets. this was in his failed jobs plan last year. yet to be seen if he's re-elected whether those plans would have more success than they've had in the last three years. both candidates say they want to cut the corporate tax rate, expand energy jobs in the u.s. and support small business. whoever is elected will probably have to do all that and much more to get us out of the jobs hole. >> okay, christine.

here's the big question. who's right? >> you know, carol, we won't know for sure until the history books are written. if we had a set formula for creating jobs this would already be fixed. romney obviously thinks tax cuts are the way to stimulate job growth. the president thinks we need more spending to stimulate job growth. economists, they don't all agree exactly on what's the best way, carol. >> would it be nice if we could just blend the best of the two plans together? but i guess that's -- >> that would require bipartisanship and everyone getting along. >> yeah. what am i thinking? thank you, christine. >> you're welcome. tomorrow ali velshi takes a closer look at the debate over wall street reform. president obama says we need to hold big banks accountable and protect consumers. romney wants to erase obama era and bush era regulations and start from scratch. 45 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now. hours ago the u.s. officially handed over control of a prison at bagram air base to the afghan government. but it's temporarily halting the

handover of a number of detainees. some of them are believed to be high level members of the taliban. the crew of a u.s. cargo ship detained in venezuela for more than a week could set sail as early as today. authorities there have dropped charges against them. they'd been accused of arms trafficking. the state department says rifles found onboard for for the crew's protection. tough times even for jay leno. a remember for nbc confirms the popular host of the tonight show took a 50% pay cut. that's about $15 million the show's budget cuts last month. he's not going -- he's not going anywhere, though. the rep also confirmed leno extended his contract until 2014. actually, it would be nbc that extended leno's contract until 2014. check this out. why try on clothes for real when you've got one of these? 3-d dressing rooms have been installed in 20 bloomingdale's locations nationwide. it's called a swivel. it allows shoppers to try on

clothes and accessories virtually. this thing even allows you to e-mail or tweet your image to friends and family right then and there so they can weigh in on what you ought to buy. i love that. it will save so much time. mitt romney made some interesting comments on president obama's health care reform bill, saying he likes some of it. that's the focus of today's talk back. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac!

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just days after democrats left charlotte after their nominating convention, two conservative groups gathered there sunday to encourage christians to go to the polls on november 6th. the event was called i pledge, and it was simulcast to more than 200 churches across the country. headliners included kirk cameron and tony perkins, president of the family research council which claims 500,000 members nationwide. perkins discussed the event this morning on cnn's "starting point." >> and it was a call to faith,

family and freedom. it was a recognition of the issues facing our nation, whether it's the economy and $16 trillion in debt that we have, which is a moral issue, or it was the issue of marriage or life or religious liberties, whichmarriage, life and religious liberties which we find under aaattack today. it was a call for them to pray for our nation and leaders and youming election. to prepare for registering and registering two or more friends to vote and then taking the pledge to actually vote on november 6th. >> organizers say they picked charlotte because north carolina voters recently amended the state's constitution to recognize only legal unions between one man and one woman. we asked you talk back on one of the big issues of the day. the question this morning, should romney bend on obama care. susan, no, keep after it. president ain't got a thing to show outside this mon stros city around his neck. romney had to get extreme, right

wing, radical. now he's trying to get more mainstream, and no, i'm still not voting for him. lindsay doesn't want to vote for either people. the country needs to be rebuilt not screwed up even more. this from julie. is it a flip flop when one candidate changes his views but evolves when the other candidate changes his? both tell us anything to get our vote. this from john, not if he wanted to keep his base. why wouldn't be flip flop on this, too. keep the conversation going. thank you for your comments. an nfl linebacker now front and center over the same-sex marriage debate. wait until you hear the response he's received for speaking out. i have a cold, and i took nyquil,

