answers for all of your medical questions. thanks for watching. i'm dr. sanjay gupta. more news on cnn starts right now. hello, everybody. from the cnn center in atlanta, this is cnn sunday morning. sunday july 12th, good morning, everybody. >> going to get another cnn in there somewhere. >> there's a bug on the tv, couple behind us, up above. you know where you are. >> this is 8:00 here in atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in chicago, our executive producer's hometown, we always have that in there. also 5:00 a.m. for folks in the san francisco bay area. wherever you are, thanks for being here. it's going to be an interesting week of breakthroughs or break downs. you never know what you'll see at these confirmation hearings. but she's on the hot seat this

week. they start tomorrow, the confirmation hearings and republicans are expected in the case here, the opposing party, to grill her pretty good. democrats expected to support that nomination. we'll take a closer look at the justice. if confirmed, she would become the first latina on the highest court. a live look now at space shuttle endeavor on the launch pad this morning. you know yesterday's liftoff, apparently was a no-go, watching it right now. we're going to tell you why it was delayed and when the next attempt was scheduled. plus, the tough economy to take a serious toll on two boston area zoos. this has been the talker this morning, without needed funding, these zoos could close and they might even have to euthanize some of the animals. many of you already sending us your comments, keep them coming, facebook, twitter, you can find us, we'll read them on the air. that story coming up in about half an hour. the president is back in town, back in the u.s. after a

week-long trip overseas, got back after midnight last night. the president's overseas trip included arms talks in russia as well as discussions in italy over the global economy. the last stop was to a 17th century castle in gana. back to the domestic agenda this week with the president on monday and on tuesday he'll turn his focus to health care reform. and on thursday, he'll speak at the naacp convention in new york, marking the 100th anniversary. also visiting new jersey on thursday, appearing at a reelection rally for governor jon corzine. our anderson cooper got exclusive access to the president. the president compared it to a concentration camp. >> do you think what happened here still has resonance in america? that the slave experience still is something that should be talked about and should be remembered and should be present in every day life? >> well, you know, i think that

the experience of slavery is like the experience of the holocaust. i think it's one of those things you don't forget about. i think it's important that the way we think about it and the way it's taught is not one in which there's simply a victim and a victimizer and that's the end of the story. i think the way it has to be thought about, the reason it's relevant is because whether i s it's -- what's happening in darfur or what's happening in the congo, or what's happening in too many places around the world. you know, the capacity for cruelty still exists. >> find out what else the president had to say when he gave anderson cooper exclusive access on his africa trip. you can catch it tomorrow night at 10:00 eastern. >> well, the president and his attorney general might not be on the same page on a particular

topic. eric holder appears to be considering appointing a prosecutor to investigate bush administration interrogation techniqu techniques. again, this goes against what the president has said he wanted. he says he wants to leave that stuff essentially behind. leave the policies in the past. this would include or talk about the cia and whether or not they tortured terror suspects after 9/11. we could get a decision within the next few weeks from the attorney general. well, in about 24 hours, judge sonia sotomayor faces the senate committee that could make her this country's first latina supreme court justice. now, a majority of those questioned in a new cnn opinion research corporation poll, 47% of them say the senate should approve her nomination. however, 40% say no, and 13%, well, they're still unsure. let's get more about public sentiment on the eve of her hearings and check in with cnn's

deputy political director paul steinhauser. how deep is the divide in the support when it comes to party lines? >> our poll shows a big partisan divide. take a look at these numbers, the national poll. you can see nearly 7 in 10 democrats think that the senate should confirm sonia sotomayor. independent voters appear to be split and republicans only about 1 in 4 indicate they think sotomayor should be confirmed. that is interesting, our polling director tells us that's a lot higher than the republicans in the 1990s who opposed ginsberg and higher than those who opposed the nomination of alito and roberts. >> 60% of democrats say yes, 65% of republicans say no. all right. when it comes to the hot-button issues, what are people saying? >> people feel that if she is qualified, the issues may stand in her way.

