more than 10 million people did, you surely sew this. miley gone wild. now, it's shocking getting edgy in the vmas or takes some clothes off. this is the twerk-tastic performance that people cannot stop talking about. everybody else was thinking, miley, what were you thinking? i was thinking, billy ray, what were you thinking? well, miley's dad joins me exclusively tomorrow night. if i were you, miley, i'd be tuning in. that's all for us tonight. "anderson cooper" starts right now. president obama about to make a big decision, are we on the brink of a military attack on syria? the latest of washington tonight. we're also live in the syrian capital of damascus. why is this woman avoiding our cameras? you might, too, if your charity

was raising millions for children with cancer and spending 97% of it on everything but those children. tonight, a whistle-blower explains how the operation spends your money. plus, stopping the epic fire threatening one of america's scenic treasures and the water supply for a major scene. incredible scenes from the battleground. we begin tonight with the breaking news. the possibility of military action against syria with strike options to the president within the next few days. america's top diplomat speaks bluntly like this. >> what we saw in syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. it defies any code of morality. let me be clear. the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity.

by any standard it is inexcusable and despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable. >> soak ecretary of state this afternoon blaming the syrian regime. now, over the weekend, new video. it's deeply disturbing to watch and arguably deeply necessary for the world to see. in one, utterly heart breaking clip, a father grieves over the body ofs his two young daughters. his nightmare come to pass. the doctors without border said it's evidence of a poison attack. secretary kerry said they have additional evidence to make public soon. u.n. gained access to the site. out in the mediterranean, four american destroyers wait for orders to launch a cruise missile strike on short notice.

a senior administration official tell us president obama will be presented with final options in the next few days. house speaker boehner warns that congress should be consulted before any action is taken. talking about the possibilities and capables shortly. first to fred pleitgen. he's in the syrian capital of damascus. when's t what's the latest, fred? has there been any reaction to the assad regime? >> reporter: hi, anderson. they have reacted and clearly are hearing the message. the foreign minister of the country called for a press conference for 1:00 p.m. local time. assad himself earlier today did give some sort of a reaction in general to the rhetoric that, of course, is getting more and more tough towards the syrians. assad said in an interview with a russian newspaper that he d y denies all the claims of the syrian military using any

chemical weapons on the battlefield and would be ludicrous to do that considering that it itself has forces on the front line and they would gas themselves if they used chemical weapons and warned the united states about any sort of possible intervention and said the u.s. started wars in the past and never achieved the political objectives. we are heard the statements of john kerry and one thing that's also going on, this is sort of a syrian show of force, they have been absolutely pounding the outskirts of damascus with artillery all day, the area where is the rebels say the chemical attacks took place. >> any sense of the u.n. inspection team to when they'll report their results? >> reporter: well, we're not sure when exactly the final report is issued but clearly they said that they got some good evidence today and they also said that they have been evaluating that evidence. one of the things we are hearing from them is to send the team out again tomorrow.

it's unclear whether they go to the same area visited today or trying to get some of the other sites where also chemical weapons have allegedly been used. the place they went today is a very hot zone. that's been a lot of fighting there in the past couple of months. it was obviously very difficult for them to get there and managed to spend a good couple of hours on the ground getting samples and especially talking to people. that's sometimes something that's very underrated sort of in the public sphere and they say it's important to get the story from people, what exactly happened on that night and what happened to them. what were the affect that is they were feeling? so the u.n. says they're actually very happy with the way things went even after that amazingly rocky start that they had where first of all the hotel they're in mor or ttared early e morning. >> and then mentioned four american destroyers empty m mediterrane mediterranean. are people preparing for

military action there? >> reporter: do you know what? that's such an interesting question because the mood here i get the feeling is really changing. i have been here four times reporting on the ground and what you hear from people in this government controlled part of damascus where many people are simp thet toik the regime is people on the other side, the rebel controlled side are all terrorists, staging this. but you really see that people are starting to doubt that. there's many people that you talk to who say that they're not sure who launched these chemical weapons attacks and when we got here, earlier, people were saying it must have been the rebels who did this. if anyone did this and seems that people are thinking about this differently. and of course, they're afraid of the u.s. getting involved and more involved in this war and somehow tipping the balance in this. it's a fear going on. the people have been living in this sort of civil war situation for a very long time but they also know that the u.s. could change things on the ground very quickly if it chose to do so. >> fred, stay safe. more now on what happens next with national security analyst