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same-sex marriage and the nfl don't usually intersect. it started with a ravens

linebacker made it abundantly clear he suspect supported same-sex marriage. he donated football tickets to help the cause. the comments infuriated maryland state lawmaker emmitt byrnes. byrnes wrote a letter to his boss, the owner of the baltimore ravens. here's part of that letter, quote, the delegates said i believe he should concentrate on football and steer clear of dividing the fan base. i'm requesting that you take the necessary action as a national football franchise owner to inhibit such expressions from your employee and that he be ordered to cease and desist such injurious actions. it infuriated chris kluwe in a letter to deadspin.com. he said this will make gays full-fledged american citizens like everyone else with the freedom to pursue happiness and

all that entails. the letter went on, and it's so r-rated we can't read it on television. joining me now is tiki barber, former running back for the new york giants and a cnn contributor. hi, tiki. >> how are you doing? >> i'm good. let's start with this issue. are you surprised there's so much support for gay marriage in the nfl community? >> i'm not surprised, actually. i think it's about time that athletes in particular start standing up for a right that they feel is important to this country. this issue revolves around two things if you ask me about this. one, it's whether the state congressman has a right to ask an employee to tell an employee to be silent. that's absolutely egregious. secondly, such an athlete or anyone in public position use their influence, their brand,

their personal capital to advocate for something they really feel strongly about? i think they absolutely should. i commend him for standing up and speaking out against something that he obviously feeling strongly about. >> we're looking at a picture. there he is. that is his. and also kluwe coming out, the punter from minnesota supporting him so publicly. do you think it will be long before we see an openly gay nfl player? >> i don't think it will be long. i think there are obviously gay players in the national football league that you've seen a couple of retired guys come out afterwards, and it's only a matter of time for when we start to accept them in this overly masculine culture where you think you can't be okay. i think the more people talk about it it's an acceptable part of sports as it is in other sports.

eventually it will happen and be a od thing for the country and the league. >> let's get down to business now and talk about football. peyton manning, he sure looked like the peyton of old last night. >> he did. after missing a year due to four surgeries on his neck, he came back. he wasn't completely sharp. he played a difficulty pittsburgh steelers defense, but when he had opportunities he took advantage of them. he was classic peyton manning. he just executes. that's 12 or 14 years of constant interactions and seeing these defenses over and over again and not being intimidated by them and making plays. that's why denver wanted him to come to the mile-high city and hope that they can get them further along into the playoffs this year. >> let's talk about the scoring sunday. the redskins, jets, bears and falcons scored 40 or more points this weekend. that was insane. >> it's a constant battle, a chess match you might say for defenses trying to catch up to

the new things that offenses are doing. to be honest some defenses were bad yesterday. i don't think that's a trend to see throughout the year. it's a testament to execution and to tefshs and being the first game. there's certain things worked out. obviously a lot of mistakes on defenses, but you have to give the offenses credit as well, especially the new york jets who in new york went through so much criticism with the tim tebow signing and all the lack of production in the preseason. they exploded when it mattered. >> yeah. i bet mr. ryan is saying take that and smoke it. >> maybe you know something we don't know. >> i want to ask you about this female ref, because i'm a detroit lions fan and she was on the field. it was a great, but it was just so strange to see. >> it was. shannon easton broke a barrier that a lot of people didn't think would happen in the national football league, which is a female ref being amongst all these massive men and trying to control the game. she was a line judge, so she

wasn't in the action until the end of the game where they broke up a fight. it's a ceiling being broken. there will be some young girl who is going to say, you know what? because she watched football with her dad every day, every sunday, going to say i want to do that. that's an inspiration you can't take away, and it's important for the league to keep developing young females to step into the job and do it effectively. >> that's awesome. tiki, thanks. it's been fun. >> i appreciate it, carol, as always. next hour's cnn newsroom starts right now. stories we're watching right now on the newsroom on strike, 30,000 chicago public school teachers and union workers rnd in school today. left in the middle are 400,000 kids. search for alaskan oil, shell begins a new drilling operation in the arctic, the first in two decades. it's not without controversy. we're less than two months

from casting our votes for president, but the fight rages on. why won't the men who want to run the country outline their tax plan? the final major of the season wraps up today. andy murray riding a hot hand on the tennis court, but can he beep novak jovovich? ne newsroom starts now. good monday morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. i'm carol costello. this morning in chicago classrooms are silent and pictu pickett lines are loud. pub schoolteachers went on strike today shutting down the school system and shutting out nearly 400,000 students. that's creating a logistical nightmare for many parents scrambling for child care. casey wians outside a chicago

elementary school. tell us about the strike and why teachers decided they had to do this? >> reporter: the teachers said they needed to go on strike for a couple of reasons. one of the big issues are the working conditions and way the teachers are evaluated. they're worried up to 6,000 teachers could lose their job over the next year or two if the evaluations are performed the way the school district wants to do them. tieing them to test scores and they're worried about health care benefits. they're very close on the issue of teacher pay. about a 16% raise over the next four years. the people most upset about this right now are the parents of these students who are being affected by this strike. 400,000 students with no school to go to this morning. i'm joined by valecia hill. she's the parent of five children in the chicago public school district. what are your thoughts about the fact that the teachers are out on strike and your kids can't be in school this northern? >> i feel it's not fair to the kids and the teachers.