take a look at these numbers. americans are split. if sotomayor's qualified, senators are justified in vote against her, they are split on that. you know, nowadays, things are much more partisan than they used to b betty. >> yes, 47% saying yes, almost half saying no. is there anything they agree on? >> yes, our poll indicates there is something people agree on, but not the best in the world. 6 in 10 americans say what is likely to happen next week, a major fight between the parties, a little less than 4 in 10 say there will be some bipartisan agreement. maybe not the best thing in the world. >> cnn's deputy political director paul steinhauser. and you can see the confirmation hearings right here on cnn. follow the pointed questions about her background, her rulings, controversial comments and speeches that she's made,

all of it live on cnn all week long. a parent of 16 children killed. most of these children were adopted. now all of them without their parents. our david mattingly picks up the story from pensacola where authorities have a major break in the case, possibly. >> reporter: it is a critical piece of evidence and investigators are combing through it to see what they can find. they believe this is the same van recorded by a home security camera the night someone broke into the home of their home and shot them dead. >> once we had located the van, developed an address where the van had been registered to, interviews with associated neighbors and friends and family led us to to two persons of interests. we are looking for a total of three. >> reporter: three young white men also recorded on the family's security system as they broke into the billings' home. investigators won't say if anything was taken from the

house or what kind of weapon was used. but the men who did this worked so quickly that authorities believe they had some kind of experience. >> we were surprised with the rapidity of the crime. and that's the most i could say about it. >> reporter: they will not discuss motive. they were known for their kindness. they had adopted a dozen children over the years, many with special needs. eight of the children were at home at the time of the murders, none was harmed. but why were the billings targeted? was it robbery or? or was it something else? the sheriff identified this man as one of the persons of interest. he said his appearance matches one of the men seen by security cameras. at the time he was seen by our camera, he had not been named as a suspect and no arrests had been made. david mattingly, cnn, pensacola. officials have exhumed one

grave at the cemetery as they continue to investigate the desecration of hundreds of graves. four employees are accused of digging up hundreds of bodies to resell the plot. the cook county sheriff said they found one body in the grave despite the reports of two bodies were there. well, it was a massive turnout, friends, family, fans, all of them came by the thousands to remember steve mcnair. many, though, still trying to make sense of the apparent murder-suicide that led to the 36-year-old's death. and larry smith reports on the emotional funeral. >> steve was like, you know, a hero to me and heroes are not supposed to die. >> reporter: it was an emotional farewell for steve mcnair. thousands came to pay their respects to the former most valuable player and what organizers called one of the largest home-going services in mississippi history.

for the past week, the sorted details of mcnair's murder sent shock waves across the nation. this was about his legacy on and off the field during a stellar career. when asked how many he stopped and given an a autograph to, nearly half raised their hands. >> i find myself in awe when i speak about a man like mcnair, in awe being here to speak where it all started from. >> reporter: they call him a warrior, and his former teammates say his grit and determination made them better. >> i don't think steve played a game once he got into the professional ranks totally healthy, but you wouldn't have known the way he performed. i've always respected the way he played and he played to win. every play was to win. >> reporter: two weeks ago he hosted a football camp for kids here and when everyone else was gone, he was the one cleaning up after a day of giving. >> mississippi has lost a

tremendous legend. i truly feel that it would be a long, long time before there'd be another player the caliber of steve mcnair. >> reporter: steve mcnair was buried later in the day, but his good work will live on. as vince young said, the world would be a better place if everybody helped others the way steve did. larry smith, cnn, hattiesburg, mississippi. t minus 11 hours now before nasa tries to send up the endeavor again. it will take a crew of seven to the international space station. >> and taking the final piece of a japanese space lab. but it depends on whether the shuttle's electrical system checks out and also weather always plays a role and that plays a role why it's still sitting there in the first

place. >> a scrub because of, well, you're looking at it, about a dozen lightning strikes near that launch pad. nasa says there's nothing to show that the shuttle was affected by it. that's good news. >> yeah, and reynolds was describing this yesterday, do you really want a bolt of lightning anywhere close to those fuel tanks? it makes sense not to launch. this is the third time they've delayed this launch. canceled twice last month because of a liquid hydrogen leak. sounds bad, as well. the president's stimulus plan, in effect for about 100 days. how is it working for you? josh levs following the money. >> good morning, we're going to find out how much of that money is going to any county in the entire country and within that, how many projects are underway there. and this is not a government website. we'll show you how to find it. and take a look at this. these animals right here, they need a bailout and fast. their zoos could be making life or death choices because of budget cuts. and many of you already sending us your comments on this story. keep them coming, more on it,