and bush homeland security adviser fran townsend. also former cia officer bob baer joins us. and john king, as well. listening to secretary kerry today, it certainly seems like the u.s. is determined to do something. >> oh, absolutely. let's remember, anderson, remember, there were reports in the spring that there was a small-scale use of chemical weapons and the assad regime in keeping with the method of operation tests and then nothing happened and so then we see a large-scale attack. and frankly, atrocity. i don't think there's any doubt when you hear the language secretary kerry uses that they're talking -- they're looking at one of the options as being one of the missile strikes off the destroyers in the med in order to try to take out the delivery systems that the systems used to deliver the chemical weapons. but that's really only a first

step and the question is, will they be able to put together a coalition with the arab allies so there's international support for this allow you to actually take it further? one strike of missiles -- not enough. after the east africa embassy bombings in 1998, the clinton administration did that and it didn't do much to stop the terrorist attacks on 9/11. >> right. john, your sources are say expect a military operation in a week. >> within days. not a week's or month calculation. days plus. inside of a week. based on conversations within the administration as you noted. the president asked for a fine tuned set of options and told he'll have it within a matter of days. the phone calls to the leaders of france, great britain and the pentagon and secretary kerry to the allies, turkey, allies to move very quickly, they know want to know what they're willing to bring to the table. they don't want assad to think it's a bluff by any means and seeing the warships in the

region and all indications are they're moving on a very quick timetable and again to fran's point, will we see an emergency meeting of the nato allies? an emergency meeting of the arab league or the administration tries get the blessings after an attack? that's the big question tonight. >> bob, what do you expect a military operation to look like? >> i think it's going to hit the obvious targets, armored units, artillery positions, maybe presidential palace in damascus which is an easy target. i think it's more of a deterrence. bashar al assad will know if he continues to use the weapons we keep hitting. i agree with the policy or they would run with this. this is a nasty civil war, and unfortunately, and i don't think this administration wants to get in to it. they pretty well have to. >> bob, the assad regime says it's the rebels using chemical weapons if anybody. do you believe there's any chance of that?

>> you know, i know some of these people. i just couldn't imagine them combining the chemicals, you know, delivering the stuff. these kind of casualties. casualties have to be, you know, done by military units. no, i don't believe at it all. >> a senior administration official told cnn the goal of an operation is not to change the situation on the ground dramatically but to punish assad. is that enough in your opinion? does that make change sense to change the situation on the ground? >> no. public opinion is against it. there's not a lot of support on the hill. and yet, here we are again. time and time again, we get dragged further and further in. we have to see as bob just said we don't have a lot of choice. we are involved whether we want to be or not. the problem, this could be a vietnam-type problem where we back our way in to this if we don't come up with a plan about how to win so it can't be one and done.

we need a larger plan to topple assad. has to be part of a regime change plan. >> fran, that's part of the concern of the capabilities of anybody to replace assad. we have seen there's obviously al qaeda groups in syria. the opposition is fragmented and most of the effective fighters are the al qaeda linked groups. is the regime change something that the administration wants to provoke? >> well, look. go back to the example of libya. we have the same concerns, remember, with the rebels in libya. they were fractured, not well organized but it was important enough that we came in and by the way we hesitated. we did initial strikes and then we hesitated after we took out the integrated air defense systemment it was not a very sophisticated one. before we went after the mechanicized units, the military units to deliver weapons. and we saw the rebels in libya suffer from that. so it can't be a one and done. as mike said.