i feel like they could come on with an aagreement with these teachers and pay them what they need. our kids have to go to school. they need their education. they need everything that's there. textbooks, they need air-conditioning. they need to pay a budget. come on, now. our kids shouldn't have to suffer for that. our kids need the education. it's bad enough they don't get the education they need because under the conditions. we suffer through poverty and gang violence and everything. our kids have to be out of school? that's the only save haven they have right now for us parents that want to get a job and go to school, it's ridiculous. i think they need to come on. our kids shouldn't have to suffer for them. >> reporter: you talk the about the gang violence and violence in the neighborhood. are you concerned about it with the kids out of school? >> i'm very concerned about it. this is ridiculous. they need to come on with a budget. >> reporter: that's one example of the frustration that the parents are feeling.

this school is used a a temporary child care center, but only four hours in the morning. parents who have to work or struggling to find work have no other options, so they hope this gets wrapped up quickly, carol. >> casey wian reporting live from chicago this morning. less than four hours from now summer officially ends on capitol hill. la lawmakers are returning to work after a five-week recess and they're facing a lot of unfinished business. one item sure to pass, a short-term funding measure for federal agencies. with only 57 days until the elections, neither party wants to be blamed for a government shutdown. here are some items, though, likely to be shelved. legislation to reform the struggling postal service and a bill providing new cyber security protections. a few days after they wrapped up the national convention president obama is enjoying a bit of a bounce. according to gallup, president obama now leads governor romney by five percentage points. that's the widest margin since

july. just last tuesday the dame the dnc got under way, mr. obama had a razor thin edge of one% an point over mr. romney. sad news from the campaign trail. an officer traveling with the obama motorcade was struck and killed this weekend. officer bernie st. laurent, a 20-year veteran of a jupiter police diplomat was securing a road when a pickup truck crashed into his motorcycle. he was rushed to a hospital in west palm beach where he later died. the spokesman for the president said his thoughts and prayers are with the officer as family. this is the fourth fatal accident involving motorcades since 2006. the navy s.e.a.l. that wrote that tell-all book spilling details of the raid that killed saum bin plaud is speaking out in an interview with "60 minutes" last night. he gave a moment-by-moment description of the raid. he laid out in deal tail the

tense seconds that laid out and the moment it shot him. he even says that he did not recognize bin laden when he pulled the trigger. >> he's still moving? >> a little bit, but you couldn't see his arms or hands. so he could have had a hand grenade or something underneath his chest. >> after osama bin laden is wounded, he's still moving. you shot him twice? >> a handful of times. >> a handful of times, and the s.e.a.l. in the stack behind you also shot osama bin laden, and at that point his body was still? >> yes. >> did you recognize him? >> no. everybody thinks that you know it's him. no. to us at that time it could have been anybody. maybe this is another brother. maybe this is a bodyguard. it doesn't matter. the point is to just continue clearing. >> senior pentagon officials have told cnn that bissonnette's act is not quite accurate. it's hard to forget scenes

like this. the deep water horizon drilling platform on fire in the gulf. this 2010 explosion as you know led to one of the worst eco-logical disaster in u.s. history. could it happen in the arctic? a new oil project in alaska now under way with a whole lot of concern? miguel marquez joins us now to explain. good morning. >> good morning. it's been decades since there's been any oil exploration in the arctic, and the stakes could not be higher for both sides. shell has spent $4.5 billion and they'll spend another 10 billion before a single drop of oil is brought up. for the people that live up there, it is those images of the gulf and the deep water horizon disaster that haunt them. shell calls the wells relatively simple, but will drill them as though the most complicated prospect in the country has ever done. why? deep water horizon and the disaster in the gulf of mexico. >> we would have been tone-deaf if we thought it would have been