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and good morpg morning, everyone, what you're looking at is a live picture overcast skies and about a 30 or 40% chance of showers right around atlanta. temperatures expected in the upper 80s. i want to point out one thing. let's look at the left of your screen, the round building with dot on it, those are windows that were knocked out during the tornado that we saw just about a year and a half ago around the metro atlanta area. all right, what about the launch of the space shuttle? it looks a little iffy, there's about a 70% chance of a go. however, we're going to have to take it literally hour by hour. you can see over the next 48 hours we could see a couple of showers there. but further north, this is where we're looking at the bulk of the precipitations. the tennessee river valley, and in the forecast, there could be fairly substantial rainfall,

especially right along that arkansas, also tennessee border. there is a severe thunderstorm watch out that encompasses the portion of kansas and into missouri. right around topeka, thunderstorms rumbling around here, as well. those thunderstorms moving toward the southeast, but you could see frequent lightning, heavy downpours, and maybe some wind gusts. the big story in the south central united states and the southwest is the heat. the heat has been oppressive. heat advisories and excessive heat warnings. thunderstorms will rumble across the northern great plains where temperatures are in the 60s now. if you were to travel to dallas today, the expected high temperature right around 106 degrees. we'll be back. gecko vo: geico's the third-largest

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all right. the stimulus plan has been in effect for a long time now. now we keep hearing white house officials talking about all of these projects underway, on the way to the rescue for this economy of ours. a lot of people are asking when it's going to get to them. their street, their neighborhood. >> absolutely, and josh levs has been keeping an eye on all of this money. where is it actually going, josh? >> i'll show you. this is actually a really great interactive map that's on the web. let's zoom in, i want everyone to understand the difference here. this is recovery.gov that you

hear the white house talking about. this is not the place to go for it. instead go to recovery.org. recovery.org, what this does is you can click on any state. it's a private company that's helping businesses get access to these projects. you can click on any state, any county, and it'll show you how much money every county is getting. i have reach out to people on facebook, these are the first responses i got. san diego, it specifically tells you they're getting $219 million, using it on 109 projects. this one, johnston county in north carolina, $35.7 million, two more, texas, tarrant county, there you go $2.2 billion. let's do the last one right here, georgia outside of atlanta, no, it's this one, highlighted, guinnett county, $81 million. any county in the entire country is updated and show how many projects and how much money at

recovery.org. that doesn't necessarily mean that in every way it's actually reaching you. what we want to do is hear your story. this is how you can write to us. let me show you that graphic. we want to hear your stories. if you've been helped by the stimulus, cnn.com/newsroom. facebook.com/joshlevscnn. we want to hear from you. >> all right, josh. well, we do appreciate it. looking forward to those comments, as well. and coming up is this, sonia sotomayor has president obama's support, but what will she face on capitol hill tomorrow. >> and wolf blitzer, this man in charge of this weekend's "state of the union." ♪ i don't know much ♪ but i know i love you ♪ and that may be ♪ all i need ♪ to know

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♪ stevie wonder and "higher ground." >> anybody going to take the higher ground this week on capitol hill? >> we're going to see with the sotomayor hearings. let's get you now to "state of the union," which is coming up at the top of the hour, and our very own wolf blitzer. hey, wolf. >> filling in for john king

today. >> glad to see you. let's get to the senate hearings for sonia sotomayor, what are the issues? >> well, it starts at 10:00 tomorrow morning, eastern time, we're going to have extensive coverage on cnn of these historic hearings. the democrats pretty much in line. remember, there are 60 democrats in the u.s. senate. so she looks like she's barring unforeseen development, she's in good shape to be confirmed. she'll probably get a whole bunch of republicans eventually vote to confirm her, as well. but there are issues, the controversial comments she made about being a wise latina woman, that's going to raise questions about affirmative action. is that supposed to be part of the supreme court justice's decision-making? whether or not someone feels sorry for someone? or is it a matter of what the law says? i'm sure 19 senators, democrats and republicans, they're all going to have an opportunity to ask extensive questions. >> and wolf, have republicans