tough go in. the cruise missile strike is worth doing to buy sometime. you then need to come in behind that and take out the integrated air defense system, a much more complicated mission in syria so that you can then target the mechanicized units. >> do you have any concern that the rebel movement that's in syria fighting is a lot more -- i mean, it is a lot more diverse than it was in lib why. >> i do. but, anderson, you know, my bigger concern -- and that you are right to raise that. i think it is a legitimate concern but the fact is we have to remember the only people who really benefit from the current chaos in syria is al qaeda. the longer you have this ungoverned space, we know from the example of afghanistan with the taliban going back to the late '90s, al qaeda can take advantage of these situations not only to get access to weapons but in order to plan, train, equip and fund raise to then project their power outside of syria. >> bob, you also have the

concern, though, say assad does fall. say the military collapses there. you have some rebel groups to take over. if you have a slaughtering of people supportive of the regime, then the administration and the rest of the world is faced with the question of, okay, well, what do you do to stop a slaughter? >> you know, you are exactly right. we need a peacekeeping force to go in there once the regime falls to separate these people because we also can't stand by while they slaughter people. we need to separate these people but i'd like to add that fran is absolutely right. the longer we let this go on, the nastier it gets and more spread and takes down lebanon and move in to jordan and it could move in to the gulf. just the way it's been going for a year. >> mike, we have already seen that spread, car bombings in tripoli and lebanon, obviously beirut and not sure if that's directly linked and we have already seen that the spread of this. >> yeah.

actually, those bombings that you mentioned, i point the finger more at hezbollah than at the al qaeda in syria. >> right. >> but it's our job as everybody is saying, it's our job to build up the moderate syrian opposition. we together with our allies, that's what we should see as our goal here. whether we put pboots on the ground, we don't, it should be to build up the opposition. >> this is not the first time of seeing good evidence of chemical attacks in syria. is it the scale of it? >> last time, the administration said it was a relatively small scale attack and the president used verbal gymnastics to say he didn't have to cross the red line or assad had not fully crossed. they didn't have the coalition to enforce him crossing the red line and the congress called the credibility in to question saying you can't draw a line and enforce it. this time, the scale of the attack, because of the fact the

president's credibility is questioned in the past and the circumstances on the ground, and because i'm in part because of a frustration with the russians, you have secretary kerry and secretary hagel, they know what it's like to be in a war and the government tell them this is a very limited intervention. they're reluctant warriors but you have a new security adviser, new, more aggressive united nations ambassador and because of the frustrations and the size and the scope of the evidence they aer looking at, the president, look at secretary kerry's rhetoric today. a complete turn of events from where the administration has been. >> bob, appreciate you being on. mike, fran, john, as well. follow me on twitter. what do you think the u.s. should do if anything? also tonight, another charity. we have done a lot of reporting on so-called charities that claim to raise money for good causes and really little of the money goes to where it's supposed to. this charity raising money allegedly for granting wishes for dying children.

so why does it spend, get this, less than three cents of every dollar it raises on those kids? a whistle-blower exposes the operation. life or death for jodi arias. why she was back in court today and when she will face a jury again. for pain and swelling? apply cold therapy in the first 24 hours. but not just any cold. i only use new thermacare® cold wraps. targettemp technology delivers a consistent, therapeutic cold to stop pain and start healing. new thermacare® cold wraps. a better way to treat pain. just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. [ driver ] and it got his okay on treatment from miles away. it even pulled strings with the stoplights. my ambulance talks with smoke alarms

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welcome back. keeping them honest. the latest in a rogue charity that claim to be helping people, but only spend a small amount of change on the people they say they're helping. we've shown you some examples that will turn your stomach. if your tweets and e-mails are any indication, this certainly enraged a lot of people. we've identified the worst, the rock bottom when it comes to how little out of each dollar raised it spends actually helping those it claims to be raising money for. in this case, children dying of cancer and other deadly illnesses. that's right, dying children. drew griffin tonight keeping them honest. >> reporter: three former employees of the kids wish network say to work here at the charity we rated as america's worst, it appears you have to know how to lie. we found that out the moment we knocked on the charity's door. >> is miss lanzitella in? >> no, she isn't.