business as usual after the deep water horizon. >> could this happen again like shell's arctic wells, the disaster mckond da well was exploratory, but shell unlike bp has no plans to bring up oil this summer. it will need a much bigger platform to do that. shell's wells will be capped and abandoned. the biggest difference? depth. shell is drilling it less than 200 feet of water and up to 8,000 feet below the sea bed. deep water horizon thrilled through 5,000 feet of water and then more than 13,000 feet below the afloor. the pressure differences are enormous. >> the pressures are roughly about a third of what you'd see in a typical deep water well. >> like all wells shell will use blowout preventers. unlike bp, shell's light beneath the sea bed so a rig can disconnect more safely in case of emergency. >> as a part of what happened in the post-deep water horizon world all were brought back to

what we call original equipment manufacturer standards. >> in case of a blowout shell will have on hand a capping stack. that brought an end to the gulf disaster. >> there you go. >> for drivers like erin who has a mountain of bills and a 3-year-old to raise, she thinks there should be room for exploration, but not at the risk of another deep water horizon. >> i would want to know, like, where it would be. i'd want to know how damaging it would be to the environment. if it would have an impact on the local wildlife. >> regulators insist of risk in the arctic is acceptable with no easy oil left to find, it's hard choices from here on out. it is incredibly frustrating for both sides, and scary for both sides is what they're going into. i talked to steve who is the mayor of point hope, alaska last night. he said we're holding our breath right now. if shell finds what it thinks is

down there -- this is an exploratory well in summer. if they find what they think is down there, it will bring exploratory companies up there and the chance of a spill will increase over time. that's what they fear more than anything. >> miguel marquez, thank you. serena williamsook home her fourth u.s. open title. she fought off two match points to beat victor ra in three sets onned sunday. it is williams 15th grand slam title. on the men's side andy murray will try to keep his hot streak alive. he takes on novak this afternoon. apple is expected to make a big-time announcement this wednesday. some say they will announce the new iphone. expect the unexpected. even if that means some current iphone features will become extinct. ♪

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mayo clinic where he was treated for bipolar depression. he's under investigation for ties to former illinois governor rod blagojevich who is now in prison. president obama is celebrating a major milestone today. the re-election effort raked in $114 million last month. it's the first time since april that president obama has raised more in a month than his gop opponent, governor mitt romney. new yorkers are still cleaning up after a powerful cold front brought heavy rain and high winds and spawned at least two tornadoes in new york city. no one was hurt, but the storm smacked down trees and power lines and even overturned cars. the treasury department has announced it will sell most of its stake in aig. the $18 billion offering will make the government a minority investor for the first time since it bailed out the insurer four years ago. it comes as president obama is attacked on the campaign trail for using taxpayer money to aid

companies during the financial crisis. people are expecting to see apple's new iphone on wednesday and the operating system. before you upgrade the current iphone or get a new one, alison kosik will tell you what new feet tours to expect and what old ones you might lose. spill it. >> i can't spill too much because apple is keat kooeping it a secret except for leaks. analysts say there are three main things to look for in the new iphone coming out announced on wednesdayment vmt the big one is the 4 g sbz lte network. it's fast so it's similar to the broadband connection at home. apple will get more aggressive in the prepaid market. you buy the phone at full price but pay less on a pay as you go plan. there's also talk of a smaller charging dock as well, but, carol, the big thing that this iphone 5 is expected to not have is nfc. that's near field communication.

that is a chip that's in the phone that lets you do cool store like score the credit card information to use the phone as a wallet. if you have the iphone and doesn't come out with this on wednesday, you can always download this through an app to do similar things. you know, a lot of these features i just mentioned, carol, are offered on other phones. one analyst tells cnn money, you know what? apple doesn't need to be the first to offer the features. they need to be the best with what they have. check cnn money for the full story. carol. >> awesome. before you go, how much is the new iphone expected to cost? >> again, carol, apple is not announcing this. if you look at what it's done in the past, they do the same thing every time. they keep the top price on the new phone and lower the price on the old. if they keep with that, the new iphone will be 650 bucks outright, $200 if you have an at&t or verizon sprint contract. the current model will see a

price cut, but you know this. apple gives little details at its event. this event is happening on wednesday. carol. >> i'm sure we'll be there. alison kosik there from the new york stock exchange today. president obama gets a boost not just in the polls. we'll have more on the pizza shop owner who couldn't control himself when the president stopped in for a slice. you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah! like the elephant on my chest... he thought he was having a heart attack. she said, "take an aspirin, we need to go to the hospital."