found a way? i mean, have they found a good way to go about getting at her? because there's a risk there if you're too tough on this minority who has its background that everyone's so proud of. they could come off looking really bad. >> right, jeff sessions, who is the ranking republican, the top republican, the judiciary committee, the senator from alabama, he says you know what? there's not going to be any personal stuff going on at all. she does have a compelling personal story. but they will get into the substantive issues of her decisions as a federal judge over these many years. so it is a tough sensitive political issue because republicans don't want to alienate hispanic voters, they do want to question her. they do have concerns about her decisions. >> let's talk about the president's trip abroad. we saw yesterday him touring. the tail end of a really important trip. across the pond, shall we say,

to many different countries. but what were some of the successes, maybe some of the stumbles that that he faced during that trip? >> well, he tried to improve u.s.-russian relations when he met with the russian president and prime minister. i'm not sure how much improvement in the relationship they got, but certainly didn't deteriorate during the course of those two days. it didn't look like there were a whole lot of successes at the g-8 summit on some of the global warming issues, for example. i'm sure the president didn't get whatever he wanted. he was a little frustrated, i think, on that front. he did deliver a very important speech underscoring u.s. support for africa and development in africa and dealing with famine, hiv/aids and got into his personal history, family history on his father's side of the whole african connection, which i'm sure was very well received throughout the continent. so all in all, it was, you know, an important trip. i'm not sure that there were so

many dramatic changes that were achieved in the course of nearly a week. >> all right. wolf, before we let you go, tell us what you've got coming up at the top of the hour. >> we're going to focus in all of these issues. also the health care reform debate. the president's back in the united states right now, and this is his top priority domestically to get health care reform, the secretary of health and human services, kathleen sebelius is going to be here on "state of the union." four senators, two democrats, two republicans with very different perspectives. all of that coming up, and more of anderson cooper's exclusive interview with president obama. that's going to be highlighted on state of the union, as well. a lot of good stuff coming up. >> good to see you again, wolf. >> thank you. >> and again, top of the hour, wolf blitzer sitting in for our john king on state of the union. also talking about the president's trip, most of it live here on cnn saturday morning. he also met with that guy, the

pope, that was kind of a big deal. that's a big meeting. we'll highlight that vatican meeting in our face to face. and who would hurt these cute little animals? those right there, well, that's one of many. would you believe their own zoo? yeah, that story coming up. you could buy 300 bottles of water. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. you all want to run your businesses more efficiently,

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welcome back, everybody. >> hello, everyone. >> it's cnn sunday morning. >> good morning, everybody. here are some of the top stories we're working on this hour. the current administration might not be too cool with this. but attorney general eric holder may go ahead with an investigation into the bush administration's interrogation practices. the associated press reports that holder may appoint a criminal prosecutor. also, the first family is back home in washington this morning. they returned overnight from a week long trip overseas. stops included russia, italy,

also the vatican city to see the pope, and a visit yesterday to ghana. well, the president got a warm reception on that last stop. he praised ghana for showing the promise of democracy in africa. but as ed henry tells us, he didn't shy away from the problems plaguing the continent. >> reporter: a day of extraordinary moments, none more powerful than the first african-american president visiting a former slave fortress with his family. >> i think it was particularly important for malia and sasha who are growing up in such a blessed way to be reminded that history can take very cruel turns. >> reporter: after touring cape coast castle, which the british used as a slave dungeon, president obama compared the power to the recent stop at a german concentration camp. >> it is reminiscent of the trip

i took to germany because it reminds us the capacity of human beings to do great evil. >> reporter: the parliament of ghana earlier in the day. >> we must start from the simple premise that africa's future is up to africa. i say this knowing full well the tragic past that is sometimes haunted this part of the world. after all, i have the blood of africa within me. and my family's own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger african story. >> reporter: he chastised african leaders over corruption saying they can't blame the west for their economies winding up in shambles. >> no business wants to invest in the place where the government skims 20% off the top. or the head of the port authority is corrupt.