>> she is not? >> no. she is not. >> really? that's her car right there. >> that's correct. she is not here. >> okay. >> reporter: she runs kids wish network. nas her car. after waiting in the parking lot for two hours, it turns out she was at work after all. >> hi, miss lanzitella? drew griffin with cnn. >> hi, drew. nice to see you nice to see you. can we ask you questions about all the ratings that have come out? >> no, i'm sorry. there's been so many misleading reports that have been made that we asked our attorneys to take a look into anything and i'm not going to be doing any interviews. >> well, we -- >> thank you. >> reporter: it is perhaps with good reason that they don't wish to answer any of our questions. because they all involve how this tiny charity with a sympathetic name has taken in $127 million of your donations over the last 10 years. yet according to the charities own tax filings, it has used less than 3% of that money to fulfill the wishes of sick

children. you heard right. less than 3%. we've looked at your own tax returns and determined that less than 3 cents of every dollar raised in cash goes to actual programs or children. can you at least tell us if your own tax filings are true? and that's the case? >> i'm not going to interview and i'm not going to discuss that. we've made a statement, and it's on our website, and we've answered all the questions. >> reporter: in fact, she's never given an interview. the charity's website statement says in part, we are very aware of the high costs involved with fund-raising, and are doing everything we can to allocate more and more dollars to programs and services every year. while exploring the lowest cost fund-raising opportunities. but less than 3 cents out of every dollar? >> that's not true. we're very -- >> that's true. that's what's on the tax returns. >> we're very proud of the good work that kids wish network has

done over the last 15 years. we've helped hundreds of thousands of children, and that's what we're going to continue to do. >> reporter: year after year, kids wish network continues to collect millions of dollars in donations, $22.8 million in 1 year according to its most recent tax filing. how do they raise so much money? most of it comes from paid telemarketers, most but not all. >> my main focus was to grant wishes for children who were suffering from life threatening illnesses. >> reporter: she spent six months as a wish coordinator. >> how did you do that? you just dipped into the funds that everybody had donated to kids wish network and made it happen, right? >> nope, i would call and get people to grant me parts of the wish. >> reporter: she says she would call hotels, airlines, amusement parks, get freebies, even rental cars and meals all donated while at the same time at another desk

in this same building, someone else was also making calls to get money to pay for the wish. >> we would have one person call to get the actual services donated while another person is calling to get money donated for things that i was already getting for free. >> if you have this entire wish, let's say, a trip to disneyland or disney world donated, where was this money going? >> that i don't know. i have no idea where that money would go. >> reporter: it turns out now we do. records reviewed by cnn and the "tampa bay times" show of the $127 million raised in the past phen years, $109 million was paid right back to those professional fund-raisers. and you'll want to hear about one of those fund-raisers in particular. mark bryner, the person who actually started kids wish network.

in the past five years, the charity he started has paid almost $5 million to fund-raising companies owned or controlled by him. that includes more than $3 million after mr. bryner left kids wish network. >> my research found that they were in business with their founder, mark bryner, and they had lied on several occasions on their 990s, their tax returns. and i wanted to make sure that people knew, so i brought the information to the board of directors. >> that they have, in fact, forgot to mention the fact that they had paid the former operator of the charity more than a million? >> yes. i took that information to the board. and i was let go. i was fired about 45 minutes after sending my concerns to the board. >> reporter: not just fired. it turns out the kids wish

network reported dubay to the fbi claiming she had stolen privileged electronic information from company files and illegally accessed employee credit card data. two months after she was fired, her home was raided. >> there was close to 16 or 17 fbi agents that stormed my home with guns drawn on my husband. called all of us out of our home, guns pointing at us. myself, my children. i'm crying because i have two dogs, not knowing what's going on many. had no idea why they were at my house. >> the fbi came to your house with guns? >> yes, with guns in front of my children. >> because -- >> because i had a complaint against a charity that was lying. lying on their tax returns because they didn't want for people to find out exactly what they were doing.