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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of day. the question for you this morning, should mitt romney bend on obama care? a strange question, yes, since mitt romney has long vowed to kill the bill. >> i'll tell you one thing. we have to have a president and i'm the one that will get rid of obama care. we're going to stop it on day one. >> we're not quite so sure. on "meet the press" romney seemed to waffle. >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform, of course. there are a number of things i like in health care reform i'll put in place. >> romney said he wanted to keep provisions requiring insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay longer on their parent's plan. the romney campaign says their

candidate has consistently endorsed this position. keep in mind romney is not embracing the individual mandate, the requirement we all buy insurance. the one that health experts say pays for all the expanded coverage. yes, romney says he will still repeal obama care, but throughout the latest comments make you more likely to vote for him? talk back question for you. should romney bend on obama care. facebook.com/carolcnn. your comments later this house. palm ryan has a lot to say about closing tax loopholes. when it comeses down to the nitty-gritty he doesn't have much to say at all. we'll find out if a lack of specifics could help the romney campaign. wow...

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months of negotiations broke down last night. last hour i talked with a veteran teacher manning the pickett lines. you'll hear the motorists hornging their horns in support. first listen to her scoff at the claim by city officials that teachers turned their back on a deal that was close at hand. >> if we were that close, we would not even have spent as many hours and months we have spent talking about this contract. >> there are many people in america without jobs right now. they would say, are you crazy? you teachers should be grateful you have a job. >> well, we are. that we are. we also want those people that are with jobs to know how hard we work every day, how hard we work for those students that will one day go into the work force. it's our responsibility to put the students in the work force and to prepare them to work. >> some people might ask, though, how you're doing that when you're not in the

classroom. you know, you're in charge of our nations children, and yet, you're on strike and the kids kind of have no place to go. >> well, chicago here, we are survivors. we would not say that that would be a major issue because we're the city with huge snowstorms and our parents survive. we are a city of rich resources. we're the city where we lend a helping hand. that will not be a major concern. >> so you're saying that parents will easily find child care? >> i am sure that they will. as a matter of fact, i spoke with children this morning, and they're here because of lack of having something to do but not because there's no one to take care of them. >> one of the sticking points is over teacher evaluations. tell me why teachers don't like what the school board and mayor are proposing.

>> well, because the evaluation system can be very biased. it can be very biased to older teachers. it can be very biased to inexperienced teachers. it can can also be very biased to those teachers that's in the middle of their career. having said that, it's not the most effective tool that should govern one's career. >> but i think that the other side would say that the goal here is to get rid of bad teachers. what is the union proposing to get rid of bad teachers? >> to get -- i'm sorry. clarify that for me. we have a little noise in the background. >> i know. a lot of beeps in support. the other side would say that these new evaluations will get rid of bad teachers. how does the union proposed to this? go ahead. >> the whole evaluation system has a lot of flaws there.

if they could come up with a tool that could effectively evaluate the tenured teacher, the new teachers, the teachers in the middle of their career, we would be an junction to be satisfied with that. the lack of having that tool is a serious issue for us. >> how long are teachers prepared to strike? >> you know, i could not say that at this moment, but i'm going to say as long as it takes and whatever it takes. we have had enough, and we're tired of being tired. >> chicago police, by the way, are beefing up patrols to deal with nearly 400,000 kids now out of class indefinitely. just about 30 minutes past the hour. checking the top stories now. congress returns to work from a five-week summer recess. they're expected to focus only on the bare minimum like preventing a costly budget

shutdown when the budget year ends at the end of the month. the fbi has arrested the mayor of trenton, new jersey. he faced a public corruption charge after a two-year investigation. the feds have scheduled a noon news conference to explain the case against him. we'll bring more details as they can. what do the jacksons, snoop dogg and willie nelson and maria carey have in common? we'll tell you coming up. you know, ronny... folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? i'd say happier than a bodybuilder directing traffic. he does look happy. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. here at the hutchison household. but one dark stormy evening...