no person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. that is not democracy, that is tyranny. >> reporter: mr. obama's father was from kenya and he visited that country as a senator. but he chose ghana as his first stop in africa as president because he wanted to highlight its stable democracy and growing economy. so he mixed the stern lectures with some inspiration, the day having the feel of mr. obama taking last year's campaign to a whole new continent. in shirt sleeves playing with babies, working rope lines, even ending his parliament speech with a familiar slogan. >> the world will be what you make of it. you have the power to hold your leaders accountable and build institutions that serve the people. you can serve in your communities and harness your energy and education, create new wealth and build new connections for the world.

you can concur disease and end conflict and make change from the bottom up. you can do that. yes, you can. >> reporter: this wraps a week long trip that took the president from russia from arms talks to italy to high-level negotiations with the world's largest economy. he also decided to stop here in ghana to show that the 21st century will not just be shaped by what happens in moscow and rome, but also tiny capitals in africa. ed henry, cnn. well, the presidents and the pope disagree on stem cell research. so when the two met for the first time last week, pope benedict seized the moment to make a point and sent the message home in the form of a present. and john allen with his perspective and our conversation is this morning's "face to face." >> what is it that these two men

maybe wanted to talk to each other about, maybe are expected to talk to each other about? >> reporter: well, you know, t.j., technically these things are called courtsy visits. and often a little more than a photo op. the opportunity to meet the pope, get his picture taken with the pope, pick up the gifts rosaries or key chain the vatican hands out and that's about it. but obviously in this case, when you have the leaders of the world's most important hard power, that is the most important source of economic and military strength, which is the united states, and the world's most important soft power, that is the biggest pulpit in religion. when you have those two figures in the same room, there's going to be some meat on the bone. and certainly in the 35-minute conversation on friday between the pope and the president, that was the case. in addition to talking about a wide variety of international

issues, the peace process in the middle east, restructuring the global economy, what happened in the g8 summit, immigration, there also was a great deal of conversation about what would be the most obvious sort of clash between the obama white house and the vatican and that would be the bundle of issues in the states we call the life issues. abortion, embryonic stem cell research and so on. and in fact, the pope managed to make his pro-life case, not merely through his words, but even through his gift. normally the popes and presidents exchange gifts, but in this case, benedict xvi pointedly gave a gift to president obama a copy of a vatican document on bioethics. the first sentence of which concerns human life from conception to natural death. this was a meeting in which the two men had a great deal to agree on and found some things they disagreed on.

>> wow. a significant gift there, as well that the pope handed over to the president. john allen, it's always a pleasure to see you and have you. thank you so much. the closed-door meeting with an open-ended conversation. they talked about 40 minutes and the president told the pope he would read that document this weekend. california officials could be close to resolving a massive $26 billion budget deficit after bargaining forrer more than two hours yesterday. lawmakers say a deal could be on the table this week. now just a week ago because of the state's financial crisis, thousands of vendors had to be issued ious. state workers also had to take three days off without pay. along the same lines of budget issues, never thought it would come to this. a couple of zoos in boston got some issues, got some budget problems. often times tell you these stories they might have to lay off people and cut back on hours. not just that, they might

actually have to not get rid of the animals and find other homes, but euthanize. >> well, here's the situation, they lost about $4 million in their budget. and they can't stay open unless they get additional funding. if they have to close the doors and cannot find homes for these animals, they're saying they may have to euthanize them and up to 20% of the animals. they're talking about 1,000 animals total. >> we should say there's an if right now. >> big if. >> right now they don't have the money, but if they don't get the money -- not a done deal yet. they're putting out there this is a possibility. >> and i'm sure that's going to be a last ditch effort. not anything anyone wants to see happen, but it is possibly on the table if they don't get the funding because where are you going to put an elephant or a giraffe? who is going to take that in? hopefully people will. but we're getting your responses today and a lot of them. let's get to some of them. mark says the situation with boston zoo is precisely why

animals should not be kept in captivity for our amusement. let me go to facebook. kevin henry is already concerned about it saying, hey, i will donate money to keep these animals alive, not to save the zoo, but where do i send the money? >> some people think you're talking about what manager would propose this? get some volunteers in there and save money that way. but that's a big budget gap $4 million. >> well, hopefully they'll find a good solution to that. we'll be right back. es and they'll match any advertised price. so instead of searching for "deals" out there... you get everyday low prices, right here. vo: ave money. live better. walmart. now every drop of shell gasolines... contain a nitrogen-enriched cleaning system... that seeks and destroys engine gunk... left by lower-quality gasoline. it protects engines from performance-robbing gunk. try new nitrogen-enriched shell gasolines. the gold delta skymiles credit card...