>> reporter: the fbi's case was closed and the confiscated computers returned. kids wish network said it was planning on firing dubay anyway and accused her of stealing documents, even filing a defamation case against her. an attorney for the charity told cnn, there was nothing illegal, unethical or immoral about the charities fund-raising. in the meantime, though, the charity admits it did pay the founder of kids wish network millions and says forgetting to list most of those payments on its tax returns was an error. just one more thing the current ceo didn't want to talk about. >> i'm not going to -- >> why did they give $5 million to your founder and his associated companies? >> i'm sorry. i've already made a statement and it's on our website. thank you. >> what about the $109 million -- >> drew griffin joins me. these people run away like cockroaches. these people run their charities and they make all these promises, they claim they're doing good work and then they won't answer any questions about it.

if you're doing nothing wrong, running a legitimate charity, you would want the attention, you would want to be able to answer these questions. it's just so infuriating, you've seen this time and time again in all the reporting. what is the mark bryner, the founder of this charity have to say about all this? >> to your point, he told us, anderson, he was willing to be interviewed by you but only if he could do that interview live. >> great, totally. >> of course, we agreed. and he backed out. he said he wasn't feeling well, he sent in a statement instead saying, in part, that failure to list those payments of his company's was an omission. he said, just because his companies got paid doesn't mean he got any money. in fact, he says he personally hasn't gotten one dollar from the charity since he left three years ago, and right now he says his businesses aren't doing business with kids wish network. >> the fbi raid is incredible. why did the fbi get involved in all of this? >> you know, i don't know, anderson. we've been trying to figure that

out. we've been doing these kind of stories a long time. it's the first time i've ever heard of a charity basically sicing the fbi on what is a whistle-blower. we'd like to find out what the fbi was told by this charity that led them to this woman's house guns drawn. the fbi won't tell us. the u.s. attorney's office won't tell us, they have no criminal case going on there. we've filed a freedom of information act to find out exactly what was behind this. that really to us is troubling. >> it's incredible. obviously the fbi, they found nothing there, right? >> found nothing. the sheriff's department found nothing. to substantiate any of these allegations, so the question is, what did this charity, what information did this charity share, and was that accurate information that they gave law enforcement? >> again, i mean, it's the

kids -- what's it called? the kids wish network? >> kids wish network. >> their twitter handle is at kids wish network. i just started to tweet them. i can't believe these people won't ask any questions. three cents on every dollar is outrageous. people should know this. drew, appreciate it. if anyone in this alleged charity is watching, we'd be happy to do an interview with you any time even if you're not feeling good. i'm not feeling good often, and i do the show. if you're raising money, you should answer questions. don't miss part two of drew's report on "360." for more on this story, go to cnn.com. thousands of firefighters working around the clock to keep the wildfire from spreading further into yosemite national park. we'll show you the battle up close. also, convicted killer jodi arias showed up in court today in shackles. we'll hear what her lawyers want before her new sentencing trial begins. the day we rescued riley was a truly amazing day.

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just ahead, a national treasure in danger tonight. the battle to save yosemite national park from a raging wildfire.

welcome back. in northern california, a giant wildfire is nowhere close do being contained. thousands of firefighters are battling the inferno. the largest ever in the sierra nevada, it's already destroyed more than 150,000 acres. it's only 15% contained tonight. now, yosemite national park is in its cross hairs. the blaze is spread to a remote area of the park. and is threatening a reservoir that's a crucial part of the san francisco's water supply. gary tuchman is on the ground. he spent the day watching the battle up close. >> in the midst of what is some of america's most beautiful wilderness, dangerous flames continue to spread. and they are spreading rapidly, haphazardly, dangerously. >> with this job, everyone gets scared. you don't have a little bit of fear, something's wrong with you, i believe. courage is having the fear and still going in there and getting the job done. >> reporter: the fire has entered the northwestern portion

of yosemite national park. the tourist rich area in the south has escaped the fires. the fire is one and a half times the size of the city of denver. this popular campground just west of yosemite was overwhelmed by a sudden rush of flames. this area utterly devastated. wooden cabins burned to the ground. you can see the charred beds in those cabins. tourists were forced to flee quickly. this incinerated car shows how devastating the flames have been. when firefighters come across something like this, their greatest fear is what they'll find inside. fortunately, nobody was found inside this vehicle. and fortunately, no one has died so far from these fires and there have been no serious injuries. so what is the most extreme concern right now. >> the winds coming back up, the strong winds, the heat coming back up, increasing, low humidities, and the fire itself,

creating its own winds, it's been a monster. >> it's indeed been a monster, one of california's largest wildfires in recorded history. >> we come out here and try to be as safe as we can. >> as usual, the firefighters have been heroic in this battle, that is nowhere near over. >> those pictures are incredible. the fire is not just a concern for residents and tourists, it's also a potential problem for the people in the san francisco bay area, right? >> that's right. we're about 130 miles east of san francisco, and there are 2.4 million people in the san francisco bay area who get their water from a reservoir that's in the northwest corner of the park. it's a great native american name. the fire hasn't gotten to the reservoir, but the ash and smoke is above it, authorities are keeping a careful eye on it to make sure it doesn't get contaminated. there's hydroelectric facilities out there that provides electricity for the san francisco bay area, that's a great concern, also.