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mitt romney's number two insists republicans have a plan to offset tax cuts for the wealthy. it sounds simple. they would close tax loopholes. the only problem is they will not say which loopholes they will close. here's paul ryan on abc. >> based on our experience we think the best way to do this is to show the framework, show the outlines of these plans and work with congress to do this.

that's how you get things done. >> isn't that a secret plan? >> no, no. what we don't want is a secret plan. what we don't want to do is cut some back room deal like obama care and hatch it to the country. >> why not specify the loopholes now? why not say right now? >> because we want to have this -- george, because we want to have this debate in the public. >> so let's talk about this. will cain is a cnn contributor who leans right and ditto for l.c. granderson but he leans left. >> good morning. >> good morning. thank you for being with us this morning. will, why won't paul ryan just say which tax loopholes should be closed? >> two reasons. number one, because they've promised to have a tax plan where they can cut rates across the board 20%, and yet remain revenue neutral. that is lose no tax dollars coming into the government, which is a very, very hard thing to do. so they talk about these loopholes. in order to keep that at revenue

neutral, you have to cut back very popular loopholes like mortgage interest rate deduction, exemption for health care provided -- employer provided health care insurance. these are not popular things to do, so best not to talk about them. >> don't you think voters are smart enough to figure that out? >> i really -- >> are they? >> i hope so. >> well, i really hope -- like to think so, but if they were really that smart we wouldn't have these two on a ticket to begin with. i mean, the truth of the matter is in '94 -- this is mitt romney in a nut shell to me. in '94 when he talked about blank trust, he said it was a ruz. now every time he gets caught with something with his blind trust, he doesn't talk about it being a ruse. they bash president obama for secret hiding the dealings behind obama care. fine.

don't tell me you have a plan and you won't give the details bust trust you to do it in public when you get around to it. it's just a big shell game. >> hold on, carol. >> i have heard voters say and republican voters who say they really want to hear romney's plan, and they want specifics. they're upset because they're getting specifics. >> and they should be. look, i'm sitting here right now in front of you telling you it's a shame they won't provide specifics on this. this coming from a man who has been inordinately brave in talking about problems with medicare and presenting solutions when it's politically inpalatable. why balk about doing it and talk about the actual specifics of tax reform? lest we got off in a productive thing here, l.c. says that's a shame they're on the ticket. if you think this is a partisan issue, ask yourself can president obama fulfill promises to attack deficit reduction while only concentrating taxes

on the wealthy? is that truthful? just be clear. this isn't a partisan thing but a political thing. politicians don't like to tell people the truth. that's why democrats suggest there's no problems with medicare, medicaid and your health care entitlements and we can focus taxes on the rich. that's not true, and paul ryan and mitt romney not giving the specifics of their tax plan is also a problem. >> will is almost right. he's almost right. he's almost right because he's right, politicians do not like to tell the truth because they want to get in office. the problem with this particular ticket is that it has a long history of blatantly lying and switching around their position on things to the point at which -- think about it. yesterday we thought mitt romney had one position with health care reform, and this morning when i drink coffee it's something else and on the drive over i find a different statements. that's three different positions in less than 24 hours. it's difficult to pinpoint because the people on the ticket are difficult to pinpoint. >> if you look at the latest

gallup poll, it shows a five-point lead for obama. why the sudden jump? is it just the dnc? >> yes, it's just the dnc. it's because of the remarkable party that took place last week. >> i understand this poll was taken before, during and afternoon the convention. i don't quite understand it, but that's what gallup says. >> i will tell you this. i spoke surely there because of the dnc. my stigs is it's largely because of the dnc. the american people are not sitting on pins and needles waiting for it. they should be but they're not. if you see the polls that suggest the vast majority of the americans can't name the past presidents of the united states or one or two of the supreme court justices, you're telling me they're dying to know the tax details, the loopholes and expenditure closures of a tax reform plan, i'm ready to be happily surprised. >> i don't think voters are that stupid. i know everybody says voters are stupid. they don't know what they're