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president barack obama is back home this morning after spending several days abroad. and on thursday, he will speak at the naacp national convention in new york. >> the oldest civil rights group in the country celebrating 100 years and also dealing with present-day issues like gay rights. -- why his civil rights organization doesn't yet have a national policy on gay marriage. take a listen. does the naacp believe that gay marriage should be legal across the land? >> we don't take a position on

that nationally. we have been steadfast advocates for the basic civil rights of gay people. making sure that we're into hate crimes protection is extended to gay people. we understand that when four black young people were killed not far from here in newark on a playground last year, all four of them were gay. there's a lot made in the press because of the guys who shot them were latino, black and latino tension. but we're in the community, so we get the story from not just the national news, but our lo l local. many of them were gay, and that appeared to be a dynamic on the playground. and we want to make sure that our children and our family members who are gay the basic civil rights are protected. >> is that not considered a civil right, some would call it that kind of civil right, an issue of equality, a gay person being able to marry who they want to marry.

>> that's a very tense debate inside our association. you know, there have been branchs and state conferences, for instance in california and san francisco, come out very clearly on the issue. there are others, national board members, for instance, the midwest who have taken entirely opposite positions. we're a democratic small d organization, where issues are debated until a consensus is reached. and that one is very much under debate amongst the membership. >> so you foresee a time once that debate is complete that the naacp could have an official position on gay marriage? >> i think having an official position on gay marriage is certainly a possibility. when it will happen, you know, we work on issues for decades. so we -- we're quick to point out to younger organizations in the civil rights community, someone you think is a sprint turns out to be a marathon. >> what do you think of this when people would compare the gay marriage debate and struggle

with the civil rights struggle. what do you think when you hear that? is that a fair comparison? >> when people say, you know, and this is is deeply personal to me. a young man i grew up with me, our moms are best friends, we became blood brothers when we were 4. i call him my brother, he's my brother, he's transgender, he's gay, i've seen what he's been subjected to, the racism in the gay community. and i know that one of those identities he can and has hid he has to. nobody should have to hide their identity. but when people say, gay, straight, black, white, same struggle, same fight. not exactly, not exactly. at the same time, the -- you know, i have been personally very supportive and encouraging

of people who are fighting the battle for gay marriage. i was born in a family where my parents' marriage was illegal. they had to the get married in washington, d.c. their wedding caravan back at the party in baltimore was mistaken for a funeral concession. and so i'm very concerned about the children who are treated hostile on school grounds based on the lifestyle that they make. but the naacp is like any other democratic organization, we'll debate this internally and fully. can't say we have any position nationally but i can tell you it's a deeply held intense debate. and we, because we've seen the way it's torn apart other institutions, my church has been torn apart in this issue, are committed to keeping our body together. because there's a whole bunch of

issues, including issues that are very relevant to gay people that we have to be together on if we're going to win. whether it's bullying, whether it's hate crimes, for instance. they count us. >> well, as the naacp continues to delve into issues facing black america, so is cnn. "black in america 2" is coming your way premiering july 22nd and 23rd. the health care and the journey for change, the series you will only see here on cnn. our "black in america 1" got conversation kind of going. this one's looked again to the pioneers of today and really the leaders of tomorrow. people who have made it to the heights of their professions, the politics. >> colin powell, tyler perry, make sure they don't fall by the wayside. >> looking forward to that. and that's coming up. why wait for congress to solve the health care crisis? coming up here, we're going to take you to a maryland town that is making medical care actually

affordable to those most in need.