one thing i want to show you above my shoulder, a closer look. it's not a weather cloud behind us. that is the smoke from a fire. when you're under that, it's completely gray. that smoke turns daylight into nighttime when you're standing right under it. >> that is incredible. i've never seen anything like that. we'll do our best to follow it. coming up, jodi arias back in court in prison stripes and shackles. what her defense wants before a new jury tries to decide whether she should live or die next. also later, the vma performance that everyone is still talking about, starring miley cyrus and a giant foam finger, we're breaking down on the ridiculist. peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business.

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jodi arias was back in court today. this time in shackles and a striped jail uniform for another step toward learning whether she'll be sentenced to death. you remember arias was convicted of murdering her ex-boyfriend after a sensational trial. during the penalty phase, the jury couldn't agree on whether she should spend life in prison or die by lethal injection. now a judge is delaying setting the date of the retrial of the penalty phase while she considers two motions of the defense. the defense wants access to prospective jurors twitter accounts. the defense is also asking the judge to ban or limit live tv coverage of the retrial. joining me now jeffrey toobin and mark geragos.

not only does this jury have to accept the guilt of jodi arias, they have to accept -- they have to come up with the penalty? >> they do but -- >> how unusual is this? >> arizona has an unusual system. think about how difficult and expensive this is going to be. a lot of people find it counter intuitive that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison. but this case is a perfect demonstration. the government is going to have to put on basically all its evidence again because they're going to have to show this jury why they think jodi arias deserves the death penalty. the defense will put on its case. this thing could go on for weeks again. it may not have a resolution, as well. it is just an endless process that should have ended in a plea bargain. >> this doesn't always happen. it's usually the jury comes up with the penalty? >> yes, it usually is, and arizona has this unusual system

of one redo. if this jury doesn't reach a death penalty decision, it will be life in prison. it won't go to a third jury. this is going to be a huge undertaking to try this case. >> mark, this motion for the defense calling for cameras to be banned in court, i can hear howls from the world of cable tv and court watchers and hln but given the number of jailhouse interviews that jodi arias did, do you think the judge is going to grant that request? >> i don't know if she's going to grant the request to keep cameras out. i think that, you know, this is a case that's drawn all kinds of interest. and she's going to have a very difficult time trying to impanel any kind of a jury. i would echo what jeff said. this case, if there was a kind of a test case for why you should just have life without or l-wop as we call it, this would be it.

why go through this thing again? other than to get ratings on tv. why put everyone through it, why put travis alexander's family through it? why not just give her -- you give the defense a choice. if you will waive your appeals we will take the death penalty off the table. that gives you some finality. you don't have to go through 10 or 20 years of endless appeals. death penalty is gone, and you're done with it. that to me at least would make all the sense in the world. as far as cameras, i think one of the things this judge did is postpone it because she would like to try to encourage both sides to get together and cut a disposition in this case. >> also, the idea, jeff, that the defense wants access to the prospective jurors twitter accounts. >> i've never heard of that before, it makes sense. people are very candid on twitter, people get information on twitter. they also put forth their own feelings. so if you have jurors that have expressed some sort of opinion

about this case or even criminal justice issues in general, it does make sense to me that you would want access to it. >> mark, jeff thank you very much. i follow you both on twitter. a shocking case of a boy killing his grandmother after playing a violent video game. amanda knox decides whether to return to italy to face murder charges. hey love. [off screen] there you are. [speaking german] hi, grandpa! [off screen] give me a kiss!