voting for. >> not stupid. disinterested. >> they want to know the tax plan. >> they're not stupid, they're forgetful. they forget. >> you don't have to it answer to me, carol. you have to answer to the polls. you have to answer to the polls, not me. >> okay. well, it was a great conversation as always. thank you very much. >> thanks. >> thank you. it was a good weekend for president obama. he got quite the lift in florida. take a look. >> good job. >> come on, man. i got to give you one of these. >> look at this. >> man, i'm so excited. >> the owner of that pizza shop near west palm beach was so excited the president stopped by for a slice of pizza, he just couldn't stop himself. he gave the president a giant bear hug and lifted the president right off his feet. it takes us back to this picture from july when an olympic wrestler picked up first lady

michelle obama. what is it with people wanting to pick up the obamas? just kind of odd. there is no stopping serena williams. she picks up his 15th grand slam title, and by doing that makes history in women's tennis. if you made a list of countries from around the world... ...with the best math scores. ...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this.

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9/11 rescue workers exposed it to toxic dust at ground zero might get good news. federal officials are expected to finally add dozens of types of cancer to the droga act. it was set up to give funds to rescue workers that got sick from dust and other toxins working at ground zero. mitt romney is seeming to waffle on one of the strongest positions, president obama's health care law. if elected he's vowed over and over to repeal obama care on his

first day in office, which is why it was strange to hear this on nbc's "meet the press." >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. there are a number of things i like that i'll put in place. one is to make sure those with pre-existing conditions get coverage. two is to enshir they get policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. i also want individuals to be able to buy insurance -- health insurance on their own as opposed to only getting it on a tax advantage basis through their company. >> romney campaign says that isn't new and that romney has consistently endorsed this position. americans are still feeling the effects of hurricane isaac with gas prices jumps nearly 8 cents over the past two weeks according to the lundberg survey. it was due mostly but not entirely to the storm. the average price is now $3.84 a gallon, 13 cents lower than the peak this year back in april.

things got battie fy for a station in omaha this weekend. it slipped into the newsroom and unleashed a reign of terror on anchor people and workers. they swatted the bat with a cardboard box. the bat survived the attack. it's doing okay. it's free in the wild again, and everybody's safe in that newsroom. red flag warnings today for high wind and extremely dry conditions. that's not good news for northern washington state where multiple wildfires are torching the area. a require lightning storm hit the area on saturday igniting 65 separate fires. largest fire is about 60 acres. residents being advised to avoid the area. sir paul mckart any on the run tour is coming to an end, but he added four new tour dates in north america. let's head to new york and a.j. hammer.

hi, a.j. >> hey, carol. paul mccartney is flying all overhe place, so it's not unusual i'll be in one place or the other. in new york i'm here to tell you fans are fired up about the added dates. the tour is a huge success all around the world. he's taking time off right now. this is the same show that drew a quarter of a million fans to a free concert in mexico city, and that's after drawing all of these paying customers almost 100,000 to the sellout concerts at yankee stadium. he's in st. louis and houston and added canadian dates. the new shows happen in november, and they are rare mccartney appearances for these cities. he hasn't played houston in seven years and st. louis in ten years. the last time he played in vancouver he was in the beatles, 48 years ago. it's his first concert in edmonton, carol. it's not just a local crowd. four dates, so people will fly

in to see paul mccartney. you get your money's worth for sure. >> he's something. let's talk about mariah carey. she won an award. >> bmi made it official. they gave the new "american idol" judge the icon award over the weekend. some of the past winners are stevie wonder and smoky robinson. mariah said it was special to her because it recognized her song writing skills. watch what she told us. >> this award is so amazing because as a person out there, as a celebrity, diva, whatever that is is its own kind of thing. this is really about songwriting, and there have been times when people have told me throughout my career, this song changed my life. this song helped me get through the death of a family member. whatever it is that, you know, and then as the writer of that song, the words that helped them get through it or whatever it

was, be it humility or whatever, there's no greater feeling than that. >> carol, this comes at a great time for mari mariah carey. her husband had health issues and she lost whitney houston earlier this year. >> good for her. thank you. >> you got it. >> join a.j. tonight on "showbiz tonight" at 11:00 eastern on hln. what's truly amazing about mercedes new mbrace2 system... is i can follow all my sports... catch the latest breaking news... keep in touch with friends... follow the financial headlines... find a great restaurant... and with siriusxm i can get weather forecasts... all from here. in my mercedes-benz. [ male announcer ] introducing mbrace2. the most comprehensive cloud-based telematics system on the road. it's your world, from your car. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