all right. take a look. shuttle launch tonight, actually 7:13 p.m. it was scrubbed yesterday due to lightning, but we're looking at the endeavor on the launch pad. and the skies look pretty good, but not last night. these are pictures of the lightning show that happened around the shuttle and for obvious reasons, it did not take off. but again, we're looking at 7:13

p.m. launch tonight. the question is, though, will the weather hold up? karen has been watching that for us. what's the verdict? >> still looks a little iffy. maybe slightly better than it was yesterday. there's about a 70% go chance for the evening. but i want to show you, this is over the next 48 hours. precipitation that we're anticipating across this area. most of it on the light side, right around here, that's where the kennedy space center is, not a lot of rain, but the rain chances as you well know, they kind of come and go. during the afternoon we see the build-up. look at what's happening towards phoenix. very heavy rainfall amounts anticipated going into the next 48 hours. on the order of 2 to 4 inches of rainfall certainly possible. take a look at the south central united states, the other big story, the heat, for about the last four or five days. i think this will be the fifth day in a row. we're looking at temperatures 100 degrees plus. oklahoma city, looking at 106,

just about 100 in wichita where normally these temperatures would be around 95 to around 99 degrees. so between 5 and 10 degrees hotter than we would typically anticipate. but this goes all the way down towards houston. it is going to be oppressively hot. watch out, you'll be subject to heat exhaustion and heatstroke. and those two things will be very bad. and you'd have to be within medical care. all right, right across kansas city, we're watching the huge storms now there's a new severe thunderstorm watch that is just been added across this area. topeka earlier this morning, we're seeing pretty strong winds, we'll look at lots of lightning associated with this. so the upper tier that's kind of the focus of the severe weather today. also right down here across arkansas, extending over towards tennessee, that's what we're looking at. some iffy weather in the forecast. frontal system draped to the south, and that'll trigger a line of thunderstorms across the tennessee river valley again

torl. t.j., betty, lots of weather to talk about. >> thanks, karen. a remedy to the health care crisis that's working in maryland, could it also work across the country? or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. an eleven sixteenths wrench over here? here you go.

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politicians in washington argue over plans to reform health care, one county in maryland is moving forward. how howard county created its own health insurance program that one woman said saved her life. >> reporter: you can't tell now, but they have gone through a tough few years. in 1999, 63-year-old henriette fought and survived breast

cancer. >> my concern was the cancer never think i had a problem, none. >> reporter: but it was neil's heart that almost killed her. she discovered she needed triple bypass surgery just one month after finally finding affordable health insurance. >> reporter: she got it through a new program called healthy howard access program in howard county, maryland. you think it saved your life? >> yes. and most definitely without question, without second thought, yes. because had they not been there for me, again, i wouldn't have gone to the hospital. >> reporter: because you were afraid you couldn't pay. neil showed us her only bill from surgery. >> you saw it. $100. >> reporter: how? healthy howard is an experiment of sorts. as the national health care debate rages on, howard county decided to go it alone using a combination of public and private funds and pro bono

doctor care, the county is trying to offer affordable insurance to every resident. the average premium is between $50 and $85 a month. >> there's no other program in the country that combines the care, prescription coverage, hospital and emergency room care and health coaching. that's where we are unique. >> reporter: they are assigned a coach to guide each individual health plan. >> i think the biggest thing is trying to shift the focus from playing catch-up once people are already sick to increasing their well being and trying to prevent some of these risk factors from turning into disease later on. >> reporter: the approach may not work everywhere. howard is one of the wealthiest counties in one of the country's wealthiest states. but officials think they're at least setting an example, 300 participants so far and they've found about 2,500 more who are eligible for existing insurance programs but didn't know it. as for neil, she's feeling

better than ever and hopes both the uninsured and the policy makers are paying attention. >> what do you think washington and lawmakers can learn from your experience and what you've gone through? >> that there is a lot of hen henryettes out there. >> reporter: cnn, columbia, maryland. and "state of the union" this morning starts at the top of the hour. but here are stories making news at this hour. president obama and the first family arrived at the white house just after midnight. his overseas trip included arms talks and russia and discussions in italy over the global economy. the family's last stop, 17th century castle in ghana that held enslaved africans. attorney general eric holder may go ahead with an investigation into the bush administration's interrogation practices. reports that holder may appoint a criminal prosecutor.