[speaking mandarin] what do you think? do you like it? [off screen] happy birthday! can you see that? [speaking polish] [off screen] did he apologize? [off screen] thanks, micah! [off screen] bye, guys. bye. see ya. oh my god! every day, more people connect face to face on the iphone than any other phone. i miss you.

the gasp heard around the world. miley cyrus at the vmas. come on. was it all that shocking? that's coming up. this is for you. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack

didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor peace of mind is important when so we provide it services you bucan rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind.

centurylink. your link to what's next. a louisiana judge ruled today that an 8-year-old boy who shot and killed his grandmother can remain with his parents. police say the child was playing a video game, grand theft auto, and accidentally fired a weapon he thought was a toy gun. he's distraught and getting counselling. amanda knox is not going back to italy for a new murder trial. she was convicted in 2009 but it was overturned. a family spokesman says knox has

no obligation to return to italy for the retrial of the case. ji george zimmerman plans to ask the state of florida to cover some legal expensive. the acquittal entitles him to be reimbursed. anderson? recent complication speech of a sophomore is lighting up the internet. he was welcoming the incoming freshman class. timing could not be better drawing attention to a tremendous and growing push for many more students to get excited about the sciences. tom foreman has this week's "american journey." >> if you want to change the world -- >> maybe no one else in the country whipped up more excitement about math and science this month than georgia tech sophomore nick sell by whose rousing speech is seen more than 2 million times on youtube. >> if you want to build the ironman suit, you're in georgia

tech! you can do that. >> but at schools everywhere especially those where science, technology, engineering and math, the s.t.e.m. studies are king, a more profound excitement is steadily growing. georgia tech president bud peterson. >> to be competitive globally, they have to have a workforce trained and educated in the s.t.e.m. fields. >> reporter: the white house knows it. the president wants to see 100 thousand dollars s.t.e.m. teachers trained over the next decade. >> the higher education is the single best investment you can make in your future and i'm proud of the students making that investment. >> reporter: and all of this is not just about making the country more competitive. researchers found students in s.t.e.m. fields generally enjoyed better returns on the education investment with more job options and higher salaries.

average engineer graduates can easily start at $65,000 a year. one of the five american jobs s.t.e.m. related, it's enough to make people very excited, indeed. >> i am doing that! >> we'll be right back. i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative,

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time now for the ridiculist. i hesitate to bring this up. it's been everywhere today. at this point it's the elephant in the room. ladies and gentlemen, miley cyrus did something positively shocking at the npr awards last night. oh, it wasn't the npr awards. it was the mtv video music

awards. the kids call them the vmas. ♪ >> it's an affront to stuffed animals everywhere. that's what people are upset about, right? ♪ >> that was just the beginning. the vmas are known for their magnificent acts. it's kind of like when salvador dali did don quixote. in this case it's miley cyrus and robin thicke. behold the majesty of the collaboration. ♪ i know you want it ♪ you want it baby ♪ i know you want it

♪ you're a good girl ♪ i know you want it ♪ i know you want it baby ♪ blurred lines ♪ i know you want it ♪ because you're a good girl ♪ the way you grab me >> never seen the finger used quite like that. that's right. miley cyrus pretty much flipped the bird, a giant foam one if you will, to all that is decent and proper. it was provocative, shocking. people are outraged, outraged i tell you. that, of course, is the whole point. it's all so formulaic. frankly, only way miley cyrus could shock me at the vma's would be to actually sing. remember her performance at the teen choice awards five years. ♪ everybody's looking at me now ♪ ♪ like who's that chick that rocking kicks ♪

she's got to be from out of town ♪ >> people lost their minds over that as well. personally, i prefer this version of the song. ♪ >> now, that is a collaboration. look, to be honest, i missed the whole vmas because i was watching "breaking bad," then i spent the rest of the night trying to figure out the ricin. i still don't understand what happened. i had to pop an ambien to get to sleep, i was so worked up about it. but i watched miley's performance today. i think i can call her miley today. if it got your goat, maybe it is time to stop watching the vmas. next year, if she is still performing, she is going to get up there and undergo a live colonoscopy or something. it was tackty, embarrassing but 10.1 million people watched and people are talking about it. when's getting the last laugh?