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sometimes i ache after a workout, particularly in my lower back. i know many of you suffer the same way. i spent time with a trainer from the hit show "the biggest loser" for advice on getting rid of the pain. it's today's daily dose. i like much of the population have lower back problems, but my lower back doesn't hurt until after i'm done exercising. it's sort of defeating the purpose for me. >> when you have back issues it's because of lack of support from the front. so some things to do would be to strengthen your core. in your case before you exercise. that way you have the support that you need to eliminate the back issues. i have a couple exercises. you want me to show you? >> yeah. >> you want to walk out here to where the small of my back or in

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williams today good morning america this fourth u.s. open title feels special. >> it's awesome because i have had so many tribulations that i've gone through in the past. you know, a year or so. so it was really awesome for me to come on top and come full circle winning wimbledon and winning the olympic gold. >> it's been quite a summer, my friend. >> it's a great summer. it's such a thrill and so exciting. it still hasn't quite set in. >> don riddle joins us now from outside arthur ashe stadium in flushing meadows. serena williams is just on fire. >> reporter: absolutely. that's a great way of putting it. she's been unstoppable since the french open in may. she's only lost one match since then, and she's just talked

about all those incredible titles that she's won in that time. there's a few things to say about serena williams now. she's 31 in a few weeks time, but she is absolutely at the top of her game. talk about longevity. it's 13 years since she won he first u.s. open title here. back then she was one of the youngest ever champions. now she's one of the oldest, and she's won this title in three different the decades. that is seriously impressive. the other things that marks her out as a great champion is how she recovers from adversity. remember that pulmonary embolism she suffered from, at the time she thought she was on her deathbed. she wasn't thinking about playing tennis and being competitive again. she wanted to recover. she did recover from that. then in the french open earlier this year she crashed out in the first round. she said it was absolutely devastating. somehow right at the bottom she finds a way to re-energize and remotivate herself and go for it. she comes back bigger and better and stronger. >> unbelievable.

let's take a look at the men's championship. two of the hottest men's players right now, wimbledon runner-up and andy murray against the australian open champion novak djokovic. he's just fantastic. >> he's the champion here and he's been second to none on the hard court season. it's hard to see anybody find a way past novak djokovic. can andy murray do it? this is his fifth grand slam title. he's lost the previous four. i think what happened to him this summer in at least taking a set off roger federer in the wimbledon final and beating him in the olympic final gave him the belief that he can now go on and do it. obviously, his fans and tennis fans in britain are certainly hoping he can do so. it's a terrific match. it's going to be very, very close. they've met four times this season and split those matches, two wins each, and they've known each other for such a long time. they've played each other isn't

they were kids. they're good mates, too. i'm expecting it to be very, very entertaining. >> you're lucky to be there. don riddle, thanks for joining us live. we asked you to talk back on a big sfoer of the day. should mitt romney bend on obama care. this from john. funny when he talks about keeping parts of the law, he calls it health care reform. when he talks about repealing it he calls it obama care. his health care mandate as governor in massachusetts was his crowning glory, but he never talks about it. strange, huh? i think he should. if anything it will be less likely. he proved to us many times he's an inconsistent fickle man. both romney and many other republicans said they want to keep several of the positive feet turs of health care. and this from victor. mitt would say and do anything to gain votes. he was for health care before he was against health care. now he's for some of it. what a flip-flopper.

keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carolcnn. thanks for your comments. i really appreciate it. i'm carol costello, and thank you for joining me this morning. cnn newsroom continues right now with ashleigh banfield. >> it's 11:00 on the east coast and 8:00 a.m. on the west coast. that means it's 10:00 a.m. in chicago where we begin today. parents in that city of about 400,000 kids are right now trying to find a place to send those children because they can't send them to school. the nation's third largest school district is in chaos this morning. there's a teacher strike, and this is a tough one. both sides tried very hard over the weekend to get a deal done, but by midnight last night nothing. no deal. cnn's casey wian is in chicago live right now. what are parents doing? because i don't know if there were a lot of parents who didn't know and tried to drop kids off.